Before Kurona and Nashiro could react, Eto had already sped out of the hall, leaving the door swinging slowly on its hinges. Gritting their teeth, the twins shot towards the door.

Suddenly, a black worm-like kagune shot from their side, forcing them to duck and stop running.

They turned their head with annoyance, and identified Noro's silent figure poised tall a few feet away, his eyeless mask staring at their faces.

Without hesitating, Kurona and Nashiro raced towards the door again. The mouth of the kakuja shot towards the twins again, forcing the twins to back up from the door, and watch as the door completely shut.

"Why you, bastard!" Kurona cursed.

Noro cocked his head with an inhumane crack, his long hair visible above his left shoulder.

A rinkaku Kagune appeared behind each of the twins' back as they ran in opposite directions, trying to surround Noro. Leaping up from different sides, the twins released a battle cry as their tentacles sliced towards him.

However, Noro's body suddenly shifted backwards, causing the twins the miss.

Then, before Kurona could react, the bikaku kagune slammed sideways into her body, and blasted her into a wall like a cannon ball.

"GAH!" Kurona coughed out blood as she landed on the ground, clenching her eyes in pain.

How many ribs was that?

She poked her right ribs a little, and felt an irresistible pain cruise through her body all the way to her brain. Suddenly, Noro appeared right in front of her, with the jaw of his massive kagune crunching its jaw, ready to munch her down to pieces. She sat helplessly, waiting for the kagune to take her life away. She closed her eyes, all hope lost.

...

"It's fascinating how fast you managed to find your way here. How did you do it?" Dr. Kanou's humorous voice called from the top of a suspended bridge as Eto skipped to the middle of the large laboratory.

Eto looked up with a lazy expression, but her eyes sparkled a little as she saw a white haired one-eyed-ghoul walk out behind Dr. Kanou.

Kaneki's face didn't show any happiness of reunion. His kakugan was cold as it admonished Eto.

Shivering a little in anger, Eto suppressed her emotions and smirked.

"A certain nurse of yours, named Taguchi." Eto shrugged.

"Hmm, it seems that Taguchi isn't as loyal as I once imagined." Dr. Kanou brought one of her hand to his chin as if he was analyzing something.

"I guess I could say the same to you, doctor." Eto smiled coldly through her bandages.

"Our paths were once adjoined together, but now they have branched off in separate directions. I only did what I had to do to ensure that I reach the end of my path." Dr. Kanou smiled back, the wrinkles on his face digging deeper.

Eto grinded her teeth.

"My Kaneki," Eto said with a more passionate tone, facing Kaneki, "I know that you are in so much pain after losing your memories. I know that you are desperate to find someone that could care for you, to love you. But, Dr. Kanou is not your papa, and he is only using you to accomplish his personal goals." She took a small pause, hoping for a small reaction out of Kaneki.

Surprisingly, Kaneki had a small frown on his eyebrows, his head facing down as if deciding whether to accept her words or not.

"You don't belong to Dr. Kanou, Kaneki-kun," Eto continued, "he cannot give you the special bond that you share with me. No matter how hard he tries, he will never have empathy for you, because he is a human. He would never give you unconditional love that is meant for you alone."

Following a small ring, instantly, Kaneki's head felt like bursting again. Love meant for me alone...

"Our souls are tied together. You belong with me, you're my Kaneki." Eto flared her right kakugan in attempt to unlock Kaneki's emotions.

Kaneki pressed his hand against his head, trying to ease the sting on his head.

Eto watched with hope.

However, Kaneki raised his head again, and faced Eto with a cold glance.

"I-... I will not be deceived by your words. Papa cares for me, and he loves me. He helped me when I was in need. You would never understand something like that." As Eto heard the last words come out of his mouth, her heart twitched in sorrow.

Then, slowly, with a bit of sizzle, four dark red rinkaku kagunes emerged from his back, and pointed towards Eto, making Eto give a look a despair, and making Dr. Kanou smile proudly.

"Very well, Kaneki-kun," Eto whispered, "let's see how the future one-eyed-king deal with the one-eyed-owl." After releasing her last words, a huge organic creature surrounded her, and expanded until it formed a massive beast, more than three times the height of any man. A huge tongue hanged from the skeleton-like mouth while a massive dark red eye scanned its prey.

"You know, doctor, I haven't been this angry for a while now," Eto spoke in her terrifying kakuja voice, "you don't really think that you can escape this one alive, don't you?"

Although she was massive, she leaped up with unbelievable speed, and extended a claw towards Dr. Kanou. Just as it was about to reach him, a tentacle blocked its way.

Kaneki's three other kagunes pierced right towards Eto's head.

...

The massive kakuja charged its flames again, the blue color of doom growing from its mouth, ready to unleash another stream of death.

Suddenly, a white-haired figure leaped onto the mouth, and began rapidly slicing the kakuja's head.

"Hey, Tata-chan-senpai, this is payback for that one time." Seidou's cracked voice made Houji gasp in surprise.

"Get off of me!" Tatara roared as a stream of 3000 degrees fire shot towards Seidou. However, Seidou vanished from the line of flame, and reappeared right on Tatara's chest.

"That really hurt back there." He shouted joyfully as the kagune on his shoulder pierced through Tatara's chest with lightning speed. "About... this much!" A groan of defeat escaped Tatara's lips as his kakuja slowly disintegrated.

"E...to..." An image of a petit green haired girl running up to him appeared in front of his eyes as he coughed out blood behind his red face mask. The petit girl opened her arms in joy as she approached Tatara, and Tatara reached out his hand. However, right as she was about to reach him, she turned to ashes.

Through Tatara's closing eyes, his vision blurred, and his last image of his most trusted companion died with him, the second in command of Aogiri Tree.

...

Kurona waited for the moment that her flesh would be chomped down, but it never came.

Opening her eyes in surprise, she noticed white hair flash in front of her as a smile blocked the way of the kagune. She gasped.

"S-Shiro..." She was too stunned to say a word. Then she heard a crunch of bones.

A huge, mahogany spot stained Nashiro's white clothing as it expanded, covering all of her stomach.

To be continued...