Pain… such a horrid and straightforward concept.

You see, pain was the best teacher. It was always straightforward with you. It never lied. It restrained no feelings. Pain was merciless. Pain allowed you to know when you did something wrong or when your imperil. That's why pain was the best teacher, the best tutor.

But, it was also hell. Especially for those didn't have a choice but to endure the pain. Young Fourteen Year Old Ken Kaneki appreciated that better than just about anyone.

Sometimes… life just sucked, you know? Every so often, you merely suffer the shit end of the stick. Sometimes, you commit unfortunate mistakes because of one's own naïve nature. Sometimes… someone is unfortunate enough to possess all of those unfortunate qualities. Sometimes… he truly wondered if he was cursed. If this was all for someone's ill amusement. His own suffering. If so, he truly couldn't be angry. After all, he was nothing but a plaything, fate decided it.

He was getting continuously tortured in all most violent ways… and all he could do was scream, wail and beg for his life. He truly was pathetic, now that he calmed down and thought about it.

He experienced his entire 'new' life by skidding across other people's generousness. He could receive, receive, receive and receive fine. But, he couldn't even pay back that kindness… and the sad thing was… he never thought about doing it either. He was always too caught up in denying the 'new' part of himself that was unwillingly implanted onto himself.

…He pondered what it would be now. More Centipedes in his ear? Having teeth plucked one by one? Being forced to tear off all of his own fingernails again? Who knows, that bastard Yamori could have found something new to make his 'life' even more of a living hell. He often wondered why. He even asked. But, the sole answer that he got, was that he was unique. That merely served to enrage him even more.

Off and on, he would be overwhelmed with white-hot hate and fury, but that would soon pass over and would be replaced with numbness. Even if he struggled, even if yelled, even if he promised to kill Yamori, even if he promised to slaughter everyone in the building… it never got him anywhere expect a crueler beating then the last. However… he was driven to his breaking point, just a day later. To a point where he couldn't even feel numb. He didn't appreciate how it felt… it just felt dreadful. He wanted to kill… he wanted to eat… he wanted to tear that fucker's Yamori's face off with his bare teeth. He absolutely couldn't tolerate it… the carnal hunger and rage that he had been holding back ever since he had realized that he was half Ghoul.

But now… he just didn't care anymore… he just couldn't be bothered by restraining that part of himself back anymore. He tried being human… look where that got him; strapped to a chair being ruthlessly tortured by a madman that had the largest, most violent imagination.

And he exploited that to continuously cause harm to others. Not only that, but he was there for much longer then even Yamori thought possible. After torturing Kaneki for a few days, he quickly made a vow; he wouldn't kill or allow Kaneki to leave until he was broken and so… He was given time by the heads of the Aogiri Tree to take whatever time he needed. And he did so generously with a giant smile on his face like he received his favorite toy on Christmas Day.

In the beginning, he was planning on just torturing Kaneki for maybe a week or so… but no, that time soon increased when he realized how special he genuinely was. Due to Kaneki unnatural healing abilities, Yamori was quickly intrigued and decided to put Kaneki's healing factor to the truest of tests. And o-boy were those test beyond painful, hell Kaneki wasn't even sure if painful was even on the same realm anymore. Hell once Yamori got to the second week of torture, he started even classifying it as a research project, not even torture any longer.

And… Kaneki took it all. He took it for as long as he could… four weeks was what he was able to handle and to endure. Hell, Yamori would even admit that he lived and lasted longer any other of his torture subjects, something that Kaneki just answered by giving him the middle finger.

However, Kaneki was tired… tired of being beaten… tired of being hurt… tired of being thrown around like a rag doll… tired of being a helpless, a no good cause to anybody.

And so… he let go.

"Ah~ Kaneki-kun… tell me what number are we on~?" asked a stickily melodious voice that held sheer malice and enjoyment. However, there was no answer, so he continued. "Was it three-hundred and forty-seven? Oh, oh… it was three-hundred and sixty-six… no, wait! It was four-hundred and one… wasn't it? Ah, hell. I was never good at math." He grumbled before he instantly brightened up as a thought struck him. "That's what you're here for right?" He asked in a dangerous tone that was filled with bloodlust.

