Warnings: possible OoC, Not Beta Read, canon scenes

A/N:
As I mentioned in the previous chapter, this story will go along with canon plot for some time. As such there will also be some scenes from canon, though I will try to avoid to put too many scenes that remain the same as in canon into the story and skip them. There will be some scenes that will be changed slightly while other will be completely rewritten. Just to clarify what I meant. As the story goes on, scenes will most likely be deviate more and more from canon until the point where I decide to branch completely away from canon.

Anyway, I'm not too happy with how this chapter turned out, but that might because I hadn't had the time to write for the past three months due to my internship. I might revise this chapter at one point, but for the time being I'll leave it like this. I hope you'll enjoy regardless.


Chapter 001 - Avalanche


Yūya breathed heavily slowing down as the gates of his school came into view. He had made it just in time for the first ring of the bell. The next moment, a shiver ran through his body. One he was very familiar with. Turning his head to the left, he was not surprised to see a translucent Spirit floating beside him.

"Good Morning, Hoshiyomi", Yūya greeted his Duel Spirit with a tired smile.

"Good Morning, Yūya-sama", Hoshiyomi replied with a bow. Yūya sweat-dropped. He had told his Spirits many times to drop the honorific, but they always refused.

"Morning, Master", another voice spoke. Yūya looked back over his shoulder to see Tokiyomi and returned the greeting. By now he had stopped walking. It wouldn't do for other students to see or hear him supposedly talking to himself.

"So, what brings the two of you here at this time of the day?" Yūya asked curiously. His Spirits usually avoided popping up at times they knew there was a chance that other people were around. It only happened when something was wrong other something important had occurred.

"We wished to check on you, Yūya-sama", Hoshiyomi answered seriously. "You pushed yourself quite far last night."

"Ah, gomen", Yūya said sheepishly. It seemed he had made his Spirits worry about him again. Tokiyomi nodded in agreement.

"We could have easily explained Pendulum Summon to you, Master", the time wielding magician added. Yūya blushed brightly in embarrassment. He hadn't been aware of his two magicians watching his training. Truthfully, he had thought about asking them for help, but he had wanted to try mastering the new Summoning method on his own, had wanted to prove to himself that it hadn't been a fluke during his Duel with Strong Ishijima.

Unknown to Yūya, the two magicians exchanged knowing glances. Both of them cared a great deal about their Duellist as both of them had been with Yūya since his early childhood. It was only a matter of time before Yūya would start growing up and it seemed that time had arrived. But no matter what, they would always be by their Master's side.

"There is one more thing, Yūya-sama", Hoshiyomi announced drawing Yūya's attention back to him. The teen cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

"It's about the boy you brought home last night", Tokiyomi explained causing Yūya to stiffen in alarm. He had had the 'don't-trust-any-stranger' speech from both his magicians. He knew that he shouldn't trust strangers or take them home with him and he normally wouldn't. But Yūto was different. He had had that strange feeling as if he had been drawn to the other. Like he had been meant to meet him. Like there had been already some sort of connection between them before even having met. It was difficult to explain.

"Please calm down, Yūya-sama. We are not going to scold you", Hoshiyomi said seeing that Yūya was starting to panic. Hearing those words visibly calmed him, but he was still wary.

"We can sense a strong power from his deck and it feels familiar. We just can't pin down what about it exactly feels familiar", Tokiyomi clarified. This new information made Yūya's eyes widen in surprise. It also peaked his already strong curiosity about Yūto.

Right then, the events of earlier came rushing back to Yūya. He had completely forgotten about Yūto in his hurry to make it to school in time. He wondered if the other would still be there when he came home. Something told him, though, that wouldn't be the case. Suddenly, his face flushed red as he realised that he had changed in front of Yūto. The other had seen him naked and hadn't said anything. Yūya felt like hiding in a dark corner and never come out again. He groaned as he wondered what his look-alike must be thinking about him now.

"Yūya-sama?", Hoshiyomi asked slightly confused about Yūya's sudden change in attitude. Yūya simply let out a suffering whine as he buried his face in his hands. The two magicians exchanged bewildered glances.

