Masaka: If anyone spots a grammar mistake please let me know
Ho-Ho-Ho
As far as shadow-magic assaults went, Bakura's little attack hadn't been all that terrible. Oh, it had certainly caused everyone the boy knew to freak out, but on the strictly physical level of damage it hadn't been any worse than some of the bouts of exhaustion that Yugi had caused for himself and not anything near bad enough for either Bakura or Atem to let their friends cancel their holiday plans.
In fact, when Jounouchi had merely 'hinted' at the idea of spending the night in the waiting-room, Bakura had physically grabbed Jou by his jacket-collar and threw the boy out of the hospital.
It had been Atem's suggestion that Bakura himself take a walk in the snow after that. Bakura had taken up that proposition and as far as Yugi had counted the ex-thief had been wandering out in the cold for about four hours.
There hadn't been any white-haired, frost-bitten patients admitted to the ER, however, so both Motus were content to let Bakura time to lick his wounds in isolation.
"Ryou's light-ka started to balance out the surge of shadow-ka almost immediately. I'd be completely dumbfounded if Ryou didn't wake up in time to enjoy Christmas Eve's evening at home," Atem was finishing explaining Ryou's condition to Leonardo Bakura for the third time.
It said something not altogether complimentary about the history professor's ability to accept magic as fact that in the time it had taken his other to explain Ryou's condition, Yugi had been able to phone every friend in the Millennium Item Allies' phone-tree and bring every one of them up to speed about the situation.
Strangely, however, even after spending a whole night on the phone, Yugi wasn't personally tired. He was the furthest thing from tired actually and it was rather embarrassing.
Yugi didn't know how to explain it, what words to use, to tell his other-half how much this one little accident shook him up. Yugi didn't know how to explain, without sounding unbelievable callous, how much this accident made Yugi grateful for his own other's control; how seeing Bakura all but hysterical about his light had made Yugi desperate to show Yami that their link wasn't somehow also stressed.
'How so many couples just seem to fall into comfort-sex after something traumatic has happened is something I guess I'm not mature enough to understand just yet,' Yugi laughed bitterly to himself.
His embarrassment must have been a little more prominent than Yugi had thought because Atem looked up from his conversation with Leonardo to catch Yugi's eye.
/Is there something wrong aibou?/
/N-Nothing…at least…nothing I want to talk about in front of HIM/ Yugi toned down his arousal by focusing on his anger towards Bakura Sr.
It was not as though Yugi didn't have his own slough of parental woes. At this moment in time Yugi's mother was probably enjoying a Christmas cocktail with her boyfriend in some quaint New York bar without a thought of her son crossing her mind. After her husband had died, Kaida Motu had completely detached herself from her life in Domino and all but abandoned her son to Solomon Motu's care.
Yugi understood how sometimes parents just weren't able to see eye-to-eye with their children. He'd come to accept what his mother was and appreciated that she had at least taken the time to assess her devotion to her family and make new arrangements when she found herself lacking rather than torture Yugi further. Yugi understood that not all parents and children were destined for an intimate relationship.
What Yugi DIDN'T understand, was how a parent could so unrepentantly ignore the differences and try to force their own standards on their children even at the cost of ruining their child's happiness.
Atem looked like he was about to agree with Yugi's anger and perhaps say a few words when a slight moan came from the hospital bed which instantly redirected everyone's attention.
"Ba…Bakura?" Ryou whimpered drowsily.
"Bakura isn't here right now Ry," Yugi said, sitting down gently beside his friend. "He said he needed to clear his head and went out for a walk. Maybe you should contact him over your link and tell him you are okay, I'm sure that will make him happy."
Ryou shook his head slightly. There was a familiar panicked look in his fellow hikari's eyes that had Yugi leaning over to offer his friend support even before Ryou rolled his face into his pillow to cry.
Atem gave Yugi a stealthy look of confusion to which Yugi responded with his own silent expression of 'Hold-On-A-Minute'.
Before Yugi could get the real story from Ryou, however, Leonardo took it upon himself to provide his own personal explanation about Ryou's troubles.
"How DARE you suggest that my son let that monster back into his mind after he was just-" Leonardo was just starting to lecture before Ryou sat up abruptly.
"SHUT THE F-K UP DAD! JUST SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED SO STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DO! I'M NOT F-KING MAD AT BAKURA!"
"R-Ryou!" Leonardo gasped and stumbled out of the posture of justified rage that he'd been in since they had all arrived at the hospital.
"Ryou," Yugi reached out and ran his hand in gentle circles over Ryou's back. "Ryou just calm down and explain. What are you crying about if it isn't Bakura?"
Ryou, who was usually the most pleasant and unaggressive young man to ever possess a dose of testosterone, gave Yugi a look that would have made the Egyptian Gods cringe.
"Oh there's no reason I'm crying, no real reason at all. It's not like I've once again been proven Fate's whipping boy. It's not like I even CARE that my plans are ruined!"
After throwing a cautious look over his shoulder Yugi bravely crept closer to the enraged hikari and whispered; "it's not ruined yet Ryou. There have just been a few minor upsets that you have to-"
"GODDAMN IT, STOP IT WITH THIS BULLSHIT HAPPY CHRISTMAS TRIP! IT IS RUINED OKAY! IT'S RUINED!" Ryou screamed and threw himself back under his blankets.
This was an unnecessarily harsh criticism and, though he understood it, Yugi still couldn't help but flinch in emotional pain. The littlest hikari had, after all, gone through quite a bit of turmoil to even set up his still currently progressing Christmas scheme. Yugi had thought that Ryou, of all of his floundering friends, would support what Yugi was doing.
Even though he hadn't heard what Yugi had whispered to Ryou, Atem had a strong feeling it wasn't something that deserved Ryou's anger. Before Yugi's light-ka even had a chance to flicker Atem had crossed the room and forcibly pulled the white-haired young man upright.
"Given what you've just gone through I'm not going to say anything about the shouting but, Ryou, if you have some issue with the events that transpired in your home this evening you should take it up with YOUR FAMILY and not punish YOUR FRIENDS," Atem lectured darkly at the weeping boy.
Ryou seemed slightly surprised at this lecture –having fallen into the rut of the victim expecting everyone's sympathy- but having been called out on his behavior Ryou made a small sound and obediently moved to obey the former king and address his problems correctly.
Sliding from the ex-pharaoh's grip Ryou dragged in jeans from the stack of clothing at the foot of his bed and then pulled out a small velvet box from the front pocket. Yugi, who'd known Ryou's plan from the beginning, hissed in sympathetic pain but both Atem and Leonardo just stared on in confusion.
"Fine, I'll explain but you and Yugi aren't to interrupt okay," Ryou huffed. Atem nodded in agreement then Ryou turned determinedly in the direction of his scowling father and held up the velvet box. "Do you know what this is, dad?"
"It looks like a jewelry box," Leonardo said emotionlessly.
"That's right," Ryou smiled coldly. The pale boy opened the box. Sitting inside the case on a small velvet cushion was a beautiful platinum ring decorated with a nearly black opal and a beautiful silver-white diamond, both held in place by an infinity-symbol shaped setting. The workmanship and detail were clear signs of Ryou's careful planning.
