Okay, so this chapter has a lot of characters babbling and I'm still introducing everything to you guys so... yeah, there won't be a lot of action in this chapter. However, next chapter will have Harry going back to Anteiku. And it won't be because he wants to drink a cup of coffee. Non madame.
What else? I don't really know what happened with you but I got a lot of reviews. Like... I don't know why. Was it Kaneki? Was it Harry? Tatara? The moon revolution? Pluto becoming a planet? My question at the end of the chapter (by the way, publication will stay being on a whim) ?
I just don't know. Also anons get their answers as the end of this chapter. That being said, enjoy this useless chapter.
When Harry woke up on the next morning, he wasn't surprised to see that his night stalker wasn't in his room.
It also meant that Sen was safely back home.
The wizard yawned loudly and stretched his hands towards his wand, faintly smiling when the stick jumped in his hand, and got up. He stumbled to the bathroom with a change of clothes and didn't even bat an eyelash when he passed in front of a young woman covered in blood.
The latter was balancing her legs from her spot on the kitchen counter and she gave him a bright smile.
"Too early for this," Harry groaned as he raised a hand to rub his eyes.
The crust cracked under his fingers and the wizard continued making his way to the bathroom. He faintly heard Sen's chuckles before he slammed to door behind him and refreshed himself.
Just as he was drying his face with a fluffy towel and wondering if he should shave (it didn't happen that frequently now that he had become a Bearer, he didn't have enough testosterone to grow a lot of facial hair. Same for his chest and back), the door creaked open and Harry threw the towel as the invader.
The latter spluttered a small laugh as the wet towel collided with her face and Sen immediately reciprocated by hitting the wizard with it. Harry groaned weakly when the towel hit his bum (still naked because he hadn't remembered to put some clothes) and he softly rubbed the pulsing flesh.
"Sen," he whined while a pair of black trousers and a white shirt flew from his bedroom to his open hand. "Give me a break, will you?"
The young woman cocked her head and gave him a bright smile.
"Why should I when the only thing you do after being separated for three days is to throw your towel at my face?" she mused.
Harry rolled his eyes.
"You're such a drama queen," he commented with a slight drawl. "What do you want?"
Sen's cheerful facade vanished into nothingness and the one-eyed ghoul pursed her lips before she smacked them loudly.
"Tatara told me that you wish to take an anomaly under your wing," she stated coldly.
Harry sighed and raked his hand through his hair. Memories of Kaneki's panicked face and horrified whispers came to his mind and the wizard gritted his teeth.
"Yes," he calmly admitted. "Like you did with me."
Sen narrowed her eyes and shifted her weight, leaning her hip against the doorway while she tapped her lips with her finger pensively.
"Is it like you?" she inquired.
Harry softly shook his head and took his towel out of the ghoul's hands before he put it back in its place.
"No," he revealed with another whisper. "He's like you."
Sen frowned and her whole face scrunched as she gave the wizard the stinky eye.
"Really?" she inquired with a face full of doubt.
Harry shrugged and put his clothes while he ignored the one-eyed ghoul's inquisitive gaze. The latter huffed lightly and finally got out of the bathroom with heavy steps.
"Why aren't you with him?" she asked him just as Harry tied with short and methodical moves his necktie.
"Because I don't want to spook him," he told her while he walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge.
The wizard scrunched his nose and grimaced when he saw that there was nothing left. Like he had thought yesterday, Sen had ate everything and he was left with an empty stomach.
As always when Sen came back from wherever she had gone.
"Spook him," the young woman mused as he made coffee. She went to sit on her favorite spot in the whole flat, the kitchen counter, and began to swing her legs while she hummed some kind of lullaby pensively. "A scaredy cat?"
"Could be," Harry muttered with a shrug. "Or he could be a Neville."
"A Neville?" Sen's eyes lightened and she began to smile brightly at the wizard. "You never told me what happened to him!"
"Haven't you read the books?" the man retorted while he rolled his eyes. He poured the coffee in his favorite mug and then handed it to the ghoul.
Sen took it and immediately began to take little sips of the dark breuvage, her eyes darkening as she nibbled pensively on her lips.
"But Rowling didn't tell us what he really became after the battle of Hogwarts!" she whined as she nursed her drink.
