A/N: You know one thing that helps my writing is staring at the numerous posters I have in my room. Like, since I'm obviously writing about Tokyo Ghoul, I'm facing my Tokyo Ghoul poster. So...

Enjoy!

Warning: violence, gore, language, blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or its' characters, or Vampire Knight or its' characters.

Kaneki sniffled weakly as he was able to easily wipe away the tattoo from the neck of the dead body in his arms. 'So this wasn't Zero...which means...there's a chance Zero's safe...'

He dropped the body, feeling sorry for whoever this person was and for their family, but there was no need for him to keep in contact with the already-quickly decaying body. He knew how these things worked; with vampires, their bodies deteriorated differently than that of humans.

"Hey, listen to me carefully, okay?" Zero whispered to the student next to him dressed completely in black, and Kaneki nodded.

"These creatures, they're not human," he began, "they used to be, but now they're just demons waiting to die from blood overdose."

"They can die from blood overdose?" Kaneki asked, and Zero held a hand up. "Let me explain.

"See, when you have a case like me, and they used to be human, it's usually because there are pig-pounding dickhead purebloods use their saliva to force kids like me into slavery. What happens when you have a vampire that's not been trained from birth on how to control their hunger, is they become like drug addicts. And like there's drug overdoses, you can overdose from blood. More specifically, you can overdose from the side effects. Drinking blood for vampires is one of the most intimate acts, or it can be one of the most vicious acts. It causes multiple things to happen; one, you get a massive release of endorphins, plus any additional release of whatever the person you're drinking from is feeling. Like if they're tired, you can melatonin. Two, you become stronger. It's like PCP or coccaine. It gives you such a high that makes you believe you are momentarily invincible, and especially for my kind. It just really makes them want more and more, and that's three: you do eventually go crazy. I got lucky. I have a pureblooded partner, and one strong enough to keep me alive and sated for longer than I normally would without him. He keeps the pain away. Now, that being said, these bastards are crazy as hell. They will not let anything stop them from getting what they want, and they don't know anything except the fact that they crave blood and need it to survive. So, when you see one, if I can't shoot it or kill it for whatever reason, take Bloody Rose and shoot them twice. Once in the head and once in the heart. Got it?"

Kaneki looked down at Zero's hand. As the hunter was speaking, he had cut his arm with an anti-vampire weapon and was handing over Bloody Rose to the ghoul. "Take her. Let her do all the work. She's alive, and she's charmed. She'll do what you want as long as you don't fight her or force her. Now put your finger on the trigger and shoot the incoming Level E. He's 500 meters out and closing," Zero said through grit teeth. Getting anti-vampire poison in his system hurt more than he remembered. This was happening a lot lately.

"250 meters," he said, and Kaneki stood up from behind the overturned desk in the broken-down classroom of the abandoned school they'd been hiding in. "75 meters. 45 meters. 25 meters. Get ready."

A bloody, twisted, zombie-like figure hobbled into view; he seemed to have gotten into a nasty fight with someone and lost, because he was limping and couldn't move as fast as other Level E's could, but he was still fast. He'd smelled Zero's blood, and Kaneki knew it was up to him to protect his mentor and keep them both safe, since Zero was injured and couldn't.

But could he really do it...?

Zero called out to him. "Sasaki! Pull the trigger, now! Aim for just below the chest; the recoil will shoot your hand up! Once he's down, sink one into his temple!" he shouted over the creature's roaring, but Kaneki blanked out. The Level E hopped on the desk and scared Kaneki enough to make him fall back to the ground and Bloody Rose went skidding out of his reach. But the Level E didn't want anything to do with Kaneki. Yet.

His attention went to the currently bleeding hunter beside Kaneki, and his blood smelled so deliciously sweet. The thick, red liquid trickled from Zero's arm and dripped onto the ground, creating a puddle. Zero was already looking a bit sickly as the hunter poison wasn't allowing the wound to heal, and he'd accidentally cut too deep. Zero pulled the knife back out and pointed it at the creature, baring his fangs. "Come at me, bitch," he growled, and the Level E was amused. "Gonna kill me with that, 'D? And how does your blood smell so amazing? Oh, I'm going to devour you."

"Kaneki! Bloody Rose! Kill him!" Zero shouted as the Level E lunged at him, and the two fought each other, tossing to pin the other to the ground securely. Kaneki fumbled quickly to grab Bloody Rose and pointed it at the two, quickly firing. He froze in horror when he heard a familiar voice snap at him.

