01 : I Said Sorry...

By: Kokoro Kakera HP ^^

Disclaimer: Yugiou, (Manga, anime, products, etc.), belongs to Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Notes:
Trying out first person's perspective. This will be from Anzu's point of view. Takes place... just after the Doom series arc I guess.
And for those of you who have read this before and are re-reading to refresh your memory, this and the following chapters until chapter seven, are re-edited versions.

Note:
1 Canadian dollar = about 83 Yen
1 American dollar = about 108 Yen

Anzu - Tea
Jounouchi - Joey
Honda - Tristen
Ryou - Bakura
Shizuka - Serenity

* * *

The woes of unrequited love. Painful, annoying and always slapping me in the face whenever the guy I really like is around.

That is the result of me being friends with a nameless ancient Egyptian spirit of a pharaoh, who happens to possess my best friend Yugi's body at the present time. This spirit thankfully, is not hostile in any way (unless you mess with one of his friends or his host). He is really mysterious, kind, serious, has a thing for leather...

And he's really, really hot.

Which kind of makes up for all the life-death situations I go through frequently for him.

No one knows how long he's planning to stick around, but I'm guiltily hoping he will continue to inhabit Yugi's body at least until either:
A: I actually gather enough courage to confess my passionate love for him and in an amazing twist of events, receive a equally powerful confession of love back, or
B: the day I die.

Seeing as choice 'A' will never happen unless hell freezes over or something (sadly enough after considering everything else that has happened in my life so far, hell freezing over probably has more chances of occurring than hoped for love confession), I'm pretty much stuck with choice 'B'. Which actually is okay in a way, because with the way my life is going, I'll be six feet under before I reach my twentieth birthday which is only three years away.

And everyone calls me an optimist.

Sitting across from me is the object of my affections - or rather, the host of the object of my affections: Yugi Mutou. He's sweet, wonderful and really cute. He's also always been there for me, no matter what - the type of guy that all girls dream about.

And I have idiotically fallen for his other self, who has never shown anything but platonic interest in me. I must be a hardcore masochist.

"Anzu?" Yugi directs a grin in my direction. "You okay?"

"Huh?" I said intelligently. "What?" I blinked away my thought-clouded eyes.

"You lost!" Jounouchi sang. "Really pathetically too Anzu. How the heck were you able to beat that penguin guy with moves like those?"

Well, besides the fact that Yugi hadn't been around to distract me with his boyish good looks until near the end of the duel, I had been dead set against letting that pervert get my body. All the disgusting innuendos he'd made during our duel had given me a pretty good idea what he planned to do if he'd won. I bet everybody else's opponent hadn't been planning on molesting his or her body if he'd won it. I shuddered.

"That was different. I would have lost my body if I lost that game." I said. "By the way, where's Honda?"

"Out biking or something."

"Oh." I wonder where he went. I remember when Honda had first gotten his motorcycle, he'd allowed Yugi, Jounouchi and I to fawn over it, but straight out refused to give any of us a ride unless it was of the utmost important reason. "Gas is expensive, and I still haven't finished paying off this baby" was what he'd said.

"Oh!" Yugi stood up. "Jounouchi, you think you can go down to the back with me and carry up a few boxes? We have to restock a few items today."

"Sure, no problem." He got up.

"If any customers come looking for me, just tell them I'll be up in a second, k?" Yugi said.

"Sure." I chirped as they left. Idly, I tapped my fingers on the table, then stood up and stretched. Maybe some fresh air would be nice... I walked to the door and opened it, neglecting to look before doing so. This resulted in me crashing into the unsuspecting man trying to get into the place.

"Augh!" I heard the crash of some very expensive looking items as they made contact with the shop's floor. Who the heck carries around that much gold in plain sight!?

Shit.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" I gasped, bending down to pick up some of the dropped items. "I didn't see-"

"You bitch!" The man screamed, mouth opening so wide that I could see all six of his gold fillings at the back of his mouth. "You're still the same!" Spit combined with very dry, rotten smelling breath flew into my face and I tried not to make the situation worse by gagging.

