Kyoto Ghoul

Summary: Kyoto has won a tentative peace between ghouls and humans through bloodshed and compromise, but that hard-earned prize is about to fall apart. Underneath the false tranquility, an insurgent group of ghouls is rising to power, a mysterious investigator called Kusanagi is on a bloody rampage, and various forces from both sides are gearing up for another war.

Notes: Tokyo Ghoul is an odd title and I couldn't think of anything else...if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share. I'm trying something different for this story. It will revolve around a few central main characters that I have created, but I'm also looking for character submissions to add secondary characters into the story and give this city a bit of life. If this interests you, please PM me for details about submitting.

Chapter One: To the Imperial Capital

Commission of Counter Ghoul 7th Ward Branch Office, Tokyo

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask exactly why I have been reassigned to Kyoto, of all places?" asked a young man in a clean black suit. Although the language he used was exceedingly polite, his strained tone of voice was anything but patient and possibly even a little disrespectful as he leaned forward imploringly. The older man behind the desk strewn with papers and thick files grunted and dropped one manila folder in front of him. The narrow tab at the top bore his name: Serizawa Taisuke.

"Do you know what is in that file of yours?"

Taisuke leaned back and straightened his posture, reluctantly inclining his head and lowering his voice. "No, sir," he admitted, "not particularly. What is so important in there that you feel the need to transfer me to another city? There is no lack of ghoul activity in Tokyo, where as Kyoto..."

The older man, a former investigator himself and current director of the CCG 7th Ward Branch Office, heaved a worn sigh that sounded more like a heavy beast wheezing than a sigh. Despite his relatively harmless appearance, it was the subtle gleam in his eyes that made Taisuke stop himself from saying anything further. It was hard to imagine this guy as an elite investigator during his younger years, except for the occasional spark of his old vigor that appeared in times like these.

"Your last physical and mental evaluations were just last month, correct?" After receiving an unnecessary nod from Taisuke, the director continued. "Your physical state is perfectly fine. However, we have found reason to become concerned for your mental wellbeing on the field..."

"Wait a minute, 'we'?" Taisuke interjected, perhaps preemptively, if that glare was indicative of anything. As he blurted out the question, his mind was racing through all of the interview questions he had gone through with the office's psychologist last month. He did not think that he said anything incriminating or jeopardizing.

"Yes," the other man ground out, "we, as in your partner and some of your other associates, as well as myself, have found reason to believe that your mental state may be compromised. For example, how did your last investigation go? No, don't answer that, Serizawa."

Taisuke shut his mouth and sank back into the worn out office chair across from the director. He nodded slowly and waited for the man to continue. Their most recent investigation had concluded just a few days ago. It was a simple hunt for a troublesome ghoul that preyed upon lone joggers out for a run during the night or early morning hours. As far as danger levels went, it was relatively easy with nothing very special to report about it except for the fact that his partner had dropped his quinque in the pool of blood left behind by the dead ghoul. They had spent a better part of the night trying to get it out of the hinges of the suitcase.

"Your partner Hashimoto has brought to my attention that you have become increasingly reckless in the field. You take too many risks and jump into unclear situations too readily, just like a kid fresh out of the Academy. Both Hashimoto and I know that you have far more experience than they do, but the way you are conducting yourself is unacceptable. Serizawa, can I ask you a personal question?"

With no other option, as the director seemed quite intent on shuffling him over to Kyoto, Taisuke consented with vaguely wide eyes. He had heard of investigators who became so unhinged by the job that they went berserk, killing any and all ghouls in the most gruesome ways possible, and he had heard of the investigators who cringed away from killing anything after seeing so much bloodshed. Just because he was a little overeager, both Hashimoto and the director seemed to believe that he was no longer fit to do his job.

The thought did bother him a little. It must have shown on his face because the director chuckled deeply.

"Serizawa, do you want to die?"

Taisuke blinked. Silence fell over the two, sounds of the secretaries and bureau investigators working in the main room creeping into the tiny office. He finally answered slowly and carefully, "No, sir, I do not. Why do you ask?"

The director reached over and tapped the file. "Your recent actions seem to indicate so. 'Though his sense of justice seems intact, recently he seems to value his own life less and less' Hashimoto reported. You fight like you want to die, Serizawa. How many times have you been injured on the job in the past few months? You and Hashimoto don't handle too many high ranking cases."

