Reaper

(Warning: Portions of the chapter are rather dark)

'School. No, I can't go there,' he thought laying on the fluff-filled mat in on of the base's old storerooms. His legs were crossed as his fingers played with a piece of something he had found attached to his back after last night. It was blood covered and gooey like skin but also rigid like bone.

The door creaked open revealing Tasuke, who was simply grinning at the bleak look on the blonde's face. In his right hand was a limp body, a woman more accurately a female Ghoul." Miza wanted you to interrogate this one too," he commented stoically as the teen looked at him.

"Sure, leave her in the middle of the main room," Yato said coldly. This was the crooked part of himself that had been created through the past two weeks of agony, that ego that would destroy everything if told to do so. He stood up a bloody glue sticking to the mat's surface beneath him.' Apparently that wound from the quinque did not heal yet so it is true what they say,' he shrugged it off reaching over for a proper shirt from the wardrobe nearest to him.

He stood and removed the bloody tee shirt and pants throwing them aside. In their place, the fresh blue shirt was draped over his toned body and the pair of dark pants were lifted around his legs. Both feet slid carelessly into a pair of shoes as the robe draped on the wall swished from its hook.

The young Ghoul looked down beside his make-shift bed and grabbed the mask. Its white and black supposed to symbolize his potential to be the best of both sides of the coin, but at the moment the white was stained a bloody red. Almost like an executioner he placed both hands around the cool aluminum face and lowered it atop his own face. Both eyes went from blue to red, his body stirring to life with desire.

The door creaked open and he stepped out into the hollow room. On any side hidden in the shadows there were many members of the gang having seen this routine done tirelessly for days now. Yato rolled both shoulders and stepped towards the center sprouting his Rinkaku like a samurai drawing their blade. The young woman was slapped back to consciousness and forced to look up by Tasuke.

The family friend, of which Yato failed to even learn a name, turned away his green-blue hair shifting with him. This was the hardest part for him, a kid turned into a monster by a manipulator, of course this was above his rank so he was forced to deal with it.' Maybe you'll snap back outta it soon kid,' he sighed hearing the rustling of the white robe over the cool concrete.

"Are you a traitor?" the teenager asked coldly. His blonde hair rustled as the woman looked up at him. Her eyes were dripping tears and her arms lashed many times with whips or chains." Answer before I just flat-out kill you!" Yato roared making the Ghoul flinch. She tried to cover her eyes but fatigue had gotten to her and quickly made her body lose the will to do such.

"N-no! Of course not!" the woman snorted holding back tears. Yato only a few weeks ago would have had sympathy or even remorse for her but at the moment she was weak. Her body was pushed forward by Tasuke making her brown hair fall forward framing her face.

"Liar! Ask her again!" he slapped her savagely. It was blatantly clear that Tasuke believed that this woman was a traitor and Yato glared at her as such. Yato took a step forward red eyes hollow of emotion.

She cursed and spat as she looked away. Tasuke towered over her savagely, like a lion above its prey. His sinister eyes coiled as if they were snakes, he was pissed that she was willing to talk back to him." Get away from me creepy bastard!" the brunette roared her eyes remaining a calm brown hue.

"Answer again, are you a traitor?" he asked kagune aiming forward pointing at her throat. A bead of sweat rolled down her face, around her left cheek and to the floor with a small splashing noise that was amplified in the silence. Behind the mask Yato kept a straight face he had to keep emotion out of it or else there would be no answers.

"Y-yes," she cried streams of tears rolling down her face. They too dripped down her rounded face to the ground with splashes as the kagune pressed into her chin softly, blood began to run down it." I-I'm so sorry!" she winced feeling it move away leaving a hole in her chin that oozed blood.

"Who were you in contact with traitor?" he addressed her coldly. The female ghoul was crying tears that mixed with the blood in small crimson beads that hit the ground as well. It was unpleasant to see or smell but Yato had to deal with it for this was his job.

"A-a Ghoul I had met in the Twentieth Ward! He said he could get me out of this Aogiri stuff!" she cried out a stirring in her lower back moving her shirt. Her kagune was preparing to expand and strike.

'Twentieth Ward? Who there was only the old man, Touka, and Kaneki at Anteiku. Are there more there that I don't know about?' he thought all the while the woman started to cry more falling apart." Care to tell me what he looked like?" Yato asked the point of his kagune between her eyes. She did not flinch now instead her red eyes glared up.

