A/N WOW my first attempt at a fanfiction. I'm way to nervous... hehe anyways hope y'all enjoy this lill thing of mine :)
This story takes place right before the arc in Kanou's lab, so no Kakuja (yet hehe) but we have our *cough*sexy *cough* white haired Kaneki. My poor bby!
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or the original story and makes to profit of this.
Homesick
StoryBookLover2
A woman sat in a faintly lit room looking morosely out through the clear glass window. The dark night outside was illuminated by the cold white light of the streetlights and the golden glow from the many apartments of those still awake. She lived in one of the safer areas in the 20th ward and there was rarely any ghoul activity in the nights, leaving the streets deserted. That's why it came as a surprise when a lone figure appeared at the end of the block. The woman startled and watched the silhouette closely. Even if ghouls were scarce in these parts it was still rare for the inhabitants to leave their safe homes when the dark had fallen. The figure looked up under his hood in the beam of a streetlight and she felt her heart skip a beat as she saw his face, the face of her missing son.
Kaneki Ken. He had been missing for four weeks now and already before that he had been reclusive and avoided their contacts after a difficult accident that had required an organ transplant. She had tried to stay optimistic but she couldn't help thinking that she'd never see him again.
The silhouette outside stopped outside her window and lowered his hood. His white hair a stark contrast to his black clothes. The woman closed her eyes in disappointment. This boy, when she saw him closer looked to old to be her son and his natural white hair was proof that she once again projected her wish to see her son on perfect strangers. She turned her back to the window and gave in to her tears as she went to bed.
Outside her window the boy looked longingly up to her apartment. The night was perfectly still around him as he stood there wishing that he could go up to his mother, to see her again and tell her that he's alright. Kaneki gave off a short burst of air and turned slowly to walk back the same way he came from. When he turned into a black alleyway his white hair was the only brightness in the pitch black coldness.
A few days later Kaneki's mother walked in the city center. She was once again putting up missing posters all across the 20th ward. So far it yielded no result but she kept up hope that some day they would find him alive and well.
She entered the familiar cafe, her son had worked here for about a month before he disappeared and she still went here every day in the hope that he would find his way back there. The woman sat down in the furthest corner of the little shop at the usual table. The purple-haired waitress, Touka, approached the table with the usual somber look she used when she came there, Touka had been a close friend of her son.
"He is still missing then i gather" the girl said resignedly and took the woman's blank look as an affirmative and lowered hes eyes. "The usual then Kohana?" She continued after a short silence adopting a professional tone.
She was interrupted when the door opened and a young man walked in. He was clad in black and had a hood covering most of his face. The only visible feature was his white hair and black painted nails, the same person she had seen outside her apartment the other night.
The man started at the sight of them and froze on the spot, Touka took a sharp intake of breath and put her hands to her mouth. Kohana looked confused at the newcomer, who could cause such a reaction in the usually stoic girl. She knew he looked like her Ken but it wasn't him and it was breaking her heart. She made to look away but then she did a double-take and let out a gasp almost a whimper. With tearful eyes she whispered the name she had been longing to say.
"Ken"?
It was despite the faded hair and, dulled eyes and hard expression without a doubt her son. She gathered herself and stumbled up from the chair and crossed the small shop. She stopped just in front of him and hesitantly reached out her arm. Shaking she lifted it to his face and touched his chin softly. He closed his eyes and let out a soft breath but gave no other reaction. Kohana broke out in tears and threw her arms around her child and felt him take shaking breaths as he hugged her back.
"Mom" he sighed quietly with large amount of relief.
They sat down at a table by the windows hands clasped across the table since Karla refused to let go, she needed the proof that he was really there."will you come home? Just tonight"
He hesitated for a second before nodding an affirmative and his lips formed a small smile, the first sincere one since his accident. She smiled in return but a small amount of distress crept into her mind, despite the smile he still had a lingering expression of pain. What happened to make him like this? He was never this closed off all the time, and behind his eyes were a sadness that he tried to hide behind an expressionless facade. She put her concerns away for the time being, it was enough just to have him here at last.
