Ghosts of the Past

Chapter 32

The wind hummed in Kaneki's ears as he stalked his prey.

Stupidly enough, the man had thought it to be a good idea to murder a girl while the town was crawling with police, especially while criminals, such as him, were roaming about.

He had dragged her body to Kaneki's hideout, and into the forest of trees.

Kaneki scowled at how any human could take another human's life so easily. Humans had a choice. Ghouls didn't, not usually anyway.

Like now, suicide victims were scarce most of the time. He had to resort to eating either human criminals or ghouls.

Since humans tasted better, Kaneki couldn't pass up this opportunity to have one as his meal for the week. Eating criminals wasn't guilt free, but it was as guilt free as he could get tonight.

He prowled above the trees, watching the man's every movement and breath, waiting patiently for the time to strike.

He could just eat the dead body of the girl, but letting the criminal get away with no consequences wasn't a choice in Kaneki's book.

He scowled at the scene. The man had no remorse for the life he had taken. It was sickening. It made Kaneki wonder why humans always viewed ghouls as the monsters when plenty of them had more value on human life than lots of humans Kaneki had encountered.

Although, many people, even adults, were often naive and looked at everything like black and white. Lots seemed to think humans were good and ghouls were bad. That's how the world worked.

That's why the world was wrong.

The man dropped the girl's body clumsily and took the shovel he had been carrying off of his shoulder to dig a hole.

When the shovel burrowed into the dirt, Kaneki called out. "It's sickening, watching any human kill someone else with no remorse for their life."

The man jerked up, eyes wide with panic. "Who's there?!"

Kaneki clicked his tongue and hopped down from his branch, landing in front of the man's eyes.

The man's eyes held fear. "I know you! You're that criminal those Tokyo police are after!"

"Yes, that's me." Kaneki responded in a blank tone.

"Who are you to ridicule me for killing when you do the same?" The man snarled.

Kaneki had to hand it to the man. Though he was scared, he held his ground. Kaneki might have respected the man if it wasn't for the current situation.

"I'm merely misunderstood. You see, I only kill because I have to. A ghoul's got to eat." Kaneki shrugged, his eyes giving away none of his emotions.

"Ghoul?" The man wondered, but his voice shook at what Kaneki was implying.

"Yes. Since you'll be dead in a few minutes, I suppose it's fine to tell you. The police from Tokyo are actually an organization called the CCG. They came here to hunt the ghouls, specifically me. Us ghouls are hunted because we survive off of human flesh. Interesting, no?" Kaneki smiled, delighted that the sick bast*rd was shaking and pale.

"T-That's crazy t-talk!" He managed to stutter out.

"Really?" Kaneki let his eye shift to his kakugan, and his kagune erupted from his back. "Am I crazy now?"

The man had no time to scream as Kaneki wrapped one kagune around the man's waist, using a second to cover the man's mouth. He lifted him into the air, letting him dangle.

Kaneki spoke. "Usually, I'd make this as quick and painless as possible, but I've decided to drag it out for you. I'm sure the girl you killed will appreciate the gesture."

The man struggled, making muffled noises behind the red rinkaku, obviously protesting Kaneki's decision. It was futile, since the man had no say in what the one-eyed ghoul wanted to do with his food.

Kaneki drew back a third kagune and pieced the man's stomach, blood spitting from the wound like a hose.

He pulled the appendage out and dropped the bloody, coughing man to the ground.

Kaneki stalked forward, boots connecting with the dirt, making 'thump' noises.

The man tried to scramble away, only to limp slowly from the wound. "M-Monster! St-Stay away-ay!"

"Seriously?" Kaneki spat, kicking the man into a nearby tree. "You're so pathetic, you've resulted to throwing insults!"

The man whimpered, trying to crawl away.

Kaneki was in front of the man with a gust of air and picked the man up by his throat.

"You-" Arm's gone. "think-" Finger ripped off. "you-" Broken leg. "can-" Punch. "get-" Kick. "away-" Stab. "with-" Slam. "this?!"

"You can't!" Kaneki barked angrily.

He shoved the man to the ground and used his kagune to pierce the man's heart and throat.

The body stopped moving, and Kaneki pulled his kagune away from the man.

One kagune was bloody, only that. The man's throat was open. Kaneki could see the inside of it, the red walls, muscle, and liquid.

The other kagune was also bloody. The man's best had been torn up, revealing his organs and cracked ribs. The blood inside of him shined in the glint of moonlight.

What hung off of the kagune was a mangled heart, dangling from the sharp point.

Kaneki almost wished he could see the man alive, staring in shock, disgust, and fear at his own beating heart pulsing on Kaneki's own rinkaku.

__________________________

Kaneki buried the man, what was left of him anyway, where the little girl was supposed to go.

He gently picked up the girl's body and observed her.

She couldn't have been more than ten, her light red hair and pale, lifeless brown eyes. On the ground near her lay a bloody, purple backpack with a card hanging from the pocket with her identity on it.

He cried for the family that lost her.

Kaneki snuck into the town graveyard, the body and the man's shovel in hand, and grabbed a spare plank of wood.

He dug a hole and gently set her body down into it, covering her with dirt.

He jammed the wooden plank of wood deep into the muddy soil and used his small pocket knife he'd never opened to carve her name on the piece as a headstone.

Kaneki didn't have anything else to use or anything to buy a real headstone with, so this would have to do.

Carved into the plank of wood were these words.

Iris Onx Roven Daughter and Friend May She Rest in Peace

It wasn't the best, but Kaneki had a light feeling to know that the child had at least some type of burial.

He stayed there that night, knelt in front of the poorly made headstone, and cried for the young girl he'd never met, her family, and her friends.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! This was just a slight filler. This is just to keep you up to date with Kaneki's well being and life. It's technically just to show you what types of things he's had to deal with since he's been hiding. Bye my doggies!