AN: All standard disclaimers apply. Okay, one more Shippo Short, but that's it people! Aw…who are we kidding? As long as yall keep reading, we'll keep writing! So send reviews, and check out my other fics (I did do some without my brother as co-writer, and they're pretty good). On with the show (I mean, story) !

Mokuba's Birthday,

A Shippo Shorty in Three Parts.

Part One: Birthday Blues

Mokuba Kaiba awoke bright and early one morning and leaped up from his large, princely bed in excitement. "Only one more day until my birthday!" he shouted happily and ran about the room in his pajamas. He quickly yanked on a shirt and jeans, and ran out of his room, down the hall to his brother's office.

"Only one more day till my birthday Setto!" he called into the room. But when stepped in, his brother wasn't there. "That's funny," Mokuba said, "He's usually up by now. Setto!" he called again. He went about to all the rooms, but he couldn't his brother anywhere.

Finally, as he walked into the large sitting room on the first floor, he was met by their butler, Patrick. "Forgive me, Master Mokuba," the obedient laky said, "But your brother asked me to give you this envelope when you awoke."

"Oh, Thank Patrick," Mokuba said as he took the envelope and opened it. It read:

-------------Dear Moki,

I'm sorry I had to rush off today, but I have urgent business in Finland, which will keep me there for some time. Regretfully, I will not be able to attend your birthday tomorrow. Please accept my sincerest apologies, and wishes for a happy birthday.

Sincerely,

Your Brother, Setto.

P. S. Here's the company credit card. All of Kaiba Corp, is at your disposal.---------------

"How could he miss my birthday?" Mokuba said, tears streaming down his face. "It's not fair!" he shouted. He clenched his fists, and ran back to his room. As soon as he was in his sanctuary, he buried his face deep in his pillows, and cried till he could cry no more.

"Pardon me for interrupting your tantrum, Master Mokuba," Patrick said, coming in with a breakfast tray sometime later, "But might I suggest something? You're brother did leave you in charge while he is away. Surely you have some other friends that you can call on?"

Mokuba lifted up his tear stained face, sniffled, and then, said brightly, "Yes, I do!" He jumped from his bed and went to the phones.

----------------------------------------------------

"No, I'm sorry, Mokuba," Yugi grandfather said over the phone. "Yugi isn't here. He and his friends went to a gaming convention in Tokyo."

"A convention?" Mokuba asked. He'd heard nothing of a gaming convention. Then again, he was usually stuck there in the mansion most of the time. "Thank you anyway, Mr. Motou" He said, before hanging up the phone. "Well, so much for that bright idea, Patrick," Mokuba sulked as he sat down on the bed again.

"What about your friend, Shippo? The one in the fox pajamas," Patrick suggested, "Perhaps he is available?"

"Worth a try," Mokuba said, though he doubted that Shippo would even be in this era today.

------------------------------------------------

"No, I didn't hear about a gaming convention," Kagome said to Mokuba over the phone. "Then again, I'm not up on all this gaming stuff like Yugi and the others are."

"Well, since everyone else is busy, could Shippo come over to hang out?"

"Shippo? Sure I guess. I need to get him out of here anyway. He's driving Inu-yasha up the walls. Literally." Behind her, Inu-yasha hung from the ceiling, his claws imbedded in the rafters, while Shippo waved a stick around underneath him, a colander on his head.

"Come down, Inu-yasha," Shippo begged.

"No!" the han-you barked. "leave me alone!"

"Please!" Shippo whined, "Come down and play! You promised me you would. Your supposed to be the mean, ugly dragon, and I'm the brave, handsome, young Samurai that's going to slay you, and save the beautiful princess."

"All you're doing is poking me with a stick!" Inu-yasha shouted down to him. "Go away!"

"Kagome," Shippo whined, "Use 'Sit' to make him come down."

"If you two don't stop, I'll make both go sit in the corner! Uh-oh" Kagome said, realizing what it was she'd done. Inu-yasha came crashing down to the floor with a beam on top of him. He lay there dazed and semi-conscious, in pain.

"Uh…Shippo," Kagome said in a sing-song sweet voice, "Call for you!"

"For me?" Shippo said, dropping his stick and jumping up onto the coffee table, "On the hello phone? I've never gotten one before," he said cheerfully as he accepted the reciver. As the kitsune talked away on the phone, Kagome tried to revive Inu-yasha.

