Have We Met Before?

Kaneki ran away from the park as soon as he heard the sounding of police sirens in the distance. He activated his kagune, and jumped up high into the air as he escaped on roof top, having no choice but to leave his parent's bodies behind. On a nearby roof, he watched below as the police surrounded the area and taped it off while higher ranking Dove's came from headquarters to inspect the scene. He glared at them as he watched them approach his parent's bodies, ready to kill them. But he knew that wouldn't be the right thing to do. Sure he was strong enough to take down two mediocre Dove's, but ten of them at once would prove to be a challenge even for him.

"Wait a minute… Why were the Dove's here to begin with?" He said allowed to himself. "I came here originally to meet up with Hide. Did they capture him too? No… I don't think that's it. They knew where and when to meet me. They wouldn't have had time to arrest him. I called Hide on his house phone and came to meet up with him as soon as I hung up." He said as he slowly started putting the pieces together. But that just wasn't possible was it? Hide would never betray his trust like that! Just earlier today, Hide even said that if he found out that he was ghoul, he assured him that the two of them would remain friends! Unless that was all a lie. After the traumatizing night that Kaneki had, he wouldn't doubt that Hide, a human, would throw him under the bus. "Hide… You'll pay for this. I swear it." He said as he clenched his fists tightly as he leapt backwards to leave the area. After his revelation, he was planning to give his best friend a well-deserved visit.

It was midnight now, and even though it was well past Hide's bedtime, his mother allowed him to stay up later so that he could wait to hear if there was any more news regarding Kaneki and his family. "Hide! The news is on! It's about the park!" His mother yelled for him as he ran down the stairs. He hopped onto the couch with his heart racing as his mother turned the tv volume up as he leaned forward to listen. On the tv screen, a reporter holding an umbrella stood in front of the scene where in the background, you could vaguely see the carnage from the battle that took place only moments ago. "Breaking News. A deadly battle between members of the CCG and the ghoul codenamed Arachnid, have all been found dead in the center of Hanamura Park. There are four total casualties including the two CCG members, a human woman and the ghoul itself. Investigators are currently working hard to determine what exactly happened here to fully understand the situation. I advise that sensitive viewers look away now as we are about to show some graphic content." Said the reporter as the camera panned and focused behind him.

Hide's face grew pale as he had to cover a hand over his mouth to stop himself from vomiting. What he saw could only be described as straight out of a horror movie. The tree in which he and Kaneki had found themselves regularly hanging out at, was slathered in blood. Loose body parts were spread across the ground and blood painted the grass red. Then the cameras focused on two dead bodies which he easily recognized to be Ichika and Kenji Kaneki. His mother had only a single arrow stuck in her body which indicated that it wasn't a ghoul that killed her, but in fact the culprit was more likely to be one of the Dove's, but the thing that churned Hide's stomach the most was when they showed Kenji's body who looked almost unrecognizable. He was incredibly disfigured with his neck having been savagely torn out and his abdomen ripped open and all of his entrails were missing, leaving a hallow husk that displayed his ribs and spine. He had gotten a pretty good look before his mother leaned over to him to cover his eyes to try and hide the disturbing sight from him, but he had already taken it all in.

"Go to bed now Hideyoshi. This isn't something you should see." She said to her son who pulled her hands off of him and stared at her with hot tears filling the corners of her eyes. "This is all your fault mom! Why did you have to go and say those things about Kaneki! He could be dead now for all I know! It's all your fault!" His mother looked hurt before she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him vigorously. "I'm sorry this had to happen Hide! But I just did what was right! Now we know that your friend is a ghoul! Do you know how many time's I've let a monster like that into my home?! And played with MY child?! What if he was planning to eat you this entire time?! I had to do what I had too to ensure your safety! Because as your mother, that's all I ever care about!" But Hide didn't listen as he stood up and stomped his foot on the ground, his face turning red from anger. "Kaneki is not a monster! He was my best friend! And because of you, I'll never see him again! I HATE YOU!" He said as he took off running back up the stairs where he made it to his bedroom and slammed the door shut, locking it from the inside.

