Hey, everyone! Welcome to a new chapter! You all probably hated me for the cliffhanger that I left you off with, so please forgive me! As you all know, this is a gift to Jade546, and I'm so glad to hear that you enjoy it! Thank you to everyone who follows/faves/reviews my fics, I love hearing back from the readers! Let's get back to the story! Thanks to everyone who is taking the time to read this! I don't own rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, but I do own this fanfiction!

At the Crossroads

Climate Control

"Look, I don't have a clue what you want with me and I honestly don't give a damn-" Yusei's words were cut off by a gunshot. The man with the cigar sitting across from him held a MP-433 that had smoke coming from its barrel that was pointed between Yusei's tied ankles. Where had he been hiding the firearm? This could pose a bit of a problem.

"Let's try this again," His finger began tapping the side of the gun, the barrel rising and falling with each tap. "Are you going to tell me what you were doing with Rose?"

Yusei's eyes narrowed. That was twice that this man had called her "Rose" and it was beginning to annoy him. "What does Akiza have anything to do with this?" He tensed as the barrel rose and tapped his chin. The metal against his skin would have caused him to react, but the injuries from the crash were beginning to take their toll and he was feeling lightheaded from the blood loss. A four-inch shard of the windshield had buried itself into his back, leaving a mere half-inch visible when the hood of his shirt was to the side.

The man's teeth gritted. "Don't talk about her as if you're an old friend." He scoffed when a look of confusion flashed across Yusei's features. "I would remember if she told us about a maslinichnii mak (oily puppy). Which means that you have to be him. I have to commend you, though, your American accent is very fluid. Many people must be fooled by it."

"I'm fluent because I'm a citizen of Neo Domino City and I resent that comment about my appearance." His body tensed as the man's finger slid to rest on the trigger. "I don't know who you think I am, but my name is-"

"I don't give a сука's ass who you are," the man snarled. "You're a cocky bastard, I'll give you that." Yusei's eyes narrowed. "I'm not the one pointing a gun at a someone who can't even defend himself."

"Let's put that aside for now and refocus. Something has been bothering me for the past few days and I think I found out why Rose has been away for so long." The man took a breath, the end of the cigar burning brightly for a few seconds before he exhaled the smoke into Yusei's face. "I have a feeling that it's because of you."

"As I said, I'm from Neo Domino City. Akiza is a very close friend of mine who happened to invite me and two others to join her for a few days. We haven't seen her in a few years so we were catching up." If he brought up everything, including the bet, it would just make the situation worse. Whoever this guy was, he thought highly of Akiza. "In a normal circumstance, I would apologize for taking her time away from whatever it is that is between you two but since you have a gun to my chin I can't say that I'm entirely sorry for keeping her from someone like you."

"You've got balls, talkin' to me like that," the man chuckled, moving the gun to rest on his knee but the barrel was still pointed at his chest. "I'm a reasonable man and Rose is a beautiful girl. What's so wrong if we know each other?" A look of disgust overcame Yusei's features as repulsion swirled around in his gut. "Here I was thinking you were smarter than you look. Not that it's any of your business, but I have my own pretty girl back home waiting for me."

"Wait," Yusei blinked, relief flooding his being. "So it isn't…"

The man raised the gun once more, tapping it against the chair. "We aren't all slave traders, pridurok. We happen to have a special connection, one that very few are able to experience." Yusei raised a questionable eyebrow. "We met under unfortunate circumstances but we both emerged from the rubble with our lives."

So something had happened when she was on her own. Yusei had been beating himself over what happened with Darwin since that night and hearing that she had to struggle for survival all on her own with no one to support her but this man. "Why do you call her 'Rose'?"

"She's the Cursed Rose." Yusei's eyes widened. Her reputation had followed her all the way here?! The man sighed, a saddened expression coming across his features. "There was a lot of trouble when she first moved here. The other gangs found out where she lived and had nightly attacks of robbery, sometimes harassment. One of my men witnessed her powers and reported back that she was frightening. It wasn't long before we found out she was the daughter of a senator and a key contributor of the catastrophe that hit the world. At first, my men wanted to kick her out of town, but Darwin took a shine to her and demanded that they leave her be."

Yusei's eyes narrowed skeptically. "He saved her life for one reason."

