I'm back, well I was never gone considering that I was just finishing my other story, I wanted to write this week end…But I got the last book of Harry Potter and I just had to read it lollll.

Chapter eighteen: No victim.

"What do you mean there is nothing we can do? That guy is beating Anzu, how can you stay there with your arms crossed?" Joey said at his best friend.

Yugi sighed. "Joey, don't start thinking that I don't care about Anzu, but as Kaiba told you, we can't do anything if Anzu is not doing anything about it."

"Beside, Anzu wouldn't stay with that guy if he was hurting her." Tristan added. Even if he didn't spent much time with Raven, he had troubles believing that he could be a bad guy and that Anzu could be planning on getting married with such a person.

"I wouldn't count on it." Mokuba said sceptically. "Usually physical violence is only the tip of the iceberg, those guys are masters when it comes to controlling someone and make them believe their lies. Most women just never do anything because they really believe the guy when he tells them that he will change or that they will never get away from them. It's rare for a woman to get out of such a relationship."

"What would you know about this?" Joey asked with anger.

"Hey, who's the psychology student here?" Mokuba countered, offended.

"You are no psychology student, you barely started your second year as a college student." Tristan said.

"Alright so maybe I'm only into basics and not really studying psychology yet." Mokuba admitted. "But what I said is still the truth, just because Anzu never said anything doesn't mean that nothing is going on."

"And how are we supposed to find out if anything is really going on? If something is going on then we can't really count on Anzu to tell us, she would have already told us if she wanted to get any help. And I don't think she will answer us if we go and ask her, she'll never want to talk to us again." Joey tried to think of a way to sort out everything.

"That wouldn't be really different from now." Tristan pointed out. "When is the last time she talked to us?"

They all sighed, how are you supposed to help someone who doesn't want to be helped without pushing her away from you?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Seto looked up as the door of the dance studio opened and a familiar woman walked out, he smiled slightly as he looked at her, she was simply radiant standing like that in the sun. Anzu took a deep breath as she stood in front of the door, she had a long day, practicing new songs and dance and everything else, she was getting exhausted. She smiled as the sun shone down on her and put a strand of lose hair behind her ear simply enjoying the light and the pure air.

"You look like you are having a good day."

Anzu jumped slightly at the sudden voice, she turned around to see who was talking. "Oh…hi Kaiba." She said, glancing around her slightly with a worried look and continuing her way.

But Seto wouldn't let her off that easily and followed her. "What? That's all? 'Oh hi Kaiba'. Not even some sneak remark or insult after what I did to your boyfriend?" Anzu didn't turn around and started walking even quicker. "You had more conversation at the wedding." Seto pointed out. "But then again, I can understand, after all you are not supposed to be with me."

His plan worked, Anzu stopped instantly and turned around to glare at him. "And what are you implying?" She asked, still glancing around every now and then.

Seto shrugged. "You tell me, those are your words after all."

Anzu snorted and started walking again, trying to put some distance between her and the CEO, but Seto wasn't going to let her leave, he quickly circled her and raised one of his arm, blocking her path. "Maybe I should refresh your memory?" Seto said leaning closer to her, his face hovering slightly over hers. "Apparently Raven doesn't like you hanging out with your friends, he gets mad at you when you do." He said, almost whispering, but his voice was stern, he wasn't going to believe any excuse, Anzu could hear it in his voice.

However, before she could say anything, they were interrupted.

"What are you doing?" Anzu tensed up quite a bit when she heard the demanding voice are her fiancé, something that didn't go unnoticed by Seto.

Seto turned his head to the side, at the same time putting a little bit more distance between him and Anzu and quickly trying to figure a way out of this as he stared at the black haired man. "Oh Raven, I was actually looking for you." He said, doing his best to hide all animosity.

"For me?" Raven asked suspiciously. "What do you want with me?"

Kaiba discretely took a deep breath, what wouldn't he do for Anzu. "I wanted to apologize, for my behaviour during the wedding." He said in what he hoped sounded sincere.

Raven smirked. "Took you long enough." Of course he wasn't making any effort to hide that he was pleased, pleased of having one of the most powerful man of the world practically bowing his head to him. "I see that you've finally learned your place, being a CEO doesn't make you over others."

"Yea, I have a tendency to forget that some times." Seto said, inwardly wishing he could strangle the man with his bear hand. Unfortunately even he couldn't pay himself off from committing murder out in the open in front of 40 other people.

"Come on Anzu." Raven said as he put one arm around her waist possessively and took her away with him.

Seto turned around to get to his own car and leave, mimicking to be strangling the guy with his hands while taking deep breaths to calm his anger. Unfortunately imagination wasn't enough to calm him, but insulting the guy wouldn't have made anything better, he knew that making the guy angry would only make things worst for Anzu…and he didn't want that.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anzu sighed as she entered her own private room, with her show in Tokyo coming up in less then a week she had so much practice to do that she was almost living in the familiar little studio, it was a lot smaller than were she usually gave representation but it was perfect for practicing. Of course she'd never complain about how much she had to work, starting up in New-York had been hard, when she came back after paying all her scholar fees she expected things to be just as hard but to her joy she found out that she was already somewhat known around Japan, so in only a few months she was able to get back on her feet and quickly became even more popular then she was in America.

"You look tired."

Anzu jumped almost in fear as she heard the voice. However she calmed down almost instantly when she saw who had spoken. "Yugi, you scared me." She said with a little smile.

"Sorry…But you look a little edgy, are you alright?" He asked.

"Yea, yea, just tired, you know, practice and shows, the usual." She replied. "Why are you here?"

