Tareq Bakari

Tareq Bakari is a B rate Christian Ghoul residing in the 14th Ward of Tokyo. He is homeless, and known to the CCG as Blackout. He works at Zanzibar, and is a grunt in Aogiri.

## Appearance

Tareq has significantly darker skin than most in Japan, due to being born and raised for his early life in Mansoura, Egypt. He has rather distinctive features, which serve only to make him stand out more, such as his sharp, amber eyes, as well as the fact that he stands at 6'1". He has a slightly smaller than average nose, and he has a mole under the outside of his left eye. Tareq is rather muscular, but not overly so, and has the physique of the martial artist that he is. He has messy brown hair that reaches the nape of his neck at the back and slopes up to the bottom of his ear at the fringe, with strands and licks sticking out. He has two steel studs in his left ear, one in the cartilage, and one in the lobe, while his right ear has one in his earlobe.

While working at Zanzibar, he dons a rather average, professional outfit. Outside of work, he wears a partially unbuttoned black shirt, with a light blue vest beneath, as well as sandy, straight-legged jeans. For footwear he wears grey, red-trimmed, white-soled canvas trainers that reach his ankles. He also wears black leather gloves. Finally, around his neck he wears a steel cross.

## Personality

Tareq initially comes off as arrogant, believing strongly in himself and his abilities. However, that's a facade. He actually, in fact, doesn't truly trust in himself. The face of arrogance is actually just a wall put up because he believes weakness, and the perception of weakness, only invites trouble. When around people he can trust not to take advantage of his weakness, he is much kinder and friendlier.

Due to having lead a somewhat successful Baltagiya gang when he was 19, Tareq has a fairly good grasp of being in charge, though he loaths the responsibility of it, due to believing that he may screw up at every single decision. This low self-esteem holds him back somewhat, though not to an incredible extent, and his desire to proving himself wrong is one of his main motivations behind training.

Tareq was arrested for his actions of leading a group of Baltagiya after he could no longer afford to pay the bribes to the law enforcement, and put into a Ghoul Holding Facility in Cairo. Due to having less money to build one, some Ghouls shared cells. Tareq shared a cell with a Ghoul who was also a Christian priest, and in his time there, he converted to Christianity. Due to this, he changed from being a ruthless leader of a gang of murderers, drug dealers and rapists to a devoted Christian who dislikes unnecessary violence, though by no means does he refuse to defend himself.

Though he is a devoted Christian, Tareq does not attempt to force his faith on others, or even preach unless he thinks it may truly be helpful. He reconciles the commandment against killing, but needing to kill to live, by praying for forgiveness before and after each meal. He shares the same goal as Kichirou after being inducted into Aogiri, wanting to change it from the inside to bring peace to both Ghouls and Humans, rather than the terrorist organization that it is now.

## History

Tareq was born and raised in Luxor, Egypt. As a Ghoul, he was always ruthless, feeling barely anything for others, having trained himself to not feel remorse for the killings he did.

Eventually, Tareq found himself a member of a Baltagiya gang, and eventually the leader. For years, he did as he wanted before his gang was hired by the Egyptian government, and they only got worse. The fact that he was a Ghoul was turned a blind eye to, due to his gangs incredible performance. However, after protests and such started dying down, there was less use for Tareq and his gang, and he was eventually imprisoned.

Due to them not being able to afford an enormous prison such as Cochlea, some Ghouls shared cells, if they were deemed safe enough to do so, and had useful enough information to not kill them. Tareq knew many other Ghouls, so he was kept alive to give information on them. Tareq shared his with a Christian priest. Over the years he spent there, the Priest preached to him. At first Tareq found it annoying and brushed it off, but after some time of having nothing to do, he began to listen, and then convert.

At one point, the prison was attacked by a group of Ghouls seeking to free a friend. While they did not succeed, some Ghouls did manage to escape, including Tareq and the priest. Having changed his ways, Tareq wanted a fresh start, and so moved to Japan in hopes of finding one there.

Due to his lack of money and profitable skills, Tareq stayed homeless for a large amount of time. However, at one point, he met Kichirou Kurosawa, and they fought a gang of Ghouls together that had attacked Tareq. One thing led to another, and Kichirou took pity on Tareq, offering him a job at Zanzibar. Following this, Tareq became extremely devoted to him, and eventually joined Aogiri Tree with the same goal as Kichirou.

## Powers and Abilities

**Strengths:**
Tareq is very good at martial arts, which allows him to apply his considerable strength well in combat. He also has exceptional reflexes.

**Weaknesses:**
Tareq has poor regeneration, alongside a poor sense of smell and a lack of flexibility, due to the amount of muscle he has.

## Kagune

**Type:** Koukaku

**Appearance:** Black RC cells, flecked with gold, cover Tareq's arms in an almost skintight layer, protecting his arms as well as the area on his back where they originate. He can form a blade on the outside of his arm, running from his elbow to about half a foot past the tips of his fingers.

**Strengths:** Tareq's Kagune forms incredibly quickly, and has incredibly fast regeneration. The arms are hard enough to be used as armour.

**Weaknesses:** The Kagune has rather short range. The blades are brittle, and he can't apply martial arts properly with the blade out, limiting his abilities.

**Mechanics:** N/A