Title: Children of Flesh and Bone

Summary: Humans either fear what they don't understand, or worship things that they envy. While the majority of Tokyo feared the ghouls, there's a small faction that worships them as 'angels'. Beings meant to save us from ourselves, and bring us a period of peace. Once the CCG catches wind of them, they send Shinohara and Juuzou to infiltrate the church, and bring them down from the inside.

Triggers: Gore, blood, sexual situations, religion(kinda).

Pairings: Suzuya JuuzouxOC

Shinohara had seen a plethora of twisted and downright evil things since he came to work at the CCG. He'd seen ghouls use humans as slaves, had to report to grieving parents that their children were eaten alive, and had seen entire rooms bathed in blood and intestines. Over time he'd become completely desensitized to it all, and was completely convinced that there was no such thing as a good ghoul. No one good, or sane for that matter, would commit such heinous acts against their fellow man. However, it was this type of behavior he expected from ghouls, because they were the monsters. They were monsters hidden behind a human mask, but he'd never seen humans hide behind a ghoul mask.

He stepped over the disemboweled corpse of a young woman, as he entered the dimly lit pet shop, a stack of papers in one hand and his quinque case in another. A foul metallic smell hit him straight in the face; however the smell was warranted thanks to the carnage all over the room. There was blood splattered all over the pet cages, the display window, and a few splatters even made it to the ceiling. He stared down at the topmost paper within his stack, before looking back up at the macabre crime scene. "Are you sure the eyewitness saw humans?"

A young investigator nodded, and pushed up her thin rimmed glasses. "He was certain that all of the assailants were human. Apparently they kept talking about their humanity and how it was disgusting compared to the sanctity of 'angels'."

"And by angels you mean ghouls." He sighed and turned to his partner, a young boy barely twenty that was staring at a trembling dog. "Juuzou, what do you think?"

The boy turned to stare at his partner, red eyes wide and a smile on his thin lips. "I haven't had to fight humans in a long time, this'll be fun~."

Shinohara shook his head. "I'm sure it will be, but before we just start picking fight with humans we need to investigate. This is the fifth attack this month, and the brutality is just getting worse. It's important we catch the right people."

The boy had turned back to the dog cage, no longer listening to his partner. Shinohara sighed and carefully made his way through the crime scene. The further he got into the store the more disturbing things seemed to get. There were marks smeared in blood, most of it in a script he couldn't understand, while others were grotesque images of eyes, hearts, and what he assumed was supposed to be angel wings. His eyes narrowed as he followed one that was closer to the tile floor, this one had a bit of white sticking to it. The investigator bent down and picked up the bit of paper by the corner and brought it up to the light. It seemed to be a business card of some sort, with words printed in bright red lettering a brown cross in the corner, and a telephone number printed in black at the very bottom.

"Saito-san, take a look at this." The young woman hurried over, her camera in both hands. "This is in English, right?"

The woman's brown eyes narrowed before she nodded. "It's American English; it's a business card for the Teaching of Saints Christian Church."

Shinohara handed her the card so it could go with the rest of the evidence that they'd gathered for the case thus far, before calling his partner to attention. "Juuzou, looks like we finally got a solid lead."

Lily yawned as she tapped a pencil against her bible, staring at the biology notes she had tucked discreetly inside. "I think everyone in the church should help clean up." She mumbled as her mother passed her by with a broom in hand. "It'd make the work go faster."

Her mother tapped her with the tip of the broom, earning her a blank stare. "It would go by faster if someone helped us clean up, Lily." She gestured to the rest of the small room with her free hand. It was mostly clean, just some dirt on the beige carpet and the fold up chairs in disarray. "I know you have a test tomorrow, but taking of five minute break to help your father with the chairs won't ruin you."

The girl sighed and shut her bible before getting up and going to her father. He was a tall man with a bald head and plenty of muscles, she never though that he looked like a pastor, more like a space marine. "Are you putting them in rows or circles?"

Her father set down the chair he had just unfolded. "Rows today, I'm thinking we'll only do circles on Wednesdays." He handed Lily a chair, and she opened it and set it next to the chair he'd just opened. "We'll be installing our pews next month, Helena and I will be looking at some of the models over the weekend."

"The angels are letting you guys choose?"

Her father nodded. "The angels have more things to concern themselves with than the decor of our church." He handed her another chair. "So tell me a bit about your studies, are you doing well?"

Lily indulged him with the small talk, going over her grades and how she hoped to raise them by five percent before the end of the semester, and how her tutoring sessions were going with her friend Sana. As they talked they continued to set up the chairs, and before they knew it the entire first half of the chairs were set up in front of the wooden podium. As they went over to the other side, the double doors opened and a tall young man walked into the church, he held a bible under his left arm, but looked like he was ready to go onto the set of a movie instead of a bible study with his slicked back hair and multiple piercings in both ears. Both Lily and her father stopped what they were doing and bowed low to the man until he passed by and walked up the stairs to the podium. "Angel Kurokawa, I was told you wouldn't make it this week."

