Teeny: Hi everybody! Sorry about the long wait :/

Leo: Where have you been? We thought you'd given up!

Teeny: We?

Leo: Me and Luna!

Luna: Don't bring me into this Leo - I had complete faith in Teeny and see - she's come through for us!

Teeny: Thank you Luna! And to answer your question Leo, I've been on holiday BUT I wrote the entire chapter and half of chapter 4 y hand so it was pretty much done.

Leo: Okay - sorry

Teeny: You're forgiven, now both of you please do the disclaimer!

Luna: Teenytiny111 doesn't own Yugioh 5D's

Leo: But she does own this plot and her own characters!

Teeny: There you have it so let's bring it :)

Breathing heavily and trying to calm his nerves, Yusei Fudo pressed the intercom of what looked to be a gated community but was in fact Leo and Luna's house and surrounding grounds. He waited for a response.

"Hello? Can I help you?" A woman's voice answered his buzzing.

"Oh! Um, my name's Yusei Fudo and I'm here to see Mr and Mrs Tanaka on their request." Yusei was nervous (which hardly ever happened) and he hoped that the woman couldn't hear it through the intercom. The woman sighed.

"We'll have to check and confirm this request with them and security. Please wait"

"Thank you" This procedure was normal in the Tops area of the city and with people as prestigious as the Tanaka's, Yusei wasn't surprised about how tight the security was. The woman's voice brought his attention back to current situation.

"You can come through Mr Fudo" The gates opened and Yusei clambered onto his duel runner and sped through. He had been here before but it never surprised him how beautiful the grounds were –not to mention the house itself. There was a fountain made out of marble and the water fell through three tiers of carefully sculpted stone. It was the centrepiece of the front grounds and was surrounded by delicate flowers that had a wonderfully strong scent.

Arriving at the front entrance, Yusei parked his duel runner and knocked on the oak door. It was opened by a maid, who on Mr and Mrs Tanaka's request led him to the door of the living room where he was greeted by Jefferies who was serving tea to a man and a woman who looked like Leo and Luna.

"Mr and Mrs Tanaka, may I present Mr Yusei Fudo" Jefferies indicated that Yusei should enter and he bowed at his employers.

"Yusei Fudo, in the flesh – it's a pleasure to finally meet you" Mr Tanaka greeted Yusei with a handshake and smiled warmly. Mrs Tanaka had made her way around the table ready to greet him and when standing in front of Yusei – the difference in height was apparent.

"Yusei, we've heard so much about you"

"It's an honour to meet you both Mr and Mrs Tanaka"

"Please call us Zero and Sara – there's no need to be so formal. After all you've helped our Leo and Luna a lot since we last saw them and we can honestly say they've been singing your praises ever since we got here!"

Yusei was embarrassed but he nodded and replied, "We see them as our little brother and sister and we'd do anything to protect them". Sara smiled and Zero nodded seriously.

"We understand and we're very grateful to you and your friends. Officially we left Jefferies in charge of their wellbeing but it seems that together, you both do a good job." Yusei was not sure how to respond to that but he smiled.

Zero could sense his nervousness and invited him to take a seat at the table. When they were all seated and had something to drink, the main discussion began. There was a silence as Zero thought about how he was going to start the conversation.

"I understand the children have already informed you of the event that is happening soon?"

"Yes, they came by the garage and gave me a personal invite"

"I see, but you're wary about this?" Zero had hit the nail on the head. Yusei looked down at the table and into his tea.

"Yes, the ball looks like it's going to be a major event and that's fine but..." He paused.

"But?" Sara prompted him to continue.

"But it's the people I'm nervous about – simply because with the Satellite joining New Domino, there are those who still hate the idea that's all." Sara and Zero looked at one another.

"That is the case, but those people are the minority - you have to remember that." Yusei understood this but at the same time he couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen that would cause a disaster.

"Is something wrong Yusei?" Sara's soft voice penetrated his thoughts. Yusei looked across the table at the petite woman and he knew instantly where Luna got her quietness from.

