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Kaiba
"Are you busy?"
I was surprised to see Shizuka standing in my office doorway. How she'd gotten past security, I couldn't be sure; probably by rumor alone. I'd let it slide, though… just once. "Yes, but I can spare a few minutes. What do you need?" I asked, switching off my monitor and turning my attention to her. With what Mokuba had told me, with all the trouble I'd never really meant to cause her… I owed her a little of my time on her terms. She took the invitation, closing the door behind her as she made her way to sit down at one of the couches in front of my desk. For a minute we stared at each other, and all of a sudden she laughed. I wasn't sure what was so funny.
"You have no idea how angry of I was. I probably still should be…" she said, smiling. She was a prime example of why I didn't understand people, now that I took a good look at her; how could she look so nostalgic while recalling anger? "I wanted to make sure you suffered, make sure that you understood it to the extent that I had felt it. I got over it eventually. You brother is a great person; you should be really proud."
"I am," I said, watching her carefully. She just nodded, looking me over like she was looking at something that only she could see.
"You know, from day one, Oniichan has always complained about you at least once a week. I had been hearing horrible stories about you while I was still in the hospital; I expected you to be something horrible. And you were – well, kind of – at that tournament." She laughed again; I scowled. These were her terms, but that didn't mean I had to be happy about the abuse. "But you were also really interesting. That day at school… You were so different, and…" She blushed. "Well, I wanted to believe that Oniichan was wrong about you. For a while there, I was sure that he was. Then I was sure that he had been right. Now… He was wrong." She nodded again, and I was left not knowing what I was supposed to say. I still wasn't even sure if she was complimenting or insulting me. Good thing she didn't leave the next words up to me. "So about Mokuba – "
"I'm not your keeper – do as you like," I said, secretly pleased that it had turned out as I had half-hoped it would. "I like you a lot better than your brother anyway."
She blushed, wringing her hands in her lap and averting her gaze for the first time since she entered my office. "Really?" It was nice to gain the upper hand for a minute, just long enough – and on a topic I considered myself educated on.
"If Mokuba was willing to have you on his side to take me out, then you're someone worthy of him – and I think I know enough about you to trust you with my little brother." Her cheeks turned all shades of red, and I could've sworn she was sniffling, which wasn't the effect I was going for. Without warning she snapped to her feet, running her hands over her sides. She seemed to be standing a little taller. With any luck, I'd given her reason to be proud – and keep herself in check.
Couldn't be too careful, after all.
Despite the sniffling, her voice was steady with an almost formal turn to her words. "I don't want to keep you from your work any longer." She stood still for a second, paused; a bit thankfully I took that she was done. I didn't know much of this blunt honesty I could handle. I looked away, back to my work – a nonverbal goodbye. Apparently she didn't intend to stop surprising me; without warning she was hugging me from the side, her forehead resting against the top of my head. "Thanks."
"For what?" I asked, sitting stiffly. She was hugging me, thanking me, even though I'd never done anything good for her. Did a lack of logic run in the family?
"For being you," she said, amusement obvious in her words. "After all, even if you never really liked me, you still did me some good – I never would have looked twice at Mokuba otherwise." She leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Bye, Seto. I'll see you around." Her exit wasn't hurried, and it wasn't even really sad; but it was heavy. Even after she was gone it hung there, stuck with me while I calculated Kaiba Corp's finances. It was hard to work with a thank you like that on my mind. Awkward as it was, I appreciated it; it was closure. The air was clear – in fact, Jounouchi was the only loose end left. Good thing there had never been any semblance of peace between us. If we actually talked this out, we could go back to normally hostile, at best.
Mokuba
"Goddamn it, if you were a little older and about a foot taller, I'd kick your ass!"
I stood my ground, foot of height be damned. I didn't care if he was older, or taller, or if we were in his house – he was an asshole, and we both knew it. Funny – after all the time I spent trying to make him look good… "I wasn't too old to be lied to, was I? The line was, 'break the kid and then his heart,' right?"
He paused, and I'd never quite seen him turn THAT red that quickly; whether he was embarrassed or getting really irate, I didn't know. I didn't care either. "Ugh! I hate ex-boyfriends!"
"Yeah, well, I hate you!"
