Ryou walked down one of the many paths in the nearby park. His thick, fur-lined coat did little to break the bone-chilling wind of winter that blew harshly from Shu's* lungs. He just got out of school for the day, and he was on his way home. He had forgotten how cold it was outside, or he would've taken Marik up on his offer to give him a ride home on his motorcycle. A violent shiver swept through his entire body, and he could feel his nose and ears going numb.
The skies were dark with heavy clouds, and Ryou picked up his pace upon seeing this. He didn't want to be caught out in the snow and risk getting sick. He always seemed to fall ill whenever it snowed. Dammit, he thought upon seeing the first snowflakes of the year.
"What's up with this white stuff that comes from the Heavens?" Bakura asked as he floated beside Ryou's jogging form.
"It's called snow, Bakura," Ryou replied with a huff. Not only was he sure that he was going to be sick later, he was sure he was going to get a slight case of frostbite on his ears.
"This didn't exist back in Egypt. Was it created within the past millennia?" Bakura asked curiously. His crimson eyes stared at Ryou as he expected an answer.
"No," Ryou said, ever patient with the spirit of the Ring. "Egypt is too hot for the snow to fall. It's frozen rain." It wasn't snowing as hard as the weather forecast had predicted, and Ryou was glad for that. He shivered again. His teeth were lightly chattering now.
"Is that why you're shivering like that?"
"Yes, Bakura. Snow is cold, and if you were to take over my body right now, you'd be freezing your blood arse off."
"Stop running," Bakura demanded.
"What the bloody Hell for?" Ryou asked. He was suddenly aware of his sudden outburst and looked around quickly before giving Bakura an accentuated look. He was glad that it was so cold, for no one was out to see his conversation with Bakura. Not that they would see the spirit. An embarrassed blush flushed gently across Bakura's pale cheeks as he glared at the trees they were passing.
"I want to watch the snow fall," he admitted after a moment. It then clicked in Ryou's mind that Bakura had never seen, much less heard of, snow. It would be rather obvious that the spirit would be curious, and Ryou facepalmed himself mentally. How could he forget such a simple thing? Ryou's gaze on Bakura softened, and he slowed to a walk. He could take being sick and a slight case of frostbite to satisfy Bakura's rare curiosity about something. The spirit had certainly put him through worse when he was evil and wanted to take over the world.
Ryou turned to watch the snow fall. Somehow the little specks of white contrasted beautifully against the dark blanket of clouds beyond. He decided to voice his thoughts to Bakura. "It's certainly beautiful, eh, Bakura?" he asked the spirit that floated beside him. Ryou could feel the blazing crimson eyes focused on him, but he didn't turn to look.
Bakura's gaze was unwavering as he gazed at his host. Ryou's long white hair danced and twirled enticingly with the frozen flakes. His deep brown eyes watched the sky above with an emotion Bakura couldn't place but longed to see more of. Despite his shivering and thoughts as to how sick he would be, Bakura couldn't agree more with his Hikari. Ryou was just as lovely as the snow, and he would tell him as much. "Not as beautiful at you, yadonushi*."
Ryou's surprised gaze was on him within a second as he tried to process Bakura's words. Did he just call me beautiful? he asked himself. He had stopped walking upon hearing the words. "P-Pardon?" Ryou asked. Could he have heard the spirit wrong? I must have… he thought with wide eyes. Bakura simply smirked, expecting the reaction.
"I said that you are beautiful, Ryou." A shiver shot down Ryou's spine when Bakura purred his name. He could always blame the shiver on the cold should Bakura ever ask about it, but deep down Ryou knew that he was smitten with the spirit. It didn't help that Bakura never spoke his name unless it was in a truthful manner.
"U-Um," Ryou embarrassedly stuttered. "T-Thank you…" he trailed off and looked anywhere but at Bakura. The spirit chuckled before stepping closer to his Hikari. Despite being a spirit, Ryou could feel and see everything Bakura did as if he were really there. Another shiver went down Ryou's spine when Bakura's warm breath ghosted across his icy cheek and neck.
"You're very welcome, yadonushi," Bakura replied with a smirk. He snaked an arm around Ryou's thin shoulders and pulled the boy closer to him. Ryou blushed fiercely at the contact, but he was surprised to find that Bakura was rather warm. He hummed softly in approval and snuggled deeper into Bakura's side. The spirit chuckled. "Find something you like?" he asked in a teasing tone.
"You're warm," came Ryou's simple reply. Bakura smirked, and his grip on Ryou tightened slightly.
"I better get you home if you're so cold," Bakura stated and began to walk forward, forcing Ryou to follow. He did so willingly upon the notion of getting back to his warm apartment. "I know of quite a few activities that will warm you up very quickly." The smirk was evident in his voice as he spoke, and Ryou blushed at the hidden meaning. Yet, Ryou didn't stop the fast pace they were currently walking at. He was positively freezing.
"Why do you have to make everything so dirty? Snow will never be the same now," Ryou complained softly but with humor. He was refusing to meet Bakura's eyes, but his own arm had found its way around Bakura's waist. To anyone else, it would seem as if Ryou was simply holding his arm out weirdly.
"I guess I'll have to keep you content at home whenever it snows," Bakura said with a dark chuckle. Ryou's blush worsened at the meaning. "My beautiful sunoofureeku*."
*Shu is believed to be the Egyptian God of the air and wind.
*Yadonushi is the romaji form of landlord in Japanese.
*Sunoofureeku is the romaji form of snowflake in Japanese.
This took me about two hours to write at around 1 in the morning. I was going through Google and Bing looking at tendershipping images ('cuz what the Hell else do ya do this freakin' early in the morning), and I saw one of Ryou and Bakura being surrounded by snowflakes. The cover is the picture I found btw. This fanfic idea is obviously the result lol. I did research Shu and sunoofureeku, so I have little doubt that those are wrong or incorrectly used. However, if they are, feel free to tell me, and I'll change 'em. :) :)