Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, never did and never will. Though I love it so much that I maybe I should… ah, forget it, you get the point. It all belongs to that brilliant genius, Kazuki Takahashi.

Author's Note: Hey, Teh Angel of Nocturne here for another update! And guess what? YGO IS ALMOST OVER FOR MEH! Yes folks, for all you Americans such as myself the series will end on Saturday, June 10… WAH, NOT MY YGO!

Great, now I don't have a life anymore… this sucks. I guess my soul has been completely sold to this here computer now, since I can watch the episodes again and again on YouTube… yeah my computer owns meh now.

#2 Author's Note: Ooh, thoughts are in italics… that's a hard concept to learn! (So learn it now!)

The Prince of the Orichalcos

By: Angel's Nocturne

Chapter 14: The Night of Ryuuseiu….

The sun and moon traveled a good few times across the heavens before Anzu and Yami were destined to meet again…or, at least destined in that Yugi set up the entire affair. Yami insisted that Yugi need not play such a role, but that didn't stop the young prince in his quest as an amateur matchmaker. Yami had no choice but to go along with it all… what did it matter if he got to see Anzu in end?

The night of ryuuseiu had come in nearly no time at all, and the chosen date was picked for that mystical evening. Though it was only a week's length between the two dates, Yami felt that time moved slower than a slug across snow… frozen; every moment he could breathe without Yugi hyper-actively telling him about the plans for that night he imagined how Anzu had looked in the afternoon sunlight, and how pretty she might appear in the glowing moonlight.

He didn't know what came over him—one minute he was as normal as any other teenage prince could feel after losing his kingdom and being shoved five thousand years into the future, but the next… the next he could only think about this girl, and why on earth he couldn't not remove her image from his love-sick mind.

Wait, where did LOVE come from? He always pondered this in his spare time, which was all the time since Yugi had to lock him in his closet whenever the maids would appear to prepare their prince for the day. Yami would sit idly by the secret door—in case a maid were to head for the closet and see him—and listen as the servants pampered Yugi with clothing and other things. He missed that, from his old life, but not as much as he missed the sight of that girl: her soft chestnut hair, lightly tan skin, and glittering blue eyes… for some reason the thought of her made his home-sickness a little less and made him think more of her. He would shake his head in desperation.

This is so ridicules! he would complain in his mind as he forced away another thought about the servant girl. What is WRONG with me! How did I end up like…like THIS! Some lovey-dovey boy who has fallen for a sweet, innocent, beautiful… GAH! Why can't I stop thinking like this?

He would peer up at the ceiling, and sigh heavily. Didn't I say something about this? About love? Instantly he recalled his own words that he had thought to himself before he came to this predicament, just before the party:

"Someday, I will end up falling for some dancer and end up giving up everything else for her…. Yeah, that'll be the day that the sky falls!"

He released another sigh. Well, Anzu's not a dance to my knowledge… so I guess I'm safe. Otherwise the sun would have fallen on me by now! Realizing that his joke wasn't all that funny, he sweatdropped as he let his head hang down.

I'm doomed.

---

"Alright, it' almost time for the big event!" Yugi proclaimed as he gave Yami a robe. "This is what you should wear for tonight! It'll look great, trust me!" Yugi grinned at Yami with a kind smile, and Yami could not help but give one back. Yugi had been so generous to Yami by housing him, feeding him, and even getting a date for him! He was truly in this boy's debt, if anything else… but Yugi said that they were friends now, and shouldn't worry about such things as repayments.

Yami examined the robe—it was rich purple color, like a plum or violet, and it was the texture of silk like all the royal clothing was. Gold coins dangled from the robe's trim, which turned out to be a thin gold rope; the shiny trim traced around his shoulders, the collar of his robe, the ends of his baggy sleeves, and the bottom of his robe skirt. A large, circular pendant was to adorn Yami's chest, its color being gold and bearing the symbol of the Millennium Eye—it was a great choice but Yami refused to wear due to his previous pendant, the Millennium Puzzle.

