100 Ways to Love Your Child

Disclaimer: In case I forgot this and in case you didn't realize this, I don't own YGO. And ignore my creativeness w/the teacher's name...

Chapter 4- Another Counselor…

The rain was pouring steadily down, and though it was only 2:50 pm, it was dark as midnight outside. Yugi sat in his history class, alternating between staring out into the gloom and counting down the seconds until the last bell. He was supposed to be looking up his history terms, but there was no way he was going to concentrate right now. No, not when he was this mad. Ooh, Gramps was gonna get it as soon as he got home. That stupid piece of shi-

/Yugi/

"What?" Yugi growled loudly. The whole class stared at him, and Mr. Shizzle, his history teacher, squinted at him.

"Is there something you would like to share with the class?" Shizzle sneered.

"Uh, no sir," Yugi mumbled, lowering his head. "This history is just so…fascinating." His class members snorted derisively. /What is it, Yami/ he hissed mentally.

/Yugi, you need to calm down! Stop using such crude language! I don't know what's gotten into you, but you'd better fix it. I'm very disappointed in how you've been handling your anger lately-/

/What are you, my therapist? Just leave me alone for once/ Yugi responded, annoyed.

/You obviously are in need of guidance, so I'm-/

"Just shut up, okay?" Yugi burst out, slamming his hands down on his desk.

"That is quite enough, Mouto!" scolded Mr. Shizzle. "Come here!"

Yugi marched angrily up to the teacher's desk, eyeing the slip he was filling out.

"Take this and go to the office. They'll know what to do with you."

Yugi snatched the slip out of his hands and stormed out of the room. Great. Just great. Stupid Yami. Stupid teacher…. He shoved open the office door and smacked the slip down on Mrs. Mann's desk. She picked it up and held it two inches from her face.

"Mmm hmmm…Mmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmmm…. Yes, take this to the counselor," she said, handing it back to him and looking at him as though he were quite unstable. He just took the slip and strode past her to the counselor's office.

"Here," he mumbled, dropping the slip on the desk and slumping into the chair in front of the desk with his arms crossed.

The counselor read the slip carefully, then set it down gently and folded his hands. "So, Yugi, do you know why you are here?"

Yugi clasped his hands and batted his eyes. "No sir, my destiny is a muddy drop in the vast seas of life." The counselor blinked. "Ugh. I'm in here cuz I was yelling."

"That's right," the counselor said mistily. "And can you tell me who you were yelling at?"

Yugi shrugged. "Well…don't you ever talk to yourself?" If he mentioned anything about his yami he'd probably be thrown in solitary confinement or something.

"Of course, the counselor said, nodding his head agreeably. "But never yelled at myself.

Yugi didn't say anything. Stupid counselor didn't know what he was talking about. Had he ever had to share a mind with an ancient spirit before? And a rather overbearing spirit at that…

/I am not/ Yami muttered.

/Are too/ Yugi muttered right back.

/No, I'm not/

"Would you put a sock in it?" Yugi cried, sitting up straight and stomping his feet.

"I beg you pardon?" the counselor asked, lifting his eyebrows in surprise.

Yugi flinched. "Uh…uh, I said put a sock in it!"

The counselor cocked his head. "To me? I didn't say anything to you."

"Yeah, weellll, it was a late reaction," Yugi said lamely.

"Uh huh…" the counselor stared at him. "You are a very unusual boy…"

Yugi glared at him. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"You do? So you've been like this for quite some time?"

Oops. "Uh, that's not what I meant….er…I mean come on, will you just leave me alone? There's nothing wrong with me!"

RIIIIING!

"Saved by the bell," Yugi muttered under his breath. "Sorry, gotta go!" he hopped to his feet and rushed for the door.

"Wait, Mr. Mouto," the counselor said with meaning.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I want to schedule weekly meetings with you so we can work out these little problems of yours."

"What?" Yugi cried. "But I…what problems? I don't--" A warning look from the counselor hushed him. "Fine. See ya later Mr. Frodd."

