The young twins were waiting patiently for their father to pick them up. They had spent the day with their grandfather, who had just returned from one of his many expeditions. Yugi, the spiky haired male half of the pair, was whispering to his sister, Umi, about a box he had seen their grandfather place on a high shelf a few minutes earlier. The ringing of the phone startled the twins from their play. Umi reached for her younger brother. Her greenish-gold eyes were wide with fear. Yugi wiped away the tears that were sliding from his violet eyes. He squeezed his sister tightly in an effort to give her what little comfort he could as she began to sob uncontrollably. Neither knew what had happened, but they both knew that the phone call had not held good news.
Their grandfather knelt down before them. He looked intently from one twin to the other. His face had gone ashen and all color seemed to flee from his once black hair. His voice trembled as he spoke.
"Yugi, Umi. Your father won't be picking you up today," he said as a stray tear rolled down his cheek. "He was in an accident and…"
"Will he pick us up tomorrow?" The hope in the four-year-old voice was betrayed by the dread in her eyes.
Closing his eyes, the old man pulled the pair into a tight embrace no longer able to keep the tears from falling.
"No, my jewel, he won't. Your father died in the accident," He whispered to the wailing children, his voice breaking with the effort it took to say the words. "Your mother will be home from her dig in a couple of weeks, if not sooner. So until then, we will just all play together, ok?"
Yugi's body was wracked with violent sobbing as Umi shrieked.
"Why, Grandpa? Why can't daddy come to get us?" She cried.
Yugi and Umi clung to each other as the world seemed to spin out from beneath them. They felt the pain together as this dark cloud covered their hearts.
The twins sat in silent communion, playing with the various games that their grandfather bought for them to share. The apartment above the game store that he owned felt as if it had been smothered by a heavy blanket of sorrow as they and their grandfather mourned. His daughter-in-law, the twin's mother was on her way back from Egypt, but had been trapped in Europe by weather-induced flight cancellations. The young woman who lived next door—who was about their mother's age had been helping Solomon care for the two often rambunctious pre-schoolers while Solomon fought his grief to settle his son's affairs. She was with the children today as they played checkers on the floor of the apartment. The silence of their game was shattered by a shrill cry of frustration.
"It's no fair, Yugi!" Umi cried in frustration. "You always win!"
She pouted, her arms crossed over her little chest.
"It's not my fault that I'm better than you." He spat back. "Whining won't change that."
"Oh yeah?" Umi said angrily before she flipped the board over and tackled her smaller brother.
"Umi! Stop!" he cried as he tried feebly to push her off of him. Their babysitter, hearing the tussle, pulled the angry girl off of him.
"Now, now, no more of that." She scolded, glaring at the two children. Usually they were perfect playmates, but in the few days since their father had died, they had become more agitated with each other. It is to be expected, she thought, given all that they have been through. It's not like they actually know how to process all of this. Hell, most adults can't even do that.
"Hey, I have an idea! Let's go to the park!" She suggested, hoping that the fresh air and sunshine would do them both good. It was spring time and the cherry blossoms were in bloom. It was a wonderful time to get out and enjoy nature in Domino City.
"Yay!" Umi said as she ran to grab her ball, leaving Yugi to clean up the mess she made of the checkers board.
"Do we have to?" he asked as he quickly placed the pieces meticulously in their proper spots.
"Yes, Yugi. The fresh air will do us all good. Besides, don't you want to see the trees all in bloom?"
The young boy shrugged and looked at the floor, shifting his weight uncomfortably.
"But there will be a lot of people at the park." He said quietly.
"Probably." Said the neighbor woman. "But that just means you will have more friends to play with!"
Yugi looked at her skeptically with fear-filled eyes. Umi raced past her brother, grabbing his hand and dragging him behind her as she ran for their shoes.
"Come on, Yugi! I played your games with you, now you need to come play catch with me."
The city was awash in pink petals. They carpeted the ground at the park like a thin layer of snow and fluttered through the air like tiny flurries. Umi danced joyously, laughingly, through the pastel rain as they walked to the playground. Yugi skulked next to their caretaker, his wide eyes darting between the groups of people enjoying the yearly show with friends or family. The playground was filled with the other children of the nearby neighborhoods all enjoying the day. Umi ran up to a pair of boys building a sand castle and within moments was helping their efforts. Yugi clung tightly to the skirts of their sitter.
