Eto sat on the bed, now empty, when it was once occupied by her and Kaneki... He had been taken just yesterday... it was so strange, that morning he was there, late for work, and now he was gone. Ayato had shown up as well, according to Touka, who had a broken nose from said little brother. She said that he was accompanied by two others... well, technically six, but the other four weren't interested in kidnapping Kaneki... She said, 'They were looking for Rize, or the one that smelled like Rize.' Eto knew who this group was, Yomo had been keeping tabs on them for a good while now, telling Eto and her father that they were dangerous, but he couldn't figure out who led them... until yesterday. Ironic, wasn't it? The day that they discovered the leader, Kaneki was taken. Well... that wasn't quite true... because they claimed that their leader was 'The One-Eye'd Owl'. Which, Yomo, Yoshimura, and especially Eto, knew... was a lie. Eto and her father were both the 'One-Eye'd Owl', so that meant, according to Yomo, they were using then fear that the name inspired to scare off any would be attackers and even investigators. But, that still didn't explain why they wanted Kaneki, though... He was, even after beating that investigator, a weakling... actually, no, he was strong... he just lacked confidence. Still, were they taking him, because he had Rize's kagune, because they wanted a One-Eye'd ghoul in their inventory?... Or was it to lure out Eto..? Though the possibility of that last one was quite low, that would imply that they knew who the Owl actually was... But she didn't rule it out.
Eto noticed the creeping of daylight moving up the floor of Kaneki's room and she realized... she'd just sat there all night... What's more, she was going to be late...
Touka, along with Irimi, Koma, Hinami, and Yomo sat in the break room of Anteiku... the shop had been closed down for the day, due to Kaneki's abduction... an abduction she was helpless to stop. God damn, she felt like an idiot, she'd been covered in blood before, hell, she'd covered others in blood before, but something had happened, something that paralyzed her with fear. No, it wasn't having her nose broken by Ayato, that wouldn't have hindered her at all, she was going to wail on him, but... when she saw Kaneki getting tossed around like a rag doll, his blood spewing like a faucet, covering her, she couldn't move... she was terrified, because she wasn't strong enough, it was her fault Kaneki was taken...
But, what concerned her more was Eto, she'd never been one to dwell on things, but ever since she found out about Kaneki's abduction she'd became... absent... She would often stare into space for long whiles, a look of slightly sad wonder on her face. It was such a contrast, a heavy one too, Touka didn't like seeing it. Eto played like she was OK, like it was just another day and they'd get Kaneki back, but now, for once, her acting wasn't fooling anyone... Herself, Irimi, Koma, Hinami, and Yoshimura, saw it... they wouldn't confront her about it, because she'd never admit it, but they knew how heavy it weighed on her... But only Touka knew just how badly... Touka hadn't told a single person what she'd seen that night when Hinami ran away, when she peaked in on Eto and Kaneki and saw just what their relationship was, it wasn't her business after all, right? But she had to comfort the author some how...
Then, ironically, the door opened, revealing a tired looking Eto, actually... tired wasn't quite the word... Eto's hair was a mess, like she'd been mauled, her face was pale, and her eye's God, they told the whole story... She looked at everyone with such kind eye's when she walked in, but at that moment everyone knew, but wouldn't say, that Eto wasn't handling this well at all...
Her eye's were happy yes... happy and red... She'd been crying, the cool, level-headed girl, who Touka had admired since she was a child had been... crying... It didn't look like Eto had known it herself, but she had been, there was no other explanation for it. The blow was much worse when Touka was reminded that it was all her fault. She knew, then, exactly then, how Kaneki must've felt when she'd battered him, he already blamed himself... what right did Touka have to make it worse... but it seemed that's all she was good at... making things worse...
"Hello, everyone..." Eto chimed, lowly as she made her way across the room. All eye's were on her, not out of awe, but rather sympathy, whether she noticed or not was uncertain. The green haired woman then got to Hinami, who sat on the sofa and knelt on one knee, "Hello, Hina!" She unenthusiastically chimed, "I'm sorry, I haven't made much time for you lately... you really should come over... then I could read to you, just like I used to, huh?"
