The best birthdays of all are those that haven't arrived yet. ~ Robert Orben


Go away, goaway, go away!

"Don't be so rude, yadonushi. All I want to do is wish you a happy birthday."

Laughter – dark, twisting, filled to brim with insanity – engulfed his mind and he couldn't hear anything but that voice

There was a knock at the door and it brought Ryou out of the darkness of his mind.

Ryou rushed to answer it, not out of the need to be polite, but the need to get away from that voice. He opened it almost frantically and there it front of him stood a boy with a golden puzzle.

(Yuugi.)

"Yuugi-kun! What are you doing here?" (You shouldn't be here, remember what happened last time you were here?)

Smiling, the shorter boy stuck out a brightly wrapped gift.

"Happy Birthday Bakura-kun!"

Ryou took a step back.

"You remembered my birthday?" His voice quivered.

"Of course I did. You're my friend, Bakura. How could I not?"

Ryou felt his whole body tingle with an unfamiliar feeling. Happiness?

"Sorry I don't have time to hang out; Grandpa needs me at the shop. But maybe tomorrow we could have a belated birthday party?"

Yuugi looked up doubtfully at Ryou. The snowy haired boy in question gaped at Yuugi with eyes the sizes of dinner plates.

"Bakura-kun?" Yuugi asked worriedly, "Bakura-kun are you okay?"

He stared, and then for the first time in an eternity (like finally seeing the dawn after an endless night) Ryou smiled.

And he knew it was just the beginning of many good birthdays to come.


A/N Happy (late) Birthday Ryou!

As always, reviews are loved!