After what felt like hours, Kaneki's kagune retruded into the small of his back. And he stood up, still dizzy. He laughed bitterly to himself, who would have thought that it was his own insanity that would keep him from ending himself.

Kaneki looked around. He couldn't see the exit to the forest, just trees in every direction. For the first time since getting here he wondered, Where am I?

Then a smell hit him like a wall. Blood, flesh. It was coming from everywhere in the forest. Kaneki's stomach rumbled in anticipation, but his mind panicked. Who was there? Was it the CCG? Was it whoever was left from Aogiri? Before he knew it, Kaneki was in a defensive stance, prepared to fight whoever or whatever was there.

But then he realized something. The smell didn't come from living humans. In fact the entire forest smelled like blood and decay. Kaneki wasn't sure whether he had preferred thinking that there were people here to kill him or not. It must be a suicide forest of some kind, though it didn't look like it was the one at mount Fuji in Japan. The tree species look unfamiliar and the animals weren't like anything he had seen in Japan either. Am I in… America?

Letting his hunger control him for the time being, he followed his nose to a not-so-decayed body deep in the forest. His stomach growled in sick anticipation spurred on by his need to heal his injuries. Blood was still flowing from his open wound- a wound which, up until now, he had forgotten about.

He finally reached whoever it was he had been walking towards. It was a male teenager, seventeen at the oldest. The boy had brown hair and still open green eyes. He had hung himself from a tree. Kaneki felt a pang of both guilt and sadness. He felt that he didn't have the right to judge, but this kid had his whole life ahead of him. Years for it to get better, years for him to find happiness. He knew that it didn't always get better right away, or at all, but if there was even a chance that it could, isn't it worth fighting for?

Wow Kaneki, he thought to himself bitterly, aren't you just the hypocrite today.

Kaneki cut the boy down with his kagune and caught him in his arms then closed the poor boy's eyes. He took off the boy's clothes and put them on himself. The one thing he knew was that if he ever got out of this forest, he couldn't go walking around in a ripped, black, jumpsuit with blood staining the front.

It didn't make him happy to do this to the boy, but Kaneki would do what he had to. He has decided that he would live.

"I'm sorry." Kaneki whispered as he bit into the shoulder of the dead boy.

Three months later…

An alarm ripped Kaneki from an unsatisfying sleep. He looked at his clock; it was five in the morning. Still tired, Kaneki rolled out of bed to get ready for work. He had managed to find a nice job in a bookstore and café about a week after he arrived in the Catskill mountains of New York state; in this strange new world. A world without ghouls.

Kaneki had searched everywhere for a sign of ghouls, but there were none to be found. There was only inaccurate mythos on the topic. It felt relieving, in a way, but it also felt lonely. There was no one he could be himself around; no one who could understand him. He was the only one of his kind in this world. Though it also meant no more wars between two wards of ghouls, or between ghouls and the CCG. There was no CCG at all. Kaneki may still have to hide his true nature, but he didn't have to run anymore.

He had finally gotten a chance to start over in a new life.

That doesn't mean he has forgotten about the old one.

Kaneki hadn't moved far from the forest he had shown up in, if only because it was a safe food source. Luckily, there was a small town nearby that had been very welcoming to the white haired, black-nailed, slightly bloody, japanese stranger who had appeared from the suicide forest. He had told them that he had been robbed of his car and things when he was going for a hike not too far from here, though admittedly it was in broken english. They believed him. From there it was only the matter of setting up a false identity and getting a job. Both were surprisingly easy tasks.

Kaneki grabbed the keys to his cheap apartment and headed out, but not before slipping his medical eye patch on and stuffing his creepy mask into his bag. It was a habit, but a habit he refused to break. He brought his mask with him everywhere. Just in case.

The cool spring wind bit at his skin as he left his apartment. His green sweatshirt didn't seem to give his much protection. The sky was still dark, but you could see the stars like you never could in a city.

The road he walked on was completely empty. The buildings around him were still dark and the trees that surrounded the town swayed at the sudden gust of wind. Kaneki stopped when he realized he was at work.

The building was a decent size with large windows coming out in a half-hexagonal shape on either side of the navy door. The building itself was a mix of worn red and black bricks and white trim, making the building look old. It was two stories tall, both of which were filled with books.

Taking out his keys, Kaneki unlocked the front door. A brass bell rang, signalling his entrance. The front door opened to a large space with worn hardwood floors and cream walls. On the left wall was a old wooden bar where they served drinks and small baked goods. Across from the door were seats and tables, the same could be said for by the windows. And to the right was where the ocean of books began. Even more were upstairs. There were more books here than could ever be read by one person. That didn't mean Kaneki wouldn't try.

