Full Description: An AU which integrates characters over from Tokyo Ghoul, into the world of Choujin X, all starting from the beginning of the manga. When Tokio and Ely are brought to Yamato Morti, after the "White Snake Choujin" had been captured by Arima Squad, Haise Sasaki volunteers to mentor the new comers; eventually becoming a role model to not only for the "Vulture Choujin" and his female companion, but eventually taking in under his wing the unlikely Nari Tsumuji, and Tokio's best friend: Azuma Higashi.
Having to balance his life being one of Yamato Mori's most capable keepers, and protecting his growing squad members who he's sworn to protect with his very life, Haise will have to make time for his personal life— including trying to get an actual girlfriend or two, within the crazy, bizarre adventure his life has become.
(I would have posted this a Tokyo Ghoul x Choujin X crossover fanfic, but Choujin X is so unloved that it's not even a listed fandom on this website.)
Ships (So far):
Haise/Kaneki x Touka x Rize x Eto
Haise/Kaneki x Kiyoko
Haise/Kaneki x Juuzou
Tokio x Nari
Tokio x Momoma
Ayato x Ely x Hinami
Night had fallen over the Yamato prefecture; not a single star was to be seen in the black abyss above, with only the graceful light of the moon being the only beacon within the overcast sky. The weather was bleak, but not as bleak as it had been for Haise Sasaki; a twenty-two year old man, who had taken it upon himself to investigate the suspected terrorist attack that happened earlier that day.
Within the confines of his private office within the "Yamato Prefecture Superhuman Security Bureau"— or simply "Yamato Mori", as it was more commonly referred to— Haise was sitting down at his desk; one hand resting on top of his computer's mouse and his over resting along the edge of the desk's top surface, as he scrolled the mouse wheel down. Having compiled an extremely detailed report on the incident, all in one power point— ranging from government records of each passenger who had boarded the plane before it's taken off, to insider knowledge of ongoing criminal activity— Haise created a new blank document, before beginning to transfer data over to it.
Long having ruled out the possibility of the terrorist attack being caused by an explosive or incendiary device— as he had already conducted a detailed examination on the crash site, and found no structural damage that would indicate a man-made weapon— Haise had narrowed down the possibilities, and through his research found the one who was his prime suspect.
'Chandra Hume… Alias: "Smoke Choujin". Age: 42; unregistered choujin. Destination of the flight: Musutafu international Airport. Notes: According to security footage recovered from the onboard CCTV system, Hume was shown to have gotten into a confrontation with passenger "Ely Otta". I suspect that motivation for the multiple homicides and crashing of "Aerocross Airlines Passenger Flight 12" were of aggression, and were not premeditated. Incident occurred at approximately 1510. Two-hundred and six injured. Twelve deceased. Thirty missing. Current status of suspect: unknown, as none of the bodies recovered have been identified as Hume,' Haise typed along the mechanical keys of his keyboard; his pager that he had beside his monitor buzzing, which prompted him to momentarily stop tying.
Once he had read the number that was trying to get a hold of him, Haise put the small device on silent mode before clipping it onto his belt. Overlooking the first paragraph he had typed within his new document, Haise's gray eyes scanned the lines of text carefully; proofreading his work, and ensuring that information he had typed matched what he had documented on his compiled research. 'All that's left to do is to transfer all of this into one database, and then it's back to being out in the field for me,' the young man planned, as he saved the file he was making for Chandra, before taking a moment to take a sip of his styrofoam cup of coffee.
With the brewed beverage having always been his constant solace whenever he chose to stay up burning the midnight oil, almost all of Haise's stress and worries that had accumulated since the start of his investigation seemed to melt away along with the steam from the plastic lid of his cup— his heavy eyelids closing behind the circular lenses of reading classes, as he let out a long, deep, and muffled sigh of relief afterward. "Ah… That's better," Haise muttered softly with a satisfied look on his face, as he sat his coffee down just in time for his nose to catch a familiar aroma in the air; a masculine fragrance that smelt refined, like one would expect a well dressed gentleman to smell.
Knowing fully well who to was on their way to pay a visit to his office— along with his keen sense of smell detecting the sweet-sugary scent emanating from what he knew to be a pastry— Haise made sure his electronic files were presentable on the monitor of his desktop computer, before swiveling back in his chair to face toward the closed cedar door. Folding his glasses and setting them down beside where his cup of coffee was, Haise got up to open the door upon seeing a large silhouette through the closed shades of his office window.
