Sennen Omedetou

For all that dinner was and wasn't, Katsuya had to say- he didn't expect to end up in this room again, not after what had happened in it the last time they were there. The small dining room that had originally played home to the 'Russian Roulette' dinner table had been lavishly decorated for the holidays to say the least; the lamp light hanging from above had been dimmed down to a more peaceful mood, and the table in the center was far different from that of its black and red spinning counterpart. Rather, it was instead a far larger round table decorated with a white tablecloth, a plethora of foods covering the table.

Needless to say; there was just a small bit of surprise at the change in seating. "The breakfast room," Seto asked with raised eyebrows, turning to Kyouko as the maid bowed.

She continued smiling, standing at the side to allow the others to sit. "That is correct Seto-sama," she said with a steep bow, looking to her employer's brother before continuing. "As a request from Mokuba-sama..." Seto looked at the boy in question, watching as he nodded furiously in agreement.

"The normal table is big enough for almost twenty people," he protested, a frown on his face as he somewhat glared at the woman. "I don't want to sit at something like that, with everyone on opposite ends... I want to sit with everyone together, beside each other!"

The woman stared at those words, the maid beside her leaving in the silence that resulted with a quick bow before vanishing into the kitchen. There was no answer to that really; Seto was holding her seemingly standard 'blank' stare, Mokuba holding his 'glare'... Katsuya decided to break the silence in the end, giving a short cough and looking at the table as the others turned. "Er... I dunno about you but..." He laughed, grinning nervously as he continued. "Shouldn' a dinner spent t'gether actually be spent eatin' it?"

Seto merely gave a rather unimpressed frown to that, while Mokuba nodded beside her. "That's right," he said as he dropped the frown, before looking up at his sister. "Nee-sama... Let's sit down, come on!" He tugged at the woman's arm, gaining a short nod in response.

"...Alright," she said somewhat quietly, walking over to the table as Katsuya took a seat. "Alright..." Seto took a seat, expression seemingly caught between her usual indifference and slight confusion. It was actually similar to the look she had when helping him out at the Duelist Kingdom, he thought to himself; the glare was there in shape, but not in emotion. Huh. ...Maybe Hobson was on to something! (Not that he was going to be saying anything about that...)

They looked over the table, Katsuya staring at the large amount of food in silence. The still steaming food looked pretty good, that was for sure... And there was no doubt that it would taste just as good. "So... We jus' dig in," he asked, the woman now sitting beside him looking as though she was doing all in her power to ignore the blond.

Also beside him, Mokuba nodded. "Yep," he said with a grin, clearly enjoying the 'triangle' that sitting at the table put them in. "But finish the soup first," he added seriously, an unamused glare on his face. Aww, what, he couldn't dig into the turkey first?

Katsuya laughed nervously, glancing at Seto and watching as the woman in question raised an eyebrow at him. 'What are you looking at,' she seemed to ask, before he turned away. Nothing. Absolutely nothing, ehe... Well! This soup wasn't going to finish itself after all... "Heh... Merry Chris'mas then," he said with a grin, before grabbing the spoon by his soup bowl. He would never get this whole 'multi-course meal' thing, he really wouldn't... Even so, he thought as he started eating through the soup, he would appreciate it nonetheless. Besides, the soup wasn't too bad. Though... There was very little at the house that he didn't like in terms of the cooking really, and the exception was that one mushroom dish... He continued at his soup, shaking it off. So what if that one mushroom thing tasted weird! The soup was great!

Though... It was pretty quiet, he thought as he downed the last of the soup. Like really quiet... Awkwardly. Quiet. It was one thing when it was just the occasional breakfast that he was stuck with this... Back when they both hated each other. But, well... He was pretty sure this wasn't the 'leave my house or die' silence that that had been. Mokuba seemed to notice as well actually, looking across the table at the blond before turning to Seto. "So..." He blinked, shifting in his seat somewhat as he attempted to start up some conversation. "How come you came home so late..? Was there a lot of traffic?"

Hn? She'd probably been working late, if the Christmas rush wasn't it... Katsuya turned as Seto looked over to her brother, her own soup almost finished as well. She stared for a brief moment in silence, before blinking. "...Isono was unavailable to drive," she said calmly, turning back to finish off her soup and moving to put the bowl carefully to the side. "I decided to walk back for a change," she continued dismissively, as though to end the topic as quickly as it started.

Mokuba blinked, as did the blond beside him before both shared a confused look. Ah... Walk? She walked? He knew she walked that one time when he and Yugi and the others didn't know who Seto was... Back when she'd stopped by the game store. But... Since when did she walk other than that one time? Regardless, it didn't appear that any of them were really willing to ask that question. "Oh," was all that the boy said, before finishing his soup as well and putting the bowl at the side to free the space on his plate. "Ah... ...Ok..."

Katsuya moved his bowl to the side himself, attempting to change the subject. "Er... So! Pretty good soup right," the blond said with a small laugh, rubbing his head.

The others looked back at their empty bowls, Seto merely staring at it a moment before shifting it further to the side. "...I suppose," she eventually said, before standing up to fill her plate. Scoops of potatoes and green beans were placed mostly in silence on the plate, before she cut herself some turkey and sat back down in silence. The others stared as this went on, before turning back to each other with frozen half smiles on their faces. D-Damn it... How the hell did they get her to talk... About anything?

He looked back at the food, shrugging it off and getting his own plate filled. Potatoes... Beans... What was that red stuff, cranberries? ...He'd try those too he supposed. "Er... Right then," he muttered, easily clearing out half of the table and sitting back down to start on his overflowing plate. "...Any ideas what's f'r desert," he asked with a grin, Mokuba blinking in response.

"Ah... I was trying to find that out actually," he said with wide eyes, grinning briefly at the thought of desert himself. It quickly died however, and he continued. "...I tried every chance I got to get in the kitchen, but Kyouko kept me out each time..." He gave a small shudder, Seto looking from her food at the expression and raising an eyebrow. "K-Kyouko can be scary when she wants to be..."

Katsuya nodded, slightly pale. "Y-Yea... T-Tell me about it..." At this point, he noted that Seto was no longer looking at her food or Mokuba, but directly across from her with the same, somewhat surprised stare she'd had before. "..Hn?"

They turned, the boys growing slightly pale as Kyouko stood there with a slightly frightening smile on her face. "...I was about to ask," she started, the large jug in her hands shaking somewhat, "If anyone wished for some eggnog..."

Seto gave a somewhat amused smile, arms crossed as the boys both exchanged looks of horror with the realization of their eavesdropper's presence. "That would be good," she said calmly, the maid walking over to fill the woman's glass. She looked over at Katsuya, eyebrow raised in what looked to be amusement. "Thirsty at all, mutt?"

He tensed, choking for a moment before regaining his breath. "G-! I ain't a-..." Oh, what was the point! He scowled, holding his glass and staring at the plate with a red face. "...I'll take some too," he finally muttered under his breath, Kyouko cheerily pouring him a glass before moving toward Mokuba.

"Ah..." The boy turned, Kyouko's smile far more honest than frightening by this point. "Same here," the boy said with a renewed smile, watching as the frothy yellow drink filled the glass. He grabbed it, taking a sip before turning with an even larger grin. "Thank you!"

Kyouko bowed, smiling widely. "I'll be in the kitchen, for when the main course is complete, understand," she asked, the others nodding in response. "Enjoy the meal," the woman added, bowing as much as she could with a jug of eggnog in her hands before leaving.

The three turned back to their food, Katsuya looking at his plate with a regained grin. "Alrigh'! After this comes desert," he cheered, Mokuba grinning as well. He started scarfing down his food, the third member of the dinner party merely looking with evident annoyance. It was probably just the intensity of the glare that even told him someone was staring actually... But whatever, he was eating. Well... He was until Seto finally voiced her annoyance at least.

"...Do you plan on eating the food," the woman questioned with a growl, "Or simply inhaling it," she finally asked incredulously, the blond in question turning to her as he swallowed the remains of his mashed potatoes.

Katsuya merely stared a few moments, clearing his throat before pointing across the table. "What, an' he ain't an issue?" As Mokuba (whose mouth was currently reminiscent of a squirrel) put his hands up in mock defense, Seto merely continued to glare at the older of the two boys.

"...As a matter of fact, no," she stated, returning to her food for a moment before looking at her brother. "...You shouldn't eat so fast though," she said somewhat quieter, "You'll end up with a stomach ache..."

Her brother blinked, before nodding slowly and swallowing. "O... Ok nee-sama," he said, nodding. "I'll take smaller bites..." He looked back across at Katsuya, expression still somewhat the same. "But you do the same, alright Katsuya-nii?"

At that, he got a somewhat warning look from Seto in addition to the severe stare he got from the woman's brother, Katsuya laughing nervously. "Ahahaha... A-Alrigh', I will..." He moved to the last of his food, the nervous smile somewhat frozen on his face. "Sheesh, never got a stomachache b'fore..."

Seto snorted, swallowing a bite of turkey before speaking. "That's probably because your stomach has about as much intelligence as you," she muttered, the blond sending her a glare in response. Seriously? Seriously?

He took a bite of his turkey, ignoring the comment and leaning back in his chair. "Yea well," he muttered, swallowing his food. "Least I don' clam up until a chance t' insult a guy comes up..."

The woman merely stared, huffing somewhat. "Hn! That's because the concept of dinner tends to imply eating, and not talking."

