Series: Paladin's Quest||Title: Rebirth of Kaiser
Characters: Ryou, Yuusuke||Ship: N/A
Chapter: 11/30||Words: 22,772
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

Juudai stepped out of the shadows, looked around, blinked, and waved at the three people, two dogs, and a bird staring at him.

"Hi! I didn't interrupt anything did I?"

Juudai didn't wait for an answer. He just strolled off down the street, knowing they would wave off what they'd seen. People usually did.

They won't always.

He smiled toward Yubel. They will for now. People don't come out of shadows, do they? Normally, I mean. So they'll decide they saw something else or pretend they never saw it at all.

Yubel didn't answer. They'd had this argument before. He really did prefer coming out where most people couldn't see him, but even after all these years, he couldn't pinpoint it as well as he would have liked to.

But now he had something else to think about as he headed down, working on getting himself oriented. Once he'd decided he'd arrived in Domino City – not all that far from the Kame Game Shop, really, he would have to drop in and see if Yuugi-san was there – he dug his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages.

Most of them he expected. A few wrong numbers, Manjoume blistering him out because he hadn't shown up to a duel – Jim reminding him that he'd promised to come and visit over the next holidays – then Shou.

Juudai listened to the message once and then again, his heart pattering faster before he breathed in enough to relax.

"I should have known," he muttered, carefully putting the phone away.

You'll have to tell him. Yubel advised. Juudai could feel something that might have been the edges of a smile tugging on his lips. The first year or so after Kaiser's… departure… Yubel insisted on not letting anyone know about where he lived now. They'd mellowed on that some with the passage of time.

He glanced around again. He knew the main reason he'd come back here today had been to talk to Johan, to tell him what Yubel already told him about what they'd picked up in the village.

"We can take another trip, can't we?" Juudai asked, eyes darting about as he searched for a patch of shadow thick enough to do what he needed to do.

He couldn't see Yubel roll their eyes but he could feel it all the same.

Of course we can. But Johan needs to know this as well.

Juudai wondered for a moment how many secrets he actually kept from people. There were far more than he could really think about, and some he wouldn't ever let on to anyone, no matter what.

But at least he could pass these on and that would be a little less that he had to worry about. Or more, just in a different way.

The biggest, deepest patch of shadow that he saw turned out to be cast by the Kame Game Shop itself. Juudai observed it for a few moments, still wishing that he had the time to go inside and say hello. It had been months since he'd visited Yuugi-san and he missed his friend.

Another time.

Yubel was right. As much as he wished they weren't at times.

I'm always right.

Of course they were. He stuck his mental tongue out at them, stepped into the shadow of the store, and stepped out again two doors down from Shou's apartment, a trip that would have taken a day and a half by foot and an hour or so if he'd bothered with trains.

Being him had some fun advantages, really.

Juudai made his way to the door. He could have emerged inside of it, but when it came to his friends, he preferred knocking sometimes. Unless he had something else on his mind and just didn't bother to observe the niceties.

He didn't have a chance to knock this time. The door swung open and Shou stood there. He'd grown several inches after graduation. He wouldn't ever be as tall as his brother, but he hovered around average height. Sometimes Juudai couldn't help but be surprised that his old friend looked like he'd just gotten repackaged a little bigger.

Shou blinked at him for a heartbeat or two before he flung his arms around Juudai and hugged him.

"Aniki! You came!"

"Of course I did!" Juudai ruffled Shou's hair, not failing to grin, that old friendship warming him from the inside out. "Did you really think I wouldn't?"

"I wasn't expecting you this soon." Shou stepped back enough to give him a stern look. "I thought you might stay away for another month or so."

It wouldn't have been the first time if he did, and Juudai knew it. His travels took him wherever he was needed. Sometimes he didn't set foot back on Earth soil for weeks or months at a time.

Once he hadn't been able to make it home for a month shy of a year. His voicemail box had been stuffed to the gills.

Shou tugged him towards the apartment door. "We should probably talk inside," he said, casting a glance around. Juudai didn't protest, though he was a touch curious now.

"Were you going out?" He indicated the jacket Shou had on. Shou shook his head.

"Nothing that I can't postpone." He didn't quite push Juudai inside, but he shifted from foot to foot, glancing up and down and all around as if worried someone might step out of thin air – someone who wasn't Juudai.

No sooner had Juudai crossed the threshold and Shou shut the door, his former roommate turned to look him directly in the eyes. Juudai didn't think that he'd ever seen Shou looking so serious or so hopeful before.

All Shou's message said was that there was something they should talk about. Only one thing came to mind that Juudai thought Shou would really want to talk about with such urgency.

"My brother's alive, isn't he? Somehow? And you know where he is."

One thing Juudai could say for Shou right now, he got down to the absolute point. He managed a small smile. He wasn't sure where it came from, only that it was there when he needed it.

