"What the hell just happened?" Hide blinks a few times, directing his attention towards Ryoko after. The dark green haired girl glances behind him to see if Touka was still watching, but she wasn't there anymore. She probably didn't feel like seeing Kaneki and Ryoko kissing. Plus, she made a very valiant effort in disappearing every time Ryoko showed up anyways.
She grins widely, hopping off the stool hugging Hide as hard as possible for her, "Ah, thank you so much Hide!"
"May I repeat myself again, what the hell is going on!" He doesn't hesitate to hug her back, but Ryoko can tell he is majorly confused by everything. She hears Kaneki attempting to stifle a laugh whilst in the middle of pouring the cup of coffee.
"Well," She releases Hide, "Let's just say you helped me get my best friend back." Ryoko couldn't wipe the previous grin off of her face, she had to admit her cheeks kinda hurt she hadn't smiled this much in the past week. "I will forever be in your debt."
"Hm," Hide rubs his chin for a moment, "Okay I'll take you up on that debt thing when I have something in mind."
Kaneki sets the cup of coffee in front of her, she stares up at him, he also has the biggest smile on his face. It was so nice to see Kaneki smile. Ryoko had long decided that it was one of her favorite things, "Here you go Ry."
"Thank you Kaneki," Ryoko takes a sip of it, and it's actually very good. Kaneki wasn't so great at making coffee when she first started coming around to his work, seems as though he's improved, "Aw you're getting so good at this, I didn't have to choke it down this time in order to salvage your feelings."
He rolls his eyes at her, something extremely surprising consider Kaneki was not the one to be an eye roller; leaning one elbow on the counter. "Too bad you're not good at faking anything and I knew."
"I'm not good at faking anything? Huh. That's not what happened last night in the-"
"Ryoko!" Kaneki's face turns bright red, she looks to Hide to see him covering his mouth. Kaneki speaks in a low tone, "Don't joke about stuff like that," He sighs his cheeks returning to normal. "Besides I haven't seen you in a week."
Ryoko frowns taking another drink from her delicious coffee, "Yeah I know that, but Hide didn't."
"So now you're trying to fool me huh? Can't slip one past me Ryoko!" Hide chuckles, and nudges her in the arm. She rolls her eyes this time; Hide is so precious. She can see why Kaneki treasures him.
"Kaneki you can go home if you'd like," An old man enters the room from the hallway behind the counter, "Ah, you must be Ryoko, nice to meet you."
He holds his hand out to Ryoko, and she takes it smiling brightly at him. This must be Yoshimura the shop owner, she's also heard rumours about him, but who knew if anything was true. Ayato used to joke around that he was the owl. But he seemed too old to be capable of doing anything like that. Then again, Ryoko has seen some pretty old ghouls manage to take down quite a few people. If he really was the owl, then he definitely might be capable of it.
"Actually I need Kaneki, we have to go on a food run." Another man walks out, this one she does know for sure. Yomo. Ryoko had seen him around before, and Ayato had told her all about him from when Ayato still was with Anteiku.
"Mind if I come? Ryoko pipes in, almost in fear that if she let Kaneki go right now she might never see him again. The thought sent chills down her spine, not ever seeing Kaneki again sounded horrible.
Yomo looks down at the small female in front of him, his silver hair hanging in his face. He seems to be observing her, he couldn't help but think she looked familiar. As if he had seen someone similar before, maybe a relative? He squints his eyes at her momentarily one last time, "Sure."
"Aw you never let me come!" Hide whines.
Yomo raises an eyebrow at the boy, with an exasperated look he frowned, "That's because you're loud and I don't like you." Yomo walks away, and I'm trying my best to hold in my laughter.
