@Savato With your permission...

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The lone figure walked at a leisure pace, examining each crevice, each loose brick of the mansion. Her hands hesitantly tried to reach something, but stopped short. A place full of memories this one was. Hana stood there for a brief moment, pondering on the past, about the grief and emptiness of the present... and what to do about the future. She thought she had a set plan for her life, beyond merely surviving and thriving. But nowadays, it was so tiresome. So monotone.

Nothing lasts forever, not even memories.

She was looking positively haggard, having chosen to wear a simple tracksuit with hood, masking her apperance at the expense of people believing she was a lunatic in a late street jog. Something unusual, and yet at the same ordinary. Hana was a master at this. Her eyes narrowed, seeing the hallmarks of several recent, fresh footprints. Someone else was inside. She crinkled her nose at the thought, and partly because that overpowering mouldy smell was everywhere.

Ghouls, or Doves? She thought, as she knelt, and picking some of the mouldy crud, smeared it under her armpits and in the back of the neck. According to her medical studies, those two parts were responsible for most of the sweat scent.
Running into hostile ghouls would suck. She thought to herself as she crouched, and stealthily as she could manage, tried to get inside.

Stupid creaking floorboards ruined her silent entrance in seconds. She took the curve ball with dignity, straightening herself as she walked in, her sight scanning the room. And then, her hands reached for her mouth.

"Kachi!? Is that you?" She gasped, inmediatly recognizing the fierce battle-loving youth. He had changed, but she could still single him out."Ikki!? DAMN...like...DAMN, you sure are big now!" A second time she was surprised, referring to Itsuki by the childhood name she had taken a liking to use. "And then, then you're Suzu-chan! You look good!" Hana recalled the young amicable girl from her memories, amazed at how much she had changed. She had hit the growth spurt magnificently.

And the fourth person...was still tiny. She struggled for words for a single moment. True, she had grown also pretty well, too...but she still looked quite a bit...childish."A-chan!!! You're still so cute I could pinch your cheeks!" She finished, trying to fix (or not) but failing spectaculary her previous attempt to be nice to the younger female ghoul. Truth to be told, she was easily the most adorable of the younger siblings she had to deal with, always clinging to the Old man's legs. "But um, I think kicking people even if it's Ikki, it's bad..."

"Uh..." Hana added, pulling her hood back and revealing her face for the others to see."This is great! I was going to reminisce about old times...and you're all here! This is surely, a serendipidity!" Hana smiled, clasping her hands. "Big sis Hana is happy! Really happy! How have you been? What are you up to?" She added, barely containing her excitement as she began to walk in circles around the group, still examining the wreck of the mansion.

And all of a sudden, she screamed. She had found the kids. Worst case scenario. The female ghoul was radiant, but witnessing the cadre of orphans put all her motherly senses into overload, and drove all the common sense in a dark damp recess of her brain.

"Eeeeee!!!!! Look at 'em the cwute widdle lil' chompers! So adorabs! You can call me mama Hana anytime!" She squealed as she kept staring at them like a child stares at a big chocolate cake. "Ikki! No! Kachi, because you're still standing! I want to pop out a couple of spuds and raise them and pinch their cheeks?! Do you want to contribute!?"

And then she was rolling on the floor, with expressions like "oh my god" and "Totes adorabs" before wisely stopping, and looking at her fellow siblings made the right question for once, instead of acting silly.

"Hey, what's going on, actually?"

As Asoka would launch her kick at Itsuki's behind, she'd feel something push back against her a bit, lessening the damage that would've been dealt by enough of a margin that it would only be a minor annoyance, especially for a Rinkaku ghoul who are known to have a better healing factor than other RC types. Itsuki would still go flying, thoubh he'd flip over in theair as he did so, two of his kagune launcning out to dig into the ground, thus slowing his momentum so that he'd slide to a crouched halt, his white Kakugan giving Asoka only the briefest of glares at first, before it broke to reveal a familiar mischeiviousness, one he hadn't felt since the old man had died. A gri remained plastered on his face as he rose, wincing ever so slightly at the pain from his injury(and thinking with some apprehension of what could have happened).

