Chapter 2: 2. Playing with fire

Third POV

The two continued to stare at each in the eyes for what felt like an eternity. The atmosphere was palpable.

Kaede took a defensive position, holding her dog a bit tighter against her chest, preparing herself to run at any opportunity, while her vectors instinctively came out of her back, the four invisible arms wiggling around as she made a sort of protective cocoon around herself.

Arima stared icily at the little trembling ghoul covered in human blood from head to toe with a beaten-up puppy in her skinny arms, well she might not be a ghoul since her kakugans weren't showing nor did she have her kagune out. 

If she is indeed a ghoul she must be a damn talented one, to be able to hold her eyes from changing at her age, meaning she was probably playing weak, to hope to trick and kill him. 

It has happened before, weak-willed individuals didn't have a long career in the CCG for a reason. But it was futile against him, he was the CCG's Reaper after all.

The strange horns on her head were for him only an accessory, like hairpins. Even though they seemed real.

Kishou Arima tightened his grip around the handle of his koukaku-type quinque, IXA. It can pierce ghoul skin easily as well as go into a shield mode, a truly powerful and versatile weapon.

He immediately dashed at Kaede, making two-foot marks on the bloody grass where he was standing. 

He then appeared right in front of her, passing the small distance separating them in less than a second.

The tip of the lance was aimed at the pink-red-haired girl's left eye. To pierce her eye and then her brain thereby killing her instantly. Ruthless and simple.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I can't run.', Kaede was panicking as she saw the pointed tip of the unusual lance aimed at her head, to evidently skewer her. Her eyes went into pinprick as she made a split-second decision.

'If I'm going to die you die with me!', she thought with bitterness as she abandoned total defense, having a feeling it wouldn't hold. 

She was a bit tired, her earlier outburst and the use of her vectors to heal Bubble having taken a toll on her. 

And even if she was in top shape she didn't believe her impromptu shield made at the moment would have held.

She shifted one of her vectors to the scary man's chest, aiming at his heart. While the three others were going in the lance direction, with the faint hope of deflecting it.

Arima felt something soft touch his heart, catching him by surprise. Resulting in his grip on IXA weakening for the barest of moments.

*CLING*CRACK*

'Huh?', both thought simultaneously, as half of Kaede's left horn flew off her head, simultaneously causing all of her vectors to retract into her body and her to fall unconscious.

She then fell on her back with a soft *thud*. The puppy crawled with difficulty out of its wounded mommy grasp. It used its front paws to put itself between its mommy and the ugly thing with the strange umbrella, then he growled threateningly at the said thing, it was the CCG's Reaper.

"I missed?", the half-human calmly let out in disbelief as he patted his chest, where his pounding heart was. While he completely ignored the growling puppy.

He gazed seriously with his silver-colored eyes at the unconscious little girl on the ground, especially what remained of her left horn, she was slightly bleeding from it.

Then he slightly frowned at his quinque, a flash of surprise could be seen in his usually emotionless face as he noticed three very faint but still visible hand-shaped dents on it while the tip was now slightly bent and blunt.

He connected the dots instantly, he could have become heartless, figuratively. He was a bit more than amused at the dark thought. 

A little girl nearly killing the One-Eyed King, she was interesting, a possible alternative that presented new possibilities even though she was possibly a threat. Which is why he didn't kick the puppy or killed her.

She was young and malleable. A potential perfect tool for their objectives of uniting Ghouls and Humans. If only he knew how much more freaking dangerous she actually was.

"What are you?", he muttered as he fixed his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose, making them flash. 

He stored his damaged IXA in its quinque suitcase, and then took a small plastic box from his left coat pocket.

Arima picked the piece of horn on the grass, blood was on the inside of it. It was indeed a real horn, he noted.

He opened the box he took earlier, opened it. Inside was what looked like pH paper but pale purple, and there were also multiple eyedroppers. 

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It was RC papers, it is a newly developed prototype, it worked on the same concept as its more basic cousin but with the RC factors. It wasn't very precise but it worked and it was easier to move around than in a laboratory.

He took some blood from the inside of the horn with the eye dropper and put a droplet on a piece of pale purple paper.

Nothing happened, it was supposed to get a darker shade of purple the more RC-Cell there was. Even humans with a minimal amount of them made the paper go darker.

He was going to test again but stopped as he caught the paper going lighter and lighter in shades until it became completely transparent. 

He didn't know why this happened nor that paper's original color is due to the RC-Cell use in its fabrication and that animal blood didn't make this happen.

"Does that mean that her RC factor is null? Fascinating. So she is indeed a new species… ", he mused as he put the RC paper back in his pocket, while also storing the piece of horn in a plastic bag.

*dring* *dring* *dring*

Arima heard the ringing of his flip phone, he flipped it open and it was a call from the CCG's headquarters.

"Special Class Ghoul Investigator Kishou Arima here.", he answered, while he also gazed at the wounded horn of the strange girl, it wasn't bleeding anymore, a thin layer of what seemed cartilage having covered the wound.

"Target terminated.", he coldly replied.

"Casualties… there were tragically no survivors when I arrived, the target having probably killed every child. And I couldn't search the orphanage, it is still on fire.", he calmly lied through his teeth and with a straight face at that.

Well, he wasn't exactly lying per se, it just didn't happen and CCG policy didn't really consider children of other species than pure humans such as ghouls as true 'children'. Ghoul we're enemies to be exterminated, period.

It was very ironic knowing the only thing that truly protected humans in Japan was in fact controlled and infested by what they were supposed to fight. 

And Arima didn't want the Washu or V to have another weapon of this potential at their disposal. He would do anything to obtain peace if using a little was the way to it. He will do it without a shred of hesitation, guilt, or regret even if it destroys him.

He was Kashou Arima, the One-Eyed King and he will do anything to accomplish his goal. And as a king he wasn't alone the One-Eyes Owl will help in accomplishing their ultimate goal.

Kaede being for him a chess piece to use in this giant game, he only needed a successor in the shape of a one-eyed ghoul with the potential of a king, something extremely rare, he will die soon after all. Since half-human have a very limited lifespan.

Order was a noble and righteous goal but the means to attain it didn't exactly qualify as noble or righteous. Sacrifices were needed.

it is for the greater good.

_______________________

Kaede POV

'My head fucking hurt…', I thought as I woke up groggily, my whole body felt like I was dragged like a sack of potatoes that was at the same time crushed by a car. I was on something soft and warm.

I moved my left hand to my left horn and winced, I also realized that my head was bandaged, 'So that wasn't a dream, he will pay! And am I in some sort of laboratory and will be used as guinea pig…', I darkly considered.

I decided to open my heavy eyelids and to my immense joy, but what I could see with my blurry vision wasn't some white room filled with tools made to dissect my poor and innocent body.

Also now that I pay attention, I could also feel the familiar comforting warmth and fur of Bubble on my right side. He was breathing steadily. Good.

My eyes are now fully open and focused. I could see right above my line of sight, a young woman with extremely long messy pale green hair, and playful eyes of the same color.

She was staring right into my eyes and she sported the most joyful smile I have ever seen.

It was bordering on the creepy.

I fully jolted awake, and jump as far as I could from the woman while also taking my sleeping Bubble in my arms, he didn't even wake up. Not caring that I slept on her lap.

"Woman, who the fuck are you!?", I demanded, as my eyes go wide, panic started to creep into my heart, my vectors barely came out and moreover it made my left horn throb in pain. And blood was coming out of the said horn.

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