Year Three: Nostalgia

Summary: Yami no Yuugi has a love/hate relationship with winter.
Ship/Pairing: Implied Darkshipping (Yami no Bakura x Yami no Yuugi)
Rating: PG (K)
Extra: Ugh, I sadden myself with how late this is. As it's already spring, I decided to work that into the fic, because…well, who am I trying to kid, right? Nobody wants to read about winter in spring.

…And yet you're going to anyway. Mwaha.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! ….yet.


It had finally come. After months of whipping wind, blusterous snow and slick ice the world was starting to reveal a nicer side. The great bellows of wind that made the trees thrash were filled with hints of something warmer, the continuous drip of the icicles and the puddles on the sidewalks all pointed to a single cause: spring was near. And while the joy of being able to go outside without fear of frostbite, and in nothing but a sweater was indeed, joyous, there was a strange sadness.

And so it was that one transfixed spirit found himself staring cheerlessly down at a tuft of squishy brown grass. Around it the snow had turned to slush under the unusually bright glare of the hazy afternoon sun, and the snow that had once covered it was nothing more than a puddle, drowning the tuft. He nudged it with the equally hazy toe of his boot, frowning as it failed to do anything. For as long as Atem had been in this strange new world, he'd never been fond of winter. Sure he didn't bitch about it like the Tomb Robber every year, but that didn't mean he hadn't been equally as upset when the snow had first begun to fall.

"What...is that?" He'd choked out, staring out the window with a sick feeling. He'd been floating along behind Yuugi, as per normal, when he'd chanced a glance outside. Yuugi had come over, curious and slightly concerned for the tone in his friend's voice. Looking up and down, even craning his neck to try and see further down the street he'd seen nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn't anyone outside, but considering the light flurry taking place, it wasn't unusual.

Oh.

Yuugi laughed, "It's only snow."

Yami no Yuugi, as he'd been known at the time, had kept quiet, grunting in response, watching the flakes with rapt focus as they tumbled from the dark sky and were thrown about by the wind.

Yuugi had grinned, "Would you like to see?"

No, not really. His brain had thought, but before his mouth could repeat it he had found himself being drug back inside the puzzle. "Yuugi, wait!" He'd cried, just knowing what his lighter half was up to and wanting no part of it. He did not want to be out there with 'that' going on. In truth, he was frightened. He, the greatest Pharaoh of his time, terrified of some freaky weather, of some white fluff falling from the sky.

...He couldn't deny it.

'Okay, here you go!' Came the floaty, mental voice of Yuugi through his soul room a few minutes later. Of course Yuugi had blocked out all of his darker's complaints and threats, even one panicky admission of fright. So, of course when Yami no Yuugi started to protest again, he was simply ignored and thrust out of the puzzle and into Yuugi's body, his light quickly retreating to his own soul room.

The first thing that hit him, literally, was a blast of angry wind and snow. Before he could even open his eyes, or try to, the biting flecks of frozen water were stinging his cheeks and nose, attacking him! With a surprised cry the mighty pharaoh turned away from the wind and hid his face in his gloves, wiping away the now-melted snow. What the hell!? Yuugi, the little bastard, he must've known how horrible this stuff was, why would he want to submit him to this? Even with his eyes open and his back to the wind, Yami no Yuugi found he felt nothing but contempt for the snow. The biting cold seeped in through his jacket and his mighty crown of hair and the puff-ball hat crammed atop it couldn't keep the chill from his skull. Still, a new experience was a new experience, and he did chance a look around. The sight made him miserable. The sky was heavy and grey, like the buildings and cars, everything seemed bleak and rather desolate; frozen too, as Yami no Yuugi was sure he was the only one crazy enough to be outside.

But not for much longer. The frozen spirit turned back towards the game shop and practically sprinted back inside, flinging the door open and slamming it shut, sending the bell into a frenzy above his head. His whole body tingled and he found that when he scrunched up his nose in distaste it took a moment for the muscles to sink back down into place. Yuugi, who'd apparently been lurking around nearby in his mind questioned unnecessarily, 'So...what did you think?'

