by WSJ

WSJ: :p Just a little ficlet idea I've had swarming around in my head for awhile now. ^~ I just can't bring myself to see what appeals to everyone about Seto/Shizuka. I much prefer Otogi/Shizuka or Ryou/Shizuka. Then again, almost anything's better then Honda/Shizuka. *shudders*

I don't own YGO.

Muse-ic of the moment: Going Under, by Evanescence.

()()()()()

Night had fallen on Domino City, and, by turn, on the blimp rising high above it. The Kaiba Corp. logo on one side glimmered in the low light, and the duel platform on top was lit softly. But it's not the outside that we're concerned about, it's the occupants inside.

Honda and Otogi had fallen asleep after a long argument about, who else, Shizuka, and both were snoring peacefully. Jou was snoring as well, and talking random nonscence in his sleep, as usual. Yugi had fallen into a fitful sleep after worrying about Ryou and Mai and having a long talk with the equally-worried, although for different reasons, Yami. Anzu was in the middle of a dream where she was center stage in the Paris Opera House, dancing her heart out as a masked man watched from the shadows. Mokuba was giggling in his sleep about some secret joke.

A few of our characters were still awake however. Yami Bakura and the inaccurately named Yami Malik were holding their now-famous duel on the roof. Isis was also awake, trying her best to make out the muddled future that her Sennen Tauk was showing her. But it's not them we're looking for, it's the last two awake occupants of this blimp.

Seto Kaiba had been awake since six that morning, but he couldn't get himself to sleep. He kept thinking about everything Yami and Isis and Malik had told him about the past, and it was making him rather grouchy. At about midnight he'd attempted to try and bore himself to sleep, but solitare just wasn't doing the trick. Finally he got up from his laptop with a sigh and left his room. Maybe walking the halls of his blimp a little bit would help to calm him down.

Jounochi Shizuka was awake as well, but unlike Kaiba it was because she'd just woken up from a nightmare. Shivering in the dark she groped around for the bedside lamp and snapped it on. After assuring herself that her brother was indeed all right and murmering about fishsticks, she tried to get back to sleep but found she couldn't. Eventually she left to find the kitchen and get herself a glass of water. Hopefully that would help her sleep.

The hallways were only lit by dim lighting up near the ceiling, and in no time at all Shizuka was completely lost. "J-jou?" she called timidly, trying to find her way back to the room she and her brother were sharing.

All at once she bumped into a body, and she backed up a step, letting out a little scream. The one she'd bumped into, however, simply crossed his arms and smirked in the dark. "Well now, what do we have here?"

Shizuka frowned and drew herself up, planting her hands on her hips. "You had no right to scare me like that Seto Kaiba!"

Kaiba continued to smirk. "Dear me, I could have sworn it was you that bumped into me."

Shizuka growled, not unlike her big brother Jou. There was just something about Seto that pushed all the wrong buttons in her. If he wasn't insulting her brother's dueling skills then he was being a jerk to Yugi-san. "Shove off Kaiba, I didn't get up to fight with you. I got lost on my way to the kitchen, that's all."

"Awww, does the little puppy need a leash to guide her back home to the big puppy?"

Shizuka bristled at the implied insult, and unconciously clenched her hands into fists. "Why you -!"

"Going to take a swing at me Shizuka?" Seto asked, raising an eyebrow. "Goodness, that's more then your brother was ever brave enough to do."

"Why don't you just stop insulting us?" Shizuka asked, her voice trembling half from rage and half from surpressed tears. "What did Jou ever do to you?"

"Nothing," Kaiba said breezily, flicking his fingers in a bored manner. This was actually starting to get a little amusing, the way Shizuke was carrying on. He couldn't see her very well in the dark, but he knew from past experience that she was pretty cute when she got really angry. "But it's just so fun, you know, little puppy?"

"Stop it!" Shizuka yelled, shutting her eyes against the angry tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. She took a blind swing at Kaiba, missed him, and spun almost all the way around again. "You're always making fun of my nii-san and I! Jou's the best duelist in the world! Maybe if you weren't so stuck up you could see that! But all you see is your stupid tournement and that stupid God Card of yours, and ways to by mean to Jou. I hate you Seto Kaiba, I hate you!" She swung again, connected this time, and then turned and fled, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Seto stared after her, absently rubbing the spot on his chest where she'd hit him. It hadn't been very hard, of course, but it was the thought that counted. Seto had provoked Jou into trying to hit him several times, but he never thought he'd get such a rise out of gentle little Shizuka.

"Maybe I was too hard on the little puppy?" he questioned himself. Then he shook his head and turned around to head back to his own room.

"Nah..."

()()()()()

WSJ: ^^; There, that's my "Shizuka/Seto" story. :p Mwahaha... Too bad Shizuka couldn't have socked him in the jaw, eh? I just don't see why so many people think Shizuka would fall for Kaiba. I mean, he's always mean to Jou, and Shizuka loves Jou so much I don't see how she could love anyone so mean to him. *shrugs* But that's just my theory...

God bless minna-san!