Emily Ishihara stared at the small article on the back page of the newspaper the man across from her was reading. It was the fifth unexplained disappearance this week; normally people in her area didn't go missing, or die strange deaths. Her father, a Ghoul named Ishihara Ryota saw to that. He and Ayato were the only Ghouls allowed in his territory, with the exception of the guests at Blue Lotus and the occasional visits from Yomo Renji and Uta. Initially, she'd paid little mind to the first report, thinking that the victim had just wandered into the wrong part of Tokyo, or that it was a human to blame. But as more and more people, sometimes even entire families, went missing or were found dead, it became clear to her that this wasn't just a Ghoul like The Gourmet or The Binge Eater picking off victims. She'd even brought it up in conversation with her father and boyfriend, but neither of them seemed too concerned.

She'd tried to put it in the back of her mind and focus on her work but it just refused to go away and with each new piece of information, she found herself believing that there was a new enemy threatening human life.

The train shuddered and swayed to a halt as they pulled into the next station. Emily stretched, gave the newspaper one more longing glance and squeezed into the crowd shuffling onto the platform. Most were businessmen and women, tourists with their sunglasses and maps, and just general civilians going about their business. Emily was one of three CCG employees catching the train to work - not Investigators but interns and receptionists who couldn't afford their own car or just preferred public transport. Breaking away from the crowd, she headed towards the stairs leading up into the streets above. A familiar figure was waiting for her, leaning against the wall with his head down, staring at his phone.

"Don't you have some Investigator work to do?" she chastised him playfully. Toshio looked down at her, a grin on his handsome face as she finished climbing the steps and joined him.

"Nah, Arima doesn't really get missions much since he's a god. They only call us in as back up or if the," his voice lowered as a group of school kids walked past, chatting animatedly, "target is being difficult."

"He doesn't have you doing training or drills? You know how strict he is with timing." she asked as they walked slowly behind the students. Toshio shrugged, "He's been a little preoccupied with Ken-Haise." he shook his head, his dark choppy bangs falling into his face more, "I'm still getting used to that even though it's been, what, two years?"

"Something like that." Emily replied, "How is he anyway?"

"Haise? Fine, cheery as usual although Urie is being a pain in the ass as always. Those guys," Toshio sighed and ran a hand through his fringe, "To volunteer for that kind of thing, they're either crazy or seriously hate Ghouls. Have you spoken to him yet?"

"No..." she replied honestly. Emily and Kaneki Ken had been friends before he started struggling with his sanity and ended up fighting against Toshio's mentor, Arima Kishou, resulting in Kaneki losing his memories and becoming Sasaki Haise. "It's still too hard. I'm always worried I'm going to say something about his past..."

"You mean mention Hide, right?" They stopped at the crossing and waited for the traffic to stop.

"Yeah." Nagachika Hideyoshi had been Kaneki's best friend, even after his accident resulting in him become a half breed. Hide had stayed by his friend's side throughout everything, even going as far as to help him during the raid on Anteiku. But what became of him afterwards, no one knew. Kaneki had no memory of it and anyone else who could have seen anything had been staying silent. But Hide wasn't the only one to go missing that night - First-Class Investigator Amon Koutarou and Rank 2 Investigator Takizawa Seidou had both vanished as well. They, along with Hide, had been declared dead after months of searching. But Emily couldn't bring herself to believe it. Not if Aogiri had anything to do with it.

Toshio stretched and groaned, breaking Emily out of the past and back to the present, "I am so not looking forward to this meeting today."

"I heard all the Investigators had been called, must be pretty serious."

Toshio laughed as the light changed, "Oh please, it's only serious if they call your department in. Then we know shit is going down."

While Toshio was a Rank 1 under Arima, Emily had pursued a different course. She was quickly advancing positions within the Medical unit, though she rarely had to go out on missions with the Investigator squads. Her knowledge of human and Ghoul anatomy was an asset to the CCG. And frankly, she'd rather be associated with them than with Aogiri again. When Tatara, the face of Aogiri, had heard of the CCG trying to recruit her, he'd been more than willing to let her go. Having someone behind enemy lines would prove most beneficial to him - of course the fact that Ayato was still working for them and the possibility of Tatara killing him for her disobedience had made her stay loyal to them. But that was almost a year ago and she'd managed to convince Eto - the real leader of Aogiri - to allow her to stop spying for Aogiri. In return she'd continue her medical service to them and tell Ayato of any impeding threats to Aogiri should she be privy enough to learn them. Tatara hadn't been pleased, but Eto had the final say.

