(One last thing *POV indicates a change in point of view, however since part of the fun in my writing is for my reader to figure out whose pov they are in, I won't outright tell you who is whom.)
Chapter 4:Tokyo's Secret Flowerbed, Der Club des Domino
Shirazu paced outside of Urie's room. He had come back late last night and refused to tell him why. Normally he would have passed it off as Urie just being Urie, the guy has a lone wolf personality, but he reeked of blood and was fidgety. Urie was never fidgety. Even this morning Urie had shut himself up in his room and told Shirazu to "scram". He needed to know what was going on with him, as a squad leader and as a friend. Against his better judgement Shirazu had decided to follow Urie's scent from his walk on the day before. He needed answers and if Urie wasn't going to give them to him, he would have to find out himself.
The trail was as clear as could be expected for being a night old in Tokyo city. Although he wasn't the best tracker it wasn't to much trouble to go through for a teammate. Before long Shirazu detected a hint of something sweet mingling with Urie's scent. Had he been following something?
The street that he came out on sloped intersection directly across from a large, prestigious high school. Students bustled about the campus. "It's big enough to be a collage," he muttered, grinding his molars thoughtfully.
The school was a garden in the middle of a city, both literally and metaphorically, the air was permeated with the scents of greenery. Verdant tips of trees just peeked over the massive fence that enclosed the academy's perimeter. That slight sweetness had been coming from the building. That's weird. Is that flowers? At this time of year?
Urie's scent, however, deviated down a dingy side alley. Shirazu picked his way along the narrow space, trying to read out Urie's movements from the night before. He was still tracking something, only this time he seemed to be losing the caution he had before. Whoever Urie was following had seen him or figured out that they were being followed. His was becoming markedly easier to keep track of.
The alley ended abruptly. There was a building that overhang a dumpster area, turning off to the left in an "L" shape. It was a trap, a dead end, an ambush, it had to be, that was why Urie smelled like blood. He had gotten into a fight with someone.
The smell was the first thing, aside from the general shape of the alley, that Shirazu noticed. The trash hadn't been removed for sometime apparently. There was something underneath the unpleasant odor that caused his stomach to turn. The kagune implanted in his shoulder throbbed slightly, painfully. It was the smell of a corpse. Dread sunk into his throat. He pushed the dumpster aside.
As a ghoul investigator he was used to seeing horrible things. Had any of the students or workers in the near by offices found this they might have passed out, or worse. Shirazu had worked with Urie long enough to recognize damage done by his kagune. Long deep gash marks zigzagged up the walls and across the floor of the alleyway, pooling the crusting blood slightly. The corpse seemed to belong a ghoul, the damage of another kagune at the scene gave it away. There were no other scents in this alcove that would be recent enough. Urie clearly had been the one to kill it, but that wasn't what bothered him. The body had been cannibalized, pretty extremely, as there was hardly any of it left. A nearly one sided struggle was evident from the lack of the other kagune's damage on the walls and ripped up asphalt. Someone had also tried, if only futilely, to clean up the crime scene.
Why didn't Urie call this in? He couldn't have done this, right? Urie...Urie would kill a ghoul sure but...but to eat one that's...that's just… Shirazu thought back to the battle with Serpent. Urie had been willing to bite into his own arm for the momentary boost to his power. They had needed it to defeat Serpent at the time. Although Sasaki had come to their rescue. Urie hadn't hesitated then, didn't even seem to consider that what he was doing was wrong. He could, and even worse, Urie would.
"Eh~? What a mess." Shirazu froze. The voice drifted in, loose and mocking. It brought to mind an eccentric individual. "Hah~ It's a good thing the boss let the poor~ stiff~ keep his turf. Otherwise I woulda have'ta kill somebody. But~ you wouldn't happen to know who cannibalized the traitorous bastard hu~?"
The man who was speaking was just a bit taller than Shirazu, thin but well muscled, dressed in a white suit, black shirt, gloves, and dress shoes, with a blood red tie. He wore a white domino mask that covered the bridge of his nose up, a "X" as red as his tie over his right eye, a small black symbol, "Σ", rested under his left where a tear might reside. His hair was a brown gradient that turned gold at the tips. A long smile twisted his face.
