Disclaimer: We don't own Yugioh GX. Midna Azusa claims ownership of Natsuko, Fuyuko, Akiko, Haruko, and Ai.

WARNING: Season 2 spoilers.

Natsuko's POV

So, okay, I was heading for the resort when, passing the airport, I heard a little kid yell, "Alright! Where's this Ai girl!? She's gonna pay dearly for treating my Aniki this way!"

"Whoa, wonder who that is?" I said, though I had a guess. Seeing as he mentioned Ai and said she was mistreating his aniki, I figured Judai must have a little brother. He must have been way younger than him, based on the kid's voice. Sounded like a cute kid.

Either way, I headed over to see what was going on. Seeing as Ai was mentioned, I figured that they were here to help, Judai, no matter who they were.

In front of the airport, I saw a little guy with blue hair and glasses, wearing a deep blue trench coat, a duel disk, and black boots. Not the best outfit to be wearing on a tropical island in August. I mean, come on! Talk about a death wish. Even better, he didn't have any luggage. Granted, maybe his folks had that, but still.

The kid looked like he was about 12 years old, but he wasn't alone. There were three other men with him, too. One was a dude about my age I recognized—he was a fellow pro duelist, Kaiser Ryo Marufuji. We'd never met personally, but everyone in the Pro Leagues knew who he was. The second was a dark-skinned guy with dreadlocks. Both of them were dressed a lot more reasonably in T-shirts, shorts, and sandals, and they had luggage with them. And the third one was a tall, well-built man with a bandage over one eye, a cowboy hat on his head (okay, I can deal with that, seeing as it would keep the sun off his head), a short sleeve button-down shirt, shorts, and sandals. Even better, though, he had the most epic accessory ever! There was a freaking life-sized crocodile strapped to his back! Akiko would love this! Granted, I didn't, but still.

Honestly, though, creepier than the crocodile was the little kid, who had a look to kill on his face.

"Sho, calm down," the Kaiser said, looking a bit worried and a whole lot embarrassed. "You shouldn't go rushing into this."

The furious kid didn't seem to notice, though—he looked pretty monstrous, with fangs in his mouth and wild eyes giving off a devilish glare. I had the feeling murder wasn't beyond him. Hopefully he wasn't actually planning to do that, though. I mean, it wouldn't end well if he did.

"Yeah, Marufuji-senpai," the guy with the dreads said. He looked worried, too, but not as embarrassed.

Whoa, wait! Senpai!? This kid was older than him!?

"'Cause I'm pretty sure that anyone who can trap our Aniki like this is a lot tougher than you."

The little guy—who, apparently, wasn't a kid—turned his deadly glare on his younger companion and demanded, "And what's that supposed to mean, Kenzan!?"

His friend Kenzan cringed under that glare, his hands flying up to ward off the evil that was this younger Marufuji. Come to think of it, the Kaiser had a younger brother named Sho… Oh, wow. Damn, the television made him look a whole lot older. Also, why was he acting like this? Did he have some sort of split personality or something?

Strangely enough, the crocodile wasn't phased. At first, I thought it was because it wasn't alive. Then it let out a sigh, and I knew it was live. That dude had brought a live crocodile with him, strapped to his back! How the hell did he get that past airport security!? Yeah, I totally had to introduce him to my little sis. She'd love this guy! She might actually start dating somebody for once!

I couldn't help myself. I had to say something.

I walked over as the small Marufuji started yelling at Kenzan, but I wasn't interested in them right then.

"Whoa!" I said to the black-haired crocodile-wrangler. "Dude, is that a crocodile!?"

The guy with the crock turned to me as Sho Marufuji and Kenzan kept yelling at each other, glaring in each other's faces. "Yes," the guy said, and he have a very heavy Australian accent. Well, I could dig that. "Who are you, mate?"

"The name's Natsuko Tokugawa, and I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about Ai?"

That must have been the keyword to making Sho blow up because he whirled on me with his evil eyes. "What!? You know Ai!? Where is she!?" he bellowed, getting up in my face.

"Dude," I said, leaning back. "I don't know where she is! I'm looking for her, too! For a pal!"

"Oh, really? And why should I believe you know anything abou—"

Kenzan grabbed him and pulled him back, covering his mouth. The guy was sweating and looking nervous, and Sho was flailing around as he tried to get loose. His duel disk slipped off his arm, so the Kaiser bent down and picked it up.

"Easy, Marufuji-senpai," Kenzan said. "Calm down. I'm sure Aniki's okay, okay? Ai may have him trapped here, but that don't mean she's hurting him or anything."

The Kaiser was sweating, looking embarrassed in an annoyed sort of way. He looked more like how Fuyuko always looked when I embarrassed him. Made sense, given that his little brother was squirming and complaining, even though his voice was muffled.

