Egypt rejoiced when the news was heard that the new child of the pharoah would be born on this day. There were parties all over the cities. People were laughing and talking excitedly about what they thought the new child would be like. They all hoped that a strong prince would be born. He would protect them in the future. He would become their pharaoh. They all hoped that a prince would be born on this day and they were all truly very excited to see this new child.

Egypt rejoiced and there were parties all over the cities except within the palace where the pharaoh sat next to his wife as she gave birth. She had fallen ill several weeks ago and no one had been able to heal her. There was no hope that she would survive the birthing process and there was only a small hope that the child would be born alive. The pharaoh held his wife's hand quietly as she screamed from the pain. He could not cry because he was the pharaoh and yet tears were still finding their way silently down his face.

"You're almost done," said one of the ladies in waiting. "Just a bit more."

The pharaoh's wife screamed one last time as she gave the final push that allowed her child to be born. Her gasps for air were the only thing that could be heard as she reached forward to the blurry shapes of people that she could see in an attempt to touch her child. One of the ladies in waiting quickly cleaned the child and handed it to the woman. She held him close, but frowned when she realized it wasn't moving. "What's wrong with him?" she asked frantically, "Why isn't he moving?"

The ladies in waiting all rushed forward to look at the child. They had been so worried about their beautiful queen that they hadn't realized that the boy that she had just given birth to was not breathing. He had not survived the birthing process and his mother was quickly slipping away. They took the motionless child from her grip and put him on a small table near her bedside so that they could try to save her. If they could save her there was a possibility that she could give birth to another child. They tried everything they could think of, but still she kept slipping until finally her life left her and she stopped breathing.

The ladies in waiting all backed away and left the room to allow their pharaoh a chance to grieve the loss of both his wife and his child. He laid his head down on the bed next to her and allowed his tears to finally fall. Ra forgive him for this sign of weakness, but he could no longer hold back the tears. That's when a sound that he had not been expecting entered his ears. A baby's crying had filled the room. The pharaoh looked up at where the ladies had placed his child to see that it was waving its arms and legs and its mouth was open as tears spilled out of its eyes. He stood quickly and rushed over to see if what he saw was truly happening. His son, who had been born dead was now looking at him with tears in his crimson eyes. He smiled as he lifted the baby boy into his arms because even though he had lost his beloved wife he had not lost his son.

"Yugi," he said to the boy. "It's alright now. There's no need to cry. You are in daddy's arms now. I'll take care of you. You'll be fine from now on." He held the boy tightly in his arms as he walked back to his wife's side. "My love," he said quietly as he used the hand that wasn't holding Yugi to reach forward and brush the hair away from her cold, sweaty forehead. "Yugi is okay. You have nothing to worry about. You gave birth to a beautiful young prince. I will miss you and I will look for you when I join you in the afterlife." With that he left the room with his young son in his arms.

"Be careful my prince," one of Yugi's caretakers said worriedly as he tripped once more and scraped his knee hard on the rough ground. He forced the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes back and stood back up. He was already five and he was still having troubles walking. His caretakers weren't helping him at all either with all of their worrying. They barely let him walk as it was. Today he had to order them to allow him to walk at least to the end of the corridor that led to his room. He hadn't even made it halfway before he tripped once more. Finally, he allowed himself to cry as he realized that he wouldn't be able to make. It wasn't fair that he couldn't even walk when so many other people his age could run and play. Why did his body have to be so weak? Why couldn't he just be a strong prince like everyone expected him to be? Why couldn't he be a healthy child? Why was he so weak?

Yugi allowed one of his three caretakers to pick him up so that he could bring him back to his room where he would sit in his bed for the rest of the day just like he did every other day. As one of his caretakers tucked him into his bed he noticed another man had entered the room. "Father!" he said happily. "How are you?"

"I am fine," said the pharaoh as he ran his hand through Yugi's blonde and black hair, "but I must talk to your caretakers."

Yugi frowned as the caretakers followed him out of his room. When he could no longer see them he pulled himself out from under the covers and allowed his feet to touch the ground. He made his way over to the wall and used it to help him get to the doorway of his room where he listened to his father talk to his caretakers.

"How is he doing?" asked his father.

"He's not doing much better," said one of his caretakers.

"He's trying hard but…" another one trailed off and allowed the third one to finish his sentence.

"He's probably always going to be weak."

"Oh Ra," said the pharaoh as he buried his head in his hands with a sigh. "You have blessed me with a son and then cursed me with his illness."

Yugi felt a pain shoot through his chest. His father thought that he was a curse because he was weak. He would prove his father wrong, he decided. He would learn to walk today. He quietly made his way to the other exit that led to the outside garden. The last thing he heard his caretakers say before he was out of hearing range was, "but he is very smart. He takes in everything that we teach him easily and remembers it all."

Seto walked quickly through the garden. He was a little late to practice with the royal guard. He wasn't a part of them, but they let him practice with them anyway because they knew he loved to fight with a sword. He was planning to join the royal guard when he grew old enough that he could join as he had already told the main guard. He was only seven now, but he was determined to get strong enough that he would be able to join them soon.

