Ooo! I forgot all about this story! I started writing this in February and then
set it aside to work on other stories, and promptly forgot about it. So…here it is now,
finished, and only…six months behind schedule!
Go me!
Disclaimers: I don’t own Yugioh
or any of the characters from the show.
I do own this story. Steal it and
die.
Just a forewarning…this
story is set right after the episode with Anzu and Yami’s “date”. Why, you ask? Because I really was liking that episode
until they had to go and ruin it by having that whole
duel-tournament-for-the-fate-of-the-world thing. Yeesh. Take a perfectly
good date and just turn it into another repetitive plot hole…
Oh and, this WILL be an
ANZU and YAMI pairing. If you don’t like
that couple, use your brain and DON’T READ.
‘Nuf said.
Kiss the Girl
By Quickening
He was nervous.
The King of Games, the former Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt,
the always smooth and self-assured one, was actually nervous. His palms were sweaty, his heart was
pounding, and he was sure he was sweating a little as he faced his newest—and
so far, his greatest—challenge.
Namely…saying goodnight to a girl.
He’d had a surprisingly wonderful time that day, after his
other half had so blatantly tricked him into spending most of it with Anzu, and
after the first uncomfortable half hour or so, he’d managed to relax and let
himself have fun, for the first time in…well…in a very long time.
It had helped that Anzu was doing her best to be cheerful
and considerate, knowing that he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing
on this strange, modern custom called a “date”.
He could barely remember anything from his past life; it stood to reason
that he’d know next to nothing about any sort of customs in this one. But Anzu was a patient teacher and more than
willing to help him out, even though a certain someone had managed to make his
presence disappear during the duration of the outing.
Now, though, the day was coming to an end, and so was
their “date”, and after a rather pleasant walk home, Yami found himself
standing at her front door with the setting sun playing golden highlights in
her hair, facing her whimsical smile and large, expectant eyes…
And he had absolutely no idea what to do next.
I
could really use your help on this, Yugi, he muttered inwardly, and again
was rewarded with silence. Great. He’d forgotten
what kind of an imp Yugi could occasionally be, but apparently, Yugi had chosen
to remind his darker half with some less than perfect timing by pulling this
little vanishing act. Anzu really did
appear to be expecting something, but
he had no idea what that might be. And
his pride wouldn’t allow him to ask, either.
“Thanks for putting up with me
today,” Anzu finally stated, apparently realizing that whatever she expected
wasn’t forthcoming. Her voice abruptly
jerked him out of his inner musings and he blinked at her. “I hope it wasn’t too boring for you,” she
added, a bit shyly. “I hope that museum
helped you to sort some things out, too.”
“Yes…and…no, it wasn’t boring. Not at all,” he replied, stammering a bit in
the face of her brilliant smile. “I
rather enjoyed myself today, for the first time in awhile. Thank you.”
Her smile widened, a blush touching
her cheeks. “Oh…don’t thank me,” she
replied, scratching the back of her head.
“Really, I was glad to help. I
don’t want you to be all depressed. I
know you’ll remember everything eventually and find what you’re meant to do,
and until then, you have me!” Her eyes
suddenly widened as she realized what she said.
“Er…I mean…us,”
she amended hastily, looking sheepish.
“Y-you have all of us…”
“Yes. Thank you,” he repeated, smiling a little in
return as he admired the way the dying sunlight seemed to cast a glowing halo
around her chestnut hair. Then, before
he knew what he was saying, “Perhaps we can…do something like this again
sometime?”
Her eyes widened. “R-really? You…mean that?” she stuttered, looking
adorably surprised and pleased and even a little flustered.
“Of course.
Despite what you may think, I do enjoy
spending time with my friends,” he replied amusedly, and noted to his confusion
a brief flash of disappointment in the dark blue eyes.
“Of course,” she replied around a
forced little laugh. “Your
friends. Right.”
He tilted his head, eyeing her
curiously at the odd note of frustration…and maybe even a bit of hurt…in her
tone. “Anzu…?”
She flashed him a smile and shrugged
lightly. “Well…guess I’d better go in,”
she interrupted hastily. “Thank you for
a wonderful time today. I really did
enjoy myself, and I’m glad you did, too.
