Ryou: Oo; Eep. She's lost it.

WSJ: *smirking* HCG? You'll like this chapter. It contains what we've been talking about over e-mail. *wink wink* And to everyone else: If you haven't already, go read High Crystal Guardian's stories Shadow Turned Light and Negative Chaos. They rock, and I'm "borrowing" two of her OCs for use in this chapter. :p

Ryou: *apprehensive* Oh no...

WSJ: ^__^ Oh yes! *snicker* Hey wait, where's Harmony?? (Harmony is my muse for the Tales of the Child of Fate)

Ryou: ....She ran away, remember?

WSJ: *sweatdrop* Oh yes... She's staying with Brood right now. ^^ She should be back later. Anyway, as to who Kale is and what Takeo is... Well... One you'll find out at the end of this fic, but the other won't be reveiled until the next fic in the series.

Ryou: You mean Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophmore?

WSJ: No, I mean Home Sweet Home, which is a fic that will take place during the summer between the freshmen and sophmore years. :p I'll get started on it as soon as YoTU:F is over. Not that that'll be any time soon...

Ryou: *sighs* SJ doesn't own us. She does, however, own Hiro, Gwen, Takeo, Kale, Scott, and various other OCs and villains. Amoura, Yunet, and Lisa are Brood's.

WSJ: *compulsively playing her new computer card program, which has over 400 different Solitare games* Mwahaha! Forget the King of Games! I am the Queen of Sol!!!

Yami: *twitch twitch*

Ryou: ^^; I really need to get her into "Solitare-Addicts Anonomus"....

()()()()()

Yamis of Tokyo U: Freshmen

Chapter 10: When Christmas Rolls Around...

"Huzzah! We're free!!!" Joey and Tristan leaped off the steps of the dorm building happily. "Christmas vacation!"

"Lucky you," Hiro said sourly. "Gwen and Amoura and I get to stay here."

Everyone stopped and looked at the three who were standing a little apart. "Really?" Yugi asked, walking over to them. "How come?"

"There isn't enough time to fly back to California." Gwen said, then glanced at Amoura. "Or France."

"Or Sapporo." Hiro added.

Everyone looked at him in surprise (save Amoura, Gwen, and the yamis, who knew little to nothing of Japanese geography). "Wow, you're from that far north?" Joey asked, whistling through his teeth. "No wonder you can't get home for the holidays."

"That's too bad..." Tea said. "I wish there was some way we could help, but the apartment that mom and dad and I have is way too small for even just the three of us."

"We have a little spare room in the Game Shop," Yami reminded Yugi.

"Hai, but not enough room for all three of them." Yugi said gloomily.

Everyone thought about this, and when Mai announced that she was freezing they all headed inside and thought about it some more in the lounge. Serenity and Kaiba were still around from play rehersal that afternoon, and all of a sudden Malik snapped his fingers and grinned at Mokuba, his expression sweet enough to give anyone cavities. "Oh Kaiba..."

Mokuba blinked, then frowned slightly. "I don't know if Nii-sama would-" He stopped as Ryou kicked him gently in the ankle. Oh yeah, he remembered. Seto was supposed to be dead. The fifteen-year-old's face broke into a grin. It had been a long time since they'd had any guests, and a longer time still since he and Seto had celebrated Christmas.

"I'd love to have you, all three of you, if you'd like."

Yugi pouted slightly. "What, no one wants to stay at the Game Shop with Yami and Granpa and I?"

Everyone fell to arguing as several more people, including but not limited to the Wheeler siblings and Ryou, also offered their homes for Christmas break. Eventually it was agreed that Hiro would stay at the Game Shop, and the two girls would stay at the Kaiba mansion. Mokuba just sat through all this and grinned, his eyes glazing over slightly.

/You awake Nii-sama?/

//Hai. Did I just hear what I thought I heard Mokuba?//

Mokuba frowned slightly. /Nii-sama, it's been a long time since we celebrated anything more then our birthdays! Don't you remember how it used to be?/

Seto's answer was quiet, as he was lost in his own reflections. //Hai Mokuba, I do. Better then you, I'd wager.//

Seto could have only been about nine, Mokuba about four. Gozenboru, their adoptive father, was throwing one of the biggest parties that Domino City had ever seen. Both boys were present, although Mokuba had dropped off to sleep early and had been carried back to bed by one of the many nannies.

