Kou Kou Time

White is so annoying...

Her eyes were squinted as she walked through the convenience store. Pure whites always had hurt her eyes. She had to put up with it at HQ but she thought stores should be warm colors. There was only one thing that she wanted from this blinding hell, she just couldn't really see them. A pounding sensation was beginning to resonate from within her head.

White should fucking die.

For just a moment her eyes opened much like a clam when she found what she was looking for. The fish sticks she was so intensely addicted to were within her field of view and just the thought of them made her saliva go mad. Her eyes came back to a squint as she made her way to it. The clacking of her shoes began to bounce off of the walls. Faster, faster, and even faster than that the intervals in which the clacks came decreased. Saying she was "in a frenzy" would be exaggerated yes, but not entirely inaccurate.

The door that housed the frozen food was flung open with ease and her hands lurched forwards, grabbing onto several boxes. One arm soon cradled the boxes she had as the other scrambled for more. 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, and eventually 20 boxes were in her grasp. There were still more boxes but she'd want those to spread the tale of the beast that stole away their loved ones; so she left them.

The cashier seemed troubled by the amount she had brought to the register. It seemed like her favorite was off today and a newer cashier was taking his place. He didn't say much of anything until he gave her the total. When he spoke a yellowish gray cloud came out of his mouth as though they were clinging onto his words for dear life. See Yuu has a rare condition called "Synesthesia" which in her case causes her to see colors with sound. Peoples voices are always more noticeable to her and often overpower any color she sees from background noise. Lastly these colors seemed to change as she got to know people. All this yellowish gray was telling her was that he seemed sickly to her which was backed up by his voice. He restated the total as she hadn't even motioned any currency towards him.

C'mon pay attention.

She dug into her pants and pulled out a large, crumpled wad of bills and just placed them on the counter. He didn't even bother counting it and just place it in the register before handing her the receipt. With this she left the store with 2 bags in either hand. Her right hand felt awkward holding her briefcase as well. But then again she couldn't help it. She was technically supposed to be looking for a certain ghoul that had caused a "bit" of trouble. Normally she'd go slack off somewhere but she considered this HER district. She lived there. She knew people around here. She worked her ass off to get the money to live here and she wasn't about to let some shitty B rank ghoul fuck everything up. BUT before she did any of this she needed to get the fish sticks home.

The sun was just above the horizon now. The sky was beginning to transition from blue to orange and transparent red clouds began to emanate from the now buzzing streetlights which would roll over themselves. It was nice. Much nicer than the inside of that convenience store. Honestly it was this exact atmosphere that she loved about district 20. It would be great if everyone got to experience it but as long as the current ghoul situation keeps going in the direction it's in...well she doesn't think everyone will experience district 20 any time soon. With this realization hitting her again her eye lids drooped lower.

Ughhh just stop thinking about it already.

It felt great out. The heat of day was now being suppressed by the cool breeze that often came around this time. She was still 15 minutes away from her apartment so she'd be able to enjoy the atmosphere for a while longer.

There was a "Kachunk" as she slid the key into the lock of her apartment. It emitted a transparent grey as it slide in and while she twisted it. With a leisurely pace she pulled the door towards her and stepped inside. After closing the door behind her she took a deep breath through her nose that allowed the overwhelming smell of sweat and overall musk inside of her nose. Blood rushed into her head which made her head feel quite warm even in the cold temperature she usually kept her place in.

Soon her shoes were off and her Quinque on the ground. A short walk later and she was at her fridge but more importantly her freezer. She opened it and place the fish sticks inside making the once nearly empty freezer a packed house of greatness. She wasn't quite hungry yet but should would definitely eat some later. Next she checked the cabinet and revealed a single bottle of sauce. It was almost empty which kind of depressed her. She had some extremely picky tastes and this sauce was what let her enjoy almost anything. It was incredibly thick and spicy. The sauce was made by her mother who was a wonderful cook. She could cook anything and Kou would be able to eat it all in a more barbaric manner. She usually had easily 10 in that cabinet which would last her about 2 weeks but she wouldn't go over to her parents for their biweekly dinner till tomorrow. Still what little was left would be enough to last her...hopefully.

A beeping sound made the air fill with another transparent grey. It's sound was telling her that it was time to start working out. Her hands moved to each other and removed the gloves she always wore when out of the house. Afterwards they moved to her waist where she grabbed the bottom of her suit jacket, dress shirt, and her beige, rib stitched sweater. She knew it wasn't the proper way to take off the first to but she didn't really give a fuck about em. Her suit pants and stalking were next. Once removed she was only left with spats and a sports top that ended just beneath her breasts. She looked down at them and felt slightly uncomfortable. She didn't like their size. C felt too large to her and although not often it did inhibit her movements sometimes. At some point she considered breast reduction but decided to leave them as they are. What she did feel good about was the rest of her body. It wasn't Ripped but it wasn't toned. Her arms and legs had well defined muscles and her stomach...let's not even talk about that bad boy.

She went into her living room which was more of a room filled with workout equipment than it was somewhere to relax in a traditional fashion. Her back slammed onto the bench press and she got to work. She was lift 200 pounds of a steel without much struggle. It was difficult to lift more and keep her shape (which is what she was worried about) so she generally stayed away from going above 250lbs. She did this for an hour before she heard more beeping. She got off and went over to the treadmill and ran on that for 2. She by the time she finished the rest of her workout it had been 6 hours. Afterwards she took a shower and ate before going to bed.