"Well actually I was looking for a friend of mine, about your height with hairs quite similar to yours and bright blue eyes, I haven't seen her in a while and for some reason she never have the time to pick up the phone. Maybe you saw her? I was told that she works here." Yugi said with a playful smile.

"Ok, ok, I admit it, I haven't been a good friend lately, it's just…I'm very busy, I barely have a few moments to myself." Anzu said.

"Anzu, in the last few months how many times have we seen each other? Three? Maybe four times? Even at the wedding you didn't even come to talk to us. Do you really expect me to believe that you were too busy all that time? And during the wedding?"

Anzu hesitated a few moments. "It's just…We haven't seen one another in five years, everything is so different, you all have your life…I feel like I don't have my place anymore."

"You didn't seem to feel awkward for the first few weeks, we were doing things together often, even if you had work. Actually you stopped talking to us not too long after Raven arr-"

"What is it with you guys?" Anzu interrupted him with anger. "What's with the inquisition on Raven? He never did anything to you, what's your problem?"

Yugi took a deep breath. "Joey talked with Shizuka last w-"

"Well you can tell Joey to tell his sister to mind her own business." Anzu snapped, understanding quickly what their problem was.

"Anzu, we are just…worried about you…" Yugi said.

"So what, just because Kaiba saw that I hurt myself by falling during practice you guys think that he is beating me? He was never violent toward me, that time was just…He wasn't feeling well back then, he had a lot of problems, it only happened once and he got help right away, it never happened again. If you could forgive Kaiba for trying to kill his own brother and all of us then you have no right to blame Raven for what he did." Anzu said.

Yugi looked at her for a few seconds. "Alright, if you say so." He said, telling her that Seto hacked into her medical records, showing them that she had a good number of visits in the emergency for all kind of suspect injuries would not really help his case, it was just as Seto told them, all they could do was be there for her until she admits that there is a problem. Still, deep down he was hopping that Anzu was telling the truth, for her own good. "Anzu, you know I'll always be there for you, no matter what you can call me at any time, I'll always have time for you."

Anzu smiled. "I know Yugi, don't worry so much, I'm fine, I swear."

Yugi smiled. "I know, but…just in case, if you need anything, call me."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"She really does look sincere." Yugi noted.

"But Yug, you saw the medical records just like us, you can't believe that all those were dancing accidents." Joey countered.

"She looks so happy too, always smiling and cheerful. Shouldn't she be looking sad or something? We would have seen it if something was wrong with her, right?" Tristan said.

"I never suspected what Gozaburo was doing to Seto, I knew he was pushing him hard to study and all, but I had no idea that he was violent, and we were living in the same house. I was seeing him everyday, he was always sneaking into my room every night, he was always smiling, acting as if everything was going perfectly. I only found out way later. Once it was too late." Mokuba explained sadly.

"You never exposed your problems with your father either." Yugi told Joey.

"And I'm not going to wait until she ends up like me or Seto. We have to do something." Joey said.

"Something like what? Kidnapping her? Seto's right, we can't do anything but wait." Tristan said.

"Wait until what? That he kills her?" Joey shouted back at his friend.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Joey walked quickly on the crowded sidewalk, at this time most of the town was usually quiet, except for this road, all of the bars and pubs were on this road, and even if Joey had an aversion for such places, it was the quickest way to get home, even if it was late he decided to go back home alone on foot, it wasn't really that far, only about 20 minutes and he really needed to vent out his anger before going back home to his wife. He couldn't believe that someone on this planet would dare to hurt Anzu, she was always so kind to everyone. He glanced around him, all those couples having fun, he could see that some of them were old friends while some others had just met, seriously he couldn't understand what some people found amusing in going out, getting drunk and waking up naked next to someone they didn't know.

However, as he glanced around once more he saw something that made his blood heat up. He walked up straight to the man he now hated almost passionately, he put a hand on his left shoulder and forced him to let go of the girl he was making out with and turning him around, before the man could realise what was happening Joey punched him in the face with all his might. The blond girl the man was having fun with let out a high-pitched shriek therefore getting the attention of everyone around.

Raven stumbled a few steps backward before regaining his balance, his hand raised up to his face instantly as he glared at Joey.

"You creep." Joey yelled as he jumped on Raven again. "Just beating her isn't enough, you are even cheating on her." He said as he punched him again. "You disgust me." He added as Raven took a few steps back again.

"Mind your own business, I'll do whatever I want." Raven said as he launched forward.

The fight lasted only for a minute or so before people started interposing themselves, a security guy from a nearby club grabbed Raven, in his blind rage Joey tried to take advantage of the situation but he to was pushed back by someone, yet he didn't give up and tried to get away from his grasp.

"Joey calm down."

Joey blinked when he heard Seto's voice; so far he hadn't notice that his friend was the one stopping him. "Let me go, I'm going to show him." But Seto was not letting go.

"You won't help Anzu this way." He said so that only Joey could hear him. "What do you think will happen to Anzu now? Raven will think that she told us everything." Joey finally calmed down, guilt and fear started to rise inside of him, at the same time Raven was released by the guard, all three men glared at one another until Raven turned around and left with the blond girl.

"What are we going to do?" Joey asked.

"Nothing." Was all Seto could answer.

"What do you mean nothing? That guy is dangerous, he could hurt Anzu." Joey argued with the CEO.

Seto sighed. "Look Joey, I know you are worried and I want to beat the crap out of this guy just as much as you but we can't. Anzu is an adult and we can't force her to leave him, we can't forbid him to get near her either. As long as Anzu denies that he is hurting her then no one can do anything."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ouf, that was long to write, but hell a lot of fun, sorry for not updating sooner, I'll do my best to keep up from now on. Don't forget to drop in a review, it'll make me update faster I swear, if you do, I promise the next update before next Monday.