Gato: I have no idea how this is going to turn out, but we're going to try it anyway. I have most of the details worked out, but as is the case with all of my stories, I'm sure it will develop a mind of its own after a few chapters. This was originally going to be in script format, but this site tends to get mad at me when I do that. Then, they take my thirteen chapter long stories off and ban me.

Irie: Blabber, blabber, blabber. No on really cares. Now, hurry up with this so I can get back to Shadow Stations.

Gato: I thought you were Queen of Lint Land.

Irie: Yes, and I'm also princess of Shadow Stations. D'uh.

Gato: Yees. Anyhow, as I said in the summary, the Yu-Gi-Oh cast decides to enroll in cooking school for various reasons. It turns out to be much more than they bargained for while under the care of my original character. Romance, mayhem, drama and hilarity ensue. Oh, THIS IS IMPORTANT: yamis and hikaris appear as separate entities in this fic, and I will not be using all the characters. I've set their ages around 18 or 19, so first year university. This is set the summer before they enter university.

Irie: I, princess Irie of Shadow Stations, declare that gato only owns her original characters and the plot!

………………………………………

Yami and Yugi wandered through downtown Domino accompanied by Joey and Tristan. Every so often, Joey glanced into a store in search of a tall and scantily clad blonde. A phone call from Mai brought the group to the retail area of Domino. She demanded that they accompany her on a 'terribly important shopping trip'. She and Tea disappeared into the stores nearly an hour ago.

Tristan sighed. "This is getting ridiculous. We've been looking for an hour. There are almost fifty stores on this block alone. How are we going to find them?"

"We'll just have to keep looking," Yugi quipped. His constant enthusiasm began to annoy the group. They sighed.

"We've checked every shoe store. Every department and accessory store," Joey listed aloud. He muttered names of stores the four males visited in the past hour. Urban Behaviour, Aldo, Banana Republic and Sirens. The names caused the boys to shudder.

"Is there anywhere we haven't been?" Yami grumbled. He took a sip from his newly purchased coffee.

"Yes," Joey replied slowly. The boys turned to their blond friend, worried by his tone. "We haven't looked in La Senza, the lingerie store."

The three other boys gaped. Yami paled while Tristan spluttered. Finally, Yugi spoke, "Who is going to go in a check?"

"He is!" the others cried, their fingers pointed at one another. Yugi sighed.

"I'm the oldest," Tristan began, "so I shouldn't have…"

"No you're not," Yami countered loudly. "I'm the oldest! I'm over five thousand years old."

"Well, then you should have to go," Joey said.

"What? How does that work? Make Yugi go!" Yami declared.

"Huh?" Yugi frowned angrily. "I thought you were supposed to stick up for me, Yami. Thanks a lot."

"Why don't we draw straws?" Joey attempted.

"Or, we could just go in together," Tristan reasoned.

"Fine."

"Very well."

If you say so, man."

The four boys nodded in resolve and slowly entered La Senza. Brightly coloured, impractical bras and panties assailed their eyes. They boys found their gaze drawn to the half naked models on the walls. "Can I help you?" a soft voice asked. Joey turned to face a tall, willowy red-head. He spluttered several times in an attempt to form a sentence.

"Are you looking for gifts for your girlfriends?" a petite blonde questioned. She held an assortment of lacy bras in one hand.

"Oh, well, no…" Tristan stumbled over his words, distracted by the blonde's beauty and the bright pink bras.

"See, we don't, that is," Yugi endeavored to explain that the four boys were single.

"We don't have girlfriends," Joey blurted, finally able to use his mouth.

The blonde gave them a skeptical look and walked over to a bra display. The red-head frowned in confusion; her full lips formed a small pout. Tristan drooled.

"If you don't have girlfriends to buy lingerie for," the red-head began, "then why are you here?"

"We were just looking…"

"I'll handle this," Tristan muttered to Joey. He pushed his friend aside and began to flirt openly, and badly, with the tall girl. Joey rolled his eyes. "You see," Tristan began, "we heard that there was a convention of beautiful girls at La Senza today. I seewe heardright."

The red-headcocked an eyebrow in amusement. Joey and Yugi snickered at Tristan's discomfort. Yami snorted at the immature behaviour and walked further into the store, his eyes trained on the posters. Several girls congregated by a sale bin a few feet in front of Yami. They sifted through the designer bras in hopes of finding their size. One girl managed to pull several appropriate bras out of the bin and struggled out of the mass. Yami continued to wander forward and collided directly with the girl. His coffee spilled onto her shirt and his jeans.

"Crap," she muttered. "I'm sorry. I should have looked where I was going." She glanced at her white shirt only to see a large, coffee coloured stain.

Yami cursed himself for his stupidity. "No, it was my fault. I wasn't paying attention. Are you alright?" He studied the girl. Her long, dark curls currently hung in front of her face as she attempted to salvage her blouse.

"I'm fine." She pulled a sweater on over her now translucent shirt and smiled. "Don't worry about it."