It appeared that as soon as Yami removed the puzzle, he felt a strange sensation that made him feel vulnerable… to what he was defenseless to he could not say, for he didn't really know. The Millennium Puzzle was retuned to its original position without much hesitation or thought.

Lastly, a pair of purple slippers with a gold coin hanging from the curled tips of the shoes, were to fit snuggly on his lightly tanned feet.

"You like it?" Yugi asked, anxiousness in his voice for approval. Yami nodded.

"Do I have a choice?" Yami replied, slightly irritated by Yugi's over-abundance of excitement.

"Well, not really, but I just wanna know."

Yami sighed before responding in a gentler voice, "Actually yes. It's nice."

"Great! I knew you would like it! Go put it on, hurry! It's almost time, and we can't be late!" Yami gave Yugi a look that involved his left eyebrow perking up amusingly.

"'We'? What do you mean, 'we'?" he inquired. Yugi giggled for a bit.

"Well, you're technically me, so if you're late for this then I'm late too. Now get on with it, stop stalling!" Yugi commanded good-naturedly.

Yami took a few moments to change into his new outfit; he changed right in front of Yugi, but the two had become so bonded that they were almost like brothers, like kin, so they didn't mind it at all. Once Yami finished adorning himself with the robe and such, Yugi took a step back to examine the ancient prince. His eyes traced up and down, and then his gaze fell back on Yami's face—a smile and a thumbs-up instantly expressing his thoughts.

"You look great! Now don't get nervous or anything like that—it's the same stuff as last time so there's no reason to be sick."

Yami blinked, and a slight blush came to his tan face. "Who says I'm nervous?" he replied touchily, but in truth his stomach could have won the Olympics for the best gymnastic moves in history—it flopped about like a fish in the desert. "I know I'll be fine… it's just Anzu, after all."

"O-kay, keep telling yourself that and you'll feel better in no time!"

"YUGI—"

"Hey, you remember the instrument I gave you, right?" Yugi asked immediately, changing the subject as he stared into Yami's eyes as if to see a hint of deceiving nature. Yami gulped—he hated it when Yugi did that, for it felt like the boy was looking into his soul.

"Um, yes, I have it." Yami held up a flute-like instrument in his hand; it was similar to a wooden recorder, but with strange markings etched into the bell of it and around the mouthpiece. Yugi's blank expression melted to one of relief.

"Okay, that's good. Now let me see if you're up to playing it, just as we practiced" Yugi said, but again Yami gave him a look.

"I told you—I know how to play an instrument. I was trained to play music since I was six" Yami admitted, annoyed. Yugi shook his head, his black and red spikes swaying with his movements.

"That's not the point. You'll be at least a little nervous, if you like Anzu as much as I think you do—let me finish" he held a hand up so that Yami would silence his protest, "Thank you. And if that is the case then you might stumble a bit. Now come on—show me what you can do."

Reluctantly Yami nodded, and he placed the mouthpiece to his lips. He did have prior training in music, as most royalty did at a young age. He had been taught to play an instrument of similar fashion back at his kingdom, and because he was a quick learner he became very talented at it. Yugi thought it to be a good idea to express Yami's musical talent to Anzu, as it was one of his best features.

"But wouldn't that make me act more like me and less like you?" Yami had once inquired.

"Yeah, but if you like her that much you could act a little more like yourself—we'll have to admit to you not being me at some point, so you can't play the role of me forever." Yami was still against the whole idea of fooling Anzu like this, but for some reason he could not resist it—Yugi's constant planning and the mere thought of Anzu kept him from objecting too much.

But now he couldn't argue against it… now he had to be ready. He played the recorder, and a sweet, haunting melody floated about the air, swimming around the room and surrounding the two. Yami's fingers expertly played each note, care and expertise given to each flowing movement. Though Yami only played for about a minute, the sweet sound of the instrument lingered in Yugi's room, quietly fading until silence reigned supreme. Yugi clapped in excitement.

"That was perfect! I think you're ready for the big night tonight! Do you think you are?"

"I guess so" was all Yami could say. Yugi sweatdropped.