After Kaneki finally convinced Hide to calm down and just go home for the night, we all got into the large van that was at the back of the shop. How inconspicuous. There was enough room that all three of them could fit into the front seat, although Ryoko was sure if she was sentenced to the back Kaneki wouldn't hesitate to go with her. Yomo drives out of the city, into where Ryoko normally wouldn't dare to venture. Lately, she hasn't been feeling scared of, well, much of anything. Ever since she went berserk on Yamori she had no qualms with kicking anybody's ass. Ryoko did feel a bit of remorse for eating that man earlier, she was sure he was a bad person, but Ryoko did always feel horrible killing someone.
She didn't even want to mention the incident to Kaneki; she's at least 100% sure he has never thought about murdering anyone, and Ryoko was 1000% the thought had never crossed his mind. She did know how he got when he was hungry though, that Kaneki, he would be just like Ryoko now. Ryoko feels Kaneki's larger, warmer hand slip on top of hers covering it. He intertwines their fingers together, it brings a smile to Ryoko's face. Being with him always made her feel this way. In about two days it would be a whole month since Kaneki and Ryoko started seeing each other. It seemed to have passed by so fast, she was so busy with so many different things it almost seemed too fast.
Yomo finally stops the van after they had traveled for about 30 minutes. Where did they have to go to get food in the middle of nowhere? Ryoko barely left the city, let alone drove out into the wilderness to obtain it. Not to mention the three were stopped in the middle of the road. Yomo gets out of the van, nodding for both of the teenagers to follow. Ryoko was hesitant, but Kaneki seems to trust Yomo therefore she can't question much about him.
"Kaneki go look over the railing there," Yomo says and Kaneki nods letting go of her hand walking to the other side of the road.
"Why'd you let me come?" She looks up at Yomo following him to the back of the van.
He gestures for Ryoko to pull on the handle on her side, "Because Kaneki won't stop mentioning you, I've pretty much guessed how you are. Yoshimura doesn't have a problem with you, so neither do I. Ryoko, that's your name right?" Yomo almost seemed as if he was hiding something, but it was just a passing thought so Ryoko shrugged it off. She was bad at reading people anyways.
"Yeah, and you're Yomo." Ryoko looks to the man, silver hair shining almost godly under the moonlight. It would take her breath away if she weren't so head over heels for Kaneki, but she still couldn't deny Yomo was attractive for an older man. His haughty gaze met her own; feeling embarrassed because she had clearly been staring, Ryoko looked away into the trees.
He begins speaking again as if nothing happened, "Indeed. I saw your friend bring you in too. Ayato, huh?" He glances over at her as Ryoko presses my mouth into a hard line. "I still care about the kid it's alright, I won't tell Touka." Yomo swings open his side of the door the same time Ryoko does, "Is he recovering alright?"
Ryoko nods her head quickly, of course Yomo knew. He was too smart not to put the pieces together. "He seems a lot better now. I think he just wants some alone time so he brought me to Kaneki."
"I'm glad he's alright," Yomo almost has a look of relief on his face, just as Ryoko was about to ask him why when the both of them heard Kaneki yelp, followed by a loud thud. "Kaneki I told you not to lean on the railing last time we did this!"
Yomo and Ryoko jog over to the other side of the road, to find Kaneki laying on a platform of rock that has jutted out of the side of this cliff. She almost wants to laugh, but he does look like he's in a bit of pain. There's a lot of dead bodies surrounding him, do people jump off the side of the cliff and commit suicide here? Or are they just stupid like Kaneki and fall over the railing? Yomo throws down body bags, also somehow managing to get Kaneki, and the disgusting dead bodies both up. We manage to carry them all to the van and shove them inside the back, she feels like she has just committed a murder, but even from the times she's done it definitely didn't feel like this. Ryoko feels dirty.
The drive back is particularly quiet; Kaneki stinks from landing in a pile of dead people. Ryoko stinks from carrying the dead people, she advise both of them take a thorough shower before doing anything else. Yomo is nice enough to drop the both of them off at Kaneki's apartment, a place Ryoko had surprisingly only been to once. She didn't go inside either. Yomo leaves, and she looks over to Kaneki who looks extremely nervous for some reason. What's going on with him?
