Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!. That pleasure belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. This is solely written for fun and not for profit.
A/N - It feels like the story took a bit of a left turn here, but when the plot originally came to me, this was one of the original points, along with Kaiba's plan, the sleepover and a couple of other things yet to come. The rest of the story grew from these points.
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo
The next several days seemed to be an exercise in frustration for Anzu. She had redoubled her efforts to get to talk to Yugi on his own only to be thwarted at practically every turn – mostly by Jonouchi. She had noticed that Jonouchi had been glaring at her quite often for some reason, especially when she tried to approach Yugi in his presence. This was a new development, or at least something that she hadn't noticed before and this only added to her worries over the situation. Obviously Jonouchi thought that she had done something wrong and it could only be related to her defence of Kaiba's motives on the previous Wednesday lunchtime.
That week's 'movie night' had been strained and awkward to say the very least. Jonouchi had glared at her pretty much for the entirety of the evening and on the one occasion that Jonouchi had ducked out to go to the bathroom, he had ensured that she would not be able to get close to Yugi - not that she would be able to say anything to him in company like they were. Even Honda, who was usually pretty much immune to these things, noticed the oppressive atmosphere, which only made things all the more tense.
Eventually she had felt that she'd had to leave, at least partially because she could tell that the strained atmosphere was making Yugi quite uncomfortable so she had pleaded a headache and had headed to go home. Yugi, of course, had expressed concern over her state of health, but she had reassured him that everything was fine. Yugi had watched with concern as she left, at least until Jonouchi had come up behind him, glared at her hotly as she glanced back, then escorted Yugi back inside.
This was obviously going to be a hell of a lot harder than she had originally thought, especially as she had not even been able to call Yugi on the phone to arrange a time to meet in private as Jonouchi was practically living at the game shop at the moment. Not that she could blame Jonouchi for that, not with knowing what she did about his home situation.
Over the next week, the stress began to take more of a toll on her, not only making it hard for her to sleep at night which made her feel even more tired, but it wasn't helped by the fact that she was feeling nauseous much of the day, something else that she put down to stress.
Then she found a note in her locker, obviously from Jonouchi, telling her that movie night for this week had been cancelled. Although she felt guilty over it, as if it were her fault, she was also relieved that she would not have to sit and squirm under Jonouchi's glare again.
Seto had been quite busy with Kaiba Corporation over the previous week as well, but she didn't want to burden him with her worries. However, Mokuba did notice and he became concerned for her.
But then everything came to a head the next Saturday afternoon. Yugi and Jonouchi were out at the arcade where they had met up with Mokuba. Anzu noticed them as she was passing by on her way back from dance class, on foot because it was a nice day, so she popped in to greet them.
"Good afternoon Yugi, Mokuba... Jonouchi" she greeted them cheerily.
"Hey there, Anzu," Yugi said with a smile. "We missed you at movie night last night." He looked at her with some concern as she paled slightly. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she brushed off his concern. "But I thought that Movie Night had been cancelled." She looked at Yugi with evident confusion, trying to ignore how Jonouchi was glaring at her.
"Um, no... it wasn't cancelled," Yugi said carefully. "What made you think that it was?"
Jonouchi did manage to catch Anzu's eye then and she quailed inside as he looked absolutely murderous. For all that she counted Jonouchi as a friend, the sentiment was clearly no longer returned, but even though she'd had enough of it, she decided not to call him out. Not whilst they were all in public anyway. "Oh, I must have been mistaken," she said, although she wasn't able to stop herself from paling even further. "I'm sorry, I suddenly don't feel so good," she said shakily - and it was the truth as she suddenly felt quite sick. "I'll head on home and see you guys later."
"Do you need someone to come with you?" Yugi asked.
"No, it's OK," she shook her head. "You stay here and have fun." She made her retreat then, leaving the trio of boys standing there, two watching with concern and one with some satisfaction.
Mokuba who had been silent until then, decided to speak up. He had watched the byplay with alarm and he was finally able to understand just what it was that Anzu had been going through.
"She wasn't mistaken, was she?" he observed pointedly, looking hard at Jonouchi with a glare that would have given his brother a run for his money.
