The Birth of the Half Ghoul
Broken Paths
Chapter 1: The Birth of the Half Ghoul
It was the middle of the night. Two people found themselves alone inside of an abandoned building as the woman laid on a thin mattress on the ground while she squirmed and screamed because of the immense pain she felt. She was tightly holding onto the hand of a man who was presumably her partner, as he helped her to navigate through her contractions. "Push Ichika! You are doing wonderful my love. Keep it up! He's almost here!" Said the man encouragingly as he grimaced, not being able to stand the sounds of the woman he loved, in agony.
It was true, his beloved was in the middle of labor and she was forced to give birth in a dirty place like this. He would have brought her to a hospital, except for the simple fact that that wasn't an option. Because they had a secret that no one could learn about. In truth, they were a forbidden couple and they had a love between each other that was never meant to be. In the world they lived in, there were two prominent species. There were humans who were virtually powerless but were strong in numbers, and on the other side of the spectrum were the ghouls which were man eating monsters that could only survive on the flesh of humans.
Eighteen year old Ichika was just an ordinary human woman, and on one fateful night, she had fallen in love when she had a one chance encounter with a handsome ghoul named Kenji. She was walking alone around at night, not having a care in the world that there might be a chance that she could be attacked by a flesh eating monster. Earlier that same night, she had gotten terrible news from the hospital that her father, who raised her alone, had finally succumbed to his illness and left her alone in the world. She really didn't have any friends as she lived a very quiet life, so without her father, she thought that she no longer had a reason to live. In fact, she was practically begging for a ghoul to come out and take away all of her misery as she welcomed death with open arms.
Coincidentally lurking down an alley on that same street was Kenji, who was in his complete ghoul form as he feasted on a freshly slain corpse. He tore at the flesh hungrily and ravenously as he shoveled the delicacy that was once a person into his gaping mouth. And even after he had completely stripped the corpse of all of its flesh and organs leaving nothing but a skeleton behind, he still hungered for more. That's when he whiffed the smell of an extra delectable human walking by. A sinister grin creeped onto his face as he hungrily licked at his lips. He had eight rinkaku typed kagune that looked like scaley tentacles which erupted from his lower back, and he used these tentacles to hoist himself into the air and walked on them almost like he was a spider.
Ichika continued to walk with her head in the clouds until she stopped when she heard a cracking sound slowly starting to approach her, but she felt no fear. She turned around and in the dim light of the overhead streetlamp saw a terrifying sight. She saw a ghoul with his blackened eyes and red pupils, with his kagune pointed directly at her, but she did not even flinch at the sight of him which shocked Kenji, because by now most humans would already be screaming and trying to make a run for it. And the chase was always his favorite part when it came to the hunt.
The next thing she did that intrigued him was when she lifted her arms in the air almost as if she was inviting him to come and kill her. He smirked as he sent forth one of his eight tentacles at her and ever so slightly cut her throat enough to draw blood, but yet again the human girl didn't move. With a raised eyebrow he slowly approached her until they were face to face as he stared into her cold, dead unwavering eyes. He didn't even know if he wanted to kill her, because normally his prime targets were content people as he enjoyed watching their happiness turn into sorrow when he started to drain them of their lives. But from the looks of it, this girl didn't have any life left to give.
"What are you waiting for? I'm willingly offering myself to you. Please, just end it for me already." She said to the ghoul who started to look irritated. If she wasn't going to be scared of him then he didn't even want to bother. "I can't kill you when you keep making a face like that. You already look dead inside, where is the fun in that? I only kill people who still have a will to live. Sorry lady, but if you're looking to die go find some other ghoul to do your dirty deed." Kenji said as he glared at her. It was unlike him to spare a humans life, but even he had his standards when it came to what prey he wanted to consume. Being a ghoul was more than just consuming human flesh. It was also a game where they loved to toy with their food. But this girl just wasn't up to his standards regardless of how delicious she smelled.
As he turned to leave, he was caught off guard when the girl grabbed ahold of his arm and refused to let him go. "Hey! Get your filthy human hands off me!" He said as he tried to shake her off, and even cut her across the cheek but still, she refused to let go. With her head lowered, she continued to speak to him in an almost hushed tone. "Do you know how I can find the will to live? Because I don't… I'm so broken inside and I just want to die. If you help me find the will to live, then will you kill me?" She said as she stared back up at him with her silver eyes glistening with tears.
What she said took him by surprise, that was for sure. He had met crazy people, and even crazier ghouls, but he had never met someone more insane than the woman in front of him. For her to actually come up with an idea like that honestly peaked his interest. This could be another new game for him to play where he could help her to finally become happy, only for him to be the one that steals away her precious life. In his mind, there was nothing more beautiful and poetic than that. How fun, he thought to himself.
