The New Regulars

Summary: Sojiro Sakura thought that the weirdest was behind him: Wakaba's cognitive psience research, mental shutdowns, and Shibuya turning into a literal hellscape are all par for the course when you're the probation officer for the leader of the Phantom Thieves. But these new friends of Ren's are something else entirely, and Sojiro may not be prepared for that.

Chapter 11: Pretender!

"Hm…no, that's still not quite right."

Yusuke Kitagawa stood unmoving at the threshold of Leblanc. This was actually quite inconvenient, as more than once a customer had tried to enter the cafe, only to be stymied by the artist's laser-intense focus.

"Uh…you okay there, bud?" Sojiro asked.

No response.

"Yusuke?"

Still nothing.

"YUSUKE!" Sojiro bellowed. The young eccentric jumped with a start.

"Oh, Boss, my apologies, I was deep in thought."

"Yeah, I can see that," Sojiro said grumpily. "You mind telling me why you're stopping my customers from coming in?"

Yusuke bowed apologetically. "I'm sorry. I was simply immersing myself in the atmosphere of this place."

"I like this place as much as the next guy, hell, maybe even more. But I can't say I've ever seen anybody so captivated by it."

"Oh, yes," Yusuke said in his trademark vague tone of voice. "I was hoping to keep this a surprise, but it seems it may be best to let you know ahead of time. I wish to create a piece of art specifically for this place."

Sojiro was both surprised and unsurprised. On the one hand, he had no idea where this sudden urge came from, on the other, this was very on-brand for Yusuke.

"Well, thanks, I guess," Sojiro said. "But I don't think I really need any more art in here. I mean, hey, the Sayuri's here."

They glanced over at the painting that had played such a central role in Yusuke's life. Sojiro secretly cherished the fact that nobody (outside a very small circle) would ever know that it was in fact the original… in a sense. It was a duplication, but it was a duplication born from the cognition of Yusuke's old art master Ichiryusai Madarame, the second major target of the Phantom Thieves. As such, it reflected the original Sayuri perfectly, as it lacked the alterations Madarame had made to it in order to disguise it as his own work. That alteration had divorced the painting from its context by covering up a key element: that the woman depicted was in fact holding her child. That child was none other than Yusuke, and the woman his mother. As far as Sojiro (as well as a good deal of people in the world) were concerned, it was the most beautiful painting of the current age.

Yusuke smiled gently, as he often did when he looked on the painting.

"Yes, I am forever grateful that the Sayuri has a home like this," Yusuke said. "But I wish to make something truly special for Leblanc. It has meant so much to me, and I know the others, especially Ren, feel the same way."

"Wow. That's really kind of you, Yusuke. Thank you. You can take all the time you need, can you just do it away from the door?"

"Certainly," Yusuke said, and he sat down at the booth in the center of the cafe.

"What were you saying earlier about something not being right?"

"Oh, I was trying to decide what kind of painting I should create," Yusuke explained. "A literal representation doesn't seem fitting, but capturing something immaterial about this place is proving more difficult than I thought."

"Afraid I can't help you there," Sojiro said. "All I know about art is what you tell me, and most of that is way over my head."

"Don't worry Boss," Yusuke said. "I'm sure I'll think of something eventually."

'Eventually' turned out to be a much longer time than either Sojiro or Yusuke thought. What had turned into a few hours eventually turned into a matter of days. It was now nearly two weeks since Yusuke had begun brainstorming, and he was still nowhere near an epiphany.

"I think I need to cut you off," Sojiro said gently as Yusuke stared into an empty mug.

Yusuke looked terrible. Granted, even on his best days he was wan and pale, given that he had a limited income and most of that was spent on art supplies. But he'd clearly been losing what little sleep he got over this challenge. Ready access to coffee was clearly not doing him any favors. Sojiro was starting to think that he might need to get Dr. Takemi to take a look at him.

"No!" Yusuke said, uncharacteristically gruff. "I must persevere! And to persevere I need coffee!"

"Yusuke, you can't keep this up. It's not healthy," Sojiro said, trying to be calm but firm. He'd been practicing being just a bit stricter with Futaba, with moderate success. Their upcoming vacation would be the true test of his parenting.

"Boss, you don't understand," Yusuke said. "I've got to prove to myself that I can match the Sayuri's legacy!"

"Do you really have to prove that to yourself, or is it actually someone else?" Sojiro asked.

"I…I don't know," Yusuke said. "I want to think that it's for myself, but everything is doubtful now. Maybe I wish to spite Madarame even after all this time. Or prove that I don't need patronage. Oh dear, this might be worse than my previous slump."

"Perhaps you should take a break," Sojiro said. "Do something that, and hear me out now, isn't art related."

Yusuke blinked in surprise.

