Ranko: Hello everyone! I'm pretty sure most of you that know what The Shadow Game Trilogy is also know what this story is.

Yuugi: That is right! This is the spinoff story that Ranko created that basically treats The Shadow Game as if it were a movie! This is The Shadow Game: Behind the Scenes!

Yami: Why is she writing this, you may ask?

Ranko: Well, because I can't let go of those stories and the feels are still fresh… (sobs) Why did it have to end?

Yuugi: She's been doing that a lot lately…

Yami: So instead of letting the poor trilogy rest in peace, she is keeping it alive.

Ranko: Don't judge me!

Yuugi: Ranko twin does not own anything that involves Yu-Gi-Oh or The Forbidden Game series, both belong to their respected creators!

Ranko: Let's see how this goes, shall we? Enjoy!

-/-

Yuugi walked down the sidewalk with a slight spring in his step; his backpack was slung over one shoulder and bouncing against his shoulder blade as he walked. He was excited because he was on his way to work. Now, most people wouldn't be excited to get up at five o'clock in the morning to go to work but Yuugi had the best job in the world that made it exciting to get up so early.

Yuugi was an actor.

He giggled as he continued to skip. He was also happy because he was starring in a new movie. And he was the lead role! It made him all giddy just thinking about it! He couldn't even remember the name of the movie he was staring in. The Shadow-something. Or Game, The…Dark One? He shook his head; that didn't matter now.

He reached the studio and after wondering the area for a few minutes—the map he had was out of date—he found the right lot to be in.

He was directed to a large building with the number 23 painted on the side, apparently that is where he was supposed to be and where the cast would meet for the first time. He was so excited but also really nervous; there were butterflies in his stomach and everything.

He took a deep breath and entered the building. It looked much larger on the inside than it did from the outside. There were numerous sets that were either already set up or in the process of being put together. What he saw when he immediately walked in though was a long simple table that was surrounded by folding chairs.

There were a total of eight people sitting around the table, and none of them were sitting right next to each other. There was always two or three seats apart from everyone. Everyone seemed to be looking over scripts and had a cup of coffee by their side; they looked like zombies with bags under their eyes.

Yuugi stood awkwardly there, just watching everyone and not completely sure what to do. He studied all the faces and he noticed that all of these people were very popular and talented actors and actresses.

He suddenly felt intimidated; all of these guys were so experienced and he had never done anything like this before.

Mai Kujaku was sitting at the very end of the table, balancing her chairs on its back legs. She was so beautiful and very talented. He had seen all of her movies and he really admired her; she is what inspired him to become an actor. Then to Mai's left a couple seats away was Malik who was a child star and was beginning to work his way up in the industry. Not a few seats away from Malik was Marik Canon. Yuugi shivered; he had just gotten out of rehab for drug over dosage.

Sitting a few seats apart were Honda Hiroto and…he couldn't believe that it was Anzu Mazaki! He owned every movie she had ever been in and she was such a wonderful dancer as well. Although, Yuugi heard that she was a bit of a diva and was afraid of what it would be like to make a movie with her.

The only two people who were sitting close to each other and running lines were Bakura Oshiro and Ryou Bakura, ever since they got together three years ago they have always been in movies and TV shows together. They were the only real couple among all the actors.

On the other end of the table, opposite Mai, was Seto Kaiba. He didn't really do many movies that Yuugi had seen. He was in more TV shows and dramas. Yuugi had just watched a drama Seto was in last night and it left him in tears—then again, Yuugi will admit that he cries very easily.

A few seats away from Seto was Yami Sennen. Yuugi couldn't believe that he was going to be in a movie with Yami Sennen! Yuugi was not ashamed to admit that he had a huge crush on him. He was so ecstatic when he got the call from the casting director that he got the part he wanted and one of his co-stars—and love interest—was Yami Sennen.

Yuugi didn't know how he would get through this whole process without freaking out over being in the other man's presence.

Yuugi wrung his hands together nervously as he noticed that there was one person that was missing. He knew that he did have one friend in the cast; they went to acting school together. It was Katsuya Jounouchi. They met in college and became close friends, following each other after graduation and staying in touch. They both auditioned for the movie and they both got cast. But it didn't look like Jounouchi was here yet…

"Hey, buddy!"

The next thing Yuugi knew, the breath was knocked out of him as he was swept up in a large hug. Yuugi's face flushed a deep red. Yep, everyone else was bound to notice that. He could imagine all of their eyes staring directly at him. It made him fidget in Jounouchi's arms; Yami was staring at him! What he thought they were…together?

Yuugi couldn't bear the thought.

"Hey, Jounouchi," Yuugi said shyly.

