Work Text
Kaneki is holding his newborn daughter in his arms, his family and friends gathered all around him, waiting for him to speak. "I need you all to promise me something," he says, an unreadable expression on his face, blank. "If I ever hurt her, kill me." Immediately, shouts of disagreement and dismay interrupt. He quiets them with a look. "If I ever hit her... If I ever so much as even grab her too harshly, even if it leaves no trace, I need you to kill me." He looks up, a slight smile now painting his face, his eyes closed. "I won't be able to live if I do that, and I'd rather a friend be my end than myself." He never hurts her. When she is 5 and drops a glass, and it shatters into a bunch of tiny little pieces, he only lifts her and moves her to the couch so she won't step on them. When she apologizes, he simply tells her it is alright; he is just relieved she didn't get hurt. When she has an argument with him when she's 10 and tells him she hates her, screams and screams and slams her door shut, she is not chased down and screamed at. She always has a warm meal waiting for her at home, despite being the only one in her family who could eat it. She never comes home to scathing words and only money for dinner. Her father and mother are kind, caring, and when night-time comes- -they stay so. She is loved, and cared for, and she grows up without fearing her family.