Chapter Title: Hide and Seek - Game Start!

LW: I'm so excited! At the end of this chapter, I'm gonna do two things that I've never done before in the world of fanfiction! I'm finally gonna prove how much I love you readers and reviewers!

Kaiba: You love them, yet you torture me...

LW: But I love you too! And you're not the one who gets tortured this chapter!

Kaiba: What's that supposed to mean? You wouldn't!

LW: Violence and angst warning! Chapter start!

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Ryou's shy voice serenaded Yugi's Christmas party. Malik pouted nearby.

Oh holy night,

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth

All eyes and ears were on the makeshift stage in Yugi's living room. Yami Bakura and Malik's quarreling had led to a one-sided fistfight, a drinking contest, and then, oddly enough, a singing contest stalemated in a duet (Bakura had forced Ryou to compete instead of him). Not to be outdone, Malik's steady voice picked up on the next phrase.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth

The rest of the gang could only blink and stare wide-eyed. The two bishounen looked surprisingly good together on stage. Mai leaned over to Tea and whispered,

"Is it hot in here, or is it just those two?"

"Those two. Stop staring at them like that Serenity, you'll make Tristan jealous."

"Who's Tristan?"

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn

Isis rolled her eyes, wondering how anyone could possibly find her younger brother attractive...Bakura was a different story...

'BRING! BRING!'

Yugi scrambled to pick up the phone before its annoying ringing could cause a distraction. "Hello?" he whispered.

"Yugi!"

"Who is it?"

Behind Yugi, Bakura and Malik's voices intertwined for the climax of the song.

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born

Yugi strained to hear the caller's voice.

"Yugi! Is my brother there? Has Mokuba left your house yet?"

"Kaiba? You're asking for Mokuba? What do you mean by yet? He's...Ohmygosh...Kaiba, I'm so sorry!"

Oh night, divine!

Oh night, oh night divine!

"Everyone, STOP THE PARTY!"

Everyone turned to frown at Yugi, who had since dropped the phone, and was running around every room in the house overturning pillows, looking behind doors and having something resembling a panic attack. Joey couldn't help but be worried about his best friend's sanity. He asked,

"Hey Yugi, what's eatin ya?"

"It's Mokuba! He isn't here! Where did he go? I completely forgot about him! I should have been watching him! This is all my fault!"

"Mokuba's missing?"

"Kaiba's little brother was here?" asked Malik, "I don't remember seeing him when we came in."

"You mean he hasn't been here since before you guys came? How could I let this happen?" Yugi put his hands to his forehead. Frightening words like MISSING and KIDNAPPED and MURDERED flashed through his mind. He found himself wondering how he could have misplaced the youngest of his guests.

"Hey look Yugi," said Tristan, "his jacket and boots are gone, so he probably just went out to get some air or something."

Yugi's violet eyes scanned the coat rack and verified Tristan's claim. Satisfied, everyone else settled back into their seats. Bakura and Malik continued their fight over control of the microphone. Serenity and Mai placed bets on who would win. Yami could tell that Yugi was still worried.

'Yugi, Call Kaiba back and tell him not to worry. Mokuba will probably wander back here sooner or later. You've seen how tough he is, he can take care of himself.'

'But why didn't he tell us that he was leaving? And he looked so sad before...'

'Aibou, you worry too much. Do your friends a favor and try to relax, ok?'

Yugi reluctantly settled back into the couch. Unable to completely calm himself, he chose the radio to serve as a distraction and switched it on. The party guests froze as the broadcast blared across the room:

"And so everyone, the temperature currently stands at 15 degrees Fahrenheit and is steadily plunging. We can now officially call the snowstorm blowing through our area a blizzard, folks. Emergency rooms and hospitals have already been filled to capacity with frostbite and hypothermia cases, so be sure to keep all children and pets inside..."

Nobody moved for the next few moments, excluding Bakura and Malik who were about five seconds away from starting a shadow game in Yugi's living room. Joey was first to speak.

"Uh, Yugi, maybe we should go look for the kid, you know, just to be safe? Yugi?"

"Yugi isn't here right now, Joey."

Yugi and Yami's sudden switch startled everyone else in the room, again, excluding the Malik and the tomb robber who were still trying their best to kill each other. Yami's piercing eyes glared in their direction and his voice acquired a militaristic tone.

"Listen up everyone! Mokuba might be lost somewhere out there in this blizzard and we're going to find him. Bakura! Give control back to Ryou before I stuff you back in the Millennium Ring myself!"

"Now just a minute, who is Ra's name gave you the right to push me around, pharaoh?"

