Stitched Together

Chapter 9: Frightful Friend

"Reina, Reina are you listening?" Shinohara snaps, making me awaken from my trance.

"Y-yes Mr. Shinohara." I answer, my voice shaky. I look down at myself and shudder. The black armor like gear of the CCG dons my body. We are preparing to raid the 11th ward hideout of the ghoul organization, Aogiri tree.

"Look Reina, I don't want anything to happen to you. If you're not ready to do this then I'm sure you can-"

"No," I cut in abruptly. "I'm fine, really." The night was restless, and since I got up my hands haven't stopped shaking. For the first time ever, I truly feel fear. Combat is nothing, but just being on this side... What if a ghoul notices and alerts them? They would kill me on the spot, just like any other monster. No, it's no good to think like that. I am a ghoul and I can handle myself. I am clever, that's how I got this far, and there's no turning back now. Shinohara's concerned gaze makes me straighten my posture and stand with confidence. I have a deep respect and appreciation for this man. Never have I met someone so caring and kind hearted. If anything, I have to remain strong to spare him the worry. "I can do this," I say, my tone finally even.

"Yes of course, I know you can. Please just be careful alright," he smiles slightly. We have yet to dispatch to 11, but we are loading up into trucks now. The grip around the handle of my briefcase that contains my guns tightens. This is it... but wait a moment. Isn't something mis-

"Hi Shinohara~" a chipper voice sings and I freeze in place. Oh yeah, him. Suzuya skips up to us and hops about happily. "This is going to be so fun!"

"Juuzou! Where have you been, I was looking for you. Please control yourself out there, this is not meant to be fun. Remember the rule, you can't cause them more harm than necessary," Shinohara scolds in a fatherly tone.

"Awww, but why? They're just ghouls, its not like they really matter," he whines. My breathing cuts out for a moment, and my eyes look to the ground. Everyone of those comments stab right through me. Though we give off the initial appearance of friends, I actually harbor a deep fear of him. I don't acknowledge it much, but he is ruthless, and if he found out my little secret, I could only imagine the joy he would find in ripping me apart. "Hey Reina, you okay, you kinda look like you're gonna puke," he giggles, making me look up startled, the image of him standing over my mangled body lingers in my mind.

"I'm perfectly fine," I put on a shaky smile and attempt to keep my outlook optimistic. I get to go and kill some of those self righteous bastards in Aogiri, so that's a plus. This is my first real mission after all, I should be excited. What am I doing being all fickle, I'm nothing like that. "I could always switch sides if i get found out here, Aogiri already did want me, but I'd rather not get stuck with them. Escaping shouldn't be that hard, everyone'll be distracted. Though, a certain white haired menace will probably be at my side this whole time. If worse comes to worse I could fight off Suzuya briefly and..." The thought ends there. For some reason I couldn't even think of trying to hurt him, even though I know he would slaughter me. Plus, the way he fights, I might be able to last a few minutes tops, if I actually fought with determination. My eyes wander over and steal a glance of the stitched lunatic. He quickly meets my gaze and grins, the scarlet burning right through me.

"Well let's go then," he perks up and skips onto a truck. I stand there for a moment, frozen. There's something off about him, like more than usual. He seems, darker, in some way. His usual childish smile and sing song voice just appear eerie now.

"Reina," Shinohara alerts me. "if you're sure you can do this, lets load up," he smiles reassuringly and puts his hand on my shoulder. I nod and we follow Suzuya onto the truck. CCG members of various grim expressions cram into the vehicle and we all shift about as we take our leave. Suzuya happily rocks back and forth on his feet and earns several odd looks from the others. I don't understand this kid's thought process, there is something so fascinatingly wrong with him. The sound of gunshots is getting closer, and I lurch forward as the truck comes to a stop. People fling the doors open and hurry us out. It seems we arrived after a few other squads. There is a large building with ghouls posted at each window, firing at our forces. We meet up with Amon and survey the scene. Suzuya makes a circle with his fingers and looks through it.

"Why aren't we attacking?" he grumbles.

"We're not able to attack," Amon sighs. "They stole our guns and are sniping us down."