"What happened?" Inu-yasha whimpered when he finally came to.

"Uh…The ceiling fell," Kagome said innocently, "You must be eating too many noodles or something."

"Where's that stupid little fox," Inu-yasha grumbled as he tried to stand up. "Kagome, I'can't feel my legs!" he cried in a panic.

"Relax," Kagome said, pushing the beam aside, "they're still there."

Meanwhile, Shippo hung up the phone, backwards on the cradle, and merrily skipped up the stairs to grab his fox pajamas. When he came back down, Inu-yasha was still insisting that both his legs were broken.

"I need to stay in bed for at least a week," Inu-yasha cried pathetically, "And have hot Ramen brought to me."

"You big faker," Kagome said, "Get up and get back to work. Grandpa wants the store room cleaned up, and if you're not done by the time he gets home, no noodles tonight."

"But I'm hurt," he whined, "And it's all his fault,!" he said pointing to Shippo. "Huh?" he noticed then that Shippo had his tiny hand on the doorknob. "Where do you think you're going?!" the han-you shouted.

"To Mokuba's. Bye!" he said happily. He jumped out the door, and skipped down the Shrine stairs.

-------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Mokuba had gathered all the household servants. He popped his second favorite CD into the karaoke machine in their private lounge.

"This is a song dedicated to my brother Setto, for leaving me here." Then, he began to sing.

"Since you've been gone

Well I feel like I've been chewing on tinfoil

Since you've been gone,

It's like I got a great big mouth full of cod liver oil.

Oh, I'm well feeling like I stuck my hand inside a blender

And turned it on

You know I've been in a butt load of pain

Since you've been gone!

(Since you've gone)

I couldn't feel any worse if you dropped

A two-ton bowling ball on my toes

(Since you've been gone)

It couldn't hurt any more if you shoved

A red hot cactus up my nose

Since you've been gone

Well, it feels like I'm getting

tetanus shots everyday!

Since you've been gone,

Its like I got an icecream headache

that won't go away!

Ever since the day you left me,

I've been so miserable, my dear.

I feel almost as bad I did

When you were still here."

The servants clapped nervously, fearing that if they didn't, he'd have them all fired. But one voice cheered in the back. Mokuba looked, and saw Shippo bouncing around, clapping, and shout, "Yeah! You tell 'em Mokuba! That was great!"

"Shippo!" Mokuba said with glee. He dropped the microphone, and ran to meet his friend. "I'm so glad you're here! No one here appreciates good music."

"Master Mokuba, that's not true," the head maid sad.

"We love your singing," the head chef agreed. "Encore!" the household cried.

"No thanks," Mokuba said. "Me and Shippo going out now to have some fun. Bye!" He waved to the staff. when the two boys were gone, the servants made a note to hide the karaoke equipment before their young master returned.

Meanwhile, Mokuba and Shippo were climbing into one of the many Kaiba Corp limos, and headed for the city.

"Where are we going, Mokuba?" Shippo asked. "The toy stores? Candy stores? The moving picture building?"

"Nope," Mokuba said. "I've been thinking, and I know exactly what I want, where to go. To Kaiba Corp Studios."

"What's that?" Shippo asked his friend.

"My brother' TV station. It's actually an old UHF station that he acquired for a parking lot. But he decided it would bring in more money to run a News program and air old TV shows and animes."

"Then why are we going there?"

"To give Japan a piece of my mind."

"That sounds a little gross. Are you sure you wouldn't give them a piece of candy?"

"That's not really what I mean," Mokuba clarified, "But you'll see soon enough."

"But why don't you go that big park you and your brother own?" Shippo asked.

"They closed it down last week for repairs." Mokuba said. "Driver, to the Studios."

--------------------------------------------

But what Mokuba didn't know was that his brother had gathered his friends to prepare a surprise birthday party at Kaiba Land. As Yugi, Joey, and Tristan were putting up streamers, Tea and Serenity were putting out the food, Kaiba talked on his cell. to his butler at the mansion, to update the diversion.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Kaiba inquired.

"He left with that little friend of his. The one in the fox pajamas. He left after singing a very unflattering song about you, sir."

"Well I can't blame him," Setto Kaiba said over the cell phone, "He thinks I ran out on him. But he'll forgive me when once he sees what I've got planned for him here." He hung up the phone, and stormed over to Joey Wheeler.

