A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to "Code-V: Recollections", a sort-of, supplementary story for my story "Code-V: Rebirth", which you've hopefully all read before this. This story's purpose is to portray events glossed over in "Rebirth", or perhaps from a different point of view, or even certain ideas that had to be completely scrapped in the process of working everything out. I have several ideas for this, but it's certainly not going to get very frequent updates. It's more of a "let's dump ideas because writer's block on everything else" kind of story.

This first installment showcases how Shun and Naomi first met. They seemed quite close in "Rebirth"… but it wasn't always that way.

(Music to listen to: Theishter - Anime on Piano's version of Porter Robinson and Madeon's "Shelter".)


Rain

Shun hated rainy days. Rainy days meant the best birds were all hiding, and he was supposed to take Ruri bird watching for the first time once he got home from school, as a belated present for her fifth birthday. He especially hated this rainstorm though, because the weatherman hadn't predicted it, so the only thing he had was an old, dark-blue coat he kept in his cubby that was three sizes too small and didn't even have a hood. And since his parents were both at work, he'd have to walk all the way home in this.

The seven-year-old grumbled as he abandoned the idea of actually wearing the coat, and instead set to tying it over his back. At least then, his stuff would stay dry. When that was done, he stepped out from under the overhang, and immediately felt the chilling rain on his skin. He'd have to run if he didn't want to catch a cold.

But just as he was about to take off, he happened to catch a glimpse of someone in his peripheral vision. He turned a little, just out of curiosity, and saw a dark-haired girl slumped up against the wall outside of the school, completely exposed to the rain. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and her head was buried inside them. Her shoulders shook—whether she was crying or if it was from the cold, Shun couldn't tell.

The sight of this girl made him stop. He chewed on his lip. There was no one else around, and the girl wasn't even wearing the school's uniform—she was wearing some weird yellow-and-white one-piece jumpsuit. But judging by how wet her clothes were, she'd been sitting here for quite a while, with no one to help her. Should he help her? He didn't even know who she was… But, did that really mean anything? If it was Ruri sitting there, he would hunt down whoever'd made her cry and make sure they paid for it. This girl didn't look as young as his sister, but still…

Shun sighed, and hoped that the things in his backpack would still stay dry after he took off the coat. Kneeling next to the girl, he held out the dark-blue fabric and cleared his throat to get her attention. "Hey. You shouldn't sit out here, you'll get sick."

The girl mumbled in her arms, and didn't move. Now that he was next to her, he could hear her sniffling and half-choked sobs, and he frowned. What sort of person left their child crying on the side of a road in the middle of freezing rain?

…Either way, the girl hadn't acknowledged his presence outside of her mumbling that he hadn't even heard, so Shun attempted put the coat over her shoulders—like it would do him much good at this point—intending to just leave it at that and run home. But the moment he moved towards her, the girl's head shot up in alarm and she slid across the pavement away from him. Her golden eyes were wide with fear and bloodshot from her crying, and her breathing had gotten way faster.

The sudden movement had made Shun jump back in surprise as well, the coat falling to the ground as he held his hands up defensively. "Whoa! I was just trying to help. Now my coat's completely useless…" he grumbled, eying the puddle it had landed in.

The initial shock left the girl's face as her shoulders relaxed, replaced by a quizzical look as she cocked her head to the side. "You were trying to help… me?"

"Well I was, but look where that got me," he shot back, attempting to ring out the blue jacket like that would do anything. He sighed and left it there instead; it was too small for him anyways, he didn't need it. "Just forget about it."

That's the last time I let my big brother instinct get the better of me, he huffed.

With that, he ran off in the direction of home.

If he'd stayed for another moment, he would have seen the dark-haired girl pick up the jacket and pull it over her shoulders, the hints of a smile on her face as she whispered, "I don't believe it… He, he tried to help me. I hope this isn't just some dream…"


It was on another rainy day that the two of them met again, two weeks after their initial meeting. Though Shun was 99% sure she'd been following him around every day before their second meeting, he'd felt like someone had been watching him as he walked home but had never been able to see who it was.

Until today.

Because the strange dark-haired girl had lost her balance on the slick ground and slid all the way down the hill he'd just walked down, and just so happened to catch him at the bottom. Which was directly over the top of a short overhang that he'd been waiting at for a friend to show up. And she'd really gained a lot of momentum from sliding down that hill.

Presently, the two lay on their backs at the bottom of this overhang, in a rather muddy puddle that had been gathering there all afternoon. Shun stayed there, blinking as he stared up at the railing two meters above his head, trying to get a grasp on what had just went down. He really should've seen it coming, given how loudly the girl had been screaming.

