Present.
Past.
"Talking."
'Thoughts.'
Chapter 1: Broken…
Small, glazed over empty azure orbs stared out underneath a navy blue Yankee cap out of the car window, surveying foreign surroundings.
"Anna?"
The eyes focused on a single raindrop out of the several from her passenger window.
"Anna, you haven't spoken since we've been at the airport…"
…The small raindrop was slowly gaining momentum as it raced down the glass…
"…And aren't you excited to be in Domino?"
Tear rimmed eyes finally narrowed as a solitary tear rushed past her cheek. "I'm supposed to be happy my mom's dead?" She whispered lowly, her voice raspy and dry.
The social worker's breath seemed caught in her throat as she opened her mouth to respond, but closed. She sighed. "Anna, do you know why you're here?"
The small girl pensively narrowed her glazed over eyes, "Because I have to live with Uncle Yugi and Grandpa?"
The social worker took a hand off the steering wheel to re-adjust her glasses. "Not exactly..."
"Then Uncle Jou and Auntie Mai?" The small girl asked reflexively.
'The second recipients on the list...' "I'm afraid not."
The slight frown that was already on Anna's face deepened and she turned to look at the driver who caused it. "Then, where are we going? Uncle Honda's not in Domino..."
The spectacled woman sighed again, as a result of her anguish. "Anna, you'll be staying with your father."
Deep, piercing cerulean eyes stared fixedly at the computer screen, and then narrowed. The e-mail currently opened was not only read thoroughly several times, but the text in it appeared unholy. Both of his elbows stood pointedly on the table as he rested his chin on his crossed hands and continued to narrow his eyes, daring the e-mail to vacate his screen and the computer to burst into flames.
Within the last 48 hours, Seto Kaiba has been through devastation and shock, but at this present moment, he was upset. No, angry...angry at a dead woman, angry at the secret she kept from him, angry at the one thing in his life that had gone unplanned. How could she? Why would she...?
The twenty-four year old's vision began to blur as he clenched his eyes shut, unable to look at his computer screen. He thought it was the reacting fatigue of continuously looking at the computer screen, but unbeknownst to him, it was his eyes pooling with a thick, salty liquid. Moments after his eyelids made contact, his eyes released the liquid in the form of two tears. 'Damn her...'
"An-" He cleared his throat before re-attempting to start his sentence. "Anzu's dead." He spoke in a detached monotone to his brother. He knew he sounded cold, but anything was better than the latter, which was to betray who he was and speak brokenly. Yes, anything was better than that.
"Wh-what?"The younger brother of the man barely choked out, "What do you mean 'Anzu's dead'? Sh-she was going to be a dancer..."
The last part was common knowledge to both men, but that statement sounded so hollow now that it would be an unrequited dream for the bright-eyed brunette, whose eyes would never shine again. Both stayed silent for a few moments until Mokuba broke the silence.
"Seto, how'd you find out?" He inquired, his voice becoming hoarse.
The elder of the two coughed and remained quiet for a few more moments before replying. "I received a call today from a social worker..."
The clearly spoken statement hung suspended in the air as Mokuba furrowed his eyebrows before he spoke again. "But...why would a social worker call you?" Mokuba asked, not being able to make sense of the situation.
"She called me because," The CEO of KaibaCorp began to state in a business-like tone, without breaking once, "Anzu had a daughter in New York."
"But," The confusion marked on the younger Kaiba's face grew. "That still doesn't explain why she would call you and tell you this information...unless Anzu's daughter?..."
The silence was a piercing scream in the nineteen year old's ear as his question was quietly answered. "Seto?"
"Yes Mokuba, your niece," He paused as he ran a hand through his hair, still not wanting to refer to her as his daughter, "will be living with us..."
"Damn her for not telling me..."
"Damn it!"
"Jou..." The buxom blond tried to calm down her husband as her amethyst eyes followed his pacing across the room.
"No Mai, h-he doesn't deserve her! She doesn't even know 'em!"
"Jounouchi!" Mai narrowed her eyes as she scolded, successfully catching his attention. Chocolate brown eyes widened abruptly at the sound of his name, but instead of taking his frustration out on her, he stood fuming in place.
"Jou," Mai began, walking towards Jounouchi, "You know we don't have a say in this."
"Yes we do Mai. We're her godparents!"
"I know...but even if she wasn't going to live with him, we still wouldn't be able to get her unless Yugi and Sogoroku aren't able to take care of her."
"Yeah, but Yug' and Grandpa would still have her, 'sides, if she was with them, that's as good as her being with us." Mai considered what he said for a moment before speaking again.
