"I always did something I was a little not ready to do.
I think that is how you grow" - Marissa Mayer
Growing Pains
Warnings: mild mentions of EDs, drug abuse, assault
She was tired. So terribly tired. Physically and mentally drained; so much that she felt sick to her stomach. But she had to push through this. Just a little bit more. She glanced up to the big old vintage clock in the corner of the coffee shop, it said half past 5 pm, so she had only half an hour left until her shift ended. Only 30 minutes separated her from a nice hot shower and a peaceful deep slumber in her comfy bed.
The reason for her discomfort was yesterday's big "Season Closing Gala" at the renowned Waldorf Astoria. Julliard's top students and dancers had a great chance to perform in front of New York's crème de la crème, which meant a lot of potential high paying sponsors and future employers.
It had been a big opportunity, but it was also terribly exhausting. As a result she now felt the full aftermath of her physical exertion. They had to stay and perform until late at night. On top of that she had morning classes today and now she had to work her shift as a cashier girl at a local coffee shop.
"Welcome to Coffee Time, how may I help you?"
"Good evening, one mocha latte, non-fat milk with extra foam and Stevia, please."
"Thank you for your order, mam'. Your mocha latte will be ready in a minute."
As she prepared the order, she had to crouch down to get a few more lids for the cups, but after she got back up, her vision became blurred. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she slowly billed the order. She definitely needed to lie down to recharge her body and mind. Thankfully the madam and the other customers did not notice anything.
"Here you go, thank you for being our guest!"
"Miss, you forgot the Stevia."
"Oh my bad, I'm very sorry!"
Anzu quickly took a few sachets of the sweetener and handed them to the elderly lady.
"No problem at all, my dear."
The lady gave her a sympathetic look and Anzu felt horrible. She needed to put herself together. She could not afford to lose this job. First of all "Coffee Time" was only one subway station away from her apartment and the salary was not bad either, then it was located in a rather nice part of the city and on top of that the customers belonged to a bit of a higher class. It was a really nice change to her usual franchise fast food jobs.
After the lady left, a deep sigh escaped her mouth.
The whole thing was so very tiring and she was starting to get fed up with everything. A while ago she had entered her last semester at Julliard. She had made it! It seemed like a miracle that soon she would be one of the honour graduates of Julliard. Somehow she got what it took to come that far, against all odds and only by pure talent and aspiration. That should give her all the more reason to feel proud of herself, right?
But something felt off. There were just too many exams, too many performances and too many practices. She used to love her dancing lessons, but now they were quite strenuous and put her body under constant pain. Somewhere in the back of her head she knew that it was just a stressful period right before her graduation and that she would eventually get through it all. But uncertainty and indecision kept creeping up on her mind. What will come after that? What should she do with her life?
She would take this secret to her grave, but she was seriously starting to doubt everything.
She never felt so lost and lonely, especially now that she was slowly losing her motivation for what used to be her lifelong dream. On the other hand the feeling of guilt and ungratefulness frequently plagued her mind.
Nevertheless she had to keep on going. At least until she graduated.
Before she landed the job at "Coffee Time" she had to work three different part time jobs just to keep her head above water. But even then she could only afford living in a small apartment in one of the shadier neighbourhoods of New York City which she shared with her roommate Lisa, a young sound engineer.
All of the money that she had previously saved up had already gone to various tuition fees and other school related costs. Long ago she had promised to herself that she would never ask her parents for any help, whether financially nor for any favours. She had decided to work hard for her dream and to achieve everything only by herself and her talents. She had always hated the way that some of her more privileged schoolmates were given preference to only because of their prestigious background.
The whole situation only got worse and even more unbearable by the fact that she painfully missed her friends so much. Here she had no one to talk to or even to ask for their opinion or advice. There were no real friends, no family members and no real connections to anyone.
She religiously kept in touch with Yugi and the gang but she would never burden them with her problems. They all had their own troubles, hopes and ambitions within their own consecutive paths of careers and educations. Their weekly little video calls became the little highlights of her life.
Yesterday evening she had surprisingly met Ryo Bakura at the gala. She felt so stunned that she had almost started to cry. It felt so good to see an old familiar face. She got the chance to talk to her old schoolmate for a little bit and found out that he was currently studying archaeology in Great Britain. His patron had to attend the gala to meet up with some investors. Unfortunately they did not have enough time to catch up further but she had invited him to come over and visit her at the cafe. Unfortunately he had to decline because he had a lot of other appointments to attend to today.
