Did ya miss this story? I know I did. Also don't hold me accountable for the spelling and grammar errors I stayed up all night to post this today. :(

Hay ho, hay ho, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

~week 3~

There were many places for Mana to explore in the gardens, but she liked the secluded area the trees hid much better. It was quiet, despite the rumblings that were going on in the house. Mana didn't like being involved with anything remotely dramatic and yet this family was nothing but.

She looked up. Usually she would see the bright blue sky right about now. But today, the sky was cloudy, and Mana had to make sure she didn't get her stuff wet. Reading and studying in the garden where it was refreshing and serene was much better than being cooped up inside, and even now, with the risk of getting herself and her books wet she was still sitting under a tree.

When the rain comes she would run inside. But for now, it was okay.

Having checked the weather, Mana looked back down to her book so she could continue, but soft footsteps of someone was heard and she got distracted. She spun her head to see Atem coming her way. He waved at her, and Mana did the same.

"Hey. Serenity told me you were here. Not disturbing you, am I?" he asked gently as he walked towards her.

"No." Mana said simply and put her book down to stand up. "It's not really a fun read anyway. Just some book I have to read."

Atem stood in front of her, slightly leaning to side to look at the cover of the book that Mana left on the ground. "Not a fan of classics, huh?"

She shook her head. "Nope! I like action - romance that takes place in the modern world, or something like that... I don't know, feels more realistic to me."

Shaking his head, Atem smiled. "I disagree with you on that one, but now is not the time to discuss on that matter." He raised his hand to the back of his neck, the other in his pocket. "I need some stuff I need to get done downtown, and I was wondering if you would want to come with me. After I'm finished we could hang out... I mean, I could show you around..."

"Downtown, you say?" Mana repeated thoughtfully. She definitely wanted to go with Atem. Especially when they would be on their own.

There was no denying she kind of liked him. But there was no depth to it; after all, Atem was already betrothed to another, and he showed no interest in her like that as far as Mana knew so she was careful not to fall for him.

Besides, she lived miles away from him. In any case, he could only be a summer romance for her. Mana tried to look at the bright side of things. Now, she could have a really good friend, knowing that she's not allowed to flirt with him.

"Well, if you don't want to that's alright. We could go some other time. Or Jo and Serenity can take you there." Atem piped up after her silence.

"No, no, I want to!" Realizing she had overreacted, Mana cleared her throat. "That would be nice, thank you. Do you mind if I go and grab a jacket?"

Atem shook his head. "I'm waiting in the car."

Mana quickly gathered her things that were scattered on the grass and rushed to the kitchen door that was already open. Serenity was sitting on the table, sipping on her tea before Mana burst in and scared her. She sat her cup down stared at Mana. "Mana, goodness! You scared me. What's the matter? Did the rain start?"

"No, I'm just-"

"By the way, Atem was looking for you, did you talk to him?"

"Yes, we're leaving now. If gramps asks, I'm out with him."

With that, she was gone, leaving a confused Serenity behind her.

️

The car ride was relatively silent. Mana just enjoyed the view that she had missed when she first came here. In the daylight, the place where Muto's lived was beautiful. Mana was almost jealous.

Aside from watching the outside, Mana also thought about the gentleman that sat next to him. Even sitting close to him seemed to make her blush.

Mana tried her best not to actually develop feelings for Atem. An unrequited summer crush? Sure, she could work with that as it was harmless. But she couldn't handle anything more than that.

Tea was extremely friendly to her, she visited Mana as much as she could to get to know her. And while Tea confirmed that she and Atem were not in love, it still felt wrong.

Suddenly she was distracted from her thoughts by his voice. "Are you feeling good?" Atem asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"The road is bumpy ahead, we're going to be shaken a little. Tell me if you start feeling nauseous."

"Okay, will do."

He smiled awkwardly. "Yugi gets motion sickness a lot, so I'm used to it by now. That's why he doesn't drive long distances."

"Well, maybe if your house wasn't on top of a mountain you wouldn't be having this issue." Mana retorted.

Atem chuckled at her. "It's hardly called a hill, Mana."

Their banter ceased after that, and Mana focused on the view rather than thinking about Atem.

