Chapter 9- On the Ninth Day of Christmas

December 22

Yugi dressed in a red shirt with a Christmas tree on it and blue jeans. He also put on his shoes. Yugi grabbed his coat, mittens, and scarf before we walked out of his room. He went to Yami's door and knocked, saying, "Yami, are you ready?"

"Just a minute, aibou." Yami called. A moment later, there was a crash followed by a loud curse.

Yugi sighed and opened the door to find Yami on the floor, rubbing his head. Looking around the room, Yugi saw that the floor was cluttered with all of Yami's things. "You know, you wouldn't trip and fall all the time if you would clean up your room." Yugi said.

Yami gave Yugi a mild glare and stood up. "I'm sorry that I'm not a neat freak like you." Yami said as he went to his closet and got out a coat, mittens, and the scarf Yugi had given him.

"Come on. Let's grab Atemu and Heba and go on. All the others are already at the Christmas carnival as it is." Yugi said, grabbing Yami by the hand and pulling him out of the room.

Yami knocked on the door to Heba and Atemu's room.

A moment later, Heba opened the door and said, "Oh! You two are ready?"

"Yeah. Are you two?" Yugi asked.

"Yes, we are." Atemu replied, handing Heba his coat, scarf, and mittens.

Heba and Atemu left the room, and the four headed down the stairs and left the house with Grandpa shouting, "Be careful, and have fun."

There was a Christmas Carnival being held in Domino Park, and the entire group was going there to spend the day.

"Explain to me again why we are going?" Atemu asked Yami.

"Well, you're going because Heba threatened to put you on the couch for a couple of weeks." Yami said.

Atemu glared at him. "And why are you going?" Atemu asked.

"Because Yugi used his 'puppy dog eyes' on me. I swear that I thought I should be immune to that look after three years of it." Yami said.

"I don't think that anyone other than Grandpa is immune to that look, but you have to admit that Yugi doesn't use that look very often, and he only uses it to get us to agree to do things." Atemu said.

"Yeah. I'm not sure that I would have gone to this otherwise." Yami said.

"Yeah. You probably would have gone even if Yugi hadn't done that to you." Atemu said.

"Okay. So I might would have done that anyway." Yami admitted,

"I, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate." Atemu muttered.

"Stop complaining, Atemu. You always say that you're forced to go to things like this, but you always end up having the time of your life." Heba argued.

"He does have a point. We don't really have to force you to do this." Yugi said.

The four arrived at the Christmas Carnival to find that it was already crowded with people.

There were games to play, food stands, there was frozen lake to ice skate on, and there were also booths to buy Christmas trinkets.

"Let's go and have some fun." Heba said, grabbing Yugi by the wrist and dragging him into the crowd.

"We'd better go with them." Atemu suggested.

"Yeah. I guess we'd better." Yami agreed.

The two followed Heba and Yugi as they weaved through the crowds.

Realizing what his brother was trying to pull, Yugi stopped and said, "Not on your life, Heba."

"Oh, come on. Why not?" Heba asked.

"You already roped me into one ice skating contest. You are not roping me into the one here." Yugi said.

"So that's what you were trying to do." Atemu said.

"Oh, come on, Yugi. You know that you're good, and that you should enter the contest." Heba said.

"No, I don't. Heba, I'm skating in the Christmas Eve competition, so there is no way that I am entering this one." Yugi protested.

Atemu sighed and said, "Come on, Heba. I'd better get you out of here before Yugi decides to kill you." Atemu said. He grabbed Heba by the arm and dragged him away from Yugi and Yami.

"Come on, Yugi. We'll go and play a game or something." Yami said.

Yugi nodded, and the two walked off.

They came across a game where you threw a ball to knock down all the bottles, and you win a prize.

"Hmm. This looks like it would be an easy game." Yami said.

"Are you going to try it?" Yugi asked.

Yami nodded. "I sure am. Why wouldn't I?" Yami asked.

"You just don't usually play such easy games." Yugi replied.

"Well, we both know that they won't have very hard games here. After all, little kids play these games, too, so they have to make it so that they can win them, too." Yami said.

Yugi shrugged.

Yami paid for a round where he got three balls to throw. Yami threw the first ball and knocked all of the bottles down the first time.

