Chapter Six:

“Bubbly Kisses”

It all started with a visit from Aki Izayoi.

It was just another average afternoon over in the Satellite District and as usual, Yusei Fudo found himself continuing his unfinished preparations for the Grand Prix scheduled for the following year.

The dark-haired Signer was positioned infront of his system computer propped downstairs in the building that he was renting alongwith his two fellow Satellite brothers, preoccupied with the schematics for the new engine.

His cobalt blue eyes were glued to the ultraviolet screens of the computer, his fingers typing feverishly at the keyboard when there was a sudden knock at the door upstairs.

“Hello? Is anybody home?” a female voice called from the other side of the huge door.

“It’s open,” Yusei responded, not even bothering to avert his attention from his work for he already knew who the person was. As the duelist had anticipated, the front door was pushed open as Aki Izayoi entered. The other female Signer was dressed in her Duel Academia uniform indicating that she had traveled all the way from the school back in New Domino City.

“Hey Yusei,” Aki greeted, waving to Yusei as she descended the small staircase. Yusei murmured a silent ‘Hey’ as he continued his work at the computer. He didn’t even look up as Aki passed him to drop her school bag on the small couch at the corner of the room before slumping down on it herself.

“Where are Crow and Jack?” Aki added curiously noticing that the other two duelists and fellow Signers were not present. “Crow went out on another one of his deliveries,” Yusei replied, “and as for Jack, I don’t know. I think he went over to that coffee place that he likes. I’m not sure,”

“Mm’kay. So…I guess I have you all to myself for this afternoon which is good,” Aki said smiling lightly as she looked over at Yusei, “I really wanted to spend some time with you today. We haven’t really…y’know spent time together or even seen each other since the whole incident with Heitmann-sensei at the Duel Academia,”

“Well y’know I’ve been busy with the preparations of the new engine system. The Grand Prix is only months away,” Yusei said casually.

“True,” Aki said, “and I’ve got school so I guess I’ve been kind of busy myself…y’know with doing homework and studying for exams and stuff,”

“Speaking of which, how are things going over at the Duel Academia?” Yusei asked.

“Well from what I’ve been hearing around the campus, it looks like the kids in Rua and Ruka’s class have improved in their dueling skills after watching you duel with their instructor. Every since you defeated him and his army of Antique Gear Golem in that duel, the children have become more confident in dueling. You’ve really inspired them,” Aki answered.

“That’s sound great. I’m glad that I was able to help them,” Yusei said, “and what about you?” Finally Yusei took his eyes off the computer screen and turned his full attention on Aki. “How are you doing Miss Izayoi?” he asked, a smile playing at his lips, “Rua told me that you’re practically a dueling prodigy over at the academia,”

“I wouldn’t exactly go so far as to call myself a prodigy,” Aki stated truthfully, “but I have been getting the highest scores in the entire campus,”

“Well that’s good. I’m glad that you’re doing well at the school. I’m proud of you,” Yusei said beaming at Aki. “Really?” Aki’s eyes widened at the compliment and her cheeks turned pink as Yusei smiled at her.

“Well…uh…thanks Yusei,” Aki said bashfully.

Yusei flashed Aki another wholehearted smile as he faced the computer again.

“So…uhm, what about you?” Aki spoke up, “How are the preparations for the new engine coming along?”

“It’s still a work-in-progress and there are still a lot of bugs to work out,” Yusei answered honestly, “but other than that, it’s going pretty well. I’ll have to wait until Jack and Crow come back to test it out,”

“Mm’kay. Cool,” Aki said.

“Yeah cool,” Yusei murmured.

Soon an awkward silence broke out between Yusei and Aki.

Neither knew what else to say to the other following the first attempt and even though, Aki would once in awhile open her mouth in hopes of starting a fresh conversation with the other duelist in the room, she would always end up closing her mouth and giving up on the chance. The minutes passed by and not another word were spoken…the only sounds that were audible were the nonstop tapping of the computer keys as Yusei typed away at whatever he had up on the computer and the smacking noises from Aki as she presently laid sprawled off across the couch, eyes peering absentmindedly up at the ceiling while she chewed on something in her mouth.

“Uhm…what are you eating?” Yusei inquired questioningly, briefly glimpsing across at Aki.

“Oh it’s just some bubble gum,” Aki answered. She reached a hand into the pocket of her burgundy blazer and fished out a small plastic blue and yellow bag. Inside the bag were tiny balls of multicoloured chewing gum in the different shapes. “I stopped by the candy store along the way. The owner called it Bubble Dolls. They’re shaped like all the Synchro Monsters,” Aki explained, “Would you like one?” She shook the bag lightly and propped one of the candied gums into the palm of her hand.

It was a tiny sphere of blueberry sugariness which was shaped in the exact resemblance of a Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Aki willingly offered the gum ball to Yusei however he shook his head.

