Hello people of Fanfiction! This is my first story and I hope you like it. It's a Yusei x OC story, but I am an avid Yusei x Aki fan. If you find any spelling or gramatical errors please let me know so I can fix them (I'm also notorious for leaving out words. I think a lot faster than I write ). Once you've finished reading please reveiw just don't totally bash it. Constructive comments are good and I'll accept them but not bashing. Without any more of my rambling, let the story begin!
Ch1. The Grey-Eyed Rescuer
It was a typical night in the Satellite, quiet with few people about. One of those few was Yusei Fudo. He was out for a midnight ride. It had just been one of those nights. Even as his friends all turned in for the night, he couldn't settle down. This had become a common thing as of late. Things had settled down some after the defeat of the Dark Signers but something was putting Yusei on edge.
I have a feeling something is going to happen, he thought as he cruised between the dilapidated buildings. He slowed and finally came to a stop at the edge of sea. He gazed at the beginnings of a bridge that would connect New Domino City to the Satellite. A gentle breeze ruffled his raven hair and he heaved a heavy sigh.
"Hiya!" Yusei spun around just in time to see three people charge at him. The nearest of the three aimed a kick at Yusei's head. Without thinking Yusei knocked their foot away, knocking them off balance and sending them sprawling toward the other two. The other two dodged their barreling companion and continued to charge Yusei. The four of them exchanged blows with one another, the third attacker having rejoined the fray after a rather violent collision with the ground. As far as Yusei could tell, all three of the attackers were male.
Their fighting abilities weren't a problem for Yusei. Though there were three of them, their attacks weren't very coordinated and fought as individuals rather than as a team. And for Yusei, having grown up on the rough streets of the Satellite, this was par for the course.
Yusei easily parried their blows with his arms and legs. The three were concerned with trying to kick him in the head so knocking them aside was rather easy. The three, obvious to Yusei, were not very good fighters. They didn't seem to get the hint that their kicks just weren't working. They also didn't protect the areas that were already injured or could be used as weak points. Yusei had managed to wind the three of them with blows to the torso and slow their movements with blows to the legs. But one of them charged with enough force to send Yusei skidding back a few feet. Another took advantage of his momentarily being off balance, and aimed a clenched fist at Yusei's abdomen. He had no time to react and took the full force of the blow. A sharp, piercing pain shot through his body. Feeling like his abdomen was on fire, he doubled over and fell to his knees.
What was that? Yusei thought. What did he do? When he looked down Yusei got his answer. Thick crimson freely flowed over his gloved hands, soiling his jacked as it went. Yusei barely had time to think before he was hit again. He was thrown backwards by a kick to the shoulder and landed on his side. Yusei could hardly move. That last blow had sent his senses reeling and the continuous flow of blood was not helping the matter. His vision began to blur and he knew he wouldn't be able to defend himself. This isn't good. I need a plan! Another piercing pain shot through his torso causing him to cry out in pain. Still lying on his side, he could hardly make out the silhouettes of his attackers, charging him once again. He braced himself for the terrible onslaught he believed was coming. But it never came.
He managed to open his eyes slightly and what he saw surprised him. The three who had attacked him struggled to get to their feet. Once they managed to stand, they took off running in the opposite direction. What the… A face appeared in his line of vision, looking as though it were shining. He could see their mouth moving, but he sounds coming out were unintelligible. The pain in his torso grew to an unbearable level, then everything faded into the darkness.
Yusei slowly began to come to, slowly opening his sapphire eyes. Above him he saw the face of a person, a girl. She had long mauve colored hair and light grey eyes. For a fraction of a second, he thought he saw pain hidden within the depths of her eyes but it was gone so quickly he wasn't sure if he had imagined it or not.
"W-where…am I?" he asked weakly.
"You're at my place." she responded softly. To Yusei she seemed a bit younger than himself, a few months or a year perhaps. Her tone was soft and warm, letting him know that she had no intention of hurting him. Yusei tried to sit up, by immediately his torso burned with pain. Startled by the intensity of the pain, he fell back, his breathing heavy. He felt the girl gently place her hands over his wounds before he was reclaimed by the darkness.
When he once again came to, he still felt the girl's hand resting gently over one of the stab wounds. She became aware that he was awake by the groan the issued from Yusei's mouth.
"Easy now, try not to move." she said gently. Yusei replied only with a nod of his head. "I'm sorry." she said. Yusei's eyes widened in surprise.
"For what?" He winced as he spoke.
"For not telling you to stay still so you wouldn't hurt yourself." she replied.
