Serendipity:

Chapter One: Stray

He sat there on the cold concrete trying to contemplate why he even bothered with this anymore. All day and night, he would just sit in the cold basically waiting to see if anyone walking had dropped some money or reject the offer of food. He didn't mind taking something as long as it wasn't out of pity. He despised that look people would give him throughout the day. Pity. Pity was the one thing he couldn't bear. It meant that people are looking down on him, that they couldn't care less. Pity meant that they didn't really care for you and they only want to look like 'good people' in front of others.

He never accepted any of the food or coins that people offered him. Because every time they tried to, they would have that disgusting look of pity on their faces, and besides, it wasn't like they tried to offer it to him again after he had only rejected it once. He didn't care though. He had eventually gotten used to rationing out small portions of food to eat with the few coins he would occasionally find lying on the ground, so it wasn't like he felt as he was starving like he used to.

He pulled his knees into his chest, trying to warm himself as best as he could as he felt a cold breeze. He cursed under his breath at the humiliation. Sure, hardly anyone was out that night, but he could practically feel their looks of pity burn into him as they passed him. He used to be dignified. An undefeated soldier of Academia!

Well, he was. That was before he met his counterpart at least.

Yuya Sakaki. He couldn't believe it. Out of all of his counterparts, he lost to him. He never expected him to be so formidable. He had learned to accept it though. It didn't really mean he lost, as he saw him as a piece of himself. It still surprised him that he was able to defeat him. He even kept himself when Zarc was attempting to take over. He was more than Yuri had thought at first glance.

However, Yuya probably still hated him as well as his other counterparts. He had no doubt about that. The Synchro user would announce his hate for him whenever he had the chance to and there was no chance that the Xyz user was going to forgive him after what happened to his old home Heartland. And Yuya had witnessed him carding his father. Of course none of them were going to be thrilled if they saw him.

Of course, he could say that for everyone that he had met. Sure, Dennis had tried to convince him to try giving himself a second chance, but he preferred that he be alone. He said something about trying to help others more or something along the lines of that, but Yuri couldn't bring himself to do anything like that. He wasn't sure if he couldn't bring himself to face the humiliation, or if it was something else, but it didn't really matter to him. Perhaps he was just used to relying on himself and not thinking about anyone else or their actions.

It seemed as though the world and karma wasn't quite done with Yuri tonight as he felt something wet dripped onto his nose. He looked up at the dark and cloudy sky as he noticed it began to rain. He sighed as he placed his chin onto his knees in annoyance. It was always the smaller things that seemed to bother him, but he just didn't know what he was exactly supposed to do. He hated living out on the streets, but living out in some pity home would make him feel so ashamed of himself. Maybe he still had traces of being part of Academia which made him think like this.

Before he knew it, he let out a quiet sneeze, covering the bottom-half of his face as he did so. He groaned afterwards, feeling as if he hadn't slept in days. Why hadn't he noticed this feeling earlier? He hated it. He tried not to acknowledge the feeling, but it just made him slowly feel worse. That's just wonderful. As if he didn't feel as if his mood could get any worse that night. The embarrassment of a used-to-be member of Academia out on the streets in the cold, sitting in the rain and feeling like crap, he would never be able to forget something like this.

"Excuse me, are you okay?"

Yuri looked up from the ground to see a blonde woman with an umbrella and a few grocery bags staring down at him with a strange look on her face, well, more like an unfamiliar one. She was probably old enough to have had a kid or two, but not old enough that her hair was beginning to turn grey or anything like that.

Yuri could only glare at the woman to give her the hint that he wanted to be left alone. The woman just kept looking at him though, expecting an answer. Yuri showed that he wasn't willing to answer her question though, so she took it upon herself to kneel down to his level, placing her groceries down on the ground beside her as she held the umbrella out so he was under it enough so he didn't get any more soaked than he was already. Though, he wondered why she would do such a thing in the first place. As soon as she leaves, he is going to just get more rain falling on him again, so why bother doing such a useless thing like that?

The woman smiled at him as she placed a hand on his forehead, surprising him and causing him to flinch away slightly from her touch. He mentally scolded himself for showing such weakness in front of the stranger.

The woman sighed as she removed her hand from his forehead. "You're warm. There's a chance you might be coming down with a cold." She stated.

He narrowed his eyes. That was great. This woman is going to pity him now. Why can't people just stop with that?

The look she was giving him still didn't show pity, but didn't show any form of disgust for him either. What was it? He couldn't figure out why she looked at him like that. What was she trying to pull with him?

