It's My Birthday, I'll cry If I want To

Summary: -one shot-It's Ryou's birthday, yet none of his friends remember, they all have other plans. Ryou gives up the hope of having a fun birthday, unaware that that wish is about to return.

disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ryou awoke to the sound of thunder and lightning. He sat up in his bed, attempting to smooth his wild white hair. He glanced at the alarm clock and yelped in surprise. 7:46!? His alarm hadn't gone off! Poor Ryou was running horribly late for school, his perfect record was going to be shattered!

"Oh my, oh my, what am I going to do?" Ryou fretted as he hopped on one leg, trying to hurriedly pull on his navy blue uniform while brushing his hair....with a toothbrush. "Gah!" He tossed the toothbrush and pulled the uniform shirt over his messier-than-ever hair.

He reached hastily for his backpack, soft brown eyes falling on the day-by-day calendar on his desk.

"Oh, I forgot it was my birthday..." Ryou smiled slightly, "Happy birthday to me." His mood improved as he began to tell himself that today-- no matter how bad it started--would be a good day.

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A deafening thunder clap accompanied the slam of the classroom door. Every student present jumped in surprise.

Ryou stood at the door, soaked from head to toe and looking none too happy or polite, in fact he appeared more like Bakura. The class glanced at the unusually tardy Ryou with fear and surprise. Yugi looked perplexed, Joey lowered himself in his chair nervously, Tea appeared worried, and even Seto Kaiba looked quite unsettled at the sudden appearance of the angry little Hikari.

Ryou stormed to his desk, not bothering to apologize to his stunned teacher. The white haired Hikari was lost in his own dark thoughts to heed anything around him, {This is the absolute worst birthday ever! I wake up late, I brush my hair with a toothbrush, I fall down the stairs while rushing, I burnt my toast and scorch my mouth on hot chocolate, Bakura completely ignores, I'm sure he was drunk...and then I had to walk to school in the pouring rain!} He shuddered at the memory of that particular trip. {Why did that dirty old bum have to hit on me? Do I look that much like a girl?!}[note: I'm not saying Ryou looks like a girl, he's adorable. It was the drunk bum's own blurred vision that must be blamed!]

To say that Ryou was in a really bad mood would be quite the understatement.

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To make matters worse for the frustrated Hikari, the clock had decided it would be amusing to taunt and torment Ryou. The poor British boy was not feeling well after being soaked to the bone, his jaw was aching from being so tightly clenched in frustration, and his stomach was in knots from the unusual overdose of anger. Yet the clock seemed to enjoy moving backwards.

{Evil thing...} Ryou blinked chocolate brown eyes. {Hey, that felt pretty good. Letting out my anger like that. No wonder my yami acts like he does.} He sighed, no wonder nobody walked all over Bakura liked they walked on Ryou. Ryou decided to take his anger out on the clock, giving it death glares and muttering curses under his breath.

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The clock had apparently been intimidated by Ryou, because it seemed to speed up until the bell rang for lunch.

Ryou was in a slightly better mood now, having let off quite a bit of steam. His clothes had also dried, and people were actually moving out of his way rather than vice versa. Rumors apparently spread swiftly at school.

He bought his lunch and headed to the table he shared with Yugi and "Da gang" as Joey called them. Ryou took his usual seat, smiling kindly at his slightly wary friends.

"Good afternoon, everybody." He greeted his friends in his adorable British accent.

Yugi returned the smile, if somewhat hesitantly, "Hi, Ryou. Uhm, how are you?"

"I'm quite good, thank you for asking." The tension disappeared with Ryou's polite-as-ever reply.

Ryou waited patiently, one of them was bound to remember his birthday....right?

Tea cleared her throat and Ryou looked up gleefully, someone did remember!

"So, do you guys remember the important event today?" tea gave Joey a frown.

Joey gulped nervously under Tea's stern glare, "Uh, yea. Of course!"

Ryou tried hard not to look too expectant.

Tea nodded approvingly at Joey, "Right. Today is..." Ryou blinked, frowning slightly. Was she purposely drawing this out? "My dance rehearsal!"

Ryou couldn't believe his ears, dance rehearsal? What about his birthday? He raised sad chocolate eyes to the group, all their attention was on Tea. Ryou's shoulder's slumped, he must not be a very important friend if they ignored his birthday. Soft brown eyes became suddenly cold, he stood up forcefully, slamming the table with clenched fists. Tristan was so startled he fell out of his seat, hitting the ground with a yelp. The others all stared at Ryou with wide eyes.

The distraught albino turned and fled, leaving his so called friends sitting in confusion.

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Ryou spent the remainder of the school day in a rage. He had yelled at a teacher, knocked books from a girl's hands, took on a bully and won, and even managed to stare down Kaiba.

He began to wonder why he had not received detention--let alone suspension--when he realized that teachers were as fearful of the Yami- resembling-Hikari as the students.

When the bell rang to dismiss school, Ryou was the last outside. His bad mood had shifted to melancholy. The downpour of rain did not improve his mood either. The thoroughly depressed Ryou trudged through puddles and mud on his long trek home. His soaked clothes were limp and heavy, his hair was plastered to his face, and he was shivering violently by the time he reached home.

He opened the door, expecting to see Bakura lounged on the couch laughing coldly at horror movies. The sight that greeted him was the exact opposite.

Yugi, Tea, Joey, Tristan, Duke, Serenity, Mai and even Seto and Mokuba were standing before him. Bakura had a rare smile on his face as he draped a thick blanket over his little hiker's shoulders.

The entire group chorused, "Surprise! Happy birthday, Ryou!"

Ryou's eyes widened in surprise, "What is going on?"

Bakura smirked, "It's your birthday, Hikari." The normally dark expression suddenly changed to anxious, "Right?"

Ryou laughed, all traces of sadness and discomfort gone, and hugged his yami, "Yes. Thank you!" He released the stunned and relieved Bakura, "Thank you all. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday."

"What are friends for?"

Everyone turned and stared at Seto in disbelief. He blinked, "What? I felt like stealing Friendship Girl's line, big deal! Stop staring at me!"

Everyone laughed as Seto became flustered, Tea giggled and shook her head, "Stole the words right out of my mouth."

Ryou wiped away tears as they streamed down his face. Bakura cocked his head at the crying albino, "Hikari, why are you crying? Are you sad?"

Ryou gave Bakura one of his award winning smiles, "No. I'm happy."

Mokuba looked perplexed, "Then why are you crying?"

Ryou grinned, this was the best birthday he ever had, even if it did start out badly. "It's my birthday, I'll cry if I want to."

-Owari-