Cat: So, here we are! An episode when Yuzu appears for about... Say, 5 seconds?

Rena: So, this is our imagination running WILD! :)

Cat: So, i have used no actual moment from episode 16 because, quite frankly, i didn't need it. So, no duel and no stuck up cooking brat (but, seriously, he is such a JERK!)

Rena: However, seeing as the episode was called 'The Prodigy Chef: Michio Mokota' and the chapter 'The Prodigy Chef' (for the slow ones who read this, i name every chapter after the episode!) we did include a lot of cooking.

Cat: So, if you find anyone OOC, sorry about that :P

Rena: Oh! And we didn't use the five seconds Yuzu featured in episode 16 in this chapter! Why? Because, seriously, what could we say? 'I sat and watched Sora duel and beat everyone'? *yawn* But hopefully, i can include that in the next chapter, ok? Don't flame!

Cat: This story is in Yuzu's POV. Please give me some artistic licence. If i put some stuff that isn't in the anime in here, don't flame. There would be no point in reading, if it was just the anime in words.

Chapter 16- The Prodigy Chef

After Masumi had run off, searching for the Dark Duellist, Yuya, Sora and I vacated the premises in case she came back to bully Yuya more. We deliberately walked down alleyways and busy streets, talking tactically about where the Fusion duellist would run, without her bumping into us.

After about half an hour of being wannabe agents, hiding in the shadows of the city, we arrived back at Yuya's house. The sun had disappeared, and the street lights flickered on as we stepped inside and took off our shoes.

"Tadaima!" Yuya called through to his mum, who looked busy with dinner.

"Okairi, Yuya," she turned and spotted me and Sora. "Oh, hello Yuzu-chan, Sora-kun. I'm afraid I haven't made enough for you two to stay for dinner-"

"Oh no! Please, don't trouble yourself!" I instantly felt bad for dropping in at such an hour. I should have known that Yuya's mum would try to feed us. "My dad will want me home soon, so please don't worry!"

Sora shook his head and declined too. "Just so long as I can have breakfast tomorrow!" he cheered. I blinked, not realising that Sora still had breakfast at Yuya's house. I thought that had been a 'one off' thing, when Sora was stalking Yuya nonstop.

"So, what are you guys doing at this hour? You have duels to win tomorrow, remember?" Mrs. Sakaki pulled out a sharp knife and started chopping some raw meat.

"We're just gonna… chat in my room for a while," Yuya smiled, as we all began ascending the stairs, leaving his mum to stare after us.

When we reached the landing, we were greeted by thousands of cats, staring up at us and slowly slinking our way. Yuya smiled and greeted every single one, petting some, picking up others and tickling a few. I smiled and bent down, petting the stray's that Mrs. Sakaki had taken in. Some people found it odd, that she took in almost every animal she found on the street but it was completely normal in my eyes. It showed how caring she was.

"Where are the dogs?" I asked Yuya, as we precariously clambered over the felines to his door.

"Probably in the garden," he replied, as he opened his door a smidgen and slid through, holding it open for us, then shutting it quickly (but gently) so that no cat could get in. Immediately, he slumped on his bed and sighed loudly. Sora and I sat down on the floor and glanced at him. We sat for a few seconds in silence.

"So," Yuya said loudly, swinging himself around so that he could see us properly. "What is going on?"

"If I knew I would tell you," I grumbled, hanging my head. Admittedly, I was still shell-shocked by the whole experience. Ever since, my bracelet had felt like the weight of a brick on my arm. I fiddled with it, trying to piece together what I knew, which was basically nothing.

And, for some reason, the 'basic' stuff I did know, I didn't want to tell anyone else. Particularly Yuya.

"Sora?" Yuya turned to the blue-haired boy.

He shook his head. "No idea, sorry. All I know is that someone appeared in the warehouse, I was going to duel him but then that LDS girl butted in, then he vanished…"

"So, we basically know nothing," Yuya leant back again, unintentionally whacking his head off the wall, just below the poster of his dad.

"Pretty much," I whispered.

"I say we don't let it bother us," Sora said with his usual air, as he licked his lollipop. "We just don't go back to that place. That's where he's always been so far, right?"

"…Right…" I nodded slowly, sure that that was the last thing Sora was going to do but not mentioning it.

