Some angst, awkwardness, but no swearing in this chapter.

Chapter 6.

Sleeping Arrangements.

Anzu took ages in the bathroom. Partly because she hoped Yugi would already be asleep by the time she got into bed, and partly because she was still too upset to sleep.

She brushed her teeth and then decided to take a shower, in the hope that it might wash away some of the stress she was feeling.

But as she squeezed her eyes shut to lather shampoo into her hair, the horror of the night filled her mind, projecting itself in vivid detail onto the backs of her closed eyelids:

The awful moment when Yugi confronted her in the middle of her performance; he was looking at her with so much anger and confusion on his face. Running after him in a blind panic, as he was ejected from the club by the bouncers. The hurtful exchange of words between them. Crying out her problems on his shoulder. The vicious insults being hurled at her by Tony, as he tried to break the door down. The fight, followed by a single gunshot. And finally, Tony laying on the floor, bleeding profusely.

Each of these images played themselves over and over until she gasped, opening her eyes despite the soapy water running over her face.

She pummelled the wall of the shower in frustration: What was she going to do?

The police had taken her neighbour for questioning, so it was only a matter of time before he told them she was the cause of all this. The police would arrest her for obstructing the investigation; is that how it worked in New York? She had always been a law-biding citizen and had no idea what it was like to be on the wrong end of the law.

Why had she not just been honest and told them in the first place? Embarrassment about the police finding out she was a stripper? Possibly. But mostly it was the fear of Yugi finding out that Tony was her boyfriend.

They might ask her really intrusive questions about her relationship with Tony, and then she would have to confess all in front of Yugi. Did he already suspect that Tony was not only her boss, but also her lover? Yugi might want to believe she was coerced into dating Tony, but truth was, she was not really coerced into anything; she could have said 'no' to that first date, but chose not to because her dreams were more important than her principles.

How much did Yugi already suspect? He was not stupid. He must be wondering why her boss would bother coming to her apartment, in a fit of seemingly jealous rage.

Her friendship with Yugi was already hanging by a delicate thread as it was. The mean things she had already done to avoid him over the last year were already enough to scare off a lesser man. But even though he had been her friend for years, and was even willing to take her back as his girlfriend, even Yugi would get to the point where he had had enough of her crap eventually.

She was not sure how she even felt about the possibility of him walking away from her for good, because right now she was not sure if she even cared. Relationships were too much trouble, it seemed.

Maybe she was just tired and emotionally drained. She was certainly tired of constantly trying and failing to get anywhere. All those lies she had told her mum and dad about how well she was doing; leading them to believe she was having a great time and had a fantastic job, when in actual fact she was so financially hard up and desperate that she had believed the lies of a playboy gangster, dated him, and agreed to work as a stripper on the promise that he would help her into a show on Broadway.

What a fool she was.

::::::::::::

Finally gathering her composure, she dried herself off and rubbed some soothing body lotion into her skin, before pulling on her dressing gown, wrapping her hair in a towel and tiptoeing back to the bedroom. Rather than wake Yugi, she decided to dry her hair in the sitting room.

When she entered the bedroom to fetch her hair-dryer, Yugi was laying on his back, his hands behind his head as he rested. But the moment he heard her, he opened his eyes and pushed himself up onto his elbows. "What took you so long?" The look he was giving her was full of concern, but she could not bring herself to tell him how she was feeling.

Instead, she shrugged nonchalantly. "I had a shower. Sorry. Did I keep you from sleeping?"

"It got to the point where I was about to come and bang on the bathroom door, to check if you were okay." He studied her, face etched with concern. "I'm worried about you, Anzu," he admitted, voice gentle and sincere.

She was heartened, but still not willing to offload her problems on him. Instead, she forced herself to look surprised at his assumption, while at the same time pretending to be cheerful. "Really? There's no need; I'm fine. Do you mind if I dry my hair? I'll try and be quick."

