Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Snowy Snowflakes ❯ Charity work in the mall and Yami’s race to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for Yugi ( Chapter 2 )

Hey! Next chapter is up! I’m kind of sad no one reviewed the first chapter, but I kind of expected it. ^^;; I hope some of you people have actually made it to this chapter and I hope even more that you like it. ^.^

           &n bsp;No more snow here. It’s all gone. : ( Oh well, hopefully it’ll snow on Christmas! That would be awesome! ^_^ I can’t believe Christmas is so close! It seems like yesterday it just turned ‘05 . . . . Not really, but the Holiday’s just seem to have a way of sneaking up on you. Got most of my shopping done though, so yay! ^^

           &nb sp;I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, though I still think it’s a little dry. This story actually hasn’t ended up like what I thought it would, but I put some of the ideas I originally had in this chapter. Also, I apologize early on for my weird sense of humor because there are some parts where you might think is a little bit out of place.

            ; Anyway, I hope you like this chapter! ^_^ And, of course, are able to get through it. lol It ended up being longer then I expected it to be. In fact, it was going to be even longer then it is right now, but the third chapter would have then been really short, so yeah.

             Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh, Santa Claus, the two Santa suits, any of the Elf costumes, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, the evil woman at the Post Office that was only mentioned, the constipated doggy, any of the people in the costume shops, the mannequin, the dice costume, ‘Jorge’, ‘Lydian’, and ‘Canevil’. . . . Okay, this is getting to long so I just don’t own anything, okay?? Got it? Get it? Good. ^.^

           &n bsp;Enjoy!

         ;            &n bsp;      Chapter two: Charity work in the mall and Yami’s race to keep the spirit of Christmas alive for Yugi

          ;   Yugi stared at the only person he could really trust. The only person that would tell him the truth. “D-does Santa Claus really exist?”

         &nbs p;  Yami just stood there, shocked at the question. “Errhh, Yugi, where did you hear something like that?”

           ;  “Th-the lady at the Post Office said so!” Yugi cried, tears still streaming down his face, snot starting to appear under his nose. “She refused to send my-my letter because she said Santa didn’t exist!” The last part came out in a wail.

             “Of course Santa Claus exists!” Yami stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “I don’t know what century she’s in, because how else do you get what you want and all the cookies are eaten?”

         &nbs p;  Yugi sniffled, obviously not comforted by Yami’s statement. “The woman told me that Grandpa ate the cookies and - and put the presents under the tree.”

           ;  “Why would Grandpa do that?” Yami chided. “He can’t go down chimneys or anything. You know he has a bad back.”

           ;  “But he doesn’t have to go down chimneys!” Yugi cried. “He just has to go to the tree and put the present under the tree when I’m sleeping. Santa . . . . doesn’t exist.”

         &nbs p;  “What are you talking about?” Yami questioned. “It’s magic. You know how other people don’t understand it. I bet if you told her about me she would just dismiss it.”

          & nbsp; Yugi’s spirits lifted and he had a look of hope. “Yeah! She did!”

             “See? Simple folks just don’t understand magic,” Yami said, resisting the urge to sigh with relief. He had really saved Christmas for Yugi!

             It was in that moment Grandpa had decided to walk into the room everything fell apart. You know what the song says: ‘have fun, fun, fun ‘till my daddy takes the T-bird away.’ Wait, does that even apply here??

            ; “Yugi, what’s wrong?” Grandpa asked, interested in seeing what was going on. “I heard you all the way in the shop . . . and do we have a cat?”

             Yami sweatdropped. “Sorry, that was me.”

          & nbsp; Grandpa gave Yami an interesting look. “I always thought you would be the dog, not the cat.”

             Yami raised his eyebrow, wondering what exactly that meant.

            ; “It’s alright,” Yugi replied cheerfully. “Yami was just explaining to me that the evil lady at the Post Office was wrong and that Santa really does exist.”

         &nbs p;  Grandpa gave Yugi a sad look and he shook his head. “Yugi, I think it’s about time you know the truth.”

         &nbs p;  Yami’s eyes widened. That old man was going to ruin everything! “We already got through that. Santa does exist.” He started winking at Grandpa hoping that the man would get the hint.

             “Do you have a tick?” Grandpa asked, looking at Yami’s furiously blinking one eye. “Anyway, Yugi there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

             “What is it?” Yugi asked, still cheerful and oh so naive.

            ; “You know how I told you that people often pretend to be Santa in malls and stores for the children,” Grandpa stated. “Well you see, Santa Claus is just a made up character for the children to look forward to every Christmas.”

             Yami immediately stopped winking at Grandpa for two reasons: the old man had just slammed Yugi’s little spirit against the wall by coming out with it so straight, and his eye was beginning to hurt. So much for being gentle about it.

