i.
Hinami gave her a long look. This was the daughter of her parents' killer, the woman who wielded their organs as her weapons.
Looking at her tired and uncertain face, Hinami felt nothing. Neither hatred nor pity. Just… nothing.
Akira Mado was not responsible for the actions of her father and of her own actions, she had at least taken care of Kaneki, no matter her reasons for it.
Hinami had seen it on the day of the Auction, the way she had appeared on the floor above and looked at him with genuine concern.
And yet… while Hinami played with the children, she had not missed the conversation between her big sister and the investigator. When the latter said she didn't regret her or her father's actions. Touka's reply. The investigator's long silence.
Hinami had tried to hate her then, like Ayato asked her if she did, but she could muster only a resigned acceptance. It was rare for humans to accept ghouls and vice versa. And there wasn't anybody Hinami could blame for the state of the world. This investigator was just another one in a long line of people who refused to change.
And then she walked down the stairs with Touka, who asked the children to hug her. Hinami watched her face carefully, but found no hatred as she had expected. Not… much of anything, really. She looked more dead than alive.
Touka called for Hinami and made a slight gesture. So she was to…
Hinami took in a deep breath and stepped forward, stretching out her arms. She even smiled. It was pale and weak and a mere approximation of a smile, but she tried.
The woman stood there, unmoving.
Without batting an eye, Touka pushed her from her rooted spot and into Hinami's open arms. Hinami placed them around her loosely, while the woman continued to mimic a statue.
She didn't smell of blood or death, like Hinami thought she would. Rather, the prominent scent was of chrysanthemums, light but ever present, clinging to her skin like a security blanket.
Chrysanthemums… the loss of the ones she loved was imprinted on her.
Hinami wouldn't wish such pain on anyone.
Was it worse to see your loved ones eaten up or to see them used as weapons? she wondered for but an instant before deciding that such sorrows couldn't be compared.
She was pulled out of these fleeting thoughts when her sharp ears caught a sound. A muffled sob. Hinami's hug was returned, arms wrapped around her tight enough to hurt, as the woman broke into tears.
Something in Hinami's heart warmed.
So you can change…
The investigator pulled away and bowed her head, but not before Hinami caught the sight of reddened eyes and tear tracks.
She opened her mouth with a gasp, but said nothing, instead shaking her head and walking away. Her big sister didn't move so Hinami didn't either, both of them watching until she disappeared from sight.
Hinami raised a hand to touch the sleeve of her dress, oddly surprised to find it wet.
Touka sighed, seeming relieved.
"Is she going to leave this…" Hinami trailed off as Touka shook her head.
"I told Kaneki and Amon that I was taking her outside. I don't think they'll let her leave without speaking to her first."
"Why was she sad?" one of the children butted in.
"Didn't she like Hinami's hug?" another asked innocently.
"No, no, she was just… she's been sad for a long time," Touka explained, with a gentleness she reserved for them. "She cried to get rid of that sadness."
"So she's not sad now?"
Touka looked out into the distance. "She's still sad, but she'll be fine."
ii.
After that, Akira Mado had vanished and Hinami had put her out of her mind—until everything changed and she returned alongside Amon and Kaneki's best friend.
Working with the CCG… mere days ago, Hinami would have been puzzled by such an odd joke, but now she was living it and it wasn't any less of a joke, but it was also a necessity.
"Hinami."
She stopped in the middle of her work to face her big sister.
"Akira… she told me she wanted to speak with you." Touka's expression was unsure, considering.
Hinami tilted her head, waiting for the rest, which came a few moments later.
"She didn't say why, but she had her quinque cases with her. I guess it's about… that."
Her quinque. The only remnants of Hinami's parents.
What was there to talk about? She wanted nothing to do with them. She still remembered how the old man had used them to stab her big sister before Hinami's eyes… Those weren't the same kagune that had caught her in protection or in loving hugs; they were a mockery.
"She's in the training room of this wing, but she's going to leave soon to find Kaneki," Touka said, before adding, "You don't have to speak with her if you don't want to, you know, right?"
Hinami nodded. The first time, Touka had pushed her into interacting with the woman, and while it had worked, there was no doubt Hinami's uncertainty had been noticed.
