A/N Separation canon. Which means, separate bodies, some fanon terms (Yami no Bakura = Bakura for example).


Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness. ~ Richard Bach.


The phone was going to ring.

Any second now, Ryou was sure, it had too…

The scissors shook in his hand, but nevertheless he continued to snip the edges of paper. He cut big slices, small slices, shapes and wavy lines. Everything.

(In the dim, dark corner of his heart, Ryou remembered…Amane had been a slightly spoiled child, and loved her snowflakes to be as elaborate as possible…)

"This is ridiculous, yadonushi."

Ryou didn't look up. Bakura had been snarling the same phrase and variations of it for the past fifteen minutes.

(And Ryou was just sorted of use to it by now.)

Bakura's eyes narrowed.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you," he said, gruffly and yet still sounded like a pouting child.

Ryou sighed and (very, very, uninterested) looked up.

"Yes?" Ryou spoke softly, trying not to turn his mild annoyance into flat out anger.

He did that a lot, actually. Always avoided topics that angered Bakura. Which was pretty limiting. In fact, it was probably easier to list what didn't make him irritated or just plain enraged. And, for whatever reason, Ryou's father was on the top of the list. But that was one, if the only one, topic that Ryou refused to ignore because of his yami. It was his father and if his father asked him to wait for a call on a certain day, he would.

(No matter how sarcastic Bakura got.)

"Stop this…stupidity. Why are you doing this to yourself again?" he half hissed, half pleaded.

Ryou put the scissors down.

"He told me he'd call today, yami. I have to be here to answer in case…" Ryou trailed off and closed his eyes. He didn't dare raise his hopes high enough to finish that sentence.

"In case he what, yadonushi?" Bakura sneered, "Actually doesn't cancel on you?"

Bakura snorted and shook his head.

"You're pathetic, sometimes, I swear…"

Ryou cringed. He hated that word.

(Sometimes at night laughter still echoed in head…)

Bakura must have sensed it, because his expression softened.

"Why do you let him hurt you like this?"

Ryou picked up his scissors again and started to cut into fresh paper.

"He's my father. Is it so wrong to hope that he visits me for Christmas?" Ryou said exasperated.

"Yes, when it's a father like yours. For Ra's sake, when is the last time you even saw him?" Bakura scoffed.

Ryou clenched his fists. Bakura knew. He only asked this to hurt him.

(Another snip of paper.)

"Well?"

"Four years, one week, five days…shall I go into the minutes too? Seconds even? Will that finally make you happy?" Ryou growled, but never took his eyes away from his paper.

Bakura blinked in surprise. Ryou guessed that, in his mind, he hadn't gone far enough to provoke that sort of reaction.

Ryou closed his eyes yet again, and the bags under his eyes became apparent.

"Sorry," he whispered.

(And cut a small half heart into the folded paper.)

Bakura looked off to the side and snorted. Which, Ryou had learned, was his way of saying 'Yeah, well, I kind of deserved that'.

Silence passed between them, except for the sound of Ryou's scissors.

"I don't understand you," Bakura finally admitted and ran a hand through his hair.

Ryou pressed his lips together.

(This couldn't be good.)

"Even though you and I both know what's going to happen when that phone rings, you're still hoping. How can you be so optimistic?"

"It's Christmas, yami," Ryou trailed off and his voice lowered, "I have to be."

Ryou opened the finished snowflake. A small border of squiggly lines, almost like vines, circled the inside, which was a heart. Just outside the heart were sharp, thunderbolt shapes, triangles, squares and a soft cloud like shape. He put in a pile with the others, all of them just as intricate.

(Just how Amane liked them.)

Bakura muttered something under his breath. Ryou was positive it had the words yadonushi and idiot in them.

He reached down to pick up his scissors but Bakura snatched them up. Ryou looked at him with shocked, brown eyes.

"What are you - ?"

"If you refused to listen to my advice, I might as well do something productive with this wasted day," Bakura snapped as he picked up a sheet of paper from the unfinished snowflake stack.

Ryou tilted his head.

"You don't have to stay here with me, you know."

"I know."

A small smile cracked through Ryou's porcelain face and he continued on with his cutting.

