In this story, I am just guessing what pictures are in Trevor Brown books, since I haven't read them and don't intend to. Please bear with me.

Btw, guess what I don't own. Cookies to anyone who guesses =3

The bird struggled vainly in my hand. Soft grey feathers littered the ground. One of its wings was already broken. I dangled the bird by its tail, raising a slender eyebrow at the way it had succumbed to torture so easily.

"Ne, Feitan. What are you doing?" a soft voice came from behind me. I knew it was Shizuku. She hadn't bothered to hide her nen. I could feel it. She was feeling relaxed, if a little bit curious.

I held up the barely alive bird. The curiosity that clouded her face cleared instantly. This was one of the things that I liked about being in the Ryodan. They didn't question my motives. Didn't exclaim in horror every time I held up the broken body of some small animal or human. I let out a small sigh and dropped the bird.

"I bored," I murmured. Shizuku blinked at me through her enormous glasses.

"Come with me. I want to show you something," Shizuku said. I looked up at her in surprise. My gold eyes burned with questions. Shizuku didn't normally say things like that. I wondered what she had in mind. But I shrugged, and I pulled my bandana over my face again.

Shizuku looked at me blankly for a second, and in that second I feared that she may have forgotten what she had just said, but then she promptly turned and walked away. I rose smoothly to my feet and fell into step with her.

"Where you take me?" I asked. She didn't reply. I sensed that she was lost in thought, so I didn't bother to ask her the question again. Soon, we emerged from the outskirts of York Shin City, and we gradually drifted into denser crowds. I wondered if anybody had recognised me yet with my trademark bandana covering the lower half of my face. Feh, I didn't care. I could just kill anyone who bothered to call the mafia or the Ten Godfathers to announce that one of the Ryodan was in town.

Shizuku glanced at me, and in return, I nodded. At the same time, we started running. I sped up and flitted through the crowd, almost invisible to the throng of happy shoppers. Shizuku, not as fast as me, followed behind. I slowed down a little to let Shizuku lead, because I still had no idea where we were going. Shizuku came in front, and she led us to the entrance of a brightly lit shop. I halted. It wasn't just any old shop. It was a...

"Book shop?" I asked. Shizuku nodded, still not saying anything. We entered like any of the other regular customers, and then the smell of paper hit me. It was an unfamiliar scent. I had never been in a bookstore before; this was my first time. My eyes widened in surprise.

Rows upon rows of books lined the walls. There were paper backs, hard covers, magazines, cooking books and hundreds of others. Shizuku barely glanced at them as she set off at a rapid pace. Her face was still passive, still wiped clean of emotions, but I could detect a tiny smile on her lips. My curiosity bubbled even more.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I followed the blank girl to the back of the shop. There, lining the walls were more books. On a closer inspection, I realized that they were illustrated stories with little or no words. Shizuku went straight to a section, and pulled out a book by a man named Trevor Brown. She then turned her black eyes towards me and held it out. I took it and flipped open a page.

There was a doll covered in blood and pictures of torture and whatnot. On another page a small girl had a knife covered in blood and she was licking the blade. I flicked through the whole book, filled with wounded things in distress and torture. I looked up at Shizuku and smiled under my bandana. I liked it.

I felt a warm glow in my heart, something I had never felt before. I knew Shizuku chose this book out of thousands of others not only because it was what I liked, but it had no words. She knew of my weakness in Japanese. We walked out of the shop, not bothering to pay. The owner shouted at us, but we were gone before he could take another step.

When we neared the Ryodan hideout, I touched Shizuku's hand. She stopped, surprised.

"Ne, Shizuku. Arigatou gozaimas," I murmured.

End.