CHAPTER TWO HUNDRED SIXTY SIX

The carriage ride eventually brought the group back around to its starting point. Even though it was only technically mid-late afternoon, the winter sky was already starting to go dark. Two more hours, and it would be pitch black, with a few scant stars visible through the bright lights of the city. That's when the night-life would stir, and all the illumination of the Christmas season would be on full display.

Blades scratched on the ice of the seasonal outdoor rink, and as the group disembarked from the coach to set foot on frozen ground again, Yurio lifted his eyes to the sight of the 60-foot Christmas tree at the far end. It loomed over the rink like a sleeping giant, a frozen King lording over the bare limbs of the deciduous court on either side, decorated in long strings of dormant lights. The teen pulled his phone out and snapped a quick photo, posting it to Instagram before swapping over to check the Grand Prix results for the morning.

Pairs skating had ended earlier on, starting almost immediately after the Men's practice session. Ladies Singles was still in progress, which would be followed by the Opening Ceremonies. Having heard the long and laborious introduction for a thousand past events already, it was no question whether any of the Men's Singles skaters would even be attending. Most would only show up when it was time to go onto the ice for the 6-minute warm-up; Yurio would be no exception. But, it would still be several hours before then, and for lack of any other plans, the teen just followed along quietly.

It occurred to him a few minutes into the walk back to the van that it had been exactly a year since the meeting that resulted in his friendship with Otabek. Thinking about that day in Barcelona, when they'd gone to the Parc Guell Winding Bench, Yurio couldn't help but smile faintly to himself at the awkward hilarity of the older skater's method.

He treated it like a job interview, with a handshake and everything.

Inevitably though, one memory lead to another.

Otabek came and saved me from those fangirls, even after I'd told him off and called him an asshole in the hotel. ...I wonder why he even bothered after that?

"Yuri."

Green eyes raised up and blinked in brief confusion, looking around for the source of the voice, and seeing the tall, darkly-clad man looking back at him.

"Were you listening?"

"Huh?" The teen gawked, suddenly becoming acutely aware of his phone still in his hand, but then pocketed it away and shook his head, "No."

"We're going to skip the other touristy stuff around here for now." Mikhail was explaining, waiting for the Russian Tiger to step closer, and then turned to walk with him as they each trailed after the rest of the party, "Most of the good stuff is after dark anyway, so we might as well wait until after the Short Program. The ladies want to go to Troy for some Christmas shopping. Something about a Somerset Collection...I think it's a mall. I'm not sure." The elder put a finger on his chin as he pondered it, "Viktoria mentioned it."

"Two cities in a row with shopping venues with strange names, lending nothing to the imagination about what they really are." Yurio commented, mostly to himself.

Mikhail glanced down at him though as they made their way through the crowd towards where they'd parked, "Two?"

The teen paid more attention to his pacing after that, pulling his hands up to pinch the front of his hood to keep his nose warm, "In Sapporo. They called their mall a shopping arcade. You'd think it had video games in it or something, but there's not. This Somerset Collection you mentioned...sounds more like an assortment of kitchen utensils or bathing suits, rather than a mall."

"Right?" The taller figure laughed in agreement, "Maybe you're onto something though. Viktoria said it had palm trees."

They walked wordlessly for a little while after that. Heads would turn periodically to make sure the two males of the group hadn't gotten lost. At one point, Nikki noticed that the scarf her father had been wearing had somehow vanished, only to realize it had found its way onto her 'brother,' wrapped around so much of his face and head that it looked like he was ready to brave the Arctic, only his eyes visible through all his garb. Yurio realized she was looking at him though, and quickly averted his gaze, looking off indignantly like he didn't want to be seen. Nikki huffed a quiet laugh to herself and turned back around, hopping a few paces forward to wedge herself between Minako and Mari instead.

