Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Mokuba Saves Christmas ❯ One-Shot

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I just write about it. Kazuki Takahashi is the guy that actually owns it. Go talk to him.

Warnings: Use of the dub. You have been warned.

It was the night before Christmas and all through Kaiba Manor, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. That's because Seto hired the best exterminator in town to take care of the little rodent problem. That sure taught those varmints a thing or two.

Suddenly, in one of the many bedrooms, a creature began to stir. Mokuba awakened from the visions of sugar plums that was dancing in his head to get a drink of water. Okay, it wasn't a vision of sugar plums so much as it was a vision of careening down a street in a pizza truck with Michelle Tanner, Dr. Cliff Huxtable giving birth to a submarine sandwich in the back seat, and T-1000 right on their heels that had been dancing in his head. He now knew it was probably a bad idea to stay up all night flipping back and forth between sitcoms and action movies on TV.

He pulled the covers off himself and hopped out of bed. He caught a glimpse of the dreary winter landscape as he passed by his window. The trees were barren. He could see the drab yellowish-brown of the dead grass in the moonlight. There wasn't a single flake of snow on the ground.

Mokuba stepped out into the hallway, and headed toward the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, he filled a cup with water from the sink and got himself a quick drink. While he was there, he took a peek out the bathroom window.

The window overlooked the outdoor pool in the backyard. Despite the change in scenery, the view here was pretty much the same. The trees were still barren, and the grass was still that ugly shade of brown. The pool was empty; it had been drained that fall, after Mokuba's school year started.

There was no snow back here, either. In fact, there was no snow in the forecast at all that week. It looked as if there wasn't going to be a "white Christmas" this year.

Mokuba frowned. He knew he should be enjoying this time off from school, but something was wrong. Something was missing.

As he stared out into that bleak winter scene, he knew exactly what was missing. But what could he do? Nobody could change the weather.

Suddenly, he saw something shoot across the night sky in the corner of his eye. He turned his attention to the patch of darkness, but saw nothing. A second later, he saw a streak of light blaze a short trail through the atmosphere before vanishing. And moment later, there was another.

Shooting stars!

Well meteors, actually. Mokuba remembered from those old fairy tales he heard as a little kid that shooting stars could grant wishes. He doubted that pieces of burning space garbage could really grant wishes, but why not? He decided to give it a shot. He closed his eyes.

Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight..., he thought. Or random junk that fell off the International Space Station, or music satellite that fell outta orbit. Whatever you are, I've heard you grant wishes, and I've got one I want granted. I wish for...

Elsewhere in town, Yugi was sleeping all snug in his bed. Or at least, he was trying to. Throughout the night, he kept waking up uncomfortably hot and sweating. He'd then kick off a blanket and go back to sleep. Eventually, he had kicked all his of blankets off the bed - and yet he still felt way too hot!

Hours of tossing and turning later, his alarm went off. He almost felt relieved. He turned it off and dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed the Millennium Puzzle off the nightstand and hung it around his neck.

It felt incredibly hot in his room. It almost felt as hot in there as the time the central air conditioner broke down in the middle of the summer. He had sweated so bad during the night that some of his hair gel had been washed out. His black and red spines were frayed and sagging. His blonde bangs had straightened themselves out and hung limp in his face. He grumbled to himself about having to fix his hair later.

As he shuffled to his door in a near-exhausted stupor, he suddenly felt a gust of cool air around his feet. He turned to see only the air vent. But in a way, feeling cool air coming out of the vent was surprising. It meant that the heat had been turned off and the air condition had been turned on. Apparently, he wasn't the only one who thought it was unbearably hot in the house. And all this on Christmas Day, too. Imagine that - December 25th, and the Mutou residence had their air conditioner on!

He shuffled in to the living room. It wasn't much cooler in there. Grandpa Mutou was already awake, and sitting on the couch watching the news. Oddly enough, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts while fanning himself with the TV guide. He was also drinking a glass of lemonade. Nearby was the Christmas tree, all decked out in garland, bulbs, lights, and most importantly, the festively wrapped presents. Needless to say, the two images were as compatible as oil and water.

It was then that Grandpa noticed Yugi had entered the room. "Oh! Morning, Yugi!" he said cheerfully.

He then immediately noticed the boy's rather disheveled hair. "Looking rather worse for wear there, m'boy," he joked. "Have trouble sleeping?"

