#itori

uta — you came in with your parents for a mask.

as is custom with most ghoul families, from all the wards. uta is well renowned in the ghoul community, and even with some of the more artistic humans in the 4th ward. his masks were held in high regard, as is he, as the known leader of his ward.

before you even walk through the door, he catches the strangest combination of scents, ghoul, human, and something that smells similar to that young boy touka brought in a few weeks ago - kaneki.

he recognises your ghoul parent easily, they had often ran around with the clowns sometimes back in the old days, though never fully committing to the group. they had disappeared the night roma fought against tsuneyoshi washuu, and been assumed dead.

well, they’d certainly been busy these last few years, he thinks as he watches you - this half-ghoul child, naturally born no less - wander around his store and gape at the various masks on display.

you hold the hand of your human parent, who seems to hold no fear when faced with a person who is clearly a ghoul, even having the gall to comment on his kakugan, to ask if they’re always like that. what a fascinating creature! he can see why his old friend likes this one.

he pops a few eyeballs in his mouth throughout your appointment just to see if they’ll squirm. perhaps the wet squelching and the sudden pop! as he chews will repulse them and show him their true nature... sadly, they're pretty unphased.

and so are you, the only acknowledgment that is made is by you to say that he’s chewing loudly his food loudly. this amuses him.

you come around again a few days later with only your human parent in tow - uta just wanted to remeasure your head and ensure you like the base shape of your mask.

your ghoul parent is out hunting, he soon learns. you’re a chatty kid. he ends up asking you a few questions that he didn’t have the opportunity to ask kaneki. it’s only so often you get the luxury of talking to a half breed.

you answer with the good nature and innocence of a child that hasn’t seen true violence yet - maybe that’s the human side of you coming to light.

speaking of humans, he enquires about your eating habits to your human counterpart as you are looking around at his new display of masks.

can you eat human and ghoul food? ‘yes, they can.’ and they’re able to digest it with no problems? ‘uh, yeah?’ what about their kagune? ‘well, they’re working on that. nothing yet.’

hm, maybe he’ll make an effort to not hunt this human down for his dinner.

you voice your approval of the base shape of the mask - it’s exactly what you were thinking it would look like! now you’re even more excited for the finished product.

a few days later, he senses a familiar presence as he goes to open up for the day. there you are, sitting on the steps waiting for him.

“mr uta!” you say excitedly, hopping down from the rain coated stairs, “i was waiting for you!”

were you waiting all night? your coat looked like it could be wrung out and produce a bucket of water alone. he asks where your parents are as he turns the lock in the door. you follow him in as you chatter about how you snuck out while they were sleeping.

it’s far from uta’s place to tell you off for sneaking away from your parents. he did much worse at your age, maybe even younger. he just cracks an imperceptible smirk and decides to wait for your parents to come looking here. in the meantime, he turns on the heater so you don't freeze.

as fascinated as you were by looking at the displays, you were a child and were bored relatively quickly. he distracts you with some spare mask bases of his that he wasn't going to use, a few bottles of glitter, and multicoloured feathers, and tells you to go crazy.

some time later, your frantic parents come in and scold you for running off, and thank uta for keeping you safe (albeit covered with glitter that he notices stubbornly stays on your skin for a few days).

uta found himself enjoying your appearances in the shop, even after you receive your finished mask, you like to watch him work. he assures your parents that it's fine if you come over whenever you want. you're practically providing him with free labour, what's the harm?

and so he gets roped into babysitting his new apprentice. your parents trust him enough to leave you with him when they go out on date nights.

uta would definitely do harmless experiments on you. i mean, you're a half ghoul. if he wasn't so fond of you he would have eaten you a long time ago.

said harmless experiments include trying to get you hungry to see your single kakugan, strangely, you seem to like human food more than, well, humans as your food. he's a little envious of that - human food always manages to look so artistic. it's unfortunate that it all tastes so vile to him. you're lucky in that respect.

he's also desperate to see your kagune, there has to be something special about it considering your mixed lineage. you're a late bloomer though, you've never needed to defend yourself, so your kagune hasn't been used yet.

not for lack of trying on his part - he'll get you there eventually.

