:That hiatus. Ugh it murders my soul. Okay, a little background on my disappearance once again. School is...murderous. Like more than usual. I'm in the senior year of high school, with less than 80 days left of it, and it's killing me on the stress. One teacher made us write something that was fifteen pages long, FIFTEEN. This previous week also took a killer move on me...I had been pushed too hard apparently, woke up with a bad headache, went to school anyway, and ended up throwing up and having a high fever. I'm just so..ugh about this whole thing. So, sorry again. Also, at the end of the chapter I want to tell everyone something. Anyway. Have fun reading!:

Seto didn't know what was worse. The fact that he had to help carry an barely alive prince back to his room two times through the weekend, which injured his back a decent bit, the prince was not, as one might think, light. Or the fact that while he was sleeping, someone was banging on his door as if the dorm had caught on fire.

The adviser groaned, rolling onto his stomach and burying his face into his pillow. Usually, he would rise from his bed and answer the door, however he was tired and it was not abnormal for a human being to try to ignore the call of-

"Seto!" A voice called. "Come on! Get up!" The sounds at the door became louder, the voice almost began to scream at him. Seto forced himself to sit up, glaring at the frame of the door. Why is she up? He thought to himself. This was a nice change to her sleeping in, but why in Ra's name was she calling for him at this hour? He looked to his clock, only 5:30? Perhaps he had overslept a tad bit...

He had a good reason to oversleep though. This previous weekend had been quite tiring, for everyone really. Atemu and Yugi had had to perform the entire time, making them both exhausted to the highest amount. This should have not really made him tired, but like he had mentioned earlier, he had helped carry the prince back to his room to rest to the next day.

It only took him really to carry Atemu, but Malik had helped whenever he could with him, so he was probably tired as well. When it came to Yugi's little carry party, Bakura carried him the first night, and Joey the second. Apparently the boy was light, not that it surprised him really. Yugi was small and petite, while the pharaoh-to-be was muscular and decent sized, he was not small but not large either.

"Do I have to go in there?!" She called louder. Seto could almost see her reaching for the doorknob, asking herself if she should open the door or not. He sighed, finally bringing himself to stand and stomp to the door. He ran a hand through his hair, grumbling that he had to bath soon before he grabbed the doorknob and pulled it.

"May I ask why you are up so early?" Seto grumbled, staring down at the princess in front of him. He had to stop himself from looking confused and slightly scared, she was smirking at him, her school uniform already in place and her face revealing no sign of tiredness. She had no reason to be, she didn't need to carry anybody.

"Gather the others." She ordered, placing her hands on her hips. Seto scrunched his face up for a moment.

"Why-"

"Tell them to go to the regular area." She spoke once more, leaving his side before he could get a word out.

He watched her leave, a look of perplexity fixed on his face. He had a few questions running through his head. One would be on why she did not wake up Atemu herself, was he not right next to her room? And the other was on why she wanted him to gather everyone in the first place.

Seto sighed, shaking his head at this turn of events. Oh, well. Nothing he could really do about it. He returned to his room, closing the door behind him. He had to get ready...

Then he could wake the others.

()()()()()()()()()

This was weird. Malik commented, lounging in his plush chair as he looked around the area. This was really weird. Usually Seto would be calling the shots, usually Seto would be standing in the middle, waiting for them to pay attention. Usually Seto wouldn't be sitting in Mana's chair, waiting for her to start talking! What was going on?!

He let out a small yawn, rubbing at his eyes as he tried to rid himself of the sleepiness that was still there. He was tired...It was early, he wanted to sleep, he could just lay his head back on the chair and just-

"Malik!" Mana snapped, making said person jump in their seat to pay attention to her. He straightened his back, forcing his eyes to remain open as he focused them onto the princess. Ra, don't bite his head off!

Mana pouted at her friend's actions, did they forget so soon on what she had told them?! She looked around, noticing that Seto was the only one who was fully awake, other than herself. She had forced herself to wake up early, they had to do this today because tomorrow she had promised a little date with Anzu, but then...

