53A/N: When I initially started writing this, it was supposed to be a one-shot and then it kind of derailed around page 8 and ended up as a chaptered story. I expect this will only be around 3-5 chapters, but I needed something else outside of Clouded Waters to get my vexshipping fix out on. I tried to stay as close to the characters as possible, but there will, inevitably, be some OOC elements as I'm writing this more from the perspective of a shoujo rather than shounen.
The look in his eyes was different, but still intense. She wanted to run away from him and remain still all at the same time. "Teach me," she had said, and now she wondered if she had made a mistake in saying so. It was clear he planned to do as she asked.
Teach Me
Anzu heard the ring of the bell, signaling the end of class, jarring her from her daydream as she stared outside the window. Stirring, she straightened and stretched her arms upward, settling back and resting her arm on her chair. It had been over a year since they had gone to Egypt and Yuugi had won the ritual duel against Atemu. While Anzu's life had settled into one of regularity with books, schoolwork, and a good deal of catchup in her dance classes, Yuugi and Jounouchi had gone on to perform multiple tournaments on the weekends. She rarely saw them during the weekends and their time together was confined to school and the after-school hangouts. Honda had begun to date the girl that worked in the library, Miho, and she had now become one of their regular members in their group.
She glanced across the classroom to find Ryou watching her thoughtfully. He quickly smiled and waved to her when their eyes met before he turned to his desk and began to collect his books. And Ryou..., she thought, her thought trailing off. He had not been quite the same since the tabletop memories duel between Atemu and Bakura. She knew that he was himself and that the spirit of the Sennen Ring was gone, yet she could not help but feel that same presence in him sometimes while speaking. It was not often and over the past year it was only a handful of times. Occasionally, however, she would find his expression glaze over and he would seem to draw inward. She was unsure if this was due to some trauma from the shadow duel or if he simply had some trouble at home. She did not want to think that there was anything more to it than that. Of all the spirits, Bakura had been the one that had unnerved her the most.
The doors opened and Jounouchi and Honda burst in, causing a collection of girls to shriek in alarm as they had been making their way into the hallway. She saw Jounouchi snicker and lean closer to one of the girls, attempting to flirt his way into a date. The girl scowled at him and began to shout up at him about entering rooms correctly.
Anzu released a sigh, rolling her eyes as she returned to her own books and began to slip them into her bag.
"Jounouchi never has the best luck with women, does he?" Ryou said conversationally as he joined Anzu, leaning against her desk and watching the scene play out. Yuugi had extracted himself from this display, heading their way with an exasperated expression.
"Not unless it's Mai Kujaku," she told him, winking conspiratorially. "I don't know why he's flirting with other girls when everyone knows he's obsessed with her."
"She has a tendency to flirt with other guys, doesn't she? Maybe he thinks that's how it's supposed to be."
"He's eighteen! He should know by now how a relationship is supposed to function!" Anzu grumbled. Yuugi had been stopped by another student, who was now animatedly asking him something. Yuugi rubbed the back of his head, appearing bashful, but then began to excitedly tell him something.
"How would you say a relationship is supposed to function?"
Anzu turned her gaze from Yuugi to look up at Ryou, who was peering down at her with a queer expression on his face. When she met his eyes, however, she did not feel as if she were looking into Ryou's anymore. The darkening chocolate brown and slight narrowed-eye look made a shiver travel up her spine. Her lips parted, yet her throat suddenly felt dry and no words formed. A corner of Ryou's mouth tilted up, perhaps in amusement, and she felt her heart beat a bit faster as she recognized the expression.
A sudden crash captured her attention and both she and Ryou turned to see Jounouchi and Honda had fallen into a desk from brawling with each other and knocked it into the cupboards. Anzu quickly returned to look at Ryou, but he was laughing in his familiar, light-hearted way.
What was that? she wondered, slowly closing the clasp to her bag and rising to her feet. Did I just imagine it?
As if Ryou had never asked his earlier question, he smiled at her and said, "Come on. Let's get them out of here before they break something."
