papermoon…

...take in the false moonlight…

x:x:x:x:x

She wasn't supposed to know…

… about them…

-xxx-

o1.

Like an empty book.

-xxx-

Carly zoomed through the busy streets with incredible speed on her bright yellow bike. Her heart beating fast, excited for that job interview she landed. If she didn't mess up, and everything went as smoothly as that pleasant dream she had last night, she would be the happiest person in the world.

This was her third interview, this week. The past two were a total fail; the first one, she over slept and showed up late. The second one, she made sure to wake up early, but she showed up at the wrong building, much to her dismay, and didn't realize she was in the wrong building until much later. When she found the right office building, she didn't have a chance to explain herself for her tardiness.

But this time, this time, there was no room for failure, she made sure of it. Carly had set up her alarm clock an entire hour earlier than her usual wake up time. She had looked up the address online and even tried following the directions prior to today, to see if she was able to follow them without becoming helplessly lost. Carly had even gone as far as to creating flash cards stating appropriate answers she would use during the interview to study.

Yes, nothing could go wrong.

Because she, Carly Nagisa, was one hundred percent prepared.

Carly slowed down. She heard something. It was her stomach, crying for food, begging her to stop and to get something to eat. Now that she thought about it, she had been so busy preparing for her interview running all over her small house getting ready, she had completely forgot to eat something for breakfast. She glanced at her watch, which read "11:15".

Carly had five minutes before the interview started. From where she currently was, it would only take about a couple minutes to get there. She could stop for a minute or two and have a quick breakfast.

Carly pressed down the brakes on her handlebar on the corner of the street where a food cart was parked, selling freshly baked bread. Carly inhaled the heavenly smell of the baked goods and ordered and paid for a small sized melon bread.

Everything was going well. So well, until something happened.

A dark black car was coming down the road and made a sharp turn without slowing down, hitting the only thing that was sticking helplessly out into the road.

Carly's bike.

The poor bike didn't stand a chance against the speeding monster. Carly stared at her now broken, crushed bike, horrified. And when things were going so well.

Keyword: were.

"H-he-hey!" Carly called out. She pointed at the driver from the outside. "Who do you think you are; speeding and running over someone's property like that?!" she challenged. Carly heard the driver open the door and smoothly stepped out. Her face went pale. Her hand that was originally directed at him, started to droop back her side, and she fell small.

He looked over at her with the coldest and cruelest glare he could muster up. Carly took a glance and didn't dare take another look. She felt like such a fool, saying such daring words like that to him. It was like he was born with a scowl, his eyebrows forever knitted in that position. He was obviously peeved.

The man had flawless blond hair that was spiked from behind, along with two longer strands that hung down to pass his chest, a set of perfect violet gem like eyes and a handsome face, wearing a plain white shirt that when snuggly over his well built body, Carly noted, but quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head. She was supposed to be mad, and somewhat scared, of the man who was approaching her, not drooling over how attractive and handsome he was.

He looked at Carly's now busted bike with a disgusted frown. He then looked up at Carly with fierce eyes. "I did you a favor. Now you don't have to be seen riding that thing all over the streets."

"My bike is not trash"

"Now it is." He answered coolly before getting back into his expensive-looking car. He fastened his seat belt and gripped the gear shift. Carly frowned. She mustered all the courage she had and pulled the door to the passenger's seat open and plopped down besides the blond hair man. He looked over at her with that annoyed expression like she was a bug that needed to be squished. "What the hell? Get out."

Carly pulled the seat belt over her body and fastened it, getting comfortable. His scowl deepened. "Leave! I'm not going to be driving a little kid around. Get. Out."

"Please drive me over to 'Japan Times Co.' now."

He frowned. "I'm not taking orders from a kid."

She ignored the kid comment. "I n-need to head over that right now! I have a job interview scheduled at ten thirty. You just destroyed my only way of getting there and it's already—" Carly screamed when she looked over at the time, bringing her hands to her face. He jumped, stunned by her sudden outburst. The clock read '11:19'

Carly reached over to the man's arm and shook him violently. He didn't feel comfortable being shaken with such force. "Drive, drive, drive!!" she commanded.