           &n bsp;Yugi was horrified. “You mean the mean woman from the Post Office was right? S-Santa really doesn’t exist?”

         &nbs p;  Grandpa shook his head. “I’m sorry Yugi, but this really can’t go on any longer. Your sixteen and as an adult you need to know these things. Besides, there was no way I could get the present you wanted in time. Their all sold out.”

             Yugi gasped as another thought came to him. “Then does that mean th-the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist? And - and the Easter Bunny?!”

         &nb sp;  “I’m afraid not Yugi,” Grandpa stated, patting his grandson on the shoulder. “I’m sorry that you had to find out this way, but it’s for the best.”

           ;  There was a ding coming from a shop and Grandpa turned his head toward the door. “Looks like I got another costumer.” Gleefully, he ran out of the room to try and sell more merchandise.

           ;  “You alright Yugi?” Yami asked, walking over to the stunned boy.

           & nbsp;There was silence for a little while, then Yugi finally spoke up. “You lied to me! How could you! You lived inside of me for a year! How long did you know that Santa didn’t exist? Did you and Grandpa laugh about it behind my back?”

           ;  “Yugi, it’s no like that,” Yami started, but was cut off by the enraged boy.

           & nbsp;“I don’t want to hear it,” Yugi fumed, stopping his way over to the stairs. “I hate theHolidays!”

        &nbs p;   Yami sighed as he watched Yugi disappear into his room. In truth, he had found out last Christmas that Santa really didn’t exist. It was around the time when Yami was still inhabiting the Millennium Puzzle and had to take over Yugi’s body to be able to do anything. He had heard something down the stairs and had taken over not wanting to wake Yugi up and had headed down stairs. What he had found was some guy dressed up in a big red suit and of course, thinking it was a burglar, he started stabbing the mysterious man with his spikes. He had been shocked to find out that it was really Grandpa, and that was when it was all explained to him.

           & nbsp;He had helped out when it was the Easter Bunny time, and always caught Yugi when he was close to finding out the truth. He just couldn’t believe how hurt the boy was to find out that all of it was a lie.

           & nbsp;It was at that point Yami realized he had to do something. He wouldn’t let Yugi’s Holiday spirit stay crushed; he would bring it back to life! Without the electric padded things that bring people back to life in the ER. Electrocuting Yugi probably wasn’t the best idea.

             “Don’t worry,” Yami whispered, grabbing the coat Yugi had tossed on the ground when he had ran inside. “I’ll make sure Santa comes this year. I promise.”

        &nbs p;   The first thing on Yami’s list was a Santa Claus suit. It didn’t seem like it would be that hard to find, after all there were many costume shops around the block and they were sure to have lots of extras. Then, after he got a suit, he would go after the card. The perfect plan! Or so he thought . . .

           &nbs p;The first shop he went in had sold their last Santa suit a week ago and the man at the desk told the sad Pharaoh that they wouldn’t get anymore in until next Christmas. So, Yami left and found a different costume shop. Why there were so many costume shops in Domino City eluded him.

           & nbsp;Unfortunately, that costume shop had no Santa suits either, but the lady didn’t seem to want him to go without buying something. So, he bought a plastic scythe and carried it out with him to the next shop.

             There, the people seemed a little freaked out that he was actually carrying around a plastic scythe, but they didn’t have the suit either! As it turned out, these people used their dirty tactics to get him to buy something else ( actually, they just asked him to buy something and he did it ), so he bought himself a necklace made out of fake Werewolf teeth and went to the next store.

            ; As you can imagine, this went on for quite some time until there was only one store left, and Yami wasn’t sure he wanted to go in it. Candles lit the outside and the inside was full of cobwebs and weird posters, not to mention the only light source were candles inside.

          &nbs p; Yami walked into the store, setting of the chime which was a song he recognized to be from a Dracula movie. Gulping, he walked to the front desk. “Hello? Anyone there?”

         &nbs p;  At once a man in his thirties appeared almost out of thin air behind the desk. He had piercing’s in the weirdest of places, covering every inch of skin it could, and when there were no rings there were tattoos. He had black hair, dark eyes, and was wearing black lipstick with a deformed smile upon his face. “How may I help you?”

             Yami shuddered, but continued despite his uneasiness. “Erh, I was, uh, wondering if, um, you had a -a Santa Claus suit?”

           ;  The man’s face showed no emotion, only the lust of someone as creepy as he could have. “Sorry, we sold our last one out yesterday, and if you want to raise the dead I would suggest adding a pentagram to your forehead.”

         & nbsp;  Yami paused slightly confused, but it dawned on him quickly enough. He must look like an idiot to other people because of the fact all the other stores conned him into buying something. He had so many miscellaneous items attached it wasn’t even funny, well to him it wasn’t. He wasn’t even sure he would have enough money to buy the Santa suit if he ever found one.

