Somewhere Beautiful

By Fiver

Shizuka thought Egypt was beautiful.

Yuugi, Anzu and Katsuya had returned from this exact same trip just a few weeks ago, and though their account had been largely positive, Anzu had bemoaned their surroundings – pyramids and the Sphinx aside, she thought the desert was harsh and bleak, and had run to lie down on a patch of grass practically the moment she'd stampeded off the plane back to Domino.

Now it was Shizuka's turn, and as she watched the scenery whizz by through the passenger window of the jeep, she felt that she and Anzu were just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. To her, the endless desert was definitely beautiful, in a strange, fierce sort of way. Like a woman who knows she doesn't need any make-up or trinkets to attract strangers.

She saw things differently from others, she guessed. Almost going blind probably affected your perspective that way.

When she turned her head to look out the windshield, she was startled to see that they had almost reached the in-progress town that was their destination. She smiled and leaned forward, trying to see if anything new had cropped up that hadn't been in her brother's photographs. Even from a distance, the progress looked impressive.

Eight years after Battle City (thirteen years after the scion of the Ishtar clan had abandoned a tomb in favour of sunlight), every last tomb-keeper had long since been lured out of their dark underground maze. It had taken this long, however, for poor Ishizu to yank enough government strings to get the money and resources required to start construction on a new place for them to call home. Because even if they were free now, even if they could walk aboveground like everyone else, expecting them to adjust to modern life and just move into the nearest town was probably asking a bit much.

Yuugi and his friends weren't architects or builders or skilled in any way that might have been immediately helpful in the creation of a town, but they hadn't hesitated to offer their help. Neither had Shizuka. She figured an extra pair of hands couldn't go wrong, and the summer vacation from college was long. Surely she'd be more useful spending a month here instead of sitting at home and procrastinating on her summer assignments.

Ishizu was waiting for her on the outskirts of her family's massive project. She greeted Shizuka with a warm but polite smile while the driver retrieved her luggage from the trunk. Shizuka returned the smile, feeling a little awkward. She wasn't used to such restrained greetings – but although she knew Ishizu to be perfectly pleasant, she was the sort of woman that Shizuka (and most other people too, she bet) felt reluctant to hug, for fear of creasing her pristine ivory dress or rumpling her sculpted-looking hair.

"Welcome," Ishizu said, inclining her head slightly. "I thought perhaps you'd like to walk through the town to the house and see how things are progressing. It isn't far."

"I'd like that," Shizuka said brightly, pulling up the handle on her wheeled suitcase and shouldering the holdall that had been her hand luggage.

"You'll be staying with us, of course," Ishizu said as they started to walk, reaching out and taking the handle of the case from her without a word and yet somehow leaving no room for argument. "We have a spare room."

"S-sorry, what?" Shizuka wanted to tell Ishizu that it was fine, she didn't need to help her carry her things, but she wasn't sure exactly how to go about it. She also knew that there were other groups of volunteers and paid workers here (the existence of the tomb-keepers was still far from common knowledge, but they were no longer a complete secret buried beneath the sand), and that they were staying in communal lodges. That was where her brother, Yuugi and Anzu had stayed. "Thank you, but I really don't want any special treatment..."

"Don't be silly, you're a guest," Ishizu replied. She was still smiling but, once again, her manner gave the impression that she would allow for no disagreement. "I wouldn't send you to the lodges when you are here alone. Your brother asked me to take care of you, too. It was hardly necessary for him to ask, of course."

The Egyptian sun was already beating down on the back of her neck, but Shizuka still felt herself flush warmly at that. Katsuya. Perhaps she'd been silly to think that coming here without him would have any effect on the protective barrier he liked to keep around her.

Ishizu was looking at her, she realised. Her embarrassment deepened as she wondered whether she had missed something that had been said.

"You cut your beautiful hair," Ishizu remarked finally.

Shizuka blinked before laughing bashfully and reaching up with her free hand to self-consciously touch the tousled bob that was all that remained of her auburn hair. Ishizu had barely seen her since she'd been a scared thirteen year-old on the Battle City blimp – it was surprising that she even remembered what her hair used to be like. It was even more surprising to hear that she'd thought it beautiful.

"It was so time-consuming when it was long," Shizuka explained. "And it's a lot less...babyish like this, right?"

Ishizu (who, Shizuka realised belatedly, had always worn her hair long and had never looked remotely child-like because of it) might have looked amused for a moment.

"Yes. Very grown-up," she said.

The Ishtar's home wasn't as lavish as Shizuka might have expected. (They were, after all, the closest thing the tomb-keepers had to royalty.) It was just a house – a nice house with generously sized rooms and minimal decoration and so many windows. Every corner seemed flooded with sunshine. Shizuka liked it.

Ishizu had left her in the spare room (complete with double bed, a large wardrobe and chest of drawers) to unpack and, if she so wished, to take a nap to combat the inevitable jetlag. She'd been advised that dinner would be in a few hours, but that she didn't need to worry about missing it if she was tired. Ishizu had told her to help herself to anything she wanted in the kitchen at any time during her stay. Shizuka had thanked her, inwardly knowing that she'd never dream of raiding their fridge or cupboards no matter how hungry she was.

She sighed. Her grand vision of coming out here and proving that she was an independent, capable young woman instead of a little girl with bandaged eyes seemed to be swiftly crumbling. It was sort of difficult to fend for yourself when you were a house-guest.

She'd just finished putting all her clothes away when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in?" she said uncertainly. Maybe it was one of the Ishtar brothers, come to tell her that Katsuya had instructed them to be her personal bodyguards while she was here.

The door swung open and in bounded not Malik or Rishid Ishtar but a very excited-looking Ryou Bakura.

