There was a loud, echoing boom in the darkness that enveloped Kaneki. It seemed close yet far and was almost deafening. Kaneki pondered what this could be, this loud boom. An explosion? A cannon? A gun? there were many options as to the identity of the sound, but Kaneki couldn't quite place it.

Next he felt the roaming of soft hands around his head, lifting it momentarily and then setting it back down. Kaneki noticed something about these hands, and what he noticed was that... they smelt absolutely delicious. Kaneki felt disturbed at this revelation. It wasn't the smell of a nice soap, nor a body wash, but rather food, almost like the american style burgers his mother used to make before she passed, and as far as the college student knew, there was no such thing as a "burger fragrance..."

Kaneki opened his unnaturally heavy eyelids, to see the slender form of a nurse bending over him, adjusting the monitor, which a wire connected into the bottom of, which trailed down, and then curved, and led onto a bed, and to the tip of his pointer finger. Kaneki took a few moments to process the scenery. At first he felt like he was looking though someone else's eyes or he was dreaming, but the memories of that night came flooding back to him. The gnashing of Rize's teeth, the four, almost aquatic tentacles that erupted from her lower back, and that pleased grin when she impaled him. Then he knew this was no dream.

Taguchi hovered above the sleeping boy... adjusting the vital monitor, because it had seemed to be acting up, according to it the patient was waking up, but there was no physical sign of any stirring. He'd been unconscious for an entire week now, and nothing had changed... Though he was in much better condition than when he was fond. It would be a shame, she thought, if Dr. Kanou's hard work is all for nothing...

The nurse sighed as she began to straighten her back to stand up, She also felt incredibly bad for the boy. He was practically stew when he had been found underneath those steel beams that had flattened him and the... girl. Suddenly, very quickly and surprisingly strongly a hand grabbed for the collar of her nurses uniform, causing her to squeak as he pulled her closer to his face. The expression upon his face was one of shock, terror, or maybe just confusion... probably all three. His mouth was covered by an oxygen mask and was fogging up quickly due to his heavy breathing. Out of all the things he could have said... all he said, or asked rather was "Where is miss Rize?"

Kaneki now sat in front of Dr. Kanou, the very same doctor whom had saved his life at the cost of Rize's own. Miss Rize..., the ghoul entered his mind once more... That night felt like a dream to him... It seemed his body had healed completely(Save for a scar on his torso) and he never had been mauled by a ghoul, nor crushed underneath steel beams. To be honest the whole thing was Rize's fault, she attacked him and he had every right to be mad at her. However, for some reason he wasn't... He wasn't because there was another possible way to look at all this. Rize was simply doing what nature had demanded her species due to gain nutrients and live on, truth be ghouls and humans are both simply animals. Humans, who kills ghouls in order to maintain their continued existence, and vice versa, so does either species truly bare any blame for taking the life of the other?

"Mr... Kaneki?" A voice shook him in from his thoughts, causing him too turn his attention to the gray haired man in front of him. The man, his doctor, was somehow old looking and young looking, he seemed somewhat ageless. He had the amount of hair a man in his 40's would have(provided he took care of himself) but the wrinkles of a man in his early 60's, His eye's held a young fire, but an old kindness, it was all... Unsettling. "Are you there?" He asked, concern in his voice.

"Sorry..." Kaneki apologized quickly and bowed slightly. "I'm... 'here', I just... it's all so unreal..."

"That's to be expected," Kanou reassured, "You were in a very traumatic accident, but yet here you are, your mind is having trouble comprehending it." He paused, letting Kaneki absorb the information before speaking again. "I wish I could begin this with something less... cliche, but how are you feeling now that you've come back to the land of the living?" He asked, smile on his face at his attempt at a joke.

Accident, what accident? Kaneki wondered, all he remembered was being attacked by Rize, and then nothing... No, that wasn't quite true... he remembered hearing snapping and then a heavy crash unto the earth... Still not quite knowing the details, he decided to answer the mans question, while not being to particular about his answers.

"Strange, not bad, but... I feel like a ghost, but at the same time i feel like I've been given a new life..." which was all true, he did feel different.

"Wow, you're quite the poet." Kanou commented, smirking.

"Well, I do read quite a bit... but, Doctor, I have a question..." He changed the subject quickly, turning more serious. "The woman I was with, what happened to her?"

He saw the frown form on the doctrine's pale lips and knew: Rize was in a less fortunate state than he was. Which came as a shock to the college student. Rize was a ghoul and she'd been killed or was in critical condition, yet he survived? It didn't quite make sense to him, ghouls(to his knowledge), are stronger than humans, and can endure far more punishment, so, if that was the case, then how is it that Rize was the less fortunate one? It didn't make sense, but to be quite honest right now, the entire world didn't make sense.

