Kie's Awakening

"No... It didn't work. Keep trying, though, or you won't be able to go in public..." Kie sighed and blinked her eyes a couple more times. She felt no change. Was there something she could see herself in? A way she could resist the smell of the meat? Oh, the meat...

Willpower. You're not that hungry.

She glanced around, pulling herself into a sitting position and throwing the covers off of her as the others chattered. She took notice of her new big black sweater, red leggings, and colorful socks and eyed them with satisfaction before resuming her search. No reflection to see. More blinking. Oh my god. Her eyebrows were starting to furrow together in frustration, a corner of her mouth turning downward.

"Good, but work on sustaining it... And you need to stop sniffing the air. That will attract attention." It was rare to find someone with a voice as kind as the one Daichiko carried. She noticed that he turned his head her way.

"Akeno knows me pretty well, and Mikiko follows Akeno due to Erika entrusting her into his care."

Kie nodded slightly, glancing between the two opposites. Movement from Daichiko brought her attention back to him. He had his mouth blocked from Akeno.

"He's pretty bad at being a caretaker, though." He said quietly.

Kie chuckled weakly at his words, her eyes drifting to Akeno to see if he had heard. His expression said that he did. "I heard that, Daichi. Maybe if you had come sooner, Erika would have entrusted her to you." He grumbled angrily. Kie grinned slightly as she squeezed her eyes shut once more. Come on... change... She wanted to go outside. She wanted to smell the fresh air and not be in any danger at all.

How long had her eyes been unnatural?

Was she supposed to be able to visualize her normal eyes?

"Hey, can't help it. Anyway, I guess you must have a lot of questions... I am free to answer them right now, if you want."

She kept her eyes closed - waiting to feel a change - as she took the second to think of any questions. First things first...

"Is there a tip to doing this? The eye thing?" She whispered, her tone annoyed, as her eyes opened and revealed nothing more than her bored-looking kakugans. She had a couple more questions, but she desired to eat first. Or, at least, feel the accomplishment of knowing she can change her eyes to that of a human's.

"Well... It's a hard concept to explain, actually. Think of it as a muscle, and yours is out of practice; it's weak and needs to be trained. Whenever you use your Kagune, for example, your Kakugan will always be force out because the muscles are practically connected, however... Just like one can control the muscles in the face to move their ears by their self, I can do the same with my Kakugan and Kagune... Well, that's a bit off topic, and a bit farther in practice."

He pointed to his ears and smiled, the ears moving. He stopped smiling and they moved back into place. A second later, they moved on their own.

"Anyway, it'll just take practice, but I believe that you'll eventually figure it out."

Mikiko was sniffing around again, her face becoming more and more confused as she smelled an oddity in the building. She rushed to the door, but her arm was caught by Daichi, a piece of meat dangling in front of her face.

"You'll meet him soon enough, but not yet."

"Well... It's a hard concept to explain, actually. Think of it as a muscle, and yours is out of practice; it's weak and needs to be trained. Whenever you use your Kagune, for example, your Kakugan will always be force out because the muscles are practically connected, however... Just like one can control the muscles in the face to move their ears by their self, I can do the same with my Kakugan and Kagune... Well, that's a bit off topic, and a bit farther in practice." Kie raised a pale eyebrow at his lengthy explanation. Daichiko pointed to his ears and smiled, and she watched in confusion and surprise as his ears began to move. He stopped smiling and they stopped, but then they began to move again. "Anyway, it'll just take practice, but I believe that you'll eventually figure it out."

"That's so... weird..." Kie murmured, her voice crackly. People could do that? Could she do that? Her expression showed something that sat between awe, disgust, and the state of being weirded out. She'd heed his advice, however. She closed her eyes and made her koukaku start to come out, stopping them short and paying attention to the feeling in her back and the feeling within her eyes. She searched for a connection between them to the accompaniment of Mikiko's sniffing noises. Now was the time to ask another question, she supposed.

"Who's--" She began, retracting her koukaku with force, attempting to take take the kakugan away with it.

"You'll meet him soon enough, but not yet."

"Huh?" She opened one eye to see who was talking to who. Daichiko had caught Mikiko's arm by the door. What had she been able to smell through all of these new scents? Who was he talking about? She glanced over at Akeno by the window and was caught off guard by a sharp pain that shot through her eye briefly. "Agh..."

She had managed to turn her eyes normal for that short amount of time before they snapped back to their kakuganic state, though she wasn't able to tell, of course. All she could tell was that the light had just hurt her eye. She opened both and looked at the light again, unharmed.