Turning the silver door handle and twisting it open, Haise stepped back with a friendly smile on his face, as he looked up at the tall, blond man who was staring back at him with a warm look of his own. "Good evening, Sasaki. I brought you this— heard no one saw you at the cafeteria at all today," the large, muscular man with a wide, angled jaw said— his deep and wide sounding voice reflecting a tone of parental-like disapproval, as he held out a plate of cream cheese danishes towards Haise's chest. "It's unwise to neglect your body's own needs; especially for people like us."
Knowing fully well that he was in trouble, Haise's carefree grin wavered slightly into that of an uneasy smile, as he let out a nervous laugh while taking the plate of warm danishes from the more mature man. "Heh, hehe…! A-Absolutely! I agree with that one-hundred percent, Mr. Sandek! Which is why I stopped by "re:" earlier, before I got back to the office," Haise assured, as he gestured toward the nearly emptied cup of coffee while turning around to set down the plate of calorie-dense pastries.
Shaking his head with a patronizing yet good intentioned smirk across his thin lips, Hoshi Sandeck crossed his large, muscular and over his burly chest, as he raised a single brow at the guilty-looking investigator. "Sasaki, we've told you time-and-time again that a man cannot live off of gourmet coffee alone," Hoshi scolded without any anger in his kind voice; softening his stance, only after he made sure Haise grabbed one of the three danishes he had brought him.
Not daring to speak without first swallowing the large bite he had taken out of the pastry in his hand, Haise made sure to wash the chewed up piece down with the last of his coffee before apologetically saying with a small smile, "I know… I'll do better, I promise."
Hearing the sincerity behind each word Haise spoke to him, Hoshi found himself unable to do anything but to cut the young man immediate slack; letting out a deep, low sigh as he made his way over to the young man's desk. "For your sake, I hope you stick to that promise… Now then, might I take a gander at your handiwork, Sasaki; see what's been taking up so much of your time?"
Having been let off the hook without expecting it yet again, Haise went back to feeling more relaxed around Hoshi's presence like he normally was— taking a step back, and offering his superior his chair while saying in an amused voice, "Sure thing, Hoshi— pffttt! J-Just be sure to look both ways before you make it to the other SLIDE, kuwahaha!" Haise joked while cackling at his own pun, while taking glee where he could from the moment he saw Hoshi visibly register the wordplay he had used.
"That was… Heh… That was rather witty actually, Sasaki; good job," Hoshi congratulated— handing it to the young man, before noticing the sheer amount of slides that made up the power point. "I, uh… I take it this is your compiled sources, Sasaki?"
Picking up on what the burly man was trying to subtly imply, Haise let out an apologetic chuckle as he leaned over Hoshi's right arm to politely take the mouse from him. "Oh, yeah; it is! Sorry about that; I've still got to transfer all of this into an access file… Here, just read this one for now," Haise said, as he clicked on the bottom tab to open up his document file he had on Chandra.
"Hmmm, very well; let me take a look at what you've got," Hoshi muttered under his breath, as he began to silently read each line of text that the investigator had typed out onto the digital white page. Narrowing his eyes with a hint of curiosity in them upon reading the name "Ely Otta", the rest of what Hoshi had read about Chandra had gotten his blood boiling by the end of short paragraph Haise had summarized about his findings thus far on him.
