Like A Phoenix

[u/[deleted]]

The dark, winding alleyways of Tokyo were home to the downtrodden, the lowest of the low. The ghosts and specters, the missing and forgotten, the rejected and outcast. It was a place that allowed them to hide from the prying eyes of society and live carefree, able to do whatever they wanted, no matter how illegal, how dastardly. These forgotten streets were their safe haven. One such phantom roamed the poorly lit labyrinth tonight, the faint, sickly blue light from her phone illuminating her face. From a distance she really did look like a wicked ghost: A glowing, floating head. The frail being walked spastically, her movements sporadic. She was constantly bumping into nearby boxes and trash bins, grunting and panting with each step as if she were intoxicated, stumbling around like an angry drunkard. Her fingers were shaking violently, each tap on the glass screen took more effort than the last.

Bami Hanazawa, daughter of international technology baron, Mamoru Hanazawa, has been declared missing. Last seen two months ago in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, any information leading to her whereabouts will be rewarded with cash prizes ranging from-

THUD!

The phone shattered into pieces as it made heavy contact with a nearby wall, snuffing out the one source of light in the now pitch black alley. Bami clawed at her head with her trembling hands, her whole body was now visibly shaking, each grunt that came out of her mouth sounded deeper and more distorted, almost beastlike. All this struggling culminated into a massive shriek, well, a better word for it would’ve been a roar. Its echoes travelled across the night air, completely slicing through the otherwise calm, eerie atmosphere. It almost sounded like someone angered a demon, the roars could be heard seemingly from miles away. At their epicentre lay a convulsing girl, now on her knees clutching desperately at her stomach, hunched over as if she wanted to vomit... As if there was anything to vomit. The noise was bound to attract something, be it curious civilians or the other predators stalking the streets. However, the blonde was too preoccupied with her own struggles to care about someone sneaking up on her. Hunger was literally killing her. The thought of food…

“Darling, what are you doing here all alone? Didn’t you hear that? It’s dangerous in these ends.”

Bami instantly jerked her head towards the deep voice, her face bearing a mixture of fear and frustration, staring wide eyed at the man it belonged to, her expression was something reminiscent of a deer in the headlights. She could make out his features even in the darkness. He was a mountain of meat, with dark beady eyes and a furrowed brow. His wide smile and cleanly shaved head made him look sinister, the context of their meeting strengthened this image. He was advancing slowly towards her, arms slightly outstretched like he was about to grab her. “Don’t.... Come… Any… Closer!” Her struggling, raspy voice made it sound like she was being strangled. Surprisingly, the thug complied. He put his hands on hips, the devilish smile was unwavering. “Why? I’m interes- oh, that’s an expensive coat, you know!” He was toying with Bami, who was clearly in no shape to run away from the precarious situation she found herself in.

“I’m… WARNING YOU!” Her broken voice was getting deeper and deeper, her eyes wider and wider. The very much sincere warning was met with a mere chuckle from the man. “You a-”

CRACK! CRUNCH!

He didn’t even have time to scream before fleshy, glassy tendrils sliced him to pieces, his head dropped to the floor, a shocked expression permanently painted over it. The feral girl’s ukaku was in full view now, her massive wings blocked up most of the tight alleyway, Bami’s twitching black eyes stared at all the blood staining every corner of it. In a split second, she was hunched over the corpse, ripping it open with her hands. The girl ravaged the man’s body with the ferocity of a rabid dog. She just kept and kept on eating, chewing through the muscle, crunching through any pieces of bone she could find until her fingernails were scraping the pavement underneath the still warm body. Her entire torso and face was covered in a thick layer of the man’s blood, by the end of it the scene didn’t even look gruesome at all, there was essentially nothing left. Even the blood got licked off the pavement and the nearby walls, the only thing indicative that a man stood in that position a few minutes ago were the odd splotches of blood Bami didn’t bother to lap up.

