Dance for Me ––––– By: LinkGirl
Chapter 4: Fate Calls
Author's Note: ... Okay, I admit it; I'm a horrible horrible procrastinator. And I'm really really really sorry to all those people who have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I really appreciate all the reviews, and I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. But I'm back! And hopefully I'll get more than one chapter up before I disappear again.
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Kaiba reread the perfectly trimmed and laced invitation for the thirty-second time that week.
"So, what are you going to do?" Mokuba asked for only the fourteenth time that week.
"I don't know..." he groaned, very un-Seto-like. He flicked the invitation across the room in annoyance, where it hit the wall and floated sadly to the carpet.
Mokuba simply stared at where the bent invitation had landed; he sighed deeply, hating to see his older brother in such a terrible mood, "You still have a month; that's plenty of time."
The elder Kaiba merely grunted, and commenced in glaring intensely at the tan-colored ceiling.
Mokuba gave another, slightly annoyed, sigh, "Oh come on, Seto. It's not like it's the end of the world."
Seto groaned loudly, signifying that it was indeed the end of the world, as far as he was concerned.
— — —
The next day Seto Kaiba was particularly annoyed at school, more so than usual. He broke his "fury record" with snapping at a grand total of twenty-seven people...all in the first four hours of school. Two of which happened to be teachers. The first had been his own teacher, and had threatened him with detention if he didn't compose himself. The second, who was not one of his teachers, was so taken aback by his tone and wrath that she thought he was a fellow instructor, or even worse, one of her employers. This, in essence, was pretty sad, due to the fact that Kaiba was wearing his school uniform, just like every other student.
"Kaiba's acting a bit antsy today, don't you think?" Honda observed as Kaiba proceeded to yell at a meek girl about half his size for him tripping over a bag that wasn't even hers.
"Yeah I know, usually he's pretty quiet at school," Yugi added, also watching the spectacle, having long given up on trying to stop Kaiba's rampage. Kaiba had almost bitten his head off earlier that day for trying to confront him about making a little freshman boy cry, or at least get teary eyed. "He must be really stressed about something."
"Either that or he's upgraded himself to a world class jerk,"
"I thought he was that to begin with," Jonouchi grunted, glaring at Kaiba with eyes full of his own fury.
"Fine, universal class jerk. Happy, Jonouchi?"
Jonouchi merely grunted. Even though it had been over a week since his humiliation, an intense loathing still hung in the air around him. And Kaiba's current hissy-pissy mood wasn't helping.
Kaiba had finally stopped yelling at the girl, and was headed for the door.
"Finally, a break in the–" but Honda was cut off as Kaiba slammed right into someone on the other side. He had looked back for an instant to glare at the girl before leaving, but had neglected to see if anyone equally oblivious was making their way into the room.
"HEY!!" he barked from his position on the ground, "Watch where the hell you're–!!"
"Anzu!" Yugi almost yelped when he realized she had been the unlucky victim of Kaiba's blindness, and that she was now grimacing on the ground, her crutches both lying unattended at her sides.
"You son of a bitch!" Jonouchi shouted; he marched up to Kaiba and was more than ready to slug him good and hard before Honda and Bakura jumped in and grabbed his arms, "No, Jonouchi!"
"It was an accident!" Bakura cried as Jonouchi struggled in his grip.
"Honda, Bakura, let go!!!" he screamed.
"It's not worth getting detention over!" Honda yelled, still trying to restrain the furious boy.
"Maybe you really should wear a leash," Kaiba mused, as Jonouchi flailed above him.
"Kaiba!!!" Jonouchi screamed, and to his surprise, his fist made contact with the pompous man's cheek. Honda had let go of his friend at Kaiba's comment, letting Jonouchi's fist fly.
"That's worth getting detention over," Honda growled, adding a kick, which Kaiba grunted from.
"Boys!" both jumped, thinking a teacher had caught them in the act, but instead they found Anzu, back on her feet, a stern look on her face.
"It was an accident; I wasn't looking where I was going either."
The two didn't answer, internally still cheering at their victory. But they let Kaiba be, not bothering to hide the small grins that had formed on their faces, and returned to their seats. Anzu and Yugi did the same, although lacking the victorious grins.
By the time Anzu got to her seat she unwillingly realized that she had just defended Kaiba, even if it had been instinctually done. She mentally kicked herself with her good foot and took to glaring at her desk until the teacher finally entered for their next class.
