Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul: re. They are the property of Ishida Sui.

Author's Note: This one shot was inspired by the chapters 70 and 71, so there will be spoilers. It is set in the future, so the fic is AUish.

I hope you enjoy it!

Cyclical

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain

Ayato was surprised to be contacted by his sister. It was true that ever since the incident at Cochlea their relationship had gotten better. Rescuing Hinami, saving Kaneki, and learning that Yomo Renji was actually their long lost uncle had brought them closer. However, that didn't mean that they were back to how they used to be. Besides, a lot had been going on lately to worry about rekindling their relationship. Between the fall of Aogiri Tree, the war with the CCG, and the discovery of many secrets, they hadn't had the time to just hang out. In fact, Ayato didn't think that'd happen anytime soon, even though it had been six months already since Cochlea's raid.

"Why did you ask me to come?" He asked the moment he saw Touka walking towards him.

"There's something important I want to tell you." She looked unusually serious, but he didn't think much about it. Ayato had a feeling he knew what this was about.

He sighed. "If this is about Kaneki, I already know you're together. It's obvious."

Then his older sister had the nerve to chuckle as if he had amused her. He was no clown to be laughed at!

He was about to ask her what was so funny when she started speaking again.

"Though it's true what I'm about to tell you involves him, that isn't what I'm about to tell you."

Her words puzzled him. What else could she tell him? Were they all in danger? Had Kaneki been found out? Had their uncle not recover yet?

"Then what is it?"

Touka took her time to answer, as if to prepare herself. Then, she but whispered, "I'm pregnant."

Ghouls have very good hearing, so Ayato didn't have to strain his ears to hear her. Still, he just stared at her, dumbfounded. "What?"

"It's as you heard. I'm pregnant."

There were a million things Kirishima Ayato wanted to tell his sister. He wanted to ask her what she had been thinking, to rebuke her for being so reckless, to kill Kaneki for defiling his sister, but none of that would really help the situation.

"How? Why?" He blurted out.

Touka snorted. Her little brother could be an idiot sometimes. "I sure hope you know that by now, Ayato. I mean, you're eighteen already."

"What I wanted to say is, why are you taking this risk?"

Touka sighed. She knew this was coming. "It wasn't planned. It took us by surprise, actually. But I'm not unhappy about this. I know that this baby might not even be born, that the chances of actually giving birth are pretty slim, but I want to do it. I want to try and have a baby. I want to have my own family." While saying this she put her hands on her still flat stomach.

Ayato shook his head. "Whatever. I trust you're making the right decision."

Touka smiled. "I'm glad you took this so well."

"So are you going to marry him?" He asked her after a while.

"Why do you ask?" She raised her right eyebrow knowingly.

"No reason."

"Are you sad?"

"Of course not! Are you an idiot?!" When he yelled, Touka knew her brother had reached his boiling point. "I just want to make sure that that bastard Kaneki is taking responsibility for what he did." Then he crossed his arms, as if to show he was annoyed.

Touka shook her head while muttering unbelievable. "In our world it doesn't matter much if we have a wedding. We have no laws, no religion, no actual way to perform a marriage. But if you must know, we did exchange rings recently." Just then Ayato noticed her sister was wearing a silver band on her left ring finger.

"Tch. That's the least he can do to make this situation better."

"You never change." Then she hugged him like she used to do when they were children, which surprised him.

"There's something I want to tell you. No matter what, you'll always be my brother. Even if I get married and have children, even if you leave me again, or if you hate me, or if I hate you, we'll always be siblings. You're my little brother, and I'm your older sister, that won't ever change. If I have learned something is that these bonds can never be broken."

"Aneki." He whispered.

He was touched beyond words. He had berated himself countless of times for leaving his sister behind, and causing her heartbreak because of it. He had thought she'd never forgive him, but she had. Her words were true, they would be siblings forever.

"That's why I have a favor to ask of you."

Her words alarmed him. He broke their embrace to look her in the eyes. "What is it?"

"If something were to happen to me or to Kaneki, I want you to look out for this baby."

This rendered Ayato speechless. Take care of the child? Him? "I'm sure nothing will ever happen to you. I mean, Kaneki is pretty strong." He tried to play it cool, pretending her words hadn't made him restless.

"You can never be sure." She said.

"Even if that were to happen, which I'm sure it won't, why me? Do you really think I'm capable of taking care of a kid?"

Touka simply ruffled his hair. "Because, after Ken and me, you're my baby's closest relative. Uncle Renji is getting old, while you're still young. Besides, you are my brother, I trust you with this."

