Not in a Day

Summary: Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is a friendship. From an intruder to an acquaintance to a friend, this is how the odd friendship of Yuuri and Dennis was made, starting with a broken door and a bruised neck.

{~~~}

The Ra Yellow Dorms were a definite upgrade from the Slifer Shanties that Dennis had unfortunately called 'home' for the past year and a half. Sure it had been his dad's old dorm but any traces of the past students had been swept away during the Academia's 'reconstruction'. The only thing that remained the same was the classism and quality gap between dorms.

It had been a hard and laborious six months, cramming for advancement exams and getting on the good sides of the teachers while on the bad sides of his fellow students, but it had all been worth it.

He actually had a room all to himself, twice the size of his old space with none of the snoring roommates.

Then there was a crash at the door.

Dennis barely had the chance to look up when he was slammed up against the wall with a hand around his neck.

"Who are you?" The intruder questioned in an oddly polite tone. "More importantly though, why are you in this room?"

Dennis hesitated. Toxic purple eyes glared and the grip around his throat tightened.

"D-De-Den-ns Mc-fld." He choked. How was he supposed to give a proper answer when his captor was cutting off his air supply? "Th-this…my…nw…room-"

The hand abruptly released him. Dennis crumpled onto the ground, gasping for air. Was this the new 'dangers and challenges' the counselors had warned him about? Maybe he should have stayed under those rotting roofs and creaking beds, at least there weren't any random intruders and steel hold grips.

The intruder had already turned his (her? Their? Dennis' vision was too splotching to tell) back to him and was dusting off his hands.

"My apologies. I was not aware that this place was now…occupied." The intruder said. "I will take my leave and have your door replaced."

When Dennis had gotten back on his feet, the intruder was long gone. The newly promoted student was once again alone in his new room...

…now with a crooked door and broken lock.

{~~~}

His door had been replaced by the time he had returned from class the next day and there had been no more invasions since.

Dennis would have thought the incident was some sort of hazing set up by the senior yellows if he hadn't found the intruder snoozing on his doorstep several weeks later.

Unwilling to find himself in another steep grip, Dennis tried to sneak around the sleeping figure but found himself once again facing deadly purple.

Purple Eyes (because Dennis had no idea what his/her/their name was and he/she/they couldn't be called an intruder when he/she/they weren't intruding on anything) snapped awake and hoisted up like a soldier called to attention.

"Once again, I apologize." Purple Eyes stated. "We should never meet again Dens Mcfled."

And Purple Eyes marched away before Dennis could correct his name or even learn the other's.

Or tell him he left a sock behind.

{~~~}

Contrary to Purple Eyes parting words, Dennis did meet him again but this time it was him who was intruding.

It was on the way to class, a simple somersault over an old oak as he did every day, his hands slipped on something hidden among the braches. Losing his balance, the wannabe acrobat tumbled through the shrubbery and down a surprising steep hill. Dennis rolled off the hill and over a barbed fence (since when was that there?) before finally landed on something soft and boney…

Or rather someone.

"Fancy seeing you here." A familiar voice muttered beneath him.

Dennis jumped up… only to slip on something and land right back onto Purple Eyes (because who else could remain polite after being crushed by fifty something kilos of idiot teenager twice). He moved to get up again but was stopped by a gloved hand (had Purple Eyes always been wearing gloves?).

"Try that again and you will land right back on me." Purple Eyes pulled something out from underneath them before kicking Dennis off into a tree.

"Was that really necessary?" the battered yellow grumbled as he pulled himself up. There were definitely going to be bruises tomorrow morning and the ones on his neck had yet to fade.

Purple Eyes stood up as he donned the tripping material, a red… cape? "You fell on me…twice. That was retribution." Well, at least he was honest.

"Are you a Silfer?" Dennis was certain he knew everyone in the dorm, his promotion was only a couple of months ago and there weren't any transfer or exchange students.

Purple Eyes scowled. "I am not one of those low ranking slackers. I am a–" His eyes widened and he jumped at Dennis, knocking him back into the tree.

"Hey! Wha–"

BOOM

Dennis watched with wide eyes as a missile from who-knows-where exploded just metres away, where they had been formerly standing.

"Th-that was a missile." Dennis stammered. "And it was aimed at you?!"

"Yes." Purple Eyes answered curtly, pushing the shell-shocked student in the opposite direction of the newly formed crater. "And you should be leaving."

