A/N: Well, another day, another chapter. My ICT teacher would kill me. RSI much? However! This chapter isn't as long as the others, simply because that was a good place to end it. Oh, not to mention Vomit alerts and a sudden power cut… which happened just as I was about to move the mouse to click save. D'oh. Thank goodness for MS Word's retrieval powers… It's a pretty good program, once you figure out how to turn off the d'arving paper clip. Anyhoo, it occurred to me recently that the character's birthdays are pretty prominent in this fic, so, for future reference, here is a list, which I found on YGO Fanstuff Paradise:

Joey: 25th January

Duke: 28th February

Tristan: 19th April

Yugi: 4th June

Téa: 18th August

Ryou: 2nd September

Seto: 25th October

And one of my own: Azreal's birthday is the 5th of November- Bonfire Night!

Moving on:

Review Responses:

Dragonlady222: Heh. Blazer. White shirt. Trousers or skirt. And a tie. Bleah. And they will be great friends... heeheehee...

Willowwind: They weren't actually EATING the dog. He was winding him up because... Well, he reacted like you did. (Manic grin) And Seto didn't ALMOST kiss her, he was in the process of, when Mokuba... inturrupted. Heh. Then they were allembarresed. Awwwwwwwwww...Bohemian Rhapsody! I love that SONG! I see a little silloeto of a man, scarmoosh! scarmoosh! will you do the fandango! SUDDEN BOLT OF LIGHTNING, VERY VERY FRIGHTNING THING!Galileo! Annnnnnnnnd... so on.

Disclaimer: Duh.

Four: The Penny Drops

June

"Hey…" Joey called. "Hey! Earth to Azreal!" Still no response. "Hey!" He clicked his fingers loudly in her face, causing her to tip back in shock. Those around grabbed the chair quickly, before she went over completely, and she sat up sheepishly.

"Sorry…" She murmured apologetically. "I was miles away…"

"I'll say." Yugi smiled, looking over her shoulder to see what she had been doodling so absently. He shook his head. "You sure do like sheep, Anna…"

Well, that was true. Over the few months they had known her, they had seen more cartoon sheep then ever before. She had sheep pencils, sheep pencil cases, sheep notebooks… she even had a pair of socks. By now, she was infamous all around the school as 'The girl with the sheep fetish'. And now, while they had been talking, she had been doodling as she thought. She was a doodler by nature; the second her mind wandered, so did her pen or pencil. And, predictably, she had been drawing sheep.

"No," She laughed. "They're just easy to draw…"

"Wow!" Téa gasped, pointing. "I like this one! It's so cute!"

"He's my favourite to…" Anna smiled at her. The sheep was the only one on the paper that had been shaded in, to indicate black fur. The other oddity about it was that it was sitting as a dog would, and had small white wings coming out of his back.

"Yes, well…" Yugi interrupted. "Not that Anna's sheep aren't nice, but Sir will be in here in a second, and I was trying to ask her something…"

"Uh, yes?" Anna asked.

"It's my birthday in a few days time, on the fourth." Yugi explained. "All these guys are coming over to celebrate, and I wondered if you'd like to join us."

"Really?" She blinked. "Even after the… disaster at Tristan's?"

"Of course!" Yugi said, blinking in surprise.

"We've said before, that wasn't your fault." Tristan said graciously. "Forget about it."

"We'll just have to remember that you can't drink coke." Yugi assured her. "It's probably not a good idea if you disappear in front of Grandpa. We might be able to convince Tristan's family that it was their imagination, but not him…"

Anna winced at the memory. "Don't remind me…" She had finally discovered why Coca Cola was not available in Wherever. Unlike humans, it didn't make you hyper. No, it made you de-materialise.

"No Coke for me." She agreed. "But, yes, I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it for the world…"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"She's crushing on him…" Téa whispered.

"No way!" Joey yelled as the others looked on.

"Listen!" Téa insisted. "Didn't you see her face when Kaiba didn't turn up this morning? She's worried!"

"No way." Joey repeated stubbornly. "What would a nice girl like her want with a jerk like him? It would never happen!"

