Series: Paladin's Quest||Title: Rebirth of Kaiser
Characters: Ryou, Yuusuke||Ship: N/A
Chapter: 10/30||Words: 20,709
Genre: Drama, Friendship||Rated: PG-13
Challenges: Diversity Writing Challenge: YGO GX: canon: K5, 20+ chapters; Slots: 2,000-67,000, 1st person past tense, rated T, reincarnation, gen-fic; One Character Boot Camp, Marufuji Ryou, #44, fade; Epic Big Bang
Notes: N/A

Yuusuke tapped on Ryou's door, waiting patiently for his friend to open it. Sometimes these days he had to fight to remember that they weren't going to classes or out shopping or whatever it was they'd done in the years between his return and when Hell Kaiser succumbed to his heart issues. The fact that the door he knocked on wasn't anything like the doors at Duel Academia or Ryou's apartment helped.

There were still moments where if he let his thoughts slip away, he found himself on the verge of mentioning class or the grocery list, however. So far he hadn't slipped. But there could be that day.

Ryou opened the door, nodding in greeting. Yuusuke saw the traveling cloak he'd wrapped around himself.

"Going somewhere?"

"The market. Did you want to come?" Ryou asked, tilting his head a small touch.

Yuusuke blinked in thought before he nodded. Ryou mentioned going to one of the markets and how it would help to know something about the bartering system used there. Whenever he'd had the time since then – it had been days since he'd arrived in the village – he'd worked hard to develop little items that would be useful around here, and for potential trading.

"Let's go." Ryou closed the door and settled a small jewel into a crack in one of the stones that made up his home. Yuusuke had crafted that one himself; it would bar anyone from entering the place while Ryou was gone.

Yuusuke hadn't come over with plans to head out for any length of time, but it only took him a few minutes to nip back to his home and pick up the small items he wanted to deal with. Catching up to Ryou also took little time and the two of them headed out of the village together.

"Where's Honest?" Ryou asked curiously, once the two of them were out of sight of the stockade walls. Yuusuke glanced back for a second.

"Visiting his brother. I gather they have a lot to catch up on." It had been a long time since they'd seen one another, counting from when Honest crossed between dimensions to befriend a very young and very scared little boy.

Ryou nodded. The two of them walked in silence for a short time, until they were in a long stretch of the path where no one could listen in without them being aware of it. Ryou caught Yuusuke's attention, one eyebrow cocked up for a quick moment: a silent question that he knew the answer to.

He knew so much of what Ryou wanted to know, but he asked a question for himself first.

"Have you remembered anything new?"

Ryou gathered his thoughts in silence. "Last night I had a dream. I saw a dragon: a powerful, metallic dragon. I don't remember the name, but I knew it. And it knew me."

"How many heads did it have?" Yuusuke wondered. He wasn't surprised to see the way Ryou looked at him when he asked the question.

"Only one. Why?"

Yuusuke shook his head. "If you're remembering that, then you'll remember the rest of it sooner or later. We can't rush this."

A faint flicker of annoyance crossed through Ryou's eyes but he said nothing to argue the point. Their agreement to have Ryou recover what memories he could on his own before Yuusuke told him everything that he knew remained.

He'd almost forgotten how stubborn Ryou could be, in all fairness. But the last few days reminded him of it vividly. Ryou would drag every scrap of memory that his mind held out of the deepest depths of himself before he truly asked for help, no matter how much he might want it.

If he's remembering Cyber Dragon, he might remember more. He'd spoken that first day of a point that could be used to spring forward to other memories. His Cyber deck had always been important to Ryou. It wasn't a surprise that was one of the first to return.

"Did you just dream about that? The dragon?" Yuusuke had to remind himself not to use the name. He had to remind himself of quite a few things now that he lived near to Ryou again.

I think I want him to remember as much as he wants to remember. It would make talking to him so much easier.

"I was… fighting someone, I think." Ryou's eyes fell to his left arm before his gaze rose again. "I don't remember it very well. But it was very familiar. As if I'd done it before."

Yuusuke considered for a heartbeat before he spoke. "You have. Many, many times." How often had he seen Ryou dueling with that deck? Then again with the deck he'd built after his return? Even he couldn't remember. Only that it had been so much, and no matter what deck he used, Ryou would always be amazing when he stood against an opponent as strong or stronger than he was.

Ryou turned his look toward the road ahead of them. Yuusuke recalled seeing that look on his face many times before, always when he searched for some answer that he didn't have.

"I've had a few other dreams. I don't remember them all in any real detail. But I think I lived in a palace once. Or something very like a palace."

Yuusuke didn't have to think about that. "It wasn't a palace. It was where we went to school. We were both in the highest ranked dorm." His lips curved briefly. "Some people would call it a palace, though." Matters had changed since their day, but Obelisk Blue being the most impressive of the three dorms hadn't.

Ryou fell back into silence for a brief span of time. Yuusuke made up his mind.