"I-" Hinami stuttered, looking up at the oldest of her pseudo siblings.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot, you pretty much know how to read now, huh?" She coed, tilting her head, "You're such a good girl, Hinami..." Then, tiredly, she sat down on the sofa, in between Touka and Hinami and sighed, "I'm sorry I'm late," She apologized, lazily throwing up a finger into the air, "I... overslept..." That last part was a lie, Touka knew it, the bags under her eye's said otherwise, she hadn't slept a damn bit... Damn her, thinking she'd be a burden if she were even a little publicly upset, she was only making it harder for them.
Then, the door clicked once more, opening, and revealing an old man, wearing a brown trench coat and a bowler hat of a similar color. He wore gloves, and bore a dry umbrella. The forecast called for rain today, and the sky had been more or less dark since about half an hour ago, but not a single drop had come, perhaps it was fitting, at least Touka thought it was... There was an apprehension in the air, and the rain(or lack thereof) mimicked that apprehension... No one was looking forward to having this meeting, no one liked the idea of Kaneki being held captive, but this was the first step in getting him back.
"Before we begin this meeting... I wan't you to know, it's fine if any of you wish to step down... We'll be going against a group hundreds strong... However I myself shall be going regardless..." Yoshimura spoke, his face impassive, and his hand's behind his back. No one spoke, no one said a thing, not even Hinami, the youngest of the group. It was a show of determination, one saying that none of them were afraid... it made the old man smile.
"I see..." He spoke, slightly happier, "Well, let me introduce a new member to add to our rescue mission..." Then, he extended his arm, reaching for the doorknob and opened the door. In stepped a familiar, and admittedly unwelcome face, Touka clenched her jaw and frowned, fucking great...
"Amore!" the man said, throwing his arm gracefully into the air, "Heartbreak! Imagine my dear best friend Kaneki, being taken away by that unreasonable lot... who knows what they plan to do with him?" He said, a look of displeasure on his face, albeit fake, and a quiver in his voice. "It makes me weep, to imagine what they could be doing to him now..."
Day 1.
Kaneki's left eye hurt... God did it hurt... like a bee was in there stinging it... the pain had woken him up... but woken him up where, exactly? Where was he again? he didn't know... How did he even get here? Kaneki remembered meeting a man... A Chinese man, yes he was Chinese, Kaneki could tell... his face, his clothing, his smell... certainly Chinese... His names was Tatra? Taataro? No, no it was Tatara, yes, that was it... What did he call Kaneki after examining him closely again? Oh yes... useless...
He aloud that Yamori man to take him, that cruel man, good god... He stuck a syringe in his eye... what did he say? Oh yes, Kaneki remembered. 'Ghouls are impervious to any thing short of another ghoul... however there is one exception... the eye... the mucus membrane... that's how investigators know so much about ghouls... because they use an RC suppressant to nullify the ghouls impenetrable skin... It makes you like a human in terms of breakability...' That's what he said... But that still didn't answer where Kaneki was...
He opened his right eye, now, trying to get his bearings... he first saw his feet, bare feet along with hairless legs, in fact, he could've sworn that he was wearing pants... he must've been changed when he lost consciousness... however his change of clothes was the least of his concerns... his feet were bound by shackles... he tried prying them apart with his legs, using the strength he acquired when he became a ghoul... but he remembered... the syringe... It must've sapped his strength away as well. He noticed his arms in a similar predicament as well... he began to hyperventilate... his back grew cold, his face began to heat up and the core of his stomach was gone... Then, like a cannon... he heard a door open... then slam... The sound predesignated through the room which Kaneki now noticed was enormous... The floor was tiled like a checker bored. and the walls reminded him of a bird cage... The beams were red, and the actual wall was black... it felt like a dreamscape...