He knew her well enough to know she was putting on a brave act, but decided not to confront her further. He forced a smile, all be it a sad one. "Go ahead, I don't mind." He rolled over onto his side to watch her. "I like your hair longer," he added appreciatively, hoping it might ease some of the tension in the air between them.

Caught off-guard by the compliment, she turned to look at him, but quickly turned back to face the mirror again when he smiled at her; that smile would be the undoing of her.

Yugi continued to watch, imagining himself running his fingers through her rich, silky chestnut hair.

She finished drying her hair, but now she needed to remove her dressing gown so that she could put on her pyjamas; she could not do that with him watching her. "Can you..." she began to speak but noticed he had that dreamy, but naughty, look on his face. She rolled her eyes."Geez, Yugi. What are you thinking?" If he was imagining her naked, like she thought he was, then she was not best pleased.

"Nothing," he blushed, forcing a pretend yawn. "Just tired."

"Oh. Well in that case, close your eyes and turn away. I need to put some pyjamas on." Feeling like a scolded puppy, he shuffled over to face away from her.

Satisfied he was not looking, she went to her drawer and pulled out the frumpiest pair of flannelette pyjamas she could find –her warm ones for winter. Hurriedly dropping her gown to the floor, she pulled them on. They were absolutely perfect; there was no way he would get turned on by the sight of her in these.

"Okay. You can look now." When he turned around and saw her, he did not react in any way whatsoever to what she was wearing, and it comforted her to know that even if he was disappointed that she was not in a baby doll nightdress, he would not order her to put on something sexy, like Tony would have.

Knowing she was with a man she could trust, she climbed into bed. As she did so, she noticed that Yugi was still wearing his vest top. "Would you like me to find you something to sleep in?" She asked politely, so as not to appear as though she was ordering him around.

He looked down at himself. "I'm fine," he replied.

She pursed her lips, trying to contain her displeasure that he was wearing clothes that he had worn all day to sleep in. "What have you got on your bottom half?" She could not see his trousers on the floor anywhere and hoped he was not still wearing them.

"My boxers," he replied, noting the frown on her face. "They were clean on this morning," he reiterated, remembering how she had said boys were disgusting and gross, when Jonouchi once boasted about wearing his underpants for nearly a week.

Her face softened. "Yes, but you will have to wear them tomorrow too, so best not sleep in them, eh? I might have something else you can wear." She hopped out of bed and went to the drawer to rummage around. Yugi knew it was pointless arguing, so he smiled and thanked her.

She soon found what she was looking for.

"These will do." She held up some baggy lounge pants. "What'd you think?"

"They're pink!" he complained. "With... what are those things? " He squeaked, grimacing.

"They're fairies. I like fairies. And no one will see you... except me," she teased.

"Can't I just sleep in my boxers?" He grinned impishly.

"Yugi! That's gross. If you're going to insist on sleeping in them, you can sleep on the floor."

Sighing, he pouted and took them from her; he did not want to sleep on the floor.

He sat on the edge of the bed with his back towards her to change, but she still caught a nice glimpse of his backside when he stood to pull the boxers off and put the fairy trousers on.

He turned around to face her. "I look stupid," he pouted. She tried not to laugh, in case he refused to wear them. But they were a reasonable fit; thanks to the elasticated waist, that was loose on Anzu's trim twenty four inch waist, but just about stretched around his twenty nine inch waist.

She tried to placate him. "They're only for sleeping in."

"well, I guess." They were nice and soft to wear.

"You can wear this instead of your vest. It belonged to one of the guys I used to house-share with. He left it behind when he went home and I kept it in case he wanted it back. But he never got in touch." She handed him a baggy singlet. It was plain black, so he happily put it on. It was a bit flimsy, with slashed sides for armholes, but other than that he had no complaints; it was fine for sleeping in.

Yugi waited for her to climb into bed, before getting back in on his side. "I set my alarm for eight thirty by the way," he told her. "Only I have to be at the convention for eleven."

"You're still going in?" She asked in surprise.

"I must," he sighed.