"I assume you're wondering how you survived..." The doctor spoke up, as if on cue twiddling his wrinkled thumbs. "You see... the young woman that was accompanying you... took the blunt of the impact... she was killed the moment the steel beams collided with her..."

A beam accident, that was it? he wondered as he vaguely recalled being near, or in, a construction sight. I see... the vibrations from Rize smashing me around must've caused the beams suspenders to give way... He smiled a little, not because of her fate, but rather the irony of it all... If she'd been a little more careful during her smashing him about, then maybe he'd be dead and she'd be alive. Nevertheless he was grateful things turned out the way they did.

"But, her death was your salvation." Kanou explained. "You see, by some off chance, when the steel beams fell on top of you crushed the exact same vital organs!" he continued a bit of escalation in his normally calm voice, which he now began to deescalate to it's natural volume and tone. "So, we placed the most vital ones necessary, from her corpse into you, whilst removing some of your less needed organs, that were destroyed." He paused. "You, Ken Kaneki, are a miracle."

To be honest, Ken didn't even hear that last part, actually everything after the words 'we placed the most vital ones necessary, from her corpse into you' was muffled by a loud ringing. Miss Rize's organs? Kaneki thought in disgust, as he placed a trembling hand to his stomach... It was not so much that he had the organs of a ghoul, nor the organs of a woman, but rather the organs of a dead person inside him. Then, his stomach began to growl lowly.

"Oh my, are you hungry?" Kanou asked, concerned, "We haven't fed you yet, have we?" Ken remained silent, staring at him blankly as Kanou snapped his wrinlked fingers and called for the nurse he'd, not 30 minutes ago, startled so horribly. As if she'd been standing only two feet away, and not across the hall as she was, A cute nurse with brown hair tied in a pony tail and big, brown eyes, poked her head into the area from behind the curtain at an odd angle.

"Yes, Dr. Kanou?"

"Bring some food up for our young guest... he must be starving..." the doctor said, rather cryptically to the nurse, who visibly paled before nodding and rushing out of the room.

The old/young doctor turned back to Kaneki and pulled up a brown clipboard that held a single sheet of paper. "Now, Mr. Kaneki..." he paused, "I realize you must be eager to get out of here and back to your life, right?"

To be honest Kaneki was still hardly paying attention to the doctor, instead his head was slightly hung, and eyes in a hazy appearance. He was still trying to process the fact that his organs had been replaced, though in the time between his discovery and the nurse entering his room and leaving, Kaneki had started to somewhat come to terms with it. However, he did hear that much( faintly as it sounded in his ears). "Oh, y-yes..." He said lowly, but loud enough for the words to be intelligible. Instead of falling back into his zombie-like state, Kaneki focused on staying alert.

Kanou frowned, before sighing. "Well..." He said, clasping his hands together, "I'd like to, but I've decided it would probably be best if you were to remain in the hospital, for at least a week." He paused, letting Kaneki absorb this new information. "You just woke up after all, I'd just like to see how well you fare and, should you retain an average health, ill release you..."

Kaneki agreed, this was for the best, but honestly, even if he didn't agree he wouldn't have argued. His mother constantly told him 'It's better to be the one getting hurt than to to be the one hurting others' and because of that Kaneki developed a submissive personality, and many people took advantage of that, but nonetheless he never changed... always doing what others had told him.

"Yes, I agree..."

And so a week did pass, rather uneventfully really. No, actually that was a lie something had changed, something about they way he reacts to food. At first he thought it was just the hospital food(Stereotypes and all that) but according to the hospitals rating, or at least patient reviews, the food was actually very delicious. Kaneki had told his concerns to doctor Kanou who simply said: "It's more than likely a side effect of the traumatic event you'd experienced, don't worry after a while you should be back to normal. So, Kaneki had no choice but to trust the doctor, after all there's a reason he was a doctor right? But, yes, it was a rather boring week considering what he'd undergone recently.

Now, Kaneki once again sat where it all started, in that same seat where he and hide sat, the same seat where he met his idol author: Takatsuki Sen. In short, life was normal once again. Though his body still couldn't stomach food without vomiting, he found some solace in coffee of all things. Kaneki, despite frequenting the coffee shop known as 'Anteiku', never really liked, nor disliked, the brown beverage. Now, though it was like the giver of life. But, he shouldn't be at Anteiku right now, he should be at Kamii(his university), studying and passing classes. However another thing he felt he couldn't stomach at the moment was all that... Kaneki had never been entirely tired out from his time in college, actually he was practically a prodigal student, but for some strange reason the mere thought of attending college made his stomach churn.

