Touka Kirishima. That was her name and that was final. No nicknames. Well, that's if you don't count 'rabbit'- the name the investigators had given her. She was classified as dangerous but deep in herself, she knew she was nowhere near as powerful as those ghouls who live along the lines of blood and death.
The dark haired girl sat on her small bed and leaned back against the pale wall that her mattress was parallel to. Closing her eyes and slipping on her bright white headphones with a little rabbit roughly scribbled on one of the sides, she looked over at her phone to turn on some music. Looks like it was late October, 22:34. Scrolling through a list of her multiple genres, she finally settled on 'Your Gonna Go Far Kid' by The Offspring. Focusing on her breathing as the rock music streamed into her ears, she played with her long bangs. Minutes went by along with songs. 'Castle of Glass' - Linkin Park. 'I Will Not Bow' - Breaking Benjamin. 'Numb' - Linkin Park. 'Angel with a Shotgun' - The Cab. 'Face Down' - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. 'Animal I Have Become' - Skillet. Soon enough, a song she dreaded to hear came on. 'Take it Out on Me' - Thousand Foot Krutch. Now, Touka loved this song but the memories that came with it were borderline torturous to remember. Kaneki- her ex closest friend- had loved this song before he left. Ken left because he felt he had a duty to protect anyone else from a cruel death. She though it was an impossible ambition of heroism but when Ken's ghoul side took over... He was a totally different person. For the better and the worse.
Suddenly, Touka's phone went off. Picking it up and turning down her music, she glanced at the screen to see the random numbers along with a message.
(1)-414-689-3746: I'm downstairs. Came for a visit.
Touka: I'm sorry. I think you have the wrong number.
(1)-414-689-3746: No, Touka-chan. I have the right number.
The last message brought herself to shake her head. Hide probably just got her number from Nishiki. Tossing away her phone again, she moved until she was laying down on her blue comforter. Closing her eyes, she reached back to her phone which she had mindlessly tossed to turn up her music again. She wanted to shut out the world right now.
Minutes went by and there was a sudden click of her door opening. Shoving her face into her pillow, she shooed whoever was at the door away with a flick of her hand which had eventually returned to the warmth under her pillow. "Go away." Touka said in a muffled voice as someone sat down on her bed causing the mattress to shift. Finally, the dark haired girl was annoyed by whoever had been bugging her. Sitting up, she twisted her body and shoved the boy away. The white haired boy with silver eyes. The same boy she had missed. Kaneki.
After Ken had stumbled off the bed, he gave Touka a very offended look which was quickly acknowledged with a sorry. She wanted to go up to him and hug him but another part of her wanted to deck him strait in the face but she she decided on just staying where she was, clutching the blue comforter.
Ken had decided to sit on the rug on the wooden floor to avoid any other pushes or shoves and looked up at the girl he had left about a year ago. Finally choosing to be the first to speak he started with a fairly simple and answerable question. "Why didn't you come downstairs when I messaged you? I wanted some coffee too." He gave a little tilt of his head making him look young and childish. He quickly scanned Touka and noticed she had gotten thinner, paler and grew out her hair. She honestly didn't look as healthy as a year ago.
Touka rolled her eyes as he tilted his head. "I thought it was Hide and I wasn't in the mood to talk." She responded simply while her eyes looked over Kaneki once more. She couldn't help but notice that he had gained a bit of muscle. Not the big, in your face, kind of muscle but lean and toned.
Ken had managed to process this information quickly and compare it to what Nishiki had said about her avoiding doing anything. "Well, it looks as if you haven't been in the mood to do anything recently." He looked into her eyes and noticed how they were slightly glazed over, but she quickly broke eye contact by looking down at her feet. Standing up from the ground, Ken walked forward a bit and grabbed Touka's arm. Pulling her to her feet, he felt how light she had gotten but was quickly distracted as she fell to her knees in protest. "You have to eat." He said forcefully as he reached down to take ahold of her other arm and dragged the dark haired girl to her feet. Steadying her, Ken returned to just holding one arm. Dragging her out of her room, he heard a plastic thump and click behind him and assumed the headphones and phone must've fallen. Looking back at Touka, he noticed how bad her stepping was and how poorly she held herself. She was starving herself.
