Disclaimer: No ownership here, but check out this awesome comic I made of Ryou and Bakura! So cuuuuute! Squees for both of them!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anzu had barely managed to grasp the Alaska blanket around her thin body when Bakura advanced, his eyes glittering as if he had spotted a large amount of treasure. Anzu didn't realize she had been retreating from him until her thighs hit her bed, and she tried not to fall back on it. She stared as fiercely as she could into Bakura's dark eyes. Bakura suddenly laughed.

"Even in a rather compromising position, she still tries to retain her strength and dignity. As if she hadn't lost them along with her blouse and skirt! Stubborn thing, isn't she, Ryou?"

Anzu wondered why Bakura had said that last bit to Ryou, but didn't concentrate on it. She stood straight up. Bakura was still a head taller than her, and he didn't back away. He could probably see into her... Anzu drew the blanket closer to her chest. She was suddenly overcome by a bubble of rage.

"What the hell are you doing here? How long have you been in here?" Anzu kept the bubbles beneath the surface, waiting for his response to fuel her anger. Bakura looked mildly at her bedside alarm clock.

"About 4 hours. But, I've already gotten more than I came here for. So, I'll be on my way now..." Bakura strode idly towards Anzu's door, but she jumped in front of him, blocking his way. He rolled his eyes, then settled them on her face.

"Why bar my way, girl? Do you know how easily I could knock you down?" Anzu rolled her eyes this time.

"Oh yeah, like you totally destroyed me in school today. I'm still sore!" Anzu spat out mockingly. She held the blanket to her chest in fists. "I would like to know why you came here today, snuck into my house like a common thief!"

Bakura, to Anzu's immense surprise, bowed shortly and then stood back up. "That is my trade, girl! I am the king of thieves! And how else was I supposed to trap you, in an alley? I knew where you lived, girl, and I intended to get revenge for the blows you dealt my body this morn!"

Bakura shoved Anzu aside, opened the door roughly, and walked quickly down the short hall to the stairs. Halfway down, though, Anzu suddenly heard his footsteps cease.

"Oh, dear me, where am I?" came a quiet, calm voice from the stairway. "This isn't my house..."

Ryou had gained control of his body once again. Anzu, forgetting her appearance for a moment, was filled to the brim with guilt. She must go down the stairs to tell Ryou what had happened. She was obligated to.

On the stairs, Ryou was looking placidly at a picture fixed above his head. Anzu took a tentative step on the wooden staircase, and it creaked. She winced. She had just remembered her clothing.

Ryou whipped around, startled, Anzu was sure. Then his whole face flared brilliantly scarlet and he clenched the banister until his hand turned even paler than usual. Ryou turned his head quickly away from Anzu.

"I-I-I'm so s-sorry, Anzu," Ryou stammered with his eyes firmly on the oak front door. His mind was somewhere else, though...

"Oh my god, Ryou, I'm sorry too. I completely forgot what I was wearing because I felt obliged to tell you about Bakura---"

"B-Bakura?" Ryou stumbled over the name, but he couldn't stop a grin from spreading across his face. So, Ryou had been right about the king of thieves after all... his only question was: how had Bakura seduced her into bed so fast?

"Yes. He was in my room just now, and he said something about revenge? Do you know what he was talking about?"

A little voice stirred in Ryou's mind. It said, "Seduce? Get your filthy head out of the gutter before you fall in, stupid boy. Feel inside your pocket. It should be there. And do not tell her, in case you didn't get the hint!"

Ryou gave the tiniest nod to the voice. Bakura, giving him instructions yet again. They had an understanding. Anyway, he had slipped outside of Bakura's control during the walk around Anzu's house. He had seen Bakura slipping a small camera phone into his jeans pocket, taking some money, a handful of jewelry, and two oatmeal cookies from Anzu's cookie jar. He had had to go back inside of his mind before Bakura noticed his presence, but he had seen enough. Should he give Anzu the camera phone? He probably should...

"Don't, you fool! It contains my revenge! Stupid boy..." Bakura muttered darkly. Ryou was caught. Should he do the right thing and give the phone to Anzu... or obey his dark side? He was strongly inclined to follow the latter option... but Anzu would kill him if she found out he had known. Then again, the vice versa was true too, and would happen a lot sooner.

"I'll say it would. Hurry up now, give her a shrug and we can be out the door!" Bakura snapped impatiently.

