Anzu's dreams look to be happening at last, and Yugi is supporting her all the way as she prepares for her big moment.

Disclaimer: Not mentioned for a few chapters, but I do not own Yugioh.

Chapter 17.

Show-time.

The following morning, Anzu woke with a bit of a headache. It couldn't be the champagne, because apart from the two glasses she had drunk in the room with Yugi, she had not had any from the bottle Pegasus had ordered, even though he had been insistent!

She looked at the time. Only six AM.

Beside her, Yugi was snoring. Not wishing to offend Pegasus, Yugi had drunk a glass of the champagne, as well as the champagne they had consumed in the room, plus a beer – no wonder he was snoring!

Sighing, she got out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a pee, and to get a glass of water so that she could take some pills for her head.

Sliding back into bed, she tried to get back to sleep but her mind was too active. So far, she had not been nervous about performing River Dance. But the reality of performing a dance, with people she had hardly had any time to get to know or rehearse with, was starting to seep in. She really had thrown herself in off the deep end!

Beside her, Yugi was still snoring and she wanted to poke him and tell him to be quiet. But that would be mean; he was so soundly asleep.

Or was he? He had stopped snoring.

She jumped when he suddenly spoke, "Anzu. What's wrong?"

Their eyes were locked in the darkness of the room, and she was not sure what to say. In the end, she mumbled, "Nothing. I got out for a pee and you were snoring so I couldn't get back to sleep."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, clearing his dry throat. His nose was a bit blocked up. Needing to blow it, and also get a drink of water, he excused himself and got out of bed.

He returned a few minutes later. "That champagne has made me really thirsty," he told her.

"Why do you think I didn't want any more?" She said. "I have a busy day ahead of me."

"Then we had better try and get back to sleep," he suggested, opening his arms, inviting her to cuddle up to him. She willingly accepted, scooting into his embrace.

They woke up again some two hours or so later, the sun peering in around the edges of the thick curtains, highlighting the particles of dust floating where the light touched them.

The headache pills had done their job in getting rid of her headache, but she still felt peaky and lethargic.

"Eight twenty," Yugi informed her. "Did you want to get up yet? Or shall we stay here a bit longer?"

"I could do with some breakfast, and lots of coffee," she replied, yawning.

Sitting up, Yugi yawned as well and rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm not really all that hungry. The swimming pool was really nice yesterday. I might go for swim before breakfast."

"How long will you be?" She yawned again, and Yugi noticed that she really did look tired and pasty.

"Why don't you order breakfast in the room? You can relax here while I swim," he suggested. "Is that okay?"

Anzu smiled. "Yes. Thanks." She liked the idea of breakfast in bed. Shame Yugi was not staying with her for breakfast in bed, too. "Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay?"

He shook his head and patted his tummy. "No. I need that swim. I'm getting fat on all this American food." In truth, his stomach felt a bit acid this morning, from the champagne and beer. But he knew some exercise would put him right.

She laughed. "You've only been here a few days!"

"Yeah," he grumbled, "But all I've done is eat and drink!" He went over to the table to grab the menu and handed it to her. "Order whatever you like from room service. I'll probably be about half an hour or so."

"Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No. It's okay. I'll get something later." He kissed her cheek, stripped off his pyjama shorts and went to grab his trunks from the bathroom, where they had been hanging up to dry.

Anzu looked admiringly at his naked body as he trotted to the bathroom. He always did have a nice butt.

"Don't forget to drop your dirty clothes off on the way to the pool?" She called after him.

He reappeared from the bathroom, adjusting himself in his trunks. "Yeah, I'll do that." Good job she reminded him. He gathered up most of his dirty clothes and stuffed them into the laundry bag he had been given before they came up to bed last night.

"I can't believe how nice Pegasus is being to us," Anzu observed. "He seems different to how I remember."

"Must mean he's up to something, huh?" Yugi laughed. After a few seconds, he added, "Seriously though, I think he always was a nice person, until his wife died and he got the Millennium Eye. I think it changed him into someone he regrets. He's trying to atone."

Anzu agreed, "You're probably right. " She wondered what sort of spiteful spirit could manipulate a man into believing that hurting other people would bring his deceased wife back! Probably the same entity that made placid Ryou into a killer, and in the early days, Atem into an demonic, vengeful spirit. It made her think just how lucky Atem was to have had Yugi as his hikari to help him heal his soul.

Yugi picked up his hotel robe and put it on to go down to the pool; he had seen people walking around in their robes and figured that it was acceptable to do so. "See you later," he said, leaning across the bed to give her another kiss, this time on the forehead, before he left.

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

By the time Yugi returned from his swim, Anzu had almost finished her breakfast. Expecting him to be hungry after his swim, she had ordered an extra croissant and saved him some coffee; the coffee came in a thermos and was large enough for several cups.

