Chapter 6: Be Discrete
“Don’t give them any hints”

Now standing face to face with the ghoul Kaneki repeated his question from before.

“Did you put that scratch on her ear?” his expression was dull, but the look of rage in his eyes was beyond normal.

The scorpion tailed ghoul gulped. Kaneki continued to stare at him.

“I see” he said stretching. “Hey?”

The ghoul flinched. “Y-Yeah?”

Kaneki finished his stretching then crouched his face directed on the ground as he slipped his mask back on and his eye went into ghoul mode.

“You’re going to die.”

Kaneki’s head snapped up with one swift movement, his one visible eye that wasn’t covered up by the mask staring darkly at the scorpion tailed ghoul before him.

“Before I kill you” Kaneki said, maintaining his crouched position.

“Tell me your name.”

The scorpion ghoul swallowed, a drop of sweat sliding down his cheek. “H-Haru. T-The Dicer.”

Kaneki stared at Haru in silence, before closing his ghoul eye and nodded. “Haru...when you go to hell, tell her, I said hi.”

“W-What?”

Kaneki didn’t respond he merely waited one second before he opened his eye again.

Ready. Using his right foot to propel himself forward the white haired boy flew towards the ghoul at an insane speed, planning to finish this with a simple beheading, Haru must have sensed this ducking just in time before Kaneki’s hand was able to make the swift movement towards his neck.

Using his tail to try and finish Kaneki, Haru launched his tail like an arrow at the one-eyed ghoul. Anticipating this Kaneki landed on the ground with only his toes touching before he sent himself a few feet back and away from the scorpion tailed ghoul once again.

“...He’s agile...I’ll give him that” Kaneki muttered. The ghoul however was scowling darkly at Kaneki, clearly knowing that if he let his guard down he’d be at a disadvantage.

“Kaneki!” he froze. Rainbow Dash was still conscious. “Kaneki run away!” she urged now in a sitting position.

Damn it Rainbow Dash.

A low grumbling sound soon filled the air that made Kaneki freeze as drool began to dribble off the ghoul’s mouth. Haru's ghoul eyes slowly turning in the direction of the pegasus’s voice.

His stomach. It was growling, which meant he needed food. And he wanted it now.

Licking the drool off his lips Haru turned his attention back to Kaneki who had taken the opportunity to get close, but the scorpion’s tail was faster.

Barely managing to dodge the attack Haru had to jump away from Kaneki and put a bit of distance so he didn’t end up losing his head.

“Kusou!” the ghoul stated. “Why the hell are you-” he swished his tail to the side smacking something away. Glaring behind him no more than a few feet away was a rock.

Looking around the ghoul could see Rainbow Dash had thrown a rock at him and was now giving him the finger.

Kaneki’s eyes widened. “That idiot!” returning his eye to normal so she wouldn’t see his ghoul form the one-eyed ghoul rushed to Rainbow’s aid as Haru charged towards the mare.

Rainbow Dash had her leg ready though and wasn’t about to go down without a fight.

Haru didn’t care though, he’d figured he’d just jump and bite her hard, so he could hear her scream. Maybe if he was fast enough he could get a nibble of her sweet tender flesh before that ghoul finished him off.

Kaneki was having none of that.

Just as Haru pounced forward to the pegasus Kaneki, grabbed the ghoul’s tail and tilted his body weight forward while he arched back, in a smooth arch motion he swung Haru backwards away from Rainbow Dash and firmly slammed him into the ground with a thud, that caused dirt to raise into the air.

Doing so however had cost Kaneki his balance in the process so he had fallen as well.

“Kaneki!” the mare yelled with concern, but Kaneki ignored her. He needed to focus, because if he didn’t then she and those two unconscious mares would die.

Using his hands to jump back to his feet the boy, watched Haru quickly get up, then swing his tail at him. Kaneki ducked.

Haru was quick so when Kaneki had ducked he quickly did it again, but Kaneki was faster, jumping on the tail and running along it, slightly throwing both Rainbow Dash and Haru off as he ran along the tail with ease.

With a wriggle, Haru threw Kaneki off sending him high into the air.