There were only four people within the CCG who knew of her extra activities and connections - one had no memory of her at all and the other three would keep quiet. Toshio, naturally, was one of those three. He and Emily had been dating when their worlds began to shift, and though they were no longer together, they still remained very close friends especially when Emily and Ayato had revealed the condition of Toshio's second oldest brother, Isao, to him.

During an attack on the CCG's prison, Isao, the eldest of the Hamada family - Akihiro - and their father had all been there. Hamada Masanori had been killed trying to protect his sons, Akihiro had been kidnapped by Aogiri as food and to serve as a hostage to get Emily to do what they wanted, and poor Isao had been wounded gravely and then experimented on by Dr. Kanou Akihiro, the crazy doctor aligned with Aogiri to create half-breeds like Kaneki. He'd been lucky and survived the ordeal, but he had suffered a great amount afterwards. After the Anteiku incident, Isao had turned himself into the CCG, but instead of killing him, Arima had persuaded the brass to keep him alive, just like he'd done with Kaneki. Isao now worked in the basement in secret.

Finally, the last person who knew Emily's secret was none other than Arima Kishou himself. As it was, Arima had known about Emily and Blue Lotus all along. Arima worked for a secret organization, V, whose goal was to keep balance between humans and ghouls. V had approached her father and while their ideals were the same, V's methods of achieving it weren't something Ryota agreed with and so he'd been hunted. As it turned out, Arima himself had been the one to kill him, but instead had spared his life. Why he'd let Ryota live in secret, neither Emily nor her father knew, but Arima Kishou had stated that he owed Ryota a debt of some kind. Despite his reputation as the CCG's Shinigami, Emily came to know Arima on a personal basis and had discovered that though he appeared cold and calculating, he was calm, soft-spoken majority of the time, and could even be kind should the mood strike him. But she never made mention of her friendship with the older male to anyone.

The air conditioning hit her in the face after the dry heat of summer and Emily let out a sigh of content. Saying goodbye to Toshio, she stepped into the elevator and headed down to the underground laboratory she worked in. Like most of the CCG, the room was a drab grey and white with fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. Her work station was one of four cubicles complete with state of the art computer, comfy desk chair and stationary. She was also allowed to decorate it however she pleased. The only real colour in the room was the large dark green double doors that led into what Toshio called the Morgue, though technically it was more like a hospital theatre. Numerous steel gurneys rested against one side of the wall, while glass cupboards filled with vials, medicines and some instruments sat on the opposing wall. On the far back of the room were the cold chambers were they kept specimens when they got them. That was one thing Emily had hated most about working for the CCG - they almost seemed inhuman when handling deceased ghouls. Until Emily had arrived, most of the medical practitioners hadn't really thought too much about a Ghoul's anatomy aside from what was already public knowledge and about the kagune. But Emily had asked questions; how long does it generally take for a ghoul to heal its wounds, how does their regeneration work, could a ghoul survive after having its kagune removed? Of course these were questions she already knew the answer to; the latter only more recently than the others, but to appear less suspicious, she had had to voice them to her superior.

"Emily-chaaan~" a cute singsong voice called out to her a few hours later.

"Juuzou-kuun~" Emily responded as she leaned back in her chair to see the cute, now-black haired boy skip into the room. Emily had grown fond of the strange man-child in her time working for the CCG and though he was a frighteningly good Investigator, he was more of a friend to her than most of her colleagues.

Emily froze when she saw the being walking in the door behind Juuzou. Sasaki Haise. Emily felt her smile falter, "Rank 1 Sasaki-san, I'm surprised you would venture into our lower neck of the woods."

He smiled at her warmly, "You can call me Haise," he said, "If you don't mind. Juuzou's been talking about you quite a bit and I realized we haven't actually been introduced so I came with him."

Emily was taken aback, it was true that in two years she had gone out of her way to avoid any circumstance where she would be forced to speak to him, it was too painful and she was worried she would tell him something, and yet now he stood before her, older but looking so much like the Kaneki Ken she once knew, even with his two-tone hair.

