A/N: I headcanon Kaneki as bisexual, and it does rear it's head in this chapter, and will be elaborated on in the future.

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Perverted men, a conversation is had, secrets are revealed.
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"Tsukiyama." Touka said, a hint of surprise in her voice.

Said man waved his hand under his nose, taking in the scent of everything around him.

"Long time, no see, Mon Chèri." He said to the purple haired girl.

She rolled her eyes and went back to wiping the counter top. "What is it?" She asked bitterly.

The purple haired man scratched at his temple with a smile on his face. "Oh, come now. I'm a customer. Then again, I can't expect too much from someone with your charms."

Touka scowled, giving him a dark look. "You're lucky I'm at work right now." She said lowly.

Tsukiyama just chuckled, looking around the cafe until his eyes landed on Kaneki.

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "Hm Who's this morsel?"

Kaneki let out a small gasp as the older man approached him, growing even more tense when he started circling his body, looking him up and down.

"You're new around here." Tsukiyama said simply. "What's your name?" He asked.

"Um, I'm Kaneki." He said with slight hesitance.

The taller man leaned down to Kaneki's ear with a smirk. "Oh?" He sniffed him, causing the boy to cringe and yelp, jerking his head away from the strange man's face.

Tsukiyama leaned up again, his eyes glazed over with a look you knew all too well.

"C'est magnifique!" He muttered to himself.

"Leave him alone." Touka said, waving the man off of Kaneki. "Stop soliciting and take your skeedy sideshows somewhere else."

He turned to her, a smirk on his face. "You really have no sense of tact, my dear." He said.

He placed a hand on Kaneki's shoulder, causing the shorter male to flinch and look up.

"I look forward to trying your coffee. Give Yoshimura my best." Tsukiyama said seductively.

You glared at the man from your side of the cafe, slamming the napkin holder down onto the table.

"She said leave him alone. Can't you see he's uncomfortable? Stop touching him, you creep." You said, not even attempting to hide your rage.

Everyone, including Tsukiyama, looked over at you. Said man had a wide smile overcome his face as he strutted over to you.

He lifted your chin with his index finger, but you swatted his hand away, making him let out a low chuckle.

"My, my." He started, "you haven't changed one bit, dear. It's nice to see that even your delicious scent is still the same." He leaned down to your height and whispered softly in your ear.

"Perhaps you'll taste even better than that old girlfriend of yours~" he purred.

Your throat choked around a stuttered gasp, resisting the urge to cry and blinking back tears as he taller man walked away from you, running his hands along Kaneki's shoulder and walking towards the door.

"Ciao, then. See you soon..."

"My sweet Kaneki."

That was the last thing he said before the door closed behind him.

Kaneki approached Touka with a confused look on his face.

"Wow, who is that guy?" He asked.

You tuned out the test of the conversation that took place, turning back to the table you were replacing napkins on and gripping the edge of it, almost splintering the wood beneath it.

How dare that bastard mention...

Taking a shaky breath through your nose, you turned and walked behind the counter and opened the door that led upstairs, completely forgetting the fact that you had to be working due to anger.

You didn't notice Kaneki's worried expression, nor did you see Touka's knowing and sympathetic one.

You made your way up the floors until you reached where the housing area was, and unlocked your door, stepping inside and slamming it shut.

You leaned against the door, digging the heel of your palms into your eyes as an onslaught of tears threatened to escape.

He didn't have a right to talk about her. Not after what he did. Not after he took her away from you.

You slid down to the ground, lowering your arms and rolling up your left sleeve, where a single name was tattooed into your wrist.

You ran your thumb over the inked section of skin, not even bothering to wipe your tears away as they fell down your cheeks.

Moments of silence passed by in your apartment as your cat watched you from her spot on the couch, before a soft knock sounded at your door.

You didn't have to ask who it was, you could already tell by the timid, three thumped knock and the scent of coffee and old books that always seemed to linger on his clothes.

Sniffling, you stood up and dusted yourself off, opening the door and being greeted by a not too shocking pair of grey eyes, one of them being covered by a white medical eyepatch.

You wiped your face with your shoulder as you pulled your sleeve back down, looking at the slightly taller boy with a strained smile.

"Hey, uh, sorry about storming off. You can tell Yoshimura that he can write me up for it."

Kaneki stared at you with a sad look, his pouty lips down turned in a frown.

"Are you OK?" He asked simply.

