Well hello dearest readers, it has been awhile since I've actually written anything on (quite excited actually XD) Having recently gotten into anime (blame my friends entirely for it, seriously I'm at university and I'm swooning over cartoon men…HOT cartoon men, but cartoon men nonetheless) I decided to write this Yuri! On Ice fanfic. Now I know that my OC, Osha Nikiforov isn't technically a canon character, but in my head (and the heads of my friends 'cause I have actually drawn fanart of her) she is – so please any comments on how I can improve her will be greatly appreciated :)
(To check out some of my drawings of Osha, check out my Pinterest – daisy0754)
Anyway, I will stop chatting now and let you get a-reading. I really hope you enjoy this story.
"The Charms of a Nikiforov"
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters, nor the universe of Yuri! On Ice – they all belong to Kubo 3, nor do I own any of the famous skaters, jumps, music etc. I only own my OC's and this story.
…
Prologue
***November 19th, 1995***
"Why is she so small, Papa?"
"Because she's only a baby, Vitya."
"But that other baby we saw was bigger than she is."
"Well, she was born a month too early, son, so she will be smaller the other babies here."
The boy, who had been scrutinizing the small, slug-shaped object – who appeared to be lying in a glass tank – opened his mouth and "oh-ed" at his mother's words. It had been a long day for the Nikiforov family. Their son, Victor, had been away at camp – for junior, Russian figure skaters – when his mother had gone into labour. The ambulance had arrived before he had, with his father, and by the time they'd reached the right ward, his new sister had been born. It was too soon, Papa had said to Victor…they hadn't even finished painting the nursery yet.
Stepping up to the glass box again, Victor stared at the blob who was meant to be his "sister". It didn't look like a girl, or a boy for that matter, just a pinky-yellowish lump swaddled in a white muslin and wearing a pink cap over what appeared to be some silvery-white tufts of fluff. Yes he was happy he now had his baby sibling, but he had expected…a bit more than the slug.
"So, can I hold her yet, Mama?"
"No, not yet, Vitya."
The blue-eyed seven-year-old scrunched up his nose and pouted. His long silver locks fell over his eyes as he huffed, which caused both of his parents to laugh. His father placed a large, heavy hand on the top of his head and ruffled his hair fondly. Hearing the slug stir and begin gurgling, his mother stood and scooped up her newest child before settling on the bed to feed her.
"Don't worry, you can hold her as soon as she is big enough, ok?"
"You promise?"
"I do."
This generated a smile from her son, whose ears turned pink with excitement.
"Would you like to sit next to me?"
"Yes, please, Mama!"
Victor dropped his skating bag by his father's feet and scurried over to the hospital bed. He hopped up onto the crispy-clean sheets and looked down at his baby sister. She was cuter up close, he gave her that…even if part of her did look like their grampa. While his father thanked the doctor, his mother dropped her voice to speak to him.
"You're going to be a good big brother, yes? You're going to help us take care of Osha?"
Blue eyes widened and his head nodded vigorously. He kissed her cheek, and then the pink cap, before nodded again with a firm "mhm".
"I'm going to be the best big brother ever. I'll look after Oshi, Mama! I'll teach her how to skate and then she can come to competitions with me, Yakov and Georgi! She can help me with when I get my poodle and we can go on walks by the water."
His mother chuckled before kissing the top of his head a few times, mumbling into his hair as his father came over and told Victor it was time to let her rest.
"I think she will love that, Vitya."
Victor stroked Osha's tiny hat before kissing his mother once more on the cheek. He then jumped down from the bed and ran over to his father, waving and shouting "goodbye" as he left. As they left the maternity ward he thought back to his little slug-sister and made a promise.
Don't worry, Oshi. I'll always protect and look after you. That's a promise.
*** 17 years later ***
***Figure Skating Series, Grand Prix Final, Zurich, Switzerland, 2012***
Deep breaths now, Victor. Now isn't the time to get nervous…no I'm not nervous, I'm excited. This programme is going to stun the audience, as it has in China, France and Moscow. I can do this, I can dazzle them with changes I've made to my programme. I don't think Yakov was happy I kept the changes to myself, but I am glad that I have. The theme is "Mystery" afterall.
