Chapter Text
"Get him!"
For a while now, thirty minutes, Ayato had been chased down by investigators. Keeping his place on the rooftop's of buildings he could still see three investigators running after him and one patrol car following up right beside him. The investigators were able to see him as well.
An hour prior, the abandoned warehouse in which he was sent to rendezvous with a Quinx member was raided and the investigators were able to pin point were the Aogiri Tree's meetings would take place. They headed straight at him and were able to get a blow across his chest. Ayato was able to escape the derelict building with only a laceration wound to his chest.
Ayato was exhausted and riddled with languor he wouldn't be able to keep running, his stamina currently was extremely low. His legs start to shake from blood loss. The quinqe had left the wound large and unable to heal. Ayato still tries to run. His navy eyes scanned his surroundings he notices an apartment building of fourteen stories up ahead in his way. This would be hard since the buildings he had been running upon were only one story. But easily he sees that there is a window opened widely in front of him on the second floor.
He precariously swoops in slightly stumbling and startles the occupant. The occupant was a woman in her late forties who had fainted after seeing his kagune. This would be an easy meal but the thought was soon dismissed as the quinqe had begun shooting into the building and easily just shot his shoulder. So he ran looking for an exit.
"Call for backup he entered a residential building, humans lives are now at risk. Hold fire!" The investigator yells to the dispatcher.
Running down the halls and up the stairs he tries to find a door that was open. Many stairs later he sees on the thirteenth floor a door that wasn't quite ajar but he could tell that it wasn't closed all the way. Quickly he opens the door, but makes sure to close it softly after entering. The door locked automatically.
Stumbling around he finds the only room and too tired to find if a human is inside the home he crashes on the bed. Rolling on his back he sighs finding comfort from the linen sheets.
''Peace, finally.'' His head lolled to the side of the pillow which had a vague scent of vanilla and lavender as he falls asleep relieving him of the aching sharp jabs that pained his body.
* * *
[Name] opened her apartment door and waltzed in muttering a very colourful list of expletives. Her eyes glance up towards the analogue clock that read one in the morning.
"What a tiring day at work- at life, fucking overtime."
Shrugging off her long coat she threw it on the couch not caring that it's majority was on the floor. She slipped off her shoes and kicked where ever they best fit. Trudging into her room she was about to plop onto her bed until she sees a figure sleeping soundly on it. She was about to call for help, that is until she sees the pool of red forming on her bed sheets.
"Oh my god, he's bleeding." She exclaimed.
Rushing over to the side of the bed she checked the man's pulse. He's still alive. She rushes to the door of her room and turned the light on. Going back to the bleeding man she disregards why he was inside her apartment in the first place and checked to see if he was responsive. Using the flashlight on her mobile phone, she shines the light in his eyes. She jumped back in terror once she sees his sclera were black. He's a ghoul.
"A g-ghoul... Oh fuck." She stutters terrified, she turns around and rubbed her temples to calm herself down. She wanted to help him, but he was ghoul. But then again he's bleeding all over her queen sized bed. Sighing she headed into the bathroom and inside the mirror pulled out a sewing kit, disinfectant wipes, extra wash cloths, and rubbing alcohol. Going back to the ghoul on her bed, she set the items down on her nightstand.
Getting up a second time she gets a bowl of water from the kitchen. Coming back around she sat beside him on the bed. She was about to begin sewing up the much visible slash on his abdomen, but she started having second thoughts.
He's a ghoul. What if out of nowhere he lashes out and tries to eat me? She thought grimly.
Getting off the bed, she walked outside the room to calm herself. Pacing around the living room, she caught sight of a bright green ball hidden behind the curtain. Diving for the ball she scrambled around to grab it, further giving herself rug burn.
"Ow, damn doing this all for a guy I barely know... At least the ball seems the right size." She says aloud staring down at the ball in her palm. It was medium sized and would probably fit in his mouth. It was the ball she used when she was tense. Just for the heck of it she started squeezing it to release this new stress. Standing up she headed back towards her room.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
She walked to the door and opened it. On the other side was two men in suits. She began to squeeze the ball more frequently and harshly. She didn't say a word to the men.
