Down South

Summary: ...And she never did like cowboys.

Dreamshipping-Asuka x Johan. I never figured I'd like a pairing made of pure crack, but I quite like Judai and Asuka, which is very similar. It's a something part mini story I'm doing, because I think this pairing is cute. Does anyone else like it I wonder? Reviews would be nice : )

PART II

"I'm going to pass out." Johan winced and brought his hand to his forehead, wiping the sweat away. Asuka smiled sympathetically at him.

"Where'd all your energy go?"

"Ah...I spent all of it eating. I'm not bad when it comes to eating, but today I had a lot."

She cocked a brow.

"How does that work?"

"No idea, but I've done nothing else, so that must be it."

"Or you have too much for your body to handle, so you end up feeling exhausted."

"Maybe," he commented, before he grinned cheerily. He reached for her hand again, gripping it tightly. "Why are you so cold?"

Asuka found herself wondering the same thing, until she felt the radiated heat from his hand creep its way up her arm. She frowned. "What's wrong?"

His worried tone snapped her out of her reverie.

"Nothing," she replied, but Johan was wise enough to know she was irritated by something due to the fact her lips were set in a frustrated way. "Let's get going."

"Where to?" He glanced around, noting the numerous glares he received from boys with humour, before his eyes widened.

"What?"

"Is that your brother?" He squinted. "He's waving like a mad man. Do you know what he ate today?"

She followed Johan's befuddled eyes, to be met by a sly Fubuki making sure he made sure everyone focused in on the couple. She narrowed hers.

"Unfortunately, yes. And unfortunately, I highly doubt anything he ate has anything to do with how he's acting." She promptly sighed, turning her head in embarrassment. "So childish."

"My kind of guy!"

"Exactly!" Fubuki had somehow heard them. Both blinked. "I bet we'd make good in-laws."

A tremendous blush spanned across Asuka's face, and her mouth hung open. Johan just looked at him, slightly in awe, slightly terrified.

"Just what are you suggesting?" he questioned.

Fubuki wiggled his brows suggestively.

"Well..."

He was abruptly cut off by a well aimed slap on the head. Johan blanched and blinked at the same time, before laughing and sweatdropping.

"Fubuki, me and Johan are going, alright?"

All the occupants in the room cowered at the demonic aura fluctuating around her. Johan felt very scared when she grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged him away, multiple veins protruding on her face.

Meanwhile, a sniffling Fubuki cradled his sore head. He hadn't seen Asuka act like that in a while; that meant there had been some progress.

"But damn," he mumbled to himself, staring sourly at the floor with a well perfected pout, "why on earth do I have the luck to try and pair her with a boy when she's on her monthly cycle?"

"That didn't go well," Ryo mused, the faintest lines of amusement lacing his voice.

Fubuki, who hadn't stopped pouting, gave him the same look he'd given the floor.

"You try and do better," he retorted.

"I probably could, but," he paused to smirk, "I have the intelligence to realise not to provoke Asuka like that, or try and force her into a partnership."

"Oh." Fubuki's brows linked. "Is she on her period?"

Ryo's smirk receded.

"Why on earth do you assume she'd tell me such a thing?"

Fubuki opened his mouth to reply, but halted, stood there resembling a fish for a moment, and then closed it again, shrugging casually.

Ryo sighed exasperatedly at him. "I wouldn't try anything else tonight. She seems to like Johan, but you may ruin it if you keep pushing."

"Oh, but I'm her big brother." He grinned proudly. "It's my duty and privilege to nose into her love life."

"And I sympathize with her."

"Oh you're so mean Ryo!"

"Considering everything, I'd say I was pretty polite."

"Well, anyway; I'm gonna keep a monitor on them."

Ryo gave him a warning look.

"Weren't you listening to a thing I-?"

"Look," Fubuki interjected, removing an object from his short pockets. Ryo's eyes widened for a brief moment, before they returned to normal and he regarded it warily.

"Fubuki," he grunted, eyebrows furrowing, "please tell me that's not what I think it is."

"Sorry!" he grinned cheekily. "But it was a lot easier to put a microphone on Johan than Asuka."

"That's low."

"I know, but, listening to their conversations, hearing whatever goes on..." his grin breeched the borders of his cheeks, which would have hurt any one person that wasn't abnormal. "Is one of my many privileges as big brother Fubuki!"

