As Time Goes By

"Masamune is such a jerk!"

It wasn't often that Yu got angry. Annoyed, yes, but not angry. At least, not to such a degree. Yet, he was in his hotel room in China, with his roommate not there. A perfect opportunity to vent out.

With a long sigh, he plopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling above. It was so...white. And plain.

He hated being the substitute. As if the constant reminder of his failure in his last battle wasn't enough, Masamune rubbed it in all the time. He could definitely do without him on the team.

He was just so annoying, and therefore, a complete jerk as far as Yu was concerned.

If only they hadn't met.

Masamune watched as Yu celebrated his victory in the second round, talking to no one in particular as his mouth moved miles a minute. His previous anger at being ignored subsided slightly as he watched the kid.

It was...weird, to be honest. Yu had to be one of the happiest, most cheerful person he'd ever met. Still, this was the first time he had seen him so joyous.

Seemed like he couldn't use the substitute taunt now that he had proven himself.

It felt oddly good, watching him celebrate joyously. It was a feeling he could get used to.

It wasn't light that woke him up. It also wasn't a nightmare from the Dark Nebula, which was admittedly a bit rare these days.

No, it was the sound of crashing that woke him up.

Yu groaned slightly, opening his eyes to see what the heck was going on. The curtains were drawn and Gingka and Tsubasa were still asleep, so what was it?

He turned over to his other side, finding Masamune's bed empty. Now that was strange. Usually, the green clad blader could sleep through a nuclear explosion, unless it came with a five course meal.

Heaving a sigh, he got up and scanned the room. Nothing was out of place, except maybe his teammate's vacant and messy bed.

A crash.

Eventually, curiosity won over sleep and Yu found himself leaving the room and walking through the dark and empty lobby, stopping at the door that led outside.

Masamune was outside, smashing stuff with Striker and probably not caring about the consequences. Then again, who in their right mind would be up at a time like this?

As Striker spun in front of it's blader, Masamune ground his teeth.

Yu moved outside, rubbing one of his eyes. "Masamune? What are you doing?"

The older one turned, his eyes widening in surprise. "Oh, hey. Didn't mean to wake you up."

Yu shrugged, sitting on the few steps in front of the hotel. "Nevermind. What are you doing, anyways?"

Masamune recalled Striker. "What does it look like? Practice."

Yu gave him a deadpan look. "At this time? Are you insane?" Masamune didn't answer. Yu frowned. He was acting really weird. He racked his brain for anything that might have happened.

No, he was definitely not concerned. Not even a little bit. Why would he be?

Okay, that was a bit of a lie.

It took a while for it to click. "Is this about the festival earlier?"

Surely, he had to be wrong. After all, why would a small loss put him out this much? Everyone lost from time to time.

Masamune looked away, further confirming his suspicion. "It's not a big deal, you know," the orange-haired kid said.

That was the wrong thing to say.

Masamune rounded on him at a neck-breaking speed. Eyes narrowed, he said, "What do you know about it? I'm supposed to be the best, damnit! I can't be losing so easily!"

And then, it hit Yu. Masamune didn't have a superiority complex, as he thought before. It was an inferiority complex. One loss meant he wasn't good enough, it wasn't alright if he wasn't the best. He just had to be Number One. That was all there was to it.

Masamune groaned, rubbing his eyes. For some reason, he was up in the middle of the night and he didn't even know why. He sat up on the bed he had been sprawled over and yawned.

He turned towards the window, finding a small figure in front of it staring at the full moon.

Mentally, he sighed, remembering the state they had found him in, and the people responsible for it. Man, he'd give anything to be able to watch Yu destroy those bastards.

Getting up, he walked towards him. "Couldn't sleep?"

Yu jumped slightly and turned around. "Guess not." He turned back to the window, though his eyes remained on the floor this time. He sighed. "I really wanted to fight them."

Masamune grimaced. He wasn't the right person for heart-to-heart talks. However, his mind reeled back to the selection tournament and how helpless he had felt when he found out that he couldn't make it on time to be with his friend on the American team.

"Sometimes, you have to make choices you would never want to," he found himself saying.

Yu turned to him again, his big eyes imploring. "I guess so. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Despite himself, Masamune smiled, remembering what he'd told himself back then. He reached out to ruffle his hair, ignoring the protest that followed. "Who knows? You might actually get to enjoy it."

Yu watched as Masamune sighed. The whole confrontation with Zeo hadn't gone really good for him. Still, he refused to believe what that guy had said, about Masamune betraying him. He was just too loyal for that.

He stepped forward to the terrace. "Masamune?"

The green clad blader turned to him and through the darkness, Yu could see some redness in his eyes. "Oh, hey Yu."

Yu stopped next to him, staring at city below. "Are you okay?"

What he didn't expect was for Masamune to suddenly pull him into a hug. "I really don't know," he whispered, his voice raw with a multitude of emotions.

"It's okay," Yu whispered the words Tsubasa would say to him, even though he knew it wasn't a nightmare but a reality.

Masamune watched Yu and Tsubasa as they slept in the hospital room. It was scary, to be honest, watching them under the covers. Had it not been for the slow rise and fall of their chests and the soft beeping of the heart monitor, he would have thought that they were dead.

He shook his head, ridding his brain of all such thoughts.

For once, he really wanted to hurt someone, even more than the Garcias.

He glanced at the orange-haired kid, imagining his eyes open, brimming with curiosity and wonder, his grin bright as Sun itself. He sighed.

The kid was really growing on him.

"You're leaving?"

Masamune stopped in the middle of his packing and turned to him. The two stared at each other for a while, before Striker's wielder turned back to his bed. "Yeah."

Yu frowned sadly. He knew Masamune was going to leave after being done with the whole stuff that came with winning the World Championships. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

"Do you have to?" He sounded like a small, sacred little child, but he didn't care at the moment.

Masamune sighed, turning back to him. "Yeah." He must have seen the dejection on his face, because he quickly added, "But it's not like we won't see each other again."

That prospect cheered him up a bit. Yu grinned, "Yeah, and then, I'll beat you for sure!"

Instead of getting fired up or angry, like he would have almost half a year ago, Masamune chuckled slightly. "We'll see about that, kiddo." He reached out and ruffled his hair, and for once, Yu didn't complain.

Yu's grin took a mischeivous turn as he said, "Don't forget, I am a bey genius. And besides, I've beaten Yo-yo and Gingky before, so don't underestimate me."

With that, he left, ignoring Masamune's incredulous stare that followed him. Not much later, the entire hotel was racked with the sound of, "WHAT?!"

Yu just grinned and snickered.