Changeling

Chapter 2: Food for Thought

{Zzzz....zzz...Eh? Hnn? Oh! I fell asleep, it seems. Heh heh~ I tend to get a little sleepy after eating. Well, back to my story, Reader-chan.~}
"Hm...Where did Hanbee go? I bet he somehow got lost. Oh well~," Juuzou said. He obviously wasn't worried about Hanbee.

"All we did was go up the stairs. A person who is able to get lost going up a straight flight of stairs has some kind of weird talent~," I laughed.

"That's an interesting way of putting it~," Juuzou said.

"I KNOW THAT SCENT! CHANGELING! CHANGELING!! CHANGELING!!! I'M FINALLY GONNA EAT YOU TODAY, CHAAAAANGELIIIIING!!!!"

I shoved Juuzou against the wall and flattened myself against that same wall next to him in a very swift movement, narrowly escaping getting struck by that annoying man.

"Ah~ So annoying, and boring too. So very, very boring ~," I said in a sing-song tone as that annoying man tripped down the stairs because he was going too fast too stop himself in time. He must be really distracted by his hunger if he tripped that easily, though. He usually had a better sense of balance. That annoyed me more than him yelling and calling me by the name of Changeling. I am known amongst the other ghouls as Changeling, and I wish I didn't know how that name came to be.

"So that's Hawk? They sent me on such a boring investigation. Oh well, I guess this guy's enough~," Juuzou said. I thought I was one to talk to myself. That annoying man, who was apparently called Hawk, crawled -quite literally- up the stairs at what a normal person would say is an alarmingly fast rate. Two knives flew towards him and he was struck by them, one in his shoulder and one in his eye.

"AAHRG! PEST! PEST! STAY OUT OF MY WAY, PEST!" Hawk screeched, finally taking notice of Juuzou. He dashed for Juuzou in a rage, Juuzou easily evading with an expertly executed backflip. He threw a few more knives Hawk's way with a laugh, all striking their target. "AAHHHAAHHHHHGAH!"

"Tch. So loud," I commented, pouting.

"NO TIME FOR THE PEST! MUST EAT NOW!" Hawk screamed, turning towards me and grabbing my throat tightly with both hands. I made no change of expression as he suddenly coughed out blood on my face with wide eyes staring through his hawklike mask, my bikaku kagune piercing through his stomach. "IMPOSSIBLE! NO! NO! NO!"

"Shut up!" I demanded, kicking him into the wall on the other side of the hallway and removing my kagune from his stomach at the same moment.

"NO!" Hawk gave a final screech before hitting the floor with another one of Juuzou's knives embedding in the back of the left side of his head. I retracted my kagune, pouting again. I really was quite childish.

"What a boring fight. That was over fast," Juuzou complained. I laughed at that, finding him more and more interesting.

"That's why I always ran rather than fight him before. I don't like pointless, boring fights," I commented.

"Suzuya-senpai! Reika-san! I somehow ended up in a strange room and followed the noise to find you since it sounded like fighting," Hanbee rambled, running down the hall to reach us, which was odd since he was coming from the opposite direction of the stairs. I felt a sense of joy that he remembered my name. He suddenly froze up after reaching us when he saw my eyes. "R-Reaika-san! Y-your eyes! S-so scary!"

"I did just use my kagune. Not at all surprised ~," I said with a giggle. I pointed to Hawk. "Lookie the mean butt face.~"

"Th-that explains a bit," Hanbee stuttered.

"Miss ghouly, what will you do now?" Juuzou asked. He looked like he wanted a strong opponent to fight, that's what I saw in his eyes. I tilted my head sideways at him.

"Something~," I said, giving a cryptic answer. My eyes returned to normal.

"That's not very reassuring," Hanbee mumbled.

"Stop being such a frightened mouse, then~," I suggested, smiling brightly. I then tilted my head again and stared at Hanbee. "Hey, can I ask something? What...does fear feel like? I really don't know."

"That's...a rather unusual question," Hanbee said, caught off guard enough by my odd curiosity to not be as frightened at the moment.

"You're really weird, miss ghouly~," Juuzou mused.

"Eh? I don't need to be told that to know," I said. "And why do you keep calling me that?"

"You don't like being called 'miss ghouly'?~" Juuzou asked.

"I don't really mind, but it doesn't really feel very fitting for me," I replied.

"Then I'll call you Rei-chan~," Juuzou said. I gave a small giggle.

"Okay!~" I said compliantly.
|~|~|~|~|
A week had passed since I'd met Juuzou and Hanbee. I hadn't expected to ever see either of them again, so I shouldn't be disappointed that I hadn't seen Juuzou since. Hanbee, though, I could care less about. Now was the time to move and leave behind the ward I'd been staying in and go to a different one for a time, the same as I'd been doing for years. My destination: the 20th Ward.

"Hnn...I'm hungry... I should eat soon," I said aloud to myself. "It's been about four and a half months since I last ate. Heh~ A new record! My last one was three months. What a fun game to see how long I can stay starving.~"

"Die, brat!" someone yelled. I ran towards the voice, but there was no one when I got there, just a dead ghoul very recently chopped into a bunch of parts.

"Ah~ This person must have been really weak to have died before I got here~," I mused. I ducked, evading a knife that flew my way. I looked at the knife as it embedded in the wall of a building, then in the direction it came from.

"Good evening, Rei-chan!~" Juuzou greeted cheerily. I smiled widely, excited to see the boy who had caught my interest the week before.

"Juuzou-kun!~" I chirped, running over and hugging him. "Things were really boring after you left, Juuzou-kun.~"

"I didn't say anything about you to the CCG and made Hanbee keep quiet about your involvement~," Juuzou said.

"I wouldn't have cared if you said anything. Even if I die, it's fine~," I giggled.

"Reika-san, I'm worried about you saying something like that," Hanbee said.

"Oh, Hanbee is here!~ Hello again, Hanbee~," I said, waving at him. "I bet Hanbee is still a frightened mouse.~"

"Y-you wouldn't be wrong," Hanbee said, embarrassed.

"Haha~ You really are a useless guy," I teased.

"I'm gonna get donuts~," Juuzou said out of nowhere.

"Eh? Donuts? What's that?" I asked. My naïveté was showing.

"Ummm...Well, they're these round sweet things that most humans like eating," Juuzou explained, doing this odd back-bending movement and staring at me from an upside-down angel. I got a little excited.

"I wanna try one!~" I chirped with a little giggle, bouncing up and down like a kid.

"Wait...I thought ghouls couldn't eat normal food," Hanbee blanched. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I told you when we first met, hadn't I? I'm weird~," I said. This only confused the poor guy even more.

"Hahahaha~ I'm glad I met you, Rei-chan.~ The look Hanbee gets on his face when you're around is really funny~," Juuzou laughed.

"Hahaha~ Yeah! Hanbee is so funny~," I agreed.

"Ehhhh?! You two are ganging up on me!"Hanbee whinged, even more embarrassed.

"Donuts!~ Donuts!~" I sang, giggling.

"Come on, Hanbee. We'll leave you behind!~" Juuzou said, running off with me following after him.

"What? Hey, wait for me!" Hanbee said, running after us. Juuzou was a fun guy to be around and Hanbee was entertaining with all his funny reactions. I'd never felt quite like this before, such a warm and happy feeling. At least if I ever had felt this way, it's been far too long; it'd have been before my abandonment.
[A/N: The pic for this chapter shows Reika with both her ukaku(wings) and bikaku(tail) kagune.~]