"Don't mind him," the Kaiser said. "He's just worried about his friend, is all. I'm Ryo Marufuji. Pleased to meet you."

Dang, if he thought he needed any sort of introduction, he was way wrong. I already knew who he was; though, obviously, I was unknown. Wow, what did that say about my career as a pro?

Sho's struggling finally freed his mouth, and he said, "Kenzan! Let go already! We've gotta find Ai!"

"I take it you're Judai's friends," I said.

"That's right, mate," said the crocodile guy. "The name's Jim Cook. You know Judai?"

"Yeah, and HE'S FINE." I yelled those last two words for Sho's sake.

Sho froze, and he was quiet for a moment as he gave me a blank look. Though he'd almost managed to break out of Kenzan's grip.

"He's staying at Fubuki's place," I told him.

Sho's eyes lit up in excitement. Ah, well, better that than the monster look. Still, it was really making me wonder if he had some sort of a personality issue. "Wha!? Really!?"

Kenzan put him down and walked over to me, saying, "Natsuko, was it? I'm Kenzan, one of Judai's old roommates. Do you think you can take us to him before Sho here blows a gasket?" He hitched a thumb at Sho, looking nervous.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! What!?

The Kaiser sweat, closing his eyes. It seemed he totally agreed with Kenzan. "Yes. Please. I don't wanna see that, either."

"You mean he hasn't?" I asked, horrified. Here I'd thought he already had blown a gasket, and they were saying he hadn't yet! What did he do when he had!?

The three of them shook their heads in unison. Actually, the four of them—I swear that crocodile's head shook, too.

Sho moved forward, cupping his hands around his mouth and yelling, "AI! Where are you!? You've got some explaining to do!"

Damn! No, I did not need to see him blow a gasket.

"How about I take you to see your friend, Sho?" I suggested. After all, this was urgent!

Sho glared at me for a minute before crossing his arms, pouting. "Fine." He pointed at me, his glare trained on me again, and added, "But he better be safe or—"

Kenzan scooped him up again and covered his mouth once more, sweating and laughing awkwardly. Sho started squirming again. "That's great, Marufuji-senpai. Well, are we going or not? Guys?" Looking nervous, he looked around at the others. I can't blame him for those nerves—he was holding the crazy Marufuji again.

"Let's go," the Kaiser said. "Well, Natsuko?"

They all turned to me, Kenzan looking anxious and all of them exhausted. Man, Sho must have been acting like this the whole way here. This guy totally matched Fubuki's description of his crazy classmate. He had to be him!

"Follow me!" I said, running off.

The other three followed me. I say three because Kenzan was still carrying Sho, so Jim had Kenzan's bag now.

Man, this guy was scarier than my little sister!

Judai's POV

Manjoume really has a thing for taunting people, especially when he has an easy target. Ever since Natsuko had left, he'd been talking about Ai and how I was probably gonna end up married to her, a big grin on his face. For crying out loud, I had some weird friends!

Need some proof? Here's part of our conversation:

"And do you promise to love, honor, and cherish Ai for as long as you both shall live?" he asked me, pretending he was a minister at a wedding or something as he sat beside me on one of the couches.

See what I mean? Weird friends. Why did I hang out with this guy? …Wow. That was a new one. Normally he was the one who wondered that!

"I promise to throw you in the ocean if you don't zip it!" I snapped, glaring at him. Hey, I was sick of hearing it. "What about you and that other girl, Haruko?" I asked, trying to turn the tables on him. I mean, he didn't have any right to tease me about a stalker when he had one himself, right?

"Oh, crap…" Akiko muttered, and I suddenly remembered they were best friends back in high school. At least, they'd almost always been together, so I figured they were close.

"He said 'Haruko,'" Fuyuko muttered.

So, what, they both knew her that well?

Manjoume gave a humph, crossing his arms and glaring. "Nothing, compared to Ai. Face it, the girl's crazy and probably torturing that poor friend of yours for even asking that. So why not go over your vows? It's obvious that's what's gonna happen."

"I'm not marrying her!"

"That may not be possible if she does get you in bed with her. Don't you know the law in Misgarth?"

Oh, I knew the law in Misgarth, alright! I'd been there a couple of times since graduation—great place, by the way—and once found myself dealing with a girl who said she needed help finding her fiancé, a guy who'd had a one night stand with her and gotten her pregnant. She'd told me the law then: If a man impregnates a Misgarthian woman, he must marry her upon penalty of execution. It used to be that you had to marry any girl you had sex with, but they loosened the law slightly for modern times, which was good for Manjoume. The reason for the execution, supposedly, was for stealing her innocence and leaving her to raise a child alone.

Needless to say, most people in Misgarth made sure that they actually liked a girl or used protection.

