Rating: K

#29 The sound of waves

"Can I open my eyes yet?" Shizuka complained, but with a touch of childish excitement in her voice.

"Oh, give it a rest, willya?" Jounouchi snapped fondly. "I'll tell you when we get there."

"But Big Brother, this is a little too much like after I had my operation, walking around with those bandages over my eyes." She tugged at the bandana he'd tied around her face, but he slapped her hand away.

"Don't think the pity card is gonna work either," he admonished. "But here's our stop. We're almost there."

The bus they were riding rolled to a halt with a screech of its brakes and Jounouchi steered his temporarily-blinded sister down the steps and onto the street into the hot summer sun. The duffle bag he was carrying slipped off his shoulder and he hoisted it back up while Shizuka clung to his other elbow so he could guide her.

"Okay, we just have to walk about five hundred meters more and then we're there."

They only went about a dozen more steps, however, when Shizuka stopped, her nose wrinkling under the bandana. "Is that… waves? I hear the ocean! I know where we are!" she squealed, and tore the bandana from her face before he could stop her.

"Hey, you're ruining the surprise!" he protested, but she flung herself onto his neck.

"I knew it! It's the beach! Our beach!" she cried, squeezing him tightly. "Oh, Big Brother, you remembered!"

"Course I remembered," he sniffed. "I pinky-swore I'd bring you back here, and Jounouchi Katsuya never goes back on a pinky swear. It took ten years, but I'm a man of my word."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Big Brother!" Then as if she were seven again, she took off at a run up the cliffside road, stopping when she reached the top of the hill.

"Wait up, wouldja?" Jounouchi called out. Panting, he caught up to her. "I can't believe you couldn't wait two more seconds, you cheater."

"What did you expect?" she laughed. "I was almost blind for like fourteen years. You put a blindfold on me, my ears are gonna automatically start working overtime." She sighed happily, looking down at the white sand and blue water stretching below them. "It's exactly as I remember it. And there's no one there! How can it be empty on a gorgeous summer day like today?"

"I ordered it up special for you," Jounouchi elbowed her, but when she gave him a dubious look, he said, "Okay, it's just not that popular 'cause it's small and hard to get to and there's no lifeguard or anything. I've only been here a few times myself since that day I brought you here."

"Mom was so mad, remember?" she grinned. "I thought you would be grounded for a month. You're lucky she let you off with just a week."

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty stupid coming down here by ourselves when we was so young." He sighed. "I thought I was so big and grown-up and could do anything."

"You were," she said, looking up at him. "You took care of me."

Blinking, he said, "Aw, c'mon, what are we standing up here for? Last one down to the water is a Larvae Moth!"

They spent the entire day at the beach, playing in the surf and building sand castles just like when they were kids. Jounouchi had brought bathing suits in his duffle bag, but Shizuka insisted they remain in their street clothes, just like they had ten years ago and by the time they ate the picnic lunch he'd also brought, his t-shirt and shorts were soaked through. After lunch they laid out under the sun to dry, only to get wet all over again when she dragged him into the waves once more. Like ten years before, they didn't even think about leaving until the sky was turning pink and the sun had disappeared behind the cliff.

"We should be heading back soon," Jounouchi said as they sat together on a rock looking out at the rose-tinted water. "We don't wanna miss the last bus and make Gramps drive all the way out here to get us."

"In a minute," she said, closing her eyes and breathing in the salt air. "I wanna capture everything about this day and remember it like I did the first one." She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. "That day, this place, it was one of my best memories ever, you know that? Anytime I got lonely or scared or I missed you, especially those couple of years when we didn't keep in touch, I would think of sitting here on this beach with you and I would remember that no matter what happened, there was always someone who loved me enough to make such a perfect day for me."

"Shut up, you're making me blush here," he grinned, nudging her with his elbow, but then he sobered. "It was one of my best memories ever, too, Sis. I'm sorry it took me so long to keep my promise."

"No, it's perfect," she said. "It was one of the last things we did together before we were separated. And now here it is a little more than six months before I graduate high school and I get to come here to go to college and live with you full-time again. This memory kept us going when we were apart, and now it will bring us back together for good. I think it would've ruined it to come back here any sooner."

"So when should we come back again?" he asked. "Another ten years?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe we should save it to mark important events. How 'bout you bring me here just before I get my medical degree? Or before I get married?"

He snorted. "Not a guy on the planet good enough to marry you, Sis."

"Great, I'll just join a convent then," she rolled her eyes.

"That works for me."

"You're such an idiot."

He heaved a dramatic sigh. "Okay, if you can find some guy good enough for you—and that's a big if—I'll bring you here before you get married. And when you get your medical degree. And when you have your first kid."

She grinned at him. "You promise?"

He held out his pinky to her and she hooked hers with his. "I pinky-swear. And I never go back on a pinky-swear."