OMG! It's finally posted! So happy~!
One month. One month since the CCG attacked, and the War for the Wards started. One month since the virus was released. One month since he killed everyone.
Kaneki Ken gazed softly down at the graves he had dug not too long ago. In his hand he held two masks; a pink rabbit, and a yellow bird. One of the graves was smaller than the other, and he placed the bird mask next to the headstone, a soft smile on his face.
"Loser," He whispered, and chuckled softly, remembering the annoying bird that Hinami had loved so much.
Hinami…
Kaneki clenched his fists and grit his teeth, fighting the urge to fall to his knees and cry. Taking a deep breath, he moved to the next headstone, holding the bunny mask like it was more precious than anyone would ever understand.
"Bakaneki!" Touka yelled, hitting over the head and causing him to drop the book he had been holding. "Ow! What was that for?!" He had exclaimed, turning to face her. Touka had merely scoffed and rolled her eyes at him. "I can't believe you didn't catch that! If you want to survive, you have to catch my arm before I hit you." She then flashed a deadly smile and added, "Got it?"
Then, Kaneki had merely nodded, rubbing his sore head and bracing himself for another hit. "Hai…" He mumbled, and left the cafe room to find some ice.
Behind him, Touka whispered, "What an idiot." She shook her head and got to work behind the counter, but Kaneki had been surprised to find the faintest traces of a smile on her lips.
Kaneki fell to his knees, unable to keep his sorrow suppressed any longer. "Touka… Hinami…" He sobbed, holding the rabbit mask in his hands tenderly. "I'm sorry…"
Running. Jumping, climbing, racing. Running. 'I have to get there,' He had thought and pushed himself to go even faster, dodging around the large, humanoid creatures that ran after the CCG officers who screamed as they were swallowed. 'I have to get there in time!' He thought again, and ran even faster, his form a mere blur to anyone else.
Then he was standing in front of it; Anteiku. He broke through the door and to his horror, saw Touka, Kimi and Hinami circled around Nishiki, who was on his knees and screaming in pain. Hinami looked up and with bright emerald eyes, exclaimed, "Onii-san!" Touka followed her gaze, and her eyes hardened as her eyes locked onto his battle weary form.
"Get away from him!" He roared, and surprised, Touka and Hinami jumped back, while Kimi looked uncertain.
"KIMI!" Kaneki roared, but it was too late. The flesh that had bound Nishiki split in two, revealing a monstrous creature that easily broke through the ceiling and shared Nishiki's face. But Kaneki knew it wasn't Nishiki.
The creature let out a large puff of steam from its deformed maw, and looked down at Kimi, who had backed up in terror. The creature reached its arm down and picked her up, it's mouth opening slowly, and Kimi's eyes grew wide. "No… no… please no!" She screamed, and her words shook Kaneki out of his stupor. Unleashing his Kagune, he charged the creature and cut its arm off, releasing Kimi, who ran towards Touka and Hinami.
"Nishiki!" The human cried, and reached a hand out for her beloved, but Touka pulled her back. "That isn't Nishiki-kun anymore," She breathed, staring up at the gigantic creature in awe and horror.
Kimi broke down into sobs, and Hinami tried to comfort her, closing her eyes to cover her kakugan, which had emerged from everything that had happened.
Swiftly, Kaneki aimed his kagune at the creature and jumped up into the air, which wasn't a very high altitude, but as he rose, his kagune extended and sank into the creature's chest, and he quickly clambered up, dodging its hands and futile efforts to shake him off.
Easily, he cut off its head, and jumped to the ground nimbly, watching as it fell. Steam poured from it's wounds, and Kaneki gritted his teeth when he saw that its neck was already reforming. Turning back towards the others, he slipped off his mask and jumped back from the creature.
"These things were made by the CCG," He explained quickly, scrounging his mind for the limited information Shinohara had gasped out before the Kakuja Quinque had consumed him. "They've been cooking up a virus to expose all the Ghouls so that they could kill them effectively."
"So how did… this happen?" Touka asked, gesturing to what had once been Nishiki.
Kaneki shrugged. "Either they never tested it, or it was something they released on accident. But I doubt that, with all of their leader's boasting."