"Huh," was all he said in response to Asoka's tangent at first, but before he could continue his attention was grabbed by the unexpected whirlwind of energy that was Hana. He could only blink as they were all vocally bombarded for a bit, sparing a chuckle or two at Asoka's expense when Hana drew attention to her lack of height. Once the excitable woman took a moment to gain control of herself, Itsuki decided to fill her in.

"Well, I'm about to try and convince those kids you were drooling over that there best chance of survival is by living with me while Kachi goes out to clear a warehouse. Also, Asoka also seems to have grown into quite the little power trip since we've been separated, given how she thinks she can tell me what to do all of a sudden," Itsuki stated rather plainly, the words baring edge in meaning but not tone. Itsuki's posture was not one of challenge nor submission, but complete apathy in regards to his sister's attack on his person, though if one had seen his glare earlier, they see he'd slipped into the same hunter mode as before, but had taken better control over himself before thinks got drastic. "Not that I mind really, especially now that she's become somuch more fun to tease now. I guess one thing will never change about me, I still like to mess with peopls from time to time, and now I've got about 4 years of lost time to make up for."

Stretching his body a bit, Itsuki chose a place to ease himself onto the ground, his kagune still out as he simply sat there in what would seem like meditation to most. In reality, he was going over infornatiob he'd just learned about his little sister from the brief confronration he knew would come about from his actions. While he had meant those words, it didn't take much thought or brainpower to knowthat Asoka liked to bei charge, in control, and thought of as superior, so treating her i such away would certainly piss her off. As such, as he'd turned away from her, he'd stealthily manifested one of his Kagune underneath his long, flowing over-coat and jacket, keeping it close in case it was needed. The most he.'d expected was a rock, or some piece of rubble being tossed at his head, not for him to get kicked into some rubble. Thanks to years of constantly being on guard every moment of every day, he'd been able ro react quickly enough to use his kagune and diffuse the power of the kick. Movi g on fro that, he figured out at least two things for sure from this. One, that Asoka has a bit of a short fuse regarding matters of respect, and Second, that she prefers hand-to-hand combat over using her kagune since that was her go to choice for an impassiobed strike, as well as with the speed and power behind it. He had barely anytime to react, relying completely on honed instinct to save him from the worst of it.

She sure has changed, but then again, we all have changed quite a bit since then. I wonder. . . would things have been different if I hadn't closed in on myself like that . . . would they have been better?

"Asoka, if you'd be so kind as to talk to the kids euth Hana while I think on some stuff, like sleeping arrangements, then that would be great. I'd rather not risk scaring then anymore then I already have by trying to really 'talk' with them."

---

---

It wasn’t hard to absorb the information that Itsuki provided given there wasn’t really a lot of it. The warehouse was only a few minutes away, run down and abandoned much like the mansion, and there was little information regarding the actual residents. Numbers were all good, but more important were the Kagune types that would be present. With a shrug he muttered, “They probably already have. More than enough Ghouls in the woodwork to fill vacant lots though.” It was slight, but there might have been a wince as he watched his elder mess with Asoka’s hair in an attempt to be jovial. From what he had learned of the person that was once his younger sister, that gesture was probably less appreciated and more offensive.