Your bottom lip trembled ever so slightly, but you still managed a smile and nod, although they were stiff and unconvincing.

"Mhm. Perfectly fine. Tsukiyama just gets under my skin sometimes, and I have to walk away for a bit to be able to cool off."

Kaneki didn't look like he believed you, as his hand reached forward and grasped your own, his thumb rubbing over your knuckles ever so slightly.

"You can talk to me. We're friends aren't we?"

The gesture was needed to say the least, and you felt guilty for liking his comfort for how much it had calmed you from an inevitable break down.

You stared down at your feet, finding the dark brown faux leather much more interesting.

"I don't want you to get in trouble for walking away from your shift."

Kaneki shook his head, giving your hand a gentle squeeze.

"Let me worry about it, OK? That's a problem for later."

You pursed your lips and squeezed your eyes tight, before nodding.

You gulped down the forming saliva in your throat, looking up to meet his eyes -eye- and sighing, opening the door all the way and allowing him in.

You watched as Kaneki took a seat on your couch, gently picking up your cat into his arms and setting her on his lap as he waited for you to join him.

You smiled softly at the sight, taking in his small looking form as you made your way over and sat next to him.

"She's taken a liking to you, hasn't she?"

Kaneki shrugged, petting the top of your cats head.

"I've always been good with animals, it's an instinct kind of thing, like an urge."

You chuckled, pulling one of your legs up to rest underneath you while the other hung over the couch and onto the floor.

"What, you have an urge to pet every animal you see?"

Kaneki grinned at you, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly.

"Exactly."

It was silent for a few moments before he spoke again, his tone of voice shifting to something a bit more concerned.

"So... Wanna tell me what's going on?"

You rubbed your thumb over your clothed left wrist absentmindedly, deciding what to say next.

"It was something Tsukiyama said to me downstairs, about an ex of mine. A long time ago he hurt..." You took a shuddering breath, gripping your biceps through the sleeves of your shirt.

"He hurt him?" Kaneki finished.

"Her. He hurt her. Bad."

Kaneki's eyes widened a fraction.

"Oh, you're gay?"

You shook your head.

"No, no, not entirely. Haven't really found a label that really fits yet. I like both, though."

"Oh." Kaneki mumbled, mostly to himself.

You leaned forward, trying to meet his eyes.

"That's not a problem, right?"

His head shot up, staring at you with wide eyes as he shook his head.

"No! No, no of course not! I'm not- I'm not homophobic, I just haven't ever... met someone else like me."

Your brows furrowed in confusion before realization came onto your face.

"You're-"

"I'm bi, yeah." He said.

You let a grin overcome your features.

"Look at us, just a couple of queers."

Kaneki let a small, nervous smile show on his face.

"I haven't really told anyone besides Hide, there's no one else to tell anyway, but it's not like I'm keeping it a secret."

You nodded, giving him a reassuring smile.

You looked down at your lap and fiddled with one of your fingers, twisting the digit around absentmindedly.

You took a deep breath.

"So, yeah. That's my tragic backstory, all that grand, dark and brooding bullshit. After the attack, she decided that being with me was too difficult with all the dangers, so, she moved to America to get as far away from me as possible. Not that I blame her, at least she's safe, but..."

Kaneki finished your sentence.

"It still hurt?"

You nodded.

"Yeah."

Kaneki pursed his lips.

"Was she human?"

You nodded again.

"Yup." You said, popping the P.

"I know relationships between humans and Ghouls are risky, which is why I've had to distance myself from Reiko recently, but I can't keep hiding away, can't keep myself isolated, because then I'll just be alone."

You slouched into your seat, bending forward, and hiding your face in your hands for a moment before lifting yourself up and staring Kaneki straight in the eye.

"I can't let Tsukiyama hurt anyone else I care about. Which is why I'm warning you now to stay away from him. He's bad news, and he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants."

Kaneki set his jaw and returned your intense gaze, nodding.

"Okay. I'll be careful."

You returned the nod.

"Good." You stated before standing up.

"C'mon, let's get back downstairs before we get in trouble."

Kaneki nodded, standing up as well, placing your cat down where he had been sitting.

