It had been about 4 days since Eto and Kaneki had started working on the latter's abilities which included strength training, stamina, and pain resistance... the last being the most difficult and most demanding. The stamina is what Kaneki was most excited to do, there was no fighting or breaking of bones, just them running at night. But, Kaneki had insisted that they should work on his fighting ability, as it seemed he could only currently use his kagune when his body thought he was in danger. And, despite her being his girlfriend, Eto was surprisingly brutal when they trained, but thanks to that, the flab that rested on Kaneki's small body had begun to harden. It wasn't muscle, but he was less mushy now, so that was improvement, in fact Eto had mock complained that she couldn't squeeze him anymore.
Speaking of Eto, she had requested that Kaneki not mention their relationship to anyone, not even his co-workers. At first he'd thought that she was embarrassed of him, but that was soon proven to be false as she'd willingly show affection to him in public. In fact, due to Kaneki's probing she'd revealed it to be a rather simple reason: she was afraid of her father making a big deal over it. Kaneki had learned that he and Eto were alike in terms of relationships as this was a first for both of them, but for entirely different reason's. Kaneki, by women, had always been looked upon as the wimpy reader kid, sure some had a bit of interest in him at the beginning, but it gradually died off due to him not making any moves. How could he though? Women were complicated creatures and the male psyche was pretty straight forward. No, Hide was the womanizer of the two.
Eto's reason was just the opposite of his, she was sought after by many men, ghoul and human alike, but she honestly never felt a bond with any of them. It came as flattering to Kaneki, when she told him that he was pretty much the first person she'd ever thought of in that light, it made him feel happy, to be needed. She didn't need any thing such as flowers nor did she need any sort of materialistic show of affections, in fact she got it through her own means, cuddling, kissing, and holding him. She, to Kaneki's observations, preferred to be the dominate in the relationship, and Kaneki had no qualms about that.
Today was also Kaneki's day off, and Eto had drug him down to the coffee shop of all places, which would have been fine... except for the fact that it was closed today, the only people there were Hinami and Touka. Kaneki had tried to divulge as much information as he could from her, but she refused to tell him anything else, however Eto had always been rather random, so Kaneki had thought nothing of it. This morning, in fact, she'd taken the liberty to ruffle his hair into a style that looked akin to Hide's, in fact, he looked almost completely different his normal self.
The author then gently knocked on the door of the shop, alerting Touka to her visitors. The couple waited a few minutes before they heard a series of clicking, a sharp tink, and the creaking of the door as it opened, revealing a tired looking Touka, her bed head apparent.
"Hello, Touka!" Eto called, looking at her with happy eyes. Eto and Touka heavily contrasted, Eto, with that bun hair that she so favored a baggy, green, dress-like article of clothing draped over her, in a lazy, but appropriate way, along with those big red glasses. Touka on the other hand wore a loose white T-shirt, that looked two sizes to large, and a pair of shorts, that also looked incredibly big on her.
"Uhhh, hey..."she replied, one eye struggling to stay open, and her voice deep with exhaustion.
"Do, you have it?" Eto inquired, leaning towards the high-school student with intrigue.
It took Touka's brain a moment to recall what the author was talking about, as she looked at her with a dumbfounded look, her mouth slightly open in confusion. But, eventually, she remembered.
"Oh, right!" she said, fully waking up now, "I-I'll be right back!" with that she ran back upstairs, leaving the door open for the couple to enter.
Kaneki, still half asleep himself, found refuge in a booth as he sat down on it roughly and rested his head tiredly in his hands. Truth be told, Kaneki loved waking up this early, he loved the morning soon, he loved the feel of his body waking up, and he loved the slight shudders he got as the blood began pumping faster. Eto sat down next to him and sighed happily, throwing her arms high in the air.
Kaneki was surprised when she then laced her fingers with his, where their body's touched at the hips. Kaneki felt his face light up and he noticed, for someone with skin that could stop a knife, that Eto's hand's were very soft and warm, she then leaned her head slightly on his shoulder and smiled. "Are you tired Kaneki?" she asked, with a low grainy voice filled with her own exhaustion.
"S-somewhat..." Kaneki replied, enjoying the touch, "But, what exactly are we doing here?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Hmmm, you'll find out soon enough." she said, as she lifted her head, and unlaced Kaneki's fingers at the sound of Touka's footsteps coming down the stairs. In her hand's she held a boy's school uniform. It was a blazer, accompanied with a white undershirt and red plaid pants. This served only to confuse Kaneki, it was clearly meant for him, but for the purpose he didn't know... was Eto some kind of weird kink?