"This puzzle and Ra himself tomb-robber." Yami snarled icily. "Now are you going peacefully, or do I have to lose my Christmas spirit?" There was a brief flash of light and Bakura's sharp brown eyes were replaced with Ryou's soft gentler ones. Yami continued, "Grandpa and Mrs. Wheeler will stay behind in case Kaiba calls again or Mokuba comes back by himself. Everyone else goes outside where we can spilt up and start our search!"

Hats and jackets were hastily put on as everyone followed "General Yami" out the door and into the snow, too intimidated or awed to question his plans.

*~*

"Damn it! He's already left Yugi's place. He could be anywhere now." Kaiba growled as he made his way up the stairs of Kaiba corp. Gliding after him, Poinsettia asked,

"So what's your plan for finding him? Does he have any place where he goes when he's were upset?"

"The arcade, but it's closed. It doesn't matter, I can find him anyway with this."

He reached the top of the stairs, and opened a door leading to the roof of Kaiba corp. He stepped out onto the snow-swept concrete, ignored the cold, and ran to the waiting helicopter. Poinsettia had to yell to be heard over the howling wind.

"This is your plan? You're going to fly this thing in this weather? Have you noticed the hell-sent blizzard?"

"What are you complaining for? The snow's going right through you!"

Poinsettia looked down and saw to her dismay that it was. 'That's not supposed to happen yet,' she thought gloomily, 'I must really be running out of time.'

Kaiba fastened himself into the pilot's seat of the copter, turned the ignition key, and grabbing the controls in haste. Mokuba's innocent face flashed through his mind.' Don't worry kid, I'm coming to get you. Just try to stay alive until then, ok little brother?' With some halting protests, the copter's rotors came to life, and the propellers whirled into motion. The helicopter hovered into the air and off the building with Poinsettia in pursuit.

Somewhere down on earth, a gangly fair-haired teen dressed in a patched Santa Clause outfit whistled as he walked through the woods. It had been a good season for him. Countless times he had lured people near him with his costume, pretending to collect donations for charity. Then when they turned around, he had taken anything of value from their shopping bags. Today's haul consisted of a new digital video camera, a couple purses, and a whole mess of toys. Children were his favorite victims. Always so idiotically naive and trusting, they were easy to steal money from. There was nothing he loved more than money. He obsessed over it, he worshipped it, he could never have enough. He laughed out loud, celebrating the day's good haul. 'I wonder if the rest of the gang got as much loot as I did...probably not, those idiots can barely spell their own names.'

The voices of the aforementioned gang grew louder as he continued his journey, and soon his adversaries came into sight. He grew surprised when he noticed that they were inspecting what looked like a small jacket, a sweater, and wallet. 'SO the boneheads actually managed to steal something for once, I'm impressed.' He called out, "Hey numbskulls! Whadya catch?" A burly thug in an elf costume answered him.

"Clinks, you won't believe what we got! This stuff will sell for a fortune."

"What, the clothes? You're kidding. Clinks took the jacket and sweater from his lackey. As he inspected the material, his hard green eyes widened in shock. "These clothes are all designer. Where did you swipe this stuff from? It's too expensive for just anybody to have!" The chain bearing gangster known as Linx answered him. "We got it from dat brat over dere, Clinks. His daddy must be loaded er somethin', cause his wallet's full a dough."

The gang leader looked over to where Linx had motioned and spied a small unconscious boy with long raven hair lying face-down in the snow, covered with bruises and cuts. His small wrists had been bound behind him, his ankles were tied, and an old rag gagged him securely. The thin, tattered long sleeve shirt he had worn underneath his sweater and jacket couldn't protect him from the harsh winds, so he shivered with cold. Patches of snow around him were stained crimson. Clinks turned him over with the toe of his boot, nonchalantly taking note of his groan of pain. He studied the sleeping child's bruised face. 'Where have I seen this kid before?' he wondered. Another gangster sidled up to him like an obedient dog.

"The little rat was hard one to catch boss, but we got him. Now we just need to figure out what to do with him. We gotta shut him up so he won't go runnin' to da cops. I've got a dagger in my pocket that would take off his tongue nice and quick-"

"Not now Daggerz, I'm busy." Clinks growled, his green eyes glinting maliciously. In his hand he held the boy's open wallet. He read the ID card inside and gasped.

"This kid's name is...This kid is Mokuba Kaiba! He's Seto Kaiba's younger brother!"

