LW: WEEEEEE! Let's play a game!

Yami: This I can handle.

LW: Betcha can't guess what I'm high on!

Yami: The heart of the cards?

Mokuba: Sugar?

Tristain: Sugar?

Y. Bakura: Marijuana?

LW: Nope, I'm currently high on FLUFF. WHOOOO!!!! 'Cause there's fluff coming up soon, pure holiday fluff garnishing the overall plot. DOUBLE WHOOO!

Y. Bakura: I think I would have preferred the narcotics.

LW: ....But then it gets sort of melancholy...ok really melancholy...

Kaiba: What now?

LW: That would spoil the plot...go read the story allready people. Ok, just one more...WHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! There, now are you satisfied? READ!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Look at it Tea! See how it sparkles?"

"Yeah Mai, I saw the first hundred times you showed me too." Tea replied.

"Gee, I didn't think Mai would be so pleased with her gift." Commented Joey.

"If it's shiny, and she can wear it, she likes it." Said Tristan.

"The funny thing about that necklace," continued Joey "Is that it's supposed to grant wishes."

"Come on, Joey, I was with you when you bought that thing from that scary- looking Chinese man. For the last time, pieces of jewelry DO NOT grant wishes."

"But my puzzle granted my wish, Tristan." Interjected Yugi, "I finally got the friends I always wanted!"

"Well, that's different, Yugi...yours is a puzzle...thingy, not a necklace. Oh whatever, Mai seems to like it anyway, doesn't she?"

Joey's mood suddenly flip-flopped.

"I was hoping the darned thing could really grant wishes. I have one really important wish that can't come true."

"Try wishing harder." Suggested Bakura

"Forget it," replied Joey, "None of that stuff is actually real...Don't worry Yugi, I'm excluding yer puzzle, stop lookin' at me like that!" 'Darn his enormously large eyes.' brooded Joey.

The doorbell rang, causing a small interruption in the festivities.

"Hey Yug," asked Joey, "Did you invite anyone else to the party?"

"Yup. I thought the snow cancelled their plans, but I guess not." The instant Yugi opened the door; something flashed by him and latched itself onto Joey.

"Happy Holidays big bro!"

Joey pulled his younger sister off of him in disbelief.

"Serenity? But how? You told me that you couldn't come this year, you kept saying it would be a burden no matter what I told you. How?"

"It was really weird Joey; I got this letter begging me to come visit you. I knew it wasn't from you, there were no spelling errors. The weirdest part was that it was signed, 'from Christmas spirits #1 and #2'" Perplexed at her brother's astonished face, she sadly asked, "Aren't you glad to see me Joey?"

"Whaddya mean? Of course I'm glad, I, I...Hey Serenity...you aren't wearing perfume are you? 'Cause something's messing with my allergies and making my eyes tear...What are you guys looking at? It's not like I'm cryin' or anything..."

Joey gave up on talking, embracing his sister, trying to hide happy tears from sight.

"And guess what Joey, I'm not the only one here. Mom, come say hi to Joey!"

Mrs. Wheeler waved shyly from the doorway, trying to stay out of the limelight.

"Season's greetings Joseph. How are things?"

Joey looked up at his estranged mother with shining eyes.

"Mom? You too? I guess my wish really did come true..."

The rest of Yugi's guests watched in happy silence. Mokuba watched as well, but he did not feel the same pleasure as the others. He smiled at the scene, but he could not hide the feeling of bitterness growing within.

*~*

"So you're my first assignment, right?" Poinsettia circled Kaiba mischievously. "Remember me?" Kaiba quickly swapped the frightened look on his face for his usual cold glare.

"No, I don't." he replied curtly, "and I don't believe in ghosts, spirits or otherwise, so why don't you go haunt some nutcase who does?" He turned his back on her and tried to salvage his battered office papers. Poinsettia watched him, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Wait, so you're saying that you don't believe I exist, even though I'm standing right in front of you?"

"Correct."

"And even though I'm talking to you"

"Affirmative."

