Opening the door that night, she had almost made her way to the stairs when she was yanked backwards by her aunt's hand fisted in her hair.
Anzu cried out as she was dragged into the living room and thrown to the floor. Her eyes closed on instinct when she hit. "What the-" She opened them just in time to avoid the foot that came flying towards her. Scrambling to the other side of the room, she tried putting as much distance between her and her crazed aunt as possible. In the dim light of the flickering television, she could see Mako's furious, heaving figure standing in the entrance. Her fists were clenched, and her face was twisted in anger.
"Where is it?" She snarled.
A wave of anger and fear washed over her. Clenching her own fists, she shouted back. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play games with me, girl." Her aunt stalked towards her. Anzu circled around, still trying to keep her distance. "The money! Where is my money!"
"Money?" Then she remembered-Bakura holding a white evelope; saying he found it in Mako's purse; the envelope with her name on it.
Faster than her bulk belied, she rushed Anzu, grabbing hold of her face and smashing the back of her head into the wall. "You little bitch! Where is it?" Anzu's hands reached out blindly, and managed to grab a fistful of Mako's own hair. She yanked it, hard enough to pull her head back, and Mako shrieked. Her aunts hands were wildly swinging out, trying to catch hold of Anzu's own hair, but she was unsuccessful.
Anzu yanker her hair once more, shoved at the bulk of the body pinning her down, and made Mako stumble back. The woman finally managed to snatch the hair on the side of her head, and thrust her towards the floor. Mako lost her balance with the momentum, and fell to her bottom on the floor as well. Anzu was a bit disoriented, but realized there was a clear path to the door now. She scrambled up, as quickly as she could despite her swaying, and stumbled to the door. She flung it open, and bolted down the steps into the street.
Mako made it to the door in time to see a fleeting glimpse of the girl disappearing into the night. "You can…stay…gone!" she shouted, between gasps for air. The slam of the door as she went back into the house echoed down the street.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
By the time she was able to sufficiently orient herself, the sky was beginning to lighten and she had managed to put quite some distance between herself and her home. She stumbled, her vision blurred with tears into what she recognized as being the city park. She had been running for what seemed hours, and she was relieved to be somewhere familiar. Catching sight of a nearby bench, she gratefully collapsed onto it and tried to catch her breath. However, every breath she caught was spent in a gasping sob, and she dimly realized that she needed to calm down before she made herself sick.
"Why am I acting like this? It's not so bad." Although she felt sore all over, and still felt a bit dizzy, she didn't think she'd have any visible bruises. "Ow!" Running her hand through her hair, she found two nasty bumps beginning to form. "What am I going to do? I can't go home. I can't ask any of the guys to put me up. I don't have any money…" Stopping that line of thought, least she start to panic, she tried to relax and lean back but something prevented her from doing so. "My backpack!"
She quickly swung it off her shoulder and frantically began to search through it. 'Oh please, oh please…I need something to go right today-' Luck was with her, as she found the item she was searching for. "Yes! My purse!" Her backpack put aside, she began to thumb through her purse. She almost cried with relief when she found her bank card. Tomorrow she'd have more options- it wasn't a debit card (she didn't think she'd ever need one) so she'd have to wait for the bank to open in the morning. Anzu was fortunate, however, to have put aside almost all of her paychecks from the last three years at work. Added to that, monies from different relatives for birthdays, holidays, and left over from her parents' trips, and she had a decent nest egg. Not as big a one as she hoped she'd have when she finally went out on her own, but she could survive. She hoped.
For now though, she was stuck. Pushing back the rest of her tears, she put her things away. Using her bag as a pillow (a very lumpy one) she curled up on the hard bench and eventually fell asleep.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The steady beat of the sun warming her face was what woke her late that morning. If she was prone to cussing, she would've given into the urge to do so as she looked at her watch, and realized she missed the first two periods of school.
'As if I could go looking like this anyways.' She sighed. Her clothes were rumpled and dirty, and she hadn't her usual shower after work the last night. 'I need to go home sometime today, if only to get some clothes.' She wrinkled her nose. 'And a shower.'