A wave of fear washed over the rest of the gang. "That kid is related to THE Seto Kaiba?" asked Linx. "We're dead! That guy is in our class, he's like the devil himself! What do we do?"

"I know!" yipped Daggerz trembling, "We can just give the brat his stuff back, apologize, and pretend like none of this ever happened, right boss? Boss?"

Clinks didn't answer, but instead stared into a small picture he had found in the wallet with an expression of extreme hatred chiseled into his face. He despised Seto Kaiba. He had never actually spoken to him, yet his hate for him had no limits. Seto Kaiba was the richest person in Domino city. He had power, fame, and most importantly, money. Money was what Clinks needed, it was what he craved. Every time he saw Kaiba's face his dark heart was eaten up with jealousy. Every time Kaiba smirked or opened his mouth, it seemed to Clinks as though he was secretly mocking him. His envious green eyes slimmed as a clever plot came to mind. He had everything that he needed to carry out his plan near by. He walked over to Mokuba and viciously prodded him with his boot. The rest of the gang stared at him in fear and surprise.

"Clinks, what are you doing? That kid's big brother is like a loaded gun! He'll skin us alive!"

"Shut up! This kid is going to make us all filthy rich, so all of you stop standing there like a bunch of cowards, and get ready to move out of here!"

Mokuba moved slightly and tried to open his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the numbing cold and throbbing pain. Something trickled down his face and into his eye. He attempted to wipe it off, but instead discovered his bound hands and ankles. Remembering what had happened, he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. After seeing the bandits who had beat him up leering down at him, he wished he hadn't. Clinks grinned hungrily at his captive, and kneeled down next to him. He then pulled out a switchblade, pressed it to Mokuba's throat and growled,

"If you even think about screaming for help, I'll cut your voice box right out."

Mokuba shrank back as Clinks' rough hands removed the gag from around his mouth. His faced burned with humiliation when Clinks laughed at his fear. He gathered all of his courage together and snapped,

"What do you want from me, you costumed freaks?"

Clinks laughed harder, surprised by his audacity.

"What do we want? Aren't you getting ahead of yourself, kid? Your first question should be 'who are we?'. I'll answer that for you right now." He motioned to the circle of leering, grinning goons. "My name's Clinks, that's Linx, over there is Daggerz, Fang, Spike, Rip, Slash, and Slit. What we want is everything your big brother has, Mokuba Kaiba. And you're going to help us get what we want, or else..."

Clinks picked up the jacket Mokuba had been wearing and displayed it before his dark blue eyes. Mokuba watched, trembling as the gangster sunk his switchblade into the fabric, stabbing and slashing his knife through it until it was nothing but useless torn fabric and goose down. He did the same to Mokuba's sweater and wallet.

Mokuba wasn't sure if he was shaking from cold or fear. Either way, a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that he was in real trouble. He trembled even more as Clinks kneeled over him, knife in hand. He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to feel the cold, steel blade bury itself in his vulnerable flesh at any moment. He was surprised when the knife swept down and cut through the ropes binding his ankles instead. "On your feet!" he heard Clinks snarl. "We've got places to go, things to do, and you're coming with us!" Mokuba felt someone grab his hair, and drag him up onto his unsteady legs.

"What are you gonna do with me? Lemme go!"

"Sorry kid, but we just can't do that. You see brat, this is the season of giving, but I forgot to get your big bro a gift." Clinks dug into his pilfered shopping bag and yanked a red ribbon from off a wrapped box. "Fortunately, you happened to come along, so now my gift problem is solved." Two thugs held Mokuba still while Clinks tied a red ribbon around the squirming child's neck, knotting it tightly with a bow. When he finished, the rest of the gang laughed at the strange sight. Confused, Mokuba glared and yelled,

"What do you mean your gift problem is solved, you head case?"

"What I mean is that you will be the gift I give your big brother. Of course, tis the season of receiving and well as giving, and I want something in return for such a generous offer. In exchange for your life, I want everything in your brother's bank account." Mokuba's mouth fell open. Clinks found himself amused by his bewilderment.

"That's right kid, every dollar, dime, yen, peso, and penny that your older brother owns will belong to me. Of course, the guys will get some too..." Mokuba looked away.

"Sorry, but you're wasting your time. My big brother doesn't accept Christmas presents. I should know."

"Oh, something tells me that he'll accept this one. Now move!"

Clinks grabbed him and shoved him in a direction leading deeper into the woods. Mokuba refused to take another step, stubbornly standing in knee- deep in snow. Clinks grew angry, and he delighted in cruelly tightening the ropes around his captive's wrists. Mokuba's cries of pain rang through the air, but he still refused to move. A random gang member stepped up to Clinks.