She felt her heart begin to ache a little, she bit her lip a little, shutting out the bad thoughts that were rising inside. No, don't think about it. That day isn't here yet! She moved her line of sight to her brother, not surprised in the least to find him sleeping in his chair as if he were a baby. He had worked so hard this weekend...

"Atemu." She sung out, walking to him and gently prodding his shoulder with her finger. Malik sent her a glare at this action, oh yeah be nice to him.

The prince shifted in his sleep, opening his eyes a little to the sister in front of him. "Oh...Good morning..." Mana giggled at this, stepping away from him with a smile.

"Alright, now that we're all paying attention." She cleared her throat, placing her hands on her hips. She smiled wider, opening her mouth to say proudly; "The eight of us are going shopping!"

The 3 remaining people in the room stared at her, not knowing what to say. Eight? What? The three boys looked to each other in confusion, there was only four of them, wasn't there? She was the only one who didn't carry someone or had acted out a play, was she still tired? She usually didn't get up this early so it might be understandable...

Malik raised his hand, beginning to speak once Mana pointed at him with a playful grin; "Um, I'm sorry, but..." He looked at her sternly. "Do you know how to count?"

Mana gaps at him in shock. Of course she knew how to count! She wasn't an idiot! She began to speak, before Seto cut in quickly;

"There are only four of us, Mana." He told her. Mana finally understood, oh of course. She let out a sigh and shook her head, were they dense?

"Yes, four of us." She agrees. "But if you add the others, we make a group of eight."

The three understand and nod in agreement, before they register what she had said previously once again; "Wait, why are we going-" Seto began again, only to be stopped by Mana placing her palm out in a stop signal.

"Masquerade Ball, remember?" She sung out sweetly, making them all pause in thought. Oh. They all felt a stab of sadness suddenly, knowing what that event was and remembering what would happen after the event. Mana had to break this sorrowful mood, they had to be happy for their last days here! The others wouldn't be happy if they weren't happy!

She suddenly pointed at Seto, a grin finally taking place once more. "Seto!" She yelled, louder than necessarily needed. "Prepare a limo and make Pegasus say an announcement!"

Seto stared at her, almost beginning to glare before he shook his head, telling himself it wasn't worth the energy of getting angered, and stood up. He walked out of the room, shoving his hand into his pocket to bring out his phone to obey her orders.

Mana lets out a small squeal at this, everything is going according to plan! Now if only-

"Mana." She turns her eyes to her brother, his eyes heavy with sleep and his voice groggy. "What do you want Malik and I to do?"

She thought for a moment and looked at their clothing, it would be a bit odd for them all to go shopping in school uniforms. Well, Anzu and the others would probably be in their uniforms but still, they could change that.

"Wear casual clothes."

()()()()()()()()

Everyone sat at the breakfast table, it was normal, nothing really big going on. Anzu sat with an apple in her hands, staring at a friend. Joey sat with a breakfast wrap, staring at a friend. And Bakura sat with a piece of toast, poking a friend.

Yugi had laid his head on the table, his arms cushioning it as his body moved up and down slowly. Poor thing had fallen asleep. This wasn't abnormal after a weekend of performing, usually after each performance every person in theater would be like this throughout the day. Taking naps in class, or simply sleeping whenever they had a free moment. Usually Joey would be like this too, thankfully he wasn't though. He never did like the performing aftermath.

Anzu giggled at this sight, joining Bakura in poking Yugi's hair playfully. He was so cute while he slept, as if he was a little panda curling up.

"He's probably going to sleep the entire day." Bakura grumbled, finally stopping his poking. He took a bite out of his toast, looking to Joey. The blonde teen took a bite out of his wrap, shrugging.

"Well..." He gulped, swallowing the food in his mouth. "It wouldn't surprise me." He leaned on the table, looking to his small friend with a smile. He looked so peaceful at that moment.

"I don't think Yugi will sleep the entire day." Anzu argued. "Only Joey would sleep the entire day." She sent a sharp look at him, making said male look away sheepishly. Okay, so he used to sleep the entire day in the aftermath. Could anyone really blame him? He put his heart and soul into acting when he had to perform, anyone would!