"I'm fine Sara, I was wondering if there was a dress code?" Yusei didn't know much about balls but he figured dressing up was essential.

"Yes there is – do you have anything like a tuxedo?" Yusei shook his head

"No, none of us do – we should probably start looking for some" Yusei had a confused look on his face and Zero laughed.

"Don't worry about it but – I would advise you get one. I'm not saying that it should be because of the people coming but because you want to show that despite coming from the satellite – you're as good as them." Zero was firm about this and he knew very well what the general type of people who attended these parties were like. Sara placed her hand on Yusei's muscled arm in a comforting way while Zero continued.

"There will be important political people there – because we're lawyers..."

"Oh! But please don't let them make you anxious." Sara was quick to reassure Yusei on that point. Suddenly Yusei remembered something.

"Leo and Luna said there were going to be two announcements made – what's this about then?"

Zero and Sara looked at each other.

"We're not entirely sure. The senator said he would like to make an announcement but we have no idea what it's regarding – we're completely in the dark like everyone else and as for the second announcement – it was requested by somebody over the telephone but we understand it's important as they believe one of our guests is the person they are looking for, but we don't know who" Zero looked thoughtful.

"I understand that the Senator's daughter will be attending this year - did you know that Sara?" Sara looked surprised.

"Really? That's unusual"

"I agree – it is, this would mean that this ball will be his daughter's first"

"That's true" Yusei was confused and Sara explained.

"The senator and his wife keep their daughter at their manor most of the time and anywhere she does go – she's escorted, even when she attended school. Eventually, her parents withdrew her from the Duel Academy and she was taught by a Governess at home." Sara looked sad.

"Protective parents?" Yusei thought this was the only explanation but Zero shook his head and added his thoughts to the conversation.

"I don't think so. Hideo and Setsuko Izinski never really spent time with their daughter – political careers are time consuming and Setseko had her country club and charities to deal with."

"Poor child, I wonder how she's doing?" Sara looked out the window of their living room at the vast green land they owned. She then continued. "I think she's about eighteen now – is that right?" Sara glanced at her husband and he shrugged.

"I'm not sure – you should talk to her when she comes to the ball"

"I intend to – she probably doesn't have many people to talk to her" Zero smiled adoringly at his wife and Yusei smiled at their obvious love for one another. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in Jefferies" The door opened and Jefferies let in Leo and Luna.

"Hi Yusei!" Luna rolled her eyes at her brother eagerly greeting their guest.

"Honestly Leo, you'd think you haven't seen Yusei in a year – not a day ago"

"Luna, stop being bossy and let me talk to Yusei!" Leo narrowed his golden eyes at his sister and Luna shrugged and stuck her tongue out at him. Zero and Sara laughed. They understood why their children loved Yusei so much and their affectionate bickering reminded them why they loved being at home.

"Hello mother, father – how are you?" Luna kissed her mother and gave her father a hug.

"Hello my darlings, we're well thank you" Sara gathered her children in her arms – Leo a little reluctantly and hugged them tightly. Luna asked her mother that all-important question.

"Can we go shopping soon? For my dress?" Luna was dying to go, Sara too was eager to see her not-so-little girl all dressed up in her formal wear. Yusei cleared his throat and said "perhaps I should get going and then get the guys to go shopping for our suits." Zero looked at Yusei, "why don't you all join Leo and me at the shop?" Yusei raised his eyebrows. "You're serious about helping us?"

"Oh dear Yusei – we couldn't let you do this on your own!" Sara was very surprised at his comment. "Of course we'd help you – after all you've done for our children, it's the least we can do"

"Okay then, that's settled. We'll meet you at the shop." Zero finalised everything. Yusei left the Tanaka's and he climbed back on his duel runner and sped through the gates he came through on entry.

