Paw-Chan here with another one shot. So it's been raining in my town a lot lately, leaving me a bit obsessed with the rain... a bit. So, my imagination produced this little one shot. It's another Young!Ryou fic.

This is dedicated to my best friend, Dark Hearted Goddess, because its her birthday and I'm too poor to afford anything that's not free.

Please enjoy! ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh

Rain

Drip.

Drop.

D-Drip.

Drop.

Splash.

Ryou looked out the window of his and Father's apartment as he yanked a brush through his hair. It was raining outside. It had started as a light drizzle when he was walking home from the bus stop, and only continued steadily into a harsh rain until he was absolutely soaked when he got into the apartment complex.

He had been just about to go up to the apartment when he got home when he had been stopped by the person who handled their mail. Apparently, father had sent him a package from Egypt. Ryou had quickly gathered it up, muttering a quick thanks to the man before quickly hopping up the steps to the apartment. He had dropped the package on the couch before he scurried off to his room to change into dry clothes.

The package was still there too- he wasn't going to open it yet. Ryou was going to wait to do that. Ryou continued to yank the brush through his hair, watching the rain outside. Ryou loved the rain, despite how cold it normally was. He actually preferred the rain to the sun. He just loved how nostalgic it felt.

To Ryou rain was constant. Unlike sunny days, where the sun was able to be hidden behind clouds, rain could never be covered up- it could only stop when there was no more moisture in the clouds over head. The only thing the rain could do was get harder or lighter. Or, in some cases, form a thunderstorm. And, he also loved the unexplainable phenomenon of rain falling from a clear sky with no clouds in sight.

Ryou loved thunderstorms. He loved watching the cool shapes the lightning made as it flashed, and the way the thunder sounded as it roared after the lightning stopped. He was actually hoping that this storm turned into a thunderstorm.

When he was little, back when Mother and Amane were still alive and Father was still around, they'd all sit out on their front porch under shelter from the roof, and watch the storm. Amane would be frightened, but Mother would always get her to laugh by telling her different stories.

Like, how the storm were actually the Gods bowling. The lightning was Zeus making his throw, and the resulting thunder was him getting a strike. Amane had loved that story. And so did Ryou.

It had been raining the day Mother and Amane died. Ryou remembered that day- it had been raining hard. The whole county had been put under a Flash Flood Watch, it had been raining so hard. Thunder had been growling and the electricity had been flickering on and off.

Then Mother and Amane had to leave. Father had been getting home from an archaeological dig that day, and he needed a ride home from the airport. Ryou had been left at home because Mother had deemed him 'old enough' to stay at home alone, but Amane went along with her because Mother felt that Ryou wasn't old enough to look after his younger sister while she was gone. Old enough to stay home, but not old enough to look over his younger sister.

The rain hadn't abated as Mother and Amane waved good bye as they made their way quickly to the car, and it hadn't stopped or slowed any as they disappeared through the wall of rain. Ryou had stayed at the window, watching the rain fall along with the dim silhouettes of lightning flashes behind the rain walls. Even though there had been a TV, Ryou hadn't bothered turning it on to watch. He'd rather watch the rain. Besides- satellite probably wasn't working so there wasn't anything to watch. Besides a movie, but where was the fun of watching a movie if you didn't have anybody to watch it with?

A half an hour had passed. Then an hour. The hour had been quickly followed by a second. The third had been about to pass with the rain still going as fervent as ever when the phone's ringing had drawn Ryou away from the window. As Ryou picked up the phone he had been slightly worried- why weren't Mother, Father, and Amane back yet? Surely it didn't take that long to get to the airport and back. That was, unless they were going slow because of the rain. Yes, that seemed reasonable.

"Bakura Residence," Ryou had said softly into the phone. "Ryou speaking." Ryou had answered the phone Mother had taught him and Amane- their last name followed by who answered the phone.

The person that had been on the other side had asked for Father, and Ryou had responded by telling them that Father wasn't home yet, but if he called later he would most likely get him.

They had then asked what time Father would be back, and Ryou had told them that it depended on when Mother and Amane got back from the airport with him. Ryou had then asked for their name, saying that they could leave a message if they had wanted.