They collected their friends, waiting with Yuugi while he finished talking about a particular puzzle game with the student and then they collectively left Domino High School to walk to the Kame Game Shop together. Anzu began to scold Jounouchi on his flirting and he pouted, blowing his cheeks out as he mumbled explanations, grumbling about how Mai had not messaged him back in a week, and they were all briefly distracted by Jounouchi's dating woes. Aside from Honda and Miho's dating bliss, Jounouchi was the only one who had any interesting dating experience from their group.
As Honda attempted to give Jounouchi advice on women, she glanced at Yuugi and found him listening with a somewhat wistful expression. Only four months ago Yuugi had asked her on a date and she had declined, explaining to him that she had wanted to focus on school and coursework. She knew that he assumed it had been because of her earlier attraction to Atemu, but the more time that went by after Atemu's exit to the afterlife, the less she believed she had ever been truly attracted to him. She had known nothing of his personality beyond what he showed through dueling. She could certainly draw from those experiences, but she had no idea what his character was really like, what he enjoyed outside of games, or who he was as a person. His memories certainly gave her something of an idea; even so, it was a shallow perception and one that she could not readily see otherwise. At sixteen and into seventeen, she had only seen him as a knight in shining armor – the prince that every girl dreamed would sweep her off her feet. And he had, in fact, swept her off her feet many times by saving her. If she fell for every man that saved her, though, that would have included Seto Kaiba and Bakura, the spirit of the Sennen Ring, and she certainly did not want to classify that as the main reason she became attracted to men.
She knew that Yuugi and the others would always think she still had feelings for Atemu with how foolishly she had acted when he had gone to enter the afterlife. She could have easily reassured Yuugi that it was not because of Atemu that she was rejecting him, but she suspected that the truth would have hurt him more, which was that she just could not see him as more than a friend. She had grown up with him and defended him against bullies, had taught him how to stand up for himself as a kid, and while he was her dearest and best of friends, she was not sure that would ever extend beyond that. It was easier, she thought, to let him believe she still had feelings for the pharaoh.
After some time in the Kame Game Shop where they played a fighting game and ate junk food, Anzu decided to leave once the sun started setting. She rose to her feet, saying, "I think I'm going to head out. I still have homework to do."
"Just do it in the morning like I do," Jounouchi told her, pausing the game to look at her.
"And get a 50 on it?" she returned, leaning down and flicking him in the forehead. "No, thanks. I'm actually trying to graduate."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded, rubbing where she had flicked him.
She swung her bag over her shoulder, smirking at him teasingly. "It means some of us can't rely on Duel Monsters as a career." She waved to the others while Jounouchi mulled over this, saying, "See you tomorrow!"
Outside, the air was balmy and warm, signaling the beginning of spring and it was still light out. In a few terms, they would all be graduating and, potentially, going their separate ways. Pausing at a corner, she dropped her head back and stared up at the colourful sunset. A mix of blues, reds, and yellows combined to make a magnificent display across the skyline, red blazing up from behind the tall buildings. It's going to be a weird transition, she mused. We've been together forever.
She dropped her head back and after checking for bicyclists in the narrow alley, she crossed the street and continued her way home. It wasn't until she had gone several blocks from the Kame Game Shop and the sun had begun to dip lower that she began to experience an uncomfortable feeling of being followed. She glanced behind her a few times, but the street was empty. Typically, she would think that remaining on the main road would be the wisest decision, yet since she saw no one, she decided to cut into an alleyway and wound her way through the narrow streets in an attempt to lose whoever might be following her.
She found herself deep in a residential area where the homes were hidden by high walls and foliage. Satisfied she was alone, she continued her trek up a silent street, towards her own neighborhood when a sudden jostle startled her. Whipping around, she found a racoon digging through trash. It paused, staring at her a beat and then scampered away abruptly. She blew out a breath. "Why am I so jumpy?" she mumbled to herself.
"Good question."
She uttered a tiny gasp and stumbled away as she turned. She almost relaxed at seeing the familiar white-haired male that was Ryou, but then tensed upon noticing his expression. This time, there was no hiding it. The familiar slow-building smirk, the narrowed eyes, and the altogether far more angular and rough appearance made it clear that she was not speaking to Ryou.
"Bakura," Anzu said cautiously, eyeing the figure that was leaning lazily against the wall bordering one of the homes.
One of his eyebrows rose. "Funny how long it took you to recognize me, girl, considering you're the only one who has noticed me this last year."
