Chapter Thirty-Six, Swift action

Yami heard the distant patter of rain on the window panes as he sat at his piano. Nothing was quite as comforting as the sound of a slow melody on the piano. With his eyes relaxed, his fingers struck the keys elegantly, the notes piercing through the silence of his house. His fingers slowed at a particular set of measures and he opened his eyes slightly. At last, he was about to bring this unpleasant part of his life to an end. The concept seemed to jangle in his head and then settled somewhat awkwardly in his mind. It was a difficult idea to grasp. He had never considered that he might once live without the threat of his parents nearby. He paused in his playing, sighing, and drawing his fingers away from the piano.

"Is there something you're looking for?"

Yami stiffened and slowly turned around, recognizing the voice. Behind him, the windows were dark and shaking with the rainstorm outside. Due to the sound, he had not heard the man creep upon him. Jiiro Hanazawa stood in the doorway of the large library, a faint smile on his lips. Even at that young of an age, Yami knew to be wary of Hanazawa. He was not like the others and could wear a pleasant expression while killing you. He had been subjected to enough things that he knew how this world worked. "No," he replied, his hand resting on the piano that was situated comfortably in the corner of the room. "I was just waiting for Rei and Harumi."

"That's an interesting way to address your parents," Hanazawa remarked, moving across the room with a languid grace that was unmatched by anyone that Yami knew. Yami quickly took in his appearance that seemed almost casual, of black slacks and a simple light-blue button-down shirt. He had rounded the piano and settled at the bench, turning his eyes up to Yami, raising an eyebrow. "Only of the flesh, but not the soul, hmm?"

Yami met his bright green eyes for a moment and then looked away, his jaw tightening. "Something like that."

He chuckled and then began a slow, almost mournful sounding tune. Yami frowned, glancing at him to see Hanazawa staring over the piano with a distant expression on his face. There was no smile on his mouth at that moment. "Rei tells me that you've been learning to play the violin from him. How do you like it?"

"It's perfectly adequate," was Yami's tense answer. He pushed away from the piano, unable to bear the tune that Hanazawa was playing any longer. "If you'll excuse me – "

"Was it you I heard dabbling on the piano?" Hanazawa interrupted, pausing in his playing. Yami clenched his eyes tight briefly, irritated with his own carelessness. Composing his expression, he turned around with a bored expression. Hanazawa smiled slightly, his gaze searching his face. "I'll admit, at first I was furious at hearing my piano played, but...you don't have any proper training, do you?"

"Just enough for reading sheet music."

"Yes, of course." Hanazawa rose to his feet and then spread a hand out towards the bench. "Please, take a seat." Yami glanced at him warily, wondering if he should run or not. "I promise that I have no intention of harming you, Yami. So, please. Take a seat." After another moment's hesitation, the teen sighed and trudged to the bench, settling on it. Hanazawa disappeared to the other end of the library briefly before returning with a sleeve of papers. He settled the sheet music on the piano and then stood back, tucking a hand in his pocket. "Go ahead, play it."

Yami stared at him. "Why?"

"Call it curiosity. Please – go ahead and try. It's the song I was playing. You'll be able to hear yourself mess up."

Shifting in the bench, Yami looked away from him and surveyed the sheet music for a long moment. He could feel Hanazawa's eyes on the back of his head, watching him curiously. After a moment, Yami looked down at the keys and closed his eyes, seeing the sheet music in his mind. Carefully, his fingers strummed out the tune and it sounded choppy and more hesitant than when Hanazawa had played in places. When Yami had opened his eyes to look at the other sheet, Hanazawa reached out and took it from the piano.

"Why do you close your eyes?" he asked Yami.

"Whenever I tried to read the sheet music while I played, I messed up a lot." He shrugged, rising from the bench and stepping away from the piano. "It's just how I do things."

Hanazawa was returning the papers into the sleeve, but there was a thoughtful expression on his face. "Do you want to learn the piano, Yami?"