"Eh," the blond said with a shrug, grinning. "Who said y' can't do both?" He continued to grin, taking another large bite of his turkey despite earlier warnings.

Mokuba nodded in agreement, swallowing the mass amount of food he'd crammed in his mouth before speaking. "That's right Nee-sama," he said with somewhat wide eyes. "I wanted to sit together so that we could talk, not just to eat..!"

Seto looked back at the boy, staring for a split second before briefly turning back to her food. "...Then what do you want to talk about," she asked him honestly, the boys sharing a small glance. Er... They'd kinda been asking her, the point was kind of lost without it...

They turned back to Seto, silent for a moment as well. In the end, Mokuba merely shrugged, shaking his head and frowning. "I don't know," he said, biting his lip. "Christmas? ...Work? What do you want to talk about Nee-sama?" The table again fell silent, Katsuya mentally smacking his head on the table. Oh boy, at this rate they were just going in circles...

As it was, the only sounds at the table were again the clacking sounds of silverware. Katsuya cleared off the rest of his plate, the sizeable chunk of turkey he'd taken finally reduced to nothing while they continued to sit in silence. Let it be known to anyone who hadn't noticed it long ago... Seto Kaiba did not like to talk. At all. And this did not bode well for an attempt to instill conversation from her. "So," Katsuya finally said with a cough, awkwardly breaking the silence. "...My mom called las' night..." He paused at that, the other two turning as he thought of where to go from there. "Said tha' Shizuka went through surgery alrigh'," he said with a small smile, before it faded with his next words. "Bandages have t' stay on f'r at least another month though, so we won' know if it worked 'r not 'till then..."

Mokuba nodded at the news, a smile back on his face. "But the surgery it self is over right," he said with a grin, turning to Katsuya as he continued his food. "So that's at least half of it done with right?"

Katsuya nodded, briefly turning to catch a glimpse of Seto's own expression. The woman merely frowned slightly, looking at the blond oddly before turning back to her food. Still however, she remained completely silent, leaving Katsuya to cough and turn away awkwardly while the others finished their food. "Er... Yea," he finally said with a nod, smiling as he turned back to Mokuba. "Guess so... Heh..." He leaned back on his chair, scratching his head for a moment. Er... Now what to talk about... "Righ'... Anyways... Did y' know tha' Anzu's goin' to Kyoto for Christmas," he asked, Mokuba shaking his head in response.

"Nope," he said after swallowing the last of his beans, blinking. "Why's she going to Kyoto?"

He shrugged, before smirking. "Heh! Believe it 'r not, 's where Mai lives!"

Mokuba's eyes widened, Seto as well looking over with slightly raised eyebrows. "Wait... Kujaku Mai," he asked, blinking owlishly before drifting into thought. "The lady who stowed away on the helicopter..?" The two glanced over at Seto with that last part, the woman in question sending back a look that merely said 'if I cared about that, don't you think you'd know by now?'. The boy turned back to Katsuya with that same look in mind, blinking again and pressing further. "...Why's she going to her house?"

Another shrug, Katsuya putting his plate to the side and taking a sip of his mostly untouched eggnog. "Hey, don' ask me," he said, shaking his head with a grin. "'Parently she got an invite and off she went!" ...Pretty interesting how that worked actually. Hm...

"Hnnn..." Mokuba blinked again, before looking over his plate and Seto's. Both were fairly cleared off, and given that Katsuya's had long since been cleared... "Ah- Nee-sama," the boy asked, Seto in question turning. "Should I go get Kyouko now?"

She blinked, before standing up from her seat instead. "I'll let her know you're done," she said, moving over to the kitchen door. "Don't eat too many sugary foods," she added with a slight frown, eyes narrowed dangerously. "You need to sleep after this..."

The boy scowled, crossing his arms. "I'll still sleep," he protested, huffing as Katsuya rolled his eyes across from him. "I promise! Really!"

Seto merely smirked, turning back to the door. "We'll see..."

"Hah! Yea," Katsuya said with a grin, laughing as Mokuba continued to glare at him. "Not t' bring yah down 'r anything Mokuba, but you c'n get pretty sugar high..."

The glare intensified, Mokuba sinking somewhat in his chair. "Mgnnnn..." As the boy continued to growl Seto walked back to the table, having already notified Kyouko on the meal being finished. Taking her seat as the maid came in to clear the table of the dishes and food both, Mokuba merely continued to pout, apparently not enjoying the cap on his desert... At least until another maid came in with three small pies, and put one in front of each person. He quickly sat up, 'cap' forgotten as he looked at the slightly steaming pies with a slow to come smile. "Ahhh..."

Katsuya as well looked at the pie with a grin, Seto herself simply raising her eyebrows as she looked at the food herself. "Mincemeat," she ended up saying, the maids having left the room. She continued to look at it, before seemingly giving a mostly invisible shrug. "...Hn." Oh hey, was that a look of approval she was giving? Or maybe this was just Seto's way of saying 'PIE'. Who the hell knew anymore, reading Seto was harder than reading the science teacher's notes... Not to mention Honda's writing. Even so, she had picked up her fork and started on it...

Pie, of course, was something else that passed in silence; but rather than the awkward silence it had been before it was more of a calm one, a silence that resulted more because of the fact that everyone's mouths were full. A few bites of pie were taken, Seto having apparently been the only one who knew what the pie was... (Though it was definitely good) Speaking of which... "Nee-sama," Mokuba asked, halfway through his pie already despite earlier requests to slow down. "Where did you try mincemeat?" He swallowed another bite of the pie in question, staring at his sister. "I've never had it before now so..."

The woman turned, looking up from her own small pie. For a moment, it looked as though she wasn't going to speak; the way she paused at the question tended to have that effect. However... "...At one of the dinner's Gozaburo held," she said somewhat quietly, "They served this pie. You were in bed at the time," she added as she turned back to her food, the other two falling somewhat silent.

"A-Ah..." The boys nodded somewhat, an awkward silence again coming into the air. "...That makes sense," Mokuba finally said, Katsuya merely chewing through his pie as he watched the exchange. Just people eating pies now... Errr... This was awkward... The boy coughed, before going back to his pie for a moment before again turning to attempt some conversation. "Um... So... You said work went well, right Nee-sama?" Seto turned with that comment, and Mokuba went on, attempting to smile somewhat. "So then... What did you do today?"

Katsuya blinked, glancing over at Seto in question in continued silence. Would she talk about that kind of stuff with him in the room..? Company stuff was private wasn't it? It was one thing with say Mokuba but... "I did finalize a few designs," she admitted, returning to her pie as the others listened in. "Overall however, I spent most of it smoothing things over from the past year." What about the past ye- Oooh. Right. The big 5 turned it to shit. Yeaaaa... Something told him this would be a constant topic for the next... Month or so. The woman grabbed her napkin from the table, wiping her mouth off before putting the dishes to the side. "Now then," she said, standing up and looking over the other two's finished dishes. "I'm going to go to my study... Mokuba," she asked, the boy turning to her with a blink. "Do you want to-"

"Actually, Nee-sama," the boy said, cutting his sister off as he stood up as well. "I wanted to show you something!" Seto blinked, her brother continuing to grin as he continued. "Close your eyes, ok?"

Katsuya watched as the woman blinked once more before crossing her arms and doing just that after a moment of evident skepticism. "Alright," she said, frowning slightly. Katsuya as well stood up, stretching as Mokuba grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her forward.

"Just don't peek," he said with a grin, pulling the woman toward the door and pushing it open. "No matter what alright," he added, Katsuya shaking his head and following after. Seto merely nodded somewhat, keeping silent as she was led out of the room and down the hall. While Mokuba probably knew exactly where they were going, the blond had to say, he certainly didn't. Granted, there was a lot in the house that he didn't know about, though it was still a little disorienting to be led around to another room he didn't know about. Just watch, one day he'd find like... A classroom of all things. "Alright," Mokuba said as they came to a pair of double doors, motioning for Katsuya to help with opening them. The blond paused for a moment before doing so, rushing forward and forcing them open with a slight grunt. The doors were held wide open, Mokuba pulling his sister into the room with a still wide grin. "When I say go," he said with clearly held back excitement, Seto still holding a hand over her eyes as she walked, "Open your eyes, alright?" Hehehe, this would probably be-

...Holy shit... Katsuya stared as they were led into a large ballroom, the sound of closing double doors never meeting his ears. A few footsteps from the side caught his attention as both Hobson and Kyouko followed them into the room, the maid giving a short bow, before Katsuya turned back to look around. 'Improvised den' was really only a small way to put all this, given what the others had been going on about... Hell, the 'rec. room' was probably only half the size of the room, maybe smaller! It was huge... And until he saw how high the ceiling was, he almost wondered why they bothered using this room. Looking at the top of the enormous tree that sat in the center of the room, he had to say; he didn't think it would fit anywhere else. Though why they bothered with the size of the tree with the relatively miniscule in comparison number of presents at the bottom was beyond him... Who knew, it still looked cool... The tree was by far not the only thing in the room however. Each chandelier above them was host to a number of tinsel strings, the trails leading from the 'center' of the room to either the sides of the walls or to other chandeliers and decorations. Branches of pine lined the walls, as did unlit candles and scarlet ribbons at each stand. The lights in this room however, were not dimmed like those in the hallways. Rather, they were just as bright as they were intended to be, contrasting against the dark night sky outside the windows while the wind silently howled. "Okay," Mokuba said, pulling Seto toward the middle and near the tree. A few couches and chairs had been moved into the room from the rec. room it seemed, and it was around the point that the others had also walked over to the spot that the boy let go of his sister's arm. "Now... Open your eyes!"

