Well, I'm really happy with the positive feedback for the first chapter! I'm actually going to update this a couple more times before I go back to school, and then I have to hit the ground running. But anyway, I appreciate the reviews and feedback guys!
After eating breakfast and showering, Aki picked out a flawless, but comfortable outfit for house hunting; a classy navy and creme, strapless romper, with a sterling silver necklace, and her matching creme Louboutin heels. A few weeks went by since she's been back in Neo Domino, but Aki felt that her path was cruising right along in a positive way. She landed a job at Neo Domino Hospital, starting just a mere four days ago. Though she insisted that they didn't, Aki's parents were being generous enough to put the down payment on her new house. She knew that it wasn't that her parents didn't want to see her, and it was that they wanted her to be happy, and not have to be cooped up with her parents for the rest of her life.
At least they bothered to be thoughtful, She thought, fixing her fresh, loose curls. Her level excitement grew by the minute after she sprayed a bit of perfume. Looking around her now empty bedroom, just the emptiness and bareness made her reminisce. She remembered when the room used to be decorated in fairies, horses, and stuffed duel monsters plushies. Eventually, it phased into posters of famous duelists and paintings of assorted plants. Yes, the objects were now gone, but the memories and marks she left in her room would always be there. Smiling to herself, she blew a kiss into her palm and gently ran her hand along the door frame before walking downstairs.
xxx
"Really, Ruka? A housewarming party?" Yusei asked, not exactly sure how he felt at the moment.
The turquoise-haired girl smacked her lips with impatience, "Yes, Yusei. It'll give everyone a chance to see each other in person. It's been five years since I've seen all of you, and this would mean a lot if everyone could come. Crow already agreed to come."
"And he's the only one who's agreed, right?" He asked, raising a brow.
"Yes. Would you please come? It would mean so much to Rua and I." She pleaded, giving him her puppy dog face.
Damnit, I hate when she does that, He growled to himself slightly, "Fine, I'll come. Just promise, no more puppy dog eyes."
"Well, if you would have cooperated earlier, I wouldn't have to use them, now would I?" She questioned, before smirking with satisfaction, "Well, I have to go, I have a party to finish planning."
"Yeah, you do that." He smiled, just before cutting his chat off. In actuality, he believed the whole concept of the party was a well thought out idea. Though he normally didn't like parties too much, but he didn't mind seeing everyone again. However, he was a bit nervous to see how everyone would be. Would everyone be too different from before? What changes have occurred in their lives? He could only wonder.
Not having anything better to do, he logged into his Twitter, to see if there was anything worth reading. Most of the tweets were from fans, others from Ruka, Rua, and Crow. One tweet managed to catch his interest. One that was from a magenta haired beauty.
House hunting with mama dearest and Carly :) #househunter
Hmmm, interesting, He thought, shutting his laptop. While looking around his clean home, again, he felt emptiness, except now it aggravated him more than ever. For some reason, when he was with Aki, there was a sense of being whole, as if something out of his life was missing. The melancholy was no longer an issue when she was with him.
God, I'm in love with her...I mean, I guess I always have for a while, but if I would have told her then, I would have felt terrible if she didn't go follow her dream, He sighed, before deciding to plop himself on the couch, to take a well deserved nap.
While finishing her registration for her fall semester at Tanabe University, Ruka was also waiting for her package of recipe books to come in the mail. She had a lot of peace and quiet, since Rua was out with Tenpei. At the moment, she spent the last ten minutes trying to determinte what kind of Italian food she was going to make for her party. All her dishes were going to be compliments of recipe book by her favorite chef, Giada De Laurentiis. Just yesterday, she received her parents brand new cutlery set and was ready to go. Once Rua returned from wherever he was, they planned on doing some grocery shopping for their parents. They were returning in five days from England, once they sorted out stuff with the realtor.
She had to admit, she was quite excited that everyone was getting back together, and it would be at their new house. The only person who had yet to reply to her invite was, of course, Jack. She kept her fingers crossed that he would eventually come around. Carly informed her that he was still touring in Italy, and didn't know when he would be returning. While she continued to online shop, she heard the doorbell ring.
"Oh, goodie, my package!" She chirped, scurrying towards the front door.
"Thanks for opening the door, sis. Oh, here's the package." Rua told her, as him and Tenpei walked in.
"Okay, so are you still going with me to grocery shop? I can't push two grocery carts." Ruka mentioned, sliding into her black, Steve Madden booties.
