Ha! Looks like I managed to get this story updated (just barely) before a whole month went by. (cringe) Sorry about that, but I've been a little on the distracted side. Lots of silly nonsense and bits of life type stuff going on. But I finally got over whatever block was preventing me from writing this chapter.
Some of the thanks should go to Ambiance-Dream, because helping her edit chapter 6 of her story Anywhere but Here (it's a good one, hey? Go and read it!) kind of kicked me into gear. Thanks also to everyone who has reviewed (over 300 now? sheesh!), eMailed, or IMed. I really do appreciate it!
A slight warning. I feel that Seto may have veered over the border of OOC land for parts of this chapter. Admittedly, he is drunk for a significant portion of it (that bad boy), but it still kind of irked me. Let me know in the reviews what you guys think!
A few songs did give me a bit of inspiration for this chapter, but in the end the one I was listening to over and over again while writing it (does anyone else do this? It puts me in some kind of author's trance) was ultimately 'Call Me, Call Me' from the Cowboy Bebop OST. Come on, you probably all know it. I've always liked it; never expected it to come in so useful, though!
Disclaimer: I'm not one of those delusional freaks who thinks they own YuGiOh or the characters. I'm not even sure if those delusional freaks exist, but if they do they should really get a grip!
The Night Before
Chapter 14: Call Me
xx Flashback: A Popular Domino Restaurant, January 11th, Lunchtime xx
Much hustle and bustle was evident during the midday rush at the restaurant where Jounouchi and Yugi had been enjoying their lunch. The two friends met here often, especially if one had something important to discuss with the other. There was a comforting anonymity about the noisy clatter that surrounded them; it wasn't like they feared being overheard, not usually anyway, but all the noise was something of a security blanket nonetheless.
This was appreciated even more if you were, for example, a love struck Yugi who wanted to confer with one of your closest friends about a recent visit to the object of your affection. Yugi had spent the better part of an hour describing his trip to New York over the Christmas holiday in detail while the ever-ravenous Jounouchi stuffed his face with various (mostly fried) foods.
"...and then Anzu came with me to the airport and helped me find the terminal. New York sure is a confusing city!"
Yugi laughed nervously. He knew his description of his visit to Anzu had skirted all too deliberately around the pockets of information that Jounouchi was most interested in. Ever since Yugi had opened up to Jou about his feelings for the blue-eyed girl, he had seemed almost as enthusiastic about getting Yugi and Anzu together as Yugi was himself. And now that Jounouchi had run out of food to distract him (only a milkshake remained), Yugi could see the light bulb above his sandy head beginning to buzz and crackle. After a few slow moments, it erupted into full illumination.
"So, did you tell her how you feel?"
Yugi shifted uncomfortably in his chair, eyes carefully avoiding the gaze Jounouchi was leveling at him across the small table.
"Yugi, come on! You must have said something!"
The shorter boy cringed. "I...just didn't know how, okay? I mean, I dropped lots of hints. Asked how she felt about relationships and all that stuff...what am I supposed to do, Jounouchi? Just come out and say 'Anzu, I'm in love with you'?"
Jounouchi raised his eyebrows and shrugged, as if to say 'why not?'
Yugi shook his head sadly, continuing. "Besides, she seemed pretty distracted. Do you think she might...you know, already have somebody? She seems to get a lot of packages from what she called her 'secret admirer'. Or maybe she knows how I feel and couldn't find a way to let me down easy--"
"No, Yugi. That's not it. I just know she feels the same way. She might not know it yet, but you guys were made for each other!"
Jounouchi frowned, glad that Yugi hadn't noticed his evasion of the 'somebody else' scenario. Oh yes, he still had his suspicions about Anzu and Seto Kaiba. His (ahem, most recent) rather confrontational phone call to her concerning the pricey package he'd seen Kaiba sending had done nothing to relieve his nagging bad feelings. Anzu had babbled something about Kaiba breaking a piece of her jewelry when they'd run into each other at that ball over the summer and agreeing to take it to be repaired. Even Jounouchi could see this explanation made no sense.
