Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh Arc V, or any of its plot, characters or related franchise.
Still alive! If workloads could kill... But I've had a bit of a slow week so decided to get around to updating this. Apologies for the time!
All Yus appear in this one (to varying degrees) as do all the Bracelet girls. Mama bird can also be sited alongside a very indiscrete father.
"I keep telling you, this place does the best shakes and the burgers here…" Yuzu forewent words for drooling as she fanned herself at the thought of food.
Rin looked skeptical. "I doubt it's anything like Mrs Sakaki's cooking."
"Oh, no," her Standard counterpart said. "Of course not! Yuya's mum has the best cooking I've ever tasted, but this place comes to a close second. Or maybe third…."
"We'll try it anyway," Serena declared before the debate about which place was the best to eat at could truly begin. She was starving and it was not helping her mood.
"Besides, Yuto and the others are waiting there for us already," Ruri put in.
Yuzu sighed. "Yes, yes. I know. But I completely forgot about Michio Mokota and his father's place!"
"We can always try it later," Ruri said, patting her on the back.
"Yeah, when we're not all starving," her Fusion counterpart muttered.
Rin gave a strained smile. "Whatever the food's like here, it'll be better than eating whatever we can find on the streets."
"You've never tried the food at Academia," Serena replied, but she dropped the subject. Even now she was learning that there were hardships she could not even begin to comprehend. Academia had provided a very selected and bias education to all its students.
Just another thing to curse them for, Serena thought in her head. Yet, it was not so simple as that, she knew. Leo Akaba had cast more than several of the teachers under his spell, either through love or fear. Even then, more than several had also taught out of the pure belief that they were the superior dimension meant to bring order to the rest. (Then there were those…worms-)
Maybe she should follow Sora's example and try not to think about it too much. It was what it was – in the past.
Serena scratched her ears and growled in harmony with her stomach. "How much further?"
"We're almost there," Yuzu said cheerily.
That was an understatement. They were practically on the café's doorstep. Serena almost walked into the door itself, a lovely clearly hand-carved thing painted in a hideous shade of green.
"We're eating here?"
Good, Serena thought. I'm not the only one who is thinking that.
Yuzu looked at Rin, hurt. "Come on, it's not that bad. The owners just don't have money for a renovation yet after they moved their shop to a more frequented street."
"The sign would be the door if it hung any lower!" Rin put her hands on her hips. "Your screwdrivers are so cheap here. There's no excuse for that!"
"It's better inside," Yuzu promised, somewhat exasperated.
Serena's stomach growled, reminding her of her current priorities. "As long as there's food in there and it's clean, I don't care what it looks like. Lead on, Yuzu."
Her Standard counterpart did just that, opening the door (the sign didn't fall, much to the relief of the rest of Ray's fragments) and ushering Rin in with the comment that she could come back and fix it herself if it was such an annoyance. Ruri and Serena quickly followed.
The interior was thankfully much more habitable. Large seats lined every booth, not exactly plush but not rocks either. The walls were painted with various murals. They seemed to have been drawn by a talented child, but there was a quaintness about it. The subject matter was certainly more mature, often depicting well known celebrities and politicians and historical figures in humourous attires and situations.
Ruri quietly pointed to one of the city's Mayor being flung off a horse-tiger hybrid into a patch of cabbages. Her and Serena doubled over silently.
"Oh no."
Serena looked up from where she had been laughing. Yuzu had gone rigid, a dark aura rising steadily from her in waves. At least it would have been if they were in an anemia. Serena could not think of a worse nightmare (aside from the ones she occasionally got about some psycho trying to destroy the world and another psycho trying to merge them). When angered her Standard counterpart could give even that bastard Leo Akaba a run for his money. It made sense in strange way, what with them being fragments of Ray and Ray being his beloved and, more importantly, biological daughter.
Whatever those fools have done now, she thought, it had better be good.