Silence reigned completely with that one; whether it was simply in wait of whether or not she'd walk out after seeing the room or not, he personally wasn't sure. Seto however merely blinked a few times, slowly taking in the room with wider than normal eyes before turning to look at everyone else in the room with a slightly more narrowed gaze. It was hard as usual to tell what she was thinking for the moment... Time to see if they were all screwed or not he supposed. There was a bit more silence, the woman looking at her brother a moment before turning to the others. "...Where did all of this come from," she finally asked, frowning slightly.

Huh. Not a bad question actually... He sure didn't see the giant fake tree they had here being stored away too easily... Hobson merely chuckled at the question though, leaning on his cane slightly and bowing his head. "I would say that 'this' from the storage room and my paycheck both, Seto-sama," he said with a slight grin, the maid beside him bowing as she gave her own answer.

"I would believe approximately seven hours of work to be the answer myself," she stated somewhat nervously, as though testing her waters with her boss. "Though I certainly cleaned as I did so," she added, hurriedly bowing again with slight panic.

The woman answered with more silence, Hobson turning around in its wake to leave the room. "Now then," he stated with a slight laugh, turning a moment and bowing his head politely. "I believe I'll leave you three alone now," he stated, Seto's eyes flickering over to Jonouchi with slight disdain for the moment. What, she couldn't stand the fact that he was staying? Whatever... "If you need anything at all," Hobson continued, bowing his head yet again, "Kyouko will be just by the door."

At those words Kyouko bowed as well, before turning to follow after the man. "Ah..." The woman turned briefly, winking at Mokuba a moment with a small and possibly conniving smile. "Before I leave, I believe I should mention that there are a few things under the tree for you... I'm sure that Hobson-san intends for you to find them before the evening's end," she added, turning around again. Hobson had already left the room by this point, and as Kyouko made to leave for the door Seto shook her head before turning to the tree in question.

The woman crossed her arms, eying the presents sitting just slightly beneath it with a frown. "Tch... Fool," she muttered, taking a seat on the nearby chair and crossing her legs. "How old does he think I am," she continued, leaving the answer somewhat open when Mokuba turned from the pile with a questioning glare. Seto managed to miss the glare it seemed though, and whether or not it was for the best was something they could argue for a while really.

"Actually," Kyouko said from the side, bowing politely as she re-entered the conversation with a short frown. "I believe Hobson-san has a granddaughter who is 6 years older than yourself, Seto-sama..." She bowed her head slightly, continuing on and biting her lip. "In fact, she stated somewhat nervously, "I'm quite sure that she still receives gifts from him as well... I certainly doubt that age is truly a factor of the matter."

At this, Seto merely turned away, eyes still narrowed as she snorted. "Hn! Moron," she muttered, gaze softening only somewhat. Something told him that she didn't know about the granddaughter... In any case though, present time right? Lets see what Seto got...

There was rustling beneath the tree, Mokuba pulling one of the few boxes beneath it out for the others to see. "Aaaah..." He blinked, turning to where Kyouko was again making her way back to the door. "Kyouko," he said with a slight frown, holding what looked to be a paper bag of sorts out. "One of these is for you..."

The woman blinked, eyes wide as she tentatively walked over. "I... Hobson-san gave me a gift," she asked with surprise, taking the gift wrapped paper bag with shaking hands. "Ah..." She looked inside, moving the tissue paper to the side as the others watched somewhat curiously. Abruptly however, the woman went beet red, closing the bag up with a stifled cough. "E-Ah... F-Forgive me Mokuba-sama, Seto-sama," she said with a deep bow, holding the bag closed and close. "If... I could perhaps put this with my things..."

Mokuba nodded, blinking confusedly as the woman turned to leave at a fairly quick pace. "A-Ah, Kyouko," Katsuya said, tapping the woman's shoulder as she moved off, almost jumping at the touch. "Er... When y' come back, could y' bring th' stuff," he asked, Kyouko minutely staring before nodding with a smile.

"Of course," she said with a smile, before leaving the room just a slight shade lighter than the ribbons on the side. Katsuya looked back at the other two, Seto looking with raised eyebrows while Mokuba held the similar suspicious look he'd held when he first saw the blond with the bag. From one, it was a 'you better not do anything stupid...'... And from the other...

Hehehe, he'd find out what the things were soon enough! And so would Seto really. Seto in question decided to turn her attention away from the blond, instead looking to Mokuba as the boy fished out the other boxes. "I'm going to save mine for last," the boy was saying with a grin, handing a box to Seto and Katsuya both before taking a seat on the couch. They were both quite different in size, that was for sure; while his own was about palm size, it looked as though Seto's was about the size of her briefcase. And given Mokuba's face when he handed it to her, it was just as heavy too. "I want to see what you get first, alright?"

Seto merely stared at the box on her lap blankly, Katsuya giving a shrug and taking a seat on the couch as he took his own present. "Heh! Guess I'll go first then," he said with a laugh looking over at Seto with slight grin, "Get Seto-chan in th' mood f'r presents..."

There was a growl from the side, Katsuya abruptly tensing and drawing back as he realized his 'slip' again. "What did I say about calling me that," she warned, eyes narrowed as the blond laughed nervously.

"Ehehehe... I... I' won' happen again," he said with a cough, opening his box and continuing to inch his way to the opposite side of the couch. "Honest! Never aga-" He froze, pulling out the small object that was wrapped up in the box before giving a few more nervous coughs. Small, lightweight... And something that, while it would likely gather pocket lint, was not something to be taken lightly. "H-Holy shit," he muttered, Mokuba and Seto both staring with raised brows as the blond pulled out what looked to be a well made pocket knife. He flicked the blade out, eyes widening further as it gleamed under the chandelier light. The handle itself wasn't anything to sneeze at either, that was for sure... Seriously though. A... A knife?

The woman across and beside him stared, before smirking and shaking her head. "Handy," she said, turning back to look at her own unopened box with crossed arms. "You now have something to defend yourself with."

Katsuya ignored the comment for once, merely continuing to stare at the pocket knife before putting it carefully back in the box. Man... This was... "Shit," he muttered, turning to Mokuba with wide eyes. "How much did Hobson spend on this?"

Mokuba hurriedly shook his head, instead watching as Kyouko returned from the kitchen with what looked to be a dolly in front of her. "I- I don't know," he said with a large shrug, before turning as the maid pulled in a small table on the dolly. Somehow, she'd managed to balance a pot atop it as well... Though given her expression, it wasn't an easy task. "...Ah... What's that," Mokuba asked as the maid came to a stop, blinking as she carefully placed the pot on the ground.

The table in question was also carefully brought to the floor, Katsuya running over to help the woman put it down safely as Seto answered for them. "...That's a kotatsu," she said with narrowed eyes, frowning as the others made to plug the pot in and flick the table on. "...Just why are you bringing a kotatsu in here, Mutt?" What, she knew what the table was but not why it was there?

The blond turned, taking the small pot that Kyouko had managed to bring in with the table and putting it on the top. "Heh... You'll see," he said with a grin, taking a seat at it and propping his arms on it. "Why dontcha open up yer present while y' wait," he asked, Mokuba looking back at Seto at the comment.

"Yea," the boy said, grinning as he looked back at his sister. "I won't open mine until you look at yours Nee-sama, so you mind as well get it over with," he said with a nod.

Seto appeared to let out a long albeit silent and otherwise invisible sigh, before nodding. "Alright," she muttered, untying the ribbon that held the box to its cover. She carefully lifted the lid off and put it to the side, before pulling out a book with a somewhat surprised stare. It looked like a pretty nice book to say the least... Almost as though it was new, but there was no way that books were made with those sorts of covers anymore right? Seto continued to look it over, before pulling out the other two, equally decent looking and evenly sized books out to examine the covers. For a moment, the woman merely looked over the English titles in silence. As she opened the cover of the first however, the dull silence and seeming glare was quickly replaced with raised eyebrows and slightly wider than the norm eyes. "...He gave me Lovecraft's complete works," she finally said somewhat incredulously, the rather large box again becoming home to two of the three books. "...Hn..." The woman quickly flipped to the next page as she put the box to the side, leaning back in her chair and beginning to read.

"N-Nee-sama," Mokuba muttered, sighing as he received no real answer. Hahaha, didn't look like she'd be getting out of that book anytime soon... "Hahhhh..." The boy shook his head, before turning back to grab his own box while Kyouko came back in with a jug of water and the same plastic bag from before. He put the box under his arm, standing and watching as the woman made her way over to the kotatsu. "Hn..?"

Katsuya took the bag, grinning as the maid poured the water into the pot and moved to leave for the side again. "Heh! C'mon over here," the blond said, putting the bag at the side of the table and taking a seat. The boy blinked, crossing his legs and hesitantly sitting beneath the table blanket with a nod. "You r'member when I asked yah what kinds 'f stuff you'd had, over th' summer," he continued, watching as Mokuba broke into a grin when he realized what the blond was getting at. Katsuya also continued to grin, turning on the small pot of water and pulling out a bag of noodles with a cluster of now pre-boiled eggs. "Hehe! Ta-daaaah~ Hey Seto-chan," he asked, instantly receiving a low growl and a glare for his efforts. He continued on despite that however, still grinning. "You ever had oden?"