"Who are you? A ghoul?" Shirazu was on the defencive, turning to face him. He fully expected to fight, that this man was a ghoul. I'm not in a good place if this comes down to a fight. No way to call for back up either, this is bad.
"Me~?" he rocked back on his heels. "Can't cha' tell?" He pointed at the symbol on his mask, "Sigma is the na~me, disposing of my master's enemies is my ga~me." His chuckle sent a chill down Shirazu's back. This man was dangerous. "Oh, yes, I am as much of a monster as any ghoul comes."
"I won't let you," he whipped his quinque into an active state, "hurt anyone in my squad."
"Ho~? I think you have misunderstood. You see, my friend~, this stiff," he gestured dismissively to the remains, "was planning on starting an uprising in this district. My master is very much against this. It seems~ that I have to thank you and the other CCG boy-o who was here last night~." Shirazu grasped his weapon tighter. What? Sigma sauntered over to the bend in the alley, just off to Shizaru's right "Oh wow. oh wow, oh wow~! That guy really went to town, didn't he? He really~ ate a lot!" The grin, Shirazu was beginning to think perpetual, faded into a stupefied expression. "Hmm~ Gamma-dono was right. That guy's gonna need help."
"W-wha?" What is this guy on about?
"Your friend," Sigma's voice had lost its airy role to take on a grave, impending tone, "he's in worse shape than I thought from last night. At this rate he'll be broken under the pressure or be turned into a true monster." He looked at Shirazu through the one open eyehole, kakugan blazed with a glaze of what seemed to be true concern. "Kuki Urie, if he continues this path for power without guidance or regard, he will become a ghoul, a kakuja."
Shirazu was desperately trying to make sense of this stranger. He shows up threateningly, then he extends what could pass for cordial thanks to a CCG officer, proclaiming himself to be a monster, and then says that Urie is in trouble? Who the.. what the...the…"the hell?"
"People just can't leave well enough alone, can they?" Sigma sighed, "It's bad enough to be turned into a half ghoul, monster, but to not even be that. He will be controlled by it, like I was."
"Like you were? Does that mean that-"
"I was once human?" The smile flashed over his visible features. "What~ are you surprised? Thinking something boring like 'That's not possible'? Ha~!" He laughed again causing Shirazu's heart to sink. "Well~ not that I care about CCG officers but it is my master's policy to help ghouls in need."
"Urie is not a ghoul!"
"Then why did he eat that trash?" Shirazu didn't have an answer. If what this ex-human ghoul, if that was what he really was, was speaking truth then Urie was a danger to himself and others, and there was no time. As much as he hated, and he really did, ghouls, this might be his only chance.
Only one option then. Sasaki is going to kill me."Take me to him."
"Hu?" that seemed to be genuine shock.
"Your 'master'. If he really wants to help then he wouldn't mind explaining himself, right?"
The smile spread anew over Sigma's face. Shirazu swallowed. "Then, officer, please, follow me."
Shirazu had no idea how long he had been walking. The tunnels were always dark, either crushing tight squeezes, or massive open spaces that didn't seem like they belonged so far below Tokyo. Their route was winding, meandering through the passages, without any sense of direction. He had to trust Sigma to know the way, not a concept he was particularly keen on. Why am I doing this? There was something indescribable about the situation. He truly was scared of this man; Sigma had a natural confidence, the kind that only the strong have, and though he spoke like a fool his eye glowed with a piercing understanding that could put the best CCG detective to shame. Sigma was friendly to the point of intimidating, casual, bordering on ridiculing, his cadence was jumpy, mocking, and his voice held the eerie quality to unnerve, like a man being examined, or put to ease, like an old friend's reassurance. Yes Shirazu was terrified of what Sigma could do, and despite all lack of trust, he knew, just knew, that Sigma had no ulterior motive to bringing him into the tunnels.
They reached a wall of pipes at the end of an increasingly narrow branch. Sigma, humming an old drinking shanty, began turns valves while the pipes belched steam. He stepped back from the pipe and held up a finger knowingly towards Shirazu, a smile twinged across his face. Slipping his hand into a gap, he apparently pressed some sort of switch. A section of pipes slid free from the wall, swinging outward into the passage. Behind it was a roughly hewn stone tunnel, neon lights twisted along the walls, music faintly drifted along from the door at the far end. Red, blue, green, and many other colored lights pulsed from under the door crack, temporarily painting the stone in vivid detail.
