Yugi was in a panic. Jounouchi had gone missing, and what little information they had didn't speak of good things. He was terrified, more for his friend than anything.

So when Nadeshiko arrived, he didn't question it.

"What happened?"

Yugi told her. Her face was as cold as ice.

She seemed to focus on something, before she began to walk in a direction. Yugi knew her face when she was in full protective mode, and followed her without question. He said nothing, and followed her almost like a little duckling into the warehouse district.

Something inside him uncoiled, almost as if sensing Jounouchi was close. He began to quicken his pace. He was almost straight up running towards the nondescript building, which looked like all the others.

He walked in and his face went pale. Jounouchi looked terrible, and had been beaten extensively. Yugi felt faint, and almost began to black out from shock.

A warm hand touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Nadeshiko by his side.

"Now this won't do. I can't have Yugi's Sun be permanently damaged by fourth-rate thugs," she said calmly.

Sun? What did she mean by that?

Nadeshiko's eyes burned with an amber glow. The thugs who had beaten up his friend backed away, almost by instinct in the presence of a real predator. Yugi, however, felt safe. That warmth that Nadeshiko always gave off seemed to wrap around him, almost as if she were assuring him things would be okay.

"Yugi, go get your friend down. I'll deal with these fools," said Nadeshiko. Yugi felt a strange shiver go down his spine. It wasn't the same shiver of fear that he had in certain situations...this was different, and it felt rather pleasant.

He didn't question her. He went straight Jounouchi's side and did his best to get him down. Nadeshiko made short work of the thugs who had hurt his friend, and it was clear that there was a major disparity when it came to fighting skill.

The thugs didn't stand a chance.

"You okay?" asked Yugi, fussing over his friend.

That strange warmth in his chest got even stronger. Jounouchi let out a low laugh, as the difference between Yugi and Hirutani was like night and day.

His old 'friend' would never have fussed over him like this. Nor would he have braved the possibility of a trap without hesitation, with only one person for back-up.

Something in his chest settled, as Nadeshiko walked up to check on them. There was a slight smile on her face at the scene, as it was clear that Jounouchi was finally slipping into Yugi's Harmony as his Sun.

Two weeks later...

Jounouchi looked at Nadeshiko, who had tossed him a pair of gloves.

"What's this for?"

"I'm going to train you up properly, so this doesn't happen again."

Jounouchi looked at her owlishly.

"Um...what?"

"That Puzzle," she said exasperated, "has a rather annoying habit of drawing trouble like honey to flies. If you're going to be around him regularly, you're going to need to know how to properly protect him."

Jounouchi blinked at her, before his face steeled into some actual resolve. Now he knew what she was planning.

Any thoughts of her being 'weak' were dismissed after what he saw in that warehouse. He fell into his best fighting stance, which had Nadeshiko sighing.

"We definitely have a lot of work to do," she said amused.

She took out her staff and began adjusting his stance to something far more suitable. Jounouchi soaked up her instruction like a sponge, as she was a calm and patient teacher.

During one of their lessons, Jounouchi finally asked something that had been bothering him.

"Which school do you go to anyway? I ain't ever seen you at ours," said Jounouchi. And he had looked, extensively.

She smiled at him, and it almost made his heart flutter. He stomped that down, because he knew this was Yugi's girl... even if they weren't official. Yet.

"I attend an exclusive all-girl's school a bit away from here," she told him. "Unfortunately, they only have some rather boring and restrictive clubs that are geared towards nurturing proper young women, rather than someone who enjoys things that are predominately done by boys."

Don't get her wrong, flower arranging, tea ceremony and etiquette were semi-interesting clubs. However the supervisors were all incredibly strict, and the girls who frequented it were all well versed in being a complete bitch without breaking social standards. The amount of double talk and discreet backstabbing was suffocating. She barely tolerated it during school hours.

"They let you do clubs outside the school?"

"The teachers have to inspect the club in question, and it has to go through an approval process, but outside clubs are allowed."

She had more trouble getting approval for the gaming club over the gearhead club, oddly enough.

"So how did you meet Yug?"

"I came to his grandfather's shop, asked in-depth questions about the games they sold because we needed replacements, and he eventually tracked us down because no one would play with him at school," she said with a laugh. "He's been a member ever since."

"You do know that..." started Jounouchi.

"I know, but until he gets the courage to ask I'll pretend to see nothing," said Nadeshiko with a grin.

Jounouchi snickered at that.

~*~~*~*

Yugi was beyond adorable with that look of concentration on his face. Upon learning that Nadeshiko was training Jounouchi to be a better fighter, he had shyly asked to join in.

Nadeshiko, rather than laugh it off, took him seriously.

He might be small and weak, but she remembered being the same in another life and becoming strong. He just needed the right training and support.

And not, she internally shuddered at those memories, bullets that forced the one shot to lose all their clothing while running around like a lunatic until the effect wore off.

Reborn might have been the rock she needed, but his methods were entirely too harsh for someone like Yugi.