"So should you!"

"I must stay. This is my duty to the Academia."

"As human target practice for explosives?!" Dennis rooted his feet into the ground. Grabbing Purple Eyes, he took the lead. "Which way is the exit?"

"…Turn left at the next rock and the fence should be up ahead." Purple Eyes shook off Dennis' grip and turned around.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"To fulfill my duty."

"And get blown to bits? You're coming with me." Dennis grabbed Purple Eyes' shoulder only to be flung forward onto the ground.

"My place is here and yours is out there. I will not go with you, McFled."

"Macfield. It's Dennis Macfield." Dennis corrected, wincing slightly as he got up. That was the …what?-fifth time he got slammed into something today. "And why use a living breathing human for target practice? What about a droid or something? There are tons of those roaming the grounds and most don't do anything."

Purple Eyes snarled. "It is not practice for the launchers, it is practice for me. Now leave, it would be an inconvenience to have an idiot's blood on my hands."

Purple Eyes had to be brainwashed or something. What sane person would willingly stay? But then again, Purple Eyes seemed adapt to the surroundings and pretty strong size, flinging someone a good head taller to the ground (why was he only noticing the height difference now?).

"Okay, I'll leave." Dennis conceded. There was no point arguing any longer. "But get out of here alive. Send me a postcard, jump through a window, just do something."

"…Fine."

{~~~}

Sure Dennis had told Purple Eyes to jump through a window for a visit but he didn't mean it literally. Yet for some reason, it wasn't unexpected.

"Seven points."

Purple Eyes shot him a confused look. "What?"

Dennis smirked. "Seven points. I would have given you a nine but you just stood there after landing. No flare, nothing interesting to follow through. Not even a cue for applause. The audience could have gotten bored."

"Audience?" Purple Eyes questioned. "And only a nine at most for jumping through a two-story window?"

"There's always room for improvement." Dennis replied. "And of course Pro Dueling is all about being competitive, beat your opponent, become the next champion and what not… but have you ever considered the spectators? Sure Solid Vision brings the cards to life but what about the duelists? While their monsters are decking it out they're just standing there, arm up with no visual expression until they start yelling at each other. Bo-ring. But then Entertainment Dueling came along!" The yellow began twirling around the room, careful not to step on the shatter glass that littered the floor. "Duelists locked in battle! Storming the field, kicking the earth and dancing in the air alongside their monsters! The greatest, most exhilarating and overall stupendous advancement of Duel Monsters! The Act–ah!" Dennis tripped over an extended boot and fell directly onto the glass covered floor.

Purple Eyes loomed over him with a stoic mask painted on. "You are make no sense whatsoever." His 'guest' deadpanned. "Pro Dueling? Entertainment? You are an idealistic fool, Crinkles. Duel Monsters is an art of combat, not some parlor trick to be performed to the masses."

Dennis stared at Purple Eyes, completely in shock. Where had this kid been hiding? Under a rock? A lab? A padded room? "You've never heard of Pro Dueling? What about the Kaiser? 'Thunder' Manjoume? Yugi Mutou, the original King of Games?!"

"No."

"B-but entertaining, having fun, has been part of Dueling since…forever! For crying out loud, it was originally a children's card game!"

"No. Duel Monsters is the modern incarnation of the Shadow Magic harnessed by the Ancient Egyptians millennia ago." Purple Eyes stated as if reciting a text book…or brainwashing commands. "Spirits and dead souls were imprisoned in stone tablets to serve in the legal court, not for the amusement of children."

Dennis was completely lost for words. He slammed his hand onto the floor. "You're a…a…a hermit! An anti-social, missile-chasing hermit!"

"And you are an idiot covered in glass wounds waiting to be infected." Purple Eyes retorted smugly. Extending a hand to Dennis, the 'hermit' said, "I will prevent you from dying from these pathetic scrapes if you tell me more about this… 'dueltainment'."

"It's entertainment dueling but… that term could stick." Dennis took the outreached hand with his own that wasn't pierced with glass shards. "Why did you trip me in the first place?"

"Because you were acting like a clown…and you only gave me a seven."

"…I'm adding 'revenge-driven' and 'complete sadist' to the list."