           & nbsp;“Um, no thanks,” Yami stated, backing up slowly. “I’m going to go now. Thank you anyway.”

         &nb sp;  “Aren’t you going to buy something?”

             Yami gulped again, sweat pouring down his face. “Uhhhh, errrhhh, look! It’s Dracula! I’m going to go, errhh, make friends with him... Yyeeahhhh.” With a squeak of terror, he ran out of the door only faintly hearing the chime go off again.

            ; Once far, far away from the shop Yami came to a halt his head hung low. He had failed Yugi. The suit was just no where and there were no costume shops left. He was a failure . . .

           &nbs p;It was at that moment, Yami realized he was right in front of costume shop labeled ‘The Last Costume Shop Left’. It was a shop he hadn’t gone into, and the very last one as the title proclaimed. Maybe, just maybe, this store had a Santa Claus suit!

             Walking in, Yami sighed with relief to find that the store was normal and there were no voodoo dolls hanging off the wall. Deciding to skip going to the desk to ask, since there was a huge line, he went right over to the place where all the costumes were hanging.

          &nb sp; He quickly started going through all of them, all the rows and all of the isles. Nothing yet; all he found so far that resembled a Santa Claus outfit was a belly dancer outfit that was red. He was reaching the end of the last costumes and he couldn’t see the suit that he wanted. They didn’t have it here.

             Red. White. Fluffliness.

           ;  That was what caught Yami’s attention as he reached the last part of the last isle of costumes. Could it be? The Santa suit? Skipping all the other costumes, he lunged for the red, white, and fluffy costume and pulled it out.

           & nbsp;It was the Santa Claus suit!

             Yami almost cried with joy as he looked at it. It didn’t matter if it didn’t fit him, he could make adjustments later, and besides Santa was big around the belly anyway. He couldn’t believe his luck!

             “Ahem!” The suit was being pulled over to the other side of the isle and it took all of Yami’s strength to keep it on his side. Apparently, someone else had grabbed the suit at the same time as him.

           & nbsp;‘Just my luck,’ Yami thought bitterly to himself. Unfortunately, he wasn’t strong enough to keep the suit on his side and was dragged with the costume to the other side where the stranger stood in his cloaked black robe.

             “It’s mine!” Yami cried tugging at it, trying anything to get it away from the hooded stranger. “I grabbed it first!”

         &nbs p;  A grunt was his reply from the man as he too tugged it, with much better results, away from Yami.

             The strangers force was to great and Yami’s wasn’t all that great but it had force. Both of them fell down on the ground being flung away by their own tugging.

          &nb sp; It was at that moment Yami noticed the strangers hood had fallen off and took the time to see who it was. White hair, dark brown eyes, harsh features . . . . “Bakura?!”

        & nbsp;   Bakura looked almost surprised at the fact that his hood had fallen off and he shifted his gaze, down to what he was holding. Not caring what Yami was thinking at that moment, he jumped up with a small victory laugh ( had to get in those evil laughs ) and ran to the desk with the Santa suit.

             “Hey! That’s mine!” Yami yelled desperately, getting up clumsily and running after the Tomb Robber.

          &nbs p; Bakura skidded almost into the desk and through the money he had stolen from a Salvation Army bucket on it. “I want to buy this.”

           ;  The man looked lazily up at Bakura, then down at the money. “I’m sorry sir, but you’re going to have to get in line.”

           ;  Bakura’s eyes twitched. “Just take the damn money!”

         &nbs p;  A lady, who had been next in line before Bakura rudely cut in, hit the white haired boy over the head with her umbrella. “I’ve been in line for a half hour. Wait your turn!”

           ;  Bakura looked as though he would murder someone, but, instead, grabbed the stolen money and walked to the end of the line mumbling something about the Shadow Realm and feeding souls to it.

           &n bsp;Yami took this as an opportunity to get the suit back. He ran up to Bakura and pointed his finger at him. “Give me that suit! I command you!”

             Bakura glared at him. “No. I won it fair and square from you now go home and obsess over that rubber duck bath toy.”

             Yami gasped. “H-how do you know about that?”

           ;  Bakura just laughed evilly. . . and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.

          &nb sp; Yami finally managed to get him to stop by trying to grab the suit out of Bakuras’ hand. “Give me it! I want it!”

          & nbsp; “Stop acting like such a baby,” Bakura snarled, moving the suit as far away as he could from Yami. “It’s mine, and I’m not giving it up.”

          & nbsp; A mischievous smile played upon Yami’s lips. “I challenge you to a duel. If I win I get the suit, if you win you get the Millennium Puzzle!”

         &nb sp;  Bakura paused slightly, before turning toward his opponent. “I accept!”

