This story is over a year old and yet here I am finally ending it! What does it take for someone like me to finish anything really!?

Well, hope you all liked it so far, enjoy!

Yugi's instincts screamed for him to run after Anzu as he imagined her already leaving. Even if he did manage to see Anzu in time, how would he explain himself?

With his luck, Anzu would probably never forgive him. Seeing how hurt and revolted she might look at him for being late on such an important occasion. Not to mention the torn up gift he had planned to give her and how he smelled of sweat and pollution from bike riding to the airport.

Yugi couldn't bear it. Not if the last look on Anzu's face would be that.

"Looks like we both made it at the same time eh?" a croaky voice called out to him with a chuckle at the end.

Yugi turned around to see his grandpa who had gotten off the bus with a humored smile on his face.

"It would be cruel to you and Anzu if you decided not to show up at all don't you think Yugi?" his grandpa said.

Although his presumption was close to it being a possibility, Yugi's silence said it all.

"By the way Yugi, next time try not to be so reckless, it could easily cost you," his grandpa said tossing Yugi some tape for the mangled up present.

Yugi wasn't sure if his grandpa was referring to the gift wrapping only as he contemplated his grandpa entered the building as he motioned for his grandson not to stall for too long. Yugi gulped knowing he needed to face his just deserved judgment and followed after his grandfather.

The doors slid open as the cool air condoning was bliss on his face as it contacted with his sweltering skin.

Yugi scanned around the lobby searching for familiar faces. He passed by the airport's gift shop and decided to buy a single rose bouquet for Anzu. It was at least something to make up for his lousy attempt to keep a single gift in one piece.

He then debated internally whether he should go through with all this or not. So much effort to get here and yet he was willing to give it up? Not a chance. Before he began to entertain any more depressing thinking, a familiar voice shouted his name from behind that rattled him from his thoughts.

Before Yugi could turn to see who it was he was suddenly tackled hard, almost enough to lose his footing. Yugi's immediate worry was to not crush the flowers or drop the gift, again. He caught a glimpse of the rough looking blonde-headed boy he'd recognize a mile away.

"YUGI!" Jounouchi's hollered next to Yugi's left ear loud enough to feel his rage.

"Where the hell have you been, man!?" Jounouchi's face widened was shown as he held Yugi in a headlock for a second after he positioned himself to firmly grasp Yugi by the shoulders facing him square in the face.

"J-Jounouchi" Yugi was trying to get a hold of himself after his best friend's assault.

Especially after still recovering from his heated exercise from his grandfather's game shop all the way to the airport, which was no small feat.

"Why the hell didn't you call ahead of time to let us know you were running late?" Jounouchi said shaking Yugi.

Yugi could name more than one thing on the lists' of wrong things he had to go through today. Although he didn't expect Jou or anybody to really believe him. Yugi then saw the rest of the group arriving right behind Jounouchi. His friends all seemed relieved to finally see Yugi since they were asking all the same questions Jounouchi had already asked, including going slightly deaf in his left ear.

He saw everyone except,

"Where's Anzu?" Yugi asked.

His question triggered a reaction he had been afraid of to see. Their concerned questions suddenly became silent and looked disheartened Yugi's question. Jounouchi avoided eye contact scratching the back of his head and hummed in apprehension.

"Jounouchi?" Yugi didn't want to believe it, he just couldn't, yet how could she.

"Yugi…"

"I'm really sorry, man," Honda added.

Honda placed a comforting hand on Yugi, but he couldn't feel it. He felt numb at Honda's support.

'No. No, no, no, this wasn't happening!' Yugi's mind spiraled.

He wanted to wake up from this. It was all so surreal.

Yugi solemnly took a step back from his friends finding and sitting on one of the metal benches. His expression was blank, almost emotionless. His head slung down in utter defeat as his arms rested on his knees. He placed the gifts next to him, the wrapping paper still torn and crumpled just like his heart.

Yugi's worst nightmare became a reality.

Yugi missed seeing her smile one last time in person. He missed her usual 'good morning' greetings, and to feel the warmth in her hugs.

