Motivation of this fic: Tokyo ghoul √A episode 3.
Tonight was just like any other nights, they went out hunting/killing again, but this time, it was just the two of them, Naki and his Aniki (Boss) Yamori. When they started to head back to Aogiri, it was already midnight, the entire city was sleeping under the darkness of the sky. The two was walking on Ward 13 together, the atmosphere was calm and quiet, there wasn't much exchange between them. It was all silent until…
"Woa, what's that, Aniki? I've never seen it before!"
Naki broke it. The younger had spotted a nearby playground and stared at it with wide eyes which held childish excitement in them. Naki then looked back at his Aniki for an answer to what was the wonderful sight before him.
Yamori raised an eyebrow at the younger's antics.
" Hm? You've never seen it? It's a playground where children run around playing swings and messing with sand" Yamori then looked at the playground with a bored expression.
" Wings?" Naki looked at Yamori, confused was evidenced on his face.
" No, swings, it's the … hanging things" Yamori made a face at Naki's poor vocabulary, then he continued walking down the street, leaving Naki with his curiosity, but he was stopped when the younger's voiced out his desire.
" Can I?" Naki was looking at him then at the playground then at him again with a hope filled eyes, probably if Yamori didn't let him, Naki would cry, silently cry without Yamori's knowing because crying in front his Aniki was a no-no.
Yamori looked at Naki's hopeful expression for a moment, then he let out a breath.
"Yeah, whatever, don't forget to return" Yamori said in a dismissive tone and continued his walking, barely heard Naki voiced out his joy and his " Thanks, Aniki!", then the younger ran off to the playground as if it was paradise. Yamori shook his head, he'd never thought he would have such a childish apprentice beside him.
As Yamori left the playground behind, he found it strange that he didn't hear any sound coming from it. Awfully quiet. Then a loud yell of Naki's voice cut through the silence.
" Goddamit, move!" There was a creaking sound of the swing.
Yamori turned his head to see the childish apprentice scowled at the swing which he currently sat on, trying to make it moved and Naki had succeeded, but rather then its usual forward and backward movements, it moved left and right. But nonetheless, Naki smirked triumphantly, thinking that was how the swing moved.
Yamori sweat dropped at the scene before him. Not only that he had a childish apprentice but a really stupid one at that. The older ghoul signed in annoyance and made his way to where Naki was stupidly playing with the swing.
" Huh, Aniki? You want to play too?" Naki smiled brightly when he saw the older ghoul approached him, but Yamori didn't answered him, the older blond just casually walked behind Naki.
"That's not how you play it, dumbass. Here let me show you." Yamori said roughly.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Naki saw his Boss hold the chains that connected to the wooden seat then Naki felt air rushed pass him as he was pushed forward, legs barely touched the ground. Air once again ran through Naki's slicked back hair, making it a little tousle as the swing fell backward. The movements repeated again and again, Naki tightened his hold on the chains in excitement, laughing joyfully at how fun this was.
"Higher, Higher!" Naki called out, barely noticed that he was ordering his Boss, he was too caught up in the excitement. And if Yamori noticed that, he didn't say anything, he just pushed the swing higher and higher, a smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
Then the swing stopped. Naki made a sound of disappointment that his fun had ended. He looked around to find Yamori and spotted the older was walking toward a long narrow wooden board that had a pivot in the middle. Naki abandoned the swing to run after his Aniki, when he get there, he saw that his Aniki was staring at the wooden thing and his profile had a mixed emotion. Naki didn't understand what that expression was, but he didn't like it.
" Aniki, what's this thing?" Naki asked out loud, and was ready to face with the outcome of interrupting Yamori's thought but he was surprised when the other just turned his head and looked at Naki as if he'd just realized Naki was beside him, then Yamori shook his head and once again looked at the object of Naki's curiosity.
" It's a seesaw, two people sit each side of the board and it goes up and down" Yamori explained as Naki walked to the other side of the seesaw, opposite of Yamori and sat down, waiting for something to happen.