Harry chuckled and poured what was left of coffee in a mug with faded pictures. It had been the first thing that Sen had bought when her first book had been published. They rarely used it because the mug had a really girly picture on it (some kind of Greeting Kitty or something along, Harry didn't really follow trends) and it had always been taken as joke by the two.
"Well," the wizard drawled with a smirk. "Lots of things happened after that day. I think that I could tell you some of them if…"
"If?" Sen raised an inquisitive eyebrow and put down her empty mug while she looked intensively at the man.
Harry merely grinned at her and folded his arms on his chest, his mug floating in front of him.
"You know the drill," he teased her while his green eyes glinted in mirth.
Sen sighed and tilted her head.
"Okay," she reluctantly admitted. "I'll tell Aogiri that he's off-limits."
Harry's grin widened and his mug twirled around his head before he swiftly caught it and downed it in one sitting.
"So, Neville," he began and his expression softened as he remembered his dear friend. "Did you know that he never fell in love with Luna? They were actually the best of friends and she was the ring holder at his marriage…"
Harry closed the door behind him and clicked his tongue lightly while he pocketed his keys and walked down the stairs. The chat with Sen had taken less time that he had planned and he was now earlier on his schedule. The wizard got out of the elegant complex and let his feet decide his way while he thought of the male one-eyed ghoul.
Kaneki hadn't called him.
Harry furrowed his brows and sighed heavily. He really hoped that the boy had kept his number because, if it wasn't the case, he would end going blind in the whole ghoul affair. And Harry knew better than everyone else how bad of an idea it was. The wizard patted his pocket absentmindedly and walked to the nearest subway.
He needed to go work and stop worrying about the young man.
After all, Harry had scented him and as every other Bearer, he never forgot a scent. (Sen's was like a spicy apple curry and it always made him hungry. She had also told him that his smell was almost nauseating with how strong he emitted it, not that Harry cared. It meant that he could use it to disturb ghouls during his hunts)
The wizard sighed and shook his head softly, now wasn't the moment to worry about the boy. He had given him his number and Harry was sure that Kaneki was smart enough to not lose it. So, until the one-eyed ghoul called him, the best he could do was to work as usual and hunt enough food for the two of them (and Sen if Tatara didn't have to time to do so).
Harry took the subway line to the Akihabara stop and he walked with a grim face until he came out of the subway station.
The light outside shook him away from his grim thoughts and the wizard slightly squinted his eyes before he raised a hand to shield them from the harsh sun. Harry glanced around him, noticing the dense crowd walking around him, the tourists with haggard looks and the maids trying to seduce every other walker to follow them into their dens (yes, Harry still didn't like maids. He probably would never like them).
The wizard kept walking, diligently avoiding any passerby because he knew better than anyone else how deft were the pickpockets' hands, and finally decided to stop at a little corner, just in-between a convenience store and a butler café. He took off his vest and carefully folded it before he set it on the floor. Then he put his upside down hat on it and gave a little grin to the boy dressed with a butler uniform who had been looking at him with a small frown.
The latter scowled at him and slightly shrugged before he began once again to give flyers to any pretty women who came close to him.
Harry smacked his lips loudly and decided to ignore the boy. Even it they had knew each other for years (without ever exchanging a word though), they had never really liked each other. Mostly because they kept stealing the other's customers.
The wizard took out his wand and skilfully twirled it between his fingers. He pondered over his next action and finally made his choice, his green eyes twinkling with amusement as he had seen the butler give him the stinky eye.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Harry shouted in English before he swiftly reverted to Japanese. "Welcome to the show of this century!"
Some passerby stopped right on their tracks and glanced at him with puzzled face. The wizard grinned at them and made a small move with his wand, making its tip spout two white doves that flew around the passerby before they exploded in confettis. (That small trick had been one of the first he had mastered in this twisted world without making anything around him explode as well).
"Do you believe in magic?" Harry asked while internally making a small huff. If the wizards back in his world knew what he was doing here… "No?" he tilted his head when he saw one of the passerby shake his head and gave the man a wide smile. "I guess that I'll have to make you believe it then…"
And just like that, Harry went back to his habitual work as a street magician.
The automatic doors opened with a small hiss and the man walked in with confident steps. He passed in front of the reception desk and slightly nodded in head at the receptionist before he stalked to the elevator. There were other people in the elevator, two nurses and a brown haired man with a dreary expression. The latter had a bouquet in his hands and was munching on his lips.
