Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Ghoul and I never watched that abomination known as the anime. I only read the manga.

Warnings: AU; Possible OOCness; some Misunderstandings and Misconceptions; Outsider POV – Fura Taishi

UnBeta'd

Fura Taishi was having a rather mundane day. It was a rare respite from the usual violence that his occupation entailed. Instead of being out in the field, today he had paperwork to catch up on and reports to file. Despite the tedious work of mind-numbing bureaucracy, it did serve as a breather. He stayed at his desk for a few hours before deciding to head to the breakroom for some coffee.

He tidied up his desk and put away the loose papers into their appropriate folders. He would get back to them later. Standing up from his chair, Fura stretched before making his way to the breakroom.

Once he arrived, he headed towards the coffee station to begin brewing his coffee. He watched the machine as he waited, taking a deep breath to inhale its aroma. When it finished, he took one of the clean mugs from the cupboard and poured himself a serving.

When he turned around to take a seat at one of the breakroom sofas, he halted in surprise.

Arima Kishou was on one of the sofas. He had a soft-bound book in one hand and a red pen in the other. He would flip a page, pause, and then take the pen to its pages before seemingly continuing to read.

It was a nostalgic sight. Even back when the two of them were in high school, Fura had witnessed the man write in those books of his and scribble red all over its pages. Privately, Fura had often wondered if Arima would have rather been a book critic or an editor instead of an Investigator. For as long as they had known one another, the only thing Arima seemed to enjoy were his books.

"Arima," he called out in greeting. Fura took a seat in the adjacent sofa.

"Fura," the other man acknowledged with a nod.

"I see you still enjoy writing in those books."

"There are always errors to correct."

Fura huffed in amusement. "If you send that back to the publisher, I'm sure you'll make them cry."

Arima gave a mild smile.

It was good to see that some things never changed. While he and Arima had gotten close in high school, they had become distant as adults. With Arima being the Investigator in high demand and Fura having had focused on training to become an Investigator, they hadn't had much time to stay in touch despite becoming colleagues. Nevertheless, whenever they would happen to share a breaktime, they would converse. Slowly, their friendship mended. Later down the line, Fura had managed to convince his stoic friend to be his best man at his wedding.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Fura reminisced.

"Yes, it has. How is your wife?"

"Aki is doing well." Fura grinned. "We're expecting now."

"Congratulations." Arima smiled. "Have you two already decided on names?"

"Yeah… Ryou if it's a boy. If it's a girl… I thought about naming her Minami, but…"

"I see…"

A somber silence filled the room.

Fura took a sip of his coffee and cleared his throat. "Anyway, when are you planning on settling down, Arima? You're almost 30."

As always, Arima wasn't fazed by the question. Nothing ever seemed to bother him. That, or he'd gotten used to Fura's pestering.

"I already have other commitments," was Arima's usual response.

"You always say that." Fura's reply was the same. It was an old argument they played whenever they relaxed. "Don't you want to have a life outside of the CCG?"

At this point, Fura had long resigned himself to Arima's workaholism and no longer expected a different response. The banter was more of a light-hearted routine they played nowadays.

They chatted for a while before parting ways to return to their duties.

Fura went back to his office and worked on the reports and peer reviews on his subordinates' performances during their last operation. By the time he had finished this work, it was already time to go home.

When he left the CCG headquarters, the sun was starting to set. On his way out, he noticed a small figure seated on the bench outside, just a ways away from the CCG entrance. There was no one else around and it was beginning to get dark. Upon closer inspection, he noted that the figure was a dark-haired child.

Fura didn't know what caused him to approach the boy, but with Aki's pregnancy, his paternal instincts had risen considerably.

"Hey, kid," Fura called out as he got nearer. "It's not safe to be out too late."

The boy looked up at him, lightly swaying his legs from his spot on the bench. "I'm waiting for someone." The kid's feet didn't even fully reach the ground yet.

Now that he got a closer look, Fura felt that the boy looked rather familiar. The kid had wavy black hair and dark hooded eyes that gave him a look of perpetual boredom. He wore a shirt with a sun printed over it and a dark hoodie. The kid looked like he hadn't hit adolescence yet. At most, Fura thought him to be around 10 to 12 years old.

There was a persistent thought nudging at the back of his mind at the sight of the boy. Fura just couldn't place it. That bored look on the kid's face just screamed something familiar.

Suddenly, the kid seemed to perk up. It wasn't a huge change of expression, but something in Fura noticed it. The boy had his eyes focused on something behind Fura, so the man followed his line of sight.

Unexpectedly, it was the Nagachika boy. As the blond approached, the young boy behind Fura left his spot on the bench and made his way over to the young man. Absently, Fura noted a motif of something resembling a goat on the back of the boy's hoodie and wondered if it represented some sort of sports team.

"Oh, First Class Fura!" Nagachika grinned. "Are you heading home too?"

The Investigator nodded in response. "Nagachika," he acknowledged. "And this is?"

Nagachika glanced at the younger boy next to him and gave Fura a grin and a wink. "He's my bodyguard!"

The First Class smiled in amusement. "I see." Children will be children, he supposed. "Make sure you and your 'bodyguard' make your way home safely."