Especially when we got to whoop that guy’s ass at the arcade!” She grinned almost wolfishly in remembrance
and he had to smile. She hesitated,
again looking as if she expected something, but when he merely looked at her
curiously, she seemed to shake herself out of her thoughts and smiled at him
again, turning to open the door with a soft farewell.
Yami breathed a huge sigh of relief
as he turned to leave, walking slowly back to Yugi’s house, and wondering why
he felt as though he’d just missed out on something important.
& & & & &
He found Yugi sprawled out on his
bed, the covers appearing through the translucent spirit-form he wore when Yami
was in control of his body, staring at the ceiling with an incredibly bored
expression on his face. As soon as Yami
entered the room, however, the bored expression was gone, to replaced by eager
questioning. “So how’d it go? Did you learn anything? Did you have a great time? Did you ask her out again? Did you get to kiss her? What was it like?”
Yami could only stand and blink in
the face of such rapid-fire demands, waiting until Yugi ran out of breath
(which took awhile considering he wasn’t technically breathing at the moment), and then dropped onto the desk chair to
sort them all out. “It went…well,” he
began hesitantly. “I did learn some
things, which I’ll discuss with you later once I’ve sorted them out a bit more,
and yes, I had a good time. It was…an
interesting day.”
Especially, he decided, the part of it where he’d gotten
to watch Anzu dance; that had been most
interesting. He could tell that she
loved it, and now he understood why she wanted to pursue it so badly. She’d been…well…really good hardly began to
cover it. He’d never seen dancing like
that before—he’d never seen any real dancing at all—but he couldn’t help but think that…well, he’d always thought
that Anzu was rather a beautiful girl, but when she was caught up in the
passion and joy of her movements, she had been simply breathtaking. She’d…absolutely glowed.
“And?” Yugi was looking at him expectantly, a lot
like Anzu had at her door, and he fought back a flash of annoyance.
“And what?” he grumbled.
Yugi rolled his eyes in a “duh!”
gesture. “Did you ask her out
again? What did she say?”
“I…did,” he admitted. “She seemed…pleased with the idea…”
“Great!” Yugi
crowed.
Yami cocked an eyebrow at him.
“Well, I mean…I’m glad you two are
getting along so well,” he added a bit sheepishly. “Yami, Anzu really likes you a lot, you
know. I mean…she’d never admit that, of course but…I can
tell.” He nodded wisely, and Yami
resisted the urge to blush. “Now…answer
my final question. Did you get to kiss
her?”
Yami choked. “I…what…no! I didn’t kiss her!” he stammered, and this
time he did blush. “I…that’s…hardly
appropriate behavior…”
Yugi snorted. “What are you talking about? A kiss? Come on, Yami, that’s how most dates end
these days. It’s expected even!”
Expected? That gave Yami pause. So was that
why Anzu had been looking at him like that?
Because he was supposed to kiss her? Well, maybe that was why she’d seemed so
disappointed then when she’d gone inside.
But…a kiss? With Anzu? He could feel his face turning red again and his
stomach gave a strange lurch. It had
been a long time since he’d even considered that
kind of thing with a girl. From what
little he could remember of his past, he had the feeling that he didn’t deal
with them much back then,
either. Too busy being Pharaoh and all
to consider much in the way of romance…
“Well, no hope for it now,” Yugi was
saying. “I guess I can’t blame you, it
isn’t like you knew or anything.
Besides, if you’re gonna go out with her again,
you’ll have another chance. Just don’t
blow it this time, right?”
“Yeah…” he muttered absently,
relinquishing control of his body back to his lighter half and drifting to seat
himself at the windowsill and stare out at the darkening night.
“So…” Yugi paused to yawn as he changed his clothes,
then crawled back into bed; Yami’s date had worn his body out, it seemed. “When’re you gonna go out with Anzu again?”
It occurred to Yami that he’d
forgotten to ask, but it didn’t matter because Yugi was already asleep.
& & & & &
The trouble with not having a body
was that he never got tired. Oh, sure,
his spirit could become weary but it wasn’t the kind of weariness that sleep
could overcome. He couldn’t fall into
the oblivion of sleep like a mortal body.
No matter how much he rested, his mind was always active, always
thinking.
