Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, Rurouni Kenshin, and Yu-Yu Hakusho.
Chapter 4: A valentine for the ice prince! Part I
"Well it's nice to meet you Mokuba," Hannya intoned seriously. Mokuba smiled up at him. Hannya ruffled the boy's hair and returned his smile.
"I hope I didn't scare you when we first met each other," he intoned seriously. Mokuba laughed.
"Are you kidding me? I was Gozaburo's son remember! Nothing's scarier than that!" he exclaimed non-chalantly but a serious frown suddenly appeared on Hannya's face so Mokuba decided to lighten things up a bit.
"…except for my big brother when he's just woken up!" he joked "the polka dots on the pjs… Scary!" he added with a mock shiver. They all laughed. Hannya laughed and ruffled the boy's hair again.
They all filed out of the room and went down stairs to the main room. They all decided to go stop at the "broody boy" corner so Hannya and his brothers could say hi to the broodsters. Hyotoko reached down and lifted little Mokuba onto his shoulder. The boy laughed and happily accepted the ride as they headed towards the "Darths". Aoshi's uncles were really a strange but fun bunch! Mokuba smiled happily he'd only known them for a few minutes and already he liked them! He hoped Seto liked them too…
Hyotoko the biggest one of the bunch was an old Yokozuna and he was quite famous. Shikijo the second largest was a karate instructor and owned a large dojo in Tokyo. Hannya had been trying to get him to open up a franchise because of the popularity of his school but he refused to as he put it "sell out". Bessimi the smallest brother of them all at 5'3" had a weird creepy look but it came in handy during tough negotiations in his position as V.P of Sales and Marketing for Shinomori Electronics.
The uncles wasted no time in teasing Aoshi and Hannya and Mokuba giggled at how they were completely disarmed by Victoria's presence! But the person he was the most happy to see was Shuura! He and his brother had met Shuura when she was sent to pick up Mai after the girl failed to qualify for the battle city finals. She was told by Victoria to wait until Kaiba's airship (where the Battle city semi-finals were being hosted) landed on Kaiba corp. Island but Shuura couldn't wait until then so she flew one of Aoshi's company helicopters out and landed it on the duel deck on top of the airship while the blimp was still in flight!
Needless to say his brother had not appreciated at all that Shuura had disregarded his pilot's firm warning to back off. Worst of all was the fact that she had landed on his expensive high-tech duel deck! Granted Shuura was an excellent pilot and managed to land the small two-seater helicopter in the duel deck without causing it any damage but Seto didn't like it when people didn't jump to obey his commands.
Mai had been nearly disqualified on account of her beating the crap out of Marik! Tired of being victimized by psychotic duelists Mai "lost it" and resorted to the martial arts training her cousin Aoshi had given her and beat the snot out of Marik. It was very effective though! It broke the hold Marik's shadow magic had on her and she was able to continue the duel without Marik trying to manipulate her mind again since Seto confiscated the Millennium Rod until the end of the duel. Weapons were prohibited in the tournament and the Rod kind of looked like a small ax.
It had been a real surprise to find out that Mai was related to Aoshi! It turned out that Mai's mother was Aoshi's aunt on his father's side. Hannya didn't get along with his sister and they very rarely spoke to each other. Aoshi didn't much care for his aunt either but both cared about Mai very much. They looked out for her ever since Mai's older sister committed suicide when Mai was about ten years old. So in the end since Mai wasn't able to defeat the Winged Dragon of Ra Shuura had been sent to pick up Mai and take her to Mai's first photo shoot as a Victoria's Secret model.
Mokuba stifled a giggle as Shuura smiled cheerfully at him. She tossed Mokuba a mischievous wink and Mokuba smiled back at her. Shuura did get his brother good that day! He liked Shuura! His brother blushed deeply when she came within a foot of his face to say "thank you" for inviting her to the party. Mokuba had to cover his mouth and run away or else he would've burst out laughing and he would've never heard the end of it from Seto! Seeing his brother bury him self against the chair and hold on to the armrests in a white knuckled grip was almost as good as the look on his face that day!
