Chapter 4: Invasion Part 3
I do not own Tokyo Ghoul or Sekirei
It is said that the top of the world is a very lonely place and that those who are above everyone are often isolated from the rest of the world. Whether it be riches or fame, the people who possess greatness are all too often seen as beyond human.
However, in the case of Miya, this description is accurate. In fact, she even went beyond that description and nearly reached the realm of 'beyond Sekirei.' Being the Number 01 was an immense responsibility, and it was one that she would have to be strong enough to fulfill. Protecting just one Sekirei required power, skill, and intelligence, but protecting all one-hundred and eight of them seemed beyond the reach of anyone, yet somehow she defied those expectations. As such, Miya's abilities put her at the top of the world, isolated at the peak of mortality, beyond any others she could find. By this nature she was so utterly alone; a powerful guardian who watched over her slumbering flock and longing for the day when she might be joined by her family. At least, until she met Takehito.
One would think that he would have been a paragon of human goodness and been able to match her in her strength and power, but this was not the case. Takehito wasn't as much an anomaly as he was a human in the right place at the right time and with a scientist's desire to cross boundaries while retaining a certain level of morality.
Minaka and the majority of his subordinates saw Miya as an opportunity to further his own knowledge and reputation, or perhaps even to replicate her inhuman strength. Not lacking in emotion, but lacking in empathy and that soiled any connection that Miya could have made. As the first human Miya had come into contact with, it served to be a poor first impression of both science and humanity. Takami was relatively quiet compared to Minaka's explosive bursts of ranting dialogue on the possibilities of Sekirei technology, but even she never once referring to them as a people, only as an asset. And that was all she could expect of humanity.
Takehito walked blindly into her expectations of humanity and shattered them without ever realizing it.
Miya had expected one of two personalities from Takehito; the first was a dispassionate and clinical man who focused on his work to the exclusion of all else, and the second was a mimicry of Minaka: someone who exulted in the unknown, yet still refused to see the Sekirei as anything more than stepping stones. However, despite this, she still needed their help, and she would shrug off this annoyance for her flock's wellbeing.
The annoyance she was waiting for never came, and in its place came a quiet, almost ethereal figure with a slight smile on his face who, upon entering, sat down beside her and attempted to start a conversation.
"Hi there," he said, with his slight smile still in place. "Nice to meet you, my name's Takehito."
He offered his hand to shake. Miya's eyebrows slowly climbed upwards as she looked at him incredulously, before her eyes flicked down towards her sheet-covered body and back up to his eyes.
His hand stayed exactly where it was. There was a long awkward pause before Miya responded. She grudgingly lifted her own hand in response and clasped hold of his hand. But raising her hand from under a sheet had some consequences.
"Ah," he said, with his cheeks reddening. He quickly let go of her hand and drew the sheet back over her chest. "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean for that to happen." Takehito's composure seemed to fall away leaving him a somewhat confused and embarrassed, trying to keep his cool.
But, somehow, his stoic patient cracked a small smile, and a little chuckle escaped her lips before she swiftly cut it off.
"I bet I look pretty dumb, huh," he said, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "My face must look like a tomato."
"A tomato?" asked Miya curiously.
"You've never heard of a tomato?"
Miya shook her head lightly, but her eyes never left his own.
"Well, they're a bright red fruit that grows on vines, and they're so red that people use the expression 'your face looks like a tomato,'" explained Takehito. His companion's brow furrowed slightly.
"That's a bit ... strange," replied Miya.
"Maybe… I'll have to show you one sometime, maybe the next time I come how does that sound?"
Miya shrugged.
"Cool, sounds like a plan." Takehito grinned in response, his embarrassment gone. The grin did not merely reach his mouth, it travelled up into his eyes and down into his hands. His eyes lit up with delight, and he swung his hands up to give a double thumbs-up. It seemed so simple to him, so natural, but to Miya, it was something different.
That grin could not possibly be fabricated, could not be anything less than completely and utterly real. It was because of her that this genuine emotion was here at this moment. A solitary soldier and staunch protector that had never given a single soul cause to be happy left her first happy mark on the world. Then her own smile bloomed in response; her first smile that was untainted by the bitterness of being alone because there seemed to be a chance that maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to be alone anymore.
"You know, you're really pretty when you smile."
Yes, maybe being alone could be a thing of the past. Miya's smile grew.
"So, how does it feel to no longer be the only one of your kind?"
Miya stared up at the starry sky from where she lay beside Takehito and softly smiled.
