A Most Savory Treat, Indeed
Written by C. A. Hill/TheAstoundingMrArkwright
A.N: Good evening all. I am TheAstoundingMrArkwright and I'm apparently damned to a miserable fate of perpetual lateness on what I write. I also was moving to my new home (I now live and work in Washington State.) That said, my previous stories that have been started will be updated relatively soon.
Without any further preamble, on with the show!
-Edgar-
"...For the female of the species is more deadly than the male."
-Richard Kipling, English writer.
"Fear is the mother of Morality."
-Friedrich Nietzsche, God-tier übermensch.
The evening of October 31st was always one of Kaneki Ken's most favored holiday.
It is sad to admit, however, that because of the Cochlea assault, this year, he'd likely have to spend it a-
"Kaaaanekiiiiii! Come on, we have to help the little ones go trick or treating!"
Oh. That was right, Cochlea was a full year ago.
Thankfully for him, his co-worker and, though he'd never admit it, closeted sweetheart, Touka Kirishima, had sought him out in order to take a small group of Ghoul children out to teach them about the holiday and, if they were lucky, snag a few coffee infused sweets.
In truth, the consideration on Touka's part was what he was appreciative for. Despite having being forced into growing up while in the CCG and Aogiri Tree, it still felt wrong to celebrate the holiday without company.
As he quickly slipped on the last piece of his costume, he heard Touka's light footfalls draw closer to his room.
"Kaneki, are you ready?" He turned to face her.
" How do I look?" He inquired, decked out as a cheap replica of Jason Voorhees.
The ironic contrast in the respective ghouls' costumes was almost palpable.
"In my opinion, not nearly as good as I do," Touka replied with a smirk, having donned a visage of the late, great Freddy Krueger.
The costumes had been procured by a combination of the Manager and Hinami in an effort to pressure the two into doing literally anything related to the holiday.
Admittedly, Touka had caught on somewhat and agreed to play along, as an attempt to help Kaneki socialize and re-familiarize himself with being comfortable around other people.
Granted, Kaneki hadn't had any major episodes since his hair had changed color for the third time, but at this point, the betting pool on whether or not Kaneki and Touka would get together as a couple had already closed out, and the Manager wanted his damn money.
Granted in a further expository situation, Touka had already admitted at this point, that, at least in theory, that she felt something about Kaneki that extended beyond friendship.
And that something felt like massive steel butterflies drifting through her stomach.
"Rabbit and Centipede headed out!" Touka yelled to the back of the shop through the updated intercom system. After the destruction of Anteiku by the One-Eyed Owl, the Manager's insurance policy, coupled with a few generous donations from the shop's regulars, allowed for the staff to not only rebuild with several notable improvements to the living spaces and product quality, but also install new appliances for security, productivity and customer satisfaction.
In short, Re was to Anteiku what a phoenix was to ash.
"It's about time you both got here. I had to run interference for the both of you as to why 'Onii-chan and Onee-chan' weren't here yet." Hinami complained as Uta showed the children how to fold an origami cat.
"Not my fault that our adorable arthropod here sleeps like a corpse."
"I wasn't the one who fell asleep on your shoulder, Bunny-chan."
"What was that, one-eye? I couldn't hear you too well; too busy trying not to kick you into traffic in front of the innocent children."
"Says the grown woman who sleeps with a nightlight. Got anything for that, Lady Cotton-butt?"
"...It's always really dark in my apartment and I can't see without my contacts."
"Sure it is."
"...Baka Kaneki."
The children just giggled. It wasn't all that rare to see Kaneki and Touka 'bantering' together, and, by now, the onlookers who'd been around :Re long enough after Cochlea found the interaction to be a refreshing change of pace.
There was never any lingering bitterness in any of the remarks that were traded; most, including the cafe staff, were simply too busy being happy that the white-haired youth was interacting with his companions in a positive way to care about the specifics of what was said.
At any rate, the children were having fun and that was all that mattered. Since every parent made sure to pick costumes for the children to help them appear more like average human children, the candy just kept on coming. Of course, the older ones running overwatch ensured that nothing suspect made its way into any of the children's stashes.
Having set out at around 1930 into the local area, after about two hours, the group of children started to thin out as more and more parents came to pick up their children. By the time 2200 rolled around, only a few stragglers remained.
"Ne, Kaneki?" The white haired ghoul looked up from the English toffee he'd been contentedly nibbling on.
"Ara?" Touka smiled.
"Up for a little stroll through the graveyard? I know a great little clearing facing a lake." Kaneki returned Touka's wry little smile.
"Sure." Touka's smile turned mischievous.
"GO!" In a flash, both had kagune out, racing from rooftop to rooftop, using damn near every available back road they knew. After about 10 minutes of constant darting from wall to wall, the buildings finally began to clear out, giving way to trees, vegetation, and headstones.