"You're right, but it still doesn't change the fact that he's legally bound to her, being her father."
"Father?! He left her Mai!"
"No..." Mai corrected him, "He left Anzu, he never knew about Anna..."
"Yeah, and by leavin' Anzu, he ended up leaving Anna too! You think that if he knew, he would've wanted her back?"
Mai absentmindedly flipped her blond locks over her shoulder and sighed. "It's too late to think about what could've happened...You know Anzu had her reasons for not telling him, so we're not going to discuss all of the 'What if?' scenarios. Anyways," Mai continued, twirling a blond coil over a manicured finger, "If Kaiba doesn't want to have her-"
"Tha' heartless jerk probably won't want her..." Jounouchi muttered under his breath while directing a string of insults towards the reclusive Kaiba.
"If he doesn't want her," Mai repeated, trying to state her point, "Then there'll always be a door open for her, whether if it's Yugi's or ours."
Jounouchi's frustration had diminished and he let out a long held breath with a calming sigh, relived by what his wife had said. That didn't mean he had to like these arrangements. Or that he wouldn't try to stop it.
"Jou, don't you dare."
"What," He said bewilderedly with false innocence, "What are you talking about?"
Mai narrowed her observant violet eyes. She knew her husband and despite his heightened maturity, which she would easily say was due to her, that ever familiar flicker of mischief flashed in his eyes and the cogs spinning in his head could be heard whirring. "Mmhmm..." She regarded him with a look that said she knew exactly what he was thinking, "Don't try to play coy Katsuya Jounouchi..."
'She said the full name.' He thought as he cast his gaze downward, away from her penetrating stare. She knew him all too well.
"Now listen to me Jou," Mai demanded while jabbing a finger in his chest, "You won't do anything to try to take Anna away from Kaiba." It wasn't a request, but a demand.
Jounouchi's eyes continued to be averted, as he kept quiet.
"Promise Jou."
"Alright, I promise!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands up.
"Good." She said, pleased that Jounouchi wouldn't do anything foolish, or something that would end up with him being the fool. "I've got to go hon," She said contently as she kissed him chastely on the cheek, as she had to leave for work. "Bye!"
"Yea', bye." He mumbled as he saw her leave, now aware of the fact that not only had she won this battle, she got him to promise on it too…Oh well, if there was one thing that Katsuya Jounouchi knew, was that there were always loopholes…and he was never one for subtlety.
Glassy, dark blue eyes widened underneath a NY Yankee cap. "What do you mean? I have a father?"
The woman driving on her left was patient, but had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes Anna, you have a father. Everyone has a father."
The younger girl scowled and tipped the navy blue hat down with her finger to hide her face as she grumbled, "I know everyone has a father," her face became softer as she thought aloud, "but who is he? Where has he been? Did he not love me enough to-"
"Anna, Anna, calm down. You can ask him all of these questions."
"What? We're going to see him now?"
"Yes, where did you think we were going?"
Anna shifted her position in the chair to slide up. She peered into the side view mirror and frowned. Her hat, due to the humidity from the rain, was stuck to her head, causing the tips of her short brown hair to flare out. She feared that if she took off the Yankee cap that she would have 'hat hair' and that the sweat now forming on her brow would be more noticeable. She began using her fingers as a makeshift comb to smooth out her hair and keep it from flaring.
"You know," The social worker began to say as a smirk formed on her face, "If you keep frowning like that, your face will stick that way."
Anna quickly slid back to her former position and completely relaxed her face, maintaining her previous blank stare.
"Anna," The smirk on the social worker's face dissipating, "I didn't mean for you not to do anything at all."
"Then, what do I do?"
An audible sigh was heard from the left side of the vehicle. "Well, what do you like to do?"
The six year old's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"I mean for fun, like," The woman paused, trying to think of examples, "like, jump rope, or hopscotch, or-"
"I like Duel Monsters…" The little girl mumbled.
The woman began to smile, unseen by Anna, "Really? Well, do you use the duel disk?"
"Yeah, Uncle Yugi and Uncle Jou taught me how." A slight smile graced the little girl's face, probably the first in days.
"I bet you care about your uncles very much." She stated, noting that it was the second mention of her 'uncles.'
Anna simply nodded and made no move to continue the conversation. She shouldn't be feeling happy, not now. She didn't deserve it and by talking to this lady, who seemed to want to engage in any form of conversation just to get a reaction out of her, she was starting to feel as if her world hadn't had crashed in front of her…
She frowned again.
