IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!! - This is the Yu-Gi-Oh! Yaoi portion of the Shipping List in order. Be forewarned. Some "pairings" will not be fluffy and cute. But they will all, hopefully, be believable. Rating's will vary.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Notes: Kotsuzaka is called Bones in the English adaptation.

Rating: K+ to T

Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping List - #2

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Admireshipping (Kotsuzaka x Mokuba) - "Something Illegal"

Mokuba hefted the shovel over one shoulder as he made his way into the solitary graveyard. It was well after dark on a Saturday night. Seto thought he was staying at a friend's house.

Using his flashlight, Mokuba scanned the graves as he made his way up one isle and down the next looking for the right one.

Finally, he found it; Asuna and Kyle Andreas. Not eager to waste time, he lay down his flashlight and drove the shovel home above the female's side of the double grave.

"What are you, some kind of grave robber?"

The sudden intrusion startled Mokuba so bad that he cried out and jumped, his heart making the trip to his throat in record time. Whirling around and scooping up the flashlight from where he'd sat it, pulling back to use the object as a club if need be, Mokuba was faced with an almost-familiar figure. He had never met the boy that stood before him, of that he was sure, but somehow…he knew he had seen his face somewhere.

"Hey," the boy said, squinting in the dim natural light of the moon to get a better look. "Aren't you the kid brother of that guy who held the Battle City tournament? The kid brother of Kaiba Seto?"

Suddenly it clicked. He had seen this kid in the profiles of the duelists competing in Battle City. "Ko..tsu..zaka? Is that right?" Mokuba asked and the boy obliged him with a nodd. "What are you doing in a graveyard in the middle of the night?"

"Nothing illegal." the other answered pointedly and Mokuba grimaced, turning back to his shovel.

"What are you doing in a graveyard in the middle of the night?"

"Something illegal." Mokuba answered with shame, holding onto the shovel with one hand.

"That lady died a long time ago." Kotsuzaka observed. "What'd she ever do to you?"

"Nothing…" Mokuba answered, his voice quiet in the stillness. "I have to know if she's wearing something…a pendant…"

Kotsuzaka regarded the other with curiosity. It might have been none of his business, but… "Why?"

Mokuba cringed. If he said nothing, and the boy turned him in, he would be arrested and Seto would find out…If he told the truth, maybe he could convince Kotsuzaka not to say anything. "I don't…remember my mother very well. I don't even know her name and the records about her are all gone, burned away in a fire at the orphanage where I have most of my earliest memories." Mokuba paused but Kotsuzaka said nothing so he continued. "I remember she always wore this … heart-shaped pendant. I need to know who my parents were but … I can't ask Seto about it. He gets…testy and distant. He wants to never look back and I can understand that but… But I have to know."

Mokuba waited.

Finally the other duelist spoke. "Hang on while I get into the gardening shed for a shovel. … I'll help ya."

Mokuba's eyes lit up and he nodded happily.

The two began digging at opposite ends and worked in silence until Kotsuzaka spoke, drawing Mokbua's attention as they continued to dig.

"You know, I like hanging out in places like this." the strange duelist admitted. "I come here a lot with my two friends. They couldn't make it tonight, that's why I was here by myself."

"Why do you like graveyards?" Mokuba asked, by way of conversation.

Kotsuzaka paused, looking across his shovel at Mokuba. "You know, everybody here has been forgotten. It's like they never lived at all. That's how it's going to be when I die. No one'll care at all, except maybe my friends. I'm not very popular, if you hadn't noticed." Mokuba had noticed. Kotsuzaka looked like death warmed over, with sunken eyes and a pale face. "Not even my parents miss me when I'm gone." the boy continued. "So when I die, it won't matter if they remember me or not. It won't hurt my feelings any more than it does now. … I don't like people much."

Mokuba stared back for a long moment before he finally looked away and resumed digging. "I appreciate your helping me." he said, letting it hang in the air as they worked.

Kotsuzaka wasn't really used to receiving thanks for anything, so, not knowing how to respond, he just grunted as he heaved another shovel-full of dirt out of the way.

Just as Mokuba was beginning to think his arms were going to fall off, they hit the coffin and hurried to clear it as much as possible. They couldn't pull it out, so one of them would have to climb down to open it where it lay.

"I'll do it." Kotsuzaka volunteered. "And you can hold the flashlight and look from up here. Mokuba hesitated but nodded in the end, helping the other to climb down.

Digging his feet into the walls on either side, Kotsuzaka bent down and wrenched the lid open slightly under him. After a moment, he called back up "It's not her." and opened the lid further for Mokuba to see.

Mokuba had to admit, the thought of seeing his mother as a corpse was making him sick to his stomach and when Kotsuzaka had said it wasn't her, looking at it made the process a whole lot easier. Mokuba adjusted the flashlight and peered into the hole. Kotsuzaka had been right, the woman had no pendant with her, nothing caught the light but her wedding ring, glistening through the tarnish on a bony finger. Mokuba shivered and nodded and Kotsuzaka let the lid drop. Mokuba helped to haul him back up and they hurried to fill the hole…which went a whole lot faster than making it. They put back all the dirt, stomped on the mound a couple of times for good measure, and collapsed onto the lawn, exhausted, chests heaving with the exertion.

"For the record," Kotsuzaka said, gasping to fill his lungs "don't do this again."

"I won't." Mokuba promised, panting heavily as he stared up at the not-so-dark sky.

"Don't get caught…for helping me."

"I won't."

Mokuba let the air return to his lungs and waited for his heart to stop hammering in his chest before he leaned over, giving the other a quick peck on the lips. Kotsuzaka looked like he might have a heart attack - or might have already had one.

"And don't think being popular means people care when you die;" Mokuba advised "they just cry more. … But it's not everyone who'll help ya dig up dead people at random so don't think I won't care when you go. I'll remember what ya did for me."

Kotsuzaka closed his mouth and smiled, looking back to the ever-dimming stars overhead.

"Thanks."

Post whatevers: Kotsuzaka might actually be human if you get him away from his buddies and situations where he feels he has to put up a good front... Maybe...

If you liked, please review. Next up is GozaburoxSeto. Ja.