A/N: This is my Vaseshipping (AtemuxMana) fic for Computerfreak101's YGO writing contest. I've been having MAJOR computer issues so this is about the best I could scrap together in the hour or so my mom let me have free reign of her laptop. I still hope you like it despite its crappiness. Takes place in the time before Atemu is made king. Slight AU. One-sided ManaxMahado and AtemuxMahado. Ignore the crap title. I truly had no idea s to what to call this.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Never was. Never will be.

Missing

It wasn't what I meant to happen, that is… it wasn't my intention when I first sought him out. I was in love and in desperate need of assistance. That's what friends are for, right?

Day 10

He had said this was the most important part of my training. I had to learn how to control the entity within me, had to learn to focus all my attention solely upon my own spiritual energy. It was a simple idea in theory. In reality, however, I found it very difficult to concentrate on anything but the man standing feet from me…with his long, silky brown hair…those wide, sparkling gray-violet eyes…

Mahado shrieked as my wand discharged and sent a burst of orange fire at his robes. The flames licked up at the cloth for a breath of two seconds before being stamped out vigorously. Mahado glanced down at the ruined fabric, back up to my face and then down again before pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. I could feel the heat radiating from my head and neck…I was sure to be a descent shade of crimson by now.

"Focus Mana, please!" he bit out, before storming off to his chambers to- I assumed- change into something less…singed.

I couldn't help but follow his rugged form as he traipsed out, my cheeks flushing from crimson to deepest burgundy. With another jolt of my wand, the curtains caught fire.

"MANA!"

Day 1

The day was cool, a light breeze blowing across the land, tossing sand into the air in gentle, swirling patterns- a blessing from the gods to anyone who knew of the usual temptress of heat that was an Egyptian summer. The light wind caught the ends of Atemu's wild hair, crimson, gold and ebony waving lazily to and fro, as though they were underwater. I peered up at him from where I lay, sprawled on the ground beneath the shadow of the tree where we had both taken refuge from Ra's blazing rays.

I had found him this morning sulking in the halls of the palace, evading his tutors no doubt, and had dragged him off here with me. He hadn't complained; we hardly spent any time together anymore. Atemu was preparing to become a pharaoh, and I…well…I wasn't doing much of anything except missing him. For best friends, we were almost as estranged as distant relatives.

He looked so much older in the midday light, his crimson eyes fixed strait ahead of him, one elegant, tanned hand cupping his chin and cheek while the other drew morose patterns in the sand.

"Atemu?" I called out to him. He didn't respond, fixated on whatever thought occupied his mind. "Atemu? Atemu! HEY PRINCE-BOY!" he nearly toppled over as I shouted in his ear, his hand rising to rub the offended spot on his head.

"Jeez Mana! What?" he growled as I smiled cheekily at him.

"Nothing really, you're just SO boring when you're all sulky." I crawled over behind him, taking a few of those strange tri-colored spikes in my hands and beginning to braid them.

He gave a noncommittal grunt in response, leaning back and using my knees as an artificial backrest.

After a few more moments of comfortable silence, the only sound being my fingers brushing through his hair and the slight rustle of our clothing in the breeze, I called out to him tentatively. "Atemu?"

"Hmm?" he murmured peacefully.

"Umm…you know Mahado right?" as the words passed my lips, I felt my cheeks flush horribly. Atemu's back seemed to go rigid against my legs, but I hardly noticed.

"Yes…?" He drawled out slowly. "He's a friend. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just…" my fingers toyed almost frantically with his hair while I tried –and failed rather miserably- to keep the color in my face down to a passable pink. "I knew you two were close, and I was wondering if you could ask him to give me lessons in magic!" My heart was hammering so madly in my chest I feared he would be able to hear it.

His entire body relaxed and he let out a small chuckle. "Is that all?" I could detect the faintest hint of relief in his tone.

"Yes."

"Sure, I'll ask him. Mahado's a good guy, I'm sure he'll take you on." He made to stand up, so I released his hair. "What the…?" his brows furrowed as his spikes did not spring back to their normal position. A hand rose to touch his scalp. His crimson eyes widened in horror as his fingers explored the tri-colored, plait that now constituted as his hair.

"MANA! TAKE THIS OUT RIGHT NOW!"

I spent the rest of the afternoon running from an irate prince and laughing so hard I nearly choked to death. Atemu was not assumed.

Day 5

We had been in close proximity before, but never once had we been left together in the same room COMPLETELY ALONE. I found it very difficult to focus on what Mahado was saying- something about how breathing was one of the first and most vital steps to controlling spiritual energy- because of how vigorously I was attempting to keep myself from hyperventilating.

"Mana? MANA! Are you even listening to me?" Mahado had his arms crossed and was scrutinizing my expression with one brow quirked.