"It infuriates me to entertain the notion that we've let this monster go under our radar for this long… I'm going to use this to convince the director to authorize more manpower to be deployed; we cannot allow this to happen again," Hoshi swore in a righteous yet still reserved voice, before turning the chair around to face toward where Haise had been standing. "On behalf of Yamato, I think it's right of me to say that you've done us all a great service, Sasaki; we've got a name and a face, and that's more than enough for us to find this abhorrent monster…"
Hearing the undertone of heaviness behind each word spoken of praise to him, Haise couldn't help but to feel concerned as he continued to lock eyes with Hoshi's piercing blue gaze; his smile once again wavering, as he continued to hold the partially eaten danish in his left hand. "Oh, uh… T-There's no need to thank me, Hoshi; after all, it's my pleasure to-"
"-However, as you know it's my responsibility to ensure that all of my keepers are fit for duty before I send them out into the field," Hoshi said with a stern look forming over his broad facial features— silence following suit, as the blond man saw Haise's nervous smile fade. "… I believe you already know where I'm going with this, Sasak-"
"-Mr. Hoshi, w-with all due respect, I'm perfectly f-"
"-You're exhausted, dehydrated, and depriving yourself of proper nutrition; Sasaki, the only reason you think you're "perfectly fine", is because the only thing keeping you awake right now is all that caffeine you've got in your system," Hoshi continued to argue, before turning around momentarily to grab a hold of Haise's emptied cup— turning back around to showcase the printed label attached to its soft. "The staff within our cafeteria weren't the only ones who I've had to question today about you… Now, correct if I'm wrong, but according to the manager of "re:" this is the tenth cup of espresso you've had today," Hoshi stated, and remained silent as he watched Haise's mouth close slowly, followed by a look of guilt come over the young man's face.
"N… No… No, that would be correct, sir; that was… That's my tenth cup today," Haise admitted, while still visibly searching for a way to convince the concerned choujin that he was still fit for duty. "And I mean… T-To be fair, almost all of the fatigue I've been fighting through today has been mental exhaustion; physically speaking, I feel…" Haise trailed off, after quickly realizing by the way Hoshi was staring at him disapprovingly that he wasn't going to convince him otherwise.
"And that's what I'm ordering you to stand down, and to retire to the dormitory for the remainder of the night. You can push through physical exhaustion through sheer mental fortitude alone, but to do so vice versa would only lead you into certain "choasification"," Hoshi reasoned— his stern demeanor being replaced with one of deep concern, as he reached up with one arm to place his hand down on the young man's shoulder. "If the roles were reversed here Sasaki, then I know— without a shadow of a doubt in my mind— that you wouldn't allow me to risk that upon myself."
Lowering his eyelids halfway down his eyes, as he tilted his chin down in apparent acceptance, Haise took in a deep breath before letting out a long-drawn sigh before looking back up from the wooden floorboards to meet other man's warm, caring gaze. "You're right… I understand, Mr. Hoshi," Haise said with a small smile forming across his lips, as he straightened his back before putting his arms down to his side. "I suppose the best thing I could do is to wish you and whoever you send out tonight the best of luck, and I hope everything goes well for you all."
Visibly relieved to hear Haise, Hoshi's lips curled into a cathartic smirk as he rose up from the young man's sturdy office chair— patting him on the shoulder, before retracting his hand away from him. "Much appreciated Sasaki, but I think this report's all the luck we're going to need to put a stop to Chandra," Hoshi said with warmth and determination in his deep voice. "Do you think before you call it a night, that you could email it to the director, Sato, and I? I plan on "cc'ing" this to Arima, Aura, and Houji; I'll have them forward this to their squad members, and begin a coordinated manhunt as soon as possible."
Nodding his head and being cooperative as per usual, all of Haise's uneasiness seemed to melt away right almost immediately as his usual optimism returned the moment he smiled back at Hoshi. "Of course, I'll do that right away!" Haise said full heartedly, before plopping down on the bottom cushion of his office chair. "And like I said, I've to transfer everything here onto an access file; if it's all the same to you Mr. Hoshi, I think I'm going to spend an hour in here before heading to the dormitory," Haise requested, before smiling even wider as he gestured at the partially eaten danish that he was still holding, "Thanks to you, I've got supper figured out; so after this, it's straight to bed for me!"
More than satisfied with the outcome of their interaction, Hoshi gave Haise a firm nod as he said, "While I wouldn't call that supper, it certainly is a step in the right direction," before turning around to begin heading out to leave the young man's office— halting in his tracks, only when he was within a foot of the cedar door. "Just be sure you drink some water soon, and I expect you to see you and your squad mates at breakfast tomorrow," Hoshi said with an intimidating undertone to his warm voice, which quickly disappeared the moment he added, "Goodnight, Sasaki; you make sure to keep good on that promise you made me."
Masking the wave of guilt that washed throughout his very conscious, Haise continued to smile like he normally would as he replied back to Hoshi wish, "I'll make sure of that, Mr. Hoshi, so long as you and the others stay safe out there," before taking a large bite out of cheese danish.