By the time they made it back to the rental, it was just about 4pm. Yurio piled into the back seat again like before, ear-buds in his ears, cable winding down the front of his chest and into his coat pocket to where his phone was hidden. He looked carefully to remind himself that he had all his gear and skates, but then settled back into his usual place and buckled in. Nikki hadn't followed him there, sitting in the middle row with her sister like before. The Russian Tiger quietly picked at the borrowed scarf sitting around his shoulders, pulling it down off his face since it wasn't so cold inside as it was outside. He studied the dark grey wool with keen interest, and lifted those emerald eyes to peer through the group towards the front seat.

Mikhail was starting the van's engine at that point, but a quick glance into the rear-view mirror made him pause for a second, realizing Yurio was seemingly looking right at him. When the teen's eyes moved, perhaps realizing he'd been spotted in the act, the elder Russian smiled lightly and went back to his prior task. Putting the van into reverse, he turned his head slightly, "Keep in mind that this trip is more for window-shopping than for actually buying anything. We have to leave with enough time to get Yuri to the competition, so we have to be out of there no later than six."

"We can come back though right?" Viktoria asked, a brow raised like the news was a bit of a surprise, "I mean, if we see something we want...?"

"Yeah, tomorrow though."

"Whew." The teen sat back in her chair with a look of relief on her face. She turned slightly and glanced at her younger sister, and blinked a few times when she saw the ponderous expression thereupon, "What is it?"

Nikkita looked back at her, but then slouched in her seat to match their heights, and raised a hand to muffle her quiet words, "This will be the first Christmas Yuri is with us. Maybe we should get him something special?"

"Special?" Viktoria echoed quietly, "Like what?"

"Papa said he got Yuri a big stuffed tiger. We could do something like that, but from just us." The whispering continued, "We could make it something like a 'welcome to the family' gift."

"How would we get something like that without him seeing it though?"

"I'm sure he won't be with us all the time. But...if he is, we can just order it online right? Papa sent the tiger plush to the resort that the other Yuri's family owns."

Viktoria nodded at that, getting a bit excited at the idea but not letting it show. She sat up properly after that, and a new thought came to mind, "Hey Mari...what's that resort like back in your town? We've heard it come up a lot but no one's really said what it is."

The Japanese woman turned to look back at the teen in the row behind her, and further up, Minako's attention was caught as well. Mari gave a pleasant-enough smile, "It's a hot-spring resort...the last one standing in all of Hasetsu."

"Oh wow~!" Both girls chimed together, leaning forward the cling to the back of the first-row seat, each trying to look through the same gap between headrests, "A hot-spring! That's so cool!"

"Mhm." Mari nodded, twisting where she sat, "It's especially great to sit in when it's winter, because the air outside is cold but the water itself is still hot. It's really relaxing. Hits the spot when you've been out working all day."

"You're so lucky to have something like that right where you live!" Nikki said excitedly, "I can't wait to get in!"

"Careful," Minako chimed in, giving something of a sly, knowing smirk, "It's probably nothing like you've ever experienced before. You don't wear bathing suits in the water."

"...Eh?" Both teen blinked, "What do you wear then?"

The ballerina huffed a laugh, "Nothing at all."

"What-"

Mikhail just laughed, listening intently even as he focused on the road. His eyes caught sight of the sign for I-75 North, and he started moving across the different lanes to prepare for that exit.

Yurio was half-listening as well, his music settling onto something quieter than the raucous sound of previous rock or techno. He made something of an anxious expression at the abrupt reminder of the onsen.

"H-How can you just go into a public bath wearing nothing...?" Viktoria asked pensively, "That sounds weird."

"Oh it's not so bad." Mari tried to explain, "There's a men's section and a women's section, so it's not like you have to worry about guys gawking at you. The rules of the bath are very strict."

"All rules in Japan are strict." Minako added, turning back to look out the windshield, "It's very different from Canada or the USA."

"...Really?" Nikki wondered, "Like what? What rules?"