Kaneki, however, just continued sitting there, head down, facing his knees, completely motionless.

Jason or Yamori whatever he went by growled menacingly as he towered over Kaneki's motionless form before he reached out roughly grasped Kaneki's dark black hair with his large, burly hands. "I… asked… you… a… question. Now… answer… it…" Jason growled angrily.

A faint voice, devoid of all emotion pierced through the giant's ears. "How about this for an answer." He mumbled incoherently, his voice barely coming out above a raspy whisper.

Before even Jason could react, the sounds of chains breaking filled the air and Kaneki kicked him from under his chin with bone breaking force before Jason was sent rocketing upwards. Kaneki then jumped up, easily catching up in altitude to Jason, who winced in pain. But, he barely opened his eyes, and he saw Kaneki smirk cruelly to him before he heel kicked him straight to the ground, literally sending him burrowing into it, resulting in a large dust cloud.

The half-ghoul landed down as well, only a few feet away from Jason.

Silence reigned through the air before the ground rumbled loudly and like a jet, and Jason came shooting out of the ground like a raging bull. He panted roughly as he winced in pain. He rotated his shoulder resounding in loud popping and cracking sound. He grunted in pain as his nostrils flared angerly.

"W-Where… Where are YOU KANEKI?! SHOW YOURSELF, YOU COWARD!" He loudly yelled as he flared his power, thrusting the dust away, revealing the battlefield.

Kaneki stood twenty or so feet away. However, he looked different. The most obvious was his hair. Instead of it being black like it was moments formerly, it was currently snow white. Next, was his left eye. Instead of having white sclera, he now had pitch black sclera and blood red iris'. Kaneki had reached up and wiped some blood off his lip before he looked Jason right in his shocked eyes.

"Bah! You taste disgusting. You taste even worse than human food. I didn't even think that was possible." He taunted with a small smirk on his face as he spat out a glob of flesh and blood on the tile ground.

Jason's eyes widened even farther before he experienced a warm sensation bleed down the side of his face, causing him to look and his eyes widened even further in horror when saw a sizable gash inside of his face.

Y-Y-You, b-bit ME?!" Jason loudly asked while grounding his teeth in fury.

"Yeah, didn't you see? I mean, I moved pretty slow. I thought for sure you would've noticed." Kaneki exclaimed calmly, but his tone indicated that he was serious.

"Y-You little shit!" He growled.

'I knew that my power increased when I chose to accept my Ghoul powers… but I didn't expect this much… I mean, it felt like I was going extremely slow.' Kaneki thought seriously.

Just as Jason was about to go on another tirade, Kaneki started speaking once more. "Tell me something and be serious with me… did you see me move, at all?" He asked in a serious tone, getting Jason to growl even louder, thinking that the brat was taunting him.

He just kept growling in anger like he was some rabid dog, rapidly losing his temper.

After a few moments, Kaneki sighed in irritation before he took a step forward. "Fine… if you don't want to answer me… I'll ask again." He said out loud before he ran forward once more at immense speeds, kicking up some dirt from behind him.

Jason blinked before he suffered an astounding amount of pain in stomach. He robotically looked down and saw a fist lodged inside his stomach. "Did you see me move at all?" He asked once more. Jason gasped in pain before he spat out a glob of blood out of his mouth.

"B-Barley!" He spat.

"Interesting… you know, I didn't quite get that, can you repeat it?" Kaneki asked, suddenly smirking very sadistically.

"Bar-Barely," He said much loud and his voice coming out like a squeak.

Kaneki sadistic smirk got even larger, making himself look very disturbing, after all, it wasn't every day that you see a young boy at age of fourteen smirk like that. Add the fact that he had a trail of someone else's blood lining out of his mouth, made it a whole lot worse.