"You're right. We do need to talk."

High above the plains she circled, metallic wings gleaming in the brilliant light of the sun. She couldn't hear what they talked about down there, but she didn't need to. She just wanted to know where they were.

There'd never been a harpy born who couldn't find their prey, and once found, never lost again.

Her claws flexed. She wanted to swoop down and take him away, drag him to the others, let them all rejoice in him having been found. But that wasn't possible. Not yet, at any rate.

She spun and darted ahead, too quick for the eye to follow, too high to resemble anything but a bird crossing the noon sky. It would take someone else in the air to recognize her for what she was, and those below stood no chance at all.

When she dropped down again, it was to stand in front of a group of warriors, each clad in identical armor, but one standing in the front, the marks of a captain on her helmet.

"Cyber Harpie. Report." She spoke as soon as the harpy's talons gripped onto the rock she'd chosen for a perch. Not the best of perches, but the trees here were too thick for her purposes right now. They could be useful later, though.

"I saw him," Cyber Harpie declared, eyes burning bright at the memory. "I saw him."

"Where was he?" The questions rose up from the gathered warriors rapidly. "What's he like? Are you sure?"

The captain gestured and the questions died at once. Cyber Harpie gathered herself.

"I couldn't get close enough to see his face, but he and a traveling companion are on the way to the market town this way." She tilted her head towards the road they stood in formation near. "I didn't dare get close enough to hear them or to feel his effect."

Soft murmurs of disappointment whispered among them, which were dispelled at once by another abrupt gesture from the captain.

"You're certain it's him, though?"

Cyber Harpie nodded, talons slicing at the stone beneath her. "You'll see it for yourself and you can get closer than I can."

"How can you be so certain?" One of the sergeants wanted to know. "If you couldn't get close enough to feel his effect or even see his face, are you sure it's him? We don't dare make a mistake."

Cyber Harpie snarled, loathing being accused of falsehood. "He's the one we're searching for. The Kaiser who will bring us strength."

The captain cleared her throat. "We'll know for certain when we cross paths with him. If he's not, we'll search again."

"We don't have that much time, captain," the sergeant pointed out. "If we make a mistake with him, we'll not have enough time to find the true one."

"We have time. Not much of it, but enough." The captain drew herself up, turning to look down the winding trail. "We wait until they return, however."

Protests at once sprang up, the sergeant's voice chief among them. But the captain again silenced them with a look.

"They may be alert now, but when they return, they'll be tired and more likely to let the guard down. Then we'll take them."

"Why both of them" The sergeant asked, frowning. "We only need the Kaiser."

Cyber Harpie raised a claw. "I wasn't close enough to see much, but I could feel something. His companion is a shadow mage."

The captain nodded, as if she'd expected that all along. "Because a shadow mage's help could be very useful in this war. Now, clear off and get marching. We're going to set up camp back there." She nodded towards the mountains before she turned back to Cyber Harpie. "Go to the market town. See if you can keep tracking them there and alert me if anything else we should know turns up."

Cyber Harpie took to the skies without another word. When her captain ordered, she obeyed. Plus, she looked forward to exploring the market town and seeing what could be found there. She had a few connections there: there were Amazons who she'd chatted with on previous visits who would gladly trade news for interesting items she possessed.

That would require a bit of backflying, though. Her precious cache of gems lay hidden where only she could find it. But she had time. The Kaiser and the magician wouldn't get to the town until the following day and she could make the trip ever so much faster.

He scrambled along after them, keeping himself as closely pressed to the ground as he could, keeping upwind to ensure they neither saw nor heard or scented him. He'd spent a great deal of his life spying and surviving and he wasn't going to fail because of humans.

Or a human and a spirit. They couldn't scent him – dull human senses the lot of them, even the spirit – but he could pick up a great deal from their scents, and he could tell the difference between the two easily enough.

Dark Familiar made certain that he wouldn't be seen, as he did every time he watched them, and peeked up out of the tall grass. He'd done this many times since he'd caught up to them and even when they'd looked in his direction he hadn't been seen.

Silly, useless things. He knew the stories; he'd known that this one called the Kaiser carried the reputation of having killed Haou in the old days. Even if he hadn't done it – and he hadn't, Dark Familiar had seen that duel and he knew the human who did the deed died in the doing – he was still a formidable warrior and not one that Dark Familiar wanted to face.

Why can't she just let things go? It's been years. Mourn the dead and move on. Find a new path. That's what he'd done. But Chaos Hunter insisted on her revenge and she'd dragged him into this.

She'd regret it all. He didn't doubt that for a moment. All he could do was hope that he wouldn't end up regretting it too.

To Be Continued

Notes: Do you know how hard it is to find cards that involve 'Cyber' in the title and yet Ryou or Asuka didn't play them?