Minuet of Darkness

by Aisa Bellvard

In search of clues on Fubuki's whereabouts, Ryo decides to approach the silent girl he met in an unexpected way, with the belief she knows about his friend's disappearance. What will ensue from this meeting? A story about a boy who had all he could wish for and a girl that lost everything.

28. Edo Phoenix VS Hell Kaiser Ryo

Disclaimer: Yugi-Oh GX does not belong to me nor its characters or rights over the story.

Warn: This story may have heavy and uncomfortable themes/situations like use of drugs, violence, suicide, abuse, sexual harassment, intimate relations, rape, depression, trauma and bad language. If you do not like such, Do not read this.

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Chapter 27: Edo Phoenix VS Hell Kaiser Ryo

Ryo and Edo exchange a dire, earnest glare at each other before the teal-haired man starts confidently, taking the initiative:

"Duel!" He quickly scans all the cards with his eyes and starts: "I use the effect of Cyberdark Cannon (ATK 1600/DEF 800) from my hand, discarding it to the graveyard I can add a Cyberdark monster to my hand, and I choose Cyberdark Edge (ATK 800/DEF 800), summoning it in attack position! This is not all, I activate the effect of my Cyberdark Edge and equip it with the Cyberdark Cannon I just discarded, increasing its attack points! (ATK 2400)"

"Going all out at the start, your reputation doesn't lie."

"I set a card down and end my turn."

He closes his eyes for a brief moment, ignoring the other. Edo snorts, this guy is a tough nut to crack, he isn't willing to speak about anything, but soon enough, he will get to the truth. Edo pulls a card from his deck.

"I play Destiny Draw! I discard a card from my hand." He places Destiny Hero Malicious to the graveyard pile. "With this I draw 2 cards! Now, I also activate the effect of a card in my graveyard! I banish the Destiny Hero Malicious from my graveyard to summon a Destiny Hero Malicious (ATK 800/DEF 800) from my deck! Now I tribute him to summon Destiny Hero Dasher! (ATK 2100/DEF 1000)! From my hand I activate Dark City, it boosts the attack of any Destiny Hero during damage calculation if their attack is lower than your monster's! Dasher's attack points increase by a 1000! (ATK 3100), now my hero, attack his Cyberdark Edge!"

Ryo smirks at the challenge, unfazed by it, in fact it seemed as if the attempt of Edo was laughable to him. His monster is destroyed, the aftershock blows a gust of wind making his cloak flutter, he simply keeps his arms crossed.

"Cyberdark Cannon effect activates! I can send a monster from my deck to the graveyard during damage calculation if it's equipped to a monster and draw a card. Because of the effect of Cyberdark Edge, only the monster equipped to it is destroyed at the end of battle."

LP: Ryo - 4000 - 3300

"My Dasher's effect activates, if it attacked this phase, it switches to defense mode (DEF 1000) at the end of the battle step... I set three cards and end my turn." He folds his arms, casting an analytical glance at his opponent. "I'm amazed you would come all the way here and I have no idea how you found out about my duel tomorrow, it was not supposed to be public… Though, I can't say I'm not curious on why a man like you would interfere in it. I can't think of a motive for you to do that."

"My turn!"

He cuts off the questions, not answering a single one of them, his opponent lets out a deep sigh. He looks briefly at the card he just drew and proceeds:

"I summon Cyberdark Horn (ATK 800/DEF 800) and using its effect, I equip my Cyberdark Cannon in the graveyard to it (ATK 2400)."

"The same move again… It seems you like bringing up things that are supposed to be dead." He sneers, referring to their first duel, Ryo is undisturbed by his bantering, a completely different individual than the one he has dueled before.

"From my hand, I activate Cyber Revsystem! It allows me to summon a Cyber Dragon from my hand or graveyard, I summon it from my hand, (ATK 2100/DEF 1600). I'll have Cyberdark Horn attack your Destiny Hero Dasher."

Edo's eyes squint slightly, the Cyberdark Horn effect deals piercing damage, lowering his life points.

LP: Ryo - 3300 Edo - 4000 - 2600

"I activate the Cyberdark Cannon's effect once more, sending a monster from my deck to the graveyard, I send Cyber Dragon." He flips the card to show it before throwing it into the discard pile, it seemed he was enjoying that.

