Moore's law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years.

Ken likened the growth of the Aogiri Tree members to the expansion rate observed by Moore. And as with Moore's law, the higher the number of transistors (ghouls) in the system, the more efficient it became.

As was the case with most electronics, there were many causes of disturbances which may unbalance, corrupt and generally make the system dysfunction. One such disturbance just happened to be in front of Kaneki, grinning sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head. Kaneki slapped his forehead in aggravation.

"So let me get this straight; you botched a simple intel gathering mission because you got distracted by, I quote, an urge to take a leak, so you missed your opportunity to get inside the building. Is that correct?"

When only silence and a guilty smile on the operative's face he released a heavy sigh.

"Were this a company, I would have already fired you, you know that?"

The helpless shrug he received in return made the ten years old boy deflate.

"Go take a break after informing Tatara-san of your failure." His voice was inflexible.

The ghoul visibly shuddered at the mention of the executive and operational leader. Kaneki left the operative to his duties, feeling a pang of pity at the thought of anyone facing Tatara alone to deliver bad news.

As Kaneki made his way toward the exit of the building, he thought about the acquaintances he had made over the last few years. He supposed he should drop by Anteiku sometime along the week. It had been a while since he had last seen Yoshimura-san. Lost in his thoughts as he was, he didn't notice the man standing in his way until he bumped into him. He nearly fell, only his preternatural equilibrium and agility saving him from a most embarrassing fall.

"Sorry, I wasn't-" the words died in his throat as his eyes detailed the person he collided with.

A white suit, black dress shirt and a hockey mask covering his features along with slicked back blonde hair. There was no doubt as to the man's identity. How lucky he was, bumping into the only man in the Aogiri Tree hideout who regularly gave off bad vibes.

The throaty chuckle coming from the infamous Jason did nothing to assuage his uneasiness. It was like a vile snake slithering across his body, constricting around his throat, preventing him from drawing a tolerable amount of air. It was quite a testament to the natural repugnance the presence of the Gecko elicited from him, since the number of interactions they had had amounted to zilch.

"It is quite alright, Kaneki-san. May I ask where you were going with such haste?" Yamori's voice came muffled by the mask. It was surprisingly polite and cultured.

Kaneki's lips twisted downwards. "You may, but I have no obligation to answer your question. Now, if that is all..."

He sidestepped the colossus and was on his way to the exit of the derelict hideout when a large hand fell on his shoulder with a grip so strong it made the Kaneki wince.

"So cold, and here I was hoping we could be friends. I have a much more important question, though. How did you, an eight years old boy at the time, manage to beat Wani?"

Wani, or Crocodile, is an S-Rank ghoul who had too much pride and too little common sense. Needless to say, he had not taken well the fact that he had to take orders from a boy barely off his mother's teats. It had taken a huge, vulgar display of power, Kakuja and all, to make him see reason.

"Fuck you that's how." Kaneki flipped him the bird.

Kaneki slapped the arm restricting him away, somersaulting back to put some distance between Jason and him. His Kagune unfurled and swayed aggressively as his body naturally fell into an offensive stance.

Jason raised his hands in an international 'I surrender' gesture.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to be so forward. I was merely curious." Jason smiled disarmingly, though it was hidden by the blank mask.

"Well, next time, keep your hands to yourself, or you will lose them." Kaneki warned sweetly, poison laced in his soft spoken words.

Yamori shuddered, his body thrumming with excitement. The boy's threat, which would have been scary to most people, was nugatory in the face of the sheer elation he felt at the prospect of a good fight. He licked his lips behind his mask. He had to refrain this burning desire. Repress it, control it, cage it. His hands which were still in the air clenched minutely then relaxed. He put them in his pockets, least the half-ghoul saw them shake like leaves in the autumn winds.

"I will be sure to remember that." the butcher left with these parting words.

Kaneki's eyes remained narrowed, and his Kagune active long after the ghoul had disappeared down a narrow corridor.

The 20th Ward was by far the most peaceful ward. It was a breath of fresh air in Kaneki's opinion, especially compared to the other wards. It was thanks to Anteiku which managed to act as a peace enforcer. And with good reason, for who would dare go against the Manager? Kaneki shuddered just from thinking about a fight with the kindly old man.

The sun was nearing its zenith, bringing forth a heat that was not unpleasant in this cold month of March.

A genuine smile blossomed on his face when he saw the sign indicating the name of the café. He pushed the door open, small bells pealing to indicate a new customer had entered the shop.

The smell of coffee wafted in the air, pleasant and heady. Not to say that Kaneki drank coffee. Coffee was yucky. It might smell amazing, but it tasted like coarse and bitter sock juice.

