Chapter II: Where did you sleep last night

Her eyes could burst into flames right in that moment and she wouldn't have question the 'hows' and 'whys'. She's been locked up in her office since 7 a.m. with her third cup of coffee in her left hand while her eyes glued to the screen of the laptop. She was positive that if she looked anywhere instead of the screen, she would see faint lines playing in front of her eyes. It was almost lunch. Which meant Washuu Matsuri wanted the reports and the statistics behind them and he wanted them before the break. She didn't even have time to ask herself why would he be so adamant about some crappy psychological reports that had already been done before 6 months ago. Well actually she had a guess.

Sometime through her fourth time of reading the tables and aligning them, she almost jumped from her chair at the sound knocking. With slightly trembling hands and a desperate urge to tell the person behind the door to fuck off, she put her glasses down and took a deep breath.

"Yes, come in."

At the first sight of grey and black flickers of hair she exhaled relieved and her eyes went back to the screen resuming her wild chase for errors. The sound of steps and the crack of the door informed her that the person entered her domain and closed the door so that the warm air wouldn't get out of the office.

"Good morning, Charbonnet-sa-"

"Don't call me that. Sit down. Wait a minute. Talk." she cut off the sweet tone of the boy. Well, actually, he was at least two years older than her, but that wasn't the point. "In reverse. The last two."

She could see the blurred silhouette of Sasaki Haise lingering at the door at a loss of words, but then he complied to her demands and sat down on the chair across of her. Now she couldn't see his face because of the laptop.

"Amy-chan" he reformulated taking a short break to see if she was going to correct him again "I was wondering if you were going out for lunch…?"

That was a polite but not so subtle way of saying he wanted his book back. No, not really, but she was having a bad day so she was going to be as cranky as she wanted with everyone. At least she wasn't verbalizing it. After a couple of seconds and a 'Send' click she pulled away from her laptop with a relieved sigh and took a good look to the strange person before her. Strange in the sense that, you didn't see every day a guy with perfect black and white ombré. Actually, the term was balayage, right? Yes, she read somewhere something about that, but she was so out of touch with fashion that at this point, she didn't even feel like putting any effort in actually picking up the newest trends. And she used to like being stylish too. Another trait she lost during the previous months.

"Hm, some coffee sounds good." she stretched and put down her glasses. Blinking a little, to readjust and shake off the intense concentration out of her sore eyes she noticed Haise gazing at her cup. Third cup.

"Um, maybe some food instead?" He did actually ask her about lunch.

His smile faltered when she took a little too much to respond staring at him like he was a babbling idiot. Finally, she got up from her chair and he felt compelled to do the same. She did, however, startled him by patting his head while she passed to get her bag.

"Silly Haise Sasaki." she put on her coat and winked at him. "I'm on a diet. Let's go."

The young psychologist puzzled him. She was easy-going and very sanguine, but if anyone crossed a certain line of familiarity she'd make a 180-degree turn. He didn't know if he had to blame her profession for that, or if it run deeper. When Akira introduced her, their personalities seemed to clash wonderfully, as she wanted to be useful and help those around her in any way possible. Kind of like him. They became fast friends seeing as both of them shared a love for books, coffee and ideas. She was cheerful, a bit eccentric perhaps and enticing. But he learnt that behind her apparent coquettish behavior there was no real purpose or intention, behind her plastered smile she could be very much annoyed and her politeness was a double-edged blade, swinging from genuine respect for others, to cold robotic responses. That's how he knew her in the brief time she had spent at the CCG until now, cooperating to bring his precious Qs Squad members into her office for a psychological check-up. And still, he wondered if the image he was seeing, fooled by her apparent openness, wasn't the image she wanted to project to the others around her.

