Silent As The Snow, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

((( A/N: So… Hello there, my lovely readers! … That is, if any of you exist. You see, I did have some faithful followers at some point… but pretty much all of my stories are abandoned, incomplete messes of works, and I've simply lost all desire to continue them. However, I can assure you I will at least make an attempt to finish this one – my obsession with Yu-Gi-Oh! can ensure that. xP

If you've ever seen the movie this story was inspired by, the resemblance will most likely be very obvious; I've done some to make sure the story is recognizably different, but the main events will still be present in some form or another. This isn't to say that this won't be an original take on it… and I think I may just tweak some things. As in, a lot. :D

Thanks for reading, and enjoy! Please review – I appreciate any critique, appraisal, or inquiries! Even something as simple as a smiley face will probably make my day. )))

A melodic humming echoed across the courtyard as flurries of snow drifted down to blanket the earth. A pale, white-haired boy drew in a deep, shuddering breath, momentarily halting his song, and then exhaled, scrunching his face up with delight at the little puff of breath he saw framed in the frigid air. With a smile and a laugh he resumed his song, twirling around in the falling snow that so well matched his pure white locks. For once, the boy was happy, simply enjoying himself out in such lovely weather. Here there were no distractions. There was only him and the pretty white flakes that drifted down to land upon him in small, brief bursts of cold.

"Ryou!"

At the shout, he turned - his brother was calling him, for whatever reason, and ruining his fun. Heaving a sigh, Ryou hurried back towards his house, shivering as the illusion of comfort was lost. It was frigidly cold. The boy found himself pausing on the steps, hesitating at the idea of leaving his temporary sanctuary; even as he did so, the same voice called out again, louder now that he was in closer proximity.

"Ryou!"

Frowning, Ryou opened the door – only to find his brother standing there staring him down, as if the other male had been preparing to set out after him. Bakura was not too much older than Ryou – he was only 19 – and he bore a great resemblance to his sibling, their faces only differing slightly and their hair and eye colors the exact same hue. Bakura wore his hair nearly exactly the same way as Ryou, too – or perhaps Ryou had deliberately set out to style his own hair in a manner similar to his brother's. Either way, they were almost identical; if you had compared two pictures of them at the same age, perhaps they would even be indistinguishable save for their expressions.

"Ryou, where have you been?" his brother demanded, pulling him into the house and slamming the door behind him. "Don't tell me you've been out playing in the snow again, idiot." Ryou had long since grown used to his brother's mask of hostility – he was well aware that it was just Bakura's way of showing that he cared. If he hadn't cared for his sibling, the older teen never would have bothered to show any emotion towards him at all.

"It's time for dinner. Come on and eat." Not one to argue, Ryou simply nodded and followed Bakura into the kitchen, where his brother had set up the round table and two plates of some kind of pasta. In truth, Ryou wasn't very hungry, but he sat down anyway and did his best to at least pick away at some of his meal.

"How was school..?" Bakura inquired as he glanced skeptically at his brother's plate. He had obviously noticed the lack of appetite… Ryou winced at the mention of the place, then forced his expression to return blank, shrugging his shoulders.

"It was fine," he mumbled, not meeting Bakura's eyes. He could feel his sibling's gaze burning into him, suspicious; still, he didn't press the issue any further, simply nodding his head to the near-full plate. "Eat." Ryou did his best to comply, forcing small bites into his mouth. Before anything else could be said, the phone went off; Bakura rose from the table, sending his brother one last scathing glance before going to answer.

Ryou could hear every word spoken, although he sincerely wished that he could not.

"Hello?" came his brother's gruff voice, not muffled in the slightest. The next time he spoke, however, it was quieter, obviously deliberately hushed: "Wait – what? What are -?"

The silence was unbearable as Bakura paused, obviously listening to the other.

"No. I'm not going to talk about this with you right now. Maybe I'm not going to talk about this with you ever, you bitch. We're eating dinner. You –"

Another pause. Ryou held his breath.

"I thought you understood the situation. I am not speaking to you – and Ryou most definitely is not speaking to you. I – no, you – well, I suppose I'll just call my own lawyer, hmm? I'm not afraid of you, lady, and if you – leave us alone! I don't want you anywhere near my brother, do you hear – what?"

Ryou exhaled, realizing that his chest was hurting quite a bit, and closed his eyes.

"… Fine. You know what? Fine. Hope this is as important as you seem to think it is."

The white-haired boy fluttered his brown eyes open and glanced up as his brother reentered the room. He held out the phone to him, his own dark gaze narrowed and sparking with fury.

"She wants to talk to you."

