Hi! Here is a Tokyo Ghoul one-shot :) I don't own anything here except for my OC Nona!
Feel free to comment, I hope you like it!
Kaneki looked up at the sky that evening and took in the beautiful sunset and cool wind blowing through the trees. It had been quite a while now since the day he met Rize, but the memories of that horrifying time were still as fresh in his mind, as if it had happened yesterday. The flashes of red, of black, of violence and disaster. And, finally, the desire for flesh. What had he become? He was still trying to figure that out.
As soon as he turned on his heel, deciding to walk back to Anteiku, he was caught off guard by a beautiful woman standing in his way, almost causing him to bump into her.
"Oh, s-sorry!" Kaneki said, flustered. He bowed politely and then looked up when he heard her giggling.
"Hey, your Kaneki from my Classical Literature class, aren't you?"
She was right. He remembered seeing her sitting in class with the popular students, and on a few occasions, eating lunch with friends at Anteiku.
"I'm Nona," she said, giggling again and smiling kindly at him, radiating a soft, delicate fragrance. "Are you ready for lecture this week?"
"Oh," he said, being reminded of something he forgot to do. "I haven't done the assignment yet. To be honest, I haven't gotten a chance to pick up a copy of that book we needed." Kaneki didn't know if he was saying more than what was needed to be said. He still wasn't very good with talking to cute girls.
Luckily Nona just giggled some more. "Don't worry about it, I have a copy at my house that I'm done with, if you want to walk me home?"
Kaneki blushed. "Yeah, thanks."
Their walk home was awkward for Kaneki, but fortunately Nona did most of the talking, saving him from saying something stupid again.
"This is my house," she said, stopping in front of her drive and beckoning for him to follow her onto her lawn. When they got to the door, Kaneki stopped.
"Well, I guess I can wait for you out here," he said sheepishly as she dug her keys out of her bag.
"Don't be silly. My parents aren't home so don't worry about it!" she said as she pushed open the door, dragging him in with her by the collar of his shirt.
Kaneki, red in the face, fumbled taking off his shoes while she took off down a narrow hall, he assumed to her bedroom to get the book.
"You know, I'm normally not like this," he called from the main entrance, afraid to intrude too far into her home. "I love to read, but I've just been crazy busy lately," he explained, afraid that he might have been sending the wrong signal. He had been particularly busy with ghoul stuff, but that wasn't for Nona to know about.
"Come in here, I can't hear you!" she called from her bedroom. Face getting redder, he slowly walked down the long, dark hallway until he got to the only room with the lights on. He gently pushed the door open wider to see the room better. Honestly her whole house was very nice, but her room was particularly organized, with lots of girly things decorated around on shelves and her bed, with posters of actors and bands on her walls.
"What were you saying now?" she asked as she was rummaging through her pink desk, trying to find the book.
"W-well, I-I-I," he stuttered. Then he got angry with himself. This girl was one of the most popular kids in his class, not to mention one of the hottest, and there was absolutely no reason for her to want to talk to him. So if she was going to offer her book to him, he would read it appreciatively and then give it back to her promptly.
"Thank you for letting me borrow your book," he said, more clearly. "I'm usually not like this, so I apologize."
"Don't worry about that Kaneki!" she said as she finally pulled out her copy of the required reading. "Everybody knows that you are the smartest student in the class!" She giggled and went up to him, handing it over with both hands.
"I've noticed you started wearing this lately," she said, coming up closer to him and slowly bringing her hand up to touch the white, medical eyepatch over his left eye. After getting a good whiff of Nona's sweet scent, Kaneki's ghoul eye instinctively turned on, and thoughts of eating the girl in front of him suddenly became very appealing. She looked up at him, smiling, so… trusting… Her parent's weren't home. No witnesses saw them on the street walking together. He could easily get away with it… He leaned forward slightly, letting her scent wash over him. She was so pretty, and he could only imagine how much more so she would be if she was screaming in terror as he tore into her delicious flesh.
No.
"Right, I was in an accident recently and my eye never fully recovered," he lied, wriggling free of Nona's reach and backing up into the hallway. "Thank you so much for the book. I'll see you at class tomorrow!" he called as he hurriedly pulled his shoes on and ran out the door before Nona could say anything else.