"It's strange... I feel like I almost expected all my feathers to stay unhatched forever. I had resigned myself to be eternally watching them and protecting them. Almost like these stars in the sky; unmoving and unchanging by our standards."
She chuckled softly, "it seems I am continually being proven wrong in all my assumptions."
The corners of Takehito's curled up at that, and we turned on his side to look at her profile as she gazed upon the night sky.
"I suppose I should be pretty thankful for that," he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "what an empty life I'd have to live without you."
Miya blew out a contented sigh and melted into his side.
"You know, I never believed in any gods. I flew through the universe, and everything that I could see was beautiful, but nothing that couldn't be an accident, nothing that screamed that this had to be created. Now it's different."
She softly kissed him on the cheek, before snuggling even deeper into his warmth.
"All that beauty out there, I could stand to believe that it was all an accident. I felt nothing at that, but this is so different. I could never stand to believe that this was just an act of chance because I cannot imagine that it would have been so easy to never have met you. And so every day I thank whatever god is out there for bringing me to you because you are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me."
The love of her life laughed with his eyes sparkling, "I wish that I could speak my mind so beautifully, but I suppose I'll just have to settle for 'me too.'"
The first time that Miya saw Takehito break was one of the worst moments of her life.
He was a neat man who loved to keep everything organized and clean. Everything was catalogued, all his notes and equipment were always put away so that when his lab was not in use, it would look pristine. So it was an unpleasant surprise when she entered to see smashed furniture and papers scattered everywhere. She walked in cautiously and called out his name. Glass crunched underneath her foot, its sharp shards biting into her foot. The shattered remains of a test tube crinkled as she lifted her foot back up to see what was beneath it.
Casting her gaze over the tables throughout the room, she noticed many were turned on their sides and their contents broken upon the floor. Fluorescent liquid pooled on the floor and dripped off the tables with a sound that sounded far too much like a ticking clock.
Miya stepped further into the room, and a choked sob caught her hearing. Her eyes darted over to the corner, and a shuffling figure moved into her vision.
"Takehito?"
"Miya," a soft voice came from the corner, "I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry."
"Takehito?" she asked, "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry Miya, I didn't mean to." His words were shaking, and as he stepped out into the light, she saw that his hands were as well. His eyes were bloodshot and darting everywhere like the eyes of a trapped animal. Blood dripped down from his glass pierced palms, but he didn't even acknowledge the pain.
"Calm down, it's okay. Just tell me what happened." Miya spoke soothingly and stepped slowly towards him.
"I ruined her Miya, I made a mistake, and I ruined her." He was breathing heavily, and he seemed close to hyperventilating. His chest heaved, sweat ran down his face; it was as though he was a fragile pane of glass falling to the earth, just waiting to shatter. Yet, Miya did not see any of this.
"What." Miya stopped moving, and her voice became as hard as stone. Her muscles eased as the care that had characterized their relationship fell behind a porcelain mask of feigned calm.
"Do you speak of Akitsu?"
She stared at the distraught scientist, and her eyes bored into him, demanding an answer.
"She was too powerful Miya, my calculations didn't account for that, and the adjustments failed. And not only that," yelled Takehito frantically, his fingers clawing at his scalp. Small droplets of red stood out stark against his hair.
Miya's impassive visage continued to stare down upon him like that of a judge delivering punishment.
"I can't fix it! I have doomed her Miya, any human who even attempts to wing her will die, she will never be winged. She …she can't..." His words fell apart into incoherent ramblings, and his eyes burned with feverish anger and rage. His muscles stood out like steel cords against his body as the stress was pushing them to their absolute limit.
Miya's face hardened in response, a fact that did not miss the scientist. A mad stare met her stony eyes, and for a moment an internal war was waged between them. Then the madness faded away into emptiness.
With another sob, all the anger and fire left him, and he fell back against the wall, limbs spread at odd angles without so much as a care.
"Oh Miya," he whispered, tears staining his cheeks, "what I have I done to her?"
Miya flinched, almost imperceptibly, yet her face softened, and she knelt down beside him. She didn't even notice the broken glass pressing into her legs as her arms wrapped around his shoulders. His muscles tightened in response, and her embrace tightened in turn.
"Look at you. Crying over one of my children as if they were your own. Maybe I should hate you for what you've done, but I can't blame you for this. So many unknowns and yet you succeeded 6 times before this. This is a tragedy, and Akitsu will never find her destiny, but she and all her siblings have gained something more."
