Welcome, friends, to my newest epic fanfiction!

I came up with this idea while slaving away as a barista. I wanted a hero at that moment, and I thought of the perfect way to give myself one. I am dedicating this to my 100th reviewer of my old fiction 'Opposition.' I owed it to them, but I forgot about it.

So here's to you!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Prologue,

It was ridiculous.

The way everyone went absolutely crazy over this-- This, Yami.

The Japanese word for dark. Honestly? Dark? What kind of super-name was that, anyway? How did darkness inspire confidence in mankind? And how did it make the girls go ga-ga over his hidden features?

For all the world knew, he could have been some kind of deformed man-beast. He could have been missing a nose or have three eyes. And there it was; the world could live in their ignorance and continue to praise a freak like Yami, but I would continue to live life treasuring the things that mattered most.

"Oh, please. Someone help me!" The damsel's voice, though rather off-pitch, sounded out above the city streets, the lamps, and even many stories of the various skyscrapers. Yuugi wasn't surprised; it seemed like the arrival of a super hero also meant the arrival of various villains and their crafty, and yet muy dense, goons. Said goons were now dangling a pretty blonde over the city, during rush hour, too. They liked to make Yuugi's life difficult. He was fairly sure that they were his rivals instead of superboi's. Boi with an i, Avril-style. Not to say that Yuugi had anything against the pop-punk-princess, hell, she was hott! Lately, it seemed that he only had problems with certain black-covered, masked superstars.

Speaking of which, parading around in all of his leathered glory was the schemer, rushing off rooftops, swinging from branches, flying on clouds, he was going to save the princess today.

Small fingers moved to straighten his glasses as his gaze went from the unfolding scene to the sidewalk ahead of him. He needed to get to work and not everyone was blessed with super speed. Anyway, this particular kidnapping-and-dangling was all too familiar and cliche for him, although perfect for the Myspace/Youtube generation. He supposed that was his generation, but he was not going to blend in so easily.

And he succeeded in standing out, walking through a crowd that was completely still. His smiling features contrasted against their worried faces.

A gasp was all Yuugi needed to tell him that the crowd was going to start moving again, and the clapping only proved to annoy him.

What was so special about a guy that hid behind a mask, anyway? Yuugi had to stand in front of crowds giving pointless speeches, saying things no one wanted to hear. They could all see his face.

Inevitably, he was the bad guy.

Maybe that was why he was so bitter.

"So did you see the news today? The Maria-chick almost died!" An overly-rambunctious blonde boy sipped from his cola and continued to babble on about heroes and saved lives.

Apparently, this Maria was a super model, daughter of some rich well-to-do and this made her life special. Suddenly our hero was much, much more. He was being praised for saving this one girl's life more so than any other's before. That made Yuugi even more angry--

It was probably all some sort of publicity stunt; why was he the only one who saw through it?

"This is most likely some sort of sad attempt at a publicity stunt by our competition, and I'm not buying it." Rang a cold voice over the nearby television speakers.

So maybe he wasn't the only one.

"Damn, Seto Kaiba; you asshole." Jounouchi growled, though he took a break to bite into a juicy cheeseburger. The young CEO, Yuugi and Jou's former classmate, regularly voiced his, rather harsh, opinion of the superpal. At first, it had been surprising how much power the teen had over the city, being that he was just that. A teenager. Newspapers ate up his words like candy; it had actually been the fact that Yuugi graduated top of their class that had gotten him his own job. Apparently, beating Seto Kaiba was something to put on his resume in the future. "That guy thinks he owns the world, it's starting to piss me off."

Yuugi had yet to utter a single word during this particular get together with his best friend, mostly out of sheer awkwardness. Jou idolized the being that Yuugi hated most, any guesses?

"What do you think?" The words, how they did bite!

"Well, I think that... Seto is entitled to his own opinion."

The blonde rolled his eyes, "No, man. I mean what do you think about this Maria situation? Do you think it was a set-up?"

Yuugi laughed inwardly; someone was out to get him, it seemed! He was pretty sure that he was the first person in the world to assume such when he found out who the girl was. He wouldn't be surprised if Yami had been created just for this moment. It all seemed too perfect not to be a plan.

"I don't know," he sighed, "I haven't really thought about it..."

"Weird," Jou said, obviously taken aback, "Does that mean you haven't thought of what to write about it?"

Yuugi knew exactly what he, chief editor of 'The Domino Times,' was going to write. Though he did not write often, being that he mostly oversaw the paper's general textual production these days, he managed to take on a few of the larger jobs himself. The big news. And so, he often used the excuse that he wrote what the public wanted to hear to please Jounouchi, but he was actually Yami's biggest hater. In fact, he owned the official hatelisting. Internet joke, ha ha .

"I'll probably write the usual, Jou-- Don't give me that look," the tri-color-haired boy laughed, waving a fork at his friend. It was the single least-threatening thing he had ever done. Maybe. "I just write what sells, you know."

"My friend the sell-out," Jou mumbled bitterly.

A smile graced Yuugi's features as he moved to fix his glasses, "How else could I buy you lunch all of the time?"

"If we aren't careful, Yami's going to put us out of business," In a dim-lit room, suits circled around a table cut from the finest wood, voices whispering in a frenzy.

"Don't be a moron," a rather blunt comment from CEO, Seto Kaiba, was expected, but no one could pretend not to hear the note of nervousness in his voice, "Just because they've got the hero working for them, doesn't mean that we are in trouble."

He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself.

"If anything, we can play their game, too. We can create a hero of our own."

The occupants of the room exchanged glances, though all eyes eventually fell back on to the brunette. Curiosity got the better of them in the end, though there was one other thing they could not pretend to do. And that was to ignore the horrifying smirk that stretched his lips so thinly.

"It was glorious," her voice was like silk now that she wasn't being dangled from heights beyond imagination, though Yuugi would have preferred not to ever have known what her voice was like. The worst part of his job was the interviews, especially with brainless super models. Brainless super models gushing over brainless super heroes. "He was so warm and welcoming, the way he asked if I was alright. I wish I could see him again--"

Her gaze was now directed towards the window, a glazed look overtaking her pleasant features. A typical woman. Yuugi tried his hardest not to roll his eyes, instead steadying his glasses.

"M'am, if you please, you never answered the question." He said exasperatedly, tapping the spacebar of his mini-notebook in his frustration.

"Right," she blushed, "What was it again?"

A sigh escaped his lips, "Have you ever met Yami under other circumstances? Before or after your kidnapping?"

"No," Maria admitted softly, sadly, "I wish!"
There was something off about her voice and the distant look in her eyes. The way her lips quivered with the spoken, and possibly the unspoken, words. Maria looked broken, as though the love of her life had just left her--
Maybe he did...

It was in that moment that Yuugi realized something. Despite the fact that she was a gushing, crazy woman, he believed her. She sounded so desperate and so completely crushed by the fact that she hadn't seen him again or hadn't know him before. If this was a planned kidnapping, then she surely had nothing to do with it. Though it would make complete sense to leave her out of it.

What kind of father would put his child into such a situation for money? He shook his head, moving on to the next question.

You can expect description and things that make sense in chapters to come.
As well as romance.

It's only the start, my friends.

omg kairi