Ch 13

Hide felt his mind stutter to a halt, his eyes unconsciously zeroing in on the man's hands which lay folded on the table. Hands that could easily reach out and crush Hide's skull if he lied or diverted attention again. But, surely Hide couldn't tell the truth?

If he told the truth, what if they just killed them anyways? Was there truly death lying in wait down either path? Surely there was some in between. Some hidden passage into a guarded safe haven.

Hide licked his lips nervously. He glanced between the two ghouls seated across from him, as though hoping one would relent. The sleek surface of the ape mask and Yoshi's unyielding, wrinkled face stared back in a mockery of him.

"Kenichi..." Hide began, only to trail off into silence. He didn't want to tell them anything snagdagit! But, it was obvious that Hide would have to give them something. Just a little information, to keep them satisfied so that he and Kaneki could get loose and disappear, never to be seen down these back alleys again. A bone to gnaw on.

But what could they afford to give? Certainly not the accident, they could track that back to them by hospital records even without their true names. Hide knew he would have to tell them a little, but not the whole story, mix the truth with the lie so his captors couldn't sniff out the difference.

"Kenichi," Hide began again, "he is different. We're not entirely sure even how different, really. We don't actually know where the differences begin and extend to."

The old man frowned in confusion and steepled his hands on the table. "What do you mean, you don't know. How can you not know he state of oneself which is apparent at birth?"

Hide took a deep breath, steadying himself for the next part. The lie part. He answered, "But, he wasn't. Not at birth. Kenichi was human at birth. He became... Different recently.. Because of what they did."

Yoshi's eyes had narrowed in thoughtfulness as Hide spoke, widening slightly as Hide revealed the last part of his words. "So, you're claiming that someone made Kenichi like this?" Yoshi asked, disbelief coloring his words.

Hide looked the ghoul straight in the eyes, reminded himself that this part was true as true could be, and said, "Yes."

Yoshi's eyebrows rose as he asked, "Who did this to him? And how?"

Hide forced his heart to steady as he began to truly weave his web of half-truths and lies. "We don't know who did this to him, he was attacked and when he was released he was like this. We don't know how exactly he was changed, but we think that ghoul organs were implanted into him."

Yoshi curled his hands one over the other and closed his eyes, seemingly thinking. Hide took this time to examine the ape-guy, who had been silent during this whole conversation. His posture had been largely passive and uninvolved. Now, after Hide's confession, he was leaned forward slightly. Although Hide couldn't see facial expressions behind his mask, he would guess that the ghoul was curious. (Hide couldn't blame him, as soon as he and Kaneki got home, they were so testing his new found kagune, Kaneki might be able to do both their homework at once!)

Yoshi opened his eyes and Hide snapped his attention back to the ghoul who seemed to be running the show. Yoshi said, "What have you done since he was returned? Did you not report anything to the police? Surely, there must have at least been a missing person alert."

Hide shook his head, thinking fast. He used his shaggy blond bangs to hide his eyes as he answered, "I tried, but I couldn't. The police will only send an alert out if the victim is missing for over 36 hours. He wasn't gone that long."

Yoshi frowned again, leaving Hide feeling like he's messed up one of his stories, even though he knows he's kept them straight. Yoshi asked, "And what about his family, surely they would have reported his absence?"

Hide allowed himself to wince slightly, to aid the act, "Kenichi doesn't have any family, they died when he was very young. He lives alone and he's kind of shy, more fond of books than people, so I think I'm the only friend he keeps up with regularly." Mix facts with the false.

"Why didn't you report Kenichi's assault and abduction to the police?"

Hide tried to keep his tone even as he answered, "We didn't really know we needed to at first. We thought he was fine and we thought if we made a racket then they would come back. And, Kenichi doesn't like to talk about it. He barely remembers when he was taken. He doesn't even know if they were ghouls or not."

Hide winced internally, thinking he had said too much, but Yoshi seemed to have taken it for fact, hook, line, and sinker. The old man seemed to be thoughtful rather than suspicious. To be fair, if someone was going to lie, usually they would have painted a believable fallacy. Perhaps that is why Yoshi seemed to be so accepting. The tale was too crazy to be feasible, so if he was telling it expecting it to be believed, then it must be true.

Hide almost felt guilty for pulling one over on the old-timer. His Momma always told him to be polite to the elderly. But, if the elderly was against Kaneki, well, then they had to go. Nobody hurt his little brother.

Yoshi furrowed his eyebrows together, frown deepening as he caught part of the sentence. "You say you don't know if they were ghouls, do you suspect otherwise?"

