*This was written as a result of boredom. It's short. Yes, I know Anzu isn't the angsty type and Kaiba isn't always this considerate, but everyone gets down once in a while. Plus, they're older. Enjoy, and review if you please. I do not own YGO!*
Anzu Mazaki had started drinking when she was twenty years old. Fresh out of community college, fresh out of money and fresh out of her parents' home for her obvious problem, she ignored passing glances as she tumbled through the streets like the people weren't even next to her. She couldn't remember the last time she was at her hotel or at her job. Where was her hotel anyway? And where did she work? She didn't even know anymore.
'God,' She thought drunkenly. Anzu wondered if anyone cared where she was. Maybe her parents, maybe Yugi. Everyone else had left to pursue their own lives. She missed Jou and Honda. Yugi was the only one that stayed.
After his grandfather passed away, Yugi valiantly and proudly took over the shop for him. Mazaki stopped stumbling and looked directly ahead into the black hole she called Domino. She stared blankly into what seemed like a fast, transparent world in front of her. Everyone was busy, always moving, always in reality. She couldn't even feel the numbness that enclosed her body. She wanted to go home, she wanted to go back to how everything used to be.
She didn't feel her body hit the ground as the cold rain finally got to her nerves. She wished that she could just lay there forever, until she just wasted away and no one bothered her anymore. The rain used to cleanse her after everything that had happened, but now it did not. Anzu prayed to whatever God up there that the rain would take her away with them. She was hurting everyone--Her mother, her friends, the people around her. But she couldn't help it.
She had been dying everyday when she found out her father had leukemia. As the days inched away and finally ended, she felt herself go with him into the ground with him during the funeral. Her father did everything for her. Now he was in the fucking ground rotting away when he shouldn't have even died in the first place.
Seto Kaiba was in a hurry to get things done. It was pouring rain outside, and he would have definitely preferred to go home instead of pick up the mistakes of his employers overtime.
'I am firing everyone tomorrow,' He thought bitterly as he walked outside into the gusting wind and rain. Usually he would have just jumped into the awaiting limo with no doubt, but this time he hesitated. He happened to notice a small form collapsed on the ground some feet away from him. Usually he wouldn't have given two cents about this kind of thing, but it was pouring rain and it was wickedly cold. He wasn't that heartless.
Kaiba strode quickly to the girl and noted the broken vodka bottle clenched tightly in her left hand, her small frame and longer brown hair. He gently kicked her over with his foot and when he saw who it was, he nearly doubled over in shock. The young woman he had just found soaking wet in a black trench coat was Anzu Mazaki, who he hadn't seen in three years. Kaiba picked her up swiftly and carried her into the limo, wondering why the hell she was drinking and on the street.
Anzu woke up warm and comfortable, which was foreign to her lately. She was dressed in silk pajamas that matched the color of her eyes. Surveying her surroundings, she noted the simple elegance of the room. The bed posts were mahogany wood and deep blue sheets adorned them. The room had a dresser, nightstand, vanity, and was painted in a lighter blue tone. Her first thought was that this person was awfully fond of the color blue and fancy interior.
"Good. You're awake," A sudden familiar and sharp voice caused her to crane her neck to the east.
"Kaiba?" She said hoarsely, drunkenly, and obviously surprised.
"Why the hell were you drinking so much? I could've had to taken you to the hospital, Mazaki."
"Why would you even care? I've been such a nuisance lately." She said wistfully. Anzu looked tired, stressed, and pale.
"What happened, cheerleader?" Kaiba's tone softened very, very slightly as his brows furrowed.
"My dad just died of leukemia. I didn't get into Julliard. My friends have their own lives and I don't even have a home to come back to after work, which I'm probably fired from for not showing up for I don't even know how long." She said quietly and painfully.
"Don't be such a fool, giving up so easily," Kaiba scoffed.
"Shut up! You don't know what it's like!" She cried out, her voice cracking from lack of talking and the alcohol. She wasn't the same anymore. She was dead inside.
"My parents have been dead for years, woman," He hissed angrily at the frail girl in the bed he was sitting on.
"You're a fucking rich bastard."
"I just saved your ass from dying of the cold, Mazaki, watch it." He reached for her wrist to check her heart rate and she froze up.
"Don't touch me."
"God, I'm not going to rape you, you idiot. I need to see if your heart is beating normal. Let me check NOW." She went limp as Kaiba checked her pulse, tears running down her pale cheeks involuntarily.
"What's wrong now?" She stayed silent and Kaiba grew increasingly irritated with the girl. He pulled his hand away and he looked her up and down. She had bruises on her neck in the shape of a hand. 'Why didn't I notice that?' He scolded himself mentally as he reached for a glass of water.
"Drink," He said flatly, and she did.
"Now, what happened?" Kaiba asked again. He wanted to know why she was being this way. This wasn't like Mazaki at ALL. EVER. Anzu was known for being so cheerful no matter what was happened. The empty shell in front of him was like a foreign doll with big blue eyes; She was empty and devoid of life.
"I-I was assaulted just after the funeral. I was walking home and suddenly some guy jumped he. He didn't rape me but.." Tears welled up more. "I got away just in time. I can't help but scrub my skin raw these days," Anzu looked away, ashamed. What had become of her?
"Move the hell forward already," Kaiba said finally after a few minutes of silence.
"W-What?"
"Get over it. Shit happens. Your life is going on, but you're drinking yourself to death. You think your father would've enjoyed witnessing his only daughter waste away? You don't have to go to Julliard, everyone's worried about you, you need to get a job and go home. Move on with your life," Kaiba said thoughtfully in his own way, but the cold tone she knew too well was still hinted in his deep voice. Anzu stayed silent and Kaiba glared.
"This is not the annoying, stuck on friendship and stubborn as hell girl that I knew in high school. And that girl back then," He took a breath and stared hard at her. Anzu burned with embarrassment. It was almost like he could see right through her.
"That girl back then would not have let this get to her so god damn easily. The Mazaki back then would have continued on with her life."
"You're right." She whispered in a tiny, helpless voice. A stricken moment of silence passed between the old acquaintances, and Anzu Mazaki managed to give a small, broken smile.
"Of all people to talk about "giving up" to, I talk to you. The one guy who had to struggle with everything. And look at you now!"
"I have everything I need at the end of the day," He smirked. He knew that it took years of turmoil and angst to get to his position now… and so did she, to an extent.
"You're still a rich, egotistical bastard though."
"I earned it Mazaki," Kaiba growled through his teeth. He looked over the fearful girl slowly, assessing the emotions rolling off her cool skin. Seto couldn't really think of a comeback for her smart remark. She wasn't a cheerleader, she wasn't a whore, she wasn't a failure. Anzu Mazaki was just…lost.
"I'm so tired," The young lady said meekly, her eyes fluttering open in an attempt to keep from closing.
"Get rest, and you can leave once you feel up to it. I also suggest quitting drinking until you get your ass in gear," The CEO said flatly, but his tone was a little soft for his liking. As He turned to leave, he heard Anzu's voice just one more time before he shut the door to go back to his work.
"Thank you, Seto Kaiba," She said sleepily and he smirked a little as he softly shut the door.
"You're welcome, Anzu Mazaki."
