Amon made his way to the front door of the house, raising his hand to knock. He paused at the vibration in his pocket, pulling out his phone.
There's a key in the electric box on the left of the door. When you get inside, you'll have to go through the living room and down a short hallway. He's resting and I don't want to take the chance of waking him, it's been tough. We're in the bedroom, the door's open a little. Try to keep it down.
Amon followed the instructions, turning to his left and finding the box. He wasted no time in unlocking the door and letting himself inside. He cautiously moved through the eerily silent house. He wasn't sure what to expect. To keep the peace, he decided against bringing his quinque. Finally, he spotted the slightly open door.
"Nagachika?" He called.
"We're in here. You can open it."Hide called back almost immediately. Amon entered the dimly lit room slowly. Hide sat at the sleeping ghoul's bedside, stroking his hair and hold his hand. The ghoul was unnaturally pale, frail.
"Hey, Amon." Hide greeted in a somber tone, not taking his attention from his friend. Hide seemed exhausted, tears visible in his eyes. The younger man was quick to wipe them away. "What did you find?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but we think someone may have messed with the security cameras and edited the footage. Right now, I can't give you anything else. Akira has a friend that works in the facility and she's going to go back and talk with him. When you said it was bad, I didn't expect- If you come with me, I have a medical team standing by to try to figure this out." Amon offered. Hide met his gaze.
"If that's true, this happened in your facility, under your watch. You promised me he was safe there. As unintentional on your part as it was, how can I trust you now? What assurance can you give me that he'll be safe this time if you don't even know exactly how this happened?"
"You're just going to have to trust me. Despite what you might think, not everyone that works for the CCG is entirely against ghouls. Most of the research and development teams are in favor of-"
"Research and development? Is that what this is, you want me to hand him over to you guys so you can make him an experiment?"
"That's not what I meant. I'm not here to hurt Eyepatch. I might know some people who would be willing to help you. I can take you to our medical building and they can run some tests. He'll stay in the infirmary and you'll be right there with him. I assume you'd be staying. When I released him to you, you signed papers taking full responsibility for him. That gives you the ability to say what tests and treatment they can do for him if he can't make that decision on his own. You two have control over this." Amon explained. Kaneki shifted uncomfortably in his sleep, prompting the investigator to take a step back.
"He's not going to hurt you." Hide said. "Kaneki's not like that. I thought you'd know that by now. Even if he wanted to, I doubt he could right now, he can't do much. I guess it's kind of my fault, I gave him something the other day and it's still in his system. He's been out of it ever since." Hide sighed."So this medical team, do you trust them?"
"I would trust them with Akira's life without hesitation. Which as you may have noticed, I value above my own. Eri is the head doctor and she chooses her team carefully. She's an advocate for ghoul rights and she's good at what she does." Hide shook his head.
"Aside from possibly losing the one person that means the world to me, what scares me about this is, I don't really have a choice. I don't know what else to do for him. At this point, I'd try almost anything. Can you watch over him for a minute? I want to grab the meds I gave him."
"We'll be fine," Amon said, watching Hide stand and make his way into the hall. Amon approached the bed, lightly placing a hand to the ghoul's head.
"That's a hell of a fever." He commented softly. He noticed a bowl of cool water and some cloths on the nightstand. Taking hold of one of the cloths, he soaked it in the bowl, squeezing out the excess water, and carefully put it on Kaneki's head. Slowly, Kaneki looked up at the man. His gray eyes showed signs of his sickness and fatigue.
"Hide will be back soon," Amon explained. "He had to step out for a minute. "I'm sorry to see it's gotten this bad. He told me you were sick, but I didn't realize you were like this."
"If it worries Hide enough that he mentions it, it's probably not good." Kaneki said weakly.
he said you had a lot of pain, do you feel any right now?"
"No. Hide gave me something and it's been helping. It makes me tired. I guess you're taking me back to-"
"No." Hide interrupted, returning to the bedside, placing the bottle in his pocket. "We're taking you to see someone who might be able to help you. I know you really don't feel good, but I need you to do this. I can't give you any more of that medicine. Amon wants to take us to-"
"No," Kaneki replied. "can't he just take me back to the other place? It'd be better if-"
"Better for who? You can't actually think that. What about the people that love you? Hinami and Touka, what about me, Kaneki? you promised to stay here with me, I need you to do this." Hide countered.
"Loving someone doesn't make them good for you. I don't want to hurt you anymore."
"I told you, you didn't hurt me. I've loved you practically my whole life. I was with you through almost everything, yeah I should've done more. Even if you did, I'd still be here because you're precious to me and there isn't a damn thing you could say or do to change that. I'd die for you in a heartbeat."
"You almost did. You've always done everything for me. It's more than I deserve. I dragged you into this, let me go. Haven't you ever thought about the kind of life you'd have if I wasn't here to-" Hide gently forced the ghoul to meet his gaze.
"Never." He said sincerely. "Not one time in all these years have I ever thought anything would be better without you. You are the best thing that's ever happened to me and you have never been a burden to me, you never will be. How often do I ask you for anything?"