"Mmm...yeah...," Yugi mumbled.

"Well, I don't blame you," Grandpa reassured him. "Can you believe this weather we're having? I had to change into my summer pajamas last night!"

"Yeah, it's like a hundred degrees or something," Yugi replied.

"Well...the weatherman said it was only ninety degrees," Grandpa said. "But with the humidity and heat index, I'm sure it's over a hundred."

Yugi immediately snapped out of his sleepy stupor. "WHAT?!" he cried. "Are you serious?!"

"I'm afraid so," Grandpa answered. "Can you believe it? Christmas Day, and it's the hottest day of the year! I swear it must be all that tampering with the ozone layer."

"Uhh...you mean 'global warming'?" Yugi asked.

"One of those," Grandpa replied.

A moment later, they both heard the familiar sound of something popping up from the toaster in the distance.

"Oh, my waffles are ready," the elder Mutou said, getting up from the couch. He walked into the kitchen, leaving Yugi alone with his disbelief.

He sat down on the couch and looked at the TV screen. The news was just going to commercial. In the corner, the channel, temperature, and time was displayed. The current temperature reading was exactly one hundred degrees.

"I can't believe it...," Yugi mumbled to himself. "Christmas Day, and it feels like the middle of summer. How the heck did this happen? I mean, it was below freezing yesterday..."

Is this a bad time to say that I rather like this heat? a familiar, deep etherial voice asked.

Yugi turned to see the Pharaoh sitting on the couch with his arms crossed. Yugi often wondered how he could sit on things without falling through them, seeing as how he had no body.

Well, even though you can't remember it, you did grow up in a desert, Yami, Yugi replied, using their telepathic link. Besides, you don't have a body. I'm surprised you can actually feel how hot it is!

True, true, the disembodied Pharaoh said. In my defense, I'm not exactly sure how I can feel heat either, and I seem to remember hearing that deserts, including the Sahara, have a dry heat.

Still...I can't help but wonder why it's so hot today, Yugi mused. And on Christmas of all days! This can't be a natural...

Back at the Kaiba manor, Mokuba was happily floating around on an inner tube in the now-refilled pool. Seto was outside with him, sitting on a lawn chair while typing away on his laptop. The elder Kaiba didn't want to fully obey the Buddy System and get in the pool too, but he did want to at least be out there to watch Mokuba.

And speaking of Mokuba, he was smiling to himself. You see, he had actually wished for this searing hot, summer-like weather last night. When he looked out into his barren backyard with an empty pool, he was reminded of how much fun he had swimming in the pool over the summer. And what's a school vacation without swimming? However, there was no way he could have gone swimming in that cold, wintery weather. If the pool actually had any water in it, it would have immediately frozen solid. Now that his wish came true, he finally got to go swimming again. And on Christmas, of all days! He was so glad that the shooting star did its job.

He was also glad there hadn't been any snow on the ground. If there was, they would have had to drain any melted snow out of the pool in addition to cleaning it out and refilling it. In short, it would have been a longer wait.

"Hey, Seto!" he called. "You sure you don't wanna come in? The water's fine!"

"Sorry Mokuba, but I have a lot of work to do," the older brother replied blandly, not even looking up from his laptop.

"Aww, ya sure?" Mokuba sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes," Seto replied.

"That's a shame. It's not everyday you get to go swimming on Christmas."

"Ugh...don't remind me about this unnatural heatwave."

"I hate to say it big brother, but I actually wished for this hot weather last night."

"You wished for this god awful heat, Mokuba?" Seto asked, sounding like he wanted to gag. He paused to wipe the sweat off his brow.

"Yup!" Mokuba replied cheerfully. "Last night when I was getting a drink of water, I saw a shooting star. Everybody says shooting stars grant wishes, so I thought I'd make a wish just to see what happened. I wished for it to be really hot so I could go swimming. And as you can see, it worked!"

"I hate to say it Mokuba, but I doubt this sudden heat wave was caused by a piece of burning space trash," Seto said. "It's probably because of all that tampering with the ozone layer."

"You mean 'global warming'?"

"One of those."

"Anyway, it really sucks that you still hafta work on Christmas Day."

"Tell me something I don't know," Seto said, briefly looking up. It was then that Mokuba noticed his brother's face started looking rather pink.

"I think you're starting to get a sunburn," the younger Kaiba replied.