This comes from the "30 kisses" fic challenge community on Live Journal. Now normally I don't post stories a chapter at a time, but since each of the thirty themes is a separate one-shot unto itself, I'm gonna bend my own rule, 'cause if I never finish it's not like it'll really leave anyone hanging. As I update to 30 Kisses, I'll update here.
Summary: From the moment she came into his life, he'd been defined by one thing: being Big Brother. JounouchixShizuka (NOT incest).
Disclaimer: Yu-gi-oh doesn't belong to me, and neither do Jounouchi or Shizuka. I'm merely borrowing Takahashi-san's toys. I promise to put them back when I'm done.
Rating overall: M (for language and some adult themes)
Rating for #1: K
#1. Look Over Here
Everything was scary. The halls were long and white with paintings of bunnies and teddy bears. There were lots of busy people in green or blue pajamas or long white coats running up and down them, and other people carrying pink or blue balloons or flowers. His daddy had a pink balloon and the little boy, barely two years old, had wanted to hold the balloon, but Daddy said it wasn't for him, it was for Baby Sister. This made him cry. The paintings on the walls weren't enough to mask the funny smell and the scariness of the place and he just wanted the balloon to make it a little less scary, but Daddy said no. Pink was for girls, Daddy said.
"Katsuya!" his daddy snapped at him in that voice he got. Usually Daddy got that voice when he smelled funny and walked funny, stumbling a lot, but he wasn't smelling funny the past couple of days and could walk straight, so that was something anyway. "Katsuya!" Daddy repeated. "Be a big boy! Big boys don't cry!"
The little boy swallowed his tears and let his daddy lead him down the hallway with the bunnies and bears until they went into one of the rooms. It wasn't any less scary than the hallway despite more bunnies and bears painted on the walls in here, too, but it did have the one thing he was most wanting to see in the world… his mother. When he'd woken up that morning, his mother had been gone, along with daddy; the neighbor lady was there instead. Daddy came back later and said they were going to see Mommy and Baby Sister and had brought him here and now finally, here Mommy was. She was sitting in a bed in the corner, holding something.
"Mommy!" he cried, letting go of his daddy's hand and running to the bed.
She looked up from what she was holding. "Katsuya-chan," she said softly, smiling. "Shhh. Your baby sister is sleeping."
He stopped dead in his tracks. His parents had been talking about Baby Sister for a long time now, and they always would pat his mother's belly, which seemed to get bigger and rounder all the time. But now she seemed to be talking about what she was holding instead of her belly and he was confused.
"Katsuya-chan, look over here," she said softly, beckoning him. "Come see your baby sister."
He started forward again, more cautiously this time. When he got to the bed, his daddy helped him climb up next to his mommy so he could see what she was holding. It was red and wrinkled and had and tiny little fists and was wearing a pink cap. It was funny looking and smelled funny, but not the same as when Daddy smelled funny. This was kind of a nice funny smell. And besides, Katsuya felt huge all of a sudden. He really was a big boy, just like Daddy said.
"This is Shizuka, Katsuya. This is your baby sister. You're a big brother now!"
He knew those words, too. They'd been calling him Big Brother just as long as they'd been talking about Baby Sister. He liked that, being Big Brother. It was good to be Big Anything.
"Is that balloon for us?" she asked, looking past Katsuya to his daddy, who seemed very out of place and uncomfortable in this room with painted bunnies and bears.
"Bay-bee Si-tah," Katsuya nodded solemnly, remembering what Daddy had said about big boys not crying.
"That's so sweet," his mommy smiled. "Can you say 'Shizuka'?"
He wrinkled his nose, confused. "Bay-bee Si-tah," he repeated, looking at the funny wrinkled blob in Mommy's arms.
"Yes, she's your baby sister, but her name is Shizuka. Say 'Shizuka.'"
"Zoo-ka?"
Mommy's smile got very big. He liked that. "That's wonderful, Katsuya-chan! Shizuka! It means 'calm' or 'peaceful,' did you know that?"
He didn't know what those words meant, but he liked the sound of it. Things had seemed better since they started talking about Baby Sister and Mommy started getting rounder and rounder. Daddy didn't smell funny or talk all funny and blurry or have trouble walking so much. He didn't shout as much or use those ugly words Mommy said were bad. Mommy was happier, too, smiling more. If that's what "Shizuka" meant, then he approved, even if it meant he didn't get the balloon.
"Zoo-ka," he said again, and Mommy laughed and clapped and Daddy patted him on the shoulder.
"Give Shizuka a kiss," Mommy said, and he obediently leaned forward and kissed the red blob on top of the pink cap.
"You're Shizuka's big brother, Katsuya-chan," Mommy told him. "You're going to have to help Mommy and Daddy take care of her, okay? You're such a big boy."
He nodded. Big Boy. Big Brother. Less Daddy shouting and smelling funny.
He liked this Shizuka, he decided. Even if it did look and smell kinda weird.