Taisuke lowered his gaze to the floor and his shoes, the only part of his outfit that was not as clean and polished as the rest of him. In their line of work, it was nearly impossible for him to keep them clean.

"Serizawa." Taisuke lifted his head upon hearing his name. "You have potential, Serizawa. Whether or not you use it is completely up to you, of course, as well as what you do with your own life. That is none of my business. But what you bring to work with you, including how you value your life and the life of those who work alongside you is very much my business. Take some time off, go to Kyoto."

"You make it sound like a vacation," Taisuke said weakly, just barely managing a half of a smile.

The director shrugged and turned back to his computer buried in a pile of papers. "You'll still have a job to do, but Kyoto is nothing like Tokyo. It's quiet, less ghoul activity, but just enough to keep your blood running. Use your time there to figure out what you want out of your life and come back when you're ready."

"Director..." Taisuke said with a reluctant, partial laugh. "Will the Kyoto Branch be okay with that?"

"Hey, you may find that you want to stay," the director chuckled. "Don't worry about it. I heard that they're fairly relaxed over there. It might take a little while to adjust, but you'll do just fine. You start at the Kyoto branch in three weeks."

"I see...thank you, director," Taisuke nodded slowly as he stood and bowed stiffly. "Please excuse me."

Taisuke closed the door behind him and took a few deep, even breaths. He could hardly believe what had just transpired. This morning he had rolled out of bed thinking that it would a normal day, only to get to work, get called to the director's office, and be told that he was being transferred to a completely different city. He knew that many investigators had lost family to the ghouls just like himself. They had no one waiting for them at home, so he should have no problem packing his bags and leaving.

It felt strange to suddenly be told that he no longer had a job in this city, though, all because he was just a little too eager during investigations.

"Damn it, Hashimoto..." he muttered under his breath as he walked through the main office area. Phones were ringing off the hook as they aways were, investigators running around with stacks of data and looking for so-and-so who should have been here at nine o' clock sharp, but was mysteriously missing.

Taisuke sighed. Great, apparently all of his colleagues thought he was insane, about to commit suicide by ghoul. He had never been outside of the Tokyo Metropolitan area before.

He spotted his partner down the hall, talking to another rank one investigator. The confusion melted away for a brief second, giving way to a burst of anger, which quickly faded. Hashimoto had spent an inordinate amount of time with him as of late, now that he thought about it, and not for any work reason. Hashimoto had a family, a wife and two kids, but he had chosen to spend a few nights out of every week keeping Taisuke company at a bar or ramen shop.

"Hashimoto-san," he called out, walking over with a stiff nod. His partner flashed a smile at him, though the apparent awkwardness in his posture indicated that he knew what had just transpired. Taisuke exhaled quietly and switched the suitcase containing his quinque from his right hand to his left. "So, guess I'm leaving soon."

"Yeah," Hashimoto said with a nod. "Sorry about that. I hope you'll understand. You're a great guy, you know, so you should take care of yourself."

"What do you mean by that..." Taisuke said, just a little taken aback. Everyone was being awfully honest in this past hour. He frowned. They were talking about him like he was about to be diagnosed with a terminal illness any second now. "Hey, I take care of myself."

Hashimoto laughed, motioning for him to follow. They still had a job to do, after all. "Tell that to your refrigerator," he said. "All you have are eggs and milk in there. And in your cabinets, all you have is instant ramen and udon. You devote yourself to work too much and forget to take care of yourself."

Taisuke smiled weakly. He wondered when devotion to work had become such a bad thing, enough to label him crazy and suicidal in the eyes of his coworkers. "Well, might as well have a last drink, huh? How about we go out for drinks this Friday?"

Hashimoto hummed and shoved his free hand into his pants pocket. "Anytime, Serizawa. Feel free to visit every now and again if you get homesick."

Homesick...That was a word he had not heard in a long time. He smiled. "Thanks, Hashimoto-san."

Three Weeks Later

Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto

Taisuke shuffled off the train at Kyoto Station, rubbing at his shoulder where a very, very tall foreigner had accidentally clipped him with his suitcase. He hissed as he maneuvered through the crowd, the voices of all the passengers in the huge building mingling into one huge burst of sound. The twelve floors of Kyoto Station stretched far above their heads, clear sunlight filtering through the glass walls and ceiling.