Jounouchi released Yuugi and raised a questioning eyebrow at the boy. "Huh? Yuugi, what's wrong? You're face is all red; are you all right?" he asked, putting a hand to the boy's forehead to check for a temperature.

This made Yuugi blush even harder. He swatted Jounouchi's hand away. "I'm fine!" he hissed.

Jounouchi blinked in confusion and then looked over Yuugi's head—their height difference was astounding—and saw everyone at the table looking at them. He connected the dots and realized why Yuugi was acting so flustered.

"Oh," he said quietly. He bent down to whisper in Yuugi's ear. "Its okay, Yuugi, they're not going to judge you. I mean, we're all going to be a big family for the next couple of months so we all have to get along. Just be yourself and put yourself out there a little more and you'll be just fine." He patted the boy's shoulder.

Yuugi scoffed. "Easy for you to say," he said quietly.

Jounouchi chuckled and then walked up to the table. "Hey guys!" he said in his usual chipper tone. "It's so nice to meet you and I hope that we can all get along."

Seto scoffed; Jounouchi's left eye twitched. "Excuse me, did you want to tell me anything, hot shot?"

Seto stared at Jounouchi with his hard blue eyes; Jounouchi didn't back down. Seto gestured to Yuugi. "Just thinking that you're little owner should have kept you on a shorter leash."

Jounouchi raised an eyebrow at the man. "I am so sorry; I'm such a horrible person for wanting to get along with everyone." Jounouchi held his arms out in front of him. "Take me away, officer!"

Malik started laughing; Jounouchi cracked a grin. "You liked that joke, huh? Don't worry, you'll be hearing plenty more." Malik giggled again.

"Hey, Jou," Bakura said, tugging at the tail ends of Jounouchi's shirt to get his attention. "Just ignore mister high-and-mighty over there. He has something up his ass."

Ryou swatted his boyfriend's arm. "Bakura…"

Bakura looked at Ryou innocently. "What? You know it's true, you even agreed with me earlier!"

Ryou sighed. "That was to just get you to shut up."

"Which sounds like a good idea right now; don't you mutts have muzzles?" Seto asked distastefully.

Bakura's nostrils flared. He rose from his seat so fast that it was knocked backwards. He slammed his palms on the table. "Listen here, pretty boy…!"

"How about both of you can shut up so I can work on memorizing my lines?" Mai asked.

"Why don't you just relax? We haven't even met the director yet," Jounouchi said, still steaming from Seto.

Mai made a face. "Well, I can tell that someone doesn't take his job very seriously."

Jounouchi's rage was recharged. "Hey! Don't you dare accuse me of that! I take my job just as seriously as you; it doesn't matter whether I am as experienced or not!"

Marik ran his hand down his face. "This is going to be a fun movie."

"God, I hate people like you who think that they are so cool and have nothing but sarcastic remarks to say," Anzu said spitefully, flipping a page in her script.

Marik sat up straighter. "I'm sorry, you wanna run that one by me one more time?" He began to rise out of his seat but Honda stood and blocked Marik from Anzu.

"Leave her alone," he said threateningly.

Soon it seemed like everyone in the cast was in an all out argument. It was just a loud mix of noise and angry sounds. This wasn't supposed to be how a cast treated each other, right? They were supposed to be happy and be one big family for the months that they were working together. At least that is what Yuugi assumed from all of the interviews he has seen with stars talking about how much fun the movie was to make and how he or she had worked with such great people.

"Um, excuse me?" Yuugi spoke up timidly, raising a hand. No one turned his way, everyone continuing their respected argument. "Excuse me?" he said a little bit louder. Yuugi cleared his throat; here is where those vocal lessons come in handy. "Hey!" he shouted as loud as he could, which was apparently loud enough.

All the noise suddenly stopped and they were left in complete silence; there was a ringing in Yuugi's ear. Everyone was looking at him expectantly. Great, he had their attention now what was he supposed to do with it? "Um, I haven't really done this that often but aren't we all supposed to get along and be a family? I mean, why is everyone fighting anyway?"

There was a long period of silence that hovered over them; it seemed like everyone blinked simultaneously at Yuugi. The boy suddenly felt even more uncomfortable than before. He wrung his hands together—a nervous habit of his—and lowered his head.

"Aw!" was heard and then Yuugi was embraced in another tight hug. Mai Kujaku was squeezing him so hard that he felt like he was going to pass out from lack of oxygen. "You are just the cutest thing ever!" she said in a sweet voice, squeezing him tighter.

Yuugi gasped; he felt like he was one of those cartoon characters that turned blue whenever they couldn't breathe. "I…I can't…breathe…" Yuugi said is a raspy voice.