"You didn't need to show it to me." He huffs. "I activate the trap I set before, Destiny Signal! Once a monster I control is destroyed and sent to the graveyard, I can summon any 4 level or lower monster from my hand or deck! I choose Destiny Hero Defender (DEF 2700/ ATK 100) from my deck."

"I activate Cyberdark Edge's (ATK 800/DEF 800) effect. By halving its attack, it can attack your life points." Ryo's voice soars in the air, an apathetic semblance as he declares: "Now, attack him Directly!"

LP: Edo - 2600 -2200

"I'll ask you this again…" Edo stares at him calmly, as if probing which reactions he'd have. "But why are you so interested in the duel tomorrow? Why does it concern you so much?"

"Can we skip the chattering? I'm on a bit of a tight schedule and I'd like to get back home quickly."

"Look, I'm just trying to understand what is going on, but fine, you look like you're not up for a talk. Nonetheless, as a professional, you should know we have a job to do when someone requires our services. You have to understand I'm just doing my job."

"This has nothing to do with professionalism, too bad you can't see that." His eyes narrow subtly, a glint of derision in them.

"What do you mean?"

"Will you start your turn or not?"

He crosses his arms. This stubbornness is bordering annoyance for Edo, but he knows better than to let his enemy break his posture:

"My turn! Draw!" His eyes switch between his opponent and his card, startling his play: "I activate the effect of my Destiny Hero Dasher in the graveyard, during my draw phase, if I draw a monster, I can special summon Dasher if I show the monster to you." He raises the card face-up to his enemy, Diamond Dude. "Now, I bring back Destiny Hero Dasher (ATK 2100/DEF 1000) from my Graveyard! I also summon Diamond Dude (ATK 1400/DEF 1600) and activate his effect! I draw a card, if it's a spell, I can send it to the cemetery and activate its effect next turn." His lips almost pout seeing Over Destiny come to his hand, he sends the card to the graveyard. "Now, I switch my Destiny Hero Defender (ATK 1100) to the attack position! Destiny Hero Dasher (ATK 3100), attack his Cyberdark Horn!"

"Trap card open!" Ryo intervenes, shouting out loud. "Cybernetic Hidden Technology! When you declare an attack, I can send a Cyber Dragon I control to the graveyard and destroy your attacking monster! Your Destiny hero Dasher is destroyed again!"

"Hah, you've gotten better, I see, but that's not enough! Destiny Hero Defender, attack his Cyberdark Edge!"

LP: Ryo - 3300 - 3000

"Trap card activate, D-Fusion, with this card, I can use monsters I control as fusion material! I fuse Diamond Dude and D Hero Defender into D Hero Dangerous! (ATK 2000/DEF 2600). Now I activate his effect, I can send a D Hero to the graveyard and all my Heroes will gain 200 ATK points for each Destiny Hero in my graveyard until the end of this turn! From my hand I send D Hero Drawhand to the graveyard to boost the attack of Dangerous, with this I have five Heroes there! (ATK 2000-3000)! Come on, Dangerous! Attack his Cyberdark Horn!"

"The Cyberdark Cannon effect activates, I send a card from my deck to the graveyard." He inserts yet another Cyber Dragon on the discard pile. "Like my Dark Edge, Cyberdark Horn can also send its equipped monster to the graveyard to avoid destruction, the Cyberdark Cannon equipped to it will be destroyed instead."

LP: Ryo - 3000 - 2400

He explains so unconcerned Edo's brows twitch in annoyance. Where is this confidence coming from? True he was also conceited when they first dueled, but this time… It's different. Ryo's eyes are blazing inside, he didn't have this passion in him before, not at that time at least, from the last duel he watched he could tell he finally awakened as a true duelist. His newfound fame in the pro league would indicate that, but the silver-haired wanted to see for himself what it is that drives him now.

"Cyberdark Cannon effect activates, I draw one more card." He checks it briefly before placing it together with the rest of his current hand.

