Forgotten
Summary: "It's like… like I don't know who I am anymore. Who I belong to…." Hiei/OC
Part One: Sold to the Night
Author's notes: Just some forewarning. The vast majority of this fic will be very dark. There will be references to suicide, rape and prostitution, (though there will be nothing graphic: I don't write lemons), and abuse. If you can't handle it, don't read it. This is an angst/romance (note that angst comes first—it's more angst than romance) with the main pairing being Hiei/OC, though I will do my best to keep the OC from being a Mary-Sue. The last part of this fic is already written, so I should be able to finish this one. This is an idea that I've been playing around with for over a year, so that just tells you how hard I've worked to get this just right and that I'll be eager to finish it. But the frequency of updates will depend on review numbers.
Rating: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. C'est la vie.
Those two men had been following her for two blocks now. It made her thoroughly nervous, too. As if she wasn't jumpy as to begin with…. She wrapped her thick wool coat tighter around her thin frame, risking half a glance behind her to see if the two men were still there. Yes, they were definitely following her. Maybe she'd loose them around the next corner. No, they were still there. She broke into a run.
It didn't take long for the two men to catch up with her. Between the dark streets and the fact that she no longer had the faintest idea where she was made it far to easy for them to trap her in a secluded alley. She felt the colour in her face drain as the men came closer, backing her into a brick wall. It happened quickly. Too quickly. One held her down—not that it was necessary: she was far too small to have been able to defend herself. A burst of pain followed by a stench of blood. And then the men left.
And there was darkness.
"Akiko! Akiko, you little bitch, get down here!" a thickly built man yelled, causing the cream coloured walls of the room to vibrate with his rage. When no one answered his call, the man screamed again. "Akiko, you come when your father calls you!"
The petite form of a girl tip-toed into the room, trying to make herself as unnoticeable as possible.
There was something unusual about this girl. She was not particularly beautiful. Pretty, yes, with her ivory skin and emerald eyes, but not beautiful. She looked too frightened to be beautiful. Still, something of an unearthly presence lingered with her. But it was apparent that the man did not notice this.
"So there you are!" he growled. "Where the hell have you been? Gone for a week and don't say nothing about where you're going?"
'I did tell you were I was going,' she thought to herself. 'You were just too drunk to care.'
Her father surveyed her with great distaste. "You filthy little wench," he hissed. "You're worse than your mother. At least I knew where she was all the time. She always told me. Let me know when she wasn't gonna come home."
"I was coming home," Akiko whispered. "Something happened. I had to go to the hospital."
"Are you talking back to me?" her father demanded dangerously. "Are you?"
Akiko looked away from him. He grabbed her face roughly and pulled her to face him. "You don't talk back to me, girl. You never talk back to me."
The next thing she saw was a fist coming towards her face.
Akiko landed with a soft thump on the damp earth outside her window. Being as silent as she could, she double check her knapsack too see if she had what she needed.
Clothes. Check. Hairbrush. Check. Money. …Not quite check. But that wasn't too big of a problem, she told herself as she slipped through the shadows into the woods. She could take care of that when she got her pay check from work.
Oh right. A job. Didn't have one of those.
Akiko touched her face gingerly. Still swollen. Who was she kidding? No one would hire her. Not with her looking like this.
"Crap," Akiko sighed. "What now?"
Ring. Ring. Ring.
God, were all diner bells that annoying? Not that it really mattered. A week away from home and she was still jobless. The diner didn't seem like all that great of a place, but by now, she'd take just about any work this place could offer. Nerve-grating bell and all.
The one plus side to the hole-in-the-wall building was that it stayed warm, which would be extremely important in a few days: there was a cold snap on the way, and since she'd only managed to shove some light weight clothes into her bag the night she left, she'd probably freeze her ass off.
Sighing, she slid into one of the plastic booths, digging in her jean pockets for some money.
"Can I get you somethin', hun?" a feminine voice with a slight nasal quality asked as Akiko pulled out a handful of coins.
"Uh, yeah," Akiko responded, counting her money. "As much coffee as this will get me, please." Akiko looked up at the over-weight middle-aged waitress and handed the aproned woman the coins.
The woman gave something similar to a grin, took the money, and ambled off, leaving Akiko alone to survey the nearly empty diner. It was quite worse for wear—the paint was peeling from the walls and there were grease stains on the countertops. Still, it was better than nothing.
Akiko's eyes fell on a small group of people huddled around the table behind her. They seemed to be the only other patrons the diner had. Akiko checked her watch. Three A. M. What were these people doing out at such an ungodly hour? She shook her head as if to banish the question. What right did she have to question the actions of the strangers? After all, she was out at three in the morning, too.
"Hey kid," a gravely female voice called, Akiko turned to the direction of the voice and saw a tall, thin woman wearing too much make up and not enough clothes.
