AUTHOR NOTES: Please read the author notes of chapter 1 if you have not done so yet.

Additional Notes: I finished writing this chapter around when I uploaded chapter 3, but it felt a bit funky so I looked through it again for a bit but it still feels a bit strange. Most likely, it feels rushed because I suck at resolutions. Anyways, I'll leave it up to you, the readers, to judge whether it's okay or not. This will be the final chapter unless I feel different about it.

Chapter 4

Resolution

An error popped up on various screens in the lab, but quickly disappeared through a hasty fix from the one who caused it in the first place.

"Doctor Fudo, are you alright?" one of the male scientists asked Yusei.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Yusei tried to assure them by continuing his job, but it created a counter effect by causing yet another error which he quickly cleared up again.

"Doctor Fudo, you should take the day off today," the same scientist suggested.

"I took yesterday off, I shouldn't take another day."

"Oh don't worry about that," a female scientist assured him. "We know all about that girl coming back here to Neo Domino City and how she used to be a former Team 5D's member. You must have a lot more catching up to do."

"I saw her during the tour on Sunday." Another female scientist giggled. "She was pretty cute, but maybe a bit too young for Doctor Fudo."

"Hey you guys…," Yusei said with a sigh.

"Like I said," the first female began to speak again, "we'll be fine. We've been here with you for a while and we know what to do. Catch up with your old friend and you can start working again after they leave."

Yusei tried to fight back again, but the looks from all the scientists in the room made him back off. "I get it, I get it; I'll take the day off." He stood up and walked to the door. Before he left the room, he turned back for a moment to say, "Thanks."

After ditching his lab coat for the black one, Yusei hopped on his D-wheel and started heading home. The events from last night were still fresh in his mind and he couldn't forget any time soon. He felt angry at himself for almost succeeding in assaulting Ruka. Her reaction after the interruption was not something he was hoping for. She was the one who invited him to the kiss in the first place, but she seemed distant afterward as if she was avoiding him. He probably went too far and made her hate him.

His wandering mind kept him busy by the time he arrived at home. He parked his D-wheel in the garage before walked up to his room and throwing his jacket onto the chair. He sat down on his bed to contemplate for a moment until he decided it was pointless and lied down on the bed with a sigh.

"Yusei, there's a call for you."

Yusei looked down the stairs to see Zora. "Thanks. I'll be over in a second."

He thought it was strange though. If it was someone from work they would call him on his cell phone. He arrived in the shopping area of the Poppo Time shop and picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Yusei."

"Um…" a quiet voice said from the other side of the line.

Yusei recognized the voice. "Ruka?"

"Yes, um…are you busy?"

"No, not particularly."

"Well, it's a little thing and you don't have to do it, but I have an assignment about the research facility due before I go back home, and I was wondering if you could help me with it."

"Yes, of course." Yusei almost jumped at the invitation. It was just a little thing, but it may be able to have Ruka forgive him a little bit more. "I'll come pick you up, then."

"No, it's fine!" she said in haste. "I don't want to cause any trouble on you. I'll take the bus over."

"It's no trouble at all. I'll come by in a bit. Bye."

Ruka pulled the phone away from her ear after hearing Yusei hanging up the phone on the other side. Yusei couldn't have recovered that fast from the night before. This was probably just him being incredibly nice as usual, and she was hoping to take advantage of it. This was her chance to clear up everything that happened the previous night. She grabbed her things and waited at the front door of the hotel for Yusei to arrive.

"He's probably still irritated at me for how I acted last night," Ruka muttered to herself. She didn't want that incident to cause them to grow farther apart. In fact, she wanted the opposite and wanted them to get closer than before. She remembered what Yusei said about being alone and she wanted to help him through that with everything she had. Unfortunately, her own feelings were still a mess and she wasn't sure what kind of feelings she should express to Yusei. She knew she was the one who kissed him first, but it was an impulsive action. She wasn't ready for any of the consequences that could have occurred from it. He started to have his way with her, but a part of her was scared. She was happy he cared for her so much, but was frightened by how Yusei acted. She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing.

The sounds of D-wheel screeched to a stop in front of Ruka. She looked up to see Yusei holding the spare helmet. "Hey."

"Um, yes." That was a bad start, she thought.

He paused for a moment before nodding. She took the helmet and sat behind him. In no time at all they were down the road. Like the previous night, the ride was silent and uncomfortable again. They arrived back at the apartment and stepped up to his room. Ruka took out her materials for the assignment while Yusei went to grab another chair to use.

He came back in no time and sat next to her in the new chair. "Well…what questions did you have?"

Ruka showed him a couple of questions she wrote down as well as the assignment guidelines. After understanding it all, he started to help her with the assignment. It started off strangely, with Ruka messing up quite a bit due to her current condition, but the mood slowly began to change. As time passed forward, at the same moment time had also begun to rewind. Ruka was going back to the emotions of when she was a child, and Yusei was going back to the emotions of a young adult. It was just another session of when Ruka would ask Yusei to help her with home from Duel Academia. He always knew the answers to the questions and she enjoyed his presence to help her through.

In what seemed like no time at all, the final paragraph of the paper was written and Ruka was done with the assignment. She stood up to take a stretch while Yusei grabbed some coffee.

"That was so easy with you helping me, Yusei!" She smiled at him as he returned.

"I only helped a little bit. It was your hard work that got you through." He handed her one of the cups.

