Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's or any of its characters.

Chapter II

After the events of Fortune Cup and the battle of the Signers, the life of Yusei Fudo turned out to be nothing but chain of extraordinary events. The moment he made his way out of Satellite, he knew things would eventually change for him but he did not expect the rapid dealings he went through. He did not expect, but he faced it head on.

The same could be said about the duelist's feelings towards a certain friend. It was kind of strange (in a pleasant way at that) when he thought about the time he and Aki Izayoi started to develop feelings for each other. He could remember how the other Signers would tease them and said how they expected for the both of them end up being together. Everyone was happy for them.

Yusei was happy too, of course. Even though he was busy doing his stuff being the Duel King and all, he would definitely find his way so he could spend time with her. Sometime after school, he would go to pick Aki up and they would spend the rest of the afternoon on either making her learn how to ride a D-wheel or just plainly talking to each other at Yusei's place whenever he needed to stay home and fix something in his garage.

One of those routine afternoons took the psychic duelist by surprise. It wasn't very much different from the other days but that day would certainly be one of her most memorable. It was the day that Yusei gave Aki her own D-wheel and having known of his capabilities when it comes to engineering and tinkering things, she was fully aware that he made it all by himself which added up to her already overwhelming happiness.

"Yusei… I… I don't know what to say," she said as laughter mixed with her words as she ran towards the deep red motorcycle and touched it from its dashboard up to its sensors. She was obviously grateful of the present she received from her lover.

"I thought I would make you one since we've been practicing riding for a while now. Take care of it okay?" he said evenly as he approached Aki and kissed her on the forehead, with her hugging him tight as a response.

"Yes, I will," she thanked cheerfully. "Hey, let's go out of Neo Domino tomorrow… I wanna see the ocean Yusei…"

"Hm? Why?" he asked in a low, calm voice.

"Well… I just want to go out of the city… and watch the sunset…" she said as she wrapped her arm around Yusei's neck. "Tomorrow will be a full moon… so it will be wonderful by night."

He smiled knowing that he made her happy because of something he did on his own, he nod in agreement and said, "Okay then."

A few hours passed and they decided to stay inside his place for a couple more. They just sat on the couch with Aki leaning her back against Yusei's chest with him, binding his arms around her waist. They just stayed that way, enjoying each other's presence.

"Aki…" he susurrated against her ear as he bended over her shoulders.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She chuckled and turned around to look at Yusei in the eye. As she stared at his deep blue eyes, she could how sincere and compassionate he was with his words. Without any thoughts, she moved herself closer to him cupped his face with both hands and started to kiss him deeply. He tightened his grip on her waist as he responded to it. Feeling her soft lips against his, he felt like she was starting to bite his lip but before he could confirm it, she broke apart, giggled and embraced him.

"I love you too, Yusei…"

It was a solemn moment for the both of them. All he could think of was her and vice versa despite that they were already locked in each other's arms with no one to break them apart. Thinking about what they've been through ever since from the beginning, Yusei just couldn't help but feel endowed, for Aki was the one he ever wished for. He loved her so much that he'd do anything for her. Anything—just to keep her, make her happy and forget she once had a life of an outcast—the life that they both had. And to him, just seeing her; being with her takes all the pain of the past away… her love made it all go away.

And with him tightening his embrace on her, he whispered "Don't leave me, okay?"

They both moved away slightly from each other as she smiled and rested her cheeks against his palm while holding it with her hand, their eyes staring deeply into another; Roman coffee orbs meeting Persian blue. "I won't… I'll never leave you… unless you would really push me away or you told me to…"

"That will never happen…" he stated, "Never…"

. . .

Though everything she thought about things work out between her and Yusei were faultless, reality would bite and remind her that there's no such thing as perfection. But even so, Aki Izayoi would understand the flaw that comes with it. Her excitement died down when Yusei called her to say that their 'road trip' would be cancelled due to the fact that someone called and gave a surprise invitation for a certain duel. Having an invitation he had trouble declining, he promised that they would go the day after tomorrow and swore that he'll make sure nothing would get in the way. Realizing the situation he was in, she can somewhat sense his guilt and she didn't want to make everything difficult for him so she just said, "It's okay… there's always a next time right?"

