DISCLAIMER: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul.

*WARNING! Slight bad content in this chapter.

**Pardon OOC's (come on it's AU and I don't own them.)

A/N: Review response at the end of the chapter. This is a bonus. Aaaand since I finally finalized my schedule, this is how it will work. I'll post the bonus today, the I'll be MIA in two days. I'll be back by the weekend, auright? Cool. Nooow onto the special episode! After this is a new arc and a short timeskip.

TOKYO TENTACLE 49
The Funeral - Special Episode

"..and then there was this one time that he gave me a hammer on my birthday! I mean, what kind of a father would give his daughter a hammer on her sixth birthday?! I mean I was not surprised but I was not entirely happy either. What does he expect me to do with that? But the worse gift he ever gave me was a set of nuts and bolts that I got a year later. Literally just kept it in a jar and it just disappeared one day and he told me that he used it for his project."

Juuzou and Akira were walking down the street, on their way to CCG after they paid Shinohara a visit at the hospital. Juuzou had been prying her to talk and now he got her talking... a little too much. The blonde had been telling him how her father would give her unbelievable presents for a child's special day.

Of course naturally he should be giving her something like a dollhouse or a doll and makeup and stuff, but she did not get any of those. Juuzou thought that maybe the reason she ended up being a quinque-maniac was because her father shared nothing to her but his passion for quinque-making. Either way, he was relieved that she was really hyped up to talk. Not about Haise. But just about herself.

He did not dare stop her momentum of talking but he can feel someone was following them. He needed to lead her away from there.

"Say Akira,"

"What?"

The white-haired boy pulled her close to him and leaned for a smooch. Her stories had stopped, and now there was only the intimate exchange of kisses. When he growled, Akira stopped the kiss before he strips her in public.

"Did you do that just to stop me from telling my stories?"

"Maybe..." he did not want her to worry. It was thanks to his cheerful and playful personality that he can get away with it. "Should we skip work today?" he teased.

"Not a chance, Suzuya."

"Oh come on! Just one time!"

As she turned away, she saw in her peripheral a shop selling cat food. Her eyes sparkled and she peeked through the glass window where they cat food and dog food were purposely hanging to attract customers. "I'll be right back, Suzuya!"

Akira enters the shop to buy Maris Stella a whole bunch of cat food while Juuzou was left smiling. 'It's good when she's not thinking about work.'

But as he waited, the person who's been following them decided to finally reveal itself to Juuzou. Hugging him from behind, surprising the white-haired investigator by this act. Her scent was familiar and her hands were tightly wrapped around him, squeezing on his suit. "I missed you, Juuzou." she says warmly, Her hot breath tickling his neck.

"Kurona."

When he felt her hands crawling down to his belt, he quickly catches her hand and escaped from her tight embrace. "What's the matter? Are you afraid other investigators would see you? It's okay, we'll go someplace-"

"I thought you said you don't want to see me again. What are you doing now?"

"You seriously believe me? Couldn't you tell by how I wanted you to be inside me every time you visit the Shadows?" Kurona threw at him. (reference Dragon General Arc part 5). "I never realized you were this dense, Juuzou." she says with a playful grin, "Even so, I forgive you." she wrapped her arms around his neck so she can press herself to Juuzou. "I know you can take a little punishment from me."

"Kurona, I-"

Juuzou glanced over the glass window to see what Akira was doing. She seemed to be happily pointing at one of the cat food being sold. Juuzou quickly removed Kurona's arms around him and pushed her away before Akira would look over to him. He predicted right. The blonde waved at him with a smile, gesturing to wait for a her in a minute.

Kurona saw the way they looked each other. She grits her teeth in envy, but it wasn't over for her. "So you were able to fish another investigator from CCG." she says. "Big Madam's influence sure hits you big."

"I'm not going to throw her to the Shadows, Kurona." Juuzou tells her sternly.

"Don't tell me you actually care what she thinks if she sees you and me."

"I do care. Right now I already confessed and I intend to keep my promise to her."

