Z-S: Well here's ch. 2

Diallo: Enjoy!

"I wonder what he's like."

: He's a human, and like all humans he'll be weird looking and thick headed. :

"Orion, I think you're forgetting that Santa and Nana Claus are humans," Yugi sighed, shaking his head at the reindeer's view of humans.

: I know they're humans, but they are weird looking. They don't have pointed ears and they can't understand us. :

Chuckling, Yugi rolled his eyes. "Well only elves have the ability to communicate with animals, and we're also the ones with pointed ears." Patting the reindeer's neck, he looked around taking in the scenery.

Everything was different compared to the special dome on the North Pole. It had been snowing when they left, but now they were flying over the ocean and there wasn't a single snowflake in the air.

Hearing the sound of the jingling bells that decorated the reins and riding harness that Orion was wearing, Yugi looked back in the direction that they had come from. He was a bit worried about what he was going to do. Sure, he had been all excited about being appointed a special mission by Mrs. Claus, but now he was getting nervous.

"Do you think I can pull this off, Ori?" He asked, leaning over the deer to run his fingers through the slightly longer mane around the buck's neck.

: No doubt, buddy. All ya have to do is use those eyes of yours and I'm sure this human will cave. It works on Big Red and Miss Red, doesn't it? :

"Show some respect to Santa and Mrs. Claus," Yugi chided, receiving a snort from the reindeer as it pumped its legs, gaining a higher altitude as the ocean disappeared beneath them to be replaced with a mountain range before slopping down to reveal the city that they were assigned to go to.

"Um, head to the park and then make yourself invisible," Yugi smiled, looking down at the cityscape in awe. It was the first time he had ever been to a human village before and this one looked immense.

: Don't see why I have to go invisible, only those with pure of heart and true Christmas spirit can see me. :

Ignoring the reindeer, Yugi turned his attention over to a house were a family was decorating it with different strands of lights. "I think I'm going to like it here."

Arriving at the park, the reindeer came to a smooth landing in a secluded area surrounded by a thicket of evergreens.

Dismounting from the reindeer's back, Yugi looked back at the deer to make sure that it was invisible to human eyes. Even though he could still see the deer, he could tell that it had done as asked by the faint amethyst aura that surrounded the reindeer's body.

"Now to find my assignment," he smiled, brushing aside a few lush branches before poking his head out to look around. Getting ready to step out of the thicket, he felt a tug on his tunic, pulling him away from view. "Orion, what's the deal?"

: Not that I'm a human expert or anything, but ya sorta stick out like a sore hoof. :

Looking down at his elf clothing, Yugi blushed in realization that he definitely did not fit in with 'normal' standards. "… Yeah, you're right," he chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I better come up with some appropriate clothing, ne?"

Catching the nod from the deer as well as the agreeing snort, Yugi crossed his arms while using one of his hands to rub his chin in thought. Being an elf, he had the magic to create his clothing into anything he wanted, it was just coming up with the perfect disguise or in his cause 'normal' wear.

Coming up with a general idea of comfortable clothing, he closed his eyes and concentrated, Opening his eyes again, Yugi waved his arms as a faint golden aura erupted from his fingertips before running his hands down his clothing to change it into his new wear.

The royal purple tunic and shimmering silver undershirt were replaced by a figure fitting, blue and white striped shirt covered by a sleek, long snowy white suede trench coat. His pants were replaced by snug fit faded jeans with a silver studded belt sloping across his hip. The elf shoes were replaced with comfortable, stylish sneakers and off to the side the magic supplied him with a backpack full of new clothing.

"So how do I look?" he asked, modeling the new clothing for Orion. Not receiving an answer, Yugi turned around to find the deer looking behind him with his ears twitching lightly. "Ori, what is it?" he inquired, stepping up to the deer.

: Someone's coming. :

Blinking, Yugi was getting ready to reply when a figure entered their current hiding place. Amethyst eyes widened as he took in the looked at the figure to bite back a gasp. It was one from Nana Claus's snow globe, and Yugi was shocked to find out that their hair was actually the same identical colors.

Caught in his own thoughts, Yami almost completely ignored the figure in the hidden thicket, but taking another step, he done a double take at the shorter figure standing beside the evergreens. Turning to look at the figure, he couldn't believe that the other had the same hair color and almost same style.

Yugi's breath caught in his throat at the other's gaze. He had never seen anyone with red eyes before, yet his chosen assignment had beautiful exotic crimson eyes outlined by elegant sooty lashes. Gulping, he shyly scuffed one of his shoes in the grass feeling a bit bashful from the other's staring.

Regaining his composure, Yami ran his hand through his hair before walking toward his shorter look a like. There was something about the little one that confused him, but also trapped him in his thoughts by those wide, exquisite amethyst eyes.

