Corrupt Mixture
Final Chapter - Obscure to Transparent - The Legacy for Generations
I do not own Tokyo Ghoul in any way
Just to let people who know I have now created a forum for general discussions and for poll announcements and such.
As such a poll for the new story that I should write next is currently up on the forum.
www~ fanfiction~net/forum/General-Discussion/197110/ - here is a link to the forum. (replace ~ with .)
The poll will close on the 15th of October 2016.
I couldn't tear my eyes away from the clear liquid in the cup. So much happened too quickly. So much information and let nothing that truly completed the entire puzzle.
After taking Amanda and Emily out of Aogiri's hideout I called Mr. Rivington. Telling him what happened to his daughter. While he kept his composure I could tell that it broke the man. The day after I told him he sent personal employees of his to pick up her body for a proper burial in America. I thought it was unfair. For Amanda to leave Emily and myself in Japan. Though that was irrational thinking and I knew that, which was in itself a new problem.
I was having problems keeping my thoughts and decisions from my emotions. Especially when it came to Emily being alone by herself. I kept on picturing something happening to Emily and I couldn't help but worry and almost break out into a cold sweat. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden this was happening to me and what I could do to fix it.
Then there is the fact that I completely baffled Yoshimaru by my new transformation. No transformation isn't the right word. Transformation gives a slight connotation that it can be reversed and from what I could tell it can't be reversed. No matter what I try doing now my kakugan are always blue no matter how tired I get. Along with that my basic strength and speed seems to have had a massive jump. From what Yoshimaru said I could hold my own against a S rank ghoul by going all out. Meaning now I actually had a chance to beat Amanda. How bitter that sounded to me. I could also willing use my rinkaku whenever I wanted meaning that I was now a full fledged chimera.
Though the main thing that got Yoshimaru is that I was never near going kakuja. I'm not even near being in the first stage like he thought. That only confused the old man more and with how he is I didn't feel like filling him on why, if he wanted the information so badly he could ask Irimi.
Then there is also the fact that Kaneki Ken had run away from the coffee shop. Not that I really cared but the others, including Emily probably because they were both half-ghouls, felt sad from him leaving. That's as much as I cared to learn about that.
Though because of Amanda and Kaneki, Anteiku and everyone in it seemed to have a gloomy feel to it. Like there was a lot of heavy gas in the building instead of oxygen. It did get better if you left but even then it was stuck with you in the back of your head.
"Akatsuki." I slowly looked up from the cup of water to see Emily in a white tank top and tan knee shorts. I could see heavy bags under her eyes. She probably hasn't been sleeping properly since that night, not that I was much better. I kept having images of Amanda's mutilated body flash up until I remembered her words to me.
I then noticed something about Emily that I normally wouldn't have a second thought about. I could see the white straps around her shoulders from her bra. Emily usually wore tank tops and it would be common for me to see her bra straps but since Aogiri I've been hypersensitive to the sight of it and not just that. Anything Emily did that I usually would pass off as nothing was getting my attention and made me uncomfortable, yet I couldn't look away. I didn't understand why I was having this problem suddenly but I needed to fix it before I did something that would hurt Emily.
I looked back to the cup and kept my eyes locked on it. "What's going on?"
"It's already night." I looked up from the cup again and grabbed the phone from my pocket. 10:11pm. It was just six a second ago. Guess time flies when you're replaying events. I looked around that I was in a spare bedroom in Irimi's apartment.
It had only one futon, given to Emily for the night while I slept in the living room, and a single window with a thin curtain over it, letting in moonlight even though it was covering the window. I saw sitting in the room's single desk.
"I understand." I got up from the desk and started to make my way out of the room. Before I could reach the door I felt Emily's hand link with mine stopping me in my tracks. I looked back and saw that she really wanted to do this tonight. Something told me it was a bad idea but I knew that in the back of my mind that I would have to no matter what.
I gently gripped Emily's hand and closed the distance between us. "Are you sure about this?" I saw Emily look away from me.
"I feel like. Like it's about time for us to finally do this." Emily slowly looked at me. "Don't you feel the same?" I let go of Emily's hand and walked to the desk and sat down again.
"I do. But it's the fact that once we do this then we'll probably won't be the same again." I rubbed my face with the palm of my hand. "And that unnerves me a whole lot more than anything else." Emily didn't saw anything but walked to the futon and laid down.
"But I feel like it's time. We should do it before we leave for America tomorrow." I saw Emily reach toward her pillow and reach under it pulling out a crisp white envelope. "We should read it just incase there is something we are suppose to do." Emily sat up as I sat down on the futon with her.
In Emily's hands was the object hidden in Amanda's suitcase. A white envelope that was in a false top on the inside of the suitcase. Because of the recent events Emily and I had not had anytime really alone, except at night. And when it came time to read it one of us always came up with some reason to put it aside for another day. But Emily was right. It was time to finally read it. It was time to learn of what Amanda didn't have the time or willpower to say to us.
Emily handed me the letter and I took it. It didn't weigh much, probably only a single piece of paper inside. I turned the envelope to its back and slid my finger against the seal. It gave little resistance before giving away. I pulled the paper out and unfolded it. My eyes landing on the neat writing of Amanda.
Dear Aka (and I suppose Emily if you're ready this),
I have so much that I want to write to you in this letter but I suppose that I should start out by saying sorry.
I'm sorry because if you never knew me then you'd wouldn't have had to suffer like you recently did.
You just came back from missing for months a few days ago. And you didn't have any of your memories. So when I learned that I did a terrible terrible thing. I lied to you. The thing is that we never had gone out before hand. The truth is that I had started to love you in middle school but you never paid any attention to me other than a friend. I wanted that to change so just before you disappeared I asked you out.
I saw stains were on the letter. No doubt from Amanda's tears.
You rejected me, though not completely. You said that you didn't have any strong feelings for me but you didn't really have feelings for anyone. You said that you wanted to at least see if it was possible. It wasn't a yes but it was the closest thing that I could get so I took it.
