Story Title: Honest Words

Author: Heleentje

Rating: K

Word Count: 4686

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh GX.

Notes: Written for Cheeky Eyes. Happy holidays, and I'm sorry for the delay! It's a bit more Fujiwara than Rei and Kenzan, but I hope you still enjoy the story!

Honest Words

Duel Academia hadn't changed as much as Fujiwara'd expected it to. It looked like the Blue dormitory had been repainted at some point, but other than that, everything on the island was still almost exactly like he remembered it. Only the people had changed… He took a deep breath and lifted his bag again, making his way through the doors of the Obelisk Blue dorm. At almost twenty, he was by far the oldest student in the school, and even then he was only a second year. He was lucky they hadn't let him repeat his first year, considering how much of it he'd missed. He glanced around, unsure. No one seemed to be paying him any attention, and not for the first time, he was grateful that most people were unaware of his involvement in last year's events. They wouldn't like him if they knew he'd been responsible for their disappearances.

"Master, please do not blame yourself."

He gave Honest a distracted smile, and, with a quick look to see if anyone was paying attention, whispered, "I won't. I promise."

Honest didn't look convinced, but he didn't press. He floated along with Fujiwara as he dropped off his bag in the room that had been assigned to him and went back downstairs. It was only the first day of the new school year, and everywhere around him, people were catching up with their friends. Fujiwara didn't have any friends, at least not any that were still students.

"Fujiwara-senpai!"

Fujiwara looked around wildly, trying to find whoever was calling him. Who here knew his name and would call him senpai to boot?

"Over here!"

He finally found who was calling him, a fierce-looking Ra Yellow who was striding through the Blue dorm as if he felt right at home. A few Blue students, mostly first years, were shooting him disgruntled looks, but the older students didn't even seem to mind.

"Fujiwara-senpai, right?" he said when he reached Fujiwara and Honest. He held out a hand and Fujiwara shook it cautiously, vaguely wondering if the cut-off sleeves on his Ra uniform were even allowed. "Name's Tyrano Kenzan. Juudai-no-aniki said I should come look for you."

"You know Juudai-kun?" Fujiwara asked, more than a little surprised.

"Oh yeah, he and Marufuji-senpai were in the year above me." Tyrano Kenzan grimaced. "It's weird without them here, I tell you."

Marufuji-senpai? For a second, Fujiwara thought of Ryou, but then he remembered little Shou. He hadn't properly seen Ryou's younger brother since his first year, and he remembered a small, shy boy. He'd caught a glimpse of him during last year's graduation ceremony, and he looked like he'd gained quite a bit of self-confidence since those early years. Kenzan seemed to hold him in high regard. Speaking of which, if Shou and Juudai had been a year above him, that made him a third year student. One year above Fujiwara himself.

"So, Fujiwara-senpai, do you need any help settling in?"

Fujiwara shook his head. "No, thank you, I already brought my bags to my room," he said, and added, "You don't need to call me senpai, Kenzan-kun. I'm one year below you."

"Yeah, but you're older than me," Kenzan retorted. "And you started school here first."

"I'm only in my second year, though. Maybe I should be calling you senpai?" Fujiwara said with a hesitant smile. Kenzan laughed loudly.

"You know what? How about we don't call each other senpai at all?"

"I can live with that." Fujiwara smiled again, less hesitant now. Next to him, Honest nodded approvingly, his eyes firmly fixed on Kenzan. Apparently he'd decided that Kenzan was no threat to them.

"So have you had lunch yet?" Kenzan asked. Fujiwara shook his head. It was a bit early for lunch, wasn't it? He didn't even think it was twelve o'clock yet.

"You can join me and Rei, if you want," Kenzan said, and when Fujiwara looked confused, he added, "Saotome Rei. She's a second year. You'll probably be having classes with her."

Having someone to have lunch with was probably a good idea. He followed Kenzan, and was surprised when they didn't head for the Obelisk Blue dining hall, but instead in the direction of the girl's dormitory.

"Are we even allowed inside?" he asked Kenzan. Kenzan shook his head.

"Rei should be waiting for us."