"You guess so? Of course you're ready! You're better than ready! You're…" Yugi paused to think, giving a cute pout as he pondered, "You're… readier than ready! It's time for Date Number Two!"

---

With that, the two princes left the quiet bedroom and quickly ran up various staircases that headed for the rooftop. They had to move swiftly if they didn't want to be seen together. Both of them worked hard on planning the event out, as both were eager to keep this facade going. Yugi, the obvious matchmaker, send Anzu a note written by Yami to her servant quarters in the palace. It wasn't a lengthy note, but it read out true all the same. The yellow parchment read:

Anzu,

You said you wanted to see me again, so why not make that a reality? Tonight on the palace rooftop would be great, unless you wish for another night for us to meet. If so, please send a note responding to this one to confirm any changes. If not, then wait for me on the rooftop after nightfall, because the ryuuseiu will start then and I want to see it with my best friend.

Yours Truly,

Prince Yugi

Anzu didn't give back any sort of reply, so it appeared that everything would go as planned. Yugi, who picked the clothes and the night, refreshed Yami on how to play the recorder so that he could impress Anzu with his talents.

"Anzu loves music" Yugi had said, "so this will be perfect. I'm pretty good myself, but I was never as good as you are—just say you've been practicing and you should do fine."

Also, Yugi had commanded that the rooftop be reserved in his name for the evening—a way to ensure that no one disturbed Yami and Anzu on their night out. Yugi would hide out for a while, so as to not have anyone who knew about the rooftop date see him and question what was going on. Neither of them could plan how the night would turn out, so despite their excessive precautions and preparation fate alone would be what determined the end result.

After charging up a particularly long flight of stairs, Yami and Yugi finally made it to the top of the royal palace. An opening stood in front of them, leading the stairs up to the rooftop, and both stopped before they could accidentally alert Anzu of their arrival. Yami's nervous energy was released in the fast climb, but Yugi was simply tired and worn. He was panting slightly from the rush, and after he was given a nod by Yami, hung back as the other boy headed up the last few stairs to the top.

Here I go. Yami took a deep breath in, a step forward, and he emerged from the stairwell so that his head poked up outside.

It was a magical night; as always paper lanterns were strung across thin ropes in the gardens below, and from the high rooftop the lights glittered like fireflies on a midsummer night. The view from the roof was far more spectacular than from Yugi's bedroom window; all the many candles and lanterns shimmered brightly in front of the palace like a flashlight shining on a new vein in a diamond mine. In the far distance the large mountains and canyons towered over the desert, and Yami thought that he saw Sen Real standing amongst the mountain tops, though once he blinked it was gone. The city lights, paper lanterns, and magnificent mountains were all quite magnificent to see, however the one thing that outshined them all was the midnight sky. The glittering canvas above was a dark royal blue; like a navy-blue blanket that had several holes pierced in it, the stars sparkled and twinkled in response to one another. Some were bright and sparkled like diamonds, while others simply dotted the heavens with a faint glow. The milky-white moon, shaped in its crescent form, softened the sky with its halo light while the small wispy clouds floated on by it.

Yami soaked up the wonders of the night as he climbed out of the opening and onto the sandy top of the palace. A warm breeze touched his face and fluffed his hair, and the scent of the balmy night filled his lungs with a feeling of calm. Looking a little to the right, Yami could see Anzu sitting on a blanket—she was leaning against the glass dome of the skylight that shined over the library below, her gaze turned towards the view of the city. The blanket wasn't the grass-woven one of last week's date but instead a cloth blanket covered with stripes of color. She was dressed in a simple blue dress, not nearly as adorned as Yami's outfit, but it was still pretty nice considering her position as a servant. The breeze swept her hair back in a flowing wave, and she appeared to be enjoying herself as she watched the sleepy city below. Yami smiled as he approached Anzu, who heard his soft footfalls and wheeled around to see him.

"I see you got here alright" Yami said as he sat down next to Anzu on the soft blanket. "No trouble getting here?"

"No. Things have been really quiet tonight, actually" Anzu replied as she gazed at Yami. He stared right back. "So, how's the week been, Prince Yugi?"

