Chương 14: Chapter 17: flashback pt 2
Kuro was missing. It had now been a little over a week since they had escaped. And their situation had not gotten any better. Kuro still had not forgiven Ken for forcing her to eat their own father and would usually leave the room if he entered or at the very least refuse to talk with him. Shiro, tried to fix this one time, only for her and Kuro to get into a fight that ended with a crying Shiro slapping her sister and going to older brother for comfort. After that Kuro grabbed one of the blankets and started sleeping in another room.
During all this, Ken developed a major headache that never seemed to abate. It felt like something was eating away at his brain. More than once he caught himself thinking dark thoughts; blaming the humans for what had been done to them and thoughts of revenge on them. He even thought of using force to get Kuro to fall in line. Every so often his kagune started to act up too. He could feel it twitching and stinging in his back every once and awhile. And already it had come out twice without his consent. Both times it had also looked wrong to the young boy but he forced it back into his body and made sure that neither of his sisters discovered his ailment. They both had too much to deal with now to worry about him over something that was more of just an annoyance than anything. He had to find them somewhere to truly be safe. Then he'd deal with his health problems.
That all changed when he went to wake up Kuro this morning only to find her missing. He and Shiro both searched the whole factory but she was nowhere to be found. Could she have run away?! Now of all times?! Ken immediately ordered Shiro to lock herself in the office as he went to track down their missing sister.
He slowly scrambled around in the shadows so as to avoid being spotted by the humans who were obviously out to get him. He moved more like a beast than a person at this point. His face half in a snarl with some drool lining his lips. His single kakugan was even flashing on and off at times. One little girl was reduced to tears when she and the half ghoul locked eyes for a half second as he passed by. But Ken barely noticed or cared. That girl was not his sister so she was unimportant. But where could Kuro have gone? Was she really that mad at him? To run away? To leave him and his sister just like their parents? Had she already been discovered by the humans? Had he already failed his one promise to protect them?! He couldn't! He had to... Had to protect them. He had to redeem himself. After all it was his fault that they had lost everything. One silly mistake and he had gotten their parents murdered; with the consent of the public. And now, if he lost Kuro all because he forced her to run away. Ken snarled and slammed his fist into the wall; cracking it. He would not let this happen. He would find her, and bring her back to their temporary home; and kill anyone who got in his way.
He turned back to the factory to get a drink before checking in the opposite direction. However when he got back onto the factory grounds he could smell humans here. A glance and he noticed several vehicles in the once abandoned parking lot. Ken started to panic. Where was Shiro?! His answer came in a scream from the young girl. He raced back into the factory following the sound. He stumbled upon her as she was now surround by humans; one of them on top of the struggling girl. He couldn't hear what any of them were saying but their twisted faces infuriated him. The one on top of his sister tried to reach down and grab her by the chin but then slapped the young girl when she bit off a chunk of the appendage off. The site of his sister being struck was enough and Ken used the offensive power and speed second only to Ukakus to appear in the center of it all and punch the man off his sister. The punch was surprisingly powerful as the man was thrown a foot away and several of the bones in his in his face and neck loudly and grotesquely snapped. In the second that it took the others to notice him, Ken had already turned on the next opponent. Latching onto the human's neck and tearing it out with all the power his teeth could hold; blood spraying everywhere. As the remaining humans began to realize what was actually happening, Ken released his kagune in its now two tentacle glory. The two rinkakus flung around as if excited about their freedom and within seconds only two remained alive in the room. Ken was breathing hard over his kills as he suffered a bit of shell shock. He looked up at his wildly twitching blackish scabby looking kagune and down at his bloody hands and the bodies of those that would dare touch his sister.
He didn't know how long he was like this till his sister touched his shoulder. He spun around growled as his two tentacle's slammed into the ground on either side of the girl who squeaked and shakenly backed away in a sign of submissiveness. Ken realized what he had done and in desperation ran to a room that had been made with extra thick walls and heavy steel door. He then, shut himself in it and ordered his sister to block the door with something heavy. He could feel it. Something was crawling its way from deep inside of him and he couldn't let it hurt his sisters. He let go when he heard something slam in front of the door and blacked out within the next second.