There's a minute in every good fight when it happens: that moment when you cross that little invisible line and don't mean it – and there it was. I felt it right after the words came out of my mouth – saw it on his face as he sort of dumbly flopped back onto the couch, slumping back into the cushions, blinking as though processing what I'd just said. I clenched my fists, still glaring and standing my ground… and I waited. I could do that for him – if I was going to be mean, I might as well give him the opportunity to hit back.
"That's the biggest problem with dating guys," he said, voice weird, way too collected to be normal. "The fights are a lot rougher. You're going to be nicer to Shizuka, right?"
"Huh?"
"You're chasing after Shizuka, right?" he asked, like it was obvious. My shoulders loosened, and I eyed him warily. "Did you think I'd stop you? You gotta promise to be good to her."
Damn him and his ability to catch me off guard. It was my turn to blink like an idiot. I understood his tone all of a sudden; it was hard to say anything that sounded right after being hit with that sort of statement… kinda like having the wind knocked out of you. I sighed and sat next to him. "Yeah," I said. "I'll be nice to Shizuka – a hell of a lot nicer than I am to you."
"Good."
I leaned back against the couch. "And I don't hate you, you just… You don't make a very good ex-boyfriend, you know."
"You're not exactly doing a stellar job yourself."
"Well, I'm new at this," I retorted, smiling a little. "But you don't get it – with all the time I spent trying to convince Niisama that you were good enough, you had to be stupid enough to lose your temper like that. And what kind of guys says that about someone he cares about, even if he doesn't mean it. That bugged me, but whatever. I'll try to be better if you do."
"Deal. So… What did you come here to do, anyway?"
"Get along with you."
He laughed so hard that I thought he might wet himself, and as funny as that would have been, it wasn't what I wanted. He leaned his head back against the couch, shaking. "Well, we're doing a great job, aren't we?"
I didn't have an answer to that – hopefully, I didn't need one. So we sat there, not talking or moving or interacting. To think, at one point, I would have been trying to… "I really liked you," I said; my words sounded a little too loud, even though they weren't loud at all. Maybe it was just weird to have to say it at all. "But I've got serious problems with a guy who can't get his brain out of pants long enough to realize his sister is being hurt."
"Fuck you!"
I bristled, "Fuck me? You're the one who…!" I took a deep breath – we were supposed to trying hard at being good ex-boyfriends, not fighting again. "Anyway… I don't know. I just got close to Shizuka. It just happened."
"Sounds familiar. Whatever. I liked you too. You're an awesome kid when you're not acting like your brother. Man, you make one hell of an enemy. In hindsight, yeah, I guess I should've noticed you were distracted by someone else, and you just lit up around Shizuka." He laughed, and I shifted a little uncomfortably. It was embarrassing to hear out loud, even if I already knew it.
"Was it that obvious?"
"Oh yeah. We were doomed from the start, I guess. You're probably better off with Shizuka anyway – she's certainly a lot better off with you. I think."
I nodded. "Probably. Is this at least a semi-mutual break up?"
He nodded and held a hand out to me; I took it, and weirdly, we shook hands. "Entirely mutual, badly executed."
With a smile, I took my hand back. "Well, that leaves one more thing to deal with."
"Please don't," he asked, holding his hands together in mock prayer. "We're getting along so well, so just don't bring it up."
"C'mon," I said, looking over at him and raising an eyebrow. "He's going to confront you eventually. If you just… promise not to do anything stupid, then I'll back off."
He sighed and cracked his knuckles. "Fine, fine, okay, whatever. I'll take my beating like a good little fuck-up."
"Thank you. So… friends again, eh?"
"Yeah." He sat up, leaned forward to pick up the soda can on the coffee table. Taking a long swig, he set it back down and grinned at me in such an almost-creepy way that I involuntarily leaned back a little. "But friend and ex-boyfriend or not, if you hurt my little sister, I'm breaking your legs."
notes
As always, thank you to the boss for her beta assistance, and dealing with the erratic scheduling (or lack thereof).
On that note -- admit it, the fact that it's not been a month impresses you. You can't resist cracking a smile and wondering if someone has taken over the computer, eh? XD Anyway, neither is true; I actually just finally stopped avoiding the edits and the rewrites and whatnot, so it's smooth sailing from here on out.
You know, except the general ending issues. ;; Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Enjoy!