All he could see was a white abyss, never ending and ever expanding. The first thing he notices about himself is his leg hurts. Looking down he sees blood, it flows down his calf from his knee. He's scraped it, badly.
"Ah, look what you've done to yourself. This is not ok, there's so much blood! Are you ok?" A voice calls to him, panicked, from beside him. He looks over, a young boy has materialized. He has black hair and frightened gray eyes. The boy clutches a book to himself tightly as he eyes the mass of blood dripping down. An instant feeling of protectiveness rushes through him. He wants to protect the boy, to comfort him, not wanting to add to the stresses of this boys life. He feels a large grin pass upon his face, one he knows will be the first of many to come.
"Ha ha, I'm fine Kaneki. Don't worry about me."
The boy relaxes slightly, his fear turning to a mild concern as his gaze lingers at the blood one last time.
"Well if you're sure..." The boy trails off, and he notices the boy growing more and more transparent before finally disappearing. Now hes left alone in the white, where the only colour is the red of blood pouring down his bleeding leg.
Xx
Haise is worried, Yoshi won't wake up. He's lying down the back of Haise's car as he speeds down the streets towards a hospital. Haise knows his first priority should be getting his friend to medical help, but the dark voice of his subconscious rises up and down in his head like the waves of high tide.
"Who do you think he called out too before he passed out? Do YOU know who Kaneki is?" It mocks, clawing at Haise, giving him a headache.
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Haise hisses aloud, digging his nails into the steering wheel as he starts to hyperventilate.
"He was thanking you, the real you, me."
"Not now! Not now!"
"You don't even know who he is. Yoshi i E."
"Yoshi's life is in danger, if you don't shut up I wont be able to get him help in time." The voice is silent for a moment, as if considering whether taunting Haise was worth the risk.
"I love him, more than a lie like you ever could."
The voice remains silent after that. Haise's headache lifts considerably to a light throb. He stops hyperventilating. He can focus on getting Yoshi to safety.
Xx
The blood still pours, it makes a trail behind him as he drags himself along. It seemed the further he went the worse his injury became. It seemed like an eternity of walking in the whiteness before he came across the boy again, only he appeared to be older, a man now, and was knelt down crying. As he approached, the man looked up, one eye flashed a chilling black and red.
"I… I… I'm fine." The man says, tears rushing down his face. Approaching the man, he kneels to match him. Gripping the mans hand he brings it to his lips.
"Of course you're fine Kaneki, but I'm here if you want to talk anyway. I always will be." The man nods back and, still teary, leans forward to kiss him. The man, still sobbing, opens his mouth to allow the others tongue to slide in. It does. The man then clamps down, biting the others tongue clean of before pulling back to chew at it.
"You always know how to make me feel better." The man says as he chews before swallowing the others tongue. He, now unable to speak to the man, holds his hand over his mouth to prevent blood from toppling out. It spills between his fingers and onto the ground, yet the man seems unfazed. He holds a thumbs up with his free hand to the man, whom finally stops his tears and smiles, before fading away again, to leave him with only the white and the red.
Xx
Haise swerves, narrowly avoiding a pedestrian. He curses aloud before taking a sharp turn into an emergency vehicle zone and parking. He exits the car and throws open the back door. Yoshi is white and still unconscious. He stirs as Haise lifts him into his arms again and mumbles the name 'Kaneki' again. Haise can almost feel his subconscious voice wanting to torment him, yet to his surprise, remains silent. A security officer approaches to chaise Haise on where he's parked but backs away, whether thats due to perhaps the amount of blood he saw covering the too-pale Yoshi or the wild, threatening look in Haise's eye, only he would know. Instead the security officer closes Haise's back door and lets him carry Yoshi inside the hospital.
Entering the emergency department Haise stumbles over to the triage nurse.
"Hello how can I- Dear lord!" The nurse says and picks up a phone and quickly dials a number. "Yes, we're gonna need a bed and a doctor here quick!" Putting down the phone he turns to Haise. "What Happened?"
"Two ghouls attacked us, my friend got hit in the leg with ukaku shards. He's been bleeding non stop for around 10 minutes and unconscious for about 8 minutes."
"Shit!" The nurse hisses. "Do you know his blood type?"
"Ah- No."
The nurse takes a breath, as other nurses wheel a bed in. Reluctantly, against his greater want, he places Yoshi within the bed. The pristine white sheets turn red alarmingly fast. Haise looks over to see the nurse relaying the information to whom Haise assumes to be the doctor. The nurses roll Yoshi away and the triage nurse stops Haise as he begins to follow.
"Your friend is going into surgery to clean and close the wound. You can't follow I'm sorry. Please wait out here for your friend while we try and contact his family. Do you know his next of Kin?"
"No."
"His name?"
"Yoshi Chika."
"Date of birth?"
"No."
"Age?"
"No."
"Do you know anything about him apart from his name?"
"No." "No."
Xx
The white abyss is slowly turning into a red sea. He can now hear things within it. Muffled voices, words unintelligible. Machines beeping. Screaming. Crying. Yelling. It was all but consuming him. Still he continued forward, until he found the man again. The change in the man this time was the stark white hair which clashed greatly with the black of his outfit.
"Oh, you're back? Why?" The man asks. The other opens his mouth to reply but only blood spills forward.
"I guess you can't say anything after I ate your tongue. The price of keeping secrets is tough huh?" The man looks around sheepishly, before looking back at the other.
"I wanted to die you know, I was always ready to die. Yet you were always there by my side. Hiding all your pain, all your suffering, even putting your life on the line for me. I wish I could hear why." A rumbling comes from the man and his kakugan flashes.
"Ah I'm so, so, so hungry." The other approaches the man, the loss of mass amounts of blood hits him all at once and the other falls into the mans arms weakly. The other raises his bloodied and to the man's hair, smearing red across the white and downwards as the others hand falls to the mans cheek.
"I know what you're thinking. 'Eat, please devour me. I don't mind. So long as you live.' You're so selfish. Not caring how I would feel if you were gone. But I'm so, so, so, so, so, hungry. Maybe just one bite couldn't hurt. If you'd let me."
The other nods, and the man moves the others hand from his cheek to his lips. The man gives a soft kiss to the knuckles before him.
"Ah, thank you so much Hide."
Then the man takes a bite.
Xx
Haise watches anxiously from beside the bed as Yoshi's eyes fly open. After 4 hours in surgery and a further 2 hours unconscious Haise's friend suddenly awakens in slight alarm.
"Yoshi, it's okay. I'm right here." Haise soothes stepping up from his seat beside the bed.
"Wha- Haise?" Yoshi asks, a little disorientated.
"Yeah. It's me. We're at a hospital. You got shot in the leg with shards-"
"-From an ukaku ghoul, yeah I remember it all."
"Even-"
"Yeah, even about you."
Haise stiffens, preparing for a frightened rejection. As much as he'd like to admit it Yoshi had somehow grown on Haise, and it would really hurt him if Yoshi was scared of him.
"It's okay, man. I'm not scared. I am a little tired though." Yoshi assures Haise, letting his fears rest for the moment. Haise chuckles.
"Well, you did just get shot in the leg."
Yoshi now laughs.
"Haha, Yeah, I guess I did, Haise."