A Month in the Life of Ventus and Yugi

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter Two:

It was almost 6:00. Aqua was dusting the counter top for Yugi. Terra was in the bathroom, washing his face to freshen up. Riku had already left into town to get a head start on Seifer's gang. And yet Yugi, the leader of their little group, was missing in action.

"Great…" Aqua breathed a sigh of disappointment. "What is wrong with him? I'm not his servant, you know. I have needs too."

"Talking to yourself again, Aqua?" Terra had just gotten out of the bathroom, wearing a towel over his neck. Wiping his face with it, he kept talking. "Don't be so worried. Yugi must have had some problems with Ventus again."

"Yeah." Aqua half-heartedly mumbled. She slumped over the counter, very tired to keep standing. She had to get up at 4:30 today, because she knew Yugi would be late. Sometimes, she really hated Yugi.

As though he had read her mind, Terra laughed. Aqua glared at him, though it wasn't as powerful as usual. "What 's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just that if Yugi can't handle Ventus, maybe you should adopt him!"

Aqua blushed bright pink. "Shut up, Terra!" She took Terra's towel away and slapped him with it, though the latter dodged. "You're just embarrassed!" Terra stuck out his tongue.

Just as Aqua was about to retort, there was a blinding yellow light from outside the shop. Both of the young adults looked out the window when the light subsided. Sure enough, there was Yugi, sitting on his bike, with Fenrir stuck in the handlebars.

After getting out of the bike, Yugi took the Keyblade out, and almost instantly, the bike disappeared in a flash of light. When that happened, Yugi smiled. Then he threw his Keyblade, which disappeared as well. After he walked into the shop, he was greeted by another of Aqua's rants.

"Do you have ANY concept of time?" Aqua pointed at her watch. "What do you do when you're at home anyway?"

Yugi smiled. "Sorry. I had some problems with Ventus. Won't happen again." And he just walked past Aqua, sitting at the counter top.

Before Aqua could say something along the lines of "You always say that", she noticed how happy Yugi seemed. It was pretty uncharacteristic of him. "You okay, Yugi?" Aqua raised an eyebrow.

Yugi shook his head. "Forget it; I'm fine." Getting down to business, he took out his files from the file cabinet under the counter top and placed them on the desk. Then, he pulled out a small spiral notebook from his pocket and a pen. "What's the scoop today?"

Shaking off any thoughts of Ven from her mind, Aqua updated him on the news. "Cinderella is having twins in the Castle of Dreams, but people suspect that the father may not be her husband, due to her only having met him once at a party."

Yugi jotted it down. "Okay, okay. So I'll schedule an interview with the prince and get his feedback on the news. What else?"

"There was a train accident here in Twilight Town. A kid who was the son of a friend of the mayor was critically injured by a local train after playing on the tracks."

"Tsk tsk." Yugi shook his head. "Tragic. Make sure you call Riku later and ask him if he can get an interview with the mayor or anyone else connected with the accident. If he can't, tell him to at least take some pictures of the accident site. Also, see if you can pull out some photos of the mayor and the kid; they may be useful for the final cut."

Aqua nodded. "Roger, chief." Then she winked. "Also, as your secretary, I feel obligated to let you know that you have a special interview today at 3:00, with Mulan, no less!"

Yugi looked up from his notes. "Who's that?"

"Some girl who saved China from the Huns, the toughest warriors in the world. Men want her, and women want to be her. At least that's what I've been told."

Yugi shook his head. "Too bad she's never fought a couple Heartless like we have!" He sank back in his chair. "Besides, I have to pick up Ventus at 3:00; I can't even go to the interview today."

Aqua smiled. She loved how much Yugi cared for Ven; the fact that he went out of his way to help somebody who wasn't related to him was very heartwarming to her. Snapping back into reality, she spoke again. "Listen; I can pick Ventus up today. You go for the interview; it'll be a good scoop, I guarantee! You can even use it for this month's 'This Magical Life'!" In reality, she just wanted to spend more time with Ven. He was cute, she thought. As it was, she never spent time with him as it was.

"Nah. I can take care of Ventus. Tell Mulan's secretary we can schedule the interview for another time. Ven's my responsibility. Don't worry about it."

Yugi updated his notes, not noticing the sadness in Aqua's eyes. She looked down at the ground, hurt by Yugi's insensitivity, though he didn't know. Aqua shook back into reality and sat at her desk. "By the way, what are you doing today?"

Yugi shrugged. "I'm probably going to make some calls to Yen Sid. I'm doing a special segment on the Heartless, and he some important general information that even we don't know about, which might be important to the general public."

Aqua stared at Yugi intently. "Really? That's interesting. You should get that done."

Despite living in a peaceful era, the Heartless still persisted. The KC was always on the alert; if the Heartless were on the move, they needed to be the first ones to know about it.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "Of course." Then he turned to Terra, who was sitting at his desk. "Terra, what's new in sports?"

