Thanks for the kind words, lol. I'm glad my readers like this so far, so here's an early update :3-
4
"Shiro!"
Kaneki's scream was loud in Shiro's ears, grating on his nerves. To the human's horror, Rize hefted her kagune upward, taking Shiro with it, and threw him straight into a brick wall. Debris and dust exploded from the impact, sending brick pieces flying like bullets. Kaneki shielded his face with his hands and searched desperately through the cloud for Shiro. He couldn't make him out, not before his attention was taken by demonic laughter.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry dear," she crooned to him, sidling from the settling dust. "Was that poor thing your boyfriend?" Her pupils glowed as red as sin, blackness surrounding them. She stopped a few feet from him and let her kagune rest in midair behind her.
"You are a ghoul," Kaneki rasped, gaze fixed numbly on the four snakelike organs she wielded.
Rize cocked her head, a finger resting on her chin. "And you have a problem with that? How shallow. Here, I thought you didn't mind ghouls, since you were so happy to spend time with one."
Kaneki was shaking so hard, he thought he'd fall over, but he couldn't run. He refused to let himself run while Shiro might be hurt. "I don't know what you're talking about," he managed. Her mouth split into a grin and she stalked toward him, heels clicking. Kaneki fell back at a wave of terror. "No, wait, please—! I—I won't call the CCG if you just leave, I swear!"
"Now why would I do that?" she asked lightly. Then she leaned toward him, hands on her knees like a mother speaking to a disobedient child. "Are you expecting mercy from me? Or is this your little crush speaking? You expected a date, perhaps, or a chance for friendship at the very least, is that right? Well, I'm terribly sorry, but," she smiled, sinister and nearly apologetic, "I don't play with my food."
Kaneki saw the kagune rise, points aimed for him. The kind of primal terror that only took hold during death paralyzed him then. That was when he realized he was going to die.
She laughed as she sent her cruel weapons slicing down.
Something slammed into her. Hard. Shoulder first and determined, sending her flying into the opposite wall. Her back collided with brick, a cry leaving her, and she slid down to the pavement with a thump. "What the hell?" she growled, fury stealing her earlier eloquence.
Kaneki gaped, not quite believing his eyes. A boy with white hair stood in front of him, hand on his bloodied stomach and shoulders heaving.
Shiro grimaced, picking at his sticky shirt and sending Rize an irritated glare. "I just bought this," he deadpanned.
"What are you?" Rize demanded, climbing to her feet. "You smell like a filthy human and me! Why do you smell like me!?"
"Trust me, I wish I didn't; you reek."
An enraged cry tore from her as she whipped the end of a red tentacle at him. Kaneki gasped fearfully, but Shiro just sidestepped it. The pavement cracked an inch from where he stood. Rize's face blanked. Then it screwed up in anger again and she aimed another slash at him. This time, he had to jump to avoid a bone-breaking hit to his legs. That really pissed her off.
"You little bastard!" Her kagune flew at him, again, again, again. Slicing the air in waves and smashing sidewalk. Dust billowed from the places she hit. Kaneki gritted his teeth and squinted through the haze. Panting, Rize relaxed a fraction, her lips beginning to curve up. Then the smile was wiped away when the dust cleared to reveal Shiro standing right where he'd been before. "You—!"
He arched a brow at her. "Are you done with your tantrum yet?"
"Go to hell!" she shouted. The writhing tentacles flew, two for Shiro and two aiming for Kaneki. The human cried out, hunching down with hands over his head.
There was the familiar burn and pull in his lower back, and bloody mist in the air. Shiro snarled as the rinkaku ripped from him, taking the blow Rize threw at him. One lunged, piercing through the tentacle she'd meant for Kaneki with a sound like glass shattering. She screamed, the severed end reeling backward as she stumbled. Chest heaving, she curled them protectively around her and kept the injured one close to her body.
