Hello, everyone! Now, I know it's been a really long time, so I owe you all an explanation. This summer was incredibly busy for me. I took up a part time job so I could save some money for college, and the rest of my time was spent sleeping (I worked late shifts) and preparing to actually attend college. However, I'm here now, life has calmed down, and hopefully I'll be able to speed up the updates from now on. I've been doing a lot of late game planning, and I think you guys are gonna like what I have in store for later chapters.
Now, let's go to COMMENT REVIEW TIME!
Eva-Saiyajin: I mean, I'm sure it was plenty troublesome to Cardin. Not that anyone else cares, of course.
PrometheusDark: Heck yeah it has! Hop on board, we've got coffee!
Sneky: That is fine, and I will respect your opinion on the matter. I myself am complete Arkos trash. And as for Kaneki's mental state...well, I won't say yes, and I won't say no.
Ultimate Kuuga: I knew people would like Cardin's comeuppance. And as for Arkos, no. No I do not.
Dr4g0nb411z: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I had the most fun writing the ending, let me tell you.
desdelor97: Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it!
BlueAutumn12: I will not spoil potential plot points. And you should be worried. Very worried.
: Glad you liked it! And I hope this is quick enough for you.
EctoAdler: Oof, hope you have good insurance. Anyways, glad you liked it!
Sakurada Kiritsugu: Truly.
Tiberiuas: You'll have to wait and see.
Guest: Sue me. I'm Arkos trash. And I'm not sure where you're getting your ghoul information, but that is patently untrue. Human flesh keeps ghouls fed and helps them operate, but ghoul flesh is what kicks them into power overdrive. I never said Kaneki would be weak, but he'd most definitely be weaker then when he arrived at Beacon, since he'd been subsisting on ghoul flesh for a while up to that point.
Hey: Glad you liked it! I know I did.
Greer123: You're welcome.
Itharax: Thank you! You too!
Guest: Thank you!
forthose8675309: Thank you! I try my best.
senpen banka: Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Silver III Jhin: Oof, he'd be having a real bad day then. Still, don't think Kaneki would do that with a Yamori ghost hanging around. He probably wouldn't find it very kosher.
MEMENTUM: Ding ding! You got it right in one! That's exactly what Yamori is. You win an imaginary cookie! Not spoiling anything else, though, including Salem's role in all this.
DorkSideoftheMoon: Yeah, Ozpin is kinda shifty, tbh. Very much a Dumbledore sort of character, only less warm and more chill. Not saying he's mean, but Dumbledore always was the kinda guy who you'd trust with your social security card, at least in appearance. As for canon alterations, I'll try to explain. Kaneki being there has bumped Jaune up a few pegs on the actual skill scale. He's not quite where he was at the beginning of, say, Volume 4, but he's close. His epic progression, coupled with his admittance of how he got beat up by Cardin (remember, he never explains the rapier wasps in the original) means that, at least in my version, Pyrrha got a little emotionally over excited. And this is personal opinion here, Jaune always loved Pyrrha. He just didn't realize it until the end of Volume 3, where it was too late. I'm not going to spoil Kaneki's character arc yet. I have big plans, and I'd rather keep them in the box for now.
IlluminatiAnimeLover789: Yep, I'm a sucker for pun foreshadowing. And yeah, I'm sorry. I know these take a while. It's a combination of writer's block and the actual writing taking a while.
YeTianshi: Yep. He's been good for a while, but he's getting...agitated. And it's true. It wouldn't be the first time someone left Kaneki to fight an Ursa. And I'm not spoiling anything.
RunDownLord: Thanks!
DD soul: Yep. And I know, but it will do for now. I don't think Cardin's gonna be a problem for a while, do you?
Nobody Important Liz: I knew Cardin getting wasped would be popular. I'm not always sure what people will and won't like in this story, but I knew people would like him finally getting what he deserves.
beowolfalein: Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Videomaster166: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
Plot Bull: You're darn right it is. And I've heard of Spacebattles, but I've been told that the update expectancy is ridiculous. I probably couldn't keep up.
OmegaCheat: Glad you liked it! And yes I have. It was, sadly but unsurprisingly, disappointing garbage. The only redeeming qualities are the OP (the visuals are meh, but Asphyxia is a dope song) and Austin Tindle's performance as both Haise and Kaneki.
GalactaisBest: Glad you liked it! And to answer your question, he probably could pass it off as Semblance, or a weird Faunus trait, but Ozpin has him on lockdown. He told him no kagune unless it's an emergency. And considering Ozpin has the power to bring down the hammer, Kaneki has to listen to him.
TravisUmbra: Yeah. He's getting the equivalent of one medium human body every month and a half. So enough, but just barely. No spoilers on how this will affect him, though. Glad you liked it!
SuperKamiEdgeLord: Hehehe. Maybe.
KCstills17: THANK YOU! I'm so glad someone gets this.
Fall2Glory: Yeah, it's a very tricky balance. I do think With Death Comes More Death pulled it off pretty well, though.
Guest: Obviously, I can't make you stay with my story if you get bored of it, but I've known people to wait longer for less.
LordAzrael1: Thank you! Glad you liked it!