Suddenly, he laughed in the awkward silence she'd created by not answering, "Actually, it almost feels like I know you already from how much he and Toshi talk about you." he caught her expression, "I'm sorry if I said something to make you uncomfortable."

"No!" Emily said quickly raising her hands, "No. It's just you remind me of someone I used to know." She stood and walked over to the two, "Is there something I can help you with at all?"

"You said you'd eat lunch with me today." Juuzou told her, "And I know how you always forget to eat so I came specially to get you. Haise wants to eat too."

"If you don't mind." Sasaki Haise added with a small smile. Emily couldn't help but grin back. To most Juuzou was odd, a grown man with the looks and mind of a child, but he was so much more than that and saw and understood almost everything. Some days she wondered if she could trust him with her secrets. He had told her once about when he was younger, he had been raised by a Ghoul named Big Madam although his upbringing was nothing like Emily's. He had been tormented, tortured, maimed and abused. Trained to be entertainment for other Ghouls and eventually became a Scrapper. But as far as she could tell, he harbored no ill will towards Big Madam or any Ghoul for that matter. He just did his job.

"I don't mind at all." Emily replied and together, the three of them made their way up into the cafeteria.

"Do you often work alone?" Haise asked her while they waited in line for food. Emily half shrugged, "The Professor has to lecture at the Academy every other day, so it's usually just me and another intern working, but he's off with a cold."

"It must get lonely down there." Haise joked. Emily smiled and gazed at Juuzou's back in front of Haise,

"Some days. But Juuzou usually comes to visit me." Upon hearing his name, the boy turned and grinned widely at them.

"I like it down there." He told them, "It's peaceful and uncomplicated. I like Emily too."

"It seems you're quite the popular person." Haise said, "I'm a little sorry I didn't meet you sooner."

"What do you mean?" she asked him. Haise half-chuckled quietly, "Well if Juuzou likes you, you must be pretty special. He only likes me because I give him candy and chocolate."

"That's not true." Juuzou argued playfully, "You also buy lunch sometimes." Emily laughed at their interaction, but seeing Haise and talking to him, seeing how much he still retained of Kaneki Ken stung. She had told him she would help him as much as she could but in the end, she wasn't able to do anything except watch his descent into madness. Afterwards, what Arima had done may have saved his mind from breaking completely, but she wondered just how long his memories would remain hidden.

"I'm home." Emily announced as she closed the door behind her. Sprawled out on the couch was her boyfriend, Kirishima Ayato, a ghoul who worked for Aogiri despite not actually wanting to be with them. He raised his arm and grabbed her hand as she walked past the back of the couch towards their bedroom.

"Where's Dad?" she called to him as she dug out the thick text books within her bag and put them on her bed.

"He's at :Re." Ayato replied casually, "Since Yoshimura's gone, he's pretty much in charge now."

"That's a responsibility he doesn't want." Emily sighed as she sat down next to him, "I thought Renji was taking over."

"Mmm. Well you know Yomo, he's more of an independent person, not a leader." Ayato replied, "Still, I don't think your father hates it as much as you think he does. He was basically orchestrating everything from beyond the grave anyway, he kinda has a knack for it."

"Still, I was hoping he'd keep this place running for me." she said. Ayato sat up and brushed the hair from Emily's face,

"Hey, are you alright?"

"I spoke to Kaneki today..." she said softly.

"You mean Sasaki Haise?"

"Yeah. He came down with Juuzou and practically cornered me. I had to force myself to talk to him..."

Ayato sighed and squeezed her hand. A few years ago, Ayato and Kaneki had been enemies - Ayato had been present when Kaneki was kidnapped by Aogiri and the two had fought during Anteiku's rescue attempt, resulting in Kaneki breaking half of Ayato's bones. But despite their differences, Ayato knew that Emily had been somewhat close with him.

"I don't know if I can keep doing this, Ayato..." she said resting her head against his strong shoulder, "They're starting to question where I get my ideas from, and how I know so much. Arima can't protect me from the higher ups if they get too suspicious. And then there's V - even knowing Arima is a member makes me wary of him and I need to trust him."