Ryou sat back and rolled his eyes. He'd figured this out back in April. "Stranger things have…" He muttered under his breath. But his comment, if heard, was ignored.

"Whatever, Joey." Téa sighed, blowing a strand of hair from her face. "I'm sure there's some good in him somewhere, but…" She sighed again. "I don't think she knows what she's getting into. That guy doesn't want anyone. I'll talk to her." She promised.

"Here's your chance." Ryou said mildly. "Here she comes."

Anna joined them, and drifted in and out of the conversation, mainly about Yugi's party that night, as break time passed.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

That day, in G&T class, everyone was doing pretty much what they always did. The first lesson she had actually spent in the room, trying to ignore the Muses who were shooting her dirty looks, Anna had sat with Ryou, and the two had got bored out of their skull even as they listened to the band practise in the corner.

There was a band for each year group, Ryou explained, and every year there would be a big talent competition on the last day before Christmas, which anyone could compete in, but it was mainly between the bands for each year. Unfortunately, their band wouldn't be competing this year because-

At that point, Ryou had been interrupted when one of the band members, a boy named Craig, who had spotted them watching and, as they didn't have a competition to rehearse for, offered to teach them how to play guitar- an offer that the two had taken up eagerly, just for something to do.

Ryou had quickly proved to be a natural, his hands totally at home on the fret board. Anna, however, had proved to be incredibly bad at it. Eventually, she had thrown her hands up in defeat and gone back to spending an hour a week idling it away.

She was deep in thought as usual, barely looking at what she was drawing, when Ryou excused himself from Craig for a moment, and went to talk to her.

"Wings looks miserable today." He commented, using the nick name that had quickly developed for Anna's trademark winged, black, furry, sheep. It was true, today his wings were drooping, and he looked rather down. "I hope he cheers up for Yugi's party this evening."

"He will." Anna said, not saying anything more.

"Just watch out for Téa…" Ryou warned, before rejoining the band.

"Huh?" Anna asked in bewilderment. "Téa? Why?"

But Ryou had already picked up the spare guitar, and they were beginning another song.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Anna was walking out of school that day, after yet another trip to the lost property. She walked rather briskly- the chances were that if Seto wasn't in school, someone would have to pick Mokuba up.

Ever since that first time, Anna had been a common fixture at Mokuba's school. Mokuba liked her better then Susan, and she liked Mokuba to. As she had left Seto in doubt about: 'Seto, you have one great brother. If he were somehow our age, I'd dump you and go out with him instead.' Of course, she had been joking, and Seto knew it, but she honestly didn't mind walking Mokuba back. His school was on her way home anyway, so it wasn't out of her way. Some nights she would just take him as far as where their paths split, but often she'd go up to the house with him and hang out for an hour or so. However, she had better hurry down the deserted corridors- Mokuba's school let out the dame time as theirs, so she was already late.

Unfortunately, she was about to become even later. Just as she passed the girls toilets, the door swung open and she was dragged forcibly inside.

After she got over the initial surprise of the attack, Anna looked at the offenders in bewilderment. "Téa? What is this?"

She heard the door creak closed and turned to see another girl standing in front of it.

"Mai?" She said, utterly confused now. "Do you even go to this school?"

"That's not the point." Mai said sternly. "Téa called me at lunch. We need to talk to you, Azreal."

"What about?" She blinked. She had heard the conversations that generally happened in ladies toilets, and she didn't really want to be involved in one.

"Seto Kaiba." Téa said deliberately.

"Oh." Anna replied, leaning against the sink. So, the cat was out of the bag at last…

"Listen," Téa said slowly. "We know you can't control who you have a crush on- and hey, who would blame you for liking him?- but Seto Kaiba is not a good choice, at least not now."

"That is," Mai amended. "Basically, he's completely off-limits."

Anna blinked in confusion, then held back a laugh. Hadn't these two realised that they were…? Did they just think that she…?

"I know there's good in him somewhere." Téa pleaded desperately. "But it won't come out till he's ready. You should just forget him."

Mai snorted. "Face it, he's just a complete jerk. Give him half a chance, and he'll break your heart."

"We just don't want you to get hurt by wanting something you can't get…" Téa added softly. "There's no point even trying. You'll just get hurt."

