Chapter title: Parents
Word count: 2.813
Chapter: 8/?
Chapter summary: Yami gets a phone call from his parents, Juudai tells a little about his past.
Chapter warnings: -
Pairings: YamixYuugi
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

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Chapter 8: Parents

Juudai left Omote and joined the crowd. He cheered along with the other children as male teacher finally got the ball out of the tree. Juudai and Johan got their ball back and resumed playing on the playground, just like everyone else. As things went back to normal, Anzu finally noticed that Omote wasn't playing anymore, and that he was trembling.

"Omote, is everything alright?" She asked, placing a hand on his little shoulder. The little boy started crying loudly, leaping into his teachers arms. Since Anzu was a friend of his brother, he felt very comfortable with her. "Sweetie what happened?" She cooed.

Omote sniffled and removed himself from Anzu's arms. He looked at the crowd that had gathered around them. Children were really curious after all. His eyes caught Juudai's for a split second before he looked down. He wanted to tell, he hated lying. But he was scared.

"My sandcastle broke." He said softly. Anzu patted his head.

"That's okay, that can happen. You can build a new one." She said to console him.

"And I got sand in my eyes." He muttered. Anzu frowned and lifted his head up by his chin. There were grains of sand on his face, mixed with his tears.

"Come." Anzu said, standing up and holding out her hand. "Let's go inside and rinse it off." Omote nodded and stood up, taking Anzu's hand with one hand and rubbing his eye with the other. Juudai watched as Omote left. He expected to feel satisfied, but in reality, he felt horrible. He did the same thing the bullies from the orphanage did to him. He had stooped to their level and he had promised himself that he never would go there.

"Juudai!" Johan called. But it was too late. The ball hit him square in the face. The impact had Juudai on his butt. "Are you okay!" Johan shrieked, running over to fallen boy. Juudai rubbed his slightly aching nose, looking at the ball lying near him. Then he looked at the worried teal haired boy. A smirk crept on his face. He picked up the ball and threw it at Johan's face.

The older boy yelped as the ball made contact with his face. He got the message though. He quickly ran after the ball and hurled it back at Juudai. Juudai caught it and hurled it right back. They laughed whenever they hit the other. Provoking, when they missed. Their friendly match of dodge ball went on till the end of recess, where they returned to the classroom giggling. Juudai looked at Omote, who had never returned to the playground after his little castle demolishing. His head was low and he was really silent.

He sat at his place next to Omote. He immediately felt the boy tense up and start to tremble, but he ignored him, happily chatting with Johan about Duel Monsters. He learned that Johan already had a deck. Juudai didn't have cards yet, but Yami promised they could get some if he was good. He gulped, thinking about how he might get caught after what he did to Omote.

The rest of the class was uneventful. Anzu noticed how more quiet than usual Omote was. She was happy that Juudai was fitting in quite well though. He was talking and playing with more classmates than just Johan. At the end of the kindergarten, parents picked up their children. Juudai, Johan and a couple more kids from different classes, stayed behind because their parents wouldn't be able to pick them up until later.

Anzu stood in the playground, making sure that every child from her class went home with the correct parents. She was responsible for them until they were with their parents. Yuugi walked in, already dressed up in his working clothes. He was going to drop Omote off and then immediately return to work.

"Good afternoon Anzu, I hope he wasn't any trouble today." Yuugi said, taking Omote's hand in his own. Omote left Anzu's side with a slouch and dragging his feet. Yuugi frowned. "What's wrong?"

Anzu sighed. "He was building a sandcastle and it collapsed. Also, he got some sand in his face. Which was pretty weird since it wasn't that windy today." She told.

Yuugi looked worried. "Do you think he might've been bullied?" He would hate it if his little brother inherited his bully magnet. Omote was the world to him and he didn't know what he would do if the little boy got hurt.

The kindergarten teacher bit her lower lip. "I can't tell for sure. All of our attention was drawn to get a ball out of the tree." She said apologetically. Yuugi sighed, lightly tugging Omote's hand to get his attention. The little boy looked up at his older brother.

"Was someone mean to you?" Yuugi asked reassuringly. If someone hurt Omote, they would deal with him. Yuugi was docile, but mess with his family… he would turn into a demon. Omote looked his brother in the eyes. He then looked at Anzu, who was looking just as reassuring as Yuugi. Then back at the ground.

"No… my castle just fell." Omote said softly. Yuugi sighed, giving up for now. He would have to go or he would be late for work from his break.

"Okay then. Thanks Anzu, I will see you later."