"Turn end." Edo declares, his voice covered in an ironical, shrewd tone as he continues. "You color me surprised. Is it so important for you to make me lose to a random wealthy lady tomorrow? I know I accepted your terms, but I'm truly curious as to why you'd request this, and I believe I deserve a proper answer."

There's a pause of a dreary silence between them as just the holograms of the monsters stand still. Ryo's eyes sharpen, it seems his opponent won't let it slip without knowing his motivation.

"Did it never cross this overconfident head of yours why someone would ask for your services? Or which reason do they have to hire a professional duelist? Would you accept just any request? Even if it doesn't fit your creed? Would you do anything to keep your image?"

"No." He gapes, baffled at those words. "But that's rich coming from a guy that not long ago made a speech about not caring which methods they use to win even if they are uncouth…"

"Are you telling me you're the same?"

"Of course not! I always have all my opponents checked, but for this duel in particular, I don't see anything wrong. It's just a request from a family to duel their daughter, I don't see any harm, but you seem to hold a huge contempt for the idea."

"You think you understand everything, but this is your downfall, you're being used."

"And you're coming here to alert me? To save me from being used? Spare me from this nonsense. I don't need anyone to open my eyes, they were open from the start. And people hire me all the time, while I make sure to check on the requests, this one it's just a duel, I'm not killing anyone." He defends himself from the insulting tone of the words.

"Is that so?" He jeers. "Fine, but don't cry when you lose this, because what I'm dueling for is way more valuable than what you are defending right now. Draw!"

He resumes the duel, his eyes are even more defiant than before, a blazing aura coming off from him as he shows and plays Overload Fusion with a smirk:

"I fuse my three Cyber Dragons in the graveyard to bring Cyber End Dragon! Then, I equip it with Super Strident Blast, one of its uses is that my opponent cannot activate effects during my battle phase. You know what that means, right?"

Edo scowls at him, the last time he lost for miscalculating and being careless, now he's simply toiling Edo's usage of effects, such an aggressive and blunt approach. His response to Ryo is activating the effect of his monster before the battle phase:

"Dangerous effect is a quick effect, so I activate it now, I send D Hero Dreamer to the graveyard and increase the attack points of my monster. (ATK 2000 - 3200)."

"Cyber End, obliterate his Destiny Hero Dangerous!"

LP: Edo - 2200 - 1400 Ryo - 2400

"Are you finished yet? This isn't enough to decrease all my life points." He taunts the teal-haired man.

"You'll need to do better to bait me. I'm not naive enough to think you aren't prepared for this." He spits out smugly. "I will change my Cyberdark Horn into defense position and set a card, then I end my turn here."

Edo's lips curve down, he's not getting anywhere with his provocations, his mind drifting into a myriad of thoughts as he tries to grasp the secret behind his dueling now.

"Compared to the first time we dueled, he got a lot better…" He saves those words in his mind not to praise his enemy. "His style is a lot more brute and confident now, not that this intimidates me, unlike it happens with all those low level duelists he challenged before, but…" The wrinkles on his face become more evident. "Why is he involving himself in this request of dueling that lady? Isn't she just the heir of some company? Is this a personal issue with the Kinomoto group? No, he wouldn't ask to let her win if this was the case… Why would he even have anything to do with them?"

"What? Are you out of moves already? I expected more of you." Ryo scoffs, breaking his opponent's concentration.

"You wish." He retorts in a subtle annoyance. "Draw!" He looks at the card once, then at Ryo before starting his master play. "I activate the effect of my Destiny Hero Drawhand (ATK 1600/DEF 800) from the graveyard to special summon it to my field! Both of us have to draw a card." His eyes lift again, staring at his enemy across the room. "Now, due to the effect of my Diamond Dude I can activate Over Destiny from my graveyard, with this I can target a monster in my graveyard and summon any Destiny Hero monster from my deck whose level is less than equal or half of my target's level, but it will be destroyed at the endphase of this turn. I choose D-Hero Captain Tenacious (ATK 800/ DEF 800) from my deck!"

Stretching his hand to the field as the monster materialize. Indeed it's been a while someone had him be this motivated in a duel, while he's always doing his best, not all opponents were able to make his blood simmer this much. It's still confusing why the Hell Kaiser of all people would come here to pay him a visit, but he can't deny it's an exciting occasion as a duelist.

