Summary: An AU where Kaneki is a natural half-ghoul that has moved to the 20th ward in order to escape the clan wars that are being waged in the 24th. But achieving peace for he & his (adopted) little sister is easier said than done. As every ghoul with a big name, peace doesn't come easy for Kaneki. Especially when the threat of three way war is looming over his head as old feuds flare up.
SS-Rated Kenshi
Tokyo, the night was young and the sky was void of all light due to the brightly lit metropolis below. Even at this late hour, the city was abuzz with activity in the thirteenth ward. People were all about going about, minding their own business and not bothering to stop and gawk at the two men clad in white overcoats that walked with a great sense of purpose and urgency as they hurried down the side walk at a slightly quicker pace than those around them. A man was pushed roughly to the side by one of the men in white and he was about to give them a piece of his mind until he saw their attire. Instantly he knew that these men were no normal civilians, no, they were ghoul investigators.
Investigators are men and women dedicated to keeping the streets of Tokyo free from the terrifying, man-eating race known as ghouls, which plagued the not only the city or just the country but the entire world. It's said that ghouls are the descendants of dragons and were cast from the celestial world because they were an abomination in the eyes of their dragon god parents, though, theses are just believed to just be rumors and old folklore. The investigators serve the Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG) and they are tasked with all crimes involving or believed to involve ghouls.
These two men, hurrying along the streets in a certain direction, were members of the CCG. Both were First Class Investigators and had dealt with ghouls before, they knew how dangerous their superhuman enemies were and they were willing to weigh the risk if it meant to rid the world of ghouls. And tonight was nothing different, these men had received a call from a panicked comrade until the call was dropped but not before a terror filled scream had rung out. They knew their colleges were most likely dead or dying but the least they could do is avenge them.
Their running was interrupted by one of their work phones ringing, the man in the front slowed to a stop and pulled his phone out, reading the called ID aloud. "It's the Ward Office," he informed his partner.
"Thirteenth Ward Office to First Class Investigators Hirokazu and Kaori. A ghoul has ambushed Bussho's squad while on patrol. They request immediate assistance!" commanded a voice from the other end of the phone.
The investigator, revealed as Hirokazu replied, "Investigator Hirokazu to Thirteenth Ward Office, requesting the identity of the target, over."
"We're not sure but Bussho thinks it's Kenshi (Swordsman)." at those words, the Hirokazu dropped his phone, his face blanching with fear. His partner, Investigator Kaori looked at his partner with a concerned look.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked with a great amount of worry in his voice. Hirokazu turned to look at the other man with fear in his eyes replying in a voice barely louder than a whisper, "It's Kenshi."
Meanwhile in the twentieth ward, at a large, rather grandeur looking coffee shop by the name of Anteiku, run by an ever kind elderly man who served all those who came in for a warm cup of coffee. The shop was almost completely empty and void of customers due to the late hours, in fact, most of the employees were closing up shop and preparing to head home when their manager came down from the second floor with a rather grim expression on his face at the news he had just received. The workers were soon alerted to the man's presence and ceased what they were doing in favor of listening to what the old man had to say.
"What is it, manager?" Asked a younger employee, she had unmistakable blue hair with bangs that were trimmed to cover her right eye. Her eyes were vivid indigo eyes which were now trained on her boss and employer. She wore the traditional uniform of Anteiku's employees as did everyone around her. From what she had learned about her manager, when he had that look on his face, either something bad happened or what he was about to say was very important.
"We'll be taking in a few new faces here at Anteiku," his words made every employee in the shop tilt their heads in confusion "I just received a call from Yomo. As it turns out Kaneki Ken and his sister will be coming here from the twenty-fourth ward."
All the workers of Anteiku stared at their boss with wide eyes. None of them had truly met Kaneki before but they had heard stories of the well-known ghoul from customers. They say that he was a part of the gang wars that were constantly being waged in the twenty-fourth ward and that Kaneki was a major player in the wars. The only person that had met Kaneki was Yomo, Anteiku's behind the scenes worker that dealt the ghoul side of Anteiku, and he didn't seem to be very open about the subject of Kaneki. Usually saying something along the lines of "It's not my place to tell." or something along those lines.
"Manager," another employee, Enji Koma started. "Are you saying that he's-" He was cut off as well as whatever show was playing on the television with breaking news.
