Short, because this is not a pair I'm fond of, and AU, as I haven't seen Shogun Steel but I know who the bad guys are. So Alternate Timeline from the end of Fury.

Day 26

Older and Wiser

(Selen/King)

They both knew when they met that they were young – probably too young. At the time, they didn't think they were foolish, but in the years to come both of them would look back and laugh at the antics and convictions of their younger selves.

They drifted together fraction by fraction with Masamune as their meeting point, for Masamune was determined to keep the Garcias on his radar and King was equally determined to stick with his best friend for as long as possible. So they invariably ended up running into each other.

Eventually, they started doing it deliberately.

Soon after that, they decided they might as well make it official, however strange their respective friends and families would find it.

They grew up together, grew stronger together. It was a strange partnership that they had, but everyone who knew them said that King had become calmer since knowing her – and she had become nicer, whatever that meant. Whatever it was, it was considered to be a Good Thing by most, and just something that King took in his stride. After all, he'd always seen the woman behind the eyes of the street-wise girl.

Of course, it wasn't just by the presence of the other that the two had changed. Some of it had been education; King had been training with her for months to improve her strength and defence so that she didn't have to spend the whole battle running away. He also tried to teach her not to run away in the first place, though that was less successful.

Which was why he was standing in the crowd with his heart in his mouth, watching her battle an opponent stronger than any she had faced before. He couldn't help her any more. She was on her own

She had only one chance against an opponent this strong. When she was young and foolish, she had used her bey for her own ends, just like King had. She hadn't understood the true bey-spirit.

Now it was the only thing that could save her.

If King had believed in anything other than his own bey and the power of friendship, he would have been praying. As it was, he could only watch with his hands clenched into fists at his sides, the nails digging into his palms as the two blades collided head on, their special attacks making dirt explode up from the dusty, open-air dish and obscure the beys.

"I can't see who won..." the DJ called, leaning over his podium. "Wait, the dust is clearing a bit... yes – I don't believe it ! The winner is our very own Selen Garcia!"

"YES!"

The yell made everyone swing around, just in time to see the famed King, owner of the Mars bey, vaulting over the barrier and running towards the dark-haired girl who stood speechless at the side of the dish, her opponent's blade lying still between her feet.

Most of the bladers who had significant others tended to keep their love-lives away from the spotlight, because they didn't want the newspapers prying into them. But King was proud of the girl he loved, and he wanted the whole world to know that he was the man she'd chosen.

"You did it, Selen! I told you you didn't have to distract the opponent to win!"

"I-" She was cut off as he barrelled into her, arms thrown around her in the biggest bear-hug he could manage. "Ooof! Oh... hello, King."

For a long moment, she remained frozen in his arms. Then all of a sudden she relaxed and hugged him back, clearly as proud of herself as he was. She tucked her chin over his shoulder, and though strands of her hair ended up in his mouth, he didn't care one bit. This was the girl he adored with all his heart, and she had just won the National Championship of South America all on her own.

"I will love you until the day I die," he whispered, happier in that split second with her in his arms than he could have thought possible. All he wanted was for that moment to freeze forever, and for the feelings he could barely keep inside to remain forever the same.

.

When he was older and wiser, he knew he was wrong. Oh, he loved her until the day he died, and she loved him in return. But it wasn't the love he felt in that moment. Their love, true love, was not a static thing that clung to the same sensations for all time. It was fluid, moving, ever-changing until it was completely unrecognisable from the passion he had felt that shining day.

Sometimes it was a hug from behind, her arms around his waist, or his around hers.

Sometimes it was a napkin folded into the shape of a beyblade (he never managed to get her to teach him how to do that).

Sometimes it was having the dinner cooking when she got back.

Sometimes it was a kiss.

Sometimes it was more.

Sometimes it was the children.

Sometimes it was just her, and him, and everything else in the world just fell away.

But it was always love. And it always would be.