"You don't, "Kaneki answered, tearing up at Hide's words.
"I'm asking now. I'd die for you, but I need you to live for me. I can't live if you don't. I know I keep saying just one more thing, I know you're tired in more ways than one. Please just give me this." Not having the strength to argue and with his love's heartbreaking pleas weighing on his heart, Kaneki relented.
"Thank you." Hide lightly kissed Kaneki's hand. "I promise you when this is over, we're going to build something amazing together and You'll never have to worry about anything. You just have to hang in there a little longer."
"I don't think I can get to-"Kaneki began.
"I'll get you there. Don't worry about that. I just need to grab one more thing." Hide hurried to the dresser, pulling open the top drawer and rummaging through the contents before removing a cd and shoved it in his pocket.
"You want me to help you with him?" Amon offered. Hide shook his head.
"I got Kaneki. But if you can get the front door, that'd be great. " Hide returned to the bed. "Kaneki, I'm going to move you now, okay?" The blond slipped a hand behind the ghoul's neck and the other behind his knees.
"D-don't pick me up." Kaneki protested, lightly pressing a hand to Hide's chest.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"'m heavy."Hide couldn't stop himself from chuckling.
"You are not. Where do you get these ideas? just rest." He lifted Kaneki into his arms, allowing him to rest his head against his chest. Hide nuzzled him lovingly.
"Tired," Kaneki muttered.
"I know. Sleep if you need to, I've got you." the white-haired ghoul needed no further encouragement.
Once in Amon's car, Hide kept a watchful eye on Kaneki, holding him close.
"So this medical team, what are they like?"Hide asked.
"Eri runs team A, as I said. She's a tough woman but she's got a good heart. She's one of the best doctors in the field as far as I'm concerned. To her, ghouls aren't the monsters most of the world thinks they are. She chose her team based on those beliefs. I think you two would get along fairly well. Midori is second in command. They both have a passion for helping people. I don't know much about River, Rayne, or Minako. They're new hires. He'll be in good hands." Amon turned into the parking lot, stopping in front of the building. They were met by the medical team.
The dark-haired woman who appeared to be barely older than Hide stepped forward, giving the others instructions. Once Kaneki was out of the car and placed on the stretcher, the team sprang to work.
"I knew you were bringing me an S rated ghoul, I didn't realize it was him." The woman placed her stethoscope on Kaneki's chest as they made their way inside.
"That gonna be a problem?" Amon asked.
"Nope. I just find his case intriguing. I'm going to assume his name isn't Eyepatch or Centipede... Heart rate's unstable." Hide's heart sank.
"Kaneki." The blond answered.
"Kaneki, can you open your eyes?"She called. The ghoul lay still. "Midori, I need you to run ahead and get the monitors ready. Rayne, you're on respiratory. I want vitals and labs, now." She turned back to Hide and Amon.
"Can either one of you tell me what's going on?" Hide pulled the bottle of pills from his pocket.
"He's been pretty sick for a while. I don't know exactly how long."
"At least a couple of months," Amon added, earning a glare from both the doctor and Hide.
"Why didn't you call me then, Amon?"The woman crossed her arms over her chest. "This didn't progress to this stage overnight. If that had been you-"
"I didn't realize he was like that. If I knew what was going on-"
"You're right." Hide said. "I do like her. I'm guessing she's Eri?" The woman nodded.
"That's right. Are you a friend of Kaneki's?"
"Yeah. I've been with him for the last few days. He's had fevers, he's weak, constantly in pain, and tired. He's been vomiting a lot of blood too. I gave him one of these the other day." He handed the bottle to Eri.
"He just couldn't take the pain. I think it's still in his system."
"That was a good call. This particular medication will stay in a ghoul's system longer, human substances have different effects on their bodies. Unfortunately for Kaneki, to examine him properly, We'll have to flush it out of his system. I need him to be able to describe the symptoms. I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"Hide." The blond replied.
"Well, I know this is difficult and I promise we'll do everything we can for Kaneki. Once we get the IV started and he's more alert, I'm going to need you to help keep him calm. It can be stressful for the patient to have everyone rushing around them. I'll come and get you when we need you. Until then, please be patient, this may take a while." She lightly touched Hide's shoulder before disappearing into the room.
"Come on, Kaneki." Hide said, peering into the large window.
"Calm down, he's in-"Hide turned to Amon.
"Never in the history of the phrase 'calm down' has telling someone who's upset to calm down actually worked. You do understand that, don't you?"Hide retorted.
"I'm just saying you'll need to be calm for him when you go in there." The older man pointed out.
"I know what he needs. I've been getting him through stuff since we were kids. I know what I have to do and I'll do it. Like I always do. I just have to hope it's enough this time. I don't know what I'm going to do if I lose him."
"Hide?" Midori called through the now open door. Hide turned to her instantly.
"We've got the Iv going. Eri thinks it would be best if you came in to sit with him while the medication is wearing off. We're going to get some imaging tests shortly and it may be uncomfortable for him." Hide nodded.
"I'll wait out here in case you need anything." Amon offered. Hide nodded and followed the doctor inside, not sure what to expect.