Her good fortune held, as she saw her aunts' car disappear down the road not fifteen minutes after Anzu arrived at her block. She wasn't so lucky, however, to be able to locate the key that should have been under the mat. "She took the key, that-" Anzu bit her lip, and sighed heavily. Dropping her bag on the porch, she circled around the house.
As she had hoped, the kitchen window was cracked open an inch. Unfortunately, it was a good two feet above her head. Leaping up, she managed to grab the bottom of the window sill, took a hand, and slid the window the rest of the way open before dropping back down. Leaping once more, she pushed the screen in and caught hold of the inside ledge. Quicker than she thought possible, she managed to slide in the kitchen, but didn't count on having to navigate the sink overflowing with dishes. She ended up on her back, on the floor of her kitchen, but managed to avoid bringing any dishes with her. Her muscles, already stiff and sore from the previous night's fight protested as she got to her feet. Anzu was on a schedual, however; she didn't know when her aunt was to return, so there was no time to waste. If she was at her own house, she'd have a good two hours, at least, as Mako lived on the other side of town. If she was at the market, maybe less.
Showering briskly, she gathered all her toiletries and dumped them on her bed as she walked into her room. She dressed in record time, and began packing. Soon, she had all her clothing and a few precious knickknacks packed into three suitcases. The two packed with clothing went out the window, into the side yard below. The smaller bag with breakables and necessities she carried with her downstairs. Once out the door, she looked back one last time. She wasn't sure when she'd be back. Given the way she was feeling at the moment, she wasn't sure if she'd ever set foot in her childhood home again.
She hid her two suitcases in the bushes; she hadn't yet a place to stay, but her aunt wouldn't find them there and it would be easier to fetch them from the yard than to risk coming back into the house. Taking a deep breath, she took her first steps in a new life.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Although she did have quite a bit of savings in the bank, the only place she was able to get on her own wasn't in the best of neighborhoods. However, all the other places she tried required credit cards, a credit history, and no one wanted to take a risk on someone so young. So, although it was the type of landlord who "didn't ask questions, as long as the rent was paid" (direct quote) it wasn't a run down building. The doors to the outside were big and thick, but everything else was cheaply made. At the least, it was in good repair, and it was clean.
Once she got her keys, it took her a good two hours to get back to her old home and retrieve her bags. She was thankful she had taken the precautions she had; her aunt's car was indeed in the drive and the tv was loud enough to be heard even outside. An old prank involving a paper bag and dog poop (a long story Joey once told her) flashed through her mind, but she wasn't going to do something so juvenile. Her reasoning had nothing to do with the fact it was getting too dark to go out looking for a convenient pile of poo. She never carried lighters with her anyways.
It was probably around midnight by the time she got back to her new place. Her clothes she piled in the small closet of the bedroom, and her alarm clock went on the floor. 'At least I'll make it to school tomorrow.'
Before settling in for bed, she upended her backpack and began sorting out what she would need for the morning. "Hm- what's this?" The edge of an envelope could just be seen from beneath one of her textbooks. Flipping it over in her hands, she drew a quick breath in shock- her name was written in black ink across the front, in her mother's handwriting.
An image came to her mind, of the first and last time she'd seen it-dancing around the nimble fingers of a certain thief. Strangely enough, it felt heavy. She opened it, with some trepidation.
And gasped in astonishment. She flipped through bills upon bills… more than enough to feed her for a year. To her surprise, at the end of the stack, there were three of her parent's credit cards. With her name on them. They'd never done that before. Was it because she was more responsible now, or because they'd be gone for that long? Or did they, like Anzu, not trust Mako either?
Tossing the envelope down, she put her head in her hands and sobbed. Any hope of her parents coming back and getting rid of that thing in the house were dashed, and the weight of her situation sunk in. 'I'm not ready to be on my own yet!'
