Of Love and Death.

The Present Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

     The boy in front of Shu smiled. It was an honest genuine smile. If Shu was being completely honest, it was one of his more treasured memories, this scene. Why? He didn't know, it was so random! Valt had fallen into a bush and Shu had extended his hand to him. Then, the ringing started. 

     Ringing? Well, no, not ringing. More like... dinging? Shu didn't remember this, it wasn't normal. 

      Shu's eyes opened to darkness. It was pitch black in his bedroom. The dinging was real, it turned out. But where was it coming from? Shu groped around on his bed table before hitting a button on his clock that showed the time: 2:48 am. So not his alarm clock. He rolled over in his bed putting a pillow over his head. 

     It took Shu five minutes total to wake up enough to realize that his doorbell was ringing. And had been for all five minutes. With a groan, he rolled out of bed, landing on his feet. Shu stumbled out his bedroom door, through the hallway of his small apartment, until he was finally at the apartment door. "Who is it?" Shu sleeply muttered, wiping goop from his eyes. "If you're some kind of vampire, please wait until morning for me to let you in. If you want to rob me, but want me to open the door for strange reasons, you will regret this."

      Chuckling came from the other side of the door, chuckling that turned into all out laughing that someone was trying, and failing, to quiet. "Right, so, if I got the apartment wrong, again, this will be awkward, Shu? You on the other side of that door?" Valt? What in the Universe was he doing at Shu's door? It was three in the morning for crying out loud!

     "Valt?" Shu asked his best friends name like a question.

      "Yup!" Came a cheerful and very awake answer.

      "You know it's three am, right?"

       "Are you going to let me in or not?"

       With an eye roll, Shu unlocked and opened the door, simultaneously flipping on a light. The red-eyed man closed his eyes at the sudden brightness. After a few moments, Shu opened his eyes, and glared at a certain Valt Aoi. "What are you doing here?" he asked plainly.

     "Well..," Valt began as he pulled a suitcase in and looked around. "I came to see you as a surprise, so that's why I didn't tell you. So I bought a plane ticket, forgot that it would land me here at 1:40 something in the morning and-"

     "You forgot to book a hotel room?" Shu said, utterly exasperated. Valt rubbed the back of his head with his hand, a sheepish chuckle coming from his mouth. Without any words, Shu lead his friend through the kitchen, opened the door to his apartment's guest room, and went back to bed.

                                                                                                     * * *

     At five-thirty am, Shu got up for real. He grabbed some clothes and slipped into the bathroom, careful not to wake up Valt. Why, he wasn't exactly sure, it would have certainly been nice revenge. Maybe it was because, if Shu was being honest, Valt could probably sleep through the Universe exploding.  So why was he being careful again?

    Once Shu was in the bathroom, he began to get ready. To start, he brushed his teeth, wanting to get rid of the most awful morning breath known to any living thing. Honestly, in the morning, his mouth smelled like he had been chewing on ashes all night. 

     Which he had not .

     Seriously, it got to the point where he put up cameras to make sure he didn't sleep walk. He didn't, but his rabbit apparently knew how to unlock his cage, hop onto Shu's bed, sleep in his arms, and lock his cage back up before Shu awoke.