Third story updated this week! I'm on a roll!
This chapter was started months ago. Hench the Christmas theme.
Hope you enjoy!
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any other title that comes up during the chapter.
"I can't believe this." Seto grumbled. He had just found out about Yami's…condition, and he wasn't happy about it. "The kid's blind! How much can he possibly do! He'll just be in the way."
"Big Brother, be reasonable. We can't kick him out now that he's here." Mokuba tried for the umpteenth time to make his brother see reason.
"Nononononononononono………………………………………………………" Seto slumped down onto his bed. "Stop it with the eyes! Oh, fine then! He'll be your responsibility, Little Brother! Now out, and let me think!"
"Yes, Seto." Mokuba left hurriedly, lest he angered the teen again.
Shutting the door, he grinned at Yugi and Ryou, who were waiting outside. Giving them a thumbs up, he smirked. "Mission accomplished. Let's go tell Yami-kun."
xxDecember 20h, 2045 (five weeks later)xx
"No, no, dammit, can't you do anything!" Seto slammed his fist down onto the counter. "How hard can this be! You're just pouring juice into the stupid cups!"
Yami flinched, shrinking back. He had spilled, yet again. "I'm sorry! I…it's just hard to tell where the cups are, or when the cup's full, or…"
"You can't do anything, is that it! This is a community, fool! Everyone has to contribute! It can't work any way else!" the CEO yelled in frustration.
Yami almost wanted to cry at this. Only years of experience at keeping emotions to himself kept his face straight. He had tried his very best, but wasn't used to this at all. The teen squirmed slightly in his chair, and stopped as the worst of his wounds, which were in the final process of healing, reminded him to sit still. With some extra effort, he was able to walk again, and movement caused him much less pain. But for the interest of his body, it would still be best if he stayed inert. Soon. He told himself. Soon, I will be able to move again without pain. When my bones mend and the deepest of the cuts seal up.
"What's going on here?" Malik stormed in. "How can I watch TV with you yelling like that!"
"This idiot can't even pour juice! What use do we have for him!" the young CEO fumed. "He's more trouble than he's worth, I swear."
Marik glanced over at Yami, who had his head slightly hung, a determined looked on his face. The young teen was blushing faintly.
The bleach-blonde boy sighed, not knowing who to stick up for. Seto had a point: Yami did seem to be quite a bit of trouble, judging by the amount of used paper towels in the wastebasket. On the other hand, the boy was blind; he hadn't been walking for weeks, and was just learning how to cope.
He gave another inner sigh. A headache was starting to creep up on him. Better not to get myself into any trouble with Bakura. Not that I can't take him, but still…The other boy had become very protective of Yami over the past weeks. "Lay off him, Seto," he growled, shooting a nasty look at the CEO. "You should try pouring liquids with your eyes closed one day, and see how well you fare. Come on, boy. Let him finish preparing lunch by himself." With that, he went over and literally picked Yami up like a sack of potatoes – it wasn't hard, as the boy was very light – and carried him out of the room, leaving Seto gaping after them.
Going into the Study, where all the others where, he dropped the boy off, and left as quickly as he had come.
Bakura looked up, concerned, but didn't say anything: it wasn't his nature to make the first move. Yugi was a different story. He jumped up, and helped Yami over to a stuffed chair. "What's wrong? I thought I heard Seto yelling."
Yami cringed. "It's harder than I though it would be. He wasn't very happy with me."
Yugi sighed. "I'm sorry, Yami. I should've stopped him. But he insisted..."
"Jerk," Bakura grumbled. "All rich people are jerks."
"Hey!" Mokuba frowned.
"You gotta admit I'm mostly right, kid."
"Ok, so I'll admit my brother's not being very nice." The child shook his head. "I'm sorry, Yami-kun, he can be so stubborn…he didn't say anything bad to you, did he?"
"He mentioned something about me being useless…"
"It's not true," Joey waved a hand dismissively, forgetting that the other couldn't see it. "Don't believe him, man. You can beat me at chess, though how you do it, I can never figure out. I mean, you can't even see the pieces! You're smarter than he is, that's for sure."