Ryou had been standing on the staircase with his eyes straight ahead of him for five minutes. Although he was standing stock still, Anzu had an absurd thought he was involved in a painful internal struggle. But that couldn't be... Ryou and Bakura didn't communicate with each other. They didn't even mix: Ryou was water, calm and cool and flowy. Bakura was oil, silky and smooth and always quick to slide away. They didn't mix. So why did Anzu feel as if they were having a shouting match inside Ryou's head?

Finally, Ryou spoke. "I don't have any earthly idea what he was talking about, Anzu. Sorry." He shrugged his shoulders. Anzu frowned. Ryou had spoken a little too calmly, too cooly. Cold, in fact.

"Alright..." said Anzu, but she descended down the stairs towards the supposed Ryou. If it really were him, she'd know. Wouldn't she?

Ryou didn't hear Anzu until she laid a hand on his shoulder. He could have jumped six feet in the air, but Bakura seized control of his limbs and forced him to stay put, without so much as a quiver.

"Damn fool, boy! Say you have to leave!" Bakura shouted in his mind.

"Is everything okay, Ryou?" Anzu asked, while thinking she would have to spin him around to be sure his eyes weren't that of Bakura's.

"Y-yes. I-I have t-to go n-now, A-Anzu. B-bye..." Ryou cursed his mouth for stuttering, but his mind was in somewhat of an overdrive, jumping from picture to picture of Anzu...

Without another word, Ryou zoomed down the stairs and flung open the front door, running from his perverted imagination and the thought that he might just tell Anzu about the camera phone. While he was sprinting to who knows where, Bakura was laughing like a maniac. It was all very well that his mortal host was carrying them both away, without making him work too.

********************************

Anzu stood on the stairs, not quite shocked that Ryou had run out of the door, but disappointed that he had. Disappointed in herself for letting him run. She remembered something...

"Oh! His book bag! Argh! I forgot to give it too him..." Anzu face palmed her forehead. "Well, I might as well get to that shower..."

After Anzu had showered and put on a fresh change of clothes, her first priority was to rifle through the school address book to find where Ryou lived. She had made up her mind in the shower. She would march right over to his house, push his backpack into his hands, and demand to speak to Bakura. Then she would smack that cheeky king of thieves, and get on with her life. Oh, and she still had to apologize to Ryou... for the punch this morning. Anzu hoped everything would be alright at school tomorrow.

As Anzu was searching through the kitchen drawers for the school address book, she heard a curious sound. Music, playing somewhere near the kitchen table. Anzu walked over to the table, and looked around for the source of the music. It was coming from Ryou's backpack.

Smiling, and wondering if she should answer Ryou's phone, she found her fingers digging through his backpack before she had fully made up her mind. 'Ah, well... I'm just going to find it.' thought Anzu. She wasn't usually impulsive, but she couldn't resist. The phone appeared under a particularly thick notebook, which she threw on the table without a second glance. Ryou had a kind of caller i.d. on his phone, and Anzu read who was calling. The block letters above the number spelled out: HOME

"Oh," Anzu said aloud. "Ryou must be calling his cell phone to find out where it is..." 'Well, it's here with me. He shouldn't have run off like that.' Anzu didn't answer it. She laid it down on the table and let it continue ringing. Eventually the phone switched to its answering machine. Anzu smirked, getting a sadistic satisfaction out of that. She felt sort of evil.

Anzu got up from the table, glancing once again at Ryou's gigantic notebook. She froze, then took a second look at it. The notebook had her name on it, in every corner of the book, written as small as 12 font. And her name also bordered the notebook's cover. There were also one heart between every two of her names...

Anzu sat down. She knew she shouldn't leaf through his notebook... it was Ryou's property! But... she was still feeling a bit naughty from not picking up his phone...

The phone rang, so suddenly that Anzu jumped three feet in the air, from where she was sitting. Her parents, probably. Anzu left the strange notebook on the table and went to check the caller i.d. on her home phone. Yeah, it was her parents. Anzu answered it, while she thought she heard the garage door open. Her mother was on the other end of the phone line, and then her father and mother burst through the garage door. Anzu nearly dropped the phone. Her parents were home early! Her mother shut her own cell phone, and her father went up to Anzu and hugged her.