"Do you wanna come inside?"
Ryoko gasps and places her hands over her heart dramatically, "You want me to come inside? What's the special occasion?"
"No special occasion," He sighs loudly, "I'm sorry I've never invited you in. I just don't want you to think I'm boring," Kaneki looks away from her, scratching the back of his head. "Or something."
"I don't think you're boring," Ryoko grabs his shoulders, making the black haired boy look at her. "I think you're super boring. You read books? What a nerd!"
He chuckles, taking her hand and pulling Ryoko inside his building. "I get your point Ry, you don't have to be so sarcastic all the time it hurts you know!"
"I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Ryoko says as they enter the elevator, "My point is that it's ridiculous you assume I would think you're boring," He punches the button for floor 7, "-because you aren't!"
Kaneki just smiles at her, he still seems so nervous; she knew trying to calm him down was a lost cause though. Kaneki was always nervous, there were rare times he seemed calm, but she knew she could break that exterior any moment with any lude comment that came into her mind. Ayato had rubbed off on her tremendously, she certainly did not act lady like whatsoever. Kaneki though, was a ball of nerves all the time, always so worked up about something. Kaneki really just needed to relax and take some time to himself. He was a selfless person though, so she wasn't exactly sure that would ever happen. She only hoped that one day Kaneki would just rest, whether it be sooner or later.
The doors slide open as the elevator dings signaling that we've reached our floor; Kaneki doesn't hesitate to drag her to the door. He seemed to be in a rush, but also very reluctant. Room 208. After unlocking it, both of them enter and she observes his so called 'boring' apartment. Honestly, it looks a lot like Ryoko's except there's more grey.
"It looks like you don't even live here," She rolls her eyes, glancing over at Kaneki. "But it's not boring. Just looks like an apartment. I feel disgusting, and you smell disgusting. Got a shower?" She smirks.
Kaneki fumbles with his keys, and ends up placing them on the counter near him. "Of course I have a shower."
"Good then let's go," Ryoko grabs his wrist and he turns into a complete statue. He won't budge.
"T-Together?" Kaneki's face is absolutely red, she isn't even sure if he's breathing at this point. "I- uh, I don't know if, um, I-"
Ryoko tries her hardest not to laugh at him, she might almost feel bad for pulling this on him. Almost. "What are you getting so worked up about? I need you to show me how the shower works."
"Oh-Oh right," Kaneki finally lets out a large breath, the one that she had assumed he had been holding in this entire time. They walk into the bathroom and he explains how to turn it on and make it hot or cold, he hands her a towel and stares at her for a moment. "Is that your sweater?"
She shakes her head, "No, it's Ayato's." Ryoko slides it off, and immediately regrets it considering she forgot the reason she had Ayato's sweater on was because her shirt had blood stains on it. "Ah, yeah, this."
Kaneki's eyes are wide, but his exterior is surprisingly calm. "I can find you something to wear, if you want to stay."
"Stay? Stay the night? Here?" This time she was not even acting surprised, she's legitimately astonished. The only time they had stayed together is when Kaneki was shit faced.
"Yes," Kaneki smiles at her, an extremely cute almost begging face appearing, "Please?" He chuckles taking her sweater from her handing over a towel in return, "I promise I'll behave."
"Of course I'll stay," Ryoko sets the towel down, and reaches for the bottom of her white t-shirt; she begins to slowly pull, her fingers lingering against her skin and the linen ever so slightly, teasing Kaneki. She changes her slow pace for a faster one, practically tearing it off.
"Okay! I'm going to, uh, get uh-" As soon as her shirts off and she's standing there just in her bra Kaneki is almost trembling. "Clothes. Clothes. Clothes."
He repeats himself the whole way out the door, sheesh she didn't think her taking her shirt off would mess him up that bad. She throws it off to the side, removing the rest of her clothing. Once Ryoko steps into the hot water it's complete relief, she feels as though she's washed away this entirely dreadful week in one sitting. Showers truly were cleansing at times; Ryoko needed to appreciate them more. As soon as she was done, she realized Kaneki had left the clothes he picked out on the counter. She hadn't even heard him come in?
