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Touka loved her daughter very much, of this there wasn't a shred of doubt.
Her child - as much trouble as she could be when she misbehaved - was still just that; her child. The very concept of not loving Ichika Kaneki to the moon and back was beyond ludicrous to Touka.
Though perhaps she didn't always like the things Ichika did.
It was hard to like it when she brought large, grotesque larvae into the house because they "were lonely in the dirt". Or when she took it upon herself to start snowball fights inside to "make things merrier".
Ichika, bless her, was more than occasionally, a problem. But despite all of this Touka was glad. Glad that her daughter had the chance to be a normal little girl who got into normal bouts of mischief. Ichika wasn't hurting, she wasn't starving or cold or afraid...she was happy, and that alone was enough to make Touka happy.
What did not make Touka happy, however, was when Ken bent to the will of their tyrannical five-year-old daughter without the slightest of fight.
Touka always had been the disciplinarian of the two. She had to be. Ken was useless against Ichika's puppy dog eyes.
She swore if the dynamic duo had been any other she would have pulled her hair out by now just from dealing with them.
Yet at the end of the day Ichika and Ken were Touka's problem, and that alone made all the difference. So as it was, Touka loved both her daughter and her husband. She would always love them.
But, the fact of the matter was, Touka's only a mortal woman. The fact of that matter was, she desperately needed sleep and her stomach was giving her a fit. She just wanted to drift off into slumber and sleep off this intense wave of nauseous threatening to split her head in two at the same time as she spewed out her guts.
What she did not need was to be woken up for the fifth time in the row by a very specific, very troublesome, someone tugging at her pillow.
The culprit? Ichika, of course.
Touka rolled over, bed creaking under her slight weight, hair a mess and eyes puffy from lack of sleep. She searched for a tiny porcelain face in the dark room.
"Ichika." She groaned. The tugging stopped. "What are you doing?"
Ichika didn't answer. Touka sighed, propping herself up on one elbow, sparing a quick glance to the alarm clock on the nightstand. 1:34 AM. Dammit.
"Do you need something?" Touka tried.
"… Nope."
"Are you all right?"
"Yep…"
"You're not dying?"
"Nope."
"All right." Touka dropped back down into her pillow with a huff, cradling her stomach as if she could ease the rocking boat motion within her. "Then go to bed."
Touka could practically hear her little one's internal argument. As if not doing what her mother said was even an option. She would have laughed at the very thought of it, but all her energy was being put towards keeping her eyelids from drooping.
Then, just like that, Ichika scampered off. Much needed sleep was already tugging at the foggy edges of her mind. She was more than willing to give in to the sweet embrace, sinking back into her pillow, eyelids slipping shut.
"That's like the third time...What was that all about?" Next to her, Ken moved, mattress shifting. Touka couldn't be bothered to open her eyes for him.
"Fifth time. Your daughter doesn't want to sleep I guess," she mumbled.
"She's our daughter." Ken corrected playfully.
"No. When she is like this, she is all yours, Kaneki."
"So when is she your daughter?"
"When she behaves."
"So never then?" Ken laughs.
The bed creaks even more and that was all Touka registered before finally falling to sleep.
The good news: the nausea was more tolerable in the morning. She hoped it would stay that way even after she forced herself to eat human food later on.
The bad news: Touka woke up alone.
Really it wasn't anything completely out of the ordinary. No two people could maintain identical internal clocks, and her and Ken were no exception. Normally though it was Touka rising early. Ken liked to sleep in given the opportunity, while she preferred to be up as early as possible to get a start on her day.
So while waking up last was only a little strange, waking with no pillows or blanket was a bit more out of the realm of normalcy she'd carefully constructed in their lives.
What were the chances Ken had actually taken it upon himself to do some laundry without being asked? Low. But a woman could dream.
With a deep breath and all the energy she could muster at 6:45 AM (Dammit) Touka pushed herself up and out of the bed. No Ken, no blankets, no pillows, and a door wide open.
What were the chances she slept through some sort of apocalypse?
Not quite as low as one would hope, but low enough she wouldn't make it her immediate concern.
Not yet, at least.
The hall was just as empty, which at least made the trek to Ichika's yellow and pink bunny clad room easier on her dragging feet.
While not an ounce of her being was surprised to see the door wide open with Ichika not so suspiciously missing from the messy room itself, it still begged the question of where exactly her daughter was. The house was quiet. Too quiet. Anyone who knew Ichika for more than five seconds knew she was not quiet.
Touka knew her girl. She also knew her Ken. Either Ichika had roped her father into taking their chaos out of the house, or this was just the calm before the storm that was going to start raining on her parade any second now. Being prepared for both options didn't make anything easier.
Sighing, she spun on her heels and marched back down the hall.
Five years of her life with Ichika, and she still wasn't prepared to walk into the kitchen and see a large pillow fort - albeit a poorly made one - in the middle of the floor.
Did they even have that many pillows?
She was even less prepared to see a familiar pair of long legs sticking out from underneath her stolen blanket. Buried underneath it all, was Ichika… and Ken.
Of course.
Touka tilted her head back, exhaling slowly and grasping at her patience. It really didn't help. She kicked Ken's leg. The man jerked awake almost instantly, eyes darting around the room, looking for danger. When his gaze landed on Touka he seemed to relax.
"Morning." Ken smiled lazily. Touka raised a dark fine eyebrow. She said nothing.
Ken shifted uncomfortably under the hard stare. "You look beautiful today, Touka," he commented.
He was reaching now. The eyebrow only rose higher.
"Did I ever tell that y-"
"Ken." Touka cut in.
His mouth clamped shut, waiting for whichever form of scolding Touka was going to dish out this time.
After a moment, Touka just let her shoulders droop.
"Well move the hell over, idiot" Touka grumbled, ducking down to crawl into the poorly constructed fort. Apparently she was going to have to teach them how it was done, starting with using the couch cushions over the bed pillows. But that could wait. For now, Touka wanted to reclaim her favorite stolen blanket and her place in Ken's arms.
Ken was absolutely beaming at her as she managed to wedge herself between her husband and daughter. He pulled her close immediately, chin resting on her temple, Touka's warm breath ghosting over his collar bone.
"Feeling better this morning?" he asked quietly.
"Mhm. For the moment. This kid is going to kill me," she placed her hand on her still flat stomach that was filling with new life.
"Don't say that," he responded, holding her tighter to his body, which she gladly snuggled deeper into.
"An hour." Touka said soft but sternly, wary of the snoring child next to her and what it could mean if she woke up. Utter chaos came to mind. "Then you and her are cleaning this mess up."
Ken traced his fingernails up and down his wife's spine, repeating the motion again and again to lull Touka back into a well deserved slumber. "Of course." He responded softly, smiling into Touka's hair. "After all. She's your daughter, isn't she?"