"Emily, you're worrying about things that are out of your control." Ayato told her gently, "Believe me, I don't like you working for the CCG any more than I liked you working for Aogiri, but at least there you're safe. V's been quiet for a while ever since Aogiri activities started to die down, and after what he did with Eyepatch, I don't think Arima Kishou is totally on V's side."

Emily pouted, "When did you get so optimistic?"

"You're a bad influence." he retorted, giving her a small kiss on the top of her head. Emily sighed and snuggled in closer to him, loving his own unique smell. Ayato tightened his arm around her shoulders and lay back against the arm of the couch, pulling her with him. It had been a few weeks since they'd had this much time alone what with Emily busy with work and study, Ayato dealing with whatever Aogiri wanted him to do now Emily was no longer one of their top priorities and especially since Emily's father now lived with him. She felt strange knowing he knew they shared a bed, she could only imagine how Ayato felt.

On the opposite side of the coin when it came to Ryota and Ayato - he hadn't felt the need to give him the stern 'hurt my daughter and I'll hurt you' speech since he'd already practically done that before Emily and Ayato had ever even thought about getting together.

"You know," Ayato said drifting her attention away from her father, "Your dad's not gonna be home for a while."

Emily sat up and gave Ayato a look, "Seriously?"

He gave her a fake pout, "Why not? We aren't gonna get a better time than this."

"Be that as it may," Emily said conceding the point to him, "What if he comes back and smells it. I don't think I could live with that embarrassment."

Ayato thought for a moment and then a wicked grin spread across his handsome features, "Shower?"

Emily blinked at him, mulling over the suggestion her lover had given her. Finally she stood, and when he made no indication to move, she gazed down at him, "Well, are you coming or not?"

Ayato shot to his feet, grabbed her hand and practically dragged her to their bedroom where an en-suit lay waiting for use, pulling off his t-shirt as he went. Emily giggled at his enthusiasm. To the outside world, Ayato was moody, sullen teenager with a hunger for violence. To her, he was caring, protective and sweet, even when he was angry she'd thought of him as cute. There were moments when his fury still scared her but it wasn't fear for herself - it was fear for the poor soul who had angered him. There was never any undoubtable evidence of his power, after all, he was an Aogiri Executive and a SS ranked ghoul within the CCG database. She had witnessed what he could do even when wounded, she never wanted to see the horror of Ayato at full power.

He released her hand after kicking the door closed behind him and turned the shower tap on. Emily watched with silent fascination as his muscles contracted while he leaned over. He really was a beautiful creature. Ayato turned and she recognized that hungry look in his azure blue eyes. He held his hand out to her,

"Come here." he ordered her softly, his voice a raspy whisper over the rushing sound of water. Emily went to him willingly. Ayato cupped her face with his hands and kissed her gently. She melted into him immediately, her body growing limp at his touch. His hands glided down to her shoulders where he peeled off her coat. It dropped to the floor with a quiet thud. Emily rested her hands on Ayato's lean abdomen, tracing the lines of his muscles, enjoying the way they twitched under her fingers.

Ayato leaned back slightly, breaking their kiss to unbutton her shirt. Once both of them were completely naked, he lifted her off the ground effortlessly. Emily wrapped her legs around him for extra support and then the water had drenched them both. Ayato's hair clung to his face, she slicked it back for him so she could gaze into his eyes once more.

"Are you ready?" he asked her. She nodded and dropped her head to his shoulder. He held her with one hand while the other acted as a guide. She sighed as he pressed into her slowly and waited just long enough for her to grow accustomed to having him inside her. With her back against the shower wall, Ayato began thrusting. Emily clung to him like her life depended on it, wrapping her arms around his neck.

:Re

Ryota sat at the small round table, sipping coffee quietly, his eyes scanning the newspaper in front of him. Emily had made inquiries about the recent rise in murders in the Tokyo area, at first Ryota had thought nothing of it. People died every day due to Ghoul attacks and humans themselves. But he did have to admit that the cause of death was strange. People, sometimes even whole families, were reduced to nothing but pieces of meat and bone, almost like they'd been ground up. Ghouls wouldn't do that.

