TBO: THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS! ENJOY!

How many days had it been since she caught this stupid cold?

Touka wobbly plopped herself onto the leather couch in her living room, hazily. Small beads of sweat began to form on her forehead due to the immense heat that was radiating off of her body. She had placed a bowl of cold water and a small towel beside her in case- but she didn't have the strength to nurse herself today.

Slowly slumping against the cushion, she shut her puffy pink eyes and groaned. "So…tired…I think I'll…just lay here…stupid…cold…"She voiced softly between each heavy breath. This helpless state was so embarrassing- who knew that it could be so hard? Her whole motto consisted of her taking care of herself and others.

Touka reminisced about the good old days when she was still with her family. Whenever she caught a cold ( She caught them quite often ) her mother would give her a special relaxing bath that would make her cold go away and would serve Touka's favorite dish for dinner.

She loved her mother.

And once she passed away, her dad had a different way of doing things. Touka couldn't help but let out a painful chuckle at the memory. Her Pop would wrap her up into a cocoon made out of multiple warm blankets and give her warm coffee whenever she caught a cold. He'd make sure that she walked around with them too-sort of like a shield to protect her from danger. It came pretty in handy when she tripped too. Then he would apologize sheepishly and say that he wasn't as good as their mother at these things.

She loved her father.

Ayato's coffee seemed to be the thing that healed her the most. She was surprised that he knew how to at least make a decent cup, and she was always a bit envious at how he was better at handling ingredients than she was. Whenever she was sick in bed, he'd hunt by himself at night for the both of them, and would always leave a steaming cup behind for her to enjoy.

She loved her little dimwit of a brother Ayato.

And Touka couldn't help but laugh dryly at the thought of her being alone. It wasn't fair, always being taken from. She missed her mother, Pops, and her brother. I feel so delirious right now. She wiped away the beads of cold sweat with her wrist and opened her eyes with a squint.

"I'm so…tired…"

Anteiku

"Good work today everyone." Kaneki beamed to his fellow co-workers, as he closed the doors of Anteiku behind him. Nishiki was grumpily cleaning the mugs and glasses behind the counter. Hinami was small talking with Irimi as the older woman wiped down the tables. The Manager stood by the stairs, with his hands behind his back and with a content smile on his face.

Kaneki's face then deflated when he noticed that someone was missing. He shook his head and walked up to the counter and placed his bag on the ground. He smiled brightly at the Manager, who had sauntered over to him.

"Kaneki-Kun, how was school today?"

"It was ah, very interesting. It went well."

"And are you sleeping well?"

"Mm…yes," Kaneki rubbed his chin uncomfortably, and averted his glance. "Is Touka-Chan not working today either?" He asked, shoving his hands into his pockets, and cocking his head to the side. The Manager shook his head and Nishiki closed the cup cabinet, not so quietly.

The orange haired teen slapped Kaneki's shoulder to get him to move over so he could wipe down the counter. "Who knows? It's been quiet up there all day." Nishiki mused. "We usually hear all kinds of noises; the damn klutz trips over everything." The older teen shrugged uncaring. "But today: nothing." The older teen said observantly. Then, we he saw Kaneki's tight face, he snickered mockingly.

"Worried about your girlfriend, Eyepatch?"

"S-She's not my-" Kaneki sighed and shot a worried glance at the stair case. "I just thought that her cold would be gone by now. Does she normally get sick like this?" He asked the Manager, getting worried. Even if she did normally get sick like this; shouldn't Ghouls get better faster than the average human?

Kaneki furrowed his eyebrows. Right?

The Manager placed a warm cup of black coffee in front of the navy haired boy and smiled gently. "Here, have a cup." He cleaned his hands with a white napkin and sat by the counter, beside Kaneki. Kaneki accepted the drink, and wrapped his fingers around it, allowing for the warm sensation to sink in before he took his first sip.

It's delicious as always.

"As you might have already known, Touka is an orphaned child." The Manager told him blankly. Kaneki gulped and nodded with a grim look. "Her independence was mostly caused by her inability to trust others and even when she would catch a cold she would just coop herself upstairs until it was gone. This behavior is no surprise; but there was someone who would take care of her." The Manager reminisced, drinking his own coffee.

"Ayato…" A low voice suddenly spoke softly. Kaneki glanced over his shoulder and was surprised to see that Yomo had walked into the coffee shop in his casual clothes. The white haired man pulled off the hat on his head, and brushed off the snow that had latched itself onto it. Kaneki, and the other workers furrowed their eyebrows in confusion as to whom they were speaking of.