Kurona was hurt to hear so. "You've changed." she says bitterly. "In the past you would've jumped the gun. And you'd toy with me... but here I am, hearing from your very lips that you actually care for someone's feelings when all you did your whole life was play with others' feelings!" she slaps Juuzou's cheek hard. "This new Juuzou won't last. One day you two are going to hurt each other and you'll remember why you never had a commitment to anyone. Then you'll come back after me." she declared.

"I saved you from the Shadows so you can be free from what I did, stop coming back for it." he wanted to argue.

"Well I'm already deep with this whole thing!" she couldn't yell she was a half-tentacle but Juuzou already knows it. "I am already in the point of no return. So I'm giving you a warning now. You can still turn back while you can."

"I love her Kurona, why can't you understand that?"

"Oh I understand perfectly. You're the one who doesn't understand what you're talking about. Save her the trouble and finish it." Kurona advised as her hand reached for another slap before she walked away, blending into the crowd.

Juuzou watched Kurona disappear. What was she talking about? She's acting like she knew him better than he knows himself.

"Sorry it took so long." Akira tells him as she left the shop, carrying two heavy bags of cat food. She quickly noticed the red cheek he had. "What happened to you?"

"I was trying to help an old couple and they thought I was some sort of bad guy, slapped me hard." he lied naturally and the blonde quickly bought it. "I guess sometimes being a good guy comes with a weird reward." he added to further smooth up his lie, to which Akira had fully believed already.

"Right. Dad said there are old tentacles too, maybe that one thought you were going to kill them."

"Yeah that may be the case." he just agreed and eyed the amount of cat food she bought. "Soooo what are you going to do with those?" he asked to change the subject. He did not want to lie more than he already said. "That's an insane amount of food not meant for humans."

"This is for Maris Stella." she says gleefully.

Juuzou only stared at her in confusion. Did she have a sister he doesn't know about? Or maybe some distant relative? No, the food wasn't for humans. Then what was it? "Maris what now?"

"My cat."

He did not get why she was so happy about it but he took note that talking about her cats were one of the things that cheers her up. He was surprised he did not know about this detail in the past.


Arriving at her apartment, the first time he got there actually, he saw the bad things written on the walls and windows and even the floors. He was angry to whoever did this but he kept himself cool.

He placed the cat food to the side while Akira picked up the torn-down posters from the couch and threw it to the side, "Sorry, I haven't been home much." she apologized for the mess. But Juuzou was not bothered how her apartment was not presentable to him, he was more bothered about who was doing the writings and curse her like that.

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" he asked, arms spread wide to show her the walls she seems to be ignoring.

"I gave up cleaning it and just let it be so whoever is doing that can stop. As time passed by, I just got used to seeing it."

"Is this the reason why Kaneki found you drunk at the file room last time?"

"Uhm, well..." Meow! Maris Stella purred, rubbing its soft fur to Akira's leg and the two investigators looked down to see the fat cat. "Ah Maris Stella perfect timing!" the blonde says and crouched to pick up the fat cat. "This is Suzuya."

The cat merely scowled at Juuzou, one that a frowning Akira would do. "So uh, I take it this cat is special to you?" he asked, not wanting to get near the cat.

"This is my dad's only gift that did not involve tools and such." she says (reference Post Dragon General). "That's why she's very important to me. Come on, she doesn't bite."

Slowly handing Maris Stella to Juuzou, he hesitantly reached for the cat, his face leaning away but his hands reaching forward. While he was in slow motion to reach for the cat, Maris Stella hopped off from Akira's hands and jumped towards Juuzou, making the male investigator panic and fall backwards, the cat scratching on his breast pocket before it landed back on its feet, purring and biting on one of Juuzou's candies.

"You little thief!" Juuzou shouts at the cat who ran back to its owner who knelt down and stretched her hand out. Maris Stella sniffed her palm before releasing the candy to her hand and she catches it. "That was my sweet stuff!"

"I didn't know you liked sweets too, Maris Stella." the blonde pets the cat that was asking her to remove the candy wrapper. Akira removes the wrapper and the cat swallowed the candy before running off somewhere with Juuzou's candy.

Juuzou was pouting as he checked his pockets if anymore candies was stolen. He did not bother to get up and just stared at the remaining candies in his palm. "Gee, that furball knows how to steal." he says, irritated as he counted the candies in his hands. "Now I only have four." Akira crawled beside him and takes one of his candies, leaving three in his hand. "Wha- wait that is my favorite!" he cried out as she popped the strawberry flavored candy in her mouth.

