Masamune

Masamune loved Christmas.

This didn't surprise anyone who knew him even the slightest bit, but what did surprise most people was the reason he loved it.

The food was great. That there was so much of it was a definite plus. It was also a generally noisy, somewhat chaotic time, and that suited Masamune just fine. The idea of decorating the dark streets and houses with hundreds of colourful lights to make the night more beautiful than the day was genius as far as he was concerned. He loved the crisp chill in the air, and the feeling of being wrapped up in warm blankets by the radiator whilst the wind howled outside.

But the thing Masamune most loved about Christmas was that he got to travel.

The train rattled as it went over a viaduct, and Masamune leaned back in his seat, popping another wasabi pea into his mouth. Just another few hours to go, and then he would be at the second-to-last place on his list.

"You're completely mad," Kenta had told him when Masamune explained his holiday plans. "You can't possibly manage to see everyone."

"But it's Christmas!" Masamune had protested. "You have to see everyone at Christmas! And anyway, I do it every year, I've just got more people to see this time."

"Completely mad," Kenta had muttered, but still came to the station to wave his friend off.

That had been two weeks ago. Since then, Masamune had stayed in a different house every night, travelling around Japan to see all of his friends and former team-mates who had scattered to their own homes. Some of them, like Tsubasa and Yuu, he had seen fairly recently at the American tournaments. Others, like Kyouya and Hikaru, were more difficult to track down. But he'd managed all of them, even Hyoma up in Koma Village (that had been an interesting trip. He was still certain Hyoma had lead him in circles for at least four hours before arriving at the village, but he had no proof).

Then he'd jumped on an aeroplane and gone off to China to find Wang Hu Zhong.

Then he'd jumped on another plane and gone to Europe, only to find that Julian didn't like unexpected guests (Wales did. So did Klaus), and that King had gone to meet him by misunderstanding Masamune's plan.

Which was why he'd had to put an extra stop on his American trip. He had just a week to go before Christmas Day, and the most important people on his list were yet to be visited.

It didn't bother him that much, though. If his plan was rigid and had to be followed to the letter, it wouldn't be a great plan, and he was Masamune Kadoya! He always made great plans! Besides, it meant he got to do just a bit more travelling.

It was nice to watch the city blur past, grey and dreary in the rain but sparkling with lights and colour as the Christmas decorations lit up the afternoon. He could watch it for hours, how the wintry landscapes changed from empty and flat and dull to to high and crowded with lights and back again.

Even the station looked beautiful as the train finally pulled in. The platforms shone silver with rain, glittering reflected light, and from every arch and doorway wreaths of greenery and strings of yet more fairy lights hung, making the whole place seem strangely magical.

"Masamune! Masamune! Hey, over here!"

At the other end of the platform, a very familiar figure was waving wildly at him. Masamune covered the last few metres at a sprint, dropping his bags as King grabbed him into a tight hug.

"Hey, it's great to see you again!"

"You too! It's been forever, what have you been doing with yourself?"

"Looking for you! You were supposed to be in Greece, I went all that way to see you and you weren't there!"

King looked a little bit embarrassed. He let go, stepping back and allowing Masamune to pick his bags up. "Yeah, sorry about that. Misread your email. But you're here now, that's the important bit!"

Masamune grinned at him. "Yeah, that's right! So, where are you staying?"

King winced. "Um… nowhere? I might have kind of slept at the station last night, I only booked one night in the hotel because I was meeting you and… well. That happened."

"In the station?" That wouldn't do at all. "Why didn't you say something? I'd have found you somewhere, I had wifi on the plane."

King shook his head. "Nah, it was fine. Not the first time I've done something dumb like that. But it does mean I don't have anywhere you can stay tonight."

Masamune frowned. Well, what was travelling at Christmas time without a few disasters? "I've got an idea!" he said suddenly. "You should come with me! I was meant to be going to Zeo's next, he basically lives with Toby now, their houses are next to each other and they're both huge so there'd definitely be space for you! They'd love to see you, I know they would."

King had perked up at the mention of the other Team Dungeon bladers. "I haven't seen them in ages," he admitted. "They weren't at the last big tournament, were they?"

"No, Toby had a bunch of medical tests he had to go for and Zeo didn't want to battle without him so they stayed out." Masamune was making his way towards the ticket offices, his friend trailing behind him. "You saw Tsubasa and Yuu, though, right?"

"Yeah, they were there. Yuu's getting really strong, it's so awesome."

That was true. Yuu had been getting much stronger recently, ostensibly to challenge Kyouya, who was still claiming to be the strongest Legendary Blader as he'd beaten the largest number of other Legendary Bladers. But Masamune thought there might be something else to it, a determination to make someone proud of him. "I saw him a few weeks ago, he said he'd be over with Tsubasa again in the new year. We should all meet up and have a battle – hey, did I tell you I've got a new special move?"

"No? Oh man! Now I want to battle you!"

"Later!" Masamune laughed. "I know that sounds weird for me to say and I really want to battle you too, but I don't want to get kicked out of the station again." He winced. "That happened last year. I had to get to Toby's by hitch-hiking. Never again."

King had a strange sort of smile on his face. "You really travel to see everyone at Christmas?" he said as they stopped in front of the ticket booth and Masamune set about digging through his bag for his money. "Why?"

"I want to see everyone," Masamune explained. It made sense to him anyway. That was the only real reason he needed. "When I was a kid I loved going to Zeo and Toby's for Christmas, but they couldn't have me staying the whole month because they had other family over, so I went around and visited other people I knew until they could take me in. It's nice to see lots of people. I always used to travel around with my family when I was younger, my relatives were pretty scattered all over the globe so my parents always spent about two weeks travelling to go and see everyone."

