Ok, StarChan here with a new name because I was sick of that stupid '2' at the end of my name. However StarChan is still a name I go by, or Star according to Anzu's Angels. And to make my grand return to the fanfiction word I thought I'd do something that I was certain I never would….a Seto/Anzu romance. No I will admit that I do enjoy this couple but it has to be a very good author to convince me of it and I've just been reading too many good ones lately to not throw my hat into the ring. So here we go. It is a song fic to the song 'Champagne High' by Sister Hazel. Enjoy!!
P.S-standard disclaimer applies
He stood still for a moment and sucked in the harsh air of winter. It struck is lungs, giving him life again and the ability to walk. It seemed to that the wedding would be taking place in the winter. She always seemed like the kind of person that would want her wedding to be in the spring, in the middle of a flowery field complete with bunny rabbits and friends galore. But here he was standing in front of the church in the dead of winter in such bitter cold that the snow even refused to fall as forecasted earlier. No one looked up as he entered, there weren't a lot of people their anyway but he knew in a few hours time her side would be full of the family and friends he had always hated and secretly envied.
In the back of the church there were noises, women's giggling voices, but he knew better than to go back and see what was going on. That was unless he wanted to lose his head. The truth was that he wouldn't have been in the church if not for the freezing weather outside. And he refused to go home and wait until the service started. He didn't even want to be in the office. As soon as he was alone he wanted company and as soon as he had that company he itched to be alone. So this was the best, separated by walls and tradition he sat in the second pew looking up at the rich woodcarvings above him. The noises drifted in and out and a few times he thought the voices were getting closer. He did not want to be found, not at all. Sitting in the poorly heated church wasn't something that he planed to do long but the next time he looked at his watch an hour had passed. The service would be in two hours and he felt the crushing wait on his chest once more that he had blamed on the cold.
He had to get out. He took off for the doors and stopped as soon as he heard her melodic voice floated through the air. His hand resting on the cold door handle he stopped and chided himself. He was Seto Kiaba, child prodigy, CEO of Kiaba Corps, and one of the greatest duelists in the world. This was her day. She wanted him there. He said he would be, he had promised. He could be strong for a few hours, but he wasn't sure if he could last a lifetime. Hearing noises from outside Seto stepped away from the door and to a small anteroom to the left. Male voices complaining about cold and winter crossed the place where he had stood only moments before. He watched them walk down the center isle where she would be going in just two short, long hours, and back toward the room that the voices had floated from. They didn't float anymore and suddenly there was screaming and yelling.
"Jou get out of here!" four different voices shouted at the blonde. Three of the four that had entered the room only moments before, bolted from the room of the bride and her attendants where, relatively unscathed. Jou was not so lucky. He came out a moment later holding his head and nursing what appeared to be a bruised eye.
"If this is noticeable during the service I swear I'm going to return the favor! I don't care that you're a girl," Jou shouted back at the girls. He shut up a moment later when a formidable looking Mai appeared and grasped him by the ear.
"Serves you right," the blonde said tugging on the ear with every word she said. Honda and Yugi who had come in with Jou, along with Ryo, looked as if they were trying not to burst out laughing. Honda was having a visibly harder time then Yugi. "And you three," Mai said rounding around on them, Jou's ear still in her fingers, "are just as bad as he is." Yugi and Honda immediately shut up and Ryo just looked more mortified.
"We're sorry Mai. We didn't think that it would be a problem. But do you think," Ryo said motioning to the doubled over Jou, "that you should let him go before we have to take him to the emergency room to have his ear reattached." Mai didn't seem willing to let go until a new voice added to the argument.
"You probably should let go Mai. That's the last thing we need to be dealing with today." Mai looked reluctantly, as well as grudgingly at Jou before letting him go. Rubbing his ear fiercely Jou looked as if he were about to start yelling when a hand clasped around his mouth. Anzu glared up at the youth who'd ear she had just rescued. "Drop it Jou, this day is just too stressful to you to add to it by getting into a fist fight with one of the bridesmaids." Taking her hand away from Jou's mouth Seto watched, still from his hiding place, her wipe it on the jeans she was wearing. The only thing that gave away that she would be in wedding in two hours was that her hair was done up with tiny flowers braided through the short length. Otherwise she looked like she was ready for a sled dog race, bundled up against the cold.
