Title: Starlight Snowfall
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and I am not making any profit off of this.
Notes: This was originally going to be a short chaptered story, but I never got around to it. I liked this chapter, and it looks like it could be just a one shot on it's own, so I decided to post it. (It's been sitting around for quiet a while actually.) I'm not going to mark this as complete, in hopes that someday I'll come to continue on it. I have the idea, just not the motivation.
This is set in Ryo, Fubuki, and Fujiwara's first year at Duel Academia. I guess you could call it a slight AU, if you're one to pay close attention to the time when things happen. And I know there is slight OOC-ness, but I thought they'd all act a little younger since they're 15 here. Another note; English speaking will be written in italics.
And again reviews are highly appreciated; Constructive criticism is the best!!
Starlight Snowfall
The sound of a beeping PDA could be barely heard throughout the dorm room. Such a small noise was almost too quiet to be heard over the sounds of a video game that was currently being played by Fubuki, Fujiwara sitting beside. Ryo — seemingly the only person in the room that could hear the irritating ring of the PDA — didn't even look up from the book he was reading and pointed out the obvious.
"Fubuki, your PDA is beeping."
There was not really any response except for a, "Just a second, I'm about to kill the boss!" Ryo frowned slightly and went back to reading his book. It wasn't his fault if Fubuki didn't find the message until a day after it was sent. His friend would figure it out eventually. Maybe after he defeated this very important monster in his video game.
Fujiwara, who was intently watching Fubuki play his video game moments before, decided to take it upon himself to make sure Fubuki got the message from his PDA, even if it did take a good fifteen minutes to pry his face away from the TV like it usually did. Fujiwara jumped up from his seat on the floor and walked over to the desk where the little machine was currently resting. To stop the continuous and annoying beeping, he flipped the cover open, and peeked at who the message was from, despite it being Fubuki's PDA.
"It's a message from the Principal," Fujiwara stated, walking over and showing the screen to Fubuki.
This was about one of the only things that had gotten Fubuki to pause the game and take the PDA out of Fujiwara's hands.
Fubuki frowned. "I don't remember doing anything that would get me a message from the Principal... Oh. Unless it was being of that one time I tired to climb into class through the window. But I was almost sure no one had seen me!"
Fujiwara glanced over at Fubuki wearily. It was only a few days ago when he had seated himself in the classroom and was studying a bit before the teacher, or any other students, had arrived. He enjoyed that time the most — it was easier to study in the classroom, or library, with their peaceful atmospheres. He was just taking out his books when he saw a hand pop up out of the window. That alone was enough to make him jump, but then another hand appeared. Despite how creepy it looked, Fujiwara was crept close to the window, to see... Fubuki. Dangling out the window. The rest of the morning was spent trying to pull the boy out of the window, and into the classroom.
Ryo sighed and shook his head. Those two might be stuck here all day wondering why the Principal was messaging Fubuki instead of just clicking the message. Grabbing the PDA out of Fubuki's hands, he clicked the message.
All three students watched silently as a picture of Samejima appeared on the screen.
"I'm sorry to bother you on your day off, but with your winter break nearing, I have a proposal to make to you. If you wouldn't mind coming to my office around noon, I'd be glad to have a little talk with you, Fubuki. And if it's not all to much trouble, please bring Marufuji and Fujiwara along. That's all. I'll hopefully be seeing you three around noon then."
And the screen shut off.
Ryo and Fujiwara glanced at each other. Out of all people, why did he send the message to Fubuki? The one least likely to successfully get the message to everyone? Thank goodness they were all hanging out in Fubuki's room today.
"Well, if you guys are involved, either I must not be in trouble, or we're all in trouble!" Fubuki said a little too gleefully.
Ryo waved his hand dismissively. "Never mind that. We should be heading there soon or we'll be getting there late," He said, standing up and putting away his book on Fubuki's nightstand. He could always drop by later to get it.
"Right." Fujiwara nodded, standing up as well.
Fubuki practically made a dive for the door, and opened it. He grinned while beckoning the two to follow him. Fujiwara happily nodded and caught up to his friend with Ryo shortly behind, making sure to close the door. The trio left the dorm, forgetting they left the video game and the T.V. still on.