Yami laughed bitterly. "What I want doesn't matter."

"But what I want does," Hanazawa reminded him, a surprisingly serious expression upon his face as Yami met his gaze. For a moment, Yami stared at him in some confusion. "You have a gift. There is nobody else that would be able to turn out those notes without prior experience with a piano. Your form needs some fixing and you need some practice, but I believe that you have what it takes to master the piano. That is not an easy thing to do. This instrument..." His gaze flickered to the piano. "It can be your enemy or your friend, but it all depends on what you are capable of." Hanazawa looked back at him. "What do you think?"

"Why are you trying to help me?"

"I'm not helping you, I'm helping myself." Hanazawa smiled and reached out, clasping his shoulder. "There is nothing that makes me happier than hearing beautiful music from a capable pianist. You will be doing me a favor."

Yami frowned and considered seriously over this. He could see that, regardless of why Hanazawa wanted to teach him, this would benefit him greatly. Perhaps there would be a way out of this life if he followed his own passion rather than attempt to follow his father's success as a violinist. "Alright," he decided, shrugging slightly. "I'll do it."

Yami roused himself from the memory, realizing he had been staring outside for some time. He smiled to himself. I'm sorry, old friend, he mused. I never truly thanked you for the time and effort you put into me. Yami could still remember when he had learned of Hanazawa's suicide. The reality of his mentor's depression had shaken him to the core. When he was younger, he had never fully grasped the kind of torment that Hanazawa was undergoing, but the more he practiced with him, the more likely he was able to catch a glimpse of that anguish. He could recall one day when he had been playing a song he had composed and looked up to see Hanazawa silently crying behind him. "This is what I have been meaning to teach you, Yami," Yami recalled him saying. "There is no beauty, no art in music if you cannot put your heart and soul into it. Thank you for sharing yours with me." Rather than being embarrassed, Yami had felt his own heart constrict with emotion and had turned from him to prevent him from seeing his own tears.

Was there something I could have done for him? Yami wondered presently, standing up to leave the piano and go to the kitchen. Even though it was a question that Yami constantly asked himself, he knew that the answer was 'no'. Sakura had become Hanazawa's guiding star in the last days of his life and he knew that he had loved her more fully, willingly sacrificing his own safety – and even hers – for the sake of some glimmer of happiness. If Sakura's presence and love could not prevent him from taking his own life, Yami doubted that he would have been able to help, either.

Just as Yami made to pour himself a glass of wine, the doorbell chimed abruptly. He paused, holding the half-full wine glass and then set it down, moving toward the entry way. He unlocked the door and two people shoved their way in rather rudely. "Don't track mud in here," Yami said sharply, scowling at the damp figures.

"Why the hell do you lock your door anyway?" Malik demanded irritably.

"Maybe because being killed in my sleep isn't a dramatic enough way to go out?" Yami sarcastically quipped.

"That makes sense," Bakura said, stripping his jacket off and shaking the rain off of it. "Wouldn't want it to be anything normal, would we?"

Yami shut the door behind them, locking it again and trailing back into the kitchen. He took his glass of wine and left, moving into the den where the two men had settled. Bakura had his arms resting on the back of the couch, his head hanging back and his eyes closed. Yami could tell by the crease in his brow that he was annoyed by something. He took a drink of his wine and leaned against the bookshelf, asking, "Well?"

"Nothing that wasn't to be expected," Malik grunted from his place beside Bakura where he was rubbing at his damp hair. "Harumi hasn't reported back in and it seems that Rei's gathering his forces in. He doesn't know that you're here yet, though. Right now Sakura is the target. Kaiba is taking care of that bit for us. How about you? Did you get anything done?"

Yami looked down into his wine glass, not answering immediately. He had spoken to Otogi alone to let him know of the potential dangers. Otogi had recognized the type of problems that were surrounding Yami's life when he had been present during their conversation with Kaiba. He had extracted a promise from Otogi to talk to Mai, but he had left the rest to Anzu and Ryou. Anzu's father, it was decided, would be dealt with her and Sakura, a meeting Yami was glad to avoid. "A little," he said at last, "but it's going very slowly because of Anzu's schedule. The performance is in little more than days."

