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Shizuka
"Hey!"
I turned to see Mokuba coming towards us with Seto in tow, obviously reluctant to follow – exactly how I had shown up with Oniichan. "Hi!" I called as I waved and grinned; Oniichan just grunted, nodding his head in their direction.
"Why are you so happy?" Oniichan grumbled, and I elbowed him in the ribs.
"Be good," I hissed as they came up in front of us. The second Seto and Katsuya come face to face, I lost all hope of them sorting out their differences; they seemed to be in some silent battle of wills, not breaking eye contact for at least a minute. Without warning, Seto grinned, leaning over to kiss my cheek.
"Hello," he said.
I managed to squeak out a little, "Hi." No matter how many times he did that – or anything else – it always caught me off-guard. Before I could come up with a more intelligent reply, though, Mokuba caught my eye. It looked like he had something to say. A second later he cleared his throat.
"Okay, I want to hit up the petting zoo first; I'll go buy some food and meet you guys there." He took a step away when he paused and looked over his shoulder, adding, "Would you like to join me, Shizuka?"
I could feel both Seto and Oniichan staring at me, as though my answer was important. How could the air be so tense over such a simple question? "Sure," I replied. "Meet you guys there."
Mokuba practically dragged me away, and once we were out of earshot of our older brothers, he said, "I think I've figured them out." I was tempted to tell him not to say anything – he was smiling, but I had this feeling in my gut that it would be bad. Still, with such a cheeky little smile, it couldn't be too horrible, and… I had to know. Maybe then I'd stop worrying about it.
"And…?"
"This is going to sound weird, but I think they have an agreement."
"As in, they got along long enough to sit down and talk about something?"
He nodded. "Yeah – amazing, the things brothers can do when they care about their siblings. You see, I didn't think it until this morning – Niisama and I were talking a little about dating and Jou. Well, we talked about…" He coughed weakly, "stuff, and he made this comment about 'new boundaries', and he had this look on his face like he was thinking."
"New boundaries?" I felt like a parrot, but I couldn't quite follow him – how did that add up to them getting along?
"Yeah." He stared at me, as though waiting for me to reply. I shrugged, and he shook his hands, as though clearing some invisible canvas between us. "Look, Jou likes me, and Seto likes you. Thing is, they both worry about us – they don't trust each other, and don't want to see either of us hurt. So they sit down and they make a deal – I bet one isn't allowed to do more than other, sort of like a way to keep each other in check while restraining themselves. It's definitely something Niisama would think of." He looked incredibly proud of himself, and if I weren't so confused, I'd have been incredibly amused by it.
"I can understand why they'd want to do that to each other, but why themselves?"
He smiled disarmingly and turned to get some animal food – I hadn't even noticed that we were at the proper vendor. As we began our walk back to the petting zoo he said, "Because they care about us."
He had no idea how much those words relieved me! I spent so much time wondering if I was some experiment or form of revenge – for the Kaiba that Oniichan always described, that would make perfect sense. Sometimes, the Seto that I knew seemed too foreign. Hearing Mokuba's theory at least lifted the nervousness from my chest. "So… should we do something?" I asked, stretching my arms up over my head as we walked. I was still a little queasy, but I felt much better.
"We can just talk to them," he answered. "We can tell them that it was sort of noble, but uncalled for. This can all end without bloodshed if we're all mature about it."
I nodded and looked at the aquarium as we passed it. I paused outside the open doorway, though I wasn't sure what caught my attention. Then I heard something: Oniichan yelling, to be precise. "Hey, listen," I said quietly, pulling Mokuba in the doorway, "Hear that?" He nodded, and we followed Oniichan's voice all the way to a tube that cut through some water; all sorts of fish were swimming past the clear surface, but the most interesting animals were the ones facing off in the middle of the hall; if we peeked just over the edge, we could see them, but I didn't dare – I didn't want them to see us.
" – and you're fucked up!" Oniichan fumed.
"Who are you to call me fucked up?" Seto replied, and his voice was different – like he was back to being the Seto that Oniichan had always warned me about. Cold. Clipped. "You're the pedophile who's using my little brother."
"It's not like that, and he's not a kid! Besides, even if I was a pedophile, at least I'm not YOU. I mean, goddamn it, Kaiba, did you see her face when you kissed her? Does the fact that you're going to hurt her even register with you? You can't fuck with people's hearts like that!"
Queasy wasn't a strong enough word to describe my stomach. I wanted Seto to deny those words, I wanted Katsuya to be mistaken – he was too protective.
Seto failed my hopes. "You know the deal," he said simply. "If you don't like it, then you're perfectly capable of fixing the problem yourself. You leave my brother alone, I'll leave your sister alone, remember?"
"Seto…" Mokuba said beside me, his voice soft and bewildered.
"You're sick, Kaiba," Katsuya spat, but I didn't stick around to hear what Seto had to say – I took off for another part of the aquarium. I could feel tears stinging my eyes. How… How… I didn't want to believe it – I had just decided to feel better, Mokuba had just give me that little bit of hope…
I found myself at a kids' station. All around me children were playing in an elongated tray of water, each at a different station, poking and giggling at little aquatic creatures. I sat down at the end station, folding my arms on the dry surface and leaning over the water, staring blankly into the water. Mokuba had been off; there wasn't an arrangement because they cared, there was an ultimatum because Seto wanted Katsuya away from Mokuba.
Seto cared about Mokuba, Katsuya cared about Mokuba, Mokuba cared about Seto… Where exactly was I supposed to fit into all this? I was just a device, an obstruction for Oniichan.
"Shizuka…" I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I knew it was Mokuba. I turned my face away from him, my hair forming a wall between us – I noticed the water ripple before I realize that my tears were the cause. "I didn't think…"
"It's fine," I murmured. "It's not your fault."
