Words from the Heart

NOTE: Ah! The first new chapter in two years. Surprisingly, it was very easy to type up. I love to write dialogue, and you'll find a lot of that here. Once again, I assure you that I won't just desert this fic again. If I do decide to leave, I'll give it a proper exit.

And VERY BELATED thanks to Luvinanimanga,Living ArrowRainbow KissedmandybellesuupanGauri92Ambiance-DreamKeikoGurl,A Devil in Heaven,Diza of the MoonBradybunch4529,dragoneyes5000Heart's DoorAspen XIIIAngel Amazoness Archer, Desert's DreamJorachoImortalSoullJess Ishtar and lady-duelist.

And very special thanks to the anonymous person who emailed me and really inspired me to write again. You know who you are.

Now, enjoy!

Chapter Four: Aftermath

"Can't you stay, just a bit longer?" Mokuba begged as he watched Seto pack that night.

Seto's eyes narrowed as he spun around, glowing with fire. All that happened tonight, it was all because Mokuba had planned it all. "Don't talk to me Mokuba, or I will not hesitate to throw you down the garbage chute."

Mokuba winced in the truth behind his enraged brother's voice. He meekly inquired, "It couldn't have been that bad big brother?"

Seto's movements stopped as he froze like an ice block. "Bad?" he laughed wryly. "If it was any worse, I'd kill myself for the shame."

"What happened?"

"Nothing! Now leave me alone!"

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you!"

"What about business?"

"I've cancelled."

"Are you leaving because of Anzu?"

"NO! JUST DON'T MENTION HER!" Seto turned around and for a moment Mokuba saw what bloodlust looks like.

"Okay." Mokuba cowered slightly, knowing that Seto was angry beyond even the puppy-eyes.

"Now, be quiet or leave me alone. It was you who caused this entire mess!"

Seto continued to pummel things into the suitcase as Mokuba wandered around the room innocently, though taking care to look at what Seto had packed. Nothing stood out. Where was Seto going?

When the silence had lengthened long enough for Mokuba to dare speaking, he carefully asked, "Where are you going?"

"Business trip."

"Where?"

"Far away."

"It's Europe, isn't it?" Mokuba finally stole in a guess and was surprised to be awarded with a pause.

"I'm not telling you where."

"Nice. You're going to Nice."

"What?" Seto exclaimed in surprise. "Did you talk to the travel agent?"

Mokuba answered with a frown, before sitting on the bed to face Seto with a furious look. "You're going to see her, aren't you?" he asked angrily.

Seto was taken aback by Mokuba's hatred in his voice and angrily retorted, "So what?"

Mokuba threw his hands up in anger. "So what?! What do you mean by that?" He walked up close to Seto and looked him closely in his eyes. "You can't just run to her every time you think of Anzu!"

"That's not true!" Seto replied indignantly as he clamped his suitcase shut tightly as a final, I'm-going-and-you-can't-do-anything-to-stop-me.

"Sure she may console and compliment you, but does she really love you? Does she make you happy? Does she make you feel the way that Anzu used to make you feel?"

"I told you not to mention that damned name!" Seto yelled before finally storming out the door to catch his plane.

The sun began to rise and Mokuba collapsed on the bed, angry with Seto and his failed plan.

-

"So you're absolutely sure you love him?" Uncle Spencer asked.

"Does my heart jumping out of my chest every time I think of him count?"

"Dear, I know you're in a difficult situation…"

"Hmm." Anzu murmured lightly.

"But you're going to get through this. And are you absolutely sure he doesn't care for you at all?"

"I don't know! I thought I knew, but after today…" Anzu sighed. She had just told her uncle everything and it did seem to keep a lot of weight off her shoulders. However, she was still confused and upset from the earlier confrontation.

"What kind of a guy is he that makes you love him?" Spencer suddenly asked.

Anzu froze as Spencer's question hit head on. What did she love about Seto? He was cold, mean, arrogant and so very proud. Perhaps for the odd moments when he could be decent and perhaps even nice, Seto really had no special attributes that she could think of. Exactly why was she so enamored with a guy, who more deserved her hate?

"I don't know Uncle Spence, I honestly don't know."

"But you do?"

"Yes. As much as I hate it, I do."

"Then the route of action is obvious, my dear!" Uncle Spencer said excitedly as he stood up. "You are going to tell this young man."

"Uncle Spence!"

"It's not that awful, dear. I'm sure he probably feels the same way about you."

"He deserves an Oscar for his acting then."

"Dear, I know it seems hard. But you'll regret it if you don't. He might answer you with a rebuttal, but at least you tried! You didn't give up, and you can at least let him go."

Anzu sighed deeply and stared at her fingers. "You're right. I should. I might even have a chance."

"Atta girl!"