"Citywide ghoul advisory! A ghoul has killed two investigators in the thirteenth ward and is currently on the run. The suspect is speculated to be SS-rated Kenshi," A blurry image of the ghoul was shown on the screen. "If seen please contact the CCG immediately and at no means confront." Everyone in the large coffee shop stared at the television screen with blank faces. They were used to getting warnings of ghouls because, as ghouls, they liked to stay in the loop with their kind. But this Kenshi ghoul was becoming a recurring troublemaker in various other wards.
The manager's voice pulled everyone's attention from the television and back to him, "Kaneki and his sister will arrive in the morning tomorrow when they do send them up to me." The old man then walked back upstairs, leaving his employees to ponder on the things he had said and what the recent news had just announced.
"I hope that Kenshi guy doesn't come here," Enji stated, he then changed the subject. "I wonder what Kaneki will be like, from the way people talk about him he seems like a really dangerous guy. Not sure why Old Man Yoshimura would let him join Anteiku."
He and another waitress began to talk more about Kaneki while the young, pretty waitress with the blue hair turned her attention back to the television screen. It was still flashing the warning about the ghoul Kenshi. She raised her eyebrow at the name, why would the 'doves' give a ghoul a name like that? So many questions were filling her brain but instead of voicing them she merely stayed silent and finished wiping down the tables, she knew that there was school tomorrow and she'd need a good night's sleep if she wasn't going to be totally miserable all day long.
"Hey Touka," called one of her fellow co-workers as she was about to head upstairs to her room. She turned around on the bottom step and looked the Enji, replying with a hum. "Good luck on your first day of the semester." He smiled at her encouragingly. The pretty, blue haired waitress, Touka simply nodded back to him and headed to her bedroom upstairs.
Back in the thirteenth ward the ghoul known as Kenshi has trapped on the edge of a rooftop, below were several 'doves' waiting for him if he decided to jump down but behind him were two associate special class investigators with their quinques primed and ready for action. Kenshi turned to face the two investigators then up at the helicopter that was hovering above, the noise from the helicopter was stinging his sensitive ghoul ears. He smirked at the arial craft, they must consider him a threat if they needed more than two squads of 'doves'.
"You've got nowhere to run," a 'dove' shouted at him. "Surrender and we won't kill you!" those words almost make Kenshi laugh, almost. He smirks behind his mask and tensed the muscles in his legs.
He chooses the very cliche words, "Go to hell!" As his response before charging the two men. The first 'dove' swung his sword like quinque at Kenshi, only to have the ghoul hop over the swing and kick the man in the side of his head. The man was sent to the side as Kenshi landed, sweeping his leg low at the other 'dove' but this man reacted faster than his partner and was able to step back, avoiding the tripping tactic. Caught off guard by the man's quick reaction Kenshi wasn't ready the man's counter and he paid for it with the spear like quinque embedding into his chest. Coughing up blood into his helmet and then grimacing at the excruciating pain, Kenshi thought on his feet and grabbed the handle of the quinque just below the blade stuck in his chest. Cocking his arm back, he put all his strength as he sent his fist down at the quinque sticking out of his torso. The weapon shattered under the power of his punch, sending shards of quinque steel in various directions. The investigator's eyes widened in shock at Kenshi's raw power, that shocked face was the last expression the man ever made before Kenshi ripped the spear head out of his chest and thrust it violently into the 'dove' right below the collarbone. The ghoul grabbed the remaining shaft of quinque steel of the spear from the dead man's hand and spun around in enough time to block an overhead swing from the other investigator.
"Your partner was more skilled than you," taunted Kenshi. "Your death will be easy." those words ignited a rage in the 'dove' and he began to attack with ferocity. His quinque whipping through the air in wild slashes and attacks, all at high speed. Kenshi easily dodged each attack with simple movements and turns of his body, the quinque sped past him harmlessly. The ghoul knew he couldn't keep this up, though, the wound in his chest was much worse than he thought and hadn't fully healed yet. Taking a chance Kenshi twisted his body to the right, dodging a wild swing from the investigator and thrust his arm forward with the broken quinque spear still in hand, the metal shaft sunk into the man's side, smashing past his ribs and puncturing his heart. Kenshi took a step back as the 'dove' gasped one final breath before falling face first to the rooftop with a resounding thud.