So when you came back I lied saying we were going out. It was a terrible thing to do, something that ate at me every single day when I saw you, but I was also happy. I had fun everyday that we were 'dating'.
Though that's not the main thing I have to apologize for just something I needed to, though it's related.
When we went to test out if it was possible for us to even start to actually date you invited me to eat at your house. Everything was going great. The four of us, you, Emily, me, and your mom were having a great time. But then your mom went to make us food.
I could see where this was going to go. Guess it was time for Emily to learn the secret of our mom.
I could tell that she tried to mask the taste but I could tell even then. She was serving us ghoul. The two of you ate it without a problem but I couldn't. I think your mom made a mistake because she was as surprised as I was when she went to eat. I could tell that you and Emily didn't know you two were eating but I excused myself from your apartment after that.
"Mom did that?" I looked to Emily and saw her eyes were wide open, her hands covering her mouth. "We ate ghoul?" I saw her look at me. I just gave her a sad nod. Emily turned a little pale but after a couple deep breaths she seemed to return to semi-normal.
Then I went home and told my father. I was so confused and worried at the same time that I didn't really think of anything at the time. Though now looking back at it I can easily tell my father was way too interested in it. The next day I heard that you apartment had been raided by the ACG from a tip from an anonymous source. They had said that three where three ghouls living there and that all three had been killed.
At first I thought that it was just pure coincidence but after thinking about it there was no way that my father couldn't have been the anonymous source, or at least one of the lackies he hires.
I'm so sorry Aka, Emily. I never meant to ruin your lives.
And Aka, I know I have no right to say this, but I love you. I really really do love you.
Though if you're reading this I'm dead, so make sure you treat Emily like a proper women or I'll come back and haunt you.
The letter ended there. I looked to Emily and saw her eyes were still darting from word to word. I kept watching for a few seconds before her eyes widened and her cheeks got a light dusting of red. "Treat Emily like a proper women?" I saw the dusting turn into a sandstorm. Emily gave me a light shove. I felt like testing something and I grabbed Emily's hand and went along with the force of the shove.
The end result ended with Emily laying ontop of me, our faces only separated by a few millimeters of air. I saw her face go even redder and I felt my own face flush. I saw her eyes slowly close and felt her lips press against mine. We stayed like that for a few seconds before Emily slowly removed her lips.
I honestly didn't know what to do. Logically I knew that I should push her away because she was my sister. Even though she wasn't my sister by blood I grew up with her. I shouldn't be able to see her any other way. However, it was clear that I wasn't thinking correctly because I didn't want to push her away.
In fact a part of me wanted to bring her closer again. Something about just forgetting about all the stress of the world and simply focusing on Emily felt like it wouldn't be so bad. I think I could enjoy a life like that. I looked into Emily's eyes and felt my heart start to beat a little faster. Images started to flash in my mind.
A image of Emily and me sitting at a cafe drinking cups of coffee while talking about our everyday life. A slightly older Emily and myself standing together as we get handed papers from our college. Emily smiling in a long white dress as I walk up the aisle to our wedding. Emily sitting in a chair with a hand on her stomach, which was getting bigger day by day. Emily laying in a bed, utterly exhausted, but holding a tiny baby in her arms.
The images kept piling onto each other creating an chain of events that went through my entire life with Emily. As fast as those images came they left and I was looking at Emily again. Her eyes were looking all over my face, looking for some type of sign if she should stop or not.
At first I wanted push my lips against hers again and just not stop. However, I knew better than that. Emily and myself were still very emotionally unstable and we probably weren't thinking correctly. I went to push her away so I could get up but as I put my arms and onto her shoulders I could see pain in Emily's eyes. Did she really want something like this? No. I just said it myself that we're not thinking correctly. "Emily, we're not thinking right. We're still…" Emily started to shake her head.
"I am thinking right." Emily put her head on my chest. Her hands gripping my shirt. "Akatsuki, you've proven to everyone that you are so smart time after time but you're so dumb about people caring about you." I could feel Emily hesitate, probably doubting if she should say something or not. "You're so busy constantly thinking stuff in the future that you can't see the things that are here right now. You can't see the people that care about you, the people that love you. You can't see me. You haven't been able to see me this entire time. And for a second when you kissed me at the warehouse I thought for one second that you could see what I always felt for you but then I learned that you were being controlled." Emily give a small pause to catch her breath. Her eyes completely locked on mine. "You have no idea how much it hurt. To think that I finally had a chance to show you how much I care for you, how much I love you, but then to have that taken away…"
I put my arms around Emily and hugged her, pressing her body against mine and stopping her from saying anything else. "I'm sorry." I could feel emotions stirring inside of me. A mixture of sadness, pain, and a small amount of happiness and so many more that I couldn't put a proper label on half of them. There were thousands of words flaring across my mind that I wanted to say to her but none of them seemed proper to say.
I started to rub her head gently and stopped thinking. She was right I was always trying to plan for stuff in the future. Going too far in trying to see how my decisions would affect the future. It was always a problem for me but there was always someone to pull me back into reality, giving me a reason to focus on what is going on in my life.
"Emily." She didn't respond but I just knew that she was listening. "You're right. I've always been too focused in the future to see the people around me, but I want to learn how to focus on the ones around me." I felt Emily's grip on my shirt tighten. "It may take some time but I want to learn how to focus on the people around me, especially you Emily. Because even if I can plan a thousand futures I want there to be only one constant. You."
Emily was silent. I could feel the room fill with this heavy fill with this tension that I've never had felt before. I wanted to say something to Emily but also wanted to keep quiet incase she was thinking. After a few seconds I felt her body start to shake against mine, making me painfully aware how physical contact we had, though she didn't seem to mind. Then I heard Emily start to laugh quietly. "That was the cheesiest line I've ever heard from anyone." I felt a warm sensation fill my body as she lifted her head off my chest and looked at me. She leaned slightly forward and kissed me again. After a half-second she released the kiss. "Next time, just say you love me." She gave me a smile and put her head against my chest again.
