Touka held onto her breath, her head spinning with wild scenarios.
Why the hell was Rize here? How the hell did she find them? What was she after? What was she going to do?
Oh god, she was going to die here.
Kaneki was still pressed up against her, his chest nearly crushing her own ribs as she struggled to remain calm. The brick wall was painfully scratching against her exposed skin, but she knew if she stayed around for a minute longer, there would be more than just pain.
"Kaneki," she hissed as quietly as she possibly could. "Get off-"
"Quiet." He ordered, his minty breath crashing against her. "Stay still. Don't move just yet."
She narrowed her eyes, irritation bubbling up within her stomach. But she bit her lip and didn't make a sound.
"My king," Rize smiled sweetly. "You look tired. Has something been keeping you awake?"
Kaneki returned her smile with one of his own, his eye glinting against the artificial light.
"I should be the one asking you the questions."
Touka gave a small grunt as Kaneki only pressed himself further against her. She could practically feel his breath crawling down her back, leaving behind frail goosebumps.
She was about to snap him an insult, but something was pounding against her skin.
A rhythmic beat was evident against her chest, pulsing into her body and sending a rippling fear into her stomach and out to her fingers.
This wasn't her heartbeat.
Her brows furrowed as she carefully glanced up at Kaneki.
It was his.
This bastard was scared?
No, he was nervous.
Nervous?
Another light grunt escaped her throat as he pinned her roughly against the wall. His hand was now on her shoulder, gripping her tensely as if she would fly away if he let go.
This was starting to hurt like a mother-
"Why are you here, Rize?" he asked softly. "Or rather, how did you find me here?"
A breeze rushed past them, its icy giggle almost taunting Kaneki with its chilly breath.
And in that second, Rize's lilac eyes flickered towards Touka, scanning every inch of her body with a strange sense of absolute danger.
"You," she licked her lips, her voice low yet brimming with color. "You're Touka Kirishima."
The bartender felt Kaneki's breath hitch almost instantly at her words and his heartbeat only pulsated harder.
A trail of winter ice seemed to whisper softly into Touka's ear before curling against her neck and sending a premonition of fear into the deep pits of her stomach.
How did she know her name?
"I asked you a question, Rize." Kaneki said softly, his expression still blank and his eye still cold with suspicion.
"You were hiding her from me, weren't you?" Rize took a step forward, her eyes wide with excitement.
"Rize-" Kaneki immediately let go of Touka, this time pushing her right behind him with an obvious motion of urgency.
"So, I was right after all." The woman continued, another gust of wind burst past them, splashing her hair backwards in a fanatical frenzy. "You are trying to ruin me, Kaneki Ken."
Touka noticed it at the last second, but Kaneki saw it first.
"Touka! RUN!" his poker face had shattered at that point, but even the booming echo of his voice that nearly shook her to the bone wasn't enough to get her to move fast enough.
Before Touka could even turn, the sickening crack of a gun exploded, the brick walls trembling against the roar of the bullet.
A searing sensation ripped through Touka's shoulder, the immense pain dragging its nails down her arm as blood gurgled onto the floor.
Multiple curse words flashed through her head as the bullet tore a shrill scream from her lips. She fell forward, her knees scraping against the concrete, ripping through her flimsy stockings and biting through her flesh. She lurched herself forward, her right hand clamping desperately onto her left shoulder as blood gushed through her fingers, staining her nails with its crimson color.
"Jesus fucking Christ oh my fucking god fucking hell you bitch what the fuck-"
It felt like a sizzling, hot rusty nail shoved itself deep into her shoulder, snapping her bones and muscles apart.
Her ears were ringing intensely, every other sound muffled against the hissing pain as she quickly tried to focus on anything that was nearby.
She faintly heard Kaneki calling out to her, but oh god this hurt like a bitch.
Kaneki's eye snapped open, his hands coming up right on time to block the kick from Rize. He winced once her heel came into contact with his bone, a faint crack running up his arm. His shoes skidded across the pavement, his rubber soles sizzling against the friction.
Rize wasted no time to fire another bullet, but Kaneki anticipated this and burst out to the left, his coat fluttering behind him as he crushed his heel into the brick wall. His legs moved him upwards before kicking off with a powerful force of speed.