She had to relearn all her old skills from scratch without the blunt force nature of Reborn's particular training. If given the choice between fumbling in the dark learning how to fight with an extremely limited time-limit, and actually taking her time to learn how things worked properly, she knew what she would chose.

That being said she was not going to tell anyone that she used cultivation manga as her primary source of training ideas in the beginning. She knew she'd never live it down.

Yugi was beyond adorable, trying to throw a punch. However the real treat was seeing how he blushed even as he tried to concentrate and listen to her gentle instruction. Jounouchi was trying hard not to laugh, even when he kept up with the moves Nadeshiko had given him to practice with.

He found it easier to meditate while moving than sitting down, at least for now.

"Why can't I do anything right?" said Yugi, almost tearing up.

Nadeshiko felt a strong pang of nostalgia.

"It's because you just started, and I've been training for a very long time," she said gently. "Take Jounouchi for example. He's used to brawling, but he was completely flat-footed when we first started. He couldn't throw a punch to save his life against someone with actual experience."

"Oi!" said Jounouchi.

"Be quiet Puppy," she said teasingly. Jounouchi blushed. "Besides, once you've started to get the basics down, we'll be able to move to the real lessons."

That seemed to encourage him.

Nadeshiko grinned as she handed Yugi a small box. Inside was gardening materials.

"What's this for?"

"You're going to grow this. Every time you think you're not making much progress, I want you to look at the flower and remember that it started out as a small seed too. It'll give you a discreet reminder of how much you've grown."

There was the added bonus of what the flower symbolized. She had read up on the meaning behind flowers and how they were arranged as a way to talk with her classmates.

The seeds she had picked were white heather seeds, and she was rather eager to see if he picked up on the meaning behind it. She wasn't going to wait forever for him to admit his feelings after all.

She was rather pleased when Yugi progressed from being out of breath at the end of each session, to learning the most basic of basic of fighting stances.

She was even more amused when he finally looked up what the meaning behind the white heather was after a sly comment she made about the language of flowers. The blush on his face was absolutely adorable.

"So what was the meaning behind the flower seeds you gave him?" asked Jounouchi, grinning.

"Protection, as well as 'wishes will come true'," she said grinning.

He needed all the protection he could get, honestly.

However what really made her day was the fact that Yugi seemed to come up with an idea of how to admit his feelings for her from the book on floriology he had read. He came to one of the game club meetings a bit early, bearing daffodils. He was beet red when she gave him a light peck on the check for them.

"Did Yugi make a move? It's about time!" said one of the girls with a cheer.

"Yeah, we thought you guys were going to keep circling each other forever," said one of the guys.

Poor Yugi was as red as a tomato.

"Well he hasn't dared to ask me yet, so it's not official," teased Nadeshiko. "But don't keep me waiting forever, okay?"

Yugi almost fainted on the spot, but at least he had something of an answer.

On a related note, Solomon all but threw a party when he found out Yugi had finally asked Nadeshiko out on a proper date. It was about time his grandson got the nerves to ask his girl out.

~*~*~~~

Yugi had looked up Nadeshiko's school and knew to wait at the gates. It was one of those elite all-girl's schools where men were not allowed to enter. Even the teachers were all female, and there were female guards to insure the safety of the students.

They eyed him warily, but Yugi waited respectfully close to the gate, but not to the point that he would be trespassing.

Hearing the last bell ring, he perked up and waited patiently. Sure enough, Nadeshiko made a beeline for him.

"You're too sweet. How long were you waiting for me?" she asked, clearly happy.

"About fifteen minutes," he admitted.

Nadeshiko laughed, because Yugi was just too adorable sometimes.

"Who's this, Nade-chan? Your boyfriend?" sneered one of the bitchier girls.

"Actually, yes."

Dead silence.

"That's your boyfriend? He's a total shrimp!" said another girl with a snide laugh.

"I'd rather have a hug-sized cutie like this, than some alpha male twat that would treat me like trash or as a quick release," snarked Nadeshiko. Yugi blushed at the 'hug-sized' comment.

It was made even worse when she actually did hug him. He somehow knew that if he were to turn his head, he'd be at the right position to be in an position most men would definitely envy. He wisely did not move.

That did not stop his grandfather from all too cheerfully giving him the Talk, which included an offer to buy certain...videos to give him an idea of what to do.

Yugi was absolutely too shy to watch anything of that sort...for now anyway.

The teachers were giving Nadeshiko Looks that did not inspire confidence in him. However they had given her similar expressions when she started to attend the gaming club as well as the gear head club she had helped to create. They didn't try to separate her from Yugi, mostly because of his harmless vibe.

Yugi for the most part was trying not to faint from bloodloss.

It did not help that several of the girls were already cooing over him and how adorable he was while being hugged possessively by Nadeshiko.

To be fair, he was used to that reaction by this point.

Nadeshiko looked at the outfit Yugi was wearing, and made a note to speak to Jounouchi about the boys going on an overdue shopping trip for clothes. Both of them seemed to favor their school uniform, almost as if they didn't have any other clothing to wear.

She would have to correct that. No way was her boyfriend going to walk around wearing nothing but his school uniform.