"I bring forth Doom Lord (ATK 600/DEF 800)!" He quietly considers a plan in his mind, not using the effect of his monster for once. "Now, I activate Monster Reborn, Diamond Dude, come back! I activate his effect, I can draw a card and if it's a normal spell, I can send it to the graveyard and activate it next turn."

His finger slips the card out of his draw pile: Misfortune. He contains his smile, keeping the serious façade, but Ryo seems to have caught up on it, albeit not showing much emotion or a single hint of fear as Edo sends the spell card to the cemetery, executing his brilliant move.

"I tribute 3 monsters to special summon Destiny Hero Dogma! (ATK 3400/ DEF 2400), its attack is boosted by Dark City! (ATK 3400 - 4400), now he can destroy your Cyber End Dragon!"

Ryo doesn't flinch as Cyber End howls while it disintegrates in front of him, his life points decreasing. A drop of sweat rolls down Edo's face, he doesn't like this overconfident posture of his.

LP: Ryo - 2400 - 2000 Edo - 1400

"Why do you want to change the results of tomorrow so much? It shouldn't matter to you." His eyes squint, a glint of doubt in them, seeking for an answer. "What are you dueling for exactly…?"

"No offense, but I'm afraid you're too young to understand that."

Edo frowns at the words, the tone came off as disparaging, Ryo wasn't smiling or even demonstrating any sort of intent he meant to mock him in the slightest, in fact he was extremely serious while saying that, this just intrigued Edo more.

"He's really going all out. I can tell how impressive his improvement is, but at the same time..."

"You're still not going to say anything, huh. Whatever, you're not the only one who has ever dueled for something more than victory. We all duel for something more."

A part of him reminisces the events that transpired at the duel academy, how his friend Saiou was taken by the light of destruction, how Judai showed him a new perspective in dueling and how he had been so stuck chasing after the legacy of his dead father.

Edo's eyes falter while lost on the card on his hand, his grip almost creasing them unknowingly, he snaps out of that state upon hearing his opponent's voice:

"You want the truth? It doesn't matter to you who wins tomorrow, but it matters to her. And of course, it matters to me too, otherwise I wouldn't be here."

"To her, huh? You are dueling to let a girl win, is that it? I didn't quite portray you as a romantic." His brows arch up, he's flabbergasted at the words, Ryo remains in silence, as if to confirm his suspicions. "You have to be kidding me."

"Why do you think so?" He stares blankly at the grey-haired, making him even more perplexed.

"That's really amusing. You never struck me as the dazzling hero type and trust me in this when I say she'd not be rejoiced hearing you are not confident she can win, you're just insulting her dueling skills on top of being utterly foul about rules here. Or are you trying to brag about defeating me?" The answer he gets to the interjection is again nothing. "Ah, don't worry, I'll respect the conditions we agreed upon, if you win."

"Then you better be prepared to lose gracefully to her tomorrow!"

His assertion is bold and convicted, an imposing aura forming around his silhouette, something Edo had only witnessed in a few select duelists.

"Save your dreams to yourself until this duel is over!"

He retorts. Somehow, that fired Ryo up, he braves passionately, resuming their duel as if victory was in his grip:

"My turn! I draw!"

His eyes pause on the card Cyberdark Impact, a smirk playing on his lips, it seems the luck with the cards hasn't abandoned him yet. Edo foils his moment with an interruption, crossing arms, still impatient and unsatisfied with the half-answer he got form Ryo:

"Due to the effect of Dogma, your life points are halved now."

LP: Ryo - 2000 - 1000 Edo - 1400

"Trap card open! Rebirth Judgement! Once per turn I can declare a type of monster and all the monsters in our graveyards become that type! I choose Dragon type! Now, I activate Cyberdark Impact! I can fusion summon Cyberdark Dragon with this by returning Cyberdark Keel, Horn and Edge from my hand or graveyard to my deck! Arise, Cyberdark Dragon! (ATK 1000/ DEF 1000)! Next, I activate its effect to equip a monster to him, and I choose Cyber End Dragon!"

