So...

Trigger Warning! This chapter gets pretty disturbing pretty quickly. If you have issues with stalking, rape, and/or murder, please tread with caution or do not read. It's only a mention and certainly not descriptive, but I think it's pretty creepy personally. I'm not going to spoil it, but there'll be some commentary at the end for those of you who have questions. If this wasn't already the Tokyo Ghoul-verse, I still think I'd have this chapter warrant the M-rating. It was disturbing to me and I was the one who wrote it...

Important: After this chapter, there will be a short hiatus while I go catch up on Tokyo Ghoul. Real life got in the way and I haven't been able to keep up. I think I got halfway through the second season of the anime (I could never figure it out - are they considered two separate shows or are they divided by seasons or is it like Naruto and Naruto Shippuden? I'm watching the anime) before I started writing this fic, and then stuff happened. The hiatus shouldn't be more than a month, honestly - I just have some medical issues and vacation and blah blah blah, you know all that summer crap.

Enjoy!

Asymmetrical

Chapter Five

I am terrified by this dark thing

That sleeps in me;

All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity.

-from "Elm" by Sylvia Plath

The next day at school was the usual humdrum of learning and being alone. I was starting to feel the loss of Ken more acutely now. While I now felt safe that I had a friend in Koutarou, he was an adult in a way that I was not—I was one in spirit, but in body I was four years away from being legal. He had a job and a life and who knew, maybe he had a girlfriend that the anime had never bothered to include? I knew more about him than was warranted given our short history, but as far as really knowing him, we were still strangers. Ken was my closest companion and my beloved brother, and was it so weird that I missed him?

Almost three weeks had passed since Rize's attack. After the near-kidnapping by Ayato and meeting Koutarou and Mado, I had dedicated so much of my time to training that it was fair to say that I had inadvertently battled away any negative feelings pertaining to Ken's situation. However, even though I was training just as hard as before, I was really starting to miss him.

I was alone without him; I had no friends in school due to the fact that I had never attempted to make any. I knew that I was different than them, and not just because I was a half-ghoul. I was far beyond their years mentally and my concerns were not with what the cutest boy in school was doing or what the newest fashion magazines were saying was 'in.' There had been a time for that in my old life, but now, I was too busy working on finding a way to keep myself alive and Ken out of danger to be bothering with such trivialities.

From my seat by the window, I tuned out Mataka-sensei's droning on the English language and stared out the glass pane to the world outside. It was a cloudy day and had been raining on and off since my run before school that morning. Currently, the ground was wet and there were droplets on the window, but the rain was not actually falling. The school courtyard looked drearier than usual and I frowned at it. I hoped it stay this way and not start raining once school got out. I didn't want to walk home in the rain, especially since the weather was dulling my sense of smell and would leave me vulnerable to dangers that I didn't want to deal with.

I turned back to class when I heard Mataka-sensei's tone of voice lift up a tic at the end of her sentence, meaning she had asked a question. I watched her lazily, my eyes drifting to the classmate she called on when he began to answer. I was hardly absorbing a word they said—this was all old news to me. I was no less fluent in English now than I had been when I was first born into this world.

Then, just as I was about to pay attention in English class for the first time in this life, I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my school blazer. It was the second-lowest vibration setting and completely obscured by my hand covering it, so the vibration went unheard by my teacher and schoolmates alike. However, the fact that it was going off was alarming; the only people who had my number and currently in the land of the living were Koutarou and Kanou-sensei, and Koutarou had no reason to contact me and I had never heard from Kanou-sensei outside from email before—he would call if it concerned Ken, certainly, and I had never imagined that he would text me casually in the first place, especially since he would know I was in school.

A small, optimistic part of me said that maybe Koutarou just wanted to chat, but that hardly made any sense.

I covertly slipped it out and under the desk, where I could read the message unseen. When I opened the screen and saw that it was from a number not identified by my phone, I was not surprised. Pretty much anybody who texted me would be an unknown number. Opening the text message, I saw a few short words.

From: 080-3424-8776

To: Kaneki Aiko

Message Body: Come to courtyard

The wording was a little off, but the implication of the message was enough. I knew I certainly wasn't going to do anything without knowing what was going on—I had already learned that lesson. It wasn't one of my classmates because even if one of them had somehow acquired my phone number without my permission, it wasn't them—all of them were present. I double-checked by glancing around the room and was assured that I was correct in this.

However, morbid curiosity wouldn't allow me to just leave well enough alone, so I texted back.

From: Kaneki Aiko

To: 080-3424-8776

Message Body: Who is this?

I looked up for a moment to pretend I was paying attention in case Mataka-sensei looked my way, but the vibration of a reply message had me looking back down again quickly.

