"Hey, Yusei, are you almost done?"
The older boy looked up from his computer to look at Rally. "Almost," he replied, looking back down at the computer. "Where are Nervin, Tank, and Blitz?"
"Still working," Rally replied. "Hey, what's that noise?"
Yusei looked up again, hearing what sounded like a motor getting closer fast. "It sounds like a…duel runner," he mumbled. As if on cue, someone on a duel runner sped by.
"Wow!" Rally exclaimed as Yusei slid onto his duel runner. "I thought you were the only one in Satellite who had a due runner. Who was he?"
"I'll go find out," Yusei said, starting up his runner. He rode out after the other duel runner, watching from a distance when he saw it parked in an alcove like the one he lived in. Who are you? he thought as the rider turned his attention to a computer. Yusei watched as the duelist waved goodbye to a blonde teenager, his helmet still on his head.
"Well, well, what do we have here?"
Both Yusei and the mysterious duelist turned their attention to the 3 teenage boys walking toward the solid black duel runner hooked up to the computer. "It looks like someone has an illegal duel runner in Satellite," the taller of the three said. "Tell you what, short stuff." Even from where Yusei watched, he could see the duelistpurse his lips together in anger and annoyance. "You fight me and if you win, I don't tell anyone about your runner. But if I win, your runner belongs to me." The duelist started to reach for his duel disk before the thug grabbed his wrist. "No duels," he said. "We fight hand-to-hand."
Yusei watched as the duelist turned around and removed his helmet only to replace it with a hat. As he shed his black jacket to the side, Yusei started to doubt his chances of winning. The thug swung the first hit only to get a mean right hook to the face. Pretty soon, the thug started fighting out of anger and was quickly taken down by a good kick to the stomach. Defeated, the three thugs helped each other to walk away and for the first time, Yusei heard the duelist speak.
"Too bad Jou wasn't here to see that," he mumbled, moving his right wrist in a circle. He removed his hat and brown with blue streaks mid-back length hair fell free, surprising Yusei even more when he realized the duelist wasn't a 'he'; it was a girl. (a/n: ha ha, surprised you. I had you thinking yusei was gay, huh?)
"I know you're back there," she said, sitting back down in front of her computer. "You've been watching for a while, haven't you, Yusei Fudo?"
"How do you know my name?" Yusei asked, walking closer. "And where did you get that duel runner?"
"I've known your name for a while now," the duelist replied, smiling slightly. "I used to live in Neo-Domino. Used to only because Jack Atlas blackmailed me into sending me here to Satellite. This is my runner I smuggled in." She disconnected the wires connecting her computer to her duel runner and stood up, slipping her helmet and jacket back on.
"Who are you?" Yusei asked as she started up her duel runner.
"You want my name?" the girl asked, revving the engine a couple times. "Then catch me if you can." And with that, she sped off, leaving Yusei standing in a cloud of dust. He stood there for a couple seconds more before getting back on his duel runner.
"Did you find out who he was?" Rally asked when Yusei stopped.
"No, but I will," Yusei replied, looking behind him toward where he'd just come from.
The girl sped up to Neo-Domino, using one of the passageways she'd found. She stopped near the edge of a bridge looking over the city, leaning back against her duel runner.
"Well, well, never thought I'd see you back here."
The girl turned to look over her duel runner and saw Jack Atlas standing behind her. "I thought I got rid of you when I sent you back to where you belong," Jack said, crossing his arms. "Back to Satellite." The girl didn't answer, turning back to look at Neo-Domino. "So now you don't talk to me? Do I remind you of what happened to your parents?"
"Shut up," the girl said, tightening her grip on her pant leg. "Just shut up, Jack."
"Go back to Satellite," Jack told her. "Go back to where you belong. Emiri Hinarin." The brunette perked up at her name and stood up, sliding back onto her duel runner.
"You can't stop me from coming back every night, Jack," Emiri said, looking back at him. "You won't stop me. You know no one can catch me. No one ever has." And with that, she rode off back into Satellite. "Night, Jou," she told the sleeping blonde before hooking her runner up to her computer again.
"What are you doing here, Yusei?" Emiri asked, noticing the duelist walking up to her. "Still want to know my name?"
"You said I had to catch you, right?" Yusei asked.
"Still do," Emiri replied. "Catch me on my duel runner and I'll tell you my name. Just a warning, though, no one has ever caught me."
"I'll try right now," Yusei said, walking over to his duel runner.
"Fine, then," Emiri said, starting up her runner. "You tag me or my runner and you win. Ready, go." She sped off, disappearing quickly. Yusei tried to follow the tire marks as he followed Emiri up into Neo-Domino.
Where'd she go? Yusei thought, slowing to a stop.
Emiri rode down to the KaibaCorp duel dome, her mind set on Jack and what he did to her. She rode around the track nonstop, her mind on other things. Someone rode up in front of her and she skidded to a stop, her duel runner turned sideways.
"What brought you out of Satellite?" Jack asked, smirking slightly. "Did I say you could come back?"
"You don't own me," Emiri growled softly, starting her duel runner up again.
"That's right, you used to belong to him," Jack said, following Emiri closely. "The one who gave you that mark." Emiri moved the left sleeve of her jacket up, revealing the intricate dragon twisting around her wrist half-way up to her elbow. "Oh, that's right," Jack continued as she pulled her sleeve down. "I gave you that mark. You belong to me."
"Not anymore," Emiri said, speeding up until she raced out of the duel dome, heading toward her usual lookout spot. Someone tapped on her shoulder and she spun around to see Yusei standing behind her. "You win," Emiri said, looking back out over Neo-Domino. "My name's Emiri. Emiri Hinarin."