"It's good." she says and he frowned this time, pocketing his three remaining candies to keep anyone else from taking it.

"You're welcome." he says sourly and crossed his arms.

But to his surprise, the blonde crawled close to his lips and he tasted the strawberry flavor in her mouth, he blushed but he liked the idea. He slipped his tongue in her mouth to lick on the candy that dwells in her caverns. He sucked on her lower lip and gently pushing her down the floor, a hand putting her hair to the side so he can tongue her once more.

They kept it up until the blonde passes the candy to Juuzou's mouth and this time she was the one invading his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck to give her good support as she deepens the kiss.

The animal in him was waking up, he wanted to do something more than this. His hands rubbed her sides, that was left defenseless since she was busy messing with his hair now.

Giving the candy back to Akira, he pulled away to give them a few seconds to breathe and the blonde kept the candy in between her upper front and lower front teeth, Juuzou saw that the candy was small now, melted from their sucking and licking on it.

He captured her mouth once more to finish the candy for another round of aggressive kiss.

When the two felt the candy had melted completely, Juuzou helped the blonde sit back up, licking on the side of her lips one last time and smiling widely.

"Is my cat forgiven now?" she teased.

"Your stupid cat can steal candy from me anytime she wants." Juuzou encouraged, hoping that Akira would offer another round of apologies to him again.

"No, this will only happen once."

"Once a week?" he tried to negotiate. But she shook her head. "Every two weeks?" he says, pulling her to sit on his lap, brushing his nose to her neck and he leans closer to nibble her skin, "You can't possibly make me wait for a month."


RING RING!

Marude was driving his motorcycle for a checkup. It took months to repair it and now he's happy to be able to use it again. He parked to the side and answered the call, the engine revving softly in the background. "Marude here."

"Ah Marude-san!" Shirazu's voice on the other end. "Houji-san told me to tell you to check on Mado-san."

"Mado? Why?"

"She haven't checked in for work since yesterday. Her father's funeral was postponed tomorrow." Shirazu reports and Marude got the gist of what the rookie wanted to say. "She's also not answering our calls or anything."

He clicked his tongue before answering, "Alright leave it to me! Her apartment is near to where I am anyway."

"Thank you very much!"

As soon as the call ends, Marude had a realization; Shirazu was the one ordered to check on Mado and instead he was tricked into doing it. 'That kid!' But either way he wanted to drive around his motorcycle some more, see how well the engine fairs after the repairs. So he drove to Mado's apartment.

To his surprise, the door was half-open.

"That kid sure doesn't know how to lock her door either." Marude mumbled as he walked closer, hearing two voices within the apartment. He froze. 'Don't tell me...!'

He quietly approached the door, peeking in the half-opened door to see that the white-haired investigator was all over Kureo Mado's daughter. His face went red when he realized what the two were doing. All he could see was Juuzou's back and Mado's legs close together to keep something from penetrating. The view was not clear but he can tell from there what they were doing.

'That kid is assaulting Mado or what? This is the third time already!'

Marude would've jumped in to tackle Juuzou but then he heard Akira moan. He couldn't move like he were a statue. Juuzou's arms were moving from the looks of it, but what were his hands doing?

'Is he... doing her a boob job or something?'

Marude gulped. Getting turned on by the sounds the two are making. He shook his head and closed his eyes... 'No no, this is wrong. This is wrong I shouldn't mind other people's business... but... is this really happening?' He observed intently, his eyes locked on Juuzou's back and his arms that Akira's hands were clutching to. 'Is she pushing him off or enjoying it?'

"Okay I give up! You win!" Akira says aloud, still moaning afterwards. "It will happen again!"

'What will happen again?'

He saw Juuzou's back straightened and his hips moving. Marude is no fool, he knew that those hips were moving to poke on something. "Good." Juuzou says smiling, taking a candy from his pocket, the remaining three candies that were not stolen from him. "Let's start again."

"We have to go to work, you know?"

"Eh but you just said I win!" he teased and moved his hips again, his hardened rod poking the part between her legs that he was sitting on.

