20th Ward, Emily's Apartment, 4:15pm
Emily met Renji's clear grey eyes, he had warned her that Ayato was trouble and to stay as far away from him as possible. After everything that had happened with Kaneki and Touka, it would take more than a declaration of love to convince him that Ayato meant every word he said. She was positive Kaneki had told both him and Uta what had transpired between himself and Ayato during their attempted rescue mission, but she knew as far as Renji was concerned, one act of kindness wasn't enough to make up for all the shit he'd done.
"I don't like it, and I don't trust you." Renji said, his eyes flicking back to Ayato, "If Emily gets hurt, if one hair on her head is harmed, I will kill you, do you understand?"
"I do." Ayato replied just as confidently, "But if that ever happens, you can be damn sure I'm already dead."
"Wait...wait..." Isao muttered before clearing his hoarse throat and climbing up onto the couch, he seemed much more functional than before, his dark eyes shifted to Emily, "What about my brother?"
She sighed and knotted her fingers together between her knees, "I wanted to tell you when you were feeling better, but since it's already been brought up I guess I don't really have a choice. I'm ending things with Toshio..."
Isao frowned and pointed to Ayato, "Because of him?"
"Partially." she admitted honestly, "But Ayato's not the whole reason. You should understand now that being involved with Toshio is dangerous, it was selfish and something I never should have done. I guess I never really thought that Aogiri would ever go this far just to get a foothold within the 20th, but here we are. I can't put him or Chloe in any more danger than I already have. They have Akihiro, they could have your father... I won't risk anyone else's lives."
"They don't have Dad..." Isao said, lowering his head once again, "I've known all along what happened to him, I just couldn't bare to tell my mother or Toshi...not after the shit they went through." He looked up again but didn't really see anyone, "Hamada Masanori is dead."
"They never found a body." Renji said stoically, "How can you be sure?"
"Because I saw it. It was the last thing I saw before I woke up in hospital. I was outta my depth with a prisoner - Sachi. He knocked me around pretty good, so Aki tried to help but even together, we were no match for him. After almost killing Aki, and with me bleeding out and dying, he just walked right on out. An Aogiri member came next and I thought this was when we were really going to die, but Dad saved us. He died trying to protect us. The last thing I saw was his lifeless eyes staring at me."
"Isao..." Emily whispered though she knew words wouldn't be enough to comfort him. He stood shakily and kept his gaze lowered.
"I just need to be alone right now." he said and made for the spare bedroom, "Thanks for bring the, uh, food."
Emily watched as his tall, lanky form disappeared down the hall. No one spoke until the soft thud of the door echoed throughout the apartment.
"Do you know who did it?" Emily asked Ayato, his blue eyes slid to her face.
"So what? I can kill them and avenge his father?" he asked sarcastically, "He was a Dove, why should I do anything about it? They kill us everyday."
"I know..." she said, and she did know for a fact Hamada Masanori had killed hundreds of Ghouls throughout his long career, as had his sons, but it still stung.
"It's harder when it's someone you know." Renji said softly, shooting Emily a sympathetic gaze.
"Look, don't take my impassiveness as uncaring." Ayato said moving from the arm of the chair to the couch, "You knew him, you're dating his son - as much as I don't like that fact - I get it. But don't forget, we're enemies. Doves have killed guys I know too, they killed your father, they almost killed me a few times, that doesn't mean I'm going to go on a man hunt every time someone I know gets killed. If I did that, I would have been dead years ago."
Emily raised her eyebrow at him. "Okay, if they tried to kill me I'd probably go after them, I'll take that." he admitted with raised hands, "My point still stands. I don't like any of the Aogiri guys any more than you do, that doesn't mean I'm gonna go all out on a guy for doing what I do."
Emily pulled her legs underneath her and shifted in her seat, Blue Lotus had always been neutral in the affairs of humans and Ghouls, always. They valued life over everything else and would try to protect that life, be it human or Ghoul. Ayato didn't understand that, he was a violent, angry storm and hated humanity. Majority of humans felt the same towards Ghouls for using them as meat. Emily had been raised to not be prejudice, and though she knew that both sides would always have causalities, it was hard to stay neutral.
