Lineshipping (Seto Kaiba x Miho Nosaka x Hiroto Honda)


"Oooh, Honda-kun, Honda-kun, look, look, look! All their jewelry is twenty percent off, let's go!"

Miho bounced down the street. Her purple ponytail flew every which way, only her bright ribbon keeping it from flying into her face.

"Hang on, hang on, I'm coming," Honda said, grinning in spite of himself.

He was loaded down with five bags from Miho's last few stops already. He didn't mind, though. It was great that he got to spend any time with her at all, when she easily could have called up Anzu or one of her other girl friends to come along with her.

Miho fluttered into the jewelry stop, but scampered back as Honda tried to open the door with his shoulder. As though she were barely thinking about it, she pushed the door open enough for him to slip through.

"Thanks," Honda said, but Miho was already entranced by the shiny things and was lost to the world.

Honda shook his head with a wry smile and made for a small chair in the corner. He would wait here until Miho was done – she rarely ever bought anything from this store, anyway. She would always come in and fawn over the pretty stones, but she and he both knew that she didn't have the money to buy any of this stuff, even with twenty percent off. All of the clothes she had loaded Honda with were from clearance sections; her love of shopping at least matched her budget constraints. In that, she was smarter than people seemed to think she was.

"Honda-kun, wouldn't that one look nice with that dress Miho just got?" Miho said, pointing out a large blue sapphire necklace.

"It would go perfectly," Honda said. "And it would bring out your eyes."

Miho blushed the teeniest bit – you had to squint to see it – but she just giggled and agreed with him before fluttering to the next display case. Honda settled in to wait, contenting himself with fantasies of one day having a good enough job to be able to buy Miho some of these things.

"And what on earth is one part of the dweeb squad doing here?" said a dry voice.

Honda bristled slightly.

"Morning, Kaiba," he said, raising an eyebrow at the tall brunette. "What on earth is the emotionless pillar doing in a place like this?"

Kaiba half smirked.

"That's none of your business," he said.

"Then my business isn't any of yours," Honda said shortly.

Kaiba just raised an eyebrow at the young man, then moved towards one of the display cases for a look. Honda scowled at the back of his head. What was he doing in this store, anyway? It wasn't like he was going to wear any of it, and if Seto Kaiba the walking emotional cactus had a girlfriend then Honda's head might just explode.

Miho scampered back, holding a pair of earrings in each hand.

"Look, look, Honda-kun," she said, excited. "This one is so pretty, isn't it? Miho loves the green!"

"They're great," Honda said. "You have really good taste."

Miho smiled, and held out the other earring pair. Although, it wasn't really a pair, it was actually only one earring, just a simple silver stud.

"And look at this! Miho thinks Honda-kun would look really cool with a pierced ear!"

Honda blushed. He had known a few guys in his old gang with piercings, but wasn't keen on the idea of someone poking a hole in him.

"Yeah, maybe," he said. "Not much for piercings, though...on myself, that is."

He added the last part hurriedly in case Miho construed that sentence as him not liking her own pierced ears. Miho didn't seem to have noticed that at all, though, and had turned the earrings back towards herself to consider them. She shifted on her feet, like usual. The motion, however, caused her to lose her balance, and she wobbled backwards. Honda jumped up in an attempt to catch her, but she fell backwards against Kaiba instead.

"Uwah! Miho is sorry!" Miho said, leaping back.

Her face was completely red, but when she saw who she had fallen against, her eyes widened.

"Oh, Kaiba-kun!" she said. "Miho didn't know you came to places like this!"

"I don't," Kaiba said, sounding irritated. His eyes flicked between Miho and Honda as though connecting Honda's presence here with Miho.

"Miho hasn't seen you in a long time; you haven't come to classes!"

Kaiba's lips tightened slightly. Honda stepped forward.

"Miho, maybe we should just move on," he said. "I think Kaiba's busy."

Miho seemed to shake herself out of a daze.

"O-Oh, okay," she said. "Miho will just put these back..."

She hesitated a beat longer. Then she scurried back towards the earring section to put the items back. Kaiba snorted softly.

"You're hopeless," he said to Honda. "She's just stringing you along. She's barely worth paying attention to, anyway."

Honda tensed, wanting to punch him in the face. He resisted considering their location.

Miho hurried back.

"Well, we'll see you again sometime, Kaiba-kun," she said, a little breathlessly. "Honda-kun, let's go to that cafe down the street..."

She blushed as she hurried past Kaiba towards the door.

"Goodbye," Honda said firmly, taking Miho's bags to catch up with her.

Kaiba just smirked at him.

"I'd say you're going to have to get to the end of a very long line to end up with that flake," he muttered as Honda passed.

Honda quietly kicked Kaiba in the back of the calf as he passed. He smiled to himself as he heard the CEO swear under his breath, but before Kaiba could turn around, Honda was already out the door with Miho.


A/N: I can just see Kaiba being so condescending towards Miho, since she acts like such an airhead. Still, that's not very nice, Seto. :/ Miho is just as tough as the rest of the crew. She faced down a stalker without flinching once, that was awesome. Next is Liftshipping (Jonouchi x Honda x Otogi x Mai).