"This is th-the engagement ring that I had planned on giving Bakura at dinner. This is the reason I insisted you come home this Christmas…s-so you could be there for when I gave him this," Ryou tried to speak without emotion -the trickle of tears that began to burn down the boy's cheeks ruined the effort-"This i-is the reason I wanted you h-home, be-because I thought…after all our f-family has been through…t-that you would be happy for me."
"You…you …what?" Leonardo chocked.
"Yugi, I think we should maybe let these two have a moment," Atem was reaching his hand out to Yugi. However, Ryou chose that moment to break his own rule for the Motu boys to be only spectators to this tragedy and he grabbed Yugi's wrist before the duel prince could even move.
"H-He wouldn't run away would he? B-Bakura wouldn't…h-he wouldn't leave…right?" Ryou asked desperately.
"No, Ryou. I don't think Bakura left, I think he's just cooling off like I told you."
"C-cooling off?" Ryou laughed, "Cooling off in a blizzard? Even my Bakura i-isn't hot-head e-enough to need a BLIZZARD to cool off."
Yugi and Atem both jolted and stared disbelievingly out the window -because it hardly made sense-. Ryou had been the only one of the people in the room to even notice that it had started snowing heavily. Then again even in the midst of an emotional breakdown Ryou was still perhaps the most well grounded and practical person on the planet. He had to be to balance out a radical, by-the-seat-of-your-pants, risk-taker like Kamenwati Kul-Elna Bakura.
"Well…maybe Bakura is just a little upset with himself and …well he COULD maybe be sitting in a snow drift somewhere as some form of penance or something," Yugi tried to delicately suggest. Of course Ryou was too upset for the suggestion to come off as delicate as Yugi had wanted.
"H-He WOULD do that! Oh! Oh Yugi, I've got to do look for him!" Ryou moved to stand up. Immediately Atem, Leonardo and Yugi ALL tackled Ryou back into bed with a scream of 'NO!'
"Ryou! You just had a brush with lethally charged shadow magic! You need to stay in bed for at least the rest of the day to recover your strength!" Atem quickly scolded the boy.
"A-AND YOU SHOULD BE OFF SCREWING YUGI I-IN BLISSFUL HOLIDAY GLEE INSTEAD OF BEING IN A H-HOSPITAL TELLING ME THINGS I-I DON'T NEED TO HEAR AS MY OWN F-F-KING HOLIDAY FALLS DOWN AROUND MY EARS!" Ryou roared back so vehemently that Atem actually blushed, which in turn made Yugi blush.
"I see you two are starting to lose interest in my son's welfare," Leonardo pulled away from the hikari pile-up so he could sneer at the two Motus.
Before either star-head could really get insulted, however, Leonardo straightened out the wrinkles in his suit and pulled on his winter-coat.
"However, you two HAVE already proven yourself quite admirable what with your help and you two SHOULD be off …about your own business. I believe I can handle bringing back that –" Leonardo paused a moment to grimace with distaste, "bringing Kamenwati back to the hospital."
"You're going to go bring Bakura back?" Atem snorted in disbelief.
"I can't very well let Ryou go out in that weather to bring him back," Leonardo said as plain as unbuttered toast. "And despite how …strongly… I feel about this matter, I was raised with the manners to never ruin a celebration such as the one that had been so thoughtfully prepared as last night's dinner had apparently been intended."
The overly formal British professor gave what probably passed for a reassuring nod to his son –the only person in the room that didn't look stuck between disgusted and impressed—before walking briskly out of the room.
Yugi and Atem shared a completely surprised look while Ryou just continued to alternatively sniffle and glower at his bedspread.
"Hey, hey now," Yugi patted Ryou's wrist where the boy was still unconsciously holding Yugi's hand. "I know this is bad but come on. You've got your DAD going after BAKURA. If that isn't a sign of holiday miracles I don't know what is."
"I-It's the damn etiquette," Ryou just continued to shudder. "My dad …he's always been so…so bloody…. Even when my mother d-died he was all 'keep a stiff upper-lip' and…and 'press on my lad' and…he's so…so opposite of Bakura that I…that I feel…s-so stupid for having been caught off guard by all this. I deserved that shadow-blast to the head."
"Don't say that. Bakura was nearly catatonic when we brought you in here," Atem said sympathetically as he readjusted himself more comfortably on Ryou's bedspread.
Yugi felt his heat skip a beat as Atem's thigh brushed against his own. Again he cursed himself for wanting his yami while Ryou was in such emotional need.
Apparently he was worried for nothing, however, because in the midst of his tears Ryou began to chuckle and the white-haired boy pulled Yugi into a hug.
"Y-You are seriously too cute Yugi. E-even in the m-middle of this mess I can't help but see that. You…you really would waste an entire holiday sitting here on my bed waiting for my dad and Bakura to come back when I can tell every cell in your body wants to be home with your own dark."
"I-I-I d-don't want you to feel alone!" Yugi squeaked embarrassedly while Atem joined in with Ryou and chuckled.
"O-O-Oh god!" Ryou released Yugi and flopped bonelessly back onto his pillows. "I can't believe I look that much a mess that you refuse to leave! I mean I know this whole thing was bad but haven't we faced worse?"
"Ryou, you-" Yugi blinked curiously.
"I am in the midst of a family break-down which, to be blunt, doesn't have a thing to do with you," Ryou smiled in the way that was only possible after you've screamed and cried your eyes out and have realized it wasn't going to do any good. "Honestly I don't think I could stand to see you two sitting here with me, horny and frustrated as hell, while your own Christmas plans become as blackened as mine."
"OMAGAWD I AM NOT FRUSTRATED!" Yugi squealed and attempted to leap to his feet. Unfortunately Yugi's feet were still mostly folded underneath him so the star-head only managed to flail sideways and land –of all places—face-first in Atem's lap.
"Ryou does have a point, aibou," Atem heroically didn't blush, smirk, tease or even moan. "This is something Leonardo and Kamenwati will have to settle between themselves…and please at least try to believe I am not saying this just to encourage you to come back home with me."
"Though I'm sure you'd really like that," Ryou snickered. Again Atem heroically didn't rise to the bait though the ancient pharaoh's face did turn a becoming shade of pink.
"I-I really want to…leave…but I can't," Yugi mumbled against Atem's thigh –it was strangely easier to talk when he gave slightly into his feelings and touched his other-. "It goes against everything I've been working for to just leave you in a state like this without any help."
Just as the words came out of his mouth, however, Yugi realized there was something he could do. It would put him in debt to Kuriboh even further than he already was, but considering how involved duel-monsters were in their group's lives anyway Yugi's plan would probably help more than even he could imagine.
"It's alright Yugi," Ryou sighed and turned his head to watch the snow. "I'll just have to wait this out."
"Okay… though I'm pretty sure the wait won't be nearly as long as you fear," Yugi smiled calculatingly.
Even though Ryou had been Yugi's confidante since stage one of the plan the white-haired youth still was far too naïve regarding Yugi's elaborate planning skills. Ryou just nodded mindlessly at Yugi's encouragement and completely missed the shrewd look on the young man's face.
With a few more farewells the starhead duo prepared to depart the hospital. While Atem paid one more trip to the pay-phones to make sure everyone knew about both Ryou and Bakura's determination that their friends should not ruin their plans, Yugi snuck off into the bathroom and pulled out his favorite duel-card.
