Author's Note: Thank andysanime for this. She's the one who took my crumpled up idea off the floor, smoothed it out, and pushed it back into my hand and demanded it be WRITTEN. Thanks for that. I get lazy… ^^;

Enjoy the first chap!

Chapter 1

"Daddy, don't go!"

Miniature Atem watched as his father edged towards the classroom door. The man was attempting to make a stealthy exit, but his movements had been detected by his clever son.

The man turned around and smiled at Atem, reassuring, "Everything will be all right. Dads aren't allowed in kindergarten. You'll just have to have fun without me."

"But, Dad-"

"No, Atem, I need to go now." He stared into his son's tear-stained face, promising, "You'll be fine."

And then he was gone.

Atem sniffled, but his earlier sobs were over and done with. He just wiped his face with his small tan hands and glanced over to a younger man (younger than his father) who was taking a knee beside him.

The man greeted, "Hello, Atem. I'm Mr. Mahad, and I am going to be your teacher." He gave the little boy a mischievous smile, proposing, "You wouldn't be interested in being my special helper today… would you?"

Instantly, the remainder of his tears vanished, and Atem nodded his head fervently.

"I don't know…" Mr. Mahad teased, "… It's an awesome responsibility…"

"I can do it!" Atem insisted, pulling on Mr. Mahad's hand to motion for him to stand up.

Mr. Mahad nodded approvingly and decided, "Well, if you think you're up to it, then yes, you can be my special helper." He stood up and told Atem, "You'll be helping my other special helper."

Atem wrinkled his nose. "I won't be a special helper if I'm not the only one!" he complained rather loudly.

"Well, this special helper is special in a different way," Mr. Mahad insisted with a chuckle. Atem just folded his arms and pouted as he followed behind the teacher. They trekked only across the room before Mr. Mahad stopped before a supply closet and called into it, "Have you found all the supplies I need for the craft today?"

"Not yet, Mr. Mahad!" a young girl's voice called back. Then there was a surprised yelp, a loud crash, and finally, the girl in question spilled out of the closet, covered from head to toe in glitter and scraps of colored paper.

Mr. Mahad facepalmed. He gave the girl a hand up and mumbled, "Are you all right, Mana?"

"Mana" took the hand gratefully and began to brush herself off, ensuring, "I'm fine. I may have a bruise or something, but no harm, no foul, right?"

Mr. Mahad sighed. He introduced, "Atem, this is Mana, my teacher's assistant. Mana, this is Atem, a new student in our class. He was dropped off a little early, so he's going to help us get ready today."

"That's great!" Mana exclaimed, leaning down to Atem's level. "You can call me Miss Mana. Well, aren't you just the cutest thing?" She pinched Atem's cheeks. "So cute! So cute!" Atem blushed crimson from the compliments and mumbled something quietly as he swirled his foot around on the classroom carpet timidly.

"What was that, sweetie?" Mana inquired, mahogany irises drilling into Atem's crimson.

"I said you're pretty…" Atem admitted, louder this time so that Mana could hear.

Mana giggled, and without warning, pulled Atem into a hug, saying, "Thank you, Atem!" Atem's face just burned.

Mr. Mahad cleared his throat and suggested, "Then, let's get to work, shall we?" He motioning to the mess of supplies Mana had made. The brunette released Atem and sighed but cleaned it up without complaint. Atem helped, but the extent of his help was picking up one thing and then getting distracted before Mana gently told him to keep on task.

While they did this, the rest of the students started to come in.

First was a little girl. She peered behind the door and squeaked, "Is this my kindergarten class?"

"Depends," Mr. Mahad answered. He swiped a clipboard off of his desk and inquired, "What's your name?"

"Ishizu Ishtar," she whispered, the 'I's' in her name jumbling together and making it almost incoherent.

But somehow Mr. Mahad was able to hear it clearly and confirmed, "Yes, Ishizu, you are in my class. Would you like to take a seat and wait for the others?"

She nodded. But instead of going straight to the desks, she called out into the hallway, "It's this classroom, guys!"

Mr. Mahad raised an eyebrow as two identical boys followed Ishizu into the class. One boy was poking the other and shifting positions so that the other couldn't spy him over his shoulder while the other just fumed.

"And you two are…?" Mana questioned, as she had finally taken notice of this.

