Kana's P.O.V. - 11th January, 2012

I was humming a song while wiping down a table as I was getting ready for the lunch rush that would happen soon.

(Slap!)

"Kyaa!" I whipped around simultaneously pushing my skirt down and protecting my behind with my hands, I saw a group of boys walking away to a table while snickering. I huff, Andrew told me not to allow boys to treat me like that, but that was easier said than done.

I look around and saw it was fairly empty except for the group of boys, a red-haired woman on her phone and a blond business man who was reading the paper. I noticed that the latter two were here the last 2 days. I return on wiping down the table when the boys called me over, "Hey waitress!"

I sigh before heading over to the table, better to get them over and done with when there was a shout of shock, "Ah, s***!" The blond business man had knocked his cup over which began to spill onto the floor.

I changed my course and requested, "Margaret, can you take these guys order while I clean the spill?"

"What?" The boys started to moan and complain.

"Are you okay, sir?" I ask while cleaning up the spill.

"Fit as a fiddle, kid," the man replies introducing himself, holding out his hand, "Cory Lambert, Fish and Wildlife service agent." (1)

"Kana Kaneki, waitress at the Blue Horse," I reply shaking his hand, reminding myself not to bow. I noticed he smelled a little of gunpowder, "I would've guessed you were a police officer."

Mr Lambert eyes narrowed as suspicion flashed through his eyes, but it disappeared as soon as it appeared, making me wonder if I imagined it. He snorts before inquiring a bit more about me, "Haven't see you around here before. Where are your from?"

"Tokyo, 20th ward," I answer.

"I see," Mr Lambert hummed as if thinking, "why did you come to New York?"

"I guess you could say it was an unexpected visit," I hint, laughing nervously. Him questioning me felt weird, but I brushed it off due to me being shy.

"I heard you're the miracle who brought life back to this shop," Mr Lambert brings up out of nowhere.

"I'm not really a miracle," I mumble, embarrassed.

"Not from what I've heard. This place was going to be knocked down due to slow business, but you saved it. Where did you learn such awesome coffee-making skills?" Mr Lambert inquired, sound a little excited and I got even more flustered in response.

"F-From my last job, I previously worked at a coffee shop and my co-workers taught me how to brew coffee properly," I explain. "It's all about patience..." I started to ramble on about Anteiku before clamping my mouth shut, abashed, but Mr Lambert took no offence, rather he looked amused.

"You seem to love the place," Mr Lambert notes, "what happened to it?"

"It's fine, I hope," I mumbled the last part, depressed I wanted to believe that Anteiku, Touka, Banjou and his friends are fine, but I don't what happened. 

"Waitress, can I get a refill to go?" The red-haired woman requests turning in her seat to meet eye contact.

"Of course, Ms," I reply, getting her order and heading to the counter to make it. I quickly give it to the woman who gives me a tip before leaving. I noticed that Mr Lambert was also packing up, he gave me a quick goodbye before heading out the door.

"Hey waitress!" Another customer yells so I sigh before walking over to them.

Clint's P.O.V. 

I strolled out of the coffee shop and walked alone for about 15 minutes when I saw my best friend leaning against the car, waiting for me.

"Was that spill really an accident, Clint?" Natasha smirks as always, she sees right through me.

"I wasn't going to let those guys up skirt her, Nat," I respond, getting into the passenger seat while she got into the driver's.

"Fury said to observe her, remember? We weren't suppose to make contact," Natasha reminds, but I could tell she wasn't bothered by my decision.

"Not the first time I've disobeyed orders," I point out, chuckling.

"That's true," Natasha agreed, "but what made you talk to her?"

"A gut feeling, and I'm glad I did," I respond before informing her of my findings, "I found out that she has a really good sense of smell, thought I was a cop so she must have smelled gun powder. I can tell she had no plan to come to this world which I believe is similar, if not the same, to her own."

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Natasha queries.

"Her interactions," I answer, "she knows social norms and how society works, she's done nothing weird and she looks normal except for the eyepatch. She's also worked in a coffee shop before and I can tell by the way she brews this amazing cup of joe. But she mentioned Nerima as the 20th ward, it's true, but no one refers to wards in Japan last time I checked."

The phone in the car rings so I activate it and Coulson's face comes onto the screen.

"Hey Coulson, you find anything about our one-eyed suspect?" I ask.

"Yeah, we suspect she may be a cannibal," Coulson informs. I choke on my spit while Natasha gripped the steering wheel tighter, she glanced over to Coulson before focusing back onto the road.

"Wow, you really can't judge a book by its cover," I joke weakly. Cannibalism. Not a very comfortable topic to talk about.

"So she's a threat," Natasha concludes.

"Not necessarily," Coulson disagrees, "we found saliva, but we don't think she killed the guy. She covered the body with a sheet, left a white chrysanthemum on top of the body and lit incense, that's not something a killer would do. Watch her for a few more weeks before making contact."

"About that..." I drawled.

"You made contact, didn't you, Barton?" Coulson already knew.

"Yep," I grin, shamelessly.

"Romanoff, you're in charge of Kaneki," Coulson orders before hanging up.

"Knew it," I chuckle.

"Do you think she's dangerous?" Natasha asks seriously and I sigh.

"I saw the footage, she's strong and trained well, not up to our standards, but she's good nonetheless. If need be, she can be frightful enemy who won't be easy to defeat," I explained before expressing another opinion, "however, I looked right into her eyes and saw kindness, innocence and regret. There was no malice, no evil, no cruelty. She's no killer."

"I guess we've got a new teammate," Natasha concluded. "Should you or I explain to Coulson about recruiting her now?"

