Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or situations and am making no profit whatsoever off of this.
Title: Smile
Rated: PG
Word Count: 2,165
Romance: Kaiba Mokuba x Kawai Shizuka
Notes: This was written for the sixth season of the Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge. It takes place during Battle City, while Kaiba is working to uncover the secrets of Ra and Jounouchi has fallen asleep.
Summary: Mokuba has to be a good host, even when Shizuka's smile makes him shiver inside.

There was still time before the official lights out for the Battle Ship, though not much time. Mokuba kept himself occupied by making one last check around everywhere. His brother was absorbed in translating the text on the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Mokuba wasn't even certain if his statement about doing this had been heard or not. It probably had been; Seto had been a lot better about paying attention to him since he'd come out of his coma. Still, he hadn't said anything.

Which, on the whole, Mokuba didn't mind at all. Seto was going to figure out how to beat Ra, and he'd beat Osiris too, and be the best and that was all that needed to be said, thought, or done. Mokuba had done his best to help already. He'd let his big brother handle the rest. For now, he was busy with his other job, making sure that everything on the Battle Ship was doing what it was supposed to be doing.

That in and of itself didn't take all that long. The pilots had everything in hand, and they would reach their destination right on time. He checked the clock and the surveillance system; everyone was where they were supposed to be, at least as far as he could tell at the moment. It looked as if that Ishtar guy and Bakura were having some kind of a private duel of their own up at the top. Mokuba didn't care. As long as Malik was there for the semi-finals, it didn't matter.

He looked around one more time; there didn't seem to be too much going on, which was good, since everyone was going to need their sleep for all of the duels tomorrow.

Then he did see something, and he stared for a moment, not certain of what it was. Was it that other guy, the one who had pretended to be Malik? No, the camera showed that he was still unconscious. Mokuba looked again, and this time he caught it more clearly. It was that girl, the one who followed Jounouchi around like his shadow. What was her name again? Oh, right, Shizuka. That was it. She was Jounouchi's sister.

What was she doing, though? He'd thought that she was staying with her brother. But there she was, walking down the hallway, peering around as if she were looking for someone or something.

He stared for a few more minutes, and then made up his mind quickly. It would be really rude just to let her wander around and not find out what she wanted. Not to mention, if she weren't careful, she could interrupt his brother at his work, and Mokuba would never let that happen

It was easy enough to find her, since she was still on the corridor that held all of the duelists' rooms. He didn't take too long to get there; the Battle Ship wasn't that big, after all. He grinned to himself as he hurried up behind her and poked her rapidly in the side.

"Hey! What are you doing?" He checked his watch even as she jumped and stared at him out of bright, startled brown eyes. "It's past curfew!" It was true; the time had passed while he was watching and checking.

Shizuka blinked a few times before she answered. "I was hungry. I haven't had anything since we got here, and I can't find any food."

Was that all that it was? Well, he would fix that pretty quickly. He was sort of the host, kind of, after all. "This way! I know where all of the good stuff is."

Puffed up a bit, he headed over to a small kitchen tucked away in a corner. He wondered if there was something that she'd like in particular. Well, she'd have to make do with whatever they had if there was. The cooks had gone to bed already, after all. But she'd probably like whatever was available anyway. Not to mention that he would enjoy showing it, since he liked showing off what KaibaCorp's money was capable of doing whenever he could.

"Thank you." She told him as they walked along. "There were some snacks in Katsuya's room, but I think they ate them all before they went to sleep."

Mokuba had to laugh. "Wouldn't surprise me. He can eat like a pig." He'd seen it happen after all, even though the food had been poisoned.

"He's a growing boy, mom always said." Shizuka sighed a little, then smiled brightly. "I'm just so glad to be able to see him, though. It's like a dream come true."

Mokuba hadn't exactly paid attention to what was going on between them, but he'd gotten the impression that she'd recently had some eye surgery. That was what all the business at the docks with the bandages had been about. Of course, all of that chatter about courage and all the rest wasn't exactly something that a Kaiba put stock in.

"Yeah, you just about went blind, right?" Mokuba was just barely thirteen and girls were still a subject that was mostly far from his mind. Still, he did notice the way her cheeks flushed a fair shade of red at that.

"Yes." She nodded a little, ducking her head. "Katsuya saved me, though. He got the money for the operation." She lifted her head, raising one hand to brush the hair away from her eyes gracefully. "It's like a miracle. I was so convinced that I'd never see again, and now I get to watch all of this!"

Mokuba could not help but grin quite widely in pride. "You can thank my big brother for all of this. Battle City was his idea." Well, he'd gotten the idea from that Ishtar woman at the museum, or so he'd said, but it still wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Seto. She'd probably be stuck somewhere in a hospital, too scared to take off the bandages, if it weren't for this tournament.

Her blush returned, somewhat deeper now. "I'm sorry. I haven't introduced myself. I'm Kawai Shizuka."