"Shizuka!" he said happily, scooping her up in a tight hug. Shizuka returned the gesture gladly but with no small measure of bewilderment – she'd never known him to be so openly affectionate. "You made it! I'm sorry, I was going to go with Ishizu to meet you, but I didn't make it in time..."

"That's alright," she assured him when he released her. "It's good to see you. How are you?"

"I'm well, thank you," he told her, his customary politeness prevailing even in the face of his new-found confidence. She believed him, too – he looked better than well. His eyes were bright, his smile was brighter. And while she'd always thought he had the sort of skin that would simply burn in the sun, it seemed that his pale complexion had just been due to too much time spent indoors, because he was currently sporting a healthy-looking tan. "How was your journey?"

"Long," she said grimly. He laughed.

"You could probably use a rest," he said with an understanding nod. "I just thought I'd come say hello. Jounouchi asked me to keep an eye out for you, too."

Shizuka barely refrained from groaning and rolling her eyes. She wondered if there was anyone here that her brother hadn't recruited. Ryou laughed again, seeming to sense her annoyance.

"Don't worry, I'll rescue you if you get attacked by bandits, but I won't try to be your babysitter," he promised. "I know we're all here to help out, but there's fun to be had too, you know?"

Shizuka could have kissed him.

"Ryou? You up here?"

They both turned back to the door at the approaching voice. Moments later, Malik appeared in the doorway, looking slightly out of breath. He came close to smiling, Shizuka was sure, when he saw Ryou, but his face immediately took on a more pensive frown when he noticed her too. She privately hoped that Ishizu hadn't decided to offer her this room without informing the rest of her family.

"Did I hear you yelling for me?" Ryou asked.

"I wasn't yelling," Malik protested. He narrowed his eyes when he noticed Ryou's teasing expression. "Your dad is looking for you. We should get back."

Of course, the emergence of the tomb-keepers was likely to be the archaeological event of the century. Ryou's father, having connections to the Ishtars through the Domino Museum and his son, was the lucky man who'd been offered the job of appraising all the artefacts and scriptures and plain everyday items that had come out of the tomb along with its inhabitants. Ryou, for his part, had been here helping practically from the day he'd graduated college almost two years ago.

"Yeah, ok," Ryou said with a good-natured roll of his eyes. "You could at least greet your guest, you know. It's only polite."

Shizuka blushed to the roots of her hair when Malik's sharp gaze flicked back to her – and not only because of Ryou's scolding. As with Ishizu, she and Malik hadn't really crossed paths since Battle City. She had started to wonder if her adolescent memory had exaggerated his good looks to ridiculous proportions – after all, what young girl didn't daydream about a handsome bad-boy that she, naturally, could tame and change...?

But no, she hadn't been exaggerating.

Another interesting thing about Malik was that Katsuya didn't like him very much. He'd forgiven him, certainly, for the things he'd done when his head had been stuffed full of anger and revenge, but that didn't mean that they were the best of friends now. In fact, according to Anzu, Malik and Katsuya had come to, at the very least, verbal blows quite a few times while they'd been here.

Shizuka loved her brother. But that thought was oddly appealing.

"Hello, Shizuka," Malik said with a stiff nod in her direction.

Not a hugger, like his sister, she found herself thinking.

"Hello," she replied as cheerfully as she could. "Sorry if I took Ryou away from something important. I'll try and not get underfoot while I'm here."

She'd intended for the last part to sound joking, but it came out rather flat and Malik didn't smile.

"You won't be in the way," he said with an awkward shrug. "...Your brother told me to stay away from you, anyway."

Shizuka made a strange, choked sound as she attempted to reign in the indignant fury exploding in her chest.

"D-don't listen to him!" she managed at length, making a mental note to rattle her darling brother's brains when she got home.

"I wasn't planning to," Malik assured her. He finally smiled, and she relaxed.

As it happened, Shizuka did miss dinner. She slept through it, and straight through to five am the next morning – at which point she was suddenly more awake than she'd ever been in her life.

She groaned, hiding her face in her pillow. She hated jetlag.

When she sat up, she noticed that someone had left a jug of water and a glass on the bedside table, along with a small pile of folded towels on the chest of drawers. She cringed slightly to think that someone had come in while she'd been sleeping. As some photos taken by her (so-called) college friends at a sleepover proved, she could be a highly undignified sleeper.

At the very least, being up so horribly early meant there was no risk of her disrupting her hosts' usual bathroom schedule. She crept down the hall with the fresh towels and her outfit for the day clutched to her chest. (Because heaven forbid one of the Ishtars wake up and see her scuttling back to her room wrapped in a towel.)

She was glad to see an electric shower in the bathroom. Glad not just because she was far fonder of showers than she was of baths, but also because the Ishtar home was the template for all the tomb-keeper houses. It was nice to know that it was all so...modern.

She showered quickly, after a brief hunt for plain soap amongst the myriad of skin and hair products cluttering the little wall-mounted shelf. Ishizu didn't seem like the type to luxuriate, but one never knew, she supposed. Or maybe some of them were Malik's. Twenty-first century man and all.

She got the sneaking suspicion that they definitely didn't belong to Rishid – and thinking that served to remind her that she hadn't actually seen him yet. She hoped it hadn't been rude for her to fall asleep before meeting all of the people who'd kindly given her a place to stay for the next month.

She dressed in knee-length linen shorts and a floaty blouse, and slathered her calves in all-day sun-block. She'd been well warned not to walk around in Egypt in very revealing outfits – not unless she wanted second-degree burns on her delicate shoulders.

By the time she'd fixed her hair and made her bed and hung up her towels to dry, it was nearing six am, and the house was still silent. Of course. She fished a book out of her holdall and tiptoed downstairs to wait for the rest of the household to awaken.