"Okay Kuri…I know you heard all that," Yugi whispered against the painted picture, "and I know that you'll be just as upset as I am if this one horrible accident ruins the game-plan we've both worked so hard to play out. So please, out of your loyalty to our pharaoh if not a love for my friends…please go and find a monster of Ryou and Bakura's deck that will be able to talk some sense into Leonardo …find someone to help heal these wounds before it ruins our day of joy."
A faint twinge in the back of his head let Yugi know Kuriboh had heard him, and the slightly excited mystic tug from his other made Yugi decide to be as resolved to victory in his own romance as he was about Ryou's.
"Well my friend," Yugi smiled at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, "let's get out of here and enjoy our Christmas Eve presents while we can."
(A/N: God bless me, I hate that scene! Hate it, hate it, hate it! It's way too hard to set up something sexy at the same time I'm working with serious emotional distress! BLEH! I'm with Yugi in the idea that comfort-sex is way beyond my ability to properly understand)
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Being thrown out on his ass by the very person he was trying to help made it pretty clear to Jounouchi that he wasn't needed. And as cold-hearted as it sounded, that information was a bit of a relief for the blonde.
Jounouchi didn't know if he could pretend to be the perfect, helpful gentleman Kira Emichō needed him to be while at the same time worrying over the well-being of one of his dearest friends. Hell, Jou wasn't sure he was going to be able to act like a gentlemen even with all his focus on the act.
It simply wasn't the blonde's style to be an uptight, straight-laced, tight-lipped sort of guy. It wasn't that he was utterly opposed to the idea, but Jou always, always, ALWAYS seemed to find something that had to be said that wasn't keeping with polite conversation. It was almost like an outspoken, empathetic disease.
"I just won't play the 'kiss-my-ass' game," Jou mentally concluded of himself as he finished pulling on his dinner jacket. "Dress me up, teach me to eat politely, I still don't mesh with the 'richer-than-thou-so-you-damn-well-should-be-impressed' crowd."
Even as he worried, Jou had to admit that meeting Kira had done wonders for his wardrobe. The lady hadn't been kidding around when she'd promised to fix Jounouchi up for a night at Domino Towers. Despite Jou's often screaming protests against what the blonde considered charity, Kira Emichō had taken her dinner-date to the fanciest boutiques and the most pretentious salons that the city had.
Under the care of these money-grubbing beauticians the "professional under-dog" had transformed into a veritable pure-breed.
With the help of a thousand-dollar stylist his hair had been made butter soft and it had been cut so that his bangs now framed his face rather than hid his eyes in a pissed-off shadow.
A slightly sadistic manicurist ,who had taken Jou's distain towards 'a girly treatment' as a personal challenge, had managed to buffer Jou's calloused and undernourished hands until they were as soft as a baby's bottom with cuticles that would make a hand-model jealous.
And another professional, who's job-description was best called simply 'face sculptor' as she'd come bearing both scissors and wax, had scrubbed Jou's face to a glowing gold so bright that the boy had to wonder whether or not his pores had been paved over by some sort of cosmetic skin-cement.
And then there was the outfit.
Jou had feared the formal dining-wear more than any other aspect of the evening because his tolerance for any tight-to-the-throat clothing was less than zero. On top of which Jou had been worried about having a 'fitted' design because all his clothes had been at least one size too big since he was seven-years-old and Jou had become acclimated to extra folds.
But Kira had found a formal jacket and pants suit that had just been destined for him to wear. Sure it had a buttoned vest underneath the jacket which added onto the restricting layers, but the tie was loose and almost flirty around the purposefully loose shirt-collar and the colors were bright enough that Joey didn't look like he was being marched into a custody hearing. With its white on gray pin-striping the suit looked almost like something from a film noir and it made Joey feel like much less of a geek…even with his geeky pearly-pink necktie.
(A/N: I refuse to give any further details because I'm just as uncomfortable with the idea of Jou in a suit as the boy is himself. I kept researching all different looks until I realized it was the JACKET that annoyed me the most…and which couldn't be left behind unfortunately)
"If I end up falling on my ass tonight, at least I'll do it with style," Jou smiled warmly at his reflection as he pulled his winter-coat on over the already impractical layers. Fortunately the outer coat came with a bit of holiday cheer in the form of a long red cashmere scarf which Jou wasn't hesitant about wrapping around his head.
With a quick good-bye to his pops –who looked just about as stunned at Jou's transformation as Jou himself had been—Jou strolled out the door and marched determinedly to Domino Towers.
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Taking a good long look at the woman standing on the curb through his limousine's window Kaiba Seto had to admit that if Emichō Kira had been his mother he would've been nervous too. For though the woman didn't look 'menacing' exactly there was a regality about her that made a man afraid to misbehave.
With white-blue hair tied back in a cascading series of plaits and a midnight blue dress that hugged her waistline down to the knees while also displaying just enough of the neckline to be both sensual and classy, Seto had to admit that Kira looked more like she was waiting for a date than a casual dinner with her son. If Seto had run into her under any other circumstances he wouldn't have even guessed she had a son. But Seto did know better and he quickly caught a glimpse of Emichō Akio in his completely casual fleece-down jacket leaning against the building looking miserable and alone.
"This has got to be the most stupid thing I have ever done," Seto lectured his reflection in the window before giving a nod to his driver and climbing out.
Ignoring the gasp of a nearby glam-girl and her decades older date Seto strolled masterfully over to the Emichō duo and bowed politely in greeting.
"Good evening Miss Emichō, I'm Kaiba Seto. Your son invited me to your dinner tonight, if that is agreeable to you," the CEO, renowned for his condescending manner in the business world, humbly introduced himself.
An almost amused smile –as if the woman knew exactly how much Seto was acting and she somehow adored him for it—flickered briefly on the woman's lips before disappearing.
"Thank you so much for coming Master Kaiba," Kira bowed with a great deal more respect than Seto had shown. "It means a great deal to me that you could be here for Akio…and I hope you can appreciate the humor in the fact that I too invited someone to this awkward event and hope you are willing to wait until his arrival."
Seto did actually appreciate the irony in the fact that both mother and child were alike enough to invite backup while still being so unalike they needed to bring back up at all. And so he simply nodded agreeably to the woman and walked past her to stand by Akio.
The small black-haired boy looked far happier to see him than his mother –which was understandable as well—and before Seto could even say a word Akio had his arms tightly wrapped around the brunette's waist.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for coming!" the boy purred happily as he nuzzled into Seto's stomach. "We haven't even been here five minutes and we already can't stand each other!"
"You and your mother are simply both waiting for reinforcements before either of you dares to make the first move. It not that you can't stand each other, you just can't talk to one another," Seto said encouragingly as he brushed his fingers through the boy's hair.
Perhaps he was simply picking up the smell of the wood-burning stove from the restaurant but Seto could've sworn he picked up the not unpleasant smell of ash coming from Akio.
"But we're not MEANT to get along! At least not as it is!" Akio wailed in preteen exasperation up at Seto. "It's been this way for what must have been FOREVER!"
"Tonight we'll fix it," Seto hugged his arm around Akio's shoulders in a gesture so affectionate that it was hardly recognizable from the CEO. And it was in this moment that a well-groomed version of Jounouchi Katsuya arrived and was greeted by an affection cheer and an intense embrace from Kira.
"Oh you're here! Finally! Now we can start the evening," Miss Emichō said in an explosive sigh that seemed to push her onto the toes of her periwinkle high-heels. Jounouchi gentlemanly held on until Kira could settle herself back on the ground then turned to look at the other two guests with an expression of painfully suppressed horror.