"Well...for the hot-spring, or 'onsen' as we call it back home," Mari started up, "You can't even get into the water until you've bathed thoroughly first. There's a changing room and a wash-room that you have to go through before you can get outside onto the deck. There's a little stool that you can sit on while you wash your skin and hair, and you get a clean towel to cover yourself while you walk around, as well as one to hold your hair up if it's long." She explained, thinking of the whole process, but then pausing, "...Wait, do any of you guys have tattoos?"

"...Tattoos?" The girls echoed, "We're not even old enough to get them. Why?"

"Oh...one of the things about Japan is that basically no one with tattoos gets to use the public baths. Not even foreigners."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Minako tilted her head to look back at the passenger area again, "Sure it does, when your country's most notorious crime gang uses tattoos to set themselves apart from the normal people."

"You don't mean-" The younger teen started, only for her older sister to excitedly cut her off, squeezing her entirely out of the look-over to the front row.

"THE YAKUZA!" Viktoria squealed with delight, "They're so cool! They ride around on motorcycles and carry swords! They'll cut each other's pinky fingers off for lying, so when you lose both, you're out!"

"Not exactly." Minako laughed, "They'll take off a bit of a finger at a time, starting with the left small finger. It's called yubitsume. It happens when a member does anything wrong, so it's not uncommon for Yakuza to be missing part or all of certain fingers. The Yakuza are basically the only people in Japan who get tattoos though, and because of their habit of threatening to shame business owners, a practice they call sokaiya, they're not welcome in many places. In the onsen, even if you're a foreigner, having a tattoo means you're forbidden from entering."

"...Shaming business owners...?" Viktoria gave a confused look, "That's a thing? CEOs around here are utterly shameless to start."

"Japanese people are very different." Mari pointed out, "The worst thing you could possibly do is to shame them, especially in a public way like Minako was saying. So, with sokaiya, the Yakuza will do something like buy a bunch of shares in a company, enough to get into business meetings. They'll dig up any dirt they can on the board members or owners, and then politely suggest the company do certain things to benefit the Yakuza, or else they'll go public with some super-embarrassing thing that would dishonor the person involved. They say they do it to maintain some kind of social responsibility and accountability, but it's really about making money."

"Huh...guess I should do skin-checks on all future clients..." Mikhail said nervously, "I wouldn't want anyone digging up my dirt."

"You have dirt?" The ballerina gawked at him.

"Everyone has dirt."

"I don't!"

"I'm sure you do!"

Mari gave an amused look at them, but then turned back to the teen girls, even halfway spotting a certain curious Russian Tiger trying to look inconspicuous as he listened from the back, "It's fine though. We have private wooden tubs with water from the spring if you're not comfortable getting into the main pool area. Even Yurio used one for a while, until he got used to things."

"Yuri." The blonde interrupted suddenly, "Not Yurio."

"...Ah...er..." The elder Katsuki stammered, "...Sorry?"

Nikki sat back for a moment, twisting in her seat to look over it into the third row, "You're pretty sensitive about that. How come?"

"My name isn't Yurio!" The skater barked, making the younger teen recoil a bit. For a split second, the Russian Punk felt a pang of guilt over the attacked look on Nikki's face, and coughed lightly as he sat up a bit straighter, "...Sorry..." He mumbled, then spoke more normally, "My name isn't Yurio. It's Yuri. And yeah, I'm salty about it."

"How else were we going to tell you apart from my brother?" Mari asked anxiously.

"You could've called me Plisetsky for all I care! Just not Yurio! I've hated it since you came up with it!"

"Chill out, bro." Viktoria interjected, looking over the head-rest at the blonde as Mari sank into her own seat again, "We won't call you Yurio anymore."

"Yeah, right...as if that ever stopped people from doing it anyway." The blonde grumbled bitterly, adding another level of recollection to the already-brewing memory of his last time in the onsen, "I know people say it behind my back."

"Who would do that?" Nikki wondered, getting brave again and raising up a bit higher to get a better look, "...And do they know you don't like it?"

.

"Yurio!" Viktor called out, half-running to catch up. When he arrived, he put his hand on the teen's shoulder, but the blond snapped around to swat him off.

