Hai hai! And so another story bursts forth from me... inspired by another Anzu/Bakura/Ryou/Kaiba fan fiction.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its characters... but I wish I did. *Strokes finger down action figure Bakura's back* :D
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It was a simply beautiful, sunny day in Domino City, and Anzu thought it was a pure shame that she had to spend it in school. A Monday nonetheless. She sighed and tossed back her head, looking up at the lovely sun. She was walking to school, per her usual route, and quite suddenly (because she was looking to the sky and not the sidewalk) she bumped into someone, and stumbled backward.
"Hey, watch it... oh. I know you. You're that girl who's friends with Yugi." Kaiba had turned around and was glaring at her. He was last in a long line, which extended past the Starbuck's front door, presumably because the tiny coffee shop was overflowing with customers.
Anzu tried to smile as brightly as she could, but in her mind she called him all sorts of curses. She had never liked Kaiba, even the first time she saw him. Tall, dark-looking, with straight brown hair and icy deep blue eyes, Kaiba reminded her of some sort of villain from a gory fairy tale. Not that she had read any, those Grimm Brother fairy tales. Oh, and of course he had battled Yugi several times and shouted insults at her best friend.
"So, anything you want? Because you're blocking the Starbuck's line with your fat... bookbag. Going to school, and walking no less?" Kaiba shook his head as Anzu's mind let forth a string of curses, none of which she shouted out loud.
"A pity no one but me can ride in a limousine to school, eh, Anzu?" Kaiba chuckled without smiling, which was rather creepy. Anzu resisted the urge to run away right then, and instead she said...
"Yeah, a real pity Kaiba, that no car but a limousine can fit your huge ego into it." And on that note Anzu sidestepped him and continued walking to school, a scowl on her face that would be gone by the time she arrived at her locker.
"Damn Kaiba, waving around his money and... more money... into my face, with his narcism, 'Oh, and you're walking to school, Anzu? What, can't afford a limousine to drive you to school everyday? My ego is sooo big I almost can't fit it into KaibaCorp anymore; here, hold this large steaming bucket of really expensive Starbucks coffee.' He makes me sick."
Anzu kept walking and talking to herself, earning her concerned glances from passerby, but no one stopped the teen as she made her way down Oak Avenue to the stone high school building.
She didn't notice until much later that he had called her by her first name.
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Anzu sat down in fourth period extremely pleased with herself. She had just gotten back an A++ from her Algebra exam in third period, and when she read the school's largest bulletin board, she saw that she was the star of the musical theatre show, and one more thing: on the announcements the school principal said that the class who had collected the most cans for the food drive was Anzu's homeroom, which meant they would be getting a pizza party later on in the week. She was so excited, she could hardly keep her smile off of her face.
The teacher was writing something on the board, Joey and Tristan were whispering near her, and Yugi was obediently taking notes, which were probably going to Tristan and Joey later.
Anzu was diligently copying the notes too, when she suddenly felt something tracing down her back. She shivered at the touch, and turned around slowly to see Ryou, who normally sat two rows to the left of her, sitting in the seat right behind her. He was taking notes, a bored expression on his face.
Anzu raised her eyebrows. Had she imagined it? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned back to her desk and went on taking notes. After a few seconds, she felt something warm on her neck, like a little breath being blown on it. She whipped around again, but Ryou was still taking notes, looking as bored as ever. Anzu frowned, then smirked. A plan to catch him next time formed in her mind.
But Ryou didn't do anything to her for the rest of the period. Anzu was patiently waiting to put her plan into action, but the moment never came.
As the bell rang, and the other students gathered their things to go to luncheon, Anzu put a hand on Ryou's shoulder, meaning to ask him a few questions. Joey, Tristan, and Yugi stopped when they realized at the classroom door when they realized she wasn't with them, but she waved them to go on. Joey and Tristan shrugged, then let their noses guide them to the cafeteria, while Yugi kept looking back and forth between the cafeteria and Anzu with her hand clamped on Ryou's shoulder.
"I'm sure I can wait, Anzu, if it won't take long..." Yugi began, but Anzu cut him off.
"No, you can go on ahead, I might be a while."
