A/N: A short Scoopshipping drabble that was in my iPod touch for quite a while. I was inspired after reading Fall in Love like a Novel and then this story happened. As always, I don't own the series. Kazuki Takahashi does. End of discussion.

Update 11/05:Thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for letting me know about my minor mistakes. Guest #1: Thanks for catching that minor mistake. Guest #2: I realized that the title of the story was my fault. I quickly typed it up and I realized after I have logged off that the title was wrong. So thanks!

She's not perfect, but she's mine

Before…

"Jack, can I speak with you."

Fifteen year old Jack Atlas turned around to see a young lady with a ripe blush on her face. She was about his age or less, he couldn't tell, with dark blond hair, medium color skin, and vibrant blue eyes. Her body wasn't that bad, he thought while his eyes roamed up and down her semi curvaceous body. She was pretty but not sufficiently pretty. He said nothing, nodding his head indicating her to follow him until they were alone. He turned to face her, face still flushed.

"Jack, I uh…"

She fidgeted uncomfortably under his intense gaze. She swallowed her fears and forced herself to speak and confess those hidden feelings she held for the young man in front of her.

"I like you." There. She said it.

Jack said nothing. He remains quiet and closed his eyes. How many girls have confessed their confession of love to him? He could not remember the count after twelve but he had caused a lot of heartbreak to numerous girls who were bold enough to confess their feelings to him. And when they confessed…

"I'm not interested. Sorry." He responded, turning his back on the girl and walked away. He was sure that the girl was on the verge of breaking down. When he came back, Crow Hogan was there waiting to hear the details.

"So, I take it that she confessed?" he asked. Jack didn't reply. "I take your silence as a yes. Sheesh Jack, how can you not like that girl? She's so hot."

"If you like her so much, why don't you take her out on a date?"

"I would but you see Jack, I'm looking for a serious relationship not a fling."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"I'm surprised that you haven't gotten yourself a girlfriend yet. I can already imagine by the age of thirty, you won't nab yourself a wife, let alone have any children."

Jack felt irritating talking about his personal love life. Crow didn't need to be butting in.

"I just haven't found her yet." Hoping that would end the conversation, he began to walk away but…

"So," Crow drawled, "what are you looking for in a woman?"

"That's none of your business!"

"Aww, come on Jackie…"

"Don't call me that, stupid!"

"I wanna know what Jack likes in woman?"

Jack ignored his interrogation and walked towards his home. He did not like to be asked about those kinds of things, like being in a relationship or having a girlfriend or worse, being in love. He did not have time to be falling in love. He arrived to his empty home and went on stage to sit on his throne like chair.

Stupid Crow! He tsked angrily. He really did not want to think about his ideal woman. He had no time to be thinking about a girl or being in a relationship. It is not that he didn't like girls in general; he just didn't want to be in want to be in a relationship. He only had one goal in life, which is to be the number one riding duelist and surpass Yusei Fudo.

Jack stayed pensive for a while. Maybe that idiot was right, he thought, and he should find his ideal girl. He needed someone who can share his life with. He'll probably want a family of his own and have his own protégé.

Okay that was so wrong, he frowned in frustration. How can he be thinking about having a family when he grew up without a family; without a mother and a father? But then there was his family with Martha who treated him as his own son, along with Yusei and Crow.

He leaned his head back, a sigh escaping his lips and closed his eyes. Hmm…his ideal woman should be…beautiful. She has to be…passionate about what she likes best and she has to be supportive of him as he would be supportive of her. His woman didn't have to have a body of a supermodel or an actress or be perfect (because no one was perfect!) just as long as she made him happy and vice versa.

Opening his eyes, he thought, somewhere out in this world, there was a woman like that…

…but that was wishful thinking.

Ten years later…

"Jack s-stop!" she sputtered nervously, "I don't want the press to see us making out in public!" the frantic ace reporter, Carly Nagisa, tried to pull away from his embrace as he held her from behind.

"Let them see us. I couldn't care less." He showered her with kisses on her neck and on her cheek as he turned her around and planted a kiss on her lips. He chuckled slightly at his girlfriend expression as she flailed her arms. She gave up on resisting and she melted in his kiss.

Pulling away from their heated kiss, "Jack!" a visible blush was seen on her face as she pouted like a child, "I mean it Jack."

"What?" he asked, feign not knowing what he had done wrong, "I can't help it but to kiss you until you're warmed up." He leaned in again, but she turned her head to the side. He knew his words had affected her as the blush grew to a tenfold.

"J-Jack, please not here," Carly whined as his lips trailed warm and gentle kisses near her collarbone and she bit down her lip from sighing. "Ooh! Jack! Wait!" She felt his lips going south.

"Hmm…?"

"I…stop," Carly felt her resistance fading and she closed her eyes, letting him do as he pleased. She felt him smirking against her skin as he continued with his assaulted kisses. She opened her eyes and pulled his head up, meeting eye to eye and for once she pulled him into a heated kiss.

Within the ten year gap, Jack found his ideal girl in Neo Domino City. She wasn't the most popular, nor was she the richest or perfect, but she was what he had been looking for. The first time he met her was in the hospital after his defeat in the Fortune Cup as he asked her to help him escape. She came into his room, dressed up as a nurse, hoping to get a one-on-one interview only to help him get out of the confine room of the dread hospital. After they had escaped, Jack had lived under Carly's small apartment for several days before he was taken away into the city by Mikage and Ushio.