"Ow!" Zero growled, glaring back at Kaneki. The ghoul had shot him in the back of his thigh, and he knew an artery'd been hit as soon as he could feel something warm and wet drawing a trail down the back of his leg.

Kaneki shot again, but the bullet ricocheted off the chalkboard and missed hitting Zero again. "Stop fucking dicking around, Sasaki! I told you, let her do the work! Breathe out through your nose and squeeze the trigger!"

Zero turned his head for a split second as he spoke, but it was a second too long. The Level E took hold of the knife and eased it out of Zero's bad hand to turn it on him. Faster than he could blink, Zero heard a splicing sound, and blood collected in his mouth as he stared down at the knife buried deep in his chest. He didn't stop fighting the vampire, but his grip grew weaker as he lost more and more blood, which the Level E happily sucked and lapped at from his arm and chest.

"Kaneki," Zero panted, "I'm gonna die here if you don't kill this vampire. Do you understand? This isn't a joke. This isn't training. I'm going to die. So get your fucking shit together and kill this damn bastard."

"Ouch, that hurts," the Level E retorted sarcastically, and he began to say something else when a two bullets tore through his chest and left eye. The vampire fell over, dead before he hit the ground, and Zero let out a groan he didn't know he'd been holding.

"I swear to God you can sure pick them," Zero said, and when he saw the ghoul begin to assess his wounds and ready the antidote, he was smiling. Zero gave him an odd look. "What are you grinning like a schoolgirl for?" he asked, and Kaneki looked into Zero's eyes.

"You just called me Kaneki."

Kaneki watched the Level E's body rot rather quickly as Zero drank his blood from his wrist quietly. It was almost sad how these people ended up the way they did. He couldn't imagine Zero being in that situation, but Zero was one of them anyway, wasn't he? Would Kaneki himself be the one to kill Zero when his time came, and that's why the hunter was teaching him now? He guessed he should be grateful that Zero picked him to do it, but he didn't want to think about losing one of his only friends left like that. And just watching his body rot and turn into nothing but dust in the wind? With nothing left to even bury but pictures and clothes?

"Hey. Don't take it so hard. That'll be me one day. Remember, you gotta be ruthless. No remorse. It''ll get easier, okay?" Zero said, but Kaneki believed him. Hmm. Easier. Does it get easier really? It's because you get used to the killing, right? Not that it has anything to do with the actual killing part getting easier, but the reason it gets easier to kill these creatures, ghouls, or even people is because when you're subject to the same trauma over and over, it eventually becomes such a second nature that it gets as simple and natural as breathing. To be able to pull the trigger without blinking...that's the dream, isn't it? Ending lives as quick as the speed of sound?

Kaneki looked up at the ceiling. And since Jason had killed other ghouls before, Kaneki would be a breeze, because he's been, as they would call it, desensitized.

"You're old enough to dance on a stage, you slut! She's not old enough to get her driver's license! You should know better than to seduce a child!" A man shouted in Haru's face, obviously frustrated, stressed, and upset. Haru didn't seem phased in the slightest. He just responded in his normal calm tone.

"Look, sir, if you keep acting like this, I'm going to have to call security and have you and your daughter thrown out, because the fact of the matter is she's a minor and she broke in through the back and came to my dorm. I assumed she was just a typical customer wanting what typical female customers like her do. And, as far as you know, I'm not old enough to dance on a stage of any kind, so why don't you just walk out the front door and forget this happened and maybe our private security won't drag your screaming, fat ass out that front door themselves while you have a needle hanging out your ass pumped full of Diazepam," he said, and the man was quiet. The daughter had been silent the whole arguement, either rolling her eyes or flipping her twin french tails over her shoulders.

"And you," Haru continued, pointing at the girl, "I catch you wandering near here again and I'll have you arrested for breaking and entering. And they won't try you as a child, regardless if you're 17 or 13. Got it? Now out. Both of you."

Haru walked around the man and his daughter, leaving the man in shock and the daughter to scoff and roll her eyes again. He took up the back stairs to the dorms, and as he walked down the bright, white hallway, he noticed one of the doors open. Upon further inspection, he saw Kaito and Gakupo hard at work on a single brunette woman no older than 24. "Yo, close the door if you're working," he called, and as he shut the door himself, Kaito teased, "always room for one more when you want to stop pretending you're such a twaddling prude!"

"What does that even mean?" Haru muttered to himself as he continued walking, and he came across D'mitri's office. It'd already been over three weeks since Kaneki had disappeared, and the lead that he thought he'd found on the security cameras turned out to be a private driving company that refused to release information about their drivers or their customers.