She hadn't eaten since her unexciting meal on board the plane yesterday, and her stomach was giving almighty rumbles of protest. She stood in the centre of the Ishtars' large kitchen, gazing longingly at the fridge and the row of cupboards, but couldn't quite bring herself to start rummaging around for food – even though Ishizu had gone to the trouble of showing her where everything was kept. Helping herself to food in someone else's house (while her hosts were still fast asleep, no less) just felt wrong in a way that she couldn't fully explain.

Resigned, she sat down at the round wooden table and opened her book (a less-than-inspiring piece of plotless romance that had come free with a magazine) to at least keep herself entertained in the meantime. It was every bit as corny as she'd expected, but at least it didn't pose any sort of challenge to her jetlagged brain.

She made a point of keeping an ear open for any approaching footsteps (the novel was hardly gripping enough to demand her undivided attention, anyway), but when Rishid Ishtar came into the kitchen, she had not heard him coming. She jumped when she saw the door open out of the corner of her eye, and felt nerves flood her empty stomach when his very tall frame entered the room to loom over her.

Of the three Ishtar siblings, Rishid was the one Shizuka knew the least, and knew the least about. She'd had few opportunities to speak with him since Battle City, but she hadn't even taken advantage of those – his quiet manner and stern-looking demeanour had always made her a little unsure about approaching him. But that was silly, she told herself now. She was twenty-one years old, not a little girl. They were fellow adults and would treat each other as such.

Besides, unlike Malik, Rishid was someone Katsuya did like. Their personalities seemed utterly incompatible, but there were few people her brother held more respect for. And though Shizuka knew very little of his background, she did know that he had followed his younger brother all over the globe with the sort of loyalty that was hard to find these days. For these things, at least, she liked him. Even if the prospect of eating breakfast with him was just a bit daunting.

She was surprised when he smiled at her. She didn't think she'd ever seen his smile. It was very calm, very gentle.

"Good morning," Rishid said pleasantly. "You're up early."

"O-oh, it's just because of...you know, the time difference and all," she replied, too flustered to remember to say 'good morning' in return. "I'm not...usually..."

"Jetlag can be unpleasant, yes," he agreed, putting her out of her stuttering misery. "The only person I've ever met who doesn't suffer with it is your brother. Miss Anzu said there's no time that he cannot sleep."

Shizuka surprised herself with a laugh, thinking of Katsuya coming out here and sleeping until noon every day just like he usually did.

"...He asked me to look out for you," Rishid added after a moment. "Your brother."

Shizuka snapped her book shut, pressed her mouth into a thin line and refrained from commenting. She didn't do a very good job of hiding her irritation, though.

"For a second there you looked just like Malik," Rishid told her.

"W-what?"

"Your brother just worries about you. It's his job," he explained. "I'm sure he knows you can look after yourself."

"I hope he knows that..." she murmured.

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Rishid asked her, changing the subject easily.

"Um. No."

He just smiled again and began taking pans out of a nearby cupboard, not asking why she hadn't fed herself when she'd been told to do just that. Shizuka felt herself starting to relax.

"Do you like omelette?"

"Yes."

Eggs and cheese came out of the fridge, a bowl for mixing from another cupboard.

"Can I help?" Shizuka asked brightly, coming to stand next to him. He glanced down at her and she was struck again by how tall he was. She wondered if he was even taller than Kaiba, who cut perhaps the most formidable figure she'd ever seen.

"I don't think guests are meant to help with cooking," Rishid said even as he handed her the whisk.

"How many eggs should I use?"

"All six, please. Malik should be down soon, too."

Shizuka wondered if Malik took his brother cooking breakfast for him as a slight to his independence or if he just thanked him and ate the food offered to him. She tried to quell her annoyance at Katsuya.

"Does everyone get up early here?" she asked, wondering if she was going to struggle once she got over her jetlag.

"Malik and Ishizu like to oversee the ongoing work on the town from the moment it starts in the morning," Rishid explained.

"And you?"

Shizuka was a little shocked by her own nosiness. Fortunately Rishid didn't seem offended, though he paused for thought.

"I suppose I like making sure they're ready to go and do their overseeing," he said finally, looking faintly amused.

"It must be hard, being the oldest sibling," Shizuka remarked with a smile. "I guess the younger ones can never really understand what it's like."

By the time Malik came downstairs, the breakfast omelettes were ready and there was a pot of coffee ready to be poured. He raised an eyebrow.

"Putting her to work already, Rishid?" he asked, sitting down and digging in without preamble.

"I like to make myself useful," Shizuka piped up. "That's what I'm here for, right?"

"You're allowed to relax a little," Malik informed her, smothering a smirk with a large mouthful of food.

"What kind of work will I be doing here?" she asked eagerly.

"...All the tomb-keepers, especially the children and young people, are taking classes on 'modern life'," Malik said. "You could always help with the little kids. Or the teenage girls, I suppose. Teach them how to curl their hair and put on make-up."

Shizuka stiffened in her seat, her fork frozen half-way to her mouth. The progressive, modern young woman in her wanted to slap him over the head and call him a sexist pig. The polite house-guest in her didn't want to cause a scene.

"They never had anything like that in the tomb," Rishid spoke up quietly. "I'm sure they'd be very excited to see your pretty clothes, Miss Shizuka."

"They almost ate Anzu alive," Malik snorted.

"But if you wouldn't be comfortable with that, I'm sure Malik and Ryou could use some help working with Ryou's father," Rishid suggested, and Shizuka wondered just how obvious her disgruntlement had been. She thought she saw Malik shoot his brother a sharp look, but it could have been her imagination.

"You mean working with the artefacts?" she asked, thinking that this sounded a lot more exciting and credible.

"Yeah," Malik said with a shrug. "They're mostly just being divided up into what has to stay and what can go to museums now. It's pretty boring."

"You could take Miss Shizuka with you today," Rishid said. "See what Ryou and Mr Bakura think."

Malik gave a stiff nod.