"Kaneki!" called a familiar voice. Class had just gotten over and he had been doing his best to avoid Nona as much as possible. He knew he would have to give her book back eventually, but he wasn't ready to face her. He had almost lost himself with her the other day, and he didn't want to put her in a position of danger.
"Oh, hey Nona," he said as he turned around to face her. She looked rather attractive in her short skirt and pin straight brown hair. "I haven't finished reading your book, I'll get it to you by our next class period though."
"Don't worry about that," she said smiling. "I was wondering what you were doing now?"
"I have to work a shift at Anteiku today," he said, immediately regretting his decision to hell her where he worked.
"Anteiku!" she exclaimed. "I've been there a few times! I didn't know you worked there."
"Yeah…" he trailed off. Why did she still want to talk to him?
Then he realized they were attracting attention in the university hallway. And why wouldn't they? She was a popular beauty queen and he was shy, bookworm Kaneki. With an eyepatch. He unconsciously moved to adjust it on his face, suddenly angry again at himself for having to wear the stupid thing, all because he couldn't control his ghoul powers.
"Can I walk there with you?" she asked, and he nodded, unable to say no to her.
Kaneki somehow must have made a good impression on Nona, because for the next few days she had come around Anteiku so often it made Touka confront him about it.
"Who's that girl who keeps stalking you?" she asked one night just as they had finished cleaning up the cafe.
"She's not stalking me!" he said indignantly. "She's just.. a friend."
At this Touka gave a good snort. "Sure she is. And Nishiki and I are best pals too."
"Hey, don't drag me into this," Nishiki grumbled as he angrily mopped the floor, clearly wishing he was anywhere but at Anteiku on a Saturday night..
"You don't have time for a girlfriend right now." Touka told him, ignoring the orange-haired ghoul. And it's too dangerous with what's been happening recently."
"I know," he sighed. "But she won't leave me alone."
"So she is a stalker."
Kaneki only rolled his eyes as he finished putting the mugs away.
By the end of the week, Kaneki had decided to be blunt with her. He got off his shift early at Anteiku to walk Nona home and break the news to her.
"Look, Nona," he began when they arrived on her block. She looked up expectantly, with brilliant green eyes that sparkled in the dying sunlight. "I appreciate you giving me your book," he pulled out the book from his backpack and handed it over. "But I think it might be better for the both of us if we stopped hanging out."
Nona frowned, placing a hand on her hip and squinting her eyes at him. Kaneki's face flushed when he realized she looking at his left eye.
"If it's because of the looks we get, don't worry about that," she said after a while. "And if this is about that accident you were in, don't worry, because I don't care about any of that!"
Kaneki tilted his head to the side, wondering what she was talking about it.
"I… I read about what happened to you in an article I found on the internet," she said quietly. "I don't even know how you are able to be such a sane person after all you've been through, being confronted by a ghoul like that."
She had no idea.
"So just come in," Nona finally said when they reached her front door. "My older sisters are home, so you can meet them. And I'll make you something. Coffee, or tea?"
Kaneki sighed, realizing he was not going to get out of this easily. "Coffee."
It had been a few weeks since Kaneki had almost lost control of himself in Nona's house, and he was beginning to grow confident. It must have just been some crazy fluke, he thought to himself, trying not to think about how delicious she smelled. Normally, humans didn't do that to him, and so he wanted to be extra cautious around Nona.
"Hey Kaneki," Nona said as she entered Anteiku. It was his day off, and he promised to take Nona to the park.
"Oh, I forgot my wallet upstairs, I'll be right back," he said as he hurriedly jogged up the stairs to his bedroom. As he was shuffling through his things, he heard the door creak open and saw Nona stepping through.
Oh no.
"What are you doing up here?" he asked, trying to hide his panic.
"I just wanted to see your bedroom," she said, smiling. "It's pretty organized in here."
"Right," he said, shifting his attention back towards his search. "Here's my wallet," he said gratefully, turning around towards the door to leave, but Nona was right in front of him, her face inches away from his own.
"Kaneki," she whispered, stepping closer and closer to him until she had backed him up against the wall. She then pressed her body against his and lifted her head up to meet his, but Kaneki was too busy panicking to be thinking about his girl problems.
If the other ghouls caught Nona up here… And what's more, he felt his left eye involuntarily turn on as his mouth began to water.