The reaction to say the least was not... Quite what he expected. Did she actually pull a face there? As in, something other than a scowl? And... More of disgust..? Complete and utter disgust? The woman quickly retreated back and behind her book, Katsuya eventually giving a shrug as Mokuba looked into the pot. The water at the moment was sitting at a standstill with the recently added noodles, small bits of steam slowly rising from the broth as that itself was added in. "How long will it take to finish," the boy asked eagerly, watching the blond put a few eggs in with rest of the food that was being put into the water.

"Hnnn... Not long," the blond said as the water heated up, stirring it with a pair of chopsticks before leaning back from the water. "Probably a few minutes..." He looked over to where Seto was reading, still smiling despite the seemingly warning glare he received in response. "Oiii... Y'sure you don' want any?"

There was another short growl, the woman not looking up from her book this time. "I'm fine, MUTT." Owch, it wasn't like his cooking was toxic or anything...

Mokuba turned from the table, the water starting to boil as the boy looked to his currently red-faced older sister. "Are you sure Nee-sama," he said worriedly, frowning somewhat. "It smells pretty good, you never know until you try... And it's warm over here too, you should take a seat!"

There was a short bit of silence, Seto looking over her book with narrowed eyes. "I've had it before," she said stiffly, sending another glare toward Katsuya. "An I don't. Want. Any," she added lowly, glare intensifying before she returned to her book.

The boys held back a nervous laugh laugh, unable to turn back to the table without grinning. Somehow, with all that usually had to be done to get that reaction, they couldn't take this seriously. "Heh... Whatever yah say," Katsuya said, shaking his head and looking over the oden again. "Anyways, food shouldn' be much longer Mokuba, here's th' chopsticks..."

He nodded, taking the chopsticks from Katsuya and looking into the pot again as he snapped them apart. "Hn..."

"Er... Y-Y' might wanna not sit so close to th' pot though," he said with a laugh, lightly waving his chopsticks over the pot to send Mokuba back a bit. The boy blinked, leaning back somewhat as the blond continued. "Anyways... Why don't y' open yer present while we wait?"

Mokuba stared slightly, before smiling and pulling the box over with a nod. "Good idea... It seems pretty flat though," he said with a laugh, feeling around the edges for where he could open the box. The boy slowly pulled the lid off, putting it to the side before blinking at the contents. "Uh..." He pulled out a few sheets from the box, Katsuya staring as what looked to be a photo of the white horse he'd seen earlier was pulled out. "There's an envelope and a folder in here," he said with a blank expression, holding the envelope up as Seto came over.

She lightly took the envelope, opening it and pulling out a few papers in one smooth motion before frowning. There was a brief span of silence as she read over the papers; it only took an instant for her to apparently realize what she was reading though. "...This is a part of Gozaburo's will and testament," she muttered, flipping over one of the pages and continuing to read with increasingly narrowed eyes. "Why didn't I see this when he died?" Errr... Good question?

"That would likely be because, despite your position of CEO," Hobson stated, the others turning as the man slowly ambled his way into the room seemingly from no where, "You were not of the legal age to deal with his papers. At least," he added with a short and otherwise serious wave, "Not according to the papers themselves."

Seto frowned slightly, before looking back to the papers and crossing her arms beneath them. "...These papers say that we have a horse, and have had one for at least a few years," she added, narrowing her eyes. "...Since when did that happen?"

The old man merely smiled, chuckling slightly as he leaned against his cane. "It should all be there on the papers, Seto-sama," he said with a laugh. "Now then..." He turned to Mokuba, who was looking into the folder curiously as a number of papers fell from it. "To be specific on what these papers detail, it was Gozaburo-sama's wish that you receive, on the Christmas of your eleventh birthday, that horse you see there." 'That horse' apparently being called 'Yuki', from what he got from the folder in any case... He looked over at Seto, watching as the woman looked over the papers again.

"Last time I checked," Seto said from the papers, still frowning, "Gozaburo's 'eldest son' didn't have a horse."

Hobson waved the woman off somewhat, shaking his head in the closest thing the man could likely get to 'dismissal' concerning his boss. "Oh, well... The papers were written a full week before that incident occurred," he stated, Mokuba frowning at the mention of an otherwise unknown occurrence. "If it aids any thoughts on the matter, you are not the only one who has had to deal with the stallion's behavior."

It didn't look like it did to tell the truth; if anything, that gained another fairly annoyed if not livid expression in response. "...You kept the horse?" There was an awkward pause as the woman grit her teeth, before folding the papers back up. "...Just why did you even bring up Gozaburo in the first place," the woman continued, the glare seeming to act as more than just a glare with those words.

Apparently however, Hobson was immune to the expression, as he merely looked up at the woman somewhat blankly while he responded. "Believe me when I say Seto-sama," he said with a stern frown, "If I could have simply stuck with giving this horse as a gift rather than dredging up the legal matters at hand, I would have... But the fact remains," he continued, shaking his head as Katsuya looked over the folder with Mokuba and turning back to his employer, "I was bound to go through with his final wishes... Which, might I add, included this."

"B'sides," Katsuya said with a grin as he looked up from the folder, Mokuba still looking over the horse papers. "If it's his horse, he gets t' say if he keeps it right?" The boy in question looked up from the papers, sending a somewhat pleading look to his older sister as he bit his lip.

"There's papers for lessons in here Nee-sama..." Mokuba looked back at the papers, before turning up to his sister and holding a few out for her to look at. "The horse looks nice too, and it seems fun," he added with a nod, nervously bowing his head. "Could I... At least give it a try..?"

Seto's glare softened, the woman lightly grabbing the papers from her brother's hands and looking through it. A few moments passed before she looked back down at Mokuba from behind them, giving a small nod. "...Alright," she said, giving the folder back. "However," she added with a small glare, looking at Hobson almost accusingly as Katsuya laughed nervously at the side. "I expect to know exactly when the first lesson is so I can be there if anything happens... Understand?"

The man merely bowed, a smile on his face as he nodded an affirmative. "But of course Seto-sama," he said politely, before looking at the oden pot and turning to the two boys. "In the meantime," he said with a slightly rasped chuckle, "I believe your food is finished..."

Done? A thick smell of eggs meat and noodles hit his nostrils, pulling the blond from his thoughts. R-Right! "Ack!" Katsuya jumped, going back to the pot and poking through it with the chopsticks. "Oh shit, please don't be burnt, please... Ack..." He fished around the pot, clicking it off with a wince before calming down. Well... Some of the noodles were singed but hey, it was otherwise pretty good... "Hahhh... Alrigh'!" He pulled out two dishes from the bag, holding one out for Mokuba to take. "Heh... Mokuba, y' want some?"

The boy nodded, putting the picture and folder back in the box before leaning forward at the table and holding the bowl out. "Definitely," he said with a grin, grabbing the chopsticks again and watching as Katsuya shuffled close himself.

"Heh! Dig in!" He grinned, taking his own chopsticks and pulling out some noodles for the two before moving on to grabbing an egg. "I didn' cook everythin'," he said with a nod, noting that Seto had since returned to her book. "But... 's a pretty good snack b'fore bed right?"

Mokuba nodded, laughing somewhat and taking a pile of noodles for himself before grabbing a few strips of meat. "Hmhm!" He stuffed a pile of the food in his mouth, pausing for a moment before nodding to himself. "Mmm... 'S good," he said with a grin, before swallowing the rest of his food. "It's great Katsuya-nii! Ah..." The boy blinked, turning to the side. "That reminds me..." He moved from the table as Katsuya continued eating, fishing what looked to be one last pair of boxes from under the tree. "Here," he said with a grin, handing the blond the more 'square' one of the two. "Your Christmas present!"

The blond blinked, pausing from his food to open it up. "Oh hey!" He pulled out a green-blue jacket, laughing as it unfolded in his hands. Over all, it looked pretty nice... But... "Mokuba," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "I already got a coat y'know..."

He shrugged, moving back to the warmth of the table. "I know," he said with a shrug, going back to the oden as Seto looked over with a somewhat betrayed look. Katsuya almost had to laugh again as he caught the look really; what, Mokuba couldn't like oden? That was too much? Hahaha... Anyways... The boy grabbed one of the stringy chunks of meat from the broth, swallowing it whole before continuing with a small frown. "And that's great for the winter... But your last jacket ended up all bloody," he continued, looking down almost guiltily. "And your coat is a little warm for spring right? So I thought I'd get you a new one!"

Ah... That was right, his old one was pretty much unusable with the bloodstain on the side. Not that he hadn't kept it (Hey, he'd bled on that thing!), but... Wearing it around was kinda uncomfortable given that it was a giant bloodstain by his neck. Hahaha... This jacket though... It was pretty much the same as his old one, pockets and everything! ...Well... Save the fact that it was new of course. And... Not green. He grinned nonetheless, shaking his head. "Hahaha! Now I wish my present was more than jus' a bunch 'f food," he laughed, Mokuba still grinning in response. The blond looked into the pot of oden, blinking as he noted what was remaining. "Er... Speakin' of th' food..."

