I'll See You Later, Ok?
Chapter one: A Promise Broken and Preserved
Warning: spoilers (below)
With the recent manga chapters that had been focusing more on Rushima than on Cochlea lately, I had been practically pulling my hair out, waiting for Kaneki to make an appearance and all. Don't get me wrong and all, Ishida is rocking the boat with every new chapter he produces, the last one being one of my favourites. The great big reunion between the Cafe Crew and the leftover Aogiri snippets was really great! Things are really starting to heat up if you know what I mean, right? After all, Aogiri is finally on their last legs and the CCG doesn't seem to be doing much better ether. I mean like seriously how many members have either died, disappeared or defected during the operation? Kaneki, Arima, Hirako plus Zero Squad, Houji, Marude, Yoshitoki, Hachikawa (thank god) . . . and Akira isn't doing so well. Hope she pulls through. With V and the Clowns have stepped up as the new antagonists, having the CCG in the palm of their hand and all, the resulting conflict is going to be really good.
Quite a lot of drama, huh?
So yeah anyway, with all the hype going on, I decided to distract myself from waiting for the next update and came up with this short story idea. Touken is my favourite pairing and I decided to do this short story detailing the bloody aftermath of the Rushima Island Operation with the relationship between Kaneki and Touka being the main focus after returning to :re. The story primarily follows the themes of recovery and understanding. Basically, Touka pushes Kaneki for answers regarding the past few years. I hope that you all enjoy it very much! Also to the fans of my other stories, I am so, so sorry for the wait up, but you see inspiration is hard to come by for them at the moment. Sorry again. Story takes place after chapter 98.
This is more of a tester then an actual chapter.
Also xchrispx if you are reading this, please, please, please update your story The Butterfly Effect. All of the emotion is killing me!
Summary: In the aftermath of Cochlea, Kaneki was content with burying his demons, pretending they never existed and moving on. Touka, however, knew better than most how unhealthy that was. She was emotional and had questions, but she would find the answers and deal with them. Then she would help him and stand by his side forever, no matter what.
Rating: M. Romance, but nothing smutty, adult/suggestive themes, discussion of rather dark, gritty themes and moderate swearing.
Word count: 1964
Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul at all. Ishida does.
He was different.
He was Kaneki.
But he was still different. She could tell that much despite not having spoken to him since they had left. She had questions, ones that didn't even include those ominous white-clad doves that appeared to be Kaneki's allies.
She wouldn't trust them with her damned dishes.
Kirishima Touka couldn't take her mind off the topic that had been gnawing at her almost constantly since the defeat of those investigators and their subsequent escape from Cochlea. Even when they had finally made it back to :re, her thoughts were only half focused as she helped everyone get settled in.
Her head was a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.
What happened to him in the small amount of time that they had been apart? Why was his hair white again? The last time that had happened had been when-.
No, she couldn't afford to dwell on her past failures. Once had been bad enough, but seeing them again had almost been too much for her to handle in addition to a possibly dying Ayato.
Touka couldn't lie to herself. When she had seen that wretched white hair and those haunting pained eyes again on him-.
She had cried.
Hadn't Kaneki suffered enough already?
Back at Cochlea, right after they had left him behind, it had taken all the willpower Touka had possessed not to turn around and head back, even if she had to go by herself.
If not for Hinami, she might have.
No, she would have.
However, even as they had fled, she had repeated what she had saw over in her head again and again.
Kaneki. Him blocking the CCG's Reaper's quinque, stopping the deadly weapon in it's tracks with such deadly ease that it almost appeared rehearsed.
She had known from the start that he had gained strength. Anteiku had practically been a treasure trove of information, ghouls from all over the ward coming in with even the smallest of rumours and whispers on their lips. The ghoul restaurants, the cannibalization, the fights, Touka had heard all of them.
Some small part of her wished she hadn't.
Though at the time she had been busy concentrating on the fact that it was Kaneki (the eyepatched ghoul) who had been doing these things. Up until The Reaper, she had never actually seen him fight outside of their training.
It was only then at that time had Touka realised just how much stronger he had become. The extent to which she had been left behind.
Her heart ached.
They would have only served as a distraction at best.
She would have never forgiven herself if she had caused his death.
Touka was brought out of her musings as she closed the trapdoor behind her and covered it with the mat. Once that was done, she stood up and placed her bag on the counter. Zipping it open, she grabbed all the meat parcels and placed them all on the top besides the register, eyeing the closed blinds as she did so. The barista then put them all in the fridge before going to check on Yomo and her brother.
The fighting at the prison had left both Ayato and Yomo in a state where they were almost too injured to move by themselves. They even had to be carried upstairs by Kaneki and Banjou. While they were both going to make a full recovery (thank god), they would most likely not be getting out of their futons for quite a while.
As much as she wanted to sit down and have a talk with her brother, that would have to wait for another time.
Hinami and Banjou on the other hand had looked like they had been five seconds away from passing out the last time she had seen them, Hinami from the stress of her captivity and Banjou from overexerting himself in order to keep Ayato and Yomo alive. As Touka entered the room that the two ghouls shared, she saw that Hinami was currently washing away the crimson covering their motionless bodies with a wet cloth while Banjou lay slouched in the corner, staring silently at the floor.
Touka had taken it upon herself to travel to her apartment to pick up some packages from the freezer at her place, taking a shortcut through the 24th Ward to avoid the most likely heavier CCG presence that would be patrolling the wards. It had taken a while, but everyone would need something to eat after all, considering what they just went through.
She had also done it to distract herself from worrying
Worrying wouldn't bring the others back any faster.
