Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters presented here and am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.
Story Title: This Time, It's Me
Chapter Title: Passing Notes and Glances
Story Word Count: 3,799
Chapter Word Count: 3,799
Rated: PG-13
Romance: Honda x Anzu
Notes: This takes place a few months after the Ceremonial Duel, in the closing weeks of their third year of high school. Comments and criticism gratefully accepted.
Summary: As Valentine's Day draws near, Anzu wavers between just sticking to her obligations, or stepping away to follow the call of her heart.

The fact Valentine's Day was less than a month away wasn't lost on anyone at Domino High School. It didn't matter that underage dating was against the rules. This was Valentine's Day. Even the teachers tended to look the other way around this time of year. Girls gave guys appraising looks and counted up their funds, while guys tried not to look as if they were doing their best to look their best. Some of them even dared to hope for more than just the usual obligation chocolate gifts that they'd probably received every year since they'd gotten into high school. Those who did kept quiet about it, though. No teenager made it through these halls without learning a little something about discretion. They might not use it all the time, but they at least knew about it.

Mazaki Anzu wasn't always thrilled by this time of year. Picking out the usual boxes of chocolate to give to almost half a dozen guys wasn't going to be that hard. She knew exactly what Yuugi, Honda, Jounouchi, and Ryou liked, after all, and it wouldn't be that hard to figure out what Otogi would want either. She wished Hanasaki still went to school with them. She'd heard he was doing very well over in America, though, and she was glad of that. There was no need to consider Malik in her plans. If he went to school with them, she might have, but since he was in Egypt, there was no need. I wonder if they celebrate it there. She'd never asked, and it really hadn't even occurred to her before.

She sighed a little under her breath and fidgeted with her pen as she stared down at the worksheet before her. It was very straightforward and simple, just a review sheet for some of the work they'd went over in the last few months, but it might as well have been written in some weird combination of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin for all that she understood it at the moment. There was something on her mind that had almost nothing to do with the work and only a little bit to do with the holiday thoughts that preyed briefly on her mind.

I was hoping that he'd still be here this time. She knew who he was. She just never bothered to use his name that often, even to herself. Even after everything they'd went through to find his name, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She hadn't known him by it for that long and thinking of him as anything else by what she'd know him as was a habit she had yet to get into.

It was, of course, the other Yuugi that she meant. Pharaoh Atemu. He was long gone to the afterlife, enjoying whatever it was dead Pharaohs did after saving the world. She knew he was happy, or at least she hoped he was. But it didn't change the fact she'd severely hoped she could share yet another Valentine's Day with him.

Her cheeks burned red at the memory of the last one that had passed. Even after a year, it still embarrassed her. How had she been such an idiot? She had thought after that mess with the Ferris wheel and the bomber, she would have learned her lesson.

At least that was one good thing about him being gone: she couldn't make a fool of herself again this year. Not over him, anyway. Probably not over anyone else either. She liked Yuugi a lot, and she knew that he liked her, but now just didn't seem to be the right kind of time to do anything. She didn't even know if she liked him as more than a friend, or if she did, if it were because of what she had felt for his other self. No one else seemed all that inclined to be in the warm places of her heart either.

It really didn't matter all that much in the long run. She told herself that over and over again, and was well on the way to believing it. So she didn't find a 'someone' while she was in high school. There were other things she could be doing, such as saving up for her dance education in New York City. She had quite a bit saved already, but not enough, not nearly enough. That was the drawback of only being able to work part time. Once she was out of school, that was going to change.

At least she'd managed to go ahead and get the permission slip she needed to work without having to be afraid of anyone she knew seeing her. It had been horrible enough when Jounouchi and Yuugi had found her at Burger World. Though that had certainly ended well enough, if you counted being held hostage by an escaped convict and rescued by a mysterious entity who had turned out to be a forgotten Pharaoh of Egypt and responsible for saving the world as they knew it as ending well enough.

I should write all of this down one day. No one would believe it if I did, but I should. If she could draw worth anything, she might have even considered making it a manga and seeing if she could sell it. Everything that they had all survived since the day Yuugi had solved the Millennium Puzzle had most of the qualities of a really good one, after all. But she wouldn't do it. There was no way she'd put out the secrets of their lives for everyone to see. She didn't even know everything that had happened, either. She had a feeling no one knew it all. Some things just didn't need to be known, either.

