I GOT ACCEPTED INTO THE PHLEBOTOMY PROGRAM! That may not mean much to you guys, but I've been on the wait list at my school for over a year and a half. Now I'll get to poke people and make money doing it!
Anyway, it's Monday! With it brings a new chapter! Prepare for crazy, and make it... um... hazy? Whatever. I'll let you read.
Thanks to AnimeKiwi369, FiringShootingStar, Seeker Heart, theforgottenpeople96, Star-Rose Lover, Rose-Aki, RobotFish, Mixer18, Rapis Razuri, TFRiD Queen, RunoandAkizafan, and uzamaki898 for their reviews!
And then we have LDC, ChibiX, and two guests with anonymous reviews! LDC: I'm glad you're enjoying this tale! Don't worry, plenty more action to be starting… now. ChibiX: I'm kind of basing Kalin on somewhat friendlier side of his Crash Town appearance, so he's kind of the 'dad' to all the Enforcers. Calling 'him' Divine or Sayer would be fine, since I used both for his name in here. It's your call :) Thank you and enjoy your vacation!
Many thanks to my beta, RobotFish, for his much-appreciated assistance! I've been reading through his older fic, Our Little Secret, to find it's really good. Super fluff alert, but so good. Fluff is my weakness. Just sayin'.
Ahem. Enjoy! The chapter name should get you as prepared as you need to be ;)
Sunset Horizon
Chapter 09 – Unexpected Turn
Yusei slipped through the night, moving like a shadow under the starlit sky. He had one destination and he wouldn't stop until he reached it. This was one trip he needed to make. He needed answers. Vaulting silently over the fence, he moved across the yard and paused beneath the balcony before climbing up the edge and clambering onto the platform.
Sucking in a breath, he moved over to the double doors decorated with small panels of stained glass before pulling a pocket knife from his belt and using it to lift the latch. He pushed the door open silently and turned in the near-dark room to leave it open only a crack. A quick glance through the room with dark-trained vision yielded it to be empty, so he moved over and pulled out the chair at a writing desk before taking a seat in the shadows.
He wasn't sure how long he sat there, hiding in the darkness and waiting. It didn't matter. He would wait forever for her.
Finally, the door cracked open and a figure stepped inside, silent in the late night. The woman first noticed her balcony door left open and cocked her head, knowing it had been closed tightly that morning. Her hand reached to grab hold of a metal bar leaning beside the door, getting ready to fight off who or whatever managed to get into her home.
Yusei didn't blame her for having such precautionary self-defense items around her home. She was a single, gorgeous woman living alone with three children in her care and a large supply of liquor stocked somewhere within her walls. She must have been prepared for men who would try to attack her in the night.
She crept through the room, holding the rod over her head while peering through the darkness. Yusei sat on the opposite side of the room, watching her with eyes trained to the dark. He cleared his throat, making her jump, and said, "There's no need for that, Miss Izinski."
She turned in the direction of his voice, focusing her gaze in his direction while trying to make out his form. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he withdrew a pack of matches and lit one on his leather belt before lighting a candle on the desk. "Better?"
She glared and lowered her weapon, but didn't release it. "What do you want? At this hour, no less?"
He shifted to stand, but kept his distance from her. "You're the one who invited me up here in the first place."
She crossed her arms and whispered to no-doubt avoid waking the children in her care, "Haven't you heard? I'm an engaged woman, Yusei."
"Yeah, something doesn't seem right about that," he said, slowly taking two steps closer to her. "You fall into bed with me, then suddenly, a few days later, you're engaged? Was I that repulsive?"
She inhaled sharply and turned away, finally lowering her pipe and leaning it against the wall. "You heard what Divine said. We talked through post and, when he asked me to marry him, I accepted."
He raised one finger sharply to make a point, saying, "Answer me one question, Miss Izinski."
"I don't have to answer anything."
"You owe me this." He took another step, moving ever-so-gradually towards her. "Were you already engaged when we slept together?"
She frowned and turned away, sighing deeply before saying, "Depending on my answer, what would you say?"
"I'm going to guess that since you haven't answered yet, you were engaged."
She huffed once more and then turned to face him again. "All right. I was engaged when I invited you to my room for sex. I admit it."