Spiderwl: Come on, I'm going as fast as I can!
TheManThatWalksTheAbyss115: Thank you so much! I'll do your best to live up to your expectations!
Yeet: I can't! Dis bitch empty!
Acerman: 'He knows that when there are problems that you can't handle alone, you get help.' Are we looking at the same Kaneki?
Minxiboo: Hmm…Nah. He wouldn't tell just Ruby.
Guest: No no no...Kan-EDGIEST.
Ended the multiverse Detective: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it!
I'm-Bored-and-Gay: Come on, when has anything gone right in Kaneki's life? He's not that lucky.
Javimagine236: Sure thing!
Shade Techni: No worries, thank you, and sure thing!
Noble: Aww, thank you!
Guest: No worries, here it is!
A big thank you, as always, to the wonderful With Death Comes More Death for providing his advice on this chapter. Go and check out his TG/RWBY story, Re, if you haven't yet. It's super good. And check out his older story, Tokyo Ghoul Remnant, as well! It's sadly discontinued, but it's still a great read!
Alright, now then...LET THE STORY BEGIN!
"Wow! Look at this, Eyepatch!"
Ruby pressed her face against the glass of a nearby store window, ogling at the display. Bemused, Kaneki stepped up next to her and took a look. Behind the glass were three mannequins, each dressed in a different article of clothing: a bowler hat rimmed in blades, a silver jacket covered in clear piping, and a pair of bronze bracelets with wrist-mounted cannons. Cardboard Beowolf cutouts were propped up around them, carefully slashed and burned to make it seem as though the mannequins were in the process of cutting them down. The effect was somewhat ruined by the large price tags stuck to the weapons themselves, but it was a nice effort nonetheless.
Ruby seemed enamored with the silver jacket. "That's a carbon-fiber Dust manipulation jacket!" She gushed. "I saw it in Huntsmen Weekly! It can hold up to four different cartridges, and the Dust channels have a sapphire glass finish to—"
Yang, who had already walked a good ways away down the street with the rest of team RWBY, noticed that Ruby was lagging and turned around. "Come on, Ruby!" She called. "Stay with the rest of us!"
Instead of listening, Ruby pressed herself to the glass even harder. "But Yaaang!" She whined, voice somewhat muffled due to the fact that her face was mashed against the window panel. "It's so cooool!"
Yang walked over to her sister, pointedly ignored Kaneki, and gently tugged Ruby's arm. "I know it is, Rubes, but if you lag too much, Weiss is gonna leave you...in the Dust." She grinned. "Get it? In the Dust?"
Ruby groaned at the pun, but obediently pulled herself away from the glass and allowed a smugly-smirking Yang to lead her away. Kaneki followed them, somewhat grateful that Ruby had been cut off before she'd had time to go into one of her weapon rants.
In light of the upcoming Vytal Festival, Weiss had dragged team RWBY out of their dorm and insisted they be there for the students arriving from the rest of Remnant. Ruby had used the special occasion to coax the others into letting Kaneki accompany them. It was the first time in the two months he'd been in Remnant that he'd been to the city, and he had to say, it was a nice change of pace. The streets were decorated with long strands of colorful paper decorations and bunches of balloons, most likely in preparation for the festival, and an old man in a shopkeeper's apron was hanging a (somewhat crudely made) 'Welcome to Vale!' sign between two lamp posts.
Even without the decorations, Kaneki was enjoying being able to walk around and see the local sights. There were all sorts of stores, from weapons shops to grocery stores and even a coffee shop (Weiss had been in far too much of a hurry to let them stop, but Ruby had quietly promised she'd get him a cup later). He was even interested the Vytal Festival—although he couldn't fight in it, the idea of seeing people from the others countries of Remnant fascinated him.
Kaneki's excitement, however, paled in comparison to Weiss's. Ever since she'd woken them up, the white-haired girl had been grinning nonstop. When she caught sight of the 'Welcome to Vale' sign, she clapped her hands together with glee. "The Vytal Festival!" she all but squealed. "Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss," Ruby remarked, still sounding somewhat gloomy after being pulled away from the weapons shop. "It's kinda weirding me out…"
Weiss turned around and flashed her teammate a surprisingly sincere smile. "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament!" She skipped forward, twirling excitedly on the ball of her foot. "Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
Yang crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."
"Quiet, you," Weiss shot back, although there was none of her usual frostiness.
She lead the group to the nearby docks, where several passenger boats were already moored. Kaneki grimaced. The air was heavy with the thick, greasy smell of fish and seawater. It was enough to make him nauseous.
Clearly, he wasn't the only one who wasn't pleased with the air quality. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting these stupid docks?" Yang grumbled, eyeing the water with disdain.
Ruby made a face and pinched her nose between her fingers. "Ugh, they smell like fish."
Weiss either didn't notice the smell or simply didn't care. "I've heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today, and as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake clarified.
Weiss scoffed, crossing her arms defensively. "You can't prove that."
Ruby, clearly already bored with waiting for students to leave the boats, looked away from the group. She froze, eyes widening. "Whoa."