Ryou seemed happy to have her help. They worked mostly in what would ultimately be the gymnasium of the town's elementary-level school – the final touches were still being added to other parts of the building, and the children were excused from formal lessons until it was finished. For now the gymnasium was full of long tables covered in all the objects that had come out of the ground without being claimed by any of the families. The work was fairly boring, as Malik had warned – mostly just a lot of labelling and cataloguing and occasionally packaging something up to be sent to sit in a glass case somewhere far away. Ryou was fun company, though – Shizuka thought that Egypt must have done him a whole lot of good. It was amazing, and wonderful, how much he'd come out of his shell.

Malik usually worked in a separate room with Ryou's father, translating the tomb-keeper's scriptures into both modern Arabic and English. He was always there at the end of the day, though, to walk with her back to the Ishtar home. He wasn't nearly as chatty as Ryou, and these walks were often made in an uncomfortable silence. Shizuka got the feeling that walking her home hadn't been his own idea.

"I think my hand's going to fall off..." Ryou muttered one day, dropping his pen and trying to ease the writing cramp out of his fingers.

"At least we got this batch done," Shizuka said cheerily, though her own writing hand was also aching.

Records had to be kept of all the items being sent away, and she and Ryou had been left to write them out the old-fashioned way. It was the first almost-strenuous thing she'd had to do since arriving a week ago, though, so she wasn't about to complain.

"Yeah..." Ryou gathered up all the papers into a neat bundle and got to his feet. "I'll go and file these. Let's go get sodas when I'm done, ok?"

"Sure," she chirped, looking forward to it already. She wondered if they could get a snack too. Who knew that writing could make you so hungry?

Fifteen minutes passed and Ryou still wasn't back, which was odd, since the room with all the filing folders was just down the nearby corridor. Shizuka sighed and reached under the table for her handbag – and noticed a sheet of paper on the floor near her feet. Picking it up, she realised one of them must have dropped it at some point – it detailed a vase that was being sent to the British Museum.

She hurried after Ryou, only remembering after she was half-way down the dimly lit corridor that she didn't know exactly which room it was.

She came so close to calling out for him. When she looked back on it later, she would cringe at just how close she'd come to calling Ryou's name, thus announcing her presence and causing unspeakable embarrassment for all involved.

But she didn't make a sound. She heard what she assumed was Ryou's voice and followed it, quickly finding herself outside a future classroom. She stuck her head around the doorframe and once again came perilously close to speaking – luckily her eyes and her brain took in the scene before her at record speed and shut her mouth for her.

Ryou was standing at a desk in the far corner, doing his best to file away all those papers in the appropriate folder. He was being distracted, however, by Malik, who was standing behind him with his arms wrapped around his waist, whispering things Shizuka couldn't hear into his ear. Whatever he was saying caused Ryou to burst into a fit of barely-stifled giggles and attempt to shove him off, to no avail. She saw Malik grin and pry Ryou's fingers away from his work. She saw Ryou give in, turn his head and crush their mouths together.

She stared for what felt like an incredibly long time, then realised she was staring and jumped back, feeling mortified. Without another thought she turned on her heel and hurried back to the hall, feeling her face burn horribly.

It was another ten minutes before Ryou reappeared, by which point Shizuka had managed to stop blushing but still couldn't quite bring herself to look him in the eye.

"Sorry, that took longer than I expected," he said. He sounded slightly breathless. Shizuka was sure her cheeks were turning red again.

"You forgot one," she mumbled, holding out the sheet she'd retrieved.

"Aw, really?" he groaned. He took the paper from her and glanced at it before placing it back on the table. "Never mind, I'll put it away later. If I don't drink something soon I'm going to shrivel up and turn to dust."

There were a few large refreshments tents set up throughout the town, mainly for the benefit of those working outside in the baking heat that put everyone at risk of dehydration. Ryou got their drinks. Shizuka found she didn't really feel like a snack anymore.

"You're very quiet," Ryou commented as they walked back to the school. "Are you alright?"

She shifted uneasily, her mouth twisting from side to side.

"I didn't mean to snoop," she said nervously.

"...What do you mean?" Ryou asked with a bemused blink.

"I-I mean..." Shizuka's eyes were trained intently on the ground. "You. And Malik."

She looked up just in time to see his face go first white and then stoplight-red.

"...Ah," he said softly.

"I'm sorry," she said unhappily. "I swear, I was just trying to bring you the record you missed..."

"It's alright," Ryou said, but he still wouldn't look at her. "He's...been getting careless recently. Idiot. That idiot."

"Have you...not told many people?" Shizuka asked uncertainly.

"My dad is the only one who knows," he admitted with an awkward shrug.

"Oh," she said in surprise. "So it's a...um...recent thing?"

Ryou's face flushed an even darker shade of scarlet.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me," Shizuka said quickly.

"Promise you won't tell?" he mumbled, looking beyond embarrassed and oddly child-like.

"Of course," she said earnestly. "If you two don't want people to know, then..."

"I wouldn't really mind people knowing, apart from all the shocked faces. That wouldn't be fun." Ryou laughed weakly. "It's Malik who'd prefer to keep it quiet."

"...Can I ask why?"

"Oh, you know. It's frowned upon here and whatnot," Ryou said with a vague wave of his hand.

"...It's not a recent thing, is it?" Shizuka asked.

"We've been together over a year," he admitted.

"Congratulations?" she said cautiously.

Ryou blinked again, then threw his head back and laughed.

"Thanks," he chuckled.

The walk home with Malik that day was even more uncomfortable than usual.

"Ryou told me we're busted," he said finally.

"Sorry," Shizuka said again, wincing.

"Does it bother you?" Malik asked. He sounded almost challenging. Like he was daring her to be bothered by it.

"No," she answered honestly. "If you two are happy, then...well, that's good."

Malik just grunted noncommittally in response.