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Hoshi mused with an approving time in his voice, before making sure not to slam the door behind him as he exited Haise's office.
Alone at last, Haise began to furiously scarf down the rest of the danishes like a starving wolf— ravaging the pastries within only a few seconds, and swallowing each mouthful painfully. Allowing himself to feel his true emotions, Haise let out a frustrated and exhausted groan as he began to work quickly to finish the tasks at hand; converting the files over to a shared database, and sending his higher ups each a copy of his report on Chandra.
Using his powerful sense of smell to ensure that Hoshi was far enough away from his office to not overhear him, Haise closed out of his computer before removing his pager from his belt— setting the small device down on the edge of the table, before silently reading its led display and dialing the number onto the buttons of his office landline. Picking the black handset up and pressing it to his ear and mouth, Haise began to fidget nervously within his seat, as he quickly mouthed the words, "Pick up, pick up, pick up," before finally someone on the other line answered his phone call.
"Mhmmm, look who decided to finally give lil ol' me a call back! And here I thought you were giving me the cold shoulder, "Eyepatch"~!" The deep, and sultry voice belonging to a woman teased playfully— giggling flirtatiously, while seeming to know fully well that Haise wasn't receptive to her false advances.
"Do you have any update on what I asked for? Or did you call me for some other reason?" Haise asked in a cold, and stoic tone; any and all of his friendly demeanor from when he had spoken with Hoshi now absent from his voice.
"Oh, straight to the point? Tch, can't even give a girl the time of night, can you?" The voice on the other line asked in an almost mocking tone— cackling under her breath, before toning back her playful demeanor, as she said, "Our arrangement is the same as it ever way, Eyepatch: I have information you want; I'm the one holding the cards here, so you'll have to cough up your end of the bargain before I deal out for you~."
Choosing to not even dignify the promiscuous banter she was attempting to have with him, Haise went straight to the point once more as he partially divulged, "Houji squad will be asked to conduct a manhunt on Chandra; they know what he looks like, the route of the flight before it crashed, and know his body hasn't been accounted for amongst the other passengers. They'll be combing through the entire prefecture tonight."
Humming with intrigument audible in her voice, the woman on the other line sounded as though she had smacked her lips before asking, "Hmmm, and is that taking into account any other squads I should know about?"
"That depends on you," Haise shot back without any playfulness in his voice.
In turn, the young man could hear the woman on the other line scoffing before letting out a bemused chuckle, as she replied, "Hmm, good response. Alright, you showed me yours, now I'll show you mine." And with that, the woman proceeded to inform Haise, "Five minutes ago, when I first paged you, I had just gotten a call about a choujin who was seen chasing after some hillbilly-bumpkin teenager, who had awoken on a harbor. The sailors who were looking after her were the crew mates of the witness who called my guy, who in turn called me… According to my current sources, "Ol' Smokey" and "Lil House on the Prairie" are right now traveling northbound on South Ichika Street; passing by West Memorial Drive on a couple of motor-scooters, and on their way down the construction area down by the Civic Center…"
"… Did you get all of that down, Eyepatch? Because if I have to repeat any of that, it's going to cost you baby~," the woman asked with a hopefulness in her teasing voice, all the while Haise had been writing down everything she had divulged to him onto the notepad he always kept handy on him.
"That won't be necessary," Haise replied sharply back, while silently reading back the notes he had jotted down on the small piece of paper staring back at him.
"Hmm! I expect no less from you, Eyepatch; you were always so good at listening~! Now, hehe… About those other squads you mentioned-" The woman managed to say, before her segue was cut short when Haise immediately used his finger to press down on the plastic button located where the handset would go— hanging up her on, all the while still holding the aforementioned device to the side of his head.
Wasting no time, Haise dialed a four digit extension number— the bottom of his pen repeatedly tapping against his desk, as he continued to fidget until his phone call was answered in less than a single ring.
"Sasaki," the male voice addressed in a cold, monotone voice— becoming quiet, as the man on the other line waited expectantly for the young man to speak.
"Arima, I've spoken to her… Please, have Houji Squad and Aura Squad remain in the south side, while the rest of us keep north; I only told her that Houji squad would be searching for our target— I never mentioned anything else beyond that," Haise reassured, with a voice that sounded stress as he anxiously waited to hear what his squad leader had to say.
