I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters. Just the OC.
Darksidechick – Thank you kindly for the review, I'm glad the story is keeping your interest!
His lungs burned as his heart beat quickened. Akira wasn't used to running, he was banned from exercise in school as his parents and teachers were afraid he'd keel over. Akira was pretty sure he wouldn't, but now that he was doing this he could no longer say. Still; he needed to see where that person went, he had to know. The skies quickly opened up with rain, something he was glad for as it cooled him down. This was the only part of the rainy season in Japan that he enjoyed.
Akira could still make her out, she was taking a lot of corners and rain through alleys to try and lose him. If people saw they might have thought he was actually up to know good; chasing a girl through the streets he must look like a predator! It made him grateful that people decided to stay inside for the rain. He could feel his heart thump against his chest in protest to the sudden exercise as his lungs continued to burn. Akira couldn't help but cough, bringing his arm up to his mouth to do so and cough into the fabric of his school jacket.
The running slowed to a walk before slowing entirely. The girl he was chasing had stopped, but kept her back turned to him, staring at the fence that stopped her attempts to get away from him. Akira doubled over and placed his hands onto his knees, taking in deep breaths and letting out a hacking cough. Maybe this is why he didn't do sports in school, his heart felt like it would explode or stop all together.
Thumping his chest with his balled fist, he slowly brought up his body to look at the girl. She still had her back turned, letting only her brown hair and black clothing be visible to him. Breathing still jagged, he took a step forward gaining her attention. Her back became rigid and her breath caught in her throat.
"I...I just want to ask you something...I just want answers." He said awkwardly to her, unsure on what to say or how to actually speak to her, after all he did just chase her in the pouring streets she probably believed him to be a creep. But she stayed silent. Akira took a deep breath through his nose, keeping his eyes on her.
"Ear-earlier today, you said "I'm not dead"...What did you mean?" He asked her, hoping to coax something out of her. She however remained silent to his words, not daring to turn around. Akira knitted his brows together, a frown forming on his lips; surely he wasn't hallucinating this girl...right?
"Well...I'm not." She said simply to him, breaking his chain of thought. It was Akira's turn to remain quiet. All he could do was stare.
The air filled with tension as the two teens stood silent. The brunette boy watching the brunette girls back. She didn't dare to move and neither did Akira for that instance. He wasn't even sure if he was awake any more. The rain flattened his hair, making his hair cover his eyes slightly once more; the rain flattened the girls air too but rather or not they covered her eyes he couldn't tell. He swallowed hard, he needed to know.
"Your name...it's not...it's not Ito...is it?" He questioned, pausing between his words unsure how to exactly ask her. She froze once more at the name. Her fingers curling into the palm of her hands before releasing themselves once more. Akira's brows stayed knitted as he stepped forward silently, reaching out a hand to grab her shoulder.
"Please...I...I just need to know." He begged. Before his hand could make contact however a fist soon landed square in his nose. He yelped in surprise and pain, grabbing his face and closing his eyes tightly as he stumbled backwards; he wasn't expecting to be thumped. He listened to the foot steps run past him.
"You shouldn't meddle in what you don't understand! Move on! Forget about everything that ever happened in the past and enjoy what little left there is on this world!" She screamed at him. By time Akira opened his eyes and looked to see where she was going she was gone.
Akira's eyes scanned the place as he dropped his hands from his face. He couldn't see her any more. He tried to think over her words and what they meant. Biting the inside of his cheek in frustration he walked out of the alley. He could feel blood drip from his nose and held a hand to it and slowly pushed his head backwards. It felt broken, he cringed with the slightest touch to it. When she swung round to whack him one he managed to catch a glimpse of her face. Her eyes matched his. She looked like him from that glimpse he was almost certain...no he was positive it was Ito. He couldn't mistake the eyes for anyone else. But then it played on her mind, he literally watched her drop dead and attended the funeral...so how could it be? And could it have something to do with her words.
"Meddle in what I don't understand...I want to understand." He muttered to himself as he watched the grey skies, allowing the rain to soak him through.
"Akira what happened to your nose?!" A panicked voice that could only belong to his mum said as soon as he walked in through the door. Before he could even answer she was right up to him and staring cross eyed at his nose, inspecting the damage that had been done. She glanced down at his hand, her panicked expression staying on her face.
"And your hand! What have you been doing?!" She demanded from her son. Akira pulled on an apologetic smile to his face; slightly amused that she thought he hurt his hand when in reality it was just covered in the blood from his nose. He'd thought the rain would have at least washed away the blood but clearly not.