The ghoul flipped the latches on his helmet and his helmet opened slightly with a hiss, Kenshi then lifted the thing above his face and fell upon the dead body and ripped chunks off violently, to regain his strength and fully heal his wounds. Once he was sure that his large chest cavity was filled and most of the bones were in the proper place, Kenshi pulled his helmet back down over his face and flicked the latches closed, then grabbed the dead investigator's quinque, which was a bastard sword, and hefted it with easily one hand while looking up at the CCG helicopter which was still hovering several feet above the building he was on top of. And once again smirked and pulled the sword over his head, his arm suddenly snapped forward and he released the sword into the air. He then surged forward, towards the levitating craft, he tensed the muscles in his legs and in a single bound, launched himself through the air at the helicopter. As he soared through the air the sword crashed through the glass of the helicopter and decapitated one of the pilots, Kenshi crossed his arms over his body and followed the sword through the glass. He barrelled through the helicopter and crashed through the glass and whipped his arms around him with splayed hands in an 'X' formation, slicing the throat of the other pilot he then crashed into the back of the vehicle. Groaning at the force of impact, Kenshi couldn't stand as the helicopter was spiraling out of control, he was forced to the ceiling of the cabin when it crashed into the roof of the building it was just above then he slammed back to the floor of the cabin after a few seconds of being suspended in the air. Cursing himself for forgetting the helicopter would crash, Kenshi wobbly rose to his feet once again, the smell of smoke hit him like a truck, he looked to the front of the helicopter and saw fire inside the cockpit! Instead of trying to just open the door, he kicked the door off with a great amount of strength which sent it flying through the air and off the edge of the building Kenshi didn't care, he climbed out of the helicopter to meet a group of 'doves' pouring out of the staircase and onto the roof. Kenshi smirked behind his visor and said, "The more the merrier!"
While all this was happening another ghoul was wandering his way through the streets of another ward with a younger girl at his side, intent on making their way to their new home, the dark tunnels of the twenty-fourth was never a safe place and was growing more and more violent every day, they needed out so his sister could go to school. So he called up his old friend Yomo and asked if he could come join Anteiku to stay for awhile, of course, his friend agreed that it was alright and so here they were, on the streets of the twentieth ward. It was odd for them, everything seemed so peaceful but both could smell the ghouls around, the ghouls were extremely cautious of their surroundings, that much was obvious. Whether it was the wrath of the CCG they were afraid of or that of Anteiku, the young man didn't know, while the ever younger girl was not concerned. He slung one of his two duffel bags over his shoulder and continued his trek through the winding streets of the ward, not exactly sure where they were going. He knew the building was big but that wasn't entirely helpful as there were several large building around but none of them seemed to be the right place.
The sound of a car slowing down near them, made the ghoul put his guard up but he relaxed when he was met with a familiar voice. "Kaneki," Yomo called to him from the car and Kaneki turned to face his friend with a smile. "Get in, you and Hinami can stay at my place and I'll take you to Anteiku tomorrow, everyone's already closed up and gone home."
Kaneki walked up to the car and opened the side door, "Thanks, Yomo." he said before opening the door for his sister. Kaneki threw his bags in the back and then climbed into the passenger seat. The three stayed silent most of the ride as Kaneki and Yomo had already discussed why the siblings were forced to leave the twenty-fourth ward and seek refuge within Anteiku, they all knew things wouldn't bode well if things began to get out of hand and the disputes between clans broke out into a full-fledged war. When they arrived at the shipping container in which Yomo live both men got out of the vehicle and entered the container, Kaneki let Hinami take the couch and Yomo went to bed. Kaneki laid on the floor, staring up at the ceiling wondering how things would be at Anteiku. Would they accept someone like him or would they think of him as a freak of nature and cast him out? His thoughts also traveled to the state of the twenty-fourth ward, something was brewing down there and with him now gone even more blood was likely to be shed.
Kaneki sighed and closed his eyes, he was determined to get at least some sleep before his first day at Anteiku tomorrow.
