Chapter 6
Yuri looked up, startled out of his sleep, when the sound of voices suddenly reached his ears from downstairs. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes before putting on his glasses and getting off the bed.
When he opened the bedroom door, he immediately noticed that it was already early morning and that there was light seeping into the room through the gaps around the blinds. The sun was shining bright outside and he couldn't help but feel surprised. Usually, he woke up in the middle of the night to escape the harsh rays. Now that he lived in the city, where there was less light, he usually slept until late afternoon. This meant that he was normally up way later than this, usually around 7 am.
There was another voice, which sounded strangely familiar coming from the kitchen. He walked quietly into the hallway and peered curiously through the gap between the half opened door and the frame. A woman was currently sitting at the kitchen table drinking something that smelled suspiciously like tea and reading a newspaper. Judging by the amount of steam coming off of the mug, he guessed it must have been freshly brewed tea. The woman wore a simple white button up blouse, blue jeans, and brown boots; nothing particularly fancy, but nothing too casual either. She was beautiful. Her long blonde hair fell gracefully down her back, framing her face perfectly. In fact, if he wasn't looking closely, he wouldn't have been able to see any imperfections on her features.
The woman turned around, placing her mug down on the table, and flashed Yuri a warm smile. Although her smile seemed somewhat hesitant, Yuri still returned the gesture and greeted her politely. Then, the man sitting opposite her started speaking.
"You should get dressed and eat something before heading out", he suggested and took another sip of his coffee.
"Of course, thank you", the woman answered with a smile as she stood up and grabbed a plate from the cupboard next to the fridge and began cutting up pieces of bread to make toast.
As soon as she put the slices of bread on the plate, Yuri could smell the faint scent of cinnamon. He stared in awe and shock as he heard the woman humming a little tune under her breath as she began to make the toast. His mouth hung open in confusion. He'd never seen anyone bake. Well, other than Yakov, but then again, Yakov was the only one in the house who actually made breakfast. Yuri assumed that the woman was either cooking for herself or taking care of her sick grandmother.
Suddenly, the woman set down the two plates on the kitchen island and looked at Yuri.
"Sorry for making you wait", she said, scratching the back of her neck, "my name is Yurio Plisetsky, but most people call me Yuri. You are?"
"Ach... I'm sorry", Yuri answered hastily as he tried to hide a sheepish grin.
"Don't apologize!", the woman insisted as she approached Yuri and gave him a tight hug, "it's nice to meet you, Yuri.", she told him while hugging him tightly.
"Um... you too...", Yuri stuttered before hesitatingly returning her hug.
After she let go of him, Yuri stepped further into the kitchen and looked at the small selection of food the woman had prepared for him. There were some sandwiches, sliced cheese, some fruits, vegetables, several cookies, and some chocolate-covered strawberries. It looked delicious, and Yuri couldn't believe his luck.
He knew from somewhere within him that this could be a trap. After all, Victor had once told him that if you ate something before leaving your home, that person might attack you while you were walking down the street, so why would they bother doing that if they were only going to trap him in a hotel suite? But, since the sandwiches and cookies looked so delicious, he couldn't bring himself to question the possibility.
"So", the woman spoke as she pulled up a chair and sat down across from Yuri.
Her tone seemed gentle, almost inviting. However, Yuri didn't know whether she was friendly or hostile, so he couldn't quite decide how to respond.
"Do you want some coffee?", she asked politely as she raised the cup to her lips.
"Yes", he replied automatically, and as soon as he said that, he realized how stupid that had probably sounded.
She smiled, nodded her head and poured him a cup of coffee from the pot on the stovetop. Yuri waited impatiently, holding onto the edge of the counter. When the woman came back with the steaming cup, he picked it up immediately and took a sip of the hot liquid.
His mouth and throat burned instantly, and he couldn't help feeling a bit uncomfortable. Still, he kept his mouth closed and forced himself to drink the rest of the hot beverage. Once he was finished, however, he was still thirsty.
"Want some more?", the woman questioned him as she poured him some more coffee.
"N..no", he stammered as he handed the cup back to her, "that was enough. Thank you".
She nodded and continued to stare at Yuri intently, obviously waiting for him to speak.
"So, what is it that you want to discuss?", she asked him gently.
"I…", Yuri paused, unable to form coherent thoughts.
He cleared his throat.
"I wanted to ask about my father", he said as he shifted nervously on his feet.
The woman cocked her eyebrow slightly.
"Your father?".
"Yeah", Yuri nodded, "my biological father, Katsuki Yuuri. My mother died shortly after giving birth to me", he explained.
He sighed sadly as he glanced down at his hands.
"It was because I failed my last test of courage", Yuri continued, "I was sent here in the hopes of finding my father. Unfortunately, I found him instead. I had no choice but to kill him in front of me, and I felt so ashamed of myself afterwards."
Yuri lowered his gaze and closed his eyes in pain before continuing,
"But somehow, I managed to save him before I was thrown into the cell. I tried to convince him to let me live with him. That's when he told me that he was my real father. However, my parents decided not to let me stay with them anymore. They wanted me to go back with their friend. However, he had already passed away. So, I went searching for him, hoping that perhaps he might recognize me as his son, yet I found nothing. I thought that I had lost everything I held dear", Yuri said sadly.
