So guys, do you like apples? Cause this time, the Fruit Basket is filled with Appleshipping!

I came up with this idea while writing chapter 2 of Prison of Scales. Speaking of which, this was finished before I even began on Chapter 3. Said chapter is almost finished, but I probably won't be posting it immediately after it is, that way I can start working on the other ones.

This is the first chapter of the collection to NOT be humor. If you think I have to change the genre of the story because of this, let me know.

In any case, I hope you like it.

Characters: Yugo, Rin.

Pairings: Appleshipping.

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, its characters or the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG/OCG. This story is non-profit.


There aren't many things that Yugo fears.

Sure, sometimes he could be afraid of Rin's reactions whenever he messed something up, and other times, he was scared that he broke something on accident or that Rin had injured herself, but very rarely did he ever experience a feeling of dread.

But, ever since he had been reunited with Rin, there has been one thing, one question that he has been dreading to hear. A question he was afraid to answer, one he never wanted to answer.

"Yugo, where is our D-Wheel?"

Because he knew the answer would hurt her.

Their D-Wheel, the symbol of their dreams, had been destroyed during the war. But that was not the reason why Yugo did not want to answer her.

It was because she had been the one to break it.

Under the influence of a parasite in her brain, Rin had been forced to duel for Academia, forced to duel Yugo. When a powerful attack by Wind Witch – Crystal Bell, a Fusion Monster born from the parasite's hold on Rin's heart, had caused Yugo to lose control, the resulting crash had completely demolished the D-Wheel, making it irreparable. They would have to start over from scratch.

It was only after a few seconds had passed and she said his name again did Yugo give her an answer.

"I broke it."

A lie, but one that he needed to say. He didn't want Rin to know what she did. She wasn't being herself, so she shouldn't be blamed. Besides, it really was his fault. Had he been stronger, this wouldn't have happened. So he was ready to take all the blame, even if she hated him for it.

Rin was too smart, however, and knew Yugo too well, to fall for it.

"Don't lie to me, Yugo. You may be clumsy most of the time, but you're still the best D-Wheeler I know. Plus, you always took good care of it, so I know you didn't break it."

"Well, it's broken, and that's it."

He was hoping to end the conversation then and there, but unfortunately for him, Rin had no intention of letting him go until he told her the truth.

"Yugo, what happened?" Her tone of voice told him she was not happy he was keeping secrets from her.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said as he moved to leave the room, but Rin stopped him by roughly grabbing him by the arm.

"Yugo, answer me."

"I said, I don't want to talk about it." Both of their voices were getting higher in volume.

"Stop acting like a child and tell me what happened to our D-Wheel!"

"I'm not acting like a child! I just don't want to tell you!"

"Don't want to tell me!? I worked on that D-Wheel just as much as you did! I deserve to know!"

"Maybe you did, but I can't tell you!" At this point, they had both lost their cool and were now yelling at each other.

"WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME!? WHAT HAPPENED THAT'S SO BAD, THAT YOU HAVE TO KEEP SECRETS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD FRIEND!?"

"BECAUSE IF I TOLD YOU, YOU'D FEEL AWFUL ABOUT IT!" Only after the words left his mouth did he register what he said. His eyes widened and both of his hands covered his mouth, but it was too late.

"WHY WOULD I-" Rin's yelling was cut short when an image momentarily flashed in her mind. An image of a memory she doesn't remember experiencing, one that made her stop and think more on what Yugo had said.

The longer she thought about it, the more worried she became. A single thought had been planted into her mind and as that thought grew, so too did a sick feeling in her stomach.

"Yugo... did-"

"Nothing happened, Rin! So just forget about it!" Yugo cut her off, trying to stop her from figuring it out, but all it did was enhance her growing suspicions of what happened.

"Was it... Did I-"

"You did absolutely nothing wrong, Rin!" He tried so desperately to get her to stop thinking about it.

But it was all in vain. An image had shown itself in her mind.

A memory of her wearing a Duel Disk that belonged to the soldiers of Academia, with a single Fusion Monster on its blade. Before her a trail of broken parts, belonging to some form of vehicle, all leading to the horrifying sight of an injured Yugo laying next to a white, broken D-Wheel. In that moment, the truth dawned on her.

"It was me."

She did it. She dueled Yugo and broke the D-Wheel. It was her fault.

The realization had her cup her face into her hands as the shock brought her to tears. This is what he was afraid of, that she'd blame herself.

"I-I broke it. I broke the D-Wheel we spent our entire lives building!" she wailed, and it broke Yugo's heart.

"No, Rin, it wasn't your fault! You weren't you at the time!"

"I destroyed the symbol of all our hopes and dreams! Stupid Rin! How could you do that!?" She began chastising herself. It was so wrong to him. She shouldn't be doing that, she should be chastising him! He was the stupid one!

"Rin, please stop! Listen to me!" He desperately wanted to comfort her, to stop the tears from running down her beautiful face. But she kept ignoring his words, drowning in her overwhelming feelings of guilt.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!"

"Stop apologizing! You don't have to apologize for anything, Rin! RIN!"

It hurt. It hurt so much. It hurt seeing her like this, but she just didn't listen. It became too much for him, and as a result, he did something that he could end up regretting. Looking back, he would definitely say it had been a risky and impulsive action to take. However, Yugo was never afraid of taking risks. Just like his Dueling, it was go big or go home, which was why he did what he did.

That was why he kissed her.

And it worked. Rin's eyes shot open to see Yugo gently but firmly kissing her with his eyes closed. All traces of guilt promptly disappeared from her mind to be replaced with disbelief. Yugo was kissing her!

Before she had even finished processing what was happening, Yugo pulled back and opened his eyes. His clear blue ones meeting with her confused yellow with a serious look she had never seen from him before.

"Rin, I don't blame you for what happened because you didn't do it." She was about to argue, but he cut her off with a finger to her lips. "Listen. When we were dueling then, you weren't you. You were manipulated by whoever did this to you, so stop blaming yourself," he paused to run his thumbs against her cheeks and wipe away her tears away, "and don't cry. We haven't lost our hopes or our dreams. I'm sad that our D-Wheel is gone, but we can make another one," he then brought their foreheads together, never breaking eye contact, "But you, Rin, are more important to me than anything else in the world. I love you. I don't care that there are three other girls who look just like you, you're the one I spent my whole life with."

"D-Wheels can be built and rebuilt, but to me, you're irreplaceable."

During Yugo's entire speech, the cold feeling of pain and guilt that had been coursing through her whole body was slowly being replaced by a pleasant, comforting warmth. The tears of sadness that she had been shedding had stopped, soon to be replaced by those of joy. At the end, she was rendered speechless.

"Yugo..." was all she said before throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace, one that he returned in kind. "Yugo, thank you. Thank you so much. I love you too."

No more words were said, both of them opting to hug each other in silence.

It would take a minute before anyone spoke again. "Are you alright now?" Yugo asked.

"Yes. I'm fine now. Thanks to you," she answered with a smile, breaking the hug to look at him.

"You're welcome. Now, do you want to start on the new D-Wheel?"

"Actually..." she closed the distance between their faces slightly, "could we kiss again? It felt very nice."

Yugo smiled and answered, "Of course, anything for you," before the two of them closed their eyes as well as the remaining distance between their lips. The new D-Wheel would have to wait.


These apples were very bitter at first, but then they were super sweet! I loved them!

I hope you liked them too!

Apologies if you thought Yugo was OOC, but I have the feeling that being raised in poor environment, he knows what's truly valuable.

Reviews, constructive criticism and identifying my spelling/writing errors are all welcome and appreciated.

-Writertainer