True to his word, when they neared the dorm one of the girls catching up with her friends spotted them and walked over. She wasn't wearing the Obelisk Blue uniform, Fujiwara noted to his surprise, but instead a modified version that identified her as an Osiris Red. Had the school really changed so much that they now allowed girls in Osiris and Ra?

"Kenzan! You made it," she said happily. She came to a stop in front of them and studied Fujiwara critically. "You're Fujiwara-san, right? Juudai-sama told me about you. Have you eaten yet? You really should eat more. You look as bad as Martin and I had so much trouble getting him to eat. I hope he's eating properly in France," she said, frowning. Fujiwara gave Kenzan a helpless look, but only received a grin in return.

"I'm Fujiwara Yuusuke, yes," he said for lack of anything better to say.

"Saotome Rei," the girl replied. Fujiwara was once again drawn to the unusual color of her uniform.

"Are you in Osiris Red?" he asked. Rei didn't look surprised at the question.

"Oh? No, not anymore, I'm in Obelisk now. They let me keep the uniform, though. I was in Osiris last year."

"Um," Fujiwara began, not quite sure how to formulate the question. Rei gave him a sly grin.

"I came in second in the Genex tournament. I chose to go to Duel Academia a year early and stay in Red."

That explained a lot. If she'd started a year earlier she had to be fifteen now, so she would've been thirteen when she took part in that tournament. She'd come in second at that age? Fujiwara studied her again. Impressive. She had to be a very good duelist.

"Kenzan-kun tells me we'll be having our classes together," he said. Rei nodded.

"The people in our year are very nice. You'll like them," she said. She glanced at her PDA. "Weren't we going to get lunch?"

"Let's go to Ra," said Kenzan, and Rei immediately agreed. Fujiwara followed them, confused. Could he and Rei just join the Ra students for lunch? He asked Kenzan, who only laughed.

"Kabayama-sensei will be happy to see some more people. His cooking's great, trust me!"

Fujiwara knew the Ra Yellow head, but he didn't think he'd ever really interacted with him outside class. He glanced at Rei, but she looked wholly unconcerned. Clearly they'd done this before. She caught his look and smiled.

"The food at Obelisk is great too," she said, "but sometimes I just want a curry, not all the fancy stuff they serve. And Kabayama-sensei really makes the best curry."

Fujiwara trailed after the two of them, feeling vaguely disconcerted. He needed to revise his earlier opinion: Duel Academia had changed far more than he'd initially believed. In the few months he'd been there, he'd never actually gone to any of the other dorms, let alone join them for lunch, and yet Rei and Kenzan looked used to it. Fujiwara thought that he should feel happy; he had people who were friendly to him, and the school itself seemed to have become a friendlier place in the years he was gone. And yet he couldn't feel at home. The academy had changed, subtly but irrevocably, and that was more unsettling than he cared to admit.

oOoOo

"Master."

Fujiwara hummed in response, not looking up from his textbook. He'd already finished most of this week's homework, but he liked to work ahead. He had an essay due in two weeks, along with a group project he was doing with Rei and two other students in his year. He'd already done his part of the research, and he had no doubt that Rei was going to come through, but he was worried about the other two. Ayaka would probably do her very best, but Fujiwara had gotten the impression that she was struggling with the course material. Nobu, on the other hand, would probably wait until the very last minute to even get started.

"Master, you should take a break," Honest said. Fujiwara marked the page in his book and looked up. It was rather nice outside. How long had he been working…?

"Four hours," Honest said before he could ask. Fujiwara glanced at the clock and noticed to his consternation that Honest was right. How had he managed to lose track of time so badly? Usually he always kept track of everything, too scared of forgetting anything important. That he hadn't now was more worrying than he liked to admit. Going by Honest's concerned look, his partner already knew anyway, even though he hadn't said anything and wasn't going to.

"I'll take a break," he said before Honest could voice any of his concerns. Losing track of time, forgetting things… After Darkness, it worried him all the more. He had a huge gap in his memories, lasting for over four years, and he wished he could somehow reclaim the time lost. Darkness had made it easy to forget at a time when he really wanted to. Objectively speaking, losing track of time wasn't a big deal; it happened to millions of people every day.