How would Anzu have something that valuable in the first place? She and her parents had needed to scrimp and save just for enough money to get her to New York in the first place. And even if her story was true, why would Kaiba bring Anzu's jewelry all the way back to Japan to have it fixed? He could have just dropped it off at a jeweler in Manhattan. There certainly were enough of them...
None of it added up to anything-- except, possibly, some kind of secret connection between Kaiba and Anzu. Jounouchi shivered. All the more reason to keep encouraging Yugi. Once Anzu saw how the sweetest most devoted guy on the planet felt about her, she'd surely realize that getting involved with the rich boy was a mistake.
"You can't give up, Yugi. You're the one who said you were determined to be with her, right?"
"Yeah, of course..."
Yugi sounded so uncertain. Fortunately, Jou had a lot of experience under his belt when it came to boosting Yugi's confidence. He grinned widely as the two got up from the table. "Well, when are you gonna see her again?"
A thoughtful expression crossed Yugi's face. "Umm...she said she might actually come home for a visit next Christmas--"
"No! Not soon enough! You've got to visit her again. Maybe in the spring or summer..."
The two friends exited the restaurant, with Jounouchi chattering excitedly as Yugi brightened up, eagerly absorbing the advice. Neither of them had noticed the lone figure that had been sitting nearby in the dining area with his face obscured by a newspaper, close enough to overhear everything if he'd chosen to pay attention.
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Needless to say, Seto Kaiba had heard every last word.
The dog and the shrimp weren't the only ones who came to this restaurant in order to not be noticed. It was so busy here, and people were so intent on getting their share of the admittedly delicious food that they never took the time to stop and notice that 'Hey! That's Seto Kaiba over there!'.
Realizing that his clenched fists had torn through the edges of the newspaper, Seto slammed his hands down on the tabletop. The noise in the restaurant was so cacophonous that nobody noticed the clattering sound made by the CEO's half-empty coffee cup as it jumped momentarily off its saucer. Everything he had just heard spun through his brain at a violent replay speed.
'Did you tell her how you feel?'
Frown.
'Anzu, I'm in love with you.'
Growl.
'Do you think she already has somebody?'
Ache.
'You guys were made for each other.'
Double Frown.
'When are you gonna see her again?'
Rage.
'...might come for a visit next Christmas--'
Panic.
Yes, Panic. That pretty much put a header on the range of emotions Seto was feeling right now. A very few carefully trained Seto-watchers, Mokuba for example, might've been able to sense this abject distress by its only external manifestation-- a nearly imperceptible twitch of one currently stormy blue eye.
Yugi...in love with Anzu. His Anzu. What if that short little...wimp could give Anzu what he couldn't? What if she decided he was more trouble than he was worth after all? This obviously psychotic deal he had made with himself; was his aloof behavior going to push the only girl he'd ever cared about into the arms of his worst enemy?
Throwing a handful of bills onto the table, Seto swept out of the restaurant, ignoring the fact that his heart was beating alarmingly fast-- lodged somewhere in the vicinity of his throat.
He walked and walked, feeling intensely jealous even over the fact that Yugi had seen her. Part of Seto would give his right arm just to hear her voice, and if it wasn't for his iron-clad self control he probably would have gnawed that right appendage off personally a long time ago.
With each footstep Seto took, he thought of more things he would say to Anzu if he only could; things that would make Yugi the absolute farthest thing from her mind. Somehow, someway, these disjointed footsteps landed Seto on the threshold of a semi-familiar and impressively dank tavern.
"Hn." Without thinking, he reached into his coat pocket and flipped open his cellphone. "Yes. Cancel all my appointments for the rest of the day."
...hesitation? Seto looked askance at his reflection upon the smudged glass of the tavern door. Hesitation was pointless. He was going to go inside and drink himself into a stupor. Maybe the alcohol induced haze would give him some idea as to what he needed to do to stay ahead of Yugi in the game they now appeared to be playing.
