Hi! This is just a one-shot, but criticism and comments would be appreciated, and tips are nice since too this is my first fic. Thanks to all! BTW this would be set just a bit after the gourmet arc, but has no spoilers for anything past the gourmet arc.
Beautiful.
That was the first word that popped into her head when she glimpsed it. Beautiful. She wasn't sure whether it looked more like wings or flames fanning out from between Touka's shoulder blades. But she was very sure that they were beautiful. She didn't even realize she'd said it aloud until she saw Touka's facial expression morph. Then, Touka dashed out as fast as she could. Which apparently was very fast. At first, Kimi had been terrified that she'd somehow offended Touka unintentionally. But after a lot of consideration, she thought maybe Touka wasn't insulted. Maybe she was just shocked. Maybe she'd never been told her kagune was beautiful. That made Kimi a bit sad. It was like Van Gogh, living his whole life without knowing his art was breathtakingly beautiful.
She grew curious about them. Were kagune uncomfortable? Were all the kagune alike? Were they each unique? She knew the purple haired man must have had some sort of kagune as well, but she'd been blindfolded. She hadn't been able to see much of anything, although she heard the skirmish behind her. She wondered, though. She realized how limited her knowledge on ghouls was. What she knew she'd picked up from bits she heard of Hisashi Ogura on tv, or conversations she'd had with people, or was simply common knowledge. So she knew kagune was used for hunting and fighting, but not much else.
Of course, Kimi knew she had a reliable source if she wanted information about ghouls. Her boyfriend was one, after all. But she figured it would be rude to just go and ask something like that. Besides, how would she ask? 'Excuse me I'd like to know all you can tell me about your predatory organs'? 'hey please tell me about your back...tentacles?...wings?'? No matter how she worded it in her head, it sounded too stiff and awkward. Not that she wasn't comfortable talking to Nishiki about things. It's just that she didn't want to make him uncomfortable, or pry into anything he considered too personal. So she didn't ask.
Then one night, they were studying in his apartment. As she was reviewing her notes for the umpteenth time (just for good measure), trying to memorize as much as possible, the text began to fade in and out of her vision. She sighed and closed her notebook. She looked over at Nishiki, who was sitting at the table. He had a medical textbook and two cans of coffee open in front of him, and seemed engrossed in the reading material. She flipped idly through her own textbook, wondering if it would be alright to ask him. She was still curious, after all. So when he paused to take a swig of coffee, Kimi decided she might as well chance it.
"Nishiki?" She asked.
"Hm?" came the reply.
"Can I ask you something?" She continued. "About ghouls?"
He looked at her for a second, then shrugged. "Sure. Shoot." He looked at her expectantly.
"Well, I was wondering," Kimi said, "about the kagune. Like Touka's wings. They've mentioned them a couple times on Ogura's show. But they just said that they were predatory organs, and that the ghoul they were referring to was a rinkaku? I just wanted to know a bit more about them. If you wouldn't mind telling me, that is." She tried to gauge his expression. He still appeared calm. And, while he was very good at hiding emotions, she didn't think he was doing so now. He seemed to be thinking. She hoped he was just trying to think of how to explain it.
"I don't know what that show taught you, but there's four types." He began, standing and holding up four fingers. "The one like Touka's, which you said looked like wings? That's the Ukaku. They come out from between the shoulder blades, here-" Kimi felt Nishiki poke her between the shoulder blades. "Then there's Koukaku, like that shitty purple haired bastard has. That one comes from here-" This time he poked a spot beneath her shoulder blade. "And it's heavier, like an armor. The rinkaku is the one that looks like tentacles, a bit. Those come from the waist-" He poked said area. "And then there's bikaku, which comes from around the coccyx, like here-" He poked a spot just at the back of her pants. "Got it?" She nodded.
"And, uh, which are you?" She asked, a bit more shyly.
"The last one. Bikaku." He said. She nodded again.
"Can I-um, could I see it?" She asked. Nishiki's eyebrows rose a bit. She probably shouldn't have asked that. Maybe it made him uncomfortable? He wasn't used to exposing that he was a ghoul in front of humans, maybe that was it? Or maybe he was tired? Or just wanted to study? The exams were important, after all. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked." She tried for a smile and went back to her textbook.
"Eh, why not." He said, shrugging once more. She glanced up from her textbook, trying to read her boyfriend's expression. He closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, they were black with blood red pupils.
"The eyes-" Kimi pointed at her own eyes for emphasis, "They're called kakugan?"
"Yeah." Nishiki said. A slight red haze surrounded him, then seemed to materialize into the kagune. Bright blue and forked, the kagune flicked and wound itself around his leg. Kimi was astonished. It was beautiful, just like Touka's. She said so out loud, again. Nishiki's eyebrows rose, again.
"Is it like a tail?" She asked. The kagune unraveled from his leg.
"I suppose you could say that." He said. "It helps a bit with balance during a fight, kinda like a tail would." She stood from her chair and moved to stand a bit closer. She raised a hand and looked up for permission and he rolled his eyes and nodded. She ran a finger over part of it. It felt a bit scaly, like a snake.
"So is it an extension of the spine, like a tail?" Her eyes widened as it briefly wrapped around her wrist gingerly then released her. "It doesn't feel like there are any bones in it."
"That's because there aren't. It just muscle made of RC cells." Nishiki responded. Kimi nodded to show her understanding. Running her hand over it again, her eyes trailed up the length to the base of the kagune. She hoped he wasn't getting tired of her questions.
"Is it like claws on cats?" She asked, still stroking gently. "They retract back into a pocket of skin when not in use."
"Eh, not really." He said. "It comes out of the kakuhou and breaks through the skin."
"Doesn't that hurt?" Kimi paused, taking her hand off his kagune.
"It's uncomfortable at first, but you get used to it." He wrapped it around his leg again, then furrowed his eyebrows. "You really aren't uncomfortable with this whole ghoul thing, are you?"
"Well, of course I was shocked at first." She admitted. "But you're still you. And I love you." She smiled at him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. He smiled back, kagune undulating behind him, and wrapped an arm around her waist to kiss her. She smiled and kissed him back, giggling as she felt the kagune wrap partially around her leg.
Author's notes: Okay, I'm sorry if anyone was out of character. Also, I described the color as blue because that's how it is in the anime (I did read the manga and there it said they were all red) and I figured most people watched the anime. If you just watched the anime, I recommend the manga, I liked it better. (Are we supposed to do a disclaimer? I don't own Tokyo Ghoul.) Thanks for reading, hope it was decent.