         ;    A half hour latter, Yami walked out of the store with a smile holding the Santa suit, only faintly wondering why Bakura wanted the costume. That didn’t matter, what did was that he had the suit and now all he had to do was find that card Yugi wanted.

          &nbs p; Stopping home for a split second to hide the Santa suit and to drop off all the stuff he had bought from the stores, he headed back out. He knew exactly where he needed to go.

           &n bsp;He only stepped in the store once before, and it wasn’t what you called the greatest memory, but it was the only other game store in town and most likely to be the one that had that card. Stepping into Duke Devlon’s store he looked around. He had forgotten how big it was.

           & nbsp;Only barely finding the front desk since there were so many others, he rang the bell. At once a lady appeared. “How may I help you?”

             “Hi,” Yami replied, not sure how to explain the card since he never really paid attention to Yugi all those times when he was talking about it. “Do you have this, umm, special Kuriboh card that has it’s own case and all. Oh! And comes with a game that has something to do with fuzzy animals . . .”

          &nb sp; The woman seemed to know what Yami was talking about and smiled sweetly. “I’m not sure if we have it, but I’ll bring Mr. Devlon down so he can help you.”

             “Uh, thanks,” Yami said, not knowing what exactly to expect.

          &nbs p; A few minutes later, Duke came down on one of the elevators and grinned when he saw Yami. “Hey, what have you been up to?”

          & nbsp; “Stuff,” was Yami’s reply. “I need to know if you have something here. It’s a Kuriboh card, something special about it, has it’s own case and a game.”

           ;  “Oh, you mean the New Special Holographic Kuriboh Card that comes in a Special Golden Case and Special Game that has the Fuzzy Animals taking over the World,” Duke said, immediately realizing what Yami was talking about. A sudden smile came across his face that only made him look sly. “Can you say it?”

          & nbsp; “Of course I can,” Yami replied, taking it as a challenge. “Erhhh. The New Special Holographic Kuriboh Card that comes in a Special Golden Case and Special Game that has the Fuzzy Animals taking over the World.” He smiled, happy with his results.

          &nb sp; Duke moved his head slightly, bringing his hand up to his chin. “I don’t think you said it right. Try saying it again.”

         &nbs p;  “I said it right,” Yami stated, knowing that he had gotten it right. “The New Special Holographic Kuriboh Card that comes in a Special Golden Case and Special Game that has the Fuzzy Animals taking over the World.”

         &nbs p;  “Come again?”

         &nbs p;  Yami sighed with frustration. “The New Special Holographic Kuriboh Card that comes in a Special Golden Case and Special Game that has the Fuzzy Animals taking over the World.”

         &nbs p;  Duke was laughing hysterically at this point, using the wall to keep himself from falling over. “That - was - so - funny! You should have heard that!” He whipped a tear from his eye.

           & nbsp;Yami’s face was red and he was giving Duke the meanest glare he could give. “It’s not funny! Now tell me if you have it!”

          & nbsp; Duke finally calmed himself down and was just grinning at Yami. “Yeah, we do, but I’ll only give it to you if you do something for me.”

          & nbsp; “Can’t I just pay?” Yami questioned, confused.

          &n bsp; “No, I’ll give it to you free of charge if you do this,” Duke stated with a smile. “Because you were such a good sport about saying that card thing over and over again. Come here tomorrow at two twenty and I’ll give you your assignment.”

          ;   Yami beamed. “Thank you so much! You don’t know how great this is! Thank you!” Happily walking, almost skipping, out of the door he didn’t notice the lady’s quizzical looks at Duke, nor Duke’s sly grin. That didn’t matter to him, all that did was that Yugi was going to have the best Christmas ever!

          &n bsp; Bakura grumbled all the way back to Ryou’s house. He had, of course, vented off some anger on poor pedestrian but that didn’t matter. He didn’t get the suit.

             “Stupid Pharaoh,” Bakura grumbled to himself as he opened the door. “Next time I’ll beat him!”

             Ryou smiled as he noticed Bakura walking in. “Did you get the Santa Claus suit I asked you to get?”

             Silence.

        &nb sp;   Gulp. “Errh, you see Ryou,” Bakura started, shifting his eyes. “All the stores were sold out except one and - um.”

          & nbsp; “Yes?” The voice wasn’t like Ryou’s usually happy carefree voice. It held a deadly threat hidden within it.

           &n bsp;“I - I lost it.”

          & nbsp; Silence.

        &nbs p;   “Ryou?” Bakura asked, staring, almost scared, at the boy. “I mean, I had it but Yami won it in a duel with me. . . . Ryou?”

           ;  Silence . . . . . then. “I’ll just get it myself.” Ryou walked past Bakura and out the door toward the game shop. Yes, oh yes, Yami was in for a surprise.