Not one to rip a Band-Aid off slowly, Serena pushed her way through her three other friends and strode in through the café like she owned the place. Aside from a bird hunched in a corner seat much too small for him and an overly excitable father squashed next to him, there seemed to be no problem. The four Yu boys were sitting together in a much larger booth clearly waiting for their-
Oh.
Serena laughed, perhaps in a way bordering on the side of unhinged in retrospect. This later reflection certainly explained the odd look Ruri had given her not a moment later.
"Oh no," Yuzu said again. "What do they think they're doing? Don't those floozies know that those seats are reserved for us?"
And the pink haired girl stalked over to where Yuya and the others sat, Rin close on her heels with her tawny eyes fixed on a laughing Yugo. Serena and Ruri hurried after them. This would either turn out to be a very hilarious moment or a very awkward one.
There goes ever eating here again no matter how good the shakes are…
"Did I tell you about the time I managed to lift a D-wheel one handed?" Yugo boasted to the four girls who were giggling at him.
"No, in fact I don't think you ever mentioned that to me at all."
"Ah, well then, wait until you hear this-"
Serena would never admit to even thinking it but at that moment thanked whatever gods there were that Yuri was sitting next to Yugo at the time, for he elbowed his oblivious Synchro hard in the stomach and smiled politely up at Rin and her own lookalikes.
"Just in time," her fellow ex-Academia soldier drawled. "Shall we make room for you? I trust your journey here was well."
The next few moments passed rather quickly for however much that happened in them. Yuto's reaction was the most sedate after Yuri's, simply turning pleading eyes up to Ruri in the hopes she might rescue him from the attentions of the girl next to him, too gallant to refuse the stranger outright himself, as he stood to let help the four female fragments of Ray into their seats. Yuya, on the other hand, had somehow managed to transform his face into four different colours in quick succession before ducking beneath the table as though it could hide him from Yuzu's wrath. Yugo yelled when he saw Rin, but it was more in greeting than in anything else.
Rin smirked when she met eyes with the girl whom had seemed the most interested in her friend (more-than-friend if either of them would ever admit it, Serena thought). It was devastatingly clear to both whom the boy was the most interested in.
"Rin Rin!" Yugo said again, the beam as his face as wide as the room. "You're here! I was just talking to Emi and her friends. Did you know they were staying the month while their parents were looking for houses together?"
"No," Rin said in a voice that was both warm and frosty all at once. "Because I've never met them before."
"Ha! I'm sure we'll all get along fine," Yugo gushed, oblivious as ever. "Emi is really into motorbikes, even if she's never ridden one."
"Oh, really?" Rin glared at the girl in question, a wicked smile on her face. She then proceeded to question her on every part of a motorbike that existed, from the strongest shock absorbers to the most durable frame much to Emi's increasing embarrassment. Yugo's own face was also growing red, but it was more in anger at Rin.
Meanwhile, Ruri had accepted Yuto's hand and forcefully pushed her way onto the seat and the other girl who had been harassing her boyfriend off it. Her phantom knight was kindly explaining that this was girlfriend whom he had been waiting for, though she herself - Chiaki was her name – was a lovely young lady as well. Yuri rolled his eyes at his Xyz counterpart (where the other could not see) before blinking flirtishly up at the strange girl next to him. She blushed and tugged at her fourth friend's hand.
"I think we should be going," the fourth girl said, much to the others' relief.
"Yes," Yuzu agreed icily. "You should be."
The four left without a word, though Yuri bid them a sickeningly sweet goodbye, chorused by the much more genuine farewells of the other three. Serena took her seat after Yuzu did, plonking her elbows on the table and interlacing her fingers, chin resting on top and eyes peering over the top much like a predator's might.
"So," she said. "They seemed nice."
Sometimes the others asked if being an ass was a Fusion trait. Though Shun always declared it was, usually the others conceded that Serena proved otherwise. Still, sometimes that overgrown mother bird was right. Not that she would ever tell him. At least not directly.
"Too nice if you ask me," Yuzu huffed. "Yuya, why did they come over? Did you not tell them that you were saving the booth for us?"
