Eight years had passed since Ryou and Ishizu had met at the frozen lake.
It was well into autumn; the leaves that littered the roads and footpaths were red and gold, and there was a unique crispness in the air that spoke of winter to come.
Winter always made Ryou sad; it brought back memories of Ishizu.
Ryou had only met her once in his life. For a few short hours. But those few hours were a memory he cherished. He remembered every minute of them; every word she had said, every stumble he had made, every time she had caught him, reassured him, told him to keep trying.
She had made a promise to him; they would see each other again someday. They would go skating again. It was a promise that Ryou held to his heart. Everything somehow came back to those words she had uttered before she left him. When he cried, he remembered them; he couldn't cry, because one day, Ishizu would come back.
One day.
Ryou had gone down to the skating rink every day that winter. Waiting. She hadn't said when she would come back, but Ryou knew that she would. And when she did, he would be there waiting for her. Even weeks after they had met, and Ryou knew that she must have gone home, he kept going to the lake. Every day, his day-to-day life – school, friends, family – were simply events between each visit there. He panicked when he was away – what if she came while he wasn't there? What if he never even knew?
When the ice had finally melted and the skating rink had closed, Ryou still went down there each day. Sometimes he would bring his homework and finish it by the lake. Other times he would just sit with his chin on his knees.
It had taken a long time for Ryou to accept that she wasn't coming back any time soon. His daily ventures eventually became weekly, until finally he only came down when he felt sad or lonely.
Now, Ryou was in his final year of high-school and about to start the year's second term. He rarely went to visit the lake.
He would when winter finally came and it froze over again; maybe she would come back again then.
Ryou wished that he could find her somehow, but he had so little to go on; her first name was Ishizu, she had grandparents who lived somewhere nearby, she was currently twenty-one years old and her brother Marik was sixteen.
He didn't even know what she looked like now. He remembered her back then very well; she had been tall and slender, with long black hair and blue eyes. And she had been very pretty.
Ryou uttered a sigh and looked up at the clouds, wondering if, somehow, Ishizu was looking at them too.
He was on his way to school. He grimaced at this thought; it was as though everything got ten times harder every week. Ishizu had been right; school was more fun when you were younger.
Ryou made his way up the stairs leading into the main part of the school. He checked his watch; school didn't start for another half hour still. Since none of his friends usually arrived until five minutes before the first bell, he decided to head to the library to work on an assignment.
Leaving his bag on the racks outside, he picked up the necessary textbook and pushed open the door to the library. He stepped inside.
Only to collide with another boy coming out.
Ryou managed to stop himself from falling at the cost of dropping his textbook. A second later, a yelp of pain told him that his book had landed on the other boy's foot.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Ryou exclaimed, horrified. What if it had hit in the wrong place and broken his toe? "Are you okay?"
The boy he had run into gave a pained smile. "Oh, hi! Don't worry, I'm fine. It was my fault, sorry." He bent to pick up the book, but Ryou didn't miss him using this opportunity to rub his toe. He straightened up and handed the book back. "I'm not used to this whole 'door system' with the in and the out." He gestured to the adjacent library door, which was supposed to be used by the people coming out of the library. "I got mixed up."
Ryou laughed, taking the book back. "Don't worry; it happens to the best of us. The library staff have been trying to get normal glass doors for years. Are you new here?"
The boy, who had blonde hair, tanned skin and looked to be a little younger than Ryou, nodded. "My family just moved here from Egypt."
"Egypt? Wow, then this school must be pretty new to you; I hope you settle in well," Ryou said in a friendly tone, still wondering if the new kid's foot was alright.
"Thanks." The new kid grinned, looking a little more relaxed. "Um, I have to go to the main office; I'll see you around, maybe."
Ryou gave him a friendly smile and waved him off before proceeding into the library.
As with the first days of most terms, this one seemed tediously long, owing to the transition between vacation and school time. Ryou managed to crawl through it by thoughtlessly copying down the notes his teachers gave the class, to review later.
It only took him twenty minutes to walk home on good days. Because of this, Ryou never had to rush in order to make it home. At the end of fifth period, instead of going straight home, he tagged along with his friend Yugi who lived in the opposite direction from the school.
After about five minutes, Ryou decided that he had better head home before his father started to worry. Saying his farewells to Yugi, Ryou turned and headed back in the direction of the school.
His thoughts were on his first day back. He had already been given the task sheet for one assignment, in Biology, and his Ancient History teacher had hinted at another one coming soon. He sighed, shifting his bag on his shoulder. That was just what he didn't need; it was hard enough study for tests without having to worry about assignments as well.
He was passing the school again. School had only finished ten minutes ago; the car park was still full of students being collected, and there was a steady stream of people leaving through the school's various exits. Still with his mind on his school work, he took the short cut through the car park to get to the other side of the school.
He would have walked right past her had it not been for the fly that landed on his cheek as he was passing through the car park. He shook his head, trying to make it fly away.
And his eyes fell on her like a magnet.
By all reason, he shouldn't have recognised her. After eight years, anyone else would have forgotten anything that could have sparked his recognition.
But he was not anyone else; he was Ryou Bakura. And somehow, somehow, this was Ishizu.
She was leaning with her back against the door of a white Suzuki. Her face was turned sideways to him, and her distinctive blue eyes flitted over the throng of students still pouring into the car park. Her long black trailed down her back, with two locks threaded through a series of gold beads that hung down from behind each of her ears.