I tapped my pencil against the desk I was sitting as I vaguely paid attention to class. Nearly two months had passed since that night with Emily.
With our trip home nothing exciting happened except Ryan asking what happened to Amanda. I never did answer him.
I got reports that Mr. Rivington had gotten much crueler since Amanda's death. Though I didn't know how truth those rumours were. Mr. Rivington hadn't seen Emily or myself and any request to see him was denied immediately.
Then there was Emily's and my relationship. While nothing extreme had happened between us yet we had been growing steadily to the point of something extreme almost nightly and not for a lack of Emily trying. She had been trying constantly with wearing a tank top in our room without a bra to slipping into my bed during the night. I am honestly surprised at how forward Emily is with me with stuff like that. I assumed she would have been more of the shy time. Guess I've I'm wrong sometimes.
I heard the bell ring in the back dismissing the final class of the day. I got up and slipped my backpack around my shoulder and instinctively went to grab the Black case but remembered that I stopped taking with me to class. It was more of a tell that something was up than anything else and Emily and I needed to blend in more than ever. I started to walked down the hallways making my way to out of the school when I felt someone grab my hand.
Instantly knowing the texture of the hand I didn't react and I felt the hand squeeze mine. I looked over and saw Emily looking at me. "You were trying to ignore me." I decided to have some fun and look forward again. I felt Emily squeeze my hand again with more pressure, probably enough pressure to break a human skull. I winced and looked to her.
"Okay. Okay. I got it." I felt the crushing grip disappear, though the hand itself stayed.
We made our way out of the school people not minding us. Guess the student body as a whole didn't really mind me and Emily dating. From what I heard from Emily that her friends actually spread the word that we weren't real brother and sister, and since some of the most popular girls in the junior year said something like that most of the juniors and underclass listened and probably most of the senior class. If anyone did have a problem with it they hadn't made any waves.
"So how's the senior class?" I gave a shrug with my unused arm.
"The usual." Silence fell upon us for a few seconds when I heard Emily huff. I knew what she wanted me to ask. "How's your class?" I saw Emily smile.
"Hannah and I are doing this project for chemistry where we have to combine these chemicals correctly... " I heard a slight rumble from Emily's stomach. I saw her face go slightly red.
"Hungry?" I saw her look away but nod. I guess it had been nearly three weeks since we last ate.
"we'll go get something tonight then." As we got the exit of the school and stepped into the grounds, along with the hundreds of the other students. We walked down the path toward our dorm room.
After entering our dorm room I took off my blazer and threw it on my bed. I over to Emily and saw her taking off her shirt, showing her white bra. I knew that I should look away but for some reason my head just wouldn't listen to me. Emily looked over to me and she saw me staring at her. I saw her face start to turn red and she lifted her shirt to cover her chest. After a half second she lowered the shirt, her face turning even redder. "Akatsuki, maybe you should get ready to?"
My brain finally kicking back into gear I refocused on getting undressed as I unbuttoned my undershirt. I slipped the shirt off my shoulders and went over to my dress that I got during the first month back, Emily having her own on the opposite side of the room.
I opened a draw and saw a neatly folded shirt with a folded pair of pants under it. Thanks to my wonder sense of fashion Emily took the liberty of matching all of my clothes for me so I didn't wear something that clashed. Not that I saw the point of wearing something classing still but if I made her less annoyed I didn't care. I took out a red shirt and unfolded it. I slipped it over my head and put my arms through the sleeves. With that done I pulled out the blue jeans that were under the shirt. I glanced back to see if Emily was looking and saw that she was absorbed at looking at two different pairs of pants, her now wearing a black tank top. I unbuttoned my pants, feeling my heart start to beat faster, and slipped them down. I quickly kicked them off and put on the jeans. I buttoned the jeans and felt my heart start to slow down.
Now when I got undressed around Emily my heart started to beat faster, and once in awhile my mind started to wander to things that it shouldn't. I walked away from the dresser and fell onto my bed back first.
I covered my eyes with my arm and took in a deep breath. My mind going to what I needed to do today. Start to work on my physic homework. Continue on the paper I was writing about the effects of the economy on the lower class. Then Emily and I would go out to eat. Come back and then shower and just relax until it was time to sleep.
Such a normal schedule for us and yet it still seemed so foreign to me from what we had before. Though I actually enjoyed the routine of our days now. There was no worry about Emily suddenly disappearing and dying. There was no worry that Blue would come back and take over my body and force Emily to do something immoral. "Akatsuki, are you okay?" I moved my arm and looked to Emily.
I saw her wearing a black tank top with a dark blue skirt. The way the skirt flowed reminded me slightly of an ocean wave. "I'm fine. Just thinking about what school work I have to do." Such a normal conversation.
"Oh?" Emily sat down on my bed near my feet. Suddenly she leaned back and laid down half on me. The warmth of her body felt really relaxing. Neither of us said a thing. Then again I wasn't really surprised. We spend the entire day together except for the classes she took which I had already taken. The only difference is Hannah and her other friends but I didn't really care to hear about them. Though since they helped smooth out what was going on with Emily and myself I wasn't going to make it difficult for them and if asked I was sure I'd lend them a favour.
I felt Emily turn around to lie on her stomach. I looked to her and saw her face closing in on mine. I closed my eyes as I knew she wanted a kiss. "What a touching scene." My eyes instantly snapped open, my kakugan pulsing as I threw Emily behind me and jumped from the bed.
I saw a tall man in a blue skin tight suit with an overlaying white trench coat. A black baseball cap on the top of his head along with a black ski mask covering his face. "Black Hat." I was surprised at the amount of anger in my voice. I heard the sounds of Emily getting off the bed behind me but didn't take my eyes off of Black Hat. The instant I did that I was dead.