After she had just served the next customer she glanced up to see another one entering. Her heart skipped a beat.
The very last person she had ever expected to meet here. Busy as always typing away on his phone. In his other hand he was holding a notebook. She could swear that the temperature in the room dropped by a few Celsius.
He had not changed at all since the last time she saw him at the graduation ceremony of her high school in Domino. He looked neat and handsome as always.
His tailored suit had probably cost more than her monthly rent.
"Welcome to Coffee-Time."
"One iced espresso, please."
"Cream and sugar?"
"Just regular black."
"Got it! Dark and icy as your soul, Mr. Kaiba?" She asked with a playful tone. He finally looked up from his phone and immediately fixed her with a cold stare.
"Charming, Mazaki."
She laughed out loud. When it came to the young CEO she just could not miss an opportunity to tease him a little anytime she got the chance to. Funny enough she was probably the only person in the whole world who never felt intimidated by him. His arrogance and sarcasm never really bothered her. Whenever she shouted at him, told him off or gave him one of her legendary friendship speeches he only stared at her with a mixture of mild confusion and fear. She grinned widely at this thought.
As she prepared his coffee she saw Jenny entering the café. She would take over her shift.
"Your iced espresso is ready, here you go. Please take a seat over there." She pointed to the most secluded and most comfortable area next to the big bright windows with the best view over the Hudson River.
"Coffee is on me!" She interjected as she saw him fumbling for his purse.
"That is not necessary."
"Of course it is. My shift is over right now; I will change out of my uniform and join you in a minute. Jenny, can you take over?"
She disappeared to the dressing rooms without waiting for his answer. She was completely aware that she had just invited herself to join him, but she could not miss the opportunity to catch up with another familiar face. Even if said face belonged to the worlds famous young CEO and jerk-king Seto Kaiba.
She chuckled lightly and quickly changed to her regular clothes.
As she entered the main hall she was a little surprised to see that he had actually listened to her, as he had taken the seat she referred to earlier. His laptop remained closed shut on the table in front of him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had thought that he would just take his drink and leave without waiting for her.
His arms were crossed loosely over his chest, while he looked out of the window to his right into the rainy scenery of New York City. His eyes were fixed on nothing in particular in the far off distance. He looked kind of bored.
But nevertheless she felt so happy, almost euphoric to see him there, sitting right in front of her. He was a real person from Domino, her beloved hometown with her beloved family and friends and all those precious memories. It did not matter that they were never really close in the past. They went through a lot together and that's what counts.
Honest to god, he was the first thing that brought a little excitement and happiness to her since months ago.
Jenny crossed her way.
"Go up to your cute date. I'll bring your vanilla latte right to your table"
"He's just an old schoolmate"
Jenny winked at her. She rolled her eyes but went up to him anyway. As she slid into the armchair opposite of him he fixed his whole attention on her. Maybe that was not a good idea after all? Even so she was definitely not one to get scared easily.
"Mazaki"
Was that a greeting?
"Hello Kaiba. Fancy meeting you here."
She could see that he was already bored out of his mind. Bad start.
"So tell me, what are you doing here in New York? Is your business expanding or are you on a vacation - god forbid!?"
He smirked slightly. "Nothing of the sort, just had some meetings with a few partners."
Of course it would be at least business-related.
"It is indeed fancy meeting you here" He said mockingly and rolled his eyes "Although this is the second time I'm seeing you."
"When was the first time?" She was genuinely surprised. She could not remember ever seeing him in New York before.
"Yesterday at the Seasons Closing Gala. I saw your performance"
"Oh, you were there?"
"Yes, I've had an appointment with Ryo Bakura. Speaking of him, he was also the one that recommended this café to me."
Oh this little brat.
"I have met Bakura yesterday and we talked for a bit. I hope you had a good time at the gala and the show. Unfortunately we did not meet."
"Indeed the show was quite impressive."
Was that a compliment?
"So tell me Mazaki, how has New York been treating you? You look kind of tired... of it all."
Ok, so no compliments from this man to her. Never. Ever.
She looked at him and something about his countenance demanded complete honesty. That was always the way he handled business and she knew that either way he would see right through any bluff she might attempt, so she decided to be genuinely sincere.