"And you still don't remember me?

"Nope"

Poinsettia struggled to maintain her up-beat attitude. She drifted a few inches in front of Kaiba and said, "Remember this?" and flashed him the same look she had a few seconds before her death. Kaiba froze. The same ice cold feeling spread over him as it had before.

"Listen," Poinsettia continued, "Remember that doe you hit with a car earlier? Well that was me, and somehow I wound up at this place between heaven and hell, where they recruit spirits to help mean, nasty people like you become nice, cuddly (ok maybe not really cuddly) human beings. I'm supposed to be showing you your past, present and future right now, so-"

"Remember when I told you that I don't believe in ghosts?" Interrupted Kaiba.

"Yep!"

"I also don't believe in lying, babbling, spirits of road-kill." Poinsettia tried to control her raging anger as he turned away, and continued salvaging his work. Poinsettia's up-beat attitude spontaneously combusted. While she mused over the different ways to torture and kill an annoying human, Kaiba thought to himself, 'After my imagination calls it quits and the road-kill ghost disappears, I'm going to have a nice long chat with my therapist, and then forget that this ever happened.' He glanced behind him for a second to check if the Poinsettia had disappeared, which of course she hadn't. 'My imagination is being stubborn today.' Poinsettia regained her composure.

"Fine then," She growled, "I'll make you believe me!"

"And just how are you going to do that? Bore me to death with your babbling?"

In a split second, she and Kaiba were no longer inside the walls of Kaiba Corp, but outside, floating fifty stories above the ground where the city lay sparkling below. Kaiba panicked.

"What have you done?" He asked in panic. "Who do you work for, and what do you want?"

"Funny, I think I remember telling you all of that already, but I guess your skull is too thick to absorb that information. You're about to experience your past, present and future. Maybe you'll actually gain something from it, but with a big head like that, I doubt it."

"Past, present and future?" He asked in disbelief. "Sounds like some idiotic play I took Mokuba to see one year."

"He probably didn't think it was so idiotic...Not that you would know of course."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He demanded clenching his fists. Poinsettia only giggled.

"You'll see." She replied, and snapped her fingers once again, and the surrounding city faded into a white mist.

*~*

Mai's pendant lay temporarily forgotten as everyone hurried to get Serenity and Mrs. Wheeler settled. Mokuba picked it up and gazed into it hopefully. It was pretty and smooth, its surface dotted with other natural elements. It had been. But Mokuba was not interested in its shape or colors.

'This stone worked for Joey;" he thought, 'it actually brought his family to him. Maybe I'll work for me.' He closed his eyes, and silently made his wish, but to his nobody came bursting through the door. He tried again, squeezing his eyes shut and the stone until his hand hurt. When nothing happened, he sighed, and put it back on the table.

"Don't worry Mokuba, the holidays aren't over yet."

Mokuba jumped, surprised by Yugi's sudden appearance.

"Wha, what do you mean Yugi?"

"Your wish, it's no secret what you wished for. Don't worry, Christmas isn't here yet. Twenty-four hours is plenty of time for your brother to change his mind."

Mokuba looked away, softly saying,

"I honestly don't know what you mean, Yugi. My brother has a whole company to run. He doesn't have time for..."

"For you?"

Yugi watched the boy with compassionate eyes. His question had frozen Mokuba to his seat.

"I-It doesn't matter, why should I care what my brother does with his time. I can look after myself! Seto can do what he wants."

Yugi watched as Mokuba got up and walked off to a darker corner of the shop. Inside of his soul room, Yami his light's sudden change in temperament.

'Yugi, what's the matter?' Asked Yami through their mind-link, 'you should be enjoying these mysterious holidays that you speak so much of, but instead I sense sadness.'

'I'm ok Yami. It's Mokuba I'm worried about right now. You see, everyone's spending the holidays with the ones they love, except for him. Kaiba doesn't really buy into this "togetherness" sort of thing, but I know Mokuba does. It's sort of sad, because he has to feel all alone during the holidays and there isn't much that I can do about it.'