"I'm aware," Malik replied, frowning, "but we don't know when he will show up, either."

"Anzu will be talking to Jounouchi with Mai here shortly. After that, with the exception of her father, we decided Ryou would take control of this and have Jounouchi with her. They're all a very tight-knit group. I'm sure that we can get the warning through easily enough."

"And what about her father?"

"That's going to be a little harder. He's stubborn and will blame it on me." He smiled briefly. "As he should, I suppose."

"If you want to put blame somewhere, put it in the right place, Yami," Bakura grunted, straightening and glaring at him. "It doesn't take a single person for something like this to happen. Let's be realistic. How did you meet Anzu in the first place?"

Yami hesitated. "Through Otogi."

"And what made it happen?"

"She needed an accompanist."

"And what made you qualified as an accompanist?"

Yami frowned, not answering. The memory of Hanazawa was too close to the surface for him to put the blame on him. Malik had paused in his own movements and when Yami looked from Bakura, he found the blonde's eyes trained on his face, as though searching for something. After a time, Malik quietly told him, "This isn't all your fault...and it's not all Hanazawa's, either."

"I never said it was," Yami answered tartly.

"No, but I'm not a fucking idiot. You and him have always been identical – it's why he chose you in the first place. He saw a kindred spirit in a bitter, hateful little boy and didn't want you to end up like him." Malik shook his head, frowning up at him. "He took the weight of the world on his shoulders, Yami, and he couldn't handle it. Don't try and take all of the blame for this."

Yami pursed his lips tightly and then glanced down at his glass. He took a quick drink from it, draining the glass. In spite of his unwillingness to voice the question aloud, he asked Malik, "Could I have saved him? Could those same words have helped him?"

Malik laughed darkly. "No. Do you really think that Sakura never told him those things? It was too late for him. Hanazawa killed himself because he knew it was the only way out and he couldn't keep it together. I don't envy him, but I won't feel pity for him, either, for what he did to my family. The bastard deserved to die and he knew it. That's all there is to it." Yami made to angrily retort, but Malik thrust a finger towards him, snapping, "Don't make him out as a saint, Yami! You and I both know that he lived with doing things that most men wouldn't even think about doing. If you want a reason for his suicide, that was it. A man can only take so many people's deaths on his hands before he goes insane."

"Innocent deaths," Bakura corrected, having remained respectfully silent during their conversation. Malik glanced at him.

"Yes, good point."

"He may not have been a saint," Yami told Malik in a tight voice, "but he tried to make amends."

"But it wasn't enough. It still wasn't enough for him in the end." Malik laced his fingers together, a smile crossing his lips. "Let the dead man rest in his grave. After this is all over, maybe his memory can finally be laid to rest, as well."

A thick silence hung over them for a long time. Yami should have known better than to ask Malik about Hanazawa, but the closer they came to a battle, the more it stuck out in his mind. It was a haunting feeling, to think that he might have been able to help his friend. Nonetheless, even though Malik's words were harsh and not what he wanted to hear, they were surprisingly soothing to his mind. Malik was right regarding Hanazawa's sins; there was nothing that could have cleansed him and Yami knew that his actions constantly lurked at the forefront of his mind, a constant reminder to him that he had ended innocent lives. Yami knew the feeling well and he had not done nearly the amount of damage that Hanazawa had done.

"So, is there anything else you two needed to tell me?" Yami asked at last.

Bakura shifted. "Yes, actually. On the days of Anzu's performance, I'd prefer if we bring in some of my men to protect the area." Yami looked to him in surprise.

"You think it's going to be a problem?"

He exchanged a glance with Malik, who seemed suddenly uncomfortable. "As you might know, she's performing with a highly exposed company," Bakura informed him bluntly. "There's a lot of places around Domino that have these fliers around with her name on it – and yours. Directly connected to each other, in fact."

