Look, I can get these chapters done in a timely manner. Funny that. Not even an entire month wait. That's at least better than six. Go me. Let's see if I can do even better for chapter 8.
The single purpose of this chapter is to punch you in the face a couple of times. Cause I'm evil and I really like Miharu and Rize interactions. I need to get my fill before shit goes down. Next chapter is when everything gets really emotional. I can't wait to write it, my gosh.
My goal this chapter is to make someone cry, even if it's just myself.
I don't own Tokyo Ghoul or Harry Potter.
Miharu did not know what was happening. Just a moment ago, he was dozing, snuggled up next to Big Sister in their apartment.
Two months into their move to the 20th Ward and one month after Rize gained guardianship of Miharu, the duo were enjoying their freedom from a sulking Toshiro while kicking down ghouls that were not happy with their forceful takeover. Some of the ghouls had been hunting in the 20th all their life and having some young upstarts suddenly grabbing their territory from them left a bad taste in their mouths.
The siblings solved those annoyances by ripping out their throats.
Still, Rize made sure that they both got their rest every night after they had their fun. Rest was important for Miharu's growing body.
So, that left the question as to what had dragged Miharu from the comfort of Rize's side? The one-eyed ghoul would find it and kill it.
The Woman in Red snarled in agreement, the heat and warmth that she wielded bubbling at her boiling hatred.
"Is that right?" the old man that Miharu had been following said. The ghoul has only been able to see the back of the human's head so far, but the teenager figured the man had stumbled upon one of those 'Dark Wizard' sects the Sagashite iru Gakkō professors liked to lecture about before Big Sister pulled him from the system. "Lord, is it? Well, I don't think much of your manners, My Lord. Turn 'round and face me like a man, why don't you?" Miharu floated upwards to stare over the human's shoulder at the so called 'Lord', just to be faced with the back of a high chair and a rat faced man.
"But I am not a man, Muggle," said the cold voice, barely audible now over the crackling of the flames. "I am much, much more than a man. However...Why not? I will face you...Wormtail, come turn my chair around."
The pathetic servant, who reminded Miharu of a reason why he despised humanity, gave a whimper in response.
"You heard me, Wormtail."
Miharu flinched back, his forehead erupting in a blaze of pain as the Woman in Red shrieked. She never spoke to her charge with words, but that did not diminish their communication. If anything, her lack of talking made the ghoul more comfortable with her. A voice in his mind, one that only he could hear? The warmth and the heat already tip-toed that line and Miharu's delicate sanity did not need the unnecessary strain.
Through the encroaching darkness of a debilitating migraine, the ghoul saw the rat-man move.
Slowly, with his face screwed up, as though he would rather have done anything than approach his master and the hearth rug where the snake lay, the small man walked forward and began to turn the chair. The snake lifted its ugly triangular head and hissed slightly as the legs of the chair snagged on its rug. And then the chair was facing Frank, and he saw what was sitting in it. His walking stick fell to the floor with a clatter. Miharu opened his mouth and let out a scream, the pain finally becoming too much to bear. He was screaming so loudly that he never heard the words the thing in the chair spoke as it raised a wand. There was a flash of green light, a rushing sound, and Frank Bryce crumpled. He was dead before he hit the floor.
Red eyes, reptilian and disgustingly human, stared into Miharu's single hellfire eye and lit up with unadulterated loathing.
"Potter…" the cold voice hissed as the teenager finally allowed himself to succumb to his pain.
Miharu woke with an agonized screech. He writhed in his blankets as he desperately tried to ease the stabbing in his skull.
It was consuming him, this burning that felt worse than the hunger and the sorrow that Miharu had become used to in the grey room. It was pounding, thump-thumping inside his head, as if a giant was banging on the door to his thoughts. It tore through his mind, tearing away at his threads of sanity, snapping the strings like they were mere cobwebs instead of the cable cords Miharu needed them to be.
