Scarlet and Black
by BridgitKiido
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh and Yu-Gi-Oh GX are the properties of Kazuki Takahashi. I'm not him – for one thing, I'm female, so that immediately rules me out.
Timeline Note: This takes place during episode 76 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. It makes a bunch of references to some plot points of that series up to (and, if you squint, past) that point, as well as to the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City arcs of Yu-Gi-Oh, especially episodes 75-78. (Never thought I'd say that…)
The tours were over for the day, and the students of Duel Academy were allowed to explore Domino City on their own until the time that they were supposed to report to their designated overnight meeting place. (In the case of the Obelisk and Ra dormitories, these were hotels. The Osiris dormitory, however, had to make do with a star-lit campout outside, not that most of them weren't used to it.)
The Obelisk Blue… no, sorry, the Obelisk White students (though they were supposed to be blue) were mostly wandering around the city like sheep, walking to all of the famous duel sites for the sake of being able to say that they had stood where Yugi Mutou had stood when he faced this duelist or that duelist or what have you. And if they wanted to do that, that was fine, though it had already been determined that most, if not all, of them needed to see a psychiatrist pretty badly.
Most of the students whose dormitory was Ra Yellow or Osiris Red were spending most of their time going to the various gift shops and card shops placed strategically around the site where Battle City had happened over ten years before. They would bring back a small trinket in order to show that they had, in fact, been to this famous site, or else they would buy a booster pack or two of cards, and these cards would be all the more special to them because they were bought on the duelists' sacred ground. And if they wanted to do that, that was fine.
For the lone survivor of the Honors dormitory, however, neither of these activities particularly called out to him. He rather liked his deck the way it was (even if he was mildly scared to play the cards that had been tainted by Darkness), and he wasn't one who was particularly attached to key chains. And though traveling to the sites of Yugi's famous duels was an interesting prospect, he wouldn't have been particularly interested in doing so even if the White dorm hadn't made it specifically clear that they didn't want him around. (He couldn't imagine why – just because he was a free spirit and immune to whatever trick had gotten them to join was no reason to hate him.)
Now, this wasn't to say he didn't respect Yugi. The guy was the King of Games, unbeaten except when someone forced him to choose between victory and someone's life – it had to take a special kind of person to be able to pull that off. But to be honest about it, there was one famous duelist who Fubuki respected even more.
After all, it also took a special kind of guy to be able to make it to the Battle City finals without the aid of a one-of-a-kind card with Egyptian magical powers. And Katsuya Jounouchi had been one unblocked attack away from winning second place, too – he would have, if Malik hadn't cheated.
Not to mention that Jounouchi was the role-model when it came to dueling for the sake of one's younger sibling. Fubuki had looked up to him ever since he was little, mostly because of how he had fought in Duelist Kingdom not for his own glory, but to win the money needed to save his little sister's eyesight. He'd always hoped that he'd be able to grow up to be just like him, able to help his own little sister like that. (Not that he'd been spectacularly successful, but he still tried.)
Most everyone who came to Domino knew about the particular site that Fubuki had chosen to visit, but few actually came. The original duel's site had been removed years ago, never a real part of the docking complex in the first place, but the shadow of where concrete had met concrete still stained the side of the dock. This was where the cruelest life-or-death duel had been played, where the loser would have been dragged into the sea by a falling anchor, and if the challenged party refused or anyone attempted to intervene, an innocent bystander would have been killed instead.
No video records of the duel existed – perhaps the cameras hadn't been called out to this outskirt, or perhaps the videos were destroyed in an attempt to cover up that such a cruel event had occurred. The moves that had been played in the duel were available, recorded by the duel disks' mainframe. And, of course, everyone knew the basic details of the stakes behind the duel.
But what exactly had happened? What exactly had run through the minds of those involved? Of Yugi, torn between saving himself and the friend whose mind had been warped to hate him? Of Jounouchi, struggling to overcome the spell that had turned him against his friend? Of Anzu and those who watched, unable to do anything to stop it without the crate above her head crushing her to death?
(In some ways, it echoed what little he knew of what had happened to him. He remembered very little of his experience as Darkness, but apparently, Hayato and Sho would have been swallowed by lava had Judai taken much longer…)
He wanted to know what Jounouchi had felt, among other reasons, because perhaps it would help him to remember what had happened that day, or if not that, at least to understand it a little more.
