The smoke makes it hard for him to breathe. He's running as quickly as one can, and it doesn't help with the added weight that's he trying to hold in his arms. Everything about this situation is inconvenient, he thinks.

He stops for a moment and adjusts himself, lifting the petite girl higher in his arms, so as to keep a better hold on her. It would be easier to hold her and run if he could carry her on his back, but unfortunately nothing really seemed to be going in his favor tonight. He needed his back open for defense in case of an attack. Really, all he wanted to do was listen to the Queen's instructions and get Hinami out of here with as little trouble as possible.

Funny, he thinks. You want to fight in every situation except the one where you're eventually going to have to fight.

The screaming is what makes it worse, though. The screaming of men and women from both sides of this fight, whether it be screams of rage, terror, or pain. It's almost drowned out by the sounds of running feet and whirling kagunes. Almost.

He lets out a harsh series of coughs, and he feels wet saliva from the side of his mouth, but his lungs are burning too much for him to care. The ashes and smoke are starting to become too much, but he knows that he can't stop. He has to keep going.

"Ayato. Take Hinami and bring her to safety. Now!"

Tch. what a stubborn woman.

A deep and throaty battle cry is the only thing that stops Ayato from continuing his mission. He snaps his head towards the source, and his eyes narrow into slits, kakugan flashing brightly when he sees a man charging at him. He releases his kagune, and it tears through his shirt, spreading wide like wings.

The foolish man who had decided to attack him had stopped dead in his tracks. He was staring at Ayato's kagune in fear, as if he was not expecting this from a ghoul. If Ayato could breathe well enough he would've laughed. Humans were always especially stupid.

He wastes no time in cutting the man down. He stares at the lifeless body for a moment in disgust, but after seeing Princess Hinami shift in his arms, he remembers what he is supposed to be doing. He adjusts her once more, takes in a wheezy breath, and continues towards his unknown destination of safety.

It might've been more helpful if he knew where he was supposed to be going, but Ayato was just as clueless as anyone else in this fight. The attack on Queen Ryuoko's castle, which remained in the Capital of the 20th Ward, right in the heart of the Kingdom, was a very surprising move. No one had expected it. Not even the Queen herself, who was known for being more observant than anything, especially when it concerned her kingdom.

Ayato continued his steady pace of running, and was honestly glad that other CCG members had not taken the time to try to fight with him. They were more focused on the siege of the castle, and wouldn't notice a boy holding some little girl in his arms while running away. They were safe for now.

At the thought of the Princess, Ayato looked down to the brunette in his arms. Her eyes were shut, and she seemed almost peaceful in her sleep, even if it was forced rather...harshly upon her. By him. Completely out of necessity though. Sometimes Princess Hinami was as stubborn as her mother.

Something in the distance caught his eye. Seeing a cart being towed away, a woman steering it and a man sitting with their belongings, Ayato wasted no time in running towards the cart and to potential safety; whether these people were ghouls or not meant nothing. The man sitting in the cart gasped when Ayato jumped on, making the cart shake slightly, and he looked up with wide and fearful eyes.

"Wh-what are yo-"

The man was cut off by Ayato stepping towards him, legs in close and pushing him back quickly, throwing the man off his balance and onto his back. He placed his boot-clad foot on the man's stomach and pressed down harshly. He glared harshly when he felt the cart begin to slow down unsteadily.

"You're gonna let us stay on your cart, and you're gonna tell your wife to keep on going," Ayato growled out threateningly. "You'll take us as far as I want you to take us. If you try to refuse, then I'll kill you, leave the girl, and take the cart for myself. It's your choice."

It seemed all this man was capable of doing was stuttering incoherently. Ayato dug his boot in deeper, twisting his foot to increase the pain. The man let out a startled, breathy gasp and nodded quickly.

Ayato removed his boot and took a step back. "Tell her the instructions. Now."

The nameless man tried his best to glare, but his flushed face and panicked eyes took away any sort of intimidation factor. He turned around and looked around to the front of the cart and stuttered out, "A-asako, keep the cart going."

"What?! There's a man on the back of the cart who just attacked you! Why are you-"

"Asako, do it now!"

There was silence, a clicking noise, and the cart began to move again. Ayato stared down at the man as he slid down onto the side of the cart, and when the strange man found his gaze, Ayato let out a raspy cough, saying, "If I think, even for a second, that you're gonna pull anything, then I'll kill you and the girl, for sure."

