Greetings, my decorative Christmas ornaments!

OMG, 30 reviews! You guys are amazing!

Just for that, I got you all an early present! A new chappy! Hooray! I hope you like it!

Enjoy! ;3

"We've been cleared for landing, sir."

"Alright."

Kaiba gazed thoughtfully back out of the window he sat at with crossed arms. The cars he saw crawling along the skinny streets of the city they hovered over reminded him somewhat of ants as they moved much slower than he knew they were actually going. A stifled voice came from the other room in reply to something the attendant had said, and the woman in turn said something back as well, though Kaiba hadn't been paying enough attention to know what it is they were talking about.

Several minutes passed before the jet plane he resided in began to descend from its high altitude. It was landed with perfect care onto the runway normally only used by airplanes belonging to the airport it connected to, coming to a gentle stop. He listened as the engines to the jet died and glanced over to where the blue curtain separating him from the pilot hung just in time for the attendant to appear from behind them. She quickly made her way to the door on Kaiba's left and spun the wheel attached to the wall next to it, then popped the door open and slowly lower it down, allowing it to fall outside forming a staircase.

Without a word, Kaiba rose from his seat and stepped down the metal stairs onto the solid pavement beneath them. He briskly walked across the concrete toward the black Hyundai Equus that was parked adjacent from the where the jet had landed, not bothering to respond to any of the welcomes he was receiving as he entered the vehicle. The back door was shut closed once he was inside and in a matter of seconds the driver had the car started up and in motion. As he was driven away from the airport, a sign that read "Welcome to Burlington, Vermont" passed by in bold, black letters.

Kaiba drew in a breath to try and relax himself a bit, though the attempt was ineffectual. He clenched his jaw and glared heatedly out of the window on his right.

'Otogi…'

He found himself thinking rather crossly about the man; the man who had supposedly been the one to have thought it a good idea to pour some kind of drug into drinks meant for Yami and himself. Kaiba tightened his fist to suppress his anger.

Apparently Mr. Otogi's business had begun to go downhill after a series of accusations had been made that he was guilty of copyright infringement regarding several companies, including Industrial Illusions, and that he had, on more than one occasion, found a way to string money that other companies had made to his own. These accusations had popped up not long after Yami had left; sometime before Christmas.

With so many negative rumors going around about him and his company, Kaiba found this the perfect time to pay Mr. Otogi a little visit. Hopefully the old fool would be desperate enough for some sort of "light at the end of the tunnel" that he would be dumb enough to assume that Kaiba had come to visit because he had actually considered the man's offer earlier that week of opening up a partnership.

He scanned the buildings around him as the car he sat in came to a stop in the midst of some traffic. They were very different from that in Domino. Each building seemed to be structured a bit differently, though nearly all of them were either built from red bricks or cement. Some buildings had several windows while others had only one or two and sometimes none. As the flow of traffic started to pick up again Kaiba noticed small, purple and white flags lined up in a row on his left, though the significance of them was a mystery to him. Many small, bare trees were lined up along the sidewalks in front of businesses like they didn't want anyone to be able to read the signs above each building clearly for some reason. People roamed the area like they were unaffected by the freezing weather, chatting and goofing around like idiots. The city was still decorated in lights and plastic Christmas greenery for the past holiday, covered with a thin layer of frost from the cold.

After about twenty minutes worth of driving, the chauffeur pulled up to a building with a giant sign in front of it with "Hilton" written on it in glowing white letters. Kaiba shoved the car door open rather than waiting for the driver to get out and do it and stepped out of the vehicle, glowering at the building. Mr. Otogi and his son had come to the city of Burlington to presumably visit family for the holiday, and if he was correct- which he knew he was- the two of them were currently staying in this particular hotel.

Slamming the door behind him, he marched forward toward the front doors of the superstructure plagued with an abundance of massive windows. He permitted the men standing at the entrance to open the glass doors for him, giving a brief nod in their direction as acknowledgement but not going as far as to actually look at them. He strode into the electrically-heated hotel; the long, buttoned-up, navy blue coat that he wore trailing behind him along with one end of his pine green scarf. To his surprise, just the person he was looking for stood before him on the other end of the elegantly furnished room chatting up a storm with some giggly, auburn brown-haired girl.

"Welcome to the Hilton Hotel, sir. Can I help you with something?"

Entirely ignoring the question directed toward him by some idiotic looking man in a suit, without a doubt an employee of the establishment, Kaiba sauntered over to the person he needed to speak with.

"Sir?" He heard the man call out for him, but continued to disregard him.

"Otogi." Kaiba called out above the even hum the room echoed, coming to a stop on the marble floor a few feet behind the said person. Bright green eyes whipped around in his direction in response.

