I Won't Leave Again (Touken)

Chapter 5: Awakening

"Where... Where am I? What happened?" Kaneki spoke quietly while sitting up. 

Suddenly, the memory of what took place that night at the lab hit him like a shot to the chest. He looked around the dark room before coming to his senses. 

"I'm at Anteiku?" He stood up and quickly noticed a figure on the couch and instinctively got into a defensive position before noticing the violet hair. 

"T...Touka?" No response came from the figure right away. Instead, a few moments later, he heard a soft snore. He moved beside the sleeping ghoul and couldn't help but admire her. She was especially beautiful when she was asleep so he took in her facial details, her curves and her soft looking skin. He fought the urge to kiss her, but knew if she woke up he would be dead. 

Kaneki did notice however, that she looked rather bothered in her sleep. She couldn't have been comfortable so as quietly and carefully as possible, he picked her up bridal style and carried her to her room across the hall. He managed to open her door to get into her apartment and then open the door to her bedroom. Touka had upgraded to a queen size bed with 4 pillows and a stuffed rabbit. He had never seen her room before. Carefully, he placed her down on the bed and pulled the covers over her. 

"What was she doing in my room? Taking care of me? How did I get here?" Kaneki needed answers. He noticed Touka looked much more comfortable and smiled down at her sleeping face still half covered by her bangs. 

He didn't know if he'd get to see her awake. He couldn't stay after all as it was far too dangerous and also considering the things she said to him, he didn't know if she wanted him to. He replayed the line in his head and cringed. 

"TRASH LIKE YOU SHOULD STAY OUT OF ANTEIKU!" 

"I'm sorry Touka" He placed a gingerly kiss on her forehead without thinking. He blushed and quickly left the room. She remained asleep.

"I should probably head downstairs to the café" Kaneki quickly determined. Nishiki's voice bellowed below. 

"The shop must be empty" Kaneki half smiled.

"Roma! How. Many. Times. Have. I. Told. You!" 

He heard an unfamiliar voice, it must be this Roma. 

"I'm s-sorry I'll clean up the pieces right away" 

He heard footsteps walking around the room. As he came to the door, he slowly opened it. He saw a new girl, Roma he guessed, cleaning broken pieces of china with Nishiki standing over her with his hands on his hips. Yoshimura stood behind the counter with Koma chuckling at the innocent clumsiness of the girl. Kaneki opened the door and stepped out. All four ghouls turned to look. Roma dropped the china again. 

"I-It's him" She seemed flabbergasted by seeing her idol standing in the doorway. Nishiki didn't get mad at her clumsiness this time. 

"Kaneki! You're awake! good to see you man we thought we lost you" They "bro" hugged before Koma, of all people, came forward with a real hug. 

"The Devil Ape's happy you're OK" 

"Yeah I thought I was a goner when the explosion hit. I'm lucky to be alive haha" 

"Where's Touka?" Nishiki spoke. 

"Well... she was asleep when I awoke so I took her to her room and put her in bed. Yoshimura came over and took Kaneki's hand 

"You really should continue to get some rest. You were in bad condition when you were found"

 "Mmm..." He looked around at everybody's joyful expressions. They did care about him.