"Well, okay. Guess I will get up then too, in case the police arrive early."

"Yeah. I just hope they don't keep us too long. Anyway. Good night Anzu." He considered giving her a kiss goodnight, but she looked anxious so he was not sure if it would be appropriate. After hesitating, he decided not to. "Erm...Night Anzu."

"Night Yugi." She reached for the lamp and turned it off, before snuggling down with her back facing him.

Unsure what to make of her body language; he knew her well enough – or he thought he did – to know it was her way of saying don't come near me.

He rolled onto his back and looked up at the darkened ceiling. He wished she would let him cuddle her; nothing more, just a cuddle. But she seemed very uptight around him. He could be wrong, but he wondered if Tony had mistreated her and made her a little afraid, even around an old and trusted friend like himself.

He turned over as carefully as he could so that he could watch her. She was fidgety and her breathing was ragged, indicating she might not be asleep yet. When she reached across to her night stand and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose, he knew she was struggling to sleep.

She finished blowing her nose and then hopped out of bed and trotted to the bathroom. When she came back, Yugi looked up at her with concern.

"Sorry," she whispered, "Did I wake you? I went to get a glass of water so I can take some pills. My nose is blocked from all that crying and I've got a headache."

"You didn't wake me," he replied. "I can't sleep either. Is your head bad?"

She placed her water down and slid back into bed. "It's just tiredness and stress."

"Is it me making you nervous? You know I would never hurt you."

"Of course I know that," she said irritably. "Sorry," she sighed. "I didn't mean to snap. It's not you. It's everything. And no; I'm not ready to talk about it." Talking would be too painful.

"Well, I'm here whenever you need me," he said.

Comforted by the kindness and sincerity in his voice, she scooted closer and snuggled against him. "Do you mind cuddling me? I miss your cuddles."

"Of course I don't mind!" He was desperate to cuddle her.

She curled herself into his embrace and rested her head against his chest. The gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, accompanied with the soothing strokes with the tips of his fingers on her head was enough to soothe her somewhat and she soon drifted off.

Yugi thought he might not be able to get to sleep with Anzu's weight on him, but as long as he had Anzu in his arms he was content.

::::::::::::

Yugi was woken by his alarm at eight thirty and was surprised to find himself alone in bed.

There was a slight indentation in Anzu's pillow where her head had been, so he reached over to touch the sheets on her side of the bed and found it was still warm, indicating she had not long risen.

Yawning, he let out a groan and stretched himself out. He groaned again and lay on his back, with his knees pointing up to the ceiling and the soles of his feet resting on the bed. He scratched his sides and flexed his tired muscles. He noticed his arm was a bit sore from his scuffle with the bouncers and when he looked at it he saw that a nice bruise had formed where they had gripped his upper arm.

He took a deep breath, let it back out, and then made an unsuccessful attempt to get himself out of bed.

His mouth was dry and his bladder was full. He made a more determined effort, and this time managed to roll out of bed. Once upright, he wobbled a bit as stars circled his head; he really had not expected to wake with what felt like a hangover –where were those headache pills?

He wandered out into the living area to find Anzu waiting for a pot of tea to brew. She looked very tired, but still smiled at him nicely. "Morning sleepyhead," she said, noting his bed hair, tired, unshaven face, droopy posture and... he was still wearing the fairy trousers. Better not tell him he looked cute in them.

"Morning," he mumbled, his tongue sticking itself to the roof of his mouth. "I feel trashed," he grumbled hoarsely.

"On top of a difficult night, you're probably still feeling the effects of jet lag," she told him. "Took me three days to get over it when I first arrived here."

"Do you think I could have some of those headache pills please?"

Yes, of course. I'll go and get them; I put them back in the cupboard." She disappeared to the bathroom and returned with a packet of Paracetamol. "You should probably take two." She filled a glass with some water and handed it to him.

"Thanks." He took a sip, then popped in a pill and took another sip, repeating the same action with the second pill, before downing the rest of the water. "I'm just going to use the bathroom," he told her, knowing his bladder could not wait much longer.