"What are you saying, Mokuba?" Yugi asked, confusion evident upon his face.
"I think that Jonouchi is trying to keep Anzu away from you," Mokuba accused.
"But... why?" Yugi wondered aloud, then he turned to face Jonouchi. "Is that true?"
"I... err..." Jonouchi hedged, not wanting to admit that he had been caught out, but also not wanting to lie to his friend's face.
"Jonouchi," Yugi said, turning the big eyed look on to full effect, "why have you been keeping Anzu away from me?"
Both Jonouchi and Mokuba froze at that question. Mokuba, because he knew that Anzu had desperately wanted to tell Yugi for herself, feeling that it was her sole duty to do so whilst Jonouchi didn't want Yugi to find out at all as he was worried that it would upset him far too much.
"Come on," Yugi said as he couldn't help but notice their reticence, "it can't be that bad, can it? Anzu is my friend and she wouldn't do anything to hurt me."
"Want to bet?" Jonouchi muttered under his breath, but not quite quietly enough as Yugi heard him.
"Jonouchi, you are worrying me now. What is Anzu supposed to have done that's so awful that you won't even let her speak to me?" There was an undertone to his voice that let Jonouchi know that Yugi was expecting the truth and the next words out of Jonouchi's mouth had better not be a lie.
"She's a traitor," Jonouchi said defiantly. "She's in bed with the enemy. Literally."
"What do you mean?" Yugi asked, still all wide eyed innocence. Mokuba glared at Jonouchi, hoping to at least make him soften the blow a touch, but he had no such luck as Jonouchi was determined to blunder on regardless.
"She's fuckin' Kaiba," he said bluntly.
"What?" Yugi was shocked. "You're joking!"
"Nope, I'm not," Jonouchi continued belligerently. "I saw them with my own eyes and she is definitely fuckin' moneybags." Then he began to mutter, "With an ice prick like him she probably gets off on having her vag frozen solid."
"Jonouchi!" Mokuba exclaimed in outrage. "That's my brother you are talking about!"
"So," Jonouchi glared down at the smaller boy. "Just sayin' it how I see it."
"Did you know about this, Mokuba?" Yugi asked, still clearly shocked by the news.
"Yes, I did," he admitted, "and I can tell you that Anzu has been trying to speak to you about it for quite a while," he glared at Jonouchi, "but now it's obvious that someone hasn't even let her get close." Mokuba and Jonouchi continued to glare at each other hotly, neither of them anywhere near ready to back down over this.
"Hold it right there," Yugi shook off the shock, taking control of both himself and the situation as it seemed that Mokuba and Jonouchi were about to come to blows. "I think that this is a bit too much of a public place to be discussing something like this." he placed a hand on both of his friend's arms. "Let's go back to the game shop and then you can both tell me what you know." Yugi's face held a grim expression and his voice had a note of steel that Jonouchi and Mokuba both knew they would not be able to argue with.
"You are right, Yugi," Mokuba said, subsiding. "I'll be happy to tell you what I know." He sighed. "It really was Anzu's place to tell you, but..." he shrugged, "I guess there's no help for it now."
"Jonouchi?" Yugi prompted as the taller boy stood there, still glaring causing him to finally subside.
"Yeah, I'll come," Jonouchi said morosely. "I guess I need to explain myself, eh?"
"Good," Yugi said, "Let's go." He was determined to get to the bottom of this mess before making any snap judgements, but he already knew deep down that Anzu was not in the wrong.
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo
Meanwhile, Anzu had arrived home and was making herself a cup of green tea with mint to help calm her stomach. The stress of the situation was playing havoc with her nerves and nausea had become an almost constant friend recently.
She turned on the TV for something to listen to, then she stopped dead and paled as the newscaster read some breaking news.
And the breaking news is that a fault with the manufacturing process at Povirex Pharmaceuticals has left millions of women at risk of unwanted pregnancy.
According to a leaked memo, there has been a breakdown in the process that adds the active ingredient to the widely used Omnia brand of birth control pills and it is not yet known how long the problem has remained undetected. It is also not known at this time whether the issue is down to negligence or sabotage. No one at the company was available for comment.