"It's really hard, you know."
He quirked one eyebrow and looked genuinely surprised now.
"What about the power of friendship and dreams or whatever? Amuse me."
"Maybe I was a little bit too optimistic. But enough of me, how's Mokuba doing? We haven't been in contact for quite some time now."
"Mokuba is fine and energetic as always. I wish his grades were as good."
"I don't think that grades will ever be that important for his upcoming path. Does that really bother you?"
"Yes, they are not that important. He won't need them for his future, but I'd wish for him to show at least a little bit of ambition."
Anzu sighed and took a little sip of her vanilla latte. Kaiba scooted a little bit closer while literally starring her down. That approach was part of the reason why he was such a successful and infamous businessman.
"Now back to you. Care to tell me, what broke the little girl who had the guts to put even someone as myself back to my place?"
She bit her lower lip. Off all the possible people in the world, she would have never dreamed of that Seto Kaiba would be the person she would ever talk or open up to. But he seemed legitimately interested and he was not the type of person who would laugh at her afterwards. Maybe he would, but she would not care anyway. So she decided to be honest. What bad could it do, it's not like she would see him again in the near future. They weren't exactly friends but still had somewhat of a bond.
"Whenever I think back to our adventures in the past, I realize that back then we were put under a lot of pressure with everything that had happened to us…" she paused for a moment.
She knew that he had troubles with accepting what had happened to them since Duellist Kingdom as he was outright denying everything, remotely mystical and unexplainable.
"I mean, we were confronted with a lot of dangerous situations at a very young age," she sighed deeply. "But here it's a different story. In Julliard I mean. The situations we're facing are a different kind of dangerous and scary"
"What do you mean? It's a renowned dancing school after all?"
"There's an unbelievable amount of pressure for discipline, physical limits and on looks in particular."
Kaiba looked positively confused.
"For example a lot of the girls from the ballet program are dealing with severe eating disorders. As I am of Asian origin my body type is naturally slim and I don't put on weight easily, but they would require me to lose at least 5-7 Kilograms in order to join the program. That's just ridiculous"
She saw his icy eyes slowly wander down her frame. Then his eyebrows knitted together in disbelief and she felt her face heating up immediately.
"How is that possible?"
"It's not. Most of them fall into drug abuse, taking the risk, although the faculty undertakes rigorous health examinations regularly. As soon as they get caught, they get expelled immediately. Then it was all for nothing, it's such a vicious circle."
Her body eased back into the cushions. A sigh escaped her mouth.
"That's not even the worst. When nothing helps anymore and there is no other solution to be found, a lot of the female and even some of the male students resort to having affairs with the faculty staff or local sponsors for favours. Those kind of situations are on another level of creepy, you know."
That was totally different from the Shadow Realm, Relic Hunters or Orichalcos she was used to encounter.
Seto Kaiba huffed humourlessly.
"So did the world's most famous ambassador of friendship, peace and everything lovely finally get her reality check?"
"Yes, I think... I did." She looked down and felt a slight pang of shame. His eyebrows shot up.
"Come on, you're not the type to give up so easily. There must be at least a little bit of friendship-magic left in you?" he asked sarcastically but at least he did not shut her down completely.
"I don't know; I'm in a very competitive branch. There's a lot of foul play going on and anything can and will be held against you as soon as you open up to someone. I've learned that the hard way right at the beginning" she laughed curtly.
"But you're right, not everyone is out to get me. I have a very lovely roommate and nice working colleagues, but they all have their own problems they're dealing with. New York City is rough."
"That is not necessarily a bad thing, if you ask me. A rough environment can be a crucial factor to your further development. You will either toughen up-", he took the last sip of his coffee "or fail."
"Yes, you are right. I think that I just miss everything back in Domino, the light-heartedness and the safety of a home."
As a matter of fact that was another aspect of her misery - the safety. New York was definitely not the safest place on earth. She remembered back when Lisa's drugged ex-boyfriend tried to break into their apartment. They had to physically hold back the door until the police finally arrived and arrested him. She never felt so scared in her life. Later she found out that he was armed with a gun.
Now she could not imagine ever leaving her apartment without pepper spray at least.
"How long do you have left to study here?"
"I've entered the last semester on Julliard a while ago"
"So you're almost done?"