"Will do!"

And with that, they parted ways. Yet, the younger boy's image still nagged at Fura's thoughts. It wasn't until he came home, kissed his wife, and began dressing down that something pinged.

On his dresser was a picture that had been taken back in his high school days. It was a picture of him, Aki, and Ryou dressed in baseball jerseys. Eyes widening, Fura began to search for his high school yearbook. When he finally found it, he quickly flipped through it to find the picture he was looking for.

Dark hair and hooded grey eyes behind a pair of glasses stared back at him with an almost-bored expression.

"No wonder that kid looked so familiar," he muttered in disbelief. "Arima… that kid looked just like you."

That boy couldn't have been older than 12 though.

Suddenly, Fura recalled their earlier conversation.

"Anyway, when are you planning on settling down, Arima? You're almost 30."

"I already have other commitments."

…

Shit.

Arima! Just how old were you when you fathered that boy?!

No, no, no. Let's think logically for a minute. Fura willed himself to calm down. We can't just assume it's his kid. It could've been a nephew or something.

But as far as Fura knew, Arima never had any siblings. Or parents. Or family, in general.

Fura didn't get any sleep that night.

The next day, Fura had never been more relieved to find himself needing to do paperwork. Had he been needed in the field, he would have been courting death.

"Woah! First Class Fura, those are some pretty nasty eyebags you got there!"

It was Nagachika.

"Good morning, Nagachika," Fura sighed. "Another shift today?"

It was kind of odd, Fura mused. As far as he was aware, the teen was only hired as a part-time assistant. However, it seemed almost as if the boy was in the HQ nearly every day.

"Nah." Nagachika waved. "I was supposed to pick something up yesterday, but I forgot to do it." The boy frowned. "I was gonna do it this morning before my morning classes, but I can't seem to find it. It was only on loan to begin with, so I gotta give it back before I get in trouble for it."

"Wish you luck in finding it."

"Thanks," the boy started. "If you find a paperback book about this big –" Nagachika made a couple had gestures – "with a light blue cover, could you let me know? I'd appreciate it."

Fura nodded. The description sounded strangely familiar.

"Thanks a bunch!"

And with that, they parted ways and Fura resumed his walk to his office.

In all honesty, Fura never meant to find Nagachika's book. After a few useless minutes of trying to focus on his paperwork, Fura had given up and began to march his way down to the breakroom for a caffeinated savior.

It was only after he had drank half a mug of caffeine that he noticed it.

There was a book on the coffee table – the same one Fura had seen with Arima the day before – and no one in sight to claim it. Curious, he picked it up.

It was softly bound with no discernable title located anywhere on the powder blue cover pages. There was no name listed on it either to determine the book's owner. Flipping the book open revealed red ink that marred the pages with notes in the margins and corrections on the printed pages. It looked like a report that had been submitted and then reviewed and graded by a teacher. If there was a big solid zero encircled at the top right, it wouldn't look out of place.

Thumbing the pages revealed red throughout the book.

Shit. Didn't Nagachika say this thing was on loan? Arima… I can't even believe I'm saying this, but that guy needs to learn not to vandalize other people's property.

Eventually, Fura glimpsed a relatively blank page towards the front with something written on it. He flipped back to find the page and found a note written in unfamiliar handwriting.

Kishou,

Don't forget to visit our little prince. Isn't it almost his birthday?

Send him my love~

"Kishou," it read. "Our little prince," it said, in feminine script.

Fura stared.

There was no way–

"Ah, there it is!"

Fura was startled back into reality by Nagachika's voice. Fura hadn't noticed him at all.

Damn, I must be more tired than I thought.

"You found it!" The boy laughed in delight. "Wouldn't have known what to do if I'd lost it. I'd probably get skinned alive!"

"Oh," Fura shook his head to clear his thoughts and moved to hand over the book. "Is it this book?"

"Yeah. There should be a note on the last page to return by December 20 or something."

When Fura flipped to the last page, there was indeed the note mentioned.

"Try not to lose it again then, alright? But…"

"Hm?"

"Is it really alright? There's a bunch of…" Fura thumbed the book, the rapidly turning pages showing brief glimpses of red ink throughout its entirety. "That."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that's normal."

Fura stared. Nagachika blinked back.

"Don't worry about it!" Nagachika grinned. "Anyway, thanks again!"

And with that, the boy took the book, stuffed it in his bag, and made his way out with a cheerful wave of goodbye.

By the end of it all, Fura Taishi felt a headache coming on. He had more questions than answers, and no one to answer them. If he was more awake, he probably would have questioned Nagachika, but at the moment, Fura just wanted to close his eyes and ignore the world. He was too damn tired to deal with anything.

However, Fura swore he would interrogate his stoic friend the next time he saw him. They had gone to high school together. The guy had been the best man at Fura's wedding. How the hell could Arima keep his family secret all these years from his own best friend?!

But not today.

He needed some god-damned shut-eye.

Happy birthday to both Arima Kishou and Kaneki Ken!

On another note, sorry if the chapter seems all over the place. It's currently 2am in the morning and my writing/editing/proofreading abilities are shot. I'll probably go over it again in after I wake up hahaha. Good night everyone.