AN: This story was requested by Sister of the Pharaoh, who has been waiting patiently for its publishing. A big thanks goes to her for helping me develop the story idea/original character and especially for sticking around after all these weeks. I hope to get the next 2-3 chapters posted soon, if I'm not crammed with work. Please let me know what you think of the story.
On another note, I am currently working on updating/editing some of my earlier published stories for grammatical, spelling and plot errors (some of you may have seen 'He's Back' updated). If anyone has a favorite story of mine that needs some 'tuning up' or a finishing chapter for that matter, feel free to send me a PM.
Chapter 1: Someone New in the Garage
"Damn it!"
He rolled over in bed.
"This freaking bike never works!"
He threw his pillow over his head.
"You had to break down in the middle of the night, didn't you!"
Yusei Fudo sat up, with groggy eyes and a confused expression. He had just been awoken by an unfamiliar voice shouting from the streets below. Yusei rolled out of bed and went to look out his bedroom window. Outside in the darkness of the night, he saw a stalled duel runner, with someone standing over top of it.
"Come on! Start."
He realized that the person was having trouble with their runner. The young man glanced over to his bedside clock. One in the morning. After standing by his window for some time, watching the person fret about their bike, Yusei grabbed his jacket and decided to take a little walk.
"Don't fall apart on me."
Yusei opened the door outside and began walking up to the distressed person. "Hey, is everything okay?" He called to them.
When the person turned around, Yusei realized that he was approaching a young woman. "Oh. My runner just broke down again. I'm sorry if I disturbed you." She apologized in a genuine voice.
"That's alright." Yusei stood next to her. "If you want, I can take your runner back to my garage and see if I can fix it." He realized this girl was a stranger, but Yusei never could turn down someone who was in need of help.
"No." She was quick to say. "It's fine. I can figure it out myself."
"Well, I can't just leave you out here in the middle of the night with nowhere to go." He protested with only good intentions.
The girl sighed, realizing this guy she was dealing with would not simply leave her alone. "Alright. I could use the help fixing my runner." She gave in, still keeping her guard up.
The young man smiled. "I'm Yusei. My garage is just over there." Yusei stepped up to help the stranger wheel her runner inside his garage.
"I can do that." The young woman picked up her bike before Yusei could reach for it. "My name is Sakura, by the way."
Yusei showed Sakura inside the garage and where she could park her runner for the time being. After turning on the garage lights, Yusei got a good look at the girl he had invited into his home. Sakura had smooth, dark brown hair, with light blonde highlights, all tied up in a neat ponytail. Her outfit consisted of a black tank-top, brown cargo pants, boots and a dark pink leather jacket. But what Yusei was drawn to the most, was her shimmering pink eyes. He had never seen anything like those eyes before.
"I'm sorry, but there aren't any extra bedrooms." Yusei apologized. "I live here with my friends: Jack, Crow and Bruno."
"That's alright." Sakura nodded. She barely shuffled her feet, not yet feeling comfortable standing in the messy garage with a stranger.
"We have a couch upstairs you can sleep on." He offered, noticing that the girl and himself were showing signs of sleep deprivation.
"That should be fine."
Yusei motioned for Sakura to follow him upstairs. At first, she was hesitant, but then let Yusei guide her to the small living area. When she saw the worn out couch, Sakura wanted to crash down on it.
"I can start looking at your duel runner tomorrow morning." Yusei said before heading back up to his own bedroom.
"Yusei?" She quickly said. He turned around to face her. "Thanks."
Yusei nodded. "I'll see you in the morning, Sakura."
As the sun rose the following day, Yusei purposefully woke up early, so he could begin working on Sakura's bike. After getting dressed, the young man walked downstairs, expecting to see his guest sleeping on the couch. However, when Yusei made his way into the living area, Sakura was not there. Yusei went to the garage, wondering if Sakura had left without letting him look at her runner.
Then, Yusei saw her. "Morning, Sakura. Did you already start working?"
The young girl looked up, sitting on the floor next to her bike. "Yea. Kind of." Sakura did not know what to say to Yusei. She never liked relying on anyone for anything and always found it hard to accept charity from others. Having a kind, young man helping her out like this put Sakura on edge.
"Alright. Let me hook up your runner to my computer, so we can figure out what the problem with it is." Yusei walked over to his computer desk and started working right away.
"Okay." Sakura sat on the floor motionless. She found herself becoming infatuated by seeing Yusei work so hard on her runner. No one had done anything like this for her before.
