Aogiri Tree:

"Good to see you made it here in one piece, Doctor Kanou," the young woman's voice said quietly, muffled by the many layers of bandages covering her from head to toe. "Am I to understand we have evaded detection thus far?"

The elderly man smiled tiredly, giving the female figure a small nod.

"It would seem so, miss Eto. While my practice may be compromised, it would appear that Aogiri Tree, at least, remains as well hidden as ever." He let out a small sigh, closing his eyes briefly and allowing himself to sag slightly in his seat on the small bed he had been provided. "It would seem, however, that our test subject has gone to the CCG. I do not relish having to start again from scratch like this."

"Nor do we," the girl replied. "Jason and Black Rabbit have already been dispatched to retrieve him. They should be back to us soon." The petite figure stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on the older man's shoulder. "Rest assured, Doctor, your work has our full support. We will provide you with every resource you require to see it through, including mister Kaneki."

Kanou smiled, letting himself fall gently back against the mattress.

"Thank you, miss Eto," he murmured tiredly. "Now, if you don't mind, I've had a very long few days getting all my material here so fast. I could use some sleep."

"Of course, Doctor."

The old man watched girl take her leave before he closed his eyes, gradually feeling himself drift off to sleep.

Kaneki:

Kaneki stepped away from the intercom, chuckling quietly to himself as he stooped down and began to pack away his work material. He'd just finished stowing the bag away in his room once more when a knock on the door alerted him to Juuzou's arrival. Kaneki smiled slightly, standing and making his way to the door. To be perfectly honest, he was looking forward to meeting this other kid.

"Inspector, Suzuya," Kaneki began politely, pulling the door open. "It's a pleasure to meet y-"

The switchblade struck Kaneki's face with an ungodly degree of speed, the blade only digging a milimetre or so into his flesh before catching and scraping along his cheek, drawing a thin trail of blood. Before Kaneki had time to react, the white haired boy was already inside the room, shutting the door behind himself with a foot as he drew the blade back for a second thrust.

Kaneki let out a small yelp of surprise and pain as the smaller boy forced his way inside. Acting on instinct, he grasped Suzuya by the shoulders, pushing him away as hard as he could, intent only on keeping the boy away from him. The shove was somewhat more effective than Kaneki had expected, and Suzuya's feet momentarily left the ground as his body was thrown backwards against the door. It didn't end there as, with a crack of splintering wood, the door exploded out into the hallway, leaving the white haired boy laying sprawled in a pile of jagged splinters in the hallway.

Suzuya didn't stay down for long, lifting his head to look at Kaneki with a wide grin.

"Wow, you're way tougher than Mr Shinohara said you'd be. My knife was barely even able to cut you!"

Kaneki stared at the other boy, stunned.

"You... I... What?" He mumbled, uncomprehending.

The pale boy ignored him, climbing to his feet and dusting himself off casually.

"I guess that means you've transformed further since you turned yourself in yesterday. Maybe it has something to do with finally having a decent meal? Speaking of which, I have to know, what does person taste like?" As he spoke, the boy retrieved his switchblade from the floor, clipping it closed and slipping it easily into his pocket.

Kaneki shook his head, comprehension slowly starting to dawn in his mind.

"Wait... were you testing me just now?"

"Yup!" The other boy grinned, stepping a few paces back into the hallway and retrieving a small white box that Kaneki realized belatedly was a Nintendo console. "Fastest way of seeing how fast you were progressing."

Ken closed his eyes as he tried to absorb the reason for his most recent assault. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself after the sudden and significant burst of adrenaline. The moment he did so, he regretted it. Juuzou was bleeding. That was probably, he realized, from the boy's impact against the door. That wouldn't be too much of a problem on its own, he expected. The recent meal had done wonders to subdue his growing appetite and he liked to think he had enough self control to resist temptation. The only problem was that Juuzou's blood, as it turned out, was also the single most delicious thing Kaneki had ever smelled. Kaneki felt himself begin to salivate, his body preparing for the taste.

"Suzuya," Ken muttered quietly, backing away from the seductive smell as quickly as he dared, feeling his way blindly along the apartment wall. "I think it'd be best if you use my shower. Like, right now please." He heard the other boy snort in amusement.

"That's kinda pervy, don't you think, Kaneki? Why do you want me in your shower?"

"Suzuya," Kaneki replied, his voice low as he continued to slowly back away, the distance making the smell just a little easier to deal with. "I only just turned. All these instincts are very new to me and, to be honest, your blood smells amazing. Can you go shower, please?" Kaneki slowly allowed one eye to open, gazing apprehensively at the other boy.

Suzuya's response came as a small giggle.

"Aww, thank you!" He said brightly, setting the console down on the sofa and, in defiance of any possible rational thought, stepping towards Kaneki. "That's nice of you to say!"

