Disclaimer: I don't own anything (only my beloved phone Ivano and Boris the laptop). Any soundtracks used belong to their rightful owners (for now, muhahahah) and Tokyo Ghoul belongs to Sui Ishida and whoever is whinny enough to sue me. Ha!

Chapter 1 Legend Begins

=====SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS=====

Deep under a mansion in the woods, within the confines of a dark room machines were whirling, beeping and buzzing, each emitting sounds and lights purposes of which were unknown. A lone figure stood before the only stable source of light within the room.

It was an old man who's features have been marked by times passing, gray slicked back hair and wrinkles on the forehead being most profound. His white lab coat fluttered with every movement as the man paced back and forth, stopping every few seconds to look into a screen, filled with everchanging numbers and letters. Finally the man stopped and flopped down onto a chair. Signing the man's features morphed into a calm smile, brown eyes radiating a small amount of smugness.

"Finally, I almost believed that after all these years of disuse the machine wouldn't work."

The man, also known as Akihiro Kanou, was not your average human. He was a man of science, a doctor striking to exceed and perfect, a scientist of unparallel skill. It sounds like he was a to be admired and idolized. Oh how wrong that is.

"With this I shall be able to observe my ultimate creation more thoroughly, ne, Kaneki-kun."

For doctor was no saint or savior. No, he was but a monster in human skin, a creature who would sacrifice anything and everything for his sick dreams.

"Now then, shall we deepen the tragedy?"

With that said, Kanou stood and walked over to the screen. After pushing a few buttons on a keyboard a small panel was ejected from an opening in the machine, prompting the psychopath to place a small rectangular piece of glass onto the panel, which retreated into the device. As soon as the panel closed the gargantuas machine once more came to life, but this time with more vigor.

Flashes of lights lit up the area, completely blinding the doctor for a moment. Countless sounds emitted by the device melted into a sort of demented melody as if hearing it's masters last words and wishing to entertain him more. As the hum and lights finally died down the doctor took his time to adjust to the previous darkness claiming the room. Just as he was about to start looking around the machine suddenly released a sound not unlike that of a dying animal and sparks flew through the air. Not taking any chances, Kanou ran for the steel door located in the back of the room and quickly opened it, exiting and closing it just in time, when an explosion ripped through the underground laboratory. Small quakes continued for a few seconds, finally dying down and leaving only dust to tell of tale. The scientist finally backed away from the door looking at it critically. He signed as a frown made it's way onto his face.

"It seems the age has affected it after all."

Signing once more Kanou looked around noticing with mild irritation small tendrils of smoke coming from underneath the clearly destroyed rooms door. Well, at least the steel door held. Pity that.

"Ma, not everything always goes as planned. Oh well, this is nothing but a setback, will just have to be more patient."

The doctor said as his calm smile once again returned, turning away and proceeding deeper into the underground. Little did Kanou know that his machine did in fact work. Nor did he realize that it would be the beginning of his downfall and change the fates of millions of people.

=====TOKYO, THE 20th WARD=====

It was a late evening, the dark sky dusted with faintly glittering stars, proclaiming the end of the day. People were returning home after a long day at work, youth hurrying around to meet their friends, lovers trying to find a peaceful place for themselves. A reflection of a usual day in a busy city. It was lively, it was everyday, it was...normal. On the ground level that is.

The dark skies were suddenly illuminated by a small flash of light, attracting the attention of a few curious onlookers. It was not to stay however. Just as the light disappeared the air was rocketed by an explosion of flames and smoke, quickly followed by the sound of something crashing onto the skyscrapers and continuing the fall through it's floors. This garnered the attention.

People started screaming and panicking, trying to get as far away from the building as the flames fell to the ground. In the panic few noticed that the falling object stopped it's decent.

=====INSIDE THE SKYSCRAPER=====

Darkness obscured the 29th floor, dust and smoke filled the air and debris littered the ground making it hard to move. Soft city lights came through a hole in the ceiling, slightly illuminating a pile of debris in the center of the room.

Suddenly the rocks shifted and an arm shot up from the trap, followed shortly by another. Slowly the arms bent and a figure pushed itself out of the opening left behind. Finally free from it's trap the figure flopped down onto the floor breathing heavily. Looking up it saw that it fell through several floors of some building. The figure took it's time to observe it's surroundings. It was inside some empty office, paper and broken furniture scattered around mixed with dust and debris creating a depressing sight.

The figure sighed and slowly stood up. Noticing windows on it's right, the figure approached them and placed a slender hand onto the glass. It looked around confused, scanning the city for any familiar landmarks. Failing to do so the figure took a deep breath and slowly released it 'Just where am I?'. Noticing a commotion on the ground, the figure redirected it's attention to it 'Well, it seems my arrival hasn't gone as unnoticed as it seemed.'

The grounds were, quite literally, on fire. A few squadrons of firefighters were trying to put out the flames, remove the fallen debris and evacuate the few unlucky enough to be injured. It briefly noticed a news cast 'Must be here for the scoop. Ha. Sharks, all of them.' when it's attention was diverted to some white vans quickly approaching the building.

