[][][][][][]

Week One

Touka was terrified.

Her brother and her had been kidnaped and these Ghouls were lying about it.

Her mother didn't have a sister. Dad would have said something – he would have!

They said that her dad was dead. He wasn't. Clearly something had gone wrong, really wrong, but he wasn't dead!

They said they were safe. They were Ghouls. Ghouls were never safe.

Not really.

Her brother and her were being kept prisoner, she thought. She didn't know why – but they weren't allowed to leave the strangers underground den and they had to stay in the tent at night with the stranger's kid which was weird and creepy.

It was very strange: she had thought that the strangers were keeping their kid prisoner too – but Ichika was allowed to leave sometimes, so long as one of her parents went wither her: and that was ignoring the scent.

Her brother and her weren't even aloud to go to the toilet alone!

It was all gross and yucky and she hatted the three of them!

It didn't matter that they had a tent to stay in or and sleeping bad to keep them warm or the beautiful night- lights to make the dark less dark– she and her brother were being trapped!

Dad always said be careful of strangers and run from strange Ghouls and now she couldn't really do that. She was letting her little brother down.

The strangers had also said dad hadn't run off – that he'd been caught by investigators and that he fought hard to get back to them but that he'd not been strong enough.

Touka hated that part of her that wanted to trust them.

Week Three

Ayato felt – safe.

They had all just finished moving from the creepy underground place (Ichika insisted it was the 24th ward but she was a girl so what did she know) into an actual house again.

It was ice to be in a home again.

These people were being nice but onee-chan kept telling him to stay alert, but he couldn't.

It was too hard – too tiring – to stay alert all the time. Not when things were so good. And Ichika's parents said they wanted them to be a big family!

Ayato wanted that.

Uncle Ken was warm.

And aunt Touka gave the best hugs.

And Ichika – well she was annoying! At least when she wasn't being fun. But she was his age though and that was really cool! He'd never had a friend his age before.

She didn't bully or tease like onee-chan did.

Didn't mock him for relaxing like she did.

And if something bad was going to happen then it would have happened already, wouldn't it!?

Evil people couldn't wait this long to do evil things. Its why the doves destroyed things so quickly – they couldn't stop themselves even a little.

So… even if they had been in a strange and weird underground den, they had tried to make it nice. And now the home was nice! It was safe.

Still, he did make sure to stay close to onee-chan: even if he sometimes had to share some of her attention with Ichika. Just in case she was right.

Second Month

Touka was expected to keep her brother and Ichika in line.

That Woman used "behaving" when she asked (told) her to watch them, but Touka knew what she meant. Dad had wanted her to do the same when he wasn't home anyway, so…

These people still wouldn't leave the three of the alone, not really, not in the underground den and not in this new small, rundown and abandoned, two-story house. One of them was always nearby… But the man, Ken, who smelt like trees and earth and park air, would leave for hours and hours now.

Almost every day.

Not yesterday though, no, yesterday she'd seen her fake aunt leave to hunt and leave Ken with them. That baby Ichika had clung to him and almost cried because her mother left. It was gross. Ichika was gross – sometimes she smelt funny, almost like a human.

At least, she thought that woman had to be hunting, because she came back to their new den with meat. She cooked it too.

Dad used to do that. Said it was only right to eat that way, like humans ate. The Fake Aunt thought so too and had tried to teach her and Ayato what she was doing.

Touka had spat on the meat when she had the chance.

It made Ayato cry.

She'd expected to be hit or eaten – Ken and Fake Aunt had their own daughter – they didn't need competing mouths. They weren't family no matter what they said. The curtain was going to drop sooner or later.

It didn't matter that the fake aunt smelt like mum sometimes – nothing mattered anymore.

They didn't hurt her, though, Fake Aunt just went red and stormed off downstairs.

That's when Ken told her to "watch" Ayato and Ichika. She almost took them and left, except the only exit of this old-ass empty building was on the ground floor and that's were Ken and fake aunt went.

Touka still tried though. She'd taken Ayto's hand and almost dragged him to the stairs, trying to be quiet.

At the top of the stairs, she'd overheard Ken and Fake Aunt talking. And some crying.

And they could have been lying, trying to trick Ayato and her, but…

It felt real. She could smell the salt in the air, even if Ayato couldn't, and she didn't think it was from Ayato. It made her feel strange; feel like she had when it had just been her and Ayato on the street.

Later, after a week or two had passed, Ken had told her one night that the feeling was guilt. Guilt from not being able to provide for her brother even if it hadn't been her fault.