Yugi wasn't sure if Anzu would even come back to Domino. What if she decided to stay in America? What if she decided to stay in New York and find better company there than here? It would be even more likely if she might even find someone else.

Someone who was more reliable and probably taller and better looking. She would probably choose someone else who wouldn't be late for important things like seeing your best friend off to follow her dreams. To know that everything about this someone else who was just better at these important things she was looking for, someone who wasn't Yugi.

He missed it, he missed her.

This stung just the same when he had to part ways with his Other Self, if not worse.

"C'mon Yugi, don't worry man…" Otogi said patting him on the back trying to liven up his spirits.

"We'll still be able to contact Anzu online or by phone," Honda said.

"Yeah, and hey, right after she lands you can call her! You can be the first one out of all of us!" Jounouchi exclaimed.

Yugi simply sat there in silence, avoiding eye contact altogether. He appreciated their encouragement but he honestly felt lifeless inside.

"It wouldn't be the same. You guys had the chance to see Anzu… and I missed it." Yugi's voice was soft as it trembled, "it's…just not the same".

Although they did have a point, Yugi has the means to be able to contact her online or phone, but it's so much different in person. Yugi wasn't there. Nobody really understood how upset Yugi felt, except for Jounouchi. Out of everyone, he seemed to know the extent of Yugi's true feelings toward their feisty brunette friend.

Jounouchi's glance fell, he felt the hurt his friend was feeling and yet couldn't do anything about it. It was the situation of Atem all over again however, Yugi at least saw him off, they all did together.

Before anybody could attempt to cheer Yugi up anymore, Jounouchi raised a hand up signaling them to let Yugi have his space. While they all agreed Jounouchi crouched down to Yugi's level, his eyes still focusing on the marble tile floor.

"Listen Yugi, I'm sorry you weren't able to make it. I wish I could do something help fix this, but what's done is done. We'll go get a burger afterward my treat, 'kay?" Jou said, he waited for Yugi to respond but didn't.

"We'll all wait for you at the entrance whenever you're ready, pal." Jounouchi's voice was comforting, but it wasn't enough to soothe the ache in his heart. Yugi simply nodded in reply to his best friend.

Feeling Jounouchi walk away, Yugi was alone to lament in his thoughts. The flowers he had bought for Anzu began to wilt just as his spirit.

This was his fault entirely and he knew it.

He'd only hope Anzu would forgive him once she arrived in America. He swallowed the growing lump in his throat and bit back the sting in his eyes.

Yugi gave a loud and rather exhausting sounding sigh as he pulled his bangs was just plain awful.

Yugi knew Jounouchi was right. What's done is done and there wasn't any kind of power he had to turn it all back and fix it. Knowing this Yugi stood up collecting his sorry-excuse-of-a-gift, slowly making his way to the entrance hall.

But just as he picked up his head, his sharp mauve eyes suddenly fixated on someone sitting alone across his view sitting behind the large window seeing the people pass by,

"No, it couldn't be…the others said..."

Yugi knew now his grief probably caused him to hallucinate.

Yet there he saw in plain daylight.

A girl with short brown hair was sitting in one of the waiting chairs afar from where Yugi was standing. His mouth became dry as he let out a soft gasp when he saw the girl turn her head to recognize her face to be,

"ANZU!"

Yugi called out her name, loud enough that it echoed. He jogged his way over to the girl who he saw as Anzu.

"But why is she still here?" Yugi thought but decided against it since what he really wished for came true. As he came close enough to meet her, her head turned away. Yugi held the torn present and limp roses with one of the flower's petals on the verge of collapsing in his left hand.

Both were silent, Yugi staring down at her.

It was indeed Anzu.

Yugi was incredibly thrilled to still be able to see her yet Anzu's expression was quite the opposite.

Her attention drawn to a lovely looking silver bracelet wrapped delicately around her wrist, her long fingers fiddling with one of the charms that looked like a ballet slipper.

Anzu did, in fact, notice Yugi slowly approaching her, but didn't look up at him right away.

