My chapters got all kinds of screwed up, with the story rewrites I've been doing. I know that some of you are confused about the number of Sasaki look alikes, there is a reason for it don't worry. To make things still work I'm going to have this chapter set with flashbacks and Sasaki's mental anguish. Hopefully he'll puzzle some things out.

Chapter 11: What Makes Us Human, Ein Liebhaber Ist Ein Kämpfer.

Sasaki's fingers traced the wall. He stumbled through the darkness, unable to see. Everything blurred and twisted. His own form was horribly disfigured, kagune dragging over the ground, a fleshy mask covered his face. The smells that creeped through this place were awful yet alluring, blood and raw flesh, images of a flowerfield danced behind his eyes. He was in pain but he didn't feel anything anymore. He couldn't.

"Hey!" it was a familiar voice that called to him, "Kaneki! Wait up!"

The him that was not him froze in place, fear, regret, sorrow, all piled up in his heart and threatened to choke him. "H-Hide?"

"Who else would it be dummy?" A boy of nineteen with soft golden brown hair that darkened at the root pranced up next to him. The darkness was banished with the youth's smile. Everything was warm suddenly. Vibrant plant life and blinding sunlight streamed into the world. So why was Sasaki crying?

"I'm so sorry," was all he could manage.

The shining boy gave him and sad smile, pulling the half ghoul close. "Hey," he whispered, "I might not get the chance to say this to you later, but… I forgive you, for everything, alright? So don't cry anymore, Kaneki."

Sasaki couldn't understand it. The world didn't make any sense. Who was this that held him? How could he forgive so easily? "But, I killed you… why?"

"Ah~? So that's what you're crying about!" He really did sound like an idiot, but his eyes were so sharp they could peirce glass. "Ba~ka." He playfully chopped Sasaki on the head.

The warped flesh that clung to him shattered and fell away. Sasaki was himself again. No that wasn't right, he was still Kaneki Ken, but before the madness, before the pain. He looked down at his hands in wonderment. He is so much like me. Kaneki Ken. How is it that I never noticed before?

"Your cooperation isn't necessary for your participation." Eyepatch was standing behind them. The world at the ghouls back was tinted red. "It is in your nature."

"My nature?"

The ghoul turned his back and walked into oblivion.

Hide tugged on Sasaki's arm, "Hey, do you… remember me?" He seemed crestfallen when the half ghoul shook his head. "I see." A fire blazed in his brown eyes. "Oi, Kaneki, look after me okay, I'm not exactly myself anymore."

"What do you mean?" But Hide was already gone and Sasaki was alone. He looked around the little space he had. The grass beneath his feet smelled rich and the sky was an impossibly vivid blue. Just beyond the circle of peace, of himself, was nothing but a cold, empty blackness.

"Keep moving," a voice in his head whispered, "you can't stop yet. There is more to see."

"Who's there!" his voice carried into the emptiness, its' echo the only respondent. Begrudgingly Sasaki continued his march back into nothingness.

An apartment sprung into being. It smelled of camomiles. A little boy with black hair and stormy grey eyes ran right through him, "Mama, I'm home!" The little boy was Kaneki.

A panic ran through his as Sasaki tried to reach out for the child. This was the day when his mother philosophy would show its' true effects. No one, no matter how kind, could ever give enough for everyone else to be happy. "Don't go in there!" he shouted desperately, but it was too late. The little boy's school books dropped to the floor.

"Mama?" The boy's voice was weak. He rushed to her side. Kaneki's mother, Sasaki's mother, was slumped over her work, unmoving, and deathly pale.

The investigator squeezed his eyes shut and looked away. "Don't make me watch this, please! I don't want to know!"

"You and I both know that's a lie. You've been searching for this in secret haven't you? Looking at old case files. Trying to figure out how to spell your old name. You want to know but you're afraid of change."

"What are you?" Looking around he saw a mirror in the hall; the world shifted around that mirror.

Kaneki was older now. The appartment was different, whether age or location, Sasaki didn't know. The boy was closer to being a man, about as old as Hide had been. He was staring in horror at his own reflection. "No… No… no no no!" One of his eyes was a kakugan. This was when it happened. He had become a ghoul. A bent knife was discarded on the floor, the refrigerator was emptied and all the food, partially eaten and cast aside. Coffee was the only thing a ghoul could have that wasn't flesh. This was the night that truth was discovered as well.

Sasaki was surprised when the young man slammed his fist into the glass, shattering his reflection before curling into a ball on the ground, sobbing. The investigator looked down on his past life with sad eyes. "How much suffering did you go through, Kaneki Ken?" He closed his eyes and the world faded away again.

*POV

Urie groaned. Every inch of his body ached with abuse. The cuts had started shallow but grew progressively deeper with each pass of the she-ghoul's rinkaku. He had quickly learned the best way to avoid more pain was to stay loose. Her needle-like scales passed through his muscles like a knife through butter. His throat was sore from screaming.

"Hmm? Done already?" she purred in his ear. "What a pity."

