Disclaimer: I -sniff- don't... own... Yu-Gi-Oh! WAAAAAAAAAAA!
Friday after school, Crimson Love, plus Ryo and minus Bakura, was gathered for a dress rehearsal in the Mazaki family's basement, which Anzu's parents had generously let them use for their practices when the group realized that none of them had a basement. They also had a test audience of Anzu, Yugi, Jou, Shizuka, Honda, Otogi, Anzu's parents, and Sogoroku Mutou.
"ALL RIGHT!" Atemu screamed over the roar in the basement.
Dead. Silence. Then Atemu bagan to cough, and Anzu burst out laughing.
"Nice one 'Temu!" Jou called. He was silenced by The Glare, followed, of course, by a small grunt and the killer Frown. Atemu's arms crossed themselves out of habit as he stared Jou down.
"All right, all right! I give up!" the blond exclaimed. Atemu smirked.
"Okay people, come on! Ryo, how do those clothes fit?" Malik asked, inspecting Ryo up and down.
"Well, they fit, what they're made of is more the question you want to ask."
"Okay, so what are they made of?"
"I was hoping you'd know, actually."
"Nope. Sorry kid. But you do look good." Ryo blushed as Malik walked back to his drum set in clothes much the style of the chakis and tank top he'd worn in Battle City (A/N: Y'all know, THOSE ones.), except he was all in black. Mai was in a bright red, sparkly dress that actually went down to her knees and didn't have a slit of any kind, and Isis was in black jeans and a red-and pink shirt, the two vibrant colors shaping a butterfly. Rishid was in baggy jeans and a black tank top that was artfully ripped about the shoulders, and Ryo was in the outfit he'd bought with Malik's help the other day, the shiny red pants and black shirt with 'Rocker Dude' written across the back in red, and a pair of Atemu's boots. The girls were decked out in all their punky jewelery, and the boys in chains.
Meanwhile, Ryo was still getting used to the boots. "How do you walk in these things, 'Temu?" he asked his friend, who wasn't participating in the practice as he wouldn't be performing anyway.
The once-pharaoh cleared his throat in order to talk. "I'm not sure really. Yugi got me used to them, I guess," he replied hoarsely, cursing his cold under his breath.
"What was that, 'Temu?" Yugi inquired playfully. "Certainly not cuss words? Not the King of Games, cussing?" He mocked a gasp.
"Grr..."
"Aw, lighten up," Anzu's voice came from behind him. "He's just fooling."
Atemu smiled at her words. "All right then. Yugi, consider yourself lucky." He and Anzu each saw Sogoroku and Anzu's parents watching them, so Atemu took Anzu's hand.
"Do we have your approval, Mr. And Mrs. Mazaki?" he asked, Anzu giggling.
"You've got mine," Anzu's mother replied. "What do you think?" she asked her husband and Sogoroku, who were having fun teasing the two.
"I suppose..." Sogoroku thought aloud. "Yes, I guess they'll do. "And you?"
"All right then," Mr. Mazaki answered.
Atemu smiled, and lead Anzu to sit on the steps leading down to the basement so they could watch the band practice.
"It feels so weird being back here, instead of up there," he mused, indicating where Crimson Love was about to begin.
"Yeah, it's like me watching a ballet, instead of being in one," his girlfriend said, smiling.
"ALL RIGHT PEOPLE! COMPLETE SILENCE IS ASKED OF OUR TEST AUDIENCE, UNLESS IT'S TO PUKE-" Malik shouted, smirking in Atemu's direction, "-BECAUSE IF IT IS TO PUKE, NO PUKING ON THE EQUIPMENT PLEASE! SO NO TALKING, UNLESS OF COURSE YOU JUST CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT TELLING US HOW COOL WE ARE!" he finished up. Isis laughed, hitting a few keys of her keyboard as the song started. She and Ryo were front and center, she with her keyboard and he with his acoustic guitar, which was a slightly diffent shade than Bakura's. Malik was in back with his drums, Rishid back and to the left with his electric guitar, and Mai back and to the right with just a microphone. Normally Atemu would be with her.
Isis continued to play, fingers grazing lightly across her keys as her voice began to hum along with it, soon joined by Ryo's deeper, magically ringing tenor tone. Isis started out,
When one is there,
And nothing is seen,
Your heart is blind,
You are a machi-ine,
Then Ryo took over, timidly keeping his eyes trained on the ground as a blush spread over his cheeks-
But you know,
That somewhere you will find,
Someone of your kind,
That will exist,
That will be real,
That you can touch,
That you can feel-
Then the two came together, Isis flying high over Ryo, who was singing in his lowest range possible for a few measures, as the other voices and instruments began to slowly wind their way in-
There's something not there,
There's something amiss,
You long for that feeling,
You long for that kiss-
The kiss of truth,
The kiss of soul,
The kiss that tells you,
You're in control-
Oh-
Now Isis sang solo, accompanied by an echo compliments of Rishid and Malik, to the resounding beat of Malik's deep drum and the flow of Rishid and Ryo's chords, and her slow, shy notes, lovingly tapped out on many white keys. She started strong and immediately softened from there.