— — —
"Big brother! What happened to your face?!" Mokuba cried, running up to Seto as he entered the estate.
"That rabid dog got let off his chain," Seto answered gruffly, not stopping in his strut to check if the front door was properly shut behind him.
Mokuba looked puzzled for a moment, then realized Seto was actually talking about Jonouchi, and not a real dog. He ran to catch up with his older brother, who was already heading for his study.
"What'd he do this time?" Mokuba asked, the anger in his voice obvious. Unlike his brother, he wasn't very good at hiding his feelings.
"Nothing serious, a temporary bruise at worst," Seto replied, flicking off the bandage that had been hiding his wound. He stopped and cringed slightly, not expecting the removal of the bandage to sting so much, but he did his best not to show any signs of pain.
Mokuba looked up at the punch mark; his face contorted slightly, "It doesn't look that bad..."
Seto Kaiba scoffed and swore as he looked into a passing mirror; it was still swollen and was already beginning to darken slightly. He didn't want to think about how it would look tomorrow.
"That son of a bitch is going to pay," he grumbled to himself, finally reaching his home office and sitting in the large leather chair centered behind his desk, "But first."
"First?" Mokuba asked, plopping down on the teal-colored sofa opposite to where Seto sat.
"I need to solve my current problem," he said, bringing out a sheet of paper from one of his many pockets; on it were scribbled seven numbers in dark blue ink. His free hand went to pick up the phone.
Mokuba smiled happily, he knew his brother would think of something.
— — —
Later that evening, Anzu Mazaki received a possibly life changing call.
"I'm calling for Ms. Mazaki."
"Just a moment—" her mother held her hand to the receiver and called, "Anzu! There's someone on the phone for you!"
"Just a moment!!" Anzu yelped and reached for her crutches, which decided fall in the opposite direction of her outstretched hands.
Her mother waited patiently, nervously tapping her foot as the seconds continued to pass by.
"J-Just a moment!!!"
"Excuse me, could you hold on a moment?" her mother asked the caller politely, at the same time grimacing into the phone.
"Of course."
With a soft thud, her mother set the phone down on the wooden desk in front of her, "Anzu! Are you alright?" she said, racing over to her daughter's room.
"I'm...fine...Just— Thanks, mom."
"Hurry."
"Right, right."
The caller smiled in amusement at the distant voices and waited as Anzu scrambled to the phone.
"Hello?" Anzu panted, "This is Anzu Mazaki," she added after a moment of silence.
"Anzu!"
She was puzzled for a moment, but then realized who the voice belonged to, "Ms. Yoshida!"
"I'm glad you remembered. How have you been?"
"Pretty good, and you?"
"Very well, the dance studio is flourishing, although we do miss our prized student."
Anzu chuckled slightly and touched her cheek as her face started to go red from the compliment.
"I was actually calling to see if you were interested in a job. It seems we have a shy student who desperately wants a personal tutor; of course, all of our instructors are too busy at the moment, so I was wondering if you'd be up to the job."
Anzu was speechless, her eyes had lit up and she looked as if she could have jumped up and down squealing like a child with a new toy; this would be the perfect opportunity to make some money, and at the same time do what she loved, at least something close enough to it.
When she finally regained her voice again, she nearly did squeal, "Of course! I would love to!"
"Okay! That's great! He said he'd like to meet you in person tomorrow, if that's alright."
"It's perfect!"
Anzu's former dance teacher chuckled, "I see you're quite excited. Do you have a piece of paper?"
"Oh, um, just a moment," Anzu's franticly snatched up the notepad that was conveniently placed next to phone, but knocked the pen case over in the process, "Shoot..."
"I can wait."
"Thanks—ack," Anzu grunted as she tried to catch the pens before they rolled off the desk. She finally snatched one up, leaving the rest to clatter to the ground.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Anzu jotted down the time and place Ms. Yoshida gave her, and was about to bid her a cheerful farewell when Ms. Yoshida quickly added something else, "Oh! And I should probably give you his number."
"Yes, thank you, thank you so much!" Anzu smiled widely, and finally hung up the phone after scribbling down the number and exchanging a grateful goodbye.
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Hopefully the next chapter will pick up the pace.
Once again, I want to thank everyone who's been reviewing, and triple thank the people who have been waiting for me to update. You guys should get a metal for your patience.
As a last note, I have also started a personal forum for my stories, if anyone is interested in talking about them, asking questions, bugging me, yada dada do. (Just remember reviews are still submitted here, thanks!)