Disclaimer: I don't own YuGiOh 5d's. I only own the OC Crystal.

Crystal had been living with Yusei, Jack and Crow for a couple of years now. She had originally been living on the streets until a group of duelers had stolen her deck, that night had changed her life forever.

Flashback

She ran after the deck thieves and was met with a boy with autumn-coloured hair holding her deck and the robbers laying in pain at his feet.

"Here you go," he said as he handed her back her deck.

"Thank you," she replied as she took her deck back and placed it over her heart. "These cards are very important to me, they're the last memory I have of my parents," she explained.

He looked at her and she felt his eyes roam her body, "Do you live on the streets?" he inquired.

Crystal's eyes dropped slightly as she looked down to the ground and whispered "Yes."

He held out his hand to her and introduced himself, "The name's Crow."

She looked up into his grey eyes and smiled softly at his politeness, she reached out her hand and took his in hers and shook it, "Mine's Crystal."

"Why don't you come back with me? We've got plenty of room and it beats living out here," Crow offered.

Crystal's eyes widened at the thought of leaving behind a life on the streets, for some reason she felt as if she could trust this boy and answered his question, "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a burden"

"Of course! Come on, I'll help you with your stuff."

"Actually… this is all I have," she spoke, holding her deck securely in her hands and pointing to a small backpack. "Someone stole everything else that belonged to me."

"Well that sucks, hop on!" he said while getting on his duel runner and pointing to the seat behind him.

Crystal walked over and sat herself on the runner, making sure she wouldn't fall off by holding onto the sides.

Once they had arrived back, Crow introduced Crystal to Yusei and Jack and explained how she would be living with them now. Yusei introduced himself while Jack and Crow had an argument over the sudden development.

"Nice duel runner!" Crystal exclaimed at Yusei's runner.

"Thanks, I'm trying to work out some kinks in the engine at the moment. It's suddenly been exploding for some reason and I can't figure out why," Yusei explained.

"Mind if I take a look?" Crystal asked, hoping that she could be of use.

"Are you a mechanic?" he questioned.

She nodded as she placed her backpack on the ground, "I used to be, plus you pick up a few things on the street," Crystal admitted while taking off her jacket and grabbing a wrench. A few minutes later of tinkering later and Yusei's engine was purring like a kitten.

"Amazing! You really know your stuff Crystal," Yusei stated while giving his runner a once over.

"Thanks, are you sure you guys don't mind me staying?" Crystal asked the trio as she wiped her hands on a rag to get rid of the oil splattered over her hands.

"Of course not, you're good in my books," Yusei answered honestly.

"I suppose so, just don't get in my way when I'm trying to do stuff!" Jack warned as he stormed off into his room.

"Ignore him Crystal, come on I'll show you your room," Crow started walking upstairs with Crystal following him. He showed her to a small room with a bed, wardrobe and small desk. "It's not much, but it's better than what you had before."

Crystal turned around and hugged Crow while saying "Thank you so much."

A faint blush crept it's way onto his cheeks as he patted her back, "N-No problem."

She released her hold of Crow and stepped into her room as she looked around at her new home.

"The bathroom is down the hall, the kitchen is downstairs and our rooms are along this hallway and the next," Crow explained and pointed out each of their rooms as she nodded and listened.

Crystal decided to take a shower since she had a chance to. After she had finished, she came out wearing blue jeans, a white top and a blue jumper that had a white stripe going down the side of the arms. She smelt something delicious downstairs and followed her nose to find Crow cooking in the kitchen, he turned around to see that she was wearing fresh clothes and noticed her staring at the food.

"Feel better?" he asked, to which his only response was a nod as she was too preoccupied with the aroma of food lingering in the air. "I figured you'd be hungry so I cooked up some grub, dig in!"

Crystal looked between the food and Crow causing her to hesitate from grabbing the scrumptious nourishment in front of her. "Are you gonna have enough for you and the others?" she inquired, not wanting to eat any if it meant someone else would go hungry.

He smiled at how, even though she was starving, she was putting others before herself, "We've got plenty for the rest of us, but for now you need to eat up," Crow encouraged as Crystal dived into the food he had prepared and saw it all vanish within minutes. "Wow, you were hungry!" he chuckled at the speed which she ate.

"Thank you, it was delicious!" Crystal complimented the cook and helped him wash the plates and utensils up.

Crow stretched his arms out above his head as he let out a massive yawn, "Guess it's time to hit the hay"

They walked side by side to Crystals room as she entered, "Night Crystal," he said.

"Night Crow, and thanks again," she smiled as she looked into his grey eyes that shone a bit brighter than earlier.

