Kaneki:

"You broke my Nintendo."

Kaneki glanced down from the stranger to the boy still perched in his lap. Suzuya was shaking, whether from rage or excitement, it was hard to tell.

"Your Nintendo?" The tall man asked, pointing to the shattered console, his gaze turning to Suzuya. "So this is your place. You must be Kaneki, then. You're coming with me. I can already tell we're gonna be good friends."

"You two," Suzuya spoke to Touka and Hide, his tone growing more and more excited by the second. "I'm gonna need you guys to run away from here as fast as you can, okay? And hot stuff," he poked Ken in the side. "I'm gonna need you to hold this guy off for as long as you can, kay?"

Kaneki glanced briefly at Hide, then at Touka beyond him, and nodded uncertainly. Whoever this guy was, he was certainly strong, and by his smell alone, Kaneki could tell he was not to be messed with, but there were very few other options.

"How long do you need?" He asked, his voice quavering just a little.

"About three seconds," Juuzou answered.

"Oh," the newcomer murmured, his lips pulling into a wide grin. "You're running? That's wonderful. I love it when they r-"

"Now!" Suzuya yelled, pushing off of Ken's lap with a speed that was nothing short of astounding and darting towards, of all places, the bathroom.

Quick as a flash, the stranger made his pursuit, crossing the room in a movement half way between a leap and a run. Kaneki moved to interpose himself between the two, only to be batted aside with all the force of a run away freight train. He felt his body strike the opposite wall, the plaster cracking beneath the impact. To say it didn't hurt would be a flat lie, but it was nothing compared to the pain of being eaten alive. He pushed himself off the wall with a grunt, glancing around.

His eyes found Touka and Hide just as the latter made it to the hole through which the taller man had made his entrance. That was good, the primary goal was complete. Hide and Touka were safe.

Suzuya, on the other hand, was in trouble. He'd made it to the bathroom untouched, slamming the door closed behind him, but the large man was only a short way behind him, and the bathroom had no exits. With a sound halfway between a groan and a scream, Kaneki launched himself once more at the unknown ghoul, just as said ghoul grabbed hold of the bathroom doorway and quite simply wrenched it out of the wall. The teen collided with the larger man's midsection, wrapping his arms around him and heaving with all his might. With what felt like a herculean effort, he lifted the larger man off his feet and swung him around, throwing him across the room.

The large man laughed, twisting in the air and landing on his feet with surprising grace, the uprooted doorway falling to his side, forgotten.

"So you survived my first hit, huh? That's funny. You don't smell like a ghoul, but no human could last that lon- Ohhh," he chuckled. "So you're Kaneki, huh? Nice to meet you, kid."

Kaneki didn't respond, shifting his body to block the bathroom door, a grim determination filling his mind.

"Wow, Kaneki," Suzuya murmured from behind him as he began maneuvering his slim form around the barrier he posed. "You held him off for seven whole seconds. I'm kind of impressed. Good job."

"Why did I need to hold him off at all?" Ken asked, wincing through what he thought might be a cracked rib.

"Forgot my jacket," Suzuya replied, gesturing to the garment now slung over the top of his loose fitting hoodie. Quite abruptly, the stranger lunged, only to be stopped short when a small blade embedded itself deep into his shoulder. "Can't fight without my Jacket," Suzuya continued as though there had been no interruption. "It's where I keep my knives. Most of em, anyways."

"Kid, I like you," the stranger chuckled. "Which is just gonna make this so much more fun. Time to die."

Upsettingly, Suzuya grinned.

----------------------------------------

Hide:

Making it out into the hallway, the two teenagers ran like their lives depended on it. Along the hallway, down countless sets of stairs, and finally out into the main street. They didn't stop there. Touka banking a sharp left and taking the lead as Hide hurried to follow. The two ran in silence for a good few minutes, coming to a halt in a thin alleyway nestled between two large apartment buildings, when Touka held up a hand for him to stop.

"Here, take this," she muttered, pulling a small knife from her pocket and handing it to him. "That weird kid stabbed my phone with this. It's probably better than nothing if there're more of those guys."

Hide nodded, grasping the blade with a short word of thanks, and slipping it into his pocket.

"Now, can I borrow your phone? I wanna call someone and let them know what's going on, okay?"

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"Uhh, yeah, sure," Hide muttered, fumbling with his phone, before handing it over.

"Thanks," Touka muttered, grasping it and beginning to type in a number. "I just need to-"

"Just need to what, sis?" Called a voice from behind the pair. Hide swung around instinctively, his nerves rubbed raw by the last few minutes. The speaker was a young man, perhaps fourteen or fifteen, if Hide were to judge by his height, with dark blue hair of a color with Touka's. "And who're you calling? If I were you, I'd just let this whole thing be, okay? You're dangerously close to getting in my way."

"Ayato," Touka growled. "So this is Aogiri, huh? What do you guys want with Kaneki?"

Hide glanced between the two, utterly perplexed.

"Umm," he murmured. "So... you have a brother, Touka?"

"Hide," Touka spoke, her voice dangerously quiet. "I'm gonna need you to shut up for a bit and get behind me. This guy's dangerous."

"Touka," Ayato responded, his own voice sinking to match his sister's. "You don't want to fight me right now, trust me on that. I am angry enough that Jason let people get away again, and I don't want to take it out on my precious big sis. Why don't you just help me kill this witness, and then we can never speak of this again." He gestured towards Hide, taking a step forward. Touka grabbed Hide by the shoulder, jerking him back onto his hindquarters and stepping in to block her brother's path.

