~*A.N: Sorry if I'm working overtime in my Christmas Stories. Time isn't something I will always have, especially when it comes to my brother always harassing me to get off the computer. Meanwhile, there is only one OC in here that's going to be used rarely*~
~*Ghost of Christmas Present*~
Kaiba was still weeping as he suddenly looked up, seeing that he was back in his bedroom, in his own room.
"Was it all a dream?" he muttered as he laid back on his bed.
Meanwhile, Yami and Joey sat on the windowsill looking inside Kaiba's room, seeing him sleeping.
"Poor Kaiba," Joey shook his head, leaning against the wall. "Now he has to be visited by…how many more ghosts?"
Yami looked down at the view below him, holding out two fingers. "Two, Joey. Two."
"Oh, I see." Joey kicked some snow off the railing. Suddenly, a heated argument rose. Looking up, Yami and Joey saw two older looking men floating right in front of them in a ghostly form.
"No way Shadi," the tall, muscular looking form ran his fingers through his brownish hair. "I am not playing the present. Hell no. I am not in the mood to visit Ryou and Anzu again. No way."
"Forget it Marik," Shadi replied, fixing his turban. "I was entitled to play the Ghost of Christmas to come. Not you!"
"In your dreams Shadi!" Marik raised his fist in the air.
"HOLD IT!!!" Yami screamed at the top of his lungs.
Shadi and Marik stopped arguing, startled to see Yami standing there. "Mr. Dickens?" They both said in unison.
"Who's playing the ghost of Christmas Present?" Marik crossed his arms over his chest.
"Ho boy," Yami shook his head. "This happens everytime," he then released a sigh. "Since I'm the author of this story, it was supposed to be Marik who plays the present."
"What?" Marik was stunned at what Yami said.
Shadi released an undercover laugh. "Told you so."
"All right fine." Marik grumbled taking out his millennium staff.
"Just get in there." Yami pointed towards the window.
The clock struck two, waking Kaiba up. Sitting up on his bed, he looked around in the darkness to see if anything strange would appear. Nothing…
"Good. Stupid Tristan and Duke, always lying. They always did that when they were still around. Now I can fall asleep in peace." He then leaned towards the candles and blew it out. Just as he was about to close his eyes, the flames of the candles reappeared.
"What the?" Kaiba's eyes widened as he watched the flames dance before his eyes.
Suddenly, Marik appeared, leaning against the doorway. "Well, well, well. And a Ho Ho Ho to you too Seto Kaiba." A smirk curled his lips as he approached Kaiba, the millennium rod in his hand.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be? Santa Claus?" Kaiba sneered at Marik.
"Close enough." Marik ran his fingers through his hair. "I am the ghost of Christmas Present."
"Wow, you going to give me presents?" Kaiba gave out a sarcastic remark.
"Well, well, well. Being a little testy now are we? All right fine, let me take you to Christmas morning." His millennium rod glowed, a bright light surrounding them. There the two were standing outside Domino City mall.
"Why are we here?" Kaiba looked around seeing little kids playing in the snow.
"Hello?" Marik konked Kaiba on the head with his millennium rod. "When was the last time you been outside on a Christmas day?"
"Well…" Kaiba started to say.
"Come now Kaiba, our first stop is to visit your brother Mokuba." The two then started to make their way towards a small house a few blocks away. Cars crowded the sidewalk as they neared the house.
"I didn't know Mokuba was this popular." Kaiba was surprised at how many cars have crowded the area.
"Of course. You have not spent much time with your brother for quite a while, right? Your brother has been quite a successful comedian and made a lot of friends. Some who are even famous."
"I have famous friends as well." Kaiba sneered. "Bill Clinton, George Bush, Donald Trump, Bill Gates."
Marik released a laugh. "Those clowns? Whoa, they're known for something all right," he peeked inside the window. "Mokuba's friends are much more interesting than yours."
"And what kind of friends does he have spirit?" Kaiba looked up at him in wonder.
"Well," Marik smiled. "Why don't we check for ourselves?" He then pulled Kaiba through the wall and in they entered on what it seems like a Christmas party. A band was playing a punk song, models hung out in the living room and Mokuba was chatting with a girl about his age with long black hair going down to her shoulders.
"What the?" Kaiba looked around. "That brat has gotten Linkin Park, some of the former playboy models, Limp Bizkit…What the hell is going on?"
"You mean you didn't know?" Marik looked up at Kaiba quizzically. "Your brother is one of the most successful comedians and opened his own comedy café club a few blocks down from here. Too bad we can't go there right now, it's closed. And that's what you should do with your stupid shopping mall. Good god, not only it's ugly looking, I can't believe you would force your workers to show up on Christmas morning. Not that I care but hey, it's for your sake buddy."
