Here's the Second part of the Christmas special. Now do you see why this took so long to update?

Chapter 23: Bakura Claus

"What the hell is with me and getting drunk?" Marik complained early in the morning. It was the day after the Christmas party, and Bakura learned the one difference between a tipsy Marik and a drunk Marik.

Tipsy Marik actually remembered what happened while intoxicated.

"Well," Bakura said, looking up from the book he had been reading, "Technically you've only been drunk once of your own accord. The other two times weren't really your fault when you think about it."

"True, the first time was because you switched the drinks on me… but still! I only drank a little bit of that spiked eggnog. And the eggnog should've diluted the alcohol!"

"You just have no liquor tolerance."

"I guess… About what I said -"

"You were drunk. I get it," Bakura smirked, "But if you change your mind, I could go out and buy some mistle-"

"No."

Bakura chuckled, "You already have to kiss me you know."

"I know," Marik said, his voice sounding depressed, but not too depressed. It was like a little kid saying 'I know' to a parent about doing the dishes, it's not their favorite activity but they'll do it.

Bakura hoped to change that someday. But for now he should have fun with his current situation.

"You still have to turn into a cat," Marik said with a smirk.

Bakura groaned, "I know." His 'I know' just sounded plain depressed.

"Be happy!" Marik said, "It's Christmas Eve!"

"I suppose your right… What's so special about Christmas though? Who started it?"

"Santa Claus."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "No really!" Marik continued, "My sister told me a story about a guy named Nicholas who would go door to door and leave toys at the doorsteps at night. She said that Nicholas never died, and today we called him Santa Claus."

"Really?" Bakura asked, intrigued. This he found interesting, more interesting than a fat guy riding in a sleigh anyway. Someone actually just gave away toys to children long ago? "Why do we call him Santa Claus then?"

"I don't know, some people call him St. Nick though."

"Huh, I wonder why people added the flying reindeer."

"Who knows what goes through people's heads? Maybe a kid made it up."

"To try and find nonsensical answers to his nonsensical questions?"

"Yup. What'cha reading?"

"I don't even know anymore, I thought it was about this one girl who found out she had cancer and only had two months to live. But now the doctor's saying he made a mistake, and that she didn't have cancer. How can a doctor make a mistake like that?"

"You're not reading any more vampire novels?" Marik was surprised. It seemed as if that was all Bakura ever read.

"Nah," I already found what I needed to know, "Now I'm just reading for knowledge. You should try it sometime."

"Ha ha ha, I know plenty of stuff."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Then you know that riding in a plane is ten times safer than riding in a car?"

Marik sighed, "Yes I know that, it doesn't help at all."

"And you also know that house cats can kill?"

Marik chuckled, "You're still being a cat for a day, in fact, you'll be a cat all day tomorrow," Marik smiled a wide smile, "that'll also be my Christmas present."

"I should've bought you a cat."

"You didn't already?"

"No, I bought you something useful."

Marik's eye started twitching. "How about we open our presents; since it's Christmas Eve."

"No way, you're waiting till tomorrow morning. A full twenty-four hours."

"That means you have to wait too you know."

"I know, I don't care. I have a question."

"Shoot."

"You said you thought Otogi was a vampire because a bunch of girls followed him around right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering, does the mind control thing only work on the opposite sex?"

Marik waved his hand in the air, as if to stall, "Well, it depends… It's not actually mind control, but they will do whatever he says."

"If it's not mind control, what is it?"

Marik shifted in his seat, "It's more of a… seduction technique."

"Seduction?" Bakura was instantly intrigued.

"Yeah… You see, vampires are extremely attractive people -"

"Really?" Bakura found this interesting, he wondered if Marik thought that, or was it just a general observation?

"Yes, really, and people notice that, but most people just think, "He's hot," and leave it at that. Sometimes, the human will actually talk and flirt with the vampire, but not often. It's usually just a general attraction.""Where is this going?" Bakura found himself grinning.

Marik's cheeks began to get a little hot, "Some vampires know how to, um, amplify that general attraction into… something more… um, physical… It could work on both genders, depending on… yeah… It works best on desperate people, and it doesn't work on people who already have someone they like and are attracted to. Anyway, when they amplify it, the victims will want to do anything to make the vampire…"

"Have sex with them?" Bakura asked to clarify. It probably would've taken all day to get Marik to say that.

Marik's cheeks got a little red, "… Yeah, and they will do anything, I mean, anything, they'd even jump off a cliff or do something equally as dangerous. So, basically, the vampire has total control over their decisions."

"How would the vampire get rid of these desperate humans?"

"Usually the vampire just ends up killing them."

Bakura thought for a second. "That seems a little harsh don't you think?"

"Yeah, it's a good thing only some vampires can do that."

"How do you people find these things out?"

Marik's face got really red, "Well… I was a victim once."

"What?" Bakura asked, this he had to hear about, "What did you do? What happened?"

"My family killed her obviously."

"You know what I meant."

Marik sighed, "I was walking home from work, and there was this lady standing underneath the lamppost. At first, I didn't even notice her, but then she said…" Marik paused.

"Go on," Bakura prompted, "I promise I won't tell anyone."

Marik sighed, "She said, "C-mere cutie." At that time I felt like… like…"

"Like?" Bakura asked, starting to get impatient.

"Like, I forgot what I was going to do. I forgot about everything, I think I even forgot my name, but when I turned to her… it was as if she was all that there was. Like, my entire life had been building up to just follow her every command, make her happy, and to… you know…" Marik was looking down and was fidgeting, he obviously didn't want to continue, but Bakura could guess the rest of that sentence anyway.

"I get it, anything else?"