"…Can I help you with something?" he asked in a bitter tone, obviously not too happy about being interrupted. Kaiba simply stood there for a moment to allow his instantly flared temper to simmer back down, then silently reached up and slid a pair of sunglasses he was sporting down his nose a bit to reveal his eyes.

"Kaiba!?" the teen exclaimed in a hushed voice. "W-what brings you here?" he finally managed to ask after overcoming the surprise, switching from the English he had at first been speaking to Japanese out of courtesy.

"Hey…is that…?" the girl Otogi had been talking with piped up, seeming to almost be able to identify Kaiba instantly just by seeing his eyes.

"I've come to speak with your father." Kaiba stated, getting straight to the point. "And I have no desire to stay here long, so I suggest you don't waste any more of my time and tell me where he is." he demanded, pushing the shades back where they belonged on his face.

"About the partnership?" the teen assumed. Kaiba said nothing in return and simply folded his arms across his chest to warn the boy that he was serious about not wasting time. "O-of course! I'll take you to him right now!"

"Ryuji?" the girl questioned, not understanding the conversation.

"I'm afraid something's come up, sweet cheeks. But don't worry, I shouldn't be too long." he explained to her in English, then quickly turning back to Kaiba with an affirmative nod.

Kaiba allowed himself to be led into an elevator on the far side of the room and watched as the dark-haired teen pushed the number "6" on the number pad. Once they had reached the designated floor and the metallic doors had slid back open, the boy stepped out into the newly revealed hallway and began making his way down the long corridor with Kaiba not far behind him, their footsteps being the only sound to resonate through the quiet hall. Otogi slowed to a stop when they had made it nearly all the way down the narrow pathway and turned to the left after fishing out a small key from the pocket of his black jeans. Then, after straightening up his red vest a bit, he fit the key into the door knob and opened the door with a quick twist.

"Father." he called out in a respectful tone. On the opposite end of the room, the rustling of papers was heard as a man who sat piteously in a dark brown Victoria leather sofa turned his head in the direction of the teen's voice.

"What is it, Ryuji?" the man demanded in an exhausted tone.

"Mr. Kaiba has come to see you. He wants to talk to you about the partnership we offered to him about a week ago." the young teen replied, trying to hide the excitement in his voice. The man's head nearly snapped off of his neck as fast as he looked up at that. His gaze immediately landed on Kaiba and for several moments he merely sat there staring at Kaiba like some kind of imbecile. Finally, what his son had said seemed to have registered in his brain and he feverishly appropriated the situation he believed himself to be in.

"Oh! Of course! I'd be more than happy to discuss the matter with you Mr. Kaiba. Please, sit, sit! Make yourself at home." He all of a sudden sputtered out exuberantly. His son led the way over to where Mr. Otogi was seated at, and Kaiba hesitantly and despondently sat in the matching seat across from him. His son sat down on the couch as well after moving some papers around on the coffee table set between them in an attempt to make it seem tidier. It was so pitifully obvious that the two of them were desperate for this deal the both of them thought Kaiba had come to discuss to work out.

'How pathetic.' Kaiba thought sourly, feeling not one ounce of sympathy toward them.

"Now then," Mr. Otogi began, just the sound of his voice rapidly making Kaiba's rage grow. "I find it to be to both of our advantages to get this deal put into motion right away. I have many ideas that I can assure you will be profitable to the both of us. I suppose I can get into detail about that later though."

Kaiba didn't respond, and instead just removed the sunglasses that had been perched on his nose, folding them slowly and placing them onto the table in front of him. He placed both of his hands into his coat pockets and sent a steady glare to the man, ready to get down to business.

"Mr. Otogi." he started with a dangerously even voice. "There have been many rumors going around lately about you. Like the one about you wiring money to your own company from other, more successful ones. Or like the one about your intended theft of copyrighted materials. Tell me, are any of these true?"

There was a long pause before the man spoke up.

"…Excuse me?"

"I'm asking you if these rumors about you are true. Are you a thief, Mr. Otogi?"

Another pause.

"What? No, I…"

"No? Then how do you think these rumors came about?"

"I…you know how the media is…" he answered shakily.

"So I suppose the media also fabricated all of the evidence pointing to the fact that a good portion of your company's merchandise is filled with copyrighted materials?"

"…"

"…Aren't we supposed to be discussing the deal we talked about? That is why you came here." The man's son spoke up to make up for Mr. Otogi's lack of explanation.

"Not once did I ever say that that was my reason for coming here. You're the one who assumed it."

The teen blinked at Kaiba disbelievingly, then narrowed his eyes with anger.

