Hide made is way to the front door to meet the investigator outside, ignoring the CCG team as he stood with his arms crossed. He watched as the car pulled up in front of the house and the tall dark haired man stepped out followd by two others each man carrying a briefcase.
Amon walked calmly over to Hide.
"I know I'm one of the last people you want to see right now-"
"They're not coming with you and that briefcase is mine as long as its on my property. I told you not to bring it in when you called."
"You're in no-"
"I have every right to refuse to let you in here. You wanna talk, i want your case. You go in without your friends. If Kaneki says he's had enough, you leave or you'll be removed. I'm not going to let you or anyone else threaten him in my house, this is his home too and he has a right to rest and feel safe here just as you do in yours."
" This case is-"
"I know, your protection. You don't need it. If Kaneki wanted to kill you, he would've but that's not who he is and I'm not taking chances. You don't run things here."
"Don't give us any crap, kid. We have a right to carry these weapons. You work f-"
"Absolutely right. Just not onto private property without permission that I'm not giving. This is your only option. Hand it over and tell your friends to wait in the car." Amon stood still, narrowing his eyes at younger man stood his ground firmly. At last Amon slowly handed over his quinque.
"Are you this demanding with Eye Patch?"
"You mean Kaneki, show him some respect. He's a good guy. He's had it a little rough but you can't assume he's some kind of-"
"Ghouls are killers, we have to assume that all of them are the monsters we-"
"Never, ever refer to Kaneki as a monster. I'm having enough trouble with him believing that himself. He's not even close. I'm not gonna let you or anyone else convince him he's something he's not." Amon motioned for the agents to return to the car.
"You have the quinque, my team is in the car and I'm alone, anything else?"
"Do you have anything else on you?" Amon shook his head.
"We should've hired you in security. No there's nothing else." Hide hesitated before turning and leading the investigator through the house. Hide stopped at the bedroom door.
"When we go in there you need to understand he's still sick. He's willing to talk to you but don't count on a long conversation. I'll end it if he's getting too tired. You shouldn't plan to stay long anyway." Hide opened the door softly to reveal a dimly lit room where Kaneki lay propped up against his pillows with his eyes closed. Hide walked to the bed, taking Kaneki's hand and kissing the ghoul's forehead.
"Hey, Kaneki, he's here." The human waited but received no reply from his friend.
Amon took note of the ghoul's pale appearance. Kaneki seemed to be thinner now than at their last meeting. The inspector found himself feeling a certain amount of pity for the ailing figure.
"Kaneki, open your beautiful eyes." Hide nuzzled his cheek affectionately. FKaneki'sKaneki's dark eyes opened and he found himself looking into Hide's.
"Hey." He greeted with a smile.
"Hey." Kaneki said weakly.
"How are you feeling?"
"Same as earlier, i guess."
"Good. Amon's here. Are you sure you feel well enough for this, I can tell him to go right now if you-"
"I'll be okay." Hide lowered himself onto the edge of the bed.
"Have a seat." Hide offered, gesturing to the chair he had placed across from the bed. Amon did as he was instructed.
"Inspector Amon," Kaneki began. "Before we start, I want to thank you for that night you saved Hide. If you hadn't told them to take him..."
"Hey, I'm right here, it's okay." Hide soothed noticing the sorrowful look in his friend's eyes. He moved closer, pulling Kaneki into his arms and allowing him to rest his head on his shoulder. Amon observed the pair in front of him.
"I do appreciate that you let Hide bring me here. I'm sorry for the way things turned out...I didn't want to hurt you and I still don't. You didn't give me a choice. You can ask me anything and if I have the answer I'll give it to you. I understand that you don't trust me, but we're not all the same."
"What do you mean?" Amon asked.
"Not all ghouls are the ruthless killers you believe us to be. Some are but just like regular people we're all different. There is good as well as bad. Most of us are just trying to survive. We eat the only thing we can live on. It's not something we do just because we feel like it. It depends on the individual ghoul."
"Kaneki doesn't like having to live that way. He's not out there hurting people. We has a hard enough time taking what he needs to survive...even when it's given to him." Hide explained. "I don't know what exactly you want to know. I-"
"You were attacked by a ghoul, yet you still defend them." Amon said.
"Yeah. I've seen both sides of this, the bad and good. Maybe instead of condemning them all it would help to understand that the difference exists. Not all of them are going to come after you." Kaneki took hold of Hide's sleeve suddenly, burying his face in his shoulder.
"Are you okay, do you need me to bring you a drink?"
"I'm really trying not to need it right now."
"If you need it, you need it. There's not a lot you can do about it. I don't want you going through all that pain.
"I'll be okay." Hide kissed the ghoul's forehead.
"I'll go get it for you. I can't let you keep going through all that." He shifted Kaneki back onto his pillows. "Do you want me to have him leave?"
"No, we're just talking."
"If you need anything-"
"I'll be fine until you get back, I promise." Hide nodded, kissing him once more and reluctantly leaving the two alone. Amon sat silently for a moment, watching the ghoul pull the blanket closer to him, visibly shivering.
"We get cold too." Kaneki said, noticing the puzzled expression on Amon's face.
"I'm sure you do, but what I'm not sure of is how a ghoul could decide to-"
"We're not all as bad as we're made out to be. You should know that by now. Some of us are more human than the image most people have of us. I think it's easy to lose sight of that. Some of us are capable of existing peacefully with humans, some even fall in love."
"Like you two?"
"Yeah, it's not exactly common place, but it happens."
"You must mean a lot to him eye- Kaneki, He did everything he could to pull you out of there." Kaneki smiled faintly.
"That's Hide, he's always been there for me."
"I can see that. I've never known a ghoul to risk everything to save a human. I was already intrigued by you. Our past encounters haven't been exactly.. Normal for lack of a better word. You showed me something different, we need to understand each other to-" Amon sighed heavily. "What I saw from you...I didn't understand why or how you could be so different from the rest. You could teach the CCG a lot. We could-"
Hide appeared once again. He carried a coffee cup over to the bed and sat down next to Kaneki.
"Can you hold it?" He said.
"Not on my own,not yet." The ghoul admitted. Amon stood up.
"I'll give you some privacy. When you're feeling better, I'd like to have you stop by my office... Both of you. I'd like to talk to you in more detail about a project I'm hoping to start. I'd like to bring you in on this. In the meantime, if you need anything, you have my personal and office number." He said, watching Hide pull Kaneki close, brushing back his white hair from his face.
"You can do that knowing what he is?"
"Let me ask you a question, Amon" Hide said. "Have you ever loved someone so much you'd do anything for them, even if they were different from yourself, if you really loved them more than your life, wouldn't you give them affection?"
"But he eats-"
"It's given willingly. He doesn't ask or hurt me to get it. We aren't hurting anyone, if he returns the feeling, why is it any different from you loving someone?" Hide lifted the cup to Kaneki's lips.
"Just drink, it's going to be okay." He promised. Amon nodded.
"There's one more thing you could do before you go." Hide called as Among reached the doorway.
"What's that?"
"Take those guys outside with you."
"Not yet, I'll check back with you next week. I'll see myself out, can I have my quinque back?" Kaneki carefully pushed the glass away.
"You can give it back, he's not going to hurt me, and I won't hurt him." Hide hesitated, but handed the weapon back to the older man.
"I hope to hear from you soon. I'd also like to talk more about your condition and how you've managed to get this far. Until next time, Eye patch.
" His name is Kaneki. " Hide said sternly.
"You two are something else, you know that?" The investor said, leaving Hide to continue caring for the bedridden ghoul and allowing Touka to come out from her hiding place in the closet.