"It's not your fault." he said quietly.
"I bandaged your wounds the best I could but I guess it wasn't enough. I should have done this earlier." Yusei heard a twinge of sorrow in her voice when she spoke.
"Hold still." Yusei felt the cool night air on his torso as the girl pushed up his shirt, just enough to reveal his wounds, and carefully removed the bandages. When she was finished, she gently placed one hand over the deepest wound. Almost immediately it began to sear with pain. A moan issued from Yusei's mouth and his breathing once again became heavy. The grey-eyed girl gently placed her other hand on Yusei's forehead.
"It's okay, relax. Relax." she said in a calm gentle tone. She didn't panic; it almost seemed that she had done this dozens of times before. As she spoke, Yusei felt the pain leave his body. He relaxed and his breathing evened. He thought he had seen a sort of light before the pain left his body but he thought the pain was making him hallucinate. With one hand still on his forehead, he felt the girl's other hand trace over his wounds. They were soft, gentle, and warm and his wounds caused him no more pain.
"There," she said, "all done. Do you think you can sit up?"
"I can try." Yusei replied. He made another attempt to sit up. This time though, he felt no shot of pain, just utter exhaustion. After a moment or two he was able to push himself into a sitting position. He then looked at the girl sitting on his right. She wore a black, long-sleeved, turtle-neck shirt and a pair of worn blue jeans. A small blue bag lay on the floor off to her left.
They were in a small apartment with several windows. Yusei noticed he was laying on an old beat up couch and the grey-eyed girl was kneeling beside him. Not much else was in the apartment, but he figured they must be a few floors up for he saw the tops of the adjacent buildings out the glassless windows.
"What happened?" he asked.
"You were attacked by three gang members, and stabbed twice. I was able to drive them off and bring you here before you bled to death."
"Why'd they attack me?"
"You were in their territory. The attack all outsiders who dare step foot on to their turf." she replied. "Do you feel alright?"
"I feel fine, just a bit exhausted. But at least my wounds stopped…" Yusei stopped mid-sentence. He had looked down to examine his wounds; but they were nowhere to be seen. Not so much as a scar was visible on the slightly tanned skin of his midsection. Yusei's eyes widened, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Did you…" he asked, looking at the girl beside him. She hung her head and only nodded in response.
"How?" he asked. He was completely baffled. The girl kept her head down as she spoke.
"It's something I've been able to do since I was a child. I can also ease the pain of other people." The girl continued to stare at the floor, as thought she were ashamed of her gifts.
"Something wrong? It seems like you're ashamed of what you can do." He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly, startled by the contact.
"You… don't think I'm a monster?" she asked, finally lifting her head and looking Yusei in the eyes. There was so much in her eyes that didn't register on her face. Pain, sorrow, fear, surprise, it was all swimming in the soft grey of her eyes.
"What?" Once it registered that she had spoken, Yusei was startled by the question.
"Its' just that," she cast her gaze downward once more, " when most people find out what I'm capable of, they…they run away calling me a 'freak' or saying that I'm 'inhuman', a monster." she finished. The tone of her voice sounded as if she were about to burst into tears. Yusei just stared in astonishment. He found it incredibly hard to fathom the teenage girl sitting next to him being a monster or inhuman in any way.
"Having these gifts doesn't make you a monster, they make you special." he finally replied. Once again her grey eyes met Yusei's blue ones.
"Thank you." she replied with a small, sad smile. Yusei was about to reply when a breath of wind swept through the building's glassless windows. It wasn't frigid, but cool enough to make him shiver and realize he wasn't wearing his jacket. Noticing this, the grey-eyed girl, unperturbed by the chill due to the long-sleeve shirt she wore, picked something up off the floor and offered it to Yusei.
"Here. I got as much of the blood off as I could." She held a bundle in her hands. Yusei realized it was his jacked and his riding gloves. He was amazed that there was no blood to be seen on them. He slipped them on and immediately felt warmer.
"We should go before those three decide to show up with reinforcements." the girl said. She helped Yusei to his feet and he noticed, now that he was standing up, that she wasn't much shorter than himself; the top of her head coming up to just under his nose. Suddenly she became rigid.
"What is it?" Yusei asked.
"Did you hear that?" Yusei shook his head. He hadn't heard anything. The girl closed her eyes, seeming to be straining her ears, and then opened them again. "They're here." she said. "Come on, this way." She led him out of the apartment and down a hallway that opened to the fire escape.
"What about my runner?" Yusei asked as he followed her down the fire escape.