He hesitated to call it that; Anzu wasn't just a trophy or a prize he wanted to win or display. She owned his heart, which was hard (read: damn near impossible) for Seto to admit. At least, she owned the chunk that wasn't claimed by Mokuba. The part that Anzu controlled, however, was much more unstable, because it was given (kicking and screaming aside) willingly. Nobody, it had been proven, could take away his brother's love. In the same way, his love for Mokuba would always be there. Anzu's love on the other hand...well, if he was forced to fight for it, he would. Competition. If he lost Anzu to Yugi, he would lose his heart as well.
And that made this the most important game of all.
The stakes were getting high; and Seto Kaiba knew that if he lost the battle for Anzu's heart, if she threw his affection aside, he'd come a lot closer to becoming the inhuman robot he was constantly accused of being.
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xx Flashback: New York City. January 11th, 3PM xx
It hurt. Like, actually, physically hurt. Anzu Mazaki, the strong and resilient girl who had been ready to throw her love out the window the moment she'd felt betrayed was the victim of a constant dull ache. It pulsed somewhere in her abdomen; a few miles north of 'loss of appetite' and slightly southwest of 'irregular heartbeat'...
Love, uncertainty, indecision.
It all got garbled together somewhere along the line, to the point where almost every time Anzu had a quiet moment it would rush in upon her like the feeling you get just before you plummet down the first terrifying drop on a roller coaster.
You know, she thought. Like the ones they have at Kaiba Land.
Ha! A manic giggle almost escaped her.
She felt sometimes as though she were losing her grip. One minute she'd be drifting along happily, imagining what it could be like if her and Seto were to meet again. The next, her mind would be stranded in an unmerciful loop of every apprehension, worst suspicion, and most hurtful memory she could conjure surrounding her twisted relationship with the CEO.
Yugi's visit over the Christmas holiday hadn't helped, particularly.
Not that it wasn't good to see her best friend-- it had been wonderful. It was just that even Yugi had seemed somehow...off. Maybe it was just her, but he'd seemed to make a few too many mentions and inquiries concerning her love life. It hadn't been like Jounouchi's constant badgering (how on earth had he found out about Seto sending that necklace, anyway?); Yugi seemed almost like he wanted Anzu to be involved with someone-- or at least interested. Could he...know? Yugi always had been rather intuitive.
Surely not, Anzu reasoned as she finished drying her hair and slipped into her ultra-comfy bed for a quick nap. Jounouchi wouldn't have said anything to anyone...would he?
Anzu sighed, pulling the extra fluffy blankets closer to ward out the harsh January draft that relentlessly crept in from her large bedroom window. She really didn't have time to waste losing sleep over this sort of stuff. She had evening rehearsal in four hours and she was already exhausted. There was an evaluation coming up, and everyone was upping in as many extra hours as they could to get that extra edge...
Having shifted her thoughts successfully to the (surprisingly) less alarming subject of dance, Anzu was just drifting off to sleep when she was jolted to awareness by a shrill noise.
It was the phone on her bedside table.
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xx Flashback: Seto's Office, Kaiba Mansion. January 12, 3AM xx
The lip of a glass bottle clinked heavily against the tumbler as Seto poured himself another drink. He'd vacated the sleazy bar long ago; it had eventually gotten too crowded, close, and smoky for him to think straight...
Or maybe the glitches in his thought process were more to do with the fact that he was now massively drunk. Not violently, pukingly intoxicated, but far past sober. He'd changed locations, now sitting in his dimly lit home office and throwing back vodka like the Russian mafia were there holding a roulette gun against his temple.
He usually wasn't a morose, soppy drunk. That was for pansies and sentimental fools. His prerogative to get wasted usually stemmed from extreme anger. Drinking, which he didn't do to excess often mind you, would either calm him down or drive him to release his pent up rage (read: break stuff).
Tonight, well, it was a little different. He'd started drinking partly out of some twisted variety of anger and partly because he wanted to dull the edge off the other strong emotions that had assailed him when he'd overheard Yugi declaring his love for Anzu-- fear, hurt, loneliness, confusion-- these were not sensations that Seto was accustomed to.
