This was written for a friend of mine who adores this pairing. I wasn't sure whether to post this up or not, but I finally decided that I would considering this is my first oneshot that I've written for this pairing. Although it was pretty tough to write. They seem (especially Mai) OOC to me, but hey. I tried. Sorry if they're not totally in character, but maybe if I keep at it I'll make them be in total character, right? Let's hope.

Pairing: Valon/Mai

I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor its characters. I just own the story plot... line... just the story idea... um...

Enjoy!

Meeting You Again

Mai stirred her ice tea, having put two lumps of sugar in it and glanced out the window that she was seated next to. She pulled the thin straw out of her glass and laid it down on her napkin – picking the glass up, next, and taking a nice long sip. Her thoughts were filled with what had happened since the past year.

"Mai, is that you?" An Australian accent came from above her – the owner of the voice seeming to be standing right over her. The woman turned her gaze from the view of her window only to discover Valon standing before her – his grin seeming to widen as he discovered it was. "It is you!" He announced, his sapphire eyes lighting up with joy at finding her at the small café.

"Valon, what are you doing here?" She found herself blurting out, before realizing her biggest mistake. It had been a year since she had last seen Valon, leaving him alone to awaken in the small summer home.

Without even asking, he took a seat across from her as he placed his helmet – which he had been holding under his arm the entire time – on the table. "I was just visiting." He answered which was partly the honest truth – the whole truth was that he had come to see if he could find her. "I heard this café was a good spot to have some coffee so I decided to stop by and bam!" He gave a hearted laugh. "There you were, Mai."

She could feel herself ordering her to get up, tell him bye, and just walk out the door – hoping that he wouldn't come after her, like how he had in Doma. "Well, I was just going to leave." She stood, her violet eyes taking one last look at the boy who held feelings for her. "It was nice seeing you again." With that, she turned and walked out the door.

Once she found herself down at the street, she quickly took direction to where the most crowded area was just to make certain that she would lose the spiky haired brunette. The streets were especially busy today – considering people were coming out to celebrate Valentines Day. How ironic, she thought to herself.

"Mai, wait!" A voice called from behind her – causing her to stop right in her tracks and spin around, only to discover Valon dashing towards her. She felt herself give a scowl, not wishing to deal with him at the moment.

"I thought I said—" She paused as soon as she saw him hold out a rose to her, nothing fancy like a bouquet, but just a simple rose that seemed to shine brightly in the sunlight. Her eyes softened at this. "Valon, you shouldn't have…"

He gave a shrug, letting out a small chuckle. "I wanted too." He held the rose out to her a little more. "Mai, it's Valentines Day after all. And I just figured – why not let me take you out on a date?" His eyes gave away about how hopeful he was that she would agree to this.

Mai gave a sigh, before giving a small, light nod. "Alright, Valon if you really want to."

He only grinned at this. "Of course I want to, Mai!" His sapphire eyes watched as she took the one rose from his hand and into hers.

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Valon leaned over the table, a goofy type of smile plastered on his face and watched as Mai raised a perfect eyebrow at him in question. "Hey Mai, I was just thinking…" He stopped, seeing as she now raised both of her lovely eyebrows. "Do you have certain feelings for someone in particular?" He couldn't stop his grin turn into a hopeful one.

"No, Valon." She answered flatly, knowing exactly where this was going – not wanting any part of it.

The Australian gave a soft nod, leaning back and turning his head right when the waiter had come up and asked them if they needed more time or not. Mai watched as he began pointing at a few names on the menu – wanting to know which one was the ultimate best. A light smile formed on her lips, seeing as the waiter was looking slightly confused when her companion tried to pronounce a certain name – only to fail, miserably. Good old Valon… she thought to herself, as he finally gave up and just pointed at it and said, 'I want this, mate!'

The man nodded, before turning to her and asking what she would like.

"Hmm… oh." Mai quickly snapped out of her thoughts and glanced down at her menu, telling him what it was. She handed him her menu, as he also took Valon's, and left the two once again to themselves. Her violet eyes studied Valon as he picked up his drink and drank from the cool substance. "What have you been up too since we last saw each other?"