{~~~}

The next time Dennis saw Purple Eyes was ironically during the real hazing from the Ra Yellow seniors. Apparently, they wait for the new yellows (promoted, exchanged, transferred or just placed there from the get go) to get 'settled' into the dorms first then run them out to Red the moment their guard is down. At least is explained why the Slifer dorms were so overcrowded and most red seniors try to bypass the yellow dorm on the climb to blue.

The yellow seniors had finally shown themselves, locking Dennis out of his own room. It was either find the requested item or be kicked back down to Slifer. "But where am I going to find a human eyeball…" Dennis muttered as he wondered through the shrubbery.

He could always try killing a rabbit or something but Dennis hadn't seen any animals since he joined Academia and the difference would be obvious. Option number two was to raid the science classrooms for some dismembered parts but they wouldn't stock human body parts…would they?

The trouble yellow soon to become red again if he didn't come up with something soon was so caught up in his woes that he tripped over something large and bulky and face planted into the ground.

"Wha…?" It was too soft to rock but it didn't feel like a log. Dennis slowly pushed himself up and turned to see he had fallen over a…

"Dead body?!" Ok, stay calm… Just breathe in and…scream your lungs out!

A cold hand clutched his shoulder, sending a shiver down his spine. "Can you keep it down, some corpses are trying to stay dead." A dismembered voice moaned.

Dennis yelped. "Zombie!"

The voice warped into a familiar chuckle. "No, but there will be if you keep yelling like that."

He turned to see none other than Purple Eyes manipulating the body like a string-less puppet. "It has been a while, has it not?"

"What was that for?" Dennis snarled. Why was he even still with this psycho? Purple Eyes was obviously the one who killed the guy the anti-social hermit-spy was happily toying with but he wasn't running in the opposite direction. Instead, he was trying a hold a mostly-civil partially-sane conversation.

"Because I wanted to give the idiom 'loud enough to wake the dead' a more literal meaning." Purple Eyes said while using the corpse's arms for semi-normal had gestures. "I have discovered that a good sense of humor makes for a successful entertainer."

"Yes…but your sense of humor is a little too… morbid to be entertaining."

"Oh well." Purple Eyes dropped the body, no longer finding it amusing (Dennis also wondered if he will end up like the body one day when Purple Eyes loses interest in him).

"Since you're here, you might as well assist me is disposing this body." Reaching into seemingly nowhere, Purple Eyes produced a pair of shovels, tossing one to Dennis.

"I have tools hidden throughout the campus." His acquainted 'friend' ('friendly' acquaintance? Frienquaintnace?) explained while digging the blade of the shovel into the ground.

Dennis followed Purple Eyes' example, idly wondering if it was one of these 'tools' were what caused him to tumble into the 'training grounds' several weeks ago. He made a mental note to no longer practice his acrobatics on random greenery, there was a high chance that it could be armed.

When the not-so-shallow grave was deemed deep enough, Purple Eyes kicked the body into the hole and started covering it in a large amount of white grains pulled from some bush or something followed by what smelled like lighting fluids.

"What are you doing?"

"Salting the body…" Purple Eyes lit a match from his coat pocket and tossed it into the pit. The body burst into flames. "…and burning it. This will prevent a vengeful spirit from anchoring itself to this realm."

Maybe his dad wasn't going crazy when he said he was haunted by his former teacher who apparently lived in their fat cat… but Dennis was going to need more proof before he was going to believe that his mother was a intersexual duel spirit who was fused with his dad's soul and not some random woman who left his old man when it was apparent he was a few cards short of a deck.

Dennis turned to leave, ready to forget about this particular encounter with the purple-eyed enigma, when something round and slippery was forced into his hand.

"Consider this payment for your labor." Purple Eyes whispered before disappearing into the night.

Dennis sincerely hoped that Purple Eyes somehow got wind of his dilemma and that this was the only time he was ever going to receive this kind of 'payment'.

At least he was staying in Ra Yellow.

{~~~}

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months and before he knew it, Dennis' freshman year was drawing to a close. There had not been a Purple Eyes sighting since the night of the hazing.

After one week, he began looking over at his window and door hoping for a certain someone to come tumbling through.

After two weeks, he began swinging from the trees again hoping to 'accidently' slip on a hidden weapon of some sort or fall into another testing ground.

After three weeks, he began carrying the sock that had been left behind from their second encounter hoping that his friend would locate him through the lost article of clothing.

After four weeks, he began thinking that 'Purple Eyes' was nothing more than a hallucination from his early days as a yellow desperately hoping he was wrong.

