Story Title: Runaway
Characters: Yuuri, Shun, Asuka||Pairing: N/A
Chapter Word Count: 2,558||Story Word Count: 2,558||Chapter Count: 1/8
Genre: Drama, Friendship||Rated: PG
Challenge: Diversity Writing Challenge J4, 7-15 chapters; Advent 2015, day #1, write about time getting away from someone; Easter Egg Basket Advent 2016, day #12, pair up 2 characters not seen together in the franchise & give them a common task (Asuka & Shun); Chapter Set Boot Camp, #9, 8 chapters; Endurance Challenge (updated once a week)
Notes: For the purposes of this story: the Fusion invasion into XYZ took place roughly six months earlier. Asuka hasn't yet defected from Academia, but is deeply troubled about what it's doing. Some of the high-ranking Academia warriors have been given the right to take one captive each instead of carding them. Yuuri took advantage of that right after capturing Ruri.
Summary: Yuuri's favorite pet has run away and he's looking to bring Shun back. Shun, meanwhile, is lost in a place with no friends, tentative allies that may or may not be able to help him, no deck, and no way home.

They appeared all over Academia, hung up on columns and trees, with extra notices being put out on the inter-school communications system. Most people took a look at it, checked their immediate area, and then quietly found other things to do with their time. A few even dared to mentally wish the focus of the notices the best of luck. They wouldn't have dared to say it out loud, of course. Not with Yuuri involved.

Yuuri carefully taped another flier onto one of the columns and stepped back to make sure it wasn't going to blow away on an errant wind. Everything looked fine as it was.

The flier itself was a marvel of work, even if he did say so himself. He'd picked a rather good set of pictures of his pet to put there, gathered from the weeks of video surveillance footage from his personal quarters.

He'd never been bothered by the idea of being surveyed there. He didn't do anything that the Professor would disapprove of, and if he wanted privacy, he knew how to get it.

But here was the image: several images of Kurosaki Shun, full-length and head shots, with that annoying expression of defiance that he would probably be wearing now that he though he'd escaped. Underneath Yuuri detailed out the important information.

I am looking for my missing pet, who ran away after curfew last night. Do not approach; he can be very vicious and considers all of Academia his enemy. If sighted, alert me at once with his location, without him being aware that he's been seen.

Kurosaki could be very wily when he put his mind to it, and if he had any idea how close Yuuri could be to him, then he would run away again.

I put too much effort into training him for him to do this to me. I thought he'd learned his place.

Well, clearly he would have to put more effort into teaching Kurosaki how a proper pet behaved around their master. He'd been generous enough to spare the former resistance member in the first place, and this was how he was repaid?

Yuuri calmed himself and checked out the rest of the flier, wanting to make certain once more that he'd provided the proper information.

He may search for a way to another world. Those who have dimensional transport access should especially be on their guard. Again, alert me if he is seen. Anyone who returns my property to me will be rewarded. Anyone who attempts to hide him from me will be carded.

Yuuri nodded to himself. Yes, this would do the job. He didn't need to sign it; everyone in Academia knew that he'd taken advantage of his privileges and claimed a slave from their invasion of XYZ. Part of Kurosaki's training involved being around Fusion duelists and not trying to grab for their throats.

They were still working on that part. Yuuri didn't especially care if he killed some of the others or not, but he much preferred it if Kurosaki did so at his command instead of random attacks.

From the moment that he'd first seen Kurosaki Shun fighting against Obelisk Force and very handily shredding their life points down to nothing, Yuuri wanted him. Dueling him would be magnificent, of course, and would be one more step on Yuuri's ultimate goal to be the strongest duelist who ever existed.

Carding him would have been a waste of potential. It would happen one day; Yuuri wouldn't be surprised at all. If it didn't, that would only be because he chose otherwise, because he had better uses for Kurosaki than being a piece of cardboard.

Finding out that Kurosaki was friends with his XYZ counterpart and brother to that girl that he'd captured for the Professor just put another couple of pieces on the scale for doing something worse than carding him.

So he'd taken what he wanted.

And now Kurosaki thought he could get away. Yuuri wouldn't allow that. Nearly four months of training would not be thrown away like that.

