Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Always There
Pairing: Asuka x Manjoume
Word Count: 500||Status: One-shot
Genre: Romance||Rated: G
Written For: Yu-Gi-Oh GX Flash Bingo, #184, Asuka x Manjoume; Diversity Writing Challenge, A57, 500 words
Summary: Manjoume's always around, one way or another. Asuka isn't entirely sure of what to think about that. Until one day, he's not.

Manjoume was always there, even when he wasn't. He didn't stay by her side constantly, but Asuka always knew that if she called him for any reason at all, he would answer in any way that he could. The same could be said of Fubuki or Ryou or Juudai or Kenzan or Shou or Jim, but there had always been something different about the way Manjoume remained there.

She told herself it was his crush and it would go away as they got older. Perhaps it did; she didn't ask him about it. It would've been too awkward.

But he still stayed close, e-mailing her from wherever in the world he dueled, and letting her know when he was in the area and asking if she had free time to have coffee or whatever with him. Sometimes she did; sometimes she didn't. Once in a while she made time, because it had been too long since she'd seen him, and she somewhat liked seeing him.

There were times when she wanted to see him and he wasn't there. He couldn't always be; he had a life to lead, as she did. Being a professional duelist took him all over the world, while she remained in one place, teaching. He didn't travel nearly as much as Juudai did – that wasn't even close to possible, not with Juudai's ability to travel between dimensions – but Manjoume did his best to hit every continent where people could or did duel.

But this was the modern age and traveling didn't mean that they didn't keep in touch. Telephones and the internet, video chats and e-mail, all of those contributed to making certain they never fell out of touch. What didn't help were time zones and work on both their parts.

There came a time when she wanted to speak to him and she couldn't get in touch with him. He didn't answer his phone or return her e-mails or text messages and she refused to let herself think she was worried about him. She refused to think about other times she'd worried about him. There'd been enough of those.

But then he returned and spoke of annoying family issues that he'd had to put up with – even though he and his brothers long since reconciled there were still annoyances cropping up – she let herself revel in the relief that seeing him again called up in her, and she decided it was time she asked a question that she'd never asked anyone else before.

"Manjoume-kun, when are you going to be here next?" She paused before she continued. "If you have time, I was wondering if you'd care to see a movie with me."

He said nothing at first, and she could see the sheer surprise in his eyes. Then those eyes lit up with unbelievable joy.

"Of course! Any time! Whenever you like!"

Asuka smiled at the sight of the joy such a simple question sparked. She looked forward to what the future would bring.

The End

Note: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.