Heh. So, after our mysterious cliffhanger last week, we now have a new chapter to satisfy some curiosities and possibly add new ones. Either way, I hope everyone likes this new chapter!

As per usual, my thanks go out to melan anime, the forgottenpeople96, FiringShootingStar, RobotFish, AnimeKiwi369, Shinn Tsukishiro, Seeker Heart, Rose-Aki, RunoandAkizafan, and TFRiD Queen for their amazing reviews!

And anons this week are LDC, ChibiX, Mariah, and anon! LDC: Yeah, Yusei might not be the most romantic, but he does what he can. And, yes, it usually ends up being cute XD ChibiX: Well, Jack and Carly weren't going to confess without his help. Mariah: –fangirls– You are now my best friend. Z-one is awesome and I love his character so much! Rather, I love exploring what he might be like if he hadn't become Yusei and been burdened with saving the world. Seriously, I love him. anon: Thank you!

Now, I'll shut up and let you read. Enjoy!

Sunset Horizon
Chapter 27 – Moonlit Reunion

The stranger grinned a little wider and chuckled a short laugh. "Don't underestimate this old man."

His eyes narrowed more as he pulled his finger against Stardust's trigger. "What the hell are you doing here, Z-one?"

Akiza watched as the man, Z-one, coughed another laugh and muttered, "Kick your ass into gear, of course."

Yusei's lip curled as he retorted, "And you're planning to accomplish that by pointing a gun at me?"

Silence fell between the two men for a long moment, causing Akiza to wring her hands together nervously. Whoever this man was, Yusei knew him. She could only assume he was from his past, whether from his time in the Capital or an encounter during his journey, she couldn't be sure. She wanted to reach out psychically and find the answers, but, at the same time, she wanted to respect Yusei's privacy and his reasons for not telling her about this Z-one earlier.

They continued to stare each other down with dark looks in their eyes, a silent conversation passing between the two. Suddenly, as if on some unspoken cue, they both shifted their weapons, flipped them in their hands, then dropped them in their holsters. Akiza watched in dumbfounded surprise as they reached out and gripped each other's hand, pulling to embrace in a sort of half-hug while slapping each other's back.

After a moment, they pulled back and Akiza saw the grin on Yusei's face as he said, "All bullshit aside, it's great to see you again."

Z-one gave a single laugh mixed with a cough while snuffing his discarded cigarette on the floor with his boot. He slipped a hand inside his jacket and withdrew a pack of the tobacco, pulling a new one out with his teeth. "You might want to start some introductions. Your friends look about ready to drop over."

Yusei froze and glanced back sheepishly at the crew watching in curiosity. "Uh, right," he muttered, brushing a hand through his hair. "So, uh… Guys, this is my grandfather, Z-one."

Akiza spoke first and asked, genuinely curious, "Your grandfather?" She hadn't been expecting that answer. Yusei's grandfather was here? In New Domino where he'd run to escape the Capital? Did that mean his father was coming, too?

He nodded and walked back over to his friends, saying, "You remember Kalin, right?"

Z-one nodded as he lit his cigarette. "You grew up, you little brat."

The white-haired man gave a light smile and replied, "And you're still an ass, Z-one."

He barked an all-out laugh and grumbled, "You got some gall in the last few years, that's for sure. The shy little Kalin I knew wouldn't have even known what curse words were."

Akiza watched as Yusei waved a hand towards his other friends, saying, "These are my other brothers, Crow Hogan and Jack Atlas."

"Jack Atlas?" he asked, his eyebrows rising. "That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. How'd you two stumble across each other?"

Jack crossed his arms and muttered, "You've heard my name? I assure you, the only people who've heard of me are those who call me the Master of Faster."

Z-one gave a slight nod of understanding and said, "I see. I must have you mistaken for someone else. I'm sure 'Jack Atlas' is a common name in Granel."

Yusei's eyebrow rose as if he wasn't sure what they were talking about, then continued to gesture towards the ladies, saying, "This is Misty Tredwell, a traveler from-"

"Misty Tredwell…" Z-one mused. "How've you been, girl? Still trying to kill me in my sleep?"

The woman gave a light chuckle and shook her head, saying, "No, I'm free of that fate now. It's good to see you well, Z-one."

Yusei's eyes widened at that and asked, "You know each other? How?"

His grandfather reached up to scratch the back of his head—which Akiza noticed was a habit Yusei had when he was unsure how to answer something—and started, "That's, uh…"

Misty smiled and, after a short round of eye contact with the old man, said, "That's a story for another day. Please continue, Yusei."

