Title: That Old Tree in the Park

Genre: romance, humor, general

Rating: T for language

Pairings: JohanXJudai (spiritshipping)

Summary: While climbing a tree in the park one day, Judai Yuki falls and would have died if a young man named Johan Andersen hadn't caught him and rescued him...

Me: Okay, guys! The next chapter is up!

Lucy: The chapter following it might be a depressing one, but we are not entirely sure of that just yet! We are still working on with a few ideas, so we will get it up when we have one!

Me: This is an idea that was requested by chrisandersenyuki! So, here you go! This one is dedicated especially to you! Thank you for being our faithful reader!

Lucy: Please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter One: That Old Tree in the Park

On Saturdays, it was common for almost everyone in town to gather at the parks. A band from school was always playing, and people were always playing games with each other, walking their dogs, or just enjoying the warmth of the sun.

It was also about this time where a romance was about to bloom.


"Aniki! That is so not safe!"

Shou Marufuji shouted up at his best friend, his "aniki", Judai Yuki. Judai had decided to prove his bravery by climbing up a massive tree in the park to get a better look at the band that was playing, since the crowd around it was incredibly large and it was hard to see all the way from the back of the crowd.

"Shut up, Shou!" Judai snapped, climbing up another branch of the tree. "I want a better look!"

Shou sighed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head and glancing away. "Aniki, you are going to get hurt!" he called up the tree. He knew that Judai wasn't going to listen, but he needed to try. He didn't want to be the one picking up his aniki's body. "That tree is really tall! And if you fall from tall, you go quiet forever(1)!"

Judai shook his head and climbed up another branch. "I am not gonna get hurt!" he called back down. "You're too paranoid! Learn to have a little fun in your life, Shou!"

Shou rolled his eyes and murmured about how reckless Judai was under his breath. Judai chose to ignore him and continued to climb up the tree as fast as he could possibly go.

It was a tall tree, and if Judai slipped, he would plummet to his death.

Judai glanced down and gulped as his vision altered, and then he groaned and grabbed the front of the tree trunk. "Whoo," he shook his head to clear his vision. "M-maybe I'm up too high."

The brunette laughed and grabbed another tree branch.

He hoisted himself up, and taking one look down at the ground, he could see the top of Shou's head. He was just a blue spot. Judai shivered and felt as if he were going to fall. He caught himself and sighed, shaking his head gently. He felt a little strange about being up this high, he knew it was dangerous. But he kept climbing.

"Come on, Judai!" he told himself. "No one ever gained anything from not taking chances."


On the other end of the park, Johan Andersen and his cousin Jim C. Cook walked into the park.

It had been a long week at school, and Johan had suggested that he and Jim, who had come to visit him all the way from Australia, go to the park to see the band perform. Jim was never a fan of large bands, but he decided to humor Johan and go.

Johan was happy and was walking a bit ahead of his cousin.

Jim sighed at Johan's overly happy actions and tried to keep up with his shorter cousin. "Slow down, Johan!" the Aussie called to him. "The bands play until noon! It's only 9."

"But we'll miss all the good songs if we don't hurry up!" Johan said.

Jim rolled his eyes and glanced up at one of the trees on the other end of the park. It was a small enough place so that Jim could see all the way to the other side of the park without any trouble.

He did a double take when he thought he spotted someone in the tree.

True enough, he did.

"Um, Johan?" the Aussie called to his cousin. Johan stopped and glanced back. Jim pointed up at a tree. "Is there someone in that tree up there or am I starting to lose my blinkin' mind?"

Johan blinked and glanced towards the tree that his cousin was pointing to.

Sure enough, there was someone in the tree.

He was a young man, about the same age as Johan, and he had lovely brown hair, from where Johan could see. He was climbing up one of the tall trees in the park.

Johan couldn't help but feel that the brunette was in danger somehow.

"Johan?" Jim asked, reaching forward and touching his cousin on the shoulder. He was getting worried. Johan had just suddenly stopped, and he looked like something was startling him.

Johan turned to his cousin. "Jim, forget the bands," he said. "We need to go. Now!"

Without another word to Jim about what was going on, Johan took off in the direction of the tree. He couldn't get rid of the feeling that the boy in the tree was in danger.


Judai wobbled and clung to the tree. He had almost fallen out, because his foot slipped. His hands were shaking, and he felt a cold wave rushing through his very being. He hated that feeling. It made him sick to his stomach. Judai breathed in heavily and then closed his eyes, trying not to look at the ground.

"Whoo," he whispered, holding his head with one hand. "Don't faint now, Judai. You'll die!"

Shou glanced up as his aniki almost lost his footing and went plummeting to his doom. "Aniki!" he shrieked. "Maybe you should come down now before you tempt Fate again!"

Judai shook his head. "N-no..."

He slowly forced himself to sit up on the of the branches, and he knew that he was up way to high. But his pride wouldn't allow him to go back down no matter what.

"I-I'm okay," Judai reassured himself.

Judai tried to move again, but his hand slipped from the tree, and before he knew it, he lost his footing.

Judai heard Shou scream as he went free-falling. Judai was too horrified to tell what was happening. He looked up and saw the sky getting farther and farther away from him. He made a reach to the branch where he had been, now a good couple meters from him. The distance was continuing to grow at rapid speed.

Judai closed his eyes and just accepted whatever was going to happen.

He was probably going to die any moment, since he was plummeting towards the ground. He thought to all the thinks he had never gotten to do in his life, and it made him kind of sad.

