Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Shades Of Gray ❯ The Joys of Mistletoe ( Chapter 8 )

"Sing with joy, sing noel
On this day, all is well
To despair, say farewell"

The air was abuzz with excitement. Red and green balloons, lights, and streamers decorated the entire place. The school's band, the orchestra, and two singing groups (choirs, if you prefer) took turns singing songs about Christmas, Hanukah, and just winter in general. But unless you were singing or playing music, you could essentially do as you wished.

"Sing with merry voices
All the world rejoices
Sing with joy, sing noel
Sing with jubilation"

Yu-Gi-Oh, Yugi, Katsuya, Honda, and Anzu were all waiting impatiently for the current song to end-it was a very good song, but the group currently singing was the one Ryou/Bakura was in.

"Sing we noel!" the choir finished, and at least half of the school applauded.

A slender, pale-haired figure in the red-and-white robe of their choir walked towards them. Katsuya ran forward without thinking, grinning like a proud lover, and hugged him-unfortunately, he knocked him over as well.

"Umm…oops?"

"Please don't do that," the figure muttered, standing up and dusting himself off. He was taller, more graceful than Ryou, and he looked strangely un-strange in the robe.

"Ryou?" Katsuya asked uncertainly.

The boy he had just knocked over looked at him with intense cerulean eyes set in a flawlessly beautiful face. "Not exactly…"

"Bakura!" said Yu-Gi-Oh happily, swinging his bag of gifts over his shoulder so he could stand straighter. The lovely white-haired Spirit acknowledged this recognition with a quick little nod. Katsuya noticed that his eyes were fixed on him, and there was a wistful-almost hungry-yearning in their depths.

He smiled to himself, remembering Ryou's words. He wondered if Yu-Gi-Oh felt the same way as Bakura did, and hoped that he did.

"All right!" said Anzu. "Time to open presents!"

"Me and Bakura both brought presents," said Ryou. They (not including Yugi/oh) blinked, startled and a little bit unnerved by their apparently seamless switch. Unaware of this, he said, "Let me go get them."

As the group went to the table with their own presents, Katsuya wrinkled his nose. "Ugh. There's someone who isn't going to be singing with joy anytime soon."

They turned to see a familiar, darkly clad figure sitting on a chair nearby. He was alone, of course, and he appeared quite out-of-place in these cheerful settings. Honda, Katsuya, and Anzu all looked various degrees of either disgusted or annoyed. But Yugi reached into his bag and pulled something out.

As his friends gaped, he walked over to the slender brunette eating beef with sauce. "Here."

Kaiba glanced up, surprised, as the small wild-haired boy gave him a shiny blue something which seemed to be a gift-wrapped card. "What is this?"

"A present," Yugi replied. "Merry Christmas."

"And why, exactly, are you giving me a gift?" he asked, picking it up tentatively. This is the second time in a week that somebody's given me something-and again it's one of the schizophrenics. Am I dreaming or just going insane?

Or both?

"Because I want to," Yugi informed him as his pale slender fingers began tugging very carefully at the wrapping paper-very, very carefully.

It fell away, and he gazed at his gift as if it had fallen from the moon.

"O…Obelisk!" he looked up at Yugi in astonishment. Suddenly his face twisted. "Have you completely lost your mind?" he demanded. "This is me. I don't get gifts for Christmas. Ever. Especially not god cards!"

Yugi shrugged stubbornly. "There's a first time for everything, Kaiba-kun. Besides…" he seemed flustered suddenly, but still firm in his resolve. "I…I want to be your…your friend."

Kaiba looked at him disbelievingly. "Does your other half feel the same way?" he sneered, and Yugi's sweet amethyst eyes widened.

"How did you…" but he stopped, realizing his question was ridiculous. He took a breath, gathering his courage. His words came out in a rush. "Also, me and my friends are going to the carnival tomorrow. If you want to come, you're welcome to."

Then he turned very quickly and returned to his friends, leaving a flabbergasted Kaiba behind. But not before he felt something slipped into the bag he was carrying.

"You started giving gifts already!" Yugi cried, pouting cutely.

"Uh…yeah…sorry about that, Yug'," said Katsuya apologetically, rubbing the back of his head. "But look at these!" he waved one box excitedly, and Yugi gasped.

"Who painted those?" Looking around, he saw that everybody was holding a beautifully painted package just as Katsuya was.

"Me," replied Bakura. "Here," he held out another beautifully-painted package, painted with all sorts of different kinds of games. Then he turned into Ryou, who grabbed two gift-wrapped packages which were obviously board games.

"This is for both of you."

"Thanks," said Yugi, taking one.

"And I thank you as well," said Yu-Gi-Oh, appearing suddenly and taking the other. Ryou stood straighter, turning back into Bakura. He picked up the last gift he planned to give, the most beautifully painted one.

"Here," he offered, holding it out. Yu-Gi-Oh grabbed it and opened it eagerly, but carefully-the paper was painted with a glorious scene of an Egyptian palace, and he could only assume it had been his.

