Being a mother was something... worthwhile. Fulfilling. A destiny of a woman's life. The joy of raising a child, the love, the responsibility, the pride... Sure, there were difficult times. Like when your child, your pride and joy, runs off in the middle of the night or just plain during the day, to get on some boat to some strange island talking about Duel Monsters, retrieving souls of relatives captured in cards. Or that time when the same child just jumped on board of some kind of zeppelin, or blimp, or whatever such a contraption was called, to duel for the fate of the world... or something?
When Yuugi was born, she wanted to raise him according to her own beliefs and morals, together with his father, her husband- even though he was often away on business trips. She didn't want to expose the baby to the 'bad' influence of his grandfather, who was completely crazy about games. Mutou Sugoruko was a good man, of course, but sometimes she doubted the old man's sanity- especially when he didn't say anything when Yuugi, growing up, became rather obsessed over puzzles and games, especially over a golden treasure box.
It had broken her heart when Yuugi, as friendly and extravert he was at home, was reclusive and without real friends at school. She was glad that he at least knew a friendly girl, be it a little tomboyish- Mazaki Anzu. She spoke up for him, despite she desperately wanted Yuugi to speak up for himself- but her son hated fighting, and would rather shut up and suffer in silence then speak out loud and hurt others, even unintentionally. She'd been unnerved by how Yuugi kept taking that golden box with him, apparently containing the pieces of a puzzle- by then, he was already 10, trying for almost three years to solve it. The puzzle was an obsession, and no matter how often she spoke to grandfather about it, he merely shrugged and told her to leave Yuugi be.
Yes, motherhood was something very special. She'd love to have another baby, but Yuugi proved to be a handful- she noticed the bruises, she noticed his reclusive behaviour, and she hated how he kept talking that if he solved that golden puzzle, he would make a wish, though he never mentioned what kind of wish. She hoped he wished those bullies at his school away... or at least that his grades would go up. No matter how much she threatened- or actually whacked with a ladle- his grades were just below average, his attention much more focused on that stupid puzzle and gaming in general instead of his studies. That was why motherhood was so tiring and so frustrating at times: whatever she did to make Yuugi do things the proper, right way, there was always someone or something to make him do things the less than proper way.
She had protested against the PlayStation 2 for Yuugi's birthday, fearing that his time would be completely consumed by playing videogames. He had homework to do, classes to take, papers to write! It was bad enough he was so good at that Duel Monsters game that he was currently the #1 in the world, even though she'd never thought that such a silly game would attract such an almost rabid following... a herd, a cult, more so. Finally, his grandfather had given him one, saying that it was either now or Yuugi would buy one for himself anyway. Being #1 in that particular game had brought him some kind of fame- he'd been to that "Duelist Kingdom Island" for a tournament, organized by an American, and he'd participated in a "Battle City Tournament"... and people had started calling the Mutou residence with marketing proposals, wanting to use the #1 duelist for their own commercial campaigns.
To her own surprise, grandfather hadn't protested when she had suggested that any money Yuugi made from cooperating with those marketing campaigns, went to a special account so he could use it later- preferably for funding his university career. Besides, she wouldn't allow her son's appearance to be printed on everything- posters, some stickers, those were fine- but some of the suggestions, sheesh- marketing people would go very far in using a well-known name to present their product or service to the public. As long as she got an example of the product in question- always nice for the scrap book, for later-, she was satisfied. If Yuugi's grades weren't suffering anymore from it, she'd allow him even more hours on the Playstation.
There was something strange happening lately to Yuugi. She was worried- he talked to himself, just as grandfather did when he was younger. The man didn't seem to see the problem, but she was cautious; why would Yuugi talk to himself, sometimes laugh out loud? He was too old to have an imaginary friend... and talking about friends, ever since he had solved the puzzle, he'd made quite the friends- one Jounouchi Katsuya, Honda Hiroto... he was a lot more happy and excited lately, as if Yuugi had more energy than ever. Well, if gaming- the others seemed to enjoy that dueling game as well- brought him those friends, who was she to protest? But seeing him carrying around that gaudy hunk of gold everywhere... and who would ever think of making an upside down pyramid as a Puzzle? It must've been some kind of weird advertising or something...
"Yuugi-chan, be careful," she said for no reason when she walked into the living room, a tray in her hands. Yuugi shot up from the couch, almost dropping his controller to the floor. She frowned a little.
"Kaa-san, I didn't see you," he said, and blushed a little.
She tilted her head, wondering why he was blushing. "Be careful with those cords, I don't want anyone tripping over it," she said, while her gaze was moving towards the large TV screen. A racing game of some sorts...
"Did you finish your homework?"
"I'm finished with the history paper, kaa-san..."
"So soon?" She asked, rather incredulously. "Honey, were you thorough with your research?"
"Very thorough," Yuugi said and his blush darkened. "Kaa-san, it was Ancient Egypt... you know I know a lot about that." He paused for a brief moment, tilting his head as if mimicking his mother, and laughed shortly. "Yes, a whole lot!"
"Very well," she answered, feeling as if she was being fooled. Or rather, left out. It probably was his age... she didn't like him being secretive.
"Yuugi-chan..."
"Yes, kaa-san?" Yuugi said, moving to sit back on the couch again, tightening his grip on the controller.