“Shit” Kaneki cursed his eye narrowing at the ghoul as he watched him change his position away from Rainbow Dash and towards the...two unconscious mares to his right.

Once gravity took its toll and worked its magic Kaneki straightened his body and dove, directly towards Haru who was now moving towards the unconscious Lyra.

Leaning in, and wiping his lips the ghoul raised his tail so he could cut the girl a bit and hear her scream or at least whimper. To him it was the most delectable part of a meal. Watching him/her squirm before him, as he would cut in and slowly eat away at them sent orgasmic shivers up his spine.

“Almost...almost” he breathed, but quickly jumped back feeling one of the hairs on his bangs get sliced clean off. As Haru moved back, unaware that he was now clearly in Kaneki’s line of assault, Haru noticed a ukaku shard lay embedded within a fence far above the mint colored girl, but directly where the ghoul’s head had been.

Glancing over to his left back to where the old building was, Haru saw for a split second that the investigator had killed four out of seven of the ghouls that were attacking him, and with a split second he had managed to aim and fire a ukaku blade at him before evading another attack from a squirrel tail like bikaku.

How in the he- Haru’s face contorted in pain. He could feel a terrible pain coming from his bikaku, like it was being ripped apart at the tip of its segment, where the blade was.

He tried to turn but found if he did the pain increased, so he forced himself with a grunt of pain and sweat to look behind him.

Kaneki was holding the ghoul’s tail, crushing a part of the tail’s tip where the blade was in one hand and firmly pulling to detach the entire kagune with his other. The mask hiding the calm expression he had at the moment, but the ghoul eye only intensifying the rage within.

Immediately fear shot into Haru, like bullets, swinging his tail around the boy tried to slam Kaneki into a fence but he would not budge, only sliding slightly to the right, before coming to a complete and inevitable stop.

“SHIT!” Haru yelled, Kaneki was not distracted, he kept applying force till he heard a crunch come from the tip of the blade, ignoring the small pains he could feel in his hand. He could hear Rainbow Dash cheering him on at this point, feeling somewhat a bit better that she was not traumatized enough by this to simply stare in shock.

At the same time he was glad they weren’t close enough for her to see his eye.

Haru was still thrashing trying to get the Centipede off of him, but Kaneki refused to go into the fence wall.

“FINE!” Haru yelled lifting his tail up with some effort, ignoring the pain he could feel, Kaneki lost his ground before he felt the tail drop with a sudden force.

BOOM!

Haru slammed his tail into the ground, throwing a grin in Kaneki’s direction believing he had let go.

A sharp pain in his tail said if only.

Smoke cleared and Kaneki was on the ground, he had broken the blade completely off the scorpion tail, and was now trying to rip the tail completely off Haru.

Immense pains started to shoot up, his back as he could feel more segments of his tail beginning to crack under the extreme pressure that Kaneki was putting on it. The boy must have been using all his strength because bikakus are extremely durable.

Another crack, dragged Haru’s attention away from the pain and the look of determination in that one ghoul eye.

Why? Why is he doing this?! We’re both ghouls if anything we should be working together to eat those three and kill that detective?! Why is he siding with the enemy!?!!

Retracting his kagune, Haru allowed Kaneki to get in close as he pulled him in along with the kagune.

Bad move.

Thinking he could swing at the white haired boy with ease once he was close enough Haru retracted the kagune tail only to have his face met with a fist directly into his already broken nose.

A grunt of pain escaped as he tried to land a hit on the fast boy, Kaneki dodged his futile punches.

Grabbing Haru by the collar and flipping him on to the ground Kaneki jumped on the boy’s chest using his legs to pin both the ghoul’s arms down, Kaneki delivered, punch, after punch, after, punch, after jab, after punch into the ghoul’s face.

Haru took the hits, watching the bubbling anger in Kaneki’s eye as best he could with every hit. The female he had heard cheering was still continuing but wasn’t as enthusiastic as he had heard before.

Kaneki’s knuckle was starting to get bloody with Haru’s blood; his cheek swelling and his lip bleeding.

“Kaneki!” Dash called. “You can beat him to a pulp but don’t kill him!” she said stated.

