Shun Kazami one shot - I'm here, always

I know bakugan isn't exactly the most popular of requests, but hey, who didn't love this show? And if you did, you must have had a crush on this guy right here, so hey, why not?

Read, Comment, Enjoy!

.x.Hidden.x.Winter.x. 

                “I challenge you to a battle!” Julio yelled, pointing a huge finger at the brawlers who turned to huddle amongst themselves. “Runo is still out cold, we’ve got no haos or darkus to counter him.” Alice said. They continued to mutter amongst themselves until they heard a voice beside them.

    “If only there was someone who could help….” There you were, with a grin on your face.

                “You’re not fighting.” Shun spat out.

                “Try and stop me Shun.” You bit back.

                “Wait, why aren’t we letting her fight?” Dan asked. “We’ve got no other choice.”

                “Ok, I’ll make you a deal.” You said, “I’ll beat this guy without losing a single bakugan and without taking any damage. If I don’t, I’ll go home and you’ll never have to worry about me again.”

                “That’s impossible!” Dan burst out, but you weren’t listening to him, you were looking at Shun and his calculating eyes. You knew he would take the bait, the chance of sending you home was too great for him to resist. He nodded, and you grinned, turning to your opponent.

                “Ready to battle?”

                “Thought you’d never ask.” He replied, cracking his knuckles.

                You both fished out your cards, and flipped one, “Field, Open!” Your voices rang in unison, and you felt hands on your shoulders as the brawlers grasped you so they could join you in the game.

                Julio threw his doom card to the centre of the field, “Doom card, set!”

                “Gate card set!” You both threw down a gate card.

                “Me first.” He said, his face curling up into a snarl. He hurled a bakugan onto his card, “Haos Centipoid, stand!” You watched as the huge insect grew and roared, and then you threw down another gate card even though your first remained unused. You launched a bakugan onto this card,

                “Darkus Mantas, stand.”

                “Staying on your own cards huh? Too scared to fight me? Well I’ll fix that. Haos Fear Ripper, stand!” Fear ripper stood opposite of your mantas, and you continued. You fished out an ability card,

                “Ability card, activate! Four way battle!” You tossed in a bakugan to join your mantas in the four way battle, your darkus Tnemus.

                “Darkus Tnemus, stand!” The soldier stood, his silk cape billowing behind him.

                Julio saw his opening and launched his pride bakugan, tentaclear.

“What a stupid move!” He laughed, “now that Tentaclear’s on the field you’ve got no chance!”

                True enough, tentaclear was next to fear ripper having joined in the four way battle.

                Your plan was unfolding, and you could hear the brawlers murmuring behind you. What is she thinking? Her power levels don’t add up to anything like his, he’s going to destroy her. –Dan. She must have a plan, but I can’t figure it out. –Marucho. Well I think she’s gone crazy, this was an insane idea to begin with! –Julie. No, Marucho is right, there has to be something we’re missing. –Alice. Shun stayed silent, watching your moves.

                You eyed the first gate card you had thrown down, it remained empty. Fingering your final bakugan you murmured, “ready Adarna?”

                “Let’s show them how it’s done.” He replied.

                You held up a card, “ability card activate! Curfew!” You held up your hand as Your Darkus Centepoid and Darkus Tnemus returned to your hand.

“What was that?!” Julio and Dan both yelled.

“The Curfew ability card returns all of my bakugan to my hand.” You said, “useful in situations like this.”

You pulled your arm back and let your prize bakugan fly, it landed on your first empty card.

“Darkus Adarna, stand!” You yelled. Watching the sweeping shadows as your bakugan rose from the card. He struck you every time, he was so beautiful. Legs that were long, like an ostrich but the rest of him resembled a peacock, from the feathery plume on his head to his long gorgeous tail.

“Darkus Adarna? What kind of bakugan is that!” Marucho yelled, “I’ve never heard of that bakugan before!”

“Forget that! Julie said, “look at its power level!”