"When she spoke, it was as if it was the sweetest sound in the universe, and she smelled delicious…" Marik closed his eyes, "Maybe if I had been aware what was going on, it wouldn't have affected me so much, but my dad hadn't told me about this yet. Anyway, she tried to drink my blood," Bakura noted how he could feel a growl threatening to escape his throat, "and the scary thing was that, I wanted her to drink my blood. It's not fun being a victim Bakura, it's like you're not even in control of your life anymore, and you're happy about it because you think that it is your life. But really, it's just someone else's. You think that your life is that person, and you're perfectly happy doing whatever menial task she asks you to do. I was lucky, right before she was about to drain me dry, my brother showed up, and killed her instantly. Then he told me what dad had neglected to." Marik took a big breath of air and let it out slowly.

Bakura took this in, and then thought of something, "… Have you ever told anyone else about this?"

Marik shook his head, not wanting to speak anymore.

Bakura stared into space. Marik was trusting him with even more of his life? Of more of his secrets that he told no one else? It made Bakura happy, but it also made him a little afraid. What was he supposed to do with this knowledge? Was he allowed to bring it up again? No one had trusted him with stuff like this before, for good reasons too, so what the hell was he supposed to do? Bakura's head began to hurt, "So," he found himself saying with a smirk, "am I attractive to you Marik?"

Marik's face got even redder than it had when he was trying to explain the seduction technique, "W-well I -"

"I take that as a yes."

Marik's face might as well have gone up in flames, "I wouldn't say you're unattractive…" Bakura started laughing, mostly from happiness, but partly from how red Marik's face was. Marik began to get angry, "What about me?" he asked, "Am I attractive to you Bakura?"

Bakura's laughter died almost instantly, and Marik couldn't help but smile when a light - but clearly visible - pink blush swept across Bakura's face, "Um… Same answer."

"You can't copy my answer!" Marik objected.

"Why not? This isn't school."

"You of all people should know about the consequences of plagiarism!"

"How would you prove it?"

"It's just the principle of the thing."

"Oh boo hoo. Live with it."

Marik stuck his tongue out at Bakura. "Hey," Marik said suddenly.

"What?"

"I just thought of something."

"That's new." Marik glared at Bakura, "I just thought about that thing where you leave cookies out for Santa Claus."

"What's your point?"

"We need to make more cookies."

"Santa Claus doesn't even exist! Why should we make cookies for him?""He exists Bakura!"

"You already conned me into putting up a Christmas tree and lights, I'm not making more cookies."

"I didn't con you!"

"Yes you did, remember?"

~~{Start Flashback}~~

Weeks ago, before the Christmas party.

"Hey Bakura," Marik said while they were eating breakfast, "We need to put up a Christmas tree."

Bakura stared at Marik, "No."

"Why not?"

"Because then we get the stupid needles everywhere, and we probably won't even take it down until July, so no."

"Aw come on, can we decorate the house at least?"

"You can."

"Fine, where are the decorations."

"In the basement."

"Can you get them?"

Bakura groaned in frustration, stood up abruptly, and walked downstairs into the basement. He came back up holding a giant brown box with a picture of a pine tree on it. He dropped it in the middle of the living room. "There," he said, gesturing to the brown box, "An artificial Christmas tree. Go nuts."

"Thanks." As Marik started setting up the Christmas tree, all memory of breakfast forgotten, Bakura went to go get the other decorations. In a half hour, they had a pretty decent looking Christmas tree in their living room. Marik moved it so that it was right next to the TV and you could see it from the window. If they ever put the blinds up, but they wouldn't, so it was kind of pointless really. Then Marik started searching through the plastic, blue decorations box.

Marik hadn't really ever had time (or the encouragement) to set up Christmas decorations at his own house. Usually he and his sister went out in secret and decorated a wild pine tree. He had never decorated a house before, so all of the colorful bobbles and statues and wall ornaments were new to him. He had seen this stuff in other houses, and on TV, but he had never put it up himself, so he had no idea where to start. He decided to start with a statue of a snowman, and then moved on to plastic pictures that you pressed up against the wall, and so on and so forth. He was having fun figuring out where to put everything, and he barely noticed Bakura.

However, Bakura noticed him.

Marik's to and fro action had annoyed him greatly. Because of his advanced hearing, he could hear every single footstep. Every single one. And he didn't have any new books to read, so this was a very big deal for him at the moment. He tried writing to drown it out, but that didn't work at all. At first, he had been able to stand it, but as minutes turned to hours, he began to twitch and felt very on edge. He just wanted Marik to stop walking around everywhere. Was that to much to ask? "Marik!" Bakura yelled, "Stop moving around so much!"

"But I have to move around to decide where to put everything," he said before walking into another room.

Apparently, it was too much to ask for.

Bakura walked over to the decorations box and took out a colorful box. He opened it and it was full of what appeared to be tree decorations. He looked into the box again and saw a box with see through plastic n the front, so he knew that lights were inside. Also, written on the box was the katakana for "Tree lights."

Bakura took that box out as well and started decorating the tree. In a few minutes, Marik came back into the living room to where Bakura glared at him. Marik smiled, "So you're helping now?"

Bakura's eye started twitching, but he didn't say anything.

Soon they had a pretty Christmassy-looking house. All that was left was to put up lights on the roof of the house.

Marik and Bakura were outside (it was nighttime by now) holding the outdoor lights, were staring at the roof of the house. "You put them up," Bakura said.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

Marik stared at Bakura with a look that said, Really?

"What?" Bakura asked.

"Do you have any idea how high up that is?"

Bakura sighed and held out his hand, "Give me the lights."

So with that Bakura put up the outdoor lights.

~~{End flashback}~~

Marik smirked, "I did con you didn't I?"

"Yes. I'm not proud."

Marik laughed. "I still say we should make cookies."

"No, I may have decorated a tree, and put up lights, but I'm not making any more cookies."

"Do you want this house to burn down?"

"You know enough not to burn the house down now."

"Yeah you're right, but I'll probably make a mess of things."

Bakura stared at Marik. Why did he have to come up with such good points? Bakura sighed, "Fine, what kind?"

"I love cookies," Marik said as he was eating an old-fashioned chocolate-chip cookie at the kitchen table.