The stunned silence and the response that had been given had not been what Ryou had been expecting. He heard over the phone the exchange of talkers, and then:

"Ryou? This Casey- remember? Your baby sitter?" Of course Ryou had remembered Casey. He and Amane had both loved her. He had also remembered that Casey worked part time at the local hospital. That had been weird- why had the hospital been calling?

"I remember," Ryou's voice had been deathly quiet. What had happened?

"Ryou, there isn't any easy way to tell you this," Casey's voice had been grim, and Ryou had felt a lump rise to his throat. "But… Your mom and Amane got into an awful car crash on the way to the airport. Your mom's gone, but if you want, I can come and pick you up and bring you to see Amane. She's still hanging on- she's a fighter like you." Ryou had nodded dumbly into the phone before realizing that Casey couldn't see him, and had forced his jaws to work.

"Yes… Thank you Casey." Ryou had told the girl, and Ryou heard her say a goodbye, and she had hung up, and Ryou had forced his legs to move, scurrying over to put his sneakers on as well as his jacket.

The rain had begun to let up, and had almost completely stopped by the time Casey's beat up black Chevrolet had pulled up in front of the house. Ryou hadn't wasted any time in darting from the house, door slamming shut behind him and barely a minute after he had left the house he had settled himself into the back seat of Casey's car and they had started their way back to the hospital.

Casey had hauled Ryou at lightning speed through the halls, Ryou not making a sound. Even Ryou had known the severity of the situation, even though Casey hadn't told him anything but his mother had passed away.

If anything, Ryou had wished he had refused Casey's offer to come to the hospital for the spectacle he had seen as he and Casey skidded into the room. He had had just enough time to see the machine next to Amane's bed making a flat green line and make a long mournful beep before Casey had dragged him right back out of the room and had been shouting for a doctor.

The rain had started up again, but not as heavily as before.

The rain had continued as a slow mournful drizzle for the rest of the week, as if it was mirroring Ryou's mood. Shortly after their funeral, Ryou and Father moved to their current home, the apartment. It had rained when they moved as well.

But even though it was rain that caused Mother and Amane to die, Ryou didn't love it any less. If anything, it made Ryou love it even more, out of love for Mother and Amane.

Ryou let out a sigh as he ran the hairbrush through his hair one last time, satisfied that there weren't any knots or tangles in it that would come back to haunt him later. Placing the brush onto the end table, Ryou sat down on the couch and pulled his package onto his lap, hands hovering over it hesitantly.

It was a present from father, but what could it be? Ryou felt a smile tug at his lips as he pondered what it could be- it was probably a book. Father knew he loved books- Ryou loved books just as much as he loved rain, if not just a tiny smidge more.

Carefully, Ryou opened the package, no tear or rip forming on the brown paper.

It was a box.

Ryou opened the box to see a glint of gold underneath white tissue paper. Curious, Ryou moved the tissue paper out of the way. It wasn't a book, but what was it?

It was a gold circle. A gold circle that had five spikes dangling off of the bottom, with what looked to Ryou was a flat pyramid in the middle, and eye at the middle of the pyramid. At the top of the circle was a smaller circle that Ryou assumed was to put some sort of string to wear it.

Smiling, Ryou darted out of the room, pausing only long enough to pick up his hairbrush to drop it off in his bedroom, to return with a thin leather strap. Wrapping it through and around the smaller circle, Ryou made quick work of tying it off and slipping it over his head like a necklace.

There. Now he had something to always remind him of Father, to wear constantly.

Faintly, Ryou heard a door opening then closing, but he shook it off. It was probably just someone down the hall coming home.

Smiling, Ryou turned his attention back to the window.

Oh, how he loved the rain.

The End

Yes, it was Bakura at the end, and yes, Ryou was brushing his hair through the whole thing.

Did you like it? I don't really know that much about Ryou's past except for the basics- His mother and sister died when he was young, moved around alot, Bakura paid rent with dolls, blah, blah, blah...

Please read and review and tell me what you think!

~~Paw-Chan Signing Out~~