"Where are you going Anzu?" Yugi asked and Seto waited with baited breath for the answer.
"Well you know the saying 'Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue.' Well we're missing blue."
"So you're going out?" Ryo asked obviously confused.
"Yup," she said tugging on a reluctant leather glove. Honda looked equally confused.
"Shouldn't someone else be going? I mean aren't you busy?" he asked as she shook her head.
"No I need to get out of here for a little while. I think I'm getting a little claustrophobic. And I'll be back in plenty of time so stop worrying."
"One more question," Honda insisted and Anzu started to look annoyed as was Seto. If she was going he wanted to follow. She gave him a look that clearly said hurry up. "Where's Yami? I haven't seen him all day." Anzu gave a small, sad sort of smile.
"You know him. It's all about being fashionably late. God knows his hair probably took longer than mine." A few of the group laughed and Anzu bid them farewell again. The church door shut soundlessly behind her as Seto watched her go and it felt like and eternity before her friends left the main part of the chapel so he could follow her. But as soon as they were gone he slipped out just as soundlessly as Anzu had only moments before. He was surprised however when she was standing at the bottom step, watching the door and apparently waiting for him. It made sense to him that she would be waiting for him. She had always seemed to sense his presence which made surprising her extra hard. She gave him the same sort of sad smile that she had given when Yami was mentioned and then moved down the street without looking back. Seto followed her wordlessly, two her steps needed to match one of his own. Neither talked until directed him into the shop she had apparently been looking for. Entering the warm shop, Anzu removed her scarf and undid the buttons of her jacket. Seto made no move to until Anzu, taking her gloves off said, "we may be in here for a while. You might as well at least unbutton your jacket." Scowling Seto did so but made no move to follow her as she begin to walk down the various isles of the antique shop.
He watched her walk back toward him down one isle and felt his heart catch in his throat. In just over and hour she would be walking down the isle again…. but a very different sort of isle. As if sensing him watch her she looked up where two very different sets of blue eyes met.
"Come on Seto help me pick something out. Its important." So he joined her and the silence only lasted a moment more because he couldn't help but stare at the ring on her finger. Knowing what he was looking at Anzu sighed and leaned heavily on the flimsy shelf in front of her. "What do you want Seto?" she said asking a very broad question.
"What I always want to know," he answered using his voice for what felt the first time that day.
"I don't know," she answered quietly. Her eyes too, trained on the diamond on her ring finger as she continued, "It seems the fates were just against us." She tried to turn away but he caught her hand, the diamond cutting into his palm.
"You know I don't believe that for a second," he told her. He could tell she was crying though she looked away from him. "You don't have to marry him," he said sternly.
"Yes I do," she returned meekly. "I don't have any other choice. Not anymore at least." She was slightly surprised when she felt him pull her into him chest. She allowed her self the please of fitting back into the arms that seemed to be made for her. She buried her face in his shirt, not caring that her make up would ruin it. Nor did she protest as he surely crushed her hair. He seemed to be content with that for only a moment before pushing her slightly away from him, he looked down at her for only half a moment before pressing his lips hard to hers. She didn't fight but instead grabbed the opening of his jacket for dear life. He finally broke away when spots began to form in his eyes for lack of oxygen. He looked down at her with heavily lidded eyes.
"We can go now. We can forget everything that happened. It was a mistake, as right as it seemed at the time. I never wanted to let you go," he added in a whisper as he crushed her form to his. Anzu felt her heart break terribly. She whispered back just a quietly, "but you did." This seemed to shake him and she slipped from his arms and around to another display, a glass jewelry case. Seto didn't move for a moment but then joined her next to it gazing down at a small blue broach. It was one that both recognized. It was a mock piece of a much more elaborate broach that was locked away in drawer in Anzu room. Seto had given it to her for their one-year anniversary over three years ago.
