Why did people need to socialise?
It's a curious question that our protagonists don't really think about. They just do it anyway, even if they like to be on their own more that hang out with friends. But, the question is still there, it still hangs in the air but is mostly left unanswered.
Humans, and ghouls, are pack animals. They live for another and not to be on their own. If they can't find a pack, then they make their own with other like-minded people. Humans and ghouls aren't solitary creatures, they can't function properly on their own, for other people give them a purpose. Humans have developed so much to help them with this, creating inventions, like the internet, to help connect people with each other. They've also created organisations to help people with similar ideas, thoughts and views in life achieve what they want from life. Ghouls are different when it comes to what the humans have made, some pretend to be them, copying them and what they do in life. Some, however, do not agree with this and create their organisations for ghouls that have the same thoughts as they do when it came to humans. They live underneath the cities of the world and in the alleyways and the shadows, ready to pounce on its prey.
But where do the half-ghouls, something that people have yet to believe exist, go? Do they join the humans, where they are called monsters, or do they join the ghouls, who look down on them for their heritage?
Jump. Dodge. Duck. Look for an opening. Dodge again. Jump. Take that opening. Jab and swipe. Missed. Roll. Look for a new opening. Duck. Run. Jump. Take this opening. Hit, and it wasn't on his opponent.
"Well done Kaneki, you lasted longer than before." The said child was now laying on the ground, panting. It was another Saturday, another day to see his friend, another day to learn and another day to get bruises. He looked up towards the sky, a bright blue that almost hurt the eyes and light fluffy clouds. Peaceful and kin, something that doesn't belong in this world.
"I hate to tell you this Eto but that wasn't too long." The black haired boy retorted back, not needed to look at his green friend to know that she was shaking her head.
"And I'm going to keep telling you this, while I'm not the most powerful ghoul according to the CCG, but I know that I'm above an A rating, so the fact that you can fight me for about 3 minutes at your age and lack of CCG training really shows how much you've improved." She replied, sitting on the floor and playing with her new dress. It was a plain red, going down to her knees and a low cut revealing her developing breasts and showing off her back. One of her eyes were black, like the day that they met, but it slowly faded away to her original grey colour. "You could take down any ghoul that was B rated or below, maybe even a rank A if you surprise them or catch them off guard."
She sat down next to her human friend, the nearby trees started to wave along with the small rustle of leaves as they blocked the sunlight. It was summer and the sun was shining onto everything that it could get its hands on. It looked so happy, like something from a story that had a happy ending. Smiling, the green haired ghoul picked up her notebook, now getting older and looking more like her mother's diary, and pen and started to write a bit more, or at least, tried to. The story right now was taking an interesting turn, but right now she had his a bit of writers block. She had no idea of where to bring the story, and her human friend was no help.
After 10 minutes of doing nothing, the elder female sighed and closed her book, laying down on the ground and joining her black haired friend.
"How's your story coming along?" He asked, not looking at her. His face wasn't happy, but, was content the right word? In her eyes, no one really feels any happiness, and if they do, then they're living in an illusion. She sighed and looked up at the sky. Nothing was in the way from seeing the blue sky and the sun except maybe a cloud or two.
"It's not going anywhere at the moment." She replied in one word. Her friend nodded, knowing from the way that her pen didn't move across the page. He turned to go onto his stomach and face his friend. Her face looked dreamy as if she was thinking deep about something. She had been like this since she had found her father, or maybe it was the diary, the black haired child wasn't sure. Something about her had change, but maybe that was just him noticing that they were growing up and that they weren't innocent children learning to read.
Things were changing in the world, but the black-haired child felt like he was being left behind.
The black haired child was on his way home, taking a shortcut through an alleyway, when he first noticed the investigators.
They were non-script of nature, wearing long trench coats and holding the all too noticeable briefcase that served as a weapon. To any normal human, they would simply blend into the background and be ignored, but to a ghoul, it was a signal to run and hide underneath a rock for the next few days. The human grabbed hold of the knives in his pocket, put his hood up and head down. Luckily for him it was relatively cold for a summer's night so he didn't look to suspicious wearing a jumper. He was about to go on his way when he heard one of them talking.
"What do you mean you lost the runts?" The boy stopped and crouched into the shadows. They were looking for ghouls, children ghouls. Better not let them see him then, because the knives might make them think something else.
"It's not my fault! They're definitely ukakus with the speed they were running, which means they're close, so let's keep looking." They then wandered off, leaving the alleyway and talking about their plans for after work.
"You think they're gone yet?" The black-haired child turned around to look deeper into the alleyway. It was hard to make out but there was two children crouching behind some bins. It was hard to make out, but he was pretty sure that they were just younger than him, with dark hair in bobs.
