Chapter 9

Raven Wings

"No... please... spare me... please don't eat me... I-I...!"

"Mmm~ That's just your unfortunate luck for falling on me, Iori-kun~" Rize slowly took her steps closer. Her glowing rinkaku tentacles that looked identical like the Mukade's leader were swaying gracefully behind her back.

The poor young man crawled back with shivering legs. Rize licked her lips, she loved it when she saw her prey crying in fear. Begging for mercy.

The Binge Eater leaned down and put her face closer in front of the shivering human. Her finger touched his chin and forced it to look her in the eyes, "I also already have a boyfriend you know. There's no way I'm two timing him. He's beyond perfect. Unlike you, a total playboy scum." Rize said mockingly with a disgusted face.

"T-t-then...! W-Why d-did you...!?"

Rize grinned her mouth wide. Her red and black eyes goggled in excitement.

"Because I'm fucking starving."

Before the poor young man knew it, he already felt his chest being ripped off.

Zen was walking in the street with a heavy bag on his back. It was stuffed with secret documents from the 20th ward's Onikisu.

"Tch... Why do I get to carry all of these papers alone? It's pretty heavy, dammit..." the young ghoul mumbled grumpily. Sometimes his eyes looked down toward his left leg where the dried tattoo was embedded as he walked. He still felt awesome for being a part of a secret ghoul organization.

"Ng?"

Zen stopped walking in front of a dark alley. He heard an eerie scream and also smelled strong scent of blood. However, as how much he was feeling scared for going inside he felt hungry and his stomach's growling.

"...Crap. I haven't eat for 2 weeks... I just remembered to hunt today..." Zen's big doe eyes stared nervously at the alley, "I hope the ghoul inside wouldn't mind sharing with me...".

The young ghoul decided to leave his task to bring the inside of his backpack to the mainbase. He followed the smell of the blood, until he heard a faint sound of laughter. It was evil in his hears.

"...Hahah! Ooh yes! Amazing!"

Immediately Zen's face got red. His mind was full with horrible, unwanted fantasy.

"A woman... Okay wait. Don't tell me that ghoul is fucking a human corpse!? I've heard cases like that among humans but don't tell me she's doing that!?"

The brunette slapped his mind away by roughly shaking his head.

"Dammit Zen! What are you? An idiot, shameful ghoul? Let's just get this hunger over with."

Cautiously the Mukade's new member walked towards the sound. Taking the left turn, he finally saw what truly happened.

He saw the source of the sound he heard. There was a ghoul who was eating her meal wildly like a total animal. She was at the end of the alley and the dark embraced her surrounding. The poor young man's heart was beating nervously over the scene. He regretted himself for thinking that the this ghoul would gladly share her meal with him.

Suddenly, the female ghoul stopped eating.

"Who's there?"

Zen gulped hard. His fear risen up in anxiety. "Crap. She noticed me!"

Immidiately Zen put up his best lie he could think of. "U-um! D-don't mind me! I'm only passing through here! Y-yeah!"

Slowly the woman turned her head over to the side, "...Then go. I don't like to be disturbed when I'm eating."

Zen nodded nervously even though he knew the eating ghoul wouldn't see him. The young man continued to walked away carrying the heavy bag on his back. He decided to hold in his hunger for awhile until he got the chance to hunt by himself.

"Huh?"

The young man looked behind his back to see two presence were coming fast. His heart almost leaped out when suddenly the woman from before was coming backwards with her released kagune and two men with trench coat were in front of her, carrying weapons.

"K-Kamishiro-san!? It was you!?" Then the young man just realised that the two men were the investigators from CCG, "GYAAAA!"

Rize glanced to her right, "Ah? So it was you? No wonder you sounded familiar. But anyway-tch!" The Binge Eater used her 4 tentacles to protect herself from the incoming blades, "You'll help me kill these trashes!" Rize's tentacles swung furiously back and forth.

Zen got a panic attack immediately. He didn't know what to do but the first thing he got in mind is to throw the bag into somewhere safe.

"I-I need to put away this bag first!"

The CCG's investigators saw Zen was running away from them.

"Abe, you go after him! I'll take care of her!"