"Start running, Hide," she murmured. "I can't protect you and fight him at the same time."

Hide stared at her, his mind spinning wildly as it tried to figure out what was going on.

"What's the point?" Ayato asked, taking another step forwards. "If you refuse to fight me, he dies. If you fight me and lose, he dies. And if, by some miracle, you manage to beat me? Then, Touka, you'll just have to kill him yourself. You know why? Hey," he turned to Hide, jerking a thumb towards himself. "I'm a ghoul, and so's Touka here." He turned back to his sister. "See? He has to die now."

"Oh," Hide mumbled, feeling a hollowness sinking into his chest. "So that's what's going on here, huh?" So this was what it felt like to know you were going to die.

"He's lying," Touka growled, desperate. "We're not brother and sister, and I am not a ghou-"

Ayato's fist caught her around the jaw, knocking her stumbling back past Hide.

"You will never deny who you are in front of me again," Ayato said icily. "Do you understand me, Touka? You can pathetically play at being human all you like, but pretend you aren't my sister again and I'll throttle you."

The girl dragged herself shakily to her feet, glaring coldly at her brother all the while. Her only response was to spit blood at his feet.

Ayato moved so fast that Hide didn't even see the transition, grabbing Touka by the throat and slamming her against the alleyway wall.

"See, Touka?" He growled. "This is just pathetic. You used to be as strong as me, stronger even. But now you can't even defend yourself, and why? Because you refuse to stop choking down that disgusting bile your human 'friends' make you eat!" As he spoke, a lump began to bulge out beneath his shoulder blade, tearing through the fabric of his jacket to reveal a pulsing, wing-like appendage, its form seemingly caught between raging fire and jagged glass. It shifted, the tip coming to a stop less than half an inch from Touka's eye.

Touka, for her part, was fighting, albeit weakly, her hands scrabbling at the one holding her throat. She managed to push him away for the briefest of moments, taking a gasping breath, before he once more slammed her against the wall. His free hand punched her in the gut and she let out a sound half way between a groan and a gurgle.

"How can I make you understand that this is ridiculous, Touka?" Ayato yelled, striking her again and again, everywhere he could reach. "How can I show you how weak you are now, huh? When will you let me have my sister back?!"

Touka moved her mouth, but no sound escaped, her throat blocked by Ayato's hand. For a moment, his expression softened, and he loosened his grip.

"What?" He asked quietly. "What can I do, Touka? How can I fix you?"

Touka let in a breath, gagging and spluttering as it caught in bruised lungs and shifted on broken ribs. Eventually, she managed to hold it in long enough to speak.

"G-go fuck yourself, Ayato."

Immediately, the softness left the boy's face, replaced by rage. He once more tightened his grip, opening his mouth to retort. Whatever he had been about to say was cut short when Hide drew the blade of the knife across the backs of his legs, cutting deep enough to sever his hamstrings. He let out a high pitched scream of pain, and dropped to the floor, his legs no longer able to support him. He landed on his back, the pulsing, winglike thing moving jerkily to counter, before Touka's foot caught him in the face, sending him sprawling along the concrete floor. He pushed himself up on his hands, growling madly, and sent a spray of what seemed like shards of glass at the pair of them.

Touka shoved Hide to the side, grunting in pain as a number of the shards caught her torso, before turning an icy glare on her brother. In a single moment, a wing, almost identical to Ayato's, sprang from her back, arching around her towards her brother. She gazed balefully down at him.

Ayato, quite sensibly, gulped.

"Uhh, sis, let's be reasonable here, okay? I-I admit I was a little harsh when I said you were weak, but you know this kid has to d-"

She cut him off with a hail of shards which, deprived of his legs, Ayato had no means to dodge. He wailed for a moment under the deluge of cutting barbs, then went quiet.

Hide pulled himself to his feet. He wished he had some wicked one liner, something cool to impress the cute girl with, but all he managed was:

"Wow... your brother's an asshole, huh?"

Touka didn't respond at once, her body sagging sideways against the alleyway wall.

"Yeah," she sighed, letting herself sink to the floor. "Yeah, he is."

"Is, uhh... Is he gonna be okay?" Hide asked.

"Yeah, I didn't kill him," she replied. "You okay?"

"I think so," Hide swallowed. "And uhh... are you... are you gonna kill me?"

Touka chuckled, a sound cut short by a fit of ragged coughs.

"I can't even stand right now, buddy," she muttered. "Ball's in your court."

Hide gazed down at her, a thousand different thoughts running through his mind. He shook his head and brought a hand to his eyes, allowing himself a groan at the complexity that had become his life.

"Well, is there somewhere I should take you to recover?" He asked after a minute or so. "Somewhere safe?"

No response. Hide glanced down at the girl. Her eyes were closed, her breathing steady and slow. Unconscious.

"Well," he muttered. "Shit."

Lacking anything else to do, Hide retrieved his phone, moving to pocket it before catching a glimpse of the number dialed in. Touka had still had two digits to go before Ayato had interrupted them, but nonetheless, Hide recognized the number. He'd seen it before on Anteiku's business cards. He pocketed his phone with a sigh.

"Well, I'm fucked if I just leave a cute girl like you here for that psychopath's friends to pick up." He gestured to Ayato's unconscious form. "Guess I'd better take you home."

With that, he knelt down, hoisted the unconscious girl's arms around his neck, and stood, making his way slowly towards the coffee shop.