A Rather Azure-tastic Surprise
Yugioh a lot of "Sevenfold" next bit (24, I think)
Anzu
There were sounds all around her - new, suddenly familiar sounds that made her blood race with excitement and her heart pound with a recently discovered feeling of delight.
She played to win.
It had started as a regular vacation, of course. All she had wanted to do initially was win enough money to buy a plane ticket back to Japan. And after an entire evening of risking everything she had, she had won enough to buy close to three plane tickets back to Japan.
Dice were rolling, people played slots, and roulette wheels spun all around her - the air was heavy with desperation and hope, tables full of broken dreams and new, win-induced adrenaline. The atmosphere was perfect; Anzu drank it in, soaked it up, relished in the feeling all around her.
She was almost tempted to thank the man who had stranded her there.
Yes, she had been abandoned - actually abandoned - in Las Vegas, Nevada by the world’s biggest jerk. The arrogant, unfathomably irritating man had actually flown off without her, leaving her with nothing but two more nights in the hotel and the clothes on her back. However strong her animosity for him had been before, the hatred she felt for Kaiba Seto had been increased at least sevenfold.
The trip had started out as just another vacation. Kaiba had some sort of business meeting in Vegas, and he needed someone to watch after Mokuba. The boy - so much more pleasant to be around than his older brother - had requested Mazaki Anzu specifically. And so, after a rather tense phone call, she had agreed to accompany them. They were going to stay for five days: three for whatever business needed to be taken care of and then two more days of nothing but leisure.
Things had been fine at first. Maybe they weren’t exactly civil and maybe there was a level of sexual tension that made everyone uncomfortable, but both could deal. But then the looks got perhaps a bit too heated, and tensions rose a bit too high. The enormous fight they had the third evening was one of the biggest in the whole of their acquaintance. Choice words were exchanged (nothing that he didn’t deserve, she thought haughtily), and the verbal blows were sharper than even the most finely cut blade.
The next morning, Anzu found herself alone, without even a note in the Kaiba brothers’ stead.
Her first, gut reaction had been rage. She had been too furious to even think about the hopelessness of her situation. Then, once her boiling ire had settled into a simmering sort of anger, the tears came; she spent an hour shuddering and crying, wondering what in the world she was going to do in a foreign country with almost no money of her own.
And that was when she had her brilliant idea. If there was one thing she knew about Las Vegas, it was the over abundance of places to win - and lose - extravagant amounts of money. So she took all the money she had and went into the first casino she could find.
She was unexpectedly successful.
At first, nothing had mattered but Kaiba; she had to get enough money to get home so she could cause him as much pain as was possible before someone physically dragged her away. But the more money she won, the more money she wanted to win. It was an intoxicating feeling; a hot, heady burning in her veins - her first tantalizing brush with greed.
When she cashed in her chips at the end of the night, she should have been excited about buying her plane ticket home. But when she held those faded green bills in her hand, going home was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to come back again and again and again - to win more and more and more…
She smiled to herself as she walked out, head held high, money tucked away in her handbag.
There was absolutely nothing like it.
***
(This still needs a title.)
Wow! So yeah - I changed a lot. Heh. I wrote this because, actually, I'm almost finished with "ICOE" chapter 23. (Amazing, I know.) I'm really struggling with that chapter. I was happy with it when I wrote it, but I've just gone back and read over it and now I can hardly believe I wrote it; I'm convinced I can do better. Ahh well. Maybe I need a little more time. THEN! I'll go back and try to clean things up and make everything a bit more cohesive. And, you know... make it better written, too. Heh. OH! I guess I can put a little bit of that up, too. It's just the completed third scene and then the VERY sucky final scene.
“What?”
Anzu’s sharp question had Seto immediately wishing he had never brought up the subject to begin with.
He sighed. “Anzu… I might have seen Otogi. With Kudo. Maybe it was… someone else.”
