Disclaimer - I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

AN: a story about tying up lose ends and fraying up new ones... and I hope you forgive my odd pairing.

PAIRINGS: past YugiAnzu. past ShizukaSeto. eventual MokubaAnzu

Home is not where you live but where they understand you. ~Christian Morgenstern

Chapter 1

She was home.

That's what Domino city was. True it had been almost 7 years since she had first left, but it also held 18 years of her life. It held the moment that she was born in Domino hospital. It also was where she went to grade school, junior, and high school. It was where she met her friends; Joey, Honda, Bakura and Yuugi. Especially Yuugi.

Domino was where everything happened all those years ago, and now she was home.

It was weird, Anzu thought, to be walking down that same street again, to sit on that bench, to stand at that intersection.

It was home. And yet so much had changed.

The wind rustled through her layered chestnut hair, and she smoothed it down with her fingers, getting a few strands tangled with the diamond of her ring and reminding her of its presence.

She always wore it even though she was told it was bad luck. He had given it to her when they were still dating, and it was funny how he didn't let her give it back even though he was the one who broke it off.

Or maybe it was her.

She couldn't quite remember the details. Even the pain had become fuzzy.

Anzu couldn't help but be embarrassed. She had rushed to be with him when it used to be him that rushed to her and when it was finally over, and it became clear that she wasn't going to become Mrs Mutou after all, Anzu didn't know where to go. She stayed in Tokyo, moved out of the apartment they had shared and started to live on her own, but it had gotten to be too much.

So there she was now, back home in Domino and she wasn't sure if she was happy. Domino was filled with memories, but that's all she had. The memories.

Her friends were gone. Honda had become a salary man and had a family of his own in Osaka. Bakura went to university in Hong Kong, and nobody had heard from him since. She and Otogi were never that close to begin with, and the Kaibas were well… the Kaibas.

Out of everyone it was Jounouchi and Yuugi that she'd managed to keep in contact with. It was inevitable since her and Yuugi had started dating in their senior year of high school, and both he and Joey entered the professional Duel Monsters circuit. By extension, Anzu kept in contact with Shizuka as well, and the younger girl was also the only person of the circle of friends she could go to that was in Domino.

Shizuka hadn't lived in Domino when they were in high school, but the girl moved there on her own to go to nursing school and when Anzu had expressed an interest in moving back Shizuka suggested they'd get together sometime and catch up, providing her busy schedule allowed her to.

That's what they did.

They met at a restaurant. There was a little boy keeping up with her and squeezing her hand as they approached. Anzu was ecstatic. She hadn't seen the boy since he was toddling about in diapers and here he was starting grade school, rosy cheeked and scowling in a way reminiscent of his father. He didn't remember her but with a few well executed smiles and her sweet voice, Anzu became a favorite.

"I'm going to be teaching Elementary this spring," Anzu had told Shizuka as they received their coffee, a hot mug of cocoa for the boy.

Anzu had always had the dream to pursue dance, but it was when she had a part time job teaching students at a cram school she realized that maybe her talents were best suited elsewhere.

"Of course I remember that!" Shizuka beamed. "I enrolled him in the school you told me over the phone when you were still in Tokyo. It's perfect because it's walking distance from his father's house."

Anzu smiled back, glad to hear that Shizuka still managed to be happy in Domino. Things had definitely changed, but the fact still remained, Anzu was home. Or whatever was left of it.

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"Itadakimasuuuuuu~!" the voices of the 30 children blended together as they sat around their desks.

Immediately after the word left their mouths the children began to dig into their lunches. Anzu watched them from the front of the class before taking her seat at her own desk to enjoy her own meal. It was really taxing being a teacher, but Anzu loved every moment of it. She kept her eyes on the kids as she stirred her curry.

Anzu really liked the kids in Domino. In Tokyo she grew attached to her students as well, especially since she was a teacher of grade one, the kids were new to the school experience and rarely spent much time outside of home. However, teaching in Domino gave it a more local quality than in Tokyo. The kids seems more down to earth, the way she used to be growing up.

Among the kids in her class was Shizuka's own Seto Kawai. Anzu was surprised to see him on the roll, but in hindsight, Anzu knew she shouldn't be. Shizuka had said she enrolled the boy after all.

"Mikimoto," Anzu warned, her voice rising over the noise to scold a boy who had began to make a catapult with his spork and vegetable.

The boy immediately behaved from one stern look from his teacher and settled down to eating like the others. Lunch went by and then it was time for the students to help clean the school. Anzu led the kids to the sinks where they washed and then helped them gather their brooms and other cleaning supplies to sweep the floor and dust.

The rest of the day went by smoothly just as expected and soon the children were saying their thank yous and good byes to the teacher as

The students set to work on the floor and Anzu watched happily before she felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked down and was surprised to be greeted by Seto's large blue eyes.

"Oi!"

Anzu shook her head. "That's not how you approach your elders." Since being around the young boy so often she'd picked up his habits were sometimes a bit slovenly than she would expect from someone brought up by Shizuka. It had to be the work of his Uncle Katsuya for sure.

"My mom told me to tell you that she wouldn't be picking me up today," he went on as if not hearing her reprimand.

Worry creased Anzu's brow.

"Really?" she asked, and she was answered by a nod and polite verbal affirmation of her fears.

It wasn't that she didn't understand that Shizuka's job at the hospital sometimes kept her long hours, but Anzu just really hated feeling responsibly for the boy after school hours. Shizuka said that in the case of an incident like that she would simply have to drop him off at his father's house, but Anzu didn't feel comfortable going to the Kaiba manor for any reason, and it didn't help that she didn't have a car either. The boy had once tried to convince her to walk her to the manor but it didn't work, so usually when Shizuka was kept from picking him up he went home with Anzu instead.

"You don't have to worry today though," the boy went on. "Ojisan is picking me up."

"Ojisan?" Anzu's brow furrowed further. "Jonouchi-kun's in town and he didn't tell me?!"

"No. My Oji on my Papa's side," the young boy said as if it were obvious. "But I guess you didn't know since you didn't meet him yet."

The boy walked to his cubby and removed his shoes and replaced them with his school slippers.

"I've met him," Anzu replied, though it had been years since she'd seen the Oji on his Papa's side.

Last time she'd seen Mokuba he was just graduating from jr high. Anzu had to stifle a giggle just thinking of those cute round cheeks and innocent demeanor of the younger Kaiba. She suddenly became curious if he grew up to be anything like his older brother. One thing was for sure though, this boy before her was nothing like the man. Apart from his brown hair and blue eyes, Seto Kawai and Seto Kaiba were as different as night and day. If anything, the Kawai boy reminded her more of Jounouchi. He had a love for duel monsters but he seemed to have a equal or greater love for getting into trouble and rough housing with the other boys in his class and those in the neighborhood.

"What time will he be here?" Anzu asked, snapping out of her musings and turning back to the little one before her.

Seto adjusted his helmet and replied, "As soon as I come outside he should be there right? He said after school."

"Ok, I'll go outside and make sure he gets you safely," Anzu said. She reached out and took his hand.

Together they exited the building, little Seto half skipping with joy. As they stood outside, Seto took to drawing in the dust with the toe of his polished shoe. Anzu wondered if big Seto was ever like that, happy and skipping. She couldn't bring herself to say no.

-to be continued-

AN: the beginning. you have questions? i'll try my best to answer it in subsequent chapters. this is a story about tying up lose ends and discovering what truly is home