Title : The Hearts Wants, What It Wants

Theme : horror/dark fantasy story

Pairing : Kaneki/Uta

Chapter 1 - Smell

A young college student sat on his school roof looking up at the sky. It was the usual routine for him. Every day at noon he would come up to look up at the blue clear sky. He didn't like going to college but it was the only think that he thought was normal about him. When he looked up at the sky he felt ease as if something was lifted from him.

"There you are." Kaneki doesn't bother getting up from the ground where he was lying down on. He keeps looking at the sky ignoring his best friend's words.

"You're same as always I see." Hide can't remember when his best friend changed. Maybe it was when he got into that accident or was it somewhere else. Hide didn't even know why his best friend was thinking anymore well most part of him.

Well that's what they all think but the truth is far from that and Kaneki can't even tell his friend the truth. If he did Hide would be in danger and Kaneki couldn't let anything happen to somebody he cares about.

Hide lays down beside his best friend. The blond wonders what's so interesting looking up in the sky. There's nothing there but the blue sky that doesn't interest the blond but to his best friend there something else that he doesn't see.

"Hide I'm leaving." Kaneki says once he gets up with a smile on his face. Hide hates when Kaneki does that. Whenever his best friend is like this he has to try to stop him. There was a time that Kaneki almost quit college but Hide convinced him otherwise. Hide feels that Kaneki is hiding something from him, he knows since he has known Kaneki for a long time now but he doesn't push it.

Hide is just happy that Kaneki decided to stay and attend college even if he does leave in the middle of lunch every now and then. Hide lets out a sigh and leaves to follow his best friend and see where the boy has disappeared to.

It is still lunch time so they still have plenty of time till classes start but knowing Kaneki, he knows that he won't attend class but go back home and school.

"You're not going to graduate if you keep skipping your classes." Hide says this every time but Kaneki doesn't listen.

"There isn't a reason for me to graduate." Kaneki has always thought this way since he was found out that he is a half ghoul, what life a ghoul can have. If Hide found out what he was he wonder what kind of reaction he would have. Would it be a frighten one or something completely different from what he thought, either way there was no way that Kaneki was going tell him that he was a ghoul.

Kaneki was happier when he didn't know anything. He was happy living as a human not thinking anything but living a normal life but he couldn't anymore since he wasn't normal and not a human for starters.

"There was a fight again." As Hide and Kaneki walked by some students they heard some girls talking about the incident that has been happening a lot in the other part of the city. It seems some gangs groups have been fighting. Kaneki wonders why the police aren't doing anything to stop the fights.

"It's those fights again." Hide says. Kaneki and Hide don't go to that part of the city but it is still close to Kaneki's home but not so close that he would ever go by the area. "Be careful when you walk home."

"I can take care of myself."

Kaneki didn't attend the rest of his classes and headed toward the direction of his home but he got a bit hungry so he stopped by a café that he came in often with Hide. Anteiku is a café that many comes that includes ghouls. The café isn't just a normal place people come in since the café is also run by ghouls. Kaneki knows it since he can smell who are ghouls and not but they can't tell that he is one too.

Kaneki sits down and orders his usual and takes out a book out from his school bag and starts to read. As he reads he notice many people come and go. The place is peaceful and the ghouls who run the café don't do any harm to humans so Kaneki finds it alright.

"The young man comes here often." The manager of the shop turned to his waitress who was standing in the counter watching the boy as he read his book.

"That's true."

"What's wrong?" The manager asked.

"He comes here often but I can't tell if he's one of us or them." Touka says.

"That is something that is confusion." Even the manager found it strange that he couldn't tell the boy apart from ghouls and humans. He should know but he doesn't.

The time went by and it was getting late. Kaneki didn't even realize until Hide came through the front door of the café.

"Can't you try answering your phone?" Hide didn't look happy. Kaneki grabbed his phone from his right pocket on his pant and saw missed called by Hide. This had happened before, he was so interest in his book that his mind didn't think of anything else.

"S-orry." Kaneki tried to pretend like it was not a big deal but Hide took it another new level.

"You owe me one." He smiled. Kaneki didn't like it, whenever he had to owe Hide something it wasn't a good thing and it meant not a good thing for him.

Later night Kaneki was walking home but there was a lot of traffic going on and he didn't want to wait till the traffic died down so he had no other choice but to take the route that he never would have took. The route that always had those gang fights.

Kaneki walked through the alleyway and there he stopped since he saw the rumored gang fights going on. It was more like one guy was standing there not caring what was happening to him while the others looked at him extremely angry.

"What is that guy doing?"

"Are you listening?" One of the men wasn't pleased with the way the guy in the middle of acting. The guy was acting like he was thinking about something. Kaneki could tell that every one of the guys there were ghouls, of all the things why it had to be ghouls.