Akiza was sat in the car on her way into the city. Her mother was sat next to her, checking their schedule for the day. Cordi was with them too but not as a maid. She had been given an invitation too because of her background as a De Chevalier. This was very rare as not many people remembered that the De Chevaliers had a daughter because Cordi was kept away from the media. Cordi was sat to one side of Akiza and was constantly checking that she was alright. Akiza gave her a small smile, grateful that her friend was there too.

"Akiza darling, I thought perhaps we'd look at some of the designer shops?" Akiza glanced at her mother and then nodded silently. Mrs Izinski smiled.

"You'd be welcome to join us Cordelia – if you'd like?" Cordi shook her head.

"No thank you Mrs Izinski, if you don't mind I think I'll look around on my own – is that okay?"

"Of course it is, just make sure you meet us at four o'clock."

"I will." Cordi nodded her head. The car dropped off the three women and Akiza and her mother went one way and Cordi another way. Before they parted, Akiza spoke to Cordi.

"I'll see you later then?" Akiza desperately wanted to speak to her but later on that day would have to do.

"Of course" smiling a sunny smile, Cordi left to go shopping on her own. Akiza watched her leave and then caught up with her mother. Feeling that something wasn't right, she looked back at Cordi and Akiza swore she saw someone slip out from the side of a building and follow her friend. Akiza blinked and when she looked again – there was nothing there.

"I must be stressed or tired – I've had plenty to think about since the conversation with mother yesterday. I mustn't worry." Turning round, Akiza and her mother walked on and found themselves a shop to start the long process of finding a formal dress for her first ball.

"What about this one?" Mrs Izinski pointed to a dress hanging on the rail of the selection that the shop attendant had brought them. Akiza shifted uncomfortably in her seat and shook her head.

"I don't think so mother..." Mrs Izinski sighed and waved the attendant onto the next selection.

"You're being very picky darling – it's not a nice trait for a young lady of your upbringing"

"Perhaps, mother but at the same time you want me to look good don't you?" Akiza questioned her mother, knowing full well that appearances were everything to her parents. Mrs Izinski agreed.

"Oh! That's a beautiful one isn't it?" The dress in question was a sweetheart shaped bodice made of cream satin and the skirt had full layers underneath a satin material of the same cream colour that the bodice was. The material was gathered to one side showing the layers underneath. A light dusting of pearls decorated the skirt of the dress. Akiza happened to agree with her mother on this. There was just one little problem.

"Isn't that a wedding dress?" The attendant nodded but quickly explained.

"You've dismissed many of our best ball gowns and the only dresses we have left are wedding dresses." Akiza felt bad – this poor girl was trying her best but Akiza just wasn't interested in anything that she had shown her, which wasn't her fault. Nevertheless, this dress was stunning, a dress made for a solo entrance to a formal ball – ready to impress. She smiled and her mother smiled as well.

"We'll take it!" Mrs Izinski laughed and hugged her daughter.

"You'll be the young woman every gentleman looks at and the envy of every other woman there!" Akiza shook her head at her mother's comment and smiled. "She'll never change but I guess that's to be expected, I just want to make her happy –after all, we've had a few troubles lately."

Leaving the shop with a rather large box that held the dress, Mrs Izinski and her daughter decided to go for some lunch. Sitting at a table of a very popular restaurant Mrs Izinski looked at Akiza – really looked at her. Seeing past her nineteen years of age, she saw the six year old who loved to pick flowers, bake cookies with the chefs at home and spend time with her mother and, Mrs Izinski realised, Cordelia who was becoming more and more beautiful with each passing day – just like her mother.

It hadn't surprised Setsuko that Cordi had received an invitation to the ball, considering that Zero and Sara had also known her parents. Hideo, on the other hand was not impressed by this act for two reasons, which he had explained, to Cordi when she came to ask for the evening off. Hideo believed that the media could make things worse for her and that was something he didn't want to happen. The second and final reason was that her current position meant that no one knew anything about her and could cause talk among the elites – possibly damaging the lives of him and his family if it was discovered that they had made a de Chevalier a maid. Cordi had held her ground and stated that as a de Chevalier she did have the right to attend. Setsuko remembered the petite Cordelia standing up to the six- foot- something tall Hideo Izinski, her eyes blazing and flashing fire at him. With this act, Hideo had seen a lot of her mother in her and that's when he realised that she was in fact a true de Chevalier despite having no parents and none of her family's fortune. He reluctantly gave her his permission to attend and that was all Cordi needed to hear and she quickly left his office before he could change his mind.

