Apparently Ryou's father has a new character design in DSOD. I won't give away any spoilers, but I like the original anime design better. (Take note that I had the anime design in mind when I wrote this entire fanfic.)

Happy reading, and please leave a review! If you find any spelling and grammar mistakes, feel free to point them out to me.

One afternoon, there was a big surprise waiting for Ryou when he got home from school.

"Hey, Ryou," Mr. Bakura said when Ryou opened the door to his apartment.

"Dad!" Ryou cried joyfully, running over and giving his father a huge embrace.

"Whoa, hey, take it easy there, son. I can't breathe."

"I missed you," Ryou said, tears running down his face.

"I missed you too. Now why don't we sit down on the couch and talk for a while. We have a lot of catching up to do."

Ryou nodded, wiping his face on his sleeves. "I'll fetch the drinks," he said.

Meanwhile, Honda was sitting alone on the roof of Domino High School, staring through the fence at the busy streets below. Jounouchi watched him at a distance for a moment and then approached him.

"Sup," said Jounouchi, sitting down on the floor next to Honda.

Honda grumbled a little bit, but otherwise gave no indication that Jounouchi was even there.

"Is something the matter?" Jounouchi tried again.

"–rything's fine," Honda mumbled, his voice barely audible.

"Everything's not fine. I've known you since childhood, and I can tell when something's up. Tell me what's wrong."

"Do you always have to butt into everything about my life?" Honda shouted, tears forming in his eyes. He clenched his eyes shut, took a deep breath, and calmed himself. "Sorry. It's just, things are complicated at home right now."

"Let me hear it."

"Alright. Um…"

"Actually, hold that thought." Jounouchi turned around and shouted, "HEY GUYS! I CAN SEE YOU HIDING OVER THERE. SHOW YOURSELVES!"

Yugi and Anzu poked their heads out from behind the door, looking embarrassed. "Sorry!" Yugi called out. "Do you want us to leave?"

"Should they leave? It's your call," Jounouchi said to Honda.

"It's okay. They can stay," said Honda.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"YOU TWO, GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE," Jounouchi shouted.

Quickly, Yugi and Anzu came up onto the roof and joined Jounouchi and Honda, forming a circle.

"So, what's up?" Yugi asked.

"It's nothing, really. My parents are just fighting again," Honda said. "I don't think they're going to get a divorce this time, but…maybe they will. God I hope they don't. This is so frustrating. I mean, it's happened so many times before! They always make up in the end, although begrudgingly. But why did it have to be one of my teachers, this time though? Ms. Chono is the worst possible choice. "

"Ms. Chono?" Yugi and Anzu said at the same time.

"Let me get this straight. Your father cheated on your mother with Ms. Chono?" Jounouchi said, as he was the only one who could follow everything that Honda was saying.

"Yeah, pretty much," said Honda.

"Oh my God. I knew she…but I didn't think…this is all my fault," Anzu said, covering her face.

"What's wrong, Anzu?" asked Yugi.

"How can any of this be your fault?" asked Jounouchi.

Anzu swallowed, choking on her words. "I…the other day…several weeks ago, I talked with Ms. Chono. She said she wanted revenge on you three And then, a few days after that, my father told my mother that a strange woman had been following him around at work, trying to flirt with him. I didn't have proof, but I knew it was Ms. Chono. I had a gut feeling. The incident didn't leave much impact, so I forgot about it. Had I known she'd go after your father too…Oh Honda I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry." Anzu was sobbing now, unable to control herself. The boys quickly went to her side trying to comfort her, telling her it's not her fault, it's going to be alright, please don't cry, so on and so forth. A few minutes later she calmed down, but was still hiccupped every now and then.

"Like I said, this isn't the first time it's happened," Honda said. "Both of my parents have cheated on each other in the past, but they always work it out in the end. They have to, for my sake, and for my brothers and sister."

"Your father's a pretty decent fella," Jounouchi said to Anzu.

Anzu nodded. "My parents tell each other everything."

"Why is Ms. Chono doing this? None of us ever did anything to her," said Yugi.

"We embarrassed her in front of the whole class, remember?" Jounouchi said.

"What? When was this? I don't remember that," Yugi said.

Suddenly, Yugi's Puzzle glowed. A second later, the other Yugi was in control. "It's my fault. I gave her a penalty game, and now my friends are suffering because of it," he said, his voice strained and remorseful.