Kaneki ignored her, she had no idea what he was dealing with here. He was one of them, he knew what it was like to starve, to hunger to the point where he was so desperate he had nearly eaten the flesh of a deadman in an alley when he first began his experience as a ghoul.

It had been horrible. But there was no way in hell he would ever let his friends die at the hands of a ghoul like this, not today, not ever.

He had stopped punching Haru now, simply staring at the swelling boy’s cheek.

The least he could do was offer the boy, the way he wanted to die. “Where do you want it?” Kaneki said after a few seconds of silence and cool air passed by.

He watched Haru’s throat fluctuate. Possibly swallowing a mixture of his own blood and spit before he spoke.

“Up yours.”

And just as he said the ghoul literally flew up or rather launched up into the air, knocking Kaneki off him in the process by unleashing his bikaku. Using the broken edge to dig into the ground and fling himself forward, Haru went into the direction of the two unconscious mares, heading for the beige one first.

Quickly bringing his tail to his side the level B ghoul aimed ready to strike, till he felt a hard tug on his leg.

Grabbing his ankle and swinging him to the ground Kaneki heard an audible crunch as a bone within Haru’s leg broke, as the ghoul’s face met dirt and possibly other debris.

Swinging him like a golf club Kaneki launched him in the direction of a nearby tree. Watching the ghoul spin out of control, but then go on a quick twirl with his tail as he used it like a hook to swing onto a tree branch.

His leg had a bone sticking out, was purple from swelling and looked to be bleeding, but within seconds it was healed and everything was back to normal for the ghoul.

Kaneki stood between him and the two mares now.

“You come here you die” he told Haru, then pointed to the surprised Rainbow Dash who was now trying to take in what she just saw happen.

“You go to her, you die” he stated more cooly. “Either way-”

“Either way I’m going to die” Haru said with a sigh.

“Frankly. At this point, I don’t see why not” he said with a shrug, getting a raised brow from Kaneki.

Hopping onto the branch with his tail still wrapped around the tree trunk, Haru jumped in Kaneki’s direction.

His plan worked because instantly Kaneki reflexively moved to counter, but nothing happened.

Haru had gone in Rainbow Dash’s direction, using his wrapped tail to stop himself and then propel himself towards the rainbow maned mare, Kaneki, launched forward tackling the ghoul’s tail and pulling back.

What happened next surprised Kaneki to no end.

The two fell to the ground, but Haru would not give up, Kaneki was pulling with all his might, desiring not to use his own kagune, as he pulled the foolish ghoul towards him so that he could drag him away and deliver the deathblow.

But Haru, knew his time was nye. So he forcefully detached himself from a part of his tail, wincing in pain as the tail came off and Kaneki was left with whatever remained.

Scrambling to all fours like a spider, the boy half-crawled, half ran towards the frightened mare, his tongue extended, his mouth drooling, and his eyes wide in delight.

I must have one bite! “ITADAKIMAS-” he stopped several ukaku’s forming a small wall in front of him, separating him from his dinner.

But he didn’t care climbing on it ignoring, the stabbing feeling in his hands the boy moved forward frantic with hunger.

Rainbow’s eyes widened with fear as she watched the ghoul make his way towards her, over the crystal wall his blood cascading down the ukaku shards, just a little.

Haru smiled no longer caring for the drool that wet his mouth like a dog. “Thank you for the meal.”

But that meal never came. Dragged down by Kaneki, the boy fell to his back with a grunt of pain, only to turn his head towards the building and see that every single ghoul that had fought against the detective was dead.

The glass shards dispersed, revealing Rainbow Dash shaking with fright behind them, losing her voice and will to cheer.

Kill Shot silently moved behind her, knelt down by her side, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder in a gentle soothing hug. “It’ll be alright” he whispered into her ear.

Placing his quinque to the side, the purple haired man used the side of his hand and firmly tapped a spot on the mare’s neck. Two seconds later she was out cold, limp in his arms. Lifting her up Kaneki kept his foot on Haru’s stomach the level B ghoul having lost any will to continue after seeing his comrades dead, and his only chance for food gone.

Kill Shot moved over to the two unconscious mares and checked their pulses. They were both still alive, just unconscious and had a few scratches.

