Chapter Six: Harsh Reality

Yami sighed. "First off Yugi," he started. "From now on I want you to call her 'Ms. Seigyoku'. She's older than you and you need to respect her." Yugi nodded.

"That's not too hard." Yugi thought. "I do that to my teachers." "But why is she here?" Yugi asked again. Yami knew his questions were innocent, and somewhat out of confusion.

"Well…" Yami said again. Yugi just blinked as he hugged his dad. Yami hugged him as he gathered his thoughts. "Yugi, remember when Mommy first died? We were both very sad, right?" Yugi nodded, hanging on his father's every word. "Well, you don't want to be sad forever do you?" Yugi shook his head slowly. Yami smiled. "That's why Seigyoku's here." Yugi cocked his head slightly. Realizing he was still confused, Yami continued. "Seigyoku's here to make us happy."

"How is she gonna do that, dad?" Yugi asked, sitting up.

"By being a mother." Yugi's eyes grew wide.

"What?" Yugi managed to choke out.

"She might be your step-mother." Yami said gently. Yugi said nothing. He was still in shock about what Yami just said. "Do you know what a step parent is?" Yami asked, trying to pull Yugi into a hug.

"Yeah!" Yugi said, jerking away. "It's someone put into a family to replace the parent that's gone!" He turned away from Yami, glaring at the floor.

"Now hold on," Yami said. He sat up more and reached for Yugi, who didn't move. "Son, look at me." Yugi turned half way, not wanting to look up. Yami gently put his finger under Yugi's chin and raised his gaze to his own. He smiled warmly. "Sei isn't going to replace Mom. She could never do that. I promise." Yugi turned away again. Yami wanted to pull him back but thought not to. "Maybe he needs some time to think." Yami thought. "Just think about it." Yami whispered to Yugi before kissing him lightly on the cheek. Yugi wiped it off as Yami left the room and closed the door.

Young Yugi's eyes filled with tears. He didn't want a new mom, he wanted his old one. He felt the tears coming to the edge of his eyes. He squeezed them shut, holding them back. He remembered what his mom would usually do. She would pick him up and hold him close. Then she would tell him that everything was alright. Whatever happened next depended on if his father was home or not. If Yami wasn't home, she would take him to his room and they would play The Game. If Yami was home, she would just take him out to the wooden rocking chair, and just hold him until he felt better. Yugi took in a sharp breath. By now the tears were falling. He laid down on his pillows and cried.

Yami sat on the sofa thinking. "'Replacing'? Where did Yugi hear that? Maybe on one of his cartoons?" He sighed. "Maybe the relationship is going too fast for Yugi. Perhaps Yugi needs to spend more time with Seigyoku." Sighing deeply, Yami tried to think of something all of them could do together. Suddenly the phone rang. Reluctantly, he got up, went to the kitchen, and answered the phone. "Hello?" he said as he sat down in a table chair.

"Hey!" The voice said.

"Seigyoku? Oh thank God!" Seigyoku blinked.

"Everything okay, Yami?" she asked. Yami sighed then he explained the conversation to her.

"Oh," she said. "I kinda had the feeling he hated me…" Yami blinked.

"It's not that he hates you, it just…" he trailed off. They were both silent, then Seigyoku said

"How about the park?"

"What?" Yami asked.

"Yami! The park! We can all go to the park!" Yami smiled.

"That's a great idea, Sei."

"You wanna go now or tomorrow?" she asked twirling her hair.

"Tomorrow would be better." He said.

"Kay." Seigyoku said. "See you at one o'clock?"

"Sure!" Yami said. They said good-bye and hung up.

Seigyoku sat back in her chair. Her suspicions had been true; Yugi didn't like her. "I can't blame him," she thought. "He's so young…" she sighed and put her head down on her desk to think. Chi-Chi passed by the door. When she saw her daughter was off the phone, she walked into the room and said

"What did he say?" Seigyoku looked up at her mother.

"What?" Chi-Chi glared at her.

"I asked you to invite Yami to Thanksgiving." She said. "What did he say?" Seigyoku slammed her head on the desk. "You forgot to ask?" Chi-Chi said. Seigyoku nodded. Chi-Chi silently walked out of the room.

Yami wondered if he should go check on Yugi or just leave him alone until dinner. He then accidentally hit his foot on the table. "Damn it!" he cursed. Since he was barefoot, he had cut his foot on the wood and it was now bleeding. Rolling his eyes he went upstairs to his bathroom. He sat on the edge of the tub and pressed a towel to it to stop the bleeding. Once that was done, he stood up and opened the mirror medicine cabinet. A piece of paper fell out, into the sink. He blinked. He reached for it and unfolded it. It was his old work calendars. There were notes scribbled on each side of the paper. On each day Yami was off it was highlighted purple. But on the days he was working, it had the time and the word "DATE" was written. Yami blinked again. He sat back down on the edge of the tub. Had Anzu been cheating on him for the past year?