Eto sat at her dining room table, her hair messy and flowing down her back, eye's tired, but mouth smiling. It had been two days since that intimate incident with Kaneki, and while his touch was no longer cold, she noticed that not much had changed about him. He remained silent unless spoken to, kept that habit of cracking his fingers to make sure they were still there, and would sometimes start mumble numbers to him self. Though that was a bit unsettling as it didn't take long for the author to figure out their pattern; counting down by sevens... It was a rare for of torture, used by serial killers and other less than sane people to keep their victims as sane as possible so they could experience everything... She had to find something to do with Kaneki when he did that or it would drive her insane... and she didn't like to hear it.

She was lucky though, she could get him to stop by gently playing with his white follicles, tussling them about, holding him close while she did so, resting her head on his, all those physical signs of affection seemed to calm him down. Not much had changed between them since their little experiment, in fact they seemed closer than before(of course), and Kaneki had seemed to regain a bit of that innocent look in his eye... But she couldn't help but feel him tense slightly when ever she did so, like you would see an abused child do when their abuser would make a swift motion, regardless or not if it was physical... she wanted to know what had happened to him... but she didn't like to think about the possibilities. Trying to think of anything, anything but that, Eto then picked up the object nearest to her and began to read it... she picked up a calendar... Well, at least it's something to distract me from any disturbing thoughts... She mental sighed as she flipped it open to the current month, December.

December 23rd, that was the date on the calendar. There was nothing particularly special about today for Eto, it was just any other day for her, but something was bothering her. Maybe she was late for a book signing again? Was today some kind of anniversary for something? Christmas was in two days but she knew that... Was it someones birthday? Then she realized something... throughout their time together she hadn't once inquired about Ken's birthday, she never was good with dates, times, etc... Hah, this is perfect!Eto smiled to herself, We'll get out and do something... that should help if only a little right? In fact we could do it at anytime really... Birthday be damned!

Kaneki found himself in a red tinted room... red... a color he'd seen enough of for the past ten days or so, most of it pouring out of him. The room was not really a room at all, but rather a plane of existence, just red, well... not entirely red. The corners of the room would gradually fade to black as they stretched out and the ceiling, if there actually was one, was completely out of view... Normally Kaneki would have been horrified, it seemed like a scene from a horror movie, but then... he'd already lived through that... and this was much more pleasurable than what he'd been forced to endure over and over and over and over and over again.

Then, he noticed that his feet were beginning to drown in something. The substance was thick, but it was a fluid of some kind and it clung to his skin tightly as if it didn't want to let him go. It wasn't a nice grip either, but rather a damning grip if anything, it was filled with contempt and anger. He shifted his head down tiredly, simply bothered by it all, like it really wasn't worth his time. Then Kaneki's nose twitched and he knew exactly what he was standing in... Blood. Kaneki frowned and pulled his foot up, causing two strands, one bigger than the other, to trail from the bottom in a thick pouring motion into the bloody floor.

Then, in a sudden, unnatural motion, the blood ripped away from his foot and then formed a shape akin to a hand. The blood hand flexed once, twice, three times and then paused. It reminded the white haired ghoul of a snake in some ways, actually most reptiles, they way it moved in swift, but firm, ways. Upon further inspection it seemed the hand was made out of rushing blood... The shape was more or less the same, but the blood was almost traversing through it as a stream would a rock. Kaneki frowned, but he wasn't particularly frightened, but curious. Then, the boy began to reach down to the hand, attempting to run his hand through to disrupt the figure, however, it seemed that it was hoping for that.

Suddenly, the blood gripped his wrist and began to pull on him, firmly, as if a tow truck was pulling being used to pull him into the bloody river at his feet. Kaneki pulled back but soon found that two more arms had attached themselves to him making it almost impossible for him to escape. Then, gradually, the blood began to harden, almost crystallizing, and began to change in pigment until the hands became familiar. Kaneki didn't know how but he recognized them, there were three feminine hands, but Kaneki could tell whose they were.