"I'm not sure about this."

"Please Ayato. I'm begging you. Promise me you'll look after the baby."

Seeing his sister's desperation, he decided to yield. "Alright, aneki. I promise."

Upon hearing his words, Touka hugged him again, shedding a few tears. "Thank you, thank you so much."

He didn't know what came into his head, however there was no turning back.

"It's fine, Ayato. I'm sure they'll like it." Hinami tried to reassure him, but that didn't help ease his mind.

"I know that, Hina." He snapped at her, but by now Hinami was already used to him trying to conceal his feelings.

"If you say so, Aya."

"Don't call me that here!" He exclaimed, turning all shades of red. Hinami merely laughed at his outburst.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He said, and then knocked on the door of the apartment.

Almost immediately the door opened revealing Kaneki.

"Hello, onii-chan!" Hinami greeted him cheerfully.

"Hinami-chan, Ayato, please come in." The man invited them into his home.

Inside the small apartment, Touka was sitting in the living room reading a book, which she put down when the visitors entered.

"Ayato, Hinami, what a surprise!" She said, and then got up to greet them properly.

Their eyes instantly zeroed on her bulging belly. Against all odds, Touka had managed to reach her last trimester, meaning that in a few months the Kanekis would be welcoming their baby.

"Hi, onee-chan! Sorry for coming in unannounced, but Ayato has something to give to you." Hinami said enthusiastically, much to her boyfriend's dismay.

"Is that so, Ayato?" Touka walked towards him.

Her little brother looked embarrassed, but nevertheless he gave her the paper bag he was carrying. "Here."

"What is this?" She said as she accepted it. By then Ken had joined her side to look at the bag.

"It's a gift." He said lamely, making Hinami sigh.

"For the baby." She added to avoid misunderstandings.

"Oh, you shouldn't have." Touka said, and then she opened it to look at its contents. "Oh my God! It's so cute!" She exclaimed as she pulled out a white stuffed bunny.

"It really is." Kaneki said as he too looked at Ayato's gift.

"There are also clothes in there." Hinami added. Ken, then, started taking out onesies of different colors.

"The clothes are my gift, but Ayato bought the bunny. He said it was perfect for the baby the moment he saw it." Hinami continued explaining much to Ayato's mortification.

"Thank you so much, both of you." Ken said, making Hinami beam at him. However, Ayato was still evading her sister's and brother-in-law's stares.

"What made you buy the bunny?" Touka asked him.

"Because of our masks. Yours is a white rabbit, so I thought it'd be fitting. It's your kid, after all. Besides, it's much better than a centipede, if you ask me." With his last few words, they all laughed.

"I think you're right." Ever the saint, Ken said smiling.

"Yeah, she'll love it, I'm sure." Touka said.

"She?" Hinami and Ayato said at the same time, bewildered.

"Call it a mother's instincts, but I'm sure we're having a girl." Touka said while rubbing her belly. Next to her, Kaneki nodded.

"I'm pretty sure of it too."

"Well then, we'll have a beautiful niece, Aya!"

"I told you to not call me that!"

They all laughed again.

Despite the shame he was feeling at acting not cool at all, Ayato, for once, didn't mind being laughed at, when it was all good-natured. He thought then that they all looked like a happy family. The thought warmed his heart.

He had been pacing in the living room for hours now.

The moment they heard that Touka was in labor, Hinami and he had immediately rushed to the apartment in which the couple lived. While Hinami had gone in the room with Kaneki, he had stayed in the living room. He wasn't alone though. Yomo and Nishiki were there too, drinking the coffee Yomo had prepared for them.

"Stop worrying! It'll be fine!" Nishio said as he sipped his coffee.

Ayato thought that the man was a big hypocrite for he was nervous as well. How could they not be when they could hear perfectly well Touka's groans and screams of pain. Ayato then wished to break every single one of Kaneki's bones for bringing suffering to his sister.

"You don't know that." He hissed at the older ghoul. "She's been there for hours and there hasn't been any progress. Of course I'm worried."

Nishiki didn't answer that, he merely sipped his tea. Though the man knew how human babies were born, he didn't have a clue what would happen with a ghoul. There were no known doctors or midwife in the ghoul world, and not much was known about anything. They could only hope for the best.

"Ayato, your sister is strong, she'll be fine." His uncle told him, and Ayato wished to believe him.