"How does she do that?" he asked, mostly to himself. Umi had never had a difficult time fitting in. Yugi knew that given half a chance she would be organizing the entire playground into some activity. Probably one that I can't do very well, he thought, wishing he had brought the checker set or some other game that he could actually play. He was small for his age and not a physically proficient as his one minute older sister. He watched her building with the boys in the sand pit, astonished at how she had already taken charge and the detail she was bringing to their sculptures.
"Go on, Yugi." The caretaker pushed his small form toward the other children before finding a quiet spot on a bench nearby. He stood there transfixed with fear and uncertainty until he noticed a girl swinging by herself. The swing next to her was empty. He took a deep breath before sitting next to her. He watched her swing out of the corner of his eye for what felt like forever.
"Hi," she said to him eventually. "I'm Tea. What's your name?"
"Yu… Yugi." He stammered nervously.
"Wanna see who can swing higher?" she asked, smiling at him. Yugi tried to smile back as he swallowed a lump in his throat.
"Ok." He kicked his legs against the ground trying to gain momentum.
The pair worked furiously in an effort to get their swings to go higher and higher. Little legs pumped and feet kicked the ground on every pass. Tea laughed as she climbed higher and higher, and Yugi found himself smiling in a way he had not since the phone call. He was surprised to hear himself laughing when Tea pushed herself off of the swing and soared through the air before landing hard on the ground. Yugi dug his feet in to the ground on the next pass, slowing until he could more safely hop off of the moving pendulum.
"Are you alright?" he asked, rushing to her side. He looked at her curiously as her blue eyes met his. She was laughing.
"Mommy never lets me jump." She said laughing. "But it's so much fun." She rolled over and pulled herself up from the ground where she had collapsed after her landing. "Wanna do it again?" she asked Yugi as she climbed back on the swing. Yugi was just about to join her when he heard Umi whooping in success from across the playground. Yugi stood on the swing in order to see what his sister had wrought that had gotten her so excited. He swayed forward and back, giving the swing motion as he watched. Umi had not only built what had to be the world's largest sandcastle, but had outfitted it with some weird rigging that raised and lowered a platform, like an elevator along the side. She was testing the little device and, satisfied with her work, moving on to the next phase of her project… whatever that might be.
"Wow." Tea said, standing on the swing next to him to get a better view of the commotion across the playground. "That's a pretty cool castle."
"Yeah." Yugi agreed, half expecting her to hop off of the swing and run over there to play with Umi. It surprised him when she leaned back on the swing in an effort to gain more range of motion as she then threw her body forward getting the swing started in earnest. She looked over at him smiling and he found himself smiling back as he tried to catch up.
The twins woke the next morning to their mother's caresses and kisses.
"Oh my darlings, I have missed you both so much." She held both Umi and Yugi close to her, one in each arm. Her dark hair was tied back in a loose bun and she was dressed in black with a gold scarf at her throat—colors of mourning. Both found comfort and sadness in her embrace. Umi sobbed, her body quaking with each gasp of air, while Yugi laid his head on her shoulder, crying silently.
"Do not worry loves, I am here now." Her voice was soft as she held her two children close as they all wept. Silently, she helped them dress and did her best to prepare them for the day they would say good bye to their father.
It was a rainy day at the cemetery when they laid his ashes to rest in the small family plot near his mother and grandparents. White stele marking the earthly remains of the city filled the plots in the parklike area. The paths were scattered with pink petals from the blooming cherry trees, which were ground beneath their feet as they stood honoring the dead. Yugi and Umi held hands as they watched their mother and grandfather place the ashes and the marker with their father's name engraved upon it and enameled in gold. A golden eye peered at them from the top of the stele.
Yugi squeezed Umi's hand as she wiped away tears from her cheeks. He felt numb from the loss and could not cry anymore. He wondered at how easily she masked her sadness for others, like at the park. He could feel how empty she felt, but when she was with others, she acted like nothing was wrong. It was disconcerting to see her go from laughing and happy-At least to everyone else, to weeping on her bed when she was alone.
"Hiroshi would have loved this, Father." Sakura told her father-in-law as she touched the enamel eye before touching a similar charm she wore at her throat.
"He always said that the digs were his second home. You and the kids were his first, you know."
"Something he got from his father, I'm sure." She looked at the older man, a sad smile on her lips.
Yugi squirmed under the gaze of the eye. It had always made him just a bit anxious, like he should do something with it, but he did not know what. He did know that it was important, but he did not know why. It had been a symbol of his family for his entire short life—probably longer.
"Bye Daddy." Umi whispered next to him. He saw that she too had been staring at the eye carved into the white stone.