Touka was letting herself be dragged and made a desperate attempt to stay on her feet as they thumped down the stairs rather loudly. Soon enough they were in one of the many back rooms with multiple storage compartments. Ken had reached up into a refrigerated one and unlocked it rather quickly and pulled out a small, neatly wrapped package. Closing the door of the storage and locking it, he turned back to her and handed her the package. "Eat." He insisted and Touka felt her hunger grow stronger than she thought possible. Her stomach seemed to consume itself as it gave a low growl. Looking down at the package which contained flesh, she finally gave in to the sharp pains and opened it. Revealing the soft flesh that could only be compared to a human food called beef jerky, she took one of the few pieces and started to nibble at it which earned her a disapproving look from the white haired boy. As her hunger started to take over, her eating become more desperate until it was all gone and her stomach was slightly satisfied. "Don't help me next time. I can care for myself." She commented.
Ken scowled at Touka as she said this and shot back "You obviously can't. You were starving." He paused for a bit and his look softened a bit. "Well, as a customer, I want some black coffee and I would like to see some of your latte art."
Touka was rather sour from that comment and her eyes narrowed. "Fine. Let me go get changed." She answered as she opened the door for Ken to exit to the the cafe. Feeling a new sort of energy, she went up the stairs in a couple bounds and changed into her uniform in a record timing. Combing through her hair with her fingers as she came down the wooden stairs, she finally entered the cafe. Taking her place behind the counter, she excused the new girl who was crazed with the stories about Kaneki and was like one of those crazy people who followed their idols everywhere. Eventually, she was getting annoyed and told the girl she was done for the day and to go home. She was not too fond of the idea but she reluctantly listened and left. Touka let out a loud sigh of relief and turned around, only to back up a bit as Ken was leaning over the counter and she almost knocked her head into his. "Kaneki! Keep your damn head on the other side of the counter!" She scolded as she already knew his order. Black coffee. Latte. Managing to turn her back on the half ghoul, she gathered some ground up coffee beans in one of their many filters. Pouring some steaming hot water through the filter to flavor the water with the bitter beans, she eventually had finished this brew. Pouring some of freshly made coffee into a nice little white cup, she handed it to Ken and reminded him it was hot. Now it was time for the long process of the latte art. Latte base. Check. Steamed milk. Check. Now to put it together. Carefully pouring the milk into the base while she tilted the cup, she stopped a second before the white would show to exaggerate the design. Making tight zigzags, she brought a thin line of the steamed milk through the edge of the lines. Doing this three times, she started the body of the creature she was making. Done. Now the long neck and the heart like head. Done. The art was finished. Planning to take the latte over to Kaneki carefully, she jumped once again as he was looking over her shoulder. He was on the wrong side of the counter again.
"Very nice Phoenix, Touka-chan." Ken commented as he looked at the beautifully crafted bird with a grin. As good as it looked, he knew he couldn't enjoy it due to the milk base. "Ken! Other side of the counter!" Touka half yelled at him causing him to walk casually back to his seat to examine the bird again as it was placed next to his now cooled coffee. Taking a sip of the dark roast, he couldn't help but praise Touka for the best taste of coffee he'd had in a while.
The look on Touka's face gave no hint of her hearing the complement but a look of uncertainty. A look that said she wanted to ask questions but was incapable of selecting a few.
They would probably be up until one o'clock in the morning.
Ken had finished half of his coffee and leaned back in his chair as he spoke in rather calm voice "I see you want some answers. Ask away."
Touka looked at Kaneki as he spoke and her jaw almost went slack as he basically read her mind. Was she that predictable? Or readable? Hardening her look, she crossed her arms and leaned against the counter behind her.
