...Chapter One: End of the Dream...
It should have been a day like any other. Emphasis on should. Instead, Kaneki Ken was in at work on his day off because Touka was again studying, and Anteiku was packed to the brim. The other waitstaff weren't as panicked as him, simply happy that all their customers were ghouls. That fact alone was messing with Kaneki's head, as several patrons were giving him odd looks, and he heard someone comment on his odd scent twice.
His hackles rose again as a group of three female ghouls, all wearing school uniforms, glanced over at him then giggled into their palms. Kaneki almost sighed in relief as Koma waved him over with his ever present smile. Irimi offered a small, sad looking smile as he approached the counter, his head tilted to the side in confusion. He opened his mouth to ask the obvious question, but Koma cut him off.
"Nishiki-kun is on his way in, so you can take the rest of the day off." There was the smile again. As grateful as Kaneki was, he couldn't help but question it.
"And why am I getting off now? Why didn't Nishiki come in earlier?" He was probably pouting, and he tried to reign his expression in.
"You're not the only one with super-sensitive hearing, Kaneki-kun," said Irimi, a soft smile on her face. "We know what's being said about you, and how you look after. Don't worry about it and go have some fun. It's a Friday night, and you've earned it."
He was about to say something again when Nishiki himself strode in, silencing Kaneki with a glare. Kaneki bowed politely to his elders, then walked past them to the locker room, where he changed as quickly as he could into his street clothes. Tugging his bag over his shoulder, he waved to the other waitstaff on his way out the door.
He didn't get far before he was nearly bowled over by his easily excitable best friend, Hide. "Ah!" He tripped over his own feet, saved by Hide's hand on his arm. "Hide! What's going on?"
"I got plans, man! You're twenty now, which means I can take you to a club!" Hide grinned with one hand on his hip, the other over his friend's shoulder, clearly thinking this was the best idea ever.
"...Really? A club?" The question of Why? was crystal clear in his tone.
"Well~... I may have met a really hot girl at Blue Angelic the other day..." Hide scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, again leading his friend on the path to his house.
Kaneki sighed in defeat, "Fine, I'll go. I need to change, though, and my place is the other way."
Hide froze for a few seconds before laughing loudly, drawing the eyes of several passersby. "No way, man, you're not wearing your normal clothes there. Some of my stuff should fit you."
And that was how Kaneki Ken ended up in some upper class, highrise club, wearing a plaid pullover, a printed t-shirt, and torn jeans that felt a size too small. He had no idea how Hide fit into them. He huddled in the back of Hide's group (that he hadn't mentioned were joining them), trying to avoid being seen by anyone on the dance floor. Of course it didn't last for long, after a group of girls ran up to them in a fit of giggles, asking the others if they wanted to dance.
Being the horny twenty-somethings that the others were, they agreed in a heartbeat. The smallest of the group shyly asked Kaneki to join her, walking away pouting when he turned her down before pulling a different guy to the floor with a grin. Feeling a little more on-edge now that he was alone, Kaneki hugged the pullover closer to him and leaned against the wall of the corner he was hiding in.
And once again his peace was shattered when an arm pulled him into an ample bosom. He floundered for a moment as he breathed in red hair before the woman released him, and he stared in shock at Itori. Uta stood behind her, his eyes hidden by dark glasses and a familiar, carefully blank look on his face.
"Wh-what are you two doing here?" Kaneki asked, surprise written all over his face.
Itori laughed like that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard, then seeing Kaneki's confusion, switched to a more serious tone, sitting down close to their young friend. Uta followed suit, sitting on the other side and folding his arms much like Kaneki. Itori leaned close to them both so she could be heard over the pounding music, more for Kaneki's sake than Uta's.
"This used to be a pretty popular hunting ground, shared by most without any argument, but recently," here she leaned even closer and lowered her voice, "ghouls have been going missing."
Kaneki's brows pulled together, "You mean Doves?"
"If it was Doves, the place would have been shut down months ago. The club is owned by a ghoul." Uta also leaned closer, his expression shifting ever so slightly to one of concern. For who, Kaneki couldn't begin to guess. "From what I've heard, it's a combination of cannibalism and a hunter."
Kaneki flopped back against the wall in pure disbelief. "A human?" Uta nodded. "And not a Dove... How is this possible?"
"We don't know," Itori shrugged.
"But we intend to find out," Uta finished, folding his hands behind his head and leaning back, crossing his left ankle over his right knee.