He couldn't see anything other than the sick red that tried to devour him, as if he were the prey and not a feared predator that stalked the nightmares of hundreds of man-eating ghouls.
The warmth flooded his senses, trying to calm him and the Woman in Red tugged his consciousness against her chest, where it would be safe from the destructive invader.
It was too much, too much, too much. There was something else inside his head, scurrying around like a rat. Prey trying to usurp the king of the food chain, food with the eyes of a proud serpent.
Miharu sobbed, his limbs twitching as he shakily lifted his nails to his eyepatch, clawing at the fabric to reach the fragile skin beneath. He had to break the connection, shred this insect from him head and beat it with its own shed skin. He had to rip it out.
Warm hands gripped his wrists, pulling his physical head to rest against another soft chest as unsteady fingers carded through his long hair, fluttering around the enflamed forehead that throbbed with every motion.
"Miharu, Miharu, baby, what's wrong?" Rize pulled her brother closer, even as he flinched away from her voice, his kakugan searching around the room frantically.
The older ghoul had panicked she awoke to Miharu screaming, his limbs lashing out at anything in range. The boy had been inconsolable, not noticing her desperate calls and stuttering coos. He just kept flailing.
Rize had enough when she was forced to the side as her baby brother moved to claw out his right, human eye. He might be getting stronger and stronger, almost frighteningly so, every day but she was still his big sister, still the feared Binge Eater, and she restrained him easily, pressing his ear against her ribs.
His breathing deepened and his shaking slowed as he focused on her heartbeat, his head nodding to the tune.
"Shush, baby," Rize hummed, carefully untangling a knot from her little brother's long hair. "I'm right here, no one can hurt you when I'm here," she swore, feeling Miharu clutch at her shirt, finally coming back to reality.
"Big Sister…" Miharu muttered, refusing to move just yet. He was still shaking and his body was cold. He felt as if someone had walked over his corpse, breaking brittle bones as they trampled over him. He felt devastatingly weak. Was this what is was like to be human? Fragile and feeble?
"I think you should go back to sleep, Miharu," Rize responded, taking in her brother's condition, making note of everything to talk to Toshiro about the next time she ran into the Ministry Officer. Or, she could hunt him down tomorrow morning, when the werewolf descendent was on route to work. This seemed important enough to actually seek their 'foster father's help sooner rather than later.
"Don't you…" Miharu flattered, trying to gather his memories. They kept slipping through his fingers, leaving only crimson eyes glaring at him as a woman-no, it was a man, Frank, the old man, there was no woman- screamed and green flooded his vision. "Don't you…"
He paused, taking a deep breath. He thought back to the last thing he could recall with clarity. Big Sister had taken him out to hunt with her. She had found a small party of humans without proper protection at the nearby Aqua Building and Miharu kept watch while she had her fun.
But a member of the mysterious ghoul terrorist organization Aogiri, the S-Ranked Jason, had slipped past him somehow, intent on conversing with his gluttonous sister. Forced to abandon her meal, Rize left still hungry.
The next day, she had found a new prey while Miharu was doing some supplies shopping at the Imperial Court's Kigiku Alley when she went to check in with Mr. Yoshimura at Anteiku. As their current 'safe house', Rize made an effort to let the older ghoul know when something of import was happening around the Ward.
An Aogiri Executive appearing to recruit her was definitely important enough to drag Rize to the ghoul-friendly coffee shop.
And, as a bonus, Rize found her next meal, a scrumptious boy that she told Miharu all about before they went to bed.
She had been planning on sharing the boy with her precious little brother; he looked delicious enough to satisfy the younger ghoul's adorable sweet-tooth. However, she decided as she watched Miharu struggle to recall their scheduled hunt and his entire body flinch at the faint sounds of movement from outside their apartment, their usual bonding experience of sharing a kill will have to be put on hold.
"A…hunt," Miharu remembered, his brow furrowed as he struggled to dredge up the finer details.
