AnimeKiwi369: Okay, it's been more than a week. I should update.

Copper: Yeah.

AnimeKiwi369: Personally, I was expecting more of a response from the prologue. But oh, well. I'm sure I'll get more of a response in due time.

Copper: Hopefully.

AnimeKiwi369: Maybe I should do a bonus chapter for a certain number or reviews...

Copper: Maybe.

AnimeKiwi369: What's up with the one word answers?

Copper: Nothing.

AnimeKiwi369: ...

Copper: ...

AnimeKiwi369: Whatever. If it helps any, the reviews this did get was pretty positive.

Copper: Okay.

AnimeKiwi369: Sigh. I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or its characters. I just own my OCs, the plot, and Yusei's mother's name.


Chapter 1

Easing into Summer

Fifteen-year-old Copper Fudo sat by the hospital bed, holding her boyfriend, Lane Kessler's hand. He was unconscious and resting peacefully. A few weeks after the freshman's play for the school, Romeo and Juliet (that happened just a week after they gave their fathers a song-gift to show their appreciation before Father's Day) which both of them had starred in, the ice-blue-haired boy had gotten a sore throat. And when it hadn't gone away after about a week, Misty, his mother, took him to the doctor. From there, it was discovered he had the same thing his father, Kalin, had had over twenty years ago: throat cancer.

It was a curable kind, though, with just a simple surgery. That's what the blue-eyed boy had had the previous day. The dark-haired girl had been more than upset when she learned he had that, but was relieved when her boyfriend's younger sister, Mikaylan (Miky for short), told her that he was going to be having surgery to remove the cancer. She had waited along with her boyfriend's family while he was in the surgery.

And now here she was, a couple days later, waiting for him to wake up from the anesthetics. The surgery had been the afternoon before the previous day and it was now about one o'clock in the afternoon, but they had had to use a lot of anesthesia, since he had been asleep for over twenty-four hours. She had been restless the past couple nights before after going home. She had also had trouble relaxing and was very fidgety. No matter how many times she told herself that her boyfriend was okay. But she was all right now. She wasn't nervous at all.

The dark-haired psychic was glad that this time it wasn't her in the hospital. She'd been in one enough times within the last two years. First for an appendectomy, then for her wrist and ribcage after she got back from the past, and then spent most of the rest of the summer in the hospital after a crash after a turbo duel she was forced into.

But she didn't think hospitals were completely bad. She had been at the hospital the same night she and Lane had their first kiss. It had been just a few months ago, when her baby brother had been born back in March. She could still remember that night. She could still feel their first kiss on her lips. She smiled at the memory. They hadn't kissed much since then other than a kiss on the cheek or hand. But they had had a couple of other on the lips kisses. And not just for the play.

Copper smiled down at the ice-blue-haired boy and gently leaned down to briefly touch her lips to her boyfriend's cheek. She was glad that both of her boyfriend's parents and siblings weren't in the room and just about a block away from the hospital getting something to eat. She gently started running her fingers through his hair. She knew that she was in love, but wasn't ready to say those three words: "I love you." She still sometimes couldn't believe that she and her childhood friend and dance partner were a couple. It was like in all the cliché love stories almost. In just another month or so, they would be together for a year.

And both had definitely grown in the past year, in both a physical and mental sense. The blue-eyed boy had grown just slightly taller and filled out in his body, so he wasn't lanky. He hadn't been that lanky before, but now no one could tell he had once been that. The dark-haired girl had also grown a little taller and filled out more in her chest and developed a little bit of obvious muscle in her legs and arms. Both had also matured a little more and were a bit more serious in thinking and actions, but still liked to have fun. They used common sense more, too, but not much more than before.

And in just a couple weeks, she would have had her overlapping Signer Marks for a year. She looked down at the crimson patterns in her ivory skin. Despite having had them for almost a year, she was still fascinated by them. She adjusted the thin, see-through dark blue shawl she was wearing over a dark red spaghetti strap shirt so that it was drifting off her right shoulder.

