Cheshire Smile
A Dangerous Encounter (Route 2)
I fiddled with my tie nervously as I stood outside the imposing office doors. I glanced around looking for some kind of secretary. The hall was pristine and lined with floor to ceiling windows and offices, but the place seemed deserted. Glancing down at my watch again, I decided that I should just go in or I would be late. I made sure my unruly brown hair was parted nicely in the reflection on the windows. Gathering my courage, I pushed open the huge silvery doors.
On the other side of the doors, the room was actually smaller than I had pictured. There were a few steel filing cabinets and potted plants lining the walls. In the center of the office sat a large metal desk and a few chairs. Seated at the desk was an older woman with her dark blue hair tied up in a neat bun and a sour look on her face. She wore a crisp white suit jacket and pants that looked even more spotless than the hallway. This is my boss? I asked myself.
"What?" She snapped and looked up from her computer screen.
"I-I um I'm new here… They told me to come see you…" I stuttered suddenly losing my nerve. She raked a hard gaze over me and began looking things up on the computer.
"Name?" She asked and I startled slightly.
"K-Keiji Fukui." I told her and she tapped a few things out on the keyboard.
"Keiji Fukui, male, age twenty-one, Rank 2. That you?" She asked and I gave her a swift salute.
"Yes ma'am, Fukui reporting for duty."
The woman let out a sigh and stood up, her high heels clacking on the tile floor. She held out her hand to me and I took it hesitantly.
"Hello Mr. Fukui I am Aoi Ise the head of the CCG's 6th Ward Division. I congratulate you on your new rank and I am pleased to welcome you here." She said in a flat voice and handed me my badge and a stack of papers.
"Sorry for the sub-par welcome, we're up to our ears here. Go on down to the fifth floor to be assigned to your partner." She murmured and strode back over to her desk.
Feeling a little put-out I turned and pushed the door open.
"Hey, Fukui. Be careful out there." Aoi called out to me, her expression softening the tiniest bit. I nodded my thanks and walked out.
I hopped in the elevator and rode it down two floors. I took the time alone to clean my glasses off. At long last I was here. I was going to be a Ghoul Investigator, and yet… I shook off my doubts and the doors slid open revealing the hustle and bustle of the Investigator's offices.
People were running back and forth, delivering papers and yelling to each other from across the room. It was chaos. I stepped out of the elevator and was almost run over by a frantic intern carrying papers. Unsure of what to do and a little overwhelmed by all the commotion, I shoved myself against a wall and just tried to stay out of the way.
"Hey, you with the glasses!" A rough voice shouted.
I turned towards the sound and saw a man in a blue suit with short black hair and broad shoulders. Next to him were two other men. One was skinny with blonde hair and a bit of a bitter look on his face. The other guy was a thicker with a round face and buzz cut tawny hair. He gave me a friendly wave and I felt a bit more at ease.
"So you're the fresh bait, huh?" The black haired man asked as he slapped me on the back, knocking my glasses askew.
"Don't scare the guy, Sosuke. I'm Ren Sanjo." The round face man told me. "This is Sosuke Ugaki," He indicated the taller man. "and this is Shigeo Taguchi." Ren finished pointing to the blonde man.
"I'm Keiji Fukui, pleased to meet you." I introduced myself to them.
"Well, it's nice to meet you Keiji. We're all on the same squad, but our senior Investigator isn't here today." Ren said shaking my hand.
They lead me to a small conference room and we took seats around the table.
"So is everyone here a Rank 2?" I asked.
"I'm a Rank 3 Investigator." Sosuke proclaimed.
"We know Sosuke, you tell use about five times a day. Shigeo and I are Rank two as well." Ren told me rolling his eyes at the Rank 3 Investigator.
"So why isn't the senior Investigator in?" I questioned.
"She's off on a mission tracking some suspected Aogiri Tree members." Shigeo huffed, and I started at the sound of his voice. He hadn't said a single word until now.
"So what are we doing?" I asked them.
"Considering we can't go out in the field without a higher ranked Investigator, probably just paper work for today." Ren said.
Sosuke let out an unsatisfied grunt and Shigeo's scowl deepened. So for most of the day we sat in silence and filed papers. It was tedious and boring, but it was just part of the job I guess. Ren would occasionally make jokes or start conversations. I was thankful for it and helped pass the time. Sosuke just complained about how we should be out stopping Ghouls and Shigeo just irritably filled out reports.
The clock slowly ticked its way to six and we started getting ready to leave. It hadn't been the most glamorous first day, but I thought it had gone well. Just as I slammed the filing cabinet shut, the conference room door opened and a young man handed Sosuke a paper before quickly leaving.
