DIS: Ughh...I am so sorry that I haven't updated for so long. No excuse is good enough. Trust me, I've had ideas for some time, but it's a matter of finding time to get them down. Thanks to EVERYONE that reviewed, you guys are awesome. I appreciate the support, you have no idea.
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Chapter Twenty-Three, The days are rolling
Yami opened his eyes and sighed, staring at the clock that was blinking 3:06 A.M. He sat up in bed and pushed a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. The thin sheet slid from his torso, crumpling at his waist. Like any guy, he preferred to sleep in the nude, yet the room still managed to be too warm for him, even with the heater off. He drew a leg up and pushed a hand through his hair, leaning his elbow upon his knee. He had been trying to sleep since eleven when, after a long, unnecessary practice of Tchaikovsky's pieces, he had retired to bed. Nothing could make him sleep, though. His mind kept worrying and worrying about Anzu and Kaiba's conversation. The way she had looked when he had exited the opera house was foreign, an expression he had never seen on her face. It had unnerved him and she had seen that he was in such a state of mind.
This is ridiculous, he thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. Kaiba told me what he was going to tell her, it's not like I don't know. But somehow, Yami knew that more was said than that of which he was aware. He had a fear that his past - which Kaiba knew very well - had been brought up. Kaiba was a loyal enough businessman; he kept his word and knew when things were not to be said. The matter of his relationship with Anzu, however, was a concern of Kaiba's and if he felt that doing something that would break his word would be better as a help rather than a hindrance, he would break his word. I can't stop thinking about it. It's driving me crazy. I've been in bed for four hours with it on my mind. He released a frustrated breath and reached out to the bedside table where his phone was charging. He turned it in his hands meditatively and then set it back down. What am I thinking? Calling either of them and asking about it would be stupid, let alone at this time.
At last, he tossed the sheet away and moved to the window seat where a pair of sweatpants were lying and pulled them on before leaving his room and going downstairs. As he traveled downstairs, he flipped lights on, filling the quiet house with a warm glow. He blinked against the brightness, forced to squint for awhile until he came to the kitchen. He filled a coffee cup with milk and put it in the microwave for a minute and a half and sat staring at the floor while the cup rotated within the machine. In any other case, he would have turned to alcohol. Lately, he simply did not feel that intoxicating himself would be a wise answer.
When the microwave beeped, he did not move to it immediately, continuing to gaze downward. As he removed the cup from the microwave, a sudden chime from the doorbell roused him from his thoughts. Frowning, he shut the microwave and set the steaming cup on the counter. Approaching the door, he vaguely wondered who it was that was visiting him so early in the morning. He unlocked the door and opened it, staring at the person on his doorstep for a long time.
"Back when you had manners, you would let me in without staring at me," Malik said conversationally.
"That was when you didn't call on me at three A.M. in the morning," Yami responded, allowing him entrance. "If you're so broke, where are you getting the money to come to my house all the time?" he added as he shut the door and locked it again. Malik paused, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Don't be so conceited. It's not just you that I waste money on a cab to see. Actually, I took a cab to the place I was and bummed a ride here." He smiled. "Clever, isn't it? Actually, I wasn't even intending on coming here but my first choice destination – Ryou's – was too far away and I really wasn't interested on using more money on a cab." His eyes moved to the kitchen and he queried, "Can I have some cocoa, too?" Yami blinked. The question sounded ridiculously innocent and, coming from Malik's mouth, it sounded more than a bit odd.
"I don't care," he said at last, lifted his shoulders in a careless shrug. Yami returned to the kitchen to finish his cup of cocoa while Malik helped himself. Once again, the whirr of the microwave filled the silent house. Yami leaned against the counter, blowing on the cocoa while watching Malik. Generally a very careless, laid-back sort of person, Malik did not have the look of a man with an agenda. Tonight, though, he seemed strangely on edge. Whatever business he had been to take care had caused some drama. Yami imagined it was that which led him from his destination. "Where were you at earlier at this time of night?"