Kaneki changed into his uniform and slowly began to open up shop. He cleaned the windows, dusted, and started the oven for the muffins and cookies they sold. By then two other people had shown up to help out on the other chores. Then at seven, they opened up shop. Just in time for the breakfast crowd.

~Small Time Skip~

By the time lunch rolled around, the place was packed. Well, at least to its standards. It was a small town. Almost every seat in the front room was taken and there were several people browsing the books. It made Kaneki happy to see the store doing so well.

The owner was a small old lady who had lived in this town her entire life. Kaneki had never met a nicer or more understanding person in his life, except for maybe Hide. Kaneki wondered how his family was doing…

"Excuse me," said a voice, cutting through his thoughts. In front of him stood a tall, red headed woman. She looked like she was in her mid twenties, but if Kaneki had to guess, she was thirty. Not only that, but she looked fit and strong, especially for a human. The woman wore a brown leather jacket, zipped up halfway, over a black t-shirt with tight blue jeans. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm sorry. I must of spaced out a bit. What would you like Miss?" Kaneki said with a nervous smile. Kaneki had been stuck with bar duty today, and most days. According to the owner, it was because the coffee he made was amazing.

The woman sat down at the bar. "I'll have a coffee and one of those blueberry muffins." She said it kindly, but it didn't take much to tell it was forced. He didn't blame her though, he had been staring.

Kaneki grabbed the food and coffee, then gave it to the woman. "That will be five fifty."

She reached into her bag and gave him the exact amount of money, no tip. Maybe she was a little mad. However, she continued to sit at the bar.

Kaneki went to help out another customer, putting on a bright smile, but he felt the woman's eyes on the back of his head. Yet every time Kaneki looked over at her, she had her nose in a book. She was making him nervous, like she knew something about him he didn't want her to know. Her gaze made him feel exposed.

"I haven't seen you before, do you live here?" he asked to her once there was no one else who needed to be helped. The one advantage of living in a small town was that you knew, or could at least recognise everyone who lived there. She was not one of those people.

"No," she smiled, looking up from her book. "But I have a relative who lives here. I visit every so often. It really is a pretty place don't you think?"

"Yes, it is truly beautiful in the spring."

"Now that you mention it though, I haven't seen you here before."

Kaneki smiled politely. "I just moved here a few months ago."

She raised an eyebrow. "You mind me asking why? It's not like there is a lot to do in this small town."

Kaneki sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess you could say I ended up here on accident. I did one of those stupid 'soul searching' journeys. The kind where you sell everything you own and travel to new places with only the stuff you could carry on you. Now that I look back on it, it was pretty stupid. I had been in America for a week when my car with all of my stuff in it was stolen. I wandered here and ended up staying, since I had no better place to go." Kaneki recited his made up story for what seemed to be the thousandth time.

She laughed lightly. "Where did you live before?"

"Tokyo."

"Really? I've never been. What's it like?" she asked.

"It was completely different from here. Noisy, smelly; there were too many people packed into not enough space. The people were mean and it was always bright out even at night due to all of the lights. It was like any other city. If you ask me, here is much nicer."

Her smile became softer.

"Kaneki, the coffee maker is broken again," yelled one of his co-workers.

"I'll be there in a second," called Kaneki over his shoulder. Then her turned back to the woman. "It was a pleasure talking with you miss…"

"Just Natalie is fine."

"Nice to meet you Natalie. I'm Kaneki." He gave her a friendly smile, not faked in the slightest. "I hope to see you around."

Kaneki started to walk off.

"Wait!" she said. Kaneki turned to look at her, confused. "What time do you get off work?"

Kaneki blushed a bright red. "I, uh, w-why do you ask?"

Natalie blushed slightly. "I was wondering if you wanted to get a drink or something with me."

"Uh, I-"

"I mean you don't have too, I am a complete stranger and not to mention, I'm probably way older than you. You seem super nice too, I'm probably not your type-"

"Well, I… I would but I'm, uh, kind of... gay... so… if-if you are asking me on a date of some sort…" Kaneki looked away, but he could still see the slightly shocked expression on her face.

"Oh. Oh! I'm, um, sorry," she said. Then quickly, "I mean for bothering you, not for you being gay… that came out wrong… I mean-" she sighed and put her head in her hands.

Kaneki laughed lightly. "If you still want, I could grab a drink with you, maybe as a potential friend?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun." Natalie sounded relieved.

"I get off at four."