They didn't go too far for their lunch break. It was only a break after all and time was important for the CCG. Washuu Matsuri made sure she understood that. She had to pull through all the morning when she got home – which meant early in the morning, too early for her taste – so that the reports were done and she still had to ask for a deadline extension so she could finish working the statistics and fix the discussions and conclusions. She really had hoped that painstakingly work of research would stay in the university but no, even now when she had a goddamn job, the statistics followed her. After this lunch break she would have to face the Washuu in order to receive some feedback – if any – and her new assignment. At least that's what the e-mail said.

The sushi place was not so crowded. Despite being a sushi place they served coffee too. How did the two of those went hand in hand? Because a lot of the CCG was coming here to eat, but seeing as being a coffee addict was part of the requirements to join the CCG, they decided to brew coffee as well since people were bringing their own out of necessity. And it was damn good. Hence the frequency of customers. There were certain times when you could start a mosh pit if one would so much as call for one and the staff would be so busy that instead of your latte, they'd bring you a mocha – yes, there was a significant difference and she would call out the bullshit a guy at Starbucks gave her for it – but today the place seemed strangely desolé. It was a good marketing strategy to include coffee as well from their part. She approved. However, being the one of CCG's favorite eating places due to the closeness to the main building compared with other places, seeing only 6 customers, including them was rather odd. It wasn't her favorite sushi place, but seeing as their time was limited it would do. She smiled at Haise's reluctance to order coffee and gently filled the blank what she wanted with a 'green tea'. She noticed the relief that blossomed on his face. He was transparent when it came to emotions. The most transparent person she's ever met. She wondered if half of the time he was aware of the fact that others could see through him. She stopped mid-step as they were walking towards a table.

"Isn't that Kuki Urie?" she asked Haise pointing to a table further in the – restaurant? They were definitely going for that impression, but the place was a little too small to be considered one – at a table rather hard to see. Her smile widened.

"It would seem so. Shirazu's here too." Sasaki's eye narrowed for a second. They were sitting almost in the back, a little too suspicious for his taste.

"Oh!" the psychologist to his right exclaimed. "I've been meaning to ask you to introduce me to your team. I haven't meet any of them in person except of Urie." The implications were obvious in her voice.

"I suppose this is a fortunate coincidence." he smiled to the blonde woman. He wanted to check up on the two, but didn't want to drag her into it because he asked her for coffee and that would be rather rude. Maybe she was more perceptive than what he gave her credit for.

She hummed happily following the investigator. As they came close to the other two, the first to notice their presence from a distance was Urie. His eyes widened at the sight of his superior and made a face when he noticed her as well. A face she didn't like. Finally, the other person noticed Urie's change of behavior – he desperately tried to look casual as he dismissed Shirazu's attempt to continue the conversation – and turned to look at them.

"Saasan!"

Although still guarded, Haise couldn't help the genuine smile that graced his features. This was the first time she's seen Haise interact with the Qs he's been talking all the time. Urie seemed less thrilled than Shirazu to see them. On the contrary, if she didn't know him better – which she didn't – she would assume he was a little nervous and annoyed. This made her bubble of happiness glow even brighter. The orange haired boy said something in Japanese and Urie scowled. Actually, none of them seemed particularly happy to see their mentor. Her eyes darted automatically at Haise because people speaking in a language she couldn't understand always made things awkward especially when she had to smile and wait for someone to translate. Haise, of course, noticed this.

"This is Amy Charbonnet, she's been appointed with the psychological care of the Quinx Squad." he switched the conversation to English.

Again, Shirazu said something in Japanese and she awkwardly looked at Haise and Urie, but if the first seemed embarrassed by his protégé, the other looked like he needed a good facepalm. Urie muttered something in Japanese as well and realization dawned on the other's face.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm Shirazu Ginshi, how ya doin'?"

She blinked at him processing his words. Because she hasn't heard such a strong foreign English accent and a butchered usage of words since Kirishima Ayato. And that was saying a lot. If her memory served well, in the academy they were supposed to follow a foreign language class and English was primary. She was just hoping he didn't learn English from rap songs or the hood.

"I'm fine. Took a break after sending your psychological reports to Washuu Matsuri actually. And Haise thought of dragging me out of the office."