"It's YURI." He correctly bitterly, "I'M YURI. YURI PLISETSKY. NOT YURIO."

"...What..."

The blond suddenly burst into speaking Russian instead, [HE should be the one getting called Yurio!] He angrily pointed at where the aforementioned skater was pulling his shoes off, [What makes him so special that he gets to keep his name when I don't!?]

Viktor could tell what he was doing, [...It was his sister that named you this way, don't you remember? What's all this about suddenly? I thought you were going to be mad ab-]

[I don't care!] The blond snapped, ignoring the question, [I was Yuri long before you ever even KNEW him! I shouldn't be getting punished like this because your dumbass decided to drop everything to coach some Grand Prix failure that had already decided to QUIT!]

[...You're not being punished.]

.

"You'd think." The Tiger fumed at the memory, "Apparently it's too much trouble for some people though."

Nikki made a face, but then sighed and twisted back around to facing forward. She waited in uncomfortable silence with the rest until the van came to stop for a moment, and then quickly unbuckled her seatbelt to switch seats and buckled in again.

Yurio was giving her an incredulous 'not this again' sort of look, but before he could do or say anything, the silver-haired teen was already leaning into him heavily, "Why do you do this-!?" He asked in a half-panic, pressing himself up against the inner wall in a basically-meaningless attempt at getting away.

Like before, Nikki latched onto her 'brother's' arm, and held fast, "You're really angry about this name thing." She started, those big jade eyes looking on as though they could peer into the older teen's soul, "I'm guessing you're talking about Cousin Viktor and his Yuri."

"Who cares who I'm talking about!?"

"Be nice back there." Mikhail said suddenly, making the blonde nervous all over again.

"If they're only using your nickname when you aren't around, then it's probably because it's easier for them, given how one of them is also named Yuri. It's not like they mean it to be cruel." Nikki rationalize, "Did you use nicknames for the other Yuri?"

"I just called him Katsuki." The Russian said stiffly, "And Katsudon, cuz it's a pun on his name and his favorite thing to eat."

"...Was that it...?" The silver teen pressed, "I've heard that you and him weren't always friendly. I can tell how different things are between you guys right now, even though we only saw you once before, in Calgary."

Yurio grit his teeth, and muttered something under his breath.

"I couldn't hear what you said."

"...I called him Pig." The older teen whispered, a bit louder that time.

Nikki was stunned to hear it though, and pulled back a bit, "...Why would you say something like that...?"

"I wasn't the only one!" Yurio harped then, though still trying to keep quiet, "Viktor did too!"

"That's not what I asked."

Emerald eyes narrowed in frustration, and the Russian Punk pulled his arm back, "I don't need you looking down your nose at me over stuff that happened before we ever met!"

"I'm not looking down on you. I'm trying to understand. Why did you call him Pig?"

"It's exactly like you said. We weren't always friendly." He admitted grudgingly.

"You could've picked a thousand other names...but you picked that one. Why?"

This girl won't let up! Yurio thought anxiously, seeing the determined expression on her face, "Because he used to be fat and his favorite food has pork in it! I wanted him to retire from skating so there wouldn't be two Yuris in the Senior bracket! He almost did, but then that idiot Viktor went and brought him back into things!"

"Is that why you went to Japan later?" Nikki wondered, "Papa said you went a long time ago, right after Cousin Viktor did. So you obviously didn't go there together."

"I went to drag Viktor back to Russia." The skater said in a low tone, "It wasn't my idea to have a competition to decide who gets him as their coach."

"So then you probably spent that whole time talking down to Yuri, didn't you?" Nikki surmised, crossing her arms disappointedly, "To try and make him want to quit, so Cousin Viktor would have no reason to stick around."

Yurio's indignant silence was enough of an answer to that, but as the younger teen turned in her seat and sat more normally, the older shook his head, "Not the whole time."

Jade eyes turned skeptically to look at him.

