Declaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of its characters!
Best Friends Forever:
Christmas Eve
"Can I at least peek at one present?" Mokuba pleaded with Anzu and his older brother, the one they only Seto Kaiba. It was the night before Christmas and a gigantic tree was sitting in the living room of Seto Kaiba's mansion. A comfortable fire burned in the fireplace and above hung three Christmas socks, each with the names of the three people living in the mansion. Presents were scattered around the tree almost making a second carpeting for the ground. There must have been at least fifty presents around the tree, each a different size than the other.
The blue eyed brunette shook her head at the young one and waved the large wooden cooking spoon in the air at him indicating that it would not be tolerated trying to sneak a preview on the gifts he desired to open. Sighing he slumped his back and marched to his room, he had to find something to do before Anzu had finished the Christmas dinner.
Anzu let out a breath of exhaustion and brushed off crumbs of chicken fillings from her apron. Cooking was hard work, she had been preparing and cooking for the past two hours, and she still had a whole list of things to do. Walking back into the kitchen she checked on the turkey in the oven and opened the fridge to get started on her green bean casserole.
A pair of strong and warm arms wrapped around her waist and pull her into their warm body heat.
"Hello there beautiful" Seto whispered into her ear as he swayed her in his arms. Letting out a giggle she tried to push him away. She wasn't that easy to melt into a hunky guy's arms.
"Seto, I have to cook, stop bothering me." She said as she tried to escape from his grip and get back to cooking her green bean casserole. Giving a quick peck on the cheek he let her go.
"I have to do some work so I'll be back in a while" He said as he walked off towards his office. Anzu gave a slight nod and went back to her cooking.
She was greatly bothered by something though. Yugi. He was her closest friend (along with Kaiba of course) and lately they were moving further and further apart. Where was the Yugi that she could share secrets with? Where was the Yugi that gave her advice and she could trust? What had happened to him? Yes of course Kaiba and her were best friends along with being her boyfriend, but Yugi was a league of its own. What had happened to him?
Yugi sat at home sitting in his room in the dark. Grandpa was outside decorating the shop and his friends, excluding Anzu, were coming in an hour to celebrate Christmas with him. He growled in anger as he thought of Anzu and Kaiba and allowed a few tear drops to roll down his cheeks. This was enough, how much longer would he sit around and get angry thinking about Anzu? Did he expect them just to break up on their own? No. Would Anzu just fall in love with him crying at home? No.
Yugi stood up. This was not the Yugi everyone had grown up to know and love. This Yugi was blinded by desire, his desire for Anzu.
Finally he knew what he had to do. He went into his closet and pulled out a large metal box with a lock on it. It was the box that had his millennium puzzle in it. He had stored it away so he could break contact with the Pharaoh. He hadn't told anyone, but since the day he had revealed his love for Anzu, the Pharaoh was ashamed of Yugi for feeling jealously and anger towards Kaiba. Yugi had gotten so upset from hearing the pharaoh he had broken connection with him. No one had noticed him without the puzzle, Anzu would have noticed, but she was with Kaiba all the time.
He had not wanted to share with anyone the conversations he and the Pharaoh had together, the endless hours the Pharaoh had spent trying to logically explain to Yugi that what he felt was wrong. Maybe Yugi was wrong to hate Kaiba, maybe it was wrong to want them to break up, maybe it was time to talk to the Pharaoh.
Opening the box he took the puzzle into his hands and slipped it around his neck. He felt the cool metal hit his skin and realized the puzzle began to glow. He found himself enter into darkness and face the Pharaoh himself.
"Yugi…it saddens me for you to have broken our bound for such a long time."
"Well maybe you were right about Anzu…I just don't know anymore. Maybe Anzu isn't for me…"
"Anzu is your closest friend and-"
"How can she be my closest friend when, for the past two years ever since she came back from the US she's been with Kaiba? Tell me that Pharaoh!" Yugi yelled as tears poured down his cheeks once more.
"Has she never come to you for advice in those years? Has she never cried on your shoulder? Has she never hugged you with tears pouring down her cheeks?"
Yugi stopped and froze as memories struck him one after the other.