"You can play cards better than anyone, too," Ryou commented. They had punched Braille dots into a deck of playing cards for Yami, and taught the boy how to read the Language of the Blind from a book. "And puzzles. Damn, even without looking your can do'em better than any of us! Except maybe Yugi."
Yami grinned a little at the praise, but quickly became depressed again. "So I can play games. I can't do anything else…"
"You will be able to, I swear. You just need a little practice. We'll all help you," Joey promised.
"Thank you," Yami smiled, perking up, new hope growing in his heart.
"Don't mention it. Cards? I'll beat you this time."
xxDecember 22, 2045xx
"T'was the night be-fore Christ-mas and all through the house, not a crea-ture was stir-ring not e-ven a mouse," Yugi sang happily, hanging some ornaments onto the little Christmas tree that Mokuba had insisted his brother get before they moved in.
"The stock-ings were hung by the chim-ney with care, in the hope that St. Nic-ho-las soon would be there." Ryou continue brightly, literally bouncing up and down as he hung another candy cane up on the already overflowing tree.
"The children were cow-er-ing un-der their beds, 'cause the can-dy cane m-onster wan-ted their heads," Bakura smirked, as he continued on their little song, snagging a striped candy cane form Ryou's box.
"And mama in her ker-chief had stran-gled her-self, which made me all happy so I danced and I shout," Marik continued, off-key, grinning like a manic, as he lay sprawled on the couch munching on a cookie.
"All of a sud-den –" Joey began with a wicked grin, but was cut off by Yugi, who groaned. "You guys, this was supposed to be a happy song!"
"It is a happy song! We just improved it a little!" Marik protested.
"You people are so weird!" Téa rolled her eyes with a soft smile. "Boys!"
"Hey, Yami, wanna candy cane?" Bakura called. All the Christmas spirit in the air was making him a bit uncharacteristically nice. He grabbed a stick and threw it over to the other boy, who was sitting on the couch next to Marik.
"Ow!" Yami yelped as the hard candy struck him in the face.
"Oops! Sorry! I forgot!" the white-haired teen blushed lightly, going over to pick up the fallen candy cane and pressing it into the younger boy's hand. "You can open it?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Here, you guys, fresh-baked cookies!" Tristan announced, bringing in the tray. "Enjoy!"
"There's one thing you don't need to tell us," Joey said, eyeing the cookies with a glint in his eyes.
Mokuba came in after Tristan, holding a tray with eleven glasses of milk, which he sat down on the table. Grabbing a couple cookies, he handed them to Yami. "Here; Joey just might take your hand off while devouring the whole plate if you're not careful."
"Well, all that's left is the star." Yugi nodded at the tree with satisfaction. "Seto can do that. He's the tallest, and he didn't get to decorate at all."
Malik came in carrying a cardboard box, which he dumped on the floor. "Well, these are the lights."
"Great! We'll hang them up now!" Ryou beamed.
"Yeah, great. You kids have fun." Malik turned to leave.
"Hold it. If I have to suffer, you do too." Seto came in with another box and shoved the teen back into the room. Dropping the box, he declared, "These are the last of the decorations."
"Seto! Put the star up, will you, please?"
"Why? Not tall enough to reach it, squirt?"
"SETO!" nearly everyone in the room yelled.
"What?" snapped a defiant CEO.
"That wasn't nice!" Téa glared.
"What're you gonna do about it?" the other returned, icy eyes flashing.
"What's up with you today!" Mokuba threw up his hands. "You're completely destroying the Christmas spirit."
"To tell you truth, all this fuss is driving me insane! Why the fuck do you care so much for some stupid holiday that'll be over in twenty-four hours? You're all a bunch of worthless fools!" Seto roared, finally cracking.
"You-" Bakura hissed, starting forward. He was cut off as a voice sounded behind him.
"Who's the true fool here, Kaiba?"
Everyone turned. Yami was standing up, despite the slight pain, his head turned in Seto's direction. His crimson eyes had suddenly flared and turned a slightly deeper red.
"You are. Everyone single one of you, getting all excited because of a tree and a bunch of bright, shiny objects!" Seto snarled.