"How did you get that phone? Let alone my number."
"Took it off an investigator. And how could I forget the number of my favorite barista?"
Touka let out a small cough as she went to sip on some of the extra coffee she had made and the complement surprised her. Hm. Examining Ken's face he seemed to be in a peaceful state, for the time at least.
"Where's Shuu and all those others that pledged to follow you?"
"Let them have a couple days to do whatever. I needed a break."
Ken looked down at his now empty mug of coffee with a frown. Looking up as he noticed movement from the corner of his eyes, Touka had come forward to pour what was left in her cup into his. Looking up at her with a questioning look, she answered simply "You don't get good coffee often, right? I do." He gave a small nod to this.
"Did you have to deal with many doves?"
To answer this, Ken stood up and lifted his shirt to reveal a small jagged scar that ran perpendicular to his well formed abs. "Yes. I think they developed a new weapon against ghouls that slowed down healing process and inflicts deep tissue damage." He paused to lower his shirt but caught Touka's eyes on his stomach. Silver eyes glinting he spoke rather cockily for a guy who had been quite innocent only a year back. "Like what you see?"
With that comment, Touka blinked and felt her cheeks burn up a bit. Tearing her eyes from Ken's abs to his face, she narrowed her eyes and gave herself a small frown. She didn't speak about it.
"Will you ever come back t-"
"No."
"Oh."
"It's late and frankly, I want to sleep. You can ask me more questions tomorrow."
Touka let out a silent breath and walked over to the open sign and flipped it to closed. Opening the door for Ken, she received a blank look as he remained seated. Shrugging she spoke firmly "Okay. Lock up behind you." With that, she started to head upstairs and heard the clinking of mugs being out away and the door locking. At the top of the stairs she looked behind her to see Ken already halfway up. "Don't you have somewhere to stay?"
Kaneki shook his head and laughed. "I was hoping my old room was still open." Continuing up the stairs, he stood beside Touka. He had grown a bit as well and now stood a good three inches over the dark haired ghoul.
The smaller ghoul responded rather dully "No. It was small enough to become a storage, so we are slowly transferring 'food' up here, so the downstairs storage can hold things for the shop."
Kaneki shrugged "Guess I'm staying in your room." Shooting Touka a grin after the comment, he received a deadly look. She might just kill him right here, right now.
Touka walked into her room with Ken right behind her and made strait for for her dresser. Picking out a pair of tights and a loose v-neck t-shirt, the dark haired girl headed over to the bathroom to change. Changing out of her clothes and tossing them outside, she started to put on her tights when her shirt fell half into the toilet. Cursing at her luck, she looked down at her bra and decided she would just have to yell at Ken to look away. Stepping into the hall, she walked slowly toward her room when she caught a glimpse of Ken changing and instantly turned around. Leaning against the wall for around four minutes, she finally walked back toward her room where Kaneki had changed into long pants and a black t-shirt. "Turn around or I'll see that you go blind." Touka growled as she entered the room. Satisfied to see the back of Ken's head and it's pure white hair, she turned back to her dresser to get another shirt. Reaching into the drawer, she jumped away as she felt a cool finger draw its self along her spine. "Ken! I told you to turn the hell around!" She yelled as she used the shirt to cover her torso.
Ken gave an innocent look back at Touka. "You have a scar on your back. When'd you get that?" The female ghoul's answer to his question was a hard roundhouse kick to the face sending him backwards to stare at the wall as she fled towards the bathroom to put on her last article of clothing.
Soon enough, Touka returned to the white haired ghoul who had recovered from the hit and set up a couple sheets on the ground he could sleep on. Good, she didn't have to do that work for him. Flicking off the light whether or not Kaneki was ready, she slipped under her covers and muttered a quick "Night." Closing her eyes, she listened as her current roommate's breathing slowed into a steady rhythm. Soon enough, she drifted off as well.