Title: Stem
Characters: Rio
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 999
Genre: Family||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: Zexal, canon: B48, write about finding something; Valentine's Day to White Day 2015, YGO Zexal, day #27, female POV; Halloween Trick or Treat Advent 2015, YGO Zexal, day #8, generate 10 random words & use them in a piece under 1,000 words long; zexal10thanniversary
Notes: This takes place about two years post-canon.
Summary: Rio goes shopping, her goal to find something nice for Iris's birthday.
Rio strolled through the store, eyes going this way and that, trying to find something suitable for her search. It shouldn't have been that difficult, but she'd been hunting for over an hour and nothing had yet caught her attention.
Though she had bought a few things. She would have to find her way back to Ryouga and dump the current load on him before she went back out again. She wasn't going to stop until she found what she was looking for.
It might not have been so unfortunate of a search if she even knew what she looked for. But all she had to go on right now was something Iris would like. That could cover a lot of territory. Iris liked a lot of things, and had never once complained about any present anyone had given her.
Ryouga had complained when Vector tried to give her a knife, insisting that everyone should know how to defend themselves. Rio didn't disagree, but suspected that should wait until Iris was at least twelve instead of ten. She could easily predict her twin's reaction if she told him that.
But for now, she searched for the faintest whisper of an urge that said this thing, whatever it might be, was what to buy for Iris. And yet nothing did.
At least, not until she stopped to check out some interesting puzzles and caught sight of something stuck in the very back of the shelves. It was just a little thing; she couldn't even be sure of what it was, but she reached back and tugged it out.
A black pumpkin sat in her hand. It didn't have a face, it wasn't anything but that – a pumpkin. The stem was a little long and when she pressed it, it was squishy.
It didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before. Perhaps it was leftover from Halloween? That had been months ago and she didn't remember seeing anything like this even then. That made it unique – Iris didn't care, but Rio did. She enjoyed the sensation of it on her hand, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't feel so much as a whiff or flavor of danger here.
All of that combined made it into the perfect present as far as she was concerned. She headed up quickly to pay for it, humming in pleasure under her breath.
When she came out, the little pumpkin tucked into one of the other bags, she saw her twin sitting on his motorcycle, chatting with Durbe over his D-Gazer. As soon as he saw her, he bid the other farewell and turned towards her.
"Ready to go already? I think there are a couple of stores you haven't hit yet," he teased her. Rio rolled her eyes.
"I found what I was looking for. Did you get her anything that's not more cards?"
Ryouga glanced away, a hint of red creeping up her cheeks. "She should learn how to duel. It could help her one day."
Rio wasn't really going to argue with that. It was just far too much fun to tease her brother in turn.
"You sound like Vector. Remember what he said about the knife?"
Ryouga glared back at her, eyes flashing briefly red. "She doesn't need a knife! No one uses knives these days!"
"Vector does," Rio pointed out, getting her packages settled onto the motorcycle. "But I really wouldn't trust him to teach her properly. If she's going to learn edged weapons, then Durbe or Mizael or one of the Arclights could do it." It wasn't as if they didn't have options that weren't Vector.
Ryouga grumbled a little more, getting ready to go. "I still wouldn't let her have a knife from Vector."
That, Rio would happily agree on. Slipping her helmet into place, she circled her arms around Ryouga's waist and they headed back home. It was only Wednesday and the party would be Saturday, but she felt the warm glow of having found what she was looking for and the anticipation of seeing Iris's eyes light up when she gave it to her.
Food rested on the tables, all of Iris's favorite food and drink. Banners and streamers floated through the air, along with music and fireworks.
A table set to the side carried all the presents and there were a lot of them. Ryouga threatened Vector with unspecified damage and Alit specified his very well muscled fists if he gave Iris anything that could be classified as a weapon and wasn't a card. He ended up handing over a book about the history of his own kingdom – not still what Rio would call the best present but it was better than a knife.
When the time came, she presented Iris with the package she'd wrapped. Iris unwrapped it carefully, curiosity rampant in her eyes, and stared when she saw the little plush pumpkin.
"It's adorable!" Iris declared at once. She held it close to her heart, eyes round and happy, running one hand over the top, wiggling the stem. "I love it!"
Rio smiled. "I thought you would. Are you going to name it?" It would not at all be the first time Iris had named something plush they'd given her. She liked naming everything.
Iris considered the pumpkin before she nodded. "Stem. His name is Stem." She wiggled the stem again and Rio chuckled softly. Seeing Iris happy thrilled her. From the way everyone else smiled, she thought they felt the same way. Vector tried not to look, but Rio thought she saw a little smile on his lips as well. Not, she knew, that he would ever admit it.
Seeing Stem and Iris snuggled up together in bed that night, Iris replete with cake and everything else she'd eaten that day, exhausted from all the games she'd played with everyone, and as happy as the proverbial clam, warmed her even more. Finding the perfect present was worth all the effort.
The End
Notes: The words I generated are: whisper, sensation, flavor, predict, pumpkin, urge, hunting, unique, unfortunate, & load.
Also, Vector probably hid a small knife in the book for Iris. Just to annoy the twins.