Yugi hesitated at first since he was slightly discouraged by her reaction when he approached her.

"I…I thought you had already…" Yugi inwardly smacked himself for stuttering horrendously as if he'd never talked to her before.

"My flight doesn't leave in another ten minutes" Anzu's voice was much softer than expected.

"But Jounouchi said you had already left" Yugi couldn't believe how bad his luck had got all day. Yet this was the luckiest he had felt being in front of her like this. To be able to see the girl of his dreams one last time, in person at least.

"I was in line to board the plane, but..." Her voice began to shook, "after I turned around to see if you had come, that's when I saw that you made it. I…I didn't want to say goodbye like that."

Anzu then finally looked up, her perfect blue eyes glazed with emotion. Yugi dived right into those pools of her eyes. He felt his heart tug at the seams. Her splendor didn't just lie in her appearance alone. Although granted she was very beautiful, Anzu was also compassionate to a fault, similar to Yugi. It was what made them best friends. How loyal they were to each other, it was unbreakable.

"How could I just leave without saying goodbye to one of my best friends?" her brows slanted granting him a soft smile as her shoulders shrugged.

Yugi's eyes shook with guilt yet inwardly overwhelmed with a sentiment he had first felt when they met as kids. He wanted nothing more than to just grab a hold of her shoulders and embrace her sadness away. Instead, he swallowed the urge and digested her words, feeling his knees grow weak.

Anzu bit her lip as she pulled back a strand of her chocolate hair behind her ear, sniffing back incoming tears threatening to spill.

Yugi felt his heart skip a beat.

Not only did he feel like the biggest idiot on the planet, feeling the blood rushing through his face.

Anzu didn't deserve this. Yet she made the choice to wait for him despite her plane getting ready to take off soon.

"Anzu I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for being so late…I-" Yugi neared closer to her feeling their knees touched, Yugi slightly backed away blushing, "if you could only understand all the crazy things that I had to deal with just to get here to see you one time."

Yugi then began to explain everything from his alarm clock not buzzing him to wake up in time and stealing a guy's bike riding it all the way here almost getting hit by a car.

Anzu looked back at Yugi with an unchanged expression until she noticed his dress shirt was a mess, and the present he had gift wrapped was shredded.

Now normally someone who was late on such an occasion wouldn't even accept poor looking gifts such as his. Yugi would understand if Anzu to be infuriated and such accounts are unforgivable.

But Anzu knew Yugi.

Yugi was never the kind of person to lie about something like this, but his heart was really in it. He put up with every one of the crazy obstacles that would cause him not to see her and yet he somehow managed to come all for her.

Anzu stifled a laugh. She couldn't imagine seeing Yugi bike riding all the way to the airport, let alone steal it!

"Well I hope you'll give the poor guy his bike back" Anzu giggled blithely.

Yugi chuckled himself, now that he actually thought about it he did a lot of things he normally wouldn't do. He nervously outstretched his arms to hand Anzu her presents.

"H-here, I'm sorry about the way it looks but-" Yugi stuttered again.

"Yugi, its okay" Anzu placed an assuring hand on top of his to settle his nerves, "It's the thought that counts right? Besides I'm sure if I was to open the gift I'd have to rip open the wrapping paper, right?" she winked at him.

"Oh, y-yeah" Yugi gave her a sheepish grin.

Anzu giggled at his attempt to not be embarrassed.

"But it'd be best not to open it until you get on the plan" Yugi added giving Anzu a smile.

She smiled back as she stood up, the two shared a beautifully warm hug much to the liking of the rest of the friends who watched from behind the marble pillar witnessing Yugi and Anzu's hug. Jou and Honda cheered on their little bud from afar only cheering too loud that the couple looked back to see them.

Caught in their act the boys and Yugi's grandpa walked toward them with Cheshire grins as they all shared a good laugh together.

Brief moments passed as Anzu's flight announced their last call for boarding.

Anzu and Yugi shared one last meaningful glance toward each other after she offers him an encouraging high five as she gave high-fives all around to her good friends, including Jounouchi's over-enthusiastic one.