"Welcome back to the Figure Skating Series Grand Prix Final, coming to you live from Zurich, I'm Birger Heldschaer and with me I have, retired US skater Scott Hamilton. Welcome Scott!"
"Thanks Birger, glad to be here. Hello there, folks, we regret, again, the clash in schedules with the pair skating programmes here and the men's singles free skate in the next rink, but thank you for choosing to watch these young skaters make history tonight!"
I'm sad that I'll miss Oshi's skate with Jean, tonight. I promised her I would be there to support her, but then the officials went and messed up the schedule. I told her Mother and Father would see her pairs performance, they wouldn't want me there anyway.
She was disappointed, I could tell, but I've promised her, wholeheartedly, that I will watch her in the singles. My season will be finished by then and hopefully I'll have a third gold, and Oshi will be getting her first as a senior. I am so proud of her, she's come so far.
"That we do, Scott, that we do. And back to the event at hand! Now, making their senior debut as a pair, we have Russia's Osha Nikiforov, aged 17, and Canada's Jean-Jacques Leroy, aged 16. It just so happens that in the next rink, Osha's brother, two-time world champion, Victor Nikiforov is going for his third gold medal in the sport, against Switzerland's own Christophe Giacometti. Your thought's Scott?"
I wonder how Makkachin is doing? I asked Mrs Zillanov from downstairs to look after him, but even then I still miss him. Now is not the time to be thinking about Makkachin. The music has started.
"Well, Birger, Osha herself has had a glowing junior career and hopes to join her brother in senior success – participating in the women's finals in two days. As for Leroy, he did very well in coming second in skate Canada, but was unable to qualify for the men's singles. It is truly inspiring to see a pair who not only work well together, but can also skate well on their own.
Chris' skate was impressive. He is becoming more and more sexual every year…is he trying to seduce me? Haha, he knows he isn't my type, but we do enjoy the flirting. Mother and Father would love that…into my first quad, combination triple lutz, quadruple toe-loop. Fantastika!
"Well said. And here they are Osha Nikiforov and Jean-Jacques Leroy. Their theme is "Fantasies of Love". They're skating to the song "Angels", by Robbie Williams. Now it's been rumoured that they've planned 3 lifts, plus a combination lift towards the beginning of this programme…now many might see this combination lift as being quite chancy seeing as they've never landed it in practice. Scott, what do you think?"
That quad salchow could've been cleaner, but it doesn't matter, I'm saving up for the quad flip in the start of my second half…right after this Ina Bauer.
"It's hard to say. The lifts they've got planned are of the highest difficulty, but adding a combination in puts extra pressure on them both as skaters. Whether or not their coach, Andres Castello, decides to remove the combo from the programme is something we, as an audience, will have to wait and see."
That was beautiful, no? The audience is going crazy, I can barely catch my breath over all the noise. I can hear Yakov though, he sounds happy, but I still see a lecture at the kiss-and-cry. All I have to do now is wait for the scores, everyone has been really good this year, so it will be difficult to get on the podium.
"We won't have to be waiting much longer. The programme is about to begin."
"And Victor Nikiforov of Russia has done it again, winning gold here at Zurich, making this his third consecutive Grand Prix title! Hans Tennenbaum of Germany takes the silver and Christophe Giacometti takes bronze in his home country. This has truly been a thrilling competition in the world of Men's Figure Skating, and I am sure we are all looking forward to seeing what the next season has in store."
Victor smiled widely as he waved at the crowds, kissing the cold, gold metal between his fingers. He then lowered it and stroked the soft petals of the carnations in his bouquet. Hans offered a hand.
"Congratulations, Victor, you are a worthy winner."
His English was tough to understand under his thick accent, but Victor smiled all the same and shook his hand. Chris then nudged him and he and Victor shared a handshake.