Ken was awoken by an annoying sound. It sounded like sirens. But why would he hear sirens inside a building. But that wasn't the only thing that was wrong here. The cold dry concrete floor now felt like wet grass and he could feel a slight breeze and hear the sounds and smell the scents of a late summer evening all around him. He also could feel something covering him and what felt like two pairs of hands holding on to him from either side. The young boy groaned and decided to open his eyes and find out what was going on. However, as he tried to stand up the two other people next to him held him down and shhhed him. "Don't move big bro. It's not safe yet." He realized that the voice was Kuro's and turned to see her anxious but relieved face right next to him on his left. "What's going on and where have you been," he croaked. For some reason his throat felt sore. Kuro laughed nervously, "I went out to too see if I could get us some soap. We really needed it. In the end it took a really long time to sneak around all the people and grab it; especially with us being targeted by the CCG." Ken could only stupidly stare at his sister. She went out for soap? He sighed and rubbed her head. "Just tell me next time you go out. I thought you had ran away." The girl just grinned back. "So where are we and why are we here," the boy asked. Shiro answered, "Kuro came back shortly after you went crazy. We heard you running around in there, smashing against the walls and screaming out random things. It was really scary. After everything went quiet. We waited for a half hour till we went in and found you passed out and the whole room torn up. After talking to Kuro, we decided that the factory wasn't safe anymore and so we grabbed what we could and then carried you out. We hid here after we spotted that CCG car driving past."
Ken thought about the last line Shiro had said. If that siren had come from a CCG car then it's highly likely it was rushing towards the factory. He was honestly proud of his sisters. They had been able to take care of everything while he was incapacitated. When they decided it was safe enough, the group got up and continued their journey away from the no longer safe house. By the early morning they had decided to camp out under a small bridge and used to river and the soap that Kuro had gotten them to take a much needed bath. It allowed them to clean off not just the physical dirt, but also much of the emotional and mental gunk that they had built up to over this episode.
Kureo Mado whistled in amazement at the damage in front of him. Decent size gashes had been formed into the walls, floor, and ceiling and what little furniture had been left behind here had been torn apart. Mado was honestly impressed that just a ghoul pup could do so much damage. He smirked as he idly watched the forensic teams gather the traces left behind in the gashes and took photos of the room. How he desired this kagune. What fine materials it would be. Perhaps if he let it grow for a few years in Cochelia, then it could be just the weapon he needed for taking down that damn owl. His fist tightened as he thought about that beast and what it had taken from him and his daughter. He would get his revenge. And while he waited for his chance he would collect more and more powerful quinques. So many that the owl and his ilk would find themselves overwhelmed.
Mado traveled back to the manager's office; walking by where they had found the victims of the Orochi's family. Most of the investigators wanted to just say that it was done by the father ghoul to feed his offspring but it looked highly likely that he was dead before the murders and there was evidence, the teeth marks of the adolescent male on the neck of one of the bodies, that seemed to suggest that it was the young ones themselves who had slain these people. For such young ghouls to be able to do so much was quite disturbing indeed. They needed to be tracked down and eliminated soon. Such a shame that they had apparently slipped away just this afternoon. Quite the lucky ones they were.
Mado entered the office. In there was what appeared to be the ghouls' den. Right now, other than Mado, there was only one other investigator and a CCG coroner in the room. The coroner was currently assessing the half eaten body of the father ghoul. Mado nonchalantly looked at the dead thing's hand where a wedding ring sat. He idly wondered if the ghoul had gone all in the charade and bought a real gold ring. But it was more likely just some cheap metal. Why spend so much on something only meant to hide yourself from your prey. He also looked at the other investigator in the room. The young man was obviously new as he stared at the body in shock and nauseated disgust. "I can't believe that they ate their own father," he naively stated. Mado couldn't help but laugh at what he said. He walked over next to the man to watch as the coroner continued his work assessing the material. "You shouldn't place human ethics on these things. They may act like us on the outside, but on the inside they are nothing but animals. Brilliant actors, but that's all. I wouldn't be surprised if the adolescent male was already planning to take down his father and take control of their quaint little pact soon. So it's no surprise that when their survival is threatened, the little ones would be more than willing to tear into their father. After all his wounds after the raid were already pretty severe. Rather than waste resources on a dying pact member, isn't better to use him as a resource instead?" Mado shook his head in amusement as the other man ran out of the room; barely holding in his vomit at the idea. Best to break in these new ones fast before they became some ghoul's lunch.
