Disclaimer: Ahem. I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh, because I am just a lowly sick-fic authoress who needs to get a life! But who am I KIDDING? This is WAY more fun than getting a life! I get to torture annoying characters, pair up the ones that were meant to be, and make Pegasus and his custom-made pink suit virtually nonexistent! This ROCKS!
Atemu coughed and opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them with his fists. Where am I?
"You're up! Jii-chan, he's up!"
"Oh, good. How are you feeling?" a kind voice asked. Atemu blinked a few times in the light of the room, to see Yugi perched on the side of the bed and his grandfather and Isis in chairs nearby.
"Mmph... dizzy." he held his head with his hand, feeling the bandages that had been wrapped around it. Then he remembered the fight he'd gotten into. "That man... is Anzu all right?" he asked in a panic.
"I'm fine, look at yourself first!" came a voice from his other side. He snapped around, his back painfully reminding him of his movement restrictions at the moment. Anzu smiled down at him. "Geez, you'd think you'd be more worried about your life or something." Sogoroku chuckled as Atemu's cheeks grew flushed.
"What happened? What time is it?"
"It's nine AM, and basically you were knocked out cold, bleeding, got wrapped up like a mummy, set in a bed, and here you are!" Yugi answered cheerfully.
"Oh yes... That was right after that man... and I threw up..."
"Yes, and we have a question for you," Isis suddenly spoke up. He turned to face her.
"Atemu, I have a feeling that you were fine up until seconds before you became sick. Am I correct?"
He nodded. "How can you tell?"
"I can sense these things. You know that."
"Oh..."
"So, d'ya have any idea what made you throw up?" a familiar voicecalled as Jounouchi, Honda, Otogi and Ryo entered the room, followed by Rishid, Malik, Mai, Rebecca and Professor Hawkins and Jou's sister Shizuka. Rebecca sat next to Yugi on Atemu's bed, and the rest leaned on the wall, or the door, or just stood.
"Isn't there a limit of five visitors in here?" Atemu asked. He thought he knew what had caused him to become sick, but didn't feel like saying it in front of all his friends.
"Yeah well, Malik exercised a few of his 'methods of persuasion' on the nurse to let us all in. So, why'd ya throw up all of a sudden? That could be like, some health defect or something..."
"No... I think... it was Anzu..."
"What?" she asked, offended. A flash of anger crossed her face.
"No! Not like that!" She's beautiful! How could she think for even a second that THAT was what I meant?
"No, it's just... We were looking at each other, and..." He felt his face flush. "And well, you looked... beautiful, really, really beautiful, and I felt something so different... I felt... not like myself... and then my stomach just suddenly went wild and... I threw up." His cheeks burned in his embarrassment, and he kept his eyes trained on the covers of his bed as an uncomfortable silence filled the room. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Jounouchi's face. His friend was smiling.
"You got lovesick, pal." He turned to Anzu. "I think you are one very lucky girlfriend of the King of Games. He loves you a lot." Anzu blushed as Jou patted Atemu's shoulder before moving back to standing between Otogi and Ryo. Otogi was beaming, but Ryo looked... detached. Atemu followed his friend's gaze across the room... to where Isis was looking at Ryo in the same way. This could be interesting...
"Hey, we've got the whole band here!" Atemu said, as all his friends craned their necks, counting band members. "Well, except for Bakura. How's he doing, Ryo?"
"Huh- What? Did someone say my name?" the white-haired boy asked, snapping out of his 'daze.'
"How's Bakura?"
"Oh, he's good... Well, he's throwing up every few seconds but he's doing well... He taught me the song pretty well, and Isis was there too..."
"Why don't the two of you practice?"
"Here?" Ryo squeaked, suddenly seeming to shrink two inches in height. "But it's a love song!" His cheeks became very red very fast as he seemed to shrink even more.
"So? It's a good song, and your voice is perfect for the tenor part. And I haven't heard you two yet."
"Well..."
"Please?" Mai pleaded. She caught Atemu's eye. They knew what was going on. Isis and Ryo were each blushing furiously and avoiding each other's eyes. It didn't take the rest of the band long to figure it out, either. The song was their only love song, so naturally it was for a soprano and a tenor, and the two had to possess the ability to actually sing softly. Ryo and Isis, or Bakura and Isis were perfect. Except when Ryo sang it, there was something more to back the sound up...
"Please? Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top?" Mai begged them.
"You should be a professional matcher-person, do you know that?" Malik asked her.
"You know, I'm actually considering it. It's a mix of mood lighting, scenario-creating and... prompting in the right direction, is all. Take now for instance," she replied cryptically, leaving everyone except the band members, who knew the song, clueless. "PLEASE, Isis?" she asked her friend.
"You'll have to hear it at the rehearsal later today," she replied, smirking. She knew that Mai knew, but seemed to enjoy teasing her blond friend.
"Oh, so you admit it?" Mai asked.
"Yes I do. And I see nothing wrong with it." Now everyone except for Mai and Isis were clueless. But Atemu was beginning to catch on. He decided that Mai was being just a bit too mean, though.
"Aren't all of you supposed to be in school, well, most of you?"
"It's a day off because of that teachers' meeting, remember?"
"Oh yeah."
A nurse ordered them all out then, so everyone except for Yugi, Sogoroku, and Anzu left, cheerfully waving goodbye and smiling as the nurse clucked around, looking like a flustered chicken. Anzu tapped Atemu's shoulder and pointed to where Ryo and Isis were holding a whispered conversation, then dashed off down the hospital's hall in the opposite direction of everyone else when no one was looking. A few seconds later they reappeared in the room.
"What are you two doing here?" Yugi asked.