Kaneki, having reached an old mausoleum first, waited for Touka to catch back up.
"Not bad, long-legs. That's what, three now?"
"Out of 51." Touka gave a smug look.
"And you doubted that you'd be able to beat me even once."
"So...where's this clearing?"
"Just off to the left here; follow me." Kaneki followed the purple-haired pied piper down a short cobblestone path. The path branched out into several more paths, some stone, some dirt.
Touka led Kaneki to the edge of a cliff near the west end. A small bench was erected near the guardrail next to the slope.
"Thank God," Touka said, flopping down onto the bench. Kaneki sat down with her, letting her rest her right leg on his.
"It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Hinami wasn't that bad, and we had to take care of her 24/7, especially when she was around that boyfriend of hers. I'm sorry, Kaneki, but 30 children of varying ages would wear anyone out, ghoul or not." Kaneki appeared tentative but ultimately subsided to her statement.
"Still, you handled the situation with aetherial grace and patience and you looked damn good doing it." Touka, caught slightly off guard by Kaneki's unusual boldness, blushed.
"Thanks… you too." Touka scooted closer to her companion.
"So, how'd you find this place?"
"Well, I had taken Hinami out to-" Touka used air quotes. "-Talk… with her mom. In truth, we found it while trying to find a few flowers for the headstone. She visits this place weekly to sit, talk with her and pray." Kaneki gave a smile at that.
"Well, it's good that she was able to have a place to find solace; eases the mind, you know?" Touka returned the smile.
"I'm just glad she's doing better." The two just enjoyed the silence for a moment.
'Come on, Kaneki. Don't worry about making it sound cool. Just say it.' Kaneki gathered his bravery.
"Tou-"
"Kane-" The two stopped.
" " You go first." " Again, they stopped.
"I'll go after." Touka sighed contentedly.
"I just… really appreciated you coming out to help. It means a lot, you know?"
"Well, I appreciate that you asked me to come in the first place. I know I haven't been easy to work with and="
"Stop. I don't blame you, you're not at fault for anything. All I wanted was to spend some time with you; you just had to go and make taking care of children on a holiday, fun...you monster" She concluded with a playful jab.
"Oh really? This coming from the tsun that ends every sentence she says to me with 'b-b-baka'?" Kaneki jabbed right back.
Touka's response was to tackle him off the bench and mercilessly tickle his weakest spots; those being his sides. After several attempts to turn the tides on both sides, Touka pinned Kaneki down for the umpteenth time.
"How's that, baaakaaaa?" She taunted, flexing the replica claw in an oh-so-familiar way.
"I dunno; how bout you ask me?" Touka felt the replica machete pressed against her side.
"Oh, so that's how we're playing, huh?"
"You can't bring water to the fires I star-" Touka shushed him then, her claw pressed to his lips as her other hand peeled off the prosthetic make up that clung to her face.
"Then shut up and kiss me, you animal." Touka purred seductively, yanking him to her, tossing their respective masks to the side, as hot, pink flesh met black, corpse-painted lips in a frantic, almost needy embrace.
Touka had originally been expecting Kaneki to be somewhat caught off guard by the sudden show of affection but was pleasantly surprised when her affections were returned in full with equal fervor. After a few short minutes of kissing and shifting from position to position, Kaneki and Touka came to settle down, breaking the kiss. Kaneki lay on his back, Touka on his side, her right leg wrapped around his, her ear pressed into his chest. His heartbeat provided a calming lull that washed away any feeling of insecurity in her mind.
The two lay there for a while in the soft grass. They didn't feel any compulsion to move or shift, not that Touka would even feel like it; in all honesty, though she'd never admit it in front of anyone else other than Kaneki, she just loved to cuddle.
After about 30 minutes of laying there, Touka shifted slightly to lean with her arms on Kaneki's chest.
"Well...now you know. I hope you can live with it….because you're stuck with me now." At this, Kaneki laughed.
"Even when you confess, you sound like a tsundere. But yeah, I'm glad you feel the same way. Hope you can get used to living with an oblivious half-ghoul." Touka pecked him on the lips.
"Damn right. Now come on, it's getting cold and I'd like to cuddle somewhere warmer." Kaneki chuckled, taking Touka's hand in his as the two headed back to Re.
Many years later, when Kaneki and Touka were married, their son and daughter grown and gone off to college, Kaneki would admit that it was this moment in time when he had felt most at home in Re.
After all, both Kaneki and Touka would admit that their love for each other was the tastiest treat of all.
A.N: Now wasn't that nice and sweet? At any rate, if you have any comments or requests, please let me with a PM or in the comment section. If you liked this story, stay tuned for more, and follow and favorite.
Happy Halloween,
-C.A.