"Can I help you?" Akiko asked timidly.
"Yeah, kid," the woman said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her handbag. "You got a light?"
"Uh, no," Akiko responded quickly. "No, I don't smoke."
The woman shrugged. "Oh well." She tossed the package of cigarettes back into her bag and returned to the group at the table.
"Here's your coffee, dear," the waitress said in a slightly cold manner as she set the small styrofoam cup down on the table. "You need anything else?"
"Yes," Akiko responded, turning to look at the waitress. "A job. You don't know where I could find one, do you?"
A frown creased the waitress's face. "I'm afraid not dear," she said, her eyes narrowing. "There's no one around here in need ofthe services of… someone like you." The waitress then stormed away, face reddening and lips pursed.
"Okay," Akiko said to herself. "That was odd." But she shrugged it off and began sipping her coffee, thankful that it was so warm.
By the time she had drained the cup, Akiko was the only person left in the diner. She pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her hands in preparation for the cold as she stood up and left the building, heaving a sigh.
"Damn," Akiko hissed as the bitter chill hit her face. "I've got to get some money soon, or I'm gonna be a 'kiko-sicle."
"Hey, Kid," the woman who had asked Akiko for a light beckoned. "Did you say you need a job?"
"Yeah," Akiko answered cautiously. "Why? You know where I can get one?"
"'Samatter of fact I do, Kid," the woman responded, blowing a puff of smoke into the air. She must have found someone with a lighter. "My boss is lookin' for some fresh blood. Says we need some new faces so that we can get more business."
Akiko cocked her head slightly to one side. "What kind of work do you do?"
A smirk played across the woman's face. "We…we do street work. Yeah." She lifted her cigarette to her mouth and gave another puff of smoke. "That's it. Street work. Know what I mean?"
Akiko surveyed the woman, truly taking in her appearance for the first time. The woman was sickeningly thin with matted hair that Akiko assumed was supposed to look blonde and had a somewhat dishevelled look to her. Like she'd spent the night going from place to place. Akiko may have been naïve, but she wasn't stupid. She knew what kind of work this woman was offering.
"No thanks," Akiko replied. "I don't think—"
"Look, Kid, don't decide now," the woman chuckled. "Here." She handed Akiko a slip of paper with an address on it. "This is where we'll be tomorrow at around noon. Come by if you decide you're interested. Tell 'em Cairo sent you." And the woman ambled off, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke in her wake.
She could not believe she was doing this. No way in the world she was really here. Akiko opened one eye. Yep, she was most certainlyhere.
The room was dark and reeking of cigarette smoke. Women of all sorts were scattered around on mattresses and couches, some sleeping, some talking about the last night's escapades.
She was definitely not at church.
"What're you here for, Tiny?" a thin, muscular man questioned Akiko. "Who sent you?"
"Uh… Cairo," Akiko responded, wanting nothing more than to sneak away and forget that she'd ever been here. "Sh-she said I'd be able to find a job here."
The man eye Akiko critically. "Well, you ain't got much to sell," he said bluntly. "You're short, skinny, and you ain't all that much to look at. How old are you?"
"Sixteen," Akiko answered, wrapping some of her rich, curly auburn locks around her index finger nervously.
"You worked the streets before?"
"No, sir. Never."
"You clean?"
"…Pardon?"
The man shrugged. "Helps get 'em interested. They like fresh meat."
Akiko turned away from the man. "…No. Not by choice, but no all the same."
"Hmm," the man closed his eyes in thought for a moment. "Well, like I said, you ain't got much goin' for you."
Akiko bowed her head. If she couldn't even get a job here….
"But you seem like you need someone to look out for you. And these girls'll do that for you. I'll hire you. You can stay here today. You'll walk with Cairo tonight. Deal?"
The girl hesitated. Did she really want to do this? Maybe she should just go home. But she suddenly thought of a fist flying at her and made her choice.
"Deal."
Author's Notes: Well, that was interesting. Sorry that there were no YYH characters in this chapter. They'll start showing up in the next one. Hey, I've finally figured out why it takes me so long to update! Solitaire. I swear, it's addictive or something! I type three words and then I play a game of solitaire. How sad is that? Anyways, I intend to start chapter two tomorrow or the next day, depending on my schedule. And I will eventually finish my other fics. I just had to get this idea out there—it's been eating at my brain for the longest…. Read and review, please. Well, that was interesting. Sorry that there were no YYH characters in this chapter. They'll start showing up in the next one. Hey, I've finally figured out why it takes me so long to update! Solitaire. I swear, it's addictive or something! I type three words and then I play a game of solitaire. How sad is that? Anyways, I intend to start chapter two tomorrow or the next day, depending on my schedule. And I eventually finish my other fics. I just had to get this idea out there—it's been eating at my brain for the longest…. Read and review, please.