Yami sighed. 'Yugi, I understand how you feel. Up into now, you have always been able to help those you care about, but I'm afraid that there isn't much you can do this time. But do not trouble yourself. I have a feeling that sooner or later Kaiba will come to understand how his little brother feels. Until then, just be there for Mokuba as you have done for so many others, and try to have some fun.'

Yugi felt a little more relieved. 'Thanks Yami. You always have the best advice.' Yugi let his mind return to the peaceful surroundings of the Game Shop as he fruitlessly tried to help the little Kaiba feel at home.

*~*~*~*~*

'Where am I?'

The mist had faded, and left Kaiba standing over a large dull looking building. It looked like a very large house with many windows. The entire complex was covered in snow, and someone had hung a few scrawny pieces of garland on the surrounding trees. A few small kids were throwing snowballs or sledding. Somehow it all seemed very familiar to the floating businessman.

'Is this all a dream? If it is, then who was that dim-witted figment of my imagination from before? What does she want from me? But wait...This is the orphanage where Mokuba and I were abandoned after our parents died.'

The spirit-girl had returned again, this time floating behind him, laughing.

"I brought you here to see what you used to be," she teased, "when you actually knew what the holiday spirit was all about. Come with me!"

Before he could stop her, she had grabbed his sleeve and pulled him through the roof.

'How does she do that?'

She had pulled him inside a large room, where even more children were scattered around a sparse plastic Christmas tree in a corner. The room was filled with the sounds of their laughter and yelling. All of them seemed happy, except for one little boy almost completely un-noticeable by a window. He was leaning against a window-pane watching the snowfall. He had long black hair, and grayish blue eyes...

"It's Mokuba!" He said with disbelief. 'The spirit wasn't lying then, she's really showing me visions of my past.' Kaiba growled angrily. He was well used to enemies of his using his past to get what they want. But somehow, the phantom girl didn't seem like one of his typical power-hungry adversaries. She was simply...irritating...He turned his attention back to the boy at the window. It really was Mokuba, at only five years of age. For some reason, he was all alone, and Kaiba couldn't quite remember why. He heard footsteps behind him, turned, and gasped. At the age of ten years was Seto Kaiba though not officially a Kaiba at that point. The younger version of himself placed his hand on little Mokuba's shoulder.

"What's the matter Mokuba?" he asked his face full of concern. "Don't you want to have some fun with the others? You seem so lonely."

"I'm alright."

"You can't fool me Mokuba, I'm your big brother, remember?"

"Really I'm, it's just that...well, do you remember that lady and her husband that came here yesterday?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, do you remember when that lady said that they wanted to adopt you, but they only wanted you, and not me, because..." he stopped and sniffled for a minute and then continued, "...because they only wanted a special boy, like you. They had seen how smart you were, and they said that they wanted to take you home right away. They wanted to leave me behind."

"Is that why you're upset Mokuba? That lady might not have thought you were special, but that's her loss, because she's wrong."

"That's not why I'm upset, Seto. I'm upset, because when they asked you if you would come with them, you said no. You had a chance to leave this place, but you said that you wanted to stay here...with me. You should have just gone with them, and left me here."

Mokuba slid to the floor, and held his legs to his chest hiding his face from view. My younger self knelt to where his was sitting. He asked gently,

"Mokuba, I would never do that, you know that I wouldn't. After all, how would you feel if I went away with that family?"

"I, I guess I'd feel really sad, and lonely." he looked up from where he had hidden his head. "I'd still be alright though, because I'd know that you had a home for the holidays, and you'd see a real Christmas tree, and you'd actually get a gift for Christmas, 'cause I can never get one for you!" His sad dark eyes welled up with tears. "You should just forget about me, and go have a real family, and have a mother and a father, just like you had before I was born!"