He moved to my other side, kneeling down so he could look up at my face. "But I… oh, don't cry," he all but pleaded, "Maybe we heard wrong, or maybe – "
"Don't," I replied harshly, wiping the tears from my cheeks. "Don't try to lie to me; I think I've had my fill for today."
He took a deep breath; his face was red, and his voice was harsh as he said, "We have to do something – this is…" his voice were strangely soft, "I can't believe Niisama said…"
"Well, he did," I said, trailing my fingertips through the water, watching the ripples that followed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mokuba stand, but he didn't leave. I took a deep breath and continued, "I can break up with him; then this whole thing will work out for everyone – you and Katsuya won't have any obstacles, and Seto won't have to pretend."
"That's not right, though," Mokuba said. He caught my hand, and I looked up at him. "We need to do something, talk to them, or…"
I nodded, pulling my hand away and wiping it off on my jeans. "Not now, okay?" I couldn't bring myself to look at Seto or Katsuya right then; I couldn't handle it.
Mokuba nodded and patted my head – it was weird, but sort of comforting. "I wouldn't think so; we'll go somewhere else now and find them later." He stood and held out his hand, as if offering to help me up. I guess chivalry wasn't dead. "Now don't cry, okay? We can have a good time without them." I suddenly found myself more angry than sad. I wanted to storm back into that tube and give them both a piece of my mind…
I managed a weak smile; hesitantly, I took his hand and followed.
Mokuba
Niisama wasn't perfect – no one knew that better than me – but he wasn't this LOW either. Sure, he wasn't the nicest guy ever, and I'd been by his side through worse, but this was different. He knew a little better now… Hurting people wasn't supposed to come natural to him, not anymore – and the way he was talking to Jounouchi, how casually he'd brushed off his relationship with Shizuka… it'd sounded very natural.
Speaking of Shizuka, she was walking beside me, and it bugged me how obviously quiet she was – it was contrasted by her little sniffles, and even with the noise of dozens of people around us, those little noises were louder than anything I'd ever had to listen to.
I'd never really seen a girl cry before. That was what really got to me – I'd seen Anzu get worried to the point of tears, seen Mai laugh so hard she cried, but I'd never seen a girl look as heartbroken as Shizuka had in the aquarium. I'd never seen a girl cry quite like that, and I never wanted to.
I opened my mouth to say something, only to find myself stuck. I wasn't going to tell her it was alright – that would be a lie, and we both knew it.
"I really just hoped that he was turning over a new leaf," she sighed, stopping and sitting at a bench, hands wringing in her lap. I stood just a few feet in front of her, watching and waiting for her to continue. "It's not like I didn't know he was being weird for… well, for him." She looked up at me; she wasn't crying anymore, but her eyes were red, and seeing that made me even madder, and I spoke before I even knew quite what was going through my head.
"We should get back at them."
Revenge wasn't an everyday thing for me. Maybe I wasn't much better right then than Niisama was; maybe we really never would get past being brats about getting our way. But we'd never been pitted against each other quite like this; I'd never wanted to get Niisama back for anything. The fact that it was all over a girl… that was different.
"How? How much worse does it get than using someone?" She cringed slightly as she spoke, but she didn't start crying again.
It came to me like a stroke of evil genius, and if the situation didn't feel so serious, I might have laughed like a movie-style mad scientist. Instead, I settled for a sly smile. "We use them. This is all about them not wanting either of us to go too far, so we should do just that – lead them on, and make them regret that they messed up."
She smiled, but the motion didn't quite reach her eyes. "They'll both freak out."
I nodded. "What do you think?"
"I think…" She closed her eyes, and for a second I wondered if she'd fallen asleep, or died – could girls die of heartbreak? – but after a minute she looked up. She looked determined, like Jounouchi when he got really pissed off. "I think it's a good idea."
Before we could hash out any specifics Jounouchi came up, looking like he had some right to be pissed off. "Hey, Shizuka. Can we talk?"
She could've yelled at him, taken him on and called him on everything we heard… but she just smiled and nodded. "Of course, Oniichan. What is it?" Jounouchi looked at me, biting his lower lip, and looked back at Shizuka.
"Um, can we walk?" he asked, looking just a little guilty. "Nothing personal Mokuba, but…"
"It's nothing," I replied, snappier than I'd intended. I'd have to work on that, especially if we were going to get them back. "I'll meet you guys… somewhere. I should probably find Niisama." Jounouchi made some smart-ass remark under his breath, but I ignored it. However, I couldn't resist eavesdropping a little as I walked away.
"I just wanted to warn you about Kaiba – I just… Don't do anything stupid with him. He's crafty," Jounouchi said ominously, like he was trying to warn her of a curse or something.
I just barely caught Shizuka's reply: "Don't worry, Oniichan," she told him. "I can handle him."
notes
cue daytime soap music The further we get into this, the more I doubt it. TT
Shizuka's cute – not so much here, lol, I mean in general; she looks (and often acts) like the kind of girl that people try to protect. So I wanted to try to portray something a certain sort of surprise in being disappointed here, not only because it's from (two) someone(s) she could care about, but also as sort of a first time – a virgin to disappointment? Anyway…
On the names; I realized that maybe I'm not so obvious why Shizuka goes between Katsuya & Oniichan, or Mokuba goes between Seto & Niisama or Jou & Jounouchi – I actually do have a theory on this, it isn't random. Well, besides an overload in "nii" (lol), I figured first-name usage (or in Mokuba's case, using 'Jounouchi' – because I think Jou is a cute nickname. ;) is reserved for seriousness, or anger. And I can't see Shizuka calling Jounouchi … Jounouchi. It doesn't quite make sense to me.
Er. That's all. ducks out and hides