Summary: In a world where ghouls ruled supreme on the vast blue ocean as pirates, humans are only mere sustenance and prized by all the ghouls. In a closed kingdom ruled by King Mirumo, Tsukiyama was bored...ever so bored...that is until he had the misfortune of finding himself captured by the every present band of ghoul pirates known as the S.S. Antieku.

Yeah...so I promised this for two friends of mine on FB. We made a joke out of it of TG AUs...and then this happened. So here's a new story. Cross-posted to AO3.

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Wayward Roses

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Once there was an island. That island was divided into wards all ruled by a king or high authority figure. In these places are various families all consisting of ghouls while only the smallest portion are made of human encampments made to provide food, the food being the humans themselves. Most always dream that they would be saved...but their wishes never come true. For those that are considered brave to venture to sea and save these humans from their hell are found to be captured by worse than the ghouls on land.

Ghoul pirates.

Notorious to be violent and rough compared to the nobility of those on land, no human ship ever manages to venture far by sea. Stories are told of one ship, captained by a powerful man known to herald secrets to the ghouls' weakness, would be able to easily beat the ghoul pirates and rescue those in need. But their appearance is sparse and their rescues unknown so such a team is left only to be a dream.

But this story isn't focused on the humans but the ghouls...specifically two that were prone to the peculiar matter of how they met.

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The same morning. The same scenery. The same bed. Tsukiyama yawned as he went to sit up in his large, four poster king sized bed. On cue, a knock was heard before Kanae stepped in and bowed. "Good morning, Shuu-sama. I hope that the day will be pleasing for you." he spoke. Tsukiyama gave him a weary look before moving to climb out of bed and Kanae went to fetch his clothes. "Today would be the same as any other. Nothing too exciting and we are given the same meal. I want to see something exciting. I want to see adventure." he spoke, moving towards the bathroom, as Kanae came to him, a fresh suit in hand. "But Shuu-sama...your kingdom is beautiful." Kanae spoke as he stood by the door. "Your people love your family and you have the finest humans bred for our consumption. Who needs excitement when you live the high life other wards could only dream of?" Tsukiyama sighed, closing his eyes as he stood under the shower spray. "To be a prince trapped in such a tower...it's not the greatest feeling, no?" he murmured and Kanae blinked.

"Shuu-sama...?"

"I want to see freedom. To be here is stifling. The guise of my regal heritage is grand but even then, the pace of such a life drags on. Everything about you would feel caged, trapped, locked." he continued. "Those pirates that causes such a nuisance among other wards that aren't protected like our own live better lives than I." Another sigh left his lips as he began to wash up. "To be out there with them would be a dream come true." Kanae closed his eyes. "But to be a pirate...isn't that just as bad? To be out on the sea, running from the law cause you pillage a few humans, unable to go anywhere for days. I couldn't imagine you to be like them, Shuu-sama." The door opened and Tsukiyama grabbed the suit before patting Kanae's head.

"Oh Kanae. Someday you'll see things how I see them."

Kanae could only nod as he helped Tsukiyama into his outfit and bowed once more. "Breakfast awaits." Tsukiyama nodded as he moved to the door. "Thank you, Kanae. Let us go then."

Kanae gave another nod as he followed behind Tsukiyama.

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The vast sea shone under the light of the sun and a single carrack ship floated among the water. Simple in color, it could've been easily mistaken for a regular trading ship if it weren't for the black flag nestled in its place upon the mast bearing the mark of the crew that owned it. On deck, a few people were gathered. One paced while the other two watched. "I can't believe him...to come at us in the middle of the night and pillage our own stash..." The girl muttered venomously. "And where was the lookout?!" she snapped as she turned to the two boys that stood there. The bespectacled one grunted in annoyance. "Maybe fell asleep like the dumbass he is. Why the hell do we even have Banjou up there? He ends up falling asleep halfway through the night." The second cracked his knuckle in an unusual fashion, usually labeled as a nervous tic to some but it truly wasn't, as he glanced over to the other.

"Give him a break. He has been restless since our last attack and both Ichimi and Sante were hurt." he spoke. The first grunted again but the girl was having none of it. "That may be but it still goes to point that we are out of food and nowhere near land. We have a huge crew to feed and it s about time we take this into our hands. What of you, Kaneki?" she questioned as she looked over to the other.

The male in question, Kaneki, hummed before giving a nod. "You know how I am about eating humans...but we do need the provisions." he spoke as he looked to her. "I'll see what land is closer then we'll go from there, Touka." Touka smiled a bit in relief while the male wearing glasses only huffed. "I'm going to Kimi. Tell me if my help is even worth it at landing." he said as he began walking off. "Sure, we'll definitely call on your help, Nishiki." Touka spat as the other went down in the sleeping quarters. Kaneki moved to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get angry. I think everyone on board is a little anxious because we're out of food and the S.S. Aogiri is hounding us like dogs. I'll find land, we'll nab some humans and be on our way. If we can lose their trail, we'll be good." Kaneki spoke reassuringly.

Touka sighed as she ran a hand across her face. "I know. It just...really pisses me of my brother thinks that attacking us whenever he feels like it is good. Yoshimura-san can only take so much defending for us when the situation is really big that we can't handle. And...and I don't want to lose Yoriko." she murmured. Kaneki nodded, understanding her pain well. It is led to believe that ghouls could never care for a human, only seeing them as food to keep them going strong but for the S.S Antieku, they extend a hand not only to ghouls that lost their way but also very special cases of humans. Kimi and Yoriko are examples of that.