"Don't you think he's been a bit more mellow recently, though…?" Anna hinted.

"Well…" Téa began uncertainly, before Mai cut her off.

"Phfft." She snorted. "Who cares! The guy's a jerk, and he always will be. So there's absolutely no point crushing on him." As always, blunt and straight to the point. Anna decided it was time to put them out of their misery.

"Actually," She said conversationally. "We've been going out since I got here." She began to head out the door, but couldn't resist a parting shot. "And he's a really good kisser." She waited for the words to sink in. "Well, see ya later, at Yugi's."

And she left them standing there in shock.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

She was almost at the doors when she saw his unmistakable figure in the corridor.

"Seto!" She called. He looked up, smiling widely when he saw her. She quickened her pace and met him. "I was just talking about you." She laughed.

"Oh?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded seriously. "It seems my friends have figured us out."

"The penny has dropped." Seto rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I can get away with kissing you in public now."

He did so, right in the middle of the hallway. Okay, so there was no-one around, but someone could have walked by at any moment.

"You're in an unusually good mood today." She laughed. "Did something nice happen today? I thought you'd abandoned me…"

"I had to come back and collect something." He explained. "But I just couldn't get out of the office today. The deal is done."

"The one with that American guy?" She blinked. He hadn't said much about it before.

"The very same." Seto confirmed. "He brought the Duel Disks."

Azreal pulled away from him in shock. Seto's arms fell uselessly to his sides. "You sold the Duel Disks!" She screamed in horror. "But why! You put your whole heart into developing that system!" Although she had no way of telling at the time, she was not the only racked off with Seto for this move… "I don't believe you, Seto! Why is it all about money! Does nothing have sentimental value to you!"

"Az, wait!" Seto replied calmly. "You haven't heard the full story-"

She snorted. "You sold your Disks, Seto! What else is there to it? Don't you realise that they'll just ruin them! They'll…they'll… Make them available in a wide range of fluorescent colours, or something! And they'll add all sorts of silly gimmicks like radios and toothbrushes and things! Do you not realise what you've done!"

"Oh, shut up." Seto said tolerantly. "I'm glad you're so concerned, but do you honestly think I'm going to lay back and watch them ruin for the system I made famous?"

"But you…"

"Listen." He said. "The deal says that he does not own the Disks till January. Until then, I can do what I like with them." He smirked. "And if he thinks that I need his help to sell my products abroad, he is sadly mistaken. Tomorrow morning, now that he can't get out of it, my Disks will start to ship across the world, and be sold at well below the RRP. And, come December…" He smirked more. "Well, I might suddenly feel very generous. A Christmas give away, free disks for anyone who hasn't already got one, world wide. By the time he gets his clammy mitts on my Disk,

no-one will need one. He just gave me a whole lot of money for no good reason. Which is why I had to find someone so awful to pull it on…"

Az shook her head, laughing. "You are so devious…" She commented, half laughing, half sighing. "Won't it cost you money, though? Selling them cheap?"
"It's not all about money." He mimicked. "Some things have sentimental value…"

She laughed again, and he joined in quietly. "There's just one thing I'm confused about…"

"What?" Seto asked.

"Why sell the Disks at all?" She wondered. "And what are you going to do now?"

"Duel Monsters is a sinking ship." Seto said, and she could hear the excitement in his voice. "Don't you see it? It's losing popularity. And if I don't branch out before it crashes, my company will go down with it."

"Heh." She smiled. "I knew you'd have an ulterior motive…"

"Robots." Seto said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" She blinked.

"Robots." Seto repeated, sounding excited. "That's where Kaiba Corp's going now- Holograms are over, it's been done, they won't get any better, despite what some fools think. But robots… Unexplored territory. No-one's done it yet, no-one knows how intelligent they can get, but it's only a matter of time- and when they do, Kaiba Corp will be leading the way. We already have robots with set programs, in factories and the like, so it can only be a matter of programming, finding a way to have an infinite number of variables in one machine. I've already been looking at it, and I don't think there's a way to do it with any modern software, but I think that maybe if you go right back to binary coding it might just be possible. Of course, if we tried to program an infinite number of variables, we'd be fiddling with zeros and ones forever, but if there was some way to link them all together to one code, on switch, so they all turned each other on and off, were all connected, and it was a chain; or if we could somehow program everything into a single dependant that itself was infinite…Of course, even if you managed to program everything into it, it would still be a program. If there was some way that we didn't have to, some way that we can get it to make assumptions on what it knows, someway to get it to learn… It would just be a matter of finding a way for it to process unknown data so…"

He trailed off, noticing Az's blank look. "Never mind. Sorry." He concluded.