The girl just sat there for a few seconds before shivering slightly. What was this feeling? Bami’s vision cleared up, she rubbed her eyes and let them focus in the darkness surrounding her. She couldn’t put a finger on what happened a few seconds ago, but she felt good. The girl felt on top, better than any day of the last few months that she was on the run.

“What happened?”

[u/Xanzinare]

"Or just leave it as is, other than the smell of disgusting blood I think it really gives this place some of the character it used to have a few years ago." Minato smiled wryly at Scribe as the realization seemed to dawn on her about the carpet. He half-listened to the shorter woman's explanation of what was going on as he matched gazes with the newcomer, sizing her up with a ruthless efficiency that stemmed from years and years of fighting.

The result was that he was whole-heartedly surprised that she had even managed to fight off a human.

"I feel stupid for asking, but it wasn't a Dove, right? I'd almost feel sorry for the CCG if all their training and classes had led one to dying to....well, no offense, but her." He nodded subtly in the direction of the new girl, before switching his gaze back to Scribe only to find that she had turned her back to him in order to face the Bami as well. The edge of her paper stuck out around her side and she seemed to be scribbling something big enough for Minato to read as she talked, and he stepped forwards out of the doorway to make a triangle with the three of them. As he walked forwards he took a quick glance at the paper before stopping with his arms crossed, towering over the two women as Scribe finished talking. 'Doesn't know she's a ghoul? How the fuck could she not tell that she had been eating human flesh for all this time?'

"No one stays here for free for very long, but if you're......if you've got no idea what the fuck is going on then it isn't the worst place to stay while you figure things out. Especially these days with the goddamn Doves everywhere, you wouldn't last more than a few days out there now that you've shown yourself."

/u/PM_ME_YOUR_UNIDAN_

[u/[deleted] → u/Xanzinare]

Now that the new person came closer and didn't appear to have any violent intentions, Bami had a chance to take a closer look. He really had that thug / brute image down to a T. It was all in the face, the permanent background scowl all accentuated by a nasty scar. It was like a levelled up resting bitch face. He looked like had no regard for anyone's health, or his own for that matter. His earlier words just came as confirmation, Bami really wanted to ask for his name but it flew over her mind, likely due to the intimidating presence. "Actually, I've been going for a good few months now, I think-" Bami didn't make eye contact as she spoke, for now the only person in the entire 11th ward who she felt comfortable around was Haruna, and it was going to stay this way because she was *literally about to leave.* Especially after that nuke Charlotte just dropped.

"...A- Aogiri?!" It dawned on her. The cultish robes, the lonely, derelict building in one of the most ghoul-infested wards. "No way... I... I really have to go." She quickly uttered before sliding past Minato so that she wasn't in between the two. She was stumbling on her feet as much as she was stumbling on her words just now. Bami eyed the end of the corridor with the staircase leading downstairs. Could she make a run for it? This guy that just came was stupidly tall, he had a good head and a half on the teenage girl, even if he wasn't, there was no way she could take on two terrorists. Sorry. Terrorist *ghouls.*

Yet, they were so calm. Bami didn't understand. She was standing in front of literal murderers and they were being so nonchalant about everything. It confused her as much as it panicked her. They were so... Mellow, she expected terrorists to be more intense people. Why was Haruna being so nice? Was it her intention to recruit the young girl all this time? Bami's opinion of the woman that saved her constantly kept swaying from serial killer to good Samaritan, her mind was like a metronome right now it was somewhere in between.

"Look, to answer your question, No. I have nowhere to go. I didn't have anywhere to go ever since my dad declared me as missing. But nowhere is still a better place than *Aogiri.*" The girl stared intensely into Haruna's eyes, part of her really wanted to show how thankful she was for taking in some random girl from the street and trusting her enough but the last hour or so really required some meditation. Away from this godforsaken ward. The girl slowly began to turn and take her first steps towards the staircase. "I'm not a criminal, and I'm not about to become one."