As Kaneki stood there watching the whole scene he noticed the guy in the middle's appearance. He had various tattoos and piercing. From the way the man looked, it was like he was bored. Kaneki saw another guy appear and without thinking Kaneki opened his mouth.

"Look out!" Kaneki quickly covered his mouth. Why did he open his mouth? It was none of his business. It was too late since the gang noticed him. The man in the middle manage to dodge the attack that was from the attacker. The man then knocked the whole gang out.

The man turned to look back at Kaneki. He walked toward the college boy Kaneki didn't know why but he felt a bit afraid of the man before him. From the looks of it the guy looked older than him.

"Thanks for helping me out there." The man smiled. The smile looked like a real smile, it didn't seem like the guy was going to kill him or anything. "By the way I'm Uta." He said. "What is your name?" There wasn't a harm to say his name so he open his mouth.

"I'm Kaneki Ken." Suddenly Uta started sniffing the boy and Kaneki didn't understand why the older male was doing such a thing, it was strange.

"Uta-san."

"You smell a bit strange." He said.

When Kaneki got home he got a shower thinking that he smelled bad but after he was done with the shower he thought maybe ghouls smell things different from humans. It was still a bit funny that Uta sniffed him like some dog, Kaneki couldn't stop thinking about it but there was still something scary about the man. He looked kind but Kaneki couldn't put it in words but there was something about the man that scared him a bit.

"Why am I thinking of somebody I won't see again?"

After the shower Kaneki ate some dinner. Kaneki isn't like most ghouls so he can eat normal human food that won't make him throw up. After that he headed to his bed and laid down there and closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

"What?" Kaneki repeated his words to Hide.

"I'm busy with my project so I want you to get something I order from a shop called HySy ArtMask Studio."

"I guess this is what I owe you, huh." Kaneki didn't have a choice but the black-haired student would rather be in the café reading his book. Hide wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to his best friend.

"It's not hard to find but to be safe."

"What am I a kid?"

Kaneki took the piece of paper from Hide and left the college. Like Hide said it wasn't hard to find but why was it so hidden. It was like from some creepy movie. The entrance to the shop was creepy as well, in the window was masks that could be called creepy by most people, there was hours of operation and also lists of things he makes.

Just then Kaneki heard a set of footsteps and saw a familiar face. It was the girl that worked at the café that Kaneki usually went to read at.

"You're that customer." She said as she pointed at Kaneki. Kaneki thought it would be better saying it without pointing fingers at him.

"Did you have business here too?"

"Yea." Kaneki wanted to get this over with so he walked into the shop followed by the girl inside. Kaneki looked around the shop but couldn't find anybody in the shop.

"Is the shop owner here?" He called out.

"Uta-san." Touka called out.

"Uta-san." Kaneki thought he heard that name somewhere before. Kaneki then saw a white sheet of cloth and it looked like it was covering something. Kaneki was curious so he opened it then somebody sat there staring at him.

"Boo."

Uta was indeed the same man that Kaneki had met the night before and he freaked Kaneki out that he fell to the floor. Touka turned to see what was going on.

"What are you doing, Uta-san?"

"I thought I would surprise you."

Uta closed the shop since he had to deal with both Kaneki and Touka.

"You're Kaneki if I'm not mistaken."

"That right, I-I'm Kaneki."

"You smell unusual as before." Uta said as he sniffed the boy once again. Kaneki felt nervous whenever the man sniffed him, did he really smell that unusual.

"Sit there please." Uta pointed to a seat and Kaneki sat as he was told. "You're here to get a mask done, right."

"I'm no-" Uta bend down to reach to Kaneki's level.

"Do you have any allergies?"

"No."

"What about rubber or metal?"

"They're fine."

"Do you want a full-face mask?" Kaneki tried to reply but Uta replied before he could.

"It's your first one, so maybe a half-mask will do instead."

"He's nothing listening to a thing I'm trying to say."

"The eye patch is cute." Kaneki didn't think anybody would common about his eye patch, it's been a while. The last time was when he got out from the hospital and Hide asked why he was wearing one after that his classmates also, after some time they stopped asking.

"Do you like them?"

"There no harm in telling him a little white lie."

Kaneki took the eye patch out and shown the Uta that his eye was normal and there was harm done.

"When large light hit my right it hurts so to avoid it I keep this thing on."

"I guess that's fine." Uta got up and was now standing. "Kaneki-kun, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Huh, no I don't."

"That's good then."

"Huh?"

"What are with these questions?"

In the end Kaneki finally manage to tell Uta what he came for from the help from Touka and still he got a mask made for him but Uta had explained that he would come see him or that Kaneki should see him again and in the end Kaneki gave the man his number unwilling of course since Uta took it upon himself to do so.

"All I came here was to get a simple thing." Kaneki was tired from the long day so he decided to deliver Hide's parcel tomorrow and plus it is a day off.