But of course Seto, being Gozenboru's pride and joy, had to stay up and be shown off to all his father's rich friends. Not that he really minded. He wouldn't have missed the party if you'd tied him up and stuffed him in the closet.

At the moment he was off to one side, allowing himself to be fussed over by a tall, slender blond woman in her late thirties, trying his best not to yawn in her face.

"Mama,"

Both Seto and the woman looked over to where a girl about thirteen or fourteen was leading a younger girl, about ten, by the hand. They looked a lot alike, and both of them looked like the blond woman too. The older girl had on a sleek blue dress that shimmered in the light, but the younger one looked like a doll dressed up in pink lace and white ribbon. She was doing her best not to look bored, and when she spied Seto her eyes lit up. She pried her hand out of her older sister's and came over.

"Hiya!" she said brightly. "I'm Mai Valentine. You're Mr Kaiba's son, aren't you?"

Seto snickered. "Yeah, I'm Seto. And your name's really stupid!"

Mai's eyes widened, and then narrowed again. "Is that so?" she huffed. "Well, maybe I don't want to talk to you anymore." She turned away, crossing her arms in the supremely indignant way that only little girls can.

"No, I'm sorry!" Seto said hurridly. "I didn't mean it, truly! Want some cake?"

Mai peered at him hopefully. "Cake?"

"Yeah," Seto said. "I'm not tall enough to reach it, but let's go find Pegasus. He'll get it down for us."

"Okay," Mai agreed. "You know Pegasus-kun too?"

Seto blinked at her as they set off through the crowd. "His daddy and my dad are good friends, so I see him every couple weeks when they get together for lunch."

"Ooooh," Mai said, nodding in comprehension. "My sister's in love with him."

Seto oogled at her. "Ew... In love with Pegasus? He's funny and makes my brother Mokuba laugh, but I could never love him!"

Mai giggled. "Silly! Of course not! You're a boy! I'm never going to fall in love."

"Me neither." Seto said. "Love is for babies and old ladies."

Mai giggled again, nodding. "Uh-huh! Are we friends then Seto? Tomodachi?"

Seto thought about this for a moment, then grinned and tugged on her hair. "Tomodachi."

(WSJ: Okay, just one quick note on this section. ^^ If you thought that I was hinting that Mai's sister is/was Cecelia Pegasus, then you'd be right. I've had this little theory for awhile now that she and Mai are sisters or at least cousins. I mean come on! They look practically like twins! Okay, 'nuff rambling. ^^ On with the fic.)

A week later on Christmas Eve, Mai was sitting on her window seat, running a brush through her hair. A small half-smile crept onto her face as she thought about that same night, the night she and Seto Kaiba had met. That had been about a year and a half before Gozenboru had died. "Man," she said out loud to herself. "That was ten years ago, wasn't it? How time flies..."

And, since the death of Gozenboru Kaiba meant the obvious end to any and all the gala parties he threw, the Valentines had picked up the tradition. After all, they were as rich if not richer then old Kaiba had been. In fact...

Mai sighed and put down the brush, crossing the room to fling open the doors of her huge, decrepid old wardrobe, reveiling the ballgown that hung within, pressed and ready for tomorrow night. She sighed again, heavier this time, and sat down on her bed, curling her feet up and under her nightgown.

She was home now, but somehow it didn't feel like it. This room was fit for any princess, but she didn't want it. It had been decorated completely by her mother, whose idea of a girls' room consisted of pink, white, satin, and lots and lots of ruffles. The lamp even had a pink lace shade on it and a ribbon tied around the base, for God's sakes!

The bed was huge, with a frothy pink canopy hung over the top and pink and yellow sheets. The curtains were magenta, and the trimming on the mirror on her dressing table had little fairies crawling all over it. Actually, now that Mai thought of it, her room reminded her of some of the ones in Pegasus's castle only... well, there was no way getting around the word, only pinker. Her mother had a thing for pink.