“Oh, don’t even try that. You know as well as I do that you’re the last person to ever doubt your own eyes. Don’t try to distract me, Seto. What was he doing with her? Since she couldn’t get you she decided to go after someone else’s unsuspecting boyfriend?”
“Anzu… I couldn’t call him unsuspecting.” He closed his eyes. Why, why, why did he have to even bring that up? All he wanted to do (or at least all he admitted to wanting to do) was spend a lovely evening with his - apparently temperamental - girlfriend. Really, he was already very on edge and if she would just stop talking…
“…that. Seto? Seto? Seto, are you even listening to me? This is ridiculous! I can’t believe her! I mean, really - I had a low opinion of her already, but this just takes the cake.”
He nodded, knowing that any attempts to derail her would be futile.
“I’m furious. And poor Shizuka! For her sake, I hope Otogi isn’t actually cheating. I’m sure that… that…” Seto wasn’t sure if she was reluctant to be cruel or if there just weren’t words vile enough. “Well, that this stupid secretary of yours seduced him.”
She had begun pacing, and they ended up in Seto’s office. (That was really so very near his bedroom…) Anzu flopped down onto the chair in front of his computer. She sighed, then smiled up at him. “Sorry about all that. Guess I got a little upset.”
He glared.
Her smile turned to an apologetic grin. “Okay, so I did get a little carried away. And I know you wanted a nice evening for us. Maybe I can make it up to you another time?”
With a shrug, he sat down on a clear corner of the desk, arms folded over his chest. “That sounds reasonable.”
“Great!” She looked down for a moment, then gently touched his knee. “There’s… um, well something I think you should do. Please.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to approve of this… am I?”
“Well…” She put on her most attractive face. The one that she damn well knew could convince him to do just about anything. “Since you saw Otogi with your secretary, I… Well, I admit I overreacted and it could be nothing. So I don’t want to tell Shizuka.” She bit her lip nervously. “But someone ought to know that he might not be one hundred percent faithful.”
“Should they?”
She seemed indignant. “Yes! And… you know, since we really don’t know her friends or anything, there’s only one person to tell.”
Seto deadpanned. “You mean Jounouchi.”
“Exactly!”
“You want…” Here he gave her a very telling look. “Someone to tell him that his younger sister’s significant other could possibly be cheating on her?”
Anzu nodded. “That’s right. And since I care deeply for both of them, I’d of course be happy to tell them.” There was a “but” coming, Seto could feel it. “But I do have a bit of a vendetta against the woman, so if I said anything I might make it sound worse than it really is.”
“Stop right there.” He shifted a little closer to her. “Am I correct in assuming, my soft-headed little fool, that you want me to talk to him about this? That you want me to tell someone that I very nearly hate something that could possibly make him even angrier at having to see me?”
She paused for a moment, mulling what he said over. Then her hand shifted ever so slightly higher up his thigh. “That’s right. I really think it’s for the best. And if you do me this favor, I promise I’ll pay you back.”
As hard as he fought it, a tiny part of him wanted to give in. She was suddenly closer to him, so close he could see the tiny smudge of mascara right under her eye. He wiped it off. It would be so easy to agree; she would be so happy if he agreed. “This is a very…” He moved so his lips were a hairsbreadth away from hers. “…very underhanded way of getting what you want.”
“I know. Aren’t you proud?” She chuckled and then kissed him softly, just at the corner of his mouth. “So please? Please, please, please will you do this for me? Just give Jounouchi a little heads up, that’s all.”
He only wavered for a moment, staring at the plump, peachy-pink lips before him.
Damn it. “Fine. Fine, Anzu - I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you so much, Seto. You are amazing.” She leaned in and kissed him softly. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her closer. For a moment, there was nothing in the world but that connection between them - until Anzu pulled away with a rather wistful little smile. “You have work tomorrow,” she said.
Seto knew this. Seto always had work tomorrow. “And… ?”
She tapped his nose. He was tempted to bite her finger. “And it’s my responsibility to make sure you are well-rested. We can’t have you staying up all hours of the night, now can we?”
