The One That Got Away

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH or anything pertaining to it.

Chapter 1: Elegua

A young woman walked down the street toward her house after walk around her neighborhood. The wind bit at her cheeks and she knew she shouldn't go around the block again; yet as she approached her house she found herself walking past it. Her eyes sparkled with a watery light and her shoulders were sagging. She looked down at the ground as she walked and her feet brushing against the pavement as she didn't lift her feet high enough.

Further up from where she was at the moment was a man. His skin was pale and sickly covered by a black trench coat that would give one the idea that he might flash someone. His ice blue veins stuck out of his skin and pulsed all over his body and a tattoo of a snake coiled up his neck to his bald head. From blue to red his eyes flickered as the woman came closer to him with each step she took.

He had been watching her for years now. The reason for which sat in his left pocket waiting to be handed over and then the fun would begin. Over the years he had done this exchange many times with different outcomes and he was always satisfied so long as whatever happened was interesting to watch. Getting his victims soul would only be icing on the cake. While he occasionally did men he found that women were extremely more imaginative with how they chose to go about things once they figured out what was going on. With a man, while he always got the soul, they were more interested in a good fuck then giving a good show.

This year he had three women he was giving his gift to. The others had already received theirs and they had been his book girls. This time however he had wanted to try something a little different. He had never chosen girl who would go after "those" of the "Visual Medias" because people would catch on to what he was doing. For that reason he only paid attention to the written word. It was completely by chance that he came across anime. Now normally cartoons are kidish without any real continuity or framework leaving his work in it shoty at best. Anime, though not all of it, he found had quite a bit more meat to it and would work well with how he did things. After all a cartoon made into flesh and blood ended up looking quite different from their colored counter-part.

He hadn't really tried it yet though and was excited about the concept. He had done extensive research on the fans of various anime and studied what they felt a normal reaction to meeting their favorite character would be. Now most of his research was based on fanfics so not the best place to get view points. Fanfic were mostly fantasies. Some well written and other were… amusing. Now with what he planned to do those fantasies might not be far off for some lucky girl.

Yet the truth was if the anime characters had been real and one of those girls was to meet them it would end being a little more like hello goodbye. After all, most humans are not that interesting when it really comes down to it and the world doesn't go out of its way to make miracle meetings happen.

The reason this girl had been chosen was because of her interest in this exact type of scenario. She had thought of the complications more then the fun parts and seemed truly interested in how things would really go down. True he would be giving her a situation that was a little more story oriented or less likely to happen without obvious outside influence, which he would technically be, but she would take this more seriously… if she didn't freak-out. Freaking out happens a lot actually, even when the person believed him. As a whole though this girl was like every other girl.

You readers out there would do best to remember that. She is a normal girl who does normal things and the only reason this is about to happen to her is chance. Then again the line between chance and fate is very superficial for who can't say that something was fate after the fact.

When the girl was in front of his position the man jumped out of the shadows causing the girl to come to a halt and take a few steps back. Her eyes widened at his sudden appearance and she had a look that said she would bolt in a second if he didn't stop her. So he smiled at her, in what he hoped would be disarming, and his smile revealed his rotting and pointed teeth. He forgot about that. She was now running less then gracefully though, to her credit, the speed was as if death was snapping at her heals. She was at her door by the time he realized she had run away but that wouldn't do her much good.

In hindsight he realized he probably should have pretended to be a jogger or walker. That way he could have approached her with a silly question about time or something. Well there was not much he could do about it now but it was a good thing to remember for next time. In a flash of purple light he was near her again and instead of trying to talk he grabbed a hold of her and teleported in another flash of purple light.

When the two of them reappeared they were inside of a school gymnasium with the girl conveniently tied to a chair and gagged. The man smiled at the girl again and was happy to note her shivering form.

She was afraid.

He liked it when people were afraid of him. He watched as her eyes scanned the room and wondered what was going through her mind. Was she looking for a way to escape, people to help, or just too plainly see where he had taken her. On another note she didn't seem to be pulling on the ropes that tied her to the chair. If this was because she hadn't thought of it yet or just wanted to play nice with her captor… again he was at a loss.

"Hello, my name is Elegua." He bowed to the girl, who was only now starting to struggle against the ropes that bound her. He was pleased to note though that she had a curious look to her that indicated that, though still scared, she would listen.

"I am something of a magician who finds great enjoyment out of granting others wishes of a specific kind. I can, within reason, bring anyone from one world to another. I prefer, of course, to bring people here." He watched her carefully and almost giggled when he saw the great interest gleam in her eyes at what he said, yet he also couldn't miss the growing caution in her eyes as well. She might be a little harder to convince then he originally thought, after all this had to be her choice he couldn't force her.

"Now normally I'd let you chose who you want me to bring here but I have someone I have been itching to get over here. I think you'll like my choice all the same. That is one of the reasons I chose you. So will you take up my offer?" He spun around and looked at the girl hopefully while clasping his hands together. The girl backed up a little in her chair and raised and eye-brow at him. She probably thought he was a little (cough a lot cough) insane. He smiled bigger and did nothing to discourage that thought from her mind. Slowly she thought it over while looking around the empty gym and finally, after a few long minutes, nodded. He could tell from the look on her face she thought it was a condition to her freedom and again he did nothing to correct her. Normally he would as it was one of the rules for his game that the victim have every opportunity to back out before the deal was sealed. However he really wanted to use this girl. Now don't get me wrong there is nothing special about her and he was sure he could find another just like her but he was anxious to start.