"Roger!"

Rize who let her guard down couldn't stop the investigator who chased after Zen. "Newbie! Behind you!"

The running ghoul automatically looked behind him and saw the Dove was jumping with his blade rised. Zen managed to jump sideway avoiding the attack. But his backpack really slow him down.

"Heh, so you're also not just any regular ghouls, huh?" Abe sneered.

The young ghoul got no choice but to put away his bag behind him. He got no choice but to fight.

"W-What rank are you, sir?" Zen asked beforehand so he could think of some plan during his fight. However he knew it'd be useless.

"What? Are you scared if by any chance I'm a special class?"

"There's no way a special class would lingering around here! Where did you came from, anyway!?"

The dark haired dove only chuckled and rested his quinque on his shoulder. "Don't play dumb you monster. I'm a second rank investigator, Abe Chisa. Me and my mentor jumped from up there to ambush that bitch, but you came to distract her attention so we failed to kill her right away."

Zen raised his eyebrows and gaped his mouth. How the hell that investigator would think like that? "What the hell!? I wanted to eat and I didn't know she was there!"

"Yeah, go die and take along your lies."

Without warning Abe dashed forward and swing his blade very fast. His attack forced Zen to release the kagune from his shoulders. They were shaped like raven wings, beautifully black and shine. They allowed him to fly several meters higher.

"Shit I didn't even bring my mask!" Zen cursed in his mind. He was thinking the possibility of defeating a second-rank on his own. He didn't have that much confidence but seeing just how narrow the place is, he could use it as his advantage.

"An ukaku type huh... shaped like raven wings... A ghoul like you, I've never seen you before." The second rank investigator lower his body, concentrating the powers to flow into his feet, "But you think you can just run away?"

"!"

The human jumped towards the wall and used the reciliency to jump to the other wall, repeating the same pattern until he reached higher enough to kill the ghoul.

Zen got dumbfounded seeing the ability of the investigator. He reacted too slow and let the dove reached his height. Before he knew it, the man swung his blade towards his right wing and fastly cut it down.

"ARGH!"

Zen fell down and hit the ground hard. His recovery ability wasn't high, but it wasn't too low either. However, Zen knew that there wouldn't be enough time for him to wait for his other wing to completely healed.

"I have never fought an investigator one on one before... Moreover a second rank!? How can I beat him!?"

The investigator landed behind him, "What? Is that all you got? Dissapointing... And I thought you would be pretty strong... But, it's easier for me this way though."

Feeling a little panick, the young ghoul shifted his attention towards Rize who was still fighting furiously in front of him. They were even. The sound of clashing weapons echoing through the alley. Rize also gave that Dove a hard time and kept on pushing him to the corner. Seeing that, Zen felt ashamed.

"Kamishiro-san is so strong... Unlike me..." Zen clenched his fist in frustation, "How could I... be so weak... This is pathetic..." He cursed to himself.

Abe slowly drawn in closer until his body loomed over the fallen one. His sword shaped quinque was ready to strike in his hand.

"Die, weak."

"This is it, huh...? I'm sorry... Sis."

The young ghoul closed his eyes, ready to accept the end of his life. He felt awful for dying so fast even though he just joined the organization this morning. He wanted to apologize to Banjou for letting him down. He wanted to apologize to the leader for being dead so easily, even though he knew it wouldn't bother the eye patched leader one bit.

Zen waited for the pain to come. However, he felt a small gust of wind on top of him. The blade didn't strike him.

"Are you kidding me, newbie? Is that all you've got?"

The brunette opened his eyes and slowly widened in disbelief as he lifted up his head. In front of him stood the violet haired vice-leader. Her kagunes were stretched on up him, protecting Zen's back from the upcoming blade. Rize saved his life.

"K-Kamishiro-san...?"

"Get up." Rize ordered. "Don't just lay there like a worm."

Rize's voice brought Zen back to his senses. The young man got up quickly and now stood behind of his savior.

"T-thank you, Kamishiro-san. I thought-"

Rize's kagunes pushed away the investigator and jumped back further. She wanted to observe the man first. Getting her head chopped off for being too close would surely made Yamori laughed his ass and that'd be unpleasant for her.