"Ah, I see… And what intel did you receive in exchange?" Arima asked, while sounding almost indifferent toward the unspoken possibility of Houji's and his squad mates being ambushed. Haise wasn't sure if that was because he had confidence in them, or saw them as a necessary sacrifice— quite frankly, the young man didn't want to know either way.
Relaying everything he had written down on his notepad over to his squad leader, Haise made sure to include in his phone call that he had a picture of "Ely Otta" within the shared database file he had saved on Yamato Mori's internal server, and how even if they couldn't apprehend Chandra, she could possibly be a good lead for them.
"Thank you, Sasaki; I'll do my part, and you do your part: return to your dormitory after you grab something from the commissary for dinner— don't leave the premise, until instructed to," Arima ordered in his monotone voice, before hanging up without bothering to even say goodnight to his secretary.
And with all that he could do and out of the way, Haise put the handset back on top of the receiver, staring blankly at his dim reflection within the powered-off monitor, before finally allowing his body to begin feeling the brunt of his exhaustion. Burying his face into his palms, Haise's heavy eyelids began to flutter in an attempt to stay alert and focused, as he massaged face before stumbling up and out of his chair— almost crashing straight into the nearest beige-colored wall, before clumsily regaining his balance and walking out of his office with the swagger of a drunkard who was seconds away from falling face-first onto the floor.
Quickly growing more delirious as his tired mind tried to navigate him to the exit, throughout the entire endeavor of Haise wobbling from wall-to-wall, the young man couldn't help but to feel as though he were walking through a dreamscape of vivid colors— seeing images that weren't there, and confusing actual office equipment as whimsical things that were part of his rampant imagination. With the only reassurance that was keeping him going being that he was the last one left on the fifth office floor, Haise took his time getting toward the double doors of the elevator, all without worrying about having to accidentally bump into anyone along the way.
Which was why when Haise reached up to press the oddly bulbous and melon shaped elevator call button, he was genuinely bewildered when he felt how soft and squishy it was beneath his fingertip. 'Wow, maybe Mr. Hoshi was onto something after all about those espressos after all,' Haise thought lightheartedly to himself, before shaking off the experience as he tried pressing the call button again— except when he did it a second time, he couldn't help but to find himself getting sober the moment he started to notice that the so-called "elevator call" button, wasn't actually what his sleep-deprived mind thought it to be.
Upon snapping back to realm of reality, Haise was immediately mortified when he realized that not only was he not even anywhere remotely close to the vicinity of the elevator, but that he had just poked the chest of one of the newly recruited keepers; a six-foot tall tan skinned woman who was older than him by almost a decade, who was staring back at him with an embarrassed and coy smile on her cute face.
"Heh, hehe…! W-What? No dinner first?" The tall, muscular woman with shoulder-length black hair asked jokingly; making it apparent to the red-faced man that she was trying to lighten the mood. "If you wanted to touch them so badly, Sasaki, then all you had to do was ask~!"
"M-Ms. Abernathy…! I-I swear, I wasn't trying to- w-what I mean to say is that I didn't mean to…! Y-You know…! D-Do "that" to you," Haise stammered in a panicked voice, as all his tired mind could begin to think of then was the plentra of possible consequences that could befall on him if word got around Yamato Mori that he had "sexually assaulted" a keeper who was fresh out of training. "P-Please, I'm so sorry! It's just that-"
"-It's just that you're really tired right now, and was half-sleep when you stammered over my way— looking like a zombie out of a B-rated horror flick," the tanned woman interjected with an completely understanding look on her blushing face, all while raising her hand from her hip to present to him a plastic bottle of water. "Trust me Sasaki, it wasn't like I didn't see it coming from a kilometer away… Honestly, I was just curious to see if you were actually going to do it or not, hehe!" The muscular woman admitted with a wide grin across his lips, before handing Haise the bottle of ice-cold water.
"Oh, uh… S-So I see," Haise muttered with an uncomfortable look on his face, as he looked away from the suggestive expression on the tomboy girl to instead focus on the white cap of the bottle in his hand. "So… Erm… D-Did Mr. Hoshi send you up here, or was it Arima…?"
