Hiya, guys! I'm new to this website, having stumbled upon it in the last month or so (I know, I love it already!), and although I think I'm getting the hang of things, I would absolutely love to hear any sort of tips from other users or guests (who have probably been on here longer than I have haha), regarding writing style pointers/tips, website traditions and terminology, fandom terminology (I do need some help with that), or anything else you think I'd find useful! :) I'm new-ish to the Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom, and like I said, I do need some help with terminology, but I think I'm getting there! :D

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. It's just a little drabble I'm working on - hopefully you'll like it. Like the description said: this is a little back story I've made up for Ryou where he's in a new sixth form in a British school after having moved to England recently (more on his back-story later ;))

Please leave reviews and comments to help me improve!

Enjoy! ^.^

xxxx

PS. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its associated works. I only own this story and Rose Manning. :)

"Ryou, Ryou! R-r-r-r-y-y-y-y-y-ou-u-u-u-u-u-u!"

Was all that Ryou Bakura could hear as he was gathering up the last of his things from the desk before Rose burst into the room with a smile as wide as Jupiter on her face, spreading giggles as infectious as the black plague into the classroom.

"Sooooooooo…" his new friend said excitedly, swinging herself back and forth from the doorframe "…that has now concluded your first week at a British Sixth Form, at a British school. How'd'ya feeeel?!"

She always seemed to elongate her words when she was cheerful, which was pretty much all of the time, so sentences could get very long. But Ryou didn't mind, he enjoyed being in the company of someone so happy and welcoming – this wasn't the case at his old school, where he would constantly be bullied. Getting pushed, shoved, kicked, picked-on and punched can get tiresome really quickly when you're a gentle soul, like Ryou Bakura. But this wasn't the case at all when he arrived here! As soon as the wildly-curly-haired girl locked her eyes on Ryou on the first day of school, she decided that he was the one who was going to become her new best friend for the next two years and beyond!

Quick side-note: now, when I describe this girl's hair as 'curly', I mean CURLY. It's not an afro - you can't stand it up like you can with really tight ringlets, it's just very, very curly. Like, brushing would do no good to this hair. The only thing brushing was good for is getting knots out for when the hair needed to be washed (or plaited), otherwise, just no.

So anyway, like I said, in Rose came with her bouncy, brown curls (which seemed to be as happy and upbeat as their owner) and immediately set her eyes on the new boy with the fluffy white hair. Bam! Instant friendship challenge – of course she'd want to be friends with him! Why wouldn't she? There aren't many people you meet who have hair as fluffy as her's, not to mention such an odd colour for someone so young. Plus he seemed so shy then…

"I feel great – teachers are really good and I love the subjects already! A bit knackered now, but that's to be expected. What about you, how was it?"

"It was good! Got some of my favourite teachers this year, which always makes the class easier. It's nice when you have history with a teacher: it just makes the atmosphere is the classroom so much lighter!"

"Well, I wouldn't know much about that…"

"Oh gosh!" she suddenly realised what a silly thing that was to say as Ryou had only recently arrived in the country, let alone the school! She smiled an embarrassed smile in apology and continued. "I know that you didn't know any of your teachers HERE before this week, but that wasn't what it was like at your old school, was it? I mean, teachers change from year to year, but sometimes you get the same ones. I'm sure you enjoyed some classes more at your old school when you knew the teacher beforehand!" she said whilst winking and giving him a cheeky nudge with her elbow.

"That's true." He smiled back at her.

"Besides, I didn't know some of my teachers this year. I mean, just take our form tutor as an example, I didn't know WHO he was when I received my timetable this year."

"Yeah, and looking at you now, you two seem to be getting on really well!"

"The fact that we share a very similar sense of humour is definitely beneficial."

They both chuckle and leave the room to go to their lockers. Now, the school has two floors: a ground floor, and a first floor. Originally, Rose's locker was on the top floor and Ryou's was on the ground floor, but after days of complaining about non-stop climbing and descending stairs each lunch time, the two protagonists had had a simultaneous light bulb moment one lunch break. Ingeniously, they decided that it would be much less tiring to swap lockers, as all of Ryou's classes were on the 1st floor, while Rose's took place on the bottom one.

They reached the lockers.

"Rose, we need to talk about tomorrow."

"Yes, we do! We still need to iron out some details, like transport, but we ARE still on for tomorrow, right?"

"Absolutely!"

"Cool, I just need to go and get my things from downstairs. We'll talk about it on the way home, yeah?"

"Sure, I'll meet you down there."

"Okie!"

As Ryou watched Rose go he smiled to himself. He couldn't wait for tomorrow to come; he and Rose were going to the circus that had come to town, and they had spent a large part of their free periods in school planning their day out. The show had arrived on the 5th September (the start of the new school year) and many students had gone out on the Monday to celebrate the reunion with their friends, but Ryou and Rose decided that it would be a much more fun experience to attend on the Saturday, once all kinks in the acts and layout had been completely sorted out. Plus, it wasn't just the evening that they had sorted out – Ryou smiled to himself at the thought – they had organised to spend the whole day together! They had a few activities planned throughout the day, which they would mix with a lot of talking, before going to see the circus shows in the evening.

