A/N: This is my Spaceshipping (Dark MarikxShizuka) for Computerfreak101's YGO writing contest. Comedy oh how I've missed you! Okay, not really, but my last two entries have been very similar (at least in my opinion) so I decided to go down a different path. I also threw in some weird angst/ hurt/comfort. Also, in my opinion, "Dark Marik" is simply an invention of Marik's mind due to childhood trauma and abuse. He is not a separate entity in the same sense as Dark Bakura of the Other Yuugi. AU verse. Contains (good)MarikxShizuka. I hope you enjoy this. ^^
Disclaimer: If I owned it, I would have the money to fix my air conditioning and would not be sweating my butt off to write this story in 95 degree temperatures! (Celsius people)
Random Happenstance
It all started with tomato sauce.
"FORTY PERCENT OFF?"
Shizuka had been restocking the shelves, at the rather rude behest of her boss, when a loud shriek shocked her right off her step stool. She flailed wildly in the air for a few minutes, the five or so jars of tomato sauce she had cradled seconds before soaring out of her grasp and shattering upon the white linoleum. She managed to cling to the half-empty shelve before her while the stool wobbled precariously beneath her feet. As luck would have it, her balance held and she didn't fall into the deadly lake of sauce and glass below.
Letting out a shaky breath, the red head slowly made to descend from her wobbly perch when a second, anxious cry flung her back flat against the shelves.
"Are you alright?" She could hear the sound of running footsteps and turned just in time to see a streak of platinum blond before the concerned citizen's foot caught the edge of the pool of spilt sauce and he tripped, sprawling head first into the display of ketchup on the adjacent shelf.
The bottles trembled before tumbling down on top of the poor man's head, and he was soon buried beneath a mound of Heinz. Shizuka's only comfort was that the bottles were plastic.
"Are you okay?" She called out shakily, as the groaning stranger began to extricate himself from the pile.
As the man freed his foot from a glob of crimson, Shizuka's first impression was that he looked rather like the star of a low budget horror film. His pale blond hair was half greased with chunky red fluids and his black leather clothing was covered in bloody-esque splotches. His skin was a healthy tan reminiscent of cinnamon, and his face and hands were bleeding a little from- Shizuka assumed- the broken glass upon the ground.
He met her gaze and let out a half-pained, half-amused smile. "I've been better. You?"
"I'm okay." Shizuka was surprised by how feeble her voice sounded in comparison to his. Though the pitch of his voice was rather high for a man, it seemed somehow fuller than her own, almost as if there were multiple layers to it. Strange.
"What happened?" His- rather attractive- lilac eyes swept the scene, shifting from the shattered tomato sauce jars to Shizuka's rather ridiculous shelf-clutching pose. "Apart from this." He added gesturing at the ketchup bottles and himself. "I'm fairly certain I know how that happened."
Shizuka's laugh was quavering and feeble, still shaken as she was from the sudden rush of adrenaline half-falling had injected into her bloodstream. "Someone shouted. It startled me. I dropped the jars." Short, sweet and to the point.
"Oh…sorry about." He chuckled nervously, his arm rising to scratch embarrassedly at his sauce and ketchup smeared hair. "That was me…I get excited when ever there's a sale on my favorite hair care products. I mean, you don't get gorgeous locks like these by using just anything." He attempted a hair flip. The sodden tresses simply flopped pathetically.
"Oh yes, I'll be sure to check out some Hunts and Prego next time I want to make my hair look fabulous." She giggled.
His cheeks flushed and a small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Anyway," he stated rather awkwardly, taking a step towards her. "Do you need any help getting down?"
It was then that Shizuka realized the complete strangeness of her positioning. Her fingers were digging into the shelves, and her stomach was pressed flat against the jar of tomato sauce. Her head was cocked towards him over her shoulder, and her…posterior was sticking out at a not-so-delicate angle: the position she had taken while she attempted to hold her balance.
Shizuka's face blushed darker than her hair.
Slowly, keeping a firm grip on the shelving behind her, she turned to face him. She kept her gaze downcast so that her mortification wouldn't show through her eyes. "I'm fine." she chocked out, chagrin clutching at her throat. "Besides, you're the one that should be careful, slipping on all that sauce. Didn't your mother ever tell you to watch your step?"
Maybe it was the fact that she was trying so hard not to meet his gaze, but Shizuka soon found herself sliding upon the step stool and tumbling towards the non-too-friendly ground. She closed her eyes and thrust her hands out in front of her, embracing for impact.
And suddenly a pair of strong arms caught her around the middle.
She let the sock of the situation settle over her for a second before she tried to twist to peer up at her savior's face. However, his grip was vice-like upon her abdomen and his long fingers prevented any range of motion.