The white haired man got off at the sixth floor and walked to the appointed room while a frown made its way on his features. He stopped in front of the tenth bedroom and his frown increased when he saw from the small window on the door that a dark haired teen was laying on the bed.
So it had really happened.
The white haired man sighed and straightened his back before he walked to the floor where all the doctors had their offices. He entered one of them without even knocking at the door or announcing himself, and wasn't surprised when he saw the old doctor behind his desk.
The latter was writing something with a dreary face and his expression didn't change at all when he raised his eyes and saw the white haired man.
"Arima-san," the doctor sighed before he put his pen down and filed away the paper he had been writing.
Arima went to sit on one of the uncomfortable plastic chair in front of the doctor's desk and calmly crossed his legs before he put his cold eyes on the other man's dreary face.
"Doctor Kanou," the white haired man greeted back with his icy and collected voice.
The doctor sighed another time and folded his arms on his chest before he slightly cocked his head and pursed his lips.
"Why are you here?" Kanou asked him with a small frown. "It is something related to ghouls?"
Arima narrowed his eyes and decided to stop beating around the bush. The white haired man gave a wry smile to the doctor and raised a single brow.
"What do you think, doctor?" he retorted quietly. "Would I be here if it were related to them?"
Kanou pursed his lips and Arima continued smiling coldly at him.
"I see that you already understand," the latter stated before he quickly went straight to the point. "Why did you put the boy in that room?"
"This is a hospital," Kanou sneered while he made a small move with his hand that encompassed the whole room. "We're surcharged and we can't leave a whole room unoccupied when we have so many patients."
"Even when you know that the patient could be in danger in that room?" Arima asked with a brow elegantly raised.
"There isn't any danger in that room," the doctor retorted with a small huff. His eyes however shifted and glanced at his computer screen before they went back to the CCG agent. "That ghoul never went back to that room!"
"For now," the white haired man quietly stated as he stood up. "You should know better than anyone else that fertile ghouls always come back to places where they have been treated. That room is one of those places and if that ghoul ever were deadly injured, they would come back here. And if they were to see that boy, they would eat him. Am I wrong?"
"No," Kanou relented with another sigh. "However this never happened in those last seven years so I think that we can go back to using that room. As I've already stated, we need more rooms."
"Very well," Arima conceded with a small nod. "But you will keep the cameras working if that is the case."
"It would be a breach in the patient's privacy!" Kanou immediately retorted with a scowl. "I can't do that!"
"The you shouldn't put the patients in that room," the CCG agent stated before he left the room.
He went back to the room ten and glanced at its occupant, his eyes narrowing when he saw that the dark haired boy was huddled under his blankets and that his meal had been left untouched.
He'd have to keep an eye on the boy.
But for now, the cameras would do.
Arima pursed his lips and tightened his hold on his suitcase before he began to walk back to the elevators. He slightly narrowed his eyes when he remembered the fertile ghoul that had previously occupied the room ten in the hospital and small hiss passed through his parted lips.
Back then, he hadn't realized how dangerous that ghoul would become and had just told Kanou to keep an eye on the room and leave it as it was.
After all, the ghoul had been in estrus and he knew that fertile ghouls couldn't do much when they were in heat. So he had left it at that and went back to high school.
Who would have thought that the same ghoul in estrus would be the one who killed three CCG agents on the same setting without even trying to eat them. There had been no witnesses but Arima knew that it had been that ghoul, they had found streaks of their lubricant on the ground, next to the three corpses and he didn't have to be a genius to connect the dots.
That ghoul was stronger than he had thought and they had proved it by killing three innocent people. Arima wouldn't let them do it again and he had strengthened his resolve when that very same ghoul had attacked the CCG headquarters with the One-Eyed Ghoul.
As he walked back to his car, Arima scowled at his former ignorance and promised himself that it would never happen again.
No matter how weak the ghoul looked like, he wouldn't falter and would end its life right on the spot.
Arima glanced at his watch and pursed his lips. From what he could remember, that man's schedule should be about to begin.
If he was lucky, maybe he'd be able to see that man work.
When Harry decided that he had worked enough for today, he casted a Disillusionment Charm on himself and smiled when he saw all the children that had been watching him work shout in surprise and wonder at his seemingly sudden disparition. He began to collect the money that he had received during the whole day, whistling happily as he noticed that he had had enough to buy new clothes and pay the rent (being a street magician payed more than enough when you were a wizard). Once he had put the money in his wallet, he took his vest and put it over his shoulders.