The doorbell jingled behind them as they left Anteiku behind them and headed home.
Kaneki almost regretted his decision to come home with his mother, he knew that Aogiri was after him and he also knew that he himself was far from safe in his current state of hunger. He couldn't imagine himself capable of killing his own mother, his self control had become better then that right? He didn't dare to trust his theory and regretted not having eaten recently. To sneak away later to find someone to eat felt like betrayal to his mother and he refused to think that he might have to. The last week had been busy, training; both his team and himself at the same time as he struggled to find out more about Kanou had left little time for rest and he was exhausted both in mind an body. That was probably why he didn't have the strength to turn her away and gave in to his heart. Kaneki looked at his mother, she looked so happy to have him back, she had no idea it was only temporary. It could only ever be temporary. If she ever found out that he was a ghoul she would want nothing to do with him. She would miss the son she had lost in that accident where the old him had been killed. But he was not that person anymore.
They took the last turn onto the street to his home. His old home he reminded himself, yet he couldn't shake the familiar longing he felt, the strong homesickness.
A sudden sound of footsteps made him turn his head. Immediately he felt the dread turn his insides to ice. Before him were two familiar faces. His mind was instantly back in that small chair. He saw the big room with checkered floor and felt the white hot pain of his fingers and toes being brutally cut from his body. He could hear the centipede in his ear and saw the two ghouls come towards him with a human body forcing him to eat it so his limbs would grow back. Then the process would start all over and over and over...
He tore his mind back to reality, this was not the time to be spacing out. He felt his mother turn around beside him, she went rigid at the sight of the two men with black and red eyes.
"Mother, you should run home, I'll be right behind you" Kaneki said in a level voice hoping she would listen. She didn't. He saw the first man's kagune rip out of his middle back - a koukaku type. He knew that he could not evade it out of the fear that it would hit his mother instead. With a heavy heart he adapted a protective stance in front of his mom ready to do what it takes to save her.
Kohana couldn't run away leaving her only child with these monsters, she didn't know what to do when he stepped in front of her. The taller of the men had a large red Kagune sprouting from his back, forming a sharp spear like shape beside him. Without a warning he propelled it forward and she knew it would cut straight through her son. Before she could even scream Kaneki had pushed her to her gently to the side so she stumbled and fell to the hard concrete a short distance away. She saw, as in slow motion how her son smoothly sidestepped the sharp kagune. At this time the other ghoul had produced a purple kagune in the shape of a tail and she knew that she was not walking away from here. But the one thing on her mind was her child, still standing straight between her and the attackers. "Ken run! Leave me here! Please you have to live." She cried out in panic when he narrowly avoided the tail like kagune. Their attackers laughed out loud at that and one of them made a move to go around Kaneki to her. "Don't you dare" Kaneki said, his voice suddenly hard, he took a step forward threateningly. The ghouls faltered in their laugh for a second before speaking for the first time. "Do you really think you can threaten us? After all we are two of Aogiri's best"
"So was Yamori" Kaneki retorted simply. Karla looked confused between the three of them, this was not what she was expecting, had they met before? Yamori as in 13th ward's Jason? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
The two ghouls had had enough of talking and threw themselves at Kaneki. She screamed as her son was pierced through his arm with the spear like kagune. The blood dropped slowly from Kaneki's pale fingers. He turned to look at her for a second, his eyes were sad as if he had given up on life and was begging for her forgiveness. Karla could no nothing but watch as he turned his back to her and faced the monsters whom would be his killers. What happened next was to fast for her to follow. Four red kagune limbs appeared out of nowhere and suddenly the ghouls were thrown to the ground and Kaneki stood alone in the middle. Her mind couldn't take in the sight or him walking forward, cracking his fingers and looking at the ghouls climbing of the ground with one black and red eye.
A/N okey sooo *hides in corner* R&R? ^^*
