(A/N: So! Haha! I got all inspired while watching some dramas, and I wanted to write a fic like this. This fic contains romantic Shu/Yuma and a bit of Ayato/Yuma, so please don't read if these ships make you uncomfortable.

In this fic, Yuma suffered from some memory loss after his village was burnt down, but he remembers the fact that his village was burnt down, and he remembers his childhood friend Shu. Not really a whole lot of vampire stuff in this fic; it's mostly about their childhood and how they meet in the present. Starts off on a flashback. Thanks for checkin' it out!)

A little boy was in the woods, hiding behind a tree with a wide trunk. He kept peering out from behind the tree, blinking his blue eyes, and ducking back behind the trunk whenever he thought he might be spotted. He was watching another young boy about his age, who was roaming around the woods like he owned the place, kicking over rocks and picking up sticks and shouting out commands to his dogs.

Just by looking at them, one could tell they were from different backgrounds. The hiding boy was dressed nicely, in well-fit clothing that suggested a good social standing. The one collecting sticks, on the other hand, had unkempt hair and shabby, dirty clothing. He had rolled up his sleeves and there were scabs on both his elbows.

The well-off boy watched the other work, with an almost envious expression on his face. He had been there multiple times that week, behind that tree. Today should be the day, he told himself every time. Today I should go and talk to him. But every time he would hesitate. He didn't know why. As he watched the peasant boy work, he thought he seemed so much stronger, so much more masculine, so much more independent than the rich boy was. It made him anxious, no matter how badly he wanted to talk to him.

The two felt like they came from two different worlds. The aristocrat turned his back to the tree and slumped against it, hugging his knees. Maybe, he thought to himself, I should just be content to watch him from afar.

"Shu?" came a voice from behind him.

Shu squeaked at an embarrassingly high pitch. When he looked towards the source of the voice, the peasant boy's rough face was looking curiously down at him. "E-Edgar. You scared me."

"You don't have to hide so much." Edgar smiled at him, and extended a hand to Shu. "Do you want to come help me collect firewood?"

With the sun behind Edgar's head, Shu thought for a moment that he looked like he had a halo. Cautiously, Shu took his hand. "...Yeah."

Edgar pulled him to his feet, and immediately his dogs ran over to sniff Shu's legs. Shu couldn't focus on them—only on how strong Edgar's grip was. But one of the dogs kept whimpering until Shu finally paid attention and stroked its head.

Edgar let go of Shu's hand and picked up a big bundle of sticks. "Take these!" he said, dropping them into Shu's arms. Shu struggled for a moment but eventually got a good grip on them, and held them up properly. Even if holding a bundle of sticks was very simple and easy work, Shu still felt proud of himself just for helping Edgar with this much. When they did things like this, it made Shu feel like he could exist in Edgar's world. Like they weren't so different at all.

"You're a nervous kid, aren't you, Shu?" Edgar observed as he kept collecting sticks. He still had a smile on his face, which led Shu to believe that he didn't mean it in a mean way. "You're the type who needs to be invited over."

"I'm not that nervous," Shu insisted.

"I guess." Edgar put a new handful of sticks into Shu's arms, and grinned at him. "You just need someone to help you out of your shell at first."

He dropped some. "...Is it annoying?"

Edgar shook his head, making his hair go everywhere. "Nope." Then he picked up one of the sticks Shu dropped, and pointed it at him. "I'll help you as many times as you need it."

Then Edgar marched away to look for more firewood, his dogs following him. Shu remained fixed in that spot, hugging the bundle of sticks. He felt weird, but a good weird. He had never had a friend before, really, and it occurred to him that Edgar was a friend that he loved a lot. He couldn't stop his lips from breaking into a smile, and then he hurried to catch up with his friend.

"...and I haven't even scratched the surface of all the trouble you've caused me at school. With all the calls from the principal I have to deal with, you'd think you could at least help around the house if you're not going to take responsibility all of those absences. But no, whenever we come home, you're right where we left you. Every time I expect even the bare minimum, it turns out I overestimated you."

Shu had just woken up, and he was gradually understanding what was going on. Reiji was lecturing Shu about something, but he had slept through most of it. Shu shifted a bit, stretching his limbs. They felt sore, since they don't move much anymore.

"Are you listening to me, Shu? You know that I hate repeating myself."

"If you hate it so much," Ayato muttered from the couch, not looking up from his phone. "Then why do you do it so often?"

Shu cough-laughed.

"That attitude doesn't suit you," Reiji replied, glaring daggers in Ayato's direction. "And if you have nothing else but sass to contribute then I suggest you go upstairs and get some studying done."

"Shu!" Ayato snapped suddenly. He must've been irritated about the studying comment. "He bothers the rest of us when you're like this, so go do some chores or something!"

Shu yawned and sat up, scratching the back of his head lazily. "If you want to shut Reiji up, go do the chores yourself."

"Like hell I will! And you know Reiji won't shut up if you're not the one doing them anyway."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about me while I'm in the room," Reiji said while lifting his nose a bit higher. "With all those tutors you went through when you were young, didn't you learn manners?"

"I will go upstairs!" Ayato announced, getting up. "Only because you two are so annoying. Nothing's ever gonna be good enough for either of you!" And he stormed away, pulling out his phone and texting with impressing speed as he ascended the stairs.

Reiji sighed, and redirected his glare to Shu again. Shu slowly managed to get his aching body off the couch, and dragged his feet towards the stairs too.