"So you're Kira's kid…aaaand Kira's kid's guest?" Jou croaked hopefully. As in Jou seemed to be hoping Seto would deny his participation in this evening's prematurely doomed festivities.
"And you're the guy my mom invited," the dark-haired boy still standing tight to Seto's side smiled with a great deal more affection than seemed due to a stranger.
"…Hello Jounouchi," Seto nodded stiffly at the blonde.
"Hiya- I mean good evening…M-Mister Kaiba," Jou seemed to fight with himself for control.
Seto was about to test the strength of that control when Akio suddenly tugged him towards the door distracting the CEO from his usual instinctive tormenting.
"Come on Seto! You're gonna sit by me at the table and if we're first to the floor then we get to decide which seats we want!" Akio cheered enthusiastically as he pulled.
So pulled Seto was only able to mutter "nice penguin suit" before turning all his attention into somehow matching Akio's much shorter strides before either of them fell over.
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Jou and Kira didn't follow the pair into the restaurant directly. In fact Jounouchi made it a point to throw his arms in front of the rotating door so that Kira couldn't immediately follow and avoid talking to him about this.
"Kira…I-I can't do this. I'm sorry for the waste and I'm sorry about abandonin' you when you need me but I CAN'T do this!" Jou hissed sharply to the icy-blonde.
Kira looked surprised but she elegantly led Jou out of the doorway before she began her questions.
"What has gotten into you, Katsuya?" Kira pouted her delicately painted pink lips. "You've been nothing if not obliging to my measures during this entire week and yet NOW when all that tutoring is about to pay off-"
"You don't understand!" Jou wheezed more desperately. "You just don't understand! I CAN'T eat DINNER in THIS RESTAURANT with SETO KAIBA!"
"What on earth is that supposed to mean? You can't? What do you mean 'can't'? Your arms haven't fallen off, have they? You haven't suddenly lost the ability to eat, have you?"
"Kira…this…this guy that your son invited he's…he's…" Jou tried again.
"He seems perfectly agreeable to me, I mean just look at the way he interacts with Akio," Kira wavered her manicured hand at the window behind Jou. The blonde turned reluctantly to look though his instincts were still screaming at him to run away.
In the lobby of the building –which was actually not the same lobby as the restaurant but rather the general lobby for the entirety of Domino Towers—Kaiba had knelt down to help the little boy he was accompanying peel out of his winter jacket and was also trying to get the boy to hold still long enough for Kaiba to straighten the boy's cheery red dress-shirt. The motions of the CEO's hands and the relaxed arrangement of the muscles on the CEO's face were all so unfamiliar that for a moment Jou wondered if he was perhaps looking at another Kaiba Seto.
But that penguin suit dig at the door had definitely been personal. After all, Jou had gotten grief about that zoo job for months until he'd made the mistake to ask Seto out and caused the two to start studiously ignoring each other.
"It will be fine," Kira's voice caught Jounouchi by surprise and caused him to whirl back around in a guilty panic. Not that he really had anything to feel guilty about, but Kaiba had just seemed so…so sweet that it had felt like Jou was spying.
"Whatever it is that you have against this boy, or that he has against you…I trust that you two will put my son and myself ahead of that problem. I don't believe either of you would be here tonight if you weren't so compassionate. It is Christmas Eve after all," Kira smiled knowingly.
Jou blushed and privately wished he had never stuck his nose into his little sister's date and gotten himself pulled into all this mess.
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Ironically at the same time Jounouchi was wishing he'd kept out of it, Honda Hirito was internally cheering the sudden change of plan. In return for hijacking an admittedly cliché romantic date Mokuba had provided Honda with a fully tricked-out limo to drive Serenity and himself to the family cabin where,- according to their last call from the little schemer-, Mokuba had sent a team from his staff to repair, redecorate and generally 'spruce up' for the purposes of this evening.
Aside from some troubling news about Ryou –which he'd been reassured really was nothing—Honda was having the time of his LIFE…
Until, suddenly, three of the limo's tires exploded and the vehicle swerved into a snowy ditch.
"DAMN IT!" Honda and Serenity swore and fell to the floor of the limo at the exact same moment. Serenity blushed at her language while Honda more practically crawled up to the partition to check on the driver.
The hulking Eurasian behind the wheel momentarily looked embarrassed –he didn't look like the type for whom things went awry as often as they did for Honda—before barking at the teenagers to stay put while he went to get help.
"Where are you going to go? We're halfway up a mountainside!" Honda yelled at the driver.
The large man just glowered impressively at him before kicking –literally kicking—his door open and trudging off into the snow.
Honda watching after the behemoth for an unbelieving moment then groaned heavily and joined Serenity back into the passenger section of the vehicle.
"I bet you're starting to think I'm a jinx aren't you?" Honda smiled nervously at his girlfriend.
With a laugh that would've made angels cheer Serenity shook her head and cuddled sweetly into Honda's side.
"Oh I wouldn't call you a jinx…the only person in our group of friends who doesn't seem to have the luck of an ancient god MAYBE…but not a jinx," Serenity reassured him.
While Honda wanted to believe her, the overly dramatic adolescent side of him kept screaming that it couldn't be this easy. It hissed that there was no WAY that Serenity could be doing anything other than secretly wishing she was with Otogi right now instead of sitting in the passenger seat of yet another runaway date.
"I promise that I'll make better plans for our next big date! I mean the New Year will be here soon and I'm SURE that I can come up with something that-"
"Honda…don't you have a good time with me?" Serenity interrupted Honda's angst with her most timid tone.
"Of course I have a good time with you! You're great fun to be around! You're not COMPLETELY duel crazy like everyone else in Domino –though you are certainly the best cheerleader our little group had ever had—you're brave and graceful enough to outshine girls like Mai Valentine without even knowing it but you're still real enough with yourself that you don't feel any shame at eating four boxed lunches from a train-stop vendor! You're the greatest girl ever, Sere!" Honda rattled off with perhaps a little too enthusiasm.
Serenity jolted slightly at Honda's sudden passionate declaration but after he finished talking Serenity's gloom slid right back into place and she asked; "then why are you spending so much energy finding a place for us to GO and things for us to DO rather than just spending time with me wherever we happen to be."
"…You think that I've been making elaborate dates …because I DON'T want to hang out with you?" Honda stared disbelievingly at the redhead.
Rather like her brother when Serenity got upset it was easy to see. Actually on Serenity it was even easier to see because, like most redheads, when Serenity blushed her entire face turned pink.
"Oh! Oh nooo! I-I didn't mean it like that! I mean I was so excited for the dinner and w-when we had to give that up I…I was okay with it because it was you but you were so obsessed with getting this cabin but…and you don't understand what I mean do you?" Serenity hid her face behind her hands in a move that was just so terribly endearing that Honda couldn't do anything else but pull the girl to his chest in a tight hug.
"Well I certainly feel better now! I always thought I was the only panicky one in our relationship but I guess I freak you out as much as you freak me out!" Honda laughed warmly.
Serenity peeked nervously over her fingertips at Honda and upon recognizing that her boyfriend wasn't laughing AT her but rather at them BOTH she dropped her hands and began laughing as well.