The ghoul named Kenji smirked as he offered the girl his arm for her to take, which she gratefully looped around her own. "Okay. I like the sound of that. I'll help you to be happy if you promise me that I will be the one to devour you. But first, what's your name? If we are going to be spending some new quality time together then I should at least know what to call you." He asked the expressionless girl. "My name is Ichika." She said with a monotonous tone in her voice. "Well it's nice to meet you Ichika. My name is Kenji Kaneki. Now, you better not complain about what happens next." He said with a sinister grin as the two walked away back down the darkness of the alley to pursue their new, crazy intertwined path together.
But over the course of the next three years, Kenji's plans did not come to fruition. At first he had full intentions on eating the broken girl, but the more he got to know her, the more he wanted to protect her. He noticed how similar their interests were. Kenji loved reading, and he had never met anyone else before who was also a fan of his favorite author. Him and Ichika would stay up late, having long nights discussing together what their favorite books were and what were their favorite parts of the story was. And he also found all of her little eccentric quirks to be quite charming, like how she chewed on the tip of her hair whenever she was nervous or from simply how she scrunched up her nose before she released the tiniest sneeze.
He didn't know how, or why, but this single human woman was able to open up his heart to the sensation of love, which is a feeling a ghoul like him would never have experienced otherwise, as it was hardly ever in their nature. They eventually got married and not too long after their wedding ceremony, Ichika had told him something he hadn't expected to hear. But she was with child. His child. Which could only mean one thing, if the baby were too survive, it would be a half ghoul. And as far as anyone knew, his child would become the first of its kind. Which is how they ended up where they were now. There was no possible way for them to go to a hospital as the baby would show obvious signs of being a ghoul and would be killed by the CCG, and Ichika would be arrested for being a ghoul sympathizer. And Kenji was not about to risk losing both of them.
"AAAAAHH!" Screamed Ichika as she tilted her head back to release a shrilling scream that echoed throughout the empty halls. Beads of sweat trickled down her face as she was desperately grasping at her husband, wishing for the pain to finally be over. "Come on! Just one more! I can see him coming my love! You are so strong!" He said encouragingly to his wife who with one last mighty push, successfully delivered their child. "Waaaahh! Waaahhh!" Cried the newborn as his father moved to possession himself between Ichika's legs to cut the cord and swaddle their son. The baby had black hair like his father, and incredibly pale skin like his mother. But the most drastic feature about the child was that his right eye was silver, while the left eye had a black sclera and a red iris with dark veins creeping around the edge of it, just like a ghouls.
Kenji smiled happy down as he held his son in his arms and allowed the small child to grasp at his finger with a strong grip that was normal for a ghoul infant to have. He was overjoyed that their son was seemingly healthy and couldn't stop himself from allowing a tear to roll down his cheek from sheer joy. He never knew he could love something so small and delicate, just from a first glance. Is this what people called paternal love? The desire to protect life that one has created?
He helped his wife to sit up as she leaned against his body as she shivered from weakness. He placed the baby in her arms and with heavy eyes, the exhausted woman looked down at her adorable son who blinked up at her with curiosity. "He's adorable… Absolutely perfect. I already thought of a name for him. Do you want to hear it?" She said as she felt herself start to become limp but tried her best to hold on. Kenji looked at her with a face full of worry as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders to help steady herself. "What did you come up with, my love? After all you've been through, you're the one who has the right to name him." He said as she brushed a piece of sweat covered hair out of her face.
"Ken Kaneki. I want to name him in honor of you, and Ken also means to be strong and physically healthy which is what any mother wishes for her child." She said as her eyes completely closed and Kenji thought the worst but was relieved to hear that her heart was still beating as he listened with his enhanced hearing. She was just incredibly tired and who could blame her, ghoul deliveries were much more violent than a regular child being born. Kenji quickly grabbed his son out of his wife's arms before she accidentally dropped him and let her lay back down for a well-deserved rest. "Ken Kaneki. Welcome to the world my son. No doubt, you will become a powerful ghoul indeed. Maybe you will be the person to finally change our messed up world."
Ten years have passed since then and Kenji and his family were living relatively peaceful lives now. Five years ago they moved from the seventh ward to the twentieth ward which was known to have less ghoul and dove activity so that their son Ken could start with his primary school. Ken was now ten years old and was the image of a perfect child. He never gave his parents any strife and was always on his best behavior when he talked to strangers. He was also very compassionate and loving towards his mother and father as he constantly showered them with affection, which Kenji had grown used too even though he was regarded as the strict parent out of the two of them.