"I'm not too sure about that." Bakura chuckled, seeing Yugi move his a little as Anzu stopped her poking. "Little guy probably wore himself out more than usual." The other two at the table knew what he was talking about. The royal having to act with him probably stressed him out emotionally, hopefully not too bad though.

From what they had seen throughout the performance was them not being nervous at all with each other, they acted out each scene perfectly with the right amount of emotion, and at the end of it all they would hold hands and bow together. There was no way that they weren't comfortable with each other. However, it could just be because they were being professional, but...

"I hope they'll be okay..." Anzu sighed, hating how Yugi seemed to be the only one having problems with his crush. From what she knew and could see, Joey and Seto were together, that she knew, and Bakura and Malik were doing just fine. Her and Mana were doing more than fine, their relationship was fantastic.

"You think it's because they're the only two who kissed?" Joey asked out of the blue. Anzu blinked in wonder while Bakura began to choke a little on his toast.

She thought for a moment, that did make sense. Bakura began to hit on his chest, trying to dislodge the food that was trying to stick in his throat. The two friends looked at the silver haired one in confusion, what was his problem?

"I-" He cleared his throat a bit more. "I-I don't think that's the reason they're having problems." He could hear the gears in his friends' heads turn, oh no. "I mean..." He looked to Anzu. "You and Mana have kissed, right?"

The girl's face began to burn; "O-Only on the cheek!" She told him. "W-What about Joey and Seto? They could have-"

"No." Joey firmly spoke, not wanting to become the subject of the conversation. He fought his face to remain calm, only for it to disobey his will and turn bright pink. Why was Bakura worked up over kiss-...Joey grinned at him. "Have you kissed Malik?"

Bakura's eyes widened, that was exactly what he was trying to avoid. He gulped, trying to get some moisture in his mouth so he could talk. He felt his face heating up. "No...Well," He took a deep breath. "We-"

"Attention Students."

All students, excluding Yugi and a few other faces in the cafeteria, rose their head to the ceiling in question. There was an announcement today?

"Would the following students please make their way to the front of the school gate;

Joey Wheeler,"

Anzu looked at Joey with a stern looking, asking him with her eyes on what he had done this time.

"Anzu Mazaki"

Joey smirked at her, the girl's face now containing confusion as he whispered; "What did you do?"

"Bakura Shi."

Both Anzu and Joey looked to their silver haired friend in question, Bakura shrugged; "I didn't do anything."

"And Yugi Mutou. I repeat. Please make your way to the front of the school gate."

Students looked in their direction, wondering on what they had done and why they were needed. The three friends looked to their sleeping companion, who had been completely silent the entire time, making no sound as they slept.

Anzu gives Yugi a firm poke to the shoulder, not knowing on whether to wake him up or not. Joey and Bakura glance to each other, before Joey sighs and chuckles.

"Okay, I'll carry him."

()()()()()()()()()()()

It wasn't really anything new for a student to be called to the front gate, it happened plenty of times in the past, however whenever it happened it was usually bad news. But, from what Anzu knew, none of them had done anything wrong. The three of them walked side by side, with Joey carrying Yugi on his back. The small teen was still perfectly asleep, as if nothing was happening and he wasn't being carried off.

"Do you think we did anything?" Anzu asked out loud, crossing her arms as they journeyed down the long path to the gate. It was a long walk, but it was necessary, with how big the academy was. She looked to Joey, watching as he shrugged the best he could with a kid on his shoulders.

"It's probably got to do with fancy pants." Bakura commented, shoving his hands in his pockets. Anzu pondered this for a moment, yeah that would make sense. After all it couldn't be coincidence that all of them had been called for.

The three walked on, their attention going forward before they stopped in a state of confusion. For one thing, there was a silver limo waiting beyond the gate, and the other being the fact that the royals were standing in front of it, and looking toward them.

Seto stood with his body clothed in a simple white t-shirt and jeans, a hand on his hip as the other held a phone to his ear. Who was he talking to? Joey narrowed his eyes at this sight, was he working or something? He would have to ask him about it later...

