"What a stupid boy he was. Loving a wild thing terrified of her own shadow."

Loving a Wild Thing

Juan Carlos "Juice" Ortiz and Yuriko Juliyah Itami

Even a dog may bump into a pole if he is walking

CHAPTER ONE

Beta'd by Sparroe51

"Alright, alright! I'm in the aisle now. What did you want again? O-okay…yeah, I'm looking now. I don't see it. No, I'm saying I don't see it. They ran out. Yeah…yeah. Did you want something else? Then I'll be back soon."

The hushed conversation Yuri was having with her best friend Rosa came to an abrupt end as she pressed the red button on her phone and stared down at the screen, "Always so pushy…" she sighed before rolling her eyes and slipping the sleek white phone back into her jacket's pocket. Her hazel eyes scanned the shelves as she slowly made her way down the cold drink aisle of the gas station.

For a moment, she was so engrossed with finding a drink that she didn't notice the pair of eyes that followed her. She came to an abrupt stop, her tied up hair coming forward to tickle her cheek as she stood in silence in front of a row of bottled soda. It didn't take a genius to know just whose eyes were fixated on her. The moment Yuri walked in, the cashier instantly zoned in on her without trying to be inconspicuous about it. She was honestly surprised that he didn't just jump the counter and attack her. He did however make some kind of approving grunt as she walked past him. She ignored him for the most part, but the gas station was dead silent, and it wasn't hard to piece together that every little sound she heard was him trying to get a better look at her as she made her way up and down the aisles.

The thought of being alone in a gas station out in the middle of nowhere with this guy while a friend who is 6 months pregnant waits in the car had terrible scenarios playing out in Yuri's mind, but she silently reassured herself that if he tried anything with her, she could take one of these cans of beans and bash his face in.

As the scenario played out in her mind, she ran her fingers over the top of some cans, "I wonder which will work better…refried or black…" she mumbled to herself before her eyes cut over to the man behind the counter for a brief second. She caught him in the middle of staring at her ass, but instead of calling him out on it, she quickly made her way behind some shelves she knew he couldn't see over.

It was then that Yuri had called Rosa to ask about what kind of drink she wanted. When she was unable to find it, she shrugged, grabbed two vitamin waters, and made her way to the cashier. At this point, she figured it would have been obvious that she didn't appreciate the blatant checking out this guy was doing, so when she started laying out her items, she wasn't expecting his hand to shoot out and "accidentally" land atop of hers when she placed the drinks down.

"Careful!" he exclaimed with a lecherous laugh as his hand lingered over her smaller one. Apparently one of the drinks was going to fall over, and he just had to act fast or who knows what would have happened. Yuri breathed in deep and gave him a small, uncomfortable smile as she pulled her hand back. He apparently liked her reaction because he chuckled and leaned closer which only caused her to move further back. Once everything was on the counter, he took his sweet time ringing it all up, and as each beep was heard, the young woman could feel her patience melting away.

'Really wish I didn't have this much shit…' Yuri thought as she idly began looking around to keep from making eye contact with him. "Almost forgot. I got something else, hold on." She said as she remembered that Rosa had asked for Sun Chips. As she quickly made her way to the chips, the low rumble of a car pulling up registered in the back of her mind. The bell dinged just as she bent down to look for the chips. Yuri didn't bother looking up to see who entered as the thought of Rosa blowing up on her for forgetting a bag of chips had her focused on finding some Sun Chips. The last time she forgot to pick up something she asked for, there was a huge argument before Rosa started breaking whatever belonged to her. In the end, Yuri had lost a phone, a T.V, and a lap top all over a jar of pickles.

As she straightened back up, bag of Sun Chips in hand, she heard the husky voice of who she assumed was the man that pulled up moments ago. It was just her luck that this guy had come here to fuck someone up. Her gaze landed on the blond just as his fist connected with the jaw of the man in yellow. A startled gasp escaped her mouth as she jumped back and came into contact with the metal shelves behind her. She watched in stunned silence as the blond continued his assault on the fallen man.

This wasn't the first time Yuri had seen violence like this. Actually, it was part of the reason she left Japan. That was almost five years ago though. She hadn't seen anything close to this since moving to the United States as she made sure to avoid dangerous or even questionable situations. It was the long absence of this degree of violence and the fact that it was completely unexpected that had her stumbling back.

