Title: Thank God
Genre: romance, fluff
Rating: T for language
Pairings: BakuraXRyou
Summary: Several years after finally gaining his own body, Bakura is forced to go back to the afterlife and become the god of winter. But in doing so, he has to leave Ryou. But he is allowed to grant Ryou one wish under the guise of his god form. But Ryou tells Bakura that he doesn't believe in gods, and if they really exist, then he wants Bakura back. What will the others gods do?
Me: Hello, everyone! Thank you all for coming to celebrate my 49th (recently 50th) one-shot! It's not the best, but I tried!
Lucy: We're going to do one with Ryou's family reunion soon!
Me: But I wanted to do this one since it's so close to Thanksgiving, even though this is a Christmas fic. I have always wanted to do another one, so here I go!
Louis: We sincerly hope you guys enjoy this one!
Lucy: Yeah!
Me: Please enjoy our 49th one-shot!
Chapter One: Thank God
[9:56 PM December 24th Domino City, Japan]
December 24th.
Christmas Eve.
For the people of Domino, snow wasn't very common. But for some reason, the god who governs over frozen water decided to give the people of Domino a white coating over their city.
The temperature had dropped a good amount, and everyone was either inside with their lovers or their family, curled up together, watching whatever was on TV, or just sitting with one another.
Bakura Touzoku, however, was sitting in his bedroom that he shared with his hikari, looking out the window.
Lately, the yami had been feeling a tug at the back of his mind, and lately he'd been hearing the gods calling for him. He wasn't sure quite why, but for some reason, they wanted him back.
But he didn't want to return to the afterlife!
Bakura had come to conclusion that he was needed by his hikari's side and nowhere else but! He even yelled at Hathor when she came to take him away one night, but all that did was get him a slap from the goddess of love and childbirth.
Bakura now found himself sitting on the end of the bed, his head in his hands.
He tried thinking of any way to side step the gods, but that only contradicted itself. They were gods. They could stop the flow of time with a snap of their fingers if they willed it.
Bakura sighed and turned towards the other side of the bed. His eyes traveled down the comforter to a young figure laying still and silent under the covers to keep warm.
Bakura frowned and reached over, brushing a stray strand of hair from Ryou's face.
"How can the gods ask me to just leave him like this?" he murmured aloud. As if to give an answer, Ryou groaned softly and shifted, looking uncomfortable before settling down again.
Bakura sighed and stood up, hearing the bed creak slightly.
He had not told Ryou.
He hadn't spoke of his talks with the gods, or the dreams he had been having. Bakura said nothing to his lover about any of it, for fear that Ryou would react in a bad way.
Bakura reached into the closet and put on a black longsleeve shirt, taking out the white snow jacket that Ryou had bought for him a short while back in the day. He took out a purple hat that covered his ears with two long strings dangling from it.
Bakura put on the coat and hat silently, then slipped on a pair of black pants and a pair of purple boots. Once he was all dressed, he turned towards his lover and sighed.
He strode over to the boy carefully, leaned down and kissed him on the cheek quickly, as to not wake him up.
Ryou shifted uncomfortably again before settling, mumbling in is sleep.
Bakura smiled softly, turning towards the door and making his way out into the hallway. He was quick as he made his way down the stairs and down into the living room.
Bakura glanced back to see if Ryou had followed him, which he hadn't.
Bakura sighed and opened the door slowly. He carefully stepped out into the snow covered land, closing the door behind him. He glanced up at the house once again and sighed.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Bakura quickly took off down the snowy sidewalk, heading towards the park. He was there in an instant, and once he entered it, he could feel a dark prescence pushing down on him.
Bakura glanced over and nodded slowly.
"Greetings, my gods," he whispered.
Standing behind Bakura was human-sized versions of Osiris, Ra, Horus, Hathor, and Thoth. Each of them seemed to be giving Bakura a sympathetic look, frowning and trying to make him feel better.
Osiris stepped forward.