Yugi continued to scuff his foot as he fought off a blush at noticing the figure coming toward him. This assignment had just gotten harder, not only was this person exotically handsome with his caramel skin and ruby eyes, but his regal and confident stature made him a bit intimidating.

Hearing a snort and feeling a nudge at his back, he turned around to find Orion looking at him while twitching his ears. Quirking an eyebrow, Yugi was completely lost at what the deer was trying to point out to him.

: I think you're forgetting somethin'… like ya ears! :

Paling at the mention of his Elvin ears, Yugi quickly turned his head while running his hands over his ears, rounding the points to look like human ears. Looking back to Orion, he sighed in relief before turning to gasp as noticed his assignment was right in front of him.

"I've never seen you around here before."

"Maybe you missed me."

"I doubt it," Yami countered, crossing his arms. "I might ignore a lot of things, but seeing a shorter double of me would definitely catch my attention."

Fidgeting under the crimson eyes, Yugi took a deep breath while lightly shrugging his shoulders. "You got me, I am new around here."

"Thought so, so where are you staying?" Yami asked, while putting his hands back in his pockets as a cool breeze blew around them, chilling his fingers.

"… Um…. I'm not sure." Yugi muttered, while clasping his hands together and idly twiddling his thumbs.

Blinking, Yami noticed the uneasy actions that the little one was performing. "You don't know, but where are your parents?"

: Tell him you ran away. :

Tossing a side glance at the reindeer across from him, Yugi inwardly pouted. He was a pathetic liar, and it wasn't right to lie anyways, but since this was for his assignment, he decided that a few white lies wouldn't hurt. "… I ran away."

Looking the younger over, Yami shook his head. Noticing the backpack sitting on the ground, he sighed before looking back at the little one to catch him staring over at the corner. Casting a glance over in the corner and not seeing anything, he took it as the little one being in a daze for what might've happened to him.

Hearing someone clearing their throat, Yami inwardly jumped as he peered down into gleaming amethyst.

"My name's Yugi."

"Well Yugi, I'm Yami," he replied, curtly bowing his head while catching a smile gracing the other's petit and cherubic face. Curious about where the little one was from, he fought back his curiosity, since he wasn't sure if the younger wanted to talk about anything that dealt with what he was running away from.

"It's nice to meet you, Yami," Yugi smiled, while inwardly frowning at the faint traces of concern gleaming in those fiery crimson eyes. Looking over at his backpack, he picked it up gently before tossing it across his shoulder. "Do you know any place that I could stay?"

"You can stay with me," Yami replied, the words coming out before he could actually realize what he was saying. "I mean, that if ya want to," he added, still scolding himself mentally. What was going on with him, he never acted this nice to strangers.

"Really," Yugi's smile brightened as he watched Yami nod. "That'd be great," he replied, tightening his grip on one of the backpack straps.

Still cursing himself, Yami shook his head before looking back at Yugi. "Well follow me," he said, heading out of the thicket and walking down the cement walk way with Yugi trailing behind him. He was still slightly surprised that Yugi had been in his secret thinking spot, but seeing as the shorter was new, he figured it to be from sheer luck.

"So where do you live, Yami" Yugi asked while smiling at the Christmas lights and decorations that covered a beautiful gazebo in the center of the park. "I bet that is beautiful at night when its all lit up."

Rolling his eyes, Yami spotted what the other was looking at and lightly cringed. Great, his new little houseguest was another one of the holiday cheering, Christmas time lovers. "I live in a house on the outskirts of town, I just happened to park my car at a parking garage down the block from here."

Nodding, Yugi sighed at catching the faint cringe that Yami had made at seeing the decorated gazebo. He was definitely going to have his work cut out for him. Turning to look back for his deer companion, he blinked at not seeing the buck following behind him.

: Up here. :

Looking up, Yugi rolled his eyes at seeing the reindeer hovering a few feet above him. Eyeing to make sure Yami was farther ahead of him, he turned his attention back to the deer. "Follow behind us, okay," he whispered before noticing Yami looking back at him with a cocked eyebrow.

"What's so interesting?" Yami asked, looking up where Yugi had been looking to not see anything but a cloudy, snow promising sky.

"Eh heh… um… it was nothing," Yugi chuckled sheepishly while waving his hands in a manner for Yami to forget about it. "Just my imagination I guess."

"If you say so," Yami shrugged while exiting out of the park and stopping at the crosswalk.

Sighing, Yugi ran up to stand beside the other while looking around to notice a road crew decorating random street lights with more Christmas decorations. Hearing a snort, he looked up to find Yami shaking his head and mumbling something about 'bah humbug' and 'Christmas freaks'.