She mostly covered her left shoulder to hide the scar she had gotten the previous summer. The dark-haired girl knew that her bra straps were showing, but she wasn't very self-conscious about that as she was about her scars. She also had on a pair of jeans with a pair of flat, fashionable bronze sandals that buckled at her ankles. She had been bored the previous night and randomly painted both her fingernails and toenails purple with a little white flower decal stick on.

She pushed a loose lock of her dark hair, which was also threaded with burgundy red throughout and recently been showing more in her bangs, behind her ear. It was tied loosely in a ponytail, but bits of her hair were loose around her, almost getting caught in her silver hoop earrings. She felt her red energy stabilizer bracelet dangle slightly on her wrist as she held her boyfriend's hand with both of her hands.

The dark-haired teenager turned her attention to the television that was nearby in the room. It was muted. The screen was on a dueling channel. It was showing her father, Yusei, winning the duel he was currently at. It was another rematch between him and the former king of dueling before Jack, Hunter Pace. She smirked slightly. No one could beat her father. And no one ever would. Same with her mother, Akiza. But she hadn't been dueling much lately since she was still technically supposed to be on maternity leave. She was so glad that they had passed down some of their skills to her.

She wished that her unconscious boyfriend was awake already. Even though he wouldn't be able to speak for a few days, as highly recommended by the surgeon to rest his throat, at least she could spend time with him being awake before his family got back. But she did have a way for them to communicate. She had brought a small whiteboard and marker in a small backpack so at least they could communicate.

Lane flexed his hand slightly, catching her attention. She looked down at her boyfriend, who was slowly waking up. He shook his head slightly, trying to get out of a fog. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision. He turned his head towards her as he felt her hand in his. He smiled and opened his mouth to say something. She stopped him, putting her finger over his lips. She smiled gently at him.

"Oh, no, you don't Lane Jacob Kessler," She told him, amused. "You're not allowed to talk for at least another day. Doctor's orders." His mouth opened again, but it closed. He made a frustrated sound. The psychic dug around in her small backpack for the whiteboard and dry erase marker, "I do have this for you, however." She told him, handing him the two items.

The ice-blue-haired uncapped the marker and wrote on the whiteboard. He turned it around towards her, "Do I really have to wait until tomorrow until I can talk again?" It asked.

She giggled a little, "Yes, Laney." She replied, using a little pet name she had given him for fun, "You really have to wait until tomorrow."

He sighed and erased what he had written. He wrote over it, "How long have you been here?"

"Couple hours," She responded.

Her boyfriend wrote another question, "Really?"

Copper smiled softly at him and took his hands in her. She stared into his simple blue eyes, "Yes."

"You're so sweet, 29," He wrote down.

She simply continued to smile, "You know, the banquet's in just a couple days." She commented.

"Yeah. And?" He asked on the board.

"I was just thinking about slow dancing," She responded with a slight blush. "With you. Being really close."

He smiled, "Oh." He wrote down. The blue-eyed boy looked around before writing again. He showed her the new question, "Where did my parents go?"

"They went down to a small restaurant down the street, but they'll be back," She told him and he nodded. An almost mischievous glint came to his eyes and he hastily wrote down something new.

"Did the doctors say anything about not kissing for a few days?" was the new question.

The psychic felt her face flush deeply, but shook her head 'no'. The ice-blue-haired boy smirked ever so slightly and sat up. He grabbed his girlfriend's wrist. He pulled her over to the bed and onto his lap. She rested her arms around his neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He brought her closer to press his lips against hers, but both stopped when they heard an annoyed sound from the doorway.

Both turned to see the ice-blue-haired boy's younger sister, Miky. Her dark hair was loose and her golden eyes were glaring slightly. She was two years apart from them, but not really by much, since she was going to be fourteen in a few weeks. She'd been a bit moody lately. Everyone figured it was the whole teenage thing.

"Better break apart, you two," She told them with a stoic tone. "Mom, dad, and Gabe are just down the hall."

Both of them blushed crimson and hastily pulled away from each other. The dark-haired psychic grabbed her backpack and stood up.