"Bakura, I am sorry. But we need a god of winter, and you are the one who has been selected," he told the former thief king.
Bakura nodded slowly and turned to the gods. "Is this it? Will Ryou just awaken and find me gone?" he asked. Osiris nodded. "That's not okay! I can't let him do that! I can't!" Bakura said.
Hathor stepped forward and brushed Bakura's bangs out of his face.
"Dearie, you have no choice," she whispered.
Bakura frowned and lowered his head. "I-I know, but... But I can't just let Ryou wake up and see that I have left!" he said. He could feel tears burning his eyes, but none fell.
Osiris was silent before letting out a small sigh.
"There is something we can do for you, then..." he whispered. Bakura perked up. Osiris smiled sadly. "You can not tell Ryou who you are, but you can grant him one wish," he explained.
Bakura stared at the gods and sighed.
What was he going to do?
[10:43 PM in Domino Park]
Bakura stalked down the snow-covered sidewalk, carefully moving around anything that happened to be in his way. His footprints were not visible in the falling snow, making it seem as if he had never existed.
The gods had changed his appearance.
His hair now fell to his shoulders, and it was a dark purple. It was a wig, but it was pretty convincing, and no one would ever know that it was not his real hair or his real hair color. He was wearing bright red color contacts, and he was dressed in all black.
Bakura stopped and glanced up, spotting someone standing in the middle of the sidewalk with his back to Bakura, standing between two benches on opposite sides from each other.
The person was dressed in a brown coat that came to his knees, a pair of gray jeans, sneakers, and an indigo hat that matched the purple one Bakura had been wearing moments ago.
The person was young, not a day older than seventeen, eighteen at the most, and his white hair stuck out from the back of the hat, falling to the middle of his back. He was looking down at the ground.
'Ryou...' Bakura thought sadly.
He cleared his throat. "Ryou Bakura," he called softly.
Ryou tensed up at the call of his name. Bakura knew that Ryou was very jumpy, especially when he was on the streets all alone. Bakura knew to expect this, since Ryou was often the victim of perverts and lame pick-up attempts because of his feminine appearance.
Ryou slowly glanced over his shoulder, and Bakura could see that his eyes were rimmed with red. Bakura felt his heart constrict, and it was all he could do not to cry with Ryou.
"What do you want?" Ryou asked softly.
Bakura sighed softly. 'I want to hold you and let you know that I am right here, but I can't...' he thought sadly. Putting on a fake smile, Bakura made a reach for the young silverette.
"I am here to grant you a wish," Bakura said quietly.
Ryou was silent for a good few seconds before answering.
"Grant me a wish? And how exactly do you expect to do that?" he asked, his voice soft and depressed. He sounded like he did when Bakura was leaving for the afterlife, only he wasn't sobbing hysterically this time.
He just sounded... dead inside. As if his heart had died.
"I am a god," Bakura said.
Ryou kept his silence again for what felt like hours. The snow was falling softly around him, and Bakura thought he could hear soft sobs coming from his poor little hikari.
"Sorry," Ryou said suddenly. "But I do not believe in the gods, or anything close to a God," he whispered.
Bakura stared at Ryou in disbelief.
'No way! There is just no way that's possible! Ryou's one of the most religious people I know! There's no way that he'd just... surrender his faith like it was nothing to him!' he thought.
"Why?" he asked.
Ryou glanced over, tears leaking down his cheeks. "I can't believe in gods that would do such a thing like this," he whispered. "I can not believe in those who would take 'Kura from me."
Bakura frowned. "Oh, Ryou..." he whispered.
Ryou turned and stared at him with wet eyes. "So, if you truly are a god... No, if there is even such thing as gods, then all I wish is that Bakura will come back to me..." he whispered.
Ignoring whatever Bakura said or did, Ryou took off slowly, keeping his lowered, humming a sad tune under his breath.