Tears started to roll down his face, and he cried, "But instead you chose to stay with me! You're the most likely to be adopted 'cause you're really smart, but that'll never happen 'cause you want to stay with me, the one that nobody wants! That lady told me...she told me that if I really loved you, I'd tell you to go with them...she told me that you would never be adopted if I kept hanging on to you like a baby. If you left I'd be lonely, but it'd be better than keeping you from being happy... "

Mokuba burst into tears, his sobs shaking his tiny body. The younger version of his older brother pulled him into a comforting hug and gently patted his back, trying to stop his tears. He whispered,

"Don't cry Mokuba, it'll be all right. Whatever made you think that you were keeping me from being happy?" Mokuba didn't reply, but buried his face into his brother's sweater. "Listen Mokuba," continued the smaller Seto, "you're my little brother, and I love you. You're worth a lot more than any trees or gifts. As long as I have you, I'm happy. I promise that as long as I live, you'll never feel lonely, because I'll never leave you all alone. Remember that."

Mokuba stopped crying, and looked up. "You promise?"

"Yeah, of course I promise."

The same white mist from the city surrounded us again, and the scene vanished. I was left floating in nothingness for a second time.

Poinsettia sighed like a heart-struck schoolgirl. "That was so sweet!" she cooed. "It makes me wonder whatever happened to you. You used to be so darn cuddly!"

"I guess you could consider that sweet if you're a soap-opera watching idiot."

Poinsettia gave her own fuzzy ears a good yank, counted to ten, and chanted a Buddhist mantra to keep herself from ripping her assignment into deer kibble.

She then pulled a book from the sash of her skirt. Kaiba could have sworn that he saw his name printed on the cover in gold, but he didn't have time for a closer look. She said simply, "I don't know everything about you yet (thank the Lord), so I'll just let this book pick where we go for me. Hold on tight, and if you feel like barfing, do it somewhere far from me."

"Hold on to what?" Yelled Kaiba. Poinsettia ignored him.

The book glowed with a brilliant light, forcing Kaiba to shield his eyes. The mist receded, and this time they were standing in a dark office. The place looked familiar as the last place had, but not in a good way. A man standing pacing by a window caught his attention. He turned, and I saw his face, and suddenly he recognized him.

"Gozaburo," he said, his voice shaking, "Our foster father."

"Oh, so I'm finally getting a response from you," Poinsettia teased. "Apparently this guy, whoever he is, seems to be uncovering some of your bad memories. Maybe this'll make you listen to me."

Sure enough, the infamous Gozaburo Kaiba himself sat in his expensive office chair gazing out of the window. However something was wrong. The man's brow was furrowed and his hands shaking. There was a half-full cup of some strong-smelling drink on his desk, and several more empty bottles of the stuff lying around the his chair. It was obvious that the man was under an immense amount of pressure from his frazzled appearance. Poinsettia began to wonder what she had gotten them into.

Without warning, Gozaburo Kaiba snarled, "Where is that lazy wretch of a boy? He should have been here a half an hour ago."

Kaiba began to recognize the very place and time. It was the Christmas Eve of the year after he had won our adoption in a chess match from Gozaburo Kaiba. He began to remember the very day he was seeing, and he didn't want to remember any more.

"Take me back!" He demanded, "I don't want to see any more." but Poinsettia was for the moment unforgiving.

"Listen you," she snapped, "You are a SCROOGE, and like all scrooges, you have to witness at least one pretty bad memory. It's your own fault, so I suggest that you suck it up! Maybe after this, you won't be so quick to murder innocent forest critters."

"I didn't murder you, it was an accident!"

"But you didn't care!"

"Should I have?"

"SCROOGE!"

"...Imaginary!"

"Why, HOW do you still refuse to acknowledge my existence?"

"That's easy; I just remember that I'm not insane."

"Why, you!"

Their argument was cut short as a brown-haired, blue-eyed boy of about 11 years stepped into the office, his stern face masking some unknown fear.

'Well that's unusual.' Thought Poinsettia.