"I refuse!" he shouted in her ear, she released his arm. "Can't you take the train or some other commoner's transportation?"

"I can't!" she cried. "I left my bus pass at home. My car crashed last time when I forgot to put on the parking brake and it slid down a hill and I don't have enough money to buy another! And I just spent the last of the money I brought with me on that bread!"

He stared at the girl, amazed. Was she an idiot, or what? She grabbed his arm again.

Again?! He thought angrily.

"Please! If you would just drive me there and back, you'll never see or hear from me again, and –"

He waved his free hand in his face, signaling the glasses-wearing girl to stop her talking. "All right, all right, I'll drive you to your stupid job interview. Just please, shut. Up." Carly flashed a smile at him. "Thank you!"

"Whatever, you're just lucky I didn't call the cops on you."

-xxx-

"My life is ruineeddd~~!!" Carly cried for the umpteenth time that morning. The man beside her gripped the striving wheel tighter, his knuckles turning whiter and whiter, the expression on his face darkened. He was trying to concentrate on the road and her worthless whining wasn't helping him one bit.

"So you didn't make it in time, just go find another job."

"I was late because you just had to run your ultra cool expensive car into my poor bike."

"Just be glad you don't have to be seen with that bike anymore."

"I loved that bike!"

It was official; he had just met the strangest girl ever.

"Oh yea! I haven't introduced myself yet!" Personally, he didn't care what her name was. "My name is Carly Nagisa! What's your name, mister?"

"Jack Atlas."

"Jack Atlas?" she repeated, testing his name on her tongue. "What a strange name." she thought out loud.

"My name is strange? In all my life, I have never heard of a girl called Carly Nagisa!"

Carly giggled. "I was just kidding."

"Shut up" she smiled. Carly suddenly felt the car stopped. She looked over at Jack, puzzled.

"This isn't my house."

Way to point out the obvious. "I have to go somewhere, just stay here and try to be quiet."

Carly looked over to the driver's window and saw a lady around her age standing in front of a newly opened café. She had beautiful short blue hair. It had a sense of messiness to it, but also maintaining elegance and beauty. She wore a simple white blouse with a plain navy blue pencil skirt. On her feet she wore elegant dark navy heels to match her skirt.

She's beautiful. Carly stared. She looked like those princesses right out of those fairytale books Carly read when she was little.

Carly had been so absorbed in that lady's beauty, she didn't realize when Jack had turned off the car and locked her inside. She looked for Jack from the car window and saw him approach the blue hair lady.

"Is that his girlfriend?" Carly asked to no one. She laughed at her own foolishness. "No, there's no possible way for a guy as rude as him to have a girlfriend as pretty as her."

-xxx-

She looked over and recognized that black car. Her date stepped outside and she ran over to him, embracing him in a tight hug.

"Atlas-sama!"

"Hey," he answered back casually. They started walking into the café. Mikage looked down at their hands that were barely touching. It has been at least two months since they started dating and that familiar gap between their hands had remained the same. She wanted to close the gap, for her slim hands to intertwine with his strong hands. But like last time, he bushed her hand aside.

Mikage looked back at Jack's car, noticing a figure moving around. She looked over to Jack who happened to notice the same thing. She saw him frown annoyingly.

"Who's that girl in you car?" she asked, trying to hide that fact that she was feeling a bit insecure and mad.

"It's nothing. Pay no attention to it." Mikage frowned. Just like what happened with her trying to hold his hand, he just brushed it aside.

-xxx-

Carly had fallen asleep since she didn't get much sleep from last night, feeling all anxious and nervous for that job interview that never happened. She awoke from her slumber after hearing something being unlocked and the door clicked open. She looked over and saw Jack sit down in the driver's seat and shove the keys inside the car.

"How was the date, Jack?" Carly asked. She had figured out who the girl was after seeing her hug him like that; she was obviously his girlfriend. He looked at her.

"It's none of your business," he answered.

Carly noticed that Jack seemed upset over something. He wasn't this mad and annoyed when he left her in the car. She knew that he wasn't the type of person to talk about his feelings; he was more of a person who liked to keep his personal life to himself. She decided to play it safe and to just drop the conversation, pretend as if they hadn't said a word since he returned.

