Kaneki's Suffering

Chapter 2

Chomp. Chomp. The sound of teeth sinking into ghouls meat. Gross. "It tastes like a combination of a rotten apple and chicken meat that's gone bad." He complained but he continued eating no matter how horrible it tasted.

Day in, day out he does the same thing. Killing ghouls for their meat and training. Training to become stronger. "I have to become stronger. I must become a Kakuja!"

Kaneki hasn't gone to work for a month ever since he last visited. Yoshimura is starting to worry about Kaneki and have asked Touka to go check on him.

Touka has reached Kaneki's apartment. She knocks on the door but no reply. She knocks once again, harder, but still no reply. She then turned the doorknob and was surprised to find it unlocked. Touka went into the apartment and heard a cracking sound. "Kaneki?" No response. She walked further in and into Kaneki's room and her eyes widened. There she saw Kaneki eating something that stinks. Ghouls meat. She took another step which created a creaking sound in the floor.

The sound startled Kaneki and his head snapped up and turned behind. The blood drained from his face the moment he saw Touka standing there. He was so shocked that he dropped the leg he was eating onto the floor. "T-Touka-chan.. W-What are you doing here?" He slowly stood up to face her.

Touka stared at the corpse on the floor then looked at Kaneki. "You're eating ghouls?" Kaneki avoided eye contact and didn't reply. "I'll take that as a yes. Why are you eating ghouls? Tell me, I'll listen." Touka walked towards him.

"I-I want to become stronger. Stronger to protect everyone. That's why I'm eating ghouls." He looked down and cracked his finger.

She walked closer towards him and placed her hand gently on his cheek. "You've been through a lot, haven't you?" She gave a sad smile.

After hearing that, tears welled up in his eyes and started rolling down his cheeks. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his bed, getting him to sit down. "Tell me everything."

He told her about all the things Yamori did, what Rize taught him and the nightmares he dream of every night. Touka just kept nodding and listened quietly throughout. He gradually stopped crying.

After he was done, he felt as if a huge weight have been lifted off his shoulders. "Thank you for listening, Touka-chan. I feel better." He stood up.

"Your welcome. Just one thing, you don't have to shoulder the burden alone. Share them with me and the people in Anteiku."

"I got it. Thank you." Kaneki walked towards Touka and hugged her.

"K-Kaneki?!" Touka felt embarrassed and didn't know where to put her hands but in the end decided to place them on his back.

"Please just let me stay like this for a while." He laid his head on her shoulder and they stood there for a minute. Touka didn't resist at all and just blushed throughout.

They separated.

"You better come to work tomorrow!"

Kaneki chuckled. "Yeah I will. Well then see you tomorrow Touka-chan."

"Y-Yeah! S-See you at w-work!" She stuttered and ran out of his house.

That hug was nice. Hey wait Kirishima Touka! Calm down and think about it. That hug was just because he wanted to right? It didn't have any other meaning, did it?! Or did it?

"Argh! I don't know, BAKANEKI!" Touka screamed while running.

Her body was really warm and soft.. Kaneki couldn't get the thought of hugging Touka earlier out of his head. It was his first hug he did with a girl and it was with Touka!!

The next day, Kaneki came to work. Surprisingly, he was very popular in the shop.

"Hey you, what's your name?" One girl asked Kaneki.

"Kaneki."

"Kaneki-kun, is the color of your hair natural? Can I touch it?"

"Um yes it is and okay.." Kaneki bent down slightly to let the customer touch his hair.

What's with him? Letting other girls touch his hair. Touka started to get quite pissed.

"Kaneki's popular with the ladies now huh?" Nishiki smirked.

Touka ignored him and kept thinking about whether she should tell Kaneki to stop letting girls touch his hair.

I think I'll tell him tomorrow...

The next day. More and more girls came to Anteiku just to see Kaneki. One of them even asked if he had a girlfriend. Apparently, they all like his soft hair and thinks he's cool.

Soft soft soft soft... your head! Don't touch his hair dammit! I haven't even touched it yet!

Touka was unaware of her own feelings.

She called Kaneki to the pantry and told him to stop letting girls touch his hair.

"Why? It's attracting more business isn't it?" Kaneki was clueless as to why Touka didn't want him to do it anymore.

"It is... But... I haven't even touched it yet.." Touka mumbled.

"Touka-chan, are you jealous? If you are, then does that mean you like me romantically?"

Shit. I just realized what I told him just now was like a confession!

"No! Just-"

"Then why are you blushing?" Kaneki walked towards her but she backed away until her back hits the wall.

"T-That's because..."

Too close! He's going to hear my heartbeat!

"I don't know.. After you got caught by Yamori, I missed you... I thought that was normal but after yesterday's hug, I started having weird thoughts like I want another hug from you again. And I'm getting pissed at every single thing that happens like every time a woman customer flirts with you or when they ask to touch your hair, I feel like punching them." She started covering her face as tears fall down her cheeks.

Kaneki was really happy when he heard that because he has liked Touka for some time even before he got captured by Yamori. But he didn't confess because he didn't know how Touka felt and didn't want to scare her away.

"What you're feeling is jealousy, Touka-chan. It means that you envy those girls who touched my hair because you didn't get to touch it yourself. The reason why you feel this way is because you have feelings for me. You like me." He gently pushed her hands away from her face, cupped her cheeks and kissed her.

I must say I really enjoyed writing this chapter! It's filled with Touken moments and gosh Touka's jealousy is so cute <3 I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! Do give it a vote! Thanks :)