Author's Notes: Okay, this story also requires a little background information. You see, my dear friend Lauren (known to most on the net as Keeb or Sakebi) made up this sort of Next-Generation YGO-verse where the canon couples...make babies. Oh yes. My kind of 'verse.

Anyway, here's the nitty gritty.

Yuugi (Now a writer) + Anzu Akira (A very blunt and down right pessimistic individual. Something happened to him as a youngster and now he pretty much just...hates everything. Though not exactly the typical teenage rebel, he definitely has some of the traits)

Jounouchi (Owns his own restaurant and the loft apartment above it) + Mai Tarou (A total hippie whose goal is to find nirvana) and Rei (a pseudo-goth chick that likes to write poetry)

Kaiba (Had an accident at KC and now wears an eyepatch...so he's a pirate) + Kisara (Choir teacher at Domino High) Kazuki (An artist with a long braid and a heart-o-gold; The main character in this 'verse since Lauren has an unhealthy obsession with Rumorshipping)

Honda (Works for Kaiba Corp and part time stand up comedian) + Shizuka Mika (A sweet girl that likes reading and singing) and Emi (an 8-year-old bundle of pure energy)

Also, Mokuba now has a rock band (Not unlike PM5K, another obsession of Lauren's) and is married to Amaya...and I think that's really all you need to know to get this story.

More in-depth character profiles and storylines (and possibly rps that Lauren and I have done) will soon be available at so check it out!

I'm also the official artist for this little story thing, so shameless self plug here.

Also, there is a reason the title is from in Evanecsense song. And no, it's not a songfic. Because I don't think I could stand to write one of those things.

In any case , enjoy!

"Hey, check it out," Tarou paused as he and his friends were walking down the hallway. The last bell of the day had just rung, and all of them were going over to Kazuki's place; the Kaiba mansion. But something caught the young boy's eye as they shuffled past a bulletin board. He walked up and examined a yellow sheet critically. "They're sayin' the school dance is cancelled because there's no band."

The youngest of the group, Mika, blinked with a bit of disappointment. "The dance is cancelled?"

Akira blinked as well. "There was a dance?"

Rei rolled her violet eyes at Akira's response. "What? You haven't heard this school raving about it for the past two months?" she said dryly. "It's all anyone ever talks about. Well, except for us."

Akira nodded. "That would explain it. When stupid people start talking, I usually start playing Powerman in my mental radio."

Tarou grinned. "So you're saying you hear voices in your head, Akira?"

"Shut the fuck up, Tarou."

"Anyway," interjected Kazuki, arching a brow. "About this dance business, what's up? I thought they set up a band weeks ago." He grew a bit nervous. He needed this dance to happen. He had plans for it!

…Not to say he'd already taken the initial steps of his plan. The dance had been scheduled for the end of the week, and time was running out. Glancing quickly over at Mika, gulping a bit. Tarou had been pushing him for months now to ask the girl out, but Kazuki simply didn't have the courage. She was such a kind, sweet girl. And the fact she was cute as hell didn't hurt that fact. Soft brunette hair swept over her forehead and feathered against her round cheeks. Her bright, sweet smile rarely left her face no matter the circumstances.

She was different from other girls. Most swooned after him for one reason; he was a Kaiba. He had money and essentially good looks. He'd inherited his father's stature and bone structure, while getting his mother's soft eyes and demeanor. The long braid of white hair was his own concoction, but it got him fairly noticed. Kazuki knew damn well the mass of girls that called themselves a fanclub knew nothing about him. Mika, on the other hand, didn't seem to care at all about any of that. She listened. She really cared for him and his family. In fact she cared about everyone like a mother even though she was only 16 while everyone else in the group was a couple years older.

Tarou knew all about Kazu's feelings for the girl, so he'd sat him down when the dance was first announced saying that he absolutely HAD to ask Mika to go with him. Kazuki agreed.

…He just hadn't done it yet.

"Yeah, well," Tarou sighed heavily, still looking at the sheet. "Looks like the band they had pulled out last minute." He glanced up at Kazuki, knowing full well what that meant.

"That's too bad," Mika said quietly, standing beside her cousin Tarou and studying the announcement sheet. "That sounded like a lot of fun. They never had dances at my old school in Tokyo," she explained. Kazuki remembered how she didn't have many friends back in the big city because of her shy personality, and he frowned. Mika really had wanted to go to this. It would've been perfect! There had to be something he could do to bring this dance back on track.