Sapphire eyes met hers in surprise. Valon set down his glass, the grin on his face still there. "I still keep in touch with Raph and Alistar. Found a part time job that's fairly nice. Spend my free time mostly riding around or even just duel others for the fun of it." He answered, truthfully. It was true, he still kept in touch with Raphael and Alister – they were like his family, even if they didn't feel the same. Especially the red head, who always kept to himself during their time in Doma and whenever the Australian called him all he got was 'Why are you calling me?'. Though Valon could tell that Alister didn't seem to mind from the tone of his voice. "What about you, Mai?"

The young woman across from him blinked as if trying to figure out what to tell him exactly. "Not much." She finally answered, which wasn't a real lie yet not the whole truth either. This time she was the one who picked up her beverage and took a sip, as Valon tilted his head to the side. He muttered a 'Really' before shaking his head lightly and having that same goofy grin on his face.

"I'm glad you're alright, Mai." His eyes showed just how honest he was about it and the love he felt for her causing her to be completely caught off guard.

I always knew Valon had high feelings for me, so why am I…? Mai thought, feeling a little bit of warmth make its way to her cheeks as he flashed her one of his dazzling smiles. For a moment it just seemed like they were the only ones in the room – violet eyes gazing into sapphire ones.

"Here you are." The waiter's voice spoke, breaking the moment and setting down their meals. "May I get you anything else?"

The two told him 'no' and he went on his way, checking up one them now and again to see if they were in need of anything. Valon commented that he most likely wanted to have a very nice tip before they left the restaurant and made their way to the beach – to watch the sunset. The brunette had insisted that they go there for the last event of the day and Mai had agreed seeming to find she was unable to turn him down.

She soon found herself laughing quietly at that.

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"Thanks for letting me take you on this 'date', Mai." Valon said, as the two walked along the sands of the beach, the breeze light and the temperature just right. The seagulls squawked either as the two approached them or from the rocks. The sky was a lovely purple-orange, a color that seemed well suited for the month of February.

"You're welcome, Valon." She nodded, watching as he smiled when she had said his name. She noticed how his spiky hair seemed to be absolutely perfect, how his sapphire eyes seemed to light up with joy or darken when angered. She quickly shook her head, finding her cheeks warming up like they had done in the restaurant. The rose, after close inspection to make sure there were no thorns, was behind her ear. Valon had mentioned it would look prettier there, instead of just being carried around, and that it would only show how beautiful she really was compared to a lovely red rose. Mai had also found herself slightly flushed at that time as well, seeing as Valon helped place it behind her ear – leaning close to her face.

"It's a shame this day is ending…" He glanced up at the sky, coming to a stop in his stride. The wind began to pick up for a brief second causing his hair to ruffle before it died down once more. His head turned back to Mai, a smile on his face. "Guess this is where we say good-bye until next time, right?" Even though there was a smile on his face, Mai saw the sadness in his eyes.

A nod came from her, although it seemed to take forever until it finally proved to be one. "Yeah, it is." Her heart gave a slight pain, but she ignored it. From the look in his eyes, she thought he got the same feeling too – perhaps slightly worse.

"Well, see you around Mai Valentine." Valon nodded at her, expecting to see her turn and head back to her vehicle. She didn't. He felt his heart fill with hope at the thought that this 'date' had sparked some type of feelings for her – for him. His brain screamed at him to ask her if something was wrong, but his mouth seemed to know better.

"If you want," Mai began taking out a slip of paper and holding it out to him, "you can reach me at this number if you ever want to talk or get a drink."

Sapphire eyes lit up with pure happiness, as the brunette took the paper from her. He knew deep down that she might just want to remain friends – that was fine with him though, as long as he could still be able to talk with her and even hang with her during the weekends or weeknights. Whichever she preferred, he would be fine with it. "I'm looking forward to it, Mai."

And he was.

But so was she.

That's it, my friend didn't want them kissing at the end so yeah... no kissing. Use your imagination about what happens next if you'd like. Totally up to you.

Again, I'm so sorry if they seem so OOC - I tried my best! I just can't seem to get Mai to work with me on things like this. She's so hard to get in character - especially when it comes to her and Valon.

Next oneshot I'm working on is a Valon/Serenity pairing for another friend.

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to review.