The slightly shorter and probably younger boy that was being poked glared at his look-alike and clarified, "I'm Marik. And this is Melvin, my twin. We're Ishizu's half-brothers."

"Well, welcome." Mr. Mahad instructed, "You two can sit down with your half-sister and wait for the remainder of the class to arrive."

Marik and Melvin straightened and nodded simultaneously, but they returned to annoying each other when Mr. Mahad turned to another student who was entering the classroom.

The next child caused quite an uproar.

"Hello, what's your name?" Mana asked the student who had walked in.

The student was at good few inches taller than kids in his age, with piercing blue eyes. He looked up at Mana and stated, "Seto Kaiba."

Seto suddenly turned to face the door as another student came in. The student turned out to be a spiky-haired boy, and as soon as he caught sight of Seto, lightning passed through their glares.

"You!" the new boy accused.

"You!" Seto hissed back.

The spiky-haired boy lunged at Seto, and the two landed on the floor in a toppled mess.

"Break it up! Break it up!" Mana pleaded, closing in her eyes and grappling for the first boy she could get ahold of. It turned out to be the spiky-haired one, and he struggled to wriggle out of Mana's grasp for hopes of getting to tackle Seto down again.

"That's enough," Mahad snapped. It wasn't loud, but it was stern enough to make everyone in the room straighten themselves. Mana lightly dropped the new student onto the ground, and the boy began to dust himself off. Seto stood up from the ground, doing the same. "There will be no more violence," Mr. Mahad declared. He purposely did not include a threat to this in hopes that the kids' imagination of what would happen if this occurred again would make them think twice. He turned to the boy next to Mana and questioned, "What is your name?"

"Yami Motou," Yami stated. He returned the glare Seto was giving him, doubly strong (if that was possible). Yami added as he continued to glower, "My twin sister is in this class, too, but she's sick. She'll be here tomorrow for sure, though."

"Very well." Mr. Mahad transitioned, "Then I'd like you and your friend, Seto, to take a seat." He added as he watched the boys crawl to their desks, "And please refrain from injuring each other any further."

The boys grumbled but complied, resorting to just giving each other death glares across the classroom.

The rest of the class came in soon after, not making nearly as much commotion as Yami and Seto. And, finally, Mr. Mahad walked up to the bow of the classroom and sat down on top of his desk, facing his new class.

"Welcome, students." Mr. Mahad handed an enormous stack of papers to Mana, motioning her to pass them out. He continued, "This is a slip for your parents to sign for any future field trips, activities, crafts, and-"

"Bakura! You made us late!"

Mr. Mahad's head turned as the rest of the class's did, discovering two, (indeed late), small albino twins.

The smaller of them with the softer voice ran up to the front of the class in a flash and gazed down at the floor as he announced, "I'm sorry my brother and I are late. Please forgive us."

"It wasn't your fault, Ryou," his other half disputed from across the room, crossing his arms. "And it's not my fault either. It was that stupid guy's fault for tripping me on the way here."

A collective "Ooh!" went through the class.

Bakura's thin white line of an eyebrow rose. "What?"

"You said the 's' word!" a little brunette girl named Tea accused, pointing at Bakura.

Bakura blinked. "You mean 'stupid?'"

Another gasp went through the room.

Bakura smirked mischievously. He began chanting, "Stupid, stupid, st-"

Ryou had covered his mouth. Bakura struggled until he had no other alternative than to lick Ryou's hand, sending the other twin into a fit of repulsion.

"Enough, you two." Mana put a hand on both their shoulders and herded them to two desks towards the front of the class.

Mr. Mahad cleared his throat and began again, going through the entire handout without even one interruption. The kids were tired by then; it was early in the morning. But Mr. Mahad knew better than to think this would last forever. So, after finishing his talk, he proposed they should play a game to learn each other's names. The class eagerly agreed, and soon every student stood by their respective desk, ready to begin the game.

"This is how the game goes." Mr. Mahad explained, "I will pick two leaders and those two will ask people for their names. Once the chosen leaders learn the name of a person, you link arms and so on, learning as many names as possible. Try to do this as quickly as possible, because it's a race between the two leaders."

The class nodded, enthusiastic to begin.

"Seto-" Mr. Mahad smiled at the boy. "- You'll be our first leader-"

"Then, can I be the second?" Yami immediately proposed, his glare towards Seto not wavering.