Ryou started, looking at her. "You might be a while?" He said in a somewhat hollow voice, blushing slightly pink. This, however, went unnoticed by Anzu as she nodded to Yugi to go eat. Yugi nodded back, though he threw the pair of them a suspicious glance before hurrying off.
Anzu took her hand off of Ryou's shoulder. She took a tiny breath, then looked him full on the face. He colored lightly again, never having been glared at by a female before. Not even his mother. Especially not by his crush.
"Were you, um..." Anzu found that she did not know how to phrase what she wanted to say. She wasn't timid like Ryou, but somehow, confronting a timid creature sometimes makes oneself less sure of how to proceed.
Ryou was waiting for her to go on. His fingers were trembling slightly, and he tried to get them to knock it off by tapping the teacher's desk, which was right beside him.
Anzu didn't like the tapping noise. She wasn't about to say so, though, as her next question would be sure to stop his incessant tapping.
"During class, did you run your finger down my back and blow on my neck?"
She was right. Ryou did stop tapping. For about a second. He then started again, faster than he had been tapping before.
"Good heavens, no! Why on earth would I do such a thing?" His voice seemed to be pleading rather than stating, and Anzu thought of something. Why hadn't it occurred to her before?
"Oh, I see now. Ryou, how many times did you black out during class today?"
In response, his eyes darkened to a shade of deep brown chocolate. Anzu frowned. "Bakura."
Ryou, or rather, Bakura smirked. "Mortal...ah? I forget all of you mortal's names."
Anzu's frown deepened and she placed her hands on her hips. Bakura continued to smile evilly. "Don't do that, sweetheart. I hate to see sour looks on pretty faces."
In response, Anzu slapped him as hard as she could across his snarky face. Bakura, obviously not expecting her fury to be transmitted from her palm to his alabaster face, stumbled backward and hit his back on the rim of the chalkboard. He swore loudly, but hid his pain. Anzu was breathing a little heavily, and immediately regretted her punch. Ryou would feel it when he returned in control of his body.
"Little skank! Girls who did that to men in my day would have been put behind cages!" Bakura wanted to rub his sore spots, but he couldn't. Not in front of her.
Anzu, who was about to grab her pack and zoom off to the cafeteria, stopped short and gave Bakura a short lecture on the 21st century.
"Yeah, well, you're not in ancient Egypt anymore, Bakura! This is a time and place where you do not get put in jail just for your gender or color of your skin! And boys do not harass girls in class without their permission!" Anzu bit her lip, wishing she could take back her last sentence, but pushed on anyway, because her anger was leading her to another furious statement.
"In present day Japan, people do not touch - especially people they don't know - other people in a suggestive manner!" Anzu's anger had colored her face, and her breathing was coming rapidly.
Bakura took notice of both facts, smirking, and said, "Suggestive manner? I was just reassuring myself as to whether your vest was made of real cashmere, and as to the blowing... you had a lady bug on you neck, Anzu."
Anzu could have smelled the lies a mile away. Bakura twitched his upper lip, and Anzu felt the intense need to hurt him again. She reared back, but Bakura was ready this time. He passed the body back to Ryou's consciousness before the blow struck.
Anzu hit Bakura, who seemed not only to be completely unaware that her hand would soon land him flat on the floor, but also very taken aback by it. It was only after he sat up and rubbed his head tenderly that Anzu realized the body was Ryou's again. She clapped both of her hands to her mouth, and bent over to help him up. However, Ryou, with tears of pain beginning to form in his eyes, pushed her hand away, jumped up, and ran out of the classroom.
Anzu stood stock still for a moment before sprinting out of the classroom herself, but stopped short when she realized she didn't know where poor Ryou had disappeared to.
"Damn it! I'm sorry Ryou! I really am!" Anzu yelled down both the right and left halls. No one answered her desperate apologies. Sighing, and hoping Ryou would forgive her, Anzu walked back to the classroom. She picked up her knapsack, then noticed Ryou had left his own backpack on his desk. Anzu looked at it for a second before deciding the least she could do was return it to him. Then maybe she could say sorry again and he would say it was okay. Somehow, she didn't doubt that was what would happen.
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Anzu didn't see Ryou for the rest of the day. There were three periods left in the day, and she had Ryou in two of them, so she was sure that she would be able to return his backpack to him later that day. However, his absence kept her from carrying out her plan. She worried for a bit, but finally figured he was so upset that he had skipped the rest of the day. She winced. Who knew she could be the cause of so much suffering to one person? She could only hope he would accept her apology. But that would have to wait until tomorrow.