Hide wanted to flinch. Whoops. He'd given the ghoul too big of a bone. Oh well, this could turn out handy in the future anyways. "I... Well, I'm not entirely sure what to think, sir. But, I know that for ghouls, being able to go o school is difficult. So, it stands to reason that being able to go to college long enough to learn how to perform a complex surgery, implanting foreign organs into a patient's body no less, would be nigh impossible. If there are ghouls involved, I don't think they would be the ones doing the surgery. So, I do think there are humans involved."

Yoshi dipped his head in agreement. "Very sound reasoning, Hideki."

Silence reigned in the room, long enough for Hide to catch his mental breath. It looked like his plan was working. Meaning they would survive. From the moment Hide had seen the other, hostile ghoul leap from the shadows to attack them, there had been a doubt, kept quiet in the back of his mind. The doubt lied, said they would die and there was nothing Hide could do about it. For the first time that night, it looked like they would live to see the dawn.

"It seems," said the old man, "That your friend, Kenichi, and you by extension, have found yourselves ensconced into troublesome times. Do you believe the altercation tonight to be related to Kenichi's unique circumstance?"

Hide blinked, silently turning the question over in his head. Did he want these guys to know anything about Kimi? Flipping H. E. L. L. No. She didn't need that. After tonight, she would also be dealing with a crazy, psychotic, hopefully ex ghoul-boyfriend. Ex ghoul-friend. Hehe. But, bottom line, Kimi didn't need any reference here, so it was best to let the anonymous abductors take the fall. But, if he did that, it could easily come to light that he had lied. After all, that butt said that he'd be back.

Hide adopted a look of innocence, perfected by living in a household of many older siblings to take the blame. He said, "I don't know. I don't think so, though. He seemed to be going on about some slight we did to him. But, I've honestly never met the guy."

"So, you're saying that you believe his confrontation with you to be entirely separate from the incident when Kenichi was abducted."

Hide pretended to think about it for a moment, before nodding. "Yes. Now that it's over, the exact details of all he was saying are kind of blurry. But, to be honest, I just don't think he was smart enough to be involved with Kenichi's kidnapping."

Hide congratulated himself on both his lie and his excellently applied burn, even if the cussing, yakuza wannabe ghoul wasn't around to hear it. Plus, the burn even made sense- that guy obviously wasn't manipulator or surgeon level smart.

Yoshi chuckled and nodded sagely. "I couldn't hear much, but I could hear some of his yelling through the windows up here. Just listening to that, I find myself agreeing with your assessment. However, it does seem that beyond this most recent attack, Kenichi may not be safe if he continues to remain unable to live and function as a ghoul. Can he at least eat?"

Hide told the truth, pulling his face into a distressed frown. "No, he can't eat. But, Kenichi can drink coffee. So, that's something."

Yoshi nodded and said, "He has a ghoul's diet, then. He does look awfully thin, how long has he been unable to eat?"

Hide lied easily here, "About three and a half weeks, I think."

Yoshi sighed, "It is fortunate that you found us this early. Another month, maybe less, and your friend would be reduced to skin and bones, his basest instincts warring with his moral fiber and tearing apart his sanity in the process."

Hide furrowed his brows, that didn't sound like they were just letting them walk it sounded like-

Yoshi smiled and held out his hand, while off to the side the ape man took off his ape mask, revealing a serious, but friendly face.

As Hide held out his own hand- what else could he do?!- Yoshi said, "Kenichi is going to need to learn how to live in his new condition, we can teach him. It just so happens that Anteiku is hiring now. When do you think you can both start?"

AN: Check for pigs in the sky, I'm on time!

Not much to say, except I do need to address a review last chapter.

Last chapter someone asked why Hide was openly calling Kaneki his brother and pointed out that before they hadn't done that. I would like to answer and say that yes, they actually have. Their pseudo sibling bond is featured quite prominently in chapters two and three. Part of the reason that this bond doesn't appear as much normally, hence why they use nicknames, is because in those chapters it's either Hide's pov or Kaneki is emotionally fragile enough that he calls Hide 'aniki' for emotional support. Kaneki is not comfortable calling Hide that normally because he is emotionally stunted, remember? So, while he may occasionally think of Hide as his big brother, he will likely not address him as such unless under great duress. Hide doesn't call Kaneki brother normally because he knows that it makes Kaneki uncomfortable because of emotional stuntedness. However Hide will think it as often as he likes, which considering that Hide has ALWAYS wanted a little brother is quite often, especially when he is panicked because the older sibling's first impulse during a crisis is usually, "Where is my little sister/brother?! I must make protect them and get them out of here!" Hide kind of has this instinct, despite the fact that Kaneki is the same age.

I hope that clears everything up for you!:) Also, if it bothers you that Hide is Kaneki's big bro, I am going to inform you that this will not change, so you may wish to seek other reading material if you so choose. Other than that, thank you for your review, I appreciate the time you took to write it and that you thought my story worth commenting on.

Have a great day!