"Okay just one!" Akira gave in and took one of the candy in his hand, "The other candies can wait."

Marude swallowed and leaned closely to the door to see what the two were up to. He saw Akira sitting up and Juuzou adjusting his position, pushing the blonde's back to the couch and his body pressing hers before he catches her mouth once again to have a taste of the new flavored candy she put in her mouth. Marude's cheeks were beet red and went away.

'This is not good...'


[Anteiku - 20th Ward]

"So this place is Anteiku? What does that mean?" Rize asked while chewing on a bread. In her plate were two loaves of bread, one sandwich and one slice of cake.

Kaneki was sitting on a chair facing her, jars of peanut butter and jelly on his right and the pack of bread on his left. He's been making a bread for some time now, not noticing that Rize was eating them while talking. Touka, Hide, Yomo, Enji and Ayato were doing the cleaning and repairing of the the damages within the shop so they can reopen it again.

Shachi and Gil went back to Orca at the 11th Ward to prepare for Rize's arrival. In the meantime, Rize will be staying with Anteiku until Shachi gives her a go-signal that it's okay to move back with her father. As for Tsukiyama, they allow him to go anywhere he pleases while his butler doing the same. They weren't entirely invited to stay but because they helped when Anteiku was in need, their stay is considered gratitude.

"It's just Anteiku, I don't know." Kaneki says.

"The manager likes antique stuff." Enji answered, remembering that he would question the manager about it as well. "I believe it has something to do with his uh, the woman he loves."

"Ukina loves collecting antique cups whenever she'd travel from ward to ward." Yomo explained. "The manager copied her habit I suppose."

"Or he's just keeping Ukina's collection!"

"Or that."

Rize nods and took another sandwich from the pile that Kaneki was making, eating in peace while listening to their explanation. She's never met this Manager they're talking about, but the way they talked about him, he must be really special. Although she was aware that her father had an old friend called 'Kuzen' before, she still doesn't remember much since she doesn't pay attention.

"Come to think of it, I noticed the manager only drinks his coffee on Ukina's cups!" Enji said in realization.

"Just mop the floor." Yomo tells him while he and Ayato were carrying the broken tables and chairs from the battle and throwing it in the garbage bag that Hide was holding.

"Yeah we've got a lot to do." Hide agreed.

"Says the guy who's only holding the trash bag." Ayato wanted to offend the human, since Hide did not have any extra strength the way Ayato and the other tentacles does... also wanting to point out that Hide was the only human with them.

Hide just smiled though, he's already so used to talking to Touka and Yomo that Ayato's similar personality does not affect him the way Ayato wanted it to. "Want to take my job?" he asked instead and Ayato scoffed.

"I'm getting hungry." Touka says as she exited the stock room, stretching her arms and back. "The stocks sure got trashed."

"We can buy new stocks." Yomo says.

"Are we even sure that the manager wanted this? For us to continue living like nothing happened?" Ayato asked. "Shouldn't he want for us to avenge ourselves from the doves? Or Aogiri?"

"The manager wants us to live a civilized life." Enji said firmly, remembering the first time he met the manager. (reference Days Gone By Apes, Dogs and Ravens part 1). He offered the Devil Ape and the Black Dober to live a civilized life. That promise he kept. "Yes bad things happened, but no matter what, he'd still move forward and live."

Yomo and Enji knew from experience, that no matter how much terrible things had happened, from meeting the Clowns, going to the Underground and dealing with doves, the Manager would be calm and composed to save them and still tell them to continue living not driven by revenge and such.

"'Everyone in this world live by survival, but us we live because we're alive. And we're not going to waste our only life to something like revenge or be driven by rage. That's what makes us different from them.' was what the manager would tell us." Enji said, remembering the manager's words in the past.

Hide listened intently and smiled. 'I knew it. Tentacle or human, it's just the matter of what they believe in. If everyone were like the manager, then the world would live in unity and peace despite our differences.'

"AAAHHH!" Kaneki suddenly screamed, catching their attention.

"What's wrong Kaneki?" Rize asked, worried as she wiped the crumbs in her lips.

"YOU ATE ALL THE SANDWICH!"