A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

Gently leaving Rainbow Dash by their side the investigator turned his back to all three unconscious mares, and moved back to Kaneki whose foot was still on the dejected ghoul’s stomach.

Picking up his quinque and pushing a button the sword, gun like weapon reformed back into it’s case state, Kill Shot looked over at Kaneki from the corner of his eye facing the building where the dead ghouls were.

“If you want I can-”

“No” Kaneki said firmly staring at the lose of hope in the ghoul’s eyes. “I’ll take care of this, you go do what you need to do.”

Kill Shot looked at Kaneki for a few more seconds, seeing something in that ghoul eye he had only seen in only a few peace loving ghouls.

With a nod of his head and a slight return of that friendly smile of his Kill Shot made his way back to the bodies.

Kaneki stared silently at Haru who had shed a few tears as he watched Kill Shot gather the bodies of his fallen comrades and move them outside.

“You say you were hungry, but I’m sure if you’ve been here as long as I have then you must have noticed there was a cemetery not to far away from here. Correct?”

Haru nodded, not looking up at Kaneki.

“Then why?”

This time Haru looked up at Kaneki, tears dropping from his eyes. “Because I had the urge. I’ve been a rogue ghoul since childhood. Till before Anteiku’s raid I met those guys over there” he said looking back at the blood marks on the old floorboards.

“They took me in. Taught me how to hunt for food, carefully in the right way. If it weren’t for them I would be dead a long time ago. I owe those guys my life.”

Kaneki’s narrowed eye, slowly dropped it’s stern gaze as he took in what the boy said.

He knew that feeling. Touka,Hide, Yoshimaru, Hinami, Enji and the rest all made him feel like he could never repay them for the kindness they had showed. Even going as far as coming to his rescue.

Kaneki removed his foot from the ghoul and knelt down before him.

“I know that feeling” he said sadly, as he removed his mask. “But, you attacked my friends. My friends are the only family I have left, and I do not condone those that harm my family.

“You understand that right?”

Haru nodded slowly, another tear sliding down his cheek, he cracked a small chuckle, making Kaneki raise his brow.

“If the roles were reversed I’d do the same thing you’re about to do to me” he said allowing another tear to fall down his cheek.

Kaneki blinked. Closed his eyes, then put his mask back on so only his ghoul eye was visible, when he opened them again he just stared at Haru’s sad smile before speaking.

“Haru?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember my message?”

He nodded offering a weak grin, raising a thumbs up.

“Good.” Kaneki lifted his shirt up a bit so that it wouldn’t get torn, allowed one rinkaku to emerge from his back, then raised it in front of Haru who had accepted his fate.

“Sayanora.” The tendril drove into it’s target and Kaneki watched silently as the ghoul died within seconds.

Getting up once the deed was done Kaneki lifted Haru’s lifeless body off the ground then moved over behind the building, unleashing the rest of his rinkaku he dug a hole within the ground and dropped Haru’s lifeless body in it.

Before covering it Kaneki stared at the look of content, he had on his face. A few seconds passed before he covered the hole up.

Heading back to where the three unconscious mares were Kaneki moved to meet Kill Shot who was now carrying both the beige and mint mares on his shoulders. Not a drop of blood on him, obviously he was very careful in how he had dealt with the bodies.

“Ready to go?” Kaneki nodded, once he’d picked up the unconscious Rainbow Dash.

Together the two walked down the street in silence making their way back to the more populated streets of Ponyville, neither saying a word to each other the entire way.

*** ***** ***

Popping out from the shrouds of the bushes, a mare with a silver coat and blond hair stared in awe at her photos, of Kaneki’s display in skill and strength. She had not been able to catch any images of his face, but had definitely gotten shots of the strange creature’s speed and strength.

“Whoa” the mare said in awe. Moving over to the street she had seen the investigator and white haired boy walk down on with the unconscious mares. For a split second Silver Star wondered if she should contact the royal guard.

The unicorn quickly pushed the thought out of her head, having noticed how carefully the two had carried the unconscious mares.

“No no. I have to show this to Streamlight. He’ll be interested in seeing this.”

