AN: Hello, and welcome to 'Bad Moon Rising'! Firstly, as is common course for my other fics, this story focuses on the darker sides of several characters (as if they weren't dark enough already) while focusing more on character and world building rather than just romance. Secondly, the italicised sections in this fic are denoted to memories/ flashbacks and Japanese phrases that are added to add realism. Thirdly, this story will be a mix of anime and manga.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul, it is owned Sui Ishida and I have no claims towards it.
Enjoy!
Daffodil
Flower Meaning: New Beginnings
No one is born a monster, but you'll be surprised how easy it is to shape a child into one.
Her name was written with the kanji for harmony, printed in feminine and delicate script across her birth certificate. The same kanji are printed with delicate block letters on ratty school books for years to come, but this isn't a story about the troubles of youth as they bite their fingers in frustration at drawing kanji.
Around the outskirts of the fourth ward, as the rural blends into the urban, there are the slums.
Small houses clustered together and joined with rotting and crooked streets that had fallen into disrepair years before, graffiti decorated every dead end, and the upper class from the twentieth ward dared and nudged each other to stop past the rusted iron gates and into the dark streets, even though the sun shone high above them.
"I've heard that there all ghouls in there." One sneering teenage boy muttered to another, spitting on the ground and shifting on his feet.
"Really…" The third member trailed off, his eyes wide as he leaned further into the rock. "I bet we can take them on, we'll be the best investigator team there was. It'll show those guys in the CCG that we're not just kids then!"
"Really?" A light voice huffed, the foreign sound causing the three boys to startle slightly. "Because all I see in front of me are just three scrawny kids."
Stopping a few feet away from the boys was a small woman with a frayed basket in hand, her dark hair falling in unorganised strands in front of her face. Her skin was porcelain white, but was marred with yellow and purple bruises and uneven in places. The woman's clothes were obviously old but well cared for, careful stitches being visible in the fabric if you looked close enough. Her most striking feature however, was her eyes. Staring out at the boys from behind her dark hair, was a pair of pale blue eyes, the same blue as the summer evening sky that stretched endlessly from above their heads.
"I'm not a kid." The leader of the three huffed, stepping closer to the woman and shoving his hands in his pockets. His chest enlarging to make himself appear bigger and more imposing to the woman's small stature. "I'm fourteen."
The woman only stared at him, shifting the basket in her grip, clearly unimpressed.
"Do I look like I care?" The woman stated, shifting on her battered shoes and staring down the teenage boys. "I've met kittens that inspire more fear in me than you. Does your mother know you and your petty little gang are hanging out here?"
"Are you a ghoul?" The main kid snorted, the other two laughing nervously behind him. "What are you gonna do, eat me?"
"I'm not a ghoul." The dark haired woman said, her voice monotone and bored, dark and unhealthy strands falling into her face as eyes the same colour as the sky high above them stared down coldly at the boy. "But that doesn't mean I'm opposed to throwing your scrawny little neck to them at any given chance, go home to your okaa-san boy. Any son is better then a dead one."
Shoving past him and snarling lightly at the other gang members, the dark haired woman stepped through the iron gat and slammed it shut behind her, her frown deepening as she saw the boys hadn't moved from where she left them.
"Scram!" She shouted after them, a small smirk jumping on her lips as the boys scrambled away, down the street back to the richer parts of the first ward as she presumed.
Sighing softly, as she turned away from the gates, Kazuko opened the woven basket on her arm a fraction, peering in and staring analytically at the dozen of flowers that lay inside there, as well as an apple and various herbs. Closing the basket with a nod, Kazuko descended down the stone steps and into the twisting alleyways of the slums.
...
"Kazuko, Kazuko pay attention to Okaa-san. You must recite every flower to me, you wouldn't want to be a failure, would you?"
"No Okaa-san."
Snip.
A sunflower was gently placed into a chipped ceramic teacup, the rusted metal pliers creaking as they moved onto the next flower.
"Good girl. Now, this is an Asogao, it's other name is morning glory, and it is native to Japan…"
Snip. Snip. Snip.
Several baby pink roses joined the sunflower, cotton gloved hands hesitantly moving forward and detracting one of the roses, a soft hum filling the air as the flowers were rearranged with a flurry of movement.
"It's a very special flower as it has several meanings, so it is a good one to put in bouquets. It is a flower of duality, the love of mortality, or to love in vain. Despite its beauty, we only put it in rejection bouquets because of this…"
Snip.
A wild white lily found itself threaded into the arrangement, and the soft chime of a wayward bell rang in the perfectionists ears.
"Kazuko, you pathetic little girl! Deep colours rarely ever pair nicely with the lighter ones. Start the bouquet again!"
Sni-
No. No. No. No. No. No! That didn't go well at all, a deep purple never paired nicely with yellow. With a small screech of frustration, the gloves hand reached out and plucked the deep purple carnations from the arrangement, throwing it off to the side with a loud huff of frustration.
"Composure, Kazuko." Her mother tittered in disapproval, her rose painted lips slanted downwards as she leaned back in her oak chair window and stared down at the fidgeting girl.