"...By the time I got there, Viktor had already done enough to make Yuri want to skate again. There was nothing I could've done to stop him." He half-closed his eyes and looked down at his knees, "In the end, I resolved that I'd just beat him instead. And I did... Viktor said they'd get hitched when Yuri won Gold, so I made sure to win it myself...not just because I already wanted it, but because I wanted to stick it in their faces." He slid down a bit, slouching like before.

That's when he heard his music again.

...-what I was wishing for...I shot for the sky...I'm stuck on the ground...so why do I try? I know I'm gonna fall down. I thought I could fly...so why did I drown? I'll never know why, it's coming down, down, down...

My Trophée de France Exhibition... The teen's eyes closed a little more, and the memory of that skate flooded through him.

.

"Please stop being mad at me." Yuri said anxiously, "...I don't know what else to tell you. Your Exhibition..."

"It was about last year." The teen said stiffly, "For my grandpa back in Moscow."

"Oh..."

"What, did you think it was for you?" Yurio almost scoffed, pulling the tie from his hair and letting it tumble loose around his head and face again, obscuring his right eye like usual before pulling the black hood up over it all, "Don't be dumb."

.

That was a lie... Yurio thought bitterly, He saw what I wanted him to see, and then I tried to play it down like he was the stupid one. All for what...? Because he didn't watch my Free Skate? As if it's the first and only show from anyone that he's ever missed.

The unbidden memory played on.

.

"I never meant to make you think I didn't care. I just...thought you were strong enough to do this on your own again." Yuri explained, "You've always been stronger than me, and you gave this impression like you were ready to take the world by the horns again like you used to. Everything had fallen so well into place, and your skating had gotten so good again...I just...I thought I'd get in your way if I stuck around..." His voice was starting to crack under the pressure, the last few words coming out half-sobbed.

.

Viktor gawked, "...You want me to hit you?"

"I'll accept whatever punishment you deem appropriate for what I said. Saying sorry won't cut it, not like this, not right now." Yurio said flatly, "So..."

Yuri's eyes widened when he saw his husband make good on the offer as quickly as he did, stepping side-face to extend his hand and set his fingers nail-side directly on the teen's cheek, and then bring it back to wind up the strike. Yurio clenched his eyes shut, but withdrew the hood over his head to give him a clean angle, and both Yuri and Mikhail stopped breathing as they watched, neither of them sure if they were really seeing what was happening.

Viktor wasted no time, and swung hard...

...and stopped half an inch from the teen's skin. Instead of smacking him clean in the mouth, which he felt the youth no-doubtedly deserved, he just turned his hand and flicked the top of an ear with his middle finger, and walked right past him.

"Let's go. I'm hungry."

.

Yurio's downward gaze lifted a little as the sting of that flick made the top of his ear hurt again, and he reached a hand up to rub it away. He sighed grudgingly to himself, "...I really need to stop going out of my way to make us all mad at each other..."

"...Hah?" Nikki blinked at him, thoroughly confused, "Where'd that come from?"

"Things aren't the way they used to be." The skater said, pushing against the seat to sit upright again, a strange feeling of peace coming over him, "I've held a grudge for so long over how fast everything changed...that I still find myself treating them badly, like I was trying to hold onto the past. I felt like I could control things when I was angry...or if I made others angry, too... But it never worked with them." He shook his head lightly, long strands of golden blonde hair swaying in turn, "Since the first day I met Viktor, my rage was just funny to him. He never really took me that seriously. With Yuri...he'd just roll over and take it. Like a dog exposing his belly to appear weak, he'd garner my pity to make me calm down. Between the both of them, I must've just been this super-annoying thorn in their sides...and when they'd ignore me or brush me off, I'd lash out even more. And yet..." He leaned his head back on the head-rest, the second ear-bud finally falling away, and he stared up at the ceiling of the van, "...Even after everything I did...they still saved me from the consequences of what my rage bought me..."

"...You mean, when you were kicked off the Russian team last year? Before papa became your sponsor?" Nikki wondered quietly, hands clasped on her lap as she looked on pensively.