I'll have someone watch out around where his sister is kept. He'll probably try to go there. It was one place, at least, to check into. He didn't doubt that Kurosaki would be there sooner or later. The question remained on how long he would take to head that way.

Satisfied for the moment – he wouldn't be absolutely satisfied until he had his pet back where he belonged – he headed down the corridor, stopping every now and then to put up another flier. The whole time he kept his ears open, even if it looked as if he didn't.

If he were Kurosaki, he'd shadow his captor as much as possible, on the assumption that would be the last place anyone would think to look for him. Not to mention that he would also seek for a way to make whoever dared to take him captive pay for it in the most humiliating ways he could think of.

He didn't hear anything as much as a quiet footfall, but he did hear some of the others around him whispering about his fliers.

"I didn't think anyone could escape Yuuri-sama."

"Neither did I. I kind of hope I don't see him. If he can get away from Yuuri-sama...and you know what he was like before Yuuri-sama captured him anyway." The tones spoken in were a mixture of personal concern and fear. Kurosaki did have something of a reputation, given how many of Academia's soldiers he'd defeated before Yuuri brought him down.

Now Yuuri smiled to himself. He suspected there were those in Academia's ranks who didn't entirely approve of the invasion into XYZ and this would ensure that anyone who might have thought about giving Kurosaki any kind of help wouldn't do so.

And that's all his own fault. If he hadn't been so eager to get rid of all of us, he might've found an ally or two here. He could even make his way back home.

Of course, Yuuri would take him back if he did anyway. Yuuri didn't give up what was his under any circumstances. But if Kurosaki did find his way back to his own world, then Yuuri reaching out his hand to pluck him back would go a long way towards putting the finishing touches on his pet's training.

No one escaped Yuuri. Not ever.

Asuka took one of the fliers down. She wasn't the only one; a lot of people wanted to look at them more closely, even though the same information had been put up in digital form. She suspected the whole 'please help find my missing pet' fliers thing was just one of Yuuri's sick games.

He played those too much, and she wasn't going to let him come out on top on this one if she had the chance.

She read it over as she walked down the corridor. Again, she wasn't the only one.

Right now, blending in was her main goal. If she did anything too much out of step, it could get the kind of attention she didn't want.

Nor would her unexpected guest want it.

The more she looked at the pictures on the flier and the more she thought about who awaited her in her room, the more she wanted to go find Yuuri and do something painful to him. How could someone presumably human do that to another human being?

The pictures reflected the image of someone who'd been fed well and housed in comfortable surroundings. They also displayed a leather collar around the young man's neck, with a flowery design burned into the leather. Some of them also showed his arms, also bound by leather cuffs with that same design there.

Yuuri's design. Yuuri's mark of ownership.

There were traces of lost sleep under Kurosaki's Shun's eyes in the pictures, and hints of strain that told far more than any words ever would have about what he'd suffered during his months with Yuuri.

He hadn't told her much. She didn't doubt at all that he would prefer not to think about what happened.

I have to get him back to the XYZ dimension. She knew doing so would make her turning against Academia and the Professor an absolute, but try as she might, she couldn't see any other action that she could take.

Turning people into cards is bad enough, no matter what the Professor says. Rumor had it that he had an ulterior motive, something far beyond just taking over the four dimensions for the glory of their own. No one could guess on what it was, though theories and wild ideas ran wild.

Asuka didn't care, not anymore. She'd imagined a battle of good against evil when the first hints of what would happen came to her, a clash of those who didn't know better against the all-wise Academia.

It wasn't like that. Not at all.

She glanced from one side to the other before turning toward the corridors that led to her personal quarters. As one of the highest ranking of Academia's students, only a breath or two away from graduation herself, she had a private set of rooms, which came in very handy right now.

Asuka still didn't make any moves that would get attention as she headed there. Why should she worry over attention? She wasn't doing anything wrong. She was just going to her room after a long day of classes and dueling. She would probably just order in dinner. It wouldn't be the first time she'd done so.

Meals provided here were more than enough for two people at any given time anyway. Warriors had to be fed properly, or so their teachers kept telling them.

Her door was locked, just as she'd left it, and once she entered, she locked it again. She liked her privacy, Asuka did.