She looked up from the paper and glanced around the room, wanting to see something that was different, if only for a few seconds. She knew she'd have to get back to it sooner or later, but maybe if she got a moment of refreshing sight, she could focus better.

Everything looked almost as it always had. The faces of her classmates, each one bent over their paper and staring at it just like she had been, were all familiar. Some of them had slightly different touches to their uniforms, such as Otogi or Yuugi. Even they still looked much the same, though. Except for Yuugi not having the Millennium Puzzle hanging around his neck, as he had for the last couple of years, of course. She wondered how he felt not carrying it anymore, not having his other self to talk to. She hadn't talked to him about that since it had happened. He hadn't really seemed to want to talk about it.

She didn't think he was sad, not in the kind of self-destructive way some might've thought. But he did miss Atemu, of that he was certain. They all did. It just wasn't something any of them really seemed to feel comfortable talking about, even all these months later.

Her gaze crossed briefly to Bakura, who looked even more deeply into the schoolwork than most of them did. He brushed back a strand of his long pale hair, and she caught a glimpse of Maeda Kotone sighing dreamily as she watched him. Anzu had to restrain herself from giggling; Maeda had been first and foremost one of Bakura's admirers from the day he'd set foot in the class. She hadn't been quite as vocal about it as some of the other girls, but Anzu had heard that she'd tried to send him something special for Christmas a couple of weeks earlier. He'd politely turned it down, whatever it was.

She glanced at the clock on the wall for a moment and wondered how long it would be until this class ended. She managed to keep a sigh back just as well as she had the giggle. They still had a little over half an hour to go, and then it would be time to get out of there. She looked back down at the paper and started to work a little on it. Maybe she could at least make the time go by a little faster if she did this. It wouldn't hurt, and it wouldn't hurt her grade, either.

And I won't get detention, either. Or so she hoped. Ms. Maruyama wasn't as insane about expelling and detentions as Ms. Chono had been, but better safe than sorry.

She fidgeted again a few minutes later, trying to think of what the answer to one of the questions could be. She remembered going over it in class and over it with Yuugi and everyone else after school, but it just wasn't coming.

She closed her eyes for a moment, hoping it would kind of pop into her head, then jerked up just a little when something bounced off her arm and onto her paper. What in the world...couldn't she just have a quiet class without things falling on her?

"Is everything all right, Mazaki?" Ms. Maruyama looked right at her as she jumped. "You're not done already, are you?"

Anzu flushed more deeply than she ever had in her life. "No, I'm not. I just had a ...one of those shivers you get sometimes." She ducked her head and noticed a small folded piece of paper against her arm, almost falling off of the desk. A note? Someone had passed her a note? Who would do that?

"Try not to get one again," the teacher advised, going back to the piles of papers on her desk. Anzu carefully slid the note into her left hand and held it there loosely, hopefully out of sight, and kept her attention on the worksheet. She made certain to do a few more problems, not looking at anything but the paper before her.

When she couldn't feel the teacher's eyes on her any longer, she leaned back in the chair as if stretching some, then unrolled the note. She almost laughed out loud to see Jounouchi's sloppy handwriting, then read it quickly.

Hey, Anzu! Me and the guys were going out to the arcade after school. Want to come? It was just a simple note, but it warmed her quite a bit. She tucked the note under her work sheet and scribbled out a quick reply.

Can't. I've got that new job after school, remember? She waited until the teacher looked a little more distracted than usual, then tossed it back over to Jounouchi. As soon as it was in the air, she looked back down at her paper as if she hadn't ever thought once in her life about looking away from it. Her heart raced a little; she hadn't participated in note-tossing since she'd been in middle school, and even then, it hadn't been with anyone but Yuugi. Trust Jounouchi to try something like this.