Daichi turned back to Kie in time to see her eyes, his brow raised. He took a piece of flesh and threw it her way.

"Keep practicing, but you're starting to get the hang of it. There's something I'll have to look into, however, due to your intolerance of sunlight." he continued, and he went back downstairs, leaving the plate of meat with them. Mikiko was the closest, so she quickly took some of it before sliding the plate between the other two with her foot. Akeno grunted, signalling that Kie could go first, and he'd take the leftovers... If any.

"Next," came a muffled voice from behind the door, and Daichi entered into the room again, "you will each learn to eat human food." he kicked open the back door and pulled out a trash-can, decently sized. "Eat over here, and whenever it hits, use the trash-can please."

He put down a plate of multiple sandwiches, picking one up and eating it himself.

Mikiko was looking at Daichiko with a sense of curiosity, taking one of the sandwiches and eating it.

One second she was chewing, the next she was vomiting into the trash-can, Daichi unable to not smirk.

"Thank you for using the trash-can."

Kie wasn't expecting the piece of flesh, but was pleased all the same when she caught it. Had she done it and not realized it?

"Keep practicing, but you're starting to get the hang of it. There's something I'll have to look into, however, due to your intolerance of sunlight." He said, going back downstairs.

Awesome. An intolerance to sunlight. Sounds awesome. Did that mean that now that she was finally free, it would be painful to go outside? She sighed as she set down the cup and popped the flesh into her mouth, looking at the plate Daichiko had left behind. Mikiko was already taking meat off of it, and once she got her fill she slid it towards her and Akeno. Akeno grunted at Kie to go first, and she didn't mind. She reached out and silently took a few pieces, leaving a good amount for the big guy. Bigger people needed more food, right?

Besides, she didn't want to eat too much and give herself a stomach ache like she often did in the pit.

She scoffed those pieces down by the time Daichiko's voice returned. "Next, you will each learn to eat human food." Something about the way he said it made her nervous to try. He kicked open the door and pulled out some sort of container. "Eat over here, and whenever it hits, use the trash-can please."

When it hits?

He set a plate of something down, took one of those somethings and then ate it. They sort of looked good. What was the big deal? She pushed herself off the bed. The feeling of actually wearing socks was new, but pretty nice. Heck, the feeling of warm clothes was nice in general. Mikiko was already at the plate by the time she had shuffled over there, and she too was eating. What was so wrong with--

A retching sound. She glanced down and saw that she was throwing up in the bin. "Thank you for using the trash-can."

Kie eyed the plate with reluctant eyes. She didn't want to throw up... Not after she had just eaten. She picked one of the somethings up and was surprised to find they were soft. "...what is it?" She mumbled, her eyes locked on it.

Ugh, she'd have to eat it, wouldn't she?

Once Mikiko finished vomiting, Kie put a small piece of the human food into her mouth, as she had seen Daichiko and Mikiko do, and bit down. A piece fell onto her tongue. Alright...

She chewed slowly, uncertainly. Then, the flavor of it coated her mouth and she gagged. Oh. The taste was repulsive, gross, disgusting. Another gag and she placed a cold hand over her lips. Swallow, swallow, swallow!

She swallowed it down. She didn't want to puke in front of anyone.

Her stomach was becoming increasingly upset, her mouth fillings itself full of saliva. She kept her hand pressed against her lips, determined to keep it down. She dropped the remainder of the human food back onto the plate and scrambled walked around to the opposite side of the bin, out of the way so the others could access the plate. She got sat on the floor and hunched over the foul smelling trash and waited.

Her expression foretold great misery.

"Well, I'll leave you to your own devices, then. I'll give you a hint if you can manage to stomach it for more than three minutes." he turned around and reached for the door, his hand closing around the handle as he thought, and reciprocated this thought to words before closing the door behind him, "Please use the trash can."

Mikiko backed away from the food, and the nearly vomiting Kie, and hid behind one of the beds, not wanting to even look at the food that caused her such an unpleasant experience. Akeno, curious, walked over and picked one of them up, biting half of it and swallowing. His expression unchanged, he looked from Kie to the food, and then to Mikiko.

"Foul." he said as he put the other half down and walked away, reverting his gaze back out of the window. He liked the view, though it took him a while for his eyes to adjust, and the smell of humans was so overwhelming that he couldn't smell anything else.

Meanwhile, Daichi locked them into the room so that they wouldn't start flooding downstairs. A human smell was getting stronger and stronger as he made each step, and the moment he got downstairs he was met by a hallway. He skipped a set of doors and took the next one on the right, walking into an open room and seeing a human dressed in a lab coat. They looked up, grunted, and then got back to whatever it was they were working on.