He nodded absently, then turned to Carly. "This is Carly Carmine, Jack's girl, and this," he said, moving to step behind Akiza and set his hands on her hips before leaning his chin over her shoulder. With a coy smile on his lips, he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and finished, "is Akiza Izinski."

She smiled at his antics and reached a hand out to greet Z-one, retracting it when he frowned and crossed his arms. With a judging stare, he mumbled, "Izinski? What the hell is wrong with you, kid?"

Shock crossed faces of both young lovers as Yusei opened his mouth to retort, "Kakogo cherta ty imeyeshʹ v vidu pod etim?"

His lips curled into a smirk. "Why the hell ain't she 'Fudo' yet? You've been gone for—what?—seven years now?"

Akiza heard Misty snort in laughter behind her, then followed suit a moment later. Yusei's grandfather had scared her for a moment back there. She was afraid he thought she wasn't good enough for his grandson. The way he'd said 'Izinski' like that had made her afraid that he knew about her family's history from the days before the slavery abolishment.

After a short moment, Z-one strode across the room and stopped in front of Akiza, drawing his cigarette away from his mouth as he studied her up close. She smiled, trying to ignore the putrid smell of smoke on his breath, and held her hand out to say, "A pleasure to meet you, Mister Fudo."

Z-one chuckled and waved a hand dismissively before saying, "Stop that, missy. No one calls me anything but 'Z-one.' Even Yusei—my only goddamn grandkid—calls me that."

He shook her hand, anyway, causing her to bashfully rub the side of her neck with her free hand. "All right, then. Z-one it is."

He gave her one more judgmental look-over and addressed Yusei before saying, "She reminds me of your grandmother."

Yusei shot him a sharp glare as he tugged her a little closer to him, prompting Z-one to add, "In that she's gorgeous and spirited."

Akiza glanced back over her shoulder to look at her lover in confusion. "Yusei, what-?"

He sighed through a laugh as he clarified, "My grandmother was a whore."

Her eyebrow shot up as she turned to look at Z-one when he said, "Damn straight. She really knew her stuff." After a slight awkward pause in the room, he raised an eyebrow and nodded his head towards Akiza while asking, "You have at least been sexing her, right?"

Yusei stared dumbfoundedly at his grandfather for a long moment, sputtering for a moment as he tried to form an answer. Finally, he managed to say, "Pochemu v nazvaniye Bagrovyy byla by vy sprosite chto-to v etom rode?"

A bright grin flashed over Z-one's features as he placed his cigarette between his lips again and muttered, "Potomu chto eto veselo, chtoby uvidetʹ, kak vy reagiruyete."

His expression fell to a glare as he countered, "Ya deystvitelʹno nenavizhu tebya pryamo seychas."

He pulled the cigarette back and turned to the side as he exhaled. "You didn't answer my question, kid."

His hands tightened on Akiza's hips. "And I'm not going to, either."

He grinned again and leaned back against one of the tables. "Heh. You really don't have to. I know the signs."

A blush burned at Akiza's cheeks as she turned away slightly, looking for any kind of excuse to distract herself. "U-um… Who wants a drink?"

Z-one puffed on his cigarette again and said, "That's actually really cute. They even get flustered by the subject of sex."

Misty walked over to sit at the table where he had been and pulled out her book, opening it and jotting something down. Absently, she kept scribbling while saying, "You can't imagine my surprise when I first saw Yusei. He's practically a spitting image of you."

Akiza glanced up at that, only now realizing she was right. He had a similar complexion, the same shape of eyes, that same, ridiculous hair, and was about the same height. Yusei looked a lot like him, but he was still a much older version. Wrinkles adorned his old skin and laugh lines creased the corners of his eyes. At the same time, she unintentionally picked up on a feeling of hollowness. He was hurting and empty, but she couldn't imagine what had caused it.

By now, she knew everyone's drink of choice except for their new arrival. Frowning, she tried to decide what to get for him before sighing and calling out, "Z-one, what drink would you like?"

He dropped down into his chair across from Misty and muttered, "You serve vodka in these parts?"

"Not at the mom-" she started, then cut off as Misty pulled a bottle from under her cloak and plunked it on the table.

Flashing a smile, the former Earthbound said, "For you, Z-one. As thanks for all you've done for me."

He reached out and took the bottle, muttering with a wink, "I think it'll take a few more bottles to pay me back in full."

She gave a laugh and sat back again, resuming her writing in silence. Kalin walked over and sat down next to her, but looked to Z-one as he said, "How are things in the Capital, Z-one?"