"I can't guarantee anything," Renji said breaking the silence, "But I'll look into it. Although I agree with Ayato that one less Dove in the world benefits our kind, I also believe both you and Isao deserve closure on the matter."
"Don't do anything dangerous, Renji." Emily cautioned him earning a gentle smile from the otherwise stoic man,
"Naturally." he said and stood, "I have to go. We'll be in touch." After giving Ayato and Hiko one last stern glare, he left.
5pm
Renji left Emily in the hands of Aogiri once again, praying that Ayato would honor his word and keep her safe. God help him if he couldn't. As he was descending the stairs that led to Emily's floor, he caught sight of a shadowy being in an ally across the road. The shadow gave off no scent, no signal that he was a threat but simply turned and disappeared into the dying light. Renji followed and stood in the open walk way, there was no point in looking for him if he didn't want to be seen.
"So?" the ethereal voice asked him from somewhere out of sight.
"It's as we already knew." Renji answered, his hands finding the pockets of his long, grey coat. The owner of the voice appeared, a scarf wrapped tightly around the lower half of his face.
"And the half-breed?" he asked, his deep voice muffled by the fabric.
"Not a threat." Renji replied with a glace towards Emily's apartment.
"Good." his contact replied, turning on his heel and walking away.
"Wait," Renji called, "Aren't you going to stop it?"
"Why?" he the retreating figure asked as he walked, "Nothing has changed."
Renji watched in quiet shock as the man disappeared from view again. What did he mean nothing had changed? Everything had changed. Aogiri was interfering too much, Emily was in too deep and the CCG activity had been increased dramatically. Doves were starting to sniff around the 20th Ward and if they caught the scent, the entire plan would be lost. Years of work ruined. And he didn't care?
Sighing deeply and deciding that anything he could possibly say was pointless since he always did what he wanted anyway, Renji turned back to his car and drove home. Emily had promised to see Uta soon so there was no point in calling him to let him know she was home safe. He would, after all, hear everything Renji had, that is if he didn't already know.
8:30pm
The apartment was quiet as Emily made her way to her bedroom. Ayato had gone out and hadn't mentioned when he would be back, Hiko was lying on the couch staring at the muted TV without actually watching anything; he'd barely spoken a word since they'd arrived back, and Isao was still in the second spare room. She knocked twice on the door before entering. He was lying on his side, clutching a pillow to his chest absently and staring at the wall.
"Hey," she said moving to sit at the end on the bed.
"Hey, Em." he replied distantly and made no indication to sit up. They sat in silence for a while afterwards, Emily wasn't sure whether she should just leave Isao to his thoughts and go to bed or just stay with him. Eventually, he made her decision for her when he spoke again.
"You okay?" he asked, his dark eyes sliding to her face. Emily blinked at him,
"Me?"
"Yeah." he said, propping himself up on one elbow, "This must be hard for you too, right?" She frowned at her hands in her lap,
"I guess so. Your father was always kind to me..."
"True, but that's not what I meant." Isao said making her look over at him again, "What I was talking about was having people you know dying around you, unable to stop any of it. This war between humans and Ghouls is...Well it creates more victims than it saves."
Emily stayed quiet, unsure of what to say. Isao was right of course, there were victims on both sides - human families who wake up one day to discover they're one less person short because they walked into the wrong territory, or were killed in the line of work, and people like Ayato and Touka who struggled all their lives to hide who they were just to have it taken away from them in a second.
"I guess I never really saw that." Isao continued quietly, "I always thought what we, the CCG, were doing was righteous. We were avenging those who'd become meals. But now," He touched his right eye gingerly, like he believed it would consume him, "Since becoming this, I'm starting to see the world differently. Right and wrong is meaningless, humans and Ghouls are as bad as each other. Guess you already knew that though, hey?"
"There are some good people out there too, human and Ghoul." she said reaching for his hand, "Ghouls who don't want to hurt humans."