"You thought I wouldn't save you?" Rize smirked as she shifted her gaze towards the younger one.

Zen nodded hesitately.

"Haha, I would do that if only Kaneki didn't say you have the potential." Rize chuckled. She also implemented a little encouragement.

"P-Potential?" The brunette widened his eyes and got flustered, "W-what potential?".

Rize now turned her attention fully towards the boy and smiled, "To become strong."

Suddenly Zen felt an overwhelming happiness and shock. So happy that he could only widened his eyes like an innocent boy when he saw a toy train. His mouth was only opened a little, because he was afraid that if he smiled too much he would be get too full of himself.

"D-did Kaneki-san really said that?" He tried to make sure once more.

"Mm, he really did." Now the woman turned her attention again towards the still standing investigator, "So now you better show me that you can fight and make Kaneki's expectation come true. Got it, Zen?"

The younger ghoul now could feel his spirit came back to his body. He could feel more courage coming through his veins. For the first time in his life there's somebody who put great expectations on him. On top of that, it's his leader who said that. Even if what Rize said was a lie Zen would like to believe it. Because he also wanted to get stronger.

"Kamishiro-san-"

"Rize-san, please. It's weird to hear people calling me with my last name." Rize corrected.

"Right, Rize-san. Thank you. I'll fight as best as I can." Zen said with eyes full of determination. This was the first time Zen ever felt this way. The will to fight hard.

"Are you ghouls done yapping?"

Rize grinned widely, "Sorry to make you waiting. You see, we were talking about dividing your flesh and that man's in the corner." She taunted wickedly. She couldn't wait to eat that man's gut.

Abe creased his eyebrows, feeling angry. However, he didn't feel absolute rage because he partnered with that man only since last week. But still, knowing his ally defeated by his natural enemies really anger him.

"Zen, is your kagune healed yet?"

"N-not fully but I can still release it."

"Good. Now listen to me. I'm going ahead first, and then you will follow behind me. When I shout your name, you jump and use your kagune to deliver the finishing attack. This man might be a little harder than that one." The confident woman slipped some strands of her hair behind her ear, "However, we can still kill him."

Zen nodded in understanding. He released his other kagune who was still only a half-sized of the other one. It looked ugly for him but Zen quickly shook that unnecessary thought off.

Rize leaned her body forward and in a second she brought her feet to run towards Abe. Her enemy greeted her back by also running off towards her, itching to clash his weapon with those tentacles.

The kagunes and quinque finally made violent contact. Feeling excited, Rize grinned as she began to deliver another sharp thrust towards the man's abdomen. The man dodged easily and gave a retaliating slash.

"Ho..."

"RIZE-SAN!"

All four of Rize's tentacles were cut off easily. Taking that small opening, the second rank Dove charged through entering the Rize's safe zone to deliver his one-hit kill blow. Fortunately Rize was agiled enough so she jumped backward.

"R-Rize-san! Your kagune...!" Zen felt worry and afraid for their plan might not succeed.

"Calm down and stay put." The Binge Eater ordered. Her tone was calm yet firm.

In mere seconds, Rize's kagune grown back and fully healed. The shimmering healthy glow could already be seen.

The investigator widened his eyes, confused by what just he saw. The abnormal fast regenerative ability of the ghoul before him made the dark haired man dumbfounded.

"What's with that fast regeneration? I better update our records."

Rize jumped high and spinned her body in the air. Her long tentacles thrusted the investigator below. The man was trapped in between and Rize attacked with the last tentacle she had. It managed to land a hit on his arm but not enough to end his life.

"Update your records? Don't make me laugh." Rize's eyes turned madly black and red, "Only if you get out of here alive, sweetheart."

Abe escaped the kagune cage immediately after Rize loosen them. "Not bad, Binge Eater. With that regenerative ability, I'll make sure to bring your corpse to the Science & Development Department."

The Binge Eater went silent. Her eyes widened, her breathing went unstable. Unpleasant feelings were swelling up inside her throat. Realizing that she almost lost her mind, Rize smirked surpressing her messed up mind.