"What is it?" Ren asked.
"It's a complaint from a citizen. She says she might have seen a Ghoul behind her apartment. We should probably check this out so we can report it to the boss tomorrow." Sosuke said a smile spreading across his face.
"But we can't! We don't have a senior Investigator." I argued.
"It's fine if we just go talk to this woman right? We'll take some Quniques just in case, but it's not like we're hunting for it." Sosuke said dismissively.
I looked at Ren for help but he just shrugged. I reluctantly followed my team down to the basement where they retrieved their Quinques. Sosuke pulled an older looking one down from a shelf and handed it to me. It was a lot heavier than I thought it'd be.
"Better than those little Bikaku knives, eh? You're lucky we have a surplus of Quniques after we found all those dead Ghouls in their secret restaurant a few weeks back. Usually low Ranks can't have Quniques, but with that Aogiri Tree organization running around lately they've been making exceptions." Sosuke chuckled.
A quick car ride later and we arrived at the woman's apartment complex as the sun finally went down. Ren knocked on the door and a white haired, wrinkled old woman answered. She had huge spectacles that made her eyes look huge and was holding a small hairy dog. The picture was so bizarre I almost laughed.
"Excuse me ma'am, we're Investigators for the CCG and we're here to talk to you about your Ghoul sighting." Ren said brightly.
"Oh yes, I was wondering when you'd be by, and all such handsome young men too." She chortled.
"Could you tell us when it happened, and what exactly you saw?" Sosuke asked her politely.
"Well, let's see… It was quiet late at night about two days ago and I had gotten up because Mr. Pickles was making such a racket over something out the upstairs window. I took a peek outside and saw a very strange shadow moving very oddly across the ground. I was so frightened I ran right to the phone and called you." She explained.
"A very strange shadow moving oddly?" I reiterated doubtfully. That was vague enough to be anything and it was just an educated guess, but I was pretty sure this lady didn't have the best eyesight. I could tell from Shigeo's expression he didn't believe her either.
"Well, thank you for your time ma'am. We will investigate thoroughly." Ren told her.
"That was a bust." Sosuke said as we walked away.
The streets were nearly deserted around the area as the darkness got thicker. I couldn't help being a bit glad that we hadn't found any good leads. I had been trained in combat but I'd never actually been out in the field. Just as we reached the car, I felt something watching me. I spun around in time to see a shadow dart down a side street.
"Did you see that?" I whispered.
"Yeah, let's go!" Sosuke exclaimed and started down the street.
We walked in tight formation and my senses were on high alert. The street seemed empty but I couldn't help but feel like there was something else here… There was almost no light tonight with the sky being so overcast. Fear burned in my stomach and it felt like the darkness was closing in on us. I took a deep breath. I can do this. I told myself.
"Come on, spread out check every nook and cranny!" Sosuke shouted.
I glanced over at the other Rank 2 Investigators and Ren gave me an encouraging nod. We began to spread out, looking down every alley and corner on the street. My muscles were tense and I was on edge more than ever before.
"Are you sure that tip was for real? I mean that woman had to be like eighty…" Shigeo remarked. Even I had to admit that a tip from a near-sighted old woman on a dark night was pretty sketchy. Not to mention that the shadow I saw could easily have been a cat.
"There's a Ghoul here… I can feel it." Sosuke insisted and Ren just rolled his eyes.
But as we ventured further down the road there was still no sign that anything had even come this way. The others were starting to grumble unhappily at having to come out so late for nothing. I couldn't help feeling relieved that we hadn't run into a Ghoul. Even with four of us, we were still all pretty inexperienced.
Sosuke's expression turned sour and he let out a low grumble. He acted like he actually wanted to fight a Ghoul! Just as I relaxed my grip on the borrowed Qunique, we heard a soft rustling sound coming from a narrow alley a few yards upstreet. Instantly wired again, we looked to Sosuke for instructions. He motioned with his hands that he wanted us to fan out around the alley.
My legs were like jelly and I was surprised they could even move, as I got into position. I felt like I was going to puke from nerves, and I took little comfort in the fact that Shigeo was looking green too. He clicked the button on his Qunique and it transformed into a thin rapier looking sword. With a wild grin on his face, Sosuke also popped open his briefcase which expanded into a three-foot-long crimson battle ax. Before he could even get into a proper stance however, something shot out of the alley and knocked Ren to the ground. He didn't move as the attacker perched on his chest and I felt a jolt of terror. Was he dead?