"It's nothing. Anyway, I should get going", Yūya sighed. He was late by now, which meant he would have to suffer Yuzu's fan again. Better face the music sooner than later. Hoshiyomi and Tokiyomi both bowed and disappeared leaving Yūya by himself. With another sigh, he started his trek towards his classroom.


CE


A yawn escaped Yūya as he half-listened to Yuzu's scolding. He had slept through all morning classes and had been unable to pay attention during afternoon classes due to his mind always wandering back to Yūto not matter how much he had tried to concentrate on the lessons. At least she wasn't hitting him with the fan again like she had done earlier this morning for his lateness. He tuned back to reality in time to hear three voices calling out to him. Looking towards the gate, he spotted Tatsuya, Ayu and Futoshi waving at them.

"Yūya-nī-chan! Were you finally able to Pendulum Summon?" Futoshi asked excited as soon as the middle school pair reached them outside the gate.

"Hurry up and show us!" Tatsuya added as all three of them looked at him with anticipation. Yūya couldn't help but smile at their excitement. It was refreshing.

"All right! To the You Show Duel School!" Yūya announced feeling his own excitement rise. In response, the three kids cheered with joy. The group started walking the kids chatting excitedly. However, they had only taken a couple of steps when Yūya suddenly had an unpleasant feeling shoot through his mind. He stopped in his tracks and tried to identify the feeling, but before he could properly analyse it he was hit in the face with three objects. Both Yuzu and he blinked in surprise at the rubber darts sticking to the bridge of his nose.


A student from another class, who apparently had been the one to throw the darts, came up to them and introduced himself as Sawatari Shingo and went on about how he had seen the Pendulum Summon on TV showering Yūya with compliments. Yūya felt flattered, but there was a weird sensation at the back of his mind that told him that something wasn't right. Before he could dwell on it, Yuzu reminded him about wanting to show the kids the new Summoning method at YSDS dragging Yūya's attention to other matters.

Shingo, who had been listening, mentioned that he knew a far better place for him to show off his Pendulum Summon and suggested they could use the Centre Court at LDS since he had reserved it for later already. Both Yūya and Yuzu were stunned. LDS was the most prestigious Duel School in Maiami City after all with the best equipment you could get. Upon their reactions, Shingo explained that he was star pupil at LDS and that his father was expected to be the next mayor of Maiami City.

Naturally, the children were even more excited at the prospect of being able to see Pendulum Summon and visit the Centre Court. Yuzu however wasn't very happy as she grumbled that their school would have sufficed. However, in the end the children managed to convince Yuzu to let them go and so they dragged Yūya happily after them. This left Yuzu and Shingo to follow after them.


CE


Yūya heaved a sigh of relief as the Action Field began to vanish. He should really listen more often to that weird intuition of his. It always proved to be right, even if he often only realised it long afterwards. The most recent examples included his first Pendulum Summon during his Duel with Strong Ishijima, him finding Yūto in an alleyway, the sensation he had had right before Shingo had hit him with the darts as well as having felt like something wasn't right when the aforementioned had approached him. Though, sometimes he asked himself if it really was just his intuition or if there was more to those weird feelings and sensations. He had been getting them a lot more often recently. Actually ever since the first time he used Pendulum Summon, now that he thought about it.

The Entertainment Duellist was brought out of his musings, when Shingo ordered his groupies to take his Pendulum Cards by force. Yūya cursed inwardly. He was very acrobatic and had good reflexes, but he wasn't good with physical fights due to his lack of self-defence knowledge. Maybe he should actually take up Tokiyomi's offer to teach him for once. The next moment, Shingo and his groupies were lying on the floor and a boy with light blue hair was standing between them and Yūya's group leaving them stunned.


"Geez, these guys looked pretty lame in the end", the kid commented as the group continued to stare at him. Yūya was the first to find his voice again.

"Uhm, who are you?" Yūya asked his mind still trying to wrap itself around what had happened during the past minute. "But you were super cool out there", the boy responded and completely ignored Yūya's question about his person.