He let out a shriek of pleasure so loud the entire cafeteria turned to stare. Not caring, Yu-Gi-Oh jumped up and down like a happy little child. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!" he cried. "It was my favorite in Egypt."

Bakura knew this all too well, but didn't say anything. "Where did you find this?" asked Yu-Gi-Oh. "They stopped making this game centuries ago!"

Bakura coughed and mumbled something which sounded suspiciously like `I stole it from the museum,' but Yu-Gi-Oh was too thrilled with his gift to hear-and thank the gods for that, too.

Katsuya leaned over and his eyebrow furrowed. "Huh. I've never seen something like that before."

"It's an ancient Egyptian game," said Yu-Gi-Oh, holding it against his chest as if it was a lover. He smiled at Bakura. "Thank you."

Yugi tucked the other three gifts into the bag he emptied, but Yu-Gi-Oh wouldn't let him put his gift from Bakura in it as well-so Yugi had to hold it in his right hand while they distributed gifts with the left.

"These are for Ryou," he said, handing him two. "And these are for Bakura."

Unlike Ryou, who carefully placed the gifts aside for later, Bakura was like Yu-Gi-Oh-he opened his immediately. He grinned at Yugi's gift-Evanescence's DVD Anywhere But Home. Clearly, they had realized he was singing Evanescence songs.

But Yu-Gi-Oh's made his jaw drop. "Origin?! How-where-what…? These things are almost impossible to find. Where…?"

Yu-Gi-Oh looked nervous. "Umm…Jonouchi, show him your gift!" To Bakura, he said, "He couldn't decide, so we told him about the song. He was working in a CD store, and apparently he found it."

"Did you have to tell him that?" Katsuya demanded, and sheepishly handed him a sloppily-wrapped CD. Bakura opened it to reveal Evanescence's Fallen.

"Thank you, Jonouchi. Yugi. Yu-Gi-Oh." You have no idea how much this will help, he thought, having not given up on the idea of fighting Necrophadisu through music.

So the gift-giving continued. Everybody gave Yugi and Yu-Gi-Oh games, of course. Everybody gave Anzu something to do with dance. Ryou, knowing about Katsuya's money problem, had saved up for months and gave him more than three hundred dollars.

When the gift-giving was over, Yugi realized he still had an extra package. He blinked in bewilderment and picked it up, turning it over. He had never seen it before…

Shrugging, he slipped it into his bag with the other ten (five for him, five for Yu-Gi-Oh) gifts and resolved to open it when he got home.

"All right!" said Katsuya, standing up and slapping his hands together. "I need to go get the food. What are your orders?"

"Ramen," replied Anzu. "But I think that Ryou or Bakura better come with you, because you'll botch it up for sure."

He scowled, but Ryou stood up. They took the orders and went to the food tables. "My favorite food is curry rice. What's yours?" Katsuya asked Ryou as they did this.

Ryou's sighed happily. "Creampuffs. Fresh from the bakery and slightly warm. Not too sugary, but not too doughy, either. With a cup of warm tea…Heaven!"

Katsuya blinked at him. "Damn, Ryou. I swear you're having an affair with pastry."

"I am not!" Ryou protested, cheeks turning a very pale pink. "They're just really, really yummy. A bit fattening, I'll admit, but delicious nonetheless. You should try really them sometime."

"Well, now I'll have to. Least favorite food?"

Ryou wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Raw urchin. Nasty, nasty little demon!" he spat. "Ugh…Just do you and your stomach a favor and never taste it."

"I'll take your word for it," replied Katsuya, breathing a sigh of relief as the last person in front of them left. He started filling plates with food. "I don't have a least favorite food, by the way."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ryou wondered aloud, putting Anzu's ramen on a plate and Yugi's hamburgers on another, then placing them on a tray.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing…" Ryou replied, turning his head to glance at the others as they picked up trays that were now piled with food. Suddenly he seemed to tense up.

"What?" Katsuya asked, noticing his eyes had turned blue. He followed Bakura's gaze and groaned inwardly. Anzu's playing the slut again, he thought with dismay and frustration.

"Come on," Bakura ground out, gripping the tray tightly. He stormed towards the table where their friends were sitting, and it was all Katsuya could do to keep up.

***

Smiling suddenly, slyly, Anzu leaned towards Yu-Gi-Oh in a blatantly sexy pose. Inside Yu-Gi-Oh, Yugi was blushing and sweating at the proximity. But Yu-Gi-Oh himself was just watching Ryou and Katsuya talk, wishing Bakura would come back. He tore his eyes away impatiently.

"Do you know how mistletoe works?" Anzu crooned. Her voice was sultry, almost a purr. (A/N: I am not bashing her. In the manga, she really did act like a slut a lot.)

"No," Yu-Gi-Oh replied shortly.

"Well, there's some out in the hall," she said with a wink. She walked her fingers up his arm, and he pushed them away. She seemed hurt, but hid it. "Maybe I could…show you…" She winked again.

"Is there something in your eye?" Yu-Gi-Oh asked. Honda, who had been watching this display with a rather bemused sort of discomfort, slapped his forehead. Anzu sighed and leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her hair, still trying to look hot.