He abruptly pushed his chair backwards. It wobbled for a few seconds, but finally decided on staying upright. Fujiwara hesitated for a moment over his still-open textbook, then grabbed his deck and wallet and left the room without taking anything else. Maybe Tome-san would have some new booster packs, and if she didn't, he could do with an egg sandwich. The corridors of the Blue dorm were almost deserted; most students were outside, making use of the last few warm days of October. Outside, he almost ran into Ayaka, but she looked harried and slightly panicked, so he didn't try talking to her. He'd just left Tome-san's shop, munching on his sandwich and trying to decide where to go next, when Kenzan's voice rang out behind him.

"Hey, over here!"

Fujiwara shrugged and changed directions, discarding the empty sandwich wrapper as he went. Kenzan was in the middle of a duel with one of his many friends, a brown-haired Blue student who had his back to Fujiwara. They looked engrossed in their duel, and Kenzan only looked up long enough to pat the spot next to him. Fujiwara sat down and studied the game. Kenzan looked like he was having problems. His friend had Horus' Black Flame Dragon Lv.6 on the field, and seemed to have just destroyed one of Kenzan's monsters. Fujiwara took his first real look at Kenzan's friend and did a double-take. He knew this boy… They'd met before, he just couldn't remember where-

"Oh hey, Fujiwara, this is Sorano. He's in my year," Kenzan said, looking up. "Sorano, Fujiwara. He's a second year."

Sorano was studying him with a kind of idle curiosity. "Pleasure," he said. "Have we met before?"

"I don't know," Fujiwara said truthfully. Sorano shrugged and turned his attention back to the duel. Fujiwara pretended to look as well, but even Kenzan's indignant shout as Sorano summoned Horus' Black Flame Dragon Lv.8 wasn't enough to truly make him pay attention. He knew he'd met Sorano before, but he just couldn't remember.

"Master…" Honest said sadly. Oh. Fujiwara almost snorted. Of course. It had been Darkness. Sorano had to have been one of the many people who'd fallen victim to it, and all because of him. If Sorano could really remember him, he wouldn't be giving him the time of day. Before the school year had started, both Fubuki and Juudai had told him not to blame himself, but wasn't that easier said than done?

"Darkness is a powerful entity. Very few beings in the universe can resist it. Do not blame yourself for falling prey to it, Master."

If it had been just that… But he hadn't just fallen prey to it, he'd helped it.

"It offered you a chance to forget," Honest said. One day Fujiwara was going to find out if his partner could truly read his mind.

"You didn't forget," he mumbled. Sorano gave him a curious look, then yelped and turned back to the duel when Kenzan made an attempt at destroying his monsters.

"There was nothing I wanted to forget," Honest said pointedly. Fujiwara almost smiled. He wasn't going to stop blaming himself yet, no matter what Honest said, but at least he could count on Honest to stay with him, and maybe Fubuki and Ryou and even Kenzan and Rei too.

"Thank you," he said softly. His words were drowned out by Kenzan's loud swear as Sorano destroyed his Ultimate Tyranno and won the duel. He shuffled his cards with a sigh.

"Next time I'm defeating that bird of yours, I swear."

Sorano smiled good-naturedly. "Rematch?" he asked, but Kenzan shook his head.

"I'm gonna sit this one out. I'm thirsty."

"Suit yourself," said Sorano, shrugging. He shuffled his deck and looked at Fujiwara. "Up for a duel?"

"I-" Fujiwara glanced at Honest, who nodded briefly. "Yeah, sure, why not?"

oOoOo

Forty-five minutes into Chronos-sensei's third class of November, Fujiwara's phone started ringing. He fumbled with his phone, quickly declined the call, and looked up again to see all attention on him. Chronos-sensei looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Something important, signor Fujiwara?" he asked. A few students giggled, and Fujiwara felt himself turning red.

"No, sensei. My apologies. It won't happen again," he mumbled.

"See that it doesn't." Chronos-sensei turned back to the blackboard. Fujiwara caught Rei's sympathetic look and frowned down at his phone. Who'd be calling him in the middle of class? Most people who had his phone number were fellow students. When he was sure most people had looked away from him, he chanced another look at his phone. His frown deepened. Fubuki. Of course.

