A/N: The Facts:

Part I of the Wild Young Hearts cycle I was blabbering about earlier.

Featured Pairing: Lyserg/Jeanne

Side Pairings: Yoh/Anna, Ren/Pirika, Horo/Tamao

Title: Camera Obscura (as in the band. You know.)

I should be updating YatO or starting Mismatched Adventures. Instead, you get THIS. YAY.

He was walking down an empty street. Everything seemed so familiar—the buildings, the trees, the flowers—but where he was exactly always managed to just elude the grasp of his searching mind. He came to a café that he could swear his life on he had seen before several times. And there she was again. Her long hair swayed as she turned around to greet him like she always did, to ask where they would be going today, what they would be doing, her lips beginning to curl upwards into a smile and he reached for the camera around his neck and—

"Hyuck, ughhh, what the—" Lyserg spat whatever had begun to block his throat out onto the cheap flimsy tray table in front of him. Six bags of peanuts, three packets of artificial sweetener, one moist hand towelette, and a box of crackers. "How the hell did you manage to fit all of that into my mouth. Actually on second thought…" he held up a hand to silence Horohoro's inevitable That's what she said! Badum-bshh.

He pouted. "But it's so boring. You and Joco fell asleep an hour ago and I've had nothing to do!" Horohoro whined as he bounced up and down in his seat, acting more like a grade school child than a twenty-one year old man. "If I just got this pair of headphones in, it would've been a new record!" He held up a disposable set of complimentary headphones the stewardesses had distributed earlier. Lyserg looked past him at Joco who was still blissfully snoring with a whole array of standard airline commodities stuffed into his mouth.

"You are insane." Lyserg's eyes twitched as Horohoro shrugged. "I'm going back to sleep." He reached for the pitiful tiny sack of synthetic fabric that was supposed to be a free pillow and turned towards the window.

"No!" Horohoro's hand shot forward to shake Lyserg out of any remaining drowsiness. "Do you want me to try to see if you can swallow my carry on in your sleep?" The green haired man sighed and shook his head, wincing as he thought of Horohoro's bulky backpack being crammed down his throat. "Anyways, it's just natural for me to be excited! We're gonna be seeing Ren and Yoh soon!" His face broke into a grin. "It's been like, what, seven years?" Lyserg could have bet money that Horohoro would've flown off his seat if he hadn't stopped jumping up and down. He had to reassure several concerned onlookers that his friend was not, in fact, having a seizure (although, watching Horohoro made even Lyserg doubt his own words).

"Well, we're not going to be seeing much of them. What with Yoh's new job and…" Lyserg's voice trailed off as he realized that he didn't actually know what Ren was up to that would be keeping him so busy. He was extremely vague in his response to Lyserg's email. "And…whatever Ren is doing." Horohoro was too busy attempting a new record with Joco to be listening to Lyserg. He rolled his eyes and looked out the window as Japan, robed in clouds, shifted into view below. That dream…that's the third time this week it's happened. Who is that girl? It feels like…I know her. Like I'm supposed to know her. Lyserg closed his eyes. I don't know very many other girls my age that look like—

Joco awoke with something between a snort and a choke and instinctively punched Horohoro in the arm. "Dude! Not cool!" They promptly engaged in a shoving fight.

Lyserg sighed. "This is going to be a long trip."

Joco stretched his back and groaned. "You have. No idea. How good. It feels. To be back!"

Yoh glanced at his rear view mirror and smiled at his three friends. "And it's good to have you guys back! I wish I could hang out with you more but the semester starts next week already." He frowned a bit.

"Aw, don't worry about it, man." Horohoro reached forward to slap his friend on the back. "We all got business to attend to anyways."

Yoh raised an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. "Oh? Really? What would that be?"

"Well, I'm going to the mountains—"

"To go snowboarding again? That's hardly any work, Horohoro…" Lyserg teased.

"Actually, this time I'm monitoring the wildlife there. For work," he snapped defensively.

"Hey, maybe you'll see Tamao there! She's still working at the lodge during winters I think," Yoh pointed out.

Horohoro cocked his head. "Who's—" He sneezed. "Er, what was I talking about again?" Lyserg looked at him and shrugged. "Damnit! I hate it when that happens."

"What about you, Lyserg?"

"Erm, I just got an acceptance letter for Marco's student photography program so—"

"Marco? As in the Marco who is so famous that he doesn't use a last name anymore and has his photographs that are displayed in international galleries?" Yoh asked excitedly. "To be accepted in his program is a really big deal, Horohoro and Joco."

"Really? That's awesome, man!" Horohoro and Joco smiled at him.

Lyserg merely stared at them. "I told you all of this two weeks ago!"

Joco shrugged. "You expect us to be cultured enough to know all of this?"

"Joco, what are you doing here?"

