It has been niggling me for ages that I never finished this story, so here we go. I've tried to pick up where I left off. Kaneki has been captured by the CCG and...

It had been over two days. Two days of Amon thinking, going home alone, eating, thinking some more.

Finally he had decided that he needed talk to Kaneki, in whatever way he could.

The corridor was lit with fluorescent lighting above, which just made it feel cold. The illuminated grey walls seemed to press at him and make him want to curl up in the corner and hide.

Amon took a breath and straightened his posture, and walked calmly down the corridor, trying to massage away the frown that seemed to have permanently embedded itself into his face.

His breathing picked up again like a bomb had gone off in his lungs when he was grabbed fiercely and pulled down a small and shadowed side corridor.

'What's going on?!' Amon whispered harshly, when he realised who had grabbed him.

'No, that's what I was going to ask you,' Akira hissed, her face a mask of stone.

Amon rubbed his arm where her nails had dug into him. 'I'm so tired of all this, Akira.' He sighed, looking down at the floor. 'Why are our lives always so complicated?'

She stepped backwards from him and frowned. 'Mine wasn't complicated until my father died. Since then I've been forced to question half the morals I've lived my entire life by.'

'Join the club.'

She raised an eyebrow. 'Oh yeah? When did your father die?'

Amon sighed again. 'That's not what I… it's when that damned ghoul came into our lives, isn't it? That's when it all started falling apart.' Amon couldn't help but notice that the voice with which he spoke about Kaneki nowadays, even when he was insulting him, was a lot fonder than it had been in the past.

'I want to talk to him,' he said, not able to quite look Akira in the eye.

'Him?' Akira said, with a warning note in her voice.

'Him, it, Kaneki, whatever.' Amon shot her a look. He wasn't a good liar, but he wasn't really lying when he thought about how angry he was. He had decided Kaneki was the most stupid ghoul, person, half-ghoul-person-thing, whatever, to ever exist. Kaneki was now facing death in a cell at the hands of the CCG because he, quite obviously, hadn't wanted to get anyone killed, and it was… well, in any other situation Amon would have admired and approved of those morals, but now it was…. Ah, why couldn't he ever think straight anymore?

Well, he knew the answer, of course. Kaneki had thrown his whole world upside down, and now they had… done certain things, and the mist had finally been beginning to clear, but then the CCG had captured him, and that temporary calm had been smashed to pieces again.

'The raid is happening in a matter of days, Amon. We're all gearing up for it, and all you're worried about is the SS ghoul.'

Amon didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Perhaps that meant that Kaneki being here was a good thing. At least he wouldn't be hunted down in the streets and put down like a dog.

'Kaneki told me some things,' Akira added, folding her arms and leaning back against the wall. The pose looked way too casual on her.

Amon eyed her beadily. He really wasn't in the mood to start playing guessing games.

'That's nice,' he finally said. Stepping backwards, he turned away from and headed back into the main corridor.

He walked quickly, feeling her eyes on the back of his head as he did so. He sped into a lift and pressed the button for the seventh floor. Once there he headed straight for Shinohara's office and knocked loudly.

'Come in,' said a muffled voice from inside.

Amon went in immediately and didn't waste any time in getting straight to the point.

'Shinohara-san, I want to talk with the ghoul.'

Shinohara put down his pen and cocked his head to the side slightly.

'Is that really the best idea, Amon?'

Amon huffed and folded his arms across his chest, 'H… It has a lot of explaining to do.' Then he added, as an afterthought. 'I can't believe that bastard thought he could trick me into being friends with him.'

'Well, he did trick you, didn't he, Amon-san?' said a snickering voice from behind them.

Amon turned quickly around to see Takizawa standing there, sorting some papers on a desk.

Amon sneered at the smaller man in front of him. 'Don't talk about things you don't understand, Takizawa.'

Takizawa opened his mouth to reply, but Shinohara cleared his throat loudly and got to his feet. 'Very well, Amon. If you want to talk to the ghoul then I won't stop you.'

'I'd like to talk to the ghoul too!' Takizawa said quickly.

'And what have you got to say to it that's in any way useful?' Amon almost snarled at him.

'I want to ask him que…'

'There's no need, Takizawa,' Shinohara cut in. 'You can see the ghoul, Amon. But I'll be coming with you.'