"I, umm, better, get, uh, going," She commented, slowly backing out of the room. She bumped into the former male Dark Signer, "S-Sorry, Kalin." She apologized hastily before running out of the hospital.

Copper mentally slapped herself for letting her and Lane get caught by a thirteen—almost fourteen—year-old. She sighed as she came to her duel runner. At least they weren't caught by the two married former Dark Signers. That would have been humiliating! Hopefully there wouldn't be anything else to humiliate her in the following couple months. It was summer after all.

The psychic slipped on her helmet and rode home, barely registering her surroundings. She pulled into the garage and sighed again. Why did it seem that parents had such inconvenient timing? She slowly dismounted her runner and took off her helmet as she went inside the house. She trudged upstairs, not hearing her mother greet her as she sat in a rocking chair in the living room. Nan was with Setsuko in a book club they had joined recently.

She flopped down on her bed and hit the pillow, "Right now, I'm glad that my brother's a baby. He won't embarrass me and my boyfriend until we're out of the house and on our own."

She heard a soft knock on her opened door, but didn't have to look to know it was her mother, "Copper, honey, is something wrong?"

The dark-haired psychic sighed and turned onto her back. Her mother had Nicholas in a small sling-type thing to carry him, "Miky interrupted me and Lane. And then his parents showed up."

"And when you say interrupted, you mean interrupted a kiss, didn't you?" Her mother asked, amused.

"Maybe," she responded.

Her mother laughed softly, "I'll take that as a yes."

She sighed again, "I can't hide anything from you, can I, mom?"

Her mother shook her head, still smiling, "I'm going to go put Nickie down for his nap and then make lunch. Wanna help?" She asked.

"Sure, mom," she responded.

She got up and followed her mother to her parent's bedroom before going down into the kitchen. They were in a pleasant silence as they both cooked, only asking for an ingredient once in a while. She and her mother finished up their cooking as they heard the sound of an engine pull into the garage. Both recognized the engine as Yusei's. They'd know that sound anywhere. But why was he home? He should have gone back to work after the duel. The dark-haired Signer came into the kitchen looking contented.

"What are you doing home so soon, honey?" Her mother asked, "Shouldn't you have gone to work after your duel?"

"Yeah, I should have," He replied with an amused smile; he seemed more relaxed lately. "But I called Jack and Crow and told them I wanted to have lunch with my family."

"Well, there's plenty here, dad," Copper told him. "Turkey and/or chicken sandwiches, pasta salad, watermelon, and iced tea. Your basic summer lunch."

"Sounds great," He commented. "There was actually another reason I came home for lunch." Both women looked at him to continue, "Jack and Crow are fighting over how John and Raven are dating. I heard that before they started talking to me. And I'm not going to listen to it alone since Kalin took the week off because of Lane's surgery. That and Jack's been bragging since John got his license the other day."

Both psychics nodded. The dark-haired one also blushed a little remembering what had happened less than an hour ago. Both the Signers noticed, but didn't say a thing. She faintly heard her cell phone ring from upstairs as her mother placed the food on plates. She hurried up back to her room to grab her phone. Raven was calling her. She answered it.

"Did you see him? Is he okay?" Her friend asked frantically, referring to the dark-haired girl's boyfriend.

"Yeah and yeah," She responded. "But he can't speak for a couple days. He's fine."

"That's good," She heard John's voice say. She must have been on speaker.

"Heard ya got your license," She commented to the blonde.

"Yeah and it rocks!" He exclaimed. She could just tell he was smirking on the other end.

"I have to go eat lunch," She told them. "How about I meet up with you guys at the hospital tomorrow to see Lane?"

"Sure," They replied before she hung up and went back downstairs, where her parents were already eating. They knew she didn't mind if they started without her. She sat down between them and speared an orange piece of tortelloni in the pasta salad.

"So how was Lane when you saw him?" Her father asked casually as he began to eat the other half of his chicken sandwich.

"Oh, he was fine," She replied. "But frustrated he can't speak for a few days."

"I remember how frustrated Kalin was about not talking after that surgery," He replied. "But he was in a way better mood after Misty said 'yes' to his silent proposal."