One of the café's perks was that like with its predecessor, it contained a small basement which was hidden in the back room under a trap door. On top of that, there was also a passage which had been created by Yomo which lead to the 24th Ward, serving as a perfect potential escape route should the CCG ever discover them. Some might fail to see the logic in it, but Touka certainly didn't. There was also a training ground as well. Despite her slender, feminine appearance, Touka had been keeping up with her training, sparring with Yomo whenever she had the time. To her utmost satisfaction, she had been losing much less lately.
Forcing herself to smile as she passed Banjou, Touka noticed the misery on the large man's face and winced. From what she understood, several friends of his had given their lives in the raid, some of whom had even been a part of the group that Kaneki had put together to combat Aogiri. Touka mentally reminded herself to make the time to speak with him later before approaching Hinami, gently shaking her shoulder once she was close. The girl flinched and turned, eyes alight in alarm, but they relaxed once she saw who it was. The poor girl's eyes were red and her cheeks looked puffy, filled with tiredness and concern.
"Onee-chan."
"Hinami."
Touka inwardly winced at the sound of her own voice. A far cry from the cheerful façade she wore whenever she greeted customers in :re.
Hinami smiled and embraced Touka, who happily returned it. She tightened her already iron-clad grip, almost possessively.
She couldn't help herself.
She had been worried sick.
The nights leading up to the break-in had been the worst for Touka. The atmosphere had been extremely tense, even during opening hours. She hadn't been getting enough sleep, constantly stressing over the details of the plan or thinking over too many 'what ifs?' Taking into account every single possibility, every single detail no matter how minor. Touka couldn't remember being this stressed since the ill-fated trip to the 11th Ward. She had wanted her little sister back so much.
Eventually (it had to be like an entire minute), they separated and Touka was glad to see that Hinami seemed more at ease now.
Inwardly, Touka felt as though a part of her heart had been restored.
"Hey, how are they?"
Hinami managed to produce a genuine smile, though her lips trembled.
"B-Better. Ayato-kun and Yomo-san are well. When they wake up, I would like them to t-try and eat if possible."
Touka felt soothing relief hearing that, painful memories of her mother and father flashing through her head. She mentally frowned and banished the images from her mind, trying to come up with something to distract her which turned out to be quite easy, unsurprisingly.
"Hey Hinami, where's Kaneki?"
She trusted his judgement (somewhat), but she wasn't ready to let him out of her sight for too long just yet.
Especially in the presence of those doves. Just one more figure to add to the growing number of shitty mysteries that were piling up.
"Onii-chan? With the investigators. I think that they went outside."
Huh?
"W-What?"
Hinami visibly hesitated, looking down at the floor, looking troubled and perhaps slightly ashamed. Even as Touka tried to fathom a response, she continued.
"He said that it was important. I tried to get him to stay, but he assured me that he would be fine."
Had Touka still been as . . . hot-headed as she had been in her younger years, she most likely would have thrown about some colourful language, chased down Kaneki and the doves, beat the shit out of them and dragged Kaneki back while leaving the doves behind to bleed on the sidewalk.
She wasn't that bad anymore, but still . . .
Concern and fear swelled up inside of her.
Touka quickly thanked Hinami and went downstairs at a pace most might deem faster than necessary. Stepping past the bar, she weaved around the tables and went straight for the front door, almost forgetting to unlock it first. Once she was outside, the female barista's worried eyes searched, zooming in on any mass of black and white in the crowd. Eventually, she was forced to use her nose to track Kaneki.
As she followed the scent, Touka couldn't help, despite being it being a completely inappropriate time, but appreciate the concoction that was Kaneki's aroma. The current object of her thoughts had always smelt more feminine than masculine, not that she had ever minded. It mixed with a combination of soap and coffee, along with a combination of ghoul and human, the results of which had always been . . . well nice.
Sweet had always been the best word she could come up with whenever he was nearby. Just like that time in the church.
Except now though, on top of that, Touka picked up the slightly pungent presence of blood, most of it Kaneki's along with human blood. There was also something else that Touka had trouble describing, not pleasant, but not unpleasant either. It smelt like an old scent, which meant that she had probably missed it during their escape several hours prior.
Soon the scent led Touka into a desolate alley hidden from the main street by a tarp. Closing it behind her, her nose suddenly picked up the scent of fresh blood and her pulse quickened. Her way, however, was blocked by a large pickup. The vehicle was parked with it's bonnet facing her. Even if she couldn't see them, Touka could make out raised voices, one of them Kaneki's. Now on the edge of a full blown panic attack, the scent of his blood growing stronger, she practically raced around the side of the car, the backs of two white clad doves blocking her view. Frowning, she moved around them . . . and came to a complete and utter stop.
Touka was silent for several moments, her mind processing what her eyes were seeing very slowly even as five pairs of eyes stared at her.
Kaneki sat on the end of the vehicle's storage bay with both legs dangling over the edge. He shifted slightly where he was even as he blinked in surprise as he regarded her. She, however, paid his face no mind, her attention solely on his limbs.
When he had rescued them, he had been wearing a dark, tattered, cloak serving as a madeshift poncho over a ripped bodysuit with a scarf wrapped around his neck and bandages curled around his arms and legs.
He still was, except for the pale wrappings which were now gone, exposing his four limbs.
Scales covered them, dragon-like scales coloured both black and red that reached Kaneki's elbows and knees. As he moved, the limbs almost appeared to have come to life, shifting like reptiles.
The half-ghoul's now taloned toes and fingers seemed to click against each other like insects.
Touka could only stare, her face freezing in complete and utter confusion and shock.
Until next time then.