"He's a tough little maggot, boss. He didn't even cry once when we were workin' him over before."

"The kid doesn't cry, huh? Well I'll see if I can fix that. Now, MOVE!"

The gang leader kicked Mokuba in the lower back, sending him stumbling forward a few more steps. This was repeated until he trudged through the snow without stopping, shivering and coughing from the intense cold. The gangsters walked behind their prisoner, laughing and joking as they went. Falling snow blew into his face, and the wind pierced what little protection from the weather he had, but Mokuba still refused to cry. His refusal became harder as he remembered that the only person he could usually depend on was across town, too busy filing papers or making important phone calls to care about him. His frozen feet became heavier with every step he took.

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Lil Washu: Chapter done. Wow, looking back at the reviews I've gotten in the past, I think it's time that I answered my reviewer. I've taken them for granted and made them wait for months for new chapters! I'm almost as mean as the gangsters...ok maybe not that mean...

********Reviewer Response*******

Malik Fan- So glad you're enjoying the story!

Pestilence GH - Yes, I know, the gangsters are sooo cruel. I was inspired to create them after watching a TV program about a little dog that was forced on to a grill and badly burned by a gang during an initiation ceremony. :(

Mokuba: They're not going to do that to me are they?

No name - Glad you're enjoying the story. I'm trying to update as often as possible! ^___^

Paddyfoot - Ah, poor little Mokie. I can't give anything away concerning what might happen to him though...I wanna Mokie plushie too!

Vanishingact - I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Updating is so hard sometimes! I've picked such a heavy course schedule for school. Junior year is gonna be hell...I'm still writing though!

Watson - Yes, Kaiba can be such a hardhead sometimes. (One of the reasons we love him!) Anyways, I think he's getting the picture, finally...

o.o - Ooooooh, lookit all the faces...Yes, it's good to be alive and writing!

I love u!! - Hehe, that's a fun anonymous name. Yes I have updated, IT'S A MIRACLE!

Yay - Yes, another fun name. Aw, I'm so glad that you think my story is good. ^__________^

Seto Kaiba - It's not wrath hon, it's drama! And it's quite possible that I've used waaay too much of it. Review people! Tell me if I'm being too melodramatic or not!

Reviewer - Oh PLEASE stop crying! I'm sorry! Here, you can have this Blue- Eyes-White-Dragon patterned hankie...and this update!

YLH - I know, I almost cried when I wrote this!

SheWhoThinksYouShouldPostANewChapter - Sorry, I guess it did take till next Christmas...SORRY!

Meeeeeeeee - I have updated. Yay!

Chess Lover - Thank you for your support. I made this fanfiction this way because I noticed that there were already a lot of direct Christmas Carol parodies, and they became somewhat predictable after a while (not that I don't like them) Check the end of this chapter for a special contest!

Renee the Rabid Squirrel - YOU'RE MY FIRST REVIEWER! YOU ROCK! Yep, I'm an angst-monkey, how did you guess?

The Voice Inside Your Head - Yes, I do tend to use cliffhangers...I'm evil I know...waaaah...

KarribuHater59 - You're so clever! I can't hide anything from you! ^___^

Kay and Fantasychick - I'm so terrible with cliffies...

sweetdaeth - I know, most people don't like YGO character/OC relationships. Any OC who dares to go near a character are labeled as Mary-Sues (shudder). I hope Poinsettia isn't annoying to you. She is meant to be a character who changes and goes through her own odyssey just as Kaiba does through the course of the story. This isn't supposed to be a romantic fic...but then again, I have yet to finish it!

crimsonXsnow - Thanks for your support. As of right now, I'm still deciding on romance, but as you can see, romance is not a main genre.

Fate VII - Glad you like! ^___^

CONTEST!

LW: Ok, and to finish things up, I'm announcing a reviewer's contest of sorts! Just pick your favorite holiday carol (Doesn't have to be X-mas based) and try to guess which characters in the fanfic are derived from the characters from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Here's an easy one:

Kaiba = Scrooge (Don't we all know it)

Now for you:

Yugi = You decide!

Try to guess them all! This contest should be especially appealing to bishie lovers, because the winners will get to sing in the last chapter with the All Bishounen Choir, which I am in the midst of organizing...

Ryou: Doe, a deer, a female deer...

Joey: Doe, ray, mi, fa, so, la, ti- *Everything made of glass in the room shatters*

Come one, you know you want to...It doesn't take much to be considered a winner! I'll update if you review!!!