To distract himself from the thought before it once again made him feel nauseous, Kaneki dug in his knapsack for 'The Hanged Man's MacGuffin, a book that he'd yet to finish. Well, Kaneki thought, If I'm skipping class then i might as well enjoy myself... He opened the novel and flipped to find his place and released a sigh of contentment as he relaxed in the booth.

Eto walked down the concrete pathway which led to Aneiku, she'd been going there more often now, hoping to see that Ken Kaneki fellow but had been disappointed each time. It had seemed that Ken Kaneki had dissipated from existence. But, her waiting for him did give her some time to write, and it kept her father company as well. Her father's only company were Touka, Koma, Irimi, and(on the rare occasion) Renji, only one of which was particularly talkative in anyway. She did feel bad for her father(even though he honestly wasn't much of a talker himself) having so little company, a nice man like him should really be more cherished.

Her thoughts then once again shifted to her... she struggled to find the correct term... Ah!, he was, for lack of a more masculine word(As this one was reserved for females), her muse. He was, as she stated, such an interesting being. You could look the world up and down and wouldn't hardly find a person quite like him. In fact, upon reflection, she hoped she didn't scare him off. After all, she had crossed some rather inappropriate boundaries. But, in her own defense, his flustered face was rather adorable.

Eto stopped, having arrived at her destination and looked upon the dark brown door, which mirrored the coffee itself in a strange, yet appropriate way. The author could smell the alluring scent of coffee wafting through the tiny cracks that separated the door from the wall. Here's hoping... she thought as she opened up said door and brought herself up the stairs to a second door, behind this door, as brown as the first, the smell of coffee was even more evident than before, the smell of her father's coffee, which she would swear to gods that she didn't believe in was the most delicious treat in life for any ghoul, or human for that matter. The green haired woman lightly and carefully gripped the circular handle and twisted until she heard the mechanism within unlatch and until the knob, without unnecessary force, stopped turning.

Speak of the Devil. was the woman's first thought as her eyes rested upon a certain black haired boy whom, once again, was enthralled in the latest release of a certain 'Sen Takatsuki'. She noticed something about his eyes, which still held their previous story, that there was something new. Upon first glance one would mistaken it as exhaustion(which may have been part of it actually), but no, it ran deeper than just simple sleep deprivation, far deeper. In his eye's was the look of a man who was changing, for the better or worse she could not tell, physically or mentally she could not tell. But in the end that only made the college boy more intriguing.

Once again, as if their first meeting was being replayed before them, Eto walked over to the boy, who, as before, was to enveloped in his book to even notice her presence, and stopped. Now she could have continued the reenactment of their first meeting but she decided against it, There was something even deeper being revealed in his eyes that even she could not know, and she didn't want to let it flee in fright because of her playful nature. So, instead of her causal, random, cheerful nature she decided to greet him more formally.

"Hello, Ken."

The familiar voice shook Kaneki from his book, in all honesty he wasn't necessarily used to his given name, despite it being... well... his given name. No one, not even Hide called him Ken, everyone always refereed to him as 'Kaneki'. Out of curiosity as to who else would use that name, Kaneki looked up to see someone he never thought he'd meet in public again. Of course he still had the piece of paper she'd handed him a week and a half ago, but he thought she'd forgotten who he was by sun up. It was not to call Sen a shallow or forgetful person, but rather himself a forgettable person, he wasn't the type of person one worries about(Again, besides Hide).

"M-Miss Takatsuki?" He said, still surprised at her appearance before him. However, she had another type of appearance, one in the form of her styling for today. She worse her hair in a rather odd style, as if she'd try to tie it in a bun, but instead gave up halfway, Big red round glasses, and a tan short sleeved shirt with a dark green apron layered over it. Ken was beginning to wonder if she'd dyed her hair that color as she seemed to have an affinity for it.

"Ahhh, so you do remember me..." she teased as she rocked on her heals. " I was begging to think you were avoiding me." she feigned emotional pain, which cause Kaneki to shake his head frantically.

"N-no! It wasn't that I... was just...", he searched for a way to reveal his status for the last week without causing alarm, "Hospitalized..." he said lowley.

Eto had most certainly not expected that to come out of his mouth. Was he some sort of closet dare devil, was he sick, or was he attacked? Rather than asking three time she asked just once, forgetting her sad facade she got closer to him, face inches away from his(Causing a light shade of read to form on his cheeks) and asked, with great concern: "Oh my what happened!?" It wasn't quite a scream, but rather hushed worriment.