Hide jumped on his bed and as he shoved his face into his pillow as he sobbed loudly. He felt so guilty because of his role in helping the CCG lay out a trap for his best friend. He was absolutely sick with himself and knew that it was because of him that Kaneki's family was dead. It was all his fault, he thought to himself. But on the bright side, they said only four victims were found at the scene. Which gave him a sliver of hope that somehow, Kaneki was okay! He must have escaped if they didn't find his body which brought a bit of ease to Hide's aching heart. "Kaneki… I hope you're okay, wherever you are." He said as he still had his face buried in his pillow. But then he shivered as he felt the temperature in the room become colder and he could have sworn the sound of rainfall was louder than it was before.

"I'm standing right over here." He heard an all too familiar voice speak as he perked his head up. His face quickly turned from anguish to joy as he saw his best friend had entered his room, having using the window to come inside. The rain from the heavy storm flown in through the window and covered his desk in water that sat right in front of it in which Kaneki was perched on. "Kaneki! You're okay! I was so worried about you!" He said with his signature grin, which slowly started to shrink upon seeing his friend's new appearance. Kaneki's normally black hair was now a starch white and his clothes were torn and covered in blood. But Hide couldn't help but stare shocked, at the blood that coated around Kaneki's lips and the blazing red and black eye that was the sign of a ghoul. He had never seen a ghoul before, and the first one he ever met just so happened to be his best friend. He was terrified, this wasn't the Kaneki he loved and knew. It wasn't the shy, book obsessed child he had come to care about. It was a ghoul. Any resemblance of the Kaneki he once knew, was now gone.

"What's with that face Hide? Can't recognize your best friend anymore?" Kaneki said as he hopped off the table and landed gracefully on his feet. "Why do you look so guilty? Did you do something bad? You can tell me anything… We are friends, right?" Kaneki asked with an emotionless voice as he slowly started walking towards Hide who sat on his bed still, who couldn't stop trembling. "K-Kaneki. I'm so sorry for what I did! I didn't have a choice in helping them! They threatened my family and told me that if I didn't, they would have arrested all of us and charged us with being sympathizers! I would have never done what I did if it was my choice!" Hide said desperately, hoping that his friend would listen to him. "I don't want to hear your excuses." Kaneki said as he unleashed his Kagune which erupted from his lower back, accompanied by a crackling sound that sent a shiver up Hide's spine.

Kaneki then lunged forward and pinned Hide down onto the bed and had one of his tendrils pointed right at his forehead, threatening to kill him right then and there in one swift motion. Kaneki stared down at Hide with his eyes wide and his pupils dilated as he allowed his hatred to envelope him entirely. "This is all your fault! So what if your family go arrested, they probably still would have let you all go! You get beat up a little, big deal! At least both of our families could have walked away free! But it's because I so foolishly allowed myself to get close to a human that my parents are DEAD! I TRUSTED YOU! " Kaneki said as his left eye started to cry tears of blood, which dripped onto Hide's face.

Hide clenched his teeth as he allowed his tears to continue to fall, but he closed his eyes and decided to accept his fate. "You're right, Kaneki… It really is all my fault. I'm supposed to be your best friend and I betrayed you. I really am the worst. If you want to kill me then go ahead. I deserve it. As long as my death brings you some sort of peace, then I'm okay with it." Hide said as he smiled through the tears which made Kaneki gasp in response. His head started pounding as the little remnants of his humanity that still hadn't died inside of him, screamed at him to stop before he made a big mistake. "AAAAHH!" Kaneki screamed as he backed off of Hide and hunched on the floor, holding his head as his Kagune started losing control and stabbing into the wall and knocking his furniture over. Hide sat up and leaned over the bed, reaching a hand towards his best friend.

"Kaneki! What's wrong?!" Hide said as he scooted off the edge of his bed and started walking towards his friend, who used one of his tendrils to slam into him and slung him backwards as he crashed into the wall and slumped back down onto his sheets. "Don't come any closer! Please Hide! I don't want to hurt you!" Kaneki yelled as he looked up at his best friend who clutched at his ribs, both of his eyes now being silver as his kakugan had finally disappeared. Kaneki then stood up and jumped back onto the window sill, staring out into the cold night. Hide crawled his way out of his bed and slowly started making his was way towards Kaneki, who looked back at him from over his shoulder. "Kaneki! Please, don't go! We can try to work this out!" Hide said in desperation as he tried to make it to his best friend before he left. But Kaneki softly smiled as his eyes shown with sadness. "This is goodbye, Hide." He said one last time before he jumped out the window and was out of sight before Hide even made it to the windowsill.