"Nope, neither! Mr. Sato was the one who called my squad leader, who then sent me to make sure you made it back to the dormitory before you passed out!" The tanned woman replied, and watched as Haise nervously opened the cap to his bottle of water, before taking a gulp and accidentally spilling some on his lip.
"Mr. S-Sato…? Really now… W-Why him?" Haise asked with his heart beginning to sink into the bottom of his chest; the young man doing his best to remain as inconspicuous as he could, while re-capping the bottle of water close. 'Was Sato listening to my call with Itori? Arima? How much of that actually happened… D-Did any of it even happen at all?! Was he testing me?! Was this all just a setup?!' Haise wondered dreadfully to himself— his sleep exhaustion causing his paranoia to increase sevenfold.
Shrugging her exposed shoulders, the tanned girl who was wearing just a black tank top and pair of black yoga pants simply said, "I don't know, but I did hear from Mr. Kuroiwa when he was on the phone asking Mr. Sato to tell Mr. Hoshi that he said "hello"," while making sure to deepen her voice— doing an impression of what she thought her squad leader sounded like.
Too tired to hide his relief, Haise let out a deep sigh as a comforted smile formed across his lips. 'What a relief… I've got to think of a better way of exchanging intel with Itori; encrypted phone calls and lack of real names can only do so much around these parts… Hope that's actually the case,' Haise thought cautiously to himself, as the last thing he wanted to do was become complacent. "Y-Yeah… Yeah, that makes sense," Haise muttered quietly under his breath, before smacking his lips awkwardly as he looked up from his water bottle to be greeted with the same smitten look across the towering woman's dark-crimson face.
"Well… Considering that I thought your chest-thingy was the elevator call button, I ummm… I-I'm not much in a position to argue against being escorted back to the dormitory, sooooo… Yeah; I'm ready when you are, Ms. Abernathy," Haise said with an uncomfortable head nod, all while doing his best to avoid accidentally catching a glimpse of the two shapely and large breasts that were obstructing his line of sight with the tanned woman's face.
Visibly excited to hear that, the woman revealed her pearly whites as her smile grew even larger. "Perfect! I didn't think you were going to let me carry you, Mr. Sasaki! Thanks for making this easier on my part!"
Immediately becoming deadpanned the moment he heard the woman say the term "carry you", Haise furrowed his brow as he asked with the same voice he had used with his informant, "Come again?"
"Only if you ask nicely, fuwehehe…!" The tall woman quipped back— thinking that he was joking to her— before suddenly bending over and wrapping her strong, muscular arms around the young man's waist; saying "easy does it", as she lifted him up effortlessly. With Haise being too stunned by how flabbergasted he was at what was happening to him, the six-foot tall keeper soon enough had him slung over her broad shoulder with only one arm holding him in place, as she lowered the other one back down to her wide and toned hip. "How's that, Mr. Sasaki? Are you comfortable right there?"
If Haise wasn't as tired as he was, he would have at least tried to insist that he could walk on his own; but seeing how didn't have the energy nor drive to protest, the young man remained still where he was, as he let out a long yawn before uttering out, "Y-Yeah, I'm alright, I guess… Thank you for asking, Ms. Abernathy…"
"Oh, please; you can just call me "Greta", Mr. Sasaki! You don't have to be all that formal when you're around me; you can let loose, and be yourself!" She said with content tone in her voice, as she began to carry Haise down the hallway toward the actual elevator door; giggling quietly, the moment she heard him beginning to doze off. "Before you pass out on me Mr. Sasaki, do you mind if we make a pit stop over at the commissary? My girl "BB Bansho" and I were gonna meet up there to pick out some protein shakes for the morning! I figure that I might as well take you along with me, so I can show you off to her, and let her know just how cool we are with each other!"
In response to her blatant attempt at trying to use him to elevate her image within the hierarchy of keepers within Yamato Mori, Haise was too out of it to really think much of Greta's request, and simply murmured to her, "a burger, please," before instantly drifting off to sleep. Snoring and out of commission for the time being, all Haise could do was dream about a gourmet double-cheeseburger with extra crispy fries and a tall glass of bubbly soda, all the while Greta giddly sprinting toward the elevator; her excitement mind imagining the look on her fellow female ex-wrestler face, when she came walking into Yamato Mori's on-site commissary with Arima's pupil on her shoulder.