"Yugi, why doesn't he like me?" Anzu cried as Yugi put his arms around her shoulders trying to comfort her. Her eyes were red from crying, her cheeks were damp from tears, and her nose was red from the tissues she had been using.
"Don't worry, I'm sure Kaiba didn't mean it like that." Yugi tried to explain as Anzu dug her face into his shoulder.
"Than what did he mean when he said 'Mazaki don't bother me ever again! You're nothing but an annoying cheerleader and a pain in the ass! Don't you get it? I don't want to be your friend.' Tell me Yugi what else did that mean?" Anzu said as she let more tears fall onto Yugi's shirt making his sleeve damp and wet.
Anzu had come to him before anyone else to share her pain and sorrow in those two years that she and Kaiba were friends. Anzu always came to him when she wanted to share something. Anzu shared her secrets with him, not anyone else.
"Yugi can I tell you something?" Anzu asked as they walked home from school.
"Sure Anzu, anything."
"Do you think I should just give up on Kaiba? I mean, I think he really doesn't want to be my friend. Maybe I should just give up."
"No! I know Kaiba, I can see it in his eyes, he really does want to be your friend, he's just stubborn. Just you wait and see, one day you guys will be the best of friends." Yugi said excitedly.
"Thanks Yugi" Anzu said as she smiled.
Anzu trusted him, she really had been his closest friend even when she was friends with Kaiba.
"Anzu what's wrong? You seem upset." Yugi said as he looked at Anzu entering the Game Shop drenched with rain.
"Kaiba just blew me off for his work." Anzu steamed as she walked towards the counter.
"Don't mind him, he'll come around. Just you watch, soon you'll be more important than his job is to him. Oh gosh! Your soaking wet from the rain! Let me get you a towel!"
"Thanks Yugi." Anzu said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Your right Pharaoh, she is my closest friend, but I love her and she doesn't love me back."
"Maybe you two were just never meant to be young one, you'll find the right one someday."
"Maybe your right Pharaoh, maybe your right." Yugi said and for the first time he smiled and feelings of anger and hatred melted away. "Maybe your right" He whispered to himself.
Taking off her apron, Anzu went into the living room to find Mokuba trying to carefully peel off the wrapping paper off of one of the presents.
"Mokuba!" She yelled as the young boy jumped backwards being startled from Anzu's sharp voice. "I thought I said no presents until the morning!"
"Yea…about that…I was just inspecting the wrapping paper. Never know what their made of…" The young boy said as he laughed nervously.
"I see…" The brunette said doubtfully. "Well dinner is done, so come to the table to experience a dinner like no other!" Jumping for joy at the name food Mokuba ran to the table excited to try Anzu's dinner.
She had gotten one brother to get to the table, the trouble was getting the other one. Walking briskly she entered Kaiba's office and found him furiously typing at his laptop.
'Not again, not on a holiday! How could he work on a holiday?'
"Seto it's the Holiday's! No working allowed!" Anzu said as she began tugging at Seto's arm like a child.
"Hmm?" He said as he continued typing with his free arm that Anzu wasn't tugging at. He knew it made her mad to see him working when he should really be spending time with her and Mokuba. But he was almost….so close to…..
'BEEP!' His laptop sounded as he entered the last few pieces of information. Yes, on Christmas Eve, he Seto Kaiba, had just finished his newest plan to launch more publicity to his company. He called it the 'Kaiba Corp Annual Holiday Duelathon' and it would boost his company more than ever. With Anzu still tugging at his left arm he shut his laptop and stood up, making it so she was holding on to his arm more than tugging it.
"Seto, really when are you going to learn that work isn't everything?" She said with a hint of sadness in her eyes.
He really didn't think work was everything, but he didn't want to ruin the surprise for the Duelist Competition he was going to host. He stroked her soft chocolate hair and smiled, "You and Mokuba are much more important to me than anything else in the world, so I promise I won't touch anymore work until this holiday is over"
Smiling again, happiness was shown in her cerulean eyes and pink danced on her cute cheeks. He was frozen by her beauty, her eyes, her cheeks, her smile, and she smelled like fresh strawberries. He wished he could be with her forever…
"I made dinner! Lets eat!" She said cheerfully as she took his hand and tugged him towards the dining room.
