Medicinal Mint

Welcome, everyone to a new collaboration by Peach Wookiee and 15animefreak15! Today we are introducing a new pairing to the Yugi-verse, one that we are surprised hasn't been tried yet; at least as far as we know. Welcome to the premiere of Spiceshipping, which is the pairing between Professor Sartyr/ Kabayama and Miss Fonda Fontaine/ Emi Ayukawa. The decision to attempt this pairing came about because of another fiction we have currently in the works. It is called Spiceshipping because of Professor Sartyr's cooking talent and Miss Fontaine's bravery which suggests that she has an internal spiciness. For this story, it's friendship. Later, it might be more.

We hope that you enjoy this pairing or at the very least tolerate it. 15animefreak came up with the pairing and Peach Wookiee came up with the name for the pairing. Together, they came up with this story.

Disclaimer: Peach and 15animefreak15 own this story. They do not own the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise or any of the established characters.

Authors' note: This story takes place three years into Duel Academy's start, approximately 6 years before Jaden and his friends enter the academy. Further, Sarah Sweeney's reaction to her termination is sadly realistic. Trust us; you don't want to know.

It was the year 2010, and at a private school out in the Pacific Ocean, it was that school's third year in existence. This school was Kaiba Corporation's Duel Academy. This school had, in its short three years, undergone some changes. First, its superintendent had suddenly gone missing and then the school nurse, Sarah Sweeney, had been fired due to gross incompetence. The woman had lied about her qualifications but had done it so skillfully that even extended background checks hadn't revealed it. But through several mishaps with students and instructors as well as not keeping the infirmary clean, her incompetence had been discovered. Seto Kaiba was furious and informed her that as soon as a replacement was found, her employment was terminated.

On her last day on the job, Sweeney decided to set fire to the school library, but failed and was arrested by the campus security team. And so, as the school year 2010-11 opened, a pretty new nurse arrived at the school. She had red hair pulled back in a ponytail and a funny bang sticking out at the front. She also had gray eyes, a sweet smile and a pretty trim figure. In addition to her duties as the school nurse, she would be the Obelisk girls' dorm head and the school gym teacher. Her name was Fonda Fontaine. Unfortunately, after three years of dealing with a nurse like Sarah, the staff were terrified that Fonda might be the same way. Even the second and third-year students who had known Sarah were scared of this new nurse.

However, one of the instructors had no choice but to go to her for medical assistance, frightened as he was. His name was Don Sartyr, a teacher who had been working at Duel Academy since its first year running. He was the head of the Ra dorm and also the card design teacher; though he preferred cooking in his spare time to these duties. He had black hair that fell just passed his ears, and stormy grey eyes. There was even a slight mustache upon his upper lip. 

Why did he have to risk going to the nurse? The master chef had given himself a rather nasty cut while cooking. Oh how his love and passion for the culinary arts had betrayed him!

Fonda Fontaine sat at her desk in the infirmary on that day, wondering why students had been seemingly avoiding the place. She'd come in noticing how dirty the infirmary was and had started scrubbing. 'Goodness,' she thought, 'everyone's nice here but they seem afraid to come to me...' And then she heard the door swish open. "Hello, may I help...Oh, my, what happened?" she asked, noticing the Ra Yellow instructor's bloody hand. Don Sartyr hadn't seen the new nurse yet, and his imagine had been going wild making up her appearance. So, he was shocked to find her so...well, beautiful was a definite understatement in his eyes. Don was also surprised that the infirmary actually looked...clean? Sterile? Far more pleasant than when Sarah Sweeney had been the nurse.

Finally, Don realized that she'd asked him a question, and he smiled a bit sheepishly. "Well, uh, I seem to have slipped and cut myself while cooking..."

She looked at him and though her clinical detachment was on full force, she couldn't help noticing that he was kind of...cute. And he looked like a nice guy. 'At the very least...a good friend.' "Oh, well let me have a look..." She stood and guided him to a seat. "This is a nasty cut. Don't worry, I'll fix you right up," she said as she pulled out some medications and instruments. He obviously tensed, remembering the few times he had to experience Sarah's medical prowess...if you could even call it that. Sure, these instruments were actually clean...but that didn't mean this new nurse would be any better.

"So...what's your name?" he asked, trying to prolong the amount of time before she started.

She snapped on a pair of rubber exam gloves and gently took his hand. "I'm Fonda Fontaine. I'm the new Obelisk girls' dorm head and I'm also the new gym teacher. What's your name?"

Gloves. Well, that was new; Sarah never used gloves. "I'm Don Sartyr. I'm the Ra dorm head and the card design teacher..."

"And you're into cooking?" she asked, taking a gauze pad and putting disinfectant on it. "This is going to sting a little..." Well, he was rather used to feeling pain in the infirmary thanks to the old nurse.

"Yes...I went to culinary school and worked in a restaurant for a time..." She cleaned the cut, being as gentle as possible.