"...How come your family doesn't know?" Shizuka asked. She was genuinely curious – after all, the love between the Ishtar siblings had survived five years of separation, thievery and a botched attempt at murderous revenge. It seemed unlikely that something like Malik being gay would be the thing to bring everything crashing down.

"I prefer it that way. What if they disapproved? That'd just make things awkward for Ryou," he replied bluntly. "Though, if Rishid knew, it might make him stop trying to push me and you together..."

"H-huh?" Shizuka spluttered, staring at him incredulously. "Me and you...?"

"You really hadn't noticed?" Malik said with a sceptical raised eyebrow.

Shizuka blushed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The longer she spent out here, the more she felt like she was a child all over again.

That night, she spoke quietly to Ishizu about the possibility of her doing some other kind of work from then on. Of course, she said that she wanted to try a few different things to see what she was best at, not that she didn't want to be a third wheel in the very secret relationship going on over at the artefacts. Ishizu was happy to oblige, and the next day Shizuka went to see the young girls who had come out of the tomb just like Malik had originally suggested. She didn't normally read fashion or gossip magazines, but she'd bought one for the long flight here, and she took it with her, along with her not-so-scintillating novel, her cell phone and her iPod. The girls were a little shy around her at first. They all still wore the plain white robes that had always been the uniform of the tomb-keepers, and they seemed slightly in awe of Shizuka's brightly coloured gypsy skirt and peasant blouse. Their English was embarrassingly good, though (compared to the spattering of French Shizuka remembered from school), and they soon forgot their shyness in favour of asking her a million and one questions about everything and anything.

Of all the things she'd brought, they studied the magazine with the greatest concentration and intensity, gazing at the glossy photographs of various celebrities parading around in clothes that must have looked bizarre to them. Shizuka couldn't help but feel a little guilty – these girls had been raised apart from the media influences that so many parents abhorred, and now they were staring raptly at her impulse-bought magazine and probably using it as a means of defining what women were meant to be in this modern world they knew so little about.

Ryou appeared while they were eating lunch, offering her a bashful wave from a short distance. Shizuka excused herself to go talk to him. He was the one thing she missed about the artefacts job.

"Are you mad?" he asked as she approached. He looked sheepish and worried.

"What? No," Shizuka answered in surprise.

"Just...you didn't have to leave, you know?" Ryou said unhappily. "In fact, I told Malik..."

"No more make-outs on the job?" Shizuka interjected. Ryou jumped like she'd given him an electric shock and she laughed out loud. "Relax. I didn't quit because I was grossed out or anything. I just...well, you guys are a 'secret', right? It must be difficult for you to find time to be alone together."

Ryou had gone pink, but he looked quite touched.

"Besides," Shizuka added, "it's a lot less boring here."

"You're making friends?"

"They're nice girls." She looked over her shoulder at them fondly. They were crowded around the magazine again, except for one who was fiddling with her iPod. "I feel like I'm ruining them."

"No way. You're a great influence," Ryou told her with a wide grin. "Listen, supplies arrived from Luxor today. You know what that means? That means lots of beer. Malik and I were planning on going for a drink. You should come."

"You...think?" Shizuka asked cautiously.

"If you're worried about Malik, don't be. If he didn't like you, he'd have told you to your face already." Ryou rolled his eyes but his expression was so affectionate that Shizuka had to fight down a giggle. "He's just not the best at making new friends."

"Well, if you're sure..."

"So you'll come?"

She smiled. "Sure."

With the power of twenty-twenty hindsight on her side, Shizuka realised that going out drinking had been a mistake.

Or maybe that wasn't strictly true. There had been nothing wrong with the 'going out' element. The drinking had been the problem.

The town didn't have a proper bar as of yet – if people wanted to go out and socialise, they went to the community hall, one of the first buildings to be completed, where there was a good supply of beer at a reasonable price.

Shizuka didn't drink often. She'd turned twenty-one the previous November, making her one of the youngest in her academic year, and had seen enough of her college friends with their heads down toilet bowls to be a little apprehensive about the consequences of too much alcohol. She also had a strange paranoia about Katsuya either seeing her drunk or hearing from someone that she'd been drunk. Despite the fact that her brother's party trick was making a case of beer disappear before anyone else could grab a can, she knew that he'd have a stern lecture for her if that were to happen.

But out here, things were different. Katsuya was far away, across an ocean or maybe two, and she didn't want to look like a baby or a bore in front of Ryou and Malik, who bought round after round and wouldn't let her spend a penny because she was a guest. She didn't really like the taste of beer but found that, surprisingly, it grew on her after a glass or two or three or...or...? She lost count after a while. And suddenly Malik seemed much easier to talk to, and she just couldn't stop smiling and giggling, and she could see a whole lot of young men taking notice of her legs and her chest in her low-cut dress and she found she rather liked the attention.

It all felt just great until she stood up to go to the bathroom – and the room just spun.

"Woah," Ryou said in alarm as he reached out to steady her. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," she said with a sunny grin. "Just these silly heels..."

Malik cast a sceptical glance at her shoes, which weren't exactly towering stilettos.

One way or another she did make it to the bathroom, though she had to spend an indeterminate amount of time leaning her forehead against the stall door to steel herself for making the walk back to their table with dignity.

"Y'know, I think I'll head back now," she said casually when she (eventually) found her way back to Malik and Ryou. "I'm pretty tired."

"Yeah, it's getting kind of late," Ryou agreed. "Maybe we should all call it a night."

He and Malik didn't look tired, though. Or even particularly drunk, which was annoying.

"No, no, you two should..." Shizuka flapped her hands helplessly. "You should get some alone time."

The both blinked up at her for a moment.

"We'll walk you back to the house, at least," Malik said finally, getting to his feet.

"I'll be fine," she insisted.