"That was all Yuri's idea, too. Viktor agreed, even though he didn't have to. I'd probably be destitute if not for them...living on the streets of St. Petersburg, huffing glue to make the pain of starvation go away..."

That's a bit dramatic...! The silver teen thought apprehensively, though she smiled and nodded anyway.

"But no matter how much they both did for me, no matter how often they stuck their neck out, or offered me a hand if I was struggling...I'd still bite at them. As if I had any right." He said. Part of his vision was starting to blur where he could feel his eyes starting to get wet, and he lowered his head again to clench them shut, "Viktor lost his patience with me weeks ago. At this point, I honestly can't blame him. I was only ever funny to him when I wasn't lashing out at people he cared about. And Yuri... Well, before this morning, he'd only ever yelled at me once before..." Emerald eyes cast down to the aux-in cable scattered across his coat and borrowed scarf, "...It might actually be too late to change things anymore. ...Maybe I had this coming."

"I think you still have a chance." Nikkita interrupted quietly, leaning to the side again to nudge the Russian Tiger with her shoulder, "Don't you remember what Yuri said this morning?"

.

"When you're angry, I'm angry, and then everyone is angry."

"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE." Yurio clenched his eyes shut and crossed his arms more tightly.

"OF COURSE IT DOES. IF I DIDN'T CARE ABOUT YOU THEN WHY WOULD I GET ALL UPSET OVER YOU?"

.

"I remember how he tried to defuse things between Cousin Viktor and Sergio before, too." Nikki explained, setting her hand gently on the Tiger's upper arm, "He doesn't want people to fight with each other. But I can tell that he feels like it's his fault when things don't get better, too. I may not know everyone all that well, but I like to think I'm a good judge of character...and I'll bet anything that Yuri is agonizing over how things have gone south between all of you, and desperately wants things to be better again. He just has so much extra stuff to worry about now, too...the injury, his own performances, wanting to see the skater that ran into him...it's a lot for one person to handle. I think...if you let him know that you want the same thing...it'll ease his burden, and everyone will feel better."

"I don't even know how I'd approach him. Viktor is like his Cerberus. If he thinks I'm just going to make Yuri upset again, he'll chew me out and send me back the way I came before Yuri ever knew I was even there."

"Even if you tell him you're going to make amends?"

Yurio huffed a single, quiet, sarcastic laugh, "He's seen me try that and then fuck everything up again 5 minutes later anyway, and that was before he'd had enough of me. Right now, if not for us all being in the same competition, Viktor probably wouldn't let me within a hundred miles of Yuri."

"What about when Cousin Viktor is skating?" Nikki offered, "He'll be too busy doing his show to notice what you're doing."

"...He'll notice. I've no doubt about that." The blonde turned his gaze out the window, watching the highway fly by, "It wouldn't shock me if Viktor jumped off the ice in the middle of things just to tell me to beat it, like a dog he'd caught rummaging in the trash can."

"Then you'll have to regain his trust first."

"I don't honestly know that I ever had it in the first place." He tilted the side of his head back against the cushion behind himself, "Thinking back on it...even before Viktor went to Japan...I think he basically just tolerated me. When I started training at his same rink, he was already too old for us to really be friends, but...I never exactly gave him a reason to like me that much either." The teen sighed, "It's impossible."

The silver teen just smiled, "That's what Eurystheus said, too."

Yurio turned and gawked at her in utter confusion, "...Who?"

"Eurystheus." Nikki repeated, "The guy who told Hercules to capture Cerberus. So...if you're Hercules, and Cousin Viktor is Cerberus...it stands to reason that if you try hard enough, humble yourself, learn a trick or two, and respect Viktor for the three-headed Hell-hound that you apparently think he is...maybe you can catch him, and endear yourself to him. Walk him out of the underworld instead of dragging him out, kicking and screaming." She reached a hand up and booped her 'brother' on the nose, "Have him lead you to Yuri himself."