Chapter 2 – Apartment of dreams

A/N – This chapter is 14 year after the first chapter!

Yusei woke up in his room at poppo time at 7:30 in the morning and was frustrated again. For the last month he has had the same dream over and over again, but parts of it he could not understand . "Dam that dream, why won't you not go away." He grumbled to himself while holding his head. Before he forgot anything he quickly grabbed a note book from the table next to his bed and wrote down anything he could remember from the dream, he was doing this every morning for the last 3 weeks by Martha's suggestion to work out what the dream meant. He hoped it would help him understand it but at this point it still wasn't. After he finished noting down anything he could think of, he got out of bed to begin his morning routine only for him to hear something that was normal everyday, Jack and Crow in a shouting match.

"Crow where did you hide them!" Jack shouted. "Jack for the last time there where you left them!" Yusei had enough already and stepped in to stop the contest before it got out of control again like it normally did. "Jack you will find them on the top shelf! And crow stop moving them every morning, it's getting ridiculous." Jack finaly looked where Yusei had said and found his box of cereal, and crow just pulled a face since Yusei just messed up his fun.

For the last year Yusei, Jack and Crow have been living together at poppo time. Yusei was not keen on the idea at first since he was used to having a quite life with Martha, but they insisted that he should spend time away from home and live with them. Unfortuatly all Yusei did there was prevent fights and work on duel runners, crow had his delivery service. Jack however was draining any money they had on over priced coffee and would not look for a job to help with the bills. It was beginning to get on everyone's nerves. "Jack will you just get a job and help us or you can forget your coffee completely." Yusei said sternly. Jack looked at him in a not caring way before replying. "Yusei the king does not need a job and .." Jack started before Yusei tossed over a bag full of washing. "Thanks jack for volunteering to do the washing today, that saves a job for the rest of us!" Crow started laughing hard since Yusei had manage to shut jack up for the first time that morning only for jack to storm out of the house mad. "Yusei ha-ha I think Jack's ha-ha answer was no ha-ha" crow stated unable to stop laughing. Yusei agreed but wished he would stop acting like he is high and mighty since he was the current Turbo duel King still.

At that moment the phone started ringing in the next room so Yusei as normal had to stop his job to take care of it again, he smiled again after he found the number was from the Leo and Luna the twins. He had forgotten that they normally ran about 8:30 on a saturday since they were not at duel academy that day. "Hi kids, sorry I forgot you were ringing today." Yusei apologised before the twins could say anything since this had become a habbit of his since jack and crow always made him forget what time he was supposed to ring them at.

For the next 30 minutes Yusei and the twins had their normal chat about what they did that week, which normally included a list of foods Leo ate in one of his pig-out sessions, Luna's small problems at school that Leo did not know about and Yusei problems with Jack. "Hay Yusei how would you like to get away from them for a few months and stay here at our place?" Luna asked since Leo went off to eat something again. "That would be nice Luna, I could use a time out from those two, but why do you ask?" Yusei asked thinking they was a bigger reason for it. "Well we decided to go on a holiday for a few month but we don't want to leave the house empty because of some security issues lately, plus since it's so last minute we can't cancel our normal deliveries we have every week, that includes all the food Leo eats unforcently. So if you did you would not need to worry about food and other things you would need." Luna explained since it had been 4 years since there last holiday away and they needed one, they had managed to get one but they booked the wrong date and could not cancel it since they left in 4 days time because it was the start of the summer holiday.

After hearing what happened and Luna concerns about where they lived he decided there was one thing to do. "Ok Luna I will stay over there and look after the place for you, you could contact me to find out what's happening at your house but you will need to leave me a list of when the weekly things happen then I can take care of them for you before you leave."

Leo misunderstood and thought Yusei was coming over to stay and started jumping around like an idiot and shouting "Yusei leaving Jack and Crow and live with us now!" until Luna reminded him of their holiday. As the three friends called off Jack ran in like a kid on fire excitedly. "Yusei and Crow I have just signed us all up for the turbo duel rally next week. You don't need to thank me but go ahead." Crow cheered at the chance to compete against some good turbo duellists again but Yusei burst his bubble. "Sorry jack but I can't I am house sitting for the twins the next 6 months. But good luck to the two of you though."

