The night was clear and dark, light spilling from the overhead street lights. The streets in downtown weren't bare; Seattle had as much of a nightlife as any other large city, but some of the smaller alleys were pretty lifeless at this time of night. Most of the shops directly on Union were closed for the evening, but a few of the smaller bars and such were still open. However; none of these mattered. At least; not to a young ravenette speeding down 3rd Street at almost two o'clock in the morning.

Yuuri's breaths came out in heavy pants as he bolted down the hill, glancing every so often at the figure running behind him. Adrenaline thrummed in his veins, and his face was turning a beet red color. He struggled to pick up the pace, launching himself down towards Union with every ounce of strength he had left. The noise of nearby cars beat distractedly in his ears, and Yuuri screamed.

"Stop!" shouted an indistinct voice behind him. Yuuri didn't dare to stop; for all he knew, this could be the man that had been following him all day.

Yuuri turned right on Union, speeding west toward first as fast as he could possibly go. His nails were digging into his palms as his heartbeat started to speed up, if that was even possible. The whisper of the wind in his ears, the pain in his left thigh; it all was starting to become too much.

Yuuri could feel the pain, the numbness, racing up his legs. He knew now that he was out of strength; he was running on pure adrenaline.

And as soon as that was gone, he would be done for.

The pounding of Yuuri's feet on the hard cement sidewalk was starting to come less frequently, and Yuuri finally noticed that he was slowing down. The thought terrified him. He tried to force himself to move faster; to keep going, but he knew that his tank was almost empty.

In a last-ditch effort, Yuuri scanned the area around him, searching for a hiding place in his immediate area as he struggled along the street. His eyes flitted over innumerable useless dumpsters, a variety of windowed (and very locked) cars, and finally, a narrow alleyway filled with trash. Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief, pooling the last of his energy into finding a small hiding spot to wedge himself into before finally letting everything out.

Yuuri gasped in numerous breaths, crying into his hands as he tried to regain feeling in his limbs. He didn't even truly understand what was happening; only that his life was on the line.

"Yuuri?" Yuuri's head shot up. He would recognize that soft, lilting voice anywhere; it was Viktor's voice. Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to stand, when he decided instead to sneak a glance through a small crack in his defenses.

Viktor was there; yes, that was for certain. This surprised Yuuri, but would definitely not have frightened him. Had he been the one who had chased Yuuri from the Starbucks up on Pike and Minor Ave, Yuuri would have never run in the first place.

However, he also knew that Viktor would never have chased him anyways. The man was far faster than him; he would have been upon him in less time than it would have taken Yuuri to run down past the Paramount theater on 9th.

When Yuuri peeped through the gap, he saw that Viktor was not alone. Three heavily armed officers stood near him, two on the side while one held a gun to his shiny silver head. Viktor had his hands up in surrender, his brown gloved palms facing forwards and his trench coat riding up on his shoulders. Viktor sighed deeply, but Yuuri could hear how it shook.

He was terrified.

"Yuuri," Viktor whispered again, reassuringly this time. He could hear how forced his calm was; his eyes were closed, and his face was screwed up in pain.

As Yuuri did a once over of Viktor, he noticed the man didn't seemed harmed; at least, not visibly. Other than a slight limp and a bright purple black eye, Yuuri didn't see any other injuries. He blinked many times, trying to make sense of this horrible situation.

Just then, Viktor opened his mouth to say something. He started, his voice hoarse and loud, but before he could say anymore, one of the uniformed men brought the butt of their gun down on the back of Viktor's head. He crumpled to the floor, shaking, and Yuuri flinched as his body hit the pavement.

"Okay, I am so done with this. It's taken long enough," the distinctly feminine voice muttered, before quickly raising its voice and calling.

"So, Yuuri; if you don't come out now I'm gonna shoot your boyfriend in the head. How does that sound?" She kicked her foot out, rolling Viktor over face up.

"Directly in between those oh-so-pretty eyes of his. Do you really want to see his blood run across the alley?" she said nonchalantly. She cracked her knuckles, leaning her head in either direction.