He walked to the counter - which was too high for him - and with a single leap, hopped onto one of the stools placed in front of the polished wood. The barista manning the counter was none other than the amiable Koma Enji.

"If it isn't Ken-chan..." the gentle voice of the barista felt soothing to the ten years old.

"Koma-san, it is nice to see you again." Kaneki dipped his head politely.

"Here to hear about the Devil Ape?" Koma puffed up his chest while his voice remained quiet. If the clientele had been only comprised of ghouls, it might have raised in volume.

Kaneki laughed at the man's antics, then answered a little more seriously. "Unfortunately not, maybe next time. A little bird told me there is a package for me."

Koma sobered up, and a faraway look entered his eyes as he gazed at the child with an unreadable expression. "Of course, it's in the back room."

Kaneki nodded uncertainly, a little put off at the face the usually happy man pulled. To distract himself, he looked around the café. Kaneki spotted a familiar man reading a newspaper.

"Can you bring the usual to table four?" he said as he left 300 yen on the bar.

"Right away," Koma said taking the bank notes and leaving to gather the order.

Kaneki slid gracefully from the stool as he went to the table with the newspaper reading ghoul. He waited silently next to the table, not willing to disturb the ghoul who was reading about the latest events happening in the 20th ward. He hated being disturbed while he read so he would return the courtesy. Only when he put down the newspaper to take a sip of his coffee did the ghoul notice Kaneki standing next to him, jolting him.

The ghoul's surprised expression morphed into an elated smile and twinkling eyes as he took in the boy's features.

"Ken-kun! How long has it been? How have you been? Oh, please do sit down." he finished a little embarrassed at his lapse of manners.

The half-ghoul obliged gratefully, climbing into the seat facing the ghoul.

"I believe it has been three months since we last saw each other. I am doing great, thank you for asking. What about you and your family, Kirishima-san? "

"I already told you, you could call me Arata. No need to be so formal."

Kaneki nodded graciously. He had indeed told him to call him Arata countless times but Kaneki would not. It was an evident lack of respect, to his young mind. Arata's genial smile fell, replaced with a light frown.

"Times have been... difficult, to say the least. They are getting relentless, and I fear they might one day unearth the truth."

Kaneki nodded grimly, the somberness of the situation reflected in his grave visage.

A countenance too austere for someone his age, Arata thought despairingly. Kaneki's life was a tragedy. At the tender age of two, his father, a respectable man and non-violent ghoul had been caught in the crossfire of a turf war and had been murdered by a gang of ghouls. His mother... had not been a lovely woman by any standard. She had had conflicted feelings of love/abhorrence toward her progeny. Or at least that is what Arata had gathered through his exchanges with the young boy. And his mother, which Kaneki, despite all her flaws, held a deep affection for, had died when he was only six. Overworked, "thanks" to her sister.

Then Kaneki had lived for a few weeks with an aunt who loathed his very existence. When Kaneki's mother told him the truth about why he had no father, a twisted feeling took hold of him. It was perhaps the same feeling which drove Arata. The feeling that he had to get stronger, whatever the means. This had begun the ghoul-hunting and cannibalizing spree which Kaneki still partook on, even though it happened more seldom this last year, or so he had heard.

His aunt, the despicable woman, then tipped the CCG that her nephew had a strange behavior, befitting a ghoul, forcing him to flee. He wouldn't even go into the mess that was Aogiri...

Thus, it pained him to bring him even more bad news. However, the boy had the right to know.

"Do you think they caught on...?" Kaneki asked, trepidation clearly present in his voice.

Arata released a heavy sigh, "I don't know. To be honest, I don't care what happens to me. I just need to be there for Touka and Ayato. I dread to think what might happen to them, were I to leave the two of them alone in this cruel world."

"Your order." the barista cut into the gloomy atmosphere like a trenchant butcher knife through filet mignon. He set the little plate holding a chocolate fondant on the table then left the pair to their own devices.

Kaneki sighed happily as he took a bite of the sugary treat. The flavors of sewer wastes and hot vomit assaulted his taste buds, but instead of expressing his disgust and puking the offending material, he smiled beatifically, as if it were ambrosia.

That was one thing that Arata had always admired about the boy. He knew that he had to blend into the human society. No, he rectified himself, he had been forced to learn that at his own expense. Though, to be perfectly fair, eating human food didn't taste that different from eating other ghouls. Plus, both activities did get marginally better as time passed. Still, the fact remained that to do what the boy did every day with such aplomb... It required tremendous willpower.

After Kaneki had laid down his spoon on the plate, the dessert finished, Arata spoke "Why don't you come to our house for dinner? I am sure the children would be really happy to see you."

Kaneki wasn't surprised by the invitation. He took it in stride, graciously accepting the offer.

