Studies of the Heart

Disclaimer: Once again I have confessed, that I don\'t own Trigun. It makes me depressed.
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Studies of the Heart
By: J-chan


\"Vash for the last time, get your lazy ass out of bed! We\'re gonna be late!\"

Shooting straight up in bed, Vash inadvertedly cracked heads with his persistent roommate who, up until that moment had been sitting on him and tapping him on the forehead trying to wake him up. After the stars cleared from his vision, he reached up and brushed a stray lock of golden blonde hair from his eyes . He yelped in suprise when he looked up and was met with a very angry-looking face directly in his line of sight.

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Nicholas D. Wolfwood is his name. He is not only Vash\'s roommate and best friend, but also his lover. Nicholas became friends with Vash when the two first started high school. He had unintentionally come across an alley when he decided to take a detour on his way to school, and witnessed a gang of five upperclassmen attempting to rob some poor spikey-haired blonde kid. The boy was doing all right for himself at the moment as far as Wolfwood could tell, so he started to walk away. But a yelp brought him back to the alley, and he rushed over to see what had happened. He beheld the blonde, being pinned to the ground while the others attempted to remove his wallet. Wolfwood also couldn\'t help but notice that some of the older teens had fresh bruises and cuts on their faces. So, spikey had some skills after all. Without wasting another moment, Nicholas charged into the narrow alley, and never breaking a sweat, he sent the gang running. They shouted threats behind them, but Nicholas ignored them. Instead he turned his attention to the boy in front of him.

\"Hey kid, you all right?\"

The blonde got shakily to his feet and brushed himself off.

\"Yeah, I guess so. Man, you really sent them packing!\"

Nicholas blushed a bit at the compliment, but remained complaisant.

\"I\'m not the only one. I saw you take down a few of em yourself. What\'s your name kid?\"

\"It\'s Vash. Vash Saverum, and I\'m not a kid, I\'m fourteen. I know how to fight because I run into a lot of them.\"

Wolfwood\'s blush deepened and he scratched nervously at the back of his head. Finally he spoke.

\"Oh geeze I\'m sorry. It\'s just, you look so much younger than most of the freshman I\'ve seen. My name is Nicholas. Nicholas D. Wolfwood. Pleased to meetcha!\"

He stuck out his hand and Vash shook it hesitantly. Suddenly Vash\'s aquamarine eyes grew wide, and he rushed to the back of the alley and grabbed his book bag. Wolfwood began to panic, thinking he had done something wrong, and he grabbed Vash\'s wrist as he ran by.

\"What is it Vash?! Is something wrong?!\"

Vash motioned to Wolfwood\'s watch and yelled,

\"C\'mon Wolfwood, we\'re gonna be late for the first day!\"

Nicholas looked at his battered Power Rangers watch, and quickly realized Vash\'s haste. They had less than fifteen minutes before the tardy bell rang, and they were five minutes away from the school.

\"Oh shit, my mom\'s gonna kill me if I\'m late for the first day!\"

\"Wolfwood! Watch your language! If we\'re going to be friends that\'ll be the first thing we\'ll work on.\"

Nicholas slowed his pace a bit upon hearing that Vash wanted to be his friend, but decided that this could be a good thing and he added a retort.

\"Ha, that\'ll be the day Needle Noggin!!\"

\"Hey, don\'t make fun of my hairstyle Nick!!\"

Thus spawned the friendship between Vash Saverum and Nicholas Wolfwood. It lasted all the way through their high school years until, after much thinly disguised flirting, longing glances, and one chaste kiss, they finally confessed their love for each other, and decided that after graduation they would move into a single dorm together as a couple.
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Currently the two were chasing after the bus that would take them to their first college class of the semester, which Vash had supposedly made them late for. Even running at their top speed, the vehicle eluded them. That is, until it stopped at a red light. Unable to halt themselves, both Vash and Nicholas crashed into the back of the bus and lay there dazed for a few seconds. Wolfwood was the first to get his bearings, and he sat up. Only to get a face full of smoke from the bus\'s exhaust as it pulled away. He turned to stare menacingly at the blonde next to him, who was trying desperately to cover up his laughter, and failing miserably.

\"Ha ha ha, Nick you should see yourself right now! You look ridicu-... why are you looking at me like that? Nicky?....Whaaaa!!\"

Vash got up and ran as Wolfwood tore after him swinging his binder by its strap like a mace.

\"You better run spikey! It\'s your fault we\'re late!\"

Vash scoffed and turned around.

\"My fault!! You\'re the one who wanted a *quickie* before we left the dorm!!\"

Wolfwood blushed five shades of red as he covered the insolent blonde\'s mouth, and turned to the crowd of people around them at the crosswalk, who all had shocked looks on their faces.

\"Pay no attention to my friend here folks! He\'s obviously joking!\"

< Yeah, that\'ll be the day> Vash thought to himself. He decided to play through the little game he had started, and Wolfwood was gonna lose. In his most dramatic voice he said,

\"Oh Nicholas, how could you say such things?! Didn\'t this morning mean anything to you?! You told me you loved me, that you couldn\'t live without me! Don\'t I have needs?!\"

At this point, Wolfwood looked like a firecracker about to explode. He knew that Vash was in fact joking this time, but the disgusted glances he was getting from people made him uncomfortable. He grabbed Vash by the sleeve of his coat and quickened his pace. He then turned and glared at the blonde.

