Mamono: ^.^U So sorry! It's a day late, but I hope it's still good! ^__^U Sorry!
Seto: -_-U You call me Kaiba in this story...
Mamono: Oh don't take it the wrong way, it's just that this is a Ryou centric fic...So I thought that it was proper...
Oni-chan(sister, though sometimes brother...?): Proper! Hahahahahah!!!
Mamono: -_-U She's back...
Seto: I thought you got rid of her?
Mamono: Ugh, this is Oni-chan, if you've read Experiment Chibi, then you've seen her...
Seto: Poor you...
Oni-Chan: Call me the Lord of Ye Sporks!*does a dance*
Mamono: Seto, deal with her while I do the review responses, kay?
Seto: ^_~ Got ya...*grabs a rope*
Review Response
Flower Petals: ^__^ Hey! I'm glad you liked the last chapter! This one should be a pretty good ending! Sorry it was a little late! One last breath of Christmas spirit!
Seto: Let's go!*ties up Oni-chan*
Oni: No! How dare you tie up the Lord of Sporks!
CherryRedHead:*dances * Yay! You liked it! Oh wow I feel honored to make you "go all girly and excited about Christmas!!" Coolness! I hope this chapter is good too! It's my first shot at writing a Christmas fic, and writing about Ryou and Bakura, and my first time writing a duel out! So I'm happy!
Seto:*dialing the mental institute* Yeah...She got out....ten minutes? All right...
Im Evil: ^__^ Thanks for the review! I had fun giving Seto sweets this chapter! I hope this one is good! Oh and in the next chapter of In the Sands of Egypt, I'll have plenty to say about your review! ^_~
Oni: La dee da! Sporks are weapons of evil! EVIL I SAY!
*white cars pull in*
Yami Sakuno: ^__^ Ha, I hope Seto's sugar high is funny, I mean, it's not that funny, it's more interesting...Thanks for reviewing!
Seto:*talking w/men in white suits* Yes, maximum security this time....
Angel of Change: Thanks so much for the review! Awesome pename! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Oni:*being put in a straight jacket* Ha, vermin! You give me new attire! Unlike some people...*points to Seto*
Seto:-_-U
Oni: ..You know how to treat the Lord of Sporks!
Aura Black Chan: ^_~ I can't let Bakura send anyone to the Shadow realm, but he does try! ^__^ I hope you enjoy this last chapter too! *pats Denny* Cutie!
Dark Shadow Flame:*head is swelling* Oh you don't need bow to me!*DSF Stops* Hey I didn't say stop!(Kidding! ^_~) ^__^ Yep you get to see Seto on his sugar high! ^_~
Also, I'm glad you're enjoying this one! I know I did! Sadly this is the last chapter!
Seto:*waves as they take Oni off* Bye....
Oni: I'm off to the land of Sporks! MWUAHAAHAHAH!
Zorra Lombardi: Yes, Christmas was so tiring, that I had to wait till today to update! Ha, the red man is in this chapter, but I think it's going to surprise you! More Tree lights! Yay! Thanks so much for the review!
Seto: She's gone!
Mamono: ^__^ Yay! Okay on with the chapter! Read and Review!
~Silver and Gold~
Part 3: Twas the Night Before Christmas, and All Through the House; Two Creatures Where Dueling, in Poor Ryou's House?!
Christmas Eve; such a wonderful day; everything was all warm and toasty; everyone was all nestled cozy in their homes; a truly joyous time. Ryou walked into his living room, golden chestnuts rustled in a silver bowl that he was carrying. A cheerful fire burned in the fireplace; its golden flames reflected in the ashen eyes of Bakura. The tomb robber laid lazily in a plush velvet couch and the pleasant sound of Christmas Carols played quietly. Bakura let out a comfortable yawn and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He watched as his hikari trotted merrily past him and the bowl of chestnuts onto the coffee table in front of him.
"Ryou, what are you doing?" he asked.
