I Wouldn't Change A Thing

What is Love?

My hand was in Nishiki's hand. We were walking to Anteiku, something that we would be accustomed to some. Everyone was bundled up in warm clothes. Kou was resting on Nishiki's shoulders. His hands wrapping around Nishiki's head. Meanwhile, Akimitsu and Masaru where each holding the free hand of Nishiki and I. Akimitsu holding mine, while Masaru was holding Nishiki's.

I smile and glance over seeing Hinami looking towards us. "Hinami," I call out smiling. She waves smiling at me in return. We finishing walking before I seen the sign. "Opening up the shop today?" I ask her.

She nods her head slightly. "Yeah," she says gleaming. She rushes over towards me before wrapping her arms around me. I smile slightly.

"Let's head inside to warm up," I tell her. She nods her head slightly before running ahead and opening the doors to Anteiku before Nishiki, the kids, and I walk inside. We go ahead an make our way to the meeting room. Taking off the extra layers. I smile slightly looking up at Nishiki. He lightly moves his head to kiss my cheek.

The kids and I leave heading to the actual café part, letting my mate get changed into his work uniform. I let the kids sit at a table on the secluded side of the café. Meanwhile, I take a seat at a bar stool. A few moments later, Nishiki walks out in his uniform. I smile up at him. He slowly moves over towards me, placing once of his sweet kisses on my lips. I smile and return the kiss. Damn, I really love this man.

He soon gets to work on cleaning the bar table, even though no one has been in yet. "Nishiki, what is love?" A feminize voice asks. My eyes widen as I look over at Hinami.

"What is love?" Nishiki repeats, a little taken back by the question, "Are you sure you wanna ask me that?" He says before we glance over at the young female ghoul.

"Mm-hm!" Hinami says as she stops her sweeping. "How can you tell when you're in love? I wanna know what if feels like," she says, this curiosity lingers in her eyes. I glance over at Nishiki. Actually, I'm a little curious by how he would define love. He sighs slightly before leaning his back against the bar.

"Well, it feels like all sorts of things. But it's kind of hard to put into words" Nishiki slowly comments. He seems daze for a moment. "Hm...I suppose..."

"Go on," Hinami says. I glance over seeing her with this curious look...may be almost impatient as well. Nishiki sighs, probably a little annoyed that he was interrupted, but didn't say anything.

"You go out of your way to make the other person feel happy. And you'd do anything to be close to them. Stuff like that, I guess. I'm not really sure," Nishiki adds. I watch his head turn as he glances over at me. I smiles slightly. His hand slowly reaches to my lower back. He quickly pulls away though. I knew he let this wall slip. He then turns to look at Hinami, a neutral face. "I doubt that was helpful, but, there ya go."

Hinami eyes widen for a moment before gasping. "Mm-mm. No, it helped a lot! Thank you!" Hinami says. Her attention then turns to look at me. She tilts her head smiling. "What about you Kiyoshi?" She ask. My eyes widen.

"What about me?" I ask. I feel my face heating up some. I have an idea, no....I know exactly what she was asking, but...

"What is love? Or at least, what's love to you?" Hinami asks, watching me. I kind of feel both of their eyes on me. My nails lightly scratch the back of my neck for a moment.

"Well...uhm..." my words stumble, trying to find. I hear a snicker beside me. I glance over seeing Nishiki. I glare at him. He starts chuckling. I lightly push him for a moment before looking back at Hinami.

"Uhm...I guess that biggest thing with love is that you'd do anything for them. Anything to make them happy," I say motioning over towards the ghoul that was beside me. "Or just enough to keep them safe, protect them and what they love. Or, just may be it's to make them feel secure. Like you're they're personal safe haven when things go bad. You can be the only to bring them back from getting ready to do something stupid," I add, thinking back to the many times that Nishiki and I have fit into many of those categories. Both before we knew about ghoul and werewolf, and even things like now, here in the present day.

"But," I say before Hinami can comment, "it's a mutual thing. It's not one sided with this person or that person, but they work together. It's them in a relationship together. If they have someone they love closely, like a sibling, parents, or kids, they need to be able right for that as well. Cause even though it's just them in the relationship, it affects the people that they care about dearly, believe it or not," Hinami's eyes widen at that.

"Wow!" She exclaims. I laugh lightly, not really sure what she was expecting. "You sure know a lot about love!" she comments, but the excitement was clear as day in her eyes. I feel my face heating up again.

"I-I wouldn't say that," I say moving my hands in a horizontal position, trying to deny it. I mean, if we're being honest, what I was saying is what I have with Nishiki. It's all based on what I've been with through Nishiki.

He does a lot for me. I do a lot for him. Even though we may not always show it, the love is always there, always coursing through our veins. He makes me safe and we protect each other. Plus, it's something that we work together on, even with looking after three kids, which none are his I might add. And those three kids, especially Kou, looks up to him as another actual parental figure instead of just an aunt/uncle or friend of mine.

I haven't even realize that there was a bright smile on my face. A light nudge into my stomach pulls me from my wandering thoughts. My attention snaps up to see Nishiki. He has this quizzical look on his face. I give a light laugh. What was I suppose to do? Tell him how things went down in my previous relationship? I think not, especially with Kou right here to be able to pick up on what would be said. Honestly, I know that Kou will ask about his Mom one day, but I desperately wish he never even gives her a second thought.

"Sorry," I says looking up at Nishiki. He shakes his head slightly and brushes his nose against mine. I smile widely at that. Evidently, he's learn to pick up on a few things of werewolf languages I guess. I smile even wider looking up at him.

Footsteps catch my attention. I glance over towards my side seeing Enji and Irimi. Nishiki then moves away and steps beside me. Even though I can still feel his eyes on me. I glance looking over at the ghoul, there was a tiny small on his face. When I glance over at Nishiki, I move my hands to lightly push up his glasses before they fall. He nods his head slightly, one of his ways for saying thank you...or one of the meanings behind his nods.

"You looking for advice again, Hinami?" Enji asks. My attention turns back to look at him and Irimi. "The Devil's Ape is at your service," he says. I crack a small smile.

"Keep your pompadour outta this," the male behind me retorts. I laugh lightly glancing, looking over at Nishiki. His face was this bland neutral face, a little agitation in the mix though. Just then, the door opens and I turn my head to see none other than Tsukiyama. A low growl leaves my lips as I look at him.

"Welcome!" Nishiki's voices. Something that I figure they've been taught to say when a customers enters...but this ghoul was far from a customer, at least in my book. When Nishiki turns around realizing who it really was, his attitude drastically changes. "Oh, great, it's you," he says, more unenthusiastic. Suddenly, I feel a hand on my knee, probably Nishiki. Something I seen him do once or twice, usually in his rare protective manners. I slowly move to place my hand on top of Nishiki's.

Tsukiyama walks through the door before inhaling deeply. Great! Here comes the big dramatic entrance. "The lingering an illustrious scent of Kaneki, mixed with the inviting aroma of coffee, has kindled my appetite!" He exclaims. I can't hide the disgust that I was feeling. Hell, I even manage to roll my eyes at the Gourmet. Why must he be so dramatic all the time? "The allure of such a decadent prize is calling me to conquer it myself. This must be...El Dorado!"

Another growl elicits from my throat. "Dear sweet Kiyoshi," Tsukiyama starts to say. I snarl at the male loudly. I don't think I'll ever be able to get over what happen. This time I feel Nishiki move to grab at my hand. He removes his hands from his face before looking at me with a more serious tone. "May I speak with Yoshimura?"