so here begins the first of a slew of drabbles for just about every het couple under the sun! the list is really quite long, so this project will take some time. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and opinions though!

SHIPPING: TRUSTSHIPPING (KAIBA X ISHIZU)

TITLE: SPLITTING THE SECONDS

THEME/MUSIC: FEAR/PERFECT ENEMY- TATU

TAGLINE: SHE KNEW FEAR WHEN SHE SAW IT.

WORDS: 309

She noticed he would always hold his head up high, shoulders tense and face an unreadable mask, whenever he was trying to hide something. He would continue on behind this rather transparent façade, tossing sharp glances with a sharp tongue to maintain the empty space around him. Nobody else had even attempted to peer closer; only one look was necessary for anyone who spoke out of turn, only a few words needed to silence many.

But one look and a few words weren't enough for her.

The first time he looked at her with arrogance and doubt, amused sarcasm on his lips. She could tell he was used to that being the end of it; his whole demeanor radiated confidence and egotism.

She couldn't resist proving him wrong.

After that, his expression changed somewhat: the arrogance and doubt shifting to grudging respect and a sneer in the slivers of ice he called eyes. She saw this as a challenge; he would eventually believe in her. And so she talked to him with her silent gaze, persisting through his ignorance, and climbed higher up the ladder he had created to reach him.

At first she told herself that she was only here for kin. She stopped lying after she realized she was trying too hard for that. Trying too hard to make him see her from underneath the mask that she was slowly crumbling in her fingers.

She only had to murmur something and he would falter for a moment, letting her words sink into him before turning away with a scowl. A split second later, he would crudely fix the crack in his mask, head up high, shoulders tense, and brush her off with a strange expression he thought she didn't notice.

"I'm not afraid of anything," he said.

She only smiled. She knew fear when she saw it.

review?