3Sunlight softly started to filter through Hiroshi's pale-paned window. The trunken-haired boy had been up all night doing this and that, finishing up his homework and then attempting sleep on the floor so as to not disturb Keiji, but to no avail. He was being denied sleep, unable to clear his mind of his dilemmas. He just couldn't come to terms with what was bound to happen. He didn't want to think; for the first time he really dreaded being alone, and was almost hoping that someone would come into his room to tell him of something, good or bad...That one of his sisters would come in, or his brother, hell, even his mother was wanted. He needed to escape, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Keiji's side.
Hiroshi finally opted to sketch, having nothing else to do until someone was awake or he was called to do something. He pulled a sketchbook from under a stack of papers in a bookcase, flipped to a blank page, grabbed at his mechanical pencil, and started drawing, letting his mind wander and his hand draw what it may.
Keiji moved slowly a good four hours later, the room having an uninterrupted silence until he stirred and moaned softly, trying to nuzzle himself back to sleep but finding no more real rest. Instead, he lay still, waking up without opening his eyes, listening to the pencil strokes of his friend's sketching. Hiroshi, completely zoned out, just layed on his stomach on the hardwood floor, taking no notice in Keiji's consciousness.
The brown-eyed boy sleepily opened his eyes to regard the wall in front of him, then managed to turn over, taking the cover with him and exposing his back to the cold air. He gasped softly and moved the blanket back so that it covered all of his visible flesh, teeth chattering exaggeratedly. He lifted his eyes to regard Hiroshi, just in sight from his position on the bed. Keiji sat up, wrapping himself in the blanket. "Whatcha doing up so early?..."
Hiroshi blinked slowly, coming back to reality, then he cocked an eyebrow. "How do you know it's morning?"
Keiji beamed brightly, eyes closing and giving off a huge kawaii smile. "My stomach isn't growling so much as it would had I slept into the afternoon."
"You listen to your stomach?"
"You don't?"
Hiroshi scoffed softly and looked down to the sketchpad he'd been hovering over for hours, realized what he had drawn, and closed the tablet. He then got up, feeling stiff from laying in the same position for so long. "So you're hungry?"
His half-naked friend beamed again and nodded contently.
Hiroshi tilted his head. "You expect me to bring it up here to you?"
Keiji's eyes opened and grew huge, sparkling madly in the dim-but-growing light. "Would you, koi?"
He was soon doubling over, holding his head, as Hiroshi had struck him softly, but hard enough to warn him. "Okay, okay okay!"
"I'll get it, just don't call me koi."
Keiji blinked and moved his hands away from the somewhat throbbing bump on his head as Hiroshi walked out of the room. "But...Why..why can't I call you koi if that's how I feel?" Keiji asked the air softly.
-
Shan awoke with a dull pain in his head, figuring he must've had one too many beers or something of the sort. Finding no empty cans strewn about any of his apartment, in trash cans or on tables, all of it still in his fridge, his mind finally woke up and relayed what had transpired the day before. He had kissed Rue, a boy he'd known only for a couple of months at most, only to shut him up if nothing else. He wasn't sure, but he thought that maybe there was feeling behind his actions. Perhaps he was...falling in love? Shan Tri?...Perhaps...
Hmph, he thought. No, it couldn't be. Rue's just being annoying...There's not a chance that I could actually be in love with such an idiot.
Then again...
Rue *had* felt nice...Rue had been willing, he was sure...But maybe it just wasn't possible. Was it really a good idea to fall in love with such a finicky being as Rue was able to be? It wasn't really a matter of Shan's thoughts, how he felt about it all or what he wanted to do. Rue was someone he couldn't control, so there was no way Shan could maintain a relationship with him.
Shan had made up his mind that Rue was a problem, a distraction. There was no other way to explain it. He had to be ignored.
-
Rue opened his eyes tiredly, not wanting to awaken from the dream he was having. He wanted to stay in his unreal world, go back to his dreaming...But nature wouldn't let him. He fell out of bed and then trotted from his room to relieve himself.
Once his morning task had been fulfilled, he tumbled into the kitchen ungracefully to find something to eat, having nothing to do for the day except find an excuse to return to Shan's home. The truth was he hadn't wanted to leave the porch last night, hoping that Shan would have let him back into the apartment. He HAD however stayed for another few hours, surely catching a cold but not yet feeling it. The cold would subside, but he doubted that the dreaded feeling of facing Shan again would waver so swiftly.
The boy settled for a small plate of waffles and sat down at his table, just as his phone rang. Instead of hauling himself up to get the phone, he reached over and grabbed a cordless and clicked it on. "Hello?"
"Rue?"
"Hey, Nami. What's up?"
"I have a question for you..." Nami's careful voice said, a mild tone of desperation crawling into her voice.
"Shoot."
"Rue, have you noticed anything different with Keiji and Hiroshi?"
The icy man blinked softly. Sure, he had noticed. In fact, Keiji had attempted to confide in him that he and Hiroshi were a growing couple, and that it had sounded as if he knew Nami would soon question their relationship. It took a lot less time than they both had thought it would, though. "No, not really...I haven't seen them around for a while."
"Any idea where they are?"
Rue shrugged. "Hiroshi's house, I imagine. Why all the questions?"
Nami swallowed on the other end. "I wanted to know why they've been ignoring me lately...But..I..I also found something, Rue..."
"What'd you find?"
The blond's voice softened considerably before she went on. "I..I'll have to tell you another time...It's incredible..." Though Rue couldn't see, Nami smiled softly. "Perhaps I'll show you one day..."
Rue paused on the phone before lifting an eyebrow. "Are you feeling okay?..."
The voice in his ear brightened and laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll talk to you later, okay, Rue?"
"Sure."
He said goodbye to Nami, then set the phone down. Wonder if she was actually thinking about Hiroshi and Keiji as a pair, Rue thought with a small laugh. But...
But I also wonder what she was talking about...
He started to eat his waffles in silence.
-
Nami slowly put the receiver back on her phone, ending her conversation with Rue. So it's true, she thought quietly. They're together...They have to be...But dammit, I have to talk to them about other things, not their sexual preference!
She sighed softly. It was true that she was in love with Keiji, the obsidian-haired boy with chocolate eyes and a loving, laughing personality, and it seemed as if there was no way to relieve the feeling of joy she had when she was near him, or the ecstatic wave she felt when he talked to her. Thinking back to only two weeks before, Hiroshi had seemed reluctant to be around the blossoming personality, and now he was attempting to swallow the boy into his daily life.
Shaking her head, Nami decided to think of other things, more pressing matters. The girl of the world, the one who loved experiencing new things, had been scared beyond most comprehension in one moment. She had been afraid of what had happened to her, and had quickly recovered from the initial shock. But dammit, it was harder than it seemed.
Nami of all people had discovered another world.
It wasn't as if the new world was a replica of earth, but it was so incredibly similar to the world she stood in presently that she had been shocked by a small event in the world she thought was a dream.
She had found a world of beauty and mystery, of contempt and betrayel of appearance, of joy and solitude. She had never heard of such a world even in the writings of the greatest of fantasy authors, for no one could find words to describe the incredible feelings that had rushed through her when she had just come upon the unknown plane. She wasn't even sure if she could describe it in realistic words.
The blond finally stood from the table she had been sitting at, coming to a decision. First, she would confront the pathetic duo that was bound to crush her sanity, and then she would tell them both of the becoming of the keepers.