As they parked the figure could only blink and tilt it's head in question as the vans passengers made themselves known. 'Are suits, gray trench coats and briefcases the thing today?' thought the figure curiously.

'I mean, really, are they some kind of Salesmen Brigade or the Office Employee Rangers?' snorting at how ridiculous it sounded the figure start-

"FREEZE!"

=====POV CHANGE=====

Yamada Kurosuwa was your average day security guard. He had average build, average height, black hair and brown eyes. He looked around 28 years old. He wasn't married, nor did he have a girlfriend. Kurosuwa was just that: average.

Everyday at 7:30AM he would arrive at his work, come into the security room after changing into his uniform, unlock the skyscrapers doors at 8AM, go back into security room and sit in his chair until 2PM, get lunch, return to the room at 3PM, get a cup of coffee at 6PM, wait until 8PM to change shifts, change out of his uniform, return home at 8:30PM and spend his time doing anything and everything until it was 11PM and go to sleep. Repeat.

Truly, he was a creature of habit. A simple, average and normal life.

But today was just not his day. First he accidentally damaged his cars paint by missing the keyhole, then his co-worker has left a mess after his shift, then the coffee machine broke down and now THIS. Some kind of explosion followed by a thunderous racket on the top floors. Oh this security guard was anything but happy.

Finally reaching the 29th floor Kurosuwa looked around. 'Shit, this is so getting taken out of my paycheck.' Approaching the center of the room the guard looked up and winced.

"What the hell could have made that kind of a hole? It's goes all the way up to the 45th floor!"

[PLAY: DEATH NOTE OST - L's THEME]

Suddenly the guard noticed a shadow standing in front of the windows facing the 20th ward. Not really thinking the guard took out a pistol, aimed it at the figure and shouted "FREEZE!".

The mysterious figure seemed to tense up, then relax. Slowly it turned it- no, HER head and peered over HER shoulder, not truly facing him.

Yamada had to admit, he was both intimidated and attracted. She had a slender, hourglass, athletic body, well developed breasts and rounded toned hips. It was an attractive combination... if her other features weren't as scary.

Her body was completely covered a black skin tight suit, not leaving even a glimpse of skin exposed. The woman's right shoulder was sporting what seemed like a metal shoulder pad that wouldn't seem out of place on a medieval knights armor. On both upper arms she had a red leather band, with a single big hole each. Each of her fingers were completely covered in more armor, this time making it seem like the woman's hands were in fact claws. More red leather bands covered her legs: two cris-crossing her hips in an X shape and another one on each hip hanging down. Her feet were adopted by steel boots, both having armor parts: two parts covering her heel bone, two more protecting her feet muscle where the bones meet and finally last two at the front, one seemingly used to protect the toes while the other was hooked and looked it was used for offense. It reminded Yamada of a birds talon.

He wouldn't normally see the woman in such great detail if it wasn't for the light coming from the fire down bellow and her hair. No, calling THAT hair would be wrong. The black clad figures head was adopted by multiple strips of some sort of red glowing material that was arranged to imitate the shape of spiky shoulder length hair. Tree strips unevenly covered her forehead, a few more framing her both sides of her head while the rest seemed to gain the life of their own and try to reach up towards the sun.

What freaked out Yamada out the most was her face. She had none. The woman's face was completely covered by the same black skin tight material, not allowing any expression to be seen. In place of her eyes were two red glowing orbs. 'No, those aren't eyes, they're lenses, she's wearing goggles.' thought the guard calming a little when he might not be facing one of THOSE monsters.

Suddenly his eyes caught sight of a flash of silver. Upon noticing the source of the color Kurosuwa instantly tensed up and started gripping his gun more tightly, ready to pull the trigger at moments notice. Hanging from each of her hands was a dagger. She wasn't holding them per say, no, they were hung like pendants from a bracelet. On her wrists hung a pair of round metallic bracelets with some sort of designs etched into them and a chain that connected them to the hanging daggers. The daggers themselves weren't ordinary. They were straight, double edged and had the general shape of a western sword, only squashed down and with no handles or handguards. In their place the daggers each had a round ring to use as a handle and a connection point with the bracelets. Yamada could see that they too had some kind of design etched into them, but it was too small to be seen clearly.

Finally finished with his observation the guard focused onto the still silently standing woman. She hadn't moved an inch since his declaration.

The silence unnerved Kurosuwa more than he would like to admit. Composing himself the guard tried to hide any signs of unease.

"Miss, who are you and what are you doing here? The last of the workers here have already left an hour ago, so you can't be one of them."

The redhead remained silent and continued to look over her shoulder. Yamada waited for a few moments, but receiving no answer decided to continue.

"Do you know anything about the explosion and the holes in the ceiling?"

