The urge to post this came at the most random time so I'm sorry if the title sucks. The other ones I thought of her were cheesy as h*ll so I had to settle for the current one. I actually like the summary this time, though. Anyways, I hope everyone enjoys the story.
"Good morning, Rio-san!"
Rio, who had been walking alongside her older brother and the rest of the former Barian Emperors, turned her head at the sound of her name, her heart suddenly twisting upon her eyes meeting Tetsuo's.
"We should duel sometime, Rio-san," Tetsuo had said with a smile. The whole misunderstanding about Rio and Yuma dating had just been cleared up that day.
The younger Kamishiro twin returned the smile. "A duel sounds great. I'm really looking forward to it."
Enjoyment was the last thing she had gotten out of her first ever duel with Tetsuo.
"You'll always be Rio-san to me."
The lump that had wedged itself in her throat upon hearing those words must've been the biggest one she had ever felt. Crying right then and there had been so tempting but Rio somehow kept it together, swallowing the lump before preparing herself to dismiss her human identity. If her Barian form had a mouth, she was sure it would be parted slightly as words struggled to come out of it.
With practiced coldness, she said, "I was never Rio, Tetsuo-kun. I've always been Merag."
Rio cursed him for not backing down, his conviction remaining irritatingly steadfast. The temptation to correct her friend-turned-enemy every time he referred to her as "Rio" was strong but Rio kept quiet about it, truly fearing she would break down if her attempt to correct the human duelist prompted him to give another speech on how she was still the same. She couldn't stop her heart from pricking and her eyes from stinging every time she sent her monsters out to deal him a painful blow. Tetsuo's unconscious, heavily bruised body exploding into red particles was somewhat of a relief to Rio. Not because she was glad her former friend was dead but because she could finally let the tears she had been keeping at bay fall.
"This wasn't the duel I asked for," Rio whimpered, wrapping her hands around her trembling body.
"Rio-san?"
Rio's recollection of the painful memory came to an end as her mind was brought back to reality. She was no longer flanked by Ryoga and Durbe, Tetsuo now the only one in her presence. The concerned look he was giving her reminded the girl that she needed to do something other than gape at him.
"G-Good morning, Tetsuo-kun." Dammit, even after a week she was still struggling to keep her voice steady and confident around him. She forced a smile onto her face, hoping its insincerity would go unnoticed by her younger classmate.
Tetsuo's frowning lips were quick to form into a cheerful smile. "Morning! Are you okay with me walkin' you to class?"
The war was over so why was she still dwelling on the past? Why did she still feel so guilty? Tetsuo obviously harbored no ill will toward her so letting go of the past should've been easier. "Of course."
Listening to Tetsuo talk about Yuma's latest victory against him wasn't a cakewalk. Her mind would go adrift at the most unexpected moments, the female duelist constantly having to pull herself back into reality, only to find that her first year friend had switched conversation topics. She was grateful for Tetsuo choosing not to question her on her unusual silence. Rio prided herself on being the better conversationalist compared to her brother, socialization never being a tricky area for her. Lately, though, socializing was the last thing she wanted to do, which frustrated her beyond belief. Kotori was beginning to notice with the kindhearted girl giving her concerned looks when she thought Rio wasn't looking. Ugh, and Ryoga had voiced his observation of her behavior in his typical, crude fashion.
"What's up with you?" Ryoga had said with a frown and downturned eyebrows. "Did your nonexistent boyfriend dump you or something?"
Rio rolled her eyes at the memory, her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. She chose to be the bigger person that day and just walk away, something she somewhat regretted doing. Chewing his ear off would've been the better option. Dammit, she spaced out again. Rio quickly reopened her ears to what Tetsuo was saying, scrambling to figure out what he was talking about in case he included her in the one sided conversation. Lady Luck must've picked today to have pity on her, though, because it was at that moment that they both arrived at her classroom.
Internally breathing a sigh of relief, Rio turned to give Tetsuo what she hoped was a sincere, polite smile. "Thank you for walking me to class, Tetsuo-kun."
"Sure thing, Rio-san," Tetsuo smiled. "See you at lunch." He bid her farewell with a friendly wave before departing to his own classroom.
Sighing, Rio entered her classroom, throwing the best smiles she could muster up toward some friendly acquaintances of her. She sat down in her usual seat next to Ryoga, the purple haired second year turning away from his conversation with Girag to glance at her. From the corner of her eye, she could see his eyebrows scrunch down in annoyance and his lips begin to curve downwards. The displeased look was short lived, however, as the older Kamishiro twin suddenly smirked.
"Did you have fun talking with my future brother-in-law?" Shark teased, his smirk growing wider.