"I still find it so romantic the way he did that," Akiza commented. "Your proposal was romantic, too, Yusei. And so were Crow's and Bruno's," she went on. "And even Jack's was romantic."

Copper had to cover her mouth to keep the piece of watermelon in her mouth from falling out and hide her snicker. It was so hard to see John's father as romantic. She suppressed her giggle and swallowed her piece of fruit. She continued to eat by taking a bite out of her turkey sandwich. She savored the flavor from the vinaigrette dressing and herbs. She and her mother made such a good cooking team.

The phone rang as she and her mother started to put things away and as her father picked up his coat, so he could get back to work. He answered it, placing it by his ear. His answered were one-syllables and not audible to the two psychics. He nodded before hanging up the phone. He looked over at his wife.

"Mina needs to talk to you and Luna later," He told her.

"All right." The psychic responded.

"I'm going to go back to work," He told them. "I'll be back in a few hours."

They both nodded as he left and took off. The dark-haired girl got her sketchpad pencil from her desk in her room. She went out on the porch swing as her mother went to attend the baby. She curled herself on the porch swing, finding herself sketching her boyfriend. She couldn't help herself. Lane just seemed to make her smile. Though it had been a little weird how they had gotten together in the hospital.

After her crash the previous summer, she had been in the hospital for a good portion for the rest of it under heavy anesthetics. She had been asleep when she felt her Marks throb slightly and slowly woken up, but had kept her eyes closed as she felt the ice-blue-haired boy's hand in hers. She hadn't opened them until he had admitted her had deep, deep feelings for her. Though she had been definitely out of it (in the giggly way), she had admitted she felt the same and didn't want him to leave. They had ended up spending a lot of time together.

Copper let one of her legs dangle off the edge of the swing as she leaned back and closed her eyes. Easing into summer was always so easy. Yet it never turned out to be easy as it went along.

Later That Night

"So what did Mina need to talk to me about?" Akiza asked as she and her husband sat on the couch, close to each other.

They hadn't been able to be as close as they wanted to be since the baby came. Except on their anniversary (their seventeenth), which had been about a couple weeks ago. It was currently late and both Nickie and their daughter were in bed. Along with the male Signer's mother.

"There are some people that want to duel you and Luna specifically," He told her, yawning a little. It had been a pretty long day…especially with having to listen to Jack and Crow argue, "But she didn't tell me who. Mina was rather cryptic and sounded a little nervous to be honest."

"I wonder why." She commented, yawning a bit herself as she laid her head on her husband's shoulder, "We'll call her in the morning, I presume."

"Yeah," Yusei nodded, lying his head on his spouse's. "I think we should go to bed ourselves."

She reluctantly nodded, but didn't stand up, "Do we have to go upstairs?" She asked, "Can't we just stay here on the couch?"

He chuckled a little, "As much as I'd like that, that's probably not the best idea."

She sighed, "You're probably right."

The dark-haired man stood up, taking his wife with him and both made their way up the stairs to their room to get some rest.


AnimeKiwi369: Well, I hope that satisfied everyone.

Copper: I guess.

AnimeKiwi369: Looks like someone's done giving me the one-word treatment.

Copper: Not yet.

AnimeKiwi369: You giving me the two-word treatment now.

Copper: Yeah. So?

AnimeKiwi369: Nothing. Never mind. I'm not going to set a number of reviews, but depending on how many I get, I may just have to do bonus updates. And maybe I'll give shout outs to who reviews. But I'll let you guys decide if I should do that or not.

Copper: It's your story.

AnimeKiwi369: Ha! Three words!

Copper: I can't be semi-silent forever. I liked the chapter, by the way, even though you embarrassed me and Lane.

AnimeKiwi369: I figured as much. I have a feeling, there will be more silent treatments from you as the story progresses...

Copper: What's that supposed to mean?

AnimeKiwi369: You'll find out. So for now, I'm just going to say I appreciate everyone who reads this and I also really appreciate those of you who review. All I have left to say is please be kind and please reviews! And I'll try to update soon! :)