Title: Past, Present, Future

Synopsis: Aki remembers her past and the lies that she had been fed by Divine, as Jack comes up with a plan to get her and Yusei to share his past, and to find a way to fit into each others futures.

Rating: T

A/N: So, I feel like I am dominating the 5D's oneshots category at the moment. I've posted quite a few of them, but I really think that this is one of my best. The story isn't exactly original, but I think this is probably my best-written fic with the exception of "Nightmares". Enjoy, read, and relax, if you like it, or have constructive criticism, review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's, because if I did then I wouldn't have had Rally wear a dress, even though he's (apparently) a guy.

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On the television screen were the ruins of what was once the great Arcadia Movement, her home. She stared at the screen as they took cameras through the wreckage and rubble, talking about what used to be done there. She stared as they talked about the Movement's leader; now missing, Divine.

"Divine seemed to have no last name; little was known about him." The reporter said as the camera panned around Divine's personal quarters. It was the same as Aki had always remembered it, filled with papers and books, random cards scattered around. It looked like her former home.

"A former member of the movement who wishes to be kept anonymous told us a bit about his past. He was abandoned by his parents for being a physic duelist and lived on the streets. He then joined the Underground Dueling Leagues as a young teenager where a teacher at the Northern Duel Academy found him. He was offered a position in the school as a honor student and protégée of a teacher who was also a physic duelist." Aki listened with shock; this was not what Divine had told her about his past.

"Divine and this teacher worked together to start the plans of the Arcadia Movement, but his master died before they could settle their plans. It was rumored that it was Divine himself who killed his master, but that has not been confirmed."

"Killed?" Aki whispered to herself. In the past few weeks she had learned things that she had never wanted to know about her former friend, but to know that he had begun killing so young… that was what scared her to the core.

"He then started the Arcadia Movement which attracted physic duelists and gave them a home. Its most famous member is Aki Izayoi, who was injured in the destruction of the building, but is now living with duelist Yusei Fudo. Their relationship is unconfirmed, but it is rumored that the two duelists are in fact, in a romantic…"

Aki turned the television off. She heard a soft laugh coming from behind her.

"Unconfirmed?" Jack Atlus said, still laughing. "I thought it would be relatively obvious by now that you and Yusei…" he trailed off as soon as he saw the look in Aki's eyes. He sighed. "Yusei wants to talk to you, he's in the other room."

"Why?" She asked. Yusei wasn't one to send someone else when he needed to talk to someone.

"I'm not sure." He said as he left the room and retreated into his own issues. With a sigh he turned around. "You know Izayoi, you're not the only one to have ever lost someone." He said as he thought of the circular glasses of the girl he couldn't get out of his mind.

Aki was slightly shocked at Jack's confrontation. Who has he ever lost? She thought to herself. Aki knew that she did have more now that she was reunited with her parents, but she still felt an empty space in her soul where Divine used to be.

But there was still so much that she didn't know about her savior. If what the reporter had said was true, there were so many lies that he had told her.

"I raised myself on the streets." The strange man across from Aki said with a grimace. "I would collect Duel Monsters cards out of the trash. Once I found an old model of a duel disk that someone had thrown away. With those cards, that disk, and my powers I was able to bring myself out of the slums and duel my way into the pro-leagues. I got enough money there to start the Arcadia Movement and now I'm sitting here, with you, possibly one of the most talented physic duelists who has ever lived." He smiled and stretched his hand towards Aki. He took hers, startling her. "Aki let me give you a home."

It was hard for Aki to believe that the only person who had ever reached out to her and tried to give her a home was a liar and a murderer, but it seemed that that was just what he was turning out to be. She stood up and walked out of the doors that Jack had just left out of.

Yusei was standing there waiting for her.

"Aki," he said as he stared at her. He said nothing else, Aki felt rather uncomfortable. "Aki," he began again as he took a deep breath.