"T-This was so stupid! W-we could've been watching movies in front o-of a warm firm instead of fr-freezing in the back of Kaiba stupid limo if w-we'd just TALKED about things instead of ASSUMING we wanted t-these stupid elaborate dates!" Honda wheezed breathlessly.
"A-And h-how stupid is it that w-we both thought the other one w-would be DISAPPOINTED i-if we DIDN'T plan this s-stupid trip! L-Like we haven't already told e-each other how w-we felt! L-like I di-didn't know you were s-so happy w-when I b-brushed off Otogi a-and p-pretty much flaunted to the w-whole school that we were dating," Serenity howled right alongside him.
The couple just laughed and laughed and laughed until eventually the limo-driver returned with a tow-truck.
"The snow is pretty thick but we should be able to muscle through," the driver shrugged at the duo.
"Forget it," Serenity smiled charmingly up at the man. "We're happy you took time out of your holiday schedule to do this but all we want is to go back home."
Though neither of the teenagers would know it, -nor would Yugi who had arranged the blow-out as part of his 'plan'-, by so obligingly returning to Domino Seto's driver was able to get home in time for his family's traditional Christmas Eve tree-lighting and by being there was able to smooth things over with his wife and save his marriage.
(A/N: I don't care if I'm alone in this but I like Serenity and Honda as a couple. It's like…they remind me of Jessica and Hoyt from True Blood …except Serenity isn't quite so hormonal)
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
In the dark of the Shadow Realm, whizzing along at a speed that was actually quite frightening, Kuriboh was on the hunt for one of Ryou or Bakura's allied monsters who would be willing to help…and who wouldn't try to devour Kuriboh's soul.
Given that Bakura had a natural affinity for the dead –which was a result of his dark childhood rather than a purposeful hunt for dark energy like most assumed—most of Bakura's deck were some form of zombie and were far too content with sitting around in a shallow grave to help.
But Kuriboh was actually quite the clever furball and instead of turning away the little monster flew deeper into the darkness until he found a sullen being sitting on what appeared to be the literal EDGE of the night.
Doma the Angel of Silence wasn't actually a mute. Doma was simply the bearer of The Silence. Sometimes that silence was sinister, such as the silence of the grave, and on other occasions the silence was peaceful such as the often sung Silent Night.
After Kuriboh wheezed out a quick explanation as to what was happening with the angel's master and what Kuriboh's own master was hoping to accomplish Doma simply smiled and agreed to help.
"You needn't worry about my cost, little one," Doma spoke before Kuriboh could nervously begin the process of favor bargaining. "This Eve there are many spirits amok and if they have not demanded payment then neither shall I. Besides which my passage to the mortal world this night will come at no cost. I will move in the silence that the snow brings."
And before Kuriboh could utter another 'kree' the angel slid sideways through the folds of the Shadows and disappeared into the mortal realm.
"Kree Kree…boooooo riiii" the fuzz-ball shuddered aloud before he turned and zoomed back towards the more familiar territory of the shadow realm where he was hoping Dark Magician hadn't closed his Spy Spell on their masters so that all the monsters could watch the Christmas Conspiracy unfold.
** translation: That monster is so…creepy brrr.
***note on translation: There is still some debate on the meaning of 'riiiii' and it is entirely possible that instead of 'brr' Kuriboh could have said something entirely uncomplimentary about Doma or Doma's mother
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Back in the mortal world of uncomfortable dinner dates and unexpected appearances from rivals Kaiba Seto was beginning to worry that his presence had somehow cursed this evening.
He was almost certain that if it wasn't for him that Jounouchi would've already been able to figure out some gimmick that was radical but strangely appropriate that would have made Kira and Akio realize how much they meant to each other. And that if Seto weren't there then Jounouchi's gimmick would have somehow lifted up the spirits of everyone in the restaurant through the small family's cheer and everything would be as cheerful as the promise of the holidays always should be but usually weren't.
…Or maybe Seto was just feeling slightly hysterical because he was sitting across from the man he unintentionally insulted every time they met. The same young man who had managed to clean himself up to such a level of masculine beauty that it made Seto want to get very drunk very soon before he did something stupid like try to TOUCH the blonde.
"So Akio," Seto dove towards his table companion in an attempt to avoid thinking about any sort of touching, "this is a pretty nice restaurant for your mother to have picked, isn't it?"
"…It's okay," Akio shrugged and stared at his place-setting.
"Okay?" Jou surprisingly spoke from his agonizingly close seat DIRECTLY ACROSS from Seto. "Kiddo, I understand your issues but you've gotta admit these digs are sweeeet!"
Akio's head shot up in shock and he pinned Jou with a look of such utter disbelief that Jou immediately assumed the worst and clapped a hand over his mouth.
Seto personally found Jou's casual conversation skills a relief. Then again he wasn't the one who'd come in on the arm of a clearly older and obviously far too manipulative older woman who was probably horrified at Jounouchi's uncouth behavior.
…Not that Seto was worried about Jounouchi dating Emichō's or anything. Not that he was even sure they were really 'dating'. …Though really what else was the CEO supposed to think. Not that Jounouchi really had any reason to care what Seto thought…except that it was the BLONDE who'd confessed to HIM!
…Gods above, Seto was really feeling like a pre-teenage girl.
"I…believe Katsuya termed that perfect…this restaurant is…s-sweeeet," Kira blushed as she repeated Jou's elongated pronunciation with a great deal of embarrassment.
Seto didn't notice how the effort made Akio smile. His focus was entirely on the fact that this woman had called his mutt "Katsuya". Nobody called Jounouchi "Katsuya." Seto had tried and gotten his ass kicked.
"Yah well…I guess it's kinda obvious that I'm new to this whole high-society stuff," Jou smiled thankfully at the much, much older woman. "She tried to train me but…I guess my tongue just can't be tamed."
"I don't mind," Akio said warmly, almost defensively. "I don't think it makes sense when people are formal all the time."
"Neither do I," Jou groaned with a purposefully teasing note of exaggeration. "I mean the way some people are soooo proper. It kinda makes me think they gotta be hiding a helluva lot of nastiness behind their fake grins."
"Yah, I think so too! A helluva lot," Akio seemed to enjoy the opportunity to let loose even the mildest of cuss words.
"…Not all formality is hiding an ill temper," Kira said embarrassedly. She looked at Seto pleadingly and in a sudden rush the CEO embarrassingly had to remind himself that Kira probably WAS more interested in her son than playing footsie with an under-aged blonde. Even if that blonde was someone as beautiful as Katsuya.
"No, of course not. Formality of speech is just another mechanism used by people who wish to control the way the world sees them," Seto offered in the icy-hued woman's defense.
"Buuuuuullshit!" Jou said in a voice low enough that he didn't scandalize the neighboring table but still managed to make Akio laugh.
"You-" Seto hissed.
"If a guy wanted to show REAL emotion…if a guy HAD real emotion…he wouldn't give a damn what the world saw particularly because…because he'd know that if he was involved in a conversation of real passion…t-then the other person wouldn't be hiding their passion either and…" Jou interrupted his own tear-hued speech with a slight cough then he straightened his posture until Seto could almost hear the boy's spine crying.
"Katsuya…are you alright?" Kira asked, gently putting a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"Uh…ya. Ya, I'm fine," Jou smiled and nodded too eagerly. "Of course I'm alright. I was just…thinking of a stupid thing that doesn't matter and doesn't have ANYTHING to do with tonight."
"…You lie terribly," Kira frowned.