itori — itori’s first thoughts when she sees you go along the lines of 'why the hell is there a child in my bar'.

uta volunteered to babysit you for the night, but had failed to remember that he was meeting up with itori for drinks at helter skelter. he just brings you along.

her annoyance passes pretty quickly to delight, a half-ghoul child! how interesting!

itori very much has all the vibes of a wine aunt (blood wine in this case).

she sneaks you a few small sips when uta isn't looking and tells you to keep it a secret, much to your delight.

some of the regulars at the bar ask her if it's bring your child to work day, you do look pretty similar so she can't blame them.

since they both know your ghoul parent from their clown days, you're pretty much an honorary member by association. helter skelter is practically a second home to you at this point.

although, your human parent is very much not welcome. there's just too many ghouls in the bar that would want to eat them.

you're treated like a doll by her for the most part. she's never had a child of her own, or even children around her in general.

itori gets attached to you pretty quickly. she's eager to take you on hunts alongside her once your kagune forms.

she's also way more talkative than uta, which makes for a much better story teller when you get tired. seeing you curled up asleep against itori in a booth seat isn't an unusual sight nowadays.

itori is also curious about your half-ghoul status, often pestering your parents on your conception and the difficulty of your incubation. i mean, there are stories about naturally born half-ghoul children, but most are known to die before, or shortly after birth.

the only half ghoul that was known to her was kaneki, but he was a human first.

she's pretty psyched when she finally sees your single kakugan. it was a pretty late night for everyone and the adults had postponed hunting until the early hours of the morning.

your parents have made the wise decision to not enroll you in public school just yet, hoping to get you more accustomed to living between worlds.

sadly as a result of this, you don't actually have any friends your age. ghoul or human. uta and itori are some of the only people you have integrated with outside of your parents.

so, she decides to take you on a trip to anteiku.

renji — seeing itori around anteiku is a welcome, but an uncommon sight.

what’s even more uncommon is the small child she’s currently holding the hand of.

renji sips at his cup of coffee as itori introduces you to irimi and koma, you seem well behaved enough. a quiet kid, given how you shy away behind itori when koma reaches down to ruffle your hair, much to irimi's amusement.

unfortunately, he's misjudged and hence mislabelled you as a quiet child. this bites him in the ass when moments after he blocks out itori's conversation, you climb onto the stool beside him.

you torment him with questions for just short of an hour. renji isn't the most experienced with children so he's just gruff and standoffish during this time, throwing some noncommittal hums when you seemed to want a response.

most people, even children would find his behaviour and general presence discomforting or threatening (most of the time a mixture of both), but you just seem to want to ask him more questions. for instance, why is his hair grey? why does he look so serious? is he old? how old is he because he looks really old (to which koma laughs).

irimi must have taken pity on him because she ends up giving you a colouring book to distract you from badgering renji with questions. pretty soon after, you guys leave.

you end up coming around anteiku with itori, and even on your own, more often. he learns that you've struck up a friendship with hinami and that touka is now tutoring the both of you whenever she can.

with the additional time you're spending around anteiku, you grow familiar with it's staff and regulars. strangely enough, you've grown quite attached to renji.

not from any attempt on his part. but, similarly to a cat, ignoring you just makes you more curious than before.

he answers your questions without needing saving by irimi now, which is improvement at the very least. he even chaperones you back to your parents house after a few night-time study sessions with touka and hinami.

renji is considerably less interested in your half-ghoul status, though he is interested in you learning to defend yourself. your parents won't be around forever and neither will the ghouls that surround themselves around you.

when you're an adequate age, he takes you to the same sewers he took kaneki when he was first training him. by this point a few years down the line, renji is pretty much in uncle territory.

during a particularly long training session, you manage to release your kagune. renji is not only relieved you'll be able to defend yourself without steel weaponry, but also proud that you've managed to release it in a training situation. younger ghouls would usually need to go through some sort of traumatic event to unleash their kagune, and even then some still falter, or are simply unable.

uta is simultaneously thrilled and dismayed that you've released your kagune. thrilled because, well done you! dismayed because it was renji who got to see it first.