…I…y'know, I don't think I can really say anything about this.

This is set in canon, right about in the timeframe specified in the anime, and a tissue box warning applies. Sorry for the angst, guys, but…well, this plot bunny's been bothering me for months and I can't focus on other fics. I apologize in advance.

He knew, of course.

He hadn't missed the way his mother had been sneaking out with a briefcase in hand, the papers inside all pertaining to the looming divorce; she'd even gotten his father to sign by waiting until he was too drunk to understand what was happening around him and then giving him the papers. The writing had been on the wall for months.

He didn't blame his mother for leaving. Ever since the booze had made its way into their lives everything had been spiraling downhill; the money was harder to come by, his father had lost his job, and arguments between his parents were becoming much more vicious. Things had not gotten violent yet, but he knew it was a matter of time and his mother would not stay around for it.

The medical bills were starting to add up and it had taken everything in his mother's power to meet them, but as his sister got older and her eyesight worsened it was beginning to cost more and more to treat her eyes. As far as he knew there was no immediate cure for his sister's growing blindness, but even so his mother was doing everything she could to try and preserve the little girl's rapidly vanishing sight.

If his mother left, she would only be able to support one child. It would also mean limited, if any, contact with his father—and, consequentially, her son.

He was just barely nine years old. This was something he should not have to think about, but he had to anyways because it was something that would not go away. Even as he reached this conclusion, though, he was already accepting the outcome of the divorce. It was better if his mother took his sister away from the stench of beer and the growing violence from his father.

The night before she left he snuck into his parent's bedroom to talk to his mother. His father had not returned home from the bar yet and when he entered the room it was to find his mother packing her things. She was getting ready to leave, he realized, and for a moment both of them regarded each other, neither saying a word.

"It's okay," he said at last, his voice tight. "I can handle myself here. Go, Ma."

She didn't say anything in reply, nearly a thousand regrets lighting her eyes and yet remaining unspoken. What could she say to him, he wondered as he left the room. They both knew that she was abandoning her son, but he understood the reason behind it and the knowledge took away some of the sharp, stabbing pain that was growing in his chest. At least his baby sister would be safe.

The following morning, his mother took his younger sister and left. There had been no time for a goodbye.

He knew, of course. The writing had been on the wall for months and he had thought he was braced for the inevitable departure of his mother and sister. He had thought he had been ready for the pain of watching his mother leave.

As he watched the car that held his younger sister turn out of the neighborhood, tears blurring his vision and his breath coming in a combination of ragged pants and sobs, Jounouchi realized that he truly had not been prepared at all.