The Manager nodded at Yomo in acknowledgement and sighed. "Yes, Touka's younger brother Ayato. The boy used to always take care of his sister despite being the delinquent that he was. Funny thing; he despised out shop with such strong dislike and hated our morals. But, he would still stay with his sister. He was the only thing that she held dear, and when he left," The Manager sighed again.

Kaneki pressed his lips thinly together. I see. He laughed flatly and looked away from the Manager. "It makes sense; she told me a few days ago that she didn't want me to care and that she thought that it was stupid." He mumbled, slowly getting off of his chair. "To think she was going through all that…"

Hinami knitted her eyebrows in worry and Irimi patted her shoulder. "Onee-Chan…"

Nishiki scratched the back of his head, tiredly. "Well, I didn't expect for that Bi-Touka to be siblings with Ayato from Aogori. Man, that's fucked up." He muttered, grabbing the broom from the small closet near the stairs. Irimi and Hinami shot glares at the orange haired man, and he apologized nervously.

Yomo cleared his throat and moved over to where Kaneki was.

"You should go to her and check up on her, Ken." He said firmly, placed a hand on the college's student's shoulder. Kaneki looked up at the older man, taken back and confused. He lifted his finger and pointed at himself unsurely.

"But why me?"

"Why not?"

Kaneki's face relaxed and he dumbfounded by Yomo's soft spoken words. It was pretty clear if not obvious that the high school girl despised his half breed guts, at his last visit. She wouldn't even want to see him if he went. To be honest, no matter how hard he tried to get her to warm up to him, it would either end up in him making a full of himself or Touka disliking him even more.

Kaneki grabbed his bag, and smiled platonically. "Something tells me that…I'm not really Touka's favorite person as of now. Wouldn't it be better if you went to her?" Kaneki pushed on. "You both seem really close-like siblings almost!" He stopped when Yomo shook his head slowly.

"I have no right to. But what matters most for you is that you care about her Ken." Yomo patted him on the back and placed his hat back on his head, flattening his white hair. "Don't avoid her." He finished with a ghost of a smile, and then turned around to leave the shop.

"Well damn. I swear I've never heard him speak for so long…" Nishiki deadpanned, putting away the cleaning utensils. Irimi and Hinami half glared at him for his unnecessary comment, and Nishiki held his hands up in defense chuckling sheepishly.

Kaneki took a few steps towards the door and sighed. "Alright, here I go." He said with a small huff. One minute later and he was still planted in the same spot. Kaneki rubbed his chin and his face faltered a bit. He rushed to back to the counter, sat in a chair, and dipped his head into his hands. "I-I don't think that I can do this! What if she doesn't want to see me?" He admitted, flushing in embarrassment. Seriously, he wondered where all that confidence that he had easily mustered up whenever he was with Touka went.

Hinami smiled warmly and looked up at him. "Trust me, she will." She said with an innocent look on her face. "Onee-Chan is happier when you're around." Kaneki removed his flushed face from his hands and raised an eyebrow at Hinami's unexpected reassurance.

"Are you sure?"

Irimi laughed and propped her elbows onto the small table that she had cleaned.

"Hinami is right, Kaneki. Why are you so self conscious?" Irimi teased, petting Hinami's brunette hair. Kaneki blushed and stood up from his seat. Yoshimura fished something out of the pocket of his apron and turned to the aimlessly staring boy.

"Kaneki, here." Yoshimura grabbed his bare hands, and placed a small brown package in his palms gently. Kaneki raised an eyebrow at the package; questioning why it was given to him. The old man smiled wryly and his wrinkles pooled around his cheeks. "Take it with you and give it to Touka, alright?"

Package. Meat. Ghoul. Touka. Kaneki furiously nodded and did a quick spin towards the door. "Right, Touka." He directed himself, in a tranquil tone. His leg shook as he took the first step, and he glanced back over his shoulder uneasily.

The workers of Anteiku all smiled confidently at him.

"Ok…I-I'm going now." He declared.

Nishiki placed his hands on his hips, and snorted. "Oh, stop being such a fucking sissy! I'm tired of your complaining about Touka not being here and I'm tired of taking over shitty Touka's shifts; just get together already…" He unbuttoned his sleeve, and rolled it down to his elbow. The older college students smirked evilly and clenched his hand into a fist, displaying the bulging veins in his arm as well. "Even think about taking one step backwards, I'll pummel you." He said dangerously low.

"W-We aren't-." Kaneki stopped midsentence and immediately whirled around and marched towards the door. We aren't getting together! He thought flustered, as he walked into the cold air.

TBO: Touka's cold's just getting better each day lol. Kaneki's just shyyyyyy

TBO: Thanks for reading!