ANZU'S CHOICE

Chapter One: The Choice

This first chapter is an entry for the Project Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction contest in 2003. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Anzu placed the heavy backpack on her study table. She then lay in her bed, musing, "I'm so glad I don't have to work today..."

Then, a light bulb flickered in her mind. "Oh, yeah. Yugi handed me something when we walked home today from school."

She then got up and unzipped her backpack's front pocket. She pulled out a white envelope that Yugi had given her before they parted ways.

Curiously holding the envelope, she recalled him saying, "Open it when you get home. Take your time and then let me know what you think."

Those words bothered and intrigued her. It was not what Yugi said that made her worry but it was the way that he said it. She took a sigh as she recalled how he stammered throughout the whole time in his own sheepish way. Nonetheless, she felt from his tone and presence that he was serious about the matter contained inside the envelope.

She carefully ripped the side of the envelope and pulled out its content: a one-page letter.

Dear Anzu,

We've been friends for a long time. We've known each other well since then.

However, I have feelings for you far and beyond the friendship that we have.
I care a lot about you and I would love us to be more than friends.


I do have two questions for you, though, and I would like to know the truth.

First, do you feel the same way that I feel about you?

If you say "yes" to this question, then you have to ask yourself this next question:
Are those feelings for me, or for my other self?


Forgive me for my boldness, but I just needed to know.

Yugi

"What?" Anzu exclaimed as her deep blue, expressive eyes widened in shock. She then again read the letter, now truly aware that she was not just imagining what she just saw. "Yugi has feelings for me? But..but how could that be?"

To her, this was an unprecedented move from her long-time friend. She was still bewildered and confused as to what prompted him to tell her how he truly felt.

With Yugi's letter in the left hand, she let her back fall on her soft bed. She looked up the ceiling, unable to stop the blushing of her face. To her, his short letter said everything and it placed his entire feelings on the table.

The letter placed Yugi in the most vulnerable position a person could ever be in, and she could not just dismiss it.

Now, the ball was on her court. She needed to examine the deepest corners of her heart, mind, and soul for the truth. After all, she had the utmost care and respect for her childhood friend Yugi. She knew fully well that he deserved to know what she felt for him.

She began to soul-search and ponder for the truth. Who weighed more in her heart: Yugi or his other self?

However, how could she tell Yugi the truth when she did not know it as well? Moreover, if reality did not produce the answer that he wanted to hear then what would happen to their friendship? Would she lose her friendship with him...a friendship that withstood the test of time and trouble?

Closing her eyes, her lashes touched her cheeks. A myriad of thoughts came inside her head. She needed to sort through all of them to find her answer.

She recalled the first time she heard that confident voice. "It was at Burger World... when that armed and dangerous escaped convict held everyone hostage...when I was held at gunpoint..."

She remembered the overwhelming fear that continually stabbed her heart that day, especially since her eyes were blindfolded. However, she was also comforted by that enigmatic voice and fell in love with its owner since that day.

Nevertheless, the mystery deepened when she found out that her childhood friend, Yugi, had another self. His other self was the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle - the young Pharaoh whose name was erased in all Egyptian archives. His presence saved them from time to time due to his cunning, intelligence, and courage.

She could not help but have a smile escape her lips and warm the inner recesses of her heart.

But then again, her heart pulled her back to her confusing dilemma. Were her feeling for Yugi's other self true love, or the mere swooning infatuation of a damsel in distress for her gallant knight in shining armor?

"Yugi," Anzu mused about her childhood friend. "What about Yugi?"

She closed her eyes once again as her mind's eye produced a mental picture of her sweet, caring, and innocent childhood friend. Her mind began to play mental movies from the past - some of those involved Yugi being pushed around by people twice his size, stumbling clumsily due to poor coordination, or unknowingly falling into traps planned by bullies.

When it came to dueling, however, she acknowledged that Yugi was no different from the Spirit of the Puzzle. Once he was in a duel against an opponent, his courage and determination shone.

Two matters, however, were certain for her about Yugi.

As much as she scolded Yugi numerous times for not fighting back, she knew deep down that he had a forgiving heart and that being a pacifist did not necessarily mean that he was a coward. Secondly, she could truly and constantly depend on him - no matter what the situation may be.

Those two major traits, to her, showed a person's true strength and fortitude.

She then wondered about the times that Yugi's other self emerged from the Puzzle. Yes, the spirit might have helped Yugi saved the day but it was Yugi's care and concern that brought out the powerful Pharaoh from the Puzzle.