"Excuse us, miss?" Says the older one of the two. They both politely bow there heads in greeting.
"Hi." She greets awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. Clearing his throat the partner begins.
"Um... You didn't give me a chance to speak to you in the hall. I'm an investigator from the CCG. My name is Takizawa Seidou." The younger one says as he brings his arm out for you to shake. She complied and shook his hand.
"I am Houji Kousuke." The other one states monotonously.
She replies by stating her name in return.
"Have you by chance seen anything out of the ordinary tonight?" He questions.
A ghoul is in my fucking bed and got it dirty!
"Nope, nothing strange. Why?" She responded calmly.
"A ghoul from the 20th Ward was seen entering this building complex." He answers.
"Oh fuck..." She mutters quietly whilst still squeezing the stress ball.
"Are you okay miss?" The older one talked once again.
"Yeah!" She piques quickly. They are shocked from her sudden outburst. "Sorry, rough day. I work late hours." She says in a softer tone.
"We greatly understand." They politely bow their heads a little once more.
"Pardon me for asking, but why haven't you evacuated the tenants?" She asks a bit harshly.
"Oh... Well there are to many people in the building to evacuate, and the ghoul that ran in may slip through. We apologise." Says Takizawa.
"No it's fine. Your business is our safety, I understand. But if you may, I must sleep for today. It was a pleasure to meet you both." She smiles and bid them ado, and them to her.
"Thank you for your time, goodbye." They both say and she closes the door. Sighing she stood there to catch her breath and calm her pounding heart.
Why would I go this far for a man I don't know? A ghoul!
Taking these types of thoughts out of her head and trying to think optimistically she walked back to the still bleeding man on her bed.
Kneeling beside the unknown man, she began to gently peel off the clothes against his torso. From the blood seeping onto the fabric and already on his skin, his clothes were sticking against him. So it made her feel even more unsettled being beside him, having to aid him.
Grabbing one of the wash clothes she dips it into the water. She then cleaned off all the blood by dabbing the wash cloth gently on his skin. Missing anywhere to close to the wound. Though at one point she had skimmed over it and he let out a snarl. He was fortunately still asleep. So she grabbed the small ball she brought with her and put it in his mouth. So if he were to wake up and feel a bit peckish, he would be to busy pulling the ball out his mouth to notice her running away. She also forgot that ghouls aren't exactly idiots and she'd get eaten either way. But she decided not to think about that.
Finishing off cleaning his skin, she tried to not stare to hard or long at his toned abdomen. Now was not the time for such feelings and fantasizing of random men. Mentally preparing herself as she cleaned the needle with disinfectant wipes and begin to sew him up. This was for him to heal quicker and stop bleeding, so she wasn't using any real medicinal thread to patch him.
The first stab was daunting, since he easily reacted with the sharp touch close to his open wound. Every stitch was easy after. She made the stitches spacious since his body would easily come together on its own, she was just speeding the process up slightly. Fortunately there was no internal ruptures or bleeding so simply stitching the wound would be fine.
While she was sewing him she couldn't help but think why she would go this far for a ghoul. Even after she could've easily turned him in when she saw the investigators earlier. But to her everything was retaliation. Retaliation against father, a gifted investigator of the CCG. He wanted her to join the CCG as well but when she dropped out months before she could graduate he got angry. Though that anger only lasted a few weeks and he was okay with her choice. She joined medical school, he payed for her apartment the first two months, and was happy with where her life was going. She was seventeen at the time.
Then she brought up the hardships of a ghoul's life to him, and her father was furious with her. Of course she would still speak to him and him to her, but he kept sending letters to her about the CCG and how she'd be great help. She was smart, knew martial arts and already had years in CCG's school when she was an adolescent. She was now nineteen.