Regardless, Ryoko picks up the clothes, and puts them on quickly. Kaneki has chosen a striped sweater, along with a pair of his boxers. Despite Kaneki not being too much bigger than her, the clothes were still baggy and unflattering. It didn't matter though. She towel dried her hair then proceeded to walk back into the living room where she saw Kaneki sitting on the couch extremely still while watching the television.
"Kaneki, you can shower now I left it on." She tells him, and he turns to look at her. He nods his head getting up off of the couch walking towards Ryoko's direction. She gently places her hand on his chest; he stops immediately tensing up under her fiery touch. "You really have to relax," Ryoko says with a smirk spread widely across her face, she always had that damn smirk on her face when she knew she was taunting him. "It's okay."
He slowly nods his head as she carefully takes the eyepatch that's constantly covering his left eye. Sometimes she expects his ghoul eye to be seen, but this time it's just his normal brown iris looking back at her. "I've never done anything like this."
She places her small hand on his cheek, "I understand. You should really take your eyepatch off more often, seeing both of your eyes is somewhat uplifting."
"Uplifting?" Kaneki knits his eyebrows together at the girl in front him.
"Yeah, it's like I finally get to see all of you." She smiles at him, and his faces flushes red. In just a moment, it changes. She doesn't know what comes over Kaneki at that moment but he turns into a completely different person.
"You want to see all of me?" His voice is deeper, rougher than usual. Kaneki suddenly rips off the vest he wears for work, tearing open the button up underneath. Ryoko's honestly overwhelmed, she never thought Kaneki would be the one to take initiative. She had accepted he was a nervous, fidgety person. "Fine," He breathes huskily into her ear, pressing his lips against her enticing neck. That was all he could think about, pressing his lips against her soft skin. At first he trails gentle kisses across her jawline, but she can feel his teeth knick her skin, and feels the tension build up into her chest.
Ryoko can't tell if everything that's happening feels good because of what he's doing, or because of the fact that Kaneki's finally taking the lead. He has her pinned against the wall, the initial impact of slamming against it knocking the air out of her. Kaneki didn't give Ryoko a chance to rest, and their bodies are so close she doesn't think that she cares, she can't tell where he begins and she ends. Ryoko has never had Kaneki pressed up against her, however she found every time a hand caressed any part of her she felt it burning with longing. Ryoko wanted to be touched more, and when Kaneki was done leaving his imprint on her neck his mouth found her own once again. His lips were hot against hers, the friction caused by all the grinding between their synchronized bodies was making her breathe heavier each second. She knots her fingers into his hair, feeling his hands slide to her lower back. She needed him closer.
Ryoko feels his bare skin against her own, suddenly reminded of him practically ripping his shirt off, as he elongates the fiery kiss. She wasn't sure that her heart had ever pounded so hard in her chest in her entire life, sure she's had kisses but this was not a kiss. This was so much more, she had never felt such burning sensation of want from anyone. She was always calm, collected, but now she was completely disheveled. Before Ryoko could collect her thoughts it was over, he was off of her just like that. All the warmth that she had felt against her, gone in just an instant. She was so taken with Kaneki Ryoko hadn't noticed that she was bleeding from her neck.
She looks up instantly connecting her eyes with Kaneki's, he looks appalled. "I'm so sorry Ry, I don't know what happened. I haven't eaten lately and I can't control myself when I don't eat. I didn't mean for you to-"
"Thank you," She finally manages to catch her long-lost breath. "I'll get you something while you're in the shower," She let out a large breath, totally exasperated from that attack. That's what she decided to call it, because Kaneki had never been the one to leave me flustered, but here Ryoko was gasping for air and completely confused as to how this just ensued.
Kaneki seems to be absolutely delighted by this, his laugh started out normal but soon ended up being a full on howl. "I'm sorry Ryoko it's just so nice to see your face red for once."
