Sparkleshipping (Mana x Kisara)

Mana was in a good mood this morning. Well, she was in a good mood pretty much every morning, but today felt extra special for no apparent reason. She skipped down the hall, swinging her wand back and forth as she hummed a cheery, made-up tune.

She had almost reached the door to the library at the end of the hall when the door swung open. Mahad appeared in a flick of white robes and a glint of gold, and Mana instantly skidded to a stop, tucking her wand behind her back. She didn't want to be scolded again for skipping with her wand – and she definitely didn't want her teacher to remind her about the fish incident again. Even though that had totally not been her fault.

He caught sight of her almost instantly, and the hint of a smile crept into his eyes. His expressions were never very noticeable, but Mana had learned to understand them over the years.

"Good morning, Mana," he said. "I'm assuming you're looking for the pharaoh?"

"Yep!" she said cheerfully as she tried to sneakily edge past him.

Mahad blocked her path, trying to look stern but smiling softly anyway.

"You'll have to wait. He's busy discussing the economic report with Priest Akhenaden."

"But –" Mana protested.

Mahad wouldn't hear it. He took her shoulders, turned her around, and pushed her gently the opposite direction.

"Go practice your magic. You may have the day off of official studies, but you mustn't let yourself become rusty."

Mana tried to protest, but she found that her legs were moving all by themselves. She gave a great sigh, and allowed Mahad's spell to propel her to the end of the hall. Once the spell wore off, she glanced surreptitiously behind her. Mahad had gone, but she found that the spell held firm – she couldn't walk into the corridor.

She sighed again. Her morning plans had been thwarted. Well, there was plenty to do while she waited for Atem to have a spare moment, so she turned her mind to other things. She decided to go down into the market place. There were always interesting things down there to look at, and people to talk to.

The guards gave her no more than a passing nod at her cheery hello. She ignored the disappointing reaction and paid attention instead to the bright, cheery blue sky and the beautiful golden disc of the sun.

The market was as busy and crowded as ever. As always, she felt right at home among the wide oceans of people shoving and swerving and shouting, and she breathed in the hot desert air tinged with the hint of the Nile River. Where should she go first? Maybe the spellstone salesman was back from Nubia. Oh, or she could see if the fruit stand was open yet.

A flash of motion caught her attention. Hm?

She paused in the middle of the crowd. There was movement all around her; why should something catch her eye like that? The flash came again, and she realized that it was not the movement so much as the color that came with it: a bright blue, almost white in its metallic shimmer. Was that someone's hair? Who could have hair like that?

Mana paused on tip toe, but she couldn't see past the tall bearded man in front of her. Pouting, she sidestepped the man and glanced around for the source of the motion. A moment later, she caught the glimpse of those metallic blue tresses disappearing around a corner. A trio of boys no older than Mana chased after the glimpse, obviously shouting, although the sound was lost in the general noise of the market place.

Mana's blood ran cold when she saw the stones in their hands.

Without a second thought, she plunged through the crowd. She didn't even pause to say sorry to the people she shoved past, trying to reach the alley where the boys had vanished. Her knuckles were white where they gripped her wand – could she even trust herself to use her magic against non-magicians? Mahad would give her more than a scolding if she did!

But she shoved the thoughts aside and continued to run blindly into the maze of alleys. The sounds of the marketplace faded away to a distant murmur, and she could follow the sounds of the shouting boys more easily.

"Where'd she go?"

"Where is she?"

"Did you see where she went?"

"Hey, over there, I saw her hair!"

Mana dove through randomly chosen turns, praying that the boys would keep making noise. Suddenly, she barreled around a corner and skidded to a stop. She wheeled her arms to keep her balance as she tried to take in the situation.

There was a girl with that impossible hair cowering at a dead end. The three boys stood around her, jeering with rocks in their hands. One boy thew a stone and it hit the wall above the girl. The girl cried out and ducked her head under her hands. Trembles racked her body.

"Hey!" Mana said, anger replacing her previous apprehension. "What do you think you're doing?"

The boys turned around, obviously surprised that someone else was here.

"Hey, get out of here. This is none of your business."