From: 080-3424-8776

To: Kaneki Aiko

Message Body: Look outside

This time, a tendril of fear whispered down my back like a long-forgotten memory. Still, I turned my head towards the courtyard again, expecting this to be some kind of a prank. Hopefully, not some kind of cosmic prank that ended up with me dying the same way I had last time.

My eyes widened as a figure walked through the courtyard, stopped in the center, and then stared up at my window, making eye contact. As if proof it had been him, he dangled a cellphone from his hand—stolen, no doubt.

Out of all the dangers I didn't want to deal with, Kirishima Ayato was probably at the top of the list, but there was still a bit of relief. I knew Ayato wasn't going to bring about my death the way it had happened the first time. He would probably be able to make it a hell of a lot more painful, but that wasn't so worrisome to me.

Ayato pointed at me, pointed at the ground by his feet, and then mouthed, 'Now.'

I felt my throat constrict slightly at the sudden adrenaline rush that filled me, but otherwise stayed composed. I wasn't sure that I could take him on and there was no way to know if there were more ghouls waiting for me other than Ayato down there. It was pretty ballsy to go after a ghoul at a school, and for a moment I questioned their intelligence.

And then it clicked.

If I resisted him, if I fought back with my kagune, I would be exposing myself as a ghoul to a world that wanted me dead. I would be expelled. I would lose any chance to convert Koutarou and I would have to be on the run. I…wouldn't be able to see Ken anymore, not as long as he was in the hospital. I would be recognized for what I was if I fought back as a ghoul.

I doubted that I could resist very well acting as a mere human. I had strength and senses that most humans didn't have, but I knew that Ayato was stronger than me. For someone his age, it was commendable, but I also knew that I had another disadvantage—I was a female and therefore typically not as strong as a male. And, to my great annoyance, I was a short, petite female at that.

I didn't have a mask to hide myself, and while Ayato didn't have a mask either, I knew he wasn't so concerned about keeping up appearances. This was a fucked situation.

In the hopes of deterring him, I narrowed my eyes, shook my head, and gave him the finger.

He didn't react outwardly to my antagonistic response, but he did take a picture out from his pocket and hold it up so I could see it. I froze when I recognized it.

It was a picture of myself and Ken on my second-eleventh birthday. I couldn't make out the details from this distance, but I knew it by heart: I was wearing a red kimono that Ken had saved up all his allowance money to buy me and he was holding me on his lap while I snapped the photo with our camera in a parody of a selfie. The only reason I knew it was that specific picture was because I could recognize the red of the kimono easily—it had been a unique shade that I had never seen before this life. I had loved that kimono, and still had it in my closet despite the fact that it didn't fit anymore.

But even more alarming was that if he had that picture—the only copy in existence—then he had been to my apartment, and that meant he knew where I lived. A pit formed in my stomach and the experience of déjà vu was strong. Ayato was going straight down the list, it seemed: gathering information illegally, attempted kidnapping, breaking and entering…

I felt bile creeping up the back of my throat and I swallowed heavily. Instead, I tried to mutate my fear into anger and thankfully, because of my new lease on life, it was possible. I grit my teeth and fumed at him, before gasping when I saw him rip it down the middle slowly. I couldn't hear the tearing sound, but I could feel it in my heart. That was one of my most treasured photos in this life.

Another checkmark on the list: threatening the lives of loved ones…

"Kaneki-san, is there a problem?" Mataka-sensei asked me.

I jerked my head back to class and took a deep breath. "No, sir," I replied. From the corner of my eye, I saw the two halves of the picture drift to the ground. Now Ayato's face was hardened and cold instead of just neutral. He pointed at the ground again jerkily.

I clenched my fists. They were threatening Ken, and that was a very good way to get on my bad side and not at all conducive to making me want to cooperate with them. For now, the best thing to do is focus on him. On Ken. Keep Ken safe. To keep Ken safe, I have to be free. I can't be a prisoner and keep Ken safe at the same time.

It occurred to me then that I really didn't know what I was to Aogiri Tree or why they wanted me badly enough to go to all this trouble. It…didn't really make much sense. Sure, maybe I had an advantage because I was a hybrid, but didn't they already have Eto? Or maybe Eto was why they wanted another hybrid?

Focus on this. Focus on staying free, keeping Ken safe. Focus on anything else.

Either way, it looked like I was in a dire situation. Thinking quickly, I raised my hand and when Mataka-sensei called on me, I requested to use the restroom. It was frowned upon if one couldn't wait until breaks to use the facilities, but at the moment I didn't particularly care if I had to walk out without permission. All I knew was that shit was about to go down and I really wanted to be as far away as possible when that happened.

Mataka-sensei looked briefly annoyed before granting my request and I exited the classroom as fast as I could, school blazer on and phone clenched tightly in my first. As soon as I was in the hallway, I dialed Koutarou's number and ducked into the nearest storage closet.

