I thought of this after seeing a fanart of Yugi as a little kid with his grandfather and his mother.

Hating You

You will never be anything but a shadow to him. He will never know your face. He will never know your name. He's a Mutou, through and through.

Ever since the day you were born you've wanted to sweep some country girl off her feet and take her to the big city. She would fall in love with the rhythms of Osaka, the lights, the sounds, the constant motion. She would fall in love with you.

Domino City is not the country, though it was close to that back when I was little. The houses were tiny and spread apart, and reeked of a blatant disregard for all things modern. Domino Elementary was just being built, and the business part of town was almost nonexistent. The Kame Game Shop was one of the first businesses to take the risk and set up shop.

Everyone else in the family had always thought my father was crazy, what with his constant adventuring in remote parts of the world. That he wanted to drag his wife and only child off to Domino City, which hardly even qualified as a city back then, was only proof in their minds that they were right.

Dad never listened to them. He's always said this place was meant for great things, and now, with Domino City set to become the technological gaming center of the world, it turns out he was right.

Industrial Illusions had just put out its first board game when you turned up. You were handsome enough, and you seemed interested in me. I think you thought the same about me. You were there, I was there, and we decided to give it a chance.

You took me to Osaka, which was hardly away from home for me. Still, for a time, it was amazing. The city was new. The atmosphere was new. We were new to each other. We were in love.

And suddenly there was him: the most beautiful, charming little thing I'd ever seen in my life. I always felt bad that he came out with a head of my father's hair and a face no one could ever confuse with yours. You loved him anyway. You told me you loved him and I believed you. I still believe you, even when everyone tells me he's the reason you're gone.

They're wrong. You loved him with all of your being. You loved him more than you loved me, I think, and he was stronger for it. He used to have a fire in him. I used to look at him and think, "There's nothing this child can't do. He's unbeatable." It's an odd thing to think about an infant, but he used to radiate with victory, achievement, insurmountable determination.

After you left, all of that disappeared. He can hardly even talk, but his eyes speak volumes of pain. He's broken, afraid. He's lost a vital part of himself.

For that, I hate you. For that, you will never be anything but a shadow to him. He will never know your face. He will never know your name. He's a Mutou, through and through.

Maybe one day when he grows up, I'll tell him you died.

Maybe I'll tell him you ran out screaming and cursing us both.

I'll tell him you found another person you loved more than us, more than him.

You jumped in front of a train because you got tired of doing what you were supposed to do.

You can be a spy who got called away on a secret mission.

You can be an illegal immigrant who got deported and never came back.

You can be an archeologist just like Grandpa who never has time to stop by for a visit.

You're a traveling salesman.

You're an international jewel thief.

You're an astronaut who never came back from the moon.

I could tell him a million stories, a million lies, but he'll never know the truth, because you're too ashamed to come and tell him.

So go. Do what you want. Find love. Find riches. Find the happiness that we could never give you. In the meantime, my son will be over here learning what it means to suffer. He has a long road to putting himself back together, but I know he'll manage it eventually. One day he'll come out stronger than he ever was before. One day he'll realize that the power was within him all along to banish his demons. He'll be happy. He'll be whole.

And that's when I'll finally stop hating you.

Author's Note: I always thought Grandpa was Yugi's grandfather on his father's side, but then one day (after seeing the fanart I mentioned above) I thought it would be much more interesting if he were from Yugi's mother's side. Now it's totally my headcanon! It makes more sense to me that she would live with her own father in a crazy game shop house. But that would mean Yugi took his mother's maiden name. And why do we never see his father? Thus this story was born.