Nerima Ghoul

AN: So… New story, anyone? I know lots of people are waiting for more of Matchmaking and ENL, but I recently started reading Tokyo Ghoul, and felt this had to be done, especially since there were no other stories for this crossover.

Without further ado, enjoy!


Chapter 1: Secret

Hunger gnawed at his gut, made all the worse by the knowledge of the food in his pack. Yet, he knew he couldn't eat any of it, the illness that had plagued him since birth saw to that, and the medicine he'd brought with him had run out a week ago.

One foot in front of the other. He knew there was more medicine at his home, his mother always made sure to have plenty of it stockpiled. He had no one to blame but himself for not bringing enough on his travels. He just had to make it home…

But where was his home? No, where was he? He hunger was making it hard to think. The thoughts that did spring up made no sense. The thought of the food he had with him repulsed him. The people that passed him smelled delicious. He had felt this way before, when he went too long without his medicine. He just had to make it home. He had to-

"Hey, you alright?"

He turned to the voice, to see a familiar face. Of course it would be him, even if it was 'her', at the moment. His biggest rival, the one who would always make the low points of his life even worse; Ranma Saotome.

"Seriously, Ryoga. You okay? You're starting ta worry me." Ranma asked. Before the Lost Boy could reply verbally, his stomach growled in hunger. "Ha! What, ya run out of food? Come on, the Tendo's place ain't far. I'm sure Kasumi'll be happy ta-"

"Not food…" Ryoga grunted out as he stumbled forward. "Home… my medicine…"

"Medicine!?" Ranma repeated in surprise. Moving forward to help support her unstable rival, she began to help Ryoga forward. "You'll have ta tell me about that later. For now, let's get ya back ta your house."

Part of Ryoga wanted to shove Ranma away, despising himself for showing weakness in front of his rival, but the hunger gnawing at him prevent such an act. As much as he hated it, he knew Ranma was his best bet for getting home as fast as possible.

As they traveled, Ryoga's hunger only got worse. His body felt weaker with each step. But the worst part was the smell. The scent of the soft, yet muscular flesh of the redhead that was half-carrying him, covered in a sheen of salty sweat, set his mouth salivating. It made him feel like some sort of horrible pervert, made even worse by the knowledge that it was Ranma he was thinking about.

"Why the Hell… do you have to be… a girl right now?" Ryoga muttered to himself. If Ranma had at least been male, he could have tried to ignore it like any other passerby. However, having her busty cursed form pressed against him made that difficult. Although it did help distract him from his hunger, such thoughts were almost as bad, in his mind.

"You can blame that old lady who's always wetting down her sidewalk." Ranma replied, thinking he had been actually asking her. "I dunno why I never notice her, but it's annoying as Hell." Shifting her grip, she went on. "I'll just change back when we reach your place. Hm? Your eyes are starting ta look weird. Is that part of what ya need the medicine for?"

"Eyes…? I don't… know. This is the longest I've gone… without my medicine." Ryoga struggled to say.

"Huh, well don't worry. We're almost there." Ranma reassured him, as the Hibiki residence came into view.

Seeing his home, and knowing more of his medicine was inside, gave Ryoga a burst of strength. As they entered, Ryoga said, "My room… it's there…"

Ranma nodded, before helping him up the stairs and to his room, saying, "Don't worry, I know where it is from when I was 'Yoiko', remember?"

Ryoga growled at the reminder, but rushed over to his dresser rather than argue. Opening the top drawer revealed packages of what looked like cubes of brown sugar. Grabbing one, he started to open it, only to freeze as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror that was hung over the dresser.

His complexion was pale, as expect of one who hadn't eaten in days, but it was his eyes that caught him off guard. The whites of the sclera had turned pitch black, and his irises had become blood red.

"That's what I was talking about. You're medicine gonna fix that?"

Glancing at the redhead's reflection, Ryoga grunted out, "Don't know. Never happened… before." Ripping open the package in his hands, Ryoga quickly shoved several of the cubes in his mouth, grabbing a canteen off his pack to wash them down. As relief flowed through him, he glanced back at the mirror, glad to see his eyes returning to their usual ordinary brown.

"Well, that's good." Ranma said with a grin, as she noticed the change herself. "If I needed ta take ya ta Tofu's clinic after this, I might've had ta pull a Nabiki, and start charging ya!"

"Saotome…!" Ryoga started, intending to snap at Ranma, but he stopped himself. In a quiet voice he finished, "…thanks."

"Eh, it was nothing. Besides, you're the only one who can give me a decent fight, y'know?" Ranma replied, before asking, "So, uh, how long have ya needed that medicine?"

"Ever since I was born, it's some sort of genetic issue." Ryoga replied, as he began putting more packets of the medicine into his pack. Noticing Ranma's guilty expression in the mirror, Ryoga scowled at her and said, "If you start holding back against me because of this, I'll kick your ass twice as hard, got it? As long as I take this medicine, I'm perfectly fine."