She laughed. "No need to apologise, it's nice seeing you excited about anything. Thanks for that little insight into your mind there…" She grinned, hooking his arm. "C'mon, let's go get that brother of yours… I have to be at Yugi's in a few hours, so we'd better enjoy what time we've got…"

And so, they did, whatever Seto had come back to pick up forgotten about.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Téa and Mai stood in the toilets, aghast.

"Oh man…" Téa groaned. "How embarrassing…"

"There was no way we could have known…" Mai said half-heartedly. "And she seemed to find it funny, not insulting."

"Yes, but-" Téa began, only to be interrupted by Anna's own voice, echoing from outside.

"Seto!" She yelled, and then they heard nothing for a while, before hearing her sunny laugh. However, a second later, they heard raised voices.

"…But why!" They made out. "…sentimental value…!"

"That doesn't sound good…" Mai muttered.

"Ssh!" Téa insisted. The next voice they heard clearly was Kaiba's.

"Az, wait!" Seto pleaded. They heard her shouting again, though they couldn't make out many individual words. Then it went quiet for a long time.

Mai pushed open the door cautiously. If Kaiba had… just proved them right, he'd have to answer to her. And her high-heeled boots.

However, all she saw was Azreal dragging Seto off, arm-in-arm, towards the door, giggling. And, more to the point, he was laughing to.

They stood in the doorway of the toilets for a moment longer.

"Wow." Téa said eventually. "No wonder he's been happier recently…"

"Who would have thought he could laugh?" Mai agreed, turning to face the shorter girl. "Téa, we have to guard this relationship! We have three aims: First is Azreal. If that jerk does anything to upset her, he'll have to deal with us. Second, even though we may not approve of her choice, she obviously does, so we have to make sure no-one else screws it up. And, finally, most importantly, we have to make sure Joey does not find out."

"Ryou…" Téa said suddenly, sounding about as evil as Téa gets.

"What about him?" Mai blinked. "He won't do anything."

"Exactly." Téa glowered. "Come on, Mai, we're going over to his- I have a bone to pick with that boy…"

"What? Téa, what are you talking about!"

"He knew!" She seethed. "He knew, and he didn't tell us! He could have saved us all that embarrassment…"

Ryou should have heeded his own warning- Watch out for Téa…

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Ryou had spent most of his time after school crawling round in the small area that served as a loft above his bedroom in his flat, his old jeans wearing into holes as they rubbed on the dusty floorboards. After perhaps half and hour of searching he found what he was looking for- an old cook book, and he had climbed back down, already flicking through the pages.

Téa had enlisted him to make a cake for Yugi at the last minute. He sighed, wishing he wasn't so easy to boss around. The truth was, however good a cook they thought he was, he had never even tried to make anyone a birthday cake. But you don't say no to Téa when she looks like that.

He flicked through the book quickly, deciding just to go for a simple sponge. He had to be at Yugi's in a little over three hours, so he had to be quick.

Turning on his kitchen Radio, Ryou had gotten into the swing of things fairly quickly, sifting flour, creaming butter and sugar… And now all he had to do was add the eggs.

Half-forgotten memories of making cakes with his mom and sister when he was really small flickered through his mind. His mom had always told them that the egg was the most important part, because it pulled the mixture together. Breaking an egg without losing a single piece of shell was a skill, she had insisted. Ryou was getting good at it now, probably because he often ate omelettes when he was too tired to cook properly. Which was most of the time. He'd dread to see his cholesterol levels.

He took a knife from the drawer, purely because he found it easier to break the egg neatly that way. He lined up carefully. Too hard, and the shell would crumble both into the mixture and the egg. It took care, and patienc-

Boo!

