Right now, due to some messed up stuff in my life, I am unable to write fluff. So my stories are kinda on hold until I get my fluff back. So I wrote this! I adore Ao no Exorcist! It's my newest love~

This story is a look into the relationship of Yukio and Shura, and takes place pre-series.
I like Yukio and Shura as a couple (mostly because of their friendship/hate relationship and the "I have faith in Shura-san's ability" line in chapter 17) but I thought it would be interesting to take a look at them before the series started.

So yeah. Enjoy!
-RD :)

Losers on Parade

She was always one step ahead.

.x.x.x.

He has lost again.

He looks up at her - fire-colored hair and all - with distaste. She's much too tough, no matter how much it pains him to admit it, even to himself. She's really got a way with that wooden sword, knocking every single one of those balls to the side for minutes on end without faltering. He can't hit them as well yet, even if he knows that his guns are better than her sword - or at least he thinks so. But no matter how good his guns are, Shura's too strong and she can beat him every time. And he doesn't like it at all.

"What's wrong, yer Scaredy?" she asks with that oh-so-annoying accent of hers. He stands up - he had fallen down during their game - and shoots her the most subtle of glares.

"Nothing."

She knows that it isn't true. Yukio always gets like this when he loses. He hates losing - even if he'll never say it - and he gets sort of pouty when he does. And the worst part is that he tries to cover it up. It's okay to lose, Shura knows, and if Yukio doesn't realize that, he'll never win.

"If ya don't want to play on the simulator, just tell me and we won't do it anymore."

"I want to play," he begins, adjusting his glasses. "So that someday I can beat you."

She smirks at him, knowing that that day is many years off into their future but in their future nonetheless. He's showing a lot of prowess for a twelve-year-old - more than she showed at his age - and if he keeps developing his skills, he might one day surpass her.

But still, she's not the type to tell him that. "Keep dreaming, Four Eyes."

And so he does.

.

.

.

And three years later, he's a Middle First Class Exorcist, but she's Upper First Class and she's still one step ahead.