His jaw dropped. He had expected it to be true, but he didn't realize she would be so blunt about it. Did she truly care that little for him? "Help me out here…" he muttered, "Why did you invite me up here if you were engaged?"
She sighed, no longer sounding angry and just defeated. "I told you before. I wanted to experience what love truly felt like before I married. I…" She paused, taking a moment to brace herself before finishing, "I am sorry that I used you."
He shook his head, his heart pounding and making it impossible for him to stay angry with her. He was damn well going to try, though. "I don't care that you used me. I said it before. I love you and I'm glad I could help you find happiness in the world. What I'm not fond of is the fact that you already promised yourself to another man when you came to me."
"I-" she started.
He cut her off by saying, "Which brings me to my next point. Sayer? Are you kidding me? The whole reason I kept those men away from you all these years was so you could find happiness with a man who loved you, not so you could end up with a dirtbag like him."
She frowned and crossed her arms again, put off by his verbal attack on her. "It's exactly as he said. We talked through post and got to know and understand each other. There are far worse men I could marry. You know, jealousy is an ugly look for you, Yusei."
"Jealous?" His eyebrows rose simultaneously. "I admit that I love you, but I will never be jealous of anything Sayer has. Not even you. Anything he has immediately loses value in my eyes. You know, it's really kind of ironic. You rejected me because—in your words—I'm a cold bastard, and yet you willfully accept the proposal of a colder bastard than me. I'm really quite curious about that."
"Are you that against Yliaster where even men you've never met before are immediately worthy of insults such as that?"
He snorted a short sound of disbelief as he shifted to sit on her bed. "Never met before? I guess the thought never crossed your mind, but I do know Sayer. We went to the same school in my hometown."
"Impossible." She shook her head. "Divine attended a prestigious school in the Capital that only the richest of Yliaster's children attended."
He shot her a flat look and muttered, "What's your point?"
Her brow furrowed as she thought through his words. "What are you saying, Yusei?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "I had to come from somewhere before I got here. Ask your fiancé about the Fudo family. You'll get a story you probably weren't expecting. Granted, I didn't know him personally, but the Fudo's and the Sayer's crossed paths often enough. Oh, and in case you don't know, the Sayer's aren't really related to the Goodwin's. That's just bullshit plotted by those two for whatever reason."
She only narrowed her eyes further. "I'm going to need some proof of this. I have absolutely no reason to believe you. I mean, what gives you the right to creep into my room, disparage my fiancé, and accuse him of lying to me?"
He slid off the bed and leaned closer to her, taking her forearms in his hands. "What gives you the right to fuck with my feelings?"
She leaned away from him, eyes wide at the sudden look of fierce determination on his face. "I… You consented."
He didn't let go, but tugged her a little closer instead. "I consented? That's your excuse? Of course I'm going to consent when you kiss me and look at me with those eyes…!"
She didn't say anything, but kept her lips in a thin line and looked as though she was trying to hide her fear. Yusei had never been so rough with her before, and it was no wonder that she wasn't sure how to behave. Anyone else who had gripped her like this was always warded back by the man currently holding her. He wasn't even sure why he was treating her so forcefully, but he was running on his emotions and wasn't about to stop until he had received some sort of closure. "Tell me, Miss Izinski, do you love him?"
She blinked and nodded once. "I do. I love him."
He coughed a short sound of disbelief. "You could at least put some inflection in your voice. You sound as if you can't even convince yourself of it, let alone me."
She turned away as best she could, staring at the floor to avoid his gaze. "What do you want from me, Yusei?"
"What do I want…?" he asked, shifting his hands from her forearms to hold her shoulders. "What I want is for you to love me in return, but I know that won't happen. I've long since resigned myself to the fact that you could never love me. It's for the best, after all, if you don't get too close. What I do is dangerous business, and if you did get involved, you would only end up getting hurt, and it would be my fault. So I did what I had to."
She kept her eyes trained on the floor as she mumbled, "What you had to do…?"
He shook her shoulders slightly, unaware of his own actions as he glanced off to his right. "I covered up who I really am, pretended to be a villain. I made myself out to be a cold bastard so you wouldn't want to get close." He turned back to her, emotions flooding deep in his gaze, and said, "But I can't do it anymore. I thought I could, but then you had to go and…"
"Yusei," she whispered, "I'll say this once."
