Waking up with an excruciating headache was how sleep had become for Yusei so he wasn't really that surprised to stir under the pressure of a dull pain throbbing through his skull. Even after nearly two weeks of forced wakefulness, he had slept just under ten hours and felt ready to roll over and enjoy a few more. Only two problems remained: the ingrained habit to avoid sleep as much as possible and how he found himself unable to draw additional duvet over him.
"Wha.." Events really started when he opened his eyes to find himself only a few inches from the resting face of Akiza. Still dressed in her clothes from the day before, she was gently slumbering on the room side of the bed. "Akiza?" Burying himself to the eyes in the duvet did nothing to stop the full-body blush that he could feel turning him pink. "Why am I not wearing anything?" Too scared to look under the covers with her right beside him, Yusei could still feel the touch of bed fabrics over every inch of his body.
"Mmmm?" Winking one eye open to see the sheer embarrassment staring back at her brought a wry smile to Akiza's tired face. "Are you saying you don't remember?" Leaning in close did nothing for the blush. Well, nothing helpful. Certain thoughts tend to run through a man's head when he wakes up naked beside a gorgeous woman. Slightly different ones happen when the man is struggling to remember the full events of the previous night.
"Ah, buh, gah." Nonsensical beings of words as he stuttered under the weight of her gaze.
"Come here." Frozen by powers beyond his understanding, he could feel gentle fingers drifting through his hair as she smoothed over the growing bump on the back of his head. "I thought it was only a glancing blow but it sounds like you might have a concussion."
"Hey!" Grabbing her hand from where it was nestling in his hair, Yusei pulled it away without recognising the throb for what it was. "What happened?" With the stress of an impending sentence, waking up without clear memory or any clothes and having teased him enough, Akiza decided to let him in on the big secret.
"You fell asleep in the shower." Tugging her hand free, she began feeling out the bump on his skull again. "And hit your head." Now that he knew what she was doing, it was possible to feel the growing bruise beneath her graceful touch.
"Did you..." Willing himself back from the brink of death multiple times a week for years was nothing compared to saying the word 'peek' in that context.
"Yusei, I'm a doctor with two degrees and the ability to reconstruct an engine without ever seeing a manual." Although she had moved onto more biological machines, mechanical ones remained no less easy that day than the years before. "Do you think I was unable to get you from the bathroom to your bed without having a peek?" Hearing that word aloud only made the suggestion sound even more insane than he had originally thought.
"When you put it like that..." Unable to stop her without compromising the situation, Yusei was practically helpless as she carefully smoothed the duvet against his chest and gently pressed an ear over his heart.
"Of course," Listening to the vital organ was not purely for medical purposes. "I'm not saying that's what I did."
"What!" Under the steady pressure of her ear, the heart jumped from 'resting' to 'moderate panic'. "Did you," Struggling to think the thought, he foolishly tried to push her away.
"Sshh." Keeping herself close to his beating heart, Akiza listened to the frantic pacing until it slowed back to normal. "I'm kidding." Unable to stop, a smile crept over her face. "Maybe." A quick double-beat betrayed his brief spike of shock. Another one alerted her to the bedroom door being flung open as the first step of a sneak attack by the most enduring of his enemies.
"This is for setting the reporters on us, you bastard!" Then the world was washed away by a torrent of water thrown by the figure standing in the doorway.
Dripping wet hair obscured his vision but Yusei could recognise that air of terrified panic anywhere. It was the sort of atmosphere that happened whenever one of his brothers performed an ill-advised act and somebody in authority was caught in the crossfire. "Aki" A hand slapped over his mouth and cut the word short.
"Yusei," Speaking in a different type of gentle than she had a few seconds before, the good doctor could feel cold water sliding through the sodden fabric of her clothes and hair. "If I turn around after spending the entire night making sure you don't have a concussion and see one of your brothers standing the with an empty bucket," A bucket wouldn't easily fit in the sink so a hefty saucepan had been chosen instead. Something about her tone indicated the distinction wouldn't matter. "Then I am going to rethink that time I promised to do no harm. Are we all clear?"
"Eeeee." Able to make a single terrified squeak indicated that Crow understood fully.
Rare was the occasion that Jack actually thought a plan all the way through. When Crow had ditched the bucket in favour of a large pan that would fit under the kitchen tap, Jack had simply taken the bucket to the bathroom and held it as close to the bath tap as possible to quiet the sound of running water. Filling the increased volume of the bucket took a few minutes longer than the pan. So it was about the same time that Crow was backing out of the bedroom that Jack wildly rushed in, assuming that his brother was making way for the follow-up attack. About the same time that the wave of water was sent flying through the air did Jack realise his mistake and decide that a life of exile couldn't be that bad.
With no dry inch on the bed and water dripping from every surface, the unbridled aura of anger surrounding Akiza left no need for another explanation. Trying to pick between the desperate scramble to survive and the detestable plan of leaving a sacrifice to appease Akiza, the pair stumbled in the rough direction of downstairs as the water continued to drip onto the growing puddle on the floor.