Women are advised to stay calm and to continue taking their pills, but to use an additional method of contraception until they have seen their GP. A helpline has been made available on...
Anzu switched off the TV and sat down heavily. Omnia was the birth control pill she was currently prescribed. Could she be amongst the women affected? She tried to think this through rationally, but as soon as she remembered that she had gone straight from one packet of pills to the next without a break she began to panic. She had not started her period despite the pills potentially being little more than placebos and she had been quite tired and nauseous these past few days. She hadn't actually been physically sick, but she knew that these things varied from woman to woman and actually throwing up wasn't a guaranteed thing in early pregnancy...
She stopped dead as that word crossed her mind. Pregnant... could she be... and what would that mean for her? She gave a start as she realised that it would mean the end of her dancing career before it had even begun and... what would Seto think? Would he disown her? Would he hate her?
She stopped herself there, as difficult as it was with visions of the ruination of her entire life spreading out before her minds eye. But she forced herself to sit and breathe deeply, to calm herself down whilst she forced herself to drink the now cooling tea. She knew that she would have to go to Seto and tell what was happening, but she could not go with maybes. No, she knew how Seto operated and she would have to go to him with cold hard facts.
She then calmly decided on the course of action she would have to take. She would go to the Kaiba mansion, picking up a pregnancy test on the way, then she would have to find time to actually use it, but she could cross that bridge when she came to it. She would have gone out to obtain a test, then come back home to do it in privacy, but she knew that it would have taken too much time. It was already becoming fairly late in the day and besides, she didn't think she would be able to make the trip across town if she turned out to be... well... not without blubbering and making an utter spectacle of herself. She was sure that Seto would not appreciate that either.
She moved over to the phone, picking up the handset and dialling the number that she had now committed to memory. For all that she needed to see Seto, she was not about to head over to the Kaiba mansion without knowing if he was actually at home or if it was OK to do so.
"Kaiba," he answered the phone in his usual brusque businesslike way.
"Hey Seto," Anzu said uncertainly, worried that she may be disturbing something important.
"Anzu?" Seto was clearly surprised to hear from her and she hoped that he didn't notice any stress in her voice. "Is everything OK?" he asked.
"I need to talk to you," she said suddenly. "Is it OK if I come over?"
"Sounds serious," Seto said. "I'll send a car."
"No, no," Anzu said quickly. "That's OK, I'll walk over. I could do with the fresh air."
"Whatever you think is best," Seto said. "It might take me a while for me to get this finished, but I'll see you later and whatever is up, try not to worry too much, OK? I'm sure whatever it is can't be that bad."
"OK, see you soon," Anzu said, then she hung up, struggling to hold back an almost hysterical laugh. Oh, if only he knew. It could very easily be the end of the world for her! She only hoped that Seto would be supportive if the results didn't come out as she wanted them to.
She washed her cup and made ready to go out. Soon, one way or another, she would know.
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo
Over at the game shop, the three boys were sat together in Yugi's small kitchen, Yugi's grandfather having provided drinks and snacks that were currently sitting untouched.
Yugi decided that if he didn't break the silence they weren't going to get anywhere. "Now, before we go any further," he said, taking complete control of the situation, "Anzu is seeing Kaiba. Is that much correct?" Both Jonouchi and Mokuba nodded. "I can understand why Mokuba wouldn't say anything, but you, Jonouchi," he said accusingly, "decided that this should be kept from me, even going so far as to lie to keep Anzu away from me. Why?
"Because," Jou hung his head, "I didn't want you to be hurt by it."
"But I'm hurt now," Yugi pointed out, "and it was made even worse by the fact that my best friend saw fit to deceive me. You had to know that I would find out sooner or later, right?" Jou didn't answer, but Yugi saw his stricken expression and knew that Jonouchi was beginning to get it. His features softened somewhat. "I do understand why you did what you did, but you have to understand that it was the wrong thing to do, that it only made matters worse and at the end of the day, Anzu is perfectly entitled to see whoever she pleases."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Yugi," Mokuba said with some relief in his tone. "Aznu has been really good for Seto. He's been a lot less uptight recently and he even smiles a bit more now."