Anzu began to calm down as she reasoned with herself. 'Technically, I've been on my own for a while now, right? It's just this time, I'm not home. And if I watch what I spend, my paycheck can cover rent and it'll be just like always.' She looked around the room, the empty spaces for a bed and dresser glaringly obvious. 'Well, not exactly. But I can manage.' Anzu sighed, and began making her bed.
She piled her blankets on top of one another, and slid into her makeshift bed. It really wasn't so bad- it was much like sleeping on a traditional tatami mat. And it was much better than sleeping in the park. As she reflected on the past days, she decided she was very lucky to have come so far. And with that thought, she fell into a peaceful sleep.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
She was never so grateful for a Friday than she was that morning. The emotional upheaval of the last few days were beginning to take their toll, leaving her felling listless and drained. But, all things considered, it could've been much worse.
Although the walk to school was now considerably longer, having to walk through downtown Domino had its perks-like treating herself to a cappuccino from the local coffee house before class.
Tossing her cup into the wastebasket near the door, she was greeted by her friends as she made her way to her seat.
"Hey, long time no see Anzu!"
She gave Joey a half-hearted glare. "I was only gone for a day, Joey! I don't get this warm a welcome from you after spring break, and that's a considerably longer amount of time."
"Yeah, but you never miss a day of school, so it seemed like a long time."
Tristan poked Joey in the back with his pencil. "You're just complaining cause nobody else was here you could copy notes from."
"What about Yugi?" She knew better than to ask about Tristan. Neither he nor Joey ever took their own notes.
Said person leaned forward to look around Joey, directing his comments toward the girl now sitting in her seat. "If he's going to goof-off in class, he deserves the grad he gets. Besides-" he held up a page from his notebook. Anzu cocked her head to one side, then the other, trying to decipher the chicken scratch that was Yugi's handwriting. "I doubt he'd be able to read anything I wrote." He finished.
"Ha! That's why you and the spirit are so comfortable together!" Yugi turned a questioning look at Tristan. "Why's that?"
"You guys are the only ones who can read your own writing!"
The rest of the group groaned-it was a terrible joke-and sat back in their seats as class began.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
She was surprised to note that being able to continue her nightly commute with Kaiba was comforting in its' familiarity.
Anzu leaned against one of the pillars of Kaiba Corp, facing the street. Having nothing better to do, she began bopping her head to a tune she had running through her mind all day. She didn't have long to wait until she heard the sound of the front doors opening, then closing. Popping out next to Kaiba as he drew alongside her caused him to give a little jump back, the tiniest widening of his eyes telling her he was startled by her sudden appearance. She was sure he'd never admit to it aloud, though. She cocked her head at him, gave him a smile, and began walking. He drew up next to her, and they continued down the road in companionable silence.
The only shift in their routine was that Anzu now left the main road before Kaiba; her street lay a few blocks before his, on the left as opposed to his which laid on the right. She turned down her street, leaving her companion's side without a word or glance behind, never thinking to inform him of her new residence. They never really talked before-as such, Kaiba walked almost a full block alone before noticing her absence.
'Wish they'd fix the lights on this street' she mused as she trod further into the darkness. 'It's kinda creepy-but I suppose I'll get used to it eventually.'
As if on cue, faint footsteps sounded from behind. A shiver ran up her spine, and she moved to the side of the sidewalk hoping the person behind her would pass.
The steps quickened behind her, and wound her nerves so tight that when a hand descended on her shoulder, she instinctively swung out with her school bag, aiming for her assailants' head. Another hand grabbed her wrist lightning-quick, before the bag could hit its target. Her eyes traveled up to meet a familiar set of glaring blue.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?"
Anzu stood there for a moment, mouth agape, speechless. When she finally regained her voice, the only thing she could squeak out was an (oh so intelligent) "Huh?"
Kaiba turned back around, her wrist remaining in his grasp. "Hurry up. This isn't the kind of place you want to be so late at night." An unspoken "idiot" was evident in his voice, which was polite for him. He began to drag her back the way they had come.