Kaneki followed her gaze and quickly noticed what had caught her eye. At the end of the street, a crowd of people had gathered around a Dust shop. It was clearly the scene of some sort of crime: the glass window was shattered, and everything was covered with bright yellow police tape.
Without saying a word, Ruby started walking towards the crowd. The rest of the team followed her, Weiss grumbling her protestations at having to leave the docks. Kaneki, knowing that Yang would throw a fit if he stayed behind, trailed along.
As the group reached the crowd, Kaneki got a better look at the inside of the store. The shelves were knocked over, and the glass display cases had been smashed, clear signs of a struggle. Several police officers were stationed inside, alternating between sorting through the rubble and shooing away nosy civilians.
Ruby turned her attention to a man Kaneki assumed was a detective. He was dressed in a white dress shirt, black suspended slacks, and a pair of maroon-tinted glasses, and was busily scribbling away on a tablet. "What happened here?" She asked him.
The detective finished whatever he was writing in his tablet and tucked it away. "Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week." He turned away, shaking his head in disgust. "This place is turnin' into a jungle."
Yang tsked. "That's terrible."
The detective walked over to the shattered store window. A second detective, dressed identically to the first but notably clean-shaven, turned to him. "They left all the money again!" He groused.
"It just doesn't make a lick of sense," the first detective muttered, scratching his temple. "Who needs that much Dust?"
His partner shrugged. "I don't know, an army?"
"You thinkin' the, uh...the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough."
Weiss hmphed in disgust. "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."
Blake's expression soured. "What's your problem?"
"My problem?" Weiss waved a hand nonchalantly. "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
Blake rolled her eyes and crossed her arms in thinly-veiled annoyance. "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
Kaneki couldn't help but shoot Blake an incredulous glance. From what he'd read about the White Fang, 'misguided' seemed like far too lenient a term. Robbery, arson, and even public executions; they reminded him of Aogiri Tree for a reason, and it wasn't the racial discrimination.
Weiss quirked an eyebrow, no doubt thinking the same thing. "Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"
"So then they're very misguided!" Blake insisted. "Either way, it doesn't explain why they'd rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
"Blake's got a point," Ruby said hesitantly. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him?"
Just hearing the name Torchwick nearly made Kaneki roll his eyes on pure reflex. Ruby had recounted the tale of the fight that had gotten her into Beacon numerous times, always punctuated with dramatic arm movements and explosive sound effects. He had no idea how much of it was true, considering Ruby was the only witness willing to talk to him, but if she was to believed, it was a plausible theory.
Weiss didn't seem convinced. "That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," she said haughtily, sticking her nose in the air. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
Kaneki frowned. Something about the way Weiss said 'those Faunus' raised the hairs on the back of his neck, ever so slightly. He wouldn't try and claim that the White Fang weren't criminals, but the amount of contempt in her voice was...unsettling.
It was clear Blake could sense it as well: she bristled so hard that her hair almost seemed to puff up like a cat's hackles. "That's not necessarily true," Yang interjected, no doubt in an effort to appease her teammates.
Whether or not her attempt was successful, however, Kaneki would never know; at that moment, there was an almost comically-timed shout from the docks, back the way the group had come. "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"
The group swung around in unison, Ruby already darting for the docks in a blur of rose petals. The others had no choice but to follow her. When they reached the handrail, the five stopped short.
Perched on the guardrail of the most distant boat was a person. Kaneki couldn't make much out, other then blond hair and the fact that they seemed to have a tail. "Thanks for the ride, boys!" The figure yelled, leaping from the boat and landing in an easy sprint on the docks.
A distant figure on the prow of the boat shook their fist angrily in the runner's direction. "You no-good stowaway!" They shouted.
As the figure got closer and closer to the main road, Kaneki could make them out more clearly. He was a boy, tanned and toned, with sandy blond hair tousled like he'd just towelled off from a swim. He was dressed in ragged jeans and a white shirt, which was completely unbuttoned, exposing an impressive six-pack. Dark red gauntlets encased his arms up to the elbow. Sticking out from the base of his spine was a long tail, covered in blond fur the same color as his hair.
The boy leaped from the dock, grabbed a nearby lamp post in a single hand, spun completely around it, and somehow ended up hanging by his tail with a banana held tightly in his hand. Kaneki hadn't even seen him grab it. "Hey, a no-good stowaway would've been caught!" He peeled the banana as he spoke. "I'm a great stowaway!"
A rock sailed by the boy's head. "Ey!" Two men in matching shirts and suspenders—in fact, unless Kaneki was mistaken, they were the two detectives from the Dust shop—were standing at the base of the lamp post. "Get down from there this instant!" one of them demanded.
In response, the boy stuffed the banana into his mouth and tossed the peel onto one of their faces. Kaneki couldn't see the man's reaction, but it must have been amusing: the boy laughed cheekily, swung up onto the top of the lamp post, and leapt off, before tearing off down the pier. The two men cursed loudly and ran after him.
As Kaneki and the girls watched, the boy ran past them. Kaneki couldn't be certain, but he could have sworn he winked at them as he passed. He was in front of the group for only an instant, and then he was gone, the detectives in hot pursuit.
