Sky of Glass - Tokyo Ghoul [Reader x Hide]

Chapter Thirty-Six: Snatching at Air, Catching Droplets of Blood

~from Hide's POV 2nd person~
...an empty room, occupied only by a broken chair in the center.
"Damn it," you whispered, turning and kicking the wall. Kaneki looked too visibly shaken to comment, and Yomo just looked grimly confused.
"I don't get it," Kaneki whispered, falling to his knees. "What's going on? She...she should have been here."
"She was," Yomo said, nodding towards the chair. "Until quite recently. The other intruders that had to be...dealt with...were a distraction while whoever has (y/n) changed her location."
Uta and Tsukiyama materialized at the doorway, the others behind them, and Tsukiyama fell to his knees.
"So close...her blood, so fresh...so tantalizing, so tempting..."
Uta stepped around him and moved past you, walking right up to the chair and laying his hand on its back. Despite normally being fairly laid-back, this time, you noticed that his jaw was clenched as he held up the chains connected to the chair. In one motion, he ripped off the chains and hurled the chair against the wall, turning calmly as it split and crumbled to the ground in jagged wooden shards. "We have to hurry," he stated simply, and you nodded, half-dazed.
"She should be close," Mr. Yoshimura offered from beyond the door, and Yomo nodded.
"Do we have any idea of who could have done this?" Kaneki asked, clearly trying to move with the group but still struggling.
Yomo set his jaw. "Someone who was involved or privy to knowledge about the CCG raid and what happened in this room. Someone with access to surgical tools."
"Why surgical tools?" Kaneki asked, and you turned away, already realizing the answer. Instruments of torture.
Yomo didn't respond. "And it seems that he or she has a personal connection with (y/n)."
"Why is that?" you asked, trying to gather details with a level head.
This time it was Uta who answered, eyes dark. "Someone seems to be targeting (y/n) specifically. They could have taken a ghoul that had no ties with anyone, someone that wouldn't be missed, but they took her knowing that we would come, even setting up distractions for us along the way. It's too much of a coincidence."
Yomo nodded. "Then we need to start searching. Now." He turned to Tsukiyama. "Can you smell her blood?"
He nodded almost dreamily, and before he could start ranting, Yomo cut him off.
"Can you follow the trail?"
Tsukiyama paused, tilting his head and inhaling. "It's faint but...it's recent enough...and so exotic..."
Kaneki looked as uncomfortable as you felt, but what could you possibly say? Don't talk about her blood like that? So you stayed quiet. After all, if it would find (y/n)...
Tsukiyama got up and nodded to Yomo. "I'll do my best, if it means I get to see that beautiful flower again." He turned and walked out of the room, heading down the hallway as Yomo turned to Touka's group (minus Kaneki).
"We can handle this. Go track down Ayato and the others and bring them back to meet up with us. We don't know what we're dealing with here."
Mr. Yoshimura nodded, and Touka set her face with a determined expression, taking Hinami's hand in her own. Then they were off.
Yomo nodded to you and Uta, and you followed him out of the door. Tsukiyama was standing at the end of the hallway, looking out through a wall of glass. He turned to face you with a smile.
"Ready?" he asked, and the others nodded.
"Then let's go." He turned and used his kagune to shatter the glass, immediately leaping out and seemingly flying through the air.
Yomo leaped after him, Uta winking at you as he grabbed your arm and followed, dragging you (flailing wildly) through the air after them as Tsukiyama and Yomo hit the ground and began sprinting, Kaneki following a few steps behind. Even after you were on the ground, Uta still held onto you as he ran at speeds that humans couldn't physically reach.
With Tsukiyama in the lead, you, Yomo, Kaneki, and Uta crossed the city in record time, going only off of Tsukiyama's intuition and the hope that kept you going. After ten minutes, you turned slightly. "Where are we going?" you asked, speaking right into Uta's ear because he wouldn't be able to hear you otherwise.
He shrugged good-naturedly. "I'm not even sure that Shuu knows."
"But what's even in this direction? (Y/n) didn't live over here, Anteiku is on the other side of the city, Aogiri's headquarters are far away...she never even came out here, as far as I know, much less knew anybody who lived over here. If there's a personal reason behind this, then..." you trailed off.
Uta's eyes caught the shadows that fell over the city. "I wish I knew. (Y/n) has been hurt enough," he said softly, serious for once, and behind his facade of calm, you sensed anger. "Whoever is doing this..."
You felt his intent strong enough that a threat wasn't even necessary.
Just then, Tsukiyama stopped in front of a building, and Yomo and Kaneki followed suit, Uta releasing you once he'd stopped.
"She's here?" Yomo asked Tsukiyama, who cocked his head as though listening to vibrations in the earth as he took deep breaths in and out.
"Undoubtedly," he responded. "There's too much of her blood her for her not to be here. Whether or not her blood remains inside her...that's outside of my ability," he said, and you were surprised by how straightforward he became when he got serious. No more creepy ranting (thank goodness), but he seemed almost gravely serious, which was a scary contrast.
Kaneki nodded. "I can sense her."
You frowned, shaking your head as you entered the conversation. "I'm not doubting you or anything, but why here? What reason could anyone possibly have for bringing (y/n) here?"
The five of you looked up at the building in front of you.
Finally, Yomo said, "I don't know. We don't even know if the location has any importance."
"But it does," Kaneki spoke up, and everyone turned to look at him, his expression hovering between dread and pain. "We only came here once, but this is the hospital that created us. This is where we became ghouls."