Windshipping (Shizuka x Ryo x Yugi)

(geez, another trio...these are the hard ones. And yeah, I messed up in the author's note last time, this is Windshipping, not Whispershipping.)

The wind was alive, Shizuka Kawai decided. It danced invisibly around her like a swarm of fairies, pulling at her hair and setting the strands every which way with an almost permeable glee. She didn't voice the thought, however, embarrassed to be thinking such things at her age. Katsuya would definitely tease her if he heard that. Still, it was hard not to feel so romantic when she was standing way up in the sky, watching the lighted buildings float past like a faraway starry sky underneath her feet. This was another thought she resisted voicing, but she allowed herself to entertain the thoughts of a reverse sky for a while, since she was, of course, alone at the top of the blimp.

The others were busy readying their decks, and for the thousandth time, she wondered why this card game was so very important.

"Wow," said a voice beside her, startling her. "It's so clear up here! And the wind dances as though its cheerful."

Shizuka's eyes widened, startled to hear her own thoughts voiced by someone else. She glanced across, and saw a boy leaning against the railings just a little bit away from her. The wind seemed to enjoy playing with his hair too, picking up the long white locks that were almost feminine. He blinked, as though noticing her stare, and caught her gaze with warm, round brown eyes.

"Oh, hello," he said. "Sorry, I probably startled you, didn't I?"

"Oh, it's fine," Shizuka said, waving her hand. "Actually I – I was thinking the exact same thing. About the wind, I mean."

She blushed suddenly, wishing she hadn't said anything. But the boy smiled.

"It's so easy to believe that something as active as wind has feelings like us, isn't it?" he said, staring off at the faraway buildings. "I often think that maybe there are spirits floating on the wind, saying hello as they fly by."

He looked so extraordinarily sad when he said this. Shizuka could only think that he must have lost someone very important to him. She was about to ask him his name when a second voice carried over to them.

"Oh, here you guys are! Have you been up here long?"

Shizuka looked back. The short, familiar form of Yugi Mutou trotted over to them.

"Kaiba-san was going to call over the loudspeakers soon, but I thought I'd look for you guys anyway," Yugi said. "We'll be starting the matching for the competition soon."

The wind seemed to be having fun attempting to move Yugi's spiky hair. His golden bangs fluttered a bit, but the darker mass of spikes barely moved. A fervent gust blasted the trio, causing Shizuka to step back from the railing.

"Whoa!" Yugi said. "And we have to duel in this?"

"It was probably frustrated, because your hair doesn't move when it plays with it," Shizuka said. Instantly she felt heat rush to her face. That was silly of her to say. But Yugi surprised her too.

"Hey, yeah, it could be," Yugi said, looking thoughtful. "Well, with all the other crazy stuff going on, I can't deny the possibility!"

The white haired boy laughed a little, and then he cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't properly introduce myself," he said, bowing to Shizuka. "I'm Ryo Bakura."

"Oh, I'm Shizuka Kawai," Shizuka said, bowing back. "I think I've heard of you from Katsuya."

"That's right," Bakura said. "You're Jonouchi-kun's sister, aren't you?"

"That's me," Shizuka said, blushing a little again. "I'm sorry, about before. I think of some weird things sometimes."

"I think its rather poetic, actually," Bakura said. "You should write down the things you think of."

Shizuka blushed even more. She had never thought of that. Katsuya had always teased her about her romantic thoughts. It was surprising to think that they could be poetic.

Another gust blasted them, and Shizuka's hair flew up in her face. She squeaked a little, and then managed to push it away.

"Wow," Yugi said. "We'll lose our cards in this."

"Better hang on tight, then!" Bakura laughed. "Maybe we should head in. What about you, Kawai-san?"

"I think I'll wait just a little longer," she said. "I like the cool air."

"Yeah, it is pretty nice," Yugi said. "And this is probably going to be the only relaxation we get for the next day and a half."

Shizuka laughed a little, but Yugi seemed pretty serious. She had heard an awful lot about Yugi from her brother, how he was a rather shy kid, but extremely good at any kind of game. Katsuya had also told her that there were two Yugis: the other was supposed to be an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. But that was kind of hard to believe, so Shizuka assumed that Katsuya was teasing her again.

She drew in a breath.

"Well, I should go in," Yugi said. "Kaiba will probably yell at us from the speaker any minute now."

"Good point," Bakura said.

Shizuka pushed her hair from her eyes, and decided that it would probably be a good idea to follow them. She had only gotten one foot off the ground when wind gusted from behind her. With a cry, her footing came out from under her, and she felt herself slipping back over the railing.

"Kawai-san!"

"Shizuka-chan!"

Two hands grasped at her arms, holding her inches away from hurtling down into the gaping maw of a reverse starry sky.

I'm going to die and I still think strange thoughts, she thought, a little hysterically.

But the grip on her arms held fast, and moments later, she was drawn safely back over the railing. Her knees gave out, and she slid to the ground gasping.

"Are you okay?" Yugi said, his violet eyes huge with worry. "That was dangerous! What was Kaiba thinking?"

"Deep breaths, Kawai-san," Bakura said. "You're probably going into shock."

Shizuka swallowed, forcing herself to focus on her breaths. After a couple more breaths, interspersed with attempts to swallow past her dry throat, she managed to speak.

"That was...terrifying," she said. "Thank you."

"The wind sure seemed angry just then, didn't it?" Bakura said, smiling a little.

Shizuka's lips fluttered into a half smile, but it was hard to think past the thoughts of almost dying.

"All duelists report to the main bridge," a voice over a loudspeaker commanded. "I repeat, all duelists to the main bridge. If you're late when your number is chosen, you're disqualified."

"Uh oh. We'd better hurry," Yugi said. "Can you stand, Shizuka-chan?"

"I think so," Shizuka said.

Yugi held out his hand to her, and she let him help her up. She was shaky, but she could stand upright, at least.

"You should be careful," Bakura said. "It's probably not a good idea to come up here alone."

"Right," Shizuka said.

The wind quietly whispered around her ears, like words that she couldn't quite catch.

Maybe I am a poet.

The thought was more exciting that she thought it would be, and she hurried to follow the two boys ahead of her. Had the wind been angry? She wasn't so sure.

Maybe the wind was a little romantic too.

A/N: yeah, I totally used the shipping name for inspiration on this one. :) Shizuka is also a bit of a Mary-Sue in this one, but it was difficult to not do that in this particular setting, especially since I love Shizuka so much. I mean come on, she's so adorable! And Bakura and Yugi are good matches for her too, since they're adorable too. :3 So next is Willowshipping (Arthur x Kisara). It's an...interesting pairing, to put it mildly...sigh.