"So how are the materials doc? Still usable?" he asked the man still poking and prodding the body. The man looked up to him and shook his head. "Possibly. But the damage to the body from the three others eating off of it is significant. Looks like they consumed some of his kakahou as well. So we may be able to salvage some of it but its strength will be greatly reduced." Mado was more than a little disappointed in this. He had been looking forward to see if he could possibly get his friend, Setsuko Takahashi, to lend him it once the quinque was completed. A ghoul of this caliber was assured to dispense good materials. It's a shame that the little brats had gotten to the body first. Mado grinned. "Would it be possible to use the little ones' kagune to augment the quinque? To offset the damage they did to the original raw ingredients." He asked. The doctor stroked his beard as he thought about the idea. "It's possible. We could use the research we are currently running on combining two separate types of kagune's together. Granted they haven't created a successful prototype yet. But with them being family members and have the same types, the chances of a successful combination are much higher." Now this was the perfect news to perk up Mado after learning about the loss of such fine quinque material. "Good to know. I'll have it to you shortly. Just have to track the remains of this pack down. I wonder how their faces look like in agony," Mado said as he turned to leave the room. However as he walked off the coroner reminded him, "At least keep one of them alive. Doctor Chigyou wants to keep it for reseach." Mado stopped in his tracks and looked at the man like he had just said the something nonsensical. "Don't tell me that he believes that stupid rumor too. About these things being hybrids. He should know better than anyone that crossbreeding between the two species is impossible. The woman was just some whore the thing either bought or threatened into helping it with its charade of being human. Their real birth mother is probably just some she ghoul-bitch whore that wandered into the Orochi's territory." The man simply waved him off. "Perhaps, but if there is a chance its true, we must take it. All the possible research that could be done. Besides, it's not like a normal ghoul child wouldn't be of any use. We can always use another tamable lab rat." Mado made a non-committal grunt and continued to walk off. "And try to bring back one of the meeker ones. Would be pointless if we had to put it down immediately if it's too aggressive."
Two months later Ken and his sisters had started to irk a survivable but unpleasant living. They would quickly move from base to base. Sometimes on the side of the street or in a back alley or park. Other times in an abandon building or mostly empty train stations. If they felt like risking it, they even used love hotels or manga cafes. Once they even broke into a summer home whose owners had gone somewhere else as the weather started to chill in the fall. Ken had led his sisters throughout Tokyo, escaping from several close calls already. Thankfully the search for them seemed to have started to go cold as time went on and the public lost interest. It had now been a week and half since they had last seen an investigator. Ken had watched from two buildings away as the one he nicknamed smiley came out of the now empty studio; his creepy smile noticeably absent.
The group now carried a few belongings in some bags that they had acquired. Anything else they needed, Ken would go and find an uncrowded store and then enter, his coat on and hood up, and quickly buy it with as little conversation as possible. As for where they got the money, they had simply taken it off of the bodies. Most of them were ghouls that had come after them. Whether it was due to looking appetizing or simply because they had intruded on their territory, the trio seemed to constantly attract the worst kinds of ghouls. Thankfully, probably because they looked weak, these aggressive ghouls always seemed to underestimate them; allowing Ken or the twins to eliminate them quickly in a surprise attack. It also helped that Shiro had also developed her kagune and Ken could now pull out three rinkaku tentacles. They usually scrounged whatever was useful off the corpse before leaving it to the CCG to clean up.
As for food, while they did eat some of the flesh from the ghouls they attacked, they had started to actively hunt. They found being children really helped them; getting their prey to drop their guard and in getting them alone for the kill. Kuro had even used herself as bait once. She stood in a known date spot until some fat freak propositioned the girl, who hadn't even started middle school yet. She lured the man to a back alley and rather than letting him impale her, she impaled him instead. They were quickly learning the dirty new rules for their new disgusting environment. No longer could they keep their hands clean. To survive sometimes meant doing things that made you feel disappointed in yourself. And while Ken didn't want to admit, it was getting easier each time.
