Bakura: *rolls eyes* Poor you...

WSJ: ^^ Yes, poor me... Hey! I need to advertise! Brood and I started a joint account, Brood & WSJ: Tomodachi, and we're co-writing a fic together, The Case Files of Jounouchi Katsuya. It's mystery/romance/action/adventure, centering on Jou, who's a private eye, and his rookie partner, Ryou. ^-^ The first three chapters are up (and someone's already been shot. Twice. ^o^), and we've only got about ten reviews. Please just give it a chance, I promise you'll love it! *gets down onto her hands and knees* Pleeeeease???

Bakura: Pah, you're really pathetic...

WSJ: *gets up and dusts herself off* I knowit. ^^v *bounces excitedly* Guess what!

Bakura: *dully* What?

WSJ: I went to my writing tourney Saturday, and I got 4TH PLACE!!!!!!

Bakura: Oo;

WSJ: ^____^ Me so happy! 4th out of some 150 students there! I'm going to the state competition!!! Thank you all for your support, prayers, and crossed fingers. It really means a lot to me. *grins* I'm sitting here staring at my trophey. I think it's a new muse for me.... Anyway, read and review please!

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. Gwen, Hiro, Scott, and Takeo are mine. Amoura, Lisa, and Yunet are Brood's. ^^v

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The Yamis of Tokyo U: Freshmen

Chapter 8:

The next morning, while Ryou was up early and singing kareoke, Bakura had slept in. Not that you could call it sleep. He'd been tossing and turning all night, trying to find a comfortable possition that wouldn't hurt his arm more then it already had been. Once Ryou had woken up he'd healed it, but it still hurt like hell.

When Bakura finally awoke, Kaiba had left to get lunch, and Hiro was sitting at the small desk in the corner of the livingroom, pouring over his English book. Upon hearing Bakura's monsterous yawn, he turned around with a laugh. "About time you got up! What were you doing, out partying all night?"

Bakura stiffened slightly. "N-no..."

Hiro frowned. "Bakura, I'm your friend, right?" Bakura nodded. "Then why won't you tell me about Ryou? About your past?"

"We don't tell you because we can't." Bakura said, frowning. "Ryou and I... We've been involved in some pretty dangerous things before. People are after us, although it's more him then me. We won't let anyone else get mixxed up in it. We won't."

"Is it because of Ryou's powers?"

Bakura choked and stared at Hiro. Then all at once he leaped out of bed and grabbed Hiro by the collar. "How do you know about that?"

Hiro cringed slightly, his eyes wide. "I'm not stupid, okay? Ryou's blind, but he never crashes into things. And he knows who you are when you walk up to him before you say anything. He doesn't have a guide dog or a cane, and no one leads him around by the hand. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed."

Bakura cursed and let go of Hiro's collar. "You have to swear never to tell anyone else Hiro. Yes, our enemies are after us partially because of Ryou's powers. But not totally. There are... Other things too. Things I hope you never have to worry about."

"It wasn't an ordinary dream that Ryou had last night, was it?"

Bakura was silent a moment. "No. Ryou's a telepath, a psychic, if you will. Sometimes he can 'see' things before they happen, which I am very afraid is what happened last night."

"Was it a bad dream then?"

"Hai Hiro, a nightmare."

~*~

"Are you serious?!" Malik stared at Ryou, wide-eyed. "My sister was singing?! A duet with Shaadi, of all people?!?"

Ryou laughed. "Yes Malik, I'm serious! Isis and Shaadi were up on stage, singing! And it actually wasn't a duet. Isis sang Shania Twain's Up and then Shaadi sang Toby Keith's Rock You Baby."

Malik's eyes widened further before he collapsed into laughter. "That's-" he gasped. "That's incredable! Shaadi actually sang Rock You Baby?!" He fell over laughing again.

