Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Dragon of the Shadowed Light ❯ chapter 17: Christmas Chaos ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Shiro: Man, this is one of the longest chapters I've ever typed up. It's 6-7 pages long in size 11 font.

Bast: But we had fun with this one, ne hikari?

Shiro: Sure did! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I do own Tama, Yume, the Chaotic Dragons, the Dragon Guardian pendant, Kiba, Damian, Tama's dad (Kojiro), and the plot.

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Tama happily hums Christmas carols as she dances around the house decorating it. Ryou smiles at his best friend’s antics as he pulls on his winter gear.

“Going to pick up Malik?” Tama asks, dancing past with a wreath in her arms.

“Yes. He is coming today, right?” Ryou asks.

“Yup!” Tama confirms. “I’m so glad he’s coming! We’re going to have so much fun!”

Ryou wraps his light blue scarf around his neck and wrests a hand on the doorknob. “I’ll be back in a little while. Need anything?”

Tama smiles brightly. “Nope! Dinner should be ready by the time you and Malik get home!”

Ryou nods before opening the door and walking out to his and Tama’s car- a light blue Volkswagen.

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Malik stares at the snow, lilac eyes sparkling in childish delight. “Cool…”

-THUD-

Malik glares at Tama, snow splattered on the side of his head. Tama ‘eeps’ and ducks behind a tree, but it’s all in vain since she gets pelted by three snowballs- one from Joey, one from Yugi, and one from Bakura.

Within seconds the snowball fight is going full force. Snowballs fly in every direction, some hitting their mark and others not. And some missing the person they’re suppose to hit and hitting someone else.

All-in-all, it was a fun morning. After lunch, which consisted of hot chocolate and sandwiches, the large group filed back outside, this time to go ice skating at the park. Tama, Ryou, Joey, Téa, Duke, and Mokuba skate gracefully around the iced over pond while Yugi struggles to help Yami skate, and the other yami’s and Malik repetitively fall.

After the ice skating incident, in which the Darks discovered they could ram into one another after picking up speed on the ice, the group split up. Duke, Téa, Tristan, Joey, and Serenity all head to their homes, while Ryou, Tama, Malik, Yugi, Mokuba, and the yami’s head to the Bakura household.

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Tama hums as her, Yugi, and Mokuba decorate the Christmas tree with lights. They step back to admire their handywork once done and then Bakura, Marik, Yume, and Yami come down the stairs with five boxes, covered from head to toe in dust.

Yume sneezes. “My Ra! When’s the last time Ryou cleaned out that place?”

Ryou and Malik come out of the kitchen at this time, both carrying popcorn strings.

“These are going outside, right?” Ryou asks.

Yugi nods. “Yeah, it’s for all he birds and other animals.”

“You guys can wait if you want. The yami’s got down the rest of the Christmas boxes from the attic, so we’re going to finish the tree and then go outside and decorate.” Tama says, gesturing to the four yami’s.

Ryou and Malik set their popcorn strings on the back of the couch and then join the others in decorating the tee.

By the time the sun sets, the house is the most brightly lit, Christmassy house on the road. The group stands at the beginning of the driveway and look proudly at the highly decorated house.

“Well…” Yugi says, breaking the silence. “Me and Yami need to head home.”

“Want me to drive you?” Tama offers, reaching for her keys in her coat pocket.

“That’s alright, Tama. I- I want to walk home.” Yugi says, looking up at Yami. “Read to go, Yami?”

Yami smiles at his Light and wraps his arms around the smaller teen’s shoulders. “Whenever you are, aibou.”

Blushing, Yugi leads Yami off in the direction home.

Mokuba, Ryou, Bakura, Tama, Yume, Malik, and Marik watch as the two tri-color-haired boys disappear down the road and then Mokuba turns to Tama.

“Can you drive me home?” He asks.

“Sure!” Tama happily replies. “I’ll be back in a bit, make sure Marik, Bakura, and Yume don’t blow up the house while I’m gone.” She jokingly tell Malik and Ryou, pulling her set of keys from her pocket. “Now, lets get you home, Mokuba.”