Jack and Crows anime dropped on the floor in shock at hearing what Yusei said. "Why are you doing that when you can go and duel the best with us." Jack asked in confusion. Yusei then explained about the holiday the twins were going on and the problems at the Tops building. "Yusei we are not leaving you on your own since we promised Martha we would look after you." Crow started before Yusei stopped him "Crow you know that Martha is only a phone call away and I will be in a safe place. Besides you wanted me to become more independent, that was why you wanted me to leave Martha to come here so don't try that. And you could phone me to see if I am ok from time to time. Don't hold yourself back just because I am not going."

Not happy about it jack and crow walked passed Yusei and rang Martha to try and get her to convince Yusei to go with them but after 15 minutes Martha shocked them. "Jack and Crow, Yusei is correct in what he is saying and he already committed to the twins so he can't do both the dueling trip and keep his promise to those kids. Besides Crow you should know that more than anyone. Jack I think that Yusei is old enough now to look after himself besides when he finds a young lady to live with later in life he would need to be able to look after himself. This will be a chance to try it on his own, if he has any trouble it will help him learn and will be a phone call away to help if he needs it. So go and enjoy yourselves." Martha's words made Crow remember what he learned with the kids he looks after in the satellite area of domino. While Jack was mad since it was a team rally they were entering and it needed three people, with no Yusei on the team they needed to find someone to take his place, and jack worked out who it would be.

Over the next 3 days jack and Crow help Yusei move the stuff he needed to the twin's house for his 6 month stay. Jack manage somehow managed to get Trudge to take Yusei's place on the team for the rally, and Crow helped the twins pack there thing for their long holiday. "Luna I'll put the cases by the door for tomorrow" crow shouted as the three of them walked in to the lounge. "Would you like me to stay over tonight then I can help you load the cases in the morning to go to the harbour? I will be staying after you leave anyway so why not start tonight and help you two out." Yusei asked thinking they would have trouble and knowing Leo would like it if he did. Without giving an answer both twins cheered, this told him all he needed to know. Well Yusei guess you going to be here for a while then?" Jack stated not questioned. "Yep, good luck coping without me at Poppo time" Yusei replied as he sat down next to Luna thinking about what could happen in the next 6 months. "Well last chance to come with us Yusei!" Crow said again trying to get Yusei to change his mind about staying in the Tops, Yusei only shucked his head from side to side saying "No". In the end Jack and Crow left the twins and Yusei to get on with their evening while they left to get there duel runners ready since they leave in 3 more days.

"Well what do you think we should do then Yusei? You're our guest tonight so you can choose." Luna asked trying to be normal after their excitement faded. "It's up to you two since it your last night here for a while." He replied as he could not choose anything. Leo jumped up with a bright idea "why don't we go to that place we went to last week for our birthday Luna! I loved that chocolate pudding I had their!" Yusei did not like that it was such a high price place Leo was talking about, none of them knew how to even say the places name, but he did like the chicken stake he had there. "If that what you two want then let's go there." As they were leaving Luna stopped them before Yusei left the apartment. "Yusei why don't you lock up with this key card, you will need to know how to do it while you are staying here." Leo palmed his head since he thought it was something serious. "Luna don't worry me like that!" he said as Yusei agreed and locked up before walking to the lift with the twins.

On the way Yusei followed the twins through the park as they were taking some pictures of domino city to take with them, he looked around at the sunset that was happening at that moment. With a bright red light on the horizon he spotted lots of couples doing the same thing with their hands together. Without even thinking about it he stopped and lifted his right hand up to in front of him and looked at it. 'I wish I had someone to hold the hand of and look at that sunset with.' He thought to himself as a tear began to form in his eyes, he had never allowed himself so show a weakness even with jack and crow but seeing that sunset made him feel something he never felt before 'loneliness and desire for and to be loved'. Why did he feel this when he was with his friends.

