Wonderland (Kaneki x Touka)

Kaneki

She disappeared. Touka had disappeared without saying a word to me. I was a wreck, to say the least. I think I cried. I don't know, really. I just know that she's gone and it's my fault.

There was no note, no text message. No phone call. Nothing. There was nothing for me to know that she was okay. She ignored my text messages, and she ignored my phone calls.

So today, one month after she'd left, I decided to call her again. I needed to hear her voice. God, my hands were shaking. I heard the soft ringing, and then she answered.

She answered the phone.

"Kaneki..." She said, panting softly. I let out a small noise of surprise.

"Touka!" I was screaming, like an excited child. I was a kid in a candy store. "Where are you? I need to see you."

"No. I'm not strong enough."

"Touka?"

"I need to do this. Don't come looking for me." My jaw dropped.

"Touka.. I go back to Aogiri in... a few weeks. Please. I don't want to go without seeing you again."

"The next time I see you, you have to promise to fight me."

"No!"

"Kaneki. Fight me, or I won't see you again."

"You're acting like a child."

"Please." The begging in her voice was enough to drive me insane. I chewed on my lip.

"I won't fight you. Not seriously."

"You will. You'll have to." Then she hung up. I stared at the phone as it buzzed in my hands. A text message. I love you. Thank you.

I threw it against the wall with a howl of distaste. She wanted to fight me? Why?

Had she been kidnapped? Was it Aku? Come to think of it... he was gone too. I grabbed my mask.

"I'm coming to get you, Touka." I growled at nothing in particular. I just have to find her.

----

"Kaneki?!" I heard her squeak as I threw my fist into the wall.

"You've been here this whole time?" I yelled, and she stared down at the ground. I felt a presence behind me, and I jumped back towards Touka. "Yeah, I'm surprised you've come this late."

"Aku." I spat. "You took her away from me."

"No."

"You did! Look! She was with you, and not me. I warned you, didn't I? That if you..."

"I came here because I wanted to. He's been my practise dummy this whole time." I stared at Touka. Sticking up for Aku? Why?

"I..." I was lost. Confused. Did she only toy with me? Did she only want me... temporarily?

"Kaneki..." Aku started. I clenched my fist, and I whirled around to him. Touka swung herself around my body, tackling me down. She ended up on top of me in a swift, unexpected motion.

Oh, they'd been training.

"Why are you protecting him?!" I snarled at her.

"Because I love him!" She screamed. My heart raced. My fists dropped to the floor, I gave up. The tears stung my eyes, but I forced them back. I'd been through worse, right?

That pain had all been physical, though. I'd never been good with emotions. I drew a deep breath, and I stared into her eyes as her fists clenched around my shirt. "You could've told me." I said. "You said you loved me in that message. Just to get me here?"

"No."

"So why?"

"Because I love you, too."

"No, Touka. It doesn't work like that."

"What?"

"You can't have me, and have him." Her eyes widened. "You have to choose. You have to tell me what you want." I knew her words had been a slip. A spur of the moment kind of slip. She'd panicked. She hadn't meant it, and I could see all of that in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't do it." She sobbed as she put her head down on my chest. I felt my shirt grow wetter as she sobbed. "I can't fight you. After all this time... I can't."

"Of course you can."

"What?"

"You have a reason to fight me, right? So let's do it. How much of your training has paid off. Here. For the moment, lets not be Kaneki and Touka. For this fight, lets be The Rabbit, and Eye-Patch." I slid on my mask, and handed her the Rabbit mask. She stood shakily, helping me to my feet before she slid on her mask. I zipped up the mouth, and I stared at her.

"Lets do it."

I think her first initial move was to throw me off guard with a few shots of her kagune. I knew how to dodge those. Her training was apparent, and she seemed to stick with Aku. She didn't want me to hurt him, or use him to hurt her. As if I would. I wouldn't drag innocent bystanders into this. My kagune whipped around, growing into one straight line in front of me, swinging around to slice her. They parted, and I smiled. She was bleeding from the stomach, and I couldn't seem to care.

This is what she'd wanted, right? All of my anger went into this fight. All of my frustration with Touka leaked into these moments. My hatred for Aogiri. How much I didn't want to go back there. I sucked in a sharp breath as she dodged my next few attacks, and then it was her turn. She needed to get closer to me to do much damage, and then she would have to do something physical.

I never let her get close. She couldn't land one hit on me. The training made her hard to fight, but my other two kagune never had to come out. I fought with only two.

Until she was on her knees in front of me, and throwing away her mask. I knelt down in front of her. "That... was... good. Thank you." She breathed, her chest heaving. I pulled off my mask, and I stared at her. I tilted her face up to mine, and kissed her roughly. I felt her panting into my mouth, and I knew that a kiss would only make her breathing worse. I didn't really care. She didn't pull away, and she didn't seem to care either.

I licked her lip, asking for entry, and she granted it. I supressed my smile, and slid my tongue into her mouth. I immediately began exploring, and she seemed surprised when I ran my tongue over the roof of her mouth. Her tongue twirled around mine, and I laughed at the strange sensation. She shuddered, her hands sliding into my hair and tugging softly.

I was so glad that I found her.

I was not so glad that she hadn't asked me to train with her.

I needed to ask her about that, didn't I?

Oh great - it was raining.