"Is it just me or I'm starting to worship Mokuba from now on?"
Joey and Yami were sitting on the couch, drinking down a can of soda pop. They watched as Mokuba wrapped his arm over the shoulder of another girl about his age.
"Psst, Dickens," Joey pointed to the girl sitting next to Mokuba. "Who's that?"
"Oh, that's Mokuba's girlfriend Ayumi." Yami replied.
"Mokuba having a girlfriend?" Joey gave Yami a strange look. "Now that's bizarre." They noticed Kaiba and the ghost of Christmas Present entering the house unnoticed.
"Looks like the two finally decided to show up." Yami snickered.
"Hey you guys," Mokuba shoved two fingers inside his mouth, whistling for attention. "Why don't we play a game?"
"What kind of game?" one of the playboy models looked up at Mokuba.
"Well, it's this sort of name game I made up." Mokuba scratched his head. "You guys have to guess what or who I have in mind."
"Sounds good enough to me kiddo." Fred Durst tilted his chair back.
"People play games during Christmas time?" Kaiba looked up at Marik quizzically.
"What do you think Kaiba?" Marik gave Kaiba the strangest look. "What do you think people do during Christmas time? Eat turkey, open presents and go to sleep. Jeez, you must still be stuck in the Christmas during the Puritan times when they had no Christmas at all."
"Okay, you guys have to guess what I have in mind. If you guys get it right," Mokuba held up a huge box wrapped in a purple wrapper. "You guys win this!"
"What's inside?" one of the members of Linkin Park shouted out.
"If I told you, you guys wouldn't be playing." Mokuba pouted.
"Hmm…is it a car?" another playboy model spoke up.
"Nope." Mokuba grinned.
"How about an animal?" Ayumi sipped on her coke.
"Sort of?" Mokuba poured himself another coke.
"Wait a minute, this isn't one of those deformed, one of a kind animals is it?" Fred Durst twirled his hat around.
"Sometimes it can be a bit deformed in mind." Mokuba laughed softly.
"A jackass!" a blonde playboy shouted out.
"Nope." Mokuba smiled.
"A rat?" Beyonce wondered.
"Nope."
"How about that friend of yours…Joey Wheeler?" Ayumi smirked.
"You called?" Joey muttered watching the whole scene unfold.
"Kinda along the lines of that." Mokuba sat on the stool.
"Oh wait a minute," Fred Durst shouted out. "I know who it is. It's your brother Seto Kaiba!"
"Yes!!" Mokuba jumped up and down. Most of the guests laughed as Mokuba tossed the present to Fred Durst.
"God, that's a good one Mokuba." Ayumi giggled.
Meanwhile, Kaiba and Marik continued to watch on as Mokuba and his guests were having a good time.
"I want to get out of here." Kaiba groaned.
"Not yet Kaiba." Marik took out his millennium rod. The millennium rod started to glow, surrounding the whole room in darkness. "We still have to visit one more place before I can send you back there."
Suddenly, the darkness cleared as they had arrived in a small neighborhood. Not a fancy one but quite tacky to Kaiba's taste. "Where…where are we?"
"If you must know, we're at your friend Ryou Bakura's house. I don't know…maybe they could give you a sense of reality on what true Christmas really is." Marik took Kaiba's hand as they entered the small house.
"Oh c'mon Yami, why do we gotta stay up here for?" Joey groaned.
Joey and Yami were on a rooftop of a house across the street from Ryou's home. Yami was looking through a pair of binoculars at a young girl who was cooking up some dinner. He had not spoken a word ever since they have arrived in the neighborhood.
"Yami…I mean, Mr. Dickens?" Joey shook Yami's shoulder slightly. "Why aren't you answering me?"
Ignoring Joey, Yami continued to look down inside his binoculars.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Joey grinned. "Mr. Dickens, don't tell me you're spying on Anzu again! There you go, always spying on her ever since she decided to elope with good ol' Ryou instead of you. Good for him!"
"Shutup!" Yami snapped. "I'm just checking to see if she's okay."
"Ever heard of a telephone Dickens?" Joey rolled his eyes in the back of his head. "There's always that you know."
"Just give me a few minutes all right?" Yami continued to look down through his binoculars.
"Give me that!" Joey snatched the binoculars from Yami. "Now come on, you're supposed to tell the rest of your story of "A Christmas Carol" That is unless if you're not really Mr. Dickens."
"All right fine." Yami stood up, gazing down at the view below him. "The ghost of the present took Kaiba inside the home of one of his clients, Ryou Bakura. Perhaps a way to teach him a lesson on what Christmas could really mean."
"You are pathetic." Joey grimed.