Viktor's eyes opened on the floor, and he gasped in a deep breath, ready to scream something. Before he could get a word out, however, the officer put her boot in his mouth.

"Oh, no you don't, honey. I have had ENOUGH of you screaming." Her voice was dastardly calm, nothing about her voice or body language hinting at her true objective.

"Okay, Sweetie!" she shouted, obviously now addressing Yuuri. "If you aren't out here by the count of three, I'm shooting this doll." He cocked her gun, pulling her boot from Viktor's mouth and delivering a harsh kick to his side before aiming the gun at Viktor's face.

"Don't... Yuuri... I'm begging you..." Viktor choked out, clutching his side.

"Oh, Hun, stop MOVING. It's only gonna make it harder to aim." She put her foot on Viktor's stomach, pressing down and immobilizing him.

"Okay, Yuuri, I'm counting to three! One..." Yuuri started to shake in his hiding spot, clenching his fists.

"Two..." Yuuri's heartbeat, which had calmed down considerably, started to pound in his chest. She won't do it, she won't do it, she won't... the woman leveled her gun.

But what do I know about her?

Yuuri made his decision.

"Okay, thr-"

"DON'T SHOOT!" screamed Yuuri, tears streaming down his cheeks as he climbed out of his hiding spot. He lurched forwards, holding his hands up high into the air as he walked towards the trio and Viktor.

"Ah... well, well, well, what do we have here?" she pulled the gun away from Viktor's face and cocked her hips to the side, placing her hand, and the gun, against her hip.

"Yuuri... why...?" Viktor muttered, looking completely desolate. The woman kicked his side, making him curl up and spit blood. Yuuri cringed.

"I'll... I'll do whatever you want," Yuuri forced out, clenching his teeth. "If you promise not to hurt him." The woman bowed mockingly, the gun in front of her belly.

"Of course, your Majesty." Her face was hidden behind a mask, but Yuuri knew she was smiling.

"Just... please. Promise me." He knew that a bounty hunter's word meant nothing, but he asked for it anyways. He didn't know why; it just felt right, somehow.

"Fine, fine, I promise." She laughed, the sound echoing through the mostly empty night. Yuuri glanced up at the stars momentarily, wondering if he'd ever see them again, wherever he was going.

All he knew was that whatever happened, he didn't expect to come out of it alive.

..oo00oo..

6 months earlier, University of Washington Campus

Seattle, Washington USA

11:36am, PT (Pacific Time)

"Yuuri Katsuki," called a deep, masculine voice, and Yuuri came to, unsure of his surroundings. The area around him was dark, but he could feel wetness below his mouth, and knew his arms were around his head. Moreover, the distinct chatter around him made him nervous.

"Monsieur Chulanont, pouvez-vous reveiller Monsieur Katsuki [Mr. Chulanont, could you wake up Mr. Katsuki?]? Je pense qu'il c'est rendormi [He seems to have fallen back asleep]," called Prof. Yakov disdainfully, and Yuuri felt a tap on his shoulder. The ravenette bolted upright, the bright lights of his French classroom making him wince. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the white spots from his vision as he heard the man to his left begin to speak.

"Pardonnez-moi, monsieur Yakov; je m'appelle Viktor Nikiforov. Phichit a été transféré... il y a deux jours je pense? [Pardon me, Mr. Yakov; my name is Viktor Nikiforov. Phichit transferred... I think it's been two days?]".

"Je suis désolé; J'ai oublié! Tu sais; je me suis très vieux, donc j'oublie beaucoup. [I'm so sorry; I forgot! You know; I'm very old, so I forget a lot.]" Yuuri could see the other students in the class desperately trying to understand the conversation; Viktor and Yakov were speaking null-perfect French. Fortunately, French came fairly easy to Yuuri; it took him barely a moment to register Viktor and Yakov's words.

"Wait, Phichit transferred?! Why?!" Yuuri shouted. When the whole class started laughing, Yuuri turned bright pink and shrunk back to into his seat. However, Viktor didn't laugh. He just looked at Yuuri again with a curious expression on his face, finally turning back to Yakov as he started to talk again at the front of the class.