Ryou and Malik were sitting in the dorm lounge, sipping sodas and talking. No one else was around, some had classes. Malik and Ryou were two of the 'blessed' few who had no classes on Saturdays. Malik, having only just gotten out of bed, was in sweatpants and a tank-top, attempting to run a comb through his long hair. Ryou was in the same out fit from his kareoke adventure with Serenity.

"So," Malik asked, his laughter dwindling to a smirk. "Did you or Serenity get up there and sing anything?"

Ryou looked down, trying to hide his blush from his friend. "Well..."

"Come on Ry', out with it!"

"....Serenity convinced me to get up there with her and sing a duet of Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde..."

Malik choked and began laughing again. "Now why does that just fit you two so well?"

"Actually, I think it fits Joey and Mai more then it fits me and Serenity."

Malik stopped chuckling and stared at him oddly. "You know... it does."

The days passed and turned into weeks, and things returned to some semblence of normality. Serenity, Kaiba, and Shaadi went back to Domino, and everyone else returned to classes. Joey and Mai hadn't forgotten their ploy to hold off the would-be matchmakers, but as Yugi and the others hadn't made a move yet, there had been no call for the two to act as a couple. Ryou celebrated his nineteenth birthday on September the second, and everyone threw him a party. The anneversery of the Locking Rituals came and went with little acknowledgement, but it was on everyone's minds.

Malik's nineteenth birthday and Halloween left with October, the former with another party and the latter thankfully without any incident. Well, mostly no incident. Ryou, Yugi, and Malik were all three haunted with dreams that night, as was another man. But they would not know him for several years to come.

Hiro mentioned no more about what he had pried out of Bakura, and if he had any further suspicions he didn't voice them. He wasn't able to keep his mouth shut to Gwen, however, but she said nothing and knew no more then Hiro did. The two of them were quickly becoming a couple, dispite the fact that Gwen continued to claim she wasn't in love. Of course, her two roommates knew better.

It was the middle of November, quickly approaching mid-term exams, when Tea burst into the dorm, her face flushed and breathless. The weather was quickly turning cooler, and she was dressed in a black skirt, black boots and a rust-coloured sweater, with a red and green plaid scarf around her neck and her fly-away hair in a pony-tail.

Gwen and Amoura looked up from where they was flipping through some American magazine on the bed. "Are you okay Tea?" Gwen asked, leaving the magazine lay as she sat up.

"Fine! Wonderful!" Tea said, grinning. "Auditions for the play are going to be next week!"

There was silence a moment, until Amoura tentatively said "Vhat play?"

"The Sound of Music." Tea said, still grinning widely. "I can't wait to audition!!! I hope I get a part with lots of dancing."

Amoura and Gwen looked at each other with shared looks of apprehension on their faces.

Ah, the joys of rooming with an actress.

The next week passed in a blur as the time of the try-outs neared. Practically everyone was going out for some part, save Ryou and Malik. But the two came along for moral support for the others and crammed themselves into the already packed auditorium. The noice was deafening, and it took the director on the stage several minutes to get everyone to calm down enough so that they could hear her. She told everyone that a few of the possitions had already been cast, because some students from Domino High had been selected to help out, even though this was a college play. It was then that (of course) Serenity Wheeler, Mokuba Kaiba, Lisa O'Kelly, and Rebecca Hawkins stepped out from backstage amidst applause.

The director announced their names, and they each stepped forward and told who they were going to play. Rebecca, who was shorter then Lisa despite being older, would play Marta Von Trapp, the seven-year-old who was second-youngest. Lisa was Brigitta, the stuck-up nine-year-old. Mokuba would play Kurt, the super-shy ten-year-old, and Serenity would be Leisel, the in-love-with-a-Nazi sixteen-year-old.

"Betcha you're regretting not trying out now, eh Ryou?" Malik whispered, poking his friend in the side. "You sure would have made a good Rolf to her Leisel."

"Cut it out," Ryou hissed back, jabbing an elbow into his friend's side. Malik just leaned out of hitting range and snickered.