"So? There's one left." Rize replied, pointing at the lonely sandwich that Kaneki last made. She grinned and licked her lips, "you know what, maybe I should-"

"WE'RE ALL HUNGRY TOO!" everyone shouts at Rize but she acted like she did not hear them and ate the sandwich by herself. Everyone glared at her, watching her eat until the last bite.

"I prefer that she was nothing but an insane killer..." Ayato mumbled.

"Should we kill her?" Touka agreed.

Enji just laughed. Looks like the manager was right. As long as everyone kept moving forward, not being driven by such emotions, they can still be happy.

'Yoshimura-san, Irimi, wherever you two are, believe that we will live with you.'


The next day, at the Funeral...

*Hide: Life is like a tire, or at least it's what others would say. Sometimes we feel that we are at the best of our lives but sometimes we are at our worse. But that's not exactly the case.

It was a rainy morning, the skies were dark and the rain was not really helping to lift the gloomy aura as the funeral was ongoing. Everyone was wearing black and umbrellas over their heads. Everyone was giving their best speech about their fallen comrade, Kureo Mado. His daughter had been quiet the whole time, eyes dead as it was locked towards the coffin where her father lay.

Juuzou was standing beside her, holding the umbrella to keep her from getting wet. He can see that it was his same expression when it was Shinohara who was sent to the hospital. But just like Akira said, Kureo was dead, Shinohara isn't. There's a difference.

*Hide: Just because of extreme sadness, or anger, we easily get swayed to believe that life is happy or sad. Not noticing that the only reason life seemed that way is because it's what our emotions tell us to feel.

Among the many guests of Kureo, there were two others who were positioned far from him. Touka and Hide were also wearing black, listening to how the people would talk about their deceased friend. Touka can feel the emotions they had for their friend, but she was not convinced he was at all innocent. But since she promised Hide she will give this funeral a shot, she was present.

Kaneki was also among the guests but was standing with the doves. He never met the man, but he was there not for Kureo. He was there for Akira.

One by one, the guests would leave as soon as it had ended. Only Juuzou, Kaneki and Akira had stayed.

"She did not even say a word for him." Touka mumbled. "I thought she was the daughter. Is this how humans usually mourn?"

"Some humans couldn't express themselves in front of others I suppose." Hide guessed.

*Hide: Even if we are down, and we think we cannot go back up again, we never noticed the people around us that wants to keep us from walking down that path. The dark path.

"Akira-san," Kaneki wanted to say something, but he was not sure what to say.

The blonde just stared at the grave, reading her father's name, the date he was born, the date he died. She stood there like a statue for a few more moments before she fell on her knees and crying, shocking the two boys and the two hiding in a distance.

"I'm sorry I can't do it!" she cries to the grave. "You told me not to cry when you die but it's impossible, dad!" (reference Post Dragon General Arc). "It's impossible!" she continued to say as she wailed.

The rain poured down on her until Juuzou walked closer to keep the umbrella over her head. "Akira..."

"Please don't leave me... please..."

*Hide: And it's thanks to them that we can move forward and live.

Touka watched as the woman cried over her father's grave and Touka felt a pang in her heart, remembering how much she cried as well when she lost Ayato years ago. (reference Days Gone By Kirishima Siblings arc part 2). She was so sad that she thought she could never recover from it if it wasn't for her uncle, the manager, Enji and Irimi.

"I thought humans... were different." she said softly, keeping her tears back.

"Humans get hurt and cry too." Hide tells her. "In fact, tentacles and humans are not so different. We all have families, we all have loved ones, we all only have one life." he continued to say as they watched Akira cry and Juuzou kneeling down to comfort her. "And we all have someone to be there for us when we're down."

"But not everyone is like Kaneki." Touka stated. "Not everyone can accept tentacles even if we don't intend to hurt anyone."

"It's hard, Touka. But if we don't do anything now, in the future, if we ever get a baby together," Hide begins to say, "they will live in this world. Killing doves for self-defense, doves hunting them down for revenge... it's a cycle."

"I don't want our baby to live like this."

"Neither do I."

"Then help me... let's make the first step and reach out to the humans." Touka finally says and Hide was relieved.