She didn't like the idea of killing the ghouls, even though it made sense to kill of something dangerous to the human race. But, the ghouls were just as human with the same organs, just more advanced. Though not in intellect, as her father had told her countless of times about the ghouls.
Since these ghouls were so closely related to the human race it would make sense of them to have offsprings. Families and friends just like the rest. It's a dog eat dog world and they too need to survive just like the humans. Humans kill for their food as well so what's the point? It's a dog eat dog world. Humans are superior.
When she finished sewing the gash together she got out another extra wash cloth. She put rubbing alcohol on it. Cautiously, she patted around the wounds edges and when he seemed to respond lightly to the alcohol she took it a step further. Pouring a little more onto the cloth, she put it directly on top of the stitched wound with more straight forward dabs. He didn't take that as well. His hands clenched the sheets around him and his head was thrashing the whole way through. He still slept. Also the the ball she had given him had fell out of his mouth, but oh well.
After getting him bandaged she decided to clean up the linen bed sheets. Grabbing the ghoul by his legs she dragged him off her bed. He hit his head quite hard on the floor, but she didn't really care. And she hadn't noticed that she woke him up as well, but who cares? [Name] apparently...
Still laying on the floor Ayato watches the girl peel off all the sheets from the bed and walk out the room with it. He is in too much pain to get up. After the start of what sounds like a washer, he hears her coming back. He takes this short time to notice his surrounding. No doubt he was in her room probably. Also against him, he feels bandages tightly but somehow gently wrapped around him. He wants to undo it to check the damage done but she was now back in the room. He closes his eyes and relaxes.
Peeking from one slightly closed eye he notices her peeling off plastic from the now bare bed. She picked it up so the blood that seeped out was now pooling into the middle. It was like a bag of blood. She walked into the bathroom and poured the blood into the tub. It easily goes down the drain and she cleans the after red with a little water.
Going back to the ghoul she starts to dispose of the his torn dress shirt and threw the shirt away and on the way back to her room grabbed a new sheet and comforter. As she finished up the bed she notice how uncomfortable the ghoul looks on the floor.
She carefully tries carrying him as best as she could but found it too hard to actually lift him. Her petite form was significantly smaller than his, her hands reach to his sides to help carry him better when her slender digits trailed up his muscular torso. Her cheeks flush a slight tint of crimson at the close proximity. She ignores the thoughts and tries once more to lift him up. Ayato takes note of this and let's out a small chuckle at her lack of upper body strength. Hearing it so close to her ear, she immediately pushes him off and stood on her feet.
"Are you awake?!" She yelled at him. He seems to still be sleeping. But inside Ayato was trying hard not to curse at the girl for dropping him onto the wooden floor that almost caused him to growl in pain. He succeeds and doesn't moves.
Going with it she tries again to move him. He has more muscle than she thought and she had trouble picking him up. Getting tired of her failure he gives her a little help. Getting a little stand on the ground he pushes himself up a little to help. It works and she easily sets him on the bed. She takes his shoes off, fix his sleeping posture, and pulled the blankets up a bit. Ayato pretended that he didn't like all the attention, what was he thinking allowing this human to help him, he was to exhausted to care and fell into a deep slumber.
Looking down at him she felt like her mother. In an odd nurse to grown man way. She felt like she had to do it. She kissed his forehead. This was like a practice course before she became a doctor in the future. It was like kissing the wound better. It made sense since she did push him onto the floor. Though it did give her a weird feeling since she didn't know the guy.
She observed the ghoul that laid sleeping on her bed; he was undoubtedly handsome. He looked so peaceful. His dark blue hair that was tousled messily contrasted against his pallid visage. His chapped lips that were slightly bruised and placid angular features which prominently stood out she would be lying if she said she didn't find him attractive. She casted away such thoughts.
"Well, that was weird and uncalled for..." She stares down awkwardly at the man, even trying to avoid his in-existent gaze. "Hope you get better. Good night." She says and pats his head a few times before exiting the room and leaving for the couch.