Ryou sighed, reaching for the offered phone. She – his mother – had lost custody of him after his brother had taken his case to the police; she wasn't the most stable person, and she … tended to take her anger out on whoever was the easiest target. For a long time after his father's death, that had been Ryou – before, he had lived with his father, but in the event of his demise he had been sent to live with his mother instead of his then-17 brother. Bakura was old enough to live on his own, they told them, but certainly not mature enough to care for his 13-year-old sibling. Of course, as it turned out, neither was their mother – and Ryou had the scars to prove it.

Still, nonetheless… the white-haired boy found himself forgiving her anyway. He didn't blame her for her actions, not really. She was… confused, unstable – not to be held accountable for her actions. And because of her connections, despite the loss of custody, his mother had walked free after almost 2 years of abuse. Ryou had to admit, that part did bother him – his mother needed help, not to be left to fend for herself.

"Ryou? Hello?" The words made him snap out of his thoughts, eyes widening a fraction.

"Mom..?" he answered softly – hesitantly. He still never knew whether the voice that answered would be sweet or hostile. His mother's moods were highly unpredictable.

"Hi, love. How are you doing? Is school treating you well?" Breathing out a silent sigh of relief, Ryou smiled timidly and ignored the glare he felt on him from his brother.

Staring out of his window, Ryou smiled at the twinkling stars, letting his gaze sweep over the stretch of darkening sky. His eyes flickered briefly to his alarm clock; 9:53 PM. As he glanced back outside, his eyes caught movement in a nearby window. Almost instinctively, Ryou's hands were at his telescope; he peered through it, brown eyes inquisitive, and watched a couple arguing. They seemed to be passionate about whatever subject had drawn them apart, and Ryou found himself biting his lip as he watched them, intrigued. When the subject proved boring, however, the white-haired male let his telescope focus elsewhere.

This time it was a solitary male that he spied upon; his face was familiar, and Ryou realized with a start that this was Marik, one of his brother's friends. Focusing the telescope again, he watched a father and child play briefly before switching his attention back to the couple from earlier.

They looked much less upset now… The taller of the two took a step closer, looking apologetic, and although Ryou could not hear the words he thought perhaps he could understand them anyway. Eventually, they kissed; then the embrace turned more heated, and clothes were ruffled. Ryou could not bring himself to tear his eyes away from the scene – and he froze when a pair of eyes met his (or more, spotted the telescope) and then narrowed. Blushing profusely, he pulled away, but not before he saw the curtains being drawn.

He eased himself back towards the telescope, repositioning it to stare out at the nearby street. What Ryou saw made him jump in surprise. An eerie-looking pair were making their way towards his apartment building, shuffling along in the dark as if it was nothing. It was dark, but not so much so that Ryou couldn't make out their appearances: one of them was an older man, his features marred by age, and he carried all of the luggage himself. He looked to be either a relative or some kind of servant of the other stranger – a boy who looked to be about his age, his spiky hair fascinating in its three colors. The boy's face was innocent and pure, childish, and Ryou felt his breath hitching a little – slightly unnerved by the blank look in his eyes.

As the two made their way to his building, Ryou set down the telescope, leaning out of his window. He had to crane his head to watch them enter the building through the entrance directly beneath them.

Jumping up from his chair by the window, Ryou rushed through the house, thankful of his brother's current absence. The pale boy pressed his face to the door, staring through the peephole.

The pair was making their way past now. Ryou gawked at them as they passed, distorted by the method by which he was viewing them – and then they were gone. Ryou stood in the doorway for a few moments longer, eyes wide. He couldn't stop thinking about what he had seen – and sticking out in his mind were the boy's bare feet.

Didn't he realize it was snowing?

A clear blue pool hovered before his line of vision; the water was undisturbed, calm… tranquil. There was silence. And then – a cloud of crimson spread across the waves, marring their beautiful color. Ripples disturbed the once-peaceful pool, and the red cloud billowed across it.

There was the sound of tearing flesh and gnashing teeth. Suddenly Ryou was staring at eyes – demonic, crimson eyes without a shred of mercy in them. A vicious snarling sounded and a spray of blood covered his vision, and he was screaming, fear freezing his limbs in place, unable to –

Ryou shot up with a gasp, one hand clutching at his chest. As he gradually calmed his frantic breathing, the teen raised a trembling hand to run through his unruly hair. It was just a dream, he thought, somewhere between relieved and repulsed. Ryou pulled himself out of bed and into the shower. After he emerged, he dressed himself for school, grabbed a quick breakfast of an apple as he passed Bakura in the kitchen, and then emerged out into the cold, backpack slung over his back.

"Really?" his teacher asked, shaking his head. "Again, Ryou?"

"I... I'm sick," he stammered back. "I have a note from my brother." No, I don't. Ryou handed his forged note over, biting his lip as he awaited a response. He could tell from the look on his teacher's face that he knew– he knew the note was fake, knew that Ryou was a liar – but with a sigh he handed him it back, frowning.

"Okay. Go sit."

