Will You Marry Me?
Welcome to my first attempt at Peachshipping (at least, Peach as a main pairing), for a contest. Now that I think about it, I had a bit of Peach in my last story…I could've always used that… --; Anyways, for you Peach fans, I hope I didn't butcher this.
Okay, we've got three POVs going here, Anzu's and Yugi's will switch a bit in the story…and then there's the last POV, which gets to stand-alone.
Also, this is not how they first met. Well, it could be, but I really doubt it. All I know is that Anzu and Yugi were childhood friends, and first met in elementary school. That's the extent of my knowledge on the subject. ;
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or the word (non-word, I guess) 'romantical'.
"Leave me alone!" Anzu cried, shielding herself with her arms as she was battered with sand. Unfortunately, the three boys were relentless.
"Stupid girl!" They shouted, throwing clumps of sand at the little brunette. The group of three of her male elementary school classmates had her trapped in the corner of the sandbox; the distance between the ground and the top of the sandbox wall was enormous, or at least to the elementary school students. Falling over the edge promised horrible injuries such as scratches and skinned knees, something that none of the children wanted to risk.
If only Anzu was at her old school, this wouldn't be happening. At her old school, she had friends. At this school, all groups of friends had already formed; the girls here had made it clear that they didn't have any available spots left over for her. It wasn't too big of a deal to Anzu, she was never particularly partial to dolls and makeup…sure, she liked a good game of make-believe and house, but it wasn't a big loss. That was when Anzu attempted to ask the nearest group of boys playing tag in the sandbox if she could join them.
Looking back, it was probably not a good idea.
The barrage of sand continued for another few minutes, looking as if it would never stop. Anzu was scared now; what if it was going to be like this every recess? Small tears formed in the corner of her eyes.
When there was a pause in the bombardment though, she dared to look up. A small body pushed through one of the boys; it turned to face them, giving them angry looks, leaving Anzu with only a view of oddly coloured spiked hair.
"Stop it, Taika, Akimoto, Masahiro! You're making her cry!"
"I-I'm not crying…" Anzu muttered piteously, rubbing furiously at her eyes with her grimy hands. She was completely ignored.
"Yugi, let us handle it," the boy named Taika said, giving him a small frown. "We're gonna –"
"Tell me why you're being mean to her," Yugi said in a deadly calm voice, "and I won't tell on you."
There was an audible gasp heard and a loud murmur of 'snitch' from the other two boys, but it was obvious that Yugi now had the upper hand. Finally, Taika took a step forward.
"You don't understand! You need to get away from her, Yugi! She's got girl-cooties!"
Anzu's eyes watered as Yugi looked back at her. To her surprise, however, he gave a small encouraging smile and turned back to her bullies, a look of determination adorning his face.
"No."
It garnered quite the reaction for such a simple answer. The leader of the group, Taika, a lanky boy with dark messy hair, gaped at him incredulously; the chubby boy to his right's mouth was opening and closely wordlessly, and the small red-head to his left had let his sand clumps drop out of his hands. Finally, after a moment of silence, the leader sputtered indignantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "But Yugi – she's a girl!"
Yugi stared the three down, his violet eyes unblinking. "She's not a girl, she's my friend. Now leave her alone!"
The three boys, now with three matching scowls on their faces, complied, stomping off the other way and kicking up sand as they went. When Yugi was sure they were gone, he turned back to Anzu and gave a brilliant smile.
"Hi, my name's Yugi Motou. What's your name?"
Anzu stared up at her savior, temporarily struck dumb. Spiked hair that was coloured red black and blonde, violet eyes…he truly was a strange child. But still…he had gone out of his way to make friends with her when no one else had, standing up so bravely against three classmates…
"M-My name is Anzu Mazaki."
There was his same smile again. "We're friends now, right?"
"Y-Yeah…" she said cautiously, gazing up at him with frightened blue eyes, small tears still gathered in the corners.
Yugi frowned slightly and went down on one knee. "Are you okay? You don't look very happy."
Anzu continued to stare at him, trying to find the words she was looking for. "W-Why…Why are we called mankind if people are so mean to each other?" Anzu sniffed, rubbing her nose with her dirty hand and smearing sand on her face.
Yugi paused at the strange question; Anzu could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "Well…Everyone is kind…Yeah! Everyone is kind," Yugi insisted. "Deep down, everyone is kind. That's what my grandpa says. 'Everyone has a seed of goodness in them, even if it is hidden away. Sometimes you just need to search for it and help it grow.'"
"Your grandpa sounds really smart, Yugi," said Anzu appreciatively, wiping the remaining tears from her eyes and smearing more mud on her face. Yugi went into a fit of giggles.
"Your face is all dirty!" said Yugi, to which Anzu made a face at him. He took her hand and pulled her up onto her feet; Yugi then went to the edge of the sandbox and carefully lowered himself onto the ground, and waited patiently for Anzu to do the same, offering her a helping hand down just as he had seen princes do for princesses in his favourite fairy tales.
"Let's go get you washed up," said Yugi, pulling her towards the school. They chatted the whole way about meaningless things, oblivious to the strange looks they were getting from the groups of boys and girls scattered across the playground.
As soon as they entered the classroom, it hit Anzu. The two children were alone in the classroom, with no supervision; it was a perfect environment for them to play, just the two of them. Anzu turned to Yugi, her sparkling eyes brought out even more by her mud-splattered face. "Can we get married?"
Yugi was taken aback. "Married?" asked Yugi.