Kaneki and the four girls watched, somewhat nonplussed, as the men chased the boy further and further down the street. "Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition." Yang jerked her head towards the boy's retreating back. "And there it goes."
Weiss blanched, which was an impressive feat considering how pale she was usually. "Quick! We have to observe him!" She took off after the detectives at top speed, Ruby and Yang following closely behind her.
Kaneki was about to follow when he realized that Blake wasn't moving. She was staring off in the direction the boy had gone with a dazed expression on her face.
Not wanting to go off without her, Kaneki took a risk and stepped into Blake's line of sight. "Blake?" he asked quietly. "Is something wrong?"
Blake blinked, shaking herself. "I'm fine," she snapped, uncharacteristically ruffled. "Come on." Without waiting for his reply, she ran after her teammates.
Kaneki blinked. That was unlike her. He ran after her, not wanting to get left behind while dwelling on the dark-haired girl's unexpected breach of character.
After a brief chase down the road, the group rounded the street corner just in time to see Weiss smack head-first into someone who had been coming the opposite way. The two hit the ground with twin cries of shock, landing in a tangled heap on the ground. Ahead of them, the boy leapt from the ground onto the side of a nearby building and climbed out of sight, with the detectives scrambling down a nearby alley in a failed attempt to keep up.
Weiss pushed herself to her knees. "No!" She whined. "He got away!"
"Uh...Weiss?" Yang pointed at the person Weiss had knocked over.
Weiss looked down, yelped, and scrambled to her feet, leaving the person on the ground. Now that she wasn't on top of the person anymore, Kaneki could see that it was a girl. She was wearing an eggshell blouse with long, ruffled sleeves, underneath a sort of grey and green overall skirt. Her feet were covered with black and green boots that went up past her knees, and lacy black socks that came up even higher. She had a cute, cheerful kind of face, with a spattering of freckles over her cheeks. Her pale orange hair was done up with a large pink bow.
She also had the brightest green eyes Kaneki had ever seen. They weren't just vivid, they were practically luminescent. The irises had a strange shine to them, as if they were coated in glass. That, combined with her overall appearance, made the girl look like some kind of doll.
The girl met the group's gaze shamelessly, smiling so brightly that it practically lit up her face. "Salutations!" She said cheerfully.
After a second of silence that seemed to stretch painfully, Ruby waved. "Um...Hello," she squeaked.
There was a pause as Kaneki and the others waited for the girl to stand. When she didn't, Yang asked,"Are you...okay?"
The girl nodded, never losing her smile. "I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking!" Her tone, as far as Kaneki could tell, was completely genuine.
Yang looked unsettled, as if she wasn't sure whether or not the girl had hit her head just a bit too hard on the concrete. "Do you...wanna get up?"
The girl thought that over for a moment. "...Yes."
With that, she pressed her hands on the ground behind her head, lifted her legs, and flipped herself to her feet. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all took a visible step back. Kaneki couldn't help but slide back as well. There was something odd about this girl, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Even so, she unsettled him.
The girl looked the group over, beaming. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to—"
'Penny' froze mind-sentence. She stared at Kaneki, eyes slowly traveling from his face down his body and back. The smile slowly slid from her face, replaced by a look of confusion. Once she reached his face again, she blinked.
"I'm sorry, but what exactly are you?" She asked.
Whatever Kaneki might have been expecting, it wasn't that. He was so stunned that it took him a few moments to form a coherent response. "I...Excuse me?"
Penny tilted her head to the side. "My Semblance allows me to scan the bodies of all organic life." Out of nowhere, she hiccuped, but she shook it off almost instantly. "Your genetic structure is unlike anything I've ever seen." She looked him up and down again; Kaneki felt the irrational urge to cover himself. "There appears to be some sort of extra organ located around the base of your spine, although I'm not entirely sure what it does. It has roots leading to several other parts of your body, and the cell structure is simply fascinating. I've never seen a biological compound like it before."
With every word she spoke, Kaneki felt horror and panic rising up in his stomach. Even without knowing exactly what he was, this girl knew. And if she knew, she might tell others. Ozpin wouldn't be able to protect him when the authorities came to Beacon. He'd be captured, experimented on, and inevitably killed. Even if he survived, he'd never be able to get back to Japan.
Yamori's voice rang clearly through his head, although the phantom itself didn't appear. Kill her. Almost without thinking, Kaneki took a single, lurching step forward—
Only for Yang to practically tackle him in a bear hug. She squeezed him so tightly that Kaneki felt his spine pop. "Don't you dare, Eyepatch," she hissed in his ear.
For once, Yang was being helpful, even if she didn't realize it: the impact snapped Kaneki out of whatever daze he'd been in. He took a breath (albeit shallower than he would have liked; Yang had a vice grip around his lungs) and let it out slowly, equal parts ashamed and irritated that he'd let his fear get the best of him. It's different here. There's no CCG, no ghouls. And certainly no reason to drag the girl down a dark alley and punch a hole through her stomach.
"Oh, the composition of your left eye has changed!" Penny chirped, completely oblivious to the tension. "How interesting!"