Black Hat casually looked around the room, essentially saying that I was a non-threat. My instincts screamed at me to attack him but I knew if I did that without a flawless plan I would lose. "Not a bad place you have here." Black Hat started to casually walk around the room and then sat down at on the chair at the desk. "I haven't come here to fight. If I did you'd be dead." That was true. He could have just put a blade into Emily's head and neither of us would have been able to stop him.
I relaxed my body a little but kept my kakugan locked on him. "Why are you here?" I saw Black Hat look me right in the eyes. His I was there was almost a look of longing in his eyes. A look of regret.
"Was it my experiments that stained your body blue like that?" I felt myself thrown off by the odd question. Why was he asking such a thing?
"Of course. When you coloured my RC cells blue it changed my koukaku, but when I finally gained control over Blue, who you so kindly put in my head, my kakugan changed." Because of the mask I barely saw it but I saw a look of confusion of Black Hat's face.
"Blue who I so kindly put in your head? I never manipulated anything in your brain. In fact I made it a purpose to avoid anything that could alter your mental conditions." I saw the look of confusion grow even larger. Before I could comment again the look was gone. "It is something I'll have to look into." I saw him look to me again. I could tell something serious was going on. "Akatsuki, Emily, I have a warning for you two." A warning? What could that be?
"Alexander Rivington, or as you two know him Mr. Rivington, is planning something." I didn't say anything. What was so important about telling us something like that. Unless the plan had something to do with us. And the most probable thing would be to do with Amanda. The plan was probably something to do to get revenge against Emily and myself. And if Black Hat was here then it was something most likely involving the AGC. "You probably already figured it out." I gave Black Hat a nod. "Good. Now when he springs his trap I want you to call me."
That got my attention more than anything so far. "Why?" I could see the faint smile behind the mask.
"Rivington plans on using agents, and possibly even ghouls, to attack and kill you. However, I never gave those agents the okay for the mission. Rogue agents must be made any example." I see. In the end it was still for his own benefit but it assisted us this time. "And there is the likelihood that Rivington will be there himself." There was an odd moment of silence as if Black Hat was going to tell us something akin to the secret to life. "Rivington is a terrible man, able to bend the will of those around him with his influence to cause suffering for his own personal gain. You two know that personally." I wasn't even going to ask how he knew that.
If Black Hat's information was true, and being honest there was no way it wasn't, then we probably would need his help. Mr. Rivington had a massive amount of resources and probably could get multiple S rank ghouls and high level ACG, even getting them to work together from their greed. I could handle a single S rank but probably wouldn't be able to fight much more than a few B ranks after. Emily, while nowhere near as strong, probably could handle a handful of A ranks at most. We really had no choice but to accept Black Hat's help. Just like making a deal with the devil.
"We'll call when we know." I saw Black Hat stand and rotate his arms.
"Good to know. Now if you excuse me, I have somethings to look into." Black Hat walked to the door, opened it and walked through. I felt kakugan fade as he closed the door and I looked to Emily, still laying in the bed. I could see that she was unsettled by Black Hat's presence, or could it have been the topic of our discussion? Either way she looked like she needed attention.
I walked to the bed and laid down in it with her. I reached to her hand and intertwined my fingers with hers. "Why?" Emily turned her head toward me and looked at me, her eyes watering. "Why can't we just live a peaceful life?" I felt her squeeze my hand a little. I squeezed back a little.
"I don't know." I hated those words, especially right now. All I wanted to do was comfort Emily but I just didn't know how to with questions like that. "Let's just look at the present. That's what you told me to do, right?" I saw Emily just didn't know what to think for a second before she gave me small nod.
"You're right Akatsuki." Emily shifted her body closer to mine, our bodies touching from our shoulders down to our feet. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of our bodies being close.
After a while I opened my eyes and looked to Emily. She had her eyes closed, her chest barely moving up and down, signs that she was asleep. My eyes suddenly locked on her lips, slightly parted. I heard a slight shift in Emily's breath. I looked to her eyes and saw that she was now staring at me. "Akatsuki, what's going on?"
My body moved on it's own. I didn't even have time to process anything as I moved and kissed Emily. The sleep instantly left Emily as the shock of my kiss hit her. For half a second I thought about stopping the kiss but then something deep instinct told me to keep going. Something I normally ignore but for some reason I just couldn't.
I followed my instinct and went to deepen the kiss, something that Emily easily accepted. We kept on kissing for a few minutes, stopping every now and then for a short breath. This was the limit of what we had done before but that reason just didn't seem to matter to me now. I brought up my hand and put it on her breast.
Emily jolted from my action and she broke our kiss. Her eyes looking right at mine. "Akatsuki?" The way she said my name I knew what she was really asking. She wanted to know if I was serious. I gave her a small smile, something she told me flashing in my mind.
"I love you." I saw Emily's cheeks flare red. Though my words seemed to work as Emily relaxed. I gently rubbed her breast with my hand. Emily. I will show you how much I love you. I kissed her again. Because I love you from the bottom of my heart. And now, I will show you how much I love you.
"Enjoy your weekend everyone." The bell gave a loud ring as classes for the day got out. It had been three days since Emily and I… we… I still can't fully believe that we did that.
I started to pack up all my papers from class and put them away. Though I didn't regret doing.. That… with Emily I just didn't think that I would let myself go like that. Though Emily nor I had any displeasure about it. If anything Emily was twice as cheerful as usual, almost nothing could get her mood down even a little.
I slipped my backpack on my shoulder and started to make my way out of the room. "Akatsuki." I turned around and looked at the teacher. An older man, with a wrinkled face and a head of white hair, wearing a suit that seemed like it was from when he was a middle aged man. I couldn't remember his name, though I didn't really try to. "Mr. Rivington said that he'd like you to meet him in his office after class."
I felt my body tense but quickly untensed it so I didn't raise any suspicions. Was it finally happening? Was Rivington finally going to spring the trap Black Hat was telling us about? I refocused on the real world. "Thank you." I redirected myself to the door to the exit of the classroom.
