Appreciate

By: Chiharu-chan

Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi, 4KIDS, and all those people.

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Fubuki remembered when she first tugged onto the edge of his shirt, smiling foolishly and setting a deck of card onto the palm of his hands. "Nii-san. Let's duel!"

He remembered he had just turned seven a month earlier. Duel Monster was the official craze; while Fubuki himself paid little attention to the card game, his cute little sister had charmed him into dueling her.

He remembered that he had no deck at the time, and they had to split Azuka's cards in order to play. He remembered yawning as his sister carefully explained the rules of the game. He remembered wondering how a five year old like Azuka could possibly remember all this before drifting his attention back to the girl. He defeated her easily, of course. He remembered her sulking, commenting about how "Nii-san already played this before".

Fubuki remembered when he had been wildly awaken from his slumber when she tugged harshly onto his hair. He woke up to see his sister on the top of his bed, jumping around. "Okaa-san got us the new duel disk for Christmas, Nii-san! Come on, get up!"

He remembered rubbing his eyes as he pulled Azuka up like a doll before setting her on the ground. He remembered patting her on the head, telling her that she should guard her duel disk carefully in case jealous Kuribohs steal them. He remembered laughing and going back to sleep after she gasped and ran out of the room.

He remembered when she gently tugged on his hand, smiling charmingly. "Introduce me, ne, Nii-san?"

He followed her gaze across the Obelisk Blue hall to Marufuji Ryou, reading by himself. "How about I introduce you to a sandwich? I'm hungry." He headed off towards the kitchen before being pulled back by her. He didn't remember when she had become so strong.

"Nii-san." She whispered in his year. "I'm only a first year, he's a sempai! You're in the same grade, why don't you introduce me to him?"

"I didn't think I'd need to." Fubuki grinned, grabbing her hand as he pulled her towards the set of furniture Ryou was sitting on.

The blue-hair boy looked up, arching an eyebrow at the two. "Yes?"

"Ryou, you remember my little sister?" Fubuki pulled her forward. "Short, hyper, cried a lot?"

Ryou frowned slightly. "Azuka, you mean."

"Isn't she gorgeous now?" Fubuki grinned, hugging the girl protectively. "Can you believe that she got so pretty after one year? What were you doing where Nii-chan was away at school, Azuka?"

She blinked slightly before opening her mouth in a small 'o'. "Marufuji-kun?"

Ryou smirked.

Fubuki remembered laughing inwardly at his foolishly little sister.

He remembered that feeling of helplessness flowing through him, painful and unable to be expressed. That bittersweet feeling made him smile slightly. "Ah.. It's a beautiful engagement ring."

"The wedding list is going to be tedious, you see." Azuka smiled at their parents. "Ryou wants to invite our friends from Duel Academy, but there's really too many. We'd have to expand this into a giant wedding, and the budget is-"

"It's your wedding." Fubuki cut in, swirling a glass of whine carefully. "Go for it."

"Nii-san." She smiled, leaning forward on the dinning table. "We both thought about it. Will you be our Best Man?"

"I suppose it's my last chance to beat Ryou for stealing such an adorable little sister away." He remarked wistfully.

One day, he smiled slightly, Azuka will appreciate the things he do.

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Kind of spoilerish for those still on the dub. Fubuki and Ryou are childhood friends, and I'm guessing Azuke is at least a second year since she was there in her uniform with Ryou when Juudai and Sou were in the entrance exams.