Language table

"hello" - Main language

"hello" - Secondary language

'hello' - thought

"hello" - yelling in main language

"hello" - yelling in secondary language

'hello' - yelling in a thought

Chapter Two: Oh Brother…

"Anzu!" A voice called from behind her. She sighed; remember that as well as her boyfriend, Haden, she had agreed to bring his two brothers Sai and Z with her. She turned around to greet Z and found Haden there as well.

"Hey Haden." Anzu smiled as she saw them.

"Hey Haden? What about me here " Z said a little irritated at being ignored.

"Yeah, yeah, you too Z. So what's up?"

"Well Haden here wanted to see you but thought he would just be bugging you so I brought him here anyway." At hearing this Anzu smiled, it was so like them. Haden glared at Z sourly as he slapped him on the back jovially.

"Actually what I said was we should give her some space before the trip and that you would only annoy her, but you dragged me here anyway." Haden said sighing, serious as always. He was glad to see here though and smiled apologetically for his brother. "And Z wanted to show you he's been working on his Japanese."

"Dragged you to see me huh…" Anzu murmured to Haden before saying aloud, "Oh? What can you say now?" She inwardly winced remember the last butchering of the language he had asked her to listen to.

"Uh… err… um… what was it again? Oh yeah! 'Haya 'Zaimas Anzuchan." Z said happily.

Anzu wondered what she got herself into in agreeing to bring him along, seeing as that was the best improvement so far. His other ways to say good morning were "Ohay Gozai" and in the beginning "Hai Zai".

"Ohayo Gozaimas Z-kun… but please don't call me chan."

"Aw… but you let Haden call you that!" Z said completely ignoring her correction like always.

"That's different and you're annoying. Leave us along now, okay?" Haden said to his older brother. Yes, Z was the oldest of 3 at 19. Sadly, he acted half his age for most of the time. Ignoring his behavior, his wavy blond hair, boyish smile, and sapphire eyes had made him quite popular with girls. Anzu's indifference had made her into a challenge for him, and he took every opportunity to get close to her, usually by annoying the heck out of her and his brother.

Haden was just as popular but for different reasons. Where Z was sports minded, Haden was bookish. While Z was bright and hyperactive, Haden was calm and dark. Haden was as much silence as Z was laughter. He was not gloomy, just a quiet guy. He was darkly handsome with long red hair so dark it was almost black tied in a ponytail and emerald eyes hidden behind small oval glasses. He was the type of person that no one could tell what he was thinking. If Z was an open book, Haden was a well-kept secret.

"Well fine then, if you two are going to be lame I'll go find Sai." Z said obviously getting an idea.

"Poor Sai" Haden whispered to Anzu as she snickered.

"Be nice, he's just excited." She whispered back as he walked away planning some sort of trick on his other brother.

Haden then held out his arm to Anzu and made a slight bow, asking for her to take a walk with him. She made a small curtsy that from anyone else would be mocking and took his arm.

"So tell me about your friends again." Haden began leading her away from the busy street.

"There is not much left to tell, there is Joey of course, that lucky moron. He has no common sense but is pretty brave in a pinch. He and Tristan used to be real jerks, but got better eventually. Tristan does not duel at all and is going out with Serenity, Joey's sister. She's a nice girl I guess, I don't know her well though." Anzu said hesitating towards the end.

"And who else? Wasn't there a… Kaiba? Somewhere in there?" Haden said gently testing her reaction.

"Yes, he's Seto Kaiba, but we call him Kaiba. He runs KaibaCorp and gets out of class a lot to work. He's… cold I guess. Then there is Bakura, talk about multiple personalities. He's British and half the time is a very nice guy, then for the other half goes evil and tries to take over the world.

"Hey! Stop laughing! I'm serious here!"

"Sorry Anzu, its just your friends sound so… interesting, that's it." He laughed even harder at her indignant face and stopped short his laughing to sweep her into a kiss. "Better?" He asked playfully.

"You jerk." She grumbled, trying and failing to sound upset.

Their moment was cut short by a huge crash followed by a shout of "You brat!" Anzu and Haden turned to each other at once and said "Poor Sai" before laughing again even harder then before.

"Come back here! You can't just run away! Fight me like a man! You're going to pay for that you stupid brat!" Sai called chasing him through the street towards them, dodging passerby and walls with equal vigor. It was quite obvious to Anzu and Haden why he was angry. To pedestrians it looked like he was waving a slightly charred wooden rod. To Tea and Haden, it looked like Z had interrupted his carving with a tazer. Z made a mad dash towards the couple and hid behind Anzu.

Haden sighed and murmured, "Better keep them from killing each other" as he stepped between them and held Sai back. This was no small feat, seeing as Sai was the biggest of the brothers and generally the strongest and most violent.

"Let me go! Do you know what he did?"

Anzu and Haden looked at each other again and replied, "We can guess."

"Look! I was almost done that one and he fried the carving!" Sai shouted swiping at Z with the staff.

Tea took the staff at the next attack and looked at the charred area. She could see an almost completed leaf pattern engraved in the wood. "Its beautiful, what was it for?" she said admiring it.

"It was for a girl wasn't it Sai?" Z taunted.

"Shut up and come over here! You're going to get it!" Sai shouted, still being held back.

"If you really want to get him, get him yourself and leave us out of it!" Haden said releasing him and causing him to fall on his face.

"That's mean Haden!" Z shouted running in a circle around Anzu with Sai.

At this Anzu was pretty well ticked off. Both boys were running around her and shouting in her ears. She caught them both by the arm and shouted at them, "Will you two shut up and leave me out of it!"

Sai and Z looked at each other, shrugged, and were released to their chase again. During that summer, Anzu had become their mediator, taking over the job formally controlled by Haden. He was glad for the break, and this let Anzu in as an important part of the family. She usually didn't mind, except when they interfered like this.

She sighed again and looked at Haden. "I have to pack some more so I'll see you later. Ja Nai Haden."

"I will see you later" he said holding her eyes with his. Anzu blushed slightly and walked home.

Haden watched her leave with a gently sad smile, then once she was out of sight changed. His expression became cold and his eyes flashed. He walked towards his squabbling older brothers and tore them apart, holding them at arms length glaring.

"That staff was for Anzu, wasn't it Sai? Olive leaves for Athena." Haden said frostily.

Sai nodded and Z rolled his eyes like a kid that had known a secret all along. "And if it was? You can't claim her, you know that. Its one of the rules. Besides, she would see it as a 'thank you' gift for bringing us along. You might have her now, but who knows?"

Haden released Z and slugged Sai in the gut, then released him too. "She's different, and she's mine now, that's all that matters. Take this as a warning." He glared at them both and stalked back home, Z following behind whistling in innocence.

"Harsh as ever Bro, you really should loosen up. She loves you, you know that." Z said carefree.

"I know… that's what I'm afraid of…" Haden whispered to the wind.


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