{~~~}

Purple Eyes' reintroduction into his life started like the very first: a crash through the door on an otherwise normal day.

Dennis looked up from his chapter summaries and exam revision to find Purple Eyes standing in his damaged doorway. He was overjoyed to see his old friend but made no physical display beyond a slight smile. Had it been earlier in the year, Dennis would have been more obvious with his emotions but his months as an official member of Ra Yellow had taught him to be more conservative, even among close friends (because, as much as he hated to admit it, Purple Eyes was the closest thing he had to a friend).

Thanks to this lack of action, Dennis noticed that there was something off. Ra Yellow emphasized on analysis and self-control (as well as spying, deception and interrogation), something that he excelled more in than the brash and impulsive actions of Slifer Red.

Purple Eyes normally stood firmly, with an air that demanded respect and fear, but now his stand was sloppy. His friend was hunch over, looking pathetic and weak. His clothes appeared several sized too big and his red target cape hung limply across his shoulders instead of fluttering in an invisible wind. The name sake eyes were no longer filled with sharp cunning but were instead dull and empty, reflecting a child who had seen too much too soon.

"H-hiyas, Dennis." There was no formality in that voice and his name was spoken for the first time. Red flags were beginning to rise. "L-long time n-no see-…"

Purple Eyes toppled forward and Dennis jumped out of his chair to catch his falling friend. Purple Eyes was burning up, heat radiated from the sweat covered body. What had happened in the past months?

"I-it's hot…v-very h-hot…" Purple Eyes muttered. "Cl-clothes…off…"

Alarms were going off in Dennis' head as Purple Eyes began to strip down. Well, Purple Eyes is definitely a guy. A dissociated part of his mind muttered as Dennis struggled to keep his friend decent. And I'm confident in the way I swing.

When they had finally reached a non-verbal compromise for Purple Eyes to keep his underwear and a loose undershirt on instead of in his birthday suit, Purple Eyes began to snuggle into him.

"D-Dennis is cool." Purple Eyes mumbled into his blazer. "Very cool."

As Purple Eyes drifted into unconsciousness, which had probably been a while if the bags under his eyes were anything to go by, Dennis kicked off his shoes and carried the smaller boy into his bed. The student gave up any attempt to study as Purple Eyes' grip was too strong to be removed and settled for turning in early.

They'll sort thing out in the morning.

{~~~}

Dennis awoke to find Purple Eyes sitting on the edge of his bed, the sock that he had forgotten on their first meeting over his hand. Now that it had a solid form, it was obvious that it was supposed to be a sock puppet with a pair of faded black dots for eyes.

As Purple Eyes opened and closed his hand within the puppet, Dennis noted how familiar the action was. He had seen him do it before: while he used the corpse as a marionette, as he waited for an explanation for his window-jumping score, even back when he held him in a choke hold. That open-close hand motion was an ever present quirk, so why was he only noticing it now?

As if a veil had been lifted from his eyes, more observations, things that he should have noticed a long time ago, began flooding into his mind. Underneath his target cape, Purple Eyes wore a purple and blue waistcoat with a long tail that made it look like he was wearing two capes. Both pieces of clothing were in a crumpled pile at the foot of the bed, along with a pair of greyish blue boots. The gloves were apparently a one-time thing, they weren't present in his room or in his memories save for the missile incident. In addition to having purple eyes, his hair was also purple with a hint of fuchsia, the same shade the colored his stubby eyebrows.

Purple Eyes waited patiently as Dennis sorted through all this new information, toying with his puppet.

"A long time ago, I had a friend." Purple Eyes said once Dennis had pulled himself out of his thoughts. "We were very close, inseparable. We did not have much, only each other, but we were happy. Turned socks that were too large for us ever to grow in to into puppets." He smiled, looking down at his sock cover hand. Purple Eyes' face then scrunched up, trying very hard to remember the next part of his tale. "Something…happened. Someone pulled us apart. Made my friend disappear. Tried to make me forget. I… I can't remember my friend's face or name." He turned to Dennis. "I don't want the same thing to happen to you."

The atmosphere was too heavy, too solemn. Purple Eyes was mourning the loss of his dear friend.

"What happened last night?" Dennis asked. There was no need to rub salt in a re-opened wound. He could do nothing about it so he would leave it be.