*Hide: In order to make a change to the world... we have to make the first step... for the better future.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

*Hide: The hardest part of moving forward,

Slamming his body to the concrete wall, the bones on his back made a crack, or was it the one on his ribs? Either way, he was in pain. And he was gripping on the tentacle that pierced his abdomen. "I- I really don't know..." he says. "But go to Anteiku, maybe you can find who you're looking for!"

"What is Anteiku?" the woman wearing a white hockey mask that had a marks at the side thanks to the blood splatters dried up and a scar-like scratch at the left eye of the mask.

"It's a shop run by tentacles! Please, don't kill me!"

"Tell me where to find this shop."

He points at the end of the alley, "turn right afterwards. You'll see it." the male tentacle says and gripped on the black tentacle still stuck on his abdomen. "Please let me heal!"

She dropped him on the ground, his side hits it with a thump. He winced thanks to the pain. But she wasn't planning to let him go, she just dropped him so both her tentacles can jab into his body repeatedly until there was no way to indicate what he looked like. His body full of holes, his face ruined. It was thanks to his strong skull that the shape remained,

His blood painted the alley a bit and the woman walks away, following his lead to arrive in front of Anteiku where she sees...

...is the decision to leave the past behind.

Ding Ding!

The bell rings, the sound that meant someone had just entered the shop. Their first customer after finally being able to fix the damages. Yomo and the others turned excitedly to the door where they see a woman with long black hair standing with her hands behind her back..

Yomo was the one who was shocked the most, or maybe because he was the only one who knew her. She smiled at Yomo, a warm smile that warms his heart.

"Hello Renji." she greets. Yomo could not move, and everyone just stared at the two, wondering what it was about. "I missed you."

"You're alive..."

"I'm happy you still remember me, Renji." she said and ran towards Renji, throwing herself to his arms and reaching for his lips to kiss him. Nishiki and everyone else had their mouths wide open in shock.

Yomo parted from the kiss, his frown-face shifting to one that is relief. No, he was actually very happy to see her again after all these years. "How can I ever forget you?" he says and cupped her face. "I missed you... Koharu."

Outside of the shop was the woman who wore the hockey mask, staring at the scene from the glass window.

"Anteiku." she muttered. The word seemed familiar, but she could not pinpoint why it sounded familiar. But she locked her eyes on the couple kissing each other. The woman was not familiar, but the man... the man was... "Renji."


Review Response:

Scattershot98: Yep a triple update success yipee! Ahahaha trust me, he'll make more moves than that xD. Ahahaha Miza is still uncertain who she ships with her Juu-kun yet lol. Haha yes Juuzou scored! Yes sadly, everyone is forced to believe that lie. That's why Jason (in previous arcs) is so bent on killing everyone in his list. Ahahaha let's see Kanou's fate soon. Oh yes Furuta is willing to share info, of course there's a catch xD. Kasuka screwed up yes xD. Kijima is in trouble here but we'll see what his final decision is. Awww haha, since Hinami can't go back to Anteiku yet, Uta and Itori makes her feel at home. Yep finally awakened after all this time! Haha yeah, Roma has a lot she's keeping in her closet. Yes all happened to Rize as well (not the gangbang, I mean the torture. Everything else happened similar to Yakumo and Rize except the assault part. Furuta just figured Irimi grew immune to their torture methods that's why she doesn't talk so he thought of a new method to make her talk). Hahaha thank you again, this is the latest chapter before the sure MIA xD.

Guest1: Yep the triple chapter plan is a success! When I go MIA I'll never know, that's why I tend to update before it happens. Happy it cleared up a lot of stuff xD. Sometimes I make so many mysteries that I forget which ones I'm supposed to answer hahaha. Yep Rize is back to her normal self. Although she lost some memories that Roma could not return, she's still the normal Rize that Kaneki and Shachi remembers. Wow sharp observation my friend, I did not expect anyone to notice it. Yes Jason is dead and there's no way she can return to normal xD. We'll see how Anteiku deals with that :D. Yep yep Miza is a wingwoman xD. Awww thank you very much! I am happy :D. Originally though the ship is JuuzouxMiza buuut guess not anymore lol. Here is the next chapter before the sure MIA! :D