The white three-headed dragon squirms as it's used as a tool ruthlessly, Ryo's eyes do not waver, he continues in a decisive tone:

"Now, I tribute it to special summon Cyberdark End Dragon! (ATK 5000/ DEF 3800). Its effect allows me to equip a monster of either graveyard to it, I choose to equip your Diamond Dude!"

He points at his opponent, the monster flies out of Edo's graveyard, being attached to the cables of the monstrosity of a machine that was just summoned. Edo has never seen the dark version of Cyber End, where did he get that card? He doesn't like it.

"Cyberdark End Dragon can attack as many times as the number of monsters equipped to it, since it only has one monster equipped, it can attack once this turn! Destroy his Dogma, Cyber End!"

"Not so quick! Trap card open! Draining Shield! When your monster declares an attack, I can target it, negate the attack and gain life points equal to half of your monster's atta-"

A muffled laughter comes out of Ryo's lips breaking his sentence, Edo's brow twitches again at his mockery, he only notices when the attack comes through, despite his trap.

"What-"

"Cyberdark End Dragon is unaffected by effects activated by my opponent. It's over, you lost."

The silver-haired teen gapes amusedly, his eyes opening wide as his life points decrease fully. Ryo isn't smirking by then, no sign of disrespect or joy in his expression, in truth he seemed… Relieved it ended.

LP: Edo - 1400 - 0

He closes his eyes, accepting his defeat. The man promised and the man achieved it. Because of a mundane reason like trying to let a girl win a duel of all things, he must really be trying to impress her. He's half in disbelief that he lost to someone like that, but regardless, a deal is a deal and he'll keep his word.

"You are a completely different duelist than when we first met." He stretches his hand in a friendlier tone than before. "This is a compliment."

He'd never expect he'd talk through dueling with a man like the Hell Kaiser, regardless of that, some amount of understanding was achieved during that, although he isn't fully sure whether he understands properly the reasons of his opponent. He sighs in dismay, resigned.

Ryo stares at his hand before accepting the handshake, his grip tightening unnecessarily stronger as he looks into Edo's eyes.

"Fulfil your part of the deal."

They end that handshake with the younger duelist wondering again what drives him to behave like that as he watches Ryo's back disappearing from sight. He came and went as swiftly as the wind.

His mind leans over the matter as he walks back to his apartment, flinching when he notices Emeralda standing near the entrance.

"Did you duel him?"

"We just had… A very long talk from duelist to duelist." He dismisses the topic convincingly. "Emeralda, do you know anything else about my opponent tomorrow?"

"I thought you'd ask. I researched about her, but nothing about your opponent is highlighted, it seems her family wanted to spare her from the eyes of the media. She's disabled, she can't speak."

"She's… Mute? Hm… I guess I understand why her family would not want the media to be over her too much, anything else of note?"

"I couldn't find anything besides where she works. She's a journalist but she used to be a student at the duel academy you were at months ago. Her name also appears in some journalistic articles as the writer, one of them featuring the Genex tournament event you participated in. "

"So she's affiliated to the duel academy and to a duel news company… Is this all?"

"Yes. When I tried finding out more, it was just not possible to."

"It wasn't possible?" His eyes squint in doubt.

"Her family tried to keep her profile as private as possible. I couldn't find anything worth of attention besides basic information like age, birthday, her work and where she studied previously."

"I see… She's not only a rich lady that wants to duel… Are they testing her skills as a duelist or do they just want a pro to look over their daughter? Hm… Not that this affects the results of tomorrow's match…" He talks to himself in a low tone. "What about the Kinomoto company itself?"

"Our sponsors…? Well… All that is known by the media are rumors."

"Rumors? Of what?"

"I had to dig a lot to find this out, but a few years ago, the owner of the Kinomoto conglomerate offered a deal to buy the Marufuji Company, but the offer was utterly refused by the company president and after that, there were a few rumors that people from the Marufuji company were harassed by people supposedly hired by the rival conglomerate, but there was no evidence, so nothing was done about it besides a registered complaint to the police."

"Marufuji… You don't mean…?" His eyes widen in shock.

"Yes. Apparently, the owner of that company is the father of Ryo Marufuji, that duelist who just came here."