"Roasting chestnuts in an open fire," he playfully sang. "Haven't you heard the song?"
"No,"
"Oh..."
Ryou chuckled and placed a couple of chestnuts in what seemed to be something to the effect of a cauldron. Bakura shrugged; whatever his hikari was doing; it looked unexciting. Bakura just yawned, smacking his tongue against the roof of his mouth; and buried his head into the warmth of the feathery couch pillow.
"Do as you wish," he mumbled.
Ryou smiled and watched as the fire heated the chestnuts; the gentle crackling warmed the white haired boy, he could feel the sensation of sleep nipping at his heels.
"I can't fall asleep yet. Yami, I'm going to go for a quick walk," Ryou announced and walked out of the room.
"Hmm," Bakura acknowledged, half asleep.
The fire continued to crackle methodically; a gentle light glowed across Bakura's face. It was peaceful, not like his past life. He would've given anything to have a tranquil night like this. Bakura shifted and turned towards the fire; the crackling from those chestnuts was becoming louder.
"Ryou, I think they're cooked," Bakura shouted, but Ryou didn't answer.
A loud pop came from the fire that startled Bakura. He sat up and peered into the fire...
A bad idea...
A thunderous crack sounded from the fire and a tiny shell shot towards Bakura. Unable to react in time, the burning projectile hit Bakura in the face, scorching his cheek. Bakura hissed as the smoldering piece fell from his face. He glared daggers at the fire and he growled fiercely. In response, another burning shell shot out at Bakura, this time singeing his hair. Then more shells shot out at him, this time in quicker intervals; it was a tiny attack.
"Ryou!" Bakura roared.
Not wanting to be undone by a bunch of nuts, Bakura grabbed a handful of nuts and started hurling them into the fire. However this only added insult to injury because the chestnuts Bakura threw into the fire heated up and began to explode back at him.
"Curse you!" Bakura snapped, ducking out of the way of several flaming nutshells.
*****
The cool night air felt good against Ryou's skin. He walked slowly down the side walk, taking in the beautiful scenery. Snow cascaded across the lands, it sparkled majestically in the winter moon. Ryou gazed up at the sky; the stars glittered flawlessly in the velvet night.
"Santa's going to have a wonderful flight," Ryou mused. "Oh wait, I still need to get some Christmas cookies..."
After remembering his long time tradition, Ryou dashed off in the direction of downtown Domino.
*****
"You shall rue the day you were born!" Bakura shouted, still battling the chestnuts.
By now, the war was long since started; so many things that had been untouched, now lay shattered on the floor.
Causalities of war...
*****
"Oh no!" Ryou sighed.
He searched around; all the shops were closed! How was he supposed to get some cookies? A white puff of mist fluttered into the air as Ryou sighed disappointedly. He cast his chocolate eyes to the ground and moped down the empty sidewalks, kicking pieces of ice across the road.
Suddenly he bumped into someone; backing up, Ryou looked up, stunned.
"Kaiba?" he choked.
"What is it?" Kaiba growled in response.
Ryou examined the CEO in front of him. Kaiba's chocolate hair fell in front of his icy blue eyes; he wore a long black trench coat, similar to his yami's; but what Ryou noticed was his unusually energized condition. True, Ryou didn't know that much about Kaiba, but he knew enough that it was odd to see the CEO walking alone at night and jittering so much.
"What are you doing here, Kaiba?" Ryou inquired.
"It's none of your business," Kaiba spat quickly.
"I suppose, but it's really odd for you to be so antsy, is something the matter?"
"No,"
"Then what..."
"What are you doing here?" Kaiba interrupted.
"Oh," Ryou sighed, remembering exactly what he was doing there. "I was trying to find some Christmas cookies, but all the stores are closed..."
"Come with me," Kaiba ordered.
"What?" Ryou asked, dumbfounded.