"Are you another LDS student?" Yūya questioned overlooking that he hadn't received an answer to his first question for now.

"I wanted to be, but not anymore. I want to become you student instead", the boy replied. His answer caused the entire group to exclaim in disbelieve.

"Student? Mine?" Yūya asked bewildered. The day was getting weirder by the minute. He felt like his head would start swimming any moment now.

"Yup! If I'm gonna learn something, I wanna learn from someone fun. You're the most interesting person I've met since I came here", the boy answered. While he still hadn't told them his name, they at least knew now that he wasn't from around here. Yūya needed a moment to process what was going on.

"Did you do this?" Yuzu asked as she also finally regained her voice and pointed towards Shingo and his friends, who were still lying on the ground.

"Oh, I just knocked them out for a bit", the boy said casually as if it was a normal thing to do. Yūya had a feeling that this boy was far from normal. As if his Spirits had heard his thought, he felt them stirring, but they didn't show up. They would later, though, once he was in the safe confines of his room.

"I'm Shiunin Sora", the boy finally introduced himself and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you!"

It took Yūya a moment before he could respond. When he did, he took a hold of Sora's hand and stuttered his reply. Too many weird things have happened in such a short time Yūya decided. He needed a good night's rest. Perhaps his mind would be able to wrap itself around the whole mess more easily. Yeah, sleep sounded like good idea.


CE


The house was silent when Yūya came home meaning his mother had gone out to get groceries. As much as he loved his mother, right now that just suited him fine. His mother would have been sure to notice that something was bothering him, but he really didn't want to burden her with his problems. There probably wouldn't be a problem telling her about what had happened at the Centre Court, but telling her about Yūto was another matter. That weird intuition told him that it would be better to keep Yūto's existence to himself for now. Besides, he doubted Yūto wanted anyone to know about him, if the situation he had found him in and his behaviour earlier this morning were anything to go by.

He was also afraid what his mother would think if he told her about his weird intuition and ability to see Duel Spirits, despite her open-minded nature. As predicted, Hoshiyomi and Tokiyomi had showed up after he had parted ways with Yuzu and the children. They had informed him, that they could sense something familiar from Sora in the same way they had from Yūto. However, it was a different familiar feeling. Again, they couldn't put their finger on way it sensed so familiar.


So many weird things happening one after another. Yūya wondered just what kind of mess he had gotten himself into as he entered his bedroom and put his school bag down. His thoughts were in turmoil as he tried to make sense of the recent events.

Only when Yūya sat down on his bed did he notice the absence of his look-alike. He hadn't really expected him to still be there, but he was still disappointed. And worried. For the umpteenth time in the past twenty-four hours, he breathed a sigh. He really should get a decent amount of sleep.

With a groan, Yūya rose from his bed and stretched before he moved to his wardrobe to get his nightwear. He dropped it on the bed and started to undress. Right after he had removed his shirt and thrown it into the hamper, his gaze fell onto his desk by chance. There was a small piece of paper with something written on it. It couldn't be from his mother. She usually left notes for him pinned to the fridge door. Curiously, he picked the note. His heart skipped a beat when he realised that the note was from Yūto.


Yūya

By the time you find this I'll be long gone. I'm grateful for your help, but it's better if I don't stay too long. You don't have to worry about me. I'll be fine.

Yūto


The note didn't really do anything to alleviate Yūya's worry for Yūto, but at least he knew that Yūto had been well enough to move on his own. Now that he thought about it, h was sure he had locked the door when he had left and his bedroom window was open.

"Don't tell me...", Yūya thought as he looked to the window. Well, he hadn't seen any unconscious person lying in their yard when he had returned earlier. So if Yūto had really used the window to make his exit, he was really fine. Yūya still worried though. He really hoped he would the other again. There wasn't much he could do right now, though, and he really needed some sleep. With that in mind, he finished changing and got into bed. It didn't take long until sleep claimed him.