"Here..." She said, rubbing some sleep out of her visible eye. "I hope you know how hard this was for me to get." she said looking towards the college student. "And how I would have been labeled had I been caught..."
"Ah, yes, Touka," Eto chimed in snatching the uniform from her and throwing it towards Kaneki, who caught it rather ungracefully, "but, this is all for Hinami, so don't be too mad." She then looked to Kaneki, "Go change into that, then we can go to our next stop."
After the two had left, Touka sighed, she was still tired even after going to bed with Hinami early. Eto, a few days prior, had told her to steal a uniform from her high school for Kaneki, the plan was that she and him would pose as student and teacher, then give the CCG false information on Hinami's whereabouts and get them away from the 20th ward. The hope in their plan is giving Hinami some room to breath in the 20th ward, and eventually hope that they will give up on finding her.
Touka sighed once more, then trudged back up to her room, last night she'd had to sleep with Hinami, because she'd said the first thing she heard from her in about a week: "I don't want to die..." and then she started crying, without any warning, whe wouldn't calm down unless Touka was there with her, not that it was any problem. She just hoped this plan of Eto's bore fruit... for Hinami's sake.
Eto and a now very nervous Kaneki stood under the towering CCG 20th ward main office, Kaneki visibly expressing that he did not want to go inside. It was funny though, Has he still been human he would have felt more safe here than anywhere else in the ward, surrounded by trained investigators, that would have been protection... now all that meant to him was a painful beheading...
Eto simply hummed a tune as the two neared the entrance, the author practically dragging him by his thin wrist. Kaneki was confused by how she could be so calm, she was also a half-ghoul, but she walked into this place like one would a super market, but then what would one expect from her? She was never one to take anything to seriously. Suddenly a light, welcoming bell chimed, and in stepped the undercover couple, Kaneki forcing himself to act normal, and Eto acting as if she'd gone here on a regular basis.
"Hello!" She sung happily as she and Kaneki walked to the front desk, him still shaking slightly, uncomfortably, feeling kind of naked in the environment. He was surrounded by people who wanted him dead and then some, and what could he do if they figured out he and Eto were ghouls? Eto could probably take them, but Kaneki would be fucked.
"Oh, hello." The receptionist replied in kind, "Do you two have some information for us?"
"Actually, yes!" Eto replied, pulling Kaneki over to the counter, "I'm a teacher at Kiyomi High School, and this is my student: Nise Hito." She pulled up his shaking arm and waved it for him.
The receptionist nodded, then pulled up a piece of paper with many blanks on it, "Take this, fill out the information, and go sit over there." She said, pointing to a couch, coffee table, and chair.
Eto nodded, "Thank you!"
Eto and Kaneki found themselves sitting in the same spot for around half an hour, and it only served to make Kaneki more anxious. His legs were rocking, his arms were shaking, and he was sweating bullets, in any other situation it may have been cute, but his physical appearance, the shaking and sweating, would certainly rouse suspicion. So Eto leaned in close to his ear and began whispering words of encouragement. "You're gonna be fine..." She reassured gripping his shirt sleeve, "There is almost a zero percent chance that we'll be found out... and when we're done we can go home and sleep for the rest of the day, just be calm, alright?"
"Y-yeah..." Replied Kaneki, shifting in his spot. He still wasn't to sure about all this, them being discovered was a very likely thing to happen, what if he got hungry again and his left eye changed? Suddenly, a large metal door frame caught his eye, around it was a waist high gate which blocked off any others from entering at a time. Nudging Eto, he asked: "Hey, what's that?" Throwing up a finger.
Eto looked over to where Kaneki motioned to see a large metal scanner. "Oh, That?" She asked, interested, "That's an RC scanner. Remember what I told you about RC cells right? Well humans have invented these to stop ghouls from entering certain establishments, Though, surprisingly it hasn't gotten much funding, and only a hand full of corporations have any."
Kaneki nodded, feeling a fearful lump in his throat. "A-and what if they go global?" He asked, his sweat trailing down his face.
"Well, ghouls will have to retreat back underground... and eventually they may go extinct."
Kaneki's body cooled at the thought, having to hide underground just waiting till you're killed or die of starvation... Kaneki's body had grown used to the sugar cubes, but he'd doubt other ghouls could deal with it. The thought of Eto, Touka, Yoshimura, Koma, and Irimi slowly fading away until their body's were but empty husks, was enough to make him vomit.