From somewhere in the dimension beneath the table Yuya answered. "We did. I swear! I don't know why they came over, but they were nice. Very interested in hearing about dueltaining. I think Hotaru was talking about how she might take up dueling herself after all the publicity its been getting. She wanted some pointers – recognized my dad from a poster."
"I bet she did."
Yuya slid a little further into that other dimension. "I just gave her a few pointers."
"She was flirting with you," Yuzu said, frowning.
"Like Chiaki was with you," Ruri told Yuto. He blushed to his roots.
"I told her I was waiting for you," he said.
"Of course." Ruri winked at him. "Did you like her?"
Yuto spluttered. "What? No! Don't say that so loud. Shun's here. I don't want him to get the wrong idea."
"Oh, calm down," Serena said. "He seemed more pissed at your new admirers. Besides, Shuzo had him pinned." She waved cheerily at the older Kurosaki. He scowled back at her and jerked out of Shuzo's grasp. Shuzo, on the other hand, had no qualms about waving back. Serena looked at Ruri. "You know, he's such a gentleman compared to your brother."
Ruri turned to look over her shoulder, waving at both older males as well. Her brother dropped his face into his hand. Clearly, he was bemoaning his current short-term host's inability to maintain a discrete cover.
"I know," the younger Kurosaki said, grinning as she turned back around. "I've tried to instill some manners but, short of beating them into his head, nothing seems to stick."
Serena turned to Yuto. "Maybe you should try beating it into his head."
"I doubt it would stick any better," he snorted.
Serena grinned. At first she had thought the younger and much smaller boy would have been crushed in any physical altercation between him and his long term friend. The first fight they had started at Shuzo's house had proved her otherwise. Six minutes and several broken pots later and Yuto had Shun pinned to the ground, both swearing their heads off at each other as Ruri swore at them from the window. It had taken Shuzo and Yusho to pull them apart, though no one outside of the Xyz trio had ever learnt why the fight had started in the first place. Still, to everyone's relief, the incident had blown over after a few tense hours. True fights between the three were rare indeed and it was disconcerting to see one (however amusing it was to see the elder Kurosaki beaten so easily).
"Maybe I should try beating it into his head."
Yuto snorted now and Ruri gave her an appraising look.
"Would you do this for free or is there to be payment involved?" she asked.
Her Fusion counterpart shot another look over to where Shun sat, gave him a wicked smirk and leaned over to peck a kiss on Ruri's nose. "For you dear, I'd do it for free."
"Aim for his stomach. It's his weak spot."
Serena was about to express her gratitude for a friend's betrayal of another friend when a glass slammed down on the table.
"What do you mean?" Rin demanded. "We were perfectly mannered to them."
Yuya raised his hands. "I'm just saying-"
"That we weren't perfectly mannered?"
"Well, I don't think you were being very nice," Yugo declared, glaring at Rin.
The green haired girl glared back at him. "She was lying to you. She didn't know a thing about motorbikes!"
"She's just shy," the other defended. "You interrogating her about every little part didn't help!"
"I was proving a point."
"You were acting like a Duel Chaser or one of those other Security bastards."
Rin's lips thinned dramatically. "A what?"
Yugo crossed his arms, for once not quailing beneath those burning tawny eyes. "Well, you were! I call it like I see it and what I saw was you intimidating Emi for no good reason."
"She was flirting with you, you idiot."
"No she wasn't." Yugo was ever oblivious. Serena personally hoped he never changed.
"Yes she was."
"She most certainly was."
"Shut up, Fusion bastard. No one asked you."
"I was just shining some light on the situation, light which you seem to have missed though I shouldn't be surprised. You are the least observant of us after all. How many times did you mistake others for Rin?"
"I said shut up!"
"You shut up," Rin told her fellow Synchro dueler, then pointed a finger at Yuri. "And you stay out of it. No one asked you."
"Yeah!"