"Taking care of some last minute business," Malik answered, snapping the microwave open as soon as the beep sounded. "It appears that Kaiba kept to his word and took care of that little financial concern of mine. In good time, as well." He moved to the counter and scooped cocoa into the warm milk, stirring it and allowing the milk to absorb it. "I can relax a little, but not until my finances begin to flow again. The more jobs I get, the more thankful I can be. This judging for the auditioning will give me a little money – nothing like what I am accustomed to with the ballets, of course, but that will come soon." Yami nodded slowly. "And what about you, why are you up so early?"
"I couldn't sleep."
"Obviously," was the sarcastic response he received.
"It's none of your business why I couldn't sleep," he continued, "I simply can't. There is a lot on my mind." Malik eyed him and then took a cautious sip of his cocoa. Yami stared at the dark liquid in his cup and again, his thoughts returned to him. If Kaiba has told Anzu about my parents, she may begin to pull away from me, as if to get me out of Domino. That would be safest...but I could not bear to think if they ever learned about her. She would be doomed and I would be unable to protect her. She doesn't realize that this town, this place of utter sanctuary for me, is my only weakness. And now, she has become part of that weakness. "After the auditions, I may need a favor from you. From Ryou and Otogi, for that matter." Malik turned his eyes back to him to acknowledge him. "It would be best if I left Domino for a week or so, at the very least. To lead my parents away from here and put my traces in a few other places. If Anzu gets the part for Odette, I will need her to continue to practice. I can record tapes for the accompaniment so that she wouldn't go entirely on Otogi's violin playing. I cannot risk staying here for much longer."
"Ironic," Malik murmured.
"What?"
"I was merely thinking the same thing," he lightly told him. "How long have you been thinking about this? All night?"
"Yes...Domino is the only place I can be at ease at. I hope that it will not hurt Anzu's chances too much."
"They don't give out the parts altogether, but carefully go through them. It would be best if you get back before they start the actual practices. She can borrow an accompanist for a bit so long as she tells them that you are on a brief vacation, but if you're gone for too long, they may begin to reconsider. Keeping their accompanist on will drain their money and that isn't something they're willing to do."
"How much time do you think I have?"
"Two weeks at the most. And that's pushing it, even."
Yami took a drink of his cocoa, a worried look on his face. "I had hoped to be away for four weeks, but I suppose I will take what I can get. I told Anzu that I would be her accompanist and I intend on keeping to my word."
Malik held his cup in his hand next to his face, peering over it at the male. He should have known that Kaiba's sudden interest in Anzu would cause him to begin to question the intelligence in his lack of mobility as of late. However, Kaiba would not have even bothered if not for his and Ryou's persistence. Had Malik or Ryou spoken to Anzu privately, it might not have had the same effect on the gloomy pianist. Malik took a drink of his cocoa and turned his eyes to the ground thoughtfully. His own position in Domino would be at risk if Yami's parents traveled through here. He needed to judge the auditions for the little money that he would receive from the job. They disliked him almost as much as their son, simply not enough to hunt him down and try to end his life. Although he was sure that there was a clear possibility of that if he pushed them too far. If they ended up here, he had a feeling he would, as usual, lack the self-control to be wise in what he said to them and end up as Enemy Number One, on the same level as Yami.
That would be unfortunate, he mused to himself mildly.
Yami moved to the sink and washed his empty cup out saying, "Well, I am going back to bed to try and sleep. Tomorrow I'll make arrangements so that I will be prepared to leave immediately after the auditions." He rubbed his forehead. "I hope it will be enough."
"If not, then we are going to have serious problems here and you know it," Malik told him, lifting a finger to point at Yami. "Don't bullshit yourself into thinking you're safe, Yami. That's been your problem ever since Anzu came into your life from what it seems. That's what always got to people that Hanazawa was after. They convinced themselves they were okay, that they had secured a place where he couldn't find them, and he let them believe that. Your parents use that same method with people they are looking for and it would be in your best interests to remember that. Or else you're fucked."
