Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX or 'At The Sign Of The Sugared Plum'

Chapter 2

Meeting

It was another two weeks before Aster finally gave Jaden - who'd been placed by his mother in Aster's care for their time in London - permission to leave the bakery to pay a visit to the tailor's shop. The Bills Of Mortality, which showed the numbers who died of what in each week, were showing a steady increase in plague deaths. Aster was beginning to fear the sickness although it didn't seem to have a hold on any of their neighbours, but Jaden was as carefree as ever and seemed not to notice the rising of the deaths. He saw no corpses in the streets or madmen, only a few gypsies proclaiming that the end was nigh - and didn't they all say that to get money? Jaden was certain that everything would be well in the end.

As he turned the various corners and hurried down the lanes, his attitude wasn't at all changed, for he saw no enclosed houses nearby. There weren't dead bodies lying in the streets as he'd fearfully imagined the previous night - it had been a night for nightmares, and he'd have several - and nobody seemed greatly scared either. What a fuss over nothing!

Jaden went the wrong way five times before he eventually turned into the right alleyway and passed many shops, some of which interested him and some of which didn't, until he eventually reached a tiny hole in the wall. It had a sign that read Princeton Tailor's and immediately Jaden knew that this was a family with pride in themselves. He almost decided not to bother with it, but the thought of all those red clothes that Jim had been talking about won him over and he walked through the archway into the little shop, which somehow seemed bigger on the inside.

There were rows of shelves with each shelf piled high with bundles of cloth and materials, or needles and thread or buttons, or other materials precious to tailors. Jaden couldn't see any actual clothes, but he noticed an open archway and realised there was probably another room back there in which the clothes were kept to stop them from being stolen. He coughed loudly and suddenly a small pale face peeked out from the archway, glaring at him.

"Keep it down" the black haired male growled.

"Sorry, just wondering where you'd got to" Jaden laughed sheepishly, grinning at the glaring male, unfazed. "It's your shop, right, pal?"

"The name's Chazz Princeton!" the man said indignantly.

"And mine's Jaden Yuki!" Jaden laughed, ignoring the cold glare the man sent him, and said "so how come you've got to be so quiet in here?"

Jaden was rather used to his shop, which was always noisy with talking and laughter - thanks to him and much to Aster's annoyance.

"You're disturbing my customers!" Chazz growled.

Here, Jaden heard kind laughter from inside the room - a man's voice, he was certain - and then another figure came into view. But this figure was very, very different from the irritated Princeton in he stood beside.

This man wore black and white, with a short blue vest over his white shirt, and he grinned at Jaden - Jaden was glad that not everyone in London got so grumpy over a little noise. This man had spiky blue hair that Jaden almost laughed at because he found it so cute, but that was before he fell under the spell of the man's eyes - which were a strange, stunning shade of green that he'd never seen on a person before.

Jaden, slightly awed, smiled back at the man.

"Hey, there! You work here, too?" he asked pleasantly.

The young man laughed, not unkindly.

"Nah, I don't have the skills for this sort of thing" he said with a smile. "I work Mapleside Manor, a while from here."

"Mapleside Manor?" Jaden gasped.

He'd heard of it - everyone had heard of it! It was a grand mansion house towards the west of the city, and was home to persons of quality (the very rich and titled) but not just any type of person! Lord and Lady Truesdale! Everyone knew of them: Lord Truesdale was a close friend of the King's, and his younger brother was friends with one of the king's bastard children. Everybody knew the wealthy family.

"Heh, I guess you've heard of it then" the young man grinned, noticing the familiar stunned look on Jaden's face. "Guess everyone has."

Jaden, beginning to get over the shock, looked more closely at this young man. He had a strange, completely unfamiliar feeling and he didn't have a clue what it was. He felt so nervous but also completely comfortable.

"Guess so" Jaden smiled, over the shock completely. "So, what do you do there?"

"I'm a gentleman of the wardrobe to Lord Truesdale" the young man grinned. "He's got several, but I'm in charge of the rest of them. I've worked with him for a few years now."

"Is he a good master?" Jaden asked, knowing that the titled people could often be hard and cruel with their servants.

