Here's chapter two! I still don't own YuGiOh!

Yugi sighed as he sank back into Anzu's couch. They were sitting in her apartment, which was in fact a floor below the dance studio. They'd ordered pizza (Anzu insisted he had to try Brooklyn style pizza), and spent the past hour sipping on wine while he caught her up on all the latest news from Japan. He felt bad, because he'd asked her almost no questions about her life yet and had been doing most of the talking.

He glanced at Anzu. She'd aged a bit since high school, but she looked even better. He was also pretty sure she could kick him through the wall now. That was the thing that had changed the most about her for sure: her body was exceptionally muscular.

"I'm going to put on that TV show Malik's supposed to be on in twenty minutes. I wonder what Yami was saying about that earlier." Anzu said as she reached for the remote.

"It was pretty wild." Yugi agreed, "How did you end up staying here, anyway? I didn't know Kaiba Corp had apartments."

Anzu's face dropped. "Oh my god, I didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Yugi asked.

Anzu muted the TV, which was currently showing the nightly news, and adjusted herself on the couch so she was sitting cross legged and facing him. "Okay. So I only moved in here a month ago."

"A MON-" Yugi started, but she held up her hand.

"I know I'm the worst. But you were preparing to move and...okay well let me start at the beginning." She closed her eyes and breathed out deeply before glancing at the clock. "I have ten minutes to get through this story. Can we do it?"

"You'd better." Yugi leaned toward the coffee table and picked up his wine glass, swallowing the red liquid in one gulp. Anzu stared at him. "You know you're supposed to sip that, right?"

"I wanted to be prepared for this story."

She laughed, before finally beginning, "Do you remember about six months after I graduated? I told you a scout was supposed to be at the class I was teaching?" He nodded. "Well, it turned out that the scout was Mokuba Kaiba." She paused, smirking at the way his jaw dropped. "I know, right? I had no idea what he looked like because his brother did so well hiding him from the press until after he graduated. Anyway, he came up to me when the class ended and asked for my contact information. The next day, he called me and told me he had an offer for me that I wouldn't be able to refuse. And I didn't." She said, in conclusion.

Yugi blinked. "That's it?"

"What do you mean, 'that's it?'"

"I mean, how did you end up dancing for Mana? How are you living in Kaiba Corp.?" Yugi stressed.

"Oh. Well, the troupe I'm assigned to is ten girls, and we dance backup for different acts. She's our primary job, but very soon we're going to be on tour with someone very special." Anzu said, teasing.

"Who?" Yugi asked, right as Anzu gasped and grabbed the remote. "It's starting. I'll tell you at the break." She said with a wink, a huge grin stretched across her face. He narrowed his eyes at her, reaching for the bottle of wine on the coffee table and refilling both of their glasses.

The opening sketch was some politicians on a talk show. Yugi didn't really understand it and made a note to read up on it - he wasn't sure what was a joke or fact and in some cases he really, really hoped they were joking. Anzu giggled occasionally, which helped him a bit.

A few minutes later, and they reached the part where Malik finally appeared. He heard Anzu groan from beside him. "She's so gorgeous I can't stand it. Literally look at her. I get headaches trying to comprehend how she looks like that."

Yugi laughed, "That's maybe a bit of an exaggeration."

"Seriously, wait for her to start talking. Just wait."

On the screen, Malik was standing at the edge of the stage, smiling as the audience screamed for her. "She looks sad." Yugi said, noting the tired expression in her eyes. Anzu nodded.

Malik was still waiting as the audience cheered, finally holding her index finger to her lips. The audience silenced immediately. "Oh shit," Yugi said, and Anzu chuckled.

"Hello New York!" Malik finally yelled, and the audience roared again. She held up her hand and the audience immediately quieted again. "I was supposed to do a monologue about my first trip to Times Square and, while it's a great story, I need to use this time a little differently." Yugi looked at Anzu, who wore an expression that said this was unusual. "Four years ago, I made a mistake that's finally caught up to me. Most of you already know that I grew up underground in Egypt, and that I never truly felt the sun on my skin until I was eleven years old. Three years after that, my siblings and I finally escaped the tombs and I assumed there was no way life above ground could be harder than life underground. It turns out that I was very naive, and when I was eighteen, I was going to feel so confused, and sad, and like I had nothing to offer the world or anything I could contribute to make anyone's lives better. That was how I was feeling when one day this guy stops me in the middle of the park and tells me he's certain he's never seen anyone who looks like me before. That same guy convinced me to sign a contract with Sennen Records." Yugi glanced at Anzu, Sennen? She mouthed, "Yami's father," and he nodded. That explained it.

"Then, two months ago, one of the producers convinced me to go on a date with him. I didn't know it at the time, but the contract I signed was a trap, and when I didn't agree to suck his dick, I was giving up my career at Sennen Records." Yugi and Anzu, as well as the studio audience, all gasped in shock. "No," Anzu murmured, looking horrified.

Malik just stood there, twisting the ring she wore on her left middle finger. Yugi hadn't known anything about her before watching this - he didn't really like rap music, so he'd never spent time getting to know her like he had Mana or Ryou. He felt bad about it now, like he'd never given her a real chance.

"As of this coming Monday, I no longer have a team. I don't have transportation. And I don't have a place to live." Everyone gasped again, and Yugi felt so confused. "When I signed that stupid contract, I agreed that at any time, Sennen Records can terminate my contract, and that they can 'supplement the cost of any losses to the company due to the termination, including repossession of anything purchased while I was signed to them.' To explain it quickly, they're taking everything I've been working for and claiming it wouldn't cover what I would have made for them with three more albums. I'm telling all of you this because come Monday every tabloid is going to be claiming they have the scoop, the real story, and I want to get the jump on it. The truth. I'm having my entire life taken away from me because I had respect for myself and said no. These next few months are going to be intense. I hope you all stick with me. I was supposed to be releasing my new album in the next month, but he also profits from any song I wrote while I worked for Sennen Records, so I have to create an entirely new one. That being said, the songs I was going to perform tonight are no longer an option, but…" She paused for a moment as the audience let out a sad, "awwwww."

"But, I have a couple of songs I've written in the past two days that I'll be doing, but please be kind because they're not as complete sounding as they should be. Well, I think I've said everything I need to say. We have a great show for you tonight: I'm here, so stick around!" Malik blew kisses and mouthed, 'Thank you." The audience was screaming their love and support for her as they went to commercial.

Yugi glanced at the clock. "Did they really let her talk for over ten minutes?!"

Anzu nodded. "I'm telling you, she's a siren or something. I've literally ended up staring at a picture of her for over an hour because I didn't realize time had passed."

Yugi let out a whoop of laughter. "Again, I think you're exaggerating a bit."

"No I'm not, I literally saw something about it on the Internet the other day!" Anzu insisted, as Yugi chuckled, feeling happier than he had in years just from having fun with his best friend.

Next chapter up soon!