11. Before the Doll: Addicted to You

Summary: A little flashback, before the Doll joined the carnival. Miss Fortune and the Ticket Keeper join the carnival, and while some carnies are not pleased with them, the Magician can't help but find himself drawn to the formerly-incarcerated Fortuneteller. The only problem is...what will everyone else think about him actually being attracted to this crazy carnie?

Characters: Everyone except the Doll

Pairings: Miss FortunexMagician

None of the carnies were expecting to see this sight.

There was a man and a woman standing beside each other, talking with the Ringmaster and Strongman. The unknown two were both blonds, the man being several inches taller than the woman. Both were plainly dressed (wait, were those bloodstains on the woman's clothing?), and the man just looked around nervously while the woman had a suspicious look on her face.

"You're not going to turn us in to them, are you?" The woman asked, crossing her arms. The blond man didn't say a word, his face obscured by his long locks of hair.

The Ringmaster shook her head. "No." She answered firmly. "We don't do that here-as long as you're not trying to turn us in to the police, or trying to kill us. I'm sure all of us will gladly welcome the two of you as new carnies-we are in need of a Ticket Keeper and Fortuneteller, and I think you two might be fit for the job."

The other carnies exchanged glances with each other. New carnies? A Ticket Keeper and a Fortuneteller? None of them were sure how to react.

The Magician glanced at the older blond man in front of him, who was looking in the closet nearby. He honestly didn't know what to do-of course, he was supposed to basically be a guide to Miss Fortune, but all he wanted to do at the moment was to try to get a sense of what Miss Fortune was like.

"Magician?" The Magician blinked out of his thoughts to glance at the new carnie, who held a frilly dress in his hands. "Why is this in your closet?" The Fortuneteller asked quietly, his head tilted to the side in confusion.

The Magician blushed of embarrassment. "It was something I had to wear for a bet." He muttered quietly, remembering when he had first been initiated into the carnival-the Knife Thrower and the Acrobats surely got a laugh out of that incident. He let out a sigh. He really should not have made that bet with the Clown... "I don't really use it anymore, so you could keep it if you want."

"Really!?" Miss Fortune's eyes widened in instant surprise. "I can keep this?" He asked in a quieter, serious tone. "I can wear this?"

He looked awfully serious about the subject.

The Magician hesitated for a moment. He wasn't sure at first-what would the other carnies think if they saw a crossdressed carnie roaming the grounds? Well, the Magician figured, it couldn't hurt. Most people would assume that the Fortunteller would be a woman, after all-they didn't have to know that Miss Fortune was actually a male. Right?

"Alright, Miss Fortune...You can keep it."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The raven-haired Magician found himself tackled to the ground with a tight bear-hug from the other carnie. "I promise I'll wear it lots!" He heard the older one literally squeal into his ear, giggling and laughing like a child who was playing tag with his friends. There was a moment of silence again, before he spoke up again. "Magician?"

"Uh, yeah?" The younger one asked as he gently pushed the other off him-the younger male was weighed a little lighter than he expected.

"...How do you wear this?"

The younger man just let out a sigh, burying his face in one hand.

This was going to be a long night.

After said night of showing the Fortuneteller around the carnival, explaining to him how things worked, the Magician was exhausted. In fact, he was so exhausted to the point that he slept in. Trying to keep a new (and possibly more insane than the Clown-or maybe he was just hyper...) carnie entertained and informed was not easy, after all.

"Yo, Magician!" The Magician let out a groan as he heard the Knife Thrower shouting into his ear. "Wake up already!"

"I would if you would stop shouting." The Magician grouchily voiced as he slowly sat up in bed. "Morning."

"Morning." The Knife Thrower pushed a strand of hair out of his face before he spoke up again. "Dude, Miss Fortune is stark-raving fighting with his younger sister right now. You might want to check on them."

Before the Magician could reply, a shrill shout resounded from outside the tent.

"That's it, damn it! We're leaving! And take that bloody dress off, brother-you are NOT masquerading around as some male whore!"

"I don't even know what a whore is! Sophie, we can't leave...this is the only place where someone is nice to me!"

"Do you seriously think so? Everyone else is laughing at us behind our backs! I get the point that yes, the Ringmaster welcomed us, but obviously we're not welcomed by everyone else here!"

The Magician let out a scowl, before he threw the covers off himself and stomped out of the tent. He didn't like fights, he was sleep-deprived, and the sooner he finished this the better.

Stomping out of the tent, he started screaming at the both of them.

"Will the both of you just stop this already!?" He snapped angrily, stepping between the two siblings and pushing them apart. "Geez, it's only your first day! Think about it some more before you leave! Yeah, sure, we're not used to you yet, but that's because you just joined. And you-" He glared at the Ticket Keeper, "Miss Fortune is not a whore, so leave him alone! Just because he likes that dress doesn't mean that he's going to be some prostitute in the streets! Don't you have any respect for him!?"