Still keeping her eyes closed, she whispered to herself, "The duel between Jonouchi and Yugi. The real Yugi brought Jonouchi out from his brainwashing. He risked his life to save him."

Her mind swam within its million thoughts and plagued her to find the answer.

She eventually found herself walking inside a beautiful orchard on a bright sunny afternoon. The bright sun, the cool breeze, and the lusciousness of the world around helped clear her head.

Soon thereafter, the sky turned into bloody red. The orchard trees' leaves withered as if nuclear fallout decimated all life.

She stood alone in the void. Overwhelming fear chilled her spine and caused her heart to race faster.

Suddenly, the ground shook violently.

Out emerged hands from the bowels of Hell that began to pull her down into the ground. There was the incessant moaning of people from the grave that filled her ears, calling her name to join them and petrifying her even further.

Everything around her spun as she slowly found herself being successfully pulled down, sinking as she was doomed to join the rest of the ungodly creatures.

When all that was left on the surface was her face, she belted out a bloodcurdling call for help that echoed within the dark void. She called out a name before the earth could completely devour her and snuff her young life.

She gasped in fright as she abruptly bolted up from her bed. She took a good two minutes of breathing in and out deeply before her heart's palpitation began to subside. Beads of sweat trickled down from her alabaster face as she rubbed her shivering arms and felt the goose bumps that were still there.

When her eyes refocused, she realized that everything she saw - as real as it seemed to be - was all just a bad dream. It was already pitch dark outside her window, making her aware that at least three to four hours had passed since she arrived home.

"I slept through while thinking about his letter," she groaned as a startling revelation dawned upon her.

Pondering once more with her dilemma, she mused, "Both of them mean a lot to me. I don't know what to do..."

Two months had already passed since Yugi gave Anzu his letter. As each day passed by, the quieter Anzu became around Yugi and the gang.

Moreover, as each day passed that she had not given Yugi a response to his letter, the more that Anzu felt pressed. To her, she owed her childhood friend an answer.

Then the day came that she gathered the courage to finally face her feelings. She dialed the numbers on the phone.

"Yugi?" Anzu asked as soon as she heard the receiver pick up.

"Hi," he greeted - his heart beating faster than usual. He thought to himself, but dared not ask her, "Did she read it yet?" A sudden feeling of suffocating anticipation resided in his chest.

Anzu breathed in deeply before she started. "I read your letter, Yugi. I thought about what you said. I..."

After a long pause, she added, "I now have your answer..."

Yugi closed his eyes, his heart clenching as another period of silence passed between them.

"I want us to be friends and much more than that, too. I'm willing to give it a try, if you are, too."

"Really?" he said on the other line in blissful astonishment.

"May we talk about this more in person tomorrow?" she requested sweetly and softly.

"Sure. Take care, Anzu. I'll see you tomorrow," he responded with such happiness radiating from his voice.

"Take care, too." She then hung up the receiver, empathetically feeling his elation for the good news.

Smiling deeply and serenely, she clasped both her hands on her chest. The warm feeling of security settled within her soul. Her heart knew that she made the right choice.

She remembered dearly that warm smile that greeted her in the morning as they walked together to school. She could feel the comforting presence that accompanied her in times of trouble and sorrow. She was encouraged by the figure that constantly believed and brought out the best within her. She knew the one who cared for everyone - and most especially her - over and above himself.

Yes, the Spirit of the Puzzle was all of these things for her...but all of these things started even before the Millennium Puzzle's influence came into existence.

Now, this beautiful and innocent soul chose to be completely vulnerable by revealing his innermost feelings. He picked her to be loved by him as a friend and much more than that.

That realization gave her a feeling of freedom that rushed out and filled the core of her being.

Another memory from the past helped her uncover the secret of her heart - her fateful duel against one of the Big Five in Noah's virtual world. It was when she was about to lose the duel, and all hope, of saving herself and finding her friends.

She walked to the window and opened them, her eyes transfixed at the night sky and the stars that adorned it. A smile of hope and anticipation escaped her lips as she thought, "I always have called Yugi for strength, just as I called him for help in my nightmare. In spite of my fascination for Yugi's other self, the real Yugi is the one that my heart constantly called out for. Now I know the truth."

End of Chapter One

Yu-Gi-Oh is the copyrighted property of Kazuki Takahashi. This fanfic, however, is mine.

Zatken