"So…is the heroic sense of timing just a hereditary trait?" Mokuba asked before anyone could steer things to the subject of his brother's discomfiture. Seto would throw a fit if anyone found out! According to the conversation in the broody corner it sounded like the confrontation between Shuura and Seto was witnessed only by him and the bridge crew who were watching through the surveillance cameras and Shuura hadn't shared any of the details with any of her friends.
Mokuba destroyed the surveillance tapes and Seto made them sign confidentiality agreements. Still he'd have to talk to Shuura later and hope she would continue to keep what happened on the blimp that day between her self and his brother! He planned to pull her away soon as they all found spots on the couches and the staff scurried to bring more seats to the opposite side of the ballroom where they were gathered.
"Hmmm…I don't know because a lot of my friends do it too…" Misao began thoughtfully "but I think it comes naturally to Aoshi!"
"Yea! I think your right!" Hannya agreed "He was even born on just the right day at the right time!" Everyone laughed.
"Really? I didn't know that!" Misao laughed cheerfully. Hannya laughed as he recounted the day Aoshi was born. It had been a sunny Saturday afternoon and Rinoa's brothers had just arrived from Tokyo to spend the weekend. He hadn't been due for two more weeks at least but his soon-to-be uncles couldn't come down to visit any other time. Shikijo laughed as he described the shocked/happy/nervous look on Hannya's face when his wife told him it was "time".
"He asked her so many times if she was alright she asked the nurse to sedate him!" Shikijo laughed. Hannya rolled his eyes.
"Well at least my mouth still worked! You three were so nervous you couldn't talk for hours!" Hannya retorted with a triumphant smirk as his three brothers grumbled embarrassedly.
"I didn't know that…" Misao said with a wistful smile.
"Yea the Ice Block really is a natural when it comes to timing," Sano added in a casual tone but only Kenshin noticed the dark shadow of resentment that passed over his eyes. Sano would probably never get over not being able to help Aoshi and Kenshin. It would always bother him that his two best friends were beaten and raped but bound and gagged as he was at the time there was nothing he could do but watch. Worst was that Aoshi had spared him the same fate by catching a second wind at just the right time. It had been ten years since then and even though his friends had moved on from that incident Sano would probably never get over it…
"Yea! You even met him on just the right day! Right Misao?" Mokuba piped up cheerfully. Victoria gave her a knowing glance.
"Ah yes! The "flying off to Avalon" idea!" she interjected. "Aoshi told me…" she added simply before Misao could ask. At Hannya's perplexed look she explained. Again Misao tried to down play the seriousness of the incident by citing her age to no avail of course as Hannya who was sitting right next to her nearly crushed her in a fatherly hug. Jai leaned forward…
"Misao you really are an awesome person! I would've never guessed what you went through just by looking at you," he said seriously as his four partners agreed loudly and seriously. Jou looked at her pensively his friends casting covert glances at him. His sister Serenity moved closer to him.
"That really was some awesome timing…" he agreed seriously but noticing that his friends were giving each other uncomfortable glances he changed the subject.
"Ok so what's the deal with the whole thing about you and Aoshi being pranksters?" he asked "I wanna know!" he added gleefully. Misao blinked in surprise she hadn't expected to find someone like her amongst Yugi's friends. She definitely didn't expect it to be tough-talking Jounouchi!
"Well I think we pulled our best prank on Valentine's Day that year!" she laughed deciding she'd talk to Jou in private later…
It was painstaking work to plan the Valentine's prank. They had nearly gotten caught last time because Aoshi was getting cocky and overconfident. Misao took the hit for it and after a very serious heart-to-heart with Coach Anji Aoshi vowed to never let them get caught again. He also planned the pranks so that if there was any evidence it would lead back to him and not her. He had taken for granted how much protection he received from being a Shinomori. Misao on the other hand would not be so lucky!
