Author's Note: I decided to give myself a challenge! With the random word generator I found online, I picked one noun and one adjective to make a title for a oneshot or drabble. I'll try to write about two a week. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Yuugi and Seto are the brain children of Kazuki Takahashi, they do not belong to me.

Warnings: None.

Summary: The tabloids always get it wrong, Seto only wanted to buy a birthday present.


Dismissed Rumour

The headline on the front page of Domino's leading sensationalist tabloid paper – Sora Shimbun – was gaudy, obnoxious and downright false. LOVE AT FIRST FIGHT?

Then underneath, an equally garish strapline: DUEL RIVALS' ROMANTIC LIAISON.

Seto snorted, it was pathetic. There was a photo printed in the main article within the paper, a stretched, pixelated pap-shot of himself in just the black trousers he always wore and a plain white shirt which he had clipped his metal wrist cuffs over. He was at the entrance of the Kame Game Shop, looking at Yuugi who had answered the door with a huge, dewy-eyed grin on his little round face. Seto had looked a quite rushed; he had finished work much later than he would have liked. He was holding a bottle of red wine in his hand that he had only just picked up.

Seto pinched his sinus, grimacing.


'Kaiba-kun!' Yuugi yelled excitedly when he answered the door, leapoing forward to give Seto a brief hug around his waist, which was not returned. 'What are you doing here?'

Seto winced; Yuugi was loud. He hesitated for a second, completely embarrassed by the reason he was there.

'I need to get something.'

Yuugi looked puzzled. He brushed his blonde fringe out of his eyes, dithering.

'What do you need to get?'

Again, Seto hesitated. He looked down at the bottle of wine and tutted.

'It's oba-san's* birthday... You know how they don't really play Duel Monsters in the West?'

Yuugi pondered for a moment. He had heard about Seto's estranged Aunt Muhoshi, who had fled from her home in the West to escape the European War and returned to her homeland to look for her dead sister's children. The story had been covered fanatically in all the gossip magazines.

'Yes, I know. The war makes it hard –'

Seto nodded, still rather mortified about why he was at the Kame Game Shop.

'I showed it to her, I showed her the duel disks and the holograms. She really likes it. She really likes Blue Eyes.' He paused, a smug glint in his eye. 'Obviously.'

Yuugi frowned at this, tilted his head as the light wind from outside ruffled his hair. 'So why did you come here? You're the one with all three Blue Eyes cards. And you ripped up the fourth one.'

'So far as I know, Yuugi, you're the only shop around here that stocks those collectible thingies, those figurine things.'

At this Yuugi emitted a searing peal of laughter. He laughed long and hard before wiping a little tear from the corner of his eye.

'I see where you're going with this now, Kaiba-kun. Come inside!'

He boldly wrapped a hand around Seto's elbow and warmly invited him into the shop. His bare feet made a strange sound on the floor as he lead Seto to the only bay in the shop that wasn't stuffed with cards. Instead it was overflowing with a whole line of Duel Monsters soft toys and figurines ('Duel Friends'), made by a small company that had somehow caught Pegasus Crawford's eye and had earned the right to produce their silly toys officially. Each toy had a bright plastic tag with Pegasus' seal, a winged horse, embossed on it. Seto sighed.

'This is embarrassing.'

Yuugi chuckled. 'We have a lot of Blue Eyes stuff, thanks to your obsession I suppose –' (Seto snorted) '– We have lots of Kuriboh, too, thanks to yours truly. A lot of Jou-kun's favourite monsters are quite popular. Our best sellers are Blue Eyes, Kuriboh and Red Eyes.'

Seto found this quite interesting, that the bonkotsu's leading monsters had become popular.

'Here's all the Blue Eyes stuff we have...'

Yuugi began to pick out every item dedicated to the majestic form of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. There were detailed figurines in two sizes, one that would fit in Seto's palm and another about ten inches in height. They came in painted colour or pewter. There were Blue Eyes shaker-makers, a plastic construction kit that could hang from the ceiling once the Blue Eyes had been built, a coin bank in the shape of Blue Eye's head...

...Then Seto saw the cuddly toys.

'Oh. My. God. That is sacrilege.'

Yuugi laughed. 'They're really popular with the little ones. And the older ones. Actually, everyone likes those. I must say though, we sell a lot more Kuriboh plushies than anything else. He's just a lot cuter.'

Seto pulled a face like he wanted to be sick. 'To think that people actually spend their money on this crap. It makes my skin crawl.'

Seto pursed his lips. They were a little bit cute, he supposed. Just a bit. They really got the colour of the Blue Eyes just right, the way her domed head sloped and the way her tail curled. But was this going to be the gift to buy for Aunt Muhoshi?

'What will oba-san like...? This stuff is all a bit... childish.'

With a smile, Yuugi stretched his hand out to a little display bowl that Seto hadn't seen perching on the end of one of the shelves. 'Jewellery. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets.' He picked out the Blue Eyes ones for Seto to look at.

There were two types, flat, silver-plated ones with coloured enamel. They were okay, but again childish, no matter how much his aunt enjoyed her outlandish earrings. The other type was of the same ilk as the pewter figurines, faithfully and elegantly describing the form of the Blue Eyes. They were sterling silver.

'I'll take these.' He began to march over to the till so that he could pay, then faltered and quickly doubled back, snatching something else from the shelf.

'And this.'


Seto jumped when his phone rang. He groused, picked up the receiver and snapped out a gruff 'what'.

'Hello Kaiba-kun! Apparently I'm your boyfriend!'

'Shut up.'

Yuugi chuckled. 'I have journalists trying to break down my door. They want to know how good you are in bed.' Yuugi sniggered at the insinuation. 'What do I tell them?'

'Don't tell them anything! Tell them nothing! Nothing happened, I just went to your shop to buy –'

'Oh Kaiba-kun, they're not going to believe that a billionaire like you came to my shop to buy stuff.'

'So it's easier to believe that we're secret lovers. Riiiiiiight. Just tell them to go away.'

'Can I tell them you came to buy a birthday gift for your aunt? I can show them the Duel Friends stuff; it will really boost my sales –'

'Whatever. Go away. I'm working.'

He slammed the receiver back into the cradle, then leant into his leather office chair and crossed his arms. He picked up the copy of the Sora Shimbun and angrily threw it across the room where it exploded into its separate pages across the floor. He huffed.

The cuddly Blue Eyes stared at him with her unseeing googly eyes from where she was perched on the desk next to the telephone. It would be wise to take her home; it didn't look good for a CEO to have a cuddly toy on his desk. He blinked at her.

'What are you looking at?'

Naturally she didn't answer. Seto looked around, suddenly paranoid that someone might be hiding in his office, spying on him, before picking her up and squeezing her fondly. She yielded like a beanie toy and was ridiculously soft.

'Stupid Blue Eyes.'


*Aunt Muhoshi, Seto's oba-san, appears with better explanation in my oneshot 'Brown Paper Parcel', which you may like to read.


Author's Note: LOL. Quite OOC, but I don't care, it's just for fun. Please leave a review!