Hey guys. I haven't seen a decent crossover between Tokyo Ghoul and Sword Art Online that has been updated recently in a long time, so here's my go at it. Slight AU where Kazuto ran away after finding out about his identity and got adopted(guilt and shame does wonders for rational thinking). Going by the new name of Ken Kaneki, he experienced the events that turned him into a ghoul, only earlier this time(when he was fourteen-ish). Note that this Kaneki will be the OEK version. So, the timeline is going to be pretty messed up. He'll still be in the beta obviously, but the actual SAO will be a bit tricky. Some characters will have their ages changed to fit this story, but I don't think there'll be any pairings(unless I get ideas). Welp, here I go. I accept any criticism, so go ahead. Let the games begin.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the warped version of canon in this story.

Kirigaya Kazuto was an average person. He had a loving family, practiced kendo(despite not really liking it) and grew up in a nice household. When he was ten, that all changed. He had been curious about his abilities, leading to the(dumb) act of hacking the National Registry to see his own personal information. Kazuto then discovered, in one of the worst ways possible, that he was adopted. That his family wasn't actually his family. That his biological parents were dead before he could even get to know them. That his parents(aunt and uncle) had lied to him all this time. With betrayal coiling in his chest, he took a small bag containing some clothes, food, water, money and ran away. He knew that he was behaving irrationally, but the mere thought of going back to a house where he had lived, deceived since he could remember(and before) sent an intense wave of nausea through him. He ran until he couldn't run anymore, then continued at a snail's pace, never stopping or looking back. As night finally made its presence aware, he curled up on a nearby bench and after eating and drinking(being careful to ration), fell asleep.

He was woken up several hours later by a loud clap of thunder and raised his head to look at the sky. His onyx black eyes had dulled with sadness and he didn't look out of place when it started raining several minutes later. Frowning in dismay, he started running again(ignoring the pain in his stomach and legs) and managed to reach a train station after being drenched severely. Shivering, he boarded a train(he didn't see where he was going) and quickly found a seat before the train was filled with commuters and started wiping himself off. The long and tedious process of drying himself to the best of his ability without changing out of the damp clothes distracted Kazuto enough for him to forget the events of the day. As he finished up, the train came to a stop and he instinctively moved out onto the platform. Ignoring the odd looks he got from the various commuters, he stared at the name of the train station and mouthed a word.

"Tokyo?"

(Time skip: A few months later)

Kirigaya Kazuto, no Ken Kaneki looked at his new house with a hint of nervousness. He had been adopted by a kind lady and his name(he had claimed he didn't have one) had been changed. Kazuto was still getting used to it(secretly he was regretting his actions), but he knew that it would help him forget the past. Forget his behavior, for it had sealed his fate and going back was something he couldn't do anymore. It had been too long. He was sure that his uncle and aunt would have forgotten him by then and his cousin would get over it soon. After all, if the two explained to her their biological relationship, he was sure she would forget him. It didn't matter. He had a fresh start. He would make the most of it.

(Time skip: Alternate ending.)

He gently laid the body to the floor. Looking around at both dead allies and enemies, a sob threatened to break free from his throat. He didn't think that his actions would have gotten them killed. He knew he wasn't ready to lead. He knew being the One-Eyed King would lead to even more suffering and torment. Now, as he gazed upon the burning remains of the CCG and the countless corpses littering the dirt, he closed his eyes. A tear traced a path through the ash on his face as he wondered what he would do next. His own Quinx Squad had turned against him, he watched Mutsuki put a knife through Touka's eye and rage had caused him to strangle the life out of Mutsuki. The remaining two members had sought revenge and he had put them down as easily as breathing. A simple swing of his kagune had decapitated them, the surprised expressions on their faces had emphasized how quick he had been. Not thinking carefully(just like all those years ago), he had waged war against the CCG, every able ghoul with him stormed their headquarters as the Doves waited. It had been a massacre. Countless ghouls died before they could even reach the building, even more as they took it down. He had ignored the losses, sent more to bring down the remaining buildings, not wanting a single person in the CCG to survive. Over the course of a brutal week, they had lost over 90% of their forces before the final showdown began. Furuta had amassed all the remaining Doves and made one final, desperate stand, hoping that superior firepower would work against the horde.

It didn't.

The ones left were the most battle-hardened ones, the quickest, the strongest... a few hundred snipers couldn't do a thing if their targets could shrug bullets off or simply dodge them. Furuta and the others fought hard, yes, killing many as they pushed towards Kaneki, hoping that bringing down their symbol of hope would be enough to quash the tide.

He met them head-on, kakuja protecting him, only this time he could control the madness. One by one, they fell. As he licked Furuta's blood off his hand, the world was engulfed in fire. The government had vacated a large part of Tokyo and had carpet bombed the place with everything they had. The ghouls were tougher, but only the ones that could regenerate the fastest would have stood a chance of withstanding the blazing fury of everything short of a nuke being dropped on them. Their RC counts were way too low after the fight to even have the slightest bit of hope of surviving. In a sudden moment of clarity, hundreds of ghouls shielded Kaneki as he desperately fueled himself on both ghouls and humans in the hopes of getting his RC count to a high enough level.