"That'll be perfect for the dress." She said as if concluding something to herself. Moving away from him again she went for a store attendant to retrieve it for her. Seto slipped out of the store's door when she left him. She watched him go, unable to do anything else while the clerk wrapped the broach.
Over an hour later she stood at the front of the church, hair and makeup fixed. The shinning blue broach fit perfectly on the dress and was the last touch of charm that was missing. Groom and bride looked perfect together, the broach catching the color in the groom's eyes just right even though the bride did not share the same color. 'It would not have worked on me,' Anzu thought 'too much blue'. However, brown eyes shinning, it seemed to fit Shizuka perfectly as she gazed up at Seto. When Anzu had returned from the store with broach in hand she had found a slightly unsure bride, common pre-wedding jitters but Shizuka seemed ready to climb out the window. Desperate to settle the young bride Anzu had shown her the broach, the 'something blue', telling her that Seto had picked it out especially for her. Eyes tearing over, Shizuka had nearly knocked Anzu over in joy and in love for her fiancé. If Shizuka had known the truth, the test Anzu was laying out for Seto, she would probably have thrown Anzu out.
As it was no one knew about the torrid Anzu-Seto romance that had ensued during Anzu's time spent in America. It had happened so fast with no thoughts as to the future. Anzu just knew that she was more in love than she had ever been or ever thought possible. Seto had shown her so many things about herself and him that she didn't know existed. She didn't know how much she had affected Seto either until she had told him that there was nowhere else to go with the relationship. It had been a risky bid to get Seto to admit something more, to ask her the question that she wanted to hear and answer 'yes' to so badly. She knew she had taken a risk and the outcome was not as she hoped when he walked out of her life and she went back to Japan. Desperate to fill the wound that Seto had left her with she took the first offer of love she received, the former spirit of the Puzzle. Since he had received his own body a year before Anzu had left for America he had been very adamant about his feelings for her. She had not been able to return them at the time and upon her return to Domino still wasn't sure she could. But that day she had seen Shizuka hanging off of Seto's arm everything had changed. Both Seto and Anzu were too stubborn and prideful to admit to the other what they were feeling. To see each other with someone new, Anzu wasn't sure but it had hurt her so much until she had had an epiphany of sorts. Why was she killing herself over Seto when he had clearly moved on without her? And why was she ignoring the affections of someone she had once loved with what she believed was her whole heart?
Seto must have been thinking the same thing at the same time because days later his engagement to Shizuka had been announced, the wedding date set only three months in the future. Throwing her arms up in joy at the news Anzu felt something cloud over her heart. It didn't break however, but something different and Anzu knew that as much as she didn't want to she needed to close the chapter of Seto Kiaba, it seemed her heart had already done that. Anzu was named matron of honor because fate, she believed, was cruel. Three months had nearly flown by before they had come to a screeching halt a week ago-when Yami had asked her to marry him. What else could she say? And now she was standing next to Shizuka, holding her bouquet as the priest performed the ceremony. Her hands were itching and she wasn't sure if it was the flowers or the God awful gloves Shizuka had made all of the bride's maids wear ruining the simple elegance of the dusty rose dresses. Or maybe it was the engagement ring that Yami had given her which suddenly seemed so heavy.
Something rocketed her back into reality and she looked up to find Seto watching her intently from the other side of Shizuka. It had always amazed her that he had the ability to look at two people at once and Anzu was sure that Shizuka and the church thought that his full attention was on her. Anzu tried to keep focused on what the priest was saying but her gaze kept drifting to Seto. And then the vows started and Anzu was sure that her knees would give way. Who knew that the worlds 'I do' could kill someone.