"My mother is dead." his voice was deeper than before and filled with a sort of malice that pierced Shizuka's heart like a blade. It was…terrifying to be precise, but something about that flat, murderous tone sent tremors up her spine.
And they weren't of fear.
"Besides, from the looks of things you're the one who needs to watch their step." His voice was back to its normal, cheery warmth, and it was as if a weight had been lifted off her chest and she could breathe again.
He stood her up properly, releasing her waist and gesturing towards her now grim-smeared uniform. "Sorry about that. Hopefully it'll come out in the wash. My name is Marik by the way." His arm was halfway up in an attempt to shake her hand before he realized the small fragments of glass still lingering in his skin and thought better of the idea.
"Shizuka." She lifted a foot and prodded his leg.
He grinned and poked her back with his toe. "It's nice to make your acquaintance."
Shizuka was just about to respond in kind when a thicker, furious voice called out her name. She winced at her boss's tone as her eyes took in, for the first time in real depth, the full destruction of the scene. The realization of all the ruined merchandise sent a cold spear into her heart.
And her wallet.
Blood swirling down the drain with water and glass. Clear, crystal and crimson.
Stay away from her.
You like her don't you.
Stay away from her.
You find her attractive, I can tell.
Stay away from her.
Don't worry, I won't hurt her. Yet.
Why?
I find her…interesting.
Clear, crystal and crimson swirling down the drain.
The next time Shizuka saw him, he posing before a mirror holding a dress.
She had come to check up on a customer service call, and now she stood leaning against the wall as she observed Marik checking out his reflection in the changing room mirrors. He wasn't actually wearing the frilly pink and white atrocity, but had the hanger (dress still attached) slung over his neck and was peering at himself from odd angles. Occasionally he would twirl or flutter his eyelashes in a manner that would have Shizuka in tears as she attempted to hold back laughter.
Finally, after Marik broke out into a runway model strut and Shizuka could take it no longer, she cleared her throat loudly and said, in a voice half-chocked with mirth "Can I help you Miss?"
Marik turned wide, terrified eyes on her, let out a little shriek far too high pitched to belong to a man, tripped of the hem of his dress and toppled backwards. The affect was painful, to the extent that Shizuka feared the stitches in her sides would never heal from laughing so hard. The billowing lacy, undershirts of the garment engulfed Marik's form, so that he looked like the Wicked Witch of the East underneath Dorothy's house, his tiny boot-clad feet peeking out from underneath the fluffy mass.
It was all Shizuka could do to remain standing. Her fists beat against the walls as her knees buckled slightly, and her chest heaved as she gasped for air.
In his tangled heap of bulging white material, Marik's face was burning tomato-red that radiated all the way down his neck. His eyes were wide and seemed completely lost, torn between total humiliation and shock. "It's not what you think!" he cried as Shizuka's knees finally gave out and she collapsed to the ground rolling around as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I needed to get something for my sister! It will be her birthday soon and we're about the same size and…"
But his rambling only made things worse. Shizuka doubled over once more, her sides splitting painfully as she laughed her stomach out of her throat. "So…You…Thought…" she spluttered between guffaws "You….would….try it…on…yourself?"
It was a miracle she had not yet chocked to death on her own laughter.
Marik, finally seeming to gather some wits about himself, yanked the hanger up over his head and tossed the dress to the side. He growled, sitting up, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at the still howling girl across from him.
"It's not that funny." He hissed at her, mortification making his voice harsh.
"Oh but it is Marik. It so is." Shizuka somehow managed to pull herself into an upright sitting position, leaning against one of the mirrors as she wiped a few stray glee-tears from the corners of her eyes.
Marik allowed her a moment to calm down, silently fuming the whole while. After a minute or so the girl finally steadied her breathing and was able to look at Marik for more than a few moments without breaking down.
"So…" she stated awkwardly, unable to think of what to say in such a …peculiar situation.
"It's for my sister." He said once more, not meeting her eyes. "I wanted to get her something nice this year, but I didn't know her exact size and I couldn't just ask her to try it on so…" his voice faded away as a fresh blush rose into his cheeks.
Shizuka allowed him a moment to regain his resolve.
"It's not like I even put it on or anything…" He muttered, glaring at his shoes. "I just needed to see how it might look, how the fabric moves, all that jazz. Women care about that kind of stuff right?"
The question was directed towards her, even though his eyes did not rise to meet her own. Shizuka bit back her question of how strutting and posing fit into what he wanted to see. She merely shrugged her thin shoulders, fighting back the last of her rebel giggles as she attempted to make her face appear sympathetic. After all, what the guy was doing was sweet…in a really creepy way. The expression she gave him wasn't exactly what she had been going for, but hopefully it was enough to get him to look at her again.