-0-

"Mommy! Mommy!" Amane hollered, waving her snowflake around, "Look what I made!"

Ryou couldn't help but smile. Amane's enthusiasm was contagious.

"It's beautiful, sweetie," she said and hung the snowflake in the window.

Amane grinned ear to ear.

"Let me see yours, Ryou!" she exclaimed and tugged at her older brother's sleeve. The white haired boy shied away.

"It's not as good as yours, Amane," said Ryou, blushing.

His mother gave him a gentle smile.

"I'm sure it's great," she said and plucked the snowflake out of his hand.

Amane gasped.

"Ryou it's so pretty!"

The boy in questioned flustered.

"Wow," Amane said, still in awe of the hanging snowflake, "Daddy's not going believe we made those when he comes home."

Big brown eyes, ones that son had inherited from mother, looked away.

"Listen," Ryou's mother said softly, kneeling down before her kids, "I have some bad news."

(Ryou held in the breath he took. He didn't want to hear what came next.)

"Your father is not going to make it home for Christmas."

"What!?" Amane hollered, "Why?"

Tears already flowed down her cheeks. Her mother pulled her into a tight hug.

"He really wants to come see you, Amane," Ryou's mother said, "But he's the only supervisor certified at his dig, and they just uncovered a rather large artifact."

Ryou's eyes sunk to the floor. He didn't see why artifacts should matter. It was Christmas.

"But look!" Ryou's mother said and turned Amane towards the Christmas tree, "He still sent you your presents!"

Amane was actually cheered up, but she stopped crying. Hand in hand, mother and daughter walked towards the brightly tree and inspected the presents.

Ryou stayed behind.

(His eyes never lifted from the ground.)

He didn't care what was in those boxes. The only thing he wanted was his father.

-0-

"Ryou? Ryou!"

The boy in questioned suddenly felt a sharp sting on his face.

"What!? What…happened?" Ryou said groggily, clutching his check, "Did you just…slap me?"

Malik rolled his eyes.

"Of course I slapped you. You fell asleep, you were snoring for Ra's sake, how else was I supposed to wake you up?"

Ryou thought about arguing the point further, but logic and Malik never did exactly go together well, so he just dropped it.

Besides, it was rather rude of him. After all, Ryou had called out of the blue and Malik had still managed to arrange for them to meet privately. Malik sent off Marik to spend the day with Bakura just so they could talk privately and even made him tea.

"Sorry," he whispered, "I haven't got much sleep lately. Too much last minute Christmas shopping."

Malik snorted.

"You and this holiday, I swear," Malik shook his head, "It's just about buying people junk they'll never use, yet you put so much effort into this."

"You don't understand," Ryou sighed, "…It's a culture thing."

"It's a Ryou thing."

Ryou frowned.

"Is it wrong to try my best to give things to the people I love?" he asked.

Malik glared.

"Well, when you say it like that."

Ryou leaned back in his chair and took in Malik's kitchen. For an apartment populated by Malik and Marik it still surprised him how clean it was.

"You're going to come over for Christmas, right?" Ryou said hesitantly, "If only for a moment?"

Malik looked bored.

"Yes, Ryou. It's not like we have anywhere else to go but your place."

Ryou smiled and sipped his tea. (Though it probably wasn't the tea that warmed him.)

"So why did you call this little meeting? I mean, yeah it gave me an excuse to kick Marik out but now I'm going to have to spend the rest of the day worrying if he's killed anyone," Malik said.

"I know the feeling," muttered Ryou.

"But, seriously," Malik's eyes hardened a bit, "Whatever it is you need to say, say it."

There a long stretch of silence. Then, slowly Ryou grasped for the words.

"I have a… problem."

Malik, again, got that bored look on his face. He must have been expecting something grand.

"Don't you always?"

"I'm serious," Ryou whined and put down in his cup for dramatic effect.

Malik eyed him askance, and suddenly slightly interested.

"Bakura hasn't gone crazy again, has he?"

"What? No, no. He's fine…I mean, well, fine for him…but I do have a problem…about him," Ryou stuttered out.

"Just spit it out, Ryou."

"I don't know what to buy him for Christmas."

(Wow. When he said it out loud it certainly seemed a lot less epic.)

