Saffronshipping (Marik x Jonouchi x Mai)
(I can't remember what order everyone came to the blimp during Battle City in...or even who they were grouped with...so I'mma gonna make it up :D)
Marik sat perfectly still inside the stadium. It hadn't taken him long to acquire the necessary locator cards and find the blimp that would soon take them into the final rounds of Battle City. But he did not walk over to the blimp yet – he didn't want to be the first person here. He wanted to be able to observe all of the finalists from afar first...also, he wanted to make sure that Rishid would arrive last, so as to make a greater impression on everyone.
The smart click of heels against concrete echoed across the darkened stadium. The half light of the moon trickled down past sloping rows of seats and glimmered through saffron colored hair...
Marik started. Who was this? She had not been on his list of likely contenders for the finals.
She was an extremely curvy women, with an extra two inches from her heels adding to her already impressive height. Her features were clearly Asian, although her crimped hair was a startling blonde. She seemed to realize that she had curves to spare, and wore a revealing, purple, corset-style top. Marik flicked through all of the faces he had memorized and could not come up with a match for this woman. Either she stumbled in her by accident, or she was someone that he had missed or hadn't been labeled as a top contender.
She glanced back over her shoulder towards the entrance, an eyebrow raised.
"Jonouchi," she said. "Are you coming, or what?"
"Geez, ya don't have to pester me so much!"
To Marik's surprise, the blond-headed form of Jonouchi sauntered into the stadium. He was not on his list of contenders either, especially after the loss of his Red Eyes. How had he made it this far?
"Don't worry, little Jonouchi, I made sure there were no ghosts or monsters," the woman said, grinning. "So you don't have to cower behind me anymore."
"Wha – that's not why I'm behind you – your legs are so long it's hard to keep up! And I'm not scared of ghosts!"
"Oh really? Then what's that little glowing thing over your shoulder?"
With a wildly exaggerated motion, Jonouchi whipped around with a yelp. When he found that nothing was there and the woman was clamping a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter, he turned on her, red faced.
"K-Kujaku! That wasn't funny!"
The name rang a bell. Mai Kujaku, a semi-finalist of Duelist Kingdom. She hadn't been on his list of people to watch out for due to an unfortunate string of losses to lower-class duelists (like Jonouchi) during the said tournament.
"Actually, it was hilarious," Mai said. And then she let out a huge burst of laughter at Jonouchi's red face, shaking so hard that Marik could see tears glinting at her eyes.
"H-hey! Don't laugh! You're scared of things too, I'll bet!"
Marik's hand tightened on his Millennium Rod. He relaxed it irritably, knowing why he was getting upset. They seemed...really...friendly with each other. Who did he have to laugh with like that? No, stop – these thoughts had nothing to do with his goal. Once he had defeated the pharaoh, other things could follow. It didn't matter that he felt alone in the face of their laughter. It didn't matter. It didn't.
And so he continued to lie to himself, hoping that if he said it enough times, he could convince himself to believe it.
A/N: ...whatever. These are hard. Next is Safetyshipping (Yami no Bakura x Honda x Ryo). Sigh...and they're not getting any easier...