The man nodded his head again, and Ayato was pleased when his hand was placed on his stomach, face squinted in silent pain. The young ghoul turned around, sat down on the other side of the cart, and placed his small companion beside him. He was honestly surprised that the princess had not woken up, but really, she was always a heavy sleeper.

"So..." the nameless man began. "Who are you?"

Ayato stared down at his hands silently for a moment. It was hard to breath now, and he felt a burning in his lungs. All of the running through the smoke had affected him much more than he had expected it to. He knew he would heal from it quickly enough, but he took a few more moments to himself before having to interact with this man again.

"What?" Ayato asked wearily, looking up through his messy bangs.

"Who are you? And who's the girl? It's...not every day that a group of kids come banging through and demanding to have a ride."

Ayato glanced over to Hinami, who was curled up with her knees to her chest, a look of unease now on her face. He looked up to the man and shook his head slightly, looking away again.

"We're nobody. Just some kids trying to get away like everyone else."

"Just some kids, huh?" the man replied, and while his entire face screamed doubt, like he knew he was lying, he chose not to question him. Instead he turned to look out of the cart, eyes searching the road. "How far do you need to go, kid? I want you off my cart as soon as humanly possible."

Pfft. Humanly. That was a good one.

"Trust me, old man, I'm just as eager to ditch you and your girl as you are. And I want to get further out of the city. Once we get to the outside of the capital then I'm gone from your life forever."

"Good. I don't wanna be dealing with you for longer than I have to."

Ayato chose not answer. Instead he grabbed his jacket and slipped it off, placing it around Hinami's body tightly. He felt too hot for a jacket now and opted instead to cross his arms for when he got cold.

Then suddenly, before he was able to even register it, he felt his eyelids begin to drop. His breaths were long and hard, and his lungs hurt, and he couldn't fight off the urge to just rest for a bit, even if every instinct in his body was telling him not to. This man couldn't be trusted.

Ayato, not every human is bad, a familiar and annoying voice called out to him.

He couldn't stay awake long enough to tell Kaneki how stupid he was.

There was something poking his side roughly. It was unfamiliar, and his head felt groggy, and he quickly stuck his leg out, sweeping it harshly against whatever or whoever was touching him. He shot up and looked to the source, and was annoyed when he found the man from earlier laying on his back once again. He was now staring up at Ayato in silent irritation.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Ayato barked out, and more out of habit than anything, he glanced around him in search of Hinami. He was surprised to see her awake, leaning on a nearby tree, but she looked tired, with bags underneath her eyes, and a blank look on her face. Nothing about her seemed right. Hinami was bright and happy all the time.

He couldn't blame her though: if his mother had died because of treason to the Crown then he wouldn't be too happy about it either.

The strange man scrambled back to his feet and glared at Ayato in annoyance. He rubbed some sort of unseeable dust off of his pants before saying in an overly annoyed voice, "we're here, just like you asked for. You're officially out of Capital territory."

Oh. Ayato was...surprised, to say the least. He had not anticipated for the strange human - he had made the guess that he was human from how weakly he fought back last night - to actually go through with his word. If anything he expected to be kicked off the cart during the middle of the night. He must've scared him pretty badly then.

Ayato let out a grunt, and he supposes that him and this stranger have somehow created a connection of some sort, because he responds with a weary you're welcome. It is startling. And gross.

Hinami let out a small series of coughs, and Ayato snapped towards the princess quicker than he would've liked or felt comfortable with. She is still looking ahead of her, eyes glazed over like she's stuck in some trance, but she was gripping his jacket tightly, and her hands were shaking. He made his way over to her, rubbing his own hands together to warm them up from the cool morning breeze.

When he makes his way over he does not kneel down to her level, but instead stands over her, and he was sure that he looked as awkward as he felt. With a quick cough he cleared his throat, and thought through what he was going to say to her.

"So, Princess," he began in a whisper, and when she didn't respond he continued with, "how's your head? I kind of hit it pretty hard when we were...leaving the castle."

"It's fine," Hinami added softly, blankly, nothing like her usual lively self. He would be lying if he said it didn't scare the living crap out of him. He ran his hands through his hair, letting out a huff.

He stuck out his hand to her, and purely by habit she placed her own hand in his, and he lifted her up gently. She stood without problem, and continued her blank stare into nothingness. He would've asked for his coat back if she was not clutching at it like it was the only thing keeping her alive.