Currently, Ichika and Ken were walking around in the park while Kenji hunted discreetly somewhere else in the ward to get dinner for both him and his son when they all returned home later in the day. Even though his son was only a half ghoul, he had the regular appetite of a full blooded ghoul and was only able to eat human flesh. He was lucky that his wife was very understanding to their predicament and never feared from him, even when he came home bloodied with a briefcase full of body parts. Kenji was a binge eater, meaning that even though he was full he would often engorge himself on bountiful prey because he simply loved the thrill of the hunt. But ever since he got married and had people to worry about, he did his best to suppress his monstrous urges, albeit he found it difficult at most times.
"Mama! Look! A butterfly!" Said Ken as he released her hand to chase the butterfly without paying attention to his surroundings. "Ken! Be careful!" She said, but a little too late as her small son tripped and fell, smacking his face straight into the concrete floor. Ken sat up with a large red print in the middle of his forehead as he started to cry, which caused her to become alarmed. Ken was still young, and often lost control of his ability to hide his kakugan whenever he felt extreme emotion. And just as she feared, when he started to cry his left eye turned black and red. "Ken!" She yelled slightly as she jogged over to him to hug her son, hiding his face in her shoulder to obscure the sight of her son's eye to anyone who might have been watching.
The young boy sniffled as he leaned back and stared down at the ground, while his mother affectionally stroked his hair to help him to relax. "Don't cry Ken, you're a tough boy. Remember what mommy always tells you? Whenever you're upset, count backwards by seven from 1000. It'll help you to keep your mind off the pain. I know you can do it! 1000 might be a big number but you're smart!" She said as she smiled down at him. Ken nodded his head as she did what he told her to do and started counting backwards. "1000, 993, 986,… 979…." He said one number after another as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and when he reopened them again his eye was back to normal.
But even though she got him to relax, Ichika was still on edge. This was just one of the many close calls she's had with her son where he's accidentally revealed his ghoul part of himself out in public. It only takes one person to report them into the CCG, and that would spell trouble for their entire family if anyone ever found out their secret. Ken sniffled one more time as he wiped the snot that was dripping from his nose. "I do feel better now." He said with a hiccup. Ichika helped her son to stand up as she continued to stroke his hair, which caused the sad boy to smile. "See? Never forget that trick that mommy taught you. So even if I'm not around to help you, you know what to do." She then looked her at watch and saw the time and knew that her husband was probably on his way back home by now. They had a rule to be home before sundown, as that was when most of the doves came out to patrol the streets.
"Okay Ken, it's time to go home. Daddy brought home dinner for us so let's not keep him waiting! You know he won't start eating without us!" This caused Ken to jump in the air with glee as he grabbed ahold of his mother's hand again as they made their way back to their house. It took them only thirty minutes to make the trip from the park back to their house and still had time to spare before the sun went down, but it was still better to be safe than sorry. "Honey! We're home!" She said as she unlocked the front door for them to walk inside.
Kenji peaked his head out from the kitchen as he waved at his family. "Welcome home! Your food is sitting on the dining table, Ichika. I'm going to take Ken to the basement with me really quick if that's alright. I have a little surprise for him." He said as he walked over to kiss his wife on the cheek which caused her to blush. Ken smiled at his parents as he watched them show their love for each other. He thought he was the luckiest child in the world to have parents like them. "Okay honey. But don't take too long. I want us all to sit down and watch some Family Feud together for some quality time! And Ken has school early in the morning so after we're done eating, he needs to go straight to bed!"
But Kenji just fanned his hand towards his wife's concerns as she pouted at his stubbornness to listen. He often spoiled their son and let him stay up late even though she's told him many times that she didn't want him doing that anymore. Kenji escorted Ken to the basement door where he allowed his son to enter first before he followed in after, locking the door behind him. Ken was curious as to what his dad wanted to show him until he made it to the bottom of the stairs and he caught the smell of human blood which made his mouth water and it instantly activated his kakugan. But then he heard a faint muffled sound from underneath a tarp that slightly moved which made Ken become nervous as to what, or who, was underneath.
"Ahh, your senses are keen as ever my boy. I brought home something even more special than normal! Why don't you go ahead and take a peak." Kenji said with a hint of pride within his voice. He had no doubt that his son would enjoy the surprise he had brought for him. Ken walked over to the tarp and pulled it off and gasped at what he saw. Laying on the ground was a woman who looked like she was in her mid-thirties and was tied up with rope and gagged with a sock and tape to muffle her screams. Kenji walked over to his son and knelt down behind him while he firmly grasped his shoulders. "Surprise! Instead of hunting for you, I brought the prey to you so that you can do the honors! Aren't I just the best dad or what?" Kenji said as he activated his own kakugan, which caused the woman to struggle even more as she stared terrified at the two hungry ghouls who stood in front of her.