"Uh, yeah sure. We'll go with." Rua responded, getting up from the couch, "I was just starting to get cozy."
"Yeah, yeah, let's go." Ruka muttered, grabbing her purse and car keys.
Rua rolled his eyes, just before glancing at Tenpei, who was occupied gawking at his sister, "Dude, is there ever a minute you're not gawking at my baby sister?"
"I'm sorry. She's just so...those legs...I mean, look, I'm not gonna describe what your sister looks like to you. You'll kill me." Tenpei growled, rolling his eyes.
"Hell, you can do what you want dude...I stopped caring about who Ruka dates. She has high standards, and to me any guy I could think of wouldn't be an option. She's into those nerdy types, kind of like you." Rua explained, as they casually walked out to the car.
"Okay, just because I express my intelligence and get involved in academic clubs doesn't make me a nerd or any less of a man. Plus, based on what you've told me, it sounds like I have a chance with her." Tenpei said, as he got into the passenger seat.
"Ready to go?" Ruka asked, looking at Tenpei.
A blush began to grace his cheeks before he could utter anything, "Y-yeah."
Even though he's my best friend, he's hopeless when it comes to girls, Rua sighed, smiling at this sad, but true thought.
xxx
After looking at two houses in Tops, Aki and the others moved onto another. Carly had been using Aki's HD video camera to document her house hunting experience. After pulling into a complex called Pinewood Grove, they pulled up to another three story house. It was a wide, white townhouse with a lot of glass windows and a cute porch swing, along with a beautiful rose bushes and flowers. From the outside, you could see the mini balcony on the top right hand corner. There were midsized steps leading up to front door and mailbox.
"Here's one of my favorites. It's one of those timeless townhouses that never go out of style. Let's take a look on the inside." The realtor chirped, opening the door.
"This house is way nicer than mine." Carly told her, looking around the exterior.
"Here to the left we have the living room, with a fireplace dead center. Over here, we have the kitchen. The counters are made of marble. It goes really well with the black and white theme in here. Any changes are at your discretion." The realtor explained, in her too perky voice.
Aki grew to be quite bored. She was really wondering how much the down payment would be. All the other ones she would have loved to have, but she and her mother agreed on a certain budget for the down payment. In her mind, she would definitely want this townhouse, only if the money down was what satisfied her.
"Here's the master bedroom, with the master bath. The counter in the bathroom is made of marble...," The realtor said, before Aki tore her attention away from her phone.
"How much is the down payment?" Aki asked, knowing that she threw the realtor off guard. Though they were almost finished touring the house, Aki was exhausted from listening to the realtor talk for what seemed like endless hours.
"Oh uh, it's a twenty three thousand down." The realtor responded, awkwardly.
Aki looked around for a little bit and decided this was the house. It was beautiful and it fit her needs perfectly, "I'll take it."
"Great! I'll go get the contracts and we can get everything sorted out." She said, heading out to retrieve her briefcase.
"Are you sure this is what you want, honey?" Setsuko asked, once the realtor was nowhere in sight.
"Yes, Mama. It's perfect." Aki smiled, going back to her phone, Today's already becoming a great day!
Friday night. After a week of working, running erands, and paying bills, Friday night was time to play hard, kick back and relax. For Ruka, it was the evening of her get together with everyone. Outside of going to her biology class, she spent all day preparing for the evening's festivities. After setting all the food and homemade beverages out on the table, Ruka spent the remaining time making sure the house looked attractive, no thanks to Rua. Once everything was dusted and shiny, Ruka checked her appearance in the mirror that hung neatly in the hallway. Her hair was completely straight, with her bangs swept back by her black headband with a cheetah print bow on it, to go with her black mini dress and cheetah print heels.
As Rua descended the stairs, he noticed out of the corner of his eye how much his sister changed dramatically over the last five years. He always knew that she was girly, but now it was on another level. Ruka started to mature greatly after they moved to London a few years back. Ever since she got to meet the Queen for her humanitarian work, she started to improve her appearance even more. She developed into a intelligent, charming, gracious young woman. Not that he'd ever tell her, but he was proud of his baby sister.
Where have the years gone? He thought, before speaking up, "Ruka, really, you look fine. I mean, you actually took a week to pick out an outfit just for one night."
She playfully rolled her eyes at her older sibling, "I'm sorry. I'm just...worried. I'm curious to see just how everyone's lives have changed. I know how ours has been altered with time, but I don't know how theirs will have transformed."