She opened her eyes and saw a childrens book. She opened the pages it and knew instantly she was dreaming. For whatever reason her Chromesthesia didn't seem to be a thing in her dreams. Regardless she let it play out.

There once was a boy. The boy lived in a village and was friends with everyone young and old. One day the younger kids went into the hills to play. They were gone for a while but then they came back crying. "There was a scary boy!" they screamed. "He took our ball!" they yelled. "We'll never see it again." they cried. They boy, without saying a word, ran into the hills and came to a meadow. There was small house there with a boy and a girl kicking a ball back and forth. It was weird because he kept going. He searched for this boy until it was sunset. On his way back he found the same house. They boy and the girl were still playing outside. He confronted the boy and they started arguing. The older boy grabbed onto his robes and pulled his arm back. Although he didn't hit him. In fact his hand didn't move at all. The boy from the village opened his eyes and saw the girl holding his sleeve back. Both boys were suprised. The boy gave the ball back and then he left. Although, on the way back he kept thinking about the girl "She was cute" he thought.

The book slowly faded out of her hands. That couldn't have been the end. She suddenly felt tired and fell asleep. It felt like only a few seconds had passed but she had woken up to her alarm. It was 4:30 now.

"I have some shitty dreams."

After her quick morning routine she was able to leave the house. Today was going to maybe be a bit more fun because she finally had a day off. On top of this she was going to be taking the train and bus to her parents place. This always excited her because on certain days the bus and train would be filled with the colors of peoples voices. Sure it made it hard to focus but it was definitely a nice sight. She would have some time to kill before she actually made her way to her parents place so she would probably fuck around for a couple of hours.

The wait was honestly more annoying than anything. She picked up a news paper from a nearby store and skimmed through most of it. It was fairly uninteresting except for a rumor article that mentioned something about an underground ghoul slave ring in one of center districts.

What do they mean by ghoul slave ring? Are the ghouls keeping humans as slaves or the other way around...or something completely different?

It honestly puzzled her as to how this was going on. After thinking about it for a bit she figured it was either ghouls enslaving humans or ghouls enslaving ghouls. Both were spooky thoughts. One was to be expected by most but if the other was true then there has to be insanely strong ghouls somewhere near the S ranks in the center districts.

Hopefully they don't spill outwards over here...

What was it even like to be a slave to a ghoul? were they actually being enslaved or were they just too spooked to fight back against a stronger ghoul?

Hmmmm

She decided to save the thought for another day and turned the page. As she did so she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She opened it and checked her email. What'ya know there was a new message in her inbox. It was from an old-ish friend from their high school days. She could feel herself falling back into her passive aggressive tendencies she had back then.

This is fucking fantastic.

She opened it and it read "Call me" which made her a bit more angry than it should have.

If you wanted to talk to me you shoulda fuckin called in the first place.

She called her and it rang 3 times before she actually answered. She opened her mouth to say hi but her friend had already begun dating.

"Hey Kou! I was wondering if you wanted to come with me and 2 friends...well one friend to a cafe tomorrow?"

"Can you not count? Why two then one?"

"Well i mean you don't haven't had a boyfriend yet right? I was thinking tha--"

"First off yes. Second off I don't want one. Third tell me what 'cafe' so i can hang up before you make me break my phone."

There was a high pitched squeal before her friend replied. "It's the one near Anti....-whatever the fuck art studios. By the way could you wear something nice that's only one layer? Not for the guy but for me?"

Kou opened her mouth instantly decline but was cut off yet again by an offer. "I'll buy you as many fish sticks as you want. You still like those right?"

"...A crate of them."

"You want a crate of fishsticks so your best friend can see you dressed nicely?"

"No i said a great amount of them...OF COURSE I SAID A CRATE!!!"

"Don't scream! Jesus i think you broke my ears, and fine you can have a crate; be there by noon yeah?"

She didn't bother answering and hung up. The phone fell back into her pocket with a little guidance from her hand.

The question is should i waste my lunch break on this?

She looked up and saw that there were a few people staring at her. She probably ruined the atmosphere by screaming about a crate. They probably thought she was a smuggler or something. It was with this that Kou headed to the train station.

She wasn't even there yet and she could see an array of colors coming from peoples mouths. Dark purples, bright reds, pinks, greens, and a black? That was odd. She's only seen 6 people with a black color to their voice, two of which is her father and mother, and all of them she had gotten to know before their voices turned black. She followed the black trail of the voice as best as she while also walking into the train station. She lost it a couple of times between all the colors before losing it completely. Just as the walls of the train station were swallowing her she found it again. It lead her to a window coming from a nearby building. She tried to study the building to help her remember which one it was until she heard the intercom state that her train was there. As much as she'd love to find the person behind the black voice she'd rather not miss her train. So she gave up and delved into the depths of the station.

They rolled in front of her house. It was midnight now. They had to make a series of odd stops along the way. The most uncomfortable of which being HQ. Something about having a him alone in the car was unsettling. She had been asked to retrieve containers like this before. She was sure that some would be turned into Quinque but, she was positive that some were being held onto. Still she had little no evidence to support her claims so she kept it under wraps.

