Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Sugarplums ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Nai watashi no mono, or something like that.

A/N: Aw, a little bit of Christmas cheer :) FEAR THE FLUFF! XD... For some reason I was actually compelled to write this way back in August - I honestly don't remember why - but I thought I'd wait to post it around Christmas... Reason being, I was afraid it might seem lame unless everybody was in a really sappy mood to begin with... (sweatdrop) Nah, it's not that bad, honest. And even if it is, it's short! That means you won't have to suffer too much! LOL, enjoy...

Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooX

All through the house, not a creature...

Well, actually, creatures might very well have been stirring. It was only late afternoon, after all. At the very least, he was sure the servants were scurrying about. They must be making a feast right now, a complicated process of creating something that was nearly perfect, but could still be surpassed tomorrow. It wouldn't do, after all, for the Christmas Eve dinner to be better than the Christmas dinner. And Mokuba might be there, getting underfoot and generally causing chaos. But he might be at a friend's place. Seto Kaiba couldn't be sure, of course, because he was at work. He felt like he barely knew the boy any more... not that that was anyone's fault but his.

Well, he was very busy, he reasoned. He had a company to run... Not to mention someone to avoid, a sinister and entirely evil part of him sniggered. There were documents to be signed, employees to be fired or hired... people to avoid... A big merger to contemplate, eating the smaller company alive as it were... and a certain someone that had to be avoided at all costs... And... and...

And had he mentioned that there was someone he was trying to avoid?

Evil, pure evil. Why couldn't he concentrate? Kaiba lay his plain brunette head on his desk, and thought about how must prettier that person's hair was... Argh!

One large section of Kaiba's office wall was dedicated to a window made of one-sided glass, so that he could behold without being beheld. He looked out it now, across a small sea of workers. There were less than usual, he noted, though of course he already knew this. Many of the people were taking Christmas and as many days as they could get before and after off. He considered it a bit of a waste, though as soon as he thought that he recalled a certain Christmas classic and flinched. Was he really getting that bad?

Well, let's review. He was at work on Christmas Eve, one hundred percent voluntarily. There was a large chance he would come in tomorrow, at least for a few hours. He didn't even know where his own little brother was. So, yeah, actually.

But what was an idiot to do? It was all his fault, that... that spiky-haired little midget spirit... And he absolutely couldn't give in. He couldn't give an inch; he just had to keep hoping he would get over it, somehow come to his senses, and be able to get on with his life as planned. Yeah. Get on with his life without any humiliation on his part. He was beginning to wonder whether he could pull it off.

Because Yami was, after all, perfect. He challenged him, infuriated him, pushed him to his uppermost limit... an experience hard to come by when you were this intelligent... and at the end of it all he still won, and Kaiba could swear he was smirking. Somehow, in a tiny little corner in the back of his mind, he couldn't just pretend to think Yugi had some sort of multiple personality disorder. When he saw that smirk, he had to believe he was in the presence of royalty. He was beautiful, really he was.

...

And, uh-oh, he was indulging again...

He picked his head up off the desk and ran a hand through his hair in utter frustration. He was thinking about him again! He wasn't supposed to be doing that; no, bad. Why was he having so much trouble lately? It was this damned Christmas thing; it was seeping into his brain and making him wish for... for something... for company, he supposed. Making him wish that window wasn't one-sided. Making him wish that maybe he wasn't quite so proud.

He wondered vaguely what it would be like to be with Yami right now. If his groupies found out then Jou in particular would mock him no end, which certainly didn't make for good incentive. But might it not be worth it, in the morning, to wake up and see his obsession laying next to him? Perhaps he could ask him to wear black silk pajamas... or nothing at all... Wait, no, nothing at all except handcuffs...

He sat bolt upright, somewhat flushed, suddenly rather glad after all that the window was one-sided.

This was not good. This could not go on. But, again, what was he supposed to do? He would never be able to give in, even if he wanted to... unless maybe if Yami made the first move... No! Over his dead body! So, yeah. But maybe if he just indulged a tiny little bit? Just a little something, and then he would get back to work, honest he would.

This felt suspiciously like cracking. But it wasn't, he was sure. It was kind of embarrassing, too, but nobody would know. So it was settled, then. He would get Yami a Christmas present.

Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooX

So here he was now, discovering for the first time the agonies of trying to get a present for someone who you didn't know nearly as well as you ought to.

An hour ago, he had done the unthinkable and left work early. And he had spent an hour immersing himself in the malls and corner stores and snow and Christmas trees and gaudily wrapped boxes and people, people, people. It was shameful that so many people were this late in getting all their presents. Though he supposed, on second thought, that some of them were probably trying to get food too; ah, to be this used to having servants... But he was currently experiencing a much worse difficulty than having forgotten to purchase the cranberry. After an hour, he still had no idea what to get his little crush.

It had to be perfect. This was the only time he had any intentions of indulging. It had to say, `I love you', without giving any hint whatsoever of who it was from. He wanted Yami to think it was probably from some bespectacled, nervous girl in the back of the class. He most certainly wasn't hoping this might give Yami the push he needed, no, not at all.

This was easier said than done. He now stood on the corner of the street, letting the snow and happy, chattering people flow around him, and thought about giving up. Everyone seemed to have a certain glow around him that he just couldn't fathom. A young couple holding hands across the street made him feel most peculiar inside. Did he really think he had the slightest chance at something like that? Not in a million years, if he kept acting like this...

