Hide's heart pounded, slamming against the walls of his chest with such intensity that he were sure it would break a rib. He tried to ignore it, concentrate only on putting one foot in front of the other.

But each time his sneakers scraped the pavement, the blonde was sure it was the sound of a pursuer. He threw a glance over his shoulder, hands tucked in his hoodie pockets. His fingers felt the geometrical object that was wrapped in smooth paper and taped closed, merely to prevent the meat from spoiling. He'd just stopped at Anteiku to grab some 'food' for Kaneki before narrowly deciding to take a short-cut home. And quickly regretted it.

Breathe skittering, he fought to keep calm. The shadows seemed to dance on the brick walls of the alleyway, forming creatures Hide dared not look in the face.
Every cell vibrated beneath his skin as he pulled his eyes in front of him. Everything sounded wrong.

The wail of a siren far off, the pebbles beneath his feet getting thrown together, the terrifying sound of dragging boots grating into the pavement right behind him.
He felt like running to get out of this alley, out of the dark.

Hide knew someone was following him.

A tear-track of sweat slid behind his ear, though he was almost positive that it was the caress of death.
The drummer in his chest pounded out a melody in his ear, more random and crazy than the normal song.
He demanded that it slow, but it didn't. Hide couldn't help it. He was terrified.

"Peek-a-Boo!"

A voice suddenly appears.

And then that's when he was flung back against the dark corridor, full force. A weird feeling settled in his gut before it lolled around his entrails and fixated itself into his abdomen. Then there's a large abundant of pain. The sudden sound of squelching notions that something's been impaled through tightened flesh. It was none other than a ghoul. It had to be. And whatever the attacker was holding him against the wall with was stuck in his stomach to keep him pinned against the bricked cement.

His feet kick thin air and at that moment the blonde realizes he can't touch the ground. Ragged breathes tear anxiously at his lungs from the intensity of the sudden blow. "Agh.."

A metallic taste rose up his throat and out came an immeasurable amount of blood. A ruby river. Meanwhile, crimson liquid pulsated out of a gaping hole in his abdomen. In a matter of seconds, Hide realizes that it's the ghoul's kagune keeping him in place.

And the red kept coming, soaking into his hoodie. His eyes shoot up to be met with red pupils and blackened sclera; it was a male. He had slicked back brown hair. Hide has never seen him before.

"Gck!" Hide's body responds by getting rid of extra blood through the route of his esophagus.

The stranger retracted his kagune, the carnivorous organ flashing in the evening sunset, sharp and needle-like. Hide falls before taking a painful kick to the head that sends him rolling quite a distance. He stops at a patch of cobblestone pavement, twitching as he fought to open his eyes. A burning settles on his cheek, scratched up from scraping against the cement.

K-Kaneki.. Where...

The ghoul only smirks over at Hide's body, sliding his tongue over muted lips with predatory allure. "You look nice. Whatever is in your pocket attracted me here. But it's not that I'm interested in.."

The stranger waltzes over, heels of his shoes clicking against the grey pavement. A shoe kicks Hide in the ribs. Not very hard. More like a nudge. Through slitted eyes, the tow-haired boy can make out red boots that shade to black on the toes. A distant part of Hide thinks the color is called oxblood.

And then the ghoul seizes a handful of Hide's hair, hoisting him off the ground. He grunts. It feels almost as if he's being scalped by the force of gravity, every ounce of his weight contributing to his agony.

"The scent you're giving off is.. palatable.."

The blonde's only response is a choked gurgle. It hurts. And then the man tilts his head back, jaws unhinging widely, abnormally. The blonde wants to slam his eyes shut, but doesn't.

Yellow teeth part and sink into the soft flesh of Hide's collarbone.

At first there was no pain at all. His body had gone into shock right away. Sooner than wanted, a dull throbbing begins at the wound site, just as the ghoul pulls away from the enormous chunk of tissue pumping blood out of the maim.

Hide doesn't react. His flight instincts aren't kicking in.

And then it's excruciating. The feeling is unbearable. The world seems to be in hyper drive as adrenaline pulsates through his veins with loud booms, every sound magnified to a countless number. He couldn't breathe, vision clouding.

There are colored shapes flashing above the boy's face as the attacker stares at him with cold-blooded eyes, not a flinch of guilt flushing in them. Hide swears he could almost see the twisted pleasure radiating off of the ghoul's skin.

The pain is making him gasp and heave for the oxygen that his lungs could not seem to catch. It seems that time had slowed down to a snails pace.

That's when everything goes black and silent.

Hide wakes up.
But wake up isn't quite right. That implies sleeping. A bed. A pillow.
He comes to.

Instead of a pillow, his right cheek is pressed against something hard, rough, and gritty. A damp ongoing slab on concrete. Was he inside a house somewhere? No, concrete isn't inside of a home. There's a wet prickling feeling dancing on his exposed skin. He's outside.

It's drizzling. And dark.