Ryou wondered if she had been this beautiful the day they had met; he could easily have failed to see it through his young eyes. But he knew that it was impossible for her to have been the same and for him to not have noticed; she had been a thirteen-year-old girl back then. Now, she had grown into a young woman.
For a moment, Ryou couldn't move. She couldn't really be here, could she? It was just too...unbelievable.
And then the initial shock of seeing her – right in front of him, after eight years... – his nerves abandoned him. "Ishizu!"
At the sound of her name, she turned her head to find the owner of the voice. Ryou hesitated for a minute before approaching her. "I- Ishizu?"
They stood opposite each other for a moment without saying a word. Ishizu looked a little bewildered – friendly, but bewildered. Finally, she spoke. "Yes? I...I'm sorry, have we met?"
Ryou felt his heart fall right down to his knees. She didn't remember him? "It's me, Ryou Bakura."
Ryou searched her face, hoping to see some flicker of recognition there. When nothing came, he continued hastily. "F- from the ice skating rink."
Still nothing. Ryou pressed on. "Eight years ago...we met down at the ice skating rink...I was nine and you were thirteen. I was having trouble skating and you helped me."
Ishizu looked confused, and Ryou began to get desperate. "I was having trouble with balancing on my skates. And you showed me what I was doing wrong..."
"Oh..." Ishizu still looked confused. "I...I'm sorry, I don't remember it."
For a second, everything around him – the car park, the other students, the school – spun around like water running into a drainpipe. She didn't remember. She, Ishizu, didn't remember him. "Oh."
He would have been contented to leave his words at that, but she was still looking at him as though she expected him to say more. "Oh," he repeated. "I see. Well, it was quite a while ago..."
"I did come to live here for a few weeks, eight years ago," she said hastily, seeing that he was upset.
Ryou nodded. "You and your brother were staying with your grandparents."
She looked surprised. "That's right; we were!" She smiled. A smile that Ryou had played over in his head a thousand times. "I guess you must have been then."
Ryou was spared from having to think of something else to say by the arrival of the Egyptian transfer student from the library.
"Sorry for taking so long, sis!" he exclaimed, before he noticed Ryou there, talking to Ishizu. He stopped. "Oh, hi."
Ryou stared at him. He was Marik? Ishizu's little brother? He had only seen Marik for a moment eight years ago; he could hardly even remember what he had looked like. However, seeing Marik now and knowing who he was, he couldn't believe he hadn't compared him to the little blonde boy in his memory. Her brother was right there – we spoke! And I didn't even know!
"Marik," Ishizu said. "This is Ryou Bakura; he says we met each other when we stayed here eight years ago. Remember? With Gedo and Teta."
Marik nodded, and addressed Ryou. "We met this morning, didn't we? I never got to introduce myself; I'm Marik Ishtar."
Despite the fact that Ishizu had just introduced him, Ryou forced a smile and said, "I'm Ryou Bakura."
"So you've met Ishizu, huh?" he asked. "That's pretty cool; this sure is a small world."
Ryou nodded, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward.
"Well, I guess we'd better go," Ishizu said. "It was nice meeting you, Bakura – seeing you again, that is." She smiled at him.
"Y- yeah." Ryou nodded vigorously.
Marik proceeded to dump his bag in the boot of the Suzuki. "I'll see you tomorrow, Ryou!" he said, grinning as he got into the car.
Giving Ryou a final wave, Ishizu opened the door of the driver's side.
"Um, wait!" he blurted out.
Ishizu paused from getting into the car. "What is it, Bakura?"
Ryou froze, suddenly wondering why he had spoken. "…I'll see you around?"
Ishizu looked confused by this question for a second, but then smiled and nodded. "I'm sure you will."
Ryou watched the Suzuki pull away, before turning and heading towards home again. As soon as he was sure he was out of their eyeshot, he broke into a run.
His mind was in tatters. He didn't know what he needed to think first. He lingered on Ishizu's parting words. I'm sure you will. She had said something like that to him before. And she had been right.
He couldn't believe that she was really here! After eight years of waiting for her to come back, she really had.
But not for him. She didn't even remember him.
Ryou felt like an idiot. He had spent eight years wondering when she was finally going to return, and it hadn't even occurred to him that when she did, she would have no idea who he was.
He felt his heart lurch as he remembered that day. The winter when he was nine years old. He had never met someone who would care enough about a complete stranger that she would try so hard to help him. Ryou had nothing he could have given her as thanks, but she had done it anyway.
He hadn't thought it until many years later, but people like that were few and far between. Ishizu was truly one of a kind.
I'll catch you if you fall…I'm glad you came here… Ryou felt his eyes burn at the memory. We'll go skating again sometime. That's a promise.
Those words had held him on his feet ever since that day. Those words had held up the sky. Those words had been the sun, the moon and the stars. How could she possibly have forgotten?
His running had paid off in time saved; eight minutes after he left the school, he was running up to his front door.
Thanks for reading :D I know this pairing isn't the most popular, but I really like it :')
According to Yahoo! Answers, 'Gedo' and 'Teta' are what some Egyptian people call their grandparents. I don't know this for sure, but it isn't really that important :/
Anyway, please review :D
~IA