Judgement of the World
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
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There is nothing fun about a slum. The buildings were a perpetual sorry state, fighting a losing war against gravity until walls untended fell. Trash was a constant sight, as was the smell of decay and the slow wasting away of life. It was a hard life, with no visible rewards save the fact that a person survived another day. Every day of life was a struggle, keeping what little you had, protecting those you dared to expend your energy to care for. But the people of Satellite weren't savages, true they got separated from the main land for reasons they didn't understand. True again, that the people in the main land never seemed to put much effort in rescuing them and leaving the island to rot on its own. So people did what they had to do to survive.
It was why Security had no issue or problems with their fellows losing duels or losing cards to the 'scum' of Satellite. Sure stealing was wrong, and no Security officer worth his badge was going to condone stealing under any circumstances. But these were just kids. There was never a shortage of Security officers who willingly took a dive in a duel to spare a kid an arrest when they were clearly starving. Yet there was an inherent danger to the place as well, there were gangs in all areas of the island. Ruthless predators who wouldn't mind killing a child or an Officer for food or power.
Which was why Aki's insistence in this trip bothered the Security officer assigned as her escort. While it was true, that Aki wasn't wearing any real fancy jewelry, she 'was' wearing a low cut short dress and a high end Duel Disc on her arm. It didn't matter that she was a duelist, if someone wanted her body, they could just over power her. Couple that with her being a senators' daughter and this whole trip was a nightmare.
"Izayoi-san, are you sure that you wish to land here? Even an orphanage can have dangers within." The pilot called over his shoulder towards Aki as she watched the ruined buildings and garbage strewn street passed below. Glancing up she gave the pilot a confident nod, his concern was professional of course. Then again Aki was more then capable of taking care of herself, she knew the risks. But she had also been to this particular orphanage before.
"I'll be fine, you'll be bringing myself and one other back to the city. I'll call you when it's time for the guest to return to this orphanage."
The helicopter began its descent in the large front yard of the orphanage, even as it landed Aki could see a familiar red Duel Wheel in the back yard. Yusei's familiar hair style and clothes tipped her off as she watched someone stand up and face the helicopter. She watched him until the building got between the two of them and her view was replaced with small children looking out of windows.
Martha stepped out of the orphanage not looking any worse for wear from her experience at the hands of the Earthbound. The children poured out behind her as Aki stepped down from the helicopter on her own. The older woman's expression shifted from a mixture of concern and curiosity to pleasure and amusement.
"Ahh it's that girl big brother Yusei likes!"
One of the girls called out gleefully, as they began to swarm toward Aki in excitement. Martha shook her head in amusement before wading through the young bodies.
"I... what?" Aki wasn't sure how to handle that comment. If it was Divine she knew she would have blushed at the idea. But Yusei? Could he, a guy who clearly kept every emotion he felt close to his chest, like her? He treated her no differently then he treated any of his other friends, so was she special to him in some way?
Perhaps the children knew something she didn't, Martha had a knowing smile on her lips as though that was the case. The pilot stayed at the helicopter while some children went about showing interest in the vehicle.
"Aki, what brings you here?" Martha greeted warmly as she walked closer to the duelist.
"The twins miss their big brother Yusei, I thought maybe I could surprise them," she replied politely while Martha moved aside and gestured for Aki to walk ahead.
"Ooh I see. Yusei will be thrilled to see you, though I know he won't show it. He's in the back working on his mechanical girlfriend." Martha answered with a warm smile lighting up her face. "You're a much prettier option. Go distract him will you? Maybe you can convince him to have lunch," and she winked at Aki.
Aki stood there floored, feeling her face go hot at that not subtle at all comment. "What?"
Martha gave Aki a look as the senators' daughter stood there sputtering in shock, not lady like at all but whatever. "Well, by that blush I'd say there's hope for him."
The children around them were smiling as though they were sharing a secret with Martha and Aki was hearing unearthly chuckles.
"Well come along kids, let's Aki and Yusei have their time together. Or do you want me to go with you?" Martha offered, she moved aside with an extended hand gesturing to Aki to follow, but when she turned towards the corner of the orphanage she saw Yusei leaning against the wall. Martha herself couldn't stop the grin on her lips as she shook her head. "Never mind, seems Yusei is waiting for you himself."
Somehow just standing there seemed hard. Yusei was such an enigma to her, a person willing to put himself in the way of her anger, yet not hate her? She had always been taught people unlike her would fear and reject her, yet he didn't seem to have that problem. Knowing Ruka, who never had a bad experience with her abilities, not withstanding. She held her head high and walked towards Yusei while the shadow of Black Rose darted out.
