AN: Written for s2teennovelist for winning the sailor ra fic contest! Thanks for all the feedback you've given the story you really are wonderful and I hope you like this fic! Some things to know for those who haven't read the manga scroll down to the bottom authors note for some references you might need to know. They're numbered in the fic so you can do so as you run into them.

Disclaimer:As of my trip to the text book store, I own twenty-five dollars. I'd still rather have the rights to Yugioh though.

I Was Wrong

She remembers his father perfectly after all these years, about sixteen to be in fact. The poised confidence in his stature, daring smile, and mature features still clear images in her mind. Her son is nothing like his father. Her son is small, too small, and hunches his shoulders back with humility while looking out at the world with wide bright eyes full of kindness and innocence. Ms. Mutou loves her son more than she ever could have loved his father, even if that might have seemed hard to believe back when she was a young impressionable girl swept off her feet by a charming older man who promised her the world. She would say he gave her nothing, but that's not true, he gave her Yuugi and that boy is her world in a way.

Now there's another man trying to take him away…

Jounouchi Katsuya is eating breakfast at their table for the third time this week after spending the night at their house. He sits next to Yuugi just every other morning he's over here and waits for rice, miso and tamagoyaki she's making chatting boisterously with her son. Her father is sitting in the corner with the newspaper solving one of the little games in the pages ignoring and at times encouraging the loud boy's trains of thought.

Sugoroku has never had his priorities right in the first place anyways. Always off chasing dreams and pyramids while she and her mother dealt with the real world back here. She can't expect him to understand.

The rice is turning just the right amount of soft, and she removes it from the bag, placing it next to the small bowls of miso on the trey. The eggs are still cooking in the pans. She can't turn around to look, but she can hear her son laughing and chairs screeching across the kitchen table from some sort of horse play. She'll have to wipe away the scuff marks later no doubt. Her eyes narrow at the dish cooking in front of her, since she very well can't get away with glaring at her sons friend.

She's never liked Katsuya. The boy who put her sweet son down over and over again relentlessly suddenly decided to be his friend a few weeks ago? She was far too jaded not to be suspicious. If there was one thing she learned, it was that people were greedy. They always wanted something, but for the life of her she could never figure out what it was Katsuya wanted. They weren't rich, and Yuugi wasn't popular.

The vegetable and the egg are both cooked to perfection. She splits it into enough for each of them, placing the sections on small plates before taking the tray over to the table. The moment she sets it down the little delinquent grabs away at the plates and begins to shove his mouth full. Her father just takes his own food and comments on the boy's appetite playfully. Yuugi reaches for the more carefully portioned plates for himself, and gets his hand promptly smacked by a spatula.

"Have you taken your insulin yet?"(1) she eyes him harshly daring him to try and lie to her.

He bows his head and bites his lip. "Not yet, I don't think I like taking it before I eat. It makes my blood sugar too low."

"That's what your glucose pills are for," she scolds. There's a plea in his eyes to please drop it and she's sure it's out of embarrassment. She catches his friend staring at her when he thinks she doesn't notice. She does.

"He can do it after breakfast," her father sighs. "Let him actually get his blood sugar up first." She doesn't find the joke as funny as the other three do.

Getting his blood sugar up? Doesn't he remember the seizures and other problems before he doctors told them what was wrong? Still, even she has her limits and let it never be said she wants to see her son humiliated in front of his friends. Including the ones she doesn't like. She sits down and takes her food off the tray dropping the conversation.

He never disobeyed her before that boy showed up. The culprit fell back into to going on about whatever they'd been getting into before, something about a virtual pet game.(2) Ms. Mutou for the most part does her best to drown out the squabble in favor of getting her breakfast ate.

"Good thing we mated then huh?" She nearly chokes on her rice when she hears the words come out of her son's mouth.

Her father laughs full heartedly to needing to put his arms around his gut. "Jounouchi has made a dishonest man out you eh?" Yuugi turns bright red and tries to stutter out a response.

"Our pets in the game you creepy old geezer," Jounouchi scoffs at Sugoroku. "There's a mate option that let them take traits from each other." Rude little bastard can't respect his elders. Her father of course takes to insult in stride chooses ruffling her son's hair over correcting Jounouchi. She just tries to finish the rice he nearly caused her to hack back up.

