Disclaimer: (sarcastically) Yes, I own Yugioh. What do these people not get about a fanfiction sight? Of course I don't own Yugioh.

Author's note: So… if you read the closing note at the end of the last chapter you would know that there will be some major fluff chapters. This is one of the major fluffers. Yes, I said fluffers. And there are vases in this chap! Yay for the origin of vaseshipping! So, enjoy the fluff. Take it in. Love it.

Warning: there will be fluff ^-^

Hide-and-seek: Stuck

Mana was playing another one of her hide-and-seek games where she decided not to inform Atem on the matter. He wasn't sure how he felt about her idea of this game.

He sighed, checking the vases near one of the gardens again. Mana seemed to like the vases for some reason. Vases and trees, although neither ever ended well.

Today should be entertaining, he thought.

Walking slowly towards the next vase, he peered in. Still no Mana. With a sigh, he continued his fruitless search. After checking nearly every possible vase where there was any chance of finding her, Atem came to one of the last vases near the Jasmine Garden, hoping very much that she was there.

What he didn't realize was that he just might regret that little hope.

Sure enough, peering into the vase, he found Mana curled up and excited in it's depths. With a wide grin, she pointed her wand at him, and without further ado he was sucked into the vase with her with a cry of alarm.

Definitely interesting, he thought, wishing he had backed away from the vase when he'd had the chance. He was now very squished, very uncomfortable, and feeling very awkward.

Mana squirmed inside the vase, trying unsuccessfully to unwind her body from Atem's while fighting off the blush on her face and the butterflies in her gut and chest. Trying to slow her beating heart and the desire to stay exactly where they were. She had just realized they were a little bigger than when they were little, and every situation this close was that much more awkward, and, well…

Mana decided it was very discomfited to keep squirming so close to Atem, so she stopped, and so did he. "Is it just me, or is it squishier than I remember?" she asked, if not just to start a conversation.

Atem's baritone voice tickled her skin. She tried to hold her breath to calm down. "Mana?"

Mana asking sweetly: "Yes, Atem?"

Atem felt Mana leaning forward against his chest and was rather embarrassed about the whole situation. But as he was—he was trying to stop his fluttering heart and stomach. He wanted to get out of there about as much as Mana did. "We don't exactly fit in the same vase anymore."

She was silent for a moment. "Oh. Hm." Again Mana said nothing. She knew she was on Atem's chest—she could feel his arms on either side of her and his cheek touching hers, his voice in her ear, making her shiver. Her breath was rather shaky and she couldn't stop the butterflies that rampaged her stomach. She could practically feel the wave of apprehension coming from him. "I guess I didn't think this through."

All in all, Mana thought, everything would have gone fine—except of course, for the concept of getting out of the vase.

"Great," Atem replied sourly.

Mana waved off his sour tone. "Oh, calm down Mr. Seto-sour-pants. I'm sure I can get us out of here if I can just find my wand. Let's see…"

"Ouch!" Atem protested. "Mana, that's my leg!"

"Oops! Sorry!"

There was more scrabbling inside, which resulted in additional awkward positions before Mana finally managed to find her wand. "Ah-ha!"

Meanwhile, Mahad had heard the whole conversation, standing a good distance from the vase. Just in case. From Mana's exclamation, Mahad guessed she had found her wand. "Now how does that spell go again?"

Then came the Pharaoh's cry of: "Mana, wait! Don't you think we should—"

Unfortunately it came a little too late, and he was cut off mid-sentence when the vase tipped over and he shot out of it. He went tumbling and landed on his stomach, very winded. Mana shot out not a second after him and landed on his back, resulting in a loud "Oof!" coming from the person Mana had used as a landing pad.

"—talk about this," Atem finished his sentence, looking up at the girl on top of him.

Mana beamed. "Well that was fun!"

Atem rolled his eyes and couldn't help but smile back, feeling his face growing hot. "If you call fun being trapped in a vase, then yes, that was fun."

Mana laughed and Atem had to laugh with her. He was always so at ease around Mana. He didn't have to pretend when he was around her—he didn't have to impress her or act differently. He supposed that was why Mana was his best friend.