Suddenly it hit him. Without so much as an explanation, Kazuki took off to the front office of the school, leaving his friends utterly confused. He rushed past the students and walked into the room where he knew the student council was meeting. Everyone was talking about trash cans or something when he stormed in.

"That dance cancellation thing for real?" he asked with a breathless huff. They all stared for a moment, confused. Which was understandable, but Kazuki didn't really have that in mind right now. He was thinking about dancing with Mika. "Huh? Is it?"

"Er, yeah," a girl with long black hair answered. "The band we had quit and there was no money for a DJ. We had to cancel."

"What about it?" asked the obviously irritated student council president. "Do you have some magic way of fixing it?"

Kazuki smirked. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"So let me get this straight, Kazu," Mokuba said dryly, sinking into the soft armchair as he tuned his fender guitar. "You're school dance got cancelled?"

"Yeah," Kazuki answered, grinning sheepishly.

"Because the band pulled out."

"That's it."

"And so you decided to tell them that my band and I would fill in?"

"…Yeah."

"And you didn't even bother asking me or Amaya or any of the guys to see if they were busy?"

"…Um, no…"

"Nor did you even bother finding out how much the gig paid?"

Kazuki blinked. "…It's starting to sound like you aren't going to do it."

"So basically what you're tellin' me is that you just assumed since I'm your uncle and I happen to have a band that I would just drop any prior engagements I had and play at your little high school dance so you could play Romeo for little Mika without even asking. Am I right?" Mokuba looked up at Kazuki with his purple eyes looking less than enthusiastic.

Kazuki froze. This he had not anticipated. Was his uncle ACTUALLY telling him off? "Well, I-uh…that is…"

Suddenly a broad smile broke out on the other's face, bright and cheerful. "Awesome!" he exclaimed, jumping out of the chair. "School dance! Rock on!" He started jumping over furniture and headed up the stairs. "The guys are gonna love this! Reunion tour at Domino High!" With that, Mokie ran up the steps, hollering in excitement. Meanwhile, young Kazuki stood in the middle of the living room, astonished.

"…Oh, did you get him all excited again, son?" the boy heard the familiar voice of his father coming from the kitchen door. "Now we'll never get him to sleep for nappy time."

"Sorry, pop," Kazuki answered as he flopped into the chair his uncle had occupied. "But I need him all peppy for Friday."

"Oh yes. I can see how disrupting the peace and quiet I need for running a multi-billion dollar corporation is easily overshadowed by your need for music at a high school dance," Seto answered, flipping through a folder and adjusting his eyepatch.

"See? We're on the same page," Kazu smirked.

"Huh."

The next day, fliers had already been posted around school stating that Dragon 5 would indeed be performing live at the dance that Friday. Now the student body was buzzing with excitement, and the activity was given new life. So part of Kazuki's plan was complete; the easy part.

Now for step 2: Get Mika as his date. This was the tough part.

As the last bell rang, he rushed outside and stood outside the school gates. His plan was to catch Mika on her way out and walk her home. He'd casually mention the dance and see what her plans were, then coolly mention he didn't have a date…assuming she said the same. Then, right as they would arrive at her doorstep, he'd ask her to go with him. Simple enough.

He looked around the corner and saw she had just exited the building, carrying her black leather book bag in front of her with a polite smile as she bumped into several people. She caught sight of Kazuki and instantly brightened. Kazu's cheeks warmed a bit as he smiled back, waving for her to come over.

"Kazuki-kun!" she sighed, finally reaching him. Her olive eyes looked up at him tiredly. "It's always just a zoo out here after school. How did you get out here so quickly?"

He smiled. "Just good timing, I guess. How bout I walk you home?" This was going to go perfectly.

"Oh, I can't," Mika answered sadly. "I'm sorry, but I need to go pick up Emi at the elementary school today."

"…oh," Kazuki blinked. Okay, change of plans. "Want me to come with?"

"Oh, you don't have to do that, Kazuki-kun," she shook her head sheepishly. "It's a bit of a long walk, and…"

"Hey, no problem!" he insisted. This opportunity was not getting passed up. "You actually think I have plans?"

She blinked, but laughed lightly. "Well, if you really want to…" Mika blushed. "I'm sure Emi would be happy to see you."

Kazuki grinned, feeling victorious. This was going to work if it killed him. "Great!" He followed her as she turned down the street. Now was as good a time as any…right? "Say Mika," Kazuki started quietly.