The girl, on the other hand, had almost immediately shot up after her shock dried up, and now her face filled almost all of Shun's vision and her hands gripped one of his so tightly he couldn't wrestle it back. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, the ground was just so wet and I've always been kinda clumsy and I totally didn't mean to knock you off the steps please forgive me," she rattled off, all in one breath.

Shun narrowed his eyes at her and scowled despite the fact that she helped him up. "You again…"

The girl let go of him and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Y-Yeah… I'm… um… sorry. For—well, for everything." She proceeded to bow her head in disgrace… then held out a folded-up piece of blue fabric that threw Shun for a loop until he recognized it as his old jacket. "You can, um, have this back…"

"It's too small for me anyways," Shun said, crossing his arms and staring at the girl. "…Is this why you've been stalking me for two weeks?"

The tips of her ears turned bright red, as did her cheeks. "Uh—maybe. Yes. I just, I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say… so, um… h-here'syourcoatbackthanksforlettingmeborrowit. Bye."

Before he could say a word, she'd already forced the coat into his hands and fled from him. He tried getting her to stop, but she didn't listen—and she was way too fast for him to catch up.

I still don't know her name, he thought disdainfully, then shifted around as he remembered he was sitting in a muddy puddle and scrunched his face at the thin layer of brown now covering his pants. Well, it doesn't matter. I hope I never see her again, she's nothing but trouble.


It's overcast, not raining, when they meet again almost a month later. It was supposed to be sunny that day, but the clouds rolled in on their way to the park and it was too late to go back home. Their parents finally had off of work together for that day only, the Kurosakis were going to the park that day as long as the rain didn't come. Yuto and his mother had come out too, so while their parents sat back and talked the afternoon away, the three kids had fun chasing each other around the park (usually Ruri and Yuto ganging up on Shun). Until their playdate got to the point that it always did—they had to Duel. Shun loved it—he was gonna be a Pro Duelist once he was older, he knew it—Ruri loved watching it, as she didn't have her own cards yet, and while Yuto wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as either Kurosaki, he certainly wouldn't pass up the chance.

It was in the middle of Yuto and Shun Dueling that Ruri suddenly ran over to behind a nearby tree—and dragged a black-haired girl only a little bit taller than herself out from behind the tree, giggling as she said, "C'mon! You don't hafta hide to watch!"

"B-But I shouldn't—"

It took him a second, but Shun recognized the girl his sister was dragging toward them, and he frowned. She wasn't in that weird jumpsuit anymore, rather shorts and a yellow hoodie with sleeves far longer than her hands. "You again?"

The girl offered a strained smile. "Yep. Me."

Ruri looked between her brother and the strange girl. "Huh…? You know her, nii-san?"

"No," he huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. "We've met like, twice. I don't even know her name."

"Then how come you already don't like her?"

"Oh—I, um, kind of pushed him into a puddle. On accident," the girl muttered sheepishly, fiddling with her sleeves. "I was—kinda—I'm really clumsy. Not really an excuse though… I understand if you hate me. I'd hate me if I was you." She fished through the one pocket at the front of her jacket and pulled something out—a card. "H-Here… I, um, wanted to say I'm sorry about that."

He took the card warily—and immediately his jaw dropped. Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon. It was the one "Raidraptor" card missing from his Deck, one of the rarest of the rares when it came to his favorite archetype. But… how could she have known he used these cards? And known that this was the one he was missing? "You… how?"

That stupid smile of hers was back. "Nee-chan works for a card company. I saw you Duel last week, and I just thought maybe you didn't have this card, so I asked her if she could maybe get a copy and she did, so I'm giving it to you as my apology!"

He'd be lying if he said he didn't want the card. But… "Why d'you wanna apologize so bad?"

"Well, 'cause you were nice to me!" she said, matter-of-factly. "I wanna be friends! My name's Naomi, what's yours?"


It wouldn't be until the first day of the next school year that Shun would meet Naomi again. He was starting his third year of school, and Ruri was starting her first, so for the first time he wasn't walking to school by himself. He, kind of wished that he was still alone though. Ruri even more of a bundle of energy than she usually was, skipping ahead of him several times—which was bad, because it was raining and they only had one umbrella, and Shun was too nice when it came to his sister to not attempt to keep her under it.

He'd just caught up to her for the fifth time when Ruri suddenly stopped, tugging on his sleeve as she jumped up and down, pointing across the street. "Look, nii-san! It's Mimi!"