She gently wiped away the tears that were sliding down his cheeks, and a sad smile appeared on her lips.
"All of my children, even dear Akitsu, have been given a father who loves them just as dearly as I do."
All these memories raced through Miya's head as she finally found her third feather in the grasp of a tall, dark figure who was rapidly moving down the mountain slope. The images flashing in her head overlayed the scene before her, almost distorting her vision with their intensity.
Karasuba was slung lazily over the figure's right shoulder, and the hilt of her precious sword was held in its right hand. With her blood completely drenching her clothes and her head lolling at an awkward angle it looked as though she was dead.
Something inside Miya's very soul had been stirring as she had raced to find her wayward feather, but now that the reason for her silence was confirmed, her worry blazed into an inferno of anger.
Her arms tightened into steel cords, her sword was ready to become a whistling cyclone of steel. Her eyes focused in on her two targets and she moved to jump.
And then she saw Takehito, and Hell descended to Earth.
Kaneki thought he knew what power was; he was Eto's subordinate after all. The half-ghoul kakuja was, after all, the most feared and powerful ghoul in Japan, as far as he knew.
The first time he saw her kakuja, it was like staring into the face of the devil herself. It exuded untamed ferocity; sheer power that didn't require intellect or skill, only a raging desire to kill.
Jason had been unhinged and insane, but even he had some gleam of thought behind that mask. His torture had been simultaneously methodical and sadistic, taking enjoyment while holding himself back just enough to continue another day.
He even exulted in delivering the mental torture of choosing someone to kill himself, a choice which his fragile mind could not handle. Jason had some remnant of what some would call 'humanity'; a wretched, shattered, evil parody, yet humanity all the same. He, after all, became what he was only through their actions. That was not the feral mind he saw in Eto.
When he looked into her huge eye, he saw a raging storm of claws and feathers which sat waiting to be unleashed on whoever its host decided. It was a beast, trapped inside its cage of civility and opportunity. Unlike Jason, she was indeed an animal, a beast, and a monster. There was nothing human to be found in that kakuja. Even when she was in her form of skin and flesh, her eyes still held the same power, it was just hidden deeply, wrapped in chains of dead humanity long since cast aside.
He had believed that there could be nothing else that could replicate such a feeling of fear. Not Noro, not Tatara, not Mado, not even the Reaper himself.
And then he heard the scream.
It was a combination of terror, anger, disbelief, but it held an undercurrent of power that did not merely reverberate through the air around him, it sent it fleeing. A chill went down his spine, and his muscles tensed in preparation.
He turned just in time to see a gray blur racing towards him, and it was still screaming. Yet, the screaming was not the only sound that he could hear.
The air shrieked, and the ground cracked around the figure with each step, although they could barely be seen. A broken line of fractured stone lay behind it, with deep indentations marking every step. Individual limbs were obscured as they all blended together into a single form as though it was a streak of gray lightning.
And right in its path was Noro.
The impassive ghoul turned to face the oncoming onslaught and stopped in his tracks. He did not release his prisoner but stood perfectly still as his kagune slithered out from his back like a massive serpent. The immense appendage hovered just over his head as though it was waiting for a moment to strike. It was easily twice Noro's size and had enough force behind it to annihilate an entire team of investigators, that was proven fact.
In the past, it had been enough to scare both ghouls and humans into full-blown retreats at the mere sight of it. It reared memories of bloodied walls and broken bodies with that same impassive face staring out at the few that it had graciously allowed to live. Only the bravest and best would dare to even attempt to contend with it.
The enormous mouth that emerged at the tip only served to add the sense of sheer wrongness, yet the figure still approached.
As soon as it entered Noro's range, the kagune lunged in front of it, and the mouth widened to unimaginable proportions in preparation to feed. The yawning chasm surrounded the creature on all sides before attempting to consume it. It's prey dove headlong into the gaping maw, and the jaws shut behind it.
Then there was silence. And then there was not.
The monstrosity exploded in a conglomeration of blood and flesh. Enormous chunks of meat erupted from the appendage as a gray blur burst through the other side with steel shining through the blood that caked it.
Noro's kagune reeled back in a ferocious howl, even as it's aggressor streaked after their ally. Noro, however, slowly turned to watch Kaneki begin to flee. He cocked his head to the side in a quizzical expression, before turning away and running in the opposite direction. With his kagune crippled, he would be a liability rather than an aid to Kaneki.