The woman driving decided that was enough. As much as she wanted to keep Anna talking, maybe to uplift her spirit slightly, she had to focus on the road, as it began to downpour.
Anna had more questions than she knew answers to and she couldn't help, but feel sympathetic to her situation. 'Right now, she just needs quiet, to try to muddle out the events in her mind. At least she still has her father, even if she hasn't met him. She won't be completely alone.'
She turned to her right to look at the girl in her thoughts. 'Maybe they can depend on each other now.'
She took one hand off the wheel and reached into cup holder, where her cell phone laid. Holding the cell phone up to her face, high enough to see, but low enough to concentrate on the road, she pressed the 'Talk' button twice to redial…
Beep…
…Cerulean eyes stared…
Beep…
…And stared…
Beep…
…And red spots were forming through the corners of the pupils…
Beep…
…And if that infernal beeping did not cease and the annoying glare of an imbecilic flashing red light did not stop…
Beep…
…Damn it all…
Nimble fingers that were more than long acquainted with a keyboard pressed the 'Line 1' button on his personal office phone.
"Roland," The now agitated businessman said through gritted teeth, "I told you that I did not want to be disturbed today and to cancel all of my appointments."
"I know sir," The loyal manservant sounded slightly apprehensive, but regained his composure before speaking again. "However, I thought you would like to know that," He cleared his throat, "your daughter is here."
The fatigued C.E.O. slowly closed his eyes and let out a long, drawn out breath he wasn't aware he was holding. "Very well," He stated, keeping his eyes closed, "Let them in to the main seating room."
The silver rental car stopped in front of a mansion and Anna couldn't help, but to drop her jaw in awe. 'This- it's so big…'
"Where are we?" The inquisitive little girl looked over to the adult in the vehicle for answers.
"We," She started to say as she put the car in 'Park', "are in front of your father's house."
For once, Anna was speechless. However, her mind was racing at what would be compared in the real world as 100 miles an hour. 'This is his house? It's bigger than our apartment, the grocery store, the pizza parlor, and the park put together…'
She continued to stare as her view of the mansion became obscured by social worker, who was already out of the car and holding an umbrella over the passenger side. Anna quickly undid her seat buckle and opened the door.
"Are you scared?" A rich, smooth voice broke the silence that threatened to linger in the air.
Sapphire orbs widened at the abrupt melodic voice of the young man sitting parallel to her. She quickly recovered and a quirk of her lips, somewhat resembling a smirk, graced her features. She tucked several strands of hair behind her ear, the few on her right obscuring her vision of him.
Both sets of eyes immediately locked on to each other, the sapphire eyes blazing with determination and cerulean ice eyes seemingly melting on contact. The usual indifference held in those eyes was gone, an almost amused nature taking its place.
"Now, why would you say that?" The bright-eyed brunette inquired, challenging the man beside her.
"Maybe it was the fact that you were quiet during the entire ride, when we both know that you despise keeping your mouth shut." The young man said off-handedly, his full-blown smirk out-doing her grin.
Her eyes suddenly narrowed as she observed the young man. "Well maybe if you a bit more vocal, I wouldn't have to be quiet."
"So you're admitting that my presence alone quiets you?"
The once narrowed eyes widened back into surprised orbs after a blunder was realized. "No, that's not what I-"
"It's just as well," The young man stated, cutting through her revival, "After all, silence is the best remark."
"Then, you're a hell of a conversationalist, wouldn't you say?" The young woman retorted, but there was a detectable amused air in her tone.
The young man's amused stare vanished, replaced with a seemingly indifferent tone as he growled, "Watch it Mazaki."
"Hmm?" The young woman craned her head towards him in feign innocence. "Watch what? You? I don't think so." She turned away from him, satisfied with her statement.
A rare, unexpected silence followed the young woman's comment and her panic heightened after the first few seconds. "…Kaiba…?" She inquired tentatively after a few more moments.
"Don't play games with me Mazaki…" His voice rang clearly in her ear, closely…
She barely had to look out the corner of her eye to see that he was presently next to her, on top of her even. In fact, the young woman was so aware of his close proximity that she began to shrink closer to the car door, the one she was already very close to.
"What do you mean?"
"You knew exactly what I meant, so don't play dumb with me, besides," He regarded her with a look, "It doesn't fit you."
"Are you ready to go in?" The woman looked down good-naturedly at the anxious little girl. The wide-eyed girl took the woman's hand and nodded as she got out of the car.
Alright, thank you for reading the 1st chapter of this story, now please review, I could really use constructive critism since I'm rusty from writting for so long...