"I understand. Trust me, sis, it'll be like old times. Just think of it as shopping. Though you sometimes get rid of stuff, you make additions and alterations to it so that you can enhance your wardrobe." Rua explained, in terms that he knew Ruka would be able to understand.
Ruka giggled at her brother using shopping as a method of explanation, "I get it, Rua. Now, can you help me set the table? You know, since you failed to help with anything else."
"Sure." He chuckled, playfully nudging her in the stomach.
"Stop, you know I'm ticklish." Ruka whined, hitting him in the arm.
xxxx
Back at her hotel, Aki was occupied putting the finishing touches to her makeup for the evening. Makeup acted as painting to Aki. It acted as a collection of liquids, powders, and creams to play around with. It could alter your appearance in any way you wanted it to, but still manage to have who you really are seep through the layers. Though she had significant amount of it, she enjoyed using it to an extent. For fun, she imagined herself as a pretty clown without the red nose and lips. After lightly patting on her peach colored lipstick, Aki stuck her compact and lipstick into her purse.
While looking at herself in the mirror, her thoughts roamed onto focus on a spiky haired male. She legitimately started question her relationship with him. Since she went to visit him a few weeks ago, the night before she left kept replaying in her head. How she almost confessed that she loved him, him looking into her eyes, the touch of his huge hands embracing her delicate, feather like ones. The last thing she remembered was their almost kiss. To this day, she continued to long for his lips to embrace hers forever with passion and endless love. To hear him say those three words in her sensitive ears. Though her fantasises seemed like delightful, she remained unsure of his feelings towards her. Would they forever go about being in a platonic relationship? Always insisting that their feelings were nothing more?
I know that deep down to my hearts core, I want to be with him. I've..fallen in love with him, She thought, sighing. After grabbing her beige trenchcoat and car keys, she shut the room to her suite and headed off.
xxxx
"Oh my God, hi! I'm so glad you came!" Ruka chirped, embracing her flamed haired friend.
"Damn, Ruka. Looks like I'm gonna have to knock the perverted bastards off of you with a bat. I can't believe how much you've grown up, kid." Crow told her, looking at her mature stature.
"I'll take that as a compliment. It's been so long, and I've missed your humor." Ruka smiled, taking his coat.
"How's the dueling my man?" Crow asked, giving Rua a man hug.
"Eh, it's decent. Trying to get on a better team at the moment." Rua responded, casually.
"Geez, your house is fucking awesome. I'd give away my apartment any day for this." Crow said, looking around the foyer.
"We like it too, even better than the house we lived in before we moved to London." Ruka agreed, hearing the doorbell again, "Yay, it's Aki!"
After opening the door, all the two males could hear was girlish squeals that were louder than any loud car alarm. Crow was surprised that he hadn't lost any of his hearing.
"Oh my God, you look amazing! And you have boobs!" Aki exclaimed, hugging Ruka happily.
"Yeah, C-cups to be exact, but you know who's looking?" Ruka asked, sarcastically as the two girls giggled.
Rua shook his head with shame, "Not only do I have to worry about who's looking at my baby sister's chest, but I also have to live with her girlyness."
"I'm in love with your dress. Red looks great on you. Is that Alexander McQueen?" Ruka questioned, observing her friend's red mini dress and long, curly magenta locks.
"It is actually. I got it in Germany before I came home." Aki explained, hanging up her coat.
"Sweet. Well, we can all eat right now if you want, or we can wait until Yusei and Jack get here." Ruka suggested, as they walked into the living room.
"Dude, I'm hungry now...I haven't had a decent home cooked meal in days." Crow responded, hearing his stomach growl.
"Will it kill you to wait? You're the same as ever." Aki laughed, trying to contain her laughter.
"It's not my fault. You try going days without a home cooked meal, and tell me how you feel." Crow said, making everyone laugh, "It's not funny!"
It wasn't long before everyone's attention went back to the doorbell, "I'll get it."
While Ruka skipped to the door, her doe like eyes found those of a familiar spikey haired friend, "Yay, Yusei, you came!"
He was a little thrown off by her hug, but gladly accepted it, "I told you I wouldn't miss this."
"Ah, nice seeing you, Yusei." Crow greeted, knuckle touching him.
"Same here. It's been a long time." Yusei smiled, happily. His eyes flickered over to Aki helping Rua with something in the other room. He couldn't help but stare. She was divine in all possible ways. Her red dress complimented her body shape and skin tone. He could feel the blood slowly rushing to his cheeks.
