JC:I was working on a Fruitshipping fic before writer's block got to me. Then after a while I got into the BraceletShipping mood again, but this particular one-shot mainly focuses on Yuto and his feelings for Yuzu. I also decided to have Yuya involved here this time, a little friendship between him and Yuto. I'll still gotta finish that Fruitshipping fic though. Hehehe… I hope you guys will enjoy this!

Disclaimer:I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC V and its characters. All rights belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

The Right Push

"When are you planning on telling her?"

Yuto simply gave Yuya Sakaki blank stare. They bear striking similarities. Both of them were lean, but still physically fit, and had the same age, same face, and the same eye structure. His black and purple spiky hair, however, was a complete palette swap of Yuya's green and red unruly hair. And while Yuya was a perpetual ball of sunshine and rainbows, he was more serious.

"Tell who what?" Yuto replied his look-alike.

Yuya smirked. "Yuzu..." There was a hint of mischievousness in his crimson red eyes.

Yuto shrugged. He knew where this was going but decided to feign innocence. "And what am I supposed to tell her?"

"Your feelings, duh…"

Yuto released a silent sigh. "I don't see her that way." It was such a lie and that left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Then tell me why you keep stalking her? Or why you're protective of her? It took me a while to notice it, but everyone's pretty sure you're into her."

Yuto managed to keep a straight face. Of course, everyone knew. Everyone knew about his feelings except for Yuzu Hiragi herself. Honestly, he didn't understand how everyone found out about it. He believed he hasn't been particularly obvious about his feelings, but even Shun Kurosaki, his long-time comrade, told him that he was less inconspicuous when it came to HER.

"If you've got no plans, then I'll be making my moves," Yuya said, lightly amused, as he grabbed one of his mother's homemade cookies from the platter. They were sitting together in Yuya's room on the floor beside the bed, having snacks.

Yuto made no comment, setting his lips in a firm line. Yuya was big competition, being the childhood friend and the person who knew Yuzu the most. Yuya had only treated Yuzu as a friend until recently. Yuto's presence and closeness to Yuzu led to Yuya's discovery of his own feelings. It didn't help that the kids from You Show Duel School and the fusion-user girl from LDS kept giving him encouragement and teasing remarks about Yuzu.

"It's a lot easier dueling someone than telling what you want to say to her," Yuya explained with a cheerful smile.

And Yuto couldn't agree more.

Yuto was in his room arranging his deck the next morning, thinking over what Yuya said to him. He was so focused on his train of thoughts that he didn't notice someone's presence until he loudly cleared his throat. Yuto turned to the door, staring straight into a pair of golden eyes. Shun Kurosaki was a handsome young man with black hair and green bangs shaped in a wing, and he stood tall clad in his signature blue coat and red scarf.

"What's up, Shun?" asked Yuto.

"She has my sister's face, but she's different," Shun said, crossing his arms over his chest, as he leaned against the doorframe. "She's a rare gem like no other, who shines the brightest on the battlefield. It's hard not to get attracted to her."

When Yuto first met Yuzu, he really thought she was Shun's little sister, Ruri. He kept an eye on her ever since, even after he realized that she wasn't Ruri. And it had disturbed him to realize that as he continued watching her, he couldn't stop himself from being drawn to her. She was enchanting with her melodious voice and graceful ways of dueling. He couldn't imagine anyone not liking her, particularly not a group of teenage boys.

"And you're telling me this," Yuto replied, looking away from Shun's eyes, "because?"

"If you're not careful, she might get stolen away," Shun said, turning to the door.

"Are you talking about Yuya? Sawatari? Or the one who taught her fusion?"

Shun peered over his shoulder to give Yuto one final look. "Probably," he replied solemnly before he stepped out of the room.

It didn't take Yuto long to figure out what Shun meant, which put stress in his mind. And when he went to visit Yuzu at You Show Duel School before lunchtime, he felt more stressed.

"If it isn't the XYZ doppelganger." A brunette with blonde bangs, usually seen wearing Maiami School uniform, radiated with pure confidence

He met the resident rich boy and Entertainment Duelist aspirant, Shingo Sawatari, instead of the girl. Sawatari was one of Yuya's many rivals. Despite his arrogance and goofiness at times, Sawatari was exceptionally a skilled duelist, especially in the arts of Pendulum Summoning. .

"Sakaki Yuya isn't here," Yuto curtly replied.

Sawatari was sitting comfortably in one of the couches in the lobby. "Oh, I'm not here for Sakaki Yuya. I'm here for Hiragi Yuzu." He stood up and approached Yuto casually.