She was teasing him. The wretched, wretched women knew how seductive she sounded and she wanted nothing more than to leave him writhing. “Oh, we most certainly can have that. In fact, I want nothing more than to stay up all hours of the night and be very, very, very tired come tomorrow morning.”
“Hmm.” Anzu touched his cheek then ran her hand through his hair. “You see? You’re so tired already that the exhaustion has rattled your brains.”
He frowned. “And when have you become so playful?”
She pulled away from him and stood with a warm smile. His question was ignored. “Well, I need to be going. Do you want to make plans for… say, day after tomorrow?”
“I suppose that’s acceptable.” He grabbed her wrist and ran his thumb over her pulse. “Now please - let me help you to the door.”
Anzu grinned, and allowed herself to be led. As they walked down the hall, Mokuba - head sticking out his door - waved and smiled at them. “Bye Mokuba!”
“Leaving so soon?” he asked, looking mischievously towards his brother.
“Sorry, but I really need to be getting home.” She waved. “See you later.”
Seto only glared as they walked by.
(Line)
A smiling Arisa opened the door. “Anzu! Oh, hello, glad you could make it. Come in.”
“Thank you.” Anzu stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. There didn’t seem to be many traces of Honda about - the apartment was neat and decidedly feminine in decoration. “You’ve got great taste.” She grinned. “Or at least good enough not to let Honda have anything to do with the decór.”
“Yes,” Arisa said, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing for Anzu to do the same. “I… went through his things when he moved in, just to, you know,” she smiled, “help him get rid of some junk.”
Anzu laughed. “Oh, of course.”
Arisa smiled again and said, “Yes… Well! Are you ready to get started? I appreciate your help so much, by the way. Your writing is lovely, you know.”
Anzu just shrugged off the gratitude. “Really it’s no trouble. I’m always happy to help!”
They started, plunging into the stack of invitations. There were more than Anzu expected; she vaguely recalled Honda mentioning something about a small wedding. As soon as her hand started hurting, she frowned up at Arisa.
"I thought Honda wanted a small wedding," Anzu grumbled. "You sure have a lot of invitations to address for your close friends and family."
Arisa chuckled. "No, actually I wanted a small wedding, not Hiroto. He wanted to invite the entire country." She sighed. "And hire a sky-writer." She chuckled again and set another invitation on the growing stack of the ones they had completed. "I talked him out of all that, of course, but this... well, it's fairly close to a compromise. And there really aren't that many."
"I suppose not," Anzu relented. She set down her pen and sighed. "I still can't believe you two are... are getting married. For, well, I suppose obvious reasons, when you first got together I never thought things would get this serious."
Arisa seemed unfazed. "Oh, I knew that once I got him I'd have him for as long as I chose."
“Really? Well… you certainly did get him. I never really pictured him as the marrying type. Not for a few more years, at least.”
“I know exactly what you mean, and really, his proposal was anything but romantic.”
“Oh? How’d he ask you?” Anzu grinned and leaned closer, eager to hear the story.
Arisa laughed. “All right, I suppose I’ll tell you.” She sighed happily, a dreamy expression on her face. “We were laying in bed one night - we had gone out for a lovely meal earlier that evening, and then came home for an amazing night.” She paused a moment as though in remembrance; Anzu felt slightly uncomfortable. “And then, to my complete surprise, he reaches over to the drawer in the bedside table. He pulls out a little tell-tale box and says ‘Here, I forgot to bring this to dinner.’ I was so surprised that I couldn’t even chastise him for the terrible delivery.”
“He… He actually - “
“Oh yes. That’s really how it happened. The next morning, though, he did cook me breakfast and make a lovely speech I’m almost certain was prepared beforehand.”
“Well that’s nice, I guess. But when you said unromantic, you meant it.”
She chuckled. “That’s right. But what about you and your boy? Are you and Kaiba ever going to get married?”