"That was great. Not many can knock them all down on the first throw." the guy in the booth said, handing Yami a stuffed bear as his prize.

"Here, Yugi." Yami said, handing it to Yugi.

"You won it, Yami." Yugi said.

"I know that, but I don't like collecting stuffed animals, but you have a lot of them." Yami replied.

"Oh. Okay,: Yugi agreed.

The two continued on and ran into Joey, who had his arms full of cotton candy and chocolate.

"Joey, what did you do? Have Seto buy all of the food in the carnival?" Yugi asked.

Joey glared. "No, I did not." Joey said.

"Speaking of Seto, where is he?" Yami asked.

"Not sure. Mokuba came and dragged him off somewhere. Not sure where." Joey replied.

"I hope that he didn't leave you with his wallet." Yami said.

"No, he didn't. He said that he would never do that again after the last time I had it." Joey said.

"I wonder why." Yami said sarcastically.

Joey growled. "What are you two doing, anyway?" Joey asked.

"We just got here not too long ago. Atemu grabbed Heba off since Heba was close to being killed by Yugi for trying to get Yugi to agree to be in the once skating contest." Yami replied.

"Why not, Yug? That contest is just for fun, and you are a great skater. You were a state champion once." Joey said, stuffing a piece of chocolate on his mouth.

"Joey, that fact alone gives me an unfair advantage over everyone else. Besides, I'm already skating in the competition on Christmas Eve. I came here to have fun, and I really don't want to compete in the ice skating contest." Yugi said.

"Come on, Yugi. Let's go play some other games." Yami said. He grabbed Yugi by the arm and pulled him away from Joey.

"See you guys later." Joey called after them.

"Okay, Yami. You can let go of me now." Yugi said.

"No. I don't want you going back to kill Joey." Yami said.

"Yami, I'm not going to kill him." Yugi said.

"I just want to make sure that you don't end up doing just that." Yami replied, finally letting go of Yugi's wrist.

They came across one of the games where you toss a ring and try to get it to land on a bottle. Two had to ring around a bottle to get a prize.

"Wow. I have always loved playing this game." Yugi said.

"Then why don't you play it?" Yami asked.

"I think I will." Yugi agreed. He paid and got six rings to toss. Yugi tossed the first ring, and it landed. He started to throw the rest of the rings, and all of them landed on a bottle.

"You really are good, son." the man behind the booth said.

Yugi chose to get the Dark Magician figurine, the Red Eyes Black Dragon figurine, and the Blue Eyes White Dragon figurine.

"Why did you get Red Eyes and Blue Eyes, Yugi" Yami asked.

"Well, I thought that I could give them to Joey and Seto. I don't need all of these figurines, anyway." Yugi replied.

Yami shook his head. "It always surprises me that you can think of others so easily, aibou." Yami said.

Yugi shrugged. "Just a part of who I am." Yugi replied.

"You know, I'm starting to get a little hungry. Do you want to grab something to eat?" Yami asked.

"Sure thing." Yugi replied.

The two went to one of the booths and bought a burger, fries, and Coke. They went to a table and sat down to eat.

"Hey! Yugi! Yami!"

The two looked up to see Atemu and Heba coming toward them with food in their hands.

"What have you two been up to?" Yami asked.

"Oh, we've just been playing some of the games they have here, and we also went and rode on the bumper cars." Heba said.

"I still don't see why you like those things so much." Atemu said.

"I find them fun. I do what you like to do, too, Atemu. There are some things I don't care to do that you do." Heba said.

"I know. I just don't see the point in them." Atemu replied.

"What have you two done?" Heba asked as they sat down by the two.

"We've played a couple pf the games, and we ran into Joey." Yugi said.

"With food in hand?" Atemu asked.

"Of course." Yami replied.

"Like that's a surprise." Heba said.

The group started eating.

After a little while, they left the area and started to walk around the carnival.

"Hey, Yugi. Look at this." Heba said, pointing out a small crystal box.

"Hey. Grandpa used to have one like that." Yugi said.

"Yeah. Joey accidentally broke it a few years ago." Heba said.

"Was it important?" Atemu asked.

"As far as value goes, no, but it had a sentimental meaning to Grandpa. Grandpa gave it to Grandma for their last anniversary that they had together. He kept it to remind him of her. It always meant a lot to him." Yugi said.