Fortunately, Chronos-sensei announced the end of that day's class only ten minutes later. Fujiwara crowded into the hallways along with the rest of his classmates. Rei found him just a little while later.

"Who called?" she asked without preamble.

"Fubuki."

"Fubuki-san? Have you called him back?"

Fujiwara gave her an incredulous look. "I was in the middle of class," he said.

"Yeah, yeah." Rei made an impatient gesture. "Maybe it's important. You should call him back."

Fujiwara hesitated. Rei stared at him, and he relented with a sigh. Maybe she was right and the call had been important. After all, Fubuki would still remember when their classes took place, right? He ducked into an abandoned hallway and fished out his phone again. The call was answered on the second dial tone.

"You didn't pick up!" Fubuki said before he even had the chance to introduce himself. "You wound me, you know."

"I was in class!"

"Yeah, I know. Why else did you think I called? Oh, did you say hi to Chronos-sensei from me?"

Fujiwara groaned. "No, Fubuki, I did not."

"You should!"

He gave Rei a long-suffering look. She giggled.

"So was there any reason you called or…" Fujiwara trailed off. On the other end of the line, Fubuki suddenly grew serious.

"I wanted to see how you were doing. How's school?"

"It's-" He hesitated for a moment. "Good. The lessons are a bit boring, but it's nice to be back."

"I'm glad to hear it. Listen, Ryou and I are meeting up in Domino in two weeks. Saturday. You think you can make it?"

That probably meant Fubuki had pestered Ryou until the latter had agreed. Fujiwara went over his schedule mentally. Students had weekends free and while they weren't actually allowed to leave the island, he was of age, so he had a bit more freedom than the average student. He'd have to ask headmaster Samejima.

"I'll try," he told Fubuki. "I'll let you know."

"I'll be expecting you!"

Fujiwara smiled and wondered what Fubuki would do if he didn't show up. Probably badger him about it for the next few weeks until Fujiwara found a time when he could meet them. And Ryou… Ryou would say he didn't care and probably be disappointed anyway. At least, that's how the Ryou and Fubuki in his first year would have reacted. Fujiwara's faint smile disappeared. He'd missed almost five years of his friends' lives. They'd tried to catch up over the summer, but they'd all changed so much. Were they really still his friends? At least Fubuki still seemed to think so.

"You there?"

Fujiwara jumped slightly. "Yeah, sorry. I'll try to do what I can."

"See you in two weeks then!"

Fubuki had hung up before Fujiwara got the chance to say he didn't even have permission yet. He sighed fondly. At least that hadn't changed.

"What did he want?" Rei asked. He'd almost forgotten she was still there. He put his phone away again.

"He wanted to meet up with me and Ryou."

"Oh, Ryou-sama?" Rei said, just a tad too loud. Was Fujiwara imagining the blush on her cheeks? Didn't she like Juudai? "Are you going?"

"I don't know yet."

"Well, you should." She grabbed him by the arm and started making her way through the corridors of Duel Academia. "Now come on. I promised we'd meet Kenzan in the library. I want to finish my physics homework today."

Fujiwara chuckled softly and let himself be pulled along. He'd already finished all of his homework for that class, but he could get a headstart on the worksheets Chronos-sensei had assigned them today. And with Rei and Kenzan there, at least the conversation would be lively.

oOoOo

Winter vacation passed with little ado. Rei and Kenzan both went home for the holidays, along with most of the other students, but Fujiwara remained. He, along with five other Obelisk students, three Osiris students and one unfortunate Ra celebrated New Year together with the teaching staff. It was his first winter vacation at Duel Academia, Fujiwara realized the day after New Year. During his first year, he hadn't even made it this far into the year.

January went much like winter vacation had gone. Nothing had really changed, except that the school was now once again bustling with life and that classes were slightly harder than they had been during first term. Fujiwara didn't mind. In fact, he welcomed the challenge. He'd been getting bored.

