Chapter 1- Introduction
A/N: I decided to redo this fic because I didn't like the way it was turning out…
A 16 year old who, despite his height, looked younger than his actual age, was named Yugi Jaraki, he was sitting on a broken bed hugging himself tightly to keep himself warm, since all he had was a thin blanket to protect himself from the cold air that was coming in through a broken window.
The blanket, bed, and parts of the floor were covered in dried crimson blood. Of course, the stains weren't hard to see since there wasn't much else in the room since his father kept breaking everything. The small boy was crying softly as he was nursing a split lip and bruises all over his body.
-flashback- "Brat, come down here now!" his father yelled from downstairs. Yugi knew that if he did, he would be beaten, so he ran and hid in the closet.
"Boy, don't make me come get you or it will be worse than you think!" his dad yelled as he headed up the stairs. The door to his bedroom was then slammed open so hard that it had left a crack in the wall upon impact..
"Brat, if you come out now I won't hurt you… much." his father growled as he headed into the room.
The only thing Yugi did in response to this was to lay on the ground and curl into a small ball. The door to the closet was then slammed open and Yugi saw his father's drunken face as he dragged Yugi into his bedroom by his shirt collar and then slammed him against the nearby wall.
"Now, bitch, why isn't the house cleaned up?" his father spat at him.
"Y-You told me to stay in my room," he stuttered.
"What did I say about lying!" he roared as he flung Yugi to the ground.
During the next two hours, Yugi endured the pain quietly as his father punched him in the face and kicked him in the stomach until a crack was heard. He then left his broken son on the ground as he had went to the bar after yelling at his son to clean up his room. -End of flashback-
"I know you're all I got, Dad, but why must you hurt me? Why did you leave me Mom and go on that trip with Grandpa? If you haven't…," he thought as he remembered the funeral service before bursting into tears and crying himself to sleep.
Of course, sleep never did come easily to the young teen as his dreams were turned into nightmares as they reminded Yugi of the life that he was forced to live.
Yugi was awakened halfway through the night as he heard the front door slam open. Scared, Yugi laid still in his so called bed as he waited to see if his father would enter his room.
A few minutes passed and Yugi had let out the breath he had been holding. When suddenly two hands grabbed Yugi by the throat and lifted him out of the bed.
"You little piece of shit I let you live here and this is how you repay me?" His father yelled as he started to choke Yugi.
Yugi just stayed quiet, knowing that anything he said would just make the situation even worse.
When his son remained silent, it pissed his father off so badly that he took his belt and used that to beat his son before Yugi's father had headed towards his own bedroom.
Yugi managed to bandage the many cuts from the beating before he had passed out onto the floor…
The next morning, Yugi woke up with pain hitting him from the night before. As usual, he ignored the pain and got ready for school. He then ran to school so he would not have to face any bullies that went to his school.
Luckily, no one had beaten him up, but when he arrived, he had to quickly finish his homework since he had not done so the night before.
He started to half listen to the teacher, who was going on about some project, when the door was slammed open by Yami and Seto Muto.
"Why are you two thirty minutes late?" the teacher asked the two boys angrily. Yami handed her a note, which she read quietly to herself. "Very well, take your seats then." she told the two boys.
"Yes, ma'am," they said as they took their seats.
"Now, as I was saying, you will be doing a project about other countries and what religion and beliefs they practice in their culture. You will be working in groups of three and you will be allowed to pick your own partners. It will count for half your remaining grade for this quarter and it will be due in two weeks," the teacher explained.
Yugi looked up, startled, since he knew that no one would want to pick him to be in their group and that he would not be able to get it done in time.
"Mr. Jaraki, will you please collect the homework for me?" she asked, catching the small boy's attention. Yugi sighed as he got up.
'Why does she always call on me to collect the papers?' he thought to himself bitterly. When Yugi was almost done collecting the homework for the teacher, Joey tripped him sending the poor teen flying to the ground.
The boy in front of Joey, named Tristan, kicked him in the ribs, which were already sore from the previous night.
Unnoticed, Yami watched the small teen as he slowly got up and returned to his seat after turning in the homework to the teacher. Yami wondered why this was the first time he had noticed Yugi, since they had more than just one class in common.
He quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and leaned back to hand it to his older brother.
Seto read the note and then quickly looked towards the back of the room to where Yugi was struggling to stay awake as the teacher went on with her lesson. "Whatever, but you're asking him, not me," Seto whispered to Yami as the bell rang.
"Fine. I will," Yami said as he slowly walked toward the back of the room to where their smaller classmate was gathering his things.
"Hey Yugi, I was wondering if you would like to join Seto and me for lunch?" Yami asked.
"Why?" Yugi asked him softly as he stared at the desk instead of the person that was talking to him.
"So we can pick a country, unless you've already joined another group," Yami explained.
"No. If you haven't noticed, not many people are friendly toward me. So, sure, I'll meet you for lunch." Yugi replied quickly.
"Great, see you then." said Yami, leaving the room.
A/N: If anyone was wondering, in Japan people are either given classes with people with alphabetical last names or are grouped together when they start school no matter how old they are. I hoped you liked it please read and review