"Bye Yuugi." She said, waving as the two spiky haired siblings left the kindergarten grounds. She sighed and went back inside. The other kids had already left with their parents. She went back inside, where the little group who had been left behind were sitting in a circle, playing a game.

Slowly, the other children left as well, their parents having picked them up. It was just Juudai and Johan left. Anzu stayed behind also, keeping an eye on the last two kids. She couldn't just leave them behind unsupervised. It's not like she had plans or anything. Or a date…. Oh great, she saddened herself again. All her other colleagues had already left so she didn't have anyone to talk to either. It was already six thirty and she hoped that the parents of the kids would come soon.

As if her prayers were heard, the door to her classroom opened, revealing a head of crazy spiked hair and one head of snowy white hair. "So we're so late, we had to do a little bit of overtime." Yami apologized.

"Daddy!" Juudai cheered, leaping into Yami's arms.

"Missed me?" Yami chuckled. Juudai hummed and buried his face into Yami's shirt. He had been a little afraid that Yami wouldn't pick him up. "Shall we go home?" Yami suggested, taking hold of his hand. Juudai nodded into his shirt.

"Alright then." He rubbed the hair of the boy. "I'll see you tomorrow Ryou, I'll send the designs tonight." He said. Ryou nodded.

"See you tomorrow." He and Johan walked out the classroom. Yami halted before exiting.

"How has he been? I hope he hasn't caused any trouble." Juudai's expression turned to one of horror. What if Anzu-sensei had seen him kick the sand in Omote's face? Anzu only smiled.

"The only trouble he caused was getting a ball stuck in the tree. But that could've happened to anyone and we got it out. He has been good." Juudai almost sighed in relief. Yami smiled down at him.

"Looks like someone deserves some Duel Monsters cards." Juudai gasped.

"Really?!" He asked. Yami nodded. The boy jumped up and down, cheering as he did. Yami and Anzu both chuckled at the happiness of the child. This was why Anzu worked at the kindergarten and Yami was glad that he had been able to take care of a kid till this point.

"Alright then, say goodbye to Anzu and we'll head home." Yami said. Juudai said his goodbye to Anzu and headed home with Yami. He ate dinner, being forced to eat the broccoli as well, and was allowed to watch TV. Yami finished the designs in the meantime. After he had done that and send them to Ryou as promised, he helped Juudai with his homework. Since Juudai was behind with reading Japanese characters, he had a little of self-studying to do. Yami was impressed, the kid picked it up quite fast. He was really smart.

As it neared bedtime, Juudai had to take a bath and go to bed.

"I had a really good day today daddy." Juudai said happily, snuggling into his blankets. Yami smiled, but there was one thing he wanted to ask the little kid. Now that he was in such good spirits, he took the chance, hoping to not ruin it.

"Juudai… it's okay if you don't want to tell… but why did you parents leave you?"

Immediately the face of the little boy fell. "It's okay if you don't want to tell." Yami reassured. But Juudai shook his head.

"I want to tell." He said. "I don't know exactly what happened…. But my parents didn't like me at all. They would always fight and blame me while I was trying so hard to be a good boy." Juudai started trembling. Yami sat at the edge of the bed and wrapped his arm around the little boy, rubbing his shoulder to console him.

"Mommy and daddy would always say that it was my fault that their life was bad. But I never did anything wrong… I think." He muttered. "They would always scream at each other and sometimes they would even hit each other. I was always so scared! One time, I was sleeping in my room and my mommy woke up. Mommy dragged me out of bed and pushed me to daddy." His look saddened as he told the next part. "Daddy pushed me back at mommy and said he didn't want me. They pushed me like that for a little while. They told me they were going to split up and that they didn't want me." He let out a little sigh.

"Daddy said I was too expensive and mommy said that I took up too much of her time." He could remember those words clearly, even though he was three years at the time. It had hurt him so much. "I told them I was going to be good but they didn't believe me, they then put me into that house. The people were nice at first… but as people adopted me and brought me back, they were getting angry at me!" He sniffled and rubbed away the tears. "I didn't do anything wrong…." He croaked out.

Yami hadn't said a word as Juudai told this story. His heart had wrenched and he felt guilty for asking the little boy to tell such a traumatic story. He couldn't even imagine how he would feel if his parents did that to him. He shuddered at the thought. Juudai was softly sobbing in his bed, face covered by his hands. Yami felt responsible for getting the child to cry and embraced him. This caught Juudai by surprise.

