#kinglanius

Yuuto blinks slowly, a slightly miserable smile on his face. 

“Pretty bad,” he laughs ironically, laughing and immediately gasping in pain, groaning. “Ah- ow, ow, ow...”

@kinglanius

“This way, Shun!” Kite shouted as he turned a corner. Fusion soldiers were gaining on them and Shun was falling behind. He stopped and turned towards his ally. Something didn’t seem quite right with him. Was he limping?

“Where are you, Rebel Scum?!”

He hates this, hates this anger.

Yuuto’s hands are shaking, and despite the sting of the scrapes there, he balls them into fists as he lowers his head.

“If you won’t listen to me, Shun, then fine. I refuse to be a part of this,” he whispers - shouting at him earlier leaves his mouth and throat dry, and all the running leaves his lungs straining; the compression of his binder does nothing to help, leaving him wheezing.

"Oh...does the great XYZ Scum Kurosaki Shun want more punishment? Because last I remember, I totally whooped your butt in our last duel!"

Ruri, perhaps out of any of the nine Akaba children, was the most understanding and forgiving. Referred to by some as an angel, she had the patience of a saint and a strong heart that allowed her to see other's reasons and empathize with them. However, even someone like her had her limits, and her limit with her elder brother was just about there.

Shun had been observing her and Yuto like a hawk on the regular, so much to the point it felt like it was constant. She understands well why he does it. Her brother has always been rather overprotective, even more so following the death of their mother. Considering Yuto's involvement with the rampage, she can understand his initial hesitancy in trusting him.

But it's been almost half a year since the dark dragon was taken in, and her retainer has done nothing except be gentle and sweet. He was a kind soul with a big and noble heart. He'd never do anything to hurt her or anyone else. Ruri knows that to be true. Her bird friends like him despite his appearance he called 'scary', after all.

And yet, despite this, Shun still did his borderline stalking behavior that felt smothering. The young lady couldn't enjoy a simple, relaxing day anymore without feeling his presence watching her and him nearby. It was a feeling she'd expect from their father's bodyguards, not her own brother.

So, following dinner one chilly evening, Ruri decides to finally take action. She tells Yuto to go back to her room for the time being. The last thing she needs is the elder Kurosaki yelling at him and threatening again like he did the other day when they were feeding the birds.

"Nii-san?" She knocks on her brother's bedroom door a few times, waiting politely for it to be opened instead of just barging in. "It's me, Ruri. We...we need to talk and it's really important. Can I...Can I come in please?"

@kinglanius

"Oh my! Is that a lost little XYZ birdie asking us to clip his wings?"

"That little birdie is the one who outed that foolish clown Macfield, Grace. This means he isn't as pathetically weak as the rest of his flock. Seems like this will actually be worth our time."

“Pull yourself together, Cressy! You practiced doing this so many times at home! You can do this!” Mental pep talks like this were quite the norm whenever Crescent was entering anxiety-inducing situations like this one. You would think she wouldn’t be so nervous about giving a simple gift to someone you know, but it wasn’t just any person she was giving it to. She was giving a homemade gift to Shun Kurosaki of all people, someone who was as intimidating as he was strong and kind. 

Long hours over the weekend had been spent working on the item, hand sewing and stitching the item herself. She easily could have gotten one of the many employees who worked at her mother’s business to sew it for her. One request and it would have been done, for no one said no to Victoria Kaiyo’s daughter. However, the girl felt like that would defeat the purpose. She was giving this to him as a gift from her. As such, she should make it herself. And she thought the product turned out to be one of her best works despite it’s simplicity, well worth the few finger pricks on needles and thread.

Emerald hues then notice him in the hallway of the Spade Branch, having just exited the arena after some practice duels with some of his classmates. Some of the students here joked Crescent was a student of this branch considering how often she visited the place, but the thought of transferring wasn’t on her mind. Though, it would be much more convenient to attend this or the Clover Branch. They were the branches her friends went to after all, and it wasn’t like she had any friends back at Diamond.

Those were thoughts for another day. Right now, her mission was right in front of her. Crescent shyly waves to the eldest Kurosaki to get his attention, slowly then moving to approach him with her gift wrapped behind her back. Hopefully the sweating of her palms won’t sink into the fabric of the finished accessory she was about to give him. Oh, how that be a disaster! 

“H-H-Hi, Shun! So, you were practicing huh? I’m s-sure you did great as always. A-Anyway, I came here to...to...” Cressy can feel herself stumbling on her words, her face lightly blushing pink in embarrassment. This wasn’t going good! She had to recover quickly! Without warning she quickly holds out the wrapped gift for him, a box wrapped in blue wrapping paper with a red bow. “T-To give you a gift!” 

“I-I know this is outa the blue and super random, but...I just wanted to give you something to express my gratitude. You, your sister, Saya, Yuto, Kaito, and Allen...Before you guys, I never had friends before. Everyone always avoided me for one reason or another. Some because they thought I was weird for talking to my cards, or thought because I’m Victoria Kaiyo’s daughter that I’m a rich snob who thinks she is better than everyone else. I-I certainly hope I don’t come across that way.”

A hand rubs the back of her neck now, her face still a light pink. She hopes she isn’t boring him with all this sappy talk, but these were things she needed to say. They were words coming straight from her heart. “However, everything changed when I met your sister and Saya through Mister Yusho’s dueling, and you and the others through them. For the first time in my life, so had people around me who truly wanted to be around me, other than my family. I...I can’t tell you how much the time we spend together means to me. Even when you beat me in the Spade VS Diamond tournament, I was still overjoyed at the chance to have fun dueling a friend in front of a crowd. I’ve...never gotten to do that before.”

She looked back on that duel fondly. It was one of the first times in her career at the Diamond Branch that she lost herself in the duel, forgetting the crowd and her stage fright entirely as all her attention was on the duel itself. Seeing Shun masterfully command his Raidraptors was amazing to see up close, and again while she lost, Crescent felt proud knowing that was one of her best dueling performances. It made her want to get better so she can beat him next time, as well.