The familiar sound of her key sliding into the lock was inviting her to pass out. Still she had to at least stay up long enough for him to get all of his stuff outta the car. It was a raging battle for her. The tentacles of exhaustion were trying their best to wrap themselves around her mind. They gained more ground each time Jian entered the house with more boxes.

When will it end?


The process of transferring boxes from the car to Kou's place woulda been easy. Fast even. However, he did enjoy seeing her nod off. He might have been purposefully taking less than he could to extend the process. He also knew that if she caught on he'd prolly suffer, but to him this was worth the risk. By the time he had actually finished she was already passed out on the couch.

Wait...where am I supposed to sleep now?

He forgot about that bit. Still, sleeping in her bed was probably out of the question so he'd have to sleep on the floor. He went and locked the rantal then the door before falling asleep himself.


Kou's eyes fluttered open. She was on a plane this time. Another dream? Honestly it's getting annoying. See looked around but didn't see a book. She let out a sigh of relief. IT was short lived though cause the monitor on the back of the seat in front of her buzzed on. It had a large amount of text. The font size was pretty small to fit all the text on it. She leaned forwards and began to read.

They boy and the girl were now a man and a woman. Her brother had passed away a while back and he moved in with her to take his place. They had become intimate enough and were getting married quite soon. However, something was off. See the boy had joined the rest of the men in the village had formed a group dedicated to hunting a group of monsters that had great power. It was tricky because they looked like humans but they did have one distinct feature; they feasted upon human flesh. Every time he successfully slew one of these monster he'd come home and tell the girl all about it. She seemed glad to see that he came home safe but there was something off about her. Although she acted as if she were interested her expression always conveyed a different emotion. One of sorrow. Perhaps she didn't like the thought of him putting himself in danger. The days till their wedding came closer and his tales of success expanded. Each new tale brought a new shade of sorrow to her face. Soon the wedding was a single day away. While the boy was in the village he heard a few men talking about his, soon to be, wife. They claimed to be sleeping with her! In just a few seconds he made many links in his mind. "This is why she's had that look on her face" he thought. With haste he sprinted back to their house. He collected his thoughts at the door before entering. If he was to do this he wanted to do it in a dignified manner. When he found her she was in their room sitting by the window. He approached her and asked if she was being dishonest with him. "Yes" she said. Blood was rushing into his head and his whole body was becoming a raging fire. "WHY" he yelled "AM i NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?" She looked at him with a puzzled face. "What are you saying" she asked. Relief came over him. It was a misunderstanding. The men in the village were probably just talking without truth behind their words. "What is it you've been dishonest about" he asked. "do you love me" she asked. He nodded. "Even if I wasn't good looking" she asked. He nodded again. She rose to her feet and closed her eyes. When she opened them again they were just like those of the monsters he had been hunting. "No.NONONONONON" his mind was screaming at him. How could he have fallen for this siren?! "I wish you had been bedding the men in the village instead." He drew his blade and charged her.

The screen lost power and went black. The plane was shaking violently now. Then an explosion came towards her from the front! She covered her face with her arms and closed her eyes.

Kou shot into and upright position panting. She looked to her right and saw that Jian was sleeping on the floor.

I have shitty dreams.

The sun was beginning to spill into the room now. She arose to her feet aand drowsily wandered into the kitchen and leaned over the oven. Something was telling her she should look at the clock that was built into the oven itself. She squinted and saw that it was 10:30. I'm late again. She stood there, still squinting at the clock, trying to come up with an excuse as to why she was so late. The only one they'd more than likely let her off with would be if she fought with a ghoul. Actually, they'd want a body or some sign of evidence that she had fought one. She looked over her shoulder and saw Jian. Maybe I should just kill him and use him as my excuse.

Needless to say she decided against it and called her superior. There was a click and his voice instantly began emitting through the speaker. "Hello CoCo, actually I should start calling you slacker if you're late like this."

"Sorry I'm on my way now."

"Oh? You don't have to actually. I told everyone you're collecting the rest of the Kakuhou and will probably be back by the end of the day."

"But I delivered them last night."

"I know but you have more to pick up around "Your Ward" so get to it. You should still have time to go hang out with your friend though."

"Oh okay...Wait how did you know I had plans today."

There was a flat giggle on the other end of the line before he hung up. He's a creepy little fuck. But he was right. It would be rude if she just blew her friend off like that. Kou decided to forget about his snooping in exchange for covering for her.

Within an hour she had taken a shower, actually did something with her hair for once, got dressed and ate some of her fish sticks before looking in a mirror. She didn't look half bad. She was wearing some simple converse sneakers, a pair of well fitting, black jeans, and her favorite beige rib stitched sweater. Her hair game was on point as well. She actually had it down this time. It was just below her breast line and was wavy with an occasional half curl. However, she felt like she was being too flashy with a single layer. Her hips were easily distinguishable along with her breasts, legs, arms, basically everything. For a moment she thought about wearing more layers but she didn't. I can't jeopardize my payment. After taking another 2 outfits, a pair of dress heals, her uniform coat, and lastly her Quinque and placing them in the back seat of her car she left.

Half an hour later she had parked in a parking garage and walked to the coffee shop. She checked the time on her phone and it was 12:00 exactly. Least I'm on time for this. Another 5 minutes and a women and two guys were approaching her.

"Hi Kou...Kou?" She seemed confused for some reason.