Two hours later, annoying gloves discarded, after pictures were taken and the finishing touches were done on dinner Anzu sat next to Yami at the head table as she watched Seto and Shizuka take their first dance as husband and wife. The tune was lost to Anzu but she followed each movement hungrily as the pair moved flawlessly across the dance floor. 'Is this really it?' Anzu thought to herself, eyes still trained on the dance floor as various flashes went off from cameras capturing the moment. 'It must be,' she thought leaning back in her chair, 'it can't be anything else. If it were supposed to be any other way then it would be. And I'd be dancing with Seto into a life that I never really wanted instead of sitting next to a man, my first love really, that is ready to give everything to me.' Without even looking over at him, she slid her hand toward his that lay on the table. A moment later it was curled tight in his own strong hand and Anzu felt a sense of relief wash over her. Yes this was it she concluded. Of course there would always be a part of her that would remain for Seto and the void that he left her with. But Yami was ready to fill it and she was ready to let him. A moment later the dance was over and Anzu took her hand back so that she could applaud like everyone else.
"Do you want to dance?" Yami asked leaning closer to her. Picking up her champagne glass she took a long drink, something that was very inappropriate, and gave if a coy smile.
"Actually I think I need to use the ladies' room. But if you really want to dance I think that Jou's little cousin has been eyeing you for a while," she said pointing at a small twelve year old girl who was starting up at them intently. Yami grimaced and Anzu laughed, starting to feel a little tipsy. Standing up Anzu gave her fiancé a small peck on the cheek before walking down the steps that led to the dance floor but turned away from it toward the doors that led outside to the bitter cold night. She paused for a moment though and looked behind her. Seto was standing at the edge of the dance floor watching Jou and his sister, now Seto's wife, glide across the dance floor. As if sensing her watching him there he turned his head to look at her. There was something different in his eyes Anzu noticed. They represented an emotion that Anzu couldn't find the word for. Relief perhaps? Maybe even joy. Drink still in had Anzu raised it up to him in a mock toast. He did nothing but turned his attention back to the rest of the room. Anzu smiled. It was actually fine with her for once.
I wasn't looking for a lifetime with you
I never thought it would hurt just to hear
"I do" and "I do"
And I do a number on myself
And all that I thought
To be
And you'll be the one
That just left me undone
By my own,
Hesitation
And for the million hours that we were
Well I'll smile and remember it all
Then I'll turn and go
While your story's completed
Mine, it's a long way from done
Well I'm on a champagne high
Where will I be when I stop wondering why?
On a champagne high
High
Spring turned to summer
But then winter turned mean
The distance seemed right
At the time it was best
To leave, and to leave behind
What I once thought was fine and so real
To me
And while I'm still gone
On the quest for my song
I'm at your
Celebration
And for the million hours that we were
Well I'll smile and remember it all
Then I'll turn and go
While your story's completed
Mine, it's a long way from done
And I'm on a champagne high
Where will I be when I stop wondering why?
On a champagne high
I'd toast to the future, but that'd be a lie
On a champagne high, high
Your wagons been hitched to a star
Well now he'll be your thing that's new
Yeah what little I have you can borrow
'Cause I'm old, and I'm
Blue
Well, for the million hours that we were
Well I'll smile and remember it all
Then I'll turn and go
On a champagne high
Where will I be when I stop wondering why?
On a champagne high (so high)
Toast to the future but that'd be a lie
On a champagne high
Where will I be when I stop wondering why?
On a champagne high...high...
So high, so high you left me undone
So high, so high you left me undone...
Well then I guess you wouldn't really call this an Anzu/Seto romance but I like it. And I hope you do too. The song this is based off the song used at the end is 'Champagne High' sung by Sister Hazel. Hopefully I will have the next chapter of 'Thinking Over' out on Friday, if not then by Monday. Feel free to review if you want or not. Maybe you just read this to enjoy it-and that'd be fine with me. Ok, now I really need to go write my paper for my Gender and Utopia class. Peace!
-Star
P.S-I barely proof read this so if there are a million and a half problems I will repost so no one go and have a heart attack on me.