"I know. I pay attention you know." When he wanted to. If it interested him. Sometimes. Mokuba was having fun, really. Maybe he should talk to people who weren't his big brother more often. It was something to think about, anyway. Of course, she wouldn't know his name. He wasn't a part of her brother's little circle of friends. "I'm Mokuba. Kaiba Mokuba."

She smiled, and it was a very nice smile. He found himself wanting to see more of it, or to see it more often. Whatever. "I know. I've been paying attention myself."

Mokuba wasn't too certain of what to say about that. But luckily, he didn't have to, since they were in the kitchen now. He headed right over to the refrigerator; now that they were there and he'd thought about it, he was a little hungry himself. If the cook knew what was good for her, then she would have left a certain something in there for him, on the off chance that he would have come and wanted it.

"Oh, good!" He grinned wildly and snatched up the huge chocolate parfait. "Hey, come on! There's lots of good stuff in here. The cooks have orders to keep all kinds of food ready. Seto keeps some weird hours sometimes, so we make sure there's something to eat pretty much all the time."

She came over as he settled down on a comfortable chair and began to eat his parfait. It was perfect, just the way that he liked it. He couldn't really take his attention off of her, though. She was kind of his guest, after all. She got herself a plate of various kinds of sushi and picked the seat nearest him to sit in once she had it. Mokuba wasn't too good at coming up with conversations, so he kept his mouth shut and paid attention to his treat as he wolfed it down. He couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. Sure, he could talk about how his big brother was going to trounce hers tomorrow, but why point out the obvious? Besides, she'd just claim that it was going to happen the other way around, and Mokuba didn't quite have the heart to tell her differently. She'd see it all for herself in a few hours anyway.

"I can't wait for all of this to be over." Shizuka said softly after several minutes filled only with the sounds of eating. "That Malik person…he scares me so much. What he did to Mai-san was just so wrong. I wasn't expecting to see sights like this when I took my bandages off!"

Mokuba looked over at her, wiping some of the ice cream off of his lips. He guessed for most people, Malik probably would be scary. Not for him, though. He'd had to deal with being put in a penalty game by the other Yuugi and by his own big brother too. And then there had been Pegasus. Malik just wasn't that scary to him. Plus, he was a Kaiba. "You don't have to worry. My big brother is going to stop him." He couldn't, or wouldn't, have stopped the strong flow of pride in his voice. Seto would do it. That completely went without saying.

She peeked over at him and he held himself up as straight as possible, wanting to show just how confident he was. "You mean it?"

"Of course I do! Seto's working right now to find a way to stop that Winged Dragon of Ra of his, and uncover all of its secrets! He's going to do it, too! It'll be easy once he figures it out." Mokuba wasn't quite as confident as he might have sounded, but if he'd bothered to think about it, he would have just chalked it up to not knowing the game as well as his big brother did.

Not that he truly cared if what he said was true or not, because Shizuka had smiled again. The way her eyes lit up made something deep within him glow with joy. If what he said made her happy, then he would say it again and again, no matter if it were a lie or not.

He glanced at his half-finished parfait, then back at her. "Want some of this? It's really good." Normally he would share his parfait with Seto, which was why they were made so big for him. But sharing with someone else wasn't all that bad, he guessed. As long as it was the right someone else.

She put her own half-finished plate to one side and moved over closer to him. Mokuba was suddenly, vividly aware of just how close she was. Her hair swung against his cheek a little, like a small curtain of flame, and he caught the clean, somewhat strong scent of hospital soap. What's more, he could hear her breathing, and now he thought that he was turning red. That was just wrong!

He closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could about anything else. Like how late it was getting. He should probably be checking on Seto to make sure that he got his rest too. He would need it more than any of them, what with running the tournament and all.

He made no move to get up however, until the parfait was done and the sushi was done, and she'd moved away again. He just hadn't been able to think at all, and he wasn't too sure what he thought about that.

"I need to go check on Seto." He said once he could think again. "You should go get some sleep too. It's kinda late."

Shizuka nodded, and that smile came out again, doing strange things to parts of himself he was scarcely aware existed. "All right. Tomorrow's going to be a really big day after all."

"Right!" Mokuba grabbed their empty dishes and tossed them carelessly into the sink for the cook or her helpers or whoever to take care of. "We've got to watch my big brother win!"

Shizuka's laugh, it turned out, could do the same kind of thing to him that her smile did. "Or mine. See you tomorrow, Mokuba." And she leaned over and brushed a tiny bit of a kiss across his cheek, nothing more than her lips passing by in a gentle and friendly way. He stood there in shock; no one had ever done that to him in living memory. He didn't even think about moving from that spot until well after she'd left herself. Then he took the long way back to Seto's room, needing to clear his head. Whatever she'd done to him, he wanted it to stop. Seto was going to need him with all of his brains around him tomorrow.

Yes. He wanted it to stop.

Kind of.

For now.

The End