"Any information?" he asked, and the scientist grunted again. Daichi sighed and picked up one of the vials of his own blood, sniffing it before placing it back down. He then picked up a vial of Kie's blood and swished it around. At heart, he wanted to know everything he could about the physiology of a ghoul. Using himself help, but using multiple people is even better.

"Well, I might be heading in for work today, you want anything when I get home?"

The scientist nodded. Daichi understood that, having bought him food plenty of times, and closed the door. A loud thud could be heard as Daichi made his way back up the stairs, opened the door, and looked in at whatever new scene was being shown to him.

Seconds seeming like hours passed in silence as Kie stared into the stinky depths of the trash can. "Well, I'll leave you to your own devices, then. I'll give you a hint if you can manage to stomach it for more than three minutes." Another gag as she listened to his exit and her hand flew to her mouth. Three minutes... "Please use the trash can." Her eyes glared up at his disappearing body before she turned her scarlet gaze downwards once more. Another wave of nausea squeezed her eyes shut. A low moan escaped her lips. "Damn..."

A flurry of footsteps, big and small. She glanced up to see that Mikiko had fled and Akeno was holding a piece of the wretched thing in his hand. He bit into it and the memory of doing so caused Kie's stomach to shift. Had she ever felt this way before? Keep it down, keep it down... Oh, the tightness and discomfort in her stomach made her want to curl into a ball. And possibly die afterwards.

Kie's pained face watched as he swallowed it, her eyes quickly narrowing when she saw that he reacted almost indifferently. "Foul." was all he said before he dropped the remaining piece of food back onto the plate and returned to the window to gaze out of it once more. He made the process seem simple. Was it? Some how?

"Really?" Kie growled, her face becoming blank as she placed a hand to her mouth for a moment, swallowing bitterness and a sick feeling she couldn't shake. Three minutes... She thought as heated pain shot through her body. C'mon, simple. Keep it down. Keep it... Just three--

A wretching sound as the human food resurfaced into the garbage can. "...ow..."

She glanced down guiltily at it before gently rubbing her neck, as though the touch would take away the sting within it. She sighed. How will I survive out here? My eyes won't change, I can't eat human food... who knows how many more tests I'll fail? I get my shot at freedom and I'm going to ruin it, aren't I...? She glanced up at Mikiko and Akeno, people she barely knew but felt such a pull towards. They both had done pretty well so far. Could she say the same about herself?

Her heartbeat picked up slightly. I... I'll be able to do it eventually, right? They won't abandon me if I can't, right? I've... got to get out there! A sharp inhale.

With a panicked pace, she crawled back over to the plate and stuck another bite of sandwich into her mouth. I've got to do this. I will act human. I will survive in this world. I will live and I will be happy living the life I've always--

Another gag as she swallowed. Her head lowered and her eyes locked on the floor, determined as ever. ... wanted to... I'll do it. I have to. She placed a hand on the table as the waves of disgust began to travel through her. This time, however, it wasn't as obviously shown on the outside. That was one of her specialties. She was good at hiding things, at making sure that more was happening on the inside than on the outside. A lot of people learned to do it in the pits. Maybe the skill would prove to be all she needed in this world.

With her free hand she pushed her hair from her face and wiped the beads of sweat from her face with the back of her hand.

I can do it, I can... I will... She glanced back at the door as Daichiko made his way in.

"Well, everybody, I will be leaving shortly." Daichi said to the occupants of the room, and he put out another plate of sandwiches. "Since I'm leaving at such a short notice, I have a couple of things that I am going to ask of you. First, I need all of you to stay here, in this house, for at least until I get back to explain a few life or death things to you. Second, there is a human scientist downstairs, and he knows that we are all ghouls. He won't hurt us as long as you don't bother him, so leave him be. Third, keep on practicing with each-other. For eating the food, try swallowing it without chewing, and don't try to taste it."

He then turned around and opened the door, pausing under the archway.

"If any of you leave this house, you will probably be hunted down and die."

The door closed and locked again, and Akeno looked at the other two, his eyes like a humans. He smirked at Kie's eyes, and looked at Mikiko.

"Well, I'm pretty much done. Looks like you both are on your own." Akeno said, going back to staring out the window. Mikiko, however, did not like the idea of this.

"B-but. It tastes baaaad! I don't wanna!" she whined, shaking her head at the same time. "No no no!"

"Wanna go outside?"

"Yes."

"Eat.

"Bu--"

"Eat."

She opened her mouth to persist, but stopped herself and grumpily walked over to the food, picking up another, biting into it, straining obviously.

Twenty seconds passed.

