Just when our couples seem to be happy again, it all comes tumbling back down.

Chapter 5.

Found Out.

Today was going to be a busy day for everyone.

Mai had her photo shoot, and Yugi and Jonouchi were attending a workshop aimed at getting children in care and from deprived backgrounds playing Duel Monsters. Pegasus had put up tons of free cards for the children to choose from and build decks with, and Yugi and Jonouchi were teaching them the basics of deck building and how to play. A mini tournament was being held and Seto Kaiba was offering reconditioned duel disks for those competing in the tournament, plus a state of the art mark 4 duel disk to the winner.

Meanwhile, Anzu was in the dance studio with her dance partner and her choreographer, putting the finishing touches to a routine which would hopefully secure her high marks in her quest for a first class honours degree.

Yugi would be meeting her later, once he finished at the workshop.

::::::::::::

With the workshop finishing on time, Yugi wished Jonouchi good luck at his next appointment, which was an interview with a chat show host, and hurried to the dance studio to meet Anzu. He hoped to at least catch the end of her practice session.

At reception, Yugi told them he was here to meet Anzu Mazaki and the receptionist told him she was in studio 2, and that it was fine for him to go and observe, but to be quiet when he entered the viewing area.

The door creaked loudly when he opened it, making the three people in the studio look over at him.

Anzu stopped dancing and smiled and waved at him. "Hey! Yugi!"

The choreographer huffed and hit pause on the sound system.

Feeling self conscious, Yugi waved to Anzu, muttered an apology to the choreographer, who looked unamused, and crept inside and looked around for the viewing area, which, he realised, was basically some chairs along one side of the wall next to a piano and the sound system. Trying not to look too conspicuous, he hurried over to a chair and sat down.

"Are we seated comfortably?" the choreographer said sarcastically. Yugi gave her one of his most disarming smiles and nodded. The choreographer continued, "Right! Again! With more expression this time! More height, less sloppy!" Anzu and her dance partner both nodded. "And remember to smile! It will earn you both more marks." The choreographer pointed at Yugi. "Smile at him if you need to." Anzu's dance partner winked saucily at Yugi, making him feel even more self conscious than he already did.

The music started again from the top, and Anzu and her partner began their routine.

The level at which Anzu was now dancing at was far more advanced than anything Yugi had seen her doing before she came to New York and he was utterly mesmerised by her grace and beauty. But he nearly had a heart attack when she allowed herself to be hoisted into the air without hesitation, relying on her dance partner to hold her aloft.

The moment the routine ended, the choreographer clapped her hands. "Bravo! Bravo! Much better." Anzu was pleased with herself at the praise, and kept glancing over at Yugi, as if his opinion mattered more, which it did. Grinning, he gave her a proud thumbs up.

After a few words with her dance partner and choreographer, Anzu skipped over to Yugi all smiles. Grinning, he stood to greet her. "You were awesome!" he said in awe.

On a high, and still breathing hard from the exertion, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Thanks! It felt like it really came together that time."

Laughing at her exuberance, he needed to brace to prevent himself stumbling backwards and looking like a wimp. Although self conscious about being affectionate in public than Anzu was, he still wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her. She felt hot, sweaty and glowing in his arms.

Unfurling herself from him, Anzu grabbed his hands and took a step back "How was the workshop?" she asked.

He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "It went well," he told her. "The kids were great! Who knows, we might have even found a future champion!"

"The next generation, huh?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. Anyway, I hope you didn't mind me watching you dance?" Leaning closer, he lowered his voice to a whisper, "I don't think your teacher liked me turning up like that." He wondered if he had broken some sort of rule.

"Oh, don't worry about her,"Anzu said dismissively. "I'm really happy you got here in time to see our routine."

"Me, too," he agreed. Seeing her so energised from doing what she loved filled him with so much love he could drown. Oh, what a sweet death it would be to drown in her love.

Swinging their hands between them, Anzu giggled at the soppy look on his face and leaned in to give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Are you okay waiting for me?" Her question snapped him out of his reverie. "I just need to do some stretching and then get changed. I can meet you in reception in about twenty minutes, if that's okay?"

"Oh! Sure. I don't mind waiting." Releasing her hands, he was about to turn and go when he was struck with the overwhelming urge to give her more praise. "You're incredible, Anzu. I can't get over how awesome you are. You'll definitely pass your exam."

Despite her face still being flushed from exertion, she blushed. "You're just biased," she teased fondly, reaching forward to give him a playful poke in the shoulder, before spinning away from him and skipping over to the bar to stretch.