Edo's mind enters into a disarray of theories, he can't believe it. If they're the heirs to different companies, then what is his interest in letting the girl win? Is it some sort of rebellion against their respective parents?

"So was the story about the girl all a bluff? Is it some sort of political conflict? No, that can't be, right? Is he the type of man who'd involve himself in other people's affairs? Maybe I'm misjudging him… Still, the Kinomoto company was charged for harassment… And this is news to me, did they really do it? Or was it a move by their enemies to get them off their tail?"

His thoughts are interrupted by his secretary's calm voice as she concludes her background check:

"That aside, there's no apparent connection between the families. Nothing stands out about the young lady, she doesn't even have many mentions in the media besides the articles she wrote. Her family owns a prestigious company and they're one of our main sponsors too and that sums it up."

"I see…"

He can't help but feel this most iffy sensation that something in the whole story doesn't fit, but with just those bits of information, he can't fully make something out of it. For some reason, his intuition tells him everything will come to light when he meets all the ones involved and pieces the parts that are tied together. It's time to end the topic:

"Thanks for the hard work."

At Ryo's apartment

Rie walks from one side to the other of the entrance, stopping to look at the door, her heart jumping, expecting it will open at any time. Her garments are a borrowed long sleeved white pajama shirt with dark-blue borders, draping over more than half of her legs, the sleeves folded many times to let her hands uncovered.

She gasps when a clicking sound happens, besides the key he left with her, he was the only one that had another key, she rushes to the entrance to welcome him, startling him a bit.

"Did I take too long? I'm sorry, I had a harder time finding it than I initially calculated." His brows furrow up in guilt for deceiving her.

He closes the door softly behind him, turning around to finally take a look at her. She is using a disheveled shirt that didn't match her height, the shoulder line of the shirt flopping over her upper arms, his gaze towards her is somewhat pitiful.

"Why the pitiful look?! I came here without any spare clothes and everything you have is too big for me!" Her annoyed typing just elicits a muffled chuckle on him.

"Don't worry, you're pretty in anything you wear." He puts his arms around her shoulders smoothly and starts walking her to the couch. "But how about you just sit a bit? I'll prepare everything. Have you eaten?"

She denies with a headshake, her eyes squinting slightly, he can tell she answered merely as a reflex and her mind is not paying much attention to the world outside. She sits down, putting both her legs up on the cushioned couch, lost in thought. His hands reach her with a steady hold on her shoulders.

"Rie, you look like a pile of nerves."

Startled with the affirmation, her head lowers, her eyes wavering. He bends down enough to take a look at her face, her eyes raising to match the height of his gaze.

"This isn't good for you. You shouldn't be letting this uneasiness eat you from inside out. I will help you out with this, but you need to control your emotions too." His thumb grazes on her cheek, the tepidness of his touch lingering on her skin.

"We can order food." She types abashedly.

"Right. Just wait a moment, I'll have a shower and change clothes." He hands her some DVD cases "Those are the videos with the duels of your opponent, we can go over it and analyze while we wait for the food and eat, alright?"

He leaves to another room of the place, she's left there, staring at the DVDs with a pinch of concern, it's been long since she last dueled and the match is against a powerful duelist, more than just a win is at stake and she can't afford to lose there. Is there even hope?

His footsteps bring her out of her trance yet again, she finds herself in awe with his figure, he is wearing a simple black T-shirt and a pair of dark-grey trousers, he smiles faintly upon noticing her intent gaze, she turns away her face, her fingers clinging to the edges of the needlessly long upper piece she wears.

"You don't need to feel embarrassed about staying here, you did that many times before."

"It was different before… True that I came many times, but we didn't actually get to spend a lot of time like this together… Checking decks and duels and this stuff reminds me of school…" A faint smile tugs on her lips.

He lets out a nostalgic sigh, his hand encasing hers making her finally notice the amount of strength she put into pressing the borders of her clothes, she lets go of it. Recently he has been endlessly gentle to her whenever they meet, whether it's because of all that transpired in his life recently or just because he became more true to his feelings, she doesn't know, but he always displayed this fondness when he was with her.

