The Pirate & The Princess [KaneTou]

6

Touka spends the next few nights standing beside Ken on a deck, purposely putting a certain distance between them to prevent anything from happening. As usual, he stared out at the sea and didn't even spare a glance at her. 

She was a little disappointed, because she expected him to maybe greet her or acknowledge with a smile after what happened between them few nights prior. Oh how she would die to see him smile again. It squeezed her heart when it happened. But alas, he did not. 

Though, she wondered what he was thinking about all the time at night because every night she saw the sorrow in those grey eyes of his and wanted to take it away from him.

"What are you doing out here again?" 

It surprised her that he was the one who broke the silence tonight. 

"Just enjoying the beautiful view of the sea at night."

She smiled at the snort of amusement that came from him. "You're lying. You don't enjoy this view. There's nothing out there and you see it every day."

"But I made you smile, didn't I?"

"..I did not smile."

"Whatever you say, Captain." She turned her attention back to the sea and shivered when a cold breeze blew past. A smile hung from his lips and Kaneki wondered when was the last time he smiled like this. Maybe when his best friend was still alive? 

Glancing over to her, he noticed her body shivering and took off his jacket with a sigh. He walked to her and placed it around her shoulders. "A lady shouldn't be out here at night. You may catch your death*."

*in historical novels, this is a phrase for becoming ill with a cold.

"I'll be fine. Thank you for your jacket."

Her vision spun, but she didn't stop that from focusing on his face. His sorrowful eyes looked down at her and having totally forgotten about how she wasn't supposed to go closer to him, she raised a hand to cup his cheek. "Why do you always look so sad?"

His eyes widened at her question. How did she see through him?

"I want to know you. All of you."

He took her hand down and squeezed it. "Trust me, you do not want to do that. I have done many bad deeds and they do not deserve to be disclosed."

"But—" She couldn't gather her strength and found herself falling forward. He quickly caught her and she panted against his chest. "Kirishima? Are you okay?"

"..."

"Kirishima!"

Her eyes fell closed and vaguely, she could feel him scoop her up with his strong arms and she leaned into him, inhaling his familiar scent. In his arms, she felt safe and protected. Soon after, she fell unconscious. A while later, she assumed she was laid onto the bed from the soft mattress beneath her body and though she felt too exhausted to open her eyes, she could feel a hand push her bangs back and buried in her hair.

"Touka."

Maybe she was dreaming but she heard a voice call her name. She didn't want to go to sleep except that her body insisted, and then, she fell asleep.

—

Awaking a few hours later, Touka found herself wrapped up in thick blankets and struggled to get free of them. Her body shivered the moment she did so but she was also perspiring badly so she didn't want to pull them over her again. The door opened and in stepped Kaneki with a worried expression on his face. "Are you alright?"

She coughed. "I don't know."

A hand covered her forehead and she found her heart racing when his face came closer to hers. "Your fever seems a little better. Lay down, you need to rest."

"..I don't want to. It's hot."

He tried to keep his voice calm, but against his wishes, it wavered, "please, do as I say."

There was sorrow in his tone and as much as she wanted to ask why, she knew this wasn't the right time. She watched as he covered the blankets over her, and dipped a small towel into a basin of water, squeezed the excess water out and positioned it on her forehead. Her eyes widened when his hand found hers, and squeezed it as if he were afraid that she'd go somewhere.

She fell asleep again within seconds.