Atem touched the tips of his semi-transparent ears, remembering how red and sore they'd been, seeing as Yuugi, in his excitement, had forgotten to cover them (none of his hats could reach his ears through all his hair, you see). Of course he'd left Yuugi to deal with the effects of the cold on his body on his own, having chosen to sulk in his soul room with only the thought of Yami no Bakura suffering as he had to cheer him up.

No, his first experience with winter in Japan hadn't been a nice one, especially seeing as how that year the temperatures reached record lows. Later on, when the snow had set in to a good couple inches deep and the wind had silenced, he'd gone outside again...well, almost. Yuugi had gone outside and Yami no Yuugi had followed in spirit form. Watching as Yuugi chased down the fat, fluffy flakes that simply floated down from above and make angelic spiky-haired shapes on the sidewalk, Yami no Yuugi's hate was replaced with a grudging curiosity. While the flakes simply drifted through his nonreal form, he had still watched with interest as they disappeared through his hand.

When Yuugi's friends had come over later that day to do some snow-related activities in the backyard, like making a rather stout and proportionally-challenged man out of snow, Yami no Yuugi talked with Yami no Bakura.

The white-haired spirit had only appeared upon the rather domestic promise that he'd get to decide what the television showed that evening. Apparently he was sick of all of Ryou's 'womanly' programming choices. Yami no Bakura had joined Yami no Yuugi on the backdoor steps, where they 'sat' and watched the others from a distance.

"So, how is the thief liking the snow?" Yami no Yuugi had questioned with a grin, knowing full well by the disgusted expression on Yami no Bakura's face that snow was the equivalent of baby vomit in his eyes.

"It's ridiculous!" He'd said, putting his hatred of the snow before his dislike of the former pharaoh, "I can't see how having frozen water fall from the sky and smother everything is in anyway a positive contribution to this environment."

Yami no Yuugi hadn't thought about it like that, but now that Yami no Bakura had mentioned it, he couldn't see the point either. But Yami no Bakura wasn't finished yet, "Ryou says that it melts eventually, and some other shit about the weather I didn't really pay attention to. But he said it melts, so it's not permanent..."

There was doubt there; in his voice and Yami no Yuugi picked up on it. "You don't think it will melt?"

The former...current thief snorted, "Why should it? When ice is kept with ice it stays frozen, with all this snow and ice together it should keep itself frozen."

Yami no Yuugi thought for a moment, "But snow melts when it touches something warm, maybe something warm happens to melt it?"

Yami no Bakura turned and looked at the pharaoh incredulously, as if he were the stupidest thing alive, "And what are you expecting, Pharaoh? A giant heater to simply appear and melt everything? Or, even better, everyone in Japan to go outside and breathe on it?"

"Breathe on it?" Yami no Yuugi questioned.

Yami no Bakura made an annoyed sound, "Yes, breathe on it! Your breathe melts it, you know."

"Mmmm." Yami no Yuugi said by way of understanding.

There was a moment of silence, interrupted only by the sounds of the teenagers before them, now throwing the snow at each other, their snow-person now beheaded and forgotten.

"It's strange." Yami no Yuugi said, his ruby eyes skyward.

"No shit." said Yami no Bakura, leaning forward and putting his elbows on his knees to prop up his head.

A breathless Ryou ran over then and informed the spirits they were heading inside. Yami no Bakura disappeared into the ring and Yami no Yuugi took the opportunity to ask Yuugi, who'd come up behind Ryou, "What melts the snow?"

The sun. Atem smiled. The sun melts the snow. When it's behind all the clouds and so far away it can't warm anything, but when drawn in close allowed to shine... He knew this now, but back then it had been a surprising revelation, one he'd been more than happy to rub in Yami no Bakura's face later that evening, when the teens were watching a movie.