Kaneki felt his eye twitch under his eyepatch. No reason at all.
The girls of team RWBY shared a frantic glance. Kaneki could practically hear the unspoken conversation between them. "Listen...Penny, you said?" Ruby started hesitantly. "Eyepatch is...um…" She trailed off, clearly struggling to come up with a decent explanation.
"He's a special type of Faunus," Blake cut in. "From a small tribe in the wild parts of Menagerie."
"We're not exactly sure what kind of animal traits he has," Weiss added. "There hasn't been very much study on this tribe yet."
Ruby nodded. "Yeah! So it's really, really, really important you don't tell anyone!"
"Like, national security level important," Yang finished. She seemed to realize that she was still gripping Kaneki from behind, because she quickly let him go and pushed him away. Kaneki stumbled slightly, but managed to keep his footing. Any irritation he might have felt was buried under a sudden rush of gratitude for the girls.
Penny's eyes widened until they practically consumed her face. "A matter of national security?" She gasped, almost reverently.
Ruby nodded, visibly pleased that their ploy was working. "Yeah! If people knew about them, there would be raids and science experiments and old guys in lab coats with creepy mustaches! The whole village might get destroyed! So you can't tell anyone!" The others nodded in agreement.
"You can count on me!" Penny placed her hand dramatically over her heart, looking Kaneki straight in the eye. "I promise, I won't tell anyone!"
Kaneki let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "Thank you," he muttered, absentmindedly rubbing the skin just under his eyepatch. It would have been better if she didn't know at all, but I should be fine for now. I don't know what would've happened if Yang hadn't grabbed me.
The others seemed just as relieved. "Good to know we can count on you, buddy." Ruby awkwardly smacked Penny on the shoulder in what might have been an attempt at a friendly pat. "Sorry to leave so quickly, but we've got to, uh...We gotta go."
Yang waved. "Bye! Be careful walking around corners!" She grabbed Kaneki by the shoulders, turned him around, and gave him a push. "Come on, Eyepatch, let's get going."
Kaneki glared at her reproachfully over his shoulder, but didn't say anything. I was half a second away from skewering that girl, he thought, turning away. She has—
Penny was standing right in front of him.
Kaneki nearly jumped out of his skin. In the brief instant between Yang pushing him away and him turning to glower at her, Penny had somehow moved right in front of him. Am I that out of practice? I didn't even hear her!
Penny was staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. "What did you say?" she asked.
Kaneki blinked. For the second time since meeting her, this girl had left him stunned. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't say—"
Penny shook her head. "No, not you." She started walking towards him—and went right past him, coming to a stop right in front of Ruby. "You."
Ruby squeaked out what might have been a, "Me?" but sounded like a mouse being stepped on.
Penny nooded. "You called me buddy. Am I really your buddy?" She leaned in even closer, her nose almost touching Ruby's own. "Your...friend?"
"Well…" Ruby looked at the others with a panicked expression. Weiss, Blake, and Yang all shook their heads frantically. Even Kaneki gave her an uneasy shake of the head. There's something not right about this girl. Even if she isn't hostile, we shouldn't be around her if we can help it.
Ruby looked back at Penny hopelessly. "...Sure."
Dammit, Ruby.
Penny giggled and clapped her hands together. "Sensational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys—Oh dear!" She suddenly smacked the side of her head with...a strangely solid-sounding thwack. "I'm talking about friend activities when I don't know your names! How rude of me!"
Ruby, who had been watching Penny the entire time with an expression that looked like she'd just been hit over the head, shook herself. "I-I'm Ruby," she stuttered.
The others introduced themselves: "My name is Weiss." "Blake." "I'm Yang!" "My name is Eyepatch."
Penny beamed. "And I'm Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you all!"
She didn't make an effort to speak after that. There was an uncomfortably long silence before Yang finally asked, "So...What are you doing in Vale?"
"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" Penny chirped.
Weiss quirked an eyebrow. "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"
Penny turned to face the white-haired girl, raising her hand to her head and firing off a quick salute. "I'm combat ready!"
Weiss looked Penny up and down incredulously. "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
"Says the girl wearing a dress," Blake deadpanned, jerking her head at Weiss's outfit.
Weiss crossed her arms. "It's a combat skirt," she huffed.
Ruby slid up next to her. "Yeah!" The two exchanged a quick low-five.
Weiss paused. "Wait a minute…" She walked up to Penny, placing her hands on her shoulders. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed…" She struggled for a moment, either searching for the right word or biting back something obscene. "Rapscallion?"
Kaneki rolled his eyes as discretely as he could manage. I was hoping she'd forgotten about him...
Penny blinked in confusion. "The who?"
Weiss scowled. "The filthy Faunus from the boat!" She punctuated each word by shaking Penny, hard. The girl's head snapped back and forth like a paddleball.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake suddenly snapped.
Weiss turned towards her, confused. "Huh?"
Blake stalked forward, every muscle in her body taut with aggression. "Stop calling him a rapscallion!" she demanded. "Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"
Weiss let go of Penny. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamp post as a lamp post?" She gestured angrily at the trash can and lamp post in turn.