"Yes, but don't get me wrong. I'm just a little confused. I don't want to complain, but I'm not sure what to do with myself or where to go after my degree. I've just signed a one-year-contract to a dancing troupe with a fantastic compensation, but I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do" she ruffled her hair. "Maybe I should have stayed back at home and let a hobby be just that, a hobby."
"Enough Mazaki. That's not you, self-doubt doesn't suit you."
"It's just that I gave my all for those dreams and now it's so strange. My future perspective includes dancing in the background for some second-rate pop star, if I'm lucky."
Her dream was not innocent and pure anymore. It got tainted by all those bad experiences and superficiality. It was nothing she ever hoped and dreamed of. She will never leave any impact on this world with her art, even if she would get to become the best dancer ever.
"So... it is not your dream to become a backup dancer for 50 Cent?"
"Oh, shut up Kaiba."
It was the first time she saw him laughing for real, albeit very short. She huffed at that.
"Relax Mazaki. I've seen you dancing and you clearly have some talent. You just need to remember what it was that had motivated you in the first place, or to express it in your cheerleader words, what made you really, really super happy."
She rolled her eyes at his antics, but he had a point.
"If you're stuck in a pointless situation as it is now, you need to see and take things from a different angle. I think you're on the right way but you're just thinking yourself in a corner and I know that you won't give up so close to the finish line."
"Did you just give me - the speech - Kaiba?"
"Someone's got to do it, since the nerd-herd fails at even that."
"How utterly generous of you"
"See, that's more like it. I need to go now Mazaki. Here."
He flipped a little white card right to the table in front of her.
"What's that?"
"It's the telephone number of the hotel I'm staying at."
"Oh and here I thought it's the Blue Eyes White Dragon."
"You wish. When are you free tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow's my day off."
"Good. I will pick you up at 12 am right here. I need to go to the Central's Park New Modern Art Exhibition because I made a promise to Mokuba and there's no way I'm going alone"
"Come on Kaiba" she whined but to no avail, he just turned around and left without a second glance.
"Yes, see you tomorrow."
She enjoyed modern art, but this particular exhibition was quite known to be very pretentious. Super privileged boys and girls were making art about their everyday struggles. Anzu rolled her eyes. Nevertheless she felt very happy that he had invited her to join him. She had the opportunity to spend a little time with somebody from home. Someone who reminded her of all the adventures her friends and she had experienced together. Those were such beautiful and fun times. She chuckled to herself, she almost sounded like some old and nostalgic grandpa.
After she drank the last remaining bit of her latte she felt a little bit more refreshed. That was nice. She took the empty mugs back to the counter and said goodbye to Jenny who was constantly teasing her, all in good fun of course. She liked her very much, but she would definitely keep it to herself, that she was going to have a date with Kaiba tomorrow. She snorted out loud. No, she definitely was not going to have a date tomorrow, more of a meeting or a favour.
Some passer-byes looked strangely at her but she still couldn't refrain from smiling. Today was a good day.
After she entered her apartment she got almost run over by her roommate Lisa.
"Hey Anzy-Baby, what's up? Have you seen my curling iron by any chance?"
"First drawer, bathroom."
"Thank you so much. You're my little guardian angel!"
"I know honey. What's the matter, why are you in such a rush?
Anzu took a seat on the old comfy armchair while Lisa packed up her big suitcase.
"Philip and I are going to Boston over the weekend. He wants to introduce me to his parents. Can you believe that?"
"Of course I can. He's really serious about you, you know"
Lisa was a few years older than Anzu and a very trustworthy and sweet girl, a typical southern belle. Unfortunately she had just no luck with her men. Her former boyfriends were either very abusive or addicted to some illegal substances or terrible cheating douchebags. Until half a year ago she finally met Phillip, a young IT-engineer and a very stable and nice guy. Anzu was truly happy for her. She had well-deserved someone who is as kind as she is. After Anzus graduation Lisa planned on moving together with her boyfriend.
"You really think so?" Lisa grinned brightly. "Anzu, what about you? What are your plans for the weekend?"
"Oh, nothing in particular" despite herself Anzu felt her face turning red. "Today I've met an old schoolmate and we'll go to the Central Park Exhibition tomorrow afternoon."
"For real?! So you've finally decided to jump into the dating game?"