"No!" her tail came out and lashed sending a pressure of wind out that pushed away the other Ghouls back. Yato stood calmly in the chaos as some of them prepared to charge in only for Miza to appear between them and stop." No! He's going to get me out of this!" it struck forward only to be caught between the blonde's two hands holding it in place.

"Answer please I don't want to have to kill you for being uncooperative," Yato said monotonously. His eyes looked to see Tasuke leaving out headed to see Nori again, they quickly refocused where they belong." What did he look like?" there was no aggression just a sadness that carried for some reason.

She stood stoically not even trying to free her kagune from the grasp. Yato watched as she glared at him, brown hair framing her face and highlighting the aggression in her eyes. Her mouth coiled to a smile as her sole weapon was drawn back into her body, she knew something was about to happen.

Hospital...

"How's Yato?" Nori questioned sitting up in the bed. Her wound was almost perfectly healed but there were still stitches to be removed from the gash. Tasuke smiled staring out of the window.

"He's everything we dreamed and more. You were right he's pretty easy to manipulate," Tasuke laughed his smile growing larger.

The woman struggled to get back up after the sideways whip from his red tinted kagune. She looked up with a gash across her face which closed, she had been well fed prior to this questioning.

"He's a killing machine. He'll be really useful when we need him to be," Tasuke said calmly continuing to glare out of the window.

The questioner charged kicking her down kagune pinning her arm down by wrapping it. Her face looked awed as his Ukaku sprouted and the edges spiked sharply. He jabbed them down boring a hole through the trapped arm. She slapped his face and pushed him away.

"A killing machine? You only wanted him to be a soldier!" she sat up and shouted. Her eyes were watering, the initial plan was for him to be just another foot pawn not some sort of punisher.

The woman bit and cussed as he pulled away from her tattered arm. Mending had begun but it was astronomically slower now more than ever the wound too deep and caused by the wrong weapon for that. She stood up though in defiance towards the bastard that had stabbed her.

"Sometimes little sister plans have to change to get what you want out of someone," the Three Gang's co-leader sighed walking free from the window knowing all to well that the new member was tearing apart the traitor.

The prisoner hissed throwing her kagune forward, it missed as the opposing younger Ghoul slid past it. He reeled back a right hand and struck her to the ground again blood flowing from her now opened lip. His foot pressed against her chest a sick glare filling his eyes.

"What the hell did you to him? He wouldn't even hunt down a person under his volition!" Nori screamed tears streaming from her eyes. They fell to the white blanket in little darkened spots.

The woman was kicked about having thrown Yato off of her the first time. He was still stoic under the mask, body tense with muscles that had been taught over the past few weeks to kill reflexively. He stepped over towards her again Rinkaku wrapping around her left ankle.

"Made him work. What type of Ghoul had human feelings? The weak kind right? That is what makes me sick about those Twentieth Ward bastards," he laughed crossing both arms over his chest staring at his sister who was still sitting in bed crying.

His eyes narrowed with excitement as the prey struggled upside down. Her Bikaku shot out and caught him across the shoulder or it would have had his previously broken Ukaku not risen up to block it.

"Work? He's not a toy Tasuke! He's a living person!" she lashed out with an aggressive glare. Tasuke turned with a smile that was broadened.

The brunette struggled to strike again realizing that there was a shield of kagune in the way. Yato peeked out from behind the two wings of muscle and smiled opening them and pushing the female Ghoul to the ground with a thud. His Rinkaku reared up in single long tentacle ready to strike down.

"He was fooled into thinking he was a human. Working those kinks out is what fixes him," Tasuke glared fixing his dark hair. Both of his eyes narrowed upon his sister as somewhere there was a struggle continuing.

Blood rushed from a hole bored in her left ankle which was quickly covered up by the Rinkaku functioning as a rope or cord to hold her. Yato's head cocked as she struggled blood flourishing across he ankle and down her led.

'No, he didn't need to be fixed. You need to fixed,' Nori bit into her bottom lip to prevent those words from spouting out.

"Now that is over with care to tell me what he looks like?" Yato hissed coldly. She shivered as the Rinkaku wrapped around her ankle, split in two the other jabbing through her right. She screamed loudly streams now showering from her eyes

"He had wh-white hair," she cried out the warmth of her own blood running down her legs. Yato grinned slightly beneath the mask dangling her up higher revealing one more branch of his diverse Rinkaku. It slashed against her upper thigh splitting it with a blood gash.

