(A/N): Just a drabble I did in 20 minutes. A brain fart, really. Hope you like it!
He wasn't sure if he loved her.
Hell, he didn't even know what being in love felt like. Lack of experience, you see.
But he knew he respected her. More so than the rest of her idiotic friends.
Yeah, she would probably preach about friendship to her grave, but he knew she did that because she truly believed in its values and crap.
But the thing was, she was willing to put her life on the line for her friends. (She was selfless like that. Her Achilles' heel, really.) And that included Mokuba, so that automatically put her on his good list. And it was a very short list. Consisting of only three people. Mokuba. Her. And himself, of course.
He would never forget what she did for him. Saving Mokuba from those Rare Hunters. Putting her own safety on the line just so the little guy had a chance of escaping. If she hadn't done that, if she wasn't with him to help him out of that box-filled room…he didn't even want to think about it. He repaid her, of course. Later on that day. But that didn't change the heavy weight he felt on his shoulders whenever he glanced at her. He owed her more than just a rescue. He could toss as many life vests as he wanted toward her, he knew she deserved more.
When she stood in front of him in Noa's twisted virtual reality world, arms stretched out to block him, blue eyes gleaming with determination, he felt the same weight on his shoulders again. He'd calmly (though not kindly, he'd admit) told her to get out of his way, but she refused. "Mokuba is our friend, too," she'd said. The words slipped through her lips fluently. Like she'd been saying it all her life.
So when all was said and done, she was the one person out of the screwed up motley crew that he was willing to get stranded on an island and stuck in handcuffs with, not that that would be his cup of tea. But she was certainly a lot more pleasant to look at than Yugi and his gravity defying hair or the mutt and his slobbering ways.
And, as much as he hated to admit it, she'd saved his life, too. He was willing to go through with that jump in Pegasus' tower at Duelist Kingdom. Anyone who saw the look on his face knew his conviction. He would do anything for his brother, and if that meant following through with a few measly life-threatening promises, then so be it. But she had to go and care. She had to yell. She had to stop Yugi. She had to save him.
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, he'd go to his little brother's room to check on him. And every time he did, her words would echo through his mind. It was like her speech was tattooed in his memory. What did he have at the end of the day? He had all that he needed. And staring at his brother in peaceful slumber, knowing that for one more day, he'd kept the only thing that ever mattered to him out of danger, he knew he'd chosen the right words to tell her. No, he didn't have friends. Because he didn't need them. All he needed was the mop of black hair snoozing away under a pile of comforters and himself to keep going strong.
And, in a way, he needed her, too. Because if - god forbid - something were to happen to the great Seto Kaiba, then he knew he could count on her to protect Mokuba. Just as she did with all her friends. Friends whom she'd turned into family.
And he knew, without a doubt, she considered Mokuba family.
And that, in turn, made him her family as well.
So he couldn't say he loved her. Because, in all honesty, if she and his little brother were drowning, and he had to pick one, the she wouldn't have a rat's ass chance of being rescued. But he knew she would be flailing in the water, screaming at him beautifully, telling him to save the little boy and forget about her. And for that he was grateful. For that, he considered that possibility of loving her.
For that, he respected her.