Yami watched as the girl calmly paid. She laughed at something the blonde whispered. The curly haired girl walked to the door and smiled at Yami once more before she disappeared into the bright sunlight. Yami shook his head and returned his attention to Tristan and the slightly annoyed red-head.

"…So you see, the only way for me to win the bet is to kiss a beautiful girl. And you would have to be the most beautiful girl I've ever met."

"I see," she replied slowly. She regarded with Tristan with measured patience. The other boys knew Tristan should stop, but he remained oblivious.

"So, would you be willing to help me?" Tristan winked at the girl.

"He's dead," Joey whispered.

"Should we help him?" Yugi asked.

"Let's see what happens," Yami offered.

The girl smiled coyly. "Of course," she murmured. "Come here." Tristan leaned in eagerly. The girl gripped his shoulders and put her mouth by his ear. "There's something you should know," she whispered.

"What?" Tristan replied dreamily.

"I don't hook up with high school kids!" she cried indignantly. She released Tristan and stalked over to a pajama display. The three boys laughed hysterically as Tristan turned the same colour as the girl's hair.

"It's not funny," he muttered, rubbing his ear. "And I'll be starting university in a month. I'm not a high school kid anymore."

They continued to laugh until Tristan stalked out of the store in embarrassment.

"I can't believe you actually thought she was going to kiss you," Joey choked through his laughter.

"Wow, what a loser," Yami snorted.

"I am not!" Tristan cried angrily. "Besides, I saw you spill coffee all over that girl, Yami."

Yami's laughter ended immediately. "How could you have seen that? You were busy throwing your pathetic self at the saleslady."

"I glanced over and saw it happen. Looks like I'm not the only pathetic one!" Tristan crowed.

"Uh, what you did is slightly worse, Tristan," Yugi stated.

"Shut up," Tristan muttered.

"Hey, we never found Mai and Tea," Joey said.

"No kidding, genius," Tristan snapped.

"Does that mean we have to keep looking?" Yugi asked dejectedly. The three others groaned in response. They began to walk in the direction of City Hall. Tristan sulked while Joey snickered periodically.

"We're never going to find them," Yami sighed in exhaustion.

"Fifteen more minutes, then we go home," Joey compromised.

"You said that an hour ago!" Tristan exclaimed.

"Wheeler, Yugi!"

"Tristan, Yami!"

Two familiar voices caused the boys to look up. Mai and Tea ran to the boys from the direction of City Hall.

"Mai!" Joey cried happily. He went to embrace Mai, but she placed half a dozen shopping bags in his arms first.

"Miss me, Wheeler? It's good that we found you. I was getting tired of carrying all my stuff."

"Great to see you too, Mai," Joey muttered sarcastically.

"Where have you two been?" Tea demanded animatedly.

"Where have we been?" Yami shouted. "Where have you two been? We've been looking for two hours!"

"Well," Mai began, "first we went to Banana Republic and Tea bought a few things there. Then we hit Sirens and Guess. She insisted that we go to The Gap. Aldo was a must, and of course, La Senza…" Mai trailed off when she noticed a faint blush rise in Tristan's face. "What's wrong with Tristan?"

"He got shut down by a salesgirl at La Senza," Joey snickered.

"You tried to hit on a salesgirl?" Tea asked in disbelief.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Tristan attempted to explain.

"And she turned you down?" Mai laughed callously. "Wow, I would have paid money to have been there."

"Yeah, well Yami spilled coffee on some random girl!" Tristan cried.

"What?" Yami spluttered. "Stop bringing that up."

Mai shook her head, "We can't take the four of you anywhere."

"Well maybe if you two…"

"So why were the two of you at City Hall?" Yugi asked quickly. Tristan ended his comment and glared.

"Oh, that was Tea's idea," Mai said dismissively.

"It's a great idea, even if Mai doesn't agree," Tai stated defensively. "I signed us all up for cooking classes! It'll be a good way for us to spend our last month before we all head off to university."

"Tea, we're all going to the same school," Yami said slowly.

"Yes, I know." Tea frowned. "Don't mess with my logic!"

"Whatever you say, Tea." Joey rolled his eyes.

"When does it start?" Yugi asked.

"Tomorrow at one o'clock."

Joey groaned. Mai frowned at that blond boy. "What's the matter Wheeler? Too early for you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I don't usually get up until at least three."

"Well, that's going to change!" Tea quipped enthusiastically. Everyone sighed.

…

"Cooking school?" Bakura gaped at his hikari. Ryou smiled sheepishly.

"The university said you needed an extracurricular activity in order to secure your admission. Besides, it could be fun…" Ryou trailed off at his yami's horrified expression.

"Fun? What could possibly be fun about a mundane, mortal activity?"

"It doesn't matter it you're happy with the choice or not, Bakura. You're going. The university was very kind to you and Yami by letting you come based solely on entrance exam marks. You said you wanted to go the university, and you will as long as you do this class."

Bakura muttered several curses. "I only enrolled in this university because the Pharaoh did, not because I am in need of higher education."

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Well, whatever the reason, you still need an extracurricular activity. Cooking class starts tomorrow at one o'clock." Ryou quickly left the room as Bakura began to protest once more.