If Kaneki had looked mentally scarred before, he certainly looked it now. Shiro inwardly cringed. Guess he didn't have to hold back anymore. He drew his kagune close to him, the clawlike ends curving over his head to point at Rize. The pulse in them, the power thrumming down the crimson length of them and into his spine and his body, made him tremble. He was smiling before he knew it, gazing at her from under tousled hair, one eye fully turned and devilish. "Sorry," he said, lifting his hand and cracking the knuckle of his ring finger. "Did that hurt?"
"Filthy halfbreed," she returned. Blood and shining liquid dripped from her injured kagune.
"Don't waste insults on me."
"I'll kill you."
"I'll slaughter you." She tensed at the sincerity behind his words, the sick enjoyment. He shifted on his feet, head tilted to the side mockingly. "Unlike you, I like playing with my food," he taunted.
A wordless sound of vehemence left her as she lunged for him. Hands in fists and tentacles lashing. His grin widened and he rushed to meet her blow for blow, the thunderclaps of their kagune crashing together echoing along the alleyway. Her heels snapping against the ground, his feet leaving it as he pushed himself up onto the tips of two tentacles and spun the others down on her. The sky was stained orange-and-red above them; everything was stained red in his crazed eyes. She didn't stand a chance. Even now, her movements were weakening and she was relying on dodging his hits. He felt wild laughter bubbling up in his chest.
"Stop...stop!" Rize clumsily blocked a strike and pushed herself farther down the alley. Her dress was torn at the side and she pressed her fingers over the leaking blood there. She gazed up at him, eyes softening into feigned promise. "You're wasting time, halfbreed. We don't need to fight," she purred. "I'll share him. You wanted him too, didn't you?"
Balanced off the ground on the tips of four kagune, Shiro laughed, head tipped back to look at her upside-down. Messy hair fell away from his face in a fall of snow and black-nailed fingertips pushed it back. "I don't want him," he rasped. "I already have what I want."
"What's that?" she asked, clinging to the shred of a chance.
"This." He twisted, rinkaku sweeping wide and out. As Rize lifted hers around her defensively, his pierced through them and then her. In one clean swipe, he'd speared her through to the pavement. Her howl of pain was music and he reveled in it.
It only took moments for her to stop twitching and for the breath to seep out of her lungs. Shivering in lingering adrenaline, he lowered his feet to the ground and slid his claws out of her. With a wet rasp, she collapsed in a heap. "Say hi to Yamori for me," he murmured in quiet glee, rinkaku retreating and fading. He took one step toward her, ghoulish eye wide and hungry. Then there was a sift of sound from behind.
Shiro looked back and his heart stopped.
Kaneki's glazed eyes moved from Rize up to Shiro. The horror hadn't changed. "You're a ghoul," he whispered.
"Kaneki—" Shiro started toward him, halting when Kaneki flinched.
"Don't! Please don't eat me! I—I won't tell anyone!" Kaneki was shaking and his pale skin suggested that he was about to be sick.
Shiro glared at him. "What makes you think I'm gonna eat you?" he shot back. "I just saved your life!"
"But don't ghouls eat people?" Kaneki asked weakly.
"Not ones who are their friends!"
Kaneki's expression went blank and he looked at Shiro in surprise. Shiro rubbed a hand through his hair and to the back of his neck. Dammit, he wasn't supposed to do this. He just wanted to get Rize away from him, not start some messed-up friendship with his past self. This wasn't going to work. "Look," he began coldly, "I get that you're terrified of ghouls, okay, everyone is. But I don't make a habit out of fighting with other ghouls over innocent people. I didn't do it to eat you, I did it to help you. And it's over, so I'm done. You can just forget about me." Without waiting for an answer, he turned away. Rize's body still lay unmoving on the pavement. Yamori had tasted like shit, but maybe Rize would match her sickly-sweet appearance.
"...don't you need to clean up?"
Shiro spun around at Kaneki's uneasy voice, then stifled a gasp when he found the human right behind him. Shit, how did he move that quietly? "What do you mean?"
"You have blood all over you," Kaneki told him. "You can uh...come to my place and wash it off, if you want."
"I thought you didn't trust me," Shiro growled.