She stumped lazily in her seat; a bored look plastered on her face. From the café to her place would take about forty-five minutes, forty-five minutes in complete silence. All that was heard was the engine of his car. Carly let her eyes travel around the car. It was fairly neat with that pleasant new car smell. Her eyes spotted a crumbled paper near her foot and she reached down and picked it up, unraveling it.

Jack looked over. "Hey! Don't touch that!"

Carly's curious eyes scanned the paper, ignoring Jack's orders. It was a news article. The first thing that caught her eyes was the large bold red headline: A New Deadly Gang Appears! The Dark Signers!!

She stared in confusion. "… Dark Signers…?" What are they?

Jack reached over and roughly grabbed the article from her hands, throwing it to the floor of his car.

"Jack…" she began. "What are they?"

Silence.

Carly bit her lip: how was she going to make Jack explain to her who the Dark Signers are? She really wanted to know who they were. She didn't have enough time to even read the first line of the article because Jack swiftly grabbed it out of her hands.

She leaned over to the side, away from Jack, placing her hand to her face, wondering…

Ah! That's it!

Carly laid back in her seat smugly, crossing her arms behind her head in a casual manner. "I wonder if I should go find this so-called gang called the Dark Signers and join them. It sure sounds like a lot of fun!! I mean, it's not like I have anything to do during the course of the day because I wasn't able to nail that interview because a certain careless driver rammed their car into my only transportation." She said eyeing Jack. "And when I become part of their group, we can all become the best of friends! And—!"

"Are you stupid?!" Jack shouted. Carly turned to the side, hiding her smile. Success~!. "Or do you want to die? The Dark Signers are not a gang you would want to mess or get involved with!"

She turned back to face him. "What's so bad about them?"

"They are a newly formed gang that basically target rich, important figures; such as leaders, CEOs, or heirs to a large business or companies and kill them."

Carly went pale. "W-why would they do something like that?"

"To make people suffer. If they take out big figures that have a big influence over many other smaller companies, those companies would have a problem with money and keeping their business. The Dark Signers would then help them for a fee."

"So, ultimately, the goal is money." Jack nodded.

-xxx-

"Thank you so much for dropping me off, Jack."

"Whatever."

Carly smiled then waved to him. "Bye!"

He drove away from her quiet neighborhood, heading back to his apartment hoping to relax after a crazy day like this.

—

Jack drove into the apartment parking lot and turned off the car engine, slamming the car door after he got up and headed inside. Once he entered, he noticed something off. The lobby that was usually pleasant and neat, seemed a bit messy and out of place. Jack immediately realized that something happened here while he was gone for the day. He walked to a lady getting ready to head out the door.

He shook her shoulder. "Excuse me; I would like to know what happened here."

She turned to him. "Atlas-sama! Oh it was horrible," she cried, recognizing him from her floor. "There was a group of terrifying looking people dressed in dark clothing with strange markings on them who entered the apartment, as if they were looking for something, but luckily an on-looker outside were able to identify them and called the police but they didn't come in time and the people escaped."

Jack immediately concluded that said people were the Dark Signers.

"Do you know what they were looking for?"

She avoided Jack's gaze for a second, then looked back at him. He noticed fear in her eyes.

"Y-you…" she whispered. He looked at her shocked, not wanting to believe her words. Was he their next target? Innocent lives were at stake today because of him. He could've come home with no one left in the apartment. They were just lucky that someone had spotted the suspicious looking people and called the police scared off the Dark Signers.

"It's probably because of your parents…"

Jack stormed away; he didn't want to hear anymore. The woman stared at his back with worried eyes. "What are you going to do, Atlas-sama?". He gruffly pushed the elevator button.

"Away from here," he stepped in when the doors opened up. He needed to get away; somewhere far from where he was, a place were he could hide until it was safe to return. Jack wasn't going let his life be taken away by a bunch of bastards who took so many already. He was going to be sure he was not going to become another one of their unfortunate victims.

The elevator dinged, the doors smoothly slid out. Jack walked out and headed towards his apartment room. He jabbed the keys in and unlocked the door. Once he was in, he slammed the door closed. He walked to his room, without bothering to take off his shoes, and started to grab random clothes, whatever he could get his hands on; taking necessary belongings, cramming it all into a small backpack. Jack zipped the bag up then headed out the front door with his destination in mind.