He was inches away from Rize's face, his fist lashing out and aiming for her cheek.
She held onto her smile, her hand interrupting his fist and catching it in the palm of her hand.
But he was stronger and the force was enough to tear itself through her shield, his knuckles crushing itself into her hand and forcing it to slam right into her own cheek.
The Binge Eater flew through the air, her back crashing against a wall and wrenching the air from her lungs.
She gave a sharp cough, wheezing and struggling to regain her posture.
"No weapons, my king?" she sputtered, giggling in between breaths as she gripped her gun. "I only have two bullets left but I know you can dodge them all. So skilled, I'm almost jealous."
Kaneki's attention flickered towards Touka who was still kneeling on the ground, trying to stop the blood with her hand.
"And you hit my face." The woman continued, standing up with her usual smile. "It's not very nice to hit a girl. You show no mercy even to a beautiful woman."
"Yes, but you're quite special." He said quietly, narrowing his eye. "Against you, pulling back my punches is dangerous."
The Binge Eater rubbed her cheek, blood trickling down from her lips and onto her chin. She raised her gun again, pointing it at Kaneki almost playfully.
"Kaneki Ken, are you starting a war?" she asked softly, her smile slowly descending into the rich area of darkness. "Because if you are, you chose the wrong enemy."
The other remained silent, his eye analyzing every muscle movement and every breath with the utmost precision.
"I got some intel that your men were snooping around in my…business." She chuckled, her finger resting on the trigger. "And I'm sure you're very aware of the fact that I like to keep my business a secret, yes?"
"Human trafficking was not part of our contract." He whispered harshly. "That contract is the only thing keeping our alliance together, Binge Eater. If I didn't know any better, you started this new secret of yours as an excuse to wage a war yourself."
Kaneki took a step forward, the wind running its icy fingers through his hair as he zeroed in on his target.
"Or were you ignorant enough to think that you would get away with this?"
Touka's breathing was getting shallow. Her vision was swirling and spinning and morphing together to form a whole new blend of colors.
Oh god, she was going to faint.
Those movies were a lie. Those Hollywood jackasses made it look so easy to get shot by a fucking bullet. What the hell was this crap?
But despite the pain and desperation, Touka managed to pick up on their talk.
This was no new information to her, she knew about Rize's human trafficking business for a while now.
No one else except Rize's group knew about her so called business, so the fact that Touka even had the information put her in danger.
She thought that as long as she kept everything a secret, she would be safe and sound, but of course, life had other freaking plans.
"My intentions have nothing to do with you, my king." Rize hummed.
"I beg to differ." The other said softly. "You broke our contract and our alliance. I don't know why you would do something so reckless but it's clear you intended to do this for a long time. Your human trafficking system was almost flawless which means you've been doing this for quite a while." He glanced back at Touka for another moment.
An interlude of silence curtained between the two leaders.
Kaneki's breath crashed against the winter air as he gave the Binge Eater a gentle smile.
"Rize," he said lightly. "I do not like being tricked."
Another crack ripped through the air, the bullet tearing through the atmosphere and aiming straight for his abdomen. Kaneki threw himself backwards, the bullet centimeters away from grazing his nose.
Pulling himself upright once more, he launched himself forward, becoming nothing more than a streak of pure white, skimming through the air like a needle.
He had to finish this quickly.
Touka was still bleeding out and in obvious pain. If he stalled any longer…
He kicked out his leg, the wind crackling against the pressure as he aimed for her skull.
She managed to duck last second, smiling widely as she pulled the trigger.
But he was ready for it.
His foot that was planted into the ground gave a sharp spin, pulling himself out of harm's way. The bullet seared through the lingering fabric of his coat before wedging itself into the grooves of the wall behind him.
"Two bullets. You have no chance against me without a gun." He breathed, the breeze shifting his locks to the side. "Leave. We will have a meeting about this later."
He turned around, silently catching his breath as he quickly rushed over to Touka's side.
Some of the blood was already dry thanks to the constant barrage of cold air puffing against her skin. Its dull layer of scarlet was caked onto her fingers and uniform in a rather grotesque fashion.
She gave Kaneki a weary look but still managed to sew a scowl together.