"Yah, you should be more like my mom and keep a stony face when you lie," Akio snorted.
Immediately Kira's attention flew from Jounouchi to her son which, if Seto didn't mistake Akio's smirk, was exactly what the boy had hoped to accomplish.
"When have I ever lied to you!" the woman yelped.
"You lie all the time. 'Oh I'm so happy to have you for Christmas.' 'I love you so much.' 'No I don't love my job more than I love you'," Akio repeated in a mockery of the woman's voice.
"I-I can't believe…you would think," Kira's eyes started to fill with tears.
"Oh yah, that's another good trick to learn. Fake tears are a REAL good way to convince people that you care," Akio snarled darkly.
"I am not lying to you!" Kira began to weep harder.
"Yah right like I'm really supposed to- WHAT THE HELL!" Akio's words were suddenly cut off by Seto's rather ungentlemanly act of dumping an entire pitcher of ice-water over the boy's head.
Silence filled not only their table but all the surrounding tables. People that Seto had business dealings with were looking up from their lobster and steak fillets. Their dates all swelled with the excitement that meant they were just bursting to begin gossiping about the young CEO so obviously losing his mind.
Seto ignored them all.
"Akio, what are you doing here tonight?" Seto asked the now dripping boy.
"I-I-I was…me-meeting with-"
"You told me you were worried about your mother not loving you and you worried about this entire evening being a ruse. But instead of facing up to these worries you've behaved like a child and insulted this woman. You insulted her and degraded her while she was obviously trying to bare her soul because you obviously thought that by doing so you might insulate yourself from whatever damage she could do to you."
Seto leaned down so that his face was only an inch or two from the young boy's face. Akio seemed too startled to react and his cinnamon colored eyes seemed lost.
"But let me tell you a secret about this kind of defense," Seto hissed to the boy, totally unable to stop despite his intellect screaming at him to shut up and stop making such a spectacle of himself in front of people HE COULDN'T PAY OFF. "You see when you attack the person you care for when they are most vulnerable to it…you hurt them. You hurt them so much that they never speak to you again. They turn their backs on you and find out another person to give their affections to…and the worst part is that you will live the rest of your life with the guilt that YOU were the one who caused it…because YOU were the one who stop loving that person first…and started loving your pride more."
That last syllable spilled off Seto's tongue so softly it was also a sob. And while that sob was still ringing in the silence Seto turned his head ever so slightly towards Katsuya.
Not surprisingly Katsuya did not react well to this. The blonde's eyes flickered with pain and he jerked backwards as if Seto had thrown a punch at him.
"Kat-" Seto started to speak when the blonde finally seemed to have enough and he jumped up from his seat and ran towards the elevators.
Like Cinderella leaving the ball all the magic of the night seemed to break at Jounouchi's exit and the room was suddenly alive with the all too real and all too destructive sound of gossip.
"My god what have I done," Seto groaned and flopped back into his seat.
"…You…you're going to let him go?" Akio whimpered causing Seto to lift his head from his hands and look at the boy he'd supposedly traumatized.
"Akio, you-" Seto blinked in surprise at the boy's easy forgiveness.
"Y-you j-just…y-you just told that guy…how you crushed your own heart…and instead of making him answer you, you let him leave!" Akio gapped in horror.
"I don't think he-"
"Don't think," Kira smiled from across the table. "I have a feeling you are quite like me in that you've probably gotten into this much trouble because you think so much. Instead you should simply go to him and let your heart do what it's wanted to do for a long time now."
"Do what?" Seto asked helplessly.
"Love him."
Before he realized what he was doing Seto was up on his feet and running after the blonde.
Behind him, still at the table, Akio's features melted slightly into those of a much more mature being and the boy let a slightly thunderous grunt of disgust leave his lips.
"What is wrong, my love. Our masters seem to be moments away from becoming a couple thus freeing us to be openly together as we've always wished," Kira smiled with a heat that would be entirely inappropriate for a parent to direct towards her child.
"It's not that. I'm actually really glad we found an excuse to come up here and knock those two knucklehead together," Akio rumbled in a totally adult voice that made the waiter passing them do a double-take.
"Then what is the matter, my dearest red-eyes?" Kira smiled indulgently.
"…Because of this stupid disguise I'm not allowed to kiss you or anything without panicking the mortals into called Child Protective Services," Akio pouted and blushed becomingly.
Kira tossed back her head and let out a rather thunderous chuckle of her own before reaching over the table and giving Akio's cheek an affectionate pinch.
"Oh my dearest, you are truly a wicked thing aren't you. Don't pout over an evening's restraint when you know very well I will make up for every minute that I was out of your masterful presence. Now stop slumping in your chair or I will refuse to give the waiter my French accent which will trick the mortals into assuming we are from different cultural understanding that allows you to at least have a small cup of wine with your dinner."
"…I do like wine," Akio straightened in his seat and smiled.
(A/N: Red Eyes Black Dragon and Blue Eyes White Dragon. That's who they are and that's why they are allowed to flirt. Do NOT give me ANY GRIEF for this!)
Ho-Ho-Ho-Ho
Leonardo was rather disgusted with himself.
He'd spent the last several days doing everything shy of brandishing a pistol at the dark spirit to try and break up the romance between his son and that degenerate sod most recently named Bakura. (A/N: Kamenwati is one of the many names the spirit of the ring held, but it's not technically his birth-name. It is, however, more convenient for these inter-family arguments)
Yet at the first sign of his son's tears –well maybe not the first—Leo had utterly recanted his disapproval and had agreed to bring the filth back from whatever hole he'd hidden himself.
"I have finally, irrefutably, lost my mind," the linguist muttered to himself as he plunged onward through the snowy streets. "I've spent so much time around dottering old maniacs like Solomon Motu and Arthur Hawkins that I've completely gone off my gourd."
Even as those words come out of his mouth, however, Leonardo Bakura regretted them. While Solomon suffered from an EXCEEDING amount of personality, the old man was truly as jolly a soul as Saint Nick.
And Arthur was a genius whose academic confidence in the face of years of skepticism had made Leo feel ashamed of his own hesitancy.
Solomon and Arthur were both fine fellows, except that they didn't understand how dangerous all this was. Magic and monsters and ancient spirits who wouldn't know decency if they were impaled on it.
The real world had enough traumatic things within it without adding in all this chaotic fantasy nonsense. There were real threats that already caused so much pain and tore apart so many families without the added stress of shadow games.
"We'd all be better off in a world without magic!" Leonardo yelled out to the building storm.
"Oh my love, what a cynical thing to say," a painfully familiar voice replied from just behind him.
A moment of silence passed over the silent snow-filled streets as Leonardo came to a startled stand still.
A prickle of panic as well as fearful joy swept down the linguist's spine and made his muscles freeze and lock in place. He wanted to turn around so badly and yet he was also dreading what he might see.
"M-Miria?" the widower hesitantly called out in response to the sound of his long dead spouse's voice.
No answer came to his ears but just as Leonardo was about to start berating himself for giving into the magical-nonsense of his colleges, a soft and surprisingly warm hand reached out and took his.
"H-How is this …w-why?" Leo chocked back a sudden rush of tears.
"Because our son is connected to a great many powers and only a portion of them are what you'd call evil," Miria's voice rang in Leo's ears like a chorus of silver bells. "Oh my dearest, your fear of the unknown has made you fall so far from the image of the man I married."