That was silly through: Fake Aunt deserved it.

Even if sometimes she smelt like her mum…

Seventh Month

Ayato just hated it. It made him feel stupid and useless and like his was less than everyone else – even though he knew he wasn't! Ken and Touka told him all the time he wasn't!

But this school shit! It made him want to pull his hair out! None of them seemed to get how hard it was!

He had thought that he found Ichika annoying but now he'd met other children their age and ugh. They were vile, dopy, morons! And the smelt so tasty and delicious and yummy-delectable (Ken said to use words more) and UAAGH!

And they expected you to be like them!? To be "normal" or they'd make fun of him. Ichika was way better than that.

Onee-chan was even better – like the bestest compared to these dopes. Dorks. Touka said to call them dorks.

Touka also kept saying that they were being normal for five-year-olds but – and Ichika agreed with him – that was ridiculous!

And the reading was HARD.

But Ken was good for the reading so that didn't matter so much. He'd read them a new story over the last week (he and Ichika shared a room), which was really interesting, but also scary. But Ayato was brave, so it didn't matter than it was scary.

It was nice when Ken read them stories.

His dad had read Touka and him stories he thought.

Anyway…

He was really losing his trail of thought – it was difficult to pay attention to things. Words floated off the page and sitting still!? It was why he'd given up on being alert a few months ago. But he wasn't going to tell Onee-chan that.

No, he was losing it again…

Ayato stayed at the newest strange older man.

"Sorry, what did you say again?"

This one didn't have scars like Ken. But he did have white hair.

The man sighed. His voice was soft. "Do you feel safe here?"

"I guess."

"You guess?"

"Well, it's warm and there's food. And aunty Touka is home learning when Ken is at his job so… It's not boring… And onee-chan is here."

"So, do you feel happy here? With them?"

"Yeah. They're better than school – even if Ken makes me do reading and stuff and homework."

Strange man sighed…

Ayato shifted…

They were quiet for a while.

Ayato watched as the man's eyes kept sliding around the den. They had moved again for the third time last month. Aunt Touka said this was going to be the last move for a while.

The man took a deep breath in and sighed explosively.

"Have they ever hurt you?"

"No?"

"Do you want to leave?"

"Nah."

"Nah?"

"You can't tell Touka… But I wanna stay here. I know dads not coming back."

Ayato sighed.

"I just want to be happy here now."

The man nodded. "All right."

Year One

Touka was… happy?

At least, that's what she thought this feeling was?

Or maybe content – Ken said that one meant being something like happy and relaxed together.

And she was relaxed, so, yeah; she was content. She though it might have something to do with the feeling of normalcy life had taken.

She got up, went to school, did school, came home from school, and went to bed after reading or watching tv or hanging out with her little nerd siblings.

School was ok. She had made a friend there, called Kuroiwa Yoriko. Yoriko was cool.

Touka liked hanging out with her and talking about stuff like music or idols – and even sometimes movies.

But she was going to be moving school soon, so she didn't want to get too attached. It would only hurt more.

Uncle Ken was a teacher now, teaching English and English literature. So, she, Ayato, and Ichika were going to be moving to the school he was going to start teaching at. Touka didn't really care if she let herself be honest. Things changed all the time it seemed, why get attached?

But it was nice when she and Ayato and Ichika were doing their homework after school, because aunt Touka would sit with them and do hers as well. That wouldn't change when they moved, she thought. She hadn't known adults did homework.

She didn't want to do homework forever.

For some reason Ken always laughed a little when she said that. Apparently she'd "understand when she was older." Ass. Aunt Touka gave better answers about it – she said she only did homework as an adult because she was studying at a university: studying law. If her homework was any indication their countries law was very complex and old – but Touka made it seem interesting.

Touka was way smarter than Ken. Cooler too. Her kagune was just like her own. And she doesn't call me Tou-Tou. Touka glared into the sink and imagined the dirty dishes quaking as she cleaned them. Tonight, had been a "snack" night – they had had a platter of "sausages" and pickled knuckles and diced tongue while doing homework.

Ken and Touka said it was important to learn control when eating. Learn to share and be comfortable with family being in the same space.

Her dad would have said "learn to be civilised" but she got it. One couldn't lose focus on their surroundings just because they were hungry and eating, could they?

She couldn't forget, though, how fearful she had been when they first met. Couldn't forget the terror. But…

Maybe– just–

–Maybe – her dad really had forgotten to mention Touka and Ken?

Maybe her mother had had a sister?

Touka didn't know.

But I might just pretend it's true… If only because that makes these feelings more right.