Somehow the daytime hang-out had turned into a sleepover, as everyone was sleeping when the credits rolled. Except for the two ancient persons.

Yami no Yuugi and Yami no Bakura were outside again, standing on the steps, their semi-transparent forms almost invisible in the dark. Both were looking up. The clouds were small, thin and moving quickly over the sky, illuminated by a large moon, tinted orange from the city. All in all: simply spectral against the darkness of the nighttime sky. It was eerily quiet for their proximity to the city, and equally still. Both pairs of bright eyes caught the far-away flashing of red and white, a plane, flying amongst the stars.

It had been a long, long moment for the two misplaced spirits, each seemingly lost in his own thoughts. This bit of time, this scenery...it was ethereal. Haunting. Not what either had expected of winter, seeing as how the day was so dingy and sad. Though they couldn't feel the cold, their only sense of touch a faint comfortable warmth, radiating from their hosts' bodies inside, they still felt a chill work its way through them. The light from the moon lanced off the snow, filling the night with an unnatural, natural brightness, making the skeletal trees naught but black silhouettes, scraping at the distant glittering stars.

So this was winter. Familiar, somehow.

"It's strange." stated Yami no Bakura. The pale spirit was practically aglow, his hair mirroring the snow, his eyes like the trees: dark, searching the stars. Personified winter.

"No shit..." muttered Yami no Yuugi, his ruby eyes transfixed on his fellow spirit. With the many colors to his mane of hair, the deep warmth to his eyes and the life of his skin, even as a misty figure, he seemed alien amongst such stark, contrasting things. He just didn't seem to belong.

Atem struggled to recall the details of that night, for they yearned to be remembered, as all beautiful and amazing things do, but found he couldn't. It had been a day of experience and a night of realization. While both he and Akefia were born in the land of the sun, it was only Atem who'd ever felt he belonged there. It was an awkward, curling feeling to sense he'd been there to witness Akefia finding his kinship, there amongst the bright lifelessness that was a winter night.

Recently Atem had found himself more and more accustomed to thinking of himself as summer and Akefia as winter. And as long as he was thinking along these lines he'd place Yuugi in spring and Ryou in fall. For spring brought summer, spring which was lively and new, summer that was long and warm, content and wild still. Fall came before winter, shedding the protective leaves of summer to expose the true nature of trees and bring forth a cooling wind as an entrance for winter, seemingly lifeless and cold, but beautiful and deadly and filled with a strange ethereal energy.

Okay, so it was a little crazy to be thinking of himself and the others in such a way, but Atem couldn't shake the feeling that it somehow fit.

And if that was the case, then this was the end of Yami no Bakura's, of Akefia's season, the end of his shining reign, fading away to allow for the buoyant and jovial season that was...

'Atem, are you going to sulk forever? You don't even like the snow.'

'But the spring is just so squishy and wet...'

'You don't like spring?'

'No, I like spring...'

'I'm sensing a 'but' here..'

'BUT, I have a newfound respect for winter, I suppose.'

'Oh....kay. Well when you're done paying your respects I'd like you to help with the cleaning.'

'How? I'm not tangible, remember?'

'...Don't be stupid, you share my body, remember? So if my body has to clean then you can at least be the one directing it for a while.'

'I suppose.'

'Good! Hurry up then, kay?'

Yuugi's presence faded out of his mind and Atem was left alone.

The scent on the wind was sweet, but Atem couldn't smell it. The icicles above his head dripped steadily, warmed by the sun. The snow seemed to be retreating, though grudgingly, from the earth. Oh spring, as warming and pretty as it was, with its arrival Atem found he could only think of winter, and so miss it yet again, as many winters had come and gone since that first one. Each and every year was different, different amounts of hostility from the winter storms, but always the same beautiful night, sometimes shrouded in clouds, other times fully illuminated by the sky. Always different but ever constant, there was nothing like spring and eventually summer to make you appreciate winter.

Of this, Atem was now familiar.