Summoning the courage buried deep in her heart, she folded her arms and scoffed, "And here you are, following me like a creep!"
He surprised her by laughing. "You're much more fun to mess with than Honda." He pushed away from the wall, swinging Ryou's school bag thoughtfully before propping it over his shoulder. She eyed him, her own school bag clutched in her hand beneath her folded arms. His stance was casual, his legs spread at hip-distance apart as he took up much of the space on the sidewalk. She had never understood the strange transformations between the spirits, even with Atemu and Yuugi. In regards to Atemu and Yuugi, though, the Sennen Puzzle had needed to be present and the Sennen Ring, like all the other Items, had been lost when the tablet had caved into the ground.
"How are you here?" she demanded, frowning. "Atemu won against you in that Shadow Duel – and the Sennen Items were destroyed."
"I hope my appearance hasn't given you some idea to try and find your boyfriend again," he sneered, "but this piece of my soul was never in the Sennen Ring. Only the piece that was possessed by Zorc Necrophades was locked away in the Sennen Ring. Ryou, as my reincarnation, unlocked this piece of my soul after he became a possessor of the Sennen Ring."
"Then Yuugi – "
He waved an impatient hand. "Were you never listening, stupid girl? Yuugi was never the pharaoh's reincarnation, only his vessel. There is a difference. He is where you left him when you tried to throw yourself at him last minute."
"I...I did not throw myself at him!" Anzu sputtered, briefly forgetting to whom she was speaking in the midst of her embarrassment.
"What would you call it then, when you are trying to keep him in the present day with you?" Bakura queried, a wicked grin spreading over his mouth.
Anzu felt herself cringe in recollection of her words when Atemu had been walking into the light after the ritual duel. "You need to go to the other side of that light...I know that...but...once you go through, you can never come back! I don't get it! We've been friends for so long, now all of a sudden...you're going to leave? I just don't get it!" It had been Jounouchi who had scolded her then, telling her that it was not her business to understand or to know why he had to go and to burn the memories into her mind. Afterward, she had sobbed watching Atemu walk into the light. Several weeks later, she had felt like a fool for making herself so transparent in front of her friends. By the way they looked at her, she knew they saw her feelings for what they were – or what she thought they had been.
Shaking herself from the memory, she unfolded her arms and pointed at Bakura, saying, "It's none of your damn business!"
Grin in place, he released a shout of laughter at her flustered reply. "No," he drawled a moment later, "but I am curious. You seem to make yourself the expert of relationships. Your friends all go to you for relationship advice. It makes me wonder what they think you have for comparison. Pining after a dead man?"
"I was not pining. It was a year ago and I was young then."
"Yes, and I see you have grown up so much now," he sarcastically quipped.
Her fear forgotten, she scowled at him. "Just what do you want, Bakura?"
He seemed to contemplate this question, his grin fading to a more neutral expression. He tipped his head back and she followed his gaze to the line of the sunset. Most of the colours had faded, with just the slightest hue of red and purple in the sky, the rest of the sky having darkened to a phthalocyanine blue. A single star winked out over at her, sparkling prettily.
"I had assumed," he slowly said, "that when the part of my soul that was possessed by Zorc Necrophades was banished, the rest of me would cease to exist just like the pharaoh. As you can see, I was mistaken. It gets boring watching Ryou live his life the way he does." He shrugged, a smirk lighting his features again. "And you're fun to play with. Honda used to be interesting until he became besotted with his woman, so you seemed an easier target. That, and you're the only one who was aware of me this past year."
Anzu hesitated, taking note of the slightest hint of despondency in his voice. He did not sound as maddened as he once had, but she had to remind herself that he had been partially possessed by the entity within the Sennen Ring. Now, he simply sounded like the thief lord in the pharaoh's memories – arrogant, teasing, sarcastic, and entirely human. The transformation was unsettling. She was accustomed to Bakura's borderline sociopathic personality.
She rocked on her feet anxiously and then released a breath, asking, "So...what are you going to do?"
He cocked his head, his eyes narrowing slightly on her. "Do?" he repeated.
"Yes." She made a vague, impatient gesture. "Now that you're stuck in Ryou's body, what are you planning to do for your entire life?"