Still nothing. The guard was beginning to feel something very wrong with the whole situation. It wasn't normal for people to act so calmly at gunpoint, it wasn't normal for people to mysteriously appear out of nowhere in an empty building, it wasn't normal to find innocent people in a supposedly empty building at the very epicenter of an incident. Unless, they weren't innocent.

"...Are you the one behind those? Are you... a terrorist?"

For a few seconds the woman continued to gaze at the guard, then she turned away, once again facing the windows. All along she remained silent. Yamada

took this as a sign that this silent woman was indeed somehow related to the explosion. Gripping the handle of the pistol tightly the guard began slowly making his way towards the woman. He stopped a few meters away from her back, gun aimed at her head, breathing erratic, sweat slowly gathering on the upper brow, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Miss, I will have to ask you to drop your weapons, slowly turn around, hands in the air, palms up front where I can see them. You will surrender peacefully and come with me down to the ground floor, where you will be surrendered to proper authorities and questioned in regards to the incident that occurred in Sakamura Sales HQ, tonight at 7:28PM."

The woman remained motionless, as if she didn't hear anything. Kurosuwa tensed and lowered his gun, now aiming at her left calf, if the need arise to incasipate, rather than kill. He noticed that the armored woman still hasn't removed her clawed hand from the window glass. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself to shoot Yamada continued.

"Miss, this is your last warning, surrender and come with me or I will shoot."

The woman stood, then...

"Cover your eyes."

It came so quietly, almost a whisper, that the guard almost didn't hear her. He idly noted that her voice was melodic, though lacking in emotion. Suddenly her armored hand clenched and the glass exploded, raining it's sharp edges in all directions.

Yamada was almost too late to react, but thanks to the warning he was just in time in covering his eyes, thus saving them from being skewered. Just as he opened his eyes, he noticed that the mysterious woman was now facing him, two glowing lenses observing him, the glass in the window behind her completely destroyed. He was about to take aim and shoot when the woman suddenly took a step back towards the now glassless window and the 29 story fall, glass shards crunching under the steel boots.

Surprised he hesitated and the woman took another step back.

"Oi! What are you doing?!"

She took another step and another and another, each step taking her closer to the edge. Kurosuwa, realizing what was about to happen, dropped the gun.

"WAIT! WAIT DON'T DO IT! THERE'S NO NEED FOR THAT!"

The redhead just took another step. She has reached the edge. The guard completely lost his composure, faced with this suicidal woman panic overtook him and he rushed forward in an attempt to stop her from falling to her death. In his rush he didn't notice a large piece of debris, which resulted in him tripping over it and falling to the ground. Horrified Yamada looked up at the woman just in time to see her take a step and begin to fall.

He extended his arm as if to try and catch her, to try and save her, to stop this madness.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

But she was already gone, like the wind or... a ghost. Like she was never there. Tears of frustration and guilt began to gather at the corner of his eyes as he slammed his bailed fist into a large piece of glass, breaking it and causing his hand to bleed. For a moment he silently watched as his hand bled freely,no doubt thinking he would see a lot more if he were to look out the broken window.

"Damn it."

The guard stood up and slowly made his way to the window. He had to see her, to see her body. This was his fault, he could have stopped her, he could have SAVED her, but he failed and now she's dead.

Taking a deep breath Kurosuwa prepared himself to see the mangled body lying sprawled on the concrete below, life fluids, blood and brain mass flowing in all possible directions, the tight black suit just adding to the horror that is to come by failing to hide all the broken bones.

Steeling himself, he took a look outside. And paled.

Taking a few steps back the man flopped down on his backside and stared vacantly into the space. He started shivering, face twisting into something that resembled a weird mixture of horror, confusion and relief.

"I-im-impossible."

What the hell. What. The. Hell. WHAT THE HELL?! His mind kept screaming, not understanding if the last few minutes were reality or some sick twisted hallucination.

"Th-the-there is n-no body. Wh-what."

His mind couldn't comprehend it, so he remained staring vacantly into the space until help arrived. Truly, today was not Yamada Kurosuwas day.

[MUSIC END]

=====Anteiku=====

It was a regular work day for the residents of a little shop called Anteiku. To most it appeared as a small yet popular coffee shop, famous for it's high quality coffee. To others it was a source of food. Most being humans and others... not so human. And neither were the cafes members.

You see, in this world there exist beings above humans in the food chain. They are known as ghouls, creatures that survive solely on the flesh of human or other ghouls. They far surpass humans in term of power, speed and endurance. To humans they are natural predators, monsters from horror stories, the ultimate enemies. And that's what had been running the cafe. That's right, every single one of the little shops staff are ghouls. Well, four full ghouls and one half-ghoul.

Kaneki Ken sighed tiredly as he wiped away the last cup. Today had been a busy day. It didn't help that Touka decided to be extra vicious with him for no reason.

"You done yet, Kaneki?"

"A-ah, Koma-san."