As soon as the door locked, she slipped a card from a hidden spot into a slot equally as hidden and waited until a small blue light lit up, where only she could see it from where she stood. Then she stepped forward.

"I'm back."

There wasn't any reply. She didn't expect there to be. Instead, she moved over to the center of the room where her favorite comfortable chair awaited her, and settled into it, tossing the flier down on the glass-covered table in front of her.

"He's putting those up all over, and he's made an announcement on the school dashboard. There's probably not that many students or teachers who won't know that you escaped him."

Still no reply, but a young man's hand picked up the flier, and Kurosaki Shun read it over, his lip curling before he finally spoke.

"Do you know how to get me out of here yet?"

Asuka considered before she answered. "I'm still certain I'm right. We'd need one of the duel disks that have dimensional access, and those all belong to the invasion force. I'm sure Yuuri has one too."

Shun's lips thinned. "He does. I've seen it."

And he hadn't been in a position to take it when he had. Probably he'd done so when he'd first been captured. Asuka didn't press in that direction.

"I think I know someone who can help, though," she mused. One of her friends hadn't quite been the same since going to the XYZ dimension. If Asuka's thoughts on why were close to the truth…

She could feel Shun's sharp gaze on her and looked up toward him. "I won't talk to her here." If she turned out to be wrong, she didn't want to put Shun at risk. And if she were right, then they could come back here afterward.

The XYZ duelist only nodded, his gaze returning to the flier before he roughly tore it to pieces. Lamplight caught on the collar still fastened around his neck as he did.

I wish I could get that off of him. Like in so many things, Yuuri planned for even the potential removal of what branded Shun as his. Taking it off was far riskier than leaving it on right now.

Once they were in XYZ, then they could remove it. But not until then.

Picking her PDA up, she tapped out a quick message requesting dinner before she sent another message to her friend, asking if they could talk tomorrow.

With the way Yuuri's looking, better to get him out of here as soon as possible.

Shun didn't sit and relax. He hadn't relaxed while anyone else was around – and probably not when they weren't – since they'd crossed paths. Maybe not even before then. Yuuri wasn't someone whose presence encouraged relaxation.

His hungry gaze passed over her duel disk, though if he thirsted for battle or revenge she couldn't tell. Or perhaps he just missed his deck. She couldn't imagine going so long without her own.

"Do you know where yours is?" she asked, flicking the tips of her fingers toward where hers rested.

"With him." Shun bit out the words as if tearing them from Yuuri's living flesh. "I want it back."

Of course he did. She didn't know if she could get it for him. Everyone knew the rule: anyone found in Yuuri's quarters without his permission would be subject to carding, if they were lucky.

As many rumors ran rampant about what would happen if they weren't lucky as did about what the Professor's purposes for the war were, if not more so. What people knew was that he had a garden in there. He'd made no secret of his love of plants, mirrored in his nightmare-inducing deck. What no one could agree on was what the garden was actually like.

I wonder if he's seen it. That was something else she wouldn't ask Shun. No matter how much the questions burned, she wasn't going to ask about what that time was like. It was over and done with, if she had anything to say about it, and she'd let the memories fade.

Her PDA beeped and she checked, finding a reply from her friend. A smile flicked at the corners of her mouth.

"I'll meet her tomorrow. If she's willing to help, then we can probably get you back to your dimension tomorrow."

"Not without my deck." Kurosaki Shun refused to back down on that, his eyes burning raptor's gold.

"All right. We'll get it back." The threats were directed only at the people who were caught in Yuuri's quarters without his permission. They wouldn't get caught if they could help it. Even being caught didn't mean they'd drop down dead or worse at that moment. She would have her deck with her. She could and would fight for herself and Shun.

I've always wanted to duel him anyway. Even before she'd realized how twisted of a person Yuuri was, he'd caught her attention from his own win-loss record. Most of his losses occurred during his early days at school. She didn't think any of them had happened recently.

Even if she lost, she might have a chance to get Shun out of there anyway. She'd only be carded, but his fate if recaptured would be so much worse.

She would do her best not to let it happen. Tomorrow would settle so much.

To Be Continued

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.