"Yes, a hunt," she agreed, levering them up so she could lean on the thin wall, allowing Miharu to flop onto her lap. Absentmindedly, Rize started to braid his hair, knowing the teen hated it when his hair fell into his slightly blurry vision. "You should stay home, however."
"No," the one-eyed ghoul frowned. "What if something happens to you?"
Rize laughed, leaning over to press a kiss over Miharu's eyepatch. "I like to think I am stronger than my fourteen year old little brother," she teased, nipping at his nose gently before straightening up. "You're obviously unwell, Miharu. I can't have my partner passing out on me, especially not with those Aogiri fools sniffing around places they aren't wanted."
Miharu glared, hiding the expression from his sister by pressing his face into her leg. Aogiri – they were the reason Big Sister had to move her plans up, pulling him out of his classes to be homeschooled and dragging them halfway across the region.
Next time Miharu saw that pathetic excuse for a ghoul, he'll destroy him: for interrupting Big Sister's meal, seeing Big Sister naked, and planning to hurt Big Sister. There was no way he could let the brute live.
"I don't want you to go alone," Miharu tried, peaking his hellfire eye up at his smiling sister.
"How about this," Rize countered. "If you stay home tonight, I'll take you to see Shuu tomorrow. You seemed fascinated when he spoke about meal preparation last week."
Miharu hesitated. He hated the Gourmet for capturing his sister's attention, but she seemed to enjoy the slightly older ghoul's company. She always had to laugh at his mixed languages and passion for cooking. And they read the same books, sharing a passion for literature that something Miharu never showed an interest in. He preferred practicing his abilities or spending time with his sister than indulging himself in things that do not exist.
He had his fill of fantasizes and what-ifs growing up.
But, if there was one thing the Gourmet was useful for, it was in making Rize happy. His sister preferred to eat straight from the source, in an orgy of corpses so that she could bathe in their blood. Their debates on traditional eating and human-influenced eating always left the Gourmet with a snarl and Rize chuckling for hours.
Miharu knew her well, however. Her smile would falter when a human girl was presented with a home cooked meal or asked out to a fancy restaurant. Rize has no need to make a tournament out of her game like the Gourmet's Ghoul Restaurant does, but she wants to be treated. She wants to be loved.
Miharu forced himself to pay attention to Tsukiyama's ramblings in hopes of finding a dish that his sister would love, something to make for a special occasion. Something they could eat at the table like those human families on T.V. instead of on the grimy ground of an alley.
"We can even stop by Anteiku again," she sweetened the deal, smothering a smirk when Miharu paused. "I know you like to talk to Devil Ape and Black Dog about their old gangs."
The one-eyed ghoul huffed. It wasn't his fault the former rivals were so fascinating. They were once the ghouls to be feared in the 20th Ward, and, unlike Father, they were never caught. Miharu hoped they would be so lucky.
Sayuri and the Binge Eater, together forever.
She frowned when her little brother continued to hesitate. It might be rare for the sibling duo to separate, but it wasn't unheard of. His refusal was concerning, especially with all of the bribes she was offering him.
Did he not understand that she was just worried about his health? She didn't know what she would do if something happened to him because she allowed him out with her when he was unwell.
"Nothing can hurt your Big Sister," Rize assured him, poking his ribs playfully. "Worry about yourself before you collapse on me, got it?"
Nothing could hurt Father either, Miharu wanted to argue. No one could beat him and he's gone, stolen away by greedy humans. The humans only know how to take. First, Rize's mother, then Miharu's childhood, and finally Father.
Miharu didn't want them to take the last bit of happiness he had left.
But, Rize was right. She was her father's daughter, stronger than the corpse feeders that scurried around her feet and feared for her large appetite that worked so well with her brutality. And, if Miharu wanted to keep her safe, he needed to get better.
Even as the details of his nightmare faded, his mind snagged at lingering rough edges and his body wavered at simple commands. His hands were still shaking, hidden as they were under the blankets.