Shaking his head in amusement at her bashfulness about taking his praise, he watched on lovingly as she swung her leg onto the bar and folded herself in half over it. She was so supple and a joy to watch. He was going to get horny if he stayed looking at her any longer, so he hastily beat his retreat.

Aware of him looking at her, Anzu smiled and continued stretching, and was almost disappointed when he left. She realised that she could flail around and fall over her own feet, and Yugi would still call her beautiful and tell her she was awesome. The thought made her giggle and she lost her balance and stumbled mid quad stretch. She might have ended up in a heap on the floor had her dance partner not grabbed her.

Back downstairs, Yugi found a wall to cling to and waited. People were in and out constantly to use the studios and attend classes. None of them were particularly tidy about where they left shoes and bags, and it was extremely noisy. Yugi thought the place smelled of sweat and cheesy feet –and they say duelists have a hygiene problem! He almost felt offended.

::::::::::::

In the ladies changing room, Anzu opened her locker and took out her kit bag. The routine she was working on today would make up a third of the mark for her degree, and she was starting to believe she would score high. It was a huge boost to her confidence; there had been times while on this course that she had feared she did not have the ability to reach the levels required and had almost quit. But recently everything was starting to click into place. And Yugi's approval meant as much to her as marks in an exam. Just by being here, he was having a positive impact on her outlook, and she was looking forward to getting back to his hotel room and showing him just how happy he made her. She giggled at a saucy thought, and got some funny looks from the other girls who were also getting changed.

Grabbing her towel and toiletries, she had a quick shower and then dressed in a casual tee-shirt and hooded zip up top, a pair of fleecy bottoms and trainers.

Towelling her wet hair, she ran a brush through it, but did not bother using a hairdryer to save time. Picking up her bag, she went to find Yugi. On the way to the foyer, her phone pinged, reminding her that she had not checked her messages all afternoon.

Hoisting her bag onto her back so that both hands were free, she checked her phone as she walked, but came to a grinding halt when she opened her e-mails and saw the images that had been sent to her. "What the fuck?!" she muttered to herself, feeling like someone had just stepped on her corpse.

There was an image of Yugi and Mai in a corridor, arms around one another. Then another image of them kissing and his hand looked like it was underneath her short skirt, touching her upper thigh. The images were grainy, but there was no mistaking it was them.

The sender was called 'Housemaid', but there was no profile image of them.

Who the hell would be so cruel as to send her something like this?!

Hurt turned to anger. How two faced was Mai? It was only yesterday that they had been chatting and laughing together about their respective men while in the hotel spa during the women's only afternoon. Yet, all that time Mai had knowingly been keeping her affair with Yugi secret.

And… Yugi: how could he cheat on her with, of all people, Mai?!

Biting back tears, she stormed down the stairs and into the foyer. She spotted Yugi, standing casually with his hands in his pockets reading the notices on the notice board.

As if sensing her arrival, he turned to her and smiled.

But his face fell as she stormed towards him. "Anzu. What's wrong?!"

"How could you?!" she yelled, slapping his face, hard.

Shocked, he recoiled, hand flying up to cover his stinging cheek. "W..what have I done?!" He had no idea.

"This! You! Mai!" She shoved her phone in his face. Heartbroken, she was shaking with emotion and could barely speak.

Unable to see anything on the screen with the phone in his face, he flinched back and grabbed her wrist to steady the phone in her shaking hand so that he could see what she was talking about. His face fell. He urgently needed to offer some sort of explanation. "I.. I.." Struggling for words, he came out with the old cliché, "It's not what you think!"

"Then what is it?" demanded Anzu, tears now streaming down her cheeks. She had tried so hard not to cry, but could not help it.

He was shaking his head and his jaw was flapping as he tried to think of an excuse, but there was no excuse. "I can explain," he said, hoping she would hear him out.

"Don't bother," she snapped. "I'm going to the hotel to get my things, then going back to my flat. Don't follow me." She barged past him.

"Anzu?!" he called desperately, reaching for her, but she shrugged him off, giving the people who were staring at them a cold, frosty stare, before storming out. They might not have understood Japanese, but they could understand a couple having a big fall-out.

Ignoring her request not to follow, Yugi ran after her, very aware that people were looking at him. "Anzu, please?"

"Leave me alone, or I'll scream 'help' and you'll get arrested." Not that she would want him arrested, but she was so angry that threatening him seemed a good idea.

Her threat made him back off, but he still followed her, at a big distance, back to the hotel.

Anzu knew he was following her, but ignored him. When she reached the hotel lobby, it suddenly occurred to her that she might bump into Mai, or even Jonouchi. What would she do if she did? Would she launch into Mai for sleeping with her cheater of a boyfriend?