I got into the into the hallway and saw Emily was already waiting for me, I noticed she had the Black Case on the ground next to her. Other than the Black Case being next to her the clearest sign that she was told the same thing as me was the fact that her mood was soured. I walked next to her and picked up the case and slipped it over my shoulder, the strap digging into my shoulder. "How did you get the case so fast?"
"I got out of class early, so I ran and got the Case."
"Thanks." I saw her give me a brief nod.
"So are we going to call him?" Should we call now? For all we know this could be some random meeting that doesn't concern any traps and we're just assuming wrong. Then again if this is a trap then the likelihood of us being able to call is minimal if not impossible, meaning no help from Black Hat which would mean our deaths.
I grabbed the phone out of my pocket. "Call. If we don't then we die if it's a trap." I saw her nod again. I dialed the number Black Hat called the phone before with and heard it ring. It took a few seconds before I heard it get picked up.
"Is it happening?" His voice was smooth as usual but I could detect the barest hint of concern in his voice.
"We have a meeting in his office. We don't have anymore details but I felt like it necessary to let you know and have you have some time to prepare." I could hear Black Hat moving around on the other end.
"I'll be set. Go." I ended the call and looked to Emily.
"He's coming. Let's go to his office." Emily nodded again. Emily was probably making a tactical plan in her head. Unfortunately, we were walking into unknown enemy territory where Rivington could have modified anything . As good as Emily was planning pre-battle it didn't matter if the environment changes.
After nearly a ten minute walk we got his office. I glanced at Emily once more and saw her give me a determined look. Right, Emily was prepared I needed to be ready myself. I closed my eyes and thought about what I was about to do and the consequences. But in the end those results didn't matter because I was doing this for Emily. To protect her. So we can live our life together.
For her I'd fight the entirety of the ACG barehanded.
I felt any nervousness I felt flee away. I opened my eyes and pushed open the door.
I walked in getting prepared to to form my kagune and bring out the Great Protector. My eyes went smoothly over the corner of the room. Nothing. I then brought my eyes to the man who asked us here.
Rivington at at his desk, which had papers strewn about at random. His hair a tangled mess, it was easy to tell that he hadn't bathed or combed his hair in weeks. His suit was ragged and had cresses all over it. Even though it was a decent distance from us to him I could tell his eyes were bloodshot. He hasn't been sleep, that or he has been drink or using drugs.
His eyes were locked onto us. I stepped forward, also slightly in front of Emily. "You called for us sir?" I needed to keep up the act that we didn't know his plan. Even though seeing him in the state would have obviously set off alarms.
"Yes, Yes. Come in." He spoke way too quickly. Almost as if someone asked him if he wanted water after being in the desert for weeks without water. I slowly walked forward, making sure to keep Emily behind me. I stop walked about six feet from his desk. "I asked you two here because I have found the person who ordered that ghoul in Japan to attack to two.." There was a slight silence that I could tell was painful for Rivington. "And my little girl."
There was so much emotion in his statement. It made me think. Did Black Hat really tell us the truth? Was there the chance that Rivington was telling the truth and that Black Hat's information was off? As this was going in on in my head I felt something almost sting my brain. I refocused on reality and saw Rivington's eyes.
Now that I was looking at them at this close, I could tell something was off with them. I the back of my head something, or more likely someone, told me that Rivington was just acting. Amanda was showing me that I can't trust her father. That he was lying and using this to make Emily and myself drop our guard.
"In fact not only have I found that party that is responsible and have used multiple connections to get them to appear at a location." Wouldn't be that hard since you were that person. "Do you know the construction site on the other side of town, where they are building the skyscraper?" I gave a nod. It wasn't that hard to find.
"Good, that is where the meeting will take place at ten tonight. Unfortunately I was only able to get it to happen tonight so you will have to go and take care of them, as I have board meetings I have to go to." Rivington stood up from his desk and walked to me. He set his hands on my shoulders and looked down into my eyes. "I'm sure you'll make those bastards pay for doing that to my little girl, right?"
As much as I wanted to rip his hands off of my shoulders I held it in. "Of course. They'll know how much pain Amanda was in before they die themselves." I shifted my body enough to let Rivington to know I was leaving. His hands dropped off of my shoulders and felt to his sides. I turned and motioned with my head to Emily that we were leaving.
The two of us walked out of the office without any problems. I saw Emily's body visibly un-tense. The two of us started to walk down the hallway toward the exit. "Akatsuki," I turned my gaze towards Emily. "Are you sure that we are taking the right actions?"
"I'm sure." I was to. I knew that Black Hat's info was good, especially because of Amanda's jolt. The two of us walked out of the castle like school and into the paved walkway on the grounds.
It was just a little after four thirty, so we had plenty of time to do something else before we had to go. "Emily," Emily turned her head toward me while still walking forward. "We have almost five hours before we have to leave. What do you feel like doing?" Emily's eyes almost seemed to sparkle.
"Let's go get some get some coffee." That was an odd request. We had coffee in the dorm room. I went to open my mouth. "The gourmet kind that you can only get at a real coffee house." I closed my mouth and reopened it.
"Alright."
Emily and I walked into the construction zone. Even though it was visibly empty I could feel eyes were watching us. My eyes scanned over the various materials that the builders used make the building. The metal frame work of the skyscraper was all set, though it was still just metal beams without any more to it. The light of the moon was bright tonight, making the area clearly seeable.
I slipped the Black Case off of my shoulder and slammed it into the ground, making a small indent in the dirt under it. "Emily prepare yourself." Even though Emily was behind me I knew that she had activated her single kakugan. I heard a small click from her and knew she had loaded the gun she stole off of the agent from a while ago.
Three figures stepped out of the framework of the building. All of them ACG agents wearing the blue skin suit and white trench coat. Two males slightly behind a single female agent. I was surprised when I recognized the female.
