Mystshipping (Ishizu x Anzu)


"Brrr!"

Anzu shuddered against the cold February wind. She pulled her scarf a little tighter around her neck.

"It's a chilly morning!" she called through the thick wool.

Behind her, Ishizu was wrapped in probably every scarf, hat, and coat she owned. Only her coffee brown eyes were visible over the layers of warmth.

"Chilly?" Ishizu said. "Chilly doesn't begin to cover it."

Anzu smiled sympathically, but Ishizu wouldn't have been able to see it underneath her scarf.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm sure its a bit of a shock coming from Egypt."

"I was the one who decided to come for a visit; you needn't apologize," Ishizu said, and her eyes crinkled to let Anzu know the older woman was smiling.

The breeze filtered through the streets of Domino, where the two women stood outside of the air terminal. The sky was clear, but the buildings blocked out most of the sun on this block, so they didn't even have that to help them warm up.

"Thank you again for coming to pick me up," Ishizu asked. "I know my visit was a little short notice."

"Not a problem! I don't have any dance lessons today, and there's no school. It's not like I'm missing anything."

Ishizu's eyes crinkled again, and she awkwardly tried to heft her suitcase, her arms stiff from the layers of warmth. Anzu popped the bag from her hands, and moved it away as Ishizu tried to protest and take it back.

"Nope! I'm carrying it," Anzu said, with a grin. "Come on, let's get to the central heating as quick as possible."

She took off down the sidewalk with a bounce in her step. Ishizu lengthened her steps to catch up, her long, thick skirt whooshing with each step.

For a moment, they walked in silence, their cold breath twirling up into the sky like unspoken words turning to smoke. It was Ishizu who finally broke the silence.

"How has everyone been?" she asked, with her soft, velvet voice.

"Good, I suppose..." Anzu said. "Although, I'm a little worried about Jonouchi – he's actually started studying. I think something's wrong."

She said the words with a smile, and Ishizu laughed in that quiet, demure way of hers.

"Yugi is applying to the local university," Anzu continued. "And Honda's decided to go straight to work. His uncle owns a construction firm; Honda thinks he'll join up after high school."

She swung Ishizu's bag gently back and forth, her eyes on the sky as they walked briskly through the cold. Her breath fogged in front of her eyes. She tried to keep the bounce in her step, but her walk was slowly turning into a quick shuffle.

"And what about you?" Ishizu asked softly. "How are you...holding up?"

Anzu's breath spiraled into the air. Like a soul soaring towards heaven. Anzu's lips felt dry in the cold air, and she was sure her hair would have horrible flyaways when she took off her hat.

"It's...well..." Anzu said. "It's not something you get over, is it?"

As though on some unseen signal, both women slowed and came to a stop in the sidewalk. They stood there, without quite looking at each other, under the shadow of the city.

"No," Ishizu murmured finally. "No, it's not."

Anzu swallowed through a lump in her throat. Her shoulders were starting to shake, but the last thing she wanted to do was cry when it was this cold out. Her tears would probably freeze right onto her face. For some reason, the idea was much funnier in her head than it should have been, and she knew that she was doing a terrible job of keeping her emotions in check.

"I just...miss him..." she said through that steadily growing lump.

Ishizu didn't say anything. Anzu moved her hands so that both were gripping the handles of Ishizu's bag in front of her.

"Ishizu-san..." she whispered. "Tell me...about the afterlife."

They looked at each other then, blue eyes to brown. Anzu couldn't see most of Ishizu's face, due to the scarves, but she just knew that Ishizu was smiling, perhaps with a bit of sadness. She nodded. Then she took Anzu's hand, squeezed it, and began to walk.

"The afterlife...well, we only have stories," Ishizu said. "No one has ever come back to tell us what it's like. But...we all believe...that it is warm."

Anzu walked with her, holding onto Ishizu's hand like a lifeline.

"It's a place of forever green. Full of life. And that the only time it rains, it is the good kind of rain, the kind that washes over you and makes you feel alive."

Anzu tried to stop herself, but she just had to sniffle.

"And it the only snows come when all you need is a perfect space of perfect quiet, when you can stand in the middle of the falling snow and hear absolutely nothing."

"But...do you think he's lonely?"

Again, the two women stopped, and Ishizu turned the full force of her kind, sparkling gaze on Anzu.

"Oh, Anzu," she said, squeezing the girl's hand. "In that place...no one is ever lonely."

Anzu bit hard onto her lip. But that only made her start crying faster. Ishizu hugged her, let her sob, shaking against the older woman's shoulder.

"I'm so scared!" Anzu whispered. "Everyone is growing up. I'm going to New York in less than a year – I've already been accepted. Everyone is drifting away. Everyone is leaving – like he did. Ishizu – Ishizu, I don't think...I don't think I'm strong enough...to be alone..."

Ishizu shook her head, and held Anzu at arm's length from her, squeezing her shoulders.

"Oh, Anzu..." she said. "Didn't I just say?"

Anzu sniffled, and rubbed the tears from her eyes. Through her tears, she smiled up at Ishizu.

"I know," she whispered. "No one ever has to be lonely."


A/N: This actually seems to be a fairly popular yuri ship in Yu-Gi-Oh, along with Nurseshipping, so I tried my best to do it justice (although I don't ship any yuri pairings within Yu-Gi-Oh). Next is Mysteryshipping (Shadi x Amane).