His world spun away as she left, the bloodloss already affecting him. Urie's mind staggered on, trying to claim an anchor to keep him sane. 993, 986, 979, 972, 966, 959, 952, 946, 933… No, that's not right… Where did I make a mistake? 1000-7 is 993, 986, 979, 972, 965, 958, 951… He growled in disgust. What am I doing? I should be figuring out a way to escape, not meekly accepting this! His eyes scanned the darkness, the room's red tinted walls seemed to close in around him. Unlike most constructions Urie had seen this room was octagonal and seemed just for the purpose of holding someone for interrogation, torture, or both. As far as could be seen there was no door or archway to speak of…

Urie didn't know when he had fallen asleep but he was violently roused with a slap across of his face. Omega stood over him with a devious smile. "Are we feeling better, Urie?" She giggled when he fixed his glare on her, "I'm sorry, Are we feeling better, officer?" The black hair ghoul leaned forward, exposing her chest as she laughed.

"... "

She straightened up and sighed, "I thought we were closer than that now." A cruel smile touched her lips, "Your body didn't seem to disagree." Her fingers teased up his inner left leg.

His jaw tightened as he recalled their previous "session" drawing his mind into the length of his stay. How long had he been here? With accelerated healing he couldn't use his wounds to tell time anymore. The cell he was in, Omega's playroom, had no windows and the above light was constant, so light was out for telling time. It had to have been a while, the cuts were slowly becoming more standard for him, the pain less… dreadful. He had started enjoying it and that disturbed Urie to no end. The doubts were interrupted by a new type of pain. It made what he experienced before seem gentle.

Omega's rinkaku had the unique ability to split and branch. Before she would slice through him cleanly but now, the eight limbs stabbed down into his torso and ripped through his abdomen, avoiding vital organs, and twisting, oh gods the twisting! It was like a million needle-sharp drills eviscerating him. He was screaming, blood dripping out of his mouth. How was it possible to feel this much pain!

"You sing so beautifully!" Omega shouted over him, "I want to hear more!" It wasn't just his core anymore, the rinkaku dug through his waist into his upper thighs and surged up around his shoulders. He could see the dark red appendages through his skin, criss crossing and connecting and splitting again. For just a second Urie thought he was going to pass out. Omega had stopped moving her rinkaku. With every heaving breath he could feel it constricting his lungs. It still hurt but he could finally stop screaming, instead gulping in fresh air, trying to cool his enflamed flesh.

Omega hummed slightly and bounced a bit with glee. "Are you ready then? Caught your breath?" She swiped a finger over a thin track of blood dripping down his side. There was no way to hide his horror. Urie's heart fluttered in fear and anticipation. "Go!" she said suddenly. All of the needle points angled suddenly and ripped through his skin. His voice cracked and strained under the sudden renewed agony. Long dark red spikes, slicked in his own blood impaled him from the inside out, repeatedly. Tears boiled from his eyes. After ten heartbeats, Omega snapped the rinkaku off and it began to dissolve into his flesh, his body absorbing the rc cells and using them to repair the damage.

"Ready for round two, Urie?"

*POV

Sasaki stumbled into open air. The city of Tokyo surrounded him, her familiar scent, saltwater covered by the bustle of traffic and the press of people. How long had he been down there? A couple hours? Certainly no more than a day. There was still a pain behind his eyes and had he not become accustomed to pain it would have been crippling.

He paused to consider this. When had he ever become "accustomed" to pain? What were the circumstances? Sasaki shook his head and slipped the burn phone into his suit pocket. The edges of the red tile dug into his palm when he clenched a fist. The investigator had honestly forgotten he had the domino and began to examine it. The one Kotoro Aya had received was also red. There were, however, three documented colors, red, black, and white. Did the color have something to do with the person receiving it? Maybe it was different for each person, but why only three distinct colors? Kotoro-san was human but the organization knew about his past life as a ghoul so that couldn't be the connection. Perhaps residency? Lover's would be victim was a student at the Rising Sun Academy, not five blocks from the CCG HQ. But the school was still technically part of a different ward, so unless they divided Tokyo in a different manner that wasn't the reason either.

It bothered him deeply that he didn't remember the domino tile, nor the walk to...wherever he was. Judging by the ache in his skull he had another episode. He clutched his head as another spasm rocked through him. Sasaki dropped to his knees with a strangled snarl, but unlike every other time, he was still himself, functioning normally through the pain. The demon in his mind was quiet. The bout soon subsided and he gulped fresh air. His face was reflected in a pool of rainwater he hadn't noticed before. He was staring at his kakugan eye. The senior investigator swore he heard a click when everything just fell into place. "The truth that only a ghoul can see," he muttered under his breath, holding the tile up to his face. The familiar features of a kakugan stared back at him.

Inside the black pupil of the domino tile Sasaki could just make out something shiny reflecting the slight glow from his ires. An insane and brilliant plan popped into his head. He would have to figure out how to open the tile but there was something physically inside the game piece. "Domino-sama prefers full disclosure, hu? Why do I feel like that's not the whole truth, Eyepatch." Still it was at least a little clever to hide something like this in plane sight. But that cycled him back to previous concerns. Why would Domino send someone to give him a hint. "Who else is solving your puzzle, Domino? Who do you want me to beat?"

A cold washed through his shoulders. Where's Urie?

Knight to C3