There was silence.

Malik just looked at Ryou. Waiting.

"…That's it?" he said finally, "That's your problem?"

Ryou blushed but nodded.

Malik laughed.

"Your big problem is that you don't know what to get Bakura for Christmas?" he laughed again, "And here I thought it was something life changing like…I don't know…he punched you in the face or murdered some flight attendant or you were falling in love with him…"

"No! It's none of those things. He's perfectly sane…except for the stealing, but even that's gone down a bit," Ryou paused, "Wait. What was that last one?"

(Malik just smirked.)

Ryou shook his head.

"Regardless," he said, "You have to help. I just don't know what to get him."

Malik thought for a second.

"You could get him a knife. He likes knives."

Ryou looked at Malik incredulously.

Malik sighed, "Yeah, on second thought that really isn't such a good idea…"

Both boys contemplated for some time.

"Holy Ra, this really is hard," Malik muttered.

"I know!" Ryou said, "I don't know what I can get him that will make him happy!"

"Yeah," Malik agreed, "He doesn't really have a lot of Christmas approved hobbies."

That was exactly it. Bakura, well, he really only had three interests. Knives, stealing and general sadism. Ryou condone none of the above. (And he couldn't even wrap the last two.)

"You're not going to get Marik anything for Christmas?" Ryou asked, hoping that maybe Malik's answer would help him find his own.

Malik chuckled. "Heh. Yeah. I'm bestowing onto him my presence. That should be the only gift he needs."

Ryou heaved a sigh. That was no help.

Yuugi probably couldn't help him either. He could just get the Pharaoh a new pack of Duel Monsters or something. Ryou couldn't even do that. His yami no longer had interest in the game. As Bakura had so eloquently put it 'What's the point if no one loses their soul?'

Ryou buried his face in his hands.

"What I'm supposed to do Malik?" he mumbled.

Malik awkwardly patted Ryou on his head.

"Nothing. You're screwed."

-0-

Ryou felt a punch to his gut. When he opened his eyes, Amane's face stared back at him.

"Get up, get up! Ryou! It's Christmas!" she screamed and began to shake his bed.

Ryou grumbled some gibberish in response.

Without so much as another word, Amane grabbed Ryou by the wrist and dragged him out.

"Come on, Mom said we could open -"

Amane stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth dropped in wonder. Not at all the pretty presents with bows under the tree. But at the tall man, kissing their mother on her cheek.

"Daddy?" Amane whispered.

He smiled.

"Daddy!" Amane shouted and hurled herself into her father's arm. He laughed heartily. Then he scooped her up in his arms and spun her around.

"How's daddy's little girl?" he asked and gave her kiss on the check. She giggled.

Ryou hadn't moved from outside his bedroom door.

(He just…stared.)

"You…came?" he said.

His dad smiled at him and wrapped his arms around him.

"Of course."

-0-

"Hey! Ryou-kun? Ryou?" said a sing-song voice, and then gentle poking.

"Yuugi-kun?" Ryou asked and rubbed his eyes, "Did I fall asleep?"

(Again?)

Yuugi smiled, "Yeah. Just for a little bit though."

"Sorry," Ryou said quickly.

"Its fine," Yuugi assured him, "You look like you needed some sleep."

A small pink blush came over Ryou's cheeks.

"It's almost Christmas, everything is a little hectic," Ryou said.

Yuugi nodded.

"I know. I had to pull so many extra shifts for Grandpa because of all the last minute shoppers. Not to mention having to shop for everyone. It was so…hard!" Yuugi said exasperated.

"Tell me about," Ryou murmured, staring at the fresh snow from outside the window.

With everything (college, demented other halves) Yuugi and Ryou hardly ever spent time together. Now was one of the rare moments were they had crossed paths. Both he and Yuugi had stumbled upon each other at the library.

It was so nice, just saying Yuugi again.

Ryou missed hanging out with him. His presence was so warming.

"Yuugi?" said Ryou, slowly working up the courage.

"Hmm?"

"Um…what are you getting the Phar-…Yami for Christmas?" stuttered Ryou.

Yuugi's eyes went wide and his whole face turned red.

"I don't know yet," Yuugi admitted and laughed shamefully, "What are you getting Bakura?"

