December is heeeeeeere! My birthday is today! Gimme a nice b-day present and review pwease?

Oh, and just as a heads-up. Yami Bakura did NOT steal Pegasus's Sennen Eye after the Duelist Kingdom saga….Waddya mean he did? Of course he didn't!…No, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about… YES I DO!…Waddya mean why? 'CAUSE I SAID SO!

Disclaimer: Don't own, just read the story.

: (Flashback mode, one month later) :

"Girls, girls!" a girly, yet deep voice trilled.

Kham and Jo, who had been conversing of whether Kuriboh really deserved to be a duel monster or not due to its near-uselessness, looked up to see a silver-haired man beaming at them.

"Er…yes?" Kham asked cautiously.

"Would you like to help me find an extremely gorgeous book to add to my collection? Kham and Jo?" he added, glancing to their shirts to find their nametags.

Problem was, neither of them wore those stupid index-card rectangles. They were rather pointless and stupid, and shoppers really didn't have to know your name to be able to make a purchase.

"How'd you know our names?" Jo asked suspiciously.

The eye that wasn't covered by his long, silvery hair darted from Jo's face to Kham's face, then back again. "Why, you told me just as I came in!"

"No, I'm pretty sure we didn't," Kham said firmly.

'This man is weird…he's not right…something's wrong with this guy…' Jo thought uneasily.

"No, no, dear, I assure you, I'm perfectly sane and as kind as the next person!" the man laughed happily, carelessly waving his hand around.

Jo raised an eyebrow. Did he just answer her thoughts?

The impeccably dressed man seemed to have a very bad cold suddenly. He sneezed many times in a row—too loudly and too obnoxiously to be valid, in Kham's opinion.

"Excuse me," the man said thickly, fishing around in his pocket for a handkerchief. He blew his nose several times before saying, "I'll just find a book for myself, thanks," before practically sprinting to the back of the shop.

Kham turned to Jo, her eyebrows having risen up so high, they were in danger of disappearing in her hair. "What was that all about?" they wondered aloud at the same time.

\/\/\/\/

The silver-haired man, who was none other than the one and only Pegasus J. Crawford, prowled behind the bookshelves, eavesdropping on the two girls' conversation—not that he needed to; he could read their minds easier than blinking his eye, but he absorbed much more information from hearing their thoughts and listening to the talking.

However, the two girls' voices were fading away to a dull murmur. They had probably retreated to the back room, away from him. This didn't stop them from knowing what they were thinking, but the conversation would be nice too.

Scowling slightly, he turned and his uncovered eye zoned in on a thick book with brown binding. He reached forward and tugged it out of the bookshelf, reading the title aloud. "The Only Pharaoh in My Eyes."

The muttering buzz stopped immediately.

Suddenly, a string of profanities clouded the two girls' minds, harsher than the talk of sailors. One thought in particular, Jo's, stood out to Pegasus especially: "NO! He can't have that!"

Almost immediately, she bustled forward from the backroom to where Pegasus was standing stationary, concentrating hard on the two girls' thoughts.

"I'm sorry, you can't have that, it's on hold for someone," Jo lied, thinking of the first excuse in her mind, trying to tug the book from his hands.

"Oh really, my dear girl?" Pegasus asked, almost sweetly, still holding on to the book quite firmly. "It wasn't under your counter, as all held books should be."

"The customer only placed the order a few moments ago, I didn't get a chance to take it out yet," Jo said hurriedly.

"Really?" Pegasus questioned.

It was quite obvious that he didn't believe a word she was saying.

"Yes, that's right," Jo nodded vigorously.

A pause. Then… "Alright then. As you cannot be of further service to me anymore, I shall take my leave then." Without another word, the man turned and walked out of the door without a speck of cheerfulness he had displayed just a few moments ago, but with every intention of coming back after hours to steal the book.

"That was a close one," Kham muttered to Jo, coming up behind her and watching the man's retreating back.

"I'm so stupid!" Jo kept muttering over and over again. "I can't believe I forgot I had another copy on the shelves! I'm so stupid!"

"No harm done at least," Kham stated, eyeing the book a bit apprehensively. "He didn't get the book, and there's no chance he'll break into KaibaCorp or Kaiba's mansion to steal it. Just…lock it away or something."

"I guess…" Jo agreed, making up her mind to have it stowed away at Domino City National Bank.

: (End flashback) :

Seto Kaiba had sat down at the couch next to his bookshelf. He wasn't so undignified as to curl up like other people, but he wasn't sitting stiffly as he did at meetings either. He leaned back, the book unopened in his lap, staring at the front cover as he did a few months ago, lost in thought of that old bookshop.

Those two girls…how old were they? 17? 18? Nah…time couldn't have passed that quickly. They were probably only 16. Kaiba blinked twice and backtracked a bit. Was it only a year ago he had gotten this book? That meant…Pegasus had come back into power just a little less than that amount of time after Kaiba had visited the bookshop.

Kaiba sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He felt so…old all of a sudden. Ever since the Happy Bunny fanatic had decided to make contact with society again, things were beyond different.

Well, that was to be expected of course. It wasn't every day you see a 40- or 50-something-year-old man with shiny silver hair jumping up and clicking his heels at you then announcing he now owned Domino City.

Book still unopened in his lap, Kaiba glanced up at the clock. 4 PM. Time to go home then. He stood up, clutching the book to himself as he did so, and grabbed his briefcase. Striding out of the office, he noticed that most employees had already gone for the day.

He didn't really blame them; they must have wanted to get home safely to their families as quickly as possible and without any mishap. He almost laughed as he thought of what he might've thought if his employees were gone before 5 if this had been just a year ago. He probably would've fired them or something.

Giving a shake of his head –this was no time for humor!— he stepped into the elevator, its doors sliding smoothly closed behind him.

-skips around- It's December! It's cold…but Christmas is coming soon! COOKIES! SUGAR PLUM FAIRIES! GINGER BREAD MEN! HAPPYHAPPYHAPPY!

-cough- Review please and I'll get off of my sugar high.