A strange, unexpected tendril of anger melted Leonardo's shock and made him grip his former wife's hand with bruising force.
"In what way am I not the man you married?"
"Don't get angry, my love. I've travelled too far to be met with this level of pettishness," Miria's sweet voice sighed in exhaustion.
Leonardo weakened but did not release his hold on Miria's hand. For some strange reason he continued to feel unable to turn around despite the fact that he no longer felt afraid.
Perhaps this was all part of whatever magic that had brought her to him. Like Orpheus and his Eurydice there must have been some power that tried to push past the mere glory of the bodily senses.
"My love…it's all been so wrong since I lost you," Leonardo hissed almost bitterly to his wife.
He'd never allowed himself to say these words before, nor allowed the idea to interfere with his work. But this strange twilight visitation seemed to free Leo's tongue of the secrets his pride usually kept in hold.
"I know; from …well from the place I've been I could see you and our Ryou struggling. Amane and I have been so worried about you both."
"Y-You've seen Amane? She's with you?" Leonardo gulped painfully over a sudden knot in his throat. Even more so than Miria, Leonardo had not allowed himself to dwell on thoughts of his lost daughter.
He was often barely able to look at Ryou without imagining what Amane would look like if she was his age. If his wife had brought along the girl then Leo was suddenly afraid his soul would break.
"I am not here to tell you about our daughter. What you should hear is that she is as eager as I am for the success of my mission tonight, and I am here on a mission my love. Only Jacob Marley might resemble my burden in the urgency I feel for you to hear me and act on what I say. We don't have time for three haunting, my dearest."
"Speak and I'll act. I always listened to you," Leonardo squeezed Miria's ghostly hand as reassuringly as possible.
"You must stop trying to force Kamenwati of the Ring and our Ryou apart. My love, I know you fear the magic Kamenwati holds but whether or not you like it that magic will continue to be a part of our son's life for as long as he lives."
"No! I know that our son is special. I may have been neglectful but I HAVE noticed things. Ryou has the ability to bring light and warmth to anyone or anything he touches: his paintings, that ill-used house that he lives in, even his friends radiate with that light. I respect his power and I only want it to flourish…for Ryou to flourish!" Leonardo snarled and ran a frustrated hand through his midnight blue hair.
"So you'd condemn him to stand alone in this power you so admire? My love, that is juvenile. Ryou needs Kamenwati's guidance! The ancient spirit has made many terrible mistakes that-"
"He'll lead Ryou to make those same mistakes!"
Suddenly Miria's hand was ripped out of his and Leonardo felt his wife's knuckles strike him smartly in the back of the head.
"You didn't let me finish! You said you'd listen and act upon my word, so do it! If not I swear I'll avoid you in the afterlife! I'll avoid you in the next life after that too! How would you like heaven then? Being alone? You cringing, cheating—"
Leonardo had forgotten this aspect of his beloved spouse. Miria hadn't ever been a violent woman but when Leo had argued with her –as all husbands inevitably argued with their wives—she had been a whirlwind of passion. If she was convinced that Leo was in the wrong then nothing on earth would make her agree to his actions.
Often after such an argument Leo would feel like a sinner who'd gotten his arse kicked by a sword-wielding cherub. He'd feel so bad that he would abandon whatever idea it'd been that Miria had so disliked no matter how much he might disagree to her assessment of its damnable qualities.
He'd never been able to stand Miria's tears even more so than how Ryou's tears affect him and…
Leonardo felt another shiver run down his spine at the realization.
"Let me finish won't you? I'm saying that our son NEEDS Kamenwati! He'll never know how strong his life can be without wrestling with darkness. He—"
"He can't influence Kamenwati's darkness and direct it in a pure direction if I keep interfering, is that it? You're trying to tell me …that the sod and I…that we're the same in that way," Leonardo interrupted his wife again, but hopefully with words she wanted to hear.
He tugged at her hand to try to pull her fingers to his lips to kiss but for a disheartening moment Miria's arm was as unmoving as marble.
He then heard a slight gasp and her limbs lost their righteous tension and allowed Leonardo to lay down the small repentant kisses he'd desired to give.
"You…you realize it? Openly? It got through without me having to bring up your shared vulnerability to the loss of family, your same grumpy habit of shouldering your burdens alone and damning the world, or your shared—"
"Listen, my love, I'm having enough trouble recognizing this as it appears in my mind now; you shouldn't go rubbing salt in the wounds while they're still red," Leo snarled bitterly.
"—genius? I was going to say your shared genius," Miria's last comparison slipped out anyway. And as horrifyingly improper and immature as it may seem, Leonardo's heart still skipped a beat to hear his wife's praise. Years of separation had not changed the way Leo reacted to her.
The distance had allowed Leo to forget Miria's exact responses had allowed him to slip back into being the horrible hard-hearted person that he'd been before Miria's light had entered his life.
(A/N: Hah! Years wasted trying to figure this scene out and all I had to do was show how similar Leo and Kura are at heart. Stupid British formality made it impossible for me to see until I got his wife in on this redemption scene)
Leo self-consciously straightened the wrinkles out of his suit in an attempt to compose himself and he forced his face into a neutral but respectfully aware expression.
"I…I still do not approve of Kamenwati being as…amorous a person as he is…"
"I said that you and Kamenwati are similar, not that you are the same. That you even kissed my fingers in the open like you did was more than I ever expected," Miria laughed and laced her fingers through Leo's once again. "You'll simply have to remind yourself that Kamenwati has a unique perspective of the societies of the world and that it has left him little patience for the behavioral morals that you so devotedly retain. To him it's all a thin veil used to pretty up the biases of any social structure."
The warmth in Miria's voice as she explained Kamenwati's behavior reminded Leonardo painfully of how she'd explain away their children's childish antics when Leo had been on the edge of tossing them over his knee in frustration.
"I'll…I'll try and see if we can't reach a mutual agreement on…on how much both of us veil or don't veil our behavior," Leo coughed, feeling strangely like he was promising to take a student under his wing at the university. "But…well…"
"You are still uncomfortable with Kamenwati being a man?" Miria said with a strange tone to her voice that Leo could not identity.
"Well I am not THAT prudish that I'll stand here defending Victorian practices to the ghost of my wife who remembers a few violations to the 'natural relationship order' that we indulged in ourselves; nor am I a close-minded religious fanatic –my dissertations often make fun of the church—but I believe a man is truly wasting his life when he ignore the vital business of building a family! I don't know, maybe that is a little Victorian of me after all but man is not immortal –despite Kamenwati's prolonged life—and I just don't think—"
"My dearest."
"Oh God, I know I'm rambling like a girl but I'm only trying to explain my feelings substantively rather than brutishly saying 'I hate this pairing because they're both men' and thereby make you worry that I'm still going to cause our son harm and—"
"MY LOVE!" Miria shouted so loud that Leonardo had to stop. "Please beloved, just …stop talking…and turn around."
The paralysis that had held Leonardo before must have been awe because now that Leo no longer thought of his wife as a divine phantom he found that facing her was the most natural thing in the world.
Miria Bakura had died a rather traumatic death under the tire of a drunken driver but such physical damage hadn't carried over to her soul. Even the slight imperfections of age, such as the minor weight about the middle that all women gained from child-bearing or the circles under her eyes from the strain of keeping their family organized, none of them had carried over.