"I walked into a door that's all. The blood on my hand is from my nose." He explained to her, and well lied to her. He wasn't going to suddenly say "I found Ito she's not actually dead just slightly crazy." No, that would make his mother worry even more...he was still trying to believe it himself. Everything rolled in his head and just confused him; he was determined to make sense of it.
His mother hummed to herself as she stepped back from her son to at least allow him room to breath properly. She shook her head placing her hands onto her hips as she frowned at him and raising her eyebrows.
"Honestly Akira, you can be very clumsy sometimes. Go wash up and get some dinner. Is your nose broken?" She asked him as he scooted past her. Akira turned his head slightly over his shoulder towards her, shaking his head with another lie.
"No just sore... I'll get something to eat later I'm not hungry." He said to her, smiling at her apologetically. Her brows creased together, she was worried about his eating habits. He never had much of an appetite, regularly compared to that of a sparrow's when he was hunger but now it was worrying her. Maybe she should have forced him to eat more when he was younger. Akira just kept the apologetic smile on his face and quickly ran up the stairs to the bathroom.
Locking the door behind him he turned and walked to the mirror, starring at himself. His nose will never be straight again. He thought back to who he believed was Ito. She was only a few inches shorter than he was when he got close to her. Her hair was the same brunette as his as were her eyes. But unlike his they seemed...almost soulless. Like she wasn't fully there or a puppet to someone else's command. The Ito he knew all those years ago she was never like that. She was brave, braver than him as they got older but welcoming to others as well. Her eyes spoke volume's for that. But those eyes now? They didn't hold the same grace. He knitted his brows together as he lurched forward, grabbing a hold of the sink. He felt nauseous; a routine thing that seemed to happen now before he went to bed. Akira shook his head and backed away. He needed a clear head to think this through properly. He couldn't do it like this, not with a million and one things buzzing around his mind and jumping to conclusions and how Ito was there. The brunette took himself off to bed...he needed the sleep.
-x-
"Leave her alone!" A young voice of Akira shouted at a boy much older than him, pushing the boy as best he could. He however didn't budge. The young brunette glared at the older boy, the weeps and wails from his sister deafening his ears from behind him. The older boy just smirked at him.
"Who's going to make me!" He yelled back, pushing Akira backwards hard and over the top of his sister's back. He sprawled out on the floor as he landed on his own back, wincing slightly.
"Aki!" Ito shouted in surprise through her own sobs. Soon, Ito found herself pushed over onto Akira as well; moving her from the original spot she had landed on after being pushed off the swing by the older boy. This of course started her sobbing and wailing again, soon turning into coughs.
"Let's leave them alone, Koji. They're like five." The other boy said, beginning to walk away from Koji and the twins. Koji huffed and turned on his heels, leaving the two alone.
The sobs soon started to calm down just as Akira was sitting himself up. He leaned back on his hands groaning slightly; he hadn't expected to be pushed over his sisters back. He looked to his sister, who hiccuped occasionally. Noticing the sun was going down he slowly got himself up and held his hands out to her. She grabbed onto them and pulled herself up as he walked backwards.
"We should go home, it's getting dark." He said to her as he began walking them in the direction of their house, keeping a hold of her hand. Ito stayed quiet on the walk home. She looked to her brother when she felt him stop. Looking ahead she could spot what he was staring at; Koji and his friend.
Ito wrinkled her nose and let go of Akira's hand, making him look at her with his eyebrows raised. He quickly began to panic once she spirited over to them. Akira began running over as soon as he saw that she reached them and pushed Koji over, straight over a bike rest and onto the floor.
"We're five and one half you smelly face!" She shouted at him, sticking her tongue out at him hard before feeling herself being pulled by Akira; who had quickly ran past the bullies and now dragged Ito with him. He could hear the screams coming from Koji, who obviously hadn't expected to be shoved onto the floor by the younger girl. In a way he felt good. He knew his sister could look after herself in some way if he wasn't around; he just wished she did so in other ways.
-x-
It had been a week since that incident and if anything Akira was more annoyed than ever. He hadn't seen Ito since his encounter with her in the rain and being punched in the face. The scene constantly played out in his head. Not only that but he had other things to worry about as well, such as this tournament and going to Yugi's to learn how to duel. Mokuba had since found out and was excited about the prospect, even saying if he wanted to he could enter the tournament. But Akira didn't want to back out from the job so declined; and instead just said that maybe Mokuba could duel him and teach him some more, he wasn't after a title anyway.