He held back a scowl as he followed her gaze to where, yes, that annoying girl was sluggishly walking down the street. She certainly looked less happy than she had been the other times they'd met… but the oddest thing was her choice of attire—a yellow-tinted garbage bag with holes for her head and arms, over the top of the uniform for his school.

"Mimi! Hey!" Ruri called, waving her hands to get her attention.

Naomi looked up, and the gloomy look on her face immediately switched into a cheerful grin as she ran across the street to talk, much to Shun's chagrin. "Hi Ruri! Hi Shun! How're you doing?"

"Really really good! I get to start school today!" Ruri replied, while Shun just grumbled a little.

"That's cool! Me too!"

That made Shun shoot her a quizzical look; he hadn't thought Naomi was that young. "You're only six?"

"Nuh-uh! I'm nine!" Naomi said with an angry pout. "I just haven't gone to school before! I… well…" She looked away. "Back home, I…"

Okay that couldn't be right. She was older than him?! "No way you're nine! You're too short!"

She huffed at him, nearly stomping on his foot. "I just haven't hit my growth spurt yet, meanie! I'll be tall just like nee-chan when I'm older!"

"Like your sister, huh? Then I bet your parents are short!"

No one said they'd be tall like their siblings, they said they'd be tall like one of their parents. The insult made sense to him, but he hadn't intended for this to be her reaction. He'd just wanted her to admit she was lying about her age.

However, the moment he'd said the word "parents", Naomi's face fell, and her eyes darkened. He could see the hint of tears in her eyes as she turned away from him and muttered, "You… You don't know anything about them! Stupid!" Then she ran off in the direction of school, half-covering her face with her hands.

"What…?"

Ruri stomped on his foot, puffing her cheeks angrily at him. "Nii-san! You made Mimi cry! You gotta go say sorry or else you're a big bully!"

"I didn't mean to—" At the glare his little sister gave him, he cut himself off and gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. I'll go say sorry."

They found her sitting by the entrance of school, the exact same place Shun had found her almost a year ago. Only this time, there were others around—other kids, and some parents, that walked past her and gave her strange looks and muttered about her strange choice of attire or about the fact that she was crying at school. The sight of it made an awful feeling settle in Shun's stomach. Naomi might annoy him, but no one deserved to be treated like that.

So he walked over and held the umbrella over the girl's head, and offered an attempt at a smile when she looked up to see why the rain had stopped. "You'll get sick if you sit out here," he said, mimicking the first thing he'd said to her.

She sniffed, dragging her sleeve across her eyes, and glared at him. "Go 'way, meanie. I don't wanna be friends anymore."

The boy bit his lower lip. That, stung, more than he thought it would. "I just—Naomi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, make you sad."

Ruri grabbed Naomi's hands, making the biggest puppy-dog-eyes ever at the dark-haired girl, who was attempting to back away from them. "Nii-san's telling the truth! You can't hate him, please stay friends with us!"

Almost half a minute passed in silence, before Naomi let out a small laugh and smiled at them. "I… ah… o-okay, I didn't mean what I said. I don't hate you, Shun! We can still be friends, right?"

He smiled back at her and helped her back to her feet after Ruri gave her a big hug as thanks. "Of course. But, you have to ditch the garbage bag."

"Huh?" She looked down at herself and frowned. "But I don't have one of those, um, cover thingies you do. How'm I gonna keep my clothes dry?"

"'Cover thingies'? You mean an umbrella?"

"Yeah! That! I don't have one of those!"

"How could you not have an umbrella? Everyone does!"

"Well then I'm not 'everyone'!"

Ruri laughed as her big brother and her friend continued to bicker, up until she noticed that there weren't any more kids walking around campus—class had already started.


Naomi's necklace, a silver-grey crescent moon with crystals set on it, was heavy in his pocket. He took it out, ran his thumb over the gemstones, and put it back in his pocket. He rolled over, the stabbing pain of the burns covering his back long having dulled since he'd woken up. No, the only pain that bothered him right now was the tightness of his throat that just seemed to get worse as he fought back tears. He couldn't cry, not until their world was peaceful again.

It seemed that all the most important days that Shun spent with Naomi were rainy ones, or at least overcast.

It was only fitting that he lost her on a rainy day as well.


A/N: …And that's how my muses manage to turn everything bright and happy into something downright depressing by the end of it. Leave it to them to ruin everything…

Seriously though, I hope you guys enjoyed this! And hey, if you think of anything you'd want to see—maybe there's a Noodle Incident I glossed over, or you want to see what a different character thought about a certain scene—tell me in a review or in a PM. Provided I don't intend to include it in "Rebirth" already, I would happily write out whatever you want to see. That's the whole point of this story.

Thanks for reading!

(I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V.)