"Let me take you out of the cold." She told him. Yuri still saw no pity. Was she trying to trick him? He didn't feel like that was it. He couldn't know for sure though. Maybe it was something about that look that did it. Maybe he was going soft.

He finally decided to ask the question. "Why would you be willing to do that?" He asked softly, but sternly.

The woman's look got even more confusing. She smiled wider, but it didn't look like it was one that he should be concerned with. It was a different look to those he was used to.

"Oh, so you can talk! That's good to know!" She said happily. Yuri raised a brow at her. She continued. "Children shouldn't be out here. If it were my son then I wouldn't be much of a mother."

That statement confirmed it, this woman had a child. But that didn't answer his question of why she would bother with him. It wasn't like he was her property or anything, so she shouldn't be giving him that look.

"We need to get you cleaned up," She began. "Why don't you come with me out of the cold?"

Yuri held his glare as best as he possibly could towards her. What she was plotting, he had no idea. It could be possible that she was just trying to trick him. But what would the woman possibly have to gain out of it? He was living on the streets so money wasn't it. Kidnapping children and young teenagers was done of course for things other than money. He had nothing to go off of with this woman. He was best to ignore her at this point.

The woman stared at him and sighed as she noticed he had no intention of going with her. "You sure are stubborn. You remind me so much of my son."

Yuri rolled his eyes. She was playing that 'I am a mother' card again. Not that it was really going to work. He wasn't going to just willingly move from the spot he was in so easily.

"Okay then...perhaps it's a little sudden, but we really do need to get you out of the cold. You are coming down with a fever."

Did the woman not get the hint? This child of hers was probably throwing a tantrum or burning down the house, and here she was trying to convince this random kid on the street to go with her. He let out a soft cough as he looked away from her. Did he need a big wooden board with the words 'leave me alone' written on in big bold letters to get her to leave.

He flinched once again as he felt strong arms pick him up and throw him over their shoulders so he was facing the opposite direction of the way that they were standing. It was surprising that it was the woman who did it. He wasn't a large boy so he supposed that it wouldn't actually be that difficult. It helped that he didn't eat that much he supposed. He tried to squirm out of her grasp but with her strong grip and how tired his body suddenly became, he gave up a little easy. The woman picked up her things and began walking. Yuri cursed at himself. As if tonight wasn't already just peachy, this woman shows up.

"Sorry that I had to do that, but you weren't moving." The woman apologised. "My name is Yoko Sakaki, and you?"

Yuri lifted his head up at that. Sakaki? Oh that was perfect. If this Yoko was a mother and held the last name Sakaki, then there was a high chance that he would be facing some consequences. He really didn't think that the night could get much worse than this. He didn't feel like facing that Yuya Sakaki. He brought his arm up to his mouth to muffle his next round of coughs and after that, Yoko didn't proceed to question him or ask him his name again and she just continued to carry him in silence. Good. That was the way he liked it now anyway...

Yuya let out a large yawn as he stared down at his page and pen. How late was it? He groaned as he tapped his finger on the desk. After the whole 'dimension' situation, he was forced back into studying and work. He wasn't even getting amazing grades to begin with and now he was being forced to catch up with everything that he missed. He looked around his room and noticed that Yuto still hadn't come back yet. He was most-likely in the difficult battle which involved him trying to wake up Yugo after falling asleep working on his D-wheel or something along those lines. He didn't really know how much about the homework he was currently working on that Yuto would know, despite being smart, Yuto was in a warzone for a long time. He doubted Yuto would do something like study stuff like trigonometry or something like that. He was more of a practical thinker.

He sighed as he stood up and ran to the pole connecting the two floors and quickly slid down, making his way to the kitchen. It wasn't like he could do his homework on an empty stomach or anything. He was just lucky Yuzu wasn't there to scold him about it.

He opened the cupboard, eyeing the different foods for a short time before taking out a bag of chips, closing the cupboard door and walking over to the lounge to begin eating. Before even being able to eat one, he was interrupted by his mother.

"Yuya!" She called from the front door, Yuya hearing the door close. "Come here quickly!"

Yuya sighed as he put the bag of chips on the lounge beside him and stood up and slowly made his way to the front door. He expected a new cat, dog, or possibly just helping out with the groceries, but none of those guesses were even close to being correct. Next to his mother stood someone he never really expected to see again.

...Yuri...

His counterpart from the Fusion Dimension was in his house. The same counterpart that took away Ruri and Rin from their own dimensions and tried to do the same with Yuzu was in his house.

