Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Learning To See The Trash
Characters: Juudai, Satou
Word Count: 217||Status: One-shot
Genre: Angst||Rated: PG-13
Challenge: 31halloween: prompt #20, R.I.P.
Summary: [one-shot, 31halloween, prompt #20, R.I.P.; Juudai & Satou] Juudai said hello to all of his friends when he returned to Duel Academia. But there was one person he needed to say good-bye to.
"You were right, you know. I didn't see the trash on the ground back then." Juudai stared down into the chasm. He'd only been back at Duel Academia for a few days, but he knew he needed to do this.
There's trash on the ground. Two people pass by. One sees it and ignores it. The other doesn't see it at all. Which one is worse?
Such a simple question and the answer had slipped by him at the time. He'd gone for the obvious one. The one who ignored it was obviously wrong. Ignoring things wasn't right. He'd sort of ignored the whole mess with the Society of Light, waiting for them to come to him. So he'd tried being more active, to go after things before they got out of hand. And that hadn't worked either.
The one who ignores it can change their mind and come back later to pick it up. He'd convinced himself that was what he'd done. Only to have it pointed out to him brutally that he'd ignored other problems all along.
Words weren't going to do anything to help. All he could do now was his best to prove he'd learned to see the trash by the actions he took.
"Good-bye, Satou-sensei," Juudai murmured, turning away. "Rest in peace."
The End
Note: I originally posted this back in October 2012, but now am reposting these ficlets separately instead of as a collection, in order to have each listed under their proper character and rating.