"I'm sorry." Asuka willed the blush on her pale cheeks to die down. "My brother is so whacky sometimes it's just-"

"Nah, it's quite funny, and it's obvious he cares about you." Johan's smile faltered a bit, and he tilted his head a little, raising one brow and lowering the other. "In a really...Fubuki styled way."

Asuka smiled a bit.

"No need to be so polite. Insults just encourage him anyway." She made a face. "More so than compliments actually."

He chuckled, before interest developed in his eyes.

They took in all the surroundings, it was relaxed.

A lovely stretch of golden brown, the calm ripples of the water nudging the sand each time it came in, the faint linger of well prepared food in the air.

"GEDDOF ME!"

Oh yeah. And that.

"That..." Asuka cringed and dropped her head, flustered, "sounded awfully like my brother."

"Probably was," Johan remarked.

"OH GOSH RYO! YOU'RE SO UNBEARABLEY SELFISH! I MEAN, YOU HAD TO GO AND DISTURB THE ROMANTIC ATMOSHPERE BY TAKING MY FOOD."

Both Johan and Asuka's expressions asked: "What romantic atmosphere?"

Regrettably, Ryo's very sincere apology wasn't heard. They wouldn't have heard it anyway, but Fubuki felt the need to cut him off by ranting in a high pitched voice.

"Is Duel Academia always this lively?" Johan asked her, eyes fixed on the commotion back where they had departed.

Well, it was lively in a lot of senses, but she figured Johan didn't mean the whole 'we-get-a-lot-of-crackpot-bad-guys-challenging-us-here' way.

"It is quite lively." Asuka sighed for the nth time that tiresome night. "My brother just adds an overdose of spice and sugar, which is bad if you have too much."

He gifted her with a toothy grin.

"Imagine if he was my brother. We'd get along great."

"Or you're just stupidly tolerant."

'Or as stupidly whacky.'

"Oh! Asuka!" Recollection dawned on Johan's features, as he pulled out something from his pocket. It was eggbread, wrapped in Clingfilm. He positively beamed. "I gathered you liked it, so I brought a few with us. See?"

She completed the arduous feat of ripping her eyes from that delicious looking eggbread.

Surely enough, his pockets were stuffed with them, bulging and fit to burst. She frowned lightly. Why hadn't she noticed that? She was usually more attentive.

'Maybe because they were the pockets on a certain someone whose face you like gazing at,' a voice teased her.

She blushed hotly and gritted her teeth, brow twitching.

It was just mad. Her brother had infected her with something, and now she had concocted a voice inside her head.

'No dear, I've always been here. I'm afraid everyone has one. I've just been sleeping because you and the whole 'I live to love duelling' thing made me sleepy. Honestly, any normal girl would have had their inner voice knackered.'

"A...suka? You alright?" His green eyes were flooded with so much genuine concern.

She smiled weakly and took the eggbread, thanking him.

...Ah, he was stupidly whacky.

Her smile wobbled and furthered of its own accord.

...And stupidly sweet.

"Fubuki, I will not talk to you when you're a raging drunk."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? You're justa chicken! A big chicken you won't fight me because I'll win an'-" Fubuki's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he plummeted downwards.

Ryo watched him impassively.

"At least I can stand on my own two legs."

"I heard that!" an indignant and muffled response came from below. Ryo arched a brow.

"Still awake? It seems it isn't my day." He frowned dismissively. "You drag me into the middle of something you should have stayed of yourself, and then to rub it in you go and get yourself drunk because you know I'll have to take you back."

A manic laughter resounded.

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssss! You've figured out my plans! Pretty evil, eh?"

Ryo rolled his eyes.

Needless to say, the music had stopped and everyone was gawping retardedly at the unfolding drama.

The unfolding humorous drama.

"Fubuki, you're a nutcase, but you're even worse when you're drunk. Asuka is going to murder you when she finds out what you've done."

Fubuki's tough and devious facade broke within a second of Ryo's words.

"Noooooooooooo!" he wailed, suddenly up on his knees faster than the speed of light and clutching Ryo's legs. "Don't rat me out! Don't you want your loveable friend Fubuki around anymore?!"

He smirked again.