"Come on, guys. Let's not fight." Yuya had emerged at the escalating fight, looking like a kicked puppy with the pout he was wearing. "This was supposed to be a fun lunch."
At the mention of lunch Serena's stomach decided to let itself be known once again. "Yeah. Yuya's right. When are we going to order?"
Yuzu gave her an affronted look. "Is that all you can think about? Food? After what happened."
"What's the big deal?" Now the Fusion user raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "So a couple of girls were trying to chat them up. Only Yuto is in a relationship here, he didn't flirt back and Ruri's fine with it!"
Both Yuzu and Rin blushed (as did Yugo). Yuzu bit her lip, abashed. "Maybe you're right…"
"I believe the issue here is that the girls, though charming, were impolite to try and engage us with conversation while we were clearly waiting for others," Yuri said. Serena wanted to punch him right in his smirking face.
"Not impolite," Yuya frowned. "It's always good to meet new people."
"So you think I should have invited them to eat with us?" Yuzu asked, ire growing again.
"No," Yuya said, at the same time Yugo said, "Yes."
Serena sighed and mimicked hanging from a noose to the only two who had not devolved into arguing once again and were not watching said arguments unfold with glee. Ruri shrugged. Yuto, however, was focused on something else.
Quick to take advantage of this lack of attention, Serena then pointed to him and made smoochy faces at her Xyz counterpart. She blushed and waved her hands. Grinning, Serena then proceeded to mime exaggerated and increasingly crazy displays of affection trying to get Ruri to laugh aloud. Her success was limited and completely undone by the next installment of drama-
"What the hell is your brother doing?"
Yuto's exclamation drew the attention of the only two who were not engrossed in their own little scenes; Yuzu was still scolding Yuya, and Yugo and Rin were arguing (Yugo losing as usual) with Yuri watching on, smirking. The Fusion fragment of Zarc did glance over, but found the new development to be less entertaining than the one in front of him.
Serena rolled her eyes in annoyance.
"What is he doing?"
Ruri's words drew her blue haired counterpart's attention back to what had grabbed it in the first place. Raising one eyebrow at the two 'chicks' at the table, she turned to view what they were looking at a grin splitting her face not a second later.
Serena snorted at where one overprotective mother bird was looming over four cowering girls. "I think he's getting ready to kill the people who flirted with your boyfriend."
"Oh no…"
"Dammit, Shun." Yuto's voice sounded about as done as it could get. "I'll deal with this. Please excuse me."
The grey eyed boy removed himself from the table with ease, squeezing Ruri's hand once before drifting over to where his friend was causing trouble. The elder Kurosaki seemed surprised to see him, annoyance colouring his face as Yuto spoke to him sharply before turning his chivalrous manners onto the now giggling girls.
"How are you not jealous?" Serena asked, half turning her face back to Ruri. "They are practically swooning at his every word."
"Wouldn't you?" Ruri grinned, flicking her eyes to her lookalike before shifting them back to the unfolding scene. "I know he would never cheat on me. "
"Because of Shun?" Serena smirked.
"Because of love."
"Damn! You are so gone for him."
Rui cracked her own grin, eyes flitting back to her counterpart once more. "It is what it is."
Serena's smirk widened. "And yet you two still haven't kissed."
A grin turned into a blush. "It just- It hasn't- It's just not happened yet!"
"Is it Shun?" The Lancer cracked her knuckles. "Because if it is I can knock him out so the two of you can get this thing of yours-"
"No!" Ruri sent her a withering glare. "It's not Shun."
"Then what is it?"
"It's just- I mean…" Ruri paused, her blustered state turning into one of alarm. "Oh, god, no. Where is Shuzo?"
Serena gave her a look before turning back to where Shun and Yuto stood. "Focused solely on the fact Yuya and Yuzu are almost touching, why-"
She cut herself off, the answer blatantly obvious to anyone with a working eye.