Slowly, the original pulled herself up, just to the point to where her collar bones peaked above the blood. Kaneki's eye's widened, his pupils dilated, and he clenched his teeth. It wasn't fair, he recalled thinking, it wasn't fair that he had to be the one to see this and not anyone else. There, before him, was Ryokou, her body dripping in blood, her hair damped and clinging tightly to her body, eye's looking at him apathetically... for the first time since Kaneki had been tortured by Jason, he felt a bone chilling fear that froze him solid and made him numb.

"M-mrs Fueguchi..?" He asked, almost afraid to say her name, as if she were some demon and by uttering her name he gave her the power to posses him. The dead woman then smiled and began to speak, latching another hand onto the meatier part if Kaneki's upper leg, which he just now noticed was naked... in fact he was completely naked, not a single part of his body covered. This didn't help his situation at all...

"Hello... Ken..." She replied with a malice in her normally kind voice, a malice that hit him like a wave breaking upon a sand bank. Her eye's slowly changed, her sclera darkened, the veins in her eye's swelled to the point that they were increasingly visible, and her pupils shifted into that blood red color that still haunted him. Kaneki felt so small again, like he did when he was younger, like he was a helpless brat and he needed someone to save him.

"It's your fault you know..." She said to him, dragging herself out of the bloody muck and crawling up his body, as if she was paralyzed from the waist down. The sentence rung through the room like a gunshot, echoing off the walls and piercing Kaneki's ears. It wasn't really that loud, in fact it was more of a whisper if anything, but perhaps the reason it seemed so loud, was because he knew exactly what she was talking about... and that she was right.

But still, despite all that Kaneki had to be sure, he had to know if she was talking about what he thought she was... it was almost embarrassing when he asked; "What is?" She laughed at the question, not the kind, motherly, loving laugh that she normally had, but a mocking one, as if he'd just royally embarrassed himself publicly, then she grabbed his chin and turned his head to face that mocking, motherly smile. "There's so much... but let's just focus on mine right now..."

Then, she pulled his head closer and tilted it to the side, making it to the point where her mouth was at his ear. Kaneki felt his neck being strained, not by position, but more-so by Ryouko's grip tightening around it, angrily, like he was the very investigator that beheaded her all those months ago. He felt a warm breath against his ear and then she spoke. "You could've prevented my death... My daughters trauma... Because of you she's an orphan now..." she paused and loosened her grip slightly, "Listen, I know the others said they don't blame you, and maybe they really don't... but both of us know that if you weren't so scared I would still be alive, and Hinami wouldn't have lost the last parent she had..."

Then... she seemed to freeze as if being turned to stone when she finished talking. However, her place was taken by another, this time one of the other two, the one situated at hid calf, came to life as well. The hand shifted, grabbing dangerously close to his nether regions and from the blood emerged a purple haired woman, her eye's the same as Ryouko's as she dragged her unclothed body up his and close to his face. Rize.

"Hmmmm... she'd right you know..." Spoke the dead ghoul who had been used as Kaneki's salvation. Kaneki could only look at her as she drew herself closer to his ear, smiling devilishly as she did so. Kaneki felt her lick his ear lobe and breath happily against it, sighing in a sick pleasure. "In fact, you caused my death also, huh?" she said less infuriated then Ryouko, almost as if she were an older sister.

"I mean, if it weren't for you Kaneki, I wouldn't have been killed..." said the succubus of a woman, nonchalantly as she slightly pushed against him. Kaneki raised an eyebrow, something she had said didn't quite add up to him... 'killed', Kaneki was told it was an accident in the hospital. "What do you mean killed?" They spoke simultaneously, Rize in a more mocking tone and laughing.

"Come now, Kaneki, surely construction workers wouldn't use an unreliable suspender such as that if it could break, hmmm?" She asked, smiling brightly now... "What's more... I know who did it..."

Kaneki froze solid. So... it wasn't fate that did this to me? Not some predetermined life set out by a higher power, or just bad timing? There's culprit? Is it the Owl, Jason? Tatara? Kanou? However, he could guess all he wanted, but there was only one way he'd really know...