He picks his bowl up and slurps some soup into his mouth. She catches light pink shading on his cheeks from the corner of her sight. He finishes his soup, but keeps slurping until the color fades from his face and moves on to his next part of the meal. Again he starts talking about something unimportant from school unrelated to his or her son's painfully low class rank.

That's the moment she figures out what he wants, and when she also figures out that she wants Jounouchi Katsuya gone and out of her son's life as soon as possible. The focused looks his brown eyes place on Yuugi no longer seem like an obnoxious, socially impaired teenager demanding attention. They're the look of someone yearning. Yearning for her kind and gentle son who doesn't have a deceptive bone in his body.

She keeps up her quiet façade, the same one she always wears. Lost in the background, only spoken when needed or when discipline is required. Inside however, she's seething at this parasite. The worst part is there's nothing she can do about it. What could she say? That his male friend has…unsightly…intentions towards him? Yuugi wouldn't believe it. He always sees the best in people.

He's nothing like her either.

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She would have never had to worry about this sort of thing before Jounouchi, she's sure of it. Aside from her son constantly coming home looking worse for the wear on several occasions the past few months, now he's run off to some game tournament out of the country without even telling her! That punk's influence is worse than she thought, and that's without bringing up certain video tapes she found hidden in her son's sock drawer that she's certain she knows the source of. She runs a hand through her auburn hair, a vein popping in her forehead as her eye twitches.

"It doesn't matter that you're with him!" She yells and slams her palm on the store counter. He can't see it, but it just feels right to lash out right now. "Father you had no right to take him anywhere without asking me first, I'm his mother!"

"I'm sorry," he repeats to her for probably about the third time. There's a weird static over the phone she can't identify (3). "The boys were just excited to go, and we forgot to mention, you were off picking up merchandise for the store anyways."

"Merchandise for your store that you're expecting me to watch over while you're gone," she huffed. "Just because you chose not to raise me doesn't mean you get to raise my son."

There's a silence, and she knows she's gone too far. With a sigh, she brings her thumb and index finger up pinching the bridge of her nose. He does let her live here rent free after all. "Father, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm just worried. "She doesn't expect a response and doesn't get one. Tell me he was mindful enough to bring his medicine?"

"Everything's fine darling," he assures and the static gets louder to a high screech that hurts her ears. She shoves the phone away from her face and stares at it wide eyed.

"Jounouchi you turned the dial!" she hears her father shout.

"I didn't mean to," a painfully familiar voice responds with instead of apologizing.

The angers back, but with a new motivation besides her son sneaking off to a tournament. She pulls the phone back to her face and her knuckles turn white from her tight grip on it. Of course he's actually there. It should have been a given he was directly involved with her son's decision to hop on a boat without asking her. He's a delinquent son of a drunk after all, what does he know about parental courtesy?

"Jounouchi is there?" She gets out. Her voice has gone noticeably quieter and icier.

Ever since she first noticed the signs of the snake's intentions on her boy, she saw them everywhere. The way his gaze lingered on Yuugi too long when they talked. How he took every possible opportunity to spend the night here. The worst was his constant need to be touching her son. Pulling him close or wrapping an arm on his shoulder on a "friendly" manner, it didn't matter; the touches lasted too long and were usually followed by the formerly mentioned look. To make it worse Yuugi was completely taken in, talking about Jounouchi constantly when he wasn't around. Anzu and Honda were often included in these stories, but the way her boy's eyes lit up when Jounouchi's role came up was unsettling.

"Hi Ms. Mutou," He says to confirm her suspicions.

Her son was on a boat with Jounouchi. With her simple minded father as their chaperone.

"He had better not be in the same room," she warns a snarl sneaking into her voice.

"Excuse me?!" he sounds offended. "I don't know what you're trying to imply-"

"Save it you little hooligan," she's very pleased at how the order stops him dead in his speech. "I know boys like you, you're all rotten little trouble makers who think they can get whatever they want without consequences. You keep your hands off my boy or I'll show you where I can shove that designer knife set I just bought." She wishes she could see his nervous face. "A hint, it isn't in the fish."