He sat down at the little table, grateful that she had thought of him.

"How was your swim?" She asked, watching him hungrily devouring the croissant.

He nodded, swallowing down his mouthful of the tasty pastry, before replying, "Nice. I thought it would be busy but there were only two other people in there."

"Well, it's still only February!"

He shrugged. "But it's not that cold! And the water in the pool is really warm."

She smiled and got up. "I'm going to brush my teeth, have a shower and get dressed."

He nodded, and asked, "What do you want to do for the rest of the morning?"

"I don't know. Not much. I have to go for my costume fitting around midday." The costume she was going to wear had needed some urgent adjustment for it to properly fit her. "Then at two I have to do a run through and make sure I have everything memorised."

She sounded a bit nervous, so Yugi reached out and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "You will be awesome. I know you will. I can't wait to see you dance," he said, sincerely.

"A bit more respectable than the last dance you watched me do, huh, Yugi?" She said bitterly.

"Yeah, well, probably best we forget about that," he said, still feeling a tad guilty about how he had reacted that night.

Changing the subject, Anzu suggested they could take a quick look in the boutique on the ground floor of the hotel. It was where Yugi had bought his swimming trunks.

"Some of the stuff looked expensive," he told her. Although, he had not really taken the time to have a proper look round.

"Pegasus did say we would get a discount because we're staying here," she said, undaunted. "So it won't do any harm to look, and we might even find a bargain or two." She wanted to treat him to a new shirt with the money she was going to earn from doing the shows, to replace the one she had ruined with snot and make-up the other night.

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

After they had both showered and dressed, they went for a stroll around the boutique, looking for bargain designer goods. Yugi found a shirt, by Ralph Lauren, he quite liked; it was reduced, but was still more than he wanted Anzu to spend on him. Anzu found a Louis Vuitton handbag that she really liked. In the end, after some debate, and a bit of quiet squabbling, Yugi got his own way and paid for both the handbag and the shirt.

Yugi then accompanied Anzu to her fitting, and was pleased when they said he could stay and wait in the staff room.

About half an hour later, she came skipping into the staff room wearing her outfit, all smiles. The outfit consisted of a fitted silver/white tutu with green lacy trim, and black tights and shoes. The alterations had been made and it now fitted her perfectly.

Yugi stood to greet her with an awed smile, "You look beautiful!" He was certain that she would be the most beautiful dancer on stage tonight.

She responded by laughing flirtatiously, and, just to test out the comfort of the outfit, launched into a small sequence from the show.

Watching her left him breathless; he wanted to take her in his arms right now, kiss her, ravish her.

Feeling his face start to flush, be tried to banish his inappropriate thoughts before they reached his loins. He just about managed to gasp out, "Wow! Amazing," without drooling.

Anzu immediately recognised the effect she was having on him and stopped dancing. "Wait until you see the show as a whole," she told him, winking.

He couldn't wait! To see Anzu on stage, doing something she loved and had worked so hard for, filled him with love and joy for her.

Daisy came into the room looking for her. "Ah! There you are. Let's have a look at you?" She started examining the fit of Anzu's costume. "Do a twirl," she ordered. Anzu did a pirouette.

Daisy nodded, satisfied with how the costume fitted and looked on her. "Good. You'll do. You wanna come with me and join the rest of the cast?" Anzu nodded and looked towards Yugi, in the hope he might be allowed to stay with her.

When Daisy had entered the room, Yugi had stood up out of respect. With Anzu's attention on Yugi, Daisy's attention now turned in his direction as well. She looked him up and down, her eyes giving him the once over. "This your young man?" She liked what she saw.

He was not sure how to react. The way she was looking at him with a flirty smile reminded him of Mai; it made him feel very self conscious.

Aware of the way Daisy was looking at him, Anzu bounded over to Yugi and looped her arm around his arm protectively. "Yes," she said, aware of the way the other woman was looking at him. "My boyfriend: Yugi Muto." She finished her introductions, "Yugi. This is Miss Daisy, my choreographer."

"Nice to meet you Miss Daisy," Yugi said, bowing politely.

"Nice to meet you too Yugi Muto. But I'm afraid I'm gonna have to steal Anzu away from you. We gotta lot of work to get through to get up to speed for tonight." She really dragged out the word 'lot' in a way that made Anzu feel like she hardly knew anything!

Yugi was a bit disappointed he could not stay and watch Anzu rehearse, but understood.

After kissing Anzu on the cheek, and wishing her luck. he was ushered out.

He was at a loose end now for the rest of the afternoon, and decided to explore. Maybe try his luck in the casino.

But first, he needed a cold drink. He decided to wander along the strip and find a bar but was distracted by a noisy arcade, full of one armed bandits and various games –this was just up his street. Grinning, he went in.