Suddenly a light hearted voice chimed out, gaining their attention. "Hello!" it called, the voice of a female with short brown hair, and a happy(but almost stupid) smile, "I'm Ruisawa, I'll be documenting your information and getting it to the proper investigative team." She explained, sitting down on a soft chair and sighing. "Now, what exactly did you two see?"
Before Kaneki could even open his mouth, Eto spoke up. "Oh, not me, but my student over here, Nise, said he saw the, or at least what he thought the description was, 'Daughter' ghoul. You see, we were on a field trip the other day, and he claimed to see her near another school, I believe it was Kasahara elementary, right Nise?" Eto asked, nudging his arm, prompting him to furiously shake his head.
"Y-yeah, and her clothing was... was really tattered, kind of like wet paper..." He added, hoping to make the story more believable, at the same time getting what Eto's game was. Kasahara is near the border of the 20th ward, right? I see now, Eto is trying to lead them off Hianmi's case.
The woman, Ruisawa, was furiously scribbling down information on her clip board, every once in a while nodding and humming her understanding. "I see, I see..." She replied, "Is there any other information you'd like to tell me?"
"Yeah, Nise, Is there?" Eto chimed in, teasingly.
"A-ah, no, that- that's it..." Kaneki replied, nervously.
Ruisawa nodded curtly, giving a kind smile, then, almost eagerly, standing up. "Well, I go give the report to the higher up's, thank you for the information." But, just as she turned, Eto spoke up, stopping her in her tracks.
"But... Isn't it kind of sad?" she asked, looking at her with kind eye's, "I mean: killing someone so young, it's a bit depressing no?"
Ruisawa stopped for a bit, looking down, but then gave a happy smile. "Oh no, Ghouls aren't human, and they eat us, so it's only natural for us to destroy them."
The reaction was such a dark one for such a kind woman, but then again Kaneki would have thought the same thing before he'd become a ghoul so he couldn't complain, but still, hearing that his heart dropped. Eto simply smiled, however, and said, "Yeah, I suppose you're right."
In the end the had ended up talking to that woman for 20 more minutes, before she decided it was time to turn in the report, leaving Eto and Kaneki to make their own way out, which was no problem, in fact Kaneki welcomed leaving the place. Even after Eto's words of encouragement, he was still shaking. But, as if the universe wanted to make him suffer, they were stalled yet again.
Kaneki had bumped into a man, his hair white as the tiles on the floor, his form hunched over, and his face contorted into a crazed smile. It was that man, Kaneki came to realize, the man that beheaded Ryouko right before his eyes. His first instinct was not to be angry, not even to scowl, but rather nervously back up and apologize, "S-sorry."
Then man looked at him, his face one of confusion as he studied him. For a second he even looked normal... Up until the point a sadistic smile spread across his face.
"Oh no, my boy," he said kindly, "it's all my fault... But I see that you are in a school uniform, may I ask what you are doing here at this time?"
Kaneki began to sweat, millions of thoughts ran through his mind all at once. No, we've been found out! I- I'm gonna die! We should run. God I don't want to die, not yet.
The thoughts formed into a jumble of words foaming out of his mouth. "I-I, we, just, here..." And, seeing his discomfort, Eto broke into the conversation. "Oh," she began, pulling Kaneki close to her, "You see, Nise here believes he saw the 'Daughter' ghoul recently and we came to inform about it."
"And who are you, exactly?" He asked, with annoyance and curiosity.
"Oh me, I'm his teacher, Ms. Kuragi." She said, laying a curved hand onto her upper chest.
The man simply nodded smiling, and began dancing his fingers on his steel briefcase. "Well, Ms. Kuragi, don't you think it would be an informative experience for this young man to be toured around his home wards Ghoul protection establishment?" He inquired, leaning close to Eto, who simply smiled in reply.
"Well, actually, that would be a good idea... Would you be so kind as to show us around, Mr..?" Eto trailed off, prompting the man to give his last name.
"Mado," he finished for her, "Kureo Mado." His lips stretched over his teeth as he repeated the name, making him look almost as frightening as any ghoul Kaneki had come across, and then some. But what frightened him even more was the fact that they were about to embark on a field trip, in a place full of people who wanted their heads on a platter. That and the fact that they were going on one, meant that they would have to walk through that scanner. Has Eto gone insane? The moment either of us goes through that, we are goners.
"Splendid!" The man chimed, happily, "Then follow me, why don't you?"