She noticed that in only one year's time, her charge had grown to look a little more like his arrogant present-day self. His eyes had grown colder, his complexion paler, and his body much scrawnier as if he had lost a lot of weight in a very short amount of time. She noticed that though he was standing stiffly in front of the larger man after noticing his present disoriented state.

"Where were you?" asked the larger man in a gruff angry voice. "I told you to be here over a half an hour ago. You were supposed to be in your room preparing that new computer program. Where is it?"

"It's right here, sir." said the younger version of Seto Kaiba as he handed the larger man a compact disc. He took it, and shoved it into the disc drive of a laptop in the corner of his office. He watched the screen for a while, and then turned slowly back to the boy standing in the center of the room.

"It's incomplete," he said dangerously softly as he approached the boy slowly.

"But, but I followed your entire set of instructions sir." the young Kaiba stammered. He kept his body stiff and his head down as his foster father approached him. One of his father's employees had warned him about how "tense" Gozaburo can get during the holidays. There were rumors that his step-father had once broken the arm of a maid for angering him in a conversation over carpeting. He had suspicions that some de-humanizing thing that happened to his step-father over the holidays one year, but he didn't dare ask what...

"Nonsense!" Gozaburo reached for the boy, grabbed his neck, and forced him to look up at him. "I know that you weren't in your room working on this program. In fact lately, you seem entirely distracted from your duties as heir to this company." He increased the force of his grip on young Kaiba's face. "And I think I know what that something is. Your younger brother." The expression on the boy's face turned to terror.

"Mokuba? No, he's not a distraction, he's not!" His voice was beginning to quiver with panic, as if trying to hide some all-important secret. "I've been trying as hard as I can! I've been-"

Without warning, the larger man pulled back his fist, and plunged it deep into Seto's stomach. The air rushed out of his lungs, and he crumpled like a dead leaf. Poinsettia put a hand to her mouth, gasping in surprise. 'What crime had the boy committed to deserve that?'

"You pathetic liar!" Screamed the larger man, this time striking him in the head, slamming his step-son into a wall behind him. As the boy slumped over, a small box wrapped in shiny paper fell out of one of his pockets, and landed in front of Gozaburo Kaiba, who picked it up "What's this?" He demanded.

"That, that's nothing!" The younger Kaiba stammered desperately. The elder Kaiba ripped it open and pulled out a small glass angel ornament. The angel had a few words etched on the hem of its robe that said, 'So You'll Never Feel Alone'.

"You call this nothing?" he screamed, and then grabbed and lifted the boy by the neck. "What is this? Tell me!"

His captive struggled to breathe for a few brief moments, and then with difficulty murmured, "It's a gift."

"For who?"

"...For Mokuba. Please...it's Christmas Eve...let him have a little fun...he deserves it..."

His raging foster father paid no mind to his pleading. Instead he released his step-son watching him fall painfully to the floor. Gozaburo Kaiba sneered at the little glass figurine in his hand, and then before the younger Kaiba could stop him, he hurled it with all of his might at the office wall. His foster son looked on in horror as it exploded into millions of tiny glass shards.

Poinsettia tore her eyes away from the frightening scene long enough to see the change in the present-day Kaiba. His face was filled with an absolute rage, his fists were clenched, and his arms bent at the elbows, as if he were about to attack his foster father. He was enraged, and yet helpless to stop the scene from the past. He could only watch his younger self suffer under a man that he utterly hated. Poinsettia felt something stir in her heart as she watched him. She had no idea what could drive humans to be so cruel to each other. She winced as she saw the smaller Seto's torment wasn't over yet. Gozaburo dragged him by his shirt collar to the office window overlooking the city where people were scurrying like tiny ants from building to building.

"Look down boy!" He commanded. "What are all of those people doing?"

Little Kaiba made no response, as he was still in shock after watching the gift for his little brother shatter. Frustrated tears streamed down his face, mixing with trickles of blood. Gozaburo grew angry again, and slammed the child's head into the windowsill. "ANSWER ME!" He screamed.