"No, not really! Nothing of the sorts!" Anzu felt shocked. In no way she had ever thought of Kaiba in that way. Of course Lisa would jump to conclusions and immediately misunderstand the whole situation. "He's just some... I don't even know what to call him? He's not a friend, obviously, but he was still part of our group. Anyway he's probably just calling in a favour."
"What kind of favour do you owe him?"
"He saved my life once"
"What?"
"...after I saved his brother from kidnappers. I once even saved his life, but it probably went unnoticed."
"How could've something like saving his life go unnoticed?! What did you do?"
"I stopped my best friend from blowing him off the edge of a castle..."
"Oh my god, I will not ask any further. But more importantly, what are you going to wear tomorrow?"
"Nothing special? It's just an outdoor event."
"Wear your cute flowery dress, the white one."
"No way, it's raining buckets outside."
"They said it will be sunny tomorrow."
They were interrupted by the loud noise of their door bell.
"Oh that's Phil. I need to go now, have fun tomorrow and you have to tell me every little detail when I'm back!"
"There will be nothing to tell! Take care and have fun too"
Lisa blew her a kiss and hurried out the door. Anzu sighed deeply and dragged herself to the shower. Before she went to sleep, she crouched down in front of her bed. She knew that she had carefully placed it right here behind her training equipment. After some rummaging around she had finally found it, a small pink carton box with her most precious possessions.
The next day she was clad in her white dress, not because Lisa told her so, but because it was indeed a wonderful and warm day. With spring coming closer to its end, it was starting to get noticeable warmer, but she knew to never underestimate the weather of New York. After many colds and flues she had learned her lessons. At those unpleasant memories she pulled her leather jacket a bit tighter.
After she left the subway station her part-time working place "Coffee Time" came into view. On the parking lots she could already spot her companion for the day nonchalantly leaning against what must be an excessively overpriced sports car. As always immaculately clad in a suit, albeit in a bit of a more casual one.
"Do you have to keep me waiting, Mazaki?"
"Of course not Kaiba, that's why I came five minutes earlier."
He just smirked at her as he opened the passenger door for her. She did not even have the chance to thank him for his surprisingly good manners as someone rushed out of the coffee shop carrying two coffee-to-go-cups. Unfortunately it was Jenny with a grin as wide as a Cheshire cats across her face.
"Here you go Mr. Kaiba." she handed the cups to him and secretly winked at Anzu. "Have a nice day you two!"
"Thank you Jenny, you too." Anzu answered sombrely while the young girl disappeared back into the coffee shop. So there goes her plan of keeping it a secret from anyone. Kaiba handed her one of the cups after she took her seat. After taking a sip she felt fairly surprised that he had ordered her favourite vanilla latte for her.
"Thank you Kaiba." she murmured as he started the car and drove out to the busy streets. After a few minutes she realized that he positively ignored her, so she felt obligated to take care of the conversation.
"So tell me, what gives me the pleasure of accompanying you to the infamous Central Park Exhibition? Do you fancy the finer art?"
"Are you serious Mazaki? I've lost a bet to Mokuba and have to attend this farce as a penalty. I mean, New Modern Art?!" He snorted nonchalantly. "What is that even supposed to mean, as if the word – modern - was not sufficient enough. Pretentious art from pretentious brats is not something I dearly enjoy".
She laughed quietly at that.
"Why didn't you take Ryo or went alone?"
"Bakura has left for London yesterday" he sounded a bit gloomy but then glanced back at her. "A trouble shared is a trouble halved, right Mazaki?"
Anzu rolled her eyes. "So I'm the makeshift solution. When are you leaving?"
"My flight back to Domino is scheduled for tonight"
Anzu ignored the slight sting of pain. She did not think that he had to go back so soon; secretly she had hoped that he would stay for a bit longer.
After they arrived and handed the car over to the parking service, they finally entered the fair. As expected the exhibition left much to be desired. She was by far no expert to modern art but in her humble opinion the pieces were hideous and the prices ridiculous.
Anzu took a look around and recognized quite a few familiar faces, some of her fellow students and some sponsors. Some people she got to know from her performances were also there. They all regarded her with a rather stunned or strange look. It was probably all thanks to her quiet acquaintance. The young CEO wasn't even that well-known here, but they were probably just shocked to even see her with a guy, presuming she was on a date. In all the time she had lived here, she had not even had one date. She had better things to do than to get distracted by boys.