"You mean... It wasn't on the news?" He asked confused. Kaneki was certain an incident like that would be a front page story.

Eto laughed a little and said: "Oh... I don't watch television to often... most of the time I'm writing... or sleeping..." she added reluctantly.

"Well recently I was involved in an incident concerning steel beams..." He said preparing to tell the rather unfortunate tale, before he was interrupted by the author.

"That was you?" She asked mouth open, and eyes sad. It was an adorable sight, like a kitten or a puppy begging for food or to be pet by the hand of their master,. He knew it was rather strange to think of her in this way, but it was hardly in any of his control. He found himself choking almost, trying to push his voice from his throat out to his mouth to speak... it was difficult though... He didn't know why, but it was because of her. It was not a star-struck feeling, something similar, but deeper than that.

"Yes..." He replied, trying his hardest not to choke upon saying it.

"Forgive me..." she said, apologetically, "Here I am teasing you about your absence, when in actuality you had been hospitalized... And had your organs transplanted."

Kaneki stared at her confused, she'd said she didn't watch television so how was it that she knew so much? "I thought you don't watch television?"

Sen smiled in reply, like one would smile at a child or a pet. "There are more way's to get the news than through a television." she began. "In fact I believe of we stopped watching so much television and started enjoying our own lives a little more, instead of someone else's, half of the things you see on the news, you wouldn't see. People let others decide for them and never really formulate their own opinions on a subject. That, dear Ken, is called ignorance." she stated matter-of-factly as she turned her answer into a philosophy speech. She was about to move, to say something else, Kaneki noticed, when she abruptly stopped and a smile crept onto her face.

"Listen, Ken," she began kindly. "I know you were hospitalized recently, but you never did take me up on my offer to continue our conversation at my home."

Kaneki blushed at the way she said that, while kind, it also sounded as if she was going to force him to come to her house. Not that he would mind, after all, who would mind such an invitation from an idol? He was about to answer her invitation(well not really a question but rather a hint), but she beat him to it.

Eto grabbed her 'muse's' wrist and pulled him closer, all most over the table, to her. "So let's go now." she practically breathed on his surprised face. The green haired woman dragged Kaneki out of the both, out both doors and onto the sidewalk where they then made their way to her residence.

Kaneki now sat on a comfortable sofa in the living room of Takatsuki Sen. Her house was actually quite modest considering how much she made for her works, It was a two story, had three bedrooms and two baths, hardwood adorned the floor and the lighting on the ceiling amplified it, the walls were of gray brick and a single chimney sat with him in the living room. All and all it was a very American styled home. In fact it was a perfect fit for her in some strange way. When they had arrived, Sen had dimmed the lights and told him to remain on the couch while she prepared some food for her guest.

She then emerged from her kitchen with a plate of sandwiches and two coffee cup's in her hand. "Sorry, it took so long... the coffee from this morning had gotten cold." she apologized, smiling, as she sat herself down on a leather chair angled to the left of the couch in which Kaneki sat. She then sat the plate down on the table in the center of the room.

They sat there in an awkward silence, Takatsuki looking at Kaneki expectantly. What was she expecting? Kaneki wondered as he shifted awkwardly in his seat, averting his eyes.

"Well?" she asked, "Eat one." She said motioning to the combination of bread, dairy, and meat.

"Oh! Right S-sorry..." he said, mentally cursing himself for his rudeness. Previous endeavors with food forgotten, Kaneki unwittingly put the food in his mouth. To him, it tasted like every other thing he'd eaten since waking from his accident... awful. Immediately he regurgitated the food back onto the plate, eye's watering and tongue twitching in disgust.

"I-im sorry, Miss Takatsuki..." He apologized, face heated in embarrassment of his intolerance for food.

She simply laughed an shook her head, making Kaneki wonder, for a split-second, if she'd done something to the food to make that happen.

"Don't be," she reassured him, "I've never been the best at making food, even simple stuff like sandwiches. Too much mayonnaise?" she asked scratching the back of her head.

"No, it wasn't your food it was me... Doctor Kanou said to me that: my intolerance to food was caused by the traumatic incident I endured... My mind thinks is should be dead and my body is coping with Rize's organs so I-"

"Did you say 'Rize'?" she asked, tone going from friendly to serious, her face filled with worry.

Kaneki gulped, did she know Rize? Did she know she was a ghoul? She must have... Why else would she be so concerned all of a sudden? "Yes..." He said reluctantly... A silence fell between them before Takatsuki spoke up.