He swallowed the lump rising in his throat. "What?"
"Please leave."
His heart shattered in his chest, his mind taking a moment to process her words. Before he could stop himself, he shook her one more time as he hissed in the night, "Don't you get it? I can be a good man for you! I love you; more than Sayer ever could!"
She cringed, his grip on her arms tightening just enough to hurt. "I said leave!"
His hold loosened gradually until his hands fell back to his sides. "Is that what you really want?"
She nodded, her gaze never leaving the floor. "It is. I'm going to marry Sayer."
Nodding slowly, he released her completely before reaching one hand to brush her jaw line. He leaned in closely, pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and stepped back. "If that's your choice, then so be it. Goodbye, Miss Izinski," he whispered, then turned sharply on his heel and out towards the balcony, hopping off and heading back towards his home.
…
Crow and Kalin peered at their leader in curiosity as he walked into his home and marched over to one of the desks, pulling a match from his pocket to light the oil lamps on top. It was still early enough that the other Enforcers were still awake, with the exception of Jack being absent. Yusei dug in the basin they used to store maps and pulled one out, checking to make sure it was the one he wanted before unrolling it on the table.
The only teen in the room shifted to stand from his place on the floor as he moved over beside his friend, glancing at the map he chose to find the layout of the governor's estate. He'd recognize that anywhere. But the question still burned in his mind as he wondered what he was planning. "Uh, Yusei? What're you doing with the map to Goodw- Er, Sayer's place?"
He shook his head dismissively, running his finger along the paper to trace a path. "Doesn't matter that Goodwin split. The governor has to go."
Kalin blinked skeptically on the side, saying, "But that's-"
Crow cut him off, blurting, "But if you attack Sayer, you're pretty much attacking Akiza. You know that, right?"
He bowed his head, hiding his eyes with his shag of bangs as he muttered, "She's made her choice. There's nothing I can do about it now. I can't let a girl get in the way of our freedom, can I?"
Something had happened between the two and the orange-haired teen wasn't sure what to think. All of the Enforcers except for Yusei himself knew that his feelings for the bartender were mutual. He was just too blind to see it. But now that Sayer entered the picture, claiming Akiza as his fiancée, there was no way to guess what would happen between them.
Crow had always wagered that the pair would end up together, but this was all wrong. He didn't think Akiza was the type of woman to give up and marry someone simply because he asked her. There must have been more at work behind the scenes. Maybe she made a deal with him in exchange for marriage. It didn't add up, though. What could she possibly have in mind?
Whatever her reasons, the bitch would pay for tearing his friend apart like this.
…
Yusei slipped through the bushes, his friends at his heels as they slipped through the late night. It was time to find some dirt on Sayer and get an upper hand before he even knew a battle was at play. It would be easy. After all, he was living in the same house they'd been sneaking into expertly for the last five years. Why would it be hard? It didn't even seem like Sayer had any night patrolmen.
He ducked under a tree branch and moved over to a window, climbing inside and taking a quick look for anyone while the others came in. Finding nothing, he moved through the room and nodded to them, silently telling them to follow the plan of splitting up. Jack and Crow would go to explore the secret passageway—surely Sayer was using it—while Yusei and Kalin would look through his personal rooms.
The plan was to search for an hour, find out what they could about him, then meet up in the bushes where they'd come in. Easy, right?
Yusei darted down the hall, his footsteps silent from years of practice, with Kalin on his heels. Their first stop would be the room Goodwin used as an office. No doubt it would be used for a similar purpose under a different master. He moved into the room and made a beeline for the desk, shuffling through pages that hadn't been sorted yet while Kalin headed over to boxes of files that still needed to be unpacked into the chest of drawers.
Time passed in silence as they searched, Yusei opening the desk and looking through. In retrospect, he realized they should have waited to raid his home until he'd been in town longer and was more settled in with his things put away. Frustrated, he sighed heavily as he pushed the last drawer closed again, glancing at Kalin and raising an eyebrow as a silent code for 'find anything?'
He shook his head before turning back to the files, a slight sound down the hall causing the both of them to freeze and make eye contact. It sounded like footsteps. Yusei nodded to Kalin in a way to tell him to keep looking as he drew Stardust from its holster and slipped for the door, glancing out into the hall slowly for any sign of company.
