Theme: 10 White Smoke
Title: Gone
Word Count: 232
Summary: Jounouchi's mother smokes.
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She shoves Katsuya off her leg for the eighth time. For a boy, he's awfully clingy, and with the divorce and the money and the damned movers working so slowly, she doesn't have time to deal with his emotional breakdowns. Shizuka follows her around, doll clutched to her chest; she is adorable and silent. Truly a well-behaved child.
"Mama?"
"Hush, Katsuya — yes, tonight, I need everything at the new apartment before five — Katsuya!" She reaches down, puts a hand on Katsuya's head, moves him forcibly away. She keeps the phone at her ear, and pulls a cigarette from her purse. As she lights it, and takes a long drag as the mover makes his excuses, Katsuya tries to pull Shizuka into a game of tag.
"Shizuka, come on." She exhales, white smoke into the air, and pulls her daughter towards the idling car. Katsuya coughs and chases after her.
"Mama, wait!"
"Katsuya, stay here! You have to stay with your father." She buckles Shizuka in; the child is weeping now, reaching for her brother. The stress headache is building, and she breathes in the cigarette smoke again, willing it to take the tension from her nerves. Then she drops the lit cigarette on the ground and gets into the car and drives away.
(Katsuya stubs out the cigarette and takes it with him. He carries it in his pocket until it crumbles.)
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