Mokuba snatched the last of the meat, grinning as he downed it; in its place was nothing but a small bit of soup broth, the food itself having long been devoured. "Yep- looks like it's all gone Katsuya-nii!" The grin died down to a more relaxed smile, the boy bowing his head somewhat and putting the chopsticks and plate down. "Thanks for the food!"

"Heh..." He shook his head, smirking. "It was nothin'..."

At this point Seto had packed up her books, and, placing the box on the chair behind her, she came over and lightly shook her brother's shoulder. "If you're done," she said plainly, expression mostly unreadable, "Then it's about time for you to get some sleep..."

The boy smirked, getting up as Katsuya stowed the used food wrappers in the plastic bag. "Heh! Same goes for you Nee-sama," he said with a grin, grabbing the box he'd pulled from the tree along with his 'horse papers' and their own box. "Tomorrows sunday, make sure you sleep in for once!"

She shook her head, snorting before taking her brother's free hand. "Hn... I'll try, how about that," she said with a small smile, before moving to step around the small bits of ribbon and paper on the floor. Hobson, who had stayed near the couches since he came in, bowed as the woman passed and spoke. "...Be sure this is cleaned up by the morning," she told him as she walked by, receiving yet another bow in response.

Hobson nodded the affirmative, a simple 'Of course, Seto-sama' being given in response as the siblings left the room. He turned to Katsuya, the blond currently staring at the door they'd walked through. Hobson shook his head, hobbling over and rapping his knuckles on the table to snap the blond from the slight daze. "Ach-hm!" The blond jumped, coughing as Hobson chuckled and continued to shake his head. "I assume you'll be cleaning up your table then," he asked, Katsuya pulling himself up and turning off the kotatsu lest he fall asleep under it.

"E-Er... R-Right," he said somewhat sheepishly, grabbing the oden pot and the bag before moving to unplug the device. "Er... I'll be back f'r th' table then," he said, moving off to put the things in the kitchen.

"Oh, don't bother with that," said another voice, Katsuya turning as Kyouko returned with the second maid from before. "Kira-chan and I will handle it, it's easier to just put it away than bring it in and out of the kitchen!" She chuckled somewhat, Katsuya nodding as he shouldered the bag. "You just get a decent night's rest, understand," she asked, bowing her head. "I can almost guarantee that Mokuba-sama will want to spend some time with you and Seto-sama in the morning! You've helped enough for tonight!" Again, the blond nodded, before being grabbed lightly by the shoulder again. "Ah... And before I forget," she stated, whispering in the teen's ear as the blond blinked. "I believe the things you asked me to hide are in the third pot drawer, specifically inside the double boiler pot, understand..?" The things he asked her to-

He blinked, before nodding with a smirk. "Heh... Right," he said with a nod, before moving to leave. "Thanks Kyouko!" The woman gave a bowing nod in response, Katsuya leaving the room at a slight run. Heh... He grinned to himself, running down the halls and into the kitchen. Not a bad Christmas, he had to say! ...Speaking of Christmas.

The blond put the still wrapped food in the bag in the fridge, dumping the water down the sink in the kitchen from the pot. Garbage went in the garbage can, the pot was placed on the side where he was (apparently) supposed to leave it... All in all, everything was put away, so there was really only one thing left. Ah... Kyouko said the 'double boiler' pot right? He opened a few of the cupboards, searching around one after the other. Third drawer from the right or the left, how was this any help..? He shook it off, before finding one with an enormous pot in it. ...Double boiler maybe? Not like he knew what that was... But this looked big enough. "Hnnnn... Er... Tha' might be it," he muttered, before pulling the pot forward and looking in. Oh, would you look at that, there it was!

Katsuya pulled the wrapped present out, closing the cupboard back up with a grin before looking over at the clock. The grin fell rather quickly, Katsuya standing and coughing at the time. Holllly shit, almost midnight... Course, he'd been up later but still... Where did all the time go? He shook his head, gripping the present under his arm and heading upstairs. Alright... Seto was probably around Mokuba's room right now, that was in the hall over from his... If she wasn't, he could probably head her off at her own hall. Probably. Wasn't too sure how that would work.

He walked up the stairs, the halls almost completely blacked out in comparison to those on the main floor. Lights were turned off for anyone sleeping... Despite the fact that barely anyone would be seeing the halls more than a few times they too were just as wonderfully decorated. Though he had to say, he was glad there wasn't any mistletoe hanging around. That would be... He turned the corner, watching as the woman walked down the hall. ...That would be awkward. "Ah... Se-" He cut himself off, watching as the woman raised her eyebrows. R-Right... Don't call her 'chan', would probably not help the situation...

"...Jonouchi," Seto said with a frown, crossing her arms as she walked over to the slightly red-faced blond. "What are you doing here?"

Katsuya coughed, handing her the brown present with a nervous nod. "Well... 'S th' holidays righ'," he asked, turning away somewhat as his face heated up. Please don't hate it please don't hate it... "I thought y' might like this..."

There was a pause, a span of suspicious silence filling into the air as Seto held the present. Slowly however, despite the slight frown, she tore away at the paper, clearing it away to reveal the leather-bound cover of a book. 'Souryuu Albu-' The woman stared, clearing a few bits of paper from the book before looking back at Katsuya in somewhat shocked silence. She wasn't glaring at the moment. If anything the frown she held was more confused than anything, possibly wondering just how the hell he'd gotten his hands on the book. In the end, the silence continued to persist, the two merely sharing an odd and brief look before Katsuya gave a small and honest smile.

"Heh... No worries," he said with a laugh, Seto still staring in silence. "I didn' do anythin' stupid t' get this..." He turned, giving a small wave before leaving down the hall. "...Merry Christmas, Seto-chan..." This time as he went down the hall, there was no growl. There wasn't even a word, and when he looked back from the corner that 'his' hall was on he didn't see anyone despite the usual path that led from Mokuba's room to Seto's own. Turning down into the hall where his room was in silence, the blond glanced back at the empty space behind him once again. No sounds, no glares... Did she like it then..? What did she even think of it? He stowed his hands in his pockets, turning from beside his door with a slight frown as he looked into the darkness. Why didn't she say anything that time..? Not even a growl?

Maaaan that was weird... The blond rubbed his head, walking into his room and shutting the door behind him with a small click. Was she actually so surprised she hadn't said anything or... Was she actually ok with him saying that? He peeled off his socks, snorting at the thought. Heh! Scratch that last one, there was no way in hell he'd escape alive if he acted like that was the answer. Katsuya gave a loud yawn, tossing his jeans to the side off the room as well before collapsing on the bed with a small groan. Ahhhh... Whatever. Time to sleep off dinner and presents, that was for s-

He frowned, sitting up from where he'd fallen on the bed. Something was pushing against his chest... "What th' hell?" Something hard on his bed... He blinked as he rolled over, looking at a small box that had managed to create an impression in the blankets under his weight. The blond picked it up, lying back down on the bed somewhat and looking it over. Just a small white box... It easily fit in his palm, and other than the fact that it was a white grey there was nothing too special about it. He opened it, sitting up against his pillow as moonlight from the window glowed over something metal on the box. "Hn... These are..." He pulled out the set of dog tags with a wry laugh, light gleaming on the small chain that held them together. Dog tags... Hahaha, that really figured, now who did this... He looked back at the box, picking up a small and simple hand written note from inside it as the smile vanished. This note was from Seto... So then... She'd given him these? 'Recent events made the fact that attempting to kick you out would be futile,' the note stated almost bluntly, Katsuya rolling his eyes and smirking at it. Heh... Yea, Mokuba would probably drag him back in if she tried that... He fingered the dog tags in his other hand, looking over them for a moment. The metal felt pretty damn smooth, save for what was engraved on the side. And the were shining, almost like silver... Didn't seem like it was silver though, least, it didn't 'feel' like it if that made sense. 'So,' the note continued as the blond absently felt the tags over, 'You can consider this something to at least keep you from dying too easily. Or possibly getting lost like the dog you are. I suppose it's official,' he could hear the woman saying in that same condescending tone she always used. 'You're mine, Mutt.' And of course, right after that was a 'Merry Christmas' that he had to read over a few times to believe she'd written it. Hahaha...

The tags continued to glow in the light, Katsuya shaking his head and laughing silently as he collapsed back on the bed. 'Hers' was he? He looked over the dog tags, the engraved kanji showing clearly despite the partial darkness. The first one just had his name on it, neatly engraved in vertical rows. The second was for some reason his address and bloodtype both though... Also written in rows, but still weird in his opinion. Regardless of what the tags said however, he continued chuckling slightly as he lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Heh... there's a big part 'f me tha' want's that t' mean somethin else," he muttered, rolling over on the bed with a somewhat depressed smile. "Jus' wish th' other half would stop tellin' me it's def'nitly a threat..."

Whatever reasons Seto had for giving him these though, he told himself; he'd take them. And he'd treasure them, that was for sure. And while Katsuya fell asleep with platinum dog tags gripped in his hands, Mokuba as well began to quietly drift off with a stuffed dragon monogramed with his name at the side of the bed, calmly waiting for the next morning to come. In another room, the older of the three sat on her own bed, flipping through the pages of a photo album with a small, sad smile before pulling out a card and shaking her head at the messy hand drawn cover. 'Have fun once in a while,' the card said. She merely put it at the side and snorted, returning to her album before turning in to sleep not fifteen minutes later.

