A/N: This is dedicated to consumedbylove who told me I was going drive her crazy. And I was actually planning to post a little death fic tonight but I figured I shouldn't keep the girl waiting any longer.
"What are you doing landlord?" Bakura asks Ryou who is currently layering himself in sweaters and coats.
"I'm going outside." Ryou grunts while trying to put on his left boot. "Look out the window and please stop calling me landlord. We don't share a body anymore."
Bakura ignores the request and opens the blinds revealing the outside world. A strange white substance covers the land and continues to fall gently from the sky.
"Why is white sand coming from the heavens?" He asks his host.
"It is called snow," Ryou laughs. "And it is harmless."
Though they don't share a body anymore, Bakura still has access to the boy's mind. He looks through settling on memories with the word snow attached. Most images, as Ryou had said, are indeed harmless. There are trees covered in the strange substance and kids racing a carpet down it but Bakura stops and frowns when he reaches an image of the white sand crashing down a mountain like a tsunami. He throws this picture to the front of his host's mind.
"That's an avalanche." Ryou replies. "And yes, it is dangerous but you need meters of it to cause harm. We have a few centimetres at the most."
"I don't want you going out in it."
Ryou sighs in annoyance. When the thief had received his own body, though not particularly what he wanted, the teen had been slightly excited. He would be in control of his own body but Bakura had kept his protective hold on the boy. Ryou has to receive permission to do anything that the spirit of the ring might deem dangerous.
The teen had to fight the control only once. Ryou had explained that since their bodies were know separate, Bakura had no need to worry about harm coming to his host. The reply had been a sharp no and when Ryou ignored and headed towards the door anyway, he discovered that the thief still had the ability to possess his body. Bakura had stayed in control for a week, which left the boy fuming in his soul room.
"Fine. Let me call Yugi and Atem to call it off."
"Wait. The Pharaoh is going be there?"
"Yes," Ryou sees the smirk forming on his other's face and throws an extra pair of snow clothes that happened to be in the closet to him. "Be nice."
Ryou greets his friends in the park with enthusiasm. Although he has never truly been a part of the gang, since the millennium items no longer caused Bakura to be a serious threat to the others, though they still kept a generous distance from the thief, Ryou was able to slowly break through the group's tight wall and began participating in various activities with them.
Bakura glares at the trio animatedly catching up on trivial events. He isn't fond of the pharaoh, in fact he would still like nothing more than to watch his blood spill but he would behave today for his host's sake who was clearly looking forward to the day's events but one of the images in the boy's minds gave Bakura an idea that appealed to the thief.
"You look ridiculous thief." The pharaoh smiles to man glaring in their direction.
Bakura can't deny this. He does look stupid in the heavy layers but Ryou had told him that since he was no longer a spirit, his body was susceptible to the temperatures and if he didn't cover up, his body would be damaged. The clothes made the thief look bulky and like a mascot he was saw selling tires. To finish off the look, he wears a brightly coloured toque on his head that has managed to splay his bangs across his forehead in a ridiculous pattern. In response to the pharaoh, he balls some snow together and aims it at his rival's head. It hits dead centre.
"Remember pharaoh, I can kill you anytime I want." Bakura smirks.
"Just like all the other times you have attempted to kill me and failed?" Atem taunts only to have another ball of snow hit him in the face.
"Bakura…." Ryou tries to start but is shushed with the look his other sends him.
"Two can play at this game thief." Atem throws his own snowball that hits the other former spirit in the shoulder.
The two stare each other down before shouting in unison the word DUEL before starting a snow war.
"They aren't exactly duelling." Yugi looks up to the taller light.
"Just let them be." Ryou sighs and pulls the shorter teen aside to participate in different activities that involve snow.
"I win pharaoh!" Ryou hears the cry from the other end of the field where he does in fact see Atem defeated and Bakura smirking in triumph. "Landlord, we are leaving now."
Ryou smiles and quickly says thank you to Yugi and Atem before running after his dark that has already begun walking down the street. When he catches up, he wants to ask the reason why for the sudden departure but remains silent and lets Bakura bask in his pride over winning against his enemy.
"You're body temperature is dropping." Bakura reads the boys thoughts. "Anymore and you could get hypothermic."
"No it is-." Ryou stops himself as he notices that he is indeed shaking and colder. "So did you have fun?"
"Seeing the look of the pharaoh in defeat is always a pleasure."
"So," the teen decides to take advantage of the good mood the thief is in. "Do you think maybe now you can trust me in the big bad world?"
"No." is Bakura's sharp response.
They walk the rest of the way home in silence. Ryou trails slightly behind, lost in his own thoughts. Once Bakura decides something was his, he rarely lets it out of his sight and it annoys Ryou that he is one of these possessions even after he proved that not every unknown substance was going kill him.
The pair enters the apartment and removes their outer layers in the same silence. Ryou moves to the kettle, starting to prepare tea to warm their bodies. While he is making preparations, he hears his other sit on the couch.
"Landlord, come here."
Ryou sighs and complies, bringing the two cups of tea with him and handing one to Bakura before sitting on the chair opposite.
"Have you ever heard of the quote the world's made of light and darkness, you can't have one without the other?"
The teen nods. It was is a well known and even plastered on a few of his more erratic teacher's walls and his mother used to tell him the same thing when as a child when he asked why bad things happened.
"Do you know why I'm back?" Bakura waits until his host shakes his head. "I made a deal with the gods of the dead. My soul is worth a lot to them."
Ryou stares at Bakura who gestures for him to join him on the couch. He does so and is surprised when he feels the thief, usually only showing sarcastic emotion, wrapping his arms around him and drawing the boy closer to his body.
"I still have things I need to protect. Last time I was only five. I couldn't…." Bakura trails off not bothering to explain his fragmented thoughts. "This time is going be different. I won't fail. Do you understand landlord?"
The light of the pair takes a sip of his drink and tries to piece the information together but draws a blank. He shakes his head again unsure of how to respond properly.
"You can't have one without the other." The thief repeats. "When you die, I will die too except while your soul is granted peace, mine belongs to Ammut who will cast me to hell. I've escaped him before but to be granted my own body and another chance at life, I've agreed to be devoured by the beast without protest."
"What?" Ryou asks in shock to Bakura who tightens his arms around the boy.
"I failed them but I won't you. I'm not going let a cruel fate take you as well. You are mine to protect."
"I understand." Ryou whispers while laying his head against the spirit's chest finally understanding to why the thief was so hesitant to let him go off into a world where he light might be extinguished. Even if it was by harmless snow. If Bakura had sold his soul, the least the teen can do is put his other half's mind at ease by not walking into situations that Bakura deems dangerous. Giving up different activities is nothing to the price the spirit is going have to pay.
"Thank you." Bakura speaks the final words of the night as a comfortable silence takes over the room and the two drift into sleep.
A/N: I tried to write something that didn't have angst leading up too fluff. Instead we seem to have some playing in the snow leading to a small bit of angst leading to a bit of snow. I wanted to write something nice for Ryou for once. This was the result and honestly, it turned out way different than what I had in my head originally but I still like it.
This was inspired by the foot of snow that fell here in one day and I am not exaggerating. I live in Northern Canada so we get A LOT of snow until about April. Better start making my igloo.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it and as always reviews are welcome and loved! I should have a chapter of The Watcher up tomorrow for those wondering.