Chapter 1: Unable to live with Myself

As the sunshine gleaned through his curtains, the annoying truth rushed to his mind, 'It was time to wake up'. Kai never minded waking up early in the morning, in fact, it was the only time he felt where things truly stood still, and he was able to bask in the silence that surrounded him, and allowed himself to be lost in his mind. As he rubbed his eyes before finally opening them, he peered over at his night table, and saw his trustworthy deck, the Narukami. He leveled his position on the bed, and took a look through the deck that had meant so much to him. He remembered the card fights he had been in, and how many opponents he had beaten using Narukami, more than he could care to count. As he reached his ace, Eradicator, Dragonic Descendant, Kai did something that no one thought he was capable of.

Kai had actually broken a small smile.

As he got up from bed and went to the bathroom to wash his face, he stared intently at his own reflection for awhile. For just a moment, the reflection he had seen was the shadow of who he used to be while he was under the influence of the Reverse. For a moment, he had stumbled back in surprise, but quickly took hold of his composure and shook it off.

"It doesn't matter, that's not who I am anymore" he tried telling himself.

Suddenly, the bulk of the truth had hit him. Under the influence of the Reverse, Kai had almost single-handedly reversed every card fighter on Earth, and he himself was responsible for reversing those that were closest to him, and almost handing the world over to the Void on a silver platter.

Having been fed up with thinking, he stormed out of his house and began walking down the street. Suddenly, a familiar voice was heard in the distance calling his name.

"Hey Kai! Wait up!" Aichi's voice was heard.

Kai had closed his eyes for a brief moment before his rival appeared in front him, took a deep breath, and opened his eyes.

"What do you want?" he coldly asked.

"There's gonna be a tournament at Card Capital today! I'm so excited to join! Are you coming too?" Aichi asked with hope in his eyes.

"You kids aren't worth my time" he said as he kept walking.

"But everyone is going to be there! We all know you're one of the best Kai, and I wanted to have a card fight with you to test out my new deck" he said while pulling out his cards.

"You just never know when to give up do you? Fine, I'll enter the tournament and I'll take all of you down myself" he said grinning as he pulled out his cards.

As the two of them walked together to the card shop, Aichi looked over at Kai, only to have his smile unreturned by him.

"Is something wrong? You look more stern and cold than usual" Aichi said with concern.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine" he retorted back.

As they had reached Card Capital and went inside, the two of them were greeted by many other customers and card fighters alike. Aichi was smiling and greeting everyone how he normally did, and laughed with his friends.

Kai suddenly saw something that took him off guard.

Kai quickly saw a brief vision of everyone in the card shop with the red markings of the Reverse running down their faces, all giving him the same empty, menacing stare.

As he had regained his grip of reality, he was more troubled than he was when I woke up this morning.

Without any given notice, Kai quickly went up to the counter and caught Misaki's attention.

"Oh, hey Kai! Are you here to sign up for the tournament today? With you here, I'd say all these new kids don't stand much of a chance" she smiled at him.

"I just want a pack of the newest set and I'm out of here" he coldly said as he reached for his wallet.

"You're not going to enter? That doesn't sound like you, is everything okay?" she said as she laid the pack on the table.

"I'm fine, I just want to be alone today" he said as he had placed his money on the table.

As the two had reached for their respective items, the two hands met for a brief moment. Misaki quickly blushed at the sensation of Kai's bigger, but warmer hand on hers.

Quickly realizing what happened, he took his hand away from hers, storming out the store.

Misaki was lost in thought, completely oblivious to anything around her. For some reason, she fumbled putting the money in the register, and even for a brief moment, forgotten where the close button was.

"What's wrong with me? I normally don't have trouble putting money in a register. Besides, why would I blush, it's Kai, he's the coldest guy I've ever met, and never talks or socializes much with anyone, save for Miwa" Misaki thought to herself.

She simply sat there thinking, and thinking.

"Shin!" Misaki called her uncle from another part of the store.

"What is it Misaki? Is there something I can do for you because I'm a bit busy setting up the tables for all these anxious new card fighters!" He replied trying to set up a table.

"I'm taking a lunch break, I'll be back soon" she said putting on her coat as she walked out the door.

"But whose gonna run the register?!" he quickly responded in confusion.

Without any further hesitation, Misaki had placed Assisti-cat on the counter, and walked out of the store.

As she left the store, she looked around in multiple different directions trying to think where Kai would have gone off.

"Ugh, Kai could be anywhere by now…I wonder where he could have gone. If I were Kai, where would I go to avoid people" she kept thinking to herself.

Suddenly, the truth had hit her.

"Ugh of course! He must have gone by the park by the fountains, it's always quiet over there" Misaki said as she started making her way to the park.

As she approached the park, she spotted Kai on a bench from a distance. He was sitting there opening his pack, and working on his deck by a pond.

As Misaki made her way closer to him, she began to feel anxious and uneasy.

"Why do I feel this way? Ever since we touched hands the feeling hasn't gone away! Maybe I'm just hungry" she tried telling herself.

As she approached Kai, she made her way next to the bench and took a deep breath.

"What do you want?" Kai said as he was re-arranging his deck, not paying any attention to Misaki.

"Kai something isn't right with you, since when does Toshiki Kai back out of a tournament with friends and new challenges to be had from card fighters?" Misaki said bluntly.

Kai immediately halted what he was doing, and turned a cold eye to the girl.

No one had ever called Kai by his first name, and for his name to be used in such a manner made him feel upset and on edge.

"Never call me Toshiki again, stick with Kai" he said going back to arranging his deck.

"Why is it always silence with you? Why do you always feel the need to keep people at a distance from you? Save for Miwa, but how much does Miwa really know about you?" Misaki asked bluntly.

"He knows enough. Why do you care if I talk or not?" he calmly responded back.

"Because you never let people in, that can't be healthy. Doesn't it ever occur to you that there just may be some people out there that care about you?" She replied.

Silence.

"Misaki, why do you care so much? I didn't think you were the type of person to snoop around and get into other people's business" he said eyeballing her.

Misaki made her way a little closer to Kai on the bench.

"I know what's wrong with you, and I understand how you feel. You and I are a lot alike, more than you can imagine" she said getting closer.

"Get lost, Tokura. If I really wanted an opinion I would have asked. Just keep your mouth shut and leave me alone, and don't follow me again." He said placing his deck in his pocket and strolling off.

"Kai…" She thought to herself in confusion and sadness.

Hey guys so I'm taking this one chapter at a time and see what you guys think! Hopefully this lays out a good foundation, the next chapter will be posted soon!