“…No thanks, I’m not really a fan of bubble gum,” Yusei said, “I kind of had a bad experience once involving gum when I was a kid. I didn’t want to share my teddy bear with him so Jack thought it would be funny if he stuck a piece of gum in my hair. To make a long story short, I was bald at four-years-old and I didn’t get all of my hair back until I was five”

Aki snorted. The likeness of a four-year-old version of Yusei without his traditional and infamous crabby hairstyle popped into her head and the young girl resisted the urge to roll on the floor laughing.

“Oh c’mon Yusei, everyone likes bubblegum,” Aki said, “Just try one. I’m sure you’ll like it,”

“Here, this one is shaped like Junk Sychron,” Aki added, holding up another gum ball which was banana yellow in colour and shaped like Junk Sychron. Yusei eyed the miniature chewing gum shaped like one of his favourite Tuner Monster skeptically. “…I don’t know Aki…” he said.

“Please Yusei, just one. Do it for me,” Aki begged.

She stared at Yusei imploringly, hoping that her girlish charm and puppy dog eyes would win him over. To Aki’s delight, it did work. Yusei was broken as he heaved a sigh of defeat, outstretching his hand for one of the gum balls. Grinning perkily, Aki placed the Junk Sychron gum doll into Yusei’s hand which he in turn, popped into his mouth. “How is it?” Aki asked.

In the same skeptical manner, Yusei crushed the candied replica of his monster between his teeth, chewing it leisurely as he contemplated on its taste. “It’s good,” was his final response as he gave a small shrug.

Aki cracked another smile. “Hey, can you blow a bubble?” she then asked.

“Blow bubbles?” Yusei looked at Aki confusedly.

“Yeah like this,” Aki said. Her lips parted slightly, forming the shape of an “O” as she used the gum she had in her mouth to blow a bubble. The bubble came out transparent and green but popped as soon as it was blown.

“I guess I can do that,” Yusei said, “Let me try,”

Following the same fashion as Aki, Yusei opened his mouth and blew a bubble just like Aki.

Just like Aki’s bubble, Yusei’s came out crystal clear though his came out blue and was slightly bigger than Aki’s until it popped in the middle of his face causing Yusei to pull the stuff from his mouth.

“Wow! That was a big one,” Aki said, “you’re good,”

“Well I wouldn’t call myself a pro at this but when I was growing up in the Satellite, Crow and Jack used to steal a couple of boxes of this chewing gum from the candy trucks that would sometimes pass through here. I remember living off this stuff. Crow, Jack and I had a lot of fun with this. Even back then we were competitive with each other. We always used to challenge each other to see which one of us can blow the biggest bubble,” Yusei said. “I always won though,” he added grinning triumphantly.

“So you could almost say that you’re the undefeated bubble-blowing champion,” Aki said. An idea then popped in her head. “Hey I have an idea. Why don’t we have a duel? But not your usual duel…a duel of bubble gum to see which one of us can blow the biggest bubble?” Aki suggested.

“We? As in you and me? Right here? Right now?” Yusei asked.

“Yeah. I certainly have nothing better to do and it’ll be good for you to take a break from that computer for awhile,” Aki said, “come on Yusei, it’ll be fun. I’ll even let you have the first turn,”

“Well when you put it that way…” Yusei said, “Alright let’s do this,”

“I have to warn you Aki. I’m a little bit of a pro at this and I always win,” Yusei said additionally with a confident smirk.

“Well we’ll see who the real pro is Mr. Fudo,” Aki said with a confident smile of her own. She then dropped three more gum dolls from the pack into her hand.

The first one was strawberry pink and the second one was light blue whereas the third one was orange.

“Arm with your weapon monsieur,” Aki declared, holding out the three gum dolls for Yusei to pick, “which one will it be? Do you want…the Dark Magician Girl or Elemental Hero Neos? Or maybe you’d like Winged Kuriboh?” Aki indicated to each one as she spoke.

The pink gum ball represented the Dark Magician Girl; the light blue one represented the Elemental Hero Neos whereas the last one, the orange one, was of course Winged Kuriboh.

Yusei eyed each ball carefully before making his choice.

“I think I’ll take Winged Kuriboh,” Yusei said picking the orange ball, “the smallest of monsters always bring the biggest of luck,”

“Suit yourself then. I’ll take the Dark Magician Girl,” Aki concluded, returning the light blue ball to the bag while she held up the pink one, “Lady luck,”

“Alright,” Yusei said chuckling. He and Aki now faced one another, eyes firmly on each other with their chosen gum balls in hand.

“Ready,” Aki said, “Set…Chew!”

At the command, both Yusei and Aki popped their respective gum dolls in their mouths, both chomping at it fiercely. Following seconds of countless chewing, Aki looked up at Yusei and said, “You’re move Mr. Fudo,”

Yusei nodded assertively.

…He was definitely ready.

Opening his mouth wide, Yusei blow out the biggest bubble he could have made using only two gums.

It was a fairly big bubble. It engulfed Yusei’s whole mouth when it popped. Wiping the mustache of gum off of his mouth, Yusei turned to Aki grinning from cheek to cheek with the same bombastic smile plastered across his face. “How’s that?” he asked.

“Impressive but I think I could beat that. Who am I kidding? I could definitely beat that,” Aki boasted.