During the brief exchange she and Ruri had, one of the girls Shun had sent cowering and Yuto had rushed in to save had grabbed at the latter knight's hand. It was clear she had said something to well and truly fluster the boy who was trying to pull his hand free whilst clearly still not wanting to hurt her (Serena was of the opinion that one day that reluctance to hurt another was going to get Yuto killed, again). The main issue, however, was the teenager behind him, at least six-foot of rage and red and falcons and overprotective mother bird about to explode.
"I've got Shun if you get Yuto," Serena threw out even as she near sprinted towards her fellow Lancer, plastering a giddy smile on her face for any onlookers.
Shun wouldn't know what hit him.
"Brother dearest!" the Fusion user wheedled as she all but tackled him round his middle. "Come sit with me!"
Then, without a care for the two yellow eyes boring holes into her head, she dragged the riled-up Kurosaki to his abandoned booth and all but sat on him.
"Serena-" he managed to growl.
"Ruri's handling it," she growled back. "Just trust her."
Those words at least got him to stop struggling, so Serena turned her attention back to where Ruri was now pointing Yuto in their direction. But not before she hauled him in for a kiss. It was a quick peck on the lips, not a true and proper thing, but it seemed to get the message across to the girls the youngest Kurosaki was glaring at. It had certainly turned Yuto into a red, awed buffoon.
Serena swore she could see two love hearts bursting out of his eyes like in the cartoons Yuzu, Rin and Shuzo loved to watch.
The blue haired girl crowed with delight and she could feel Shun smiling next to her (though she was half sure that somewhere in the room an unrelated father had fainted from the shock of it all – Yoko would know by the end of their lunch at the latest). Yuto slide into place across the table, his graceful movements still dulled by shock. For a moment it seemed as though the boy would never remerge from the state until he caught a glimpse of Shun. Then he proceeded to try and disappear through his seat like a ghost.
Serena wondered briefly if anyone had told him he was not one anymore. The thought was not as funny when she considered it further.
"I'm not going to kill you," Shun said, exasperated.
Yuto, blushed, coughed and cringed all at once. His friend rolled his eyes and turned them back onto his sister. Serena grinned at the younger Xyz dueler and turned to watch her own counterpart in action as well. A furious, but restrained Ruri was a beautiful sight. Much like a crouched cat only moments away from striking its prey. Or a dancer about to go from a retiré devant to a grand jeté.
It was indeed a fantastic sight. Though they could not hear the words spoken, and despite the fact Ruri did not overly speak with her hands in motion, the proud position of her back and the superior tilt of her chin would have had many boys (and not a few girls) from the old Academia shaking at the knees. Not more than a few sentences were exchanged, but they were enough to make the girls pale dramatically and one Chiaki seemed to swoon.
Satisfied at this reaction, the youngest Kurosaki turned and strutted away. Not a second later the four abashed girls shot out of their seats and quickly left the café without a backward glance.
Yuto waved to gain Ruri's attention, a gleam hanging over his grey eyes that looked much like the sappy love from stupid cartoon shows. Still, on the Xyz dueler's toughened face it didn't look so stupid. Ruri's own eyes lit up with it too when she saw him, something else that maybe wasn't entirely sappy or stupid.
When Ruri was finally close enough, Serena clapped her hands slowly. Yuto stood to pull out a chair for the object of his affections. Shun just crossed his arms with a proud smirk on his face.
Ruri took the offered seat, brushing off her shirt to rid it of some imaginary dirt before nonchalantly playing with the red scarf around her arm.
"…You're scarier than Shun, you know that right?" Yuto was the first to break the wordless silence once he had settled back in place. He still seemed to be in shock from before.
"Yeah," Serena finally got out. Her mouth refused to work any further.
Shun, for his part, merely bristled with pride.
Then Serena gathered her wits and leaned towards her counterpart and her counterpart's boyfriend with a trademark smirk that would make Sora jealous. "So, finally kissed, did you?"
And that was when Ruri realised what she had done.