To my shock, I realized that the thing was a girl. She didn't look to be too much younger than me, with a slight frame and flowing maroon hair. The skirt and jacket she was wearing were dirty and she had a white cloth tied over her face. I almost thought we were wrong and this was just some scared teenager, but then Shigeo took a swipe at her with his Quinque and she dodged faster than my eyes could see. The girl looked up and I saw her eyes. Just like all the pictures I had seen during my training, they were pitch black as coal with burning red irises like embers. The Kakugan.
My blood ran cold. This was a Ghoul. It looked like a girl but it was a monster that ate human flesh. She launched herself at Shigeo and hit him in the stomach so hard, I heard the air get forced out of his lungs. Shigeo dropped his Quinque as he clenched his stomach and I saw a few drops of blood on his lips. Then the monster kicked his weapon away as easily as a toddler kicking away leaves.
"B-bitch." He gurgled at the Ghoul.
She responded with a low growl and brought her leg up so fast it was a blur. Shigeo tried to block the kick, but it was in vain. His arm snapped like a twig and he went down. Panic surged through me and my numb fingers fumbled with my Quinque's activation switch. It flipped open and before I knew it, I was holding an Ukaku type long range cannon. The girl's head snapped up and her eyes landed on me, but they quickly flickered to Sosuke. A wave of shame washed over me at the relief that her sights were no longer on me.
"Not bad kid, but this ends now." Sosuke boasted. How he was so confident was beyond me.
But then something huge and red erupted from the Ghoul's lower back. Almost ten feet in length and almost two feet thick, the pulsing crimson mass writhed as if it had a life of it's own. It had odd spiked stripes encircling it and looked like some demonic cat tail. I let out an audible gasp as pure terror ran cold through my veins. Was this the Kagune? It didn't look anything like the Quniques we made from them.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Cheshire. I like the new mask, but to think an S-rated Ghoul could be cornered so easily." Sosuke taunted the monster. I really wished he wouldn't because I was certain we were not going to survive the night.
"S-S-Rated..?" I stammered, several drops of sweat running down my neck. What were we doing here?! S-Rated Ghouls are usually handled by a team of senior Investigators. And even then, sometimes the higher ranks couldn't handle them! We are going to be eaten!
"Yes, but barely. She's nothing but a corpse stealer." Sosuke sneered mostly to the Ghoul. Corpse stealer? Like she takes already dead people to eat?
The Ghoul must have taken offense because she got into a crouch and let out a low growl that made my hair stand on end. What part of hell had this demon crawled out of? I glanced over at Sosuke, hoping to tell him without words that we needed to retreat. It was no use though, as his eyes were locked on the beast, bloodlust written on his face.
"Stay back and watch Fukui. It's time to put this rabid animal down." He said, never taking his gaze from the girl.
They stared at each other for a moment before the Ghoul's eyes suddenly darted to me. Sosuke charged in that moment and I wanted to call out and tell him that it was a trap, but I felt as if I'd been petrified by the girl's gaze. As I expected, she rolled out of the way of Sosuke's strike and his ax sunk harmlessly into the pavement. Before I could even blink, the Ghoul smacked Sosuke with her massive Kagune and sent him flying. I watched in horror as he smashed through a storefront and shattered glass flew everywhere.
The monster flicked the blood off her tail in a disgusted sort of way and finally turned towards me. I need to fight! I need to do something! But I was shaking so hard I could barely hold the Quninque. I was going to die. I was going to be murdered and never see my family again. This thing is going to kill me and eat me. There was no one to save me this time. I was the last one standing. We stood there in tortured silence, each one unable to take their eyes off the other.
"We're done here." The Ghoul said, shaking her head. My mind went numb and I wasn't sure I had heard her properly.
"W-what?" I asked my throat suddenly dry. I was talking to it.
"You're not worth my time. I'm done playing with you." She said slowly as if she thought I was an idiot.
I watched, flabbergasted as she turned away and her Kagune began to dissipate into a red mist. She's letting me go? Was this some kind of trick? But she was starting to walk away. I was going to live. I had escaped death and I was so grateful that I wasn't going to die. But I hated it. My comrades were lying beaten down around me and I was happy I hadn't had to fight the Ghoul. I felt unbelievably disgusted with myself. If I didn't act, if I didn't at least try to fight this monster I would hate myself.
Before I could think better of it, with unsteady hands I aimed the cannon at the girl. My finger hovered over the trigger hesitantly. If I missed I was as good as dead, this weapon was bad at close quarters. But then I thought of my family and the fact that if I let this thing live, it might kill them one day. And then I made the shot.
