Falling into the Darkness
There is a beginning to everything.
Is there?
Cold arms wrapped her into a kind embrace. The slow, yet hard beating of the heart could be heard clearly from their close distance. It was so erratic, as if it were going to burst. Warm tears slid down her shoulder, the stifled cries made as soft as possible. She stood there like stone. Still in uniform, her friend looked up to face the expressionless girl. Bright red eyes reflected from the cloudy hazel ones, like magma. Her friend's soft, short coral hair tickled her face as their foreheads leaned against each other.
"Mi-Miharu-chan... I'm so scared...I don't..." Despite the usual depictions of how ferious her race was, there was one, breaking down in a well of emotions at the fear of: death. She maintained her beautiful form despite the swelling of her eyes and tear-stained face. The CCG had issued a raid in Kyoto district, where the young ghoul was residing at. Sadly, her friend was a CCG member, the one right in front of her. And she knew well. But, Miharu had her bare hands of the ghoul's back and head, comforting her with silent actions. There was no indication that she would pull out her gun or sword anytime soon.
"Irina. If it comes to it-"
"NO! I won't- I won't use my kagune...not on humans..." She muttered breathlessly.
"You're too nice, Irina. Kill them." Although it was Irina's eyes that radiated the want to kill, Miharu's venomous voice and heartless eyes were not of blood, but by will. Yes- a human wants fellow humans left dead on the street.
"And you're too cold, Miharu-chan." The other girl smiled bitterly. "You're one of them, and yet-"
"My intuition tells me a ghoul is around here..." The familiar voice of an old man rung out in the alleys. Mado. Beside him was his partner, Amon, fully equipped and ready for battle.
"An SS class, sir?" He questioned.
"Ahh...yes, perhaps."
The two girls darted their eyes to the direction of the approaching footsteps. Irina inhaled sharply as she felt the density of their hate towards her kind. They were running out of time.
"Miharu-chan, I'm scared, I'm scared but-" Purplish-blue flames grew from her back. It was an amazing sight- as if she were painted on a wide canvas. "If you must, make me your partner...even if my soul is gone."
"I'm sure you could use my kagune at its best." Another wry smile. "Kill me."
In that one second, the two older CCG members had arrived at the scene. With a seemingly stoned heart, Miharu drew her sword and in that one instant- it drove right through the heart of the ghoul. Irina dropped onto ground, wringing in pain and mixed emotions. The cemented ground was slowly stained by her blood that endlessly poured out of her chest.
"Mi... ... ha... ... ru... ..." She weakly held onto her friend's ankle, asking for attention. "I...still...love you...okay...?"
"Irina... you were the most noble person I have ever met. Thank you."
With that, her kagune was extracted as painlessly as possible. Mado looked on with utmost curiosity, Amon staring at the living girl with more suspicion than ever.
"This is mine." She eyed them with absolute hate. "I did my job, hypocrites. I did it."
In her mind, there was only the view of a beautiful girl who reminded her of the ocean, lying on the ground lifelessly as her expression was somehow serene.
The bullets were shot mercilessly at her targets. To her, it was just another game of tag, with the mere risk of death. It made things pumped up: the whirl of emotions involving both sides, their moral implementations, their view upon the world and venting their frustrations upon each other. No matter the entertainment, she did not want to be part of it. Instead, she killed for the fun. Well, she got to watch more entertaining things rather than sit in an office and rot away.
"Tokone! To your right, in the building on fire!"
With absolute skill, she hopped her way up the balcony, flinging a heavy kick on the ghoul who flipped to the ground below. Irina was handy in this situation, the several diamond-shaped bullets piercing his heart before stumbling onto the ground. What her friend said a month ago was true. She used the quinqe's abilities with absolute precision.
"Ahhh-AHHHhhhhHhHhHh!"
A bikaku wrapped a human and rose his body into the air. The closest CCG member around was of course, Miharu, but she just stood there and watched. He looked down at her in dismay, fear clearly written on his face. The man could only gulp when he saw the empty smile he was given from the child. In that instant, his body was harshly flung into the rows of buildings, completely smashed to smithereens. Not wanting to be next, Miharu finally made her move. Her sword made a clean cut through the enemy before skipping her way towards Amon.
"Amon, I'm dooooooneee."
He gave only a grunt as a reply, struggling to keep his heavy weapon in his hands and the ghoul's rinkaku rammed into his defences mercilessly, with barely any second in between. Wanting to watch how it would fold out, she sat herself on the nearest garbage bin, swinging her legs back and forth. A manic smile was etched on the ghoul's face as he saw Amon's exasperated expression, tackling him even harder. Miharu watched on with delight, as if watching a movie. The human growled in anger, impatience and pain. He pummelled his mace into the other's guts and flung him in the air, striking him face flat on the ground. No time was given for the ghoul to react. His head splattered open like a watermelon.