Anger flared up unbidden in Kaneki's chest. "Be quiet, Weiss." The worlds left his mouth before he could stop them.
Weiss's head whipped around so quickly that Kaneki was mildly impressed it didn't snap off her neck. "Excuse me?"
Kaneki wasn't sure where his anger had come from. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline from having his secret so easily discovered; maybe Weiss's casual bigotry had reminded him of things he would prefer to forget. Either way, he was no longer content to stay silent. "I said, be quiet. You don't even know that boy's name. You don't have any right to assume he's a bad person."
Blake nodded at him, her usual wary expression replaced with a brief flash of appreciation. "Exactly."
Weiss stood frozen for a moment, jaw hanging open in shock, before she straightened up and crossed her arms."I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand, anyway," she sniffed. "I suppose to should just be grateful he didn't take a bite out of those policemen while he was busy breaking the law."
Yamori, who had been remarkably silent thus far, chose that moment to make himself known. "You should cut that little bitch's tongue out," he snarled, pacing behind Weiss with an expression of utmost loathing on his face. "She's too uppity for her own good."
For once, Kaneki couldn't say he was completely against the idea. "Someone like me?" His voice was dangerously low, but he wouldn't go any further, not if Weiss took the opportunity to back down.
Predictably, she didn't. If anything, his tone just spurred her on. "Honestly, you're no better than the White Fang. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they carved up the humans they killed and—"
"SHUT UP!" Blake exploded, making everyone, Kaneki included, jump in shock. "You spoiled, ignorant, bigoted little brat!" Before anyone could stop her, she whirled on her heel and stomped away.
Weiss stood rooted to the spot, flabbergasted, before turning bright red. "How dare you talk to me like that!" She sputtered, jogging after Blake. "I am your teammate!"
Blake spun around, fury etched across her face. "You are a judgemental little girl." The loathing in her words could have melted through brick.
"What is the world makes you say that?!" Weiss shouted.
The two continued to yell at each other as Ruby and Yang shared an awkward glance. "Uh...I think we should probably go," Yang muttered, uncharacteristically uncomfortable.
Penny poked her head over Ruby's shoulder. "Where are we going?" she asked innocently.
Ruby eeped and fell into Yang, who managed to keep her on her feet. "Oh, uh, Penny," she stuttered. "Sorry, we gotta...We gotta go back to Beacon, so we can...F-finish making Dust cartridges for our weapons!"
Penny tilted her head. "You make your own Dust cartridges?"
Ruby nodded frantically. "Yeah, it's a whole thing with circle saws and blowtorches and it takes a long time so we gotta go! C'mon, Eyepatch!" She grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him down the street. "Those Dust crystals aren't going to process themselves!"
Kaneki didn't resist her, as easy as it would have been. As excited as he'd been to go into town, the idea of staying there while Weiss and Blake screamed at each other didn't appeal to him in the slightest.
He glanced back at Penny, who was waving cheerfully at him. Kaneki's didn't know why, but it was at that moment he finally realized what was so strange about her.
I couldn't smell her. At all.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"
"That is the problem!"
Kaneki grit his teeth, set down his pencil, picked up his eraser, and started scrubbing at his most recent spelling mistake. Blake and Weiss had cooled down a bit once they'd arrived back at Beacon, but it was clear they were still furious at each other. They'd started up again over an hour ago, and he was finding it harder and harder to concentrate on his homework with the two of them bickering so loudly. Ruby and Yang weren't even attempting theirs'—they were watching the two girls fight with mixed discomfort and interest.
"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you?" Weiss snapped. "The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
"There is no such thing as pure evil!" Kaneki, finally realizing that his homework was a lost cause at the moment, looked up in time to see Blake lose her temper for the second time that day. "Why do you think they hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin—people like you—that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Weiss pressed a hand to chest, eyes wide with what appeared to be genuine shock. "People like me?"
Blake didn't let up for an instant. "You're discriminatory!"
"I'm a victim!" Weiss shouted.
The room fell into a ringing silence, jarring after such a long argument. Blake looked as though she'd just been slapped across the face.
Weiss took a deep breath and visibly composed herself. When she finally did speak, her voice crackled through the air like frost. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" She slowly made her way to the windowsill, pressing her hands against the wooden frame. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War—as in actual bloodshed."
Nobody spoke. The atmosphere in the room was so thick that Kaneki could have chewed it. Blake actually looked mollified, at least for the moment.
Kaneki couldn't blame her. Weiss isn't the type to open up like this. This must have been eating at her for a while.
"My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember," Weiss continued. "And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear. Board members, executed. An entire train car full of Dust...stolen."
"And every day, my father would come home furious." Kaneki realized that, for the first time in the argument, Weiss's voice had started shaking. "And that made for a very. Difficult. Childhood."
Ruby walked over to her teammate and set a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, I—"
"No!" Weiss knocked her hand off and rounded on Blake, vulnerability giving way to white-hot rage."You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
Blake had been completely silent during Weiss's tirade, and had seemed almost sympathetic; however, that last comment sent her into a rage almost instantly. "WELL MAYBE WE WERE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!"
