One would think, that after all I've gone through in my life, that a thing as simple as a girl would change me, my outlook on life, and how I live it. But one did.

My name is Ishtar Malik. I'm seventeen years old, and I'm an Egyptian. I grew up in an underground house, not very far from where the ancient Egyptians built their pyramids. I live by myself basically. My sister has a job, my father and mother are dead..so I stick to being alone most of the time.

Us, by the way, consists of me, my sister Isis, and our servant Rishid. Rishid is my best and really my only friend. Before I was born, it seemed to the family that my mother would never bear my father a son. So they fixed this problem by taking in a young boy, who turned out to be Rishid. He was to inherit the family fortune that is the Ishtar family. Goodie. -_- A few months after they took him in, my mother got pregnant, and a few months later I popped out. There went Rishid's job. He didn't mind though. I don't really think he ever wanted to do what he was originally set to do in the first place. My mother died in childbirth with me, so in a way, I've killed both of my parents. Isis has been both my mother, and my sister to me. Rishid took to me, and we grew up almost as brothers.

When I was ten my life did a 360. It's a tradition in my family that when a son is around ten..well about the age that you hit puberty, which happened to be the age of ten for me.anyway, it's a tradition that when a boy starts to become a man, something is carved into you. It started when one of my great-grandfather was a slave, and they carved things into him to make sure they could tell him apart from his twin. He did it to his son, and it's just somehow followed into my generation. Oh goodie.

I stood there that day, shaking in a corner while listening to my father mumble to himself and hearing the fire crackle. I don't really remember most of the day, I only remember the pain. Rishid told me later on that he had to hold and almost tie Isis down. She heard my screams and was trying to get to me. Not like that would have done any good, but you have to give her credit for trying. I only remember the next morning clearly. I was panicked, and the pain in my back wasn't helping me any. Rishid tried to calm me down. He told me he would never let me be in pain alone.I only realized that he truly meant it. He had taken a knife and carved hieroglyphics into his face to make sure that I wouldn't be alone.

You probably already know the rest, so I won't bother you by telling you useless information. I reach up and feel the earrings on my ears. They were my fathers, and I keep them as a good luck charm. My father may have been a jerk, but he was kind sometimes.

People say I have a jewelry fetish. I may, I may not. I have gold earrings, three gold bands around my neck, two on each arm, three on each wrist, and three around my waist. Plus I have been known to wear bands around my ankles. Hey, I'm Egyptian. We love jewelry and I'm going to live that to the fullest.

I look strange for an Egyptian. Most of us have dark skin, black hair, and dark brown or black eyes. We sometimes wear eye make up and we wear white robes. It's a custom with us. Me, on the other hand, have bleach-blonde hair, lavender eyes, but I DO have the dark skin. One outta three isn't bad. I wear dark black jeans and a purple shirt most of the time. Hey, I'm unique. Try finding another Egyptian like me.

I guess I really should get back to the topic that we started on in the first place. This whole thing started when a man (we STILL don't know who he is) trapped us all..well most of the Yu-Gi-Oh squad into a house. It was like watching an episode of 'The Surreal Life'.

Yugi Motou, Tea Gardner, Joey Wheeler, Mai Valentine, Tristian Taylor, Seto Kaiba, Ryou Bakura and I all plowed into the little house. We were each given a room to design. I made my Egyptian. Go figure. I wanted to feel a little more at home though, so I printed out a lot of hieroglyphics and plastered them to the walls until it bordered it. It looks really nice, or so I think. I wish Rishid was here.

"Malik?"

I turned to see Tea standing at my doorway, looking at me in curiosity. "What?"

She stepped inside, looking around the room. "I was just calling you for dinner. Yugi made chicken and dumplings...this is a nice room." She smiled a bit. ... She really looks nice when she smiles. Wait, I did NOT just say that!!

She continued "You decorate nice..for a mind controlling psychotic madman." She grinned at that and giggled. "I was just joking you know."

I nodded slightly, flipping my radio on. I found that the Yu-Gi-Oh CD isn't realy that bad. It's got some good music on it, and I'm addicted to 'Face-Up, Face-Down' and 'Heart of the Cards'. I turned the music up more watching her sit on the floor. WHY is she still here??

"Malik, I know you're probably wondering why I'm still here..but I just wanted you to know. We all have to live in this house together for a month or so, so why don't we just try and make the best of it. I know you and Yugi don't really care much for each other, but.Bakura's here and you get along well with him, don't you?"

"I get along with his Yami well."

She bit her lip. "Okay, well we count them as two different people." She sighed, resting her head in her hands. "Well, what I mean is..try to at least get along with SOME people here. Don't just be antisocial. It's not healthy."

"Since when did I care about being healthy?" I narrowed my eyes. "As you said, I'm a mind controlling, psychotic madman." "I didn't mean that seriously!"

"Sure you didn't." I grinned at her.

She blushed, and brushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Um..I had better get back to the kitchen. Leaving Joey in there alone is bound to cause a fire of some sort."

I nodded, going back to my unpacking. Why did she blush like that? I'm not the kind of guy who goes around just.taking advantage of girls who seem to like them. But after the horrible things I put her friends through.why would she even like me.

Dang.I really got to start seeing a physiatrist