Miria looked as she did only in Leonardo's mind, beautiful, warm and radiantly lit with inner light. The only big difference that Leo noted was that Miria was wearing a veil over her hair which was so long that the garment's hem should've been wet with melting snow.
"Another Dickenson metaphor, my dearest?" Leo reached out and lifted the veil slightly away from Miria's body. Miria only smiled and looked down at the little figure that she held in her arms that had been hidden under the dropping fabric.
"M-My sweet, merciful—" Leo chocked. "Is this, could he…but that cannot be!"
"There are no absolutes, my love," Miria tugged the veil shut as if concerned that the ghost infant in her arms might catch cold. "This child is a shadow of such possibilities that argue the positivity of magic. I was allowed to bring her in case I needed to argue this far against your fear of the unknown. I suppose her presence can work just as well to argue Kamenwati's potential as a family-builder."
"So…they will…" Leo blushed with hope.
"They could, they might or they could do as other young men do and build a clan out of the souls who have already settled for a duration on the earth and seek friendship's hand. The potential is theirs and theirs alone to decide and if you push them I WILL be cross."
"I…I won't. I won't even mention her," Leo felt strangely certain of his promise. "Only…only if she is …if our Ryou and his Kamenwati do agree…what is her name?
"Just consider her our little Miracle," Miria smiled and peacefully began to fade.
"So soon!" Leo yelped.
"It's only for a while, dearest. Eternity is much longer still. Spend your time on this earth expanding upon your passions so that you have adventures to dazzle me with when we are together again…so that I may fall in love with you all over again," Miria smiled sadly as she too seemed to wilt with the idea of being separated.
"Adventures…a tall order that," Leo thought fondly of the old adventurers already in his life, towards whom he felt a little more understanding.
"You can do it, you are so much more than what you've tried to be. Now go, start your return by reconciling with Kamenwati. You'll find him beside the lake in the park," Miria spoke quickly as her disappearance began to truly take hold.
"I will, my dearest! I love you!" Leo sprang into motion.
"And I you…my dearest other-half."
Ho-Ho-Ho
(A/N: Triumph! You all have no idea how hard this man is to work with! I threw so many ghosts at him and still I didn't get any reaction out of the damn half-Brit bastard! It wasn't until Miss Bakura kindly tapped me on the shoulder and asked for a word with her hubbie that this all came together! WHY IS THE BAKURA FAMILY SO DIFFICULT!)
If this had been a romance novel –after the fashion of those trashy rags that Seto had stolen out of his secretary's desk to annoy her and inadvertently began to enjoy himself—then Seto would've caught up to Jounouchi, he would've pulled the reluctant blonde into a passionate kiss and would've said some overly cliché little speech about having always loved the boy that would have made Jou melt and agree to ditch the remainder of dinner to spend the rest of the evening in the much cozier accommodations of Kaiba Manor…or the nearest love-hotel depending on how cozy Jou wanted to be.
That was not what happened.
What Seto hadn't counted on when he'd decided to run after Jounouchi was that the blonde was a helluva runner. Seto had heard Yugi-tachi calling Jou 'the golden blue' on occasion but he'd never really studied just how fleet of foot the blonde could really be.
Generally when Jou ran away it was because Seto had pushed him to that point. And even then Seto had never been doubtful that Jou would come and find him again.
After the heart-wrenching look he'd seen back in the restaurant, however, Seto wasn't willing to risk waiting for another chance.
Jou had run at least a whole floor's worth of stairs ahead of him during the entire frantic chase down to street-level. Because of this Seto was worried that he'd lose the blonde in the crowd of pedestrians still milling around outside Domino Towers and so Seto idiotically threw more speed into his limbs than one should ever give in a mid-winter chase.
And because Murphy's Law had waited a long time for Seto to do something even slightly impulsive the CEO had not noticed the patch of icy sidewalk until he was sliding out of control into a nearby light-pole.
This sudden injury, combine with his nerves and the not inconsiderable physical exertion he'd already put forth, caused Seto's already migraine-prone head to start pulsing with agony. The pain was so intense, in fact, that Seto stumbled off the curb and into the street where he would've been flattened- ironically by a delivery truck from his own company—had not Jounouchi come flying out of nowhere like a knight in cashmere armor to haul Seto out of harm's way.
After landing uncomfortable on the sidewalk the two teenagers just lie huffing and wheezing for a moment and Seto internally prepared himself for Jou's impending lecture about how Seto should have accepted his lose with more grace and avoid taking his rage out on traffic.
"Y-you…f-f-king…clutz," Jou wheezed from underneath Seto.
(A/N: Calm down you drooling fangirls, Seto is simply sprawled over Jou's legs)
"Yah," Seto accepted the insult without a fight.
"You f-king MORON!" Jou yelled a little louder, obviously liking Seto's atypical submissiveness.
"Agreed," Seto grimaced as his head began to throb anew.
"You…you f-king…goddamn…adorable mess."
"Agre- wait, what?" Seto pushed himself up onto his elbows without regard to his returning nauseated pain so he could look up at the now hysterically giggling Jounouchi Katsuya.
"O-Oh God, I-I d-didn't want t-to forgive you. Not a-after the w-way you h-humiliated me a-at the shop a-and the way you s-snubbed me at the door t-tonight," Jou was practically weeping with giddiness. "S-so w-when you said…what you said…I-I just wanted to…I c-couldn't...a-and then you had to be so damn cute tripping over your own stupid feet like a damn girl in her fist pair of heels!"
Seto's first reaction was to push Jou away and salvage his wounded pride. However, as Seto was a genius and he had been paying attention to the events leading up to this evening, the CEO quickly reigned in his embarrassment and argued to himself how much better this turn of events was compared to some ridiculous assumption based off dime-story novellas. If Seto was in the helpless position this time then Jou had the chance to improve his self-image and thus be less sensitive to Seto's barbs. And if Jou was less sensitive then Seto didn't have to pull a damn miracle out from his sleeve that would allow him to just swallow a decade's worth of bastardly instincts.
By being in the helpless position Seto opened up the possibility of at least gaining a pity-date.
"Thank you for saving me," Seto said graciously.
"No problem," Jou wheezed in reply. Despite Seto's stern mental arguments it still made Seto feel better to note that Jou had stopped laughing.
A moment of silence passed between the two until Jou hesitantly asked, "So…you like me?"
"I do, I'm just a jackass about it."
"Yah well I'm not exactly Mr. Romance myself."
Another moment of silence passed as the two teens awkwardly regained their feet and Jou virtuously led Seto back into the lobby to sit down before his slight migraine became a full-blow, vomit-inclusive brain seizure.
The two shared passing anxious looks before Jou, in typical Jou fashion, muttered a soft 'what the hell' and pulled Seto into a hot, sloppy, long-time-coming kiss.
And while Seto couldn't imagine a worse consolation for his pounding head, he had to admit that the kiss was still quite novel-worthy.
CHAPTEREND
Masaka: *looking at overheated hands* Ouch, I wasn't even typing that long this time and still…ooouch
Yami Masaka: The muses demand pain, my love. But at least you're out of the plot-rut.
Jason: And you have the next chapter ready in the wings!... well mostly.
Masaka: I think I'll take a break for a soda…but I have the most wonderful feeling that THIS is the year that the story is finished and I can move onto my other project!
Jason: Leeeeet's just keep our focus on this one, alright?