But before Ryou could get his response, Kaiba briskly walked away. Ryou had to run just to keep up with the guy. The white haired boy quickly followed after the CEO until they reached a large mansion. Kaiba quickly opened up the gate and continued quickly into the house. Ryou trailed behind, not sure if he should follow or not. This was truly an odd situation to be in. Just as Ryou reached the door, Kaiba nearly rammed into him; when he recovered, the brunette shoved two large boxes into Ryou's hands.
"You wanted cookies; here take these," he said flatly. "Take these chocolates too."
"Oh, well thank you," Ryou said, confused.
"I don't want to ever see them again, you understand?" he snapped and then slammed the door in Ryou's face.
"...Merry Christmas?"
Ryou heard voices through the door, he quietly neared the door and listened carefully.
"Seto, what are you doing?"
"Nothing, Mokuba,"
"Oh, okay then. Seto, how did you like the chocolates I gave you?"
*****
"I've won," Bakura sighed. "But it seems my victory is not without loss."
Bakura gazed over at the living room; a total disaster...
Bakura paled as he saw Ryou enter the door.
"Ryou is there something wrong with your eye?" Bakura said. "It's twitching..."
*****
"Ryou," Bakura said, pointing to a plate of cookies that were placed near the fireplace. "What are those?"
"Cookies, Yami," Ryou answered.
"I can see that. What kind of cookies?" Bakura muttered. "And why are they by the fireplace?"
"For Santa Claus, silly," Ryou chuckled.
"Ryou, why must you leave cookies out for Santa Claus?"
"Oh I don't know," Ryou stated. "I guess because he likes a snack during his long journey."
Bakura just looked blankly at his hikari. He watched as the white haired boy picked up a bright red cookie; Ryou winked at its creamy frosting surface and placed it with the rest.
"I don't understand, Ryou. Santa Claus's journey?" Bakura asked in frustration.
Ryou couldn't take it any longer, his chocolate eyes began to tear up as he burst out into laughter. Ryou could hardly breathe, he was giggling to hard. Bakura growled fiercely; it wasn't his fault that he didn't know about Santa Claus and Christmas! He was an Ancient Egyptian tomb robber for crying out loud!
"Well he visits everyone in the world and gives them presents! It takes awhile to do that, with the world being so big; I imagine he likes a snack now and then, and cookies are his favorite," Ryou said, chuckling now and then.
"He never visited me before," Bakura pouted.
"Maybe because you were an evil tomb robber, ever think of that?" Ryou muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
Ryou let out a huge yawn; it was late, and he was tired.
"Yami, I think we should get to sleep," he said tiredly.
"Why is that?"
"If you don't, Santa won't visit," Ryou taunted.
Bakura sighed, this Santa was disrupting everything. At his hikari's wish, he reluctantly trotted up the stairs and into his bedroom. He collapsed down onto his bed and pulled the flannel blanket over his head. The warm cloth quickly soothed the troubled yami and coaxed him into a peaceful sleep.
*****
"I swear, if I ever rule the world; my first act as ruler will be to ban all sugar and the use of puppy dog eyes," Kaiba muttered, rummaging through a dark closet. A loud bell chimed twelve times through the empty hallways, signaling the time as midnight. Even so, Kaiba was awake; unable to tell which coat was his, he grabbed the closest thing and ran out the door.
*****
Bakura tossed and turned in his sleep; his peaceful sleep had turned out to be not so peaceful. Ashen eyes awoke with a start and peered into the dark. A loud rapping was heard coming from downstairs. He silently crept out of his bed and slid downstairs; he soon discovered that
"Tis the wind and nothing more, rapping on the front door," Bakura sighed.
He turned to go back upstairs, but then a few unusual clicks and a few seconds later, a icy blast of wind blew past Bakura, knocking him forward. The angry yami whipped around and glared in the direction of the wind, but was taken aback by what he saw.
"Kaiba? What are you doing here?!" he said, gaping.