"You know you can tell me everything, right?"
"Of course I do, kaa-san!" Yuugi exclaimed, but his attention wasn't completely on her and she heaved an exasperated sigh. One of the frustrations of motherhood... well, at least he didn't steal, didn't do drugs... she had to be firm.
"All right, you can play for another hour and then I want you to come help me," she said, turning to leave.
"Yes, kaa-san," he said immediately, but she doubted he'd heard everything she said.
"You can come out now," Yuugi whispered, and the spirit of the Sennen Puzzle materialized immediately next to him, quite the amused look on his face. They were fairly certain that nobody but Yuugi could see him, but they didn't want to risk it with Yuugi's mother around.
"Honestly, aibou, I have never seen you play a racing game that bad," the spirit said, crossing his arms almost indignantly. "And you even have a new controller!"
"It's because of the new controller," Yuugi answered, waving the device around before placing his fingers back on the buttons.
"It is defective, then?"
"No, it's distracting," Yuugi muttered.
"What was that, aibou?"
"It's distracting," he said, a little louder.
"How come?"
"Mou hitori no boku... do you recall when we were talking about marketing and stuff? When you asked me why I had to pose for those pictures?"
"Why yes, I do recall," the spirit nodded. He had almost imposed a batsu game on the photographer, thinking the man had tried to take his soul when flashing those bright lights.
"Well, this is something marketing too," Yuugi waved the controller around again. "They put my, or rather your, picture on it to sell it."
"It can not be so distracting because of my picture," the spirit answered, wondering why Yuugi was behaving like this. "You see me all the time. Show it to me, aibou."
"Okay..." He held up the controller, showing the small device which was printed with an Egyptian texture, the picture in the middle.
"I do not see anything in particular. Aibou, what is so distracting about it?"
"It vibrates, mou hitori no boku!" Yuugi exclaimed, beaming at him. "See? Look at it vibrate! Look at it!"
With a push of the button, the racing game was resumed, and Yuugi's car immediately drove up against another car, sending a vibration motion through the controller.
"It vibrates," the spirit repeated, almost dully.
"Yes! Yes! See? See how I can make you vibrate? I only have to push your buttons and you vibrate! Like this!"
A little sullen, he had to watch how Yuugi moved his fingers deftly over the buttons, racking up his car, with every collision producing the vibrations, the controller almost rumbling in his hands.
"So you like to vibrate, aibou?"
"You have to admit, it's pretty amusing, mou hitori no-"
To anyone else, it would look like Yuugi had fainted, as his body slumped on the couch, however not dropping the controller from his hands, as he was yanked into the strange soul room construction of his Sennen Item.
"Mou hitori no boku!" Yuugi whined. "The game..!"
"You were losing anyway, aibou," the spirit pointed out. "With all those collisions, you should be thankful if your car even comes close to the finish line."
"I wasn't losing," Yuugi said, all but pouting. "I could've won if..."
"The controller was not distracting you..."
"Exactly... why are you looking at me like that? It was distracting..!"
"I want to distract you..."
Yuugi was speechless for a moment, as the spirit, body solid in this environment, put his hands on his hips, pulling him closer, taking him in a rather possessive embrace.
"Mou hitori no boku... you already helped me with my homework..."
"Which was a pleasure."
"I doubt the teacher's interested in Ancient Egyptian mating rituals, though."
"You were."
"That's not fair!"
"Enough talk, aibou..."
"But I want to play with the vibrator... controller! Controller!"
"That was the last you ever saw of it, aibou!"
"Mou hitori no- oh! OOOOH!"
It was close to dinner time, and Yuugi's game hour was almost up. She made a rather impatient clacking noise with her tongue- it was her son's kitchen duty to set the table and put the coasters on the table for the hot pans. He probably forgot the time again, she thought, annoyed. All that time wasting on gaming, while he could be studying... at least he wasn't running off to god-knows-where, be it an island or a blimp. She knew she had to be thankful that he had friends now, was healthy and relatively happy... his school grades would come later, hopefully.
"Is dinner ready?"
"Just a moment," she said, turning the oven off.
"Where's Yuugi?" the elderly man asked, expecting his grandson to be setting the table, babbling about his day at school or his latest duel strategy.
"Try the living room," she said a little snippy, "glued to that Playstation thing of course. I told him he had only another hour to play, but apparently he's forgetting the time!"
"I'll remind him," the man said hastily, not wanted to listen to another bad-playstation-rant. "He was rather excited about that new controller I got him."
"A new what?"
"Controller... the device you need to be able to play with the gaming console. It's a very nice one... it has even a vibrating feature."
"Vibrating? Why does it need a feature like that?"
He was about to explain when they suddenly heard a rather loud thump above them, as if someone smacked to the floor in the living room.
"Yuugi-chan!" She almost shrieked.
"I'll go look for you," he tried to calm her down. "Don't worry; he has probably tripped over the cord."
"I told him to be careful with the cord!"
"Yes, yes," he answered, shuffling out of the kitchen to the stairs. Yuugi had been particularly excited about the new controller, and he doubted it had anything to do with the picture on it. It wouldn't be the first time he would find his grandson on the floor in a position he wouldn't want his mother to see; especially not with that rather goofy, blissful smile on his face and the dark, very deep red blush on his cheeks.