"Sorry!" Mai said, releasing him quickly. Yuugi fell to the floor and was offered a hand to help him up; he followed the hand up its arm and then to its face. Ryou was standing over him offering his hand.

"Thank you," Yuugi said as he was helped up.

"It is no trouble," Ryou said.

"I am such a huge fan of you both," Yuugi said, surprised that he was able to keep his composure in front of those two.

"Well, I'm a big fan of you!" Mai said, hugging him again—just not as hard.

"Really? You've seen the shows and movies I've been in?" Yuugi asked, feeling like he was floating on air.

"Unfortunately not," Mai commented. "But I will now that I see how cute you are! So what is your name, cutie-pie?" Mai asked.

"Yuugi Motou," he replied shyly, smiling softly.

Mai squealed like a fangirl. "Oh my, God! You are just so freaking adorable; I can't stand it!" She composed herself quickly. "I'm assuming you already know who I am and then, of course, Ryou." She guided the boy over to the long table and sat him down in a chair right next to her. "I think that we should all introduce ourselves, don't you think?" Mai asked. "I mean, this little cutie-pie is right, a cast is like a family!" She gave Yuugi a side-hug.

Seto crossed his arms over his chest. "When did you get so happy, Miss Sunshine?"

Mai smiled. "I could ask the same thing about you," she said.

"Shouldn't we wait until the director is here to do something like introducing ourselves?" Malik asked.

Mai shook his head. "Nah, its fine. I do this all the time when I'm in a new cast. We make a game out of it!" Mai said excitedly. "You like games, Yuugi?" she asked the boy by her side.

Yuugi nodded, still keeping his head down; it felt like Yami was staring right at him.

"Great! Okay, we all say our name and one interesting fact about each other," Mai explained. "Alright, I'll start; my name is Mai Kujaku and…I can stick by entire fist in my mouth."

Honda leaned his arms on the table. "Really?" he asked

"Yeah!" Mai said, moving her fist towards her mouth but Malik interrupted her.

"My name is Malik Ishtar and I…um, I was a diver on my high school diving team."

Marik rested his chin in his hand and licked his lips at Malik. "I should have gone to your high school; I'm sure you had many admirers."

Malik scowled. "Shut up."

Marik shrugged. "I'm Marik, last names don't matter, and I can juggle."

Malik crossed his arms over his chest. "Why does that not surprise me; I always thought that you were a clown."

Marik laughed. "Oh! You are just as funny as you are ugly!"

Malik raised an eyebrow at him. "Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"You can figure that one out, princess," Marik said, leaning his chair on its back two legs and resting his feet on the table.

"Hey, my name's Honda Hiroto and I am actually a huge Death Note fan," Honda said.

"Oh my, gosh! Me too!" Anzu said excitedly from beside him. Before they got into a very interesting discussion on the anime, Anzu first said, "My name is Anzu Mazaki, by they way."

Yami shrugged; Yuugi got nervous. "Hey, the name's Yami and I almost became a voice actor," he said in that rich and deep voice of his. Yuugi couldn't help but blush when he heard him talk.

'I wonder why,' Yuugi thought.

"My name is Seto Kaiba and that is all you need to know about me."

Jounouchi, surprisingly, laughed at this like it was a joke. "You're no fun. Hey everyone! My name is Katsuya Jounouchi and I used to be a bully when I was in high school! But I'm not anymore and like I said earlier, I hope that we can all be good friends."

Ryou waved. "My name is Ryou Bakura and I can whistle through my nose." He whistled the tune of 'Twinkle Twinkle Litter Star' through his nose to prove his point.

Bakura smiled and shook his head. "My name is Bakura Oshiro and I really have no interesting facts about myself. I'm pretty sure it is all out on the internet if you look hard enough."

Mai finally nudged Yuugi's shoulder. "Alright, honey, go on."

Yuugi finally looked up and to his horror; Yami was staring right at him. "Um, my name is Yuugi Motou and I…I was raised in Egypt."

"Really? That is so cool!" Malik said.

"I've never been to Egypt but I really want to go," Ryou said; Bakura nodded in agreement.

Yuugi felt comfortable for the first time whenever everyone accepted him with smiles and started chatting casually with him. He felt like this would be his family and, he knew that it sounded dorky, he felt very peaceful surrounded by this very open group of people.

That peacefulness was interrupted when the large metal door banged open and they saw the silhouette of a woman in the doorway.

"Hello, my personal bitches!"

Every head turned at the sound of the loud, rather obnoxious voice. Who they saw was a young looking girl with auburn hair tied back in a ponytail and bright blue eyes. She had a clipboard in her hand and Yuugi noticed that her eyes were dilated.