"Whatever Ken," She scoffs, tucking her hair behind her ear, she marches to the door letting herself out into the hallway after sliding her shoes on in a hurry.
She leans against his door, taking in another breath. What the hell was that! She tries to shake the events that just went down in his hallway to the back of her mind, but every moment keeps resurfacing refusing to let Ryoko push it down into oblivion where it belongs. Instead of focusing on that, she fled trying to reach a shop she knew sold 'special' food in the back. It was closer to Kaneki's apartment than her own. After she found it, and ended up having to pay the cashier a lot heavier fee than she had intended, Ryoko headed back to Kaneki's hopeful that he would be out of the shower when she arrived.
Ryoko had been lucky enough that her silent prayers were answered, as soon as she entered room 208 there Kaneki sat on the couch again. The package in her hands was thrown into his lap as she laid across the couch resting her head into his lap. His hair was damp, and the only article of clothing he had on was sweatpants. Even Kaneki slept shirtless, huh? She stares up at him as he examines the package that she has just thrown into his territory.
"You need to eat to build up those muscles," She giggles, poking him right in the stomach. He glares down at her momentarily. Every time their eyes met, Ryoko couldn't help but get chills, Kaneki's eyes seemed so different from Kaneki. She couldn't explain it well, but the look in them always made her feel like he was hiding something inside.
Kaneki tears open the package, the smell of human flesh hitting her nostrils immediately. It never ceased to amaze Ryoko how appetizing it smelled, of course she had wrapped her head around the concept of eating people. She was a ghoul her entire life, it was kind of hard to stay in denial your entire life. Kaneki though, he had been human until two months ago. Ryoko could not imagine how difficult it must have been for him to get into the mindset that he has to eat what he once was.
She props myself up on her elbow and takes the package from Kaneki. He's been staring at it like it was going to say hi to him, and scar him for the rest of his life.
"Close your eyes,"
"Ry-"
"Just do it Kaneki," Ryoko hisses, of course he complies immediately. "Open your mouth, don't think about anything. Just focus on the taste,"
He does exactly what she says, and she tears off a piece from the large pound of meat gently placing it into his mouth. When he closed his mouth Ryoko ran her thumb on his bottom lip, it was soft just like she remembered. Kaneki slowly begins to chew, not long after he finally swallows it. They do this until he manages to eat the entire pound. She knew Kaneki had an issue with eating, but never imagined it to be this bad. After she throws away the package she lays back down, Kaneki wraps his arms around her.
He looks down at the girl in his lap with an immense amount of admiration, his heart nearly swelling with the feeling, "How do you always somehow manage to make everything easier?"
Ryoko giggles again, "Funny I was thinking the same thing about you."
"You remind me of my mom," He smiles softly, but his face turns red almost immediately. "Not like that! Just- the last time I felt comfortable around a person besides Hide it was my mother."
Ryoko would laugh if she didn't feel so bad for him, she knew he also had nobody. They were both loners, "Tell me about her."
"She was very kind, she took good care of me despite being the only parent. She taught me to read, and cooked for me almost every day. Everything was really good and then she was just-" Kaneki seems to get choked up for a moment, "Gone. And then I was with my Aunt." He seems to go to a different place for a moment. Weird.
"Well," She wraps her arms around his middle, "She sounds like a wonderful lady."
"She would have loved you," Kaneki grins down at Ryoko.
They don't talk much more than that, the two just enjoy the feeling of being together. Ryoko truly had missed Kaneki the whole week she had been without him. She tried to think of the exact moment he had started to mean so much to er, but couldn't pinpoint it exactly. All she knew was I was happy. It was her and him, and all of the other people in this world but she couldn't take her eyes off him. There was something about him, she always knew that, but Ryoko couldn't figure out what exactly it was.