"Who?" Kaneki demanded, almost foaming at the mouth, waiting for the answer.

Rize smirked at his eagerness, then, with a teasing smiled she sung into his ears; "Not teeeeellllliiiiinggggg."

Kaneki felt angry, god did he feel angry, he wanted to pounce on her and beat it out of her, as violent and cruel as that sounded, but he needed to needed to know. To know who was responsible for ruining his life, why he had to go through so much pain, why he had to live in fear... but the strangest thing of it all was that he didn't want to kill the person or even hurt him... He just wanted to know why?

Then, the two women shattered into blood, along with the third hand, the owner of which remained a mystery, showering the half-ghoul with a thick blood rain. Kaneki fell to his knee's as the blood trickled down his naked body, almost caressing him lightly in a soothing way, as if it were an old friend saying goodbye. He stayed like that for a moment, letting the fear escape his body and letting himself calm down. Then he closed his eye's.

When he opened them, he saw a boy bound in a chair, shackled down by chains and clothes tattered. His head was held down, allowing the jet black hair to hang from his head. his ankle's were raw from grinding against the shackles and his body was covered in bruises. Kaneki knew exactly who it was, he'd be an idiot not to... it was him... or rather who he used to be.

However the new arrival wasn't the only change he noticed. All around them, the blood soaked floor was replaced with red flowers, like those that had appeared when he accepted what he truly was. The sky had also turned red, and while not as deep as the room he was just in, it was an unnerving sight nonetheless. However, around the chained version of himself, there were white flowers, still untouched and almost glowing as the pedals tickled the boys feet.

Kaneki blinked once and kept his gaze on him... because that's when he realized that it wasn't Kaneki's fault, or at least not the current Kaneki, but rather the one who was chained up right now, it was his fault that Ryouko died, that he was captured, that the others had to bother to come save him. He hated this Kaneki, he hated who he used to be, when he was so weak, but that's what made it so confusing... If he hated who he used to be... why was he still here?

Then there was a sudden crash, causing the world to go black.

Kaneki's eye's shot open, but he didn't move, he didn't know why, in all honesty he should've rocketed out of bed, he should've at least jolted a bit but instead he found himself stationary, wrapped in a pair of thin arms, with a warmth to his back. He felt hair tickle the back of his neck as well as the feeling of a nose burying itself deep within his white hair, as if searching for something. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, in fact he was quite used to it.

Eto released air through her nose and into the fluff of hair that lay on his head, now turned white. She then began to snake her head down to the side of his, posistioning her mouth just by his ear and rested it there. Her arms grew tighter around him and she intertwined her legs with his and fully relaxed on top of him, letting her head rock on his while she rested.

She let out a warm breath unto his ear, making the hairs on his body bristle in a small bliss. The author always had a way of relaxing him, her hands, they way she spoke, but it went back even farther than that, before he knew her personally and he would read her books, they would always relax him, while at the same time giving him a sense of dread... She was good at that.

Then she asked the question, as if she had seen him dreaming, or if she had watched the dream, "What's wrong?"

"What" Kaneki inquired, curious as to what, besides the fact that he had just been haunted by two dead women, could be bothering at the moment so badly that was visibly showing it.

Eto then adjusted her self, bringing her hands up to his hair and began to tussle it about. "What was your dream about?" She specified, "You were tossing and turning, and sweating beads, It couldn't have been to pleasant... Was it about the torture again?" She then rolled Kaneki over to where his front was facing the ceiling and to where she was laying on top of him completely.

Kaneki contemplated telling her the truth, he did, but he decided it would be better to not worry her if possible, he was sick of being a burden to everyone and he didn't want to seem whinny, especially not now. He used to be whinny, but that part of him was gone now. "Nothing," he replied, unintentionally coldly, "I'm fine, I was just too hot that's all..."

Kaneki could feel Eto's mouth turn into a frown as she moved her head up to meet his eye's. Her own eye's held some sort of annoyance in them, but it was more-so sympathy than annoyance, sympathy and sadness really. "Why are you lying?" She asked, staring down at him with her green eye's.