Him and Mokuba had decided to take a "mini tour" of the quarter of the city they had been tasked with watching over. Mokuba pointed at various things to look out for and even commented on them from when it was only him doing this at the age of twelve back in Duellist City. Akira couldn't help but admire him for it; his brother Seto trusted him with so much it was unreal and now that he was older he trusted him with so much more.
"Always keep an ear out for the walky talky you never know when you're needed." Mokuba said as he shoved his hands into his puffer jacket's pockets. Akira nodded his head, stuffing his own hands into his hoodie's front pockets.
"Walky talky...got it." He parroted, more so for making a mental note of it all. Mokuba grinned widely as he thought over everything, humming to himself as he starred up at the sky as if keeping an eye on the weather. It had threatened to rain after all.
"That's all I can think of now... Oh and always expect something new to happen! Each tournament Seto has held so far has never been the same twice." Mokuba commented making Akira nod his head once more, making another mental note. He was good at that; taking mental notes. He never seemed to forget things that way; physical notes on the other hand he just forever lost.
The pair of teenagers weren't keeping an eye on where they were going and ended up walking into someone. The person yelped as she was shoved over, seemingly having been standing in the middle of the pathway.
"We're sorry! Are you okay?" Mokuba quickly said, offering his hand to the person. Akira took a good look at the person, his eyes widening slightly.
"That's her!" Akira exclaimed to Mokuba, making the body freeze as she began pushing herself up from the floor. Mokuba raised his eyesbrows slightly at his friend, before looking back at the girl who was now slowly standing up from off the floor.
"What do you mean?" Mokuba questioned, never taking his eyes off the body. Akira took another look. Brunette hair the same colour as his, and dark clothes once more.
"Ito...She's Ito!" He said to him, only confusing his friend even more. This just made the girl freeze some more. She couldn't run; that was be suspicious and that was exactly what Akira was counting on. Mokuba could only look at his friend concerned, knitting his brows together as he pulled his hand back towards his body.
"She's gone Akira... Do you-" Mokuba began saying, before the girl took off running once more; clearly not too concerned about drawing conclusions to herself. Akira sprinted after her, and turned on the ball of his foot slightly to look at Mokuba, jogging backwards.
"Follow me, I know it's her!" He shouted to his raven haired friend. Mokuba sighed slightly, keeping his brows knitted and reluctantly following. His friend was losing it he couldn't let him go off by himself.
The raven haired boy caught up with his brunette friend as they ran after the girl who Akira believed to be Ito. The fire that Akira's lungs once felt had returned as the two sprinted after her. The only difference this time was that she had to weave between people, something she was apparently not used to as she knocked over several people in her bid to get away. Akira and Mokuba however were professionals at this, as they weaved effortlessly past the people who wondered why the teens were in such a hurry.
They managed to catch up to her. The pair grabbed an arm each and pulled her back, making "Ito" kick out in front of her at nothing. Akira was absolutely positive he was right and Mokuba was following along because he wanted to help his friend, and prove this girl wasn't his sister.
"Let me go! I will scream rape!"She threatened as her kicking continued. Akira kept his hold on her though as Mokuba loosened up, the thought of such a reputation stunning him. He couldn't do that to himself or to his brother.
"Not this time, Ito! I need answers." Akira said to her making the girl stop her kicking slowly. Mokuba looked rather confused and stunned. He slowly walked round the Akira, watching "Ito" closely before stopping in front of her. Her head was dropped, watching the floor. Mokuba kneeled over slightly, putting his face underneath hers to have a good look, then gasping in surprise and shock once he had a good look felt pain in his stomach.
"She...she looks like you!" He gasped, rubbing his stomach as he stumbled backwards. "Ito" had placed her foot back down onto the floor, she apparently felt the need to knee Mokuba in the stomach for having a look at her face. Akira nodded his head as he took a hold of her other arm, locking them with his to make sure she doesn't get away.
"I told you! And she's going to answer my questions." Akira said to him, a determined look on his face as well as one of being visibly upset.
Mokuba watched his friend, he had never seen such a look on his friends face. But he knew he needed answers. After all, Ito has been "Dead" for the past five years. And Akira...well...Akira wanted his answers. Why was she being confusing? Last week or so she was mouthing she wasn't dead, as if she wanted him to talk to her and now, now she being hostile, almost like this was the complete opposite of what she wanted. Akira needed to know; what has happened to Ito over the last five years and was her death even real?