A man in his late twenties entered the room. He had short brown slicked back hair with a few remaining in the front forming a kind of hair-orb, kind brown eyes and a round nose. This man is known as Koma Enji, a proud and polite yet somewhat mischievous waiter of the establishment.

"I'm almost done."

"Ah~ that's good, youth like you shouldn't stay cooped up in one place for too long. What wouldn't I give to be young again."

Kaneki couldn't keep a small smile from forming on his face. Everyone in Anteiku were like a close knit family. It was… comforting, to know that there are people looking out for you. As he placed the now clean cup he briefly noticed the TV suddenly changing its program.

"We interrupt the broadcast with breaking news. Just moments ago an explosion went off above the Sakamura Sales HQ. Currently a team of firefighters are trying to put away the flames that fell to the ground along with the debris."

Now this got Kanekis full attention. Standing besides him Koma whistled.

"Now we are joining Maruda Kyoko, our reporter at the scene. How are things there, Maruda-san?"

The screen switched showing a woman in her thirties with long black hair and serious face.

"Good afternoon, Toradori-san. So far things are not looking good. Today at 7:28PM an bright flash appeared in the sky above Sakamura Sales HQ quickly followed by an explosion of some sort. Witnesses state that at the moment of the explosion something fell from the sky landing on the skyscraper itself. It has been confirmed that something indeed had fallen onto the building as there is a hole reaching through several floors. The objects status is unknown. Currently firefighters are getting rid of the fire and escorting the injured to the medics. Just moments ago the CCG have arrived, in case the explosion is actually the work of the notorious ghouls."

The screen proceeded to show the firefighters showering the fire pits with water and a group of gray coat wearing people with briefcases standing by and observing the situation. Kaneki noticed that there were a lot of bystanders watching the incident. His thought process was interrupted by the reporter continuing.

"Currently the police are trying to reach the security guard within the building, unfortunately all attempts have been failing, it's speculated that the guard left to investigate on their own."

'Sure, go to a potentially dangerous situation alone, because that's a smart thing to do. Oh and don't forget to lock the door so no help could reach you in case of emergency, just like now.' thought a small sarcastic part of Kanekis mind. Glancing at his colleague, Kaneki noticed his deadpan expression. He's pretty sure that Koma was thinking something similar along the lines.

"In case the next attempt fails, police are preparing to break down the doo-"

She was suddenly interrupted the sound of glass breaking. People screamed as sharp shard fell to the ground.

"There's a person!"

Somebody in the crowd screamed. The camera quickly focused on the 29th floor where the glass came from. And lo and behold there stood a person, their back facing the glassless window. Kaneki noticed they were wearing all black and something red, he assumed was hair, was dancing in the wind. The reporters voice cut through his musing.

"I-it seems something is happening on the 29th floor. Are you getting this, Harada?"

"It's hard, their too high to get clear view of."

As the cameraman spoke the person took a step back. The reporter seemed to realize what was happening.

"They wouldn't…"

"NOOOOOOO!"

A mans loud shout came from above just as the black clad figure began to fall, quickly becoming a blur of black and red. The bystanders began to scream while the firefighters tried to deploy the emergency trampoline in a vain attempt to stop the person from certain death. Kaneki wanted to look away but couldn't, it was like watching a train wreck, you just can't stop looking lest you miss something important.

"Oh god, oh god, they're falling, they're falling!"

The reporter was now in a full blown panic mode. While she was babbling the person reached 15th floor, when something out of this world happened.

The person suddenly turned and something seemed to shoot out in the direction of a nearby building, attaching itself to it's wall. It was a wire of some sort. Not a second later the blur lurched and changed directions, now flying at the said building. Then the line retracted allowing the person to free-fall once more and again the wire shot out attaching itself to yet another building. And so on. And so on.

The camera tried to follow but the person was moving too fast for it to catch a clear shot of and before they knew it… the person was gone. Turning the screen shoved a gobsmacked looking reporter. Her eyes wide, she slowly turned, looked directly at the camera and asked what was on everyone's mind.

"W-What just happened?"

And the screen went black. Kaneki blinked, then turned to the side where Komo stood with a remote in his hand.

"Well that's not something you see every day."

He tried to make it sound light but it was clear he was disturbed by the news too.

"K-Komo-san, what do you think of this?"

His colleague sighed, looking tired.

"Honestly, I don't know. I just hope that it doesn't cause too much trouble."

Gulping, Kaneki nodded. He then went to change out of his uniform and after saying his goodbye to the fellow staff he went home. While walking to his apartment he couldn't help but feel that with today's event something irreparably changed.

=====ON SOME REMOTE BUILDING=====

The roof was silent and undisturbed. So it's not surprising no one was here to see a figure suddenly land on it, then proceed to sit down on the floor and sign.

Slowly the figure raised it's hand towards it's face and took something off. It was a pair of red lenses goggle. Blue feminine eyes looked up at the sky scanning it quickly. The woman was looking for something. Then she slumped and sighed dejectedly.

"Damn, I'm really not in Kansas anymore."

