Unravel the World

Ch XIII ~ Battles

"They're on their way."

Tatara's voice managed to carry over the sound of Ayato and Iriai fighting. Immediately, both of them stopped and turned to him. Yet another cry from Kaneki sounded from Yamori's den.

Ayato considered the possibilities. 'They' could refer to either Anteiku or the CCG. Either way, they would want to kill as many people as possible.

Despite the way they so desperately sought for peace, Anteiku was made up of some brilliant fighters who had taken out many members of the CCG. The Devil Ape, the Black Dog... The Owl... Yes, they were a good group to be part of.

But they weren't anywhere near Aogiri.

"Who?" Iriai finally asked, after several moments of the three of them standing in silence.

Tatara regarded her for a second before finally announcing that the CCG were planning a raid. Apparently somebody had given them an anonymous tip as to where Aogiri were camping out and where the infamous Jason dragged all those poor souls. It was probably Banjou. He was the type who would betray Aogiri.

He'd only joined Rize. Before she disappeared, she said something to him that must have made him feel like it was his responsibility to bring all the ghouls together or something self-righteous like that. He tried to unite all the ghouls in the Ward, but Aogiri managed to stop him from getting himself killed. Now he was trying to get Aogiri killed because they stopped him. They should have killed him when they had the chance.

Ayato could feel himself fuming beneath his skin, but somehow managed to keep his face completely relaxed through this talk. The only thing anyone could have picked up on was that he was digging his nails into his palms, barely stopping them from drawing blood. If Banjou was still alive by the time Ayato found him, he was going to be dead very soon.

A drop of blood splashed to the floor and Ayato released his fist. There wasn't much blood, like a papercut except less painful. It healed within a second.

"So get to your places," Tatara finally instructed, walking away. Iriai and Ayato nodded, waiting for him to leave before running upstairs to get their masks.

He considered putting on his new rabbit mask, but settled again for his familiar half-mask. As usual, Iriai secured the cybergoth gas mask to her face.

"We really need to get you a new mask," he said.

She laughed. "Maybe I'll have one made."

In suspended silence, Ayato pulled on his leather jacket.

"You remember what we did in training?" he finally said, seriousness weighing down his voice.

"Yes," Iriai replied, also beginning to understand the weight of this situation.

"Don't forget it."

**********

Ten ghouls. All dead.

Iriai was panicked and out of breath and scared. Rumour had it that the CCG had a kid on their side that used to be a scrapper. Iriai had never seen a scrapper. Apparently they were humans that were used by ghouls in those gourmet places to take down ghouls for fun. And he had slaughtered these ten members of Aogiri in a matter of 5 minutes.

Aogiri had machine guns, flocks of ghouls, everything they needed to defend themselves from the CCG and yet, somehow this child who must have been younger than Ayato had mangled these bodies beyond recognition. The only thing that was identifiable was the shredded Aogiri robes, the blood soaking through the material to turn it from vermilion to a deadly scarlet.