"Anything interesting?" Nishiki Nishio asked as he sat down in the chair opposite Ryota. Nishio was a Ghoul in his mid-20's, with light orange hair and glasses. Two years ago, he had been fighting for Kamishiro Rize's territory after she'd gone missing, presumed dead. After the half-breed, Kaneki Ken, had viciously attacked him, he'd been welcomed into Anteiku to work as a waiter. Eventually, he'd become friends with everyone there, even if his attitude problems caused friction between him and Touka.

"Nothing immediately concerning." Ryota replied casually, "What brings you here?"

Nishio, although having quit his job as a waiter, he was an associate to :Re - the cafe Yomo Renji and Kirishima Touka had started up. It wasn't uncommon for him to drop by once in a while to check on things. Ryota had also recruited him to his side. "Actually, I was looking for you. You know, you're kinda hard to keep track of."

Ryota ignored the comment, "Is it Aogiri?"

"Not exactly." Nishio replied, "Although I'm fairly sure they will undoubtedly stick their nose into this. There's been a Ghoul snatching up girls, dismembering and decapitating them. He takes the torso as a souvenir, you can guess what the Doves have nicknamed him."

"Hmm, you think Aogiri will try to approach him?" Ryota guessed.

"Oh definitely. If the Doves don't get him first."

Ryota nodded, "I'll have the kids look into it from their sides."

Nishio reclined back in his chair, "I've been meaning to ask you; who's this spy in Aogiri you have?"

When Ryota had stepped out of the shadows two years ago and revealed himself to his daughter, she had begged him not to tell anyone of her and Ayato's relationship. Ayato worked for Aogiri, and if they found out about it, they would kill him. True to his word, Ryota hadn't mentioned names.

He smiled at the younger Ghoul, "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Tch. How childish." Nishio muttered, "Well, whatever. Just keep me updated on what's going on."

"Certainly." Ryota replied as Nishio stood and walked over to talk with Touka leaving Ryota to his thoughts. While Aogiri hadn't been as active as before, he was certain Eto was planning something on a much larger scale. Ayato hadn't shared any information, but it was quite possible he hadn't been privy to the plans just yet. The CCG, on the other hand, were getting stronger, especially with the new addition of their special Quinx squad lead by Sasaki Haise - the persona Kaneki Ken had taken when he'd lost his memories. The Quinx were manufactured half-breeds - or as Emily had said, humans with built-in quinques. A dangerous tool for the CCG to possess. He sighed, what on Earth was Arima thinking when he'd taken in Kaneki Ken and proposed this idea? Or maybe it wasn't Arima at all - maybe V had played a hand in it. Either way, Arima Kishou was at the centre of this new arsenal, and Ryota wanted answers.

Emily's Apartment

"Hello family." Ryota called as he shut the front door behind him.

"Hey Dad." Emily greeted him from her place, lying on Ayato on the couch watching television, "How was :Re?"

"Business is quite good." he replied sitting down on the arm chair, "It's not as busy as Anteiku was, but it's getting there."

Emily frowned at her father, "You know that's not what I meant." He chuckled, "I know, I know. Actually, Nishiki had some interesting information for me. Ayato, what do you know about a guy named Saeki Karao, nicknamed Torso?"

"Not much. He's what humans call a serial killer, right? He favours human females, and has a taste for just their torsos." Ayato replied with a shrug, "Tatara's interested in him."

"Hmm...Nishiki suspected as much." Ryota replied, stroking his short beard, "I don't believe he's necessarily strong but after the hit Aogiri took, I assume they'd be willing to recruit just about anyone."

"Basically." Ayato agreed, "So why are you looking into this?"

"I'm not sure yet. He's definitely got the attention of both Aogiri and the CCG and while I'm not fond of his ways, I don't particularly wish to see what'll happen to him should the CCG catch him."

"You're not thinking of recruiting him yourself, are you Dad?" Emily asked, sitting up on her elbow to look at him. Ryota shook his head, "No, I don't think he'd do too well with us considering his tastes. Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling this is something we need to get involved in."

"Just be careful, okay?" Emily warned him. He smiled warmly at her, "Of course. You worry too much, just like your mother." Ryota stood and went to disappear into his bedroom but stopped for a moment, "Oh, Ayato..."

Ayato looked up at the older Ghoul and waited. Emily's father held out his fist towards him and winked, "Nice going."

Emily bushed bright crimson and dropped her head into Ayato's chest as the two men laughed and actually fist bumped.