A/N: Some of you may not like this chapter and I'm not going to beat around the bush. There will be an element of AnzuXYugi, however, don't be fooled. This is still a KaibaXAnzu fic. #azureshippingforlife
Sunlight streamed in through the window as Kaiba sat watching Anzu's pale face. The way her medium length brown hair framed her face was breathtaking. She was beautiful and he really couldn't deny it any longer. He was angry at the Chou bitch for injuring his Anzu, always so caring and genuine in her feelings and behavior towards others. What had she done to deserve this? Not a damn thing, he decided, his fist gripped tightly. Wait, his Anzu. This was dangerous. He was doing the very thing that Gozaburo had forced him never to do and, on top of that, he himself had sworn to never do. Too many people got hurt around him anyway.
He was growing attached to someone other than Mokuba. He had grown used to protecting Mokuba, but involving someone else was preposterous. And unfortunately for him this person was Anzu who seemed to have a knack for putting herself in dangerous situations, not to mention being kind, caring, and simply a joy to be around. What? This gave him an interesting rush of emotion. He was frightened, not that he'd ever admit it, but he was also slightly happy. While he was busy having this internal conflict; he briefly glanced at Anzu, realizing her eyes were open and she was staring at him intently.
"Kaiba," she said simply. Why was she not referring to him as Seto? Before she had always tried to be friendly no matter what Kaiba's behavior. Now it was like she was the one rebuilding the wall between them.
Kaiba looked at her and shook his head responding simply with, "I told you not to go anywhere alone, let alone with those people. You knew the dangers and yet you still naively believed that there was not an ulterior motive for Hiroto's actions. You disappoint me, Mazaki. I'm sure she won't bother you again. I wouldn't put much stock in her threats." He decided against using her first name as she had re-established the wall the two had both torn down.
She had to try to protect him, no matter how tough he looked he was vulnerable. And something told her Chou's threat was anything but empty. She had to act like she didn't care about him, in case he actually cared about her and would try to enact revenge on Chou. How confusing.
Just the thought of the bleach blonde haired girl's expression chilled her to the bone. "If I can't have him, no one will. And resistance is futile, weak little girl. Seto better hope he doesn't resist too much either, or I'll have to break his pretty little neck." Her deranged laughter haunted Anzu's dreams. The girl wasn't just a snobby scorned fangirl; she was mentally unstable and every bit as deadly as she was insane. Even if she herself didn't attack Set- Kaiba, she mentally corrected herself, she could easily manipulate strong idiots like Honda into doing her dirty work for her.
Kaiba glared lightly at her as she tried to hide the fact that she could see the pain clear in his eyes. "Kaiba", she addressed him, "though I am very thankful you saved my life, I don't think, think we should be friends anymore." A small flash of pain was apparent in Kaiba's expression, but he said evenly, "Leave whenever you are ready. You won't see me again during your stay." He walked promptly out the door.
She looked down and began to cry silently to herself. She couldn't believe it and right when she had begun to have feelings for him too. This broke her heart, but she was sure that nothing good would come of it. He was too worried about her to focus on his and Mokuba's safety, especially considering he had pretty much dismissed Chou as not much of a threat at all.
Yugi and his friend Jou came to visit her later in the week. The spiky haired teen ran his fingers through his in an embarrassed fashion, "Hey, how are you doing?" She nodded. "I'm okay, ready to be out of here." Yugi detected a shakiness in her voice, so he requested Jou leave to get some coffee as he sat down at the girl he found so beautiful's bedside.
No, Yugi thought firmly. Tea is my best friend and I'm not letting her leave until I figure out what is wrong with her, romantic inclinations be damned. "What's really wrong?" The shorter boy had leaned against her as she sat on the bed and was speaking barely above a whisper. Tea was beside herself about the whole situation. She suddenly grasped Yugi's arm and pulled him as close to her as possible. Their faces were touching as she whispered into his ear, "Kaiba and I, we're not friends anymore." Yugi faced her and quickly hugged her tightly, trying hard not to blush at the thin gown she was wearing. "I'm so sorry, Anzu. If you want to talk about it, I'm here, otherwise, I hope things work out." Yugi was inwardly angry at Kaiba for abusing her trust and taking advantage of her friendly nature, because he was automatically assuming this is what had happened. "You deserve better." Yugi said making strong eye contact. She smiled faintly, "It was my fault. I told him we shouldn't be friends because of…" Her voice trailed off as she looked scared.
