Yo! I don't even have a schedule anymore. I just update whenever I get the chapter done. High school is TOUGH! The teachers hate originality.
'You are seniors! You are role models for the younger students! Act your age!' screams the teacher. Little did she know that...we don't care.
Anyways, enough of me. I hope you enjoy reading this!
CHAPTER 14: EFFORT
The noise of the ghouls' screams could deafen Touka. It was obviously not going too smoothly.
Dozens of bodyguards came down to fight against the three the instant they saw the host's blood spill on the floor. Touka was doing well, and was surprised to see how weak they were. It was a small auction, but, the guards put up a weak front.
Tsukiyama was outside, dealing with the ghouls who tried to escape, so it was just her and Jiiro in the middle of it all.
She stood before the two human girls who were knocked out. Protecting those two and fighting the other ghouls was hard to do simultaneously. The two humans needed to get out.
Touka peeked at Jiiro, who was also busy. Her dress proved to be a disadvantage.
"Jiiro! Get them out of here!" said Touka, as loudly as possible. She clawed at a ghoul coming at Jiiro across his face with enough force to gouge his eyes out. Jiiro ran towards the two human girls and picked them up. Touka went along with her until Jiiro got out of the auditorium safely.
'Is this really going to work?' thought Touka, running back to the auditorium.
"The CCG. We need their help" said Kaneki."This is the only way we can do something."
The plan screamed 'bad idea'. The ghouls turned immediately to face Kaneki. They gave him a questioning look.
"How?" asked Banjou who was the only one who could register what the white haired ghoul had said.
"We can ask one of the human victims to call for help. This always happens. Touka -chan had called the CCG once to give fake information"said Kaneki.
"Will they listen to us? The doves might think of this as a prank. No way are they going to believe those humans!" said Touka.
"We attacked the white suits group and left enough evidence there for them to speculate that an auction might happen. The list with the orders were still in the building. If the people call, a dove or two will come just to check" stated Kaneki.
"We would need to wrap everything up and get out before they come, else even we will be caught" said Tsukiyama.
Jiiro ran as fast as she could and carried the two girls to the back of the building. She felt one of them move. Jiiro stopped and laid the two down. The older girl got up. She looked at Jiiro and was about to scream, but the ghoul girl was quick enough to stop her.
Jiiro, with her one free hand, took out a phone and kept it on the human girl's hand.
The ghouls in the auditorium were decreasing in numbers, the body guards had reduced but more of the bidders were present. They fumbled in their heels and dress pants just to throw a punch.
Ghouls born and bought up in luxury, reduced to desperate bugs, begging for mercy.
Only a few were left, it was too easy.
Touka brought up her leg to kick back a ghoul who was trying to sneak up from her woman was pathetic, she didn't even try to hide the 'clank' sound her heels made as she walked towards her.
'What do you think you can do? You know it's hopeless.' thought Touka.
She didn't expect retaliation.
.
.
She didn't expect the rich, spoiled, brat to actually block her kick.
Well, she was right, the girl didn't, but it was someone else who did. Without a second's hesitation, this ghoul broke her knees before she could do anything.
"GGGGHH!"
Touka almost fell back, but, steadied herself with her other leg. The pain was aggravating, but she could already feel it healing. Touka looked up, and saw a familiar figure.
"What the f*** are you doing here?"
Kaneki went down the stairs quietly, expecting something.
No matter how light his footsteps were, they echoed through the small space. The stairs were long and dark, Kaneki began to skip steps and run.
He let his guard down a little since he started to over-analyze every little creak.
'When is this going to end?' thought he. Kaneki felt like it would go on forever. The darkness engulfed him and the silence made him feel like this was all one weird dream.
As he got further, he realized, the stairs were getting more rickety and unstable. It was definitely not old since there was no dust or signs of rotting wood. The wood looked new.
'It was probably made recently in a hurry'.
Some amounts of light began to enter as he moved further.
He slowed down and came to a halt.
The sounds of his echoing footsteps were replaced with murmurings.
'People? More than two dozen'
Of course.
This was definitely how it was supposed to be. It was either the White suits' leader, or him. It was definitely going to be him because life wants to mess with her. Touka wondered what kind of reunion it was going to be. It was funny, this whole situation was hilarious!
She couldn't take it!
'He will kill me. That's what he wants' thought Touka, but, she knew it wasn't so. He could have killed her ages ago.
"Ayato" said Touka. It didn't sound sad or affectionate. It was empty and tired.
Her leg had healed and now she stood straight, facing the boy who was now almost her height. The ghoul who was there as a bidder ran away while Touka was distracted. Now, it was just Touka, Ayato, and the dead bodies.
"Didn't expect to see you here shitty brat" said Touka, her sarcasm was evident.
"You have the nerve to even TRY to go against me when I had moped the floor with your arse. You ARE an idiot" said Ayato.
'You are right for once' thought Touka, admitting it to herself.
"I think you are the only one who would be proud to say he almost killed his own f***ing sister. Great job a**hole." replied Touka.
"So you admit you got your a** kicked" said Ayato, chuckling.
Weird how they were having a conversation in the midst of the messy battlefield.
'Just like old times'
"Get out of here before I try to kill you. This time, I would do it for real."said Ayato.
Touka smiled.'Only "try to kill" me huh?'thought she.
"You could have done it the moment you caught my leg. Why didn't you?" asked Touka.
"You have a death wish, don't you?! Fine!" said Ayato dodging the question completely. He dashed towards her to throw a punch to her face.
'Not this time little brother.' thought Touka, blocking his punch. She caught him by his elbow and pulled him in to kick him in the gut. He pushed her away and went back.
