Disclaimer thingy: I do not OWN Yu-gi-oh XD All the characters featured (Cept for Rya since she's a real person :3) belong to their rightful owners of the T.V. show.

The air was chilly, the sky was clear - it was a sign... a very good sign. Winter, and poor Ryou had very little to take a liking to the cold weather it has to offer, but, Bakura didn't seem to mind at all.

Wearing his thick coat like a short bear cub, a little like Randy from the Christmas Story movie, Ryou was nice and cozy looking innocent just as he walked around the frost covered streets of his hometown.

"Come on Ryou it's winter," said Bakura, Ryou's yami.

"You know me as well as I know you of how much I hate winter," replied Ryou just then he gave a squeaky sneeze that made Bakura laugh.

Just then they spotted a group of three teens approaching them from a distance not too far away from their location. It was Yugi Moto along with his friends; Tea, and Joey, they must have been off somewhere. Wearing similar thick leather jackets, Tea wore a orange wet-proof coat.

"Hey Ryou!" Yu-Gi shouted from afar waving his right hand from side to side while looking over to where Ryou was with his normal smile.

Ryou answered back with a wave of his right hand to the right, while keeping his eyes closed with a smile.

When the group was up to arms length, Joey greeted Ryou with a typical noogie on the head. Ryou couldn't help but accept this.

"So what are you doing for Christmas, Ryou?" Asked Tea.

What did he want to do for Christmas was the only thing that remained an obstacle to Ryou, because little was there for him to think about what to get and what to ask for. He pressed his right thumb against his lower lip in deep thought.

"I haven't really thought of one yet, but I'm sure there are some things that I would like to have for this year," he spoke in his polite manner just as he usually does.

"Well there's got to be something we can get you for Christmas," said Yu-Gi looking at Ryou with some concern.

"Well," Ryou began to say cupping his hands together close to his mouth. "It's starting to get cold out, so lets go to the mall shall we?"

Once at the mall, the gang's first stop was at a coffee shop to grab a cup of hot chocolate and perhaps some pastries to go along with it. From being snow white pale, Ryou's face slowly gained some color after drinking his tall hot chocolate with a sigh of relief.

The coffee shop was moderately busy. With some people waiting in line for their orders; some others typing away on their portable computers; others just sitting back to enjoy the warmth of the fireplace.

This felt like home to Ryou, feeling the warmth of the fire flow around him like a hot spring, and the smell of the sweet pine oak burning.

"So," Joey started to speak. "About Christmas, what are we going to get?"

"What do you have in mind, Joey?" Tea looked at him.

"I've been wanting to check out a games shop of course," said Joey with enthusiasm. "It's a boys best friend!"

'Luckily they made the dog a mans best friend' Tea muttered in her thoughts.

But Yu-Gi thought Ryou deserves something better, something he would like and perhaps cherish forever - after all he has been an orphan ever since. And his only family members would be his friends. Even Bakura knew that Ryou deserves something.

When the gang got up to leave the store, something slammed into Ryou causing him to fall backwards.

"I'm sorry, are you okay miss-" when he checked to see who he bumped into, a girl with wonderful brown long hair and sky blue eyes.

He blinked a little, blushing. What was he thinking?

"Sorry miss," he quickly got up, holding his right hand out to her as a gesture to bring her up on her feet,

"Oh it's nothing at all," the girl replied with a smile. "The name's Rya."

Joey gave a low woo sound just before saying, "Ryou's got a date with a girl named 'awesome timing'!"

The two became flushed by Joeys comment, just as when Tea came up and pulled Joey away by his left ear.

"I'm very sorry about that Miss Rya," said Ryou rubbing the back of his head with a smile.

"Oh don't worry at all," said Rya. "And you would be?"

"The name is Ryou Bakura, and it's a pleasure to bump into you - I mean meet you!"

Rya giggled for a moment, the sound that made Ryou's smile widen across his face. Bakura wasn't pleased by this, but Ryou didn't have the means to allow Bakura to interfere.