"How did you manage to find out that you were adopted?" The woman eventually asked.
Yuri swallowed thickly. He didn't say anything. Instead, he simply gazed down at his fingers.
"It doesn't matter now", Yuri muttered after a few moments, shaking his head, "what matters now is that my adoptive family has treated me so kindly despite not knowing who I really am..."
There was another short silence between the two of them. Yuri didn't dare look up at her again. If she were to find out about what he was planning, she might decide that killing him would solve her problem just fine. And if she decided to do that without even hearing his explanation, Yuri feared that there wouldn't be any way for him to explain himself.
Finally, he heard the woman stand up and walk towards him. When Yuri cautiously lifted his head to look at her, she was standing behind him, and the first thing that he noticed was that there was a black suitcase lying on the floor underneath her.
"Are you moving out today?", the woman inquired as she moved closer to him. Yuri could hear the concern in her voice, although she hid it well enough to fool others.
"… No… I just…", Yuri hesitated and averted his gaze again, "… I need to go somewhere today. I haven't left for months, I thought I would leave tomorrow", Yuri replied quietly.
"You'Ve been gone for months?!"
The woman's exclamation shocked Yuri and caused him to glance up at her again, startled. He wasn't expecting such an outburst. She appeared furious, and her eyes were filled with anger. The woman took a deep breath before slowly lowering her hands onto Yuri's shoulders and giving them a gentle squeeze, attempting to comfort him.
"What do you need to go somewhere for? Are you going to visit your parents?", the woman asked, sounding rather concerned.
"No", Yuri said after thinking over what he should tell her, "they're dead. I don't have any relatives left. My uncle and aunt are both busy running things around Russia and won't be available until much later".
"… What? Your uncle?" The woman responded, surprised and confused, "why would your uncle abandon you?"
Before Yuri could answer her question, however, a sudden realization struck him:
"Is that why you're wearing the same outfit as yesterday!?"
At Yuri's sudden outburst, the woman suddenly drew back in surprise and looked down at herself. She frowned slightly as she noticed that Yuri was right.
"Oh…", she whispered softly, "you're right… How did I forget that I'm supposed to wear that today? I'm very clumsy", she added with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Well…", Yuri gulped, "at least we've got an excuse for your messy clothes", he told her in an attempt to cheer her up, but it worked. Yuri was sure he saw a trace of a small smile appear on her face. Her eyes glowed for a brief second, but she quickly blinked her eyes back into focus.
"Anyway," she said as she changed the subject and walked over to the fridge, "do you like pizza?"
"Y..yes..", Yuri nodded shyly.
She opened the door of the refrigerator and revealed an entire pizza box that was stuffed full of different kinds of pepperoni, sausage, onion rings, cheese, tomato sauce, olives and many more varieties. In addition, each one of those pizzas had a small red envelope on top of them.
"Wow", Yuri murmured, staring at the boxes in amazement, "you really packed every possible kind of pizza I can think of. Do you always take your food home?".
The woman smirked as she looked back at him, "of course. Sometimes I cook my own food. Although, most of the time, I will take whatever is served to me in our restaurant and buy it all myself. So, sometimes I just get takeout when I come home early."
Yuri grinned in reply. He couldn't remember having ever eaten so much pizza and was beginning to feel hungry after eating so little. He had been too absorbed with what had happened earlier that evening to eat anything, which meant that he hadn't gotten much sleep at all. He had hoped that maybe if he stayed awake long enough he might discover something new and interesting, but unfortunately, that had not occurred.
He hadn't expected it to.
"Would you like some wine?", the woman asked as she put one of the smaller boxes in front of Yuri.
"Sure.", Yuri shrugged, and then smiled slightly. "Maybe it's good to relax a bit. Maybe this will help us make sense of what happened earlier tonight."
"I agree."
She smiled as she watched the young man pick up a slice of pizza and begin to bite into it.
"Don't worry", she said with a reassuring smile, "it'll all be alright. You're safe here."
Chapter 9
"Are you ready, Yurio?"
As Yakov shouted out the question, the little boy turned around to look at him, his big brown eyes gleaming with anticipation as he stared at the old trainer.
"When you are ready! Don't worry! Now go! Go! Run!", he yelled excitedly as he slapped Yuri lightly on his rear end.
Yuri giggled slightly as he ran across the training ground toward the door that led outside and into the garden where everyone else was waiting. After all of Yakov's instructions, Yuri made his way through the glass door that led outside, but as soon as he stepped through it, his face contorted slightly as he was hit by a strong wind of air, blowing in his face almost violently. But surprisingly enough, Yuri managed not to fall down due to the fact that he was holding onto the edge of the wooden fence while he was standing up. He glanced down at his feet and saw that they were touching firm, solid ground. His eyes widened slightly as he realized just how high off the ground he had actually climbed onto the fence. Then a small chuckle escaped from his lips as he remembered the words that Yakov had said to him just before he jumped off the wall.
"Remember, Yuri! This is the only place where you can jump. If you don't have a solid foothold and hold onto that damn fence with both your hands, you won't make it past the bottom!"
Now Yuri was definitely ready.
After he finally made his way down the other side of the fence, Yuri turned around and started walking towards the entrance to the field where all of the other children were playing. He stopped for a moment, taking a quick glance over his shoulder.