two

                                    

                                          
"We have to take her back with us" I looked up at Ayato.
                          
"No way" my partner almost laughed, he thought I was being ridiculous. "Leave her, she's dead anyway"
                          
"You don't know that"
                          
Ayato took a step closer and scowled at me. He thought he had some sort of authority over me and I hated it, although I would probably never tell him that. I think he hated how dull and calm I was too, although I couldn't help it. I used to be such an emotional person, but a month ago I was torn apart and put back together again over and over and-
                          
"Are you fucking stupid? We don't know this chick. She was with the CCG"
                          
"They probably found her here"
                          
Ayato was not having any of my reasoning. "So she's homeless and feral. Great"
                          
"We're taking her with us"
                          
Ayato's scowl grew angry and he lowered his tone. A while ago, he might've even frightened me. "It's too much of a risk" he snarled.
                          
"We can't just leave one of our own here to die"
                          
"You're such a fucking wet wipe, eyepatch"
                          
I sighed and lifted the injured ghoul over my shoulder gently as my partner continued to mutter rude things under his breath.
                          
"You done?" he spat. "You wanna pick anyone else up before we go? Maybe adopt a puppy?"
                          
"Let's just get out of here"
                          
We made our way back to where we had decided to spend the night, although the mission had taken longer than planned and the birds were already chirping to indicate the sun was about to rise. I could hear Tokyo starting to come to life beneath us: trains running, car engines warming up, people arriving home from their night shifts. Despite my lack of rest, I wasn't particularly tired, sleep never came easily to me. 
                          
I lagged behind slightly as we jumped stealthily from building to building. I could feel the blood of the injured ghoul begin to soak my shirt and I wondered why she was taking so long to heal. I moved slowly so I didn't injure her any more. 
                          
When we got back, I cleared an area of the concrete floor of broken glass and lay the girl down carefully. I took a few seconds to look at her. Her skin was pale and flawless, her hair as black as the night sky. She was small in stature, and her clothes were ripped. I wondered what could have happened to her. 
                          
I pulled up a chair next to the unconscious ghoul and sipped a cup of coffee as I looked out over the city that was beginning to wake up. Sunlight started to break through the bare windows and it felt good against my skin. Since the CCG were after me, I never really went out in the day anymore.
                          
I couldn't recall how long I had sat there, but I was obviously not needed elsewhere otherwise my partner would have come calling. 
                          
I valued time to myself, working with such a huge organisation meant working with lots of people who were different to me in so many ways. Despite being a ghoul, I could never picture myself as a bloodthirsty monster, not really. I hardly ever had the luxury of being able to sit down and reflect and think. Sometimes I even took the liberty to daydream. During times like this, I almost felt human. 
                          
The sun was blazing high in the summer sky when I heard a stirring below me.
                          
"Ow.." the girl placed her hand on her stomach where the, now healed, wounds had been.
                          
I looked at her as she tried to stand. "Hey now-"
                          
As soon as the injured girl heard a voice other than her own, her scleras turned black and she jumped back to the wall so that she was as far from me as possible. She looked defensive, but also a little scared.