Then he lifted his eyes and noticed the shop behind the couple. It was... a florist. So unusual, to see flowers blooming in the middle of winter. The miracles of modern science and so on, blah blah. There was a large display of roses in the front window. He couldn't help but walk over.

As he entered the store, he shivered a little and dusted snow off his coat. It was much warmer in here; highly appreciated. The salesman shot him a wide grin and bustled over.

"So, what'll it be mister?" he asked, all the while sizing him up. "Flowers? Candies? This for a family member, or maybe a young lady?"

Kaiba shifted uncomfortably. "Um..." Had he just said um? There had to be a school that taught these people to be so pushy, he swore. His eyes darted to the display of roses at the window again, and he pulled himself together a bit. "I'd like a single rose. Make it from anonymous."

The salesman's grin, if possible, widened. "Ah, trying to impress a new woman, eh? Very romantic. But may I suggest a bouquet? It might go over better. A dozen roses, great deal, go on."

He offered one of his patented glares, and the man backed off a little. His glares, Kaiba reflected, had this way of making people realized just how tall he was... "Just one, thanks." He was already going overboard as it was, after all.

So the man got a rose, and Kaiba told him the location of the game shop. "And who exactly should I address it to?" he asked.

"Yami Yugi." Was he really doing this?

"And it's to be from anonymous, you said... Any message you would like to include?"

He hesitated, and his mouth twisted into an ironic smile. It was only the seasonal spirit, after all, that was pushing him to do this... "Just make it `Merry Christmas'."

Xoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooX

Yami chuckled, watching as Jonouchi and Ryou dueled. Jou was in for it now; Ryou's face-down monster was most likely... Yes, Morphing Jar; how many time would the poor blonde fall for that one?

The whole gang was gathered in the games shop's back room after dinner, examining their new Christmas presents. They had decided to exchange gifts among themselves today, since most of them would probably want to spend Christmas day with their families. Yugi had given Jou some new cards, which he was determined to try out. Sadly, he was still struggling against Ryou...

Yami had decided that he most definitely liked this holiday. The pine tree covered in decorations looked splendid, and smelled better. For dinner they had eaten turkey and other delicious things, and Yami had discovered the highly disturbing tradition of lighting pudding on fire. It still tasted good, though. And afterwards they had exchanged gifts. His attention was divided between the duel going on on the floor and watching his hikari playing his new video game he'd gotten form Anzu. She had also given both of them matching sweaters, blushing a little as she said they ought to wear something besides skin-tight leather once in a while. It was cute how she was so obviously smitten with little Yugi; he had every intention of testing the rumored abilities of mistletoe on the two of them before the night was through...

Though he had to admit, watching her watching his hikari out of the corner of her eye made him feel a bit strange. Pathetic. Nearly everybody else in this room had some sort of love interest. Jou had Mai, Anzu had Yugi, and Honda and Otogi had Shizuka. But he... Well, perhaps he should just say that he had a love interest, most certainly, but it was a bit more hopeless than theirs...

He couldn't help but wonder what the poor fool was doing right now. He most assuredly wasn't surrounded by friends like this. Did he realize what he was missing? Yami sincerely hoped Kaiba was at least home with Mokuba right now, but from what he'd been hearing from the younger boy he didn't think so. It seemed that the CEO had been spending far too much time being a CEO and not nearly enough being an older brother lately. In Yami's opinion he didn't spend nearly enough time being anything remotely human, ever. Which was a real pity, because he thought Kaiba made a good human...

It was so hard to see past that mask. Few people did. The best sign he had that Kaiba had a pulse at all was the way he cared for his little brother. He nearly lost his life to try and save him, back in Duelist Kingdom. But lately he'd been neglecting even him. Yami was starting to seriously worry about him. Had his loss at Battle City scarred him that much? Perhaps he shouldn't be so hard on him... But how else was he supposed to learn?

Yugi had finished his game without the pharaoh even noticing, and was now staring at him with a mildly worried expression. "Are you okay, Yami?"

He blinked, and realized he'd been frowning. "Oh... I'm fine, don't worry." And he smiled, feeling strangely pained.

Just then, Yugi's jii-san entered the room, still slightly dusted with snow. "Yami, something just came for you," the old man said, grinning disturbingly. "It looks like you've got yourself a secret admirer..."

He gaped down at what was handed to him. Someone was... sending him roses? What? Well, wasn't that alarming... Everybody crowded around, appearing to be as shocked as he was. "Hey, there's a tag!" Honda pointed out, smirking.

As if just getting a rose wasn't bizarre enough... The tag said simply, `To Yami Yugi, Merry Christmas, Anonymous.' He stared at it for a moment, then did a double take.

Yami Yugi... Hold on. Who, besides from people that wanted to kill him, would call him that? Anyone from school would have called him `Yami Mouto.' He took a quick look around the room just to be sure, but everyone looked completely innocent. Could it be, then? No, he was jumping to conclusions, had to be... But the more he though about it...

Visions sweeter than sugarplums danced through his head.

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A/N: Now if that ain't a sappy ending, I don't know what is... (grin) I wonder if this really needed a PG-13 rating? There was only one mildly bad word in the whole thing; what I was really worried about was the coughhandcuffscough... What can I say; I'm paranoid. (sweatdrop) Review onegai???