Julio and the brawlers looked at the bakupod which promptly read out, “Darkus Adarna, power level at 480g’s.”

“480! I’ve never seen a power level so high!” Dan yelled.

“What are you trying to pull here?” Julio yelled, and you could see where he was coming from. On one card there was his centepoid, on another there was his fear ripper and tenteclear, and then there was your adarna on its own card, the game looked completely unorganised.

“Anyway, it doesn’t matter what your power level is, Tentaclear will beat you! Flare blinder!” Tentaclear exploded in light forcing everyone to turn your backs. This would have hindered you if you didn’t already have your plan set in motion.

                “Gate card open! Midnight!” The blinding light dimmed as the whole board was coated in swirling shadows. It was impossible to see anything, or any of the bakugan. After a moment it let up and returned to normal with only one difference.

                “My bakugan! What did you do to their eyes?!” Julio yelled frantically, you were pulling up cards he’d never seen before.

                “The midnight ability card turns the whole field to night, your bakugan can’t see a thing, which kinda makes your tentaclear useless since it’s just one giant eye.” You grinned at him, you could see him boiling up in rage, there were his three bakugan on the field and there was absolutely nothing he could do.

“Now last one,” You said, throwing your last card, “Ability card activate! Air battle!”

                “Air battle is a ventus ability that lets them move anywhere and not be restricted by the cards! How are you using it? I thought you were Darkus! I’m so confused!” Dan wailed behind you.

                “Go Adarna!” you yelled.

                “With pleasure.” He rumbled, beating his wings and flying through the cards first destroying Centepoid, then Fear Ripper, and finally Tentaclear. Each of the bakugan roared in defeat and flew back to Julio.

                You laughed, “looks like you’re all out of bakugan! Seriously man, that was pitiful!!!” You wiped tears from your eyes as the field closed.

                When you looked around the room, Julio was already gone, probably too ashamed to show his face. You turned to the brawlers, “So I can stay right?”

                They blinked at you, then erupted into cheers, except Shun of course.

*

                You were back in Marucho’s plane when they started asking you questions.

                “What kind of bakugan is Adarna?”

                “He’s a weird one, he’s a darkus but he can use Ventus ability cards, not really sure why. I mean, sure he’s a bird of a sort, but still, it’s weird.”

                “Yeah no kidding, you sure are something Adarna.” Julie cooed at your bakugan.

                “You still can’t stay.” Shun said from his spot on the wall.

                You lazily turned to him, “and why not? Your friends seem to like me, and I just won a huge battle for you.”

                “You take unnecessary risks. And you just let masquerade know about your most powerful bakugan, he’ll be after you soon enough. You have to go home.”

                “Psh, Masquerade. I can handle anything that weirdo throws at me.”

                “You have to go.”

                “Look Shun,” you stood up and walked till you were in his face, “I’m not going anyway, deal with it.” And you stalked away.

                The others watched you leave, “What’s going on Shun?” Alice asked.

                He didn’t answer, and eventually they began to talk amongst themselves.

*

                “Here’s your room, I hope it meets all of your expectations. If you need anything I am right down the hall.” Marucho said.

                You chuckled, “trust me, this is far past anything I would have ever dreamed. Thanks a lot for letting me stay Marucho.”

                “It’s no problem, all of the brawlers stay here.” With that he left and you dumped your bag on the GIANT bed and looked around. This entire house was lavish, and although it was breathtaking you yearned for home. For a simpler lifestyle.

                That night you worked up your courage and went to the room that was two doors down from yours. You knocked and received no answer. You tried the handle and no surprise, it was locked.

                “Shun, open up, I’m not leaving.” A minute later the door opened but Shun was still nowhere to be seen.

                “Quit messing around Shun, I want to talk to you.”

                “So talk.” You whirled around and saw him there.

                “Shun…”

                “Say what you have to say then leave.”

                His voice was cold and emotionless, and this sparked your temper.