It was a couple of feet before Anzu snapped out of her stupor and dug her heels in. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" Her captor turned his head and raised an eyebrow.
"In case the graffiti and all too frequent reports of violence has escaped your notice in these parts, let me be the first to inform you that this is no place for a girl to be walking around alone."
"But I have to-"
His eyes narrowed. "The only thing you have to do is go home-right now."
She snapped back. "That's what I'm trying to do, you jerk!" She sighed, and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry-that didn't come out the way I wanted it to."
"I doubt a little yellow house with a white porch and fence lay down this particular road."
Her eyes popped open in amazement. How did-no, she wasn't going to ask. She should've known-it was Kaiba, after all. Apparently, he knew everything. She sighed once more. "I don't live there anymore."
"Why not?"
She huffed, and tried to yank her wrist from his grasp. "None of your business. Now let me go-please." She looked to where his hand still held her wrist.
He looked as well, and slackened his grip for a moment-then tightened it once more. "Tell me why."
Anzu gritted her teeth, and tried once more to free her hand. Kaiba wasn't budging. "It's a long story. Just, just drop it. Okay?"
"Give me the short version."
She tried glaring him down, but he remained indifferent. "I-well, I-" She didn't like giving into him, but she also really didn't like standing there in the middle of the sidewalk. 'I suppose, in the interest of getting home today…'
He started to tap his foot impatiently, which only served to make her wish to stall further. However, he was right about one thing-this wasn't a good place to be loitering after hours.
"Fine. Short version. Someone else lives there. End of story."
"I find it hard to believe two people can't live in a four bedroom house comfortably." Okay-where did this man get his information from? It was bordering on creepy.
The truth of the reason for her situation came to her mind, and she found herself inexplicably embarrassed because of it. Blushing, the fingers of her other hand subconsciously felt the still-tender lumps on the back of her head. "I don't feel safe there anymore. I really can't- won't go back until my parents come home from their business trip."
He stared at her for a moment. He seemed to come to some sort of a decision, and when Anzu tried to tug her wrist from his grasp once more, he let her go. Kaiba then turned around and began walking the way they had come.
Anzu was just about to turn toward her own path when Kaiba's voice stopped her.
"Come."
She stood there flabbergasted. 'Who-does-this-ASSHOLE-think-he-is?' He didn't really think, after all this time, that she was the type of person to respond favorably to him ordering her around like some…some animal?
She rooted around in her knapsack, and with a small victorious "ha!" revealed-
A twinkie.
Which she then opened, and proceeded to hurl at the unsuspecting Kaiba.
It hit him square in the back of the head, stopping him in his tracks. Slowly, his hand lifted and felt around, encountering the sticky mess that refused to dislodge at the gentle probing of his fingers. A slightly more brisk run of his fingers detached a portion of the soft cake, and it slid off to land on the pavement below. He turned around, and gave her as evil a glare as she seen him give anyone.
She held her ground, hands on her hips, as he stalked towards her. 'He will not intimidate me.' Although-she had to run that phrase repeatedly through her mind as he stalked ever closer to her. He didn't stop until their shoes were almost touching-their bodies uncomfortably inches from one another. His head leaned down, his nose close to brushing against hers. She fought to keep herself from stepping back-she wasn't giving in on any level-he was the one at fault!
"Why" he hissed silently "did you feel the need to do this?" He held up his hand, covered in a portion of the cake and cream.
"I" her voice quavered a bit, and she cleared her throat and tried again. "I am not an animal. I'm not going to stand here and be treated like one either." His brows drew together slightly, confused, and he drew his head back a bit, giving her a little more room to breath. He refused to take that one step back that she wanted him to though. She looked at him, and though her voice was steady, her eyes were pleading. "Would you let someone talk to you like that?"
The confusion in his face turned into a softer kind of glare, and his hand dropped down to his side. His breath came out in somewhat of a huff, as he turned his head to the side. "I'm…trying to help you."
Anzu was confused, now. "Help me with what?"