Kaneki then found himself being dragged by Eto, towards the RC scanner, his face growing paler every second, the sweat on his skin becoming colder and colder. He was going to die today, he knew it, and what he was even more worried about was Eto's health, she'd die too, and how would that affect the people at Anteiku? Her father especially. No, Kaneki had to stop her, but he couldn't, he was paralyzed with fear. Time slowed, Kaneki's heart stopped beating, and he saw the inside of the metal frame go in front of his face then disappear.
Kureo frowned, he was almost positive that boy was a ghoul, but the alarm didn't sound, it didn't even peep. The older man then looked back at the two, with disappointment in his eye. Was his intuition growing dull? Or was the machine broken, either way his being wrong caught him off guard.
Suddenly, the teacher, Ms. Kuragi, looked at her watched and slapped her forehead. "Oh, that trip will have to wait it seems, Kureo. I just realized I promised to have Nise here back at school 20 minuets ago!" And with that, she took off, pulling the boy behind her as she faded out the doorway and into the busy street."
"O-ok, then..."
It was late now, and Kureo along with Koutarou and Nakjima(the partner of the now deceased Kusaba) were down near an artificial river right next to Kasahara elementary, trudging alon searching every nook for a hiding ghoul... to no avail. In fact they'd been walking downwind for a couple of miles now and they'd seen nothing. It was also apparent that the other two were losing confidence in the case. "I'm beginning to think this was just a prank..." Koutarou said, sighing as he looked over to Kureo who was curiously looking around the area. "I mean, kids will say anything for attention. We should probably go back, it's getting late and we're getting nowhere down here."
Kureo looked over to Amon, his underling, who currently wore a bandage over his right eye, caused by his encounter with the rabbit. Underneath it was a black and blue swollen eye. In fact at first Koutarou refused to get it worked on due to some pathetic pride that he had, but soon Kureo had convinced him it would hinder his skills and could cause others to die. He reluctantly obeyed. "You two can go back, but I think I'll be staying here a bit longer... there's something I want to see..."
Night had fallen over the 20th ward and Kaneki found himself working. An odd thing to do, considering that Yoshimura had decided to day was an off day, but due to a mutual boredom throughout the staff, they decided to just open up late. And, as luck would have it, tonight was turning out to be quite a bust night. The shop was practically full with humans and ghouls a like. Kaneki had come to enjoy that sight, seeing ghouls and humans enjoying like together, it only served to prove what he'd grown to believe, that humans and ghouls can live together, despite the diet difference.
Then, Touka came down from upstairs, newspaper in her hand, and a familiar apathetic look on her face. Then, sighing she plopped herself down on a stool sitting in front of the hybrid and unfolding it. There was a tense moment of silence as Kaneki tried to keep his eye's on other things, he knew Touka didn't particularly like him, and he also knew that she would like nothing more than for him to stop working at Anteiku, but he knew he could some how gain back her trust.
"Hey..." she said, still keeping her eye's on the news paper, flipping through it, causing Kaneki to jump. "I know that it wasn't your plan... and that you were kept in the dark at first... but thanks for helping Hinami out by throwing the doves off course..." She paused. "And... I'm sorry for kicking your ass the other day, I realize that there wasn't much you could do given the circumstances..."
Kaneki was about to say something when Touka spoke again. "Don't say anything... just accept my compliment graciously... I'm not one for this mushy apology bullshit so make it easy for me and just let it happen..."
There was another silence... Kaneki looked down and back up, staring at Touka who remained stationary in her seat. "I-is Hinami doing OK?" He asked, a bit nervously, prompting Touka to move her eye's at him. "I- I heard that she doesn't get much sleep at night... and that she sometimes cry's all night... I just want to know."
Silence.
"She's not sleeping because Eto gave her that damn book... she spends all her time reading it now... because you taught her how." The high school student smiled, standing up. "Let's go check on her..."
Touka knocked on the door to Hinami's room, announcing her presence before entering. "Hinami!" she called. No response... Touka looked at Kaneki, who simply shrugged. Suddenly, rudely, Touka barged in to the room and let out a gasp. Kaneki pushed past her to see what garnered that reaction... soon he let out a similar one. The room was empty... it wasn't a kidnapping, there were no signs of struggle, no... instead there was a single open window, curtains gently blowing in the breeze, swaying like dancing dresses. Hinami had run off.
Eto was eating, in fact she hadn't been doing that lately, she'd been far to preoccupied with Kaneki. On her plate was an assortment of fingers, the hand they came from, and a couple of eye's. It sounded disgusting, but Eto had been craving this since she woke up, so now she was enjoying herself. As opposed to Hinami, who often used utensils to eat, Eto was a rather messy eater, just using her hands to rip and tare in into the meet... she was alway's a mess at the end, but she cleaned herself the way a stereotypical overweight person would, licking her fingers clean.
