Spearshipping (Ryouta x Yugi)

(What on God's green Earth am I supposed to do with this?)

To be absolutely honest, Yugi had never met Ryouta Kajiki face to face before. Sure, he had dueled against him, once, but the pharaoh was the one dueling. And back then, Yugi and the pharaoh hadn't known how to communicate with each other within their soul rooms, so Yugi couldn't do much more than watch. And although Jonouchi had told Yugi Kajiki was at Battle City, Yugi had never seen him.

So he wasn't sure what to say when Kajiki suddenly ran up to him with a grin on his tanned face.

"Yo, Mutou-san!" he said, clapping him on the back. "Hey, long time, no see! It's Ryouta Kajiki, remember me from Duelist Kingdom? It's okay, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't."

"Oh, yeah," Yugi said, smiling slightly. Just a bit nervously. "Yeah, it has. How are you?"

"I'm not doing too bad. How about you? Win anymore championship tournaments lately?"

Kajiki probably didn't see, or understand, the slight pang that flashed across Yugi's eyes.

"Um, no, actually, I haven't been dueling much for a while. Not since Battle City, anyway."

"Really? That's a waste of your talents, my friend," Kajiki said, grinning. Yugi smiled back – he couldn't help it, Kajiki's smile was somewhat infectious. "So what brings you all the way out here to my town?"

"Oh, I'm here for a summer program at the college here," Yugi said. "The archeology program is really good."

"Archeology? Sounds interesting," Kajiki said, although it was obvious that he didn't think so. "Well, if you'll be here for a while, you should stop by my place sometime – it's that blue house right up against the docks. We should duel again sometime – you'll probably beat me, but it'd be fun!"

Ryouta's name echoed down across the wharf, and Kajiki glanced behind him.

"Aw, geez, I forgot the time," he said. "Sorry, I gotta run, Mutou-san. Nice seeing you again – and make sure to stop by at least once, all right?"

"Mm-hm, sure, I will," Yugi said to Ryouta's fleeing back.

He paused for a just a moment longer, staring at the spiky haired boy laugh sheepishly as he got yelled at by someone that had to be his father. For a moment, that pang flashed across his heart again.

A year. It had been almost a year since the pharaoh had left.

Yugi had come here for a break from the familiar places, the things they had done together. But he had only found a new memory.

He sucked in the salty sea air. He took a moment to feel the ocean-thick breeze.

Then he shouldered his bag, turned his back to the harbor, and walked away.

A/N: The funny thing is, I could almost see this strange relationship developing with a premise like this. But I still don't support it. :P Next is Spazzshipping (Yami no Bakura x Jonouchi).