She looked at the midget girl that was calling out to her. She was wearing a sky blue sundress with a small over coat. Kou didn't bother examining the two guys with her. Her face had a confused expression while she stared at her face. Do I have something on my face?

Her friend spoke up but her eyes were looking away from Kou and her face was changing colors. "I-I didn't think you'd actually dress nicely. I mean, thank god you have those moles under your eyes or I would've mistaken you for another person." A nice, dark shade of blue came out with her words just like it did when they were in high school. "By the way...why are you wearing that coat?"

Had she never actually told her that she was working for the CCG? Meh. Still, she'd have to tell her later. For now she just leaned forwards and gave her a simple hug. She embraced it and hugged back.Actually I'll do it now. "I work for the CCG, also, don't forget our agreement" she whispered into her ear in a slightly seductive tone. When she pulled back her friend seemed kinda flustered. "L-L-Let's go inside now" she was clutching her dress with both hands as she said this. A small grin crept across Kou's face. I forgot how much fun it was to tease her.

After an extremely short period of time they went inside of the coffee shop and sat down at a table. They three of them each ordered a different kinda of coffee; ones that Kou had never bothered learning. Kou had ordered just a simple glass of water and the one "friend" the brought along shot her a look. Alright, fuck you too cunt. While they were waiting for their drinks her friend introduced the two men one man and the child she had brought with her. Her man was named Takeo and they had met roughly a year ago. Apparently she had wanted to introduce them for a while but never got the chance because of how busy Kou had seemed.

Kou sighed. "I'm as busy as I was before just ask next time, Little Bee."

"Don't call me that." Her cheeks were puffed out now and the pink in her face from before was subsiding.

"What do you want me to call you then?"

"My name. Yu-Ki-ko."

"Little Bee is better and you know it."

"Don't make me hit you."

"Your 'hits' are more like stings. Kinda like the stings a little bee would give."

They continued back an forth while the two guys watched and listened. Somewhere in their "argument" Takeo's friend leaned over and whispered something to him. Kou could only hear bits and pieces of it. From what she gathered he said something along thee lines of "Why are they ignoring us?" Kou changed her attention to the two. More the friend than Takeo. "If you wana keep things hushed might want to text it to eacother."

"CoCo..."

"I know, sorry...What do you do Takeo?"

He sat up straight, with both hand s on his knees, and raised his voice. It was pretty deep; kinda like a bear's roar. "I'M CURRENTLY TRAINING TO BECOME A RANK 3 INVESTIGATOR! I'M TRULY HONORED TO BE IN A, SOON TO BE, FELLOW OFFICERS PRESENCE!"

"H-Honey, no need to yell..."

"Oh?! Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, Yuki."

To be honest she liked Takeo already. Sure he was lacking social skills and had a thick head on his shoulders; however, he was honest and seemed to know where he was in life. Along with this his color were pretty unique to him. It was A darker green but with hints of pink floating around in it. It was the first time she had seen anything like it.

"Bee you're lucky to've found Big Bear over here."

"Big Bear? You mean Takeo?"

"Yes I mean Big Bear."

She puffed her cheeks out again. "You know I hate it when you do this."

"That's what makes it so fun you idiot."

This time Takeo spoke up. "H-Hey--" he was, however, cut off by Yukiko. "It's fine Honey. She's always been like this so don't hold it against her."

"Oh."

Kou shifted her attention over to the "friend" they brought along. "And you are?"

"Finally, I'm--"

"So how've you been doing at Uni, Bee?"

His face was priceless. He was so easy to read. Right now he was thinking something along the lines of "Did this bitch really just do that?" She would have felt bad but she didn't. His fault for being a cunt. Yukiko noticed what was going on but there was little to nothing she could do anymore. Kou was already seeing his voice as white. "U-um I've been doing well. The classes are hard but Takeo has been helping me in my classes."

Oh? He's also good at school?

Yukiko shook her head at Kou. She probably caught on to what she was thinking by an expression she had made. Yukiko's expression was saying "I'm just saying this so he doesn't feel bad about not being able to help."

"I'm not the best at school, but I try to help Yuki where I can."

Kou shot a gaze at Yukiko to which she shot one back. It was saying "You're right I should be honest with him."

The friend spoke up now. "You know, since my father is friends with the professors he can probably talk them into giving you a better grade like he did for me. Of course it'll--"

Kou cut him off again. "Just keep working hard and you'll get it through your thick skull eventually."

The friends expression was becoming more sour. I LOVE IT! "Hey Kou, come with me to the bathroom."

"But I don't have to-" She didn't have a say in the matter. Yukiko was already tugging her along. The second the bathroom door closed she began to lay into her. "What the fuck are you doing CoCo? I thought you were actually try since you looked so good today but you're not even letting him talk."

"False, I let him say about one and a half sentences."

"You know exactly what you're doing! Why are you trying to make this go south for you two?"

"His voice is already white."

When Yukiko heard this her face assumed it's "crying stance" and her hand flew to her purse. She pulled out her phone hit a few keys and began talking the second the other side had picked up. "T-Takeo...W-We f-failed." She began crying into the phone at full blast. She isn't even trying to hold back. Loud footsteps were getting louder at an alarming rate. The door flew open and Takeo came flying into the bathroom. W-WAIT THIS IS THE GIRLS BATHROOM! They were both crying onto each other now. His cries sounded like a police cars siren and hers a young child's. "H-Hey you guys didn't fail per say." The second they heard this their cries stopped and there heads shot to her direction. "Really?" they said simultaneously. They're too in sync. She nodded. The both stood up and dragged her back to the table. They're too good at acting.