While in the skyscraper she noticed that none of the cities landmarks were familiar to her. She hopped that the dread she felt then was just her being paranoid but looking up at the sky she realized that none of the constellations are the ones she is used to seeing every night. This just confirms it: she was lost in an unknown place, with no allies, friends or acquaintances. Great, just her rotten luck rearing it's ugly head, again.

You would think that walking into a god summoning ritual, performed by a very bored psychotic magical maniac, while trying to find a shortcut home was enough. But nooo~ . It takes a pseudo apocalypse to show that the Fates really hate her. Damn you universe.

By the end of the silent rant in her head the woman has developed a profound twitch in her left eye. Oh yes, she was quite used to being Fates wiping girl.

"Maa~ what am I supposed to do now?"

As if answering her prayers a loud crash sounds from down below. The woman, hearing that, blinked in surprise, then smiled, amused by this turn of events, glances up to the sky mouthing a quick 'Thank you'. She quickly grabs her goggles and puts them in place, all the while silently making her way to the edge roof.

Reaching the railings she peered down into the darkness of the alley. Normally a person wouldn't see a thing, but the goggles the woman is wearing are special. One of their functions enables the user to see even in the darkest of places. What the woman saw made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity under her mask.

On the ground lied a bleeding man. He was clearly dead, the amount of blood suggested it. No, what made her raise a brow was another man that was hunched over the dead man. He was eating the bleeding one.

'Hm~ cannibal or supernatural?'

The man eaters back suddenly exploded and two red tentacles, covered in white plates, made their appearance.

'Supernatural. I just jinxed it, didn't I?'

The tentacled man then proceeded to use his new appendages to cut the corpse to pieces, putting some in his mouth. After a few minutes of just observing the woman decided it was time to get some answers and jumped over the railing, silently falling and landing on the ground behind the maneater. Her arrival went unnoticed, so she decided to use the opportunity to have some fun.

She waited for him to bury his face in the dead man's abdomen and then made her move. She quickly moved to man eaters right side, squatted down, leaning her head on her left hand, and waited. She wasn't disappointed.

The maneater just barely lifted his head and froze. There was someone sitting to his right. Turning his head to the side he saw a black clad woman with red hair like ornaments and goggles, squatting down while lazily leaning on her left hand. Noticing his attention she lifted her right hand and wiggled her armored fingers.

"Hi."

Silence.

Then plated tentacles moved striking the ground where just moments ago the woman was sitting.

"Missed."

Came a voice behind him. He quickly turned around and commanded his kagune to attack again. They hit nothing but air again.

"Missed again."

This time it came from above him. He looked up, but found nothing. Then he felt something touch one his rinkaku.

"Huh, so it actually has scales underneath the plates? Neat."

He didn't even look when he sent the other kagune to the spot just above the one being touched. The sound of concrete breaking reached his ears. Damn, she got away again.

"Ne~ is that all you got?"

A tick mark appeared on his forehead. This person…

"Hey, hey can I touch them more?"

…is annoying.

And so it continued for 15 more minutes. Him trying to skewer her and her simply disappearing or dodging. By the end of this he was breathing heavily, leaning on a wall for support, his rinkaku twitching on the ground from strain.

"Well that was fun."

He looked up at the black annoyance and had to suppress the urge to bang his head against a wall. SHE EVEN LOOK TIRED! She was clearly out of his league. Resigning himself he turned to face her.

"Do what you want, just give me a quick death."

The woman stopped on the spot and looked at him, making him feel like an idiot for some reason.

"Quick death? Now why would I kill you?"

He blinked.

"Aren't you here to kill me?"

"Nope."

To say he was surprised would be like calling the Eiffel Tower a bit pointy.

"Why are you here then?"

"To ask a few questions."

"Then why didn't you just say so?!"

"I was bored."

His right eye developed a twitch. Yep, he was going to find a way to skewer her. Screw the power difference, he was going to find it, one way or another, damn it! Taking a deep breath he calmed down. Well, there's nothing he can do now.

"What is it you want to know?"

The playfulness instantly disappeared from around her replaced by a serious no-nonsense business-like air. She leaned against the opposite wall, crossed her arms and examined him.

"What are you?"

This surprised the man-eater. These days everyone know of what he was. Or those like him anyway. Seeing his expression the mysterious woman waved her hand in dismissing manner.

"Humor me."

He raised an eyebrow at that.

"A ghouls."

The woman simply hummed.

"'A' meaning there are more like you. By your previous expression, it's safe to say that ghouls are public knowledge. Very well, what are ghouls?"

The ghouls eyes narrowed, despite her previous behavior this woman is intelligent.

"A species that preys on the flesh of humans or in rare cases other ghouls."

"Optional or required?"

"Required. We cannot consume any human food with the exception of coffee. It makes us… sick and weak."

"What makes human flesh and coffee different?"

"Human flesh contains RC or Red Child cells, they are needed for our survival. As for coffee, nobody knows."