"Yes! Yes, of course I am!" I protested feebly, unable to meet his gaze for fear that my face would explode.

"Then what did I just say?"

"…"

"Right."

Day 7

"How's studying with Mahado going?" Atemu asked as we strolled through the palace halls. He'd sought me out this morning asking for a word- though I knew he just wanted an excuse to evade his lessons- and had dragged me off in the middle of my breathing exercises, completely ignoring my complaints and death threats.

"Not very well seeing as some people keep interrupting my training!" He ignored my pointed comment in favor of yawning quite loudly.

I evoked my greatest self-restraint to keep from strangling him.

Day 15

He was just so pretty. I sighed to myself, letting my mind drift off into thoughts of Mahado while my fingers doodled idly in the sand. Atemu jabbered on beside me about some injustice or another he had suffered at the hands of Seth. I only caught half of what he said, my mind drifting lazily through brown hair and gray-violet eyes.

"Hey Mana." Atemu flicked me painfully on the forehead.

"What?" I snapped at him, irritated and rubbing my assaulted brow.

"Oh nothing, just checking to see if there was really a brain in the skull of yours. It sounded awfully hollow don't you think?"

"Why you little…!"

"Hey what's that you were drawing in the sand?" He cut me off, peering down at the half concealed doodle of –I now realized- Mahado.

"Nothing!" I squeaked, obliterating the evidence with a sweep of my arm.

"Whatever." he chuckled again, tousling my hair and ignoring my cry of protest.

I couldn't help but notice the slight sadness that lingered behind his smile.

Day 18

"I love you." Mahado's gray-violet eyes were wide an earnest, silently beseeching.

"Oh Mahado." I breathed, intertwining my fingers with the beautiful hand that reached out for my own. We fit perfectly, my small palm cradled gently in his. It was as if we were made for each other…

"Mana?"

I smiled softly at him, feeling tears of joy pricking in the corners of my eyes.

"Mana!"

"I love you too." That gorgeous face was moving closer to my own, the eyes sliding shut as a tanned hand tangled in my hair, drawing me closer…

"MANA!"

I nearly toppled out of my chair, letting out a shriek as Mahado yelled, his face inches from my own. I leaned away from the tempting visage before me as far as my chair would allow, feeling my face burn with an intensity hotter than the sun.

"Mana," he stated slowly, pulling away and fixing me with a half exasperated, half stern gaze. "Now that you've come back to the world of the living," I flushed a deeper shade of scarlet "I'd like to talk to you. Seriously." He strode a few paces away from my desk, giving my overwhelmed mind some breathing room for which I was- silently- grateful.

"Mana, you have a natural gift. Not many are born with a much promise in the spiritual arts as you possess. However, you don't seem to be taking this training seriously." I opened my mouth to retaliate, but he held up a hand to silence me. "You are constantly dream dreaming whenever you are in my presence, and you still have not been able to muster up the discipline in order to focus upon, and unleash, all of your inner power."

Again I tried to interrupt, and again I was cut off.

"Now, I only took you up as my apprentice as a favor to the prince…to Atemu." Mahado's face a shifted from chastising to something…softer…something much gentler…something I recognized that made my stomach leave my body completely and my heart to grow colder than the breath of death.

"Now, if you aren't willing to put forth the work-"

"Believe me when I say I will deliver nothing but my very best from now on." I cut him off. My voice was dead, cold, like the thing sitting in my chest that was supposed to be a heart. Something deadly was creeping into my veins, something icy and…poisonous.

"Very well."

Day 19

He was looking at me, crimson eyes full of worry and concern. He was a good friend. He was my best friend. It wasn't his fault.

Still, I could not help the ache that rippled through me at the sight of him.

Atemu was so beautiful, how had I not noticed it before? He had deep, rich pools of scarlet for eyes, unworthy of any mortal. His skin was smooth as satin and of a healthy tan hue. His hair was velvety soft and was reminiscent of sunset, Ra's parting rays mirrored in the gold, ebony and crimson spikes. The very air about him seemed to radiate his importance, his superiority. Any normal being would feel completely inadequate in his awing presence. And yet this being who could, in all senses, bring the world to its knees, was possibly the kindest, most thoughtful and wonderful person I knew. No wonder Mahado…

The thought died in my mind as a lump worked its way into my throat. The idea of the two of them together… I shook my head, ignoring the concerned cries behind me as I turned on my heel and sprinted back down the hall.

He was a good friend. He was my best friend. It wasn't his fault …and yet…

Day 20

No more did I daydream whenever in Mahado's lessons. My thoughts were always focused solely upon whatever new skill he was teaching me, whatever technique I had yet to master…whatever could take my mind off of it, that unspoken truth that hung over me day and night, persistent and unwavering. My own personal storm cloud.

"Mana?" he broke into my thoughts as I attempted once more to connect with the spiritual energy within me. Attempted because so far all my previous efforts today had been fruitless.