️

This "downtown" Mana kept hearing about was just like how she imagined it. Apartments, motels, local businesses, diners, tourist attractions... they even had a carnival set up. Atem informed her that it doesn't come here that often, and that her timing was on point. Not for today though; the town's people were waiting for the rain to pour.

Tapping her foot as she sat on the bench, Mana had been looking through her photos, waiting for Atem to come out of the electronics store. It had been half an hour since he pulled over there, and Mana was bored of sitting in the car. She couldn't complain since she came with him, knowing that he had chores to do first.

Luckily for her though, right then Atem walked out, saying his goodbyes to the store owner. Then he saw Mana waiting for him in front of the store. "I'm sorry it took so long, Mana." He walked to the car, and got in.

"What did you do?" she asked after following him inside.

"Father's phone needed a battery change and he made me do it. It's actually pretty old so the guy there spent a good twenty minutes just looking for the battery. But it's done now, and I'm all yours." The words left his mouth, and Mana watched as his ears started to go red. "I meant- I'm... uh, free now."

Mana's lips formed a small smile, and she tried to hide the rosy tint on her cheeks by looking down. "G-great."

Atem cleared his throat to end the awkward conversation. "Hm... is there somewhere you want to go?"

Shaking her head, Mana raised her head back up. "I don't know anything about this place. I guess you just have to show me around."

"I would-"

His words were interrupted by a thunder.

"...love to." he said, his face falling when the rain drops started lightly hitting the front window.

Mana had the opposite reaction. "Atem, this is amazing! I love walking around in the rain! Let's go!" She moved to open the door, but Atem rested his hand on her arm.

"No, wait. Storms here get crazy after just a few minutes. If you don't want to get blown away by the wind, I suggest you stay inside."

She looked a tad bit disappointed, but it wasn't as if she could control the weather!

"Hey, don't frown." Without giving it any thought Atem gently touched his fingers to her chin. "We can still walk around. Well, actually no, we won't be walking, but..." He started the engine and drove in a slow pace. "We can just look around in the car. So don't feel bad, alright? This is not the last time we'll come here."

He was so kind, so thoughtful, Mana didn't have the heart to tell him she wasn't even sad. She had just tried the think of something else to do and was just about to propose the same idea.

"If you say so..." she responded with a shaky voice, and got awarded with his 'you can trust me' smile where he furrowed his eyebrows. Every one of his smiles were great actually. He had a 'thank you, I appreciate this' smile, a 'well, this is awkward' smile, and another one. Mana hadn't named that one yet, simply because she didn't know the meaning behind it. But he looked charming while doing it.

And so, Atem leisurely drove the car on the streets of the not-so-big town while Mana tried her best to concentrate on outside. Surely enough, what Atem said had happened and it was pouring like crazy. The howling wind shook the car a little, and the drops hit the car like a bullet.

After the short ride, they stopped at the cliff that was turned into a sightseeing place. You could stand at the edge of the railings and look over at the river below. They wouldn't be able to do that in the car, but it was still a sight to behold even from where they were sitting.

He turned to her. "You know, I haven't eaten since breakfast. How about you and I have an early dinner?"

"I didn't have lunch either. That sounds... really enticing right now." Mana said grinning.

"Then wait for me here, I'll be back as quickly as I can." he said and opened the door. The wind that came in messed with her hair, and she got the chills. "If I don't come back in twenty minutes, leave me. I would probably be thrown to the next town over by the storm!" Atem yelled and shut the door closed, leaving a giggly Mana behind him.

He was charming alright.

Her smile faltered, and she sighed. What she wouldn't give to have a chance with him. She didn't know if it would work either. She wanted to flirt with him, wanted to see how it would go. And there was actually nothing stopping her, but she wouldn't be selfish.

Atem came back earlier than he said to Mana, with his jacket balled up in his arms, his shirt slightly wet.

Mana leaned over to his side of the car and opened the door for him. "Come in, come in! Quickly!"

In seconds he was inside and breathing rapidly. "I hate the weather here, so much."

Mana stared at his jacket. "Why did you take your jacket off? Are you trying to get sick?" she scolded him.

"No, I didn't want our food to get wet." he said, and removed the jacket around the plactic bag. Inside, there were two neatly wrapped sandwiches. "I got yours with chicken. I remembered that you ate hamburger with chicken, last week when we had that barbecue. Or am I wrong? You can have mine if you'd like?"