"What happens if a ghoul doesn't consume any flesh and how long can he hold?"

"…they go crazy from hunger and attack any and all in their frenzy until they feed. It usually takes a month or two, anymore and a ghoul becomes a raving beast."

"So you have to eat once or twice a month then."

"Yes."

The woman before him simply nodded. She examined him once more before asking.

"What makes a ghoul different from a normal human? I understand that your anatomy is similar, correct?"

The ghoul nodded.

"Yes. Although there are several key differences. One of them is a kakuhou, or red wrap, it's a sack like organ found in every ghoul. It contains all the RC cells we consume gathering it from our blood. They can be located in 4 places on our backs: at the shoulder area, below the shoulder, the middle back or behind the waist and the tailbone. I've heard that some ghouls have more than one of them. Rumor has it, they are more powerful too."

The redhead nodded and motioned to continue.

"Then there are kagune or red child, they are our weapons and shields. Every ghouls kagune is unique to them and only them. They are predatory organs made from RC cells in our bodies, thus contained within kakuhou when not in use. A ghoul usually has one of the 4 types, categorized by the location of kakuhou. Ukaku, feather-red, they're usually shaped like wings and gassy. Ghouls with that kagune are fast but their stamina is very low. They specialize in high speed long range combat and can harden their kagune to shoot crystals. Then there are koukaku, shell-red, the RC cells surround an arm making it look like a gauntlet with a sword attachment. They're all about defense. Sturdy and with highly dense RC cells. But due to the weigh on their arm they slow, very slow. Next are rinkaku, scale-red. The kagune takes form of several tentacles. I'm a rinkaku type. The numbers vary from 2 to 8, depending on ghouls strength. We have more brute strength, our advanced regeneration making it harder to fight us. But our kagune are more brittle, easier to break. The last are bikaku, tail-red. They look like tails and are the stability class I guess. They have no weaknesses nor any strengths."

The ghoul went silent for a moment, waiting for the next question. He wasn't disappointed.

"You said 'usually has one of the 4', I presume there are exceptions?"

The maneater nodded.

"There is a rumor that says that sometimes a child of two ghouls can be born with both of it's parents kagunes. They're called Chimeras."

She nodded to show she understood.

"Is there a way to visibly tell a ghoul apart from a normal human?"

"Yes, usually we wear masks to hide our identities and can change our eyes at will. When a ghoul is hungry or excited their eyes iris turns blood red and

sclera turns black with red veins going down their face."

He looked up, his brown eyes changing their coloring and veins spreading on his skin.

"They're called kakugan, red eye."

She stared for a bit before nodding again.

"What about physical talents and senses?"

"They're enhanced compared to a human. Skin unbreakable by normal weapons like a knife or a bullet."

"Meaning only a kagune or kagune-made weapon is able to seriously damage you."

He nodded. The woman seemed to ponder for a moment before snapping her fingers.

"You mentioned that ghouls can consume other ghouls, but it's rare. I presume there are side-effects?"

The ghoul looked hesitant for a moment. It's not an information to be lightly given. He looked up at the costumed woman deciding what to do. Finally he nodded.

"Yes, horrible side-effects. If a ghoul was to consume others of his kind he would eventually gain incredible power, RC cells mutating to give them an unbreakable armor, an increase in strength or their attributes, but as all power, it comes at a cost. The users sanity. The ghoul experiences so much strain that they more often than not lose their sanity half-way through the process. They're called kakuya, the red ones."

The woman hummed in thought then looked at him.

"Why did you think that I would kill you?"

"Who wouldn't?"

He got the distinct impression that she just raised an eyebrow, so he elaborated.

"I mean, here I am, hunched over a human corpse, eating his flesh while using tentacles to cut him up. A monster from horror stories. And then you appear, a human by your scent, give me a heart attack and then sort of beat the crap out of me. What am I supposed to think?"

"That I'm just curious?"

He simply stared at her, not really believing his ears.

"…You're not at all disturbed by the corpse?"

"Why should I be? Going by what you said, humans are your diet. It would be hypocritical of me to call you monsters because humans slaughter thousands of animals everyday to satisfy their hunger. Besides, I've seen way worse."

"Like what?"

"A hundred or so humans slowly decaying until nothing but bones are left. They were alive until the very end."

Okay, he had to admit that was pretty disturbing.

"You do know that I killed him?"

"Yeah, so? Overpopulation is a fast growing problem these days. Besides, that's a criminal."

That got the ghouls attention. The woman pushed off of the wall and made her way to the corpse. She used her boot to overturn it's coat making the pockets contents spill out on the floor. They were plastic bags filled with white powder. The ghouls blinked, he did not expect this.

"A drug seller to be precise."

That certainly explained what he was doing in a dark alley. The ghoul looked at the woman as she returned to her previous position.

"And what would you have done if he was just a civilian?"

"Nothing."

He stared at her. Her body lacking any signs of deception. This was so surreal he was starting to suspect that the human he just ate was on drugs and he was being affected by them. Seeing who his victim was he wouldn't be surprised.