She managed to work a few more problems before Jounouchi's reply came soaring back at her, landing this time right on her chest. Her cheeks burned brightly as she snagged it quickly, and refused to look even remotely in Jounouchi's direction. Not only would that bring more attention to them than she wanted from the teacher, but she couldn't stand to see the look she knew would be on his or Honda's face. Probably both of theirs. She liked them both, but the plain facts were that they could be quite the pain without even realizing it. Even Otogi had better manners than they did most of the time. At least she could count on Ryou and Yuugi to be a little more mannerly. If either of them had thoughts like their friends, they were kept properly in their own minds where thoughts like that belonged.

After waiting just long enough to answer a few more of the questions, and noting that there were only about twenty minutes left in the class, she checked the note quickly. Whatever he wanted to keep talking about, he was going to have to hurry, or actually talk to her once the class was over with.

Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. What was it again? Why couldn't he wait and ask her these things when they weren't in class? Probably because he wouldn't remember. Once the bell rang, if it didn't have something to do with duelling, Jounouchi hardly gave it a thought. Trying to keep his attention for a study session was a miracle in and of itself. She was going to smack him over the head for it one day. Or maybe she could talk Yuugi into having a duel with him, with the stakes for Jounouchi losing being him having to pay attention once in a while.

She jotted down an answer, curving her arm around the note and her work sheet so it looked as if she were working on the latter. It was a child's trick, but if it worked, she wouldn't object. At least no one else seemed to be paying enough attention to catch them at this. Maybe because they didn't think anyone would be silly enough to try something like this.

Sweet Stuff, that candy store about three streets over from the Game Shop, remember? They were looking for extra help because of the holidays. She had no idea how long she'd be working there. The ad had wanted someone young for part time work, but when Ms. Tanaka had interviewed her, she had indicated the position had a chance to become permanent. There was White Day coming up as well, though that wasn't quite as big for candy as Valentine's Day. Though once the holidays were done, there was a stretch of several months in which most people didn't really think that much about candy except as an extra little snack.

"There's only a few minutes left, class," Ms. Maruyama told them, not looking up from her own work. All around Anzu, everyone worked faster, some of them looking as if they'd sell their souls, or at least take out a lease on them, for a few more answers. These weren't the final exams, but it helped to do well on them anyway. One could also never get in enough last second begging any available higher power for help. Anzu wondereds briefly if Kaiba had ever thought about branching into selling test answers. It would be a profitable line of work around certain times of the year.

Her thoughts turned a little more serious, as well as more and more towards her job as she filled out each new answer. She'd had quite a few, but she'd never worked at a candy store so close to Valentine's Day. She was under no illusions about how swamped they would be as the day drew nearer and nearer.

Maybe I can get an employee discount for my chocolate? It hadn't been one of the reasons she'd tried for the job, but it had crossed her mind a few times. With all the chocolate she was going to be getting, anything that could lighten the price would be welcome. She fully intended to always let her friends know how much she cared about them all. They deserved it, after all that they'd went through together.

She debated for a moment if she wanted to give anything to Kaiba. He'd been through some of the same things with them, and in the last couple of years had changed so much from the person who had first so rudely pushed his way into the Game Shop. She didn't really like him all that much, but it would be polite. No, she finally decided. I'll give it to people who'd actually appreciate it. Besides, there would more than likely be the usual parade of girls outside of his locker, trying to get into it and leave their tokens of undying affection. If she gave someone candy, she wanted to be certain they would appreciate it, and not just sweep it into the trash like he was rumored to do.

At least her friends would be courteous enough to thank her for it, even if they went on to tease her about something else in the same breath. She recounted them in her mind, and nodded slightly. Wait, I think I missed someone. As odd as it might be to most people, she decided she would give a small batch of candy to Yuugi's Grandpa. He'd been so nice to them and done so much for them that she wouldn't feel right not doing something in return. But there was no way she would give it to him in person. She had never forgotten the look he'd given her when she'd first come to the Game Shop, eyeing her breasts. He hadn't done it again, but why take chances?

Well, six sets of chocolate wouldn't be all that expensive. It would just be having the time to get it, with school and work and her home chores as well. She'd make the time. She always did every year, after all.

The note came soaring back towards her at last, and she reached to catch it instinctively when she saw it, instead of letting it drop on her. That proved to be quite the mistake, however, when Ms. Maruyama spoke up firmly. "Mazaki, Jounouchi, if you've got all the time to pass notes to one another, then you've got the time to clean up the classroom today."