Would she say anything to Jonouchi?

Did Jonouchi even know?

Thankfully she saw no one and made it up to the room safely. A few minutes later, Yugi came in, looking sheepish and miserable. His cheek was bright red where she hit him.

"I thought I told you not to follow me!"

He stood there, fidgeting awkwardly. "It's er… my room," he said, running his hand over his still smarting face. "You hit hard." Feeling sorry for himself, no doubt. She had little sympathy.

"Severs you right!" Grabbing her holdall, she started shoving her things inside it.

An awful tension hung in the air for a few seconds, before Yugi spoke again. "Anzu… I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to find out like this," he said emotionally.

Anzu stopped packing and glared at him. "You probably hoped I wouldn't find out at all," she said bitterly. "Why, Yugi? Why Mai?"

He shook his head and looked at the floor. "I don't know. We were drinking. It just happened," he said guiltily. "I'm not proud of myself, okay?" He glanced up at her and looked away again in shame when he saw the hurt on her tear stained face.

Anzu shook her head in dismay. "I can't get my head around it. Mai! For fucks sake Yugi! She's your best friend's girlfriend!"

"I know," he muttered miserably, sitting down on the bed, posture slumped.

"And Jonouchi doesn't know?"

Yugi shook his head. "Not unless he got the same message you did."

"Well, you just have to hope he didn't, because you're dead if he finds out."

He shrugged. "I probably deserve it. I just hope he doesn't hurt Mai."

"Yeah, well, she probably deserves it too." Anzu looked at the dress scrunched up in her hand and then at her haphazardly packed bag. She was not going to get everything in if she continued trying to pack in a rage, so she threw the dress on the floor and sat down next to Yugi, but not close enough for him to touch her. A fresh round of tears threatened. "Two faced cow!" she mumbled nastily. "Pretending to be my friend, while sleeping with my boyfriend."

Biting on his bottom lip, Yugi blinked back tears and looked over at her. He thought about sidling closer and putting an arm around her shoulders, but she was sitting away from him for a reason so he stayed where he was, and thoughtlessly said, "I wasn't your boyfriend at the time. And Mai wasn't with Jonouchi."

Anzu rounded on him. "Oh! So that justifies it, does it?" He flinched.

"N...no! Well, sort of, I don't know. I'm just trying to explain!"

"Go on then! Explain!" She fixed him with a furious look. He shrank under her gaze and nodded.

"Mai and Jonouchi split up a few days before over Jonouchi chasing after other women. Mai had a date with a baseball player, but ditched him because he was boring and went back to the bar for a drink. Jonouchi and I went to the casino that evening, but Jonouchi met some woman and went off with her, leaving me playing the tables on my own." He decided not to tell her about Jonouchi being caught in a honey trap. "I won a lot of money and decided to quit while I was ahead, or before they realised who I was. I went back to the hotel, where I found Mai on her own in the bar. We got talking and she asked me where Jonouchi was? I told her the truth, and she seemed a bit irritated by it. I told her how much I won and she asked me to buy a bottle of champagne, so I did –it seemed to cheer her up a bit. I dunno if it was just the wine, but she started flirting with me and… I guess I flirted back. And, well, one thing lead to another and we went up to my room." Hanging his head in shame, he tried not to cry.

Anzu felt like a knife had been pushed through her heart, and she shook her head in dismay. "Geez, Yugi! What on earth were you thinking?" She was trying to keep her voice even and not get any more upset than she already was.

In all honesty, Yugi could not really remember what he had been thinking at the time. "I don't know," he said quietly, squeezing his eyes shut, but failing to stop his falling tears.

The initial heartbreak and anger Anzu had been feeling was was now being replaced with a numb feeling of harsh betrayal and dismay. "You have no idea how disappointed I am, Yugi; not just in you, but Mai as well. It sounds like Jonouchi's not entirely blameless either."

"It's this tour," Yugi admitted, "we've all been having fun and being irresponsible, but I didn't expect things to end up with you and me falling out over Mai." He took a breath and sighed.

"Yes. Well, if you had been thinking with your brain instead of your penis then we wouldn't be falling out, would we?" she said bitterly. Yugi scowled at her harsh words.

"I suppose not."

A moment of awkward tension ensued, before Yugi said, "What happens now? With us?"

"I don't know. I'm too numb to think right now," Anzu said truthfully.

Resigned to his fate, Yugi nodded, and said, "I should probably let Mai know what's happened, in case Jonouchi gets the same e-mail."

"If he was going to, he would have probably received it the same time I did. The fact that he isn't gunning for you yet is probably I good sign," Anzu said rationally.