He nodded jerkily, not wanting to voice his acceptance. He tasted ash on his tongue.
"I have a couple of hours before I have to get dinner," Rize informed him. "Let's spend that time together and play a game or two, just you and me. I don't think we've had the time to truly bond since we got here."
With all of the ghouls trying to stake a claim in the 20th Ward, Miharu wasn't surprised. Though they beat down dozens of ghouls each night, they kept coming back. Some were more persistent than others, of course. Before Big Sister decided to make Anteiku's crew their safe house, the siblings had to deal with the territorial waitress, who was foolishly brave. That, or ridiculously stupid.
He heard rumors about her younger brother though…
If he ever showed up to take Rize like that horror movie reject, Miharu will not hesitate to kill him, tentative alliance with his older sister or not.
"What do you want to play?" Miharu wondered, nuzzling Rize's leg affectionately as she softly racked her long painted nails down the sides of his head.
"I Spy," she offered, looking around their sparsely decorated apartment, just barely smaller than the one they shared with Father when Miharu first joined their tiny family.
"I spy with my little eye," Miharu started, doing a quick scan of the area. "Something red."
Rize hummed, following the path Miharu had just taken, checking for anything blaringly obvious. "My glasses?" she guessed.
Miharu shook his head, relaxing into the warmth of his sister's lap.
She muttered quietly to herself, skimming the room again. "Your glasses?"
"Yeah," he confirmed, his single eye sliding shut involuntarily. He was just so comfortable, wrapped up in Big Sister's embrace on the outside and the Woman in Red's on the inside. He could still distantly free something that did not belong, but he recognized it now that the fearful haze was dimming.
It was the slime that the Woman in Red watched over, keeping it caged as she protected him. It had always been there, hissing dark murmurs that she easily cooed over whenever he was injured.
It was cold and bright, always trying to freeze him from the inside out. Miharu recognized the chill from the grey room. He had no doubt the slime took that 'form' to unnerve him, to shake him. Miharu was stronger than that, however, empowered by the warmth, the heat, Big Sister's love, and the Woman in Red's raging fury at all that dared to wish him harm.
"I spy something green," Rize continued, staring down at her little brother. His eyes flickered open as he returned the stare, startled from his thoughts.
"My eyes," he answered after a moment.
Rize giggled, nodding. "Yes, got it in one! You're good at this, Miharu," she praised.
"You let me win by making it too easy," he told her. "I spy something purple."
"Now who's making it too easy?" she demanded, huffing. "My eyes."
"Wrong," Miharu denied with a smirk, letting his eyes slip shut again. Rize blinked in surprise.
"My hair?" she tried, reaching up to finger at her grown out locks. Most of their supplies was a standard black and white, making it easy to find vibrant colors. But, her brother was always a tricky one, picking things she would never think of.
"No," Miharu murmured, yawning silently. He could feel himself beginning to drift off, but he wanted to hear Rize admit defeat. While it was rare for him to beat her anything, he was the King of I Spy. Though, his target was a bit cheatsy.
"I give up," Rize admitted, slumping against the wall. There was nothing else purple in the room. She knew there was purple in their closet and drawers, but nothing in her immediate line of sight. When Miharu didn't tell her his target, the older ghoul glanced down, expecting to find him smiling proudly to himself, inwardly gloating at his victory.
Instead, her precious little brother was dead to the world, breathing deeply as he slept.
"I'll just ask you when I get back," she sighed, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Hopefully, you won't have any more nightmares when I'm out." Rize leaned back, resting her head on the wall as her eyes started to feel heavy. "I'll just…take a small nap before getting ready."
She was asleep in minutes.
She woke up two hours later, her mind fuzzy with the last vestiges of sleep urging her back to bed. However, her spine cried out at the awkward position and her bladder demanded her attention, so Rize carefully pulled herself away from her brother, tucking him in properly as she fled the bed.
Making a quick stop at the bathroom, Rize set about getting ready for her date.
