Suzuya:

The new toy was fast; surprisingly so, given his bulk, and strong enough that Suzuya knew a single solid hit would be all that was needed to end his life. That said, he was still faster than his foe, and he wasn't planning on making it easy to land that single necessary hit. He stepped forward, driving a knife into the meat of the big ghoul's thigh, then placed his foot against the hilt of it, kicking off to both force the blade in further, and take him out of reach of the man's retaliatory swipe. The boy cartwheeled through the air, dodging the attack by a hair's breadth, and came to rest on the couch, recently overturned, although he wasn't quite sure when. He bounced slightly on the balls of his feet, taking a moment to retrieve another knife. The foe was grinning. Perfectly understandable, Suzuya was grinning too. It was the natural reaction when you were doing something this fun.

Chancing a glance behind himself, Suzuya saw Kaneki, still standing in the bathroom doorway, gazing between the two of them. Probably for the best. Suzuya wasn't entirely sure he wouldn't just get himself killed if he tried to intervene. He returned his attention to the intruder, just in time, as the blond man planted his foot against the side of the couch and pushed, sliding it back with Juuzou still atop it. He wobbled slightly, losing his balance for just a moment, and trying as best he could to avoid the man's follow up strike. To his credit, Juuzou did manage to evade most of the blow, and instead of punching a hole straight through him, the attackers fist only tore a long, shallow wound in his side. The boy winced, momentarily distracted by the pain, before training and experience once more overcame base instinct, and he returned his attention to the fight. He crouched, dropping off the couch and keeping low to the ground, a knife in each hand, wary.

The stranger saw the momentary look of pain, and giggled, a surprisingly high pitched noise coming from such a large man.

"Try counting backwards from a thousand by sevens," he advised, his tone almost giddy. "I hear it helps keep you focused."

Suzuya laughed, and nodded.

"Kay, I'll give it a try!" He shifted around, maneuvering around the blond man, trying to direct his attention away from Kaneki. Best to try and give the guy a way out of this before the fight escalated further. "Nine hundred ninety three, nine hundred eighty six."

It worked, for the most part. The attacker turned, his attention turning towards Suzuya and leaving him, at least for the moment, blind to the other boy. He charged, both arms extended, and the boy ducked away, placing a long gash along one broad wrist for the larger man's troubles. The ghoul swiped out at him with a leg, and again, Suzuya dodged by mere inches. The man took a deep breath through his nose, and let out another manic chuckle.

"Wow there, don't you smell delicious," he murmured, his fingers clenching and unclenching on themselves reflexively. "Makes me wanna take a bite."

Suzuya's grin widened.

"Sorry," He replied, backing away quickly for distance. "I only let people I like taste me." In his peripheral vision, Suzuya could see Kaneki moving behind the assailant. Not towards the exit, aggravatingly, but towards the kitchen. Suzuya rolled his eyes. Of course the civilian wasn't going to take the exit Suzuya was giving him. Why would he ever do something smart like that? "Nine hundred seventy nine." The numbers helped. Not so much to cope with the pain, that didn't bother Suzuya much, but they seemed to help keep the attacker's attention focused on him, and away from Kaneki. Every time he said a new one, the man's face contorted slightly with what Suzuya had to assume was pleasure, his breathing speeding up ever so slightly. Tunnel vision, hopefully.

It was then, unfortunately, that Juuzou messed up. The ghoul rushed forwards for another swing, and the boy moved to dodge, when his foot caught on some small object that lay on the floor, and he tripped. The fist caught him around the waist, the force only reduced a little by his change in angle and his motion away from it, and he felt something pull loose. His body hit the floor with a thud, and Suzuya let out a frustrated little groan. In some forgotten corner of his mind, Suzuya knew it hurt, knew that he was probably dead, but that didn't matter, there were other things occupying his mind at that moment, like how the world was beginning to fade and swirl around him. Blood loss? Already? No. He was sure he hadn't been injured that badly. He glanced down at his injuries. Sure enough, the light gash along his side was not near bad enough to be causing this. The fresh wound on his upper thigh, on the other hand, was a different story. The cut was deep, the flesh broken and mashed where the ghoul's fist had caught it, and it practically flowed with fresh blood. Well, that's not good.

Feeling somewhat sluggish, Juuzou turned his face towards the blond man, who, for his part, took a step forwards, standing over him with a wide grin.

"Time to count some more, little buddy," the man said, not unkindly, and began reaching out with a hand, before a glass bottle struck him on the side of the face and exploded over him, the contents of it splashing both him and Suzuya. The boy felt the pain intensify where the liquid met his wounds. Both Juuzou and the assailant turned towards the kitchen as one. Kaneki stood there, expression determined, utterly doomed. "On second thought," the ghoul grinned. "Hold on for a sec. Something even more fun just came up."

Kaneki:

He had just enough time to raise his fists in front of himself, before the blond man struck him, charging into Kaneki in a full rugby tackle that bore him hard into the kitchen cabinets. He felt them break beneath him as the gargantuan man bore him onwards, driving the air from his lungs until, finally, his back met a surface that refused to give. The boy felt his ribs crunch agonizingly under the force of the attack. He would have screamed, but he lacked the oxygen with which to do so. Instead, he doubled over, his body curling reflexively into itself, around the attacker's shoulders, letting out a pathetic wheeze.

The ghoul did not let up in the slightest, turning his face towards the boy's so that they were nose to nose, still forcing him bodily against the wall.