"Ahhh, so you're awake, Kaneki..." An amused voice said, somewhat altered to a filtered hum.
Kaneki looked up, the man before him was undoubtedly Yamori, despite the mask he wore he could tell. He was big, towering over Kaneki... and his mask... oh God that mask... Like a hockey mask, just like the friday the 13th movies that were so popular in the west... kaneki remembered watching the 6th one a few years ago and being terrified... but nothing like this... no, nothing like this...
"I was worried... maybe you weren't going to wake up... then my new toy wouldn't work... and I'd be sad..." He somewhat joked as he walked towards the shaking, tied up boy, who's eye's were wide... "You see... I was especially excited about playing with you..." Yamori spoke as he began digging through his assortment of torture devices... picking some up momentarily and then setting them down, as if he wasn't quite sure what to use... it made Kaneki's stomach churn in horror... cleavers, pliers, saws, bolt cutters... and all of which, currently could hurt him... "When I was... thrashing you in the coffee shop... I noticed something... you're very durable... I wan't to test that durability..." He explained, rather casually as he finally decided on the right set of tools to use... A medical wrench.
"But... it's more of your sanity than your body you see..." He explained as he placed one of Kaneki's toes, his big toed, in between the pliers... "How much pain..." He said calmly... then without warning, he slammed the handles together and the pincers, like fucking lightning, tore through Kaneki's flesh, sending fire up his nerves and making him throw his head back and scream in pain. The scream was loud, deafening, and it only served to motivate Yamori into lobbing off more fingers. Yamori was screaming himself now, at Kaneki, giving him instructions.
"KANEEEEEEEEEEKIIIIIIIII! CAN YOU HEAR ME, KANEEEEEEEEEEEEKIIIIIIIIIIII? I WANT YOU TO COUNT DOWN FROM 1000 BY 7'S!"
Kaneki didn't obey, he couldn't Yamori was continuously removing toes, slowly agonizingly. His roars were so loud, Kaneki swore his ears were ringing now, He never felt this much pain before... When Eto hit him, he knew she wouldn't kill him... but this... it was more than likely he was going to die...
Kaneki began screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming, screaming, until, finally, he spoke, a single word, that made Yamori stop mid-cut to listen. "MOTHERRRRRRR!"
Yamori was silent, his hands were trembling, and he was breathing rather heavily, as if he just got done pleasuring himself. "W-what did you say?" He asked, almost nervous. Kaneki didn't respond, he simply hung his head, relishing the moments without pain. "You said 'mother' right?" Yamori asked, looking up and cracking his index finger. "Yes... I know that feeling well... Let me tell you a story, Kaneki..."
Yamori then gripped Kaneki's face roughly, and held it firm, to where he was starring at his mask. "When I was younger... I was just like you... I was weak, scrawny, a wimp, yes, but more importantly than that... I loved my mother... so much so that it aches to see her dead face." The built, tall ghoul said, quietly, as if telling Kaneki a secret. "But... I wan't you to know just exactly what happened to me...
Yakumo Oomori was running now, running towards his home in the pouring rain, quickly, as fast as he could. He just heard it on his way home from school, a luxury that his poor family could hardly afford for him, leaving themselves to live in a small shack-like house, alone, some days without power... Actually... it wasn't his family paying for it, just his mother... she was the only one who worked in the family. Yamori regarded his father as bastard, he simply sat there, watching television, and being useless. Despite his lazy behavior though, he was quite tough... He abused Yamori and his mother, sometimes for little things, Yamori couldn't stand up to him and his mother simply refused to... she was a pacifist by nature... so why? Why was she suffering now.
His family had been found out, investigators were attacking as he ran home, one thought in his mind... saving his mother. He was also somewhat excited, he had hoped, in what he realized was rather disturbingly, that his father was dead... he'd love to see the mans corpse, to know he was free from being beaten, of being ridiculed... he hoped that he died.