"They're shopping...for gifts." He whispered painfully.

"And why are they doing this?"

"They're for people they care about..."

Poinsettia winced as Gozaburo struck him again, and again for not answering correctly.

"Idiot!" he shouted, "They're doing this because they're idiots like you who actually think this season means something other than money and time. Wasted money and wasted time! Now how long did it take you to find that gift? Where did you buy it from? How much did you spend? TELL ME!

"I...I can't remember." He screamed as he received a kick and a blow to the head for that. Gozaburo grabbed his collar, and pulled the quivering boy dangerously close to his face.

"You bought that from a competitor! Now listen! Every year around this time of year, Kaiba Corp's rivals gain millions from consumer spending. This season is all about those people wasting money on gifts, nothing more, and you had the nerve to waste this company's time and money! If I catch you wasting any more time, or I'll throw you back in the orphanage so fast that your neck will snap. Now get out!" He landed a few more kicks in the young Kaiba's stomach before he finally managed to stumble out the door. Poinsettia floated numbly after him, sensing that the present-day Kaiba was following her.

They caught up with the Kaiba's past image in a hallway. He had stopped at a water fountain to wash the blood and tears off his face. He sighed and flattened his bangs over where his foster father had hit his face then stiffened after hearing footsteps from down the hall. It was his little brother Mokuba, who ran towards him full of smiles wearing blue jeans, a little red jacket and a Santa cap. He ran up to his older sibling and threw his arms around his waist.

"Hi Seto! Happy holidays!" he said cheerfully.

"Hello Mokuba." His elder brother replied bleakly.

"Are you alright Seto? You look really sad. And what happened to your clothes? You look like you were in a fight or something."

"I fell down the stairs." He quickly lied. "I'm fine, really." Mokuba didn't look convinced.

"I know! I'll give you your present early. Maybe it'll cheer you up." He pulled a small crudely wrapped box out of his pocket and tried to hand it to his older brother who asked,

"How much did you spend on this Mokuba?"

"Umm...a lot of coins I think...but that doesn't matter, right?"

His older brother gently pushed the gift back into his little brother's hands and said, "I don't want it."

"Huh?" Mokuba's eyes widened with shock. His brother continued,

"Ask whoever you bought it from to give you your money back." Mokuba stared at him disbelief.

"But Seto, what about Christmas and-" Kaiba interrupted him.

"Forget about Christmas Mokuba. From now on, I think we should both just forget about it, there's no point. Now leave me alone, I have a lot of work to do." He turned heel, and walked away, leaving his shocked little brother behind.

Kaiba could only vaguely remember that day. He hadn't thought much about it, but seeing his little brother's eyes fill with tears again brought back old sympathies. He watched as Mokuba slid down to the floor of carpeted hallway, not noticing that his ghostly companion had chosen to follow his younger self.

Poinsettia found the past version of Kaiba in a small cramped room with no furniture. He was sitting rigidly on the floor by a computer computer, re- doing his "incomplete" computer file. He reached for the mouse, but then drew back his hand wincing in pain. Though he was alone, he still scrubbed his eyes with his sleeve every few seconds, afraid of being seen crying. Poinsettia felt her own brown eyes water as the child's blue ones filled with shameful tears. He curled up on the floor crying in pain and sorrow, all alone once more. Poinsettia kneeled down closer to him and heard him murmur, "Stupid useless holidays. Dumb presents...big waste..."

"So this is what you were before you became so arrogant." Poinsettia said softly. She knew that he couldn't hear her, being just an image of the past. She watched him cry silently, then added, "I know...I know that your present day self didn't want to see you suffer...but I have to do this, if I can change his ways, then I'll be restored to life, I, I have to be firm." She remembered the look on Kaiba's face when he saw Gozaburo beating his former self. "It was so weird, he looked so...helpless...I just don't understand how humans...I just don't.

She heard a soft noise beside her. The little Kaiba had fallen asleep all curled up on the floor. His bangs had fallen over his face, hiding his wounds. 'He looks so peaceful. Maybe I could give his present-day self a little time to recover before showing him the next scene if there's time left.