Their onlookers most definitely misunderstood the whole situation.
They came to a halt in front of a particularly ugly piece.
"Mokuba is going to get into major trouble once I return home."
"Come on, it's not that bad. Besides this is your penalty, it is supposed to be unpleasant. On what did you bet anyway?"
"My little brother claimed that he could lead KaibaCorp for one month straight on his own without any help or my interference. I betted against it..." He paused dramatically ."But unfortunately he passed with flying colours."
Anzu was shocked. Mokuba? How old was he now? Somewhere around fifteen or sixteen years?
"That's unbelievable, he grew up quite fast. Then why would you even worry about school marks?"
"Exactly because of that, he has such a remarkable apprehension, but he won't use it academically. Nowadays everything else seems to be more important. That little Hawkins girl is also quite the distraction."
Rebecca Hawkins? Mokuba had a girlfriend? Anzu hoped she did not look as flabbergasted as she felt.
"That's nothing unusual for a boy his age. I guess... they don't play Duel Monsters nowadays."
"Believe me, they do. The sales are constantly increasing. It's insane."
Anzu glanced at him. He had something about him, his stance and demeanour. The way he held himself, his back straight and proud with both of his feet firmly rooted down to the earth. He had that typical business air around him. That's probably where his endless arrogance stemmed from. But everything he got, he had earned through hard work and commitment to KaibaCorp.
Absentmindedly she remembered back on how they all got stuck into Noah's virtual reality and involuntarily got a glimpse of Kaiba's past childhood and his unmerciful upbringing by Gozaburo Kaiba.
"What about you Kaiba? How come you haven't worked yourself to death by now?"
"There's not much to do anymore, to be perfectly honest. Mokuba has urged me to hire a management board consisting of young entrepreneurs to split the managerial functions. Surprisingly they're doing a rather good job so far. Mokuba is also quite involved in the business leadership, so I'm pretty unburdened."
She inspected him secretly. He did look a lot better than she remembered. No, not better but healthier. He used to have those permanent black circles under his eyes and his whole behaviour was always very inpatient and stressed. Now he seemed to be more at peace with himself.
"What about Duel Monsters? Do you play, do you host competitions?"
"I have kind of retired from playing. At least I refrain from playing any public matches anymore. Only some private card games with Yugi or Jounouchi from time to time."
He smirked curtly at her.
"There's no real competition anymore. Since..." He cleared his throat "-a while ago."
The atmosphere between them turned gloomy and silent. She knew exactly why he had no real competition anymore. It was the same reason why she had not went to even one date in the last four years. He was gone for good this time. He finally passed on to his desired afterlife, but there was not one single day where she did not reminisce about the other Yugi, the pharaoh, Atem. He had left a big bleeding hole in her heart. Nevertheless she felt truly thankful for all those adventures she got to experience with him.
"There are still competitions, but they are professionally executed, in closed quarters with trained referees and top safety measures. There will be no Battle City anymore. Our main target group focuses on the needs of children and young adults not some crazed Relic Hunter freaks and their likes. "
"What happened to you Kaiba? You delegate work tasks, diffuse dangerous competitions and neglect card games?"
"Not really. I still work on the research and development of the duel discs. Overall I guess I've just gotten less reckless and less willing to take that much responsibility anymore. Every duel disc edition gets pretested by Yugi, Jounouchi, Otogi or sometimes by Kujaku Mai."
"No way! You meet my friends more often than I do?"
"Probably. Honda has taken on car sales and just sold me a pretty little Benz last week."
"I can't believe it." Her hands flew to the sides of her face. "Have I fallen to the shadow realm and landed in some kind of bizarre parallel universe?"
"No, someone told me some time ago that it is ok to not always rely only on yourself and to have some trust in others."
"That's very mature of you Kaiba. That person must've been very wise."
He rolled his eyes and she could swear that she heard little chuckle. She just laughed wholeheartedly at this. She loved the situation. Her friends seemed always happy and cheerful every time she contacted them and now she knew that Kaiba was a part of her friend's lives too. She was afraid to jinx it by thinking it out loud, but she had always hoped that Kaiba would finally join their friendship circle one day.
"I've just taken things from another perspective, Mazaki."
"I got it Kaiba. I will work on my future plans."