It was incredibly difficult to run with two full-grown men on his shoulders, and he could feel that his speed was fall lower than what it had been initially. Kaneki looked back over his shoulder, to get a good look at his pursuer.
As she got closer, as he could now see her properly, he could start to make out her features. Brown eyes were set upon an angelic face that was contorted in fear and anger, and her cloak billowed out behind her as she sped toward him close to the ground, and a sword was gripped in her right hand.
Her speed was greater than his and Noro's, and her power was too, judging from how she had shattered so much stone with just her steps and annihilated Noro's kagune.
She would kill him, even with his kakuja, that much was certain. He needed a plan, some idea or scheme to get him out of her range. He racked his brain, even as he turned to flee, for anything that could aid him. His kagune erupted from his back and stabbed themselves into the ground, allowing himself to be flung far faster than he could run. But even so, she was gaining on him.
In the distance, he could see Noro moving away and heading towards the ship. So that guaranteed it, he was alone, and his fate was sealed. Any ideas he had were useless in the face of her overwhelming speed.
"Takehito!"
Then she cried out. It was so full of emotion; of pain and fear, that it reminded him of the desperate of Hinami as her mother was killed. He glanced back momentarily and was careful to look into her eyes.
And it was there; the same reckless desire to save, or stop, or kill whatever could possibly hurt that one person who they cared for.
This creature felt so strongly for the scientist?
Kaneki grimaced as his mind raced through plan after plan, even delving into the grotesque schemes of Kureo Mado. His ability to manipulate others through their emotions and leaving them with just enough hope to bend to his whims was nothing short of masterful. And it was from him that his plan came to fruition.
As the end of the next plateau drew near, where a significant drop off would begin, Kaneki pulled two of his rinkaku up close to his back and braced them against the body on his shoulder. They twisted together like a steel cord, winding together and slowly, but surely, gathering more and more force in their slight elasticity.
The footfalls behind him drew closer and more pronounced against his own movement, and his muscles tensed in preparation. A drop of sweat dripped from his brow, and he could feel his heart beating faster and faster as she approached. He could almost feel her blade at his back, and her steps were closer than ever. The sounds behind grew in intensity… and then stopped and a faint whistling replaced it.
Kaneki's trained muscles reacted almost instantaneously, and his plan was left abandoned as a new one formed in its place.
With his next 'step' he embedded his two walking rinkaku into the stone, and yanked himself out of the air; completely changing his trajectory and slamming into the ground. As the ground cracked around him, he watched as the swordswoman's leap carried her over his head and across into the open air above the long fall.
Her blade whistled through the empty space that his neck had occupied just moments before, and Kaneki looked up to see her shocked face look down at him in horror as she sailed into the precipice beyond. He watched as her the steel in her eyes melted away to pure terror.
Her eyes widened as, and her mouth followed suit as a frantic scream burst out from her throat.
"Takehito!"
For a brief moment, her face was overlaid with that of a young girl screaming out for her mother with that same look in her eyes, and he found himself replacing a sinister dove with murder in his eyes.
Kaneki grimaced under his mask as he watched her falling body pass beyond his view. Then he turned and ran in the other direction, aiming to meet up with Noro closer to the ship, not seeing another gray-clad figure appearing far behind him with the winds gathering in her wake.
AN: Well this has been a long time coming… I had finally planned to get this out over Christmas break, but then I realized that my initial plan for this story was full of some pretty lousy plot holes. I must've rewritten this chapter at least 3 times trying to find a direction for this story to go.
I'm still not really happy with this chapter, and I think I really undersold Miya's abilities and it didn't deliver the impact that I had wanted here. I'm also not sure about how the backstory with Miya turned out. Please let me know if you enjoyed it or not, I know that I have a love/hate relationship with flashback-esque stories and far too many of them are quite dull to read, so I want to know what I can improve on in this regard.
On another note, I wanted to thank Ghul for his review in bringing to my attention something that I forgot to say. He mentioned that the humans in TG are basically superhumans, and I realized that I forgot to include them in my power scaling 'memo.' Essentially, the entire TG universe has been scaled up, and not just the ghouls, the Investigators as well. So you can be sure that whichever of them appear, that they will not be pushovers compared to the Sekirei.
Lastly, I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has been supporting this story through Favorites, Follows, or Reviews. It really means a lot to me, and every time I see a new one, it makes my day so much brighter. They also inspire me to write more and to improve myself more than I'm already doing so any comments or criticism you can give me would be awesome.
Hope to see you all again for the next chapter!