God, she's beautiful, He thought, snapping himself out of his trance.
"Oh, hey, Yusei. It's about time you showed up." Aki said, realizing he arrived. She noticed he was clad in his teal dress shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, and casual black slacks. She loved the fact that he left the top buttons of his shirt undone. The fact that she had a glimpse of his chiseled chest made her feel warm and mushy inside.
He's really getting me going, Aki thought, trying not to droll. She continued to imagine lustful pictures in her mind of him in nothing, in her brand new queen sized bed, doing delicious things to her.
"Well, since I know Jack isn't going to be here for a while, let's all go eat!" Ruka chirped, as everyone headed into the dining room.
While Rua and Crow walked ahead, Aki was left with Yusei. Butterflies began to flutter throughout her low abdomen from her jittery nerves.
"She's still the same, except not as shy as she used to be." Yusei deduced, walking slowly with her.
Aki smiled at his careful observation, "That's true, but people do change, and others remain close to their old selves. I know you have."
"Yeah, I guess that's just me. I noticed you're a bit different as well...and I like it." He told her, quietly.
As Aki tried to seat herself next to Crow, Ruka quickly sat in her chair. Aki didn't pay the sudden action much mind, and moved to sit next to Yusei. He politely pulled out her chair, and she muttered a thank you.
"Wow, sis, this looks great. You sure you didn't have any help?" Rua asked, as he passed the first dish around.
"Nope. I did this all myself and still had time to go to class today." Ruka replied, happily pouring herself homemade raspberry lemonade.
"You'd make any man happy, Ruka. They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach." Crow said, chomping on some of the homemade ravioli.
Rua sent a glare at Crow before countering with a response, "I doubt that. She has too many standards for her 'dream' guy."
"There's nothing wrong in having standards. You wouldn't want your little sister to go off with some weirdo, would you?" Aki questioned, raising a brow.
"No, I wouldn't, but I wouldn't have to worry since her standards are higher than any skyscraper in Neo Domino." Rua muttered, slurping his linguine.
"Now that's not true. I truly apologize if I don't want any boyfriend of mine to be an incompetent, idiotic, unkempt failure." Ruka explained, sighing with a smile on her face.
"I'd never thought I'd see the day that Ruka started talking about boys. Now I'm convinced I'm getting old." Yusei joked, as everyone started bursting into hysterics.
She began grinning from ear to ear, "Awww, Yusei. You're not old. Jack is old...but not you."
"For the record, Jack Atlas can never be old. He just ages while keeping his dashing good looks." His voice said, as everyone turned around to the tall, blonde pro duelist. The former Signers noticed he was accompanied by the jet black haired beauty.
"Jack!" Ruka chirped, nearly knocking him over with his hug, "I'm so glad you came!"
He merely chuckled at the young girl's excitement, "I apologize for being late, but my duel carried on. Then my flight got delayed longer than it should have, but here I am in the flesh."
"Thanks, it means a lot to me." Ruka smiled, as he gently messed with her hair, "Carly, you're still looking great."
"Thanks! I use a good shampoo and conditioner." Carly snickered, as the two girls laughed at her dry joke.
"Heya, Jack! How's the leagues treating you?" Crow asked, happily.
Jack smirked, "Quite well, actually, but I rather not spend the entire talking about myself."
"Are you sure you're Jack Atlas? Because the Jack we know would never pass up the chance to talk about himself." Aki responded, sarcastically taking in a gasp as did everyone else.
"Ha ha, very funny. People can change you know." He grumbled, narrowing his eyes at her, "I assume you're back permanently?"
"Freshly hired at Neo Domino Hospital." Aki told him, smiling. She noticed that the blonde was quite shocked at her news.
"No worries, I had the same reaction. Even you have to admit she's quite young to be a doctor." Carly told him, squeezing his hand gently.
"Oh, I see why Jack's changed so much...cuz he's in looooovveee!" Rua laughed, trying not to choke on his lemonade.
"I see the dweeb hasn't changed. It's about time he hit puberty." Jack growled, making Rua go quiet with embarrassment.
"Am I the only one who's actually trying to eat right now?" Yusei interrupted, trying to change the subject.
Carly tore her eyes away from her boyfriend's face, "Well, I am hungry. I haven't eaten anything since this morning."
"Well, help yourself. It's all homemade by me." Ruka told them, as they all took their seats at the table. At that time, she couldn't have been more happier. Though everyone inevitably changed over the course of five years, there were certain things that would never change...and that was their bonds.
