Masquerading Virtuoso【Tokyo Ghoul Fan-Fiction】

vi. Hungarian Dance

"With swift hands and a jagged smile, she steals their attention and claims the spotlight."

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The night air was calm---silent, even---while the wind whispered with a smooth voice, telling foreboding tales of those lingering in the corners of the dark town. Demons hid in the obscurity, graciously provided by the curtain of black, awaiting their next unlucky victim to pass by. Those who dared to come into their midst were sure to face the monster's individualistic wrath ...

The woman, her hair short and onyx in color, licked her bloodied lips, causing them to expand into a violent grin as she stalked her prey through the winding, labyrinth-like alleyway. A month ago, she wouldn't so much as have thought of acting in such a vicious manner; however, times had changed and so had she. She was forced to adapt to her true nature, succumbing to its every wim.

As a mockery of her previous victim, she had placed him in a similar position he had left his. It made her complacent with her actions---to bring justice to the unjust in such a manner. They felt they were the ones to be feared, when in reality ... horrors far greater than they lurked in each forgotten corner of the city. She defiled his body, leaving it mangled and torn, taking in only his heart, liver, and the supple flesh from his abdomen.

Her next victim felt free from her terror, but she knew better; she knew how she wished to carve him. With a swift jump, she landed before him. Tsuki hunkered her head and smiled, she listened to his panicked breathing, inhaling the sweet aroma of the blood oozing from an open laceration on his lower left arm---she had been the cause of it.

His body trembled, like a feeble Chihuahua, and his voice shook as he tried to reprimand and question her actions. Once she was standing behind him, she glanced up, revealing her crimson irises, swimming in a pool of black tar.

Tsuki giggled for a moment, causing him to hesitantly turn to face her. He was a rather tall man, of around 180 cm, his shoulders were broad, though, his body was unkept---obesity had become him. She placed her cool, slim hand against his plump cheek; his body immediately froze into a petrified state.

"Your partner didn't wish to die either," she said, tracing her icy index finger down to his stomach. "However, I'm sure Yukimura-san and Takeo-san didn't wish death either, yet look how they were done; you both had blatantly disregarded their pleas and committed the repulsive crimes, reaping their innocent lives ... so young." A hazy, red mist whirled around Tsuki as she shifted her eyes downward, to his groin. "I wonder if it pleased you ... to take her purity at such a traumatizing age."

One of her rinkaku broke free and aimed at the whimpering man, hardening up and splintering out of the sharp tip. "I'm merciful ... but to those who don't deserve it," she said as she took a step back and glared at him. "I get to take pleasure in doing the reapers' job."

"N-No!" he shouted, trying to take a step away from his assailant.

His sweaty and oily skin disgusted Tsuki, to an extent where she determined not to even bother with it once he was dead. With a shake of her head, she smirked and jammed her dagger-like tail through his groin. Before he could cry out, she pulled out the tail and stabbed one of the protruding pieces into his neck, making sure to sever the main artery within.

He sputtered and fumbled with his hands as he tried to stop the bleeding, but his lifeforce was swiftly depleting. Unable to carry his own weight any longer, his knees fell to the concrete, then followed his body---toppling over into a sloppy heap.

Tsuki watched as he tried to speak, but was incapable from his loss of blood. Soon after, the man's eyes rolled to the tops of their sockets, signifying he had lost consciousness and would soon perish his fate.

Her apathetic eyes stared at his repugnant body for a moment, then knelt down next to it. With a quick shove, she forced his body over. "Now ... what to do with you," she said as she tore through the thick layer of fat over his muscles and delve deeper into his abdomen, until her slimy fingers slid across the intestines, shoving passed the liver; her hand then curled around the still-heart within his rib-cage. With a quick tug, she broke it free from the multitude of veins and arteries clinging to it.

"A heart reflects the true nature of a man, or so says the ancient texts in the Book of the Dead," she commented as she eased her arm out of his torso and gawked at the muscular organ. Her dark eyes flickered up to his face. "I wonder what nature yours holds." Swiftly, she bit into the flavorful, tough heart, savoring the metallic, warm blood that seeped into her mouth.

Once she'd finished, she hefted the corpse of her freshest victim over to the other. Once she had, she tossed his body atop his friend's in an indecent manner. "I suppose in this world ... you reap what you sow," she jeered, wiping away the excess blood on her lips. "I hope you both rot, just like Yukimura-san and Takeo-san had to when you left their defiled remains to the elements."

The two men lay, stacked atop the other in a position that mimicked how their victims had been done. The reports had said that it had been a rape, then incidental murder on each, so Tsuki only found it befitting to return the favor. Calmly, she walked over to where her over-the-shoulder satchel was and plucked it from the ground. She heaved out a frustrated sigh as she noticed the bloodstains on her clothes. "So much for a dry cleaner," she groaned, quickly taking her leave from the tainted alleyway in a sort of fast paced stride.

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"Attacks have escalated to an unprecedented extent; CCG has reported mass amounts of deaths in their ranks within the 11th Ward just in the past couple of weeks."

"Authorities have requested that those who live in Itabashi take shelter elsewhere, due to the dangers of ghouls attacking civilians."

"CCG asks that citizens take heed of their urgent situation; evacuate as soon as possibl---"

Tsuki pressed the mute button on the television remote, silencing the news anchor as she finished concocting her morning cup of coffee. She poured the hot, dark liquid into an eight ounce mug, then gradually drank it as she read the pale woman's lips. "They've grown in numbers, it would seem," she mumbled, her eyes watching as the news replayed footage from a week back.

She set her cup down on the counter and sighed, turning off the television completely as she grabbed her floral raincoat from the back of the chair. "They're just damning those of us who try to remain on equal terms with the humans," she said, her gaze fixated on the hazy streets two stories below. The many people in their work attire scurried by, some with looks of despair, and others of anticipation. Soon, she would be alongside them, going about her own routine.

Perhaps someone can make a difference in this insane world, she thought, smiling solemnly to herself. Bowing her head, she hung her coat up next to the door and slipped on a pair of knee-high moccassin boots. With her final thoughts said, she left for her job at the library.

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