"KANEKI! DON'T GO!" He yelled out as he tried to call his best friend back, all while his father was successfully able to bust the door down after hearing all the commotion, allowing both his mother and father to run into the room, to which his mother hugged him protectively and pulled him away from the window. "Hide! What happened in here?! Are you okay?! Were you hurt anywhere?!" His mother said as she nuzzled the top of his head, but Hide's injuries extended far past the physical pain he felt. He hated himself for what he had done, his best friend was suffering and was in turmoil all because he allowed the CCG to manipulate his family. "No mom, I don't think I'll ever be okay again." He said as he started crying yet again, allowing his mother to embrace him. This was something he knew was going to follow him for the rest of his life.

Kaneki made it back to the abandoned building and screamed in pain as his Kagune forcibly erupted from his back and started attacking his surroundings, he had lost all control as his psyche continued to diminish. "Stop, please! Just stop!" He said as he clutched at his head tightly while he slammed his body into the wall. He didn't want to be in pain anymore. He was so ready to kill Hide back there, and even though he knew it would have made him feel better, he couldn't go through with it. Despite how angry he was at his best friend; it didn't mean he really wanted the other boy to die. Killing Hide wasn't going to bring his parent's back anyways, he told himself. "Just try to forget. Forget about Hide. Erase him from your memories and the pain will stop." His inner subconscious told him as Kaneki went down the rabbit hole of his memories. In each one, all traces of Hide started getting wiped from his mind as he imagined his best friends face being scratched out, and he was unable to identify him anymore. "Hide… Who is Hide?" He said to himself as his Kagune dissolved and he felt his body start to relax. He released his head as he allowed his back to slide down the wall, the voices finally stopping as he was finally able to fall asleep.

Ten years had passed since the tragic night that Kaneki lost his parents. Hide was now twenty years old and starting his second year of college at Kamii University, which was the dream college both him and Kaneki dreamed about going too together when they were kids. His life was a lot different now. In secret, he was a ghoul advocate and showed his support to the ghouls who believed in co-existing with humans. He did his best to supply support to his newfound ghoul allies underneath the nose of the CCG, which lead him to where he was now. "Touka! Think you can take the order of the customers at table six? I have to brew the new pot." Hide said as he was hard at work, having gotten a job at the hole in the wall coffee shop called Anteiku about three months ago.

"Yeah, I got it." Touka said as she walked over to the table and took their order where they both ordered two cups of espresso with cheesecake on the side. She smiled at the customers before she walked back to the counter to prepare their order, but as soon as she had her back turned to them, her face fell into a scowl as she stared at her human coworker. She didn't know why the manager hired him, because his presence here would only cause trouble for the rest of the members who worked at Anteiku. It was three months ago when Hide started visiting their little coffee shop, and at first Touka thought he was just your regular human customer who would come in once in a while. But then he would start coming every day, and she found it weird how he would stare at them as they worked and wouldn't leave until right before closing time. And then one night, Hide had shocked the entire staff by asking an unexpected question. He walked up to the manager who was helping with closing before he spoke.

"You're all ghouls, right?" He said nonchalantly with a giant smile on his face, causing all of the workers to stop what they were doing. "Oh, sorry if that was a bit forward! I'm not a threat to you guys or anything, I just wanted to work here and needed to let you guys know that I'm cool with you guys being ghouls. That doesn't bother me at all! I hate secrets between coworkers and if you don't trust me, then feel free to kill me at any time!" He said with his idiotic grin on his face which for some reason pissed Touka off. "So what do you say manager, think I could get a job with you guys?" Hide said innocently which caused Touka to scoff. She expected the manager, named Yoshimura, to deny him immediately, but to her surprise he had agreed right away. And for the past three months, her and Hide had been working very diligently together. As far as humans goes, he was alright, but that didn't mean she was fond of him either.

It was almost time for closing time with the rest of the customers having finally left the shop. And while they cleaned up, Yomo, who was Touka's uncle and also worked at Anteiku, decided to turn on the tv so they could listen to the news as they cleaned. Hide was wiping down the counters when he turned his head to pay attention to the tv as the reporter started talking about yet another ghoul attack that had occurred within the twentieth ward. "Some more devastating news tonight about the incident that occurred yesterday within the twentieth wards entertainment district. On the top floor of one of the most distinguished clubs in the area, a ghoul classified as what the CCG call, a binge eater, had attacked the club and killed approximately fifty humans last night at around one in the morning, officers say. The ghoul had already left however, before the Doves could make it to the scene. For all of you walking around at night, I advise you take great caution on your way back home as the binge eating ghoul is still at large."

