Disassembly Required.

prologue.

he supposed there were the typical humans who grew to become afraid of the dark, of the quiet alleys and dilapidated buildings; then there were those who would always swallow naiveté like a pill. As if the ignorance it came with would keep them safer – alive.

Ayato supposed he preferred the latter to the former.

Emerging from the shadows of said crevices, he watched as his prospect of a victim scurried across the empty road with a head turning left and right every two seconds in undisguised fear. There was nothing particularly distinct about the girl; dressed in a typical navy blue high school uniform with a bag tightly pressed to her side, her whole disposition spoke "unimportant" and "eat me." Not one to drag out his hunger, he crossed the road that separated them with unrivaled speed.

The girl whipped around, wide eyes framed with short lashes and lips already parted in what he thought to be a scream. He couldn't really tell because before he knew it, her hair had followed the sudden movement and the ends of the strands had effectively hit his face. There was no doubt about it. Death was twisting his face.

"I – I'm so sor – sorry!"

Slowly, his eyes opened again and narrowed at the girl. His kakugan weren't concealed and while they were mainly out to convey his irritation, what he didn't expect was for her to suddenly bring up a bout of courage and throw her bag at him. Suffice to say, he easily deflected the purse to the side while his other arm stretched out to capture the offender in a vice grip.

To her credit, she struggled, but it was futile and together, they ended the night bathed in blood.

"Aw, she was supposed to be mine, Ayato-san," a ghoul transpired behind him as he finished the last bits of the corpse's flesh. The said boy didn't bother to offer one of their organization's newest recruits a reply and wiped the blood off his fingers with the girl's skirt.

"Should have claimed her faster, Owaka-kun." Another commented from his side.

"But Ayato-san will always be faster than me!" the ghoul despaired, throwing his arms around his companion. Forced to bear the sudden weight, the other ghoul turned to the dark haired boy, as if to implore for help, but before words could seep past his thin lips, he was silenced with a glare.

"See! Ayato-san's so mean too, what can I –"

"Quiet."

Before them was a slow driving car. The windows were tinted and so, with nothing to lead them on, the three ghouls quietly tensed up for a prospective fight. However, nothing of the sort occurred. The car remained in it's slow pace, not showing any inclination of releasing any of its occupants nor stopping by them. Soon, it disappeared into the horizon.

Owaka sighed, throwing all caution aside and leaning heavily on his dear companion. "My heart was about to burst! Here I am thinking the CCG –"

"Would you shut up?!"

"…how long has this been going on?"

"Pardon, miss?"

"The constant killings, excessive ghouls…that thing that we just witnessed?"

The private taxi driver hummed to stall the silence. His customer was young, yes, but she was also new and while he believed in preserving innocence and good, he also knew the chances of her surviving in Tokyo informed and updated would be better.

"For quite awhile their activity has risen, but rest assured we have the CCG –"

"I know who they are," the dark haired girl cut off. "I'm not so foreign to all this."

"Then if you don't mind me asking, why did you come back?"

The young woman shook her head and tore her eyes away from the windows. While she had desensitized herself to gore, she had yet to become accustomed and accepting to it being so common to her part of the world. "A relative of mine lives here," she answered. "You can drive faster now. Thank you for…letting me see that."

"As you wish, miss."

Yari let out a breath as the passing buildings quickly became a blur to her vision. She welcomed the sudden rainbow of neon lights before her and allowed their vibrancy to chase away the darkness that had previously clouded her mind.

Having been absent from Tokyo for a good eight years, she let her thoughts wander over to better memories. To her dear family and friends. She wondered if they were all still fine and if their letters held true to their wellbeing. Hopefully, she clasped her hands together, all of them were still alive and unaffected from the mess that were ghouls and society in general.

A buzz from her phone alerted her to a new message;

Araaa!

Hurry up grandma! I'm not getting any younger! Sorry I couldn't pick you up today but since you're probably tired from you flight I guess we'll just have to see each other tomorrow. I'll send you the address of the café so you can see Kaneki too! Take care, you old lady!

"You okay there, miss?"

Dispelling the twitch that had been born from her cousin's endearing nickname for her, Yari nodded her head and returned her phone to her purse. "Just fine," she assured.

The driver cast her a long glance. "If I were to remain honest, I have to say you looked like you were about to kill someone," he commented.

Yari forced out a short bubble of laughter. "Unless your name is Hideyoshi, you have nothing to worry about, sir."

His eyes flickered back to the road, a light like mirth jovially returning to his eyes. "The relative?"

Her lips formed something akin to a grimace. "Sadly."

A/N: new story new story woooo! This is by Louise of by the way so as to not get our stories mixed up. Anyway I practically religiously listen to Unravel but now that I finally have an actual plot to grasp onto I'm gonna listen to or even more. Dont know when the next chapter is coming up but hopefully soon! Hope you like this!