He went to pick up his books from his history class, and on the way back to his locker Joey, Tristan, and Ryou caught up with him.

"How was history?" Joey asked carefully. "You're Grandpa didn't help you with any homework in there, did he?"

Yugi made a noise of disgust. "No, but I got sent to the office and now have to see the counselor every week."

"No way!" Tristan said disbelievingly. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't my fault, it was Yami! I accidentally argued with him out loud and the counselor sort of overheard. Stupid Yami." He rolled his eyes upward, and in the back of his mind Yami blew him a raspberry. "Oh, yeah, real nice Yami. Classy."

Joey and Tristan looked at Yugi worriedly, but Ryou, unnoticed by any of them, smirked rather evilly -- quite unlike himself.

/Seems like somebody isn't getting along with himself/ came a voice from deep within Ryou's mind. /Perhaps we can use little Yugi's problems to drive him and the pharaoh apart, and I can finally get my hands on that Puzzle…/

/No Bakura, leave him alone/

/You can't do a thing to stop me, pathetic hikari/

/Wanna bet, asshole/ replied sweet, lovable Ryou.

/See/ gloated Bakura. /I've already been such a good influence on you/

"Anyways," Yugi was saying, "I've got to get home and chew Gramps out. I swear…" he started grumbling under his breath.

"Uh, okay Yug," Joey said. "See ya tomorrow. Mebbe Tea'll be here then."

"Yeah. Bye guys." Yugi shuffled gloomily out into the monsoon. Both Tristan and Joey were too busy worrying about Yugi to notice Ryou's face systematically switching from an evil smirk to a worried frown and back again.

A little while later, Yugi squished through his front door, and his grandpa was immediately there to greet him.

"Hey Yugi, did you have a nice walk home?"

"No, but it was a rather pleasant swim," he quipped.

Grandpa Mouto smiled. "Well, I'm glad. Do you have any homework? I'll be happy to help you again!"

"You know," Yugi said, putting his hands on his hips, it's funny you mention that Gramps. I just want you to know that I failed two daily assignments and a test thanks to your help! You taught me the wrong formula, so I made a zero on my homework AND the test. And I made a zero on that summary cuz the teacher said I obviously didn't read the assignment and somehow got The Hobbit and Jane Eyre into a book by Daniel Defoe, when it was supposed to be Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, set in the Reign of Terror in France!" He was breathing hard, his fists clenched, glaring at his grandfather. "What do you have to say about that?"

His grandpa shrugged. "Everyone makes mistakes. Would you like me to make you a snack?"

"Augh!" Yugi threw his hands in the air. He tried to storm past his grandpa, slipped in the puddle he had just made, and fell on his cute lil' butt.

"You okay?" Gramps asked, hurrying over to help him up.

"I'm fine!" Yugi jerked away from his grandpa and ran up the stairs. He threw his bag on the floor and began taking off his soggy clothes. Yami materialized beside him.

"Yugi."

"What?" Yugi hissed, throwing his shoes through his other half's spiritual form.

Yami just crossed his arms and waited.

Yugi threw his soggy pants at him too, then sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands. "Yami, I…" He sniffled.

Yami sat next to him. "It'll be fine Yugi. I know everything seems bad right now, but once you hit rock bottom, you can only go up."

Pitiful tears trickled down Yugi's rain-wettened face. "How's that supposed to help me?'

"Well, how about some straight advice. I know your grandfather's behavior seems to ruin everything, but being mad will not fix anything. Try your hardest to ignore your grandfather when he's like this and when he says things, give impartial answers, not angry ones. Being angry will only make him think you need more of this attention."

Yugi wiped his eyes and gave Yami a watery smile. "You make it sound so easy."

Yami smiled back. "It can be."

Yugi's smile widened, he reached over to give Yami a hug, and -FWUMP- he passed straight through the spirit and fell off the bed. So much for that touching little moment. "Ouch." Yugi crawled to his feet, looking angry again.

"Are you all right?" Yami asked carefully.

"Yeah," Yugi mumbled, trying hard to contain his anger. "I'm gonna take a shower."