Haru knocked softly. "Hey-Lieutenant? Are you doing alright?" he asked through the door, and the soft click of the door lock told him the shapeshifter wanted to speak in private.

The blue-haired swimmer entered the room slowly and closed the door quietly behind him. He could see a dirty blonde head sticking up halfway from over the white couch in the livingroom, and he walked over to the figure.

"Oh, hey Mizuki," Haru whispered as he recognized the dirty blonde bodyguard with a sleeping D'mitri in his lap. "Sorry, I thought you were Lieutenant. Is he okay..?"

Mizuki shrugged. "He seems to be taking this harder than anyone else," he whispered back, and Haru looked down at the shapeshifter. He looked peaceful and happy when asleep, almost like if you woke him in any way other than a gentle kiss, it'd be almost illegal. "Looks less intimidating in his sleep, doesn't he?" Haru asked, and Mizuki snorted the coffee he'd been attempting to drink. He set the glass down quickly and held his breath to keep from coughing all over the sleeping form in his arms and lap or waking him with his movements. He nodded in agreement with Haru, and was about to say something more when another of D'mitri's bodyguards walked into the room.

"I'll take him," Seiji said, "he needs to sleep in his own bed in his room. I'll keep watch to make sure he's safe and gets a good night's sleep. You should too, Mizuki." The black-haired bodyguard picked the shapeshifter up as gently as he could, relieving Mizuki of the weight keeping him from moving. Haru watched quietly as Seiji carried D'mitri into his room and closed the door silently. "Aaah, my leg is asleep," Mizuki groaned, and he sighed. "Don't stress too much. Seiji cares too much about Lieutenant to let him destroy himself over this. Everything will be fine," he said, and Haru nodded. "R-right," he stuttered, but he didn't mean to.

"Yeah. Just get some sleep, Nanase."

Kaneki gasped and jolted awake, heart racing. He couldn't remember what caused him to jump like that, but it must've been bad if his heart was beating that hard. He breathed slowly and carefully, trying to calm himself. He stared down at the checkered floor covering as far as he could see until he hit shadows. A light shone brightly and painfully onto him, lighting a small circle around him to he could see that he was chained to a chair in the middle of a room, with clothes he hadn't remembered coming with. His pants were white and ripped at the knees, and his shirt was high-collared but ripped partially at the collar and at the sleeves to make it short-sleeved.

He looked around curiously, and he caught glance of a puddle of water nearby. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror and was horrified to find he didn't recognize himself.

His hair was fully white this time, his ghoul eye was prominent and glowing brightly, and his face was dirty and covered in blood smudges or...other smudges. He knew Jason had drugged him and made him forget most of what had happened the past couple weeks since the party, but he remembered bits and pieces of what had been done...he didn't want to think about that right now.

Jason walked up casually, a grin spread across his face. "Do you know what day is coming, , my dear pet?" he asked, but Kaneki didn't respond.

"Well, then, I'll tell you," he said, "it's the official anniversary of your being here. It's been nearly a month, pet. Aren't you excited?"

Excited? Hardly.

"I think we should celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than a surprise party?" Jason asked, "I think you'll find it rather-shocking."

Kaneki looked up at the older ghoul to see what he was talking about, and was confused when he saw an old-looking machine with what looked like a wireless stethoscope with two cottonballs attached to it. Then he knew. How could it have taken him so long to realize?

Kaneki shook his head rapidly, squirming in the chair to no avail. "No. No! No!" he started to scream as loud as he could, but quickly stopped to pant heavily as Jason got closer. The older ghoul pulled out a scalpel and cut two 'x's on either side of the younger's temples, and used the red liquid seeping through as prepping gel.

"You know, this was a common treatment for whatever ailed the mentally ill back in the fifties," Jason said as he rested the headset; the blood seeping from his wounds secured to the cottonballs and kept the headset in place better than anticipated. "It was so popular, and worked so efficiently, in fact, that experts reported it was too effective. Too much exposure to too high a setting for long periods of time cause brain damage so bad, the patients brains' literally melted."

Kaneki grit his teeth and fought his restraints as hard as he could, until Jason gagged him with a bandanna. "For your screams, of course," he said, "cause this is going to hurt. And while this asylum is abandoned and no one is ever going to hear you from the intense pain you're about to experience, your voice carries, and I really would like to keep my hearing."

