Legal Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or situations presented here and am using them for entertainment purposes only.
Story Title: Hell's Kitchen
Focus: Hell Kaiser Marufuji Ryou
Timeline: Between seasons two and three
Notes/Warnings: Hell Kaiser is not possessed.
He was the Hell Kaiser. That meant there was absolutely no reason that he couldn't make his own food. He'd never had to before in his life, but that didn't mean he wasn't capable of it. He'd always eaten in the Obelisk dining hall when he was at the Academy, or his mother had made the meals when he'd still lived at home. During his early stint in the Pro Leagues, he'd generally went out to fine restaurants or had room service deliver whatever he happened to want. At the Genex tournament, he'd once again taken advantage of the Obelisk dorm's excellent cuisine.
But at the moment, none of those were available. Oh, he could have ordered takeout from anywhere he wanted, or went to a restaurant. But frankly, he did not want to go to a restaurant. That would have involved being around people, and unless he was dueling them, Hell Kaiser Marufuji Ryou did not want to be around people. Sometimes he didn't even want to be around them when he was dueling. They annoyed him, for the most part.
Of course, since he was also more or less dying, he didn't really want to have any other people around him either. There were already too many who would be attending the funeral already. Just because he wanted to be remembered forever didn't mean he wanted people actually around to talk to him.
At any rate, cooking for himself required that he get groceries. He hadn't made up his mind what he wanted to eat, and he would have to eat more than once a day, so this required a shopping trip. He didn't trust anyone else to do this for him either. Some things one could really only do for oneself, to make sure they were done right.
He lazily turned over a few of the cards from his deck, not actually moving to get up just yet. His heart hadn't given him very many troubles today, and that was all to the good. Until he found his final opponent, the person worthy of having his last and most incredible duel, he was going to have to take a little bit of care with himself.
He didn't like that, of course. He wanted to be out there having duel after duel, not caring how much strength he lost in the process. But if he miscalculated and fell before he had that final duel…
No. He would not do that. Certain allowances had to be made, at least now, when the Pro Leagues weren't in session and the Genex Tournament had been completed. He curled his lip at the thought of that farce. There hadn't been a single duelist there worthy of his time other than Edo Phoenix, and they could face each other at any point in the Pros. He looked forward to that, but wasn't going to rush it. Edo wasn't who he wanted for his last duel. Perhaps the next to last, but not the last.
Edo probably had someone else making his food for him, whether he wanted to be around people or not. The silver-haired teen could pretend to be as nice as he wanted to be in order to get something done. Ryou did not want to pretend. He would not pretend. He was the Hell Kaiser. He needed no one. Whether Edo admitted it or not, he needed Saioh. And probably Juudai as well.
Juudai was another possibility for his last duel. Someone with infinite potential and all the strength that Juudai himself had would be perfect. But the Osiris Red was very busy saving the world. It wasn't quite possible to have the ultimate duel if there was no world to have it on. But he would let Juudai handle that. He had other priorities.
And none of that was getting his shopping done. He considered just what he wanted, and began to write out a neat list of what he would need. He had no intentions of wandering aimlessly up and down a grocery store, pushing a cart and staring mindlessly at the products on the shelves. He was going to go in, get exactly what was on his list, and leave. This entire expedition couldn't possibly take more than an hour, two hours at the most. There was always the chance of an overly crowded store and a line.
He made certain he was dressed completely in his Hell Kaiser gear and that his wallet had the appropriate amount of yen that he presumed would be necessary. His answering machine was set to take any calls that might come in, though he doubted that he would have any. Anyone who used that number wasn't anyone he wanted to talk to. Though to be honest, the odds were slim that he would want to talk to anyone who knew his real number, his cell phone number, also. Though he would probably have to. He just wouldn't want to. At least Shou had stopped calling asking him to stop being the Hell Kaiser and to respect people again. These days, he only called to inform him of the results of his latest test and the odds that he might go up to Obelisk Blue in his next year.
He left his apartment and headed towards the nearest grocery store he knew of. He'd seen it a few times from the window of his limousine when passing back and forth, though had never given much thought to how long it would take to walk there. He could have had the limo brought around but since the store wasn't really that far off, a mere twenty minute walk, it wasn't worth the bother for him.
Ryou did not deny to himself that he liked the way people got out of his way as he walked. With his firm stride, laser-like glare, and head to foot black, as well as his reputation among duelists, people did get out of his way, and fast. The fact he generally tended to look as if he were thinking of tearing someone's throat out didn't hurt matters at all.
Soon enough he arrived at the grocery store and snatched the first empty cart that he saw. His list was in his hand, and he shot a few looks around the building to decide where to start his shopping. He could see a few other people staring at him, mostly as if they had no idea why the feared and famous Hell Kaiser was at their store. They could imagine all they wanted. As long as they didn't get in his way when he was going for the vegetables.
He proceeded through the aisles in a methodical fashion that would have made Misawa Daichi proud. He didn't quite organize everything in the cart the way that the Ra student would have, but he didn't need to. He was doing this in order to get out of there the fastest. He heard people whispering as he moved around the aisles, and while he couldn't quite hear what they were saying, he had his own ideas. Unfortunately, challenging them to a duel wasn't exactly possible at the moment, especially since he doubted any of them knew a spell card from a trap card from an effect monster card. They wouldn't have been worth his time even before his new life.