Anzu snorted in disbelief. “Us? I… Well, let’s just say that I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Well…” Anzu looked away and started back on the invitations. It wasn’t an easy question to answer. “Let’s just take the personality of the man we’re talking about into account for a second. I just…” She shrugged. “I just can’t see him asking me to marry him any time soon.”
Unfortunately, Arisa was perceptive enough to realize what she really meant. “You’re not sure he’s truly in love with you.”
“No!” Anzu seemed shocked. “That’s not it at all!”
Arisa folded her arms over her chest. “So you’re totally confident that he loves you.”
Anzu tried to hedge away from the question, uncomfortable discussing something so personal with someone she didn’t know very well. “I… We’ve been together long enough that I know he honestly cares.” She looked up at Arisa with pleading eyes. “Um… we still have a few invitations to finish.”
“Yes.” While not shy or modest at all, Arisa was tactful enough to know when to drop a subject. “But not very many.”
They worked on, conversation reverting back to Arisa and Honda. Anzu was glad to get a chance to know the woman better and better - though they had done things together before, there was still a sort of barrier. Either Arisa was a difficult person to get to know, or Anzu was expecting to see more than was actually there.
Soon, they had finished. “Well!” Arisa said, straightening the stack, “I am glad to have gotten that out of the way. Thank you again, Anzu; you’ve been a big help.”
“No problem at all. Like I said, I’m always happy to lend a hand.” She smiled warmly at her former teacher. “Well, I probably need to get going. Have a good evening.”
“You, too, Anzu. Goodbye.”
***
There we go! Huzzah. I have no idea when I'll get the final products out. Er... no, that's not right. I'm posting the "Sevenfold" bit really, really soon. It's the "ICOE" thing I'm not sure about. Right now I still hate it. Heh. But yeah - Green: Avarice! I can't believe I finally wrote it. Heh. it's been a LOONG time coming, I know. I'm not sure when the next bit is coming. Currently, I don't have the notebook with the notes on the Green bits with me. That'll come Sunday night. On an unrelated note, I love the song (see "Music:_" below) I'm listening to. A bit about it reminds me of Slayers... I don't know why.
-ILB
***
Anzu
There were sounds all around her - new, suddenly familiar sounds that made her blood race with excitement and her heart pound with a recently discovered feeling of delight.
She played to win.
It had started as a regular vacation, of course. All she had wanted to do initially was win enough money to buy a plane ticket back to Japan. And after an entire evening of risking everything she had, she had won enough to buy close to three plane tickets back to Japan.
Dice were rolling, people played slots, and roulette wheels spun all around her - the air was heavy with desperation and hope, tables full of broken dreams and new, win-induced adrenaline. The atmosphere was perfect; Anzu drank it in, soaked it up, relished in the feeling all around her.
She was almost tempted to thank the man who had stranded her there.
Yes, she had been abandoned - actually abandoned - in Las Vegas, Nevada by the world’s biggest jerk. The arrogant, unfathomably irritating man had actually flown off without her, leaving her with nothing but two more nights in the hotel and the clothes on her back. However strong her animosity for him had been before, the hatred she felt for Kaiba Seto had been increased at least sevenfold.
The trip had started out as just another vacation. Kaiba had some sort of business meeting in Vegas, and he needed someone to watch after Mokuba. The boy - so much more pleasant to be around than his older brother - had requested Mazaki Anzu specifically. And so, after a rather tense phone call, she had agreed to accompany them. They were going to stay for five days: three for whatever business needed to be taken care of and then two more days of nothing but leisure.
Things had been fine at first. Maybe they weren’t exactly civil and maybe there was a level of sexual tension that made everyone uncomfortable, but both could deal. But then the looks got perhaps a bit too heated, and tensions rose a bit too high. The enormous fight they had the third evening was one of the biggest in the whole of their acquaintance. Choice words were exchanged (nothing that he didn’t deserve, she thought haughtily), and the verbal blows were sharper than even the most finely cut blade.
The next morning, Anzu found herself alone, without even a note in the Kaiba brothers’ stead.
