Secretshipping (Ryuzaki x Shizuka)

(Filling in a hole that I missed on the first time through)


She had ice cream on her nose. But if Ryuzaki was going to be perfectly honest with himself, it only made her look a whole lot cuter.

She was waiting on a bench, her legs primly together and slightly off to one side. She held her ice cream cone gently in front of her breast, licking only at the drips that strayed down the side of the cone. Every now and then, she would glance around with her brown eyes, and look up through red bangs towards the big clock in the center of the square. The ice cream cone was melting ever faster in the heat, but she still didn't touch it. Except for the drips.

Ryuzaki kicked at a pebble, sneaking another glance at her from under his tuft of purple bangs. For the third time this week, it was making him uncomfortable. Why had he thought dying it would be cool? It was only to make his mom angry, and she had gotten over it in just a day, telling him to deal with it it now. But the bangs were always in his face, and he got the feeling that people were always staring at that one spot of purple on his forehead. He got that feeling most often when he was looking at girls – which were suddenly extremely interesting to him for the first time that he could remember.

The red-headed girl licked at another drip, and glanced up at the clock again.

She was the third girl he had seen sitting on that bench in the past three days. He had to admit, she wasn't really the prettiest of the three (the other two had had much bigger...well, you know). But he hadn't been able to work up the courage to talk to any of the girls he had seen. Haga tried to make it sound like it was the easiest thing in the work, picking up a chick. But Ryuzaki doubted that Haga had ever gotten lucky with a girl, much less the twenty or so he claimed to have gone out with.

She looked towards the train station. Her face fell slightly as she looked at the clock once again. Ryuzaki licked his dry lips.

And before he knew what he was doing, he was walking over to the girl.

"Hey," he said.

The girl looked up at him, surprised. And Ryuzaki promptly forgot everything and anything he could possibly say.

"Uh...nice day, huh?" he said.

Lame! Are you even trying? He thought to himself. He though he could feel his face reddening.

But the girl smiled.

"Oh, yes, it's beautiful," she said. "It's been a while since we've had a day like this."

"Y-yeah," Ryuzaki said.

Think of something else to say! Think of something else!

"Uh...you've got some ice cream on your nose."

Gah! Anything but that!

The girl blinked. She shifted the cone to one hand and wiped at her nose.

"Oh my! Silly me!" she said. Her cheeks reddened slightly, and she ducked her head. "How embarrassing. I must have looked really silly."

"Uh, no, not at all," Ryuzaki stumbled. "I – uh, just thought you might want to know."

"Thank you," she said.

Her face was still red, but she was smiling pleasantly enough.

"Uh, my name is Ryuzaki," he said. "Dinosaur Ryuzaki."

"It's nice to meet you," she said. "I'm Kawai. Shizuka Kawai."

"Yeah, good to meet you..."

An awkward silence punctuated the moment. He noticed her eyes wandering over to the train station again.

"So, uh...you waiting for someone?"

She blinked. She looked up as though she had forgotten for a moment that he was there.

"Oh, yes," she said. "My brother...he lives in another city. He's supposed to come to visit me today..."

Again her eyes wandered to the clock.

"Oh," Ryuzaki said. "Uh...he's late, then?"

Shizuka sighed. She licked at another drip, and her nose touched the ice cream again, getting another spot of vanilla right on the tip of her nose. He blushed. She did look pretty cute like that – it was all moe and stuff.

"Yes," she said. "He was supposed to be here about fifteen minutes ago...but the train came and he wasn't on it. He called...said he'd be here before I could finish my ice cream."

The ice cream was half melted already, and she obviously hadn't touched it but for stopping the drips.

"He didn't stand you up, did he?"

"Oh, no, of course not!" Shizuka said.

Her voice was so forceful that it surprised Ryuzaki. Shizuka ducked her head for a second.

"My brother wouldn't do that," she said after a beat. "He's the best, bravest, and most loyal big brother in the world. There must be a reason why he's late – a good reason, one that he couldn't stop."

"I'm sure that's it," Ryuzaki said, eager to please. "He'll be here before ya know it."

Shizuka nodded.

But she hadn't touched the ice cream. Was she dragging out the time of eating it for some reason?

"So why don't you actually eat that ice cream?" he asked. "He said he'd be back before...oh."

Comprehension dawned. Shizuka smiled and ducked her head again.

"He'd feel bad if he didn't keep his promise. He'll be here before I finish."

So she would just hold the ice cream in her lap until he got there. Ryuzaki stood there for a second, his hands shoved in his pockets. Then he sat down on the bench beside her.

"I...I'll wait with you," he said. "Ya know. If you wanted company or something."

Shizuka blushed a little, and smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said. "That's very kind of you, Ryuzaki-san."

Ryuzaki shrugged, but he could feel the heat on his cheeks.

"And if you do finish it before he gets here, I'll buy you another one," he said. "He'll never know."

Shizuka laughed.

"Okay, if you say so."

She still didn't start licking the ice cream. But that was probably a good thing, because Ryuzaki probably would have died of overheating in his brain if that situation had actually panned out.

A whistle blew. Shizuka perked up instantly, sitting straight up. Some of the ice cream splattered into her lap. A train was pulling into the station, screeching to a stop. Ryuzaki snuck a glance at her: her brown eyes were so focused that he might have thought she was aiming at a target with something.

And then her whole face lit up, a smile broader than every before appearing on her face.

"There he is!" she said.

She jumped up. Then she paused and looked back at Ryuzaki.

"Thank you, Ryuzaki-san," she said. "Thank you for being so kind. Do you want to meet my brother?"

Ryuzaki shrugged, but on the inside, he was jumping up and cheering. He might have actually struck lucky this time – he couldn't wait to see the look on Haga's face when he heard that Ryuzaki had actually made progress at getting a girlfriend.

"Sure," he said.

He started to get up. Then he recognized the blond mop with the goofy grin that was headed towards them.

"Actually, no, I have to go," he said.

"Huh? Why?" Shizuka asked, looking surprised.

"I, uh...it's a secret, see! I'm not really supposed to be here! It's a mystery, okay? You can't tell him I was here!"

Shizuka blinked. Then she giggled.

"You're funny, Ryuzaki-san," she said. "Okay, I'll keep the secret. But you would have liked my brother."

"Wish I could've," Ryuzaki said. "See ya!"

He started to hurry away, before Katsuya Jonouchi could see him. Then he turned around.

"Hey, Kawai-san," he said.

Shizuka looked back. Ryuzaki pointed at his nose. Shizuka reached up and wiped at her nose, looking at the ice cream she had gotten on her finger. She blushed again, a deep crimson color that spread across her cheeks.

"Thanks," she said.

Ryuzaki sent her a thumb's up. Then he escaped into the afternoon city.


A/N: This was surprisingly fun to write. I think I made Ryuzaki more than a bit OOC, though. XD Next is Secondshipping (Pegasus x Ryuzaki), now that this hole is filled in!