The man waved a hand as he sat in one of the three seats behind the podium. "I managed to slip away; you know how much I enjoy your sermons, Father Mc'Knight."

Lily remained silent and continued to set up the chairs, letting her father exchange pleasantries to the ghoul. It was considered rude for her to speak to an 'angel' without being addressed, and even if it wasn't, she probably wouldn't go out of her way to speak to him anyway. Kurokawa was a slippery man, and half the time she felt like she was being examined instead of spoken to. Every time there was a news report about young girls missing, she half expected the culprit to be Kurokawa. She unfolded the last chair and took a step back, raising her hands and making an awkward square with them as she examined her handiwork. Once she was sure all the lines were even on both sides, she went back to her original chair in the corner of the room, just to be once again stopped by her mother. "Lily, do you mind getting some water from the store? I forgot your father's at the house; he's going to need it so his throat doesn't get dry during the sermon."

The girl bobbed her head in the direction of her biology notes. "I was going to use the rest of the time until praise and worship to study…"

"I know dear," Her mother pat her head, an action that annoyed Lily. The woman had been doing that since she was seven years old, and hadn't quit even though she would be turning sixteen soon. "but this is very important. I promise I'll let you go home right after church, you won't even have to help us put anything away."

Lily's ears perked up at the offer. It always took them a full hour to put everything away, which means she would have an extra hour she could use to study her notes before they went out to lunch. She held out a hand. "I'll need some money, I left my wallet at home."

Helena took a wallet out of her pocket and fished out a credit card. "Just go to the convenience store across the street, he only needs water, nothing fancy."

Lily put the card in her jacket pocket, before heading out the door and to the convenience store as her mother asked.

By the time Lily made it back to the church, it was crowded with over sixty people. Everyone was yammering to each other about their week, bits of church gossip that wouldn't be too scandalous, and looking over the announcements her mother had made up earlier that week. She held the cold bottle of water out at arm length and pushed her way through the crowd to get to the podium. Every so often she was stopped by one of the church members who would greet her and, unfortunately, pat her head. It was a terrible habit that they had picked up from her mother, but unlike her mother, she couldn't complain about it to them.

When she was finally within reach of the podium she tossed the bottle of water to her father, who mouthed a thank you. She just shrugged and hurried to her seat in the fourth and final row, her bible in one hand and notes in the other. She plunked herself down and leaned back in her chair, holding her arms close to her body as she tried to keep warm. "Just a few more hours, just a few more hours."

She fought down a groan as someone sat next to her. She was almost certain no one would sit next to her; it was practically a taboo for anyone to sit this far back with so many seats available. She glanced at the person out of the corner of her eye, and bit the inside of her cheek to keep her features blank. The person, because she really couldn't tell their gender, was rather eccentric looking. White hair, red eyes, and clothes that didn't look the least bit appropriate for church. Next to them was an older man who at least had the decency to wear a suit, but was even bulkier than her father, something she hadn't seen since she left America.

She caught the white haired person's eye for a moment, and she quickly looked away. A cowardly move on her part, but she really didn't want to begin a conversation with them. She didn't like strangers very much, and she was even worse off when she had to mind her manners. In Japan, they seemed to be far more conscious of them than back home. Even though she'd been living in Tokyo since she was eight, she still had a hard time keeping up with politeness. She was jolted out of her thoughts when she felt a buzzing in her pocket; she pulled out her phone and clicked on the text message that appeared.

"Hello, Mc'Knight-san."She frowned and typed in a quick message before putting her phone away, just for it to buzz almost immediately. "My name is Shinohara Yukinori, and I work for the CCG.I was wondering if you would be comfortable enough to answer a few questions."

The CCG? They were the people that took down ghouls and made sure public order was kept concerning them. A wiry smile escaped her defenses as she stared at the text message, she always knew the CCG would figure out about the church, she had only hoped that she would have been in college and away from her crazy family by then. And yet here she was, getting interrogated by an investigator within the very blasphemous church she called home. She typed in a quick text and sent it, only for another one to appear just as quickly as last time. 'I cannot disclose the exact reason why, but I promise that if you cooperate, that you will not get in trouble regardless of what happens."

So if she helped then she would get out of trouble. That meant that once the church fell, she would be considered nothing more than a victim. Maybe even a hero since she was providing answers for the CCG. A thought suddenly formed in her mind, it was a cruel one, something that probably made her rather despicable compared to even her parents. She once again typed in her answer and waited for the investigator to respond. When he did her eyes widened and she had to hold back another smile that almost escaped. "Yes, you may have a recommendation, and your visa will be assured."

"Then I accept."

She flinched when she felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she turned to the strangers next to her, a mild glare set on her face in order to try to scare them off. However, it melted away when the bulky man began speaking. "It's nice to formerly meet you, Mc'Knight-san, I'm Shinohara Yukinori and this is my partner Suzuya Juuzou."