Yami shushed the boy as he lightly rocked him, like his own mother used to do to him. "Everything will be okay." The boy latched on to his new parent. "I promised, didn't I? That I wouldn't leave you?" Juudai nodded into his shirt. He gently peeled the boy off of him, smiling down as the child looked confused.

"It's bed time now." Yami said, pushing Juudai back into his bed. "We'll go to the store this Saturday to buy some cards so you can play with Johan alright?" Juudai's expression turned to one of happiness.

"Okay." He said with a nod and a sniffle. "Goodnight daddy."

"Goodnight… son." Juudai closed his eyes and snuggled into his blankets. Yami stood up from the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss the boy on the forehead. The lips of the little boy curled up into a serene smile and he was soon fast asleep.

Yami softly closed the door of the room with a click, plopping down on the couch in the living room. He didn't get much time to rest though, the house phone started ringing. With much difficulty, he raised himself and dragged himself to the kitchen.

"Yami speaking." He said after picking up the horn.

"Yami!" The voice on the other side shrieked. The eyes of the man recognized the voice.

"Mom?" He asked.

"Why did never tell us you had a child?!"

"Mom wai–"

"Did you knock up some girl? Have you finally come to your senses?" Yami was starting to get agitated.

"Mo–"

"But why did you not tell us!" Some noises were heard on the other line. Yami was tempted to just hang up but he knew that his parents would never leave him alone if he did. "So how was the chick?" His father.

Yami sighed into the horn. "There is no chick." He growled. His father was silent for a moment.

"You knocked up a guy?"

"What? How is that even possible?"

He heard his father murmur something along 'modern technology' but he couldn't quite make it out. "How do you even know I have a kid?" He sure as hell never told them. And he wasn't planning too.

"Your sweet friend, the blond one… I thought his name was Tonkatsu?"

"Katsuya." Yami corrected in a growl. His friend was going to pay for all this.

"So tell us about your child! Oh I am so happy to be a grandmother! About time."

Yami took a deep breath to calm himself. He did not want to lash out at his parents. "His name is Juudai and he is five years old." Before he could say another thing, his mother once again interrupted him.

"WHAT?" Yam winced, moving the horn to his other ear, since he was pretty sure his mother shattered his eardrum. "You knocked up a girl when you were seventeen? Oh my lord! My son has fallen victim to teenaged pregnancy!"

Yami could slam his head on the wall. Repeatedly. "Mom." He said through his teeth. "I never knocked up a girl when I was a teenager. I never even did it with a girl." Realizing what he had just told his parents, he blushed. Clearing his throat, he continued to explain. "I adopted Juudai, just a couple weeks ago. He was an orphan I found on the streets and he really needed my help so I took him in."

"So… you haven't gotten anyone pregnant? Not even a guy?"

"No mom! I just told dad that it's physically impossible!" A sigh was heard.

"Okay then… at least I still have my grandchild… when do we get to meet him anyways? And do you have a boyfriend already?"

"You don't get to meet him and…. Yes."

"Oooh~" His mother sang as if she had gotten a juicy piece of gossip. Which was actually kind of true. It would be a matter of time that the whole of Sapporo knew of his personal life. He was so glad he didn't live in that town anymore. "Tell me about it."

Yami sighed. "His name is Yuugi, you know the intern nurse at the hospital when I got my tonsils taken out?" He waited till his mother confirmed. "I finally got together with him." He told with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Good. I approve of him. I have to hang up now though." Yami cheered inwardly. "We'll try to come visit you soon enough to meet Juudai and Yuugi. Love you dearie. Daddy loves you too!" He heard his father mutter something in the background.

"Yeah, love you too." Yami answered and they hung up. He sighed in relief. He loved his parents, but their conversations could get awkward so fast and so suddenly. He quietly walked back to the bedroom of the little boy, checking if the phone call hadn't woken him up. Seeing the child still fast asleep, he closed the door and jumped into the shower, washing all the tension away with the nice hot water.

Even though it was still quite early, he decided to call it a night. A lot of excitement had happened this day. Juudai's first day of school, he made friends, saw Yuugi and would probably see him more often in the mornings, Juudai had done well in school and he dodged the bullet of telling his parents about a kid, because he knew they were going to overreact.

This whole adoption thing was turning out great so far! He was proud of himself. Juudai was a good kid, he got a promotion and it was going well between him and Yuugi. A smile was on his lips as he laid his head down on the soft pillow.

He finally had his life in order.

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Author Notes: Hehehe, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. In fact, there is hint in it for my next fanfiction. Again I apologize if it was a little bland. I remember I had a lot of difficulty writing these chapters. Also, sorry for the long wait!

Next chapter: Festival

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