Title: Snowball
Author: Broken Music Box
Rating: PG
Summery: Memories are precious. Especially when they are the last thing you have of someone. A/N: This is from Yugi's POV. Slight warning for shounen-ai.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-oh. I merely dabble in the sandbox.

Snowball: Sand in My Shoes.

That one memory stayed with me. Maybe because of what was still to happen, or perhaps because of the fact that it was the one time I was privy to the unveiled emotion between them. But the thing is, it did. It lasted, even though things changed. And I'm sure what I remember is an exact account of what happened.

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The brunette youth's attire was the same as ever. The face that out graduation was held while we were in out uniforms was insignificant. The idea that Seto Kaiba didn't care for the fact was unsurprising. So up turned Seto, trench coat and all. Not uniform. Not at all unsuspected.

Ryou Bakura, however, was neat and tidy, as always. Perfect was the way the supervising adults would see the clothing of the albino as. But he was uncomfortable because it was a formal occasion. From what I knew of my friend, putting him in a single room with lots of people, would, after a while, cause a great deal of pain to anyone standing between him and the door.

The ceremony was over fairly quickly. The look on Kaiba's face when he received his certificate said it wasn't worth his time to be here. The look on Ryou's said he was glad to have made it this far.

After the ceremony, the dancing began. I stonily refused to dance with anyone. Seto Kaiba danced with every one of his rabid fan club within an hour. Ryou was repeatedly dragged out onto the floor by a bright eyed Otogi. I even could have sworn I heard a laugh or two pass between them.

Eventually, Kaiba ran out of people begging to dance with him. He immediately stalked off to a corner and proceeded to glare at anyone who came near him, weather they looked like they were going to try and join him or not. That, incidentally, happened to be the precise time that a very slow number came on- obviously meant for couples.

Otogi had just taken the albino teen hostage on the dance floor again, right before the music changed.

Ryou blushed bright crimson and abruptly tugged his hands out of Otogi's and took several steps backwards. Otogi just smiled shrugged, pouting slightly. This inflicted a great deal of guilt on Ryou, who quickly stammered an apology.

Seto seemed to almost unwillingly start to approach the scarlet albino. Soon enough though, his composure snapped back into place. The CEO walked up and ever so softly tapped Ryou on the shoulder, as though not to hurt him.

Bakura turned slowly and faced him. Even from a distance, you could see the light in his brown eyes change. From completely open, with no shields up, to slightly awkward and a tad curious. With one barrier up, if only to keep himself from melting into Kaiba's arms. Because that's what happened.

Seto Kaiba asked Ryou Bakura to dance with him, in front of the whole graduating class.

The brunette took the pale youth's hands and placed them around his neck, before putting his arms around Ryou's waist and gently pulling him closer. They danced like that, nearly nose to nose, chocolate brown eyes meeting icy blue eyes, which for once didn't seem so icy. It was as if all the frost had melted from Seto Kaiba's being.

The night ended all too quickly for them, I think. As they parted at the doorway, their farewell was a chaste lingering kiss on the lips before they turned away and went in different directions. Perminately.

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They next day, Ryou Bakura was gone.

His disappearance couldn't have been more complete if he had died. If he had died, there would have been a funeral, and we all would have gotten a chance to say goodbye, in a way. The way it panned out, we never got a chance to say goodnight, let alone goodbye.

Kaiba was frantic for about four days. Then he seemed to just give up. All the hope drained from his eyes. seto even asked the gang for help. And me. He was begging by the end of the fourth day. But then it ended. The ice came back.

The reason I remember this? Ryou had become a part of out little world. After being a part of our world for so long, his abrupt departure rocked us all to the core. We had realized that there was much we didn't know him. Ryou was a private person. But still, we never expected this. All I have is the memory of Ryou Bakura and Seto Kaiba dancing with each other- the people they loved.