And there was a fluffy teddy bear perched next to her pillow.

With a pink ribbon around its neck.

Yup, her mother was pink fixated.

The only thing that Mai did like about her room was hanging just across from her, on the wall next to the window. She'd hung it specially so that it was right across from her bed. It was the first thing she saw when she woke up in the morning, and the last thing she saw before going to sleep.

It was a painting that Pegasus had done especially for her just after her sister, his wife, Cecelia had died. It was of a scene from their childhood that Mai had been able to remember well enough for Pegasus to paint. Heck, she was unlikely to ever forget that day, not that she'd want to.

She and Cecelia had been about twelve and eight, respectively, and that day had been thoughroughly fed up with their governess. So they'd escaped from the classroom while she had her back turned and spent the rest of the day leading the poor woman around in circles in the garden maze. At one point she and Cece had fallen into the fountain in the middle, but it was a hot day and their governess was the sort who didn't get mad about things like that, so it didn't really matter.

The scene in the painting was of her and Cece, dripping wet, sitting in the fountain and laughing their heads off while the little stone mermaid on her pillar poured water onto Mai's head.

Mai smiled a bit at the memory. Then her eyes were drawn to the little M.J.P. autograph in the corner of the painting, and her smile faded. Everyone said Pegasus was a monster, and it was true that after Cecelia died he had gone a little crazy (hadn't they all?). But Mai was unable to think of him that way. All she could think about was how sweet and nice he'd been, how chuvanistic, how kind and gentlemanly. He'd really loved Cece, Mai'd always known that. Cecelia had been the light in everyone's life. And once that light had gone out... Well, what was there to live for?

Truth be told, Mai rather thought that Pegasus had taken the easy way out. Insanity... Insanity was easy. It was living that was hard. And mother, Mrs Valentine? She'd become little more then a busy-body shell of what she'd used to be. Mai herself? Well, Mai was still taking it one day at a time.

"Why'd you have to go Cece?" Mai asked no one in particular as she climbed under the covers. "It isn't fair..."

Within minutes she was asleep, one tear on her cheek.

For a moment there was a slight shimmer in the air next to her bed. Fate appeared, her wings swishing gently in the darkness. Two other figures were with her, one next to her and one rather more behind her.

This isn't how it is done. said the... person behind her, the words arriving in the angel-demon's brain without bothering to go through her ears.

"I know," she said. "But you are forgetting, Deathy, that besides being Fate I am a sap for sad stories."

Death made a rumbling sound that was his aproximacation of a polite cough. Nevertheless, there are Rules. She doesn't have an Item! I should be tending to the Tauk's carrier, not following you on some crazy mission. And you should be watching the Child more then ever.

Fate smiled at the black-robed skelital figure. "Isis will keep for one night, and so will Ryou. And I'm afraid you are wrong about the Rules. At least tonight. It's Christmas Eve, and there are no Rules." She turned back to the woman beside her with a kindly smile. "Go on dear."

Cecelia Pegasus stepped forward and leaned over her sister, slipping something under Mai's pillow as she did. Mai stirred as her sister's lips brushed against her cheek, and then sighed. Cece stepped back, a sad smile on her face and she and Fate and Death began to fade away.

"Merry Christmas sis..."

~*~

Even the Elements are given a night off.

War, a big man in a red (or possibly just blood-stained) overcoat was lounging on the couch, gourging himself on buffelo wings. Passion, a skinny young woman in rather skimpy clothes, was watching him in facination. "Tell me, what's the difference between buffelo wings and chicken wings?" War shrugged and went back to eating.

Across the room Hatred laughed. "He doesn't know. He don't know nothin'."

"I'd shut up if I were you." Time advised, kicking back in a lounge chair across from War. "Fate should be back any time."

"Why would I care?" Hatred sneered. "She can't do anything to me."

"No," Desire said, picking up her long purple robes as she stepped over a large puddle of coke under War's chair, "But unlike the rest of us, she would try." Hatred paled at this thought and went back to busily reading his book.

