Waiting for an old Friend.

Miu stood out on the Ice Rink where she awaited someone very dear to her. "Finally I get to see him again.. It's been a whole year." she said silently to herself as she skated around on the crystal clear ice. "I wonder if he's doing well these days" she asked herself

Zakikanoi had a meeting to go to before he did anything else outside of his dorm room. He looked around the rink, shivering a little. He left his jacket undone however, quite proud of the diamond symbol he had adopted and emblazoned on his shirt.

He looked out onto the ice to see his best friend, whom he only had long distance contact with for a whole year. He thought back to when he first met Miu during those strange incidents around the campus, and how they all prevailed through it as friends. He sat on a bench and watched her skate for a few minutes before making himself known. "Hey." He shouted from across the empty rink, waving his hand to draw more attention to himself.

Miu heard Zaki and thought to herself I know that voice! She quickly skated to him nearly stumbling a few times. "Zaki!!!" she shouted. "I missed you Zaki! How has everything been? How was your tour of the EU conference? I'm sorry if I'm overloading you I've just missed you lots!" she cried out to him. She then became slightly tearful, "Oh now I'm crying.. Silly me..", she said as she sat next to him.

Zakikanoi just laughed and smiled, happy to see Miu hadn't changed at all. "It was... Interesting, to say the least... My dad ended the year by retirin', and my ma' came back from the grave and tried t' suck me and my dad's souls into oblivion, and I had to beat her in a duel to keep us from eternal damnation." He spoke about this as if it was a somewhat minor event, which by now it probably was with all that happened while he was at school.

"Oh... And I finally got my blue jacket." He tugged the jacket to show it off a bit, "How about you? How's everything on your end?" He said, moving to hug his friend and offering a tissue for her eyes.

She wiped her eyes. "I'm me. I guess that's all I can say. I haven't made any major accomplishments yet.. But I'm not giving up!" she smiled at him as she hugged him back. "Remember all the times we used to study together? I'm proud that I could help you get to the place you're in now. Least I did something good for society.", she said.

Zakikanoi chuckled and smirked, "Sure about that? Givin' me prestige and making me seem like a respectable person might not be the best course of action." He went quiet for a moment, then looked back to her, "How's your brother been since your dad um..." He hesitated for a moment, then pulled her into another big hug, leaving the remainder of the sentence to implication.

"Onii-sama.. He's certainly doing better than me. No one expected Oto-sama to pass so suddenly.", more tears came from her eyes. "I promised him I would inherit the title of Nihon's greatest duelist one day. Then I had to say good bye.. Those were my last words to him.", she looked down as she pressed her face onto Zak's shoulder. "I'm so glad you're back this year.."

Zakikanoi just smiled warmly, "I'm glad I'm back too. I'm here for you, Miu, just like you were when I was tryin' to get to Blue for my dad's sake." He himself started to get somewhat misty-eyed, having been gone from his friend for such a long time and after all of the things he'd been through, he never really sat down and thought about it. "Jeez... We've both had a year of hell." He commented, then just led back in the chair while keeping hold of Miu. "Bet you'll never guess what I saw in Greece." He mumbled, trying to cheer her up.

"What's that?" she asked as she wiped here tears and tried to get rid of the painful memories.

"I met this cute guy..." He went quiet, looking up at the roof of the rink. "He was a pretty good duelist, used a lot of beat-down cards which my dad loved to no end. He and I kind of..." He trailed off a little, then sat up, very quickly and obviously changing subjects, "So how have things been on the campus? is that douche who was a pro at one point still here?"

"Oh so you found a boyfriend?" she asked. Then shifting to the other question. "I haven't seen Riku here. The jerk quit the second he lost to Naoto. I was shocked someone would quit over one loss. Then again he did seem to be that kind of guy..." She then looked down again. "Hey.. I've missed hanging out like this. Will you do me a favor?", she asked

Zakikanoi blushed deeply, "Not a boyfriend. I mean... He lives in Greece, I'm one for romance but he's too far away." He scratched the back of his head as Miu changed to his subject, thankful the topic didn't come up. "Yeah, he seems like that sort of person..." He leaned forward in his seat and looked at Miu, "What is it?" He asked, fairly curious what she would ask of him.

"When we graduate next year come and live with us in Japan? We'd be glad to have you there as part of the family. Zeka-sama can come also! This way we don't have to be apart anymore..", she said softly

Zakikanoi nodded a bit, "I would love to. I'm sure my dad would love to live with you guys now that he's retired. I could imagine him openin' up some kinda dojo or trainin' place." He then sighed loudly, "The only problem would be I promised my dad once I did graduate from here I'd go back to the European tournaments... But between seasons, I'm fine with living with you, you're already like my sis anyhow."

"I'm sure you and Naoto would be great room mates too.." she said softly. "Sorry I got all emotional on you Zaki." she said as she tried to smile at him. "I just am so glad to be with someone I know that is so close to me again, it's a great thing you know?", she said.

Zakikanoi nodded, "After the year I've had, I understand it a lot, Miu. And seriously, don't worry about being emotional. Now that we're in the same class, you can talk to me whenever you want. You're my best friend." He hugged her again, very tightly and protectively. He then got up and stretched a little, "So how are the newbies? Any good?" He grinned, now that he was back in school the second thing he wanted to do was actually duel for fun, something he hadn't done all of the previous year.

"I wouldn't know. I haven't dueled yet. From things I've heard however. Some of them are amazing. the girl next door to me is supposedly nick named Queen Angel, where she comes from.", she stated. "I probably don't compare."

Zakikanoi folded his arms, a big smirk on his face. "Well y'never know if y'don't try. I'm here to back you up now." He then offered a hand to her to help her get up. "Let's get your shoes and then let's try and see if there's anybody who wants to duel without the fate of the world on our shoulders again."

Miu looked at him and smiled the tears wiped from her eyes. "Yeah I guess you're right Zaki." She stood up and hugged him tightly. "Thanks for everything ."

Zakikanoi smiled and hugged her back tight, "It's fine." He put an arm around her and began walking with her towards where she left her shoes, "Y'think this year will be less likely to kick us in the face?" He asked, already knowing that the answer would be a resounding 'no' from the universe at large.

"I don't know, I missed alot of last years fun activities because of Mario and his evil plot remember?" she asked as she giggled. "Hopefully no one does that to me again this year..

Zakikanoi nodded, "Wanna go somewhere and see what else is going on?" He thought for a moment, "I don't really remember this place well..." He chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah lets go to the hot springs or something.", she mentioned to Zaki grabbing hold of her best friend's hand and walking that way.

"Ooooh! I didn't know we had a hot springs... Is this a blue thing or something they put into the academy when I was busy, or something I just never saw before?" He followed behind her, keeping a grip on her hand as he did.