"Like your friend out there?" he asked with a skeptical arched brow, "Right..." Emily gave him a half smile,
"No, Ayato is...Well he's going through a sort of metamorphosis right now, he's not who I was talking about. There's a group of them I know, Renji - the tall guy who was here this afternoon - he's one of them. He looks scary but he's kind of a pacifist, usually. He works for a kind of organization, not like Aogiri, but a group who only wishes to co-exist peacefully with humans. And there's another like you."
"I remember you telling me that." he said, "You know, before you fell off the face of the earth for a month." Emily grinned at him, he was sounding like his usual self again.
"Well if you feel up to it, I have to go see a family friend who's aparently been going out of his mind tomorrow, do you want to come? We can see Kaneki afterwards." she asked. Isao sat up properly and arched his eyebrow again,
"Are you sure?" he asked cautiously. Emily nodded and took both of his hands in hers, giving them a light squeeze, "Yeah. Don't worry, he only wants to kill Ayato so you're perfectly safe."
"Seems your new boyfriend is making a lot of enemies." he joked. Emily sighed,
"Oh, you have no idea."
Outside HySy, 4th Ward, 10:00am
Emily stood with Hiko and Isao outside of Uta's mask shop. The night before she'd asked if Isao wanted to tag along when she faced the oncoming storm that was no doubt awaiting her inside, he'd agreed but now as they stood in the small ally way, he was starting to reconsider.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, I mean, this guy is a Ghoul right? There's a chance I could have tried to kill him before." Isao whispered, his eye darting in every direction but hers.
"It'll be fine." she assured him, "Besides, even if you two do have a past, he wouldn't try anything with me there."
"Unless I was Ayato, right?"
"Right." Emily agreed elbowing Isao lightly in the side, "You going to wait out here, Hiko-san?" Hiko nodded and promptly leaned against he art studio wall. Taking Isao's hand, she led him into the dimly lit shop front.
Like usual, Uta was no where to be found and she wondered whether he was asleep. She hadn't exactly told him she was going to visit him, she just figured Renji would mention it.
"What is this place?" Isao asked as he left Emily's side to take a closer look at the wall full of various masks.
"What does it look like?" she replied light heartedly, "It's a mask shop."
"Emily?"
Emily turned around at the sound of her name and smiled. Uta had slid out from the back room and was now staring at her with his wide owlish eyes. He wore black and white striped pants and a black singlet with things you'd find on a Ouija board printed in white on it. His hair was out of it's regular short ponytail and he wore a beanie and thick rimmed glasses.
"Do you know how fucking worried I've been?!" He demanded standing from his stool with such force it flew backwards and slammed into the wall behind him.
"I know..." she said but whatever she'd planned to say next was cut off by his lanky frame engulfing her in a warm, tight hug.
"Don't ever scare me like that again." he spoke into her hair, "I nearly tore Tokyo in half looking for you."
"I'm sorry, Nii-san." she mumbled into his chest. She only ever called Uta and Renji that when she really wanted something, or in rare, sweet moments like this.
"I know, I know." he said smoothing her long hair, "It was out of your control. I was just scared I was going to lose you." She smiled, Uta rarely ever spoke about what he was feeling and if he did, he'd make a joke about it. Her kidnapping must have really shaken him up.
Uta cleared his throat and released her, suddenly realizing that there was another person in the room. Isao was standing awkwardly to the side, desperately trying to melt away into the shadows but Uta's red gaze found him easily.
"Friend of yours?" he asked curiously, slipping back into his aloof demeanour.
"Uh, yeah." Emily replied motioning for Isao to come closer into the light. She glanced up at Uta wondering what his expression would be. His quick frown lasted a fraction of a second before he was wearing his usual vague mask.
"I know you." he said softly, "You work for the CCG." Uta's gaze dropped to Emily again, "Why'd you bring him here?"
"Um," Isao said speaking up at last, "Worked. I'm kinda not with them anymore..." He moved closer to where Emily and Uta stood and lifted the eye patch he was wearing over his right eye, revealing his singular kakugan. "See?"