Elsewhere in Tokyo an albino teen looked up from his figurines at a clock with wide eyes, hardly believing the amount of time he'd missed. Materials were put away and he headed off to bed, a box of left-over food from an earlier 'Christmas KFC' dinner sitting to the side. Not too much further from the apartment building the albino lived in another teen, slightly older, was long since asleep with a book on motorcycles in his hand... With a large and somewhat odd looking dog at the edge of the bed and an old used dirt bike sitting in the driveway. On another side of the city where most of the inhabitants of the street and house both were asleep on the otherhand, an otherwise invisible and restless spirit stood at his host's bedside, staring out the window deep in thought... And wondering whether or not any of those thoughts would ever have to be voiced.

An hour or so away in Kyoto, two women had only just lay down for the night themselves, hair still slightly wet from a hot-spring they'd visited. Soft futon lay flat on the floor beneath them as shadows played along the side of a paper screen at their side, the two both falling asleep within only an instant. Another few hours away, the hospital staff roughly shook a patient's visitor awake, the visitor giving one last whispered good night before leaving... Remaining unheard as the patient herself continued to sleep in peace.

But despite the festivities, and despite the calm that filled the air in its wake, there were things of much darker origin occurring at the moment... And for all the peace that was in place at the moment...

It would only last so long.

AN: Ironically enough, nothing of the aforementioned dark origin will happen for a number of chapters... Though dark things are certainly brewing, including the Legendary Heroes! Ended up looking to Final Fantasy III for my class sources... Trust me guys, Legendary Heroes will be nothing like you've ever seen; RPG will actually be RPG! (With the duel monsters still playing a somewhat decent role without monopolizing it or sitting at the side going 'Hey. Sooooo... Why are we here again?') There might even be something addressing Jou's rather questionable ability, though that's more likely to be addressed in Battle City. Chapter is about as short as the last... So if it seems that the 'AN' is longer than the chapter this time around, I can understand why. (And I'm sorry about that too, as I know that there are a good number of people who get ticked off by that; but that's why it's here, at the bottom, rather than up there, where you'd have to read it to get to the chapter itself.)

Art is no longer on 'hold' so to speak, so while I'm not giving you a link to the chain this time, you'll definitely get one next chapter. In any case. Christmas is over! But... It's also a month away. Ahmmmm... Oh well. Originally, this was meant to be more spread up in update; I had expected this one to come out around my birthday... (Early December) After that, I would have said 'Alright! Turning in for the month, it's CHRISTMAS!' (Provided it wasn't actually my birthday... That would be too early.)

Instead, it's not even Remembrance Day. Soooo... Many more updates to come!

By the way there is a coloured picture for you below, as I got a little sidetracked while working on that enormous 'durarara chain' from before... (I'm still working on that, along with various sketches though, so don't worry.)

Now then...

Poll Results:

Priestess Set is picking up the slack... Keep going voters!

Female Crossdressing Set - 11 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priestess Set - 7 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

And now for some reviews!

Anonymous Review Responses

I'm beginning to wonder if, for portions of the review I'm answering to specifically, I should put a segment of that review in down here... Just so that there isn't any confusion reading over the response, going 'Alright, what did I ask again to get this answer..?'. Let me know if that's a good plan.

Now then! Hey Iona! And yea, Hobson is pretty cool. And creepy... And weird. He can be all three at the same time, I would think. Glad to see you like his added backstory though… I'm beginning to think that it's a requirement to be on Kaiba's staff… Being cool that is.

Enthusiasm is always fun around Christmas! …Pity it didn't do much for the fairly awkward dinner though… (I don't think anything could quite fix that, myself.)

And Cynical Gamer! Yes… Yes you did miss a fair bit... If it helps, I didn't think I would update that much by a long shot. And haha! It sure is long… That just makes reading it even more fun though.

And ohh… What to do with that kind of knowledge... Probably screw with his mind some more. (You can bet that Noa will when the time comes.) More likely just that actually; to an extreme extent as well, you can bet. And… I don't think they could have done that with a flurry of creepy/negative thoughts actually; because despite all that's gone on, Pegasus seemed to have a fairly strong tolerance for… Things. So while it likely would have thrown him off for a second if Jou had say… Rotting Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon at the forefront, it wouldn't have lasted too long. Mostly because the people on the other side of the mind read also have to keep the thoughts going, and really, if it's enough to scare the crap out of Pegasus… What kind of effect is it having on the people thinking?

And not a problem! *bows* As for Jou's crush…

Like it or not, it started out as a physical crush that was obviously hindered by personality from the start. Once the coma struck however, all Jou got was Mokuba's worry about when the woman would wake up, not to mention complete silence, entire evenings beside the bed with nothing else to look at but her face… So it wasn't really hindered anymore, despite constant mental reminders of 'this is a bad idea...'. Yeaaaa… Like it or not, the crush definitely started for that reason. Of course, after things like the Monster World happen, where Jonouchi admits, or at least things to some extent that maybe the figurine they saw really was 'Seto' in a way… Well, things really got moving then.

And now they're back to bickering of course, but all in all the fact that the bickering has been very low key or at least not quite as stinging now that Mokuba's back, combined with the fact that she actually helped him out in leaving Pegasus' castle… It tells him that despite all impossibilities, there's still a shot… Kind of. Sort of tells him he's not going to die before his sixteenth birthday in any case.

And… Really? Hah! Wow… And I have to agree with the 'normally wouldn't work' statement there, I really do… I don't know why I'm so fond of 'impossible' pairings, really I don't! Oh well. Ahhh… Going to have to go beet red when I say I'm completely blanking out on what bit of the tournament you're talking about though… Sorry! (Ahhh, it's probably because of all the RPGs and Christmas on the brain…)

And it will, trust me! I could probably actually put some logic in there… It's fairly close to what Jou said, the eye wasn't supposed to be there, so maybe it was the way out. You could say he piggy backed on a millennium item's power. How'd he do that? …Well. It was there, wasn't it? (Have yet to decide if it ties in with certain other things yet...)

VERY lucky. Very very very lucky… He's quite lucky he hasn't been smacked once as it is, and I think the only reason why is because one, Mokuba's right there, and she's holding back for his sake… And two, because there's that grudging respect saying 'He's an idiot, but damn it, if I smack him for it he'll prove me wrong, somehow.' And that always sucks. Mostly, those thoughts are because of the 'ballroom' scene; Seto's words of 'standing on your own feet' came back hard, and she has a nasty feeling as to why Jou got in that condition to begin with. Kaiba doesn't like people doing things for her for 'no reason' after all.

BWAHAHAHAHA! Cryptic foreshadowing is so fun though! It is very much like Ancient Egypt, more so as we go on, trust me… I can't say more though, save the fact that you're right in that it's more than ancient history we're dealing with. Quite a lot more, trust me on that… I like your guesses though, go go go!

She did indeed; her protection could actually be considered a hint… (It is adorable though. I can't quite draw her expression properly though, which makes the scene rather difficult to redraw. Curses!)

I'm not sure why everyone was reduced to tag-alongs myself… Maybe because they 'sort of' played a more physical role in the Millennium Game, we kind of saw a small bit of action in Duelist Kingdom, and that only left Battle City as the real hole in the manga? (Which meant of course that the anime couldn't do much more than what the hole left them.) Who knows really… And haha! Let me know if you find a good chunk of the latter/middle half of Battle City alright? I need to find it, lest I end up using the anime as a source on its own instead…

Shielding Yami's mind was pretty fun for me really. Ended up coming to Yugi in the end, but honestly that's how it should be for that particular part; Yugi and Yami Yugi share a mind, so it's only natural that one or the other end up calling the shots in there. …Now I have to draw that scene too… It's a scene of amazing bad-assery really.

And hahaha! YES. Glad to see it hasn't died off. And… I'm not actually sure. On the one hand, this follows the manga, so Pegasus should be dead; otherwise, Yugioh R can't happen. On the other hand, Pegasus was pretty clearly alive for the Doma arc… I might do a bit of playing around here though. When Yakou comes to look for Pegasus after all, he doesn't see a body… He sees a bloodied table…

So where was the proof that Pegasus was dead..?

I loved that chapter too… I actually cried writing that scene; as I said, the answer song to the one that played when Seto's soul was taken by Pegasus started up around that moment. It was probably the weirdest twist of fate I've ever had in those sorts of matters; and a rather nice one too, I had to say.

Hahaha! A high five would have been awesome, but her hands were both occupied with a giant gold puzzle… Oh well. If only I could write more kick-ass scenes like this… **

Hehehe, 'mostly'. Poor Kaiba, she just can't catch a break… I always wondered why the lawyer at least didn't try to weasel his way out of being screwed over by Kaiba after everything concerning Pegasus went to shit. Though to the original anime's defense, the Kaiba of that Legendary Heroes arc did know it was a trap; but he also knew that if he pushed the line to far, he'd likely trigger even more crap from them… Of course, his pride was also in the way, but hey, that's Kaiba for you.

Definitely not a loincloth! GHAAAAAAA no. I actually sketched out what the outfit will likely be (And by the way, with how this is going they don't get their original clothes for the arc), you can find the link in chapter 29's art section. It's 'doodles and design'; while I was doodling uniform! and MonsterWorld!Kaiba, I ended up adding something to Jonouchi's absolutely ridiculous animal skin… Coming to the conclusion that buckskin makes everything better/more awesome. It looks pretty damn spiffy, if I say so myself. (I just love how (at least in Japanese), the maid protests that the armour they gave Jou is the strongest one. Had me thinking 'Wait, so there is a stat system of sorts?')