'It would be lovely to get to know her a bit better' Ryou thought to himself as he started heading for the stairs to go meet Rose at her locker. 'She's been so lovely to me, and I couldn't have survived this first week here without her. Well… that's exaggerating it a bit, but I definitely wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much without her company.' As he turned the corner he saw her through the crowd of students, rummaging around in her locker, desperately looking for something. She was so concentrated in looking that she completely missed the fact that Ryou had been quietly sneaking up behind her. All of a sudden he grabbed her ribs on both sides and flexed his fingers, sending waves of tickle running through her. She jumped at this and slammed her belly against her locker door. She quickly spun around in reflex and grabbed Ryou's hands by the wrists to prevent any further attack. He just stood there laughing as she realised what had happened.

"RYOUUU!" She yelled as she batted his hands away, laughing with him, not out of humour, but as a result of the shock. "I hate you." She said jokingly and gave him a small push on the front of his shoulder. His laughter reduced to giggles as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Aww, Rose, I'm sorry but I just HAD to! You were just so concentrated… and… how could I not!?" he chuckled at her.

She shook her head at him in mock disappointment and crossed her arms.

"I regret ever telling you of my weakness." She pouted at him, giving him her best feigned-anger expression. "And of helping you come out of your shell… you used to be quiet and endearing; now you're just naughty and sarcastic!"

He dramatically pulled back from her, grabbing his chest with one hand, and slightly pushing off Rose's shoulder with the other; he pulled a pretend-shocked face and gasped as he did so.

"How DARE you! Am I really THAT bad?!" He cried in his most dramatic fake-hurt voice. Rose narrowed her eyes at him and leaned in. She paused a moment before announcing:

"YES!" to see Ryou recoiling backwards in horror at the announcement of her verdict. But alas, she couldn't keep it for long, she started laughing uncontrollably, breaking Ryou's own concentration at keeping a straight face. They both bumped into each other laughing; supporting each other like pillars of a temple. After a while, Rose felt a dull pain in her abdomen where she had slammed her belly into the locker door. She moaned as she put a hand over the area, and grabbed onto Ryou's arm for support.

"Oww."

"Are you okay?!" Ryou asked, shooting a concerned look at his friend's actions.

"No!" she proceeded to hit him on the chest (only part playfully) "Because of you I slammed my tummy into the locker door and now it really hurts!"

Ryou gasped in shock and immediately placed his hand onto the wounded spot.

"Oh my God, I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to, Rose. I really am so sorry!" he went and hugged her, asking for forgiveness and apologising continuously one after the other. She smiled an exasperated smile to herself while in his embrace.

"Of course I forgive you, you idiot! I'm just a bit hurt, that's all!" She said hugging him back "I don't blame you. It was just a joke that went a bit wrong. Don't worry about it!" She pulled away and beamed at him. "I'm fine. Really!" she said, holding onto his shoulders and looking him deep in the eyes. He relaxed a bit, but still looked concerned.

"Are you sure?"

She rolled her eyes at him

"Yeeess! Now come, on…" she turned from him and slammed her locker door shut, locking it as she did so "…we need to go home. Come on."

"O…kay." Ryou said, still concerned about his friend; his brows furrowed together. She pulled him towards the door and he reluctantly began to go with her. Eventually she got him outside and talking about another topic: how they were going to get to where they were going tomorrow.

They talked and talked on their way home from school; discussing, joking, laughing. Every time Rose laughed a bit too much, her belly would start to hurt again from the strain and she'd pull a face. Ryou, in turn, would shoot her a look of concern. But she always just brushed it off and claimed she was fine, bouncing up and down next to him to show him that she was alright. Eventually they got to their break-up point; Ryou would continue down the street they were walking, and Rose would turn into the street branching off. They went to hug each other goodbye, as was the norm: Ryou craning his body over hers slightly to accommodate their difference in height, wrapping his arms around her mid-back, while Rose lifted herself ever so slightly on her toes to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face in his fluffy white hair. He was still a new friend and she missed him very much when they had to part ways, and his hair was always lovely and soft and, well… fluffy! Ryou also enjoyed Rose's hair, but he always seemed to tangle his fingers in it instead of burying his face in it, like she did. It was so amusing - playing with curly hair - he loved how he could just find a particularly good spiral, pull it, release it, and it would just bounce back into position like a spring. He loved that he had found someone so interesting to be friends with (and not just the hair).

They broke apart.

"See ya tomorrow!" she smiled perkily at him, trying to make him forget about the tummy thing.

"See ya." He smiled back; happy but still slightly worried. She rolled her eyes at him as she turned to walk down her street, and he began to continue down to his. Halfway down she turned and yelled back at him:

"Listen, don't worry about it! If I start bleeding internally, I'll text you and THEN you can start worrying."

"That's not funny, Rose!"

"You're not funny!"

He shook his head as he chuckled to himself. That was ALWAYS her comeback.