Hide felt his brows furrow as he listened to the news before they changed the subject to a different topic, causing him to lose interest as he focused back on cleaning the counters. He looked towards the register where Touka sucked her teeth while she counted the till. "That makes it the fourth incident this week. I know Rize is in town right now, but even she doesn't eat this much. The fact that it's happening so often tells me there's a second binge eater here in the twentieth ward. Since you're human Hide, you should probably start thinking about going home early before the sun sets. The manager probably wouldn't care too much if you asked to change your schedule." Touka said to her human coworker, for once showing some compassion towards him instead of being her cold, distant self.

But Hide just continued to smile as he tried to dismiss her worry. "So you do have a heart after all, Touka? I was starting to think that you hated me." He said teasingly, which made Touka glare at him which caused him to chuckle. "Thanks for your concern, but I think I'll be fine. I mean, I haven't died yet! Maybe I'm just not tasty enough for you ghouls." Hide said as he winked at the blue haired girl who blushed with frustration. She hated how he teased her so often; it was starting to become really distasteful. Hide continued to clean when he heard the bell of the front door ring, meaning that another customer had just walked in. "Sorry! But we're closing for the night! But we'll be open tomorrow at the bright early hour of 8am!-" He said as he turned towards the customer, but instantly became frozen.

The person that walked in was around the same age as him. He had glowing white hair that went a little past his chin and wore a white button up dress shirt with black dress pants and a leather belt with black leather shoes. He also had silver eyes but wore a medical eye patch over his left eye. Hide gulped as the person standing by the door started to look familiar to him. It was Ken Kaneki, his best friend he hadn't seen in the last ten years. Kaneki smiled at him as he bowed slightly. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't realize you guys were closing now. I would have came earlier but I was a bit preoccupied with something. A friend referred me to this place and I just really wanted to try your famous coffee that I heard so much about." He said as he stood back straight while scratching his cheek.

Hide was about to open his mouth to say something when Touka walked over to him and tugged on his sleeve, glaring with sharp eyes at the new customer who had just walked in. She had a bad feeling about this guy. He had a weird scent about him that she couldn't determine as human or ghoul, it was more like a combination of both. But the thing that had her most on edge was the thick smell of blood that clung to his body. "He told you we're closed. Come back tomorrow." She said as she continued to glare at him, but Kaneki was unfazed by her attempts at scaring him. Yoshimura walked out from the back room and stood between Hide and Touka, placing a hand on each of their shoulders as he smiled at the white haired half ghoul. "Now don't be like that Touka. It is our policy to cater to all of our customers needs. One more customer wouldn't hurt us for the night. So please, seat the young man and take his order." He said while he slightly squeezed Touka's shoulder. Even the manager could sense the demonic aura coming from the young man and he thought best to not try and upset him. The best thing to do was to just go along with it so they could quickly get him out of their hair.

Touka aggravatingly sighed as she led Kaneki to a table and sat him down where he smiled at her kindly and thanked her. He pulled a book out from his satchel bag that he had hanging around his shoulders as he started reading it before he ordered. Hide gasped as he looked at the book he was reading, which he remembered to be one of Kaneki's favorites he would often see him read from when they were kids, confirming even more that the man was in fact his best friend. Thirty minutes had past while Kaneki sat their reading his book, when Touka marched over to him with a strained smile as she was ready to try and take his order. "Have you figured out what you want yet?" She said to him, but Kaneki continued to stare down at the pages of his book. "I want him to take my order, if that's okay." He said as he raised his hand to point a finger at Hide who was standing behind the counter.

"What? Why? I'm a way better server than he is. You're better of just sticking with me to help you." She said to him, but her eyes widened as he gave her a side eye that shined with murderous intent behind the innocent gleam to which he tried to portray. "Touka, it's fine. I can handle him." Hide said as he put on his best smile and grabbed his note pad, switching places with Touka at the table beside the white haired man. Touka watched carefully from the sidelines as she observed to make sure nothing happened. If he decided to attack, she was prepared to spring into action. "Now sir, what would you like to order?" He said as he brought his pen to paper, but felt a trickle of sweat start to drip down his forehead as Kaneki looked at him dead in the eyes with that same evil glint that Touka saw, which didn't match his innocent smile at all which instantly gave Hide the creeps. "I just have to ask, but have we met before?"