"…You're really weird for a human."

"I prefer logical and open-minded. But for some reason a lot of people call me that."

'I can't imagine why."

The ghoul couldn't help but think sarcastically. He noticed that the woman stood straighter and was now stretching.

"Well, it's kinda late and I still have to find a place to stay, so I'll be off."

The ghouls blinked, surprised.

"That's it? You're just leaving me like this? You're not gonna run to the CCG?"

The woman stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"CCG?"

"The Commission of Counter Ghoul. Ghouls hunters that use quinques, weapons made from dead ghoul kagune, walk around in suits, gray trench coats and briefcases to hunt us. Ghouls call them doves."

The black clad tilted her head before starting to walk again.

"Nope. I don't see any reason to. As I said, it's your diet, nothing can be done there. Besides I'm no hero and the CCG, well, they don't sound all that glorious. Using dead people for weapons? Right, I'll call them when I'll have the materials for that scythe I've always wanted."

The ghoul stood there, jaw on the ground. She seriously was just going to walk away and do nothing about it. She suddenly stopped again and turned to face him.

"By the way, where's the nearest mall, preferably with electronics section."

He wordlessly pointed to the right.

"Thanks, see ya around."

And with a wave of her hand she disappeared behind a corner.

The ghoul stood there for a few minutes wondering if the past 30 minutes really happened. Before shaking his head and turning around to his unfinished meal. Then he paused.

'What does she need in a mall?'

He found out the next morning.

"Tonight a series of break ins have been reported by the shop owners in the Garusu General Mall, in the 20th ward. Everything, from electronics to toiletries, have been stolen by unknown individuals."

Needlesstosay, his coffee didn't stay in his mouth for long… nor did his TV appreciate the sudden morning shower.

=====UNKNOWN LOCATION=====

He was running, something monstrous chasing him. Inhuman growls and beastly howls sounded behind him, prompting him to run faster.

Why?! Why did he have to take that shortcut?! A brief image flashed before his eyes. A severed eyeless head in the middle of a bloody circle, arms and legs making a crude rectangle, intestines for the outer circle, liver, stomach, eyes and the heart in between. A ritual circle.

He almost fell over puking just remembering it. But he knew he couldn't unless he wanted THEM to get him. Another image flashed before his eyes. Jeans, purple hoody, light blond hair sticking out from under the hood, blood, so much blood, a demented smile, bloody hands caressing their face, the figure turning.

"Hm? It seems we have a guest, kill them."

He heard them getting closer. He needed to get home! He needed to find safety!

A wall blocked his line of sight. Dead end. Not a problem. He quickly used a nearby trash can to scale the wall before him. He saw an apartment building just a block away.

There! His home was close, just a bit more!

He didn't have a choice. THEY were almost here, he'll have to jump through the roofs. Taking a running start he leaped, and almost missed. He managed to grab onto the ground on the roof and pull himself. Just one more building and he's safe!

Running again he jumped. He felt something brush his leg, but didn't dare look back, he knew exactly what was behind him. He landed with a thud. Quickly picking himself up he ran to the opposite side of the roof and started leaping through the emergency staircase down. He could hear THEIR feet connecting with the metal stairs above him, but he didn't care, he was almost home!

Once on the ground level he dashed to the apartment buildings entrance, ignoring the lift, THEY would kill him if he wasted time waiting. He quickly scaled the stairs reaching the 9th floor in record time, his door before him.

Not wasting any time he opened it and slammed closed behind him, leaning on the door while breathing heavily. That… that was close. But his relief did not last long. A thud, like something hitting the door, followed by a growl sounded from behind him.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, please God no, they found him, they found him, THEY FOUND HIM!

He threw himself away from the door, running to his living room, searching for something, ANYTHING to help him defend himself. Unfortunately the floor below him gave away and with a loud crack his leg became stuck to it's knee in the hole. Desperate he started trying to pull the leg out, but nothing worked, it didn't so much as budge.

A loud crash came from down the hallways, indicating the door has been broken down. He froze, THEY were inside. He started trying to free himself with renewed vigor.

Seeing that simply pulling won't work he dug his right hand into the hole, intent on pushing from within, but stopped when his hand brushed against something cold. He was about to try to grasp the unknown object, when a growl sound from right in front of him.

'Oh god…'

He slowly raised his head and was treated to the sight of the horror that has been chasing him. It had four powerful legs, a tail, a muscular body and a head, two crimson burning slitted eyes glaring at him with hate and bloodlust. It was shaped like a huge dog but he knew it was anything but. After all, what dog moves around when it's half rotten? Bones showing, rotten meat hanging and puss oozing in between. Half of it skull naked of any skin. A putrid smell penetrated the small room. Saliva was dripping down its maw, filled to brim by jagged fangs. It was a creature fit only in hell. And it was looking right at him.

The skin around it's mouth pulled back imitating a smile at the sight of it's prey. Growling one last time it prepared to pounce.