"…Maybe you should give your son more credit," it's an unexpected response. Stuttering in fear or even defiantly yelling at her she was ready for. Not this. She stands shell shocked and he keeps talking. "Yuugi's the nicest person I know, he cares about people with everything he's got, even if they don't deserve it. He's not weak though, and he can take care of himself. You might see that if you'd quit acting like you know what's best for him all the time and started caring about what he wants."

"How dare you!" she says. "I'm his mother."

"Yeah," he scoffs, "well mothers don't always come through for you." There's something deeper there, and a sadness that comes from experience. "Just finish yelling at your dad, I don't need some bitter old maid who doesn't know me judging me."

Her father's voice and the static return, but she barely registers any of it. She gives simple responses and agrees with everything he says. After neither can think of anything else to say, she asks him to tell Yuugi the most important thing. She loves him. She hangs up the second after he says he will, slamming the phone into the wall.

Her elbows fall onto the counter and she throws her face into her palms. Ms. Mutou loves her son, and all she's ever wanted is for him to be safe and successful. She gave up on healthy when he ended up less than five feet tall at fifteen and taking insulin and glucagen. That boy didn't know what he was talking about. She's done everything to try and help Yuugi, because he's her world.

But she isn't his.

The revelation is crippling, but necessary. Should she really expect her son to hang off her every word and live how she wants him? No, he'd never be able to make his own decisions that way. There's a part of her that recognizes she may have lost sight of wanting him to be happy somewhere down the road.

"Bitter old maid"

The words ring too true.

There's a chance her son isn't the only one she hasn't given enough credit to.

"Yuugi," she whispers to herself tears she hasn't cried in years beginning to form in dull violet eyes. "Please come back okay." Call it mother's intuition, but there was more to this tournament than they were telling her. The fact that it was on a secluded island was enough cause for worry alone. "I need a chance to fix things."

An hour later she gets a call from the nearby hospital asking to confirm the medical information her son signed off for her comatose father stuck in a room back in Domino. Suddenly its like that mysterious heart attack her father got awhile back all over again. Except this time he isn't waking up.

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Her boy is so strong. Yuugi's grown up into a wonderful young man without her even noticing. She did everything she could to try and be there, but somehow ends up wondering if this is what her own father must have felt like after she'd grown up and left home. People call him the king of games now, and come into the shop just to see him, and talk to him about duel monsters and get advice. She knows he won more than a nice title in that tournament though, he won Sugoroku back.

Finding out about the spirit of the puzzle hadn't been easy to digest, but if the spirit really was the reason her father was no longer connected to machines in the hospital and her son was able to survive whatever challenges had been on the island, she can deal with him. It's oddly freeing to tell Yuugi she trusts him instead of scolding and worrying, and that she's proud of him. He hugs her, and she embraces him right back. There's 'I love you's and apologies from all three of the Mutous that night, and she feels closer to both of them than she has in a long time.

And owes it all to Jounouchi Katsuya saying those harsh words to her.

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There's too much time in between her epiphany and when her son's friend actually has enough spare time to meet with her. Another tournament is coming up, or so she hears from Yuugi, and both of them plan to enter. Jounouchi came in second in the one on the island and used his prize money to help his sick sister. A person can only be so wrong before this type of meeting is necessary.

Jounouchi approaches the small café with an understandable hesitation. A small place with limited seating and a cozy feel even out on the balcony only separated by an iron rail from the busy streets. She meets the teenager's gaze from her table and sets her tea down. He takes a seat across from her outside on the balcony. He looks so uncomfortable sitting across from her.

"You didn't call me here to threaten me away from my friend with knives up my ass again did you?" She wasn't that blunt when she threatened him last time. She thinks.

She shakes her head. "No." she clears her throat. "I actually wanted to thank you for your honesty. There are a lot of dishonest people in the world, I'm glad someone so important to Yuugi isn't one."

Jounouchi doesn't think and he doesn't look flattered. He keeps the same impassive air up, slumped back in his chair and arms crossed over his chest. He shrugs his shoulders.

"Yuugi deserves better than that."

It's back to awkward silence. "I hated you," she admits. "I wanted you away from Yuugi and out of his life, especially after I noticed your inclinations towards him."