Malik smiled to his friends, waving tiredly to them as his eyes centered to Bakura. On his person was long black pants with a standard silver tank top. Bakura rose his eyebrows at this attire on the royal's torso, he didn't even know anyone who would wear silver clothes. He thought it would blind the people around them, but for some reason his silver wasn't hurting his eyes. Weird...

Mana hopped in place, smiling brighter than Malik and waving excitedly to the four. She called out to them, yelling out a hello as her cheeks flushed with happiness. They had come! She stood straight, trying to compose herself not to act too excited now, it would be weird if anyone were to be watching them. She looked down at her clothes, hoping that her plain green dress and sandals weren't bad looking on her. She wanted to be extremely casual, although she guessed that she really didn't need to. But they were going to go shopping, it would be weird to go in a uniform.

Anzu looked to her girlfriend, giggling at how excited she was. It was cute of her, but the question of why she was there still rested in her mind. Why had the four of them been called here?

The three walking teens approached the three present royals, not hesitating a moment to look around. Where was the prince?

"Okay..." Bakura rose an eyebrow. "Where's princey?" He looked to Seto for information, in response to this, the adviser gestured to the limo.

"He's sleeping." Seto answered bluntly. "After getting dressed he had fallen asleep, so we had to carry him and place him inside." He looked to Yugi with an amused eye. "And I see that he's tired as well."

Joey grumbled and shifted Yugi's weight, little guy was light but after a while it seemed as if the kid was full of rocks. "Yeah, yeah. Can ya blame him?" He watched as his boyfriend walked to his side, taking Yugi from him and carrying him bridal style.

The blonde felt a small hint of jealously in his heart, but tossed it to the side, there was nothing to be jealous about. He was just taking the weight off his shoulders.

"Please hold on a moment." Seto spoke casually, walking to the limo and gesturing for Malik to open the door. He did so, making sure to over exaggerate the opening with a mocking bow to the adviser.

The brunette climbed inside, disappearing from the others point of view for a couple minutes. They heard the soft movements of him inside, wondering on what he was doing. Soon, he returned, closing the door gently behind him as he did so.

"Alright, now that we're all here..." She spoke, excluding the two sleepers in the limo. "We're going shopping." She smiled brightly, clapping her hands and giggling.

Bakura and Joey looked at her with a soft hint of fear and shock, oh no. They did not want to go shopping. What would they even shop for? Anzu, however, smiled brightly at this and rushed forward to give the princess a hug and kiss on the cheek. Of course! The girls want to shop!

"Wait, why?" Joey asked, looking back and forth between the two girls. Mana smirked. She hadn't known if the four students had heard of the final event or not, but if they didn't, then oh well! They would just be in for a surprise! She winked at the blonde playfully.

"Just because." She sung out before she turned to the limo door and opened it gently. "Now, come on! We don't have all day!" She crawled inside, taking a seat within the limo. Anzu just shook her head with a smile and crawled in after her, leaving the boys outside.

The four looked to each other, thinking to themselves on how odd it was that girls could get excited over the little things such as shopping.

"So..." Bakura decided to speak, moving toward the limo with everyone soon following his lead. "What did you do with Yugi?"

Seto shrugged, waiting as the others crawled into the vehicle before him. He didn't do anything big really, just a little thing he thought the prince would appreciate once he awoke.

"Oh, nothing really."

()()()()()()()()()()

Apparently the thing Seto had done wasn't anything to worry about, although it made most of them wonder how the two would react once they had woken up. What had happened was that Atemu was laying on his back in the farthest seat, sleeping peacefully, however now instead of him just laying there by himself, Yugi was placed onto his torso and the royal's arm had now wrapped itself around the small boy's hip as he slept. Yugi had curled up to the chest, nuzzling into the warm body every now and then with a soft sound.

"They're going to flip out once they wake up." Joey chuckled to himself, sitting beside the adviser, who seemed to refuse to let go of his waist.

Malik smiled at this; "At least it'll be kinda funny." He commented, squeezing Bakura's hand to get his attention. The silver haired teen had been staring out the window, or well, had been attempting to. He couldn't really look out the window with the weird curtain thing in the way. What was the point of it?