"What did you tell that Miko to say?" he demanded.

"I told her that if you're brother called her house, to say that everyone was busy," Joey said. He was so distracted, he nearly fell off his ladder, but grabbed the rungs just in time.

"At least this set back serves as a better diversion," Kaiba said. "And speaking of distractions, I need you three to come with me," he said to Yugi, Joey and Tristan. The three boys untangled themselves from the streamers, climbed down the ladders, and followed Kaiba up to the embarkation gate for the new ride: Mokuba's Revenge.

"I need you three to test this ride. I want it up and running by tomorrow for Mokuba's birthday, but I what I really need to know," Kaiba said as the three guinea pigs climbed in the seats, "Is if it's safe for my brother to ride."

"Safe?" Yugi asked as the safety bar came down over him. "You mean this thing hasn't been tested?"

"It's about to be," Kaiba said with a wicked grin upon his face.

"Let me out of this death trap!" Joey cried, wrestling around in the seat, trying to crawl out.

Tristan whipped out a piece of paper, and began writing out his last will and testament.

"If you experience any discomfort, or begin to hyperventilate," Kaiba said, "Just head place your head between your knees and kiss yourself goodbye." Then, with a wave of his hand, the three boys were off.

At first, it noting more than a dizzying series of loops and vertical drops. Then, as they passed first section of the ride, they were hurled forward into the House of Horrors. First, they drenched by the tunnel of water, then, they sweat from the heat of the walls of fire, then, they lost their minds with fear as they entered the domain of the screaming banshees of doom, in the graveyard of no return. The boys horrified screams could be heard even at the platform, where Setto Kaiba waited for the ride to end. The whole ride took less than five minutes. Soon, the cars pulled up, and all three passengers sat stunned. Their faces drained of all color, and their stomachs of all their contents.

Kaiba walked up to them, looked at their faces, asked, "Wasn't Yugi sitting in the middle?" For now, the spiky haired boy was sitting in the very last seat. Yugi was muttering something about having chased after the cars, while Joey, once lifted from his seat, fell to the ground and curled up into a ball, and cried, "Mommy! Mommy, I want my binky. Make it stop, mommy!" But Tristan simply stood up, and stared at the ground, as if the earth itself were an alien thing to him.

"Perfect," Kaiba said, turning on his heels. "Mokuba will love it. Thank you for your help."

--------------------------------------------

"Here it is," Mokuba said as he and Shippo stepped out of the limo. "Kaiba Corp Studios. Also called Channel 97."

"It's really small," Shippo said as they stood in front of the one story brick building that bore the Kaiba Corp logo. It took up half of a three acre lot. The rest was taken up by the parking lot.

"DO you know anyone else who co=owns their own TV station?" Mokuba asked. They walked over to the door, and walked in.

They didn't get far. They came up to the receptionist's desk. A red haired woman with too much makeup was filing her nails.

"How may I help you?" she grunted without looking away.

"I want to see the station manager," Mokuba insisted.

"Sit down over there and I'll call him down." She said, motioning to the chairs. As the boys sat down, the woman punched a button, and said, "Hey, Harry, there's two kids here to see you."

A side door opened, and a large overweight man dressed in a snug suit walked out, and gasped.

"Mister Mokuba!" he said, quivering in fear. "Sir, what gives us the pleasure of your visit?"

"It's more my pleasure than yours," Mokuba said, standing up. "Me and my associate are here to take over."

"Huh?" both Shippo and the station manager gasped. "Excuse me, Sir, but what did you say?"

"You heard me," Mokuba said cross, "Scram! Me and my associate, Shippo, are in charge today. Take the day off if you want."

"But…but… but… but"

"Stop sounding like a broken motor boat and go!" okuba shouted, sounding a good deal like his absent brother. He hated being mean, but this was the only way to get the overgrown ogre to leave.

As the station manager turned to leave, he asked meekly, "Should I bother to come in tomorrow, Sir?"

"Sure," Mokuba said, "I'll only need till Midnight. Then the station's in your hands again."

"Yes, Sir. Have a good day, sir." The manager walked out in a great hurry.

"That wasn't a good idea," Shippo said, "He' so big, he could have eaten us."

"Don't worry," Mokuba said. "He's harmless. Now, let's get to work."

AN: The song featured is 'Since You've Been Gone', by Weird Al Yankovic. Thanks for the insanity!