Ryou jumped and pressed down instinctively. Predictably, his cake mixture suddenly contained egg shell, which, needless to say, wasn't in the recipe.

"Gordon Bennet…" He cursed, fishing in the draw for a teaspoon so he could begin the tedious task of fishing all the pieces out. You just had to do that, didn't you, Yami? He scolded in irritation. You know I'm in a rush.

Why are you cooking anyway? Bakura scowled back. You act like a girl, you know that! Especially when you tie your hair back…

It's better then getting that in the cake to! Ryou responded, now thoroughly racked off. Can't you leave me in peace for five minutes!

He snorted. You think I don't get bored in that Ring? I have to do something to entertain myself…

Does it have to be annoying me? Ryou demanded, pulling another piece of eggshell out, strongly resisting the urge to run his hands through his hair in frustration.

I could possess you instead, if you like… Bakura suggested slyly. Just then, the buzzer began to ring insistently. Ryou looked down in despair. The cake was nowhere near done, the eggshell was slowly sinking, Bakura was smirking, and he was covered in flour and egg up to his elbows. And he didn't have much time. Now was not the ideal moment for visitors.

The buzzer went again, and, sighing, Ryou pressed the button with his elbow, not wanting to risk his messy fingers.

"Yes?" He asked, none-to-politely.

"Ryou…" Téa's voice came through. And she used a tone that usually meant someone was in trouble. In this case, him.

"Téa? What's wrong?" He wondered if Téa was about to kill him.

"What's wrong!" She screamed. "You knew about Anna and Kaiba!"

"…Oh…" Ryou said, buzzing her up.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

"Please excuse me…" He said nervously as not only Téa, but Mai as well, entered his flat. "I need to keep on cooking, because the cake needs to go in the oven soon…" He gestured at them to sit down on the counter oppisite the one he was attempting to cook on.

"Why didn't you tell us…?" Téa groaned. "We've just gone and told her to forget about him!"

"Knowing Anna, she won't take that advice to heart." Ryou smiled to himself, leaning over the bowl so she wouldn't see. "I wouldn't worry, Téa."

"That's not the point though." Mai sighed, exasperated, as Ryou, finally finished on eradicating the egg shell fragments began to split the mixture into two cake tins. "Téa said she was going to talk to the girl. Why didn't you say anything then?"

"Because," Ryou shot, his temper wearing thin. "It's really none of my business what she does in her personal life!"

"Yes, but…" Téa trailed off. "We just wanted to help… We didn't realise…"

"Oh, sush." Ryou said, reigning in his temper. Bakura was annoying him, but he shouldn't take it out on Téa, even if she had taken advantage of him on the cake thing. "At any rate, it's not worth arguing over." He slipped the cake into the oven, and went to wash the resultant gunk of cake-making from his hands.

"How long is that going to take to cook?" Mai asked, nodding at the oven as she broke the resultant silence.

"The book says 40 minutes, but I've put it on a higher setting, so hopefully it won't take that long." Ryou answered, pulling his hair out of the ponytail with some relief. He hated wearing it up. "After that, we have to wait for it to cool down, then there should just be time to decorate it before I need to go out."

"What are you decorating it like?" Téa asked curiously.

Ryou smiled. "Wait and see. You're welcome to hang around here if you want, but I'll bet you'd rather go home and get sorted yourselves."

Mai hesitated. "What are you going to do in the meantime?" She asked out of pure curiosity.

"I finally got Metroid Prime Hunters," Ryou grinned, pulling a DS from a shelf in his kitchen. "What do you think I'm going to do?"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

It was a great night, fun was had by all. Although, that could have been the amount of sugar they ingested. Ryou's hurriedly finished cake didn't help either. He had simply covered the sponge in icing then covered it in sweets- everything from Sherbet Lemons to broken pocky sticks to small chewy sweets to chocolate buttons to anything else he could think of. Apparently, you could just buy something very similar in the supermarkets in England. It was certainly a very odd cake, but also a very tasty one.

