daily aki izayoi

“You came back.” Divine’s voice was raspy, narrowed eyes watching as Aki sat down at the seat across from him. Each time the guards alerted him to a visitor, he knew it had to be her, but he still couldn’t understand why she insisted on coming to see him. Her friends had no idea, she had admitted that much, claiming to them that she was studying alone.

“Of course I did,” She replied simply, leaning forward on her elbows to watch him closely, rolling her eyes as his own darted down to her cleavage for a brief moment. “We won that tournament, remember the one I mentioned about?”        

He did remember. Most things the woman before him said were ingrained somewhere deep in his mind, partly because of a long-lingering soft spot for her, but mostly in case he ever did escape from these concrete walls. “Impressive.”

She leant back again, and he watched as she fiddled with the hem of her gloves; she always did this when she had something to say, something she was afraid would gain a negative response. At first, he wondered if this was something to do with Yusei, but what came out of her lips instead startled him.

“Have you ever seen a psychic with healing powers before?”

Divine’s brows furrowed, and he lifted a hand to his chin as he thought, scratching the stubble as if it would jog his memory quicker. “Yes. Once. Why?” Her silence, brown eyes focused on her own hands, answered his own question. Now that…. That was an interesting revelation. A woman who could heal and harm could be very useful.

Aki finally lifted her head, mentally tracing the scar along his face. It had marred what he considered to be perfection, and she surely knew how much he hated it. There was a reason his hair constantly covered it. “…I could try to remove that, if you wanted me to, Divine.”

A promise to bring him back to how things used to be. She even outstretched a hand, palm up waiting (or hoping, given the glimmer in her eyes). It reminded him of how things used to be, Divine offering his hand to pull her away from the darkness of the world around them. It was a promise of protection, a promise to take revenge on anyone who hurt her.

And yet, he had a feeling her promise was one of recovery. She claimed to be in a good place now, with friends and family and a place in a university starting in autumn. He hated it, the woman he had moulded from a young vulnerable girl was slipping through his fingers, with nothing he could feasibly do to stop it.

“You don’t need to do that.” An itch, a temptation to take her hand and tug, pull her back into him until they were intertwined again, unsure where Divine and his ideas ended and her own consciousness began. Instead, he allowed her to rise from her seat, eyes watery with a lingering sense of rejection.

Aki slumped onto the couch beside Jack, half-watching the TV before simply cuddling up, throwing her legs over his thighs to get closer; his arm snaked around her without any hesitation, and she sighed, nuzzling her nose against his shoulder.

“What do you want for Christmas, honey?” Her voice was soft, frayed at the edges with tire. The dark nights had come in quick, and she was far too aware that it was only due to get worse before it got better. Maybe that was why she had thrown herself into the holiday spirit so intensely.

Either way, Jack didn’t seem to mind it. If anything, the bright lights and festive cheer kept the cold from his bones. Not that he had considered presents yet. He had promised to think about it back in October, and…

Well, he had come up short.

His lips pursed, and he frowned as he thought it over. He resigned himself to saying the first thing that came to mind. Whatever it became would be what he wanted the most, right? “You.”

Aki blinked up at him for a moment, before giggling, shaking her head. “You already have me.” She shifted to straddle his lap, blocking the screen with her body.

“You’ll be cold,” she had warned Aki, leaning against the doorway with her arms crossed.

“I won’t. I’ll be fine. That,” She pointed towards the white fluff that adorned Jack’s body, “is overkill.”

She certainly regretted it now, and she knew it was obvious. She frowned, staring absently at the flames. Perhaps they were just too far away for any residual heat, but she had no interest in getting any closer. No, fire… frightened her. It was much better to remain at a safe distance.

“Cold?” Jack asked, leaning down with a slight smirk. She was right – she often was – and Aki could already tell that she was going to rub it in just a little. She sighed, rolling her eyes at the pitiful expression given back to her. “Fine, fine. Take this.” She began unzipping the warm coat.

“No, no! You’ll freeze.”  Jack simply rolled her eyes and continued, scoffing at the idea. Her veins were made of pure fire – she would be fine.

The coat was wrapped around her frame before she could argue any further. “There.” Aki watched as she wrapped her scarf further around herself, seemingly content like that. “Better?”