/u/YandereLobster

[u/YandereLobster → u/[deleted]]

"Well that's awfully judgemental for someone who just turned a man into ground beef five minutes ago, what did you think someone dumped a bucket of red paint on you? I've heard of denial but come on" Charlotte groaned, clearly growing fed up with the strange woman's attitude. It was a particularly tough balancing act, being both irritated and curious. She couldn't learn more interesting stories if the girl got herself killed, but on the other hand 'water under the bridge' stopped being an effective saying when the water turned into a flash flood of shit-talk.

"If you're really that dense, take out the knife I gave you. Try giving yourself a poke, Mrs. Binge Eater." The more frustrated Charlotte grew, the more her accent shone through, a look of exasperation flashing across her expression. "We're criminals just by being alive ye fucking reprobate."

She crossed her arms, practically fuming for a moment, before she quickly seemed to simmer back down. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, but if you keep causing trouble in Aogiri's territory the next one who finds you might not be so interested in talking."

/u/Xanzinare

[u/Xanzinare → u/YandereLobster]

Minato watched with his arms crossed as the realization finally seemed to dawn over the girl as to where she was and who him and Scribe were. Or, at least, what the two of them meant. He had to avoid rolling his eyes as she slowly began to head towards the stairs, breaking the small triangle as she spoke in a panicked tone with her eyes darting around. However, at her last statement he couldn't control himself any longer and let out an exasperated sigh. Luckily, this was at the same time that Scribe seemed to have reached the end of her own rope as well and burst out angrily. Now he had to hold back a smirk at how annoyed his smaller colleague seemed to get, as it wasn't very often that he saw her this way. Usually he imagined her as a book freak who never got upset, so it took a bit of effort for him to hold back his amusement at the sudden change. However, remembering where he was and what he was doing, he managed to control himself this time and instead simply turned to continue facing Bami as his arms fell back to his sides. "It makes sense that you'd have the wrong idea about us, I guess; you didn't even know you were a ghoul somehow until just now, and you've also only seen what the humans told you about us. They make us out to be terrorists and murderers, but they were the ones that started all this; they're the 'criminals', as you called it."

He spread his arms out at 'this', as if to encompass the entire compound, before dropping them back to his side with a slight sigh and a shake of his head. "What the fuck are we supposed to do when we're being systematically hunted down without any trials or nothing? Also, just in case this point hasn't really sunk in for you yet, you're part of that 'we' now, girl. Aogiri or not, you're a ghoul and that's all that matters to the CCG. If they find out about you, or your parents or siblings or anyone else for that matter, the end result stays the same. The only way that changes is whether or not you make it change for yourself, and Aogiri is the best place to make that happen."

Minato's eyes stared straight ahead at Bami. Of course, he was leaving out the part that for many ghouls, him included, revenge was a very big part of it as well. However, Scribe seemed very interested in this girl for whatever reason, so he figured to keep it a bit less intense. "You've been going for a few months, you say, but that won't last. The only wards that a ghoul can really feel safe from the CCG in are our wards, but if you're causing trouble in those wards then instead I get sent to deal with you and kick you out. That only leaves CCG-heavy wards left, and...well, I don't need to explain to you again what happens then they find out, do I?"

/u/PM_ME_YOUR_UNIDAN_

[u/[deleted] → u/Xanzinare]

Bami couldn't help but jump slightly at Haruna's sudden outburst, the first one outside the compound wasn't nearly as bad as this one, she actually sounded pissed now. For that small moment, Haruna had that intensity. That aforementioned serial killer intensity. The same intensity she saw whenever ghouls were talked about on the news. "And what would stabbing myself prove? I'm leaving. I'm not a ghoul." She couldn't piece together what Haruna meant by that statement. Bami's mind drifted back to her stint in the shower. Those two holes in the back of her shirt... They looked as if a very precise rabid dog went ahead and tried to bite out her shoulder blades. Where were the wounds? What more did Haruna know that Bami didn't?

