Not Against Horakhty (Part 2)

Yuugi's House Next Morning

"Anzu?" He knocked on her bedroom door. "I have some breakfast. Did you want some?" He didn't know how she felt from last night. He heard her mutter yeah and she opened the door. "How are you?"

"Fine. Really," she assured him. "No one attacked me. Have you heard about Shizuka yet? Was Seto Kaiba right?"

"I can't get a hold of Honda. He's at the hospital with her getting checked out. Jounouchi and Mai are too, but . . . it doesn't look good," Yuugi admitted. "They'll keep us updated." Hm. "Seto Kaiba was right about the footage. Someone with roots to Egypt was holding the gun."

Egypt. It'd been a while since he had to think about it much. Maybe someone knew about Satiah now. Either way, someone was after Anzu, and they weren't getting her.

"I don't know why someone from Egypt would attack Shizuka. Now I don't know if Kaiba's right. Maybe this is something different than we think?"

"Maybe. We'll find out one day," Yuugi said. "Until then, we keep pressing on. So, breakfast?"

Anzu nodded. "Breakfast then. I guess we better still open today. Right?"

Yuugi didn't know about that. It might be better to lie low for a few days, especially not knowing who the real enemy or reason to be there might be. At the same time, not living life because of this threat. It wouldn't make Anzu feel any better. What should he do? "We could take the day off and maybe just relax with some games? I know, I could order in some lunch."

"How can even Jounouchi know when this is all over if it isn't revenge against him?" That question must have been bothering her since last night. Him too. "Instinct? A certain time duration?"

"I don't know," Yuugi answered. "I guess. You'd want to know when you could go back to America. Right?"

"I don't know what I want anymore, Yuugi." He was seeing her start to break down. "I had a plan with goals and it all fell apart. I had another one and it fell apart. It just, it got to the point where my goal was just to make sure I could make rent on my last place, and I still couldn't do that." She bit her bottom lip. "Every time I had something, someone was hurt or left the city unexpectedly or died. It never felt fair, but I never stopped trying. I just kept . . ."

Left the city? Hurt? Was someone sabotaging Anzu? "How come you never said it before?"

"I still don't know, like it was all in my head. Especially since I don't know how or why someone would be breaking my chances on purpose. That made no sense. Who would care?" She asked. "Who would follow me from class to class, job to job, or apartment to apartment?"

Then. Extremely bad luck. "Bad luck can turn around."

"You would think so, but now, there really are people after us, and now I'm only more confused because of what Kaiba said. I don't know for how long this will all take. I just, each day, I just! I'm sorry."

Yuugi saw her face. So miserable and wet.

"I'm not the happy believing girl I used to be. I try, but . . ." She shook her head. "I'm never going to be the girl you remember, Yuugi Mutoh."

Ouch. First and last name. "Everyone changes. So have I. It's a constant in the world. But?" ///Yuugi: Easy, Yuugi./// "But some things don't. I." He felt her start to hug him. No, that was his friend right there. "I can still feel your positive spirit, Anzu. No matter what kind of bad luck you've had, you're still the girl I knew all those years ago. You've just matured too."

"If you say I was a caterpillar and turned into a butterfly, I am breaking this hug," she half teased. "Because I'm definitely no butterfly. No, I'm okay. It's just that. It all feels so overwhelming."

Her whole body was leaning, collapsed and using him for support. It was something he never could have done when he was younger, he would have toppled over. Still, it would have been worth it. Having her that close. Her emotions that revealed. He shouldn't. He knew it yet there was still an urgency. To. "Always connected." He touched her hand with his, where she made that happy face all those years ago.

He could feel it. The charge between them. Open, honest, a sharing connection that couldn't be dampened. The words had to come out. "Even if you left tomorrow, I wouldn't regret this."

"Yuugi. What do you mean?" Her face was red hot, blushing at its core against her will and his probably wasn't much better. Neither one though. Neither one cared.

Yuugi kissed her on her forehead. "Do we need to go to the waterslide? The amusement park?"

"Yuugi, I can't guarantee my future." Yet, her eyes were just as focused on his. He felt her hand start to touch his. "What's going on? I . . ."

"You're letting your heart lead you again." He rubbed his forehead gently across hers. "Let it lead."

She leaped for the kiss to him first. Nope. No waterslide. No park. No awkward unnamed date. Nothing like that would suffice.

Four years not seeing her. Six years being apart from her.

No date.