"Pretty good, I guess" Yami said, not exactly sure how he should respond. How was his week, when most of the time all he did was think about Anzu? Perhaps pretty good was an understatement indeed. Anzu nodded.

"That's good… but thanks for arranging this! I've been dying to see you all week!" Yami blushed a rose red at that last statement, but fortunately Anzu failed to see it. "Our last get-together was so nice—I couldn't wait for the next chance we could talk like that again. I've been so bored that this is my only time to have fun and hang out with my best friend." Yami looked down at the ground, feeling his heart thump a bit. Best friend? he thought to himself as he watched Anzu smile so warmly that he nearly allowed her to see him blush. That's how it's always going to be… but as long as I get to see you, I guess it shouldn't matter… should it?

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely noticed it when Anzu tapped him on the shoulder—his body jerked in surprise as she gave him another nudge. "Hey Yugi, what's that? Under your sleeve?" Yami looked down to see that she was referring to the recorder, and he pulled it out, showing it off in the tender moonlight.

"Oh this?" he asked. Anzu's eyes lit up a bit in the darkness.

"A recorder! Those make such beautiful music! Have you been practicing, my Prince?" she asked, a little playfully—it was so teasing that Yami shifted uncomfortably as he tired to remain as Yugi-like as possible.

"Um, yeah, I can, um, play it…" he responded sheepishly.

"That's so awesome, Yugi, I would never expect that of you! No offense, Prince, but you don't seem like the musical type to me."

"No offense taken" Yami said, but in his mind he secretly replied, Why would I ever be offended by you? He almost said that, but he knew that would make it seem like Yugi had feelings for Anzu.

Does Yugi have feelings for her? he pondered to himself—he had never really thought to ask him about it before now. From how close Anzu and Yugi appeared to be, and how attractive Anzu was, perhaps Yugi did feel something like this for Anzu just as he did… but if that were the case then why was he helping Yami out with his dating? Then Yami recalled something Yugi had said to him when he first saw Anzu:

"I had a crush on her once too. I liked her a lot and couldn't wait to see her everyday. But, we couldn't be—she didn't like me that way."

Hmm…so, Yugi HAD feelings for her… but does he still harbor them now? Anzu's the one how turned him down, after all….

"Hello? Yugi, you there?" Anzu said, waving her hand in front of Yami's face. Quickly he snapped out of his thoughtful daze.

"Oh, what?" he asked shyly, embarrassed that he had zoned out the way he did. Anzu just shook her head.

"I was asking you if you could play something for me… um, is there something wrong?" Anzu got close to his face and looked at him closely, and though Yami enjoyed the nearness he still held his breath as he waited for her to move back. She then placed a hand to his forehead for a second, and when she pulled it away he longed for the cool touch of her hand upon his skin again. "You feel a bit hot… maybe a fever?"

Yami inwardly kicked himself for blushing so much. "N-no, Anzu, I'm okay… maybe I'm just a little warm, that's all." She backed off a bit from him, and he sighed.

"Oh, okay, if that's all…" she replied, before adding with, "So, can you still play for me? Only if you'd like to though—I don't want to push it on you, my Prince." Her soft sapphire eyes stared deep into Yami's with a hint of concern and curiosity to the point that Yami felt he couldn't really say no… he mentally kicked himself again. What's happening to me? Why do I feel so…so….

"Of course I can!" he announced proudly, and inside himself he sweatdropped. I've lost it now…. Yami brought the recorder to his lips and blew into it; unfortunately for him, a squeak came out instead of the desired musical note. Yami's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he stopped playing, full of embarrassment at his failure. He waited for Anzu to reply when he heard a giggle escape from her.

"Wow Yugi, I couldn't have played it better myself!" Anzu laughed, but then bowed her head obediently. "Sorry for chastising you, Prince Yugi, but that was a necessary comment for a necessary musical note…." She then started to giggle again, and at that point Yami felt crawling in a hole and dying. The feeling must have been expressed on his face, because Anzu ceased her giggles and put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, I was just kidding! I'm not trying to be mean or anything, Yugi—try again, and maybe this time you'll get it."

