A Means of Communication

Chapter 13: Search Warnings

The day was bright and sunny on that summer Saturday afternoon. And that meant grocery shopping for Ryou, or at least, the little groceries he could afford. He had had to beg for his job back at the Pizza Palace after Bakura's little stunt. He was already on thin ice for falling asleep at the counter so often, but with enough tears and groveling he had managed to appeal to his superior's kinder nature. Still, after paying the rent and taxes, he could only afford the barest essentials. Ryou stifled a yawn against a box of cereal. A good night's sleep was a hard thing to accomplish these days. Work kept him busy; that was good because it kept his mind off of certain white haired individuals with dry lips...
At least until that moment anyway.

Ryou's foot caught on something. He almost dropped his food but didn't because fate, sometimes, isn't that cruel. He managed to hold on to his edibles and then he turned to see what had tripped him.

There was a shoe protruding out of a bush. And that shoe was attached to a person, hiding in said bushes.

"Hey, ah... Ryou, right?" the rock star greeted.

Ryou blinked. Before his very eyes, the brush grew a head with hair that looked oddly like Yugi's. Then the regular teenager shook off the spell of minimal sleep and focused his attention again. "Good afternoon, um, 'Yami', is it?"

Atemu smiled sheepishly; his whole body was curled into a very uncomfortable looking ball. "Looks like I'm at your mercy."

"Why are you in a bush?" Ryou asked mildly.

"I, ah, snuck out to see Yugi," Atemu admitted.

"Yugi lives on the other side of town," Ryou said.

Atemu tugged a twig out of his hair. "I got a little lost," he explained. "And then these girls recognized me and I panicked and ran for it and my hat flew off and then I dropped my glasses and well... here I am."

Ryou nodded. "So you're hiding from fangirls?" he reasoned.

"Yes," Atemu confirmed. "Sorry I tripped you. I didn't see your face behind that grocery bag."

Ryou shrugged. "No harm done."

There was a pause. Across the street a gaggle of females were giggling and rushing from store to store. Atemu flinched, making the bush shudder. Ryou shifted his bag so he could glance at his watch.

Once the girls were out of sight, Ryou said, "I live right up here. If you promise the location of my apartment will not be viewed by to the entire world on live television, you can hide out there. It's probably more comfortable then your current location."

"Really?" Atemu's entire being seem to relax. "Thanks. Thanks a lot, Ryou."

"That's alright, I suppose I've forgiven you and Yugi for giving my phone number to Bakura now."

"Ah... yeah, sorry about that," Atemu apologized.

"It's all in the past." Ryou glanced around the street. "The street is as empty as it's going to get. We'll have to make a dash for it."

((13))

"Breaking news!" Jounouchi's blaring voice announced over the phone.

Yugi bit the end his eraser then scribbled some useless equations. "Jounouchi, I don't have time for this, I got homework stuff to do."

"Even if it's about Atemu?" Jounouchi taunted knowledgeably.

Yugi's heart skipped. "What is it?" The rock star hadn't said anything to him last night about any more important announcements and Yugi wasn't sure if he could take another one of Atemu's surprises. It was probably nothing. But what if reporters had found out more stuff about the leader singer's mysterious significant other...?