The day was getting chillier by moments and he didn't want to end sick again. Last time had been horrible because he had been unable to control his Call and Tatara had been hovering his bed during his whole cold.
Without forgetting all the ghouls that had stalked him whenever he put a foot out of his flat.
Sen had laughed at him during his whole cold. Heartless woman.
He left his corner, passing in front of the grumpy butler boy (and pinching his cheek because the boy needed to stop frowning so much if he didn't want to end with premature wrinkles) before he decided to uncast his charm.
Harry walked around, whistling to himself as he pondered over his next actions. Now that he had finished working, he wasn't sure of his next action. Honestly, if Kaneki called it now, Harry would be more than happy to help him because he didn't even have friends to visit or talk to.
Sen was an exception and he couldn't really call her a friend when the only thing that tied them together was that they were almost the same and that they trusted the other to stop them when they went overboard. Also, she probably was busy writing her next book and he didn't want to disturb her.
Harry considered for a second going to Aogiri and annoy Tatara until the ghoul accepted to fight him. However, he was still a bit weary around the man since Kaneki had been turned into a ghoul. Tatara didn't approve of his decision to let the former human live and Harry didn't want to (mock) fight the ghoul when the latter was angry at him.
Tatara could be a really mean opponent when he was pissed off.
The wizard knew it better than anyone else after all. (He still had this talent to piss off everyone)
So he settled on wandering around, his eyes not really looking in front of him as he knew that there wasn't any danger around him.
After all, Akihabara was situated in between the first and sixth ward of Tokyo. Ghouls always avoided dwelling in those wards when there were so many Doves flocking around. Something that didn't really matter to Harry as he was stronger than any ghoul out there and that Doves couldn't really out him as a ghoul.
He smiled to himself and winked at a white haired man that had been following him since he had stopped his Disillusionment charm. While he had always made a point to apparate away when he crossed that man's way, Harry decided against it today.
Mostly because he had visited Kaneki the other day and he knew that the man had always observed that hospital room, hoping to catch him going back there. Too bad that the wizard's magic had always interfered with the cameras and receptors hidden in that room. (One of the insignificant benefits of talking with Kanou was that Harry knew that the CCG best agent was hunting him down)
"Agent Arima," Harry greeted with a bright smile.
"Harry," the Dove retorted coldly.
The wizard continued smiling, even if he was already palming his wand hidden in his vest pocket. While he had already casted a lot of Obliviatus on the agent Arima, one was never too prudent. Not when the other was a kind of super agent that always found him even when Harrt didn't want to.
Only Obliviatus and Notice-me-not worked on Arima and the wizard was beginning to get worried at the white haired's persistence.
Seriously, if he hadn't known that Arima was in fact a diligent worker, he would have thought that the man was like Tsukiyama, a mere stalker keen on eating him.
"You didn't use that trick today," the Dove added while his lips were slightly down-turned.
"What trick?" Harry inquired as he cocked his head.
Arima seemed to like watching him work, something that quite puzzled the wizard because he had seen that man at work. Arima was crazily collected and down to heart, it made it really difficult to Harry to believe that the white haired man would actually like to see a mere street magician's tricks during his lunch breaks.
The Dove narrowed his eyes almost imperceptibly and slightly huffed.
"You do know it," he calmly answered. "The one with the animals made of fire."
"Ah," Harry breathed out as he rubbed his neck. "That one has been prohibited because it could hurt the bystanders. "There are made of real fire, you know? I'd need a license if I wanted to add them to my show."
Also, Harry couldn't use them anymore. Not when he used them so frequently during his hunts and some of the Doves had seen them. It'd be foolish of him to use Fiendfyre now. Also, he had used it only once during his little tricks on the streets of Akihabara and it seemed to have caught Arima's eyes, something that Harry sure as hell didn't want to.
Without forgetting the fact that controlling a Fiendfyre was harder than in his world and that the curse wasn't that easy to begin with.
So, yeah. No more Fiendfyre in front of innocent Muggles.
Ghouls were different though.
An unusual sound shook him away from his amusing memories and Harry shrugged before he fished out of his pocket his phone. His cellphone was vibrating quietly and the wizard was almost amazed by the fact that it hadn't broke with all the magic that he had previously used during his street show.