"I'm sure she'll appreciate the effort, but if you're planning to buy her something special, might I suggest a store that doesn't also sell food products?"
That at least rung a chuckle out of him, and he met her smiling eyes with his own.
"Thanks, you're probably right." He stood and brushed off his pants turning to exit the room.
"Hey!" she cried indignantly after him. "Didn't your father ever tell you it's rude not to offer a lady assistance?"
Her words had the desired affect of stopping Marik in his tracks, but there was something wrong with his stance. His back had gone completely rigid, and his hands curled into tight fists.
Shizuka suddenly felt as if all the air had been sucked out of her lungs and her heart rate accelerated and slowed all at one moment. Something was wrong.
Marik slowly turned on his heel to face her, but his eyes were downcast with his bangs obscuring his features. "My father is dead." he spat the name "father" as if it were venom and Shizuka felt the horrible, sinking sensation that, once again, she had touched upon a difficult subject for this man. After only having had two meetings with said person and having hurt him on both accounts was rather horrible in her opinion.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring it up. I understand this must be a delicate subject for you." She tried not to picture her own father as she said, tried to rid her minds eye of the blood shot eyes and haggard face.
"Don't" Marik growled, advancing on her. Shizuka shrank back against the mirrors, suddenly realizing that this person was a stranger and absolute stranger whose intentions she knew nothing of. "Ever assume that you understand me. You know nothing about me!" So very true Shizuka's mind told her as her body rapidly realized its own fragility.
He was hovering over her now. She could see the fire blazing behind his eyes like molten violet, and her first instant was to run and run and run and never look back. It was truly unfortunate then, that her body decided it no longer cared what her brain had to say.
She was frozen to the spot, brown eyes wide with terror, tiny heart beating a furious rhythm against her breast. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a small voice screamed for help for anybody, anything to save her. She snapped her eyes closed
And felt lips.
It was as though a sudden spark had made contact with bone dry kindling and suddenly everything was on fire. Her heart was racing madly as a thrill raced up her spine and she knew she should be pushing not clutching. She knew she should be biting not kissing. She knew she should be hating not loving the feel of this practically-a-stranger's lips against her own but god god GOD it was like the first breath after nearly drowning.
Shizuka wandered vaguely as she buried her fingers in his hair –he really did have nice hair now that it was clean- how long she had been drowning.
Soft lips like pedals and aching desire so fresh and fierce. Like fire.
You said you would stay away from her.
I said no such thing. I promised I would not yet kill her. That is all.
Let. Her. GO!
Why should I? I'm getting what I want.
You always want what you can't have.
I can have whatever I want.
You can't have her.
And who are you to stop me?
The orchard goes up in flame.
The last time Shizuka saw him, the world was on fire.
His lips traced the contours of her neck as he whispered sweet nothings into her ears, the tone in his voice so much deeper than usual, so much more guttural. Their breathing is fast and erratic, so full of the desire they both feel, the desperate clinging, wanting needing that she cannot name, but which causes her to only grip him tighter. Her nails dig in and she can feel blood beneath the cuticles.
His only reply is to nip at her long, pale neck.
They're moving together and yet so differently, each step they take driving them down paths end in the same destination but can never find true harmony can never be completely parallel.
She looks into his eyes and sees the shifting of his emotions, so swift like the ripples in a stream. And one moment he's basking, in another he is grieving, smiling, crying, rapture, repulsion, toward away…
It's over before she would have wished it and she lies in his arms and wonders why this time feels different from all the others. She can feel his fingers threading threw her hair and allows her own to do the same to his. The locks are like silk and she can smell them over the filth of their bodies.
And she doesn't know why she says it, but maybe that is what makes this moment so much more than the others.
"I love you."
Blazing furious glory. In her eyes. In her smile. In her heart.
Everything you wanted.
Indeed.
Are you satisfied, you monster.
Quite.
Those aren't just my tears you know.
Yes.
You love her.
It's time to go.
Glorious fire to slay the heart.
When Shizuka awoke, he was gone.
A/N: I intended for this to be comedy. It is…mostly. The main gist of this story is lust. "Good Marik" was never in control of any of his actions. "Dark Marik" was the person who she met at the store. He played the part of Marik to get close to her. Shizuka feels only companionship for the "good" Marik. She doesn't know of the difference between them (or even that there is a difference to be made), but she can tell when Dark Marik has dropped the "good Marik" persona. The one she is attracted to and falls in love with is Dark Marik. The one that loves her is "good Marik." The one that gets lost in her is "Dark Marik". I hope that made sense. Please review! ^^