"Well what else?" he said calmly driving it through her right knee. It was torturous to hear but Miza had kept everyone present in the room to see what happened to traitors. He slammed the woman to ground with a crunching noise making sure that her head did not hit to avoid the easy way out." What else?" he said again through her screams of agony.

"He's tall like a head taller than you!" she cried out blood pooling through her broken body. Yato dragged her over and placed a foot on her abdomen retracting his kagune. She shivered blood loss obviously getting to her and worst part was this was not even close to the end.

'Her look, its familiar I've seen it somewhere,' there was a shocked awe plastered on her face as if she had been stabbed or slashed with a knife. He shook it off and glared down with cool red eyes her squirming stopping upon locking up with them.

'Twash!' her kagune spiked through his abdomen. Blood sprayed out onto her and the ground around them as she slid out from underneath him. Yato took steps back his feet sloshing in the puddle of his own blood.

'S-shit!' he screamed internally. Heat rushed through his throat and iron seemed to form in his mouth. Spittle flushed from the corners of his mouth before staining the inside of the mask. His eyes teared up and sweat began to descend from his face.' Too open. How the hell is she so fast?' he thought again the crimson rolling down his chin slowly having mostly been caught by the mask.

"You bastard! Die!" she drew it back and threw it forward again towards the growing red blotch on the white Three Blade's robe he was wearing. It met something but it did not pierce through, two wings had been brought before him as a shield. His Ukaku now stronger than before leaving her shocked at the entire thing.

"You little bitch!" his Rinkaku sprouted and morphed into its traditional four bladed state albeit slightly less intimidating than before. His eyes narrow the tears blinking away as the woman dropped back in shock/

'Don't do it Yattori please don't,' the blue-green haired man flinched back as the Rinkaku spread forward from the teen's back. It split into its most gruesome bladed shape ready to pierce through her.

'Plosh!' four streaks of red suddenly burst across her body. The female gasped noticing that her torso had been practically butchered. She slumped forward as the crimson fluid sprayed forth from her chest and abdomen.

"Don't die yet!" the Rinkaku stabbed through her torso and drew her up piercing through her fully three times before allowing the body to drop to the ground. Chunks of flesh were stuck to predatory organ before they retracted.' Shit that opened up the wound on my back too?' he stumbled back and fell flat on his back the blood from his wounds mixing with that he had caused.

Hospital(Hours Later)...

"Has Yattori slipped by here lately?" Brick asked walking up to the bedridden teenager. His hands were taped as if he had been boxing or something and his shirt was stained with sweaty spots.

"He wasn't at school?" she asked. Nori knew too well that he was not but for safety sake she had to play it off as if she was oblivious.' Damn you Tasuke you really broke my best friend! How the hell can you do that to me?' she cursed at her brother mentally he had left when her human friends arrived.

"No, and Tatsu said he was not at home either," Keiya commented. She was shaken up from the scene of the previous night. That Ghoul with fiery eyes bashing through the CCG Agent like he was not even alive.

"Then where is Tatsu? He usually comes here with you guys," Nori smiled reaching for the glass of water at the edge of her bed table. She was starved but keeping cover was the best part, having a stomach injury meant all nutrients were intravenous keeping her cover secure.' I'm the reason why he's broken. I should not have gone through with that damned plan,' she was frustrated on the inside as the water slipped down her throat.

"He's still out there looking for Yato. He said something about a meeting place they had," Brick commented holding the 'Ghoul Biology' book he had been reading over the course of the past two weeks. His eyes were searching for something of how to take down one of the monsters that had killed an innocent man.

'A meeting place? I wonder if he'll be there?' Nori sighed staring out of window hoping. It was her fault that all of this happened her friend becoming some sort of weapon from her own plan when it was supposed to just make him stronger." Knowing Yattori he'll be there he and Tatsu have been joined at the hip forever," the blue haired teenager commented.

Three Blade's HQ...

"Hey, Scale this is for you found it on your house's door," the 'family friend' commented walking by his room throwing the letter into the open doors. Yato was laying on the mat, bandaged up because of his own stubbornness to refuse human meat.

"What is it?" he asked sitting up with a pained look. Before him on the ground was a letter marked in a beat-up old envelope, it was marked with scribble-scrabble kanji.' A letter? Tatsu's hand writing? What does he want?' he opened it up. There was a folded sheet of notebook paper filled from front of back with words.

It read:

"Hey man where have you been? We haven't caught you at the hospital with Nori( by the way if you haven't check up on her. She'll be out by tomorrow) and with that masked Ghoul running around killing CCG I wanted to check-up on you.

