Cliffshipping (Jonouchi's dad/Jonouchi Katsuya)

. . .

"It would be easier if I could just hate you."

He didn't respond. Of course he didn't.

Gravestones don't talk back.

Jonouchi stood empty handed in front of the glossy plaque. The headstone was more expensive than the old man was worth, in Jonouchi's opinion. But his mother had paid for the burial service. One last thing for a man she used to love. He couldn't really imagine it—loving him. What had he been like before, that was enough for her to stay and have two kids?

The plaque is a simple one, just set into the ground, nothing but a name and the dates of birth to death. Shizuka sent flowers with him to put on the grave, but Jonouchi left them on someone else's grave, one that was worn and cracked. Even a long-dead stranger was worth the flowers more than his old man.

Jonouchi scuffed his foot across the plaque. Normally, he would worry about ghosts. He hated cemeteries. Couldn't pass by them normally without holding his breath on the idea that ghosts might come and steal his soul or some other stupid urban legend. But not with this one. Part of him ached for a second chance to clock his father in the jaw, even if he was only a ghost.

"You didn't do a goddamn thing for me, you know?" he said. "I hated your guts, sometimes. I can't look at alcohol without feeling like you're going to throw the bottle at me. You messed me the fuck up, you know."

He ground his heel into the plaque with each sentence. It didn't make him feel any better. He took his foot and his eyes off of the plaque, stared at the faraway cemetery gate instead.

"It would be easier if I could just hate you," he whispered. "That's what you used to tell me, isn't it."

. . .

A/N: I went with a sorta saddish feeling for that one I guess. Next is Clearshipping (Seto x Yugi x Mokuba).