Finding none, he took a few slow steps out into the passageway and glanced around, following the direction of the sound for the source. He wanted to make sure the halls were truly empty and know that they were safe. It was a part of making sure they had a secure escape route. It wouldn't do any good if they were surrounded.
He leaned against the wall beside a doorway and held Stardust in his dominant hand, reaching out to gently nudge the door open with his other. The entry to the room was clear, so he leaned in just enough to peer around the corners to take in the rest of the room. It was a big one, so he took a few steps inside and kept Stardust in-hand, checking all sides for a presence.
"And here I find a rat."
He turned in the direction of the doorway, freezing at the sight of Sayer standing there, his hands in his pockets and a slight smirk on his face. A quick survey revealed that he wasn't armed, but didn't seem to have any concern over that fact, either. Yusei lifted Stardust to eyelevel and narrowed his eyes, raising his lip into a snarl. "Sayer."
He released a short laugh, almost sounding like a cough at the same time. "You come into my home, armed, and you act as though I'm the one at fault. How amusing."
He didn't move, only spoke, saying, "You come into my town, set to tear it apart, and you act like you're Mr. Innocent. Something seems wrong about that to me."
Suddenly, a look crossed Sayer's face as if he just realized something and he gave a low sound of understanding. "Ohh… I see." His fingers rose to touch his chin as his smirk deepened. "So you're the one."
His stance didn't shift, his eyebrow rising inquisitively as he silently asked him to clarify. Sayer laughed again, his shoulders shaking slightly in pure humor. "You're the one my fiancée is in love with, aren't you? This should be interesting. I think I'll hold onto you for a little while."
Yusei's other eyebrow shifted to match, his brain not fully comprehending what the man before him just said. "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"Exactly how it sounds." He took a step closer, smirking and flipping his bangs back. "I'll make you regret ever involving yourself with her."
A low growl slipped out of his lips as he snarled, raising Stardust and pointing to fire. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the one who's armed."
"Not all men are born needing a weapon to inflict pain." The corners of his eyes curled as he smiled wider, raising his chin ever-so-slightly in a motion of power.
Yusei didn't care to find out what he meant by that. He pinpointed Stardust on his foe and squeezed the trigger, aiming to kill. Before the familiar sound of a gunshot echoed, a force like a charging bull pounded into him, throwing him across the room and into the opposite wall. He shook his head, clearing his mind of the whiplash and glancing to his right. He'd slammed into the window frame, and, had he been standing a foot to the right, would have gone straight out into the trees from the second story.
But, more importantly, what threw him that far? He looked up to find Sayer still standing there, that same smile on his face, with nothing even relatively close to him. There wasn't anything he could have thrown to shove him like that. What the hell happened? He shifted to stand and glanced around for Stardust Dragon, spotting it on the ground far to his right. It must have been forced from his grip when he'd been blown back.
"Do you see? That's what happens when you cross into matters that don't concern you," Sayer said, reaching his left hand out to the side.
Yusei couldn't move quickly enough to do anything as Stardust slid across the floor before snapping into the red-haired man's outstretched hand. He held it delicately, gently shifting it to his right hand before examining its pearlescent finish. "Quite a marvelous weapon you have here. I wonder where it came from?"
"I made it, you bastard," Yusei muttered. He didn't have any way to explain how Sayer threw him into the wall nor how he suddenly got a hold of his precious firearm, but he had a snide comment to uphold his pride.
"You did? Interesting. You're quite talented, I admit."
"Thanks," he mouthed off, letting the sarcasm drip from his tone. He really didn't know how he would get out of this. He had no idea what to expect from Sayer's tricks, but he needed to get Stardust back and get back to his friends. He needed to keep the man talking so he could figure out a plan.
"I believe I'll keep this. It makes quite the souvenir. Now, then, to punish you for fraternizing my fiancée. Akiza belongs to me and that fact will be crystal clear when I'm through with you," he said, his fingers flicking slightly before Yusei felt himself fly back into the wall again, sending his vision to black before all control left his body at once.
Le gasp! Yusei's lost Stardust Dragon? And his consciousness? Oh, the drama! Anyway, leave a comment below with your thoughts! Thank you!
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