Mr. Mahad mulled this over. He decided it'd be better than having the two be forced to be on the same team, close enough to cause friction. "All right," he reluctantly agreed, making Yami smile satisfactorily. "Then, let's begin by pushing the desks to the side so that nobody trips."

Desks scrapped the tile floor as they were shoved out of the way.

The game began as Mr. Mahad signaled them to begin, and Yami and Seto went furiously to work. Yami began with the Ishtars, trying to get three at once. Seto went directly to the people he already knew the names of, getting several people right off the bat. The game went like that, each one using sly tricks to try to get ahead. It worked until they each ran out of tricks and just had to play fair. And, finally, the results were tallied.

Mahad pointed at each student as he counted, finally coming up with, "Seto wins by one."

"Ha!" Seto exclaimed with an arrogant smirk.

"No fair! I would have won if my sister was here!" Yami argued, balling up his little fists.

"No, we would have tied. You still wouldn't have won," Seto corrected, crossing his arms stubbornly, his smirk remaining.

Yami gritted his teeth, but Mr. Mahad quickly intercepted by suggesting, "I think now would be a good time to go outside for a little free time. Mana-"

"Yes, Captain?" Mana asked, giving Mr. Mahad a little salute.

Mr. Mahad just shook his head but told her, "Take whoever wants to come out towards the field. I'll watch the rest on the blacktop."

"Got it!" Mana smiled at the class. "Okay, kiddies! Who wants to go with me?"

About half the class followed Mana, the rest staying with Mr. Mahad. Thankfully, due to this, Seto and Yami were split up, and Mr. Mahad could take a breath of relief.

Mana led the half to the field, the kids lined up behind her in a straight line.

"Miss Mana?" Atem inquired, tapping the back of her leg to get her attention.

"Yes, Atem?" she asked, looking back at the boy in question.

Atem looked down at the concrete awkwardly and mumbled, "Why is it that Seto and Yami hate each other?"

"I'm sure they don't hate each other," Mana insisted.

"No, we do."

Yami walked up to Atem's side and clarified, "I hate him and he hates me. The reason why is that he is trying to steal my sister away from me."

"Your sister who's home sick?"

Yami nodded. "Kaiba, my sister, and I live on the same street. Over the summer, my sister and him became good friends. And I barely saw my sister. It hurt me, so I hurt him," he finished with a stubborn pout.

"Why don't you just share your sister?" Mana suggested meekly.

"You've never met my sister," Yami replied cryptically. "Everyone likes her. She's un-share-able."

Atem looked up at Mana. "Is that a word?"

Mana giggled. "It can be if you want it to."

They finally finished their trek out to the field. It was nothing more than a grassy area, so some kids spread out and began a game of tag. Some others just sat in the grass and looked over the weeds and dandelions. Atem did this, taking a bright yellow flower and running over to Mana.

"This is for you," Atem said simply, holding out the flower, his face burning.

"Why, thank you!" Mana exclaimed, taking the flower and tucking it behind her ear. "I'll wear it the rest of the day," she promised with a smile.

Atem's face grew redder, and he squeaked, "Okay."

The outside time didn't last long. Before long, Bakura and Melvin developed a friendship and began terrorizing the others, mostly Marik. Marik was able to shoo them away, but then they had moved onto the rest of the class, and things quickly spiraled out of control.

Mana swiftly got them to return to the classroom, the class falling back into order.

When they arrived back, the class was empty, the remainder of the class still outside.

"Um… Well…" Mana didn't know what to do. "The rest of the class is still outside, so let's…" She gulped. "… Have snack?"

The class eagerly agreed to this.

Mana rushed to the closet and pulled out a large box of goldfish crackers, distributing a handful to each student.

This, too, caused tension between those who had claimed to have less goldfish than others, but the only incident where it was a real problem was when Bakura got bored and started stealing other's goldfish. But Mr. Mahad returned with the rest of the class, Bakura sneaking into the shadows to live another day.

"I see we already have snack out…" Mr. Mahad observed, his expression disappointed.

Mana turned pale. "That- that's not a problem, right?"

Mr. Mahad sighed. "No, but next time ask me first before you return early and uproot our schedule."

Mana turned another shade whiter but nodded frantically.