"Yusei?" With damp hair flopping over her face and moderate exhaustion from being awake all night, Akiza was noticeably upset with events. "How do you put up with them?"
"Count to ten." Peeling back the hair over her eyes, he smiled at the dull gaze beneath. "Then see if they still deserve getting punched in the face."
"I've never seen you do that." There was a gentle essence to that smile which could stop her world.
"If you still like punching them, count to ten again." Not that he hadn't been tempted. The record count was just under seven thousand. Something about having to treat chemical burns after Jack had glued Crow's hands to his Runner and left him to suffer had reinforced how idiotic his brothers were. "Let me go and talk to them. You should take a shower." Once Akiza had safely left him in the empty confines of his room, Yusei rolled from the bed and fumbled through drawers in search of fresh clothes to wear. After so long in the prison jumpsuit, he settled on a pair of far more airy shorts and a shirt. Outfit at the ready, he tried to figure out just how to approach the next problem.
With an enraged doctor waiting upstairs and the thickest crowd of reporters they had ever seen waiting outside, all the pair could do was run in terrified circles around the garage. When the first footsteps sounded on the stairs, Crow slid himself to hide behind the ratty couch at the end of the ramp leading from the doors. As the second echoed around the space, Jack shuffled slightly in the tight curve needed to match the wheel of his massive Runner.
Carefully crossing over to the workbench, Yusei seated himself in one of the two tall chairs beside it. "You both look like idiots." Poor angles had left them both shockingly exposed. Crow had been instantly visible from the stairs and Jack - while tilted backwards to the match the perfect curve of his wheel - was only hidden from the far side of the room.
"I don't suppose that Akiza laughed it off?" Optimism was such a rare gift. Having been to the Netherworld and back, Crow was hoping that he wasn't about to die at the hands of a dear friend. Maybe he could remind them that they had a daughter together. Although, that could easily cut both ways and end up hurting his chances at survival.
"Oh, she's mad." Squelching on his stool, Yusei tried to brush some more water from his body. It wasn't hard with so much already present. "What's the general mood like?"
"Mainly terror with a dash of panic." Jack was currently thinking up plans to avoid his untimely demise. Most of them involved using Crow as a distraction while fleeing. With his brother currently trying to clamber out from behind the sofa, there was potential there.
"I meant the public." As self-preserving as Jack's thoughts were, Yusei knew that he could stop his brother after Crow was incapacitated. Serving up both watery attackers would hopefully lighten Akiza's mood.
"Everyone is still trying to make up their minds." There were meant to be limits to science. Once Yusei had confessed to accidentally creating a new form of life, everything went out of the window. "Some people think you're crazy, some think you're a genius, a few want you in jail and there may be a cult forming." Already a genius, social engineering, philanthropist who rose from the slums to save the planet, this touch of seeming divinity had some believing that Yusei Fudo was not entirely of that world.
"Great. Because one insane organisation wanting to kill me wasn't enough." Being an object of faith was the last thing he wanted. Devotees were either blind worshippers or needed a martyr to really believe in. And some didn't care if they had to make the martyr themselves.
"Can get to the big question?" Crow was in a uniquely tricky spot. Musume was very protective of Akiza and her relationship with Crow was certainly direct. Hearing about the prank could easily incur her wrath. Unless he could derail the vengeance train by throwing a large enough sacrifice at it. "Like why you were naked just now?"
"What?" Jack's view had originally blocked by Crow's own attempt and then distracted by the sprint for survival.
"Looked to me like Yusei was trying to keep himself under the covers when I burst in." Oh yeah, that would certainly divert Musume's attention. Judging from how the water was practically starting to steam from his body, Yusei's blush was simmering just below the surface.
"I fell over in the shower and hit my head." The words came out short and to the point. "Akiza made sure that I didn't get a concussion and choke in my sleep. That's it." Siblings can sense the slightest hint of weakness. There wasn't any to be found in the honest reply. Which only made the sudden response that much more tempting.
"What are you guys talking about?" Having changed into fresh clothes, Akiza was combing knots from her hair with both sets of fingers. Pointed and intimate insults went unspoken. They were vengeful idiots, not suicidal ones.
"My brothers were just trying to formulate a respectful enough apology." Disgruntled looks were thrown in Yusei's direction. Neither brother could see a way out of the excuse he had provided without suffering immense damage. "Weren't you?"
"It was Crow's idea." While the thief had been trying to figure out how to pin blame on Yusei, Jack had come to the far simpler idea of telling the truth.
"Jack's the one who used the bucket!" If Crow was going down, he was dragging Jack down with him.
"Let them work on it." Leaning around his brothers, Yusei's despairing look said enough. "They'll come up with something that screws each other over and actually sounds genuine."
"It had better be good." Inspiration comes in many forms. Discovering complex mysteries of the world, realising the first touches of freedom after years in exile, standing alongside allies at the end of the world. Seeing the burning fury in Akiza's eyes was enough drive to light a fire under the pair.
"I've just remembered." The pair had only been there for about twenty, maybe thirty, minutes but pressing business has a way of springing up unexpectedly. "I have an appointment on the other side of town. Have to get going." Nobody could ever get Jack to admit that he was scared of Akiza but there was something about her being able to rip him to pieces with only the power of her mind that earned her a certain level of respect.