"Well this is a surprise." Uta said, leaning forward to get a better look, "Another Kaneki, huh? Good thing you found Emily." Uta looked back down to Emily, "Did you take him to the old man yet?"
"Not yet. I only just got back home like a day ago."
"A day?" Uta gasped with mock hurt, "It took you a day to come and see me?"
"Do you wanna know what's going on or not?" she pouted and folded her arms. Uta's slender arm found it's way around her shoulders,
"Kaneki told us what happened between him and Kirishima, but aside from telling us you wanted to stay with the brat, he was pretty vague on the details." Uta said as the three of them headed towards the back room where Uta worked all of his magic.
"Not that you had any problem getting information though, right?" Emily teased although she knew Uta's reach stretched further than she was supposed to know. He half smiled at her,
"So you're with Aogiri now?" he said leaning against the work bench, "Because they no doubt threatened to kill everyone, so you really had no choice."
"Basically." she replied with a shrug.
Uta sighed, "I figured as much. So I guess you'll also be wanting my services for your friend here too, right?"
Emily gave him a wide, pleading smile and batted her eyelashes at him, "Yes please." Uta spun on his stool and started clearing various sketch pads off a plain black box,
"Alright, on the condition you start wearing this when you're out with Ayato." he said handing the box to her. Emily pursed her lips, she'd always been against the idea of wearing a mask since she believed there was no reason to hide her identity from the CCG and general public. But Uta had gone to a lot of trouble to make it for her, and now that she was associated with Aogiri whether she liked it or not, a mask was probably a great idea. Carefully opening the lid, she dug through the purple, black and red tissue paper and pulled out the mask Uta had crafted. It was a beautiful broken porcelain doll.
"Well?" Uta asked leaning forward expectantly, "Put it on." She did as she was told; the mask fit her face perfectly and without the need for any kind of straps. She was worried it would fall off, but Uta assured her it wouldn't. And even if it did, it wouldn't break.
"I was going to give it to you sooner but..."
"I went missing." Emily finished for him, "It's stunning, I love it." What she didn't say was how grateful she was that he saw past her own two masks and still saw who she really was. It was like she'd found a pillar, connecting her to her real self again. A self she'd tried to smother with fake smiles.
Uta fell silent, Emily assumed he was quietly handling the anger building up inside of him, and Isao shifted uncomfortably on the edge of Uta's bed. It was a touchy subject for both of them; Uta having feared for her life and Isao repressing memories of what the violent Ghoul organization did to him and his family. Emily realized then that she should have felt something, anything, towards it as well. But she didn't. It had brought her closer to the guy she loved even if had destroyed people she cared about. In a twisted way, Aogiri had been a good thing for her. She knew she was stupid for thinking such a thing, but that's how it was. She still hated them, or rather Tatara, but not because of what they did to her.
"So," Uta said swiveling around to face Isao, "Let's get your measurements and specifications done."
Emily's Apartment, 20th Ward, 9:00am
"I still don't feel comfortable letting you go alone." Ayato muttered again as he lay stretched out on Emily's bed while she fixed her hair in the bathroom.
"I told you before," she said, poking her head out from behind the wall, "Uta will kill you if he sees you. I'm surprised Renji didn't attack you the moment he saw you."
"Yeah well, Yomo is..." Ayato thought about his next words, wondering whether he should say what was on his mind or not, but decided that Emily didn't necessarily have to know about that right now, "Yomo is Yomo."
"Reasonable?" Emily supplied poking her tongue out at him. Ayato sat up and blew several strands of messy hair out of his face, "Yeah, let's go with that. Look, I know I don't know Uta like you do, but do you really believe he'd just straight up try and kill me?"
"Yes." her instant reply made him scowl, it felt as though she was underestimating his abilities and overestimating Uta's, "Don't make that face. Uta's stronger than he looks. He was the boss of the 4th ward when he was younger than us."
"Shit...really?" Ayato asked trying to keep his surprise under control, "I never knew that."