"Are we in trouble?" Fubuki asked cautiously upon entering Principal Samejima's office.
Samejima let out a good-hearted laugh. "No no, not at all. Actually, it's quite the opposite."
Fubuki's eyes brightened as he smiled, Fujiwara blinked curiously at the principal, and Ryo did nothing.
Samejima chuckled at the three's typical reactions as he stood up. He was beginning to like these three students of the school more and more everyday. He began talking, arms linked behind his back.
"As you know, you three are the top students in the honors dorm..." He paused only to watch the students nod in unison. "And as your winter break nears, instead of heading home for a few weeks, I'd like you, along with a few other students, to come to New York for a small dueling tournament!"
There was a few moments of silence and surprise, and then a loud exclamation from Fubuki.
"New York?! Awesome!" he yelled out cheerfully, despite still being right in front of the principal. He wrapped an arm around Fujiwara's neck. "This is gonna be a ton of fun, huh? We're going to go to America."
"A-ah, yeah!" Fujiwara said. He wobbled a bit, trying to keep his balance with Fubuki's arm around him, and then gave his friend a weary smile.
Fujiwara inwardly sighed. He just couldn't be as optimistic as Fubuki was. While dueling was fun, and a tournament was always fun to see who would turn out on top, Fujiwara had his doubts. First of all, they were going to be dueling an a foreign country, and he was sure the people there were looking for spectacular duels from the students of Duel Academia. While he wasn't afraid he wouldn't give them a good duel, he was afraid he might pale in comparison to his two friends. Fubuki and Ryo just had something to them when they dueled, and they shined like no other. Not like he was jealous or anything, but everyone seemed so drawn towards them and amazed, that they'd eventually forget about him... And he hated thinking about it. He had told Fubuki about it once, and the boy did try to convince him that he was just amazing, if not more, as them. Not that he doubted his dueling skills that much, but... Fujiwara couldn't see it. Fubuki and Ryo shined so brightly, that he might be forgotten one day. The boy sighed aloud this time as a look of sadness crossed his eyes.
A loud "Ahem!" from the principal got Fubuki and Fujiwara to return their attention to the older bald man — not that they'd ever say that Samejima was bald, or old, in front of him or to anyone, but it was a little hard to deny the fact.
"I'm glad to see you're so excited and open to the idea..." Samejima's eyes sparkled with amusement, "But first, I need to tell you when you'll be leaving."
Fubuki, Ryo and Fujiwara all nodded once again and listened to their principal's instructions on when to be ready, and what day they'd be leaving. Fujiwara couldn't help but smile a little when he heard the three of them were specially chosen first, out of all the other students in their dorm — the Honor Student Dorm — because of their good grades and dueling skills, and the other students would have to duel against each other to see who would get to go and not.
With Samejima's meeting done, the three went on their way out of the office and wandered into the lunch room. It was still only a half hour past noon, after all.
Fujiwara's eyes scanned over the paper that had been handed out the other day for the third time. It contained a list of necessary and recommended items that the students would most likely want to bring on their trip, along with a note about how their classes would be changed around a bit. Their English language class would be extended a bit longer, since they would be going to America after all.
Fujiwara stopped reading and froze.
Wait. They'd be going to America. Meaning they'd have to be speaking a lot of English. Meaning they'd be dueling in front of an American crowd. Meaning... this trip was going to be a lot less fun then he had thought.
Fujiwara looked over at the English textbook that was sitting innocently on his desk. His mouth twisted down into a small frown as he stared at the book before he ran over to it, and started reading. Better to be very ready then not so ready, he guessed.
And the days of studying and packing went by so quickly. Suddenly, it was time to leave and head off to New York. A group of honor students gathered around the dock, waiting for a helicopter to pick them up and fly them off to their destination.
Some kids were goofing off, just like most kids their age; others were still reading their English books in a last minute attempt to be fully ready, along with some kids that were still checking if they had everything; and a few were practicing their English.