"Shut up Ayato! They might not be gone yet!" The other one said to who he presumed was Ayato. He heard some footsteps from where the investigators when to, making the black haired boy do something very rash. He ran across the alleyway, grabbing the two children and taking them deeper into the passage, making his footsteps as quiet as possible to make up for the stumbling the other two was making. They came across another bin, of which the human shoved them behind, quickly ducking behind himself before the investigators saw.
"Are you sure that you heard them? There's no one here!" One of the two investigators remarked. The two children looked hat the black haired boy, but it was hard to tell what emotion they were portraying in the darkness.
"I'm very certain, and this was, they would have to go past us to get out of here." The other investigators voice echoed between the closely build walls, and the two ghouls next to the black haired human seemed to shake in fear. The human shook his head and began to think. Now, his green haired friend only taught him to fight against ghoul, thinking that he would have no need to fight those of his kind. After making sure his hoodie would stay up when making sudden moves, he made his move.
He picked up a handful of small stones, and lobbed them down the alleyway. With their backs turned towards them, the black haired child silently crept up towards them and attacked.
He kicked one of them in the back, making them hit their head on the pavement as they fell, causing them to become unconscious. The second one turned to face the hooded human, reading his weapon, which turned out to be two short whips.
Jump. Dodge. Duck. Look for an opening. Dodge again. Jump. Don't let them hit you, you won't heal as fast as a ghoul and they'll find out you're human. Jab and swipe, just like his green haired friend had taught him. He didn't dare look back towards the two children, least the investigator finds out about them. He took some hits, one ripping his jumper and another just above his eye. Throughout most of the fight, the human child stayed in the defensive, like he always does when he fought with his friend, but, with some luck, he was able to get one of the whips stuck around a metal pipe, giving him the opportunity to cut it clean with one of his knives. The investigator wasn't too happy about that, and started to make comments about how cocky the 'ghoul' was for using investigators weapons and not even using his own. But because of his anger, he was leaving more openings to be scratched by the boy's knifes until the black haired human was able to use the handle of the knives to hit the investigator in the head, knocking him unconscious.
"That was awesome!" The human turned around to look at the younger ghouls. Both was now out from the hiding place and held eyes full of wonder towards him. Now that he could get a closer look at them in the light, he saw that the female was obviously older than the other and had indigo hair while the younger, the one probably named Ayato, had blue.
"Why did you do that? You're human, yet you're fighting against your own kind and help us instead. Why?" The black haired human took down his hood, revealing his face to the younger children. He sighed and picked up the whip that wasn't broken, rolling it up and putting it into his hoddie pocket, leaving the one that he sliced in two for the investigator to find.
"I've got a friend, one that I've had for a good few years. She's also a ghoul, and she's the one who taught me to fight." He answered. "Do you two know where you're going to go?" The two ghouls looked at each other, having a silent conversation until the elder one answered.
"Papa said to go to a café, or something. He said that all of the workers are ghouls but he never told us where it was except that it was in this ward." The human nodded. They were talking about Anteku. The green haired half ghoul had said that she didn't want him going there without her, but the black haired child thought that getting these two there would be more important than waiting for his friend to take him there.
"I know where it is, do you want me to take you guys there?" he asked. The two ghouls seemed reluctant at first, but quickly came around and let him lead the way.
It was very dark now, and the black haired boy was glad that he left his window open back at home for instances like these, knowing that his aunt would never open the door to him at this time of night, saying that he should have come in earlier. 20th wards wasn't too busy that night, for it was a work day tomorrow so that meant that getting a good night sleep was important if you wanted to do a lot of work the next day. The two children following him kept very close to his side, making it look like to any passer-by that they were siblings that were on their way home.
"Why aren't we staying away from other people?" The indigo haired child asked. The black haired boy smiled at her, and watched as the younger male looked around with wonder and awe.
"A few reasons. One, it looks suspicious if we were to take backstreets making people more likely to report us. Two, while this is a passive ward, there is still hunting ground to be claimed and there is some tension between some of the ghouls right now, which means that they're more likely to attack any passer-byers." He replied to the female ghoul. Up ahead Anteku, and it seems that there was still people inside.
He stopped across the street, but he pointed it out for the other children.
"You not coming with us?" The black-haired child shook his head, smiling bitterly.
"It wouldn't be good for me to become too involved." He muttered sadly. The younger ghouls looked at each other in confusion, but let it slide. They already knew that humans were weird. Carefully, the children crossed the street and knocked on the back door of the café, their call quickly answered by a white-haired employer.
The black-haired human walked down the street, wondering where the nearest sink was where he could clean his face and knifes. As he walked past a bin, he wiped his face to clear the blood from the cut on his face with his ripped jumper, then chucked the now bloody rags into the trash, knowing it was far enough from the ally for it not to be found by the Doves.
Summer would be over soon, but the black-haired child felt as if there was going to be a bigger change than the transition of seasons.
A.N. This is actually more popular than I thought it would be. Sorry for not updating sooner, but you can expect a new chapter before New Year. Happy Holidays!