CE


The next morning, Yūya woke up by accidentally rolling out of bed and landing on the floor. Not the best way to start the day in his opinion. He rubbed the sore spot on his hip as he got onto his feet. He got dressed and went through his usual morning routine while he mentally went over the events of the past forty-eight hours. He couldn't help but feel ecstatic at the memory of finally pulling off Pendulum Summon in a real Duel.

"But still, what was up with that boy? He came out of nowhere, knocked Sawatari and his crew out and then asks to be my student...", Yūya mumbled as he left his room. A yapping sound drew his attention away from his musings. He spotted En and Core, two strays his mother had taken in, strolling towards him. He immediately bent down to pet both of them. They sure had grown since his mother had taken them in.

"I knew you were hungry! Go on, eat as much as you like", his mothers voice sounded from downstairs drawing his attention away from the two animals. Now, why was he not surprised? He chuckled to himself as made his way downstairs by pole.

"Kā-san, did you pick up ano– ", Yūya asked his mother as soon as his feet touched the ground, but his voice got stuck in the middle of the sentence, when he spotted the boy, Sora, at the dining table and nearly tripped over tin air.

"Ah! Shishō!" Sora exclaimed happily as a greeting. It took Yūya a moment to fully realise the situation.

"Why are you here!?" Yūya blurted out feeling slightly exasperated.

"Well, I saw him wandering around outside our house and you knew me. When I see hungry little ones like that I can't help myself", his mother explained cheerfully as if it was the most normal thing in the world as she placed another plate with pancakes in front of Yūya, who was sitting opposite to Sora by now.

Yūya couldn't help but sweat-drop. It's not like he hadn't already known, but now it was glaringly obvious why he hadn't really had any problems with taking Yūto, who at the time was a complete stranger to him, home with him. He definitively took after his mother in that aspect. He almost wanted to tell her that she couldn't just go and pick up people, but that would be hypocritical of him regardless of the fact that Yūto's situation and Sora's situation were completely different.


Unknown to Yūya, both Hoshiyomi and Tokiyomi had popped up again to check up on him and had been observing the whole occurrence. Both of them had the same thought with a sweat-drop. Like mother like son, huh? The two magicians stayed around for a while longer watching as their master got annoyed with the situation. It was also kind of amusing to see the effects of the blue-haired boy mistaking their master's mother for their master's sister, which left their master sighing in exasperation. It seemed that things weren't going to calm down anytime soon.


CE


The rain was heavy and Yūya cursed inwardly as he ran through the streets of Maiami City. He hadn't taken an umbrella with him since it had been sunny with no clouds in sight when he had left his home earlier this morning and forecast hadn't mentioned anything about rain. He had been in the middle of his way to the YSDS when it had suddenly started bucketing down.

The visibility in this heavy rain was bad, but he still managed to spot the bridge a couple of meters ahead. At least it was warm enough that he wouldn't have to worry to much about getting sick, he told himself as he slid down the grassy slope to the river bank. As soon as he was beneath the bridge, he shook himself in a way reminiscent of a cat or dog trying to get the water out of their fur. Then he wrung out his clothes the best he could.

Looking towards the sky, Yūya figured the rain wouldn't let for some time. He should probably send Yuzu a text message. That was if his Duel Disk wasn't completely soaked. Otherwise she, Sora and the kids would worry themselves to death about where he was.

Speaking about Sora, it had been a week and a half since the weird boy had showed up after his Duel with Sawatari. He had actually gotten pretty used to Sora's presence by now as had everyone else. Yūya couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of Sora following him everywhere in an attempt to win him over. Looking back at it now, it was funny. But back then it had been annoying, especially when Sora had assumed that Yuzu was his girlfriend. She was a good friend, but that was it. People seemed to mistake them for a couple far too often. But it had really been a shock when the younger boy had used Fusion Summon during their Duel.

The Entertainment Duellist shook is head in amused exasperation as he finally fished his Duel Disk out of his pocket and typed a short message. He hit the send button and hoped the others wouldn't be too mad. He really didn't want to be yelled at at the moment. He was already soaked to the bones. That was punishment enough in his opinion.


