11 o'clock
"It's the Flower Man!" Hanami exclaimed excitedly from the bundle of blankets on the couch before letting lose a series of hacking coughs.
"For mon cherie." Tsukiyama flourished a large bouquet toward the little ghoul who's pale face lit up in delight, despite the dark circles under her eyes.
"Thank you," Hinami smiled weakly.
"Look inside!" the man urged.
The girl took the flowers and parted them. A fair-skinned severed man was at the center of the bouquet. Hinami's eyes turned to black briefly before another round of coughs quashed her appetite, quickly turning her eyes back to normal.
"For later," he explained. "It's important to keep your strength up. "How are you feeling?" the man asked her with concern.
"I'll be okay," she coughed again, as she placed the bouquet and appendage on the coffee table. "Onii-chan is going to read to me!"
"Who let you in? It's eleven at night." Kaneki interrupted as he entered the room, book in hand. "Hinami-chan, I told you not to let any strange people in here."
"Non, Kaneki-kun, I let myself in. Do not blame the mademoiselle."
"How?" had Kaneki been so busy tending Hinami that he had left the door unlocked? It showed no signs of having been forced open.
"I may have used my spare key."
Kaneki raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you have a spare key?"
"I may have borrowed your's while you were sleeping the other day and had a copy made. How else can I rescue you if an intruder came in through the window?"
Kaneki made a mental note to change the locks once this thing with Hinami was over. He shrugged and sat down on the couch beside the small girl, opening up the book.
"Would you care to move closer to Hinami-chan?" Tsukiyama requested.
"Why?" Kaneki asked, giving a pointed look to the empty armchair near the couch.
"Because if Kaneki-kun catches cold, then I will enjoy the honor of nursing him back health. Tres bien!" Tsukiyama scooted himself onto the couch besides Kaneki without waiting for the appropriate amount of room to be made.
Kaneki slid nearer to Hinami anyway, if only to not have his thigh be pressed against Tsukiyama's. "You mean that I'll be easier to eat if I'm incapacitated."
Well, that too, Tsukiyama thought to himself. He gave a little shrug.
"Maybe you gave her allergies with all these damn plants you keep leaving everywhere," Kaneki accused half-heartedly. It was true, each time the man came to the apartment, he brought flowers. They were now in every corner of the room, as if a rainforest had thrown up. Some were potted, some in vases, but all well tended. Kaneki suspected that Hinami had been taking care of them, because he certainly hadn't been.
Hinami spread a corner of one of the multitude of blankets over Kaneki's lap.
The boy patted her head, as a fond smile found its way to his face. "I didn't even know that ghouls could catch cold," he mused.
"It mostly happens in the younger ones, but they recover fairly quickly. I came down with something once as a child. I remember my parents giving me a book of ghoul folklore to keep me entertained. It was in French, so I had to work hard to understand it. It kept me occupied for days," Tsukiyama reminisced.
"Your parents didn't read it to you?" Kaneki's expression suggested that not being read to was something akin to having not been allowed to breathe.
"They were very busy people," Tsukiyama became wistful for a moment before asking, "Kaneki-kun, is it alright with you if I tell the young lady the story? I still remember some of my favorites from the book."
Kaneki looked to Hinami cuddled up beside him. "If it's alright with her."
The girl nodded, so the man began:
"Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was princess of all the ghouls in the land. Her life was very carefree and she wanted for not, until one day word reached the castle of trouble in the human realm- there was terrible drought and famine, causing the humans to die off at alarming rates. The only way for the royal family to survive was to begin eating their subjects, their fellow ghouls. The princess eventually grew to be queen and had two children of her own. Unfortunately, the queen had grown sickly from her poor diet and died soon after. Her husband, the king, soon remarried. However, the young new queen was frightened of the young prince, for she knew that he would become king one day and have more power than her. So, one day, she offered her sweet young stepson a very large and beautiful treasure box. Inside, she told him, was the last piece of human meat that she had been saving for someone special. When the boy opened the box and peered deep inside, the queen slammed the lid, severing his little head. She took the head from the box, and dressed it in a wig. She then plucked out the eyeballs, rendering it unrecognizable and served the head on a golden platter to the little stepdaughter-"
"What the hell? You can't tell a little girl a story like that! Besides, isn't that the exact same story as The Juniper Tree?"
A soft cooing came from the bundle of blankets nest to Kaneki. Hinami had thankfully fallen asleep, snoring softly from her cold.