"So, we can look forward to two funny events in this limo." Bakura began, looking away from the covered window and redirecting his eyes to the sleeping couple. "One will be when those two lovebirds wake up," He looked down to the floor where the only girls sat. "And the other will be when you two fall over and flip your skirts up."

The two girls' faces turned bright at this, that was just rude. Mana pouted at him; "We will not fall over!" She heard Seto let out a sigh at this.

"Mana, you are a princess. Will you please take a seat?"

"I don't want to. I'm comfortable down here!"

"Yes, but there is a high chance you will hurt yourself."
"What's going to hurt her?" Anzu intervened. "She's not going to get carpet burn, and also there's nothing here to hurt herself with."

Malik laughed at this; "Oh, no. She'll find a way." He narrowed his eyes mischievously. "Our princess here is the queen of clumsiness."

Mana bolted up onto her knees at this, clutching her hands into fists as she glared at her friend. "Hey! I am not clum-Ah!" The Limo had passed through a rather steep speed bump, knocking the poor girl over and filling her face up with carpet, doing this also provided a decent view of the royal's backside to her girlfriend. Anzu couldn't help her face from becoming beat red at this.

"Enjoying the view there, Anzu?" Joey called out, winking to her. Said girl blushed harder, hurriedly helping the princess back onto her bottom to balance herself on the carpet.

Malik looked over to the prince and Yugi, ignoring how Joey began to tease Anzu about her intense staring at Mana's butt. The two looked so peaceful like that, as if nothing were bothering them. It was weird seeing this, but it was cute in a way. However...

"Shouldn't we wake those two up soon?" Malik questioned, pointing to the two in question. Everyone moved their line of sight to them, pondering on whether or not they should. Before anyone could answer, they heard a small groan coming from the Pharaoh-to-be.

"You don't need to." He grumbled tiredly, his voice soft and low as he forced his body up, his arm still around Yugi's hip. The boy seemed to move with the royal's movements without being disturbed in his sleep, was he usually this heavy of a sleeper?
"Y-You've been-"

"No." Atemu yawned. "How can anyone really sleep with-" He looked down at his torso, finally noticing the body that laid on top of him. He felt his face begin to burn, his heart began to race, oh Ra please don't tell me...

He simply stared down at Yugi, barely able to contemplate the situation. What-How-Why? Yugi was sleeping on him, and he was even letting him hold him, and- The small teen smiled in his sleep, snuggling into the royal's torso once more. Atemu's eyes widened even more than before.

"Yu-Yugi." He gulped, looking to where his hand was. His hand was on his hip, and it was so close to his- Oh boy...He licked his lips, looking to his friends who were currently watching this little problem he was having. They looked actually amused by this!

"W-What is-" He had began, only to hear Yugi let out a small noise. Please don't tell me he's doing what I think he's doing.

Everyone looked to Yugi, watching as the boy's eyes fluttered open, his amethyst pools a tad darker than before, he was so sleepy...

Yugi felt warm, it was nice...He moved his half lidded eyes around, noticing he was lying on someone. He gripped the fabric under his hand, noticing how it seemed to resemble a kind of cloth that would be used for a shirt. He lifted his head up, blankly staring into crimson orbs and blinking slowly.

"Oh..." He yawned, his mind not able to think clearly. "Good morning..."

The two stared at each other, the royal being fully awake and unsure of what to do, while the other just waited for himself to clear his mind. This took a good thirty seconds, seeing as once that amount of time passed, Yugi's eyes had began to widen.

Wait...He thought, staring into the royal's eyes. He...He was on top of Atemu, and he was up against him and...He felt the prince's hand on his hip...way too close to his...

He let out a yell, bolting away from the pharaoh-to-be quickly and causing the royal to back up as well in alarm. He breathed heavily, his body now on the other side of the long seat they were sitting in. He felt his heart pounding, threatening to bust out of his chest and he could feel his face begin to burn with an intense heat.

