ROKU

The knife clattered across the floor as Kaneki's body dropped.

Kaneki sobbed, his emotions finally haven completely cracked.

What am I supposed to do now?

Kaneki's crying suddenly cut off abruptly as he got to his feet and walked out the front door of his house.

Touka Kirishima was just closing up the shop for the night when she sensed movement from the alley several feet away. Danger?

A hooded figure emerged from the shadows, his or her head drooped.

"Niku," the figure cooed. "Murder a human... and devour their flesh!"

The figure did a strange snake-like movement and light finally illuminated the person's face.

It was Kaneki, his red eye casting an evil glint.

Kaneki's body jerked and his eye instantly changed back to normal.

"What am I—," Kaneki murmured. "It's almost as if…"

A beautiful scent cut Kaneki off from his thoughts.

His body started following the smell like in the cartoons where the visible trail of a good smell led the characters by their noses.

That scent… It's like nothing I've ever smelled before, but it seems so welcoming.

His walk turned into a jog. Jog transformed into a run.

A sweet aroma, like Mama's home cooking…

The pure beauty of the scent made Kaneki grin with delight.

There's something that awaits me! Something that even I can eat!

Kaneki was unaware of his eye turning ghoulish again as his speed increased.

Where is it?

Kaneki ran through the pile of garbage that stood in his way at the corner of the two alleyways.

Well, he tried to. He tripped up and stumbled rolling several times until he hit the wall.

Ignoring the absence of pain he rose again, drooling, and continued sprinting toward the source of the aroma.

"It's close."

He was within 10 feet of it! He turned the corner. His heart dropped as his grin slowly faded away into shock.

A long-haired ghoul was kneeling over a dead body with blood running down his lips and dripping off his chin.

A ghoul, observed Kaneki. And a human! How could I have been enticed here by the scent of a mangled corpse?!

Kaneki began to feel weak. His knees gave out and he dropped onto them.

How had he… Tears dropped from the corner of his eyes. He didn't notice the ghoul jerk it's head to get a look at Kaneki.

He shook with sobs.

Kaneki didn't care if the ghoul noticed him. He couldn't care less if the ghoul came over and ripped him apart. As a matter of fact, he probably would have been grateful for such an act of kindness.

"Are you alright?," a voice asked him. He looked up.

It was the ghoul.

"You're a ghoul, right?," he asked Kaneki. He noticed Kaneki sobbing violently and concern filled his voice. "What's the matter? Are you alright? Watashi no name wa Kazuo desu."

The ghoul's gaze fell onto the bloody body.

"I haven't eaten for a while," the man named Kazuo said, digging into the body of the man he was feasting on. "So I can't share too much with you, but here , help yourse—"

Kazuo didn't get to finish his sentence. His body seemed to shake.

KRAK!

The sound of a baseball bat connecting beautifully with a baseball made Kaneki finally look up.

Someone had booted Kazuo's head clean off.

His blood splattered against Kaneki's face, fresh and warm.

The man who had killed Kazuo stood before him and Kaneki took in his features with horror.

He was thin, but taller than Kaneki. He didn't look that strong. He had messy light brown hair and matching eyes that were hidden by the reflection of light off the lenses of his square-shaped glasses that he pushed up the bridge of his nose as he began to speak.

"Seriously, how about you leeches back away from my hunting grounds?"

Kaneki's mouth still remained agape.

The guy took a second to take in the sight of the shaking Kaneki.

"Well, you're a face I haven't seen around here," he said to Kaneki.

He closed the distance between them.

"More importantly, where's your other red eye? That's kind of gross," he said disgustedly.

With amazing speed he grabbed Kaneki by his throat and shoved him into the nearest wall.

Kaneki cringed at the strong grip that was crushing his windpipe.

"You know what happens when you get caught in somebody else's territory, right?," the boy growled. His eyes flashed red.

"N-no, I wasn't… I didn't know…," Kaneki choked. "I just happened to be… passing by."

"Okay, imagine this:" the boy responded with that same tone of disgust. "Your girlfriend is naked and lying on the ground. There's a guy with his pants down and he turns to you and he says… 'Oh. I wasn't doing anything. I just happened to be here.'"

"That's the exact iyarashī I'm getting from you right now," the boy growled. "If it were up to me I'd blow his damned brains out."

Kaneki continued to struggle, gripping the boy's right arm.

"That's why I'm going to kill you," he told Kaneki. "Because you trespassed on my hunting grounds."

"Whose hunting grounds did you say?," a voice said from behind them.

There was a thump.

