Summary: Cheza Tsukiko and two other ghouls named Naoto and Hiroto, escaped from a grim fate around the time of the Anteiku raid. The three friends are on the run from something. Who exactly are they running from? What is the tragic fate awaiting them? Why is Cheza growing so fond of a certain CCG investigator with stitches? The story takes place after the Anteiku raid and ties into the storyline of Tokyo Ghoul: Re. (SPOILERS! If you haven't read the Re manga).

This is the first fanfiction I have written that I am actually following through with for once. I'm a little rusty at writing fictional stories because of years of having to write only for college purposes, so hopefully this will turn out decent. I absolutely love Tokyo Ghoul and had to write something for it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. Tokyo Ghoul is owned by Sui Ishida.

Only the OC's Cheza Tsukiko, Naoto, and Hiroto are mine.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Cheza stopped in front of a large, old abandoned house in the 20th ward. "This is the place," she said. "This house was my home many years ago when I was a child." Her lilac colored eyes scanned over the aged house, her gaze taking in the remnants of a lost childhood. The house had been purple and white, but the paint had faded and chipped away. The lawn was overgrown and the windows of the house were dark. "I'm sorry we had to wait for several months before we could come here," spoke a black haired man beside her. "The CCG's raid on the 20th ward was just too dangerous of a time to make it here. We had to lay low for a while until things settled down." "I know, Hiroto," Cheza replied with her lilac eyes meeting his grey ones. Hiroto refocused his gaze on Cheza's attire. She wore a simple black tank top, dark blue jean shorts, and black combat boots. Around her neck was a black choker with a Brahma Kamalam flower in the front. He then thought about his own plain clothes; a black t-shirt, blue jean pants, and a pair of black sneakers. They had had to find clothes that they could take that were not already bloodied and tattered after their escape. The choker Cheza wore was something Hiroto had bought her for her birthday with money he had pickpocketed.

"You guys need to hurry up already and go inside instead of just standing there staring," came a voice from behind them. Both Cheza and Hiroto turned to look back at a brunette male with brown eyes. He wore a red t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and red sneakers. He grinned boyishly at them, but that grin turned into a nervous one as he stated, "we can't stay in the 20th ward for long, we need to be quick, get what we came for, and leave. Especially since Cheza wants to have time to look around the ward before our departure." "Naoto is right, we need to hurry" Hiroto said as he glanced at Cheza, only to see that she had already begun walking to the front door of the house.

Cheza knelt and tucked her long blood red hair behind her ear as she looked in the field of grass to find a faded zombie gnome statue. She lifted it and underneath was a key. "What the hell is with that thing?" Naoto exclaimed, pointing at the zombie gnome figure. Cheza smiled and let out a giggle as she explained. "It was my idea when I was a kid. There are several of these all throughout the yard. My mother and I painted them to resemble zombies and put them out here as decoration." Cheza's smile then faded and her expression saddened as an image of her mother's face popped into her head. A face that was so much like her own with the same soft lilac eyes. "Come on," she said as she quickly stood up and unlocked the door.

Once inside, she paused to look around and bit her lip to keep her emotions in check. She had no time for reminiscing. The inside of the house was dark and covered with dust. She walked towards a book shelf, careful not to allow her eyes to fall on the books that were still in the shelf. She gently placed her foot all along the floorboard in front of the shelf, clearing the dust with her boot. When she felt what she was looking for, she got down on her knees to run her hands over the floor board until she found a loose board and tore it off. Inside the floor was a purple box shaped container. She took it out and opened it, gulping hard as she felt a wave of sadness and guilt wash over her body. Her hands trembled slightly as she lifted a mask out of the container. The mask resembled the face of a white wolf with small Brahma Kamalam flowers beautifully surrounding the eyes and thinly raining down the face like tears. It also had a small, silver full moon painted in between the brow area. Cheza sighed as she gazed lovingly at it. It was faded, but still as gorgeous as she remembered. She clutched it to her chest and stood up. "We can leave now," she stated to her two friends and put the mask in her messenger bag. However, she noticed Naoto wasn't in the living room. "Where did he go?" She asked Hiroto. "He went into the hallway looking at stuff," he replied. "Ugh, that kid. I guess we need to go fetch him then."

Both Cheza and Hiroto entered the hallway calling Naoto's name. "I'm upstairs," he shouted back at them. "That brat," Cheza stated in frustration as she clutched the railing of the stairs and glared upwards. "What's wrong?" Hiroto asked her. "He's just curious. Also, even after knowing you for the years that we have, we still don't know that much about you. So, therefore his curiosity is understandable."

"Sorry, it's just that I didn't want to have to see the rooms upstairs," she answered. Her eyes softened and Hiroto saw them begin to water. "I'll go get him, you can stay here and wait," he said and walked up the stairs as Cheza hid her face behind her crimson hair. A few minutes later, Hiroto returned with Naoto and they left the house. After Cheza locked the door and placed the key back in its place, Naoto asked her about a second child's room that seemed to belong to a little boy; she ignored him and walked ahead.

As the three friends walked along the sidewalk of the street, Hiroto asked Cheza why there were no photographs displayed inside the house, to which she replied, "I don't know, I think someone took them. There were paintings that use to be there too, but they were gone as well." Cheza displayed such a sad and pained expression on her face, that Hiroto was worried that she would disappear for a little while again. However, she broke the sorrowful appearance and smiled at him. "Things have kind of changed since I've last been here," she said. "I wonder what new stuff they may have in the art museum if we have time to visit it." "We might have time," he replied, returning her smile. He was glad that her mood was starting to improve a little, but he also knew she was trying to disguise her sadness so that he would not be consumed by worry for her.

Cheza looked around the city trying to remember where they should go from here to get to the art museum when her gaze fell on a donut shop with colorful advertisements on the front. She had always thought human food, especially sweets, looked very interesting and pretty. Although she liked the look of donuts, cupcakes use to be her favorite sweet food to admire and make with so many brilliant colors and designs. Even though she could not eat them and it made her angry, she had loved giving them away to humans with her mother. She had loved making sweets for people because not only did she enjoy the artistic part of it, it also made her feel like an actual person herself. During those moments in which she witnessed the delight and appreciation humans expressed for her gifts, she didn't feel like a monster.

As she continued to gaze at the bright advertisements, someone walking out of the shop with a chocolate donut in their mouth and a sack in their hand caught her attention even more so than the colors she was admiring. She could not tell if this person was male or female. No matter what gender they were, it was obvious this person was very pretty. They had white hair that almost reached their shoulders with their bangs pinned by red bobby pins. They were pale, lanky, and wearing eccentric clothing with red slippers. What really drew her gaze though, were the red stitches spiraling around their arm, traveling down their throat, and one stitch below their lip and eye. That person must have felt someone staring at them because they suddenly turned their head to stare back at her. Cheza was shocked to see such crimson eyes with dark bags under them. They cocked their head slightly and jumped on a railing, still staring at her. The person's sudden movement made her jump a little in surprise. They just finished the donut they were eating, got another one from the sack in their hand, and stuffed it in their mouth. Cheza then quickly looked away and ushered her friends to start moving forward and away from the strange white haired human. After they were gaining some distance, she chanced a look behind her, and noticed that the person with stitches was gone. She relaxed a little and kept moving forward with Hiroto and Naoto. However, something was bothering her and causing her head to hurt. Those piercing red orbs were familiar to her.

A/N: This chapter is meant to be short and later chapters will be much longer. I will try and post weekly.