Suddenly, interrupting her meal, the phone in her pocket began to vibrate. Eto frowned, couldn't she finish her meal at least? Sighing, she pulled out her phone, studied it the smiled at the caller I.D. Well, at least it's Kaneki, and not my agent. I swear, he never calls to say 'hi', always book deals with that one. Then, tapping the green phone logo, Eto put the device to her ear.
"Hell-"
"Eto!" Kaneki called, frantic in his voice and panting, causing Eto to worry.
"Kaneki?" She inquired, worry in her voice as well, though only slightly.
"Hinami's missing, we think she ran off, Touka and I are looking for her, but Touka went ahead... I don't know where either of them are..."
Eto gritted her teeth, Dammit, Hinami. She thought as she got up to look for something to put on so she didn't go out in a pajama top and underwear. "Alright, Kaneki, I'll be out there in a minute!"
Hinami trudged along a man-made river, being careful to keep her feet from getting wet. Here was were the scent was strongest, where it almost overwhelmed her. She couldn't hear, she couldn't see hardly, her mind focused on one thing, mother... That's why she'd left Anteiku, that's why she'd came so far out almost to the edge of the 20th ward, that's why she came down to the river. For mother.
Now the scent was enveloping her nose, and she could tell... underneath this tiny bridge was where mother was. Finally, after all the time they'd been apart she'd finally get to see her again. She thought that her pseudo big brother saw her die, in fact that's what everyone told her, but they must be mistaken, she could smell her mother. Her mother was alive, she had to be, why else would she be smelling her now?
Hinami stepped under the bridge, sniffed the air once, then continued cautiously. "Mother?" she called out, pulling her hands closer to herself, a subconscious way to defend herself from any would be attacker. "Mother where are you? It's me, Hinami..." no response. "Y-you can come out now, I wont hurt you..." No response.
Hinami moved slightly forward, still looking around cautiously, until her bare foot touched a hard, wet object, which rocked back and forth at the touch, slightly tapping her foot back, causing the young brunette to look down. There, at her feet, was her mothers severed a head, a kind smile on her face, and her eye's slightly open.
"M-mother..?"
Touka ran on the roof of an apartment complex, went airborne for a second or two, then landed on another roof top. Pure anger was pushing her. Not anger at Hinami, nor anger at Kaneki, not anger at anyone but herself. She'd lost Ayato, now she was going to lose Hinami too, the only difference was Ayato can take care of himself, Hinami can't. Dammit, why is it always me? She thought, in self loathing. If Hinami leaves... she'll most certainly become like Ayato... or maybe worse... she's been cared for her entire life, meaning she'll be unaccustomed to the cruel way's of the world. Normally it would mean she'd be dead... But Eto told Touka something long ago... 'The more used to something someone is, the harder it is for them to cope with losing it, meaning they are vulnerable, but at the same time, those individuals, if pushed to an extremity, can most certainly become something even crueler than the very world we live in'.Eto had told her that when she was younger, and she looked up towards Eto, when she and Ayato both did... She was like... Like how Hinami viewed Touka now. The reason she told her that, is because Touka had asked her what she was like when she was younger... she never quite understood it... but she had a feeling Hinami would end up like that if they didn't find her soon.
Suddenly, a piercing, blood curdling scream tore through the otherwise still night air. The voice was small, light, one of a child. It wasn't the screams of being eaten, nor attacked, but rather... screams of anguish and sadness. Touka knew the voice well. It was Hinami.
The raven haired girl now stood at the entrance to the underway of a small bridge, an artificial river running through it. It was near Kasahara elementary, a school on the border of the 20th ward... but somehow Hinami had made her way here? This is also where Kaneki said they 'claimed' to see her... those investigators must have lured her out here... but how?
Walking in, she immediately spotted Hinami, Sitting against a concrete wall, cradling something in her arms, something large. Touka hardly paid attention to it, she could only feel elation in having found the girl safe. Soon though, she saw what she was cradling, burying her own head into and crying on. It was Ryouko's head, Touka could only think of one thing to say... "Oh God..."
Hinami looked up at Touka, then back to her mother. Touka looked down at her, sadness on her face and her eye's heavy. "Hina..." She began, looking at her. "I... Let's go home... it's cold tonight... you'll get sick..."
"No" she said, abruptly, causing Touka to be quite... "I'm not safe here anymore... It doesn't matter where I go... I'm going to die..." she explained, more to herself than anyone, her voice wavering. "I need to run... far... far away..."