"It's called Duel Academia. There are three dorms: Osiris Red, Ra Yellow, and Obelisk Blue. Things are different now, but when we were there, Osiris Red was considered the least of the dorms, and Obelisk Blue the greatest."

He chose his words with care. Ryou wanted to remember on his own, at least as much as he could, but Yuusuke wasn't talking about his past. He was talking about a place he'd been as a teenager. The fact it happened to be a place Ryou had also been was irrelevant at the moment.

He wasn't at all surprised to see Ryou drinking in every single word.

Ryou wanted to think that hearing about this unlocked other memories. Yuusuke spoke of dorm buildings, of lessons and teachers, of adventures that the two of them and someone else – he barely mentioned there was a third to their group and he wouldn't say the name but what he'd said made it clear regardless – experienced.

Unfortunately, the stories couldn't last forever. Yuusuke, it seemed, had barely spent a year there before something happened to him. What it was he refused to say in detail, and Ryou suspected he would have to bring up those other memories all on his own.

He'd always expected no less. He wanted to talk to someone who knew him and his past and could tell him of who he'd been in a matter of moments. But now that he'd met someone who could do that to some extent, he couldn't bring himself to do it. He wanted to regain himself on his own, at least as much as he could.

"How long will it take to get there?" Yuusuke asked a short time after he'd reached the end of his brief collection of tales.

"We'll be there tomorrow. It's not that far." At least not by the standards of those who had to walk. Those who could fly would have made it that very afternoon. Fly or ride or do something that wasn't walking.

Yuusuke nodded; he didn't look very happy about it. He'd mentioned other means of transportation that his world had, and they did sound as if they would be much faster than this. Some of them conjured up images that he wasn't certain of, but which did feel far more familiar than he thought they had a right to be.

For the moment, however, he let those slip to the back of his mind. They'd already walked for hours, and it was time for lunch. Ryou chose a mossy rock by the side of the path, near a trickling stream, and settled down there, Yuusuke joining him.

"I stop here when I'm going to the market," he said as he dug into his bag for the food he'd packed. "I like it."

It was one of the rare places he'd ever encountered where he felt as if he'd seen it before. Every now and then his attention strayed to the far side of the stream and he often wondered what there could be over there. He'd never gone there; he preferred sticking to the trip and not wasting time. But there were several times he found himself tempted to make a trip that way, just to see what might be there.

That day would not be today. Today he intended to get some of the better teas available, as well as check for dueling cards – again, though he refused to expect anything to catch his attention. The more he'd spoken with Yuusuke, and a few words dropped by both Honest and Shine Angel, the more he suspected that he'd had a deck before, and for whatever reason, it hadn't crossed over with him.

Which meant the best person he could ask about it would be Juudai. If anyone knew where his deck had ended up, it could very well be him.

Perhaps when Juudai turned up again, he would ask about it. Juudai departed their world the night that he'd brought Yuusuke there. He'd never said when he'd return, but Ryou knew he would, sooner or later. He would be patient. It wasn't as if he had many options.

Yuusuke nibbled on the small loaf of bread Ryou gave him, his gaze roaming all around, fascinated as Ryou himself had been on his own first trip here. He said nothing, his mouth full, but the longer he looked, the more hints of worry slid into his expression.

Ryou glanced around as well, not surprised to feel a faint hint of wariness creeping up through his shoulders.

"Someone's watching," he murmured, trying to get some sort of feel on where the sensation came from. He'd chosen this place not just for the view but for the fact that grass spread out in every direction from here. The nearest trees were too far away for anyone to lurk in there and be able to hear them talk, not unless they yelled at the top of their lungs. That wasn't an option for either of them.

Yuusuke nodded, his own wariness not having eased for a moment. He closed his eyes and his lips moved, whatever he said too low for Ryou to hear. Ryou had seen him doing this before over the last few days: this was shadow magic. There were shadows almost everywhere, to some degree or other.

A shadow mage, such as Yuusuke, could learn a great deal from those shadows.

Ryou waited. He tried hard not to look as if he were especially interested in anything, glancing up the path that led to the market. He didn't want to be interrupted. It annoyed him if he were interrupted.

Yuusuke's fingers brushed against the back of his hand, drawing his attention back there. He still said nothing, but he glanced over to the far side of the stream. Ryou checked out the area, gaze eventually coming to rest on a rock on that side. It was about as big as the one they were sitting on, and as far as he could tell, it was just a rock, nothing more.

But he trusted Yuusuke's magic and more, he trusted Yuusuke himself.

"I've never been over there," he said. "I plan to one day, but not today." Ryou tilted his head back to check the position of the sun. "I think it's time to go."

Whatever was over there wouldn't be able to leave while they were there, and unless it could become invisible, they might be able to see it when it did. Ryou found himself anticipating whatever would happen. Whatever it was, it would be something interesting, and perhaps he could even learn a few more points about what had been his life before.

To Be Continued

Notes: I am having far more fun with this than you can imagine.