"Yeah, just save some for Santa," Bakura said "Santa" with disdain while he put the cookies on a plate.

"I'm telling you Bakura, Santa is real."

"Why do you believe in Santa so much?"

"Because I do."

"Why?"

"Because, every December 25th, no matter where my family was, Santa would come and leave a little present by my pillow."

"That was probably your mom."

"No it wasn't!"

Bakura sighed, "Marik, I'm not discussing the reality of Santa Claus with you."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Because you know you're wrong?"

Bakura glared at Marik, "No, because it's completely ridiculous. It's like talking to a five year old."

"I am not a little kid!"

"Only little kids believe in Santa Claus."

"I know adults who believe in Santa Claus."

"They were humoring you."

Marik shook his head, "Think what you want, but I know Santa's real." With that Bakura rolled his eyes and left the room. Leaving Marik with the cookies (he knew Marik wouldn't eat them all because of Santa Claus). For the rest of the day, they did things separately, quietly, not speaking to each other. They didn't want to talk because they knew they'd just start arguing about Santa Claus again, and neither wanted to talk about that.

Honestly, the only reason Bakura was being so stern about Santa Claus was because he didn't want Marik to have false hope. What happened when he didn't get a present from the man in red this year? What happened when he couldn't deny that Santa Claus wasn't real anymore? What then? Also, it kind of irked him that anyone could be that naïve.

And the only reason Marik was being so stern about Santa Claus was because his mother and siblings had always told him that he was real, and he didn't want them to be wrong. They were the people he had looked up to throughout his life, the people he could always count on. He didn't want them to have lied for his sake.

So, because neither wanted to explain themselves, neither talked until it was time to go to bed.

Marik took to sleeping on the bed in Bakura's room since Bakura didn't actually have to use it, so Bakura read while listening to Marik's steady, slow breathing in the background. It was around midnight, and Bakura was feeling his eyes closing. He shook his head. He was a vampire, he shouldn't feel tired. He closed his book, stood up, and walked into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes at the plate of cookies and the glass of milk for Santa. He reached into the fridge and started making himself a sandwich.

Outside the blinded window, it was snowing heavily, so heavily in fact that if anyone had been out at this time, they wouldn't have been able to see two feet in front of their noses. The would, however, have been able to hear a conversation going on between two men. Their voices came from everywhere, much like the snow that surrounded everything.

"I told you we should've brought Rudolph!" a harsh man's voice said.

"He's sick, I'm not going to fly a sick reindeer in this kind of weather!" said a more jolly, yet still stern man's voice. This one sounded considerably older, but it was hard to place exactly how old the man was.

"I understand, but he seemed much better today, I'm sure he could've handled it."

"Well we're already too far to go back, so there's no point in talking about it. Help me find the next house will you?"

"Sure thing boss." After that, you wouldn't hear anymore voices, but if you listened closely enough, you would have sworn you could here the underlying sound of sleigh bells jingling in the snowy night.

The two men who had been riding in a red sleigh powered by eight reindeer now landed on the roof, for they had been in the sky, and the roof was their target. The older man walked out of the sleigh and took a massive sack from behind it. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"If you're gone too long, I'm looking for you."

"Nothing's going to happen Marnin(1)."

"Just in case Big Guy."

"Whatever floats your boat Little Guy." Marnin smiled as the older man in red went down the chimney.

The white-bearded man in red landed in the house without making a sound. He walked straight to the tree and started taking colorfully wrapped boxes out and placing them under the pine, saying he would eat the cookies and milk set out for him later. He started humming "The 12 Days of Christmas" to himself under his breath, a small smile on his face, concealed by his snowy white beard.

Unbeknownst to him was the looming figure in the kitchen looking on with curiosity. He also had white hair, but he did not look old, and he did not have a beard. This white-haired young man watched this mysterious and large man with wonder. He reached behind him to grab a chair and picked it up without making a sound. He walked forward with the chair held over his head, imitating a mouse. He crept forward, until he was right behind the old man in red. The old man saw a shadow move, and turned around for his face to be met with wood.

The old man fell on the floor, seeing stars and sugar plums before slipping into unconsciousness. While he was unconscious, the light switch was turned on by the white-haired man. He stared at the man on the ground, and then said one word, "Shit."

He dropped the chair and knelt down beside the old man. "Please tell me you're just an amateur thief and not the mythical Santa Claus, please!"

The old man did not respond. The young man rubbed his hand through his messy white hair, wondering what the hell he should do now. But before he could decide, he heard sounds coming from his chimney. The sounds ended when a small man in green landed in the fireplace. He walked out into the living room, took in the scene in front of him, and turned angrily to the white-haired man. He was only four-feet tall, but had a powerful aura. "What did you do!" Marnin said, obviously furious.

"I thought he was a thief!" Bakura said defensively..

"A thief who puts presents under the tree on Christmas Eve? Use your brain!"

"I'm sorry!"

" 'Sorry' ain't gonna cut it!" Marnin brought one of his hands to cover his mouth, "You'll have to deliver the presents now."

"What?" Bakura asked in astonishment. Marnin didn't respond, instead, he walked over to Santa Claus and took his red coat off gingerly. He looked at the old man sadly, then put the red coat on Bakura. "You have to deliver the presents now, I have no idea how long he's going to be out for, and someone needs to deliver the presents."

"Why can't you deliver them?"

"Because I need to tend to the Big Guy!"

"But -" before Bakura could reject, Marik walked out into the living room, rubbing one of his eyes sleepily. "What's all the noise out here?" He looked at the scene in front of him, and at first couldn't take it all in because he was still dead tired. But after a few seconds, his eyes went wide and he gaped at the man on the floor. "S-Santa?"

"You're friend here knew he was Santa right away," Marnin grumbled under his breath so only he could hear.

"I'm sorry okay?" Bakura responded since he had heard the comment anyway.

"He means it Elf," Marik said, "He never apologizes."

