Obligatory Valentine's Day Reality Kick story! Okay so, this is set before Chalk Words but after The Talk, so around 6 years old or so. And I'm sticking with them being homeschooled and that's why she doesn't know about what people do!
[Stay tuned for A/N]
Happy Valentine's Day, cutie patooties!
Enjoy~
"Mama! Mama!" Miyu yelled for her mother as she ran down the hallway.
Touka was folding laundry in her bedroom when she heard the pitter patter of her daughter's feet running towards the room. Miyu appeared in the doorway, panting lightly. "Yes, Miyu?"
Miyu waited until her breathing returned to normal before walking into the room and sitting on the bed with her mother.
"I have a question, Mama," she stated.
Touka groaned internally. While Minoru had inherited more of Kaneki's personality, Miyu was almost an exact replica of her own. She questions everything… I hope she doesn't ask that question. Touka focused on her daughter, who was waving at her for attention. She nodded.
"What's Valentine's Day?" she asked, looking up at her mother with big, curious eyes. "Because the man on the TV said that we needed to prepare for Valentine's Day tomorrow."
Touka blinked. I don't know what I expected if it wasn't that question, but that wasn't it... Oh well.
"Valentine's Day is when you spend the day with the person you love, showing how much you love them," she explained. "When you're younger, girls give chocolate to the boy that they like. When you get older, sometimes the man will give you flowers."
"You and Papa love or me and Ruru love?" Miyu wondered. Touka pretended to think about it for a minute.
"Both," she said, finally. "It's the day of love, so all forms of love are counted."
"So I can make something for Papa and Ruru?" Miyu grinned excitedly.
"Yes you can," Touka nodded.
Miyu fell silent, a thoughtful look on her face. Touka watched her daughter as her facial expressions changed depending on what she was thinking about. If it was good, her eyes lit up and she grinned; if it was bad, her nose would scrunch up as her eyebrows came together over her eyes. Touka smiled. She looks like Ken when she does that; can't hide her thoughts completely because she has no poker face. She picked grabbed a shirt from the pile of unfolded laundry and began to fold it as she waited for Miyu to come back from her thoughts.
"Well, what did you give to Papa?" she asked suddenly.
Touka froze for a moment, wondering why she hadn't expected this question. "I never really gave him anything. We can't eat chocolate and no man likes to receive flowers from a woman."
Miyu's face fell in disappointment. But she soon recovered and asked, "Then did Papa ever do anything for you?"
Thinking, Touka sifted through her past memories of the holiday with Kaneki. "He would give me flowers sometimes, but he mostly gave me rabbit things. We haven't done much since you and your brother were born, though."
"Mama really likes rabbits, doesn't she?" Touka nodded. "What was the last thing Papa gave you?"
-x- First Valentine's Day as a married couple -x-
Touka was moving about the house picking up clothes and books. It was Valentine's Day and she was restless. She'd always disliked the holiday when she was younger; she didn't understand the point of giving chocolate to show you liked somebody. She thought the whole thing was a waste of time, but that small part of her that yearned to be human made her want to participate. The problem with that, besides being a ghoul, was that she didn't have anybody she liked and nobody liked her.
That changed after she met Kaneki. At first, it was his annoying blond friend that always flirted with her. Hide would show up at a random time on Valentine's Day and give her a bouquet of roses. Even though she wasn't fond of Hide at all, she still politely accepted the flowers. But soon after Kaneki became a half-ghoul, Touka was receiving from two boys that she wasn't related to. Kaneki didn't offer her flowers or anything, he knew she didn't really care for them, but he would give her much more practical things. The first time he gave her a book and a new brand of coffee. Flipping through the book, one of his favorite Takatsuki Sen novels, she was surprised to find that he had highlighted and explained certain things. He knew she was bad at literature and turned the novel into a study guide of sorts.
From then on, it had been mostly coffee and offering to cover her shifts. She tried to refuse multiple times, not wanting to be in debt to him, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. So she would sit in a corner booth and pretend to do her homework. Even as they dated, there was a never a big celebration for the holiday. But that changed again on the first Valentine's Day after they got married.
After she had tidied the entire house, she collapsed on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, lost in her own memories. She was so lost in her own world that she didn't hear the door open and close, meaning that Kaneki had just gotten home. She only noticed with a head of white hair suddenly appeared in her direct line of sight. Startled, she sat straight up, narrowly avoiding hitting Kaneki's head with her own.
"What the hell, Ken?!" She glared at him over the back of the couch. He stood behind the couch, smiling innocently and rocking back and forth on his feet. His arms were behind his back and she could see the excitement in his eyes. "…. What?"
"It's Valentine's Day!" he announced enthusiastically, leaning in to give her a peck on the lips.
"Yeah, so?" Touka rolled her eyes.
"So I have a present for you," he chirped. Touka scoffed at him. "Don't be so negative, you don't even know what it is yet!"
She just rolled her eyes again and watched as Kaneki brought a medium-sized box from behind his back. He set it in her lap and moved to sit on the coffee table in front of the couch. Touka studied the box, confused. There were holes poked all over the lid and it smelled faintly like hay. Slightly apprehensive, she slowly lifted the lid and peered inside the box.
A small black and white rabbit stood up on its hind legs and sniffed at the edge of the box. Touka stared at the animal in shock. It had a pale pink ribbon tied in a bow around its neck with a small tag hanging in front of its chest. It read:
Please treat me well, Touka-chan!
