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Banjou didn't stick around long whenever he was called in by Kaneki to do something for him, but he knew enough to know that this Hideyoshi kid was something special. He often catches glimpse of the peaceful life that Kaneki now has whenever the brown haired boy pops into the room, smile on his face, belly slowly getting to the point of looking round. The atmosphere quickly changes, and the look in the white haired Alpha's eye changes from hard and serious to soft and comforting, almost relaxed. It leaves a bittersweet taste in his mouth.
He doesn't hate Kaneki, at least, not as much as he wants to. Kaneki had just been a young, innocent, kid back then who had a crush on a seemly innocent girl, and didn't know her like Banjou does - didn't know she had been a ghoul. And even so, Kaneki wasn't the first victim she had - Banjou could've been one of them, had he not lost all common sense the moment they've met.
She had been willing to eat him. She could've, since Rize was as ruthless as she was beautiful; yet, all it took for her to stop was the simple words-
"How beautiful." It was funny how she reacted to that. Tensed and wary, halfway expecting it to be a joke, but Banjou didn't lie. Everything about Rize was beautiful, and she had to know it, or how else would she be able to trick so many people as she's done with Kaneki? Yet when Banjou said those words, Rize stopped in her attack. She looked at him as he looked at her Kagune, watching as those four, long, beautiful red tendrils waved in the wind, shimmering in the dead of the night. So elegant looking they were, and yet, they never harden on sight after their first release.
Maybe she never intended on killing Banjou, the older man thought, amused. Maybe she just needed a new toy to play with, as Rize has described him.
Closing his eyes, Banjou sighed.
Thinking of Kaneki and his mate was a painful reminder of what Banjou has lost, even if his loss was done out of pure greed. Rize wasn't a social person, nobody knew her except that they knew that she ruled the 20th ward. It was her feeding ground (and now, by extend, Kaneki's), her domain. They also knew that she was a binge-eater, always consuming after eating. She was strong enough on her own, Beta or not, and not a lot of people (except for a few a.k.a Yamori) messed with her. In fact, Banjou was one of the few people Rize could call a friend, an almost lover, had fate allowed it.
After the initial meeting, Banjou had started seeking her out more, much to the female ghoul's annoyance. He didn't know what it was about Rize that made him so curious about her, but if his relationship with her was anything like Hide's relationship with Kaneki, the man could put a finger on as to why; she just seemed so...opposite of what he is. Banjou himself was a good guy with a kind heart, not once getting into trouble, and more often, wanted to look out for the people that mattered to him. Rize was none of that.
Rize uses dirty tricks to get what she wants, gets herself into trouble, and more often than not, was almost self-centered. She thinks human lives are games to be played with, and has no trouble playing with them especially if she was going to eat them at the end. By all rights, Banjou shouldn't been attracted to her.
But he was, and, to this day, still is.
She'd been wary, trying to scare him off, but he refused to budge. Eventually, when Banjou was almost eaten by another ghoul, Rize had jumped in to rescue him, killing the ghoul with a hiss - "He is mine". The comment made his heat flutter, and he could feel his cheeks heating up. Eventually, Rize had come to accept that Banjou wasn't that bad of a company, and when the sun goes down or she just didn't feel like it, she would follow him to his apartment, chatting. He had found out that she had simple interest, like reading a book called The Black Egg and had wistfully mentioned liking the color blue. Her parents gone, and she had to learn to eat to survive, because she had almost winded up dead a few times. At some point in her life, she once felt sorrow for the people she was eating, but it soon stopped when she realize she had no other way. Plus, it didn't help that people would find her charming, beautiful, and wanted to take advantage of her. Once she realize this, any sympathy she had was gone.
"I think you're the first human who's ever been genuine to me." She had said, when they were at a small little market, shopping. Banjou had blinked and blushed, grinning at the ghoul.
"I'm glad. I hope you see that not all humans are bad."
"Still going to eat you, though."
"That's mean, Rize-chan."
Rize never really liked Banjou calling her 'chan', but she didn't complain. Instead, she would make a little 'humph' noise and purposely bump into him, but Banjou knew there were no real harm in it. Often, if Rize really was annoyed, a simple glare with her Kakugan activated would do the trick. That typically shuts him up.
"You okay?" A voice asked, and Banjou turned to address the person.
Touka was another person, ghoul, Banjou had came acquaintance with after Kaneki had came back to the 20th ward. The human had assumed that if Kaneki was going to use Anteiku as a base cover - for now - he might as well get use to the faces around here.
"Hm? I'm fine."
"Hide, no, you can't just survive on coffee during pregnancy. You don't even like coffee."
"But food is horrible right now!"
"Is it?"
"Well....not really, but it's becoming less flavorful. And besides, I don't even get the sugar crash everyone talks about when drinking coffee!"
"Sure, you can't feel the effects now, but later..."
Banjou watched as the couple bickered over coffee, Hide somehow managing to cramp himself into Kaneki's lap, though, the half-ghoul seems to have no problem with this. In fact, he took it as though this happens everyday (which probably did, knowing Hide), his hand trending through his human mate's hair.
"To think this is going to be Aogiri's new leader," Touka scoffed, shaking her head. Banjou smiled.
"I don't know. It's cute that Kaneki is doted to his mate. I know I had been." He said, and Touka cocked her head.
"Who was your mate?" She asked, but then, just as she said it, her eyes went wide. "No way....her? You're her-"
"I was," Banjou nodded, a bitter smile on his face as he recalled his purple-haired lover, a girl who allowed him to see the softer side of her no one else knew. "Shocking, isn't it?"
"No offense, but she didn't really seem the type to be mating with anyone. She would claim it would hold her down." Touka said. Banjou wanted to respond when a loud shriek was heard and the two quickly turned around to see Hide covering his mouth, while Kaneki just gave him a look that was torn between done dealing with Hide but loving him at the same time.
And suddenly, Banjou was reminded of the time when he and Rize had been out, with him wanting to try something that was extremely spicy ("You don't like spicy foods, remember?") and when it burnt his tongue, Rize simply scolded him, though, there was a hint of amusement in her eyes.
Tears were starting to swell.
"Yeah," He swallowed, head sinking to the ground. "She always was the hard one to hold down."
If only....Hide, Kaneki...I hope you guys live a very happy life together. Protect each other. He balled his hands into a fist. You'll never know just when Death is knocking at your door.