Lil' Washu: Gee, I hope I can finish this by Christmas, or at least New Years.

Yami Bakura: Not a chance.

Yami Malik: Nope.

Kaiba: Keep dreaming.

Lil' Washu: Of course I can finish it! I'm an authoress so I have REVIEWER POWER, the power of really kind readers who bother to leave me any kind of a review.

Kaiba: I suppose the amount of reviews isn't terribly embarrassing, though this is your second time around publishing this thing. Try actually finishing it this time!

Yami Bakura: Are you kidding? She never finishes anything!

Lil' Washu: NOT MY FAULT! First my dog, then my uncle creamed my computer.

Poinsettia: Excuses, Excuses...

Lil' Washu: Hey, I thought you were on my side! Anyways, I just want to thank the first four people who reviewed when this fanfiction was first published LAST YEAR. So thanks to Sincere Angel, Fate and Renee the Rabid Squirrel for reviewing!

Lil' Washu: Oh, and just to warn you, there's a smidgen of mental torture in this chapter.

Kaiba: *glare*

Lil' Washu: What?

Kaiba: *glare*

Lil' Washu: It's only a smidgen, I swear!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Start Chapter*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Outside of the only lighted window of Kaiba Corp, Poinsettia floated invisible to all, in a sitting position reading the handbook given to her on being a spirit of past present and future. She didn't seem at all concerned that a horde of dead people were keeping her company.

"Chapter one," she read, "When dealing with a particularly stubborn client, it's usually a good idea to scare the living daylights out of he or she before actually confronting the aforementioned jackass. Be sure to make a big entrance. [See p. 1134 for Anti-Scrooge Inc's company jingle] (Company Jingle?)" Poinsettia scratched her head nervously. "...I'm not really into this sort of thing, can I get a little help.

A flaccid, pompous looking spirit laughed. "Sure, why not girly? I've been haunting this place ever since that ass fired me, and I developed a taste for arsenic. He's a tough cookie to crumble, but I guess I have help now, eh?"

"Would you believe he fired me right before the holidays?" Asked a mournful female ghost. "I couldn't stand life after that...can't really stand death either though..." Suddenly everyone wanted in to the action.

"He took over my company!"

"He gave my job to the cappuccino boy!"

"He never gave to my charity!"

"He turned me down for a date 68 consecutive times! 68!!!"

"He threw me out on the street!"

"He wouldn't buy my Girl-Scout cookies!"

"Ok, ok, enough." Said Poinsettia, waving a few of the spirits away from her. "You can help me shake him up a little but then you leave, vanish, disperse, rest in peace you get it? Thank you!"

At the same time, in that only lit window Seto Kaiba sat at a desk, fuming over a note that the stockholders he was supposed to be meeting with had left. It read,

Dear Mr. Kaiba, It is our regret to inform you, that because you seem to be arriving late to our scheduled appointment today, we must leave to take care of other business at that charity cocktail party we told you about. We trust that you will be able to file the concise report that we have left you on your own. Happy Holidays!

Kaiba ripped the note into tiny pieces and flung them into the air. 'Concise report indeed! Those idiots left me with a fifty-page report, and all of my secretaries are off. This wouldn't have happened if my slow- minded chauffer hadn't stopped to mourn over some beast from the park. I'll give him something to mourn over. A pink slip!' He stopped raging for a moment and recalled the look the struck deer had given him, shivered, and then mentally slapped himself for feeling such emotion.

'In this business, there's no room for useless sentiment.' He reminded himself. 'I learned that lesson long ago, and I can never forget it. If I were to show even the slightest bit of remorse, those corporate vultures would pounce on Kaiba Corp and turn it back into the horror it once was. They see Mokuba as my weakness, and would try to kidnap him again.' He paused and shivered violently, chasing off bad memories. 'They could even kill him just because they know it would destroy me...I just can't let that happen.'

He glanced down at the city, the holiday lights visible even from his altitude. He could even hear some large groups of carolers starting on Do You See What I See. His eyes hardened, and he tore his eyes from the window.

'That's why I have to remember to forget holidays. I must forget sentiment; forget any nonsense that could put Kaiba Corp and Mokuba in any danger.'

He rifled through the five-inch thick packet of statistics, every so often sighing, or draining another cup of espresso.

The only person in a thousand-room complex.

A draft whipped around the room suddenly, chilling the young businessman to the bone. To close the guilty window, but to his bewilderment, none were open. Giving his temples a quick massage, he slid back into his seat. He had only just tried to collect himself when a flighty-sounding giggle interrupted his thoughts.

"Who's there?" He bellowed. "Show yourself. This had better not be some sort of joke; I'm not in the mood!"

Nobody answered, but he could swear that there were quite a few people snickering somewhere in his office. He was sure that he heard some far-away voices say, "Ooh lookit! He's gone all white like a sheet."

