I couldn't stop myself from groaning when there was a knock at our door bright and early in the morning. Truthfully, I had no idea how early it was but I couldn't have cared less. After seeing what Kaze's chocolates were shaped like yesterday, I had spent essentially the whole night overanalyzing everything about it. Was it a simple coincidence or did Kaze have the exact shape in mind? Were they really just a way of saying thanks or where they something more?

Fortunately I wasn't alone in my misery. Ida, having been nearly shocked to death, also wanted nothing more than to just sleep the day away, it seemed. She let out some incoherent mumbling, something about a hero and sunlight, before going back to sleep. I was just about to join her when the knocking came again, a bit more firmly this time. So, whoever it was wasn't going to leave us alone… that meant it wasn't Kaze. Kaze was the type to knock once and wait, not do the on-and-off knocking this person was doing. Still, if I didn't answer…

Another knocking secession. Just as I was going to get up, something hit my face. I quickly turned towards Ida, glaring at the teen who just settled back down as if she hadn't just thrown a pillow at me. Well, now my anger was directed at someone else… As I finished getting off of my bed, I considered throwing the pillow right back at Ida, but eventually decided that I couldn't do that to her since she was injured. When I pulled the door open, I found a certain bartender standing there, hand posed to knock again. In his other hand there was a box. Upon seeing my irritation, however, his hand quickly dropped.

"Don't even try to say you didn't mean to wake us up," I muttered.

"Er, well… That's true, but in my defense, it is well past nine," Keisuke revealed. Nine…? We usually were up and about around six. Part of me felt a bit guilty for leaving Kaze by himself for three hours, but the thought was shoved out of my mind when Keisuke held the medium sized box out to me. "For you two ladies," he said simply. I looked up from the package, eyeing him apprehensively, but since he was just waiting, I returned to my bed with package in tow. It wasn't taped or anything so opening it was fairly easy. Pulling the content out, I found two clear bags filled with what appeared to be clothing.

"No. Way," Ida said from behind me, sticking her neck out to the side to get a view of the contents. "Superhero costumes!"

"Ah, yes, one could say they are such," Keisuke chuckled, albeit awkwardly. "Top one is for you, Rose. Bottom one is Queen's," Keisuke commented. I nodded in understanding before grabbing the bag that was on the bottom and tossing it to Ida, who eagerly caught it. Since Keisuke wasn't leaving, I could only assume he wanted our opinions on them, so I made to open mine. All that was inside was a black cloak and mask with red designs on it.

"Wah! This is so cool!" Ida shouted, drawing my attention. Sprawled out on her bed were a variety of items: a full outfit, necklace, crown, bracelets, and mask. For a brief moment, I looked down back at my supposed costume. Why was Ida's so much more… extravagant…? Keisuke must have noticed my concern because his hand landed on my shoulder a few seconds later.

"Don't worry. You're a rose, after all. You're still in bloom, though. As such, we won't reveal your real beauty yet," Keisuke tried to reassure me, but I felt anything but reassured. The way he said it, it was almost… cryptic. Regardless, Keisuke continued to smile as he let go of me and walked away, pausing at the door, "Well, I'd best be off. Got some people to meet up with. Have fun with those."

"Aki, Aki, we've got to start wearing these right away!" Ida gushed as she pushed her covers away. I couldn't help but be a bit concerned when she jumped to her feet and staggered a bit.

"Ida, are you sure you should be up?" I asked.

"Ha, of course! I'm a hero, after all! A hero never stays idle!" Ida smiled. I continued staring at her for quite some time afterwards, even when she turned to put her outfit on. Was she really okay? Electricity did things to your body, right? She didn't let on any signs of pain or impairment, though. With a shrug, I decided to give her some privacy and went to work with my cloak. It wasn't too hard to put on since it just used a pin, but once on it covered my entire body, save my head. There was a hood should I feel the need to be entirely hidden, however.