Subtle he was not as he turned around to watch the impending fallout as barely contained rage seemed to twist her expression. The blow was sharp and powerful, but Kachi figured it wouldn’t be anything more than a passing annoyance once his brother’s regeneration kicked in. Quirking an eyebrow upwards, he exhaled sharply in amusement as she hung her Burberry off to the side, but the amusement didn’t last for long. A quiet sigh escaped his lips just before she turned towards him, and he tilted his head questioningly in response to her gesture. It was definitely needlessly antagonistic after her little display, but Kachi nonetheless still raised a hand, waved for her to come closer, and gestured as if he was pa-

He never got the chance to finish as the drawn out groan of rotten floorboards caused him to whip around. The skin along his back rippled as his Kagune prepared to burst out at the first sign of danger, but relaxed at the sight of his eldest sister. Slightly off-balanced by her enthusiasm, he simply remained silent as she greeted each of them in turn. He might have tried to speak up, but it seemed that the sight of her entire family had simply snapped the excitable knob off in an attempt to twist it to eleven. Even the lull to answer her questions was abruptly interrupted as she discovered the brats’ presence and promptly lost her senses.

It wasn’t a deafening scream, but jeez, she was still pretty damn loud. If it weren’t for the rain that fell Kachi would have been worried about someone catching the commotion, but as it was he just stared at Hana before he cracked a smile. It wasn’t exactly the dependable and respectable Hana that he recalled, but it seemed she was still just as ready to take care of others. Lost in her own world that seemed to consist of the possibilities “adoption” might bring, it was unlikely that she even heard anything he may have muttered.

“Well I’m about to go clear out a warehouse of Ghouls because why not. Itsuki wants to use it to house the kids, but it’s a stone’s throw away from here and probably even more suspicious and privy to inspection by the Doves so who knows how good an idea that is.” From what he knew Asoka was still trying to keep up the whole two-lives schtick as a student, so the introduction of five brats was probably too much even if she was willing to deal with more than just the twins. Itsuki seemed to live a similar lifestyle to himself which meant he was about a suitable substitute parent as Kachi had been a sibling to the others in the last eight years.

Hana though? She was old enough that she shouldn’t have to deal with schooling or what not, and she definitely seemed interested in taking on the brats. “If you’ve got a place out of this Ward to bring them though, that would be nice,” he pointed out to his older sister.

---

---

Still consumed by he ecstasy of battle, Asoka would be lying to herself if she said she wouldn't want her brother to retaliate so they could duke it out the old fashion way. An excuse to get off her little paranoia train and display who was the true alpha being of the pack. This needless need for control and the ridiculous amounts of confidence she held would become irrelevant when her entire mood would be ticked off by Itsuki's grin upon recovering remarkably quickly from the strike. How she hated the overconfident types, let alone those who have this big brother complex. The desire to release her Kagune and submit Itsuki as he restrained himself from attacking back consumed her almost entirely until one of the most random of appearances would occur right before her.

'The hell?'

Tensions would drop significantly with this new arrival, Kachi's tryhard mode wouldn't even dent the moment with his imposing set of Kagune. The entity smelled remarkably bad, and not just Ghoul bad, like something that just crawled out of the drainage pipes of this house bad. The voice and mannerisms made it quickly clear to the shortest of the bunch who this person was. Hana showed herself to the world, the ditsy airhead that mesmerized the whole gang, but strangely enough let Itsuki indifferent enough to jab Asoka more than once. While tensions were wiped out, the boiling wrath contained within the young adult grew with both her fists now clenched.

The hilarious ways Hana addressed the others were almost completely ignored by our tiny friend, and it would be Kachi's saving grace given that whomever she'd explode on would have a bad time, no matter how confident they'd be in their evasion skills. Then came her turn, and oh boy did Asoka's world just get flipped over into a whole new dimension. Her body was no longer tense, and all she could do was blink. The nickname was one thing, but the rest was just as surreal considering how nasty she had just been for almost nothing. While not having a complexion on her height, she saw a power struggle in any type of remark like this really.

"A-c-what? What?!"

Asoka shook her head in disbelief at what she had just witnessed. The well respected Mercury/Umbrella being called a goddamn midget by some smelly weirdo?! With her ego shot down and inability to interact with such an otherworldly situation, she just froze for an extended period of time. But when she'd seize herself entirely, she just wanted to punch something real hard, bite on some fabric until her jaw hurt and do something she'd regret just to vent like the anger filled beast she was. But no, upon seeing her elder sister reveal herself entirely as just some beautiful albeit completely stupid young lady, Asoka realize just how futile and stupid going full-on witch on that airhead would be.