"Oh my! Mr. Kaiba what a pleasure to have you here!"
They were interrupted by a little chubby young man. He was dressed in all black and had a funny looking beret on his head, some big round sunglasses completed his weird look. He was kind of familiar; Anzu remembered reading somewhere about him. If she remembered correctly he was described as a somewhat controversial artist.
"I have noticed that you and your lovely girlfriend have spent quite some time in front of this particular piece."
Her eyebrows shot up. Did he mean her? She was not Kaiba's girlfriend.
Kaiba half-heartedly tried to clarify the misunderstanding but he was again interrupted by the artist.
"May I introduce you to my latest creation? It's called the Blackness Within. I designed it after I experienced the darkest hour of my whole existence. An existential crisis if you will. This piece of art stands as the epitome of sorrow and desperation. I'm sure someone like you can feel its energy."
They both looked at the specific piece and there stood a blank white canvas with one little black dot in the middle. Anzu had previously thought that this was just a regular white wall. How on earth was that supposed to be art?
"Yeah, I can feel the sorrow. Believe me." Kaiba answered dryly and Anzu had to stiffen a laugh.
"Don't you just love the way its dynamic force vibrates onto the onlooker?"
She knew that this conversation would turn very uncomfortable if she didn't take action. She grabbed Kaiba's arm and immediately got his attention.
"Seto, come on. We need to get something to eat and get going or else you will miss your flight back home."
"Yes, you're completely right. I'm inconsolable but we need to go"
Kaiba did not even wait for an answer; he just took her hand and dragged her away. Anzu bit her lower lip. That day strict boundaries were overstepped. She called him by his first name and he held her hand. After glancing at her he pulled her back into the crowd. After a while they crossed the exhibition and made their way towards the parking docks.
"Where are we going?"
"I think that was enough punishment for today. By the way I liked your idea; we should really get something to eat."
"There's a really nice place right across the street. Right there!"
She pointed towards the restaurant with a nice outside veranda and just now he seemed to realize that he was still holding her other hand. He furrowed his eyebrows and shot her an accusing look, then he immediately let go of her.
"We can keep on holding hands, if you want to?"
She asked him innocently while stretching out her hand. This time he outright snorted at her and she could not stiffen a laugh.
"Come on let's find a pedestrian crossing."
"No way." He mumbled as he again took her hand by her surprise and quickly pulled her across the street. It was quite difficult to keep up with him as she wore her high heeled ankle boots and it just had to be a double lane that they had to cross.
When they arrived just in front of the entrance of the restaurant she let out a deep breath she didn't even realize that she was holding.
"Are you crazy? You get legally charged for crossing the streets like that!"
"Time is money."
"Oh yay, old Kaiba is back!"
"Come on, let's get something to eat." He said as he held up the door for her.
She grumbled quietly as she entered the dining hall. She knew that it was a rather nice place as she had been here before. She had attended to various sponsor meetings or show discussions and knew that it was suited for the exquisite taste he probably had.
After they took a seat and placed their order, a comfortable silence settled between them which however did not last very long.
"Have you made up your mind yet?"
He asked her out of the blue and she immediately knew that he did not mean the menu.
"Don't laugh at me, but I've read my old diary before going to bed-" He snorted anyway but she just rolled her eyes and continued "and I think you're right. I will not give up on my dream."
Under her bed she hid a tiny box, where she kept old photos of her beloved high school days; there were many Polaroid's of her family and friends. There were the application forms of Duel Kingdom, the entrance tickets of Battle City and the receipt of two milkshakes from a very special date. There was a CD with her favourite songs to which she used to practice her dance routine, then right under it was a DVD of her favourite movie at that time "Save the last dance" which inspired her greatly. She had also kept every pay check of her many part time jobs during high school. The payment was awful but she still managed to save up enough for her education fees. Buried in-between of all her precious memories was a little notebook, where she wrote down her ambitions, her fears and everything else she had experienced and went through to finally achieve her lifetime dream.
On top of everything was a tear-stained acceptance letter of the Julliard School.
He sighed, rested his chin on his hands and stared her down. That was a sign for her to continue with her explanation.
"Soon I will get my degree as an honour student at one of the most prestigious dancing schools in the world. I've worked hard to come that far, so I really don't have to shake my posterior in a second rate rap-video if I don't want to."
