Chapter title: Repeat
Word count: 3.540
Chapter: 13/15
Chapter summary: Juudai realizes his mistakes.
Chapter warnings: Drinking of alcohol
Pairings: YamixYuugi, Spiritshipping if you squint
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Chapter 13: Repeat

"Why didn't you check up on him?" Ryou was almost in panic mode. Kujaku bit her lip and averted her eyes.

"I just… couldn't."

"Watch the kids for a moment okay?" He said as he walked to the door that lead to Yami's apartment.

"Come on boys, let the grown-ups talk in private. I have some cookies and chocolate milk inside." The treats had bought their attention as they rushed into the woman's home for cookies.

Glad that the kids were distracted, Ryou inserted the key into the keyhole and unlocked it. The door opened, showing the dark hallway. The scent of alcohol hit him like a sack of bricks. "That idiot." Ryou harshly whispered. He turned on the lights and looked through the house. He wasn't in the living room, kitchen, or bathroom. That left only a few more places to check. The scent was even worse in Yami's bedroom and surely there he lay, unmoving on the bed.

"Yami!" Ryou accidentally slipped out his first name. He rushed to the body and shook it. Yami grumbled illegible things, flailing with his arms slightly before rolling over. Ryou sighed in relief. "He's just wasted…. I so told the idiot not to do something stupid." He muttered to himself. His eyes found the nearby empty bottle. He immediately recognized it as the standard wine their company gives the employees for their birthday. Ryou sighed, moving Yami so he was under the covers. Yami was not one who could hold his alcohol. He was always the first to pass out when they went to the bar with their former boss.

The white haired male went back to the hallway, knocking on the door of the blond woman. She opened the door, with two heads sticking out behind her. "Is my daddy home?" Juudai asked, wiping the cookie crumbs from the corners of his mouth.

"Yeah he is, he's just sleeping. Come I'll tuck you in before I go. Johan stay with the lady a little longer okay?" Ryou told his son.

"Okay papa." The teal haired boy said.

"Bye bye Mai-chan!" Juudai cheered as he ran into his own house.

"Bye kid." The woman said with a chuckle. Juudai made a beeline to his foster father's room, about to climb into bed with him. Ryou stopped him.

"I really think it's better if you sleep in your own room. Your daddy is going to be a little sick tomorrow." Ryou said gently. Juudai pouted but listened to the man. He went to his own room and put on his Kuribo jammies. He crawled under the blanket as Ryou closed the curtains. "Sleep tight Juudai." Ryou said, lightly rustling the brown hair.

"Good night Bakura-san." Juudai said, followed by a big yawn. Softly leaving the room, Ryou closed the bedroom door and locked up the front door before giving the key back to Mai.

"Would you like to come in for some coffee?" The woman asked as she took the key back.

"I'm sorry, I'm married." Ryou replied. The woman rolled her eyes and flicked her finger into Ryou's forehead.

"Not like that you pervert. I want to talk about him." She said, motioning to Yami's door with her head.

"Oh." Ryou said feeling utterly stupid. "Of course." He went inside to the living room where Johan was busy coloring some blank pages that Mai had given him.

"Let's go to the kitchen to talk in private." She said, eyeing the little boy. Ryou followed her gaze to his son and nodded. He settled down at the kitchen table while she put some water into the kettle. "Cute boy, where's he from?" She asked.

"He's from Scandinavia. We adopted him when he was almost three year old." Ryou told, smiling fondly at the memory of holding his new son for the first time… even though he was three.

"Why adopt?" She asked, busying herself with making coffee. "If I may ask that is." She soon added.

"My partner and I just weren't able to have kids." He answered. Mai was just about done with the coffee and placed the mug in front of Ryou and sat down as well, a steaming mug of coffee in her hands. Sugar and milk were already on the table. She watched in amusement as the white haired man loaded his coffee with sugar.

"The reason I didn't want him to hear us talk, is because of Juudai." Mai said after Ryou was done putting coffee into his sugar. "He's the reason the two broke up."

"What? Why?" Ryou asked quite surprised.

"You see… Juudai has a little problem with sharing. He didn't want Yuugi anywhere near Yami. I heard Yuugi yelling about all the stuff Juudai did to him was actually on purpose. Something about paint, a fish and dinner." Mai sipped her coffee, staring out in front of her. "After that something about Yuugi's little brother popped up but they were pretty vague about it. Apparently Juudai did something to Yuugi's little brother too."