"How do you do? I am fine, thank you!" One of those people was Fubuki.
Fujiwara blinked, taking a couple of minutes to register what his friend had just said, and then tried his hand at English and replied. Ryo watched as the two practiced off each other, nodding in approval as the two continued to avoid messing up their speech. Fujiwara would stutter, and Fubuki would mess around and say something weird, just to throw Fujiwara off in a good-mannered fashion, but other then that, they were doing quite well.
There was a loud sound, and as if a signal, everyone looked to the sky to see the helicopter coming down. The wind blew around causing the children's hair to go flying, and Fujiwara's breath caught in his throat. It was scary, and he almost couldn't believe it. They were actually going to America. Maybe... he should have turned down this offer.
Fubuki gave a sidewards glance at Fujiwara and could tell right away that he was upset by the distressed glimmer in his eyes.
"Come on Fujiwara! America won't be that bad. It'll be fun not scary!" The Fubuki grinned and patted his friend on the back, seemingly not bothered by the wind blowing his brown hair all over the place, even into his eyes.
Fujiwara bit his bottom lip and made an unsure sound. His eyes flickered to Fubuki's and then to his feet. It only got him an arm wrapped around his shoulder, which he returned with a sigh.
"Come on, Fujiwaraaaa. Don't be so nervous!" Fubuki said, trying to get his friend more comfortable to the idea. Fujiwara need to not be so tense and just forget about work for a little while, Fubuki thought.
"Fubuki, it's not just like we're taking a trip to somewhere else in Japan. This is America! And we're only fifteen. I can't help but be so nervous. I can't speak English that well and we're gonna be there for a week!" Fujiwara argued, he frowned. There was a glint in his eyes that threatened to turn into a glare, but Fubuki was positive that would never happen.
"Yeah, I know what you mean... But don't you think it's at least a little exciting?" Fubuki flashed a hopeful smile.
"Well, maybe. But just a little..." Fujiwara really couldn't disagree with that. But I prefer to study my dueling in the comfort of my own dorm, not another country, he thought to himself.
"Now take that little excitement, and make it into a big excitement." Fubuki spread his arms out wide to exaggerate his point. "You can't be just a little excited! This is America we're going to after all." Fubuki smiled and nodded as he spoke in a matter-of-fact way.
Fujiwara sighed, and then smiled, "Okay, okay. You win. I am excited. Nervous and excited."
Before Fubuki could jump or yell with triumph, like he was considering to do, Ryo stepped in front of the two boys, not much emotion on his face. And Fujiwara wondered how a calm guy like him managed to become such good friends with Fubuki, who could easy be one of the weirdest people in the school.
"You guys better stop talking and hurry up and get on before everyone leaves without you," Ryo said, letting slight smile creeping its way onto his face.
Fujiwara let out a surprised yell, along with Fubuki who screamed about how he forgot. Ryo shook his head. It was surprising how distracted those two could get when they started talking. Fujiwara always seemed the type to always be on time and alert too. Maybe it was just Fubuki's distracting power that made him forget and easy get drawn into a conversation with him.
Fujiwara visibly gulped, Fubuki's eyes shined so bright you might think they were lights, and Ryo just patiently looked around.
They were in America. America. It took everything Fubuki had to control himself from singing and dancing around in the snow.
Fujiwara tightened the scarf around his neck, burying his mouth and nose in it. They told him to dress very warmly and Fujiwara was glad he did. It was a lot colder then at the Academia. A lot colder. Snow was piling up all over the place, and even though there were many people walking back and forth from, the snow was falling heavily enough to start covering up their tracks again. He looked up at the dark night sky, snowflakes mixing with stars, wondering if the cold little puffs would end up burying them if they stood still too long.
Samejima gathered everyone around and repeated the strict rules he had told them about fifty times during their flight. He had finished quickly, sensing the children's impatience and started to lead them to their hotel.
Once arriving to their dry and warm shelter, and after giving everyone their keys, and telling who's rooms were who's and the person they'd have to share a room with, Samejima sighed. Tired already, and they only just arrived! The man spotted Ryo, Fubuki, and Fujiwara, standing in a group as they always did. For a split moment, he wondered if they were ever apart from each other. He pulled the three aside from the rest of the group, forming what he should say to them in his head.