"Man. That's harsh. It must be an antique." Atemu said.

"It probably is." Heba agreed.

Yugi and Heba looked at each other before Yugi said, "I think that we should get it for him."

"I do, too. I know that it won't replace the one that was broken, but I think that Grandpa would like it." Heba agreed.

Atemu and Yami glanced at each other.

"You know, we'll help you buy it." Yami said.

"No, Yami. We'll get this. Don't worry about it." Yugi assured.

"Are you sure?' Atemu asked.

"Yeah. I think that I would rather it be from us." Heba agreed.

"Okay." Atemu said.

Yugi and Heba bought the box before the four continued on.

"Hey. What's going on over there?" Heba asked, pointing to where there was a group of people were gathered.

"I don't know, but let's find out." Yami said.

The group went over and found that people were signing up for a partner Duel Monsters contest.

"Now that is something that I wouldn't mind doing." Yami said.

"Neither would I." Atemu agreed.

"Why don't you two enter it as a team?" Yugi suggested.

"Don't you want to duel, Yugi?" Yami asked.

"No, not this time. You two do that." Yugi said.

"What about you, Heba?" Atemu asked.

"Go ahead. I really don't want to duel." Heba replied.

Yami and Atemu went on to sign up.

Yugi grabbed Heba by the wrist. "Come on." Yugi said.

"Why?" Heba asked.

"I need your help with something." Yugi replied.

"Shouldn't we tell Yami and Atemu we're leaving?" Heba asked.

"No. I don't want them to know about this." Yugi replied before dragging his brother off.

After about ten minutes, Yami and Atemu returned to where they had left Yugi and Heba only to find that they were nowhere to be found.

"Now where did those two go to?' Yami asked.

"There's not telling. Heba probably dragged Yugi off somewhere." Atemu replied.

"I really hope that he doesn't try to convince Yugi to enter that ice skating contest." Yami said.

"Why?" Atemu asked.

"Because we aren't there to stop Yugi from killing him for suggesting it." Yami replied.

The two walked around and found Leo and Yuesei.

"Hi, Atemu. Hi, Yami." Yuesei said.

"Hi." Atemu and Yami replied.

"Are you two enjoying the carnival?" Leo asked.

"We are, but we lost Yugi and Heba." Yami replied.

"How did you lose them?" Yuesei asked.

"We signed up for that team dueling contest, but when we went back to where we left them, Yugi and Heba were gone." Atemu explained.

"Hmm. We haven't seen them." Yuesei said.

"Heba probably dragged Yugi off somewhere." Leo said.

"We know that. We just wish that we knew where they went off to." Yami stated.

"I'm sure that they'll turn up soon." Yuesei said.

Yami and Atemu said good-bye before continuing to look for Yugi and Heba.

They came across Joey and Seto.

"Yami, are you entering the team dueling contest?" Joey asked.

"Yes. Atemu and I entered as a team." Yami replied.

"I hope that you are ready to lose. My puppy and I will beat both of you." Seto said.

"We'll see, Seto." Yami replied.

"Have either of you seen Yugi or Heba?" Atemu asked.

"We passed them a few moments ago. They were heading toward the booth where they're signing up for the ice skating contest later." Joey said.

"Uh oh." Yami said.

"What?" Seto asked, frowning.

"Yugi has already said he didn't want to do the contest. If we don't get to them, Yugi might kill him." Yami said.

"We'll see you at the contest." Atemu said before Yami and Atemu took off. They soon came across Yugi and Heba.

"Oh. Are you two signed up?" Yugi asked.

"Yes, but where did you two disappear to?" Atemu asked.

"Oh. Heba convinced me to participate in the contest." Yugi said.

"You did?" Yami asked. He knew that Yugi was dead-set against doing the contest.

"Yes, but Heba has to do the contest, too." Yugi said.

Heba glared at him. I really didn't want to do it." Heba said.

"Fairs fair." Yugi said.

Heba rolled his eyes.

"Well, we ran into Seto and Joey. They're a team in the tournament, too, so chances are that we'll end up facings them." Yami said.

"You know, it would be great if you two ended up facing Joey and Seto in the final round." Yugi said.

"Yeah. That would make an excellent finish to the contest." Heba agreed.