"She's not gonna get me in bed with her!" I snapped. "Now why don't you go get drunk and sleep with a stalker, Manjoume?"

He stood up, glaring. Guess I'd gone too far. "Look. That only happened because Ai's sneakier than a cat, so there's no way to avoid her for long! Sooner or later, she will outsmart you, and then you may have no choice but to marry her! Depending on what the tests show, that is!"

Fubuki leaned away, looking nervous, and said, "I sense tension…"

I just sat there, thinking about that for a bit. If that was true, then… "I need a doctor. Stat."

After all, if I wasn't able to impregnate anybody, then I couldn't impregnate Ai. Granted, I'd never have kids, but it wasn't looking like I'd ever find a girl and settle down, anyway. You know, given that I never stuck around long enough to get to know one, and the only girl I liked wasn't interested.

"Now, calm down, guys," Johan said, trying to reassure me. "We don't know yet that this plan will fail! Let's just wait for Natsuko to return, okay? Surely it's not as bad as you think."

"Yeah, calm down," Akiko agreed. "If anybody can get that info out of that girl, it's my idiot brother. He makes this guy," she hitched a thumb at Fubuki, "look tame."

Fubuki stood up, his eyes bright. "Yeah, no worries! Why, I bet he's on his way over here right now with the good news!"

Okay. Okay, they were right. No need to do anything rash—yet.

Suddenly somebody knocked on the front door. Fubuki hurried over to get it, his eyes closed as he said, "See, what did I tell ya? He's—" When he opened the door, he cut himself off, staring.

Natsuko was back, but he'd brought more people with him, judging from what little I could see past Fubuki. Meaning he probably hadn't even talked to Ai yet.

"Back with a fresh load of reinforcements…" he finished, sweating, as he stepped aside and let whoever it was in.

"Aniki!" Sho's voice called. "You there!?"

He came running in, looking anxious…and poorly dressed. I mean, I'd watched him duel on TV before, and that was the outfit he wore for that. It wasn't really a good idea on an island off the coast of Mexico. I got the feeling he'd been dueling right before he got the call… Had he even bothered finishing the duel, or had he just said he had to go and run off in the middle of a match? He didn't even have any luggage, for crying out loud!

"He was gonna blow a gasket, though I thought he already did!" Natsuko said. "Anyway, I'm off to find Ai!" With that, he ran off, disappearing just as fast as he could.

When Sho saw me, he lunged, looking as happy as if he'd just been reunited with someone he'd thought was dead. And I should know—I'd seen that before, after all. "Aniki! It's you! It's really you! I've missed you so much!" he cried, wrapping me in a hug.

"Oof!" I said on impact. Yeah, he hit me that hard. "Hey, Sho! Good to see you!"

"Yeah, you, too!" Still smiling, he slapped me across the face. Then he glared at me, pointing a finger at me as he said, "That's for taking off like that!"

As he said that, the Kaiser, Jim, and Kenzan all came in, carrying their things and…Sho's duel disk. Yeah, he came straight from work.

Sho hugged me again, holding on tight, and said, "Man I've missed you! How've you been?" He looked up at me, smiling again.

Sheesh, talk about a dramatic mood swing!

"…Uh, fine," I told him, a bit stunned. Hey, can you blame me? In under a minute, I was hugged, slapped, and hugged again by Sho!

Kenzan walked over, laughing, and put his suitcase down. "Ah, Marufuji-senpai. You really weren't kidding when you said you'd kill him for leaving like that. Be glad that's all he did, Aniki. He threatened to do more."

Man, was I wrong about the whole people-hating-me thing when it came to Sho! And that was twice now! Maybe I was just wrong about them all? That'd be great. I mean, it wasn't like I wanted all of my friends to hate me. And Kenzan obviously still cared, too, or he wouldn't be here. Jim, even—a guy with every right to hate me after what I'd personally done to him—even he'd shown up! Maybe I was wrong about how my friends' felt about me, after all.

With that in mind, I was thinking I might actually be able to tell her how I felt about her. After all, she should be coming soon, too, right? Fubuki had called everyone, from the looks of things, so she probably knew what was going on and, if she still cared, would be on her way. I mean, why wouldn't he call his little sister?

Sho let go of me, crossing his arms. "Yeah, well. Hmph."

Real great defense, Sho. That justified everything. Man, I'd missed this guy! It was good to know he still cared about me. I'd never been so happy to be wrong. Well, except for that time when I'd thought they were all dead.

Kenzan laughed.

The Kaiser put his bag down and, walking over, sat Sho's duel disk on the glass coffee table in the middle of the room. "So, Judai? Word on the street's that you have a stalker who won't let you go until you marry her. Is that true?"

"Unfortunately."