"What?" Yami had a stunned expression on his face, as if someone had just slapped him. Bakura dug in his pocket and handed him the poster he had torn from one of the outlying cities. Yami took it, setting his empty glass on the coffee table. He unfolded the paper and the colour drained from his face. "Rei will know that I'm her accompanist..."

"Even if he doesn't think you two are lovers, he'll suspect some close friendship. He killed Rebecca and you two were barely connected. I'd feel more comfortable with people stationed during these performances. Anzu will be at risk otherwise."

"Yes, alright. Do it, then. Whatever you need to in order to keep her safe."

X

Anzu smiled at Jounouchi as soon as she settled at the table in Mai's kitchen. Even with knowing him for as little as she had, she could sense the subtle changes in the couple. It was more prominent in Mai than in her male counterpart, who looked more relaxed and happier than ever since Anzu had met her. Jounouchi's countenance seemed more of an inner peace than anything outward. Anzu leaned her elbows against the table and glanced up at Mai, who had collected some wine glasses and wine for them. "You two look really natural together," Anzu said. Mai laughed embarrassedly as she sat down, but Jounouchi beamed at the comment.

"It must be our good looks that go so well together," he determined with a grin.

"Oh, shut up," Mai grumbled, but she had a smile playing on the edges of her lips.

"Must be it," Anzu said with a laugh. She took her filled glass from Mai and drank from it cautiously. The red wine was dry, but the flavors jumped out in a delicious combination. Licking her lips, she set the glass down and glanced up to see Mai's eyes on her, curious and questioning. "I wanted to come and see you guys because I know that Otogi's been to see you, Mai."

"Yes and I'm honestly surprised you never told me any of this before. It would have been good to know about it beforehand. I mean, I know you told me about your mom and her things, but this is on a whole different scale. It's so weird to think of Yami coming from that kind of world, too..." Mai frowned worriedly. "I've always seen him as a very gentle, loving kind of person."

"He is," Anzu assured her. "He's always been concerned about my welfare above all else through this."

"I mean, it's obviously too late now, but are you sure you want to go through with all of this, Anzu? Otogi's told me the kind of threat and I told Jounouchi everything, too, but..."

"I could never leave Yami to deal with this alone. He's had to his whole life. He deserves to have someone by his side for once."

"And that's how it should be," Jounouchi said with a firm nod of his head. He reached over and patted Anzu sturdily on the shoulder, surprising her. "There's no way to back out of it now, not with his dad coming. You just gotta tell us what you need and we'll do it."

"Thank you, Jounouchi." She smiled tremulously, not realizing how nervous she was for this meeting until then. "You have no idea what it means to me to know that you guys are going to be supporting me."

"Of course we would!" he said in a slightly offended tone. "Why wouldn't we? Look at what you've done for all of us, Anzu. You've supported and helped us through our own shit, it's time we did it for you, don't you think?"

She laughed. "Yeah, but my life wasn't on the line then!"

"Oh, I don't know," Mai spoke up dryly. "I had thoughts of hurting you when I thought you were after Jounouchi."

"Er...you never told me that before."

"Yeah, because I knew I'd get that reaction!" The trio laughed at that. After they settled down, however, Mai asked in a somber enough voice, "But, seriously. What do you need us to do?"

"For right now, I need you and Jounouchi to talk to the others and let them know about this. I won't have time with the performance coming up. Ryou will come along to validate anything or answer any questions they have. I'll have to talk to father myself...and hopefully he'll agree to go into hiding for awhile. I just have a bad feeling he's going to want to kill Yami for all of this."

"You're his daughter. He's going to feel strongly about it." She exchanged a glance with Jounouchi. "I bet Jou would feel just as strongly if it were Rena."

"I know," Anzu sighed, "but I just want him to be safe. We're running out of time and I can't afford to fight with him right now."