         &nbs p;  As for Yami, he was currently sitting down watching TV with his rubber duckie in his lap. He was quite happy at the moment for he had just secured Yugi’s Christmas in one night! That had to be a record. Maybe he should put in his story in the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not? Or do they only take gross and weird stories . . . maybe he could put himself in the show.

             His thoughts were cut short, however, by Ryou stepping into the room after getting the okay by Grandpa to come into ths house. “Hey Ryou! How’s it going?”

         &nbs p;  The temperature felt like it had dropped twenty degrees and there was a certain aura around Ryou that looked very scary. Even scarier then the Shadow Realm.

            ; “Is it true you have the Santa Claus suit?” Ryou questioned, voice dangerously low. “Bakura told me that you took it after winning a duel against him.”

             “Uh, y-yeah,” Yami stuttered, hiding his rubber duckie so Ryou couldn’t get to it. “Is that why Bakura was getting a Santa costume?”

         &n bsp;  “So you did.” Silence. “Little boys and girls are counting on that costume to be in the mall tomorrow and it will be there.”

             Ryou was right, it was going to be there and he happily walked out of the house with the Santa Claus suit leaving behind a terrified Yami. “So that’s why Bakura was so desperate to get the suit,” he whispered. “I would have never known . . .”

           ;  The next day came painfully slow for Yami as he laid on the couch unable to sleep. He had just lost the Santa suit, but that didn’t matter to much. After all, he would still get the card. Only a minor glitch in his plan . . .

           &nbs p;The morning came and went and soon it was time for Yugi to head toward the mall to meet up with his friends to do some charity work. It was also time for Yami to head over to Duke Devlon’s store to do the assignment to get Yugi’s card.

             Both Yami and Yugi stepped out of the door and into the snow. It was a nice day out for the most part, the snow was still falling but it was a little warmer then the day before.

          &nbs p; “I hate snowy snowflakes,” Yugi grumbled as the snowflakes fell on his head. “Someone should get a flamethrower and burn them all up!”

          & nbsp; “I’m sure you don’t mean that,” Yami stated. “I”ll meet back up with you later and if I’m running late I’ll call you. Alright?”

         &n bsp;  Yugi nodded, not questioning where Yami was going and instead grumbled about other things he wanted to burn with a flamethrower. Yami took this as his time to escape and he quickly ran toward Duke’s building.

          &n bsp; Yami ran inside, brushing off the snow he had collected on him on the way there. “Duke? I’m here to do that assignment.”

          ;   Duke appeared almost out of thin air as if he had been planning this event for quite some time and walked up to Yami with that same sly grin. “I almost thought you wouldn’t come.”

           ;  “So, what do I have to do?”

        &nb sp;   The mall was full of kids chattering amongst themselves about Santa being in the mall. After all, how many times does Santa come down from the North Poll and visit them? Those poor, naive children . . . .

           &nbs p;Ryou rushed all about hanging up last minute decorations and setting everything up so that it would look great for the children. As you probably already have guessed, Ryou is not in the Santa Claus outfit and is, instead, in a Elf costume.

          &nb sp; Bakura grumbled as he shifted in his chair, tugging at the beard. “Why did I have to be the damn, jolly, never gives out knives, foolish mortal?”

         &nb sp;  Ryou just chuckled setting up more lights near Bakura, or should I say Santa. “I needed someone extra so I could do all the decorations. And besides, someone has to take the pictures.”

         & nbsp;  Bakura grumbled again.

            ; “Wow! This looks nice!”

           ;  Ryou turned to see who it was and smiled when he saw Tea, Tristen, Joey, and Yugi all in Elf costumes at the entrance. “You like? I decided to put it up at the last moment.”

         &nb sp;  Joey paused, turning back and forth between the Elf Ryou, and the Santa who was supposed to be Ryou. “Hey, if your posing as an Elf, who’s he?”

          & nbsp; “Just a friend,” Ryou said with a sheepish grin. “Come now, I’ll give you your jobs.” He quickly walked over to a basket and handed it to Tristen. “You’ll be in charge of giving the kids candy canes after they go on Santa’s lap.”

             “Can I take the pictures?” Joey asked eagerly.

          &nb sp; “No,” Ryou replied shortly. “We can’t have another incident like the last time you took pictures.”

         & nbsp;  Joey frowned. “Then what am I supposed to do?”

          & nbsp; “You’ll be out in the crowd keeping the children entertained,” Ryou stated with a smile. “Just say jokes and let them play around with your bell. I’m sure you can do it. Tea, I would like you to stand by Santa and talk a bit with the kids. I’m afraid my friend is a little antisocial.”

          ;   Tea nodded and happily walked over to Santa, not sure what to expect from Ryou’s ‘Friend’.

        &n bsp;   “Yugi,” Ryou said, turning toward the boy. “I need you to be the one that puts the pictures on these cards.” He brought the boy over to a table that had the camera on it. “Can you do that for me?”