Bakura stood and watched as Ryou started to leave, and despite his best efforts to try and dash after him, to reassure the young silverette hikari that he was still here, he couldn't do anything.
"I'm sorry," Bakura whispered under his breath.
Keeping his own head lowered, Bakura turned and made his way back to where the gods were, trying to ignore the tears that streamed from his contact-colored eyes down his cheeks.
Bakura was depressed.
Whenever he thought about being a god, he thought it would be fun.
He had imagined being able to do anything that you wanted without having to worry about being caught, scolded, or anything. He had imagined that it would be fun, having such strong magic.
But he was too depressed to enjoy it.
He had been in the afterlife for only about an hour, and he was already hating it.
He missed Ryou, he missed being in the same house as his hikari, he missed everyone else, and as much as he hated admitting it outloud, he even missed the Pharaoh.
"Bakura?" Ma'at asked, walking next to the new god.
Bakura sighed and glanced away from her. He had long since regained his normal appearance, having removed the wig, the contacts, and the black clothing they had given him.
Ma'at frowned.
"Bakura..." she whispered. She had seen Bakura as her child, in a way, even if he was rude, snapped at her, and always disrespected her and her ways back in ancient Egypt.
Ma'at turned to Osiris and frowned, eyes filled with sorrow.
Osiris glanced over to Hathor, who was the goddess of love. Hathor, like usual, was dressed in thick red ropes, sporting her half animal-half human appearance, staring at Bakura with a frown.
"The poor thing's heartbroken..." Hathor said to Osiris, softly so Bakura couldn't hear.
Osiris glanced over at the new god and sighed. He knew that it was a mistake, but Bakura had been selected, and there really wasn't anything that he could do to change it-
Osiris stopped and smiled softly.
He went to Bakura and placed a hand on his shoulder. Bakura slowly glanced up and locked sad eyes with the god of the afterlife. Osiris flashed Bakura a small grin.
"Perhaps... we don't need a god for winter, after all..." he whispered.
Bakura stared at Osiris in silence, his eyes widening. The silverette yami smiled softly and nodded carefully, not sure of what to say to show his thanks to the god of death.
[11:57 PM in Domino Park]
Ryou glanced at the clock above the fountain in silence.
Christmas was only three minutes away.
Ryou had given up searching for Bakura half an hour ago, and now, he was just standing in the park, watching the clock with tear-filled green eyes, his heart weighing a ton.
"I guess... I'll be all alone this Christmas," Ryou whispered.
The cold ground crunched beneath a pair of familiar boots, but Ryou didn't look up. He knew those strides belonged to someone, but he was not sure who it belonged to.
The crunching stopped just behind him, and Ryou could feel someone's warm breath near the back of his neck.
"I don't think you'll be alone," a voice breathed.
Ryou tensed up and shuddered, his eyes wide in horror. There was just no way. This was just someone's idea of a trick. Ryou shook his head and sobbed softly, not wanting to turn.
Ryou felt the person snake his arms around his waist and draw him against a warm, familiar chest. Ryou shuddered and sobbed quietly, shaking his head slowly, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Ryou?" Bakura (Ryou now knew who he was) asked softly.
Ryou spun around and buried his chest into Bakura's chest. He sobbed softly and wrapped his arms around Bakura's waist, brining him as close as he could, eyes closed.
"Thank God..." he whispered.
Bakura gently wrapped his arms around Ryou, happy that his lover had his faith back. He cradled Ryou as close as he could, keeping his eyes closed, as his lover did.
"I'm right here. Merry Christmas, Ryou..." Bakura breathed.
Me: Yes! The gods allowed Bakura to come back and stay with Ryou!
Lucy: And Ryou believes in God and the other gods as well!
Louis: We think we did a good job on this one shot, because we tried to make it as fluffy and as detailed as we could do! Please let us know how we did, miina!
Lucy: We'd like to know! Thanks for sticking with us through 49 one shots and there are more to come!
Me: So please enjoy them! Please review!