"Good of you to join in," he laughed. "Two is always way more fun than one at a time! I tell you what. Cuz you've been such a good kid about this, I'll let you decide which hand I'm gonna tear off first."

Kaneki let his face fall, trying as best he could to emulate defeat. The pain in his chest was sharp, and it kept him focused, at least for the moment, on what he needed to do. He moved his lips, mouthing the word rather than speaking aloud in his crushed, air deprived state.

"Left," he said, silently.

"Left it is!" The ghoul replied, with a degree of enthusiasm Kaneki had yet to experience in any aspect of his life. Kaneki felt a hand find his wrist, and the man raised the boy's arm between them. Kaneki tried to pull away by instinct, and in his weakened state, he may as well have been fighting god himself. "Now then, watch closely, okay?"

Mutely, Kaneki nodded, a weight falling into his stomach. With his right hand, however, the boy groped along the counter beneath him, searching desperately for a single object that may, just maybe, be enough to save him.

He tried not to be distracted from his goal when the ghoul opened his mouth, took the smallest finger of Kaneki's hand inside it, and bit down. Perhaps it was an act of mercy, or perhaps it was sadism, but the man let up the pressure on the boy's lungs as he bit off the finger, allowing him just enough air for a ragged scream. Through it all, Kaneki's hand continued to search.

The attacker took his thumb next, and Kaneki nearly blacked out from the pain. His hand continued searching. Just as the man took his middle finger, Kaneki finally found what he was searching for.

"Count backwards for me, would you?" The ghoul smiled, swallowing the finger whole. "From a thousand? By sevens?" He lowered his face towards one of the boy's two remaining fingers, and opened his mouth, when a fresh blade caught him in the back. He grunted, more from the interruption than from the pain of it, really, and turned his face towards Suzuya, still laying prone on the floor, fumbling weakly in his jacket for another knife. "You'll get your turn, little buddy, don't worry." He turned his face back towards Kaneki, just in time for the dark haired boy to flick the switch on the lighter clutched in his right hand. The flame caught on the blond man's sleeve, not normally particularly flammable, but the litre and a half of vodka currently soaking the larger man's upper torso probably helped somewhat in that regard. For the first time in his life, Kaneki found himself feeling grateful that he wasn't that much of a partier, and that the vodka bottle had been nearly full, despite Hide having given it to him over a year ago. The flames caught and clung to the large man's skin, and he reeled back instinctively, swatting at his arm. The flames spread, and soon the ghoul's shoulders, neck and head were all aflame. He howled in pain, tearing the suit jacket from his frame and beating it against his head in an attempt to smother the flame.

"You little shit!"

Kaneki might have grinned, had he had the energy. As it was, however, it was all he could do pull himself upright, his eyes fixed on the burning man. He knew he was still more than likely to die. The flames weren't likely to kill the ghoul, and he doubted he could manage much more than a slow hobble in escape, but at least he'd done something. At least Hide and Touka had gotten away. He was willing to accept that, he thought.

It seemed Suzuya, on the other hand, was less willing to accept it. The boy was standing again, holding his body upright against the side of the overturned couch, and using it to hobble, virtually one legged towards their momentarily blinded foe. The boy had a knife in his free hand, another in the one that gripped the couch, and he had a determined look in his eyes.

The ghoul finally managed to pat out the flames around his eyes, pulling the jacket away from his face just in time to watch Suzuya plunge the blades into his chest.

The ghoul reeled, his back colliding forcefully against Kaneki's bedroom wall, staring at the white haired boy aghast, his mouth open in some semblance of surprise.

"Hey," the boy mumbled, his face turning towards the larger man's, his body swaying slightly where it sat, leaned against the couch. "Can I ask something? What's it feel like, getting stabbed in the lungs? I've always wanted to know." Before he'd even finished speaking, Suzuya was falling, his body sliding off the sofa and collapsing against the carpet with a light thud. In the distance, Kaneki heard something. The stamping of feet, the wailing of sirens. Reinforcements? They were close.

'Well, waddya know?' He thought absently to himself. 'I guess we do get to survive after all.'

It seemed the blond man noticed them too, turning his gaze momentarily away from the two blades embedded in his chest. Then, with what looked like a surprising amount of effort, the man pushed himself off of the wall, lumbering oddly towards Kaneki's apartment window. He spared Juuzou another, slightly confused glance, before pushing himself through it, no doubt tumbling down towards the pavement three stories below.

Neither boy spoke as the stamping sounds grew louder, a team of men in body armor rushing through the hole in the wall and fanning out, two of them leveling their guns towards Kaneki, the others moving to search the apartment. Kaneki would have objected, but he lacked the energy. A few, barely audible words from Suzuya were enough to direct their attentions elsewhere, once assured he was not the source of the threat.

The response team began to break away, presumably moving on to their pursuit of the fleeing ghoul, leaving behind a field medic, who began tending to the worst of Suzuya's wounds. Kaneki found himself sitting slumped opposite the white haired boy, gazing at the floor.

"So," he murmured eventually, breaking the silence. "Were you flirting with me for real before, or just trying to make me uncomfortable?"

"... Bit of both, I guess." Suzuya replied, the words taking quite a long time to find their way sluggishly out of his mouth. "Why? Gonna finally ask me to stop?"

Kaneki chuckled, then regretted it, his ribs protesting at the sudden movements of his lungs.

"Ow," he grunted. "No, actually. I was just wondering if you might like to go out some time."

Head pressed against the floor, skin even paler now for the extreme loss of blood, the white haired boy chuckled.

"Sure, sounds like fun."