          & nbsp; “Sure,” Yugi replied grumpily.

          &n bsp; “Alright,” Ryou stated, beaming. “We’re ready for the children.” He walked over to the gate and opened it. “Santa’s ready to see some children!”

         & nbsp;  The mall was filled with screams of excitement and joy making the group wonder what exactly Ryou had gotten them into . . .

             “I’ll murder him. I’ll kill him. I’ll maim him. I’ll throw him into shark infested waters. I’ll stick him in a item for five thousand years. I’ll kill him!”

             Yami, stood in the middle of a very busy road doing what Duke had assigned him to do. He was in a costume, which was ironic because a Santa costume was what he needed, but that wasn’t what he costume was. He was dressed up as a giant dice with only his head and stubs of his arms and legs visible. On the dice was a sign saying ‘Duke Devlon’s Card Shop’ and the directions to where it was.

           & nbsp;“I’m going stick him in this costume then kill him!” Yami fumed, face beat red. “I will get you Duke!”

           ;  There was a ‘whoof’ behind Yami, making him turn his head. It was a small dog, but looked oddly constipated, with a staring of relief toward Yami’s outfit.

          &nbs p; Yami’s eyes widened in horror. “Look doggie, I am not a fire hydrant! You can’t go pee on me!” 

         & nbsp;  The dog advanced, tongue hanging out with an almost trance look upon his face.

             “Stay back! Stay back! Stay - ARRRGGHHH!!!!”

         ;    “Save me!” A candy cane appeared with a yellow ribbon attached to it’s top making it look like hair. “Please Jorge, the evil - erh - Canevil has captured me!”

          & nbsp; Another candy cane appeared next to the supposedly girl candy cane pretending to be ‘Canevil’. “I got her and I will never let her go!”

          & nbsp; Yet another candy cane came into view posing as ‘Jorge’. “I will save you Lydian!” ‘Jorge’ flung itself at ‘Canevil’ hitting him with the its’ candy cane body making ‘Canevil’ crack in two.

           & nbsp;‘Lydian’ went over toward ‘Jorge’. “Thank you handsome man. How can I ever repay you?”

             “I know.” ‘Jorge’ and ‘Lydian’ were then put in very explicit positions and ‘Mmm. Oh yeaah’ was heard next.

             “Tristen!”

       & nbsp;    Tristen looked up from his little ‘play’ with the candy canes he had been doing. “What is it Tea?”

             “That is inappropriate with the children around!” Tea cried, resisting the urge to hit Tristen. After all, the children couldn’t witness violence as well as Candy Cane porn.

             “Fine,” Tristen mumbled, placing two of the candy canes back into the basket. “Have a Merry Christmas.” He handed ‘Lydian’ to the child that had just gotten out of Santa’s lap.

           & nbsp;A small girl walked up next and sat on Santa’s lap and gave him a big smile. It was a sad sight, for her two front teeth were missing. “Hi Santa.”

         &nbs p;  “Ho, ho, ho,” Bakura managed to force out of himself again, though it sounded more like he was trying to kill something with his ‘ho, ho, ho’ing. “I think I know what you want for Christmas. Your two front teeth.”

         &nbs p;  The girl’s nice features suddenly turned dark and she gave Bakura/Santa the meanest glare. “I HATE you!” She punched Bakura in the stomach and stomped off.

           & nbsp;Bakura was surprised, but unfazed because of the fact that there was so much padding in his stomach. “That little -”

          &nb sp; “Santa,” Tea started, in a threatening tone.

             Bakura rolled his eyes. “Fine. Little girl, come back. I was just having fun with you. Come back and tell me what you want for Christmas.”

             The girl was immediately back in Santa/Bakura’s lap with a smile upon her face again. “Alright Santa, what I want for Christmas is -” she took out a list that didn’t look so long until it unraveled. Then, it reached the floor and beyond.

          &nbs p; Bakura groaned to himself. Why did he have to be Santa? And the kids! The horrible kids! He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it out with his insanity. . . .

           &nbs p;Ryou took the picture with the little girl on Bakura/Santa’s lap and handed it to Yugi, who immediately started working on putting it on the card like thing. “Do you know where Joey is?” He asked the grumpy Elf. “I haven’t seen him in a while, or heard him.”

             “Maybe he’s off in the Victoria Secret store,” Yugi replied, gluing the picture to the card and carelessly tossing it to the other side of the table where the parents picked up the pictures. “He seems to like it.”

          & nbsp; Ryou paused, looking around. It looked like the girl would be staying in Santa’s lap for a while giving him enough time to search for his missing Elf. “I’ll be back.” Quickly heading out, he easily spotted Joey.

             There Joey was drooling in front of a particular mannequin which was wearing nothing up top, and only sexy, see through underwear.