The tallest of the boys hefted his stone menacingly, but Mana didn't think of herself as a coward. She drew herself up to her full height, even though she only reached the tallest boy's shoulder.

"I hope you know that throwing stones at people unprovoked is considered assault," she said in her most imperious tone, trying to imitate Atem when he faced down criminals in the courtroom. "That is against the law of the pharaoh, and is punishable by up to three years of labor."

"No one is here to enforce the pharaoh's law, girl," the tall boy said, advancing. "I don't see his mighty royal highness anywhere around here, do you?"

Mana didn't back down, glaring at him. After a moment's thought, she shoved the end of her wand into his face.

"I'll have you know that my name is Mana, and I am the apprentice to the High Wizard Mahad, Keeper of the Millennium Ring and one of the six guardians of the pharaoh. Not only can I use my magic against you, but I have no issues with going straight to the pharaoh after this and telling him what has happened!"

While the two shorter boys seemed nervous, the taller boy didn't appear to care.

"Whatever," he said.

And with that, he plucked Mana's wand from her hand and threw it behind him. Mana flinched. She...hadn't expected that.

"Now what, wizard?" the boy jeered. "Now what?"

"I...um..."

The girl with metallic blue hair was staring at her, her fair skin and blue eyes both startling and stunning. Those blue eyes were fearful – fearful for Mana, Mana realized. Well, Mana wasn't about to let this go without a fight.

"Just turn around and walk away –"

The boy didn't get to finish his sentence, because Mana flung herself at him. They both tumbled to the ground, the boy's stone flying harmlessly to hit a far away wall.

"Hey, you! Run!" Mana shouted at the blue haired girl.

The girl scrambled to her feet, but she hesitated. The other two boys were shouting, trying to grab at Mana's shoulders and stop her from slamming her fists into every vital spot she could reach. She was yanked violently off the boy and slammed against the wall. The breath left her lungs, and the tall boy stumbled to his feet. He didn't appear harmed – not surprising, since Mana wasn't really that strong.

"You're gonna pay for that, play-wizard," he said with an ugly sneer.

He cocked a fist back as the other two boys held her arms against the wall. Mana squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that at least the girl had gotten away –

The blow never came. Suddenly, the pressure on her arms disappeared. When she chanced to crack open her eyes, she saw the tall boy laying unconscious on the ground, and the fleeing backs of the other two boys. She blinked, surprised.

Then she saw the blue haired girl holding Mana's wand out, like a sword. Her graceful, pale arms trembled.

"Did you...hit him with that?" Mana asked.

The girl nodded, shyly.

"Is...I mean...I'm sorry for using your wand like that..." she said quietly, her Egyptian tinted with an accent Mana didn't recognize.

"Huh? Oh, no biggie. I've done worse to it."

She took the wand from the girl's outstretched hands.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

The girl shook her head. Well, she was quiet. Really quiet. She seemed kind of nervous, too, like Mana might jump up and bite her. Well, that was no good – she was so pretty that she might as well smile and make herself even prettier. And every smile starts with another smile!

Mana gave the girl her biggest, warmest smile.

"I'm Mana," she said. "What's your name?"

The girl ducked her head slightly, still nervous.

"I...I'm Kisara," she said.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Kisara!"

No good, she still wasn't smiling. Mana considered this for a moment. Being too nervous to smile was something she had never experienced before, so she wasn't sure how to deal with it. Then her stomach rolled, so loud that it bounced off the stone walls around them.

Startled blue eyes met sheepish brown ones as the sound died away. Mana found herself blushing slightly.

"Uh...are you hungry? Cause I'm starving."

Kisara tried to repress it, but it came anyway. She smiled, a broad, beautiful thing that completely transformed her demeanor until she was impossibly pretty.

Mana grinned back. It was so hard not to at the sparkle in Kisara's own smile.

A/N: Aw, that's so cute! Aren't they cute? :3 I seem to like yuri couples better than yaoi ones. Yu-Gi-Oh is lacking good yuri couples, but there are so many yaoi couples that they get annoying. Next is Spaceshipping (Shizuka x Yami no Marik). Should be interesting...