Ariette: So, you guys know I'm usually very cheery and all, but today I'm going through a very bittersweet moment. I made this stroy for two reasons: 1. I'm celebrating Oshagirl's birthday, she's a person I consider my sister and today I rejoice with her on her day. 2. I'm celebrating a very close person's death. She was a woman who I always saw as a strong mother-figure, and today she parted to better life. March 4th has become a very bittersweet day to me, and I'm sure it'll be like that from today on. So, I hope you like this story, Oshagirl, I made it with much love and feeling. I'm happy that today we can celebrate another year of you, and I hope we can celebrate many more years together. Happy Birthday.

-Bittersweet Day-

Ring. Ring. Time to wake up! Ring. Ring.

"Ugh. Five more minutes…" A voice came from under a bunch of blankets.

A slender hand turned off the alarm clock.

"Time to wake up, brother." A soft voice said.

"Five more minutes…" Replied the first voice.

"We will be late to school if I let you sleep more." The second voice replied.

"But today's Saturday…" The first voice replied slowly, still asleep, "That means… No school…"

A sigh. "Wake up."

The same slender hands took the blankets, pulling them over and revealing a black haired boy who was curled up. The black haired boy took his pillow and covered his face.

"Mist, you have to wake up." Insisted the second voice.

"Go away, Astral." Came the muffled voice from under the pillow.

Astral sighed again and sat in the bed. He looked at the window sadly and whispered. "Today is March 4th…"

That seemed to do the trick. Instantly, Mist pulled the pillow from his head and looked at his brother. "It's been five years now, huh?"

Astral nodded sadly. Without wanting it, a small tear fell down his eyes. Mist noticed this and quickly hugged his brother.

"Hey, don't be sad. I know it's hard, but we gotta be strong." Mist whispered soothingly.

Astral cleaned his tear and nodded, smiling a bit. "Today is also Yuma's birthday."

"I forgot about that."

"I assumed so. That was why I was trying to wake you up."

Mist stared at his brother annoyed. He then fell back in the bed and covered his face with the pillow again.

"He's your friend. I don't have to go." He said angrily.

"Vector and Kaito will be there. I think Thomas and his brothers will also go." Astral said.

"And what? They're Yuma's friends. They should be there."

"Vector is your friend. And I know you enjoy talking with Kaito and Thomas." Astral frowned, "Yuma has done nothing to you for you to be so angry at him. If anything, Yuma has tried to gain you as a friend, but you keep refusing."

There was silence for a couple of minutes, and Astral thought that maybe Mist had fallen asleep again. When he was about to shake his brother though, the black haired pushed the pillow out of his head and stared at Astral's mismatched eyes.

"He tried to steal you…" Mist whispered, suddenly blushing ashamed. "You talk so much about Yuma that it makes me feel like you replaced me with him…"

Astral gasped. "I would never do that!" He then calmed down, "Mist, Yuma is a very dear friend. It is true that I think of him as a brother, but I would never replace you. You are my brother. We were born to the same mother and the same father. There is no way I would replace you."

"You don't know that…" The black haired boy sighed, "Just, look at us. I have black hair and yours is blue. My skin is tanned and you're so pale you look like a ghost. And even though we both have mismatched eyes, yours is light blue and golden, and mine is dark silver and golden. We look nothing alike! Maybe we were just found together casually. Maybe we're not even brothers…"

Astral's eyes softened. He never thought Mist felt like that. They were orphans, they never met their parents. They were found as babies, laying in front of an alley. No one knew who their parents were or where did they come from. Because of their mismatched eyes, people thought they weren't human. Some people called them demons or ghosts. Other said they were cursed and anyone who went near them would be cursed too. Some even called them aliens and freaks. For the first years of their live, they were treated as abnormal beings. Everyone feared them and barely talked to them. Even the women at the orphanage treated them carefully, as if suddenly one of them would transform and curse them.

But one kind man adopted them. He didn't mind the 'warnings' people gave him and took care of the two boys. He treated them with love and care, sometimes being strict and a bit harsh, but loved them nowadays. They started calling him 'Father' or Astral did. Mist enjoyed annoying the poor man, but still loved him anyways.

However, five years ago, Eliphas- the one who took care of them- died. It was sudden and no one saw it coming, but it happened. The man had gotten ill suddenly, and after five months, he died in a hospital bed. The day of his death, March 4th, was a day of great suffering for the two boys. But of the two, Astral was the most broken one. He had cried all day, and during the funeral he didn't look up not even once. Mist, on the other hand, didn't cry. He didn't shed a tear, not even in the funeral. Instead, he comforted his brother. But Astral knew better. He knew Mist was suffering on the inside.

The two boys learned to live alone. They became strong. But every year, on March 4th, Astral would break down. He would spend the day on his room, not even bothering to get out of bed. He wouldn't say a word, and would cry silently in the dark of his room. Mist had tried to cheer him up, but nothing ever worked.

However, almost a year ago, Astral met Yuma. Yuma had been nice and quickly became Astral's friend. He didn't mind that people told him that Astral was a freak, but instead always said how cool was Astral. Yuma always praised Astral for his intellect. He always said that Astral was too smart to be on a normal school, but that he was glad Astral was in a normal school, as that was how they met.

