A/N: Something I wrote a while ago. I sorta rewrote it so hopefully its decent. Mahad and Mana are such a cute couple gahh!

Don't own Yugioh.

-Lurky

Knock First

"ATEM!"

The Pharaoh, who was walking down a hallway in the great palace, turned around quickly and crinkled his eyebrows in concern at the girl who was running towards him at full speed.

"Mana? Are you alright?" he asked, as she caught up to him and started jumping up and down, hands on her cheeks, looking deeply troubled.

"No, of COURSE I'm not alright!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, looking distressed. "NOTHING'S alright anymore! It's all wrong and its all just- UGH!"

"What happened?"

Mana's wild and troubled expression instantly changed,. She put her hands behind her back, looked down at her feet and bit her lip.

"Um... something

"Something...?" Atem raised his eyebrow, confused (but not surprised) by the girl's sudden change in feelings.

Mans sighed and looked up, straight into his eyes. Her green orbs were full of confusion.

"I need help."

Atem was completely astonished. His best friend Mana had never spoken so little in all her life. She had never NOT spoken in more then complete sentences, and now she was almost mumbling and saying barely 3 words at a time!

And she almost never asked for help. Mana was a stubborn person, and she always wanted to show people that she could do things on own, by herself, without anyone's assistance.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Mana, are you okay-?"

"Oh, for Ra's sake, Atem, I'm in love!" she finally said loudly, putting her hands on her hips and looking angry that he hadn't realized it before.

At first Atem froze. Did she mean... was she in love with... him?!

"Oh! You're in love... with...?" Atem asked awkwardly. Please let it not be me, he begged silently.

Mana looked away and blushed, smiling to herself.

"I'm in love with with Mahad."

Atem let out a huge sigh of relief. Whew! Man, if it had been him, he wouldn't have known what to do.

"Pharaoh?" the girl asked, confused.

Atem cleared his throat quickly.

"Sorry, I just, uh- that's great, Mana." he gave her friend a smile, and she smiled back.

"I KNOW!" she squealed excitedly, jumping up and down and then attacking him with a hug. "Okay so you know how I had a crush on him back when we were kids but then that crush just faded away? Well lately whenever I've been around him- and I'm ALWAYS around him, you know, cause he's my master- I get this weird feeling in my stomach- and lately we've been like I don't know if it would be flirting exactly but we've been joking around and he actually jokes around with me- and he almost never jokes around and I don't know I just see him in a different light now or something like that does that make sense of course it doesn't I don't know maybe I'm crazy I just-"

"MANA!"

Mana stopped and stared at her friend. Atem was raising his eyebrow.

She closed her eyes and smiled shyly.

"Meh. Sorry."

Atem chuckled. "It's okay."

They began walking down the corridor of the royal palace and continued talking.

"That's great that you feel that way, Mana," the Prince said sincerely. "Maybe you should tell him?"

The girl sighed. "I want to but, I don't know... How CAN I? And besides, it would never work."

Atem frowned. "How so?"

"Well, he's almost 19, and I'm 16. And I'm his student- he's my MATSER. We can't be together! And what if he doesn't like me back? He probably just thinks of me as a student- nothing more." the girl said sadly, looking down and shutting her eyes tightly.

Atem frowned in concern and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. She looked up, her hazel green eyes welling up.

"Mana, you have to be confident. Be strong," he told her with an encouraging smile. "You should go to him now and tell him how you feel. And you need to be ready. If he says no, then you need to accept that. If he says yes, well..." Atem's face crinkled into a face that clearly said "Yeeeaaaaah, never mind, I'll leave that up to you guys" and Mana laughed.

She sighed, and then made a serious face. "You're right. But, uuugh, I don't know what to say! Can you help me practice?"

"Of course. Want me to be Mahad, or you?" he asked, smirking, and before Mana could talk he said in a high-pitched voice, "Ooooh my haaaaiiir, I like sooo need new shampoo!"

Mama burst out laughing and punched his shoulder (hardly, as he winced and rubbed it) and held her stomach while still laughing.

"I do not talk like that!" she contradicted, fake-glaring at him as he laughed too.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself." Atem joked. "Ok, let's get serious. Pretend I'm Mahad. Just tell me how you feel, and be completely honest."

Mana did a shaky sigh, her lips curling up into a smile. "Okay, here it goes..." She cleared here throat. "Hey Mahad! I have something to tell you."

"Yes?"

They stopped walking just before rounding a corner that lead to the outside garden. Little did they know, Mahad was outside in the garden on the other side of the corner and walking straight towards them. He heard their voices and smiled, getting ready to greet his closest friends.

"I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time now, but I've been too nervous to say it." Mana said, giggling at the silly faces Yami was making.

Mahad stopped walking and curled his eyebrows. What was Mana talking about?

"Don't worry, Mana. You can tell me anything." Atem's voice rang out softly.

Mahad heard Mana sigh and then say,

"Well I... I like you. A lot. And I know if you liked me back our relationship would never work, with you being who you are and everything, and me being who I am with my age, but I just- I had to tell you. I really, really like you."

Mahad was frozen to the spot. His heart was sinking. He felt as if the world was spinning. Suddenly the blazing dessert sun was at his feet and the luscious, green garden grass was floating in the sky.

