I was on my way back to the container with mixed feelings, I was nervous to see Renji after our little fight earlier. I jogged down the road when I noticed a woman who dropped her shopping bag. I headed towards her and helped her collect the items.

"Let me help you!" I offered and gathered the groceries.

"Thank you dear, you are a big help" she thanked and took the bag I handed her.

"It's self-evident" I smiled and showed her my face, her expression suddenly changed.

"I-Is that you Lenn-Chan?" she suddenly asked.

"Excuse me, I think you have the wrong person" I replied but she was persistent.

"No, I am sure you are Lenn-Chan, don't you remember me? I am Nao Misao, your neighbor" she introduced herself and my eyes widened, I had no memories of her.

"I am really sorry but I don't remember you" I replied and looked at her disappointed face.

"What happened to you? Did you have an accident Lenn-Chan?" she asked with big eyes.

"I... well..." she raised her hand and placed it on my chin.

"You really are her, you even have the scar on you chin" she traced her finger over it and I stepped back.

"What are you talking about?" she smiled lightly.

"When you were a child you always used to come over to my place and play with my cat, you really loved her and were so sad when she died." My eyes widened.

"The first time you tried to lift her she scratched you, that's were you got that scar from" my eyes started shaking, her story sounded really familiar.

"It's been so many years since I last saw you, tell me, are you still living with Hikari and Renji?" my heartbeat increased as she suddenly mentioned their names.

"Y-You know Renji?" I asked confused.

"Yes, you were living with him and Hikari in the apartment next door. Hikari took you in after your parents abandoned you" I was shocked and unable to keep a normal face.

"W-What? I don't understand..." she looked confused at me.

"You were so sad back then and always hide yourself behind Renji, holding his hand tightly" I took another step back.

"That can't be... why didn't he tell me..." I mumbled

"He really acted your like big brother, it was so cute to watch whenever you two were together" I suddenly started running, I wanted to go back as fast as I possibly could run.

"Uhh Lenn-Chan?" the woman called after me but I ignored her and continued running. I needed to know the real story... I slowly recalled the words Itori said; that some lies were necessary... was everything he told me about my family a lie?

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I reached the container and started banging on the door as loud as I could, he finally opened up and I looked at him with painful eyes.

"Where have you been? Didn't I tell you to go home right away? It's past midnight (First name)!" he glared at me and I took a step forward, my eyes still looked at him painfully. I lifted my hand and opened my palm to show him the hair clip.

"Shouldn't you call me Lenn instead?" I asked in a sad voice, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the hair clip in my hand.

"H-How do you..." he looked away from me.

"It was you who gave it too me when I was a child... and it was also you who returned it to me back then at the hospital when I dropped my bag" he stepped back and let me come inside.

"You remember..." he mumbled and hid his face.

"Not much, only pieces" I replied and he rested his hands on the back of the chair, he started panting a little.

"I want you to tell me the rest, how things really happened and why I am not called Lenn anymore" he was silent for a moment and I walked up to him.

"Please... I know you did your best so far to hide it but... I need to know who I am and where I came from" he finally nodded and pushed himself up to look me in the eyes.

"Alright... I tell you what you want to know... the entire truth" his eyes were shaking and he was scared.

"But after I told you... I don't know if you can stay here anymore, because you might hate me more than anyone else..." I swallowed but tried to pull myself together.

"I will hear you out, no matter what you tell me and I promise I won't hate you... no matter what you did..." he nodded and started.

"I returned home late in the night when I found my sister nursing your injuries. She told me that she found you involved in a car accident and could not bring herself to abandon you. She decided to take you in and nurse you until you could return home. But after you woke and Hikari asked you what happened you refused to tell her at first, after a while you begged her to stay here because you could not go back home. She was confused and asked why and you finally told her that your parents were never there for you, they were only busy with their work and you were left alone. You were so sad that Hikari could not bring herself to return you, she allowed you to stay. As it turned out you were right and your parents never went looking for you, it made you sad but the longer you stayed with us the more your scars healed and you were able to smile again. Especially after you were allowed to play with Nao-san's cat, it meant the world to you. Things were going well until that day when Hikari died. I was forced to leave the area and took you with me. I had no idea what to do since you were still so young, I could hardly care for the both of us. We went from one place to the other until we settled down in the 4th ward. I found a cheap place to stay and tried my best to care for you but I knew it wasn't enough... I could never effort a life for you, since you were not like me. I started hating myself for not being able to give you what you deserved. I started staying away and raised havoc instead in the ward that caused me many troubles. Uta and Itori found out that I was keeping a human girl at my side and I was forced once again to fight them. However in the end we became friends and you immediately shared the same hobbies as Uta. But I was not fond of it that you were living this life along side us, we were all ghouls and you were a human, it was only a matter of time until someone would loose control. I never let my eyes off you, especially around Itori and Uta since I did not know them that well. I tried to get my hands on money to effort a bigger place and to be able to send you to a human school. You did not like the idea of staying away from me, but I thought it was the best for you. I did a big mistake back then... I did what you feared most... I abandoned you just like your parents did... I left you alone because I could not take it to see you grow up in the world of us ghouls, it wasn't the right place for you. Once you were no longer by my side I became even more consumed by hatred and tried everything I could to avenge my sister. I fought Arima and did not care at all if I'd loose my life or not. However I was saved by someone who became my role model and I started to change, but this sin of leaving you behind never left my side. I could never forget your tears when I walked away, you were calling my name so many times that it felt like 1000 knifes were piercing my heart. It was not long after that... the festival at your school started and you used the mask Uta had made you for your costume, you were so proud of it because it resembled Nao-san's cat. The ghouls who attacked the school only took children with the rare blood type AB and once I heard that you were one of the victims I hated myself even more for leaving you. I did everything I could do to find out who the kidnappers were and what they intended to do. I had a lot of help from Uta and Itori, they really kept their ears open until a rumor reached them. A rich business man had donated a large amount of money to a research organization that specialized themselves with the subject RC Cells. We tracked that man down and revealed his identity, but once I learned who he was I could not control the anger that streamed through my body. I could not believe that he would actually do this to his..." he paused a moment before he continued.

