Guns, Bullets & Bones [Tokyo Ghoul]

Ch. 19 ~ Lane Vs Ayako

     Dylan's departure had left the air quiet and still, both Ayako and Lane frozen like ice-sculptures as low, chilling breeze cut through the brook and tousled their hair.

     Lane hadn't expected anything different from the human. It was fight of flight, and when a human was smart enough to know they weren't the strongest, and were more than likely facing their impending doom, they developed rather marvellous rational decision making and flight won out. They also gained some rather wonderful sprinting abilities, apparently. Lane was debating whether to give chase, or face the damaged ghoul in front of him.

     "You know, I won't let you go after him," Ayako said lowly, her feet planted firmly on the ground, body like a hunter, prepared to strike in a moments notice. Lane was amused by her attempts.

     "Watch yourself, little girl," Lane snickered. "You're swimming in the deep end now,"

    "I am going to show you what little girls are made of; gunpowder and lead," She hissed back, her hand reaching behind her, and from where it had been resting in the back waistband of her cream skirt, Ayako produced a menacing matte black pistol.

     "You carry that around with you everywhere?" Lane asked in mockery, raising both eyebrows with a smug grin.

     "With people like you around, I don't suppose I have much choice." She hummed in a conversational tone. The mockery bouncing back and forth was ratcheting up the tension, notch by notch, until Ayako swore she could feeling it curling in her stomach and Lane's body felt alive with a buzz.

     "You know," Lane's voice suddenly dropped low, and deadly seriously. The time for being playful was over. This was serious. "Children shouldn't play with guns,"

     "Who said I was playing?" She replied.

      Everything began to happen in a blur, images flashing past at lightning speed. Lane's steely eyes swirled into a pit of black and red, as did Ayako's, and Lane's flame Kagune sprung from his back in flurries of blue. He leapt into the air, pushing off the wall as the Kagune shards began to rain down like tiny daggers.

     Ayako literally threw herself out of range, catching herself in a low crouch as the thud of Lane's boots hitting the ground reached her ears. She could feel him drawing nearer and she cocked the gun, standing and turning, aiming for where he was.

     The two shots she fired off echoed in her ears like haunting screams, but the bullets buried themselves in the red brick wall in spray of dust and debris.

      Lane hand wound around her wrist with the gun, but with her free hand she desperately swung a punch to his exposed jaw. His head cracked to the side and he staggered slightly, but his grip remained tight, feeling like the bones in Ayako's wrist were being crumpled. She twisted closer to him for only a moment, to raise her elbow and drive it down on his arm, and his grip eventually broke free of her.

    She took a few steps back and Lane matched them, a fist shooting out to try and catch her in an uppercut, but she ducked down at the last moment, sending his fist, with all of it's momentum, swinging through the empty air.

     However, Lane saw an opportunity, and quickly carried his momentum with a hard quick, and because she was crouched at the perfect height, his boot connected squarely with the side of Ayako's head, sending pain blossoming through her temples and sent her sprawling meters across the concrete. She was grazed, and beginning to bleed slightly.

    Lane leapt into the air once again, and Ayako knew what was coming, and she knew she couldn't avoid it now. Her only hope was a counter attack.

     As the blue shards rained down once more, she took aim, and fired off the remaining four bullets, all four finding a home squarely in Lane's chest.

     However, there was nothing that could stop the shards, and Ayako held her arms above her face to try and protect herself, yet they rained down on her and dug into her body as the blood began to seep out. Wearily, she let her arms drop back down, and she stared down at her body, half-propped against a wall, leaking blood from the various wounds where the mocking blue shards were still dug deep into her flesh. She sighed out in pain.

      Lane was stood a few meters away, a dark shadow cast over his face, as one hand lamely clutched at his ripped black and white striped shirt, with four ragged bullet holes. Ayako could only watch as Lane dug his fingers into the bullets holes and one by one, let the metal drop into his hand. Slowly, slowly, the flesh began to grow back over the bullet wounds, while Ayako slowly picked the shards from her body, not a single wound of hers had begun healing. Lane had just been feeding, Ayako had not.

     "I never stood a chance, did I?" Ayako murmured. Her breaths were fast, but even. She was in pain, great pain, but she would live.

     "That's the sad part- you did once," Lane said quietly, seemingly too preoccupied with his ruined shirt to look at the girl, bleeding on the floor.

     "That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Ayako hissed through clenched teeth, slowly pushing herself upright, eyes burning and nails digging fiercely into her own skin.

     "Yes, I know," Was the only reply Lane gave.

    "Well!?" Ayako cried out, her chest heaving with the effort. "What have you got to say for yourself?!"

     There was no answer, and it was a long, unbearable moment of silence before Lane spoke again.

    "Why do you defend that boy?" He asked quietly, head tilting to the side, as if he was as innocent as a confused puppy. The flaming Kagune on his back final retracted and his eyes returned to their shining grey.

    "He isn't like anyone I've ever met before..." She murmured after a long moment of thinking, and choosing her wording precisely.

     "How so?"

    "He... He seems different. He isn't afraid in the same way the others are..." Ayako hummed, feeling her chest flutter and swell, finally being able to get out what she'd been thinking the whole time. There was something about Dylan Fukai. He was afraid like all the others, but there was something different to his fear.

     "It didn't look that way to me," Lane snorted in disgust, turning and kicking a stray stone, sending it skidding across the concrete for a moment, before it came to rest.

      Lane turned his back on Ayako completely, and began to leave the small area which had served as their area the same direction he had come in from. Something heavy was weighing inside Ayako, forcing her next words from her without will.

     "Lane, I... I'm sorry, I..."

     "Save it," He muttered over his shoulder, and he melted back into the stretching shadows, and was gone once again.

~