And then there was Anzu. The intoxicated Kaiba sighed heavily, stretching his lean frame as he leaned back in his office chair. The arm that wasn't holding a glass of ice cold vodka was thrown momentarily across his face as he felt the pit of uncertainty burning in his chest. He could see her face on the back of his eyelids, hair spread around her and blue eyes open wide, as though she were pinned underneath him and they were...
"Urrrgh..."
She was in his thoughts constantly, though not always under such...compromising circumstances. He was going insane without her.
Seto realized how far he had fallen when a thought occurred to the drunkenly hopeless corner of his mind. If I could just hear her voice, everything would be fine.
His rational side was screaming, throwing up all kinds of red flags. The rest of him had suddenly shifted its slightly unfocused gaze onto the slim-line black telephone sitting on his desk. How much could it ease his mind if he were to call her right now and just talk to her? The internal debate began.
On the one hand, she might not be receptive to his call. It was possible she was still angry with him from before, and it was also possible that she had decided to give him the shove in favor of Yugi. What would he do if she just...well...hung up on him?
I'll just get even drunker, he drunkenly reasoned.
At this point, anything must be better than the all encompassing void of not knowing. He didn't want to wonder anymore, because it was eating him up from the inside out. Not to mention, if Anzu was left with any doubt of his feelings for her after all of this...drama, he wanted to dispel them immediately.
He was going to show Anzu Mazaki that he did care. And he was going to do it right now.
The glass of vodka was shoved to the side as an unsteady hand reached out. Seto picked up the receiver, pressed it against the side of his slightly disheveled chestnut head, and began to dial.
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xx Flashback: Anzu's Bedroom. January 12, 3:15PM xx
Ring Ring Riiiiiiiiiiiing!
"Ugh!" Anzu's eyebrows knit in frustration. Why, why did someone always decide to call her just as she laid down for a nap? It's not like she napped often, but it just never seemed to fail. Groggily, she fumbled for the cordless receiver. "Mmm, hello?"
"...Anzu."
The dancer's nerves jolted to full attention when she heard that voice. There was only one person who could say her name that way--
"S--seto? Is that you?"
The voice that replied was low and gravelly. "Yeah, it's me."
There was a short silence. Anzu didn't really know what to say. "Umm...is...everything okay?"
A heavy sigh greeted Anzu's ears, followed by more silence.
"Seto...?" What was this about? He had never called her here before. Her heart was beating out of her chest.
"No. Everything isn't okay," he began.
Anzu was about to interject, thinking something awful had happened, but Seto's voice appeared to have found its legs.
"Everything is a fucking wreck. You're there, I'm here. I can't see you, can't touch you...I couldn't stop thinking about you. I needed to hear your voice."
There was a short pause, and then--
"Anzu. Do you think about me? About us?"
A pair of crystal blue eyes widened. His voice seemed a little...strange. Was he intoxicated? It was like 3AM in Domino, after all. "I...of course I do, Seto. I think about you all the time." The last phrase had been almost a whisper.
That seemed to satisfy him. Either that, or he was so drunk that he didn't even realize what he was saying. The latter theory seemed to prove out when he began speaking again. "You know, I wanted you long before that graduation party."
Anzu suddenly felt a bit too toasty under all her blankets. "Umm...really?"
A light growl erupted from the receiver, sending delicious chills throughout Anzu's too-warm body. "I saw you one day at school. Your lips looked so soft I wanted to pin you up against the wall and kiss them until they were black and blue."
Anzu was left rather speechless at this seemingly random revelation. Her fingers absentmindedly traced her lips.
"Then, you reached up to get something in the top of your locker. That short little uniform skirt rode up...I wanted to slide my hand along the inside of your thigh and find out where those perfect legs led, exactly..."
Confusion tangled with lust as Anzu listened. She could listen to that voice forever. But something was really bothering her.