Thankful that his teacher had taken pity on him, Ryou scurried over to the bleachers, sitting down with a small sigh. His brown eyes shifted to stare out at the pool and at his classmates; he could see Daniel and a few of his cronies harassing a girl – Anzu, he thought her name was – in the pool, poking and prodding at her and pulling at her swimsuit. Suddenly Daniel snaked around behind her, and in the next moment he had unclasped her bikini top. Anzu screamed, grabbing at the top before it could fall and holding it in place. Ryou could tell that she was angry; without hesitation, the brown-haired girl had started to shout out in rage.

"Mr. Banner! MR. BANNER!"

Ryou turned away as the teacher came running, unable to watch the scene any longer. He smiled a little despite himself, however; Daniel would finally get what was coming to him. As he raised his head again, Ryou bit back a cry of surprise – Daniel's eyes were on him, narrowed and furious. The white-haired teen tried desperately to hide his fading smile, but he knew it was too late. Daniel had seen, and he was in trouble now.

Ryou attempted to fetch his things from his locker as quickly as possible when it came time to leave. His trembling fingers stumbled as he rushed to pull out his backpack, slamming the locker door – and squeaking when strong arms grabbed him from behind.

"Hey little girl," Daniel laughed darkly, tightening his already-painful grip. Ryou struggled free, spinning and staring at his attacker with fearful eyes. There were two others with him – Ryou recognized one of them, who looked like he'd rather not be there, as Joey Wheeler, who sat next to him in science.

Daniel slapped Ryou across the face then, and he recoiled with a cry of pain. Malicious laughter made the frightened boy shudder, and he glanced back upwards again, breathing a little more unevenly than normal. "Are you a little girl, Ryou? A little fag? I think you are. You didn't seem like you hated it when I grabbed you." Gritting his teeth, Ryou resisted the urge to spit in Daniel's face. So what if he was gay? Hell, his brother was –

Arms were grabbing him, and despite his struggles, Ryou could not for the life of him break free. They wrestled him to the ground, where his chin slammed hard against the tile; tasting blood in his mouth, the pale boy struggled harder and started to scream. A hand covered his mouth before he could get much out. "Hold him down! Yeah, squeal like a pig, you fag!" Daniel was shouting, maniacal, and then he was staring into the other male's smirking face as he leaned down. Hands grabbed at his hair, yanking it painfully, and he held back a sob as Daniel rose back up. When a foot collided hard with his head, Ryou couldn't stop himself any longer; tears spilled down his pale cheeks as his breath hitched in his throat. "Leave me alone..," he moaned painfully and with a great deal of anguish.

"Is he crying?" It was Joey this time, and though Ryou could tell his tone wasn't particularly repulsed or mean-spirited he knew that the other two would take it as such. Daniel chuckled a bit, backing off. "Aww, the little baby is! Did the fag hurt himself? Come on, guys, we don't have to hang around such a girl." Daniel kicked him hard in the side, but Ryou hardly noticed. He was thankful as they left him – lying there alone and broken on the tile floor, sobbing quietly into his hands.

Ryou had bought a pen knife on his way home.

"Squeal! Squeal like a pig! What are you, a girl?" he spat, stabbing forward at his target. Breathing hard and shivering, the unruly-haired boy took a confident step forward, eyes icy. "Are you scared, little girl? Huh?" He lunged for his victim again, driving his knife deep into it – a tree. Ryou yanked the blade back out and then stabbed again, panting – and again, and again, and again. Finally, he pulled back, dropping the knife and sinking to his knees, sobbing as he had been earlier.

A noise from behind him made him quiet. Rising slowly, the pale teen turned to face his approacher.

It was the boy – the boy from earlier. The boy who had just moved in. Wearing nothing but a loose-fitting sweater and a pair of ratty-looking pants (and no shoes, Ryou noted), he stood there, stock still, watching for a long moment before speaking. "What are you doing?" he asked, almost wearily. Ryou blinked.

"Nothing," came the quick reply, muttered and somewhat ashamed. The boy said nothing, so Ryou pressed on; "What are you doing?" He should have expected the answer – "nothing," the stranger echoed, making Ryou wince with something akin to embarrassment. He cleared his throat and glanced away, shifting his feet upon the snow beneath him. "You just moved in, right? I-I'm R—"

"How did you know that?" The response was skeptical, and the boy tilted his head as he spoke it.

"Er, I… I live next door. Right there." He pointed to further explain. The boy simply nodded, eyes blank.

"Just so you know, I can't be your friend," he said abruptly, turning and starting to walk away, up out of the courtyard and towards the apartments.

"…W-what? Why? What d'you mean?" Ryou stammered, brown eyes widening. The boy paused where he was, but did not look back as he answered.

"Do I need a reason? It's just how it is."

And then he was gone, leaving Ryou standing alone in the snow.