When she took a sip of the coffee the taste was different compared to yesterday. It was made so the flavors mixed well together. "This is good…"

"I learned it from Aki a while back," he commented before drinking his own cup. He placed it on the table as he began to collect his thoughts.

With the loosened tension between the two still intact, they continued their conversation back two days ago in the facility about their lives between the years. Hours passed as they continued to talk. Eventually, Yusei noticed the clock reading 9:54PM.

"It's getting late. I should take you back." He stood up from his chair.

Just as Yusei said that, Ruka suddenly remembered she came here for another reason other than homework. "Wait, before that…" She couldn't find the right words to say, butYusei knew what was on her mind, and it raised the same thoughts in his own head. The lost tension from before had come back, but both were prepared for it now.

"Hey…," They said at the same time.

"You first." Again.

A long pause as they waited for the other to say something.

"…Sorry." Once again, they said in unison.

Both their faces turned to surprise as they looked at each other, unsure on what the other was apologizing about.

Ruka was the first to speak. "I rejected you yesterday even though I started it. I wanted you to rely on me so I did that thing, but when you started taking control I got scared. I didn't know what to do. When we stopped I couldn't help but avoid you. I didn't know how to approach you after that. I tried to sort out myself during then and now, and used the homework as a way to understand both of us a bit better." She grabbed the photo on the desk and took a good look at it, especially at her very young self in the image. "I've changed…I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that our relationship from before was about to fall apart, so I panicked…but…" She looked at Yusei. "I'm willing to give it a chance. I'll risk being rejected and lose what we had before if it means there's a change I can get closer to you and understand you better."

Yusei looked at her for a moment and took it in before giving his own confession. "Actually, I was happy when you kissed me, but I realized that I wasn't the best choice you could make. Even then, I attacked you and would have gone all the way if Leo hadn't interrupted us. After that you seemed distant and I thought that was the reason you were-"

"No!" Ruka interrupted. She walked over to Yusei and held his hand with hers. "Nothing you did could ever hurt me. I trust you. That's why I'm willing to give you my everything if it can help you."

Yusei pulled his hands away as he took a few steps back. "But I hurt you yesterday. I don't want that to happen again."

She walked forward to take his hands again. "You didn't hurt me at all. I just wasn't prepared for it."

"But there's too much of a gap between us. It'd be better if you found someone you could relate to better."

She giggled, feeling the anxiety from before leaving her body. "I think the only person I feel closer to than you would be Rua, and that's a bit problematic."

Yusei couldn't help but warm up to her smile. He pulled away his hands yet again, but instead used them to pull her body closer. "Are you sure?"

She simply raised her head and closed her eyes. He took the bait and kissed her on the lips. The clouded thoughts of their hearts had cleared, allowing them to enjoy the moment to the fullest. Yusei had returned to his male instincts as he parted lips and began to nibble on Ruka's ear. She was caught off guard and fell onto the bed along with Yusei. He looked down to see that he was in the same position as he was yesterday. Right when he was about to say something Ruka placed a finger to his lips to shush him.

"Don't say anything," she said with a smile. "I already said I was going to give you everything."

He took her hand and sucked on one of her fingers a bit before giving it a kiss. "I don't want this to be a one-sided thing. I'll give you my everything as well."

"Silly…" She pulled him closer before giving him a quick kiss. "You've already given that to me a long time ago."

The sound of chirping birds was muffled through the window of the room, but it was enough to wake up the emerald-hair beauty from her slumber. She slowly sat up to stretch her arms out before realizing all she was wearing was her birthday suit. She looked around the room and remembered what had happened the night before. She then glanced over to see her partner still sound asleep. After finding her resolve, everything she worried about from before seemed so insignificant. Her eyes wandered around the room until they rested on the clock from before. Those same eyes widened to saucers after realizing the time and date.

Ruka scrambled out of bed and quickly dressed herself back into the clothes that were splayed all over the ground. Her suddenly activity had also woken up Yusei, who saw her pulling on her bra. Even with the events of last night, he looked away in respect. "W-What's the rush?"

She was too high-strung to care about anything at the moment other than the task at hand. "It's almost three in the afternoon! Our flight goes off at 6. Oh…and I stayed over here without the teacher's permission either…!"

Yusei dressed himself as well. "I'll get my D-wheel ready, then."

After they were both ready, Yusei started up his engine as they headed off to the hotel as quickly as he could. Ruka still wasn't used to the speed Yusei was going at, but she didn't mind grabbing him all the more tighter to keep herself steady.

Upon getting to the hotel, Yusei screeched to a stop while Ruka quickly jumped off the D-wheel while throwing the helmet to Yusei, but felt dizzy from the ride and tripped. Yusei quickly caught her by the arm as she steadied herself.

"Thanks." She smiled to him.

"No problem."

She started to head up to her room, but Yusei's grip was still firmly holding to her arm. "Yusei?" she asked.

He gave her a business card. "Here. It has my cell phone number on it. Feel free to call me at any time."

She graciously took the card. "I will!" She turned back as Yusei's grip loosened. "…I know we didn't spend a lot of time together, but I feel we got a lot closer."

"I feel the same."

They shared a final kiss before Ruka pulled away. "...I love you."

"I love you, too," Yusei replied with a quick pat on her head.

Without anymore words, she ran back to her room while Yusei drove to the lab.

Still, there was something lingering in Ruka's mind. What could it be…?

"Achoo!" a red-haired doctor somewhere in the world suddenly sneezed.

"Doctor Izayoi! Are you okay?" A nurse asked.

"I…I'm fine, but I swear I just felt a shiver down my spine…"