"You're running away too?" Reiji huffed. Shu didn't answer out loud but responded mentally: Yeah, yeah, I'm running away. Reiji continued grumbling about good-for-nothings, but Shu tuned him out and went upstairs to his room.

He flopped down on his bed, which was made neatly, but only because getting under the covers to sleep was too much work. He was perfectly content just sleeping on top. Now that he was finally in his own room, he didn't have to put up with his brothers yapping. The classical music playing in his headphones sounded much clearer now. The peace and quiet caused Shu to nearly drift back off to sleep, but he was jarred awake by the sound of a knocking on his bedroom door. When he didn't answer, one of their butlers quietly opened his door, set a tray with a letter on top of it on Shu's desk, and left, shutting the door behind him.

Shu remained on the bed for a moment, with his eyes shut, but eventually curiosity got the better of him and he got up to read the letter. His name was written on the envelope in handwriting that was, admittedly, not the best. Just the fact that he received a handwritten letter was surprising to him. Karl Heinz's sons were well-known and hated by some, so Shu assumed that it was a death threat of some sort. Still, that didn't stop him from opening it. In fact, he might have enjoyed reading a death threat.

Of course, he didn't really plan on reading the entire letter; he just wanted to know who it was from. So upon unfolding the letter, his eyes went to the signature at the bottom first. When he read it, he found himself completely shaken. He forgot to breathe at first, and then started breathing quickly to make up for it. His hands gripped the letter tightly, probably crumpling the edges, as he hurriedly started to read it from the top.

Shu—

How are you? We haven't talked in a long time. (There was a sentence or two that was crossed out here.) It's because I didn't know your address or anything. I didn't know how to contact you. Plus my head was kind of messed up after the fire, and there were some things I couldn't remember. Don't worry about me, though. I'm healthy.

I guess I should say who I am, or else you won't know. I'm Edgar—We used to play together in the woods. You're probably shocked getting this letter, because we haven't been in contact in so long, and there was that fire and everything. Like I said, my memory got messed up. This whole time I remembered you but not your name. I transferred into Ryoutei recently and heard a counselor saying your name, and I suddenly remembered. I practically begged her to give me your address so I could write you a letter. It seemed like you were in trouble with the counselors, though. Are you okay?

I hope you weren't worried about me because I'm doing fine. I hope you're healthy too. I'm sure you are. I bet it's embarrassing to hear, but you were such a bright and innocent kid. You made me smile all the time. (Some more crossed-out sentences here.) So I'm sure that you grew up well. It's weird trying to picture you as all grown up, though. I keep picturing that pure little kid I played with back home.

I know this isn't the best letter. I'm not great with words to begin with. And I wrote it so fast because I wanted to hurry up and talk to you. I won't be able to relax till I get a reply, so don't wait around.

Your friend,

Edgar

Shu realized he was holding his breath, and exhaled again.

He was feeling a whirlpool of emotions all at once. He was relieved to the point of having the wind knocked out of him; his friend, his only friend, his best friend was alive. It was enough to make him want to cry. He felt overpowering nostalgia, seeing as he had only recalled his childhood in these past few years through nightmares and panic attacks. For the first time in a long time, Shu could remember the good parts. He felt guilt, but it was overpowered by a reemergence of the overpowering love he felt for him, swelling up in his chest and filling up each of his limbs till they were twitching with nervous energy. And worst of all he felt a pressing need to write Edgar back immediately.

His hands dove into the drawers on his desk, rummaging for a pen and paper. While pulling them out, he knocked several other papers and folders onto the floor. He sat down and started frantically writing. He was thinking that he might have to think carefully about what to say, but that ended up not being the case at all: once he started writing, he couldn't stop himself till he was finished.

Edgar—

There's so much I want to say. I can't believe the letter you wrote me. I honestly never thought that I would hear from you again. I'm so, so happy to hear that you're safe and healthy. It's a dream come true. A part of me is thinking, "Is it really you?"

You wrote that you hoped that I didn't worry about you, but the truth is that I really thought you were gone forever. But don't worry about me. I'm fine now just knowing that you're alive and well. So really, thank you for writing me.

Are you truly attending Ryoutei Academy? That's really good news. It's a night school, so I wonder if you'll adjust to it well. When you were little, you'd be out all day. You liked being in the sunlight. You're really smart and you have a lot of willpower, though, so I'm sure you'll do fine. I don't think there's any challenge you won't be able to handle, so night school should be no problem. I know that the teachers there love hardworking people like you.

I nearly forgot to say, but I'm healthy. Sorry this letter is so short. I just want to hear back from you as soon as possible. I just can't believe it's really Edgar. I really miss you.

Your friend,

Shu

Now he understood why Edgar's letter had been somewhat sloppy. Like Shu, he had probably rushed to get the words out. Shu still had better handwriting, but his letter was probably less eloquent...not that it would matter to Edgar. Shu was already itching to read another letter from his old friend. He summoned the butler back to his room, and gave him the letter to deliver to Edgar.

The change he felt in himself was incredible. Just minutes earlier he had been half-asleep, ignoring his way through life, and now he felt like he could go run a mile if he wanted to. His heart felt full. Edgar was all he could think about. He just wanted to hear from Edgar. He wanted to hear about everything that happened to him.

He caught himself smiling. Even though he was alone in his room, he felt embarrassed. He got back onto his bed and planted his face right into his pillow. He tried to breathe evenly to calm his heart down, but it just kept jumping. For maybe the first time in years, Shu felt happy.