"I decided just to tag along—"

Horohoro slapped his hand over Joco's mouth. "He usually bums off of me and Lyserg to give him a place to stay since he's too much of a starving artist to make it on his own."

"Being a renowned stand up comedian is hard work, okay?" Joco crossed his arms and slumped back into his seat.

"If by 'renowned' you mean that you work at second rate charity events and office team building exercises, then sure," Lyserg explained dryly.

"Haters gonna hate, Yoh. Haters gonna hate," Joco lamented sadly.

"Where's Ren?" Lyserg piped up.

"Eh, I was hoping he'd be with you guys when I picked you up but…" Yoh sighed. "Who knows what's up with him, nowadays. Ever since we graduated from high school, I'd be lucky to hear from him once a year. And they were mostly one sentence long emails. Last I heard, he was still jetting around the world to all the major cities, being all big shot business man. Oh, to be a Tao…" They all laughed.

"What a loser. Doesn't he know that we're still friends?" Horohoro asked, half-jokingly, half-serious. "Hmmm…maybe he found a lady friend and they got married!"

Joco burst out into a fit of giggles. "Aw, man! That was a good one. Maybe you should be the comedian and I should be the tree hugger." Horohoro grinned.

"Hey, you never know," Yoh mused, gently stepping on the gas as the light turned green.

"Seriously, Yoh? That guy's personality is as sweet as vinegar. Which is to say, not at all."

"You never know," Yoh repeated smilingly.

Horohoro whipped around and mouthed out Does he know something?

Lyserg shrugged as Joco mouthed back Please. Do you actually think it's possible for Ren to do that? Maybe if the girl was blind and deaf and mute so that she couldn't refuse his proposal.

What? That was too long a sentence.

"You guys, I can see you, you know. And if you were wondering, no, I don't know anything."

Both Joco and Horohoro heaved heavy sighs of relief. "You got us scared for a second there, man!" Lyserg rolled his eyes.

"And here we are!" Yoh pulled into the driveway of the house where the four boys had spent the overwhelming majority of their childhoods and teenage years together. He stepped out of the car, slipping his keys into his pocket. "Amidamaru! Everyone's here!"

Lyserg wasted no time and in just a week he was able to convert his guest quarters into a makeshift dark room. He knew that if he wanted to make it as a photographer, he'd have to stand out in Marco's program. And to do that, he had to get straight down to work. "In hindsight, trying to develop pictures in the same house as Joco and Horohoro probably isn't the best of ideas," he muttered to himself as he submerged his photographic paper into a chemical bath. He heard a frantic padding of footsteps approach the sliding door.

"Lyserg! We're all going out later for dinner and stuff. You in?" Horohoro poked his head into the room, allowing Lyserg's greatest enemy in photo developing to flood the room (aka light). "Er, crap. You were working, huh? Did I ruin your pictures?"

"Just one, thank God. And it was the picture you took on the plane of Joco. So no losses." Lyserg wiped his hands onto his pants. "Yet."

Horohoro wasn't paying attention. "That's cool. So, you coming with us or what?" He leaned on the door frame, eagerly awaiting his friend's response. "We can find you a girl or something while we're out and workin' the town! Whaddya say?" He grinned.

Lyserg pulled at his collar as he went back to work. He never liked talking about girls or his (lack of a) love life with his friends. It always made him uncomfortable considering he hadn't really spoken much to any member of the female race in elementary school, high school or even college (even though at each stage of his life, he somehow managed to accumulate a large base of fan girls). "I think I'll pass this time."

Horohoro let out an obnoxious sigh. "But that's what you always say. You never let yourself have any fun, man! Learn to live a little." Lyserg smiled and shook his head. "Come on! You'll probably end up having a good time."

He went back to work, blatantly ignoring his friend. "There isn't any harm…" He held up the film to study it. "In playing it safe. It saves you a whole world of hurt."

"But it's also way more boring." He shrugged as he saw Lyserg wasn't having any of it. "Your loss." He slid the door closed and Lyserg heard the pattering of his footsteps, a pause and a shout that indicated Horohoro sliding down the wooden floor of the hallway in his socks.

"Lyserg, you sure you don't want to go out with us?" Joco called as they exited the door. He remained silent. "Well, we'll be back in a few hours then!"

Lyserg smirked and rolled his eyes. "Romance can wait. I need to focus on my career first." He wasn't sure if he was saying it to state the obvious or to convince himself.

But sometimes one doesn't need to actively seek love out to find it.

"Hello, Lyserg," Marco said as his student entered his office. "Take a seat." He pulled out a file that had Lyserg's name written across it in neat, uniform black letters. "So let's discuss what we're going to be doing here for the next few months. We're going to be trying to build up your portfolio that you can submit to many of your future employers while also working to improve upon your skills so that you can develop more as a—"

Lyserg had stopped listening quite a while back as he focused on what Marco was wearing. Thanks to his very modern glass desk he could see that the famous photographer was wearing a form fitting white dress shirt and extremely short black leather shorts. Those could give Daisy Duke a run for her money.

