I'm back after weeks of doing nothing and this time I decided to contribute to the Tokyo Ghoul fandom! I've been obsessed with the manga since October, while my friends kept telling me to start reading it for months, I don't know why I didn't do that sooner. XD Anyway, after scrolling around for more fanfics, I got impatient because I wanted more, so I thought, why don't I write something myself? So here is a small Touken one-shot. I may make it into a series one-shots with connected events. :) Depending on the readers of course.

So enjoy! I'm going back to doing homework and waiting impatiently for the next raw of Tokyo Ghoul RE and season 2 of the anime.

I'm not sure if it's clear from any grammar and spelling errors, since I wrote this on my iPod and well the program I use on the computer for grammar, spelling and punctuation stopped working properly.

So enjoy guys and tell me what you think!

BTW: This takes place between volume 3 and 4 of the manga.

It starts with a question

The chime that hung on the door, signalled that another customer had left satisfied. Today was a quiet day compared to others, only a few customers had appeared, which was a good thing, because it meant no running around from one place to another for orders.

Touka sighed as she leaned against the wall, staring outside at the people passing by, despite the season, it wasn't such a cold day. Mid-November, sure a harsh wind once in a while and the trees had almost lost all their leafs, but she could go out in a jacket and not freeze to death.

Her attention was drawn to a small child who kept skipping happily with some kind of sweet in her hand, licking it repeatedly. The teenager frowned, she always wondered what humans liked about sweets, it's not even that healthy for them. Then again, she could say the same thing about all the other human food. Yoriko once tried to talk her into having pizza together after a long day of finishing their homework together. She almost gagged, but deep inside she was curious about how the humans tasted the food, what was their definition of sweet, sour, dry or salt.

She kept wondering, until her thoughts got interrupted by the sound of the door opening and chiming bells. She looked up, wondering if another costumer had arrived, until she saw the all too familiar eye patch and sank back in her position. "Oh, it's only you." The high school girl mumbled.

Kaneki sweat dropped "Also hello Touka-chan." The boy stopped as he glanced around the almost empty coffee shop. "It's surprisingly quiet today."

Touka only answered with a nod. "The manager went out to get more coffee, he should be back soon."

"I see..."

An awkward silence fell over the two as Kaneki returned in his uniform. Touka just kept staring outside the window, ticking her finger against the counter.

The half-ghoul glanced at his colleague uncomfortable as he tried to come up with something to break the silence. "Uhm, Touka-chan..."

"How did you used to describe human food?"

The college student blinked at the girl's sudden question. "What?"

"When you were still human, how did the food taste?"

Kaneki backed away nervously as Touka got a bit too close to his taste. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's not easy to explain. All human food has various flavours and everyone has a different taste. It depends on what you like and dislike."

Touka frowned. "So you're not going to explain it?"

"I can try, but it's not easy, especially since you can't experience the taste of human food as humans can."

Without any warning Touka grabbed Kaneki by the back of his collar and checked in case there were any customers, which luckily for her weren't and dragged the boy upstairs. "We're taking a break." She responded before the raven-haired male could ask anything.

The female ghoul pushed Kaneki on the couch, in the room where Hinami used to sleep before she moved in with Touka and gave him a strict stare while crossing her arms in front of him. "Tell me how human food tastes to humans!"

"Why do you want to know in the first place?" Kaneki asked.

"None of your business, dumbass!"

The boy sighed, he should have seen it coming. He decided to give in to the tomboy's demands, he figured if he didn't, she'd beat the crap out of him. "Human food has different flavours, you could say it's similar to how human meat tastes also different depending on the human."

Touka nodded slowly.

"Humans distinguish flavours into sweet, spicy, sour, salt, bitter and more. Those flavours can differ in strong, mild, dry and even a mix. Snacks like sweets and chocolate are mostly sweet in flavour, while chips and such are more salty. Junk-food is also mostly salty, but high in fat. Vegetables have a soft flavour..." Kaneki explained as he tried to remember the times before the incident that changed him into a half ghoul.

Sadly the guy got interrupted when Touka smacked his face against the couch. "I can't understand a damn thing you're saying! Try to explain it in a way, even ghouls can understand!"

"Uhm..." The boy sweat dropped.

The ukaku ghoul snorted and let go of her colleague's head. Of course, how can I ask that of an idiot who refuses to eat humans and survives on sugar cubes and coffee only." The girl slumped down on the couch and sighed. "Just forget that I asked you such a strange thing."

"It's not strange." Kaneki answered softly.

