Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh is not mine, or else we'd know without a doubt the pairings to be JouxMai, HondaxShizuka, and Anzu would be with either Yami or Yuugi…either one. Dunno.

Uh…made because I decided to do so out of weeks of musing. One-shot, most likely.

Okay, so here is my idea; what if Vivian Wong hadn't agreed to help Grandpa Mutou after her duel with Yami no Yuugi? What if she'd decided to be a nasty little liar and gave Yuugi a different choice? One that Anzu would be none too happy with…?

Kind Revolutionshipping-peachshipping. Anzu's real defensive of both of 'em in this. As she is in the canon manga, unlike how many bashers portray her…hey, no offense.

000

Tough Love

"I would have won."

"Mm-hm."

His tone was insistent. "I would have!"

She messed with his right cuff. "I know."

Fruitlessly, Yami no Yuugi let out a breath, like a bull that hadn't the energy to charge. He turned back to the mirror, glaring at his slightly peeved self.

Anzu tugged on his cuff, straightening it non-too-gently. "Well, win or not, she fixed Grandpa Mutou's back. You should keep your word."

"She didn't."

She tugged on his cuff again. "Well, you're more honorable than that little-"

Biting her lip to silence her protests against Vivian Wong, Anzu stepped back, taking in Yami no Yuugi's appearance.

His slim little form was most appealing in the black suit he was wearing. His shoes were clean and shiny; the cloth of the velvet-black suit was spotless, and the white shirt under the suit was still undone at the very top. "Why must I wear this?"

Anzu shrugged, observing the still-undone button. "She insisted it be all formal. Search me."

He attempted to button the top. "It was a low blow," Anzu remarked, straightening the back of his jacket. "About Grandpa Mutou, I mean; she did give you a Hobson's choice."

Almost listlessly, Yami no Yuugi finished buttoning the white dress shirt. "If I hadn't thrown the match, she wouldn't have helped Grandpa Mutou by fixing his back. Even thought she had given me her word!"

"People don't always keep their word," Anzu said thinly, brushing the wrinkles out of the shoulders of the suit. Yuugi's room was ill-suited for speaking to an irate pharaoh that just happened not to know how to dress in a tux, and Jonouchi and Honda's reaction to the word 'tux' had been 'monkey-suit'.

Getting some female friends seriously ought to go to the top of her list.

Yami no Yuugi spoke again. "Still…I'm glad she hasn't recognized the difference between aibou and myself. I'd rather do this than make him. He is rather…perturbed by Vivian."

I can think of a word more fitting than 'perturbed', Anzu thought grimly, thinking of the voluptuous young woman whose newer dresses were hardly fit to be worn in public.

The thought angered her. Yuugi's red face hit her memory with all the tenderness of a cactus, all spiky and prickly. Vivian throwing her arms around his neck and practically suffocating him…!

"…Anzu? I can't feel my left arm."

She snapped out of her admittedly violent reverie. "Eh? Oh, sorry." She released his shoulder, smoothing out the wrinkles.

He gave her a slight look, as though he knew what she'd been thinking. Finally, he continued, "It's my fault though. I'll be the one to suffer for it."

Somehow, the idea of him being dragged anywhere by Vivian at any time did not make her feel any better.

"Hey," she said suddenly, brows darkening, "what exactly did Vivian mean by love 'slave'? It's not what I'm thinking, is it?"

Yami no Yuugi glanced at her, and she could have sworn his face had darkened pinkly. "I…do not think that is what she intended. If it is, it's not going to happen."

Anzu distracted herself by brushing some nonexistent dust off his sleeve. "Yeah…I know. But still…I hate the idea of you being stuck with her. I mean, you're not like Jonouchi or Honda, positively fawning over anyone in a trashy outfit, or even interested in going out with her! Why can't she just leave you alone!?"

She stopped, realizing she had been speaking aloud. "Uh…yeah, sorry about that…just…"

Turning to observe him, she stepped over a small pile of neatly stacked clothes, apparently placed there by Yuugi's mother that he'd forgotten to put away. "I…don't like her. Come to think, I probably wouldn't like anyone who wanted to go out with either of you."

Jealous-much? Her conscience was smug. She gave it the boot on the rear and ignored it.

Yami no Yuugi had a red bow tie in his hand, and was giving it a look very similar to the one he'd given Yuugi when Yuugi had told him the microwave was run on electricity and not magic, and it was not an evil spell that made soup slop out of the container when one forgot to cover the dish. He still wasn't convinced.

