I decided to put this one before Walk in the Snow for some obvious reasons, like seasons and such...
There is a time gap from the "chapter" before this one. This one takes place about a month and a half later. There will be future time gaps in this story.
I don't own Yugioh. I don't own the adorable Heartshipping couple that is Yugi and Ryou.
A Walk in the Flowers
White Rose in the Meadow
"Hey kid, are you even listening?"
"Huh?" Yugi asked, jumping up from the bench that he had been sitting at. He was sitting on a bench at the park, dazing off into space. It was a quiet, peaceful Saturday afternoon. It was one of Yugi's favorite spots to come and think and sort out stuff. He had been so out of it that he had not realized that someone was talking to him.
"Are you reading that?" the man asked as he pointed to a newspaper that was sitting next to Yugi. An old lady and her dog had been there a moment ago reading the paper. Yugi shook his head and the man took it for himself, opening it up. The headline, "Kaiba Corp's Next Biggest Project, Scheduled to Be Released Soon", glared back at him as the man walked off with the paper. Yugi sighed as he put his head in his hands, trying to remember what he had been thinking about a moment ago. His gaze lingered over to a field of marigolds and roses and tulips that spread out through the park. Domino Park was quite famous for its flower gardens.
He spotted among the red roses something odd. A single white rose. It was slightly shorter than the other red roses, but it was more opened upward toward the sun than the others. He could clearly see the sharp thorns poking out of its sides. How strange for there to be a white rose among red roses. It kind of reminded him of Ryou...
Oh, now he remembered what he had been thinking about a moment ago.
Ryou Bakura.
He had not seen the albino looking teen around school as much as he used to anymore. And he always seemed to show up whenever Yugi's friends were not around, so it always made it hard for Yugi to introduce Bakura to the others. They would mostly just stop to say hello or goodbye if being the case. He never really saw Bakura out at his and his friend's local hangouts, or he could never find him after school, strangely enough. Even now, during the summer, he still never caught sight of Ryou, who should not have been hard to miss because of his white hair. Sometimes Yugi had to smack himself to make sure that Ryou was not an illusion of his mind. His thoughts traced back to the time they had met, about a month or so ago when Yugi had forgotten his umbrella and had to walk home by himself in a heavy rainfall.
But then Bakura showed up with an umbrella to share and the two walked to the Game Shop together. He soon found that Ryou was a very philosophical person, as Ryou told him about his views on rain, especially about how a storm was like an orchestra. Nature's symphony, so to speak. They had promised to meet again another time and maybe walk together again. But that promise had been made a long while ago. Where in the world was he anyway?
Truthfully, Yugi didn't really know anything about Bakura; except that he was from England and that his father was an archeologist who was currently in Egypt uncovering a Pharaoh's tomb. Other then that, he didn't know anything else. Heck, he was pretty sure that Bakura didn't know anything about Yugi either.
"Next time I see Bakura, I got to make sure to really talk to him." he muttered aloud.
"Talk to me about what?"
Yugi nearly face-faulted off the bench at hearing someone coming up behind him. He looked up and found Ryou Bakura's face above his. Ryou came around the back of the bench and pointed next to the empty spot on the bench where the newspaper had been a moment ago.
"Is this seat taken?" he asked politely.
Yugi numbly nodded as Ryou sat down next to him.
"So how are you Yugi-kun?" Bakura asked.
"Fine. You?"
"Same here."
Great, it sounded like forced small talk. So now Yugi turned to face him.
"So how come I haven't been seeing you around school as much as before?" Yugi asked. Ryou shrugged.
"I guess I'm just busy."
"Doing what?"
"Oh you know: Homework, science projects, reading, etc."
"I see." Yugi sighed. Ryou tilted his head slightly.
"Something wrong?"
"N-no! Of course not! I just-just...ahhh..." Yugi stuttered. After a moment, a question came out.
"Hey, want to go for a walk? Here, in the park?" he asked. Ryou smiled before they both stood up.
"I would like that very much." he smiled. The two of them took off through the park along the stone steps, sometimes stopping to look among the various gardens. Sometimes Bakura would point out a particular flower and give a scientific name for it and a small remark about what he thought about it. They soon stopped and sat down on the fountain next to the bed of roses. Yugi had a particular question on his mind.
"Who are you? I mean, that one time we were walking to my house, all we did was talk about the rain. We don't really know each other, do we?" Yugi asked.
"I guess not. So, as you just asked, who are you, Yugi?" Ryou asked, but with a slight laugh.
Yugi couldn't help but laugh as well. "Well, I'm Yugi Mutou. I live with my grandfather and mother at the Game Shop, as you saw. I have four friends: Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Tea Gardner, and now you, Ryou Bakura. I'm into puzzles and Duel Monsters. Now what about you?" Yugi asked at the end of his introduction.
Bakura frowned slightly. "Where is your father?"
"Outside of the city. My father is a business manager of a huge company. My parents are divorced, so I visit him once a month as his office." Yugi explained. Ryou averted his gaze for a moment.
"We're a lot alike Yugi. We both have fathers who aren't around as much as they should be." he muttered. Yugi didn't seem to catch the way his tone had been edged.
"What about you Ryou?"
"My father is in Egypt. We both moved here after a car crash killed Kaa-san and Amaya, my younger sister."
"I'm sorry to hear that Ryou." Yugi frowned.
"It's to be expected." he shrugged.
"I'm sure that your father also feels bad about it too."
Yugi watched as Ryou's face darkened slightly, his eyes narrowing as he stared hard at the ground. It was kind of scary how intense his eyes looked. After a moment, he looked over at the bed of roses. Yugi followed his gaze and saw the same white rose that he had spotted before.
"Roses were Amaya and Kaa-san's favorite flowers. I come here all the time to think about back then and all the things that have happened. In a way, I think that white rose represents me. Stuck in the tide among others trying to sort out all my thoughts before moving on. In a way, you also remind me of a white rose as well Yugi-kun."
"I do?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah."
He didn't elaborate anymore on this, so Yugi instead decided a different approach.
"Ryou?"
"Yes?"
"Can you promise to meet me here some other time? That we can meet up here and hang out? This will be our special place, since we both like coming here to sort out our thoughts and feelings."
Ryou looked away from the white rose, smiling. He squeezed Yugi's hand that had been sitting next to him.
"Ok. I Promise."
He stood up and started walking away. After a moment, he stopped.
"We have a lot more in common than you think, Yugi-kun.", he said without looking back.
He soon left not only the park, but he left Yugi with more questions than answers.