Almost a half an hour went by, when Sakura heard another person come into the garage. "Hey, Yusei. I think I came up with a new route for the brake system that won't...um."
"Oh. Bruno, this is Sakura." Yusei looked over at the tall guy walking down the steps. "Her runner broke down in front of our garage and I promised to help her fix it. Sakura, this is Bruno. He's kind of a super genius when it comes to machines and programing. If I can't figure out what's wrong with your runner, he can."
Sakura stood up and smiled at Bruno. "It's nice to meet you, Bruno."
He smiled in return. "Likewise. How long have you had your runner for?"
"Almost two years now." She reminisced over the first time she got a chance to ride that bike, which was not two years prior. "I'm surprised it still runs. It's broken down at least three times on me this month alone."
"Let me take a look at it." Bruno walked up besides Yusei and began working alongside his friend.
Sakura stood by as Yusei and Bruno worked on her runner. It was a strange feeling to have them do all the work on her bike and for her just to stand there watching. Just as Yusei and Bruno got really invested in their work, two more people came into the garage.
"Yusei. Bruno. Have you two already...miss." The boy with the odd, orange hair stalled after seeing the pretty stranger in his home.
A taller blonde walked up besides his younger friend. "Guys, who's this girl?"
Sakura felt a bit offended by the tone of the two new boys.
Yusei glanced over at his other friends. "Guys, this is Sakura. Her runner broke down in front of our garage last night and Bruno and I are helping her repair it. And she's going to be staying with us until it's fixed." He repeated. "Sakura, these are my other friends, Jack and Crow. Let me know if they cause you any trouble."
"Trouble?" Crow walked up to the new girl with a cocky expression on his face. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'm not the one to worry about. It's the Master of Faster over here who's always screwing around."
"I beg your pardon." Jack yelled at Crow, like he did almost everyday now. "I do nothing of the sorts! You're the one who-"
"Jack Atlas, right?" Sakura butted in, sensing tense between the two boys and suddenly recognizing the taller one's face. "You used to be some turbo dueling big shot?"
"That's right." Jack stated, taking the words 'used to be' too personally. Even so, it was nice to have someone recognize him for his turbo dueling again. "So Sakura, where are you from?"
Sakura immediately tried to figure out what to say. She did not want to give them too much information about herself. "Just some small town south of the city. You've probably never even heard of it, it's so off the map."
"Well, what brings you to the big city then?" Crow asked to follow up Jack's question.
"I just needed a vacation and thought the city would be a fun place to visit." That sounded safe. A small town girl just looking for some excitement was a perfect cover. "I probably should have taken my car, though."
Throughout the rest of the day, Sakura helped Yusei and Bruno work on her runner as much as she could. Crow had to leave for his job and Jack disappeared sometime in the afternoon, which apparently happens a lot, according to the other guys. The more time Sakura spent in the garage, the more she felt comfortable around everyone, especially Yusei. It was just so easy for her to talk to him.
"What's this?"
Sakura was so fixated on watching Yusei move around her bike, the young girl almost did not hear Bruno's question about something that had fallen out of her runner's storage compartment. She glanced over at Bruno, immediately becoming startled. "It's nothing." She ran over and grabbed the book Bruno was in the mitts of picking up. "Just one of my old books I forgot to take out."
"It looks like a sketch book." Bruno keenly noticed, much to Sakura's dismay. "You can draw."
"I used to. Of course, I wasn't very good. That's why I tried taking up turbo dueling." Everything she said felt like a lie.
"What kind of deck do you use now?" Boy, Bruno was persistent.
"A fairy deck."
"Oh no." Yusei said, gaining Sakura and Bruno's attention.
"What?" She asked, believing Yusei was responding to her choice of duel cards.
"I think the problem with your runner is more serious than I originally thought." Yusei explained, trying to keep it simple to understand. "There is something wrong the coding in the mainframe, which in turn is messing up the rotation of the engine."
"Let me see." Bruno walked over to the computer. "Look, even the brake system and deck interface seem to be affected. This might take a whole lot longer to fix."
Sakura sighed. How much more was fate going to throw at her? "If you don't want to fix it anymore, I completely understand."
"No." Yusei stood up and walked over to her, with a smile on his face. "I promised to help you fix your runner and that's exactly what I'm going to do. As long as you don't mind staying with us for a bit longer."
Sakura could not wipe the smile off her face. Why couldn't all guys be like Yusei? Hell, why couldn't the whole world be like Yusei? "Really? Thank you so much, Yusei."
Without thinking, Sakura wrapped her arms around him.