"Yūya?" a voice suddenly asked from behind startling Yūya, who nearly dropped his Duel Disk in fright. He whirled around and came face to face with the very person, who had occupied his thoughts for the better part of the past one and a half weeks. Surprise and relief flooded him as he watched Yūto remove his goggles and mask. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he had kept the note the other had left him with him at all times.

"Looks like I'm not the only one, who had the idea to hide under the bridge", Yūya chuckled once he found his voice again and then added, after getting a good look at the other and seeing that unlike himself Yūto was completely dry, "though, you seem to have been luckier."

"Seems like it", Yūto agreed and shrugged of his cape earning an arched eyebrow from Yūya. Wordlessly, Yūto draped the cape over the other's shoulders. Yūya wanted to protest, but Yūto beat him to it.–

"You're going to get sick, if you don't warm up. Consider it me returning the favour", Yūto explained with an even voice. He didn't need to specify what he was referring to.

"You don't need to, but thank you", Yūya responded and pulled the cape tighter around himself with a faint blush on his cheeks. His gaze fell onto Yūto's left arm by chance. He noticed the distinct lack of bandages. Slowly, he reached out and took a hold of the hem of Yūto's shirt sleeve. He almost expected the other to pull away, but he remained still. He raised the hem slightly revealing a thin, white line on the skin. It seemed the wound hadn't been as deep as he had suspected and had apparently healed well. There might not even be scar left in a couple of months.

"I'm glad and relieved that you seem to be doing well", Yūya admitted shyly and mentally added that he was really happy to see him again. He wouldn't say that out loud though lest Yūto might think him weird. Yūto, on the other hand, wasn't sure how to react to that little confession. It had been a long time since he had been in an even remotely normal situation let alone a normal conversation. So he decided to sit down and patted the space next to him to gesture for Yūya to do the same. After a moment's hesitation, Yūya complied. They sat close enough to feel each others body heat, but not close enough to touch.

An awkward silence fell as neither of them knew how to start up another conversation. Yūya actually wanted to ask the other about his person, his past. But he wasn't sure Yūto would appreciate his poking around. He didn't want to risk what could become a friendship by letting his curiosity get the better for him. He could tell Yūto about himself, but that might cause annoyance. Yūya wanted to tear at his hair in frustration, but settled for a mental groan.

Yūto had a similar conflict going on. He did want to converse with the other Duellist. He was intriguing and had caught Yūto's interest. However, telling Yūya about his origin and past, especially his more recent past, would undoubtedly lead to Yūya getting involved his mess. That was one thing he absolutely wanted to avoid. Little did either of them know that Yūya became involved the moment he created Pendulum Summon.

As both of them remained silent, the atmosphere started to become less awkward and more comfortable until both of them relaxed and just enjoyed each other's presence. They remained that way for another hour. Yūya was almost falling asleep by that then, but the sudden ray of sunshine brought him back to awareness. The two Duellists looked towards the sky to see it slowly letting up and the rain had toned down to a light drizzle.

"Guess we won't have to spend the night under the bridge", Yūya chuckled as Yūto helped him to his feet. Yūto couldn't help but crack a tiny smile at that. Yūya took of Yūto's cape and handed it back to its owner.

"I'll be home in a few minutes if I run, so I'll be fine", Yūya told him. He would also take a warm bath right after coming home and change into dry clothes afterwards. His mother was sure to fuss over him, too, and was most likely going to make him a hot chocolate.

"Will I see you again?" Yūya asked hopefully. Yūto hesitated to give him an answer. He really shouldn't get involved with Yūya and risk endangering him.

"Perhaps", Yūto finally answered. He had a feeling that even if he said no, he would still run into the other again. Yūya was slightly disappointed by the answer, but it was enough for now. He gave Yūto a bright smile before he said his goodbye and took off towards home looking back and waving at Yūto until he was out of sight.


Again, I hope you enjoyed. As always, constructive criticism is welcome as well as pointing out spelling/grammar mistakes I missed myself.