He patted her head twice before following you out your front door.

~~~

Kamii University was maybe the only place where you could ever feel normal, like you were actually human and not a man eating monster, like you haven't killed anyone.

Why your safe haven was being infested with purple haired perverts you'd never know.

You had turned a corner just in time to see Tsukiyama walking away from someone.

That someone happened to be Kaneki.

As soon as the abomination was out of sight, you jogged up to Kaneki and got in his face.

"Did he hurt you? Did he say anything to you? What did he want?"

He seemed a bit overwhelmed at the barrage of questions, but calmed down once you stopped talking.

"I'm okay, promise. He approached me and started talking about books, and then he started talking about Rize, and then he gave me this."

He handed you a small white card, the writing was small and it had prints of books spines on it.

You stared at it.

What's Tsukiyama's aim here? Butter Kaneki up with compliments and books, taking an interest in things he likes, to get him to trust him, all for the purpose of eating him later on? If the man weren't such a piece of shit, you might've assumed he was trying to date Kaneki, but you knew that wasn't what he wanted.

You handed the card back to Kaneki.

"Go and meet him."

Kaneki fave you a puzzled expression.

"What? But you said to-"

"I know what I said." You interrupted. "But it might be better this way, that way we find out what he wants with you, and something tells me this isn't a simple date."

A faint red color flushed across Kaneki's cheeks.

"Date? Who said anything about a date?"

You rose a brow.

"Oh please, you totally think he's hot. No matter how shitty a person he is, he's got charm, and you're falling for it a little. But this is a good thing. Get him to think you're interested, get him to take you places, and when the time comes, we'll figure out what he's planning, and I'll come running for you."

The blush on his cheeks grew a bit darker.

"Okay."

You nodded.

"Keep your phone on you tomorrow, and if anything happens, call me immediately. Do you have my number?"

He shook his head.

You held your hand out, waiting for him to pass you his phone, and when he did, you opened it.

"What's your password?"

He told you, and you typed in the four digit code then went to his contacts, putting your number and name in.

You handed it back to him.

"There. You should probably get to class, lunch is almost up. What do you have?"

"Uh, Japanese Lit. and writing."

You nodded.

"I'll meet you outside the gate when classes are done for the day, then we can head to Anteiku for our shifts, sound good?"

He nodded. "Yeah, sounds good."

You put a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful tomorrow, I mean it. If you die, I'll kill you."

He gave you a fond smile, adding a bit of shine to his eyes.

"Got it."

~~~

"Woah, Yomo's teaching you how to fight?"

"He is, but to be honest, I'm not very good at it."

You let out a laugh. "Yeah, that checks out. No offense, but your little nerd arms could barley hit a fifty pound bag of sugar, much less land a punch on anyone."

You practically heard his eye roll.

"Wow, thanks, i feel real appreciated by someone who's supposed to be my friend."

You laughed again, adjusting your phone on your shoulder as you sat against the headboard of your bed.

"Hey, I said no offense."

You pulled off a stray string of fabric off your comforter as you listened to him talk.

"After he tried teaching me, he took me to a bar. Do you know an Itori?"

You furrowed your brows.

"Yeah, I know Itori. She's not really the crowd I run with, too loud. Why do you ask?"

"Just asking. She said a lot of interesting stuff."

"Like what?"

You heard the sound of fabric moving around on the other end of the line, and assumed he was sitting in bed, too.

"She mentioned that there was another Ghoul out there like me, another half breed. She said it was just urban legend, though."

You shrugged.

"I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility. I've heard the stories for years, so I'd say it's probably real. No telling if they're still alive, though. She talk about anything else?"

"We talked about Rize."

You felt yourself stiffen.

"Rize? Why?"

"I asked if she knew anything about her. All this time and I still know nothing of the woman who's organs turned me in the first place. I felt like I needed to know something about her."

You nodded, although you knew he couldn't see you.

"That sounds fair. You out of everyone probably deserves to know what she was like."

You heard him sigh on the other end.

"Itori mentioned something about the steal beams not being an accident, that someone was spotted on the roof that night."

You drew in a sharp breath, clenching your hand into fists.

"Really? You don't say."

"I don't know what to believe."

"I'd say form your own opinion. Itori's always been a conspiracy theorist, so take whatever she says with a grain of salt."

Another sigh was heard.

"I gotta go to bed, I have that thing with Tsukiyama tomorrow."

You nodded.

"Alright, I'll let you go. Be careful tomorrow, Kaneki."

"I will." He said with a smile in his voice.

"Good night."

He let out a small, breathy laugh.

"Yeah, good night."

You hung up the phone, putting it down by your side and pulling your legs up to rest your chin against your knees.

The guilt of killing Rize ate at you every day, was constantly in your thoughts, you couldn't escape it.