He left the garden before his friends had even discovered he was there.

"Oh my gosh, it worked!" Mana said excitedly, dancing around in a circle. "Thank you so much Ate- I mean Pharaoh!"

Atem smiled at her. "Anytime, Mana. Now are you ready to go tell him?"

"Absolutely!" She ran off; skipping in the direction of Mahad's study. "See ya later, Pharaoh!"

Atem shook his head, smiling.

Mahad's study. It was a smallish room that was filled with large scrolls and Cuneiform scripts, glass vials and jars and pots, and other things that were near and dear to him. This was where he usually spent his time when he wasn't teaching Mana magic or doing missions for the Pharaoh.

Mana cleared her throat. She tried getting rid of the butterflies that had randomly found their way to her stomach, but with no luck. Shaking it off, she knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again but still no answer. She opened the door and walked inside.

Mahad was sitting on a stool and reading over a large tan-colored scroll. He didn't look up when Mana entered the room, and he didn't look up when he said,

"I don't recall saying you could come in."

Mana frowned at his flat voice. "Yeah, I know, but I have something really important to tell you."

Mahad made a stubborn frowny face. Let me guess, you and Yami are getting married and its going to be a grand celebration?

"Can it wait? I'm very busy at the moment."

Mana walked closer to him and crossed her arms.

"No, it can't wait," she told him, squinting at him. "And it's a lot more important then that stupid scroll. So can you please just listen?"

Mahad sighed and looked up at her. She was currently taller then him at the moment (not by much) as he was sitting down. This must be fixed, he thought.

He stood up, crossed his arms, and smirked at her. She was always complaining about how "too tall" he was, and how she wished she was taller.

She glared at him.

"I'm listening." He told her, a hint of sarcasm oozing from his voice.

Mana threw her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "Gosh, Mahad, sometimes you can be so annoying! I mean, seriously! I come over here all excited because I have something really important to tell you, and you're being a total jerk!"

"Well at least I'm punctual and I know how to show up on time!" Mahad threw at her.

"What?! What does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm sick and tired of you always being an hour late to class-"

"That was one time-"

"Twice-"

"Well look whose counting-"

"Of course I'm counting-"

"Yeah 'cause you're my teacher-"

"And I care about you!"

Mahad's voice echoed in the silence that followed his remark. Mana looked up at him and raised her eyebrow. A faint smile played across her face.

"You care about me?" She asked, blushing slightly.

Mahad's face was also tinging with red. He looked away, suddenly focusing on the mess that was his Study. He started cleaning up anything he could while answering,

"Uhh, well, yeah I mean as a teacher. I'm your Master, Mana; of course I care about you."

Mana placed her hands on her hips. She eyed Mahad suspiciously.

"So you don't... care about me any more then that?" she asked quietly.

Mahad had his back turned to her, messing with a bunch of vials.

"What do you mean more then that? That would be absurd. That would be... well..."

He turned back to her to set some vials on a desk next to her. Then he stopped messing with it long enough to look into her eyes. She was already looking into his eyes.

"It wouldn't be absurd," he told her, changing his last statement. "But I mean... you already care about the Pharaoh in that manner, so if I were to like you in that same way, it wouldn't even matter..."

Mana's face scrunched up into disbelief. "What?! The Pharaoh? I don't like the Pharaoh- who gave you that idea?"

Mahad stared at her in confusion.

"You did. I heard you today, in the gardens. You told the Pharaoh himself that you like him!" He shook his head in a melancholy way. "My feelings toward you would just get in the way of your happiness, and his. I couldn't allow that."

Mana looked away, trying to hide her blush. "Mahad, the Pharaoh was just helping me practice talking about my feelings for someone else. I don't like him. The person I like, well..." Her hazel eyes glittered when she looked up towards him. "He's in this room."

Mahad stared at her. His stomach bubbled and his face turned red. Did she just say what he thought she just said?

"Did you hear me?" Mana asked, smiling excitedly and scooting closer towards the magician in front of her. "I'm trying to tell you that I'm kinda in love with you."

Mahad smiled, leaning closer towards his magician-in-training. "Yes, I heard you."

Mana grabbed his hands, to which he readily accepted and clasped his own hands around her small, soft ones.

"So? Are you kinda in love with me too or are you a little bit kinda in love with me OR do you just kinda like me a little bit or-"

Mahad cut her off when he leaned down and sealed the deal with a kiss. Mana's eyes went wide at first and her cheeks blushed furiously, but then she kissed back, taking that as a yes.

Little did they know, Priest Seto came walking into Mahad's Study, without knocking first, and said,

"Mahad, have you finished reading over the scroll I- oh my ra!" His face turned tomato red when he saw what was going on, and then he made a mad dash out the door.

Mahad and his apprentice broke apart, smiling at eachother and Mana, while giggling, asked, "Did you hear something?"

"Nothing at all." Mahad replied, before he used his wand and his magic to close the door.

"You know you amaze me, right?" Mana told him.

Mahad picked her up and twirled her around. "You're the amazing one. And one day, you'll be brilliant."

He kissed her again, and she kissed him back.