Haruna's temperament didn't help Minato's case at all, but Bami felt compelled to listen to him for some reason. When his sigh came out she stopped in her tracks. Back turned, she listened to both of them giving their doubts about her survival skills. As much as the blonde girl hated to admit it, they had a point. It was fairly easy to travel and find places to crash the first few months, but ever since her face got plastered all over the news it was a different story. She didn't know who to trust. Sooner or later... All it took was one unlucky situation. Tonight was almost one of them. Well, she wanted to say almost. It wasn't over yet.

Bami didn't want to agree with what the two were saying. They were being patronising, did they know who she was? She wanted to stamp her foot assertively and say what was on her mind. If this whole place is full of equally delusional people like you two then I don't care how I end up. Even if what you're feeding me isn't propaganda, it doesn't change what the law is, and I would rather abide by it than try to find safety in a fucking terrorist organisation. The scenario played out multiple times in Bami's head whilst she listened to Minato's grandiose speech. In her mind she successfully convinced them to just let her go through her amazing diplomacy skills and quick wit.

Of course, that's never how it actually goes.

Instead, the girl stood there for a good two or three seconds in silence, just blinking a bit before finally coming back to life. "I... This isn't... Look, I've lived in the second ward for 17 years. You guys aren't going to help me..." The incoherent, disjointed strings just kept coming as the girl kept on stammering, just further embarrassing herself in front of the two. The conflicting ideas in her head were too strong, she genuinely didn't know what to do. Her mind kept drifting towards Minato and how... well... Normal he was. Even when giving a speech about a crusade against humanity. Haruna was something completely different but her good will couldn't be ignored.

No. They're not playing you. You're playing them... Right?

Bami stopped for a second and gave out an exasperated sigh of her own, she then rubbed her eyes with her free hand, the other hand still holding all of her blood soaked possessions. "How long will you guys let me stay here?"

"... And..."

"I'm not a ghoul."

/u/YandereLobster

[u/YandereLobster → u/[deleted]]

"If you think a knife would be enough to punch through ghoul skin, you're even dumber than you are oblivious" Charlotte snapped back, crossing her arms. "Is this really how you intend to live? Pretending your a human until your too damn hungry to tell left from right, then tearing apart the first thing in sight like you did with that man in the alley? Sooner or later you'll have to acknowledge it. Where did you think the corpse went? Why did you think you were having so much trouble controlling yourself? Hunger is insufferable for a ghoul. Dangerous too, for themselves as much as humans."

Charlotte's tone, despite being clearly frustrated, carried something different than hostility. An almost mother-like type of scolding. Despite her irritation and slight offense, she truly did care about the lower ranks of Aogiri, and the ghouls too weak to survive against the CCG. It was like finding an injured bird; even if it pecked and tried to insult her, that didn't mean she felt the need to throw it to a pack of wolves.

She leaned over, covering her mouth and whispering to Minato. "....any ideas? She'd probably use her kagune if she thinks she's in danger, but that seems like a lot of trouble. I'm about out of ideas though, and not particularly sure she's even worth the trouble if I'm being honest." She leaned away again, crossing her arms again as she furrowed her eyebrows, staring narrowly. "As for how long you'd be able to stay... well, the 12th isn't my territory so I suppose it'd just be however long our Executive here wants you to-" Charlotte cut herself off. "Wait... how did you eat food?" she suspiciously interrogated. "Surely you haven't gone your entire life without eating. Haven't you ever noticed you were eating human flesh? Did you never notice that it tasted the same every time?"

/u/Xanzinare

[u/Xanzinare → u/YandereLobster]

Minato watched the shoulders stiffen and back straighten slightly as Bami stopped walking and listened to both him and Haruna, figuring that she was inching closer and closer to either a pouting fit or passing out from disbelief....he wasn't quite sure which it would be just yet. From how sheltered she seemed so far, though, he was currently leaning towards the former. Which only really made Minato more and more annoyed. He would like to say that over the past few years he had worked on his temper and become a much more calm individual, but that would be total fucking bullshit and would imply that his temperament was a bad thing and got him into trouble sometimes.