It was February, however, that brought upset with it. Just a few days before Valentine's day, Fujiwara was called out of his bed at five in the morning by a panicking Fubuki - Both Ryou and Shou had been found unconscious, and Cyber End Dragon had disappeared. Fujiwara spent the better part of the next two hours calming him down, all the while trying to suppress his own rising panic. Cyber End Dragon was a valuable card, but who'd go as far as to attack both Ryou and Shou for it?

The morning didn't improve when over breakfast, a grim-faced Kenzan pushed the day's newspaper over to him.

Legendary Rainbow Dragon stolen

NORWAYYesterday morning, pro duelist and owner of the one-of-a-kind Gem Beast deck Johan Andersen was found unconscious close to his home near Bergen, Norway. On closer inspection, one of his monster cards, Ultimate Gem God Rainbow Dragon was found missing. Andersen himself remembers little of the incident, saying he was struck from behind and does not know what his attacker looked like. Chairman Pegasus of Industrial Illusions made a statement yesterday evening, and expressed surprise at the attacker's decision to only take Andersen's Rainbow Dragon card, while leaving the rest of the Gem Beast deck untouched.

"Rainbow Dragon is useless without the other Gem Beasts," he was quoted. "What, if anything, the thief intends to do with the card is a mystery, but we are determined to track him down."

Both Andersen and Industrial Illusions confirm that a search has already been started and expressed hope that the missing card would be retrieved soon.

"Poor Johan," Rei whispered. She'd been reading over his shoulder. "Who do you think did it?"

Fujiwara hesitated for a moment, but the news would be out soon enough anyway. "It's not just Johan-kun," he said softly. "Fubuki called me this morning. Cyber End Dragon got stolen too."

Kenzan wasted no time on exclamations of shock. "You think it's the same person?" he asked. Rei looked doubtful.

"But Ryou-sama is in Japan, isn't he? And Johan's in Norway. How can one person have traveled that far in one day?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it. It's too much of a coincidence," Fujiwara said. His hand went to his deckholder, and he noticed that Kenzan had done the same. If it really was the same thief, they were only targeting high-level, famous cards. Surely they wouldn't risk coming to Duel Academia? But the idea of losing Honest, just like he'd lost everyone else, was more than enough to bring the simmering panic he'd been feeling all morning back full force.

"Master, I will warn you if anyone comes near you."

Fujiwara couldn't even bring himself to be comforted by Honest's words. Johan-kun could see spirits too, and yet his deck hadn't been able to warn him.

Rei tapped the last line of the article. "I bet they mean Juudai-sama," she whispered. "Shou and Johan are his best friends. I'm sure he's helping them."

Kenzan didn't even protest the 'best friends' line. "Yeah, I think you're right," he said thoughtfully. "If anyone can find those cards, it's him!"

By the time they made it to their first class of the day, the news had already spread throughout the school. Most of the higher years still remembered both Marufuji brothers and Johan, and even those who didn't were caught up in the general anxiety. At the start of the afternoon, principal Samejima gave a short speech, assuring everyone that Duel Academia's security would stop any thief trying to steal any cards, and that the missing Cyber End Dragon and Rainbow Dragon would be found soon enough.

"I have full confidence in the people sent to find the thief," he said, and fortunately, his words turned out to be prophetic. The next morning, Fubuki called again, this time with the news that Juudai had retrieved both cards.

"Good," Fujiwara said with no small measure of relief. "So it was the same thief after all?"

"Yeah, but Ryou said Juudai didn't want to say much about it." Fujiwara could almost see him shake his head. "Anyway, they're fine now. We were a bit worried about Ryou, but-" He trailed off. "Yeah, they're fine."

"I'll go visit them next weekend," Fujiwara decided. Surely they'd let him leave the school for this; principal Samejima was well aware that Ryou was one of his best friends.

"Did they ever find out what really happened?" he asked when Fubuki didn't say anything for a while. A deep sigh came from the other end of the line.

"Juudai knows the full story, but he's not spilling. Whoever it was, he only took Cyber End, but not any of the Cyber Dragons, just like with Rainbow Dragon."

"Weird." Without any Cyber Dragons to fuse, Cyber End Dragon was practically useless. Had it been a collector? But if that were the case, Juudai wouldn't be so tight-lipped about it, would he?

