The Pirate & The Princess [KaneTou]

26

"Someone care to explain why both of you are out alone here?" Arata asked, stepping in front of the couple who was leaning towards each other for a kiss.

They separated from one another immediately and before Touka could say anything, Kaneki bowed 90 degrees in front of the King. "I apologize. I wanted to speak with Princess Kirishima for a moment and brought her out. I'm so sorry for forgetting about her reputation and I will take responsibility for this."

As a gentleman, he couldn't let the lady take the blame, even if it was really her idea. It would reflect badly on his character. But alas, Touka wouldn't just stand there and watch it happen. "T-that's not true! Papa, I dragged him out because I wanted to! Don't blame him for this." She protested.

Kaneki stood up straight and glanced over to his lover. Arata raised a brow when he saw him mouth the words 'let me take the blame' to Touka. She remained adamant, shook her head and stood her ground. "I was the one who wanted alone time with Ken. Please believe me, father."

Arata looked into his daughter's eyes and decided that she was telling the truth—from her determined and truthful gaze. Besides, he knew Touka very well. If she really didn't do it, she would deny it till the ends of the earth. So if she says it is the truth, then he will believe it is so. He cleared his throat and looked over to his wife briefly before directing his attention to both of them.

"Alright then. Since my daughter says so, I won't pursue the matter further. Prince Kaneki, I have observed you this evening and I have come to a decision regarding whether you can marry my daughter."

The couple held their breaths at this point because everything depended on his answer. Whether they would live in happiness, or misery for the rest of their lives. Sensing the tenseness in the air, Arata's face broke out into the grin and patted Kaneki on the shoulder. "I am pleased to say that you have earned the right to marry her."

Kaneki let out a huge sigh of relief and grinned at Touka, who returned the gesture. "Thank you so much, King Arata."

"You're welcome. I am sorry for the way I've treated you. You must understand that I want the best for Touka as she's our only child now. She needs to be taken care of and loved by her husband." Arata's eyes softened. "Please take care of her."

The white-haired male nodded. "I will, and I promise to make her happy forever."

——

They agreed that having a wedding immediately would be too hasty as people would gossip about the reason why they're marrying even when they've never been seen outside together. Therefore they decided on letting Kaneki court Touka and show the public that he had an interest in her first before the marriage.

And it was very easy to do. Kaneki was a hopeless romantic, often bringing her bouquet of flowers whenever they were at the park for a stroll and gifted her with many items that he thought that she would like: hairpins, dresses, rabbit items etc. 

While it sucked that they could not get married immediately, it provided them an opportunity to go on dates and enjoy some time with one another, which was something they weren't able to do much previously when Ken was just a pirate and they had to leave any towns as soon as possible in case they get caught.

Due to them not being married yet, they were not allowed to kiss, hug or stay in the same room. They had to abstain from all intimate activities and though it was for their own good, it frustrated them because they were finally together after being separated for months and still couldn't do anything together.

The courting took 2 months, and after Kaneki's romantic sunset proposal at the beach, news of their marriage was released to the papers and everyone knew that they were getting married. As to how Kaneki mysteriously appeared again, his parents decided to go with the story that they sent him overseas for 15 years to study before he returned.

After another painful 2 months of planning and separation from one another, the day has finally come. As the engaged couple stood at the altar reciting the vows, Kaneki felt his eyes sting at the beautiful sight of his to-be-wife. Touka held in her urge to laugh at her to-be-husband's pathetic attempt in stopping himself from crying.

"The bride and groom may now kiss."

Carefully pulling the translucent veil above her head, Kaneki held Touka's shoulders and leaned down to press his lips against hers. It felt so magical, to be finally wedded after a year and after today, they could finally be together forever.

They took their time on their wedding night, slowly removing each other's clothes and made love on their petal-filled bed till morning.

The sight of Ken's sleeping face in the morning brought a smile to Touka's face as she caressed his cheek. To think that she would be able to see this every morning from now on made her heart warm. Kaneki then stirred, opening his eyes and he pulled her naked body close. "I love you, Kaneki Touka," he whispered, lips curving up into a smile.

Wrapping her arms around him, she gazed into his eyes lovingly. "I love you too. Thank you for abducting me that night."

His eyes crinkled as he grinned and rested his forehead against hers. "I'm glad I did because it gave me you."

Needless to say, they spent the rest of their lives happily together.

—

I look at you and see the rest of my life in front of my eyes. - Unknown

—

Heya guys! It's finally the end of this story. I'm really happy with the way I rewrote this and I liked this 1000 times more than the original. Thank you for the support for the past 2 months and I'll be going back to my one-shots soon as I haven't updated in the 2 months I've been working on this story. I just started work as part of my internship and I'm actually physically and mentally very exhausted on weekdays to write anymore. I'll try my best to write on weekends :> meanwhile for my one shots, please help me in coming up with plots. I have extreme writer's block and can't seem to think of a good one.