In a blink of an eye, Kaneki retracted his outstretched fist and elbowed him straight between the eyes, sending him tumbling back a few feet. Leaping forward with his knee pointed outwards, he spiked himself right into Yamori's midsection before he jumped up and roundhouse kicked him, straight in the side of the mouth. The large was shocked when he felt the overwhelming force of the kick before he was smashed into the wall other side of the wall, creating a small, slightly transparent dust cloud.

Kaneki landed on his feet nimbly and looked at Yamori's recovering from with those half idled silvery-brown eyes of his that were filled satisfaction and pleasure.

"I-I I-I I-I I-I've h-had IT!" Yamori stuttered dazedly before he screamed at the top of his lungs. And almost immediately after, a shockwave hit and out of Yamori's back came his red and blue sharp shaped Kagune which carved itself like two sharp feathery angel wings.

However, he went even further, creating another shockwave, about twice, maybe three times stronger than last one, causing Kaneki to slightly conceal his face from the forceful winds. The shockwave quieted down and was replaced with Yamori saved cries of pain and anguish.

Kaneki wouldn't help but be in slight awe. Instead of just showing his Kagune, like Kaneki thought he was going to do, he did something even he never expected. This was a Kakuja, the rarest form any type of Ghoul could hope to achieve, and it was supposed to increase your power exponentially. The sole reason he knew that, was because Yamori informed him during his torture, lucky him.

Around his entire left arm, was a dark purple substance that hardened around his entire arm and hand. It had undergone the form to be like sort of multi-finger crab claw, from the top of his shoulder it also traveled upwards to his face tunneled right into his face, blocking his eyes, but nevertheless giving access to his mouth.

Yamori breathed out rugged breaths as hunched over into a runners stance and Kankei insincerely brought his hands and shielded his face and before he knew or saw Yamori move, he was launched through the air at breakneck speeds before he crashed into the wall, way harder than Yamori did previously.

Gradually, he got up and cracked his neck and winced slightly in comfort. Reaching towards into his rugged black shorts, he pulled a rock and glanced at it. "Leave it to me to have a rock stuffed into my pants during a life and death situation. Man, this world positively hates me, doesn't it?" He asked with some humor in his tone, but it was dead and morbid humor. Looking down at his practically destroyed shirt, he grasped it with his idle hand before he effortlessly ripped it off, causing the shirt to fall onto the ground, leaving his torso completely exposed.

Grasping the rock in hands and with feeble effort, he crushed it, shattering it into millions of pieces.

'He's strong… is this the result of eating other Ghouls? Does it really make you that much stronger?' He thought as he dusted himself off. He prepared himself as he eyed his opponent. 'I went from swatting him around with ease to him moving so fast that I barely tracked was able to track him, and even, I was only about to track his blur.' He thought before he to crouched in a runners stance.

On the bottom of his back, some of his skin started turning black and in a flash, four, appendages shot clean out of his back with little trouble at all. With a mental command, one of the appendages flowed through the air dipped around his head, around his head, allowing Kaneki to observe his Kagune.

"Hmmm, I don't really think I've ever had four of these before… and I was never capable enough to call them out on command. And come to think of it, they never this easy to control. But… weren't they red?" He questioned. And indeed, they were red before the torture, but somehow they changed colors. Instead of being bright ruby red in color, they now were pale white, the same color as his hair. "However… I do quite like the color, at least more than red for whatever reason." He hummed to himself before his ears ticked forward as he heard a burst of movement kick up from behind him.

Without looking backwards, he inclined his head to the side, averting a narrow strike from Yamori's now transformed Kakuja claw and it slammed right into the ground, just mere feet away.

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, Yamori minimalized his movements and whipped across the ground with his clawed hand in an effort to grab Kaneki by the leg.

Thinking fast, he prompted himself upwards with a quick use of two of his Kagune tentacles, narrowly dodging another faced paced attack. Utilizing the other two, he then slammed Yamori's Kakuja claw into the ground before Kaneki pivoted around and roundhouse kicked him in the side of the head, sending him tumbling back few steps.