Did she want to meet with Akira Mado? …Not really, but Hinami did want to settle things. If there was to be a day she could look at the other without painfully remembering her parents, it wasn't by staying far away from her.
She stood up and left the room.
Akira turned away from the window as she heard the sound of the door opening. Fueguchi was standing there.
"Touka said you wanted to talk."
Reaching for the quinque cases beside her, Akira offered them to Hinami. "I believe these belong to you."
During the raid on Rushima, her two quinque had understandably been left behind while Takizawa spirited her to safety. It was only after returning to the CCG that Akira realised it was in their safekeeping.
As an investigator, as a "quinque maniac", she had worked with these weapons for years. She had never once felt an attack of conscience. It had been like poetic justice—making use of ghouls to eradicate more ghouls.
But she wasn't an investigator any more. While she couldn't claim to wholeheartedly care for ghouls, hate had long fled her. All she wanted was to escape the crushing cycle of revenge that her life had been stuck on. The grudges that she had collected over time, carefully carried on her shoulders… in the end, they were meaningless.
And so, like an olive branch, she offered those briefcases—except Fueguchi stepped back with tension in her frame.
"I can't," she said in a hushed voice. "I have fond memories of my parents, but not… Those aren't the same. Not when they've been so…"
Modified? …mutilated?
Akira didn't complete the sentence out loud. Fueguchi swallowed.
"You're going to search for Kaneki." It wasn't a question but Akira nodded, and Fueguchi's words seemed to speed up. "So you'll need to be able to fight. Keep them. Big brother… cares for you. And you do too, right? So, please, protect him and everybody else with— with my parents' kagune. I'm sure that would make them happy."
Fueguchi bowed, her hair hanging down and hiding her eyes. Still, Akira could see the tremor of her shoulders. There was a wretched feeling in her heart, another reminder of the truth she had so easily ignored once upon a time.
This time, Akira was the one who approached with soft steps.
Dad had often said that ghouls were excellent at mimicking human emotions to garner sympathy. Akira had believed him, the expert investigator that he was. But she was coming to see that he had been wrong about a great many things. Fueguchi was no different from any human girl mourning her parents… and Akira knew how that felt.
She hesitated for only a moment before placing her arms around Fueguchi, who stiffened but then leaned into the embrace. She didn't shed a tear, but for a long while, Akira held on to her without saying a word.
iii.
It was a few weeks after the victorious Dragon War, as it got called, that Akira walked together with Fueguchi to a graveyard.
Akira watched as Fueguchi's fingers traced the name that was carved on the stone block, looking stunned.
"Your mother never got a grave, right?" Akira said softly.
She had been sitting by Dad's, still coming to terms with the world beyond her previous perceptions, when she wondered if Fueguchi had anywhere to sit like that.
"What's… buried here?"
"Mrs. Fueguchi's kakuhou." Akira meant precisely that, too. She had done a painstaking process in the old research labs to have the quinque steel removed from it, returning it to its original form and repairing its damage from her use. She no longer needed to, or planned to, use a quinque, and leaving this one to gather dust felt… wrong.
Fueguchi opened and closed her mouth a few times as if to speak, but gave up. Akira chose not to prolong her stay. "I'll leave you be. Thank you for everything, Fueguchi."
She turned to leave, not one for unnecessary words. She didn't know if Fueguchi could ever feel at ease with her, but that was her right. All Akira wanted to do was to make what amends she could. Forgiveness wasn't something she could ask for.
"Thank you too." The words stopped Akira and made her glance back. Fueguchi had a small bittersweet smile on her face.
Akira nodded and walked away. She didn't know what the grave would mean to Fueguchi, if anything, but Akira had spent years routinely visiting her father's. At first, it hurt, but in time she found herself comforted by the quiet atmosphere and the knowledge that even with him no longer in this world, there would always be a physical reminder of his existence.
That was the least she could give Fueguchi.
I'm surprised this is the first TG gen fic I'm posting :p. This was born nearly two years ago, from a discussion I saw somewhere about how odd it is for Akira to continue using the Fueguchi quinques despite changing her mind on ghouls. I brushed up some of what I'd written back then, but I'm pretty iffy on the TG timeline and lore now, so feel free to point out mistakes.