"How bout we just go around the opposite side~" Suzuya suggests.

"They could be waiting to ambush us, and the terrain isnt really fit for that. The other side of the building is the sea, and the facility is surrounded by forest, so the risk is too high." Amon does have a point... but how are we going to get in. I have both my guns in each of my hands, ready to fire at the order, but seeing as how we're at a stalemate, who knows how long we'll wait.

"By the way... how can you fight ghouls with bullets, the dont pass through kagune do they?" Suzuya tilts his head and asks me.

"O-oh, well thats true for metal bullets. But Q-bullets are coated in a thin layer of melted kagune, so they work to an extent. Not as good as an actual quinque though, so I should be careful," I reply. I have to be exeedingly careful not to get myself into situations where i have no choice but to use my kagune as well.

"Well, would my scorpion work?" he turns and questions Shinohara.

"Yes, but it is a small knife, so don't go up against any strong ghouls like Jason, alright Juuzou."

"Pfft," Suzuya grins mischievously. Oh dear, he has no restraint, I don't know what would happen if he met up with Jason. Jason was the strongest ghoul in my ward, so things had a bit more order because no one would dare go against him. He left a while back, but I would have never guessed he would've ended up with Aogiri. "I wanna real cool quinque like Amon, what was it again?" Suzuya comments randomly. He's still on about quinques huh. He must be obsessed.

"A koukaku," Amon sighs irritably. A shiver goes down my spine. Some poor koukaku like me got turned into some tool for humans to fling about. What ever happens, I know I don't want to end up like that. This idle chit chat is doing no good, we still have yet to make any advances. A new voice joins our group and I turn my head to find Shinohara talking with another special class investigator, Iwoa Kuroiwa. The two talk about strategy, but I cant help but notice Suzuya's eyes wandering.

"Hey Shinohara."

"Yes Juuzou?"

"...who's bike it that?" He asks, staring at it. I follow his gaze and get a bad feeling. No, he wouldn't.

"Oh, thats Marude's. He rode it to the site." Shinohara explains, then goes back to talking with Iwoa. Suzuya continues staring at the bike, but doesn't make a move towards it. Shrugging off his interest, I move a bit closer to the building. It's true, Marude's getting quite ticked off. I'm about to go back to Shinohara when a voice makes me go rigid. Oh no.

"Okay, here we go. Please move," Suzuya calls out. I whip around and find him mounted on the bike. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Marude shrieks at the sight of his bike, but Suzuya speeds towards us. "Oh Reina, get on," He shouts to me. What! Before I can open my mouth, he holds out his arm, hooking around my waist, and swings me onto the back of the bike. "I'm borrowing this," he smile and waves as we pass Marude.

"Juuzou what in the world are you-!" I screech, but squeeze him tightly as we zip up the stairs. No, he wouldn't.

"Time to jump now Reina~" He sings, standing up on the seat, pulling me up with him. He launches off and I follow him not even a second after. I'd rather jump head first into hostile ghouls than blow up with the motorcycle. "Good evening." he grins darkly and fires at the ghouls on his way through the window. I roll onto the floor and back up onto my feet quickly, cocking my guns, but I stare stunned as Juuzou moves abstractly down the hall, taking out every ghoul in a heart beat. W-What is he? The motorcycle explodes outside, and Juuzou holds up the heads of his victims. "You can enter now~" he calls out with a large smile. Marude shouts the orders and Suzuya leaves the window. I stand there paralyzed from the shock, but he looks over his shoulder at me. "Aren't you coming?" he snaps me back into reality and I jog after him.

"W-What are we going to do?" I whimper, my fear for him now amplified.

"We're gonna go get quinques silly." he giggles, and we make our way down the dark corridor.

->->->->->->XIII<-<-<-<-<-<-

Hiya guys, thanks for sticking with me. Sorry this chapter's a bit meh, and fairly short, but long chapters take a long time so I had to break it up. Thank you all so much for commenting such sweet things, they really motivate me to write this stuff and I'm so glad that so many of you are enjoying it. For now, farewell my darling readers.