It would have been nice to stop and find something to eat, but checking his watch, he cursed under his breath and shoved his quinque suitcase under his arm in order to awkwardly take his wallet out of his pocket, his real suitcase smacking him in the thigh as people passed by him. With a groan, he hurried through the station. He had no way of knowing that there would a train delay today of all days. It was just his luck that someone had decided to commit suicide by train, creating a two hours back up period while the police came and the tracks were cleaned.

He had even left Tokyo early just in case something happened, but as it was now, he would be lucky if he made it to the CCG Kyoto Branch Office in time to make his appointment.

That would leave a great first impression. First he had to transfer to this branch because his partner thought that he was too suicidal. Now he was going to be late on his first day. How professional that would seem. He was still a rank two investigator, to top it all off.

"I really hope they don't lose my luggage..." he muttered to himself, pushing his way through the crowd. At least training to fight ghouls had practical applications, such as being strong enough to actually survive rush hour at a major Japanese train station. He really should have tried to get here the day before, in retrospect, but apparently there was a lot more paperwork involved in moving than he had anticipated.

After struggling out of the station, he boarded one of the buses and sagged against one of the metal support poles, struggling to juggle his quinque suitcase and his real suitcase.

Kyoto was interesting, to say the least. Its streets looked somewhat like Tokyo, like any other major city in the world. As he waited on the bus, he found his thoughts drifting to the CCG.

The Kyoto Branch Office was rumored to be filled with lazy investigators and that the ghouls in the city ran wild under their noses. Of course that was hardly true, given the rather moderate death rate per month here was less than that of the bloodiest wards in Tokyo, but he still had no idea what to expect. His new partner, as well.

A few people on the train had struck up meaningless small talk with him. Nice as they were, they had quite a few chuckles for him regarding his accent, even though he wanted to argue that he was speaking standard Japanese, while they had an accent. The protest died on his tongue, but just by riding the bus he could hear the difference between them. The words all around him sounded like another language.

Taisuke sighed and shifted his suitcases around again. The quinque suitcase was far from light, plus its metal edges were annoying.

This was going to be a great vacation, indeed.

Taisuke was a half an hour late to his appointment with the director of the Kyoto Branch Office, in the end. It turned out that rush hour in Kyoto was almost no different from rush hour in Tokyo, give or take five minutes here and there at various crossings.

So here he was standing in the director's office, which was much cleaner than the director's at the 7th Ward. There seemed to be minimal paperwork, so he could actually see the desk, and there were actually windows here overlooking the city.

"My sincerest apologies," Taisuke bowed profusely, his voice jumpy and sounding rather juvenile at the moment. "There were multiple train and bus delays this morning. I apologize, I should have arranged to get into the city earlier. My name is-"

"Serizawa Taisuke, rank two investigator, yeah?" This director, a tall and thin man with a sparse mustache, smiled amicably at him. "Please, don't worry so much 'bout it. It happens to the best of us and t'day's your first day, anyways."

Taisuke paused and looked up, flashing him a smile. "Thank you, sir," he said breathlessly. Though it did make him sound rather like a newbie fresh out of the Academy, he would take the excuse. "It won't happen again."

"You are a polite young man," the director said. He motioned to the door and someone entered, a tall older man dressed in the same suit as every other investigator Taisuke had ever met. He immediately stood and bowed, but both the investigator and the director waved his formality off with smiles. "He's your new partner. Rank one investigator Inoue Yoshikazu. Inoue, this is Serizawa Taisuke, rank two investigator from Tokyo."

"It's nice to meet you," Taisuke said, bowing again. This time, Inoue did bow, but it was rather quick and informal. He guessed that the rumors about this office were true.

"Nice to meet ya," he nodded, that slightly odd sounding accent back to haunt him. "C'mon, we have a case. You can...um, leave your other suitcase in the staffroom."

"Yes, sir."

"You don't have to be so formal, you know...I really hate Japanese formality. Isn't it kinda outdated?"

Taisuke's mouth opened, but he quickly shut it again once he realized that no, he did not have a response to that question.

Well, this was certainly different from Tokyo.

How was this opening chapter? I'm kind of lacking in ghoul characters at the moment (I have only one), so a lot of the focus is on the CCG for now. I'll probably be alternating between CCG and ghoul chapters.

Once again, I am accepting some character submissions for secondary characters in the story. :) PM me if you are interested.