A Christmas Carol with Kaiba

Christmas With Nothing

At the last minute they slowed to a graceful stop. Seto's knees buckled of their own accord when his feet hit the ground. They were bare, and the snow was cold.

Yugi chuckled at his cursing about the cold. "I'm sorry. I guess Scrooge has slippers, didn't he?"

And suddenly Seto's grey, flat soled slippers appeared on his feet, warm as though they had been sitting by the fire.

"Uh, thanks."

"No problem. So," Yugi gestured before them with a swish of white sleeve. "This place look familiar?"

"Of course it does," said Seto, "it's the orphanage Mokuba and I lived in before we were adopted."

"Ah, good! I was worried I'd miss, since I've never actually seen this place myself."

Seto wanted to ask about the details to whatever...magic, technology, or rules that Yugi was working by to make all this happen, but a flash of dark distracted him and he looked up to see a tiny, black haired Mokuba pushing through the newly fallen snow, his naked hands tucked deeped into a coat that looked four sizes too big. His grey eyes were alight with wonder, though, and he stepped slowly, so to hear the crunch of the snow beneath his shoe.

Seto felt his breath catch. Yeah. He remembered this day. But he had forgotten how small Mokuba had been. It was hard to remember with the lanky giant he had become before him.

"Mokie!" shouted a high voice from inside the building. A heavy, ugly wooden door was proped open and Seto could just make out a brown head poking through.

"Hey! Here you come!"

And, sure enough, Seto's younger self came trotting out of the building. Even at the young age of eight, Seto had already perfected the icy glare he would use later to freeze all his enemies and annoyances in their place.

"Mokie! You're still sick! Get back inside, right now."

"But, Seto, I wanna build a snowman."

"We can build one when you're better."

"But then the snow will be all dry and crunchy and won't stick."

"Then I'll build you one later, just get back where it's warm."

"I wanna build it!" whined the little Mokuba.

"What's the point to this." asked the older Seto from where he stood with Yugi. Neither of the brothers even glanced in their direction, so he had already assumed they couldn't see him. He had given up trying to explain everything that was happening. It was probably just one of those freaky vivid dreams, and no choice now but to go along with it.

Yugi had a serene smile on his face as he watched the wailing Mokuba being dragged through the snow by Seto. "To remind you of what Christmas use to be for you."

Seto snorted. "Oh, please, it's a holiday and always was. A day in December set aside by Germanic pagans and then adopted by the Christians as the day of Christ's birth. It's all just some strategy of conquering the masses of a country with a varying culture."

Yugi was giving him a strange look. Seto glared at him in return. Their staring contest worked for a total of thirty seconds until Yugi realized they had lost track of the not-yet-Kaiba brothers and went to grab Seto's wrist again. Seto pulled it out of his reach. Oddly super strong he may have become, but the guy was still a shrimp.

"I'll follow, just go."

Together they walked up the poorly cleared sidewalk to the front door and walked in. Yugi looked around in confusion until Seto rolled his eyes and led him up the stairs to the boy's dorm. They passed a large living room full of loud, chattering children on their way.