Hahaha, that was sort of the point of the word cardinal; of course, everything's in Japanese for them, so it comes out somewhat different… Then of course there's just the fact that the lady likely figures Yugi, like a good majority of Japan, is Buddhist… (Who knows really.) It does suck to be the aunt; and you're right. She actually quite regrets sending the two kids off; that's part of the large reason why she broke down into tears as opposed to either a fit of terrified screaming or rage.

The secret wasn't so much that Seto is a girl, but rather that the Aunt is the one who technically started the facade; if she hadn't agreed to Seto's request to essentially dump her in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a first name to go for identity, then none of the fanfic would have happened… And of course, if he brought it up now, the aunt would be in a shit load of trouble with the government (Not that Yami planned on doing that.).

It does show a lot of maturity really… Though this branched off from more of Jonouchi's actual character in the manga. No doubt that the siblings are helping that along in their own way though… Vice versa indeed.

Fun for everyone… She doesn't hold it against them though, you're right on that. (Though it certainly isn't helping any ingrained paranoia…) And yesssss, yes he does. Trust me, the interesting parts are barely touched on with that subject. BLATANT FORESHADOWING FOR THE WIN!

Kuma likes Jou, but he'll never ride him… That's alright though, Kuma can be a cool horse even without the rider…

Well, we don't really see the reaction, but hopefully that's enough for now… (I say for now for a good reason, hehehe…)

And I'll see you both next chapter!

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that wishes you a Merry Christma- Wait, what do you mean it's November?

Now, to explain the title to you! Despite the fact that 'Merry Christmas' in Japanese is effectively just that... ('Merri Kurisumasu'! Hehehe, you can hit me now.) ...There are other ways to say it. First off, new years! 'Shinnen Omedetou'; 'Shin' being 'new' (Look down, and you'll see why knowing your kanji and your context helps a lot in Japan... And why mis-communication is just as easy in that language if you're bad with your context.)... 'Nen' being 'Year', and 'Omedetou' being 'Congratulations'. Now normally, 'Omedetou' is written only in hiragana. However, in addition to the 'o' at the beginning and the 'u' (Vowel extension) at the end, the word actually has three kanji in it. 'Me' from 'eye', or 'experience', 'de' from 'exit' or 'leave' (Don't ask.), and finally 'to', from 'occurrence' or 'time'. So it's probably best to just accept 'omedetou' as 'congratulations' rather than all those definitions... This is probably why it's normally written in hiragana too; very confusing other wise!

In any case, for Christmas, you take the katakana equivalent ('Kurisumasu'. Hehehe.) and shove 'omedetou' at the end; 'Kurisumasu Omedetou'. So technically you're saying 'congratulations on Christmas', or in the case of the above, 'Congratulations on New Years'.

This is how you say 'Happy Birthday' too; 'Birthday' is 'Tanjyoubi', ('Tan', 'be born', 'Jyou', 'birth', or 'life', and 'bi', from 'nichi'... Also known as 'day'.) so 'Happy Birthday' is 'Tanjyoubi Omedetou'. (By the way, you can also just pronounce 'Omedetou' as 'Omedeto'. No one will ding you for dropping that one vowel extension for this word. It's not like with certain verbs where the difference changes the meaning completely.)

So yea, this chapter said 'Happy New Year'; but that's because we're not covering the actual new years celebration, and hey; guess what most people say around Christmas anyways?

Technically, it's not so much a 'breakfast room' as a room for people to just sort of have a snack; it's directly attached to the kitchen, so it's easy to just pull food out at leisure. As opposed to the actual dining room which is... Not... Attached to the kitchen. (Normally, the 'breakfast room' just has an 'island' of sorts with a bunch of stools... Or at least the fanfiction one does. Whoo~)

The round table idea is partially based in fiction, and partially just something that Mokuba would likely do… After reading the fiction and myth in question. As you can probably guess, it's based on the 'Round Table' of the Arthurian knights, a table at which no person was 'higher' or 'lower' than the other. Therefore, everyone at the table is equal. (Or at least Mokuba would like to think for the moment.)

The table itself is bigger than that of the Russian Roulette one of course, not to mention unable to spin… And not nearly as gaudy. This puts just enough distance between the three that they're close, but not super close… And they can see each other around the main course. Whooo~

Speaking of courses, a 'four course meal' as it's called generally goes soups, mains, salads, and deserts... But it was shortened to a three course meal, partially because Mokuba planned it and he probably didn't want too many veggies, and partially because not all multi-course meals are like that. That would be silly.

Traffic in Japan is never going to be good of course. Think about the population, and even with the number of people taking trains/subways/bikes or just walking. But during Christmas? Oddly enough, the 'chauffeur unavailable' deal was actually put together by Hobson and Isono; so that Kaiba wouldn't get back to the house before everything was ready. Isono was actually following from a fair distance in case anything happened, though Kaiba would likely have been more than able to handle it herself...

Not too many words exchanged during the soup course hn? Mostly because Kaiba doesn't… Really want to talk. At all. (She has nothing to talk about, so why should she bother?) When you think about it, when does Kaiba start a conversation in the anime unless it concerns something either drastically important, or just… Cards. Or insults. Keep in mind, the conversation is generally started either as an insult to Jonouchi (Which she's holding off on for Mokuba's sake) or as… 'Something' with Yugi. (Concerning cards, you boneheads!)

Of course, as soon as the opportunity to break the awkward silence comes, Kaiba's going to break it; even she doesn't like awkward silences. Not to mention, the boys were both wide open on that one, and she's not going to go after her brother with insults.

The Christmas dinner depicted here is largely based on the English/Canadian traditional meal (You can't really say there's a traditional one in the State's I don't think, and putting a label on Canada as well is probably a bad idea, but still), and this is mostly because… Well, a majority of the meal's at the Kaiba house are rather 'westernized', and I'm fairly certain that KFC wouldn't cut it with her. AT ALL. (KFC tends to be the dinner of choice for Christmas in Japan, thanks to well placed commercials.) Nonetheless… Mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, turkey, boiled vegetables, cranberries, and eggnog. Mmmmm, wish my Christmases had that kind of food…

Of course, with those sorts of meals come those sorts of manners... Though really, just shovelling your food in any culture is rude, and while Kaiba admittedly expects it from a 'mutt', it's still one of those things that just isn't going to be tolerated for too long when she's right there. What happens if he starts talking after all. And of course, Mokuba managed to somewhat pick up on it, since he ends up eating with the blond every day... Leading to more points of annoyance. (Of course, Kaiba doesn't want to respond to her brother the same way she does the mutt, so it's dealt with in a fairly hilarious fashion.)

Now here's an interesting point; with the amount of time Kaiba spends with people, would you honestly be surprised that she doesn't know what the hell to talk about at the dinner table? The most she's probably gotten is 'dinner parties' that she attended for the sake of business… And all she ever did at school was read… And even with her own brother, there's still a fairly awkward rift between the two. And of course, you put Jonouchi at the table…

So what the hell is she supposed to do, start talking about Duel Monsters? Needless to say, it's awkward for the poor woman. Oddly enough, most of the problem could actually be described with 'Tea's words in the dub anime, when she rants about how Kaiba spends all his time with machines; Kaiba doesn't hang around people too much until the Duelist series after all, and you can bet that's going to put a damper on any social skills, regardless of personality traits. (It just so happens that Kaiba's pride and jerk-ness meshes with that lack of social skills to the worst level possible... But just as the Canon one got better (In my opinion at least), so is this one.) Kaiba can talk through a business meeting and party... But good luck getting more than two words out at an informal setting when it doesn't concern the above points of cards and work. And insults.

I have to say though, the big-sibling care is fun to write.

MINCE PIES. Normally, a lavish dinner would include a hell of a lot more food, but in this case, what with half the cooks being fired, and there only being like… Two maids left in the building, they kinda had to tone that down. A lot. Also, Kaiba's used to just having the meal and that's it anyways, and since there's only three people eating there's not really much point in making huge amounts of food. So hey, why not stick to the basics that they know will sit nicely with everyone's preferences? As it is, I can tell you this; that turkey was not very big.

Needless to say, only one choice for desert for those same reasons, and to spare Kaiba the issues of a mostly awake and sugar-high Mokuba, they stuck with the mince pie. Mince pies of course are filled with mincemeat, which, while originally made using meat in addition to the common ingredients, is a desert pie that doesn't normally have meat in it any more. It's made with chopped up fruits, raisins, spices… And it is probably very good. I wouldn't know, I've never had one and WANT. I WANT IT. Sooo bad... (I should stop whining in my guide section.)

Kaiba's pretty much realized by this point that waiting until Jonouchi leaves the room to talk about… Anything... Is pretty much impossible. It won't happen, it just won't, because the fact is, once the holidays are over, out-of-school time that Kaiba is still at work for will effectively be shared between the two. Jonouchi is… There. Whether she likes it or not, and she figures she mind as well deal with it for things that aren't completely private. Lest she end up a mute all her life, more so than she ever intended at least. (Though you can reaaaaally tell that any kind of conversation is still awkward for now, and not just because of subject matter.)