"I hid it in the abandoned subway tunnels. Look out!" She quickly pulled him between two buildings and motioned for him to keep quiet. He hadn't the slightest inclination who or what they were hiding from but he wasn't about to argue, the girl seemed to know what she was doing. They stood there for quite awhile. Yusei began to wonder if the girl did this on a regular basis, hiding from territorial gang members.
"I think they're gone. Let's go, the subway is this way." They ran along a wide, empty street then turned right toward a set of stairs leading underground. They were barely visible through the darkness. She had good eyes, Yusei thought. I never would've seen those stairs. Then a voice called from behind them.
"There they are! After them!"
"Quick, into the tunnel!" the girl said as they reached the staircase.
"They're headed into the subway tunnels! Hurry before we lose them!" Yusei wasn't sure why they were heading into the tunnel. It would be easy for those following them to catch them in the tunnel. The grey-eyed girl obviously knew something he didn't. They reached the platform and turned right, heading up the tunnel. All Yusei could see in front of him was darkness, absolute and impenetrable.
"Jump to the tracks and keep running. They won't follow us in the dark." the girl said as she jumped on to the tracks. Yusei followed suit but doubted that they wouldn't be followed. They ran almost twenty feet before they were swallowed by the darkness. It was another thirty feet before they slowed down.
"We can stop now. They aren't likely to follow us." the girl said.
"Why's that?"
"Too easy to miss us or get ambushed." she stated simply. "Your runner's this way."
"Which way? I can't see anything." He wasn't sure how the girl knew where she was going, but he hadn't the slightest clue which way was which.
"Put your arm out." she said.
"Huh?"
"Put out your arm."
"Which one?"
"Doesn't matter." Yusei stuck out his right arm not knowing what the girl was planning to do. "Now lower your arm a bit." Yusei, though thoroughly baffled, did as he was told. Before he had lowered his much at all, his hand came into contact with something. He wasn't sure what is was, but it felt rather small.
"That's my shoulder incase you're wondering." the girl said. "Just keep your hand there until we get to your runner." They began walking down the tunnel that way: the girl in front and Yusei behind her with his hand resting on her shoulder. Yusei wondered how she had known he was only an arm's length away from her when he couldn't see an inch in front of him.
"Can you see down here?" he asked.
"Not in a normal sense, no." she replied.
"Then how did you know where I was standing?" He heard her sigh, not an annoyed sigh, but more of a sorrowful sigh.
"Because healing wounds and relieving pain aren't the only gifts I have. I can also see…I'm not sure what it is, but even when it's pitch black I can see the outline of people. The people who were following us knew that which is why they wouldn't follow us down here. They'd be at a serious disadvantage." She spoke with the same melancholy tone as when she told Yusei about her other abilities. He could picture the pain in those soft grey eyes.
"That's how you knew they were in the building." he said.
"Umhm. That's another reason people run away from me. They think I have the evil eye or something." She sounded completely depressed and lonely. I wonder if she's ever even had a friend.
They walked quite a distance in silence, but it wasn't at all awkward. After a while a small pinprick of light appeared in the tunnel ahead of them, signaling they were coming to another entrance to the subway. As they got closer, Yusei could just make out the outline of some sort of vehicle. It lay just beyond the reach of the light coming in from aboveground so that no passerby on the street would be able to see it.
"That's your runner." the girl said as the stepped into the light. Yusei removed his hand from her shoulder and went over to his runner and checked it over.
"I looked at it when I brought it down here. I didn't see anything wrong with it, but then again I'm no expert." the girl said walking up beside the runner. Yusei stood up, satisfied that nothing was wrong or out of place, and turned to the girl.
"Thanks," he said, "for everything." The girl nodded in reply. He sat on his runner and put on his helmet before returning his gaze to the girl.
"One last thing." he said.
"What's that?" she asked sheepishly.
"Can I know your name?" The girl was a bit surprised by the question. It occurred to Yusei that not many people, if indeed anyone, had bothered or cared enough to learn her name.
"Vaith." she said. "My name is Vaith."
"Yusei." he said extending his hand. Vaith took it, though hesitantly, and shook it.
"You should get going. I'm sure you have people who worry about you." she said as she took a step back from the runner.
"Will you be alright on your own?" Yusei asked.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Yusei started up his runner and gave Vaith one final nod before riding off down the tunnel. Yusei couldn't help but wonder if Vaith would be alright on her own. She seemed like she had never been cared about and was always sad. She seemed extremely lonely.