They all talked and took sips from their drinks for a while. Kou was playing nice with their friend for the time being. It was just he was so annoying. He couldn't go more than a minute without mentioning his dad or how his car was so nice. His narcissism was stronger than the cheap ass cologne he seemed to bathe in. Not to mention now he was making subtle movements on her. First he put his arm around her, which launched her back into being uncomfortable with the clothes she was wearing. Then he put his hand on her far shoulder. I'll kill him. He would pull his gross ligaments back to himself when Yukiko and Takeo would subtlety hint that he was doing the wrong moves. How did a guy like him even get to know the two across the table from them?

At least I only have to spend a bit more time here...

Suddenly she felt a hand on her thigh. I'm killing him. She grabbed a fork off of the table and stabbed it into his thigh. The prongs of the fork were completely in his leg. He showed that he was obviously in pain but didn't let too much noise out. Ohhhh a toughy are we? Takeo and Yukiko noticed but didn't do anything to help yet. Guess they were shocked that she actually lashed out. Just as she didn't think that he would retaliate. He tried to punch her square in the face but his movements were slow amateurish. She dodged with ease but didn't actually punch back. Not that she was holding back but she didn't get the chance to. Takeo's fist shot across the table then upwards, directly into their "friend's" chin. The impact actually took him and inch or two off of the ground. Kou seemed to be the only one who was surprised as Yukiko actually seemed to cheer Takeo on. Does he do this regularly?! Their "friend" was completely knocked out.

The three of them left with relative quickness, leaving the bill to him. Takeo and Yukiko apologized repeatedly stating that they had no idea he was like that. Kou reassured them that it was fine. Then she reassured them again...and again...and one more time for good luck. Afterwards the parted ways.

My mom shoulda taught me about the bears and the bees instead.

"Here it is....miss?"

Stop trying to learn my name.

She was at the last shop and was about to head to HQ as soon as the asshole gave her what she wanted. "You don't have to be so hostile with a business partner."

"I do have to be hostile towards providers who hold merchandise until given a name AND payment."

"Tch."

The owner of the shop slid the small cooler across the table to her. She snatched it and slammed the money on the table before leaving immediately. She hated the fact that scum like that was in her ward. As she was walking away from the exit a man whom was accompanied by some lackeys walked by her. She scanned their faces assuming they were apart of the "business" she had just dealt with. Most of them were pretty plain only wearing different color dress shirts under their unbuttoned suit jackets. They don't even try to hid the fact they're apart of some syndicate. The fuck are the CCG dealing with these shits for?[ /i] She scanned the most distinct one out of them all for more details. He had long blond hair that had a bun holding onto the hair from the back of his head. He had a large scar across his entire face from his hairline to the right side of his lip. It was jagged but didn't seem like a ghoul had done it. His voice was pale. She heard a high pitched whistle escape his mouth as she walked by.

She didn't look back because she knew his voice would be a blinding white now.

*********

The man and his "posse" entered the store and he spoke to the owner as the rest made themselves comfortable.

"Aye boss, who was the little girlie that walked by?"

"A bitch. Now shut the fuck up and go to the border of this Ward and Ward 15. Stop by an abandoned building and pick up a package coming from the head."

"Oh? What'd she do?"

He grunted and turned around. He wasn't going to divulge any more information.

[i]Typical of the old man.

His crew rolled out and took their time getting to the drop off point. Good thing too because they would have been waiting for even longer. They spent so many hours just fucking about waiting for the "package" to get there. At some point he whipped out his phone and called one of his contacts. It rang....and rang.... rang some more...and some more, but finally the ringing was broken by silence and a mumbling voice. "Mhwhat do y- want."

"You know anything about a girl with spider bitey moles?"

"Mmmmmm...Why?"

"Oh?! You know her~"

"Yea, she's a good friend why?"

"Hook me up."

"She'd murder me if I tried then she'd prolly kill you."

"You know that doesn't deture me."


The drive to HQ was ridiculously boring. Still she went ahead and pushed on. The process of carrying 5 small coolers was easy but...uncomfortable. She got a couple of weird looks while walking to the labs. The way she was carying them wasn't that odd, fucko's.

She opened the door and her superior was sitting there on a co workers desk. He turned and saw her. His flat voice rang out. "Why do you have one of the handle around your neck?"

"You made me gather them don't be picky about the delivery."

"Around your neck though."

He stared at her. His blank face gave no signs of movement but his hands shot towards a nearby phone and he dialed a number at lightning speed. The person picked up immediately and her superior began talking. "Sorry, I lied earlier Kou was--" Kou's hand slamed on the lever to hang up the call.

"You're a little shit."

"Your mouth gets you into these situations."

"Your nose in my personal business gives me this mouth."

"How did the pick ups go?"

HE'S FUCKING CHANGING THE SUBJECT! "THey went smoothly."

"....Damn."

Her face was twitching now. "I'm gonna sh--"

He interrupted her. "You're free to patrol the city like you always do Kou."