Ken gulped as he felt his saliva starting to increase as he took in the woman's smell. But he was nervous since he had never killed anyone before. It's not like he was against eating human flesh, in fact, he loved it! But him being half human always made him have at least a little bit of sympathy for the poor creatures. When he looked at the woman, he couldn't help but see his mother reflected in her. "You're already ten years old and your kagune has matured enough to where you can start hunting on your own. I'm not always going to be here to do it for you, so I thought it was about time you learned the importance of the kill. Every ghoul goes through this rite of passage. But I thought it would be safer if I brought her to you so that we wouldn't risk getting the attention of the doves. Do you like your surprise?" Kenji said a little worried, his son was being rather quiet and hoped he would be a little bit more excited about this.
"Oh! Y-yes papa! I love the surprise, thank you! It must have been really hard to get her here." Ken said trying to stir up so more conversation to stall for as long as he could. He didn't want to disappoint his father, but he wasn't sure if he was able to go through with this. But he felt bad if he said no, knowing that his dad went through all of this trouble just for him. "Not really. In fact, I lured her here under false pretenses that I was hiring her for a maid job. Humans can be so easy to fool, don't you think? Now come on! Show your old man what you got!" Kenji said in anticipation.
The young boy took in a deep breath as he released his kagune from his lower back which was accompanied by a crackling sound and his kagune looked just like his father's, but instead of having eight tentacles, he only had four. Probably because he only inherited half of his father's DNA. Kenji clapped in excitement as he witnessed his son masterfully summon his kagune. Most children his age struggled with summoning only one tendril, let alone him doing all four at once. His son showed promise as a ghoul, and why wouldn't he when his father was an SS rated ghoul himself. "Wonderful Ken! Now, let's get started." Kenji said as he used his own kagune to lift the girl in the air to place her on the tarp and held her down, causing her to beg for her life through the gag. "We wouldn't want to get her blood and entrails everywhere. Your mother would kill me and then force me to clean it all up. Now Ken, go in for the kill."
Ken nervously walked over to stand in front of the girl as he aimed his tendrils at her, his grey and red eyes meeting her terrified brown ones. Kenji watched in anticipation as he waited for his son to strike. "You don't have to torture the girl if you're not ready for that. Just go ahead and stab her heart. It'll be quick and painless." He said reassuringly. But Ken didn't care about that. He honestly didn't want to inflict any pain on her at all! He gritted his teeth as he lunged one of the tendrils forward but halted in his attack, with his kagune only stopping an inch away from her chest. He fell to his knees as he allowed his kagune to dissolve as he hung his head low in shame, knowing how disappointed he must have made his father. "I… I can't do it papa." He said trying to hold back his tears.
Kenji frowned as he let out a sigh with slight irritation. He didn't want to be angry, but it was every ghoul parents dream to watch their child succumb to their blood lust. But perhaps he judged Ken too soon and challenged him with this task a bit too early. He would try again when Ken was a little bit older, but he was still upset about the outcome, nonetheless. "It's fine Ken… You might still be too young to handle something like this. I'll take care of it." And without hesitation, two of his tentacles sprang forward with great speed as they plunged into the woman's heart who died instantly, as they hooked around her innards and tour her chest in two, splitting her open and allowing her organs to become exposed. Her blood spraying all over Ken's face and clothes as he watched in horror. He had never seen his father kill before, and the fact that he was so efficient at it scared him a little.
His father walked over to him and knelt down on the ground as he started pulling bits and pieces of the woman's body onto a platter to hand to Ken, who hesitantly took the plate from his father as he started to get a serving for himself. "Papa, I'm really sorry-" "I said It's fine, Ken." Kenji said as he snapped at his son with his black and red eyes gleaming with rage, but his eyes widened in shock when he noticed that he started to make Ken cry. Kenji sighed as he allowed his face to soften and let his kakugan turn back to normal, as he walked over to his son and rubbed his head. "You'll get it next time. I know you will. Now come, let's wash off a bit before we go rejoin your mother in the living room." Said Kenji as he tried his best to act like a supportive father, but Ken knew better.
He had never seen his father so angry with him before. And he knew it was all his fault. He was a ghoul who ate people, and it should be a natural instinct for him to want to kill humans. But he was also part human himself, and that was his biggest weakness as a ghoul, the fact that he was soft. But Ken made a promise to himself right then and there that next time, he won't miss his shot. He will make his father proud one day and finally learn the way of the kill.