Harry took his phone to his ear and excused himself to Arima with a small headbow. The latter did the same and they parted ways without a word. Only then did Harry actually answer the call.
"Yes?" he just had the time to say that tiny word before the overexcited voice of Sen interrupted him.
"Harry!" the writer shrieked and the wizard winced at that unwanted sound. (Sen could shriek like no one else, that's all he had to say) "Someone with a really nice voice called for you!"
Harry furrowed his brows and looked around him. There were a lot of Muggles walking around him and from what he could remember, now was the moment where all the salarymen clocked off and went to roam the streets.( Well, that also explained why Arima had talked to him. Generally, the Dove didn't have the time to look for him.)
In short, there were too many people to apparate to his flat.
Harry sighed in aggravation and decided to go home the muggle way. He followed the crowd to the nearest subway station and pursed his lips when he remembered that he still had Sen on the phone.
"Really?" he muttered while he avoided bumping into someone else (a weary looking salarywoman). "Did they say something else?"
"Well," Sen hummed (Harry winced at that sound. A happy Sen was a dangerous Sen, he could remember how she had been singing when they had stormed the CCG headquarters), "They said something about Binge Eater, food and you being their only help…"
"Was it a boy?" Harry insisted and he almost glared at a man who had tried to push him into the subway car so he could also got in it.
"Could be," the one-eyed ghoul answered happily.
Harry groaned and wished that the subway could go faster. If he was right, it would mean that Kaneki had tried to contact him. And if it was the case, it would also mean that the boy was in danger.
Could it be Doves? Or was it ghouls?
The boy's scent had always been oscillating between his heat scent and his normal scent, it would be a mesmerizing smell for any other ghoul.
"What else did he say?" Harry asked while he tightened his hold on his phone.
He vaguely saw a teenager in the car looking at him with a suspicious face but the wizard ignored him. Now wasn't the moment to worry about his Call or being outed as a ghoul. Not when the one he had decided to protect could be in danger.
"Nothing much," Sen admitted while she probably shrugged (Harry could perfectly picture her on her spot on the kitchen counter, twirling a pen absentmindedly while she chatted with him). "But he seemed kind of off. Was it the newly made ghoul?"
"Maybe," the wizard relented with a small sigh. "I'm going to apparate."
"Understood," the writer immediately answered him while her clothes ruffled. She had jumped from her spot and was now walking in the flat. "I'll ready your new phone. Send all your contacts to the habitual number before you apparate though."
Harry ended the call right there and followed Sen's advice. Then, just as he was turning his phone off, he glanced around him and scowled inwardly when he noticed that the teenager was still looking at him.
Well, nothing that a little Notice-me-not (he was getting terrifyingly good at them) couldn't help with.
And, once the teenager stopped looking at him, Harry apparated back in the hospital room.
Honestly speaking, the wizard wasn't that surprised when the first thing that greeted him when he apparated in that room was the shrilly sound of all the machinery going awry (cameras and hidden mics included).
He swiftly took his wand out and casted a spell on the door so it would impede any curious nurse to get in the room. Only then did he look at the boy hiding under his blankets.
From what the wizard could see, Kaneki was shivering under the heavy blankets. Harry took a careful sniff and immediately scowled when he smelled, under all the heavy medicamental scents, the familiar estrus scent. It was still there, almost aggressing Harry with his sugary smell.
"Kaneki?" Harry tentatively said as he stayed rooted on his spot.
The bundle under the blankets stopped shivering and Harry had to hide an amused smile when he saw the boy's head peek out of the fort of blankets to look at him.
"Harry," Kaneki breathed out.
The wizard frowned. He didn't like at all the boy's voice. It was too breathy. And deep.
'Merlin, please, no,' Harry thought as he noticed the Japanese's dazzled eyes and red cheeks. 'Please, everything but that...'
But, just as he thought (or rather prayed) that, Kaneki quickly proved him wrong.
"Harry," the boy repeated in a hushed voice.
The wizard froze when he recognized the feeling underlying in the boy's voice.
'Merlin,' he internally moaned as he took small steps towards the bed. 'It really is happening...'
"Yes?" he said instead of panicking out loud in front of the injured boy. "I am here, Kaneki."
"You said," the latter uttered while he slightly shifted under his heavy blankets. "You said that you would help me."
"I did and I will," Harry promised without missing a beat. He was after all pretty keen on helping the boy.