Moving towards Ponyville’s train station the unicorn placed the camera carefully back in her bag, her destination Manehattan. Where she was sure her young detective friend would be interested in the photos she would be bringing him in a couple of hours.

“Oooh is this going to be one heck of a scoop!” the journalist said with a grin.

Now in the room sitting beside Rainbow Dash was Kaneki.

The boy hadn’t left her side the entire time even when the doctors had told him that she only had a sprained wing and a few scratches.

So there he sat, staring silently at the sleeping mare his mask long gone, his eye back to normal and a genuine look of concern in his eyes as he stared at the sleeping mare.

A creak in the door, caused Kaneki to turn his attention to the door here he spotted a pink tail, before watching Pinkie Pie and the rest of her friends rush into the room with worried expressions on their faces.

“Kaneki what happened? Is Dash alright, are you alright?! What happened to Lyra and Bon-Bon?!” she asked grabbing Kaneki and shaking him by the shoulders at the same time scanning his slightly dirty clothes for any injuries or bruises.

“He’s fine” Kill Shot stated walking in.

“Nothing to worry about, Rainbow Dash was practicing a stunt, Kaneki must have noticed something wasn’t right and went over to check on her. I happened to be around the area when I saw her crash” Kill Shot said with a reassuring pat on the head to the worried mare.

“But what about Bon-Bon and Lyra?” Fluttershy asked when she saw the two were sleeping in beds beside Rainbow Dash.

“They got caught up in an accident when Dash tried to attempt her trick again” Kill Shot stated with a small chuckle while rubbing the back of his head.

“She’s pretty stubborn, so I had to knock her out and get Kaneki to carry her back here while I carried the two she knocked out.”

“It’s true” Kaneki said with a nod. “She just wouldn’t quit.”

A few seconds passed and the group slowly nodded. Applejack’s originally skeptical gaze lowering when she considered Dash’s personality when it came to her stunts.

“Well Ah guess that’s what Dash would do. She never really listens even when she’s injured” Applejack said with a frustrated sigh. “But to get Lyra and Bon-Bon tangled up in her mess also?”

The group seemed to relax a bit, Kill Shot smiled, and Kaneki remained indifferent, but offered a slight smile in return.

“Well I’m glad none of you were seriously hurt” Twilight said with a sigh of relief.

“Yeah” Spike chimed in. “Dash really needs to loosen up a bit in her practices.”

“I’ll say” Rarity said as she moved over and fixed Dash’s hair with a small smile.

Kill Shot moved over to the seat next to Lyra and stayed there observing the mint colored unicorn and her friend. The rest of the group moved over to look at them as well hoping Dash’s incident hadn’t really harmed them.

A couple of minutes passed and the group got to talking, with Kaneki simply drinking a cup of coffee.

“And then I said no you give me a cupcake” Pinkie said, getting a few laughs from everyone.

That is till Rainbow Dash moved in her sleep.

Kaneki who had been sitting by her side the entire time looked at her. A few more seconds passed and the mare got up, stretching in her bed, before she sat up in her medical gown. “Hey guys. What’s up?”

The frowns she received from the group baffled her.

“What’d I do?”

“Your stunt put two other mares in the hospital” Twilight said still frowning.

“My what?” Dash asked.

“Don’t play dumb Dash you know, the stunt you said you were practicing on before you left earlier today!” Pinkie said now leaning into the bed.

Rainbow Dash continued to look at her friends with confusion, till her eyes widened in realization. “Oh yeah!” she said, “Oh man” she slapped her hand to her face with an apologetic smile.

“Yeah yeah, sorry guys that was my bad. Um where are Lyra and Bon-Bon anyway?” she said.

Everyone pointed to the two beds beside her.

Rainbow Dash gave an embarrassed blush. “Right, man I’m going to have to apologize to them later.”

“You better” Twilight said her frown turning into a small smile. “You do owe them one, after all.”

Together the group began chatting for a couple of minutes, Kaneki catching Rainbow Dash staring at him every now and again in between conversations. Those looks he’d then direct to Kill Shot who completely ignored him as he engaged in conversation with Spike.

