Coffee and Cigarettes

A series of unconnected vignettes, starring the Yu Gi Oh cast and revolving around the eponymous items. Obviously, I don't own Yu Gi Oh, and I don't own Jim Jarmusch's wonderful film Coffee and Cigarettes... but it's a fabulous movie, so I do recommend it to you.

Chapter One: Seto, Serenity, Sugar
Chapter Two: Anzu, Bakura, General Health Warning
Chapter Three, the 'Sh' Chapter: Ishizu, Rishid, Shadi, Hashish
Chapter Four: Yami, Ryou, Absolutely Nothing.
Chapter Five: Tristan Taylor, Duke Devlin, Alliteration and Frustration
Chapter Six: Mai, Weevil, Perfection - or Mai vs Underwood.
Chapter Seven: Yuugi, Jou, Malik, Never Too Late

Scene One: Seto, Serenity, Sugar

Mokuba seized Seto's hand and tugged eagerly on it as he spotted the ice cream parlour in the foodcourt. Seto sighed exaggeratedly.

"That doesn't look like a game store to me, Mokuba."

"Big bro-ther!" Mokuba whined, laughing at Seto's comically frustrated expression. "It's ice cream."

"We're supposed to be shopping for your birthday present," he reminded his younger sibling.

Well, it wasn't Seto's fault he had no clue what to buy Mokuba. Firstly, Mokuba already had anything he wanted; it wasn't as if they couldn't afford it. Secondly, between that stupid highschool and KaibaCorp, actually spending enough time with Mokuba to find out what he might want was - unfortunately - not much of an option.

And here was the amazing thing - Seto had unexpectedly found that his brother was excited about going shopping. Inordinately so. Apparently, actually spending the day at the mall like two normal adolescents was much better than having Seto surprise him with something extravagant. Seto once again supressed the pang of guilt he only ever felt around Mokuba - hostile corporate takeovers and firing employees were nothing compared to the kid's big, dark blue eyes.

"What if I want ice cream for my birthday?" Mokuba said, with infallible logic.

"I think it'll melt before Sunday," Seto retorted.

Mokuba laughed, assuming his brother was teasing. Seto himself was only half-sure that he had been, but it was nice that Mokuba had given him the benefit of the doubt about possessing a sense of humour.

"Pleeeeeeeease?"

Oh, damnit. There he went.

"Come on, Se-toooo, when was the last time you had ice cream?"

Seto rolled his eyes, but smiled at his brother, giving in to the hand dragging him towards the new parlour. At least Mokuba was in a good mood. He'd been spending too much time scowling lately - their small family only needed one Seto Kaiba. "I don't like ice cream, Mokuba," he reminded his sibling.

"You're crazy," Mokuba said, with an air of absolute certainty.

"Well, you better watch out," Seto muttered, "because it's a genetic trait."

"I'm only crazy for sugar!" Mokuba conceded happily, pushing open the glass door.

A bell chimed above it. How quaint. Seto glanced around the ice cream place, registering the cheerful, coloured glass lights and the plush red booths that lined the windows. Why would this place want windows? The only view was of the other mallrats stuffing their faces in the general foodcourt. Oh well. At least he was in here, and not out there. And there weren't many people in here, so he shouldn't be bothered.

Or so he thought, until he looked towards the counter. It stretched on the far side of the parlour, pale blue, with red seats lining it. At one end - the closer end - stood the register, just after the glass-topped freezers of ice cream flavours. And standing behind the register, giving an annoyingly friendly smile to the customer that was receiving his change, was none other then Shizuka Jounouchi.

Seto groaned.

Mokuba glanced up at him, a tad perplexed. Then he turned his smile to the now-free Shizuka. "Hi, Serenity!" he said, waving.

The girl blinked, then smiled gently at Mokuba. "Hi, Mokie!" She cast a glance at Seto, whose hand was still clutched firmly in Mokuba's after being dragged inside. Something in her hazel eyes lost its warmth. "Hello, Mr Kaiba, how may I help you?" she asked him politely.

Seto tugged his hand free from Mokuba's. His brother didn't notice - he was too entranced by the prospect of actually making a decision about what flavour he wanted to eat. Mokuba went to stand over by the ice cream counter and stood on tiptoe... The better to peer down inside with.

"Ice cream, Jounouchi. That is what this place is for, isn't it?" He stepped up to the register.

The girl scowled at him for a moment. It was pretty comical, beneath her long lashes and the white, angular hat that was sitting on top of her auburn hair as part of her red and white uniform. Actually, it was almost - god no, spending the day with Mokuba was beginning to get to him - it was almost... Cute. Great.

Seto cast a grumpy look at his younger brother, who was the only creature on the planet about which it was permissible for him to think that word.

"Actually, Sir," she said, her voice a false, bright tone that didn't match the murderous stare she was giving him, "We also sell coffee." She gestured behind her to the large, bronze and black machine that Seto had missed. He had been too distracted by the unexpected encounter with the sister of the mutt.

"Thank god," he muttered. If only they sold cigarettes, too. Though he didn't want Mokuba knowing that he occasionally smoked.

Serenity blinked.

Mokuba suddenly bounced back between them. "Seto, Seto, can I have a triple scoop sundae?"