Amon used all the will power he possessed to stop himself from groaning. Instead, he nodded obediently.

'Everyone wants to see the ghoul today,' Shinohara continued, as they walked back towards the lifts. 'One of our interns was trying desperately to get in to see it, but I sent him away. Any chance to see one of those crazy creatures in the flesh, ay?'

Shinohara's voice was light and joking, but Amon couldn't even bring himself to respond.

After going down to the right level they walked along for a long time in silence. It was only as they were coming up to the cells when Shinohara spoke.

'Did you really not know he was a ghoul, Amon?'

Amon looked over at his colleague. Shinohara looked like he was mildly amused, like Amon had just quipped a casual joke.

Amon tried with all his might to keep his face blank. 'I… talked about ghouls with him. He knew I was an investigator, and he practically patted me on the back, telling me how impressive it was that I was risking my life against these monstrous creatures.' Amon looked away, trying to make his expression read as irritated and betrayed.

Shinohara nodded. 'And ironically he's one of the most monstrous kinds of ghouls you can find.'

'Ironically, yeah,' Amon agreed, huffing. He hoped to god that his embellishments would persuade Shinohara that he was innocent in all of this.

'He's a strange one, isn't he?' Shinohara apparently wasn't happy with just walking along in churning silence. 'When I interviewed him he seemed… I mean, he has a few screws loose, but at the same time, he's so polite and mild-mannered. I genuinely did like him when we all went out for that meal together. It's such a shame.' He shook his head, looking down at the ground. 'They're the ones that really get you, in the end.'

'What?'

Shinohara nodded sincerely. 'Sometimes even I don't like to believe it, but it's the truth. Ghouls act all nice, make you let your guard down, and then you're just a mid-afternoon snack for them when they get a bit peckish.'

'But Eyepatch hasn't done that,' Amon replied without a thought.

Shinohara shrugged. 'Perhaps we caught him before his stomach started rumbling, if you get my drift.'

'Even if that's true…' Amon's voice faltered a little, but he continued quickly. 'He won't be playing any games now, will he? There's no point in him lulling us into a false sense of security when he's already locked up and we're the ones with the key.'

The older hummed thoughtfully. 'I wonder why he's still so mild-mannered then, if the game's already up.'

Amon shrugged.

Shinohara chuckled. 'I suppose he's like Juuzou, in a way. He fits the bill of what he's supposed to be and do, but by god does he do things that confuse you.' His voice sounded immeasurably fond.

Don't compare Kaneki to that crazed imbecile, Amon nearly said. The words had been on the tip of his tongue. He bit it instead and followed Shinohara quietly.

Kaneki had his own cell, but like all the other ghouls there was a glass window with seats either side for interrogative purposes.

They walked in and Kaneki saw them both immediately. He but a book down that he'd been reading – who knew where he'd acquired that – and calmly walked over to sit down opposite them.

Oh god, Kaneki. It wasn't me.

The thoughts hit Amon like a flood as soon as Kaneki looked at him.

I didn't tell them. I didn't rat you out to them. This isn't because of me.

Because that was what was gnawing at him, almost as much as the fear of Kaneki being killed in this place. The idea that Kaneki might think he had been betrayed by him made Amon's skin crawl.

Shinohara sat down and flicked on a tape recorder beside them.

It wasn't me, Kaneki. Amon gazed intently at him as he sat down himself, trying to channel the thoughts through his mind. If Kaneki understood his meaning, he didn't show it.

'Hello, Mr Ghoul,' Shinohara said, with almost a smirk on his face.

Kaneki looked quizzically at him but didn't say anything.

'I hope your accommodation arrangements are to your liking?'

Amon knew what Shinohara was doing, it was textbook. Talk to the prisoner like you've accidently met on holiday and hope that he spills all his secrets to you.

'I haven't been fed yet,' Kaneki said hesitantly.

Shinohara just smiled at him. 'Amon and I would like to ask you a few more questions, if that's alright. You weren't exactly forthcoming the last time we spoke.'

Amon had listened back to the interview tape. Kaneki's answers to any burning questions the CCG could think of had gone along the lines of "I can't tell you", with a couple of "wouldn't you like to know"s thrown in for good measure.

Shinohara had some papers with him, and he held up several photographs from the pile.