It was a strange sort of gathering. Ryou and Bakura knew that Fate was an actual, real person, and Yugi had once met Time, but none of the rest knew that their Item Elements were actually real. Well, they weren't exactly real. Not in the way most people think of the term. But they were self-aware, and they did breathe and eat (in the case of War, eat a lot). They just couldn't be killed.

The door opened and Fate walked in with Death behind her, and she surveyed the scene with a frown. "Good greif, one night off and we turn the place into a pig-sty..."

"Aw come on Fatey, he won't mind."

Fate glared at Hatred. "Don't call me Fatey. And believe me, Moses always minds."

"Couldn't he just raise his staff and part the filth down the middle?"

Passion's satement was met with general laughter all around, and Fate grinned. "Well, if we're going to trash Moses's apartment, we might as well do it right. Who has the Silly String?"

I believe that is me...

Even Elements get a night off.

~*~

//I can't believe she's invited him to stay the night! Him!! Mr Doom-on-You!!!//

Malik tried to keep a strait face as he sat across the dinner table from Isis and Shaadi and talked to his yami at the same time. /I can. If he's Mr Doom and Gloom, then she's Mrs Doom and Gloom.../

//So what do we do now? And wasn't she having an affair with Kaiba?//

Malik raised an eyebrow and tried not to smirk. /First off, that was years ago. Neither of them were married, so it wasn't technically an affair, and I think Ryou just made that up to freak us all out./

//...Is it an affair if one of them is dead?//

"Malik," Isis said to him with concern. "Are you okay? Your face is all red."

"Just fine onee-san," he said, trying his best not to burst out laughing right there. /I think, Ishtar, the best course of action right now would be to get them under the mistletoe./

//Good idea! .....Malik?//

/Hm?/

//What's mistletoe?//

~*~

Ryou yawned as he slid into bed around midnight. Bakura was already asleep in the next room, and his dad was more then half-asleep too. Ryou, for some reason, had been unable to sleep at all. Maybe it was excitement over Yugi's party tomorrow evening. Yeah, that was it. Of course it was.

The only other times he hadn't been able to sleep like this was right before he got a big vision in the form of a dream. And usually they weren't very good. As Ishtar liked to say, death, destruction, and a bucket of fish.

He blinked sleepily, and then jolted. He could see. Which only meant one thing. He was asleep, and dreaming. But this corridor seemed very familiar. It reminded Ryou of the Shadow Realm, but it wasn't threatening. And besides, in the Shadow Realm he wouldn't be able to see.

There was something farther ahead in the corridor, beckoning to him. He tried to reach out and sence whoever or whatever it was, and another realization slapped him in the face. He couldn't sense. Something was cutting him off from his telepath's abilities.

But whatever was down there didn't seem threatening, and besides, Ryou doubted this dream would end if he just stayed where he was. So he took a deep breath, wrapped his fingers around the cold metal of the Ring for comfort, and started forward.

He'd only taken a couple dozen steps when he came within sight of his objective, and realized why the corridor seemed so bloody familiar. On either side of it were two doors, one carved with the Eye of Horus. They were the doors into hs and Bakura's soulrooms.

And yet... He shouldn't have been able to get to them, because Bakura no longer shared his body. A chilling thought came over Ryou.

Unless this wasn't his mind...

One shadow next to what could for all purposes be called Ryou's soulroom detached itself from the rest and glided forward. Ryou gulped and took a hurried step back as he suddenly felt the prick of a rapier at his neck.

All at once his psychic abilities came rushing back to him, and he picked the other man up in a whirl of force and planted him spread-eagled on the wall of the corridor. The other man let out a grunt and let go of his sword, which landed point-first in the ground and stuck there, vibrating slightly.

Still holding the man to the wall, Ryou bent down to get a look at the sword. He was sure he'd never seen it before, and yet... It was very familiar. The blade was thin, and little more then two feet long. A fencing foil, Ryou realized suddenly. The hand guard was silver and black, and a silver cobra was carved onto the pommel, head reared to strike.