Yakumo soon found himself at his home now, as he turned the corner it lay on, to be greeted by a scene he'd never imagined he'd see... His mother, her kagune, brilliantly colored with a deep blue and red tips, fighting off investigators. She was fierce, almost frighteningly so, she tore through flesh, broke bone with ease, and slung body's like rag dolls... It was terrifying, and it also made Yamori somewhat mad... how she never stood up to his father. Why? she was clearly stronger than him. She was clearly, Superior than him, then why... let him beat the two..?
However, the questions could wait... in fact, he'd forgotten them because, despite her ability, his mother had been impaled, a stiff, sword like quinque tore through her throat, letting blood spray all over her killer... Yakumo wasn't certain but... he could've sworn her eye's drifted towards him at that point... tears leaking like rivers.
The time between then and when he was captured was a blur, all he remembered was... running...
That's when he met the man who tortured him, who taught him how to make one suffer... The man who killed Yakumo Oomori and gave birth to Yamori.
Kaneki found himself listening to the psychopath, intent on his story, slightly hoping to by himself a few more moments pf peace, but mostly... To discover why the man was doing this to him... Kaneki, if even for the briefest moment felt sorry for the man.
"Now then, Kaneki, since you are such a good listener, I wan't to tell you a secret..." Jason said, as he got down close to Kaneki's ear and began speaking, voice full of glee. "That doctor who preformed the surgery... Did you think he didn't know who Rize was, that he didn't know Rize was a ghoul?" Kaneki's eye's turned to saucers, his throat went dry, and deep feeling, one he hardly ever felt, was begging to creep up on him... It was hatred. "He is still doing his experiments I hear," Yamori continued, "But no one can get to him for some reason, and no one knows where he is... And that put's a damper on Aogiri's plans because, well... We wan't him to make more of you, Kaneki..." Yamori ecplained, letting it all sink in.
But that moment of realization passed quickly as Yamori resumed his dismembering Kaneki, without mercy, just as he did earlier... Only this time angey, full of rage, as if he were trying to full kill the one he saw as his previous self. The pain was unbearable and layered one on top of the other, like a video played on top of another video... Kaneki didn't know for how many hours he was beaten, cut open, jaw broken, nose broken, and throat chocked... he didn't feel it because... his body was becoming used to it... Until... he got a centipede in his ears.
God, that scratching, that violent scratching as it panicked and burrowed it's way into his ear and then finally stopped, every now and again twitching, reminding Kaneki that he was still inside, waiting for the boy to get moving again so it would have a reason to crawl again... But Kaneki didn't realize all that, when Jason put it in his ears, he began screaming, then his voice slowly was drowned out and replaced with... with laughter... his own laughter... yes, he was going to fucking lose it.
DAY 5
Kaneki's conciosness returned later, if he had fallen asleep after that he didn't know... He just remembered that he still lived at that time and God was he loathing it... every moment he was concious he was filled with pain, the itching pain of his fingers and toes regrowing. During his time being tortured for hours a day, Kaneki began to notice something... Every now and then... white locks would fall into his view. At first he thought them to be snow, but he remembers that he was still inside a building... it was his hair... He knew what this symptom, Poliosis.
Poliosis is a condition in which, due to stress, fear, or pain, a person's hair begins to turn white. Apparently, sometime during Kaneki's torture... it began happening to him. Now, however, he was preoccupied with the man before him, his maroon hood, covering his face as he cleaned Kaneki's bloody body up with care and somewhat of sympathy. Then, he said something that surprised the hybrid, enough to take his mind off the pain. "Damn, Kaneki... Yamori really likes to play with you..." The hooded figure said, not in a mocking way, but more of a sympathetic way... However, Kaneki knew who this was...
"N- Nishiki?" He asked, suddenly realizing how tired and weak his voice sounded, however that was the least of his concerns right now, he wanted to know why Nishiki was here, why was he with this group..? Kaneki knew he hated humans, but... he also seemed to hate others encroaching on his territory... and no doubt this group did that the moment they stepped foot in here. "Why... are you here?"