She was tempted to wake Miharu up to brush her hair or to get his opinion on her outfit. But, he needed his sleep. She didn't know what happened earlier and she doubted Miharu would ever tell her. He looked so shaken, so frantic. He looked scared.
The mere thought was laughable.
Her infallible rock of a little brother, scared? She speared ghouls for insinuating less. Her brother was a sword tempered in the barren wasteland of humanity, not a single inch of his shiny length rusted from their misuse. For him to be so terrified…
Yes, Rize would have words with Toshiro. If this had something to do with her pulling Miharu from his magic lessons, she would have to hire a tutor. She would not stand for her actions to hurt her last remaining source of happiness.
Maybe, just maybe, she really was poisonous, like Hagi had said.
A sadistic, bloodthirsty grin spread across Rize's face, recalling the horrified look on the scarred ghoul's face when she tore him apart, one limb at a time. If she closed her eyes, she could remember that day, just two months ago.
Miharu had been beautiful, slaughtering the weak, ambitionless ghouls as she took down Hagi. She had no need for the annoying pride and they would have gotten in the way if she had let them live.
Her brother had been like a force of nature, cutting down ghouls with each swing of his scythe-shaped kagune. Covered in blood and smiling serenely, Rize thought her brother was the avatar of Death, come to bring judgement on those that dared to defy him.
But, Rize frowned, turning to look at her brother as he huddled under the mound of blankets. Even Death was afraid of something.
And, apparently, that something was haunting her brother.
Yes, after her date, she'll need to find Toshiro and learn more about her brother's world. Whatever it took to keep him safe and happy. No matter what, as long as she could see him smiling, Rize was content with their life.
She slipped on a white dress and tied her hair into a lose side tail, allowing the ends to trail down her chest.
Her hair was nowhere near as long as Miharu's, which was never cut at her insistence and now fell to the back of his thighs when braided, but she was getting there. She envied his hair, but shorter hair was always more practical. Since they were strong enough to be allowed such a blaring weakness, Rize had stopped cutting her hair, determined to catch up with her brother.
Tugging on her magenta coat, a present from Miharu on her nineteenth birthday that was laced with every protective ward the young hybrid could find in his former school's extensive library, Rize fixed her glasses on her face, smirking.
She stalked over to Miharu's bundled form, pulling the blanket down so she could gaze at his peaceful face. She saw no signs of an encroaching nightmare, nothing that would prevent her from meeting up with her dinner.
Rize sighed, but dropped a kiss above Miharu's ever present eyepatch, something that he refused to remove unless absolutely necessary, even when she was the only one around.
She was starting to think that he was disgusted with his human blood.
"I love you. I'll be back before you wake up, so don't you dare leave that bed," she whispered and stood, reluctantly marching towards the door. With one last check behind her, as if Miharu would lurch out of his nest and start screaming, Rize wrenched open the door, clicking the lock as she stepped out.
Steeling her heart from her worries for her beloved baby brother, Rize thought of her waiting meal, the sweet boy that looked absolutely delicious.
The ghoul licked her lips as her hellfire eyes flashed for barely a moment in tightly restrained glee.
Rize loved it when they ran from her. It always made the hunt so much more thrilling.
The tears, the horrified look, the stumbling…she wished Miharu was here. Her darling little brother would have enjoyed watching her meal struggle for every extra second of life. He had such a sadistic streak towards humans.
Feeling that the human had gotten far enough, Rize reached out with her kagune, twining it around his leg and tugging sharply. The human flailed as he fell, the solid thunk his head made against the ground causing a shudder to run up Rize's spine.
She smiled benignly, leaning over to talk to her terrified meal. "Got you," she sang teasingly. "Kaneki, this must be the first kagune you've seen," she started, waving one of her tentacles around in demonstration. The human's eyes followed the movement warily, appearing to have forgotten about the three other limbs that flared behind her. "I'll going to gently scramble up your insides with it now, okay?"