"Well, that's something, I guess," Yugi said. "How long have they been seeing each other?"
"You know, I'm not completely sure on that one myself," the boy said, musing over it. "I actually caught them in bed together, but Seto insisted that they were discussing telling me about it before I came in and made the question moot." He looked frankly at Yugi who had winced when Mokuba had mentioned Anzu and Seto being in bed together, but Mokuba knew that there was no sense in pulling his punches now. "I'm pretty sure that's when Anzu decided that she needed to tell you about their relationship herself. She thought it was her duty to do so and it has been really stressing her out that she couldn't do it." He sighed, "That was about three weeks ago."
"Jonouchi!" Yugi exclaimed in shock, "You've been stopping Anzu from telling me for THAT long?" He was plainly upset that his friend would go to such lengths. "Why? What made you think that you needed to stop her from talking to me?"
Jonouchi shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know, man," he said. "It was just a feeling I had – and if there is one thing I have learned over the years then it's that I should trust my instincts." He looked at Mokuba, "And if you repeat that to Kaiba..." he sighed, "then he'll just call me a dog all the more."
"I won't tell him that if you don't tell him that I'm discussing this with you," Mokuba said. "You know my brother is a very private person, but it's no good trying to hide this any more. At least between us."
"Well, your brother needs to learn how to be more careful," Jonouchi said, both grimacing and blushing at the memory. "After what I saw a week last Wednesday at Anzu's house..." he shook his head wryly, "He's lucky that I wasn't one of them paparazzi or something."
"Why?" Yugi asked.
Jou blushed again. "Let's put it this way," he said. "both his ass and Anzu's would have been on show to the entire world!" He shook his head. "I gotta admit, to start with I was really upset for her, thinking that he was just demanding that she do... that for him in payment for getting her them dancing lessons but..."
"But?" Yugi prompted.
"Then he looked at her... all tender like," Jonouchi continued. "I really didn't know he had it in him to care about someone other than Mokuba."
"So why were you so determined to keep Anzu away from Yugi?" Mokuba demanded.
"I dunno really," Jou shrugged. "I guess old habits die hard and it's kinda difficult to think about trusting Kaiba, you know." he looked at Yugi. "I'm sorry, man."
"That's OK, Jonouchi," Yugi said with a small smile. "I understand."
"So how long do you think this has been going on?" Mokuba asked. "I couldn't get a straight answer out of Seto and I'd like to know for myself how long they've been hiding it for.
"I think that something changed between them on the trip back from Egypt," Yugi said thoughtfully.
"What? You mean she went from pining after Atem to shagging Kaiba overnight?" Jou was outraged all over again.
"No, not at all," Yugi said, shaking his head. "Something changed between them, yes, but I don't think that there was anything like 'shagging' going on." He gave Jou a frank look. "Didn't you notice that Kaiba wasn't as cold to Anzu after he dueled me on the deck?"
"Yeah, I did notice that," Jonouchi said. "I think that's what first set the alarm bells ringing, you know?" He paused and a confused expression crossed his face. "But... if he was seeing Anzu, then what about that girl he took out the other week. You know, the one that had her face plastered all over the papers for the next week or so because no one could find out anything about her. What was her name now..."
"Kisa, wasn't it?" Yugi ventured.
"Yeah, that's her," Mokuba put in, looking almost insufferably smug.
"So what about her?" Jou asked, a belligerent jut to his jaw. "It's not nice to two time someone."
"That's not an issue," Mokuba smirked, shaking his head with amusement. "That was actually Anzu."
"You're kidding!" Jonouchi exclaimed, whilst Yugi just sat there stunned. "No way! It looked nothing like her!"
"Well, she was wearing glasses and what I assume was a wig?" Yugi looked over at Mokuba who gave a nod of confirmation. "It's not like we would have been expecting to see her out with Kaiba like that." He sighed. "Are they really happy together?" he asked.
"I think so," Mokuba said. "I already told you that Seto has been a lot more pleasant to be around since they got together and I'm sure that once the stress of this situation is done with, Anzu will be happier too."