Yuto briefly recalled the time at the warehouse, where Yuzu bravely challenged Sawatari to a duel before he stepped in to take over. Yuzu and Sawatari weren't exactly in good terms, but they were gradually learning to respect one another as duelists. At least, Yuzu wasn't calling him a 100th rate duelist anymore.

"But the kid told me she went shopping. Here I was hoping on inviting her to lunch." Sawatari sighed before he put his usual self-assured face. "How about you? Still stalking her?"

Why did everyone brand him as a stalker? All he did was to make sure she was all right. Watching her wasn't equivalent to stalking. And did Sawatari just say he wanted to invite her to lunch? The thought didn't sit well with him. Well, Sawatari wasn't at all shy when it comes to his feelings—complete opposite of him.

"We're friends," Yuto said calmly.

"That won't do at all, Knight-kun," Sawatari said, shaking his head, mockingly smirking. "If you keep on dragging this, it will be too late for you." He let out a sardonic laugh as he walked off.

Why would Sawatari tell him that when he was also interested in Yuzu? He could never completely understand Sawatari no matter from what perspective.

"Is Neo New Sawatari gone?"

A boyish, cheery voice invaded the momentary silence he had, and as he turned to the direction of the voice, he saw a teal-haired young boy peeping out of the door. "Yes, he's gone," Yuto told him as he took a seat.

"Yes!" Sora Shiun'in exclaimed, jumping into the couch across him, as he took a chocolate bar from his pocket. "Yuzu will be back in a while with lunch." He snickered. "I just told Sawatari a different story so he'll go away." He then bit into the chocolate.

Sora may look like an innocent boy with a huge penchant for sweets, but he was actually cunning and a very talented duelist whose specialty was fusion. In fact, he was the one who taught Yuzu fusion, which made her an even stronger duelist than before.

"Looks like I need to come up with something to make you go away," Sora said cheerfully, licking a melted chocolate from one of his fingers.

Yuto didn't misheard what he said and looked at him indifferently.

Sora giggled. "Just kidding," he said, winking an eye. "Ahhhh….I really wish I was older."

That could mean a lot of things, but Yuto was sure about one thing about Sora. "Do you—" He was going to ask, then stopped himself immediately as Sora's Duel Disk rang.

The young lad looked at the caller ID before answering. "Hey, Futoshi! What's up?" He listened to whatever the chubby boy was telling him from the other line. Yuto was quick to notice the change in Sora's expression. The boy's green eyes shone in glee and a big smile curved his lips. "A CANDY SALE DOWNTOWN? Lots of Free Samples?! FOR REAL?! I'll be there in a snap!" It didn't take him long to dash out of the school.

Sora sure had a sweet tooth, Yuto mused quietly.

"I'm back with the food," came a very familiar voice a few minutes later.

His heart skipped a beat. At that moment, everyone's words flashed through his mind, which had done nothing to calm his heart. However, he was still able to keep up a front when she finally came into the room.

Yuzu Hiragi was lovely in every way possible, especially in his eyes. She had silky dark pink hair tied up in two pigtails, with lighter pink highlights framing her sweet face. "Oh, it's you, Yuto," she said, walking up to him, as she carried a plastic bag filled with two lunchboxes. "Have you seen Sora?"

"He went downtown for the candy sale," Yuto replied promptly.

"That Sora…" Yuzu shrugged. "When it comes to sweets, there's no stopping him." She then graced him with a smile. "Well, since you're here, why don't we eat lunch together?"

After lunch, Yuto helped Yuzu clean up the study room. He was pretty diligent with his work, but he couldn't help sneaking glances at Yuzu every now and then. She was such an amazing girl, he thought and couldn't help remembering Yuya's instigation, Shun's advice, Sawatari's warning, and Sora's threat. He was aware of his own feelings and he was aware of the rivals vying for her affection. Nevertheless, he couldn't help feeling unfit for her.

And as they played a friendly game of Action Duel in a field called Labyrinth of Flowers, he reminded himself of how attracted he was to her. He loved her strong personality and her kindness. He had no intention of falling in love with her at first, but the feelings just flowed.

Why was it so hard to control your heart?

Yuto mentally shook off the thoughts as Yuzu ended the turn. His ace monster, Dark Rebellion XYZ Dragon (ATK: 2500) had just been destroyed with the aid of an Action Spell Card. While he did manage to destroy Mozarta The Melodious Maestra (ATK: 2600), deplete her life points to 1200 in the last turn and kept his life points to 2200, it was still anyone's game at this point. She would never make it easy for anyone who faces her in a duel.

"If you've got no plans, then I'll be making my moves."

"It's my turn. DRAW!"