"Why?" he asked, absentmindedly. Anzu fought the urge to roll her eyes. For someone so complex and mysterious, Yami no Yuugi certainly had a one-track mind.

"Oh, it's the protective best-friend in me, I guess." Hey, it was sort of the truth.

Yami no Yuugi growled at the bow tie. "I'm not wearing this," he said finally, sounding just a bit spoiled as he crossed his arms.

Without the bow tie, the top of his shirt would most certainly come undone. No way in Hades or Heaven was Anzu letting Vivian get such a view.

Anzu took the bow tie and stood in front of him, his arms still crossed. "Hold still," she said bossily. With that, she wound it once around his neck and began to tie it in place for him.

He obeyed, but he gave her a look, one of curiosity. "How do you know how to do that?"

Anzu smiled slightly. "My dad used to have to go to these social conventions for his job, and he always had to wear an evening suit. He could never figure out how to tie these things either, and my mom always had to tie it in place for him. I watched her a lot."

He was quiet as she finished tying the bow tie, and something told her he was thinking about what she'd said. "Thank you," he said quietly, giving himself a slightly critical look in Yuugi's mirror. "Well…how do I look?"

The sentence was very odd coming from his mouth. Anzu leaned against the mirror a bit, and in the span of a second considered the thousands of answers she could give.

Irritated? Depressed? Perfect? Handsome? Beautiful? A love unrequited? A bewildering factor in teenage life? Nothing worked. None of it would have worked. It was not that he was so absolutely handsome – although he was, in his own right – that she admired. It was who he was. That what you saw was what you got, but only the surface. Because if there were a way to describe exactly what he was inside…all the things stunning and breathtakingly strange in the world might never be enough.

"You look…really good," she said finally. And again, almost as though she knew what she'd been thinking, he looked at her, eyes meeting hers in a quiet sort of light, the evening sky above through the skylight making him seem somehow different.

"C'mon," she said, taking him by the arm. "I'll say hello to Vivian with you."

They stopped only to greet Grandpa Mutou and tell him goodbye. Grandpa gave them a slightly sheepish look, mouthing an apology after his 'grandson' as Anzu steered him outside. Heaven only knew why Anzu wanted Yami no Yuugi to fulfill this end of the deal; perhaps she just didn't want to bear the idea that he might ever break his word, might ever do anything so imperfect, ever again.

She struggled to ignore the remnants of the Orichalcos fights.

000

"Yuugi! I'm so glad to see you!" Vivian cooed, like an overlarge pigeon.

The sweetly dopey smile on her scarlet-lipstick mouth turned to a pout. Or maybe a scowl. "What's she doing here? Why was she in your room with you?"

Anzu smirked. Vivian's dress was tight, short, and made of a silky red fabric. Well, at least it wasn't low cut.

Still, she showed off enough leg to make Anzu hope she might put some shorts on underneath next time.

Her smirk faded when she saw Yami no Yuugi's face. It was an odd mixture of almost-fear, confusion, and glowing pink.

"Oh, I'm just helping my best buddy get ready for his date," Anzu chirped. With that, she wound one arm around Yami no Yuugi's waist, in a just-too-close-to-be-just-friends-way. He blinked at her, owlishly, before looking back to Vivian with the same disturbed expression.

Vivian's face was most definitely a scowl. Standing just beside the game store counter, she seemed imperious in the short little shop, like she towered over everything. "Oh, how sweet," she said kindly, teeth gleaming like tooth-whitener. "Well, I suppose he'll be able to talk to his best buddy when he gets back!" With that, she took his hand – he did not resist, perhaps too shell shocked by the subtle argument – and proceeded to pull him out the door. He managed to give Anzu a helpless look, rather like a "Help me!" damsel in distress might make.

When they were gone, Anzu seated herself on the counter and stared at the door. Grandpa – poking his head into the room – asked, "Are you staying until he gets back?"

Anzu's eyes were sharp. "If she keeps him out after ten I'll personally hunt her down wielding a blunt object."

Grandpa Mutou chose not to comment, other than saying, "I'll go put on some hot chocolate for you. Is Jonouchi coming over soon?"

"Yep."

The old man sighed wearily and tramped back into the kitchen.

Anzu crossed her arms, and glared at the door as though it had dealt her a personal insult. 'Damsel in distress' her right foot – mess with either Yuugi, and Vivian was in for a brutally rude awakening.

000

Uh, yeah. Don't know where this came from. I don't think I'll every add anything to it…eh, I dunno. Read, review, and the whole nine yards.