She pulled the poinsettia flower Marley had given her out of her sash and counted the petals. "Let's see, how do these human numbers go again? Oh yeah, one...dos...tree, four? Only four petals left? I think I had a lot more when I started this trip. Marley said that spirits can't last for very long in the mortal world. If I let my time run out, what will happen to me? I don't wanna be free-floating ectoplasm!' She imagined a blobby ectoplasmic version of herself. 'No way, it's his fault I'm like this, and I have a job to do, there's no time for mercy. She got up and prepared go find her assignment, but I couldn't help but steal one last glance at the sleeping boy.

"I'm so sorry, little Kaiba"

Back in the hallway, the present-day Kaiba was watching over his disheartened little brother.

'I don't understand. Years ago, after I made my decision about not wasting so much time on the holidays, I didn't notice any change in Mokuba at all, but from this perspective he seems...heartbroken. Why didn't I notice...Is it possible that I didn't choose to notice this?'

Mokuba pulled of his cap, picked up the rejected gift, and threw it with all of his strength at the opposite wall. Kaiba watched as the package burst, and duel monster cards wrapped in shiny paper were scattered all over the hall. Kaiba kneeled by them to get a closer look.

'These cards are really expensive,' he thought to himself, 'Mokuba must have saved for months to buy these.' His thought were interrupted by his brother's sniffling. Slowly, and with unsteady hands the child opened his treasured locket with his Seto's picture in it. Sadly he whispered,

"Seto, I don't care that you don't to waste time on gifts or anything like that. It's just that lately, you seem so sad and cold, and you've been like that ever since we were adopted. Every Christmas before, no matter how bad things got at the orphanage or at home; you would always smile and be tough. You would always cheer me up like you did a year ago. Now that you don't like the holidays anymore, how can I do that for you? You don't even have time to talk to me anymore. I guess that's why I have to say this to a dumb necklace instead of you!"

He snapped the locket shut and prepared to hurl it against the same wall as the gift. Then, while having second thoughts he quietly lowered his arm and looped the locket back around his neck. Sniffling, he got up and walked down the hall, leaving the gift behind to be thrown away by some maid or janitor. Kaiba, forgetting that this Mokuba was only a memory said aloud,

"Mokuba! I don't understand. Aren't the gifts, garland and wrapping paper what the holidays are about? Everything's so commercialized now, every big event has turned into nothing but a sales hike. If the gifts didn't matter to you, then why are you upset? Mokuba!" He could only watch helplessly as his brother kept walking down the hall, deaf to his cries.

"Wow, are you really that thick?" Poinsettia had re-appeared behind him.

Kaiba flashed her a bitter glance but said nothing.

"Come on," she continued, "it's time for a change in scenery. She flipped through the pages of her book, as the melancholy halls of Kaiba corp. dissolved like watercolor paints.

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

Lil' Washu: *sniff* Well, I suppose this chapter isn't what you'd call a heartwarming Christmas fic, but don't let that ruin the holiday spirit!

Shippo: Yeah, especially not when there's still candy canes to be eaten! ^___^

Kaiba: Who invited the moochers?

Lil' Washu: Hey, how did you get in here? This is a Yu-Gi-Oh! holiday fic.

Meowth: Some kid with a tri-colored porcupine for hair invited every single anime character and cartoon known to man here.

Goku: WOO HOO! Party! And that means FOOOOD. Lots of FOOD!

Lil' Washu: Yugi, your habit inviting possible unwanted guests is beginning to get to me.

Yugi: Don't be mad! I'm just spreading the holiday spirit that's all!

Joey: Yeah! Now where's the dip!

Lil' Washu: Oh well, since there's nothing I can do about it now, I might as well-

Rook + Areca: Party hardy!

Lil' Washu: ^____^ Next chapter will be up soon! Keep reviewing, and-

Everyone: HAPPY HOLIDAYS!