"I think about that all the time. At least when I'm not picturing you in that blue bikini. I never was quite sure which piece I wanted to rip off first."
Her face went crimson, remembering the way his eyes had devoured her body the first time she'd sported that particular piece of swimwear. Nevertheless-- "Seto, why are you telling me these things?"
She could almost feel him thinking through the phone line. The answer wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting, though.
"I was worried."
"Worried? About what?"
"...that you'd forgotten about me."
Anzu snickered. As if she could, with all the packages he sent her! She supposed, however, that there was reason for his insecurity. It's not like she had sent him any kind of response. "That's not very likely to happen, Seto."
A pause.
"Are you still mad at me?" His voice had relaxed slightly, but he still sounded apprehensive.
"No."
"It gets cold without you, Anzu."
"W--what?"
He sounded mildly irritated, as though the meaning should be obvious. "When I sleep. It's cold without you there. I can hardly go to bed without imagining how sweet you smell right after you get out of the shower. I can feel your legs tangled up with mine."
"Oh..." As much as Anzu wanted to tell him that she felt the same way, the words just wouldn't come. He had never been so open with her about these things before. A traitorous portion of her mind almost wished he would drink more often. Her mouth opened and closed as she fingered her slightly damp hair.
"Did you get my packages?"
"Yes, they've been lovely. I should have called or written...it was sweet of you."
Her slight smile dropped off her face at the accusatory tone in his next question.
"Have you been seeing someone else?"
She couldn't bring herself to feel mad about his possessiveness this time. This time, somehow, it was almost cute. "No. I haven't."
"It wouldn't be the same with him, you know. He doesn't understand you like I do."
"Him? Seto, what exactly are you talking about?" She really had no idea what he was implying. Had she been in the tabloids again or something?
"Nothing. Nevermind."
There was a long silence, not uncomfortable, which Anzu finally decided to break. "Seto, I really should go. I have rehearsal in a couple hours."
"I should probably go to bed..."
"Yes, you should. Lord knows Kaiba Corp can't run without you."
"There's no need to be sarcastic," he intoned. There was a comforting shred of the mean and nasty Kaiba of old in his voice.
"Actually, I was being serious. Will you call me again?"
"No."
"Mmm, I didn't think so."
He sighed again. "I think about being with you all the time, Anzu. But--"
"--you can't. I know." Anzu finished the thought for him, surprised at how little his contradictory behavior could upset her anymore. Understanding seemed to pass between them.
"I'll see you in June, alright? Anzu?"
There was so much 'lost little boy' in Seto's tone of voice that he almost sounded like Mokuba.
"Yeah, Seto. It's okay. Take care of yourself. And hug Mokuba for me."
"I will."
Anzu paused, unsure of how to close such a surreal and mind-bending conversation. She had a feeling, though, and decided to go with her instinct. "Seto? I still love you. You know?"
The line crackled momentarily before he replied. "Thanks."
She could hear the smile in his voice as she hung up the phone, mirroring it with one of her own. Well, she had wanted a sign, right? This hadn't been what she'd expected, but it served its purpose. She knew now. He did care about her. Drunks and children always tell the truth, right? And for now, that was enough.
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Whee! I actually got this typed. I wrote the whole thing last night and this morning, and I wasn't sure if I could push on and get it all done before I go to work (2 hours from now). Gah! (Sigh of relief) I hope it was good. I liked it. The drunken phone call was supposed to be a little bit more lewd, originally, but this is just how it wrote itself. I think it was sufficiently suggestive. I know he might not have seemed super drunk, but not everyone turns into a slurring mess after having a few drinks.
Do you think the tavern Seto went to was the same one he visited in my other story, Holiday Blues? Eh, who knows. If Domino is anything like other cities I'm familiar with, it probably has plenty of sketchy dives.
So, was it good? Tell me tell me! Review even if you despised it. Though I hope you didn't hahaha! I need to take a look at my original notes for this story before I proceed to the next chapter. Hopefully it'll be less than a month before the next update (cross your fingers)!