Purple Eyes snapped out of his melancholy and his face twisted into a bastard of a scowl and a smug smile. "It was a bio-weapon that worked a little too well. It is supposed to make the recipient lose focus, make them unable to function coherently." His voice dropped and he muttered, "It was an aphrodisiac."

Dennis felt blood rushing to his cheeks. "So, last night you-"

"Yes." Purple Eyes shamefully responded. "I see our relationship as purely platonic but it is the only relationship I have with anyone. That substance twisted it into something that I never wished it to be." He looked Dennis directly in the eye. "But if I was…"

"If you were, I would've turned you down but still stayed your friend." Because something like that wasn't something you break a friendship for.

"But why would something like that be in your system?" Dennis asked. "I'm pretty sure that type of drug is illegal whether you agree to it or not."

"This is my duty to the Academia." Purple Eyes firmly stated.

"What are you, a lab rat?" Dennis meant it as a half-joke but he was met with silence. "Wait…you really are a lab rat?!"

"This is my duty to the Academia." His voice wasn't as solid but he still held conviction.

Dennis shuddered at the thought of what other experiments that Purple Eyes had to endure for the sake of 'duty'. If he had managed to strip in his hazy state last night, how many scars would Dennis have seen?

He took three deep breaths before continuing. "Why are you doing this? And I won't accept 'duty' as an answer."

Purple Eyes thought well and hard before responding. "I am to be the Academia's perfect soldier. Their hidden weapon with no chance of failing. I have survived when others have fallen. I am one of the key components of the Academia's final goal. I am F-YU37."

"That's not a name." Dennis protested. "That's a barcode number."

"I have nothing else to identify with." Purple Eyes face grew into a cheeky grin. "But maybe you can come up with something better."

{~~~}

Over the next few months, Dennis and Purple Eyes met on a weekly basis. Sometimes they dueled, with Purple Eyes wiping the floor with Dennis every time ("You should get a new deck. Those cards do not trust you, only tolerate." "I know, they were my dad's."), but most of the time they talked. Dennis would tell Purple Eyes about his classes and pop culture while Purple Eyes listened and absorbed information that he would never hear from anyone else (and sometimes he would tell his friend in the vaguest detail what happened behind closed doors). But every meeting, Dennis would come up with a new name.

"Sho?"

"No."

"What about Jun?"

"No."

"How does Ryo sound?"

"Terrible."

"Give Fubuki a try."

"That sounds like a fool's name. No."

"Try Hayato."

"Maybe…no."

"…Judai?"

"Can you come up with a name that does not belong to an alumni?"

Very soon, Dennis had exhausted all the appropriate names he could think of (he doubted that Purple Eyes would consider a name belonging to a girl) but he did not stop trying. He came up with more ridiculous names like Lawliet and Negius and at one point Tom Ato, all of which ended with the yellow being thrown into a wall.

Then the invasion of the Xyz Dimension happened and Purple Eyes was sent on dimension hopping missions across the universe (he usually came back with a girl that looked oddly familiar. Purple Eyes didn't talk at all when he came back with a girl, only played with his puppet).

Very soon, Dennis himself was preparing for his own interdimensional adventure. He was to infiltrate the Standard Dimension as a student of the LDS. He was to be a Xyz student to prevent any connection to the Academia from being drawn immediately. The new deck he was given was one based around magicians and acrobats. While it could support fusions, the deck was mainly Xyz and it clicked. When he dueled with these black cards, a thrum of excitement filled his veins. It was a flow that he became a part of the moment he drew his first card. The tricks suited him better than the second-hand heroes and he actually was able to last a few more turns against Purple Eyes.

While studying Standard culture, Dennis was surprised to find the mysterious Sky Magician, pioneer of the Action Duel and his model, plastered on Standard magazines and tabloids. His real name was apparently Yusho Sasaki and he was married with one son…

Dennis dropped the picture in shock. It was a photo of the Sasaki family several years out of date but the resemblance between Yuya Sasaki and Purple Eyes was just plain disturbing. But it gave him a new idea for a name.

"Yuugo."

Purple Eyes gave him an odd look. "I like fusion, I use fusion but I will not be fusion."

"Fine then, Yuuri."

"Yuuri?"

"Yes, Yuuri."

Yuuri gave a small genuine smile, one with no hint of malice. His hand opened and closed within the sock puppet. "I like it."

{~~~}

I have a treasure is plain view, but you cannot see it. I can't show it to you but everyone can see it. Do you know what it is?