"You can tell m. I won't betray you and no one else can hear us." He glanced around and walked around the room carefully, even opening the door to make sure no one was listening. "Fine," She responded as she tried to keep her voice and herself calm.
"Chou threatened his life this last time. Whether he likes it or not, he is hers, she made that blatantly clear when she attacked me. And Honda, oh Honda, he will do whatever she wants, all because of the lure of her sleeping with him. At least that's what I'm guessing from both of their behavior."
"How dangerous do you think she actually is?" Yugi asked, back in best friend mode, "I'm sure Kaiba did as well, but I've been working on finding information on Chou, nothing's turned up at all. Oh well, she more than likely won't have the guts to try something again, just be more careful and stay with a group."
"That's just it Yugi!" Tea was adamant now, "I think Chou's a lot more than just a girl with a grudge, the way she was throwing around that knife and the way I saw her shamelessly manipulate Honda even after she said…" Oh God! Anzu clutched her head, she had just now recalled a certain sentence the rude blonde had said. "Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba."
When Anzu opened her eyes that she hadn't realized she had closed, Yugi was right in front of her face. "What did you remember?" She struggled to find her breath, she had never noticed how handsome Yugi had become lately. Where were these thoughts coming from? "She wants you too, Yugi. She has some sort of scheme in mind that involves you and Kaiba. She also mentioned having other "girls"' on her side. She continued rubbing her temples. "I should tell Kaiba, even if he is angry with me he has a right to know there's more to the story."
"No!" Yugi turned her to face him more completely. He avoided staring at her breasts as they were very visible in her hospital gown. "Sorry", he added hastily, "I just don't think we should involve Kaiba anymore. He's out of the picture anyway right?" Yugi tried not to show how excited he was that Kaiba was no longer on Anzu's radar. He wanted what was best for his friend, but he was certain this wasn't Kaiba.
She sniffed, "Yes, but I still want him safe. I would hate it if he got hurt because of me."
Yugi was too caught up in the proximity and how vulnerable Tea looked. He decided it was now or never. He leaned in and kissed her quickly and gently before she had time to react or respond. She stared at him speechlessly. "You're worth getting hurt for Anzu and anyone who doesn't agree, doesn't deserve you."
The sound of a drink hitting the floor shocked the both of them out of this very intimate moment, they both turned to see a very embarrassed Jou hastily picking up a coffee from the white tile floor, stuttering out, "I'll see you guys later, kay? Feel better Anzu. And, I'm sorry, again." Jou was gone.
The two friends looked at each other. "I leave tomorrow." She supplied. "Good, we'll see each other then. I'll give you a lift home." Yugi's face was blood-red, he had finally done it, kissed the girl of his dreams. He was still on cloud 9 right now.
He straightened up and said, "We'll talk about the kiss , I'll leave you to rest and try to deal with Jounouchi. Bye Anzu." He hugged her tightly then left.
What had just happened? She was stunned. She hadn't even fully recovered from the blonde's attempts on her life and now a love triangle? It was almost too much to wrap her mind around. She still liked Kaiba, but now they weren't even friends, she had to do what she could to protect him. Unfortunately, it had just resulted in him being angry with her and avoiding her like the plague. Eh, she had asked for it, literally. She wanted to see Kaiba, but this desire conflicted with the desire to keep him safe, safety won out.
The Yugi dilemma irritated her to no avail. Sure, her friend was ridiculously attractive, but she hadn't really noticed, being slightly naïve and much more focused on their friendship to have thoughts of this sort. The kiss. The elephant in the room, well she'd be lying if she said she'd enjoyed it, but she'd also being lying if she said she hadn't. It had been so fast there wasn't much time for her to think about it; she decided she would just talk with Yugi about it tomorrow. The only consolation was she could all but guarantee it wouldn't ruin their friendship either way. What would her situation with Yugi mean for the Chou situation? Would Chou now target her twice as badly? Would she target Yugi now too? All this worrying was giving her a headache.
And Chou. What could be her motive? Other than wanting to ravish them, what would she want with two of the most famous and desirable duelists in the world?
Kaiba typed furiously on his laptop. He had just lost his first and only friend. As silly as this sounded, it bothered him. Especially since she had the potential to be so much more. His thoughts annoyed him, but he accepted that this was how he truly felt. So why had she acted in such a way? There was more to this and he figured the best way to get information was how he usually did. Get his employees to acquire it for him from the usual places, while he did some independent sleuthing of his own. Chou Mirasaki, whoever you really are, you are about to face the wrath of Seto Kaiba.