Vomit. She just barely made it to the trash-can.

"Keep trying."



Daichi opened his door and left, briskly walking the sidewalk in his fresh suit. He continued, not looking over his shoulder or caring much about his surroundings until he reached his destination, a massive structure of glass. It wasn't as big as the main one, but it was decently large. He checked his clock and waited at the door.

Twelve seconds.

He passed through the door, and then skipped past the ghoul detector, successfully entering. He made his way through the building as he searched for where he wanted to go.

"Uso!" he heard, a slightly familiar male voice. He turned to see his new partner, Takuya, and he kept on turning.

"I'm busy, Takuya." he said as he got into the elevator and closed the doors, Takuya only three feet away as the doors slid closed completely.

Daichi sighed as the elevator made its way up.

"Well, everybody, I will be leaving shortly." He said, putting another plate of the human food on the table. "Since I'm leaving at such a short notice, I have a couple of things that I am going to ask of you. First, I need all of you to stay here, in this house, for at least until I get back to explain a few life or death things to you. Second, there is a human scientist downstairs, and he knows that we are all ghouls. He won't hurt us as long as you don't bother him, so leave him be. Third, keep on practicing with each-other. For eating the food, try swallowing it without chewing, and don't try to taste it."

Kie nodded slightly. She could probably throw this up now. She glanced quickly at Akeno, who must have already known the hint. It is sort of simple, I'm just an idiot. As she made her way to the trashcan, the urge to vomit becoming more strong, she heard one last line from Daichiko before he left.

"If any of you leave this house, you will probably be hunted down and die."

We get it... She thought. She then vomited once more. She looked up to see Akeno smirking, his eyes changed.

"Well, I'm pretty much done. Looks like you both are on your own." He said, going back to looking out the window. Kie's eyebrows lowered slightly as jealousy panged through her. She grabbed another thingy and stared at it for a second with hatred before taking a careful bite, taking size into consideration, and swallowing it whole. Minimum taste. Much better.

"B-but. It tastes baaaad! I don't wanna! No no no!" Kie couldn't help but roll her eyes at Mikiko's annoying whine. She looked up at the child who was shaking her head with passion.

"Wanna go outside?"

"Yes."

"Eat.

"Bu--"

"Eat."

Kie watched as Mikiko stomped over to the food. It was by that time that she realized with surprise that her stomach was still somewhat settled and that she wasn't over the trashcan. The ache in her stomach was minuscule to the pain that had been present in previous attempts. She had done it. A wave of relief washed over her, a small smile appearing on her face.

Mikiko took another bite. Then threw up again some time later.

"Keep trying." Came Akeno's voice. Kie sighed. Can I help her somehow?

"Are you doing what Daichiko said?" She asked, holding the plate out to the child.

No elevator music, again. thought Daichi as he felt it moving upward, the discomfort of being forcefully pushed against the gravitational pull downward. He tapped his feet, thinking about what he could do with the new Quinque he had. These, of course, wouldn't be part of the public gallery to choose from, no. These were a bit more confidential than the rest of them. He couldn't let everybody know about a new ghoul in town, especially ones that he wanted to protect.

Speaking of Quinque, it was time to make a few calls. He pulled out his phone and dialed a number, the phone suddenly ringing loudly as he winced. He turned the volume down a little bit and waited.

"Hello! I don't know what name you're going by right now, but I'm doing my checkup to see how your Quinque is!" he said, and the reply he got back was slightly hostile and dodging the question. Daichi smiled, "Come on! You know I like to check up on my little creations. Why do you have to be so rude about it?"

There was a light silence before he was suddenly questioned, and Daichi's face turned to shock for a second. That's true, he didn't call the past few days.

"Oh, well, I wasn't feeling well so I decided that it'd be best if I took a couple days off. I talked to the superiors about it, and they were okay with it. I was at home resting. Sleep does help, you know! Maybe you should try getting more of it."

He didn't buy it, but there's nothing to prove Daichi wrong. Daichi opened his mouth to speak again before the call dropped.

Bastard, he always does that. He dialed another number and called, he hadn't asked Kou in a couple of days either, and there were many others that he was checking up on.

"Kou! Was wondering how your Quinque is doing, and if there's anything that needs adjusting." he asked quickly, his mind racing in between images of each of his Quinque. Kou replied in short, and Daichi's eyes narrowed.

"Really? When was the last time you used it?" he asked, his skepticism masked by curiosity. The reply he got was a bit disheartening.

"Oh. I take it you don't have to use it much, huh? Well, do you feel that you may need a new Quinque? You've had that one for a couple of years now." Daichi liked to make new Quinque for people, but a lot of people didn't feel like they needed new Quinque, even if they might.

