Hey. I know. I'm terrible. I didn't update until now. I've been super busy with marching band things. Please don't kill me.

PRK: Sure hon. Sure. *hides chainsaw*

IA: *cough cough* sheathes sword*

F,I&S: I have nothing to say to you Riv.

Kuraki-chan: You should be able to write faster, darn it.

cureampaffu, aka kurinki: NO! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE ANYWAY!

Me: Oh noes! Ryou, protect me!

cureampaffu: I-I can't hurt Ry-chan! *runs away crying*

Me: Hehehehe... So a super special awesome shout-out to my lovely reviewers: Punk Rock Kitsune, Incurably Awesome, Kuraki-chan, Fire Ice and Snowcones, Stormygio, Ryanneravenstar, clarissazeniarosele, Mairorah, cureampaffu... and I think that's it... *facedesk*

Ooh! I remember now! Be sure to read "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Punk Rock Kitsune and "The Pigeons Strike Back" by Incurably Awesome! They both are excellent and have Akane-chan in them! Now do it *maniacal laughter*

Akane: Teeheehee!

Me: And without any further ado, ze story de arimasu!

When the Snow Falls, Chapter 8

The Beginning of Something New

When I woke up, I was laying on something soft. And when I say soft, I mean as soft as a baby kitten. (A/N: AWWE. Baby kitty ^^)

There was a small glimmer of sunlight peering through half-shut blinds, and it was shining right into my eyes. Squinting, I turned my head from side to side and pushed myself into a sitting position. It wasn't until I was upright that I noticed Ryou kneeling beside the bed, sleeping soundly with his head on my lap. I blushed slightly at the sight. He was so cute when he slept...

Mental slap. For one, guys aren't supposed to be cute; per se, right? "Handsome" was the preferred term, wasn't it? And secondly, I was still in a rut from everything that had happened over the past days. Now was not the time to be thinking this way! Heh, whatever. Since when did I ever do things predictably?

I slowly brought my slightly quivering hand to where Ryou's snowy hair lay, and ran my fingers through it as gently as I could. It was thick and smooth, each white tress even more feathery than the other. He must have felt it at some point; because after a couple of seconds he started to stir from his sleep. I darted my hand back in embarrassment.

"Hmmm, Akane...?" he muttered incoherently. He was still half-asleep.

My face flushed wildly all of a sudden. I could feel my ears heat up under the auburn mess that was my hair too. When have I ever acted this way? Sure, I had my bipolar moments where I would go from my normal sarcastic self to a trembling little girl, but this was so out of character for even my standards. 'What the hell is going on with me?' I thought. 'Snap out of it! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

At this point, Ryou was giving me quite a weird look. Of course, I was hitting myself in the forehead with my fist. That's not strange at all, is it?

'There we go. I'm back to my usual sarcasm. Good.'

"Oh, hey Ryou-kun! Good morning." I beamed awkwardly. He set aside his questioning face and replied

"Hehe, good morning Akane-san. Are you feeling alright after what happened yesterday?"

I nodded slightly, and pushed myself up on the bed. Ryou slowly got up from where he was kneeling, wincing a bit from his legs probably cramping through the night, and sat himself on the far edge of the blankets.

"...Yami told me that he got you out of the lake."

I looked away for a moment before answering.

"Yeah. Afterwards he called me an idiot for falling." I chuckled for a moment and added, "I totally felt like there were magnets pulling me in!"

"Revenge of the tortured pigeons, right?" Ryou laughed.

Oh, the crazy things we joked about that morning. Evil pigeons with advanced technology, peculiar relations with rats, and all those strange theories that couldn't possibly be true.

After a good hour of insanity, Ryou got up from his place on the bed, and glanced at me with a look I couldn't even try to decipher. His eyes bored into mine, and he suddenly grabbed my hands. I flinched slightly at the sudden impact, but didn't leave the strange system of eye contact he established.

"I-I want to take you out today, if I could. And I promise, you won't fall into a lake this time."

I had to admit, it was a bit random. I certainly was not expecting anything like that; not in a million years! I swallowed the lump that was amassing in my throat and smiled.

"I'd love to. But before we go, why don't we get some breakfast? I'm starving!"

The day progressed faster than I would have ever thought possible. After eating a light breakfast, we ventured into the street markets, did some shopping and random sightseeing. It was my first time in North Domino, and Ryou made a silly vow to show me all of the "hot spots" in the area. I couldn't help but laugh a bit when he said that, but all in all, I really appreciated all that he's done for me.

It's not every day that your life changes dramatically; even less that a complete stranger helps you get back on your feet.

A sudden twitch from Ryou slammed me back into reality from my thoughts. He grabbed something out of his pocket; a cell phone apparently, and put it up to his ear.

"Hello? ...Really? That would be great! Oh yes, would I be able to bring someone with me?" As he spoke to the voice on the phone, he glanced at me with a look of optimism. "Alright, thanks. See you later." He closed the phone gingerly and pocketed it.

"Who was that?" I asked curiously. Ryou smiled at me, and replied,

"That was my friend, Malik. He's hosting a little get-together and he invited me. And he said that I could being someone too, so are you up to it?"

I was taken back for a second.

"Me? But if it's a party for friends, wouldn't I be like an awkward third wheel or something to that extent?"

Ryou jolted at my comment, hurt showing in his doe-brown eyes.

"N-No Akane-san, it's not like that. I really want you to be there. And I-"

He cut himself off there. I had no idea what he was trying to say, but I felt that I couldn't leave things up in the air. Sighing, I resumed my gaze into Ryou's brown pools.

"Alright, I'll go."

Ryou's eyes brightened and his more-needed smile returned to his face.

The emotion was infectious; I couldn't help but smile back.

It was in the evening. The air was chilled and a light layering of frost lined the trees and grass. It was a nice night, in spite of the cold. I could hear loud techno music playing in the relatively small house Ryou and I stopped at. As the random death metal etc. person that I am, I didn't know what to say to the selection, but I kept my mouth shut anyway. Ryou turned to me apprehensively, and murmured

"Shall we?"

I nodded gently, and followed him into the wide unknown of social gatherings.

'This is going to be interesting.'

A/N:

Dx I have been dealing with a massive variety of "No, you can't write" times. Have you ever heard of the Calgary Stampede? That's what I'm in the middle of the marching band world of that. A lot of time, sweat, and sunburns. Yup. *sigh* That, and the lovely week known as Hell Week, where we rehearse 10 hours a day for two weeks. They should call it Masochism Weeks.

Akane: So you write...filler?

Me: IT'S NOT FILLER! IT'S THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING NEW!

Akane: ...Sure. Whatever you say Riv. *slaps sunburns*

Me: OOOOOWWWWWWW! That's it! No bunnies for you!

Akane: D:

Me: So... do you want to review? I know you do. How do I know? I AM GOD!

JK. But seriously, review? I want to know what you guys think ^^

And if you want to creep me on other accounts (which I want you to do, by the way xD) my Steam and deviantArt accounts are under (you guessed it) RiverTear980. My Facebook is Ally Tenor Saxy Oboe, (the only one you will ever find on that site, btw, but my profile picture is Shion Sonozaki from Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni with her 'rape face' on for the time being) and ...yeah! So creep me! Just for Facebook, send me your FF pen-name so I know you're not a totally random person with no relation to anything pertaining to me ^^

Now, Disclaim!

Ryou: Yes master. RiverTear980 does not own anything. Yu-Gi-Oh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi and he has far too much money to get involved. He won't even call an ambulance for Grandpa Motou. And she still doesn't have a soul. We should fix this sometime soon...