          & nbsp; Making sure he didn’t slip on the abnormally large puddle of drool that had come from Joey’s mouth, Ryou quickly grabbed the boy and started dragging him away from the shop. “Joey, we need you to keep the crowd company.”

         &n bsp;  Joey finally snapped out of his trance and let out a weird cry. “Hey! I was looking at something!”

             “Joey, you have to - ” Ryou stopped, horrified at the scene. It was complete chaos in the little area. Tea had apparently hit Bakura/Santa because of a snide comment he had made making all the children want to attack her, Tristen was making more ‘porn videos’ with the Candy Canes, Bakura/Santa was attempting to send an obnoxious parent who wouldn’t stop talking to him to the Shadow Realm, and Yugi had started climbing the large Christmas tree in the center of the mall near their little area in attempt to destroy the Angel on the top.

           & nbsp;Ryou had to stop this, they were ruining this for the children! The top of the shaken bottle exploded. “THAT’S IT!!!”

           ;  The gang were in for a big surprise.

         &nbs p;  Yami walked back into the shop battered, torn up, and peed on. His spikes were now drooping a little instead of their usual deadly plastered straight up look. He waddled toward Duke with a nasty glare.

            ; Duke was trying his best not to chuckle at the scene. “So, you did the assignment.” He was more of a statement for himself then anything else.

             “Yes, I did,” Yami replied through gritted teeth. “Now give me the blasted card so I can get out of this darn costume!”

         &n bsp;  Duke shifted his eyes to the nearest elevator as if locating the nearest exit away from the already upset Pharaoh. “You see, about that. I really don’t have the card.”

           ;  “WHAT?!”

      &n bsp;     Duke shrugged nonchalantly. “I just don’t have it. I was only using it as an excuse to get you to advertise my store. But thanks anyway.”

         &nb sp;  Yami could barely contain his anger and if it wasn’t for the fact that he was in a Dice costume that was wet in one area, he would have looked pretty darn scary. “YOU -” Yami breathed, trying to calm himself down, “- don’t have the card? THEN GET ONE!”

             “Sorry, but their all sold out,” Duke stated, moving slowly toward the elevator that seemed more inviting that it had a few minutes ago. “Not even game stores can order them in until January. Unless, of course, your rich and powerful.”

         & nbsp;  Yami’s rage was gone and a smile came upon his face. “Of course! Rich and powerful, I’ll have to ask him to get it.”

          & nbsp; Duke sighed with relief as he noticed the change of attitude. “But, since you were so nice I’ll give you a - um - Santa suit.”

           ;  Yami was surprised. “You have a Santa Claus suit? Thank you!” He attempted to huge Duke, but because of his unusually large Dice costume, he only succeeded in squishing the man against he wall.

             “Can’t,” gasp, “Breathe!”

        & nbsp;   “Oops, sorry.” Yami quickly waddled away from Duke, making sure he could breathe and move on his own. “Forgot I was in the suit.”

           ;  “It’s fine.” Duke walked over to one of the ladies behind the front desk and told them something, and one of the girls quickly disappeared. “The suit will be here shortly.”

         &n bsp;  “Wait,” Yami stated, suddenly interested in why Duke had the suit. After all, he didn’t have any children. “Why do you have a Santa suit?”

           ;  “Well, you see,” Duke started, tugging at his not so there shirt color. “The ladies seem to dig it and it helps me get more - oh! Here’s the suit.” He quickly grabbed the abnormally large red costume from the lady and shoved it into Yami’s hand. “You can keep the other costume too.”

             Yami was to busy running out the door with the suit, making sure no one else knew he had it. He couldn’t afford to lose this suit.

          &n bsp; Everything was going perfect. Everyone was doing their jobs with a smile on their face and the children were having a blast. No porn, no insane children trying to attack people, and no drool puddles.

          &nb sp; Ryou smiled happily at the scene in front of him. His friends had certainly pulled their acts together and were working quite well, though every once in a while they shot him a scared look, but that didn’t matter.

          &nbs p; The rush of the children had slowed and Joey had been given a new job. Since there were no longer kids to entertain out in the line, he was assigned to read a book to the kids that had already gotten their pictures taken with Santa. Unfortunately, Joey was reading the book upside down but it didn’t seem to hinder his reading ability for he was reading it perfectly.

          & nbsp; Tea turned toward Santa, who was currently sucking on a candy cane. “Look, I’m sorry for hitting you but you really shouldn’t have said that. I mean, what kind of person threatens a poor little boy.”

             “Hey!” Santa/Bakura defended himself. “That boy threatened me first! He said that he would light all of my reindeer on fire then stuff me with candy and hit me with a bat like a pinata.”