"Yugi, no. It was all of us. You, me, Honda, and now Anzu. We're all in this together," said Jounouchi.

Impulsively, Anzu put her hand in the middle of the circle. One by one, the other did the same until it was just like all those months ago, when Anzu drew those symbols on their hands.

"On a count of three," said Anzu.

"One, two, three!" they all counted together and then threw up their arms into the sky, cheering. They laughed for a bit and then fell silent, cringing somewhat and trying to avoid eye contact with one another. What they just did was incredibly corny.

"Anyways," Honda said, clearing his throat, "I can't help but wonder. Did Ms. Chono go after either of your families too?" Honda pointed back and forth between Yugi and Jounouchi.

The Puzzle glowed again, and the real Yugi came back. "She might have, but my father left a long time ago, and I doubt she would want to date my Grandpa. And even if she tried to, it wouldn't tear my family apart."

"Same with me," said Jounouchi.

"Then I guess she played herself. She tried to break apart our families, but most of our families are already broken," Honda said.

"What about Bakura and Otogi?" Yugi said, suddenly remembering.

"Ryou was in a different school when the incident took place, and Otogi's only been friends with us for a few weeks. Ms. Chono has no reason to target them," said Jounouchi.

"But she might consider them guilty by association. We should warn them just in case," said Anzu.

Honda nodded. "I'm not too worried about Otogi, since his father's in no shape to date anyone right now. But Bakura's father…"

"…is fairly young." Jounouchi finished.

Ryou and his father were still lounging on the couch, drinking soda and chatting.

"It's unbelievable. Every single person who got hit with a God Card's attack ended up in the hospital. It's amazing what people will do for the sake of a game," Mr. Bakura was saying.

"Yeah, it can be a bit scary," Ryou said.

"Speaking of Battle City, I think you have a bit of explaining to do," Mr. Bakura said, turning deadly serious.

Ryou lowered his head in shame. He had a guess where this was going. "Ahaha, yeah I know. Everyone's been telling me I should have stayed in the hospital instead of entering the finals. I promise I won't be so reckless next time."

"No no, I'm actually really glad you entered the finals. What I want to know is, did you learn anything about the Millennium Items while you were there?

"What?" Ryou nearly spat out his drink.

"The Millennium Items, Ryou. Don't play dumb, I saw it! Over half of the finalists had Items including you. There were a total of five…no wait, two people shared the Rod, so then four of the Millennium Items were at the same place at the same time. You have to give me the details. Did anything strange happen out there?"

Ryou thought about the shadow games, the near-deaths, that one guy who tried to murder multiple people…

"No," Ryou said.

"No? Nothing? No supernatural events or anything?"

"Just a bunch of super intense card games," Ryou said innocently.

"But what about all of the people who were hospitalized? People have been saying that the Duel Disks had been malfunctioning, but there's no way I can believe that. Something else must have been going on behind the scenes."

Ryou looked down at the floor and bit his lip. "It really was just the Duel Disks. Many of the finalists did have Millennium Items, but nobody used them."

Mr. Bakura peered at Ryou curiously. Was the boy lying to him, or was Ryou simply ignorant about what had truly occurred during the tournament? Mr. Bakura decided the latter explanation was more likely.

"Maybe you should just forget about the Millennium Items," Ryou said. He regretted telling his father about the Puzzle's existence. It hadn't even been that long ago, and now Mr. Bakura already knew the names to the rest of the Items.

"Not a chance. Haven't you ever wondered what would happen if we were to bring all of the Items together in one place?"

"Well, kind of."

"I want to be the first to know. Then I'll publish my findings, and history will remember my name forever." Mr. Bakura suddenly looked at his wristwatch and stood up. "It was nice chatting with you, Ryou. I have to go now."

"Again?" Ryou sounded sad. "But you just got back."

"I'll be back later tonight, I promise," Mr. Bakura said, searching for his coat.

"Are you going to the museum again?" Ryou asked, following his father into the other room.

"No actually," Mr. Bakura blushed. "I'm going on a date. As in, a romantic date. I'm seeing someone now."

"What!? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Ryou said, confused and slightly hurt.

"I was going to, but it slipped my mind," Mr. Bakura said, grabbing his keys.

"Who is it?"

"I think you'll like her. She's a nice lady, and beautiful. I'll tell you about her when I get home."

The door closed with a loud bang as Ryou's father left the apartment.