She almost jumped at the opportunity to leave but a question stopped her. "What's with the CCG gathering all of these Kakuhou?"

His eyes locked to hers now. This was a first time in a long time that he's done that.

"Hybridization."

Huh?

He laid back on the table and began humming. This was his way of telling her to leave already. She complied but he only made her want more answers. He always did this and it was kinda starting to get annoying. Though she should probably leave and return the car soon, else she'd get back to her near sun down.

Today the public transportation was pretty boring. There weren't many people and the few that were around weren't talking. Just talk so I can see the pretty stuff. On the bright side at least no one was talking to her. With so few people on transit the probabilities for delays decreased significantly and allowed for smooth rides all around. The screeching of train brakes always made it feel like she was emerging from a cloud of thin steam as she hopped off the train. Now she was free to patrol her city for a couple of hours before needing to head back home.

She stopped by a couple of shops to see what was going on. The elderly lady who ran a small sweets shop gossiped with her. Kou couldn't stand gossiping with people but the woman would get some company while she got information. Not that bad of a symbiotic relationship to be completely honest.

"Oh! You know I was talking to Hanako-chan earlier today. She said she saw some men in suits. She was saying that they were all apart of the mafia! I told her she was a idiot. 'Those types don't exist around here anymore' I told her. She's such a worry wart. Just like her mother I tell you. You know I saw her fooling around with that boy who skips school all the time."

"Where did Hanako say she saw them?"

"Oh? She said she was coming back from seeing her father in Ward 15. Something about them going into an industrial area. She thinks they're going there to make a huge deal but it's men in suits right? They're probably just some rich folk that wana buy the place out."

Kou thought about it for a bit. She didn't know anyone named Hanako personally but she was probably reasonable; right? But hearing something like that after dealing with the shops from earlier made her realize that maybe her ward wasn't as safe as she though it was after all. The woman was still talking but Kou interrupted her with "Sorry, but I have to go" and headed towards the exit. On the way she saw a small shrine with an old mans picture in it. Her chest tightened as though she were being constricted by a snake. Don't think about it...just move on. It took a moment to recollect herself. I need to stop coming to this shop. She always said this when she left. But she'd end up coming back anyways. She left and began walking straight towards the "Industrial area" that she had been informed of.


The phone was ringing next to his ear. It was an annoying ring tone for an annoying person. He had to force his eyes open. He opened it and saw a familiar name. He really kinda wished he didn't know the name though. He looked at the time and was really surprised. I slept for a really long time. He answered and looked behind him. Kou's stuff was gone but she was probably just out and about. He didn't wait for a "hello" but instead answered with "Mhwhat do y- want."

"You know anything about a girl with spider bitey moles?"

That's an odd description...WAIT! "Mmmmmm...Why?"Despite answering pretty calmly he was honestly worried.

"Oh?! You know her~"

"Yea, she's a good friend why?"

I'm gonna fucking eat him already.

"Hook me up."

That's a relief.

"She'd murder me if I tried then she'd prolly kill you."

"You know that doesn't deter me."

Just wait until you meet her you dumbass.

"No."

"Awww c'mon JJ. You know I've been in a dry spell."

I'M GONNA FUCKING EAT HIM!!!

"No."

"You don't have to be mad. If you're after her tail just say so!"

"Isn't like that."

"Friendzone? Or just too much of a bitch to make a move? If that's the case I might just take her..."

He went to reply but he was receiving another call. "Just a moment. Getting another call." He needed to cut ties with him soon or he'd end up in a bad position.

He picked up the other call. "Hello?"

"You sound a bit pissy." It was Kou.

"Yeah was just talking to someone else. What'd you need? I have them on hold."

"Just make a conference call with me and the other person."

This is bad. badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad.

"Pausing like this only makes me want you to do it more~"

"Fine."

"Being a pussy boy doesn't help either Jian."

He hung up on Kou and complied with what she wanted. The call with his "acquaintance" resumed and he added Kou. "How'd it go big--" he was interrupted. "How hungry are you right now Jian?" Oh shit. Something had happened within the last 5 seconds that changed her mood. He remembered that tone quite well. It usually meant she was going to do something, really, really, REALLY fucking dumb. He tried to answer but she didn't let him.

“Doesn’t matter. Border of Ward 15; abandoned warehouse.”

“Wait, don-”

“Don’t let it get cold.”

She had hung up but the other one was on the line. There was the sound of people yelling orders and the dial tone.

Jian scrambled to his feet ran fell towards the door, his face pushing it open. After a short tumble into the railing he caught himself with his hand and ran aimlessly into the city. He even forgot his mask.


CLICK

Kou came out of a nearby alley way full sprint. There were eleven bodies. Most of them were men one was a young-ish girl. She didn't recall seeing her with them earlier. Did they pick her up? She slid extended a leg outwards and swung as her momentum made her slid on the ground. It was a rough and weighty hit that almost made her fall onto her face due to a snag or two but she felt reassured by a now torso-less body.

Instant panic came across all except for the girl and Tweety. An extremely bright white began to fill the area. Tweety was covering the colors of his men's voices with his own.

"Protect the 'package' or we don't get paid" was the final order he barked out.

Six of her targets were acting as the vanguard now. They obviously weren't used to working with one another as their team work was sloppy. The other three formed a cone around the girl. Was she the "package" they were talking about.