Though he was extremely nervous about screwing up again, Yami simply could not refuse her encouragement; he took the recorder to his lips again and began to play.

The second time was apparently the charm, because the sweet, flowing notes of the instrument floated out of the bell and overtook the air. All other sounds seemed to diminish as Yami played, his fingers elegantly moving across the instrument. He watched as Anzu held her breath and listened to the music play, her ears entranced by the beautiful noise surrounding them as if they were deaf to all the world save the recorder's singing voice. After moments of his talented playing, the sweet sounds seemed to move Anzu in such a way that she rose to her sandaled-feet and suddenly started dancing. Her arms sailed through the air like butterfly wings, and her legs moved in elegant step to the music.

Yami watched, awestruck by the sight of her dancing in the glow of the crescent moon—he almost stopped playing to watch but common sense reminded him to deter from that option. He continued to play, though his fingers were now on auto-pilot as his eyes followed the magnificent servant that his music guided and moved. The event seemed to last for an eternity as Yami played and Anzu danced under the sweet moonlight, when it was only a few mere minutes. When yami finally ran out of breath, he ceased his playing and took a deep inhale. Anzu stopped, as if frozen by the silence, and then turned around to smile at Yami.

"Ah, that was amazing!" she exclaimed as she plopped herself right back to where she sat before. Both were a bit out of breath from the recent excitement. "The most fun I've had in a while! Thanks, Yugi."

"Oh, um, your welcome" Yami responded humbly as he swallowed to catch his breath from playing so long without a rest. Anzu gazed kindly upon him, and then her eyes lit up with sudden realization.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you!" she said excitedly. "I got a job as a dancer at the BaliZar… you know, that nightclub place downtown? Now I work there—I dance and get paid! I've been practicing a lot for it… you noticed that I'm better now, right?"

Yami, despite his absent knowledge of Anzu's dance history, could only find one answer to fit her question. "I've noticed—you've become a great dancer, Anzu."

"Well, I'm not that great, but thank you Yugi!" Anzu ran her fingers through her chestnut hair, and turned her head towards the sky.

"There's supposed to be a ryuuseiu tonight" she said. "Do you think we'll see a shooting star?"

"Maybe" answered Yami, who now looked to the heavens as well. "Say, if we do see a shooting star, what will you wish for?"

"Me?" Anzu asked, and then she sheepishly turned away. "I guess it would be for us to be friends forever." Anzu turned back to see Yami's response, only to see him as both shocked and happy.

"You… you want us to be friends forever?" Yami was about to jump up and down for a victory dance, but thought better of it as he remembered that she still considered him to be Yugi and that might be what she wants for Yugi and herself. Instead he just smiled inwardly to himself about it.

"Yeah, I guess I do" she said quietly. "I mean, until last week, I felt like we were drifting apart, losing our connection to each other. After all that's happened I thought we were just going to go our separate ways, with you as prince and me as a servant girl. But with these last two times that we've hung out together makes me feel like… like nothing's changed between us. I know right now things couldn't be better, but I don't know how long this could last until we do end up on our own paths. That's why I wanted to make that wish—to secure our bond." Anzu paused her explanation for a second before returning with a huge grin, as if nothing sad had been mentioned at all. "So, what are you going to wish for, Yugi?"

"My wish?" Yami hadn't thought about his own wish just yet—he knew for certain that he could wish for his own private "desires", if he could really call them that, but to tell Anzu what those thoughts were was simply out of the question. He took a few moments to think of something good. "I wish for… um, this moment here to never end."

"I like that wish" Anzu admitted as she adjusted herself to sit more comfortably on the blanket. "It's only been about a few minutes, and I already feel like we've been talking for hours. We haven't been hanging out as much as we used to, so every precious moment counts as something now. I'm loving this already, and if it were to last forever, maybe I'd love it even more—before I got sick of it."