Sigma sauntered on, Shirazu still on his heels, the pipe door slid closed behind them, locking into place. The neon spelled out "Club Domino" and "Tokyo's Secret Garden", dice, cards, and other images decorated the rest of the walls. A ghoul's club? Sigma pushed open the door at the end of the hall and light flooded into the hallway. The music had grown steadily louder as they entered.
The first thing Shirazu noticed was how many doors there were. There had to be thousands all along the walls, catwalks stretched over an area the size of a large professional football stadium. The door he and Sigma had come through had an exit sign over the frame. Each "floor" of catwalk connected to six different exits. Little children ran along the pathways, some significantly slower than others. They were humans playing with ghouls. The actual club was at the bottom of the ovoidal space. The suspended dance floor was lit from above and below. Faintly lit humanoid figures milled about dancing, talking, behaving just like anyone would at a party. Some of them were wearing mask, those that weren't had an armband on. Footsteps echoed in the domed roof above them. Even now more patrons were coming in, some with their own masks, others with simple black ones.
"No newbee's today, huh?" Sigma was looking at the arriving others too. He handed Shirazu a simple black domino mask. "Club protocol is for ghouls to wear a mask, humans wear either a membership band or a guest band. You might be human but you smell like a ghoul, best not confuse people."
"What is this place?"
"Heaven." Sigma grinned at Shirazu while he slipped the mask on.
"Aneki!" Two of the children ran up to Sigma. The pair looked somehow quizzical to Shirazu.
"Did you just get back, Sigma nei-san?"
"Ah~ Alice and Usa. I haven't been home for a while, Sorry~!" Shirazu realized the disparity when the boy, Usa, turned to face him; one of the child's eye was a kakugan. They looked like twins, or at least close siblings.
"Who is this Mister?" little Alice piped up, hiding behind Usa.
"Shirazu." Sigam said without pause. He pulled a mischievous face. "Where's your mom at Alice-hime?"
The little girl blushed at his compliment "S-she's at work. Onei-san is playing with me until she comes back."
"Oh~. Well you two run along okay~. Ah, and Usa, be careful now, your sister isn't as strong as you remember."
"I'll be careful, Aneki!" The boy scooped up Alice and sprinted away at inhuman speed, all the while she laughed, egging him on to go faster.
"Was that boy-"
"A ghoul? Yes, but Alice isn't." Sigma's voice had dropped off into a flat clam tone. "They have the same mother. She fell in love with a ghoul who was killed shortly after she conceived. Domino-sama took care of her and Usa was born, hale and hearty. He did his best to mend his mother's heart but it wasn't enough. She was saved from her years long battle with depression by her son's energy and the love of another human, Alice's father. Unfortunately he doesn't know Alice exists." A sad smile briefly flashed over the ghoul's face. "Those two are so close but they can never truly be together. Hatreds that they can't suppress will separate them in time."
Shirazu couldn't help but feel that he was seeing a side of ghouls that no one, well no one but Sasaki, could ever understand. They descended the spider webbing like walkways into the club below. Many ghouls and humans socialized, danced, or debated, all of whom stopped to greet Sigma as he went by. The dance floor itself was the center of some kind of pub with food for both humans and ghouls alike on the menu. Raised seating areas surrounded three sides of the floor, a long stairway leading to the DJ's perch and beyond, that split in two different directions hidden by the decorative faux walls. Sigma lead him off to the right. It was a dimly lit hallway hewn from crude stone the width of the metal flooring. They reached yet another door and Sigma stopped, turning to face Shirazu.
"He is just beyond this door?" Shirazu did his best to sound calm. Sigma's one eye gleamed warily in the half-light.
"Do your best to be respectful. More than just your life depends on it." Shirazu swallowed as he pushed the cool metal to one side. The room was dark save for two candles flickering on either side of an ebony and obsidian throne. A young boy much too small for the great seat swung his legs in front of himself, humming. He was wearing a black suit, shirt, and tie. A solid shapeless black mask covered his whole face. even his hair was black. The only spot of color anywhere was the crimson ires of his kakugan.
"We heard you wished to speak with us, Quinx Squad Leader, Ginshi Shirazu, Rank 3 Ghoul Investigator." The door echoed shut behind him.