Her first, gut reaction had been rage. She had been too furious to even think about the hopelessness of her situation. Then, once her boiling ire had settled into a simmering sort of anger, the tears came; she spent an hour shuddering and crying, wondering what in the world she was going to do in a foreign country with almost no money of her own.
And that was when she had her brilliant idea. If there was one thing she knew about Las Vegas, it was the over abundance of places to win - and lose - extravagant amounts of money. So she took all the money she had and went into the first casino she could find.
She was unexpectedly successful.
At first, nothing had mattered but Kaiba; she had to get enough money to get home so she could cause him as much pain as was possible before someone physically dragged her away. But the more money she won, the more money she wanted to win. It was an intoxicating feeling; a hot, heady burning in her veins - her first tantalizing brush with greed.
When she cashed in her chips at the end of the night, she should have been excited about buying her plane ticket home. But when she held those faded green bills in her hand, going home was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to come back again and again and again - to win more and more and more…
She smiled to herself as she walked out, head held high, money tucked away in her handbag.
There was absolutely nothing like it.
***
(This still needs a title.)
Wow! So yeah - I changed a lot. Heh. I wrote this because, actually, I'm almost finished with "ICOE" chapter 23. (Amazing, I know.) I'm really struggling with that chapter. I was happy with it when I wrote it, but I've just gone back and read over it and now I can hardly believe I wrote it; I'm convinced I can do better. Ahh well. Maybe I need a little more time. THEN! I'll go back and try to clean things up and make everything a bit more cohesive. And, you know... make it better written, too. Heh. OH! I guess I can put a little bit of that up, too. It's just the completed third scene and then the VERY sucky final scene.
“What?”
Anzu’s sharp question had Seto immediately wishing he had never brought up the subject to begin with.
He sighed. “Anzu… I might have seen Otogi. With Kudo. Maybe it was… someone else.”
“Oh, don’t even try that. You know as well as I do that you’re the last person to ever doubt your own eyes. Don’t try to distract me, Seto. What was he doing with her? Since she couldn’t get you she decided to go after someone else’s unsuspecting boyfriend?”
“Anzu… I couldn’t call him unsuspecting.” He closed his eyes. Why, why, why did he have to even bring that up? All he wanted to do (or at least all he admitted to wanting to do) was spend a lovely evening with his - apparently temperamental - girlfriend. Really, he was already very on edge and if she would just stop talking…
“…that. Seto? Seto? Seto, are you even listening to me? This is ridiculous! I can’t believe her! I mean, really - I had a low opinion of her already, but this just takes the cake.”
He nodded, knowing that any attempts to derail her would be futile.
“I’m furious. And poor Shizuka! For her sake, I hope Otogi isn’t actually cheating. I’m sure that… that…” Seto wasn’t sure if she was reluctant to be cruel or if there just weren’t words vile enough. “Well, that this stupid secretary of yours seduced him.”
She had begun pacing, and they ended up in Seto’s office. (That was really so very near his bedroom…) Anzu flopped down onto the chair in front of his computer. She sighed, then smiled up at him. “Sorry about all that. Guess I got a little upset.”
He glared.
Her smile turned to an apologetic grin. “Okay, so I did get a little carried away. And I know you wanted a nice evening for us. Maybe I can make it up to you another time?”
With a shrug, he sat down on a clear corner of the desk, arms folded over his chest. “That sounds reasonable.”
“Great!” She looked down for a moment, then gently touched his knee. “There’s… um, well something I think you should do. Please.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to approve of this… am I?”
“Well…” She put on her most attractive face. The one that she damn well knew could convince him to do just about anything. “Since you saw Otogi with your secretary, I… Well, I admit I overreacted and it could be nothing. So I don’t want to tell Shizuka.” She bit her lip nervously. “But someone ought to know that he might not be one hundred percent faithful.”
“Should they?”
She seemed indignant. “Yes! And… you know, since we really don’t know her friends or anything, there’s only one person to tell.”
Seto deadpanned. “You mean Jounouchi.”
“Exactly!”