A knock drew our attentions once more. "Ooh, did Mr. Keisuke forget something? I'm going to show him how cool I look!" Ida, now fully dressed, shouted. She now wore a black sleeveless jacket with a gray undershirt. On top of her head was a small decorative crown while she had a necklace with a black queen piece from chess attached to it. It certainly was one way to take the whole Dark Queen thing…

When Ida threw open the door, there was a different brunette this time. It was Kaze, also sporting a new outfit. Instead of his Osiris jacket, he now wore a dark red one with leather on the shoulders and belts across his chest. Underneath this was a zipped up black jacket. I couldn't help but notice the lack of a certain necklace and hat.

"W-who are you? Get out of here!" Ida shouted, taking me by surprise as she threw her finger towards the hallway. That's when I remembered that Ida had never seen Kaze without his hat.

"Ida, it's me," the brunette spoke up, causing Ida's eyes to widen.

"No, no way. Kaze has this adorable little hat this," Ida said as she pointed to her head for emphasis, apparently forgetting that her own copy was on her bed now.

"No, that really is Kaze," I vouched for our hatless friend. Ida opened her mouth for some sort of rebuttal but eventually settled with taking a double-take at the teen in question.

"Hm… I guess I can see the similarities. So, you've had blue eyes all along?"

"Y-yeah," Kaze muttered as he reached up and fumbled with the zipper of his jacket instead of his necklace. So, clearly he wasn't used to the absence of both objects.

"That's not fair! How come Aki got to see you without your hat on?" Ida complained.

"It's fine, right? I mean, Keisuke said it doesn't really go with the whole demon costume, so you'll be seeing me for a bit without it," Kaze tried to calm Ida down a bit

"About that… Your necklace is missing. I thought that was the most important thing to you," I decided to voice my concern. Instead of vocally answering it, however, Kaze pulled his jacket's zipper down a bit before reaching inside and pulling out the familiar three-barred necklace.

"I'm still wearing it, of course, whether Keisuke likes it or not," Kaze said.

"What's that? I heard my name. You need something, Demon?" the voice of the man in question asked, causing us to jump. He was eavesdropping…?!

"No, it's nothing," Kaze said a bit too quickly. Keisuke either didn't notice or didn't deem it worthy of his attention, as his smile remained on his face.

"Of course! You couldn't do anything anyways," Keisuke laughed. Couldn't…? So, regardless of his little friendship ploy, he still wanted to remind us of what he held over our heads… "Anyway, I didn't mean to barge in like this, but, well, I just finished talking with a regular guest of mine. I'd like Rose to help me out with a request of his."

"W-what? What's Aki have to do with any of this?" Kaze got noticeably defensive and I could agree with his skepticism. Keisuke knew about my powers so to single me out as the one for this duel meant he wanted me to use them. As such, that would mean he was trying to get me to… to kill someone, or at least harm them to a certain extent.

"You all know about Aki's powers. This friend of mine has a pest. A thorn in his side, if you will. He doesn't want him dead, so rest assured, there will be no blood on your hands. He just wants the guy put in his place. So, since we can't force Shockers onto someone, I figured Rose here would be perfect! Just summon a few monsters and he'll know better than to mess with us!" Keisuke's grin was almost a bit unnerving at this point. Even if it wasn't death like I originally thought, if I used my powers, there was a high chance this duelist would be wounded. To what state, only my monsters knew.

"Keisuke, you don't understand. Aki's powers aren't for hurting people for a bit of DP, it's-" Kaze started to argue.

"Hold on! Is this guy a bad guy, Mr. Keisuke?" Ida broke into the conversation.

"I can't comment on the specifics, but yes, the man is definitely not in your hero category," Keisuke said. "You just need to head to the alley right next to the bar and head down until you reach the clearing. Everything else was handled by yours truly."

"So then we have to do something! As the Justice Brigade it's our duty to defeat the villains of this world!" Ida declared.

"But… Even so," Kaze trailed off, sending a worried glance my way. So he was still worried too… about how uncontrollable my powers were. Knowing Keisuke, though, he wouldn't take me denying his request likely. If denying this somehow ended up negatively for Kaze… I couldn't let that happen. I just…

"It will be alright, Kaze. I'll stop before anything bad happens," I said for the both of us. Maybe if I said it aloud, it'd have a bit of truth to it.