Mika didn't hear his voice, and she'd already started her own thought. "It's really great that your uncle could fill in on such short notice," she smiled. "Now they don't have to cancel the dance!"

"Huh? Oh yeah! It's great!" Kazuki smiled sheepishly. He needed to stop having a one track mind. But this was a perfect seg-way! "About that…are you gonna go?" He paused. Please say yes!

Mika nodded eagerly. "I can't wait to go! Some girls were listening to one of your uncle's CDs today and I over heard it. It sounded really good. And to see them live will be wonderful!" she said, hugging her book bag. "And it'll be my first school dance."

He gulped a bit, half-way wishing he were that book bag at that moment. "Yeah, that's right!" he said. His voice cracked a bit, but he cleared his throat into his hand with a cough. Perfectly normal. "Are…are you going with anyone?" Yeah. Kazuki was just that smooth.

She paused for a moment, blinking up at him before turning her eyes to the sidewalk before them. "Well…no one has asked me if that's what you mean," Mika said quietly. "I…wasn't really planning on going with anyone…"

His heart sank a bit. "Well, if someone were to ask you…would you say yes?" Kazuki asked, trying not to sound desperate. It didn't work well.

He noticed her cheeks redden a bit, but she tried to hide it by letting her hair fall over her cheeks. Oh, stop being so cute! His mind yelled at her. She was making this torture, even if it was unintentional.

"I suppose it would depend," Mika replied shakily. "On who asked me that is. But…I don't think there's anyone that would." The tone of the last sentence made Kazuki blink. He couldn't even imagine why she'd think that. Well. He could fix this. He could sweep her off her feet right now with his charm and ask her to the dance. He could hug her and kiss her and tell her everything he felt about her while holding her in his arms.

…

Or he could trip over a crack in the concrete and fall flat on his face. Whatever.

His cheek felt sore from the impact, but utter than that he was fine. He heard Mika gasp and crouch next to him. "Oh, Kazuki! Are you all right?" she asked a bit frantically.

He shook off the fall as he pulled himself up. "Yeah, I'm—" he started, but from the way Mika was sitting and how he was pushing himself up he could see up the blue skirt of her uniform. He blinked widely, his cheeks burning under his skin. Despite the fact he knew better, he just sort of…stared for a moment. Until Mika broke his trance.

"Kazuki!" she squeaked. "You must've really hurt yourself!"

He blinked. "Huh?" he muttered, his voice cloudy.

"Your nose! It's bleeding, Kazuki!"

"…wha? OH!" Kazu snapped back into reality, reaching up and feeling a trickle of blood on his upper lip. "Wow…um…"

She had already pulled out a tissue and cradled his head with her hand as she gently placed the tissue against his nose. Mika's face was soft with concern, and Kazuki watched her carefully, his blue eyes in awe of her. She's beautiful…

"Say…um…Mika?" Kazuki uttered in a muffled tone. "You wouldn't wanna…go to the dance with me…would you?"

There was a moment of silence as he saw Mika's expression change from concern to shock to…sort of embarrassed. Each expression seemed more beautiful than the last. "…You're…actually asking me?" she said, looking off to the side but holding the tissue in place. Her voice clearly showed her sense of disbelief, and Kazuki just couldn't understand.

"…Well…yeah…" he admitted, reaching up and forcing her to look at him again with her olive colored eyes. "Would you?"

She blinked for a moment, and he saw the hesitation in her eyes. But at last she smiled that sweet, sheepish grin he loved and nodded. "…Yes," she squeaked. "I'd…love to go with you, Kazuki-san."

A relief washed over Kazuki, and he suddenly felt like he could indeed fly. "Great!" he exclaimed, leaping up from the ground, pulling Mika with him. "This is gonna be amazing, Mika! I promise!" he said almost giddily, clasping her hand and grinning broadly.

Mika, meanwhile, was still very nervous about the whole thing, but she still smiled and nodded. "Yes, it'll be great," she agreed, though not at the same enthusiastic level. Which was understandable.

Alright. Time to calm down. "Great!" he agreed, much more nonchalantly now. "…should we keep going to get you sister?"

Mika blinked for a moment, then her eyes widened like she'd just remembered something. "Oh, yes!" she said, turning down the street and hurrying off. "I almost forgot!"

Before rushing after her, Kazuki grinned and hissed a small victory to himself. Then he hurried after Mika, calling out her name.

Author's Notes: ...and that's chapter 1. Hope you liked it! Chapter two will be up soon.

...I hope.