Another shiver went through Ryou, and he slowly turned to look at the man that belonged with the sword.

He was wearing a leather jacket, and underneith he had on baggy pants and a navy blue shirt and boots. His left hand was encased in a black, fingerless fencer's glove. What really surprised Ryou though was the face and hair, and the Ring around his neck.

He let the man gently down to the floor, and for a moment they just stared at each other. Finally Ryou said "You're... you're me..."

"No, I'm not," the other said, brushing off his jacket. "K'so, I didn't know you were that strong. Sorry about that." He pulled the sword out of the ground and put it back in the sheath. Then he turned and held out a hand to Ryou. "I'm Ryou Bakura, but for the sake of simplicity, call me Kawari."

Ryou blinked, then blinked again, and finally took the hand offered. "You're right, you're not me. But yet you are..."

"I can explain." Kawari said, his smile still easy, though his eyes were a bit harder. "There are other realms that run parallel to the ones we know to be true."

"Oh I know that." Ryou said. "I can't be a telepath and not know. So you're the opposite me?"

Now it was Kawari's turn to blink, then he grinned widely. "Actually, I don't think so. I think both of us are opposite reflections on yet another Ryou Bakura, whom I've met. We just reflected in opposite directions from each other."

Ryou nodded slowly. "It makes sence... So why are you here?"

"I'm here because we're in trouble."

"We?"

"You, I mean. All of us. Me." Kawari waved his hands, trying to explain. "There's something weird going on in the Shadow Realm. Kaeru thinks something's out to get us. All of us. All the Ryou Bakuras."

"Kaeru," Ryou said, and the meaning behind the name came easily to his mind. "Your yami. Your version of Bakura."

Kawari nodded. "Hai." he paused. "Just out of curiosity, is your yami really a mortal?"

Now it was Ryou's turn to nod. "He is. But how'd you get in here, or get me here, or whatever? You're not a telepath."

Kawari smiled wryly. "Don't you know? There are no Rules on Christmas Eve."

"But what can I do to help?"

Kawari's eyes bored into his. "We are all Ryou Bakura. We are all of equal strength. But you are stronger still. Only you can drive back the darkness, because it was in your realm that he took shape and formed, and it's your realm he's living in now. We're all holding our own, but we can't last much longer." Kawari hesitated, then shook his head. "There's too many gaps, too many holes. Too many realms in which Ryou Bakura is dead. Too many Ryou-shaped holes with no Ryou-shaped people to step into them." He looked back at Ryou. "Kaeru and I are counting on you." He saluted casually. "Be seein' ya."

And then he was gone, and Ryou was slipping into deeper sleep.

~*~

"WHAAAAAAT????"

Mokuba winced as he stared at the American. "I said we don't celebrate Christmas. Not since Nii-sama died." Not before that, either, he added silently.

"But that's just-just..." Gwen sputtered, "Wrong! You have to celebrate Christmas!"

"Gven," Amoura tapped her on the shoulder. "You are ranting..."

"I don't bloody care if I'm ranting! We are going to bring Christmas to this house! Mokuba, get one of the servents to find a tree. Send someone else for holly. Amoura, get the kitchens up and going! Call Hiro and make him help! Come on Moku', we're going shopping!"

Oh hell, Mokuba and Seto thought in unison as they were dragged out the door by the over-excited Californian, and Seto added //See what you've gotten us into little brother??//

()()()()()

WSJ: :p LOL. That was surprisingly fun to write. ^^ Hope you liked!! *cackles* Oh yes, and I never name anyone without a reason. Someone said they liked the name Rhiannon. Do you know what it means? *cackles again*

Chapter 11: Christmas Day is here! ^^ The Motos host a rough-and-tumble party, where Bakura gets drunk on eggnog. Oh dear. *sweatdrop* And meanwhile, the Valentines are hosting their own party, rather more prim and proper. Of course, Mai's bored out of her mind until she sees someone she never expected. And Malik and Ishtar are still trying to get Isis and Shaadi under the mistletoe. But what happens when Malik gets caught instead?

God bless minna-san!