Touka let out a hiss of frustration. "Damn doves," She hissed. Hinami looked at the thing and gently poked what was left of its evaporating arm.
Kimi was grief-stricken, but Kaneki watched as her fear and horror was blocked, and she shakily tore her eyes away from what Nishiki had become. "If… if this happened to Nishiki, then what…" She swallowed hard, and turned to face the other Ghouls. "What about the three of you?"
Touka stiffened, and Hinami jumped back from the body, glancing at Kaneki and Touka, waiting for the answer to be given.
Kaneki let out a small sigh and closed his eyes. "All of us have been infected already. Every Ghoul has. It just depends on how long it takes to set in and bring effects. It could take years or seconds."
Touka's eyes grew wider with each word, and tears came to Hinami's eyes. "No! This can't be happening! Nee-chan, please…" The chimera ghoul turned to Touka, her emerald eyes searching for any sign, any type of proof that what Kaneki had said wasn't true. That it couldn't be true.
But the Ukaku ghoul only gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, hissing out a strained, "Why this?"
Kaneki made no move to comfort them. Instead, he pulled his mask over his face and handed a simple bandanna to Kimi. "We need to go. Now," He said authoritatively. "Grab your masks and let's get out of here. After that, we can find a safe place and you can ask me all you want."
Touka's eye twitched, but she went behind the counter anyways and grabbed her rabbit mask and Hinami's yellow parakeet one. Quickly, she activated her kagune and placed the mask over her face, handing the bird one to Hinami, who slipped it over her head. Kimi tied the bandanna over her face, covering everything up to the bridge of her nose, and without warning, Kaneki picked her up bridal style and charged out of Anteiku, Touka and Hinami following close behind.
Outside was chaos. Creatures roamed everywhere, ranging from small sizes to large and… Titanous ones.
'Titans,' Kaneki mused as he ran along the road and away from the creatures. 'That seems like a good name for them.'
Hinami screamed as one of the things jumped out of nowhere, with the No-Longer-Nishiki thing lumbering slowly behind it. Kaneki cursed and unleashed his kagune, but Touka beat him to it. With a roar, she flung herself into the air and crystallized her kagune, sending the shards flying towards the two things.
As luck would have it, she hit the one who looked disturbingly like Banjo in the eyes, blinding it. As it roared and took a step back, clutching at its eyes in pain, Touka quickly grabbed Hinami and ran towards Kaneki, who was fully prepared to help them fight. As Hinami hid behind Kaneki, trembling as she shook off the shock that she was almost eaten, Touka landed by Kaneki and de-crystallized her kagune, spitting a blob of blood out of her mouth.
"These things are tough," She said, eyeing the creatures and waiting for them to attack again. "They regenerate pretty fast."
Kaneki snorted. "So do I, and I only made S-class on the CCG's list." Touka shot him a look that would've killed a lesser man, but the half-ghoul wasn't fazed in the slightest.
"Come on, we need to go," He said as more steam rose in the distance, and creatures stood, their faces malformed and opening, hands reaching for the humans they so desperately wanted to devour.
Hinami nodded and shot after Kaneki, and Touka just sighed and reluctantly followed, her kakugan peeled for any sign of the creatures.
Kaneki stood to his feet, the rabbit mask resting on the headstone. A few small flecks of blood still remained on it, but he made no gesture to remove them. The blood was her blood, and Kaneki would give anything to see her annoyed indigo eyes again. To feel her hit his head, call him Bakaneki, tease him…
He missed those days, when it was them fighting to survive, but still living any how. But it all went to hell sooner than he'd wanted.
"Kaneki…" Touka gasped as she curled inwards. "I- I think I'm changing…"
Kaneki had stared at her in horror, and Hinami wept, not wanting to lose her Nee-chan. Kimi acted with indifference, her usually vibrant eyes dead to the world.
"Kaneki…" Touka had gasped out. "Kill me… before I… change into one of… those… things…"
And with his bangs covering his eyes, six blood red tentacles extended from his lower back, and were swiftly brought down on Touka's exposed neck. Her face in a smile.