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Christmas Eve soon comes, bringing with it the day after Malik's birthday! (1) So today the entire group is over at Yugi’s celebrating the blonde Egyptian's birthday (since they were all busy the day before, they celebrated it Christmas eve). Outside snow is falling, creating yet another layer. Inside, everyone is merrily singing Christmas carols. (as they've already sung 'Happy Birthday' to Malik) Even the Darks and Seto (who got dragged there by Mokuba) are singing. And then Tama pulls two guitars out from behind the couch and hands one to Mokuba.

“Alright! Lets start with ‘Jingle Bells’!” Tama says happily, her fingers easily finding he right chord.

Mokuba has to look down at the strings, but he carefully finds the correct chord as well.

Everyone once again begins singing while Mokuba and Tama play. Once the song is over, Tama and Mokuba grin and lean their acoustic guitars against the wall.

“That was great!” Serenity says. “I didn’t know you could play guitar!”

Tama’s grin doesn’t fade away. “My bro taught me when I was little and then I taught Mokuba.” She tells them.

“Hey, do you guys hear dat?” Joey suddenly asks.

The others stop talking and carefully listen. Faintly they can hear singing from outside.

“Carolers?” Téa questions.

A smile slowly spreads across Tama’s face. “I know who that is…” She jumps up from her spot on the floor and runs out of the living room. Seconds later the group can hear the door open and Tama happily squeal something.

“What’s going on?” Téa asks.

“Dunno…” Yugi murmurs, peering out into the hall. “Hey, wait a second.”

A madly grinning Tama shoves two snow-covered people into the living room, both of them taller than her.

“Everyone, I want you to meet my big brother, Kiba Muto and one of my best friends, Damian White.” Tama introduces as the two boys carefully remove their hoods.

Kiba’s hair is the same as always, but Damian’s is now all violet with dark red tips.

“Hey psycho-boy.” Damian greets Malik. “Shrimpo, how’ve you been?”

Yugi sighs. “I’m fine, Damian.”

Damian looks around the room while Kiba takes off his coat, gloves, and scarf and sets them by the fire. “Well I’ll be damned. Seto? Is that you?”

Seto inclines his head to the two boys. “Damian. Kiba.”

“Dontcha just love reunions?” Tama suddenly asks. “Come on, Damian. Get that coat off and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

Damian quickly removes his winter gear and sets it beside Kiba’s. Tama then happily move on to the introductions.

“Well, I’m sure you remember Téa Gardner… that’s Joey Wheeler and his sister Serenity, and that’s Tristan Taylor. I would hope you both remember Malik, Ishizu, and Odion. Oh, and that’s Duke Devlin. And then that’s Seto Kaiba (who you already know) and his younger brother Mokuba and this,” Tama happily sits down beside Ryou. “Is my best friend Ryou Bakura.”

Serenity suddenly giggles and points to a spot above the two. “Look who’s under the mistletoe.”

Tama and Ryou look up and blush when they see that there really is mistletoe hanging above them.

Malik looks curiously at the green plant. “What’s mistletoe? Nobody’s explained it to me yet.”

“It’s one of the Christmas traditions that you find strange.” Mokuba says. “When two people are under mistletoe they have to kiss.”

Malik decides he doesn't like mistletoe.

Damian’s right hand twitches and he glares at the mistletoe as if just itching to rip the plant down.

Kiba just grins. “Man, this reminds me of a few little incidents.”

Tama glares at her older brother. “Say it and I’ll hurt you badly. The same goes for you.” She tells Yugi.

“Oh, so you’re not going to threaten Seto?” Kiba asks, still grinning.

“Seto won’t tell.” Tama confidently replies. “And anyway, we were six.”

(“What does that have to do with anything?” Kiba teasingly asks.)

Mokuba looks up at Seto with puppy-dog eyes. “Please tell me, Seto. You don’t tell me any stories anymore!”

“If we kiss will you please drop the subject?” Tama asks pleadingly, turning even more red at the thought.

“Maybe.” Kiba replies.