"You could've at least co-operated with me to take him down if you were so free and energetic..." He panted.
"Oh no, it would've spoilt the moment." She giggled, satisfied. "It was a great show."
Amon was always sceptical of her. Although she was skilled and extremely efficient in battle, she lacked the actual will to kill ghouls. Why was she here in the CCG? Was she merely here for the entertainment, or revenge? He didn't know. Maybe he didn't want to know. But what he definitely knew was that there never will be a chance for him to understand her fully.
Tokone Miharu was eccentric. In a way, she reminded him of Juzo. But, she came from a human family who brought her up properly. Heck, she was even the daughter of a researcher here. But, her views seemed twisted. From time to time, a twist of expressions comes up upon her face whenever anything logically un-based about ghouls was mentioned. To be honest, he thought she was...terrifying.
"Amon~ I got the documents from my dad~" She sung in a dainty voice.
He thanked her, flipping through them carefully till the last page. It was not something that was requested for, nor recognised in anyway.
"May I ask, what is the last document?"
"My thesis on ghoul behaviour." Miharu flashed him one of her ever-present smiles. "Enjoy."
The girl skipped away to Takizawa, who was known as the "Tokone Magnet" since she had an unnatural attachment to him. A frantic yelp was heard when she latched onto him like a leech, pulling him towards wherever in the world. But, a smile etched onto his face, barely seen as the two disappeared into the corridor.
Amon stared at her thesis. Research material was put inside, all sorts of unknown, mysterious images were also shown. The comparison of ghoul and human brains, including x-rays. An array of live ghoul testings and their results. Secret observations of SS class ghouls. These were new.
The man was hit by emotion. His mentor, Mado Kureo, had just passed away at the hands of ghouls. The eye-patched ghoul, who didn't want to kill and spared him mercy. He frowned, absolutely confused.
Miharu knew more than what anyone else did. What actually went on in the labs. What kind of people were working there. What true motives the facility holds. Amon knew that such secrets were slowly being leaked out by her. The way she'd stick to Takizawa even more recently, participate more actively in research than fights and even give him this...It was definetely a part of a bigger plan. Amon made it a note to keep an eye on the mysterious teenager.
"She's been missing for 3 months already..."
A mutter could be heard from Amon, who typed away furiously at his desk. She was not found at home, nor at the labs, nor at work. No where. The laboratories are now being investigated after she had leaked a majority of the experiments taking place. Even humans were used. There was a CCG officer who had unnatural strength who disapeared. He was found there, writhing in pain. The man had lost his arm, replaced by a kagune which ate at him slowly.
Could she be waiting for this moment? Most definitely. Maybe she had been hunted down by, who knows, the lab researchers.
"Are you talking about Captain Tokone Miharu?" Akira poked her head out from her desk.
"Yes... it is very concerning..." The bulky man's eyes cast down sadly. "I was never fond of her, but what she has done made a great impact on the CCG."
"Maybe she's out there having fun, being a criminal." Her cold voice clearly stated her views on the girl. "Intuition."
"There you go again, 2nd Rank Akira!" Takizawa shouted from across the room. "Miharu isn't going to leave like that!"
"But, it's realistic to think that way. Just remember her face while battling. She's far more worst than Juzo. She's crafty."
Takizawa pouted, turning away in a huff. Amon simply sighed at their interaction. But, what Akira had mentioned was true. Miharu was never an ordinary child. It wouldn't be surprising to see her up and about, killing ghouls without reason. Her disappearance is only the beginning of the doom that would happen. That, is what he knew better than anyone else.
Miharu was preparing for the day were she left that rotten building for good. There were people there who were interesting: Suzuya Juuzo was pretty cranky, Nagachika Hideyoshi was an upbeat yet mysterious, Koutorou Amon was pretty much a dense man and of course, Takizawa Seidou. She liked him for his earnest personality, and her time with him was enjoyable. Sometimes he reminded her of Irina.
It was not easy to leave such a world behind her back. As she stayed locked inside her test tube, her back tingled with the urge to kill. For now, these flashback may do her good. Her sanity was on the line. The brilliant scientist by the name of Akihiro Kanou smirked at her through the glass.
"How are you, my child?"
"Ready to snap your face off, you piece of shit."
He chuckled, satisfied at her healthy reaction. Tokone Miharu is the best ghoul he'd made so far, side-by-side with the boy, Kaneki Ken. Kanou continued his patrol, listening to the melodies of painful cries and incoherent screams of his lovely experiments.
Authors Notes: And that, was the brief outlines of Miharu's past. I do not intend to make her too OP, if that may concern you since she's one of Kanou's best (at that time period) and being part of the Aogiri faction.
Thank you for reading! R&R greatly appreciated.