A Date With Destiny

As they traveled down to Domino City, Jake was telling Haushinka how he came to be the American Champion.

"So I finally get my Dark Magician on the field, and the guy summons Buster Blader!" he dictated. "And I'm just like..." He dropped his jaw and widened his eyes. Haushinka laughed.

"But then I drew Yami, so ..."

"You like the Dark Magician?" she asked.

"He's my favorite card." said Jake.

"My father's too!" she declared.

"Oh, great," moaned Jake. "Something else for him to hate me for."

"My dad doesn't hate you," she said. "He hates your father, I won't lie, but he might just dislike you by association."

"My 'intentions,'" he muttered.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," she laughed. She looked around the street and declared, "Here's the square! Where to now?"

"It's no big deal to me," he said. "Come on, what's your craving?"

"Hmmm..." she said, staring at the restaurants.

"So, what's your favorite card?" asked Jake as he dunked a nacho into some cheese.

"Magician's Valkyria," she replied without hesitation, taking a bite out of a chip of her own. "But I have a Dark Magician Girl, of course."

"I must really suck; you didn't get a chance to play either one in our duel," he thought aloud.

"I was having a bad draw day," she said. "It wasn't you."

Across the room, three people sat at a crowded table, watching the young couple over newspapers and behind sunglasses.

"Good GOD, Haushinka!" moaned the lone girl. "You aren't gonna nab him with duel talk!"

"The lucky bastard!" snorted the red-haired boy.

The couple chortled at something.

"I bet it wasn't even that funny," said the red-head. He turned to his companions. The girl and the last boy were tandem-eating a Twizzler from opposite ends. When they came to the center, she gave him a quick kiss and giggled.

"Sare!" whispered the red-head. "We're supposed to be snooping on THEIR date! It's not supposed to be one for YOU GUYS!"

"Jackie's just mad he's all alone," said Sarah, taking off her sunglasses.

Suddenly a newspaper landed over her head.

"We're supposed to be incognito!!" whispered Jack. Sarah wrestled the newspaper, yelling, "Get this thing off my head!" When Kenneth finally got it off the three looked up to a rather unpleasant sight.

"You've been following us?!" shouted Haushinka.

"Umm... not at all," lied Jack. "Do you OWN this restaurant? I didn't think so! It's all a coincidence."

"Well then, 'coincidentally,' we have to go now," said Haushinka. "Come on, Jake, we'll go to the arcade."

They went to the pier.

"I meant in about an hour or two," she laughed. Jake chuckled while watching a Canadian goose swim in the water.

"I don't know why they call them Canadian," he said. "I've been all over North America, and that was the only country I didn't see them in."

"Maybe they got tired of the cold and decided to move."

"I like the water over here," he observed. "Very nice and clear."

"America's nice, too," she said. "I've been there with my mother. She's a ballerina. Just last year she was in Romeo and Juliet at Lincoln Center in New York. It was a dream come true for her."

"I saw that," he told her. "It was lovely."

When they got to the park, they sat on a bench together, she on one side, he on the other, and watched the pigeons peck at the dirt.

"I once had this theory that pigeons were going to take over the world."

"What?"

"There are so many of them!" he yelled. "And they're EVERYWHERE!"

"They're dumb!" she retaliated. "I think they're dumber than the dodo bird!"

"But if they all banded together, I bet they could do it," he said. "That's why I feed them whenever I can. When they finally do it, they'll look at me and just fly away."

Haushinka laughed out loud, then said, "You just might be slightly insane."

"So I've been told."

Finally, while they were walking down the streets after sunset, she managed to ask a question that was plaguing her.

"Do you miss your old home?"

"Huh?"

"You just--you don't seem very homesick," she said. "You've been here for about a week and you seem perfectly at ease. Don't you miss America?"

"Less and less every day I see you," he responded. He slapped a hand to his forehead, "That sounded really cheesy, I'm sorry."

"I thought it was sweet."

He put an arm around Haushinka's shoulder and said, "Good duels, clear water, and pretty girls. I should have moved to Japan years ago."

Haushinka looked before them and pointed to a large stone building, "It's the museum!"

She ran ahead to it. "My parents' friend is working in some exhibit here."

"Oh no," said Jake. "We Americans aren't big fans of museums!" He began to run after her. "Haushinka, come back!"

"I just want to say hello to Miss Hawkins and then leave, okay?" she asked.

"Alright," he said. "But can it please be quick? Museums and libraries, they make me nervous." To himself he mumbled, "They're so quiet."

Haushinka stepped inside the exhibit and said, "Hello? Miss Hawkins? It's--"

She gasped.

"What?!" asked Jake. "What's wrong?" He looked to the object of her gaze. It was a carving of two men standing on opposite ends of a burning flame. Their hands were extended towards each other.

Haushinka pointed to the man on the right, "That looks like my dad!"

Jake looked closer at it, "Yeah, it really does! And the other guy looks like Seto Kaiba."

"Is this some kind of joke?!" she shouted into the empty room.

"No, Haushinka," said a warm voice. Nonetheless, it sent a chill down her spine.

"Where are you? What is this?" she asked.

"Don't fear me," said the woman coming out from the shadows. "I've been expecting you."