NeonHorizon: Here's the second Tokyo Ghoul fanfic I'm posting. OC is Shirayuki Airi (age 21). This is the darker fanfic.
Her stomach growled, but it was no big deal. It never really was. She was used to feeling hungry. Her parents always said she was a reluctant eater. Though that had been years ago. As Airi put away her study materials, she frowned to herself. She was in a difficult sort of position. Rules had been set for her when she moved to the 20th ward. The man at Anteiku, the man that had taken her in when she was starving as a teenager, had given her the specific rule to not hunt.
As she walked out of the classroom, she briefly considered visiting Anteiku. Food would be provided to her if she went there, but she could not face him yet. The man had become like a father to her and it was embarrassing to think about him seeing her in this hungry state. Airi could feel eyes on her as she stepped out of the building, her stomach growling louder. A male classmate came up beside her, out of breath from jogging out of the classroom to catch up.
"Ah! Shirayuki-san, isn't it? I sit beside you in class. Um…w-well I heard your stomach growling during the lecture…and there's a really good ramen shop near the campus. W-would you like to go with me?" he asked, blushing red.
She scratched at her wrist, conflicted. I could eat him. Does he know that? He must have no idea…how hungry I am. How easy it would be to eat him. Guilt settled in the pit of her stomach and she frowned. "Sorry…I'm busy today."
"Oh! Um…w-well maybe next time?" There was hope in his voice as he looked at the young woman. It had taken a lot of courage to finally talk to her.
"…maybe…" Her pace was quick as she left his side, head bowed. Locks of long, wavy black hair fell around her face and she tried to ignore the boy's stare. The ghoul hurried home and grimaced at the time. It would take quite a while for the opportune time to come. When she could easily hunt and find food. Settling on the sofa, she flipped through various channels on the television.
Airi stood out, by ghoul and human standards. Her appearance was a bit off-putting with tattoos and piercings, but if they looked past that she was moderately attractive. She took care of her skin and hair, wore makeup when she felt like it. In order to blend in, she often studied human fashion trends. Despite all of this, she was unable to truly make friends.
She still had one that she had made years back. The ghoul had been living in a room at Anteiku and was introduced to two younger ghouls who had lost their parents. A boy and a girl. The three had been close for a while, but then the boy left suddenly. Touka still spoke with her, but Ayato had not been heard from in some time. Airi frowned and looked at her phone's contacts. The thought of speaking with Touka was tempting. It had been a few weeks since they last spoke. Instead, she tossed her phone aside and sighed in frustration.
Nightfall seemed to take an eternity, but when it finally came it gave Airi courage. She dressed in a dark pair of pants and a dark hooded sweatshirt. The young woman secured a surgical mask over the lower half of her face to hide her identity and set off. She preferred to watch prey from the darkness and stuck to alleys, watching humans walk past and calculating which would be easiest to kill.
Finally, the opportunity presented itself. She spotted a young man walking alone, stumbling a bit in a drunken state. Airi followed him at a distance, watching him catcall at numerous high school girls. She began to frown behind her mask, biting at her lip ring. The harassment was something she had endured herself many times in the past and could readily sympathize with the human girls.
He turned a corner and started into a different area, forcing her to continue following. Stalking her prey, she became so intent on his movements that she hardly noticed where she was. Finally, she had him cornered in an alley. Airi saw him turn around, befuddled by the dead end, and when he turned around he found himself face to face with her. She tilted her head, still hiding the lower half of her face behind the surgical mask.
Blinking in his drunken haze, he seemed to at least register that she was female. "Huh? What're you doin'? You tryin' to pick me up or somethin'?"
Airi's kagune burst forth from her upper back, tearing through her t-shirt and sweatshirt. They billowed in a magnificent deep crimson flow, making the man's eyes widen in terror. She braced herself and flicked one, sending kagune shards deep into his chest and neck. He crumbled back against the wall and she rushed forward, gripping his arm and tearing it off at the shoulder.
No screams could escape him; only a gurgling sound as blood filled his throat. The ghoul tugged down her mask and bared her teeth briefly before sinking them into his severed arm. She ripped out a chunk of flesh, chewing and letting the blood run from the corners of her mouth. "You…taste worse than anything…I've eaten before," she muttered in disgust. Taking another bite, she saw the life leaving his eyes as the blood receded from his wounded body.
Her fingernails dug into his flesh as she pulled away the best cuts and shoved them into her bag. Airi soon felt someone's gaze fixed upon. Someone that was standing at the end of the alley. Her heart skipped a beat as she quickly secured her surgical mask over her mouth and nose again. This happened more times than she could count. Someone always seemed to hover around when she killed a human. She never saw them, but she knew they were there. Airi stared at the dark figure at the end of the alley yet she knew this was not the usual spectator. The usual watcher would never show themselves. "…you want something…?" she asked, just loud enough for them to hear.