Kaiba, who was brushing the snow from his fire-red trench coat, narrowed his eyes in frustration. Great, someone just had to be up, didn't they? He searched around for something when the plate of sugar coated cookies caught his eye; he then focused down to the red of his coat and an idea struck him. It was a long shot, but this was a 5000 year old spirit, after all.
"I'm...Santa Claus," he stated.
Bakura was taken aback by this sudden announcement. He carefully examined the person in front of him; he wasn't fat; he didn't have a beard; he didn't come through the chimney; he certainly didn't look jolly; but he did have the red clothes on...According to Ryou, this couldn't be Santa Claus.
"I don't believe you," Bakura snapped.
"But I am Santa Claus!" Kaiba urged.
"Prove it," Bakura began to cackle. "Duel me, Claus, and if you win, then I'll believe."
"Fine, let's duel!"
*****
An eerie glow emitted from the Millennium Ring and a hazy purple fog filled the area. Kaiba glared daggers at Bakura, but oddly enough, felt eager for a duel. Realizing that there were no duel disks in sight, Bakura used the magic of his ring to conjure up two midnight black stones. They each formed in front of the two duelists and gleamed readily, as if wanting the duel to commence.
"Just place your cards on that for play, understand?" Bakura announced, pointing to the black stone.
"Fine, let's go!" Kaiba shouted.
With that the duel began and each player drew their cards. A misty '4000' appeared on each stone, signifying life points. Kaiba looked down at his hand and a large grin spread onto his face. In his hand was the Lord of Dragons, two Flute of Summoning Dragons, a Pot of Greed, and his favorite monster, the Blue Eyes White Dragon.
"I begin by placing the Lord of Dragons on the field in attack mode," he called, and a large monster appeared out of nowhere, it had a dark blue cape and was covered in armor.
"I also play the Pot of Greed, which allows me to draw two more cards," Kaiba added. He then picked up two more cards; another Blue Eyes and a Mask of Brutality; perfect.
"I'll place 2 cards face down and end my turn,"
Bakura looked at his hand; great, nothing that would defeat the Lord of Dragons, and by watching Kaiba, Bakura knew exactly what he was planning...
"I'll play the Magician of Faith in attack mode," he cackled.
"Come on! Is that the best you can do?" Kaiba yelled.
"Silence!" Bakura growled. "I'll end my turn by placing one card face down..."
Kaiba gazed at Bakura's monster; surely he had something to protect his monster, but his hand was too good; he couldn't pass up this chance. He quickly drew a card and placed it in his hand; this card would be perfect; a gold flash reflected in his blue eyes as he placed the card onto the stone.
"First, I'll play this card face down," he stated. "Now, I activate Flute of Summoning Dragons!"
Bakura cringed as a large flute appeared in the Lord of Dragons hands; the monster then began to play a fierce battle cry; a couple flashes of white appeared and two Blue Eyes White Dragons where staring at him, ready to battle.
"Now, I use Mask of Brutality to power up my dragon!"
A large mask appeared on the second Blue Eyes, raising its attack by one thousand.
"Blue Eyes, attack!" Kaiba declared, pointing over to the Magician of Faith. The dragon's mouth began to glow with a white light, and the dragon launched its attack.
"Ha! You fell right into my trap! Activate Magical Cannon!" Bakura shouted.
Suddenly a large cannon appeared into the Magician of Faith's hands, and the lighting from the Blue Eye's attack drained inside it. With a wide grin, the Magician of Faith aimed her cannon right at the Lord of Dragons and fired her attack. The fierce blast annailated Kaiba's monster and dropped his life points to '1200'.
Instead of cringing, Kaiba smirked. As he began his turn, his life points fell to '200' because of Mask of Brutality.
"No, you fell into my trap, Bakura," he laughed.
Gold lettering appeared as Kaiba's face down card appeared. It was called 'Last Turn', something that Bakura did not want to see.
"I activate Last Turn!" he heralded. Then a large snake appeared and wrapped around Kaiba's first Blue Eyes; it then wrapped around all of Bakura's monsters; with one quick blow, all monsters, except for Kaiba's powered up Blue Eyes disappeared.