He surveyed her and then chuckled. "Linger. My host's soul is very weak. His grasp on life has always been loose for whatever reason. He would not be so easy to overpower if not, but he seems satisfied in letting me take over for control. He's known I've been here. He seems satisfied to simply slumber while I control us."
Anzu said nothing to this, uncomfortable with this new information. By his description, it sounded as if Ryou was either sick or depressed. Neither situation boded well for her friend. She felt Bakura's eyes on her and glanced at him uneasily.
"You live this way?" he asked, turning slightly and pointing down the road.
"Er...yes, why?"
He looked at the sky pointedly. "I suppose since you ran back here because I was following you, I should take you home. I would rather not get scolded later if my host reviews the memories, though he never does."
"I don't...that's..." She shifted uncomfortably. He had tucked a hand in his pocket and was gazing at her impassively. "It's weird."
"Yes," he agreed, clearly unbothered by such a description, "but humor me, girl."
Anzu sighed, continuing to gaze at him uncertainly. This was by far the strangest situation she had gotten herself into yet. Nonetheless, she stepped forward so that she was in step next to him and clasped her bag in front of her. She had walked with Ryou home before when all the others had gone to an after-school tournament, but walking with Bakura, who she had only known to exhibit beyond insane behavior, was quite another experience.
He said nothing while they walked and she kept glancing at him to see if Ryou had returned at any point, though his appearance never changed. The more glances she made, the more she was able to see the finer details of Bakura's appearance in comparison with her friend's. He was, she had to admit reluctantly, attractive in a rugged way. Where Ryou was traditionally appealing in the Japanese style of slightly feminine, smooth features, Bakura reminded her of a foreigner in a television series that some of her classmates would swoon over.
She almost sighed aloud at her thoughts. Attractive or not, this is uncomfortable.
Once they had arrived at Anzu's home, she paused and pointed at it, saying, "Well...this is my house. Thanks for, um...walking me home."
He was peering at the house thoughtfully, then turned to her. "You're not inviting me in?"
"Why would I do that?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You always invite Ryou in."
"That's because it's Ryou," she said stiffly. He continued to stare at her, as if this were a non-issue. She thought he would simply turn away, but he continued to stand before her with the most unblinking stare she had ever seen. The place between her shoulder blades begin to perspire with discomfort until she grimaced and muttered, "Would you like to come in?"
A decidedly devilish smile crossed his lips. "No, but thank you for the offer."
Anzu gaped at him and, now annoyed, her eyebrows shot down in a glare and she stepped towards him, poking him in the shoulder. "Just what the hell are you up to, Bakura?"
He glanced at the finger she had stabbed into his shoulder and, with his hands in his pockets, he leaned forward until they were nearly nose-to-nose. "Just making things interesting, girl." The tip of his tongue touched the tip of her nose and he cackled as she jerked back, her cheeks burning red. Before she was given a chance to form any other words, he had already turned and was several feet down the narrow lane, loping at a comfortably long pace.
Glaring after him, she stormed into her house and slammed the shoji a bit more roughly than needed. She was rubbing her nose furiously as she made her way up the steps to her room. Once there, she vigorously rubbed her nose, feeling the heat in her cheeks, neck, ears, and chest. Having never even been kissed before, the action had felt unbearably intimate. She planned to never go near Bakura as long as she sensed him there within Ryou's body.
Several days passed after Bakura had walked her home and when she spoke with Ryou, he was nowhere near the surface of her friend's consciousness. It was clear, as Bakura had mentioned, that he had not "reviewed the memories," and was oblivious to anyone else being aware of Bakura's soul's presence. If it had not been for her own memories, Anzu might have thought she had a rather vivid dream.
When more than a few days passed, she began to let her guard down and stopped looking over her shoulder and anticipating his irritating intrusions in her life for no other reason than to satisfy his boredom. The day after, she had regretted sympathizing with her interpretation of his loneliness and wished she had run from him rather than engage him. She could still remember feeling the moist tip of his tongue on her nose and every time it would illicit another round of blushing.
"Anzu." She looked up from the homework she had been working on in the library after school and smiled at Yuugi, who had his bag slung over his shoulder. She knew that he and Jounouchi had founded a Duel Monsters Club and had been teaching some of the lower classmen Duel Monsters during club meetings, though usually their meetings were finished by now. "You've been studying a lot lately!"