"Well," Ryo explained, "The visitor limit is five, so we're just... a completion!"
"Sounds all right to me," Sogoroku laughed. "Though the two of you being a completion could take on two different meanings, if you know what I mean. He winked, and Ryo and Isis just beamed at each other.
"What do you think?" Ryo asked, snaking an arm around her waist. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.
"You're not serious!" Yugi exclaimed, jumping up from the bed excitedly. When did he ask you?" he asked Isis.
"A few seconds ago. Everyone was obviously predicting it, so we just... helped it along!" The Egyptian girl hugged her new boyfriend. The two were just about eye level, so they looked perfect together. The light blue of Ryo's shirt contrasted perfectly with Isis's deep indigo sweater and black jeans. On occasion she wore her old linen garments, but most of the time she dressed normally.
Sogoroku threw his arms up in the air. "I feel like I should be getting me a lady or something! It's contagious!" Yugi laughed.
"Hey," Anzu said slyly, "Let's get Jou and Mai together while everyone's at it, and make a go for Honda and Shizuka."
"Wow Anzu, you're brave," Yugi said, impressed.
"No, I just like getting people together," she replied. Atemu chuckled.
"Anyone in particular you liked?" Sogoroku asked as Anzu and Atemu laughed together. Suddenly though, Atemu's face changed.
"What's wrong 'Temu?" Yugi asked.
"I-I'm going to be sick!" He jumped up and dashed for the bathroom connected to the room, emerging a few minutes later looking dizzy and sick.
"Are you all right?" Ryo asked, helping him climb back into his bed.
"Yes, just dizzy... and tired..."
"Let's go and let you sleep then," said Sogoroku, getting up from his seat.
"Bye 'Temu!"
"Bye! Get better so we can retry that date!" Anzu joked. Ryo laughed as Atemu hid his flushed face under the covers.
Wednesday afternoon, Atemu was back home, though his head was still bandaged and he wasn't going back to school until the next Monday as a safety precaution, Ryo and Isis had gone on their first date and hadn't been attacked by any drunk waiters, and Atemu and Anzu were planning their second while also trying to get Mai and Jou together. Honda and Shizuka? They couldn't stand all the romance in the air, and had done it all on their own, so that made Anzu and Atemu's job all the more easy. Jou and Mai weren't really going to be hard though, at the rate their scheming was working.
Atemu, Yugi, Anzu, Ryo and Isis were all lounging around Yugi and Atemu's room, talking, singing, or doing homework. Isis and Ryo performed a spectacular scale warm-up that caused Yugi and Anzu to cheer. Atemu tried to, but ended up coughing.
"Easy there 'Temu!" a glowing Ryo exclaimed. You want to be able to at least talk, don't you?"
"I suppose that talking is useful, isn't it?" he asked, chuckling.
"Yeah."
Everyone burst out laughing at the same second, Atemu's deep, chuckle filling in under the higher range of voices, creating an echo affect. Sogoroku heard them all and came up to see what all the laughing was about.
"What's going on in here?" he asked, sticking his head in the door.
"Not much. We were just planning how to finally get Mai and Jou together. Got any suggestions?"
"Sorry, but that's for you kids to do. I don't want any more girlfriend complications in this house other than yours," he replied, pointing from Yugi to Atemu. "I'll tell you Atemu, you have awakened a different ancient evil in asking Anzu out!" Isis and Anzu laughed as the elderly man left for downstairs.
"So we're evil, are we?" Isis asked Ryo, and he laughed as she nudged him playfully in the side.
"I suppose so," he replied lightly, waiting for it to sink in. Then- WHACK, Isis was chasing him around poor Yugi and Atemu's room with Ryo's THICK English textbook in her hand, whacking him over the head with it whenever she got the chance. When they finally settled down, Atemu breathed a sigh of relief that most of the damage had been done on Yugi's side of the room, while Yugi just sulked.
"It's okay Yugi, we'll clean it up," Ryo offered, reaching to pick up a few stray papers. Isis nodded and knelt beside the boy, reaching for the dustpan and brush in a corner.
Meanwhile, with Jou walking Mai home
"Hey Mai, will you go out with me?"
"Yes! Geez, I was WONDERING when you were going to ask me! Atemu and Anzu have been dropping hints and pushing us together for two days!"
"Oh, okay then..." He grinned as his favorite pizza parlor came up as they crossed a street.
"How about some pizza? On me."
Well, that was kinda short, but chapter eleven was a little longer than usual I think, so I think it evens out. That was a pretty dry attempt at fluff or whatever, sorry guys. But I needed to get the pairings going! One, two, three, "GO ANIME PAIRINGS!"
I'm glad you think so, norestar-angel!
Queen Insanity, I went to read Eternal Love, but realized it contained spoilers for the final thing so I didn't read it, I wanna be surprised when the dub gets there! But from the few sentences I read, it was sappy and gooey goodness! I sound like I'm talking about cinnamon buns or something... And OH YEAH BABY, I ADORE the AnzuAtemu pairing! Can't resist them together! I can picture them in front of a roaring fire, cuddling in all fluffiness and gooey goodness... There I go again! They're the main pairing in my other story, Cry of the Black Magician, but if you don't like tragedy don't read it!
Ninqe, you like DDR too? I LOVE it! I LOVE to dance! And DDR is like, HUGE in Japan apparantly, those lucky Japanese people... They get all the DDR machines... Urg-Is glaring Bloody Murder- Oh well. Yeah, I like root beer floats... so naturally they HAD to have one! I LOVE those too! In fact, I LOVE DDR, LOVE root beer floats, and LOVE the AnzuAtemu pairing! LOVE them all! Yeah, Kaiba must be REALLY jealous!