Shun's eyes had suddenly gotten sharper, although at what exactly Serena did not know. Both Xyz duelers across from her had turned red once more, Yuto sinking into his seat yet again with a wild glance at his best friend (and girlfriend's brother) while Serena's lookalike burying her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry, Yuto," Ruri managed to squeak out. "I should have asked."
"It's fine," Yuto replied, his own deep voice also strangely squeaky.
Ruri turned her pleading eyes across the table. "No one else saw, did they?"
They all looked to where the others were still caught up in themselves and each other, only a certain Fusion user turning to meet their eyes briefly before quickly turning back.
Shun smiled reassuringly. "I don't think so, little sister." It was true enough. None of them could be entirely certain Yuri had seen.
"Please don't tell them."
A mother bird's sudden overbearing presence at her side, Serena felt inclined to adhere to her purple haired counterpart's wishes. "Don't worry, your secret will be safe with me," she said sincerely. Then she grinned again. "So, are you two going to give it a proper go now?"
If anything, the two lovers turned redder. Yet, strangely enough, not as brilliantly red as Shun. Sora would kill to get his hands on that tidbit of information.
"I think there's been enough kissing for a lifetime," he choked out.
"Shun…" Ruri didn't press further when her brother raised his eyebrows at her. Instead, she sighed. "We still have to order what we want. Have you, brother?"
"Not yet."
The four quickly buried themselves in the table's menus, fleeing the awkward (and yet very much unawkward) moment from before.
"You ruin all my fun," Serena whispered as she leaned closer to Shun.
"Stop encouraging them," the seventeen-year-old muttered back. "They're far too young to-"
"What? Kiss?"
"Yes!" Shun hissed.
"Oh, come on, they've got to do it sometime," Serena smirked. "And someone's got to push them. Unless you want Yuto's first real kiss to be from that girl who-"
"No!" Shun took a breath and smiled reassuringly at his two chicks over his menu. He continued once more in a whisper. "And I'll do the pushing."
Serena pouted. "You're no fun."
"Good."
"What are you talking about?" Ruri asked.
"Nothing." Shun set his menu aside, ignoring his best friend's smirk (and how quickly that smirk would disappear if the grey eyed boy actually knew what they had been talking about). "Ready to order?"
"I'm not," Serena broke in.
"I don't care."
Serena huffed.
The tall limbed Kurosaki climbed over the girl, his eyes conversing with his best friend's. Yuto stood, nodding to Ruri as he collected her order and then to Serena, ever the gentlemen and knight in shining armour ready to help a damsel whether they were in distress or not. The Kurosaki siblings, meanwhile, seemed to be having a silent conversation with each other. It ended with Ruri rolling her eyes and sending Yuto a sympathetic smile. As the two boys moved off, Shun appeared to lean in towards his shorter friend. The glint in his yellow eyes gave no illusions as to what it was that would be said.
"You know," Serena said, turning back to her counterpart. "Your brother might be jealous enough for the lot of you. Hope you don't mind being in a three-person relationship."
"Stop picking on him. You know it's not true." Ruri grinned all the same. "He's just-"
"Overprotective?"
Ruri's grin widened. "That's one way to put it."
Laughing, the two girls leaned back in their respective seats, conversation turning to thoughts on cakes and coffee and whether Rin would remove Yugo from the headlock she had him in any time soon. The answer to that last one, Serena thought, would be never even if she had to do some pushing of her own.
This was a prompt from ThePsychoPath966: the bracelet girls getting jealous of other girls flirting with the Yu boys in a café or something. I wanted to complete the challenge, so adjusted it to the relationships I've got going on here. It was harder than I thought – way too many characters to focus on and that's without adding in the four (brief) OCs! Plus I wasn't sure how to handle Rin and Yuzu after awhile (though Yuri makes a great scapegoat as a certified bastard who loves conflict). Obviously they would resolve it, but we don't see that here. My execution may have suffered a bit and some parts are probably choppy… Still, I hope it's at least somewhat decent.
The next chapter I think will focus on Serena when I get around to writing it.
Please leave a review. I love hearing your thoughts on this series.