"Well, they're safe. Juudai said he wasn't going to come back."

Fujiwara breathed a sigh of relief. His friends were safe and Honest was too. The year was looking up again.

oOoOo

"Fujiwara-san?" a soft voice asked, and Fujiwara turned around to find Ayaka standing behind him. She looked on the verge of tears. Come to think of it, she'd looked on the verge of tears for the better part of the last two weeks. "I'm Kouchou Ayaka. I'm in your year and-"

"I know. We worked together on that group project last term, didn't we?" He cleared away some of his books, glancing around quickly. The library was almost deserted. "Ayaka-san, sit down. Can I help you?"

She took a seat on the opposite side of the table, and for a minute, she didn't say anything. Fujiwara waited patiently until she looked ready to speak.

"It's Chronos-sensei's essay," she finally said, almost inaudible. Fujiwara had to lean closer just to hear her. "I just… I don't get it, and it's due next week and I haven't even started…" Now she really looked ready to burst into tears. Fujiwara looked around, but the few other students in the library all looked engrossed in their work. He knew the essay she was talking about. Chronos-sensei had explained that it counted for a huge part of their theory grade. Fujiwara had already finished it a week ago.

"What don't you understand about it?" he asked. "Can I see what you've already done?"

Ayaka pulled a folder out of her bag. Fujiwara quickly rifled through it. She'd clearly tried, but she just-

"I'm not a good duelist," she sniffed. Fujiwara said nothing. Ayaka always tried very hard, but she'd been struggling all year just to keep up.

"Is it the theory that's giving you trouble?"

"It's just so hard! All the strategies and combos, and you have to know your opponents' cards, and see what strategy they're using…" She glanced around and lowered her voice even more. "I don't like dueling."

Fujiwara kept his expression carefully neutral. "Why did you want to go to Duel Academia?" he asked.

"My sister… She graduated two years ago, and she was so good at it. I used to duel with her, and when she was there, it was fun! But then my parents thought I should try out for Duel Academia too. Everyone's so serious about dueling here. It's just… It's no fun anymore."

Fujiwara nodded. "What do you like to do?"

Ayaka looked up, her expression brightening slightly. "In middle school, I was really good at English, and I always wanted to go to America when I was older. I wanted to study literature." She looked down again. "It sounds stupid, doesn't it?"

"No, no, it really doesn't!" Fujiwara hastened to say. "I think you should do it."

"Really?" Ayaka smiled suddenly. It made her look like a completely different person. "Oh, but… What about dueling? I was so lucky to get in."

Fujiwara raised an eyebrow. "Ayaka-san, tell me, when was the last time you actually looked forward to dueling?"

She thought for a long time, then shook her head, defeated.

Thought so, Fujiwara thought, and asked, "You shouldn't be unhappy. Have you talked to your parents yet?"

Ayaka toyed with the folder she'd brought. "They're going to be angry. They spent so much money so I could come here."

"Wouldn't they want you to be happy?"

"Yeah, but…" Ayaka trailed off. "I don't want to disappoint them. Or my sister."

Fujiwara grimaced. "Tell you what, how about you go talk to Chronos-sensei first?"

Ayaka winced. "He's kind of scary."

Really? Fujiwara resisted the urge to shrug. He was sure Chronos-sensei would be more than happy to help Ayaka, but she probably didn't need any undue stress. "How about Ayukawa-sensei?"

"I guess, yeah…" Ayaka nodded, looking slightly more determined now. "But what about my friends?"

"Are they good friends?"

"Yeah! They've been trying really hard to help me with my homework, even Nobu-kun, and they're always really nice to me."

"Then I don't think you should worry. They'd want you to be happy, and they're not going to forget you." Fujiwara smiled at Honest, who'd appeared behind him. "The people who really care about you never do."

"How can you be so sure?" Ayaka asked. Fujiwara thought of Fubuki, who'd called the night before, and Ryou, who'd been e-mailing him, and Rei and Kenzan and above all Honest.

"Trust me, I'm very sure."

Comments, questions and concrit are much appreciated!