Kaneki opened his eye, forgetting where he was, wondering why he felt so warm and safe. Then he looked at Kuri sleeping next to him, and it all came rushing back.

It was winter and he was human. He found Kuri.

Emboldened, he got out of bed, careful not to jostle Kuri. He pulled on a massive jacket from the closet downstairs. It was probably her dad's. He made a note to return it after.

It would not do to be caught by her parents and thrown out into the cold. For more reasons than one.

Kaneki trudged through the ghoul-infested woods. He wasn't afraid of the ghouls; he knew from experience that they would leave a fellow ghoul alone, even if he was human. Something Yoshimura had taught him about scent.

Another thing Yoshimura had done? Safe houses.

Kaneki yanked the door open, which was way harder to do as a human.

These little bunkers were full of clothes, human food, and bedding. It was for when the the transformations began in early spring. When the line between human and ghoul blurred, and you were moving swiftly between one and the other.

Kaneki shuddered, remembering those days, sometimes awake, and sometimes not. The days in the little bunker were blurry memories that he couldn't put his finger on.

He knelt for the sealed box with his name on it. Of course it was not a regular box. It was a huge reinforced box that was extremely hard to break.

A human could never break it; and even a ghoul would have some trouble. Most importantly, it could not be broken by accident when in the throes and spasms of the in-between.

Kaneki gathered the clothes into a backpack he'd brought from Kuri's. He smiled a bit as he remembered all the library books he'd had to empty out. A girl after his own heart.

He got further into the box. A couple Takatsuki books, and his all-important journal. Yoshimura told him to write it, so that one day, when he disappeared forever into his Ghoul, someone could read it and remember who Ken Kaneki was.

Touching it reminded him of how fragile and special this winter with Kuri was.

The only food here was instant stuff, things that he didn't really want to eat with Kuri, so he left it untouched.

Bundling up further, Kaneki zipped up the backpack, and then went rigid. He scented another ghoul!

Whirling quickly, he went outside to face his guest.

It was Nishio again. Kuri had mentioned him threatening her. Seeing him now did not put Kaneki in a friendly mood.

The two stared at each other for a long time in a silent stand-off, and then surprisingly, Nishio turned and returned to the woods.

Xxx

Kuri woke and Kaneki was gone.

Had it been a dream? She got dressed and padded on socked feet into the kitchen.

Kaneki took in her clothes and suppressed a laugh.

Kuri was just happy to see him, so she didn't scold him for laughing at her attire. But she understood why; she was wearing an anime shirt, but in an artsy style, leggings with flames coming up the sides, and a red half-kimono as her jacket. Oh, and super fluffy socks. And cat ears with bells.

So the staring was warranted, honestly.

Kuri always dressed like this, so she didn't really consider his reaction when she put it on.

"Sorry," She said sheepishly. "I like people to know I'm in the room. Not much of a background person. Should I change? Are you….kinda in hiding?"

Kaneki flipped a pancake. "From who?"

"Good point." Kuri sat down at the bar. "Ghouls cook?"

"When we're human and can eat, sure."

"And you actually don't suck at it." Kuri grinned. "But that remains to be seen."

She took the plate he handed her and dug into the food. "Yep. You definitely don't suck at it. Actually…you kinda rock. But the question remains…how does a Ghoul learn to cook anyway?"

"Same way humans do." Kaneki said incredulously.

"Uh huh. So from your mom."

"From Yoshimura, yeah."

Kuri grinned. But after a few more bites she realized this was a bad day for good cooking. Pressing her hand to her mouth, but wanting desperately to keep eating, she grabbed her keychain and popped an anti nausea pill out of the emergency slot.

Kaneki watched curiously as she handled nausea like an expert. He realized that her story from last night was true, and it physically hurt him inside knowing that.

"You should give me tips." He said, forcing himself to smile and make light of it.

She finished what she could, then went over to clean the dish, and they were all of a sudden too close in the little kitchen.

Kaneki knew he should move away, but he kept staring at her mouth. She shouldn't have such perfectly shaped lips; it wasnt fair.

So it couldn't really be helped that suddenly without warning his lips were on hers. When he realized what he'd done, he started to pull back only to have her arms encircle his neck, enticing him forward.

"A-Are you sure you wanna kiss a Ghoul—"

"Shut up, Ken."

And then they were kissing again, and all Kaneki could think about was the curve of her lips as she said his name for the first time.