Haise looked at her awkwardly and smiled while rubbing the back of his head. She had a weird way of thanking him for treating her with green tea. Shirazu's face filled with surprise looking at the young psychologist and then to his mentor his eyes shining.

"Oh! Saasan finally asked a girl to a coffee!"

She couldn't help but wince at his accent. But she wasn't one to talk. After all she wasn't a native speaker either. The laughter came naturally too. She couldn't feel embarrassed as Haise was apparently, because of the innocence and bare reaction the orange haired had shown. Urie watched her curiously and a little annoyed, but when wasn't he annoyed at something or someone?

"Sorry to disappoint Shirazu, but it's nothing of that sorts. He wants his book back." She invited herself in the seat next to Urie, who wasn't thrilled in the least about her audacity. "I wouldn't be allowed to date anyone from your squad or affiliated to it anyway, because I'm your psychologist. Also, I can't enter a relationship with anyone implicated for at least two years after the contract expires. But we can be friends." Of course, that would happen only if someone found out about said relationship, but she didn't want to complicate her explanation. The Code of Deontology was complicated enough on its own.

"Washuu Matsuri is your superior?" Urie asked not giving two fucks about ethics and psychology, at the same time as Shirazu was complaining about the 'shitty' rules.

"Ha! Everyone from Rank 1 up is my superior. Or was it Rank 2? Anyway, the one in charge of my activity is Washuu Yoshitoki. Wasuu Matsuri acts as an intermediate, as the Bureau Director is pretty preoccupied with more urgent matters." And they all knew that there were always urgent matters when it came to CCG.

She noted Urie's attentive demeanor at the mention of 'Washuu' and she didn't miss the slight approval by nodding his head in what seemed an unconscious motion. She really hoped he wasn't infected with the Wasuu virus, because too rarely did those that seek their attention not ended up splattered on the walls, on the floors and two meters underground if there was anything left to bury. Pun intended.

Finally, the waitress came with one green tea and a coffee. She knew why he brought her here, at a sushi place. He wanted to tempt her with food, because he sure as hell couldn't eat any. She let Haise do all the thanking and smiles because honestly, she was tired of doing that everyday at work because it was expected of her. It was a sour day when she found out that being a psychologist also meant fake smiles, a lot of patience and always being polite. She wondered what excuse did Haise have for doing the exact thing every day, though.

"…Amy-chan?"

She blinked at a confused Haise. Has he asked her something? No, she was pretty sure it was Shirazu speaking when she started spacing out. Her lips curled in an apologetic smile, but when she started talking, the sound of rushed steps and a tumbling motion made her turn around just in time to see a little girl tripping over her own feet not far from their table. She immediately got up to help the poor thing before she fell flat on her face and smashed her expensive camera. And face. When the brown hair got out of her eyes, the girl froze as she got a good look at the face of the blonde woman. Oh.

"Are you alright?" Amy asked helping the girl up and forcing her lips to curl in what most likely was a very obvious fake smile. Her eyes stopped on the camera as well, the question having a double meaning.

"Yes, I'm quite ok. Thank you!" the girl bowed her head, not without glancing at the people from the table and almost took off to the exit of the café.

Well, well, the Little Mouse had some dirt on her now.

"That was… odd." she flipped her ashen hair on her left shoulder. The scent had been vague on the Little Mouse, but sitting back at the table with Shirazu and Urie, there was no mistaking it. "That surely woke me from my spacing out."

"You have good reflexes Amy." Haise observed in his good-natured way. Of course, that was doing wonders to her paranoia.

"I used to be good at badminton. I was even in the national team. Fast reactions are my thing." she shrugged her shoulders. "What about you, guys? Do you have any unusual hobbies? I know Haise reads and likes dotting over the entire squad as a surrogate mom, so no need for you to answer that."

Shirazu laughed at that. The young psychologist was funny and it was easy to make him laugh. Saiko and Tooru would have enjoyed the conversation too, but he knew Saiko was still sleeping or playing some videogame and Tooru… he wasn't sure what Tooru was doing, maybe sitting at home or at the doctor for a check-up.

