An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
Hungry. God, he was so hungry.
Kaneki knew what could satiate his hunger, but he also knew he'd be unable to live with himself if he did that... He would no longer be able to call himself human.
But he was still so hungry...
Hunger was the last thing to cross his mind as he blacked out in some dead alley.
Yoriko didn't go to school on Monday. Touka stared at her empty seat, having a bad feeling.
The girl was just running late. That happened sometimes, Touka was sure about it. Yoriko was going to stumble into the room any moment, spluttering excuses.
Touka checked her phone again, but, just like the previous night, no response.
The door wasn't opening either.
Damn.
Yoriko was supposed to bring Touka her extra literature notes so she could get a decent grade for once.
Yoriko was going to insist on walking Touka back home, like she did every Monday.
But first period came and went, and so did second, third, fourth... By fifth Touka was seriously considering visiting Yoriko's house after school, even if she avoided going there.
Disappearing like this without a trace just was not like her at all.
Sixth period they had with their headteacher who wore a grim expression.
Touka's heart sank when the teacher started making an announcement.
When Kaneki opened his eyes again, he was lying on his face on a cold floor. He dragged himself up, stiff from lying there for who knows how long.
He had to use the shoe cupboard next to him for support so he wouldn't fall back down. As he came back to his senses, sitting down on the cupboard in the dim light of whatever room he was in, he realised two things:
He wasn't feeling any hunger, and the entire front of his hoodie felt crusty, like something was spilt on it and dried. There was a dark spot on the floor where he had been lying.
There was almost no doubt about what that was.
Kaneki stumbled to the light switch - this was his house, he was sure, where else would have felt this familiar?
It took him a bit to get used to the light, but there was no mistaking it. The stain on the floor was dried blood, and so was the one on his hoodie.
He had to sit back down on the cupboard as the realisation hit him. He had... eaten. He had killed and eaten someone.
His first reaction then was to run to the bathroom and retch, but all he accomplished was gagging and spitting a little. It seemed that it was too late for vomiting and he had already killed whoever his meal had been.
Least he could do was not let their death be in vain.
Once he stopped shaking so badly, he threw his bloody clothes into the bathtub and got dressed. He had a vague idea of what to do. Anything was better than staying where he was.
Pulling his hood as low around his face as he could, Kaneki set off on the painfully long walk towards Anteiku. He felt as if everyone's eyes pierced him, everyone's mouths whispering 'Murderer'.
He knew he was imagining it, but they were right.
Who had he killed?
Did they have any wrinkles, soft eyes, a warm smile?
Whoever they were, they didn't deserve what he had done.
When she got home, Touka threw her bag aside, almost forgetting to lock the door behind herself.
She was going to get revenge, she couldn't just let this go...
Touka punched the nearest wall, then slid down it until her knees touched the floor.
She could finally let her tears flow, her emotions pour out.
Her closest, single human, friend was gone. In a 'ghoul accident'. Who could it have been?
Where had Yoriko strayed to become a ghoul target?
Driven by grief, Touka shot up, straight for her room, to where her mask and wig were. Whoever had done this to Yoriko was going to get what they deserved.
But her disguise wasn't there. She remembered she last left it at Anteiku. She was late for work, too... But Yoshimura would pardon her tardiness, right?
Cursing under her breath, she did her best to calm down and make herself look presentable enough to leave.
When she got to Anteiku, it was mostly empty, just two ghouls talking loudly near the door for the back rooms.
As Touka passed them, she overheard one of them say 'Hey, did you hear Rize's at it again?'
At the mention of that woman's name, Touka froze still.
'What?!' the other ghoul asked in disbelief. 'Isn't she dead?'
'Yeah, but a reliable source of information told me the CCG found some poor girl torn open and there were traces of Rize's drool everywhere.'
Touka didn't stay around to hear more, and shot through the back door.
In the room where she'd left her things was none other but the manager and the person she was looking for.
'YOU!' Touka bellowed and stormed at Kaneki.
Yoshimura caught her by the arm and stopped her mid-attack.
'I see you already know what has happened.'
'You know, Kaneki?' Touka asked, ignoring the manager. 'If I hadn't stopped you back then, maybe this wouldn't have happened!' Touka hissed at Kaneki, then turned to Yoshimura. 'Is my mask here?'
'Don't do anything rash, Touka.'
'I'm not going to do anything, I just need my mask,' Touka said through a laugh that bordered on hysteria.
The manager pointed next to the couch and Touka grabbed her bag before storming out of the room.
As soon as the door closed, Kaneki jumped up clumsily. 'Wait, Touka!' He yelled, stumbling towards the door, but Yoshimura said 'She's already out, Kaneki.'
'What do you think she meant with that?' Kaneki asked, a numbing fear creeping through his limbs.
'You must know better than me,' the manager answered. 'Maybe it's best for you to go now.'
Touka had spent the rest of the day quiet. Not making a sound as she followed her target.
Just one wrong turn, just one small mistake.
And she'd get her revenge.
But her target was savvy. It just wouldn't take that wrong turn.
Touka's patience was running out.
The sun set before she could close in on her target.
She slipped on her mask and charged.
I might continue this? One or two more chapters to show the aftermath. Opinions?