Bakura glared at him while Marnin said, "My name is Marnin kid," Marik's eye started twitching from the use of the word "kid," but the elf did not notice it, instead he looked at Bakura and asked, "How did you hear me?"

"I'm a vampire, I can hear a lot." The elf seemed stricken by this, though neither vampire nor human knew why. The Elf looked at Marik, "Say, ki-"

"Marik. My name is Marik."

"Marik, right, sorry. Anyway Marik, how would you like to help deliver presents?"

Marik's eyes got wide and Bakura looked at him horrified. He wasn't actually thinking about…?

"Oh yes!" Marik said excitedly, much like a little kid would have sounded if they had been asked to ride on Santa's sleigh. Oh wait, never mind.

Bakura resisted the urge to groan while Marnin the elf snapped his fingers and Marik's red pajamas were replaced with green, elfy-looking, one-piece clothes. With zigzagged trims, black belt, pointy shoes, green tights, and the hat. (Surely you know what an elf looks like yes?)The shirt was short-sleeved, revealing Marik's muscular arms. Marik's smile was as big and as bright as a stop sign being shined on by the biggest light in the world.

"Well, off you two go now!" Marnin said as he started pushing the two young adults up the chimney.

"What?" Bakura said, still just a little confused at how fast things were happening to him.

"Don't worry, the reindeer know the route. We prepped it to them."

"But -"

"The coat and elf costume will take care of getting you down the chimney. To go up, you just have to give a slight nod of your head."

"I wasn't -"

"To get the presents, just reach into the sack," Marnin handed Bakura the red velvet sack, "and the toy will magically manifest its way into your hand."

"How does that -?"

"And make sure to eat the milk and cookies, kids love it when they see Santa took their cookies."

"Let me finish -"

"And whatever you do, be absolutely silent. Although, that shouldn't be so hard for you, seeing as you're a vampire."

"I still don't think -"

"Let's go Bakura!" Marik said as he grabbed the unwilling vampire by the hand and gave a slight nod of his head. Marik and Bakura began to feel shaky, and they began to feel as if they were disappearing. In reality, they were just turning into mist so that they could fly up out of the chimney. The mist climbed up the brick chimney and onto the tiled roof. The mist hovered in the air for a second before solidifying into the shape of two young adults. Marik grinned at Bakura.

"Well Santa -"

"I. Am. Not. Santa."

"True, but he does exist! HA! In your face!"

"All right fine. Santa Claus is real, happy?"

"Yes, yes I am. C'mon, we better get delivering!" Bakura got into the sleigh grumbling to himself and Marik got in after him. Marik was all giddy with the thought of actually riding around in a sleigh! How exciting!

Bakura on the other hand, wasn't sure how much he could take of this. I mean, not five minutes ago, he hadn't believed in Santa Claus, and now he had knocked the guy out, met an elf, and was taking over their job for the night? It was too much, even for Bakura.

The Santa-impersonator took the reigns from the sleigh and told the reindeer to "Go!" But the reindeer did not move.

"Dash away, dash away, dash away all!" Marik said happily. Bakura turned to give him a look, but then the reindeer started to move walk, and then they started to run, and soon, they were flying in the night air, over buildings and streets, cars and lights, trees and sidewalks and animals and snow-covered ground. Bakura turned to Marik, "How'd you…?"

"Christmas carols," Marik replied with a grin. He was enjoying this very much.

That was the last of the make-do Santa-and-elf combo that Marnin heard, for he turned to tend to Santa Claus. He let out a breath of relief. "We dodged a bullet there," he said to the unconscious figure, "you shouldn't send a vampire to deliver presents. Too much blood temptation and whatnot, I'm sure Marik will keep him in check though. Hopefully… Oh man, what have I done?" Thoughts of adults finding their kids with no blood left in them flooded his mind, making him almost go up the chimney and try to stop the airborne sleigh. Marnin shook his head. "That's ridiculous, if he was a blood-lusted vampire, he would have just drank Santa's blood." Marnin paused before bending down to inspect Santa's neck. He exhaled in relief. "If I worry anymore I'm gonna give myself a heart attack…"

Meanwhile, Marik was having fun torturing Bakura.

"Do you believe in Santa Claus now 'Kura?"

"Yes, okay? YES! How many times are you going to ask that question?" Bakura asked, pissed off at having to fly (FLY!) a sleigh at this ungodly hour and at this time of night. Not that the time mattered to him, but still.

"As many times as I want. I can't believe you knocked out Santa Claus though."

"Neither can I."

"What'd you use?"

"Huh?"

"To knock him out I mean. What'd you use?"

"A chair."

"A chair?"

"Yes, a chair."

"I'm surprised you didn't grab a knife and kill the guy."

"I thought he was just a poor excuse for a thief. I was going to give him some pointers."

"After hitting him with a chair?"

"I didn't say it was a good plan."

Marik rolled his eyes, and then fell deathly silent. Bakura was thankful for the surprised silence, but after a while, he began to get worried. Why wasn't Marik saying anything? He looked over at him, to find that the naturally tan Marik Ishtar, now resembled a ghost as white as a sheet. "What the heck is wrong with you?" Bakura asked, bewildered. Is he cold…?

"P-plane…" Marik muttered. He was gripping the side and the front of the sleigh tightly. At first, Bakura had no idea what "plane" was supposed to mean, but then remembered 's afraid of heights.

Bakura stared at Marik. Crap, we didn't really think this through, did we?

Bakura stared ahead of him, not really sure what to do. I mean, what do you do if you're afraid of heights, and you're over 100 yards in the air in a sleigh that could flip over anytime? Because Bakura had no idea what to do, he began to do something he does best:

tease Marik.

"Wow, so, you knew you were afraid of heights, and yet you got on a flying sleigh?"

Bakura could see a microscopic amount of color come back to Marik's face.

"I mean seriously, don't you use that brain of yours at all? You think a vampire hunter would be smarter than that, guess I was wrong."