From then the auditions went pretty smoothly, all everyone had to do was sing a song of their choice, and then read a short monologue that the director provided. Surprisingly, Hiro was very good with his rendition of Eidleweiss, and Scott and Joey wowed the crowd with their version of No Way To Stop It. Mai, Gwen, and Tea sang trio on Lonely Goatherd, and Yami set his friends laughing by purposely messing the lines of Do Re Mi so that he could sing "do Ra mi" instead.

But the best part of all came when Bakura, Ishtar, and, of all people, Kaiba stepped onto stage. Right away Yugi could tell that it was Seto, not Mokuba, by his cocky grin and long stride. But why those three unlikely people could be up there he had no idea. Unless...

Yugi proved to be right. As soon as the music for How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria started, he began to snicker, and after a moment Joey realized what the three on stage were doing too. Unfortunately (or fortunately), Yami had no suspisions until Bakura turned toward the other two and began to sing as if he was just holding a conference with them.

"How should we solve the problem of the Pharoah? Can't we just find a knife and cut him down?"

Yami's jaw dropped and Yugi burst into full-fledged laughter as Seto took up the next lines, though it looked a bit strange for Mokuba's body to be singing them.

"How can we find a word that means the Pharoah...?"

"A fellahin!" That was Bakura, helpfully suggesting the Egyptian word for 'peasent'.

"A pain-in-the-butt!" Ishtar spoke up, trying not to laugh. His aibou was already hooting through the mind-link, and it was all the Rod Spirit could do to keep from cracking up himself.

"A dog."

This suggestion, obviously Seto's, sent Joey to the floor in laughter, since it was for once not directed at him. Yami just sat with a look on his face that resembled that of a startled fish. Snickering to himself, Ishtar took up the next set of altered lyrics.

"Many a time you know you'd like to stab him, many a time he ought to have died away!"

Kaiba spoke up next. "So how should we do away with all of his meddlesome play?"

"Can't we just bury him underneith the sand?" Ever the Egyptian at heart, Bakura was true to his roots. Har har har.

"Oh how should we solve the problem of the Pharoah...?"

The music dropped, and the three men sang the last line a capella, grinning like the idiots they were the entire time.

"Why can't we just stab him in... the... back...?"

As soon as the last note died, Yami jumped out of his seat and ran toward the stage, a look of barely controlled rage on his face. Snickering, the three conspirators ran back stage, and with a shout Yami followed. Silence reigned in the auditorium as various yells, curses (both Egyptian and Japanese), and crashes could be heard, followed by the opening of the backstage door, signaling that they were sencibly taking their fight outside.

After a moment, Joey leaned toward Yugi (who was grinning). "Are they all right?"

"Hai," Yugi said, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Yami's not really mad, just rather embarrassed. Bakura and the others'll be fine. He'll probably just chase them around the campus a couple times."

"Ah..." Joey said, not quite sure how to take this bit of news. "Okay..."

Several more seconds of silence was interrupted by the director clearing her throat loudly. "Well... I suppose that was some sort of private joke..." She sounded very unsure of herself, so Yugi and Ryou both piped up at the same time with a reassuring "Hai!" She relaxed a little after that, and smiled. "Thank you for coming, you all did very well. The results should be posted by next Saturday, right out here by the front of the auditorium. Thank you again!"

Everyone began to desperse, and Ryou found himself between Malik and Joey's cousin Scott. "Man..." Scott was saying. "No way I'm going to get a good part. That Takeo kid just blew everyone else out of the water, he was so good."

"Who?" Ryou asked, momentarily confused.

"Takeo," Malik said. "You know, Tristan's roommate?"

Ryou felt a chill go up his spine. "But Tristan... Doesn't... Have... A roommate..." Malik blinked hard, wondering what was wrong with his friend.

