Part 2
The day at work nearly drove Asuka insane; attempting to work through multiples of notes in a vain attempt to make them make sense was made even harder by thinking about the boy she had left at home. She felt like she had been too rushed with the whole thing, she should have asked him to stay for a few days before she had sprung the idea on him.
"You okay?" one of the other research assistants asked, after she had dumped all the notes on the floor for the forth time.
"…just a guy", she said, scooping everything up, "It's nothing to have to do with work or anything. Nothing you have worry about it Sato"
Sato smiled, wrapping a strand of hair around her finger, "Oooh I don't think I've ever heard you talk about a boy before, what's his name..?"
Asuka rubbed her forehead, she should have never mentioned anything to Sato, she was known around the university as boy crazy. Something that had never come up before, but now that Judai was around.
"…it's not that kind of guy problem", Judai was more like a pet with behavioral problems that she had adopted and was trying to figure out the best way to discipline then a boyfriend.
"Comeee onnn you can tell me, is he cute? Oooh is he a pro duelist? I know you went to the fancy duel—"
Asuka walked away, slamming the door behind her before Sato could continue on with her little rant. Judai wasn't her boyfriend and he wasn't about to become anything like that. The reason she never dated was because too many men thought it was amusing that she liked to take control in a relationship, sexually and emotionally.
…maybe that was why the idea of being in the type of relationship that she and Judai were discussing was so appealing to her. She could be the assertive dominate member in the relationship if that's what ended up happening.
It would be good for Judai though, that's what she wanted for him to feel better about himself and too feel better about himself. If ordering him around and forcing him to do things is what helped him then it was good for the both of them.
Asuka threaded her hands through her hair, tugging on the strands gently, she was driving herself crazy thing about this. It was Judai's decision in the end if he wanted this to go ahead and for them to become something other than friends.
His hands were sore, and the light hurt his eyes as he stood in the kitchen, to pass the time rather than let himself get back to the real world he had chosen to do the dishes form breakfast. Not that there was a lot, toast didn't generate much in the way of dishes for anyone to do.
Dropping the last dish into the drying rack he stared at the swirling water down the sink, gripping the counter until his knuckles were white.
"Fuck", it had been okay while Asuka was there, expect when she had been sleeping. He had forced himself to be bright and cheerful like he was supposed to be. Now that there was no one around him to see his break down, he just let it all fall out.
Judai felt like he should just run away, get out of this house and not let Asuka get all tangled up in his issues, no matter how much she clearly wanted to help. There was pain twisted up in his stomach like something was trying to break through the skin and into the room.
There was so much that had happened since he had first met Asuka, when he was still happy and assuming that his life would be great always.
If what she was offering him would help him stop feeling the pain that twisted up inside his stomach. Nothing else had helped, running away form all the feelings that he had, or stopping eating until his whole body ached and all he could do was heave.
He held his stomach, sinking down until he was leaning against the sink, just him and the pain.
It hadn't accorded to Asuka that someone else might have noticed what was wrong with Judai, she would have thought someone would have contacted her about it. Not that she tended to get in contact with anyone else beyond Judai all that much these days.
On her lunch break she went through her contacts on her cell, trying to find someone who might have noticed that he wasn't doing as well.
"…so you haven't seen him Sho?" She rubbed her head, leaning against the table that she was sitting on. Of all the people she had called, only Johan had seen Judai in the last six months, and only for a night.
"No sorry Asuka, I thought that he was in another part of the world, you know not anywhere near Japan and that's why. He calls sometimes but I don't remember the last time I actually saw him in person", Sho seemed distracted, like he was doing something else while he was talking to her, "Why is there something wrong?"
"..ah nothing you have to worry about", everyone had said something similar, like they weren't even aware that Judai was falling apart. Maybe it had only been in the last six months or maybe none of them had seen it until her.
"You should come visit sometime you know, I mean I'm only a little ways away"
She smiled slightly, it did seem like she avoid seeing everyone else when they weren't that far away. There was just so much trouble in going to visit though, so she never bothered to even consider doing it.
"Maybe soon, I have a lot going on right now. Work and stuff", before he could interject and attempt to set up a time for her to visit, "I have to go Sho, my lunch break is almost over"
"…well okay bye Asuka, keep in contact"
"Yeah I will bye"
She slide the phone away from her, staring at the listen of people she had made to call. Jun hadn't seen Judai in almost three years, Jun who while maybe they weren't friends in the normal sense, they were friends. It was hard to believe that Judai would go that long without seeing anyone.
"…I guess he's been worse off than I thought", she almost wanted to just run back home, to see if he was still okay, to insist that he tell her just what the hell he was thinking, cutting himself off form what had been the biggest thing for him when they were younger.
"Everyone changes"
She couldn't wrap her mind around what might have happened, even after the Supreme King he had still seemed like the same person, happy and positive, determined that he would set off and do great things in the world.
"He's going to drive me fucking nuts"
Being alone in Asuka's house with nothing to do, and having calmed down after his attack, left Judai with only one thing to do. Explore and try to see what he could figure out about this new Asuka.
Despite coming to visit her every once in a while he realized that he barely knew anything about her life. He didn't know what her job was, besides it earned her enough to have a nice place on her own.
Scouting around there was several things that just seemed to pop out to him, a bare sort of rooms, a couch and a tv, just the things she needed in the main public rooms. There was an overarching theme of white and blue, something that made him smile a bit. She couldn't let go of her Obeslik roots, no matter how far them came from the Academy.
The only room where a bit of her personality shone through was her bedroom, a large queen bed (unmade form his sleep the night before) dominated the room. Asuka's Duel Disk was hung on the wall, with a desk underneath it. He assumed that was where her deck was. She had no dresser, only a pair of night tables on either side of her bed.
Feeling his curiosity overtake him, Judai opened one of the night table drawers, sliding it open slightly. There wasn't much to be seen, a bottle of pills, a book on Ancient Egypt. He was a little disappointed that she didn't keep something more interesting in there.
Scooting along the bed, he pulled open the other drawer open, this one revealing a few more interesting things. A pair of handcuffs were sitting on top of a box of condoms.
"Huh, getting a little action I guess", it was a little weird to think about Asuka having sex, with anyone. He had assumed she did, (hell he had before, even if it was a little hard to remember). But actually thinking about it…
He felt like he had invaded some secret part of her that she hadn't allowed him to see.
Judai closed the drawer, and slipped out of the bed. He walked out of the bedroom and plopped on the couch. He just…felt bad that he had done that, it had been pure curiosity but now he felt like a naughty pet waiting for his owner to get home.
"Or my mistress", he said with a laugh to himself before he realized that could become his reality.
Waiting at home for someone to come back to him, even if it wasn't a wife or a husband. Just someone that would want to see him at home, someone he could be excited to see.
He could have a real home to live at, and he could put down roots again.
It felt like something was gripping his heart, it was all too much for right now. He couldn't think about that right now, just forget the future. Just think about the right now.
That's what he always did anyways there was no reason to start thinking ahead now.