Bakura swore he saw Marik's eye start to twitch, and a more miniscule amounts of color came back to Marik.

"I guess the kiddy Marik just couldn't say no to a ride in Santa's sleigh."

Marik's eyelid was definitely starting to twitch now, but he was still staring at the bottom of the sleigh, and his face was stuck in a horrified gaze, like he had died of fright.

"Of course, I guess I can believe it. After all, you have gotten drunk three times now. You really should learn to control yourself Marik."

Marik's face was almost back to it's normal color. Just one more insult… Bakura thought.

"But I suppose you'll do anything for a pretty face, huh princess?"

That did it, Marik turned his head to Bakura, his face now one of anger. "Excuse me if my fear of heights slipped my mind when offered to ride in Santa's sleigh Bakura Claus!"

"Still, it didn't cross your mind once? I mean, I knew you were stupid Marik, but not that stupid!" Marik leaped, aiming for Bakura's throat. "I'll kill you kitty!" he screamed as he tried to choke Bakura, but the vampire placed his hands on Marik's chest to stop him. None of those techniques he had learned covered what to do in a flying sleigh, so the best Marik could do was try. And his anger was fueled by Bakura's laughter at how quickly Marik's mood had changed.

"Marik," Bakura said, a smile evident on his face.

"What?" Marik snarled. He was not in the best of moods right now.

"We're up in the air."

"So?"

"So, are you not afraid?"

"Of course I am!" Marik screamed angrily, "You know I'm afraid of -!" Marik paused and stopped reaching for his friend's throat. "… heights…" Bakura burst out laughing, making Marik's face go red with embarrassment.

"I-it took you that long to figure it out -!" Bakura said in between laughter.

"Oh shut up," Marik grumbled. He looked over the side of the sleigh cautiously. The ground looked so far away from up here… Marik put his head back into the sleigh and closed his eyes as they started to swim. He cradled his head in his hands, feeling a vertiginous sensation.

When he had first looked over the side of the sleigh and realized that he was really, really, really high up, he had gripped the sides of the sleigh tightly until his knuckles were white. He had felt frozen, he couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't do anything. His mind went blank, and was filled with horrifying thoughts, like if the sleigh just decided to drop and crash onto the pavement, squashing him like road kill. I mean, what was even holding this thing up anyway? Magic? Was that it? That was even less of a substantial ideal than a metal contraption flying through the air! He had barely heard Bakura's question asking what was wrong, and he wasn't able to push, "WE'RE GOING TO CRASH! WE'RE GOING TO DIE! LAND, DAMMIT, LAND! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE UP HERE!" out of his mouth, so instead he just said, "plane," hoping Bakura would understand what that meant. Luckily he had, but Marik hadn't expected Bakura's comments. He didn't know what he expected Bakura to do, try to calm him down? As if. When Bakura started teasing him like that, his head began to clear away the ice that had frozen it, filling his head with angry retorts, but he still couldn't speak at that time. But eventually, rage bubbled over, and he lost it. How dare Bakura make fun of him for what he feared! If he knew what Bakura was afraid of, he wouldn't throw it in his face every goddamn minute! He'd tease him lightly about it… but that's it! But then he realized that Bakura had just been trying to help him, and it had worked somewhat, but it took more than anger at a friend to stop being afraid of heights. He appreciated what Bakura tried to do though.

His eyes flashed opened, a grin making it's way across his face. He turned his head, about to call Bakura on his act of kindness, but then, the sleigh dropped suddenly and without warning. Marik let out an impressive scream as the sleigh went down a frightening descent. He hugged Bakura tightly and hid his head in the vampire's shoulder. Bakura just held onto the reigns and Marik tightly, telling himself that he would not let Marik die (and enjoying this pose a little too much for this situation). But just as soon as the sleigh had descended, the reindeer smoothed out the course, and they landed lightly on a rooftop. The stayed in the sleigh for a minute as they waited to make sure that they weren't moving anymore.

"… Did we die?" Marik asked, "Did we crash on the ground and explode into a million pieces?"

"I think you're confusing people with glass, and we're not dead, we landed on a rooftop."

Marik didn't move at first, then he took his head away from Bakura's shoulder and squinted into the night. When he had assured himself that they were on sturdy ground, he sighed in relief. "Thank goodness." He released Bakura, much to his dissatisfaction, and laid back in the sleigh and closed his eyes. "I think I'll just stay here for a while, you go deliver the presents."

"Are you sure you don't want to go through a chimney?" Bakura asked, smirking.

"I'm sure, I need to calm myself down," he took a deep breath and let it out, "I'll wait for you here."

"Suit yourself." Bakura got out of the sleigh and took the red bag. Surprisingly, it wasn't heavy, or that big, considering it supposedly fit every toy in the world in here. In fact, it looked as if it only had about five presents in it. Five small ones at that. And it was as light as a feather. I suppose everything about Santa Claus really is magical, no other explanation needed.

Bakura walked up to the chimney, put one foot in, and then just jumped. He felt his body being compressed, and before he knew it, he was standing right in front of someone's fireplace wearing a fancy red coat with a sack full of toys. He looked around the place and the first thing he noticed was that whoever lived in this house was filthy rich, had no sense of style, and was a neat freak. Everything was either white and sparkling or black and shimmering, and everything was in a weird shape. Bakura couldn't define statues from chairs, and he wasn't even sure what the heck these paintings were supposed to be of. Almost everything had eyes, whether they were beady or gigantic or oddly colored.

It kind of freaked Bakura out a bit. But even though everything looked weird, he could tell that this stuff was extremely expensive. His fingers itched to just swipe something, anything. Just something small, they probably wouldn't even miss it the rich bastards.

Bakura sighed, he shouldn't steal anything - Marik would make him return it.

Instead of stealing something (like he really wanted to), Bakura turned his attention to the tree. The dark green multi-colored lit tree looked completely out of place in this white-and-black house. Bakura walked over to it and took a present out of the sack.