She straightened her spine slightly, years of having the movement beaten into her making the aching and twisting straightening seem effortless to the outward eye. In a small motion, the worn cotton gloves were pulled off of her small hands, malnourished fingers stretching out in frustration.
Analysing the makeshift bouquet in front of her, Kazuko breathed in deeply through her nose.
The arrangement was… adequate, it would do well enough on her rotting dining room table until next month.
Gently picking up the plastic pot that held the flowers, Kazuko stood up from her chair. Bare feet patted against the rat infested floorboards as she walked several steps and slipped through the slanted doorway and into the dining room. Placing the makeshift vase on the small table, Kazuko smiled softly at the colour it brought into the room.
"It'll do." She muttered to herself, brushing her hands against a tattered apron with a fond smile. "It'll do…"
...
It wasn't good enough.
After several days of scowling at the flower arrangement, Kazuko picked up her basket once more and sneaked onto the train that ran towards the 20th ward.
The 20th ward always held the nicest roses this time of year.
After picking up a handful of red and right roses, her fingertips bleeding slightly from the thorns, Kazuko travelled through the city to make her way back to the train station.
Glancing at the clock that was displayed in a shop window, she saw that she only had three minutes to get to the train station, for what had to be a six minute walk. Kazuko sighed softly and quickly ducked into an alleyway she knew would be a shortcut.
(Thinking back on it, years later, Kazuko would probably pinpoint this decision as the worst decision of her life.)
After turning a corner in the alley, the sound of living civilisation muffled behind large brick walls, Kazuko felt the basket filled with red roses slip from her fingers in shock, the sound of it hitting the dirty floor alerting the fighting pair to their spectators presence.
Two pairs of black and red eyes snapped towards her with a snarl.
Ghouls.
Of course it was.
One was dark haired, wearing a top that probably cost more than her house judging by the logo on it. They were covered in quickly healing cuts, the wall behind them sprayed slightly with fresh blood. The other was taller than their opponent, their hair was a dirty blond, medium in length and held away from their eyes with a simple headband.
Both were male.
Both eyed her with interest and hunger.
Backing away slightly, Kazuko spun on her heel and ran away in a dead sprint, her voice clogged in her throat as she pushed of the ground and left the basket of roses behind her.
It was no use.
The dark haired one immediately lunged at her slamming her against the already bloody wall and eyeing her in interest. Kicking at the ghoul, Kazuko tried desperately to escape his grip as the dark haired ghoul leaned forward.
"Thank you for the snack." He grinned with sharp teeth, his head leaning forward and mouth opening around her neck.
This could be interpretations as vaguely sexual, Kazuko contemplated in a daze as he leaned forward, the blond ghoul beginning to pick himself up from the floor.
"Sorry," Kazuko said through heavy breaths, adrenaline making her body tremble as nausea grasped at her throat. "But I'm not planning on dying today."
Twisting her neck at an awkward angle, Kazuko clamped her teeth around the ghouls ear, and pulled her head back with all her might. With a loud screech, the ghoul threw her to the floor, part of it's ear still in her mouth.
Spitting the offending thing out of her mouth, Kazuko watched in panic as the blond ghoul latched onto the darker haired one, though his eyes never left her in fascination. Running on adrenaline, Kazuko stumbled to her feet, the scent of salt and blood in her mouth as tears began to from in the corners of her eyes.
Skidding out of the alleyway and back into the street, Kazuko ran head first into into a dark haired CCG officer.
Because this obviously hadn't been enough of a day to turn her into an early grave already.
"Miss, are you okay?" The Officer asked, the metal briefcase in his hand announcing his position as a ghoul investigator, taking a hold of her wrist and stopping her from running away in a panic. "Miss?"
"Ghouls… Fight… Ears…" Kazuko panted, adjusting her footing and taking several deep breaths. "There were ghouls in the alleyway, I left my basket there…"
"And how did you escape." He asked her, his eyes starting to narrow in suspicion.
"Look, I'm not a ghoul." Kazuko stated flatly, her tone bordering on aggressive. "Let me go, I have no interest in letting them catch up to me."
"Perhaps you shouldn't return to the twentieth ward." The inspector frowned, the briefcase in his hands shifting slightly as he straightened up in front of her, his hand still wrapped around her thin wrist.
"If you're trying to intimidate me then you're going about it all the wrong way." She hissed at the rough edged investigator, her body still running high from the adrenaline and her patience wearing thin. "I do not fear ghouls, I do not fear man, and I most certainly do not fear you."
"Is that a threat miss?" The inspector asked, his eyes narrowing, and his grip on her wrist briefly tightening.
"My name is Kazuko, and I have no family name I wish to be associated with." Kazuko hissed lowly, her wrist burning as the investigator tightened his grip once more. "Put me in your database for all I care, and see how long it takes before a body with the same name tag ends up in your morgue."
"Why would you say that?"
"Because you people don't do shit to help us in the slums." She sneered through gritted teeth. "Everyday, another body of a woman, man or child, is found in our alley corners, and yet, while the fourth ward continues to be a blood bath, you increase patrols in the first."
"We have our reasons."
