onigirx

[onigirx]

She isnt sure what to say, what to do. Ever part of her training was screaming at her to do something. Fast. To run or attack, anything but stand there like she had less brain than a stupid cardboard cut out. Her breathing is hitched, stuck in the back of her throat as the investigator fists the handle of her replacement quinque. Feeling almost as if it have her warmth, Tohru knew it was all in her head. But the pulse of her own heartbeat felt like it fed into the 'handle' giving it life and in turn connection.

"Kan...eki-kun..?" Her voice is a timid hush quite on the fridge air as instinct and heart battled for a few move minutes. Scary. What she saw convulsing infront of her was so scary... spasming and screaming in the shape of what had been her friend. Had been. Was. "K-Kaneki-kun." She shouted it now, her feet already moving to be at his side.

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[onigirx]

Before she caught a moment to still her tears the girl felt another on pout coming down. She really did hate how easily she cried, it was not a attractive trait. Annoying and a source of mockery. She told herself she didnt mind, that their jokes and jeers were only in good fun. But all the same...O- Oh but she didnt mean to be annoying right now, if only she had even known how to still them on command.

Instead balled fists reach up to wipe away at her eyes in hope of manually stopping them. "Thank you." She choked out her voice a little strained and weak as she showed off just why she was called a cry baby. "You really didnt...have any choice." They are hard words to say but she knows they are true.

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[onigirx]

The more she listened to the story the more her heart started to pull in her chest, it burned the back of her throat as a painful prickling tickled the end of her nose. Without wanting to warm tears poured down the sides of her cheek falling with very quite plops onto her lap. She did not know what kind of reply she had expected to hear. But it made her cry all the same. Cry for the poor boy who must have gone through so much not once but twice. Still she was sure... throughout daily life.

Was her father in a similar spot somewhere... wouldn't that be better than his body rotting in a ditch in torn apart but scavenging ghouls. But even as soon as she thought it Tohru felt a gave of guilt crash over her. How could she sit here and consider such a tragedy fortune. "I- Im so sorry."

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[onigirx]

Tohru sat quietly and listen to the tale, it was not her first time to hear it but even for her usually aloof mind she picked up on the smaller details. She was an investigator after all and her own father was 'a misings person' rumored to be by ghouls. It was still something she waited for clues for. A journal wrapped tight on her desk with the notes from over the years.

"What happened..." She started, her words taking care not to rush, as if the act would lead to a destination she couldnt accept. Now that she looked at him... in a certain way he did resemble the missing posters she had seen awhile back. Brown doe eyes blink open further as she finally to stutter out the final words. "To Kaneki...Ken."

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[onigirx]

"A secret..?" She asks slowly, as her brain tried to skip ahead and guess just what it could be. Trial and error - She never could get it right in school, on math exams and quizs she always came up two or three numbers ahead or behind. Imagine trying to eat that way. Tohru nods, a slow blink following the movement. "I can keep a secret, I never told anybody that Hajime-kun secretly like dogs more than cats."

"Er-" She corrects herself after just a moment. "I guess I just... did ...oh..um."

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[onigirx]

"I do! I love sweet things." She sliced off another bite with her form, a small happy hum confirming just how much she enjoyed the cake. Tohru considered herself a okay cook, her grandfather couldnt do much in his age. So the responsibility of cooking had been on her shoulders since she was old enough to reach the stove top. Through burns and cuts and many many cook books she had learned what worked.

"Um," She starts, taking another bite and holding the fork in her mouth. "If you dont mind me asking-" Tohru pauses. "H-how or- why do you know to cook i- everything i learned said G-..ghouls couldnt eat- our food..." She trails off a vague memory playing off the sound of her school lectures, and her grandfather's words.

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[onigirx]

Once he picked up the mug, Tohru started to cut the cake. She was slow and carful so not to ruin the master peice he had made just for her. Was it really just for her?? No one had ever done something so selfless for her- besides her grandfather of course. But he wasnt much of a cook and once she enrolled in boarding school they stopped seeing one another as much.