Everyone in the room, Kaneki included, recoiled in shock. Like the tumblers in a lock, several things clicked into place, one after the other: Blake's sensitivity to the plight of the Faunus, her extensive knowledge on the Faunus and the White Fang, and the way her flesh had tasted...as if she wasn't quite human.
Blake's a Faunus.
Kaneki looked at the other girls—Ruby, who looked shocked, Yang, who looked stunned, and Weiss, who looked...hurt.
Blake eyed the group like a frightened animal, pale and trembling. "I….I…" After a moment, she clearly couldn't take it anymore—she darted from the room so quickly that she practically left an afterimage in her wake.
"Blake! Wait!" Ruby dashed for the door, but it was already too late. "Come back!"
"She's a Faunus," Weiss breathed, the wounded expression on her face rapidly turning into one of anger. "You heard her, didn't you? She's a Faunus! And a member of the White Fang to boot!"
Ruby collapsed onto one of the beds, digging her fingers into her cheeks. "Oh my goooooooosh."
"Think about it, Weiss," Yang said placatingly. "She can't be a member of the White Fang. Wouldn't she have done something by now?"
Weiss huffed. "Even if she isn't a member of the White Fang, which I doubt, she's definitely a Faunus. I thought she was our friend! Why wouldn't she tell us?"
"You didn't give her much of a reason to be honest, Weiss."
Kaneki realized a split second too late that he probably shouldn't have said anything. Weiss rounded on him in a fury, eyes blazing like blue stars. "I don't want to hear it, Eyepatch!" She snapped. "She's been lying about this to everyone! She should have known that—"
"That you'd think less of her if you knew?" Despite Weiss's tone, Kaneki kept his own voice perfectly level. "I'm not saying the White Fang aren't criminals, but you clearly have some personal bias against the Faunus."
"You don't know what it's like!" Weiss exploded. "Lying in your bed at night, hiding under your blanket because you're scared some...some monster is going to crawl in your window and eat you? Worrying that every Faunus you meet is going to turn around and stab you in the back because of who your family is? The White Fang are terrorists, and if hating them means—" She froze, eyes practically bugging out of her skull. "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!"
In Kaneki's defense, he hadn't truly laughed; it was more of a derisive snort then anything else. It had slipped out before he could stifle it. Well, I might as well commit to this. "Weiss, how do you think people felt about ghouls back where I'm from?"
The question seemed to trip Weiss up for a moment. She blinked in confusion, the tension draining from her shoulders, although her face was still screwed up with anger. "What?"
"How do you think people felt about ghouls?" Kaneki repeated. "I wasn't the only one."
Weiss stared at him as if he'd just grown a second head. Kaneki swore he saw her eye twitch. "Why on earth does that matter, Eyepatch?"
Kaneki chose his words carefully. "There was an entire branch of government dedicated to tracking and killing ghouls, the CCG. It wasn't just if they found you eating, either. They'd hunt you down in your own home if they knew you were a ghoul. And you couldn't even tell humans you trusted, because if they were found hiding you, they were arrested—and executed."
Ruby, who had just pushed herself up from the bed, collapsed again. "E-executed?" she said in a small voice.
Kaneki nodded, looking at Weiss earnestly. Please, Weiss, understand what I'm saying. "I'm not trying to make this sound like some sort of contest. I just wanted to say that so you'd believe me when I said I do know how it—"
"That's completely different, Eyepatch! You eat people!"
The room went deathly silent. Weiss stood where she was, shoulders heaving. Ruby and Yang both stayed where they were, too stunned to do anything but gape.
And Kaneki stood as still as stone, unable to even reel back. Even his heart seemed to stop beating. Weiss's words rang in his ears, getting louder and louder with each passing moment, until they drowned out everything else.
"It's...different?" Kaneki's words, as quiet as they were, were hissed with such rage that they practically scorched the air. He felt as if some weight in his chest had shifted through his body, like a block of lead finally heated enough to melt. Fury poured through him, far too agonizing to hold back.
Weiss, to her credit, seemed to realize that she'd gone too far—she shrunk back, eyes going wide. "I...I didn't mean it like that. I just meant—"
Kaneki took three rapid steps forward until he and Weiss were nose to nose. Startled, she yelped and scrambled backwards into the bedpost. "Do you think I asked to be this way?" Kaneki growled. "Do you think any of us asked to be this way?"
Yang darted to his side and grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip. "Cool it, Eyepatch!" She barked, tugging him back.
For the first time since he'd started staying with team RWBY, Kaneki refused to let Yang move him. She staggered slightly, clearly surprised that he was even capable of resisting, before pulling even harder. He turned, scowling, and shoved her away. "Don't touch me," he snarled.
Without even looking for Yang's reaction, Kaneki rounded back on Weiss. "I know a little girl at home who's a ghoul. She draws pictures of her family to hang on her walls and has a pet bird she lets sit on her shoulder." His memories of Hinami floated through his mind, sweet and painful, like roses with thorny stems. "And when she was thirteen years old, I had to cover her eyes so she didn't have to watch her mother get decapitated."