"I just have to fetch something... See you tonight, yeah?"

Arata acquiesced, his lips pulled into a gentle smile. His smile failed to reach his eyes as he watched Kaneki enter the storehouse. This conversation with Kaneki had stirred painful memories. Memories best left buried.

Arata's finger curled around the coffee cup's handle. He raised it and sipped the dark liquid.

"Cold already, huh?"

Having a few hours to kill before dinner at the Kirishimas, Kaneki decided to wander the streets of Tokyo aimlessly. Kaneki hummed a tune his mother used to sing to him while he walked the busy sidewalks of Tokyo's 20th ward. His impromptu peregrination led him to a playground with plenty of children pushing each other, laughing and running every which way, drawing a smile from the dark-haired child.

What especially drew his notice was the kid sitting, his back resting against a tree. He bobbed his head occasionally, most certainly listening to a tune delivered by the player he held in his hand. How the orange earphones managed not to fall was a mystery.

He silently skulked toward the blonde - was his hair dyed? - kid and sat down next to him without spooking him. The task was made significantly easier since the boy had his eyes closed as he rhythmically threw his head up and down.

He stayed like that for a few minutes. Finally, the boy opened his eyes, and upon seeing in his peripheral vision Kaneki watching him, jumped in fright.

"Whoa! You scared me!" the boy shouted. Whether it was from the intensity of the emotion or to hear his own voice above the music pounding in his ear remained to be seen.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to." Kaneki smiled minutely. He derived a certain amount of amusement from the situation.

The boy pouted and scowled at the same time, an adorable expression on the ten years old. Soon the expression disappeared and an earnest, infectious grin painted his features. He removed the earphones and turned off the blaring music. "My name's Nagachika Hideyoshi, or Hide in short."

He held out his hand, fully expecting Kaneki to shake the appendage and introduce himself. After all, that's what all grown up did. At least, not stuck up grown ups. Who the hell still bows in the twenty-first century? Kaneki shook the boy's hand.

"Kaneki Ken. You can call me Kaneki, then."

"I'd rather call you Ken..." Hide murmured petulantly.

The unimpressed glance Kaneki sent him was enough to change Hide's mind.

"But Kaneki is alright too, I mean Kaneki's great - Nice to meet you Kaneki!" Hide quickly amended.

"Likewise, Hideyoshi-kun." Kaneki said, his lips twitching once more. Decidedly, this boy was really amusing.

"I'm in 5th grade. You too?" the naïve expression directed toward Kaneki made a pang of sadness strike him. For an instant, he wished things had been different, and he could have had a formal education, friends and the like.

Unconsciously, Kaneki brought his left hand to his chin. "I'm homeschooled."

Hide's face fell. He had wished Kaneki was in the same elementary school as him. It would have been his first friend... Then an idea struck him and Hide congratulated himself on his undeniable brilliance.

"The new term starts in April. You could join my school!"

Kaneki did not have the heart to tell him that was impossible.

"That would be nice. I'll have to ask my legal guardian, though." Kaneki answered demurely.

Only Hide noticed the finger of Kaneki's left hand tapping against the dark haired youth's chin.

Kaneki arrived at the Kirishimas at precisely eight. Tonight's dinner was hotpot prepared by the kind lady next door. The face Ayato made was comical, to say the least.

The recalcitrant child was forced to eat the hot beef (tastes like rotten guts) and the vegetables (it was like eating rough, foul tasting sandpaper). Having had enough with the revolting food, Ayato threw his plate against the wall. The ceramic plate crashed against the unyielding surface, shattering into a thousand pieces and spraying spicy sauce and morsels of food across the wall and floor.

"I'd rather eat Kaneki-aniki!" Ayato declared petulantly. Arata was horrified.

"Ayato! You don't just say these kinds of things!" He berated his youngest progeny. Then, looking at the destruction wreaked by the boy, lamented, "Ah, what a waste."

"This, a waste? The waste is staying like that, while humans get to live a nice life! While they get to kill us! You saw what happened to mom-"

The blow was as swift as it was unexpected. The resounding slap cracked like a whip, as deafening as thunder. Ayato stared uncomprehendingly at his father as his vision blurred and his cheek stung.

"Kirishima Ayato, go to your room right now." Arata ground out between clenched teeth.

Ayato's tiny frame shook with repressed sobs. He hiccupped once before glaring at his father with all the hate he could muster. Arata couldn't bear such a look directed at him, opting to instead close his eyes and take deep breaths.

"You coward! Wimp! I hate you! Go and die for all I care!" Ayato screamed at the top of his lungs, rushing toward his room. The door rattled as he slammed it behind him. Arata released a shaky breath.