"Psh, politics," he groaned, rolling his eyes while taking a swig of vodka directly from the bottle. Lowering the liquor, he eyed it before looking back to Misty. "Good stuff. How'd you come to afford it?"

She didn't look up from her book, but smiled secretively and said, "Let's just say I have a way with the lottery."

His eyebrow rose, but he didn't comment. Instead, he took another swig and replied to Kalin, "Suffice to say the Capital is more fucked up than ever."

Yusei's eyebrow rose as he walked over and leaned on the back of the forth chair. "I didn't think it was possible to get any worse."

"Says the kid who ran away from being senator. At least I tried to do something."

He pointed a finger with a sharp glare as he shifted to sit down. "I am trying. Just not from the inside. There's no changing that. The families are so tight in their 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' philosophy that there's no changing any of them. Even if one senator votes one way, it won't matter if the other eleven vote opposite. That's the problem with politics."

Z-one grinned around his cigarette as he leaned back. "And here they called you a failure when you left."

He shifted to sit down in the chair and leaned his elbows on the table. "They did? Who's 'they'?"

"The other senatorial families. I'll have you know, you caused your father a lot of grief."

"Good," he retorted quickly, not a hint of shame in his voice.

He frowned and took another drink of the vodka. "He did try, you know."

Akiza watched quietly as he shrugged and leaned back in his chair, muttering, "I don't care."

She picked up her tray of drinks and carried it around the counter, walking over to place it on the table so everyone could take their preferred choice. A hand wrapped around her wrist and she gave a slight squeal as Yusei tugged her to sit on his lap and gently nuzzled his nose in her hair. She settled her arm across his shoulders on a reflex and kept silent, observing his reunion with his grandfather quietly.

Yusei sighed heavily and reached out for a glass of whiskey, muttering, "Serves the bastard right."

Z-one watched him for a moment, staring disapprovingly at him. Finally, he shrugged and looked away, asking, "You been practicing?"

"As always."

Akiza frowned and looked back and forth between the two men, curious. "Practicing what?"

"His aim, of course," Z-one grumbled with a smirk. "Didn't he tell you I'm the one who taught him in the first place?"

She nodded as Yusei grinned and asked, "Am I still the best?"

"Hah!" he belted a laugh. "I wouldn't say 'best' for fear of inflating your already huge ego, but I haven't had a better student since."

Misty scoffed slightly and stuck her nose in the air mockingly, causing the old man to laugh again and say, "Sorry, Misty, but he's still the only one to get a shot in on me. Never been hit before or since, even during my time as a soldier in the war."

Yusei burst out laughing, chuckling at some memory that remained unknown to everyone else. Akiza glanced back and forth between the grandfather and grandson before finally asking, "Um… Wasn't Yusei only a kid when he left? How did he manage to hit someone that not even trained soldiers could? Or are you just messing with us?"

Her lover tightened his hold on her waist and kissed her neck before answering, "It did happen, and it's because I'm awesome."

Z-one laughed again and shook his head. "No, it's because I was fucking drunk."

"It was the first day he'd given me a gun," Yusei started, explaining to let everyone else in on the joke. "I was seven and my parents were at some event, so they left Z-one in charge of me. He was flat-out drunk and my grandmother left the room for some reason. I can't remember, but she was going to get something, I think. She wasn't going to be gone long. Z-one decided to take me out to the gardens and gave me a gun, pointed at a flowerpot in the distance, and told me to shoot it."

"It was an easy target," he muttered.

"For someone who'd shot a gun before. I didn't know what I was doing and all I knew was that my grandfather told me to try something new, so I pointed the gun like he said, and squeezed the trigger. The recoil caught me completely off-guard and the gun snapped down in my hands. I ended up shooting Z-one in the foot and he was too drunk to get out of the chair he'd fallen in. He didn't walk for almost six weeks and, the best part is, he got more scolding than I did."

A grin crossed his features as he leaned back and took another drag on his cigarette. "Even Elise—Yusei's mother—had it out for me. She told me to either stop drinking or to get the fuck out, but in much kinder vocabulary. Ironically, she was living in my house."

"Not true," Yusei added. "Once you passed on the title of senator, you lost ownership of the house, too."

He sat in silence for a long moment, just staring and blinking at his grandson. "…Huh. So you did actually pay attention."