Yami laughed a humorless laugh. "And because of that, we are fools? Can you not see past the decorations, and the cookies, and the candy, at the true reason behind the joy of Christmas? We are not happy merely because of the material things that will soon disappear. We are not excited purely because we have been given the chance to hang a bunch of things on a tree. There is much, much more. If only you take the time to look."
"You're talking to me about seeing! I'm not the blind one in this room!"
"Who is truly blind, Kaiba?" Yami asked quietly. "Those who can't see? Or those who can but can but never understand what they are seeing?"
"Just what are you implying?" Seto lashed out, stepping forward, eyes narrowed.
"Do you not know? You must be blinder than I had thought."
He had said one word too many. With a strangled cry, Seto leaped forward, driving his fist straight towards the shorter teen's head-
The next moment, everything stopped.
Yugi felt his jaw drop open as he took in the scene before him.
Somehow, Yami had managed to duck just in time to avoid the assault to the face.
And he had buried his fist right in Kaiba's stomach.
The CEO chocked, and stumbled backwards, clutching his abdomen. His face twisted as his brain started to register the ache that quickly turned to a fierce, burning blaze of fire.
Wheezing, he shot Yami a look that promised death, before turning and making his way back to his room as quickly as possible, still doubled over and gasping.
In his wake, he left a deathly silence.
Then Bakura gave a whistle, and started to clap. "Amazing, kid. Didn't know you had it in ya!"
Yami sat back down, unclenching his fist and brushing his hair back with his other hand. A second later he almost tumbled off the couch. Marik, laughing, had slapped his back. Hard.
"Ow…" he moaned. "Watch it! My back still hurts…"
"How…how did you…" Ryou gaped, eyes wide. "I can't even do that! How did you know he was coming!"
"I heard him…and I ducked and swung. Instinctively."
"Instinctively?" Yugi squeaked. "How can you do that instinctively? You just…and that was a hard punch, too! Right in the stomach! How did you know where to aim?"
"I…uh…" Yami blushed, scratching the back of his head, struggling to find his words. "Um…A lot of the people I've fought are about his height…"
"'A lot of the people you've fought'? Implying that you fight often? And how do you even know how tall he is?" Joey inquired in a skeptical voice.
"I can tell by how far above my head his voice is coming from. If that makes any sense."
"It doesn't," Téa breathed.
"I just…can," Yami shrugged.
"Where did you learn how to fight like that? Do you take martial arts, or something?" Joey demanded.
"You ever been in the alleys, man? You can't live on the streets and not fight. It's just not humanly possible." Bakura rolled his eyes.
"That was great! Did you see his face? Priceless!" Marik was about fall off the couch from laughing.
"That's what I call a 'Kodak Moment.'" Tristan smirked.
Yami sighed. "Mokuba, I'm sorry…It's just, he came so fast…I didn't want to hurt him…honest, I didn't."
"It's alright, Yami-kun. He was being a jerk…" Mokuba shook his head. "No one younger than him has ever done anything like that to him before. He's probably completely shocked."
"Why wouldn't he be? I am." Joey chuckled. "Remind me not to ever get you mad, Yami."
"I wouldn't hit you," Yami protested, sounding hurt.
"He was just joking, Yami-kun." Yugi came over and sat down, swinging an arm around the taller boy. "That was really amazing. Unexpected, too."
"You should have taken him out," Joey commented. "That'd have completely made my day. Not that seeing him stumble off didn't. The great Seto Kaiba has finally got put in his place."
"I…don't enjoy doing things like that, you know," Yami said, slightly annoyed, rubbing his temples. "I told you, it was plain reflex action."
"I don't see why you're being so modest," Bakura commented, starting on his candy cane again. "You can do something well. Be proud of it. Heck, if you weren't blind, I'd ask you to spar a little with me. It's just, I don't like picking on the handicapped."
"Thanks," Yami muttered sarcastically.
"Well, let's finish this tree. Malik? You didn't get to decorate either. You wanna put up the star?" Yugi offered.
Malik snorted, but came forward and took the golden star from the boy. He jammed it onto the tree, and afterwards promptly left the room.
"That's great! Let's go decorate the room now!" Ryou chirped, completely ignoring the less-than-Christmassy Malik, diving into the box Seto had brought. "Look! That's so cute!" He held up a Simba Christmas stocking.