Taking a deep breath, you laid down and pulled your blankets over your head.

Maybe sleep would clear your mind.

~~~

Kaneki: he's taking me somewhere else, said it was an old hangout of Rize's, seems a bit suspicious. Any clue what it might be?

It was the first text you had received from Kaneki in over an hour, and when you read it, you instantly knew what he meant.

The Ghoul Restaurant was the only place she had hung out frequently, aside from the library. She had told you that it was for inspiration for the next innocent man she was going to kill, she didn't go for the fine dining.

You sent Kaneki a quick text back.

You: I know what you're talking about, hang tight, I'll be there soon.

First order of business was to get a dress and your mask.

~~~

You navigated your way through the thick crowd of gormet, fancy, hungry Ghouls, all donning masks and dresses or suits.

It was a special event to them, after all.

The perks of being a highly ranked Ghoul was that you could go to underground events like these and not get questioned, although it wasn't like you'd willingly go to stuff like this.

You pushed your way to the railing, getting a good view of the bloodied arena below.

If you were right about this, Kaneki would be down there any moment now.

You waited anxiously, tapping your fingers against the gold lined rails.

No matter what happened, Kaneki would not die tonight.

And if he did, Tsukiyama would pay in blood.

The chatter of the large room stopped as the platform in the middle of the area came to the surface, revealing exactly who you were expecting to see.

Kaneki was dressed in a black suit, which would have looked good on him in any other occasion, but right now the only thing you could see were funeral garbs.

Kaneki looked around frightened, scanning the amount of people.

He looked like he was about to puke, and you wouldn't blame him if he did.

Flashing lights ignited around the room as the announcer began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for waiting. We present you with todays main dish. Prepare your pallets for an incredibly unique cut of meat, as you dine on Ghoul!"

You almost threw up on yourself.

Other Ghouls began to murmur around you in either disgust or confusion.

"Tonight's dishes courtesy of Mr. MM!"

The announcer gestured with his arm to a balcony, where Tsukiyama was now walking out with two women on his arms, his mask donned on his face.

"Good day my esteemed ladies and gentlemen. Normally, the flesh of a Ghoul offers a coarse flavor, not worth of eating, I'm sure those of you with discerning tastes are aware of the fact."

You felt disgusted as you watched the man bow.

You were going to kill him.

You watched as Kaneki ran towards the balcony, staring at Tsukiyama in horror.

"Hey what is this?! No, how could you?!"

Tsukiyama ignored him as he began to speak again.

"What drew me to this rare cut was his equally rare scent."

He seemed to pull something out of his jacket and sniff it.

"For while this morsel is a Ghoul, the sweet scent of human is inescapable."

He dropped the object onto the waiting crowd below him, making them go crazy.

Ghouls alike oo'd and aw'd, mouths watering, each fighting for a chance to take in the smell of Kaneki's blood.

The only thing you could do was seethe.

"Have I enticed your taste buds? Let us explore this mysterious flavor together."

The crowd cheered as Kaneki stood dumbfounded and terrified in the arena. He then started to frantically turn his head around, searching through a crowd he couldn't see.

He was looking for you.

Your chest heaved in anger and panic.

What were you going to do?

"Fellow culinary pioneers, I salute your sense of adventure. Now, let us enjoy the ultimate epicurean delight!"

In a flash, the lights turned on, revealing the arena in its entirety.

The walls and floor were coated in fresh and dried blood, not a single surface wasn't covered in red.

"And here's the scrapper who will be preparing todays mouth-watering entrée!"

A large wooden door behind Kaneki began to rise, and he looked behind himself in fear and a bouldering figure revealed itself.

The large man was holding what you assumed to be a giant saw as he approached Kaneki with thundering steps.

He let out a belch, lowering his head to look down at Kaneki.

"Nice to meet you, teeny man."

The beast of a man began singing as he continued to walk towards Kaneki's helpless form.

When he got close enough, the man brought down the saw over his head and slammed it down.

However, Kaneki was able to dodge at the last second, running to the other side of the arena.

The man pulled his saw out of the ground and stared at Kaneki through the red sack covering his head.

"Hey, where are you running off to?"

The man continued to chase Kaneki, missing each hit he attempted.

At one point, Kaneki threw off his suit jacket, throwing it on the man's head just as he lunged, making him fall to the ground in a heap.

You had to do something, you had to stop this, Kaneki didn't stand a chance out there on his own.