"Of course! As a hero, I'll be there to watch my anti-hero friend!" Ida promised. If she were coming with, then I'd really have no choice… I'd have to somehow try to wrangle my powers in and avoid damage to my surroundings… somehow.

"Then I'll go with too," Kaze said but Keisuke just shook his head.

"'fraid not, Red. I'm going to need you here. We need to have a talk about something," Keisuke said, his smile dropping as he spoke. This unnerved both Kaze and I, as his concerned expression showed. What would Keisuke need to talk to Kaze about aside from the video…? Was he going to change his mind or was he going to just drill it into him again that we were helpless against him?

"Well, Aki, let's go! We've got a villain waiting for justice!" Ida drew me out of my thoughts by grabbing my wrist and charging forward. She didn't let go of my hand until we finally reached the clearing that Keisuke had described. "So now, we wait! Prepare yourself, Aki," Ida said. Prepare myself for what…? This wasn't really a mental thing… I couldn't very well meditate a little and have my monsters listen to me. What could I do? Would surrendering work? If I dueled to the point where the man was terrified, one of us would surrender and prevent things from going too wrong. But what if even one card was too much…? I thought back to my parents and the house that I totaled with only one card. What if I used one card and everything came crashing down…? What if someone got killed? What if Ida got hurt because of me? What if…

"So, you're the people I'm supposed to face. I don't care if you're a girl, I won't go easy on you," a voice cut my thoughts short. When I turned I found a man with slicked down brown hair in a tuxedo of sorts. He had a pair of glasses on but his eyes still seemed to squint as if he couldn't see properly. Needless to say he didn't fit the usual criminal mold. He looked more like a business man or someone that my father would work with. Wait… my father… Could this man…

"The same goes for us! Go, my friend of justice! Show them what the Justice Brigade can do!" Ida cheered as she gave me a shove forward. I suppose for the sake of Ida, I could play along with her little scheme. If I played as a babbling idiot, maybe he wouldn't notice that he was dueling the senator's daughter, if he really was one of my father's men. Though, given how he talked, it didn't sound like he was…With all that being said, though,it wasn't as if I wanted to sound like a total idiot, but given the alternative of being dragged home…

"I am the Black Rose! For the sake of justice, your heinous ways will be ended here and now!" It took all of my will power to keep a straight face and not groan at how utterly… Ida I sounded. If it would keep my parents away, however, I could swallow the embarrassment.

"Ugh, quit your jabbering and get on with it already!" the man growled. I could share his sentiments, so I started things off by drawing my first card.

[Aki: 4000 LP] [Kaito: 4000 LP]

"I'll begin with summoning Twilight Rose Knight in Attack Mode and by using his effect I will also Special Summon Hedge Guard!" I declared. My Warrior monster appeared first and once he was solidified, he delivered a slice to the air with his sword. A portal then opened up and vines slithered through it, eventually planting themselves on the ground. [Twilight Rose Knight: 1000 ATK] [Hedge Guard: 0 ATK] "Don't get too used to them, though! I tune my Twilight Rose Knight with my Hedge Guard! Synchro Summon! Queen of Thorns!" Twilight Rose Knight jumped into the air, transforming into three rings which my Hedge Guard then flew through. There was a burst of light and when it faded there was a woman with pink petals and green leaves growing off of her body in their place. [Queen of Thorns: 2200 ATK] "Then I activate Terraforming, which allows me to add one field spell to my hand and I chose Black Garden!" I continued narrating my moves as I took the card that was ejected from my deck. "My last move will be to activate the Black Garden that I just got." As soon as I finished placing the card down, plants began erupting from the cement beneath us, rising up until it surrounded the three of us in a dome.

"Y-you… Psychic duelist!" the man let out breathlessly. Psychic… duelist…? Duelists like me had a name…? That means… there really must be more people like me out there if they were populous enough to get that name! "No matter! I'll beat you either way! I summon Grapple Blocker in Defense mode!" Kaito, according to the network, said as a man with octopus-like arms on his back appeared.