As they entered the dining room they saw Mokuba sitting patiently at the table staring at the large roasted chicken. He was trying to keep himself from lashing out on the dinner, he wanted to wait for the whole 'family' to come to the table.
"It must of taken a lot of concentration to keep yourself from touching that chicken, huh?" Anzu said as she sat across from the young boy.
The three of them burst into laughter as they passed around different food items and began eating. They talked and laughed as they ate chicken, Anzu's famous green bean casserole, mash potatoes, pasta salad, and sweet potatoes.
The two brothers had never ate anything like it, it was delicious, the food left sensations of taste on their tongues as they ate. They hadn't ate a meal like this since….
"Mom…Dad…I miss you…" Mokuba whispered under his breath. Seto had stopped celebrating Christmas ever since they had become orphans. Anzu was the one who started the Christmas thing again and stirred up the Holiday sprit in the Kaiba family, but Mokuba couldn't help but miss his parents, his real parents. Kaiba's ears perked up as he heard Mokuba say how he missed his parents. Suddenly the atmosphere in the room became still as Anzu put down her fork and look concerned at Mokuba.
Kaiba looked at his brother as he saw him shed a few tears and covered his face with his hands to hide his expression. Kaiba knew this was going to happen on Christmas, it usually always did, every year he hoped that they could live a life of happiness with no grief.
"Mokuba what's wrong?" Anzu asked as she walked to Mokuba and put her hands on his shoulders. Suddenly Mokuba burst into tears and hugged the closest thing to him, which happened to be Anzu. He hugged her around the waist and cried into her shirt.
"Why? Why aren't they here with me anymore?" He cried. Anzu looked puzzled for a moment but quickly realized that he was talking about his parents. Instantly she hugged him closer and stroked his hair.
"Its okay Mokuba. Shh…." She said as she attempted to calm him. The poor boy, he was only twelve, with Kaiba busy with his work most of the time no wonder he missed his parents.
Kaiba slowly got on one knee to get to eye level of his younger brother. He was sad too, he could feel what his brother felt, but looking at Anzu hugging Mokuba and stroking his hair he felt calmed. His brother with his arms wrapped around Anzu and Anzu looking lovingly at him trying to make him feel better, with her blue eyes looking so soft and her chocolate brown hair flowing at her shoulders, her soft arms wrapped around Mokuba's shoulders made him feel as though he wasn't so alone anymore.
Mokuba felt suddenly calmed as Anzu's arms wrapped around his shoulders in a loving way and how she stroked his hair so gently…It made him feel as though he had his mother back…
Rubbing his eyes Mokuba came out of Anzu's warm hug and looked at her smiling tenderly at him. Seto patted Mokuba on the head and smiled.
"Lets finish dinner"
After dinner everything seemed back to normal, Mokuba was more energetic as ever and Anzu decided they should play hide and seek tag.
"Isn't that a little childish?" Kaiba remarked.
"Of course not!" Mokuba and Anzu yelled back at the same time and burst into laughter.
So hide and seek tag it was, Kaiba decided to count to fifty as Mokuba and Anzu were only allowed to hide on the main level of the mansion. After counting to fifty Kaiba started his search. First he looked around in the living room, behind the tree, behind the TV, behind the sofas, and found no one to be there. Next was the dining room and kitchen, after looking around he came to the conclusion that they weren't there either. The only places left were the library, the office, game room, and the closets.
The library seemed like a good place to hide, there had to be around twenty or more book shelves in the place and two or three desks were placed in different places of the large room. Lets see…a good place to hide would be…under the desks! So he bent down and crawled under each of the three desks only to find a hidden stack of chocolates! Where did they come from? He opened the top of the box and found it full of Snickers bars! Mokuba must have hidden them there to snack on. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to eat a few while searching.
Next was the office, it had a large long desk that had a computer, his laptop, and the rest had loads of papers scattered on the desk. He had a fire place at the end of his office, but he didn't think either people he was looking for would hide in a fire place. After taking a quick peek under his desk he concluded yet again, no one was there.