He turned back to her. "You're not going to sleep in the street. Especially not here." He gave an almost non-existent sigh. "You can have a room at my house-until your parents return."
"Oh!" Understanding dawned on her. "Well, that's nice of you, but really-it's not necessary." Anzu smiled up at him, a bit proud of herself and happy to be able to tell someone. "I managed to get a small apartment of my own down here. That's why I'm headed this way." His closeness was really starting to bother her now that she wasn't angry anymore. She took a slight step back. "It's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but-I'm doing something on my own, and I really-"
"Don't want to owe anyone-especially me."
"No! That's not it at all." She took a deep breath. "I would just feel better about myself if I can get through this little problem on my own. That's why I haven't told anyone else-I don't want them to worry, or push me to accept any help from them. I've got cash and a couple of cards left for me by my parents, and I've got a steady job-I should be fine until they return."
Kaiba quietly huffed and looked around. "So you're going to live here, for what, a month?" At the look on her face, he revised his estimate. "A few months?"
"Ah, probably closer to a year, I think." She kind of cringed at the look he gave her. Anzu crossed her arms, but managed a smile. "It's the only place that would take me without any referrals. But it's fine."
He stared intently at her. "You'd choose this place over mine?" She opened her mouth to retort but he held up a hand, forestalling her. "I know, I know. Some kind of independence thing. And I guess…I can understand that." He looked down her street, taking note of the darkened street lamps and graphitized walls. "You're not walking home by yourself."
"Now wait a minute here, Kaiba-"
He glared at her again, cutting her off. "Don't argue-it's for your own good. Now come on." He gently grabbed her shoulders, spun her around, and gave a slight push. "Let's move."
She gave up, and began her walk home once more. He moved up beside her, and ruffled the top of her hair. Anzu almost stopped walking-shocked at his uncharacteristic move. However, as her fingers moved up to smooth her hair into place, they encountered a sticky mess, and she realized what he did. He had wiped his hand (which still held the remainder of the twinkie) in her hair. She couldn't stop the growl that slipped past her lips, and could've sworn she saw his own lips quirk in a almost-smile. Biting back all the things she could've said, she simply quickened her pace and determined to get the night over with.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The walk to her apartment was short, fortunately. Each one was wrapped up in their own thoughts, and didn't say a word to one another; although even if they weren't, the walk would've remained silent as usual.
Anzu stopped at her building. She hadn't really wanted Kaiba to know where she lived. It wasn't that she didn't' trust him; if she were truthful with herself, she was a bit embarrassed. The building didn't look very nice on the outside. It was one of the few buildings in the area that didn't have anything broken, at least, and it was very clean on the inside.
She walked up the steps and opened the door. When she didn't hear it shut behind her, she glanced back and found her tall blue-eyed shadow stepping through the doorway.
"Ah-" she turned around, one hand holding the door, blocking him from entering all the way. 'What is he doing?' "Um, thanks for walking me home." She said hesitantly.
He simply looked at her.
She let go of the door, and put her hands on her hips, causing Kaiba to grab it before it hit him. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think it would be rude of you to not invite me in? Especially after I've went so far out of my way for you."
"For one thing, I'd invite you in if I didn't think you'd say yes. For another, I didn't ask you to-"
"Regardless" he interrupted her. He managed to slide past her slim form and into the building. "I refuse to walk home with this cake matted in my hair."
"Couldn't you just call someone to give you a ride home? Then you wouldn't be walking home with it in your hair, you'd be riding home with it in your hair." He responded with one of his patented glares. She sighed. "Let's get this over with." She muttered inaudibly.
Two flights of stairs and a short hallway later, they stood in front of Anzu's apartment. She was nervous enough that she dropped her keys twice trying to unlock the door. At Kaiba's offer of assistance, she growled and shoved the key in the lock.
Opening the door, she turned on the lights and headed for the kitchen counter to deposit her bag and keys. "Yeah, I know I don't have anything- I just moved in yesterday." She turned to him and watched as he glanced around, taking in his surroundings. There wasn't much to see.