"Due to Black Garden, your monster loses half of its Attack points and I gain a Rose Token. That's not all. Queen of Thorns' effect states that every time a monster that isn't Plant type is summoned the owner takes 1000 points of damage," I said as a tiny rose popped out of the ground on my side of the field. [Rose Token: 800 ATK] [Grapple Blocker: 1200 - 600ATK/2000 DEF] Queen of Thorns' reached her arm out which caused the surrounding plants to begin quivering with life. Without warning three vines shot out and coiled themselves around the arm that held the duel disk, effectively ensnaring his arm. That wasn't the brunt of the attack, though. The vines quickly began to tighten, digging their thorns into the man's arm, eliciting a sharp hiss as blood oozed from the wounds. [Kaito: 3000 LP] Ida seemed a bit conflicted, to say the least, at the move, but the man didn't seem to give up, as he slowly looked up and glared at me before continuing with his move.

"When Grapple Blocker is summoned I can choose one monster on the field and, so long as Grapple Blocker is face up on the field, that monster can no longer attack nor be tributed! I choose Queen of Thorns!" The suction cups on the Psychic monster quickly lit up before sending electricity out of them. My Queen of Thorns was at the receiving end of the blow and doubled over, remaining in this position even after the electricity died down. That took my original strategy away, but it didn't mean that I still couldn't win. After all, I still had… "I set two cards face down and that ends my turn! Due to Blocker's effect, I choose to pay 500 life points to keep him on the field," Kaito said as the electricity sparked up once more, this time enveloping its owner. [Kaito: 2500 LP]

"If that's all, then I'll take my move! I'll sacrifice Rose Token in order to summon Queen Angel of Roses, which can be summoned with the tribute of one Plant type monster!" I shouted. Light erupted from the token as a woman with wings made of roses shot out of its center. The masked woman flapped her wings as she lowered herself to the ground, lance at the ready. Even when vines shot out to tie it down due to Black Garden, she still remained tall. [Queen Angel of Roses: 2400 - 1200 ATK]

"Thanks to Black Garden, I also gain a Rose Token, don't I?" the man asked even though his answer was the token appearing seconds later. [Rose Token: 800 ATK]

"It won't matter, though, because Queen Angel of Roses is going to destroy your Rose Token!" I shouted as I threw my hand out. The woman let out a battle cry as she lunged forward, thrusting her rose themed lance into the rose. The petals of the token quickly scattered, flying back and delivering a few cuts onto Kaito's cheeks. [Kaito: 2100 LP] "With one card face down, I'll end my turn."

"A little bit of damage doesn't scare me! I summon Psychic Jumper in Defense mode!" Kaito said. A blue skinned man appeared from a portal seconds later, promptly getting wrapped in vines when it landed. [Psychic Jumper: 100 - 50ATK/1500 DEF] Since it wasn't a Plant monster, another set of vines shot out of the surrounding wall and wrapped itself around the man's leg, once again coiling until it drew blood. Kaito staggered a bit, almost hitting the ground with his knee, but he managed to remain standing. [Kaito: 1100 LP] As per Black Garden's effect, another Rose Token appeared on my side of the field. [Rose Token: 800 ATK] "W-with that out of the way, I activate Jumper's effect! I can pay 1000 life points to switch one of my psychic monsters aside from Jumper with a monster on your side of the field! I'll give you Grapple Blocker in order to receive Queen of Thorns!" Sparks quickly shot out of the helmet Psychic Jumper was wearing, enveloping Kaito as the aforementioned monsters switched places. [Kaito: 100 LP] "That ends my turn!"

"Due to Queen Angel of Roses' effect, since it's the Standby Phase, I destroy the monster with the lowest attack on the field. So Jumper is destroyed!" I explained as my monster flapped its wings, creating a breeze that knocked the monster in question away. "That's all I'll do this turn. Unlike you, I choose to destroy Grapple rather than pay the life points," I declared as the Psychic monster bursted into glass-like fragments.