"I don't follow."

"Do something," Sojiro repeated slowly, "that isn't making art, looking at art, or even thinking about art."

"Impossible!" Yusuke said, perhaps a bit more dramatically than he realized. "Art is everywhere!"

"Okay, sure, whatever," Sojiro sighed. "But just try, try to not engage with something as a piece of art and just as itself."

"I don't know if I can do that," Yusuke said hollowly. "I believe that my entire sense of being would unravel if I were to do that. I can feel it starting already. …In fact, I think I'm hallucinating."

"Hallucinating?!" Sojiro said, startled. Even with his thoughts about taking Yusuke to the clinic, a medical emergency hadn't seemed imminent.

"Unless you also see a humanoid fox standing outside the cafe," Yusuke said, pointing towards the front of the store.

Yusuke was not hallucinating, there was indeed a fox standing outside, surveying the cafe, as though it was trying to determine if he had the right location. As Yusuke had said though, he stood on two legs, and was dressed like what seemed to be some sort of pilot.

Eventually, the fox determined that he did indeed have the right place, as he opened the door and confidently approached the bar.

"Afternoon," he said, as though he had been there several times before.

"Hello," Yusuke said vaguely, still not quite believing his eyes. Something seemed to have shaken Yusuke, but beyond the usual, Sojiro had no idea what it could have been.

"You must be Sojiro," the fox said, extending a hand. "Fox McCloud. Joker's told me a lot about you."

"Figures," Sojiro said, reciprocating the handshake. "Good to meet you. Can I get you some coffee?"

"That sounds great," Fox said, taking a seat at the bar. Yusuke was staring intently at Fox.

"Fox," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah?" Fox said, turning to Yusuke, who seemed to suddenly snap out of it.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to say that out loud," Yusuke said.

"And you must be Yusuke," Fox said. "Joker's told me quite a bit about you too."

"Has he? Then surely you're aware that you're not the only fox he knows."

"Uh, pretty sure am," Fox said, his confusion evident.

"You are mistaken, for I am Fox as well," Yusuke said, a bit defensively.

"You're…not though," Fox said, even more confused.

"Yusuke, what are you talking about? And don't antagonize our guest!"

Yusuke gestured wildly, a passion overtaking him.

"Two foxes appear,

Inari and pretender,

And the curtain falls."

An uncomfortable silence fell.

"I, uh, didn't know you were into haiku," Sojiro said. Privately, he was of the opinion that Yusuke should stick to painting.

"I am indeed a fox," Yusuke said, largely ignoring Sojiro. "For that was my name as a Phantom Thief. And I embodied its graceful spirit completely!"

"Okay, but, I'm a literal fox," Fox replied. "It's not the same."

"You think that your biology makes you a 'real' fox?" Yusuke said, outraged.

"Uh, yeah," Fox said.

"Philistine! I am cunning and swift! Wily and untamable! A true gentleman thief, like my forebear Goemon!"

"Hey! Foxes aren't thieves," Fox protested.

"Uh, isn't there some truth to the stereotype about chicken coops?" Sojiro pointed out.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Fox said, just the tiniest bit defensive. "I've certainly never stolen anything."

Yusuke had abruptly shifted gears.

"Perhaps your theft was more metaphorical," he mused. "Perhaps you too have stolen somebody's heart!"

Fox was quick to respond, and if he hadn't been covered in fur, Sojiro was reasonably certain that he would have been beet red. "It's complicated. …But when you put it that way, I guess I've snatched victory from more than one would-be conqueror."

"Oh? So what is it you do?" Sojiro said. "You look like some sort of pilot."

"You got it," Fox said. "I lead a mercenary team. Team Star Fox. We protect the Lylat System, for a fee."

"A soldier of fortune," Yusuke said. "So you steal not only victory, but you place your virtues at the whims of capitalism!"

"It's a living," Fox said nonchalantly. He paused. "Actually, it's more than that to me. It's a legacy."

That word piqued Yusuke's interest.

"What kind of legacy?" He asked.

"I didn't start Team Star Fox," Fox explained. "My father James did."

"And you lead it now," Yusuke said, "out of familial obligation?"

"Partly," Fox said, rubbing the back of his head thoughtfully. "I'm not sure I'd call it an obligation, maybe something more like a destiny. Revenge was part of it too."

Sojiro served the coffee as things began getting interesting. Fox explained how the Lylat System's politics had been in turmoil for many years. He explained the clash between General Pepper of Corneria and the mad emperor scientist Andross.

"Pepper exiled Andross to the hostile planet Venom," Fox continued. "But later, he started receiving troubling reports. So he sent my father's team in. But they were betrayed by one of their own."

"Ah yes," Yusuke said bitterly. "Something that we too faced. Traitorous crows seem impossible to stamp out, don't they?"