Yu-Gi-Oh wondered why Yugi seemed so aroused and nervous. Surely his aibou didn't find her strange antics attractive, did he? (Poor, deluded Yu-Gi-Oh…doesn't even realize she's trying to seduce him…)

"Are we interrupting anything?" Bakura asked in a rather flat tone coming from him, slamming down the tray. The food and drinks jumped slightly, as did Anzu and Honda. Yu-Gi-Oh was much too busy staring dreamily at Bakura to be scared-though he did notice that Bakura seemed irritated about something.

"Oh, I was just telling Mou Hitori no Yugi here about mistletoe," replied Anzu, all innocent again. Bakura blinked, wondering if he knew that word.

"Huh? What's mistletoe?"

"They're these leaves that people hang up during Christmas," Katsuya explained. "If two people stand under it, they have to kiss."

Yu-Gi-Oh blanched, utterly disgusted at the thought of kissing somebody just because of a decorative green leaf. Then again…he glanced at Bakura, who was glaring at an oblivious Anzu. "Even if it's two boys? Or only a boy and a girl?"

"Anybody. Two boys, two girls, a goat and a rat, a bat and a skunk, anything."

Anzu sniffed daintily, straitening her red miniskirt and crossing her legs. She purposely let the skirt ride up high. "You are disgusting," she informed Katsuya.

"I have to go to the bathroom," said Bakura, speaking in an unusually abrupt manner for him. As he walked out, his hand moved with such unbelievable grace and swiftness no one saw him reach into Yugi's bag and pull out Anzu's gift.

***

Bakura's fingers curled angrily around the package Anzu had given Yu-Gi-Oh. His mouth hardened into a tight, thin line. Silently, he thanked the gods that Necrophadisu was nowhere around-this would be a perfect excuse to torture Anzu and probably her entire family to death, even the most distant cousin.

Anzu had given Yu-Gi-Oh a stylized puzzle which depicted a lovely brown-haired dancer (the Sugarplum Fairy from The Nutcracker) and a king who looked remarkably like a taller version of Yu-Gi-Oh. They were standing in a beautiful winter wonderland, underneath a small bunch of leaves that he now knew to be mistletoe.

With a sudden, violent snarl, he ripped it to shreds. It wasn't until the cardboard of one of the king's startlingly blue eyes fell into his palm did he feel any remorse.

Necrophadisu is going to taunt me about this for millenniums…he thought sorrowfully. He'll say I'm becoming like him…he'll be right. He let cardboard and paper stream from his fingers and watched it flutter to the ground. I've been under too much stress lately.

"Is something wrong?"

Bakura turned to see Yu-Gi-Oh. "She was trying to seduce you," he snapped, fists clenching at the memory. "Do you like that…that…closet necrophiliac?!"

Yu-Gi-Oh shrugged, wondering why he should care. He remembered words from the dream: "No matter what happens…I'll always love you."

Please…please…he prayed silently. Please let it be…

"No, I don't," he said coolly. "I'm in love already. And it isn't with a girl like her." Taking a breath, he decided to take a risk. "It isn't with a girl at all."

Bakura stared at him, and Yu-Gi-Oh tried to read his spectacular eyes. He searched for any touch of hope, any whisper of affection, any hint of comprehension, any sign that he felt the same way…

"Mistletoe!" shouted Katsuya, appearing out of nowhere. "Now you two have to kiss!"

Yu-Gi-Oh's jaw dropped. He tried to lunge at Katsuya, but Bakura grabbed him by the arm and whirled him around.

Making a mental note to kill his aibou's best friend the moment he got the chance (Katsuya had intelligently run off) Yu-Gi-Oh looked back up at Bakura. Silently cursing his height, or lack thereof, he said in the blandest voice possible, "well?"

"If we have to…" Bakura said softly, so close to Yu-Gi-Oh their breath mingled. I want to, he added mentally. Oh, how much I want to!

"Do we?" Yu-Gi-Oh asked, still speaking blandly, even as he buried his fingers in Bakura's pale hair and pulled him down closer to him. Please, please, please…

"I…I don't…" then the last space between their lips was gone.

Bakura trembled in delight. He tasted peppermint and chocolate, quite different from the exotic fruit-and-spice taste Atemu had possessed. He wondered if he tasted the same-and, if not, what did he taste like? Did he taste like Ryou? If so, he probably tasted like creampuffs…

But there wasn't much time to muse over taste, too caught up was he in ecstasy. He knew Necrophadisu would finally find a million ways to turn this back on him, but for the moment he didn't care.

Clearly, Yu-Gi-Oh didn't either. He forgot who he was, forgot where he was, forgot that someone might be able to see them-there was only Bakura, Bakura, all time all love all living dying yearning in the touch of their mouths together…

A startled gasp broke them both out of their bliss. Their lips parted and they turned in the direction of the gasp, to see a shocked-looking Anzu staring at them both in horror and…was it disgust?

She turned and sprinted back to the others. Yu-Gi-Oh and Bakura glanced at one another, cheeks flushed as red as Necrophadisu/Yami's eyes, before dashing after her.