Anzu filled her knapsack with all of the necessary books for her homework, and debated whether she should take Ryou's backpack home with her. Well... it didn't exactly fit comfortably in her overstuffed locker, and she had an absurd idea that she needed to make Ryou's backpack feel nice during its time away from its owner. Besides, the backpack wasn't that heavy, and she had no idea where Ryou lived. Better just bring it with her.
Anzu didn't have work, dance, musical theatre practice, or plans with Yugi, Joey and Tristan later that afternoon, so she was going to walk straight home. It wasn't a far walk, but before Anzu made it halfway to her house, she had to stop and rest. Ryou's backpack and her knapsack's combined weight was too much for her to handle. And they had been so easy to lift before! Anzu sat down on a bus stop bench and placed the bags to her left. She stretched her legs out in front of her, and stretched her arms over her head. She wiggled her toes in her shoes, then slumped against the bench.
"Well well. I see my advice from this morning worked. Why walk to school and home when you can ride?" Anzu, startled, raised her head to a person carrying a briefcase in one hand and a hot coffee in the other. Kaiba was towering over her, standing at an uncomfortably close place to her. She quickly thought up a retort.
"The genius billionaire is waiting for the bus? Where is his gorgeous, snow white limousine?" Anzu pretended to think hard. Kaiba raised his eyebrows, then sipped his coffee.
"Didn't you see it? Its right over there," said Kaiba, lowering his cup and pointing to a long white limo... on the other side of the street. Unknowingly, Anzu had sat down on a bus bench right across from KaibaCorp. She cursed her tired limbs.
"Oh..." Anzu said without really thinking. Kaiba nodded, his stoic expression never changing. Then he asked a question.
"Why are you carrying two backpacks?" Anzu looked up at him, surprised. Kaiba, ask about the well-being of another human?
"Why, Kaiba, I didn't know you cared." It was the truth, and she hadn't meant to be flirtatious. However, a light coloring showed on his cheeks. It disappeared quickly as it had come, though.
"I don't. The bags were taking up so much room I had to do a double take. 'Surely, I asked myself, that backpack of Anzu's isn't that enormous.' And I was right, as usual."
Anzu huffed and blew her bangs away from her face. What an insensitive, snobbish jerk Kaiba was! She should shut him up right now. She turned to him and opened her mouth, but Kaiba was already gone, walking across the street to his limo. He didn't look back once. Anzu snarled, and her face contorted with it. Huffing angrily, she heaved the two heavy backpacks over her shoulder, and continued walking home.
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When Anzu stepped into the quaint little house, she wasn't surprised about the deathly quiet in it. Her parents were often at work until late. They got up very early in the morning, usually left her money on the counter for lunch, then came back home so late at night that she was often already asleep. She rarely saw them when they were awake and happy. But she knew the reason why they worked long hours. To provide a better life for their only daughter. Anzu blew her bangs out of her eyes again.
She set Ryou's backpack on the kitchen table, glad to be freed of the cumbersome weight. She then walked into the family room and took off her own backpack. Much better. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her arms over her head, twisting this way and that to relieve her stiff neck, back, and shoulders.
Since she didn't have too much homework, she finished it quickly before grabbing a snack (an apple) out of the refrigerator. She didn't really want to watch television, and thought about trying to find Ryou's address in the school phone book, but decided against it. She was tired, and, although it was only 4:30, she wanted to take a bath and go to sleep.
Anzu glided up the stairs, walked down the short hallway to her room, and stepped inside it. She closed the door and locked it (out of habit) and began undressing without bothering to turn on her bedroom lights. When she heard a small rustling in the corner of her room, she thought nothing of it. Anzu sat down on her bed and pulled off her skirt. She almost had it off when she heard a small cough somewhere in the darkness in front of her. She froze, only in her bra and panties. The room light flickered on, and there stood Ryou, blinking in the sudden bright light. Anzu scrambled for the blanket folded neatly at the end of her bed.
"I didn't think it would be this easy to convince you..." Bakura was looking her up and down. She had managed to pull the blanket around herself just in time.
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Oh dear... how will Anzu get out of this one?