Love,
Ken
PS: Happy Valentine's Day!
Switching from the rabbit to her husband, Touka stared at Kaneki in shock and wonder. She opened her mouth to say something, but when no words came out she closed it and went back to observing her new pet. Reaching into the box, she let the rabbit sniff her finger before slowly petting its head.
"I know how much you love rabbits so I figured it was time you had a real one!" He laughed, reaching into the box and patting the bun's head. "Plus, I thought it would almost be practice if we have kids."
She scowled and kicked his shin, a light blush staining her cheeks. Despite the fact that they had been together together, Touka still felt embarrassed and awkward when she heard it out loud. As he rubbed the sore spot from her foot, she gently lifted the rabbit out of the box and set it on the floor. Immediately, it began sniffing everything in sight, bouncing from place to place.
"So what are you going to name her?" Touka turned to her husband.
"Oh, it's a girl," she mumbled. Kaneki nodded. "I don't know, I'll name her later after she gets used to me."
"Sounds like a plan," he agreed. "Do I get a hug as a thank you?"
Touka smirked. "I guess so," she sighed. "At least you didn't give me flowers."
Kaneki grinned and pulled her off the couch by her wrist, settling her in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his waist, her head leaning against his chest. Every now and then Kaneki would kiss her head and Touka would squeeze him just a little bit tighter.
-x- End flashback -x-
As soon as Touka finished her story, Miyu stood up and began jumping in excitement.
"Papa got Mama a bunny!" She sang happily. "What happened to Ms. Bunny?"
"She died before you were born," said her mother. Miyu's face fell. "That was seven years ago, Miyu. She just didn't live that long."
Miyu nodded, accepting the information, but still pouted. I wanted to meet Mama's bunny! She plopped back down on the bed and huffed, folding her arms over her chest. Sighing, Miyu helped her mother finish folding the clothes before running to her and Minoru's room to work on her presents.
The next morning, Miyu slipped out of bed before anybody else woke up and gathered her gifts. By Minoru's pillow, she gently set a bound stack of papers that were filled with drawings and random facts about rabbits. She tiptoed out of the room and down the hallway to her parents' room. Opening the door silently, she slipped in and first went to her mother's side. She set a drawing of her mother's old rabbit and herself with the words "Ms. Bunny and Mimi both love Mama!" next to her head. Finally, Miyu skipped to her father's side and put his present in his hand.
"Papa," she whispered, poking his cheek. "Papa, wake up!"
"Hngh…" Kaneki groaned and cracked open one eye to see what was disturbing his sleep. He recognized his daughter and opened both of his eyes.
"Miyu?" he mumbled groggily. He looked at the alarm clock next to the bed. "Miyu, it is seven a.m. What are you doing awake?"
"It's Valentine's Day, Papa!" She smiled brightly, gesturing to the object resting in his hand.
Kaneki brought his hand up and studied the object. It was another stack of papers, similar to Minoru's, but it was filled with drawings of the whole family and reasons why she loved them. Kaneki looked up from the booklet and smiled at his daughter.
"Thank you, Miyu, I love it," he told her. Miyu let out a giggle, followed by a yawn. "Come on, it's too early to be awake right now."
Rubbing her eyes, Miyu crawled into the bed and snuggled between her parents, falling asleep almost immediately. Touka felt another weight on the bed and flipped on her other side, opening her eyes to see what it was.
"Hn? Why is Miyu asleep with us?" She looked at her husband.
"She woke up early to give us Valentine's presents and was practically falling asleep standing up," he whispered back, trying not to wake their daughter.
"Mm, alright then…" Touka yawned and closed her eyes, wrapping an arm around her daughter.
Kaneki watched as Miyu snuggled into her mother's chest, a soft smile on his face. They really look the same, except for their eyes… How did I get so lucky? He closed his eyes and threw one long arm around both his wife and daughter, letting himself be lulled to sleep by their heartbeats. Nobody noticed when Minoru tiptoed into the room and wedged himself between his mother and sister.
Miyu spent her first Valentine's Day morning cuddled with the people she loved the most.
Alright, so some clarifications first:
1) "'that' question" refers to the actual "talk" aka, the birds and the bees.
2) Touka's gift doesn't just disappear, she just doesn't see it because she can't function well so early in the morning
2.5) Minoru loves to read and learn like Kaneki, so that's why Miyu gave him the rabbit booklet.
3) This fic is mostly Miyu-centric since the last was more Minoru-centric
4) I originally planned on two separate Touken fics for VDay, one for RK and one just for Kaneki and Touka. Unfortunately, I was unable to write a solely Touken one as I had two tests this week and an essay. I barely found the time to write this one, tbh.
Moving right along, what did you think? The whole bunny thing is totally random, I know, and I didn't really elaborate very much on it. Forgive me, I am school has left me with a numb mind.
As always, a giant, sloppy thank you for reading and putting up with my shenanigans! Feel free to leave opinions, comments, questions etc. in the form of a review, PM, or Tumblr message. Do it In ThE NAAMe oF LOVe
WHEN DID THIS COLLECTION OF SHITTY FANFICTION GET 103 REVIEWS LIKE? I'M SO HAPPY THAT Y'ALL ARE HAPPY AND I JUST. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH *GROSS SOBBING*
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 〜٩(^▿^)۶〜
Love,
Lau
Tschüss!