"—first assignment will be due next week for review by myself and the rest of the staff. Any questions?" Lyserg perked up as he realized that he hadn't been paying attention at all. He simply shook his head. "Good. Now go out there and take some pictures." The older man smiled as he waved Lyserg out.

Crap, what was my assignment. I wasn't listening. My first big project and I have no clue what I'm doing. I guess I could just go around town and take pictures. I'm bound to get a few photos that he was asking for. Lyserg gripped his camera around his neck.

He blinked as he exited onto the streets of downtown Tokyo, his ears initially overwhelmed by the amount of sheer noise inundated him. That's funny. It wasn't nearly this busy when I came here this morning…granted, I did come here at eight when no one else was around. Marco was nefariously infamous for running extremely late, this reputation of his further supported by the fact that Lyserg had only gotten out of the meeting at one in the afternoon. Might as well start with something simple. He turned around to angle a shot of the huge X-LAWS sign made out of twisted metal, glass and wood on the side of the building.

Maybe they'll use it for some of their advertising propaganda. He chuckled at the prospect as he began walking. If they ever used that picture…I'd be set for life. X-LAWS was a huge arts and entertainment company where they recruited, trained, and marketed young talent. Like Meene Montgomery and Chris Benstar, the dynamic married couple, who worked with musicians. And a man named Luchist who trained singers. And someone who scouted out painters and artists and yet another who recruited dancers. And, of course, Marco who helped photographers like Lyserg.

"Hey!" He was suddenly jolted out of his train of thought by a mob of busy pedestrians. Better find an easier place to take some pictures. He aimlessly wound his way through the jungle otherwise known as prime time downtown Tokyo, taking random pictures of city life as he went on his way. He only slowed down once he noticed that the crowds had thinned and he had entered a quieter side street farther away from the business district and closer to suburbia.

Suddenly, fatigue hit him like a bullet train and he had to get to the nearest coffee shop. Café. Restaurant. Anywhere that sold caffeine-y goodness in cheap paper cups. Fortunately enough for him, he was just a block away from a quaint little café that had tried so hard to look like it was European but fell just a little short of its intended image. He smiled and slowly lifted his camera up and clicked. But right before his finger had completely depressed the button, a solitary figure stepped into the shot. He saw her through the viewfinder and, unable to believe what he was seeing, he hurriedly lowered the camera and full on stared. It's…the girl from my dream. And there she was, silver hair and all, standing right before him. Big deal. It's a sign. No, it's not. Yes, it is, Lyserg. No, it's not, you stupid author! What I say goes.

"Usually I would report suspicious men taking pictures of me to the police but…" Lyserg blinked rapidly as he realized that she was talking. To him. And was smiling. At him. "There are always exceptions."

"Er…I'm sorry for…" He wildly gesticulated with his hands in a vain effort to convey what he was trying to say. "I was taking…a picture…yes? Of the café sign and…I suppose you were…in the frame?" He decided to shut up and, not knowing what else to do with his arms, rigidly pinned them against his body.

She merely laughed. "I had guessed as much. Don't worry, I'm only teasing." She stuck out her hand. "Jeanne D'Fer."

If Lyserg was smooth to any extent or had any balls whatsoever he would've taken her outstretched hand and kissed it. But he was Lyserg so he lamely shook hands with her. "Lyserg Diethel."

"Lyserg Diethel," she repeated, testing the consonants and vowels out as if she were speaking for the first time. "How charmingly…non-Japanese."

"British. Jeanne D'Fer." He quirked at eyebrow at her as he thought. "How fittingly…"

"French." She looked expectantly at him.

"So, uh…" Why is she looking at me like that? Am I supposed to be doing something? Saying something? "Is the coffee any good here?"

If he had any experience with the opposite sex whatsoever, he could have sworn that her face fell just a bit. But still Lyserg was Lyserg and always will be Lyserg (as afore mentioned) so he was completely oblivious. "I suppose it is but their mocha lattes are a little flat tasting…"

"Oh, that's fine then. I usually just have a house coffee anyways." He awkwardly dropped his camera, feeling incredibly stupid as it bounced to a stop around his neck, still unable to shake the feeling that she was expecting something from him. "Nice to meet you." He attempted to walk away quickly, only to stumble over his own feet. She sighed softly and went back to her people watching as he went inside, looking exactly the same as she had before.

Only this time, her mouth was frowning ever so slightly.

A/N: something....new. It's always something new with me. Eh. Review? Send me some LysergJeanne love that is so rare on nowadays? You know you want to =)