"Yup," Anzu nodded. "It's when a boy and a girl love each other. The girl gets to wear a pretty dress and then they kiss –" Yugi turned red at the word kiss, "and…it's really…er…" Anzu trailed off, looking for the right word, "romantical!"
Yugi wrinkled his nose. "Do we have to kiss?"
"Of course!" Anzu said firmly.
Pouting slightly, Yugi nodded. "Okay. Then we have to get married right now!"
Anzu gasped dramatically (making Yugi jump in surprise), running to her cubby and taking out her backpack as quickly as her short legs could take her, and promptly dumped all the contents on the floor. Yugi, mesmerized by the costume jewelry (particularly the crown and a pair of earrings shaped like upside-down pyramids, though he wasn't sure why), didn't notice Anzu pick a large something off the floor until she was already running to the girls' bathroom.
"Anzu, where are you going?"
The only answer he received was the closing of the bathroom door, so he hopped onto the colouring table and waited.
Yugi waited patiently on the table, swinging his legs back and forth and whistling, until after five minutes, Anzu finally came out with her face completely clean and in a pink tutu.
"If we're going to get married," said Anzu, nodding sternly, "I need to be a princess."
"Where did you get that from?" said Yugi, violet eyes even wider then normal.
"I'm going to be a ballerina!" Anzu said proudly. "Mommy says that if I practice really, really hard, I can be a ballerina one day! So I'm taking lessons!"
"That sounds like fun!"
"It is!" Anzu beamed. Yugi was about to speak, then paused. He looked Anzu up and down carefully, a look of deep concentration on his face, until finally –
"I want to be a pharaoh!"
Anzu blinked, last topic completely forgotten, then put her hands on her hips, frowning. "Can a pharaoh marry a princess?"
Yugi blinked inquisitively. Then he slowly nodded, smiling. "Princesses can marry anyone they want!" Picking the crown up off the floor (after first carefully untangling it from a bead necklace), he turned back to Anzu and placed it on her head. Then, bending down on one knee, he stared up at her and said, "Princess Anzu, will you marry me?"
Anzu giggled. "I do!"
"You aren't supposed to say 'I do' yet!" Yugi complained.
Anzu grinned in response. After sticking her tongue out, Anzu swooped down onto his cheek and gave him a small kiss. "Yes."
-o-O-o-O-o-
Yami leaned back against the wall, looking at the picture appreciatively. Little Anzu in her pink dress and crown smiled up at him; the small ('Smaller,' Yami mentally chuckled) Yugi had a goofy grin on his face, cheeks stained red.
Giving one last small laugh, Yami stood up and carefully placed the photo back on the shelf beside the many other photos of Yugi and his friends: he needed to be careful to put it back exactly where he found it, as always, when handling his other's memories.
It was strange of him to go through his partner's memories like this, especially without his knowledge. Not that Yami wouldn't tell Yugi eventually, but Yugi was busy for the moment with other things – things Yami knew were much more important to Yugi then this. It wasn't as if they kept secrets for each other.
Yami thought back to the memory, and couldn't help but chuckle again. So that's how the friendship between Yugi and Anzu – and Yugi's crush on Anzu, for that matter – began…he couldn't help but notice a pattern: most of the starts of Yugi's friendships seemed to involve his future friend being victimized by some form of bully, or bullies (whether being classmates, a hall monitor, or even an evil spirit) and a heroic rescue. Though Yami did have to step in most times, this was an obvious example of what he had been trying to relay to Yugi all along: Yugi was strong too, all on his own.
The temperature in Yugi's soul room suddenly shot up, but not unbearably; nervousness and excitement flooded the mind-link, pulling Yami out of his thoughts. Yami had to resist the urge to look through his partner's eyes to see what was going on. 'The date is going well, then.'
Finally, after agonizing moments that seemed to last for hours, the temperature dropped again, though only slightly; the nervousness that had been present before disappeared only to be replaced by pure happiness and an overwhelming sense of pride.
Yami couldn't resist the temptation any longer; he peered through Yugi's eyes for a fleeting second, but enough to tell him what he wanted to know. Anzu's face, bright red and rapidly becoming distant from Yugi's own, had a smile that practically reached from ear to ear. She was touching her lips in a gentle, almost confused way.
"Again? N-Next Saturday, then?"
Yami retreated quickly, but not before hearing the words that put him at ease.
"Sure…I'd like that."
Yami strode to the door of Yugi's soul room, one foot already out in the hallway, before giving the elementary school memory photo a fond glance.
'Congratulations, aibou.'
-drowning in fluff- It's like 'The Greatest Gift' all over again…
Okay, I'll admit it – my favourite line had to be "She's not a girl, she's my friend!"
Yugi wasn't exactly the smartest kid back then. ; That's what happens when you watch 'The Little Rascals.' I watched this after I got the plot, but still…gotta love that classic movie. It's the cutest movie ever. Who doesn't love little kid romance stories – between little kids? (That's where romantical is from XD)
And you've heard this before...gah. I'm having some serious trouble with AtF and MLO, despite what I said last time. I'm going to edit them and work from there, so I might get inspired...though to those people who just reviewed them lately (I don't know if you're reading this...but you know who you are) you helped a lot. I mean a HUGE amount. If they weren't brought back to my attention, they might've stayed as they were for a long time, slowly getting dusty...Big thanks out to you guys!
Well, reviewing this particular story is always nice…I need to know if I overdid the fluff. -gets whipped in the head with tomatoes from peeved readers- Yeah I know, bad excuse...Though I do like feedback!