Eto looked down at the younger half-ghoul, who was still sleeping.
It hadn't been a casual, offhanded comment when she'd said that sadness just wasn't in her character. It wasn't. Since she'd been abandoned at birth by her father, it simply wasn't an emotion that came to her. She couldn't even feel anything approaching it, except perhaps in relation to Kaneki Ken.
What, she mused, pushed me to save him from the doves that day. Did I pity him because he was an orphan, just like me? Was it empathy? Nonsense. I can't feel empathy any more than sadness. It was because I sensed the potential in him.
She almost felt secure in that assertion when a little voice in her head felt the need to remind her of something. If that's the case, then why did you tell him to go to that place.
She sighed. Perhaps, with just this one person, she cared a little. Perhaps, even though he'd be under the guidance of that man, who'd abandoned her fourteen years before, she felt comforted by the fact that he'd be safe.
Perhaps that was why she was now abandoning him, to go fight the doves. Perhaps, if she could annihilate all of them, if she could use all of her immense power, he'd be safe. Or perhaps she was just attempting to justify her actions.
And, as she took one last look at the dingy cave, hidden deep within the twenty-fourth ward, something seemed to strike Eto. A familiar madness came over her features, and her favourite insane smile settled on her face.
Then, flashing into a sprint and flying through the twenty-fourth ward at breakneck speed, the One Eyed Owl threw her head back and laughed maniacally.
Kenaki brutally snapped out of sleep, his one ghoul eye blazing. Something was wrong, something was off in the small cave he and Eto had been inhabiting for the past while. He sprung up into a crouch and darted his eyes around the room. No one was there… not even Eto.
It was not unusual for Eto to leave before he woke up, sometimes disappearing for several days on end. However, this time, a great sense of unease began to build in the pit of Kaneki's stomach.
Something is wrong, he thought, as he took a deep breath of air through his nose. Something is different this time.
Without a second thought, he broke into a run, flying through the twenty fourth ward in pursuit of the scent.
Kaneki flew out into the open, eyes wildly flashing in every direction. He landed on a nearby building and inhaled the breeze.
I can't find her...
Try as he might, the wind outside had snatched up the path, and Eto was nowhere to be seen.
She's gone...
And no matter how much he wanted to, Kaneki Ken could not hold back his tears.