"Where did you go?" Yusei asked, sitting next to her.
"Just around," Emiri replied, her hand moving down to her left arm. "I ran into someone I don't like but he seems to find me wherever I go."
"Hey, Emiri?" Yusei asked. "Who's the blonde you live with?"
"Oh, that's Jou," Emiri said, moving a strand of hair out of her eyes. "He's my best friend. He works my shift in Satellite as well as his so I can work on m duel runner. the sooner I get it completely fixed, the sooner we can get out of Satellite."
"How come I've never seen you before yesterday?"
"I have an illegal duel runner and I know a way out of Satellite. I keep to myself to keep both my secrets."
Yusei nodded, then looked at the setting sun. "I'd better get back," he said, standing up. "See you later, Emiri." He rode off toward the passageway, leaving Emiri to watch the sunset alone.
Sighing, she rolled up her sleeve and traced a finger along the dragon, perking up when she heard someone on a duel runner come closer. "Yusei?" she asked, standing up.
"Guess again," Jack said, stopping just in front of her duel runner.
"Go away," Emiri said, sliding onto her runner. "You can't stop me from coming here. I found my own way out of Satellite and you'll never find it."
I already know where it is, Jack thought as Emiri rode away. I choose not to do anything about it.
"Thought I'd find you here," Yusei said, sitting next to Emiri in her lookout spot. "Why do you like coming out here so much?"
"It makes it so I don't forget," Emiri replied. "It reminds me of what I'm working for." Her hand unconsciously moved to her left arm, her mark now covered in bandages. A siren cut through the silence, both duelists jumping to their feet. "That's not good," Emiri said. "Yusei, get out here."
"What about you?" Yusei asked.
"No one can catch me," Emiri smirked. "You're the first." She turned for her duel runner when Yusei grabbed her arm and turned her around, kissing her.
"You'd better come back now," Yusei said.
"For that, anytime," Emiri replied, smiling. Yusei rode away and she slid onto her duel runner.
"Leaving so soon?"
Emiri turned around and saw Jack behind her on his duel runner, 4 police officers behind him. "Pray tell why you need police officers?" Emiri asked. "They won't help you catch me." She stuck out her tongue and started riding, Jack and the officers following closely. Emiri tried to speed up, but her duel runner seemed to be getting slower instead. "Come on," she prompted before Jack pushed his duel runner faster to ride along beside her.
"Looks like I caught you," Jack smirked, the police officers surrounding her so she couldn't get away. "Follow me." Riding in front of her, Jack led her to heis house, locking her duel runner away where she couldn't get it. "Maybe I should just keep you here instead of sending you back to Satellite," Jack said, walking around Emiri. "You could just stay with the person you belong to."
"I ran away for a reason," Emiri growled. "I ran away to get away from you."
"As long as you still have this, you still belong to me," Jack said, taking off Emiri's jacket and tossing it on a chair. Taking her left arm, he unwrapped the bandages to reveal her mark. "Goodnight, my pet," Jack said, taking Emiri's bandages and jacket into his room.
As soon as she heard the door shut and lock, Emiri took the key she'd sneaked out of Jack's pocket and walked quietly to the garage her duel runner was being held in. "There you are," she whispered, seeing it through a window. Using the key, she unlocked the door and walked over to her runner. Flipping on the computer hooked up to it, she checked over the internal stuff. Those jerks took my chip, she thought, quickly placing the missing part back in her duel runner. Pulling out all the cords, she revved the engine a couple times before shooting out of the garage.
"What happened to you?" Yusei asked as she drove up to where she lived.
"I got caught but it was easy to get away," Emiri replied, trying to keep her left arm out of his sight.
"What's wrong with your arm?" Yusei asked, immediately noticing her attempts.
Emiri paled slightly, not saying anything. Yusei reached for her arm and pulled it out in front of her, examining the mark. "I—I…" Emiri tried to explain but couldn't seem to find the right words.
"Start from the beginning," Yusei ordered, tracing a finger over the dragon.
"When I lived in Neo-Domino, I belonged to Jack Atlas because of my parents," Emiri started, avoiding Yusei's eyes. "I ran away and when Jack found me, he sent me here to Satellite. I've been going back to Neo-Domino to remind me of what I left behind."
"So, what's that mark?" Yusei asked.
"That's what I got when I first belonged to Jack," Emiri replied. "I hate him for it. It just reminds me of what my parents did."
Yusei didn't say anything as she took her arm back. Rummaging through a pile of junk, she pulled out a strip of cloth. Wrapping it around her mark, she grabbed a small brush and a small can of white paint. "I wouldn't blame it if you left right now," Emiri said, opening a can of black paint, sticking a different brush behind her ear. Using long brushstrokes, she painted over one spot on her duel runner.
"One question," Yusei said, watching the brunette paint. "What did you parents do?"
"They owed a lot of money," Emiri replied softly. "To pay it off, they sold me to Jack and even thought they paid back all the money, Jack still sent them to some prison in America. I haven't gotten close to anyone besides Jou since and only because he came here with me."
"I'd like to get close to you," Yusei said. "Will you let me?"
Emiri set her brush down and stood up, turning to face Yusei. She searched his expression but didn't find any signs that he was lying. "I…don't know," she finally said, turning her head to the side.
Yusei took her chin and moved her to face him. Moving his hand to her waist, he pulled her closer and kissed her. "I promise I won't hurt you," he whispered. Pulling the brush out from behind her ear, he dipped it in the white paint and painted 'Yusei' on the back of her runner in his scratchy handwriting. "I won't be like Jack and I promise to help you with any problems with him."
Emiri smiled, knowing that the name Yusei painted on her duel runner was his promise to her.