"Good, good. Now if you kindly don't scream I will remove the gag and we can discuss the particulars of your contract." Again it took awhile but she slowly nodded at him and he removed the gage a moment later watching her carefully all the while. She rotated her jaw a little and opened and closed her mouth. Then she took a beep breath and looked at Elegua. She held that breathe for a good minute before sagging her shoulder and letting it out with a squeak.

Smart girl.

"There's a good girl." He smiled at her obvious defeat and out of a purple flash he pulled a quill and parchment.

"Now this type of contract is called the SHI RIKISTU. I use it for all my legal needs." He smiled at his small joke before continuing.

"What this contract says is that you… ah… what's your name… your full name?" He paused in his writing to look at the girl and waited for her to respond. If he hadn't been so happy with her compliance he would have been annoyed with how long it took her to respond to each of his questions. Slowly she opened her mouth and he had to lean in to hear her quite response.

"A-amanda Kristina Anderson." He didn't have to ask for spelling as the pen would know immediately now that she said it. He smiled though at the name. Amanda meant 'worthy of love' and he found it rather ironic.

"It says that 'you, Amanda Kristina Anderson, will receive one GISHTIL or vehicle of life. With this life she must form a mutual bond of 'happiness' by the time of her 18th birthday. If not then her SHI will be taken in punishment.' So as you see it is all rather simple." He looked at Amanda and watched as she crinkled her eyes in thought. Then she looked at him.

Those eyes burned of mistrust.

It wounded him… really it did.

"W-what does it mean by 'mutual bond of happiness'?" Uuu. Definitely a smart one. Normally they just took what they wanted and ignored the contract as nothing more then a legal stepping stone to their infinite happiness. 'Happiness' is a lot harder then people realize.

"Why that just means that you both have to be 'happy' with one by the time this whole thing ends." She still looked confused and to save her the trouble he elaborated slightly.

"Or that you both have to get along very well… like friends." Why didn't he think of wording it like that before? It had her immediately nodding in understanding. He smiled at her blatant trust. After all that was basically what she had to do, become 'friends', so he wasn't outright lying and if he just told her the truth he wouldn't have as much fun watching her progress. At any rate knowing wouldn't help her accomplish the task better and if he was to be honest telling her to make friends would probably get better results… for her.

"What is SHI?" She asked next and he knew that would be a little harder to dance around without outright lying. He rubbed his chin as he thought of the perfect way to word his answer.

"It is the most important thing to your life at any given moment." This was true and he knew it sounded like he would be after an object which wouldn't be the case at all. Again she nodded and then looked at him expectantly. So she was done with questions for now?

"Ok next order of business. Before I give you the GISHTIL I need to tell you that you have to care for this person. He will not have any papers to mark him as a citizen so it would be hard for him to get around. Now he will also have nothing when he comes here and I can hardly expect you to pay for his expenses. This is a gift after all. So I will be giving you a type of credit card. You can use it for yourself as well, this way you don't have to worry about money. Don't be afraid to have some fun." He winked at her and she frowned at him.

With a wave of his hand the ropes disappeared and Amanda slowly stood up. She rubbed her wrists and took a few steps back from him. He was happy that that was all she did. He reached into his trench coat and pulled out a small amber ball. Inside the ball was something that looked akin to a fetus or something similar. He almost giggled as he saw Amanda move closer to him to look at the ball. The look on her face was both horrified and curious. He slowly put his hand out toward Amanda and waited for her to take the ball. She was slow, again, and looked between him and the ball a few times before ever so gently taking the orb from his hand.

When she had it she looked at it closely before gulping.

"What is inside of this?" He decided to humor her and actually answer this question. He normally never answered this one but he was in a good mood.

"It's a fairy, of sorts. After this is used the fairy is freed from the amber and the person is brought here." She nodded and put the orb in her pocket. Tentatively she took a step back again.

"Now, to use that you have to put it under water. However you do that is up to you and any method will work so long as its water. Here is your credit card." He pulled out a silver piece of plastic that displayed rainbow colors as it moved in the light. She took it from his hand and put it in her other pocket.

"Now last thing before we part ways. You need to sign… in blood." She took a few steps back and he sighed.

"You don't have to cut yourself or anything the quill will automatically fill with your blood the second you touch it." He passed the quill and parchment to her and she slowly took them from his hands. She looked at him and the paper before ever so slowly writing her name across the dotted line. Once she was finished she shrieked as the quill and parchment disappeared from her hands.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Miss. Anderson. I will send you back home now but one more thing. If you do not use the GISHTIL in three days the contract is void. Have a good day." The next thing Amanda knew she was at her front door. She briefly wondered if the whole thing had been a delusional daydream. The one way to find out was to check her pockets.

First she checked her left one and found she still had the card. Then, even though she had confirmed that had all just actually happened, she put her had in the other pocket and pulled out the ball. Quickly putting it back in her pocket she went into her house.

In the shadows Elegua laughed quietly. He was sure she would use his 'gift' after all he had done nothing in the entire conversation to dissuade the thought that her life depended on her fulfilling the contract. He even sent her back before she could ask what would happen if the contract was voided. A little jingle from a red bell on his belt startled him from his gloating. Apparently one of his projects was going to reach an end soon.

AN: The weird all capital words are supposed to be Samarian words. What they mean will be revealed as the story goes… I hope. Or I guess you could look them up. Just know that they are extremely out of context considering I know less then nothing about the language and how it works.