The game room, Mokuba's favorite place, Kaiba knew his brother was somewhere in the depths of this room. A large plasma TV was against the wall along with loads of game systems scattered on the floor, PS2, Xbox, game cube, game boy, game boy advance, game boy sp, etc. Around the systems were millions of games on the floor, and to the right of the room was a large shelf full of DVDs of movies Mokuba liked and on the right side was a computer he used to play games. In the middle of the room was a gigantic 5 ft by 5ft clear glass chest filled with Duel Monster cards. It was filled to the top with cards and the scattered cards where visible through the glass. Kaiba took no notice of it and walked around the room inspecting where Mokuba could be hiding.
If Kaiba had paid more attention he would have realized that the "clear glass chest" that was filled with cards should have had cards in neat piles and not a messy puddle. Because the chest was no ordinary chest, it was a duel monster card organizer machine that Kaiba had made for Mokuba a few years ago. The reason for the cards being a mess in the chest was that a certain someone was in the middle of the ocean of cards.
After spending what seemed like forever in the game room Kaiba started walking out of the room guessing Mokuba was somewhere else. He had taken a step out the door when he heard something…
"Achoo!"
Stopping suddenly he turned around, who had just sneezed? Squinting his eyes he looked around the room again. Wait…were those cards moving? Going to the chest he opened the top and stuck his hand into the cards and tickled the large creature. Mokuba sat up in the pile of cards and pleaded that he was found and tagged.
It was time to find Anzu.
"You know Mokuba, the point for hide and seek tag is for you to be in a position where you can actually run away from me." Kaiba said plainly.
"Yea I know, but that hiding spot was too good! If I hadn't sneezed you would have never found me!"
Kaiba smirked and realized the only places that he had to look in where the closets. On the main level there are only three closets, one is next to the entrance of the mansion, the other is in the hallway connecting the living room and the office, and the last one was in the sun room.
After ten minutes the two brothers had looked in all but one closet, the one that was in the hallway that connected the living room and office.
As he opened the last closet he realized that this was the exact closet that he had admitted to Anzu that he wanted to be more than friends with her. He walked into the large closet and didn't seen Anzu. In the closet there was a little section where you could put things above the railing that had coats and hangers and Ms. Anzu was lying on her tummy looking down at Seto.
Mokuba suddenly let out a large giggle as Anzu winked at him from above. Kaiba spun around and looked at his younger brother.
"Mokuba…" He growled. He knew his brother knew where Anzu was, there was no way he was going to loose to her, after all he was one of the world's top gamers. Mokuba back away knowing Seto knew he knew where Anzu was.
Anzu took this time to spring onto Seto's back and surprise him for a split second. He tried to keep his balance from the impact of the dancer's weight on his back. She had wrapped her arms around his lower neck and wrapped her legs around his torso.
"Gimme a piggy back ride Seto!" Anzu squealed as she rubbed her cheek against his smelling the after shave he wore. Kaiba rolled his eyes, sometimes Anzu was more of a child than Mokuba, but none the less she was still as cute and pretty as ever.
"So does this mean I win?" Kaiba asked Anzu as he walked out of the closet with her on his back.
"Nope" Mokuba filled in for Anzu. Suddenly the door bell rang.
"Who's bothering us at eight at night on Christmas Eve?" Kaiba growled.
Mokuba laughed nervously. "Did I forget to mention I invited the gang over to have a sleep over tonight?"
"You better be referring about the mafia because if it's the doggy band I'll have to shoot them" Kaiba said as he locked his arms around Anzu's thighs to make it easier to carry her on his back. Anzu just laughed at his words and gave him a playful kiss on the cheek.
"Now, take me to the door!" Anzu commanded as she pointed to the door and Kaiba playfully hopped up and down to make her feel off balance. It was odd, even though her body looked full and healthy she didn't seem to weigh much. Well maybe because Seto Kaiba does weight lifting and can do over 120 pounds…
Mokuba ran to the door and swung it open. There stood, Joey, Mai, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, and Yugi at the door with presents in their arms. Kaiba had the sudden urge to slam his mansion door in their face, but due to the fact that Anzu was on his back he never got the chance to do so.
