Locket

Suuki: "This one is a Christmas present for "ToBeFree32" from YouTube. Merry Christmas, honey!"

Bakura was sitting in the apartment he and Ryou shared, sulking. Stupid Ryou had gone off with Malik, leaving the former spirit all alone on Christmas Eve.

Not that I care, said spirit told himself for the fifth time in three minutes. Ryou is free to do whatever he wants. He can go off and have sex with a person I can't stand, and leave me alone…I don't care…

But, truth be told, Bakura felt rather lonely. This was not like him, but he wasn't admitting it, anyway.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"I DON'T WANT ANY!" he shouted.

The door opened, and closed.

The hell…? he wondered.

He went to see who it was.

"Oh, and what do YOU want, Ishizu?" he asked, when he saw the woman.

"I figured you were alone tonight, and thought perhaps you might like some company," was her calm reply.

"Well, you thought wrong. Go home and sit around with Reshid and be quiet together."

To the former spirit's immense surprise, the raven-haired woman only smiled slightly.

"I know you're lonely, Bakura."

"How? You don't even have your necklace, anymore!"

"Well, the tear tracks on your face are a clue."

Bakura realized with shock that he actually had been crying. He had cried for the first time in thousands of years.

He felt his face get hot, and he quickly cleaned his face with his sleeve.

Ishizu knew this was a difficult thing for Bakura, accepting that he had human feelings.

"I…brought you something…" she said, trying to change the subject.

The former spirit was glad for the change in topic, and said, "What is it?"

She smiled and pulled a box from behind her back.

"This is a Christmas present for you."

Bakura took the box cautiously, as though it may explode.

"I only give exploding presents to Malik," she joked.

"Is he dead, then, or simply injured?" the snow-haired man asked seriously.

"I…was…joking, Bakura. That was a joke."

"Oh…Shame."

She sweat-dropped, then slapped his hand when he went to open the present.

"What the bloody hell was THAT for?" he demanded.

"It isn't Christmas, yet, is it?"

"Come now! There's only five more minutes!"

"You should be able to wait, in that case," she replied, simply.

Bakura grumbled under his breath, but put the present down under the small artificial tree (Ryou was allergic to the real ones).

While waiting the five minutes, he and Ishizu made small talk, and she seemed to want for the time to pass quickly just as much as he did.

When the clock struck midnight, Bakura grabbed the present, like an eager child.

After tearing off the paper, there was a box, inside that box…was a box, and inside that box…was a half a locket.

"I don't mean to sound unappreciative or anything, but this present is broken," he said blankly.

Ishizu shook her head, and pulled the other half out of her pocket.

She showed him how they went together.

The former spirit felt his face heat up again, when he realized that, when put together, it spelled: "LOVE".

Ishizu kissed his cheek lightly, making him blush even more.

"Merry Christmas, Kura."