Title: Weightless

Author: Serpent at Sunset

Pairing: Yamori x OC x Tsukiyama

Rating: T

Fandom: Tokyo Ghoul

Genre: Angst/Romance

Word Count: 2,531

Summary: Some gardens bloom only at night in deep darkness, and someone has finally noticed Natsuki's bud... Yamori x OC x Tsukiyama

Tokyo 1999

"I'm going to be a pretty ballerina, aren't I, Mommy?"

Her mother was smiling at her, but the there was pain in her smile. Natsuki didn't know then that emotions could lie. At that moment in time, she thought that her mother's smile meant conformation or joy. A small fragile hope to tuck away for the future.

"Of course you will, sweetheart."

And, her mother was wearing lipstick again. That hushed lavender again that was called mauve. Natsuki realized that her mother was making an effort. She wasn't crying today at least.

She wondered if her dancing made her parents happy. At all.

She knew that her parents tried to understand when she told them how weightless she felt when the music surged through her. How it made the world disappeared. In this world, she was ethereal. A princess and an angel all in one.

However, in reality, she was a ghoul; a ghoul that just wanted to be a human girl. Maybe the symphonies played a cruel trick on her mind. However, the unfair advantage she seemed to have of why she was quicker and could take more punishment than the other girls remained undisclosed. No one could ever ever imagine that a monstrous ghoul could don ballet slippers.

Later, after the her father fell ill. He couldn't go to a hospital because he was a ghoul. But, ghouls shouldn't be sick. They weren't human after all.

But, she would be proven wrong. She and her mother both.

The night before her father died, she had gone to a ballet recital and had only won second place. So, that meant she was not good enough in the eyes of the world.

Eventually, her mother would berate her for how selfish she had been. Natsuki, sullen, could only quietly agree. Even though she knew that missing her recital couldn't have helped her father. He had been so sad that he couldn't go...

Some time later, she stopped attending dancing lessons altogether.

Tokyo 2010

Natsuki hid herself behind the faded aging lace curtains. As an afterthought, She swept them behind herself from life outside. The furnishings were from her bright past, but they could never illuminate her dark future.

In the cracked mirror, Natsuki spread her lipstick on. She was twenty-one now. Childhood dreams had been placed on the shelf for the time if and when they would be picked up again.

But, in spite of everything, the ancient house fulfilled her needs. Her mother had inadvertently left it to her on Natsuki's sixteenth birthday. The day that her mother died.

Before her reflection in the mirror, she kissed her lips together and snapped the lid of the lipstick tube back on. Burgundy. Appropriate for autumn. She even still had some of her mother's lipstick that she couldn't bear to throw away. It was cakey, and it stank. She had loved mauves and frosted pinks.

Natsuki inspected her own red lips. She wondered if she resembled a femme fatale. If so, it wasn't intentional. She just...wanted color. They were as red as blood.

And so, Natsuki went about her normal day. At the moment, she was taking a break from it all. Her life...was comfortable. Lonely but comfortable. Natsuki supposed that she had luck on her side.

As if to celebrate, she got a coffee from a machine dispenser. Later on, she planned that she would watch the sunset. Quietly.

Natsuki sipped her coffee carefully and savored the flavor. She often wondered if bodies like hers truly got any nutrition from the brewed drink.

"Fancy meting you here, Nat-su-ki," Rize sounded out as one would sing out a child's rhyme.

Natsuki scowled down into her coffee. So, her peaceful afternoon could get worse. Her luck had changed.

In mere moments, Rize sat rather innocently next to her on the faded park bench. However, innocence and Rize often didn't share the same sentence. Natsuki's hand clutched the Styrofoam cup of coffee even tighter.

"By yourself still?" Rize seemed genuinely surprised. "Aww. You're still so young, dear. Flowers have a short shelf life before they turn old, rotten, or dead." The statement was meant to encouraging.

Rize was a vision with her sculptured body, pretty face, and vivid purple hair. On the surface, the corruption never showed. Rize was radiant. In contrast, on the inside was a totally different matter entirely. However, she could still pass herself off as a studious virgin though others would definitely be wrong on at least one count.

"Why do you even bother with me?" Natsuki asked. Her voice sounded as weary as she felt.

Natsuki was so dry that a few wild sparks could set her afire, and Rize was only to happy to oblige. Fire really wasn't her element. She preferred the wind and rain. Not mention, the darkness.

