Hey, lovelies. One(?)shot based on if Touka had Xeroderma Pigmentosum, a disease (I'm not sure if it's classified as a disease or a disorder, so I'm sorry if I offend anyone who has or knows someone who has it!) that makes the affected person's skin extremely sensitive to sunlight and UV (?) rays, causing extreme sunburns and blisters when exposed, and at more of a risk to sun cancer, alla that.

I don't have XP myself, so I'm sorry if I get any of this wrong. I only have Wikipedia, Google, and my mother's medical knowledge. And she doesn't know much about XP.

Please review to let me know how I'm doing!

If the XP suits are made out of special materials, pretend they aren't in the fic.

Not a doctor!

Slight tweeks to Touka's appearance to fit the XP thing.

Slow fic.

Also, Lisa Adams I imagine looking a lot like Iggy Azalea for some reason.

Also, Uta's last name. Per. Fect.

Moved them to Oregon for weather and geographic reasons. Also they speak English mainly.

AU. Slight OOC with Ayato.

I don't know about the second phrase in Japanese. I didn't double-check it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Ghoul, or any characters affiliated with Tokyo Ghoul.

Chapter 1

When they found out what I had, I was five. A sickly, red-skinned five year old who was always crying into her brother's shirt because of the pain.

I was on a morphine drip a lot back then, but the fact that my skin was eroding off my flesh was kinda concerning, even that young, and Ayato had to talk me out of panic attacks often.

I was diagnosed by a certain Dr. Lisa Adams, who stomped into my room with her husband who didn't have a last name (and so took hers), and moved me and a stubborn Ayato to a room specifically for people like me.

It was called Xeroderma Pigmentosum. Ayato called it Sun Disorder.

I had to stay in that lonely room in the hospital with Ayato while my parents renovated the house: screens on the windows, special lights. They had to buy me an XP suit for going outside.

I hate it.

It's this big bulky white and black thing with this obnoxious helmet thing and it looks like a fucking astronaut suit and I hate it.

Ayato says I like was shitted out, eaten, and barfed back up in it.

But remember Dr. Adams? Her husband? Well, he makes masks. And for my birthday last year, he made me one that would protect me from the sun and lights, and Ayato made me a suit that doesn't look like my dead aunt FucksALot McPedo, and the only thing concerning about it is that I kinda look robber-ish in it.

So the hoodie I usually wear has "I swear I'm not a robber" on the back.

It makes Ayato laugh.

Uta is Dr. Adams's husband. Just sayin'. . . . .. . .. .. . .. .. . .. . . .. . . ..

When I met him, I was on a walk with Ayato, on a Wednesday night, late October. It was the week that we started walking on Mondays instead of Tuesdays. Obviously.

I was in my suit, which was overalls with tights and a long sleeve underneath, and gloves and knee socks and high tops, and the overalls are splattered with paint, and all the fabric is like taped together because Ayato went crazy, and then my hoodie over it with the mask Mr. Adams gave me (that looks like a rabbit!), on my face, and a scarf on my neck.

I have a different outfit for summer, I promise.

Ayato was all bundled up, too; Oregon winters are hard.

The only reason I think our parents let us out at night for walks together is because we're both way too violent, and Ayato's always carrying a knife.

I just carry pepper spray and a box cutter.

Ayato had run off to get flowers, I think because he'd gotten in trouble with Mom and he was trying to suck up, and then this little black-haired boy came scuttling up the sidewalk with this giant pile of books in his arms, and a big bag of them on his back, and the he tipped to the side over a puddle, where he had to either drop the books or faceplant into shitwater, and I went over and helped him gather the books.

When a petite, gloved hand started stacking his books for him, looked up. He was a little taken aback.

"You're not really a rabbit, are you?" He asked, his adorable little olive eyes trained on my face. He looked about the same age as me (8), but he looked so innocent.

"No, do you usually see random rabbit-people all over the place?"

He blushed and smiled sheepishly.

"What's your name?"

"Kaneki," he whispered. "What's yours?"

"I'm Touka." I said, and stood up with his books. He was forced to follow, and I shoved them into his hands. I grabbed a slip of paper that I always kept in the pocket of my overalls for if I met somebody I wanted as my friend, that had my email on it. I put it in one of his books and walked away to find Ayato.

…...Ayato likes tropical fish . .. . . . . . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. . .. .. . .. . .. . .. . . .. . . .. .. . .. .

He'd gotten himself tangled in a rose bush somehow.

It took me fifteen minutes to get him out.

.. . .. .. . .. . Ayato likes rabbits, too . . ..

It took him two days to email me.

I thought he'd forgotten.

.. . .. . .. I ran out of info . .. .

He hadn't actually had an email address, and didn't actually have a computer himself, either. He was using the ones at school and his friend's house. His favorite color was white. What was mine?

Mine was black. I liked hot chocolate and cake.

He liked burgers and soda.

I wasn't allowed much soda, but I guessed it was okay. Did he have any siblings?

He didn't have any siblings. He lived alone.

I had a brother. What were his parents like?