\"This is still all your fault you know.\"

\"Whatever you say Nick. Now come on! We\'re about to miss biology!\"

Nicholas grumbled under his breath, but obediently followed. With any luck they wouldn\'t be kicked out on the first day. He could only hope.
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Upon reaching their destination, Vash and Wolfwood attempted to covertly inch their way into their seats. Their progress was halted when the professor happened to look up and notice them. He said in a nazaly voice, (Think: The eye drops guy from the Clearasil commercials)

\"Well congradulations gentlemen, you\'ve somehow managed to the miss the entirety of my lecture. I hope you don\'t plan on doing this every time, or your grades will drop lower than a subterranean fault line. Do I make myself understood?\"

\"Yes sir.\" They mumbled in unison.

Taking his seat, Wolfwood took that opportunity to look around the classroom. There were about twenty five students in the class altogether, including Vash and himself. Half of them looked to be about his age or older, and they all were reading from textbooks and writing down things in notebooks, or reviewing notes from the lecture. Wolfwood suddenly realized that since they had missed the dicussion, they weren\'t going to know what to study, so he scanned the room for a worthy candidate from which to mooch answers. Vash, noticing what he was doing, gave him a disapproving look, but he brushed it off and continued his search. His gaze landed on a particularly organized-looking student in the far left corner of the room. The man had a wavy mass of cerulean blue hair covering one golden hazel eye. He wore casual clothes that made him look slimmer to the untrained eye, while masking his true physique. This was to be his victim. His prey. At that moment something heavy collided with the side of Nicholas\'s head, foiling his plans. He sweeped the area around him and found an apple lying next to his feet. He picked it up and examined it. Carved into one side of its otherwise smooth flesh was a note from Vash. It read:

\" Wolfwood stop staring! Have you forgotten about us so easily?\"

Feeling rather middle schoolish, Wolfwood wrote his reply on a scrap sheet of paper, folded it into an airplane, and sent it Vash\'s way. Vash was only a few seats away and caught it easily. He opened it up and read it:

\" If ever I forget our love may God smite me where I stand.\"

Rolling his eyes as Vash hugged the paper to himself, Nicholas looked over his course sheet. Their next class together wasn\'t until after lunch, and it was also on the other side of the campus. The name of the school was Fallen Oaks university, so named because of the rather large forest around it, which was populated by the biggest and oldest oak trees ever recorded. Wolfwood\'s thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt rumbling of his stomach, and he groaned and leaned forward over his books. He shot a hopeful glance at the clock, and was relieved when it showed that just two minutes remained before class ended. But first he had to get those notes.
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Humming lightly to himself, Vash read Wolfwood\'s note again and again as he headed off campus. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought that Nicholas could be so romantic. But here in his hands he had solid proof of how much he loved him. They had arranged to meet at a small cafe down the street from the campus to have lunch, and Vash was very much looking forward to it. He felt he needed a little freedom after his algebra class. Just two weeks ago he had had to say his goodbyes to his overprotective foster mother Rem, and he and his older brother Knives had almost literally had to pry her hands from their ankles. It wasn\'t that she didn\'t want them to further their education, it was just that \"empty nest\" syndrome that all devoted mothers get when they have to send their only children off to college. Knives however, was only taking night classes because he had a job at a gardening store and worked during the day. Vash didn\'t know how he did it, but it was better not to ponder on it. Knives was using the money he made to help him through college, and that was good enough for him.

Lost in thought, Vash started to make his way across a busy intersection. Before he even had a chance to register it, a car came screeching around the corner with no obvious regard for the speed limit whatsoever. Vash stood there frozen in fear, unable to move as the vehicle sped toward him. Suddenly he felt a strong arm wrap around his waist and pull him backward, out of danger. He overbalanced and sent himself and his rescuer tumbling into the grass. He sat up and rubbed his head, before looking to see just who had saved him. The first thing he noticed about the guy was his bright blue hair, and then it hit him.

\"Hey, you\'re that dude from class! The one Nicholas borrowed notes from! Thank you so much for saving my life! I owe you one!\"

The blue haired man got up and brushed himself off.

\"Not a problem. You looked like you needed a hand moving, so I was glad to oblige. Just try to pay more attention from now on okay. I don\'t think your boyfriend would like to see you as roadkill.\"

Vash blushed and scratched nervously behind his head.

\"Yeah, you\'re probably right. But how did you know Nick and I were a couple?\"

The man laughed in his soft voice.

\"Well I\'m a good observer of life. It\'s not hard to notice the longing looks you give each other during class, and when Mr. Wolfwood was caught staring at me, I could see the look of jealousy in your eyes. Don\'t worry though, I won\'t steal him away from you.\"

The last sentence he said in a huskier tone, and he punctuated it by running his index finger along Vash\'s jaw line making him shiver. The strange man then proceeded to walk away, but Vash grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him back.

\"Wait! Y...you never told me your name. I want to know who you are.\"

The man ducked his head,thus effectively darkening his features, and smirked showing white teeth.

\"My name is Legato Bluesummers. I have been searching for you ever since I first saw you Vash Saverum. But you always eluded me, until now. Now I have you here, and I don\'t intend to let you go.\"

Without Vash even knowing it, Legato had backed him into an alleyway. He also had a firm grip on his wrists, and when he tried to pull away he was pushed back against the stone wall, and Legato pinned them above his head. He tried to scream for help, but Legato silenced him with a bruising kiss, biting his bottom lip and drawing blood. At the same time he snaked a hand up under Vash\'s shirt and scraped his nails across the sensitive skin. Vash cried out in pain and forcibly threw Legato from himself. The blue haired man collided hard with the opposite wall and sank to the ground. Not stopping for even a second, Vash gathered up his books and fled, leaving Wolfwood\'s note behind accidentaly. As Legato watched him leave, he picked up the peice of paper and crumpled it in his fist.

\"Run while you can Vash. Because I\'m nowhere near finished with you.\"

To be Continued....