Wonderland (Kaneki x Touka)

Touka

Kaneki had told me that I'd had a fit. A small fit where I had seen the old Kaneki and he'd spoken to me. I couldn't remember anything about it since I had woken up, but I promised to keep an eye out for the troublesome Kaneki.

I had one Kaneki... I didn't need two of them. I sighed to myself as I stared at the ceiling. Kaneki was surprisingly comfortable for a human pillow. I thought he would've been hard to lean on, but his skin was like silk and his muscles were not like metal as I had so stupidly expected. His heartbeat was steady, his chest rising and falling with his breathing - which had just become erratic. I felt him jerk, and then he whined. I took his hand, fitting my fingers between his. His hand curled around mine, his nails digging into my hand. I chewed on my tongue as I slapped him softly. His eyes burst open, and he sat upright quickly. 

"Nightmare?" I asked him as his grip on my bleeding hand softened. I felt him take his hand from mine and stare at his blood-coated fingers. I moved off to wash my hands. "Want to talk about it?" I asked as I leant against the doorway. I checked the time. 2:19. It was way too early for this. I licked my lips as he shook his head. I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and then moved towards him slowly. He didn't seem to mind as I wiped the blood from his fingers. "No." He muttered as he stood. I cocked my head as I raised my eyebrows. He grabbed something from my desk and walked off. 

I tried to chase him, but I had forgotten how fast he had become. I couldn't even find his scent anymore. I whipped out my phone before a thought occurred to me. I looked up, seeing Kaneki's kagune whipping around on the rooftops. Crazy. 

"Kaneki!" I screamed as he jumped from one rooftop to the other. There were distinct red sparks flying from his kagune. I clenched my fists as I dashed back inside. I quickly got changed and slid on my rabbit mask. I rushed towards the rooftops, my own kagune sliding out from my skin. I twitched as it settled. 

I cried out as I heard Kaneki scream. 

It wasn't that of bloodlust or a battle cry. He was... scared. I felt like I was moving in slow motion as I dashed forwards. I saw Kaneki, facing off against another white haired boy. "Juzo! No!" A larger man was yelling. They must've been CCG partners. What was the Comission of Counter Ghoul doing here? At this time?

I dashed forwards, the spikes from my kagune shooting out rapidly as I slid to a stop beside Kaneki. He shoved me back, his kagune pulsing. His chest was heaving. "How'd you know?" I asked him. His head lolled to the side. 

"Don't worry about that." He groaned. "We have to get out of here." 

"Why? Can't we fight?" I questioned as the young boy darted around in front of us. He shook his head. The older man grabbed his partner by the shirt and tugged him back. "Amon..." The young boy whined. I cocked my head. 

"I have fought this one before. He's different." I grabbed Kaneki's sleeve as he stiffened. "Are we running or fighting, Kaneki?" I asked him hurriedly. His exposed eye slid half-shut, but he didn't seem too agitated. 

"Running." He said after what seemed like hours. I took off with Kaneki in tow. He quickly took the lead, dragging me behind him. "Do you know that guy?"

"Yeah. We fought before. I didn't kill him." He huffed. "I should've killed him. Though those two aren't partners. That smaller one... he's erratic. He doesn't have a fighting style. You can only block him; you can't do much in the ways of swaying the fight to your advantage."

"So... Juzo is dangerous?" I asked as we slid through a few back-alleyways.

"Juzo.." He tried the name out, unzipping his mask slowly. "Yes. Juzo is dangerous. Very dangerous. If you ever see him... you have to run. Understand?" He asked, his breathing becoming laboured. 

"I understand." I said as he slowed. 

"Good." He put his hand against the wall before putting his back to it and sliding down to the concrete ground. I balked at his blatant show of weakness. "He's so..." He bit down on his lip and threw me his mask. His red eye seemed to be fading back to grey as his kagune slid down into his back once more. I leant against the wall beside him.

"We have a lot of work to do, don't we?" I asked. "If we want to make it out of this alive... we can't just sit back and watch. We can't let him get this close to killing you."

Kaneki looked at me with pain in his eyes. "Drop it, Touka." 

"You're an SS-rated ghoul. You can get your ass up and fight him again!" What if he made his way to Anteiku? What would we do? Everyone could die. Hinami could die. "You haven't fought him, Touka!" He yelled as he rose to his feet. "You don't know what it's like to go up against something that crazy."

"You are Eye-Patch. You are Centipede. He is Juzo. He is nothing."

"You don't know what you're talking about." He said, chewing his lip as he winced and stood. "Let's just go."

"No." I huffed.

"Touka. Don't." He hissed. 

"Don't what? Don't fight? They could find Hinami! They could get into Anteiku and..." He clamped his hand over my mouth. I watched the tears swirl inside his eyes.

"No." He said, a stray tear rolling down his cheeks. "They won't. You're tired." He said softly. "Come on." He said softly, his voice cracking softly. He let me lead the way towards a nearby hotel - just incase one of the CCG partners had followed us. We didn't want to lead them straight to Anteiku. 

"I... I'll pay." He said softly as he walked up to the receptionist. She smiled sweetly as I stood back. He threw me the keys when she handed them over. He held a finger up to me when he dashed off to a side room with the woman. I followed him when he shut the door. What are you up to, Kaneki? 

They walked out moments later, making me jump. Kaneki raised his eyebrows and handed me a folder. "Here. Read it." He said as he slid the woman the money for the room. She smiled at us and directed us towards the elevator.

"What is it?" I asked. 

"Read it." He sighed and I flicked through the folder. 

"How'd you manage to get this?" 

"Amon slid it to Juzo. I stole it." 

"Why did you go back there?" I asked, pointing to the room they had taken off to. 

"Because she needed me to sign something."

"You closed the door."

"The wind closed it." I blinked, feeling stupid. 

"Oh." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. I stared at his hands. I slid my fingers in between his, and he squeezed my hand tightly. He pressed a kiss to my temple. "We did it." He sighed. "We're safe." I smiled at the sound of that. 

Safe. 

Would we ever be safe?