It was Elizabeth, Black Hat's partner. What was she doing here? Black Hat wasn't going to be happy when he saw this. Though I had the feeling that he already saw this and was preparing for this fight since we called him as soon as we left for the coffee shop.
Though from Elizabeth's reaction she knew that we were coming. "So you two actually came." I kept my eyes on Elizabeth. She was dangerous, but I should be able to handle her. I could do so before I gained Blue's power and now it should be easier.
"Yes, we were told the person who set up our friend's death was here but we only ran into ACG." I could hear multiple men moving to surround us. I felt my eyes pulse as I activated my kakugan, the world becoming even clearer in the dark.
I slipped my hand to the handle and pressed the button to release the seal on the case. The top popped off and landed on the ground. I slide the Great Protector out of the case and threw the case away.
I heard pops all around us as all the agents activated their quinques. I scanned the area around us. Nearly twenty men, all using various forms of weapons. I looked back to Liz and saw her holding the weapon I first was her use, a club with a single spike on top. The man to her right had a green scimitar while the other one had halburd.
I was about to charge and tear them apart but stopped when I heard the deep footsteps of someone walking into the construction zone. I glanced back to see Black Hat casually walking into past all the agents, all of them looking like they're about to piss themselves.
"Lizzy, Lizzy, Lizzy." Black Hat's voice was as smooth and even as ever. "How am I disappointed in you." Fury was etched into Elizabeth's face.
"Like I care about what you think you over confident bastard." Elizabeth face suddenly went furious to calm. "Though looking at the odds I'd say we're on the losing side." At least she wasn't stupid. "However, this." She reached into her pocket and grabbed something. She pulled out a high tech looking syringe with some red fluid in it. Black Hat tensed up at seeing it. "This should even the odds a little, don't you think?"
"Elizabeth, what the hell are you thinking? You know the effects of using that." What was in that syringe? Elizabeth seemed to disregard Black Hat as she slammed in needle into her neck. A clear sound of air decompressing came it as the liquid drained into her.
I glanced to Black Hat. "What the hell did she just inject herself with?" I heard Elizabeth scream like she was being boiled alive.
"An extract that I made. It allows the human body to bind to RC cells without turn the person into a ghoul." The implication of such a thing… "It's very unstable however as anyone who uses it gains a dependence on it, along with their body growing a resistance to it." Meaning that someone would have to take increasing amounts of it have the same effects.
"You use the drug yourself." That would explain the speeds Black Hat uses and how he could swing around the Great Protector.
*Yes.* I was slightly surprised to hear Black Hat speak in japanese without a american accent to it. Was Black Hat japanese? *Liz doesn't know japanese so we'll use it to communicate our plans.* Black Hat stepped into a stance and pulled out a simple knife in one hand. *I'll take on Liz while you and Emily take on the other agents.* Black Hat then reached into his own pocket and pulled out a identical syringe, brimming full of red liquid. He pushed it into his neck and the sound of air came again. He threw the empty tube away. *Go.*
I looked to the steel frame. Three men stood there. Single edged sword, spear and a large cleaver. I slammed Protector's blade into the ground, slicing it deep into the dirt and took off toward them. Ignoring the sounds of metal clashing on metal and gun shots and crystal shards.
I three men and saw them go to use the beams of metal as protection from my sword. Big mistake. I brought my blade up toward the beam used by the one with the spear. My blade touched the metal and felt a bit of resistance as my blade cut right through the metal and through the man behind it.
"Jason!" The man with the sword ran toward me and start to swing at me. I kept my eyes locked on his blade and kept dodging casually. His swings were too wild to be of any harm to me. I positioned myself next to a beam and ducked as he swung horizontally. His sword rang as it slammed into the metal and bounced off of it.
I brought my hand and grabbed his forearm. I put as much strength into my arm as I could and swung the man into the beam he just hit. His spine could easily be heard being cracked against the metal. I heard a sound right behind me. I spun around just in time to feel the cleaver of the last man slice into my chest. I jumped back to I could get the distance advantage with my weapon. He didn't seem to care and glance to the swordsman. "Robert, are you alright?"
Obviously the man didn't respond as he was dead. Before the cleaver user could figure that he was dead and broke out into a run sprint toward him. By the time I got to him he had raised his cleaver into a downward slash, something too easy to predict.
I brought my sword forward and speared him on the blade. He didn't seem to care as he tried to swing his arm down. I jumped back, letting go of the Great Protector, and saw him fall to the ground from its weight. I walked up to him and saw he was dead.
I pulled out Great Protector and walked out of the frame work. I saw Emily standing where I left her, surrounding her was four bodies of agents all full of crystals. Looking around I saw four more agents further away with gunshot wounds to their chest. They didn't have a chance.
There was a large crash sound of flesh impacting metal at high speeds. I looked toward the sound and saw Black Hat's body flying toward us. I moved in the flight path and prepared myself to catch him. I slid a little back from the amount of force his body impacted me with.
I put him on the ground. There was blood staining his white trench coat in various places and the mask he wore was visibly wet around the mouth, probably from blood. Black Hat's eyes opened and he grabbed my forearm. With his other arm he reached up and pulled off his mask.
I wasn't totally surprised when I saw that Black Hat was indeed Japanese. Though I was surprised that he looked like he was nearly fifty years old. Was that an effect of the drug? Probably not as Black Hat would have said so earlier. Looking closer at his face something seemed ever so slightly familiar with his face. "Akatsuki, I wore her down a little." Black Hat then coughed, blood come with it. "You and Emily need to finish this." Black Hat's grip on my forearm weakened. "If you do this then I'll tell you everything you want to know." Black Hat let go of my forearm as his arm dropped to the ground.
I put my hand on his neck and felt that his pulse, while weak, was steady. I stood up and looked from where Black Hat flew from. I saw Elizabeth, her club wielded in one hand like it was a plastic bat, walking toward us. Her fight with Black Hat seemed to be more even then I thought as I saw she was bleeding from multiple cuts all over her body, though none seemed to be very deep. Seems like the drug didn't have a rinkaku level recover.