"Let's both do it," I suggest which she agrees to.

3rd Person's P.O.V.

New York Headquarters

Natasha and Clint went back to HQ to explain their choice and reasoning of recruiting Kana and, as expected, the reaction they got was wild.

"Are you crazy?!"

"You want a filthy cannibal to join S.H.I.E.L.D?!"

Clint and Natasha attempted to calm the agents down while Fury stayed quiet through the ordeal. He sat in thought, he knew those two wouldn't make such a decision without actually believing the kid wasn't a threat to the organisation. He couldn't lie, if he hadn't seen the footage then he would've tied up Coulson, hurled him into a crate which would have been wrapped in thick chains before being shipped off to Siberia for attempting to convince the man that the kid is a cannibal. He decides to trust Natasha and Clint.

"Barton, Romanoff, you're in charge of her," Fury cuts into the conversation sharply, "Coulson, I want you to recruit her. Any screw-ups are on your heads. Dismissed." The last part meant that the agents could not argue any longer, but that didn't stop them from attempting to burn a hole into their skulls.

It was time to meet face to face.

Kana's P.O.V. - 12th January, 2012

The sun was starting to set so I flipped the sign to close before sweeping up the floor. Andrew had taken Margaret to a hospital for an appointment which had been changed to a much sooner date so I was left alone to close up.

The bell hung at the door chimed, signalling someone had entered the shop. I didn't turn around, but said, "Sorry, we're closed."

"I apologise, Miss Kaneki, but there are a couple of things I need to discuss with you," I turn around to see a middle aged man wearing a black suit. He looked to be apart of law enforcement, but which one? "You want to take a seat?" He questions, gesturing to the table. 

"O-of course," I agree before sitting across from him. He brought out a tablet which showed a picture of a body, more specifically, the body I ate from. I froze, knowing I was in trouble and I didn't hide the panic on my face.

"You don't need to worry," Coulson reassured.

'Isn't he going to arrest me?' I thought, perplexed.

"I wasn't sent here to arrest you, but to recruit you as agent for S.H.I.E.L.D. Cannibalism is a crime and the culprit is always arrested but, for some strange reason, you left behind a small memorial for the body to show your respect. Aside from that, you also demonstrate abilities that is impossible for a normal human to perform," he showed a video where I jumped out the third floor of the abandoned building site and ran away at a speed that no human could ever reach.

"Who are you? And what's S.H.I.E.L.D?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I'm Agent Coulson. S.H.I.E.L.D, also known as Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, is a extra-governmental military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, tasked with maintaining global security. We keep the world safe from any threats. We're the good guys," Coulson states, with all truth and honesty. 

As interesting as it sounds, I didn't have time to join some super secret organisation, I have to find a way to get home. I immediately tried to dissuade him about me joining. "You don't want me. I may eat humans but I'm quite pacifistic and don't even know how to fight!" Coulson raised a brow at the last piece of information before pulling up 2 videos. The first one was from 4 days ago when I was walking through Riverside Park and I was forced to fight to defend myself and the second one was from 2 weeks ago when I saved Andrew and Margaret. "Really? Because you managed to beat down 6 of those men who were a lot larger than you were with perfectly executed moves. Plus, you hurled a heavy trash bin as a group as if it weighed as light as feather."

I ran out of ideas. There was nothing I could say or do that would prevent me from joining. "Ms Kaneki, if you refuse we do have the right to arrest you for desecrating the body of Robert Kneelson. Joining S.H.I.E.L.D. has its perks, we know that you that you are not from this world," I asked how he knew, "the fact that you don't exist in any of our servers. It is nearly impossible to completely remove yourself from databases and you don't look like you have the technical skills to pull it off," I thought about his offer, if he really comes from a secret organisation then they have the knowledge and equipment to help me get home and in return I probably just have to fight bad guys. I may still hesitate in fights, but that doesn't mean I can't knock them unconscious instead of killing in them.

"Ok, but can you guys help me get home?" Coulson promised that they'd try, but there was no guarantee. I didn't care, I have a much higher chance of returning sooner if I stick with S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I really have nothing to lose. Do I at least get a cool suit or gadgets?" Remembering all those American spy movies Hide made me watch with him. I couldn't understand it at the time but they certainly looked cool. My question caused the man to look at me confused.

"Y'know like what you see in movies," the man's confusion morphed into amusement and he told me that S.H.I.E.L.D. would provide a suit but 'cool gadgets' would be limited to me since I was a liability. When he mentioned the suit I wondered if I should have told him that the back should be cut out. But I decided not to since I doubted I needed to use my kagune.

Coulson went over some points of what of joining S.H.I.E.L.D. would entail, he then handed me a black cell phone informing me that S.H.I.E.L.D. would contact me through this phone.

"2 of my colleagues are in charge of training you and since you have a day off tomorrow, they'll pick you up at 10. We also need you to do an a physical, intellectual and psychological exam," Coulson informs before handing me a set of papers.

"Are these passport and identification papers?" I inquire in disbelief.

"I figured you would need them," Coulson replied, "fill them out tonight and give them to my partners tomorrow. They will be the real thing so you won't be caught for forgery."

"Thank you," I say, sincerely. Coulson replied with 'your welcome' before leaving the shop. I waited a few minutes before locking the door.

"What did I get myself into?" I sigh before looking at the clock, 9:43, Andrew and Margaret should be getting back soon and I need to finish closing down. 

(1) Guess where the name came from~ No cheating. Also since I'm technically following the transcript, I wanted a bit more interaction between Kana and Clint now if I couldn't do it later.