Kaneki wasn't able to turn his head to see what was going on, but the voice sounded familiar.

"Since when are these your hunting grounds?"

A female voice.

"Nishiki?"

"Touka…," the boy said, letting Kaneki drop as he slid his way down the wall until he hit the ground. He pulled air desperately into his lungs, coughing and gagging.

Why did that name sound familiar? Where had Kaneki heard that name?

"She's dead right? That binge-eating woman," the boy who had been called Nishiki asked.

"And that gives you an automatic claim to this area?"

"Now that Rize's gone, the responsibility of allocating hunting grounds to the weaker ghouls and those at the 20th Ward falls on Anteiku's shoulders."

Kaneki looked up as the girl finished her sentence.

It was Touka. The girl Hide had embarrassed that day at the café.

Her eyes turned red.

She was… a ghoul…

"Are you serious?," Nishiki said. "A bunch of fence-sitters like those of you at Anteiku have no right to make decisions for others! This was my hunting ground before Rize came—"

"Because you were too weak."

The same mist Kaneki had seen around Rize that night began to form around Nishiki.

Getting told off by some younger, overconfident little punk like you really pisses me off."

"Does it now?"

Tension filled the air as they walked toward each other.

Then things went crazy.

They both shot at each other.

"Enough is enough," Kaneki heard Nishiki yell.

Blood splattered the ground as they seemed to cross right through each other.

Kaneki didn't know what to do. Should he run? If he did wouldn't that be like suicide? He'd be an instant target.

"You'll have to cut deeper than that!," Nishiki said.

"Are you sure?"

Suddenly, blood shot wildly from Nishiki's legs and arms.

"Should I cut a little deeper next time?"

Nishiki growled and Kaneki thought he was going to attack again, but instead he turned and ran away in the opposite direction.

"Take your corpse with you, you coward," Touka called out.

She turned to Kaneki who was sweating and breathing hard from shock and fright.

He began to crawl toward the body. He had to eat one way or another.

But Touka reached down and picked up a bloody arm and held it toward Kaneki.

"You want this?"

Kaneki reached out with a shaking hand but she smacked his hand away.

"You're not gonna eat?," she asked. She was teasing him and Kaneki knew he was too weak to do anything about it.

"Then again, only one of your eyes is like that…"

Something seemed to occur to Touka suddenly. Her eyes widened.

"You were the one that was with Rize. Why weren't you eaten— that eye…"

Kaneki couldn't help himself. He began to cry. "Please help me," he begged Touka. "I know you're not going to believe this but I swear I'm human."

"And yet", Kaneki thought aloud, filled with fear. "I desperately want to eat that…"

"I want to devour it so badly that my body aches… But if I do… I won't be human anymore!"

"If you're in that much pain then you need to eat," she told Kaneki, again holding out the arm.

Kaneki, tears still streaming down his face, again reached for the bloody dismembered arm.

But he couldn't do it. He wasn't a ghoul! He was a human! He was Kaneki Ken.

But sometimes old habits were meant to be broken.

He snatched the arm from Touka's hand. But sometimes habits were not meant to be broken.

No way in hell, Kaneki thought, his head slowly dropping to the cold grainy ground.

"I'll never do it," Kaneki shouted as drool ran off his lips. "No way!"

"There's no way I can eat something like that, right," he asked, not knowing who he was actually talking to if he actually was talking to anyone in particular. "What is this? What is it to be a ghoul? Killing people… killing each other… I'm not like that!"

He sensed Touka's critical gaze trained on him. He probably looked pitiful but he didn't care.

"I'm human!," Kaneki professed.

He finally looked up at Touka but she was already turning away.

"This is ridiculous," she said. She walked back to the dead body. Dead bodies. "Why don't you just give in," she asked him.

Yes, he did look pitiful.

"If you don't have the nerve to eat…," Touka said, tearing limbs apart with a disgusting zipping sound. "Then I'll give you a hand," Touka finished.

What did she mean by that? Was she literally being serious? Was she joking? Surely, she must be—

With the force of a fully trained bodybuilder, she shot towards him, a blur, and shoved a large object into his mouth.

He didn't even see her turn around.

The salty bitter taste of blood filled Kaneki's mouth as he flew backwards.

The force was so great the skin and muscle that held his jaws almost ripped open.

Time seemed to slow.

But Kaneki didn't know how to feel. It wasn't a good feeling, but the taste of flesh was not bad, something he was subconsciously aware of.

But the thing that hurt the most was the idea that this one act took away his innocence like all great protagonists in literature. The idea that he was no longer human.

<End of Part One>