"I really hope I get to meet the entire squad." He looked at the blonde wondering if psychologists could after all read minds. "Well, it's not as much as I wish, but more that it's required."

"Whatchu mean 'required'?"

"Once a week you have a scheduled psychology session. All of you." she explained patiently looking pointedly at Haise who in return was surprised. He was part of the Mado squad after all and this was the first time he had heard anything about something of the sort.

"Therapy?" Urie asked narrowing his eyes.

"Personal development and checkups." she hummed correcting him with something that meant essentially the same thing. "Do you have any hobbies, Rank 2 Urie Kuki?"

No, he wanted to answer mainly because he found the idea of having therapy sessions with her even more unsettling, but if her direct superior was Washuu Yoshitoki… what he definitely didn't expect, was her reaching for his right sleeve exposing a red spot of paint that he could have sworn wasn't there before he left the Chateau that morning. The blonde's face turned into a smile with a knowing 'aaah' that made him think about something entirely. He jerked his sleeve out of her hand without paying much mind to Sasaki's surprised expression. He really, really, didn't like this woman.

"I see. Painting." she retracted her hand and he could see her features go rigid at his reaction to her touch. The smile was still in place, but clearly strained as she fidgeted with her necklace. Haise sent her a sympathetic look, while Shirazu looked at his disapprovingly. Urie narrowed his eyes. What was with these two?

"Saasan likes to cook! And he's very good at it!" Shirazu looked at his mentor in a way that she thought a dog would look at their owner: with undisputed adoration.

"You love reading and you're a good cook too?" she raised one of her eyebrows looking at the slightly embarrassed boy. "And you're telling me you don't have a girlfriend yet? By any gods up above and around Haise, sign me up. I'm terrible at cooking."

Shirazu laughed at her joke and his eyes twinkled in a way that it made her guess that he had self-proclaimed himself Haise's wingman in his mind. She really appreciated his reactions to her jokes. But in the same time, he oscillated between glares and unsure affectionate attitude towards the older boy. She wondered what was up with these two. She sent an apologetic smile at Haise whose cheeks were slightly tainted pink. Well, at least she managed to put some color in that pale face. Urie snorted at her attempt of a joke and she had a good guess he didn't like that kind of humor. Of course, one needed a certain lack of uptight for that, one that the purple haired didn't possessed.

"What else? Tell me more about the others in the squad." she sipped at her green tea, eager to listen to Shirazu's broken English. He seemed delighted with her request and once again she noticed the stark difference of attitude and mannerism between the three males. Simply put, Shirazu found it easy to talk to girls while the others didn't, despite his heavy accent, less comprehension of the language and crass phrasing. He was used to female presence, as if he lived for a long time among them. His mother? No, that's Haise. A sister? Of course, Shirazu didn't seem like Haise, trying to find a mother-like figure in the females around him, no, Shirazu's interaction came more naturally… sister is then. She clicked the cup on the tea saucer with a clumsy move, making a mental note to read his file again.

"… and Saiko likes videogames. She also reads manga, so I suppose' she's into some kind of reading too. When she's not sleepin' all day."

She guessed she missed the Mutsuki Tooru part, which was really a shame.

"Maybe you should come to the Chateau. To know each better."

"I'd love that!"

"We don't have time for this."

Urie Kuki suddenly got up and in a second was rushing away and he would have marched his way out of the bistro – she was running out of names for the place – had it not been Haise's inquiry.

"Where do you think you're going?" the sharp tone was a new thing for her ears coming or Haise. She had always seen him treat everyone nice, borderline to excessive politeness.

At first the purple haired investigator didn't seem like he intended to stop and answer his mentor's question, but ended turning towards them. He seemed beyond annoyed, as if the question itself was absurd and answer came in the same tone.

"To investigate Torso. To do my job."