Suddenly Anzu's phone began to ring and she quickly picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hi Anzu? It's Mokuba."

"Hi. What's going on?"

"Well, can you come over to my hotel?"

"What for?"

"…It's about Seto." Mokuba said softly.

Anzu paused and looked at her phone. Was this her chance? Uncle Spencer looked expectedly at her and took a deep breath of air.

"Anzu? Are you there?" Mokuba asked worriedly.

"Yeah. I'll see you in a few minutes then. What's the address?"

-

She stood in front of the hotel room with one hand ready to knock, and the other held tight at her side. Would this be something to change her life around?

Whatever the case, she really hoped that Seto was there as well. She really wanted to talk to him about the events of the previous night. She had decided to finally come clean to Seto and hope that things went better this time.

When Anzu finally caught all her breath and her senses, she knocked sharply twice on the door and it was instantly opened by a solemn looking Mokuba, who quickly ushered her in.

"Hello Anzu, I'm glad you came." Mokuba said glumly as he led her to an armchair.

"Sure Mokuba. You sounded urgent however. Is anything wrong?"

"Yes." Mokuba managed to say simply, before managing a sheepish smile. "I do say Anzu, you haven't changed one bit!"

"Thank you. Though I can't say the same about you." Anzu laughed, "You've turned into a fine young gentleman!"

Mokuba laughed slightly, "And I did mean what I said last night. You are a great dancer."

"So you were there to set Seto and me up?" Anzu questioned, though she already knew the answer.

"Well, you know." Mokuba shrugged, as if his prank was nothing. "I am only fate's helper. You were going to run into each other anyways sooner or later."

"We already did." Anzu said, recalling their encounter at her apartment.

"Oh." Mokuba said sheepishly. "I suppose that didn't go over quite well."

"Not very."

"And last night?"

"Even worse." Anzu admitted, though perhaps Seto's uneasy words could be seen as a good thing. "Anyways, is Seto here? I really wanted to talk to him about last night."

Mokuba's expression dropped. "That's why I called you Anzu."

"Seto wanted to talk to me, right?" Anzu guessed in her excitement.

Mokuba shook his head, "Err…no," though once he saw Anzu's face slightly fall he quickly added slyly, "though I think he probably wants to talk to you."

"Pardon?" Anzu asked, very confused by Mokuba's words.

"Well, the thing is," Mokuba began, careful to tread lightly, "my brother hopped on a plane this morning to Nice."

Anzu gasped slightly, "Why?"

"Err…business." Mokuba swiftly lied. Anzu looked at him quizzically but didn't question further.

"So how can he want to talk to me?"

Ah, this was Mokuba's moment. "I think you should follow him to Nice."

Anzu jumped up in shock. "What?! Why?"

Mokuba carefully urged her to sit down again before explaining, "You see, I think that Seto's departure is just another form of him asking for help."

"Come again?"

Mokuba sighed. This lying business wasn't easy. "Look, you make Seto happy, and he desperately needs to be happy. This is just his way of a desperate call of help for someone to make him happy."

"You can tell that from the fact he went to Nice for business?" Anzu asked skeptically.

Mokuba winced. Here came the hard part, but instead of lying, Mokuba decided to reveal the truth. "He went to go see his wife."

-

The flight was short enough as Seto slept most of the way through, being exhausted from not having slept the previous night. It was a sizzling morning by the time that the plane docked by the airport.

Seto wove his way though the businessmen and tourists before finally making his way to the main terminal. For a moment, he just stood in the middle of those shiny walls and thought about what he was doing: He was running away from Anzu and task he had originally set out to New York for. Now, he was here, halfway across the globe, about to meet a woman whom he didn't like in the slightest.

However, he couldn't just turn around and go back to Anzu and those memories that he just so much wanted to forget.

So he picked up his phone and dialed Naomi's number.

"Allo?" came the voice from the other end of the line. It was soft and gentle like he had remembered it to be.

Seto swallowed back his fears and carefully said, "Hello Naomi, it's Seto."

"Darling!"

"Hmm, could you pick me up at the Nice international airport right now?" Seto asked.

He heard Naomi laugh. "Of course Seto! Though last time we talked, I thought-"

"It doesn't matter."

"All right darling, I'll look for you in the passenger pick-up area, alright?"

"I'll be there."

"I'll see you in a bit, then?"

"See you there." Seto hung up and sat down on a hard seat, feeling absolutely horrid. What had he gotten himself into?

-

"His wife?! Seto's married?" Anzu cried in shock, as she leaned back in surprise at the news.

"I knew you didn't hear about it." Mokuba said grimly. "No one really cared by the time the ceremony took place. Hardly anyone even wrote about it."

"Well, after the fallout, I just basically had nothing to do with him. If I saw his name in a newspaper, I didn't read it. But married?" Anzu asked again, still shocked.