"Rie, you should relax a bit and we should start watching those videos, it won't be good if you spend the night awake, don't overdo it."

She nods once he soon sets the equipment to play the duels on the TV across the center table in front of the couch. They spend a couple hours with him sometimes pausing the video and explaining strategies as well as counters to it.

Some marks of insomnia start to form under her eyes, he interrupts the video by turning off the TV, startling her.

"Just a bit more." She pleads, bringing both hands together, clutching her communicator in between them.

"You'll do just fine with this amount of need to wake up early to arrive there in time."

He observes as her lips form a pout, dissatisfied with his decision even though he was considered her well-being in the first place, but that flimsy expression disappears along with her next words:

"Thank you for helping me with this."

In a quick move, she yanks him closer in an embrace, his arms slowly coming around her silhouette.

"This is just natural. Two people who like each other should help each other too. But I'm glad you appreciate it."

"It's not just the duel, everything too. I'm happy you came to the meeting with my mother and invited me here. Thank you for everything. I love you." She drops the communicator to the side and rubs her head slightly against his chest.

"Rie…" The pink strands of her hair plies on the crevices between his fingers, his hands strengthening the grip, his eyes closing as he smells the scent of her freshly washed head, he ends that embrace a bit shorter than intended, looking into her eyes "Why don't you come here to live with me?"

Her lips unseal slightly, she can't hide the bemusement with those words, her hands coming to his chest, a veiled conflict inside her.

"I can't promise I'd be here the whole day, we both have work to do and I have the tours for the pro league too, still… We'd spend a lot more time together… I'd like to wake up with you nearby or have more time to spend alone with you, not only nights or short meetings like before… Would you not enjoy that too?"

She's stunned by his request, his eyes almost faltering as he continues with a faded smile:

"You don't need to answer now, but I want you to consider it at least."

"Ryo…"

"Maybe I should've asked that after giving you a ring? My bad, I'll do it right next time."

He bends over her, his hair falling over his eyes as his head sinks into her shoulders, her hands carefully slithering, making a trail on his back, comforting him. This time she pulls him away gently, her eyes wavering, her warm fingers cupping his face, startling him for a second as she pulls him for a passionate kiss.

Her hands firmly gripping his face, pushing it away as soon as he corresponds to that kiss, catching him by surprise again, her fingers sliding apart from him, her blue orbs flickering looking only at him.

"Huh… Rie, are you saying you accept-" He blinks baffled, the words coming out a bit slower than he'd wish as he tries to think on the whole sentence.

"Yes." Her lips move on their own, her fingertips finally approach his shirt again, grasping it, sealing his lips in yet another kiss.

"Mhm…" He lets out a half grumble after the interruption, his hands fumble around until he properly adjusts them around her.

Her mouth escaping his after what seemed like a long minute, her face seeking shelter on his neck, a low grunt occurring as he again adjusts his arms around her, once more enticed by the strands of smooth hair that fall over his arms.

"Is everything okay?"

She reveals herself again, after looking around in search of her communicator and not finding it, she resorts to gestures, her posture jolting in nervousness.

"Tomorrow. Duel."

"Rie…" He kindly glides a hand from the top of her head to her cheek, the seriousness in his eyes mellowing a bit with his own gestures "It will be fine, don't worry. We can sleep now."

Saying that he stands up first, much to her surprise, his arms coming under her bare legs and supporting her back as he effortlessly lifts her, he can see the blood spreading quickly on her cheeks, her arms wrapping around his neck, a sketch of a smile appearing on his face.

"You're not as heavy as you think."

He gently lays her down, taking a spot beside her and covering them both under the blanket, she lies sideways, her hands supported on his chest, his fingers come around to fondle her hair, she fidgets a bit, her eyes lost in thought.

"Don't be so restless now, just sleep." He plants a kiss on her forehead.

He can see her eyes wavering in the half light of the moon, she closes them shut, coming closer to him, he welcomes her in an embrace, warmly encasing her body between his arms, soon her unquietness is reduced to a calm, rhythmical breath as she sleeps, his eyes linger on her for a long minute, a gleam of worry flashing on them and he snuggles himself closer, his eyelids giving up to the sleep, a million thoughts flowing through his head.