Kaneki then grinned savagely before launching himself forward with the help of his Kagune tails and grabbed Yamori by his face and roughly flung him into the wall. While still holding him, Kaneki spoke, knowing Yamori would hear him. "It's hilarious really… I never would have fought like this a month ago. I never would have planned your death in my head so many times that it actually started sounding boring. I never would have loved the feeling of extreme bloodlust as I do now. It's ironic and pathetic that the very thing you created is going to slaughter you." Kaneki spoke with dark amusement clear in his tone as he chuckled darkly.

Apparently, the berserk Kakuja didn't take to kindly to that as swiped Kaneki straight of his face with his claw, sending him tumbling to ground with massive force. And in a flash of surprising speed, the Kakuja was right into the front of Kaneki once more. Raising his claw and normal arm, he then slammed onto Kaneki's exposed body, burrowing him into the ground. Walking back some, the berserk Yamori decided to play with his 'food' a bit longer, so he was going to wait and let Kaneki recover.

From about six feet down through the concrete, Kaneki slightly groaned in discomfort. "Okay, note to self; watch out for that claw. Damn him." He mumbled to himself before he jumped out the hole at quick speeds before he landed straight on the concrete platform with of his shoeless feet. His four bone colored Kagune stilled behind him in a form like spider legs.

"That actually hurt a little… not a lot or anywhere near that it has me wincing… But it's an impressive start!" He finished with a bloodthirsty smile.

"RRUUUHGGG!" Yamori savagely screamed as he charged forward once more with his clawed hand held backward, charging a punch. Kaneki charged forward as well as mentally commanded his Kagune swiped forward, countering Yamori's punch. He then jumped up and slashed forward with his Kagune tails. Detecting the attack, Yamori raised his enlarged arm and parried the attack, causing some of the ground to give out underneath.

Both Ghouls gritted their teeth they struggled to overpower one another. Decided to play it smart, Kaneki slightly maneuvered his body to the side before he slipped his Kagune off the berserker's arm and clashed all four of his white Kagune tails against where the side of Yamori's elbow would be, causing it to whip aside. He then turned around once more and used that momentum to make his upcoming attack even stronger. He then whipped his white Kagune around and smashed them right into the side of the enraged berserker.

Seeing that his attack inflicted little damage, he jumped back and disengaged. Kaneki frowned a slight bit. 'Every injury that I inflict on him heals after a small while. Forcing a prolonged battle as I planned would be stupid. I need to inflict as a much damage as I can each time I attack. I can't be worrying about conserving energy. If he was purely using his Kagune, it wouldn't be a problem, but I can afford to hold back.' Kaneki thought seriously, no longer taking the fight as a game.

The wild Yamori charged forward once more in a reckless abandon.

'Every time he runs forward, he provides a sizable opening… every time he attacks, he repeatedly leads with that right hand… I have an idea.' Kaneki thought a devious smirk coming onto his face.

Just as he was about to get in Kaneki's face, the white-haired Ghoul dropped to the ground while also folding his Kagune before he reclined his knees into his chest, waiting for Yamori to fly over him. He only had to wait half a second before he had executed his move. Propelling himself upwards with his Kagune tails, he spear kicked right into giant's stomach, causing him to choke up saliva. Kaneki then turned slightly and kicked him in the face before he smacked Yamori right in the face with his Kagune, sending him tumbling back.

Not allowing the giant a chance to recover, used one of his Kagune tails to pierce right through Yamori's shoulder, causing the giant to scream.

"I wonder… if I consume stronger Ghouls, will it make my blood stronger, rather than consuming a regular Ghoul?" Kaneki asked mostly to himself before looked at Yamori's form, which was now starting to subtly change. Instead of having the purple mass drilling into his face, that now receded, leaving his entire face visible once again.

"Now… tell me, Yamori or Jason…" He started, with a dark grin forming onto his face before a Kaneki cracked his index finger with his thumb, getting a sickening crack to fill the air.

"What's One-thousand minus Seven?"