"Come on, Shizuka," Ryou laughed. "Jounouchi would kick my butt halfway across Egypt if he heard I let you walk home alone in the dark."

It was almost scary how quickly and effortlessly her mood swung from delightfully mellow to a dark kind of anger that she normally wasn't even capable of.

"Katsuya isn't here," she found herself snapping. "And I'm not eight."

"No, but you're a girl," Malik said so slowly and deliberately that she immediately felt he was mocking her. "So you shouldn't walk home alone."

"What does being a girl have to do with it?" she demanded, folding her arms. "You seem to have a real problem with girls-"

"I don't think Malik is looking down on you," Ryou interjected softly. "It's just sensible, Shizuka..."

She snorted crossly and turned and stormed away, immensely relieved that she didn't wobble or fall on her butt or anything like that. She decided to walk all the way back all by herself, just to prove she could. Later, when she was sober and calm again, she would realise that Malik and Ryou had followed her from a safe distance the whole way to make sure she didn't break her ankle or get herself killed.

She stumbled into the house as quietly as she could, and was surprised to find the downstairs lights still on. It really was quite late, and considering how early Ishizu and Rishid always got up in the mornings, she'd fully expected them to be long in bed.

She crept onwards until she reached the living room, halting in her tracks when she saw Rishid sitting on the sofa reading a paperback that looked a lot more intellectual than her own. He looked up at her approach.

"Good evening," he said with a small bow of his head. His eyes didn't linger for even a moment on her bare legs or almost-exposed cleavage, and for some reason this annoyed her. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Yes, thank you," she replied in what she very much hoped was a good sober-voice. Rishid craned his neck, as if trying to see behind her.

"Is Malik not with you?" he asked. Did he always wait up for Malik to come home? Or was he waiting to make sure Malik brought her home safely?

"No." She wondered how he couldn't guess that Malik and Ryou were together. It seemed so obvious. She was sure that, if she lived here, she would have worked it out without having to walk in on them sharing a kiss.

"...Are you alright, Miss Shizuka?"

It took her a moment to realise that she was swaying from side to side where she stood.

"Fine," she said with a nod. The room was spinning again. She didn't even notice Rishid standing up but a moment later his hands were on her shoulders, gently guiding her to sit on the sofa.

"Would you like some tea?" he asked her. She thought this was a pretty funny time of night to be drinking tea, but he made good tea so she took him up on that offer. He disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes, and she felt slightly more grounded once she had the steaming mug in her hands. Rishid sat next to her, looking perfectly relaxed but probably ready to spring into action should she look ready to drop the mug or vomit all over the carpet.

Shizuka chewed contemplatively on the inside of her cheek, thinking about the comment Malik had made the previous day that had flabbergasted her so. It had been bothering her ever since. Niggling at the edge of her mind.

"Do you want me and Malik to get together?" she asked abruptly. Rishid looked taken aback for a moment before laughing quietly.

"Do you?" he returned.

She just shrugged. She couldn't very well say (even in her inebriated state) that, yes, she'd nurtured something of a schoolgirl crush on Malik for quite some time, but as it turned out she wasn't his type. Really not his type.

"He'd be lucky to have you," Rishid went on. "I'd certainly feel at ease, knowing he had someone like you by his side."

"So you think I'd be a good girlfriend?"

"Certainly. You're a wonderful person."

"...Then why are you scouting me for Malik?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting into a frown.

"I don't understand."

"If you think I'm so 'wonderful', then..." She trailed off pathetically. "Is that what it means to be a big brother? Whenever you see something nice, you just think that your younger sibling might like it, instead of wanting it for yourself...?"

There was a heavy pause. He still seemed puzzled about exactly what she was asking, and she was struggling mightily to put it into words. He was a man who seemed to do nothing but work for the happiness of his family – his brother in particular – and that level of selflessness surpassed even Katsuya's clumsy, protective love for her. She wanted to know if he was even capable of wanting something just for him.

"I think you've had a little too much to drink," Rishid said delicately. "You're getting upset."

"Malik can find his own happiness!" Shizuka said insistently. He's already found it, in fact, she thought. "Big brothers need to understand that. Just...focus on yourself..."

He didn't reply. She carefully set her tea down on the nearby coffee table.

"If you think I'm good enough for Malik, does that make me good enough for you, too?" she persisted. She wondered if Rishid had ever even been with a woman before, or if that was against the rules – maybe he couldn't love anyone else as long as he loved Malik.

He looked almost nervous. Shizuka decided she liked talking to him when she'd had more than a few beers. All of a sudden she felt like the grown-up.

When he still didn't say anything she became frustrated – she reached out and grabbed one of his hands and pressed it firmly to her left breast.

Pay attention to me. Look at me and see me as a woman. As someone you could be interested in. And for yourself, not your brother.

He froze for a split second before jerking his hand out of her grip as if it had been burned.

"Shizuka!" he cried, looking scandalised.

"You won't look at me," she blurted out. "Not properly..."

"I think you need to go to bed," he said firmly. He helped her to her feet and up the stairs, took her into her room and sat her on the edge of the bed. She noticed that the water jug was full again, even though she'd taken a drink from it earlier.

"Did you refill that?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Thank you," she said softly, gazing up at him and wondering why it suddenly mattered to her that his siblings were his whole life, leaving no room for anything or anyone else.

Maybe it was for Malik's sake. If Rishid was anything like Katsuya, Malik must feel stifled here.

"You're welcome," he said, averting his eyes from her as he exited the room.

She woke up the next morning (though actually it was early afternoon) to see Malik sitting at the end of her bed, his arms folded like a stern teacher but with a highly amused smirk curving his mouth.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," he said. "Care to tell me what you did to my brother last night? He's looking a little traumatised today."

Shizuka sat bolt-upright and immediately regretted it – her stomach squirmed queasily and her temples throbbed. She pulled her knees to her chest and cradled her head in her hands.