Seto felt a tiny - tiny! - portion of his grumpiness evaporate at Mokuba's obvious excitement. "You actually think you can eat that much?" he asked, dubious.

"Sure I can!" Mokuba replied. He turned to Serenity. "I want one scoop of triple ripple chocolate, one of ooey gooey caramel, and one of mean green lime! And can I have chocolate AND strawberry topping?" Mokuba hopped up and down from foot to foot.

Seto cleared his throat.

The younger Kaiba looked up at him, before looking back at the slightly daunted girl behind the counter. "...Um, please?" He added winsomely.

Serenity smiled, and it was another genuine smile - unlike the one she had trained on her previous customer. "Isn't it nice to see such a polite Kaiba brother?" she said, sweetly.

Seto felt his glare return in full force at the subtle jab. Hmmph. Like he cared if the mutt's sister thought she was rude.

"What flavour are you having, Seto?"

"I'm not having any ice cream, Mokuba."

"Awww."

Darn kid. "Didn't we just discuss the fact that I don't like it?"

"Which coffee would you like, Mr Kaiba?" Serenity interrupted, smoothly.

Kaiba shifted his gazed to behind her shoulder. Her boss was suddenly hovering in the background. Heh. That could be fun. "I don't know; don't rush me, Jounouchi."

Her boss's face paled. Shizuka's face coloured.

"Sorry, sir." She added, her voice carefully controlled but her eyes - out of view of her anxious employer - narrowing to very thin slits.

"...Espresso," Seto eventually said, aware that the only other member of the queue - a mother with her squealing child - was beginning to get extremely annoyed by the length of time he was taking. "Grande."

"Of course, Mr Kaiba. If you'll take a seat, I'll bring that right out to you with the sundae. That comes to seven-ninety."

Shizuka accepted the fifty dollar bill he handed her. He didn't give her such a large note to annoy her; it was all he had. She didn't know that, however. Seto smirked as the petite brunette fished his change out of the plastic drawer and clanged the drawer shut a little too forcefully.

"That's great, thanks," she said, holding out his change.

Seto took a seat with his brother - who, naturally, wanted a window booth, causing Seto to sigh yet again.

"Lighten up, big brother. This is supposed to be fun."

Seto frowned yet again - but this time at himself, not Mokuba. "I'm sorry, Mokuba. I'll try to make the rest of the day more fun. It must have been time for my caffeine fix, anyway."

Just then Shizuka, having prepared a cone for the child that had been squalling behind Seto in the short queue, arrived in front of their booth. Seto flicked his eyes down her once, taking in the outfit that had been hidden behind the counter. It looked like some kind of cross between the uniform of nurse and a fast food employee - there was, of course, the hat. And then a white dress with red edging on the sleeves, and a red and white striped half-apron over the skirt. The short skirt. Which was met by high white socks that came just above the girl's knees. She had white sneakers on her feet with a red trim on those, too.

"The mutt actually lets you out of the house like that?"

Shizuka bristled again, slapping his steaming coffee down in front of him. "This is my uniform. I have to wear it. Jou would only object if he knew that people like you came in here and ogled me."

"I'm not - " Seto clamped his mouth shut. So what if she thought he was ogling her? Let her go ahead and think it. That hadn't been what he was doing at all. What was the harm in... assessing... his opponent...?

Shizuka pushed a strand of her red-brown hair behind one ear. Then she used that free hand to lift the another item off the plastic tray she was carrying. She set a mountainous, multi-coloured sundae in front of Mokuba, whose eyes lit up. Oh boy. He wasn't going to sleep tonight. Then she handed him a long silver spoon.

Mokuba glanced at Seto and remembered to chirp, "Thank you!" to the girl, before he turned all his attention to his ice cream.

"I hope that's not all he's getting for lunch," Shizuka said, tucking the tray under her arm.

Seto glared at her. It was lunchtime already? Great. He knew that.

"So what if it is?"

"And caffeine is really bad for you, you know," Shizuka continued, oblivious to the laser-like death glares she was receiving from both the older Kaiba and her boss.

"If you object to it so much, feel free to leave and not see me drink it."

"Have a nice day." Shizuka turned to go, then turned back. "Actually..." she fished in the small pocket on her apron, pulled out a couple of red and blue packets and dumped them on the table. "You ought to at least put some sugar in that coffee of yours. You could use some sweetening up."

She marched back to the counter, and Seto wasn't entirely certain he'd just seen her stick her tongue out at him.

"Sugar and spice and all things nice," Mokuba chanted.

"What?" Seto blinked at him, surprised.

"She's nice, isn't she, big brother?"

Seto stared at him, suspiciously, and took a sip of his black coffee.

"I think she's kind of cute," Mokuba added slyly, before shovelling some ice cream into his mouth.

Seto made no reply. He grimaced at his espresso. It wasn't bad coffee. But watching his brother create cavities before his eyes was getting to him. To hell with it. He picked up one of the blue sugar packets and silently opened it, then poured the white granules into his drink. Then he did the same with one of the red sachets.

Mokuba grinned like he thought that meant something. Seto just rolled his eyes. Of course it didn't.

Right?