"Besides, we all have work to do!" Sora reminded us. "Yuya! You have a duel tomorrow, didn't you say? Shouldn't you be reviewing your deck?"

Yuya pulled a face. "Man, I totally forgot! I'll need to look up the directions to where I need to go!"

"Are you not at the duel school?" I asked, as Yuya scrambled around for the address. I watched him, amazed that he could just drop the conversation we had about the dark duellist so easily but, then again, he had never seen him. He didn't realise how similar they were and how much trouble he could be landed in.

"Nope, I'm going somewhere… weird," Yuya muttered, as he tapped on his duel pad, where he had probably typed it in.

"And Yuzu," Sora turned to me. "Are we going to train tomorrow?"

"Train?" I asked stupidly, as he pulled me out of my musing.

"For the tournament? Y'know! You wanna learn how to fusion summon, right?" Sora peered at me, surprised I had already forgotten. I wanted to smack myself over the head. My mind had been so preoccupied with the events after I begged to learn fusion summoning, that I had completely forgotten about it.

Once again, I was in a situation that I couldn't afford to let my mind wander. I had to train for this tournament and I had to get stronger.

"Right!" I nodded my head firmly. This time, I was prepared. I wasn't going to get distracted. Even if that stranger showed up for a third time, I wasn't going to let it bother me.

"Yuya! Dinner!" a voice floated up from the bottom floor.

"Coming!" Yuya shouted back. "Sorry guys but you'll probably have to go…"

I nodded, realising that we hadn't contacted my dad since Yuya had told him that I didn't want to go to duel school that afternoon. He was probably panicking at home. Oops. Pulling myself up, I grabbed Yuya's outstretched hand and tugging him to his feet, so he could join his mother for food. Sora was already standing at the door, watching us closely as we came to stand beside him and slowly opened the door, making a barricade that the cat's couldn't pass through.

I sniffed at the warm kitchen air as we descended to the ground floor, my stomach making embarrassing noises. I hadn't eaten since lunch time and then I hadn't eaten much because I had been interrupted by Jerk-Face-Sawatari. I was starving.

Yuya saw us to the door, where we yanked our shoes on and stood up. He grinned at us both as we gave our farewells.

"If I don't see you before, good luck with your duels tomorrow," I said as I opened the door, letting the cool night air tickle in.

"Thanks!" Yuya beamed. "Good luck with your training tomorrow! But, hang on, Sora, aren't you trying to get six duel wins straight tomorrow? What will Yuzu do?"

I hadn't thought about that either. I glanced quizzically at the sky-colour-haired boy. He just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Watching six fusion duels in a row will be quite a good experience for her. She can see the ins and outs through her own eyes. It will count as training."

That sounds fun.

"Yuya, your food is getting cold!" the blonde woman shouted from the table.

"I'm coming," Yuya whined, as Sora and I stepped out, shutting the door behind us. We walked to the end of the street in complete silence, stopping at the road.

"Well, um, good night, Sora," I said awkwardly, feeling his emerald-eyes bore into me.

"See ya tomorrow," he sighed lazily, walking in the opposite direction I was about to go.

Slowly, I began to meander my house hardly thinking about where I was going. I knew the walk from Yuya's to mine that I didn't even have to think about it, my feet just took me there. My eyes glued to the pavement, I took the first few steps on the pavement.

"You're not from hereare you?" Sora asked.

"Neither are you!" the Dark Duellist snapped.

"Wait! Sora!" I whirled around, remembering their conversation in the warehouse.

But the fusion user was long gone.

The second I opened the door of my house, I was hit with the smell of instant ramen. Instantly, I began wishing I did ask Mrs. Sakaki to make me a meal, so I wouldn't have to eat out of a plastic cup for the millionth time. Dumping my bag on the sofa, I found my dad in the kitchen, tapping his fingers in time to the count down on the microwave, the bottle of noodles spinning inside.

It was my fault really. I normally made meals for us but because I had been out so late my dad obviously couldn't wait any longer.

"Sorry," I mumbled when he saw me. "I can make something as a side dish, if you like."

At that second, the bell went and he opened the door, gingerly pulling out the steaming cup. "No, don't worry about it. You look exhausted, darling. Are you ok?" he asked, pulling me into a hug.