Movement from her right caught her attention and had her whipping her head in that direction. An older man wearing the same vest as the blond was keeping the cashier back as the blond beat the other man. A thousand thoughts swam through her head as she watched the one-sided brawl.

Were these guys in some kind of gang? Was this a rivalry thing? Maybe the guy in yellow stole something or owed money? Or maybe this was a robbery?

Yuri watched with wide eyes as the older man moved behind the counter and removed what she assumed was the security tape while the store owner was too busy trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Her attention stayed focused on the cashier now as he started yelling at the blond. Despite making his way towards the exit which just happened to be behind her, the cashier continued to follow the gruff younger male all the while screaming obscenities and talking about his precious store.

'Shit, shit, shit! I saw everything. I'm a witness! He's gonna kill me!' Yuri panicked as he continued to get closer and closer. He was walking fast, and in the back of her mind, she recalled the older man moving behind her although she never saw him pulling out his gun. Usually Yuri was a very calm and collected person, but knowing that she may just die buying snacks for her pregnant friend was enough to destroy her cool front. Just as the cashier was grabbing the younger male, Yuri saw the beaten male stand up with a gun aimed in their direction. The man said something that she couldn't quite make out before he began shooting. She screamed and got down like everyone else, but before she was even able to hit the ground, she was being pulled back by a strong arm wrapped around her small waist. A gloved hand cut off her shriek of terror as she fought against whoever was holding her.

"Stop! I'm not tryna hurt ya!"

It took a moment for the words to register before Yuri hesitated elbowing the man and instead watched the blond wrestle with the armed man. It all happened so fast that she didn't even see the cashier leave momentarily to get the hidden axe and bury it deep into the skull of the gunman just as he was about to finish off the younger male. She lay pressed against the older male; her breath ragged and her hair framing her face messily as the hairband had snapped sometime during their little scuffle.

"W-what the f-fuck?" Yuri questioned in disbelief as she stared in horror as the gunman slumped against the glass, leaving a trail of smeared blood as he slowly fell. The frantic yells of the cashier were drowned out by her heartbeat as she stared in horror at the dead body. Sure she had seen some bloody fights, but never anything like this.

"Huh?" Yuri breathed as an uncomfortable hotness brought her back to reality. The stranger's arm was still tightly wrapped around her, only it was now over her chest. Despite this, she was still able to push his arm aside just enough to touch at the bullet wound on her shoulder. The adrenaline rushing through her veins coupled with watching a man get axed had her out of it. It wasn't registering that she had just been shot, and neither was the pain.

'Why am I bleeding?' Yuri thought as she stared down at her bloody fingertips. The man holding her said something to the blond; called him "Jacky Boy", but his name was the least of her worries.

"Holy shit."

"H-Hey, he's bleeding!" Half-sack exclaimed as he stared at Chibs' bloody sleeve.

"Oh shit!" Juice cursed as he and the prospect hurried into the gas station. Jax turned with a look of surprise, frustration and worry. Chibs removed his arm and saw the blood on his sleeve but saw no kind of wound, "It's the gal, she's been shot." he replied in almost an annoyed tone with a hint of worry.

"What do we do?!" Half-sack asked as he kneeled down next to the unknown girl to examine the wound. Yuri eyed him with a blank expression as she was still in a daze. Her seemingly calm demeanor caught everyone off guard as her shirt continued to darken with her own blood. It wasn't until the searing hot pain set in that she came back to her senses.

"Fuck!" Yuri cried as she clasped her hand over the wound. Jax ran a hand through his hair and looked back at the cashier as he dialed 911.

"We can't just leave her here! She's seen our faces and shit! She could ID us and we could all go down for this." Juice spoke animatedly as he looked down at the bleeding girl. Jax shot him a look before looking back at the cashier. The idea of killing him to keep from reporting them flashed through his mind, but he quickly dismissed the dark thought as Half-sack spoke.

"We can't drop her off at a hospital, they'll ask questions. We gotta take her back with us." Half-sack chimed in as he spun around to open the destroyed door. Just as Jax was turning back to everyone, Yuri began to slump against Chibs, "Great, she's fainted." the Irishman sighed as he looked up at Jax. He shook his head and gave Chibs this 'Could shit get any worse?' look before bending down and picking the unknown girl up gingerly. It took them seconds to pull out of there with the injured woman in the back between Juice and Half-sack.

The drive back to Charming was a tense one as Yuri's soft and uneven breathing was the only thing heard in the otherwise quiet car.