"If it's you, I'm sure he'll listen," Mai soothingly told her, taking her hand and squeezing it briefly. "At the end of the day, he's going to listen to his daughter above everyone else. It might be best not to have Yami there, though. That could just provoke him."

"Oh, I don't plan to," Anzu laughed slightly. "But my mom wanted to be there with me, so he might get angry anyway. I'm just relying on his reasonable side to take control this time."

After Anzu had left Jounouchi's, leaving them both with long hugs, she prepared herself for the next meeting of the day. Kaiba had agreed to meet Anzu at her father's with Sakura, thinking it best that she remain under surveillance in case anyone came looking for Harumi. Anzu checked her phone as she pulled up in the parking lot and blew out a breath. I can already tell this is going to go poorly... As she opened her door, however, she saw Kaiba traversing across the parking lot in quick, long strides. His face was set in a stiff, pinched look, something she had come to accustom to unfortunate news. Her heart constricted and she quickly halted her sudden, rapid heartbeat. "Something happened," she said as soon as he was near enough to hear.

"Perhaps," was his vague reply. "Your father's missing. His keys and clothes are all there, but he seems to have vanished. There wasn't even a sign of a struggle. I'm having my men check the security footage at the apartment, see if he left somewhere alone or if he agreed to go with his kidnappers peaceably."

"Why would anyone think to kidnap him?" she asked, shaking her head in bemusement. "He has nothing to do with Yami."

"No," he agreed, turning slightly as a slower figure came into view from the apartment complex, "but you forget that Yami wasn't the one who killed Harumi." Anzu followed his glance to Sakura, who was moving slowly due to her previous wound. She was paler than Anzu remembered and there was a strained look around her eyes. Anzu felt a great deal of pity for her, yet her concern was more directly focused upon her father and the possibility that he was going to be killed.

"Your men found the footage they needed," Sakura told Kaiba as she came to a halt. "It seems Seiji walked out with them. He wasn't even tied up or anything."

"I don't like it," Kaiba muttered, his eyes narrowing in thought. "They're like bloodthirsty hounds – they would have killed first, asked questions later. What the fuck is going on?"

"We have no way of knowing where Seiji is without checking the city security cameras and finding out what car they left in."

"We don't have that kind of time or the forces to deal with them yet." Kaiba folded his arms across his chest, his eyebrows arching down in irritated concentration. Beside him, Sakura looked exhausted, yet resigned. Her eyes met Anzu's briefly, but she almost immediately trained them back to the ground. Anzu could only imagine the stark fear that was showing in her eyes at that moment. In any other situation, she would never have considered her father being involved with these thugs, but...

"Maybe," she spoke up quietly, "there's something we don't know about dad's involvement with them."

"Seiji was clean when I checked him before," Kaiba dismissed.

"But that doesn't mean they hadn't approached him recently. None of this is normal and under normal circumstances, I'd say it's impossible, but at this point, anything is possible. He's never gotten over her betrayal and if it meant revenge...I don't know that he would turn it down."

"Seiji is passionate in his emotions, more than he would like to admit," Sakura said slowly. "I...don't know that he would go this far, though. I can barely remember him anymore."

Kaiba gave a brief jerk of his head, a disgusted look upon his face. "Enough. It doesn't matter why he went with them. I'll take care of it. We'll find him one way or another. Whether we'll be able to get him back is another question." Anzu opened her mouth to protest, but he raised a hand. "I understand your concern, Anzu, but we can spread our forces only so thin. I'll handle it. Go back home. I'll let Yami know about all of this."

Stunned, Anzu watched as he turned around and headed back to one of the armored Kaiba Corp. cars. Sakura lingered, sending her an apologetic glance before following the male more slowly. Anzu carefully got back into her car and sat in it for a long moment, unable to process what was happening. She heard a buzz and frowned, looking down at her phone. An unknown number had popped up and she opened the message and felt her stomach leap.

Stay alert, stay safe, the text read.

Anzu leaned towards her car window and looked up at the apartment complex with the uneasy feeling of being watched.

TBC