Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
An Azureshipping Fanfic.
Lockdown.
Chapter Fifteen.
Mortified, Anzu threw an arm over her breasts, the other below her waist. The towel was now a puddle around her ankles, her cheeks flushed a blazing scarlet.
"Turn around," she ordered Kaiba. "I need the damn towel. Have some decency to turn your back to me so I can get it."
"Hmm. No." Her ire sparked, fueled by the lazy drawl. And when she snarled, his smirk widened. "I have to ask, Mazaki, is this an attempt to seduce me?"
"Oh, please." Anzu scoffed, threw in an eye roll for the hell of it. "Like I've got nothing better to do. Why are you here, anyway? Oh, I get it. It was you who was hoping to be seduced. Want more than a few kisses, Kaiba?"
She was good at goading his temper, Anzu realized, because his glares were right up murder alley.
"Forget what I said. Just close your eyes or something. I'm not giving you a repeat performance."
"And here I was hoping for one. Go ahead, get the towel. I won't look." He closed his eyes like a good boy. "Hurry up."
With a tempered curse, Anzu bent, her fingers closing around damp cotton. She started to cover her nakedness, hesitated when she felt Kaiba's eyes on her.
"You said you wouldn't look."
He shrugged a shoulder. "I say a great many things I don't mean. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the show."
He stopped speaking, watched as the towel slid off, and naked and flushed, she walked to him. He had a moment to admire her bareness, to enjoy the subtle curves, the silk-smooth skin before her fist plowed into his face. The attack sent him stumbling back, his injured arm rapping painfully against an end table.
He cursed sharply, felt the rawness of his mouth, tasted the strong metal of his own blood.
Mazaki seemed to be in a daze, her knuckles discolored with bruises. Then she blinked, stared at him with a stupid grin on her face.
"Ouch. That looks like it hurts." Her arm was shaking, vibrating from the impact, and the bones in her hand felt broken. And still she giggled. "I can't believe I hit you. Actually hit you. Though you had it coming."
Forgetting embarrassment — he already saw everything there was to see — Anzu retrieved the towel, beamed at him. "You've got a little blood right here," she pointed to her own chin.
Kaiba rose, wiped the blood, his eyes gleaming with unrestrained violence. "Mazaki," he growled lowly, started toward her.
"There's a first aid kit in the kitchen. I'll be upstairs putting some clothes on." When he lunged for her, she danced away, made a beeline for the stairs. "And don't think about following me, you pervert!"
The string of expletives mixed in with the inventive threats of torture had her giggling all the way to her room.
Gratefully clothed and aching from a recent workout and fistfight, Anzu walked into the kitchen for a packet of frozen peas. Her hand was a swollen mess. She spotted the used first aid kit, it's contents scattered on the counter.
"Could've packed up before he left." Did he leave? She didn't see him in the living room and his limo was gone. Oh well. She'd live another day since payback was going to hurt like a bitch.
Which reminded her…
"Got to get that ice." Anzu went to the freezer, grabbed a pack, and when she turned around, her scream could've woke the dead. "Jeez! Don't do that. You trying to give me a heart attack?"
Kaiba refused to notice her question, her pale skin, and startled blue eyes. And he indulged, quite happily, in a pleasant fantasy where tormenting the twit rivaled ecstasy. Heart attack, sadly, was nowhere on the list.
"I thought you'd left. I peaked through the windows and saw your limo gone. How's the lip?"
"Why don't I smack you around so you'll know? It fucking hurts, Mazaki."
"Look, don't get pissed. My hand is practically broken since your face is like a concrete slab. And at the risk of repeating, you damn well deserved it."
Tossing short brow hair, Anzu stomped into the living room, plopped down on the couch to tenderly nurse her hand.
He'd seen her naked and that should have made things awkward. Should have made her reaction the usual blushing mess. It didn't, of course. Humiliation was thrust aside in a favor of sweet, sweet anger.
Kaiba walked in.
"I keep trying to wrap my head around why you're here. Care to shed some light?" she asked bitingly.
He ignored the tone, only reached into his pocket with minimal grimace. "Catch." A small Nile blue stud came flying at her.
"I've been looking for this." Anzu fastened it on. "I thought it must've fallen off at the gym. I even had Ren help me search for it."
"Ren?" Kaiba quirked a brow. "Who's Ren?"
"My substitute trainer. He's the one who taught me that awesome move I practiced on you."
"Lucky me," he said dryly. And made a move to leave.
"Hold it." Anzu rose. "That can't be the reason why. You could've given it to me at school. It's just paste."
"Point taken." He turned to her and when he flashed that potent smile, her heart skipped a beat. "I came by on the chance of seeing you naked. You didn't disappoint."
"Yeah, right." But she grinned. "I'll let it slide since I enjoyed walloping you."
Kaiba opened the door wide enough so she could see the shiny limo pull up. Mokuba popped his head out, waved enthusiastically.
She waved back. "You sent your driver to fetch Mokuba from wherever. Aren't you the good brother."
He turned around at that. "A compliment, Mazaki?"
"I've given you compliments before — I think. And I even cried over you. Worried about you."
Her eyes glimmered with an emotion he couldn't recognize. And when she reached for his arm, her touch was light and warm.
"I still feel guilty about you hurting your arm. Not counting today, of course." She smothered a quick smile, then inhaled deeply. "Okay. I'm just going to say it. Kaiba, I like you."
Stunned into speechlessness — it was rare of him — Kaiba removed himself from her grip. Punching him a second time might've been less shocking. And in sincere bafflement, he wondered if she'd lost her mind.
"What the hell brought this on?" he demanded, finally finding the words.
"I care about you." She said it so seriously. "You make me lose my temper, piss me off to the point where I turn to violence, but you can be kind even nice. You protected me," Anzu reminded him when he said something particularly vile. "A girl loves a hero. I suppose that's another reason." Now she grinned. "So, Kaiba, I like you. I really, really like you."
"Quit saying that," he snapped.
"Wish I could. But boy do I feel better. Saying it helped, you know? Now that nagging voice in my head can finally shut up."
Kaiba's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. "Mazaki, you're beginning to piss me off."
"Only beginning? I must be doing something wrong." She seemed very pleased with herself. "I won't keep you any longer. Mokuba looks impatient. So," Anzu grabbed a fistful of his shirt, dragged him close so her lips brushed against his ear. "I just confessed to liking you. What are you going to do about it?" She pressed her lips to his, smothering his response. "Save it for when we're alone. Goodbye, Kaiba."
When the door closed behind her, Kaiba could only stare. More bewildered than annoyed, he realized where Mazaki was concerned, nothing would be smooth and easy.
She was perfectly capable of screwing with his head.
A word from ladydolce:
Toughest chapter yet. I changed it and read it a bunch of times, it's practically engraved in my mind. Anyways, I'm updating monthly so that gives me enough time to explore different ideas. I don't know which direction the next chapter will go, but I'm liking this version of Anzu, so you'll get more of her.
Thank you for reading.