Title: Gifts, Growls, and Guesses
Characters: Asuka, Jim, Karen||Pair: N/A
Words: 984/984||Chapters: 1/1
Genre: Friendship||Rated: G
Challenges: Diversity Writing: canon GX: B88, friendship genre; Mini-fic Masterclass, #2, The Wild Fanon; Word Count Set Boot Camp, GX claim, #4, 984 words
Timeframe: Between seasons 3 & 4.
Summary: Jim will be leaving Duel Academia soon. Before he does, Asuka has a gift for him, and a question or two.

"Jim!" Asuka hurried the last few steps down the path, gripping the package in her hands tightly.

Jim turned the moment that he heard her voice, a wide smile breaking out over his features. "Tomorrow Girl!"

Asuka came to a halt and returned the smile. "Do you have a few moments? I've got something for you."

He tilted his head a bit. "Oh?"

She wasn't surprised at his surprise. She didn't give things very often – mostly because people had a bad habit of mistaking gifts as more than she wanted them to be. But she trusted Jim not to overstep his boundaries.

"Here," she said, offering it. "I think it might help."

Jim accepted the small package, more and more curiosity written across his features. Asuka anticipated his reaction. He'd gone to a great deal of trouble to make this, especially since rumors throughout the school were that the transfer students – the three left, anyway – were going to return home very soon.

Asuka somewhat understood why, but she also knew that she'd miss Jim. He had an honest way of speaking and a sense of deep solidity, of being rooted into the earth itself, that she enjoyed being around.

He unwrapped the box carefully, sliding the top back, and stared into it before he reached in to take it out.

"I hope you like it," she said, hands clenched. "I made it myself."

He dangled it up close, a very approving smile curving his lips. "It's lovely."

That wasn't a word she thought most people would have used to describe an eyepatch, but he'd done it. She'd worked hard on it over the last few days, once it dawned on her that it might be necessary.

"It's cotton," she told him. "I wasn't sure what to make it from, but I thought you might like it."

"Perfect." He swept his hat off his head and offered it to her before he began to unwind his bandages. Asuka struggled for that balance between not staring at that side of his face and trying not to have it be obvious that she wasn't staring.

But she'd never seen his face with the bandages off, and she wanted to know how her gift would look. When they'd told each other what happened during Dark World, the parts of it that each of them missed somehow, she'd learned of the Eye of Orichalcum and how that had helped Juudai recover himself.

They'd seen what happened to some extent, but nothing could replace the lived experience.

It really wasn't as horrid as she'd feared. There were scars on that side of his face, and the place where his eye – or the Eye – had been had paler flesh than the rest of him. In fairness, it wasn't something she would have wanted to stare at constantly. But for a short time, it wasn't unbearable.

And a short time was all Jim needed, as he neatly slipped the eyepatch into position. He patted it once or twice, then turned to face her.

"Well?"

Asuka smiled. "Very good." She'd misjudged the size just a little – that was the problem with it being a surprise gift – but it still contained enough fabric to cover that side of his face. It looked comfortable, and she'd wanted that the most.

"Thanks," he told her with a brief nod of his head as he swept the hat back on. "Best gift I've had in a long time."

Asuka nodded. "You should check a mirror when you can. If you want anything else done to it, I can try to help."

"I think it's great just the way it is." Jim rested his hand on it for a few moments before he started to turn around. Then he turned back to her. "It's about lunch time. Want to have it with me?"

Almost as soon as he asked, Karen made a noise of some sort. She'd stayed in her usual position on Jim's back all this time, quiet, and Asuka almost forgot she was there.

"Karen says that she's hungry too," Jim said. Asuka wasn't sure if he just knew his friend very well or if he actually spoke crocodile. She liked the first option a little better.

Another question flickered through her mind. "If I could ask..." She'd wondered about this off and on since the first day that she'd met Jim and seen Karen.

"Go ahead." Jim started to walk and she walked with him, heading for the boy's dormitory. It would be easier for them both to get food there. Boys couldn't go into the girl's dorm but the rules relaxed a small measure for the opposite situation, at least where the dining areas were concerned.

"Why did you bring Karen with you to Duel Academia?"

Asuka didn't think much could surprise Jim. But that seemed to do it, if only for a few seconds. Then he shrugged.

"I thought she'd like to get out." He took a few more steps before a faint grin bent his lips upward. "And there's another reason."

"Oh?"

He reached behind himself to pat Karen on the head. She rumbled quite happily as he did, and Asuka found herself surprised that she knew Karen was happy.

"Because she told me she wanted to come."

Asuka believed that without hesitation. She carefully reached out her hand to Karen, ready to pull back if necessary.

It wasn't.

"I'm surprised that it was allowed." No student had ever brought an animal of any kind to Duel Academia. Maybe the rules are different at South School?

"They couldn't stop me." He tapped the side of his face near the eyepatch. "Karen's legally registered as my seeing eye companion. Never really needed her for that, but she is."

"I'm sure she'd do great at it," Asuka said. Karen growled again, a very happy noise, and the three of them headed on towards lunch.

The End

Notes: The fanon theory in use here… well, theories, really. First that Asuka made an eyepatch for Jim to wear post-season. Second, that the reason Jim could bring a live crocodile to school was that she's legally his seeing eye companion.