Season 2

Chapter 27 : Yuko's First Date

It was a pretty decent Friday morning. The blue sky was cloudless, the sun was up and it put Yuko in a good mood as he was eating a bowl of chocolate cereal, while reading a manga (he borrowed it from Akiza). Jack was about to leave since it was a week before the Grand Prix and he wanted to test out some adjustments, which he had added on to his duel runner last night.

Which meant that Yusei had the job of keeping Yuko safe, since Crow was still sound asleep, and Akiza had already left for school.

Jack put on his white coat after having checked to see if his deck was complete and Yuko couldn't help, but notice the exterior of Jack's eyes having slightly darkened.

"Alright chums! I'm going now. Yusei, you need to keep an eye out for Yuko so that he doesn't get into any fights today, and end up breaking his other arm", boomed Jack, and pointed intimidatingly at Yuko.

Yusei smirked and nodded. Yuko shrugged. "Sheesh. I'm not a kid, I can take care of my self", he thought sarcastically, and ate another spoonful of his cereal.

"Don't worry Jack. I'll make sure he stays safe", stated Yusei reassuringly, and Jack nodded, before leaving through the front door.

Yuko put down the manga (which he had now finished reading), still very exhausted from yesterday night and slowly ate the last of his cereal. He could still hear the light snoring of Zane from upstairs and was planning on waking him up at some point, since it was now 10:30am.

"10:30!" Announced Yuko as he checked the time from his pocket watch and quickly ran upstairs to get changed.

Yusei stared at Yuko as he dashed right past him, a little confused about why Yuko was excited all of a sudden.

"What's wrong", asked Yusei, and Yuko ran back down stairs, now wearing a white hoody.

Yuko then sat at the bottom of the stairs, and slipped on his shoes, thinking of an excuse. "Umm...I'm meeting up with a friend!" he replied, which was in fact true.

Yusei eyed him oddly. "How long will you be gone for?"

Yuko looked back at his watch. "Umm, about 4:00pm maybe", he said uncertainly.

Yusei sighed and reached for his back pocket, pulling out a small mobile phone (a Nokia) and threw it over to Yuko, who managed to luckily catch it with one hand. "Here. Just so that we can check in on you or in case you get into some trouble", he remarked kindly, and Yuko smiled.

"Ok. Thanks", replied Yuko, and fit the phone quickly into his PJ pocket. Yuko then jogged up the slope, which lead to the front door and just as he was about to leave, Yusei coughed loudly, causing Yuko freeze in his tracks.

"You do realize that your still in your PJs, Yuko", commented Yusei, causing Yuko to look down and study himself.

"I don't have time to get changed. Plus, I don't have any clean clothes, they are all in the wash because of Jack!" blamed Yuko, in a frustrated tone, causing Yusei rolled his eyes.

"Typical Jack", he thought, and watched as Yuko left the house, leaving the door open, so that Yusei got a whiff of the morning air.

As Yuko arrived running at the cafe, La Green, he noticed Stephanie serving up a few clients as usual. He smiled cheerfully and was about to call out her name, when Yuko tripped clumsily on his other foot and landed face flat on to the ground.

Stephanie looked up as she heard a thudding sound, and noticed Yuko who was twitching on the ground. She then quickly handed mug of coffee to a client, before running over towards Yuko.

"Yuko? What are you doing?" she asked puzzled, as she didn't see him fall.

Yuko got up slowly and looked up, a little embarrassed.

"I came for the date! Remember?" he groaned, and watched Stephanie's cheeks turn slightly red.

"Of course I remember", she whispered, "but our date is at 1:00pm!" she stated.

Yuko shrugged and dug his face back into the ground. "Oops", he mumbled, and Stephanie giggled.

"However, I glad to see that you didn't forget", she said happily, causing Yuko to smile cheekily and get back up, brushing the dirt of his face while shaking his head to enable the dust and dirt to fly out of his hair.

Stephanie laughed at the sight of Yuko's now static hair, and began to study Yuko's PJ's and face, noticing a few strange features about Yuko, which she hadn't seen before. She then gasped as she saw the cast on his arm and the black eye.

"Yuko!? What happened to your arm, and your eye!" she said in a panic. Yuko tilted his head to one side, but remembered the fact that he was had collected a few more injuries from last night, and hadn't really place out an excuse for them.

"Umm...I...fell...off my duel runner by accident as I turned a corner", he replied pathetically, as he held out his cast and Stephanie put both her hands over her mouth. "However, when I was unconscious, Jack tried to wake me up by...well you know what he's like...and that's how I got my black eye", he continued, and watched as Stephanie's expression angered.

"That Jack! He punched you, right? Oh, that idiot!" yelled Stephanie, but tried to stabilize her emotions. "Are you ok, at least? Did you break anything else?"

Yuko scratched the back of his head, and smiled sheepishly. "Umm, no. No I didn't", he lied, causing Stephanie to shrug and tugged on to Yuko's arm.

"Come on. I'll give you something to drink", she said invitingly, and dragged Yuko to his original seat.

Stephanie offered Yuko another smoking hot cup of hot chocolate which was once again free, and since there wasn't many clients to serve at the cafe, Stephanie decided to sit next to Yuko while he explained his injuries to her, and how he was settling well in his home with Yusei, Jack and Crow. The two friends had a good laugh, and got to know each other a little better. However, there was one question, which Stephanie found difficult to contain any longer.

"Yuko, can I ask, why are you still in PJs?" she asked grinningly.

"Oh yeah, well I thought that I was late for the date and that I didn't have time to get changed", he muttered embarrassingly.