Weiss went as white as a sheet. Kaneki felt a sick rush of satisfaction, but was far too caught up in his rage to stop for even an instant. "She didn't even get to bury her, Weiss." The anger is his chest pressed against his throat unexpectedly, making his voice shake. He swallowed. "The CCG carved up her body for parts, and when they wanted to lure her daughter out of hiding, they stuffed a piece of her under a bridge. You think that an angry father makes for a difficult childhood? Try someone telling you you don't deserve to be alive while you hold a piece of your own MOTHER!" His voice had been getting steadily louder the longer he ranted; the last word had come out at a shout.
"Just stop it, Eyepatch!" Ruby threw herself between Kaneki and Weiss, hands up, like she was trying to shield her teammate from Kaneki's tirade. "That's enough!"
For a split second, Kaneki was fully prepared to push Ruby to the side—until he saw that her knees were shaking, and her eyes were wet. His anger didn't dissipate, but he hesitated, just for a moment.
The room suddenly felt far too small and hot. Kaneki abruptly turned on his heel and stalked towards the door. "You think it's fair to judge a whole species based on how a few of them have treated you? Fine." He threw open the door, stepped into the hall, and shot one last scathing look over his shoulder. "Let me tell you, Weiss...I'm sick to death of humans."
And with that, he slammed the door behind him.
Kaneki didn't even make it two steps away from the door before coming to a halt. His chest was still burning, but his thoughts were starting to catch up with his emotions. He couldn't exactly go storming off wherever he pleased; as much as Ruby tried to make him feel otherwise, the fact remained that he was effectively a prisoner at Beacon. If he disappeared for too long, Yang would doubtlessly go running to Ozpin, and who knew what he'd do?
Frustrated, tired, and miserable, Kaneki slumped back against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting with his knees pulled tight to his chest. He was starting to realize just how badly he'd reacted. What Weiss had said had hurt, true, but hadn't he said hurtful things about ghouls, back when he'd only just become one? Losing his temper like that hadn't been the right thing to do.
So why couldn't he at least feel guilty about doing it?
"What's there to feel guilty about?" Yamori stepped into his line of sight, standing over him ominously. "It's about time you started standing up to those brats."
Kaneki tried (and failed) to stifle a low groan. "You didn't say anything in there," he muttered.
Yamori's lip curled up in a sneer. "You were handling yourself just fine in there. But it's one step forward, two steps back with you."
Kaneki buried his head in his knees, unwilling to even look at the leering apparition. "I overreacted."
"You held yourself back. You should have skewered that girl."
"They have every right to hate me. I tried to eat them."
"That purple-haired gourmet freak tried to eat you, but you kept him on the back burner, didn't you? They need to stop taking it so damn personally."
Kaneki didn't respond. Maybe it was the result of his earlier outburst, but he just couldn't muster up the energy to argue with Yamori. Especially when some small, filthy corner of his heart agreed with what he was saying.
There was a long silence as Kaneki tried to sort out his emotions. Suddenly, Yamori spoke up. "You know what really pisses me off, though? That headmaster. He foists you off with a bunch of girls that treat you like garbage, and then just ignores you?" There was a snapping sound as Yamori cracked a finger. "He's practically begging you to kill them."
As loathe as Kaneki was to admit it, Yamori had a point. He could count on one hand the amount of times he'd spoken to Ozpin since he'd started staying with team RWBY, and that was including the first time he'd met him. And no matter how much he'd thought about it, he still couldn't come up with a logical reason that he'd have him stay with RWBY, of all teams. It was as if Ozpin was trying to cause problems.
Kaneki slowly raised his head and fixed Yamori with a reproachful look. "What do you think I should do, then?" he growled.
Yamori took a step forward, staring down at Kaneki threateningly. Kaneki felt a chill—Yamori may have been a hallucination, but the last time he'd stood over him like this, Kaneki had been strapped to a chair. "Go up to his office and force him to tell you what his game is."
Kaneki thought that over for a moment. It would be nice to get some answers, or at the very least ask if he could have someone else watch him. Besides, he didn't want to talk to RWBY for a long time yet. I don't have anything better to do, and I'm not going to stay out here for Yang to find me. "Fine," he said. "But you better be quiet while I'm up there."
Yamori's smile was nothing but teeth. "No promises." He stepped just out of Kaneki's line of sight, and when Kaneki turned his head to follow him, he was gone.
Kaneki rubbed the bridge of his nose is frustration for a moment, before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Pushing himself to his feet, he crossed the hall to JNPR's door. He raised his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then rapped on the door.
There were muffled sounds of movement inside, before Nora opened the door. "Hey, Eyepatch!" She opened the door even wider. "What's up?"
Kaneki forced himself to smile, hoping that Nora wouldn't notice how fake it was. "Hello, Nora. Could you show me where Headmaster Ozpin's office is, please?"
Quick note: I usually don't do these at the end of chapters, but I want to clarify. I try and recreate the episodes as best I can in scenes that call for it (changing bits and pieces to allow for Kaneki's presence) but I did leave out one or two visual gags in this one. That's because they were anime tropes (ex: everyone falling down when something dumb happens) because they really don't translate as well into written media. Sorry!