It rang three times before he picked up. "Is everything alright, Aiko-san?"

Thank god for Koutarou's lack of formalities. As could be expected, he wasn't looking for idle chatter—he had given me his number because he wanted to keep me safe, not because we were going to become best buddies. I had been grateful at the time, but that was nothing compared to how grateful I was now that he had given me his direct phone line.

"Those ghouls that attacked me the other day—they're back," I hissed into the phone, mindful of not letting anyone know that I was breaking a plethora of school rules right then. If I was breathing a little too heavily, I wasn't paying attention. "Or at least, Aya-the one with the dark hair. He texted me—I don't know how he got my number—and he's broken into my apartment because he had a picture of me and my brother, and he ripped it, and my brother's still in the hospital and completely vulnerable, and-"

"Aiko-san, calm down." Koutarou's sharp tone cut through my panic like a hot knife through butter. "What school do you go to?"

I rattled off the name of my school. "He's going to be expecting me any moment now," I told him.

I could hear muffled voices, one of which was clearly Koutarou's and the other was most likely Mado, although I couldn't discern enough to find out. After a short conversation, Koutarou said, "Where are you right now?"

"Storage closet on the second floor," I answered. Suddenly, my phone buzzed and I knew it was another text from Ayato. I didn't bother to look at it; it wouldn't be pretty or nice, and my attention was better spent on getting my ass saved. Again. For the third time.

Ken had sacrificed himself for me with Rize—one. I had been rescued by Koutarou and Mado from Ayato and Torino—two. And now, hopefully Koutarou and Mado were going to save me from Ayato again—three.

I didn't realize I was going to be so pathetic in this life, honestly. I hadn't wanted trouble, but I also never thought that I would be consistently being the damsel in distress, either. That didn't set well with me at all.

"Just stay where you are, Aiko-"

In a flashback to a world that might as well not exist anymore, I saw young woman lying on the pavement. Her eyes were blank with shock and wide open; a yellow sundress and shredded purple panties were discarded a few yards away and were untouched by the ghastly halo of blood surrounding her. A butcher knife was buried hilt-deep in her abdomen.

"-we're on our way-"

I retched at the imagery, knowing exactly who that young woman was.

"…Aiko-san? Are you alright?"

No, being a damsel in distress did not sit well with me at all.

"I-I'm fine," I stammered, still sick with nausea at the vision-like memory. "I…I'll wait here."

Koutarou didn't spend any time on niceties or even a 'Stay safe' kind of commentary. He simply hung up, apparently willing to take time out of his day to fend off Ayato.

I read the text message Ayato had sent just in case it had any information Koutarou might find useful—focus, focus—but instead, I only found a threat.

After reading, I stared at my phone for a few moments, and then I began to cry like I had when that man had finally cornered me. It wasn't crying because of sadness or heartbreak; it was crying like a child who didn't know how to do anything but cry, when you were helpless and terrified and there was nothing to do except cry. It was crying so hard you vomited, and I did, all over the front of my shirt. Reading the text message had been like opening one of the unmarked envelopes discovered in my mailbox after I first changed residences.

From: 080-3424-8776

To: Kaneki Aiko

Message: Don't bother running. I know where you live.

You can run all you like, but I'll always find you, the letter had read, written in rabbit's blood and painted onto the cardstock by a finger.

And he had, just like he promised countless times. He did everything he said he would do in those letters. He told me he loved me, just like he had written so many times before.

"I love you. I'm the only one who can love you. I love you, I love you, I LOVE YOU GOD DAMMIT! Stop fucking crying! Stop crying, shh, there there, it'll be alright. FUCKING STOP, YOU LITTLE BITCH, I TOLD YOU TO STOP CRYING! Fuck! I-I'm sorry, love, but I can't let anyone else have you…

"I love you, forever and always. We'll always be together."

They were last words I had heard, and then I died, only to wake up in the world of Tokyo Ghoul.

So yes, for anyone who needs clarification: the OC was raped and murdered at the hands of her stalker in the 'real' world. I do not have personal experience with any of these things, but I will try to write it realistically as best as possible. I AM familiar with PTSD, however.

Most questions will be answered in upcoming chapters, so I'm just going to list off what will definitely be addressed: yes, there will be more detail in the future; yes, there is a reason why Aiko has been able to act normal so far in the story and it will be explained eventually, and yes, if you look back in past chapters, there have been subtle hints along the way for this; no, her stalker will not have any other effect on the fic; yes, this plays a big part in the story, and no, obviously I'm not going to give spoilers and tell you how! :P

Anyways, please review and I'll see you all in a month or two! (Hopefully sooner!)