Hello my fans! I'm breaking way from my normal layout and writing a quick bit at the top. Basically, this place take place at the same time as Jack and Carly's date. Jack shall return later this afternoon that is, tomorrow.
After much coaxing, and a couple of Akiza's slaps to the face, Crow had finally managed to be dragged upstairs where he collapsed onto his bed. Yusei gently removed his catatonic friends shoes before he quietly left the room. He sighed sadly as he tried to come to grips with the idea that there was nothing he could do to save Bruno. He was slowly trudging down the stairs when the first bolt of lightening crashed. He glanced outside and saw that once again the weather had taken a bizzare turn for the worse. It was gentle rain at first but, by the time that he reached the bottom of the sairs, it had turned rapidly into hail. The next crash of thunder came at just the right time for Leo and Luna to be illuminated sleeping on the smiled gently and softly laid a blanket on the pair. He turned around to find Akiza next to her Runner, putting her helmet on. The smile reversed itself as he went over to her and removed her helmet from behind.
"Hey!" She whirled around to face him.
"Where do you think you're going?" His tone clearly indicated there was only one right answer.
"Home." She raised er eyebrow, daring him to contradict her. Yusei didn't back down.
"I'm going to call your parents and tell them you're spending the night here."
"My parents are out of town because my father's working on a new bill." She contradicted.
"In that case we don't need their permission." He shot back.
"Seeing as I'm not staying here, I guess we don't." Yusei put the helmet on the floor and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.
"Akiza, do you seriously expect that I'm going to let one of my friends go out in weather like this?" A curtain of hail empasised his words.
"Let me? I'm a big girl Yusei. I make my own decisions." She picked up her helmet and put it back on, glaring at him the whole time.
"In that case I'll drive you home, and then come back here. I'll probably get a cold and it's pretty slippery and who knows what could happen? But, you want to go home and who am I to stop you?" He put on his most innocent expression. Her glare didn't soften as she removed her helmet once more. He slowly removed it from her hands before she hit him with it and placed it on her Runner. "What you like some more hot chocolate?" Her glare softened for the smallest of seconds so Yusei went to fetch her a new cup. "Strange weather we've been having recently, isn't it?" She continued to glare at him. Yusei sighed and added another spoonful of powder. Akiza did have to admit that he had a point. The weather had been behaving strangely recently. Yusei walked back over to her and handed her the cup. She only managed one sip before her phone went off. She looked at the caller ID and saw Jack's name.
"Yusei, want to help me have some fun with Jack?" The smirk spread across Yusei's face.
"What did you have in mind?" Akiza quickly laid out here plan. Together they put earmuffs on the twins and turned on Akiza's Runner. She briefly listened to his plea for her help. "Sorry," She revved her engine loudly" Jack, I'm "Another rev," and Yusei says that there may be a problem with my rotational speed. You're on your, "She revved her engine for a long time before she cut the connection. She laughed softly, trying not to wake the twins.
"What did he want? Was it about Carly's fainting?" Akiza slowly turned to face the tall man.
"And how did you know about that?" Yusei smiled smugly at her.
"You think you're the only one with friends? I asked Alex to pose as their waiter and Kaz drove their limo." He smiled at her. "I may also have set Trudge up with Mina in the restaurant. He said he'd call if anything strange happened. I may have also convinced Jack to be kinder than usual." His grin stretched wider. Akiza was worried, in spite of herself.
"What did you do?"
"I may have rigged up a small movie threatening him, should he upset her, his Runner be taken apart and sold as scrap. I expect we'll get a glowing report from Carly in the morning." He turned and went over to the sofa to take off the earmuffs. Akiza grinned and walked up behind him.
"They look really peaceful." She gently brushed back a stray piece of hair from Luna's head with a smile. "I still can't believe what she can do now." Yusei recalled what the young girl had revealed after Leo had calmed down. Apparently where she returned from the Spirit World was not dependent upon where she entered. But it took a lot of effort to take someone else even part way there. She had slept for the rest of the day and showed no signs of waking up soon. Outside the rain and hail continued to bucket down upon the city.
"Yusei, if Leo and Luna are going to sleep on the couch, where am I going to sleep?" Yusei lead here up to his room.
"You can have my bed." He got a sleeping bag out of his cupboard. "I'll go back downstairs." Akiza looked at him like he was mad.
"You're sleeping on the floor?" He smiled at her.
"I wont take Jack's in case he come back and Martha raised me to treat people better than that." Akiza let a fleeting smile cross her face over the lovely woman before she resumed her scowl.
"And I wont let you sleep on the floor either. Seems like you're in a slight fix." He frowned slightly.
"What do you suggest then? I'm not letting you sleep on the floor. I treat my friends better than that." Akiza smiled slightly.
"Then share the bed. You sleep at the on top in your bag and I'll sleep under the covers." Yusei frowned deeply at her. She smiled innocently at him.
"I take it you're going to insist?" She continued to smile at him.
"Yes." He continued to frown.
"Fine." He went to his desk and pulled out a pair of navy blue pajamas. "Here. I usually wear a spare shirt and some shorts." She held up the top against her and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a perfect fit. "I'll let you get changed." Yusei walked out the room and gently closed the door behind him. Akiza swiftly changed into her pajamas and went to ask if she could borrow some a toothbrush and some tooth paste. She knocked gently on the bathroom door and waited until Yusei called that he was ready. Obviously the two had different versions of the word "Ready". Yusei was standing in simply his shorts, displaying his lean stomach muscles. Akiza blushed and stammered some excuse as she left the room. She waited until Yusei came out this time. Thankfully he had a shirt on this time.
"Uh, do you have a spare toothbrush?" She managed to keep the blush to a minimum this time.
"Yeah, it's right here," he handed her a toothbrush, still in packing. "You can use any of the toothpaste you want. We all pitch in and steal each others half the time." He smiled lightly and politely stepped aside so as to let her in.
Once the two were ready Yusei instructed Akiza to take the wall side of the bed. "Why me?" she frowned.
"Because, if one of us has to fall out I volunteer. Problem?" He raised an eyebrow questioningly. She shrugged and snuggled up against the room, trying to spare as much room as possible. Yusei smiled lightly and rolled atop the sheets. "Ready?" He indicated the light. She nodded and he clicked the light off. After a few moments Akiza reached across and gently tapped on his shoulder. "Yeah?" He murmured.
"I just wanted to ask you something." Another muffled "Yeah?" was her only answer. Not to be deterred she plunged on ahead. "Do you remember the Fortune Cup?" He sat up slightly and blinked into the darkness, confused by the question.
"What about it?" She smiled, grateful that the dark hide her blush. She then asked a question that had been preying on her consciousness for some time.
"What exactly did you mean about my Black Rose?" He thought back.
"I don't exactly remember saying anything about your dragon. Come to think of it I was more focused on staying on my feet." His gently teasing tone caused her to smile, but she still pushed him slightly.
"That's not funny." He leaned over and gave her a brief squeeze.
"You're right. I'm sorry."
"Thank you." She paused for a minute, unsure of what to do. Then, with a trembling voice, she continued talking."I meant when you said it was beautiful... Like me."
You're time is up. What's your answer? The money or his life.