"Would you like some tea and toast?"

"Yes please," he said, perking up at the mention of food. "I won't be a moment," he added, and scurried to the bathroom.

She shook her head lightly. Just for a moment, she found herself feeling nostalgic. But in that same moment of reflection, she realised that in different circumstances she could wake up every morning to a sleepy Yugi.

He reappeared a couple of minutes later, still looking sleepy. Anzu was busy putting place mats and mugs of tea on the table, so he went to sit down. "Which tea is mine?" He asked.

"Either. What do you want on your toast? I only eat brown bread, so no white. And I don't have any butter, just low fat spread. I do have peanut butter though, and some chocolate spread as well."

"I don't mind, I'll have whatever you're having."

"Chocolate spread it is then," she said, grabbing the jar from the small shelf. Yugi thought she was trying too hard to be cheerful.

He watched as she slapped chocolate spread onto four slices of toast and then cut them diagonally, sharing them between two, rather old, chipped plates. She brought them over to the table and sat down. He tried not to study her too intently, but it was very obvious that she did not want him to know how anxious she was.

"This smells good," he smiled, picking up a chocolate spread covered slice of toast.

He was hungry and tucked in. Anzu smiled at the sight of him devouring his toast. But she was only able to nibble at hers; her stomach was nervous this morning, taking away her appetite. She put her toast down and pushed her plate over towards him. "Here," she said, "I'm not very hungry." He looked up at her, growing concerned when he saw how miserable she looked – the mask had slipped.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Just a bit anxious, that's all," she replied. "I'll feel better once I've got the police interview over. I wonder if Tony survived."

He stopped eating and looked at her. "How would you feel if he didn't?"

"What sort of a question is that?" She said defensively.

"A valid one. It's just, well, he was your boss and, I don't know, maybe he was your friend too." He was looking at her, waiting for her to tell him the truth, but she was not sure if she wanted to tell him. But she could see it in the way he looked at her that he suspected something.

"He..." Her voice crackled. She cleared her throat and took a sip of tea. There was a knock on the door and they both stopped what they were doing and looked at each other. Saved by the police, ironically, she realised.

She got up and went to the door, calling out, "Who is it?" Before daring to unlock the door and open it.

"Miss Mazaki! It's the police." Overnight they had kept her neighbour in a cell until detectives were ready to interview him. As expected of him, the neighbour had been truculent, but, realising his situation was dire, he had eventually admitted that he had no idea who the dude who got shot was. He told them that he had been asleep in bed, but had been woken when he heard someone shouting and banging on the door of the woman who lived in the apartment opposite his. He heard two men yelling at each other, and when he went out to tell them to shut up, he heard a gunshot. He claimed to have waited a minute before going out to see what had happened,and saw a guy with crazy hair, standing over a guy with a gun in his hand. When the guy saw him, he threw the gun down and said it was an accident and had gone off in the fight.

When asked if he knew the woman who lived in the apartment, he told them that he hardly knew her, but that they had bumped into each other on the stairs a couple of times, and she had introduced herself; he could not remember her name, but though it sounded Japanese. He said he thought she worked as a hooker, like many of the women in that area.

The police ran some background checks on the occupant of the apartment in question, and discovered the woman's name was Anzu Mazaki; a Japanese national who had been living legally in New York for five years. She had originally arrived on a student visa to study dance and had graduated eighteen months ago. She had no previous convictions and appeared to be a model citizen. Why she became mixed up with a toe-rag like Tony Moretti, they could only guess at this stage, but knew from experience that girls who ended up in the clutches of men like Moretti, usually did so because they were often addicted to drugs, were runaways or trafficked and had nowhere else to go. Hopefully, she was one more girl they could save – if she wanted to be saved, that is; many girls in this situation refused to co-operate out of fear.

Keen to talk to her, they were now standing outside Anzu's Apartment.

Swallowing a lump, Anzu opened the door.

Thank you for reading. Please review.

Please review.