"There hasn't been a ghoul related incident in the first ward for five years, I call bullshit."
"I would choose your words wisely miss." The inspector stated coldly, throwing down her wrist as if it had insulted him. "Have a nice rest of your day."
"Coward!" She screamed after him, tension building behind her eyes as she kicked at the dirt behind him. "Kuso kurae!"
"Get up, you pathetic little girl." A slurred voice screamed, sharp heels digging into her skin as Kazuko wrapped her hands around her ears, sobbing silently. "Why are you crying? Stop crying! Stop it! Stop it!"
Each sentence was punctuated by another kick.
Her Okaa-san was never forgiving of weakness, but she was more inclined to violence when she was drunk.
Kazuko snapped out of the jaded memory as the train rattled to a stop in front of her, the metal doors sliding open with a soft hiss as dozens of people around her moved towards the doors. Tilting down her head and wrapping her empty arms around her stomach, Kazuko hurried onto the train, standing slope to the doors and facing outwards as they slid closed once more.
She never liked thinking of her Okaa-san, and had never really dwelled on the memories that held her since she had ran away.
Staring down at her bruised wrist, Kazuko let her arm curl closer into her chest, her eyes closing as she shuffled on unsteady feet.
"Oh, you pathetic little girl…"
Flinching as if she had been hit, Kazuko shook her head roughly, trying to get the deeply buried whispers from clawing to the surface anymore.
"Okaa-san! Okaa-san, I'm sorry! I'll be good!"
Stumbling off the train when the doors slid open once more,
Sinking down at the other side of the door, flowers clutched in her hands and dark bruises starting to form on her wrists, Kazuko laughed through the tears of fear streaming down her face. Her voice croaking as she slumped forward tears continuing to stream down her face.
"Why are you crying?" She asked the empty room, beginning to rock back and forth with the flowers clenching tighter in her hand. "Get up you pathetic little girl." Her head rythimically hit the doorway as she chanted under her breath, the flowers clenching tightly in hand. "Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!"
Breathing heavily, her head still held in her hands and the back of her head burning from the numerous collisions, Kazuko stumbled up from the floor.
"Stupid girl." She sighed, delivering one last kick to the sobbing child. "This world will eat you alive. The world has no place for weakness, and we have survived because we are not weak."
"The world has no place for weakness." Kazuko muttered to herself, her sky blue eyes staring at the floor. "Get up, and survive another day. The world does not have time for your weakness."
Straightening her spine and rubbing away her tears, Kazuko continued into her house as if nothing had ever happened.
She was blissfully unaware of the black and red eyes watching her from the shadows of the street, their eyes shining with intrigue.
...
Kazuko woke to the sound of footsteps traipsing through her house.
Freezing slightly and holding her breath, Kazuko silently listened to footsteps get louder as they ventured deeper into the one story house and closer to her tiny bedroom.
Rising up slowly, Kazuko carefully looked around the windowless room, the footsteps growing closer as seconds passed.
Dropping to her knees, she shoved the futon closer to wall, latching her thin fingers into the loose floorboard and prying it open she dug out the heavy box hidden there.
"Okay…" She whispered to herself. "I've got this no need to panic. You've bit off a ghouls ear, this is nothing."
Holding the rectangular box close to her chest Kazuko stood on trembling legs and felt her stomach sink in a morbid mixture of strength and determination.
Then, everything went to hell.
A snarl sounded outside her door, the sound of wood and plaster snapping before violent screeches filled her ears.
What?
After several minutes passed, though they felt like hours, and the screeching continued, Kazuko hesitantly slipped through the doorway to her bedroom, the heavy box raised above her head.
The sight that greeted her in the hallway wasn't what she expected.
She expected rugrats, homeless kids that had broken in looking for several degrees of warmth or food, she expected investigators that had been sent by her Okaa-san to track her down, she didn't expect this.
It was two ghouls.
Specifically, it was the two ghouls from the alley way, the dyed blonde one that had watched her leave forcing down the other one with his foot, black and red eyes lifting away from his opponent to watch her stumble into the room.
"Hello again." He said calmly, casually forcing his foot down heavier on the screeching ghouls neck. "Honestly, I thought we would finally properly meet under better terms. Now, can you make me a cup of coffee, please? I have a feeling this might take a while."
In reply, Kazuko swung the box with all her might, aiming for his smug little face.
Lifting one hand away from the other ghouls outstretched arm, he easily stopped the swinging box with his pale hand, shoving her backwards and watching with a raised, almost nonexistent, eyebrow as she tumbled back several steps. The ghoul on the floor gnashed his teeth together when her ankle shifted slightly closer to their mouth.
With the speed of a coiled viper, Kazuko brought her bare ankle away from the ghoul.
"Black, if you would." The ghoul nodded to her, while his voice was as calm and monotone as before, his figure seemed more tense eyeing her warily in case she made a move to hit him with the box once more.
With trembling hands and her legs shaking violently from shock, Kazuko walked to the kitchen and made the ghoul that cup of coffee, the heavy box still held closely to her chest.
Behind her, there was a sharp crack and a yell of pain.