Sorry for the wait! Enjoy! We don't own Yugioh GX.

Sam was relaxing on his bed when someone knocked on the door.

"Hey, your highness," Judai's voice called from the other side, "mind if the clown comes in?"

Sam couldn't believe his ears. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be moaning in pain somewhere right about now?"

"Yeah, well, I never do what I should."

"Hmph. Go away, ya loser."

Instead of listening, Judai tried the door. It was unlocked, so he let himself in. "Is that what your dad says to you when you try to talk to him?"

"My dad!? What's he got to do with this!?"

"You've got issues with your old man, don't you?" Judai asked, walking over to the couch and making himself at home in this boy's room.

Sam sat up, glaring at Judai. "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! And who said you could come in!? GET OUT, YOU SICKLY RED CLOWN!"

"Your dad's pretty busy, isn't he?" Judai asked, bound and determined to have a more productive conversation with this kid than he had last time. "He's always working and never has time for you. It's like he doesn't care what happens to you. You don't matter—all that matters is his job."

From his tone, it seemed Judai knew the feeling. Sam closed his eyes. "SHUT UP!"

"To add insult to injury, none of the other kids wanted anything to do with you," Judai continued. "You spent all your time alone because you didn't have any friends."

Sam growled before, defensively, he yelled, "WHAT DO YOU KNOW!? YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING, OKAY!? GET LOST, ALREADY!"

"Don't be so quick to judge, Sam. Maybe I know more than you think."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Sam hissed.

"My parents are always working," Judai answered. "Heck, I doubt they even know what the heck I'm doing with my life these days, that's how busy they are."

Sam's expression slowly changed from anger to stun. "Huh?

"My parents were always working," Judai repeated. "I spent all my time with my friends. At least, I did at first..."

That's when Sam really started listening.

"My friends, though, got scared off by my over-protective...babysitter, you could say. She didn't like it when people upset me, so she kept attacking my friends. Eventually, none of them would hang out with me anymore."

Sam's eyes widened some. "Really?"

"Yeah," Judai nodded. "It sucked. I sat all by myself in the school cafeteria."

Sam looked down thoughtfully. "Yeah..."

"So, the only person I had was my babysitter...until she had to leave." Granted, Judai was stretching his story just a bit—Yubel, his "babysitter," had been sent away for a reason. But Sam didn't need to know that.

"Sounds about right..." Sam muttered. "Leon..."

Now for the real stretch. "I never told anyone this. Never thought anyone would understand."

"I-I just..."

Judai stood up. "Well, maybe I shouldn't have told you either, seeing as you have it out for me. But, still..." He turned and headed for the door.

"...Leon... He was my uncle...and the only person who cared about me..."

Judai stopped, his back to the boy, and smirked. Got him.

He wiped the smirk off his face as he turned to face Sam. "Leon, huh? What happened to him?"

"One day, he got really sick and had to go to the hospital," Sam said in a small voice. "The doctors said there was nothing they could do and he only had a month to live. Not long after that, he died."

"I'm sorry... That couldn't have been easy on you."

Sam shook his head. "Now that he's gone, no one cares about me anymore... What's the point in caring?"

"Well, Sam, let me tell you something: People do care, but you don't make it easy for them to show you that," Judai countered.

"No, they don't!" Sam yelled. "All anyone ever wants from me is money or a favor! That's how I took over this school, ya know! I just gave the 'people' what they wanted, and boom, I'm king. It was too easy."

"Really," Judai said flatly. "Then tell me what I'm doing here. All you've given me is red skin, a messy desert, and a really nasty flu. It would be a lot easier to just take everyone's advice and get out of here, yet here I am, standing in your room, with another week or two of your bug left, trying to talk to you. Why?"

Sam humphed, crossing his arms, and muttered, "'Cause you're crazy."

"Crazy? Well, I'd have the right after what I've been through," Judai said, half-joking. "But, no, not quite."

Again, Sam humphed.

Judai decided to take a different route. "Sam, what exactly are you going for, being king of this school?"

"Heh! Oh, I'll tell ya. I'm getting my revenge," Sam said, snickering.

"'Revenge?' On who?"

"Who else? That suit and his stupid company, that's who!" Sam exclaimed. "I'm gonna take this school and make it into New Schroeder Corp! Then I'll run that fool out of business! Then he'll finally pay for ignoring me!"

The teenage boy laughed evilly, like a super villain on TV.

"What's that going to do for you?" Judai asked.

Sam crossed his arms and humphed again. It'll make me feel better, that's what!

"Sam," Judai said, "I know what it's like to have parents who are too busy for you. But that doesn't mean that they don't care. Parents want what's best for their kids, so they work hard to get it for them. Sometimes they just don't realize that what their kids really want is them."

"Yeah, right," Sam said. "Wake up and smell the roses. This is the real world! Where that fantasy doesn't always exist!" Mumbling, he added, "Sheesh. What a fool."

"Sam, I'm not kidding," Judai said firmly. "My parents wer too busy for me nine times out of ten. They missed every one of my birthdays, and my dad actually forgot my birthday a couple times. But, when I really needed them, they were there for me. I used to have these really bad nightmares, so my parents got worried and took care of it."

"Well, good for you. My dad's not like that."

"Has he told you that he doesn't care?"

Sam hesitated. "N-no..."

"Did you ever go to him with a serious problem and get blown off after telling him that it was important and couldn't wait?"

Sam thought back to the month before Leon's death—his mother and father had stayed home with him a lot, and his father had stayed strong right up til the end, even when it was obvious that he felt like crying.

"N-no. What's your point, anyway?" Sam asked.

"My point is, maybe your dad does care, but he doesn't know how you feel," Judai answered. "He's only human; he can't read minds or anything. If you don't tell him, he won't know."

Sam was quiet for a moment, thinking about what Judai had said. Finally, he asked, "Really? You think he does care?"

"I'd bet on it."

Sam thought about this for a moment. Maybe...

"I-I want to call him, but..."

"But what?" Judai asked.

Sam didn't answer, but he looked nervous.

What if he's wrong? he wondered.

"Sam," Judai said, reading the look on the kid's face. "If I'm wrong, you can do whatever you want to me and my friends, and I won't say a word about it. I'll get off your back. Heck, I'll drag Asuka away from here even."

Sam hesitated for another moment before asking, "Will you help me talk to him, Judai?"

Judai smiled. "Of course."

Sam called his father, saying it was important. With Judai's support, he told his dad how he felt, which was an enlightening experience to Siegfried.

"Sam, you should have told me that you felt this way sooner," he scolded lightly. "I'm sorry. I never meant to make you feel like you weren't important. You're my son. If it means that much to you, I promise I'll make more time for you."

As he said this, Siegfried was thinking of his younger brother—how he had grown up in Siegfried's shadow, with nothing to keep him company but the fairy tale characters he had liked so much. Realizing that he had made this same mistake with his own son, Siegfried swore that he would try to do better in the future.

Sam was so glad to hear that his father not only cared about him but was going to make more time for him that he hugged Judai in an uncharacteristically emotional moment. Of course, that's when Judai's flu reared its ugly head.

Sam let go as Judai coughed.

"Well," Judai said, "that lasted longer than I thought it would." He pulled out his phone and called Johan. "Hey, I could use some help over at Sam's room." As Johan started to panic, he added, "I'm fine, but whatever your girlfriend did wore off."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Johan protested.

Judai coughed. "Look, can you just get over here and help me get back to the infirmary?"

Normally he wouldn't ask to be there, but this was a special case—he wasn't feeling up to any of his great escapes.

"Okay, buddy, I'll be there as soon as I can," Johan answered.