"Stupid Aoshi!" he berated himself softly as he carefully crafted the Valentine's cards that would be attached to the laxative laden chocolates that would be delivered to the teachers the next morning. He made himself think again about his conversation with coach Anji as he sat alone that night creating the cards the desk around his computer strewn with various arts and crafts materials…
"Aoshi I know that you're the one orchestrating this wave of pranks! I also know why you're doing it…" Anji began patiently.
"I don't know what you're talking about…" Aoshi replied non-emotionally. Inside he was seething! Misao had been punished for their recent prank. It was a simple shoe switch and everyone knew Misao hadn't done it but she took the hit anyways. Someone was gonna pay for this! Anji smiled sadly.
"Aoshi, I know you feel frustrated and I know your just trying to help but consider this the next time you pull a prank. If the prank goes wrong your father's money and power will protect you from the worst consequences but Misao will be out on the street and no one will be able to protect her!" he lectured solemnly. Aoshi opened his mouth to protest but Anji held up his hand to stop him.
"I know you know how strict Misao's father is and I know you know how poor they are! You can ruin any chances she'll ever have! As long as she's here in school she has shot at a better life but if she gets kicked out…" Anji let his words hang there so Aoshi could fill in the blanks…
He hadn't thought of any of that! Every time he got kicked out of somewhere his father would just pay a lot of money and put him some where else. He felt ashamed that he hadn't stopped to think of how bad the repercussions would be for Misao if she got caught. At the same time he was so proud of her. She was much braver than anyone he'd ever met. She knew the consequences and still she followed him.
To him self he would admit that she was braver even than him because she risked so much more than he did to be his friend! Coach Anji had advised him that he include him as a victim in his next prank because the principal was starting to suspect him and Ms. Tsubaki of somehow harboring the culprits since they had not been hit. So it was with a guilty conscience that he added gentle Ms. Tsubaki – who was always very sweet to Misao – to his list and made the card for her and Coach Anji.
When morning came he went alone into the school and planted the evil chocolates in their perky happy little wrappers on each teacher's desk. He went outside to wait for Misao to arrive and the two climbed into his limo and went to his house to sleep for a while then have breakfast as was their custom on prank days. She complained a little that he hadn't taken her with him but he shrugged it off.
"I couldn't sleep so I came early. No big deal… just figured I'd get it out of the way!" he replied. She looked up at him shyly then and after some hesitation she produced a hand made card from her old tattered backpack and a little tiny chocolate.
"Happy Valentine's Day!" she said softly blushing slightly then explained in rapid fire that she had made the card in class yesterday; she was supposed to have made it for her father but he hated Valentine's Day so she put his name on it instead! She even included a little tiny heart shaped chocolate in a cellophane wrapper and as he opened the pink construction paper card and read the little message it felt as though someone had stabbed him in the heart with the hot knife of guilt!
Thank you for being my friend! Happy Valentine's Day Lord Aoshi! … Was all the card said but it was enough to drive home what Coach Anji had said not long ago. He smiled sadly as she continued in Misao speed…
"Of course it's not really very good! I'm sorry…it's kind of lopsided… I'm not very good at doing this stuff! But I did what you said and tried my best! But my best isn't really…"
"I love it!" he cut her off. He smiled at her happily "I love it!" he said again and he chuckled at the confused look on her face. He opened the little chocolate heart and broke it in half. With a big smile on his face he handed her one half of it.
"You're supposed to share your valentine chocolate with your friends!" he explained and she smiled back at him and took the piece of chocolate. They arrived at the Shinomori palace and she followed him up to his room. By now she knew the way by heart she had been coming here for months already. She took her usual big chair. Aoshi had taught her how to recline it and he even left a blanket for her use every time she came. Within seconds she was asleep…
He watched her for a moment and then made up his mind. He quickly changed into his uniform and quietly left the room in search of the driver. He couldn't understand why but for some reason the idea of buying a valentine didn't seem horribly stupid today…
Shuura shook her head…
"You know Misao I think his legendary timing failed him on Valentine's Day that year…" she pointed out thoughtfully. Victoria chuckled.