"What?" Aki asked quietly. Aki liked Yusei a lot, she thought that he was a good person, and he was someone that she could trust, but there was still so much that she didn't know about him. Yusei was hard to read, and he never gave any clues about himself away. He had seen her at the worst part of her life; when she was feeling her absolute lowest, but she didn't even know if Yusei had any siblings.

"You see Aki, I…" He began but stopped. Yet again, they stood in an awkward silence. Yusei had a look in his eyes that made him seem like he was trying to look into Aki's soul; it made Aki feel vulnerable. It made her feel like the time before she had met Divine.

"Yusei, what are you trying to say?" Aki asked trying to get the silence to go away, and the awkwardness to disappear. Yusei and Aki were both usually quiet, but the silence that grew between them wasn't usually this awkward.

"Aki, can we go take a walk?" He asked suddenly, not quite looking at her.

"Sure." Aki replied.

The two teenagers walked out of Godwin's large home and into the rose garden.

"I thought you would like it here." Yusei said, breaking the silence. "I know that you like roses."

"I do like it here." Aki said as she bent down to sniff a rose. "I am the Black Rose Witch." She said with a laugh as she plucked the rose off of the bush. She turned around and handed it to Yusei. "Here." She said with a smile.

Yusei smiled back.

That made Aki grin.

The man across the table smiled at her, and she couldn't help but to smile back. He was so charming, so charismatic, and the promises he made her…

"Are you okay?" Yusei asked. Aki shook her head around a few times to get the thoughts out of it. The thoughts of Divine.

"Yes." She said, the smiles on their faces were both gone now.

The two walked in silence around the rose garden, stopping every so often to look or to smell something. It was pleasant, but both of them knew that there was something else behind the invitation to go on a walk.

"My best friend's name is Crow." Yusei said suddenly, surprising Aki. He stopped walking and turned to her. "He's still in the Satellite. He takes care of a bunch of abandoned children along with my adopted mother, Martha." He said and she nodded. "My parents died when I was really young, I actually spent the first coupe years of my life in Tops. Then their science experiment went wrong and I was shipped off to the Satellite." He continued as they began walking again. "That's where I met Jack and Crow, and eventually Kiryu." He finished off.

"Kiryu's your friend who's a Dark Signer, right?" Aki asked.

"Yes." He said, and she knew that the subject was closed.

"I didn't actually want to talk to you." Yusei began, making Aki's heart sink. "But Jack thought that I should. He saw that you were staring at the TV, hearing about Divine, and he thought that I should tell you about me, so when I end up dead, you won't need to learn about it from some seedy reporter." He turned to Aki and smiled. "I'm glad that he set this up though." Yusei said. "I'm glad that you know."

Aki looked at the ground, a blush crawling up her cheeks. She began walking again.

"I'm glad that I know too." She said feeling like a foolish child. Yusei stopped walking once again. Aki was a few steps in front of him. She stopped and turned to face him, the sun shining through his hair causing him to appear like Apollo, the God of the sun. He truly was beautiful. Yusei put his gloved hands on Aki's shoulders, making her become a bit breathless.

"Aki, I want you to forget about Divine." He said, making Aki become breathless in a different sort of way. How could she ever forget Divine? How could she ever even attempt to… "Well, I don't want you to totally forget him. But forget about your feelings for him, forget about the lies that he told you. Divine is gone and… well… I'm here Aki. I'm here and I want to be with you, but until you stop letting your memories of Divine rule you, we can have no future." He sighed and dropped his hands and his eyes. "Sometimes you have to forget the past to keep going forward."

"You will be remembered forever." He said with a certainty that Aki could only wish that she could have. "In the future, every duelist, young or old, will look back into the past and find that the most skilled duelist of our time was Aki Izayoi." He smiled at her. "Come with me, forget your past, the Arcadia Movement is your future."

"Yusei." Aki whispered. She took his hand in hers. He looked up at her and his eyes burned with passion. She took a step towards him. "Yusei I…" She said, but his lips were already on hers.

And for once Aki didn't think of the past or the future, she thought only of the present, and of Yusei.