Rio frowned, her mind tapping into the memory of her brother telling her how Tetsuo calling him "brother-in-law" was really getting on his nerves. After being told that, it wasn't hard for Rio to piece together the puzzle of the younger duelist having a crush on her. Why she hadn't noticed his feelings for her until that moment was beyond her, seeing as she thought herself to be a pretty observant person. Rio didn't let his affections for her affect their relationship, though, still enjoying his company, despite her feelings for him not extending beyond the boundaries of friendship.
"Haha," Rio said in a sarcastic, monotone voice.
Ryoga's smirk was quick to leave his face and be replaced by a frown. Why wasn't she taking his bait? Rio always took his bait. "Seriously, Rio, what's eating you?"
"Good morning, class!"
Ryoga growled at his teacher for choosing now of all times to show up. He glanced at his quiet sister one last time before focusing on the ponytailed man at the front of the classroom.
Their rooftop lunch group, as Rio had dubbed them, had gotten considerably larger since her former Barian allies, Mihael, and Anna had enrolled into Heartland Academy, not that she minded. The more people added to their group made lunch all the more fun and louder. Too bad she was still finding it hard to enjoy herself. Rio turned her head when Kotori made a move to talk to her, sweet and friendly as ever. The duelist did her best to listen to her but the longer she stared at her smiling face, the more her mind wandered to the fact that the war her and the former Barian Emperors waged on the younger girl and her friends must've caused her so much pain. Tetsuo was Kotori's childhood friend and she had killed him. What if the Numeron Code had fallen into Don Thousand's hands and Tetsuo had remained dead? What if Kotori had personally taken a stand against her? Would she have had it in her to kill the sweet tempered girl like she did Tetsuo?
"Rio-san?"
Rio blinked, finally looking at Kotori rather than through her like she was only moments ago when she was caught up in her thoughts again. The second year student could now take in the green haired girl's scrunched eyebrows, parted lips, and the hand hovering above her chin. Rio could feel the guilt already overwhelming her double in size at constantly worrying the younger girl.
"Oh, sorry about that, Kotori-san." It was a struggle to get a smile to form on her lips but she did it. Though Kotori brushed her apology aside with a kind smile, the concern still had yet to leave her eyes.
Rio was the first one out the door the minute the bell signaling the end of the school day sounded. Thankfully, she didn't have her last class of the day with Ryoga so she didn't have to deal with him continuously pestering her about what was troubling her like he had been doing all day. Ryoga was finally happy. He had been through so much from dealing with their parents dying, having his career as a duelist tainted, getting by alone while she recovered in the hospital, and so much more. Now not only did he have friends but their parents back as well. He was so happy. She was having trouble moving on, not him. If Ryoga could be strong enough to get through everything alone, then so could she.
Sneaking past Ryoga and the rest of her housemates as they waited outside for what she presumed was herself was a miracle in itself but hey, she had done it. Her next destination was a coffee shop she liked visiting.
Kaito, whose eyes had been closed for what he guessed was about ten minutes, finally allowed his eyelids to open, craning his head to the left slightly as he stared out the window, hoping it would pass the time. A cold, half full cup of coffee was placed near the edge of the table, having gone untouched for the same time Kaito had his eyes closed. Kaito's slate gray eyes shifted over to the entrance as the bell that signaled the arrival of a customer rang. He was surprised to see that the customer was Rio Kamishiro but the surprise wasted no time in fading away, the older boy returning his attention to the window. The former Numbers hunter couldn't help noticing from the corner of his eye that the girl had her head down as she walked by him, most likely not even noticing him sitting in the booth. Rio was merely an acquaintance to Kaito but he had been in her company long enough to know that, much like her brother, confidence was in her nature. The younger Kamishiro sibling hadn't exactly been radiating her usual confidence when she passed by his booth.
The duelist was curious but not enough to reach out to someone he barely knew. She was a strong girl so whatever was troubling her shouldn't take long for her to work out. But perhaps Kaito gave her too much credit because what started out as a single sigh turned into multiple sighs that came at the most unpredictable times. Kaito was foolish enough to keep believing he would finally have some peace and quiet when Rio shattered that fantasy with another one of her sighs. He could handle this. Haruto got out of school in forty five minutes. He could survive this. It was at the four minute mark when Rio sighed for the umpteenth time that Kaito finally gave in and broke the silence between them.
"So is sulking a Kamishiro thing now, instead of a Shark thing?" There was a brief silence on Rio's end at the comment before she finally spoke up from the booth that was connected to his own.
"Oh, Kaito-kun. Sorry."
They must've been sitting back to back because Kaito heard her clearly. He sighed, wondering if he was gonna regret this later on. "What's wrong?" There was a veil of silence between the two again.
"It's nothing."