—

Carly sat her desk bored. From the time when she was dropped off by Jack, to now, she did absolutely nothing. She just spent her time on her laptop. Now that she thought about it, she had no idea what she even doing on it because her mind was on something else.

Jack Atlas.

She disliked it. Why did her mind seem to be focused on only him? Sure, he was absolutely handsome and had an adorable voice that made her heart melt every time he would talk. But he was rude, probably the rudest person she ever met.

But still…

But nothing! She thought.

"But… it would nice to see him again…" she said, but then sighed. "No way, that's probably the last time I'll ever see that guy again…" Carly stretched then yawned. Even though she took a small nap in Jack's car, she was feeling unusually tired. She pushed her awkward glasses up, rubbing her weary eyes.

"Maybe I should just go to bed…" she yawned once again, dragging her heavy feet to the bathroom. She smiled, how nice would it be to finally rest her exhausted body on her comfy mattress and to place her head on those fresh clean pillows. A sudden loud knock entered Carly's ears and interrupted her delightful thoughts. She ignored it, thinking that there couldn't possibly be anyone who would want to see her at this time. She continued her way to the bathroom until another knock surfaced.

She frowned. Carly walked to the front door, turning the knock and pulled the door wide open. "What do you want?"

"Excuse me?" Carly's frown disappeared, quickly replaced with fear and regret once she realized who was at the door. The person in front of her smirked once he saw her expression change.

And just when she thought that the morning would be the last time she would ever see that man.

"J-J-Ja-Jack?!" she screamed, blushing. "W-wh-what are you d-doing here?!" she stuttered, shocked since he was the last person she expected to be at her front door at night. Her face continued to turn red.

He didn't even answer her question and calmly entered her home without permission.

"I need to stay here for a while."

Carly ignored the joyful feeling she felt inside. "H-h-he-here?!" Carly was definitely not used to having a male stay at her house. "What happened to your apartment?"

Jack dropped his bag to the floor and sat in the couch contently. "Dark Signers were there earlier."

Carly flinched. "D-da-dark S-signers? You mean those people you talked about this morning??"

Jack nodded. "They were after me. So for the time being, let me stay here for a while."

"What about your girlfriend? Why can't you stay at her place?" Carly asked, curious.

Carly noticed Jack's face darkened. "Mikage's place is close to where I live. You should be thankful that I even considered this dump as an option."

"Well excuse me for not living in a high class apartment like you do." She mumbled to herself.

Wait! If I let him stay… maybe I can get him to tell me more about the Dark Signers, since there's not much information about them. Then I can write an entire article about them, then show up at 'Japan Times Co.' showing them my wonderful article and there's no denying that I, Carly Nagisa, will get the front page story~!! Perfect!

"Okay! You can stay" Carly smiled. "You can stay in my room, I'll sleep in the living room…" Since I have no other rooms… she continued. It'll be kind of rude to make him sleep in an uncomfortable place like the bathroom or living room.

"My room is the room down the hallway. The bathroom is the first door you see in the hallway," Carly informed her guest. She watched Jack head down the hallway she directed him to.

Now… how do I make him talk?

-xxx-

Carly tossed and turned on her couch, bringing the blankets over her head, leaving her feet out in the open. She bent her knees so her feet were covered by the blanket again.

Everything was quiet until something went off.

Carly groaned, putting her head under the pillow so she couldn't hear the noise. It didn't work. She turned to the source of the noise and frowned.

It was a cell phone. She didn't own a fancy red one like the one that was frantically going off. It was probably Jack's. Why he left it on the living room table, she didn't know. She reached over with the blanket still draped over her body. Carly flipped it open and spoke into the speaker.

"… hello…?" Carly answered weakly. She waited for a response, feeling nervous that she picked up Jack's phone. When she heard nothing on the other side, Carly thought about hanging up and then tell Jack that someone called him later.

"Who is this? Where's Atlas-sama?"

Carly's eyes went wide when she heard a response. "Um… he's—"

A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the phone away from Carly. "What is it?"

"Jack…" Carly looked up at the male.