"What's this?" Bakura growled.
"Last Turn," Kaiba answered. "Is a trap card; it allows me to select one monster on my field; then it summons your most powerful monster; the two then battle; and the winner of that battle wins the duel!"
Bakura nearly choked in surprise, and Dark Necrofear appeared on the field; but it didn't even compare to Kaiba's Blue Eyes. The occult monster charged towards the white dragon, but was blown away by one powerful blast. Bakura bowed his head in acknowledgement as his life points dropped to zero.
Bakura sighed heavily; he had lost. The purple smog began to dissipate and the glowing lights on the Christmas tree became visible once again. He stood up and turned to Kaiba now known as Santa Claus.
"I guess you are Santa, then," he grumbled. "Go about your business, I won't stop you."
"Business?" Kaiba asked.
"Yes, Ryou said you'd leave gifts," Bakura recalled.
Kaiba grumbled; his sugar rush was reaching its climax; much to his annoyance he craved more, and the cookies he had given Ryou were the only source of sugar he could think of. So the furious Santa rummaged through his pockets, walked over to the Christmas tree, and left two large wads of money underneath it. He grumbled and then headed for the cookies, but the sweet morsels were nowhere to be found. He heard an evil chuckle from behind him and whipped around to see Bakura holding his prize.
"Give me those cookies," Kaiba growled.
"No, I don't think I will," Bakura taunted and set the cookies down behind him.
Kaiba's eyes became frigid; even if it was only some stupid cookies they were fighting after; no one said 'no' to him. With lighting speed, he grasped Bakura's collar and lifted him off the ground. Being a great deal taller than Bakura, the yami's feet dangled feet above the plush carpet.
"I repeat; hand over the cookies," Kaiba snapped. "Unless you want me to beat you with the coal that you deserve."
"Fine," Bakura spat. "Take the blasted cookies."
With that, Kaiba set Bakura down and walked coolly over to the cookies. He picked up a snowflake shaped cookie and placed it in his mouth with half of the sugary cookie hanging out. The door swung open and with an icy chill, Santa Claus had left...
Bakura gulped; his first encounter with Santa Claus one he would always remember. As he tiredly walked towards the stairs chocolate eyes were already there to greet him.
"Yami, what's going on?"
*****
A loud sound echoed through the Kaiba Mansion and Kaiba stormed in, the plate of cookies already half eaten. He walked into the kitchen and sat down at the luxurious wooden table; soft steps were heard and Mokuba Kaiba appeared beside his brother.
"Seto, where were you?" he questioned.
Kaiba smiled down at his brother; he took a shiny red cookie and handed it to his brother. Mokuba smiled and started nibbling on the cookie.
"Never mind, Mokuba. Merry Christmas,"
*****
"Ryou, Santa Claus," Bakura muttered.
Ryou stared confusingly at his yami. It was the middle of the night and he was out and about.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I saw him,"
"Really?"
"Yes,"
"What was he like,"
"He was mean,"
"What?!"
"Ryou, you lied to me, you said Santa Claus was jolly; he was not,"
"Oh..."
"It's all right, you can be wrong,"
"Thanks..."
"He took the cookies,"
"Oh, well that's good...I think,"
"He did leave presents, though,"
"Oh!" Ryou chuckled. "Well, how about we go open them?"
"I suppose..."
Ryou smiled and headed towards the Christmas tree. Bakura sighed and followed after his hikari; he sat down next to his hikari; he reached for a silvery package and handed it to Ryou. The lighter boy looked surprised at first, but grinned merrily.
"Merry Christmas, Ryou,"
"Merry Christmas..."
************
Mamono: ^__^ That's it!
Seto: ...
Mamono: Good, eh?
Seto: ...
Mamono: ?
Seto: ...
Mamono: O.o Oh well...I guess he's speechless...I hope you all liked it! Review! Merry Christmas!(Belated as it may be...)