Woooo! Chapter two! So I have been in a rut with thinking of new content for this so I'm just going to upload what I have and see if I want to keep working on this.(One last thing *POV indicates a change in point of view, however since part of the fun in my writing is for my reader to figure out whose pov they are in, I won't outright tell you who is whom.)

Chapter 2: Kuki Urie, Ghul oder Mensch?

Urie had been instructed to rest after his surgery, it was late in the day and he was feeling the urge to go for a walk. Stretching his legs would do him good; he didn't want to be stiff next time he was in combat. Taking a walk would also be a good time to test the sharpness of his senses. Because it was a bit chilly in Tokyo's late evening he went out in something warm and relatively causal. People bustled about talking, laughing, eating with friends, and blissfully unaware of the "friends", neighbours, or co workers that were ghouls.

It had been a while when a strange scent caught his attention. At first he had tried to ignore it but he kept catching whiffs of it. The smell was nauseatingly sweet and grabbed at his focus, making his stomach turn. Before he knew it Urie found himself following the scent. Letting his ghoul instincts take control was risky but would be a good way to find out how powerful his nose had become.

Urie's feet carried him to the local senior high school. That scent is definitely coming from here. What is it? He took a step into the street.

"Oi, kid!" Urie glanced around to see a dingy older man giving him a concerned look from a near by alleyway. Is he talking to me? He gestured for Urie to approach. He stopped within a comfortable hearing distance. The stranger gave a nervous laugh. "You must be new around here so I'll fill you in, kid." Urie raised an eyebrow and nodded politely. There he goes with the kid bullshit again; can't he tell I'm 19? "You see, that school, and most of the district actually, is his territory. If there is one thing you don't want to do is antagonize that man." When Urie's face remained neutral he continued. "He is the only ghoul who could go head to head with Aogiri or even the CCG!

"The CCG?" This got Urie's full attention now.

"Either way, steer clear, he might seem like a nice guy but in reality he is vicious, ruthless, and sadistic. So much as shadow a student or any other human near his turf and you won't be getting up in the morning." That seems exaggerated. Ugh, this guy smells, too. He had been inching closer to Urie during his explanation, glancing around. His eyes shifted into kakugan. Hardly surprising. One more rat to kill either way.

"Thank you for the information, ghoul." The stranger flinched back suddenly. "Rank 2 Ghoul Investigator, Kuki Urie, I'll be killing you today." The ghoul ran. That's right corner yourself. It just makes my job easier. The ghoul pounded down the small space just ahead of him. Yes definitely a low class ghoul. Killing it shouldn't qualify as strenuous activity. The ghoul's footsteps stopped echoing from between the buildings. He was trying to hide his presence. Urie could hear his shaking breath, smell his kagune, too. It was a strange, ferrell sensation.

Seemingly egged on by the awakening of his ghoul instincts, Urie found himself very, very hungry. The alley took a sharp left turn and then ended abruptly. The building jutted out, cutting off a view of the sky. Trashbags heaped up on the right side a dumpster on the left and barely any room in between. He was hiding back there. Urie grabbed the dumpster and slid it out, effectively blocking the only exit. The older ghoul had pushed himself as far into the corner as he could, panic stricken, and then lunged out in desperation.

The scuffle was brief. While he was stronger than a human, by ghoul standards he was pathetic. Even the ghoul from the taxi during the torso case was stronger. He had stopped screaming after about a minute. Hot blood ran down from the corners of Urie's mouth. Disposing of whatever was left of the body wouldn't be a problem, after all, there was a dumpster right there and no one was going to question the smell. It was a strange sensation and a absolutly disgusting taste. He looked down at his prey satisfied. At this rate I won't have that much to hide.

There was just enough light in the back alley for Urie to catch a look at his reflection in a shatter mirror. Horrifying. While Quinx's had kakugan it was never as defined as an actual ghouls. The iris would be a lighter red and the white turned the darkest of grays but what stared back at Urie was a broke reflection of his inner demons. One side of his face, the human side was ripped with concern, the ghoul side wore a warped grin, blood smeared over his cheek, its eye as black as pitch and red as blood.

Urie stared at it for a long time unable to look away, he could feel something coming unfrayed, not quite broken but teetering terrible close. The human reflection spoke first. "What have you done, Urie?" It was his father voice. "Look at what you have become! Don't you hate the ghouls? So, why? What is letting yourself fall like this going to accomplish?" The human face demanded an answer, but not from Urie himself.

"Oh, shut up will 'ya~! Who fucking cares? His goal isn't something so shallow as revenge! Power. The point of it all is power. To prove that he is superior right~! Humans are weak! He'll never become strong if refuses to follow nature. In this world the strong devour the weak, it's only natural. So, what are you? Stong? Weak?" The ghoul's reflection spoke with a voice as distorted as his smile.

"Not a ghoul!" snapped back the human, giving a glare to the other side of the mirror. "Urie, please, there is still time, turn your back on this path, you can still be human."

"Tch, to stay human is to choose weakness. You can't show them how they have wronged you if you aren't strong. They won't listen to you. Sasaki, Arima, Mado, everyone else, they'll just walk over you if you let them, right~? You still have to prove yourself. You can't turn back now, Urie."

"That thinking is stupid and dangerous! If he follows the path of a ghoul then he'll be killed or worse. Don't tell me you haven't noticed how much Sasaki is suffering, Urie. If you put yourself in a vulnerable position like this you won't live long enough to have a chance to prove yourself. Please, Urie!"

His head was pounding the verbal tug-of-war was starting to have physical effects. The two sides of his nature were tearing him apart. "Stop." Urie choked out. The voices continued painfully loud for his heightened sensitivity. "I said stop it!" He lashed out in fury at the mirrored faces, smashing it into dust with his kagune. His breath came out ragged and shallow. That is more than enough for one day. I just need to get rid of this now; I'll figure out something later.

Urie took special care in cleaning himself up, he'd have to pass CCG's scrutiny after all. He was confident that no one would figure out what he had been up to. He had reached the penthouse later than he suspected. Something he wasn't expecting happened, he found himself clicking together his right molars like he was chewing on something. Chewing on bones. He decided that picking a few habits intentionally now would be better than acquiring them through any unforeseen incidents. Mental discipline would be the most important if he wanted to keep himself in check. What is something that I could do that would keep my mind occupied should I feel the need. Something that isn't a pain in the ass to carry around either. The answer was so simple, he had seen Sasaki do it plenty of times, at first he thought it was some kind of memory trick or nervous twitch, but it made perfect sense. To keep myself sane. He pulled up an audio editing file that he could upload to his mp3 player later. He tapped record. "One-thousand minus seven is…"

Huh, no Pov changes this time. Oh well.