With a growl, you perched yourself on the railing and jumped, landing just in time to get between the man and Kaneki.

You let your Kagune loose, putting yourself on defense and hardening your Ukaku to protect Kaneki and yourself.

The beast looked at you in confusion while you heard Kaneki's cry of relief from behind you.

"Y/N! You're here!"

You didn't have time to respond before the announcer was speaking.

"Looks like we have another runner in our game! What will happen? Is she hoping to have this exquisite meal to herself?"

The crowd above boo'd at the notion, all the while you ignored them, focusing all your attention on the man in front of you.

The man, hating the sound, swung his saw wildly at you and Kaneki.

You blocked it with your hardened Kagune, keeping Kaneki out of the way at the same time.

"You're making my mama mad at me!! Go away, you're ruining our game!" The man wailed.

Amidst your attempts to get away from him, both you and Kaneki slipped and fell in a puddle of fresh blood. You wrapped your arm around his shoulders protectively, blocking most of the blow from the ground.

Although, as you helped him up, he almost collapsed, and it was then that you looked down and noticed his leg had been twisted.

You let you Kagune dissolve, wrapping his arm around your shoulders as you pulled him to a door on the other end if the arena.

"C'mon." You grunted out. "We can make it, I'll get you out of here."

Apparently you had spoke too soon, because then Kaneki was being ripped out of your arms and you were being kicked to the ground, now crushed under a giant foot.

The man held Kaneki in the air as he was choking him, all the while crushing you with his bare, blood covered feet.

"Look mama, I caught the teeny!" The man cheered out.

Kaneki continued to struggle, continued to choke, then all of a sudden the crowd was gasping in surprise.

From what you managed to see from your place in the ground, Kaneki's Kagugan has formed in his eye, red veins twisting themselves down the left side of his face.

Kaneki screamed, clawing his way out of the man's giant hands and down to his face, growling the whole way.

All of a sudden, Kaneki punched the man and the weight that was slowly but surely crushing your ribs was gone.

He practically flew across the arena, landing on the ground with a loud thud.

Kaneki knelt amongst the blood, his fist still in the air and breathing heavily.

You got up, your steps staggering in an attempt to find balance again.

One or a lot of your ribs were definitely broken, but you'd worry about it later, right now you had to get Kaneki and yourself out of this hellhole.

You limped to him, catching him as he collapsed, letting his head rest on your shoulder.

"Come on, we have to go while we have a chance."

Your words were horse, especially so with all the talking that was going on.

Kaneki couldn't even speak.

The large man behind you was practically throwing a fit, rolling around in the blood and covering his ears through his sack.

The whole crowd was in shock, they were freaking out, and Tsukiyama was especially dumbfounded.

All of a sudden there were thundering steps behind you and Kaneki as you tried to haul him to his feet.

This was it, you were gonna die. You were too weak to summon your Kagune, and Kaneki couldn't walk, you were done for.

Right as the man got to you both, his saw raised and ready, there was a squelch of skin and blood, and the beast was frozen.

He turned his head behind him shakily in pain.

"That hurts." He groaned out.

And then, there were two hands protruding through his stomach.

And then he was being torn down the middle from behind, showering both you and Kaneki in hot, scalding blood.

And among the blood and gore, stood Tsukiyama, his once white suit being drenched in red.

The beasts corpse fell to the ground as Tsukiyama approached you both.

He knelt to the ground.

"Did you enjoy that Kaneki? I know I did."

Both you and Kaneki stared at him speechless.

You gritted your teeth.

"Crazy bastard, I'll gut you." You seethed out.

Tsukiyama simply smiled.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, Miss L/N. Your debt will be repaid for your contribution to the show, you display was rather entertaining."

You breathed heavily in anger.

Tsukiyama leaned forward, breathing deep and long.

"I truly hope you know this was all in good fun, let's do this again shall we?"

And with that, he stood up.

Shakily, you pulled yourself to you feet, taking Kaneki with you.

"We're leaving, and if you come near him again, I'll personally strip you limb by limb."

Without waiting for a response, you pulled a limping Kaneki to the other side of the arena.

If you ever saw him again, you'd make sure he stayed dead.

Sooo I know it's been a pretty fat minute since this has been updated, and I apologize.

I'm still not sure how frequent chapters will be, but I have up to season 3 drafted and ready to be written so I'm hoping it'll be easier.

If you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a comment and vote!

Word count: 4574

Edit: I drew Y/N's Kagune, just for reference