Stephanie giggled and looked at the time from her watch. "Oh, it's time" she said happily and got up, collecting the empty cup which Yuko had just finished.

"Wait! Time for what?" asked Yuko surprised.

Stephanie turned her head and winked. "For our date", she replied gleefully, and Yuko felt his cheeks overheat as they turned red with blush.

After 15 minutes of waiting, Stephanie ran out from the back door of the cafe in her casual clothes, and walked back over to Yuko, who was waiting impatiently for her.

"God, I hope that what I wearing is ok", she mumbled silently to herself.

When Yuko saw her, he could help, but smile admirably. Stephanie was wearing a white and brown horizontally stripped pullover that fell over revealing one shoulder, wore light blue jeans and on her feet, were a pair of neon pink slippers. As Yuko studied Stephanie from top to bottom, he could only think of one word to describe her. "Cute".

He then looked back down at the slippers and smirked, while Stephanie noticed Yuko's eyes turn to her feet, causing her to close her eyes, her expression filled with embarrassment..

"Oh no, he noticed! Now I'll need to explain to him that I woke up really early this morning and that I couldn't be bothered to put on proper shoes as I went to work. He's gonna think that I'm a lazy person and will not wanna go out with me anymore", she thought nervously (over reaction much).

Yuko cleared his throat and Stephanie's eyes widened, expecting to hear the dreaded question.

"I like your socks", complimented Yuko, as he pointed at Stephanie's feet, causing Stephanie to blink and looked down. She was wearing her favorite pair of socks, which were in fact rainbow colored ones that had clearly caught Yuko's attention.

Stephanie then looked back up at Yuko confused, but smiled lightly. "Thanks", she said shyly, and Yuko held out his hand.

"Now, what is it that you wanna do first?" asked Yuko awkwardly, and Stephanie's expression enlightened by the question. She took hold of Yuko's hand and started to tug Yuko along side her as she began to run.

"Let's go shopping at the new mall first!" she yelled excitedly, and Yuko sighed.

"Oh dear", he thought, having assumed that response, though he didn't really mind shopping if it wasn't just gonna be shopping for clothes.

"Alright! Fine! We'll go shopping", he confirmed casually and started to run, tugging Stephanie behind him instead.

"However, we'll take my duel runner to get to mall city mall! It's much quicker", he suggested insistingly.

Stephanie nodded and smiled gleefully, happy to have finally found someone who cared for her and was gonna take her on what she hoped was gonna be the most amazing date ever (since it was in fact the first proper date Stephanie had ever been on).

As the two friends arrived at the garage, Yuko found his duel runner beaming majestically outside the garage, as if it had expected Yuko's arrival. He snatched one of Yusei's spare helmets and handed it to Stephanie, before taking a seat comfortably on his runner.

"Here, you'll definitively be needing this", remarked Yuko, and felt Stephanie hop on to his duel runner, and take a seat behind him. Stephanie had hesitated a little (since she had never been on a duel runner before), but was eventually ready to ride out, her hands tightly grabbing on to Yuko's waist.

"Don't worry. I won't go too quickly if you don't want to", he stated reassuringly.

Stephanie shook her head. "No, it's fine. Go as quickly as you like", she replied unsurely, not wanting to spoil the ride for Yuko, who then pushed hard against the throttle, causing the duel runner to shoot out of the garage and drift gracefully on to the streets.

"Woooooooo! This is great!" yelled Stephanie, experiencing for the first time the thrilling speed of a duel runner. After turning a few corners and creating streams of sparks, Yuko was on the main highway again, but this time taking a route which lead straight towards the New Domino City mall.

"Can you go any faster", asked Stephanie hyperactively, and Yuko nodded while indicated the small button in front of him. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

Yuko sighed. "Ok, but you asked for it. Plus, your gonna really need to hold one to me tightly, otherwise you might fly off this runner".

Stephanie raised her eyebrows with surprise, then pressed her whole body against Yuko's, and Yuko pushed the button on his duel runner, causing spouts of flames to burst from the large exhaust pipes connected to the back of his runner.

Suddenly, the whole duel runner pushed itself forward as the speed dramatically increased, almost pulling off Yuko's helmet and Stephanie's slippers.

Stephanie cheered loudly as they sped past a few duel runners on the same road, causing the other riders to gasp as they saw Yuko overtake them all, and tried to quickly catch up, but failed.

"Oh my...this is crazy...how did you make your runner so quick!" asked Stephanie pantingly, her voice vibrating against the humming engine.

Yuko started laughing as they made a trail of smoke behind them from the bursting fire. "A few years ago, I wanted a small turbo power button in my duel runner just like in the movies, but I think that I may have over done it", he explained briefly, and the two friends continued onwards until they could spot the mall from afar, the new, refined building beam colorfully as it shone against the hot sun.

Yuko: Hurray! Now I'm on to chapter 28! Please Review, Follow or add to Favorite if you like cheese! :D

Yusei: Wow, Yuko! That's pretty impressive!

Carly: Yeah! I'm surprised that people are actually reading.

Yuko: Hey, who are you to criticize my work! _

Carly: The person who is now going to be supervising your every chapter! X3

Yuko: Wait...what?

Carly: Yep, that's right! Plus, I'm also going to be the one to ask the readers to Review, since you always make it sound so dull! -_-

Yuko: Oh poopy...

Yusei: (smiles) Ok well have fun, Yuko. I gotta go meet up with Akiza.

Yuko: No Yusei! don't leave me alone with this crazy person! :'(

(Carly gets Yuko in a head lock)

Carly: Wanna repeat that? T_T

Yuko: -.-