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Metal clippers clacked. Blood dripped. Drip, drip, drip…
Breathe in, breathe out.
Silence.
Heels clicked and Kaneki took in a sharp breath. He could hear the snap and pop of knuckles, the clack-clack of the clippers, the dripping of blood as it fell to the floor…
Drip, drip, drip… It echoed in the large room.
The floor was slick with red blood and it was all he could smell, it was everywhere, everywhere; rusty iron clogged up his nose, it was dripping, dripping, dripping—
Yamori’s cold voice echoed in the large room. “Count back sevens from one thousand.”
—and there was that clanging of clipper teeth, foreign yet familiar, getting louder as it came closer and closer. His heart rate was increasing, already tears came to his eyes, he just wanted to be back home—
"That’s it Kaneki Ken! Be as terrified as you can be!"
His screams were ringing in his ears. As usual Kaneki’s pleas were going unheard, always, always unheard — then there was that laugh, and Kaneki was shrieking, wailing, crying desperately for help, crying for Yamori to stop, stop, please please stop, but before he knew it—
"Count for me my pet, count!"
— metal bit down on his flesh, his screams increased—
Kaneki cried, “Nine hundred ninety three!”
—that tool closed around another toe, biting into his skin—
"Nine hundred eighty six!"
—bones popped, blood poured—
"Nine hundred seventy nine!"
—pain, pain, paIN, PAIN—
"Nine hundred seventy two!" His face was wet with tears.
—laughter, endless, it crawled up his spine—
"Nine hundred sixty five!"
—the gleam of pearly white teeth in the dim light—
"Nine hundred fifty eight!"
—thin lips stretched into a curling, psychotic grin—
"Nine hundred fifty one!"
—large eyes widened and dark pupils contracted as more laughter erupted into the echoing playroom—
"Nine hundred forty four!"
—more pain, toes separated, warm liquid pooled; he could feel the breeze brushing against his torn feet—
"Nine hundred thirty seven!"
—screaming, shrieking, I can’t breathe—
"Nine hundred thirty!"
—"Kaneki-kun, wake up!"—
"Nine hundred twenty three!"
—SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME—
"Nine hundred sixteen!"
—"Ken-kun, vous ne rêvez, you’re dreaming—”
"Nine hundred nine!"
—Thin arms wrapped him in a lover’s embrace but it was foreign, no Rize no Rize—
"Nine hundred two!" Kaneki was choking on air. When would it stop, would it ever stop?
—"Give in to temptation, Ken-kun…" Rize stroked his face with a soft touch. "Release your inner ghoul. Don’t let yourself be hurt anymore…"—
"Eight hundred ninety…five…"
The clippers ceased and Kaneki fought for air. Tingles shot through his bleeding feet and he could feel, he could see, the bones regenerating. The half-ghoul took in shaky half breaths as he took in the sight of his bloody, broken feet. There was so much blood. It was everywhere, it was bleeding through the very cracks in the floor, coming from every direction—
"Hmm." hummed a slithery voice in his ear, "I wonder what this does?"
Kaneki’s eyes shot wide open, and he frantically began, “Please don’t, no no please—” Too late. It was crawling in him, through him, and Yamori was laughing but Kaneki was screaming, shrieking, pleading—
—”Ken-kun, mon amour wake uP!”
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~
Kaneki popped upright in a fit of screams, grabbing at his face and eyes, covering his ears—
I’m not there.
But he was still screaming, tears were falling freely, and he just wanted the memories to stop—
Kaneki held his hands over his ears as he screamed, “Make it stop, make it stop!”
He could still hear the laughter, felt how it bounced around his skull, echoed in his ears—
Arms encased him and Kaneki pushed back, all the while shrieking for whoever it was to get away, leave me alone, but all the person — no, ghoul — did was hold him tighter. Kaneki took in a whiff of the floral, familiar scent and dived straight into the ghoul’s chest, latching onto Tsukiyama’s undoubtedly trashy looking pajamas with tight fists and shaking to keep back his fear.
"Shh mon amour, shh, you aren’t there anymore. You're safe now.” Tsukiyama gripped Kaneki’s white hair and held the boy close in his arms, pressing a reassuring kiss into the whitenette’s forehead. He dragged his fingers over Kaneki’s back in a soothing manner and gave him another kiss when he felt Kaneki relaxing in his embrace. It were times like this Kaneki was glad Tsukiyama had that obsession for him, the older ghoul always knew how to calm him down from one of his…nightmares.
Kaneki shook again but Tsukiyama was quick to ease him. “You are safe now mon chéri, do not worry.”
Kaneki was silent as tears filled his eyes, but this time born from warmth deep down in his chest. What was this feeling? He hadn’t felt something like it in so long, not ever since…when was it? “I don’t want to go back Shuu.” he whispered.
"And you won’t." Tsukiyama breathed Kaneki in and marveled once more at the sweet scent the half-ghoul gave off, one that was more potent with the still erratically beating of Kaneki’s heart. "No one will ever hurt you again."
"Shuu…"
Tsukiyama tenderly gazed into Kaneki’s eyes as he wiped away the drying rivers of tears, and Kaneki’s breathing hitched at their closeness. The Gourmet’s own heartbeat was soothing in his ears and he could feel himself falling back into an easy doze where he sat in Tsukiyama’s lap. Kaneki was content, warm, safe…He refused to sleep though and instead wrapped his arms around the waist of his very tacky, very protective ghoul. "Thank you.”
Tsukiyama smiled into Kaneki’s hair and didn’t say anything at all.