~Third Person P.O.V~

Touka continued to stare like an idiot so Himika elbowed her side, making her snap back to reality.

"Thanks." Touka sighed. "Should I take their order, or...?"

"I can do it," Himika scowled. "I do know one of them after all."

Touka hands Himika a notebook and pen, giving her a grateful nod before turning to the cups sitting on the counter.

"Hello, how are you, Juuzou?" Himika asked politely, giving him the equivalent of a smile (a nod).

"I'm quite well Himika!" Juuzou grinned.

"So you two do know each other?" The tall bulky man asked, glancing at the two.

"She was helping Hide deliver packages and we ran into each other!" He explained.

"Pretty much." Himika agreed, lifting her pen to her notepad. "Are you both ready to order?"

"Oh! I'll have cake!" Juuzou exclaims, his eyes already zeroed in on the display behind the counter. "Strawberry please!"

"I'm not sure, what do you recommend?" The man asked, looking to Himika.

"We have excellent sandwiches, although I much prefer the coffee," Himika answers, forcing her nose to not wrinkle at the mention of sandwiches.

"Then I'll take a turkey sandwich and a cup of hot coffee!" He finally ordered.

"Coming right up, I'll be back later with your orders." Himika robotically replied, gliding over to the counter in her combat boots. "Strawberry cake and coffee."

"Got it." Touka nodded, getting to work.

She opened the refrigerated display and took out the strawberry cake, placing it on the counter, then diverting her attention to making coffee. Himika simply waited patiently, watching as Touka went about her work.

The door behind the counter swung open and Touka jumped, spilling whatever progress she had made all over the floor.

"Sorry Touka," The manager chuckled. "Why don't you step back for a minute, I'll make the coffee."

Touka raised an eyebrow but stepped down. "Sure."

Once the manager took over, Himika dragged Touka to the side.

"You wanted to tell me something earlier," She stated. "About... Shikamaru."

Her cheeks flushed red, which was much more noticeable on her pale skin.

"Ah, yes," She hummed. "To start, can you remember anything else about him?"

"Like what he looks like?" Himika asked, tilting her head.

Touka was tempted to coo at her but held her tongue. "Sure, that and what he was like."

"He had spikey black hair, but I bet that it's soft." She started, her fingers twitching as if she was petting a cat. "He had peachy skin, and dark eyes, his eyes are quite... nice."

Himika struggled with her words, not looking directly at Touka for the longest time.

"He was also taller than me, but maybe that's changed," Himika mumbled, looking her self up and down. "Do I seem taller?"

"Not really." Touka shrugged. "You haven't even bee here that long."

"Oh." She grumbled, then moving onto the next question. "He's also really nice, or at least to me. He acts kind of lazy but is actually really smart. We would go 'cloud gazing,' as he called it."

"Aw..." Touka grinned, elbowing her side. "You'd be so cute together!"

"Cute... Together?" Himika repeated, her nose wrinkling in confusion while a blush dusted her cheeks.

"Just admit it Himika, you like him."

She paused, considering this.

"Of course I like him, he's my friend, my first one at that." Himika reasoned.

"No, you idiot," Touka sighed. "You have a crush on him."

"Could you explain?" Himika asked. "I've never quite understood the word crush. Is it not when you bunch something up or crumple it?"

"Dense." Touka concluded.

"Dense?" Himika mumbled, knocking her first against her skin. "Well, I suppose I am. My skin is quite hard."

Touka threw her hands up in a 'I-give-up sort of way.

"How can you not understand these sorts of things?" She asked.

"I guess you could say that I was a sheltered child." Himika shrugged.

"I never did learn much about you, what was your childhood like?" Touka inquired.

"Dark, cold, depressing, bloody, the list goes on." Himika droned, rolling her hand in a continuous motion. 

"Is that why you're like this?" Touka asked. "So... Empty?"

"While I'm not empty in a physical way, I suppose I could agree that I'm empty." She said. "But after seeing hell and coming out alive, I guess you just lose the feeling of being... Full."

"Well, that's depressing."

"Not really." Himika shrugged.

"Who did all of this to you anyway?" Touka asks.

Himika went ramrod straight, even Touka and the two ghoul investigators could feel the bloodlust wafting off her, only, it wasn't her own.

Orochimaru.

Shin was livid, and this time, his anger was directed at Touka. His mind was clouded with rage, and his once playful demeanour was gone.

I'll skin that bastard alive, I'll take pleasure in his suffering, I will rip out his organs as he did to me, only he won't live on. I'll make sure he dies agonizingly slow, starting with minor organs like the gallbladder, maybe remove a kidney.

As soon as the bloodlust appeared, it was gone, making Himika feel dizzy on her feet. She didn't even realize she was falling until she landed safely in Touka's arms. Mr. Yoshimura, Juuzou, and the large bulky man all rushed over, bombarding Touka and Hinami with questions.

"Is she alright!?"

"Does this happen often?"

"What the hell happened to her?!"

Touka lightly smacked her cheek, but the only response she got was a groan.

"We need to take her to the hospital!" Juuzou exclaimed, kneeling by her side.

"I'll go start the car!" The muscular man exclaimed before running out of the shop with his briefcase in one hand.

Touka shared a worried glance with the manager, to which he replied with a frown, confirming her worst fear.

"Touka, help me carry her," He said. "Himika needs to see a doctor."

And of course they couldn't go to see a ghoul doctor, after all, Hinami's father was dead a long time ago.

~Later~

The familiar feeling of flower petals graced Himika's fingers as she gained consciousness, a worried face greeting her.

"Hello, Shin." She greeted, starting to sit up.

"Hello." He replied, moving his head out of the way.

"What exactly happened?" Himika asked as Shin took a seat next to her.

"I lost it." He admitted. "It's just, I hate that man, enough so that I hope I'm the one who ends the bastards life."

"I see." Himika nodded. "I can't say I blame you."

"But," He interrupted the silence. "I have a favour of you, something I'm sure you will agree to."

"After the whole, 'let me take over whenever I want or else' thing, I don't know about that." Himika scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I want you to end Orochimaru, for both of us."

"How the hell am I going to do that?" Himika asked, rolling her eyes.

"By finding a way back of course." He rolled his eyes back.

"What if I don't want to leave?" She challenged.

"Come on Himika!" He yelled. "Open your eyes! We don't belong here! I ran away years ago and ended up like this, and you weren't even born in this world!"

"But what about-"

"Don't even, forget about Kaneki already." He growled. "When was the last time you even saw him? He seems to be doing a pretty shitty job at being your big brother."

"I know," She seethed. "I was wondering about Hinami as well."

"If she means that much, take her with you." Shin shrugged.

"I would never do that!" Himika exclaimed. "My world is rough, even Hinami may not cut it out there."

"It's time you become more independent, Himika."

And with those parting words, the space around her faded to black, and she realized she was back in the real world, fluttering her eyelashes. The space around her smelled of blood, and medicine, a smell that made her face contort in disgust. Beside her, she could smell a person, one she was kind of familiar with.

"Wakey, wakey~!" 

Her eyes finally opened and landed on Juuzou, only for him to yelp and leap across the room.

"What's up with your eye?" He asked, his quinque at his side, still in briefcase form.

Himika reached for her eye and felt her eyelid, meaning her eyepatch was gone.

"This day just keeps getting better and better."

A/N

Wowie. Finally got this chapter done! Only a few more to go! Sooooo close! Hope you all liked this chapter and are looking forward to the next!

(P.S: Chilling at Starbucks while writing this :P)