Joey walked into the mansion and looked around the living room. "Nice digs Kaiba, I gotta admit, I'd never think a jerk like you would invite me over to your house for a Christmas sleepover."
"Yes it was very kind of you" Serenity added in.
"I didn'-"
"Yes Big Brother is very excited to get to know you guys better," Mokuba cut in as he jabbed his elbow into Kaiba's hip. "Isn't that right Seto?"
"I didn'-"
This time Anzu cut in, "Isn't that right Seto?" Kaiba just decided to grunt, and so he did.
Yugi came inside a new heart, he wasn't going to be angry at either Anzu or Kaiba any longer. After all, being friends with Anzu was enough for him.
"Hey Anzu why are you on Kaiba's back?" Duke asked as everyone came inside from the cold.
"I'm giving Seto his daily workout" Kaiba grunted as Anzu muzzled with his hair.
"Hey lets watch a movie or something!" Mokuba exclaimed "What should we watch?"
"Lets watch Mr. Deeds, it's a movie from the US and I've heard its really good."
And so Mokuba put on Mr. Deeds in the living room on their large television. Anzu took some sheets and spread them out on the floor so everyone could get a blanket and a pillow and relax to see the movie.
The living room in which the movie was on was gigantic, the whole space that everyone had to relax on the floor and spread out on was twenty feet wide by twenty feet wide and the television was large enough for everyone to see from their current position. Once the whole living room was covered with soft white sheets, blankets and pillows were provided to each person (Kaiba kept a whole storage room full of supplies such as pillows, soap, blankets, towels, etc).
Here's how everyone ended up lying on the floor with their comfy blankets and pillows with the lights turned off. Mokuba and Yugi were huddled near the front of the TV, Joey and Mai were to the left side of the living room, Serenity was between Duke and Tristan being towards the right of the living room, and Anzu and Kaiba were near the back of the room.
Tristan and Duke argued quietly over who was getting closer to Serenity, while Mai and Joey were lost in a state of their own staring at the TV blankly, Yugi and Mokuba focused on the movie, and Seto and Anzu were lost in their own world.
Anzu had placed their pillows next to each other and they had flopped on their stomachs to watch the movie. They both shared a large comforter that no one else had the honor of having as they kept warm by both the thickness of the comforter and their body head.
Anzu had put her head on her pillow and stared at her favorite person. His eyes were glued to the TV, but they were glazed over as though he wanted people to think he was watching when he was really thinking of something completely different. His hair was slightly disorganized from Anzu's hair arrangements when she was getting her piggy back ride. She took her hand and gently combed over some locks of silky brown hair that covered his eyes.
His attention slightly shifted as he felt a cool hand brush against his forehead clearing his vision. He gently turned his head to face her gentle face, her eyes were half way open as her cheek rested on her pillow. Soft strands of her hair fell on her cheek as she gazed at him paying no attention to the movie. Such tenderness in her eyes, it was what he had always wanted, someone who cared for him. He had let these pests stay at his house to see her be happy and feel the warmth that joy she got from being with her friends. If he had to swallow his pride for her, he would.
She cracked a smile through her closed eyes as she felt him stroke her hair softly and give her a peck on the cheek. They flipped on their back and ignored the movie, it was just a background to them. She felt the cold sheets on her back and shivered slightly.
Sensing her body feel the slightest amount of discomfort he wrapped his arms around her waist under the large blanket were no one could see their activities and brought her close to him. Her back was to his front meaning they were both facing in one direction making the scene seem less intimate, after all they were in a room with other people. Seto Kaiba had found himself snuggling with Anzu yet again. His arms locked into her waist insuring that she would keep herself close to him and quietly their eyes closed as they were wrapped in each other's warmth.
No one noticed the little scene that had taken place between the two young teens as everyone else watched the movie and found themselves drifting to sleep.
I'm back! Wow that took forever! I think this has to be my longest chapter! Everyone dance 'cause LovinLove is back in business! Don't forget to review!