Kaneki tensed up and desperately looked for something rubber near him, when he realized everything he was bound with and sitting on was metal. He closed his eyes tightly and tears streamed down his cheeks. "Hey, hey hey," Jason mock-comforted him, cupping his cheek. "No tears, love. This is special. We're just preparing you for the anniversary night. Now, do try to keep still, because I would hate to have this flimsy old headset fall off or electrocute you to death. That would end our fun way too soon."

Jason stood again and set the dial to the first level. Kaneki closed his eyes tightly and screamed softly, muffled through the bandanna as he felt the most intense vibrations shoot from his head down his spine like a headache gone rogue, and the sensations bounced down from his feet back up his body to carry in the chains holding his hands securely behind his back. Jason turned the dial back down to zero, and Kaneki panted heavily, twitching from the little electric shocks still shooting through his body.

"That was a one," Jason said calmly, "let's see what happens when I set it up to a five."

He switched the dial up to a quarter ways, and this time, Kaneki could feel his body half-seizing as the vibrations intensified, shaking him down until he nearly lost consciousness. He screamed harder through the gag, carrying a bit through the hall until finally the light above them burst from the pressure. Jason turned the dial back down to zero and Kaneki's body went slack against the chair, but he wasn't quite unconscious yet. He twitched and shook harder from the fissures the metal around his wrists and ankles were carrying through his body still as Jason switched out the light.

Kaneki glanced wearily at the blurry figure walking back to him, and the gag was removed presently. Kaneki panted softly, gasping occasionally at the searing pain he felt still shooting through his body. He felt like he'd been stabbed by thousands of needles all over his body all at once, but it was as if they were being removed then restuck then removed and restuck again, as fast as he could blink.

Jason removed the headset and noticed the large red sear marks where the cottonballs had been sitting, and his skin appeared to be still smoking. Jason smirked. "Don't worry. We'll get you used to a seven or an eight by the anniversary mark."

Kaneki blinked sleepily, dead-tired and ready to just pass out and sleep for eternity. One thing was keeping him from doing such, however, and that was the fact that he was sitting uncomfortably in a chair with a rotting body at his feet, and it didn't exactly smell like roses. Jason had left the body of that vampire at his feet to tease him with the idea that any of his friends weren't safe, and he hated it.

Finally, he was given an excuse to hold his own and stay awake. Jason walked back into the room, holding something behind his back. "I've been working on something, you know? Something I hope will really help you delve further into your pain system and feel more fully and deeply. I call it, the chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda, or, as you know it, a centipede. Mind if I test it out right away?" he asked, knowing Kaneki wouldn't be able to respond to him.

The younger ghoul just glanced over in the direction of his voice, not really bothering to attempt to say anything. He couldn't fully understand what Jason had really even asked him, or even that a question had been raised. He just knew he was incredibly tired and his body hurt.

Before he knew what was happening, something small and squishy and wet tickled his ear, and he jumped at the sensation, now more awake. Jason held up a centipede with a set of pliers, intent on letting it nest inside Kaneki's head.

Kaneki screamed and fought mirthlessly as the small creature got closer and was able to successfully wiggle its' way around as Jason held Kaneki's jaw still.

"It takes a special kind of freak to be able to do this sort of thing, you know," Haise said as he wiped his face clean of the sticky sugary excuse for blood they made in Hollywood. "Those guys that stay up all night writing gory torture scenes like what you just saw me do? That takes a one-of-a-kind sick fuck to be able to write something like that. Can you imagine how disturbed writers for horror movies are? And our writer, Sui? Total psychopath."

Haise burst out laughing after he saw the look on Kaneki's face. "I'm kidding, of course," he assured the younger ghoul, "although, I'm not lying. But you have to be just as disturbed to act those scenes out, despite whether or not you're the victim."

"You're nothing like me," Kaneki said, "and I don't know how you came to play the part of my older self. They should've just waited for me to get older."

Haise's smile disappeared. "I'm sorry, kid. I know I'm not ideal choice for...whatever it is you're going through. I'm just an actor. But look, unlike you, I was born a ghoul. I had no other choice. I knew no other life than the one where I was doomed to be a freak and a monster to gawk at for as long as I lived. Then when this opportunity came along...do you know how long I practiced changing just one eye to go ghoul? Then when I finally got the part, I realized I had the two backwards and had to start all over. My point is, be glad you're not actually me. Yet."

A/N: I hit 4,000 words way too fast. To make up, I did put some rather intense torture stuff in there. And yes, I do realize that what Haise is saying above is ironic because I'm a horror writer; I added that to see if anyone got it.