"Oh, Malik, I was really rude to you last night," she groaned. "I'm really sorry."

"Are you kidding? You were hilarious," he sniggered. "Who knew you had some bite in you after all? But come on, what happened with Rishid? You've got to tell me. I've run out of ways to shock him."

"Rishid...?" she repeated confusedly before it all came rushing back to her. Her head snapped up, her expression aghast. "Oh God. Oh my God."

"That bad?" Malik questioned. He kept his smirk in place but his eyes started to look a little uneasy.

"I'm a disgrace," she moaned, hiding her face in her hands again. "Never let me drink again. Not even one beer."

"We're reaching a point now where I'm not sure I want to know," Malik said with a short chuckle. He reached out for the jug of water and poured some into the waiting glass, which he then pushed towards her along with two small white capsules in his outstretched palm. "Here. Aspirin. I'd be surprised if your head doesn't hurt right now."

It certainly did hurt, and she accepted the water and medicine gratefully.

"...You need to tell your brother about you and Ryou, Malik," she said miserably after a moment. "You really need to."

"Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because...all he wants is for you to be happy. He can't be happy until you're happy. Don't you see how ridiculous is it for him to still be focusing on you when you're already happy...?"

"If this is about him trying to subtly encourage you and I to hook up," Malik started with the beginnings of a smile, "don't worry, he'd never dream of forcing the issue."

"It's not that!" she protested. "Everything he does is for you! He needs to know you're ok before he can move on with his own life!"

Malik blinked, clearly nonplussed. He didn't seem to have a reply to that.

"Don't you see that he'll be hurt you kept it from him this long?" she pleaded. "And he loves you more than anything, he won't disapprove or..."

"I know that," Malik said shortly, getting to his feet. "Of course I know that. Same with Ishizu. She wouldn't disapprove or try to force us apart either."

"But...you said..." Shizuka said, perplexed. "Then why are you keeping it a secret?"

He was pacing back and forth in front of her now, one hand buried in his hair.

"You know what I've done," he ground out. "You know all the trouble I caused."

"That was a long time ago."

"That doesn't matter. Fact is, all I ever did was hurt them and cause problems. And now we're here..." He hesitated a moment. "What right do I have to be the only one who's found someone I can be happy with? I should be the one who's always alone, while Rishid and Ishizu go off and find people and get married and...whatever. It doesn't feel fair that I got so lucky. And so I didn't want them to know that I have something they don't. Because I shouldn't. Because it's not fair."

"...You're an idiot," Shizuka informed him bluntly. He ceased his pacing and looked down at her with a questioning frown.

"All your family wants is for you to be happy," she reiterated. "They won't hold it against you or think you don't deserve it. They'll just be glad."

"Maybe," he said with an uncertain shrug.

"Tell them," Shizuka said firmly. "At least tell Rishid."

"...I'll see." He headed for the door, looking at her over his shoulder with another smirk just before he left. "By the way, you missed breakfast. Lunch will be ready soon."

Mealtimes seemed to be the only times that the three Ishtar siblings were together. Rishid almost always did the cooking, and Shizuka got the impression that Malik and Ishizu would forget to eat if he didn't.

This particular lunch was partaken in a stiff, awkward silence. Shizuka didn't think Rishid had managed to look at her once since she'd come into the kitchen (dressed far more modestly than she had been last night, at least). Malik was keeping his head down, perhaps mulling over what she had told him. Only Ishizu seemed perplexed as to why they were all being so dreary, but didn't question it, probably blaming it on last night's frivolities. She was the first to leave the table and the house, closely followed by Malik. The silence in the kitchen became almost painful in the wake of their departure.

"...I'm very sorry," Shizuka whispered finally. "About last night."

She reached out as if to lay a hand on his arm, then realised he probably wouldn't particularly want her to touch him and stopped midway. His gaze rested heavily on her hand, an odd expression in his eyes. As if was looking at it – at her – for the first time.

"It's alright," he replied. He sounded calm again, very much in control. "You were not yourself."

"That's not really an excuse, though, is it?" she said gloomily. "I should never have...I'm really-"

"Shouldn't you be with the girls?" he asked, cutting her off cleanly. "You're already late."

She shrank back, stung by this clear rebuke. Not that she could really blame him. She nodded and hurried to leave.

"Miss Shizuka."

"Yes?"

"...It really is alright," he assured her just before she closed the door.

The next two weeks passed without further disaster, though Rishid never did seem as comfortable around her as before, and as far as she could tell, Malik hadn't taken her advice about coming clean. But it was fine. She was done meddling.

She couldn't help but...notice things, though. As she had already observed, the Ishtars were all in the same place at the same time only when they were eating. She never saw Rishid during the day when she was out doing whatever work she'd been assigned, and she had no idea where he went. Malik would sometimes ask him if he'd come to help with the translation of the scriptures or if he wanted to go get a drink later, and Rishid would always have a perfectly plausible reason not to.

He was pulling away, Shizuka realised. Fading into the background of his brother's life.

She'd quickly learned that Rishid was always the first of the household to awaken each day. She set her alarm very early one morning, and got up in time to corner him alone in the kitchen.

"I know why you hoped Malik and I would be together," she began, without even as much as a 'good morning'. He looked up from his coffee, doing an admirable job of covering his surprise.

"Do you?" he returned evenly, not bothering to deny that that had been the case.

"It wasn't...me, particularly. You just wanted him to be with someone. Anyone, as long as he was happy." She paused, swallowing dryly. "Because you're planning to leave."

At that he did look surprised. Astonished, really. She supposed she'd acted so abominably stupid while drunk that he had ceased to consider her intelligent while sober.

"You are, aren't you?" she persisted.

"...I am," he said at length with a slow nod.

"Are you even planning on saying goodbye to him?" she asked. "Or are you just going to disappear?"