He was panicking unable to move or defend himself. COMPLETELY HELPLESS.

'I don't to die! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I want to live! I HAVE to live! I JUST HAVE TO FUCKING LIVE!'

Everything seemed to slow down. The hell monster pounced, jaw wide open, teeth bared. He grasped the cold metal in the hole and pulled. Something silver came out, but he didn't have any time to ponder about it. The beast was almost on him, it's breath lightly swaying his hair. Without thinking he pushed his right hand with all his might right at the monsters mouth. He felt himself his hit something soft. It was over in an instant.

Something warm hit his hand making him open his eyes, he didn't even realize he closed them. It was blood, the beasts blood. He looked at his hand that was now holding some sort of ornate dagger, now completely covered in blood. It was buried to the handle within the roof of the beasts mouth, right where it's brain is supposed to be. The beast was dead, it's surprised expression forever frozen on it's corpse.

Surprised he pulled away, taking out the dagger. More blood escaped the wound hitting him right in the eyes.

Kaneki woke up with a scream, breathing heavily he took his time to calm himself. He sat up looking around. He was in his room, bookshelves filled with his collection and no demon dogs in sight.

Signing in relief he flopped back down.

"Only a dream. Just a nightmare."

He told himself for reassurance. But it was so… realistic. No, don't think that way, it was just a dream.

'Yeah, it was just a dream, there's no such things like monster zombie dogs.'

Turning around on his pillow he noticed we was drenched in sweat. Looking up at the stand next to his bed he saw that it's only 2AM. He'll have to shower later in the morning. He closed his eyes and after a few minutes fell asleep again. This time hopefully a dreamless sleep.

Fate has a strange way of working. For some it's an unbreakable curse, for others - salvation. It is said that you are like a small gear, part of some greater mechanism, helping turn and being turned by countless others like yourself. But what would happen if an extra gear were to appear.

"I have thousands of faces. None of them are a lie and none of them are the truth, but they are all me."

Trying to force it's way into the mechanism that had not foreseen it's arrival.

"Tonight, Japan sings!"

The machine… would simply break. Releasing it's captured gears and thus rendering it useless.

"'It's the world that's wrong', huh? Heh. Then make it right."

And letting the now fallen pieces write a new story.

"Ha! This world needs no messiahs. No, let us be saviors, let us do the impossible, let us make a miracle, a miracle as big and vast as the endless sky!"

A single gear, a single experiment, a single person. That's all it took for the mechanism known as fate to break, creating a tempest like none before.

"All you do is babble about protection of the innocent, and yet you destroy families, seed hatred and kill indiscriminetly. Really, who are the true monsters here?"

And a single miracle…

"This is my last miracle, Kaneki Ken, I leave everything else to you, make this into a story worthy of the Tempest."

…for a tragedy to be averted.

A.N.

Well, this is the 1st time I've ever written down one of my ideas. I mean, yeah, I've written down scenes for the comics a friend of mine used to draw, but to actually write the whole thing down? This is a 1st for me.

English is my 4th language so please excuse me if I make grammar mistakes, miss words or simply use wrong expressions, ma brains mixed up as it is with all the programming I do during the day.

This idea has been flying around in the dark void I call my mind for some time now and while making a 3D model of character it kinda exploded and more or less demanded to be written down. It didn't help that I was listening to "Seasons die one after another".

So here I am, a troll, writing stuff.

The character is original. She was created a while ago, having her own story and all. Yeah, it's a bloody one too, full of betrayal, madness, action, sacrifice and more. It's actually very closely related to mythology. Oh and there's magic. Nah, she won't go around throwing fireballs left and right. Nope, with how her own story goes she only ever uses one spell and it comes with a heavy price. She's all skill, tricks and trinkets. If she seems overpowered, well, that's because she is. She's probably like Arima with a powersuit and several restrictions/seals to make things less boring. Her moral code? Quite questionable.

Bits of her story will be revealed (if I don't get too bored with writing this). I'm still not sure if I should write her story down or something. Ah well, you live you see. She's seems a bit bipolar, but that's intentional. Seriously, think of Tobi from Naruto (still don't like the thing). She's a manipulator and a schemer with perchance for boredom, so expect the unexpected. I mean, making your enemies annoyed with you during a fight means either you just signed your death wish or that they will leave themselves open and that's her usual strategy when she's not serious. She gets serious? It was nice knowing you, I'll be sure bring flowers next year.

Her name will be revealed next chapter (if the reception is good enough) when she actually interacts with other characters. And yes, she does have a connection to Kaneki. What it is? Not saying. It's relevant to the story.

One more thing. THERE WILL NOT BE ROMANCE INVOLVING THE OC. Seriously, I'm not the romantic sort and neither is she, moreover her circumstances prevent her from even so much as considering the idea.

So there. I've written my share. If you have any questions, I'm all ears. I'm interested in hearing other people's opinions.

See ya~ Rin.