"Hah?!" Touka turned to the half-ghoul and gave him a look.

"To be curious about the things you can never experience... It's not strange, even humans have such desires." The teen's face was slightly flushed and he was scratching his cheek awkwardly. "And I really want to help you, but it's hard to describe it. Flavours aren't something solid and, I think even humans... Taste the same thing differently. No one is the same, so the things they experience, be it taste in food or anything else, are different to every individual. I guess even to ghouls the same type of coffee tastes different." He turned towards Touka with a gentle innocent smile.

The highschool girl scratched the back of her head awkwardly. "Is it still strange for you?"

Kaneki crocked his eyebrow curiously.

"To not be able to eat human food anymore and taste it?"

"I guess it still is." The boy admitted. "Once in a while I still wake up in the morning, wondering if it was all a dream, but the moment I see my empty fridge, I know it isn't, well somewhere I still have trouble with accepting this way of life. My favourite hamburgers have become my least favourite, together with everything else I used to eat. What was supposed to be healthy for my body, became poison." The raven-haired half-ghoul chucked, while scratching his chin awkwardly for a second time. But, in return I got to meet you all, the manager, Yomo-san, Kaya-san, Enji-san, Hinami-chan and you Touka-chan and that's not bad.

The ukaku ghoul stiffened when she felt his back against hers, she didn't notice how close they've been from each other. "I-idiot." She mumbled.

They just sat there, enjoying each other's presence as uncomfortable as it felt for both of them. Until Touka suddenly stood up, letting poor Kaneki fall on the ground. The boy grunted and clutched his sore head.

"I'm getting us some coffee, I'll be right back."

"Um, alright." He answered weakly. The moment Touka left the room, he allowed to rest his head on the couch. And let out a deep sigh. He didn't know what got into him to say such things and Touka for once was... Being a lot less mean that normal... Maybe he was hallucinating? He quickly shook his head, trying to convince himself not to have any ideas, something probably happened at her school. He turned to face the window and took off his eye patch. He stared at his half-visible reflection. His eye looked normal as if he was still the same old, but he knew that it wasn't the case. "I guess I still have trouble with accepting... My current self..."
He rested his head on his arm and closed his eyes, relaxing his shoulders and focusing on the sounds outside.

After a while he slowly opened them when he felt something on his shoulder, to be more specific, warmth. He turned his head to the left just to be face to face with a warm cup of coffee.

"Let's just say it's on the house." Touka smirked as she sat down next to him.

They both took a sip at the same time. Both looked content by the taste of the drink.

"I, guess I'm a little bit envious of you..." Touka admitted. "You were able to live as a human for the first eighteen years of your life. Without the fear of being hunted down every day, you could taste and experience things I only can dream of. Sometimes when I'm at school and see how my classmates enjoy themselves as humans... It makes me feel a bit..."

She stopped in her mid sentence as she noticed how engrossed Kaneki seemed to be, he was staring at her and it made her feel uncomfortable. So she did what she normally did, she smacked him on his face and pushed him off the couch. "W-what are you staring at, idiot?!" She quickly turned her head to hide her blush, anyway, let's go back. Our customers are probably waiting downstairs." The dark-haired girl quickly stood up and left the room, leaving Kaneki there, speechless at the girl's absurd behaviour.

He blinked a few times and slightly touched his face. Touka called after him, demanding to go downstairs and he quickly snapped out of it, running after the girl with a smile plastered on his face.

"What are you smiling at, dumbass!" The teenager sneered.

"Ah, nothing. I just thought that it was nice, to have a moment where we can share our troubles and just relax."

"Don't get so full of yourself shithead! It was only a one time thing! Don't start believing that I'm suddenly soft and weak on you!" She barked as she passed the university student and continued to work.

Yes, it was only a one time thing. 'Stupid Kaneki.' The ukaku ghoul thought. 'Making me act like a weakling.'

She didn't look back at the boy, his smile was still present as he continued his work. Touka had no idea that it wouldn't be the last time, nor would both of them know what the future had in store for them.

After-note about the chapter: I don't know why, but whenever I'm hungry, I always get ideas for fics, this one was also influenced thanks to my gluttony. I also belief that at some moments people tend to have the urge to come clean with whatever is bothering them to a friend, even Touka. She mentioned before how much she wanted to be like humans and like every teenage girl, so she'll have her moments where she's fussing about small things or her curiosity keeps her thoughts busy. I still have that very often and they sometimes they're about the most useless or ridiculous things, I'm probably not the only one.

Anyway, thanks for spending some time on reading this little fic and my rantings.