“Really? Show me,” Yusei said. Aki only smiled as she opened her mouth.

…From only two dolls of gum, Aki blew the biggest bubble that Yusei had ever witnessed in his life.

….It was practically the mother of all bubbles.

….It towered over the bridge of Aki’s mouth and nose and nearly covered her entire face when it suddenly exploded sending sticky pink mesh all over Aki’s face covering her mouth and nose including her eyes.

Yusei’s jaw literally hit the floor.

“Wow! That’s…that one mighty big bubble,” he admitted, completely awe-struck. Aki smirked jubilantly after finally managing to clean all of the gum from off of her face.

“Thank you Yusei. You’re not the only one who’s good at blowing bubbles. I chewed this stuff so many times as a little girl I made a globe out of it,” Aki said giggling, “So Mr. Fudo, do you think you can beat me now,”

…

…Yusei pondered about that himself.

…Honestly…he had no chance in hell at beating Aki now…

…As implied previously, she had blown the Mother of all bubbles, how was he supposed to compete with that.

…But fortunately for Yusei, he had a plan. A deviously bittersweet plan that would definitely snag him the win. “I’ll have to admit Aki but you’re good…really good,” Yusei said frankly, “but…I think I can top that,”

“Oh yeah prove it,” Aki said.

…And that was what Yusei gladly did…

…As he had done before, Yusei chewed his gum a couple of times before opening his mouth again.

He blew out a second bubble, only this time he only blew on it until the bubble was no bigger than the size of his thumb. With it at that size, Yusei stopped blowing and instead held the small bubble in place in his mouth without letting it pop. He then stood up and walked across to where Aki sat. Aki puckered a brow at Yusei and watched him strangely as he approached her with the un-popped bubble in his mouth.

“Yusei! What are you…?” Aki started but before she could have finished asking the question, she was thrown off guard.

For Yusei had suddenly leaned it and pressed the gum bubble to Aki; allowing it to pop against the surface of her lips as he planted his own lips over hers. For a second time, Aki felt her eyes widen. She certainly had not interpreted this from their tiny duel. One minute they were having a friendly duel of blowing bubbles (which she was winning until he cleverly decided to change his strategy) and the next minute, their lips were stuck together by the superglue of the chewing gum and the two were…kissing?!

It was enough to make Aki’s head spin…and her heart skipped a beat as Yusei moved his lips against hers in a slow yet passionate motion and even cupped her face trailing his fingers against her reddening cheeks…his touch tickling the surface of her skin. What shocked Aki even more was when Yusei licked the bottom of her lip, causing Aki to gasp and open her mouth as he stuck his tongue inside of her mouth. Aki literally had to grip the edge of her seat as she felt Yusei’s tongue swimming inside of her mouth. He explored every space and crevice of her mouth; savoring her delicious flavor and in turn, gave her a taste of him as he breathed hotly into her. He even played with her own tongue for a while and Aki couldn’t help but moan as their tongues wrestled against each other inside of her mouth. When he was finally satisfied with her, Yusei broke the kiss. As soon as their lips parted, Aki fell back on the couch breathless and her cheeks were now more flushed than before. Never had she been kissed like that.

What stunned her more was that she was kissed like that by Yusei! Now that was a move she had not seen coming. Aki then felt the inside of her mouth. She could still taste his breath on her tongue.

He tasted sweet like sugar.

But something was missing. It took Aki a while to realize that it was the gum she was chewing.

When Aki looked up she was surprised to find Yusei smiling down at her…chewing. Not only was he chewing his gum but now hers as well. He had pilfered her gum from right inside of her mouth.

“Do you think you can top that?” Yusei said tauntingly, sticking his tongue out at Aki to show that he indeed had her gum in his possession.

Aki only gawked at Yusei, mentally praising his brilliance. What a sneaky little crab he was indeed. But like any lady, Aki knew exactly when she had been defeated in a fight and as much as she hated to admit it, this was definitely a battle she had lost hands down.

“…Nope, I definitely fold,” Aki answered.

“I figured just as much,” Yusei said smirking triumphantly, “told you I was a pro,”

Blowing another small bubble with Aki’s gum, Yusei turned and was making his way back to his computer to return to his work when Aki grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“…Uhm…Yusei, if it’s not too much to ask but…could I have my gum back?” Aki asked timidly. Yusei merely smirked at the flushed look on the girl’s face and laughed to himself.

“My pleasure,” was what he said as he blew yet another bubble before pressing his lips over Aki’s again.

Mistress: This was a random idea.
I thought up this after I was up at my relative's yesterday. My younger cousin and I were having a small duel to see which one of us could blow the biggest bubble from chewing bubble gum. At first, it seemed that my cousin was victorious however in the end, I was able to come from behind and achieve ultimate victory :D That...and a chewing gum mustache LOL XD
As usual, I hope all my fellow Faith-shippers enjoyed this one :) I know this is the first actually Yu-Aki chapter since the first chapter that started all this and I hope you liked it ^.^ Expect another Yu-Aki sandwich soon.
~Mistress