Worlds Away {Ghoul! Suzuya Juuzou x female reader}

Tending Wounds

A/N: I couldn't think of a title for this chapter >_>

My hand clutched Juuzou's as we headed for his apartment, cutting through alleys when we could to avoid being noticed. We definitely made a weird sight, the three of us covered in blood, some dried and some still oozing from wounds and coagulating. I had come out unscathed but somehow my clothes were just as filthy as Amaya's and Juuzou's.

"We make a right here, Y/N-chan, then it's the first apartment on your left."

We stood in front of one of the largest apartment complexes I'd ever seen. It was made up of only five apartments, but each was huge. The lawn out in front was well-kept, and flower boxes adorned the windows. They looked like the kind of apartments that an elderly, well-off couple would live in, not a powerful, nameless ghoul and his two hit-men.

"T-this is your apartment?"

Juuzou and Amaya both nodded. Amaya pulled a key ring off her belt and unlocked the door, letting the three of us in.

It was just as spacious inside as it appeared from the outside. However there was very little furniture, and it had a cold, unwelcoming vibe about it. The empty living room echoed with our footsteps.

I shivered slightly as I followed Juuzou and Amaya into the kitchen, which was furnished with only a small table, and a large refrigerator, and a coffeepot.

"Let's stay down here, I don't think Amaya will make it upstairs in her condition."

"My condition? What about your condition, Suzuya-kun?" Amaya protested, her cerulean eyes flashing defensively.

Juuzou just blinked, unfazed by her tone. "I'm already beginning to heal. You however, need stitches. So sit down and let Y/N-chan clean your wound while I go get my sewing kit."

I smiled apologetically at Amaya as she eased into a chair. I removed the tourniquet around her neck, feeling my stomach tense up at the sight of the deep cut.

She hasn't begun to heal at all...

"Cleaning this is going to hurt like a bitch, so I'm sorry in advance."

"It's fine. I'm sure I've endured worse."

Juuzou came down stairs, his sewing kit in one hand and a bottle of peroxide in the other.

"Sorry Y/N-chan, you kind of need this to clean. I forgot." He handed me the brown bottle.

I opened it, cupping my hand under Amaya's cut to catch the excess liquid. "Here we go," I murmured, watching as Amaya clutched the seat of the chair she sat in with shaking hands.

I poured the peroxide into the wound, watching as red-tinted foam ran down her neck. She didn't move or make any noise to indicate that it hurt, but I knew it must have.

"Alright, it's clean." I wiped away the excess solution from her skin.

Juuzou was waiting beside me, a needle in his hand already sanitized and at the ready.

Without a word of warning, he began to make neat stitches across the cut, closing it.

"Um... do you mind me asking why you're not healing? I mean, you're a ghoul, right..."

Amaya's face was pale with blood loss and pain. "I don't know. Yes, I'm a ghoul, and yes, I eat regularly. I've never healed like a ghoul. But what I lack in regeneration, I make up for with my fighting skills."

I noted again the defensive way she spoke of herself. This was a girl who had been severely downtrodden in the past, forced to prove herself, forced to put herself last. Now she was making up for it by serving as a killing machine, determined to prove her worth even if it cost her her life.

"All done~" Juuzou stepped away from Amaya, admiring his work. Ten perfect stitches closed the cut neatly.

"How does your needle pierce a ghoul's skin, Juuzou?"

"It's made of quinque steel. The boss had some needles made for us, because we needed to sew ourselves up quite a few times. He doesn't know I use them for my own purposes too," he laughed, gesturing to the stitches trailing down his right arm.

I shook my head, smiling. "Let me see your wounds Juuzou. I want to make sure you're okay."

He looked down, visibly uncomfortable. "They're okay. I can take care of them myself."

"Juuzou..."

His eyes flashed quickly to Amaya and then back to me.

The other ghoul caught the look, and proving herself to be very observant, got up slowly from her chair. "I'm going to go upstairs and rest a little while you do that."

I waited until she had disappeared up the stairs before taking Juuzou's hand in my own. "Please, let me see them. It's okay."

Juuzou sighed quietly and unbuttoned his shirt. I kept my face expressionless as my eyes took in everything he hadn't wanted me to see.

Along with the many other faded scars I'd already seen before, the raised and puckered ridges from both his brutal childhood and fights with ghouls as an investigator, his abdomen was now littered with many new scars, evidence of many stabbings and slicings, attacks meant to kill. Assessing the wounds from that day, I was shocked to find out that Urie's quinque stabs had penetrated all the way through his body, coming out his back.

But he was right, they were almost healed. "Well, there's no use in cleaning these or stitching them, since they're almost closed." My voice was trembling with the tears I was biting back. He buttoned his shirt quickly.

So much damage has been done to him in these past years...he's not safe, he's never been safe. I'm lucky he's still alive.

"I'm sorry Y/N-chan." He said quietly.

I looked at him, making him meet my eyes. "What are you sorry for?"

"That you had to see that. It's disgusting, I know."

"J-Juuzou, it's not disgusting. At all. I'm just worried about you...I don't want to lose you. You...you can't do this job anymore..."

"What choice do I have? What else am I supposed to do? This is the only thing I'm good at. The only skill-set I have." His voice broke mid-sentence. I moved closer to him, wishing to comfort him.

"That's not true." I ran my fingers through the wild ends of his hair. "We can find you something else. It doesn't have to be this way. You and Amaya aren't safe here. You're not safe from the CCG and I don't believe you're safe from your 'boss' either. One wrong move and I don't think he'd hesitate to k-"

I was silenced by the palm of Juuzou's hand pressed against my mouth. "Shhh, Y/N-chan. We can't talk about that here." His eyes were wide with an expression that rarely graced his features- fear.

I nodded and he took his hand away from my mouth, instead caressing my cheek.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Y/N-chan," he murmured.

Our faces were now only inches away, I could see every gleam of light reflected in his scarlet eyes, every detail on the red stitching through his bottom lip.

My heart pounding, I leaned closer to him, pressing my lips gently against his in the first kiss we'd shared in over three years.

He only hesitated for a millisecond before kissing me back. I could feel him smiling into the kiss.

And then, a shrill ringing pierced the quiet air.

My phone. Shit.

I pulled it out of my pocket, silencing the ring quickly, before looking at the name on the screen.

Sasaki.