The man came a little closer, sniffing at the air and grinning obscenely. "You are a girl! Heheh! This is too perfect! A snack and a tasty little lady!"
Not sure if he meant that in a cannibalistic way or a sexual way, she took a few steps back. Her kagune was still out, but she did not want to have to fight him to escape. He was much bigger than her and drooled as he looked from her to the dead man at her side. "Back off…"
"I'm not letting an opportunity like this get away from me! Been a while since I had a girl as young as you and that meat over there smells great! I don't mind a little fight if you've got it in you!" He rushed at her, revealing his bikaku kagune as it shifted to strike at her.
Airi twisted to avoid the hit, but found his fist crashing into her jaw. She gritted her teeth and moved quickly down the alley, managing to launch a barrage of spikes at him. His kagune moved to catch the ones aimed at his vitals and proceeded to tackle her to the ground. The two rolled over the concrete and Airi was able to get a few good hits, her spikes puncturing deep into his right arm as he tried to pin her down. When she managed to be on top, she sprinted toward the exit with her bag.
A second figure came into view and grinned evilly before sending her flying backwards and into the man's chest. This was most certainly not a good man that was now approaching her. He mirrored the other man in appearance, but bore a scar down the side of his face. "Why didn't you tell me you found something tasty?"
Her blood ran cold, fear setting in and making her shake a little. The man behind her leaned down and bit deep into her kagune, forcing a cry of pain from her. "L-let me go! Please! Y-you can…take the food…but let me go!" she begged.
"Just have to clip these little wings and the fun can really start," the one in front of her taunted. He gripped her upper arms, licking his lips as tears soaked into her mask. "Don't worry, little lady, we'll take good of care of you."
Pain racked her body when she was beaten down by the two and when she lay crumbled on the ground, she knew that they would kill her. Blood was running down her face as she trembled, leaning against the cold alley wall. Consciousness threatened to leave her as the front of her sweatshirt was gripped, her body lifted. The man tore away her surgical mask and chuckled at the tears on her pale face. "…please…let me go…" she pleaded in a last effort at escape.
He was about to taunt her, but froze. Seeming to sense something, he looked over his shoulder. His brother was dead on the ground, his head lying several feet away with a growing pool of blood around it. As he turned to try to get a better look, a foot shoved through his abdomen and created a large hole. Blood exploded out and splattered the wall beside the female ghoul as she was dropped.
Airi curled up in a ball, clenching her eyes shut as she heard the man's dying gasps. He was being killed and it was not in a quick, painless fashion. The ghoul killing him was drawing it out for optimal revenge. When the sounds stopped, she chanced a look at the man now standing over her fallen form. He seemed to be staring down at her, expectantly. Though it was hard to tell when he watched her through a black birdlike mask. Trembling, she shifted further down the wall and pushed herself to stand.
She bowed lowly and held out her bag as an offering, not sure what the man wanted. Whether he was even there to save her or if he had come to do what the others had intended. When she heard him take a step back, she lifted her grey-blue eyes to his mask. "D-did you…want some of the meat?" she quietly asked. He continued to stare from behind the mask. The man's body was mostly hidden by his long dark coat, his hair hidden beneath a hood.
He stepped back again and gestured for her to exit the alley. When she obeyed, the man proceeded to walk behind her. While still on high alert in case he turned on her, Airi quickly took note of where she was. It was not a safe neighborhood, to say the least. As she walked with her rescuer, she heard catcalls from male ghouls as well as a few threats. She heard fights taking place elsewhere in the area and shivered, immediately imagining cannibalism.
When they arrived back in the 20th ward, she glanced over her shoulder at the man. Who is that? And why would he protect me? I don't know anyone that wears a mask like that. She fidgeted with the surgical mask on her face, frowning behind it. The strangest part of the encounter was that he did not seem to be after her or her food. Even when she offered the meat, he refused to even show interest in it. Did he just come across me by accident?
They reached a street corner and both paused there. It was quite late by this point and Airi was reluctant to walk home with him following her. She bowed, nervously biting her lip ring as she did so. When she straightened, she carefully pulled down her mask and tried to gage what he was thinking in that moment. "Th-thank you…for helping me today…" There was a very slight shift in his stance. "Are you…sure I can't repay you?" she asked, holding up her bag. "I took some good ones…if you're hungry…" To her surprise, he shook his head and turned to begin walking away from her without a word.