"Disgusting" was the only word that she couldn't keep back.

"Coming from the bitch that just killed a man." Her eyelids jerked back involuntarily along with her body flinging itself outwards. She swung her Quinque expecting get at least three of them but it, instead, snagged a Bikaku.

Hah?!

She didn't bother forcing her way through just yet. Just because she only saw one Kagune right now didn't mean the rest didn't have any either. That being said the current one she was "struggling" with was C rank at best. Even while just blocking her Quinque was digging into the Bikaku. They couldn't hire anyone better? She stopped applying pressure allowing it to push her back. A smile crept across the face of the ghoul with the Bikaku. Does he really think he won that?

Her feet met the ground with a nice thump and the dirt loosened, flinging itself into the air in increasing volumes as she slid back. Everything slowed down for just a moment. Her hair swayed to one side in front of her face. She watched the last follicle move out of her vision; it lead her to focus onto the girl or "package" as Tweety was calling her. Am I even progressing? The muscles in her legs contracted and time sped up again. She shot herself forward towards Mr.Bikaku who was re-positioning his Kagune to block again. A quick(ish) triwl of her Quinque had it so the blade was positioned behind her.You're an idiot.Kou's quinque cleaved straight through the Bikaku like butter. The ghoul's face was priceless. At time Kou thought she could live off of those faces alone; she always got hungry before putting it to the test though. She turned her body, swinging again, this time actually hitting his body. There was a nice deep wound along with a pleasant spray of blood.

Her eyes drifted towards the girl again as time slowed yet again. Is retrieving her worth all these bodies? Who cares? They meant trouble...right?

The transparent red clouds of cowards footsteps were coming from her right. She pushed against the ground to cut them off but another, and extremely different, Bikaku was coming at her. Time sped up again as she leaned back. The bikaku came within millimeters of her face, allowing her to practically feel it's warmth. The balance change made it literally impossible to stay on her feet. So, she simply slide by the newer target with her blade out cutting through his leg. A quick slide to roll to dash was setting her up to get a nice and extremely "clean" kill but she had to stop when she heard gunshots and bits of dirt and a few sparks appeared in front of her. She stopped and glanced quickly to the right. The three that were guarding the girl had a hand cannon each.

Oh?! They're not all ghouls?

She charged towards them knowing her chances of being shot were slim. Their aim was shit. They were lucky they even hit the ground, which is sayin something. More shots were fired in her direction most missed. Most. One bullet managed to skim across her face, though, it would probably heal within a couple of days. Finally, she was in range. A quick, diagonal swipe and she had received her payment for the damage they did. Nothing like a good couple of hands. Another horizontal swing and she severed their torso's from the lower bits. It's so easy to clean up humans. Their bodies fell and she saw the girl again. She had a small rip in her clothes from Kou's previous attack. The girl didn't seem phased at all.

There was definitely something off about this girl. Was she blind? No. Her eyes were following Kou quite closely. She wasn't deaf cause she was doing what they rats were saying.

What a fucking singularity you are.

She'd have time to figure out what oddities the girl did or didn't have when she finished ripping the weeds out of the ground. Are weeds bad for gardens? The fuck kind of thought was that to be having in a fight? She charged forward once again with her Quinque right behind her. She stopped moving her legs again preparing to slide in for another swing. However, this time they actually countered with multiple people instead of one! How exciting! They actually managed to stop taking turns as though it was a JRPG. In all seriousness though Kou was hoping they wouldn't catch on.

In short she had to deal with two ghouls and one Tweety before she'd be able to move on to the girl.

What was once a one sided slaughter turned into a three verse one. Tweety n crew went on the offensive. Kou had to hustle to block their strikes and manage to strafe out of the way of the gun shots. These Leg-a-less (how clever) and the other ghoul weren't half bad. They were putting pressure on Kou which is what was stopping her from ending Tweety and, consequentially, them as well. They knew their win conditions and they were playing to it. Kou tried to smove faster but they just matched her speed.

Backstep-swing-miss-sidestep-block-block-parry-counter-miss-attacks grazing her-clothes slowly being riddled with small incisions-forward step-side swipe-connection-pushing advantages-full offensive momentum shifting-abuse of Kagune weaknesses surfacing-intimidation-diagonal cleave-one down-counter from a Rinkaku. That's insultingly slow. That'd never hi- a mix of gold and purple mist filled her vision as the rattling of chains hit her eardrums. She froze. The Bikaku collided with her abdomen, flinging her backwards. It was a clean hit and the pain was excruciating. She just Her eyes were trying to pop out of her skull as she laid there on the ground. They were searching for the source of the rattling. Completely unintelligible words, phrases, and sentences were flooding into her mind. What seemed to be Tweety's voice was attempting to maybe taunt her? She couldn't hear him right now. Her eyes were still failing to stay still. They shot towards the girl again but she wasn't where she once was. She was infront of the bodies of the three men that were "guarding" her and was pigging out. This revealed the shackles around her ankles and the chains connecting them to one another.

Right...it couldn't be out here.

Now that she knew the source of the noise her panic attack subsided. However, her back, sides, and ribs were burning now.

She struggled back to her feet, Quinque still in hand, and got back to the matter at hand. Her legs were a bit shaky but Kou could probably still manage.

Probably.