Nishiki was silent for a moment, he didn't answer, instead he stopped for a moment, then continued to wipe the blood of Kaneki's toes, probably as Yamori ordered. Everyday it was someone knew, each was as sympathetic as the last, but they would never say anything to him, they just had that feeling about them... maybe they'd seen this all before... or maybe they knew eventually their time would come.
Kaneki tried another question... "You're not... n-not mad are you?" He asked, keeping his head angled at the ground... he was just far to tired to move his neck currently and to be honest didn't want to look back up, for fear of seeing that hockey mask...
"I was..." Nishiki began... "But what you did to me actually helped me for the better I realize..."
"How?..."
"I-" A sharp ringing echoed through the dome, alerting Nishiki to a wrist watch... "I'll have to tell you later... Yamori get's angry when we take too long..." and with that he left, quietly... However, as he closed the door the room began to fade... fade to white. Kaneki soon found himself in a completely white space, his shackles were gone...his body no longer ached, and he felt warm. Kaneki tired to look around, but saw nothing, he tried looking down to his feet but saw nothing... then he realized, a light sheet of cloth laid over his eyes, blocking his vision.
Then a hand reached out, gently caressed his cheek, and made him smile. At first, he thought he knew who it was... It was Eto, he knew it was Eto, it had to be... No one else, touched him that soft... actually, that wasn't quite true... His mother had soft hands like that as well... And then Kaneki realized he didn't know who it was... Eto? Mom?, he mentally asked, moving his head towards the hand, causing his blind fold to slip off... A part of him wished it hadn't, because before him was neither of those women, but rather, the one who'd tried to eat him, the one who's organs he held inside himself... Rize Kamishiro...
Day 7
Jason had left once again, and Kaneki had begun to notice something that he should've noticed before... his regeneration was accelerating... at first it would take him a full day to regrow a toe, finger, what have you. Now it only took half the time... Speaking of time he'd begun to lose track of it, some times his consciousness was in that blank, white space with only Rize in front of him, others he was back in reality, being tortured.
His time spent with Rize was a blessing rather than a curse, she wasn't torturing him, no, she told him over and over and over and over and over and over to: 'give in'. She didn't specify what, she just said it, as if he should know what she was talking about... but then, he didn't ask, as he didn't want to know what she was talking about, he just wanted to get out of here, but he knew the chances of that were low... He just wanted to see Eto, Touka, Hinami, Enji, Kaya, and Yoshimura again... but if that wasn't a possibility he wanted to die.
Now, he was once again in that room, the white one that glowed with such brilliance that it almost blinded him, and all he saw was Rize, she was still saying the same thing. She'd been saying it so much that he almost forgot her name was Rize and instead thought it was 'Give in'. Kaneki had finally had enough of it she'd been saying it for 2 day's now, and God was he sick of it... He wanted her to say something else, anything, that she was going to kill him, that she was still alive that she was a ghost, any fucking thing but: 'give in...'
"Give... in... to what?" he groaned out, lowly, almost inaudibly. He wanted to scream it at her, but he didn't have the strength, his voice was soar from screaming in agonizing pain, so it hurt to even speak, however, Rize heard him as low as it was. Then, as if she'd been waiting for this, she'd almost moaned in happiness then, knelt down and gripped his face hard. "Ahhhh... so you can speak... huh?"
Kaneki remained silent, then noticed that a new white speck, that nearly clouded his vision, replace a black one. "Oh my, you're hair... it's gotten so white..." she commented, placing a single finger to a full bottom lip. "It used to be completely black... I guess it's symbolic..."
"What's... symbolic?" Kaneki inquired, panting due to pain.
Rize didn't answer his question, either of them, instead she simply shifted her body to his left and began to whisper in his ear. "You want it to end, right, Ken?" she asked, almost as if she was trying to seduce him, "Then why do you not retaliate? Hmmmm?" she asked, as she began to stand, and lean on his shoulder.