'Ehhh, at least she's hot. Slutty Secretary giving me a blowjob at 8:15 am hot, anyway.'

She quickly amassed a rationale to tolerate Hana's behavior a little more, and using her steaming ovaries plus her intoxicating lust for all that is 'deliciously beautiful', she gave the girl a pass. As the fantasy swallowed the rage, Itsuki's annoying voice had to inquire something from Asoka, again. He wanted her to handle the kids, or whatever, but then there was this weirdo who would probably let him screw her in the most obscene ways just to have them for herself. Rolling her eyes, she slapped her hand on her forehead, exasperated beyond belief.

"Just ... Just just, you two, go do that thiiiing. Just do it, go away. Goooooo. I'll deal with ..."

She'd gesture with her free hand various circles to indicate she was designating the bunch in the other room while her other hand covered her eyes.

"... Those. Just give me your number and we'll deal with this."

Whether they'd keep the kids there or not, a warehouse they could exploit was always a plus and there was no way she'd let every idea slip up because of random 'what ifs'. Slowly, but surely, she willed herself to release her hand from her eyes and return to the headache inducing reality she was confronted to. More specifically, Hana.

"So it's us girls. You better know what you're doing, 'cause I'm no nanny. But I have a ride, and I'm not sticking around, neither will you if you're not bullshitting about wanting these munchkins. Fuck, you're weird, you know that?"

She'd inform her 'sister' as she reached out for her coat. There was no way they were going to stick around in this rotten mess any longer. The door was wide open, and there'd be no reason to stick around, plus Kaien was likely losing patience, since clearly more than ten minutes had passed since she set foot in these ruins.

---

Hana's lips twitched as she incorporated herself, and in a half passing semblance of seriousness, crossed her arms across her chest, briefly nodding to Itsuki's words. Pondering, she kept her eyes half closed as she interiorized the ghoul's words. "Mmmyeah, I see. Hana-chan understands." She curtly nodded to Itsuki, although for all the wrong reasons.

Dear lord, Itsuki, you can't be serious, can you? Safe with you? More like, they would be safer AWAY from you. She gave the ghoul a look up and down, lingering for a moment in his gait and expression. Thousand year stare...huh. Ye gods, Ikki, you look like a wreck. A Post-traumatic stress disorder wreck. You're a danger even to yourself, that much I can tell now. Her sight didn't dwell too much in the fact, nor in talking about the rather worrysome symptoms of the fellow ghoul. After all, Ikki had always been one of the big ghouls, and an unabashed optimistic at that. He would deflect all of her warnings with probably one of his stupid smiles and ignore her regardless.

Kachi...well, she also turned her attention to the shorter, but better equipped ghoul. Because why not? Kachi, they're fellow Ghouls. Why are you killing other ghouls? Ugh... I know our kin is more aggressive than usual, and we have a tendence to kill eachother, but to hunt other ghouls because of a whim? The old man would be rolling all over his grave if he found out, you battle-addicted psycho. She swallowed it all inside, preferring not to lash out for similar reasons. It was the first time she had seen him for 8 years. There would be better opportunities to sort things right. Still, Hana couldn't contain all of her rage, and she somehow ended biting her lip and balling her fists upon hearing Kachi's bloodlust comment.

But hey, at least he had the common sense to notice how much of a Dove magnet the whole thing seemed to be shaping... and he noticed that maybe, just maybe Hana could have a good shot at childkeeping.I didn't twiddle my thumbs when we were kids, precisely, I still know how to care for brats. Maybe he wasn't hopeless.

Her sight finally rested on Asoka. Probably the only one who was trying to be an adult despite her earlier short-temper display. She looked genuinely tired of all of this discussion, and much like Hana, decided to play along with the boisterous male duo. She had a graceful, delicate air, and Hana couldn't help but dream a bit on how would it be to bring her to a bathhouse to wash eachother... as adults this time. Still, the prompt made her to jolt slightly, putting a wide grin.