"Atlas-sama!!" Carly flinched at the sudden loud volume. She saw the same reaction on Jack's face. "Thank goodness! I was so worried when you didn't pick up your phone at your apartment!!"

Is it his girlfriend, Mikage-san?

"Yea, I'm fine," Carly heard Jack say in an annoyed tone.

Carly headed to the bathroom, feeling rude if she stayed any longer, listening to their conversation. But Jack already hung up before she left. Carly noticed Jack's dark expression after his conversation with Mikage. She struggled to try to think of a way to start a conversation. The dark and heavy atmosphere was suffocating her.

"A-ano… J-jack, what would you l-like for breakfast?" She asked nervously.

He sat down on the couch, looking out the window. "I don't care."

Fail~

Carly walked to the kitchen that was connected to the living room and turned on the stove, placing a pan on it then added oil to it. Carly frowned. She didn't want Jack to continue being angry. She wanted to lift his spirits, if that was even possible.

"One time, I went out without telling anything to my parents…" she started, staring blankly at the pan. "When I came back, they were so mad. I didn't understand why. I just thought they were being unfair."

Jack continued looking out the window.

"I eventually understood their feelings, feeling guilty that I had made them worry so much. They worried because they loved me. And after that, every time I would go out, I would tell them beforehand so they knew about my whereabouts."

Carly turned to Jack. "Do you understand?" she questioned calmly. "Mikage-san was just worried about your well-being since you didn't tell her anything…"

Jack looked at her. "So you're saying that it's my fault." He said in a dark tone.

Carly's face went pale. Shoot… Carly spun around to face Jack. "N-no! That's not what I'm saying at all!!" she said frantically, trying to make him understand. She didn't want Jack to get madder. "W-what I mean is—!"

Jack interrupted her. "C-carly!" He clicked his tongue in frustration. "You idiot… behind you!"

"Eh?" Carly turned around and screamed once she saw what Jack was warning her about. The oil she had put in the pan earlier had caught on fire because she had turned the stove on such high heat. Even though she knew she had to do something to put out the fire, she just stared, baffled on what to do. Luckily, Jack came over with the fire extinguisher, putting out the small fire.

"Jeez, how do you even manage on your own?" Jack huffed, tossing the fire extinguisher aside.

"Thank you…"

Jack turned away. "Thanks to your accident, I've lost all the little respect I had for you"

"E-ehh?!" Carly cried. "S-sorry…" Ahh! How can I be so stupid to have let that happen? And in front of Jack!! She cried in her mind. Carly turned to the stove and started to clean up the mess, wiping up the stove with a blank expression, embarrassed of her slip-up just now. He probably thinks that I'm just a ditzy klutz who knows nothing but how to fall flat on her face. By now, she felt like crying over her foolishness. Baka! Baka baka baka!!

"What were you saying before?"

Carly snapped back to reality. She continued scrubbing the mess. "W-what—, basically what I mean is… that you need two people for love…" She felt a sudden unwanted ache in her heart once those words came out. Jack walked to her and patted her head lightly. Carly jumped, surprised. She flushed.

"You're right," he turned to her, lightly smirking.

B-bmp.

Carly placed her hand over her heart, appalled at what just happened. She had felt her heart race after seeing that smirk appear on Jack's face.

W-w… why is my heart racing?!

-xxx-

Chapter o1 [END]

To Be Continued…

-xxx-

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's.

a/n: I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written (yayy~). I hope you enjoyed this chapter~~ I promise it'll get better... the beginnings are usually boring ;;
In episode 59, you know how Jack calls her name like a million times? yea, i counted exactly how many he called out for her... 28 times... (i counted the really big one at the end of the duel as two cuz he like managed to stretch her name for 5 seconds XD) considering the show is 23 mins (without the opening and ending... about 20 minutes) i was so happy (yet amazed) that Jack yelled "CARLY!" like every 5 seconds 3 (then told her he loved herrr~ kyahh~~!)
Oh! have any of you seen episode 69? I like the Jack and Carly moments, but they act like they didn't confess their love to each other, and why is Jack not surprised that Carly is back? Ahh... so confusing D:

Next chapter: Carly would rather die than have Jack Atlas see her naked.

Please Review~!