A/N: This oneshot's a bit before the :RE timeline so bare with me, 'Kay? Some info might not add up since I'm not done with the manga yet!
Mutsuki slowly approached the person clad in a black suit. Seeing he was apparently talking with another investigator, he waited patiently for their conversation to finish, glancing on the paper his mentor, Sasaki, gave him.
The male waved goodbye to his colleague, and Mutsuki cleared his throat. "Uh, are you First Class Investigator (L/N), sir?" He asked.
The guy giggled and turned around, a smile adorning his feminine features. "Please, call me (Y/N). I don't like using my last name." He said, his voice oddly high pitched for a... Oh no.
Mutsuki tensed up. "You're a girl..!" He stuttered.
(Y/N)'s smile grew. "Good observation, investigator..?"
"Ah! Rank 3 Mutsuki Tooru! I'm a part of the new Quinx experiment! Rank 1 Sasaki Haise partnered me up with you for this investigation! I'm sorry for mistaking you for a man, miss!" The green haired boy bowed deeply. (Y/N)'s smile brightened at the mention of Sasaki Haise.
"It's okay, Mutsuki. It's not your fault I have wide shoulders! The blame's on me, really... I can't help but wear suits!" She giggled and placed her hand on Tooru's shoulder. "Let's get along, Tooru."
••••
"(L/N)-san-" Mutsuki was cut off by (Y/N)'s hand lightly hitting his back.
"I told you, Tooru! No formalities like that!" She gave him a warm smile that melted his insides.
"But why..?"
"I don't like remembering my family..." She frowned, and he instantly regretted his words. How could he even think of hurting her like that? Actually doing it made his heart ache.
"I'm sorry!-"
"It's okay, Tooru! You didn't know. For your information, they were killed when I was young. I don't like being called with my last name remind me of them too much." She explained.
Tooru apologized once again. "I'm still very sorry for making you remember things like that. I'm sure they were good people!" He smiled, trying to make her feel better.
(Y/N)'s frown only deepened. "Not exactly..."
••••
"How was the appointment, Tooru?" The girl smiled, making Mutsuki blush. The effect she had on him was crazy.
"L-like always, I guess."
"Still squeamish around blood?" She smirked, teasing him.
"Yeah..." He sighed.
"You'll have to get used to it if you wanna be a great investigator like me, Tooru!" His friend scolded in a joking manner.
"How about you? I heard you had an appointment too. How did it go?"
"It was fine. I received the results for my blood tests. Wanna see?" (Y/N) handed Mutsuki a sheet of paper with information about her blood type and RC cell levels.
"Those levels are pretty low..." He commented. "With the strength you have, I would've thought they would have been higher than the norm!"
(Y/N) nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. "What can I say? I'm just a mystery!"
••••
(Y/N) dragged Tooru away by the hand while investigators rushed to the activated RC gate.
"I can't believe a ghoul actually tried to infiltrate the CCG!" He exclaimed, while trying to ignore how perfectly his hand fitted in hers.
The two of them watched from afar as the numerous investigators took down the ghoul.
"Hey (Y/N)?" Tooru asked, glancing at her. "Do you think a one eyed ghoul could pass through without being detected?"
It might have been his imagination, but her eyes widened before going back to their relaxed state. She smiled sweetly and looked at him. "Don't be silly! Their RC cell levels would definitely be detected! It's definitely impossible!"
"I guess that's true..." His eyes went back to the investigators that were dragging the dead ghoul's corpse away.
"Come now." (Y/N) tugged on his hand, and he realized that she had never let go. "Haise told us he wanted to see us!"
••••
"(Y/N)?" Tooru knocked on your office door. "It's Rank 3 Mutsuki Tooru."
"Come in!" A cheery voice said. Mutsuki obeyed and he walked into the office, sitting down in front of her desk. "To what do I owe this marvellous surprise?" She smiled brightly, leaning her elbows on her desk filled with paperwork. The fabric around her shoulders strained against her as she did so, and Tooru forcefully tore his gaze away from her wide shoulders.
"I hadn't seen you in a while-"
"And I'm really sorry about that! My squad's been really busy, so I don't have a lot of free time as you can see." Her hand waved around the stacks of paperwork.
"It's okay." How could he not forgive her? He'd forgive her even if she shot him in the stomach with a gun, for pete's sake! "I assumed you didn't have a lot of free time, so I brought some left overs from yesterday's diner. I don't know if you've already eaten or not, but..." He trailed off. Now that he thought about it, is this too much? Was caring about wether she ate properly or not too much?
"Thank you, Tooru! I was starving!" She giggled, obviously happy he had brought food. "Are you going to eat with me?" She asked. "I won't mind sharing!"