She shrugged. "Maybe I need to some take time to smell the roses." Rize's tone remained light.

Rize was no ordinary hothouse flower; she was a lab created orchid. Perfect, beautiful, and well cared for. Almost too perfect. And, Natsuki was was a miniature pale rosebud rotting at the stem.

"Do I smell sweet?" Natsuki raised one eyebrow.

Rize's grin was nasty. "I would say a...little sour."

Yet, Rize was hardly one to judge. Natsuki knew that she was the binge eater who flirted with her victims before she ate them. She took everything that she could. A monster even amongst ghouls. It was a good thing that Natsuki wasn't judgmental. And, here she was, taking an interest in Natsuki. Was this a temptation life was throwing in her path? Should Natsuki give up decency? But, no. Though she had already been cheated out of life, she didn't have to become depraved on top of it.

It was clear. Natsuki needed more friends. Better friends. Sane friends.

Yet, I'm still just a ghoul too.

A different type of ghoul, but a flesh eater all the same.

"Well, ciao." Her stalker blew her a kiss. "I'm sure we'll meet again."

And so, Natsuki was left alone. It was what she had wanted in the first place, was it not? Now, she would be treated to another night of sipping coffee by herself.

Suddenly, a burst of icy air shot through her thin ivory sweater. She shivered in the merciless chill. Autumn would be arriving soon. She wondered if it was an omen.

Natsuki didn't want to sit any more. She wanted to move.

After pitching the Styrofoam cup away, Natsuki walked the pavements until the stars appeared. Night was dangerous after all. It was best to flee home.

She knew that she would only have herself to blame if she didn't take care of herself. She would end up like her father.

Two days later, she was at Anteiku.

"Ma chère! Don't we look ravishing today?" Tsukiyama beamed.

Uh-oh. Her heart was rising like a champagne bubble again. It was such a fragile and pathetic hope for romance that Natsuki had.

As usual, Tsukiyama was charming. A permanent character trait. Though, he was in the same class as Rize. Why she attracted ghouls like them was beyond her. Shuu was as proper as a mutilated body bleeding through pristine white silk would be. He was...dangerous. Yet, classy. Attractive. An intoxicating mix.

She was wearing an ancient emerald green shawl. Her skirt was a pale gold, and she had wrapped a pink embroidered scarf around her neck to stave off the October chill. One could sat that she resembled a charming old cottage garden. Yet, she hardly felt like an actual being. Still, she could still adorn herself. Pretend for a while. Fashion was to be enjoyed, even by ghouls.

Her heart begged to be protected. To be reassured...

...from nothing at all.

"Oh, it's nothing special," she assured him.

He smirked. In answer, she couldn't resist fluttering her eyelashes at him. If he would just look closer and notice...

Her facade was perfect as the jewel that hung around her throat. But then, Tsukiyama had a facade as well. The seemingly perfect gentleman facade never failed to rattle her. He was like a shark skimming the depths for blood, and he had found her. Again. A could-be snack. An avid yet distant admirer. Tsukiyama was like the moon. Distant and beautiful.

And, he never seemed to shine on her.

Still, she wondered if Shuu knew how to dance. She wondered if she would ever have the chance to find out.

But, as sure as she breathed, she knew that she was in style.

Soon enough, to her disappointment, Tsukiyama's gaze landed on someone else. Natsuki turned away in disappointment. She was sure that it was someone more...interesting. A future meal, perhaps. Even fellow ghouls were not safe around the gourmand.

Natsuki went to wait at her usual table. Alone. She had expected no different. Not really. In under a minute, a waitress loomed over her with a pen. The same waitress she always seemed to get.

"Same as usual?"

Natsuki turned away from her book to focus on her face. Touka wasn't even looking at her.

Each female had their own opinions about the other, but that was in the past. It would most likely never to be broached either. Especially, here and now.

"Yes, please."

Natsuki could feel her lips were moving, but she knew that Touka hadn't seen them; she was already moving on to another customer. He was an elderly gentleman with a little pig-tailed granddaughter. A ningen couple. Asn watched. She reminded her of the girl she had once known. Herself.

While observing them, she finished her coffee slow. She wouldn't bother to leave a tip. Money was precious at the moment. At times, Natsuki swore that Touka was her stalker too.