"Yes?" I responded politely, opening my eyes and pulling my mind back into this realm.

"Is something…wrong?" I could hear the almost parental concern in his voice though he tried to keep his voice as airy as possible.

"No." Such a lie. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just," he murmured, drawing a hand shakily through his hair and directing his gaze towards the ground. "You have been so focused on your training, I can see it in your eyes. Anyone with your natural ability and that level of concentration should easily be able to connect to their inner spiritual energy. Yet, you still haven't been able to unleash that strength I know is within you. Something in plaguing your thoughts, as your teacher it is my duty to assist you towards your upmost potential. So, what troubles you?"

There was such an earnest concern in his voice and gaze, I could tell his worry ran much deeper than that of a teacher for his pupil. His worry was that of a friend. Such a realization would have brought me to my knees only a few days before, so why did I feel nothing other than a slight warmth from knowing I was now his friend. To be held so dearly by him, to be worth his worry, to be accepted into his heart in any way should have made me faint from happiness.

"Trust me, I'm fine."

So why did I feel nothing.

Day 23

I was practicing my breathing in the courtyard when I saw him. He stood a few yards away, leaning up against palace walls and simply gazing at me, crimson eyes full of so many tumultuous emotions that I could not discern just one.

Our gazes met and for some reason I felt my heart rate accelerate to three times its normal speed. My breath caught in my throat, and all thoughts left my mind other than the image of his perfect face.

We looked at each other for what felt like eternity, neither of us speaking, neither of us even blinking.

I couldn't think strait, my mind so full of the fact that it was him and he was here and only a short distance separated the two of us from each other…

Then suddenly Atemu turned on his heel and left the enclosure.

All the heat from my body seemed to leave with him.

Day 25

"Mana, this isn't working." Mahado sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, a gesture that had become quite familiar to me by now.

I let out an irritated huff, releasing the flow of energy I had worked so hard to build up and fixing him with an angry gaze. "Look, I'm trying okay?" Usually, I'm not one to get testy, but I had been working so hard to connect with my spiritual energy the past few days and so far the power remained just beyond my grasp. Constantly, the tendrils of my thoughts would touch the entity buried within my soul, brushing the power but unable to grasp it. For hours I would sit with the tantalizing strength just beyond my grasp, infuriatingly close but just beyond my reach. Forever taunting me.

"Look, Mana, maybe clearing your conscious of all thought is the wrong approach." Mahado murmured, pacing back and forth, deep in thought. I could tell by the slight crease in his forehead and the wrinkles that appeared around his eyes.

"But what other way is there?!" I huffed, crossing my arms and glaring at the far wall.

"I know you have it in you." Mahado continued, fixing me with his intense gray-violet eyes. "Maybe we just need to come at this problem differently." He suddenly ceased his infuriating pacing and strode over to me, connecting our gazes. Was there something missing in that piercing look he was giving me? There had to be because mere days before such a glance would have set my stomach alight with butterflies. At the present there was hardly even a flutter.

"Try focusing on something extremely important to you. Sometimes narrowing your thoughts to one specific entity can focus your thoughts much more efficiently than clearing your mind. Think now, and picture the most important thing to you in all the world."

I nodded at him, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to calm down my churning frustration. Slowly my breathing evened out, and I lost myself to the tide of my thoughts. I had to focus on the one thing that meant more to me than all the world, the one thing that was worth more to me than life.

Images flashed through my mind, some blurry and unintelligible, other depicting figures I knew, my parents, my friends, Mahado…

And then suddenly a vision arose before my mind's eye, obliterating all other thought, all other feeling…

Tanned skin more flawless than any other substance on earth. Wild, gorgeous, spiked hair the color of sunset. Golden bangs framing a perfect face inset with two beautiful crimson eyes…And a perfect, mirthful smile…

It was as if a dam had been broken.

With a sudden jolt, energy coursed through my veins like liquid fire, running through my limbs and shocking my entire body into a state of inhuman awareness. My eyes flew open to see multi-colored vapors swirling about my form, issuing from my very pores. The air itself seemed to shimmer with electricity, and I gasped out loud from the pain and total sense of heady power that came from it all.

Then, with another gasp, it was gone.

Mahado stood across the room from me looking awestruck, his gray-violet eyes wide with wonder. "That was," he whispered, drawing himself away from the wall on which he had been leaning and gazing at me with the expression of one who has just struck it rich. "INCREDIBLE! To have such energy from the first experience. Of course, we'll have to teach you how to control the connection, but I mean…WOW! Just what were you thinking of!"

There was definitely something different in his gaze, something missing.

"A person."

But then again, maybe it was just the color that was off. I was craving certain other, crimson gaze.

"Just someone I know."

A/N: Yeah…I hope you liked it. Please review!