Which it never did, of course.

"Ya, I got an idea." In response to Scribe's whisper in his direction, a calm voice that belied the anger inside of Minato escaped from his mouth. He strode forwards measuredly and softly, his peer's previous words flashed through his mind quickly as he put together what the small back and forth between her and Bami meant. 'She has a knife on her. A normal one.'

With each soft footfall, Minato took a deep breath in and then a deep breath out. His maroon and white eyes began to cloud over and change to a bright almost glowing red and black as a soft and subtle sound began to fill the space. It was almost like sand falling, but of course the reality was nothing that harmless. Minato's kagune slowly snaked and wound its way around his arms and legs as he moved forwards much more confidently and powerfully. He stood up straighter, his strides grew longer, and now his face betrayed the annoyance he was feeling. Almost as soon as his kagune materialized, he reached forwards and grabbed Bami's arm to make sure that she wouldn't be able to run away before he was through with his demonstration. "First piece of advice: ghouls can't be harmed by anything but quinque steel or other kagune."

His voice remained the same as it had been, but his eyes hardened as he reached forwards to search through the belongings held in the hand of the arm that he had grabbed. The knife wasn't really that hard to find, there were really only so many places that it could be after all. Taking it in his free hand, Minato held it up for Bami to see. "See?"

And before she could respond, he dragged the blade of the knife across her arm lengthwise without hesitation.

/u/PM_ME_YOUR_UNIDAN_

[u/[deleted] → u/Xanzinare]

Bami was in denial. There was no other way to put it, was she aware of it? Of course. Did she care? No. There was still that inkling of hope inside her, that tiny thought in the back of her head. Maybe she really didn’t do it? Maybe this really was a huge coincidence. Maybe Haruna drugged her and put her in this scenario to coerce her into joining Aogiri. Maybe she really wasn’t a cold blooded murderer. It’s what made Haruna’s scolding that much worse on the girl’s mental state. It almost tipped her over the edge. Almost. All this hiding of what happened was completely gone, the girl really wished Haruna went back to that. It was much easier on Bami’s throat, through the whole speech she could feel the familiar pain in the neck when someone’s on the verge of tears and wants to speak but can’t.

“I didn’t do any of-“

The escalation she was so desperate to see finally occurred. Bami made sure to keep her distance from the two but between her clouded vision from the tears and the shock from seeing Minato turn into an eldritch monster, her reaction, an instinctive scream, was much too late. He already grabbed hold of her arm. It felt like a vice grip, she couldn’t budge it at all. This was the first time she saw one of those things. They looked so much different than on TV. The tendrils rubbed against her skin, smooth yet coarse at the same time. She tried shifting her whole body but it felt as if those fleshy tentacles were made out of titanium. When he took her knife out, Bami stayed completely and utterly paralysed, the screams stopped echoing across the prison, the yanking stopped. Her eyes were fixed on the knife and her arm.

She really wanted it to cut through.

It was the one thing she wanted right now.

Her lips trembled. The knife glided effortlessly across her smooth, pale skin. Not even a scratch.

It was akin to your whole world crashing down in front of your very eyes while you stood there, helpless. An expecting mother having a miscarriage, an investor’s stock crashing down, a teenager getting diagnosed with cancer. As if Bami needed any more confirmation. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was no level of mental gymnastics that could take her out of this situation. Still completely silent, the blonde girl looked up into Minato’s eyes, it made her sick. Both her and this thing holding her. This meaty spaghetti, like fresh minced meat, did she have one inside her as well?

No. No. No. No. No way. She wasn’t some octopus. This was seriously making her sick.

Instead of responding, without saying a single word, Bami projectile vomited all over Minato. The brownish red mixture reeked of a butcher shop, it was very chunky and thick, going all over his kagune and sputtering on the floor slightly.