"N-no really, it's alright. Im sorry- that was...." Rude? Tohru tried to think, it likey was even if she hadnt realized he was a ghoul. Oh my god she had let a ghoul into her house without even- Horror was struck on her face for a moment as the realization of how airheaded she was sunk in. Grateful no one at the ccg would ever hear about that little incident Tohru tucked it away for now. "I-im sorry." She shuffled on her knees before slicing her fork through the cake

"AH" the fork jerked back from her lips. "Delicious ! Ken-kun this is amazing, you really made it all by yourself? !" Like a little kid she stares in awe at him. "You have to teach me!"

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[onigirx]

Tohru was all kinda of excited and confused. "F-for me? You really didnt have to." Her hands were hovering in the air, a blush dusting her cheeks. "Y-you baked this Ken-kun?" Her slender hands opened the box, revealing a beautiful strawberry cake inside. Tohru gasped her hands flying up the her mouth, as a few tears pricked at her eyes. She really did cry so easily.

"W-wait just a moment." Quickly the girl got up, her bare feet making a gentle. thump thump thump as she ran to the kitchen. A minute later she returned with the same tray as last time, only now it had a single plate. Upon it rested a fork and knife, to the left a small white mug covered in little strawberries.

Tohru grinned as she set it back down. "This way we can both enjoy!"

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[onigirx]

Tohru had her knees tucked to her chest, a single picture of her mother sat on the kotatsu. The woman had short red hair, two fingers up in the 'peace' sign as she beamed a toothy smile at the camra man. It was one of the only pictures she had of her mother, and she took it with her everywhere. The girl had been telling her 'mother' about work, about the strange ghoul, asking her what she would have done if she had been in Tohru's place. "Im so lost without you...Im sorry i-" im sorry I wasnt a good enough kid, that you couldnt even stand to look at me...stay with me.

She wasnt crying when the door bell rung. Just staring blankly talking on auto piolet while her brain regressed into the corners of - Tohru's head turned towards the door. She took a moment, blinking slowly as she slowly registered what that sound was, what did it mea-

"AH THE DOOR -C-COMING- W-WAIT A MOMENT." Her shouts could likey be heard through the thin apartment walls and into the neighbors place. Oh well.

After a short scramble she made it to the door flinging it open to see- "KEN-KUN" Her emotions were as plain as a fresh notebook. The confusion, relief and joy scribbled as obviously as if she had taken a big red marker and spelled it out for him. "W-what are you doing here, oh- please come inside."

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[onigirx]

"Ah." There was a long pause, you could practically see three little dots blinking from on to off inside her brain. "Right!!" Tohru deflated a little, awkwardly chuckling to herself. With one hand she touched the spot his Kagune had flicked, the spot felt warm. She smiled softly, what a kind boy… In the back of her mind a memory played, a soft story from her mother about a little ghoul. A boy the same age as her who she had taken in for a short time.

She wondered faintly what he had grown up to be...had he grown up at all? Shaking her head Tohru pushed it from her mind, the memory faint already. Worn and tattered by years of revisiting and over looking. "U-um Ken-Kun?" Tohru took her mangled quinque in, holding her close to her chest. Crap her mind was blanking emotions clouding her cognitive abilty. "Go home soon." It was the best she could do in the moment.

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[onigirx]

The Investigator watched her enemy stand and speak his words genuine and true. Tohru rose as well, her hands freezing cold, white knuckles blushed in rosy pink lay under her gloves. They with aching, tingling. She needed a rest, she couldnt keep going on against him- wait. was she just looking for an excuse to let him live- let him go?

"Y-yes." She answered, at last. Just has he had his people she had hers. And even so.... "I didnt want to meet you here." Tohru says so softly a human might have missed it. "Isnt there- Ill say that you knocked me out ill-" A gloved hand pushed her bangs up exposing the dangerously vulnerable forehead for him. "Hit me! Hit me really hard just like I did please!!"

