Warnings: SPOILERS for stuff relating to 108-09
AU where everything is the same, but Vector sparkles whenever he's in direct sunlight; except I went with all Barians sparkle because rock aliens
Because We're Barian
When he'd first met Shingetsu—more like when Shingetsu had first run into him—he'd thought it was just a trick of the light. Just the collision making him see things. Shingetsu slammed into him hard enough; he could have easily just been seeing spots.
And anyway, Shingetsu hadn't given him much chance to even wonder about it at the time, because first Yuma had been so angry and confused that this hyper, overly-enthusiastic guy had just ploughed into him, and then Shingetsu had grabbed his arm and dragged him all over the place and by the time Yuma could pay attention again and stare at him across the classroom, the effect was gone.
He didn't forget it, because it was kind of weird that his hair would do that too, but he told himself it was just the light getting in his eyes and put it aside.
It wasn't until Kotori said, "Isn't it funny how Alit seems to sparkle sometimes?" (which Yuma hadn't even noticed) that he started really looking again—and yeah, Alit sparkled sometimes, but so did Shingetsu and he could pretend this time that it was just cause he'd hit his head on the ground. It wasn't all the time, but when they were on their way to school or eating outside on the roof or dueling out in the courtyard, he'd glance over and there was Shingetsu, looking like someone had spilled tiny glitter all over him.
Kotori was the one to ask Shingetsu about it, to, when Yuma pointed that out. Shingetsu looked alarmed for a moment, but then he flushed and waved his hands and stuttered out "I-it's just the soap and shampoo my mom buys us. We don't have a lot of money, so she has to get the kid's stuff..." and no one really had the heart to question him any further.
He got a real good look when Gilag had attacked them and brainwashed Shingetsu for a minute and Shingetsu grabbed him and his arms were right there next to his face, and it really looked like he was covered in minuscule diamonds. It looked like Alit and Gilag were the same way—sparkles all over their skin and hair—which made Gilag look pretty silly, but it was hard to really focus on looking at that when everything was happening so fast and Shingetsu was brainwashed and then he wasn't and Alit was jumping in the way and declaring that he was Barian and Gilag was Barian too—
After the duel with Alit, Yuma was able to sit down and really think about it...but that would be silly, wouldn't it, if Shingetsu was the same as Alit and Gilag? He was way too much of a wimp to be Barian! And they'd attacked him too, hadn't they?
And anyway, sometimes Shark and his sister looked like they sparkled too, and there was no way they were Barian...
"It's because we're Barian," Shingetsu said later, once he'd told Yuma the truth and Yuma wondered aloud if that was why he and Alit and Gilag had all looked like that. "It was an unfortunate side effect of taking these bodies. It only happens when we're out in sunlight, though, so it wasn't hard to hide most of the time."
But that didn't explain Shark and his sister and Shingetsu only shook his head and looked confused when he was asked.
"I hadn't noticed," he said, and he seemed genuinely confused by the idea. "But they're not Barian, so I don't think you need to worry, Yuma-kun."
Shark only sputtered and said Yuma was crazy when Yuma asked him about it, and his sister said it was probably the products she used (like Shingetsu had said, except Shingetsu had been lying...), but neither of them seemed to have any idea what Yuma was talking about and Yuma knew he could trust them, so that was the last time he ever mentioned it.