His daughter also stood up, dusting her skirt. She threw a glance toward her father, full of resentment mixed with pity. Then she went into the room she shared with her brother.

During this whole exchange, Kaneki stayed quiet. There was a lot of unresolved tension between children and father, and in particular between Ayato and Arata. It was best to let things settle by themselves. Still, seeing Arata collapse on his feet, his elbows set firmly on the low table while his hands gripped his hair in distress... it made his eyes soften, and his heart ache.

"Am I a bad father?" Arata's voice creaked with the weight of his anxious feelings.

"I don't think you are," Kaneki murmured, his words like the caress of a lover; a motherly embrace.

The Kirishima father looked at Kaneki with such gratefulness and sorrow that his heart simultaneously soared and shattered like the plate from earlier.

"Thank you." It was genuine, heartfelt.

Arata stood up, swaying slightly on his feet, worrying Kaneki a great deal. Putting on his large trench coat, he took a few steps toward the entrance, then opened the door. Kaneki wondered when rain had started falling. Thunder rumbled, and lightning fell, illuminating the distraught man, bathing him in an ethereal glow.

"Where are you going?" Kaneki dreaded the answer.

"I may be an awful father, but even I can provide for my family." the man smiled lopsidedly.

Kaneki should have said something, anything. His gut was telling him something was about to go horribly wrong. He should have... but the words were stuck in his throat, the channel closed and painfully tight.

Before leaving, Arata said, "Ken, if anything happens to me... Please, promise me you will watch over them. They might be young and brash, but they are good children. They don't deserve the life they have been forced to live so far." And neither do you, Arata thought.

Kaneki nodded as if entranced. He could only watch as the man left to find something to eat for his family.

Ayato was currently in a bad mood. Had he been any brattier than he was, he would have burrowed under the covers, only leaving their safety come morn. Instead, he lied on his back over his cover, his arms crossed over his head, shielding his eyes from the glare of the room's light.

"Ayato..." Touka trailed off uncertainly. Her brother was volatile, and that was sugarcoating it. He was a damn ticking time bomb. Though, she supposed, she was no better.

"I don't want to talk about it. You know I'm right, aneki." Ayato mumbled.

Touka heaved a small sigh. She left her brother brood in his corner while she went to prepare her stuff for school the next day.

A rap on the door interrupted both their musings and Ayato, hot-blooded as he was, threw his pillow at the door. The pile of fluffiness impacted with the door with a resounding thump but did no lasting damage.

"I told you to go to hell!" Ayato snarled, Kakugan activating in his ire. He was a step away from blasting the door with his Kagune shards.

"It's Kaneki." the soft-spoken answer mellowed him immediately.

Ayato's cheeks reddened, mortified by his childish and inappropriate behavior, especially toward someone like Kaneki-aniki. The door slid half-open, a head of black hair and pale skin poking through the aperture.

"Can I come in?" Kaneki asked slowly, as if not to discomfort the irate boy.

Ayato huffed, "Of course you can come in, baka-aniki. You're always welcome-" his mouth clamped shut at the embarrassing reveal. He hadn't meant to say that, dammit!

Kaneki chuckled warmly. He went to the bed and sat down next to the boy, ruffling the indigo hair. Ayato batted Kaneki's hand away, rolling his eyes in exasperation while a tiny, traitorous smile threatened to break out.

"Do you know where father went?" Touka asked, a touch of worry in her voice.

Kaneki ignored Ayato's growl. "He went out." the worry was echoed in his voice, though Kaneki did his best to hide it.

"Do you know what 'Synergy' means?" Kaneki asked with the utmost seriousness in his voice.

Ayato and Touka apparently did not know. Bakaneki!

"It means that the whole is better than the sum of its individual parts."

A look of understanding dawned on Touka. Seeing Ayato's confused face, she elaborated, "It means we're stronger together, dummy."

Kaneki cut in on the coming argument, "Even if..." Kaneki swallowed the lump in his throat, "Even if something were to go wrong... I will make sure nothing happens to you. As long as we're together, it's gonna be alright."

The next morning, Arata did not come back.

Stabilizer: a device that automatically maintains a constant voltage at the inputs of any receiver of electric power (voltage stabilizer) or a constant current in the circuits of such receivers (current regulator).

A.N.: Oh, the angst (well, a little). A lot of character development (that's what I love, since to me it's the soul of a story), though a big fight is coming soon.

A.N.2: I think the summary could use some improvement, but I liked it as it was, sue me. (If you've got any tips though, I'd gladly welcome them).

. .cake: Thank you for your kind review :D I do intend to continue with this fanfic as I am largely inspired! But it will certainly turn gritty really quickly. *shudders*. Love and hugs!