"No..." Touka chimed in, "you will be safe... Eto and Kaneki went to the CCG office here today... they threw them off your trail... besides that they don't even have a picture of you, you'll be fine Hinami..." Touka then pulled her into a tight embrace, holding her as if she was going to merge with her. "And even if they do... I promise I'll protect you, I won't let those bastards hurt you."
There was silence between the two. It was almost deafening to Touka, as she wanted desperately for Hinami to say anything. Until finally, her wish was granted.
"O-ok..."
Kaneki was still running, he'd been practically all over the 20th ward tonight, thanks to his enhanced speed as a ghoul... and his training with Eto. SPeaking of his girlfriend, where was she, he'd called her a while ago, she should be here by now... perhaps she was off searching elsewhere... Suddenly, Kaneki felt his phone vibrate against his leg, prompting him to stop and take it out... the caller I.D. read: Touka.
hurriedly, the hybrid accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear. "Hello!? Touka!?"
"Geez... you're so goddamn loud..." Was his reply, causing him to breath a sigh of relief.
"Did you find her?"
"Yeah, she was down by Kasahara... I think they tried to lure her out here, but they must've given up... there were no investigators around when I arrived."
"I see... well-" Kaneki didn't get to finish, as there was a sharp beep and then three loud, annoying alarm like sounds... the call was disconnected... What the hell? The hybrid asked himself, pulling his phone down to examine it further. Oh well, at least Hinami is safe...
Then another conversation caught his ear, it was coming from a level just below him on the side walk, so(admittedly nosily) he went to take a look. There, standing just below him was an investigator... Not any though, as fate would have it it was one of the investigators who killed Ryouko... The last of the conversation caught his ear. "By Kasahara? She showed up... and the Rabbit? I'm on my way!"
Kaneki felt his heart drop, tonight just wasn't gonna end was it? But still, there were bigger problems than his exhaustion, now an investigator was headed to Touka and Hinami... and only he knew about it... pulling out the leather mask crafted by Uta, Kaneki gulped... He hadn't expected to use it this soon... but he wasn't going to repeat what happened with Ryouko.
Touka looked at the man with horror, her face noticeably shaken at the sight. Before her stood a man, no a monster, an overjoyed look on his bony, skeletal face, particularly with his overly revealed eye. His hair hung on the sides of his head, swaying slightly in the draft under the bridge.
"It's been a while... Ms. Fueguchi... I was begging to think I'd never see you again." He pulled up a metal case, one of two in fact, "It broke my heart, the thought of not being able to show you my new Toy..."
Hinami shrunk behind Touka, her eyes wide with terror. Touka absent mindedly rested a hand on the younger girls head, trying to calm her.
"Oh and you must be the rabbit, right?" He inquired looking at Touka. "You're awfully pretty for a monster, but I do think you'll make an even prettier quinque, don't you think so?"
Touka stiffened at his insinuation... There was no greater fear for a ghoul than to be made into a weapon used to kill their own kind.
"You fucking bastard..." Touka spat, through gritted teeth, the white of her eye's slowly being encompassed by a black haze.
Amon stopped, in front of him, blocking his path was a young man, no older than 19, wearing a blue hoodie black jean, and shoes, but more importantly... A mask. Amon's first thougth was that even with the mask, he looked incredibly docile. The mask was odd, one could argue even unconventional. It bore an eye patch, smething that would not be very useful in combat... but then... it was fitting considering his own covering. Regardles though, he was a ghoul... he had to be dealt with.
"I see... he began...just how many does 'Daughter' have?" He asked, flicking a switch on his suitcase, which then, almost impossibly produced a club like weapon. Kaneki had seen it before... when the doves fought against Hinami's mother... luckily he remembered how he swung it, a trait he picked up fighting Eto... if you can telegraph your opponents move's, then you have a shot at winning. That coupled with his ghoul strength gave him an edge... but even so... he didn't want to fight the man...
"Listen..." Kaneki began softly, "Go back, forget you ever received that phone call and I won't have to kill you..."
This only served to piss the man off, as he readied his club. "A monster like you trying to bargain with a man? Pathetic, I don't affiliate with shit like you."
It was clear to Kaneki, at that moment, that the man was not going to listen to him... Sighing he rushed him, pulling back a fist ready to hit him. The man swung, but Kaneki predicted the move and ducked, just missing it by a hair, then with great force, shoved his fist into the man's stomach. But something was wrong... the man didn't even flinch, let alone move, he held his ground and looked down at Kaneki with disgust. "So you're a weak one huh? And here I was getting ready to lose my stomach..."