Tama stubbornly crosses her hands over her chest. “That’s not good enough.”

Kiba sighs and makes a hand sign that only he, Tama, Damian, and Seto recognize. “I, Kiba Muto, do hereby swear that I shan’t tell a soul about any of the past mistletoe incidents.”

“Good enough…” Tama grumbles.

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Tama, Ryou, and Malik laugh as they walk into the house.

“My Ra, the look on Joey’s face when he realized Serenity was kissing Seto!” Tama exclaims, wiping away her tears. “Priceless! Absolutely priceless!”

The three double over with laughter at remembering the image and are unable to speak for a few minutes. Eventually they calm down enough to pulls off their scarves and coats and then carry the box filled with gifts from their friends over to the Christmas tree, which is decorated with numerous DM cards and at the top of is a model of the Change of Heart demon/angel.

They stay up for a little while longer, drinking hot chocolate in hopes that it will calm them down even slightly. They do calm down and soon go on to sleep.

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“WAKE UP!” Tama yells, jumping onto Ryou’s bed. “Wake up, Ryou! It’s Christmas!”

Ryou yawns and looks up at Tama. “You are entirely too hyper this morning.”

“I can’t help it, it’s Christmas morning!” Tama says, sitting down. “Please get up. Yume already made me wait an hour. I’ve been up since seven and have already cooked breakfast.”

Ryou yawns again. “All right, I’m getting up.” He says, sitting up.

Tama cheers, hugs Ryou, and then happily runs out of the room. Less than a minute later Ryou can hear a Christmas CD being played downstairs. Yawning a third time he gets up out of bed and puts on a light blue sweater setting on his bedside table.

Less than five minutes later Ryou is sitting at the kitchen table with Malik and Tama, eating Christmas breakfast- pancakes shaped like Christmas trees, sausages, bacon, eggs, and an apple for Malik.

By the time breakfast is over, Tama is about ready to burst from excitement, and has already begun humming carols.

Finally they go sit in the living room where Tama happily busies herself with separating the gifts into different piles.

“Malik, you open one of yours first!” Tama says one she’s finished, bouncing slightly.

Yume appears beside her hikari and assumes solid form, hoping to drain away some of Tama’s hyperactivity. Marik and Bakura just fade in beside their hikari’s.

The three take their time in opening their gifts, thoroughly looking over each one before opening the next. Once they’re done, the living room is covered with wrapping paper, tissue paper, and rouge pieces of tape. So then they set about organizing their stuff and cleaning up the living room. They’re less than half way done when the doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Tama yells, dropping her garbage bag and running to the front door.

Ryou sighs as a bunch of wrapping paper and tissue paper falls out of the overly stuffed bag.

“Kiba! Damian!” Tama can be heard happily yelling.

“Great, just what I need. Pretty-boy driving me up the wall on Christmas morning…” Malik grumbles sleepily.

Both of the guys are surprised when Tama returns without Damian or Kiba and is just holding nine wrapped gifts.

“Where’s Kiba and Damian?” Ryou asks.

Tama sighs. “They had to go back to the States. Kiba got an emergency call.” She looks down at the wrapped gifts in her arms. “They brought presents over though. Three for each of us.”

“Finish cleaning up first, hikari. Then we’ll open those.” Yume suggests.

Tama nods and hands the gifts to Yume. “Here, you hold them.”

Yume struggles with them for a moment before Bakura and Marik each take three.

For the next fifteen minutes the only sounds that can be heard are those of the Christmas CD playing and the sound of crunching wrapping paper, tissue paper, and the garbage bags.

They then sit down to open the gifts from Kiba, Damian, and Tama’s dad.

“That’s odd…” Tama murmurs, reading the tag on her gift from Kiba. “This says it’s to both me and my yami.”

Malik and Ryou automatically check their own.

“Same here…”

Tama and Yume exchange glances and then they carefully unwrap the box-shaped gift. With the wrapping paper off, they have to then open the white box. Both of the girls gasp when they see what’s inside.

“My Ra…” Tama whispers, tears springing to her eyes at the beauty of the painting.