She arched her kagune down, ready to spear the boy and eat, she was beginning to get hungry. Unexpectedly, the boy attacked, trying to stab her with a simple pen. She blocked instinctively, forgetting the impossibility of him harming her with human devices in favor of her muscle memory.
In her lapse of concentration, the human slipped from her grasp, stumbling away. She snarled, annoyed now. She was hungry.
Rize took a step forward, treading on the magenta coat she threw off when she had revealed her kagune. Twisting her hips, she swung her extra appendages at the fleeing human, slashing at his side. She laughed maliciously as warm blood splattered through the air and the boy tumbled to the ground.
"I love bodies like yours, Ka-ne-ki," Rize informed the unconscious human as she casually approached. "All soft, not too much fat and not too much muscle. You're just right." She giggled to herself for a moment, before canting her head as she observed the human. "I think…I'll bring your heart back to Miharu as a treat. Or your pretty grey eyes, I know he likes those. Maybe that will make him feel better."
Over the sound of Kaneki's heart sputtering out and the sharp scent of blood, Rize sensed something wrong. There was a strange whistle rushing through the air, like something falling. Something large.
"Oh?" Rize looked up curiously, her hellfire eyes locking onto the rapidly approaching girders. "No!"
The sounds of the girders crashing on top of her reverberated through the air, until all that could be heard was the labored breathing of a dying human that barely escaped the wreckage.
Miharu, miles away and deep asleep, woke up with an echoing wail, his hellfire eye ablaze as his human eye burned behind a single purple strand of hair that sealed away the truth of his existence.
Something was wrong.
Something was so very, very wrong.
Where was Big Sister? Where was she? Where was Rize?
The cold and empty apartment had no answer for Miharu's silent question.
I failed at making myself cry. I know I'll get myself next chapter though. I feel a sting just thinking about it. (Or is that a maniacal grin, just waiting to burst free? The world may never know.) I wonder, did I get anyone?
I'm actually kind of nervous about this chapter. It has a really important plot point in it, but it's still more for a transition chapter than anything else. The Era of Rize has come to a close and soon Kaneki will Rise. (ha, word choice.)
So, the first couple hundred words came with an excerpt from the Goblet of Fire. And the bottom couple hundred words are from the first chapter/first episode of Tokyo Ghoul. I don't own any of that. J.K. Rowling and Sui Ishida do. The Harry Potter timeline won't catch up for a while yet (like, ten chapters or something? I don't really know. It'll take a good amount time. Like, ten months story time.), but it's still important to the plot, as you can definitely see.
No one can argue with me about Miharu being weak after his dream-vision. Have you ever immersed yourself into the mind of a mass-murderer due to a chunk of their soul attached to your brain/soul reacting and then experience casting a killing curse? Yeah, that shits not gonna make you feel good. I would have issues if I just felt the second hand effects of Voldemort's fractured soul and insanity while being sound of mind. Times that by, like, ten, and you'll get Miharu right now.
In case I haven't mentioned yet, I'll be doing a bit of a mix of the manga and the anime. Some things will be according to the manga and some things will go along with the anime. You'll probably see it when it happens.
Hey, has anyone noticed my fixation on flowers? Cause it definitely exists. Kigiku Alley 'translates' to (Yellow) Chrysanthemum Alley. Chrysanthemum's flower meaning is 'Imperial' and is connected to magic and wonder. It fits the Magical Shopping Center much better than 'Diagon Alley' in my biased opinion.
We're gonna put a pause on all of the time skips now! Finally, consistency. I am not apologizing. They will be back.
I have such an appreciation for FF writers that put out 10k-25K chapters on a regular basis. I think 11k is my longest ever and that took me weeks of a solid hour of writing a day. Then again, there was a long of research done for that chapter, adding even more time.
Guest Review:
Akuma - You just missed the update by a few hours! Hm, I'll see if I can get the next chapter out around Halloween. The horror tag will come into play, so it should go nicely with the atmosphere. I make no promises though!
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!