"From a certain point of view…" she countered. "I've heard this story from both sides! Aoshi arrived precisely when he had to…" she explained in a mysterious tone. Mokuba looked confused and so did Misao.
"Vicky-sensei…How do you know all this stuff? Does Aoshi really tell you everything?" Misao asked a bit perplexed and for some reason the younger audience couldn't understand she blushed. Victoria just laughed…
"Most of my students have a hard time keeping things from me! This is especially true with Aoshi!" she replied then turned to Mokuba and Shuura who were sitting next to each other.
"…And you two may be able to get away with not telling me what happened on the blimp but mark my words I will find out!" she advised them sternly. Shuura just giggled slightly and Mokuba looked extremely worried.
"How are you gonna do that?" he asked nervously. Yugi and his friends exchanged surprised glances. Victoria merely smiled and took a sip from her drink.
"Your brother is going tell me!" she answered cheerfully and took another dainty sip from her drink. Mokuba breathed a sigh of relief he was certain Seto would not tell anyone. He looked at Victoria again though and his certainty wavered. There was something about this woman that was down right creepy! Perhaps she could extract the story from his brother…
"…With that said Shuura you're not allowed to tell anyone until I find out what happened!" she intoned seriously directing herself to the younger listeners who were already planning amongst each other ways to get the scoop!
"Of course I'm sure it goes without saying that you will also keep it to your self Mokuba," she added casting a glance at Yugi, Jou and Honda who were planning amidst soft whispers on either challenging Seto to a duel for the story or possibly talking Mokuba into spilling the beans. She glared at the two boys until they guiltily stopped and slunk back to their seats.
"Well now there's a juicy piece of gossip!" exclaimed Carson who seemed to be immune to Victoria's stern look as Jai jumped in.
"Better than that time when Aoshi was going out with Jordan!" Jai agreed cheerfully. Thom rolled his eyes and Victoria laughed.
"You don't even know what the story is!" Thom protested. Jai and Carson just smiled and shrugged. Carson opened his mouth to reply but Jou cut him off.
"Wait! Who's Jordan?" he asked sounding as though he didn't quite like the idea of Aoshi seeing someone other than Misao. To everyone's surprise it was Duke Devlin who answered.
"I've got it! Jordan Lee! She's the spokes-model for Revlon! Dang! I knew Aoshi looked familiar! He was on the cover of People magazine with her several times!" Duke exclaimed as Yugi's, Jou's, Honda's and Hanasaki's jaws dropped! Jordan was one of the most beautiful top models of the US with worldwide renown. Anzu poked Yugi in the ribs and cast a glance at Misao whose perpetual smile looked like it was about to falter. A secret signal passed between Victoria, Mai and Shuura…
"You know I liked Jordan!" Mai suddenly chipped in. Aoshi had met her during his many trips to help with security at Victoria's photo shoots. Jordan had been the latest addition to Victoria's super-model line up.
Aoshi had always made it a personal rule to never get involved in any way with Victoria's "girls". Despite how beautiful and charming most of Victoria's models were (and how often they practically threw themselves at him!) he had been good about keeping a professional distance from them but something about Jordan had attracted him enough to do the impossible: break his own rules! Victoria had surmised it had something to do with Misao's engagement to Senator Yanagisawa at the time.
"Yea…she was cool! I still don't get how he worked up the nerve to ask her out though…" Shuura agreed thoughtfully. All three women were tired of Misao being wishy-washy with her decision in regards to Aoshi and their future and the three were conspiring to "force" Misao's hand. The subject of Jordan was a touchy one with Misao because she knew that Aoshi had merely sought temporary refuge with the woman after she announced her engagement to Yanagisawa.