Ryoko wakes up still enveloped in Kaneki's arms, she doesn't remember how or when they had moved to the bedroom but she was greeted by sunlight slithering through the blinds. One of these days sunlight would lose. She turns herself around to face him, and can't help but think that this is the first time she's seen his face truly peaceful. However, it's short lived because he wakes up shortly after; he gives her a kiss on the forehead soon after making his way to what she assumes is the bathroom.
He says he has something planned for them to do today, Ryoko thought he might have school but she remembered it was the weekend. Plus, Kaneki hadn't been attending college all that much lately, she guessed him changing made him not feel like it was worth it. They make a run by her apartment, thankfully Ayato is still sleeping, one less confrontation she would have to deal with. Once she gets into a change of her own clothes, she finds herself strolling down main street locked hands with Kaneki. It felt surreal being with him sometimes, like she didn't actually deserve it.
Shortly after Ryoko came back from getting lost in a maze of her own thoughts she realized they had stopped in front of the book store. Kaneki had planned a day of book shopping? She couldn't be happier. She almost drags him by force into the store with her.
"You seem excited," Kaneki laughs lightly, come to think of it, he's been quiet today.
"I am!" Ryoko smiles widely, as she began to scan down the aisles searching for her next exciting read. She had read through the same book three times while Ayato was unconscious, she desperately needed something else.
Kaneki hands her a book, "How about this one? It's murder mystery. I know you love those."
"You're right! I'll definitely get it." Ryoko takes it from him and throws it into her large black bag, along with two others she intended to buy. She trusted Kaneki's judgement, and didn't need to examine the author or anything. He seemed absolutely devastated that Ryoko didn't check out the book, which was very strange.
Ryoko dismissed it, and went on her way searching for more books. Kaneki hadn't said another word. She ended up leaving the store with seven new books, and a moping Kaneki. After the bookstore they were headed to a coffee shop, when we sat down she ordered an iced coffee, Kaneki ordering a regular latte. He seemed more fidgety than usual.
"Uh, maybe you should check out that book that I recommended," Kaneki smiles shyly, scratching at his cheek.
She places her hand on top of his, "Kaneki I just want to spend time with you right now, I'm not going to get lost in a book."
He seems to accept this for now, and after the coffee shop it was evening; Kaneki and Ryoko had found themselves taking a walk in the all too familiar park. He had been so shut down today, she tried to push it away pretending that there wasn't anything wrong. But she's had it, ever since the coffee shop.
"Kaneki what's wrong?"
"I just think you should read-"
"Why are you so hell bent on me reading the damn book?"
Kaneki groans, and drags his hands down his face. "Hand me the book."
She glances at him weirdly, but digs the book out of her bag. He flips open to the cover, Kaneki hands the book over to her. She sees the words scribbled across the cover; her heart drops at that exact moment. She read over them again, totally grasping every single letter.
Hey, uh, hi. Hello? God I'm so nervous and I'm not even really asking you in person. Anyways, Ry, Ryoko, dearest, whatever! I know it's only been a month, but to me it's been a lot more. It's been the best month of the year, with everything happening to me you are the only good thing I have. So, I know this is really cliche, but if you maybe wanted to be my girlfriend, I think that would make it be the the best month of my life.
Kaneki
Ryoko put her hand over my mouth, she almost feels like crying. Kaneki has just been trying to get her to read this all day, and she accidentally dodged every move he made. Kaneki was so sweet, almost too sweet for her to feel like she deserved him at all.
Ryoko looks at Kaneki, really look at him. His hair is longer than it was when she met him, but she liked the way it was now. It was still black as ever. His ghoul eye was hidden under that eyepatch he always wore. He had picked out an oddly colored turquoise jacket today, along with jeans and running shoes to match. All together, he was sort of dorky, but Ryoko loved it. She always had. The both of them had coincidentally been through alot together. But is this what she wanted? Of course she knew the answer.
"Ry, if you don't answer I think I might pass out," She averts her eyes up to Kaneki who's face is more red than she has ever seen before, "What do you say?" He takes her hand in his own.