(Y/N) got up and grabbed a few water bottles from a mini fridge in the corner of her office before seating herself on her comfy chair once again while Tooru prepared the food.
The two of them talked and joked around while eating, and by the time they were done (Y/N) had chugged four water bottles in between bites of her meal.
"It was really good, Tooru! I'll have to let Haise know the next time I swing by! Gosh, what would I do without him?"
Tooru eyed the empty plastic containers, trying to ignore the look (Y/N) had when she spoke about his superior. You seemed to care about him so much... He wished you would talk about him with those kind of expressions too. "You must have been really busy if you neglected drinking like that..." He pointed out.
"Oh..." (Y/N) seemed to become paler. "I've just been feeling dehydrated lately, is all. Anyways, thanks for swinging by, Tooru! I appreciate it, but I really need to get back to work!"
Tooru got up and was ushered out of (Y/N)'s office. Once she closed the door, he stared at it for a while, before shrugging off her odd behaviour and heading back to where he was supposed to be.
••••
"Tooru!~ Guess who's helping you on this case!" A certain suit clad female almost knocked down the Chateau's door. Noticing Haise nearby, she engulfed him in a hug. "Thanks for pairing him up with me again!" (Y/N) cheered.
"It's nothing, (Y/N)! He seems rather happy around you anyways..." Haise slightly blushed at the sign of affection.
"(Y/N)-san?" A voice called out, making (Y/N) instantly let go of Sasaki and smiling in the person's direction.
"Long time no see, Tooru!" Mutsuki's heart skipped a beat at the girl's wide smile. He loved seeing her this happy. "Are you ready to go? I've got all the info we needed already, so I'll fill you in on the way to the site!"
The Quinx nodded and followed his friend out. She waved goodbye to Haise, and the two of them were gone.
"Haven't I told you to drop any kind of honorific already, Tooru?" She asked smirking.
"It's been a while since we spoke, so I didn't think you'd be okay with-"
"Nonsense! I might be in a higher class, but I'm not that much older than you!"
Mutsuki made a mental note of this and stayed silent, letting (Y/N) excitedly explain the details of the case they were going to close very soon.
••••
"Good work!" (Y/N) said, slightly panting. "You got better. You've been training with Haise, right?" Mutsuki blushed at the praise. He did train harder to be noticed, after all. He was happy it payed off.
They both put away their quinques, looking at the mess of a ghoul that was remaining limp on the ground. Tooru looked away, slightly disturbed by the sight. It would take a while to grow used to something like this.
"You're close with Mr Sasaki, right (Y/N)?" He asked. It was true that the (brunette/blonde/hair colour) was apparently quite close with his mentor.
"We have some history, him and I, I guess." She shrugged and attempted to brush off some blood from her white CCG jacket. Tooru suppressed a chuckled when he saw she was just spreading it even more. "I've known him for a few years, and I guess when he enrolled in the CCG, I did too. I want to be there for him."
Something tightened in the boy's chest, and it didn't feel good. The way she spoke about Sasaki... It seemed like he meant a lot to her. Probably more than Tooru himself would ever mean to (Y/N). Nonetheless, he was glad she had taken a liking to someone like Sasaki. He would be good for her, and he deserved her.
"I see..." He muttered. "How did you two meet?"
"It's quite funny, really... He was... A friend of a friend." She smiled at the memories. "Ke- Haise had some trouble dealing with my friend at the beginning, so when he introduced us to each other, I decided to help him out, since my friend could be a bit... Overzealous, sometimes."
Tooru nodded. "That's very nice of you."
(Y/N) chuckled. "It's the least I could do. I felt bad for him, you know? But I don't regret it. I don't think I could live without Haise, now..."
Ouch. That hurt, even though they were just words. It really hurt him. He had been pinning after you for quite a while now, and the distance between the two of you recently had done nothing more but fuel his unprofessional feelings for you.
"It's sort of like you, actually." His mind stopped drifting away, and his attention was back on her, just like before.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Since I met you, I can't imagine how I'd be without meeting you, Tooru. I don't think I would be the same person, even."
Tooru scratched his cheek nervously. "I don't think I have that big of an effect on people..."
"But you do! And-"
Her words were cut off by a ghoul's sudden appearance. It must've been affiliated with the ghoul they had just exterminated.
They should have walked away as soon as the ghoul was dead. He should have reminded her, but he didn't. It caused guilt to paralyze him.
(Y/N) muttered some curse words before launching herself on the ghoul, bringing out her quinque once again, while Tooru could do nothing more than just stand there and watch her with wide eyes.