"You…"

"Answer my question, Mr. Otogi. I'm getting impatient." Kaiba pressed stubbornly, his gaze unfaltering.

"Listen… if you'd just take a moment and at least consider the offer I'm making…"

"I, under no circumstances, would ever want to make such a deal with you, you pitiful, half-witted dolt. I'd never lower myself to work with such a spineless idiot. Ever. Understand?" Kaiba spewed acidly. He observed as Mr. Otogi's eyes grew wide with wrath in reaction to Kaiba's slew of insults, his mouth curling up into a heavy frown.

"You-"

"Now I suggest that you just come clean about what you've done. There's no point in trying to hide it." Kaiba interrupted the man, unable to control the gaze he held on him any longer and full on glaring straight into his cold, crazed-looking eyes. His thought of seeing insanity in Mr. Otogi's eyes had been a direct bull's-eye as the man suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter, hugging his abdomen as he cackled away with saucer-sized eyes.

Once he had finally finished his display, in between abrupt chuckles here and there he said, "My *heheh!*, it seems we have some kind of damn detective here! *hahahahaha!* Tell me *hmf!*, why are you even bothering to ask me when it seems perfectly clear that you already know!" Kaiba furrowed his eyebrows but left his glare persistent. He chose to ignore the fact that Mr. Otogi seemed to have just had some kind of snap in his mental stability and continued.

"So then you admit it. Both rumors are true."

"Yeah! They are and so what!? Just what the hell are you going to do about it huh!? Go ahead, tell the police! It's not like they don't already know about them! I'm such an influential person that they'll do everything they can to ignore any accusations made against me without any hard proof! And what proof do you have exactly? None!" Another fit of laughter. "Did you really think you'd just waltz in here and I'd fall to my knees begging for forgiveness and promising to confess? Are you honestly that egotistical? What a joke!"

Kaiba stood up from his chair lightning bolt-fast, causing the coffee table to be pushed back slightly from the force. He felt himself shake with anger and desperately strained to control his temper, sensing that getting bent out of shape was just what Mr. Otogi wanted. Through the action, Kaiba had kept his hands clenched tightly in his pockets, never taking them out.

"…On the night of that party." Kaiba forced himself to say with controlled anger. "You and your son spoke to a woman named Kisara as she was pouring tea into two cups, correct?" There was a short pause before he continued. "Did you by chance find it to be suitable to spike each cup upon learning who they were for?" Mr. Otogi grinned madly, not even hesitant to answer.

"Why yes, I did-"

In a flash of blind rage Kaiba leapt toward the insolent man, shoving the table between them to the side causing the papers on it to go flying. He used both of his hands to grab the man's shirt collar, feeling a wave of satisfaction hit him when he heard him yelp out in pain.

"Father!" he heard Mr. Otogi's son yell. The teen quickly hopped up and grabbed Kaiba's arm, trying to yank it away. Kaiba glared darkly over to him, sending all of his fury raging toward him at once. He felt the teen's grip on his arm loosen, but the boy refused to let go.

"Go ahead Kaiba! Do it! Let all of your anger out on me! I fucking dare you! I'd like to see how you plan to explain what you do to the authorities!" Mr. Otogi taunted with a look of sheer lunacy as he broke out into more laughter. Kaiba frowned at the man's breath, deciding that holding his breath was the best option whilst he was this close to him. He closed his eyes in concentration as he tried to lower his anger level. Finally, he let go of Mr. Otogi's shirt, heaving the man backwards into the couch. The son in turn released Kaiba's arm, immediately turning around to attend to his possibly injured father.

"What's the matter Kaiba? You're wussing out on me?"

Kaiba turned away from the man and walked over to the table he had unintentionally flipped over, reaching down to pick up his sunglasses that surprisingly didn't break.

"Come on Kaiba! We still have so much to discuss!"

He continued to ignore the ridiculous banter as he put the shades back on. The man wasn't even worth beating the shit out of like he had had the urge to do a few moments before.

"Mr. Otogi." Kaiba said as he made his way to the door, never turning around to look at the man. He stopped right in front of the exit, then continued, "I'm going to make you wish you'd never taken one pathetic breath into this world. You'll regret the day you crossed roads with me! Senile old bat!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" he crooned. "Wait Kaiba, don't you have any fight left in you!?" Mr. Otogi kept going, the question followed by more cackling. Kaiba disregarded the tempting notion and left the room, slamming the door unnecessarily loud behind him. He could still hear the mad man's muffled ranting and raving through the walls as he walked away down the hall.

Kaiba stepped out of the hotel fuming. The winter chill that surrounded him did nothing to cool down his overheated temper as he marched away from the building to his black Hyundai, more than happy to leave. However, before he had the chance to make it to the vehicle, a familiar voice called out to him.