"Culinary school? Well, what brought you here as a card design teacher?" He winced, a little surprised that it didn't hurt as much.

"To tell you the truth...I got tired of always cooking the same thing, so I quit. But I needed a job and Duel Academy just happened to have an opening. Now I have a lot of spare time to work on cooking whatever I want."

"I'll bet your students love that," she smiled, and then frowned. "This is a deep cut..."

He sweat-dropped. "I suppose that I was...distracted."

She pulled out a hypodermic needle and a small bottle. "I'm going to have to give you a numbing agent, I'm afraid. And I understand...It happens to me too," she said with a little smile.

He couldn't help but smile back, even though the needle was making his heart pound fearfully. Sarah had always liked to use the sharp objects most. She sensed his nervousness. "If it's any comfort...I don't particularly like needles, either. The day that we don't have to use them anymore will be a great day for medicine. I'm using a tiny one, though..."

'I wasn't really scared of needles until I started working here,' he thought. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Do what you must."

"Okay...I just want people to be as relaxed as possible in here. I couldn't believe how it was when I got here last week. Did someone have wild parties in here or something?"

Don grimaced. "Well, not exactly..."

"Oh?" she asked. "It just seemed so...disgusting..."

"It's a bit of a long story...let's just say that the nurse before you was less than to be desired," he replied. That was such a huge understatement it wasn't even funny.

Fonda suddenly had a good idea of what had happened. "She wasn't very good?"

"Actually, I hate to say this, but she was terrible. We couldn't fire her until we found a replacement...which would be you. I believe everyone is avoiding you because they are worried that you will be like her."

"Oh..." She looked sad. "Her nursing school must've been terrible... How does the hand feel?" She tapped it, seeing if he felt anything.

"It feels numb...I can't even feel your finger tapping it," he answered. He then sighed. "And I don't think she went to a medical school..."

She pulled out a surgical needle and surgical thread and began stitching his skin together like a skilled seamstress. "And she masqueraded as a nurse for three years? That's terrible..."

"Oh, it was. Everyone tried their best to be careful and avoid getting injured badly enough to have to see her. Unfortunately, I had to quite a few times thanks to my cooking."

She was silent for a long moment, getting the stitches fixed. "There now, all done." She placed a sterile gauze pad on the wound and bandaged the hand. "You'll need to keep this dry and come to me so I can check it. Are you going to need some help at Ra?"

"I might. There are only two other chefs to do the cooking there," he explained. Plus, the cut was on his right hand, which was his dominant one.

"Why don't I come down and help you? I'm due for a break right now," she offered.

He smiled. "Really? That would be wonderful! Are you sure it's all right?"

"Of course. And if there's a real emergency, I'll be paged or the students and staff can reach me on my PDA. You'll have to tell me what to do. I'm used to chopping vegetables, but I haven't had any formal training, I'm afraid."

"Do not worry. Cooking becomes easy once you get the basics down. After that, it's all creativity."

Fonda stood and helped him up. "Okay...well, I guess I'm going to be a student for a bit then, Mr. Sartyr...Oh, you may call me Fonda..."

"All right, Fonda. And you can call me Don. Tell me, have you met any of the other teachers yet?"

"Just briefly. Other than the Chancellor, you're the one I've had the longest conversation with."

"Well, I'll be sure to tell them that you're not even nearly as bad as Sarah was."

She smiled as they left the infirmary. "Well, thank you very much, Don. I want everyone to feel safe and secure coming to me when they're hurt." Together the teachers headed down to Ra Yellow and Don taught Fonda how to properly chop, dice, poach and sear. She caught on pretty quickly and got all of the prep work done for the other two chefs. "Wow...that was easier than I thought..."

"I told you that once you learned the basics, it was simple. Thank you for helping, Fonda." Don replied, smiling happily.

"No problem, Don...Hey, I have to go back to work, but would you like to get together later for a snack or something?"

"Sounds like a splendid idea to me. Where and when?"

"You'd know better than me," she answered, flushing slightly.

He sweat-dropped. "Oh yes, I forgot that you just recently started. Hmm… Would you happen to know where Dorothy's snack shop is?"

"Oh, yeah! It's down a way from my office. That'd work great!"

"All right. How does nine o'clock sound?"

"Sure," she smiled. "I'd be delighted."

"Well, I suppose that I'll see you then, Fonda," he replied, also smiling. "All right," Fonda said. "See you! And remember to keep that hand dry!" she called as she left Ra Yellow.

"I will! Goodbye!!" Don called back before the doors closed behind her. The next few hours passed quickly and slowly for the two teachers. This was just a friendly meeting for coffee, but it almost felt as if it were something more. Finally, it was nearing nine o'clock, and Don had just reached the snack shop. He noticed that Fonda wasn't there yet, and breathed a sigh of relief. Don couldn't understand why he was so nervous about seeing her like this.