I also noticed her pupils were now red instead of the usual colour. That was no doubt an effect of the drug. It was honestly a little off putting to see the red pupils of a ghoul with the white of a human eye.
How much did Black Hat ware her down? If I tried to bring up some type of conversation would they give us a few more seconds and let the drug get flushed from her system? Though if I did delay the fight then she would recover her strength and then Black Hat's efforts could go to waste.
I gunshot rang from behind me and Elizabeth raised her club. I saw a small spark appear where she deflect the bullet. I heard a small clank of metal on the ground, probably Emily throwing the gun on the ground. She must be out of bullets.
Though if Emily decided to attack right away that meant she deemed not allowing Elizabeth to rest a be a better tactic than waiting. I readied my blade as I got prepared to charge Elizabeth. *Emily, back me up.*
I ran toward Elizabeth, my blue eyes locked onto every slight movement of her body. I closed in and took a horizontal swing. She raised her club and blocked my strike. I keep up my assault swing the Great Protector every which way to not allow her a second to go on the offensive.
Suddenly Elizabeth's club parried my strike, launching the Great Protector out of my hands and into the sky. I saw her parry turn into a swing as her club came at my head.
I willed my koukaku to form. The giant blue shell forming in front of the club and taking the blow. Even taking the impact with my best defence I felt gravity's effect disappear as I went flying away from Elizabeth. I landed on the ground and rolled on the ground painfully from the impact on my koukaku and then rolling over the injury several times.
I got up as fast as I could and looked to my koukaku. The shell was now caved in where Elizabeth hit me. No doubt that it would heal but it didn't mean that I didn't feel the sharp pulses of pain from it now.
I looked toward Elizabeth and saw that she hadn't moved from her spot. She must be arrogant from the drug flowing in her body. I glanced around and saw that the Great Protector was still out of my sight. Without my sword I didn't have much to protect myself against that club. But I didn't really have a choice. I concentrated on my lower back and felt my skin start to peel apart.
Three rinkaku tails slowly formed out of my tailbone as my koukaku grew smaller by almost a third. I shifted my rinkaku so all three tails would be on my left side while I shifted my koukaku to my right. Making sure to leave enough room between the two side to be able to use my hands for quick strikes.
I didn't have much practice using both kagune at one time, and never against someone this strong. Guess this is what they say by trial by fire.
I got into a stance to sprint at Elizabeth while she did the same. We both rushed at each other at the same time, forcing myself to go the same speed as I had with the Great Protector.. We were just about to reach each other when I heard the vague sound of clinks. Elizabeth heard the sound to and suddenly jumped to her left, crystals impaling the location she was just standing at.
For a second Elizabeth looked satisfied before I ran at her again, rushing at her with my full speed without the heavy blade. She barely had time to react as my first rinkaku went to impale her. I brought up a second to try again but she dodged and swung at my head.
I crouched then heard the sounds of clinks again. Elizabeth dodged to her right to dodge crystals that flew right at her. I jumped at her from my low position, all three rinkaku aiming at different areas.
Elizabeth moved her club to one hand. She then used the club to block the first tail, her palm smacked the second tail knocking it away from her, the third tail she ended up twisting her body making it miss her just barely.
However, that was exactly what I wanted her to do. I formed my hand into a spear like shape and brought it forward. Her eyes widened as she realized what my plan was. My hand felt warm and wet as I pierced her stomach. I felt the club move away from blocking my rinkaku. I glanced and saw the club making it's way toward me. I raised my koukaku to block, know it was still going to hurt.
Again I heard the slight sound of clinks and saw a small stream of crystals hit the club knocking it off course, only grazing my koukaku. I looked to Elizabeth's eyes and saw that most of the red had been drained out of her eyes. I also saw the acceptance of what was going to happen.
I raised my other hand, forming it into a spear. With as much force I could I moved it forward right toward her chest.
It had been almost three hours since the fight. Black Hat had woken up about thirty minutes after I finished off Elizabeth and took us to a ACG facility to get cleaned up, luckily it was empty this time of night and Black Hat had the electronic key.
Emily and I were currently in a room that was slightly larger than our dorm at school. Though this room's only furniture was a simple white bed with a metal frame, it was even lacking a blanket. The rest of the room was a solid white-gray colour. The only other noticeable feature of the room was the window that showed the outside, though nothing could be seen as it was now pitch black outside.
I was given a skinsuit since my other clothes now had a vast amount of blood on them. Emily was lucky as she somehow didn't end up with a single drop of blood on her. Guess the men who fought her underestimated her. Idiots. Well. Dead idiots.
Emily was sitting on the bed, looking at the what little you could see dark sky from the bed. Myself I was just standing and thinking. Who was Black Hat? He ever so slightly familiar, like I had seen him before but he was never really important enough to make a solid impression. The sounds of a door opening knocked me out of my thinking.
Black Hat walked in the room. Though this time he was not wearing of the gear we first saw him in. He was now wearing a new skinsuit, as this one didn't have any cuts on it from the fight, and didn't have his classic mask on showing off his real face.
He closed the door and leaned against the door. I closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and out. "So I guess some explanations are in place." He didn't give us any time to answer. "Akatsuki, I'm guessing from the looks you're giving me you seem to remember me somewhat." I gave him a nod.
"Yes. I can't place where though."
"I would believe so because the last time you saw me would have when you were four." Four years ago I was still in Japan. I scanned my memories of all the faces I could remember from Japan. Mom. Dad. Auntie. Then there was.. I felt my eyes widen ever so slightly as I finally remembered where I had seen Black Hat's face before.
"You were at the airport. You were talking to my dad before we went on the plane." I saw Black Hat give me a small smile. It was one that used happiness as a cover for both nostalgia and pain.
"Yes. Your dad was good friend of mine back when we went to high school." I could almost see memories play in his mind. "I didn't really mind when I learned he was a ghoul since he was actually really kind person. He hated that he had to eat humans but did his best to limit the damage whenever he could."