Anzu had just finished setting up the table with three plates and three glasses. She then placed a bowl of teriyaki chicken, miso soup, and rice in the center. "Hey Ryou, Yugi, dinner's ready!"
From the living room, Yugi wheeled in. Being daring for the night, he picked up speed. "Wheee!"
"Yugi, watch for the…" Anzu shouted, then heard a huge crash. "…wall."
Ryou raced towards the entry of the kitchen seeing Yugi knocked to the ground, laying on his back, still sitting on his wheelchair. "Yugi, you okay?"
"Er…yeah." Yugi grinned. "You wouldn't mind helping me up would you?"
"Ho boy." Ryou squatted down, picking up the wheelchair by the handles and shifted Yugi's position to an upward position. "There you go. Let's go eat." He then made his way towards Anzu, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.
"Ryou?" Anzu squealed. "Not in front of Yugi for crying out loud!"
Ryou laughed as the two sat on their chairs, getting their food into their plates.
"By the way Ryou-chan," Anzu scooped some rice onto her plate. "Did you get to ask your boss for a raise?"
"Well," Ryou hesitated for a moment before going on. "I did. It's just, he wouldn't give me one."
"And it's gonna stay that way you twit!" Kaiba yelled, being glad that none of them could hear him.
"Oh dear." Anzu frowned, slowly chewing her rice.
"What's going on you guys?" Yugi looked at Ryou, then at Anzu.
"Well, you see Yugi…" Ryou started off.
"It's just, your father and I have been struggling with the medical bills and with his job and the payments of the bills getting higher…well…" Anzu trailed off.
"Well, I guess if it'll make you guys happy, I'll just stop taking the medication." Yugi gave a sympathetic look.
"No!" Anzu looked up at Yugi before making her way towards him, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Don't say that. I'm sure your father could find a way to convince his boss again. Or maybe I could find myself a job."
"You don't have to do that Anzu." Ryou watched the two.
"Well, how can we afford the medication for Yugi now with the money going so high? If I don't help out, Yugi…well…"
"I'm going to die am I?" Yugi frowned.
"Damn it Yugi, you're not!" Ryou pounded his fist on the table.
"You don't have to keep hiding it from me." Yugi's gaze shifted to the floor. "I know I have cancer along with my paralysis and the doctors said that I won't last for more than a year."
"Kaiba continued to watch the family scene in such horror and pain." Yami said in a low voice, holding a flashlight underneath him. "He always considered Ryou a pain in the ass when it comes to business but after what he had seen this very night, his opinions and feelings for the young man had hopefully changed."
"Yugi has cancer?" Joey's mouth hung open. "Good god Yami, how come you hadn't told me any of this stuff?"
"I thought I could keep my story a bit more of a light mood but there are always dark corners creeping in." he cleared his throat. "And I have no choice but to tell."
"Marik," Kaiba walked side by side with Marik out of the neighborhood. "I don't know how to say this but you really showed me the true side of Christmas so far."
Marik released a soft laugh as they continued walking down the dark sidewalks. "You have not seen the true meaning of Christmas so far kid. I'm afraid that you have to also see the dark side of Christmas as well. It's not always fun and games you know?"
"But I've learned enough from what I saw with Ryou and his kid." Kaiba looked up at Marik.
Marik stopped in his tracks, looking over the gate, smirking. "I guess I should let you off here."
"What the?" Kaiba looked up at the sign in kanji that read Domino City Cemetery. "Why are you stopping here?"
Taking out his millennium rod, Marik pointed the tip towards Kaiba. The rod glowed for a moment as he froze Kaiba in place. "Let me put it this way, you will meet a friend of mine very shortly." He then turned around and walked away.
"Marik wait!" Kaiba wanted to go after him but found out that he really was frozen in place.
~*Thank you for the reviews. Now to answer or comment a review that seems to be intriguing me*~
shishu: Please don't get offended at my reply towards your last two reviews. (Forgive me if I do sound offensive which I'm not trying to). First of all, this fic has nothing to do with the TV Series what-so-ever. That's why I do not put the respective characters with their parts that everyone was hoping it would be. Second, would you rather have Noah working for Kaiba or being the boss of Kaiba? ^_^. Third, I'm sorry but I do not watch Yu-Gi-Oh as much because of my studies, therefore, I am unaware that Noah is Gozaburu's son (I only rely watching the ones on KidsWB). So please, if you are still a bit "upset" that I did not put the characters the way everyone wanted, then I'm sorry. Noah will still be the boss and not be Kaiba's long lost brother, Duke and Tristan will still be the haunting business partners of Kaiba…and I do not tend to change any of them to match the series. Once again, I'm sorry if I sound offensive.