'Ayato...I know I'm weaker than you...'
"Don't get cocky just because of that you b****" said Ayato, smirking. His kagune morphed behind him and he fired purple shards at the blue-haired girl.
'...But at the very least...I am stronger than before'
She remembered Kaneki asking her to not use too much of her strength at the beginning. Ukaku ghouls try to wrap it up fast. In a fight against Ukauku ghouls, the one who lasts longer, would win. Endurance is what she had wanted to build up over the days.
'Dodge, dodge,dodge, dodge, don't block! '
Touka jumped up, landed and ran towards her brother. She tried to get behind him.
It was a bad move from Ayato's side to bring out his whole arsenal at the beginning. She had picked up a bunch of Ayato's kagune shards and flung it towards him.
Ayato easily caught it with his hands. Touka threw in an uppercut while he was distracted catching the shards. Touka tried to follow the punch with another, but she was blocked easily. Ayato pushed pinned down to the floor.
Ayato encircled his hand around her throat, choking her. He locked her down, preventing her legs or hands from moving.
"Just like last time! Hahahaha! You're a joke aren't you?!"stated Ayato as he laughed.
'Shit!'
He accomplished his motive. He completely destroyed her, both mentally and physically way too fast. The fight didn't even last a solid twenty minutes. It ended as soon as it began.
The blue haired girl squirmed underneath him, trying to get out.
'No! You bastard! I'm not down! NOT YET!'
"gGGAgh! Le-legh-gt m-me go-AGHH!"
She knew she was screwed. Touka thought, maybe, just maybe, Ayato still loved her. Of course he would! She was his sister! Touka hoped that at least a small thread of love remained in hoped he would let her go.
Somewhere in his messed up thoughts, she hoped he remembered the time they spent together as family.
Those innocent days when their priorities were catching worms and butterflies, when they didn't need to care about getting food or water for the next day, and when they didn't need to worry about the villains in the world because to them they didn't exist.
When reality came crashing in on their seemingly normal life, the siblings, especially Touka, was desperate to stay alive. She was desperate to keep Ayato alive. But, desperation got her nowhere.
The two were clueless in the vast world where they did not have neither their mom nor their dad to help them get by. Touka reminisced of the days where her father pretended everything was fine. It was a mystery how he managed to lie so well.
Ayato was also miserable. He was worse off than his sister. The despair in Ayato's eyes sparked a flame in Touka's. She realized sadness got them nowhere.
Anger was her answer.
It was her gateway to a good life. Angry at the world, angry at herself, at the people around her, at the skies, at the earth, at humans, at wealth, at stupidity, and at everything. Her little brother was the only exception.
Anger was unhealthy, it killed her inside.
Anger saved her in the real world. It would save her again.
'You idiot. You shunned your father who raised you, who wanted a good life for you. You hated the man who wanted to give you a new start, and now, you try to kill me. I SAVED your SHITTY self for years! Ungrateful, ungrateful, ungrateful, UNGRATEFUL! '
At that moment, she wanted to hate everything.
Sadness, loneliness, regret, desperation, distrust and every other emotion she had...she tried to turn them into anger.
'I...need to teach you a lesson'
Touka recalled a passage in her biology text book. It said that teeth and nails were humanity's first few weapons to protect themselves.
She had nails.
She had teeth.
Touka lifted up her head as much as possible. She was already feeling sick, and the lights started to dim. She needed to do it quick. Ayato's wrist was completely open.
Touka opened her mouth to reveal a set of white, pearly teeth.
"Haaaaaaaaaaah!" breathed in she.
Her teeth clamped down on his wrist.
Touka heard the bones snap .
Ayato screamed as blood gushed from his stood up and clasped his broken hand.
Touka's neck felt cold after Ayato had removed his warm, sweaty hands. She breathed in as much oxygen as possible. The place stank of blood and she could taste the disgusting ghoul blood by just breathing in.
Her vision became clearer but her head stung. The acrid taste of ghoul blood remained in her mouth. The girl stood up, and looked down. She realized she had bitten harder than she had thought.
Her brother's hand lay, bloody and broken at her feet.
'I...heard it crunch...
...like last time...
...were they my bones? Or yours?' wondered Touka, staring at the seemed very much like a human's hand. It was bony and had very little flesh on it. Ayato was skin and bones.
Ayato cackled, he was in excruciating pain, but refused to show it.
"Whaaaaatever! This is child's play compared to that time! Hahaha! Your shit-head friend did me a favour!" statedd he.
Touka did not what he was talking about.
"What? " asked she, still dazed.
"gggghhh! That white-ha-haired f-f-reak!" said Ayato through his clenched teeth.
'Kaneki?What did he do?'
I hope you like this chapter! There might obviously be errors, but I'll get back to them. I don't curse much, I very, very, very, , VERY RARELY curse. I try to keep it out of my writings too. It might be kinda weird when you see this "*" mark. I feel weird when I see that mark, so sorry about that, haha.
xxxDreamingflowerxxx: I remember you posting a review wondering why Touka was angry at Kaneki for doing stupid stuff. I think that she wouldn't want to show weakness, ever. I think anger shielded her and reduced the pain. She is concerned about Kaneki, but believes tough love might work.
Touka, hasn't gone through anything she went through in the manga, therefore, I believe that emotionally, she is still almost the same as she was in the Tsukiyama arc. Around that time, she was insecure and felt weak.
Ayato defeated her before and criticized her off being weak, I think Touka would want everyone to think she is a tough as nails, and therefore, she puts up a front. I hope that helps! Sorry for writing such huge paragraphs.
Thank you for reading, reviewing, favorite-ing, and following!