The Pirate & The Princess [Touken] Story

6

"Give me your hand." Kaneki said, putting his hand out.

"Huh? Why should I?" Touka asked, staring at his outstretched hand.

He grabbed her hand, holding it tightly. "So I won't lose sight of you. I won't fall for your tricks this time."

She felt her cheeks burn. Even though it was just a statement, it made her heart flutter in the weirdest way. Why is this guy making me feel like this? It's only been 3 days since we met!

Trying to avoid the awkward silence between them, she asked, "so how did you save me from those men?"

-Flashback-

Where is she?! She couldn't have gone far! Kaneki panted and rested his hands on his knees.

Suddenly, he heard muffled screams nearby. He turned to the direction in where it came from and saw two men carrying a huge sack and throwing it into a truck. He steadily made his way closer and overheard their conversation.

"Where should we sell the girl to? She has rare violet hair and blue eyes."

His eyes widened. Kirishima!

"Yuina Island is good. There's many rich people there."

The two men got onto the truck and started the engine. Kaneki clicked his tongue and ran after it. Realizing that he could not catch up, he took the shortest route to the pier.

Upon reaching, he saw the two men carrying Touka onto the ship. He quickly intercepted them and one of the men brought a knife and thrusted it at Kaneki. His arm got a cut from his slow reaction at first but he managed to twist the man's arm and make him drop the knife onto the floor.

The other man ran towards him with a punch and he avoided it, landing a punch in the man's stomach instead, making him drop down in pain.

Kaneki glanced around and spotted a cop doing his rounds. He dragged the two men over to the cop and explained the situation to him.

-Flashback Over-

"So that's how you saved me... Umm that is..uh...t-thank you for saving me Mr Kaneki and I'm sorry for not listening to you.."

Why was it so embarrassing to say that? It was just a few words! Touka berated herself.

"Just Kaneki is fine."

"Okay."

The two fell into silence again. They had nothing in common so they were not able to hold a conversation.

Kaneki noticed Touka staring at a shop they walked past. "Did you want something?"

She jolted from the question and blushed. "Uh.. I haven't changed my underwear for days so..." She trailed off. This is so embarrassing!!

He sighed. "I got it. Let's get you some new ones."

Having forgotten the joy of shopping in days, Touka went all out. She picked up a blue bra and panty set and held it close to her body. "Hey, is this nice?"

After asking, she immediately regretted as she totally forgot she was not close to him and that he was a guy.

Kaneki stared at her for 3 seconds before bursting into laughter. She blinked. It was her first time seeing him laugh, it was quite nice and she felt warm on the inside watching him. Touka blushed and for the first time, she had thought that he was very charming.

He wiped away his tears. "Why are you asking me that? It's not like I'm your boyfriend or anything." He smiled. "But yeah. It looks good on you."

She tried to hide her blush and turned away. "T-then I'll get this and this and—" she continued.

Touka went to various stalls, pulling Kaneki along by his arm. He winced and clutched his arm. She stopped and looked back at him. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing." He quickly removed his hand and dropped it back at his side. "Let's continue."

"Something's wrong I'm sure." She stares at his part where he was clutching earlier and gasped as blood started to stain his white long sleeves.

"We need to treat it!" Touka exclaimed, looking around. He grabbed her arm, making eye contact. "I'm fine."

It was a lie. His face was very pale and his lips were white.

"No! Stay here! I'm going to get medicine!" Touka dragged him (carefully) into a narrow corridor and pushed him down to sit onto a crate before going off somewhere with the money.

"Kirishima!" He shouted but she was already gone.

What if she was just using this as an excuse to run away? He cursed, he should have forced her to stay. He decided that if she didn't come back after a while, he would go to look for her.

Touka did come back after 20 minutes with a doctor by her side. "Please help him!" Her face was filled with fear and she held his hand tightly.

Kaneki squeezed her hand. "I'm going to be fine. Don't need to be so scared."

She nodded, tears evident at the corner of her eyes.

The doctor stitched Kaneki's wound up and bandaged it. Touka couldn't look at the process, it was too scary for her. They paid the doctor for the medicine and she sat down beside him. "Let's just stay here until you feel better, okay?"

Kaneki couldn't refuse her. Her expression says that if he doesn't agree, she will kill him. "Okay...Thanks."

She shook her head. "I should be the one saying sorry because you got that injury while trying to save me right?"

"Yeah. It's not your fault. It was my own carelessness. I was not aware enough."

...

Touka suggested they go back to the ship and let him rest but he didn't want to, instead insisting they continue shopping. Of course she wanted to do that but he was injured and she can't drag him around when he's not feeling well. He insisted and they did so.

The two spent the rest of the day together, shopping for Touka's clothes and sometimes for Kaneki's since she couldn't stand him wearing almost the same outfit everyday. Occasionally she would ask him whether he was alright and he would reply that he was.

Slowly but surely, they were getting closer than they were before.

And Kaneki noticed, that along the way, Touka held his hand tighter than before.