To my undying horror, the glowing red bullet missed her head by an inch and embedded itself into the building across the street. The Ghoul didn't miss a beat and whipped around, rage scrawled on her face. She sprung up ten feet into the air and landed on me. I was forced into the rough asphalt and my tail bone stung like crazy from the impact. She was sitting right on my chest, her eyes blazing with anger. In a panic, I struggled in an attempt to get out from under her but she grabbed my arms and forced them down.
"Fool." She hissed, so close that I could feel her breath on my face. Adrenaline burned through my body again and I started to fight her again. The monster's response was to tighten her grip on my arms until it became painful enough that I let out an involuntary wail.
"L-let go! Get off me y-you beast!" I yelled at the Ghoul and her expression darkened.
"I was willing to walk away, but clearly you have a death wish." She whispered venomously, leaning down so that her mouth was next to my ear.
She began to dig her sharp nails into my wrists and I felt hot tears leak out of my eyes. I could feel her heavy breaths on my neck, her teeth inches from where my jugular vein was. I held back a sob. Oh God, no. I was definitely going to be eaten. I picture my corpse, it's innards spilled across the ground and the Ghoul licking my blood off her fingers. She opened her jaws ready to bite into my soft flesh.
"Wait! P-please I have a family! I need to t-take care of them!" I cried out desperately. I pictured my parents and little brother. The tears were falling in earnest now. What would happen to them if I died? Who would make sure they had enough money to live?
To my surprise, the girl leaned back and looked me in the face. Her Ghoul eyes were like black holes, devoid of emotion.
"Did you ever consider that I had a family when you attacked me? No, I know you didn't. So if you don't care about the people I might leave behind, why should I care about the people you would leave behind?" She spat her Kakugan eyes igniting with rage once more.
I stared at her uncomprehendingly. Was she trying to say that she had a family? Did Ghouls care about their families? No that wasn't possible, they were just man eating monstrosities. Weren't they? I tried to respond in some way, but I couldn't. Suddenly her head shot up and she tilted it to the side as if listening to something.
"You're a lucky bastard today, Glasses." She growled and got off of me.
I laid there completely shocked as she ran off into the night. I don't know how long I stayed on the ground before I shakily pushed myself into a sitting position. I put a hand to my chest to make sure that my heart was still beating. How had I come face to face with an S-Rated Ghoul and only suffered some cuts and bruises?
In the distance I heard the sounds of police sirens. That must have been why she ran, there was back up on the way. I suddenly realized how much trouble we could be in for going out without a senior Investigator. As the police grew closer, I managed to stand up. My lower back really hurt now that the adrenaline was wearing off, but I pushed the pain away and moved to where Ren was sprawled out on the ground.
He still had a pulse but there was a small pool of sticky red blood leaking from the back of his head. I did the same with Shigeo and he was also alive and even groaned. Sosuke was another problem though. I couldn't find any safe way into the store to check on him with the shards of glass sticking up everywhere.
Moments later, the police cars pulled up and several Investigators jumped out and came running. They all wore high quality suits and carried briefcases. At the head of the pack was a striking woman with crop cut silver hair. She was a good two inches taller than me with shining blue eyes and her skin was a light shade of brown. She pulled out an Investigator bag and flashed it at me.
"I am First Class Maiko Okubo. You there, boy! What is your name and rank?" She ordered.
"K-Keiji Fukui Rank 2 ma'am!" I responded nervously.
She stopped in front of me, but the other Investigators continued past us and began examining the scene and looking over my squad members. The woman let out an exasperated sigh.
"So you're the new greenhorn on my team. What happened here?" She demanded.
"W-we went to a nearby apartment complex to question an elderly lady on a possible Ghoul sighting. She told us that she thought she had seen someone acting suspiciously nearby. We went to investigate and we were attacked by a Ghoul. S-sosuke seemed to have recognized her as a Ghoul called Cheshire…" I reported trying to keep my voice steady.
"Cheshire?! She was here? She's an S-Rated Ghoul! What were you thinking?" Maiko sputtered.
"W-we d-didn't think it was really a Ghoul…" I stammered.
"What a disaster…" She muttered, and I had to agree.
I wondered what would happen to us now. We had gone out into the field without a senior Investigator and battled an S-Rated Ghoul. No one had died but surely we would lose our jobs. I looked up to the cloudy sky and let out a long groan. My first day might just be my last.
Thanks for the support so far! Just in case you were wondering the story takes place around after Kaneki destroyed the Ghoul restaurant so for you anime watchers, post-torture. And I'm basing it around events that happened in the manga, but if you only watched the anime it should still be easy enough to follow. I love feed back -Pogokitten