He snorted a quick laugh and added, "Customs say that the heir gains the title when they turn twenty-two, then gain complete control of the family household and fortune. Former generations usually stay in the same house until death, though are technically considered 'retired.' The Historical Treasury is updated twice in the course of a senator's office time, once when he or she is twenty-two and of age, and again when they're thirty-five, usually as a family portrait with a spouse and any children. I can keep going, if you want."

A whistle sounded from Z-one as he leaned back in his chair and tipped his hat up. "Well, I honestly didn't realize you paid any attention."

"I have a few surprises."

Akiza saw an opening and slipped her fingers through his hair, muttering, "More than a few, I'd say."

Yusei kissed her lips and retorted, "You would know."

Z-one rolled his eyes. "And, suddenly, they're perfectly okay with being sexually provocative in front of everyone."

Jack sighed and crossed his arms, grumbling, "Normally, I wouldn't tell anyone to flatter themselves, but they are usually fine with it. It's your company that slowed them for a bit."

He chuckled at the two young adults' loving interactions before shaking his head and attempted to change the subject, muttering, "Well, I'm guessing you haven't heard, then?"

Yusei looked up from where he was nuzzling Akiza's neck and glanced quizzically at his grandfather. "Heard what?"

"About the coup?"

All heads in the room looked up at that, all eyes staring at the old man. Yusei leaned forward around Akiza and demanded, "Explain."

Sighing, Z-one took another drink and exhaled around the bite. "I guess word doesn't travel far, huh?"

Kalin shook his head, watching as Crow, Jack, Carly, and Lester—when did he get there?—took up chairs at the table. "Not this far."

Nodding slowly, he added, "I'm sorry about your grandfather. Word does travel to the Capital."

He nodded once. "It's all right. He's at peace now. Please, Z-one. What's this about a coup?"

Leaning back, he reached out to snuff his cigarette on the table, but paused as Yusei wordlessly moved an ashtray closer to him. Smirking slightly, he put it out in the ashes as he spoke, "Most of you probably don't know the name, but I know Yusei does. Kalin might. Senator LeBlanc is making the Underground public. He banding together people who oppose the senatorial families and leading a coup. Even though it'll cut down on his own family's power, he's doing what he thinks is right."

Yusei sighed and downed a gulp of his whiskey. "LeBlanc, eh?"

He nodded. "The Fudo family is supporting him from behind the scenes. I worked with the man for a good three years before your father took my place. He's been a good friend to us. We can trust his intentions."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "'We'?"

"Yes, 'we,' you little snot-nosed whelp." He reached in his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes again. "You're already fighting the council. This is a fight to remove the senatorial families from power and bring an election system to light. I'd have thought you'd be right on board that wagon."

"Nah," he muttered. "I stopped caring about the Capital."

"You know I tracked your ass down so I could warn you about this, right? The least you could do is show some gratitude, you little brat." After a moment of silence, he added, "The Underground is coming this way, anyway. You're going to have to fight, like it or not."

Akiza looked at him curiously as he shrugged and grinned, then looped his arms under her knees and shifted to stand. He moved towards the stairs, carrying her in his arms before calling back over his shoulder, "I need some sleep. Good to see you again, Z-one. If you don't have a place to stay, you can crash in my bunk at my old place."

He watched him move towards the stairs for a moment, then muttered, "Nah, it's fine. I have arrangements already."

Akiza studied Yusei as he carried her up the stairs towards their room and frowned thoughtfully at his cheerful disposition. "Yusei," she cooed, running her fingers through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me you were on good terms with your grandfather?"

He flashed a smile briefly and replied, "I did tell you my grandfather taught me to shoot. I guess Z-one just never really came up. I wasn't hiding him from you."

She nodded and smiled, reaching out to wrap her hands around his shoulders. "Well, I'm happy to see you so cheerful. It's nice to see, after all the bad stories you've shared concerning your family."

Shifting slightly, he set her down on her feet and stretched his hands over his head. He grinned crookedly and pulled his jacket off, tossing it in the general direction of the desk chair before dropping back to lie on their bed. "It's strange. I never imagined I would see anyone from the Capital again. I thought I left them behind and got myself lost in this small town." Giving a small chuckle, he added, "I guess I should have known Roman and Z-one would have thought to look where Kalin went."

She giggled as she moved over to sit on the bed next to him, smiling as she ran her fingers down his chest teasingly. "Well, as it stands, I like Z-one. It's no wonder you're such a pervert, though."

He belted out an all-out laugh. "To be fair, I was twelve the last time I saw him. I think you're the reason I'm such a pervert. You make me hot way more than what should be legally allowed."

She smiled and shifted to lie down against his side, resting her head on his shoulder. "I try."