He goes tense and has the nerve to glare at her. "I told you, I don't get what you're implying."

"You like him," she says no hints of how she feels on the matter. "Not just as a friend." There's only a small window before that fear on his face becomes enough for him to potentially bolt. "I don't mind, not anymore. I think you should tell him."

That's finally the thing that shocks him. "I-I can't."

"Katsuya," she cares little about offending him at this point. "Ever since he's met you my son is more confident and happy than I've ever seen him. I thought I was losing him, but he was growing, and it was because of you." Her tea's growing cold and her reflection stares back from the amber liquid. "You never know what will tomorrow bring, especially with the unique circumstances you and my son are involved in. Take it from a woman with many; a life full of regret is no way to live."

He does bolt. Violently throwing the chair down and stomping off like child at that. People are staring and whispering, not that she minds. Ms. Mutou brings her tea back up and sips the sweet, spicy drink. She hums in appreciation at the taste and enjoys the rest of her day out. Katsuya is a stubborn one; thankfully her son can be patient when it's something important.

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Later Jounouchi is soaking wet along with his best friend after having nearly been forced to either die or kill him. If he his mind hadn't been being controlled, he would have chosen the former without hesitation. Yuugi nearly sacrificed himself for him, asked him to carry on the puzzle in his place. It's too much for him to handle, to even think about. Jounouchi can feel himself still shaking even hours later when they're walking down the street towards the game shop.

He refuses to let Yuugi walk home alone. Not after he almost had to live in a world without the smaller boy and his light. Before Yuugi, he was nothing, another kid with a bad home destined to end up a low life and a thug. Yuugi had saved him from that, just by being his friend. The teen has his hands tucked in his pockets while he glances at said boy walking down the street next to him. For all his near dying Yuugi looks as positive as always. The setting sun bounces off the light in amethyst eyes making them look deeper and even warmer than usual.

There's also a small shiver across his smaller body. His arms wrap around his lean arms that have been slowly acquiring more muscle over time. Without a second thought he reaches out and wraps his friend up into his arms. Jounouchi is just as soaked and cold, but it feels warmer for him at least. Having Yuugi actually in his arms, close enough to bury his face in those soft, star shaped spikes. He smells like salt water, and it's awful. Yuugi doesn't move, and Jounouchi realizes he may have just completely ruined their friendship by being as creepy as possible.

"I guess mom was right," he hears Yuugi mutter. He can only imagine what the old hag was right about.

Yuugi doesn't pull away, but turns around in the hold to face Jounouchi. They stare, brown meeting purple and something that's been building up ever since that day in the hall where Jounouchi told Yuugi what his treasure was spills over.

"It's Yuujou, Yuugi and Jounouchi are visible, but our friendship is invisible."(4)

They lean in, closer and closer, and Yuugi stands on his toes while Jounouchi leans down as much as he comfortably can. It's a blessing how much Yuugi has grown when their lips are able to meet and softly press against each other. Right there, with Yuugi's lips against his and a warmth he'd never felt before rising from his belly and spreading through his entire body, something amazing is beginning. Something Malik Ishtar, the yami no games or any other threats against Yuugi and the Pharaoh he housed could take from them.

Jounouchi holds his treasure close, and makes a mental note to thank that old hag later.

Maybe he was wrong about her after all.

Important References:

Yuugi's mother appears a few times, one time at the hospital, and another hitting Yuugi over the head with a ladle for his grades. So I took a few liberties, especially from the fact Yuugi's father doesn't have a canon background since the creator didn't think he was important to the story.

1 -I make mention of Yuugi being a diabetic, which is a semi canon aspect confirmed by the writer in an interview and hinted at in the manga.

2 -The virtual pets incident alluded to here actually did happen in the manga, and Yuugi defeated an evil virtual pet thanks to the traits his pet had absorbed by "mating" with Jounouchi's pet.

3 -The static mentioned on the phone scene is because Yuugi's grandpa was actually sealed in a video in the manga and communicated through a tiny radio like device they played him on in Duelist Kingdom.

4 -Jounouchi in the manga makes a play off the word "Yuujou" in the first volume, the Japanese word for friendship which happens to be a combination of his and Yuugi's names.