"Rank 2 Investigator Urie Kuki, leader of the Quinx Squad." she raised her voice a little to make sure he didn't storm out before actually communicating the information she was supposed to "Your first session is next Monday, but I would like to discuss a schedule for your squad members. Please inform your colleagues and set some provisory days so we come to an ultimate weekly schedule on Monday."

"If you want, Amy-chan, I could tell the others – "

"Nah, it's ok." she waved her hand at Haise. "He's the squad leader." She had to play on team Urie Kuki for now. She felt that she just found one of his soft spots, because even though he exited the place with no word, she saw his expression when she called him squad leader. The wolfish grin Shirazu sent her just before he got up from confirmed that.

"Huh? Are you leaving as well, Shirazu?"

"Yeah, just remembered I have somethin' to do. Don't worry Saasan" he added glancing at his mentor with amusement "I'm not catching up to Urie two blocks away from here. See ya later!"

Haise looked so torn she could help the giggles spilling from her throat. She rested her empty cup on the flowered tea saucer as the young investigator run a hand through his hair in dismay. She guessed that the mentor role would turn his hair back to white soon if things remained like this between him and his kids.

"Those brats really have no respect for the whole mentor-students relation. Me and Akira…"

"You and Akira have a different type of bond." she cut him short. Knowing Mado Akira, she would have approved. "They are going to be fine. They need to learn more about ghouls in real life and about themselves. They are not kids and they are not weak. At all. You need to understand that. They need to understand that."

He watched her quietly as she spoke and she felt guilty. She felt guilty because she was manipulating and lying to the only pure good-natured person she knew. He seemed to ponder what she said and the feeling only amplified when he looked at her and smiled touching his chin with his fingers.

"Thank you, Amy-chan. You might be right."

"Good. Now, say Haise. How fast can you drink that whole cup of coffee?"

"Huh? I-I don't know, why are you asking?"

"Because in 10 minutes I have to be in Washuu Matsuri's office."

"No mom, you can't ship food from Europe to Tokyo. When did that ever worked when I was in university in NYC?"

She was pissed off. The Washuu just brushed her off with 'I have a meeting for the rest of the day. Come back tomorrow.' like she was his secretary or something. She spent the rest of her day trying not to fall asleep on the desk.

"Besides, what am I supposed to do with it? Donate it to orphans and street people? Feed the dogs? Lure little children and men to my home with it?"

The voice on the other side spiked in intensity and once it started it seemed like it wouldn't stop for a while, so she kept the phone to a safe distance from her sensitive ears.

The evening seemed even colder to her than it probably was, her tiredness coming through. The chills were clinging to her skin like a little spiderweb slithering to the extremities. It was already dark and no one around, since everybody was either in their homes already or in the city, but seeing as the neighborhood was a rather peaceful one she supposed no one would hear her mother shouting over the phone even in the narrow alley she was walking. It would have been rather embarrassing otherwise. The wind whipped the walls and she froze in her place.

"Mom, mom, I'll call you later."

She hung up before her mother had time to respond. There was a certain nip in the air, but that wasn't what caught her attention. She gathered the coat around her form to cover as much of herself as she could and started in the direction the rancid smell came from. Too bad it didn't have a hood, but she would make do with what she had. Her apartment was nearby, but thankfully the smell carried her further away from it. But still far too close for her liking. There were virtually no people on the streets, or so she thought before she passed a bar and some men came out to have some 'fresh air' and casted her a long glance. She quickened her pace refusing to acknowledge their curiosity. Unwanted attention was the last thing she wanted. Thankfully, their interest was lost almost immediately when another man came out of the bar with a bottle and shouted something at them with great enthusiasm. She really had to start learning Japanese one of these days.

The smell didn't carry her too far from the bar, actually two streets away she stopped when she saw trail of strange forms scattered across the pavement. The street light was rather precarious, but upon further inspection one would say they were pieces of flesh, or an equally squishy material. A very peculiar kind of flesh. She knew it was kagune, no, a quinque, scattered all over the pavement, with no body in sight. Perhaps the investigator that wielded got away with his life?