It was wrapped in white with a black ribbon. Of course.

He deposited the present at the base of the tree, and then his sack started glowing and presents just poured out of it. Bakura had to stifle a surprised gasp as twenty or more presents flew out and landed silently on the floor. When the presents stopped coming out, Bakura blinked and rubbed his eyes. And then he heard something drop on the floor behind him.

He turned around to see a little kid, probably no older than five, wearing black pajamas standing at the bottom of the white-carpeted stairs. He was staring at Bakura with wide eyes and said, "S-Santa?"

"Uh, hi there," Bakura said. The little kid walked up to Bakura. "Did you get my letter Santa?"

"Uh…"

Tears began forming at the side of the kid's eyes, "Will mommy and daddy stop fighting?"

Bakura noticed the tears and he felt his heart tighten. Great, tears. My only weakness. He kneeled down and wiped the kids tears away. "I'll tell you what kid, me and your parents will have a little chat and work things out. Now why don't you go off to bed and get some sleep?"

The kid nodded and walked upstairs. "Uh, wait," Bakura said. The kid turned around. "… Could you show me to your parents room?" Bakura realized he had no idea where anything was. The kid nodded and walked up the stairs while Bakura followed. The kid stopped at a painted-black wooden door. He pointed at it, and then walked off into a different room and closed the door behind him. Bakura stared at the door the little kid had indicated. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He hadn't actually thought of that, he wasn't even sure what made him ask in the first place, he wasn't going to do anything. Bakura turned to just walk away, but then he remembered those glistening tears…

Bakura cussed and opened the door. The parents were sleeping on a white canopy bed. Their carpet and walls were black and their furniture was white. What was with these people and these two colors? Why can't they try some blue, or some yellow, or some red or something!

Bakura walked into the room and looked at the parents. They were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, and there were pillows in between them. Looks like they're getting a divorce or something. Bakura's eyes widened. "Will mommy and daddy stop fighting?" So that was the problem - his parents had been arguing and were going to get a divorce. Bakura clenched his fist. Didn't these so-called parents see how much they were hurting their child? Bakura unclenched his fist. What can I do about it? Yell at them to stop fighting and get along? Bakura stared at them, and then decided to leave a little note. A few minutes later, he grabbed some cookies, walked out of that creepily clean house and was up the chimney and in the sleigh. When those parents awoke the next morning, they found a letter on their dresser.

'Dear Mommy and Daddy,' was the first line.

'All I want for Christmas this year, is for you to stop fighting. I always feel bad when you fight mommy and daddy, please stop it.

'Love, your suffering and crying child.

'(Brought to you by Santa Claus.)'

The parents looked at each other. Their child couldn't write this good.

They talked to their son about it, and he admitted that he hated it when they fought - he felt as if it was his fault they were fighting.. It was then they decided they should talk about their problems, for the good of their child.

In a few short months (and many therapy lessons), the two parents were once again happily in love, their son was a happy, bubbly child once more, and their house had more than just black and white in it. Now, it was a rainbow of colors, reflecting their new positive feelings and outlook. All of this was thanks to a visit from Bakura Claus.

Marik and Bakura were still driving on the sleigh. They had visited over fifty houses in this night and Bakura was fascinated to find out that time had stopped. I guess St. Nick really could do that.

Bakura kept his eye out for anything in the sky like planes or birds, and Marik slouched in the sleigh and tried his best not to notice anything in the sky, and instead focused on the bottom of the sleigh or just simply closed his eyes. He still did not like being up in the sky with only a flimsy sleigh supporting him. What if the reindeer decided to do a flip or something? Then what? He would fall to the ground and die, that's what. And whenever he thought about how high up he was, he felt sick and dizzy and had to talk to himself to calm himself down. Fortunately, the reindeer stopped with scaring him half to death by flying so steeply, but he still hated it when they descended. It felt as if he was going to fall right out.

Plus, it was freezing up here. That elf had only put him in a short sleeved shirt, and he felt as if he was being slowly frozen solid into a Marik-sickle. Apparently, elves were impervious to the cold or something. He started shivering, and his teeth started chattering. He hugged himself for warmth. Bakura looked over. "Are you cold?"

"N-no," he stammered.

Bakura sighed, "Don't lie when the truth is obvious."

"W-well, if it's so d-damn obvious, w-why did you a-ask?"

Bakura rolled his eyes and slipped the red coat off his torso. He put the coat on Marik as if it were a blanket, "Here, the cold doesn't bother me." It was true, Bakura would feel the same whether he were here or in Hawaii. Marik looked at him, "D-don't you n-need that to get down the ch-chimney?"

Bakura smirked, "I'm skinny enough, don't you think?"

Marik smiled, "True." He slipped his arms through the coat, already feeling warmer.

"Besides, I'm a thief, if need be I can just break in." Marik rolled his eyes, but then smiled again. "Thanks 'Kura."

"Whatever." Marik laughed, Bakura's such a hypocrite.

Soon, they landed on another roof. Bakura stepped out and took the sack, but then he paused. He turned around and offered his hand to Marik, who raised an eyebrow at the hand. Bakura rolled his eyes and then grabbed Marik's hand, "Come here you idiot," he said. Marik was pulled out of the sleigh to stand on the slanted roof. He glanced to the side and his grip on Bakura's hand immediately tightened. His other hand reached out for the sleigh. "Why are you -?"

"It's time you get over your fear of heights," Bakura interrupted, "don't worry, I won't let you fall. Besides, you should go down a chimney - it's fun."

Marik rolled his eyes, "Yeah, for a thief." Bakura smirked, "Point taken, now let go of the sleigh." Marik looked at the ground skeptically and saw his vision swim. He closed his eyes. "I can't."

"Yes you can."

"No, I mean I. Can't." All was silent on the roof, and then Marik felt a sharp poke in his back accompanied with, "Let go of the sleigh."