"It's...better if I just disappear," he replied. "If I told him, he would ask me to stay. He wouldn't want me to go. But I have to. For his sake."

Of course, she should have known that this was all for Malik's benefit.

"Why?" she asked.

"Malik can never be truly free while I am here," he said simply. "It took me this long to realise it. I am his past. I am a reminder of those five years where everything went wrong. He looks at me and he feels guilt. He feels he does not deserve this life here. He will never let it go as long as I am here."

"No!" Shizuka cried, surprising even herself. She wanted to snatch the coffee mug out of his hands and smash it on the floor. "No, it's not like that at all! But if you want to leave, you should leave. Do it because you want to be free. And at least say goodbye!"

"You don't understand," he murmured.

"I think I do," she said defiantly. "Where are you planning on going?"

"Anywhere, really. It doesn't matter."

"No, it does matter!" she almost wailed. "Where do you want to go? If you feel like you have to leave, why not pick the best place? Why not go somewhere you think is beautiful?"

She had expected him to be angry with her by now – maybe to shout at her for presuming to know so much. But he smiled.

"You really are very kind, aren't you?" he said softly.

She was more than a little taken-aback. She didn't know what to say to that – almost forgot what they'd been talking about in the first place. All she knew was that he was even worse than Katsuya, who'd go to the ends of the earth to make her happy but would still remember to do a thing or two for his own sake along the way, and it was just too sad for her to bear.

"Morning."

The both turned (Shizuka with an undoubtedly guilty expression) to see Malik hovering in the doorway. Shizuka wondered how much he'd heard.

"Rishid, would you mind coming with me today?" he asked.

"I have to-" Rishid started patiently.

"It's very important," Malik interrupted. He caught Shizuka's eye for a moment, as if looking for reassurance. "There's something I want to talk to you about."

It was late that evening when Rishid came to her room.

Shizuka had retired to read a few pages of a novel borrowed from Ishizu (she'd long since finished her own and donated it to the tomb-keeper girls) before going to sleep. She set the book aside and looked at him expectantly as he came inside.

"...You knew, didn't you?" he said quietly. "About Malik and Ryou."

"I found out by accident," she confirmed. "I wanted to tell you, but it wasn't my place."

"No," he agreed. He didn't seem to want to sit down.

"Are you surprised?" she asked.

"It's something of a surprise, yes," he admitted. He was smiling, though. Not at her – it was a smile for Malik, a glad smile.

"They've never told me so," she said, "but I think they're in love."

"I think you could be right."

"So..." she started uncertainly. "What are you going to do?"

He sighed and crossed the room to the window, gazing out at the darkness and the stars.

"You have to understand that it's never been about me," he said. "I have always followed Malik. Because he needed me. Because he deserved that."

Shizuka did understand. Now Rishid was free to do as he liked. That had never been a possibility before. It must have seemed a little frightening.

"You want to leave, don't you?" she asked tentatively. "You want to find...something that's your own."

"Maybe go somewhere beautiful," he agreed.

She smiled broadly.

"...You were right," he said after a pause. "When you said I never looked at you. I never looked at anything...anyone...for myself. Because I never wanted anything."

He turned and she felt he was looking right at her for the first time since her night of embarrassing debauchery.

"But you...certainly gave me a wake-up call," he went on, amusement creeping into his expression. "So I think I should tell you that you're beautiful. I can see it now."

Shizuka laughed bashfully and felt herself blush deeply.

Then nothing happened for quite some time.

"...Aren't you going to do anything about it?" she asked finally.

He looked startled.

"I don't love you, Miss Shizuka," he said.

"Of course you don't. We barely know each other," she said exasperatedly before her tone softened. "But, y'know. We could. Know each other, I mean."

"You're very young-"

"Hasn't Malik warned you about the things I do when you make me feel like a child?"

"You're going home in a week," he said conclusively. "You have your last year of college to complete. And I'm going...somewhere. I haven't decided where yet."

"And what about in a year's time?" she asked. "If you're going off to live somewhere amazing, then...I might like to come and visit. If that would be ok."

He smiled again, and this time it was for her. She really did like his smile.

"I think that would be fine."

On the morning of her departure, Shizuka made sure to be up extra-early again. She got dressed at record speed and quickly double-checked that she had remembered to pack everything. Then she darted downstairs. She figured this would be her last chance for at least a year, and she didn't like wasting opportunities.

Rishid was alone in the kitchen, as she'd expected. Since it had become something of the norm for her not to offer him a morning greeting, she didn't say anything – just leaned up and pressed a kiss to his lips. Nothing crazy, like the night when she'd had a few too many beers. Just a kiss. A nice kiss.

He hesitated only a moment before responding with a gentleness that was his trademark. One hand rose to cup her face lightly.

It only lasted a few seconds and then they parted, exchanged smiles and went about making breakfast as normal.

He didn't come with her to the airport. Ryou did, with Malik in tow. If possible, Ryou had seemed to be in even better spirits since their secret had ceased to be quite so secret. He hugged her goodbye and made her promise to keep in touch.

Her brother was waiting for her when she got off the plane, along with Anzu and Yuugi. They greeted her excitedly, wanting to know everything about her trip.

She smiled tiredly, wondering exactly how to censor the version they would hear.

A few months later, when she was up to her ears in college work and struggling to balance it with her part-time job, a postcard came in the mail.

It had no message written on it, just her address. She flipped it over to look at the picture.

It certainly was very pretty. It was an aerial view of a mountainous island, surrounded by startlingly blue sea. The name in the corner read 'Corsica'.

She grinned and wasted no time pinning it to the wall next to her desk and going about her work with new enthusiasm.

Less than a year to go.

END.

GOSH I THOUGHT I'D NEVER FINISH THIS XD

Deadlines are my worst enemy, it seems.

Fiver x