"Hey even my ice cold cousin needs a little love! Ten years is a long time!" Mai retorted in her usual smartass tone. Misao and Aoshi had indeed dated in high school but it was a brief nearly platonic affair that was brutally cut short due to the traumatic incident in which Aoshi and his two best friends were kidnapped, raped and held for ransom by a notorious Domino gang ten years ago.
Disappointed by Aoshi's unexplained coldness Misao had gone back to Kyoto with her grandfather after they'd agreed to be just friends. It had taken nearly ten years for her to understand why Aoshi had changed when Aoshi finally told her what had happened after he left her house the night of their first kiss. Misao was also aware of the fact that every time Aoshi had sought to get close again she was involved elsewhere and as patient as he had been for his opportunity she dealt him the final blow by accepting Yanagisawa's proposal.
Most of this Misao had learned from Jordan herself when they met just after she broke up with Yanagisawa and Victoria invited her to participate in one of her catalogues. Misao had been careful not to reveal to Jordan that she was the girl Aoshi pinned for in order to learn the nature of Jordan's relationship with Aoshi. Jordan had been full of praise for Aoshi despite the informality of their relationship and it caused Misao to question her chances of actually being able to get back together with him.
"It's just not fair…" Jou said shaking his head. "How can one guy get two of the hottest women in the world! It's just not fair…" he mumbled incredulously. Yugi sweat dropped while Duke and Hanasaki whistled appreciatively and exchanged comments on Aoshi's awesome taste and luck with women. Honda – whose arm was still around his girlfriend Yuffie – wisely kept his mouth shut!
"Quality is better than quantity!" Jai wisely opined in regards to their comments. It was widely known that Aoshi did not date frequently in fact the only ones who got through his stone cold exterior were Misao and Jordan. Mokuba frowned. He did not care for the way Misao's smile had switched from relaxed to strained and decided it was time to put an end to this Jordan-talk!
"Well I don't really care about that stuff! I want to know how the Valentine's prank turned out! Why did you say his timing didn't work Shuura?" Mokuba interrupted unable to hide his discontent with the subject. Misao smiled gratefully at him and missed again the subtle signals that passed between Shuura, Mai and Victoria.
Talking about Jordan usually made Misao territorial about Aoshi because in Misao's mind Jordan was the only real competition she had. Victoria knew Jordan had ceased to be romantically interested in Aoshi long before he and Misao got together but to Victoria she was a means for getting Misao out of the rut she was stuck in! Victoria smiled as Shuura picked up the tale.
"Ok! Before we continue there are a few things you have to understand about Aoshi. First: he doesn't eat chocolate! EVER! The only human being on the planet who can get him to eat it is the one sitting next to you!" Shuura began. Mokuba looked at Misao and smiled and she smiled back shyly.
'Of course she would be the only one!' thought Mokuba who was quickly going from Misao's fan to worshipper!
"Second: He hates valentines and in all the years I've known Aoshi has never given anyone a valentine! He doesn't like to get them and he doesn't like to give them! Except for again the girl sitting next to you who has gotten one every year since the year they met!" Shuura continued smirking mischievously. Misao blushed slightly and missed the quick signal Victoria sent Mai.
"…And Jordan! She got one too the year they were going out! He bought these really nice diamond earrings from Tiffany's! I was so jealous!" Mai added with a smirk on her face. Hannya frowned at her but Mai ignored him. Misao deflated a little bit as Shuura continued…
"Third: Aoshi didn't like to be touched! Unless you wanted him to kick your ass it was look but do not touch! Even as a really little kid he didn't like to be touched! And last Aoshi hardly ever stuck his neck out for anyone! He was a selfish little whinny brat who thought of no one but himself and was convinced the world was out to get him! Well back then anyways so bear that in mind as Misao continues!" Shuura concluded cheerfully.
"Ok!" Mokuba enthused glad to finally be back on track with the story…