"I'm sorry to say this," Samejima started, "but, there was some complications with the hotel, and the room originally planned for you three is not available at the moment. They have another one, but it only has two king sized beds. The room for you will be ready the day after tomorrow though. I hope that won't be a problem with you three?"
"Nope, we'll be fine!" Fubuki said, smiling a smile that showed pure excitement. Fujiwara and Ryo both agreed in a more quiet manner.
Before Fubuki could snatch the room key from their principal's hand, Ryo quickly grabbed it, thanking the man before walking off, leaving Fubuki and Fujiwara to follow him. There was going to be no way Fubuki would get a hold of their key. He pondered on why Samejima even thought about giving the key to Fubuki, let alone the message he had given only Fubuki a week or two ago before they left on their trip. Either their principal was stupid, or somehow forgot how forgetful Fubuki could be. Maybe Samejima was the forgetful one instead...
Like the rest of the students, the trio were in their room, bags and coats lying all over the place. Fujiwara was trying to get all of the snow out of his hair, Ryo was taking out a few necessary things out of his bag, and Fubuki was... eating something.
Ryo looked up from his bag and gave a glance to Fubuki, "What are you eating?"
Fubuki popped a few more of whatever he was eating in his mouth and then held up a bag of candy.
"Where did you get it?" Ryo looked at Fubuki suspiciously as his brown-haired friend continued to eat.
"In the vending machine down the hall. These things are good!"
"How did you get the money?" Ryo asked, "We haven't gotten our yen exchanged to US dollars yet, we're supposed to do that tomorrow."
Fujiwara frowned as the conversation between Ryo and Fubuki continued.
"Weeeeell..." Fubuki grinned a little, "When you guys were busy looking around the place to find our room, I was looking at all the interesting things in the vending machine... Then this lady came up and ask if I needed help working it, but I told her I had no money..." Fubuki ate a few more candies, "Then she got some candy out of the machine and handed it to me and said, 'Have a good stay in America!' I guess she noticed I was a foreigner..." and Fubuki laughed a little.
Ryo just put his face in his palm and shook his head. "I can't believe you let a random lady get you some candy."
Fujiwara sighed.
"It's not like I asked for it! She just gave me some." Fubuki pouted and then a shocked look came over his face. "Maybe... maybe..... Maybe she thought I was a little kid!"
Ryo and Fujiwara began to laugh, as Fubuki looked like something very bad just happened to him. Which in his mind, some bad did happen.
"Well, I guess that'll teach you not to sit in front of a candy machine, drooling at the candy. I bet you did look like a little kid," Fujiwara said, smiling.
Fubuki sighed, and went back to eating the little bit of candy he had left.
Spending the rest of the night reading a book, studying a bit more English, or just laying on a bed, was not Fubuki's ideal night. Nothing even close to that was his ideal night. How could his friends settle with something so... so boring? Fubuki frowned and then glared at at his two friends, who were either reading or studying. He said it over in his head, This is America. How can you be so boring when you're in somewhere so... fun!? And he was convinced. Those two needed something better to do, and now.
Hopping up from his seat, Fubuki grabbed his coat, along with Fujiwara's and Ryo's. He threw the coats at the two boys, getting him a scream and an angry glare.
"Why the heck to you do that, Fubuki." Ryo more demanded the answer more then asked.
"We're going for a walk."
Fujiwara dropped his coat and looked up. "What?!"
"I said we're going for a walk! Just walk down the road, peek into the windows of some shops, just see what's around here. It'll be fun." Fubuki put his hands on his hips and grinned.
"We are not supposed to leave the hotel on our own, Fubuki." Ryo frowned. His friend couldn't really be serious, could he?
"I know, but it won't hurt anyone! We'll just step out side for a bit, and sneak back in!" Fubuki looked over to Fujiwara, and then ran over to the boy, pulling Fujiwara towards him by the arm, "You'll come with me, right Fujiwara? Riiiiight?"