Another hour went by and then the screams of a baby could be heard. The three men turned to look at the door, wide eyed. Finally the moment they had been waiting for, had arrived. Still, they waited some minutes before Hinami opened the door.

Tears were streaming down on her face, but she was still smiling, which was a good sign.

"It's a girl." She whispered, and the three men smiled. "Aya, onee-chan wants you to come in."

He nodded and followed his girlfriend inside the room. The smell of blood was overwhelming, but the stench of death was nowhere in sight. On the bed, he found his sister resting, holding a bundle of white blankets in her arms. Sitting next to her on the bed was Kaneki, who was crying as he looked at his newborn daughter. When they heard him come in, Touka motioned him to get closer. Kaneki got up and left him sit next to his wife.

"You have a niece, Ayato." His sister said, and then he showed him the bundle.

The baby was pink and wrinkled, but she was the most perfect thing Ayato had ever seen. She had a tuff of black hair on her head, a small nose, and thin lips. Her eyes were closed, but he could see she had long, dark eyelashes.

"We decided to name her Hikari." Kaneki said, startling Ayato.

"Like mom?" He whispered, looking at his sister, who nodded.

"She looks like me, and you know I look just like mom. I thought it'd fit her. This is also a way to honor her."

Ayato knew Touka wished their mother were there as well as their father. He wished so too. He wondered if they'd be happy to have such a beautiful girl as their granddaughter.

"Hikari." He whispered.

Just then the baby girl opened her eyes, revealing dark orbs which stared at him. He smiled lovingly for the first time in a long time.

After losing his father, Ayato had had a hard time loving anyone, Hinami included. But with Hikari, he hadn't had a choice. He had loved her the moment he had set his eyes on her. She was very precious to him.

Hikari had grown up to be a very smart and active child. She had inherited Kaneki's black hair, dark eyes and love for books, but in everything else she was exactly like his sister. She had the exact same face, which made her very beautiful. She also loved to play. You could see her jumping around rooms or playing with her toys when she wasn't reading. Above all, she loved bunnies. In fact, the stuffed bunny he had given her was her favorite toy.

"Uncle Aya!" She rushed towards him the moment he opened the door.

"Hikari!" Ayato said as he took his niece into his arms.

"Hello, Ayato. Here we are." His older sister came in, along with her husband and another child.

Hikari was like her mother in one more way. She had become an elder sister herself.

"Uncle Aya!" Hide, Touka and Kaneki's two year old son, exclaimed from his father's arms.

"Hello to you too, Hide."

"How's Hinami?" Kaneki asked as he settled his son, who went to join his sister in Ayato's arms.

Before Ayato could answer, his wife came into the living room. "Never been better, onii-chan."

"Auntie Hina!" Both kids exclaimed, then got off from Ayato's arms, and rushed to her side.

"Hi, Hikari-chan, Hide-chan."

"How are you?" Hikari asked her aunt, who smiled.

"I'm very good. Your little cousin hasn't given me any problems." She said as she rubbed her round belly.

"Well, I'm glad. God knows those two gave me a hard time." Touka said referring to her two pregnancies, which had been difficult.

"But you love us, mommy." Hikari said and her little brother nodded. Both were giving her Kaneki's trademark puppy eyes, which she had never been able to resist.

"That's true." Touka said and ruffled her children's black hair. "Anyway, we brought some presents for the baby." She gestured towards the boxes and bags Kaneki was carrying.

"You really shouldn't have, onee-chan." Hinami said, and then started wailing. "You two are so good to me."

Touka awkwardly held her, and patted her back. "It's alright, Hinami. We do it because we care about you. Now come on, let's see the presents."

Hinami gave Touka a watery smile, and nodded. The two women and the children sat down in the sofa. Ken set the presents on the coffee table, and Touka started pulling out the gifts.

Meanwhile, the two men were watching their wives and the kids.

"Do you ever think we're too lucky?" Kaneki broke the silence between them.

"All the time." Ayato whispered. Then he snorted when he caught sight of Hinami shedding tears yet again. "She's been too emotional the whole pregnancy. I want to blame the hormones, but I know it's also because she whishes her parents were here. I wish so too."

His brother-in-law looked at him understandingly. "Touka was like that too. Hell, I too felt that way. I still do. I think we're all lucky to be alive right now. Too lucky, in fact." He said darkly, which caught Ayato's attention.

"What do you mean?"

"I just… I can't help but think back about my parents and yours. My father died when I was about Hide's age. And your mother was killed when you two were about my children's age. Your father died some time later. Hinami's died later in life, but still, she was but a child."