Bakura groaned and rolled his eyes, muttering something about idiots under his breath.
"What is it?" Yami asked curiously.
"It's a stocking with Simba's head at the top!" Ryou giggled, delighted.
"Simba?" Yami repeated, confused, cocking his head slightly.
"Yeah, Simba! Y'know, King of the Jungle, 'I can't wait to be king', 'Hakuna Matata'…" He broke off, humming the song to himself.
It was plain by his expression that Yami didn't have a clue what the other teen was talking about.
"It's from "The Lion King", you know, a kid's animated movie," Yugi explained.
"Oh…" Yami replied, although his confused expression didn't clear up.
"Let's hang it over the fireplace," Ryou suggested. "Here, Mokuba, you do it."
"OK!" the boy grinned enthusiastically. "Too bad we don't have a chimney, though. Santa can't come."
"That's alright. We'll pretend. Look, there're enough stockings for every one of us!" Ryou was digging in the box again, pulling the stuff out and scattering them all across the floor.
"Kaiba doesn't deserve one," Joey grumbled. "Unless we have some coal. Then I can stuff it in his stocking!"
"Oh, ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas to you," Ryou said sarcastically.
"Yami-kun, which one do you want?" Yugi asked, examining each stocking closely. "How about the Odie one?" he asked, holding up the yellow dog with it's trademark red tongue hanging out.
"Give that one to Joey. It fits him perfectly," Marik sniggered, earning himself a glare from the blonde.
"Well, how about the Mickey one then?"
"How old do you thin he is? For that matter, how old are you? And exactly why are all the stocking equipped with a cartoon character's head?" Bakura asked exasperatedly.
"I picked them," Mokuba piped up from where he was hanging the stockings up.
"That explains it. The twerp strikes again" the white-haired teen grumbled.
In the end, Mokuba decided that Yami should have the Garfield stocking. The poor teen had been forced to sit, confused, as the others argued about which stocking he should receive. Bakura was presented with the Frosty the Snowman stocking, which sang the song every time you bopped the thing on its head. Marik was given Simba, Mokuba chose Mickey, Tristan took Plumbaa, and Tea was given Minnie. Joey was forced to have the Odie stocking, as Marik had suggested. Yugi fell in love with the little puppy from '101 Dalmatians', and Ryou refused to be parted with his Bambi stocking.
"I swear, they act like five-year-olds," Bakura grumbled, watching Ryou croon over the little deer head and the rabbits and squirrels that decorated his Christmas stocking. "Getting all excited over a dumb sock."
"It's good to let loose once in a while. If they never had any fun, they might grow up to be like you," Yami teased, crunching on his second candy cane.
"Har, har," Bakura snorted.
"It still doesn't excuse they elementary behavior," Marik sighed, flinching as he witnessed Yugi actually kissing the stuffed puppy's head.
"What exactly are they doing?" Yami asked, interested.
"Don't ask. Trust me." Bakura patted the younger boy on the back. "You will be so much happier that way."
"I remember I used watch all the people hurrying home from Christmas shopping," Yami remarked, grinning as he heard Mokuba, Yugi and Ryou's delighted squeals as they discovered a large bag full of little cartoon character figurines. "They always look so hassled."
"Exactly. You see what the holiday season does to people? Instead of making them happy, as it should, it stresses them out," Marik nodded sagely.
"But every Christmas eve, I'd hear the people singing and laughing, and I saw the children opening the presents on Christmas morning, and I think to myself, all the stress was worth it," Yami smiled.
"You're a softie, kid," Bakura rolled his eyes. "If you could see the decorations, you'd be over there squealing like pigs, too."
"Well, I don't know about that…"
xxChristmas Day, December 25, 2045xx
"Get up, get up! It's Christmas!"
Bakura groaned as Ryou literally jumped onto his back, screaming into his ear. "Come on! It's Christmas! Get up, get up!"
"What time is it?" Yami asked groggily from his makeshift bed on the floor, where he had moved a week ago, having no more need for the warmth of the fire in the living room.
"It's Christmas morning!' Ryou yelled joyfully at him, still straddled on Bakura's back.