“You want…” Here he gave her a very telling look. “Someone to tell him that his younger sister’s significant other could possibly be cheating on her?”
Anzu nodded. “That’s right. And since I care deeply for both of them, I’d of course be happy to tell them.” There was a “but” coming, Seto could feel it. “But I do have a bit of a vendetta against the woman, so if I said anything I might make it sound worse than it really is.”
“Stop right there.” He shifted a little closer to her. “Am I correct in assuming, my soft-headed little fool, that you want me to talk to him about this? That you want me to tell someone that I very nearly hate something that could possibly make him even angrier at having to see me?”
She paused for a moment, mulling what he said over. Then her hand shifted ever so slightly higher up his thigh. “That’s right. I really think it’s for the best. And if you do me this favor, I promise I’ll pay you back.”
As hard as he fought it, a tiny part of him wanted to give in. She was suddenly closer to him, so close he could see the tiny smudge of mascara right under her eye. He wiped it off. It would be so easy to agree; she would be so happy if he agreed. “This is a very…” He moved so his lips were a hairsbreadth away from hers. “…very underhanded way of getting what you want.”
“I know. Aren’t you proud?” She chuckled and then kissed him softly, just at the corner of his mouth. “So please? Please, please, please will you do this for me? Just give Jounouchi a little heads up, that’s all.”
He only wavered for a moment, staring at the plump, peachy-pink lips before him.
Damn it. “Fine. Fine, Anzu - I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you so much, Seto. You are amazing.” She leaned in and kissed him softly. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her closer. For a moment, there was nothing in the world but that connection between them - until Anzu pulled away with a rather wistful little smile. “You have work tomorrow,” she said.
Seto knew this. Seto always had work tomorrow. “And… ?”
She tapped his nose. He was tempted to bite her finger. “And it’s my responsibility to make sure you are well-rested. We can’t have you staying up all hours of the night, now can we?”
She was teasing him. The wretched, wretched women knew how seductive she sounded and she wanted nothing more than to leave him writhing. “Oh, we most certainly can have that. In fact, I want nothing more than to stay up all hours of the night and be very, very, very tired come tomorrow morning.”
“Hmm.” Anzu touched his cheek then ran her hand through his hair. “You see? You’re so tired already that the exhaustion has rattled your brains.”
He frowned. “And when have you become so playful?”
She pulled away from him and stood with a warm smile. His question was ignored. “Well, I need to be going. Do you want to make plans for… say, day after tomorrow?”
“I suppose that’s acceptable.” He grabbed her wrist and ran his thumb over her pulse. “Now please - let me help you to the door.”
Anzu grinned, and allowed herself to be led. As they walked down the hall, Mokuba - head sticking out his door - waved and smiled at them. “Bye Mokuba!”
“Leaving so soon?” he asked, looking mischievously towards his brother.
“Sorry, but I really need to be getting home.” She waved. “See you later.”
Seto only glared as they walked by.
(Line)
A smiling Arisa opened the door. “Anzu! Oh, hello, glad you could make it. Come in.”
“Thank you.” Anzu stepped inside, shutting the door behind her. There didn’t seem to be many traces of Honda about - the apartment was neat and decidedly feminine in decoration. “You’ve got great taste.” She grinned. “Or at least good enough not to let Honda have anything to do with the decór.”
“Yes,” Arisa said, taking a seat on the couch and gesturing for Anzu to do the same. “I… went through his things when he moved in, just to, you know,” she smiled, “help him get rid of some junk.”
Anzu laughed. “Oh, of course.”
Arisa smiled again and said, “Yes… Well! Are you ready to get started? I appreciate your help so much, by the way. Your writing is lovely, you know.”
Anzu just shrugged off the gratitude. “Really it’s no trouble. I’m always happy to help!”
They started, plunging into the stack of invitations. There were more than Anzu expected; she vaguely recalled Honda mentioning something about a small wedding. As soon as her hand started hurting, she frowned up at Arisa.