"The Twilight Thorns beat the Agrabah Ants 94-23 in basketball last Friday." Terra replied. "In surfing, some Tidus kid beat world famous surfer John Wade in a local completion. People want to know if he is going to retire."

"Perfect! This'll be perfect for the paper! Can you get Riku to get it done?"

"Mm-hmm! I'll let him know later!"

Yugi turned back to his notes. "Good so far. What else are we missing?"

"Well there is the title story. We still need a title story for this month." Aqua pointed out. "So far, we don't have anything good for it to be on the front page."

"Well, until we get something better, we'll put the story with the mayor's friend's kid as the title. We got four weeks until the paper comes out. We're on a roll so far; we keep this up, Setzer won't know what hit him!"

Yugi rubbed his hands together in glee. "Let's get started!"

Later...

It was around 3:00. It was around time for Yugi to pick up Ventus up from school. Just as he was about to walk outside to his bike…

…he was greeted by an armored hand slapping his back.

"OWWW!" Yugi grabbed his back and winced in pain. He turned around to see Ventus in his armor suit, holding his Keyblade Fresh Breeze.

"VENTUS!" Yugi's face bore a scowl, and it turned red again. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Ven took off his helmet. "I'm sorry…" He looked down at the ground; he still remembered how mad Yugi had been at him earlier.

Then Yugi's scowl magically disappeared, and his face returned to normal. "Ah, just kidding! Good to see you here!"

He then proceeded to give Ventus a hug. He was happy to see his friend again after so long. No matter how much Ven annoyed him, Yugi loved Ventus so much, like a little brother he never had. Ven smiled brightly and returned the hug, careful not to crush Yugi with his armor.

Terra and Aqua smiled upon seeing their two friends reunited. "I think their friendship is cute, don't you think?" Terra asked Aqua. Aqua only nodded.

But in reality, she couldn't help feel a bit jealous of Yugi. Why couldn't Ven love her the way he loved Yugi? How come he never hugged Aqua like he did Yugi?

Aqua brushed these thoughts aside. No, she thought. Now's not the time to feel jealous. I should be happy for their friendship. They're my friends too, after all.

After they finished hugging, Yugi put a hand on Ven's shoulder. "What are you doing here? I was going to pick you up."

Ven put his arms behind his head and laughed. "I didn't want you to waste time getting me, so I took my Keyblade Ride home today. Now you can get interviews done without worrying for me!"

This caused Yugi to cry. Terra, Aqua and Ven all looked at Yugi in confusion. "I'm so proud of you, Ventus." Yugi sniffed. "You're finally starting to be responsible."

Ven shrugged. "I learned it from you, Yug."

Brushing his tears of joy away, Yugi remembered something else. "But don't you have any homework to get done?"

"Ah, I can do that anytime. I just wanted to be with you guys again. Plus, Aqua doesn't have to stress her pretty head over being secretary AND wrting stories!"

Yugi laughed. He always liked how Ventus cared about other above himself. It was one of the qualities he liked the most in him.

Aqua giggled. "You're such a sweetie, Ven. You just earned yourself a little present."

Catching Ven unaware, she blew a kiss at his direction. Ven blushed a bright red. "Ah, Aqua, you're embarrassing me."

"Get a room, you two!" Yugi had a smug look on his face. Nudging Ven, he added, "If you two keep this up, this building will be full by suppertime!"

Both he and Terra laughed hard, while Aqua and Ven blushed, realizing what Yugi had implied.

"I'll make sure you're DEAD before suppertime!" Aqua started fuming. "Come here, you little punk!"

"You cannot deny your heart, Aqua. I hear it beating!" Yugi laughed as Aqua chased him around the counter top, with both Terra and Ven watching in amusement. It was a very heartwarming moment for the closest group of friends in the world.

Just as Aqua caught the older man and was about to beat him senseless, there was a call on Ven's desk.

"Oh boy, a call! Maybe it's Riku with a new scoop!" Ven jumped with glee. He cheerfully picked up the phone and said, in his best professional voice, "Hello, Keyblade Chronicles, the best paper in Twilight Town. How can I help you today...Riku? Hey, what's up dude! Any good stories today? Yeah! Yeah!...Yeah, he's right here, but-…What?..Oh my god! You're kidding! What do you mean she-DEAD?"

Ven stood there in shock, listening to what Riku was saying.

"No…that's…impossible. Are you sure?..." Ven put a hand to his face, tears falling down. "Oh my god…"

"All right…I'll let him know. We'll see what we can do. Bye."

Ven's entire expression changed. In one minute, he changed from happy-go lucky and carefree to sad and confused. He turned to the others with a flustered look on his face.

"Ven?" Yugi was worried about his friend. "What is it? What did he say?"

"No time to explain! Turn on the TV, quick!"

"Terra! The remote!" Terra quickly fumbled around in his drawer until he found the remote. Then he tossed it to Yugi. Quickly, he turned the TV on.

Aqua, Terra, Yugi and Ven all watched in horror as the headlines unfolded before them:

"Tragedy in Twilight Town: Girl Frozen To Death and Dropped From Clock Tower!"

To be continued