"I am so sorry that I am late, guys, but you wouldn't believe the traffic." She took in the setting of everyone sitting together at the table. "That's great, you guys are getting acquainted; we're all going to be one big, nice, happy family!" She squinted her eyes at them. "That's funny; you all looked prettier the last time I saw you."

Yuugi heard Mai growl in the back of her throat.

"Wait! Hold on," the girl said, reaching into her purse and grabbing a pair of glasses. She wiped off the lenses and put them on her face, blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted. As she got a clearer look at all their faces she smiled pleasantly. "There! That's better. Anyway, my name is Ranko and I am the director of The Shadow Game movie."

Malik raised his hand.

Ranko shook her head and smirked at the boy. "All questions will be answered when the producer and co-director shows up." She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and looked over her shoulder to the door she came in from. "Where the hell are they, anyway?"

Suddenly, the door banged up, causing everyone to jump. In walked a girl and a boy, both were bickering back and forth in Australian accents. The boy was saying that they should have taken the express way so they wouldn't be late and the girl was saying they wouldn't be late if the boy had gotten up when he was supposed to.

Ranko's left eye twitched. "Excuse me," she said calmly, quietly. The two didn't appear to hear her and just continued back and forth at each other. Ranko turned back towards the group of actors and smiled. "Excuse me for one moment," she said, grabbing a megaphone that was by her feet. She cleared her throat and then said loudly into the megaphone. "Ladies!"

The two girls stopped arguing and turned towards Ranko.

Ranko smiled and put the megaphone down. "Thank you; now, it does not matter who's fault it was that you two were late."

"It was hers!" they both said at the same time, pointing a finger at each other.

Ranko picked up the megaphone again and waved it around threateningly like a sword. Both girls got quiet again. "Okay, now, you two are friends; you are partners. Hug and make up."

The girl with long hair looked the other up and down quizzically. "I am not a very huggy person…"

Seto huffed.

The girl—who Yuugi thought was a boy at first—shrugged and hugged her friend anyway.

Ranko nodded her approval. "Alright, now that that is settled, come over here." When the two other girls were standing by Ranko, she continued to say, "Alright, now, you two know the cast members from the audition tapes, but they don't know you entirely, so introduce yourselves."

The girl with long hair stepped forward and in a feminine Australian accent said, "Hello, you may call me Vortex and I am the producer of this film."

"I am Axel!" the other girl said. She had a bit of a deeper voice than Vortex but it was obvious that she was Australian too. Put the voice and the short hair together and that results in Yuugi confusing the girl for a boy. "I will be directing this movie with Ranko! We are all so happy to have you with us and we know that we are all going to get along like family and have a great time. We will enjoy working with you all and having a great experience with this movie."

Ranko clapped her hands together once and smiled pleasantly. "Wonderful, now that everything has introduced themselves, any questions?"

Nearly every hand was in the air.

Ranko didn't miss a beat. "No questions? Great! Alright, how about we read through the script now and you can tell me what you think of your characters?"

Malik waved his hand and stood up, waving his hand in front of Ranko's face.

Ranko sighed. "I see that Malik has a question."

Malik smirked. "Thank you," he said, "I have one question."

"And what is that?"

"Are you really the director or are you just screwing with us?" Malik asked.

Ranko raised her eyebrows at him and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose. "Well, yes, I am the director of The Shadow Game along with Axel. Why do you ask?" She gave him a challenging look.

"Because you just seem too young and inexperienced to be doing something like this. It makes me think that you aren't taking this completely serious," Malik said honestly, accepting the challenge.

Ranko pursed her lips and sat down in a random stool, Axel and Vortex behind her. "Okay, I know that we are all young and we may act goofy sometimes but that is just because we want to have as much fun with this movie as possible and to just have a good time with you guys. I do take this seriously; it is very important to me so do not get the wrong idea. I just want to make you guys feel comfortable since we are going to spending a lot of time together from now on."

Ranko hopped off the stool. "So! Who's ready to read through the script?"

-/-

Ranko: And that is chapter 1! Interesting, to say the least. Axel and Vortex made a cameo in this fic! To fill you guys in, Axel is the actual director of The Shadow Game movie and Vortex really is the producer.

Yuugi: I feel like I'm back in season 0; I'm so shy!

Yami: I seem like I'm cool, which is too good to be true. Ranko, are you going to do anything to my character that will make people hate me?

Ranko: All depends on my mood. Next chapter is their first read through of the script and of course, very embarrassed Yuugi.

Yami: Leave a review for Ranko and if you want to see anything happen in this fic, drop it in your review and Ranko will try her best to make it happen.