Don't Ever Let Go [A Touken Fiction]

Chapter 13 : Started Recovering

A/N: hi there~~~ I'm back~~ I don't wanna wait till 5/5, so here's chapter 13~~ please enjoy~~

"Huh?" Kaneki woke up. He got up from the floor and found out it was a room with white and black floor, walls, and ceiling. He then recognized it. He was in Jason's room, and started to feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Damn it! If this's what hell's gonna be like I'd rather turn into nothingness!" He thought, wandering around. He walked for about ten minutes, and saw someone standing not far away from him.

"Rize-san?" He walked toward her. "Hi, Kaneki-san." She said, smiling. "What's happened to us? Are we dead? Is this hell or something?" He asked, but Rize just smiled.

"Thank you for protecting me, Kaneki-san. I'll be going, see you around." She said, and walked away. Kaneki was a bit scared, that didn't sound like something a living person would say. He reached out his hand and tried to grab her hand, but she just glided away, faster and faster, and finally disappeared in the darkness.

"What in the bloody hell is going on here??" Kaneki shouted with great frustration. He sighed and kept walking. Another ten minutes later he saw three little kids running past him, laughing and holding one another's hands.

Kaneki rubbed his eyes, and the three kids disappeared. A few seconds later they appeared again a bit far away from him. He walked toward them, and saw them playing with sand, but they vanished again.

He was now getting really confused and started to run. As he ran, more and more images of the three kids appeared, and it seemed that they were growing older and older, and finally, he recognized them. They were Hide, Touka, and himself.

The forth person appeared. It was Yoriko. And the fifth, a younger girl. It was Hinami. Then a man, a man who always called himself 'Maen', and a woman who was always standing by Maen's side. A man who taught him how to fight. A man who wore glasses and talked about the relationship problems with him before. A glamorous man who seemed to love him. An artistic man who made him his ghoul mask. A kind, patient, wise old man, who allowed him to stay in Anteiku when he was homeless. Two women that shared the same interests with him. A woman who he admired the most. A woman who he loved the most but no longer lived in the world. A group of people he didn't really like. A group of people he joined just because of his own urge. He stopped running, panting. He was furious, confused, didn't know how to react to these images.

"STOP SHOWING THESE IMAGES!!!!!!" He shouted, scratching his face, crying. His knees dropped to the floor. All the images vanished, and the only person left was kneeling in front of him, clearer than ever. "No..... stop..... I..... don't........... want..... to.... see..... them...... anymore........" He sobbed, clutching his fists tightly. The figure in front of him reached out his hands and grabbed his collar.

Kaneki looked up at him. He was no one but himself, the former himself, with black hair. "I know it, deep in your heart, you still love them, love her." He gripped his collar even tighter. "Please........ don't erase me......." He said quietly, and everything went white, and again, he could not think about anything anymore.

Kaneki opened his eyes, his vision still blurry. He rubbed his eyes, and found himself lying in a bed in a ward. He sat up, and felt a terrible pain from his right abdomen. He lift up his shirt and saw his entire stomach was bandaged, and his chest, arms, legs, and head were all bandaged as well. In other words, his whole body was injured badly.

The door opened, and a doctor and a nurse walked in. "Good afternoon, Kaneki-kun. How're you feeling?" Said Kaneki's attending doctor, Kanou Akihiro. "Fine, except my stomach. It feels like someone's stabbing it with a dagger." Kaneki said, his stomach still aching.

"That is normal. It's a considerably big wound after all." Said Kanou, smiling. "I will do the daily measurements now." Said Kanou, and Kaneki nodded. "What really happened?" He asked while Kanou was checking his blood pressure.

"Oh, the concretes and the steel reinforcing bars fell on you, and on particular sharp bar pierced through you right abdomen, and damaged your liver, and many parts of your body were also injured terribly. But you were very lucky, you were brought here immediately and had the urgent surgery. You were once in mortal peril, but we managed to save you in the end." Said Kanou.

"Oh um, thanks. What about Rize-san?" Asked Kaneki. "Oh, she was very fortunate to have you protecting her. She only had minor injuries and mild concussion." Said Kanou. Kaneki sighed in relief. "Thank god she's alright. I thought she's gonna die when I had that weird dream." Said Kaneki.

"It's very noble of you, protecting her instead of yourself, Kaneki-kun." Said Kanou in an approving tone. "I just did it.... instinctively...." He mumbled. Kanou smiled. "Well, that's still very noble and brave." Said Kanou, standing up. He'd just finished the daily measurements.

"Take a good rest, Kaneki-kun, I will see you later." Said Kanou, leaving the room with the nurse. "Wait!!" Called Kaneki, Kanou and the nurse stopped. "Is there any problem?" Kanou asked. "How long have I been unconscious??" Kaneki asked. "Almost a month." Said Kanou, and Kaneki's mouth fell open. "Take a good rest, Kaneki-kun." He said, and left with the nurse.

"Almost a month?? I've been unconscious for almost a month??" He thought as he turned on the tv and started watching it. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in." Said Kaneki. It was Rize. She saw him awake and walked to the bed and hugged him.

"I don't know how to say it but..... thank you... thank you so much....." Said Rize, shaking. Kaneki knew she was crying. "It's alright now, I'm fine. Don't be sad, I'm alright." Said Kaneki. He didn't really know what to say either. He just hugged her and patted her back gently. A few minutes later they broke apart and Rize planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

"Thank you." Said Rize again, and Kaneki felt the place where her lips touched burning slightly, and he smiled. The door burst open again. It was Touka, standing at the door, panting. She didn't say a word, she just stood there and stared at him and Rize, and finally, she rushed toward him and hugged him so hard that it made Kaneki whimpered.

"Touka-chan!" Kaneki gasped as he felt his right abdomen got stabbed by another dagger. Touka didn't say anything, and finally, she broke down. Kaneki had never seen Touka cried so hard in his life. He felt tears moistening his clothes, her cries so loud that even a nurse came to see what was going on.

Ten minutes later Touka finally had calmed down, but still shaking, clutching his clothes tightly. Kaneki suddenly felt very happy and sad. He was happy about that Touka still cared about him, but he was sad about making her cry again. He hugged her and caressed her gently.

"It's fine now, I'm fine, I'm alright, stop crying, okay?" Said Kaneki softly, and Touka nodded. "You scared me......" She said. "You really scared me..... I thought you were dead....." She said, still shaking slightly. "I can't take it anymore if another important person in my life leaves again....." Touka's eyes was dampened with tears again, and she wiped them away. She climbed into his bed and cuddled up to Kaneki.

Rize smiled, and said goodbye and left. Touka rested her head on Kaneki's chest, staring at nothing. Kaneki looked at her, remembering what Touka had told him months ago, I don't need your protection. This time, however, Touka needed Kaneki more than ever. She'd already suffered the pain of losing her loved ones. Kaneki was still gently caressing Touka, thinking that this was the first time Touka looked so insecure.

Kaneki started humming Unravel(I found it a strong lullaby when you hum it really slowly, I think, that's just my personal opinion) in a really slow, lullaby-like way, and slowly, Touka's breath became more and more peaceful, and finally fell asleep. Kaneki just kept humming it over and over again, and he fell asleep eventually.

That night, Kaneki didn't have a nightmare, it was the best sleep he had ever had.

A/N: yessssssss~~~~Rize lives~~~~~~~ and it's a bit short, sorry~~~ just don't feel like writing a longer chapter, the next one won't be this short though. How do you think?? Good??? Please vote and comment and follow me~~~~