"I already said I can't."

Marik felt Bakura's hand touch the one on the sleigh. "Yes, you can." Marik felt his hand being pried of the sleigh and bit his bottom lip, his eyes were still closed. Soon, he was standing on am icy roof, perfectly able to slip, fall, and break something any second. He could feel the icy wind blowing, pushing, wanting him to fall. He would have ran back to the sleigh, but he felt rooted to the spot - he couldn't move, he was afraid to move. It was then that he felt a small tugging on his arm. "Come on, open your eyes." Marik shook his head, unable to speak. Now Bakura began to get frustrated. He pulled Marik's arm, forcing him to take a step forward.

Marik held his breath, expecting to feel himself slip and plummet to him doom, but when he felt his feet were still on the roof, he slowly opened one of his eyes to see Bakura tapping his foot impatiently. "Come on!" Bakura said, "We haven't got all night!"

The words came out of Marik's mouth before he could even register them, "Yes we do, time stopped, remember?"

Bakura rolled his eyes, "You know what I meant! Hurry it up!" Marik took another few steps, convincing himself it was just like walking down the street - only slanted, and in the air where you could fall and die.

Eventually, they made it to the chimney, and Bakura pushed Marik inside. Marik felt his body being compressed, and Bakura learned that if he held onto Marik then the magic affected him too. Soon, they were both standing in some strangers house far from home. Bakura opened the sack and placed on under the tree, and this time he actually placed three presents before the sack got impatient and started sending the presents flying again. Marik's jaw dropped. "The sack forces the presents out?" Marik whispered.

"Yes," Bakura whispered back, "Are you happy you came now?"

Marik smiled, "Yeah, and the flying's not so bad. Beat's sleeping anyway."

"Good point. Grab some cookies and we're out of here."

And so, the two continued to give presents to children all over the world for the rest of the night (As it turns out, somehow, Santa's powers only stopped the time and the sun from rising somehow. Was Santa magical or what?). Marik occasionally went down the chimney, still slowly getting over his fear, but eventually, he could cross the rooftops with ease, and he found that it was pretty enjoyable - unless he looked down.

Eventually, the two made it back to their house to find Santa Claus all well again.

"Well," he said, "You boys did a wonderful job!"

"Thanks Santa!" Marik said with a huge smile on his face (come one, wouldn't you be smiling if you met Santa?), "We saved you some cookies," Marik held out a small bag full of cookies - a little kid had made cookies "to go." Isn't that sweet?

Santa took the cookies, "Thank you Marik." Marik's smile turned even bigger and Bakura rolled his eyes. Santa turned to him, "And you must be the young man who knocked me out. With a chair."

"Uh, yeah, about that…"

"It's all right, I'm fine. Actually, I woke up just a few minutes after you left."

"What?" Bakura asked, outraged. He glared at Marnin, who merely shrugged.

"Marnin here has been trying to get me to take a vacation here for a long time."

"When I see an opportunity, I take it," Marnin clarified.

"So you mean to tell me," Bakura said through grinded teeth, "That we didn't have to go flying around in a magical sleigh delivering presents?"

Santa laughed joyously, "Yes, that'd be true. But aren't you glad you went anyway?"

Bakura didn't say anything, causing Santa to chuckled again. He patted the fluffy white hair, "You're a good kid Bakura. Even if you did knock me out with a chair."

"You're never going to let that go are you?"

"If someone hit you with a chair, would you let it go?" Marik asked.

Bakura looked at him, "Depends." Marik rolled his eyes.

"Now, I believe there's one more house to deliver presents to," Santa said playfully.

"What?" Marik asked, "But I'm sure we hit every house."

"You did, except for this one."

"Ooooh, right."

Santa reached into his magical bag and took out two presents. He handed a purple-wrapped one to Marik, and a blue wrapped one to Bakura.

"Merry Christmas!" he said. He took the red coat from Marik, "I'll take this back now."

"And I'll take those clothes back," Marnin said before he snapped, causing Marik's elf clothes to go away and his red pajamas to reappear.

"I'll see you boys next year, hopefully on better terms," Santa concluded. He walked over to the chimney and gave a small wink before he nodded his head, causing himself to turn into mist and go up the chimney. Marnin walked over to the chimney as well. "If you knock out the Big Man again," he said, "you'll hear from me." He nodded and disappeared up the chimney as well, leaving Marik and Bakura with a lifetime of memories.

Marik was the first to start opening his present. His eyes went wide and he gasped.

"What is it?" Bakura asked.

Marik took out a beautifully crafted frame. Violet's and lavender adorned the side, but the looked so real. Bakura thought that if he touched the flowers that he would feel soft petals, not hard wood. And it even smelled like the beautiful flowers. But what was inside the beautiful frame was what made Marik gasp. It was a picture of his family - minus his dad. They were all smiling and laughing, and Marik found himself smiling too. He hugged the frame, "Thank you Santa," he whispered.

Bakura looked at the frame, thinking that the present he had gotten Marik seemed pretty meaningless compared to that. Then looked at his present. He was kind of afraid to open it now. If Marik received that personal of a gift, what the heck would he receive? Bakura cautiously ripped open a corner of the blue paper, and eventually he reached what was inside. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but certainly not this. He reached inside a took out a little twig with bright green leaves and dazzling red berries on it. He blinked at it, and then realized what it was.

Mistletoe.

Bakura smirked. "Oh Marik," he said. Marik looked up from his picture frame and looked at the item in Bakura's hand. A light blush came to his face.

"… Your present was mistletoe?"

"I suppose so. Apparently Santa heard of our bet."

Marik didn't speak, instead he set the beautiful frame back in it's box, set he box on the floor and looked Bakura straight in the eyes. "All right, but afterwards, you have to turn into a cat."

"Okay, bur before that, I want to give you my present."

Marik smiled, "I should probably give you yours too."