"Well, pigs in my father's case," Fox said. "Pigma Dengar was a member of his team who sold him out to Andross. What do you mean by crows?"

"Oh, forgive me, Crow was the code name of Akechi. The member of our team who betrayed us and tried to kill Joker."

Sojiro winced at the mention of the sham Detective Prince. He'd come dangerously close to succeeding in his goal of killing Ren, and even now Sojiro could hardly believe that Ren had pulled off such a daring escape.

"So that's how you became team leader, and you ended up avenging your father," Sojiro summarized.

"That's the broad strokes of it, yeah," Fox said. "Our team had a pretty steady gig defending Corneria for a while there. I like to think Dad would be proud of me. Least Peppy says he would be, so I guess I'm doing pretty okay."

"But at what point do you lead the team for yourself? Or do you at all?" Yusuke asked. Fox seemed a bit surprised by the question.

"I...never really thought of that," he admitted. "I trained all my life to be a pilot, so if I weren't leading the team, I'd be doing the same thing as a member of the Cornerian Army. But I do things my own way, so I guess it has kind of become my own."

This didn't seem to satisfy Yusuke, but he asked no more questions for now. Fox had noticed the dissatisfaction in both Yusuke's question and his own answer.

"And what about you, Yusuke? What do you have to make your own?"

Yusuke looked Fox over, seemingly unsure if he wanted to unload on the vulpine pilot. An encouraging glance from Sojiro prompted his answer.

"I'm a painter, as I'm sure Joker has told you. But as of late, I've found myself in several creative slumps. Once, Joker helped me out of such a slump, during a time when I wasn't sure I was painting for the right reasons. Those doubts have returned, magnified by a newfound need to make my own legacy."

Fox stared into his coffee.

"Look, I'll level with you. I don't know anything about art. And frankly, I'm probably not the person you want to talk to about this. Only you can truly know your reasons for doing something, and your legacy? That's totally out of your control. I continued my father's work out of respect for him, but also because lives were in the balance. Going forward, it could become something completely different. And if the team is still around after I'm gone, who knows what my own legacy will be? I guess...I guess if I had to put a neat button on this with some sage advice, here's something Peppy used to tell me: Never give up. Trust your instincts."

Yusuke sat, absorbing Fox's words.

"To be fair, Peppy also loved advising me to do a barrel roll, so take any words from him with a grain of salt."

Yusuke and Sojiro shared a laugh with Fox.

"You've given me a lot to think about, Fox," Yusuke said, standing up. "Thank you. Boss, I think I'll try your advice. Perhaps I'll read a book or watch a film without trying to dissect its artistic elements quite so closely."

"Good luck, kid," Sojiro said as he waved goodbye to Yusuke.

"He'll be okay?" Fox asked.

"I think so. He's gotten out of a slump once before. And between you and me, I don't think Ren had as much to do with that as Yusuke thinks."

"This was an interesting trip. I'll have to pass the recommendation on," Fox said as he counted out Lylat credits and slid them across the counter to Sojiro.

"You and your teammates are welcome any time," Sojiro said. "Fly safe!"

Three days (two and a half fox weeks) later, Yusuke returned.

"How'd the experiment work?"

"I think it was successful," Yusuke said, carefully placing a large, flat package on the bar. "Naturally I couldn't completely divorce my artistic eye from anything I engaged with, but I think I learned how to see a bigger picture. I shall have to try to do it more often."

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Please, if you would open it, I'd be honored."

Sojiro carefully ripped the paper off the rectangular object. Sure enough, it was Yusuke's new painting for Leblanc.

"Oh Yusuke, it's beautiful. Thank you so much!"

"It is I who should be thanking you. And our mutual friend, but I think that this work goes a long way towards that."

The painting -which Sojiro would later hang near the stairwell- was of a traditional style, something that Yusuke typically did not approach in his own painting. It depicted an idyllic shrine, with numerous arches leading up a stone pathway. And at the foot of the path, in front of the foremost arch, sat a red-scarfed fox.

Notes: And here we are with another chapter that's been sitting around mostly completed for months. We're nearing the end of the story. I'm a little sad to see this one end, but I always planned for it to not be terribly long, and once it's done, I'll be glad to be finished. I'd be willing to bet that not a lot of people saw this particular pairing coming. If I remember correctly, more than one person assumed I'd have Chrom meet Yusuke. Which isn't a bad idea, I just thought there was more potential in him meeting someone who shared a name, delving a bit into what that means (something that I probably could have stood to emphasize more). Not 100% happy with the title of this chapter (which, to be fair, I thought of more than a year ago at this point), but I couldn't think of anything I liked more. I can't make any promises about when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully it will be sooner rather than later!