"So it's sort of a tradition with you?" King asked, taking the two tickets from the counter and thanking the clerk. "Don't you get bored of travelling all the time?"

"Not really? You get to see all these amazing places every year, and see how they've changed. Hang on, I should probably actually check with Zeo that he's happy for me to turn up a day early, just a sec."

King laughed. "And you didn't think to do that until after you bought the tickets for the next train to his city?"

"Gaaaahhh!" Masamune said, accurately.

.

Luckily for the two young men, Zeo was all too delighted to have Masamune arrive early with a friend in tow. "Save me from my aunt," he pleaded when Masamune phoned him. "She doesn't understand blading, she thinks it's a kid's game and so she keeps stopping me from training to go and do things with her that will 'make you a more rounded human being, Zeo, instead of obsessing over spinning tops all the time! You don't even have a girlfriend!' I don't want a girlfriend! Especially not one she approves of! I've got enough on my plate looking out for Toby, let alone having a relationship at the same time."

"Is Toby okay?" Masamune asked, concerned. "He had another test the other day, right?"

"Yeah, he's fine. The doctors say he should just need one more round and then he'll be clear. He's really looking forward to seeing you, he hasn't shut up about it since you gave us the date you were supposed to be arriving."

"Yeah, me too. Anyway, I'll see you at the station in a few hours."

"Yeah, we'll be there! See you soon, buddy."

"Come on, Masamune!" King called from the bottom of the stairs. "They've called our train, we've got to get to Platform 11 and we're still on Platform 2!"

They got to the train with moments to spare, and collapsed into their seats, laughing helplessly. "That was fun!" King exclaimed happily. "How long's it supposed to take to get there, anyway?"

"Seven hours?" Masamune shrugged. "I think we're due in just before midnight."

King pulled a face. "Seven hours? If I'd known we'd have been stuck on a train for seven hours maybe I wouldn't have been so keen."

"Ah, come on," Masamune said. "It's not all bad, travelling at Christmas time. You get to see everything differently. That's why I like it so much." He sat back as the train accelerated to full speed. "It's weird, actually. I don't like travelling any other time, when I'm going to tournaments or something. I always just want to get there and get started, I hate having to spend all that time on planes or trains. But when it's Christmas and I'm going to visit everyone? I like the journey just as much as getting to see people again."

King looked around. "I wish there was a beydish on this train. We could have a battle while we were waiting."

"I've been on a train with a beydish before," Masamune said, suddenly remembering. "It had beds too, we were on it for three whole days."

"Three days? Where were you going that needed three days by train?"

"Have I never told you about it? It was the Russian leg of the first World Championship. I was with Tsubasa, Yuu, Gingka and Madoka, and we had to go all the way across Russia from China to get to the stadium. And then I didn't even get to fight."

"Why? Were the Russians that easy to beat?"

"No, they tricked me! They put out a hamburger trail and I was hungry so I followed it and ended up getting on the wrong train just as they closed the doors and set off from the station." At King's raised eyebrows, he defended himself; "They were really good hamburgers."

King laughed. "Well, I guess that's a good enough reason, then. But what happened? How did you get back?"

"Well, I found myself at a weird station all the way over by the sea in some kind of desert..."

.

With someone to talk to, the miles flew past. Masamune and King barely noticed how long they had been sat on the train until the driver announced that the next station was going to be theirs.

"Whoa," King said as the train slowed down to approach the station. "That tree is huge! Look at it, it must be sixty feet tall! And the lights are beautiful."

"That's the town Christmas tree," Masamune explained. "They have it every year, it's the first thing you see when you're coming into the town by train. That's what always used to tell me I was nearly here – seeing that tree meant I was going to see my friends in just a few more minutes."

"And the lights in all the houses! Hey, look! There's a Santa on that roof! And – whoa, the lights are synchronised?"

Masamune laughed. "That's Zeo's house. They've always got the best display in town, no question. They made it into the newspapers once." He smiled, remembering. "This is what Christmas feels like to me. Coming in to Zeo's home town and seeing the tree all lit up, and then seeing his house and the Santa on the roof. I get to stay with a lot of people at Christmas and they're all sort of home because my friends are there, but this is really where Christmas is for me. That's why this is always the last place I come at Christmas, because this is home."

King looked at him, but didn't say anything except "Hey, looks like we're here."

Masamune snapped back to the present, eyes dancing with excitement. "I can't see them on the platform," he said, leaning to look out of the small door-window. "Maybe they're on the other side?"

"Just open the door! We can look for them when we're off!"

Someone else had clearly had the same idea, because the door hissed open just at that moment, and the two young men all but tumbled on to the platform. Regaining his balance, Masamune looked around, but before he could spot his friends, his attention was caught by a loud yell.

"HEY! MASAMUNE!"

"ZEO! TOBY!"

King was left behind for a moment with the luggage as Masamune flew down the second platform of the day and collided with his two best friends in the whole world, laughing with delight. Yes, this was right, this was home, this was Christmas. Moments later, the Greek blader was drawn into their circle, bringing all of the Team Dungeon members back together at last.

Masamune loved travelling at Christmas. He loved the way the people on the trains and planes seemed slightly happier than usual. He loved the decorated stations and airports. He loved the ever-changing landscape rushing by outside a dozen windows. He loved seeing the different ways people decorated their houses as he passed them in a coach or metro.

But most of all, Masamune loved the reason why he travelled – the feeling of stepping off a train into the warmth and light of someone he loved coming to meet him, reuniting with those he cared about, and knowing that no matter where he travelled around the world, there would always be somewhere he could call home.