madimpossibledreamer

            “Hey, how’s this necklace look?” she asks, turning as she holds it up, and…
            And Yugi doesn’t have that sweet look on his face anymore.  He’s practically glaring at the necklace.  “Yugi?”
            He shakes himself and comes out of wherever he was.  “I, um.  Green isn’t your color.”  He’s a little frustrated, angry with himself, and it’s like he’s out of reach, reacting to something that he’ll never tell her about.
            She tries not to let the tears welling up in her heart show.  It’s clear he still cares about her, even after all these years, but he’s not willing to let her in and actually talk about everything.  She’s not going to be let into his life, not soon.  “Maybe you should go.”
            “A-Anzu?”  He looks like he’s breaking. 
            She’s not ready to have this conversation.  “You’re not having fun, so I’m not either.”
            “Th-that’s not true!”  His fists are clenched at his sides.  “I always enjoy spending time with you!  It’s not like I love shopping, unless it’s games or something, but being with my friends is always fun!”
            She shakes her head.  She can’t cry, not now.  “I’m sorry, Yugi.  We will talk about this, but not yet.”  And she walks away.
            It’s almost physically painful to take those steps, because she can feel the waves of hurt coming off of that gentle soul, and the thought that she was the one who was causing that is almost unbearable, but it’s not something that’s easy to fix, and pretending that it doesn’t wound is slowly breaking her heart, piece by piece.
            He doesn’t yell after her, doesn’t come after her, and she’s not sure what it means, what she wants it to mean.  Part of her wants him to be a jerk, so she can hate him, but the rest of her knows that he’s not intentionally hurting her.  It’s a sucky situation, and life isn’t fair.

            Jounouchi hasn’t stopped teasing him since he’d had that talk with Anzu, and as much as he appreciates his friend and as much as he’d missed Anzu, it’s really getting a little old.  “So, come on, ya wanna reconnect wit her, right?”
            Given the emphasis and the weird face his best friend is making, he can easily understand what he’s getting at.  And, well.
            He wouldn’t mind.  Anzu’s grown up, in more ways than one.  She’s beautiful, now… (not that she ever wasn’t, his mind reminds him), and…
            …He’ll probably have a few dreams, but that’s not the point.  “I don’t want to scare her away, Jounouchi!”  He’s louder than he means to be, but then, he’s prone to accidentally blurting things out.  He continues, quieter.  “Anzu is my childhood friend, so her friendship is worth more to me than…”  He waves his hands vaguely, unable to think how to continue.  “She’s probably…dealt with people who don’t see her as a person, and I…I don’t want to be that person.”  His voice is small, on the verge of tears, rather like the Yugi he’d been before Duel Monsters and Yami and everything else.  “Besides, I…it’s been quieter, um.  After he moved on, but it still…I have the feeling that it won’t stay that way.  Maybe it’s better I don’t hang around her too much.”
            They don’t seem like they’re going to be switched onto the PE sports teams anytime soon, so Jounouchi sits down beside him, clapping a hand on his shoulder, doing his best to be comforting.  First things to deal with first.  “Yuge…if she’s at all as stubborn as she seems, then you trying ta keep her out of it ain’t gonna do anything.”
            Yugi smiles.  He still looks a little worried, but he’s calmer than before.  “You’re probably right, Jounouchi.”
            And now for what’s more important.  He’d thought it was just a simple crush, at first, but given the way his best bud is acting, it can’t be something so easy.  “You’ve looked at other girls.  I know ya have.  But she’s the only one you’ve ever looked at twice, or am I wrong?”
            Yugi’s shoulders slump.  “No, you’re not wrong,” he answers in a defeated voice.  “I never forgot about her.”
            “Well, den…don’ worry about it.  We’ll help you, an’…don’ worry about takin’ it slow.  She’d appreciate that, if she’s at all de friend she should be.”
            Yugi smiles.  “Thanks,” he states, before he processes what his friend has said.  “Uhhh, Jounouchi?  What are you planning?”
            “We got dis, mista King of Games.”  Katsuya slaps him on the back and then joins the game again on the players’ call.
            Yugi sighs and stares at his hands.