It wasn't like he never expected to see him again but...he was standing there drenched from the rain with a look on his face that was unreadable. Normally, he would see that creepy grin or a bored look on his face or something like that. But this Yuri looked like he needed...no scratch that. This Yuri looked like he wanted help. He noticed how quickly Yuri looked at the ground as soon as he saw him, and he didn't know what to think of that. Did it mean that he was embarrassed? Ashamed? Yuya honestly couldn't tell right now.

His mother looked at him. "Can you get him a spare pair of your clothes please Yuya? They should fit. And help him out a bit while I get some medicine ready?" She asked, well, more like told Yuya in the form of a question, if that makes sense.

Yuya glanced at Yuri as he became unsure. He stared at him for a moment before looking back to his mother and nodding slightly. "Sure." He answered softly. His mother nodded back at him and made her way to the kitchen, presumably to get Yuri's medicine ready as she said. Looking at him, Yuri did look a little unwell. Of course, being drenched after being in the rain for who knows how long would make you feel less than perfect.

Yuri looked as if he wanted to leave more than anything. Of course, he probably wouldn't get far. He and Yuya were probably close in speed, but considering Yuri's condition, he wouldn't make it too far out the door before something happened to him. Yuya scratched the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to approach someone who he has only had bad history with.

"Um..." He began, getting Yuri's attention, "Well you heard her! We better head up to my room and get you some clothes! She's kind of scary when you don't do what she asks, hehe..." Yuya finished, trailing off with an awkward laugh. Yuri raised a brow at him as he folded his arms, possibly studying him.

Yuya really didn't know how to do this. But he had to get Yuri up to the guest room fast before Yuto and Yugo showed up. No doubt that there would be some...problems with that. They both had reasons to hate him, and the situation would just worsen. He would hate to think what exactly the pair would do to him. Sure, he did bad, awful things, but right now he was sick and in pain. He wouldn't even be able to defend himself properly if he tried. He knew for sure that Yugo would have no mercy on him and Yuto, well, he honestly didn't know.

Yuya tried grabbing onto Yuri's wrist before Yuri flinched away from his touch. Yuya stepped back a little as this out-of-character reaction occurred. Did Yuri honestly think that he was going to hurt him? Was he actually scared or was there more behind it? Either way, Yuya couldn't help but to feel kind of bad about it and quickly apologised for it. Yuri eyed him as he relaxed himself a little. He sighed and walked until he was beside Yuya, giving him a look that told him to just lead him there. Yuya nodded and helped Yuri to his room, making sure that he didn't do anything like pass out along the way.

Of course, Yuya couldn't say that he was completely willing to trust Yuri yet. But everyone did deserve another chance. And besides, Yuri was brought up wrong. In a place like Academia, anyone could turn into a completely different person from when they were a child. Besides, he couldn't help but to feel sorry for him. He must've been out alone for such a long time. He was practically shivering, though he did try his best to hide it. Yuya could only hope that Yuri would be willing to turn over a new leaf. Though, Yuya technically thought he wouldn't be one to talk. The whole 'Zarc' situation really made him think differently. He knew that he was his own person and all, but knowing about Zarc just made him try to see things from both perspectives.

The pair made it to the guest room and Yuya gave Yuri some spare clothes he got from his own room along the way. Yuri awkwardly and silently accepted the clothes and stared at them for a moment. Come to think of it, Yuya hadn't heard Yuri say a single thing since he stepped foot in the house. It was...weird. He was used to hearing that mocking tone every time he saw Yuri. He could understand him not wanting to talk but it was just so...just so unlike him that it freaked him out a little.

Not knowing what else to do, Yuya made his way back to the door awkwardly. "Uhm, I'm just going to get your medicine so...I'll be right back!" And he left with Yuri staring him down until he couldn't see him anymore.

Yuya sighed.

...This is going to be rough...

Author's Notes:

Done! First chapter...Ehh anyway...thanks for reading! I'll be trying my best to update whenever I can, but I do have other stories I must continue as well so it's really just going to depend on the response to this.

I promise though that the chapters will get better as I progress! It's really just going to start out with me trying to get the feel of the characters for a while. I'm trying my best despite not knowing the ending to Arc-V and what's going to happen to the dimensions and all of that and how the characters feelings about that. Even so, the characters will be more in-character as we go along. Oh and I just thought I should also address that this is not going to be a slash-fic. Just to let everyone know that was a little important so nothing gets confused.

With that all being said, please leave a review because I really like hearing what everyone on this site has to say and the reviews make me a little more motivated to update the chapters quicker too! So just let me know! Thanks again for reading!