He smiled back at her, staring into her blue eyes, saying "No worries," and continued to walk towards his own room.

She shut the door and climbed into bed, knowing that she had a new family here and she had a feeling she was going to love it.

End of flashback

It only took Crystal a few months before she had settled in well with the gang, they had introduced her to turbo dueling and to say she loved it was an understatement. To earn a living she helped Yusei out in the garage which allowed them to bring in twice the amount of income each week which really helped them out. Her and Crow had also grown extremely close during the past couple of years, he would often tease her about various things but in a sweet way and she would get payback by teasing that she could beat him in a duel which always ruffled his feathers. They had also introduced her to Martha and the kids loved her, so she started to help out at the orphanage whenever she got some spare time.

Crack!

"Sounds like it's gonna be one heck of a storm tonight," Yusei told Crystal who was working on her own duel runner that she had managed to put together.

"Guess I'll need to pay the little tykes at the orphanage a visit, Martha usually has a tough time getting them to calm down when a storm is approaching," Crystal exhaled as she placed her wrench on a work top and grabbed her jacket and helmet.

"Just be careful out there, it looks like it's just gonna get worse," Yusei cautioned.

"I'll be fine Yusei, see you later," she waved her friend bye as she sped off on her runner towards the orphanage.

She decided to take a shortcut through the forest, that she had learned from her time on the streets, to get to Martha's place quicker in order to avoid any lightning.

Crash!

Crystal heard a cracking sound to the right of her and her eyes widened at the sight of a tree tumbling down to the ground. She tried to stop her runner from colliding with the falling object, but was forced to jump off her runner and roll across the road. A flash of yellow cracked the sky open as her eyes followed the path of the bolt to another tree that was headed straight for her! She tried to run but her ankle suddenly started stinging and she couldn't get away in time, the tree landed on her leg and pinned her to the ground. "AHHH!" she gritted her teeth in pain as a sudden surge of agony travelled up her leg. Her vision began to blur before becoming completely black and she passed out.

"Hey Yusei," Crow called out to his friend who was currently working on his duel deck.

"Yeah Crow?" he answered, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Do you know where Crystal is?" Crow asked. He hadn't seen her for the past few hours and he was beginning to get worried.

"She left to go to Martha's to help with the kids a couple of hours ago," Yusei replied, he could tell that Crow was slowly becoming more and more protective of Crystal and he knew exactly why.

"I'm gonna phone Martha up and make she's alright," Crow stated while dialing Martha's number. He heard the phone ring a couple of times before a familiar voice came through.

"Hello?"

"Martha, it's Crow. I was wondering if Crystal was there, she was meant to be headed to your place a couple of hours ago," Crow asked, hoping that she was there.

"Sorry Crow, but she isn't here which I thought was odd because she usually helps me calm the kids down when there's a thunderstorm," Martha explained.

Crow could feel his heart tighten painfully at Martha's words. If she wasn't there, then where was she? He couldn't imagine life without her and he immediately thought the worst. "Ok, thanks Martha," he spoke as he hung up and ran to his runner.

"YUSEI!" Crow shouted as he grabbed his helmet and hopped on his duel runner.

"What is it?" Yusei replied, quickly sensing his friend was in distress.

"Crystal never arrived at the orphanage, I'm going out to look for her," Crow explained as he revved his runner. "Can you stay here in case she comes back?"

Yusei nodded his head in response and wished his friend luck in locating Crystal.

He headed down the path he thought Crystal would take to the orphanage when he spotted a small path that looked like a shortcut. 'Well she does like to use these when she's in a hurry,' he thought. He continued down the path looking around everywhere for any sign of Crystal. He noticed that some of the trees had been struck down by what looked like lightning, that was when he noticed it. Crystal's duel runner. He rode over to it and saw that it was bent out of shape, almost as if it had crashed into something. "Where are you Crystal? You've got to be close," Crow spoke out loud to himself. At that moment, he spotted a sight that made his heart clench, eyes widen and breath catch. "Crystal!" Crow shouted, hopping off his duel runner and sprinting over to her side.

She laid unmoving with a tree collapsed on top of her leg and covered in multiple cuts and bruises.

He attempted to push the tree off her but didn't have the strength to pull her out at the same time. He kept trying, not wanting to give up. He was determined to get Crystal free and back home safely, he was so preoccupied with trying to get the tree off, he didn't notice when her eyes slowly fluttered open.

"W-Where am I? AHHH!" she screamed as a searing pain shot up her leg, she looked around at her surroundings and remembered she was on her way to Martha's when a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree and caused it collapse on top of her. She looked down to the source of the pain and saw that her leg had been trapped from when she jumped of her duel runner in order to get out of the way of the tree. 'Well it looks like that plan backfired,' she thought.