Currently he was using his kagune to hold himself on the ceiling of the abandoned building they had slept in last night. Ken watched in the early morning light as two police officers searched the building below him. His sisters had hidden themselves as well and were now waiting for their brother's move. If it had been just an hour or two later, he would have let them go. But they had to come early. While ken was trying to enjoy a can of boss coffee this morning. None of their stuff was packed from the night before and the two cops were heading straight for it all. They couldn't let them leave now. They would lose all of the meager belongings and the CCG would jump at the chance for a fresh lead on them. He waited till the older one in front was rambling on about family or something. The male half ghoul then let his kagune extend; allowing him to drop down at the younger man in the back. It was quick and easy one second he was upside down with his hands on the man's head. The next second the hallway was filled with the rewarding sound of the bones in his neck snapping. The other officer turned around his face twisted in horror as he watched Ken let his partner fall to the ground. He leveled his gun at the boy's face but before he could shoot the sisters also struck. Both of their rinkakus slicing into the portly body of the cop. He tried to shoot ken in one final act of defiance but Kuro used her speed and strength to drop kick his gun arm in the wrist; crushing the limb with a sickening crunch and causing the gun to drop from his grasp. The two girls dispersed their kagunes as Ken jumped back to the ground. The dying human fell to the floor as well. His eyes stared back into Ken's with a righteous fury. "You monsters," he accused. Some blood slipped out from between his lips. "How dare you kill Murasaki." Ken squatted down to face the man. "Ah, so his name was Murasaki?" he observed. "I couldn't care less. I'll slaughter anyone who threatens my sisters, bastard." He finished the man by stabbing the man's heart with his hand. He struggled for a bit but soon went still.
Ken looked up to see his sisters who seemed troubled by what happened. But they didn't have the time for this. "Kuro. Shiro. I need both of you to go back and get our stuff. We need to get out of here fast." The two steeled their expressions and went to do their job as Ken searched the bodies for anything of use. The guns were an obvious one. It was always good to have another one or two deadly tricks up your sleeve in this screwed up world. He wondered about the radios. Could they be tracked? Would he be able to listen in on the police if they did take it? How would he charge it? He took some other stuff from their belts as well; like the flashlights and the handcuffs.
Next he went through their pockets. He found some change and lent from the older man's front pockets. In the back ones he found the man's wallet. Nothing really noteworthy in. Just some cash he could take and the random cards that he threw away. Though he did get a good laugh at the man's stupid driver's license picture. The younger man did have some candy in his front pocket. He threw the thing away in disgust. Partly because it reminded him of what he couldn't have. And partly for how it reminded him of his lost mother. He opened the man's wallet and inside was a picture of a little girl; probably five or so years old. Before Ken would have been devastated at what he'd done; tearing this man away from his family like this. But now, he didn't even flinch as he pulled out the out the money and tossed the piece of leather aside.
As he counted the bills two more people entered the building. Their scents revealing them to be ghouls. Ken glanced at the two newcomers; both rather pretty looking women. He then pocketed the money and turned to leave. "You can have the bodies if you want. We're not that hungry." However the smaller rather tomboyish one answered with, "Actually we are looking for you, boy." Ken stopped in his tracks and looked back. "Oh." He unleashed his kagune again and prepared for a fight. "And why is that?" The larger one, wearing rather baggy clothes, simply replied, "An invitation." "An invitation?" The tomboy grinned at the boy's confused reply. "Yes. To the illustrious night raid. So what do you think? Want to make those fucking doves pay for what they've done to us?"