"Hey! It's not our day to do that!" Jounouchi virtually shouted, shaking his head. "Why're you going to make us?" Anzu hadn't expected him to take any responsbility if he got caught, and he proved her correct.

Ms. Maruyama only sighed. "You're going to clean up the classroom before you go home." There was nothing lenient in her voice at all. "Kaiba, Otogi, this means you'll be doing it tomorrow, since it was your day today."

Otogi just shrugged and leaned back in his seat as he dropped his pen. "No problem." Anzu wouldn't be surprised if he talked some of his fangirls into doing it for him. They weren't as adoring as they'd been when their second year had begun, but they still would do virtually anything that he asked.

Kaiba barely seemed to have even heard what was said as he had his eyes closed and the completed work sheet before him. He made only the slightest motion as the teacher looked at him, and from the slight air of concentration, Anzu figured he was probably working over some problem with his company. She was glad she didn't run something like KaibaCorp. She'd go crazy. After all, he had. Granted, Yuugi's other self had fixed that to a degree, but Kaiba would probably never really be what most people considered sane and reasonable.

Anzu's fingers twitched a little as she started to reach for the note. Before she could get to it, Ms. Maruyama was there, and had snatched it neatly from her. "You can pass love notes some other time, but not in my class."

Anzu didn't take her eyes off of the teacher until she'd dropped the note into the trash can. As soon as it landed, she let loose a soft sigh of relief, glad that the teacher hadn't thought about reading it to the class. Of course, with Jounouchi's handwriting, she probably hadn't wanted to spend the time trying to decipher it.

Thankfully this was their last class of the day, and it was almost over with at that. Anzu kept her head down and stayed as quiet as she could, refusing to draw another second of attention towards herself if she could help it. Jounouchi did the same, and she figured he didn't want to spend any more time in school than he absolutely had to.

The idea of passing love notes to Jounouchi kept cropping up in her mind whenever she had a few seconds to spare. Of all of her friends that she could've imagined doing such a thing with, he had to be at the bottom of the list. In fact, she couldn't really imagine passing love notes or anything like that with any of her friends. They were just...friends. Even with Yuugi and the other Yuugi, it hadn't quite been like that.

I don't really know what it was like, but that wasn't it, she mused to herself.

"All right." Ms. Maruyama motioned her and Jounouchi up to her as everyone else filed on out the door once the final bell rang. She noticed Honda and Yuugi hovering outside, probably waiting for Jounouchi to be able to join them. She knew Yuugi had to have remembered about her starting her new job today, but she didn't know if Honda would. It depended on if he were feeling responsible or not today.

And that kind of depends on how much time he's been spending with Jounouchi. She'd noticed the more those two hung out together, the more they tended to act like children instead of halfway responsible late teenagers. It had to be a guy thing. She was just grateful that the rest of her friends seemed to have been spared from it, at least while they were around her.

"Ms. Maruyama, I've got to be at my job in a little while," she protested a little as they were led to where the buckets and mops were kept. The teacher just shook her head.

"You should've thought about that before you started to pass the notes, Mazaki. Get everything clean. If you hurry, you might make it. There are two of you, after all." Ms. Maruyama turned to where Yuugi and Honda were watching their friends. "And you two aren't going to help. Go on, shoo! Out of here! School's over!"

Yuugi waved a little tentative farewell, then headed out, catching up to where Bakura and Otogi were, a little farther down the hall. Honda seemed a little more inclined to stick around, and for a moment or two, Anzu thought he was looking at her more than he was Jounouchi.

That had to be wrong, though, especially since he said, "So, I'll see you at the arcade?"

"Right. I'll be there as fast as I can be." With that, Jounouchi got to mopping like a madman. Anzu watched him for a few moments before she headed over to get to work on the blackboard. She caught sight of something moving out of the corner of her eye, and turned just in time to see Honda still there, and this time, she was quite certain he was looking at her.

Oddly enough, the moment he saw her seeing him, he turned and left. Anzu shook her head. Boys. Who could figure them?

To Be Continued