Suddenly, a whiff of spicy perfume rode the breeze, and it wasn't her own. She looked to behind her and saw another young woman with bright neon pink hair. A human. Good thing that Natsuki wasn't hungry.

Seized by impulse, Natsuki gazed up at the slit of a crescent moon riding the sky. It reminded her of Tsukiyama smiling at her. If only it was he himself actually smiling at her.

It was so like her necklace. Against her chest, a precious amethyst stone hung with an intricate silver moon. Her mother had given it to her the morning of sixteenth birthday right before she died. She clutched it in her hand like a magic medallion. Maybe it kept her safe.

Natsuki. The moon, tsuki, was right there in her name as it was in Tsukiyama's name. They could be the moon couple. A regal moon king and his shimmering moon queen.

Yeah. In her dreams...

For a moment, she swore that specters of her past were walking along beside her, but there was no way to tell if they were friends or enemies.

Then, out of the blue, it happened. The night she had always been dreading.

"There's one!" a man barked.

A spotlight was immediately trained on her. In mere moments, the CCG were in hot pursuit. There were at least two doves on her heels; dirty doves that were far from pure.

Oh, crap.

The light was hurting her eyes.

She didn't need this right now. How did they know? Was her face in the CCG's files? Apparently, it was. Probably along with her name.

Why couldn't it be Rize instead of me?

And just like that, her life changed in a moment. At least she was wearing boots instead of heels. That was a start.

So, Natsuki had to lead them on a chase. Her dancer's legs were strong. If they failed, she had her kagune. Both of them. The Rinkaku from her father and the Ukaku from her mother. Natsuki had always tried in vain to have both speed and tenacity. However, if she succeeded in escaping, there was no need to use it.

The ribbons of asphalt whizzed past her and spread out in all directions. By chance, Natsuki picked whatever route she would. It was like searching for the right loops of a thread that would unravel a tricky knot. The knot being the two investigators.

There was fork in the road, and she randomly scuffled right.

"Stop running and face justice!" the old wizened CCG agent behind her shouted.

His shaggy white hair blew around his ancient face. She was surprised that the old bastard could even keep up. His young dark-haired partner was at his side keeping pace.

Natsuki jogged on ahead and what Natsuki had expected to be a promising side street turned out to be dead-end. She was trapped now.

Natsuki bit her lip. Oh, she didn't want to die in this alley. Just not right now.

Motivated by sheer terror, she started searching anywhere and everywhere for some avenue of escape. She couldn't end up like her father and mother. Her family line would be destroyed unless there was any unknown cousins around.

And, by sheer divine providence, she looked down and saw a wide gap that disappeared under the street into the underground presumably to the sewers. If she hunched down low like a vermin, she could perhaps squeeze inside and hope to escape...

Natsuki didn't even have time to think about it. She just dropped down and started crawling. There. Mission accomplished. The gap was indeed big enough.

As she moved, the pulsating of the blood pounding in her ears drowned out the barking shouts of the invesitgators. She needed to get out of here. That much was certain. She couldn't be seen wandering the streets.

Gradually, she dropped down into the darkness, and felt her scarf tear behind her. She grimaced at the loss of fabric. But, she couldn't worry about that now. At the moment, the raw stink of the sewers was assaulting her nostrils, and she couldn't concentrate.

Tentatively, she stood up. She could hear the rush of water somewhere else in the maze of tunnels. Reluctantly, Natsuki put one foot in front of the other. She would have to brave the sewers for safety. Light was scant. As she crept along further, she wondered if she should stay the night. To be honest, the prospect wasn't inviting after all. Still, she didn't want them to follow her back home...

Wait.

Was there something moving in the shadows?

Soon enough, Natsuki realized that she wasn't alone. In the distance, a huge pale shape had his back to her. She knew that it was another ghoul before he even revealed his face. Slowly, he revolved around.

"You realize that you just brought them to me?" There was a wry humor in his tone, but it couldn't even begin to cover the violence buried there.

He glowered over her, and then she noticed how tall he was. He was...formidable. Like a polar bear. Or an ogre.

Her breath caught in her throat. That mask. As he stepped into the light, she recognized him then as the Jason. What was he even doing in the 20th Ward anyway? To kill her, apparently. Natsuki's luck had officially run dry.

Prepare to die.

"You stupid little bitch," he hissed.