Akiza noticed her mother staring at her and she frowned a little. "Yes mother?" Setsuko shook her head and the ordered their meal in silence but it was a comfortable silence and when her mother looked up again, Akiza smiled brightly.

Cordi sighed. This was not going as well as she'd hoped it would and it was definitely harder than she'd originally thought it would be. "Typical me always thinking that things are easier than they really are!"

The money wasn't the issue as Cordi had savings from her paid position as a maid. Saving money was something Cordi had learnt about at an early age. It was the whole shopping thing – she had no idea what looked good on her or even what type of dress she should buy. Cordi had an idea about the style but how to go about using that information was another matter.

Sitting by the fountain in the city square, she saw a young woman in her late twenties carrying many shopping bags and trying, unsuccessfully to control a young child that was running around. This was something Cordi was not used to seeing because as a young girl, Akiza was under the care of a nanny and Cordi had wondered if she had been when her parents were still around and as far as Mrs Izinski had told her – the de Chevaliers had been horrified at the suggestion (which was from Mr Izinski). Serenity De Chevalier was surprised that Setsuko had even agreed to have a nanny in the first place. Cordi's father, Quintrell had spent some time explaining to Hideo why they would never have a nanny because they loved being "hands on" parents – despite having full time jobs.

The young boy fell over and his cries caught Cordi's attention and brought her back to the situation at hand. Hearing her son's cries that were gradually getting louder and louder, the young woman promptly dropped everything and tended to his scraped knee. A roll of fabric nudged Cordi's shoe. Picking up the roll of shiny material, an idea popped into her head.

"Oh I am so sorry – here I am throwing my shopping at you!" The young woman was very apologetic and Cordi laughed.

"It's okay – I can see you have a lot to handle at the moment" The woman nodded wryly. Cordi knelt down in front of the little boy. "Now then handsome – what's going on here?" The little boy's big blue eyes met Cordi's green ones – and tears were running down his chubby cheeks. Cordi dabbed at the tears using her handkerchief and spoke to the little boy again.

"What's your name?" He sniffed.

"Tommy"

"Well Tommy I'm Cordi and I have something special for you" Reaching into her bag, Cordi took out three different patterned plasters. Showing them to the little boy, she asked him "Which one would you like?" Tommy's eyes widened and he picked a green one decorated with little shamrocks.

"Good choice! The shamrock is known to bring you luck – if it has four leaves instead of three – can you see one with four leaves?" Cordi looked at Tommy's mother and smiled – the young woman smiled back. Her son seemed to have forgotten about his knee.

"I FOUND IT!" Tommy was excited and Cordi nodded.

"There you go! You'll have plenty of luck now." Sticking the plaster on his knee, Cordi and Tommy stood up.

"Thank you so much" His mother was grateful

"No, thank you – you've helped me more than you could know" After dusting herself off and waving goodbye to Tommy and his mother, Cordi left to find a fabric shop in order to make her own dress but as she was walking away, in the shadows, a tall figure watched her leave.

"I am not wearing this!" Jack was adamant about his required tuxedo. His scowling face said everything about what he thought. Zero smiled.

"It's not that bad – better than that white and purple shit you normally wear to formal events" Crow was teasing Jack about his usual outfit choice...which never changed - ever.

"Hey! That's not fair and I think you'll find that I have excellent taste"

"Yeah... that's why Carly hasn't returned your call about the invite to the ball...did you even leave a message?" Crow grinned and Yusei chuckled from his dressing room. Zero looked bemused and he recalled the days when he and his friends were like this. The guys continued their 'discussion'. Jack and Crow were still going at it.