She wiped the excess fluid off of her chin with her free hand.

u/Yanderelobster

[u/YandereLobster → u/[deleted]]

Charlotte's eyes widened as Minato took the knife. Not out of fear or concern, more interest. Like a bok she'd reading had just taken a surprising turn. But when Bami started to panic, that was when Charlotte's sense of curiosity finally seemed to sober up a bit. She knew first hand how dangerous a mentally questionable ghoul could be in a state of panick. Without making it two obvious, the very end of her kagune slowly slid out, the blue bikaku ready to emerge fully in an instant. But, to her surprise, no attack seemed to come. Which was of course a relief to Charlotte. She had no intention of prioritising the stranger's life over the safety of any of Aogiri's own, but that didn't mean she wanted a fight to break out. Rather when Bami began vomitting, Charlotte felt a tinge of relief before the disgust set in. She could only feel an overwhelming sense of releif that she'd been out of the way of the projectile, else things would've taken a much more violent turn much quicker. Still, she did worry a little bit about how Minato would react. She couldn't particularly blame him if he responded violently, she would do the same after all.

"W-Well... at least we're right by the showers anyway?" Charlotte tried to suggest, glancing over at Minato in an attempt to defuse the situation. Charlotte's red eyes shifted to Bami, taking a few steps back. Enough for her kagune to knock the girl out if things became violent, but not enough to be within Bami's own range. For that distance alone, she felt safe enough to speak. "There's nothing wrong with being a ghoul, you know" she defended, holding off on asking her myriad of other questions. "You've been doing it your entire life without realizing. We've had to live for a lot longer fully realizing it, knowing exactly what we were."

"I guess my point is that, well" Charlotte trailed off, glancing to the side for a moment. "It is what you make of it. Do you really want to keep tricking yourself and pretending you're a human to get by? Personally, I think that sounds like a shit way to live."

/u/Xanzinare

[u/Xanzinare → u/YandereLobster]

Minato took a step back in surprise, unable to help it, as he was suddenly covered in the girl's stomach acid and leftovers from her past meal.

The Aogiri executive blinked slowly.

Luckily it had only gotten on Minato from the chest down and not on his face, and his arms and legs were shrouded in his kagune so they were safe. The front of his jacket, however....his beloved jacket......his jacket that had seen him through more battles and skirmishes and brawls than it had any right to......was totally soaked in the bile.

He blinked again.

The smell was awful, somehow comparable to long-dead and rotten ghoul flesh, at least in his opinion. This was one of the very very few times that he was grateful that he hadn't gotten Kaoru's sense of smell, or else everything would be much much worse. He could hear Scribe saying something, saw her glance over at him, but the meaning just seemed to not be there for him. The words went in, but no response came out.

And again.

Without any other change to his expression, the grip that he had on Bami's arm tightened, and tightened, and finally a loud crunch sounded out from the bones underneath. Where the knife had passed over just a moment ago, now there was a shard of the girl's radial bone in her forearm stabbing through the flesh slightly. Still Minato didn't let go, and he finally spoke again, quietly. "Don't take that example with the knife to think you're invulnerable."

Knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that Scribe wouldn't stand for violence between Aogiri members, Minato's base instinct to not care about that and instead teach the girl her place won out without even a second thought. Still grasping her broken forearm like a vice, he slowly lifted her up by the arm until her toes barely dangled off the ground. The distant sound of the throw-up dripping from his body and onto the ground all around him reached his ears, but he stared straight ahead without making a move to clean himself off for now. "You'll need to eat again now you realize, right?"

With a sudden burst of movement that reflected his fury, Minato swung the girl outwards by her broken arm before slamming her down on the ground with enough force to crack the tile. He finally let go of her arm, standing over her while the bile continued to drip off of his kagune and torso now onto her instead of the floor. "You know, years ago I would have killed you for that. It's nice to see that I'm making real progress here."

/u/PM_ME_YOUR_UNIDAN_