Malik, Marik, Ryou, and Bakura curiously look at the two girls. Shakily, Yume lifts up the painting, and the guys jaws drop in shock.

Kiba had actually painted Tama and Yume as an angel and demon reaching out to one another. The angel Tama is kneeling on the ground wearing white robes, lilac eyes looking almost pleadingly up at Yume, her feathered red and blonde colored wings half unfolded behind her. The demon Yume is in the air wearing black robes identical to the angel Tama’s robes except for the color. Her violet eyes look sadly down at the angel Tama and her demonic red and black wings are completely unfolded to keep her in the air.

Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Marik open theirs soon after.

Malik and Marik’s is of them as an angel and demon as well. The angel Malik is hanging off a tree wearing his trademark light purple colored shirt and black pants, with his pale, blonde colored feathered wings folded behind him. The demon Marik sits on a park bench, wearing a black shirt and his cloak/cape thing and tan colored pants, his pale-blonde demonic wings folded behind him. The angel Malik is laughing while the demon Marik looks at the hikari with a peaceful smile on his face.

Like the other two’s, Ryou and Bakura’s painting is also of them as an angel and demon. The two stand back to back, angel Ryou’s hands in a prayer position while pure white feathered wings are folded behind him. He’s wearing his blue and white striped shirt and a pair of jeans. The demon Bakura has his arms stretched out in front of him, silver demonic wings unfurled in a protective manor. He’s wearing a bright red cloak with white designs and black pants. On Ryou’s half of the panting is pure, blinding white light and on Bakura’s half is deep, black darkness.

“This is amazing…” Ryou murmurs. “How did he get everything so perfect?”

“I did show him, daddy, and Damian the pictures we all took when we were at the beach, and I’ve sent a few pictures since then.” Tama says, still marveling over how beautiful the paintings are. “And then I e-mailed him with a description of Bakura after I told him how Yume regained her memory. I had no idea he could paint though…”

Malik traces his figure in the painting with his finger. “Funny… it shows our relations with our Darks perfectly.”

“What do you mean?” Yume asks.

“Take Bakura and Ryou for instance,” Malik says. “Ryou shields Bakura from the light and yet gives his Dark an amount of his own pure light. Bakura shields Ryou from the darkness but still gives him his own darkness. It’s a balance between them.” He says.

“And you and Marik trust one another so easily and are completely comfortable with one another.” Tama says. “But mine and Yume’s confuses me.”

“It’s like a mirror image.” Ryou says. “You two are so much alike and at the same time you’re completely different.”

There’s an awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Enough discussing the paintings!” Marik suddenly says. “You’ve got two other presents to open.”

The others look at Marik in surprise and then turn their attention to the last two gifts.

“Lets open the ones from Uncle Kojiro first.” Malik suggests.

The other two agree and then set to work on opening the presents from Tama’s dad. Tama almost cheers when she unwraps an upgrade for her laptop as well as a new trial program her dad is working on. Malik looks puzzled for a moment when he unwraps a camera for his laptop, but then smiles when he reads the note. Ryou’s chocolate brown eyes widen in shock when he sees his gift and reads the note sent with it, and then hastily snaps the box shut and shoves it into his pajama pockets. (2)

They soon move onto the last ones, which are from Damian. Malik got a nice set of daggers, Tama got a pair of special fighting fans (custom made), and Ryou got a pair of sai.

“Damian collects different weapons and trains with them.” Tama explains. “He showed me how to fight using normal fans while I was in the states. He knows Malik has a strange obsession with daggers-”

“Do not.” Malik grumbles.

Tama ignores him. “-but I can’t imagine why he would have gotten you a pair of sai… although I can teach you how to use them if you’d like.”

Bakura eyes the sai in interest while Marik eyes the daggers and Yume looks curiously at the fans.

“If you even think of touching those I will hurt you in some way.” Tama growls.

All three yami’s gulp and look away from the weapons.

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“There we go!” Tama says happily, looking up at the three paintings which are now hanging up in the upstairs hall.

