A Ghouls Cry | Kaneki Ken

|Chapter 1|

   A short girl stood weakly in a darkened dead end alley way staring at the wet ground before her feet. It didn't bother her as she let the rain soak into her blood stained clothes. The chills it sent straight to her bones were one of the only feelings she could still recognize now. Her dirty blonde hair stuck messily to her forehead and fell in front of her eyes.

"Hey! Hey Kaneki! Look who I brought!" A boy no older than ten with strawberry blonde - almost orange - tinted hair called to his friend in the distance. Being dragged behind him was a little girl who held on to his hand for dear life. Meeting the friend, they stopped just in front of him.

The said boy looked up from his book, a confused look on his face.

"Hey Hide, who's that?"

Hide smiled a bright toothy smile. He tugged the girl from behind him so she could stand between him an his friend, placing his hands on her shoulders in a comforting way.

"This, Kaneki, is my new neighbour I was telling you about! Say hi to each other!"

Kaneki stood up from his sitting position on the green grass banking as he closed his book, looking up before smiling shyly at the young girl. To Kaneki she looked really young, but was probably around his and Hide's age. He stuck his hand out.

"I'm Kaneki Ken. What's your name?"

The girls cheeks reddened from being embarrassed and she swayed slightly out of anxiousness. She was never good at meeting new people so suddenly. She gently grabbed Kaneki's outstretched hand and shook it.

"Hi Kaneki-kun. My name is Hizake Rima. I hope we can be great friends." She smiled gently.

    With the rain falling harshly upon the girl, she slowly leaned her head back with eyes half open looking deep into the dark nights sky. You couldn't tell which were her tears or which was the rain drops. Ever so slowly she closed her eyes to rid of the wetness. Her breathing was scarily quiet and slow. She was tired of running away from her fate. Her body ached of exhaustion and she was running out of ideas. She just wanted it to be over now.

"Hey Kaneki-kun. How are you feeling?" Rima asked a bed-ridden Kaneki as she placed a soft hand gently on his when she took a seat on the very edge of his hospital bed. They were older back now; herself being seventeen, and he eighteen. Their close friend Hide stood beside them looking at the black haired boy with worry.

Kaneki nodded to try to reassure his friends he was fine... even though deep down he knew he wasn't.

"I'm fine Rima-chan. Really, please don't worry about me."

Hide frowned and huffed. He didn't believe a word his childhood friend said for a second. "Come on now Kaneki... you were attacked by a ghoul a few days ago. You got to be feeling something..."

Kaneki sighed. Nothing could get past his friends eye. "I'm just tired... with all the surgeries and everything, it's making me sleepy all the time." He answered truthfully this time, hoping Hide wouldn't notice it wasn't the whole truth...

Rima nodded before standing up beside Hide. She patted the black haired males shoulder gently. "If you're tired, we can leave and come back sometime later. We don't want you to feel like you have to stay up cause we're here." She gave a reassuring smile and Hide nodded in agreement.