"What?" Kaneki asked, confused, could she tell, was he really that bad of a liar?

"You're lying, When you said that your body turned into a furnace." She explained nonchalantly, as she moved some white hair from his eye's. Her touch was gentle, more so than usual, as if he was something fragile, or something that she cared about... the latter of which he was.

"No I'm not-" She cut him off by crashing her lips to his, roughly, but passionately, making his eye's open wider as the sensation rushed through his body, waking him up completely. She lightly played with his tongue using her own, making it twitch in reply to the contact, and she starred at him through half lidded eye's, the green orbs in them examining his own.

Then she pulled away, letting a slight bit of thin saliva, hang in the air before it broke. Kaneki found his mouth agape, the action was incredibly sudden, almost as if she was trying to get the drop on him. He expected her to say something, anything, that he was not fine, that he was a bad liar, something along those lines... She never did, she just looked at him, her eye's piercing him through, until she finally did speak... "Alright." Was her judgement as she smiled and brushed the hair back on his forehead.

Eto rolled off Kaneki, but stayed close enough that their shoulders where touching as she laid on her back, keeping her eye's on the ceiling. The bed felt comfortable as it conformed to her shape, holding her tightly. The green haired girl breathed into her nose and out through her mouth, smiling all the while... She knew though, Kaneki was lying, she didn't know how she knew, but she did know. But, if he would rather not speak of it at the moment then that was fine, besides, he'd tell her eventually... she hoped... She'd make him.

Then she opened her mouth once more, this time with the subject she originally came in here for. "Kaneki... when's your birthday?" She asked, closing her eye's gently, letting the bed comfort her. She didn't know why but she was suddenly tired... strange considering how often she slept.

"It was 3 days ago, counting today..." He told her, not bothering to turn to face her at all. Eto frowned at that, but more so at that she'd missed his birthday... though in a way she had given him a birthday present of sorts, rescuing him from Aogiri... but that wasn't as personal as she'd wanted. But that didn't quite matter, to be honest, people throw early and late parties all the time, well it wouldn't be so much a party as much it would be just them two.

"Well then," she chimed happily, as she rocked out of her spot on the bed, "let's go do something, shall we?"

Kaneki looked over to her, her face was so bright, so happy, that it almost made him laugh, but instead he simply smiled at her, a warm smile, he didn't have the heart to deny her that. "Ok." agreed the college student as he sat up, stretching his arms in an attempt to wake them up, "What did you have in mind?" He asked watching the pajama draped woman walk around the bed to his side, then fold her arms in pondering.

"Well...", she trailed off, looking out the window that led to a view of the outside world. "Oh wow..." she gawked as she walked, almost as if she was in a trance, to the full body window and stopped. Kaneki followed her figure to the window and tilted his head a bit to the left, opening his mouth at the sight. It was still dark outside, not surprising, considering that it was still fairly early in the morning... in fact he was waking up this early a lot recently... mostly due to nightmares where he was being tortured. In fact, it was a surprise that Eto was up before him, considering she was, in essence, a sloth... Had his night terrors been waking her up?... It appeared he was a nuisance even in his sleep...

However, as dark as it was, that wasn't what had caused his mouth to open... It was the dark sky, the city lights shinning brightly, and most importantly the white snow raining down upon the city in a slow, meticulous manner, and in a way showering around Eto beautifully making her silhouette stand out stunningly against the scene. Then Eto turned and smiled kindly, "Why don't we just take a walk and see where that leads, huh?"

Next the couple found themselves walking down the city in the snow, each bundled up in their own respective winter attire. Eto was in a purple, knee length, trench coat, that seemed a bit to big for her, along with a red scarf draped lazily around her neck, up to her chin, along with black, wool gloves. Kaneki wore a black trench coat, one that rose slightly higher than Eto's but was still effective none the less, he didn't wear as much as her though, his reasoning being that he could hardly feel it, and while Eto wasn't going to force him to wear gloves, she did forcibly intertwine her hands with his and squeezing them tightly too keep them warm. Kaneki recalled her jokingly telling him to, 'Stop being so stubborn', to which he chuckled in reply... The night so far had been fairly fun, however, every now and again, he would catch Eto throwing him worried glances, nothing to extreme, just a slight frown every now and again... He wished she'd stop worrying about him, it made him worry as well.