"Mana," came Mahad's scolding tone. "Why don't you get off the Pharaoh?"

"Oh!" Mana exclaimed, "Right!"

Scrabbling off, she sat beside him as Atem rolled into a sitting position, dusting himself off and giving Mana a rather amused smile. Mahad stood over them with a bemused expression. Atem and Mana smiled up at him like small children.

"Are you alright, my King?" he asked Atem.

"Fine, Mahad," he responded.

Mahad nodded, seemingly satisfied, and turned away. Atem shook his head, "Is it just me, or has Mahad been acting strange lately?"

Mana giggled. "He has been acting a little weird. I wonder why," she said vaguely.

Atem stood, brushing himself off a little more before turning to Mana and holding out his hand for hers. She quickly took it and let him pull her up. As she stood, she found her eyes locked, for perhaps the millionth time, with his.

She took a deep breath. "Seems like you're always breaking my fall," she said cheerfully.

Atem chuckled, "Maybe one of these days you'll break mine for once."

They laughed, and Atem hooked his arm through Mana's. "What else do you want to do today?" he asked her as they began to stroll along the garden.

"Oh… I don't know…" she said nervously. Should she just say it, or should she wait? She couldn't be sure how he would react. Pulling away, she sat down beside one of the many pools thoughtfully, her lips puckered and moving from side to side. She almost couldn't stand it.

"Mana?" Atem asked, sitting beside her. "Something wrong?"

"No," Mana replied slowly. "Nothing wrong."

Atem raised his eyebrows and sat back, trying not to push it. Mana would tell him when she wanted to, he thought. "Well," he huffed. "What should we do now?"

Mana, in response, flopped back on the grass, gazing up through the overhanging branches. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Sure, why not?"

Grinning, Atem lay back beside her. "Cloud gazing?"

Mana nodded eagerly and they both set to intensely studying the shapes. "There," Mana said, pointing up, "Can you guess what that one looks like?"

"A turtle?"

"Yeah!" she agreed, before cocking her head to study a particularly large one. "What about that one?"

Atem turned his head as Mana had done, trying to distinguish it's shape. However, he turned it the opposite direction Mana had, and ended up with their heads touching. At this, they laughed, but found no reason to move away.

Atem brought his hand up to point beside hers. "That one there?"

"Yeah, what does that look like to you?"

"I think it looks like a cloud."

"Well of course it looks like a cloud, silly!" Mana exclaimed, giggling, "But what shape would it be?"

"An oval, naturally."

"You're not very good at cloud gazing, Atem," Mana informed him.

"I'm an expert. I believe it is you who is confused as to the shape of said cloud. What shape would you say it is?"

"I'd say…" Mana said thoughtfully, "I'd say it's a plum."

"Ah, yes, I see," Atem said playfully. "Definitely a plum."

Mana nudged him in the side, "Quit that! You're just agreeing with me because you're not creative enough to come up with your own idea."

"Fine then, it looks like Shimon," Atem countered. "See?" he pointed again, their heads tilted together as they tried to see the same shape.

"Nope. Definitely don't see Shimon. I see a plum."

"Then you're the one without the imagination," Atem said with a glance at his friend. "I'd say it could definitely look like Shimon when you look at it the right way."

Mana dropped her arm, and Atem did too. "What if I said it looked like you?" Mana inquired.

"Then I would say that is very rude of you," Atem said. Mana laughed, and when their arms came down, their hands touched.

Looking down, Atem slid his fingers into hers.

Mana smiled at him, thinking ridiculously: a perfect fit.

Yay for the pointless fluff that this story is based on! Ah, Atem and Mana. The only (mostly) clueless ones. Ah, love-ely fluff. (See that? I almost said love.) R&R! ^o^

Ah, I also wanted to thank D17-pharaohfox for the review on pointing out my redundancy—thanks for the ConCrit! You're totally right, and I'll get on that. Really helped. I'll go back and take a look at that and try not to repeat myself! Thanks much for the review! Time to edit!

D17-pharaohfox, if you see any more redundancies, I'd appreciate any PM's you'd like to send. I probably don't even notice that I'm doing it! Anyway, thanks for reading, guys! (and girls)

-Anevay