Yugi sighed again. He seemed to be doing a lot of that today, but having to re-evaluate this kind of relationship would do that to anyone. "I think I can be happy for her then," he said. "As much as I liked her, I think I always knew that she wasn't for me."
"Are you going to be alright, Yugi?" Mokuba asked, full of concern for his friend.
"Yeah, I'll be good," Yugi replied, "but right now I'm more concerned about Anzu. She needs to be told that everything is OK."
"Ah, Yug', you really do have a big heart," Jonouchi said, standing as Yugi did and pulling his best friend into a hug. "You know that I'll be here for you, no matter what, right?"
"Yes I do and I really appreciate that Jou," Yugi replied, "but please, don't try to hide something like this from me in the future, OK?"
"OK," Jou said, sitting down again.
"So I'm just going to call Anzu and make sure that she's OK. I'll be back in a minute." Yugi left the room then, leaving Jonouchi and Mokuba eyeing each other up warily.
"Are you really alright with this, Jonouchi?" Mokuba asked.
"Not really," Jou admitted, "but if Yugi is OK with it, then I guess I can make an effort to be as well."
"Thank you, Jonouchi," Mokuba said gratefully. "My brother isn't all that bad, really."
Jonouchi gave him a sceptical look. "I'll have to take your word for that," he said. "but if he hurts her..." he tailed off and held up a fist for emphasis, making it clear without words what would happen in Seto Kaiba were to hurt Anzu in any way.
"I don't think it will come to that," Mokuba said. "I'm actually more concerned about Anzu hurting him. He's going to be really vulnerable to something like that and he doesn't have a group of friends to fall back onto for support."
"Humph, he'd just bury himself in that company of his, I'll bet," Jonouchi said, leaning back and crossing his arms defensively.
"Yes, that's what I'm afraid of," Mokuba said, looking down worriedly.
Jonouchi was rather taken aback by that. He hadn't taken Mokuba's point of view into account and if Seto buried himself in work, that would make for one worried and lonely Mokuba Kaiba. However, before he could open his mouth and insert his foot even further, Yugi returned.
"Anzu isn't answering her phone" Yugi said. "I'm worried."
"Should we call Kaiba?" Jonouchi wondered. He was surprised as both Mokuba and Yugi looked at him like he had just grown a second head. "What?" he asked defensively.
"I never thought that you would ever have voluntarily suggested calling my brother," Mokuba said, shaking his head wryly.
"Well, it just seemed like the next logical step, you know?" Jonouchi hedged. Mokuba and Yugi gave each other a significant look. It would seem that once Jonouchi had managed to grasp the fact that Anzu and Kaiba being together was OK with Yugi, then by extension it would also be OK with him.
"I think I'll give her a little while longer and try calling her again before calling your brother," Yugi said to Mokuba. "I know that I wouldn't like to risk disturbing him without a good reason."
"Yeah, he has been quite busy over the last week or so," Mokuba said with a troubled expression. "That can't have helped Anzu's stress levels, I'm sure."
"Well, I'm sure she'll feel a lot better when we tell her that we are OK with it," Yugi said. "I hope she gets back soon."
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo
Anzu, however, wasn't heading back at all. She was on her way to the Kaiba mansion, clutching her bag tightly as she had popped into a pharmacy on the way to pick up a pregnancy test. She had noted that there were very few left on the shelf, although she was lucky to pick up the last but one box of a reputable brand. Her embarrassment had not been helped by the sympathetic yet knowing look given to her by the cashier. At least the woman hadn't tried to make small talk, but then after she had been practically ripped a new one by a woman a few ahead of her in line that wasn't really surprising and Anzu thanked her lucky stars that the cashier had learned to keep her mouth shut.
Soon she approached the large iron gates outside the magnificent house where Seto Kaiba, her boyfriend, resided. She pressed the button on the intercom and waited impatiently for an answer.
"Hello?" Isono's cultured tones answered the intercom.
"Hello Isono," Anzu said brightly, trying to keep the strain from her voice. "Can I come in?"
"Of course, Miss Mazaki." There was the sound of a buzzer then the gates swung open. She started up the path and soon came to the front steps of the house where Isono was waiting for her.