"What's Carly got to do with my new outfit anyway?"

"Well because you're such an ugly looking guy and it's worse when you wear your white and purple stuff and besides, you wanted to invite her didn't you?"

"Maybe..." Jack turned a little bit pink and Crow and Bruno both raised their eyebrows at his clear embarrassment. "Besides, Carly's going anyway." Crow and Bruno both looked confused and Jack sighed.

"She's a reporter...remember?"

"So, she's the ball's media coverage?" Crow looked at Zero, who nodded.

"Carly's skills as a reporter have improved over the last few years but she still needs that one article that will help her further her career, so Sara and I thought that we'd give her a helping hand." Jack frowned.

"You like helping people don't you... that's odd considering you're an elite." Zero could understand where Jack was coming from.

"I may be from the higher end of society but my wife and I do enjoy helping people – it's something that we do." Jack and Zero continued to stare at one another and finally Jack shrugged and turned back into his dressing room to get changed.

"Yusei are you finished yet? Some of us would like to get some sleep." Bruno was tired and after having to working through the night on a new engine for their duel runners and then being dragged into the city to go shopping instead of sleeping had left him very grumpy.

"Yes, I'm done now." Coming out of his dressing room, Yusei hung the tuxedo over his arm and glanced at the price. Whistling he looked at his friends. "Aren't you glad that money isn't so much of a problem now?" The guys all nodded.

"What's that?" Yusei explained to Zero

"Before we owned the apartment, money was a little tight and even though we all had jobs – there was never much of our earnings left."

"Hey! Hang on a second! One of us didn't have a job and spent most of the money on himself!"

"Who?" Zero looked around. All the guys turned to look at Jack, who was leaving his changing room and immediately became defensive.

"I was trying! I wasn't suited for anything BUT I have a job now!" Yusei grinned.

"Who knew you'd be good at working with children"

"I tutor them about duelling – it's not that hard!" Over the last few years Jack had managed to work on his temper and had found that he was extremely good at teaching young children how to duel and build their own decks. Leo yawned and Jack, thinking Leo was doing it to annoy him, glared at him making the boy hide behind his father. Zero, catching on to Leo's tiredness, suggested that they all pay for their suits and leave as it was getting late. The day was getting on and the young men needed to get back to their workshop as there was still plenty to do on the new engine design. Leo got into the family car as Zero went to speak to Yusei, privately.

"Remember what Sara and I said, don't worry about what other people might think of you and just be the intelligent and charming man we know you are – and you'll be fine." Yusei nodded and sat on his duel runner, preparing to leave. Before he did so, Zero spoke to him again, "One more thing, be careful when you speak to the Senator – he's against people from the Satellite and won't hesitate to start something." Yusei frowned.

"Thank you Zero, for everything you've done today." Zero inclined his head and Yusei starting his duel runner, joined his friends and headed back to the apartment to think over what Zero had said to him.

Climbing into his car, Zero looked over at his son to see him sleeping quietly, which was a change. As they drove off, Zero couldn't help but think about how tough it was going to be for Yusei and his friends when they came to the ball. "They have no idea what some people are going to be like and if I was Yusei – I would definitely stay out of the Senator's way because no matter what Yusei says – it will always be interpreted wrong and just cause himself to get into trouble. There are some hard times ahead for him and I hope everything goes smoothly – for Yusei's sake." And with that Zero drove off and headed home where he was greeted by his wife and daughter who had plenty to tell him about their shopping trip. While Luna talked non-stop about her dress, Sara noticed that there was something different about her husband and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder she led him through the main doors into their home that would soon be hosting the biggest event of the year – not to mention the possibility of something disastrous.

Teeny: And that was chapter 3 - long I know but there was so much I wanted to get in before the "big event".

Leo: Not bad - I was quite immpressed

Luna: Can I ask the readers to review?

Teeny: *Beams* Thank you for offering - yes please!

Luna: Please rate and review!