They were walking on the side walk now and Eto had begun to notice some, though very few, men and women, turning heads at them, most likely fans, the author thought as she smiled slightly to herself, gripping Kaneki's hand harder... Something was wrong though... but maybe it was wrong in a good way. He seemed happier than when they rescued him, much happier in fact... But Eto couldn't shake the feeling that he was faking all of it, but that's not what was important now, what was important was making him genuinely enjoy himself.

Suddenly, a low growl rung through the air, kind of like that of an animal, but much less threatening. Eto looked over to Kaneki, and saw him clutching his stomach tightly. Eto let out a soft laugh. "Oh my, you haven't been eating have you?" she stated mores so than asked as Kaneki looked over to her, frowning slightly, "No, I'm fin-" His stomach interrupted him, growling once more, natures sign of telling you too fucking eat something.

Eto sighed happily, "You haven't been eating your sugar cubes?" She asked, as she took his free hand in her own and backed him up against a wall, gently.

"No... well, I kind of lost it..." He said, somewhat embarrassed, he'd been getting by on willpower alone, but it had been becoming more and more annoying to not eat by the second. Still, despite what he'd been through, he still couldn't bring himself to eat a human being... it was weird though, he didn't hesitate to eat Jason's kagune, even as disgusting as it was.

Suddenly, Eto covered his left eye, muttering a curse word under her breath. It caught Kaneki by surprise and all he could manage out was "What?"

Eto swiveled her head to the left quickly, eyeing a small gift shop along down the street, then back to Kaneki, who was still giving her a confused look. The author then whispered to him, "Follow me and keep your left eye covered..." Kaneki immediately understood then, it was surprising to him though, he didn't think he'd be that hungry, he didn't feel that hungry, but he doubted his body would lie.

The two entered the shop, Kaneki keeping his red eye covered, Eto hurriedly looking through the shelves for something. She saw hats, coffee cups, cameras, anything but useful to her current needs. The ghoul frowned and began scanning other shelves, she needed an eye patch for Kaneki, that was the best way to go, she was surprised the issue hadn't come up before now. Suddenly a hand fell on her shoulder, Kaneki's right hand thankfully, and she turned to see him.

"What are you looking for?" He asked, still holding his left eye.

"An Eyepatch..." She trailed off as she rummaged through shelved items.

"Why?"

"So if you ever get hungry, no one will see your eye..."

"Ahh."

There was a sudden silence as Eto rummaged through the packaged gifts and souvenirs. Kaneki then began to walk away, looking for an eye patch himself... Well, he would've if Eto hadn't already beat him too it. He felt a leather strap fall over his head and cover his left eye, he noticed that the strap was tilted to the side. It was a single strap as well, and fit snugly on him.

The half ghoul turned around quickly, surprised by the sudden action and saw Eto standing there curling her index finger like a hook. "RRRRR" she said, most likely imitating a pirate, then laughing at herself, most pleased with her own humor. "Now then," she spoke, almost sounding relieved, "Let's pay for it, then go to Anteiku."

"Why there?" Asked Kaneki, raising the eyebrow behind the eye patch.

"More sugar cubes for you."

A small clank was heard as Eto twisted a small bronze hued key that she'd stuck into a lock moments earlier. Then, she carelessly twisted the handle, opening the door and allowing her and her lover into the coffee shop. Naturally, it was still closed, not so much as because it was still dark out despite being early, but rather because her father always closed it down during the holiday's, despite Christmas not being a national holiday in Japan as it was in America and much of Europe. This meant that Touka would still be gone most of the day at school, studying for entrance exams to Kamii, The college where Kaneki was attending, despite his many absences. Speaking of the girl, she and Hinami were still living at Anteiku at the moment, so they had to be careful about not making to much noise as they were sleeping at the moment.