Ken backed away instinctively, his retreat stymied when his back hit a wall.

"No, seriously, Juuzou, I need you to stay away from me right now. I don't know how much control I have right now an-"

"Nah," the other boy cut him off casually. "Trust me, Kaneki, if you were about to lose control, you wouldn't be asking me to back off, you've got plenty of control. Besides, I've always wanted to know," the boy stopped about half a foot in front of Kaneki. Juuzou reached between the buttons of his splinter covered shirt with a finger for a few moments before pulling it back out, now dripping with fresh blood. "How do I taste?" With that, the pale boy lifted the blood covered finger to Kaneki's face, smearing the a streak of red across the taller boy's lips.

Kaneki didn't move, not even to push Suzuya away. He didn't trust himself enough in that moment to do anything but stare, wide eyed, at the deranged investigator. What was with this kid? Was he insane?

For several long moments, neither boy moved.

"Well?" Suzuya asked, folding his arms impatiently. "Come on! Tell me how I taste!"

Kaneki shook his head mutely, the movement just a touch shaky. The blood was right under his nose and the the scent wafting off was intoxicating.

The white haired boy groaned, his whole body slumping sideways against the wall as he gazed disapprovingly up at Kaneki.

"Well, I'm not showering until you tell me, so there."

Kaneki gulped, barely even allowing himself to breathe as he stared, terrified, at the smaller boy.

"If I tell you," he breathed, trying his best to avoid inhaling the scent. "Do you promise to go shower right away?"

Suzuya smiled, his lips parting ever so slightly to reveal surprisingly sharp looking teeth, and nodded.

Slowly, his whole body tensed to restrain himself at a moments notice, Kaneki allowed his tongue to slide out between his teeth, catching the blood that lined his lip and stopping for a moment as he let out a small gasp, the flavor was intense, to say the least.

"Well?" Suzuya asked, eyes wide and shining. "What's it like?"

Kaneki took a moment or two to absorb the sensation, suppressing the not unexpected urge to eat, before finally answering.

"I... feel like Edward Cullen." He muttered, trying not to laugh at himself as he spoke.

"What?" Suzuya asked, confused. "Who's Edward Cullen?"

"A vampire from a story," Kaneki replied, stepping to the side a few steps and pulling away from the other boy who, for his part, no longer pursued. "He meets this girl whose blood is so tasty that he has to hold himself back every second he's near her. The only difference is, I'm pretty sure you could kill me if I tried."

Suzuya, surprisingly, went a little red.

"Do I really taste that good?" He asked, seeming almost embarrassed to ask. "Honestly?"

"Well," Kaneki replied, his voice a little shaky. "It's probably just that I need to get used to the new instincts a little better, but yeah, you taste amazing. Why do you care?"

"Personal reasons," Suzuya said with a shrug. "You set up the Mario Kart, I'll go take a shower. Thanks for telling me that, Kaneki!"

With that, the boy moved, pushing himself away from the wall and walking off towards the open bathroom door, closing it behind himself.

Kaneki stood against the wall, panting, the flavor of the blood still clinging to his tongue. He raised his eyes, staring after the boy as he departed.

"What... the fuck?" He asked breathlessly of the empty room.

J̶u̶u̶z̶o̶u̶ ̶S̶u̶z̶u̶y̶a̶/̶R̶e̶i̶ ̶S̶u̶z̶u̶y̶a̶/̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶p̶e̶r̶/̶T̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶/̶ Thunderkitten :3

The white haired boy stepped into the shower fully clothed, heedless of the chill spray of water soaking him through in seconds. He never bothered letting the water come up to heat, the cold was a minor concern. He smiled slightly to himself as he began undoing the buttons of his shirt, remembering Kaneki's compliment to his flavor. It wasn't the first time a ghoul had tasted him. Mother had often used to drink what spilled when she hurt him, but she had always told him he tasted foul, her face twisting into unpleasant shapes every time she drank his blood. Every time he asked, she had hurt him more.

Suzuya finished with the last of his buttons and, not wasting a moment, peeled the shirt off of himself, checking the damage to his chest by eye. There were a few shards of the door embedded in his flesh, one or two that might leave splinters. Suzuya shrugged, grasping hold of the largest of them and yanking it free, a fresh stream of blood seeping rapidly from the wound, before reaching into his pocket for his needle and thread so as to sew the wound closed.

The boy raised a hand to the blood that flowed freely from his torso, wetting a finger with it and lifting it to his mouth. Salty.

'So,' he thought. 'Mother lied, huh? I guess I really do taste good. That's nice to know.'

Suzuya returned to cleaning his wounds, his thoughts turning to a strange sort of melancholy as he stood under the icy water.