"That would be nice." Marik laughed before he took the mistletoe from Bakura's hands and held it above his head. He leaned in, and their lips met. Bakura's eyes instantly closed, and he felt like he was flying, and he had ridden in Santa's sleigh, so he knew what that felt like. Gosh, he didn't know anything could be so, wonderful. it even rivaled the taste of Marik's blood - and that was saying something.

For Marik… the kiss was, mostly confusing. He liked it, but he tried to convince himself otherwise. Actually, he could've sworn he heard forewords going off, but he told himself that it was just from partygoers outside.

Eventually, they broke apart, Bakura still had his eyes closed, and Marik's face was bright red. Bakura sighed happily, and at that moment, he realized how completely he had fallen for this boy. Is that good or bad? Bakura thought. If he had been more focused and less distracted by the taste of Marik on his lips, he probably would have been more worried and just a little freaked out, but as it was, he felt that loving Marik was anything but bad. He opened his eyes as if he was waking up from a dream (which he might as well have been) and promptly burst out laughing from seeing Marik's red face, which only cause his face to turn even more scarlet.

"Y-your f-face! It's so r-red!" Bakura said, convulsing with laughter. Marik ground his teeth together. "Sh-shut up!" Marik said to no avail - Bakura was still laughing like the maniac he was. Marik sighed, "Do you want your present or not?" Marik asked.

That was my present, Bakura thought as he calmed himself down. And instead of saying what was on his mind, he said, "Sure, sure. While you're at it, you can try to cool your face." Bakura burst out laughing again. Was it a good sign if you just kissed and the person's face was red? Gosh, Bakura hoped so.

Marik clenched his fist and walked off to go get Bakura's present. The laughing maniac reached under the sofa and grabbed a red, wrinkled, messily-wrapped present. He had hidden it there so Marik wouldn't find it.

Neither of the two boys noticed a small, green-wrapped present still under the tree. Neither of the two boys noticed when said green present disappeared, leaving not a clue that it had been there. However, if the two boys had seen the present, they would have wondered who it was for, and it would have taken just a couple of seconds before they realized that Ryou hadn't received a Christmas present. But, as it was, neither of the two boys noticed the present, so they didn't notice when it disappeared, so they didn't remember that Ryou didn't get a present. And they definately didn't know that that little green present would appear later on, bringing guilty feelings and a little surprise along with it.

Soon, however, the oblivious and red-faced boy returned to his equally oblivious friend, his face regaining it's natural color (is his tan natural? Bakura wondered briefly).

Bakura offered his present, "Open mine first."

Marik took the present skeptically, what on Earth could it be? Marik unwrapped the soft wrapping paper to find a big pack of colored pencils (2) inside. The Egyptian boy smiled, "Colored pencils?"

Bakura shrugged, "I thought you should get a little color in your life. You should have seen this one house, it was all black and white and hideous."

Marik smiled and hugged him quickly, he did love the gift. "Thanks 'Kura. Now open yours." He handed Bakura a clear white bag.

Bakura smiled, "Didn't have time to wrap it?"

"I suck at wrapping presents."

"So do I, but I did it anyway." Bakura took the bag and reached inside. He took out a small strip of red leather with a little tag in the middle that read "Bakura." He stared at it, then looked at Marik with a raised eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's a collar."

"A collar?" Bakura asked with a smirk. Was that supposed to have a hidden meaning?

"Or it could be a bracelet."

"I thought you said you didn't get me jewelry?"

Marik held up his hand, "Technically it's not jewelry." He took the leather strip and then put it around Bakura's wrist. "There, fits perfectly."

Bakura smiled, "Thanks, I guess. Don't think this means I'm going to start wearing gold bracelets like you now."

"Wouldn't think of it." Bakura held his wrist up to just below his neck and put his other hand over it. He wondered what Marik could've thought of. Figures it would be a bracelet.

"I actually bought it for your cat form," Marik said, "I almost told the guy to engrave " 'Kura" on there."

Bakura rolled his eyes, "That's. Not. My. Name."

"Well I'm not a kid, yet everyone calls me that."

Bakura chuckled, "Good point. Well, I suppose you want a cat to play with now?"

"That'd be nice."

Bakura chuckled before he turned into a fluffy white kitten. Marik stared at him, telling himself he would not let himself get out of control, but then Bakura let out the cutest little meow he'd ever heard and Marik picked him up and hugged him tightly. "You're so cute 'Kura!"

I love being a cat, Bakura thought, yet at the same time, I hate it.

Marik sat down on the couch and set Bakura on his lap. He started petting him, and then he started to purr and relax. He stretched out and laid down on Marik's lap, suddenly feeling very sleepy.

"Hey Bakura," Marik said, making Bakura open a sleepy eye at him, "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Bakura thought, before he said, "Best Christmas ever?"

"Best Christmas ever."

(1): Meaning "Joy Giver" in Hebrew. On a random note, did you know that the name "Shadi" means "Joyful" in Iranian and Persian? And in Arabic it means "Singer?" I certainly didn't.

(2): I thought that present would be obvious, but it seemed as if most didn't get it… ah well.

I would have continued with the cat thing, but I just felt like that was a perfect way to end it. How about you think of what Marik did with 'Kura-kitty. Actually, I'd love to hear what you think he did… maybe I'll include it in the next chapter (mischievous smile.)

Also, the little green presnet that disappeared? Yeah, that was for Ryou (obviously). It WILL appear later, I swear. I just don't know exactly when. (I don't know a lot of "when's" actually...)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the Christmas special, even if it is very late… Also, I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is, I made the spring play =) I'm in the Jr. Ensemble ^^ I'm so happy, I love to sing. The bad news is, I'm busier than ever, and these chapters are not going to come as quickly as they have been. It's time I get serious about my science project, and I need to relax more, I've been stressing myself out a lot lately. So, I will continue this story, but you might not see new chapters for a little while. Sorry, but, that's life.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and remember, it wasn't Santa Claus who delivered your presents. It was Bakura Claus. =)