Yugi generally steered clear of the type of games where the odds were heavily stacked against him, instead going for games that required skill and judgement, and won him endless replays on one coin. In his opinion, one armed bandits were generally a waste of time, except for his grandfather, who always seemed to get lucky.

He spent the afternoon, and very little money thanks to the replays he earned, playing arcade games. He bought a cold cola and sat and watched a guy nearby feed one hundred dollars into a machine, with hardly any wins. Cursing, the guy walked away. Yugi fed ten dollars into it and immediately turned a profit of ninety dollars –that good old Muto luck always prevailed. Momentarily, he felt bad for the guy who had lost his money, but did not feel sorry for him for long.

Profit tucked away in his wallet, he returned to the hotel at five to find Pegasus looking for him. "Ah! There you are Yugi. I have been looking for you everywhere but you weren't answering your phone."

Yugi reddened when he saw that his phone was still on flight mode and apologised. He noticed he also had a message from Anzu, telling him she had nailed rehearsal and was now relaxing, and getting something to eat with Daisy and some of the other cast members.

"Anyway," Pegasus continued, "Now that I've found you, I wanted to invite you to join me in my private 'Royal' box for tonight's show." He emphasised Royal. "I hope you haven't already bought a ticket?"

Yugi's eyes widened. No. He had not already bought a ticket; Anzu said she could probably get him a guest ticket, free, or at a discount, which she would arranged to leave at the box office for him. Failing that, he assumed he would be able to pay on the door.

"Oh! Yugi," Pegasus scolded. "The show has been sold out for weeks in advance! Although, we do hold some tickets back for esteemed guests, such as yourself, who are staying at the hotel. But they have all been sold now as well! So I don't know what you would have done without my kind offer?" The element of scolding had now turned into a teasing tone, and Yugi felt like he was back in school, cringing, while being chastised in front of the whole class for drawing a duel monster on the front page of his homework book. Mind you, that memory made him laugh now, especially the part where Sensei asked if it was a picture of his pet cat? "No, Sensei. It's a Kuriboh." Sensei's reaction had been hilarious.

But that was another story. Pegasus was talking to him about something else now and he had missed half of it with his reminiscing. Pegasus loved the sound of his own voice, so Yugi was sure it was nothing important he had missed.

"So! Are you happy with those arrangements?"

"What? Oh! Yes. Thank you Pegasus. What time?" Anzu had told him the show started at eight. But he assumed Pegasus would want him there before then so that they could get seated.

"You haven't been listening to a word I have been saying, have you now? I would have almost assumed you were talking to Pharaoh-Boy with the way you zoned out."

Yugi did not find quips about Atem very funny, but resisted the urge to bite back. "I was thinking about tonight. Sorry."

"And I was asking you to meet me in the bar at six thirty. I thought that we could dine together, before going to see your lovely Anzu performing in her show. If you wish, that is?"

"Yeah. That sounds great!" Yugi replied. "And, thanks for inviting me. I would have been really upset if I couldn't get to see Anzu dancing tonight. I saw her in her costume and she looked really nice," he said, trying not to blush at the thoughts it was giving him.

Pegasus clapped his hands together. "That settles it then. I will meet you here, six thirty sharp. Suit and tie. I presume you have a suit and a tie?"

Yugi nodded.

"Good! Because tonight's performance is being filmed for a TV spectacular, and since both myself and the King of Games are in attendance, the cameras will be sure to focus on us."

Yugi almost gaped in astonishment. Was Anzu aware that TV cameras would be filming the show?

He hoped not, because it might make her more nervous.

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

Yugi took his seat in Pegasus' Royal box, and looked around. The theatre was opulent in style; marble pillars and balconies painted in cream and gold, with intricately carved ornaments adorning them. Rich red drapes, matching red seating trimmed with oak. He looked up at the ceiling, painted to look like the sun setting behind storm clouds, or sunrise –he wasn't sure. But although it was designed to appear old and traditional, everything still looked fresh and new.

Anzu loved Victorian theatres and he knew she would be in awe of this place.

The box he was sitting in overlooked the whole theatre, and down below Yugi could see that the majority of people had taken their seats.

The stage was brightly lit, and the rich, deep red curtains covered most of it from view. All Yugi could see were the footlights and the front part of the stage. He then spotted the television cameras and their crews; three were set up in the orchestra pit, and two set high on a gantry's right at the back corners of the theatre. There was also another right in the centre of the stalls, in a sunken booth that Yugi could see also contained sound and lighting engineers and modern sound equipment.

"Beautiful theatre. Wouldn't you agree Yugi?" Pegasus said, proudly. My sister read history at Cambridge and developed a fondness for Victorian architecture. I'm very proud of her for the work she has done to make this theatre so beautiful. She wanted it to resemble Alexandra Palace, and I must say, it is exquisite."