"He is" the young man reassured him. "We get on fairly well, considering."

"That's great" Jaden grinned.

"Are you in service at one of the big houses, too?"

"No. I work in a bakery near here."

"That sounds better than what I do" the man laughed, and here he turned away from Jaden to look back at Chazz Princeton - who, Jaden noticed, was getting more irritated by the minute - and smiled simply at him. "So, can you have all that ready by next Monday, Chazz?"

First name terms? They must know each other well.

"Sure can" Chazz grumbled. "I am The Chazz, after all."

Here the young man rolled his eyes, seemingly having heard it all before.

"Yeah, yeah, so you keep telling me" he laughed, and then glanced back at a confused Jaden, and laughed again. "First time here?"

Jaden nodded, surprised, and muttered "how did you know that?"

"You didn't react to the whole 'The Chazz' thing. Everyone who knows this idiot does" he smiled, gesturing to the man in black next to him. Chazz glared and then walked into the back of the shop. The blue haired man laughed quietly and grinned at Jaden. "What's your name, partner?"

For the first time, Jaden noticed that this young man had a strange accent. Weird. But he smiled and offered him a hand nonetheless.

"Jaden Yuki" he said, shaking the man's hand. "And yours?"

"Jesse Andersen" he answered.

Jaden could do nothing but smile.

"Well, I have to get going" Jesse grinned, letting go of Jaden's hand - damn it - and walking towards the exit. "See you around."

"See you" Jaden called after him.

His heart was beating really fast and so loud that he didn't hear Chazz come up beside him and start speaking until the cold gray eyes were right in front of his own.

"Hey, can I help you or not?" he muttered. He didn't like this customer much but he'd have to go with it. Being the son of the becoming-rich tailor, he had to keep the Princeton name a good one.

Jaden shook his head violently to clear his mind and then smiled at Chazz.

"Eh … yeah, I was wondering if you had anything in red?"

"Come through to the back" Chazz muttered, his eyes seeming to catch light from somewhere. Jaden grinned. Had Jim not said that Chazz was fair proud of his new line of red clothing?

There were jackets and boots and shirts and waistcoats and tights and dresses and aprons and gloves and every other piece of clothing that you could name in the back of the shop - and there was a whole shelf that was filled with varying shades of red clothing. Jaden plucked several jackets and shirts from the pile - causing it to topple over and nearly crush Chazz - and admired them each in turn. Chazz glared and began to stitch some complicated waistcoat pattern that was yellow in colour.

Eventually, after much irritation of Chazz and trying on whatever he could at record speed, Jaden decided on a bright red jacket edged with black, and paid for it using some of the money he'd gained from working at the bakery.

To Chazz's great delight, the brunette was finally gone.

"What are you wearing?" Aster laughed at his cousin.

"Red" Jaden muttered, sticking his tongue out at Aster. "It's in fashion now."

"Since when did you care?"

"Since my favourite colour came to fashion" the brunette grinned.

Aster shook his head, annoyed.

"How can you care about what you look like when there are people dying?" he burst out, gesturing to the world beyond the shop. "There are people dying of plague and you're worrying about the colour of your jacket! How much did you pay for that? Just like you Jaden; act first, think later."

Jaden sighed but smiled at his cousin, unfazed by the outburst of anger.

"I saw no enclosed houses. I saw no dead people. Everyone else seemed happy." Just as Aster was about to erupt, Jaden continued. "And I met the nicest guy at the tailor's."

"Nicest guy, huh?" Aster grinned, having forgotten his anger in favour of teasing his little cousin. "Nice how?"

"He was really nice to me. I didn't mean it like that!" Jaden blushed, realising what Aster was getting at. "But I must admit … his eyes were beautiful."

"His face?"

"The most handsome I've ever seen."

"Heh, so a good trip out?"

Jaden blushed violently and set to kneading out some dough, ignoring his cousin. When he was sure Aster had lost interest in him, he dared to smile.

"It was when I met Jesse" he whispered in answer, knowing full well that Aster wouldn't be able to hear him.


Please R&R