Yamori raised an eyebrow.
" You want to play this?" The older ghoul said incredulously and then signed annoyingly when the younger practically nodded his head, eyes shining in anticipating. Someday, no, after tonight, Yamori must teach Naki that there was limit to everything.
Nonetheless, Yamori walked up to the raised side of the seesaw and sat down. The older ghoul's side went down, and a sound of excitement escaped the younger ghoul's mouth as Naki's side went up.
" This is amazing!" Naki exclaimed, holding the handle of the board and mimicked his Aniki's action, pushing the seesaw down. Yamori watched Naki enjoyed the up and down movements of the seesaw and Yamori briefly wondered how long had it been since the last time he (Yamori) played the seesaw with mother, must be really long. Yamori quickly dismissed the thoughts when he heard Naki's voice. The younger ghoul had raise his hands in the air, and when Naki's side of the seesaw went down, and with nothing to hold onto, he sliced back and fell on the ground, but a broad childish smile was still on his face.
" Let's get back. We've wasted enough time"
" Okay, Aniki!"
Yamori stood up and started walking out of the playground, Naki closed behind.
Suddenly, Yamori stopped and glanced at Naki who almost bumped into Yamori's back.
" Naki" Yamori called him.
"Yes, Aniki?" Naki looked at his Aniki, his expression showed that he was ready to do what Yamori told him to do.
" About today, don't tell anyone" The older ghoul cracked his finger threateningly.
" Today what?" Naki cocked his head as he tried to understand what his Aniki meant.
" The playground" Yamori frowned impatiently.
" Ah! Don't worry, Aniki. You can trust me, I won't tell anyone!" No one could know about Naki's wonderful playtime with his Aniki, it would be a secret between them. Naki smiled happily and confirmed what Yamori wanted him to.
Then the two walked back to Aogiri together. The empty playground was left behind them, no one could guess that a mere second ago, there were two dangerous S rated ghoul (one of them was the infamous Jason) had been there, playing swing and seesaw. The sight was probably more frightened than any other gore scene but no one would know, Naki made sure of it.
"Tatara, where's that stupid crybaby? We have a mission with him." Ayato asked, a scowl on his face, Kaneki was behind him, face remained emotionless.
" Some members spotted him at the playground" Tatara answered with a monotonously tone, voice muffled due to the mask on his face.
" Che, playing at midnight, what a baby." The blue haired ghoul muttered grumpily, then he and Kaneki walked away to find the aforementioned playground.
Naki was there again. He walked toward the swing and sat down, his lackeys stood beside him. He asked them to push the swing, they did it awkwardly because it was the first time they've been to a playground, just like him before. He still felt the air rushed pass him but this time the feeling wasn't the same, because his Aniki wasn't here, the one who pushed him wasn't his Aniki.
He got bored of the swing quickly and went to the seesaw. He stared at the swing the way Yamori had stared before and for a second, Naki understood for the first time by himself without the other's help that the look in his Aniki's eyes at that time was nostalgia. Tears was already forming underneath his eyes, he sniffled.
Wiping the upcoming tears away, Naki sat down on the seesaw which was the side Yamori had sat. Only him could sit on his Aniki's place. He told his two lackeys to sit on the other's side and explained how the seesaw worked. Again, the seesaw moved up and down but everything wasn't the same, he couldn't feel the excitement and joy he once felt, instead tears kept coming from his eyes. The seesaw continued to move up and down as his tears continued to run down his cheeks. The two lackeys cocked their head, they didn't understand why their boss was crying.
The seesaw had stopped moving.
But the tears wouldn't stop flowing.
"Everything wasn't the same. Why?!" Naki exclaimed, letting the tears freely fall down.
Nothing is the same, without you here, Aniki.
How was he going to live without his God?...
A/N: The last scene is from this page : /manga/toukyou-kushu/s3/c143/11
And Naki calls Yamori his God is from the ending art of episode 3. You can see the translation here: post/108849685002/tokyo-ghoul-a-ep-3-ed.
Thanks for reading (^.^)/