It swarmed around Yusei its whip like 'roots' seemingly circle him causing her to pause in concern. Those dark blue eyes gazed at her in question if she wanted to see Yusei why was she scared? Not that Aki wanted to say she was scared, but she lacked the knowledge of how to explain these feelings. The children were gone into the orphanage and it wasn't noon yet, she shoved her confused thoughts away before resuming her walk towards Yusei.
For Yusei himself, he could tell something was wrong in the way Aki was looking and moving. Self containment, she moved like she was being restrained bringing his mind back to the Fortune Cup when they met in the hallway. Something was wrong, but then control wasn't something mastered within minutes. He cared too much about his friends to see them suffer or self destruct, and Aki was one of those people that he cared. She didn't need him, they both knew she could protect herself quite well with her powers. Yet on the other end of the spectrum it didn't change how he felt and was why he was willing to put himself into these types of situations.
Without a plan of action that he felt was suitable he turned when she reached him and began walking back to the back of the orphanage and his D-Wheel. They walked in this strange form of silence where neither knew exactly how to act. It just felt better to say nothing then to say anything. After all they didn't become 'friends' because of an accident, they were thrust together through the marks of their arms. That alone was not enough to make them 'instant best buddies for life'. Yusei, Jack, and Crow were already friends, the twins had each other, it was Aki who was the odd girl out. Now with the mark of the Dragon's head on Yusei, it was, in a sense, his duty to acclimate her to the group. Get the other two to accept her and the twins would fall in place as per their 'older brother'.
But where she would fit was the question. Yusei was the brains, Jack the muscle, Crow the quickness, with the twins serving as their innocent hearts. Where did that leave Aki? He pulled off his gloves and then his coat, he knocked a bucket over and put his jacket on it before motioning her to sit on the makeshift seat. It was done in such a fluid movement that she didn't catch on what he was doing until he sat down again and went back to work on the D-Wheel.
He had pulled his work gloves back on before working, but the sight of his dragon mark gave Aki something of a means to start a conversation.
"Did the children here ever ask about the mark on your arm? Either the tail or the head?" She finally asked, breaking their silent stalemate.
He shook his head, leaning back to grab a tool she didn't recognize, "I normally don't walk around without my jacket or gloves. If they asked any questions about the tail after my surgery then I don't know about it."
"Surgery? You didn't have the tail mark 'that' long, when did you have surgery?" She asked, sincerely concerned.
"A few days before your father came to get me." Short simple answers, that was Yusei all right.
"But... wouldn't you have still been in recovery?" She asked, baffled how he could have been doing such a thing. What doctor would allow a patient to just go back to his normal routine a couple of days after surgery? Maybe it wasn't that serious?
"You needed me."
That answer was enough to make her pause in surprise, that he would endanger himself for someone he barely knew? Could any human be 'that' self sacrificing?
"How serious was the surgery?" She asked as her fingers began to clench in concern for what he had been put through because of her.
"I had a piece of metal removed from my side," he reported casually, while going to his laptop.
"I'm afraid to ask how that happened," Aki replied, shaking her head at how nonchalant he sounded.
"I had an accident while dueling Kiryu," he answered dutifully as he read the screen.
"How bad was it?" she asked, she had attacked him when they dueled but he hadn't shown any pain from a surgery. She watched as he shrugged before shaking her head in answer. "No, I want to see where you got hurt. My father should have known better to drag you into a duel considering your condition."
He turned to look at her from over his shoulder, mildly confused to her strange form of concern. "What I went through was quite typical of living here." Her expression showed she wasn't backing down from this and with a slight sigh he stood up. He dipped down one thumb to pull down a bit of his pants while the other hand pulled up the shirt to show a good five inch vivid scar on his abdomen.
"Hey! Big Brother Yusei is stripping for his girlfriend!" a very young voice suddenly called out from an open window.
"Well then shut the window and let them have some privacy!" Martha's voice called back, full to the brim with amusement and teasing.
Yusei dropped his shirt back and whirled around to face the orphanage in one move. "MARTHA!"
Aki was a vivid red from embarrassment, while Yuseis' stance was that of an irate child with his shoulders up and his head tucked down a little. He threw himself back into his seat, trying to ignore the comments and focus back on his D-Wheel.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize that they were watching," Aki apologized while trying to not look at Yusei.
"It's not your fault."
Once Yusei had learned of his parentage he had pretty well closed himself off from others. Not to say that he was the type to reject friends or not help those who needed him. However; the only people he had encountered for years were the people of Satellite and the fact that they suffered because of his father... Well who could blame him? When all around him were people who were hungry, cold, living in hopelessness and his dad was to blame? But children always tried to see the best of everything and apparently Yusei finding someone was something they wanted to see.
