(GS3) Home Field: Espoir Mansion

[Cherry]

Yugure kept her arms folded, listening to Tsubasa speak. The woman was rather surprised at the notion of rebuilding an entire house by himself and friends. Hopefully, one of his associates happened to be a professional at construction work, as even small scale construction sounded like a nightmare for those that didn't know what they were doing. Then again, she didn't know anything about building houses. Before getting to respond to how his year went, he began talking about the War of Liberation. That's when his intentions became incredibly obvious, knowing what he was trying to get out of her without the added ending.

"Nonsense", she spoke. "You're as much of a real hero as you are blatant."

It was better to ease him into it.

"What I'd like to tell you must be kept under wraps. First, I need to see something from you. You should have Gold Paladin in the form of the Liberators. I would like you to fight me with that, however... you should also have Ahmes as a card in his new position. May I see it for a moment?"

[OverDrive]

Tsubasa appreciated the kind words but he was not sure what to make of the 'blatant' comment, could all this bonding and friendship stuff be softening him too much? No...To him it made him stronger the War of Liberation was proof of such.

"..Heh I appreciate it.." he said, placing his hand at the back of his head.

Upon the mention of the Liberators he instantly became a bit more serious, "How did she know that I have the Liberators...guess i'll find out now." he thought.

"..You're right, I have the Liberators, and here is Ahmes in Liberators form." he said, handing her the card.

[Cherry]

"Thank you", Yugure gave gratitude through words. She took the card and tapped a fingernail on it. In response, Blaster Blade Liberator gave off a blue glow that reacted with her bladed pupils. The woman's digits dipped into the card, and the Sword of Courage was pulled out of it, with a new golden hilt design. Handing the card back to its owner, the inheritor of Meister got to work. The weapon shining with the same colored aura as her eyes, three outlines appeared under he floating sword in a circular shape. Hands traced the blueprints like an artist's paint brush on a palette. Duplicate after duplicate, they spun as if they were hands of a clock, eventually being completed as a set. Finally, the blades turned into four cards, and stacked themselves into the hands of the blacksmith heiress.

Once again, the mysterious abilities of Blaster Meister had been displayed.

Yukino reached toward her waist with the free hand, shoving her jacket back to reveal three deck cases equipped to a belt. The yellow one was opened, and a deck was pulled out. The Blaster Blades were added to it.

"Alright, we can start now."

[Cherry]

As expected, the two of them were using Liberators. Yugure's eyes focused mostly on Tsubasa and his moves, judging his skill with his clan's new transferred warriors. In those bladed eyes reflected... the same thing as a year ago. Nothing changed as far as she could see. This was the same Hero of Liberation from the past, the one Ezel and the Blasters of Fate acknowledged. It would make sense if this passing time was uneventful and didn't call for change from anyone here, so it was nothing to hold against him. Still, the Chosen Sword requested the Hero's aid in an oncoming invasion. He reacted with anger in his tone, but the resolve was enough for her.

Holy Shine Dragon stood on her side, and Alfred came down to Break Ride on his. That's when she spoke: "We can stop here."

Yugure ended the fight abruptly, seeing no need for them to finish. "Keep this matter between us, as spreading this info nonchalantly results in panic", she forewarned. Her deck seemed to... magically float back into its case. In fact, the entire fight, her arms were folded, and cards moved on their own.

"I want to note something, however. ... This upcoming fight... is borderline hopeless, from what I've seen. Once they're here, focus on surviving more than defeating them for the time being. A gaping hole will open eventually, and we'll destroy them when we see it."

The last sentence was spoke with seething venom. Mostly stoic the entire time of her return - this is the rawest emotion she expressed. This matter filled her with a mix of feelings, but anger was a very prominent one.

[OverDrive]

Yukino's display of controlling her cards without actually holding them truly made Tsubasa stare in amazement, it made him wonder what she possibly went through over that 1 year to be able to do this, the blaster blade cloning was one thing but this was just...truly a sight to see.

"..I'll keep this information a secret, but you can count on me, I won't hesitate to help you out if you need me." he said, collecting his cards, they were almost evenly matched so he could understand that she was merely testing him.