"Nona, I -" he said, trying to overcome his will. But it was too late. Nona reached up and pressed her soft lips tenderly against his own. Kaneki wished he could have enjoyed his first kiss more, but he was too overwhelmed with feelings of wanting to eat her.
In a sudden burst, he felt his body being taken over, and he no longer had any control of his body. He lunged forward towards Nona's neck, but was somehow able to stop himself as his teeth stopped just millimeters away from the soft skin there. Today she seemed to be wearing some peach scented lotion that was just too much for him to handle. He stood there, almost as if in limbo, seconds from sinking his teeth in and taking a bite. She was up in his room. Nobody else knew where she was. He could do it. He could do it!.
"NOOOOO!" He screamed, throwing Nona onto his bed and bolting out of the room. I can't eat her, I CAN'T EAT HER! he screamed interiorly as he bumped into something on his way out the door. It was Touka. He fell to the floor, writhing, fighting between his will and his desires.
"Kaneki?" asked a frightened Nona, slowly emerging from him bedroom.
"GO AWAAAAY!" he screamed. He just didn't want to hurt her, and the pain tore his heart in two because he honestly cared for her.
"FLESH!" he screamed as jumped up, making a beeline towards the staircase where Nona just disappeared down. He had never craved anything else more desperately, and couldn't control himself anymore.
Luckily Touka's fist collided with his skull, sending him flying backwards, landing on his back. In an instant Touka was on top of him, pinning down his squirming arms and legs.
"FLESH! FLESH!" he screamed out, his hunger shaking him to the core. At that moment Hinami emerged from her bedroom, blood-stained white napkin tucked delicately in her shirt collar, and with what looked like a mangled tibia in her hand, some muscle and flesh still attached, dangling off of it.
"Oneechan? Does he want some of my food?" Hinami asked innocently.
Kaneki took one look at it and almost puked. "No," he whispered, turning his face away from the sight and began to cry from his human eye. He couldn't take it anymore. He hated being a ghoul.
At that moment Yomo emerged from the staircase, and Kaneki immediately felt a little better. He didn't know why, but being around Yomo always managed to calm him down.
"What's going on here?" Yomo asked the odd, struggling group in the upstairs hall. "If Kaneki screams out 'flesh' one more time our customers downstairs are going to start to get suspicious." He looked down and came to the realization that Kaneki was starving himself again. At some point during Touka and Kaneki's fight, his eyepatch had come off, revealing his hunger.
He immediately pulled out a package from his coat and kneeled over by the boy. "I want you to eat this," Yomo told him calmly, unwrapping it.
Kaneki turned his face towards him, ashamed that he couldn't be a more useful ghoul, or even a useful human. They were always taking time out of their days to watch over him. "Wh-what is it?" he asked Yomo tentatively, eyeing up the food.
"It's best if you don't know," he replied quietly. "But it'll help you feel better."
Sick with himself, Kaneki closed his eyes and ate the food that Yomo gave him.
"Umm, I feel better now," he said, cheeks getting red when he realized Touka was still sitting on top of him. But Touka understood his statement and relaxed her grip on his wrists, getting off of him quickly, her own cheeks blushing.
"Stupid Kaneki. Learn to control yourself! You could have blown our covers!" she said angrily, trying to change the subject.
"I didn't mean to!" he said, startled that he was getting blamed. "I told her to wait downstairs but she followed after me anyway!"
"Touka, you didn't see the human wander up the stairs?" asked Yomo surprised, turning to face the purple-haired girl.
"I was busy tending to customers. I only realized when I came back from a table that Nona wasn't around, so I came to check Kaneki's room."
Kaneki tried to get his emotions in check. He put Nona in danger again. Maybe it was better this way. It was better that she was safe, hating him than being with him and in constant danger.
It had been at least a month since Kaneki had seen Nona, and much had happened. He woke up in the morning and stumbled over to his bathroom, gripping the counter as he bent over it, washing his white hair in the sink.
He left the hotel room he was crashing for the night and turned to exit down the hallway to meet up with his teammate when he ran into -
"Nona," he said, smelling her immediately.
"Hmm?" the woman said, looking at him, curious for a second before recognizing something in his right eye. She was dressed very formally, in a skirt and blazer, with her hair done up and… still smelling just as wonderful as ever. "K.. Kaneki?" she asked, as if unsure of herself. The man in front of her not only looked very different, but besides his now white hair and gaunt expression, there was still something entirely… different about him.