"And you do a damn good job."

"In every regard," she murmured, breathing lightly against his exposed collarbone.

A groan sounded from his throat as he rolled, shifting prop himself above her and growling, "I think we should change the subject."

She smiled up at him and cupped his chin, drawing him in for a kiss before saying, "All right. One thing that did strike me as odd was how Z-one greeted Jack."

He frowned and drew back, settling to sit on his heels over her legs. "Well, there's a solid moodkiller," he murmured, reaching to brush a hand through his hair. "But, yeah, that was a little weird to me, too."

She moved to sit up and slid out from between his legs, moving to sit on top of hers. "You never did tell me how you met Jack, now that I think about it."

He breathed a laugh as he dropped to his side, landing in her pillows. "That… That's one hell of a story."

Smiling, she settled into his side and flicked the rim of the hat he still wore to tip it down over his eyes. "I'm listening."

He smiled and pushed his hat back up before taking it off completely and tossing it towards the coatrack where it would usually be kept. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, he tugged her close and sighed as he tried to figure out a good starting place. "Well…"

She looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to start. Finally, he opened his mouth and started his tale, saying, "July seventh. Just about a month before my birthday. I'd already been on the road from the Capital for over a year and, on that particular day, I was starting to run out of water. I ran out of food from the last town I'd found days before and had finished off the last of my water hours ago. I was exhausted, thirsty, and more than a little delirious. That being said, keep in mind that my memory of the day may not be the most accurate."

Nodding, she couldn't help but giggle at his storytelling style. "Okay. Noted."

Inhaling a deep breath, he continued, "I was wandering blind, no map or directions, just wanting water. I didn't care about anything else at that point. In the distance, I saw a huge, pristine white building. I figured it was the gates to heaven, a mockery from hell, or a mirage caused by desert fever. I figured I couldn't do any wrong by going to it. I was either already dead or there could be water there.

"I approached, and there were two men standing guard outside. I don't remember a whole lot, but the guards didn't take too kindly to a street rat showing up at their charge's home, begging for water. They tried to chase me away, and even resorted to violence. I don't remember a lot, but I do recall a sharp kick to the ribs."

Akiza grimaced unintentionally at the mention of the abuse he suffered before asking, "What happened?"

A small smirk fell on his lips as he said, "I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in a bed in a room decorated much more expensively than my home. It was decorated in white, blue, and gold – Granel's colors. At first, I thought I was dead and somehow got into Granel's heaven, but then a knock sounded at the door and a girl walked in with a small tray. In the middle was a tall, cool glass of water. She handed it to me and I downed it faster than anything. She never said a word, but then quietly left before returning with more.

"After three more glasses," he muttered with a chuckle, "I thanked her for her help and asked who she was. Finally, she spoke and said her master told her to help me. That was all she said before respectfully bowing out. I fell asleep again and woke up a few hours—possibly days—later, and found a kid my age seated on the bed opposite."

"That was…?" she started, trailing off and letting him finish the thought.

"Yep," he said. "That was Jack. He was the 'master' the girl mentioned. He looked at me like I was the dirt on his shoe, but then asked my name. I didn't know where I was, but his appearance and accent told me he was Graneli. Even though Granel and Yliaster were allies at the time, I thought it would be better if I didn't mention my connection to the senators. So I just told him my first name. After a long moment of just staring at me, he finally told me his name was Jack.

"He declared that, from that moment on, we were friends. He saved my life back then. He's the one who kept those guards from killing me and had that girl bring me water. He's since told me that I don't owe him anything and, frankly, I'm all right with that," he said, releasing a carefree chuckle.

Akiza couldn't help but smile at the lighthearted side to his story, but frowned before asking, "But… If he's Graneli nobility, what was he doing in Yliaster?"

"He said it was some kind of diplomatic mission. He was accompanying another member of the government for peacekeeping talks or something. I'd given up on politics by then and didn't care about details. In time, yeah, I did tell him about my childhood in the senatorial families and he told me he grew up in the Graneli palace. He never specified what his title was, but he made it sound like his parents were advisors or something. I didn't ask. I can't stand my family and I try not to talk about it, so I gave Jack the same kind of respect."

"One more question," she said, looking up at him curiously. "How did you go from staying in a luxurious mansion to wandering out here?"

"Well," he started, moving his free hand to settle behind his head. "I never gave up on my goal of finding Kalin. Jack asked me to stay because I was his friend. I'm thinking I was his first friend, honestly. Since he saved my life, I felt a little guilty and stayed there with him for a couple weeks. He introduced me to some new things, and I shared stories of my recently acquired freedom.