Upon realization of the time, he immediately gasps and decides that he must go, "..OH, sorry Yukino I gotta go, here -writes number on paper- contact me if you need me but I need to hurry." he said, taking off at high speed.

"...I won't let them....I won't...I won't lose Haruto and my friends again!!" he thought, as he continued running.

[Jello]

He sort of forgot to respond to the text. No he definitely forgot to respond to the text. He just darted out of the coffee shop and started checking stores for anything nice he could get Yukino. Haruka spent a solid ten minutes in a jewelry store before realizing that Yukino doesn't really wear a ton of jewelry as of recently. What would she even like anymore? No jewelry, she had all the clothing she could ever ask for, a ring might be a bit too soon...

Hmm.

His decision was made on a rather small trinket, it was cute and would do the trick. Haruka mad-dashed it over to the Espoir Estate. His stamina must be improving because after a nearly full mile and then some jog, he made it without breaking a sweat. Definitely healthier than he had been last time he stayed in this house. In fact the last time he remembered staying in this house was the night he spent in Yukino's room, and that's when Sera had just started arriving... Weird to think they were all close now, and even casually talked from time to time.

Heading in, like Yukino said, was a breeze. He fixed his tie, ruffled up his hair, and opened the front door. Nostalgia hit him in small waves. He sent another text, not to be rude by yelling in the house.

"im here! gonna say hi to butler-san. err, can you come down and get me? its been awhile since ive been around and dont remember the place too well. -haru"

Haruka only remembered how to get to the kitchen effectively, which is exactly where he went.

Made coffee. Chatted with Butler-san after over a year. Apparently he plays Nova Grapplers now! Haruka was surprised he even knew how to play Vanguard, but now that he had knowledge of his, he was excited for a debut battle with him one day. Until then, he sipped his favorite coffee, awaiting on his Queen to collect him.

[Cherry]

Yugure traversed about the manor without her jacket, dealing with several duties instead of relaxing. Home doubled as a base of operations, mostly getting through paperwork with father required to get special permissions. The girl and lion man had a heart-to-heart: "Paperwork sucks". Being an adult was hard when most of the effort came through repeated signatures, trying to avoid some asinine scam. Told that preparations were proceeding smoothly beyond this, the queen was allowed a break. A text had been sent to her boyfriend, and some time later, they were informed Haruka had arrived. Her phone buzzed with his new text to confirm.

Coming downstairs, the woman tried to get feeling back in her arms. It took a bit with stretching and rhythmic finger bending, but they ceased being numb when seeing Haruka and the butler.

"Hey..." A greeting with a soft smile was given.

[Jello]

Haruka raised a mischievous eyebrow.

"Hey...? Just, hey? Hmm, I expected more out of you, darling." Haruka sets his cup down, hopping out of his seat and over to Yukino with a few elongated steps. He took his sweet time making his way even within arms reach to her. She seemed a bit tired though and that already made Haruka start to worry a bit. There was probably no way Yukino was going to enjoy herself if she was dozing off while he was here.

"You alright there, Yukino? Seem really... out of it." Haruka waved a hand in front of her for emphasis. He was tired too, for sure. After a long day of work and a couple Cardfights, he wasn't in tip top condition either. Time to break out the gifts.

"Well, maybe this will help....?" Haruka reaches into his back pocket, holding something tightly in his hand. It was a really cute little set of charms, actually sort of nostalgic.

It was two good-luck charms. Two pairs of swords. Overlord's and Ahmes'. One each. Haruka had forgot for a long time that Overlord even had a sword, considering all he ever saw when he envisioned Overlord was a lot of fire. It's also kind of weird that a little trinket shop actually had these. But he found them after a bit of searching. They were more expensive than he thought though....

"Like 'em?" Haruka asked.

[Cherry]

"Be lucky I didn't just attack you instead", the love crazed animal retorted, recalling how she almost did last night. Being deprived of affection only helped the build up, making the burst stronger when it would happen. He seemed concerned for her health as he approached, while she could ask the same of what he asked. The warrior's ungloved hand lightly grabbed at his, bringing it down and rubbing a thumb on the palm. A silent nod was the response. No time to be exhausted with war plans on top of spending time with her beloved.