"Let's go out to dinner, sweetie!" Her father said, and Anzu went to grab her sweater and shoes. Anzu promptly forgot about Ryou's notebook... until the next morning.

************************

Anzu had never had a better night's sleep. Her father and mother had both gotten promotions at work, and now they would be coming home earlier! She practically skipped to school that morning, even carrying her and Ryou's backpacks. She had decided, because she had been in such a good mood that morning, that she wouldn't disrupt Ryou's private thoughts by flipping through his notebook. Besides, it could be a different Anzu entirely. She ignored the fact that she was the only Anzu in the high school.

Anzu was in such high spirits Tuesday morning, that she decided to get a small peppermint latte for herself at the Starbucks on the way to school. There wasn't a long line. Just perfect. Anzu set both book bags on the tile flooring, and dug around in her coin purse for the $6.23 she owed for the latte. To her shock and disappointment, however, she had only 10 cents in it. There was a note, signed by her father, saying: I.O.U. Anzu snapped the coin purse closed with a sad smile. Her father usually did that when he wanted to buy a donut from the bakery across from his work. Damn... why hadn't she checked it before she had left the house?

Anzu pushed the peppermint latte back to the cashier behind the counter. The salesperson looked at her questioningly.

"I...I can't afford it. Sorry..." Anzu gave an apologetic smile to the cashier, who rolled his eyes before taking back the cup.

"I'll buy it for you." said a familiar voice behind Anzu. "Rayoe, put however much it costs on my tab."

The cashier, Rayoe, nodded and did a silly salute before ringing the latte up. Rayoe handed it to Anzu and gestured for the next customer. Kaiba stepped forward.

"The usual, if you don't mind, my good man."

Anzu pulled the backpacks across the line before Kaiba squashed them with his shiny black dress shoes. He took his cup of coffee from Rayoe, then, without so much as a glance at Anzu, swept around and out of the store. Anzu stood still for a moment before running after him, forgetting the bags and her latte behind.

"Hey!" She shouted. "Kaiba! Wait!"

Kaiba stopped, but didn't turn around. She had to run in front of him to speak to his face.

"Kaiba," Anzu began, but Kaiba held up his hand.

"What, was I supposed to open the door for you too?" Kaiba was sneering. Anzu colored a bit.

"Er, no. I was going to thank--"

"Good. I don't have time for that." Kaiba sneered, and tried to push past her. Anzu blocked his way. Now she was angry.

"Okay, look," Anzu took a step back from him; being that close made her feel really short. "I was going to thank you and say I'm going to pay you back, but if you don't have time , fine!"

Kaiba snorted. "I don't need your money."

Anzu stomped her foot on the ground. "What, is my money not good enough for you?" She didn't care if she was starting to cause a scene. Kaiba is a jerk.

The jerk rolled his eyes and raised his eyebrows. "In case you've forgotten, I'm rich. I wouldn't need your money anyway." Anzu's mouth dropped open. Rude, much?

Kaiba smirked. "You didn't know I was rich?"

Anzu closed her mouth. "Okay, I've had it. I'm not going to pay you back. I'm going to pretend these last few minutes haven't happened." She straightened up, and was about to stomp march back into Starbucks to get her things when she heard Kaiba mutter something.

"What was that?" Anzu snapped.

Kaiba was already walking away, but Anzu heard him say, "Nothing at all."

Anzu made up her mind to graffiti a side of KaibaCorp on the weekend. Maybe she would use permanent paint, too.

****************************

Anzu made it to school a few minutes late, but it wasn't a serious setback. She had to quick-walk to her locker, but at least she wasn't running, like some people did. That was against school rules.

Anzu didn't see Ryou during her quick-walk, but she would give him his backpack before the school day was out. She did not want to lug it all the way home today; she had musical theatre practice and dance.

Anzu twirled her locker combination speedily. Only three minutes until the late bell rung. She flung open her locker and hauled Ryou's backpack up to put it in, but an avalanche of papers spilled out of the locker and flowed all over the floor. What the...

Anzu blanched when she saw the picture on the paper. It was her... and she was... Anzu gasped, and threw herself to the floor to quickly pick up all of the scattered papers. 'Who ever did this,' thought Anzu, 'Is in a deep load of shit.'

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Did you guess what the picture is of? You all have dirty, voyeuristic minds! And I sincerely applaud you for it.