Kenshi wasn't concerned with the number of investigators around him, in fact, he smirked at their number behind his helmet's visor and spun the bastard sword quinque around with blinding speed and amazing swordsmanship before flicking his wrist and extending his arm to have the sword out to his side. His smirk never faded as he awaited the first fool who wanted to meet their death to charge him, which he didn't have to wait long for as a 'dove' bolted towards him with an odd quinque in each hand, both styled like a weapon from South Asia called a katar. Kenshi didn't care what weapon the 'dove' had, he simply sidestepped the man's attack and swung the sword in an upward arc, and sliced through the human's neck, another 'dove' raced forward, hoping to catch Kenshi off guard but the ghoul didn't stop his blade's swing and was able to block the investigator's overhead swing.
"You must all be first class or junior investigators," Kenshi pushed the 'dove' away from him with his superior ghoul strength. "It's no fun if I don't have anyone strong enough to actually fight with me." The investigator grits his teeth and swings his katana styled quinque at the ghoul again. Kenshi easily deflected the blade and countered with a fast slash across the man's leg. "I'm just gonna have to slaughter all of you!" his raised voice startled all the 'doves' and the one he was currently fighting fell back as he tried to take a step with his injured leg. Kenshi took his chance, thrusting the bastard sword in the man's arm, who let out a scream of pain, he dug his foot from under the katana styled quinque and kicked up. The ghoul skillfully caught the weapon out of the air, pulling the other quinque from the investigator's arm, he swung the tip of the large blade over his throat, killing the 'dove'. Looking back at the other investigators, Kenshi taunted them, "Who's next?"
"Step back," a deep voice called out to the rest of the 'doves', said voice belonged to a tall, muscular man, his skin was very pale and his that were almost completely void of color with a pale pink were behind simple framed glasses and his hair was whiter than snow. "You all evacuate the area and return the Ward Office, I will return within the hour." the other investigators' eyes grew wide with shock at the man's appearance while Kenshi simply scoffed. How could this man defeat him? He had already killed six investigators, two of which were associate special class! Kenshi looked that at the man and noticed that his briefcase was different than the others, his was black with reddish-orange vein-like cracks covering it, the sight of this special investigator's weapon made Kenshi smirk under his helmet again, he knew that this was about to get interesting.
"Yeah! Run along small fries," sneered Kenshi. "Let's do this." he held the two stolen quinque outstretched on either side of him while 'dove' simply pressed the button on his briefcase and it burst open to form an odd lance attached to a basket hilt, with a handle hidden inside the basket hilt. The 'dove' stood motionless, waiting for Kenshi to make a move, obviously, he was used to his opponents making the first move but Kenshi wasn't falling for it, he could tell that this 'dove' was a cut above the rest and could no doubt kill him with ease. Was Kenshi willing to risk it?
Before the ghoul could even answer his own question he darted forward, apparently he was willing to risk it, and he swung the bastard sword at the pale man. The 'dove' easily deflected the attack and with the flick of his wrist sent his quinque at Kenshi's face which would have been a killing blow if the ghoul hadn't turned his head in a spur of desperation for survival but the very tip of the quinque slashed across Kenshi's cheek, leaving the tiniest of cuts under his right eye.
The 'dove' sighed, seemingly in exasperation, "It seems I was going too easy on you, none of your race has ever been able to avoid my first strike." his words made Kenshi's eyes grow wide with surprise. Just who was this guy that he could kill ghouls in one move?! "I guess I'm going to have actually try tonight." Before Kenshi could react the man vanished before his eyes with inhuman speed but the ghoul knew what the 'dove' was trying and spun around, crossing the flat of each quinque blade in an 'X' over her chest. Good thing too, as the pale man seemed to appear out of thin air and thrust his quinque forward and the tip of the blade pierced through the blade of both quinque and continued into his chest but only sinking in a few centimeters or so. Kenshi put all his power into pushing the man away, using the handles of the two quinque as leverage but, much to the ghoul's surprise, the 'dove' only went back a few meters.
"Interesting," the 'dove' muttered. "You're surprisingly skilled compared to others of your kind," Kenshi didn't pay any heed to the man's words, in favor for snatching a quinque case that had fallen out of the helicopter when it crashed. "But why do you not use your kagune?" ignoring the man's words Kenshi activated the quinque which formed a kanabō and pointed it at the investigator. "Very well…" the 'dove' replied and the two charged each other.