The two of them fell silent then, as they stared up at the sky for several moments watching the stars twinkle in unison. Yami felt his hand instinctively try to touch her own, or to wrap his arm around her shoulder—things he never felt the urge to do in his life but now felt the strange urging to do so—but he knew what would happen: Anzu would think that Yugi still had feelings for her, and whether that was true or not he could not risk the outcome.

After all, he thought as he restricted his right hand with his left hand gently so as not to let Anzu see, I'm supposed to be Yugi, and if Anzu doesn't like Yugi that way then I have to keep my own thoughts from her. And we're just friends… just friends….

"Yugi, look, look!" Anzu hissed elatedly as she pointed to the sky above. "The ryuuseiu! It's starting!" Yami raised his gaze to where Anzu directed—it was very faint, but he could see a small star swim across the sky. Another came, and then another, followed by a dozen. Soon stars were falling all over the heavens, creating a spectacular light show in the night sky.

"Make your wish, Yugi!" she whispered, awestruck by the lights. The Yami realized something.

"Hey Anzu! Isn't it true that if you tell someone your wish, then it won't come true?" The servant girl glanced at him and then shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh yeah, that's right…" Anzu said sadly. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wish for something else then, won't we?" With that, Anzu closed her eyes and mouthed a wish to the sky. Yami, who was watching the shooting stars, picked the brightest one and quickly whispered a wish off the top of his head.

"I wish that Anzu and I will stay friends forever." The star he wished upon sped through the heavens, and in a sudden burst, the little star sparkled in the sky before fading away into the midnight blue. Yami smiled as the star vanished into the dark abyss that was the night.

"Make your wish yet?" Anzu asked as she opened her eyes and looked at Yami. He nodded. "Good! Now we can enjoy the stars."

The ryuuseiu lasted deep into the night. In an on slaughter of fiery stars, the meteor shower flooded the sky with the celestial dance of the heavenly lights. The moon gracefully moved across the star-speckled space, glowing a sweet milky white; Anzu and Yami laid back on the blanket, lying on their backs as they stared up at the shimmering sky. Yami felt the warmth of Anzu's body grace his right arm, and a tingly sensation ignited his senses as his eyes glanced down at his right side. Anzu's arm laid so close to his own that he felt his heart race slightly.

So close… should I hold her hand? He pondered that thought as he attempted to still his quivering right arm. I can't, I know I can't. But still, it wouldn't hurt… she'd find out…but maybe for just a second… NO, I've made up my mind, and I will just have to wait! He stared at his fidgeting right hand with a stern gaze, and the hand fell limp for the rest of the evening.

Despite it being late a night, the air was still slightly balmy and pleasant. A soft breeze whistled through the still night, and it ruffled Yami's hair ever so lightly as he started to relax… he began to drift off into a light nap as the image of shooting stars faded from his eyes—

"Hey Yugi" Anzu whispered. Her voice also filled with the heaviness of sleep. "Um… Joey asked me… if you could come out and wind surf tomorrow out by the canyons…. What do you say?"

"Hm…?" Yami asked, his mind barely stirring now that it began to fog over with drowsiness. "Jo…ey?"

"Yeah he says… that he hasn't seen you… in a while. He really wanted you to go—" Anzu paused for a moment as she let out a lion-like yawn. "Think… you can?"

"I guess so…" Yami whispered as he too responded with a gigantic yawn of his own.

"Okay… I'll let him know… tomorrow…." With that Anzu seemed to daze off, mumbling a bit as her half-lidded eyes watched the stars still in travel across the blackened heavens. Yami couldn't help but feel the same way—with stars dancing in his hazy vision he finally let go of his nervousness and relaxed as he too drifted into a dream-like haze.

---

Author's Note: Hey, wasn't that just the cutest? I loved typing it out! But this is going to have to end at some point, right? Yeah, we'll wait for it when it gets here.

Thanks for all your awesome reviews, guys! I am so beloved by all of you—you rock so much! And for all of you fellow Americans or other people who have YGO ending this Saturday (that be tomorrow from this updating day), please remember that when you are watching it, just know that your fellow authoress is mourning along with you! Okay?

Cry with me, peeps!