As he walked past the prince's room he looked inside of it. He always looked inside the prince's room and he always saw the prince's shape, but he never saw the young boy's physical features. He was curious about the boy. This time when he looked in he saw nothing. No one truly knew what he looked like except for his main slaves.

Seto growled. He hated the word slave. His mother was a slave so one of the men in the palace thought it was okay to rape her. His mother died giving birth to him and it was all the man's fault. Luckily the pharaoh had found out about it and made sure that Seto didn't have too hard of a life.

He was brought out of his musings when he almost ran into a young boy sitting on the ground. "What are you doing?" he growled at the boy who had gotten in his way. He hated things that got in the way. The boy looked up at him and he was suddenly aware of the tears that were streaming down the pale boy's face. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I can't do it," said the boy as the tears fell faster from his eyes. "I can't do it."

"You can't do what?" asked Seto.

"I can't do it," the boy said once more as he shook his head.

"Can't do what?" Seto was beginning to lose his patience with the boy. The boy just simply continued to cry harder. "I can't help you do what you can't do if you don't tell me what you're trying to do."

"My father says that I'm a curse because I'm too weak," he cried.

"So what are you trying to do?" asked Seto. Again the boy only sat there and cried. "Well then come on," said Seto as he grabbed the boys hand and pulled him up. "I'll help you do whatever you're trying to do." As soon as the boy was on his feet Seto let go of him, but the boy simply fell back to the ground. "What are you doing?" Seto asked again.

"I can't do it," cried the boy.

That's when Seto finally realized what the boy meant. When he had said that he was weak he didn't think he meant that he was that weak. "You can't walk can you?" he asked. The boy shook his head shamefully. "Alright then," said Seto. "I have something that I have to go do first, but after that I will help you learn to walk." He had no clue why he had decided to help this boy. He usually wasn't so nice to strangers, but the boy just seemed so pitiful and something about the boy drew him towards him. The boy's crimson eyes lit up happily as Seto reached down and pulled the boy up once more. This time he held the boy close to him and helped him walk as they both made their way towards the guard's training grounds. "My name is Seto," he said. "What is your name?"

"My name's Yugi," said the boy. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to practice with the royal guard," said Seto.

"Really?" asked Yugi. "That is so cool! I wish I could do that."

"You're too young," said Seto.

"I'm not much younger than you," said Yugi indignantly. His tears had practically all disappeared.

"How old are you then?"

"I'm 5," answered Yugi.

"I'm two years older than you," said Seto. "You're too young."

Yugi pouted, but said nothing more.

When they reached the grounds where the royal guard was practicing Seto found a nice shady area for Yugi to sit while he moved over to talk to the captain. "You're late today," said the captain with a smile.

"I ran into someone," he said in a monotone voice.

"Well if you want to join the royal guard you can never be late."

"I know that," said Seto.

"Here," said the captain as he handed Seto a wooden sword specially made for someone his size. He was a little tall for his age so he got one made for someone who was older than him. "You can go practice over there."

Before he could even move he heard a scream coming from the prince's room. He and the rest of the guards ran towards the room, but were stopped by some men dressed in dark cloaks. Seto tried to fight them along with the guards, but the captain through him back. "I want to fight," he yelled.

"No," growled the captain. "You'll only get in the way."

Seto was about to protest when he realized that he left Yugi all alone and unable to escape back where the guards practiced. He turned and quickly ran back the way he had come. He found Yugi trying to stand up where he had left him. He seemed very frightened being unable to run away while the people attacked.

As soon as he reached Yugi's side he pulled the boy up onto his feet and tried to pull him forward so that they could run away, but Yugi fell to the ground and Seto, habing tried to keep the boy up by holding him to his chest, fell with him. Yugi's fear seemed to grow even more as he realized that not even with Seto's help could he run away. He was just too weak to run.

Seto growled. He did not want to leave Yugi here to die, and if Yugi couldn't run then he would have to find a place for them to hide. He looked around for a good hiding spot, but the only place he could find was a large bush that sat next to a tree near where they sat. Quickly, he picked up Yugi as best he could and pulled the boy into the bushes. He hoped that he left no sign of where they were hiding as he pulled Yugi against his chest to muffle the crying, cover Yugi's unnatural hair as best he could, and comfort him all at the same time.

The two of them froze in their hiding place when two of the intruders stopped before them. "The prince wasn't in his room!" gasped one of them.

"What do you mean he wasn't in his room?" growled the other.

"He wasn't there," said the first one again.

"Well then go find him," hissed the first. Seto could only assume that he was the leader of these intruders. "We can't waste this chance. We have to kill the heir to the throne and then we can kill the pharaoh."

Seto held his breath. Now that he heard their plans there was no way they would let either him or Yugi go if they were spotted. Yugi sat frozen in front of him with his pale hands clenching Seto's filthy clothing so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. The only thing they could do was sit quietly and hope that they would go unnoticed.

That hope did not succeed. "What do we have here?" asked the leader as he pulled Yugi out of the bush and away from Seto by his hair.

hey guys. this is my new story. i want you to read and review to tell me if you like it and think i should continue it or not. i also don't mind flames and constructive criticism. they can only make my work better. p.s. i don't own yugioh