It was then that Hide and his other friends decided to go back to their table, their faces distorted in the throbbing lights and their laughs silenced by the loud techno rolling out of the speakers. Seeing the two with Kaneki, the group froze, glancing nervously at each other. One of them said something to Hide, who nodded, and the others left, leaving Hide behind with the ghouls. Itori grinned, scooted over, and patted the bench seat next to her. Hide hesitated for a moment more, then settled into the offered seat.
"Sooo... Who're your friends?" Hide asked, a brow lifting.
"Oh, how rude of me!" Itori fake-gasped, holding out a hand which Hide took with a small smile, "I'm Itori."
"Uta." Said ghoul raised a hand, giving a small wave without changing expression. Hide nodded, not quite sure what to say.
They sat in their self-created awkward silence, before Kaneki remembered something. "Hide, did you have a reason for coming back?"
"Oh, yeah!" The normal grin was plastered back onto his face, and the sole human of their small group hugged his friend. "That girl I was talkin' about finally showed up!"
Kaneki almost rolled his eyes in exasperation, sighing at his friend's antics, "Did she? Well, where is the poor girl?" He meant it as a joke, but regretted it after Hide glared at him. The angry expression passed quickly, and Hide pulled his best friend closer, pointing at a balcony on the opposite end of the club where a woman with hair even longer than Itori's leaned against the railing.
"There she is! Ain't she a looker?" Hide laughed, grinning again as he waved to the woman with a cheeky grin. Even from this distance, Kaneki could swear she rolled her eyes, and she returned the wave, leaning over to say something to the tall, light haired man next to her, then disappeared into the crowd of dancers on the platform. He followed her with his uncovered eye as she descended a spiral staircase onto the main level, and the crowd parted as she walked over to their table.
As the lights turned white, he got a clear view of her. A curvy figure, covered by torn, black skinny jeans, a red bustier that ended at her sternum, a belly ring, and a tattoo that went from her right hip, all the way up her spine, and down her left arm. All topped with long red hair in an intricate style of braids and curls. As she got closer, he could tell that she was clearly a foreigner, and just as attractive as Hide had said, with high cheekbones, a thin nose with a ring in the left nostril, large green eyes surrounded by kohl, and full lips painted a deep red to match her hair. There were several piercings in each of her ears.
When she was ten feet away, her gaze flicked between Uta and Itori, and she tilted her head to the side before continuing to their table. Hide moved to make room for her next to him, but she sat next to Uta, eying him from her peripheral. He raised a nearly nonexistent brow, but said nothing as she crossed her ankles, the chrome of her heels glinting in the lights. In the packed club, Kaneki couldn't tell if she was human or ghoul.
"Nagachika Hideyoshi, correct?" she asked, voice smooth and lightly accented. A warm, lightly joking smile graced her lips.
"Hey, you remembered!" Hide looked ecstatic.
"Now, do you remember my name?" she asked, smile still in place as she leaned her arms on the table.
"Uh... Well- No, no I don't." Hide slid down in his seat, much to the amusement of the other four.
"That's fine," she hid her mouth behind a hand as she laughed, "I just have a really good memory."
Hide grimaced, but quickly regained his composure. "Weren't you saying something last week about going to Niita University?"
That spiked Kaneki's interest, "Our rival school?"
The girl rolled her eyes, saying, "I'll never know why we're rivals, our main subjects are completely different. Your school teaches the sciences, mine the arts. It makes no sense to me."
"I think it's because of the sports teams being fairly even," Kaneki replied.
"Be that as it may-" Whatever the girl was going to say was cut off as she met the eyes of the light haired man she had been talking to earlier. "I have to go." Hide was about to protest, and she glared at him. She slid off the bench and made her way through the crowd of dancers again. It was kind of amazing to see her blend into the crown when just minutes before she had stuck out like a lily in a rose bush.
Hide sat in stunned silence, his mouth open slightly from bewilderment. The minutes ticked by, until Uta grabbed Kaneki's arm, saying to Itori, "I'm going out for a smoke. Be back soon." The older male ghoul dragged Kaneki behind him as he went out a back exit. Once the heavy door had shut, locking the music behind it, Kaneki tugged his arm loose.
"If you wanted to smoke, why couldn't you go alone?"
"Because I wanted to follow that girl," said Uta simply, taking off and pocketing his glasses. His kakugan were visible as always, and for once he looked interested in something. He nodded to a staircase, walking over to it with Kaneki behind him. They climbed three flights before Uta pushed open the door to the roof, and Kaneki squinted in the sudden bright moonlight. The full moon seemed closer than normal, and Kaneki, without thinking, walked over to the edge of the building, staring down at the concrete twelve stories below.
