Me: Hey, guys! I'm back with a new fanfic. (waves and jumps happily)

Yuma: Finally! You're getting lazy at uploading.

Kotori: Yuma! (frowns)

Me: Eh, that's true. I'm so sorry for that. But now, let's get started! This fanfic is a spin-off to Yin-Yang Yoh's fanfic, My Maiden's Number. And now, let's start the disclaimer.

Astral: Animecartoonlover36 doesn't own Takashi, Cathy, or the other Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal characters. She also doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal or Yin-Yang Yoh's fanfic, My Maiden's Number.

Me: Well, enjoy the fanfic! This is my first one that doesn't have Skyshipping as the main pairing. P.S. Italics are thought bubbles.

Connecting Hearts with Determination

Chapter 1: Choosing a Heart Partner

"Wake up, Takashi!"

Takashi moaned and slowly blinked his eyes open. Yawning, he turned his head to the left and spotted his mother standing in the doorway.

"Ah, you're up! Breakfast is almost done." his mother told him. "Please get ready for school. Today's a special day!" Smiling, she disappeared from the doorway.

Takashi quickly got out of his bed and turned off the alarm on his clock, despite the fact that it didn't even go off yet. His mother had a habit of waking him up earlier than the alarm, but he got used to it.

Takashi then grabbed his school clothes and walked to the bathroom. After he washed up and got dressed, he dashed into the kitchen.

"Ohayou, Kaa-san." Takashi greeted as he sat down at the table.

His mother looked over her shoulder and smiled before turning back to the stove. "Ohayou. So, do you know why today is a special day?"

"Of course I do! It's the Heart Connection Celebration today. Every year, after everyone has a half day of everything, we get paired up with someone. To summarize, we spend the entire day with them, where you get to connect and know each other better."

"Alright, I'm just checking." Takashi's mother said, laughing.

She then turned around and placed the food on the table. "Here you go, Takashi."

"Arigatou, Kaa-san! It looks delicious." Takashi commented, grinning.

Takashi's mother smiled at that and settled down into the chair across from him.

"Itadakimasu." they both said, clapping their hands together.

"So, who are you going to choose as your Heart Connection partner?" Takashi's mother asked, picking up her chopsticks.

"Umm, I don't know. Maybe I'll choose…Tokunosuke to be my partner." Takashi answered her.

"Tokunosuke?" his mother questioned.

"Yeah. Mostly because Yuma is probably going to choose Tetsuo and Kotori is probably going to choose one of her friends. To summarize, Tokunosuke is the only person left to choose." Takashi told her, placing the piece of food from his chopsticks to his mouth.

"Really? What about Cathy then?"

Takashi froze and swallowed. "W-What about her?"

"Well, you didn't mention her at all, so she probably doesn't have a partner either. You could choose Cathy as your partner." she explained.

"I don't know…" Takashi said, smiling sheepishly. He then quickly grabbed his bowl and finished the last bits of his food.

"Well, I better get to school now." he told her as he got up and walked to the front door.

"Alright. Have fun, okay?" Takashi's mother called out to him.

"I will, Kaa-san! See you later."

When the door finally closed, Takashi's mother let out a sigh. "I wonder what that was about…"

Meanwhile, Takashi was walking to school. "I actually was thinking of choosing Cat-chan to be my partner this year, but I don't think I can…" he thought, blushing a bit.

Takashi had gained a tiny crush on the cat girl ever since he first met her. In time, the crush grew with each moment. The day before the Heart Connection Celebration, he had decided to choose Cathy as his Heart partner. But now, he was having second thoughts about it.

Takashi frowned as he got near the school entrance. "No, I can't back down now. I already made my decision…" he told himself.

Takashi then ran into the school and entered the classroom. After he greeted Tetsuo and Tokunosuke, he plopped down into his usual seat.

A couple of minutes later, the door to the classroom opened, showing a tired and out of breath Yuma.

"Hey, you guys!" Yuma said, panting.

Takashi sighed quietly to himself as he turned around. "You are late as usual, Yuma."

"Hey, where's Kotori?"

Takashi blinked as he heard Yuma. "Wait…Yuma's right! Where is Kotori? She usually isn't late, and she's not the kind of person to be late either. To summarize, I wonder…"

"Sorry, but I got here!"

Takashi popped out of his thoughts and watched as Yuma got startled by Kotori's unexpected appearance.

"GAH! Don't do that!"

"Alright, everyone take your seats." the teacher said, standing up from his desk.

Takashi quickly turned back into his seat. In the corner of his eye, he spotted Cathy slipping into her own seat.

"Now, for today's 'Heart Connection Celebration' we are going to go over something different! Maiden in Love." the teacher announced.

Takashi snapped his eyes back forward as he heard the teacher. Concentrate, Takashi! You don't want Cat-chan to notice you staring at her! Besides, Maiden in Love is an interesting lesson for today. To summarize, the sooner you listen to the lesson, the sooner you can ask her to be your partner."

After that, Takashi listened to the lesson and waited patiently for the bell to ring.

Minutes later, the bell rang.

"Well, class is over. The Heart Connection Celebration begins! Choose your heart partner!"

"Alright, it's time for me to ask." Takashi stood up from his seat and was about to walk over to Cathy when suddenly…

"Inchou, Ura!"

Takashi knew who that voice belonged to. It was Tokunosuke.

