Chapter 11: A Holiday Homecoming

I had to fight the doctor but I was able to check myself out on Thursday, three weeks and one day after I arrived. I did receive copies of all the tests they ran, especially the CT scans; all the results came back normal, which was a tremendous relief to me. Kawai, Honda and Mutou were there to help me gather my things. I didn't have much to take personally, but medically there was a ton. They had even expected me to purchase a wheelchair. I opted for a rather elegant cane. It had a white dragonhead.

"Kawai-chan, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so late." Yugi looked at his watch. "Do you think you could take me home before you drop off Kaiba?"

"Oh, of course." She replied without even glancing at me. "You're on the way, aren't you?"

The afternoon was cold and snow had fallen recently. Despite being lunchtime during the week, there was no traffic. "Where is everyone? This looks odd." I commented.

"No doubt hiding from the cold." Kawai answered. "Are you boys warm enough back there?"

We actually got lost on the way to Mutou's house. Twice I suggested that she take me home and wander around for as long as she needed without me but she insisted that we were 'almost there'.

"Oh, wait! That's my Grandfather's shop." Mutou announced. It was hard to miss. It had an outrageously gaudy Christmas display. "We should stop and say hello."

"Ok." Kawai agreed readily, much to my surprise and horror. "Just for a moment. I'm sure Seto is tired."

"Yes." I said with as much patience as I could muster. "Seto is very tired."

"You know, if he's open, I need a new duel disk." Honda said.

I looked at him. "I bought you one. Mazaki said it was your birthday or some damn thing." Not that Honda dueled that often to begin with.

"Oh yeah." He seemed to almost panic. "I broke it. Can you just help me find a new one?"

How do you break a duel disk? I waved him off and leaned my head back. "Pick the one with KG on the box."

"Kaiba, come on. Five minutes. Please?" He was actually pleading.

"You know, Mutou-sama was very worried about you." Kawai added helpfully. "I'm sure he'd appreciate knowing that you were home now."

"I can't tell him I'm home because I'm NOT HOME YET!" My voice wasn't strong enough to yell but it was loud enough to get my meaning across.

"Kaiba-san, please." Mutou gave me that pleading, wet sop look of his. "He's my Grandfather. It would be disrespectful if we didn't say hello."

"Fine." Kawai had already pulled into the parking lot. I opened my door before she turned off the engine or I changed my mind. "Let's get this over with."

Honda raced around the car to help me and I tried to push him away but nearly lost my balance in the attempt. Kawai shouldered her purse and then took my other arm.

She brushed her fingers through my hair, licked her thumb and rubbed my cheek with it. "There! Perfect!" I was revolted. "You lost so much weight in the hospital; we'll have to feed you some more before Joey gets home."

We stepped into the shop's doorway.

"SURPRISE!" It sounded like a thousand people screaming at me at once. "MERRY CHRISTMAS, KAIBA!"

"NII-SAMA!" There was a crowd of people but Mokuba launched himself out of the center of the pack. If Honda and Kawai weren't holding me, I would have collapsed painfully and even with their help I could hardly stand. But nothing could have pried my brother from my arms.

"Now, now don't mob the boy all at once!" someone said. "We set up a couch for him over here. You boys, give him a hand. Mokuba, son, come on. Let him breath."

I may have grayed-out for a moment because I didn't remember moving to the couch only being there, with Mokuba beside me.

"What is all this?" I asked as I tried to get my bearings.

"Something called 'Christmas' Prince." I looked up at the voice. Pharaoh had brushed his hair free of Yugi's characteristic spikes and it fell in tri-colored waves just around his shoulders. He was dressed for the season in a long-sleeve billowing green shirt and tight white pants. The shirt had red ruffles at the collar and cuffs and red laces left open to reveal a muscular and smooth chest. The pants left little to the imagination. I wasn't sure if it was another fever or him that was making me hot.

"Tonight's Christmas Eve." Kujaku told me. "Here, it's eggnog. It's really good."

"I don't think..." Kawai began.

"Oh stop fussing like someone's mother!" Honda-sama laughed. "He'll survive a nip or two."

Of my close friends, only Mazaki and Bakura were not there. Even Otogi had shown up. He too, I noticed, had trouble keeping his eyes off the Pharaoh. Several of my classmates, including the whole cheering team were there. They wrote a get-well cheer for me. After enough coaxing, we all went outside into the cold and watched them perform it. It was childishly simple in lyric but included several impressive physical moves.

"When you're back on the team," they told me, "you have to do the final flip there in the center."

"I thought something looked missing." I said shivering but smiling. "I will have to start practicing soon."

We all went back into the store. There was a huge amount of food, of which I ate very little. Ishtaaru Isis and Kawai traded turns smothering me or coaxing some other allegedly wonderful food into my mouth. In between mouthfuls and noise, there were phone calls. Bakura called very briefly. Takahashi-sama sent his regards through his son. The Headmaster called and promised to work with me to make up the time I missed in class rather than force me to attend extra classes.

I did leave to use the facilities. When I came out, Ishtaaru was waiting for me. She handed me a phone. "You have another call."

Clearly someone private. I stepped back into the bathroom and locked the door. "Hello?"

"Oh God!" Anzu sniffed loudly. "Seto? I'm sorry. I was so worried. Are you ok?"

"Yes, Mazaki. I'm fine. Pull yourself together, woman. If you keep this up, I'll fire you."

She laughed through her tears. "You really have to come up with a better threat than that. At this point, I should be threatening to fire you if you don't get well."

"You wouldn't dare fire me."

"Of course not! Oh God, I wish you were here now. I don't know enough! We had a factory shut down for a day because I made a contract for the wrong, oh, I don't even know any more! Noah fixed it. Who is Abdulatem?"

"I have no idea."

"I keep getting messages from him. He says he's your cousin, but Noah doesn't know who he is either. He said he gave you his bear. He's very strange. Don't worry about it; I'll take care of it. That, I know how to handle."

"You can handle the rest too. You'd be shocked how often I simply guessed what to do. How's the stock?"

"Good. We were up at the US close. Holiday sales were very high especially — oddly — in girls 13-16."

"That's not odd." I said as the logic hit me. "That's you; a woman on the board of KaibaGames is fueling sales among girls in the target market. I should have thought of that years ago."

"Oh of all the obvious things!" she huffed. "Hold on, let me make some notes for Katya."

"Who?"

"My secretary."

"Are you at the office?"

"Only for a few more minutes. Your father is having some of us over for dinner and if I'm late again, he'll kill me."

"You were late for dinner with my father?" I chuckled, imagining the moment.

"I'm always late." She sighed. "He invariably picks days when I have far too much scheduled. Ordinarily, he's very understanding, but this time the Russians will be there and he has a contract in the pipeline and — fuck! I just broke a nail." She hissed. "Seto, I love you, but I have got to get off this phone. My makeup's a wreck, I still have to change clothes and now I have to redo my nails. Take care of yourself, ok?"

"I think I should be telling you that."

"I promise, just as soon as you come back, you can have the whole desk back. Oh, Seto!" She stopped me just before I hung up. "Get a hair cut. I'll bet you haven't had one in a month."