Very shortly he had everything that he needed. Twice he'd been approached by people wanting his autograph. The only reason he granted their desire was because it would save time and he wouldn't have to put up with people pouting and whining at him for not doing it. As much as people revolted him for the most part, he knew he could get the privacy he craved much more quickly if he granted a few small favors here and there. It generally worked.
The clerk who checked him out stared at him every now and then as he worked to get the items cleared. Other than the courteous greeting, he said nothing at all to Ryou, who was quite pleased by that. He didn't indulge in random conversation even with people he did know. But from that look, Ryou deduced quickly that this person was one of those who had recognized him as being the Hell Kaiser.
"Thank you for shopping here, sir," the clerk said as he placed the last of Ryou's items into the bags. "And may I say, that your defeat of Matsuo Kaori was incredible to watch? The way Chimeratech Overdragon just blew away her Gatling Dragon...an example to us all!"
That had been a mildly pleasurable duel, he recalled. Not on the level he had against Juudai, but nothing was quite that good. Crushing idiots who thought direct attacks and damage could evade his raw force was always enjoyable no matter what.
He gave nothing more than a curt nod in reply, then left with his two bags comfortably situated in his arms. He hadn't bought anything that would be too heavy to carry back, especially given his current circumstances, and briskly walked back to his apartment. He was quite certain as soon as the doors of the store had closed behind him, everyone who had recognized him was busy gossiping about what he was doing, much more freely than they had when he'd been there.
It didn't take much time to get back to his apartment and begin to unpack everything he'd bought. His kitchen wasn't a place that he spent that much time in, but he knew roughly what it looked like anyway, and soon had everything organized to begin. Eel donburi, grilled fish, and miso soup would do, he decided.
He got down to work carefully, setting the fish and the eel on to grill first. He made himself comfortable as he took care of it, not wanting this to take very long. His stomach was already grumbling at him, and he had much more that needed to be done. Eating had to be gotten out of the way as quickly as possible.
As he cooked, his thoughts drifted away somewhat. He had to find someone to be that final opponent. He had no idea really of how much time he had left. He thought it might be another year, at the most, but that time could be cut down depending on just how rough his duels in the Pro League were. Pros. That was a laugh. None of them could compete with him now. They still depended on respecting each other. He'd learned very quickly that meant nothing.
Someone as strong as Juudai. Someone with Juudai's skill. But perhaps not Juudai. They'd already dueled twice before, and while Juudai was growing stronger and stronger, showing that infinite potential of his, Ryou just didn't know if that face was the one he wanted to see on the other side of the dueling field for the last time.
His brother was completely out of the question. Not only was Shou not good enough in the sense of skill, he would never do it. Shou was a good duelist, much better than he'd expected him to ever be, but he would hold back at the critical moments, not wanting to hurt his beloved older brother. That wasn't what Ryou wanted or needed. He wanted someone who would go full force against him.
By that same token, Fubuki wasn't to be considered. Even with Darkness's power, it wasn't enough. It would never be enough, because Fubuki wouldn't be good enough to beat him. That was the curse of perfection: when you wanted someone better than you, you had to go through Hell to find him.
Well, he was the Kaiser of Hell. Who better could do that than himself?
He blinked a little as he was pulled out of his thoughts by the scent of something burning, and stared at the food. He'd…burned it. He'd burned his eel and fish.
Well, that was annoying. He cleared off the grill and considered what else he might make instead. He hadn't bought enough to remake this, so now he'd have to find something else. Something that could not be burned or ruined like that.
Ryou looked over what he'd bought, and discovered in it the ingredients for gunkanzushi. He had sushi rice and dried seaweed, as well as a variety of seafood he could use for the filling. That shouldn't take very long to make either, which he absolutely approved of. First he set a pot of water on to boil for the rice, and prepared everything else, keeping his mind and attention firmly centered on what he was doing.
He was able to keep himself focused long enough for the water to boil and to put the rice in there carefully. The waiting time after that was a little boring, though, and Ryou finally decided to keep himself occupied with his cards. He was quite certain that his deck was as trustworthy and as perfect as he could make it at the moment, but it also never hurt to check and see if he could come up with any new strategies. If he were going to go out in a blaze of glory, then he wanted to win that ultimate duel when he did have it. He would make no mistakes. He would be as perfect as only he could be.
And again, he drifted away on a deep haze of joy as he sorted through the cards, thinking of what he would do with each one if he drew it in tandem with any of the others. He managed to formulate at least two possible new combinations, but he needed to test them to find any weaknesses they might have, and discover ways to counter them…
And the rice was boiling over.
Ryou stared at that mess, then slowly put his cards away and cleaned up the mess before he went over to the couch in his living room. He sat down, pulled out the thick telephone book, and paged through it until he found restaurants that delivered.
And from then on, Marufuji Ryou, the Hell Kaiser, always ordered his meals from whatever restaurant happened to catch his fancy. He always tipped well, and though the delivery boys wondered, they never knew that they were being thanked for making certain this demon of dueling never had to eat his own cooking ever again.
The End