"I really am so sorry." I said as sincerely as I could through my anger and disgust. And what did he mean by 'you're still the same'? I've never met him before! I looked longingly at the door leading to the back. Why was Yugi taking so long anyway!? I needed his adorable puppy-dog look to calm this guy down. I didn't want to be the cause of Yugi losing a potentially high-paying buyer, even if the guy totally deserved to be yelled at. Then again, I wouldn't mind if Jounouchi decided to grace us with his presence. He'd probably kick the guy's ass for me.

Me speaking again, even if it was to apologize, only served to make the spitting, smelly man angrier. "I curse you! Every day, the first card you touch!" He shrieked mindlessly, pointing a gold-ring adorned finger at me. Before I could ask him what he'd meant by it, the man actually lunged at me. I shrieked and held an arm above my head, closing my eyes reflexively. Ya, a fighter I am not.

I screamed. The man, grinning triumphantly at me only laughed at the immense pain I was suddenly in. He bit me! Oh my freaking- A wave of dizziness hit me and I wobbled unsteadily on my feet. Guh. I don't feel too good all of a sudden... Did the guy have rabies and just infect me with it? The wobble turned into a full-fledged sway and I found myself staring at the ceiling. A few lights hung from it, arranged neatly across the middle. The ceiling itself was slightly speckled with gray dots here and there with no particular pattern.

A minute later, a frantic-looking boy with spiky multicoloured hair replaced my stellar view of the ceiling.

"Y-yuuugi." I slurred dazedly. Hm. My speech seems to have been affected by whatever the guy did to me.

"Anzu! What happened? Are you okay!? I just came up and you were lying on the ground-" He was grabbing my shoulders now and babbling incoherently. I held back a delighted coo. Why is it that it's only during times of distress that Yugi decides to hold me?

"Eviiil finngerr...bite..." I said. The look he gave me assured me that he thought I'd taken a hard blow to the head.

"Um Anzu, why don't you stay where you are while I call the hospital and your parents?" Huh. It's not like I can go anywhere in this state. I'm not even sure if anything besides my mouth is functional. I didn't want to be carted off to the hospital though, or give my parents a reason to worry. Maybe my condition wasn't even serious.

"No! Stay!" I blinked. The dizziness was gone. I felt fine. It was as if I'd been fine the whole time and I hadn't fallen over from disorientation a second ago. Maybe the guy had placed a two second 'mess with your head' spell on me so he could trash the place while I was down? I looked around to confirm this, but found that everything looked fine. Nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary. Even all the gold that had been dropped to the ground was gone without a trace. Weird. I guess that guy screwed up the curse then, or whatever he was trying to accomplish. Woo.

"Anzu, lie back down!" Yugi was at my side again and trying to push me back down. I blushed involuntarily. If only it was for a different reason that he was trying to get me horizontal...

"Y-yugi... I'm perfectly okay now." His grip tightened on me for a moment and I revelled in the feeling.

Wait. I told myself. This is your BEST FRIEND doing this. Not the guy you're actually in love with. You've got to differentiate between them, otherwise you're pretty much a two-timer. Afore mentioned feelings crept away guiltily.

He looked hesitant to let go. I don't blame him. I probably would have acted the same way if one of my friends had acted like a drugged lunatic. "You sure Anzu?"

"Ya..." I lifted up my arm to inspect the damage. "I just-" I stared at the skin. "Nothing..." I whispered. "Wha-" I turned my arm over and inspected the other side. "Nothing!"

"Anzu?" He was giving me that look again. The one that said, 'are you secretly a raving nutcase?'

"Yugi... some guy attacked me a second ago."

"What!? Where did he go? What did he do!?" He stood up, looking furious now.

"I don't know. I was out of it when he left, but..." I stood up slowly.

"Anzu!" It was Jounouchi who said my name this time. He emerged from the stairway leading to the basement. "What happened?" Two pairs of arms went on either side of me and hauled me up to my feet.

"Thanks." I brushed myself off and frowned as I checked my arm again. Nothing! No teeth marks, no spit, no nothing. Not that I was complaining. That guy had disgusting breath - it was like getting a whiff from a pit of garbage and sewage that had fermented for a few days. It was really freaking me out how there was no sign of his attack on me anymore though. I couldn't have just dreamt it...