"We've established that," Bakura hissed, grabbing his digital bedside clock and squinting at the numbers with sleep-fogged eyes. When his eyes had adjusted, allowing him to read the numbers, he let out a yelp. "Ryou, it's four in the morning!"
"Yes, but we have to go open presents!" the youngerboy bounced up and down on the elder's back, making the poor teen moan.
"Ryou, we're under the freaking ground. There aren't any people for miles around expect those in this shelter. Santa and his little reindeer will definitely not have made an appearance to all his little good boys and girls!" Bakura screamed. "Now get off of me and let me go back to sleep!"
Ryou's happy bubble was not to be burst. "There will be presents! You wait and see! Come on!"
"No!"
"Ryou, what's keeping you?" the door opened to reveal Mokuba and Yugi, both fully awake, with the sleepy-looking group, minus Seto and Malik, behind them.
"They won't get up!' Ryou whined. "Come help."
"It's a conspiracy," Bakura howled as Mokuba and Ryou succeeded in dragging him out of bed, covers and all. "You're all plotting against me! You're trying to kill me by depriving me of sleep!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Yami cried, scrambling to get up as Yugi threatened to dump a pail of water over his head. Judging by Joey and Tristan's soaked hair and clothes, it was how he'd managed to wake his roommates up, too.
"You'll never succeed, you hear me?" Bakura continued to yowl as his captors towed him out of the room. "I'll foil your evil plan! Sleep shall rule the world!"
"What's he talking about?" Yami yawned, following Yugi out of the room.
Yugi shrugged. Then, remembering that Yami couldn't see him, he said, "Who knows? His mind works in mysterious ways."
"Sleep deprivation shall be illegal! People like you would be jailed! No one would be able to rise before nine in the morning!" Bakura screamed as he was being hauled down the hall. Yugi led the rest of the group. He was the only one not stumbling like a drunk due to sleepiness.
"Presents! Look!" Ryou exclaimed happily, dropping Bakura's arm and making a beeline for the brightly-wrapped parcels under the tree.
"Yea! Presents!" Mokuba dropped Bakura's other arm, diving into the heap of ribbons and bows and wrapping paper. Yugi pounced in after them.
"Laws shall be passed to make a requirement of ten hours of sleep per day! Lessons on how to sleep will be taught in school! And – Ow!" Bakura's senseless rant was finally stopped by Ryou throwing a package at him. Curious, he sat up and took the thing in his hands, eyes widening when he saw his name on the nametag. Quickly, he ripped the paper off to reveal…
"Duct tape?" Bakura asked, amazed and puzzled, staring at the roll of sticky gray material.
"To keep your mouth shut," Marik grinned, making it clear who had given him the present.
Bakura scowled. "You want to die?"
"Hey, where're Seto and Malik anyway?" Ryou asked, finally noticing the two missing people.
"You want to get murdered by waking those two up, go ahead," Mokuba shuddered.
Ryou let out a slight 'oh' of understanding and dropped the subject.
"Here, Yami, this one's for you." Yugi came up to the taller boy, who was sitting on the couch, and pressed the parcel into his hands.
"For me? Are you sure?" Yami asked, taken back.
"Of course. Your name's on it. Can't you read it?" he guided Yami's hand to the raised dots punched into the nametag.
"Oh." Yami's eyes were full of wonder as his fingers slid across the dots. "Sorry. It's just…I don't think I've ever gotten a present before…"
"First for everything. Open it!" Yugi prompted.
Yami complied, carefully tearing off the paper. His hands explored the object inside. "It's…cards?" he asked, puzzled. Then his hands found the Braille dots. "Oh! Duel Monsters? What's that?"
"It's a trading card game." Yugi explained. "I have a deck, too, and Mokuba had some spare packs, so these are yours! I'll teach you to play."
"Thanks, Yugi. This means a lot…" Yami said shyly.
"No problem."
"Hey!" Joey suddenly roared, shattering the peaceful and happy atmosphere that had settled. "Who gave me the recipe for 'Easy-made Dog Biscuits?"
Marik sniggered behind the furious blonde's back. Leaning over to Bakura, he whispered, "Thought I'd teach him to prepare his favorite snack."
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