Kaneki bit his lips and a soft whine came out of his throat. The wizard furrowed his brows and patiently waited for the boy to resume talking. The estrus smell was now decreasing and Harry was surprised to notice that Kaneki's natural smell was quite masculine yet sweet. Maybe it was because of the residual estrus. Or maybe because the boy had been transplanted some of the Binge Eater's organs.
Harry didn't really care. What really mattered was that Kaneki would end up being courted by a lot of ghouls and that the wizard didn't want that.
He still had to find out a proctor for the kid and he sure as hell wouldn't ask Uta's help. (That ghoul was the worst kind of proctor, he never actually provided him with something but at least he didn't ask for sexual favors so Harry had never tried to find another proctor)
He could always ask Sen if she wanted to be the boy's proctor. They both were one-eyed ghouls. But then, Kaneki would always be endangered because Sen liked to toy with everyone surrounding her on a constant basis.
So, yeah. Sen wasn't really the best option for Kaneki.
Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes while he continued searching for an apt ghoul for Kaneki until he heard the latter clear his throat nervously.
"Yes?" the wizard inquired as he blinked to focus on the bedridden boy.
"Am I really a ghoul?" Kaneki whispered with a broken voice.
Harry grimaced and began to rub his neck once again. Merlin, he could finally understand Sen's conflicted expression when she had had to explain him that he was indeed a ghoul and a Bearer to boot. There was just no way to sugarcoat his answer.
"Yes," he chose to repeat in lieu of giving boy a lengthy explanation of his sudden species change and all the consequences that followed such a drastic change.
Kaneki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Harry observed him with keen eyes, noticing how he had huddled further under the blankets and how hollow his cheeks were. Tatara's hunt hadn't been enough for the boy.
'That's normal,' Harry scolded himself with a silent huff. 'He's still healing from all those injuries... I should have brought more meat.'
"What will happen to me?" Kaneki asked him while his dark eyes opened and looked at him.
The wizard seriously thought of his answer. The boy smelled like a Bearer and he needed to be taught everything about ghoul's ways before he could be unwilling taken by a proctor. (Harry really needed to find him one)
Also, there was the problem of feeding him. From what Harry could see of the boy, the latter wasn't coping as well as he had did himself with the "humans are food now" thing. Well, Harry had never really eaten a human (he always vomited them so... Not really ate them) so he couldn't really help him with that. Unless he made Kaneki a kakuja... But Sen had told him that ghoul tasted way worse than humans. The wizard wondered how would the former human react if he had to ate ghoul's.
Would Kaneki even be able to fight ghouls? Or protect himself from any unwanted suitor?
Harry groaned and rubbed his forehead, he felt as if his scar was tingling. Then, once the impending headache did back away, he raked his hand through his unruly hair and heavily sighed.
Kaneki's eyes had never left his forehead since the wizard had exposed it by pushing back his fringe.
"To be honest with you," Harry finally sighed and he made a small move with hand to make a chair jump from the corner of the room until it ended right behind him. He sat on it and ignored the boy's wide and surprised eyes. "There are so many things that I need to teach you. Mostly about fighting and defending yourself. Then, there is the food problem."
Kaneki winced under his blankets and the wizard gave him a weary smile.
"I know," the green eyed man admitted with a sigh. "It won't be a happy ride and you'll probably end hating yourself. But if you want to keep living, following my advice would be the best way to do so."
Kaneki gave a shuddery sigh and weakly nodded.
"I know," he answered with a frail voice. "But I don't want to eat humans. Not my friends..."
Harry frowned.
What kind of impossible tales had the Doves fed to the civilians? Like hell would the ghouls eat their friends! Only weirdos like Jason or Sen would do something like that. And those two didn't even make friends. (Harry was more of a pet project that Sen had ended liking more than she had thought at the beginning)
But he was rambling here. The point was that ghouls wouldn't eat their friends. However, eating humans that they had fooled into a false friendship was fair game. (See? That was why Harry had trust issues with them...)
Truth to be told, Kaneki wouldn't have to worry about eating his friends. Not unless he refused to eat until he was famished and went feral in his friends' vicinity. But Harry wouldn't let that happen. Not when he hadn't sworn to protect the poor guy.
"It won't necessarily happen, you know?" Harry retorted with a calm voice.
Kaneki's head got out of the blanket fort and the boy looked at the wizard with big and hopeful eyes.
"Really?"