Haruka mentioned something that could help, reaching into his pocket. The queen's attention focused on that hand to see what was coming. A pleasant surprise: matching charms of two of Cray's most prominent figures' weapons. Blaster Blade and the Winds of the Apocalypse's personal sword. Yugure's eyes lit up, a happy gasp of awe being released upon seeing them.

"I-I love them... where did you even..." Despite asking, she didn't really care where he got them. Just ecstatic over him getting them for the couple. One was gently clutched in hand, treasuring the gift as if it were a child.

"I got you something too, but..." It wasn't nearly as good as this. The soldier actually wanted to refrain from giving it to him, thinking she could do leagues better if he could conjure up this. The little craftsman in her was still high on joy from the beauty of the present.

[Jello]

Haruka was already smiling at her reaction. She seemed girlier than ever the way she responded to his gifts. Haruka was actually already moving in for a kiss to help seal up a little bit of the emotion but she mentioned getting something too?

He tilted his head, with a small grin forming.

"What did you get me babe? I promise I'll love it. Hell, you could have bought me a giant grey rock, and I'd love that. Seriously. I'm sure whatever you got me will be a million times more special because it's from you." He used the free hand he had to pet her like usual. She seemed to respond well to it, but he didn't want to take advantage of it too often to calm her down. Like anything else, only in moderation.

"But I am so so so glad you like what I got. It was sort of last minute and I honestly didn't expect them to be in the same box. But then they were and I uh, dropped a few thousand yen on them."

About $25.00 for each trinket. Not a horrendous price, but for the size of the tiny things, people might have called him outrageous. He didn't care. All he wanted was to make Yukino happy right now. Making everything perfect before he left for his trip to wherever he and the Cardfight Club were going was crucial. But he felt sick to his stomach knowing he had to leave her presence again.

He shook his head a little, then nodded to her.

"So, whatcha' get me then?" His eyes lit up like Christmas lights. Or forest fires. Green and red all the same, right?

[Cherry]

Yugure saw him leaning forward and immediately pecked him on the lips, then turned back to the gift in hand. It was rather peculiar to see the rigid soldier so... unguarded. Then he asked for the gift, and she got a bit nervous. Hearing him swear that he'd even like a giant rock didn't help calm her any. In fact, that made it worse. If her present sucked, he'd like it just to like it. He wouldn't be impressed or awestruck by the thought, simply "it's the thought that counts" wouldn't be enough.

Then Haruka started petting her again. Pupils nearly morphed into hearts before reminded she needs to get a hold of herself. Right, calm, relax, breathe. A sigh, happy to hear that he's happy, but her gift... It probably wasn't worth the money he spent on his. Even so, looking into his excited gaze forced the soldier to mentally wave a white flag of surrender. Not giving it to him would be even worse than it being inferior. Yugure requested someone fetch a watch from father's office, as the duo of the family shared it all day.

A maid arrived, handing it to the queen. Turning to Haruka, a... rather feminine wristwatch was presented. A red exterior with a heart shaped design, having navy blue, purple, and gold colored hands ticking about behind glass. Each color was supposed to represent the four clans they used, but she didn't say it out loud. A bit of an embarrassing touch, as the multiple colors seemed more tacky than convenient.

"I... made this", the woman confessed. Being a magical blacksmith brought interest in making art beyond weaponry. Unfortunately, that was difficult with powers. It took much assistance to get the device together as fast as they did. Though proud of her first handmade creation, the opinion of her sweetheart took greater precedent. Even so, she shyly cast a gaze off into the distance.

[Jello]

Haruka looked at the watch, then took it into his hands. At first his reaction was, well, sort of blank. His heart was searching for the right response here, because he honestly had no idea how to explain to Yukino how much he loved the gift. But it was, in reality, far more difficult to express it normally. He blinked for only a moment before a small smile formed. That small smile became a somewhat bigger grin. Then a simper.

He had his arms wrapped around her saying, "Thank you, Yukino!!!! I love it!!," much faster than he anticipated. He didn't know how else to thank her than the formal thank you, but he was a bit too excited to see what she had got him. The sentiment behind it. It was far different than what he had expected. He honestly expected some giant sword or yet, an axe or something like that.

But she... She made this? SHE MADE THIS!