Blush rose to her face again. "This is perfect, thank you." The fact that he even paid attention to that showed how much he cared for his close friends.

Either that or he knew how to turn Mana on. After all, there was a possibility that he was doing this on purpose.

No! Get it together Mana. "You found an open diner?"

"Yeah. They get the best number of customers on days like these. Storms happen often during winter and this place is like a shelter."

"Lucky us." Mana murmured and unwrapped the sandwich to bite and finally have something in her stomach.

While they ate and had a pleasant chitchat, Mana realized that intentionally or not, the vibe they had felt romantic to her. Almost felt like a date. They had a great view of a wide and green forest, rain created a melody when it hit the windows that Mana could listen to forever, her and Atem never ran out of things to talk about.

He told her about how much he actually liked reading classics. Some of them flowed slowly and some of them didn't catch everyone's interest but all of them taught a lesson and helped shape one's personality and demeanor. Mana didn't disagree but it wouldn't change how she viewed things.

They talked about families, friends, the future. Their favorite things to do, go to places when they feel down, most embarrassing memories they could remember, places they wanted to see...

The sky went dark faster because of the clouds covering the sky and they didn't notice it until they could barely see each other. And then it was time to go back home. Mana was really disappointed this time until Atem promised they would come here again.

Since it was dark out and the roads were slippery, Mana didn't talk so that Atem could focus on the road. She settled on watching the outside once more, until the soft rocking of the car and the sound of the rain lulled her to sleep.

️

The rain had slowed down when they reached the house, and Atem only noticed then that Mana was asleep. He smiled softly and touched her shoulder.

"Mana. We're here." he whispered as he gave her shoulder a slight shake. "Come on. I'm sure your bed will be much more comfortable than the car seat."

She moaned and raised her head from the window, mumbling something Atem couldn't really understand. He just chuckled at her, and got out of the car to open her side. Reaching his arm for her to take and hold onto, Atem helped her get out of the car. Mana clung to his arm and leaned her body to him. Her eyes were closed and her head was on his shoulder as he leaded her to the door. She let him go when he took out his keys though. How much comfortable to lean her body to his might be, she didn't want to be seen like that in the house.

When they entered, Mana headed straight for the stairs to get to her room and crawl under the sheets, but a grumbled noise made her stop in her tracks. It was coming from the dining room. If she recalled correctly, it was Tea's father.

She looked over and saw Atem standing in the doorway of the room, his shoulders slouched. He had his back towards her but she could guess how his face looked too.

"Finally, you're back, son. Just in time, we just sat down to have dinner. Go change and then join us." He was very demanding, even more than Atem's own father.

"Oh, sorry. I must have forgot you were coming tonight. I already ate, so you can all enjoy your meal. Don't wait for me, I'm tired of driving, I'll just head to bed." he said and turned around, seeing Mana watching him. "Let's go upstairs."

Mana silently nodded, and walked upstairs with him. Before heading to his room Atem looked at her and smiled. "Today was fun, Mana. Thanks for coming along with me. Good night."

He turned around, before Mana held his arm and stopped him. "Wait, Atem. I'm..."

"Hm?"

Mana ducked her down. "I'm sorry. You would have arrived way early if I hadn't come. It waisted your time and since we couldn't stay outside you drove all day. It's kind of my fault. Sorry for making you do that." she said while looking at their feet.

Atem smiled again (he was amazed at how many times she had made him smile today) and put his hands on her shoulders. "Mana, you didn't make me do anything, I asked you to come with me. And to be honest, I'm glad that I had dinner with you instead. I get bored of the dinners we have here, especially with Tea's father. I like Tea, but her father is a pain. But with you it was much better. So really, thank you for spending some of your time with me."

In her hazy daze Mana grinned. "My pleasure." she said bowing her head, then turned on her heel and went towards her room. "And good night to you too!" she called out.

Everything she did before getting into her bed was a blur, but a thought passed her mind just before she fell asleep again.

Did we just went on a first date?

Wow, I remember starting writing and publishing two chapters in a day. And look at me now. Anyways, a cute potential first date. :3

Stay sweet

xo