"I really need to pass my exams to get into the school I want," she explained with a smile. "I'd like to go to school her at U of D before I transfer to Julliard, but their requirements are a little more competitive than I thought."
"That would be great if you could stay in Domino, though, Anzu." He sat across the table from her and she could tell by his expression that his reason for seeking her out was more personal. Aware by the hesitance and the way he fiddled with his bag strap, Anzu suspected the topic of conversation.
Wanting to avoid it entirely, she brightly asked, "Where is Jounouchi? Still at club?"
"Huh? Oh! Yeah, one of the second year girls was asking him advice on trap cards." Anzu had begun to close her notebook and sliding her books in her bag, something that Yuugi noticed immediately. "But actually," he quickly said, "I was hoping you and I could talk, Anzu."
"I have dance class tonight," she lied, "and have to get going here soon."
"Well, I could walk you?" he suggested, smiling. "It's been awhile since just you and I walked."
"Ah...well..."
"Anzu!"
Both of them jumped, surprised by the third voice. Ryou came around the corner, waving a hand and smiling. He cast a quizzical look to Yuugi, who smiled in greeting. "Hello, Yuugi! How was club?"
"It was good! How come you stopped coming, Ryou? The girls miss you." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "I think they might have only joined because of you, to be honest..."
"Yes...," Ryou sighed. "I think so too...it's hard to focus on a game when they are all asking for advice..." He checked his watch, adding, "We should probably get going, right, Anzu? For your dance class?"
"Er...are you going with, Ryou?" Yuugi eyed him, as if looking for a gym bag or leotard.
"No, no!" Ryou hastily said, waving his hands and appearing somewhat flustered. "I just offered to walk Anzu home since her studio is near my cram school."
"Oh! Okay." Yuugi's surprised gaze flew to Anzu, who smiled quickly in an apologetic manner as if she had known of this plan all along. "We'll talk later, then. See you guys tomorrow!" He gathered his bag and left the library, waving a farewell to them.
Anzu sighed and then slanted a look to the other male, who now most certainly did not look like Ryou. "You seemed like you needed help," Bakura said by means of explanation.
"Well...," she awkwardly mumbled, "thanks." She was still remembering his tongue on her nose and felt her cheeks flush. She bent down to hide her face with her face, busying herself with clasping her bag. "You don't need to bother yourself helping me, you know. I'm fully capable of taking care of myself and it's not like it's your business, anyway." Great, now I'm rambling, she thought, gritting her teeth and straightening. Bakura, apparently, was aware of this, as well as where her head went, because he was smirking more than a little mischievously at her.
"So," he said, lifting himself on the table and sitting upon it, leaning sideways towards her, "you don't want to hear little Yuugi's love confession?"
"I don't really want to talk about my personal life with you. I barely know you."
He laughed at that, stating, "I've been around for almost three years. I don't think that puts me as a stranger, Mazaki. It's not as though I talk to any of these people and Ryou won't even look into this conversation. He thinks I go off wandering the streets of Domino harassing people for their money." He leaned back, smirking languidly at her over his shoulder. "So, fill me in. What's a high school love triangle like?"
"There is not a triangle," she told him, frowning.
"No?" He arched a brow in question. "Simply because your love interest is dead doesn't mean it no longer counts."
Her frown deepening, she turned away from him, staring at the ground. "I don't think I ever loved the pharaoh. It's different."
There was a brief pause before he asked, "How?" His tone was clinical, as if he were a psychiatrist.
Anzu nearly groaned aloud at Bakura's persistence into her personal thoughts. At the same time, she wondered if it would ease some of the tension she felt when she thought of Atemu and her friends. Bakura, like everyone else, believed her in love with Atemu even after all this time and even though he was not about to go around telling everyone that she was over him, she did want someone to see her new perspective outside of herself.
She hesitated and then asked, "In Egypt, did they ever have stories about women being saved by heroes?"
"Most of the stories were regarding the gods," he replied, blinking once, the only sign he was surprised by the question. "But there are many of them that Ryou read here or in the tabletop games that we play. Saving the princess, that sort of thing. Rather boring."