Shrugging, he walked back to Uta, who leaned against the door frame. He was almost there when Uta was kicked onto the roof, and a hulking figure sneered from behind him.
"Where's the girl?" asked a deep, heavily accented voice, and the figure stepped out of the dark doorway. With kakugan visible, he forced Uta back further, and said ghoul glowered at the taller man.
"Look. I'm only going to warn you once. You don't know who you're dealing with, so back away and leave us alone if you know what's good for you." Uta's normally calm voice was a growl.
The taller ghoul bellowed with laughter, and four other ghouls stepped out of the stairway, kagune out and ready. The leader, who Kaneki figured was German by his accent, snickered again before saying, "And you don't know who you're dealing with. Now tell us, where is the girl?"
"What girl?" Kaneki asked, again backing away to the edge of the roof, instincts kicking into high gear. Uta stood his ground, still glaring at the German ghoul.
"The girl you were talking to in the club. The hunter, Titiana." He said it like it would illicit a reaction from Uta, but his face remained blank.
"Never heard of her. Maybe if you told me the reason behind her name, I'd know who it was," Uta said, still calm. The German ghoul looked about ready to hit him, but froze as a thin silver chain wrapped around his throat from above. His hand went to it in wonder, and the chain tightened, taking his head in a spurt of blood. The decapitated body fell to the ground, and Uta and Kaneki stared up at the top of the tiny room that held the stairs, where the girl from the club sat, legs crossed and chain hanging from her hand.
"I'm a fuckin' queen, that's why," she smiled serenely, then hopped down from the stairway's roof. She glanced, uninterested, at the other ghouls, who had been glaring at her since she appeared. A kagune shot out at her, and she flipped over it, striking out at the owner with the chain, again decapitating him. Two others ran at her, and she kicked one of them in the eye, her thin heel going through the thin membrane.
The second one started to go around her to get her from behind, but again she jumped over him, slashing him across the back with the chain. Where the metal hit started to fizz, and the ghoul fell coughing and spluttering to the ground.
The last of the lackeys stood frozen in fear, and she glanced over at him with a cold glare. "I'll let you go. But only because I want you to carry a message," she walked closer to him, and he didn't back away. She grabbed the front of his shirt and threw him to the stairs, where he hurriedly picked himself up and raced down the stairs.
The girl finally looked at the other two ghouls on the roof, snorted, pulled out a smartphone, and dialed a number. When the other person picked up, she said something in a language that Kaneki didn't understand, then shoved the phone back into her pocket and walked past the two men. Kaneki followed her, pulling her to a stop before she reached the edge of the roof. She looked back with emotionless eyes, and he burst out, "What's your name?"
She pulled her arm back, turning and walking up to the lip of the roof, her heels clicking on the bricks as she stepped onto it. Kaneki, disappointed, turned back and started over to Uta, who was again leaning against the door frame.
"Zoya," a soft, lightly accented voice said from behind them, and they both looked back to see a faint smile on the girl's face, before she stepped off the edge of the roof. Kaneki started to run to the edge, but Uta caught his arm.
"Don't worry about her," he said, lightly pushing Kaneki to the stairs. "If she can take on four ghouls by herself, I'm sure she can handle the drop." He pulled out his glasses, placing them back on his nose. "Besides, she wasn't human like I thought."
Kaneki felt surprised, but remembered the distinct scent of wildflowers that came from Zoya. Something he thought he'd never smell again.
I grunted at the hard landing, the pain doubled by the pesky heels I wore. Shaking my head to clear it, I walked over to the waiting motorcycle, where Audric sat holding my jacket. I rolled my eyes an grabbed it from him.
"Making friends, are we?" he asked in Russian, his blond hair shining in the moonlight.
"Not intentionally," I answered, slipping on the jacket, and sitting behind him. Chuckling, he started up the bike as I placed my goggles over my eyes and clipped my hair up. I placed my hands on his hips, and he revved the engine before pulling off back home.
How does one fight scene? Thank you for reading, and please leave a review! This story isn't placed anywhere particular in the timeline, but it is an AU where Kaneki didn't leave Anteiku. Any questions you may have for me can be answered on my Tumblr.
Disclaimer: I do not, nor do I claim to own Tokyo Ghoul or its characters, I own my OCs and the plot.