"I go back to school starting next week." Aki blurted out, her tone making it obvious she wanted to change subjects and wasn't sure how. She sat there more stiffly then normal with her hands folded over her knees and her eyes focused on the ground.
There was a long spell of silence from Yusei, he just seemed more interested in working on his D-Wheel then responding to her statement. But he turned out to surprise her when he leaned back in his seat and ask, "so what is school like?"
"Isn't there a school here?" She asked surprised by his answer. Her head tilted to the side as she watched him begin working on the laptop again.
"No, any schooling kids get here are from grown ups willing to teach. Martha taught us all the basics, but she doesn't have time beyond that. Anything else I learned was from reading duel monster cards." Yusei had paused as he spoke, his expression quiet and thoughtful as he did so glancing at her from over his shoulder. As though he expected some disdain for his lack of formal education, it wouldn't have been the first time after all.
"But then how did you afford the D-Wheel?" she asked as she placed her hand on his ride. After all without an education how could he have earned the money to make such a purchase?
"I built it by hand, this is the second one I've built. Jack took my first one, I built this to challenge him back when he took Stardust from me."
It took time before she could find her voice as she thought on that statement. There were no factories committed to constructing a D-Wheel on Satellite, nor shows to demonstrate the construction of one on television. The fact that he pulled it off on his own was impressive, to make something off a pile of garbage and produce a D-Wheel on his own? It was when she heard the whispers of her deck to say 'something' that she remembered his question.
"Ahh, well it's probably the same. We get sorted via age and grades, and we get taught the basics as well, hmm well stuff like reading, writing, math, science, history and such. Just the higher the grade the more detailed the classes become, I'll be attending the Duel Academy."
"'Duel Academy'?" he looked at her from over his shoulder, a raised eyebrow showing his confusion.
"Yes, it's the high school of Neo Domino," Aki replied.
"I would have thought it would be called 'Domino High School' or something," he noted before going back to his D-Wheel. "At least that's how it seemed to work in some of the shows I got glimpses of."
"Oh!" And at that Aki began to smile and laugh softly. "There's a story about that."
Yusei looked up at her laugh and leaned back, turning to give her his full attention, his expression both curious and focused on her.
Amused she looked up on an instinct to collect her thoughts. "Ok, the reason for 'Duel Academy' is because Kaiba bought the school. But the story 'behind' it is that the girls were drawing gay porn of him and Muoto. It was rather big at the time, when Muotos' home was destroyed, Kaiba took him in and well. First came the written comments then the artwork. So when Kaiba bought the school he negated the art program and replaced it with a class on dueling so the classmates had to stop."
"Basically, all classes are given a set amount of time for each topic, except instead of an art class we learn about dueling."
He turned and he found the corner of his lips quirking upward, a very faint chuckle working its way up. "Really? They replaced an art class simply to get the girls to... why would the girls even do that?"
"Well..." Aki gave a faint shrug and looked away, after all both men had been rather famous. Even now pictures of them were still rather hot sells, "it wasn't just them though. The girls also did that to friends who were never even part of the school. Like these two Egyptian guys one of whom they say was the model for the original Dark Magician."
"I wish had gone to school," he noted almost sounding rueful.
"Why? You built a D-Wheel without a formal education, why go?" Aki asked, getting up to get closer to Yusei, to see what he was doing.
"Because..." he paused and stood up, like a magnet always pointing north he turned to face where Neo Domino stood.
Aki stood up but she was fortunate enough to see his expression. A strange blend of longing and questions, and something deeper that it took a moment for her to realize was regret.
"I have no money, so I've lacked ways to entertain myself for hours at a time. I used to think if my father hadn't done the things he did I'd be in a school. I'd learn how to be smart, but now... Even if you say I'm smart, I still feel like I'm missing something, maybe going to school would have given me that."
She reached out and gently touched his hand, as she tried to think of what to say. But kind words were not something she was strong at. But the second her hand touched his, beneath their gloves their marks burned to life. A shared mutual longing for something that had no name, just feelings that were shared and now made stronger between the pair.
Two sets of eyes looked up at each other in alarm, as the marks never came with instruction manuals. And heaven forbid if that moment was broadcast to the other members, Jack and Crow would be amused easily. But Ruka! Ruka in class.
…
Aki turned in embarrassment towards the orphanage and while the kids 'did' apparently close the windows...
Every single window of the orphanage had many eyes staring out at them, watching. Amused.
Oh hey there MARTHA!