                “Look at me Shun! I can’t stand this anymore! This pretending that you don’t know me, this walking past each other and not acknowledging it. I’m tired of it! I tried for you, I stayed away for you, but I’m done now! I’m done hiding and pretending.” You looked at his eyes, “I’m done.”

                You stood there looking at the boy, “say something.”

                “What do you want me to say?”

                “Anything! Jesus Christ Shun, just answer me!”

                “Are you finished?”

                “No Shun! I’m not! Do you think this is what she wanted for you?! She wanted you to be happy, to be who you were! You’ve closed yourself off to anything that might hurt you, and I know that-”

                “You know? How could you possibly know?” He seethed, he was angry. “You dare talk about my mother like you know anything! You know NOTHING!” He seemed to realise that he was yelling and tried to reel himself back in.

                “No Shun, don’t sit and try and compose yourself, why? Are you scared? Are you actually FEELING something for once? Well that’s terrible, can’t have the frozen hearted brawler start to FEEL something can we?!”

                “You dare-”

                “Yes I dare! Because I care about you. Your mother died, and I can’t begin to imagine the pain that brought. But you have to let that pain go Shun, it’s destroying you.”

                “Get out.”

                “No.”

                His eyes were burning, there was hatred in them but you stood your ground.

                “Get out.”

                “No.”

                “You think you have any right-”

                “You loved me once. I know you did, I know you’re capable of love.”

                “Not anymore.”               

                “I don’t believe you.”

                “I don’t give a fuck what you believe!”

                “I don’t care. I love you, and I will never stop loving you. Whatever you say, and whatever you throw at me, I can take it. You’ve been trying to get me to leave the brawlers because you know it. You like hiding in your grief, in your glass box where no one can reach you. You knew I was here to break that box. And I will never stop trying.”

                He took slow steps towards you, slow heavy, angry steps. He stopped when he reached you, and you could feel his breath on your forehead. You didn’t move, you made no move to embrace him, or touch him, you just stood there, waiting.

                His breathing had calmed down, “even now?”

                Your heart broke a little, his voice was so vulnerable. You wrapped your arms around his middle and pressed your face to his chest. “Always.”

                Slowly his arms folded over your shoulders and his cheek pressed into your hair.

                “Why?”

                You chuckled, “because I love you.”

*

Your first meeting.

                “Shun, you there?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Finally, this line has been messing me about for an hour!”

                “I noticed.”

                “Well aren’t you funny. What time is it there anyway?”

                “5PM, what is it there?”

                “2 in the morning.”

                “Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

                “Yeah, but I couldn’t miss talking to you when the line finally connected! I had to meet the great number 1 brawler myself. You have no idea how much I want to brawl you.”

                “I could say the same.”

                “Yeah right, I’m not even top 100!”

                “Yet I’ve heard a lot about you.”

                “from who?”

                “brawlers, a lot of them. So I checked, you’re not ranked. At all.”

                You let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of your neck. “Yeah…. Well….”

                “How did you manage that?”

                “I can’t tell you all my tricks on the first date can I? When are you available next?”

                “Thursday morning?”

                “Sounds good, I’ll see you later Shun.”

                You logged off the bakugan chat room and whirled around on your spinny chair. You had just chatted the number 1 brawler in the world! He wasn’t too bad looking either… you grinned. He had pretty much invented the game of bakugan, the guy was legend! You couldn’t wait until Thursday.

*

Three months later

                You tapped your desk impatiently, hurry up, hurry up!

                Finally you connected to the site and saw that Shun was online and in an open group chat, shrugging you connected to it.

                You saw Shun’s face first and saw that he was shocked to see you, “you’re usually at work now.”

                “I got the day off.”         

                “Oh, well how are you?”

                “I’m absolutely fantastic!”

                He laughed, and then the other guy butt in, “hey, who are you!”

                “Oh my god, you’re Dan Kuso! Wow, I’m a big fan of the stuff you’ve done with Shun!” You introduced yourself and learned that along with Dan there was Marucho, Julie, Alice and Runo.