"Tres bien, Kaneki-kun! I should have expected you to know that story. It is true, the two stories are similar, but you must remember that ghouls have always lived alongside humans, so it's really only natural that our stories would be passed back forth. Besides, was it really so shocking? Ghouls can feed on each other, you know?" Tsukiyama found it sweet that Kaneki was still trying to shelter the girl who ate human flesh on a regular basis.
"Don't remind me," Kaneki grimaced, inching once again closer to Hinami, increasing the gap between himself and the other man even more.
"Was it so different from whatever story you were going to tell?" Tsukiyama glanced at the book that remained on Kaneki's lap. "Andersen's? I always found his stories far more cruel than Grimm's."
"Snow White and the prince made the queen dance in red-hot slippers in Grimm's." Kaneki appeared to be speaking to the book cover rather than Tsukiyama.
"True, but she was the villain. The Little Mermaid and the Match Girl both die in Andersen's, even though they were the heroines."
"What about the Wolf? He just needed to eat. He ate people, just like we do. I'm sure he thought of the Huntsman as the villain. It was his own fault, of course. He never should have let his guard down." Kaneki opened up the book and began to leaf through it.
"Le Chaperon Rouge, huh…"
Somehow, Tsukiyama was able to take the hint that Kaneki had finished speaking with him. Ignoring Kaneki's supposed moral of Little Red Ridinghood, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch.
The image of Kaneki and Hinami cuddled together lingered behind his eyes.
Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Kaneki pick up a book in quite some time, even though it had once been a beloved hobby of his. Tsukiyama found himself wishing that he could have spent more time with the dolce Kaneki, the one who was wide-eyed and innocent and loved books. What would have happened if he could have taken Kaneki on that bookstore date, the one that Rize had so cruelly promised. Not that he had done any better, luring Kaneki into that church. How was he to know that simply spending time with the young man would be nearly as delicious as scent of his blood?
He opened his eyes and once again looked over to his young friends. They were still there. Kaneki had finally settled on a page in the fairytale book, while Hinami still napped against him, breathing stuffily.
At rare peaceful times such as this, Tsukiyama wondered if one night, the clock would strike midnight and they would vanish, leaving him alone. What would he do then? He had been so comfortable in his old routine before Kaneki, but now, somehow, nothing before then felt quite real. The restaurant, his friendship with Rize, it all felt like something from a dream, or a storybook being read to him about someone else's life. He had never felt concern quite like this for Rize. Then again, he hadn't wanted to eat Rize either. She would have been far too bitter, eating just anything she found lying about the way she did. Then again, she must have had some taste after all, if she had set her sights on Kaneki.
If Kaneki were gone, Tsukiyama clearly would no longer be able to eat him. Anyone would be concerned if the meal they had craved for so long could be taken away, and of course, if something were to happen to the little girl, Kaneki would be even more destroyed than ever. He would probably taste awful in such a state. So of course then it was all to Tsukiyama's benefit to care for Hinami as well, right? He could certainly put up with that silly nickname from the girl if it was for Kaneki's sake. He had never had a nickname before, come to think of it. People had certainly called him things that he couldn't repeat in front of the young lady, but they were a far-cry from frivolous nicknames.
Motion from the other end of the couch dragged him back to the present.
Kaneki's head nodded for a second time, eyes closing briefly before snapping back open and skimming the page for where he had left off.
"Kaneki-kun, why don't you get some rest?" Tsukiyama suggested gently. "As part of my duties in being your sword, I can watch over the young lady. What's precious to you is precious to me."
Kaneki remained silent, taking one hand off the book to stroke Hinami's hair. It appeared that she may be awakening at the touch, but she instead only shifted to rest her head on the boy's lap, eyes remaining shut.
Kaneki was now holding the book awkwardly in one hand, since resting it in his lap was now out of the question.
Tsukiyama plucked the book away and placed it on the coffee table. "Well, since it looks like you can no longer leave, how about you relax right here. I thought of a better story to tell this time."
"Hinami can't hear you right now, you know."
"Non, Kaneki-kun, this story is just for you:
Once upon a time there was a king who had all the good food in the world, and all the company he could ever need would attend his parties each night. One day he tried to take over the neighboring kingdom belonging to a dolce young prince. However, somehow or another, tables turned and the prince took the king's land instead. Instead of killing the king, the kind prince allowed him to stay as his servant. Even though things were very different for the former king, he was pleased to be of service to the prince, who was handsome and strong. However the prince still had to defend his land from many other invaders. The servant became very afraid that the prince would never come back. He didn't know what he what he would ever do without the delicious prince-"
"That's enough. If you're my 'servant', go make me some coffee, then," Kaneki mumbled
"As you wish." Tsukiyama obliged.