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[onigirx]

She sniffed, he was right. She was being emotional, the one thing her teachers had always lectured her so harshly for. But her grandfather had always said it was a strength that it reminded him of her parents. Good people, kind people. He'd made her promise never to loose that trait. She waiting a minute more, sniffling untill she could calm herself enough to let go of him. The back of her hand wiped against her eyes, trying to clear up her vision.

"You're right- im sorry. This isnt like me." It was unlikey either of them bought that lie.

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[onigirx]

Without thinking she slipped her arms around him, pulling the ghoul in and half onto her lap. Tears kept falling down as tohru couldnt stop crying, she folded herself over him her arms tightening the hug. "Im sorry, im sorry." she kept crying, but for what she was apologizing for Tohru didnt even know herself. His fate? His wounds? The fact she was a investigator? Or was it the fact he even now- wanted to comfort her.

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[onigirx]

She was breathing heavily, her quinque minutes from destruction another hit- maybe two and it would have shattered for sure. Slowly Tohru crossed to the ghoul, a carful eye peering over to see if he- if she had- Tears slipped down her cheeks in a steady drip now a few of them landing on the ghoul's cheek as she stood above his for now, unconscious body. "Im sorry." She started, knowing if her team made it here in time he would likey not live much longer. "I really-"

Her hand clamped over her mouth to stop the scream. "K-ken-k-kun?" She half stammered out. The tears really were falling now, and as if to join them Tohru dropped to her knees. To the unknowning watcher it was sweet, almost tender how she sobbed over his fallen form her knees turning icy cold against the ground. The brunette's shoulder shook her sobs just a choking noise at best. Then, his eyes re-opened

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[onigirx]

What was wrong with him? Why wouldnt he- Tohru kept blocking his attacks, redirecting his blows one after another after another. His blood was spilling by the second pools of red decorating their battle grounds. She brought her quinque down using the blunt end of its handle to knock his temple. It brought her hands dangerously close to the ghouls face- a horrible mistake, yet somehow she damaged to pull back in time. Could it be the blood loss finally setting in-

another attack and another. "STOP IT" She screamed, at last. Her eyes now perking in tears. Later Tohru would be grateful they were alone, that her pain went unseen by any but this madman. "What are you doing !" She countered again a painfully graiting screech, cutting her words short as the creature teeth scrapped against her quine bringing up a few sparks. "Cant you see they will miss you if you die here?!?" In her final shout Tohru raised her arms high, bringing the blunt end back down this time perfectly connecting between his eyes.

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[onigirx]

Her eyes widened, the shock and fear more than evident in them. As the girl tried to avoid- dodge- block- her breathing picked up, until she could not keep up anymore. The eyepatch ghoul's teeth bit into her quinque, a sound like ice singing vibrated through her hands. A warning of what was about to happen- then the break.

She knew better than to kick him- and yet she could not help the instinct to kick up at the underside of his chin, her breathing was coming out quick adrenaline spurring her to be ruthless. She would never admit it, but at times her quinque almost felt alive- real. More than a scientist's engineering. The idea of her shattering fully-

As the ghoul fell back, she took her opening. Bringing her quinque across in a fast swoop, before bringing it down in a second's instant to make two gash's down his chest.

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[onigirx]

Two big brown eyes stared back into his his single inky one. She pressed back against the ghoul's kagune, before leaping backwards and dodging incase he threw another blow. Despite her airheaded behavior off the clock, she had spent years practicing and training. The handful of years as a proper investigator had done her well in addition. Bulking her abilities to a degree.

Darn it. She didn't like fighting hand to hand like this- there was something so human about the way he had jumped in between. Whenever she caught herself notice those moments- the human ones, the times they werent just monsters... She couldnt think about that now- not on the battle field.

Tohru rotated her heel looking for in, her body tensing before she launched another attack. There wasnt good at bad, there wasnt human and monster. It was just work. He could be a friend of hers any place but in the heat of the fight. She had to remember.

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