I Love You For Who You Are

Chapter 1- Reunited

The half ghoul laid down on his twin bed, his crisp white hair draped over his eyepatch, which was constructed from a small white cloth and a flimsy string that went around his head. High above his head, he held his favorite book; Egg of the Black Goat, which he had probably now read for the millionth time. A loud knock echoed throughout his small apartment. The sudden noise startled Kaneki into dropping his book on his head, which slightly displaced the thin cloth over his eye.

"Ow," he mumbled.

He placed his book on his nightstand, stood up and brushed off his black sweater. He walked over to his door and opened it slowly, not knowing who it was. Touka stood slouched over with her permanent blank expression.

"Oh, Touka~Chan" Kaneki said in a surprising tone.

"You have today off, I'm covering for you" She groaned.

"Covering me for what?"

"Working so much. By the way are you hungry at all?"

"Yeah a bit, why do you ask?"

"Your eye." She reached out and poked his misplaced eye patch. She smiled slightly. "You should be lucky that I wasn't Hide,"and with that she walked back downstairs to the cafe.

Kaneki shrugged it off, but was very thankful for having the day off, and also that his surprise guest was not Hide. He practically dragged himself to the bathroom to check on his eye.

Touka was right, his left sclera was a midnight black, his iris a crimson red. Small red veins crawled from his eye. He slipped his flimsy eyepatch back into place and walked to his fridge. He grabbed a small brown package, and quickly devoured it's contents. A slight tingle around his left eye has signaled it was back to its normal boring grey color.

He tossed the bloody brown bag into a nearby garbage, walked over to his couch, and fell back. He calmly sighed. He couldn't really help it when his eye would change, and it was starting to get on his nerves.

His phone beside him vibrated furiously, indicating he was getting a call. Kaneki automatically assumed it to be his best friend Hide. Perhaps 'best friend' was not the right term to use anymore since the half ghoul had strayed away from him since the incident with Rize months back.

He reluctantly reached for his phone and answered the call.

"Hello?" Kaneki questioned, since he really didn't bother checking the caller ID, but who else would call him beside Hide? It's not like he had a lot of friends.

"Kaneki! Why haven't you answered my calls?! Rabbits can die from loneliness you know!" The cheerful voice was easily recognized to be Hide's.

"Sorry Hide. I've been busy....with exam studying, and you're not a rabbit" Kaneki said in his calmest voice.

"Well even if I'm not I still could have died! I missed you!" The line went silent for a moment. "Hey! Do you wanna hang out today? School got cancelled because of the cold. We could go get coffee at Anteiku!"

There was another small moment of silence on the line. Kaneki had been avoiding Hide ever since his incident, too scared that he would end up hurting Hide somehow. He felt bad that he had abandoned his friend of many years, so he unwillingly accepted his friend's offer.

"Sure, I don't have to work today, so that sounds good."

"Great! Does 11:30 sound good?"Hide asked.

Kaneki glanced over to his clock on the wall, the time read 10:56. He would have enough time to get ready, it wouldn't really be a hassle getting to the cafe, since he lived just a story above it.

"Yeah I guess, I'll see you then. Bye Hide."

"Bye!"

Kaneki tossed his phone on the couch, which bounced slightly, and slid off. He ignored it.

He slowly rose and again dragged himself to his bedroom. He grabbed a clean sweater, light grey, and quickly changed into it. He grabbed another package and ate it quickly, just in case he got even the slightest bit hungry.

He walked over to the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth, knowing it would not be a pleasant sight to see if he had blood stained teeth.

-Slight Time Skip-

When Kaneki was finally ready, he happily ran to the cafe below, now much happier, realizing that he would be able to see his friend again. He was now beginning to regret staying away from Hide, but he knew it was for the best.

He was greeted by many smiling faces of both workers and customers, which brightened his day even more.

"Two black coffees please!" He yelled.

Within seconds, two large mugs were slid down the bar to his seat, the smell wafting off of one was both a smell of coffee beans, and blood, which he guessed had been from the sugar cubes in the coffee. The other smelled of normal coffee.

He quickly drank his whole cup, and sat down in his normal spot that Hide would claim as theirs, and set down Hide's drink.

He took out his book, and he continued to read it until a familiar bell jingle echoed thoughtout the shop

"Welcome!" chimed all working at the counter.

Kaneki looked up to his familiar blond haired friend, his brown roots growing in sightly. He wore his normal yellow jacket, and his headphones around his neck. Hide looked over to Kaneki, his eyes landing on the eye patch.

"I see you're still styling it up!" He cheered.

The half-ghoul smirked and giggled slighty, which made Hide smile.

"I missed your smile Kaneki!" Hide ran to him and squeezed him in a tight hug.