Yugi had received a variety of interesting presents, from a watch to a CD he had been looking at last time they went shopping to a huge pack of sweets (Not that he needed anymore after that cake) to a pair of socks that played music when he walked in them, (A/N: Who was that! Honestly…) to something that they couldn't quite figure out what it was, but in ten years time would be discovered to be a lamp, and now, there was only one left, this one from Anna.

Yugi had deliberately left it to last, because, in all honesty, he was a little nervous of opening it. Anna was famous for her slightly twisted sense of humour, so he didn't want to think about it. However, the package in the brightly coloured birthday paper seemed conservative enough, just a simple rectangle. Yugi took it and peeled back the wrapping cautiously, smiling in delight as he saw what was inside.

It was a deck, the new fire-themed structure deck. Some of these cards would make excellent additions to his deck, and best of all, the present had been nothing to be worried about after all- a deck of cards was just about the safest thing you could get for a Duellist.

"Open them…" Anna prompted, Yugi not spotting her slightly devilish grin. "Take a look at what's inside…"

"Okay…" Yugi nodded, flipping the box open. To his surprise, the opening flap just ripped away in his hand. "Oh no…" He gasped, looking up at Anna. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologise to me, it's yours." She shrugged. "Besides, it's just the box! Just make sure you take more care with the cards, hey?" She smiled to assure him that she was joking.

Yugi pulled the top card from the deck, it just so happening to be The Twin Headed Fire Dragon. As he admired it, he noticed that the card was unusually shiny. He frowned. He wasn't aware that the Dragon came in ultra rare… He rubbed it slightly, and was even more despaired when this caused the card to rip. "Gah!" He yelled, trying to smooth it back in place.

It was then that he noticed his friends were all laughing at him, and he relaxed a little, examining the damaged 'card'. In actual fact, the thing that had ripped had just been foil- foil designed to look like a card, wrapped around a large, but thin, chocolate, the Dragon etched oh-so-lightly into it. He grabbed the 'box', quickly finding that it to was made from Sugar paper- no wonder it had been so easy to rip…

Anna had brought him a 40 card, fire themed, fully-edible deck.

He sighed in relief. He hadn't damaged it after all.

"That's been sitting in my fridge all week." She commented. "It was hard to stop James eating it, I can tell you. And my dad was just as bad…"

Suddenly, Tristan burst out laughing again, and they all looked at him as though he had gone insane.

"Sorry…" He spluttered. "It's just… I was trying to imagine what would happen if Yugi tried to duel with chocolate cards… The look on his face when he thought he'd ripped it…"

There was a moment's silence as they all tried to picture Yugi attempting to duel with cards that ripped and melted everywhere. And, one by one, they all picked up the giggles.

"You should use them next time you duel Kaiba." Joey suggested, grinning evilly. "Or, better yet, wear the musical socks!"

They all collapsed into laughter again as they imagined Seto trying to duel when 'Happy Birthday to You' kept playing over and over from some unknown source.

"He'd think he'd gone mad!" Tristan laughed.

"No," Téa dismissed, laughing. "I just bet he has a pair of musical socks hidden away…!"

"But what song would they play?" Yugi asked "'We are The Champions'?"

"Maybe," Mai replied without thinking. "Why don't you ask Azreal? She's the one dating the guy…"

The laughter stopped abruptly.

"…Oops." Mai winced.

"Heh…" Azreal muttered as all eyes turned to her questioningly. "Well, I guess that's let the cat out of the bag…"

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

A/N: (Is humming 'We are the Champions'- Another song by Queen) Not fair… I want Metroid Prime Hunters… More to the point, I'd need a DS first. Meh. I have to say, I love the idea of Seto being driven insane by musical socks, but then, I have a very twisted sense of humour. Well, they're not secret anymore… which could lead to some very messy situations! Dun-dun-duuuuuuuuuuuuuun! Oh, one last thing... I'm going on holiday very early on Saturday, and so, my parents want me to be packed and ready to go by Friday morning.Which means I shall be packing tomorrow. Couple that with 3 siblings and a visit from Church friends, andit's not as simple as it sounds... (Sigh) Oh well. I'll have more time on Friday, whilemy parents try to sort out, so there should be AT LEAST one more chapter before then. We'll just have to see how it turns out... Till then, goodbye!