: This assignment of yours is something else, buddy. Good luck with him and dun worry, I'll be staying close by. :

Nodding, Yugi turned back just as Yami tapped him on the shoulder.

"C'mon," Yami said as he headed across the crosswalk with Yugi right behind him. Leading Yugi up to the 2nd story of the garage, Yami pulled out a black device attached to a set of keys from his pocket before pushing one of the buttons.

The beeping sound caught Yugi's attention as he looked around the garage before his eyes landed on a sudden flash of light coming from a sleek looking black sports car. Blinking at the beautiful car, Yugi smiled in recognition of recalling a series of model car kits that he and a few of his fellow workers had put together, one series being the same car as to what Yami was driving.

Walking over to his car, Yami opened his door and took the driver's seat while looking over as Yugi hesitantly took his seat while holding his backpack in his lap. "It's just a car, Yugi, its not likes its gonna bite."

Shaking his head, Yugi looked over at Yami with a faint smile on his face. "I know that, it's just that I've never been in a car before," he mumbled, not realizing how odd that it sounded.

"Seriously?" Yami asked, shocked that the shorter had never been in a car before. Then how was he able to run away? Shaking his head, he decided to overlook those little facts as he put the key in the ignition and started up the car.

Yugi couldn't believe at the sheer size of the city that they passed by. All the buildings were decorated and ready for Christmas, which brought a smile to his face as he turned to look over at Yami, whose eyes remained on the road the entire time.

'He really doesn't seem to like Christmas, I wonder why?' he thought to himself while idly running his fingers across the white suede of his coat.

Pulling into a driveway to a modest two story home, Yami smiled lightly before looking over at Yugi. "This is it," he said while getting out of the car and locking them as Yugi crawled out of the car and shut his door.

Noticing all the other houses on the lane sporting a set of decorations, Yugi turned to the decoration free yard and sighed. Watching Yami heading toward the house, he ran over to him just as the other managed to open the door.

The house looked very tidy and by the stylish décor it appeared as though the occupants had a taste of luxurious taste. Beautiful paintings decorated the walls while the plush carpeting made you feel welcome, the only problem was that the flow of the house seemed to be cold.

Hearing the door shut behind him, Yugi turned to watch Yami pull of his coat before hanging it up in the hall closet. "Um, do you think your parents will mind me staying here?"

Crimson met unsure amethyst as Yami looked over to his little house guest. Taking the little one's coat as he offered it to him, he shook his head. "My parents aren't here, they're hardly ever here anyways, so I'm sure they wont mind."

Yugi inwardly winced at the deadpanned tone that Yami had used. It also explained why the house as welcoming as it seemed had the cold flow, it was because the only occupant inside was a lone and by the sounds of things didn't like it. "Oh, but I'm sure they'll be back in time for Christmas right?"

Snorting at the mention of the holiday, Yami hung up the little one's coat before closing the door. "I doubt it," he replied while walking into the kitchen and flicking on the lights as Yugi entered behind him. "Like I said don't worry about it, I'm used to them not being here anyways."

"But… it's Christmas," Yugi sighed, sitting down on one of the counter stools.

"So what?" Yami sighed, opening the fridge and looking inside for something desirable to eat.

"Well… families should be together on Christmas," Yugi replied, looking into the fridge from his seat.

"Hmph, you should talk ya know," Yami countered looking over his shoulder and into confused amethyst eyes. "Reprimanding me when you, yourself ran away."

"I… I… well its not the same!" Yugi babbled, getting flustered at being verbally backed into a corner. "Even though I ran away from my family, I still love Christmas."

"Christmas is nothing but a waste of time," Yami snorted as he pulled out two cans of soda, since he couldn't find anything worth fixing.

"How can you say that?"

"Because I know from experience," Yami sighed, placing a soda in front of Yugi and ignoring the crestfallen expression on the small one's face. "Hate to break it to you, but Christmas is nothing but make believe," he pointed out while popping open his drink. "As for something to eat, well I'll order in a pizza, since there's nothing worth eating in the fridge."

Yugi nodded while watching Yami disappear into another room. Crossing his arms over the counter, he shook his head. Yami was wrong about Christmas, it was not a waste of time! Rubbing his arms, he let out a shaky breath. His assignment was a lot more than he had bargained for, yet he was determined to pass, but now it seemed more than just an assignment, it had become a bit more personal.

"I'm going to help you, Yami. I'm going to make you happy and reunite with the true joys of Christmas," he vowed in a whisper.

The hardest thing he would ever do had just begun…

Diallo: I like the deer.

Z-S: Figures, anything with an attitude, you like it.

Diallo: -grins-

Z-S: Well hope ya enjoyed, so plz Review.