'Can you confirm that this is you?' There were blurred pictures of Kaneki in action, and a drawing of the mask he wore. 'You are a half-kakuja that takes the form of a centipede?'

Kaneki looked up at Shinohara with tired eyes. 'Yes, that's all true.'

'But before that you were the eyepatch ghoul with the rinkaku kagune?'

Kaneki nodded.

'Please verbalise your response,' Amon said automatically, and Kaneki shot him a look.

'Yes, I have a rinkaku kagune and I used to wear an eyepatch mask. I still do… sometimes.'

Shinohara shuffled the photos with an almost casual laugh. 'I still can't get over it. You, an SS ranked ghoul, just sat there obediently answering my questions.' He looked sideways at Amon, as if he was the orchestrator of some secret joke. Amon didn't find any of this remotely funny.

Kaneki shot a look between the two of them, looking them both right in the eye. 'I handed myself in, and I'm happy to give you this information because it doesn't really affect anyone other than me. You obviously know it all already.'

'Well, you're confirming our suspicions, but…' Shinohara began, before Amon cut him off.

'You wouldn't answer any questions about the RC scanners last time.'

Kaneki looked a little exasperated at that. 'I told you I didn't know and that was the truth, believe it or not.' He sighed. 'And, like I said, I honestly couldn't care less at this point.'

Kaneki seemed a lot more confident, which was interesting.

'Why did you hand yourself in?' Shinohara asked calmly.

'Because we were in a packed train station.'

'So?'

'So, I might have killed people.'

'You would have killed people if you'd fought us in a deserted train station. You would have killed us.' Shinohara was looking back at Kaneki right in the eye, holding his gaze.

'I would have tried not to.'

'Why?'

'Why do you even need to ask that question?' Kaneki asked, looking almost indignant.

'Because we just… do,' Shinohara uttered, narrowing his eyes. 'Did you just want to live a bit longer, is that it? Because even with you being in here, I can't guarantee that the higher ups will…'

'I could have won,' Kaneki said, as if it was the most obvious thing he could say.

'What?' Shinohara asked bluntly.

'I could have won.'

'There were over a dozen highly trained investigators…'

Kaneki cut Shinohara off with a deep sigh, then leant forward on the table and but his face in his shackled hands. 'I could have wonnnn.'

Shinohara stared at Kaneki for a long moment, then actually shifted uncomfortably on his seat.

Amon wanted to catch Kaneki's eye. 'Even with…'

'Yes,' Kaneki cut him off quickly, sitting up straight again. He clearly knew what Amon really wanted to ask. 'Whatever state I could have possibly been in prior to that, I know I would have had a decent chance of getting out of there. I mean, there's no way I could know for sure, but…'

Shinohara was shaking his head but decided to move the conversation along. 'What did you want to ask the ghoul, Amon?'

Amon's eyes locked with Kaneki's. He hadn't actually thought of any questions that he wanted to ask, or least any official investigator-style questions.

'Why did you befriend me?' he asked. Again, Shinohara shifted uncomfortably beside him. It had been the first question he could think of, but then his brain kicked into gear. 'I have to come to work and hear that a good friend of mine has been taken into custody, and not only that but there is irrefutable proof that he's a ghoul.'

Kaneki gave him a long look. He had to be able to gather that Amon hadn't been the one to betray him. He had to.

Amon was a little shocked when Kaneki just came straight out and said it.

'I thought you were the one that reported me.'

Amon felt his heart sink. Had he really thought that? His expression was so like a statue's he could have given Akira a run for her money.

'It wasn't me,' Amon said, in a very quiet voice.

'I got a message from you telling me to meet you at the train station.'

Amon could feel a headache growing behind his eyes. 'It wasn't me.'

'And it wasn't Akira?' he asked, still doing a perfect impression of said investigator.

Amon shook his head. 'She heard about what the CCG were doing in the train station minutes before it happened.'

Kaneki nodded slowly, but Shinohara cleared his throat, frowning at the pair of them.

'Then who was it?' Kaneki asked, just as quietly.

'That's quite enough of that!' Shinohara said in a very disapproving tone. He shot a hard look at Amon, but Amon almost didn't care. He'd achieved what he'd set out to do. Now his honour was intact once more.

Why did he feel like such a hypocrite when he thought that?

Shinohara kept giving Amon strange looks as they walked back out into the corridor.