Eto walked over to a door behind the counter and disappeared behind it. Kaneki found himself alone now, in the dark of the room, awkwardly standing there waiting for the author to come back. He didn't like being separated from her now, he didn't like being separated with any of his friends but Eto especially. But he wouldn't be able to see them much soon... He had to much to do... so he could protect them.

Suddenly, a small light voice echoed through the room, causing him to shift his head swiftly. "Big brother?" It called out, groggily. Kaneki immediately knew who it was, just by the almost froze, remembering what Ryouko had said, it was all true, any way he looked at it Kaneki was responsible for her death, he almost contemplated staying quite so she would think he was there... but he asked anyway, "Hinami?"

"Mhmm...",she replied tiredly, walking down from the stairway to where Kaneki could see her better, "What are you doing here?" She was wearing a brunette nightgown, the same shade as her hair, which was now cut into a more chopped style, but was more or less the same as her normal hair, still, it was noticeable enough for Kaneki to comment.

"I see you've gotten a hair cut." He said, trying to start another conversation, if at all possible he would like to not talk about the consumption of people in any from with her, despite her being a ghoul it was evident that she was not comfortable with it.

"Thanks," The brunette chimed, "Big sister cut it for me." The way she said that was somewhat awkward, but nonetheless it was something... However kaneki had nothing else to speak of, so a new silence had settled over them.

"Uhmmm, big brother...?" Hinami spoke again, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

"Why do you sound so... different?"

"Different?"

"Y-yeah... You sound like you're sad... you smile when you talk to me, but you talk so low... Are you O.K?"

The question caught him off guard... But it explained quite a bit. Why Eto was acting so strangely, why she was so protective... Why she hardly left him alone... It was the tone he gave off. While he himself was indifferent to it, it probably did effect others a bit, he didn't like that... In fact it made him feel like more of a nuisance than before. He wanted to explain this to her further, but he didn't want to make her worry either. "I don't know what you're talking about... Why don't we talk about something else?"

Hinami was silent then, thinking of something else to say... "O.K... When are you leaving?"

The question hit Kaneki like a truck, the way she had asked that, how she worded it, she almost sounded angry at him for what he had talked about a few nights ago. He froze then, gulping silently, feeling sweat roll down his head, he didn't necessarily want to answer that... Thankfully he didn't have to.

Eto opened the door, walking out with a black cylindar, more than likely holding those brown sugar cubes that he used as substitute for human beings. She smiled kindly to Hinami and walked over, bringing her into a hug. "Let's not talk about that, please..." She said, slightly shaking Hinami in that hold. "Now, why don't you go back to bed, huh? I'm sure you want to sleep in today right?" then, somewhat against her will, Hinami was ushered up there stairs by Eto back to her room.

When she returned Eto had somewhat of a scowl on her face, not angry, just slightly annoyed. "Alright, I'm putting an end to this now..." She said, as she walked towards Kaneki set on something. Then she sat him down in a chair and sat herself down next to him. "Listen," she said, caringly, "By leaving to go find the Owl, you'd only be wasting your time." She placed a hand on his chest, as if that would get her point across better.

"It's not." He defended robotically, "I wan't to make sure he doesn't hurt you or anyone else."

Eto sighed, the way he said that, how determined he was... she was left with no other choice. Eto then brought him into a hug, a tight gentle, loving hug, one that he noticed her muscles were reluctant to let go of. "It is," she argued, "Because... I'm the One-Eyed Owl..."

Kaneki was almost deaf, had he heard her right? She was the Owl? No, she was just trying to keep him from leaving... "You can't be... The Owl is the leader of Aogiri, he kidnapped me and had me tortured... He can hurt you too..."

"Bah, Kaneki... Don't you understand?" she asked gently, caressing his hair in the hug, "They're using the name as a way of intimidating others... 10 years ago I would've been in an organization like that... but not anymore..." She paused letting him take it in as she held him... Then chuckled, "Besides that, if you left I'd be all alone again."