This is a "spur-of-the-moment-while-I'm-sick-with-a-flu-like-illness" kind of story. Hope you enjoy it. ^_~

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the fluffiness! I swear!! ^^;

~*~Christmas Eve, Domino city park~*~

It was almost Christmas. The Christmas of the year that the world almost ended. Many things had happened since Battle City. Like the certain Malik Ishtal hadn't left like everyone thought he would. Most thought he'd run away. But he didn't. He stood by and faced the people who hate him, who criticize him...who want him dead.

The snow was now falling in thick sheets, almost blinding in its pure white radiance. The trees have been long dead, waiting for the first signs of spring to start a new life once more.

I jump slightly, startled, as someone is suddenly next to me, and saying something. "What?" I ask and turn, only to meet the violet eyes of the one who had stayed. "Malik..." I breathed. The warm steam spouted from my lips as though I could breathe fire.

He grinned at me and turned to face the scenery of the public park. The fountain had been drained so it wouldn't freeze over and ruin the stone that held in the water. Everything was white, and although the street was plowed; no one was out. "Nothing," he says, and I turn to him, perplexed before I remember that I had asked him what he had said earlier.

"Oh," I say back and then turn to look at the powdery ground. I pull my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them; my thick winter coat rustling slightly as I do so. I turn to look at him sitting beside me. For the first time, I notice that he is wearing only a thin jacket and black pants. "Aren't you cold?" I ask, wondering how someone from Egypt could possibly stand this weather in something like that.

He nods and readjusts himself on the bench we're on to make himself more comfortable. He stands out perfectly against the white of the season, skin a deep almond.

My ears and nose are stinging from the air, and the dryness of it was beginning to make my throat slightly sore...But I just couldn't bring myself to break away from the beauty of this place.

"What are you doing out here in this weather? Shouldn't you be with your family? It is almost Christmas, after all." I ask him, just trying to start a conversation with him--not that the silence we were in was uncomfortable or anything, I just wanted to talk.

He sighs. "Isis kicked me out of the apartment. She's decorating and after I accidentally knocked over a candle, well, she hasn't been so keen to let me help her." He states, shrugging and then turning his hypnotic violet eyes toward me. "Now why don't you answer it?" he asks.

I turn my eyes away and rest my tired head on my knees. "My father isn't home. He wanted to be; he just didn't make it. And, the sight of snow...It just calms me..." I reply.

I can see him nod and turn back to facing the dried up fountain once more out of the corner of my eye. We both continue to sit quietly. My mind begins to wander. I'm slightly cold right now, and I'm wearing a jacket and a coat, complete with gloves and two pairs of pants. Though, I do get cold easily...

"Are you sure you aren't cold?" I ask him again, moving my head to where it was still laying on my knees, but turned to the side so I could face him. He shrugs and turns to me, moving his legs so he was sitting with one knee over the other, resting his left hand on them and the other hand on the bench to help keep balance.

"Why are you so concerned for my comfort?" he asks, but not with any malice in his voice, just curiosity.

I shrug and burrow my burning face into my arms' warmth, closing my eyes. "I'm just curious...I get cold easily and you're wearing close-to-nothing compared to me..." I say and open my eyes to look at him.

His face stays the same as he nods and goes back to his former position. I continue to stare at him, watching as the wind blows softly through his hair and how he closes his eyes to keep from shivering. I frown. Taking off my gloves quietly, I hand them to him. He turns and stares down at them. "You sure?" he asks. I nod. "Thank you," he says kindly and takes them, gently slipping them on his hands and wriggling his fingers to get them on fully.

We're both quiet for a while, until he begins; "What do you think about winter?" he asks, not taking his eyes off of the darkened and cloudy sky.

"Well," I start, resting my head back on my knees and into the warmth of my arms. "I think that winter is the time for new life. To be able to start a new one, without ever having to look back at the old; just as the plants do. They're killed off, yes, but then they have a new chance to grow, to begin life once more, no concerns for the one it left behind with the snow." I state, letting him in on some of my own insight. He nods, eyes distant as he listens to me continue.

"And also..." I start off once more, but unsure of how to state this. "I believe it's a plain view of nature's own yin in yang. Light in dark." I say, and can feel him looking at me even though I have closed my eyes. "In the summer, the sun is almost always shining, but it makes shadows. The dark in the light. But in winter...In winter it becomes the opposite. Now the sky is the dark and the ground is the light. The light in the dark." I say and open my eyes, looking at the snow beneath us. It looks as if it's glowing in its very essence. "And that light can always survive, no matter how dark it may seem and vice versa." I finish.

We are both quiet once more. "You're a very philosophical person." he says and moves so he's next to me. I look up into his eyes as he stares down into mine.

After a few seconds, he asks; "Are you sure -you're- not cold?" mirroring my own words.

"I am a little." I state, and he pulls me against himself, wrapping his arms around me. I smile and look up as he rests his head on the top of my hair.

"There. Now we can keep each other warm." He says quietly and nuzzles my hair. My cheeks are flushed, not from embarrassment, but from the weather.

We sit and bask in each other's presence for a while, both of us enjoying the feeling of being with someone and not having to act. "Malik?" I ask. He 'Hm?'s. "Do you believe in wishes?" I ask.

He sits quietly, thinking my question over. "I suppose I might. Why?" he asks in return.

I shrug and burry myself deeper into his warm chest, contented. "Because mine just came true." I state. I can tell he's looking down at me in question.

"And what would that be?" he asks.

I smile. "Spending time with the one who stole my heart...and on the eve of my favorite holiday." I say and snuggle further into his embrace. He is again quiet; comprehending what was just said. Then I feel my chin being lifted up and his lips meet mine in a chaste showing of affection.

After he pulls back, I smile up at him and he at me. "And I love you as well, my little snow angel, the thief of my own heart." He whispers and rests his head in the crook of my neck.

Far off in the distance, the city clock chimes, showing it is no longer the same night. "Merry Christmas," I whisper to him. He smiles and returns to favor;

"Merry Christmas to you as well, Ryou."

~*~Owari~*~