Kaori's POV

"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Kaori? You didn't look so well yesterday." Sakura said. I only shrugged my shoulders. The team and I were walking back from our mission. "Hey, Kaori! I just got a great idea!" Naruto said.

I raised a brow at him, wondering what he wanted to say. "Let's go to Ichiraku's to get some ramen!" He said. I didn't like the idea of that. I already threw up once from eating human food. I don't want to do it again. 

"That's gonna have to wait. I have to go meet a friend." I said. I walked the other direction. Last night, I got a message from Uta. He told me he was coming to the Leaf to work on his masks here. It seemed like an okay idea, but I wasn't sure if he should be doing that.

He has a lot of customers at home and I think it would be a bother to be sending masks back and forth from here. But he told me it was no big deal and he gave me the address of where his new shop will be. I walked towards a hidden part of the Leaf Village and found his shop.

"Uta? Are you in here?" I called. I saw a ton of mask on posts. Wow, he works fast. "Uta?" I called. I saw a post that was covered under a white sheet. "Uta?" I repeated as I looked under the sheet. "Boo!" Uta said, once he saw me.

I smiled a bit. "Nice try, Uta." I said as pulled the white sheet completely off of him. "Man, I thought I really got you this time." Uta whined. "That trick may have worked on Kaneki, but it won't work on me." I said. Uta smiled before gently petting my head.

"Anyway, I have your mask ready for you. It's right over you." Uta said. He lead over to his desk and took out the mask he had ready for me. "Thanks, Uta." I said as he handed it to me. I placed it over my face and looked at him.

"It really fits you." He said. "Thanks." I thanked him. I hugged him with the mask still over my face. "You're such a child, Kaori." Uta said as he petted my head again. I smiled behind my mask. "Oh, that also reminds me. Mr. Yoshimura wanted me to give this to you." Uta went into a drawer and pulled out a black hoodie.

"A hoodie?" I asked. "It's actually an animal hoodie." He corrected me. I tried on the hoodie and Uta gave me a mirror to examine myself. It was a black cat hoodie. I smiled at the cat ears on the hoodie. "This is perfect." I said. "Kaori, what's wrong with you?" Uta asked. 

"What do you mean?"

"I notice you don't get out of the house often."

"So?"

"And you also don't talk a lot either. You're starting to turn into Yomo. He's worried about you too, you know." 

I gazed at the floor as I thought of Rize. Uta lifted my chin so I was looking at him and took off my mask so he could see my face. "I don't want you shutting yourself in, Kaori. Everyone's worried about you. Even I'm worried about you." Uta said with a worried look in his eye.  

I looked down a bit. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm feeling a bit homesick." I admitted. I really want to go home. "Don't worry, Kaori. I'm sure things will get better soon." Uta assured me before hugging me. I hid my face in his chest and sighed. Now I really want to go home.

After I thanked Uta again for the mask, I started to walk home. When I spotted my house, I also spotted Naruto trying to climb through my window. "What are you doing?" I asked emotionlessly, startling him.

"I was just, um..."

"Trying to break into my house."

"Of course, not! I was, uh..."

"You're a terrible liar, Naruto. Leave my house now."

I walked past him and entered my house. I sighed as I lied back on the couch. A note was on my coffee table, written in neat handwriting. I picked the note and began to read it to myself: "Kaori, I want to talk to you tonight. Meet me behind Ichiraku's. Signed, Ayato."

I frowned. What does that idiot want now? I might as well go meet him tonight, or else he'll never leave me alone.

Naruto's POV

No way, I'm giving this thing up. I need to know what Kaori hides in that house. I need to know what he's hiding. I waited until it got dark when Kaori left his house. He locked the door before walking into the streets.

I took my chance to go through Kaori's window. Once I was in, I began to look through the house to find his room. Well, first I inspected the living room. Nothing really much here. I stopped walking when I found a small picture.

It was a picture of a small girl holding a cat.

Who is that girl? Could this be a sibling of Kaori's? I found an old picture book and sat on the couch as I began to look through it. There was a ton of pictures with some girl, but no pictures of Kaori. Just what the hell is going on? Why isn't Kaori in any of these pictures?

Kaori's POV

"This better be good, Ayato." I said impatiently. "Look over there." Ayato said as he pointed at something. I went to the corner of the alley to see what he was pointing at. I gave a small gasp when I saw it was the doves.