"This makes Action Duels more exciting!" With her field completely empty, she sprinted into the maze, the precisely trimmed boxwood hedge rising upward in a seemingly impenetrable wall of thick, leafy green and flowers. She was aiming for an Action Card.

"If you're not careful, she might get stolen away."

He couldn't help remembering their words.

"If you keep on dragging this, it will be too late for you."

The sound of her passing grew more distant, the accelerating beat of his heart taking its place.

"Ahhhh….I really wish I was older."

Her footfalls faded into silence. Not wasting a second more, he dashed into the maze. Since he was able to view the maze from above on his dragon's back before, he knew the paths to take and avoided the obstacles easily. It didn't take long for him to meet up with Yuzu. She was just passing through when he emerged out of nowhere and coiled his arms around her petite waist. She squealed, the sound reverberating in the air, as she twisted for a moment in his grasp.

"Y-You scared me!" she said, breathless as she met his gaze. "You haven't summoned any monsters yet. What gives? And this isn't exactly the right way to stop your opponent from getting an Action Card, you know."

A gleam came into his grey eyes. "I know what I need to do," he murmured in a tone deep yet rough like gravel. "I don't want them to take you away from me." He noticed it immediately, Yuzu's cheeks flushing pink.

She tried to remove eye contact, but he placed his hand under her chin and delicately moved her face upwards. He wanted to look into her eyes, which reminded him of the color of the ocean on a clear summer day. He had always been mesmerized by the depths of her eyes that revealed waves of emotions. He felt a stirring in his heart that confirmed that he wanted to tell her about his feelings more than ever.

"Yuzu, I—"

She put a finger over his mouth. "I…" She inhaled deeply. "I know…"

He stared at her, puzzled, as she removed her finger. "You know what?"

"About what you feel…" She averted her eyes away, embarrassed.

His jaw tightened. Okay, so Shun was right about him being less conspicuous. "You probably wish you hadn't found out," he continued, feeling the rising beat of his own heart, "but it's how I feel. I'm not really expecting anything in return."

She sighed. "You should."

His expression turned serious, an enigmatic glint forming in his grey eyes. "You mean it?"

Leaning forward, she whispered soft, sweet words into his ear, her touch light and sensuous on his shoulder. Suddenly, she broke free from his arms and reached out for the Action Card behind him. "Why don't we finish the duel first?" she said with a giggle.

For a moment, he couldn't help but stare. He'd thought about confessing those three special words to her, declaring himself and his love for her. But she'd made it clear that whatever feelings they have would be conveyed through the duel itself. They were first and foremost Duelists.

"It's a lot easier dueling someone than telling what you want to say to her."

"You finally did it," Yuya congratulated Yuto the moment he got home. "I'm happy for you and Yuzu."

A tiny frown settled between his brows. "You like her too, don't you?" Yuto decided to ask, even though he already knew. When he'd finished the duel with Yuzu that afternoon, he'd wondered for a few long moments if he'd imagined the whole thing. Then he'd caught sight of the girl he loved so much from across the field and knew that it was real.

Yuya's shoulders sank as he looked away. "But she likes you. You're serious about her, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm very serious about her," Yuto admitted it almost proudly and without hesitation. "I tried to stop myself before, but I just couldn't. I've never known any girl like her."

Yuya rubbed the back of his neck, wearing a sad smile on his face. "Please take good care of Yuzu. She's still my best friend."

"Are you sure about this?"

Yuya met his gaze and nodded his head, a lingering twinge of pain shooting between his eyes. "You're the one she wants." He released a deep sigh. "But don't you dare hurt her or else I might just steal her away," he said before putting on a genuine smile.

Yuto smiled in return, thinking how much of a good guy Yuya was. It was such a relief for him to have Yuya, of all people, acknowledge their relationship. So many things had happened ever since he met Yuzu. If anything, his involvement with her was dangerous when he first arrived, and yet they had managed to overcome hardships together as comrades. Yuya sensed how intent he was on taking care of her, and Yuto was grateful for his blessing.

"You have my word, Sakaki Yuya," Yuto vowed.

Just then, his Duel Disk rang. Catching sight of the caller ID on his Duel Disk now, his lips curved into a secret little smile. Apparently not secret enough, though, with Yuya angling his head to meet his gaze with a teasing look of his own.

"You really just needed the right push," Yuya said with a chuckle before he left Yuto alone.

END

JC:And that's the end of that! Quite a short one. I apologize for the lack of romantic moments, but I wanted to explore Yuto's feelings and decisions. I couldn't help adding the other guys from Yuzu's harem too. Yuya and the boys were the right push Yuto needed. Now that I got this down, it's time for me to focus on my Fruitshipping fic. Please do drop a review! No Flaming!