"Leave it to Hana-chan, A-chan! Hana-chan is actually a full fledged medic and has a clinic, so she knows what she does! Most of the time...But anyway, anyway! I have place enough there to fit five more ghoulies! It'll be tricky since it's in the 3rd ward, Minato, but I'll make do with scavenging the things I can't hunt! Speaking of which..." Hana interrupted her speech as she dug into her tracksuit pockets, producing a small envelope with some brown-ish jerky cuts of a mysterious meat.

She paced slowly as she knelt where the kids were, offering the package. "Poor kids, you must be hungry. I know it's just a light snack, but you can have it for now. They're Hana-chan's special human pork rinds. I made them by myself!" She added with a slight wink.

"FOOD!" All the kids said in unison, choking any other kind for answer, as they happily opened the bag and devoured its contents. Hana smiled in a motherly way, just like old times. 8 years had passed by, and the other three bore heavy scars and egos, but Hana still acted like the same Hana of old.

"Did the big ghouls scare you? Don't worry. I can knock them into reason. But you've got to hear what I have to say, and follow my guidance, understand? I have been an orphan too, and I know how hard it is. Just wait a little longer, sweeties." Hana coyly talked, like a mother kitten, as she looked in each one of the orphan's eyes, before stretching her arms wide, trying to round them up in a hug.

The food and the hug seemed to catch them all off guard, which made them to stare wide eyed, but pretty much receptive to what Hana said.

"...thankyou..." The eldest of the kids, Kazuya, was the only one who pretty much broke the silence, but still unsure.

"...Yes...Hana-chan is pretty weird, A-chan. That is because Hana-chan dislikes violence, and loves books. And because Hana-chan understood that joining with old acquaintances in this world should be joy and laughter... not...violence." She seemed to linger for a bit, before standing straight once more. She pondered their fates, and how the other ghouls were approaching the situation.

Oh what the hell, I'll just show a smidge of what's beneath the mask of merry Hana-chan for the sake of the lil' ones.

"A-chan... I just don't get one thing." Hana pondered, finger in her own chin."Wouldn't clearing a warehouse full of ghouls not only draw the attention of more Ghouls, the CCG, and at the same time weakening the ward's ability to resist the Doves somewhat? Ghouls can't afford to call reinforcements unlike Doves. Not to mention that two S and SS ranked kakuja who we know would suddenly get a bigger target on their back? It will be even worse if Mistress Mercury is involved, even. All with the thinly veiled excuse of saving kids."

She blinked as conclusion, and offered a beaming smile. "Teeheehe...nevermind, Hana chan is a bit weird and silly, and she may be overthinking things." She finished waggling her finger menacingly before touching Asoka's nose. "Boop."

Itsuki couldn't help but give a slight grin as he seemed to weasel his way out of having to talk to the kids, and as things went on, he seemed to have been decided as unsuitable for caring them as well. Hana was quickly chosen as the most suitable, something that he could get behind fully as he'd only volunteered in memory of the old man, well, that and he figured he'd be the best to do it out of those assembled. Kachi seemed about as suited as him, maybe a bit less so because he seemed more battle-hungry, and Asoka seemed like she'd throw them out on their asses if they became to much of a nuisance, plus the fact that she had a gang to run, among other things if her attire was any indicator. Giving her five mouths to feed would definitely end badly. . . well, maybe not for the twins that she had been sneaking glances at. Itsuki felt a bit sorry for the kids who'd drawn the attention of his not-so-sweet little sister. As he turned his gaze towards his other little sister, he couldn't help but notice that Hana seemed to get a little tense when she heard Kachi's comment about clearing out a warehouse.