"You…asshole…if I get out of this alive…" she mumbled as aggressively as she could before trailing off with an exhausted sigh. "Just…get me out of here…"
Kaneki extended his hand, his fingers carefully wrapping themselves around her right wrist.
"Your injury," he started softly, slowly trying to lift her hand away from the wound. "It's still bleeding."
"No shit, Sherlock." She snapped, wincing at the pain but letting him pull at her hand.
She could still see Rize over his shoulder but quickly closed her eyes once her vision began to blur again.
A rough echo bounced off the walls as Kaneki ripped a piece of cloth from his shirt before wrapping it around her shoulder.
She gave a quiet hiss at the pressure, but managed to fight through the burning pain.
"This will stop the flow even for a little bit…" he said softly, his gray eye meeting her lilac ones. "Does it hurt?"
"Like a motherfucker."
His expression seemed to soften slightly at her words, his quiet chuckle lacing the atmosphere with its calm.
Touka averted her eyes away from him, her face burning with embarrassment from the situation she found herself in. She hoped to god the darkness was enough to conceal the flush of scarlet crawling up on her cheeks.
She opened her mouth, her throat suddenly feeling a little dry, "Thanks."
Gently, the gray eye widened in pleasant surprise.
He blinked, white lashes fluttering carefully with the breeze that seemed to swirl quietly around him.
In that brief moment of genuine gratefulness, the One Eyed King let down his guard and gave the woman a rare smile of tranquility.
But of all the moments that the king could have chosen to be vulnerable, he chose the wrong one.
The same, familiar burst of a gunshot pierced the air, shredding every last drop of relief into powder and sprinkling its remains into the wind.
Touka stared up at Kaneki, violet orbs wide and frozen over with horror as blood gushed forth from a wound that wasn't hers.
She felt herself tremble, unable to register what just happened and what was going to happen.
Kaneki fell onto his knees, his breathing torn and ragged as he desperately wrapped his arms around his stomach in an attempt to stop the blood from spilling any further.
"How careless!"
Touka slowly peered over his shoulder, her body shaking and shivering without her permission.
Rize was smiling, a trail of smoke rising from her gun as she tilted her head.
"He actually believed me when I said I only had two bullets left."
Touka forgot how to breathe for a moment.
A violent tremble spread throughout her body as a feeling she had suppressed for many years surged forth from the deep caverns of her consciousness – fear.
Kaneki was still hunched over, sweat clinging onto his brow as he forced his legs to move.
He got onto one knee.
Blood instantly splattered onto Touka's face a split second later. The same sharp crack of the gun had grown numb to her ears as she watched Kaneki lurch forward, the bullet digging itself into the back of his thigh.
He crashed into her arms, panting and wincing against the excruciating pain.
"In reality," Rize exclaimed, her smile beaming with the lights that decorated the city. "I only have nine left."
Touka stood still, violet pupils unable to tear themselves away from the horror that was before her.
She was practically drenched in blood as Kaneki, the most powerful mafia leader known to mankind, was dying in her very arms.
And the Binge Eater, the second most powerful leader known to mankind, was in front of her with a loaded gun.
Touka couldn't find her voice. She didn't know what to do.
She was going to die.
She stared as Rize slowly began to walk forward, twirling the gun around her finger like a child playing with a toy.
Touka didn't move even when Kaneki gripped her elbow with whatever strength he had left.
She didn't move even when he croaked the words, "Run."
Another gunshot caused her to scream. She jerked backwards, every cell in her body trembling with spine-chilling fear.
She was terrified.
Oh god, she was fucking terrified.
The bullet had plunged itself deep into Kaneki's gut, spurting out blood as it did.
"I wonder how many times I have to shoot him until he dies." The woman sighed, her mouth curling into a deadly smile. "The One Eyed King dies by the hands of the Rize Kamishiro, the Binge Eater!" she threw back her head, letting a golden laugh fly from her cherry colored lips. "It sounds absolutely delicious!"
Horrified and most definitely traumatized, Touka managed to cling onto Kaneki's jacket with shaking arms, scooping him up into a defensive hug.
It wasn't going to do anything.
She felt her fingers get tangled up in his soft, pure white hair as she shoved him closer into her.
This wasn't going to protect him.
