Don't Try to Change Me in Anyway. (Tokyo Ghoul, Uta x OC)

Helter-skelter

Vera woke up with a start. She wasn't sure what exactly woke her up, nothing around her seemed off in the slightest, yet here she was, grabbing her chest as she tried to catch her breath. Must have been a nightmare again, she thought to herself. She hated thinking about her past, but every night she'd dream about it. She sighed and got out of her tiny tent on top an apartment building in the first ward. The fourth ward became too boring for her; the lack of any real danger put her on edge more than anything. Vera was used to ghouls fighting over territory at night and it would seem Mr. Uta the mask maker scared everyone away. She almost missed him, the creepy dude from Shinjuku, almost enough to go see him again. She stretched and sighed, it would take almost two hours to walk there, one and a half if she ran, or more money than she was willing to spend to take two trains up there. It was only 6 o'clock, maybe a jog would be nice.

On the other side of the journey, Uta had been up for hours- 37 and a half to be exact- and yet couldn't bring himself to close his eyes long enough to sleep. He hated days like these, days where he couldn't close his eyes without thinking of them, the people- his friends- who died in front of him. He may have let them die, never lifting a finger to help, but it's how it was back then. You died if you weren't strong enough to live. The worst part is that it's not even all his old friends that he mourns, not even most, just the select few that got under his skin enough to affect him. Part of him wonders how Renji is really handling the deaths, they don't talk about it- they never did- but he knows how soft his friend is when it comes to that; especially after his sister died.

The terror Uta brought onto the fourth ward was more than he'd like to admit, it would seem to rain blood every night he'd hunt, such a waste, he thought, too much wasted on nothing. He hated who he was, and thats why he's standing out front a convenience store at almost 7:30 with 1,500 yen in his pocket, ready to re-dye his hair black after all these year. He licked his re-pierced lip; Renji had helped him out after it fell out in his sleep a couple months ago. Finally the small shop opened and Uta went straight for the hair care aisle and grabbed the cheapest box he could find, 1,450 he could afford. Placing the small box on the counter the shop owned didn't even look at him as he scanned his item, from fear or disgust he wasn't sure, but after only 2 minutes in the shop Uta was on his way back to his little mask shop he called home. Behind his dark shades Uta's eyes widened, he could smell her before he saw her, there was the one eyed ghoul, alive and well propped up against the wall waiting for him. He had to laugh at the sight before him.

Fuck it's cold, she thought again to herself. December in Tokyo wasn't like December in Australia, it was cold and downright miserable to have to walk anywhere. She had walked from the fourth ward back in late October, but it wasn't as bad as it was right then. Vera stopped herself from shivering when she knocked on the door, the open sign was turned off, but she hoped he was there. When there was no movement on the other side of the door she leaned back on the wall next to the door, she almost thought about setting up her tent in front of his shop, but decided against it. Instead she huddled inside her jacket, silently praying that he'd show up soon. Like her prays had been answered, she heard a laugh to her right. Uta stood there was a plain plastic bag in hand. She smiled at him, it was good to see him, even though there seemed to be something off about him. He grabbed his keys and let them both in, the room was dark as always; it seemed even turning on the lights did nothing to really brighten the small room. Different masks lined the walls this time, replacing the ones that were there before. She wondered how many people had bought from him in order to hide from the CCG. "Do you make masks for everyone in Tokyo?"

Uta had just placed his bag down behind his desk and looked up at her. "Mostly, unless they make them themselves."

"You could destroy the ghoul population with the right phone call then, couldn't you?"