"At first, he laughed in my face. But the more I talked about how sweet it was to wake up when I wanted, eat when and what I wanted, go where I wanted, talk to who I wanted… The more I did, the more curious he got. Finally, one day, he spoke to me about making plans to run. We took food and water from the kitchen, stole two horses from the stable, and took a map detailed enough to have New Domino on it before running for the hills."

"So…" she started, shifting to lay across his bare chest a little more comfortably. "When Z-one mentioned Jack today, do you think he was referring to him being a runaway like you?"

"Probably. Jack doesn't like to talk about his past, either, so I don't know all the details. Maybe he was much higher up the chain than I thought if Z-one reacted like that." He shrugged slightly underneath her. "I don't know. Jack is still Jack, so I don't really care. My friends never judged me for my wealthy upbringing, so I never judged him. We all have our reasons for doing things."

She stayed silent for a moment, thinking his words through before nodding. "All right, then." She paused, craning her neck to look up at him and took a moment to absorb his features. She had seen his face in her bed beside her every day since the end of May. She still randomly found herself studying him and zoning out of anything else she'd been doing, staring at the curve of his jaw, the shape of his nose, the jagged scar, or, her personal favorite, the beauty of his eyes.

She could get lost in the endless blue for hours.

But, today, what she found when she looked into his vibrant orbs was a somewhat dull shade. It was guarded. Worried. She couldn't help herself as she reached up and gently cupped his cheek, saying, "Yusei…?"

He sighed heavily and set his free hand on hers, silently telling her he was glad she was there and that his worry had nothing to do with her. "I'll be fine, Akiza. It's just… I can't help but wonder…"

"Yusei?" she asked again, prompting him to finish his thought. She still wasn't able to read minds. Not that she would if she could, but it was an ironic thought.

"I wonder…" he said, lying back in the pillow to look up at the ceiling. "I never expected to see anyone from my youth in the Capital again. If Z-one and Roman are here, does that mean others might be following?"

"You mean…" she started, moving to rest her arm across his chest and paused when he made eye contact. "Is your father coming, too?"

He averted his gaze slightly and let out a small exhale. "Yeah. That's exactly what I mean."

"Yusei…" She swallowed the lump in her throat and wished she could somehow take away his pain. "Why do you hate your father so much?"

He shifted to lean into her touch and started, "We never got along. I know I told you that much. He just chose his job over me and it didn't end well. When my mother died, he locked himself away. He didn't try to connect with me. He just left me to go on my own. I hate that he abandoned me."

She felt tears well up, but tried not to let them spill. "Yusei…"

…

Z-one pushed the door open and took his hat off, carelessly leaving it on the coatrack nearby. Sighing heavily, he inhaled the smoke of his cigarette and closed his eyes. That wasn't how he'd hoped everything would play out.

"How did it go?"

He heaved another sigh and looked back at the door to make sure it was shut. "Not good."

The other man crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe. "What do you mean?"

"It's as we thought. He's completely absorbed in his own world. I won't say he's selfish, though. He's got a group of friends he'd do anything for, but he won't look back on the past."

"So, you're saying he won't help us?"

Shaking his head, he took another drag on his cigarette. "I'd highly doubt it. He has his own goal. The only thing he cares about is keeping this town safe."

"What about Miss Akiza?"

"Why do you think he wants to protect this town?" A slight smirk crossed his face before he sarcastically added, "Mister Governor."

A sigh fell from his lips, then a smile cracked as he said, "It was the only way to get to town and keep people off my back."

Silence passed between them as Z-one snuffed his cigarette in the ashtray waiting by the door. Finally, the younger man asked, "Does he know about the mark?"

He shook his head with a shrug. "I don't know. I didn't get the chance to ask."

"I see." Frowning, he looked down at the floor. "Would you mind talking to him tomorrow and finding out? Also, maybe bait and see if he knows who I am yet?"

He nodded. "Sure. I'm sure he'll find out soon enough, with that party and all."

Ooh, mysterious stuff going on! And we finally see how Yusei and Jack met. I actually toned that scene down quite a bit. This chapter was getting too long.

I hope everyone likes my take on Z-one. Since he's supposed to have Yusei's personality in canon, I kinda followed that and now he's a little OOC. Like him? Hate him? Let me know, please! Personally, I love the old codger, and probably in a bit of a creepy way. Oh, well. What can I say? –shrugs–

Please review!

-Valk