"My mother... always told me it is better to be the one getting hurt... rather than to be the one hurting others..." He smiled then, almost forgetting Rize was next to him, remembering his mother. How kind she was to everyone, how much she loved him, how she never showed a hint of exhaustion, nor a hint of anger, not even when Kaneki misbehaved, not when... that woman took money from them, and not when his father died... Or atleast he thought, he wasn't old enough to remember.
"'Be the one getting hurt, rather than the one hurting others, huh?'" Rize asked, now sitting, using his legs as a support for her back. It almost sounded like Rize admired her kindness, like it was familiar to her, like she knew someone who was like that... However, then she added; "How selfish of her..." Kaneki was surprised, intrigued, and pissed all at the same time.
"What did you say?" He asked, venom, dripping from his voice as his eye's shifted down to her.
She smiled and sighed in somewhat of annoyance, "I said that you're mother is selfish... That's what a coward who let's others walk all over them say... That's weakness... You simply idolized her because... she was all you had, right? Well, she's gone now, because she was a coward."
"You... Shut the fuck up..." Kaneki responded, now livid at her..."
"I'm sorry, Ken, but that's how it was..." She replied, standing up and taking his head in her hands, pinching his cheeks, "Let's take a look shall we..?"
Suddenly, quickly the room around them shifted and they found themselves in a hallway... Kaneki and his mothers old apartment... In front of them was a small boy with black hair, a woman with just as black hair, and another woman who had longer brown hair, arms folded under her breasts, and a single hand extended outwards expecting something.
"Do you remember this?" Rize asked as she walked closer to the young boy.
"That's me... My mother... and... my aunt..."
Rize looked down at the boy, who now had a curious expression on his round, red face. "This was you as a child?" She asked looking back to examine him... "You look exactly the same."
"I remember this..." He said, hauntingly, "This happened every month or so, my aunt would come and ask my mother for money... It was always so taxing on us... I remember when we couldn't even afford water at one point... so we had to use a neighbors house for showers in the morning... She was always working... never stopping, but still she always smiled..." Kaneki chuckled, as Rize returned to his side.
"Then what happened?" She asked, resting a head on his shoulder boredly...
"Then... she died..." The room suddenly changed, it was now an empty church-like building, only a few people in it... and now, the same young Kaneki was there, standing at the casket crying. "I was so young... but I remember it vividly... The smell of her dead body, the way a handkerchief was gently laid on her face... the way that I wanted to shake her to wake her up."
"And do you know why she died, Kaneki?" Rize asked.
"She... overworked herself..."
"Oh come now, you know why, because I know why, I am after all a figment of you're own damaged psyche, I'm you... but I'll tell you anyway..." She said as Kaneki found himself, unshackled, back on the chair.
"It's because your mother was weak... Too weak to say no, too weak to fight back, and too weak to handle the stress of her life and raising you... she was selfish... so she gave up... You know it and I know it..."
Kaneki was shaking now, not in rage but rather... he was crying. "Why mother?" he asked no one, "Why did you leave me all alone?"
Rize chuckled. "So you accept that your mother was selfish?"
"...Yes..."
"And that you were her burden?"
"Yes..."
"And that you would have gladly watched your aunt die if it meant seeing your mother live and stay with you?"
"YES!"
Kaneki then found himself straddling Rize, tears overflowing in his eye's. The flowers that laid upon the ground, quickly unraveled and grew red, the blood red that he'd been seeing so much of lately. She looked at him, almost aroused at the sudden overtaking as she smiled and her eye's grew red. "So you've decided to accept me?" She asked, panting.
"If I don't then I'm no better than my mother or my aunt... I'll kill anyone who get's in the way of the peace in my life..."
"Hmmmm, that's better..." She said grinning, "Now remember too eat EEEEEVERY bite."
Then, without hesitating, Kaneki tore into her, ripping her flesh and tearing out her meat... She tasted like... like nothing... Like she was just empty, no blood, nothing. And, as he kept tearing into her, his last strand of black hair, turned white...
I am a Ghoul...