"Well..."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He began to scramble to his full height, using an increasingly hostile Ryo as leverage. "DOOOOONNNNNNN'TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

Ryo sighted the looks of the people observing the scene and inwardly growled, before taking Fubuki by the scruff of the neck.

"Look, if I don't say anything, will you go crawl into a corner and stay there until you're sober?"

Fubuki opened his mouth, but stopped again, in a similar fashion to earlier.

Obviously, it wasn't rocket science to where this was going.

...Well, it may have been for Fubuki, but...

"Be specific," Fubuki chastised in a slurred voice, eyelids slipping to half closed. "Which corner?"

"Well, it's been a long night." Asuka felt considerably warmer than she had earlier, her face in particular.

"Yeah. It's been fun Asuka!" Johan grinned at her again and suddenly sprung at her.

She made a small 'eep' sound as he chucked his arms around and choked her in a bear hug.

"J...oh...an!" she rasped, colour hastily fleeing from her face.

"Oh!" He pulled back, but rested his hands on her shoulders, not at all embarrassed he had just crushed a girl in a massive hug. "Sorry, I'm just gonna miss you! Tonight was real fun!" He automatically looked around. "Your brother loitering? I wanna give him a goodbye hug too."

Decidedly at great discomfort, Asuka shuffled away, and he didn't seem to realise his hands were now resting on air.

"I don't know. After all that happened a while ago, I don't want to know." Her brows burrowed. "I'm pretty sure he can find his own way back, and I'm sure Ryo will look after him..."

Then, the realisation of what he had so easily mentioned struck her. "Wait, you're going so soon?" she queried, struggling to keep her voice from reaching a higher decibel.

"Yeah, gotta go back to the North Academy."

Asuka, feeling very strange, found that the light hearted talking between had just been crippled by his announcement.

"Ah...I...see..." She made an effort to look anywhere but him, sadness evident on her face. "I guess I'll see you later then."

Johan's relatively cheery expression was dampened when he saw her face.

"Ah..." He wasn't Judai. He was aware she was upset because he was going so soon after they had spent the whole night chatting. The only thing he could do was handle the situation tactfully. "Do you want me to stay?"

Or bluntly.

Either worked.

Asuka blinked and still refused to meet his piercing eyes.

"...Yes..." she said carefully. "It would be nice if you...stayed."

He stared at her intently, a look of deep thought gracing his features.

Anxiety attacked her nerves as she stood there, watching him with the very same intensity. She felt woozy and a headache loomed-she just didn't know if it was from tiredness, Johan or her brother's obviously drunken shrill voice.

"Maybe I could..." He bit his lower lip, placing his eyes on the sky. Evening was turning to dark and orange was melding with black while clouds were vanishing to make room for the stars.

"You don't have to if it's troublesome," she blurted out.

Johan blanked momentarily, before he gazed at her, irises shining naughtily.

"But what if I want to be a rebel? What if I want to stay even if I can't?"

She, with her brain knocked asunder, gawked at him. He grinned widely at her reaction. "You know what? I'm going to check and see if I can stay."

She continued to gawk at him, before the words made sense in her mind.

Blushing a bit at her foolish expression a second ago, she thanked whoever was watching over her it was dark.

And then remembered it was probably them who got her into this mess.

"Ah, ok." She smiled. "That's good. I guess I'll...see you later."

"Right!" He winked at her. "I'll be around in the morning, so if I can't stay," he felt bad when her happy demeanour faltered a tad, "then we can say goodbye properly. Now, if I do stay..." To Asuka's absolute amazement, her sharp eyes detected crimson across his face. "...Then your hug was a bit early, so, urh..."

Normally if a boy had just randomly hugged her, she wouldn't have been amused, but seeing an impish Johan there with his blush and shuffling feet, she felt her heart warm.

"It's alright. I don't mind hugs."

Well, actually, that was a fib.

She didn't accept hugs from boys most of the time.

...He was just becoming an increasingly cute exception.

...And an annoying one, because she was never one to think a boy cute and add it into a sentence about her not liking boys' hugs.

"Ok then." He smiled at her one last time. "I'll see you later then!" With that he waved and energetically sprinted away.

She gazed on after him, half smiling, before turning the other way and setting off to her dorm, feeling oddly content.

...Until she found what seemed to be a half dead Fubuki on her bed.

END PART II