Guess she doesn't approve . . . Itsuki figured, and was quickly proven right as Hana spoke to them about their plan's glaring flaws, seeming to think that Asoka had put the plan into action if he was hearing the implications properly. However, the problem here was the fact that she didn't understand the context in which the plan was formulated. Well, better to inform her and be on the ready in case Asoka decides to lash out.

"THe warehouse was going to get cleared sooner or later, Hana, because I've gotten tired of sleeping in back alleys and under over-passes. Been scouting the places out for awhile, would've probably struck in other day or two, so really, the only effect these kids here had was speeding up my plan." Itsuki would get up with a bit of a stretch his Kagune trailing slowly behind him in lazy arcs, one even reaching up to lightly scratch at his chin as he yawned. "Well, I might as well do it now then. Kids or no kids, I'm not getting rained on tonight. It was nice meeting you all tonight, and if you guys ever want to talk, just come by the warehouse later, cause I'll be either there, dead, or in the hands of the Dove as a Quinque, if what Hana said has any merit. Kachi, you can go off and do whatever it is you were going to do or follow me if you wish, I don't care either way."

Itsuki waved to the others before he reached for his waist, only to blink as he found it missing. He looked around for a bit before finding it laying on the ground a slight ways away. Once he had it on and secured, the eyes glowing eerily in the dark night, he'd give them another wave good-bye, before running off in the direction of his destination. As he approached a building, the two Kagune he had out would flow down to his legs, wrapping themselves around until they semi-formed some kind of greaves and boots, two more tendrils coming out to wrap around his arms in a similar manner. He'd leap just as he reached the end of the ruined remnants of the old man's home, the power added by his kagune enabling him to launch rather high into the sky, before landing with a thud on the rooftop. He'd continue on this way, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as he cleared his heads of all thoughts besides those focused on his current mission. It was a technique he'd developed to cope with the paranoia and fear that had plagued him every day for the years he'd spent in that hellish labyrinth. Take an objective, focus on it, and discard every other thought and feeling that seemed like it would get in the way of accomplishing that objective. After so many times, it was almost instinctive now, a way to get a 100% efficency out of his body and mind every single time. However, it wasn't perfect, as in this way, he'd possibly be a danger to Kachi if he decided to follow, if he got in Itsuki's way.

No, don't think about. Focus on the objective, and only the onjective. Clear out the warehouse. Do it quickly. Do it quietly. Leave no survivor. Take no prisoners. And if there are any humans there, kill them as well. Keep the CCG off my back at all costs.

Those were the parameters set within his mind. For the current mission . . . and yet, he felt something deep within his gut. A primal instinct that told him to expect the worst from this encounter. He couldn't explain how he knew this, but he had been saved by his hunches for far too long to start doubting them now. From his back, the final two kagune came out, held at the ready as he approached the warehouse, prepped to begun taking out he guards as soon as they came into view.

---

Takeshi would watch the one guy leave cautiously as he nibbled at the food presented by the weird lady that had appeared, currently thinking of what their next plan of action should be. These people seemed convinced on taking them somewhere, though he had no idea where. He honestly didn't trust these people in the slightest, especially the short one, she had a look about her that seemed rather shady to him. However, if that scuffle earlier had shown, anyone of these adults were much, much stronger than all of them combined, and they;d be lucky to land a scratch on them, let alone take one of them down. Not only that, but times had gotten rough lately, especially with the doves capturing Toru, so having some protectors wouldn't be so bad.

Besides, it would be nice to sleep somewhere at least remotely safe for awhile . . . but I'll need to be keeping an eye on them. Learn what I can and then, if they turn out to be dangerous, protect my family as best I can. With his rudimentery plan in mind, he decided that it was time to stop letting these adults set the pace around. Finishing off the bits of meat that the nice lady(her name was Hana, if he remembered correctly) had given to him, he stepped somewhat cautiously forward, though tried to play it off as playing it cool by putting his hands into his pockets, seeming rather unfazed and uninterested in what these adults were saying.

"So . . . we going to go now or what?"

@AtomicNut@Savato