Well, he tried. He let the younger girl be, hoping that not another sigh would leave her body now that he had pointed it out. It turns out there was something even more annoying than constant sighing. About five minutes had to have passed when the sound of something moving against rubber met Kaito's ears. The material they sat on in the booths were made of rubber and tended to make a lot of noise when moved on a lot. Kaito ignored the noise at first but when it kept coming back before dying down again in a repetitive cycle, his patience thinned into nonexistence.
"Are we really gonna have to go through this again? First you keep sighing and now you won't sit still."
"Geez, I'm sorry," Rio mumbled.
"I actually want to try enjoying the quiet before I go pick Haruto up from school so how about you do us both a favor and tell me what's bugging you."
Ah, so that's why he was here… Oh shoot, today's her day to pick up Iris! She frantically rummaged through her school bag before pulling out her D-Gazer and checking the time. Rio breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that she had thirty five more minutes before Iris was let out of school for the day. Placing her D-Gazer on the table, Rio finally remembered that she had been addressed by the boy sitting in the booth adjacent to her own.
"Why are you even talking to me? You of all people can't have seriously forgotten what we've done." Dammit, she didn't mean to let that last part slip out. Great, now he'd ask her even more unwanted questions. Just what she needed. It was quiet between them with Kaito probably taking a minute to process what she had just said. She didn't have long to enjoy the silence, though.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing!" Rio snapped, fiddling with her D-Gazer. "Just forget I said anything." She thought the next bout of silence between them was a sign that he had given up on pressing her for answers. Turns out Lady Luck was done pitying her for the day.
"Is this about the war?" Kaito inquired.
Rio stubbornly refused to say anything.
'Ah, so she's feeling guilty,' Kaito thought. "The war's over. And no one blames you for choosing to side with the Barians."
Rio's grip around her D-Gazer tightened, creases beginning to form on her forehead as her eyebrows shifted downwards. "Easy for you to say. You didn't have to kill your own friend. Or betray your friends for that matter!"
Kaito carefully thought about what he'd say next. She was already getting worked up so he needed to say something to calm her down. …Or maybe her getting worked up was a good thing. Rio needed to let everything she had been keeping pent up out. "I haven't done things I'm proud of either. To cure Haruto, I stole other people's souls. I knew destroying people's lives for the sake of one person was wrong but I felt I had no choice. Haruto meant everything to me and I couldn't lose him."
That's right, Kaito had stolen souls at one point. How could she have forgotten? After all, Ryoga's soul had been stolen by him, too but luckily it had been given back to him. If there's one thing Rio respected about Kaito, it was his devotion to his younger brother.
Kaito took her continuing silence as an opportunity to speak again. "You seem like a pretty independent person so why join the Barians in the first place?"
Rio's eyes fogged over in sadness at the memories of her and her older brother's past life.
"I…stole it all from you," Nasch had said with a trembling voice, tears streaming down his bruised face. The tears multiplied in number as Nasch stared hollowly into space, the deathly cold body of Iris in his arms. In a voice wracked with sorrow, Nasch cried, "The lives of my soldiers, my comrades, and my friends!" The king lowered his head until the tip of his nose brushed Iris's cold cheek before throwing his head back and letting out a broken cry.
As Rio brought her mind back to the present, she realized tears were streaking down her face. She had been there with Durbe to witness everything Ryoga's past life had been through. "What kind of sister would I have been if I left him to deal with being a Barian Emperor alone?"
Kaito realized she was crying a second before the girl sniffled to confirm it. Comfort wasn't a very easy area for him. Consoling was more Haruto's forte.
'Great, now he thinks I'm a sissy,' Rio thought with a bitter laugh, wiping the tears away. Well, at least she hadn't cried in front of Ryoga. Besides, Kaito looked like he was pretty good at keeping secrets. "It's not like I wanted to betray everyone. It's just…Ryoga needed me more. But in the end, Ryoga, the Barian Emperors, and I were all just Don Thousand's pawns."
"Exactly, so stop blaming yourself," Kaito said bluntly.
"How can you be so forgiving? It's because of us that your brother had to watch you die!" What she had just said wasn't something she had discovered on her own, but from Mizael.
She had been having trouble sleeping one night and had gone downstairs for a mug of hot milk when she came across Mizael in the kitchen. Rio hadn't said anything to him upon arriving in the kitchen, simply going about pouring milk in her favorite mug before putting it in the microwave. She sipped on her milk for a few minutes before deciding she'd give asking what had brought Mizael down here a try, not at all expecting positive results.
"Nightmare," was Mizael's one worded response after Rio's inquiry.
Rio blinked, surprised that the dragon master was actually being open for a change. "Oh? What about?"
The blonde kept his troubled gaze on his clasped hands. "Kaito and I were dueling on the moon. I lost and Kaito died and Haruto saw everything just like what actually happened. The next thing I knew, I was in front of Haruto and he was crying and screaming about how I was the reason his brother was dead and how he hated me."