Ryou absentmindedly traced the rim of the mug with his finger, trying to process it all. "It's very possible… Yuugi's little brother, Johan and Juudai go to the same kindergarten. They're even in the same class…. Yami's been telling me that Yuugi's little brother Omote has been very depressed lately. The kid can't sleep, doesn't eat and talks even less than before…. To add to all, I've heard that his mother has OCD so she isn't a big help either…. Yuugi's been working so hard to maintain all three of them and working on his relationship to Yami that he most likely didn't have any time for his little brother." Ryou sighed.

"Add to it to find out that your boyfriend's son has been bullying your little brother…." Mai added. The two were silent for a moment. "They broke up on really bad terms. Yuugi stormed out of the house, not looking back. Juudai told him that he and his little brother should leave him and Yami alone. It was really sad to see really… Yami pleaded for him to come back but the other wouldn't even turn around." It was silent between the two adults. Mai stared out in front of her while Ryou looked down at his cup of coffee, trying to process it all.

"That's the reason huh? He seemed like such a nice child."

Mai leaned back into her chair, sipping the hot liquid. "Believe me when I say he is a really nice child. He just can't share his parent. I bet that if even you got really close to Yami, he would hate you too. Yami told me that all adoption parents Juudai had brought him back to the orphanage and that even they got sick of him. So the boy ran away and Yami picked him up from the streets."

Ryou had known Juudai was adopted but he had never really heard anything other than that. His relationship with Yami had always been business, not personal so he never really asked. "I never knew." He said with a sigh. "And to think I loaded so much work on Yami for this project." He admitted. Mai looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, I am a colleague of Yami by the way and the leader of this project. I kinda pulled him from the project now."

"That's for the best." Mai agreed.

Ryou quickly downed the last of his cooled coffee. "Thank you for the coffee and explanation Kujaku-san. I will have to take my leave now. It's almost Johan's bedtime and my partner is a little possessive of me and won't stop asking why I took so long." He said half-jokingly. "I would like to ask you to keep an eye on Yami." He then asked of Mai as he stood up. "I told the stupid not to do anything stupid, yet he did." Ryou said a litte more than annoyed. The woman chuckled as she stood up too.

"Will do." She said. When they returned to the living room, Johan was idly scratching the paper.

"Johan, we're going home." Ryou said but there was no response. "Johan?" Ryou asked again, placing his hand on the little boy's shoulder. The boy jumped, looking around him.

"What is it papa?" Johan asked, looking at his father's concerned eyes.

"I said we were going home." He repeated, taking the little hand of the child. Johan nodded and stood up, wrapping his own little fingers around Ryou's hand.

"Thank you for the cookies Mai-chan." Johan thanked with a short bow. Ryou said goodbye and left the apartment. Mai sighed with a fond smile and sat on the sofa in the living room. She turned on her tv for background noises. Noticing the boys had left their drawings on the coffee table, she flipped through them. It was typical five year old drawings. Everything was so simple and very cartoony, stick figures, sun in the corner….

She stopped as she came across one Johan had drawn earlier. It was one of him and Juudai holding hands and smiling. It was very sunny and the word 'Tomodosa' was written in hiragana. The poor boy had gotten confused and written the wrong character. But it was clear that he meant 'tomodachi', friend. However, Juudai's face was scratched with a black pencil.

"Oh dear." Mai gasped lightly. "He heard us."

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Daddy?"

Yami groaned and grabbed his head. The sound was so loud it made his headache even worse. He felt small hands shake him and it felt like his brain stem had let go and tumbled around in his head. He swatted the hand away and sat up slowly. The movements made him dizzy and nauseous but he held strong. What had happened. He looked over to see Juudai looking at him with concerned eyes.

"Uncle Ryou was already saying you would be sick." He said as he jumped onto the bed and placed his hand on Yami's forehead. He had to admit that he cold hand of the child felt amazing on his heated skin.

"I'm not sick…" Yami groaned out. "What time is it?" Juudai pursed his lips as he started counting on his fingers. Then he realized they weren't thought to tell time yet.

"I don't know." He answered. Yami stood up and wobbled over to his phone, which happened to be on the floor for some reason. Turning on the screen, he saw that it was almost afternoon.