"I could not believe that he used his own daughter as a specimen for the ghoulification experiment..." my eyes widened in shock, so this was the secret of my family.

"W-What..." a tear streamed down my cheeks, I felt so empty inside.

"Yes... your father... he was the one who sponsored the CCG's illegal experiments.... I lied to you because I could not bear it to see your face if I told you this... maybe you understand now why I was so against it that you find out the truth." I sunk to the ground and let my tears stream down while my eyes were blank. I was nothing more than a tool to my family and used as an experiment to create ghouls. Renji sit down beside me and continued.

"After we found the secret hideout was they were keeping you and the other children, it was already too late. A fire had already destroyed the factory and my hopes of seeing you again vanished... But then... my nose caught a strong scent that was so familiar, yet strange. I followed it down to the sewers and that was when we found you... washed up against a metal bar that prevented you and Mari from being washed away by the water. We rescued you and treated your wounds... Mari gained consciousness a few days after we found you and told me what happened. The guilt on my shoulders only grew and I swore to myself that I would never leave alone again. Weeks passed until you finally woke up, I was full of hope when you opened your eyes but once you looked at me, your eyes were empty and you could not remember who I was. Mari was the only person you remembered and she also decided to give you a different name after I told her who was responsible for this incident... she thought it would be best if you never came in contact with your past again. We tried to start anew but your injuries seemed worse than we expected. A few months later your amnesia let you forget us again. That was when we decided to stay out of your life entirely and let you live with Mari. However a few years later she became ill and was hospitalized, Uta, Itori and I watched over you from afar to make sure you were doing alright. I was already aware from the beginning that you had financial issues but no matter how much I wanted to help you I just couldn't... I know the job in the ghoul restaurant was important to you but it also put you in danger. The scent you had after the experiments was different and it spread under us ghouls. We cleaned up a lot to make sure you were able to live a safe life. But my promise that I made Mari always tied me to you and I wanted nothing more than be by your side again. Since you did not remember me, I could understand that you would not come to look for me." No matter what he told me I could not hate him for it, he was always just trying to do the best for me and I had no right to judge him for his decisions.

"What about my mother? Did she know about my fathers business?" I asked curiously.

"I cannot say if she was aware of the business your father had with the CCG. But it was her who wanted to hire a private detective to search for you but once he got his hands on the information's your father had to get rid off him. The CCG also saw it necessary to get rid of your father since he knew too much. After the partnership ended they arranged a cope d 'hat to eliminate your parents, along with the evidence. Since they had no traces of you being still alive they were sure that this secret would never leave the hands of the CCG. But thanks to Kanou who was aware that you and Mari were still alive he threatened Mari and wanted to continue the experiments but Mari refused to hand you over. She made a deal with Kanou and promised him her body on which he could do whatever he wanted if he'd left you alone. He agreed and quickened the process of her condition to transfer her back into his research base. I was afraid that he would let the CCG know that you were still alive and it turned out to be true... Arima was send to make contact with you after Kanou told him that you lost your memories. I knew how much you wanted to know the truth but I had to change the story how it happened to protect you... I promised Mari that I would keep it a secret and let you grow up to the life you decided to live and not speak a word to you about your past. I can understand how much I hurt you with this, because the look in your eyes, every time you look at me is killing me..." he could not look at me because he was ashamed to let me look at the face of a liar.

"Renji..." I raised my hand and placed it on his face to make his eyes look up to mine. He was scared but my face greeted him with an unexpected smile.

"Thank you for everything" I gave a smile from the bottom of my heart that let all his fears disappear.

"I owe you everything, if it wasn't for you then I don't know what I would do... I could never blame you for leaving me nor that you lied to me. I understand now why you had to do that and I could not be more grateful. I am still live because of you Renji!" his eyes were shaking as he looked at my smile, he was so happy that I did not push him away. He let his emotions take over and he pulled me into a tight hug, pressing my body very close to his. I could feel him tremble like crazy and I nuzzled my face into his neck, running my fingers through his silver hair.

"You can't imagine how happy I am to know that I hold a even more special place in your heart...."

Last Chapter maybe tomorrow or Sunday.

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