Kimi Nishino, a girl that had befriended Nishiki and eventually ended up together after enough whittling to Nishiki's boundaries after what had happened in the past. In another mainland far from where they are now, Yoshimura had come across them in a bit of a pickle as a weakened Nishiki tried valiantly to protect Kimi from a rogue band of ghouls that wanted her as prey. After fending them off, Yoshimura offered a hand of acceptance even though Nishiki of that time was still defensive.

"I'll provide you a home and food. We'll protect you on my ship."

It took some coaxing, even more from Kimi that they would be safe this way instead of running more risks of Nishiki ended up dead with pilfering a human or two from encampments of the nobles of the ward they were in, that they ended up on the ship. And the idea of seeing the sea had delighted Kimi which truly sealed the deal for their addition. The second was another girl, going by the name of Yoriko Kosaka. A daring girl that had shown quite some indomitable spirit as she befriended Touka. The two were different but Yoriko proved to be quite the specimen for someone trapped in a very dangerous ward encampment. Unable to see her be left there to be eaten, Touka swept her from the camp but this proved to be a terrible decision as the camp belong to the Aogiri. A very loathsome group which was led by her brother, Ayato.

Angered by his own sister's decision, he followed her, vowing to deal with her personally and unable to defend not only herself but Yoriko, she could only imagine both would be dead until Yomo came, driving Ayato away. But there were intense promises that she will get hers one day. That Aogiri won't take this sitting down. She had her worries but where she is now, with their amiable captain, she didn't expect the threat to be of any problem. And with the added protection that Yoriko will be safe was a plus and it helps in taking care of the other resident. Touka shook the memory away before turning to Kaneki. "Go ahead and find the land nearby. Hopefully it will be something good and easy to get to."

Kaneki gave a nod as he left and moved to the navigation room, closing the door behind him. With the peace of being alone, he settled down in the chair and looked over the map silently. Judging by their course so far, they are closer to a ward than they thought. As he read into it more, his back rippled slightly. He clenched a hand into a fist tightly as his rinkaku emerged from his kakuhou. Grunting slightly with a hiss, he opened his eyes before a tentacle moved over to a shelf lined with books. Most are little stories and choice books that Kaneki himself enjoyed but he wasn't the only bookworm as they had a smaller ghoul child named Hinami who had always looked up to Kaneki like a big brother and had him teach her to read some of the more difficult kanji in context with the writing within the book. Kaneki, of course, didn't mind one bit. Pulling the book down, he dropped it in front of him and opened it to flip to the pages of the current location.

"Let's see...we're closer to the outer wards, mainly the 22nd Ward. The Tsukiyama Kingdom stretches between the 7th and 22nd. The 22nd is also their human camp. If there's no one to watch, we can steal a few humans right under their noses." he murmured, rinkaku writhing behind him carefully. "But at the same time...if we can nab someone of higher power...we could make it so we can get access to the 22nd Ward without repercussions..." he murmured. He sat back, pondering over the consequences and benefits.

For one, they would get access to food for the rest of the crew, which was the main priority. The drawback is how secure the human camp would be. Chin in hand, Kaneki reached up for another book speaking of the various territories of the wards that were inhabited. Setting it before him, he flipped through the pages before landing on the territory of the 7th Ward.

The Tsukiyama Kingdom is a closed of section of wards, only shortly neighbored by their promising ally, the Rosewald Kingdom. The latter kingdom fell victim to submission by the 23rd Ward human rescue faction Cochlea but rise of the powerful Gourmet Prince drove the faction back to the 23rd Ward and sealed the 22nd off from contact. The privacy of the two wards that made up their territory makes it hard to breach for ghoul and human alike, very few gaining access via special permission by the king or prince to come to their classic restaurant within the deep reaches of the 7th Ward.

Kaneki let out a rush of air from his nose, hand buried into sable locks as he tapped his fingers on the table. There was plenty of risks thinking the way he was but at the same time, it would prove easier to get food for everyone. "Ugh...I hate these tough decisions. And there's also S.S. Aogiri." he muttered in disdain. He didn t hear the door open nor the person that came up behind him til he felt someone lean over his shoulder, making him jump and nearly knock his shoulder into their jaw. Touka held him firm as she looked down at the plans in front of him.

"Come up with anything?"

"Just one..."

She glanced to him questioningly and he sighed. "It's ballsy as you would say...but I was thinking of this." he spoke as he showed her the book of the Tsukiyama Kingdom and then the large ward that housed their human camp on the map. "If we find a way inside and get to their castle, we nab a royalty and use them as ransom to get a permit to hunt in their camp. We do that and we would never have to worry about food ever again in this general area." Kaneki explained, glancing up to her. Touka hummed before smiling. "Sounds perfect. See Kaneki, I knew you'd get the hang of our lifestyle soon. Not all of it since you refuse to eat people but your plotting to get the upper hand is flawless. Better than Nishiki." Kaneki gave a grunt as he snapped the book close.

"Maybe but that doesn't mean we won't run into trouble. Last thing we want is to get Yoshimura involved." he said and Touka huffed. "We won't get him involved. We'll make sure this is flawless and he won't have to lift a single finger to help. We can't depend on him forever and I rather he get off the seas and live peacefully while we carry on the legacy of the S.S. Antieku." Kaneki gave a nod before standing, rinkaku returning to his kakuhou.

"Then set a course for the 22nd Ward. We're going to the Tsukiyama Kingdom."