A word. A word was more than enough to strengthen Harry's resolve to never let anything happen to the former human and a small rumble came out of his throat. It was so soft that the wizard didn't even realize it.
However, Kaneki did and his eyes widened while his nostrils faintly quivered. A small keen came through his parted lips and it startled Harry enough to realize what had been happening.
"Shit," he muttered before he checked if Kaneki hadn't been too badly affected by his brief relapse. "Are you alright, Kaneki?"
The boy shuddered under his blanket and gave him a noncommittal answer. The wizard cursed another time and raked his hand through his hair.
"Merlin, I'm so sorry about that," he sincerely apologized.
Kaneki winced and slowly slithered a hand out of his blanket to rub his chin with the back of it.
"It's nothing," the boy quietly told him.
The bedridden ghoul glanced at the white blanket and clenched his fingers on it, ruffling the sheets while he nervously bit on his lips.
"What did just happen?" he ended asking Harry after hesitating during five long minutes (the wizard was about to get back on reassuring Kaneki that he wouldn't eat his friends). "Was that one of the ghouls' powers? Like their claws? And why did you apologize? Is that not approved by ghouls? Do they even have customs?"
Under the flow of questions, Harry could only blink and wait for it to stop. When Kaneki finally stopped to take a breath, that wizard quickly made his move and swiftly put his palm over the boy's mouth.
"Baby steps, Kaneki," Harry breathed with a smile.
He was relieved to see that the boy wasn't negating everything or hating him for being a ghoul. It would make things way easier for him if the boy continued keeping a level head during his future lessons.
Kaneki blinked, his eyes faintly squinting as he tried to see Harry's hand over his mouth before he glanced at the wizard's face. His cheeks took the faintest shade of pink before the boy hesitantly nodded and stayed quiet.
"Good," Harry hummed happily and acquiesced before he went over the things he had to explain right away to the boy in his head. "First thing, first," he announced while he raised a finger in front of Kaneki's gobsmacked face. "What happened earlier is called (rather stupidly) the Call. Every ghoul, no matter their strength or age, can use it and it's pull depends on the ghoul."
Kaneki furrowed his brows and his eyes darkened while he seemingly went over the facts Harry had just told him.
"So that means that I'm also calling you?" he asked with wide eyes.
Harry nodded.
"You do," he reveled with a small grin (Kaneki was catching way faster than he had, the wizard supposed that it was because he wasn't drowning in his own blood), "But every Call varies from the ghoul who emits it. Mine is particularly strong because I'm a Bearer."
"Bearer?" Kaneki repeated with a puzzled face.
Harry winced at that. He really didn't want to explain what were bearers and proctors when the boy couldn't even fend for himself. For now, the wizard would just hide those facts from the boy and help him get back on his feet.
Also, he really needed to find him a good proctor.
Maybe Tatara. The man didn't want anything to do with bearers (weaklings as he liked to call them) and his fame as a scarily good fighter would protect Kaneki from harm's way.
Yes, this was the best catch that Harry could think of. Now, if only Tatara accepted to be the boy's proctor. (Harry would surely have to have a nice little chat with Sen and tell her more about his world...)
The wizard sighed.
The were just so many things he needed to do before he could even begin teaching Kaneki everything about his new life.
But instead of telling it to the boy, Harry soldiered on and continued smiling at him.
"Nothing really important right now," he said with an even voice. Years lying to Arima's face had helped him mastering the perfect poker face. "What really matters is your hunger."
Kaneki scrunched his face and Harry chuckled at his disgusted expression.
"I know," the wizard nodded while his eyes briefly twinkled with fun. "It's the worst thing to think of but everything is rooted in that hunger. If you're too hungry, you won't be able to reign on your instinct and you could maim one of your friends. Without forgetting that it's your hunger that influences your Call. Also, if you're too hungry, you won't be able to properly fight."
"Fight?" the boy repeated with what could have been a horrified expression.
Not that Harry really cared.
In that aspect, Sen had been luckier than him, Kaneki had been a civilian during his whole life while he had been thrown right in the middle of a crisis in his childhood. Violence and blood didn't faze him that much to begin with (he had been the one to gut the fishes and poultries for the Dursley's dinners since his fifth birthday after all) so having to kill cannibals had disturbed him for only a whole year before he adapted and began to hunt regularly. (His kills were actually cleaner than Tatara's, causing the latter's ire not that Harry cared about it though)
"Yes," Harry answered while his smile widened into a feral grin. "Fighting is an important part in a ghoul's life."