Luna was the first to turn and realised Yusei had stopped and not told them, which was strange since he normally would ask them to wait if he needed a minute to himself when he was with them. "Leo wait a moment will ya and look, something wrong with Yusei!" Leo quickly turn around and spotted what Luna ment before they both ran back to Yusei and spotted he was crying while looking at his hand. Luna stopped Leo from saying anything and looked around to see what could have caused it to happen, she spotted the couples looking at the sunset holding hands and had an idea what was wrong. "Leo can you continue taking pictures for a few minutes?". "Sure Luna but why?" Leo asked not sure what the reason was. "I'll tell ya later ok." Luna replyed as Leo walked away but not going too far.

Luna Walk up to Yusei and took the hand Yusei was looking at which pulled him out of his trance. With his tears flowing he looked down at Luna confused as Luna spoke to him "Are you ok Yusei? You looked lost for a moment…why are you crying?". Using his spare hand he wiped his tears away and knew he need to talk to someone about what he was feeling but he did not want to tell Martha so walked with Luna to a bench. "Sorry Luna, I was looking at the view and seeing those couples over there made me think about ..." he stopped as he started crying again for a minute before finishing "I wish I had someone I could hold hands with and love with all my heart." Luna realised that Yusei was longing for something and staying all that time with jack and crow had made thing worse for him, since the money he could have used to take someone out with on a date, Jack would use on his Blue-eyes coffee. Yusei needed some female companionship but who could give him the love he needed besides his friends and Martha. Luna didn't know what to do about this, but she knew on thing this wasn't the best time to go for a meal out together. "Come on Yusei were going home. LEO WE ARE GOING HOME NOW!" Luna finished.

Leos fell over hearing that since he wanted to eat at that place. "Luna we still haven't eaten yet .." then he notised that Yusei was in no fit shape to go to a posh place as he was right now. He began to feel guilty for thinking of himself so he walked over and held Yusei's other hand, and together with Luna they they walked home. "We will order a pizza when we get back Leo, then Yusei can have some alone time to get over this problem. Do you understand Leo?" Luna said with a worried look in her eyes. Leo wasn't happy about this but nodded anyway 'Luna's right about this, but why would Yusei brake down like that so easily. I hope you can tell me later what happened Luna!' Leo thought was they walked back to the tops at Yusei's walking pace.

As they got back Leo ran ahead to unlocked the door as Luna walked Yusei in to the Tops apartment and over to the sofa to get him to lay down. Leo walk away with Luna to order the pizzas they needed, he also took the opportunity to find out what had happened in the park. "Luna what happened back there? That sure did not look normal even for Yusei" he said to Luna's agreement. "I know Leo but ... from what he told me I ... I think he's lonely Leo... he needs something we can't give him." Luna tried to explain, the thought of this made her started crying as well, the whole thing had upset her as well. Luna was sensitive to the emotions of people and duel spirits that were nearby so this even upset her as well. Luna suddenly had an idea but she needed Leo to help her. "Leo can you stay with Yusei for a while? I am going upstairs to ring Martha and ask her what she thinks we should do. I won't say it's related to Yusei but he needs help some help.." Leo did not think it was a good idea from yusei's point of view; however he had to agreed with his sister on this one. "Ok Luna I'll order the pizza and keep an eye on him. I just hope Martha knows something that will help." Luna nodded at Leo before she ran up to her room to ring Martha in private so Yusei did not hear what she was doing.

Martha was reading the newspaper as she enjoyed her drink of tea. She was enjoying her quite evening when her phone started ringing, she thought it was strange for that time of day since was too early for any of her normal evening calls. As she walked to the video phone she knew the number that was dialling in, it was coming from Luna and Leo's appartment which made her think the twins had a problem. 'Why are they ringing me when Yusei is with them?' she thought as she answered the phone to see Luna with a very worried look on her face. "Good evening Luna ... what's wrong dear? Where's that smile you always wear so well?" she asked out of concern. Luna tried to explain what happened in the park and how Yusei broke down right in fount of them more or less. Martha had seen that coming so she knew what advise to give to luna. "Luna don't worry about him he has had moments like that for years since Akiza left the play group they went to together years ago.." Luna had never heard that name before, and it made Luna very curious all of a sudden. "Martha who is this Akiza? Is that Yusei's girlfriend?" Luna asked, Martha realised me coused a miss understandeing and corrected what she said. "Oh no Luna she is nothing like that. Akiza is the name of Yusei's best friend after he was alone for so long years ago. They became close friends at a playgroup I brought Yusei to when all the kid that used to be here got new family but him. They became close until her and her family left 6 months after the two of them met 14 years ago. All I can suggest is just get him to have an early night and he will be fine in the morning. You are doing the right thing asking so don't worry." Martha explained. Luna stopped crying since she now knew that this had happened before and was not too strange at all. "Ok thanks Martha, I will do that and thanks for the help." Luna answered before cutting off the call. "14 years and she is still not returned, I wonder if they would have made a cute pair as well when they played together. But I wonder why a sunset would make him brake down that bad, it's strange. Unless ... " Martha said out loud trying to work out what could be the reason.