It was an honest answer. She really did understand what Yusei had to do. After all, it was just one of the things that make his world go round. She couldn't deny that she was disappointed though. She was really looking forward on riding her D-wheel with him, to see the ocean, stargaze, and everything in between. But there was nothing she could do. By a phone call everything was postponed.

She was ready to go when he called so she just spend the following minutes leaning on her D-wheel and thought of what she could at least to thank him; not to mention to produce a reliever since she knew he'll be tired when he get home. A jolt of idea had stricken her as she came up with something that would probably make him less stressful when he got home. "If he couldn't make it to the place, I'll bring it to him…"

. . .

It was already midnight. Yusei was growing restless since he couldn't reach Aki since he got home. He kept on calling on her phone but she won't answer. He thought of everything that might have happened: like she left her phone, she was busy, or she went out but he was starting to get really worried and his thoughts are growing worse. He called everyone—Jack, Crow, the twins, Carly—everyone. But none of them saw nor talked to her for the past day. His fear of something bad might have happened grew stronger but Jack told him that he should calm down; that Aki might be just busy about something and doesn't want to be disturbed and will probably call him first thing in the morning. With Jack saying it full of confidence, Yusei couldn't help but just believe in him. The feeling of uneasiness kept on haunting him though, but the best thing for him to do was to trust Jack's words. What could have happened to her?

The following morning, Yusei decided to get up earlier than usual since he couldn't sleep properly at all. The first thing he did was to check his phone but to his disappointment, there were no calls. He couldn't contain himself much longer and his worries were killing him so he finally decided to go to her place.

"Aki…?" he knocked at her door. He waited for a couple of minutes but no one came to open the door. He kept on knocking; calling her but still there's none. His eyebrows crossed as he crossed his arms as well. "I wonder where she went…"

Amidst of his thoughts, a low beeping sound coming from his pocket interrupted his thinking. He pulled it out right away and answered it hoping it would be his beloved but he was surprised to hear Jack's strong voice.

"Jack..? What is it?"

"Yusei… the security called me…"

"Security? And? Why are you telling me that?"

"Yusei… it's Aki…"

Yusei paused. To him, Jack's words started to become some sort of puzzle pieces for him to figure out. He had an idea on where the conversation was going but his inner self wouldn't let him conclude in to something uncertain. His heart began to race as he asked him what happened.

"W-what about her…?"

"Well… they found her down the cliff side… with a D-wheel… apparently it was an accident…"

Yusei's world seemed to freeze as he heard those words which to him, appeared to be unreal. His hands, actually his whole body kept on shaking as emotions in him mixed and his mind went blank. He doesn't want to hear any more of it yet he wanted more details. He wanted to run to his D-wheel and get to Jack's place as fast as he could but his feet just won't let him.

"Yusei? Yusei!"

Jack's yell snapped Yusei back but before he could say anything, a tear suddenly dropped from his eye. Trying to cover up his shaking voice, he still asked him, "W-what…w-where is she…?"

"She was immediately rushed to the hospital. Let's meet there. I know you're devastated. We all do. But try to calm down for now. We still don't know what her current condition is right now."

Still shaking like a leaf, Yusei hung up as he paced towards his motorcycle. In a matter of seconds, he turned pale, silent and expressionless. He wasn't sure whether to see her or not. He kept on convincing himself that Jack was just joking around and probably got the wrong person. But why would he do that? As of the moment, all he could do was to follow what he was told.

. . .

"God wake me up… please tell me this isn't real…"

. . .

Scha: Err... sorry if this chapter has less dialogue. XD It was supposed to be a flashback/summary of what happened. There were more past events to be revealed in the following chapters. Anyway, please R&R.

Btw, I want to thank those people who reviewed my chapter 1. I was happy that people commented on my work and cited my faults. I don't know if I actually got better or anything but I'm really grateful. I'll try my best on doing this. ^_^