He had never gotten to defeat his friend Manjoume in a fair dueling match before. He had never got to take Asuka and her brother to the movie that they all had wanted to see. He had never gotten to tell his parents how much he truly loved them. He had never gotten to congratulate his big brother Leander on getting in to college. He had never taught Shou to be brave. He had never gotten his friend Ryo, Shou's brother, and his friend Fubuki together like he had wanted to.

Oh well, Judai thought. This is where it ends, I guess...

Out of the corner of his eye, which he had opened, Judai saw something blue rush towards him. He didn't focus on it. He just closed his eyes again and accepted his upcoming death.

He hit something hard , and everything went black.


Judai thought he was dead.

He couldn't feel anything, but he knew he was in excruciating pain.

The darkness that surrounded him wasn't anything like he had imagined it would be. Judai squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment and gently opened them once again.

His vision was flooded with light.

Judai winced and let his eyes adjust to the sudden light. He felt himself laying on something warm yet firm, and he had to admit, it was very, very comfortable.

Once his vision cleared, he was aware of the throbbing in his mind.

Judai weakly sat up and rubbed his head. "Ooh..." he moaned painfully. He shook his head to clear it of its foggy sensation. His vision was still a little blurred from having hit his head. "What hit me?"

Something moved and looked into Judai's eyes.

"Hey, are you all right?" a boy's voice; beautiful and hard to place; asked.

Judai blushed and looked to the boy. He was amazing. Judai had never seen anyone like this boy before. He was the same age as Judai, but he looked much more mature and much more attractive. He had spiked blue hair and bright emerald eyes. He was strong as well, though he didn't look very muscular.

"Y-yeah..." Judai murmured.

The silence held between the two boys went on for a while.

Judai just stared at the boy, and the boy smiled at Judai. Judai felt like he was going to melt under the boy's smile, and he suddenly couldn't feel the pain in his head anymore.

"NOBODY MOVE!"

The moment was ruined when Shou tackled Judai out of the boy's arms and to the ground. Shou dropped the shocked Judai to the ground and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Okay! Remain calm, Aniki!" Shou shouted to his friend. "Stay calm! I'll save you!"

Before Judai could protest that he was all right, Shou peered over him again and searched for any signs of injury. Judai showed none, but he had to find if there was anything wrong with his Aniki.

Shou tapped his chin. "Okay, let's see. Okay, elevate the legs, right!" He slammed Judai down on the ground again. He then gave a slightly confused look and shook his head. "Or was it elevate the head? Gah!" Shou lifted Judai's head up and paused as he remembered something. "Oh, right. I remember. If they're red, elevate their head. If they're pale, elevate their tail," he said.

Shou grabbed Judai by the head again and turned him towards the two men standing behind him; Jim and Johan, as they had introduced themselves when Judai was unconscious.

"Does he look red or pale to you?" Shou shouted.

Jim, the taller boy with the Australian accent, gave Shou a blank look. "He just looks squished, Shou," he said.

Shou glanced down at his aniki. He saw that he was indeed squishing Judai. He also noticed right off that Judai was fine. "Whoops. Sorry," he said as he let the brunette go.

Judai collapsed to the ground with a slightly pained grunt. He looked up to the beautiful bluenette, who was instantly back by his side. Judai tried not to blush, but he failed. The young bluenette saw this and chuckled. Judai's blush must have increased, because the bluenette's friend with the black hair chuckled lightly. Shou was saying how thankful he was that Judai was safe and alive and that he had survived. Judai couldn't seem to get the image of the bluenette out of his face.

The bluenette smiled and reached out for Judai's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Judai," he said. "I'm Johan Andersen."

Judai blushed and shook Johan's hand. "I-it's nice to meet you, too, Johan," he said.

Johan gave Judai a reassuring smile.

The brunette felt like he was going to melt. His face was bright red, and he gave a nervous laugh and tried to scoot back, but his body seemed to be frozen in place. Johan saw this and chuckled softly.

Though he wouldn't admit it just yet, Johan felt a strange connection- a crush, maybe?- to the brunette before him.

And though Judai wouldn't admit it just yet either, he felt like he was developing a crush on the bluenette who had saved his life. He swallowed a small lump in his throat as Johan helped him to his feet.

"I have a feeling we're going to become close friends," Johan said with a smile.

Judai blushed an even darker shade of red- if it was even possible- and tried to smile back through it. "Y-yeah," he said. "I think so, too."

In the background, Jim was laughing, while Shou was glaring at the bluenette who had come by and snatched his aniki like that. He scoffed and a disgusted look crossed his face as he folded his arms across his face.

"Oh, come on, Shou," Jim smiled. "This is a happy time. They're so obviously in love with each other. Love at first sight."

"Yeah," Shou admitted.

He looked at his blushing best friend and smiled. He then looked at Johan, and the same dark look crossed his face. Jim wondered if he was a bit jealous, but after a moment, Jim realized that jealousy wasn't the case.

"If he breaks my aniki's heart, I'll knock him off a tree," Shou mumbled.

Jim laughed and patted the small cyanette on the shoulder. "I'm sure he won't," he admitted. "I'll help you if he does."

Johan and Judai were too busy staring at each other and talking amongst themselves to noticed what the two others had been saying. But for them, that was all right.


Me: Yay! Johan and Judai like each other, but they are too shy to admit it! (1) This is a "Chowder" reference. I loved that part in the show!

Lucy: We think we might use this scene in a longer story that we want to write that we are unsure of, and we hope that it will all work out well in the end!

Me: Please review and we will update our stories and add a few more one-shots as soon as we are able to!

Lucy: We are having some major writer's block when it comes to Spiritshipping one-shots, but we have a few ideas that we are planning on writing out, and if anyone has any requests, we do take them!