As if hell-bent on proving me wrong in every way, Sho looked ready for a search and destroy mission, a real nasty glare on his face. Okay, okay, I get it, he cared, okay!? "Great. Know where I can find her, then? I'll kick her—"

Kenzan scooped him up, pushing down on his head as he said, "Uh, what Marufuji-senpai means to say is we all wanna get her back for this, but we need a GOOD, SOLID PLAN first! RIGHT?" He yelled and glared at Sho when he got to the part about a plan.

"But—"

"I said, am I right?" Kenzan asked, glaring just as fiercely as Sho had been earlier. Geez, how long had Sho been acting like this?

Sho calmed down, looking nervous. "R-right," he said, laughing awkwardly.

Kenzan let him go, crossing his arms in annoyance. Seriously, how long had Sho been doing this? "Good."

"So what's the plan, mate?" Jim asked as he let Karen down from his back.

Karen grabbed Jim's duffel bag and dragged it back to the hallway in the back of the room, toward the guest rooms. Guess she was claiming one for Jim.

"Natsuko's supposed to find Ai and get her to tell him how to lower the barrier," I filled the new arrivals in.

"I'm sorry," the Kaiser said. "But do you guys really think that's going to work? Why would your captor ever tell anyone how to free you? You might want to think of something else."

Yeah, okay. That was what I was thinking in the first place. Damn it!

Manjoume nudged me in the side, humming the bridal march as he did.

"My brother's like Fubuki," Akiko said. "Knowing him, he'll get her loving him and even voluntarily sleep with her sometime during the course of this plan."

Okay. That was bad. That was real bad. Who was this guy again? And why were we sending him out on this mission?

"It's difficult for any woman to keep information from Natsuko," Fuyuko added. "And, when I say difficult, I mean only Akiko here has ever successfully done so, and she doesn't count because she's his sister."

Manjoume crossed his arms and said, "Yeah. But he's never dealt with Ai before. Trust me. She's one of a kind."

"Great. Maybe they'll hit it off," Akiko said, and I was a bit startled to realize she was serious.

Is Natsuko really that bad? I wondered.

"Speaking of, Manjoume-senpai, are you still being stalked by someone?" Kenzan asked. "I mean, first it was Ai, then it was—"

"Kenzan!" Manjoume snapped, glaring at him. Yeah, I was right earlier—he wanted to keep it a secret, at least from me. It seemed Kenzan knew, though. Wonder why that was. I mean, Manjoume wasn't really one to openly discuss something like that, right?

"What? It's an honest question," Kenzan asked, looking totally surprised.

Manjoume was just glaring at him, his teeth clenched.

"Who?" I asked. "Who was it? Haruko? Because she's on the island."

Akiko smacked herself in the face. Can't say that I blamed her, considering this was her best friend we were talking about.

Fuyuko got up, saying, "Excuse me." Then he started for the door, and I had the feeling he was leaving. What? Why would he be leaving because I said Haruko was on the island? Was he afraid of her, for some reason?

How many of the guys on this island had issues with crazy women?

Teeth still clenched, Manjoume started shaking with rage. "Say, Kenzan, how's that doll friend of yours? You know. The one named Alice?"

Ah, yes, Alice. That was a long story. To summarize, during my second year of high school, a doll spirit had gone looking for revenge, and Kenzan had fallen in love with her.

Kenzan sweat, looking a bit embarrassed. Easy to understand since he did have a crush on a doll. Besides, Akiko hadn't been in on that one, and Fuyuko obviously hadn't.

"L-let's not bring that up please! We don't need anyone here knowing that—"

"You had a thing with a living doll?" Manjoume finished for him.

Well. Clearly Manjoume was pretty ticked off with Kenzan, all things considered.

Fuyuko stopped at the door, turning back with a startled look on his face. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Weird crap happened at that school, but a doll? Really, Kenzan?" Akiko asked.

He blushed something awful. "F-for the record, she was posing as a transfer student our second year. I didn't know she was the blue dorm's duel doll!"

"When did the boys' blue dorm get a doll?" Fuyuko asked.

"Sometime after you and Natsu graduated," Akiko answered. "And, Kenzan, wouldn't it have been your first year?"

Well, she had him there. He sweat again.

"Yeah, Kenzan," Sho said. "You're a year younger than us, in case you forgot."

"Oh, shut up!"

Some of those gathered laughed.

When he calmed down, Fubuki said, "Anyway, about Ai, I'm sure Natsuko's already found her and is talking to her right now. It won't be long now before we get out answers, guys."

I hoped that one of the answers we got would be how to get me out of this mess. I mean, that was the whole reason everyone kept showing up, anyway, so it would really suck if it didn't happen.

Don't let me down, Natsuko, I thought. Seriously.