Sighing internally, Ayato turned back to the man, and was surprised to see the old man himself staring him down, reminiscent to the way Ayato had done before. Ayato raised a brow in silent question, and the man looked to him, to Hinami, then to him once more. He shook his head softly, and turned around again, walking back to his cart.

"Y'know, boy, you need better disguises if you think no one's gonna recognize your lil' Princess over there."

The old man suddenly screamed in fear when he was knocked to the ground, much more rough than before. Ayato towered over him, back hunched slightly, and he made no effort this time to hide his kakugan; in fact, he relished in it. He breathed heavily on the strange man's face.

"Sometimes I can't believe how dumb humans are," Ayato growled out lowly. "But then again, it's not surprising. I made my use of you, and now you're worthless. You're also dangerous, and I haven't eaten in a couple of days now. It'll be best if I jus-"

"Get off of him!"

And suddenly, before Ayato was even ready for it, something hard hit his head, and a harsh pain came afterwards. The young ghoul clutched his head, and before he could look up there was a pain in his side, and he fell over on the ground and away from the man. Keeping a tight grasp on his head, Ayato looked up through squinted eyes, and the woman from earlier – the one driving the cart – was standing above him, a rather large stick being brandished threateningly in her hands.

"Now listen here, boy," the woman hissed, "you may think you're tough, being a ghoul and all, but I can beat you in the head with this stick as many times as I need to, and then go to those CCG folks and turn you in." A pause, and then, "But I won't. Not today, at least. I know you think you're above us and everything, but you'd think you would recognize the lady who cleaned yours and the Princess' rooms everyday."

Ayato squinted long and hard at her face, and after a moment realized that he actually did kind of recognize her. He tried to glare at her, but she raised the stick up again, and he decided against it. Instead he turned his head to look at the other man, and before he could think of where he had come from, a small voice interrupted.

"Hiro?" Hinami inquired softly, and Ayato was relieved to see that her eyes had cleared up some. She still clutched his jacket, but she was looking at the man he just tried to kill with wondering eyes, as if she could not believe the sight in front of her. She must have been too out of it earlier to recognize him until now. "You're...alive? You made it out okay?"

"Yes, Princess," the man – Hiro – responded, his voice much more gentler now that he was speaking with Hinami.

Hinami stared at him, took a few steps over to him, then stopped in place. She was clutching Ayato's jacket so tightly that her hands were beginning to shake again. She looked to Hiro, and dropped her gaze to the floor, a terrified expression marring itself on her face.

"Wh-what are you-? How are you...?"

"Alive?" the old man asked, chuckling bitterly. "When I realized the castle was being attacked, well, I knew I couldn't do a thing for it. I'm no trained fighter. I made it to my flower cart as quick as possible, and when I saw Asako, I grabbed her, too. We both made a run for it."

Oh, so that's what was taking up all the room in the cart. Flowers. He was the gardener.

"Then," the woman - Asako - snarled, "this boy jumped on our cart, with you on his arms, then threatened to kill Hiro and leave me for dead if we didn't help him!"

Hinami stood in place, stiff as a board, before turning to glance at Ayato.

"You..." she began softly, "you almost killed them? You threatened to kill them?"

Oh...she sounded like Queen Ryouko when she was angry.

"I was just trying to get us out of there as soon as possible! I'm your bodyguard, and it's my job to protect you, Princess."

"Didn't stop you from leaving mother behind."

"...What?"

"You left mother behind. You claim to care about my well-being, yet you leave my mother, you're queen, behind. You should learn to listen better when I'm speaking to you."

Ayato was dumbstruck. She was blaming him for that? He was only following the Queen's orders, and Ryouko was already badly injured. How could she blame him for something he had no control over?

Her eyes held no remorse. She stared at him silently, lips turned in a frown, and her eyes held a silent rage; a rage that she was projecting on to him.

Ayato stared back at her defiantly. "Don't put that on me," he spoke lowly, but really, it wasn't like Asako or Hiro couldn't hear them. They were all by themselves. "I would've done something if I could have. Do you really think I wanted to leave her back there?"

"You had the chance to take her with us," Hinami retorted icily. "You could've grabbed her and left. I could have kept up. I'm not weak."

"Please," Ayato scoffed, crossing his arms stubbornly. "You can't even run for very long before you're out of breath, and you're trying to tell me you could've kept up, even when we were running through smoke?"

Hinami hesitated for a moment before buckling down again, staring up at the taller boy in indignation, and suddenly the blank look was gone, replaced by pure anger.