"Aw, poor baby, are we scaring you?"

"We just want to sing is all."

The voices were getting louder and the room colder. Seto Kaiba could feel his heart beginning to beat in his chest. The quickening lub-dub was louder than any other sound in the room, yet still the voices grew louder as did the sound of the carolers outside. Kaiba pressed his back against a wall trying slide his way toward the door.

"Tee hee, trying to get away is he?"

'Stop this!' He mentally screamed at himself. 'There's nothing there nothing at all. It's just my imagination. Mokuba must have tried experimenting with the coffee again. There's nothing here.'

His back must have hit a light switch, because at that moment, the lights went out, and his vision depended on the distant lights decorating the city. Beads of sweat cascaded down his face, and his chest heaved as he breathed deeply, trying to reclaim his stolen voice. The night was suddenly silent. Then, to his horror, an un-earthly disembodied chorus began to sing.

"Do you see what I see?"

Kaiba's eyes, if at all possible, opened wider. The voices, which seemed to come right from within his very office, grew louder, echoing off the walls.

"Said the blowing night wind to the little lamb, Do you see what I see? Cold as mother's tombstone, little lamb, Do you see what I see? A heart, a heart, frozen stiff like ice, Black and frigid as a tomb, Black and frigid as a tomb."

That was enough proof for the frightened teen. He made a dash for the door only to be cut off by a shower of razor sharp paper hurled in front of his way by some un-seen force. Looking away from the door he saw that the documents he had previously working on were floating. People were beginning to form from the walls. Semi-transparent people who he knew had died long ago. Their demonic singing continued.

"Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? The cries, the cries, of those cast to the cold, The victims of the boy's frozen heart The victims of the boy's frozen heart."

Kaiba backed himself away from the door, half-paralyzed with fear. 'This can't be real, it's all a trick, some sort of sick plot, some sort of plot...' he told himself repetitively. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, file cabinets opened and shut, their contents pouring out into the room, confetti for the ghostly guests throwing some sort of deranged Holiday Party. Along with laughter and singing, Kaiba could hear soft cries of good tidings. "Merry Christmas" said one spirit,

"Happy Chanukah" "Happy New Year" "Feliz Navidad" "Happy Kwanzaa" "The festive season is upon us! Sing with unbridled voices!"

The chorus of spirits began their final verse, slowly moving in and cornering the petrified teen. Their voices rose to an incredible volume.

"SAID THE WAND'RING SPIRITS TO THE FOOLISH BOY, DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE KNOW? RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, FOOLISH BOY? DO YOU KNOW WHAT WE KNOW?"

"Stop it..." whispered Kaiba, "...None of this is real...none of you are real!"

"Frigid as a tomb."

"This isn't real, it's all some plot!"

"Frozen like the ice!"

"STOP IT! GET OUT!"

"FRIGID AS A TOMB!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"HEART AS BLEAK AS ICE!!"

Panicking, Kaiba spotted a baseball bat of Mokuba's, a rare find in his usually sterilized office. He made a swift grab for it, and desperately swung with all of his might at the semi-transparent jeering, mocking faces. Frantic and disturbed, he did not seem to realize that the bat went straight through his targets, not harming them in any way. He recognized those faces; these people had once worked for him. They had taken their own lives, some driven to the grave by stress from their jobs. Or at least that's what the police said...

The chorus suddenly dropped in volume, preparing for a crescendo.

"Do you know what I know?"

"Stop it, you're not real..."

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I KNOW?"

Their faces pressed closer to his. Though still struggling, Kaiba could name them in his mind, 'Johnson, Watanabe, Sanzenin...'

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT I KNOW?"

'Rodriguez, Misaki, Smith, Gozaburo? Gozaburo?'

The young CEO closed his eyes tight, and with the last of his strength screamed,

"NONE OF THIS IS REAL! YOU'RE ALL DEAD, LONG DEAD, LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Suddenly the night was silent.

Daring to open his eyes, Kaiba saw that his "guests" had vanished, leaving only his ruined office behind. He dropped the bat and let himself fall to the floor in shock, his chest heaving, and his eyes wide. 'Am I losing my mind?' he asked himself.

Suddenly a chill ran down his spine. He felt some prescience behind him. Slowly and fearfully, he turned his head to meet his new visitor. A nearly transparent girl, with large eyes, short lightly curled hair, and two odd looking ears sat on her knees. She smiled, gradually leaning over him, forcing him to lie against the floor, panicking for the second time that day. Her faced nearly touched his, and yet he could not feel nor hear her breathing for the sole reason that she was dead. Moving almost impossibly close, she grinned and whispered,

"Boo."

End Chapter*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lil' Washu: That was possibly one of the scariest things I ever wrote...

Kaiba: *glare*

Lil' Washu: Quit that, and maybe I'll let you get through this fic with your sanity intact. Tell me what you thought of this peoples! REVIEW!