And at the moment, he was thinking
about his date with Anzu. More
importantly, about the end of his date with Anzu, and that brief look of
disappointment and hurt she’d flashed him before going inside. He felt…guilty about that, for some
reason. That he hadn’t kissed her
goodbye as Yugi had said he ought to have done.
Of course, he knew Anzu probably wouldn’t hold it against him—she was
just that kind of a person to never hold a grudge—but he still felt badly for
disappointing her after she’d tried so hard to cheer him up.
His next question was, why had she been disappointed? Had she wanted his kiss that badly? If spirits could blush, Yami would have at
that thought. Yugi had said that Anzu liked him, and he knew he wasn’t talking
about the regular kind of like. Not the
kind friends felt for friends…but something…more.
He supposed he ought not do anything
to encourage the girl—such as taking her out on another date—after all, he was
only a spirit who barely remembered who he was and was still searching for all
the answers of his past, and it appeared that his future was about to become
rather…unpredictable, as well. Anzu was
someone special, she deserved more than anything he had to offer her. But he
couldn’t help but be a little bit flattered that the girl felt something like
that for him, although it mystified him as to why. Up until today, he hadn’t really considered
Anzu as anything but a distant friend; more of an acquaintance, actually. “Yugi’s childhood friend” was how he’d always
categorized her. But now that he’d spent
so much time with her today, he couldn’t help but think that he wouldn’t mind
getting to know her even better. She
really was something else. Aside from
being his own personal cheerleader, she was simply a good person at heart who
genuinely cared about people. Yami had
almost forgotten what caring about others felt like, until she’d reminded him.
He had the sudden urge to see her
again, to thank her for helping him to open up and realize his destiny, and
maybe to apologize for his lack of understanding outside her door when he’d
left her. He’d hated to see her looking
at him like that, no matter how briefly.
He’d have to do something to make up for it.
Coming to a decision, he rose from
his seat and went to Yugi’s bed. “Yugi,”
he whispered, reaching out to shake him.
Unlike most normal objects, his hand didn’t pass through Yugi’s body,
but landed solidly on it. He could affect objects and such around
him, but only if he concentrated on what he was touching. With Yugi, however, any physical contact
always came without thought. He really
didn’t understand how things like that worked; maybe it was because of their
connection through the puzzle. At any
rate, he gave Yugi’s shoulders a brief, hard shake, and was rewarded with a
disgruntled mumble and a pair of sleepy eyes blinking open.
“Whuzmatter,
Yami?” Yugi questioned around a huge yawn. “Iztime t’ get up already?”
“No.
It’s only
Yugi rubbed his eyes sleepily. “What for?” he asked.
Yami paused, suddenly
embarrassed. “I…erm…thought
I’d take a walk,” he muttered sheepishly.
“It’s a rather nice night out…”
Yugi stared up at him for a moment,
then smirked. “Oh, okay,” he replied
slyly, and in another moment Yami abruptly found himself blinking from Yugi’s
body, with Yugi’s spirit hovering over him.
“Just so you know, Anzu’s parents left two
days ago on a business trip, so she’s by herself in that house. Better behave yourself
over there,” he added with a cheeky grin.
“If you need to let yourself in, there’s a key hidden in the fake rock
outside her door, under the bushes.”
Yami blinked up at him…feeling his
face heat up. Stupid
mortal body. “I…I wasn’t…that
is…”
Yugi laughed. “Just don’t wear out my body too much,
okay? I do have school tomorrow.”
“Just what are you implying?!” Yami huffed indignantly, standing up and glowering down at
his smaller counterpart.
“Oh, nothing, nothing,” Yugi replied
flippantly, although the smirk didn’t leave his face.
Muttering to himself, Yami turned
and stalked from the bedroom…only to be called back by Yugi a moment
later. “Yes?” he questioned stiffly.
The smirk was still in place. “Yami…if you’re gonna go see Anzu…don’t you
think you ought to…I dunno…change first, or something?”
Yami blinked, looked down at the
blue pajamas covered in rocket ships adorning his body, and promptly turned red
again amidst Yugi’s amused chortles.
& & & & &
Nobody answered the door when Yami
knocked, and so after a moment, he tried the doorknob, finding to his dismay
that it turned easily in his hand. He
frowned as he slowly opened it and stepped inside the house, reminding himself
to talk to Anzu about the dangers of leaving her front door unlocked where anybody could just walk in off the
streets. Even he knew the dangers of living in a city, and he’d been comatose for
five thousand years!