"Yes, I could have! For her, I would have done it! But you just knocked me out and left her behind!" there was a pause after her outburst, and then, "she shouldn't have taken mercy on you like she did. You really are just a thug, nothing more than trash."

Really, it seemed that he's had trouble with attacking people lately. Before he knew what he was doing he made his way over to Hinami quickly, lips turned in a snarl of anger. Her title of royalty didn't mean anything now, in this moment, because she crossed a line, and judging by her face, she was well aware of her words, and the impact they held on him.

He was pushed back before he could reach her - he would be thankful for it later. The stern face of Hiro was looking down at him, and even though his touch was unwanted, he did not shake him off. If he did, he couldn't promise that he wouldn't try to go after Hinami again.

"Enough!" Hiro barked out, pushing Ayato back some more. Truly, the boy did scare him, but he would not allow the princess to be hurt, even if she made a supposedly inappropriate comment. "Control yourself, boy!"

"Quit calling me that!" Ayato grunted, roughly pushing the large hands off of his shoulders when he was at a reasonable distance away from the princess. He backed away from Hiro and turned around, marching back to the cart. His breathing was becoming unsteady, and he felt himself begin to cough harshly, the after effects of smoke inhalation taking its toll.

He took a few moments to himself before turning back around. Hiro and Asako were staring at him oddly, like they wanted to feel bad for him, but they really couldn't considering he threatened to kill them. Hinami was back to her blank self, clutching his jacket tightly once more. Looking at her just made him angry, and all he wanted to was ignore her, but he had a mission to carry out, so he opted for just minimal speaking instead.

When he made his way over he grabbed the sleeve of her - his - jacket, tugging on it roughly enough to gather her attention. When she looked up at him in annoyance he glared at her right back. He would not let her feelings get in the way of their survival.

"We're going, brat," he muttered, and he couldn't say he was surprised when she began to follow him. Despite her feelings getting in the way she recognized the truth in his words. She would not stand a day by herself, especially when they were barely out of Capital territory.

Ayato glanced to Hiro and Asako, and what he was about to do really did not sit well with him. Asking for more people to join them would be a death trap. However, he knew it was what the princess would want, so he worked past the awkward feelings that come with threatening to murder someone to ask his question.

Rubbing the back of his head slightly, Ayato let out a loose cough before muttering, "So...are you guys...interested in tagging along with us?" Aneki would laugh at him for how awkward he was acting.

Hiro and Asako looked to each other, seemingly having a silent conversation, before turning back to Ayato and responding with a resounding "No."

"No? What do you mean no?" Ayato wasn't sure why he sounded so offended. Maybe it was because he was a ghoul, and they were humans, and logically they would have a much better chance of survival with him.

Asako sighed, long and weary. "Listen, kid," she began tiredly, as if she was explaining this to him for the fourteenth time. "We get you're stronger than us, but the CCG are always on the lookout for ghouls just running around. We know most of their focus is at the Capital now, but there'll be strays roaming around, and we don't need to be caught up in that."

Ayato rubbed his temple. They had a point, he would admit that, but he could still be of some sort of use to them. Even if there were stray CCG members lurking around, he knew there were just as many bandits looking for people to loot. A glance at their faces though, he knew that their minds would not be changed so easily.

"Fine," he muttered, and suddenly Hinami ripped away from his grip and ran into Asako's arms. The woman seemed surprised, letting out a small gasp, but she returned the hug gently. Hiro walked over and patted Hinami's hair, and the young ghoul princess retracted herself from Asako, turning to hug the gardener.

Ayato tapped his foot impatiently, but he still allowed them to have their little moment. After about four minutes of non-stop hugging he walked over and gripped Hinami's sleeve again, tugging it and forcing her away. She looked back at him unpleasantly, but reluctantly followed along with him. She turned around and waved, said a goodbye, and then grudgingly turned to walk next to Ayato.

"It'll be harder for you to leave if you stay around longer. You just need to leave them quickly, like ripping off a bandage," he muttered to her.

She tightened his jacket around her once more, letting out a small scoff. "How would you know?"

Experience, is what he wanted to say.

"I just do," is what he ended up with instead.

Hinami glanced at him in annoyance before shaking her head at him.

"Let's go, then," she muttered. "The last thing I want to do now is run into CCG agents."

But from the familiar look in her eyes - one that had been reflected in his own so many times - he knews that meeting CCG agents was the one thing she wanted most. She wanted revenge in the worst of ways. It was not hard to figure that out.

"Hope you can keep up," he responded. "We've got a long ways to go, Princess."