He didn't have any parents. They died. His mom six months ago, and his dad when he was three.

That was sad. Was he allergic to anything?

He was allergic to pineapples, a little.

I was allergic to some lights, and the sun.

That was scary. Where did I go to school?

I was homeschooled. What grade was he in?

Second grade. What about me?

I had a level of a sixth grader, but I was only eight.

He had a reading level of a tenth grader, but he was eight, too.

I didn't like reading very much. What was he going to be when he grew up?

He was going to be a writer of books, and live in Iceland.

Why would he live on Iceland?

He didn't know, it just sounded cool and he wanted to learn the language.

I spoke German.

He spoke Japanese.

I'd learn Japanese.

He'd learn German.

Then we could both learn Icelandic.

. . .. . .. ….Llamas with hats. .. . ….

It was two weeks later, on a Friday, when I was sitting on the window seat in a sweater and a blanket and drinking hot chocolate with my MP3, a piece of paper appeared outside the window.

And in letters that weren't used to covering the whole page, "Touka?"

It was still daylight out, so I couldn't go out. I grabbed a notebook and wrote down his name with a question mark.

In response, he stood up.

His hair was slightly mussed, but still neat as Hell. As soon as he stood, he blushed, and the next page he showed me said "You're pretty without your mask."

I replied with "Thank you", and then we somehow ended up playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

After that, he came every Friday, even if it was raining.

. . . .. . . . . I like cheese . .. . . . .. . . .. . .. . . .. . .. .. . .. . .

It was the first of December, when I'd somehow contracted a cold, that Kaneki started teaching me Japanese, and he, of course, in turn started learning German.

. .. . .. .I'm sorry about this next part. .. . .. . …

It was the eighteenth of December when Kaneki came to my window to find a note taped there already. It said, in big, wobbly letters that were uncharacteristic of me, "Ayato's dead".

. .. . . . . .. .. …...Naze means why, I'm not repeating the translation. . .. . .. …... . . . . .. . …... . . . . .. ….

I think it took him exactly one minute to get to the front door. He rang the doorbell twelve times and when Dad opened the door, he sprinted past him and started yelling in Japanese.

"Touka-chan, doko ni iru no?!" (Touka-chan, where are you?!) He yelled, and I spat out,

"Migite ni daisan no doa!" (Third door on your right!)

"Wait-" started Dad, voice cracking, but Kaneki took off to my room.

He crashed onto my bed the moment I jumped at him and started babbling in Japanese (he hadn't learned much German yet).

"Atashi wa kowai!" (I'm scared!) I sobbed into his shirt.

"Naze?" (Why?) He asked, flustered shifting his hold on me so we were both more comfortable.

"Atashi wa kodoku. . . . " (I'm all alone. . . . ) Came in a whimper, before I began sobbing so hard that I was choking on my sobs.

He tried to move around again, but I was inhibiting him, and so we ended up against the wall with my head in his armpit and one of his legs over mine, and he covered me up with a blanket before he talked.

"Ore wa koko ni imasu, Touka-chan. Ore wa itsumo iruyo." (I'm here, Touka-chan. I'll always be here.)

"Naze!" I yelled, freeing my head so I could breathe, and banging it on his chest everytime I opened my mouth. Mom and Dad had peeked through the door by this point. "Naze?!"

"Shirimasen," he whispered, not blocking me. (I don't know,)

"Naze, naze, NAZE, NAZE--"

"SHIRIMASEN, Touka-chan!"

"NAZE?!" I screamed, and collapsed into sobs.

"Gomennasai, Touka-chan, gomennasai, gomennasai," ((you should know this!) I'm sorry, Touka-chan, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,) he whispered above my head, until I stopped.

When I stopped, he reached over me and grabbed the roll of toilet paper I'd been using as tissues, and my MP3 player, and put one earbud in my ear, and one in his. He turned it on and picked a random song, and Emilie Autumn began singing in our ears, starting with I Know Where You Sleep.

In three minutes, the song ended, Opheliac starting, with its long instrumental in the starting, and the question flew out of my freckled face.

"Nani suru?" (What were you doing?) Still too hyped to lapse into English. It took him so long to reply that I repeated it in Japanese, and once in German, which he probably didn't understand.

"Matteru, ne?" He finally said. (Waiting, okay?)

"Naze?"

"Hani, watashi wa shinaide kudasa seimei." (Honey, I don't have a life.) He said, which made us both laugh.

It's over. There you are. Spent all day on this. Sorry if their Japanese was a little advanced, especially with them not being native speakers. I didn't want to missuse things simply to point out their inadequacy (can't think of the word).

Also sorry for bad translations. I basically google-traslated, double-checked, and said what I wanted/meant it to be in the parentheses.

The change I made to Touka's appearance was freckles.

Sorry about Ayato, lovelies!

Also, IDK about the Iceland thing. It just happened. And I mean, it sounds like something they would do.

Review if you want more than just that, 'cause I might make this a two or three -shot. Or more. Or a whole fic. I don't know. I just loved writing this.