We're all worried even Nori she's been pretty beat up with the fact you hadn't come to see her.( Think she had a crush on you?). Her brothers been pretty confidently talking you up? Are you joining the Coast Guard or something? That'd be awesome but talking to me about it first after all you and I are best friends so if you are going through something.

Never mind this is probably something to do with your folks. I'm still really sorry about that I'm here for you man but if you don't talk with someone you'll fade away into sadness trust me. It isn't fun that's what happened when you know happened...

Anyway I'll be where we carved our names at when we were little kids. I think seeing those blossoms and water and stuff will get you back to your spirits because really you've looked awfully stressed.

How's your training coming along? You were really bulking up there fast the last time we got to chit-chat so I wanna see what you look like now. Brick does do he said you could really be a force of nature if you kept training. He said something about you being able to fight a Ghoul.

What am I blabbering on about? Buddy you and I just need a few hours to ourselves right? so if you are in the neighborhood just swing by I'll be there after school waiting for you. I also have that make up work you missed over the last two days. It was weird I'd see you in the morning and then you'd be gone by lunch.

If you are nervous though just ring me up. I just want to talk to you. Being a distant person isn't something I've known you for even when your grandparents died so just call or show up.

You know what? I'll bring that Anteiku coffee that we had a few weeks ago. You loved that stuff and maybe Touka-chan could give me her number since you aren't there blondie.

All right pal I'll be waiting. If you show up late though I can't say you're coffee'll be there. Hah, that'll get you here won't it. Remember where it was? The place we first met there on the lake I'll be on the bench, hopefully we can just chill like old times.

Its not like I haven't said that thirty times in the letter. So remember Yattori Suzuki you and I are friends. I can take everything you throw at me emotionally so if you need to cry or something, my shoulders there.

See you there,

Tatsu"

'He doesn't realize I'm a monster. Perhaps I should tell him that, no I can't blight the image of the hero he sees me as,' Yato stood up crumbling the letter and throwing it towards the wall. It landed in his trashcan with a swish. He stood and walked over to the wardrobe again to get new clothes for the second time.

A loose fitting tee shirt, a pair of jeans, and a black jacket were all he could find to prevent the clothes from sticking to the bloody wounds along his torso and back. Without another word he tucked his mask away and shut the door locking it with the personal key he had been given by Miza.

"Heading out? Good I'll come with you," the friend of his parents said calmly. He stood wearing a white jacket with ebony stars laid across the chest and spikes at the shoulders. He had a smile on his face, this was the only chance he had to talk the teenager out of the downward spiral he was following.

"Fine by me but when I see Tatsu you may want to back away," he shrugged. It was not monotonous somehow carrying a nervousness that had not been present moments prior.' I'm not sure if I'll kill him or not,' he sighed internally awaiting a witty remark from his primal side that after last night was completely silent.

"So that was from your friend, huh? Seems you've been too busy here to got to school full-time right," they began to walk across the bloodstained middle room. Yato was still light-headed from blood loss but he had enough energy to keep going.

"This is my home now. If I am need to do something here school can take a back seat," Yato said as they walked cool-y across the puddles of crimson goo that had congealed there.

'This entire ordeal had really screwed you up. Man I wish I knew this was going to happen I would not have gone through with Nori's plan if that were the case,' the man commented walking through the door first. Yato followed making sure it shut." Just remember kid there is always a way up from the bottom," he mumbled as they continued to go down the concrete streets.

'What is he getting at?' Yato questioned internally as they continued in the path he had long remembered over the course of the years. Both Ghouls hid them selves well among the general population even though their features, hardened, were more difficult to set as human.

"I want to ask what kind of guys is Tatsu? I mean he has to be good for you to be friends but care to explain?" the man commented walking hands clutching in his pocket. A smile was working his way across his face.' Shintake I'm trying damn it! You asked me before if anything happened to keep him straight but are you sure I can anymore?' he sighed staring at the sky.

"He's a special one for sure. I'm not sure I'd hang out with him if I knew I was a Ghoul all along though," Yato sighed heavily staring at the open blue sky. The white clouds staring down at him as if it were glass.' I would probably be dead had I known I was a Ghoul all along. And I never would have met any of them,' he thought as they continued across the pale gray concrete.

Thanks for reading guys. I know last chapter was kind of dark and so was this one but I promise that the pay off will be worth it. But for the moment tension builds as Yato approaches a hallowed meeting spot with his best friend. Can he really trust that 'human' with his worries and fears?

Seriously thanks for reading,

~Herodan3