"I'm aware," Yami said stiffly. "I do know how that world works. Don't forget I was a part of it at one point in my life."
"I never forget it," Malik calmly told him, "but sometimes I think you do."
There was a pause in which their eyes met. Yami broke the gaze first and left the kitchen, presumably to return to bed as he had said he would. Malik finished his cocoa and rinsed his cup out, setting it in the sink. He took a look around him and then turned off the light and settled on the couch in the living room to sleep. For him, his sleep was immediate. No matter what troubled thoughts he had, he could always get over them.
X
The doorbell rang close to nine a.m., jarring Mai from her work. She had been up since five, having been woken up from a particularly unpleasant dream. After getting Rena her breakfast when she woke up at seven, she had been going through her desk, organizing things and removing old paperwork and sending it through the shredder. It was a mind-numbing process, but kept her busy and kept her distracted. Unfortunately, she also discovered some old photographs and notes in her desk. She had found a tin in the very back of one of her drawers with folded sticky notes, short things written on them from Jounouchi. One said, "Remember: I'm better than coffee in the morning!" and another, shorter one said, "I love my wife," with a huge smiley face underneath it. It had startled her, as she had forgotten about the small, sweet things he used to do for her, and she ended up closing the tin and chucking it across the room. It only opened an old wound in her heart.
"Daddy!" Rena screeched from the hallway. Mai froze in the process of rising to her feet and closed her eyes, hoping that she had misheard her daughter. She sent a prayer to whatever deity was listening, but then she heard Jounouchi's cheerful voice and her daughter's squealing laughter and knew that she was to be eternally damned for life.
She rose to her feet and drew in a deep breath, calming her racing heart and wishing her stomach would stop churning with anxiety. After a few seconds, she left her office room and walked to the entrance hall to see Rena hanging from her father's neck, a huge grin spreading her mouth upward. Mai smiled slightly and then saw that Jounouchi was watching her when she raised her eyes to his face and the smile fell away.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hi. I didn't know you were coming by," she said.
"Me neither!" Rena chirped, completely oblivious to the tension between them. "Are you going to take me out somewhere, daddy? Do I get ice cream or – " Her words were cut off as Jounouchi laughed and dislodged her from him, setting her on the ground, smoothing a hand over her hair.
"No, not today," he said. "Why don't you go off and play for a bit, okay? I'm going to talk to your mom for a bit and then we're going to have a chat." He winked at his daughter, whose face had fallen. "Can you do that for me?" She hesitated and then smiled and gave a big nod, twirling around and running back up to her room, tripping up the steps in her haste. Jounouchi chuckled and then turned his attention back to Mai. "So, what are you up to?"
She shrugged, attempting an air of nonchalance. "Cleaning out my desk." The sticky notes returned to her mind and she cleared her throat, irritated that she should think of them. "Getting rid of old papers that aren't needed and trying to organizing things." She turned from him, moving to the kitchen. Her throat felt parched, as if she had just gone a two-mile run. "And what about you? I didn't think we needed to talk about anything." Her voice sounded testy, even to her own ears, but she ignored it and poured herself a glass of orange juice.
Jounouchi sat at the kitchen table and leaned forward, his elbows propped on it and his arms stretched across it, almost reaching the other end. His brow furrowed as his drummed his fingers on the top and then he sighed. "I guess I don't really know why I came over here. You, uh...know that Otogi and Shizuka are together?"
"Yeah," she replied, averting her gaze from him.
"Well, honestly, Otogi hasn't been coming over as often as he used to be. It hasn't even been that long since they got together. Now, you know him better than I do. You think that he's lost interest in her or something or am I just being paranoid? I mean, I'd like to think that he wouldn't cheat on her or anything like that, but really, I don't know."