"Mr. Kaiba is presently working in his study," Isono said as she entered the hallway. He looked at her with some concern, noting that her strain seemed more pronounced today. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm fine," Anzu said, putting on a smile that came nowhere near her eyes. "I won't disturb him for now, I'll give him chance to get done before I go to him."
"Very well, Miss Mazaki," Isono kept his cool, even though it was clear that something was not right. "However, I shall let him know that you have arrived so that he may be done all the sooner." Isono turned and walked away leaving Anzu to her own devices. She wasted no time in heading up the stairs and to Seto's room, letting herself in and closing the door behind her before heading straight to his en-suite bathroom.
She took a deep breath as she sat on the edge of the bath, finally removing the package from her bag and taking the time to carefully read the instructions.
OK, so they said that the test would give a better reading first thing in the morning, but that it could be used at any time of day. She had bought a pack with two tests inside it, so she decided that despite that warning she would use one now. She couldn't wait until morning. She needed to try and find out one way or another now or she thought she would go mad. Up until this point she had been quite dismissive of women who stressed over knowing whether they were pregnant or not, but now that she was in that situation herself she entirely understood how they felt.
She carefully pulled out one of the tests and removed it from it's wrapper, taking one last look at the pamphlet to make sure that she was doing it right before she began, determined not to make any mistakes.
Then the moment was upon her. She hesitated momentarily as she wondered if she could actually do this, but at the end of the day she knew that the uncertainty was something that she could not tolerate any longer – and she knew that she could not go to Seto with uncertainties, but how she wished that she had the nerve to go and ask Seto for a little support right now.
A couple of moments and a little fumbling later, Anzu had taken the test. Now came the waiting for the results. One line would mean that she was not pregnant, but two would mean that she was, the first line being an indicator that the test was actually working and the second containing the chemical that would detect the hormone her body would only produce if she were actually pregnant.
The following few minutes would probably count as the longest in the history of the entire world, at least as far as she was concerned. She forced herself not to look at the test until the full five minutes were up as she knew that checking, checking and checking again would only seem to make the time pass more slowly and, as the saying went, a watched pot never boils. As it was, she found herself checking her watch fairly often, cursing when it seemed that the hands were hardly moving no matter how long she seemed to leave it between checks. In the end she sat there, holding herself as the time wound down, hardly able to hold herself together as she tried not to think about the results.
Then, suddenly, the five minutes were up and it was time to find out her fate. Even though deep inside she knew what the answer would be, she still clung to the hope that she was mistaken and the result would not be positive. She took a deep breath and picked up the test.
There were two very clear and distinct lines in the little window.
Two lines. Two lines that would change her life irrevocably. She let out her breath in an explosive blast, then sank down to the floor and began to cry.
How could this have happened to her? She had been so careful, responsible, using birth control. Even though she had not been on it for the purposes of having sex, she had always had it in the back of her mind that it would be one less thing to worry about if it were ever to happen, but a problem with the manufacturing process, whether due to negligence or sabotage, had completely ruined all of that. What would her friends say? What would her enemies say? What would her mother say? What of her dancing career? And at the very top of the list, how would Seto react? She couldn't help but give a wry smile as she knew that he would likely sue the pharmaceutical company out of existence, but that wouldn't help her in the here and now.
She took a few more minutes to try and pull herself back into a semblance of togetherness, then, after disposing of the tests in the bin, she picked up her bag and left the bathroom.
Right now it didn't matter that Seto was potentially very busy. He would just have to make time for this. It was just too important to wait!
xo xo xo xo xo xo xo
A/N- as an addendum to what I wrote at the top, I actually thought about rewriting this part to make the way it happened different, but I really needed the situation not to be Anzu's fault in any way and this is what I came up with.
I think such a situation may not be terribly likely to happen IRL, but it could be a plausible scenario. Plausible enough to write into a fictional story anyway. (Also, I did change this part from what I originally came up with, that being a rogue pharmacist interfering with the pills, because I think that would actually be less plausible than a mass manufacturing fault.)
So, in any case, whether you agree with me or not, thank you for reading.