Title: Choose

Author: Tiamat's Child

Rating: G

Genre: Humor

Characters: Yuzarhia and Shougo

Disclaimer: Hmm...*checks pockets* nope, X still isn't mine.

Summary: Ever wonder what Shougo's up into in the main manga storyline?

Choose

Tiamat's Child

"Hmmm..." The short, pretty girl smiled and tapped her finger against her lips as she contemplated the list of flavors over the ice cream stand.

Shougo watched her warily from behind the counter. She looked fairly harmless but you could never be too careful. Besides, the poor man had had a horde of five year olds on a class trip through only about two hours ago and he wasn't completely over the shock yet. He hated this. His cousin owed him big time. "You'll love it!" his foot.

"There are so many flavors!" The girl exclaimed. "I can't decide at all." She looked down and rubbed the ears of some invisible animal. "What do you think I should get, Inuki?"

Shougo revised his opinion of her from 'sane and harmless' to 'totally whack and *probably* harmless'. This upgrade required a step back from the counter. He took it.

The girl listened to her nonexistent companion, nodded and smiled. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that!" She bounced up to the counter, smiling brightly enough to light up a small city. Shougo quivered inside. That smile was a trifle disturbing somehow.

"I'd like a scoop of Pumpkin and Lemon and Mint Chocolate Chip and Pecan and Coffee and Cherry and Strawberry and Chocolate and Blue Moon and Toffee in a waffle cone." She grinned and bobbed up and down on the soles of her feet. Shougo stared.

"Is that all?" The girl didn't seem to notice the sarcasm.

"No...I need a vanilla scoop in another waffle cone too." She smiled cheerfully, tipping her head to one side. "That's for my boyfriend."

"Uh-Huh." Shougo said and began the task of scooping out the requested ice cream.

The girl left with a cheery "Thank you!" and an "Inuki! Stop trying to eat Kusanagi-San's ice cream!"

Shougo shook his head and sighed. 'Could my life be any weirder? I don't think so.'

He was wrong of course. In several other universes, he is a Dragon himself. In some of them he's even romantically entangled with a gorgeous blond clerk who tends to shameless flirting. But he's probably happier not knowing that. After all, his love life in this universe is pretty lousy and who wants to know that some alternate version of yourself is getting some when you aren't? That's just not good.

So we will leave our ice-cream stand cutie in his blissful ignorance.

"I *hate* this job!"

Well, ignorance anyway.