He returned from the kitchenette with a mug after sometime. It took a certain finesse to make instant to a standard that he could so much as even consider serving to his favorite prey. You are what you eat, and eventually Tsukiyama would technically be tasting whatever the boy had been consuming whenever the time became right to eat Kaneki in the future. Not for some time yet, of course.
"Shh!" Hinami was now awake, wriggling out from under the covers and replacing them around Kaneki.
Clearly, the coffee had not arrived soon enough because the boy's eyes were now closed, his head slumped at an uncomfortable angle. A frown still sat upon his face. Tsukiyama wanted to peel that frown off, like removing a mask at a masquerade party and revealing the special guest that everyone knew was there all along- the old Kaneki, the one that was haunted so terribly, tainting his sweet, sweet insides.
"Are you feeling any better, Young Lady?" he asked, setting the cup down near the severed hand. Someone should really put in the fridge…
"Much better! I think I just needed a nap." Indeed, her face was looking a touch pinker than before. "I'm feeling good enough to take care of Onii-chan now! He needs a pillow." She frowned at Tsukiyama as if he could have been expected to make coffee and fetch a pillow simultaneously. Suddenly on a mission, Hinami marched toward the bedrooms.
Tsukiyama's attention returned to the boy. It appeared that Kaneki needn't have been concerned about getting too near to the girl, because it was clear that he had already caught the cold. Cold sweat glistened on his skin. Tsukiyama could smell it's sweet bouquet.
The girl was still out of the room and Kaneki seemed to be out like a dead man. Maybe just one little sniff wouldn't hurt.
Tsukiyama carefully sat down on the couch, so as not to jar the boy, and leaned in, closing his eyes and inhaling. The scent of Kaneki's sweat while ill was somewhat different than during training sessions. Still tempting, but somewhat watered down. Probably a delicate flavor… Tsukiyama felt his eyes threatening to turn from behind his lids. Just a tiny taste wouldn't hurt, he'd never know. Just a quick swipe of the tongue, perhaps, like testing the temperature of coffee before sipping. Just as his mouth began to open wide millimeters above the somewhat clammy skin, a little voice came from the entrance to the living room. Tsukiyama blinked rapidly, hoping his eyes would take the hint and change back.
"Sorry, I took so long! I changed the pillow cases first," said a large stack of pillows that appeared to have grown feet and pilfered socks from Hinami.
The mound waddled over to the couch and dumped the pillows on the unoccupied third cushion.
"Flower Man," Hinami's hands were on her hips in an adorable attempt to be intimidating. "Were you going eat Onii-chan?"
Even though she couldn't have seen past the pillows, she could still smell when another was feeding nearby.
"Moi? Non! Never! I was simply going to…give him a goodnight kiss! Like so-" He pressed his lips to Kaneki's cheek, it's feverish warmth forcing Tsukiyama to muster everything he had to keep his eyes from turning once more.
"…My mommy never kissed me for that long when she was saying goodnight."
"Oh, well, that is-" Tsukiyama took a sip from Kaneki's unclaimed coffee mug in a feeble bid for time.
"Flower Man, are you in love with Onii-chan?" the girl asked, point blank.
Tsukiyama could feel the coffee suddenly requesting to exit via his nose. He forced it down, deciding that a fit of coughing was slightly more dignified than becoming an impromptu living coffee pot.
"Your Onii-chan is my best friend! It is only natural that I try my best to take good care of him."
"Am I your friend?"
"Oui! But of course!" Tsukiyama began to regain his composure. Somehow, it had become much like a set of car keys these days- harder and harder to find.
"Um, can I have a goodnight kiss, then?" Hinami asked, hands knitted behind her small back, eyes looking somewhere on the floor.
"Why, bien sur!"
Hinami took this foreign gibberish to mean 'yes' and moved nearer to where the man was seated on the couch. He leaned forward, and pecked her forehead, hoping she wouldn't notice that he didn't linger as long as he did with Kaneki.
"What the hell are you doing?" came a groggy growl from the neighboring couch cushion. The motion and noise had finally woken Kaneki to the sight of the Gourmet's mouth far too close for comfort to his precious 'little sister'.
"Ah! Are we jealous, Kaneki-kun?"
Tsukiyama could see the clock on the wall past Kaneki's head.
11:55.
Please, never let midnight come. Don't let this story end. Please, don't take the prince from me.
End part one...