"Mr. Mahad?" a little blonde named Joey called out, his hand shooting up.

"Yes?" The teacher turned to him.

"Is it time for free time?" Joey asked, hopeful.

Mr. Mahad chuckled. "You just had free time. Now it's time for learning." Joey slumped in his chair. "Don't worry; there will be more free time just before the day ends." Joey sat back up, smiling.

"Now-" Mr. Mahad transitioned, "- We'll be doing a miniature project. Today, we'll be doing it individually, but tomorrow, you'll start to work in pairs." He dropped yet another stack of paper's into Mana's hands and explained, "The first thing we'll be going over this school year is the continents of the world. I'm- or rather, Miss Mana- is passing out world maps. We'll be labeling them in a moment."

Each student got a map, and Mr. Mahad drew a makeshift map on the board, labeling each continent. He instructed them to copy it down, and the children went to work. "These are really long words, so if you need any help, ask myself or Miss Mana."

Seto didn't even need to look at the board. He kept his eyes firmly on his paper and went to work. Yami noticed this and wanted to finish before his rival. He began furiously copying the words off the board, trying to beat Seto. In the end, they finished at about the same time, the boys yelling out, "Done!" almost in unison.

"Good. If you two are done, you can help the others around the room." Yami and Seto popped up, taking this as a challenge. Mr. Mahad almost facepalmed, realizing he had just fueled the fire.

After the lesson, Mr. Mahad announced the day was almost done, and let the kids have free time while he wrote some notes about each individual child on his attendance sheet. The students embraced their free time and began playing with the stuff around the room.

One side of the room had baskets of toys and other assorted objects. The other had tables with handfuls of crayons and scented markers scattered about, ready for young artists to cease them.

Atem wandered the opposite side, attracted by a group of kids surrounding one counter.

"What's up there?" Atem wondered aloud, getting on his tippy-toes to see what was gathering everyone's attention.

Even when he sat it, he still couldn't comprehend what it was.

"What is it?" Atem questioned, eyes wide.

"I think it's a snake!" Tea immediately accused the animal, whimpering.

"Oh, no, no!" Mana laughed lightly. "It's no snake, I can assure you." She leaned over the kids and took the creature out of its tank, introducing, "This is Ourichi, our class pet. He's a ferret." She held him out. "Wanna pet him?"

The kids didn't dare make a step towards the creature. To them, it was a bloodthirsty beast, ready to devour them.

Mana channeled this and assured, "I promise he won't hurt you."

Slowly, kids came forward.

The first, surprisingly, was Ryou. (Someone probably pushed him in front of them.) He petted the animal and smiled, saying, "Ourichi-chan is very soft."

Mana nodded. "M-hmm. He's very nice."

After Ryou broke the ice, the rest of the kids immediately went to pet the ferret. It was soft, Atem thought as his hand grazed Ourichi's long, fuzzy back.

"Atem?"

Atem turned, his face lighting up.

"Daddy!"

He ran up to the man and hugged his leg, chanting "Daddy" over and over.

Akunumkanon turned to Mr. Mahad and asked, "Is it okay that I'm early?"

"No, that's no problem." Mr. Mahad smiled at the boy. "Atem, did you have a good time?" Atem nodded anxiously. "That's good. Then, see you tomorrow, Atem." Atem nodded again.

He took his father's hand and walked out of the classroom, waving back at everyone. "Bye, Mr. Mahad, Miss Mahad, everyone!"

Most of them waved back before returning to what they were originally doing.

"So," Atem's dad questioned, "Was it up to your expectations?"

"Yeah." Atem smiled contently. "I can't imagine it getting any better."

-transition-

"Um…" The girl blushed feverishly as she stood in front of the class the class. "… I'm Yugi… Yami's sister. I'm sorry I missed yesterday. I hope I'll get the chance to befriend you all…"

Atem swallowed, his face accepting the same shade of red as Yugi.

Things just got better.

Author's Note: I'm sorry if my vocabulary is too advanced for kindergartners… I was trying to keep it as simple as possible and not use superfluous words, but having a college-level vocabulary since fifth grade makes this a little difficult for me…

It's LONG, huh? Yes! :D

Again, thank andysanime for pulling this idea out of my imagination's shadow realm. You saved it! :3

Review time, kiddies! Gather around the computer and write a review please! :D