"Hmm," Yugi hummed in agreement. He had no idea what Alexandra Palace looked like anyway. All he was concerned about was seeing his beautiful girlfriend dancing in this fantastic venue.

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

It was only thirty five minutes before curtain call that Anzu found out the performance was going to be filmed. She was glad she had not found out before; if she had known right at the beginning she might have chickened out!

But it was way too late for cold feet now. She was here. This was her moment to shine (okay, she was not in a starring role, but who cared) and she was going to grasp the opportunity.

She looked at her phone, and the messages of encouragement Yugi had sent her. They made her smile. Another message came through: if she looked up and to her left, he was in the Royal box with Pegasus. It was the one in the middle with the largest balcony. She made a mental note to look for him if she could.

"Five till curtain call!" She heard someone shout, and wondered where the last thirty minutes had gone. Putting her phone in her bag, she tucked it under the table with the other bags.

One of the dancers she would be dancing with patted her on the shoulder. "How're you feeling?"

"Yeah... Good,thanks." Her stomach did a flip.

Make-up, hair, last minute checks were all done, and... the curtains opened to a rapturous roar from the audience.

Anzu was carried by her adrenaline. Spotlights lit up the stage, and the audience were nothing more than a sea of faceless people. She took a moment to glance up at the box where Yugi was sitting and their eyes met briefly. He gave her the thumbs up. She wanted to wave back but of course was unable to – she could do that during the encore when the cast would be introduced for the audience to applaud.

As she danced, her nerves subsided and her body moved freely in harmony with the other dancers. This was what she had spent her whole life wanting to do and she was not going to screw it up. She remembered her dance tutors and everything they had taught her and how they always told their pupils not to look so serious. But Anzu did not need to force a smile for the audience; her smile was one of genuine happiness.

Yugi watched in awe. His eyes were not focused on the other dancers – they just faded into oblivion. His eyes were on Anzu only. In his mind she was the best and the brightest and the most beautiful dancer on stage – she was the only dancer on stage!

"Beautiful! Anzu possesses such natural talent," Pegasus observed appreciatively, making Yugi's pride in his girlfriend swell further. "She has a great future here in Las Vegas if she so wishes."

The idea that Anzu might move to Las Vegas to work permanently brought Yugi back to reality. Could their relationship withstand her living here? He hoped it could. But whatever Anzu decided she wanted to do, then of course he would accept it.

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

The following morning, Anzu woke up feeling like it had all been a dream. Yugi was already up and she could hear him moving around in the bathroom.

Maybe she was still dreaming, she was unsure. Maybe the last five and a half days were imagined and she would wake up in a moment to the real world. She would be back in New York, in her grotty apartment, the neighbours next door yelling and fighting. She would have to work a seven hour shift at the cafe and then go and shake her booty in that god awful club. Tony would still be there, using her and the other girls.

Yugi's calm, husky voice broke her from her morbid thoughts.

"Hey! You're awake." He leaned across the bed, smiling, and moved in to kiss her. He smelled freshly washed and of toothpaste. She pursed her lips, not returning the kiss properly, and turned her face away.

He pulled back, looking hurt and confused. "Is everything okay?"

She nodded, holding the back of her hand over her mouth. "I've got morning breath," she said, sounding embarrassed.

He laughed. "Oh! That's all you're worried about," he teased. He sat back on his haunches, peering at her oddly, a light smirk on his face, making her laugh despite herself.

"I know I keep telling you this," he said. "But you really were the best dancer there last night."

She rolled her eyes at him. "You're just biased." And then she shook her head and laughed again. "I still can't believe it's happening Yugi. I keep thinking I'm dreaming."

"I can assure you you're not," he stated.

She pinched herself and hummed. "Maybe I'm not. I don't know what I will do once this weekend is over though. Daisy told me I'm more or less assured the chance to appear in more shows. But Joshua's the boss so I guess I'll have to wait and see."

"What will you do if they offer you a permanent job here?" Yugi asked, cautiously. He really wanted her to get a job offer, but for selfish reasons he also wanted her to come back to Japan with him.

She shrugged, letting out a sigh. "I dunno. I'm torn. I don't want to jeopardise our relationship, but I also wouldn't mind being in the full run of a show. Maybe I can divide my time."

He took both her hands in his. "We will deal with whatever happens," he implored. "But I don't want you turning down a fantastic job offer because you're worried about me, okay?"

She looked at him a bit apprehensively. "I dunno. I will do what I think is right." She chewed her lip in thought for a moment, and then said, "I won't accept anything without talking to you about it first. I think that's best."

Smiling, he agreed that that was what they should do.

Letting go of her hands, he let her get up, and she headed to the bathroom to get dressed.

Deep down, they both knew that their future together was still up in the air.

And there we have it, almost the end. But not quite. I decided that I can't leave them (and you) not knowing if there will be a happily ever after.

So there will be one more chapter.