"Oh, and then there was that Leo dude...wasn't he someone's son?" Rua asked, trying to calm his laughing down. After dinner everyone migrated into the family room and recalled all their cherished memories from five plus years back. Everything from the WRGP to the Z-ONE mishap. Though things weren't the best at those times, there were good times in between.
"I don't think he was related to Martha." Aki responded, trying to remember the familiar name.
"He's Zora's son. I will admit, that kid was kind of weird. I mean, the way he was eyeballing Aki...," Yusei said, as his left eye started twitching. Aki seemed to notice the male's sudden irritation.
"What is with you getting jealous of Aki being around other men?" Carly inquired, completely throwing Yusei off guard.
Yusei...jealous of other men? Why would he be jealous? And for the record, I'm not around that many men. The most men that I've been around is at college, She thought, not understanding why the conversation suddenly focused on her.
Yusei tried to his best to hold his composure, "Aki's my friend...why wouldn't I be mad? I care about her well being as her friend, and I don't want some weird kid getting any ideas."
She couldn't comprehend why, but Aki felt like she'd been brutally wounded. The ache lingered on her heart. The word friend seemed to echo in her ears longer than it should. Friend. That was the only term of endearment that he would bestow upon her; that too familiar word she began to despise. It was then she became conscious of what truth stared her in the face. She was deeply in love with him. The only reason that explained her damaged heart. While no one was paying any mind, she grabbed her coat and purse; faintly leaving out the door. While walking to her car, she tried not to let the tears she'd been holding back fall, but the effort was futile as she began to sniffle before starting the engine.
xxxx
"Okay, whatever you say. Normally, guy friends don't get jealous of a girl unless-," Carly started, before Yusei interrupted her.
"We get your point, Carly." He responded, loud enough to emphasize his desire to move on.
"I felt a little bad for Leo actually. It was sad how he always tried to impress Zora, but ended up screwing up stuff." Ruka mentioned, propping her feet on the couch.
"I still wanna know though. Yusei, why are you so worked up when Aki's around another guy? I mean, there have been occassions where I've seen you get pissed off." Rua explained, sitting up from his lying position on the floor.
"Since when did the conversation get back on me? I thought we were all recalling humorous memories." Yusei pointed out, messing with the pillow on the couch.
"The conversation got back to you because now we want to recall all your memories as to when you've gotten jealous over our red headed friend." Crow told him, holding in his laugh.
"Okay, what other time have I been jealous?" Yusei asked, rolling his eyes.
"That time Andore was flirting with Aki during registration." Ruka blurted, messing with her finger nails.
Jack chuckled, deciding that he would join in, "You were so pissed the entire before they left. At least Crow and I can tell when you're mad."
"Okay, I was not mad...I was just...irritated." Yusei told him, sighing.
"Then there was the time we all went out to eat before you went against Team Catastrophe. The waiter kept peaking and sending flirty looks at her." Rua added, while Crow let out a grunt.
"That was hands down the best one too. It was funny when he chucked the roll at the waiter's face and made him drop the tray he was carrying." Crow laughed, hiding his face into his arm.
"Okay, fine. So what if I don't like guys flirting with my friend? It's disgusting." Yusei said, pouting from all the counts of him being jealous.
"Speaking of her where did she go?" Carly questioned, looking around to realize she wasn't anywhere in sight.
Ruka checked her phone and noticed a text from Aki, "Oh, she text me that she has to be at work in the morning and it was getting late for her."
Carly had a deep feeling in her gut that the simple text wasn't the reason for her sudden departure.
Gosh, this chapter was long as crap! I think my hands started to cramp during the last little stretch, but I'm all fine and dandy. More updates will come soon in two weeks, once I'm done with my research paper for my gov class. Until then, enjoy this chapter and let your imagination roam free as to what the next one will bring!
Well actually you don't. Here's another little blurb of what may happen in the next chapter: A week after the intimate get together takes place, Yusei hasn't heard much from Aki. Is she really busy with work or is she intentionally avoiding him? Love is in the air for Tenpei when he finally gets the courage to ask Ruka out on a date. Will this date be sweet or end on a sour note...or is someone plotting to ruin the said occassion?
See you all in two weeks and I love you all!
P.S. Anyone who is in really bad need of a beta reader, please feel free to PM me an tell me so. I'm going to attempt to beta read and do my research paper at the same time. If it begins to become a hassle I will let everyone know. But if not, then I'm in the good :) Don't forget to shoot me a PM.