"I need to tell her anyway," said Yugi, hesitantly adding, "Will you want to talk to her after this?"

Anzu wasn't sure if she did, but knew she would have to face her at some point. "No. But I should, even if it's just to tell her what I think about her seducing you."

Yugi chuckled mirthlessly. "She didn't need to seduce me." He could not let Mai take all the blame.

Anzu was not amused by his comment.

::::::::::::

When Mai received Yugi's message asking if Jonouchi was there and if it was convenient to talk, she was confused, but sent a message back to say she was on her own; Jonouchi was still out doing his guest slot on a chat show.

Moments later, Yugi rang her to explain the situation in detail.

The colour drained from her face and she felt a chill run through her. "How is Anzu taking it?" was the first thing she could think to say.

Yugi looked at Anzu as he replied. "Angry. Hurt. Upset. But… I'm hoping we can work it through." He hoped they could, but the look Anzu gave him said otherwise. "We're worried Jonouchi may have received the same images." He worried his lip with his teeth nervously as he waited for a response.

Mai was silent as she looked around the room for Jonouchi's phone, but breathed a sigh of relief when she spotted it on the dresser, still on charge. "He left his phone here. I'll see if I can check his messages." Yugi felt a wave of relief wash over him at the news. Jonouchi was always leaving his phone behind, sometimes deliberately to stop people pestering him.

A few moments later, Mai said, "I don't know the pin code, so I can't tell."

Yugi thought for a moment. The phone was issued by Kaiba Corp., therefore Kaiba would be able to get into it. "Can you bring the phone to me?" He glanced at Anzu, and mouthed, "Is it okay is Mai comes up?" Anzu shrugged sulkily.

"Don't expect me to be friendly," she mumbled at him. Yugi frowned. This was going to be very awkward.

"Okay. I'll be there in five," said Mai, hanging up.

Less than five minutes later, she knocked on Yugi's door.

Yugi opened the door sheepishly. "Hey!"

Not thinking that Anzu might be in Yugi's room with him, Mai blurted, "What a shit show!" and went to enter, but hesitated when she saw the look on Yugi's face. "Erm…Anzu's here, isn't she?"

"Yes! I am!" came the angry retort. Mai looked reluctant to enter.

"We need to resolve this, please?" Yugi pleaded, glancing nervously between the two women.

Anzu huffed, and Mai cautiously entered the room, grimacing sheepishly at Anzu. "Look, Anzu. I'm sorry. Yugi and me… it was just the once, and…"

"Save it, Mai. I don't wanna hear your excuses," Anzu said coldly. "I've already heard them from him."

That ruffled Mai's feathers. All traces of remorse vanished and she went on the offensive. "Before you judge, why don't you take a look at yourself? You were the one who cut him loose so you could play the field. And now you don't like it because other women find him attractive and want to have sex with him!" she said bluntly.

Anzu was outraged. "That's not the point!" she said confrontationally. "You're supposed to be my friend! You're Jonouchi's girlfriend! Jonouchi is Yugi's best friend! Or don't you care?!"

"Of course I care! And don't try to take the moral high ground with me! I'm not the one who dumped her boyfriend to screw around with other men!"

"At least I'm not a man stealer!"

"He wasn't your property to steal!"

"Er.. Ladies," Yugi said meekly, stepping in between them, his face red with embarrassment. "We need to go and see Kaiba now." They ignored him and carried on with their war of bitchy words.

Yugi had suddenly had enough. "Will you two shut up!" he yelled at them, making them both stop and stare at him. Relieved they were now listening, he continued, "Right! Now I have your attention, we need to see if Kaiba can check Jonouchi's phone." He levelled Anzu with a firm look. "Did you want to come with us?"

"Do I have a choice?" she snapped, pouting.

Yugi remained firm. "You don't have to come, but I want you to. And, both of you," he said with authority, "stop arguing. What's done is done and we all need to deal with it." Lost for words, both women stared at him, and then at each other. When Yugi raised his voice, it was not wise to argue.

"I guess that just told us!" Mai said sardonically.

Resigned, Anzu sighed. "Let's go and find Kaiba."

As the trio headed towards the elevator that would take them up to Kaiba's penthouse suite, Yugi found himself wondering about who had sent the images to Anzu. Pegasus had said that the only two members of staff who were aware of them had signed a non disclosure agreement, stating they would not make copies, or pass those images to anyone else. The files had then been deleted. But that appeared not to be the case, and someone had indeed kept copies.

Yugi was pretty sure Kaiba would be able to trace the source, but right now his main concern was to ensure Jonouchi had not been sent them, as well as trying to get Anzu to accept that, while what he did was irresponsible, he had not cheated on her, and for her to forgive him.