"Unfortunately yes," Mokuba sighed, "not that the marriage means anything."

"What? Of course it means something! I will not follow a married man halfway across the world!"

"I was just hoping you'd be friends." Mokuba put in, slightly dismayed at Anzu's reaction.

Anzu sighed. "Seto and I were friends, but not anymore. Not after last night! How could he do it, and be married?"

"Do what?" Mokuba asked, having no knowledge of the events of the previous night.

Anzu sighed and fumed, "He had the audacity to say, to admit something's to me!"

"Whew! Never knew my big brother had the guts in him!"

"What? It wasn't anything serious, Mokuba! Besides, he's a married man!"

"He only married her…because…because, he missed you!" Mokuba blurted out.

Anzu paused and looked at Mokuba incredulously. "Say what?"

"Look, you guys were perfect for each other, but after the big fight," Mokuba paused as Anzu's eyes clouded over. "It all went downhill."

"He got married, Mokuba." Anzu repeated to herself.

Mokuba sighed and tried to explain, "How did you feel after you two parted?"

Anzu grimaced, but finally managed to spit out the truth, "I felt like hell."

"Well, Seto felt basically the same way. He was absolutely livid after your guys parted. I mean, you were probably the closest friend he ever had."

"So…?"

"Well, you know how some depressed, moody people turn to alcohol or drugs? Well, Seto went a step further. He married someone."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"He married her because he missed you, and he felt that marriage was the way to end the pain!"

Anzu sighed and fiddled with her watch. "Who was she?"

Mokuba swallowed and quickly said. "Naomi Kazumi, she's a model."

"A model? That's not like Seto."

"I know, I was surprised at first."

"So, how'd they fall in love?" Anzu asked, though she felt disappointment and bitterness well up inside.

"They were never in love." Mokuba remarked curtly.

"But to get married?"

Mokuba sighed. "Seto needed to start getting a dinner date for all of his social functions, so he pretty much picked up the first pretty girl he saw. He didn't mean it Anzu, she doesn't mean anything to him."

"So why did he marry her?"

"Well at first, I suppose she helped Seto dull the pain after you left. She always consoled him and complimented him. I think Seto liked the fact that she absolutely adored him and would always say anything to please him."

"This is unbelievable!" Anzu exclaimed. "How come no one told me?"

"Well, Yugi and the old gang decided that it was better that you remained unawares. No one really wanted to talk to you about Seto. Besides for Yugi, I'm not sure if anyone really knows. No one kept in much touch once you left, especially Seto."

"Hmm, I guess I was a bit ill-willed towards him. So when did they become husband and wife?"

"Well it was okay at first. I mean Naomi would comfort and compliment him, and he would take care of her. Then…I suppose it was Naomi proposed to him, and he accepted. They were married eight months ago."

"Good grief. I suppose they get along alright being…married and all?" Anzu asked.

"Not really," Mokuba corrected, "they were never anything like a real couple. Sure, Naomi accompanied him to all those dinner parties and acted the part of the champion wife, but he never really paid much attention to her. I think that he never really cared for her."

"Mokuba, this is all very interesting news, but I refuse to go to Nice, and I hardly think that Seto would like to see me."

"Oh Anzu, please? Big brother really needs you." Mokuba pleaded. "He was so happy when you guys were friends, and so devastated when you guys broke apart."

"I can't do it."

"Please!"

"Absolutely not." Anzu said defiantly and stood up. "Seto Kaiba basically destroyed a good part of my life and I cannot stand him. I refuse to stress myself and work myself to help him." She paused long and hard before adding stiffly, "And he's married, I'll let his poor wife deal with him."

"C'mon Anzu, you don't mean that." Mokuba said silently. "You loved him, didn't you?" Even though Mokuba had never been directly told about what had broke apart Seto and Anzu, he had been able to make a guess.

"I did." Anzu said, as if it were shameful. "Now, I can only hope I never see him again." Anzu headed to the door and Mokuba sadly followed her.

"He's really unhappy you know? And I think you are too. If you just make up, everything would be fine." Mokuba attempted weakly.

Anzu sighed. "We can't just 'make-up', we're way beyond that now."

"Okay, and I know that Seto is really, really, really intent on keeping his pride intact."

"I think that's still an understatement."

"But couldn't you just try to be friends again? I mean, what you guys had was so special, and to just give up on it…"

Anzu sighed long and deep before opening the door and stepping out. "That's right, I give up." She said finally before going out. "Goodbye Mokuba."

-

NOTE: I barely edited this chapter, so please forgive any mistakes. I'll get around to it, but I really wanted this up fast.

I already have the next chapter typed up but not edited so I should be able to get that up pretty soon. However, thanks for reading, old and new!

And don't forget to review!

-'Till Next Chapter! Mintt