"Sit down at least... I-I'll get you some tea." Yugi said shakily.

"Okay. Sure. Tea would be good." I murmured. I sat down at the table Jounouchi and I had been playing duel monsters on.

"What happened?" Jounouchi asked. "What'd that guy do to you?"

"He bit me." I said a little dazedly.

"H-he what!?" The blond bellowed, shooting up from his seat. The action sent his duel monsters card deck scattering all over the clean, white floor Yugi had just swept earlier.

"Might as well calm down. The guy's long gone." I said. "Uh, can we just talk about it later?" I didn't want to think about what had just happened. It didn't even seem real, especially with the way the man had just disappeared as if in thin air. I bent over to help Jounouchi gather up his cards, wanting an excuse not to talk about what had just happened. I looked at each card as I picked it up and mentally listed off the names of the cards I saw. Celtic Guardian... Red eyes black dragon... Jinzo... Mirror Force... "Ah! What's this? Harpy Lady?" I grinned and said teasingly, "a gift from your lady friend Mai?" To my utter surprise, Jounouchi just took the card from me, looking downcast.

"Ya." he said quietly. "As a friend." Ohhh... I'm such a bitch! I felt like kicking myself in the head. Not that I needed to after the bizarre hit I'd just taken. Without realizing it, I'd just bluntly mentioned a woman that apparently didn't share Jounouchi's feelings for her, if his reaction to her name was any indication. I thought she did like him that way!

"Oh Jounouchi... I'm sorry." I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ya well,' he shrugged my hand off, "what can ya do?"

"Ice cream at my house." I offered. There's always plenty - it's a fully stocked stash I always have ready for the more difficult times in my life. I figure it'll come in handy on the day Yugi's other half either leaves or rejects me. Whichever comes first. "And..." I swallowed; telling myself that a broken heart wasn't to be taken lightly and what I was about to do was for the greater good. "I'll forget about the money you owe me." I said with some difficulty. Six thousand yen! Aghhh!

Jounouchi's eyes widened. "You serious!?"

"Ya! So... cheer up!" So you can cheer ME up.

"Woah, thanks!" He'd better be thankful. On the other hand, Jounouchi being free means there's a chance he might hook up with Kaiba (this is not as impossible as it sounds): a scenario in which he'll have more than enough money to pay me back. "Uh Anzu?" Uh oh. He's giving me a weird look - quite similar to the one Yugi gave me earlier. "When's the last time you cut your nails?" ...What? I looked at them. Woah! Why are they so long all of a sudden!?

My stomach surprised me with an unhealthy feeling lurch. "I gotta go-" I dashed to the restroom at the back.

"Anz-" I rushed past Yugi and dove into the washroom, slamming and locking the door. "Anzu! Anzu?" His voice shouted behind the door. I wasn't in any condition to answer him. At the moment, I was dry heaving over a pristine, ivory white toilet, wondering why nothing was coming up. My knees sunk slightly into the tile cracks on the floor as I tried to puke up whatever was causing my insides so much distress.

"Ugh!" A fresh wave of pain assaulted me and I clutched my stomach tightly. A weird screeching noise escaped my mouth. Crap... my ears had become so sensitive that a small cry of pain sounded like a banshee's scream to me.

And suddenly, I felt just fine.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and frowned at the sudden roughness of my hand. I shut my eyes as I scrambled up, wondering why I felt so exposed all of a sudden.

That guy... whatever he'd done... it was making me get sick every few minutes for only a few minutes. Going to the hospital didn't sound like such a bothersome idea anymore.

"Anzu!?"

Yugi... Or at least that's what I wanted to say. All that left my mouth was another high-pitched screech. What's wrong with me?

I stood up and walked to the mirror hanging on the far right wall. I screeched again - on purpose this time - and watched the mirror with a fascinated horror. No way... there's was just no way-

A bewildered looking harpy lady stared back at me from the mirror.

* * *

To be continued!