"What's your name?" Emily suddenly spoke up out of nowhere. It surprised me a little but was glad she did. Black Hat actually looked sheepish at forgetting to tell us his name.
"Oh, right, um, my name is Yuji Arakawa." I saw Yuji's face suddenly get more grim. "Now onto information that you two might find interesting." I saw Yuji looked at Emily then me. "You two should know that Rivington actually had nothing to do with this incident. Elizabeth was the one who gave me that information. Figuring what she did tonight it's obvious she feed me incorrect information." Yuji then look right at me.
"As for your idea of me putting this Blue character in your head I figured it out. When the agents assaulted your apartment you tried to protect your mother and Emily. However you got beaten, badly. I looked up more detailed reports on what the exact actions of the agents fight and it seemed that some of them gave you some head injuries. Mix this with suddenly being thrown into tanks of RC suppressant and experimented on your mind had split itself so you didn't have to deal with all the mental damage right away. You dealt with it one step at a time but by the time you would have natural figured that out you already created the ideal of Blue in your head."
"So Blue was always a figment of my imagination?" I saw Yuji nod.
"More or less." But if Blue was apart of my imagination, then was Amanda's presence fake to? Something that I just made up in my head? No. She really was helping suppress my other half. Allowing me to use my full power without any of the mental damage.
"Okay." I noticed that the sun had started to rise as rays of new light shined into the room. "What happens now? It's obvious that with Elizabeth gone that things are going to get bad around here." I saw Yuji grin.
"I was hoping you'd ask that." Yuji walked forward and held out a folder I didn't see him holding. I took it from him and opened it. I started to read the top of the typed page.
Operation: Unite
Authorized by "Black Hat"
Operation Unite is a program to help integrate Ghouls into everyday sociality without having any stigma against them for being ghouls.
To begin this process I believe we need to find some type of link between humans and ghouls to show that the two species are not that different from each other.
After this link is found we can find some trustworthy ghouls and start creating a new police force that will take on both human and ghoul problems. Showing that not all ghouls are violent being that just want to kill and can actually protect people if given the opportunity.
There was more detailed information on each step and further steps but I got the idea of what this operation was. I flipped through a few pages and saw hundreds of signatures from agents who was willing to take part of the program. I flipped the next page and saw it was for ghouls that would be willing to take part of the program. It was empty.
Everything made sense. "You won't use her." I looked to Yuji and saw his face was stern. I knew that to show that humans and ghouls were close was to show Emily to the world. Showing that a half human half ghoul could exist. Though the amount of danger it would put her under would be insurmountable from both humans and ghouls, wanting to kill her for being a monster or a traitor respectfully.
"You don't get a choice." I looked to Yuji and saw him look over to Emily. "It's all her choice. I know you want to protect her but you need to let her make this choice." He looked over to me. He's face reminded me of a old wise man. "Then you should support her choice and protect her."
I looked from Yuji then to Emily. Her face showing that she wanted to know what was going on but didn't seem to want to interrupt us. I closed the folder in my hand and looked down to it. I knew I didn't have any right to deny Emily having the choice, but if she got hurt.. No, I'll just protect her better. I held out the folder for Emily to read.
After a few minutes Emily looked up, her eyes brimming with energy. "Where do I start?"
Ten years later
I shuffled some papers against my metal desk. Ready having ready over them and got prepared to staple them together. I stayed my hand for just a second as I looked around the room. It was a medium sized office space.
The walls were all white exact for a the wooden door leading out of it and the window behind my desk, normally covered by shades but were moved to let sunlight into the room. A blue couch was sitting near the door, though no one really wanted to stay in my office for long. I knew my coat hanger was behind me and it'd be annoying to look at it right now.
I returned my focus to the stapler but a knock on the door stopped me again. "Enter." The door swung open and a younger man stepped into the room, wearing a generic suit and tie. Reminding me that I was wearing my normal clothes still. John saw me and surprise rang though his face. "What are you doing? Shouldn't you have your suit on? It's an important day!" I waved him off.
"It's an important day for them, not me. I do it every year." John looked at his watch and frowned.
"And it's too late now. Come on we have to go." With a sigh I dropped the papers on my desk and stood up. I turned around and grabbed my white trench coat off of the hanger. I slipped it on and rotated my shoulders a few times. The thing still felt as weird as I the first time I wore one. "Come on let's go!" I looked towards John and nodded. Motioning that I'd follow him.
A few minutes later I was standing in front on a stage in front of nearly thirty people, each wearing a blue skintight suit. I walked to the podium and cleared my throat. I've done this speech so many times I could do it from memory.
"Congratulations to all of you. You have completed training that would break the average person, be they human or ghoul. To see all of you to make it past training and get ready for service in real world makes me proud to be your commander. I hope that whatever this world throws at you that you are able to keep calm and react appropriately. I know that each of you will do your best as agents of the NAGC and make not only yourself and your families proud but future generations proud at trying to mend the tear between our two species." I paused and took a breath. "Now please come up here when your name is called to receive your trench coat."
I turned the knob on the door and pushed it open. I felt all the stress of the day instantly fall off my shoulders. As soon as I closed the door and took three steps I heard a yell from across the house, constantly being repeated as it came closer.
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" I caught the little missile and spun us around, the yelling turning into squeals of delight. I stopped the spinning and set Anna on the ground. "Daddy look what I can do!" She closed her eyes and reopened them. Her eyes turning red and black.
I was surprised. Anna, at four years old, had activated her kakugan and had good enough control in one day to turn it off and on by her own will? "Amazing Anna. I'm sure your friends will be impressed tomorrow." Anna got really excited and took off from where she came from.
I took off my shoes and started to follow her trail, leading me to the laundry room. Anna was latched to Emily's leg, talking as fast as she could while Emily was putting Anna's clothes in the washing machine. "I'm home." Emily stopped what putting clothes in and looked at me with a smile.
"Welcome back dear."
