Rock Paper Scissors

Character/Pairing: Staffshipping (Marik x Mana)

Universe: AU

Timeline: Present

Disclaimer: I own neither the show YuGiOh, nor the song "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Credit goes to their respective owners.

It was just one of those days when Marik was in an especially sour mood, anyone with half a brain could tell that.

Mana apparently… could not.

Throughout the day, the young girl, as opposed to Marik, was in an upbeat mood as they traveled to the small town.

As the two of them reached the town entrance, Marik just plopped down on a flat stone and told Mana to get whatever they came for and that he'd wait right there.

Rolling her eyes, she skipped away, only to reappear a few minutes later with some plums in her hand. She flopped down next to him and began to happily nibble on one of them.

"You wanpft 'ne?"

After he just blankly stared at her, she chewed, swallowed and tried again.

"You want one?"

Shaking his head, just slightly, she even had to wonder if he did it at all, he turned away. Marik was tired. It was too warm, he'd definitely preferred the climate in Japan, and walking all the way to the town instead of just driving on his motorcycle had been somewhat exhausting.

But Mana had insisted on walking, which lead to his already bad mood worsening.

Much to his chagrin, however, Mana had plenty of energy to spare. After attempting to strike up several conversations with him and getting nothing more than grunts or nods in response, she finally fell quiet herself. Of course, that did not mean she'd suddenly lost her energy.

Mana sat up, looking at the booths, then the desert-like way they came from, then the sky, and back at the booths again, all the while rapidly tapping one foot on the stone.

Naturally, Marik found this habit quite irritating. "Hey," he said. "Please stop that."

Mana snapped her attention from the sky. "Stop what?"

"Tapping your foot," he answered impatiently. "It's kind of annoying."

"Oh, hehe, sorry."

Silence.

"Hey Marik?"

A sigh. "…What is it?"

"Can you walk with me? Please?"

"Why?"

"It's boring when I'm alone."

"Look, Mana." He shook his head. "I'm tired. Can't you go alone?"

"Fine, have it your way, Mister I'm-too-boring-to-have-some-fun." Then she stuck her tongue out and walked off to the nearest booth.

Mana was the weirdest girl Marik had ever met.

Okay, so he didn't really have a lot of contact with other people, except for the ones he used to- he winced- control, but still. She didn't compare to anyone he'd met before.

There was his sister, calm and collected, always putting her duty before her own wishes. When he'd met Yugi, he'd met his friends Anzu and Shizuka. Anzu was a headstong girl, who knew what she wanted and wasn't afraid to speak her mind. That girl Shizuka was a quiet one, who cared deeply for her friends and tried to always be there for them.

Mana was… Mana was different.

Mana was light-hearted, open, playful and caring and she deeply valued the bonds she had with people. She was thoughtful but was still never afraid to tell you what exactly she thought of you, and when you made a mistake, she didn't mind telling you what you did wrong and who you hurt by doing that.

…And how to make it better.

He sighed. No matter what you did or how much she got hurt, eventually she forgave you for it. She never left you or gave up on you; if you wanted to make up for what you'd done, she was there to help you.

And that made her more beautiful than any other girl he'd ever met. It wasn't her looks, which, he had to admit were definitely nothing to frown at, but the warmth she gave you.

Mana was like light.

She never did what you expected and she never listened to what anyone told her, either. Mana was all about making her own experiences, making her own mistakes and living life to its fullest.

So, when he looked up to see Mana in the middle of the market plaza, dancing as if no one was watching, he thought he should have probably been surprised.

He wasn't.

However, there were people staring at her, men that looked at her in a way that Marik really didn't like, so he walked over to her with the intention of making her stop.

"…Everybody want's to be happy, so

Take a look around, find a hang to hold…"

He heard song, coming from a small radio that a shopkeeper had. Said guy was looking at her and smiled, like she was the most peculiar thing he had ever seen.

Which, probably, she was.

"…Mana, what are you doing?"

Mana, turned and looked at him, but didn't stop her dance.

"Oh, hey, Marik! You wanna join me? This is fun!" She twirled, looked at me and grinned.

"…No. Actually I was wondering if you were done, we really should head back," he paused. "Now."

"What, no way! We only just got here!"

Again, she twirled, all the while laughing.

"You know, Marik, you really need to learn how to have fun, you know that?"

"…If you really want take a change like the weather

And no matter what you do it'll keep getting better…"

"Can we talk about this later?"

"No, I think right now is the perfect time to talk about it." She grabbed his hand and dragged him onto her self-proclaimed dance floor. "Look, I know that you still beat yourself up over what happened in Japan. You. Need. To. Stop. That. Yugi forgave you and his friends forgave you and your family forgave you." She paused, thinking. "I think the only one who still needs to forgive you is you."

"I can't just change who I am, you know?"

"Why in the name of Ra not?"

"…Everything you want that is who you are

You can be the sun and the moon and the stars

Or the bass or the drums or the lead guitar…"

"I kind of miss your smile, you know?"

"What do you want me to say to that?"

"I think 'Thank you, Mana, I'll try to do that more often' would be nice."

A smile found its way onto his lips. Mana twirled herself so that her back was pressed into his chest, with his arm around her.

"See? That didn't hurt, did it?"

"Thank you, Mana." He pecked her cheek. "I'll try to do that more often."

She laughed happily and he couldn't help but to join in.

Mana had a laugh like that.

"…Rock, paper, scissors

Which one is it? It's your decision

And no matter what you chose

You gonna live it

Rock, paper, scissors…"

As the song ended, she stopped dancing and grabbed his hand.

And then they were running and laughing and making their way back out of the town.

"Did you see their faces?" Mana gasped and struggled to breathe. "I swear they looked like someone just told them the Egyptian Gods are real!"

"Yes they did, didn't they?" He chuckled.

It was already late in the afternoon, and the setting sub gave a soft glow to her skin. She turned to him, eyes sparkling with happiness. "You feeling better now? I was worried about you."

Of course. Hand it to Mana to notice something was wrong with him and try to cheer him up in the weirdest of ways.

"I'm okay now. I get like this sometimes. It's no big deal."

"It is!" She entwined their fingers and smiled at him. "But now you have me, right? I'm gonna cheer you up when you get mopey again!"

He liked her words. They meant promise. They meant "I'm here now and I won't leave you".

They meant "You're not alone anymore."

"Then I'll count on you to do that."

It was only when they got back that Mana realized something crucial:

"Ah! I completely forgot what I wanted to get in that town."

She facepalmed.

Marik just chuckled.