The fight didn't last long until the ghoul managed to disarm (Y/N), making Tooru think that she was completely vulnerable.
It apparently wasn't the case.
(Y/N) stumbled back, and let her gaze land on Tooru's frozen body. Her eyes held what seemed to be regret and guilt, before one of them went from white and (e/c) to black and red. She mumbled some incomprehensible apology and turned back around as something ripped apart the fabric on the back of her suit, which he instantly recognized as a kagune.
He should have known. The signs were there. Since (Y/N) didn't seem to be as close with anyone else as she was with him, it was a possibility that the others had no idea, but Tooru saw the signs. She was unbelievably strong and fast in combat against high ranked ghouls. Her RC cell level seemed too... Odd, she got nervous around anything that could reveal a ghoul's identity, she refrained from speaking about her family, and that one time he ate with her should have risen countless red flags, but he didn't notice them.
After all, when you're seeing life through pink spectacles, red flags just look like ordinary flags.
From then on, the fight became a lot more heated. Grunts and groans echoed through the air, blood splashing around leaving red dots on the ground and on the two ghouls' clothes. Before Mutsuki could wrap his head around the true identity of his unrequited love, he heard a scream of agony, and a body soon fell on the ground.
(Y/N) stumbled back, holding her stomach before collapsing on her knees. Mutsuki didn't waste a single second. In no time, he found himself in front of his friend, not even sparing one glance at the dead ghoul. His hands travelled to hers, silently asking to see her wound.
"You have to go, Tooru..." She breathed. "I'll be fine."
Eyeing the huge gap in her stomach, he knew she was lying. But he didn't want to imagine what lying about this would mean. "You're strong. I'm certain this is nothing, right?" He said, still holding her hands, an attempt to comfort her.
She sighed and glanced at the ground. "I'm sorry you had to see me like this, Tooru..."
"It's okay, it's okay." He muttered, staring at the gaping, bleeding hole in (Y/N)'s body. Any time now, it'll regenerate... Any time...
"Tell them you killed me, okay? Take the credit and live your life to the fullest for me."
His breath caught in his throat. She won't die. There's no way she'd die.
"I haven't eaten in two weeks, Tooru. And the human food I eat isn't helping..."
"You haven't eaten..?" He repeated.
"Do you know how hard it is to be a one eyed ghoul and keep the job I have?" She giggled, giving a smile that was as bright as the ones she usually gave him. "Sacrifices must be made, Tooru. Don't let mine be in vain."
He sighed and leaned his head on the crook of her neck, breathing in the metallic scent her blood gave out. "You can't just leave me..." He whined. His throat tightens up. He'd be crying in no time, but he didn't care.
Her hand buried itself in his green hair, stroking it soothingly. "It's okay, Tooru. You'll be okay."
"But what about Mr Sasaki?" He leaned back to look into her eyes. "You can't leave now! ...not when you love him so much..."
"Love hi-" the ghoul didn't get to finish her question. Mutsuki ripped the shoulder part of his shirt, pushing aside the fabric and showing her his tanned skin.
"If you eat, you'll be able to heal, right?" He asked, his gaze never leaving her eyes.
"What are you- Tooru, no." She violently shook her head and gripped his biceps. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"But if you don't, you'll die!" He yelled. "How is that any better?!" The tears pooling in his eyes finally sprang free and rolled down his cheeks. "I want you to live, (Y/N)!"
(Y/N)'s bottom lip quivered. "I-I can't..." She shakily whispered. "I don't want to... I don't want to hurt you!"
"If you die, you'll not only hurt me, but a lot of other people too, (Y/N)!" He argued.
"But it's already over. The CCG'll know, and-"
"You made it this far, you won't be found out! And I'm not going to betray you." Tooru's eyes held so much love and endearment. It was just then that (Y/N) realized how much she meant to him.
"Please, (Y/N)."
She let out a small sob.
"Eat."
••••
"I'm sorry." She whimpered as the skin on his shoulder regenerated for what felt like the hundredth time. "I don't want to eat anymore..." She cried, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face into his neck. Tooru let out tears of his own as he hugged her back, comforting her as much as he possibly could.
"It's okay."
••••
"Oh, sorry guys!" Shirazu apologized as he stumbled back from bumping into Tooru's back, causing the green haired boy to fall forward. Luckily, you caught him before he could touch the ground.
The two of you smiled at him. "It's okay." You both said at the same time.
Shirazu deadpanned. "You guys need to stop that, it's really creepy."
"No can do, Ginshi." You shrugged, snaking an arm around Tooru and giving him a loving smile. "It's got sentimental value."