"Ha, are you stupid? Queen of Thorns is going to destroy you now!" Kaito shouted as he drew his card. Little did he know that he fell right for my trap, in more ways than one. "So, Queen of Thorns, show her what I mean! Destroy Queen Angel of Roses!" Kaito continued as he threw his arm out.

"I don't think so! I activate Wall of Thorns! When a Plant monster of mine is attacked, I can activate this card to destroy all monsters in Attack position on your side of the field!" I shouted. The vines from Black Garden quickly shot out, latching onto Queen of Thorns and tightening until it bursted into light. Kaito let out a curse, apparently realizing why I got rid of the card that would have stopped him from attacking. Honestly, I'm not stupid. "F-fine! It's your move!" the man said.

"This doesn't need to happen. You don't need to be hurt anymore," I said instead of taking my draw, surprising my opponent.

"W-what do you mean?" he asked.

"I'm not out for blood. If I attack, you probably won't survive. If you surrender and leave now, you needn't get hurt any longer," I clarified for him. His eyes just continued to widen. He quickly did a double-take between my Queen Angel of Rose and me, eventually letting out a soft curse before turning and running, causing the monsters to fade as he did.

"Aki, there's hope for you yet! You were the better person!" Ida smiled jovially at me. I tried to return the smile, but of course it was nowhere near as enthusiastic.

"Of course. I told you guys I wouldn't take things too far."

"Ha! And that line! I have got to take tips from you, Aki! It was like watching a show!" I let out an irritated sigh. I should have known better then to expect Ida to take things seriously for once…

"Forget that. We should head back. Keisuke is probably just finishing up with Kaze so we can kill two birds with one stone," I suggested. Ida nodded in agreement so I took the lead in heading back to the arena. Out of common courtesy, I knocked when we arrived instead of barging in. I didn't exactly expect the door to be open, though, so my first knock opened the door a small bit. The lights were off. Maybe he wasn't here…?

"Huh… He must be off somewhere else with Keisuke," Ida shrugged as she began to turn around.

"No, I'm here," the brunette's voice answered from the dark, causing us to jump. I opened the door the rest of the way, allowing a bit of the hallway light to filter in. Kaze was indeed there, but he was on his bed with his hat resting in his lap and demon mask thrown on the other side of the room. There was something odd about it that I just couldn't place my finger on. Regardless, standing in the door way wasn't going to solve anything, so when Ida let herself in, I followed. We ended up sitting on opposite sides of the teen, as it was the only way we could all fit on the bed.

"Kaze, you missed it! Aki was so cool! She even acted like a hero and…" Ida droned on to Kaze who listened with interest. I ignored her after the first bit, instead trying to solve the mask mystery. Looking around aimlessly would be too suspicious, so I instead settled with looking out of the corner of my eye for anything suspicious. The answer was much closer than I had expected.

"Kaze," I began upon seeing it, cutting Ida off mid-sentence. The gray-haired teen glared at me, but I continued anyway. "Why do you have blood on your face?" The room instantly went silent. Ida was staring on in confusion, apparently not having seen the speck of blood on Kaze's right cheek, or maybe she was playing ignorant. Kaze was just looking at me, the surprise evident on his face. I waited for my answer. Blood could only mean one thing.

The brunette slowly raised a hand to his cheek, rubbing it along the blood before placing it in front of him. He forced a smile a little too quickly. "Oh, this? I figured I'd try shaving! Keisuke wanted to show me the ropes! He said it was about time I started!" Kaze turned his gaze towards Ida, probably knowing he wouldn't be able to fool me. Ida was ignorant enough to buy it, but I had common sense. It came from something, or someone, else. The only question left in my mind was 'Why?'. Why would Kaze do that to someone else after so long? Why would Kaze try and hide it from us, from me?

I wanted to point all of this out, but Ida was already smiling as well, buying into the ploy as I suspected she would. If Kaze didn't want to talk about it, I would trust him on this for now. Of course, as soon as Ida was gone, I'd demand answers, but in the meantime, I'd respect his wishes of keeping it from innocent bystanders. Ida had no idea about the video and we planned to keep it that way. Revealing Kaze's past tendencies would be opening a whole can of worms regarding that issue.