"Not surprising. He doesn't talk about his past much, and Renji barely talks at all." she shrugged and disappeared back into the bathroom. Ayato fell back against her pillows and pouted,
"Sure talked enough yesterday." he grumbled remembering the lecture the older male had given him, "Fine, if you're so intent on making me stay out of it, at least take Hiko with you."
"Actually," Emily said leaving the bathroom, her hair tied in a messy bun on the top of her head, and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder, "I wanted to ask you about Hiko yesterday. Who's side is he really on?"
Ayato's gaze slid over to her and he arched an eyebrow, "Why? Thinking of converting him to you pacifist ways are you?"
She giggled, "No. It's just that he didn't seem to react at all to what you said about deceiving Tatara."
"To be honest, I wasn't totally sure about it myself." he admitted resting his hand behind his head and letting his free arm drape around Emily's shoulders, "But as it turns out, Hiko's loyal to me. Well, sort of. I cornered him last night when I got back, totally intent on beating him senseless as a warning to not go running to Aogiri about my ulterior motives, but he really didn't seem to care what I did." What actually happened wasn't exactly like Ayato had described, sure he had been willing to kill Hiko if he posed a threat - as much as he would have disliked it - but Hiko had assured him he had no plans on telling Tatara and the others anything. As far as he was concerned, Ayato was his best chance at getting his own revenge. Hiko would follow him unquestioningly so long as Ayato didn't get in his way when the time came. But Emily didn't need to know that.
"That's not really convincing." she said, "But I guess in the Ghoul world that's as good as anything."
"Exactly. Besides, I don't think he'd do anything to endanger you which is partially why I trust him so much. Taka and Jun...well not so much. They're Tatara's men."
"Even after he nearly killed Jun?" she asked, sitting up to look at him with wide eyes, "That's fucked."
"That's Ghouls, babe." Ayato grinned, "He who holds the power, holds the people."
"Poetic." she teased and stood up, much to Ayato's annoyance, "Fine. I'll drag Hiko along. Happy?"
"No." he grinned, "But I'll take the win." Emily rolled her eyes and tossed a panda toy at his face. Ayato let it hit him and then hugged it to his chest,
"You're so violent." he smirked, "It's hot."
"Get out." she joked, throwing another toy at him, "Don't you have some Ghoul things you have to do?"
"Nope." he said, "Since you're not letting me go with you. You gonna see Hamada afterwards?" Emily's smile dropped at the mention of her technical-boyfriend's name. Ayato hated talking about him but the sooner she broke up with him, the better in the long run. He would be safe from Aogiri, hypothetically, and Ayato wouldn't have to worry about getting pissed off and kill him. Win/win in his opinion, though the latter would make him more happy.
"I'm not sure. I wanted to take Isao to see Yoshimura and Kaneki today as well, that's the whole reason I asked if he wanted to come to Uta's. I don't really think he'd be up to paying his little brother a visit as well." she said although it just sounded like a bunch of convenient excuses to him. Still, she'd probably shut him out completely if he pressed the issue further. He was just going to have to put up with the guy a little bit longer.
"Alright." he conceded as he stood, "You should get going if you wanna catch the train."
"You'll be okay here on your own?" she asked taking his hand in hers. Ayato scoffed,
"You left me alone all the time when I stayed here. Besides, what trouble could I possibly cause?"
"Don't even get me started." she said elbowing him in the ribs lightly. He shoved her forward gently with his arm, "Hurry up and go already."
Emily laughed, put her shoes on and grabbed Hiko and Isao before saying goodbye and leaving for the train station. Once again, Ayato was left alone in her apartment. For a long time he just stood in the middle of room; how long had it been since he'd been there? The apartment itself hadn't changed in the year he'd been gone, the hole he'd put in the wall had been filled in and painted over and she'd gotten a new couch set but that was it. Everywhere he went, he was enveloped in her scent, her watermelon soap and just Emily. He pitied humans and their weak sense of smell. Toshio would never smell this. Yet another thing he had over the guy. Smiling smugly to himself, Ayato flopped down on the couch and turned the TV on. He had just found something remotely interesting when the doorbell rang. He groaned and sat up, walking slowly over to it. As he reached for the door handle, the smell of Ghoul hit his senses. Shit, was it someone from Aogiri checking up on him?