"Shit." He breathed. Juudai was supposed to be on school hours ago. He had slept through his alarm clock. Why was he feeling so horrible? What had happened last night? "Juudai go dress up, I'll take you to school immediately." That reminded him, he was late for work. Walking to the living room, he slumped on the couch, checking his phone again. Now he noticed he had one message. It was from Ryou.

Stay home today. I already told
Kaiba you would be sick today.
You'll probably have a really bad
hangover. You downed a whole
bottle of wine you idiot. Don't
worry about work, we got you
covered. Btw you still have to send
Jounouchi what you started.

Bakura

Hangover. That's why he was feeling so horrible. Thinking back, which really bade his headache even worse than it already was, he remembered. Yuugi had broken up with him… and it was Juudai's fault. He withheld a growl at the thought of the child but forced himself to calm down. There surely must be something going on that he was missing. He was sure that if he got to talk with Yuugi and Juudai that they could work something out.

"I'm ready daddy." The brunet boy said walking into the living room. Yami nodded and followed the boy outside. He got a brief greeting from Mai, who was getting her newspaper.

The road to school was hell. The zooming cars, the lights, the noises. They were all amplified in Yami's brain and it made him want to scream out and run. Half way through he remembered that he could've just call the school and tell them Juudai couldn't come today. As he arrived, he knocked on the classroom door. In a few seconds Anzu was out in the hallway with them.

"Sorry he's late Mazaki-sensei. I… slept through my alarm clock." He apologized, not really feeling sorry for anything.

"Sennen-san… you don't look so good." She said concerned with a little grimace.

Yami chuckled bitterly. "Funny, I don't feel good either."

"W-well… actually the principal wanted to see you… but if you don't feel up to it you can see him some other day." She told, glancing at the door to the office of the kindergarten principal.

"He does?" Yami asked. He already didn't want to have this meeting.

"It's… actually quite serious." She said hesitantly. "Juudai go into class I will soon join you okay?" She said to the little kid.

"Okay sensei!" Juudai said cheerfully. He skipped into the classroom where all his classmates were already busy with activities.

"Please go see him if you have time." Anzu said and joined the children, closing the door behind her. Juudai had hung up his coat and placed his bag in the cabinet that belonged to him and sat down next to Johan who was playing with Duel Monster cards.

"Hi Johan!" He happily chirped as he sat and looked at Johan's hand. To his surprise Johan hid his hand and glared at the boy.

"Go away." He muttered as he lightly pushed Juudai away. Juudai stumbled and looked at his best friend with eyes filled with hurt and betrayal.

"Why?" He asked, on the verge of tears, followed by a big sniffle.

"Because you are a meanie!" Johan screamed and shot up. He threw his cards onto the ground and ran out of the classroom. Anzu gasped as she stood up too.

"Everyone continue playing games, I will be right back!" She ordered as she gave chase to the running child. Juudai's lip trembled and he blinked his eyes rapidly to stop tears from falling. Why had Johan said that? He reached out to pick up Rainbow Dragon, Johan's most cherished card so it wouldn't get damaged but his hand was slapped away.

"Don't touch his card meanie!" A black haired kid by the name of Jun snapped at him.

"Why not?! I'm not a meanie! You're a meanie!" Juudai snapped back.

"No! You bullied Omote and now he's gone!" Jun screamed at Juudai. He had stood up and was looking down on the boy.

"Yeah! Meanie! Meanie! Meanie!" All the other children started chanting.

Juudai felt so small. He tried to back up but he was stopped by the wall. The chanting got louder and louder. All the other children were looming over him. Finally he could take no more. He stood up and ran out of the classroom while there was not teacher to stop him. He could faintly hear the cheering of his classmates after he had run out. He made a beeline to the hole in the fence that was behind the bushes. He and Johan had found it one day during playtime.

Slipping out of the kindergarten grounds, Juudai ran for home.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The principal immediately sat Yami down in his office after the man had knocked on the door.

"Glad you could see me Sennen-san, do you know why?" The principal asked. Yami looked at the man. He was a very friendly looking man a little on the chubby side. He was balding and his hair was greying as well.

"Juudai I assume?" Yami said with an undertone of sarcasm.

The man looked at him for a moment. "Indeed. Did you know that because of Juudai, one student transferred to a different school?"

Yami looked surprised. "I assume said student is Mutou Omote?" The principal nodded. "Look. I know Yuugi and I broke up but that's no reason to switch schools."