Yuri's eyes slowly opened as the sunlight broke past the curtains and landed on her face. She blinked a few times slowly before she heard someone stir within the room. She wanted to tense, to shoot up into a sitting position, but it just wasn't happening.

"You're awake. I was starting to think you may have gone into a coma or somethin'!" Half-sack laughed awkwardly as he stood and made his way over to her. Yuri's first instinct would be to sit up, but her mind was hazy, and her body felt like it was made of stone. The young woman closed her eyes tightly for a few moments before trying to turn her head. A twinge of pain shot down her side and she winced, which made Half-sack take a hasty step towards her before realizing he should probably get Jax and Chibs.

Before she knew it, Yuri was left alone to suffer through the pain in her right shoulder. "A-ah!" she cried out softly before gasping as her failed attempt at sitting caused her even more pain. Eventually she leaned back, out of breath and completely exhausted. She lay there, breathing heavily with eyes shut tightly trying to comprehend what was going on.

'Why can't I remember what happened? I feel like I've been drugged.' Yuri questioned as memories of past experiences and her life back in Japan came rushing back all at once. A pathetic cry escaped her lips just as Clay, Jax and Chibs entered the room. Yuri would have like to have opened her eyes, but they were suddenly heavy, and she had little to no energy after her attempts at sitting up and moving.

"Like I said, we didn't know what to do." Jax finally spoke as he and Clay stood at the foot of the bed. Chibs moved to the left side so he could get a better look at her. Yuri could sense that someone was close to her, and flinched reflexively and let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"I removed tha bullet. She's just a bit weak now, lost alotta blood. She'll be okay though, just give 'er a day or two." Chibs said as he stepped back and examined her wound from afar.

"If she wasn't shot, we could have left her there and convinced her not to say anything. She was bleeding out, and leaving her there could have blown back on us if she lived to ID us. We had to bring her back with us, Clay." Jax spoke as he watched Clay closely for some kind of sign.

The older male sighed and shook his head, "What were you doin' there anyways?!" he yelled which caused the quiet Yuri to flinch at the sudden loudness. Jax took a deep breath, "Some asshole tried to run us off the road earlier, and I saw him at the gas station. I just roughed him up a bit, but he had a gun and pulled it on us." He replied honestly with a rather straight face.

"The fucking cashier was tha one who finished 'im off. Axed 'im in tha head!" Chibs finished as he crossed his arms over his chest. Clay looked to Chibs for a moment before looking back down to Yuri and sighing with a small shake of his head as if to say 'You gotta be shittin' me'.

"And now we got a shot up girl who's a witness to all this shit." Clay stated as he leaned forward and rested his hands on the bed board. Jax looked over to Yuri who laid in silence, "When she's up to it, we'll talk to her." he said before looking to Chibs and Clay. It was silent for a moment before Clay straightened back up, "She can't stay here much longer. Don't need her knowing anymore about us. Once she's good to go, drop her off wherever she wants, and put an end to all this bullshit." he replied before turning and leaving. Jax and Chibs followed behind, "I'll have the prospect watch her while she's here, y'know, make sure she stays in that room and doesn't die. Last thing we need is some stranger dying in my bed." Jax spoke as they walked.

Yuri's eyes shot open as the sudden realness and memories of what happened at the gas station seemed to revive her somewhat. She still didn't have the energy or will to sit up, but she certainly wasn't looking like a dead body anymore as color had returned to her face. "Shit, shit, shit! What do I do?" she cursed in Japanese as her breathing became heavy and panic set in. It was obvious that these people weren't normal. They took her in, patched her up, and then decided that she needed to be convinced not to talk about what happened like they had done this all before.

"I need to get out of here!" Yuri spoke in English as she struggled to just turn over onto her uninjured side. When she was finally on her side, she buried her face into a pillow, and breathed in the sickening scent of sweat and perfume. The smell had her stomach turning flips as she tried to fight the pain and get out of bed, but her body just wasn't responding the way she wanted it to. They really had given her some kind of drug, most likely a sedative, and it was just beginning to wear off but was still strong enough to hinder her movements.

Outside the room Yuri was resting in, Juice was tapping away at his computer. The clubhouse had been a bit busy with the unexpected arrival of Yuri. Gemma didn't agree to it at first. Most likely because of all the trouble she was having with Wendy and Tara, she figured Yuri would just be another headache, but she must have taken pity on the girl and eventually stopped complaining about her. Just yesterday, she even helped redress her wound, though it was because she saw how much trouble Chibs was having doing it alone despite Tig being there. Wasn't like he was being much help as he kept eyeing the girl's unconscious body. Gemma may not be the friendliest of people, but she wasn't gonna leave a defenseless girl with Tig no matter how much she loved him and disliked strangers.

