Authors Note: First of all, I will try to keep certain event timelines straight but it's very possible I'll mess something up and if I do, well I apologize. And, please take into account, there will be a certain 'supernatural' element but I'm still playing around with it so I'm still not REAL SURE how much of a role it'll play in the overall storyline.

Reviews/Comments/Critiques welcome!

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Prologue Part 1 - The Encounter

2010 - Japan

'Asakura Kimiko, age 16 raped by multi-' The channel was changed because she really didn't want to hear THAT for the umpteenth time! The prior night she'd been cornered in the stairwell of the apartment complex she lived in by four guys and was attacked. One of the guys had put a gun to her head to keep her from biting his - Kimiko shook her head to dispel the images from replaying in her head AGAIN. For reasons she didn't understand, she really didn't care WHO the guys were as long as they burned in hell for what they'd done. She wasn't religious though so maybe she shouldn't think something like that. What she DID care about though was the guy who'd saved her, scared the guys off, and then called for an ambulance. She didn't know WHO he was besides that he wasn't Japanese. Kimiko stopped on a channel when she recognized the man on the screen and she said, 'NO FUCKING WAY'! She leaned forward on the couch, placing her hands on the table in front of the couch, and stared at the guy on the screen and read the pop-up that displayed his name 'Prince Devitt'. She kept staring and couldn't help saying to herself, 'No wonder he took off. I just thought it was that he shared the same belief as other gaijin I've met, that he wouldn't be believed by the police. HE really couldn't get involved though'! The more she stared though, the more she just couldn't put her finger on what was DIFFERENT about him, and it wasn't the fact he was half-naked.

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One week later

Kimiko was sitting at a bar, one that she figured probably knew by now that she wasn't 20 but who still took her fake ID anyways. It wasn't the first time since she was attacked that she'd been there, either. She used to think drinking was stupid but she'd begun to understand why SOME people did it. She was on her third, fourth, some number of vodka when the door opened, she liked sitting AT the bar so she could watch people come in, but she figured she'd drunk to much because she HAD to be hallucinating. Prince Devitt came over to the bar and started to order a drink when he turned his attention to her and asked, 'Kimiko'? In the sober part of her brain, she wondered how long he'd been in Japan, since he didn't use honorifics. She asked, 'Who wants to know'? He seemed to be uncomfortable when he said, 'I think...we met once before'. His Japanese didn't seem bad though. She said, 'Yes, we did'. He said, 'You shouldn't be here'. Kimiko rolled her eyes and asked, 'And, what the hell do I have to go home to'? He said, 'Since you're not even out of high school, your parents'. She laughed and said, 'Sorry, haven't seen them in a couple years. They send the money I need every month but not a word otherwise. And, just so you know...I've already graduated'. He looked at the bartender and said, 'The legal drinking age is 20. This girl is 16, she'll be leaving'. Kimiko shook her head and turned back to the bar, he grabbed her left arm, and she used her right hand to pick up her glass, bust him in the side of the head with it, and shout, 'Don't fucking touch me'!

Drawing the WRONG kind of attention - or ANY kind of attention to himself was THE LAST thing he'd wanted. He'd just wanted to come and enjoy a drink, realizing THAT was now impossible, and God only knew what the media was going to say about what he was about to do. He practically dragged Kimiko out of the bar, with her screaming every profanity she could at him, and he led her to the passengers side of his car and said, 'Get in the car'. Barely keeping himself from shouting. Kimiko said, 'I have my -' He interrupted her by spinning around at her and shouting, 'Get in the fucking car'! Scared NOT to, Kimiko did as she was told. He went around to the drivers side, got in, and backed out of the bars parking out.

Kimiko leaned her head on the window glass before saying, 'I'm sorry'. Trying to keep his focus on the road, he decided to keep silent. Kimiko asked, 'This isn't going to help your career, is it'? He glanced at her and asked, 'What do you think? Don't get me wrong, I've left bars with women before, but certainly not with them cussing me as I dragged them out, OR one as young as you'. Kimiko's guilt was helping to clear her mind, she said, 'I shouldn't have...I didn't mean -' Drop down drunk OR stone cold sober, she wasn't sure she COULD have finished that sentence. As he stopped at a light, he realized the implication of her question, he looked at her, and asked, 'You know who I am'? Kimiko said, 'I know your New Japan name, if THAT'S what you mean. I'd never paid much attention to it until I saw your face and then I realized why you'd taken off'.

As he pulled into the parking lot to the apartment complex, Kimiko said, 'If you want, I can get some tweezers and get the glass out of where I busted you in the head with the glass'. Looking less then enthusiastic, he asked, 'How much have you had to drink'? Kimiko shook her head and said, 'I don't know'. Realizing it was either THAT or going to the hospital and trying to explain to them how he'd ended up with glass in the side of his head which he wanted even less then he wanted to see on social media what was going to be said about him dragging Kimiko out of the bar, he followed Kimiko up to her apartment.

Sitting quietly on the couch as Kimiko extracted the glass, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd even have a career once the bar incident got out. Kimiko then used an alcohol wipe to clean off the blood from the side of his face and then used a few band-aids to bandage the cuts, and said, 'Well, not my best work BUT not my worst either'. He couldn't help but smirk.

