Senetshipping (Ishizu Ishtar x Ryuji Otogi)
. . .
There were very few women that could make Otogi pause. Fewer still could completely take his breath away and leave him unable to speak, unable to use his usual charm and talent to make her swoon. It was a rare woman that could make Otogi Ryuji feel, well, awkward.
She was one of those, wasn't she? He thought at the back of his mind as the rest of his head went quiet with fuzz.
She smiled at him, almost with a hint of mischief as though she knew what kind of effect she was having on him. But he might have been imagining that, because the next second her smile looked just calm and dignified like the rest of her quiet demeanor.
"Hello," she said. "I recognize you; you're one of Yugi's friends, aren't you? I saw you on the blimp during Battle City."
His mind registered the words and his mouth opened, but for a few seconds, nothing came out. A blush grew over his cheeks and he ducked his eyes away from hers.
"R-right, I was there," he said. "Oh, yeah you were…the lady that dueled Kaiba, right?"
"That was me," she said with a soft laugh. "I'm Ishizu Ishtar. I'm not sure I ever got your name."
"Ryuji…Otogi Ryuji."
She smiled as she extended one soft, delicate hand.
"Please to meet you," she said. "For real this time."
Otogi actually almost forgot to shake hands with her and fumbled a bit. He blushed again as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Right, you too," he said. "You're a good duelist."
"Why thank you; I'm flattered you would say so. Do you duel yourself?"
"No, not much…I, uh…I run my game shop. We carry Dungeon Dice Monsters, the game I made…"
"Ah, a designer! No doubt you're a fan of Mr. Crawford then."
"Probably his biggest," Otogi said, actually smiling now. And not his usual, flirty smile that he tended to use with girls, but a normal, pleased smile. "What are you doing here, at the museum?"
"I'm the curator of the exhibit and thought I'd have a look at how things were going…what about you? This isn't normally where you'd find a young game designer like yourself. Unless, of course, you know about Pegasus' inspirations?"
Otogi nodded, feeling much more into the conversation now.
"Oh, yeah! I actually met him once and he told me about it. I've been stopping by every time there's a new exhibit in case I need more inspiration for new games or just new additions to the old one."
Ishizu smiled, and Otogi felt his stomach flip-flop. Gah, this was not how he was supposed to handle things like this!
"That sounds wonderful," she said. "I'm glad my exhibit can be of use to you. What were you looking at just now?"
"Oh, uh…this game board here…how do you pronounce that?"
Ishizu glanced down at the display that Otogi gestured to and nodded.
"It's called senet. It's actually one of the first games to have rudimentary dice, so I can understand your interest."
Otogi nodded slowly, glancing over the board.
"Ancient dice, huh? That's really cool; I didn't know it was that old."
He frowned though, scratching his chin.
"How do you play a game like this? Does anyone have the rules anymore?"
Ishizu actually smiled; and this time, it definitely was a mischievous one.
"Technically, no. The game play has been lost," she said. "However…"
She blinked as her name was called across the museum, an flustered looking white haired man waving for her to come over.
"I'll be there in a moment Yamishiro-san," she called. "I'm sorry, duty calls. You'll have to excuse me."
"N-no, no problem. Glad I got to meet you."
"And you as well, Otogi-san."
She bowed briefly, but hesitated before she left.
"You know, if you're interested in learning, I do know how to play," she said.
"What? Really?"
"Ishtar-san, please, I need you over here for the meeting…"
Ishizu sighed and rolled her eyes at the man.
"Honestly, we have twenty minutes…" she said. "But yes. I do. Do you want to learn how to play?"
"W-well, that was be really cool, I mean…"
"Wonderful—your shop that you mentioned, it's the Black Clown, isn't it? I can meet you there one time."
"T-thank you."
Ishizu smiled as she dipped her head towards him.
"In return, perhaps you can teach me to play your game," she said. "I'll see you later, Otogi-san."
And she turned with a flutter of her canvas dress and she was gone, leaving him standing there staring with his mouth half open.
Geez, he thought, covering his mouth with one hand. It's supposed to be the other way around with girls.
But, honestly, he wasn't really complaining at this point.
. . .
A/N: fun fact this ship was recently renamed through a poll on the Yu-Gi-Oh Shipping List Tumblr, and I was the one that suggested this name ;) Next is (sigh) Sennenshipping (all the Millennium Items x each other)