If you find me,
If you're there,
Don't you take long,
Don't take care,
Hurry up before I'm swallowed,
By unanswered prayers-
Isis ended neatly, draping a crisp blanket of silence over the song and leaving it hanging suspended for a milisecond over the last note. Then it was Ryo's turn, he was backed by Mai's strong alto-
But the choice is difficult,
At which road do I cross,
In order to be pried apart,
But still remain whole?
At the Lane of Hearts,
Or the Avenue of Truth,
Or the Drive o-of Soul-
After he crescendoed on the last word, the two again bonded into one mystic, flowing voice:
Never worry,
Never think,
Push until you're on the brink,
Let your mind wander,
And decide with your heart.
Confused?
Find me to start-
Oh-
When mind and soul collapse to one,
You know you can't go wrong,
Feel with your love,
Touch with your heart,
And sing sweetly destiny's song-
Suddenly all background noise died out, and Ryo and Isis's voices were all that remained. Isis started,
And sing sweetly-
To be taken over by Ryo-
Destiny's-
Then the two linked together again-
So-ng...
They crescendoed and decrescendoed into utter silence, broken only when Anzu's parents started to clap.
"Oh, that was wonderful!"
"Yes, amazing. You kids sure are something!" Mr. Mazaki exclaimed excitedly, then turned to Ryo. "How come you aren't in this band, eh?"
"Me?" the boy replied, ruffling his hair nervously. "Oh no, I'd be far too scared to do this a lot... and my voice isn't deep enough yet for rock like they do. I could just do this one because it was a love song-"
"But you're really good!"
Ryo blushed deeper. "Maybe in a few years... decades..."
The older man chuckled. "Whatever. What did you think, honey?" he asked his wife. The two got into a discussion about music with Sogoroku as the boys started to pack up the heavy equipment.
"Atemu!" Malik shouted. "Could you pry yourself away from your girlfriend for a minute, and help me get the drums to Mai's car?"
Atemu's cheeks became nearly as flushed as Ryo's as he removed his fingers from their interlaced position with Anzu's and went to help Malik with his drum set.
Meanwhile, Honda was asking Shizuka out that night, much to Otogi's dismay. The dice-boy sighed, realizing there was nothing he could do. Oh well. He still had his fan club...
"Ryo!" Mai surprised the white-haired boy by popping up behind him, microphone in hand.
"Yes Mai?" he asked.
"You did a great job hun, especially for singing a love song with your new girlfriend, but just remember that tomorrow night you'll have to forget yourself onstage and be a little more outgoing about it, okay?"
He nodded. "Don't worry. Bakura's been... teaching me how to be... well... He's teaching me how to be... um..."
"Un-Ryo-like?"
The small boy laughed. "That would be it! But really don't worry, Atemu taught me a trick to remember to keep my head up and smile, which he also says makes me blush, which I suppose would work for this song, and it probably doesn't even show onstage, right? And Bakura told me to just pretend I'm in my normal clothes to try to make me feel more comfortable, which kind of cancels out what Atemu told me to do but I get both points, so-"
"Okay, I get it. Don't kill yourself, hun. Which 'look-up-and-smile' technique did Atemu teach you?" He has many...
When Ryo trained his eyes on his shoes, blushing furiously, and just gave a slight mumbling in response, Mai knew immediately which one he'd been taught.
"Oh, so he told you the 'look-down-and-picture-yourself-naked-so-look-up-and-feel-the-chains-on-your-pants-clink-so-know-you're-not-naked-so-smile-in-great-thanks-for-the-clothes-that-Kami-sama-has-provided-you' technique?"
"Yeah, actually. How do you know?"
"That's the one he taught me once when I just kept looking down in a certain random measure of a song, and it's worked for me every time since I first tried it. The kid knows his stuff." Ryo cracked an amused smile.
"All right then, that works. Would you like a hand with that?" he asked, pointing to the microphone she had been hauling into her convertible.
"Sure, thanks." Together the two lifted the device into Mai's backseat between Rishid and Malik, who were catching a ride home to the Ishtars' apartment. Isis was going to the Kame game shop with Sogoroku, Yugi, and Atemu to work on a song with Atemu, Jou was taking Mai out, Honda was taking Shizuka out, and Otogi was... Otogi. As the rest of the group left Anzu's, she wandered back into the house after saying goodbye to the gang. One thought ran through her mind, though.
Didn't Atemu once say that a perfect rehearsal would mean a bad show?
Geez, am I horrible at suspense or am I HORRIBLE AT SUSPENSE?
Oh well. In the meantime, Review Replies:
I know, Black-Caracal, aren't they just irresistible together?
He's not going to die in this one, Electric Fire, it was just convenient for the sake of fluffiness and for getting him and Anzu together, which HAD to happen! I LOVE them together! Ahem Yes. So. Right. Well, GO ANIME PAIRINGS!
Norestar-angel, I live to please my readers! ;)