Yuuri had assumed his question had gone completely ignored, and was fine with that. He honestly didn't care about what he did and didn't pick up on, as long as the attention wasn't on him. He figured that Viktor wouldn't talk to him; the man looked super athletic, built for some sort of long distance running, or perhaps even... ballet?

Yuuri pushed away the thought. Never would someone like Viktor ever be caught in something akin to a leotard. He looked too popular and perfect for that. No; he was probably a basketball player, or something of the sort.

Yuuri squeaked in surprise when a small, immaculately folded note was pushed onto his desk by eager hands.

Yuuri turned to look at Viktor as he picked up the note, but the man was staring intently up at the board, ignoring Yuuri altogether. Or, would be, if he hadn't just passed Yuuri a note.

Yuri,

I thought you'd probably want an answer to your question.

Phichit transferred because he was having difficulty keeping up and decided to try out an easier class. This class was full before he left, so with him gone I was able to get in, in case your wondering.

XX Viktor

Yuuri read and re-read the note, thinking about his reply. Finally, he pulled out a large piece of lined paper and set the ink against the sheet intently.

Viktor,

First of all, thank you for letting me know.

Second of all, my name had two u's. Yuuri.

XX Yuuri

Yuuri carefully folded the new sheet, readying to pass it to Viktor, but then he thought of something.

P.S: You aren't an English major, are you?

Yuuri then refolded the sheet and tucked it under Viktor's arm, who snatched it up quickly. His eyes flitted over the paper quickly, but when he read the last line, he merely frowned. Quickly writing down his answer on the same sheet, Viktor passed the note back to Yuuri.

Yuuri,

Of course. Any time.

I'm sorry for spelling you're name wrong; I'm really bad with foreign names. Plus, I have a friend named Yuri who spells it like that. So... easy mistake, right?

And no, I'm a Law Major. Why do you ask?

XX Viktor

Yuuri couldn't help but snicker at his obvious confusion using the words 'your' and 'you're'. Yuuri clicked his pen, smiling from ear to ear.

Viktor,

That's great! I'm a law major too; came from Japan to study law here. And you're right, easy mistake.

And as for the English Major; you used the wrong Your/'re. Your is possessive, and you're is a word used to describe a person. However; that's also an easy mistake to make.

So, your accent doesn't sound like it's from around here; where are you from?

XX Yuuri

Yuuri passed the note back to Viktor, who opened the note quickly under the cover of his left arm. Then, out of nowhere, his cheeks turned a bright pink, and he blushed. Viktor picked up his pen quickly, smiling slightly, then he quickly shoved the note back on Yuuri's desk and turned an even darker shade of red. He shoved his chin in his hand, covering his lazy grin from Mr. Yakov.

Yuuri was now more than curious to read the note. He opened it quickly, tearing the paper on one of the folds as he struggled to open it.

Yuuri,

Thank you for letting me know. I've been wondering why I get a C+ on all of my English papers 😜.

XoXo Viktor

F.Y.I: About where I'm from... I think that's a topic we should discuss over dinner. If you're up for it, of course.

Directly below his name there was a phone number, scrawled in messy handwriting. It looked like Viktor had been on edge about asking him out; Yuuri found it adorable. He quickly wrote back, saying yes to everything and quickly putting Viktor's number in his phone.

When Viktor read the single word, a huge, beautiful smile broke out on his face, and he smiled. Yuuri couldn't help the grin that worked its way around his face, and it stayed there the rest of the day.

Yuuri wasn't scared about the date. He had a hunch that with someone seemingly so perfect...

How could anything go wrong?

Ohohohohohoooo... Okay this story idea has been bugging me for a while, and 'Je regret rien!'.

Also, I just couldn't resist putting some french in there; I'm only 14, yet I've been studying french for nearly a decade. I love the language, and I just HAD to put it in there.

Anyways; I'll probably get another chapter out by this afternoon; so soon, right?!

Hope you enjoyed!

P.S. I am not sorry for my cliffhangers and cliches. It's just one of those things that I love to do, because no matter that so many others have done it it the past; it will still put my readers on edge.

And I LIKE my readers on edge ;).

~Viktor