"I—I know. But..." Kaneki trailed off. He lifted a visibly trembling hand up toward Shiro's face. He resembled a child trying to pet a savage dog. Stiffening, Shiro watched the human fingers inch closer, until they rested on his cheek. Kaneki moved his thumb and pushed away a smear of blood. His thumb stilled beneath the black-and-red eye. "You only have one," he remarked, voice low and maybe numb from what had happened.
Shiro took in a slow breath. "I'm only half ghoul," he answered in an exhale. He had a very stupid urge to turn his face into Kaneki's hand.
"Why?"
"I can't tell you."
Huffing out a breath at that, Kaneki withdrew his hand. Finally, he straightened up, shoved his hands decisively into his pockets, and offered the tiniest of smiles. "So, do you wanna come over or not?"
XxxxxxX
Kaneki's apartment was exactly as Shiro remembered it. Everything put away neater than most college students, the kitchen darkening in the fading sunset, and the couch in its old spot. The whole place smelled of human, traces of Hide and even more of Kaneki. Shiro wrinkled his nose as he followed Kaneki through the door. Was that was he smelled like, back when he was just human?
"Here," Kaneki stammered, as the door shut with a click. He'd tossed his jacket at Shiro, who hadn't turned fast enough and found the hood flopping over his head. "Um, it's cold in here and you're hurt, so... You can borrow it. I don't mind if there's, uh, blood on it."
As Kaneki passed him to head toward the kitchen, Shiro stood dumbly with the jacket sitting on his head. Well, damn. Tsukiyama was right. I do smell good. Immediately, he recoiled from the thought and tore the jacket off of him. He opted for keeping it folded against his chest and ventured into the apartment alone.
Kaneki had turned the lights on in the kitchen, but in here, it was darker. Light spilled from the doorway across the floor as Shiro toed out of his shoes. He padded farther in, up to the couch, and considered sitting on it. His aching muscles urged him on, but he'd rather not stain it with his and Rize's blood.
Thinking of her was as bad as inviting her in. At once, he felt her stir in the depths of his mind. My, my. So you really would've butchered me. Just like that.
Yeah, he thought back, stone-cold. And I'd do it again.
There was no reply and he allowed himself to relax a fraction. Then she lashed out at him hard, voice loud and ringing in his head:
Nine-hundred and ninety-three, nine-hundred and eighty-six, nine-hundred and seventy-nine, nine-hundred and seventy—
Shiro dropped the jacket to the floor as his knees threatened to buckle. "Shut up!" he shouted, clutching his head, fingers tangling in his hair. She didn't. She pushed him harder.
NINE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE, NINE-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-EIGHT, NINE-HUNDRED AND FIFTY-ONE, NINE-HUNDRED AND FOURTY-FOUR...
"Shut up, shut up, get out!" His knees met the floor and he rocked forward, sweat building on his skin. His arms were shuddering so hard, his fingers raked out strands of hair. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. There were chains around him, there were things crawling inside of him, get it out get it out getitout—
NINE-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN, NINE-HUNDRED AND THIRTY,
"Nine-hundred and twenty-three," he whispered softly into his hands. "Nine-hundred and sixteen. Nine-hundred and—"
"Shiro?"
Her chanting flitted away, chased by Kaneki's voice. Shiro lifted his head and Kaneki's startled gaze. The boy stood over him, a first-aid kit in his hands and a wary question in his features. Shiro looked back down again at the floor. He had to focus on breathing for a few minutes and convince himself that he was here, in this room, not in that one.
"Are you—?"
"I'm okay," Shiro cut him off. Swallowing, he unfolded his legs from under him and stood up. The first-aid kit was accepted silently and he pulled it in to his chest. His wide eyes were seeing something over Kaneki's shoulder, something not quite there.
As he made to pass by him, Kaneki spoke up uncertainly. "Um, were you counting? Backwards?"
"Yes."
"...why?"
Shiro left him there, wondering, and crossed the apartment to the bathroom. Once he was closed inside, there was silence again in the apartment.
Until Kaneki heard the sound of his mirror being shattered.