"And so Aki let him go in the end! Isn't that great?" Ida finished her retelling of the events.

"She did…? That's great," Kaze's voice seemed a bit off as he said it. I couldn't ignore this any longer.

"Hey, Ida, we've wasted a bit of time here. Why don't you go report to Keisuke for me?" I asked.

"What? But it was your request!" Ida complained. While she had a point, I couldn't give up. Something was clearly wrong with Kaze and I had to get to the bottom of it.

"Well, yes, but I need a few pointers from Kaze about my powers!" I gave the best excuse I could come up with. If it were anything else, Ida could have tried to join the conversation. This was a topic that was exclusive to Kaze and I, though.

"Oh, okay! Don't worry, with Kaze's help, you'll be on the path to heroism in no time!" Ida smiled. As she got up to leave, she gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder before heading out.

"Kaze, what's wrong?" I interrogated him the moment she left.

"Like I said, Keisuke said I should start shaving and I-"

"No, that can't be true. There was no wound under where the blood was at. Plus Keisuke would have no reason to have you shave, so that's not it either. You have someone else's blood on you," I said. I only realized how harsh it sounded when the words were already out of my mouth. Kaze bit his lip and stared down at his hat, taking hold of it with his clean hand.

"I… lost control," the brunette whispered so softly I almost didn't hear him at first.

"W-what?"

"Keisuke… he had me duel someone and… I lost control… I ended up hurting someone again," Kaze muttered before turning to face me once more, tears brimming at his eyes. "I thought I was over this! I thought I was better than this, but every time we come back here, every time I see him, it all starts coming back and I…" Kaze's words stopped when I reached forward and hugged him.

"It's alright. You're the one who taught me that my powers aren't bad. Brionac isn't bad either. He's your friend. Your opponents are all bad guys, villains, remember? It's alright. You didn't kill them, did you?" I asked softly.

"Of course not…! There's no way I could…" Kaze trailed off, clearly horrified by the idea.

"Then there's nothing to worry about, right?" I offered a smile. Kaze just continued to stare at me before he slowly began to laugh, wiping at his eyes as he did. I slowly let go of him, allowing him to sit up straight.

"I… I really feel bad relying on you like this… after all I said to you about control and powers being good, I can't even practice what I preach," Kaze muttered.

"You're human, Kaze. You make mistakes. We all do," I tried to comfort him, reaching out to at least grab his hand as a bit of an anchor. If there was one thing I learned from when Kaze helped me through the rough spots it was that being there was plenty enough. Not many words were needed, which I was thankful for.

"But what if one of those mistakes end up hurting you?"

"They won't. You have better control than that."

"But what if I don't? What if I lose control again?"

"You won't."

"But what if I-"

"You won't."

I gave Kaze another smile as he took a shaky breath, regaining his composure. "I… Thanks, Aki. I just… We need to get out of here soon. We need to get the video soon or I might…" Kaze trailed off but what he was fearing was implied enough.

"Of course. We'll do something and we'll do it soon."

Reviews:

Oracion de las Estrellas: I'll be sure to keep that in mind. No guarantees if it'll pop up or not, though.

Anonymous: That was the intent. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope you'll continue to enjoy it as well.

Tyler Nator: The joys of writing chapters ahead of time. The escalation was planned ahead of time and will probably happen again later on (to different characters, mind you, but still). My friend told me that a good writing tip is 'If something can go wrong, make it go wrong. It adds conflict.' Or something like that. Not that I want to totally destroy everything, which would probably be pretty easy given the party's circumstance right now.

Lion Heart Leon: The Keisuke thing does end shortly, if that's any comfort. I can't have these hobos chilling in the underground forever, after all. We have an Arcadia Movement to infiltrate. And other plot elements that I really don't want to think about right now.

Oh gosh, what if I just throw in a suddenly plot twist and have it become a Kaze/Ida fanfic all of a sudden. Like, none of you would see it coming. Maybe the pairing tab is for one-sided pairings. Now you're all going to be overly suspicious of every female character that enters and threatens the shipping xD