Ryou blanched.

"I don't have the slightest clue."

Suddenly, without warning or signal, they both started to laugh. The laughed died out eventually and they sat in silence for a moment. It wasn't awkward. There was to much happiness radiating off the both of them (just from the contact) for it to be awkward.

"So," Yuugi said with a grin, "when are you coming over for Christmas dinner? I was thinking you should come around six, the food should be done by then."

Ryou blinked. (His heart thumped rapidly.)

"We're invited?" he asked, the words sort of just slipping out of him.

Yuugi's eyebrows furrowed, both hurt and slightly offended.

"Of course you two are," Yuugi said, "its Christmas and I want all of my family to be there."

Ryou tilted his head, and then smiled so hard it hurt.

"We'll be there!"

-0-

The store was packed to the brim, and various limbs shoved Ryou into shelves.

Not that Ryou thought it would be different; it was Christmas Eve after all.

And he still hadn't gotten Bakura a gift! Well of course, a few very small ones. A new trench coat, for one. But not the gift. The gift that was more than a present, but had meaning. If there was any person Ryou knew who deserved a gift like that, it was the other half of his soul.

Something shimmered in the corner of his eye. Turning, Ryou saw the shining glass of a snow globe. He sighed as disappointment washed over him. Ryou had been hoping for a miracle, not a snow globe. Honestly, what would Bakura do with a snow globe?

But nevertheless something compelled Ryou to look at it further. He picked up the snow globe, the last on the shelf, and gasped.

It looked like…(Kul Elna) a small village in Egypt. Besides the snow (no wonder this snow globe on the shelf, who would believe snow in an Egyptian village) it was so realistic. The pottery, the people bargaining, the children playing…

(Something tugged Ryou at the bottom of his stomach.)

Should he get this? Would it be right?

Ryou closed his eyes and thought. Something clicked.

When forgiveness came, hadn't Bakura said he remembered the good times of his home?

(The warmth?)

Ryou, with a sad smile, put the snow globe in his cart.

-0-

"Merry Christmas!" Ryou exclaimed brightly. All the joy left his face when he saw that Bakura had put on his coat and was heading out the door.

Ryou took a step back, cringing.

"Are you," he paused, something caught in his throat, "going somewhere?"

Bakura first looked at the door, then Ryou.

"The Ishtars," he said, devoid of any emotion.

Ryou's shoulders slumped and his eyes were glued to the floor.

(He always ended up alone on Christmas…)

"But why?" he gasped out.

Bakura gazed at him, something hidden in his eyes.

"I'll leave only if you want me too."

Ryou exhaled loudly the breath he was holding in. Some lightness returned to his face.

"Of course I want you to stay," he said and reached out for Bakura's hand "I don't want to spend Christmas with anyone else."

Bakura paused and for once his eyes looked…warm. Then, he closed his eyes and smirked.

"Are you sure, yadonushi? You might just change your mind…"

"What are you talking about?" Ryou asked and his eyebrows creased. Of all days for his yami to return to his overly cryptic ways, he had to choose Christmas!

Then, a knock on the door.

The blood drained from Ryou's face.

(He trembled.)

"You didn't…" Ryou said, butterflies flapping in his stomach.

Bakura snorted and crossed his arms.

"This is what you wanted, isn't?"

Ryou's mouth dropped as yet another knock came.

"But how?"

Bakura cocked an eyebrow and smirked.

(He didn't even need an answer.)

Another knock.

"You should probably answer the door, yadonushi," Bakura said, with his slight arrogant tone. He walked towards the window.

"Wait!" Ryou called out, "Didn't I tell you I wanted you to stay?"

Bakura, for the first time Ryou ever saw, looked genuinely surprised.

"It's Christmas. And I want to spend it with my family. All of my family."

Ryou smiled, and Bakura returned it.

Hands still shaking, Ryou reached for the doorknob.

To his surprise, two arms wrapped around him. They pulled him into a tight embrace. Well, it was more of clutch than anything, really.

(But all the same…)

"Merry Christmas, Ryou."


A/N Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

HEY GO VOTE IN THE POLL ON MY PROFILE.

You should leave me a review for my Christmas present. =D