Then, violently, the man brought the club down on Kaneki's shoulder knocking him face first into the floor. However, adrenaline took over and Kaneki rolled out from under him, just as the weapon smashed the where his head was moments ago. He didn't even know the man was about to do that, it was just dumb luck. Dammit... He should've been sent flying! What's wrong? Am I just weak?... No... It's not that, he was hard. I hit him with the right amount of force but... I see, of course... Investigators have to train rigorously to stand up to ghouls... he's no exception... meaning I'll have to use Rize...
Then, violently, four red appendages shot from Kaneki's lower back, and wiggled around wildly, his sclea grew dark and his Iris turned red and he crouched. He must've intimidated the man, because his face turned from confidence to uncertainty. The change was slight... but it was there...
Kaneki rushed him again, this time, throwing his Kagune in front of him. "I told you..." he began as he got closer, "to turn back!" The kaguned connected with the quinque, producing a loud thud that rang out in in the area. but where Kaneki failed to hit him, he succeeded in making him move, he could do this! Kaneki, then decided to branch spread his available hit points. The hybrid, kept the quinque at bay, and then unfolded his Kagune, attempting to damage, without killing, several more areas. He succeeded, he cut into the investigator like butter, making him yelp and jump back in pain.
The man then charged at him once more, holding his weapon in front of him like a lance. Kaneki inwardly sighed, he wished the man would give up already, why couldn't he just let it go? Kaneki jumped at him, wrapped the tentacles around his quinque, and instinctively, regrettably, dug his teeth into the mans shoulder. As he did though, he flet a renewed strength rush through his body, he felt like he'd reached a new high. It was like the time he and Eto kissed, like the time when he'd first ate the sugar cubes, but he couldn't let himself enjoy it too long, lest he become lost in it. Kaneki then tightened his Kagune's grip until the quinque... broke...
Kaneki pushed the man down, establishing a dominant position over him mouth dripping with blood which covered his mask as well. "Please..." Kaneki pleaded, hoping the man would hear him. "Please just go..." Tears began streaming from his visible eye, "I don't wanna become a killer..."
Touka felt a now pointed Koukaku kagune pierce her side, pinning her to a support pillar. The crazed man was really beating her ass, despite her best efforts to use her speed. Just moments ago he'd revealed his new 'toy' to be Hinami's mothers Kagune. It was big, clearly used to be a shield and a near impenetrable one at that. Touka hadn't realized on just how many uses it had. She'd just been impaled by it for fucks sake... she had no idea that Ryouko's kagune was so strong.
The man grinned and pushed further, causing the Kagune to grind into her side making her scream. "That's it... That's it... scream like the animal you are!" He pushed twice more. Honestly with a flick of his wrist he could end Touka right here, right now, but he wanted to make her suffer. Hmmm... I should really check on the little one now... Ever since she'd let out that scream when I pulled out her precious mommy she hasn't said a word... I hope she didn't run off...
Kureo looked over to the girls location, thankfully she was still there, holding her face, pulling on her skin. It made him smile... she must have been losing her mind right now... he didn't necessarily becalled lieve that ghouls have emotions, but if he did then he felt no greater pleasure than in making them suffer in their hearts. "Hey, little Fueguchi!" he called out to her, her eye's move to look at him, "Watch this..." Kureo then, with great force, pushed into the walled ghoul hard, making blood spray out like a fountain.
Hinami read Touka's lips "Hinami..."
Hinami felt helpless... helpless because she was going to lose someone else she cared about... She lost her mother and now her big sister? No, she didn't want that to happen... she wouldn't let it happen. Her back became incredibly hot then, sweat began streaming down it like rain, it felt like something was inside of it, ready to pop out... and pop out it did... First her upper back, then her lower, they exploded with an almost releasing feeling, then she felt heavy, like she was being weighed down by concrete. However, despite her sudden immobilization, there was only one thing one she cared about.
"I won't let you hurt big sister..."
The two lower weight's began smashing around the area wildly, breaking off chunks from surrounding concrete pillars and throwing themselves at their assailant. Hinami recognized them however, they were her fathers, his Kagune... she then tilted her head back and saw her mothers Kagune curling over her protectively and for a moment... Hinami felt happy...
Kureo smiled wildly, his smile nearly peeling his face off. She was perfect, a Chimera! The rare occurrence of a child receiving two kagune, along with the best qualities of each. He used his free quinque, the girls fathers kagune, to combat it. He was having trouble, but this only excited him more. He couldn't help but laugh as he batted the attacking appendages away, on more than one occasion, just barely missing being decapitated, however, he wasn't going to last long doing that alone.