Haruka was in a state of ecstatic happiness. He honestly was just completely speechless. He took no more than a minute or so to fix the watch to his wrist. He even rolled up the sleeves of his uniform to show it off. It was weird having something so colorful attached to him after wearing nothing but black and white for so long.

"H-Hey... Thank you, Yukino. I appreciate it a lot. It's so much better than what I did. You actually made something... for me! That's crazy! I just spent a bit of money on something I thought was cute but this is really something else... Mmm, god I love you so much." Once more, he embraced her. He was perhaps a bit... too excited about this. But there was no other way to show he meant it.

"Ahh... This is awesome. I actually never had a watch before. I used to have a fancy little chain watch thing my Uncle gave me before I went to middle school but I broke that. This is nice, I appreciate it."

He pulled her in close for a moment, getting close to her ear.

"The heart was a nice touch." He smiled, kissing her cheek.

[Cherry]

Yugure was rather terrified, more scared than when the nightmares she had a year ago kept repeating. As a soldier, you should not fear danger. In battles, blood will spill, yours included. As a result, the woman learned the pain of physical wounds was not something to dread. No... instead, she dreaded not being able to make him happy. This fright quickly vanished when he started grinning like a giddy schoolgirl. Suddenly finding herself in his embrace, she was pleased with his reaction.

He liked it... This pleasant thought repeated itself for a few moments. Watching him quickly throw it on kept her smiling. The Meister still didn't think it was better than his gift, personally, as she slapped together a bunch of random themes that'd make him think of her. In addition to that, it was designed as if she expected to wear it herself. Hence the girlish look. Still, seeing the thrill he conveyed brought her joy she hadn't felt in years.

"It's weird... Your gift isn't gaudy or anything, it's better than mine. I'm sorry... I love you too-" Yugure tried to keep her pride down, apologizing for the mess of a trinket presented. However, this ceased when Haruka squeezed at her again. Cutely mewling in response, arms wrapped around him in turn.

"I wanted to give you something that would remind you of me, even if we had to be apart... You don't have to worry about it breaking or anything, I can use my powers to fix it."

It wasn't replicated by magic, but it was still using mystic workings as a power source.

He got a bit close to her ear, and his nearby breathing was setting her off a bit. Thighs fidgeting, rubbing together, she muttered: "I'm glad you like it."

[Jello]

"Y-Yukino... you okay over there?" Haruka whispered. He ran his hand and down her back gently, barely grazing the nape of her neck and every time he reached up.

"You seem a bit antsy." He kept up this tone of voice, breathy and close to her ear. She seemed to have really cute reactions when you teased her like that. Haruka wasn't usually that kind of devious, but messing around once in awhile was healthy for the soul. And Yukino had a lot of soul she needed to let have a break from work. She was obviously fatigued after all that soldier work, and he wasn't about to let the opportunity go to waste.

"We can take this upstairs if you want? I'm sure you don't want the staff to see you like this? Besides, it's easier to talk in private, yeah?" Haruka took one of Yukino's hands in his, slowly leading her out of the kitchen area, interlocking his fingers with hers, maintaining eye contact. That was probably the most important part of the spell. His attention was all her's, and all on her.

"To your room?" He smiled, gesturing forward. He didn't know where it was anymore. It's up to her to lead him around for now. Haruka was happy he finally got a night to himself with Yukino. This hadn't happened in a long, long time.

[Cherry]

"Y-Yeah... Yeah..." Yugure responded, thought a bit mindlessly. "Antsy" was putting it lightly, as she had a lot of inner frustration to work out. Honestly, the woman wanted to knock him out after the first two questions considering his actions. He knew, seeing her squirm. The movement of his caressing her back... whispering softly to ear... goddamn this man, making her lightly moan. This feeling of agitation was completely foreign, a new kind of impatience for a craving unable to be described. He mentioned the staff seeing her like this - who cares? They're getting paid, so they shouldn't complain even if their orders were to watch paint dry.

Admittedly, however, the man had a point. Not a point that was coherently reasoned out in the mess of the soldier's state of mind, but a point nonetheless. Private quarters of the queen were a suitable destination. Having a hand taken by her dearest, longingly staring at him for as long as possible, she was led out of the kitchen. It barely occurred to the animal that Haruka forgot where her room was.

Tightly gripping at his hand, Yugure led him up the stairs, through the hallway, into her room.