"Ooh, congratulations Victor. I hate to be beaten again by you. I will just have to work much much harder to beat you next year."
"Thanks, Chris. Thank you, Hans. It has been a pleasure skating with and against you, I look forward to next year."
Hans shook his head as the three of them slowly skated towards the edge.
"Sadly, this is the last year for me, I'm retiring."
"No?"
The taller man nodded, still grinning through his thick yellow beard.
"It has been fun while it lasted, but all things must come to an end, and my skating career is one of them. At 32, it has already lasted longer than I imagined, but I wish you boys the best of luck in future competitions."
They all stepped off the ice and Victor waved as the others went to speak to their own coaches and separate news crews.
"VITYA!"
He turned around at the sound of Yakov's voice and beamed, eyes closed as he was smiling so much. He could hear the older man puffing heavily as he ran towards him, an unusual reaction by Yakov's standards.
"Yakov! What is it? Why are you running? You're not actually going to initiate the hug this time? If you did I would be questioning whether or not you were really my coach or not. Haha!"
"Vitya!"
Victor stopped laughing and opened his eyes, looking down at his coach. Yakov was holding his mobile between his hands, which were shaking…Yakov's hands never shook.
"Vitya…there was an accident at the other rink…Oshka…VITYA! VICTOR LISTEN!"
The medal hit the ground with a heavy and desolate thud. He didn't hear anymore, Yakov's shouts, the screaming fans, the microphones being thrust at him. He ran, falling in his skates which he soon wrestled off and replaced with his trainers. The gold-bladed skates were cast behind him as he bolted for the doors, nearly hitting those who chased behind him. His ears were ringing, heart thudding and legs aching as he charged across the road towards the back of the second ice rink; not even caring if cars were coming at his. The air around Victor was bitter and icy, it was November after all and his birthday was coming up in the next month, but he didn't feel it as he ran.
Skidding around the corner, he slipped on his side and grazed his hands on the pavement.
"Krasivaya!"
He was soon back up and then he saw it, the ambulance. Charging towards it, Victor saw more flashing cameras and heard loud and concerned voices. He saw Jean standing by the ambulance, so ran up to him.
"Victor?!"
The younger boy had been crying, his hair was dishevelled and his outfit was faintly stained with something that could've been blood. Panic entered Victor's head and he grabbed the other boy's shoulders.
"Osha?! Where is she?! What happened?! Where is my little sister?!"
"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down."
A paramedic placed a hand on his back, but he roughly shoved them back.
"Like hell I'm going to calm! Where is my sister?!"
"She's in the ambulance, si- Sir!"
Victor, dragging Jean behind him, shoved his way into the ambulance. Horror struck him through the stomach as he saw his tiny sister lying on the ambulance trolley...
She was unconscious, her long silver hair crusted with blood from a cut on her forehead. It was her leg though, that had Victor's stomach churning. The bone inside looked as if it had shattered, as well as snapped. A large spiked protruded menacingly around the area where her knee should've been and part of the shin around her ankle had been torn where it had broken through…she was still wearing her skates.
The ride to the hospital was blurred. Jean sat next to him, crying, muttering to himself through his own sobbing. Their parents followed in the car behind, neither of them having spoken to him yet. Now it was just Victor, alone in the hospital room, watching his sister sleep. Her skating partner was sat outside, too in shock to move, and his parents were talking to the doctor.
It was too quiet; the only sound was her laboured breathing and the occasion "plip" from the IV line. He suddenly saw her as if it were the first time, again. The little slug swaddled in blankets and barely big enough for even him to hold. Tears pierced the back of his eyes and began rolling down his cheeks.
"Oshi…"
His voice came out in barely a whisper as he sat down and touched his sisters hand. There was no response.
Why did this happen? To her of all people…on the night I get another title…my sisters skating career is over?
...
Russian Dictionary
Vitya - Victor
Oshi/Oshka - Osha
Mama - Mum
Papa - Dad
Fantastika - Fantastic
Krasivaya - shit