The light-haired stripling's mouth catches a taste similar to old pennies. Blood. With his eyes still closed, he gently touches the back of his teeth with a swollen tongue. One of them feels loose; the inside of his mouth was shredded and sore. His head aches. It feels as if explosions had been set off in his mind, supernovae pain echoing off the boundaries of pale skull. There's also a faint buzzing in one ear.

His clavicle burns. The pain is sharp and red. Hurts like hell.

Consciousness was slow in returning to him, but when it did, the repercussion was combustible.

"HIDE!"

A voice called his name. No. Was it even his name?.. He can't remember. It was muffled. Sorta like the stranger were talking into a feathery pillow. Were they talking to him? No, not talking. The person was screaming. Male. The voice sounded familiar, but distant.

"I can't stop the bleeding," Another voice chimes in. Female. It sounds close of association, too, but extrasolar all the same.

Disoriented for a moment by the combined strain of a serious injury-induced migraine and the darkness that surrounded Hide, it took him a minute to make out the outline of two figures kneeling over him. With a great deal of strength, he manages to open his eyes to slits.

The pounding in the flaxen-maned boy's head quelled just enough to restore his vision back to normal for a second. He saw the full moon above him flanked by a scintillating arsenal of stars. But even keeping his eyelids open sapped to much energy from him. Letting his eyes fall shut again, the male grants himself permission to slip into the comforting arms of darkness once again.

Hide slowly lifted his heavy eyelids and the suddenly sharp smell of anti-bacterial cleaner filled his nose, tingling the weary sinus. His mouth was dry, head aching; the brightness of the room automatically assaulted the boy's eyes.

And then the pain hits him like a full-forced jackhammer.

It feels like he's unable to move. Not even his tongue. It was either he had no tongue or it was in a plaster cast. Or neither.

He was laying down, in a bed it seemed, and the space was pellucid. Light from a window reflected off the sterile white walls, causing the teen to squint. He felt like he'd slept for years, but was somehow still tired.

The slow beeping of a machine reaches his ringing ears after a few moments. Gathering a large abundance of strength, he manages to slowly turn his head towards the source of the noise, the muscles in his neck stiff and sore.

It was a machine? Where was he exactly? Tilting his chin down to look at his hand, he finds a bandage over an IV in the pastel limb. Hide's vision is blurring in and out, and it's taking a robust amount of vivacity to keep himself from falling back asleep. Then there's the sound of footsteps. The door opens and a short woman walks in.

She's wearing a pure white scrub. Why was everything white here? Did they want to blind him?

There's a small smile on her face, nice and sweet. Her voice is soft and unadulterated, making Hide's ability to stay awake falter terribly.

"I see you're awake?" She walks over and grabs his arm, checking the IV and making sure the fluid is still running correctly.

Hide remains tight-lipped.

The nurse grabs a compact remote from a shelf, clicking one of the buttons with her small thumb. Automatically, the bed he's been laying in repositions itself so he's sitting up somewhat.

Setting the clicker down, the physician's assistant flashes a white grin at him. He twitches. "Your friends visited today. There was around 4 of them. Didn't quite catch their names though. Sorry about that. I really don't..-"

She stops talking.

Actually, she hadn't. Hide had just lost his grasp on consciousness again.

It feels like he's floating at the bottom of a pond. It's warm. Nice.

Hide doesn't want to leave.

Voices can just barely be heard; it was as if they were obstructed in some way, muted.

But, against his will, he begins to near the surface automatically. Golden bubbles materialize around him as he breaks the water's exterior.

Bright light.

Hide can't help but think of how he's tired of lights.

There's the same beeping noise echoing in his brain and for a moment it sounds like a hallucination. But then his mind clears up and it sounds close.

He twitches, and eyes open, half-lidded.

Vision obscuring in and out, the organs can make out the delineation of.. a person? No... Three.

Two females, one shorter than the other. A kid maybe? And a white-haired male.

They all are looking out the window on the other side of the room.

"Hng.."

A small groan escapes Hide's lips at the attempt to keep them open. Everything was throbbing.

And then the light-haired guy manages to pick up the light sigh, head snapping his way.

Immediately, the boy's face lights up, and it looks like there's tears in his eyes as he scrambles over to the bed side. He takes Hide's wrist in his palm, trembling.

"H-Hide! Thank God!"

The two girl's heads swivel in his direction and they too run over, grins of relief written on their countenances. It almost makes Hide flinch.

"Onii-chan!" The brown-haired youngster cries, throwing her arms onto his legs and shaking them with soft hands.

"Calm down, Hinami. Don't startle him." There comes the voice of the lavender-haired girl. It's calm and smooth, but how she's gripping the bedside's railing so tight that her knuckles are white proves otherwise. There's consolation in her gaze.

Hide gives a small convulse, blinking slowly.

Then his voice, raw and unrecognizable even to himself, squeezes its way past a jaded larynx.

"..Who are you?"

OH NOOOO, HIDE LOST HIS MEMORY.

Yup, that's right.

I wanted to take a different turn with this.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I had to retype this twice because my dumb computer didn't save it. ;A;

Again, THERE MAY BE TYPOS! Please ignore them!

Thank you for your support, favorites, follows, and not to mention reviews! It brightens my day!

Thanks for reading!~