Crow's ears immediately picked up when Crystal yelled out in pain, "Crystal! You're awake, thank goodness!" Crow sighed in relief as he rushed over to her and cradled her in his arms.

"Crow? How did you find me?" Crystal asked, her voice weak.

"When you didn't come back to the garage I phoned Martha and she said you hadn't arrived at the orphanage, so I got worried and decided to come and look for you," Crow explained. "Now let's see if we can get you out from underneath this tree."

Crystal nodded and watched as Crow positioned himself near her leg and proceeded to lift it up just enough so that Crystal could pull her leg out from underneath. She inhaled sharply at the action but was grateful to be free.

"Are you ok?" asked Crow as he crouched to her level while his hand wrapped itself around her waist causing a small blush to spread across her cheeks.

"I am now you're here," Crystal admitted, sending a soft smile at him despite how weak she felt.

He returned her smile with one of his own as he picked her up bridal style and started walking towards his duel runner. He gently placed her on the back of his runner and got on in front of her, "Hold on," he told her, she nodded and wrapped her arms around his waist which caused a blush to rise on both their faces. Crow rode his duel runner back to garage and Crystal noticed he wasn't going as fast as he usually does.

They finally arrived at the garage as Yusei and Jack ran out of the door.

"Crystal! What happened?" Jack asked, his eyes darting between her multiple injuries.

"You look pretty banged up, I thought you were going to Martha's?" Yusei asked.

"I was, but on my way there a bolt of lightning struck a tree and caused it to collapse on me. Then Crow found me," she turned to him and smiled.

"Yeah, well, you had me worried," he replied as he wrapped her arm around his neck and carried Crystal to her room.

"Thanks Crow, I'm sorry for making you worry like that," Crystal apologized.

"Hey don't go apologizing, it wasn't your fault about what happened!" Crow replied as he set Crystal on her bed sitting up. "Now, let's have a look at your leg," He carefully rolled up Crystal's trouser leg and grimaced at the sight he saw. Her leg was covered in cuts and a large slash was down the bottom half of her leg. "Oh man, looks like I'm gonna have to bandage your leg," he explained as he went into the bathroom to grab the first aid kit.

Crystal sat in her bed pondering everything that happened in the past hour, her thoughts strayed towards the autumn-haired boy that had offered her a place to stay. 'How did I ever get so lucky?' she thought to herself.

Crow came back into the room with the first aid kit, a towel and a wet cloth. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently wiped away the blood from her leg with the wet cloth, trying not to further hurt Crystal. He then got the disinfectant out and looked to Crystal's eyes, "This is probably gonna sting a bit," Crow warned her.

Crystal nodded in response and tried to relax while Crow sprayed it on. She hissed at the sudden surge of pain, but tried not to let it show in front of him. "Sorry," he apologized, he hated seeing her in so much discomfort.

"Don't worry about it," she breathed deeply to try and control the sensations in her leg. Crow grabbed the bandage and began carefully wrapping it around her leg so that there would be no chance of infection, or her injuring herself more. Once he had finished his meticulous task, he sat further up the bed and took one of Crystals hands in his.

"Better?" he asked, keeping his grey eyes fixed on her sea blue ones.

"A little, yeah," she answered while squeezing his hand ever so slightly. She gazed into his grey eyes and never felt happier.

"Crystal, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now," Crow admitted, making Crystal's heart beat a little bit faster.

"You can tell me anything Crow," she reassured him.

He inhaled a deep breath in and cupped the hand he was holding with both of his hands. "Crystal, we've known each for a long while now and when you disappeared today, even though it was only for a short while, I felt like my heart couldn't take it. I was so worried about you and-" He was cut off by Crystals finger being placed on his lips.

"I like you too Crow."

"Y-You do?" he asked, his eyes as wide as saucers and filled with hope that he didn't hear her words wrong.

She nodded her head in confirmation and smiled sweetly at him. "I do."

Crow placed his hand gently on the side of her face and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

She leaned into his touch and stared into his soft grey eyes, wondering how on earth she was able to have someone like Crow put up with her.

He leaned towards Crystal as his other arm rested on her waist, they continued towards each other, eyes slowly shutting, until their lips connected in a gentle, serene kiss. After a few minutes of lip-locking, the two were forced to part due to their human need for air. Both their hearts were racing from the experience and Crow placed his forehead against Crystals.

"Crystal, will you be my girlfriend?" Crow asked with such passion in his eyes.

"Of course I will," Crystal replied as they leaned in for another searing kiss.