I was grateful that my dad knew when it was a good time to come down from the planet of hot-bloodedness and craziness, sometimes. I nodded, muttering that it had been a long day.

"Why weren't you at the duel school today? Is something wrong? Something happen at school?" he drilled me with questions, that made me roll my eyes and chuckle.

"No, no, everything is fine," I said quietly. "I just… I want to get stronger, dad."

He pouted. "Staying out late and trying to miss dinner isn't exactly what I would call the right path to be strong, Yuzu."

"At duelling,"

"So then why did you miss duel school?" he wailed. "You'll be super strong for the tournament once you've been through my new and improved Hiragi Shuzo's Extra Tough Training Programme!" he pumped the air, comical tears running down his face.

I began wondering how life threatening that training was going to be.

"Oh… That's great dad," I smiled, not in the mood to start yelling or anything along those lines. "But I've taken this into my own hands and I'm getting Sora to train me."

"Sora?" my dad's eyebrow's raised.

"Yeah, he's really strong and…" I yawned loudly, covering my mouth. "I think I can learn from him."

I watched through lidded eyes as my dad split the dinner into two bowls and passed me a pair of chopsticks. I wolfed it down, ignoring the fact that it was far too spicy for my taste and that there wasn't enough to keep me satisfied for long.

"So, I was talking over the phone with Yuya's mum earlier today," my dad tried to make conversation with me. "And she was telling me about these recipes made by a chef called Michio Mokota…"

"Yeah?" I said lazily, not bothering to look up from my bowl.

"And she says that he makes some divine meals and that we should try some! They're dead simple too, apparently."

"Cool, maybe I'll try one at the weekend," I said, as I walked over and yanked open the fridge, pouring myself a cup of juice, to quench the fire in my throat thanks to the ramen.

"Well, it got me thinking, that maybe I could try-"

"No! No! Absolutely not!" I had to try not to spit out the liquid in my mouth. "Even if they are 'dead simple' dad, we will both be dead if you try something past ramen, pizza, toast and coffee!"

He sagged in his usual over-exaggerated way. "But maybe if you could supervise me or-"

I shook my head violently. Our kitchen had been fitted last year and it had been quite costly. We wouldn't have had to bother fitting it if my dad hadn't successfully managed to blow up the food he had been cooking. I loved him but there was a reason why I cooked.

"Well," I tried to cheer him up as I took our bowls and cups and placed them by the sink. "If I do use one of this chef's recipes, you can cut vegetables… or read me out the instructions!"

After a few more words between us, I said goodnight as he sat and watched the TV. Trudging up the stairs and into my room, I grabbed a clean set of pyjamas and a towel and began running a bath.

I need to get stronger.

Who is that masked duellist?

I have to get stronger.

Why does he look so much like Yuya?

I must get stronger.

What does he want?

I want to get stronger.

What is the connection between him and my bracelet?

I need to get stronger!

I stared down at the twisted hoops on my arm. I had always had that bracelet and I always wore it. I wore it like others wore a watch. It was a sturdy thing, two hoops connected at an angle together by circled, with pink embedded in the centre.

Sliding it off my wrist, I dropped it down onto the counter, where it rolled a bit and stopped. And stayed. It didn't glow. No person magically appeared or disappeared.

This is ridiculous. It's a bracelet! I don't even think it's real silver! Just a piece of painted copper that couldn't harm anyone, even if my life depended on it!

However, after I stopped the flow of water from the taps on the bath, after the water was deep enough and the temperature was right, I suddenly halted while removing my clothes. Wrapping a towel around myself, I snatched up the bracelet, stalked back into my room over to my bedside cabinet, yanked open the drawer and stuffed it inside.

Because if a masked man could magically appear and disappear to the glowing of a certain piece of jewellery, he could appear anytime, anyplace.

But he was not going to appear in my bathroom while I was having a bath, that was for sure.

Cat: I can totally imagine Shuzo being a terrible cook! XD

Rena: Please review!

Cat: Oh, by the way! I am re-writing the first couple of chapters because i read them and cringed! That and i got reviews recently that were so harsh about them, it wasn't even funny. (some people just don't know the difference between constructive criticismand harsh criticism)((but, to be fair, the first, like 5 chapters are horrific))

Rena: So! Today's question... Haha... Least favourite opening theme of all series?