Rio felt more tears rimming the edge of her eyes, her bottom lip trembling. A child saw his brother die because of them. Rio didn't even know how Haruto could smile at her so warmly at the party Yuma threw at his house.
Kaito sighed. "Look, I'm back now. Everyone who died is back now."
"Yeah, so that automatically makes everything okay," Rio spat sarcastically.
He really should've kept his mouth shut. This is what happens when he decides to be more like Haruto and actually talk to other people. "Even though I knew I was leaving Haruto behind, I actually didn't mind dying. I thought I deserved it after all the lives I ruined. I looked at it as penance for my sins. But I was revived and I've started looking at my revival as a clean slate. Sure, I still remember everything I did but looking at my revival that way helps with the guilt." He paused to let all that he had just said sink in. He really couldn't believe himself today. Haruto would be proud if he were here right now.
So he was harboring some guilt of his own. She didn't think she'd have it in her to rob innocent people of their souls but then again, Rio thought she didn't have it in her to kill anyone and look at her now. It seemed family pushed them into doing pretty awful things.
Kaito figured the girl had had long enough to take his message in and so continued. "Think of it this way. You died a Barian but was brought back a human. All of the Barians were. Everything you did was when you were a Barian but that's not who you are anymore. You were reborn a human, so you're a new person now." Kaito wasn't sure that would help but hey, at least he gave it his best shot.
"I'm a new person now," Rio whispered under her breath, unsure about those words. Rio jerked at the sound of rubber loudly reacting to the movement behind her. She turned her body to see that Kaito had gotten up from his spot near the edge of the booth.
"It's time for me to go pick up Haruto."
Rio momentarily watched him make his way to the exit before following his lead. It was when they had hardly put any distance between themselves and the coffee shop that Kaito glanced over his shoulder to give the girl tailing him a raised eyebrow.
"I have to go pick up Iris." That was all it took for the older duelist to face his head forward again. Rio chose to continue keeping a few paces behind him, instead of flanking his right side. Rio and Kaito waited in the shade of a tree for children to begin flooding out the double doors of the elementary school, no words passing between them. Finally the doors were flung open and out came animatedly chattering kids. Rio's pink eyes scanned the mass for a head of green hair styled to match her own.
"Nii-san!"
The former co-head of the Barian World turned her head to find a grinning Haruto running their way while pulling along Iris.
"Hi, Rio!" Haruto greeted with a bright smile.
It took a lot out of Rio to smile down at the boy. "Hi, Haruto."
Haruto's smile waned as he took in Rio's disconcerted expression.
Kaito took his eyes away from Rio before interrupting whatever his younger brother was about to say. "You ready to go, Haruto?"
Haruto glanced at Kaito, his smile regaining its full brilliance. "Yup!" The younger of the Tenjo siblings ran over to Kaito's side before taking his hand in his own.
Iris went to Rio's side to take her hand. The green haired girl glanced up the second year student, worry shining in her blue eyes. She decided not to say anything about it, though, not wanting to accidentally sadden Rio further. Iris squeezed the older girl's hand, smiling when she squeezed back as if in appreciation.
The quartet made their way off the elementary school grounds before they stopped to prepare to separate for the day. Kaito would've preferred heading back home without bidding the two girls a farewell but Haruto wasn't having any of that.
With a smile on equal standing with the sun, Haruto chirped, "Bye, Iris! Bye, Rio!"
"Bye, Haruto!" Iris sweetly returned. Confusion crept up on the little girl when she wasn't pulled away into the opposite direction by Rio like Haruto was by Kaito.
"Kaito!"
Kaito had been grumbling to himself about how he shouldn't have given Orbital the week off when he heard his name being called. He turned back to stare patiently at Rio.
Though the smile curving at Rio's lips was small, the fact that it was the most sincere one she had given all day was all that mattered. "Thanks."
If Rio had waited perhaps a few seconds longer to turn around, she probably would've gotten to see the corners of Kaito's turn up slightly. The former Numbers hunter watched the slender duelist depart further down the sidewalk a little while longer before turning away with Haruto.
Haruto stared up at his older brother, puzzled at the brief exchange he had just witnessed between Kaito and Rio. And did Kaito just smile at someone other than him? "Nii-san, what was that all about? And how come Rio looked so sad? Is she gonna be okay?"
Kaito chuckled at all the questions being thrown at him before lifting Haruto up by his armpits and placing him with ease on his shoulders. "She will be." Kaito heard the younger boy hum in response. "You wanna go grab some ice cream before we head home?"
"Sure!"
Something prompted Rio into asking Iris how her day went on the way home, with the same mysterious something also prompting her into actually keeping the conversation going by talking and laughing along with Iris. Rio didn't know if her lifted mood was a permanent thing and honestly didn't care. She was gonna be okay and that was all that mattered.