                “Well it’s been great to meet you all, but I really came to ask Shun when he’d be free.”

                You looked at his face-box and saw that he was confused. “I’m free now I suppose. See you later guys.” He waved at his other bakugan friends and left the chat. You could see them all looking at you in confusion, so you just gave a little wave and left it too.

                “So what’s up?” Shun asked when you were in a private conversation.

                “I got tickets! I’m coming to America!” You squealed.

                “That’s great! When?”

                “Two weeks from tomorrow.”

                “Wow, where are you staying?”

                “Hotel Marion.”               

                He paused for a second, “that’s near my house.”

                You smiled sheepishly, “I thought we could brawl while I was over.”

                His face grew into a challenging grin, “You’re on.”

*

                “Field Open! Gate Card, SET!” You called in unison. Your blood was pumping, you were so excited. You’d been dying to brawl Shun since the day you first spoke to him online, and it was finally happening!

                “Ventus Monarus, stand!” Shuns Monarus stood on his gate card.

                You grinned, “Darkus Centipoid, stand!” Your centipoid stood on Shuns gate card.

                “Gate card open!” He yelled, the gate card began to glow, when you whipped out an ability card, “Shadowscratch! That just nullified your gate card!”

                He chuckled, “well this will be an interesting match. Gate card set! Ravenoid stand!”

                “Gate card set! Mantris Stand!”

                “Skyress stand!” Shuns skyress rose up against your centepoid, “green nobility, fire storm!” He yelled, increasing Skyress’s power level by 100 G’s.

                “Gate card set! Ability card activate Marionette!” Mantris moved Skyress over to the same card as Monarus.

                “Baukgan stand! Darkus Adarna!” You kissed your prize bakugan and let him fly. He rose in a mist of shadows on his own card and you looked at Shun for his next move.

                “Ability card, crimson twister!” His monarus moved to oppose your Centepoid, and then you opened your gate card. “Gate card open, Quicksand Freeze!” His monarus swooped down on your centepoid, “centepoid do not respond!” You yelled. It did as told and was back in your hand. Monarus didn’t go back to Shun however, “my quicksand freeze card keeps the winning bakugan in play.” You said.

                Shun was curious, you had purposely sacrificed your centepoid to keep his monarus on the field….

                “Ability card activate! Chaos of Darkness!” Chaos of darkness allowed your Mantris to attack anywhere in the field, Shuns ravenoid was soon sent back to him.

                He scowled, but you didn’t pause to let him move.

                “Gate Card open! Warp Gate!” the gate card where your centepoid had been opened and sent both Monarus and Skyress to the card adarna was on. “Ability Card! Forcement Wind!” you yelled. Adarna’s card opened and his power levels went up by 400g’s. Moving quickly Adarna flew and attacked the ventus bakugan, leaving him the winner as he and Mantris returned to your hand.

                The field closed and you couldn’t believe it. “I won.” You whispered, “I won against Shun Kazami! I can’t believe it! Were you going easy on me?” You rounded on him, “you’d better not have!”

                He raised his hands, “I didn’t I promise, but that, that was incredible! Come on, lets go get a coffee.”

                You walked with him and sat in a coffee shop, then he started asking you questions. “You sacrificed centepoid to keep my monarus on the field so you could draw on her power when you used forcement wind. But how did you use my bakugan in it!  I’m a ventus and you’re a darkus, you shouldn’t have been able to use my bakugan to power your Adarna!”

                “I’m not sure actually…. Adarna has the ability to use and manipulate both Darkus and Ventus abilities. He always has, it’s pretty useful.”

                “I’m not sure whether that’s some crazy skill, or cheating.” He laughed.

                You shrugged and took a sip of your coffee. “Rematch later?”

                “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”   

*

Two weeks later.

                You were sat on the roof of his building overlooking the world.

                “So why aren’t you ranked?” He asked. The two of you had discovered that you were pretty much equally skilled.

                “I don’t wear a baku-pod, so I don’t connect to the leaderboard.”