"We'll see. When is the skating contest?" Atemu asked.

"It actually starts in about thirty minutes." Heba replied.

"Good. We'll be able to watch since the duels don't start for another two hours.

Thirty minutes later, the ice skating contest started.

Leo, Yuesei, Seto, Joey, Mokuba, Sayora, Kyla, Duke, Marik, Malik, Bakura, Ryou, Tristan, Tea, Atemu, and Yami gathered to watch the contest.

Yugi and Heba were the last two to skate.

Yugi ended up finishing with a perfect ten while Heba ended up finishing in second place with a 9.5.

"Great job, you two." Tea congratulated.

"Yeah. If you skate that good in the competition on Christmas Eve, then you'll win for sure." Joey said.

"That wasn't even his best." Heba stated.

"It isn't?" Tristan asked.

Yugi shook his head. "Nope." Yugi answered.

"Well, we've got an hour before the dueling starts." Kyla said.

The group wandered around for a little while longer before heading to the dueling area.

The final duel ended up Atemu and Yami vs. Seto and Joey. Yami and Atemu won although it was a very close duel.

"Well, I guess congratulations are in order again." Duke said.

"Yeah. You four really did a great job." Mokuba added.

The group found that it was late, so they all headed on home.

Upon returning home, Yami, Atemu, Heba, and Yugi found Grandpa sitting on the living room.

"Hey, Grandpa. Yugi and I have something for you." Heba said.

"Oh. And what would that be?" Grandpa asked, putting his book aside.

Yugi handed Grandpa the bag.

Grandpa reached in and was surprised to pull out a crystal box that looked exactly like the one that had been broke. "Boys, where on earth did you find this?" Grandpa asked.

"It doesn't matter. We saw it and decided to buy it for you. We know that you liked having it, so we bought it." Heba said.

"Boys, this means a lot to me." Grandpa said.

Yugi and Heba smiled before hugging their grandfather.

"Are we interrupting?" Yuesei asked.

The five turned around to see Leo, Yuesei, Kyla, and Sayora.

"No, you're not. What is it?" Heba asked.

"I found this outside." Leo said, holding up a brown box.

They all knew that it was another gift for Yugi.

Yugi took the box and set it on the small table and opened it up.

There was a square, blue velvet box in it.

Yugi took the box out and opened it to find a charm bracelet inside. Yugi took the bracelet out and help it up.

"Wow. That's a beautiful bracelet." sayora said.

"What are the charms off??" Kyla asked.

"I think they're ancient Egyptian symbols, but I'm not sure." Yugi replied.

"They are." Grandpa confirmed.

Atemu took the bracelet and pointed to each charm as he said, "Life. Love. Compassion. Kindness. Beauty. Trust. Friendship. Family. Light."

"That must have been hard to pull of since each charm had to be specially made." Yuesei said.

"What does the note say?" Leo asked.

Yugi took out the white piece of paper and opened it.

It said:

All of these charms are a description of what

I think of you. When you wear this, you will

Know what I think about you.

Love,

Your Eternal Lover

At the bottom, it said:

On the ninth day of Christmas I gave my true love, nine ancient charms

eight silver letters

seven bags of chocolate,

six stunning outfits

five golden pendants

Four Duel Monsters plushies

Three amethyst bracelets

Two silver ankhs

And a cartouche with his name on it.

"I can't wait to find out who it is that is sending you all of these things, Yugi." Sayora said.

"I can't, either." Yugi replied.

"Well, with any luck, you'll find out soon." Grandpas aid.

Yugi sat on his bed, looking at the charm bracelet.

There was a knock on the door, and Yugi said, "Come in."

The door opened, and Yami walked in. "You okay, aibou?" Yami asked.

"I'm fine. I'm just wondering how someone had this done." Yugi said.

"I'm sure that any jeweler could have done it if they were shown what the customer wanted." Yami said.

"I suppose so. The bracelet is very beautiful." Yugi said.

"Yes, it is. I think I'll go to bed. Good night, aibou." Yami said, kissing Yugi on the forehead.

"Good night, Yami." Yugi replied.

Yami left the room.

Yugi put the bracelet with the other gifts and went to bed.

That was the ninth day of Christmas. Thanks to PuzzleFreak for giving me the idea for this one.

The tenth day is next.

R&R.