She entered the fray once more. Morale on the other side seemed higher than before. Almost as though they were thinking they'd be able to win. Main characters never lose their first fight.

Kou flipped her Quinque over and changed the position of her hands. She was holding it like a proper blade now. She pushed against the ground and let go of flurry of attacks against the remaining ghoul. Her movements themselves had slowed down but her attacks were faster than before. She was practically toying with it now. She knew each cut would burn and each gash would feel as though it were aflame. But to be fair, the shitter did get a cheap shot.

The ghoul was bad at hiding his frustration. He couldn't, and wouldn't, find an opening in the flurry of attacks. At this point in time Kou was completely in control of the situation. This includes the baiting of the hook as well. She could hear Tweety re-positioning to get a better shot. She could also tell that the ghoul she was fighting knew this as well. In fact all of his attempts of counters were coming from the right now.

Pincers are for bugs.

She left an opening on her right and the ghoul jumped at the chance to get a hit in. The Bikaku came inward but it was coming in at too wide of an angle. Kou stepped into him as a gunshot had fired once more. She felt it skim the back of her neck once again.

Always lucky Rubber Ducky.

She swung upwards and decapitated the ghoul, though, her continually dulling Quinque was beginning to struggle to cut cleanly. Maybe if she hadn't been hit earlier it would have been different.

She turned her attention to the last man standing. and the clicking from his gun made it seem he was fucked. A blizzard of white came spilling out of his mouth. "You know, you're way scarier than any mob boss I've heard of...being straight faced like that while slaughtering could be useful to us. You'd make a lot of mon-" his sentence was stopped by a foot. He fell backwards onto his ass. There was a large mark from where Kou's foot had hit and it would probably bruise. He looked upwards and met her eyes. "You have the presence of an Oni."

Isn't the first time i heard that one.

She kicked him again...and again...and again...you know what one more time for the road. He did eventually get knocked out but she wasn't done. Kou doesn't like it when people try to dye the air with white. So she sandwiched his head between her foot and the ground while applying more pressure with each passing second. Soon there was the sounds of his skull giving away. She didn't care about this much though. She wanted him gone and that's what she was gonna do.

Get rid of him.

....

"Where the fuck is the leech?" She was speaking to herself now. The "leech" she was referring to war Jian of course. She looked over at the girl who was still eating her way through one of the bodies. For some reason this didn't bother her too much. Or was this normal? Her eyes wandered to Tweety's body.

That for sure wasn't normal.

There was a soft buzzing nosie coming from her pocket. She answered immediately thinking it was Jian. It wasn't. It was probably one of the more annoying people in her life. He began with a question about her Quinque.

"It's fine." He asked another question as though he was genuinely worried about it.

"I unno."

He brought up something about a replacement. "No" was her only answer to his question. Fuck off it's mine Don't worry about it.

Another question. "You called me while I was working out." She was lying, but what were the chances of him catching on? Turns out they were pretty high. "Now we both know you don't need to workout. All you have to do is eat a box of fish-sticks and-"she stopped listening there.

"You seem to be projecting something onto me, 'Big Boy.'" He seemed to be back pedaling after that one.

Coward.

More useless talk came from the other side. Stuff like "You should use it more often."

If only you knew.

"Tell people to fuck around my Ward more then...and do you annoy everyone else by calling them up everyday just to check on their Quinque?"

He said, what she precieved to be, yes and ended the call.

I hate him. I already have a mom.

It had been dark for a while now. Jian came around the corner and saw something pretty normal. Kou was sitting with a girl in her lap; she was cleaning her face. Alright, nothing suspicious. I mean besides the fact that she was cleaning someone other than herself everything else was fine. Everything besides that one issue was in order.
"W-Why are you..."

"Why am I what."

"Why are you caring for a child?"

"Eat." Though it was faint, there was something off about the movement of her chest and the inconsistencies of her breathing. On the "surface" she seemed fine. A couple of scratches and nicks; nothing that worrying. However, she did wear multiple layers of clothing. Perhaps...

"Are you alright?"

"You should eat." Really? You're just gonna deflect my questions again?

"You should answer my question."

Time slowed. If this were a show there would be a black and white filter over everything but their eyes with an occasional black line appearing at random points in the frame. Her gaze slowly moved upwards to look him dead in the eye. Funny thing about being looked dead in the eye is that sometimes you wish you were dead. This was one of those moments for Jian. Lightning would probably strike from dramatic effect and his momentary flashbacks would come as the thunder. Her eyes were just like they were back when she first found out he was a ghoul. They were still and carried a glare. The slant of her eyebrows were relaxed as was everything about her face. The only thing that wasn't relaxed were those eyes. That unblinking...almost tired, disappointed stare was out of place. The face itself would stop people but not petrify them. Maybe that was the point. Maybe it only turned people in corpses when they knew that they were over stepping their boundaries; kind of like a dog looks at you when you catch it taking a shit on the carpet.

I hate this.

He rolled the dice. He had no idea if what the roll meant but maybe this was his only chance to break free from the shackle that was halting any progress with her. "Just looking at me isn't an answer..."

Kou stood up and slung the girl over her shoulder and moved towards him. Soon, she was walking past him. As she did so words spilled from her, now stoic, face.

"Don't come home for a while."

The words reverberated in his ears as the newly formed shackles sent waves of defeat through his bones.

I really hate this.