"Kaiba?"

The brunette stopped abruptly and angrily turned in the direction of the voice, agitated that he'd been sidetracked. Magenta, black, and blonde spikes of hair shocked him into silence along with a pair of deep red eyes boring straight into his. Kaiba felt a light flutter stir in his stomach but quickly remembered how angry he was and forced the feeling away.

"Yami…?" he replied questioningly as if he didn't recognize the only person he knew that harbored such strange characteristics.

"It is you." Yami confirmed more to himself than Kaiba. The midget strolled over to the young CEO, slowing to a stop a couple feet in front of him before he continued the conversation. "What brings you to Burlington so close to New Year's?" he asked with raised eyebrows as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his dark brown coat to protect them from the cold. Kaiba noticed that the short teen's nose was slightly pink and he wondered for a split second how long he'd been outside and even considered offering to drive him home, but soon realized that he was pressed for time and wouldn't be able to bother with such a thing.

'Besides, Yami's more than capable of simply walking.' he convinced himself. Kaiba could have kicked himself for forgetting that Burlington, Vermont had been the place Yami had mentioned he'd be going. He thought the place sounded familiar.

It was then that Kaiba realized that Yami was starting to give him a strange look, and he frantically began trying to figure out why.

'Oh yeah, he asked me a question...' he remembered.

"I know!" Yami chirped all of a sudden before Kaiba had the chance to actually answer. "You came all this way just to see me! Oh, Kaiba if you were going to miss me that much all you had to do was tell me." he teased with a wide smirk. Kaiba frowned, still peeved at what had happened earlier and in no mood for jokes.

"Like hell I did. I had some business to attend to you arrogant egomaniac."

He instantly found himself regretting the insult he'd added to the end. Yami's smirk slowly straightened out into a thin line as his eyes narrowed into a surprisingly lethal glare. He raised his eyebrows as if contemplating how to respond, and after a few moments had passed, he breathed in a deep breath and allowed a small smile to grace his face as he said, "Since you're here, would you like to stick around a bit? There's this neat game shop I was headed to if you'd like to come with me." Kaiba blinked, a bit taken aback that the teen hadn't lost his temper like he seemed he would. Brushing it off, he shook his head.

"I need to get going actually." he replied in a much calmer tone. Yami smiled a bit wider despite the rejection to his offer.

"I see." he said. "That's probably for the best. For some reason I get the feeling Mokuba might have a fit if he finds out you went somewhere with me without him." he mused, tickled at the thought.

"Hn." was all Kaiba said. He was probably right though.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later then, Kaiba." Yami said with a large grin. He took one hand out of his coat to wave with as he walked away, seeming to already know that Kaiba wasn't going to say a farewell back. Kaiba watched as the young teen walked away and even continued to stare in the direction he had gone long after he was no longer visible. He felt a tightening in his chest as he stared at nothing, recognizing the feeling as something he'd only felt a few time in his life. Guilt. He felt guilty for insulting Yami so unnecessarily. The same man who could bark out a slew of insults at any of his employees for the simplest mistakes and feel absolutely nothing felt guilty about calling a teenage boy one name. Of course he knew why he felt that way. He had already admitted to himself that he…like Yami more than most, but still…

The ride to the airport seemed dreadfully long compared to how it had been coming from it. When he finally did arrive, Yami was still weighing heavily on his mind. He regrettably felt a bit sorry for his behavior and wished that there was some way he could correct what he did.

'Still and yet, what's done is done. Yami will get over it. Hell, he probably already has and I'm sitting here dwelling on something that doesn't even matter.' he thought determinedly. In the words of his brother, he was Seto-freaking-Kaiba. He had much more significant matters to trouble himself with. Like that poor excuse for a human being: Otogi.

"Hey." He commanded attention from one of the men standing in front of his ready-to-board jet. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, silver and black device that had various buttons such as "play" and "rec." on it along with many small holes to form a speaker. He handed it to the suited man who uncertainly took it, observing the recording device.

"Sir?" he questioned.

"Take that to the nearest police station. And when they ask you who recorded what's on there, keep the name unknown, understood?"

"Ah…yes sir."

Kaiba smirked darkly as he turned away and climbed the steps up to his jet.

'No evidence, hm? We'll see about that.'

Jeez, who knew that Otogi guy was so crazy? Well, like…I mean everyone kinda knew but still…

Stupid Kaiba! Don't take your anger out on other people! For shame!

Please keep those reviews coming! They make me so happy to read!

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has/had a great: Hanukkah, Solstice/Yule, Bodhi Day, Karthikai Deepam, Kwanza, or Christmas!