'He's a strange one, isn't he?' Amon said, attempting to deflect.

Shinohara nodded slowly. 'Hang around here, if you like. Marude is coming to interrogate the ghoul again in half an hour. You can join us.' Still giving Amon that strange look, he turned and walked away.

Amon was itching to run back to the cells and talk to Kaneki. As soon as Shinohara was out of sight, Amon doubled back down the corridor. He asked the guards on duty to give Kaneki an inhibitor shot and transfer him to a private interrogation room. Within minutes they were sat in a room on their own, across the table from one another.

There was CCTV, but no sound recording.

'Even if you didn't send that message, it's still all your fault,' Kaneki hissed at Amon, his hand cuffs clinking on the table. 'I'm going to die in here because you couldn't keep an eye on your phone.'

Amon flinched at Kaneki's accusation, even though the ghoul didn't look angry at all. He looked like he was a boss at a big company, interviewing Amon for a job he most certainly wasn't qualified for.

'I was helpless…' Amon cut in immediately. 'If I'd tried to stop them, I would've lost my job, or maybe even worse…'

'Worse than killing people? Worse than me having to kill your friends and colleagues? Worse than being dragged off to a cell and treated like a damn animal?'

'You're being fed and clothed...'

'And that's all a person needs, is it? They told me this morning that I'm to be taken for 'testing' this afternoon. They'll be coming to get me any minute. Let's see what happens if we cut off a half-kakuja's head, or sew its arms onto its eye sockets.'

'Stop it,' Amon hissed.

'I'm completely at their mercy here. At your mercy. I'm counting the days until they take me to a gas chamber and just have done with it.'

'I said stop it!' Amon cried. He clenched his fist, raising it slightly.

'Don't even think about it,' Kaneki said with a sneer. 'They'll ask all sorts of questions if I walk out of here with a black eye.'

Amon spluttered. 'I wasn't going to… I'm not even thinking of…'

'I don't think you know what you're thinking half the time.'

Amon put his hands on the desk and tried to keep it together in front of the cameras.

'I'm… I'm sorry.'

Kaneki gave him a long look. 'Wow. If you've said that to me before then I definitely don't remember it.'

'I can't interpret what my feelings tell me sometimes,' Amon whispered, staring with a frown at the desk. 'I'm sorry, I think I'm just… worried about you.'

Kaneki laughed harshly. 'You have a very funny way of showing it.'

'Honestly,' Amon said, and then he actually reached out a hand across the table. Kaneki didn't flinch back, but his gaze was hard as Amon reached over. Then he put his hand lightly over Kaneki's.

He looked up to see Kaneki staring transfixed at the spectacle, and for the first time that day he actually looked a little vulnerable.

'I really am sorry about all this, Kaneki. I… I care about you.'

Amon thought the ghoul was going to snatch his hand away and laugh in his face, but instead he just softly voiced the words, 'Thanks... for that.'

The air between them felt very still. The room was quiet but for their breathing and the light buzz of the overhead lighting.

Amon laughed lightly. 'You really don't have to thank me.'

Their eyes met, and Amon offered Kaneki a soft smile. 'Please try not to worry. Everything is going to be alright.'

Kaneki smiled back, just for a second, and in that moment everything felt wonderful, like the walls around them had fallen away, and on the entire earth, only the two of them existed.

A red light blinked from the camera in the top corner of the room, and Amon snapped back to reality, pulling back his hand and letting his smile drop back down to neutral.

A loud knock rang on the door. Both Amon and Kankei sat up straighter as the door opened. Shinohara was standing there with a smirk on his face.

'Well, well. Still friends are we, Amon?'

Amon huffed and sat backwards, focusing his gaze on a notch in the plastic table. 'I've a lot to get off my chest, Shinohara-san. Surely you understand.'

Shinohara didn't reply as two guards came into the room. One grabbed Kaneki and pressed a cloth to his mouth. The ghoul slumped onto the table immediately.

'What...?' Amon said, standing up.

'It's just easier to transport the ghoul this way,' Shinohara clarified, as the two guards hoisted Kaneki up, a third coming in to assist. 'And we like them to wake up fresh in the testing room.' Shinohara held the door open for Amon, gesturing with his head. 'Come on now, you can help us prepare the line of questioning.'

I just want to get this out, so sorry if there are any mistakes.