Everyone went silent at once. It was only then that the poor Magician realized three things.

One. It was not just the Ticket Keeper, the Knife Thrower and Miss Fortune that were present with him-the Acrobats, Lion Tamer, Ringmaster, Strongman and everyone else was watching. This was mortifying.

Two. He just shouted at the two newest carnies already, and they hadn't even been here for two days. That was even more mortifying-and he was sure that the Ticket Keeper would probably hate him from now on, he could imagine that...

Three. He was shirtless. That was the most mortifying thing out of the three-being exposed in public...

"Crap." The Magician muttered to himself, rushing back into his tent before throwing on a plain, white shirt and a black tailcoat. Pulling on a pair of gloves, he let out a sigh as he shook his head. "Magician, you idiot..." He trailed off quietly to himself.

"You're not an idiot." His eyes widened in surprise, and he whirled around to see Miss Fortune standing there. The new carnie looked a bit concerned for him, but he averted his gaze from the Magician.

"Pardon?" The Magician wasn't sure if he heard the other correctly.

"You're not an idiot." The other responded quietly. "You're nice to me, so you can't be an idiot."

The Magician shook his head. "No, Miss Fortune...I'm not-"

"You stood up for me." Miss Fortune faintly smiled, before turning and leaving the tent quietly.

The Magician was unsure of what to do about it. There had been a glimmer of loneliness in the Fortuneteller's eyes, as if no one had ever been kind to him before. Too bad he didn't know why-but now he wanted to know why.

The Magician let out a groan, shaking his head again. There was so much that he needed to know, now...

"You've been hanging around the Fortuneteller a lot, lately."

It was the official Firebreather that brought up the subject. The Magician tried to ignore him as he continued to pull the line of scarves out of his sleeve, but the Firebreather spoke up again.

"...You've also been getting pretty violent lately, too. It's really not like you-usually you try to be some sort of pacifist."

The Magician let out a groan, shaking his head as he pulled out the last of the scarves. "I know. It's like Miss Fortune is my anger drug or something-and I'm addicted to it-to him." He muttered in reply, turning to face the shirtless teen, who was currently turning nearby hanging ribbons into flaming spirals dancing in the air. "It's just...I can't help it. That guy only seems to open up to me-it even seems like his own sister the Ticket Keeper is being hostile to him. It doesn't help that everyone else is making fun of Miss Fortune, either."

The Firebreather snapped his fingers, extinguishing the flames in an instant. "You know, I think it's great for you to find someone to be protective over." He let out a small chuckle. "The 'mama bear' sort of figure suits you. It makes you more alive."

The Magician crossed his arms, before uncrossing them to send a deck of cards flying at his face. "Shut up!" The older man snapped, glaring at him as the Firebreather laughed and turned the cards into smouldering embers with the flick of a wrist. "I-It's not like that!"

"Maybe it is..."

"Shut up. Please."

He learned about Miss Fortune's story one day later.

Hearing it made him want to vomit on the spot.

It was all because of one, little misunderstanding that Miss Fortune ended up stuck in a sanatorium for fifteen years. One. Little. Misunderstanding.

He felt it resonate with him-Miss Fortune was much like him back then, with Cathy and the-

He shook his head. He shouldn't be focusing on himself, but he knew that Miss Fortune was just another poor soul stuck in a terrible situation because of one misunderstanding. Just like he had been...

"Miss Fortune?" Miss Fortune turned to face him as he spoke. "I'm...sorry."

"Sorry?" Miss Fortune repeated, taking a few steps towards him, the look on his face framing a perfect amount of concern. "What for?"

"I never realized what you went through." The other responded, clasping his hands behind his back. "You might not realize it, but there are a lot more of us that are misunderstood than just you. We just don't like to talk about it much, but if you ask them after you get to know them more it should be okay. If-if you want to talk about anything, I'm here for you. Okay"

Miss Fortune seemed to freeze for a moment, before nodding and smiling a little.

The Magician wasn't sure if he was able to reach completely towards Miss Fortune...until the day after when Miss Fortune woke him up in the morning with a kiss on the forehead and a bear-tight hug.

It seemed extremely spontaneous to get together so suddenly, but the Magician didn't care-as long as Miss Fortune was alright, everything was good. Everything was good...

Author note: So...I'm aware that I haven't updated much things Yakitate!-Japan-wise for the past month. Sorry about it-writers block and life outside fanfiction can really make you lose inspiration to type stuff. Hopefully there will a Halloween fic or something up for this fandom by Oct. 31, but I'm not sure. Thanks for your patience!

Please note: I STARTED A NEW POLL ON MY PROFILE! PLEASE, VOTE ON IT! (there are approximately 26 options at the moment and you can choose up to 25 of them if you wish-I know, it's basically a way of me saying "Someone give me some movitation to get whatever it is written,' but it would help a lot). Thanks!