Yugi opened his mouth, about to speak only to interrupted by the limo slowing to a stop. Mana looked away from the two, blinking for a moment;

"Oh, we're here."

()()()()()()()()()()()

Yugi didn't want to talk, he didn't want to walk, he didn't want to do anything! He was too flustered and angered at that moment, but sadly he was forced to move due to Anzu saying he had to get out of the limo. After the little episode in the limo, the prince had gotten out of the limo first, being rather quick in his movements and almost stumbling out onto the concrete.

When it came to him and the royal, he supposed they were okay again, but...He didn't really expect to wake up on his chest like that. How long had they been like that? He was so sure that he was at breakfast about thirty minutes ago, and where were they? Why were they here and not at school?

The eight of them stood in front of the large building in front of them. Six of them just stared at the building in confusion, while Seto was telling the limo driver when he wanted them to pick them up, and Mana was smiling brightly at her friends.

It was a store that was about half the size of Walmart, the painting being a tan color and being rather plain despite it's large size. The signing read the words Presto Chango.

Bakura rose an eyebrow at the name, he knew the school was odd, but he thought that it was the only weird thing they had in this place. He never thought that the area had weird stores with names that sounded as if it came from a kid's show.

"Did the people get bored with the name or..." Joey commented, chuckling a bit at the large signage. This was a bit...

"Okay!" Mana suddenly clapped her hands together, moving and placing herself in front of everyone, Seto had moved his attention back to the group. "This store has little areas inside of it labeled different names and is very big, as you can see." She gestured to the building.

How did she know that? Atemu couldn't help wondering, he looked to his side to where Yugi stood. He was a tad bit further away than he would normally be, but that was to be expected when you woke up on top of someone. Although...It did feel nice.

"Before any of you ask." Mana broke through his thoughts. "I researched this late at night when everyone was sleeping."

"Mana. That's not healthy." Seto snapped, narrowing his eyes at her. Malik let out a chuckle at this while Bakura stared at him, vaguely reminded of Yugi. Usually the smallest one of them acted like a mother, was the adviser the same way? That's a scary thought.

"Anyway..." Mana looked away from Seto, not wanting to see his eyes glaring at her. She had just wanted to know what was a good store for outfits. "Since we're a big group, me and-" She reached forward, taking hold of Anzu's arm and pulling her to her side. "Anzu are going to split into two groups!"

The royal's girlfriend blinked in shock, but thought nothing of it. It made sense to split into two groups, but how were they going to split it? Well, four to a group was one way. She watched as Mana let go of her arm and kissed her cheek.

"After we're all done shopping, we'll meet back out here. Okay?" The group silently agreed, not really liking where this was going. "So, my group is..." Mana placed a finger to her chin in thought, wondering on who she should take. She knew that around certain people, some may be shy to try on a costume and this was a masquerade party they were dressing for...

"I want Yugi," The boy blinked at her in surprise, while her brother gave her a small glare.

"Seto," The adviser sighed to himself and nodded, yes of course...

"And Bakura." Everyone's eyes widened at that choice, she wanted Bakura in her group? The silver haired teen shrugged, not seeing a problem. He moved his eyes to Malik, who shifted uncomfortably at this.

Anzu chuckled at the female royal's actions and looked to the unpicked friends; "Guess you're with me then."

Mana had to keep herself from giggling, everything was going so well! She grabbed Yugi's wrist, neglecting to pay attention to how her brother wasn't really happy with her at that moment. "To make this a little more exciting..." She pointed behind the building. "My group is going to enter through the back entrance." She began to drag the teen with only a small amount of hesitation on his part.

Bakura waved at Malik and walked to the two, while Seto quickly gave Joey a small kiss on the cheek, flustering the blonde, before he marched off to the others.

This was going to be a long day...

:Ugh, that was hard to write. The next couple of chapters are going to be hard to, but ah well. I wanted to tell you guys that I might be posting one shots of other stories, although this story will always be my top priority. Also, I wanted to give you a head's up on how many more chapters are left; All in all, from what I can see in my head there's a good 6-8 chapters left of this story. So, I hope you stick around despite my slow updates. Please review and see you as soon as possible!: