The three teens ran together through the empty streets of the twenty-fourth ward, listening to the screams of pain and distant sound of battle.

"Himika..." Hinami trailed off. "Do you smell that?"

Himika's fist clenched. "Yes."

"What do you smell?" Kentaro asked.

Himika's clone glanced over her shoulder and glared at the pest on her back.

"Well sorry!" He huffed. "But I'm just a human!"

"It's our big brother." Hinami answered. "And he's headed towards all the blood we smelled earlier."

"Brother?" Kentaro mumbled.

"Kaneki." Himika said. "He's been a big brother to me and Hinami, well, before at least."

"What happened?" He asked.

"He left me." Himika mumbled, mostly to herself, but they both heard it.

"He left both of us, but who knows for what reason." Hinami added, gazing at Himika's back sadly.

"That sucks," Kentaro sighed. "I don't have any siblings, so I don't know what that's like."

"What about your mom and dad?" Hinami asked.

"My mom was killed by a ghoul around seven years ago, and after tonight..." He took a stifled breath. "I don't think he wants to see me."

"I can't say I share your pain." Himika said, inserting herself into the conversation. "I never knew my parents. Only a psychopath with an obsession with science."

Hinami stayed silent, the death of her parents was still fairly recent.

"I'm not even going to ask Hinami." Kentaro frowned.

"Thank you, Ken." She smiled, wiping at her eyes.

Kentaro found himself to be confused. He grew up hating ghouls, and his father joined the CCG because he was orphaned as a child by a ghoul attack. Kentaro hated them after his mother died, and he planned to follow in his father's footsteps. But now? He was having second thoughts.

While Himika acted distant and anti-social, he knew she was hurting. So many things have happened to her, and on top of that, whoever this 'Kaneki' guy is, gave her some more issues. Most likely some form of abandonment issues.

Hinami was just all around innocent. As Himika said before, 'she hasn't killed anyone.' And somehow, he believed her. Hinami just wasn't ready for what happened to her; whatever that was.

"We're almost there." Himika said, breaking both Hinami and Kentaro out of their thoughts.

Himika reached into her sweatpants pocket and pulled out her leather mask, fastening it around her head. On Himika's order, they halted in front of a battered and broken building.

"Hide your faces." Himika said.

Hinami put a surgical mask over her nose and mouth, then tying a black bandanna over her hair and pulling it just over her eyes. Kentaro panicked, searching himself for something, just to come up empty handed.

"Uh, I've got nothing." He chuckles nervously.

"Use your shirt." Himika said.

Kentaro's face exploded in red. "No way!"

Himika scowled, her eyes darting around for something until they rested on her bright red scarf. An item she had carried for a long time and loved.

"Here," She sighed, unwrapping the scarf and tossing it. "Try not to ruin it."

Himika's clone caught the scarf and handed it to Kentaro, glaring at him.

'Great,' He thought. 'I can get double the glares.'

Kentaro awkwardly wrapped the scarf around his head until only his emerald green eyes and chocolate brown hair could be seen.

Hinami giggled at the sight and Kentaro flushed red. Although he could have just been hot.

"This is embarrassing." Kentaro hissed.

"Then it's a good thing you don't have any dignity." Himika replied, her clone smirking.

Kentaro narrowed his eyes at the clone.

"We've wasted enough time, let's go." Himika ordered, walking forward.

Kentaro and Hinami followed after her, with the Himika clone bringing up the rear.

"We're getting closer." Himika said. "Kentaro, mask your scent. You're the only human within twenty kilometers. You will attract attention."

"How do I do that?"

Himika's eyes scanned the buildings exterior.

"There's a puddle of ghoul blood over there," She pointed out. "Have at it."

"That's disgusting!" He shrieked.

"Shut up you fool!" Himika hissed.

"I'm still not doing it."

Himika's clone was by his side in an instant and used his surprise to shove him into a puddle.

"Whoops." The clone shrugged.

Kentaro got up with a sigh. "This is bullying."

"That was the idea." Himika and her clone mused.

Kentaro just sighed, cringing at his bloody hands and clothes. "Ew."

Hinami patted him on the shoulder. "There, there, if it makes you feel any better though, I won't bully you."

Kentaro looked to the Himika's.

"Don't look at me, I ain't stopping." She said. "Now get moving, they are just up ahead."

They trudged onward into the dark building, that looked like it was once a train station. Blood was smeared all over the floor and walls, Kentaro looked sick.

Slumped against a wall were two people. Whether they were dead or alive was really up to debate. One of them, clearly female, wore a black dog mask. The other, a male, wore an angry ape mask.

"Is that...?"

"Irimi and Koma." Himika finished for Hinami.

"Who are they?" Kentaro asked, wincing at their battered bodies.

"They work at Antieku." Himika replied. "They trained me when I first started working there."

Hinami's eyes began to tear up.

"Are they...?"

Himika bent to check their vitals while her clone comforted Hinami. She unzipped Koma's jacket and placed a hand over his heart.

"He's alive, but I'm not sure how bad the damage is." Himika said. "He's also bleeding heavily."

Himika cursed under her breath and moved on to check on Irimi, regretting that she never got into medical ninjutsu. She was more of a 'lets-break-some-shit' than a 'I'll-heal-you' kind of person.

Himika unbuttoned Irimi's black trench coat and moved it aside, placing her hand over her heart.

"She's alive, but not doing well." Himika sighed, standing up.

Himika stepped back and looked at her clone.

"Go outside, check for anyone I know and bring them back, especially if they can help." Himika ordered the clone.

The clone nodded and took off, running down the hall and through a broken window.

Hinami sank to her knees and hugged them to her chest, gazing just over her kneecaps at the unconscious faces of Koma and Irimi.

"I'm sorry." Kentaro sighed.

"Sorry?" Hinami chuckles. "You didn't cause this."

"I know, but I still feel bad." He admits. "For the longest time I've hated ghouls, but I think my view has been changed."

"That's good." Hinami smiled, her gaze shifting to Kentaro for a moment.

"You should still be wary." Himika warned. "Not all ghouls will be as nice and understanding as Hinami."

"I'd know that first hand."

The three of them whirled around, peering into the darkness.

A mop of white hair shone through the dark and a single red eye.

"Kaneki."

A/N

Oof. Good? Bad? Let me know, because I know I'm happy.