"Kaneki... why don't you tell me what really happened that night... skip to the most 'important' part." she said as she clasped her hands together in front of her soft face which was contrasted by hard, serious eyes, and tight lips. It made Kaneki's heart beat faster... there was something she want telling him and it made him uneasy.

"That night I was walking miss Rize home, because she said she feared ghouls would attack her..." He scoffed silently at the lie. "But halfway there she..." he paused, remembering how Rize lulled him into a sense of ease before she tore through his flesh, and played with him as if he were a new toy... Until he broke. "She um... she-"

"Tried to eat you..." Sen finished for him looking down...

"Y-yeah... So you knew too, right? That Rize was a ghoul?"

An eerie silence settled in the room for a short period of time before the author spoke up once more.

"Kaneki... Are you hungry?" she asked looking at him.

"Am I hungry?" he repeated his confusion evident in his voice. "I don't Know what you mean..."

The author sighed and then said "I'll show you..."

Takatsuki held her finger pointed upwards to the ceiling, studying it intently with big eyes. Kaneki was curious as to what she was doing (He was beginning to think she was just plain crazy...)

Next she took the pointer finger of her other hand and slowly, roughly broke the skin of the upwards pointing finger, causing blood to ooze slowly from it. For some unexplainable, disgusting, and disturbing reason Kaneki couldn't look away as the blood trickled slowly down her finger, unto her palm and down to her slender wrist, it would have flowed lower, had she not angled her arms at him. "Here, lick it up..." she commanded.

This shook Kaneki from his trance. He couldn't do that it was disgusting... yet... he wanted to. Kaneki gulped, feeling his mouth begin to salivate heavily as he looked more intently at the dark red liquid that traced her arm. He began panting as he reached for it, Closer... closer his arm got to feeling the bodily fluid that drained out from the authors wrist and then, almost hating himself for it, He pulled back and leapt off the couch away from the girl.

"NO!" he yelled at himself, "You don't want that..." his body was shaking uncontrollably, he looked down at his legs which now looked as if they were filled with angry bee's, his hands were twitching violently. He'd lost track off where he was, he was more concerned with the fact that he wanted to not only lick the blood, that sweet blood, from Sen Takatsuki's arms, but rather he wanted to rip off her arm and feast upon it. No, No, No, No,No,NO! He mentally yelled,violently shaking his head from left to right, Why... why do I want that? He asked feeling warm, bitter tears crawl out of his gray eyes.

Suddenly, Kaneki found himself pinned back on the couch, by a pair of thin, yet surprisingly strong, arms. He looked up at his restrainer to see Sen Takatsuki hovering above him, looking down and smiling calmly, though her eye's were different, or more accurately, her right eye... t looked just like Rize's except it held no psychotic stare but rather, one of sadness despite the smile that rested just underneath it. "I'm sorry, Ken... But if I don't do this you'll most definitely starve." She said just as she shoved her finger into his mouth.

Kaneki protested at first, trying hard to reject the taste... that sweet succulent taste... NO! He yelled mentally. No,no,no,no,no,no... Y-yes, yes, yes... His thoughts changed and his resistance stopped as he realized the blood tasted like the tastiest, richest, most delicious thing he'd ever experienced in all his life... Just like mother's cheeseburger's.

In fact he found himself mentally begging Sen to leaved her slender soft finger in his mouth, as she retracted it, leaving a string of blood mixed from saliva connecting Kaneki's mouth to her finger. It was strange, he felt full, well fed would be the correct way to describe it, as if he'd just eaten a small meal. He was breathing heavy, yet calming down, tears still stinging his eyes and staining his cheeks. Out of all the things he could have asked her right now, only one was on his mind.

"I'm... a ghoul?" He whispered, looking up at the green haired woman who had him pinned, now gently, to the couch. She nodded...

"And you are, too?" He asked.

This time Eto verbalized her answer in a calm soft voice, trying to calm Kaneki down and stop him from having another spasm. "Yes..." her voice sounded like a soft hiss, purposely sending kaneki into a relaxed state.

"Why do you taste so good then?" he whispered back, although his whisper was much more frantic than hers, but a whisper nonetheless.

Eto began carefully stroking her guests forehead trying to lull him to sleep, He obviously had had a strange day, perhaps a good rest would do him good. "Shhh," she hissed softly, "Just rest we'll talk when you wake up..." she whispered softly now closer to his ear, as she watched his eye's roll back, his lids cover them, and felt his breath steady signaling his loss of consciousness.

I'd like to start off by thanking every single person that review. Thank You All for being so supportive, especially for a pairing so random and somehow not (That makes sense right?) Anyways Thank you again! Please Review.