"He wasn't the only one who did," the man snapped. "My woman happened to meet her in town and had grown to like her. It was on such occasion that my woman had been taken captive by one of the rival gangs right in front of her. She came here, told me of what had happened, and we were able to save my girl before they had a chance to hurt her. We've called her 'Rose' since then, after our own daughter who passed away a while back before she came into town. She is one of us now." Yusei asked if he or his men were afraid of Akiza's powers. "Honestly, it wasn't the first time I myself have seen that power like Rose's. Russia is filled with many different people, including those who are psychic. I understood why her reputation proceeded her, she is very powerful, and we were genuinely surprised when she leapt to my woman's aid. We thought that she was trying to use my woman as a bargaining chip for some ulterior motive…but we quickly found out that it was nothing like that. She wanted nothing more than to help my woman."

"That's how Akiza is," Yusei nodded, a small smile finding its way onto his face. "She can be cold and stoic at times, but she still has a heart. There are times when her emotions get the best of her and she draws strength from them when she needs to. She's changed a lot in the past few years." The man grew silent for a few seconds as Yusei continued to describe Akiza. His eyes had grown gentle and now held a sense of admiration. This fella appeared to be more than he seemed. A cord struck when Yusei mentioned that he had taught her how to turbo duel. She had mentioned learning how to turbo duel from a close friend of hers. Could this possibly be him? Yusei and the man jumped as a door slammed open behind the man and a figure stepped in.

"What the hell is this?!" They stepped into the light and he exhaled with relief at the sight of Akiza. His relief was short lived as he spotted the murderous intent in her eyes as they darted over his being. Her dress was a mess, ripped in various places and had multiple red stains across the top. There were a few scratches on her cheeks and arms, but other than that she appeared fine. Spinning on her heel, she faced the man with the cigar and locked eyes with him. She was beyond furious at this point! "Viktor, there was no call for what you and your men have done tonight! DON'T-" she held up a finger as he stood and his mouth opened. "-try to make up excuses, I don't want to hear them!"

"Rose, you can't expect me to sit back and let any punk reject get close to you," the man rested his hands on her shoulders, all the while keeping the barrel of the gun pointed up at the ceiling. "We watch out for our own." "If that's the case than you should keep an eye on your own members," she spat, her eyes locked on his. They narrowed slightly as she focused her energy around Yusei, who had smartly remained silent.

Slipping from the man's grasp, she shifted behind her tied friend and spotted the glass. "You didn't even have the audacity to treat his wounds?!" she nearly screeched, a dark aura beginning to gather around her. In one swift movement, the back of his shirt was torn open, her fingers shot out and plucked the glass shard from Yusei's flesh, earning a gasp, and was pressing a piece of cloth against it to stench the bleeding.

"We were all worried for you, Rose," Viktor placed the firearm on the chair after flipping the safety switch. "We heard about how you are being harassed at night."

"Wait, what?" Yusei's eyes widened.

"Please, one misunderstanding at a time!" She spun around and held up her hands in a desperate manner before turning back to Viktor. "Your so called 'son', Darwin, was the one who paid me a visit the other night and nearly gave me a concussion."

The man blinked, looking aback. "He told us that three Americans had taken you hostage."

"The only hostage one here is my friend who happened to be taking me out on a date!" Her anger was slowly beginning give way to sadness and she untied Yusei's hands and ankles, a sigh slipped between her lips as she spotted the bullet hole in the floor. "You know where I live and you had my contact info, so why didn't you just contact me?"

"Our apologies, Rose," the man stepped forward and held her face in his hands as she stood. Yusei moved to stand but fell back as her hand rested on his shoulder, silently telling him not to move. This was all so confusing to him. "I would never purposefully interrupt such an important night for my one and only daughter. We were all worried about your safety."

"Maybe next time check up on your info before acting irrationally again, huh?" she chuckled, her other arm rising to embrace Viktor briefly before turning her attention to Yusei. "I know you have questions, Yusei, and I'm prepared to answer them as soon as we get your wounds treated." She draped one of his arms over her shoulders and was preparing to lift him from the chair when his hand on shoulder stopped her.

His eyes rose to meet hers, revealing somewhat clouded orbs. His vision was blurry and he was beginning to lose his grip on staying conscious. "Akiza… you saved a life…" A blush crept into her cheeks as his arms snaked around her waist, hugging her to his form tightly. "and you were in control the entire time.… you are so much stronger than you used to be… You are incredible…" Blackness swooped down on him as her own arms snaked around him and he was overcome with the sensation of falling.

"Yusei!" Akiza cried as he slipped into unconsciousness. She frantically looked to Viktor, desperation in her caramel eyes. "Please, we have to move quickly! He was bleeding the entire time you two were talking and he's lost a lot of blood!"

Viktor nodded, gathering Yusei in his arms. "This is my fault and I owe you one, Rose, so leave this to me."

Aaaaaaaaand there you have it! Hope you enjoyed it! See you next time! Xoxxoooxoxoxo!