Of course, Astral couldn't be more happy with this. He finally had a real friend, and thanks to Yuma, he had more friends than he could ever imagine. So naturally, when Yuma invited him to spend the day on his birthday, Astral had agreed wholeheartedly. What he didn't know was that Yuma's birthday was on March 4th, the same day Eliphas died. When he found out about it, he had already promised he would go. Astral was torn about it. He knew that every year he was unable to even stand on that day, but Yuma was his friend. He didn't want to ruin Yuma's day. He told himself he couldn't stay moping about it all his life. He told himself he would be strong. So when March 4th came, he stood for the first time in five years. He decided he wouldn't stay in bed again, but instead would learn to live.

"Mist," Astral stared, seriously, "You are my brother. Each time I look up at the mirror I have less doubts about it. Our faces are almost identical, our features being the same. Look, even if in the future it turns out we are not blood-related brothers, that will not change my mind. You grew up with me. You were my first friend. You were there when I was sad. You made me laugh and you cried with me. And every year, on this same day, for four years, you tried to make me feel better even though all I wanted was to stop breathing."

Mist lowered his head, "But I didn't make it. I couldn't reach you. Yuma did. Yuma made you stand. He made you become stronger."

"Yuma was the last push." Astral answered softly, "He was the final push I needed to finally make up my mind. But you were the one who did all the work. Every time you came to my room to try to cheer me up with your jokes, every time you tried to take me out of bed, all those things were slowly helping me. So I thank you for that."

Mist smiled a bit. "Are you saying this to me so I go to Yuma's party?"

Astral chuckled lightly. "Perhaps." He then stood. "I'll go make breakfast. You can take a shower and dress up."

Mist watched as his brother went to the kitchen and smiled lightly. "Thank you, Yuma." He whispered to no one in particular.

Yuma was really happy when he saw Astral and Mist enter his house. He greeted both boys cheerily, like he always did. Then he invited them to the backyard, where a lot of people were already waiting. Yuma took Astral's hand and went to Kotori, Michael, Fuya, Anna, Tetsuo, Tokunosuke, Cathy and Takashi. The group of friends greeted Astral happily and expressed how glad they were to see Astral there. They spent almost three hours talking, playing and dueling.

When it was time to sing, they all reunited around a table that had a huge cake shaped in the form of Number 39: Kibou Hope, Yuma's and Astral's favorite duel monster. Of course, Yuma loved it, and Astral couldn't help but to smile. Mirai, Yuma's mother, lighted up the candles and everyone started singing. As they sang, Astral stared at the candle flame, feeling a whirlpool of emotions inside him.

"It feels weird to celebrate someone's birth when today is also the celebration of someone's death." Astral thought, letting a tear fall without noticing. He closed his eyes and continued to sing, with so much emotion that tears came to his eyes. He didn't want to cry though, not in front of Yuma or any of his friends.

"I wish you were here with me." He wished as he saw Yuma blow out the candles. Everyone cheered and Yuma laughed. Then Haru, Yuma's grandmother, began cutting the cake.

While she was doing that, Yuma moved to opening the presents. They were all nice presents, and everyone laughed when Vector's present suddenly exploded and tainted Yuma's face pink. When Astral's turn was up, he approached Yuma and gave him a little box. Yuma took the box and opened it, taking out a golden pendant in the form of a key.

Yuma's eyes widened. "Astral… This is…"

"The Emperor's Key." Astral smiled lightly.

"But it's yours! I've seen you wear it every day! This must be really important to you! I can't accept it!" Yuma exclaimed.

Astral shook his head with a smile. "Yes, it is really important to me, that is why I ask you to take good care of it, Yuma."

Yuma stared at the pendant then at Astral. "I… I can't, Astral. I can't take something so important from you."

Astral smiled sadly. "You are not taking it, Yuma. I am giving it to you." He felt tears coming to his eyes again. "You are like a brother to me. You are really important to me. I want you to always remember me, even if we part away some day. I want you to have a piece of what I am. A piece of my memories." Slowly, a couple of tears escaped his eyes, "This pendant belonged to my father, or the man I knew as my father. For four years, this day has been nothing but a great suffering to me. I used to be locked up in my room, crying all day, wishing I was gone. My brother tried to cheer me up, but nothing would work. You were the last push, Yuma. You were that last strength I needed to finally stand, and today, after five years, I can stand and say 'I have moved on. I will not lock myself ever again.' So I thank you, Yuma. I thank you for giving me the last push I needed. And this is the best way of showing it."

Yuma cried, but they were tears of happiness. He held the key tightly and hugged Astral strongly.

"I promise I will take good care of it. I will never forget you, Astral." Yuma said, crying.

Astral hugged back, letting himself cry too. He held Yuma tightly and they stayed like that for a moment. Suddenly, people around started clapping. They had smile on their faces, and some of them had small tears. Mist was clapping too, proud and heart warmed at the scene. Both boys pulled back and cleaned their tears. They smiled at each other.

"This is such a bittersweet moment." Astral looked up at the sky with a smile, "Such a bittersweet moment… March 4th, a very bittersweet day…"

Ariette: So, that's it. I hope you enjoyed it. Truth is, I wanted to make something more cheery, but with the news that were given to me in the morning, this was the most I could do. Still, I hope you understand how much I love you, Nee-san, and how important you are to me, even more now after what has happened. I hope we stay as friends, sisters, for a long long time.