Ryou stands beside her, absent-mindedly wiping his hands off on his jeans. “Looks good.”

“Mmmhmmm.” Tama replies, glancing at her white-haired friend. Something green hanging from the ceiling catches her attentions. ‘Mistletoe?’ A mental image of a grinning Mokuba pops into her head. ‘When I get a hold of that conniving little…’ An idea comes to her mind. ‘… I’m going to thank him.’

“Hey Ryou…?” Tama says, turning and stepping toward him.

Ryou looks at the small girl questioningly.

Almost shyly, Tama leans up on tiptoes and kisses Ryou on the cheek. “Merry Christmas…” She murmurs.

Ryou catches her arm as she tries to walk past and pulls her close. Summoning up all his courage he leans down and gently kisses her. Tama quickly gets rid of her shock and kisses him back, her arms slowly rising to rest on his shoulders. They soon break away, needing air.

“Merry Christmas.” Ryou says breathlessly.

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Tama sneezes and reaches for another tissue. She groans when she realized she’s out and looks over at Ryou, who’s curled up sniffling in the recliner. “Balik!” She yells, sniffing. “Balik! I’m bout of dissues!” She yells.

Malik tiredly walks into the room. “You sound weird.” He informs her.

“By doe!” Tama says. “I deed a dissue.”

“Can’t get it by yourself? Poor you.” Malik says, grabbing a box of tissues off the table. He tosses the box to Tama once he opens it. “You’re welcome.” Malik grumbles when he hears Tama blow her nose. Less than 5 seconds later a used tissue hits Malik in the head. The blonde turns around and glares at his cousin. “I hate you.”

Tama just grabs another tissue and blows her nose.

Malik makes a face.

A week later, Malik is the one sick on the couch with little tissue balls littering the floor.

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I just have to comment on the paintings. Dunno why. I was having a little trouble trying to think of what Kiba could give them and I wanted their to be one mentioned present that was going to be split between the hikari and yami, so I came up the whole paintings thing. This idea partially goes back to when I was ready a couple of YGO stories that were AU's, set with the whole angel/demon thing. I get into roleplaying a bit by myself and that was how Tama and Yume were initially born. The weapons also tie in with the scenario I made up. Tama and Yume both used fans for fighting in it and I gave Ryou a pair of sai. Marik and Malik both used daggers. The weapons will make another appearance later in the story, so it was important I put them in this chapter.
I had the hardest time coming up with the idea for Ryou and Bakura's painting. I needed to find something that suited them and it wasn't helping matters that the Change of Heart card kept popping into my brain. Finally I let my mind drift up and decided to do a 'balance' approach. So, maybe the Change of Heart card actually helped... I think that's all.

(1) Malik's birthday is December 23... I can't believe I almost forgot! Ra, I'm so stupid! I forgot about one of my favorite YGO character's birthdays! (continues on)

(2) The gift Tama's dad sent to Ryou will be reveiled in time. Pocky to anyone who actually can guess what it is, but I was so vague on the subject that I really doubt anyone can figure it out. I never know though... there's some smart readers out there.

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Shiro: Poor Malik, why do I torture him so?

Kitsune: You probably made the few fans you have happy with this one.

Shiro: (glares at Kitsune) 'Few fans I have'?

Bast: Relax, hikari! She doesn't mean anything by it! That would be Kaze.

Kaze: (snorts) I'm surprised the crossbreed has any fans.

Shiro: (twitches) Can I kill her yet?

Kyle: Shiro, we do need Kaze here.

Shiro: I hate you all.

Keitaro: (glomps Shiro) You say it but you don't mean it.

Shiro: (sighs) Too true... 'thank you's' are below...

Q&A
Q: Who are shadowed-dragon and lilac eyed cat?
A: Shadowed-dragon is Tama's screenname and lilac eyed cat is Malik's screenname.

NEXT CHAPTER- Chapter 18: Past Relived
Again, months pass and then spring comes. For spring break, the gang is going to Egypt to see Ishizu and Odion. Now the hikari's must give up the yami's they have come to know and love.