::::::::::::

Seto Kaiba guffawed in amusement, when Yugi walked into his office with two women and told him what had happened. "I can't believe I'm hearing this, Yugi! You come in here with your little harem, and tell me you need me to dig you out of a hole before the Mutt finds out you screwed his girlfriend and castrates you."

"We're not in a harem, Kaiba!" said Anzu frostily.

"Don't rise to the bait," said Mai, hushing her.

Yugi ignored Kaiba's sniping –he was used to it. "Can you do it, Kaiba? It's a Kaiba Corp. issued phone."

Seto sighed and held his hand out. "Give it here." Yugi handed him Jonouchi's phone, and within seconds Seto had the phone unlocked and was going through it. He smirked when he saw that Jonouchi had been searching up porn. "The images were sent to him at 15.06. Let me see your phone, Mazaki?" Frowning, Anzu handed him her phone. He huffed. "Same time as you received them. Do you want to know who sent them?"

Yugi and the two women looked at each other for affirmation, before Yugi said. "Yes, please."

It went without saying, that it only took seconds for Seto's advanced technology to locate the sender, who, in Seto's opinion had made a very amateurish attempt at trying to cover their identity.

"Does a Damon Mackintosh mean anything to any of you?" Yugi looked at the women and shook his head. Seto snorted. "From the blank looks, I assume not. He works for the security company that operates the CCTV for Pegasus's hotel in Vegas. His wife, Aimee works in housekeeping at the hotel. Ring a bell now, Yugi?"

"Ah…" Yugi's chin fell and his face was a picture. "You mean…."

"Exactly!" Seto looked at him with a smug expression.

"Would you mind explaining what's going on?" asked Anzu.

"Do you want to explain, Yugi? Or shall I tell her?"

Yugi cleared his throat. "I.. er… slept with Aimee."

Anzu was speechless, but managed to give him a death glare.

"I'm assuming the husband sent the images of you two as revenge," said Seto. "Now you know why Pegasus told you that staff were not on the menu."

"I didn't know she was married," said Yugi in his defence sheepishly.

For Anzu, this was another knife in the heart. "Oh, so that's alright then," she said, huffing. "Anything else you should tell me?"

"No! Nothing," he said, shaking his head. "Honestly!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Seto interjected. "Mackintosh signed the non disclosure. I can delete the images from his database, or I can report it to Pegasus and have him and his wife sacked."

Yugi looked at Anzu and Mai. "What would you like to do? I mean, I don't really want them to lose their jobs, do you?"

"I do!" said Mai.

"Mai!" exclaimed Anzu, "That's mean! It's bad enough what Yugi did with his wife!" she could not bring herself to say 'had sex'. "I don't want the poor man to lose his job as well."

"You feel sorry for him?!" said Mai. "The guy's a trouble maker."

"He's hurting. I know how that feels," she said, glaring at both Yugi and Mai.

Yugi turned back to Seto. "Kaiba! Can you…." he began.

"Already done!"

"What do you mean?"

"I have removed the images and bricked his computer. I have also checked his source back to the security company's data base and removed all trace of the images from their archive."

"So, that's it, all done?" asked Mai.

"Yes!" said Seto bluntly. "I suggest that you all go away and sort yourselves out. I'm sick of having to clean up after you all."

Thanking Kaiba for his help, the trio shuffled out of Kaiba's suite.

As soon as they were in the corridor, Yugi groaned. "I'm such an idiot!" He wanted to bang his head on the wall.

"Yes. You are," agreed Anzu. "A very big one!"

"I think you two need to sit down and talk to each other," said Mai. "Open and honest. No secrets."

Anzu wasn't sure; she had had quite enough nasty surprises where Yugi was concerned for one day.

Yugi had another idea. "I think all three of us need to sit and talk about how we tell Jonouchi."

Mai was horrified after all they had just done to cover it up and bury it. "What?! No way! Do you have any idea how he's gonna react?"

Yugi was adamant. "He'll be angry, but I have to take the risk. I don't know if he'll forgive me, but I can't continue to be his friend if I know I'm keeping a secret like this from him."

Concerned, Anzu put her hand on Yugi's arm. "Are you sure? We should talk about this some more before we do anything hasty."

"I agree," said Mai. "Let's go and get a stiff drink. I need one."

The three went down to the bar, ordered drinks, and waited for Jonouchi to return.

Well, Yugi and Mai have been found out, Yugi's relationship with Anzu is rocky again, and they now have to decide if they should tell Jonouchi or not. What a mess they're in!