"Wow, I … I never thought I'd see you again," she whispered incredulously, pushing curious thoughts behind her. She had stopped going to Anteiku after the incident in Kaneki's bedroom, but when she had calmed down and went to go see him again after a week or two, he had vanished, and nobody knew where he went.
"I'm sorry, I've been really busy lately," he said, not quite lying. He looked to the side, wishing she would just go away. He never wanted to see her again.
"Kaneki," she said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. I would love to have dinner sometime to catch up?"
He smiled. He should've known that he would never be able to say no to her. "Nona, I'm sorry I never ca -"
"Don't worry about that," she said smiling. "I'll see you tonight for dinner?"
"Let's make it tomorrow. For coffee."
Throughout his date with Nona, he was able to calmly make small talk, making up lies here and there about what he had been doing, and why he had never called. It became obvious to him during their get together that he still really cared for her.
"Walk me home?" she asked jokingly, seeing as they had somehow managed to book rooms on the same floor of the same hotel.
When they arrived, it became apparent to Kaneki that she wanted to come into his room. As much as he tried to get her to go back to her own place, she knew how to get what she wanted out of him.
Kaneki pushed open the door reluctantly and allowed Nona to walk through first, regretting every minute of it. Although he had fully accepted what he was, he soon realized that he still had no control of himself around her. He had even made sure to eat a little more than he usually did in anticipation of his date, but it was no use; everything about Nona made him want to devour her.
His thoughts were pushed to the side for the time being however, when Nona dropped her purse on the floor and walking up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him tenderly. "I've missed you Kaneki," she whispered after a few seconds.
Snapping back into it, he replied, "Nona, I think it's time that you went home."
"But… there is something different about you, and I can't pinpoint what exactly it is."
"I… I've done something different with my hair," he attempted to joke, but this time Nona didn't give her usual giggle.
"Kaneki, you can tell me."
"I think it's time for you to go."
"Why won't you tell me?"
"I think it's time for you to go!"
"Why do you keep pushing me away?"
Kaneki couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed Nona by the shoulders and thrust her down onto his neatly pressed hotel bedsheets. "Why won't you listen to me?" he asked impatiently. For the first time since leaving Anteiku, tears began to pour out of his human eye. "Why won't you listen to me?!" he screamed at her again.
"K...Kaneki…. You're frightening me," she whispered.
At that moment he realized that he was on top of her, pinning her down threateningly. He immediately released her and slid down onto the floor. "Why do you even like me so much? I could never figure that out."
"Don't worry about that," she said, smiling as she slid down onto the floor next to him.
Kaneki looked down at her wrists. They would probably have bruises on them in the morning from where he was grabbing her. "I'm a monster. You should stay away from me," he said, his eyes dry and his expression empty again. He stood up and extended a hand to Nona.
And then, she did the most curious thing. She stood up, and then carefully lifted a hand towards Kaneki's eyepatch. Slowly, allowing him to stop her at any time, delicately, she lifted it up, exposing his cold, black and red ghoul's eye, staring down at her hungrily.
He expected her to gasp. To scream. To run even. But she just stood there, staring at him for a time before placing the patch back down, securely over his eye.
A few minutes passed by, and not a word was spoken between the two. Kaneki allowed Nona to break the silence first.
"I think you're right," she said, face pale and eyes hollow. She didn't know what she was expecting when she lifted up the patch. But she certainly wasn't expecting this. The only thing she knew somehow, was that all of her questions would be answered if she just took one peak. Her mother had always told her that eyes are the window into the soul after all. "I don't think that we should see each other anymore."
A few more seconds of silence passed.
"About this. You can't tell anybody," Kaneki began slowly. "Not even close friends or family. Nobody can know. You have to keep this secret to your grave."
Nona didn't say anything for the longest time.
Finally, she bent down, picked up her purse and walked towards the door. As she placed a hand on the doorknob, she stopped, not turning back around to face him and said, "I really loved you, you know." Her voice cracked. Kaneki understood. It wasn't that he was a bookworm. It wasn't that he was a nerd. It wasn't that he was unpopular and weak. None of these things really mattered to her. But what she couldn't take, was that he was a ghoul. Not that he could blame her.
"And as for me telling your secret," she continued. "Don't worry about that. You should know your secret is safe with me, Kaneki."
And she indeed kept his secret. And Kaneki never saw her again.