"Me too." Catching onto Jack's idea faster than he had Yusei's warning, Crow was quick to think up his own escape. "I have a... thing. Very important, can't miss it." Unlike Jack's slightly unreasonable fear of something that would probably never happen, Crow had a very good reason to fear the daughter Akiza never had beating him to a pulp if he upset her mother.
"I'm going to make coffee." Still angry enough that she could probably just pour ice water into a mug and heat it with the power of her gaze, Akiza at least recognised the attempt at subtlety. "If you're still here when it's ready, you can find out how difficult it is to drink through your nose." Three sets of eyes watched her stalk up the first set of stairs but were intensely interested in literally anything else in the universe when she turned around to scaled the second set.
"Can you bring the twins over tomorrow?" Giving his brothers a rare embrace each – they were rarely in the same country and not really the hugging type – Yusei was grateful for their visit. No matter how disastrous. "I'd like them to know that I'm doing okay."
"Looks like you're doing a lot more than okay." As Crow threw an implicating wink, Yusei scowled a reminder that it wouldn't do for either Akiza or Musume to hear those words. "See ya tomorrow, bright and early."
"Enjoy the reporters." Vengefully enjoying the way that Crow's smile turned slightly sickly as he remembered the crowds of seemingly innocent tourists waiting in the square outside. Once his brothers had departed, Yusei went about the cumbersome task of stripping the sheets from his bed and flipping the mattress before water could sink all the way through. Once the minor yet inconvenient job had been accomplished, his room was draped in various sheets and smelled vaguely damp. Leaving the door ajar, the weary soul felt that he had earned the right to a short rest.
Stretching out on the upstairs sofa, Yusei carefully lifted his legs to rest on the low coffee table with a soft grunt. He hadn't complained about the lack of movement over the past two weeks but could literally feel how much the muscles had deteriorated. Not enough to make daily life exceedingly difficult but enough that he would be sure to focus some exercises on them over the next few days. Stretching to get the remote from where it lay on the table, he flicked the television on across the room.
'... and climatologists are confident that the weather in Scandinavia should abate in the coming months. In local news, Yusei Fudo has been released into the custody of the Vice Chief of Special Investigations, Testu Ushio." Yusei didn't recognise the newscaster speaking in front of City Hall but heard the professional tones of a practised delievry. 'Following the shocking claim that he is not responsible for the creation of an advanced Artificial Intelligence currently at the New Domino Scientific Research Centre, Yusei has drawn global attention for his allegations that it may have spontaneously come into being.' At least they had done enough research to understand just why that allegation was drawing attention.
"Anything good on?" Lowering her cup of coffee onto the table, Akiza circled around to sit beside him on the couch. Her intense anger had abated somewhat but Yusei managed to avoid shifting away. She could easily catch him if he tried running.
"Apparently, some mad scientist made a crazy computer that may be threatening all of humanity." On the screen, the woman was discussing how Hiraguchi and the ICC were currently investigating Abi's history and examining her reaction to a variety of questions and circumstances. "Looks like a re-run."
"Haven't I heard this story somewhere before?" Dressed in a comfortable shirt that she usually reserved for sleeping in, Akiza's mood was slowly improving as her hair dried out. "It definitely sounds familiar." Squishing one of the faded cushions against the end of the couch, she shuffled against it in a calculating move. "You can rub my feet." Folding her legs across his lap, she wriggled down into a cramped curl against the makeshift pillow.
"What?" Looking down at his lap like it now contained an unexploded bomb, Yusei was struggling to discern if he was still asleep. The events of the day so far certainly seemed unreal enough.
"If it wasn't for me, you'd be stuck in a cell somewhere halfway around the planet by now." Wriggling her toes meaningfully, both eyes had drooped closed in seconds. "And I had to stay up all night to make sure you didn't have a concussion."
"I like to think that I had something to do with getting myself out." Cautiously gripping her left foot in one hand, Yusei carefully began rubbing his thumb in small circles across the sole of her heel as he turned the news report to a lower volume.
"Face it," Stifling a yawn on the back of her fist, Akiza was starting to drift off already. "You'd be helpless without the rest of us." Instinctively opening his mind with a playful retort, Yusei failed to find one that he could give voice to.
"You're right." Turning to give her a warm smile, the only reply was a set of gentle snores. Carefully removing his hand from the ministrations, Yusei noted how the snores stopped and instantly resumed his efforts. "You're kidding me." But he was careful not to say the words too loud, just in case she actually was awake. Still, the sound of Akiza's snoring was having a slightly mesmeric effect and he was finding himself slowly remembering that he was still behind on his own sleep.
With the sun warming the room up to pleasant temperatures and the background noise of the television set setting a gentle ambience, Yusei gently slumped his head back against the back of the sofa. Eight hours of sleep hadn't been enough. Were it not for his brothers coming to visit, he might have been able to sleep straight through to the next day and he was certainly going to try and make up for lost time.
Don't doze off quite yet. You still need to leave a review.