She went down the short hallway and through the door to the bathroom. Collecting shampoo, conditioner and a towel, she walked back out to find Kaiba looking around her bedroom. "Hey! Out, out, out!" Anzu walked in and physically pushed him out of her room. "You don't just walk into someone's bedroom, you pervert!" He snorted as he walked back into the empty living room.
"It's not like there's anything to see."
"I don't care! It's the principle. A guy doesn't just walk into a girls' room." A memory of another guy who invaded her room came unbidden, and she walked into the kitchen quickly to hide an unexpected blush. What was it with these people? Depositing the items on the counter next to the sink, she went back into the living room where Kaiba was standing. "You can wash your hair in the sink in there. I've got a blow dryer if you need it when you're done." He nodded, and brushed past her into the kitchen.
She stood there for a moment, listening to him fiddle with the knobs on the sink. She was at a loss of what to do. She didn't have a television to just lounge in front of until he was done. She wasn't about to watch him wash his hair. And she was afraid if she stayed in her room he'd seek her out there when he was done. Despite her trusting him not to try anything, she still felt squeamish thinking about a guy in her bedroom. She sighed, picked up her bag, and walked into the living room.
Approximately fifteen minutes later Kaiba walked out of her kitchen to find Anzu sitting against her wall, on the floor doing her homework. She looked up at him appraisingly when he entered the room. 'Either he's really prissy about washing his hair, or he took extra long just to annoy me.' "You know, when the bottle says 'Lather, rinse, repeat' you only have to repeat once." He glared at her, but didn't respond to her barb.
"You mentioned a hair dryer?"
"Yeah, in the bathroom, under the sink. It's the only door in the hallway you haven't been through."
He muttered loud enough for her to hear, as he followed her directions. "Are you sure I'm allowed in here? I'd think the bathroom would be too personal a place to allow me to see."
He came back into the living room, and Anzu pointed to a wall outlet he could plug it into. "Ask any girl about the bedroom thing. They'd agree."
He gave her a funny look. "No."
"Why not?"
He paused, and for a moment she didn't think he was going to respond. "I don't know any other girls that I could ask."
She was surprised. "Oh."
Talk was suspended as he turned the dryer on, and began to dry his hair. She went back to her school work, placing a textbook on the few papers that threatened to blow away.
It took him less time to dry his hair than it did to wash it, and soon he was winding up the cord and putting it away. She didn't look up as he re-entered the room, and stood next to her, his already tall frame dwarfing her petite one as she was crouched over her work spread out before her. Only when he cleared his throat did she finally glance up to acknowledge him. "What are you working on?"
"Ah, English. Why?"
He looked away for a moment, then looked back, and leaned against the wall. "Did you want some help with it?"
"No thanks. I think I've got the hang of it." 'I'm being a bit stuck up, aren't I?' she thought to herself. 'He really seems like he's trying to be nice.' "I wouldn't mind some help with Calculus, though." She smiled up at him.
He gave a small snort. "Figures." She let the comment pass as he lowered himself to the floor, and grabbed one of her papers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
An hour went by surprisingly fast. They had a few conversations while she worked, that unlike any other they'd ever had, didn't degrade into insults. It wasn't until Anzu stretched, then checked her watch that they'd realized just how late it was. "Oh, god, Kaiba, I'm sorry I kept you here so late."
He stood from his position, across from her, and stretched himself. He responded with a grunt, and walked over to where his coat and briefcase sat on the counter. "I offered my help. I can see why you took it." Anzu ignored his implied insult, and laughed. She walked over to the door, and opened it for him.
"Hey, Kaiba-" she called after him, as he walked down the outside hall. He stopped, and looked back at her. "Thanks."
He merely shrugged, and walked down the stairs. She smiled, and shut the door.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
End Chapter 3
Yikes. That took FOREVER to get out. Sorry it's so late! I'm not going to regale you with everything that has happened to me these past few months, but suffice it to say, I really did have a good reason. Really!
Hope you enjoyed!
P.S. I really did!