         &nb sp;  “That’s only because you said he wouldn’t get the newest Flamethrower for Christmas,” Tea replied, defending the, obviously, sadistic boy. “What kind of Santa would refuse to get a poor little boy a Flamethrower?”

        &nb sp;   “Any Santa!” Bakura cried, crossing his arms, candy cane still in his mouth. “If Santa doesn’t give out knives, then he wouldn’t give out Flamethrowers.”

        &n bsp;   Tea rolled her eyes. “Come on. Can’t you have just a little Christmas spirit?”

         &nb sp;  Bakura raised his eyebrow at Tea, taking her in. “Not unless you do something for me first.”

         &nbs p;  Tea was a little uncomfortable. “Errhh. What?”

           ;  “I want you to. . . . . . . . Get me out of the suit!” Bakura stated, finally taking the candy cane out of his mouth. “If I stay in here any longer I’m going to die!”

             Tea sighed a little bit with relief. “Sure.” She motioned for Bakura/Santa to follow her to the back where none of the children would see that Santa wasn’t really Santa.

            ; A few minutes later, Tristen walked over to where Bakura and Tea had disappeared. “Hey Tea, I was wondering if I could take a break - AH! Tea and Santa are having some fun!”

             Ryou quickly rushed over after seeing confused looks from the children. “Tristen!” He hissed, don’t say that so loud. It was then, he noticed Tea and Bakura/Santa’s ridiculous position and started chuckling. He just couldn’t help it!

           &n bsp;Tea was located on top of Bakura, completely lifted off the ground because of the large stomach, and had somehow managed to get ‘Santa’s beard attached to her head. Bakura, on the other hand was wriggling to try and get Tea off him, unfortunately making it look even worse then it already looked. Luckily, his hat was still on, hiding his white hair and his identity.

          &n bsp; Yugi rushed over to the scene and gasped. “Tea, are you alright?” He quickly ran over to his friend and managed to pull her off of the round belly. “What happened?”

         & nbsp;  “Got a little out of hand?” Tristen snickered, receiving a glare from Tea, Bakura, and Ryou. “Erh, never mind...”

         &nb sp;  “I’m fine,” Tea replied, brushing off her skirt. “He just wanted out of the suit, but we both lost our balance. Him having a large round belly doesn’t help either.”

         &nb sp;  “Can someone help me?” Bakura questioned, still squirming about. “I can’t get up because of this damn suit!”

           ;  Ryou quickly aided ‘Santa’ and looked back over at the children. “Thank you guys again. I don’t think I could have done it without you.”

             “No problem,” Tea replied happily. “I had a fun time, though some of those kids were scary.”

         &nbs p;  “Yeah,” Yugi said next. “I think I can like Christmas a little bit more. Though, I learned my lesson about Holiday trees. Never climb up one because if you do, you’ll have to somehow make it back down. I still can’t believe a guy had to actually come down on a wire from the vent and get me.”

          & nbsp; “Yeah, that was cool,” Tristen stated. “It was like James Bond!”

           ;  “Ergghh!!” Was Bakura’s sentence in this scene as he was still struggling to get the costume off of him.

           & nbsp;“Merry Christmas guys,” Ryou said to the gang.

             “Merry Christmas!”

             “Merry Christmas, Ryou.”

           ;  “Merry Christmas . . . Can I have the leftover candy canes for my own . . . personal reasons?”

         &n bsp;  “Tristen!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

          & nbsp; There! I hope you liked it! ^^ About Ryou, I once read this fic where he was pretty scary so I thought it might go well. lol Besides, he has to be a little bit scary to have the mind of Bakura in his head. Oh yeah! That’s also what I wanted to tell you readers but in this fic Ryou is Bakura, and Bakura is Yami no Bakura. Got it? Alright! That’s good. ^^

           &nb sp;I’m sure most of you have already figured out who the ‘rich and powerful’ person is Yami was thinking about. If you haven’t you obviously haven’t seen that many episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh. O.o Anyway, I need to start working on the next chapter! Have to get it finished before Christmas. Don’t really want to update the last chapter on Christmas Eve. That would just be, errhh . . . . . . I don’t know! I just wouldn’t want to do it.

           &n bsp;Oh! The scene with the girl with no two front teeth I actually, sort of, got from something that happened to me. I lost my two front teeth early on and it took almost two years for them to appear. One time when I was on Santa’s lap ( yes! This was a long time ago. >< ) the Santa said ‘I know you want! Your two front teeth.’ I got mad at him but I didn’t punch him. Those evil Santa’s . . . . . . .

           &nbs p;Anyway, good luck with your Holiday shopping everyone and please take some time out of your busy days to review this chapter! I would really appreciate it. Anything would be nice. A one worded review, a flame, a nice one, a review just talking about your life - Okay, maybe not that. >> << But please just review.

          &nbs p; Thanx