Ryo hung his head. He was serious.
"Ah, Er..." Fujiwara looked from Ryo's slightly frowning face to Fubuki's pleading one, and then sighed, "Okay..."
"Yes!" Fubuki cheered in victory. "Now you have to come Ryo, so hurry up and put your coat on."
Ryo gave Fubuki one last frown before admitting defeat and pulling on his coat. When the three of them were deciding on something, if two of them agreed, the other had no choice but to go with it. And when Fubuki convinced Fujiwara to do something, they were kind of like an unstoppable team. It was no use to argue.
In a few minutes, the three were ready and began their mission to sneak out of the hotel. Luckily, no one was at the front desk because of the late time, and there were no other students were wandering the halls. Ryo sighed under his breath. At least the other students were listening to the rules. It was a little silly, the top students in the school were the ones breaking the rules.
Once they were out into the open streets, Fujiwara let out a huge breath. He then turned to Fubuki with a worried look on his face, "Let's never do this again, okay? I was convinced someone would catch us."
Fubuki smirked and waved his finger at Fujiwara. "No one can catch Fubuki Tenjoin!" he proudly declared aloud, in English.
Fujiwara blinked a few times at how loud Fubuki was being, and then looked around hoping no one had heard the boy, and that they didn't draw attention to themselves... which they did.
A pair of girls started to approach them, smiles on their faces. Fubuki and Ryo noticed, and weren't making any effort to avoid them. Just what Fujiwara didn't want... Having to talk to someone in English.
"Hello! Are you three foreigners?" One of the two asked. She was around their age, maybe a year or two older, and was covered in a long fancy winter coat.
"Yes!" Fubuki said, as if speaking English was nothing to him. "My name is Fubuki Tenjoin. Very nice to meet you!" He smiled.
If Fujiwara didn't know better, he would of thought Fubuki was American. He did have an accent but other then that his speech seemed flawless.
"And I am Ryo Marufuji. It's nice to meet you." Ryo just nodded.
Fujiwara gulped and looked between his friends and the two girls. It was his turn to talk, wasn't it.
"I-I am Yusuke Fujiwara... N-nice to meet you." Fujiwara felt like hiding himself, or running back into the hotel. Why did he have to stutter so much!
The girls giggled. Fujiwara was convinced that they were laughing at him. In reality, the two girls actually found the three boys cute. They talked a little while more, before the girls said they had to go, and went on their way. Fujiwara had never been so happy to see someone leave before.
I never... want to speak... in English... again, Fujiwara thought to himself, feeling totally embarrassed when he really shouldn't be. He just silently prayed the rest of the trip would go okay.
With snow still steadily falling above and people wandering about, Fubuki dragged Ryo and Fujiwara around to shops, just peaking in the windows and looking around. They didn't stay out too long, it was getting later by the second, not to mention their toes and finger were getting red, along with their ears and noes. But as they were heading home, Fujiwara tripped and fell. Right on his back.
Clutching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, Fujiwara fell right into the snow, which thankfully took some of his fall.
"Fujiwara!? Are you alright?" Fujiwara's eyes flickered over to Fubuki's face, not even for a second, before returning to the sky.
The snowflakes fell softly, melting the moment they touched his face. It didn't feel cold, if felt almost magical. Even if the city lights were bright, he could still see the stars. And only for that one moment, he didn't care if he wasn't good at English, or if he couldn't stand out as much as Fubuki or Ryo. He was just really happy he was with his two best friends. Times like this, when they were just goofing off, were the best.
Fubuki poked Fujiwara's face, and Ryo called his name again. Fujiwara took in a deep breath and then sat up quickly.
"COLD!" He screamed. He stood up and started to shake his head and dust himself off, trying to rid himself of all the snow that was on him.
Fubuki and Ryo just stared in silence for a moment and then laughed.
"And It took you five minutes to figure that out?" Fubuki started to clutch his sides from laughing so hard, and Fujiwara joined in too.
For sure, at that time, Fujiwara was sure that times like that were the best, and he hoped that nothing would ever change.