Mai blinked and turned her gaze from the wall she had been staring at to look at him. He was simply looking at her, a relatively neutral expression on his face. In that moment, she wanted to punch him. She could hear the sentence behind his words: "Since you had cheated before, I would figure you would know." She didn't even care if that's really what he meant or not. She carefully set her cup down to avoid throwing it at him and needing to clean juice off the walls and floor later. "And I would know because I'm a cheater," she coldly said. Her warm feelings for him and the ache of missing him that she felt earlier was gone, washed by anger and a bit of hatred. "And I'm a liar and I have experience in those kinds of things."
A somewhat baffled expression crossed his face. "What? I didn't even say that."
"No, you implied it," she snapped. He simply stared at her, dumbfounded. "Why can't you get let one mistake go already? Why can't you just get over it and move on? You do realize I'm human, right? What am I supposed to do, just say fuck you to my instincts?"
"Would you calm down?" Jounouchi said, scowling and getting to his feet. "I wasn't even implying anything! And, FYI, it was a mistake that you repeated! I can forgive once and can give a second chance, but not when it seems like you don't care and just wanted to break my heart. And yeah, if you had any morals, you would just tell your instincts to fuck off."
"Well, guess what? I didn't grow up with as good of morals as you!" She stormed over to him and violently shoved him. Because he was off guard, he stumbled back and nearly tripped over the chair behind him. "So you fuck off! Go! Get out! Just get the hell away from me if I'm such an awful, horrible person! If I'm so worthless!"
"I never called you worthless," he said angrily.
"I don't care what you think about me anymore, just go already!"
"Dammit, Mai, calm down already. You're manipulating yourself into thinking things that I never said or even think."
"Sure," Mai sneered. "Sure you don't think that. I'll answer your question, then, Jounouchi. Otogi's a little better person than I am and wouldn't do that to your sister. Sorry nobody can be as good as you. I'm sure that you would think everyone who associates with me is a cheater – they're not!" She knew she had blown that out of proportion somewhat, but she didn't care. Her eyes kept straying to the cup of orange juice, wanting to throw it at him so bad. He had always been good at dodging things she threw at him, though, so she knew that was pointless.
"Whatever," he said, throwing his hands up in surrender. "I'm not going to do this with you right now. All I was trying to do was restart, to try again as friends, but if I can't talk openly with you, there isn't any point."
Mai held the scathing comment that she wanted to throw at him as left the kitchen. She heard the door close and when she did, she closed her eyes and grasped her hair, breathing hard in frustration. When she had regained some control, she dumped out the orange juice. But as she stared at the empty glass, she just remembered the stupid look on Jounouchi's face and got angry all over again. She chucked the glass at the opposing wall. There was the sound of shattering glass and a small scream. She blinked and looked to the doorway and felt all her anger melt away into guilt, seeing Rena huddled against the wall, her eyes watering with fear.
"Oh, Rena, I'm so sorry..." She hurried to her daughter, who shrunk away when she was a few feet near her. Mai stopped in her steps, stung by the action. Her heart tore as she realized that her daughter was afraid of her. "You don't have to be afraid," she murmured softly, kneeling and holding her arms out. "I'm sorry." Rena sniffled and toddled forward, falling into Mai's arms. She lifted her up and held her tightly against her, closing her eyes against the burning sensation behind her eyes. "I will never hurt you. I promise."
And, out of all the promises that Mai had made and broken in her life, this was one she was determined to keep.
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DIS: I was listening to the songs, Heartbreak Warfare by John Mayer and Circles by Hollywood Undead, when I was writing this. Oh, good songs. Out of all the relationships in this story, I love writing Mai's and Jounouchi's the most. In any case, again I am sorry that this ended up being short again. But then again, people did say they preferred short chapters. Well, what do you think? Do you prefer this length for chapters or the longer ones? Please leave a review, telling me how you liked it! Ciao!
