Before Gakushuu even opened his eyes, he knew he wasn't alone. It was a rather strange sensation, knowing he didn't have the bed all to himself. Rare most definitely.
When he did open his eyes, he was staring up at the ceiling. He could tell by the faint strip of light streaked across it that his alarm was yet to go off for a while at least. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and turned to face the person in bed beside him.
Karma was awake although he was admittedly very good at pretending otherwise. His breathing was steady and even, his limbs completely still. He laid on his side, hair falling over the side of his face, eyelids shut against the world. Anyone might not have known that he wasn't at all asleep but Gakushuu wasn't just anyone.
He had the most indescribable need to poke him but resisted. That would have been totally immature and ridiculous and he was above such things. It was odd enough that Karma was still here at all. During any of his other visits, he would be gone long before Gakushuu woke, not leaving a note or any sign that he had been there at all.
He might have asked why Karma was pretending to sleep when he was so clearly not or why he was still here in his bed in the first place, but he didn't. There were a lot of things he didn't bother- or perhaps dare- to ask. For instance, he'd never asked about Karma's family, where he'd come from or how he ended up in his current line of business. Although, that had more to do with the fact that he already knew.
After Karma's near attempt on his life Gakushuu had naturally sort out information on his assassin. Initially, he hadn't even known Karma's name and it had taken months of digging to find anything on him at all, even with Gakushuu's endless resources.
Karma had been born the only son of an independently wealthy family. Not excessively rich but enough so that his parents never had to work a day in their lives. And with those lives, they spent them how they like, which was evidently not with Karma. During the early years of Karma's life, they had decided to travel the world and never truly returned to Japan or their son. With both parents being only children with deceased parents of their own, Karma was raised by nannies. Although he wanted for nothing in the material sense, he seemed to have little to no contact with his parents.
Once he was in Junior High, he was living on his own and thriving off a self-built reputation of violence and rebellion. Despite his practically flawless grades and clear academic prowess, he had no respect for authority and no regard for those that put themselves above others. And when he was in last year, just before high school, both his parents died in a freak plane crash. Gakushuu could never discern how Karma had felt or reacted to his but he had doubts that Karma would have cared at all.
Karma did graduate from high school at the top of his class but never enrolled in a University or any form of higher education. A short while after, he all but dropped from the face of the Earth. Just like Karma's feelings towards his parent's deaths, Gakushuu was uncertain on the details. He had no idea how Karma had become a killer or hire or why he did so. With all the information he had, there were still entire year's Karma had lived that Gakushuu couldn't lay a single finger on.
At first that had frustrated him. He wasn't used to not knowing and seeing how this person had tried to take his life, he found it prudent to discover every morsel of information that he could, but Karma remained ever the mystery, his childhood known or not. All that wealth and intelligence left unused.
Gakushuu would never admit it aloud but he had long since given up trying to delve into those years Karma had disappeared. In all honesty, if Karma didn't want to tell him, he didn't want to know.
The assassin in question was still playing at being asleep and Gakushuu knew it could only last so long. Karma wasn't the most patient of people and wouldn't want this to drag on for too long.
Gakushuu savoured this opportunity to study Karma's face. The way his lashes curled upwards, the way his lips parted slightly with every breath. He could see the outline of Karma's collar bones and throat through his black sweater, the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. His skin looked as soft and smooth as it always did, whether clean as it was this morning or streaked with dried blood after a job either of them would talk about.
When Gakushuu was done with his thorough study he stretched out one leg and kicked Karma solidly in the shin, pulling a grunt from the man.
"How long are you just going to lay there?"
"How long are you going to stare at me?"
"I was not staring."
Karma's eyelids flickered open, golden iris alight with bemusement.
"Who's the liar now?"