It didn't take long to find the body either, but it's been tricky because her nose was overwhelmed by the rancid smell that most likely came from the black substance that was dripping from the destroyed quinque. What was that quinque? The corpse she found had been desecrated. There were different pieces of it that were missing – an arm, a patch of flesh on the left side of the face, some of the lower abdomen – but while it was obviously that it was the handy work of a ghoul, it wasn't out of hunger. No, this was for sport. And investigators worked in pairs.

She already caught a sniff of a vaguely familiar smell, if only the stench of the quinque wouldn't give her a headache. But, how familiar was never a good sign, she had to do something about her appearance. And fast, as the sound someone running was nearing. Too heavy. A ghoul's steps would never make so much noise, especially not while chasing the prey. Should she crouch towards the body? Let out a terrified scream? Start running towards the other person?

She went for the latter. She started running toward the end of the street while looking behind her, balancing on her heels and struggling with her bag. Might have been an exaggerated display of fear run, but it was better then being found as she expertly examined the scene of a ghoul attack in a dark street. She let out a startled yell as a pair of strong arms collided with hers. A man's voice said something she couldn't understand, but she wasn't paying attention to that.

"A CORPSE, THERE IS A DEAD MAN IN THE MIDDLE OF THAT STREET!"

The man looked at her and forced her to stop screaming and fidgeting her arms around. He didn't seem like he looked forward to looking to his partner's desecrated corps either. She knew that once a civilian was involved, the investigator's priority was taking them to a safe location.

"Miss, please, listen, we have to leave now. It's not safe." he spoke with a heavy accent, but slowly making sure she looked at him and not behind at the dead investigator.

"A DEAD MAN WITHOUT AN ARM AND A HUGE HOLE THROUGH HIS STOMACH."

"Please calm down, we will take care of it. We need to leave, you're not safe." And by 'we' he meant the CCG, of course, which she to whom she would have a lot of explaining to do, since she was one of its employee.

She reluctantly nodded, while mumbling about how they had to do something and the investigator helped, or more precisely, forced her to walk away, ensuring her in the same heavy accent and simple sentences that it would be taken care of after she was safe. He didn't seem too willing to leave his dead partner behind either as he was stealing glances behind her, but he had to follow the procedure, even if he grew annoyed – she could tell. Before they actually got away from the macabre display, the whispers of movement caught her attention and soon enough the earlier familiar smell intensified. It was too late.

"I'm sorry, investigator."

The sounds of whatever he was going to say died in his throat as her hand and arm went through his mid-section, scrambling whatever organs it found. With a sickening wet sound, she retracted her arm and the man fell forward, but not before she removed his grey scarf with a fast motion. The man's fingers were still twitching when his body collided with the pavement, the expression of utter shock and horror never leaving his face. She felt bad for the man, he was doing his job, but him returning for his partner had been a dead sentence. Which she really wanted to avoid.

The sound of steps became acutely close just as she finished wrapping the scarf around her head like a mummy, leaving her eyes uncovered. The form that seemingly materialized before her was tall and lean, the terrible light on the streets embracing his sharp features. His blue eyes scanned the surrounding, first her and then at her kill. Then back at her, narrowing his eyes. His lack of interest in the other corpse was possibly due to already knowing the cause of death, which most likely it was himself. Mostly because he was covered in the man's – or was it woman? She sincerely couldn't tell – blood. From her point of view, he needed a haircut. Badly. It kept getting into his eyes and she couldn't read them. He inhaled deeply and his nose twitched in disgust.

"You."

She grinned under the scarf.

"Ayato."

Hello! I know it's been a while, but I've underestimated the workload for this year at uni... anyway, I've corrected the first chapter, lost some files for my other story and this one... chaos. It's been chaos, but nevermind that now! It's a new chapter so enjoy, I know I'm enjoying the interaction between my character and Urie as I'm writing more and more, something I haven't expected to happen :))