After spending half the day of shopping, the group of teens had walked out from the mall entrance with an arm full of bags each of them carried.

But at a glance, Ryou saw the same girl he met at the coffee shop, she was looking through a window at a pet shop - smiling? But her eyes looked sad, why? When he told his friends to wait for him, he quickly ran up to Rya.

"Hey," said Rya.

Ryou asked what she was looking at, and when Rya showed him - he could not believe his eyes. There, sitting, cuddled up together; were two wolf like pups, hybrid maybe?

"These are purebred wolves," she said looking through the window, placing her right hand on it.

Why would a pet shop have purebred wolves? Rya explained to Ryou why she was upset about seeing them inside there, and about her friend whom served as a sister to her had been gone for some time.

Ryou frowned a little by the thought of 'friend' ... and just then he felt a strange feeling as if Bakura was trying to tell him something.

"You know," said Bakura. "I may not be a tomb thief or some crud, but like most people would say 'a friend in need is a friend indeed' right?"

"What if I can get them for you," Ryou spoke, not to Bakura, but to Rya.

She gave him a look of surprise but doubt, then she started to laugh a little shaking her head.

"You'd have to be insanely rich to afford these two," she said.

"That's okay, it's not for me anyway..." just as he uttered those words, Rya stopped, no word was said, only silence was heard.

"Why?" Rya finally said.

"Because the spirit of Christmas is to give those who are in need," Ryou smiled.

"But it's a fools game-"

"I may not look like it, but I can buy one for you Rya," Ryou said out loud causing his gang of friends to look at him in surprise.

'Way-to-go kido...' Bakura laughed inside Ryou's mind.

Just then Rya placed her right hand on Ryous cheek, her eyes merely welling up in tears but smiling. "If you can, that would be sweet of you..."

She moved her head toward his, pressing her lips against his left cheek.

'Ryou and Rya, sitting in a tree k.i.s.s- wait, ew!' Bakura began to gag but still in Ryou's mind, but Ryou completely ignored him.

Rya pulled off and started to walk away from Ryou. The boy placed his left hand on the spot Rya had kissed on his cheek, he nearly collapsed on the ground for this was the very first time he had this happen to him.

"Ryou are you okay?" Tea asked.

"Yes, I am fine, thank you," Ryou said then quickly collected himself and started to walk off with his companions.

The sun, now gone allowing the moon to claim its throne in the skies along with the stars. Ryou was in his apartment room with his friends, under the rooms light, they were playing with their cards they purchased from a dollar store.

"So what's this love thing you have going on here?" Yu-Gi asked politely demanding a answer. Placing a Luster Dragon in defense mode sideways, while placing another magic card upside down.

"Well, I don't really think it's love that I'm feeling - but just the feeling that I'm experiencing just seems so... so-"

"Weird?" Tea added, while holding up five cards in her hands, not showing them to anyone of course.

Joey snickered for a moment, but stopping after Tea glared at him.

"I just wish there was a way I can help her," said Ryou.

"Don't worry," Yu-Gi began to speak. "I think I might know someone who can help."

The next morning, the gang went back to the mall, back to the pet shop where Rya was previously at. When Ryou looked through the window, the wolf pups were gone!

'Ra kill me now, save me from his cries,' Bakura muttered.

Just as the door opened, Ryou quickly went up to the store clerk and asked if the pups were still there.

"I'm sorry but those two are for display only," said the clerk.

So he couldn't get what Rya wanted, but a thought came to his mind.

"Oh, Bakura?"

Later that afternoon, Rya, just about to leave her house to go to the mall was stopped when she found a cardboard box poked with holes in the front of her doorway. A small whimper emitted from the packaging, I could not tell you how happy she was to hear that sound.

She quickly but carefully picked up the box and brought it to her kitchen area, opened it hastily, she carried out a small; pure white with ocean blue eyes; healthy Siberian Husky puppy.

There was a note attached to the interior of the box, it had a drawing of a little boy and four other figures, one with spiky white hair. The message read: Merry Christmas to all, and a wonderful new year to come.

~For Rya and Raven