"Sure he does," Scott said, unaware that anything was wrong. "He's standing right over there, by the window." The college senior pointed, and Ryou's heart nearly stopped. Malik noticed him go pale, and grabbed him by the arm.

"What's wrong?" the blond Egyptian hissed as Scott suddenly ran to catch up with Serenity and Mai.

Ryou didn't know how to answer him. There was no one standing where Scott had pointed. Or, if there was, he didn't have a soul, because Ryou couldn't sense any aura at all.

~*~

The next Saturday was pure chaos in front of Tokyo U Auditorium. Students were all but climbing over each other to have a look at the papers that proclaimed for all to see the cast of Tokyo U's production of The Sound of Music.

Ryou arrived later then everyone else, due to fitful sleep the night before. He still hadn't told anyone what he'd felt, or rather, hadn't felt, about Takeo. He wasn't sure if anyone, even Bakura, would believe him. He wasn't sure he believed himself. He shook his head as he leaned against the corner of the building, slightly apart from the milling crowds. What was wrong with him?

Suddenly a squeal rang out, followed be excited shouts. In no mood to move, Ryou did something he normally wouldn't do and used his powers to skim a few minds. Ah, so that was the big deal. Tea had just found out that she'd been cast as Maria. Ryou smiled quietly as he "read" the rest of the cast names from her mind.

Contrary to what he'd thought, Scott had landed the part of Captain VonTrapp. The fact that he was a senior, and Takeo only a freshmen probably helped a lot too. But there were a lot of freshmen playing main roles this year. Tea, as said, had landed Maria. Gwen was going to play Louisa, the thirteen-year-old prankster daughter, and Hiro would be Freidrick, the fourteen-year-old. Yugi was Baron Elberfeild, and Takeo, Rolf. Joey would be Max, and Bakura, of all people, was to be the butler, Franz.

But, of course, not all of them were freshmen. Elsa Schrader, the woman who loses the Captain to Maria, was played by Mai, and Isis was going to be Frau Schmidt, the housekeeper.

Serenity found him a few minutes later like that, lost in his own musings. "What'cha thinking about?" she asked, startling him a little.

"Oh... lots of things." he said vaguely. "Congrats on landing Leisel."

"Arigatou," she said. "Why didn't you try out? I've heard you sing, and you're good."

He shrugged noncommitally. "I dunno. I guess, mostly, because I couldn't seriously think that whoever was in charge of casting would put a blind man on the stage. If anything they'd take pity on me and slide me gracefully into a bit part."

Serenity blinked and backed up a step, surprised at the bitterness in his voice. "Ryou, what's wrong?"

Ryou sighed and let his shoulders drop, shaking his head slowly. "Takeo's playing Rolf. There's just something about that that bothers me. There's something... Not quite right about him."

Serenity was quiet a moment, and then, to Ryou's surprise, she giggled. Putting her hands on his shoulders she stood on tip-toe and kissed his cheek. "Why Ryou Bakura, I do believe you're jealous." And that said, she turned around and skipped away, going to congradulate Tea and Gwen, who had become two of her good friends. Ryou was frozen in place for a moment before he scowled and stalked away. He wasn't jealous. Was not. Why would he be? Of course he wasn't...

Behind him, standing unseen and unsenced, Takeo smiled.

()()()()()

WSJ: :p There! And I say it again, I'm so sorry this has taken so long!!! I hope it's okay. ^^; It covers almost three months in two paragraphs...

Harmony: Oo; That's... Weird.

WSJ: *shrugs* Well... I had no plot for anywhere in those two months, okay?!

Chapter 9: Preperations for the play are in full swing, and everyone's psyched. Ryou does a little detective work (*rimshot* What?! *looks around franticly*) on Takeo's background, and comes up with something intresting. And in the midst of it all, Ishtar, ever the pervert, walks in on seventeen half-naked nuns. ;p You'll see. (Based on what happened to me and my friends when our school superintendent walked in on us during a costume change. *snickers loudly*)

God bless minna-san!