With teary goodbyes outshined by good vibes and smiles, Anzu boarded the airplane to America holding gift near her. As she remembered their first memory together…

"N-nice to meet you too, Anzu…and thanks for-" little Yugi sniffled.

"Don't even mention it!" her voice was pretty perky for someone who just beat a bully with one punch, "I never liked Kouji, anyways he deserved it." She pouted causing her cheeks to puff up which Yugi thought was really charming.

"So that game," she pointed the handheld game Yugi took out from his backpack and held it in his hands as his choice of game during recess,

"Is it really that hard to play?" little Anzu asked.

"Mm, not really, as long as you focus on the game it's actually easy!" Yugi explained.

Anzu watched with curiosity, "Can I try playing then?" she asked her smile never leaving her face,

Yugi felt his spirits soar.

He saw how Anzu enjoyed being around him, she was genuinely a nice girl, well, to him anyways.

Before Yugi handed her the game, he first showed her how to play so she wouldn't lose or be confused so easily.

Anzu witnessed how skillfully Yugi's fingers were at pressing the buttons at the right time. As if the game was made for him, she was awed by his focus too. Most boys their age were always rude, rowdy and loud but Yugi Mutou, he was different. He was much quieter and sweet. She liked that about him.

She couldn't help but stare at Yugi's face and how it held serious concentration.

"He looks so different when he's playing…" Anzu thought

She had recalled seeing one of the other boys in their class bullying Yugi, how he had no friends and called him a scardey cat when he would be too afraid of playing ball with them. Anger boiled within as she hated boys like that 'Jerks!' she thought.

A loud, tuneful beep then went off awakening Anzu from her thoughts and saw that it came from Yugi's game-boy,

"I won!" he said happily.

"You beat your high score! That's amazing, Yugi!" Anzu gasped in awe,

"Can I try now?" she asked, not bothered at all at how skillfully Yugi played to reach a super high score as Yugi happily handed her the game-boy.

A good ten minutes passed, Yugi had been gently coaching her on what buttons to press, what they do and what direction to go.

"So I just dodge all these hills and beat the bad guy chasing me?" Anzu asked, her eyes never leaving the tiny screen.

"Right!" Yugi exclaimed with a wide grin.

The game suddenly beeped melodically.

"Oh hey, I just cleared the first stage!" Anzu cheered, "It only took me three of my life point thingies…"

Yugi nodded and continued to watch her play the next stages,

-Second stage-

"Ahh, what! I only have one left…" Anzu felt herself get anxious, she thought these things were supposed to be fun instead it was causing her strain.

-Third stage-

"Why won't this guy die!?" Anzu was on a roll, an angry roll as Yugi would probably say, as she struggled on, her face scrunched up.

-Fourth stage-

Anzu eyes widened keeping total focus on her opponent. She felt her hands grow moist but she didn't care. She was too busy to notice that Yugi was enjoying this more than Anzu was, despite her growing temper.

-Fifth stage-

A loud drooping noise screamed in the game as it blinked out the words "GAME OVER".

Anzu's reaction froze causing Yugi to wonder if she was okay.

"I hit him…" Anzu said softly.

"Anzu…?" Yugi asked.

"I. hit. him!" she yelled at the game boy,

Yugi stood by witnessing Anzu's temper tantrum as she continually shook the game while screaming out some words he wasn't allowed to repeat. Yugi admitted to himself that she was even cuter when she was upset at something silly as a game.

"You stupid game! What do you know, I hit him!" Anzu then lifted the handheld game in the air and flung it down hard crashing against the hard cement ground with a mighty grunt.

Anzu panted as her anger finally subsided, realizing what she had just done seeing the game boy shattered right below her.

She took a step back and gasped,

"Oh no, Yugi, I'm-I'm so sorry!" Anzu looked at Yugi with a horrified expression Yugi looked down and began to shake. Anzu blew it, she had upset him, she waited for her punishment, and maybe he would cry or yell at her and run away.