"That's not exactly the reason Sennen-san." The principal intervened. He now understood the state the man was in though. "Juudai has bullied Omote so much, the little child went into a severe depression.

Yami's posture suddenly went rigid. He hadn't known. "W-wha?" He croaked.

The principal nodded and continued. "He would often take away his toys, verbally abuse him and threaten him not to tell anyone about it." Yami was speechless. His mouth just hung open. "We do not tolerate bullying here Sennen-san. I understand that Juudai was adopted about half a year ago but I am going to have to notify." He looked at a document in front of him. "Watanabe-san of this incident."

Watanabe was the woman who would check if Juudai was doing okay. "I-I… I honestly had no idea…." Yami stuttered. That's why Yuugi had said that Juudai broke his little brother. He had to make up with Yuugi and apologize. He stood up so abruptly that the principal was startled.

"Sennen-san we are not finished talking yet!" The principal called but Yami was already gone. He raced out of the kindergarten with just one objective in mind. Apologize to Yuugi.

Once he was home, he went into the living room immediately, where he had forgotten his phone. He picked it up and punched in the number he knew by heart. It rang a couple times before it went to voicemail. He tried again, with no success. Third time's the charm. Yuugi picked up.

"What do you want?" The way Yuugi's voice sounded so vehement, broke his heart.

"Yuugi I am so glad you picked up, I know what Juudai did and I am so sorry please Yuugi come back to me so we can talk it out I need you Yuugi." He said in one breath.

The other line was silent for a moment.

"No."

"N-no?" Yami repeated, not believing Yuugi actually said that.

"You heard me. No." With that, Yuugi hung up. Yami stared at the screen. It displayed 'Call ended' before going back to his homepage. He quickly dialed again and the phone. Like the first time, It rang a couple times before going to voicemail. Yami growled as he hung up and dialed again. It rang once and then went to voicemail. Yami looked at the screen in confusion, before trying again.

It rang once and directed him to voicemail. "Yuugi… blocked me?" He breathed out. Sadness was soon converted to anger. "This is all the fault of that godforsaken child!" He roared as he threw his phone at the wall. The force he threw with actually made a crack in the wall and smashed his phone. Most of his anger out of his system, he stepped to the demolished phone and picked it up.

Realizing what he had done, the sadness overwhelmed him. This phone contained so much of his conversations with Yuugi that were now lost forever. All the pictures they had taken together…. He searched the leftovers of his phone for the SIM card and the Micro SD card, hoping to be able to salvage all that was on it.

The he went into his room and rummaged through his drawers in search of a temporary phone. He had kept one, it was a bit old fashioned but he needed to make a phone call. The SIM card worked fortunately so he didn't have to look up the number.

"'Sup Yami." The person answered.

"Are you at work?" He asked. God, he never realized how tired he sounded.

"Yeah I am. You okay?"

"Not really… can I talk to you in a private area?" He asked.

"Yeah sure. Gimme a moment." He could hear the footsteps as the man looked for a private space. Soon a door closed shut and shuffling sounds were heard. "Okay I'm in a meeting room. What happened?"

"Jounouchi… Yuugi broke up with me." Again he felt like he was about to cry. "I don't know what to do… I tried talking to him but he didn't want me back…." Yami was actually crying right now.

"He did? Why?" Jounouchi really didn't believe it.

"It's all Juudai's fault! He chased Yuugi away!" He screamed.

"Dude what? What did he do? What else don't I know?" Jounouchi asked.

Yami sighed and told all that had transpired the last few days. From the dinner, to the argument between Yuugi and Juudai to the break-up and the short talk with the principal.

"I really don't know what to do… I am seriously considering just throwing him back into the orphanage. I hate to admit it… but that woman was right. He is just a nuisance."

He couldn't take it anymore. His father had said such mean things about him! He… even wanted to kick him out… like everyone else… he had done it again…. Juudai ran for the door, not taking his jacket or anything else with him. He was so blinded by tears he didn't even look where he was going.

He had lost the only father who had truly loved him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Author Notes: So sorry D: I completely forgot to upload this! I was so busy with drawing, watching anime and gaming that I forgot I had a fanfiction account. xD

I also just finally finished watching Duel Monsters today after 2.21 years xD I am still so sad about the ending but hey, that's what fanfiction is for right?

Thank you for those who reviewed, followed and faved. I really appreciate it!

Next chapter: Apologies