                “Why not?”

                “Because then you get all the challenges from the stupid people who just want your rank. I like to battle for the fun of it, and to test myself against the best, not waste my time with someone whose only goal is to boost their ego.”

                “Fair enough.” He said, it was a valid reason.

                The sun was about to go down and it was casting a last glow over the world.

                He looked at you and saw your bright eyes glancing over at him.

                “Shun?” You asked quietly, turning your head fully to look at him.

                He leaned in quickly and captured your lips with his.

                You were startled, but you responded and your lips moved, slowly, gently.

                Your hand cupped his jaw and you leaned over, more eager. He responded and wrapped one firm hand around your waist and hauled you closer to him. His body was warm and you felt his heat spread throughout your own body, warming you to your fingertips.

                You broke to breathe, and grinned. “What was that?”

                “I don’t know.” He admitted. “was it unwelcome?”

                “Not at all.” He grinned and leaned forward again, you met him halfway and kissed him briefly before standing and offering your hand to help him up. “Your mother will be wondering where we’ve gone to.”

                He took your hand and followed you inside.

*

One week later

                “Come on.” Shun whispered, “you’re only here until tomorrow.” He was stood behind you, his arms wrapped around and his hands pressed on your stomach. His lips pressed lightly against your neck leaving butterfly kisses along the side.

                “Which is why I have to pack!” you laughed and unwrapped yourself from him to go get more of your clothes from the hotel closet.

                He followed you until you pushed him on the edge of the bed and made him sit there while you finished packing. After you zipped up your suitcase you turned to him with a smirk on your face.

                “What will little Shun do without me?” You murmured as you straddled him. You felt his strong legs beneath you as your hands pressed against his chest. They ran up and buried themselves in his hair which he had left loose – the way you liked it. You touched your nose against his and giggled softly. “Will Shun miss me?” You left a small kiss on his eager lips.

                “Shun will miss you very much.” He murmured, trying to kiss you but you kept pulling back.

                “Behave.” You whispered. You pushed him back so he was lying down and you crawled over him, your hair creating a curtain that shielded you from the outside. You lowered your lips to his and kissed him slowly with a growing passion as his one of his hands moved to the back of your head to prevent you from pulling away this time.

                He flipped you over and pressed you into the mattress. His weight was on you and you found it comforting, like a security blanket. His skin was warm where it pressed against yours, and you could feel every inch of him down your body.

                “Do you have to go back?”

                “Mmm I do, I don’t think my parents would appreciate it if I moved to America before I graduated. Or my boss for that matter.”

                He kissed you again, and then again. “well I suppose we’ll just have to make the most of this last night.”

                You grinned, “I guess we will.”

                “I love you.” He murmured.

                “I love you too.” You whispered, leaning up to meet him.

*

Present day

                “I challenge you Dan!” Masquerade yelled. Glancing between them you ran infront of Dan.

                “Get through me first.” You seethed.

                “What are you doing? Get back here!” Dan yelled.

                “Field Open!” You yelled, the brawlers grasping your shoulders to join you in the battle.

                “Doom card set.”

                “Gate card set.”

                “Centepoid stand”

                “Tnemus stand!”

                “Mantris stand!”

                “Centepoid stand!”

                “Gate card set! Adarna stand!”

                “Hydranoid stand!”

                Your centepoid beat Tnemus, and your Mantris beat his centepoid, and then it was just your adarna against his hydranoid.

                You had made it clear that you had used all of your ability cards, and all but one gate card. So it was no surprise when he took half of your power and transferred it to hydranoid, just the way you had planned it.

                “Gate card open! Trade off!”

                “NO!” Masquerade yelled.

                “Yes Masquerade! Trade off means that any bakugan over 400G’s automatically loses! Face it, you’ve lost!” You grasped Adarna who flew back to your hand as the field closed.

                “Come back another day Masquerade,” you said, “but I’ll still be here.” You reached and grasped Shun’s hand. “we all will.”