"What a pity, you always had those mad cheerleading-skills, you know?"
"Oh shut up Kaiba! But to be honest, there are so many possibilities which I completely disregarded in my sad state of mind."
He nodded and his lips formed a thin line.
"I love children, you know. I could teach dancing and give dancing lessons. I could apply for musicals, theatres or even direct my own dancing shows. Otherwise I could simply travel the world with my dancing troupe. The possibilities are endless if you take every opportunity into consideration."
She was shocked at how easily she got side-tracked and even considered giving up on everything. Now it felt like she opened her eyes for the very first time. She had almost forgotten how nice it felt for her heart to beat wildly in her chest with her newly discovered enthusiasm for life.
"But right now I'm actually very content with my dancing contract. It gives me some time to think about my future plans, while simultaneously earning money and doing what I love." She concluded finally.
He smirked at her and gave her a somewhat approving look. He looked like he was pleased that she had accomplished the task of finding the right answer by herself.
She wanted to give him a bit of her mind on that but conveniently their early dinner arrived just at the right moment. The characteristic delicious scent of her tenderloin steak with her favourite red wine sauce immediately made her mouth water. As she took her first bite she truly felt a bit closer to heaven.
Kaiba had opted for a classic Filet Mignon, but as she looked up at him, she saw him openly staring at her with a very shocked and confused expression.
"What?"
"Nothing." He looked back down to his own plate. "I just thought you'd eat the salad only."
"I'm doing high-performance sport, so my body needs the nutrition. Besides if I wasn't going to eat the steak then why would've I ordered it in the first place?"
"To make me pay?"
"Oh, would you get off your high horse? I can just imagine what kind of women you would usually take out for dinner."
"I'm taking you out for dinner right now."
Well that got her to shut up quickly and him to smirk triumphantly at her. She would let him have this one.
"You are not really taking me out for dinner; it was my suggestion in the first place."
"So you want me to formally ask you out for dinner the next time?"
He lifted one eyebrow and a wolfish grin spread across his face. Why did their conversation suddenly shift to a dangerous territory? Were they flirting? She was not really sure because of her zero experience with men. But probably not, he was far too cunning and sly and was probably just toying with her. His haughtiness really annoyed her to no end but the delicious food took the edge off it.
"You know what, that would be very gentlemanly of you."
After their dinner was over and they had a small walk through the park, she quickly found herself back in his car. As the day was nearing its end he decided to drive her all the way back home as he would absolutely not accept her willingness to take the subway.
After she told him her address, once again a comfortable silence settled between them although she felt a bit unhappy that he had to leave so soon. Contrary to her expectation they had a really nice day together.
"When are your final exams?" He broke the silence.
"At the beginning of May. When's your flight back home?"
"In about three hours. When will you go back to Domino?"
"I'm not sure, after graduation we have to find new tenants for the apartment, so probably sometime around summer. My tour starts in September."
"We're here."
He parked right in front of the stairway entrance to her building complex. They arrived sooner than she preferred. After she unclipped the fastening and climbed out of the car, she turned around to her former enemy? Friend? An acquaintance? She had to give it a good thought over what he was to her now later.
"Believe me or not, but I'm actually very happy and thankful for meeting you here and I'm giving full credit to you for putting my mind and spirit back on track."
"That's what friends are for." He said with a straight face, but every syllable dripping with sarcasm.
"Oh my god, did you just use the F-word?"
"Indeed, I feel kind of dirty now. However Mazaki, it's good to know that you've decided to take the harder path in life, which means that you will have to keep on working hard for your goals. It'll be worth it."
"I'll keep on fighting! Once again the power of friendship saved the day!" She dramatically threw a fist in the air to empathize her statement.
"I must say, your pain-in-the-ass-behaviour was always the charming trait on you, Mazaki. Take care."
"Take care and have a safe flight, Kaiba." She went to close the car-door, but before it completely locked she whispered: "I wonder if Jonouchi will throw a fit after he finds out that we've spend the whole day together?"
He smirked and gave her one last exaggerated eye roll before he drove off.
Life was good. She had a great day today and tomorrow she had another day off. Finally she got the chance to completely restore her energy for whatever trials and challenges may come up in the future.
But first she had to call Yugi. No way would he ever believe her what had happened today!
A/N: Thank you for reading! Reviews are always welcome :-)