Authors Note: Hello everyone!

This is just a little fic that I wrote for Touken Fairy tales week on tumblr. I might not have the time to complete any other prompts but I wanted to contribute at least one story.

The prompt for this fic and for Day 1 is Little Red Riding Hood. They're still ghouls in this fic but I made mentions to the fairy tale.

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoy! :)

"You're a ghoul, right?"

Her hands tremble at her sides.

He knows.

Sasaki Haise, ghoul investigator and leader of the Quinx squad, had managed to figure it out.

She had always known it would happen, eventually, but even so she hadn't expected to be this caught off guard by his words.

"Are you afraid of me now?" she queries back, softly, allowing herself a brief minute to glance away as she takes a deep breath and then returns to resolutely staring him in the face. Would it have been easier for her to feign innocence? Maybe. But she's had enough of playing games and avoiding the matter. "Are you going to turn me in? Kill me?"

She can still recall his reaction to the discovery 3 years previous - how he had run away from her with a look of pure terror on his face, back when his name had been Kaneki Ken and he'd been nothing but a wimpy nuisance to her.

How things have changed.

She certainly couldn't imagine him running away in fear now. Not with his occupation as a high ranking dove of the CCG - the same organization that produced the very investigators that took away the lives of her parents and many others that she grew to care for.

It's something that she is unable to forget.

Be that as it may, she's not vengeful. At least, not anymore.

Just sad.

And maybe a bit heartbroken by her train of thought.

She's prepared for it though, has already readied herself to see the disgust and betrayal on his face. Contrary to her expectations, however, he shakes his head instead.

"No."

It's a faint whisper but the way he says it, bluntly and with conviction, catches her attention.

"I would never be able to do that." His lips curl up into a tender smile. "You should understand the reason why Touka-chan."

Her breath catches in her throat as he grasps her hand and offers it a warm squeeze.

He had been acting strangely all week, fidgeting around and spacing out more often. It had made her worry and she had fretted over how to approach him about it.

But then he would shake his head, peering up at her with those kind eyes of his and proceed to give her the same reassuring grin that he always had. Back when they were younger, she had always scoffed at the gesture and taken it for granted. Now it made her heart beat rapidly.

In all honesty, they have been tiptoeing around this for far too long.

At the beginning, she had simply wanted to rebuild their friendship anew. He probably felt the same way, at least on a subconscious level, given that he kept returning to her coffee shop.

"I'm unsure the reason why," he had confided in her on one of his routine trips to the shop, his long fingers absently tracing the circular rim of his cup, "but this place makes me feel nostalgic."

That was the start of him opening up to her bit by bit.

During his subsequent visit he had informed her that his name was Sasaki Haise and although a part of her longed to see the boy who remembered her, even if only for a second, he looked happy and she couldn't - she wouldn't - want to change that for a mere moment of selfishness.

So instead she decided to take the time to get to know him again and they clicked. It was almost as if she was back at Anteiku serving coffee to the regulars with her former black-haired bumbling bookworm coworker. She should have expected it, the ease at which they were able to interact since at the core of it all, Sasaki and Kaneki were the same person. Perhaps that was why, before long, she had developed feelings for him all over again.

Only this time around it seemed a bit more mutual (if the soft gazes that she's sure mirror her own and the feather light caresses of his hand against hers whenever he pays for his order are anything to go by).

Her inner musings are cut off by the scraping sound of a chair being pulled back and then he's in front of her.

His gaze is strong – too strong.

She can feel her cheeks begin to warm from the intensity of his stare and suddenly finds herself unable to look away from him.

Could it be? Is it possible that it's the sign she's been waiting for?

She moves backwards, eyes still searching his own.

He strides forwards, matching her pace.

She doesn't know why but it suddenly reminds her so very much of the tale "Little Red Riding Hood" that her father had once read to her as a child.

Wasn't she supposed to be playing the part of the wolf?

The one whom everyone loathed because they ate people.

The one who perished at the end of the story.

Or was she more suited for the title role – that of the tiny girl donning shiny red robes about to be devoured. The one who escapes her fate and achieves the happy ending even though things looked bleak at first.

"Sasaki-san, wha-?"

Who is the true wolf in this scenario? She thinks as he backs her into a corner, his eyes gleaming with mischief.

She shivers in anticipation, wetting her lips.

Kaneki Ken, that clumsy eyepatch wearing half-ghoul whom she had been fond of and whom this investigator had once been, wouldn't have stared at her in such an amorous manner, would he have?

Not that it mattered much when her eyes have probably begun to reflect the same hazy passion found in his own.

She quickly looks around.

The shop is empty except for the pair of them. Yomo-san has gone to pick up some supplies, the coffee shop is closed, and all the other customers have left.

He's plotted this down to the very last detail.

How cunning of him - just like the wolf of the tale.

Not that she can complain. It felt nice to be alone with him and not have to put up a pretense.

He begins to bend down and she has to refrain herself from impatiently pulling him forwards by his tie. To distract herself from the urge, she recites the lines from the tale under her breath.

First the red caped girl had asked about the ears, then the eyes and then ...

Goosebumps erupt along the length of her arms when he takes the opportunity to nuzzle his nose into the crook of her neck and she bites her lip.

What were those final words again?

"What a big mouth you have."

Was that how it went?

He stops, leaning back to glance quizzically at her for a moment or two, and then doubles over with laughter.

Shit - she had said the words louder than she thought!

"I was wondering what you were muttering ... 'Little Red Riding Hood', isn't it?" Figures that he would pick up on the reference being the bookworm that he is. He winks at her once he's calmed down. "I'll gladly take the part of the wolf."

Unable to stop herself, she rams her fist against his shoulder in annoyance but he ignores it by winding his arm around her waist, pulling her even closer.

"All the better to eat you with, my dear," he replies impishly, finishing off her previous statement and wiggling his eyebrows (that dork!) before he finally captures her mouth with his own.

There are still matters to be discussed. The fact that she's a ghoul won't change and he's still unaware that she knew him from before (not to mention that she knows he's a half-ghoul himself).

However those conversations can wait till another day. Right now it's peaceful and just the two of them and she intends to enjoy herself as much as possible.

A memory pops into her head, unbidden - that of the time when she had bit into the curved area between his shoulder and neck to save them from Tsukiyama.

Just when I had come around to the idea that I fit the role of Little Red Riding Hood in this scenario too.

She smirks, head falling back against the wall with a thump, as he nips at the sensitive portion of her nape before switching to pressing kisses behind her ear.

Maybe she was slightly mistaken.

Perhaps Sasaki Haise wasn't the only one suitable to play the part of the hungry wolf after all.