"Ayato? It's Hikari, can you open the door please?"
His shoulders dropped as he let out a sigh of relief and opened the door for her. Hikari looked terrible, she had bandages covering most of her body and her hair had been cut haphazardly short.
"What's wrong?" he asked immediately sensing danger as he quickly pulled her inside.
"I can't stay long. I shouldn't even be here." she said softly, "But I had to...I had to tell her."
"Her? You mean Emily?" Ayato asked folding his arms and leaning against the closed door, "She's just gone out."
Hikari deflated in front of him, "I was afraid of that. Look, when she gets back can you tell her something for me?"
"Why not just stay here and tell her yourself? I'm not a messenger, you know."
"I can't. I already told you I shouldn't be here in the first place." she argued, stuffing her hands into the over sized dirty trench coat she wore, "Just please, do this for me? I don't think I'll get another chance to tell her myself."
"What are you talking about?" he asked pushing off the door and gripping her shoulders, "Tell me what's going on."
"I don't want you involved." she admitted, her eyes lowering from his face, "I can handle it on my own. But please, just give Emily this," Hikari held out a folded piece of paper to him, "And tell her...Tell her thank you. For being my friend despite what I am..."
"Hikari-" the older woman broke free of his hold and was out the door before Ayato could even try to stop her. Had she always been that fast? He looked down at the paper in his hand, wondering when he'd taken it from her, and then back to the door. Should he go after her? No. Even if he did, he'd have no idea which direction she went.
But it was blindingly obvious that she was in some sort of trouble - from the look of her, he'd say that trouble came in the form of a tall sadist with crimson eyes.
Once again his attention was drawn to the note, he opened it expecting to find a letter of sorts but what was written on there was hastily printed numbers. A phone number? An address? He wasn't sure. So he did the only thing he could do - searched the internet.
If Hikari was intent on not giving him a single piece of clarification that he could pass onto Emily, he would have to figure it out himself. Locking himself in Emily's bedroom with a cup of coffee, he quickly started typing the numbers into the search engine. Nothing.
Perhaps he'd entered them wrong. He typed the numbers again, this time with hyphens between some of them. He tried different sequences, typing them in two or three at a time - an hour passed and he'd made no progress.
Sighing and reaching for his cup he went to take a sip, only to find it was empty. Suppressing a groan, he pushed Emily's laptop off his lap and went to the kitchen to make more coffee. While waiting for the hot water to boil, he leaned against the bench and thought about what he was doing wrong. Perhaps it was something between Hikari and Emily and the numbers didn't actually mean anything specific?
His eyes landed on the phone book hidden beneath opened letters on the opposite side of the kitchen. Area codes. Why hadn't he thought of that before.
Forgetting his coffee, he ran back to Emily's bed room and typed in the first seven numbers. Sure enough the 21st Ward came up. Next he typed the rest as if it were an address. At the top of the list of pages that came up was an old, abandoned house that had been commissioned for demolition in two weeks time.
Now he knew what the numbers were, his next question was what was in that house?
Hey guys, sorry about the long wait for this. I've been busy playing around with a few new fic ideas.
Firstly - a sequel, in a sense, to this. Set around the time :re takes place but instead of just purely TG I was considering doing a cross over with Parasyte.
Secondly - for those who don't know already, I'm also working on a fic for SnK (Attack on Titan) and have been thinking about a modern day war of the world-esque AU. Aliens referred to as Titans instead of the traditional giant humanoid creatures, and naturally the Survey Corps, etc, would just be normal soldiers/pilots/navy men in the war against an invading alien armada thing. Haven't really worked out all the details yet, but yeah.
Anyway, thank you again for all the followers, favouriters and reviewers (please don't hesitate to let me know your thoughts). Also, if you have any questions, fan art, collabs in mind or just generally wanna talk, I love, love, love getting messages so don't think you're bothering me ^^ Love.