“Anzu?” he called softly as he
stepped further into the dim house.
There was no answer…but he heard a burst of noise coming from just
ahead, from what he remembered to be her living room. He’d never been in her house before, at least
not on his own, but he had watched through Yugi’s eyes several times when he’d
gone visiting so he had a vaguely good idea as to its layout.
The noise, as it turned out, was
coming from the television, which was playing one of those anime shows that
Yugi had once shown him. But the
language was strange to him, clearly not Japanese; he couldn’t be sure but he
thought it might be that tongue which Yugi always moaned about having to study,
that “In-ger-ish”. At any rate, the screen depicted a
black-haired man and a red-haired woman sitting in a boat in the middle of a
lake, with fireflies dancing all around them and…apparently, they were being
serenaded by…a bunch of animals.
According to the subtitles that flashed across the screen in time with
their singing…said animals were apparently trying to convince the man to kiss
the woman, who was attempting to look innocent while he just looked outright confused, apparently having no idea that he
was being serenaded by a bunch of fish and amphibians.
Yami sweatdropped slightly. Singing frogs and dancing birds? Okay. Now he’d seen everything…
A soft sigh and the rustle of fabric
from behind abruptly made him forget all about the strange show on the
television as he looked to locate the source of the noise. And then he saw Anzu, spread out on the couch
with a soft afghan draped over her legs, a plate containing a few crumbs and a
half-full glass of milk on the table before her. He couldn’t stop the smile that spread over
his face at the sight of her. “Asleep,
are you?” he murmured as he turned to kneel beside her head, watching her
sleeping face with a soft expression covering his own. “Well, never mind then. I shall speak with you some other time,” he
added, impulsively lifting his hand to brush lean fingers over her cheek,
pushing a lock of chestnut hair away from her lips.
To his utter consternation, his touch seemed to rouse Anzu
from her light slumber, her breath hitching in her throat as sleep suddenly
fled her, her body tensing and her eyes fluttering open when she realized
abruptly that she wasn’t alone. Before
she could think to scream, however, her sleepy eyes fell on Yami’s countenance,
and the tension fled her body in a wave.
“Y-Yami, is that you?” she croaked, sitting up to face him more fully,
rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.
“What are you doing here?”
Yami froze, as everything he’d planned on telling her
abruptly fled his mind. “I…uh…I’m sorry
for disturbing you, Anzu,” he stammered, abruptly standing as if to flee the
room. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Perhaps I should go…”
“Oh…wait!” A
slender hand came up to grip his, and he stared down at her, nonplussed. Embarrassed, Anzu blushed and released
him. “I…um…that is, there must have been
a reason for you to come. Since you’re here,
you might as well tell me what it is,” she stammered. “Is anything wrong? Did…”
She suddenly looked excited. “Did
you remember something else about your past?”
“No, nothing like that,” he told her, forcing the tension
to leave his body. “It’s just…I wanted
to…thank you. For
today. For
spending time with me and helping me to discover a bit about myself.”
She shrugged a bit sheepishly. “You already did thank me,” she reminded him,
plucking at the afghan across her legs.
“I was glad to help. I’ll help
any way I can, you know that.”
He nodded, watching the top of her head where it bent over
the afghan, noting for the first time how very shy and un-Anzu-like she seemed
when speaking with him. Could Yugi
really have been right? Could she really
like him like that? “I also…wished to apologize for this
afternoon,” he continued carefully, watching her reaction. She looked up at him quizzically, her brow
furrowed. “When I left you at your door,
you seemed rather…disappointed in me. If
I did or said anything to hurt your feelings, I am sorry.”
“Oh.” Her eyes
widened slightly. “Oh!” A pink flush began to spread across her
cheeks as her gaze darted away. “I…um…it
was nothing, really. Just…uh…nothing. No need to worry about it…” She came to a stuttering halt, eyes once
again fixed on the afghan as he stood above her, a small smile touching his
lips.
Yugi’s words played themselves in his head, encouraging
him, and feeling even more emboldened by Anzu’s
tell-tale response, he knelt beside her and reached out to cup her chin with
the tips of his fingers. Her wide eyes
snapped up to meet his again. “I also
wish to apologize for not ending our…date…properly,” he told her in a voice
barely above a whisper. “If I may have
your permission, I’d like to remedy that.”
