Waking up on a soft bed felt odd to him after three weeks of sleeping propped up against a tree or up one with the occasional grenade as an alarm clock. Sousuke Sagara's back ached, but not for reasons that had anything to do with the new softness of the mattress. Rather, it was because of the softness of one Kaname Chidori, his girlfriend of five years.
Girlfriend.
He realized he was hugging a pillow instead of her slender torso. He also learned that if cotton was soft, Kaname's skin was silk. The most piercing realization, however, came a second later when the fact that she was nowhere to be found near him caught up to him.
His whole body tensed, any trace of his peaceful slumber gone. Where is she? Without another thought, he concluded that someone must have entered their apartment while they were sleeping. Perhaps someone who held a grudge with him or someone who had discovered she was a Whispered. He had always woken up before Kaname. He knew every time she moved beside or against him. He didn't know why he was so tired.
Quickly grabbing the gun he placed under the mattress, he slowly surveyed the room, the firearm tense in front of him, as he pulled on a pair of boxers. Making as little sound as possible, he stepped out of the bedroom and kept his back against the darker side of the wall. He moved slowly, silently, but surely. His sweat pricked his senses alive.
There was light coming from the kitchen. He tightened his grip on his gun, his arm tensed and trigger finger ready. He heard the clank of plates being pushed together and a blender buzzing. He remembered a certain character called Hannibal Lecter during one of the quiet nights when Kaname was home early from work and he wasn't preoccupied with anything. If he remembered correctly, this character had an affinity for cannibalism. Sousuke felt his skin tighten all over as he envisioned a piece of Kaname's thigh pierced on a fork.
Gritting his teeth, he stepped into the light, the gun's safety off, his trigger finger at the ready.
What he saw made him question his intelligence.