Eventually Nurse Redheart came in and told everyone visiting hours were over and that Rainbow Dash needed her rest.

Once everyone bid their goodbyes Kaneki and Dash were the last remaining.

“Guess I’ll be going then. Take it easy Dash” getting up from his seat beside her Kaneki began moving towards the door, but stopped when he felt a hand grab his wrist.

Looking over to Rainbow Dash he could see the mare was holding a warm smile at him. She tugged at his wrist for him to come closer.

Complying Kaneki sat back down beside her.

“Kaneki” she said softly still smiling, a look of gratitude in her eyes.

Does she remember what happened? Kaneki thought, but simply remained impassive, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“Kaneki, I don’t remember what happened that got me injured. Nor do I know how Bon-Bon and Lyra got caught up in it, but I’m pretty sure my stunts had nothing to do with it. Right?”

Kaneki hesitated, but that only served to give the rainbow haired girl confirmation, she smiled a bit wider at him, taking a hold of his hand gently in hers.

“Hey, I don’t know what happened, but I get the feeling whatever you did was really important. Not just for me but for those two also. And while I don’t remember what went down I do have one thing to say to you.”

Kaneki raised his brow in anticipation.

“Thank you Kaneki. For whatever you did thank you. I feel like if I don’t say that to you now I’ll end up regretting it in the future, so don’t worry. I won’t tell the others that you and Kill Shot made something up. It’s our little secret okay?” she said with a mischievous wink before releasing Kaneki’s hand.

Kaneki’s eyes widened. Not just because of the fact that she couldn’t remember, but because of the fact that despite not recalling the horrible things that happened. Which in all honesty he was glad she didn’t remember, she had still decided to thank him.

It made him feel...happy.

“Kaneki?” Nurse Redheart said walking back in with her arms crossed. “Visiting hours are over, you can talk to Dash tomorrow alright?” she said sternly, but with a touch of gentleness.

Kaneki nodded. Getting up from his seat and erasing all trace of surprise and joy mixed on his face. Hearing a whistle he turned to see Rainbow Dash wave goodbye to him with a smile.

He smiled back, and did the same.

Meeting the rest of the group downstairs at the waiting room Pinkie Pie smiled, and gave him a nudge. “Getting closer to Dash are we?”

Kaneki for the first time actually chuckled at her joke, surprising everyone in the process.

“Not in the way you think” Kill Shot said once everyone had regained their composure.

“He’s right, not in that way” Kaneki said with a small smile. Pinkie grinned back both at the fact she had got him to laugh and that he was smiling a bit wider than usual. Hugging her friend tightly the pink mare spun on her hoof and pointed outside. “Let’s celebrate when Dash gets better!”

Her friends cheered, and joked as they began heading out leaving Kill Shot and Kaneki a few feet behind, still within the hospital with no one else in the waiting room.

Kaneki’s smile soon faded once his friends were gone, his eyes moving to the investigator.

“What did you do to her?”

“I gave her some medicine so that she would forget what happened” Kill Shot responded calmly. “It was necessary, I did the same for the other two mares. They won’t remember what happened today either.”

A few seconds of silence passed before Pinkie’s voice outside could be heard calling to them.

“Hey Kill Shot! Kaneki! Get your butts out here!”

The two stood in place for a few more seconds before Kaneki turned his attention towards the front door.

“Thank you Kill Shot.”

Kill Shot stared in silence as Kaneki moved on towards the door then stopped to look back at him.

“Coming?” Kaneki asked before moving on to go outside and meet the others.

The investigator simply remained silent a few more seconds, before breaking into a warm smile and readjusting his glasses. “Your welcome” he muttered before taking a few steps to the doors.

“Hey wait up! I’m coming also” he called.

As the group began heading somewhere to get a bite to eat as it was getting late at night, Kaneki couldn’t help but think how lucky he was to have been able to avoid having to use his powers to their fullest, especially in front of Rainbow Dash.

“From now on I need to be more careful” he said under his breath.

Pinkie’s ear twitched and she looked over to Kaneki beside her. “Did you say something?”

Kaneki shook his head.

“Nope. Nothing at all.”

Author's Note

Things are getting interesting aren't they?