She blinked at him, looking confused for a moment, before
slow understanding dawned. The blush in
her cheeks deepened and she looked adorably flustered, but as she didn’t pull
away or beat him over the head with a couch cushion, he decided to take it as
her consent, and slowly leaned in, the silly cartoon frogs still crooning their
encouragement in the background.
Kissing Anzu was about the sweetest sensation he had ever
experienced. The soft, tender warmth of
her full lips pressing to his was enough to make him lightheaded, to set his
heart to racing and the blood to pounding in his throat, his wrists, his veins. How long
had it been since he’d experienced
such a feeling? Had he ever felt like
this before, like heaven was opening right before his eyes? And all this in just the moment it took
before he pulled softly away again, lidded eyes glowing lovingly into
hers. “I trust that will be sufficient
to make up for my earlier lack in manners?” he asked, looking at her seriously,
although his eyes suggested that he was merely teasing.
She was staring at him with something akin to wonder, but
now a small grin twitched at her lips.
“Yeah…” she breathed, and didn’t appear to know what else to say after
that.
He smiled again and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her
ear. “And now, it seems I have something
else to look forward to, the next time we go out,” he added. “But for the moment, I’ve got to go home
again.” He started to rise again, but
was once again stopped by her hand on his wrist. She didn’t let go this time, and he shifted
the grip so that it was his hand she held, their fingers lacing together,
holding tightly to each other.
She bit her lip as she watched him. “D-do you really have to leave right now?”
she asked a bit wistfully. “I could…make
some hot chocolate or something. We
could…finish the movie, or I could start it over for you…”
“I’m sorry, but I promised Yugi I wouldn’t stay here
long. He does need his body relatively
rested for school tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she replied, although she
couldn’t quite mask the disappointment in her tone. If she was surprised at Yugi’s apparent
consent for Yami to be there, she didn’t show it. “Well…goodnight then. And…thank you. For coming over. And for…you know.” She ducked her head shyly.
He smiled down at her, then nodded toward the
television. “I need to ask…just what is
it that you’re watching, anyway?” he asked curiously.
She laughed a little, looking sheepish. “It’s kind of silly, really. It’s an American cartoon, called The Little
Mermaid. It’s based off a fairy tale,
actually, about a mermaid who falls in love with a human prince and asks a sea
witch to make her human so he would fall in love with her, as well.”
“I see,” he replied, eyeing the moving pictures on the
screen. “And does this fairy tale have a
happy ending?”
She smiled. “This
version does,” she told him. “The
mermaid marries the prince and they live happily ever after.”
“Another version doesn’t end that way?”
She smiled softly.
“In the original story, the prince fell in love with a human princess,
and the little mermaid turned into bubbles and died,” she replied. “Although I believe she died to save the
prince, it…wasn’t quite as happy.”
“I like this version better,” Yami agreed, giving her hand
a squeeze. “Even with
the singing animals.”
That elicited a short laugh. “I guess you should go now. And I probably should go back to sleep in my
own bed, instead of the couch,” she added, “unless I
want to wake up with a backache tomorrow.”
She rose to her feet and dusted off her shorts, then followed Yami to
the front door. “So…I’ll see you
around,” she said shyly, not at all certain how she should treat him, now that
he’d taken such a step forward. True,
he’d kissed her, but he’d still not given her any hint as to his feelings for
her. That just friends
comment still weighed heavily. Was it
all he saw her as, a mere friend?
As if reading her mind, she felt strong fingers cup her
chin again and draw her forward before firm, warm lips were once more covering
her own in another kiss that by far surpassed their first in emotion. After long moments of slow, caressing warmth,
his mouth softly parted from hers, and his arms slipped around her waist in a
loose embrace as he nuzzled his cheek against her own. “Farewell…my dearest friend,” he murmured,
his low voice soft and husky in her ear.
She shivered in reaction, but before she could return the sentiment, she
felt his presence leave her, and he was gone from her doorstep, vanishing into
the shadows like the spirit he was.
She shut the door behind her and automatically locked it,
a silly grin plastered all over her face as she leaned back against it and
stared dreamily up at the ceiling. “I
cannot wait for our next date.”
End