Title: Challenges of School
Characters: Shun, Kaito, Yuuto, Ruri||Pairing: N/A
Word Count: 500||chapters: 1/1
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Challenge: Arc-V Flash Bingo, #027, best of three; Diversity Writing, A72, write a fluffy piece; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #9, 500 words
Summary: Before the war. Before the pain. Before dueling was death and worse than death. There was just school. And fun.
Joyful screams and supportive shouts for both sides filled the school stadium. The final victory-bringing blast blotted out the two duelists for a few seconds. When it cleared, both Tenjo Kaito and Kurosaki Shun stood, but the winner couldn't be denied. Yet again, dragons overcame metallic birds of prey.
Neither duelist gave away their thoughts via their expressions, most of the time. But at the moment, tiny smiles adorned both faces, as could be frequently seen after their irregular duels.
"You're getting better," Kaito approved, tucking away his deck and moving over toward Shun, his hand held out. Shun took it without hesitation, just the faintest hint of annoyance hovering in his eyes – mostly because he didn't like to lose, even to Kaito.
"So are you," he said, returning the compliment. It wasn't untrue; Kaito began his school career extremely skilled and Shun saw him improve with each duel.
Yuuto and Ruri moved up closer, Ruri's eyes dancing with family pride.
"I really thought you had him with that last one, big brother!" she declared as soon as she'd entered speaking distance. "You'll do it next time!"
Yuuto nodded, gaze flicking over to Kaito himself. "Whenever you have a chance, I'd like to duel you as well."
"I'll let you know when." Kaito agreed without hesitation. He didn't make friends easily, or so the rumors about him ran, but these three came as close as anyone in their school hoped to, or so those rumors told Shun. He usually dueled Shun when their schools visited one another – or challenged one another – because Shun had a tendency to come out on top whenever he and Yuuto dueled to see who would duel him.
Yuuto's eyes flicked over to where their respective principals looked ready to give the final speech before everyone visiting packed up and headed off to home. These visits weren't ever long enough for anyone's taste. "I wish we had time now."
"So do I!" Ruri chirped, giving Kaito a challenging glance of her own. "I wouldn't mind dueling you myself!"
Kaito didn't smile but the corners of his mouth turned up a bit more. "Chris and I might be coming to this side of the city over the summer. He has some business to take care of. We'll be here a while. At least a month or two."
A month or two where they could duel one another for as long as they liked, whenever they liked. Shun couldn't imagine anything being better than that, except for going over to Kaito's side of the city and finding new duelists over there.
Such as this Chris. That had to be Chris Arclight; everyone knew that he'd taught Kaito in the very beginning.
"Boys?"
Sadly, the time to chat was over with. The principals gestured at Kaito and Shun, who headed over that way. Shun glanced at Kaito as they did.
"Tonight, the online dueling system?" A challenge gleamed bright between them. "Best out of three wins?"
"I'll be there."
The End
Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.