"Have you seen anything unusual around here?" One of them asked. The villager shook his head. "Doves are here? How did they know ghouls would be here?" I asked. "Take a wild guess." Ayato said bluntly. I face palmed, answering my own question.

Right. Touka and I fed on flesh last night and we didn't clean up the blood. Shit, shit, shit. I sighed. "So much for "keeping a low profile", right, Kaori?" Ayato mocked. "Shut the hell up." I murmured. "So, what do we do?" He asked.

"I don't know. I didn't think they would come here."

"Obviously, you thought wrong."

"I said, shut up."

A sudden pound began to hurt my head. I grunted and gripped my head with both hands as I moved away from Ayato. "The hell's wrong with you?" He asked, annoyed. I didn't answer as my head began to pound. I grunted as the pounding got harder.

"Why the long face, Kaori?" My eyes snapped open when I felt arms embrace me from behind. "You surely have become a wreck now, haven't you? It's almost adorable." Rize said in my ear. "No, you're not real! You're not! You're dead!" I shouted.

"How rude," She covered my eyes with her hands as I felt her smirk. "How badly do you want flesh, Kaori? After all, you're a binge eater." She said, still smirking. "Tell me something I don't already know." I muttered angrily.

"Kaori!" I snapped my eyes open when Ayato grabbed the back of my shoulder. "Hey, what's up with you? Are you okay?" He asked me. "I'm fine." I said quickly as I stood to my feet. I was about to walk home until Ayato grabbed my wrist and pinned me against the wall.

"Liar." He said with a glare. I stared back at him blankly, waiting for him to let go of me. "Your face is too close." I said out of boredom. "Why were you freaking out like that?" Ayato demanded. "I don't know. Now, unless you don't want the doves finding us hear, let go of me so I can go home." I said.

I closed my eyes to think for a second. Use my kagune and make him get off or wait until he's ready to let go of me? I was really thinking about the first option. "Kaori," I opened my eyes when I felt his forehead rest against mine.

"What is it? I don't think I've ever seen this side of you before." I noticed. Was he worried about me too? He has a real funny way of showing it. "You're very quiet. What's been on your mind recently?" He asked. I can't believe Ayato was actually concerned about me.

We would basically yell at each other until we got into a fight. But not this time. He's actually being calm. Scary. "Ayato?" I asked. He leaned back a bit before sighing as he rested his head on my shoulder. "Strong, yet still young. Man, you really have an off-and-on switch going on here." I said.

I gently ran my fingers through his hair and gazed up at the sky. My life is so complicated. I sighed and glanced at Ayato. "Ayato, when are you and Touka going to make up?" I asked. "Tch," He pulled back and looked at me with a frown.

"Like hell." He said. I rolled my eyes. "Are you going to let go of me now?" I asked. Ayato didn't reply as he released me. "I have to go. You should go to before they catch you." I said, referring to the doves. "You have something on your cheek,"

I raised a hand to my cheek in attempt to wipe it off. Was it blood from the kill? "I'll get it." Ayato said as he grabbed my wrist. He moved my hand away from my cheek and kissed it. I frowned. "You just wanted to kiss my cheek." I realized.

He smirked. "You got me." He admitted. I rolled my eyes and yanked my wrist out of his hold. "You know I don't like being teased." I said to him before walking home. When I got home, I noticed my window was opened.

I know I locked everything before I left the house. I unlocked my door and walked inside my house. "Who's there?" I demanded as I activated my kagune. I walked around my living room, trying to locate whoever's here.

"You can't hide from me." I said with a growl. "Kaori," I spun around, spotting Father by the entrance of the living room. "Father." I said, putting my kagune away. "You seem a bit hostile tonight. Is something wrong?" He asked me.

"No, I just thought someone was here." I said. I went over to the window and closed it before locking it tightly. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight." I informed before heading to my room. Okay, so that was a lie. I wasn't really going to bed.

I was actually planning on going to my roof. Once I got there, I sat near the edge and swung my legs back and forth. "Rize, just what... what are you trying to tell me?" I asked as I lied on my back. I closed my eyes and sighed.

Naruto's POV

I just barely managed to escape Kaori's house. What was that thing that appeared on his back? Was it some kind of jutsu? No, there's no way that was a jutsu. Just... what is Kaori? Is he some kind of monster? What concerned me more was that picture I saw in that photo album.

There wasn't even one single picture of Kaori. All of them showed some girl. It couldn't have been his sister because Kaori said he didn't have any siblings. Unless he does and doesn't want to admit it. Maybe that girl in the picture was his dead sister.