Besides Gemma, no one really focused too much attention on Yuri. The Asian girl had been in and out of sleep during the first three days. For the most part, Chibs was the one keeping an eye on her as it was a bit of touch and go for the first two days. She had lost a lot of blood, and her body had gone into shock once, but somehow Yuri pulled through, and come the third day, the worst was over. After that, she was able to be left alone for most of the day. It had become Gemma's unspoken job – whether she liked it or not - to check in on Yuri from time to time.

It was now the fifth day of her staying in the clubhouse, and Juice's curiosity was eating at him. She remained nameless to them, which meant he wasn't able to do a search on her. She wasn't carrying any ID on her either. Only thing she had was her phone, and that got crushed to bits by accident when she was being moved in and operated on. He had pretty much hit a wall when it came to figuring out this mystery woman.

'I don't even know what she is…Chinese? Japanese?' he thought as he stared at his computer screen, "It's been five days, and no one has reported her missing." he finished aloud as he leaned back into his chair, "Who is she?" he added in an irritated tone as he narrowed his eyes at the blinking cursor.

"You talkin' about that Asian chick?" Half-sack asked as he let the crate of alcohol fall onto the bar counter with a loud bang. Juice spun around in his chair, "Yeah! It's really eating at me. I wanna know who she is." He replied with a sigh. Half-sack smiled deviously, "You got a thing for her already?" he teased as he began pulling out the alcohol and restocking the shelves. Juice stood and scoffed as he made his way over to the prospect, "It's not that! I just don't like not knowing about the people we welcome into our clubhouse, y'know?" he replied as he looked to the smaller male with disbelief, "It's not always about sex!" he added with a laugh, which caused Half-sack to do the same, "Don't fucking lie." Half-sack

said before grabbing the crate and moving it aside just as Clay emerge from the back followed by Jax and Chibs.

"Hey, prospect. Keep an eye on the girl. She's moving around now." Jax commanded as he past the two at the bar. Half-sack nodded his head and finished shelving the alcohol before moving past Juice and towards the back room.

"I knew it!" Half-sack laughed as he looked behind him to see Juice following him.

The darker male just smiled and shook his head, "That ain't it! I just wanna see if I can get her name." he replied as they made their way down the hallway.

A dull thud coming from the room Yuri was staying in caught their attention, and they quickened their pace. Half-sack flung the door open just in time to see the injured girl on the floor trying to fix herself to sit upright. Her cheeks were flushed pink from exertion, and she was breathing heavily as she looked up at them weakly. Neither of them would admit it, but the sight of her hunched over form and breathless facial expression had them both captivated for a moment. Her tired hazel gaze flitted between the two them as she tried to figure out what was going to happen.

Juice was the first to move as he pushed past Half-sack and quickly made his way over to Yuri. He bent down to pick her up, but she flinched back. He shook his head, "Come on, you need to stay in bed." He commanded with a disapproving look before ending the last part with a goofy smile as he slipped one arm under her knees while the other carefully supported her back. Juice lifted her up easily, and was even a bit surprised at how light she was considering how well-endowed she was in the chest area.

Yuri didn't want him to touch her, but she didn't have any fight left in her, and allowed the strange man who smiled stupidly to pick her up. She avoided eye contact, not because she was shy, but because she just couldn't move her neck to look up at him without jarring her gunshot wound. She was expecting to hit the bed soon, but instead, she was still being held in this man's arms. Eventually, she cracked an eye open to see another man looking at them like an idiot.

"The bed. Pull the sheets back?" Juice questioned with an expected look. Yuri really wished she could roll her eyes at this guy's stupid look, but instead all she could do was just close them and allow herself to be placed gingerly back in the bed. She didn't mean to, but she sighed in relief and relaxed into the soft cushion. Juice crossed his arms over his chest and smiled proudly ( or goofily, really ) before looking over to Half-sack. "Good luck. Don't let her die! And don't do anything to her while she's out. We don't need another Tig…" Juice teased as he slapped a hand down on Half-sacks shoulder before disappearing out the room.

Half-sack sighed and ran a hand through his hair before covering Yuri up once more and taking a seat in the computer chair.