She felt like she was going to burst open as her heart pounded intensely against her ribcage.
They were both going to die.
"Touka Kirishima." Rize sang, still walking towards them with slow and steady steps. "My, you look scared. Did you see a ghost or something?"
This fucking bitch-
The Binge Eater cackled and Touka instantly jumped in response.
"Killing Kaneki Ken would be like a dream, but don't worry, I have my priorities straight."
She was now only a feet away from the two.
"He's not at the top of my hit list." She giggled, her lilac eyes sparkling with electrifying thrill.
Her wet tongue glided over her own lips as she gave Touka a radiant look of strange delight.
"You are."
Something was boiling inside of Touka in that moment. Something had chained itself onto her chest, dragging every sense of logic down with it.
Logic and cold, hard analysis had no place in a moment like this.
So, in its place, came a warm and impulsive wave of hardcore emotions.
From the dark recesses of her mind came an explosion of courage and with every ounce of her strength, used it as her boost of morale.
Abandoning all form of reason, Touka let go of Kaneki and launched herself forward, lashing out her hand and grabbing Rize by both of her wrists.
Her shoulder screamed in blazing agony as she mustered up all the strength she possibly could. Her wound was ripping itself apart, but that was the least of her worries.
Rize was fighting back, her smile still wide and beaming as she wrestled Touka with her own monstrous strength.
Survive! Survive! Survive!
All of her natural instincts was chanting the same thing.
SURVIVE GODDAMMIT!
Touka heard Rize's wrist snap against the pressure, and once that look of pain flickered across the Binge Eater's face, a thin line of snow white cut through the air.
A rush of wind brushed past Touka's cheek, and she watched in half astonishment and in half relief as Kaneki crushed his foot against Rize's face.
Touka let go, stumbling backwards as the Binge Eater went flying straight into the brick wall, the force immediately ripping it apart.
Kaneki landed on his feet, his breathing evidently shallow and broken, but his face was still holding onto its trademark poker face.
Blood dripped down from his wounds, painting the floor with a layer of crimson. The gun had been wrenched from Rize's hand and was now resting beside Kaneki's feet.
"Are you…" Touka choked. "Are you okay?"
Kaneki blinked and gave her a quick glance, another shimmer of wind wrapping its icy wings around them.
"Yes." He nodded. "Pain isn't the problem, blood loss is. I think it's best if we go to a hospital."
"You think?" she mumbled, sarcastically.
Tired violet eyes traveled over to the still figure a few feet away from them, covered in rubble and dust.
"Is she dead?"
"No," Kaneki said softly, turning around and limping towards the exit of the alleyway. "Unconscious."
"You're not going to kill her?"
"Killing her right now would be unwise." He answered, his voice nearly muffled against the frosty breeze. "She is still a mafia leader with many connections, and connections mean trouble. And I think she just declared war and…" he gave an exhausted sigh before turning to look at Touka. "We can discuss this on a later date. Right now, I think I need a bath."
She watched him limp away, her head spinning with adrenaline and remnants of fear. Taking a deep breath, she carefully followed him, drowning her thoughts with the translucent and bubbling lights of the city.
But the coarse friction of rubber against concrete grated through her trance, tearing her away from the beauty of the artificial lights.
She looked ahead, noticing the sluggish movements of the mafia leader in front of her. Scarlet drops of liquid was gushing forward, leaving behind a messy trail of splattered blood.
She mentally gave herself a hard smack on the forehead.
God, she was awful.
Taking a deep but shaky breath, Touka quickly sped up her pace.
Gently, she reached forward, taking Kaneki by the arm and placing it over her shoulder. She tucked her good arm under his armpit, softly leaning his weight onto hers.
The mafia leader gave a light gasp of surprise and pain as he struggled to keep his balance.
"You don't have to do this." He winced, his voice still soft and subtle.
"Shut up and walk." She hissed. "Luckily the hospital is-"
"No, there's a place just two blocks ahead." He interrupted, sweat rolling down his cheek despite the cold. "My men are stationed there. They can help."
Growling and biting back her doubts, Touka Kirishima decided to do the one thing she really didn't want to do.
She decided to trust him.
"Alright," she mumbled, taking a step forward. "Just don't die 'till we get there, asshole."