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The next day

Kimiko woke up with a slight headache, she figured she'd just gotten really tipsy. She couldn't help but shake her head as she thought about the bar and wondering if it really had all just been a drunken hallucination. She got out of bed and ready for another day of college, she was about to leave when she realized, 'Oh yeah, it's Saturday'. She went back to her room, switched out of her normal college clothes, and was about half-dressed in her street clothes when there was a knock at the door. Well, she had her pants and bra on...it wouldn't be the first time she'd opened the door shirtless and sockless. She walked over and opened the door only to see, NOONE. She saw a note that simply read in English, 'Thanks' - She stepped out of the apartment, looking left then right and saw the leaving form of - she couldn't help but smile, she'd met her Irish savior again last night - and then it hit her, she may've also destroyed his career.

After taking the note off the door, finishing getting dressed, and then staring at the note - She'd HOPED the 'Thanks' had been genuine. - She turned the note over to see a URL and an additional note in English saying, 'Check it' - She would soon learn the 'Thanks' had been ANYTHING but genuine.

She'd sat there for several minutes staring at the homepage, unable to hit Enter to get it to direct her to the URL she'd been told to check. - His eyes, such a BEAUTIFUL blue but she could've sworn when he'd yelled at her that just for THAT moment they seemed...RED...she shook her head and thought, 'I HAD to be hallucinating'. - Her dread was building by the second but she was eventually able to convince herself to hit Enter. The page loaded to pictures of him with his hand on her arm, her busting the glass on the side of his head, a YouTube video of her screaming at him as he drug her out and then the interaction between the two at the car. Headlining it all, 'NJPW star Prince Devitt seen dragging rape victim from bar' - She closed her eyes, trying to hold back the tears, TRYING to understand why they'd written it like THAT. They hadn't given her name, not that it mattered, they hadn't bothered to add to the story that he hadn't been the one to - she couldn't hold the tears back anymore as she realized just what this could mean for him. HE saved her life and SHE might've destroyed his. She HAD to get out in front of this!

She left a note on his door that read, 'They're blaming you, aren't they'? - She'd found out the night prior that he lived in the same complex as her.

It was after midnight, she'd made a promise to herself earlier that even when she was technically old enough that she would NEVER drink alcohol again, and there was a knock at the door. She went over and answered the door, holding the note she'd left him, he said, 'Yes'. She shook her head and asked, 'How do I make them understand that it wasn't YOU? That you SAVED me? That...you were TRYING to do the right thing at the bar, even if it may not have LOOKED that way'? He shook his head and said, 'I'm not sure you can'. She looked down and then back at him, meeting his eyes when she said, 'Just tell me what I need to do, THIS is MY fault, NOT yours'! He said, 'The only thing I can think of is...you need to be interviewed. Explain your story...maybe the truth will help buffer what they THINK is true'. She asked, 'How do I do that'? He asked, 'Has anybody asked for your story'? She said, 'Yeah'. He said, 'Then call them and see if they still want it'.

After he'd left, she couldn't help but wonder about why there were NO cuts on the side of his head, some people heal quick but THAT'S ridiculous!

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Two days later

Kimiko sat in her living room, waiting for the person who'd be coming to interview her, HOPING that it would help Devitt to salvage his career. As it stood, he was on suspension until after her interview - if the interview went wrong, he'd be FIRED. It DIDN'T matter what the rape test said in the face of public opinion but maybe she could fix this. MAYBE. Nobody seemed to know about their meetings, probably because they lived in the same complex, so NOBODY knew that he'd been helping to get her prepped for what NOT to say once the interview began.

A knock at the door, Kimiko opened the door, a reporter, cameraman, and what looked like a couple people who might've been lighting crew were standing there, the reporter asked, 'May we come in'? Kimiko stepped aside. She watched as the crew got everything set up. After they were seated, the reporter asked, 'Are you sure you want to do this'? Kimiko nodded.

As the interview went on, Kimiko was finding that the reporter was TRYING to get her to say something negative about Devitt, but she wouldn't take the bait. She was getting angry having to repeat MULTIPLE times that she'd been attacked by FOUR guys, NONE of them being Devitt, she knew with absolute certainty that he was innocent. - He was initially hesitant to want Kimiko to say ANYTHING about him being there but there wasn't a lot of choice, if she didn't explain him being THERE, there would be NO explaining what happened at the bar. - As the interview progressed to the incident at the bar, Kimiko explained that it was a freak encounter, that she'd been tipsy, and with her being underage and with what had already happened to her so recently, he was trying to watch out for her.

During the late night news, she saw the edited version of the story she had HOPED they'd be able to fit in that night. She couldn't help but laugh when she read the pop-up 'He's my Irish savior'. Going online to the news' website, she was able to see her ENTIRE interview, she was surprised at how...DETERMINED she looked. She really hoped this helped. Whether anybody ELSE saw him as she did, she didn't particularly care, she just wanted them to see him as INNOCENT!

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One week later

Kimiko hadn't heard OR read another word about the story besides just several rehashings of the same shit which she HOPED would die off in time. Her rape, which she was perfectly happy to put behind her - she'd already found out that they knew who did it but that with what had been said in the media, that prosecuting would have been damn near impossible. And, when she was told that the defense would STILL try to lay it EVERYTHING off on Devitt even after what she'd said AND what the rape test said, she told them - begged was more like it - to just drop it, she'd already made enough trouble for him, she didn't want to cause MORE. Prince Devitt being accused - thank heavens that his suspension was over, he just had to get the fans back on his side or however THAT was supposed to go, she was still trying to get used to New Japan so she wasn't real sure. She was glad HE'D been the one to tell her that they'd allowed him back once her interview gained traction, which wasn't long at all. She still wasn't sure what a Fergal was though, maybe some weird Irish word? She'd have to ask him if she ever saw him again.