"Oh... You sound a bit tired, were you just in a fight?" He was slightly upset at the fact that Kou possibly didn't use her Quinque in a fight for a long while. Then he got a reply a bit longer than the others, but Daichi didn't believe it in the slightest.

"Now we both know you don't need to workout. All you have to do is eat a box of fish-sticks and you can crunch a head with your fingers." he chuckled, thinking about how fish-sticks actually tasted. You know, other than gross human food. What did humans taste when they ate it? Kou replied.

Daichi's thoughts ended as he felt himself digging a grave.

"Aha. Not anymore? I'll buy you a box of fish-sticks next time I see you. Well, just wanted to do my daily Quinque check up! You should try using it more often." he replied, trying to brush the topic away before he got his own head crunched.

Send him some ghouls to beat up? Easy.

Annoy people to know about his little creations? Of course!

"Well, yeah, I do. I like to know how my little creations are doing! Anyway, I'll tell more people to go your way. See ya around, Kou." he said, ending the call.

He continued to make more phone calls as the elevator came to a stop, and he left the elevator to find a seat and looked outside, it was starting to get dark.

Meanwhile, Akeno roamed over to what looked like a huge pile of sheets, laid down, and started to go to sleep. Mikiko kept at the food and tried as hard as she could, but she just couldn't do it.

But, she wouldn't give up. She started trying by taking smaller and smaller bites, but wasn't managing it.

Puke, puke, puke. Kie pinched her nose against the stench and stared holes into Mikiko as she kept trying to keep the food down. Why is it so hard for her? Even the smaller bites didn't help the process. She didn't know what to do, or -- quite frankly -- what to say to a kid whose insides were probably torturing her. So, Kie set the plate on the table and began to walk slowly around the room, enjoying the feel of her new clothes.

To be honest, not a lot of things caught and kept her attention. Mostly because she didn't know what a lot of things were. She didn't quite know how she'd function in this world. She'd need a lot of lessons in a short amount of time. She put a hand to her face and brought it down to rest under her chin. Another disgusting sound from Mikiko. She glanced over at Akeno.

One thing she could do while Daichiko was gone was learn how to do the eye thing. Mikiko was busy, and Akeno was a master in her eyes. She sighed and made her way over to his resting place, standing there for a moment to see if he'd acknowledge her. When he didn't, she shook him a little harder than necessary.

"Help me with my eyes." Kie commanded, stepping back and waiting for a response.

Akeno opened his eyes carelessly as she spoke, not really noticing when she shook him. He sat up and looked her dead in the eyes, the reflection of her kakuganic state reflecting in his normal, human-like eyes. He then laid back down, closed his eyes, and started to go back to sleep.

"Don't think too hard on it, kid."

"Euuuuugh."

Mikiko was now on her back sleeping: The amount of stress caused on her small body had knocked her out. There were mumbling of what sounded like an adventure with her mom, but nothing too intelligible. As all of this was happening, a loud crashing noise could be heard from downstairs as something broke through the front of the building, an audible stomping up the stairs and the door exploded open and human stench filed into the room. Akeno was already up and ready to fight.

"If you want to live, follow me." said the man hidden behind multiple coats, bags, and gadgets. He kicked the glass of the window open and, to his surprise, in came multiple doves.

One being the head of the Ward.

"Ah, so it seems Uso does have some pets. He's been so helpful, though, I wonder why he'd keep this from us."

The scientist opened his mouth to protest, but silence echoed through the room as he said nothing.

And then it dawned on Akeno, his body automatically reacting. Mikiko awoke just as Akeno's kagune burst into the room, a kagune spear stabbing through his left arm, and the body of what used to be a human scientist fell apart in front of her eyes. Seconds after, Akeno fell to the ground, drugged.

Mikiko felt the blood rise through her body, felt the intense pain of no food.

Food.

She was hungry.

She was tired.

She was weak.

She needed to run.

No, eat.

She stood shakily, walking toward the filleted remains of the human. A dove was about to respond but the man in charge stopped him. Mikiko fell short, too tired to continue. Too exhausted. Too hungry.

"Call Uso." he said, a sharp pain stabbing into Kie's hand as the narcotics were injected into her system from the specialized quinque. It was made by Uso, of all people, so that it could change to the color of its surrounding, and if Kie were to look down, she's see an outline of the quinque.

Uso was just about to call the very man who he just answered.

"Hey! Was about to call you, actually."

"Found your pets. I can understand having one ghoul locked in your house, but three?"

"... Oh."