Fonda, meanwhile was just finishing up with a student that had slipped and fallen outside her office. The Slifer boy had a bloody nose and a scrape on his right arm, so it took a bit to clean him up. She had also called Professor Banner to come and get him. "There now, Tommy, you're all fixed. Just take it easy tonight, okay?"

He nodded. "I will. Thanks, Miss Fontaine!"

"You're welcome, Tommy. And Professor Banner, be sure he gets plenty of fluids tonight," she told the Slifer head.

Lyman Banner, a young teacher with long raven hair tied back in a ponytail, smiled. "I'll be sure to, Miss Fontaine. You know, you're a much better nurse than our last one."

"I've been told that," she smiled, also handing Tommy a packet of pain reliever. She led them to the door and then went and cleaned up. She was about five minutes late to the snack shop as a result. "I'm sorry I'm late, Don," she apologized.

He was waiting by the door for her and smiled. "It's quite all right, Fonda. You are the nurse. I figured you had a last minute injury to fix."

"Yeah...a slip and fall. He'll be all right. So did everything go okay?" she asked.

"Yes, everything went well thanks to you. If you had not helped with the prep work, I would have had some hungry students on my hands," he explained.

"I'm just glad I could help you. So...I don't know what to get here...Any recommendations?"

"Well, everything here is very good. Are you a tea or coffee person?"

"At this time of night, tea..."

"Ah, then you are like me. Hmm...I would say to try Dorothy's mint tea. It's very relaxing."

"Okay, then. Let's do that!" she said cheerfully.

"Well, Don, you brought a friend!" Dorothy said cheerfully as her customers came up to order. Don smiled.

"Good evening, Dorothy. Have you met Fonda? She's the new nurse and head of the girls' dorm."

"Oh, I'm afraid we haven't really talked yet. Fonda, I'm glad you came down here," she said cheerfully.

"Well thank you, Dorothy," Fonda returned, shaking the other woman's hand. "I'm sorry I haven't been down here much yet."

"No worries. So what would you two like?"

"We'll have two cups of mint tea, Dorothy," Don ordered.

"Okay, coming right up," the plump woman smiled and headed to get the tea bags and some mugs of hot water.

"I like mint tea. It's been a while since I've had some," Fonda said, sitting down with Don at a table.

"Sometimes I'll come here to drink some and just relax. It's more peaceful here than a dorm full of teen boys, at least," Don replied, laughing a little.

"Probably the same with a bunch of teen girls. They can get pretty energetic," Fonda laughed.

Don nodded. "That's what you have to learn to deal with if you get a job at a school. Even if this isn't a normal high school, it's still considered to be one."

"Very true...and we have the opportunity to really get to know our kids. We're spending more time with them than their parents..."

"That may be so, but these kids are quite lucky. I know there wasn't a Duel Academy when I was their age. And you must be skilled to get in."

"I wish there'd been a school like this when I was their age. I would've liked to duel a bit myself, but...I didn't get into it until college," she admitted.

"Well, I didn't get into it until actually starting to work at this school," he replied, grinning sheepishly.

"So...what's your deck like?" she asked curiously.

"Well...you might laugh, but it's based around vegetables, spices, and cooking."

To his surprise, she smiled. "I'm told your deck can tell a lot about your personality. My deck is an Anti-Cure deck. It has a lot to do with giving my opponents too much of a good thing..."

Don smiled in return. "I guess that you're right. I suppose we build our decks around the thing we love most."

"Very true," she said. She took a sip of her tea, loving the refreshing spicy flavor. "This is excellent."

He took a sip from his own cup. "I thought you would like it. I've always said that Dorothy's cooking is only second to mine."

"I'm going to gain weight here," Fonda sighed, smiling.

"Well, you are a gym teacher. I suppose things will even out," Don replied, also smiling.

"I hope so," she grinned. "You certainly keep trim."

He couldn't help but blush a little. "Well, I do spend some time in the gym. I need to, seeing how much I cook."

"Good," she smiled. "I'll have to come by your dining hall some night, Don, and try your cooking. It smells delicious."

He grinned. "Just tell me when and I'll be sure to make something extra special that night."

She blushed lightly at this. "Well, thank you, Don. You don't have to go to the trouble..."

"It's no trouble at all. I'll be glad to make something special for a friend."

"Well, then, I'll have to do the same for you when you come up to Obelisk some night."

"I'll be sure to do that sometime, Fonda. It seems we both owe each other a dinner date, then." Don meant the "date of the month" type of date, not the other kind.

She smiled, understanding, but wishing there was more to it than that. "Yeah. That'll be something to look forward to. I'm glad to get to know you, Don."

He smiled back. "I'm glad that I was able to get to know you, too, Fonda. And I will also be looking forward to them." The two teachers finished their tea and headed back to their dorms, reflecting that it was good to be friends. But beneath the surface, they each hoped for something more.

And there you have it, everyone! The very first Spiceshipping story is now out. We hope you enjoyed it. Please read and review and tell us what you think of the pairing. It could be terribly, terribly wrong, but we hope it isn't! Thanks in advance for reading and reviewing!