Kaneki let out a scream of rage, tearing at his hair as the memories poured through him, clouding everything else out and forcing him to relive it again… and again… and again…
It was just a few days later. Kaneki didn't know what to do. Touka was dead. Dead. He killed Touka. He killed her.
Hinami hadn't said a word since Touka had died, instead sitting across from Kimi and thinking, staring at the cinderblocks of the basement that had become their home.
"Onii-san," Hinami whispered in a hoarse voice. Kaneki turned to face her, and his eyes widened in horror as one of her kagune was raised to her head, drawing small droplets of blood. "I'm going to see Nee-chan, okay?"
Blood fell on the ground again, and her face was set in an eternal smile.
Tears fell. Blood was shed. Insanity spread.
He killed Kimi not too long after. She made no move against it, smiling as he brought his kagune down onto heart. He had heard her whisper, "I see you, Nishiki," and tears fell once more as the blood rained down.
A lie. That was all his life had been. A total and utter lie.
They were dead. He killed them.
Dead. Dead dead dead HE KILLED THEM CHEW CHEW CHEW GASP BLOOD SWALLOW SWALLOW RIP DIG SCREAM FIGHT PIN-DOWN SNAP BREAK CLAW TAKE CHEWCHEWCHEWCHEW-
...and then he ate them.
Kaneki stood over their bodies, his eyes hard and glazed over, moving robotically. As he looked down at their dead forms, his mouth opened and a voice that didn't sound like his own said, "I better bury them now."
And bury them he did.
Kaneki stared down at his hands, which were missing fingers and dripping blood down onto the soft, dry dirt. The thick taste of blood was in his mouth, and it took him a few moments to realize he had started to eat himself. Idly, he turned his head from side to side, looking around the area before thinking of the last time he ate.
'Oh right,' He thought numbly as he stood to his feet and started to leave the makeshift grave yard. 'I ate Kimi three weeks ago. No wonder I'm so hungry.'
When he was a good several yards away, wind blew at his back, and he turned around, eyes widening at what he saw.
Silhouettes of them. Touka and Hinami were smiling, an unearthly sheen to them, their skin slightly see-through. Tears came to Kaneki's eyes. They looked so happy, so… so free.
Touka gave him a smile and extended her hand. "We'll be waiting," She whispered, and Hinami nodded. "Ah! See you, Oni-san!"
They turned around, and walked away, their bodies fading into the wind.
Tears fell from Kaneki's face as he watched them go. He wanted to go with them, to follow them into that happy place. He needed to. HAD TO.
He missed them, and the life he lived no longer had any purpose without them.
"See you," He whispered, and closed his eyes as he brought his kagune up towards his neck -
And nothing else was there.
Kaneki's eyes snapped open and he leaped to his feet, his kakugan already activated, prepared for the fight his instincts told him would come.
"Oi, Kaneki, cut that out," Fenikkusu grumbled. "I'm the one on watch, not you."
Kaneki mentally berated himself and nodded, keeping his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary in the clearing. He groaned when light shone through the trees. By his estimations, it was only 2 am. What luck.
"Yeah, sorry Fenikkusu. My bad." Kaneki apologized.
The Ukaku ghoul rolled her eyes and sighed, shifting her weight on the tree limb she was stationed in and glanced down at him. "Brain still telling ya the CCG are on our tails, huh?" She whispered.
Kaneki nodded, his bangs over shadowing his face. "Yeah… that and bad dreams."
Fenikkusu shuddered. "Don't wanna know, so don't tell me."
Kaneki chuckled at her and settled down to watch the sunrise. No point in going back to sleep.
As the orange and red hues poked through the trees, a small smile squeezed its way onto Kaneki's face.
'It's been close to 100 years since they died,' He thought. '100 years since I left Japan with a group of Half-Ghouls.' He turned his head towards the others, all sleeping in a jumbled mess next to each other. Senshi was snoring loudly, and Kamouri was silent and stiff. Hanemesu was cuddled close to Omo, who had a black bandanna covering his face.
He sighed, his breath leaving a small cloud of steam in the air.
'100 years since I figured out I couldn't die.'