"I thought Honda wanted a small wedding," Anzu grumbled. "You sure have a lot of invitations to address for your close friends and family."
Arisa chuckled. "No, actually I wanted a small wedding, not Hiroto. He wanted to invite the entire country." She sighed. "And hire a sky-writer." She chuckled again and set another invitation on the growing stack of the ones they had completed. "I talked him out of all that, of course, but this... well, it's fairly close to a compromise. And there really aren't that many."
"I suppose not," Anzu relented. She set down her pen and sighed. "I still can't believe you two are... are getting married. For, well, I suppose obvious reasons, when you first got together I never thought things would get this serious."
Arisa seemed unfazed. "Oh, I knew that once I got him I'd have him for as long as I chose."
“Really? Well… you certainly did get him. I never really pictured him as the marrying type. Not for a few more years, at least.”
“I know exactly what you mean, and really, his proposal was anything but romantic.”
“Oh? How’d he ask you?” Anzu grinned and leaned closer, eager to hear the story.
Arisa laughed. “All right, I suppose I’ll tell you.” She sighed happily, a dreamy expression on her face. “We were laying in bed one night - we had gone out for a lovely meal earlier that evening, and then came home for an amazing night.” She paused a moment as though in remembrance; Anzu felt slightly uncomfortable. “And then, to my complete surprise, he reaches over to the drawer in the bedside table. He pulls out a little tell-tale box and says ‘Here, I forgot to bring this to dinner.’ I was so surprised that I couldn’t even chastise him for the terrible delivery.”
“He… He actually - “
“Oh yes. That’s really how it happened. The next morning, though, he did cook me breakfast and make a lovely speech I’m almost certain was prepared beforehand.”
“Well that’s nice, I guess. But when you said unromantic, you meant it.”
She chuckled. “That’s right. But what about you and your boy? Are you and Kaiba ever going to get married?”
Anzu snorted in disbelief. “Us? I… Well, let’s just say that I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“Well…” Anzu looked away and started back on the invitations. It wasn’t an easy question to answer. “Let’s just take the personality of the man we’re talking about into account for a second. I just…” She shrugged. “I just can’t see him asking me to marry him any time soon.”
Unfortunately, Arisa was perceptive enough to realize what she really meant. “You’re not sure he’s truly in love with you.”
“No!” Anzu seemed shocked. “That’s not it at all!”
Arisa folded her arms over her chest. “So you’re totally confident that he loves you.”
Anzu tried to hedge away from the question, uncomfortable discussing something so personal with someone she didn’t know very well. “I… We’ve been together long enough that I know he honestly cares.” She looked up at Arisa with pleading eyes. “Um… we still have a few invitations to finish.”
“Yes.” While not shy or modest at all, Arisa was tactful enough to know when to drop a subject. “But not very many.”
They worked on, conversation reverting back to Arisa and Honda. Anzu was glad to get a chance to know the woman better and better - though they had done things together before, there was still a sort of barrier. Either Arisa was a difficult person to get to know, or Anzu was expecting to see more than was actually there.
Soon, they had finished. “Well!” Arisa said, straightening the stack, “I am glad to have gotten that out of the way. Thank you again, Anzu; you’ve been a big help.”
“No problem at all. Like I said, I’m always happy to lend a hand.” She smiled warmly at her former teacher. “Well, I probably need to get going. Have a good evening.”
“You, too, Anzu. Goodbye.”
***
There we go! Huzzah. I have no idea when I'll get the final products out. Er... no, that's not right. I'm posting the "Sevenfold" bit really, really soon. It's the "ICOE" thing I'm not sure about. Right now I still hate it. Heh. But yeah - Green: Avarice! I can't believe I finally wrote it. Heh. it's been a LOONG time coming, I know. I'm not sure when the next bit is coming. Currently, I don't have the notebook with the notes on the Green bits with me. That'll come Sunday night. On an unrelated note, I love the song (see "Music:_" below) I'm listening to. A bit about it reminds me of Slayers... I don't know why.
-ILB
***