As Luna returned she spotted that Yusei had finally calmed down from his sunset breakdown and was trying to work out what happened to him, he saw Luna and felt bad for her. "Hay Luna sorry I messed up your last night here before you go away. You two missed out on your meal out and now have to have pizza because I broke down because of the dam sunset." Yusei said mad at himself. "Yusei it's not your fault that happened, did you know when we left this would happen?.." Yusei shuck his head saying no to Luna's question "..then you have nothing to be sorry about. Now let relax and eat our pizza, then we will all have a early night and then we will all feel better. After all for me and Leo leave tomorrow so we need to be fresh for our long trip." Leo was surprised at Luna's suggestion but he and Yusei both agreed. The all sat down and together enjoyed the pizza that arrived while Luna was on the phone with Martha.

An hour later Yusei was changed and was now laying on the bed the twins set up for him, he was still thinking about the incident in the park, and his mind started to think maybe he wanted a girl to share his life. He though this loneliness came because everyone he is with these day are either younger or male and it wasn't right for someone his age. "I wonder who my perfect girl would be?" he said as he closed his eyes to picture that girl in his head.

As images started flashing in his head his mind keeped drifting off, he began to think about his friend from years ago and her image as a child appeared. 'What would Akiza look like now?' and with that thought her image grew to the almost the same height as him, her short hair grew to her shoulders and her front hair bags hung down to her chest. As the image in his mind became more complete Yusei's focus kept shifting to her face, her big brown cat like eyes kept drawing him in, he felt like they had a power over him and they came close enough that Yusei could touch her. All of a sudden his eyes opened and he realised he was in a fantasy and his spirit dropped again. "Oh dam it I wish I could see her again. Then again even if I saw her again she would never go out with an average guy like me. She would be better with someone elce." He said as tears rained from his eyes again, and without realising it he cried himself to sleep. As he slept his mind drifted into a world where fantasy and reality were never the same but yet could be both truth and lies at the same time.

YUSEI'S DREAM

As he opened his eyes he found himself outside the day care centre he went to as a kid. "Wow this place brings back some memories for me." He said to himself as he walked inside, as he took in the memories he started to hear what sounded like someone singing. The song he heard had a magical feel to it, the voice was gentle yet powerful, and it felt like an angel was calling to him to come closer. "Who would be calling to me?" he said to himself as he followed the voice. As he entered the main play room everything was exactly how he remembered it but then he saw one person in the room. She had red hair and was standing alone in the centre of the room. 'Who is that girl?' He thought as he walked up to that person, he knew it was a girl but what was strange she seemed to look like the girl he imagined earlier. She suddenly stopped singing as if she could sence his presents in the room.

The red haired girl turned around to see who was there and gasped from the sight she saw, to his amazement Yusei did the exact same thing. Without even thinking about it, the two of them looked at each other and seemed to know who each other, was but they had never met before (at least they thought that at the time). Her brown cat like eyes locked on to Yusie's blue eyes and they lost all sense of time (if that can happen in a dream). They saw something they liked in them and could not break off from that. Yusei wasn't sure who it was at first but then he began to speak something that came from his heart "A A Aki-za" he stutted out in shock as he began realising who it was somehow. "Y Y Yu-sei" the girl stuttered confirming Yusei's thoughts, the Girl in he met in that room was non other than his long lost and grown up friend Akiza Izinski!