He stood by the edge of where concrete met the water, staring off into the waves, his hands absentmindedly strumming a quiet tune on his loyal ukulele. The sun was just beginning to set, dying the bottom edge of the sky a brilliant gold and scarlet blend even as that faded into the still-strong blue of the daylight. If it weren't for the fact that something so horrible had happened here, and the fact that he was standing on cold concrete, this scene might have had a slightly romantic air to it.
"Didn't know anyone else would be out here. Most tourists go to the more famous duel sites."
Fubuki turned at the sound of the voice that had suddenly come up behind him, finding the source to be standing a few feet to his right, also looking out toward the waves, hands in his pockets.
He smiled a bit and replied, "Well, I'm unique like that."
The other man laughed slightly. "Unique is always a good thing to be." Then, after a pause, "You're from Duel Academy, right?"
Fubuki nodded. "The uniform kind of gives it away, huh."
"A little," the other admitted, "though I haven't seen one like yours yet. Blue and white – it's just like Kaiba to color one of the dormitories after his favorite card."
Always one to be in the spotlight, Fubuki turned around a little bit, modeling his uniform. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who wears this one anymore, ever since they closed down the Honors dorm. Most of them are based off of the God Cards though." Thinking about it, it was rather silly – it had only been him and Ryou in that dorm. Why have a dormitory for only two people? One would have thought there would have at least been a third…
"Oh? There were a lot of students around wearing just white though."
Fubuki's expression drooped slightly. "They usually wear blue, most of them."
"Ah." It was as if the stranger had figured out exactly what was going on, even without Fubuki telling him the details. After a short pause, he replied optimistically, "Well, believe it or not, things like that tend to work themselves out eventually. But I guess that's why you're out here by yourself instead of in a group, then."
"More or less," was Fubuki's reply.
Another brief pause went by, during which a small gust of wind blew past. "So," the stranger continued after a moment, "may I ask what you're interested in, pertaining to dueling?"
"I want to join the Pro Leagues," Fubuki replied with a small hint of a flourish. "In a few years, I hope to ascend to the ranks of the top duelists as Blizzard Prince Fubuki Tenjoin!" And, as a bit of an afterthought, "Though I'm still trying to convince my little sister that, if it doesn't work out, we should hit the road as a pair of sibling idols."
The other laughed slightly. "I'm sure you'll do fine, especially if you have enough talent to get into the Honors dorm."
"Thanks," Fubuki replied with a bit of a sheepish grin as he turned back toward the water. "So," he asked after a few moments, "what's a guy like you doing out here, then? As you said, most tourists go to the more famous places."
The other man appeared slightly surprised at the question for a moment, but then he simply smiled and turned back to the ocean. "Truth is, I came here to think over a few things. Something important happened here a few years back, and I come here sometimes so that I don't forget what I learned that day."
After a brief pause, the man continued, "'Course, you'd think I would have learned from my own parents about what to avoid in a spouse… It's a good thing we broke up when we did, before we got married, though I really thought she was the one for a while." He laughed a little. "Oh, was I wrong."
Fubuki tilted his head. This man was suffering from problems with his love life? He couldn't just stand by and let that happen – he was the (self-proclaimed) Wizard of Love, after all. "Well, you might have reached one setback, but don't let that stop you from seeking out your true soul mate!" was his enthusiastic and encouraging reply.
The other laughed, somewhat more cheerfully. "Don't worry, I'm not going to stop looking." As he looked back toward the sea, though, he continued, "The reason I came was, really, because it was here that, regardless of everything I'd done, all of the pain I'd caused, someone once told me that they loved me."
Fubuki smiled a bit, and the two of them stared off toward the sea once again, neither of them daring to say anything. But after a few minutes, as the sun continued to set, the other man began to walk off. "Well, I should probably be going. Good luck in the Pro Leagues, Tenjoin."
"Thanks –" Fubuki began, his speech trailing off and his eyes widening slightly as he finally recognized the man who he had been talking to.
And with a smile and a peace sign made from two fingers, Katsuya Jounouchi walked off toward the warehouses and what lay beyond.
Fubuki stared off after him for a little while, in mild shock that he had been talking to the one duelist he admired so much and not even realized it. But after a few moments, he smiled wider than he had since the day before Manjoume had come to dye the Obelisk dormitory white.
He wouldn't tell Asuka though. She wasn't in a state to appreciate any of what he had to say anyway, and he wanted to keep the memory of this meeting special to just him.
Thank you, Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Your one hundred eighty episodes and the fandom inspired from it have inspired me so much in turn, given me so much enjoyment, and brightened the end of many a dreary afternoon. I will miss you as a series, and I will miss your characters, but I look forward to possible cameos from your characters in the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds.