Disclaimer: My Christmas list it is on, own it I do not. I also don't own Pantene shampoo. But Isis has a bottle of it!

"All right people, come on! Quiet!" Malik yelled. "Come on!"

"You know, I don't think they heard you," said his older sister from behind him.

"Someone get Atemu over here. He could whisper, and everyone would quiet down."

"How does he do that?"

"What do you want me for?"

"Oh, hi 'Temu. Could you do that thing you do how you just say something and everyone suddenly listens to you?"

"Sure." He cleared his throat. "The fate of the world now rests on our shoulders."

Silence.

"How do you do that?"

"I have no clue."

"Whatever. Okay everyone, practice time! Band members, to your places! Pending band member, to the tryout microphone!"

Ryo blushed and took a deep breath, walking up to the microphone they had set up in the Mazakis' basement.

"I can't believe I talked you into this!" Mai exclaimed.

"Neither can I," he muttered to the floor.

"All right, is everyone where they should be? Relatively at least? Atemu, are you sitting this one out?" Isis asked him over the babble in the basement.

"Just this one. I'll be able to sing at the next rehearsal though."

"Okay, just play it safe then. All right people! Start when you're ready, Ryo," she instructed her boyfriend, Crimson Love's possible new permanent member.

The white-haired boy took a deep breath and held the microphone closer to his lips, softly singing an excerpt from one of their songs and strumming along on his guitar, accompanied my Malik on the drums, Isis on her keyboard, and Rishid on his electric guitar, while Mai sat the round out so he was the only singer.

Feel,
Soar above all else,
Fly,
Kno-ow nothing else,
Hear that voice-
Know that you're,
Never really alone,
There's always someone e-else,
That can help you-

Do you think you're the only one?
To ever feel that way?
To ever be the helpless one?
Well you're wrong-
Do you know the things I feel,
Or what my heart has to say?
Have you any idea what I go through,
Each and every day?

If you pretend to, you will pay,

For you are blinded,
By your sea of fantasy,
Optimism annoys you,
You can't see,
The way you're trying to,
You can blame that on you-
You can blame that on you...

"Okay Ryo, that's enough," said Atemu. He and Mai were acting as judges.

"So does he make it?" asked Isis.

"Well... That's a tough one... Let Mai and me have a few more seconds..." he teased as Ryo quivered in fear of Atemu's decision. Seeing the scared expression on the boy's face, Atemu laughed. "You're in. You would have been in anyway, but this was just a torture method."

Ryo stared in disbelief, then ran up and hugged his friend. "Oh thank you! I can't believe it!"

"So you really did like being up on that stage, didn't you?" asked Mai slyly.

"Well, at first it was scary, but it was a lot of fun too, singing up there in front of everyone."

"Wasn't it the 'being in front of everyone' part that originally scared you?"

"I can change my opinion, can't I?"

"And you just did!" said Malik. "Welcome to Crimson Love, official member Ryo Bakura!" Ryo smiled.

"Kids!" someone called from up the basement stairs.

"Yeah Mom?" Anzu called back, recognizing the voice.

"Cookies and hot chocolate! Get it while it's hot!"

Jou and Honda exchanged glances, then darted up the stairs, shoving each other every three feet.

"Come on guys, let's go get some before Jou and Honda eat everything up," Yugi joked, and they all headed up the stairs and into the kitchen after their two friends.

Yugi took a cookie and stood next to Atemu and Anzu. Wow, they got together fast-

(I heard that, Yugi! Do you have a problem with it?)

/Just thinking to MYSELF how the two of you will probably be married soon at this rate./

(Yugi Mutou, I will have your head!)

/Meep./

"So where is the next performance of this Band War thing?" asked Mrs. Mazaki.

Bakura, who had popped out of nowhere, answered her. "It's this Saturday night, the usual. It's about one hundred miles from here though, so we're allowed to skip school that day to drive over."

"When did you get here?" Ryo asked.

"Two seconds ago."

"Right. Are you feeling better?"

Bakura nodded.

"How do I suddenly have a dozen extra children?" asked Mrs. Mazaki.

Anzu smiled. "Sorry Mom. Are we being to loud?"

"Oh no, I was just wondering how there were thousands of people in my house all of a sudden!" The woman laughed. "Wait until I tell your father about this. He'll get a kick out of it." She left for her room upstairs, presumably to call Anzu's father.

"Man, you've got a nice mom."

It was Friday night, the night before their third-round performance. Crimson Love was not in good shape.

Ryo had caught Bakura's flu, and Bakura had suddenly gotten sick again. Scratch two members.

Atemu, like Bakura, had fallen ill last night and spent the whole morning throwing up. Scratch another member. They were down to four.

And those four were having a bit of trouble.

"But we haven't got any or our lead male voices! How the heck are we supposed to do this?"

"Would you rather surrender the com-"

Bring! Bring!

"I'll get it," said Isis. The four healthy members had gathered in the Ishtars' apartment. She walked into her room and answered her private line.

"Hello?"

"Isis?"

"Yes... Atemu?" She heard coughing on the other line.

"Yes, it's me." She cringed hearing his raspy voice. "I'd try to get out of the house again, but I can barely talk, let alone sing. I'm so sorry."

"That's all right. We'll find a way to do this."

"Maybe we should call another group meeting."

"That's a good idea. Where though? Aren't Bakura and Ryo too sick to move?"

"I know that Ryo's pretty much fine except for the minor detail that he can neither talk or walk, and Bakura's not throwing up, he's just useless."

"What about you?"

"Uh... Let's just say that I've given up on eating anything. It doesn't stay down very well."

"So would it be all right if everyone came to your house?"

"That's fine by me, and Yugi and Jii-chan won't mind. Everyone's always over here anyway."

Isis laughed. "That is true, isn't it?"

"Yes. So... group meeting here in half an hour? Or less, whenever everyone shows up?"

"All right. Bye 'Temu."

"Bye." He hung up, and, feeling a familiar lurching feeling in the back of his throat, made a dash for the toilet in the bathroom.

Twenty-Six Minutes Later:

"Is everyone here?"

"In the flesh."

"Stop joking, Jou. This is serious."

"I wasn't joking."

"QUIET!"

"Thank you," said Malik, climbing back down from the chair he had been standing on. In the Mutou's living room, Anzu sat on a chair braiding Shizuka's hair as the brown-haired girl sat before her on the floor, while Mai sat on the opposite chair, braiding Isis's. Rebecca and Yugi were next to each other on the floor, and Jou, Honda, and Otogi had all found seats on the rather crowded couch. Ryo and Bakura sat facing the inside of the group's little circle on two kitchen chairs that had been brought in, Sogoroku was leaning against the wall, and Atemu leaned against the door frame so as to be able to make a quick run to the bathroom should the need come. Malik and Rishid just stood there. Jou, again, was the leader of the meeting, because Atemu couldn't do it.

"All right, this meeting of... us... will now begin!" he said, and everyone listened.

"All right, now to discuss the issues at hand. 'Kura, 'Temu an' Ryo are all sick and the band can't perform like that. Any suggestions?"

"Ya kill me with your enthusiasm, really. Come on people, think! And why does it feel like I've said this before...?"

Anzu rolled her eyes, tying off a braid in Shizuka's long, unruly hair. "How do you brush this stuff out, Shizuka?"

"I don't know, really."

"All right then, that works!"

Jou cleared his throat. "Ahem. People, could we please stay on our original subject? Hair is great, but we're talkin' about the band right now. Mai, whadda ya think?"

"Hmm... Isis, what shampoo do you use? Pantene? Your hair's so soft."

"Really? No, I just use whatever's on sale. We didn't have shampoo when we lived in Egypt."

Mai gasped. "No shampoo? I don't know how I'd sur-"

"AHEM!"

Both girls looked to see Jou looming over them.

Mai and Isis: Meep.

"I asked you what you thought, Mai."

"Oh? What about?"

"Grr-"

"Bleeeaaach!"

"What the-" was all Jou had to say as Atemu rushed past him on his way to the bathroom. The blond cringed.

"At least he made it in time," said Honda. The others weren't impressed.

"That's gross, Honda."

They sat in silence for a minute until Atemu shuffled back into the room clutching his stomach, a very nauseous expression on his face.

"Are you all right?" asked Yugi. He got a Death Glare as a reply.

"What do you think, Yugi? My stomach just emptied its nonexistent contents for the third time in an hour."

"Okay... wrong thing to say, then."

Atemu just uttered a small Atemu-Grunt and resumed his position of leaning against the door frame, arms crossed protectively in his usual position.

Anzu finished braiding Shizuka's hair and went over to him, giving him a quick hug and feeling his forehead as everyone else watched in silence. "Mr. Mutou?"

"Yes, Anzu?"

"Um... maybe you should feel his forehead... he feels even hotter that he did just a little while ago."

Sogoroku grunted and nodded his agreement, walking over to check his grandson's temperature. But he quickly became more concerned with catching the boy as Atemu's body went limp and he fainted, sprawled out motionless on the ground.

There was no way they'd be able to perform.

Oh my gosh, I'm making them all suffer so much! I love them! I don't want them to suffer! But then again, I'm the authoress...

Yeah Ninqe, I really thought they were going to take first too, but it wouldn't have made a difference so... I decided to be as nice to the poor Crimson Love members as I could... poor guys. I really torture them. Oh well. Go ahead and write your own version of the songs, fine by me! Mine are just... weird. But whatever. You like them, my other readers like them... so I'll go with 'em!

They really ARE meant for each other, Ksaturn, huh? I LOVE Anzu and Atemu together! I can picture them in front of a warm cizy fire in a ski lodge, Atemu in a crimson knit sweater and Anzu in a beige suede-y jacket, falling asleep in each other's arms on a warm brown couch as the snow falls outside...

You are very cool Queen Insanity. How could someone named Queen Insanity NOT be cool? Insanity rocks! Linkin Park or Evanescence... hmm... I can REALLY picture AnzuTea as an Evanescence girl in both the sub and the dub, I dunno about Linkin Park. Maybe. Your story is cool too!

Hehe, um... it's a blood-COLORED sweater HiddenInTheNight,... not blood-covered. Oops. It's fixed now though!

Shucks, thank you, norestar-angel.

You think it's sweet, Black-Caracal? I thought it was more cheezy-sappy, but I'm glad you liked it!