"Well, in those stories, the woman always falls in love with the hero. I'm sure there's some psychology behind it, but it's this sense of dependability and being swept off your feet. Atemu was always like that for me. When little girls are younger, they are always taught to find that tall, dark, and handsome prince that will save them. When Atemu left and I wasn't so obsessed on trying to see him or him seeing me, that feeling went away. And that's what Yuugi thinks I want from him and maybe I did a long time ago – a strong man to stand up for me – and now he thinks that's what he is, so he thinks that it's a good time to confess. But I've always known his feelings and I don't know how to tell him that I just see him as a friend and that, now, I only see Atemu as one, as well." She paused, turning to look at Bakura. "Does that even make sense to you?"
"I might be a five-thousand-year-old spirit, but I'm not stupid," he told her, scowling.
"But have you even ever..." She trailed off, aware of how insulting the question sounded. Apparently, Bakura also found the question insulting and his expression resembled that of his former self rather than the lazy, teasing personality he had portrayed lately.
"Have I ever what?" he prompted, sliding off the table. "Loved someone? Been with a woman?"
"That's not what I was going to say!" she said, raising her hands in a defensive gesture. "I just meant – " Her words were swallowed by a sharp gasp as he caught her wrist and tugged her ruthlessly towards her. She fell into him, briefly losing her balance. She felt the painful dig of the table into her hip as he blocked her against it and flinched, now alarmed and aware that she had angered him.
"Listen, girl," he told her in a quietly steady voice, "simply because I do not have the Sennen Ring does not mean I am not still a tomb robber. Your life can be ended in a short minute." His right hand still grasped her wrist, but with his other hand, he reached up and took her chin, roughly tipping her head back. His smile was a bit savage. "And yes, in case you were wondering, I have been with a woman before." She was unsure what he planned to do until she felt his hand slip into her hand, anchoring her head there and then his mouth fell on hers. Her instant reaction was to knee him in the stomach, but he had her pinned in such a way that she was unable to move her legs.
And then, a short time later, she found that she did not particularly want to knee him in the stomach at all. She had not expected Bakura to have the time or patience to deal with women, but the way he kissed made it quite apparent that he had taken the time to perfect some intimate aspects. Her body quivered at the warm feel of his lips on hers, moist and gently probing. When he withdrew briefly, he released her wrist and then slipped his hand on her waist, pulling her closer to her. She uttered a startled breath and then his mouth had caught hers again, his tongue taking advantage of her parted lips. Her breath turned into a soft moan and as she raised her hands to instinctively push him away, she found herself pulling him closer, arching herself into him and following his lead, albeit innocently and unsure of herself. He taught her, his tongue engaging hers in a warm, moist dance that turned her into a breathless, aching mess.
There was a loud crash and the sound of a teacher bellowing at a student that forced Bakura to raise his head and glance behind them at the door. She heard Jounouchi's familiar voice whining alongside a collection of other voices chiming in. Anzu was still pressed up against Bakura and felt every part of her warm with sudden realization at what had happened. When Bakura turned back to her, his lips curled into a smirk, but he said nothing.
Inside, her instincts were warring with the need to shove away from Bakura, who had been hers and her friends' enemy for as long as she had known him and the want to pull him back to her. Her mind corrected her: Not your enemy, but Atemu's. Her heart was beating quite fast and the longer she remained pressed against the table with his thighs against her hips, she was afraid that she was going to lean towards the latter choice.
Another part of her mind, however, encouraged, What would the harm be? You're almost eighteen. You're about to graduate. It's time you had some fun for yourself. Who cares if it's Bakura? He doesn't have the spirit of Zorc Necrophades anymore. He's just another person.
It was this part of her mind that won over and shyly, uncertain, she curled her fingers around his uniform, whispering, "Teach me."
His smirk widened and he dipped his head, pressing his face against her neck, kissing below her ear as he rumbled, "That, Mazaki, will be simple to do."
TBC
A/N: Let me know how you all liked the first chapter, if there is any adjustment you'd like in the dtails/dialogue balance, and how close I am to Bakura and Anzu as their characters would be in a shoujo rather than the shounen-style characterization. As I said, I only expect this to be around 3-5 chapters long and hopefully it will sate your craving for vexshipping as there is very little of it out there right now :)