"What are you getting at?" He narrowed his eyes at the older man.

Kaneki sighed. "How long do you think it'll be until we get killed and leave our kids alone?"

That was a question that had plagued Ayato's mind ever since he found out Hinami was pregnant. How much longer it'd until the damned doves came and killed them. What would be of their children then? Ayato had had a very shitty life after losing his parents, which, in turn, made him seek Aogiri, a decision he regretted sometimes. He knew he'd give his life for Hikari, Hide, and his unborn child. But dying and leaving them alone was bad too.

"We're not gonna die yet." He said, more to himself than to his companion.

"I hope you're right." Kaneki said.

"Look, uncle! We bought the baby a blue bunny!"

Both looked at Hikari, who was showing off the stuffed toy she had insisted on buying, which was similar to her own bunny.

"It's very cute, Hikari. I'm sure he or she will love it."

The girl beamed, and both men melted.

There was something Ayato and Ken had in common. They would give up everything to protect their family.

Kirishima Arata was born at the beginning of spring, when the cherry blossoms started blooming. Truth be told his genes had won and his son looked more like him than Hinami. They had the same face, skin and hair color. The only significant difference was in the eyes. Arata had inherited his mother's eyes, and for that Ayato was truly grateful.

A month after Arata was born, they all held a reunion. Nishiki, Banjo, and other ghouls were present, even Tsukiyama and his father, but of course the most important people in his life were there too: Touka, Hikari, Hide, Yomo and Kaneki.

Yomo was sitting in a sofa cradling Arata, while Hikari and Hide sat at either side of him looking at their cousin. Touka and Hinami were serving everybody coffee, while Kaneki tried to escape from Tsukiyama. It was all too normal, so much that they even looked like humans.

Realization hit him hard. All these people, no matter their background, had become his family. Before he only had a sister, now he had a whole bunch of them. He had a wife and a son. A niece and a nephew. A sister and a brother-in-law, whom he might as well call just brother. He recovered his uncle. He even had friends. Ayato had been lonely for most of his life, and now he had more than one person worth dying for.

"Are you having fun, Aya?" Hinami called him, giving him a cup of coffee.

"They're a dull crowd, but I guess they're interesting."

Hinami giggled and then softly kissed his cheek. Ayato, despite himself, turned bright red. "What was that for?"

"For being you."

Ayato snorted and kissed her fully on the lips, ignoring Kaneki's yell of outrage, the kids cooing, and his sister calling him a sap. So what if he had become a sap? He finally had a family he could cherish.

When they broke apart from the kiss, Hinami looked at him in wonder. "What was that for?" She said, touching her lips.

"For being you."

He realized this, right there, was happiness.

Happiness sometimes is not meant to last. Ayato had learned that long ago, but in the middle of bliss, he had forgotten. He remembered the day his niece and nephew knocked on his door, screaming for help.

It had been an average day. He had woken up to Arata's cooing, meaning he was already awake. He fed him, while Hinami made him coffee. He showered while his wife dressed the baby. Then, they spent the day playing with their son, who was now crawling.

It was the evening, when someone frantically knocked on their door. He opened it only to find Hikari and Hide with tears running down their faces.

"What's going on?" He exclaimed as he ushered the children in.

"My parents… they…they're fighting a dove, please help them!"

Ayato's world stopped after hearing Hikari's words. His sister and her husband were fighting a dove. Was it Arima? Was the question which ran first through his mind.

"Hinami, take care of the children and don't go out of the house, you understand?" He commanded.

Hinami, who had turned pale, simply nodded, as she held Hide in her arms.

"Also, call Yomo and Nishio. We might need their help."

Hinami nodded, and then took out her cell phone.

"Hikari, I need you to tell me where you left your parents, alright?" The girl nodded and told him everything she knew, which thankfully was enough to pinpoint Kaneki and Touka's exact location.

He ruffled Hikari's hair. "Don't worry, I'll bring them back." He said, and then left.

As he ran, he thought on a conversation he had had with his uncle, about the day his mother had died. Yomo had told how he wished he had known what was going on, to be nearby and be able to help, but that hadn't happened. However, Ayato was in a different position, he was near and he could help.

He then remembered the conversation he had with his sister when she told him she was pregnant.

"Promise me."

He would do something better than protecting her children, he would bring their parents back to them.

He wouldn't let history repeat itself.

A/N: Kuddos to everyone who caught the "Promise me." reference.