Ken placed his now empty coffee cup down on its small plate. "After that we ended up in night raid. It was a group of ghouls which, under a ghoul with the over the top name of wild hunt, went on to attack doves in several wards. Looking at it now, it was pretty stupid to get mixed up with them but back then we were desperate. They offered us a safe place and friendship. To an orphan still sore over his parents' murders, their offers of companionship and revenge were just too tempting to ignore. So I joined them and trained under them and killed under them." Ken leaned back and stared at the ceiling light as he continued. "Of course the ironic thing is that while I said I was doing it for my sisters, in reality I was just doing it for myself. As I got more involved in that group, I ignored them more and more. I think at one point I didn't see either of them for a week. After a few months, maybe a year with them, we ran into the damn CCG Reaper. He singlehandedly decimated the entire group and I only escaped thanks to a lucky fall into a flowing stream behind me after surviving his attack. Still took a day to get back to the hideout and find the girls. I apologized, they patched me up, and we fled from the place later that night. We met up with Rize shortly after that and well, you know the rest."
He looked back to the older ghoul who had been listening quietly this entire time. Yoshimura's face was pensive as he thought over the worst memories of the young boy. When he had his thoughts in order he simply asked, "So that is why you're so interested in stopping Touka? You've experienced the darkness of revenge and wish to prevent her from suffering the same." Ken smiled at the man's question. "That's probably most of it. But it's also true that I'm just using this whole thing as an emotional crutch. A way to tell myself that I'm a better man who wouldn't abandon Shiro and Kuro again. That I've grown up into a good big brother." But Ken's smile vanished as he slammed his fist on the table. "But it's still there. The part of me that still howls over the injustice of this world towards ghouls. It still whispers how Touka is right and that I'm just a hypocrite who is just ignoring what he should do. That if it was one of my sisters who was who had been taken from this world, on the side of the street like a dog, I wouldn't stop at just those doves. I'd rip apart their very nest or die trying."
Tears started to fall from the boy's eyes. Such a sore topic had opened up several deep emotional wounds that he thought he had closed. "It's ridiculous. I'm already in college and yet hear I am; crying over how unfair the world is. Like a child." Yoshimura walked across the room and patted Ken's head soothingly. "It's not wrong to be upset over the wrongness of the world. It's the first step in righting it after all. Hopefully the day will come where stories like yours and too many others, are of the past." Ken leaned into the hand; smiling a little. But he still had doubts. "Is it really so wrong? That we exist." He looked to the older man. "Are we really the one's at fault for this messed up world? Or is it the humans? Who use things like law and justice to allow them to slaughter us in some genocidal wrath. What is it that I should do? Am I really doing the right thing by telling Touka not to do this? Or should I be helping her? What should I do?" Ken begged. He wanted the man who had become a second father to him to give him some sort of direction. Whether it was confirmation of his decisions or a scolding and explanation of what he did wrong. But instead the manager just started to make some more coffee. "I can't answer that for you Ken. That is your choice to make. Not mine. I can only hope you make a decision that can you won't regret." He poured the boy a new cup. Before exiting the room. As he left he noticed that another person had been listening through the door. He nodded at Touka as he returned to the ground floor. The young girl now lost in thought. Thinking over what she had heard.
The next day, Ken was working again. He still felt a bit sensitive after laying his dark past before the old man. However, he felt good about it too. It had actually felt a little nice to open up to someone else about what he and his sisters had gone through. It was when he was lost in his memories, watching a local human family enjoying their lunch, when Touka appeared in front of him. He smiled at her but the young girl just pointed at him and said, "Oi, pudding head. Tomorrow, come with me." She looked at his hair and added, "And dye your hair. Completely black. Tonight." Touka left before he could ask anything. Ken grabbed a few strands of his white hair and twiddled it a bit between his fingers. "Pudding head?"
Omake
"So this leads into the twenty fourth ward?" Ken asked. Currently he and his sisters were standing around a large hole leading into the underground; Rize behind them. Every instinct in the boy was telling him it was a bad idea to go in there. "Yep," was the single word reply from the older female. Kuro looked at Rize and asked, "And you want us to go in there for a week?" Rize sighed. "Oh come on you survived for over two months on your own and Ken here has fought several doves already. I'm sure you'll be fine." "But…" Shiro started.
Rize, tired of this, simply kicked the three into the hole without warning. As they fell she called down with, "I'll be back here to pick you up on Thursday," and left to go find a nice dinner date for the night. At the bottom of the hole, the three half ghouls were now in a large groaning pile. Ken declared, "When I get out of here, I'm going to kill that bitch."
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