"Forgive me, rabbit, but I've found a more interesting playmate." He said, pulling out the quinque that was embedded into her side and opened it to it's full width, ready for the next attack. When it came, it landed right in the center of the shield-like weapon, Kureo quickly closed the petals onto the spines and pulled back, bringing Hinami closer and closer.
The advantage Hinami had was now gone and she was barreling closer to the investigator, unable to defend herself with her lower appendages rendered useless. He began to whip her fathers tentacle out behind him, ready to swing it into her, once she got close. Hinami could have scream, cried, or called for Touka, but it wouldn't do any good, there was nothing more they could do, Touka was struggling to stand and Hinami wasn't strong enough to use her heavy upper appendages, so she decided she wouldn't give the man the satisfaction of hearing her scream.
There was a sharp squishing sound, the sound of a large object dropping in the water and then... silence. Touka felt her heart sink, Hinami died, she just knew it, what else could have happened? Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit! she thought, tears rushing out of her eyes. I failed, I couldn't save Hinami and now... now her entire family is gone...
Then she heard a voice, it was that man's, but he said something that didn't make any sense. "Oh... It's you... Owl..."
Kureo frowned, he hadn't envisioned his reunion with his wife's murderer going quite like this... hell, he didn't even get to kill the girl... The Owl had appeared, cut his hands off and now shoved the very same blade through his abdomen and he was slowly losing consciousness. In the end it was his own fault... he should've heard it coming, but he was to engrossed in killing the child... that he lost his bearings. Ahh damn... who would've guessed that the Owl was in the most docile ward? I'm sorry... Kasuka...
Touka watched as the investigator fell limp on the kagune of the hooded ghoul, who was only about Touka's size, maybe a little taller. There was a familiar Aura about them, though Touka couldn't quite make it out... The ghoul looked back at her once... then simply left... as if they had not just saved the two girls or killed a man. Still though, Touka could not stop shaking, she looked over to Hinami, who watched with equal interest as the ghoul disappeared.
It wasn't five minutes later that Yomo and Kaneki appeared, though Yomo had a torn cloak splattered with blood on, TOuka thought about asking... but honestly as long as he was alright she couldn't give much of a shit, she just wanted to sleep.
After that, the group of five returned to Anteiku to find Eto, Irimi, and the manager there waiting expectantly. They sent Hinami to bed, and most of the group, including Yomo went to work on bandaging Touka's wounds for her... The investigator had really fucked her up. As a group though, they decided it would be best that Irimi stayed with them for the night.
Touka now stood at the outside of the restroom door, after the group had cleaned her and dressed her wound, Eto had taken Kaneki into the restroom to take a look at his shoulder. Touka didn't notice the wound until the author had pointed it out, but when she did she noticed just how deep it was. Though, that was an hour ago, it didn't look that bad... but she wanted to make sure she was OK. However, for whatever reason, she decided to ease drop on the two. She pressed an ear to the door and listened.
"Ahhh..." a familiar male voice hissed in slight pain.
"Ohhh... Kaneki, don't be such a baby... Touka didn't make this much noise when they put the others were fixing her up..." Clicked Eto, in response to the sudden complaint."
"S-sorry..." Kaneki replied, "I guess I'm not used to having my shoulder ripped into..."
"Well... It's not like you two weren't even in the end... He hurt your shoulder, you bit into his... at least you didn't kill him, huh?"
"Y-yeah... I suppose."
Another hiss.
"Oh my... I suppose if this hurts you I can't be cuddling you tonight... That's too bad... I really was looking forward too it."
"It doesn't hurt that much..." Kaneki mumbled in reply...
Touka's eye'd widened at the conversation, her face began to heat up and she began to sweat mildly. She... shouldn't be listening, she should leave them alone... but, against her more polite manners Touka cracked the door open to peak in... And as luck would have it... she was just in time to see Eto lock lips with Kaneki in a rather sensual manner. Touka lost her breath, her face flushed, and she almost squeaked in surprise.
"There," Eto spoke breaking away, "Now stop complaining, I just need to dab it a few more times."
Outside of the coffee shop stood a blond man, wearing a white suit, his well built body almost ready to burst out of it. A sick smile on his large face and his eye's wide with excitement. On his hands he wore many gold and silver rings, the fingers of which were holding themselves in a rather uncomfortable looking way, and then, in a fast motion he cracked his right index finger. "Ken Kaneki huh?" he coed, "I can't wait to meet you..."