He glanced at his wristwatch, noticing that it had stopped working since he had apparated and sighed before he looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was more than time to leave, nurses were supposed to check regularly on their patients, right?
The wizard stood up and quickly dusted his clothes, making the chair jump back to its former place while he continued patting his clothes.
"Well," the green eyed man cheerily added. "It's more than time for me to leave. When are you supposed to be discharged?"
"Uh?" Kaneki blinked in surprise and nervously scratched his left cheek. "I think that I'm going to be discharged next week…"
"Good," Harry nodded and straightened his back. He raked his hand through his hair and gave a small huff. If it was a week, the boy wouldn't be too hungry and wouldn't end feral. That also meant that the wizard could refrain from visiting him and could actually prepare everything for Kaneki's training and future proctor. "Call me back when you're discharged and I'll come for you."
And with another nod, the wizard began to walk away. He was about to open the door (in fact, to remove the spell sealing it and apparating to his flat) when Kaneki's voice stopped right on his tracks.
"I don't have your number!" the boy had shouted and as it was the first that he had raised his voice in Harry's presence, the wizard froze.
"What?" Harry couldn't understand Kaneki's words. "But didn't you call me? Didn't I leave you my number?"
"You did," Kaneki admitted while he looked down with a sheepish face. "But I… I lost the paper." the boy nervously rubbed his chin with his hand and Harry narrowed his eyes.
He didn't believe the boy to be inattentive. In fact, he believed him to be the exact opposite of that.
"Is that so?" the wizard whispered as he walked towards the bed and took out of his vest a pen.
In fact, it had been a coin but Kaneki didn't need to know that Harry was getting better at wandless transfiguration. No one needed to, it was kind of his secret ace.
Also, just picturing the Doves' gobsmacked faces whenever he transfigured their quinques into flowers was priceless. Really.
Harry scribbled his number on Kaneki's hand (the boy blushing as he did so) and began to gnaw on his lips as he thought of something that had just crossed his mind.
If Kaneki hadn't been the one who had called him… who had been the man whose message Sen had relayed him?
Because anons deserve answers, here they are:
yaas: you evil person, how can you wish Kaneki's suffering! (who am I kidding...)
iie: No, Harry won't realize until it's too late. That's how he has always been and well... If it hasn't killed him, I guess that it works for him.
Guest: On a whim it is.
Pyrokitty: Something clearly went wrong and Kaeru are on hold (mostly because I just can't deal with the last scans. Once I digest that bullshit, I'll go back to those stories). Seducing Fleas is still being rewritten (and it takes me time because I'm like that) so, yeah, Screw that Skrewt is the easiest to write right now.
carbon: Well, Harry's looks will be (finally!) described in Kaneki's next PoV. Until then, you'll have to wait. Harry doesn't have a mask (because he had a fight with Uta once) and he does have a code name. It will be revealed in the next chapter along with his tied to Amon.
xRileyx: Well, Harry is like twenty years older than Kaneki. So he is kinda old for him. (But as Uta once said, Kaneki's the kind of boy who would attract older people.)
Guest: So you noticed. He does have a connection with Amon and it will be revealed (if I don't write to much unnecessary babble) in the next chapter.
Dyz: Don't hype it too much or you'll be disappointed.
AllenWalkerGirl: It's kind of going to end like a crush though. Harry did save his life from madness but who knows how it's going to end.
And now, I have some news for you. First, it seems like the majority preferred this story to be updated on a whim. That's good because it means that I'll update once I finish a chapter (it takes me a week more or less to write it so...). So fast chapters until my inspiration decides to bids me goodbye. Let's pray that it doesn't happen.
Second, I'm going to write ficclets about Harry's (mis)adventures during the ellipse. For now, I've already written his first meeting with Tatara, and I'm planning on writing how Tsukiyama ended calling him Esmeralda. Without forgetting the day Sen and Harry decided to storm the CCG headquarters. So, yeah, mini-stories that you can read on tumblr (too lazy to make another story just for those drabbles) under the tag "fic: StS" or "fic: StS drabbles". And that's all for the second point.
And last but not least, I don't ship Harry with anyone in Tokyo Ghoul. So you can pretty much ship him with everyone and I'll always consider. (Final pairing is still left open)