How old does he think you are Kaiba? Well, who knows, but if you're not careful you'll get the same reaction that Jonouchi did when he made the mistake of going on about fairies in the Monster World Arc… (Though I doubt Mokuba would ever hit his sister over the head with a book. He'd probably just give her a nasty look and avoid her for a bit. ...Or maybe he would use the book, you never know...)

What the heck will Jou do with a knife? Who knows (Probably nothing), but it's something that Hobson probably thinks he could use… Particularly as a member of security staff I guess. (Even though he works the cameras… OH but not for long~ *wink*) You should probably realize that a number of 'pocket knives', or 'pen knives' are used for craft work, and delicate tasks however... The knife is probably very good for that sort of thing as well.

As for Kyouko's present, that's up to you to decide, but trust me when I say it's nothing weird ok? It's just because Kyouko is the second youngest member of staff at the moment, being 19... She actually knows Hobson quite well, which is probably why she was part of the present run. (She also wrote up that rather lovingly detailed folder on the horse.)

On a completely separate and unrelated note, Kyouko managed to export herself into an actual original fiction I'm planning; which is pretty weird, since she's only 15 in that one... Oh well, it's an in-progress work, I'll have to see how that goes when it happens. (If anyone is actually interested in that, let me know.) Kira, on the other hand is from that original fiction; probably my oldest original character in terms of 'lasting past the sue stage', though she's here in name only... As the character herself is only 13. (...No it's not from that Kira. It's actually a fairly common girl's name guys. Not a Japanese one obviously... But still somewhat common.) ...I just needed a name, same as last time with Hobson's original helper; guess what the main character of the fiction is named.

To be specific, Kaiba received three books; The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and other Weird Stories, and lastly The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories. They're omnibus collections of Lovecrafts most popular stories, and there's also an essay from him in a few of them… I dunno, I figured that if Kaiba was a Nietzche reader she'd be at least somewhat interested in Lovecraftian tales... And I didn't want to just spam Seto with an untitled or inappropriately given book. Nor did I want to hand her a non-fiction. Anyways... So yea, she has three large books...

And of course, no one else can read them, as they're in English… (Though Mokuba might be able to.)

You ever see a picture of Kaiba holding a skewer with a tofu triangle (I think it's a tofu triangle), an egg, and some other piece of food on it? Those pictures are basically of Kaiba holding a stick of Oden, as you can buy it on a skewer. Oden, however, is obviously eaten with chopsticks as opposed to that…

Of course, Oden is listed as the utmost worst food in Kaiba's opinion, so you can probably guess the reason for the somewhat betrayed looks from behind a Lovecraft novel. (I actually drew this scene with chibis, I should probably scan that in...) Not to mention the initial, of not somewhat out-of-character look of disgust at the sight of the oden pot to begin with; you could compare it to when, in the Yugioh movie (Which will not make it into this fanfic unless I get a hell of a lot of people asking), Kaiba shows up at Pegasus'... And Pegasus shows him his now empty eye-socket. (Needless to say, Kaiba had a very emotive 'DO NOT WANT' face as a result.)

What's in that folder? Well besides the info you see above, it's actually a rather lovingly detailed log on that horse's preferences on... Everything really. You tend to learn really fast if your horse is picky or not, trust me on that. (I asked my mom and sister; the former took lessons continuously when she was young, while the latter actually looks after horses on a regular basis.) In any case, in case you missed what was above (Not to mention for what isn't there...), the 'white horse' isn't actually white. Rather, 'Yuki' as she's called (Hahaha, 'Yuki' means 'Snow'. I am so not being creative with this...) is grey. A horse with black skin, and white hair. Yuki would have actually started out as black, and gone 'silver' from a young age, before finally going completely white. Truly white horses have pink skin. In any case, Yuki of course has brown eyes (differently coloured eyes tend to be rather rare...), and like Kuma, is an Arabian. Also like Kuma, she has all of her sexual organs perfectly intact...

So there's a damn good reason to keep those two horses separate and diagonally across from the other. She's a rather sweet horse too... (I always talk about these things like they're real, I almost feel pathetic doing that...)

A 'double boiler' pot is used to cook foods that would otherwise burn if left in a pot to cook on their own, but can't be sitting in water. You have two pots basically; one is this huge freaking bucket thing that you fill partially with water. The other, much smaller pot, is filled with the food you need to cook, and then suspended on the top of the first. That way, the food is cooked by boiling water, moist heat, rather than drying flaming heat. It's often used to melt things... Since you can't really do that safely in the water.

Needless to say, the first pot is more than large enough to hide things.

When Seto asks what Jonouchi is doing there, she means in Mokuba's hall… When Jonouchi says he's in the 'hall across from Mokuba's', he means that when he comes down one large hall, turning one way would take you to Mokuba's 'hall', while turning the other way takes him to his own room. Kaiba's room is on the other side of the house though.

'Shashinchou', or 'photo album', comes from these three kanji. First you have the two that make the word 'shashin', or 'photograph'; the kanji 'Utsu', or 'copy', from 'utsushi' (Shi is in hiragana, and 'sha' is obviously an alternate pronunciation.) along with 'shin', or 'truth', 'reality'. (So 'shashin' is a copied truth, or reality so to speak.) Then you have 'chou', which just means 'book', or 'register'. (There are other words for book by the way.) Course, in the fanfiction it just says 'album' due to the English language being like that... But something tells me we'd his specifics in Japan, so enjoy your slight lesson!

Don't you dare say that plushies are a bad present for an eleven year old boy, I see this all the time; five younger siblings guys, I have a bit of experience in the matter. (So much that my dad forgot to separate my presents from the lot when I did my job of wrapping… That was TERRIBLE AAAAAAAUUUUUH. Still liked the presents though. ...Hee.) It's more a pillow plush though; I have one myself, on a much larger scale. Basically, you can either undo the snaps underneath to have yourself a big ol' pillow… Or you can tie it back up for a stuffed animal... OR, the pillow is the plush, plain and simple.

It's not Blue Eyes by the way (That'd be silly and actually very very thoughtless if you think about it); it's actually just a stuffed blue dragon, and if you can guess what that blue dragon looks like, you win the ultimate prize of foreshadowing knowhow.

You now have a fanfic origin for Jonouchi'd dog tags. Enjoy.

What did Mokuba give Kaiba? What was the reaction to the album past what we saw, USAGI WHY MUST YOU HIDE THESE THINGS! Because they're gonna come up, trust me, they really will! I'll tell you that the reactions were positive though… Just to calm you down for now. ...I hope it calms you down anyway.

I won't make comments on anything else though… I'll just leave the end as it is. Which is somewhat creepy. (It certainly seems to have ended on a somewhat creepy note, hasn't it...)

Fanart/My Art Section

Just a reminder guys, but if you have any art yourselves, don't hesitate to say so! I'd love to see it!

And as per usual, remove the spaces and enjoy...

Just a quick set of chibis here today... (And a design sheet) Enjoy~

Unwanted Luggage - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ StowawayCase. jpg - In which you may or may not have a spoiler for the Doma arc. You already know that Ryuzaki isn't an antagonist in my books, therefore not nearly as likely to end up tagging along with Haga (Particularly not since he's almost 90% likely to end up showing up with Yugi and Co at least more than once 'after' or during Battle City)... But while I was re-watching the Doma arc, this came to mind. As you can see, I had fun giving Ryuzaki a different shirt.

I've also coloured his hair wrong, as I found out too late (I couldn't tell, since most of the white/purple there would be under a hat...)... But I can either change that or leave it if you want. Personally, with all the crazy hair in this series, I don't know if he dyes his bangs or if his hair just randomly started growing in that colour. CONFUSING. In any case...

Oh boy. This probably means all of Ryuzaki's clothes are gone, hahaha...

Winter Coat Designs - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ WinterClothes. jpg - So I was wondering to myself what people like Yugi would wear through the winter, since we never actually see them wearing winter clothes; all of the events in the manga either take place around the more 'cool' and balanced tempertures of the year and after school, or during school breaks... The longest of which are summer (self-explanitory) and, for Japan, the 'Golden Week'... Which takes place in May. So needless to say, no coats! In any case, I figured that Jonouchi would be using the same letterman that he wore during the 'Man from Egypt' arc (probably got that from his dad), with Honda wearing the trench-coat/duster he had in Duelist Kingdom. Kaiba gets the same awesome coat that we saw in Yu-Gi-Oh R, but I added a scarf. (Mostly because scarfs are fun to draw... Ironically, a scarf was one of the things I saw her getting from Mokuba. Hurm..) As for the others... Given that Anzu would still be stuck in a short skirt thanks to her school uniform, she got a thick warm sweater, a hat, leg warmers, and that is in fact a scarf around her neck there, it's tucked in. Bakura in the meantime ended up in a parka for some reason (And as you can tell, I never finished his hands. Booo...), and most of his hair is actually stuck under the hood... So it kinda umbrella-ed on him. (Poof!)

Yugi on the other hand has a thick winter coat, and I almost gave him a hat. But giving Yugi a hat never really works too well, so he didn't get one. He did however, end up with mitts. Partially because I got sick and tired of trying to draw his hands, partially because it struck me that Yugi would probably actually wear them. Hah!

I wonder if 'Winter' is a 'yami-free-zone' because of all this... Can you picture Yami Bakura in that parka?

Any ways...

Until next chapter everyone! With the start of the Legendary Heroes...