1.
"Behave."
"I just beat you and you want me to behave?"
Hinami lays on her back with one arm drapes on her face, and she's still breathless after the sparing with Ayato. One kick from him ended it all.
He holds one hand toward her, but she shakes her head and tries to get up by herself, grimacing at the pain and thought of bruises covering her arms and legs.
"That's not what I meant-ugh." She groans when she finally stands up, bending over with hands on her knees. "Don't hold back."
Ayato stills, knowing exactly what she means and he waits for her to continue.
"You're stronger than me, and we both know that. But one day-mark my words-I will beat you."
He can't hide the smirk on his face when he hears she was trying to be intimidate when, really, who would be intimidated by Hinami?
"I know you found it funny," she points one finger toward him. "But one day, I will beat you."
"And was that even the point?"
"Okay, and we both know one day I will face the enemy stronger than you-"
This time, he doesn't even smirk. For about three years the Aogiri Tree keeps her hidden from the Doves, because they know it's the best she won't get caught and revealed she's the part of the Tree. But sooner or later, she will face the CCG and fight-and Ayato is supposed to teach her how to defend herself.
Except that it's true; he holds his strength back when he's fighting her.
"-and I don't want you to hold back, if you want me to beat the Doves. Oh, and one black eye won't hurt, Ayato."
...and he also prevents her face from getting bruised.
He stills, not saying yes nor no, not shaking his head nor nodding. He simply doesn't do anything, which is his way to show he disagrees. It used to frustrate her, but not so anymore; she knows him long enough to play along.
She bumps her fist to his arm lightly while walking past him. "Thank you, though, for today."
He watches her walking away, and wonders if there's any way he can protect her.
Don't be stupid, he thinks.
2.
"Behave."
He has seen her laughing, crying, or both; laughing until tears rolling on her face. But he has never seen her so angry.
He could not imagine her with flushed face, eyes so determined and hard, and mouth ready to say sharp words he never knew she could say that.
Yet Hinami in front of him is all that; with her arms hanging on her sides, clenching fists like she's almost ready to punch him. Hard. And the thought of that makes him wincing. While he still manages to keep the bruises off her face, he did have black eye from her many times. Let's call it some progression.
And she said the word in her low voice-he almost didn't expect it. He'd have thought she'd be the type to scream her hatred at the top of her lungs.
"Don't call him that to mock me."
Kaneki, Ayato wants to correct her. It's been years and yet Hinami never calls the one-eyed ghoul with his name, or even onii-chan. She refers to Kaneki simply with pronouns: he, his, him. As if Kaneki is already dead, which he probably has. Many say so.
But Ayato underestimates how she feels about her loss of onii-chan.
He sees her taking breaths before speaking again.
"Ayato," she says, her voice back to normal, only slightly quavering. "Did you... see them getting killed right in front of you?"
He does not need to ask whom she's referring to. His parents. He shakes his head.
"I didn't see my father either but... my mother... the only thing keeping me from seeing her killed right before my eyes was his hands..." He can't see her face but he notices her body is trembling.
"So... don't call him that, will you? I-"
He does what he knows is the right thing: stepping closer to pull her in his arms, making her body stop trembling, making her feeling safe. If only for a moment. And needless to say, he already regrets ever mocking Kaneki.
"There's no onii-chan anymore." She continues, her voice muffled through his clothes
He realizes he never knew the reason she joined the Tree. He thought she just couldn't find Touka or anyone she knew from Anteiku.
While Ayato has a reason to join the Tree, while he has someone to protect, Hinami has nobody. And with Kaneki being gone and Touka is somewhere, Hinami does not know where to go. She knows the CCG still hunts her.
He grips her tighter. If only, if only, if only.
If only her parents never got killed.
If only Touka didn't kill the Dove.
If only Ayato did not come to search for Rize but found Kaneki instead.
If only the CCG never attacked Anteiku.
If only they both were not ghouls.
He wants to laugh at himself, he has more become like his father.
Because of her.
3.
"Behave."
"You expect me to behave to a ghoul who could be a thread to the Tree? Excuse me if I found it unacceptable."
"Nishiki is not a threatened to us. He hates the CCG too, okay?"
"But he also hates-"
Ayato is about to reply about how Nishiki might hate Aogiri too, when Hinami stands on her tiptoes, one hand placed on the back of his neck to pull him closer as she presses her lips against his.
Her lips are warmer than he expects. He kisses her back, softly at first. Then it becomes desperate; one of his hand on her hair, one on her waist to pull her closer and it was not enough.
"This is my only chance, Ayato." She whispers when she breaks the kiss, her hands are on his chest and he has no idea when they got there. "Please?"
He stares at her eyes and remembers their conversation, her being angry at him, and her voice full of hopelessness... he nods.
4.
"Behave."
He stares at the man curling up and suddenly feels pity. Ha. He sure has become more and more like his father each day.
"When you join the Aogiri, you can't simply leave." He explains.
That man, Saeki, mumbles something Ayato cannot understand-something about his face has already been exposed. And so Ayato calls his name again.
"Saeki."
"Behave." He hears Hinami's voice in his head.
"I want to go with you." It was not a plead, it was a demanding he could not fulfill.
"Too dangerous." was his only answer as he took his black rabbit mask.
"What are the odds? I've been outside to deliver the messages."
"Hinami," it felt different when he called her name. He usually called her Fueguchi but after that kiss... suddenly, calling her Hinami feels more intimate while calling her Fueguchi feels a bit weird. "There'll be CCG. And you're staying here. Save your questions later."
He was about to walk away when he felt a hand grip his arm. The touch was already familiar to him.
"Behave." She whispered.
This time he obliges to behave to the coward running away to hide his identity. But don't they all run away to protect themselves or people they love?
Still, no matter what. He does what she wants him to do. For her sake. Even if the person he'll ask about is indeed the same person he used to hate so much.
"Wasn't there a guy named Sasaki, amongst the Quinckes?"