He had to admit that he was a total prick under care, taking her food, her bed and her money. But somehow, living with her he felt like he was at home.

She was just a wannabe journalist trying to climb up her way to become the best journalist. Her looks weren't the best, but Jack saw beyond her thick spectacles and awful sense of fashion and saw a pure soul.

During those dark days, Jack didn't want Carly to get involved and get hurt as he pushed her away. Every time he pushed, she came back with a force and she never gave up on him. She always found herself back to him.

Someone coughed loudly as the duo pulled away, Jack scowled and Carly blushed. They were caught by none other than Crow as he stood there with his arms crossed. "If you two are done making out, I wanna go home! We don't want to keep Martha waiting."

"If you want to go home then go already!" Jack seethed.

Crow watched Jack pull Carly into his arms as he involuntary gagged, "Get a room!"

Jack middle fingered at him as response.

"No fuck you Jack!"

He broke away from the intimate kiss and began to run after the ginger hair duelist. "Come here and say it to my face you little fucker!"

Carly watched her boyfriend, sighing in embarrassment. "They'll never get along."

"I hate being in your place Carly." She turned around to see her best friend, Aki Izayoi, standing next to her. They watched the men chase around until Jack caught Crow and locked him in a headlock. "But you got to admit that they're funny." Aki chuckled.

"Ouch! Let me go Jack!"

"Not until you say you're sorry."

"Never!" Crow struggled in Jack's tight grip. "Carly! Help me!"

Carly felt her lips stretching into a smile, "Sorry but you asked for it." She finally laughed.

"I-I promise to never bother you guys again! Just tell Jack to let me go-ouch!"

She went towards them, coaxing Jack to let Crow go as she rubbed his arms, "Just let him go. He just said that he's sorry. Plus, you're making a scene and I don't want the media to think badly of you if they see you like this."

Sighing in irritation, he let go of Crow and instead punched him on his side.

"Ack! You son of a b—"

"Crow!" Carly shouted at him, "The press is coming!"

Just as she said, a group of reporters came, following after the blue-eye duelist Yusei Fudo. The reporters asked numerous amounts of questions about his recent duel; one reporter asked if there was something going on between him and Aki and he avoided answering to that question. They continued to ask away and he didn't answer or just replied, "No comments."

"Yusei!"

"Aki."

Aki ran to him and hugged him. He returned the hug and whispered something in her ear as she blushed. He took her hand, interlacing their fingers as they walked out of the arena. The same reporter that asked him about his ambiguous relationship with Izayoi, shouted at the scene before him, "See? They are dating!"

"Fudo Yusei, how long have you and Izayoi Aki have been dating?"

"When is the wedding date?"

"Fudo Yusei, look over here!"

The flash of camera blinded them as Jack took the sweet opportunity to grab Carly's hand and run in another direction, away from the reporters.

"Jack! Wait! Where are we going?"

He didn't reply and continue to run with her. They reached up to the parking lot and making sure that no one was around, he stopped in front of his D-wheel.

"Jack?"

He didn't respond.

"Jack? Is everything alright?"

Jack glanced at the woman in front of him and felt his heart flutter in excitement. He didn't know why but he sure didn't want that feeling to go away. Only she could make him feel that way. He cupped her face and leaned down to capture her lips in a gentle but sweet kiss.

Carly didn't understand what he was doing but she wasn't complaining about it and gave in. Jack was never the one to be showing his true emotions, but with her, he let his guard down.

"Hey isn't that Jack Atlas?"

"I think it is?"

The same reporters that were chasing after Yusei and Aki were hot on their trail.

"Jack!"

"We want to ask you some questions!"

"We want to know if that girl beside you is your girlfriend."

"Are you dating her?"

A scream was heard and Carly cringed, knowing who just screamed. "C-Carly? You're dating Jack Atlas?"

Oh, she knew who that voice belongs to and it was none other than Angela, her rival from high school. The blond reporter pushed her way through her fellow peers as she finally came face-to-face with Carly, microphone shaking in her hands.

"This must be a joke," she laughed nervously, "There's no way that you're dating the Jack Atlas!" she broke into a hysterical laughter, hoping to get the others to laugh at her but only to find out that she was the only one laughing.

To prove Angela wrong, Jack grabbed Carly from her waist and kissed her. The action took everyone by surprise as the flashing lights of the camera bounced around them like sparkles. Many of those who were witnessing the scene awed as his fan girls cried, now knowing that he was already taken.

Jack pulled away with a wicked smirk on his face as he turned to face the blond reporter. "Does that answer your question?"

Carly felt her face on fire by his sudden action.

"B-b-but you're…and she's…" Angela cried in anger as she fumed out angrily.

"You do know that you're mine, right?" Jack whispered at her.

Carly nodded her head as he grabbed her hand and led the way to his D-wheel. He sat waiting for her to do the same. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he started the engine to his D-wheel and they were off.

Jack felt proud that the girl he had been looking for was none other than his reporter, Carly Nagisa…soon to be Carly Atlas, he thought with a smirk tugging at his lips. He like the sound of that.

She's not perfect, but she's mine.