Their sacrifices had saved him. Though, what was a leader without people to lead? Kaneki walked around the battlefield numbly, knowing that the authorities would assume there were no survivors, he took his time. Finally collapsing to his knees, he wept silently for the people he had lost. He knew that there was a better way. Revenge had been too intoxicating. Now, with the ghouls and CCG almost wiped out completely, he pondered his next course of action. The ghouls and CCG members who had not participated would not draw attention to themselves, after all, they were just remnants of an age he had ended.

He paused as he remembered how he had gotten here in the first place. If he hadn't ran away, none of this would have happened(but there would be another person who had to suffer in Kaneki's place). His home was gone. Everything he knew and loved was gone. He rose to his feet, swaying slightly and went to find some acceptable clothes. He had a journey to make.

Kirigaya Midori watched her daughter with a hint of sadness. It was Kazuto's birthday again, marking the tenth anniversary of his disappearance. The family had never been the same without him. Suguha had been devastated when she knew about her brother(cousin) running away and had broken down crying. She had sought refuge in her brother's room for days, curled up in a ball and sobbing quietly from time to time. They had eventually coaxed her out and the trio had searched for Kazuto high and low, even going to file a missing person's report, but to be met with no positive results. She had lost count of the number of nights she had stayed up late, hoping that Kazuto would return home, listening to the quiet sniffles of her daughter and berating herself for not telling him about his biological parents sooner. She still carried that guilt around in her heart. Suguha had recovered, she was now an active and cheerful girl who had blossomed into a pretty young adult. However, Midori could still see a hint of sadness in her eyes every time she gazed at old pictures when Kazuto was still around and whenever it was the anniversary of his disappearance. They had assumed him to be dead: no child could survive a few weeks, much less a year on his own. As she was brought out of her thoughts, she heard the doorbell ring. She and Suguha exchanged curious glances(they hadn't ordered anything) as they both strode towards the door.

She opened it and was greeted with a young male who looked to be in his early twenties, he wore a hesitant smile on his face and a simple black shirt accompanied by a pair of dark blue jeans. He held a briefcase loosely in one hand and was scratching his neck awkwardly as the two's gazes drilled into him. Midori examined him further, he had white hair(unusual for his age) and a slightly effeminate face. His eyes were a dull grey, almost black and held sadness(Just like Suguha) in them. Finishing up her analysis of the stranger, she asked the question that had been in her mind(and likely in her daughter's).

"Who are you?" she queried, noticing Suguha stepping backwards slightly and towards where her shinai was kept. At her words, an unknown emotion flashed in the stranger's eyes as he opened his mouth to reply.

"It's been too long... mom. I'm home now. I'm sorry for running..." the white-haired man began to answer her question, before Suguha ran back into the house and came back out brandishing a shinai. Kazuto(?) looked at the stance Suguha had adopted and something in his eyes hardened.

"You freak! Onii-chan is dead and you have the nerve to come pretending to be him and expect us to believe you?" Suguha screamed at Kazuto(?) and swung the shinai in an overhead blow, most likely aiming to concuss the stranger. Midori broke out of her daze and reached towards her daughter, as if trying to stop her from hitting the male. To both of their surprise, he merely lifted a hand and stopped the momentum of the swing with a little push. Sighing, he took a deep breath and spoke in a robotic tone.

"My name is Kirigaya Kazuto, born on 7th October 2008, I ran away when I was ten after finding out that I was living with my aunt, uncle and cousin and my biological parents are dead. I once saved Suguha from drowning in our pond. I grew bored of kendo and turned to the Internet, causing my grandfather to beat me and Suguha to stop him by promising to do so well in kendo that it would make up for me quitting..." he tilted his head slightly, watching the faces of his aunt and cousin pale rapidly before adding a quip to see if they would snap out of it.

"Is that enough information? Or do I have to talk about the time someone mistook me and Suguha for sisters when we were young..." his speech was cut off when Midori slapped him(and promptly regretted it as it felt like hitting iron) and Suguha let out a gut-wrenching sob. A small flame of anger grew in her and Kazuto shrank back from the furious gaze of his aunt.

"You ran away. We thought you were dead. Why didn't you come back? Don't you realize how much that hurt us?" Midori berated as her own tears welled up in her eyes and started trickling down her face. Suguha had dropped the shinai and was hugging Kazuto(hard) while Midori watched the confusion on his face be replaced by comprehension and...surprise?

"I thought that you all would have forgotten me, gone on with your lives. I'm not your actual son or brother after all..." Kazuto's words were like a punch to the gut. He thought that he wasn't important? That just because he wasn't actually part of their biological family, he would have been forgotten, discarded like yesterday's trash? As she watched Kazuto's face display his shame and regret, she sighed and enveloped him in a hug as well.

"Just because you aren't my actual son doesn't mean you're not one to me." she whispered into his ear and felt his body stiffen before it shuddered. She could sense the tears trickling down his cheeks as he wrapped his own arms around the two of them in a vice-grip.

He was home.

That's all I have for this chapter. Read, review and criticize. I know it seems awkward, but I needed to get the filler stuff out of the way first before I can throw myself into the actual story. The continuation of this story would require responses from you guys. Welp. For those who liked my other crossover, I should be updating it(Monsters? No. Humans) soon. I have plenty of ideas swirling around in this twisted mind of mine and I will write them down. See you on the flip side.