But to her surprise, he was shaking because he was suppressing small giggles as he busted into fits of laughter.

'What? Why is he laughing?' Anzu was utterly taken aback by his reaction.

"Ha-ha! It's okay, Anzu" he smiled, settling his laughter down, "That was actually pretty funny" whipping a tear from his eye,

"But…Yugi, I just broke it" Anzu looked down again,

The game was thoroughly broken, the screen shattered and wires were sticking out. Unwanted memories of the bad guy that defeated her repeatedly played in Anzu's head. Honestly, sometimes she just didn't realize her own strength.

"Really, it's no big deal" Yugi squatted down to retrieve the cartridge, "At least this is still good. Anyways, my grandpa owns a game shop, so I'm sure he has more there." Yugi continued to smile as he dusted off the cartridge leaving behind the remains of the handheld game.

Anzu, however, was on the verge of tears from utter guilt.

"H-how could you be fine!" Anzu yelled out with tears streaming down her cheeks,

"Yugi, I promise I'll pay you back, I'll save my allowances and buy you a new one!" she stated frantically at him,

Yugi's brows knitted as he gave her a tender smile.

"Actually, if you'd like I can bring you an easier game tomorrow after school. This one was a bit hard, but you did amazing for your first time!" Yugi's uplifting disposition caused Anzu's tears to stop flowing. She couldn't believe how okay he was about this. Frankly, she was relieved but baffled nonetheless.

"Yugi…" her frown then turned into a smile,

This would be the start of a wonderful relationship!

Anzu could only giggle to herself how that memory always cheered her up.

Her hand then felt the box on her lap, she had almost forgotten about it as she gave a meek smile at what Yugi had gone through today to see her in time before her flight. Opening the damaged box the gift inside, she saw, was unscathed and in perfect condition.

Unraveling the present she took out what looked to be a white box with a printed bow on it. Opening it she saw scrambled pieces to a puzzle. Anzu gave a confused look as she eyed the envelope taped at the top of the lid and opened it reading it to be from Yugi with a set of instructions.

"Dear Anzu,

Hopefully, you read this knowing you're going to be amazing in America! I have much hope for you to make it big and make us all proud! If you haven't solved the puzzle just yet that's good! It contains a secret message that I might assume won't take long for you to put together.

Anzu, everything we went through up until now, there are no words to describe how much it meant to me that you were there from the beginning. You were, in fact, my first friend, my first hero, and the first to ever make me feel more than I could ever imagine myself to be. You mean more to me than any girl I've ever met or ever will meet."

This caused Anzu's heart to flutter.

"Attached to the next letter is one of my favorite cards"

Anzu paused and looked behind to find the second letter and with wide eyes, she saw a card tapped on it. It was Yugi's most prized card of all in his deck, the Black Magician card. With her mouth agape, she went back to reading the letter,

"As you know, a good duelist knows you can't have Black Magician without his Dark Magician Girl. I trust you will keep this card treasured as I keep the Black Magician girl nearby."

At this point, Anzu was in tears. A smile imprinted lovingly on her lips.

"Have fun putting the puzzle together, try calling us as soon as you get settled in.

With Love,

Yugi Moutou"

Anzu wiped her tear stained face sniffing away her emotions as they were on the verge of erupting through her eyes again. placing the letter and card neatly back she began to put the pieces together one by one.

Bit by bit and in almost thirty minutes she only needed to complete a couple more to make sense of the message written on the puzzle.

Finally placing the last piece that belonged at the beginning of the sentence the message read,

"You're the only one I think about, the one who fills me when I'm lost. Will you be my girlfriend?"

Anzu's giddiness burst at the seams as tears of joy flowed once more.

She had always chosen Yugi, always. Despite her teenage confusion, it had always been Yugi.

And she couldn't wait to say 'yes' to him.

The end...or is it?

Not quite! I have other short stories tied into this one, so I hope you liked this short peach shipping story!

Have an awesome day you guys, don't forget R&R (read and review)!

xoxo - Gabzgirl