"Oh, hey Tokunosuke." Takashi greeted, turning around.

"Hey Inchou, do you want to be my Heart partner, Ura?" Tokunosuke asked, grinning.

Takashi's smile faltered a little. "Well actually, I was going to ask…"

"Hey Yuma, what gives? Explain yourself right now!"

Takashi and Tokunosuke turned towards the yell and saw Tetsuo and Cathy with Yuma and Kotori.

"What's Tetsuo yelling about now, Ura?" Tokunosuke muttered.

"I don't know." Takashi said, shrugging his shoulders. "It looks like Cat-chan is trying to ask Yuma… Wait a minute…are Yuma and Kotori holding hands?"

The two continued to watch the conversation, for Tetsuo had stopped yelling and the others were talking in a normal volume that the two couldn't hear.

Suddenly, Tetsuo started laughing his head off as he walked away towards them while Cathy returned to her seat with an agitated and annoyed look.

Takashi and Tokunosuke looked at each other with confused faces before turning back to Tetsuo, who had just reached them.

"Hey Tetsuo, what's so funny, Ura?" Tokunosuke questioned.

"Yuma chose Kotori as his Heart partner. He probably has the hots for her!" Tetsuo replied, calming down from his laughing fit.

"Huh? Really?" Takashi cried out, a bit surprised.

"Yeah!" Tetsuo's grin then turned into a frown. "But since Yuma is partners with Kotori this year, I don't have a partner now…"

Tokunosuke smirked. "That's too bad, because…" Tokunosuke turned to look at Takashi, and then stopped his sentence when he noticed him looking away.

"Who is he staring at, Ura?" Tokunosuke wondered, his smirk now gone. Following Takashi's gaze, he found out that he was staring at Cathy, who was sitting in her chair alone.

"Cat-chan? Why is he…? Oh, I see! So that's what Inchou wanted to say. He was trying to say that he was going to ask Cat-chan, Ura."

Tokunosuke began to smirk again, a small plan in mind. Turning back to Tetsuo, he started to finish his sentence.

"…because I don't have a partner either, Ura."

Takashi, who had heard Tokunosuke, turned his attention back to them. "Eh?" he murmured, curious to see what was going on.

Ignoring Takashi's confusion and curiosity, Tokunosuke continued. "Hey! Since I don't have a partner and you don't have a partner, how about we both become partners, Ura?"

"Hmm…okay, why not?" Tetsuo then turned to Takashi. "But what about you, Inchou? Do you have a partner yet?"

Takashi stared at the two. It was all going so fast! But he was smart to understand what Tokunosuke was doing. "So, I guess Tokunosuke figured out that I was going to ask Cat-chan, huh? Alright then…"

"Don't worry about me. To summarize, I know who I'm going to ask to be my partner." Takashi replied, catching onto Tokunosuke's plan.

"You better hurry up and ask then! You never know if someone already asked that person to be their partner." Tetsuo told Takashi.

Takashi nodded his head once with agreement. "R-Right!"

"Well, we're going to go now. Good luck, Inchou, Ura." Tokunosuke said, smirking. He and Tetsuo then walked out the classroom.

Takashi sighed after they left. Turning around, Takashi checked to see if Cathy was still there. Fortunately, she was still where he had seen her. "Okay, here I go. Just act normal…"

Walking towards her, Takashi greeted Cathy with a smile. "Hey there, Cat-chan."

"Oh, hi Inchou." Cathy greeted back, turning to face him.

"So, have you chosen your Heart partner yet?" Takashi asked her.

"No, I haven't…" Cathy frowned at that, but then looked at Takashi with a confused face. "Why are you asking?"

"I was just wondering…if you would like to be my Heart partner this year." Takashi answered with a slight blush on his cheeks, which was luckily not noticed by Cathy.

Cathy gasped silently, her eyes widening a little. She didn't expect this to happen. She also didn't expect Yuma to be holding hands with Kotori when she walked over to ask him to be her partner. Half of her still wanted to be Yuma's partner, which was impossible because he chose Kotori, much to her dismay. But the other half of her wanted to accept and be Takashi's partner. It was probably because nobody had ever asked her to be their Heart partner before.

Quickly recovering from her shock, Cathy moved her mouth into a small smile. "Sure, Inchou. I would like to be your Heart partner."

Takashi grinned when he heard her agree. "Really? That's great!" He moved aside a little as Cathy stood up. "Let's go, we have the rest of the day to spend together."

Takashi walked to the door, followed by Cathy. "I know Yuma's not my partner this year, but…I guess there's always next year. And besides, I'm going to have fun and not be lonely now…right?"

Despite her thoughts, Cathy couldn't help but let out a soft, sad sigh as she walked out the door behind Takashi.

Me: Finished with the first chapter! But what will happen in the next chapter? Is Cathy still thinking of Yuma? Probably…

Astral: Uh, what are you doing?

Me: I…don't know. (smiles sheepishly)

Yuma: Hey, are you going to update regularly now?

Kotori: Yuma…

Me: (shrugs) I'm usually busy with school, but since it's a new year now, I'll try to. Well, I hope you like this! And for fun, see how many times Takashi says "to summarize" in this chapter. (grins)

Takashi: Is that really necessary? To summarize…

Me: It's just for fun, Takashi. Anyway, please review and I'll see you guys later!