Before Ranma could reply, they were interrupted by a scream from below the floor below them. "Come ta think of it, the front door was unlocked when we got here!" Ranma said, as they rushed out of the room, and down the stairs.

Ryoga swore under his breath. His family always made sure to lock up when they left, since they never knew how long it would be before any of them got back. He never would have missed something like that, if not for the condition he had been in.

They got to the bottom of the stairs, and looked around for any clue as to where the scream came from. Almost immediately, they noticed red stains on the floor, where something had been dragged into the kitchen. Exchanging a glance, they followed the trail of what was obviously blood, and Ryoga slowly opened the door to the kitchen.

Lying on the floor was the body of a middle-aged man in a business suit, his head caved in with blood pooling beneath the wound. Standing behind the body was a woman, washing something at the kitchen sink. At the sound of the door opening, the woman twisted to look over her shoulder at them, surprise widening her eyes… eyes that had the same red and black coloring that Ryoga's had only moments earlier.

Any questions Ranma had about that similarity were answered by Ryoga's startled exclamation. "M-Mom!? What's going on?"

"Oh dear, I didn't realize you were home, Ryoga." Mrs. Hibiki replied. As she turned to face the pair of teens, it revealed the meat cleaver she had been preparing at the sink. Sighing, she went on with a shake of her head. "I told your father you needed to learn the truth before something like this happened."

"What do you mean, Mom?" Ryoga asked. Glancing between the corpse and the blade in his mother's hand, he went on. "Why is there a dead guy here, and why are you holding that?"

"Well, the knife's because my kagune isn't suited for slicing things." Ryoga's mother explained calmly. "The meat on the floor is for making more medicine, of course. We Ghouls can't survive without consuming human flesh, after all."

A look of horror spread across Ryoga's face, as he pressed a hand to his mouth in an effort to resist the urge to vomit. Ranma stepped forward to support him, remembering the condition he had been in earlier. Turning to Ryoga's mother with a frown, she said, "If that's a joke, it was in really poor taste. And what the Hell's a kagune, anyway?"

"Actually, humans don't taste poor at all, if you ask me." Mrs. Hibiki replied with a grin. "And as for kagune, they are a Ghoul's 'claws'… why don't I show you mine, little human?"

Without any other warning, Ranma saw a flash of red, before a searing pain blossomed in her gut. Gritting her teeth in an effort to clear the sudden blurriness from her vision, Ranma saw a quartet of crystalline red tentacles curving out from behind the back of the grinning woman in front of her. Following the tendrils, the redhead's eyes widened as she saw them piercing through her stomach.

"Ran… ma?" Ryoga stammered, as he saw his rival's blood start to flow. As Ranma fell to her knees, Ryoga whirled back to face his mother, and cried out, "Mom, stop! That's Ranma!"

"Sorry, Ryoga, but it's too dangerous to let a human live after they find out about us," his mother said. "Don't worry, though. I'll make you an extra special dinner out of her."

"Damn… it…" The words slid from Ranma's lips, as her body went limp, held up only by the kagune that still impaled her.

"Hmm, I suppose there's no reason to make her suffer more than necessary," Mrs. Hibiki said. Withdrawing one of the tendrils from Ranma's abdomen, she raised it up, aiming the point at the martial artist's throat. "Time to end this."

Time seemed to freeze for Ryoga. That day had been one of the worst in his life. Suffering from the moment he awoke. One horrific shock after another. And now Ranma, the one he had worked and struggled so hard for so long to overcome, his rival, was about to be stolen from him, before he could prove himself better.

As his mother's kagune moved forward, Ryoga shot into motion, as well.


A steady beeping was the first thing Ranma became aware of. As she slowly regained consciousness, she also became aware of the facts that she was lying in a bed and her stomach felt incredibly sore. When she finally opened her eyes, Ranma found herself staring at the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room.

As Ranma sat up, the soreness in her gut got worse, and a quick check explained why; a line of stitches stretching across her abdomen. As soon as she saw it; the memories of what happened came back to her.

"You're finally up."

Ranma looked up to see Ryoga standing in the doorway, the shadows under his eyes and his overall haggard appearance made him look like he hadn't slept in days. "Why's it that I'm the one in the hospital, but you're the one that looks like crap?" Ranma asked. "What happened after I passed out, anyway?"

Ryoga was silent for a moment before speaking. "Ranma… my mom's dead. I… I killed her, stopping her from killing you."

Even Ranma could not come up with a response to that, letting a heavy silence hang over the room.


AN: Dun dun dun! There you go. Not much to say here, on this one. For those of you who read the idea I posted to Plotforge, just know that I plan this to be slightly different from that.

How will Ryoga handle the truth about himself? What will Ranma do with the knowledge of him being a Ghoul? Find out in future chapters of Nerima Ghoul!