"Hah... hahaha! Ahahahaha!" The woman laughed loudly as she jerked her head up to the sky.

Zen who's been waiting for his pending cue blinked twice when he heard an insane laugh coming from his vice-leader.

"R-Rize-san...?" Zen stuttered in confusion.

"Hahaha! Ahahahaha! Ah... I've already told you... haven't I?" Slowly Rize lifted down her face as her laughter ceased, until her bloodshot eyes that filled with murderous intention were visible, "Don't make me laugh."

Without warning, the unamused ghoul dashed her feet through the way, closing the gap between her and the human. Abe got surprised and was forced to bring out his defense stance.

"It's... It's heavier!?" The force that was sent from Rize's kagune was heavier than before. It almost got Abe to fell down on his knees.

With another tentacle, Rize used it to disarm the man. The quinque now was out of his reach.

"YOU-!"

Rize smirked as she spinned her body clockwise and kicked the man's abdomen hard, sending him flying in the air. However, she didn't stop there. Rize ran fast until she got behind Abe and high jumped until she reached his level.

"ZEN!" Rize used her right leg to kick the man's back hard, and sent him flying to the other way around.

Zen understood what he should do. The young ghoul finally got his chance to help even just a little. He jumped higher than he usually did, and by using his wings he sent his sharp black feather towards the man. The feather made holes in his body, and successfully ended his life.

The investigator's body now hardly fell on the ground, lifeless. His eyes were open and his mouth was dripping with blood. For the first time in his life, Zen managed to kill an investigator. And somehow, he felt really proud.

"I... I did it..." Zen said to himself as he watched the corpse under him.

"You did it."

Zen jerked up his head when he heard the voice, "R-Rize-san..." Then the young ghoul smiled bitterly, "But it's because of your help though... You fought him amazingly..."

The elder only chuckled. She reverted her kagune and her eyes turned normal, back to the glazy purple orbs. "That may be true, but you were the one who gave him the finishing blow. You did good."

"B-but, compare to you I..."

"Zen, listen to me." This time Rize's voice sounded more serious.

"Y-yes?"

"You'll grow and become a strong ghoul. They haven't know about you yet, but I believe one day they'll give you an S rank." The violet haired woman turned her gaze directly towards the the teen, "Your raven wings... will take you higher to the top. Your feathers will be the blades to protect you. Believe in yourself, and become strong. Got it, kid?"

Zen suddenly felt overwhelmed with respect. Never in a million years, someone would actually say that to him. Not since his long gone sister. He felt he could do it. He had faith in himself. He believed he could become strong. He wanted to fill his leaders expectation.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you." The determined ghoul replied in confidence

"Ahaha... Well, that's your share. I'll eat the one over there." Rize said as she walked pass through Zen.

"Eh!? You sure? But-"

The Binge Eater halted without looking back, "I know you're hungry. You better take it because it's rare for The Binge Eater to share her food. Hurry up before I change my mind."

Thinking that it's better if he took the chance and he was also really hungry, Zen gulped and quickly got his hands on the corpse.

Rize walked away after she heard the munching sound. The woman also didn't know why she shared. At first, she was thinking that the boy could only just took the legs part and she would devoured the rest. But the violet haired ghoul gave the whole body instead.

Rize figured that maybe her appetite just ceased a little. Her mind was still foggy with uneasiness. Her heart was pounding hard. Unknowingly, Rize clenched her fist until her knuckles turned white.

"Mukade... will destroy the CCG. No matter what."

The Binge Eater continued her way towards her meal after she promised herself.

A/N: FIGHTING SCENE ALWAYS MAKES ME LAZY TO CONTINUE I DUNNO WHY. It's hard to think their actions etc...

And it's HOOOLIDAY! I might not be able to update again because I'm busy with my Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix and Final Fantasy 13-2 teehee. Lol actually I've finished 13-2, but I'm currently collecting the paradox endings (if you play it then you'll know!)

OH YEAH AND ALSO THAAANK YOU FOR YOUR REVIEWS! Tbh, reviews are what kept me going to write this. Because I know what you guys are thinking and it makes me happy to know that you're happy with the story! Please give me another review!

Disclaimer: Not mine