…

Kaiba paced around a large, sparse room. He ignored the black leather sofa and arm chair. A tall, middle aged man watched the billionaire's restless steps. Kaiba's firm buisiness-like voice echoed through the room as he recounted a dream. "I was alone. Completely alone this time, not even Mokuba was with me. And…I felt something. I'm not quite sure what it was. The darkness and lack of people made me uncomfortable."

"So you felt afraid and lonely." The man turned the question into a simple statement. Kaiba paused and turned his icy gaze to the seated man.

"Doctor Rasputin, I don't pay you to lecture me about emotions. I pay you to listen to me and keep my secrets."

Doctor Rasputin, a psychiatrist who specialized in anger management, saw Kaiba once a week. The icy teen's visits became regular nearly two months ago. Kaiba refused to tell anyone about his visits to a psychiatrist. Only Mokuba knew the secret. Doctor Rasputin sighed and stated, "You should take up a hobby, Seto."

Kaiba sat carefully. He despised the way his psychiatrist stated everything so firmly. He considered the comment. "I already have a hobby. I run Kaiba Corp."

"That isn't a hobby, Mr. Kaiba. Take up something fun, like a class."

Once again, Kaiba couldn't argue with the doctor. "What did you have in mind?" As Doctor Rasputin spoke, Kaiba retreated into his thoughts. Why can't I argue with this man? No one used to be able to tell me what to do.

"That sounds good, doesn't it, Seto?"

Kaiba nodded vaguely.

"Very good. Cooking class it is."

Kaiba awoke abruptly from his reverie. "Cooking class? Are you insane?"

"It's a very good way to relieve stress, Seto." Doctor Rasputin narrowed his eyes and handed Kaiba a flyer. "This has the location on it. It starts tomorrow at one o'clock. I will call them to inform them you will attend."

"But…"

"I expect you to attend this class Kiaba. Is that clear?"

Kaiba glared at the doctor and left the room. He's not afraid of me, Kaiba mused. He's like a father. Kaiba glanced down at the paper in his hands and cursed softly. Cooking class?

…

A curly-haired brunette entered her apartment. She peeled of her sweater and slowly made her way to her room.

"Sam!" a voice called out. The girl named Sam turned to see her petite roommate.

"Hey, Alysse."

"What on earth happened to your shirt? Is that a coffee stain? You are such a klutz. Why do I even let you out of the house?"

"I didn't spill it on myself," Sam replied with a small smile. "Some guy crashed into me at La Senza and spilled his coffee on me."

"He spilled his coffee on you? That's a strange way to flirt." Alysse giggle while Sam rolled her eyes.

"He wasn't flirting with me."

"Sure," Alysse replied sarcastically. "Wait, you went to La Senza? Let me see what you bought!"

Sam tossedthe shopping bag at her petite friend then disappeared into her room to change. Alysse rooted through the bag until her roommate emerged. Alysse shot Sam an incredulous look. "What?" Sam asked.

"Nothing for me?" She pouted slightly. Sam laughed at her roommate's typical 'only child behaviour'.

"Check at the bottom of the bag. There are a couple in there that are your size."

"Oh!" Alysse cried and dove into the bag once more. She pulled two bras from the bag and grinned. "Red satin! How pretty. And may I say, your pink and black bra is very interesting. Dressing to impress?"

"Impress?" Sam sunk into an arm chair. "Who on earth would I be trying to impress?"

"Maybe your mysterious, coffee spilling boy."

Sam laughed and threw a pillow at her roommate. "Grow up!"

"Hey, let's go clubbing tonight! A lot of guys go tonight," Alysse cried happily.

Sam groaned. "I have work tomorrow."

"Oh please, you don't start work until one o'clock. Just don't get drunk. Now go and get dressed! We're going clubbing!"

Sam obliged and changed into snug, black jeans and a sliver and black halter top. When she finished her make-up, she exited her room only to find Alysse entering the bathroom. The petite girl had on a black miniskirt and red tank top.

"Could you be any skankier?" Sam asked teasingly.

"I resent that," Alysse replied, sticking out her tongue. "We'll go as soon as I do my make-up. Get your shoes."

…

The club did indeed have a large population of boys. The two girls disappeared onto the dance floor and instantly found partners. However, Sam found herself looking for a tanned boy with spiky black and pink hair.

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Gato: Okay, chapter one is done. I doubt that Yugi will be playing a large role in later chapters. Tristan will be comic relief. I'm not sure of the pairings yet, and I think I will introduce another original character in the next chapter. There just aren't enough girls in this show, and I can't bring myself to pair Tea with anyone. Mai will be paired with someone, though it pains me to do so.

Irie: You are such a baby. Wait, you mean you're actually going to pair them??

Gato: Yep.

Irie: Wow, you've grown up.

Gato: Knew it would happen sooner or later. Next chapter, I will give you some back story on Sam and Alysse. And more description. That's all for now, darlings.

Irie: REVIEW!! I, Princess Irie of Shadow Stations, demand that you REWVIEW!!

Gato: Oh boy…there's another one who needs therapy.