Pharaess Cleopatra: Hello, hello, hello! How goes it, my lovelies? Hope all of you are liking what I have so far, because it's time for some kings and queens! If you know me, then you should know what pairing this is gonna be! Enjoy!

P.S. If you're reading this Professor SEELE 15, please forgive me! I've been so busy and wanted to get this story out of the way. Ugh... Life is killing me slowly, but surely... Please bare with me, won't you?

Anyway, with that out of the way, please enjoy!

Chapter 1: Not-So-Happy Beginning

Once upon a time in a land long ago, where kings and queens ruled over the kingdoms far and wide, all seemed as it was. And amongst this land was a boy, a boy by the name of Yugi Moto. After his father passed away when dear Yugi was only four years of age, he was left with his kind and caring mother, who would gladly give the world for the pure-hearted, sweet little child of hers. But still, Yugi's mother thought that her beloved son needed a father's touch, so she remarried the great Dartz with his two daughters, Mai and Tea.

Yugi Moto had soft, outrageous spiky hair consisting up of three different colors. The main color of the boy's hair was a midnight black, trimmed with a brilliant violet red color, and his bangs were an envious golden blonde, framing large and innocent violet colored eyes. Now, Yugi's first stepsister – and the oldest – Mai Valentine, had long, golden blonde hair and lavender purple eyes, since this was her favorite color, whereas her younger sister, Tea Gardner, had shoulder length chocolate brown hair and icy blue eyes. These two girls weren't related by blood, but were stepsisters, hence why they both have different last names, though they have known each other since they were very little, so they basically think of one another as sisters, when they don't argue, that is. Both girls were always very spoiled and bratty, and only cared about themselves. However though, once Yugi's sweet and innocent mother had soon passed on due to an illness she had, the stepfather's true colors were soon revealed. He was very mean, cruel, demanding, and only cared for himself, just as much as his two daughters. Soon enough, Yugi had practically become a slave in his own home. But even through all the beating, through all the abuse, and through all the hatred towards him, Yugi still kept his pure heart with a light that had never faded out. Though Yugi will soon find out that his whole world is going to soon spiral out of control in a frenzy of love, hate, pain, suffering, and madness.

The sun shined, just barely peeking through the slit in the tattered curtains on Yugi's window. The light slowly rose until it was shining onto Yugi's sleeping face, causing the boy to twitch before his eyes slipped open. He blinked a few times before pushing himself to sit up as he rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. Yugi let out a soft yawn as he stretched his arms, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and slid onto the floor. A chill crawled up his spine as his bare feet touched the cold cement that was his floor, but he ignored it, like he always did...

The boy took a quick shower before putting on his usual old looking and slightly torn clothes to cover the marks littering his body. You would think that after dealing with this much pain and torment for so long, you would've gotten used to it by now, and you'd be half-right, or at least in Yugi's case, that is... Sure, he's gotten used to all the beating, all the hurtful words, and all the abuse he's had to suffer through without saying a word, but you will never get used to the pain it causes. And yet somehow, he still manages to put on a smile day after day, but is it really a genuine smile, or just a mask he shields himself behind? Only Yugi would know the answer to that question, if you can try to coax him into telling you first, if at all. But after dressing himself and fixing his spiky hair – not that it mattered either way – he headed down the stairs, making sure to keep his footsteps quiet while walking down the halls as not to wake his stepfamily.

Yugi entered the spotless kitchen – that he cleaned himself – and began to prepare breakfast, which would consist of lightly salted and peppered omelets, toast with butter and either grape or strawberry jam, bacon, fresh fruit, and orange juice or coffee. As Yugi set the table, fixing the plates to everyone's liking, his stepfather, Dartz came down the stairs wearing his usual white suit with a black undershirt and green tie. To say the least, Dartz was a very handsome man, but that's all he was – handsome. Underneath his seemingly perfect exterior was nothing but a cruel and heartless man with a very short temper. Dartz had long, teal colored hair to frame golden eyes, though his looks were all this wretched man had, nothing more and everything less. He was always cruel to Yugi, and he had the marks to prove this too. However, as Yugi continued to set the table, Dartz sat down at the end, or the head, Yugi giving him his usual gentle grin.

"Good morning, stepfather." He said in a kind voice, as he always did.

"Yes, good morning, Yugi. Everything looks very good. Nice work, my boy."

Good, he seems to be in a good mood, which is pretty rare for Dartz... Yugi thought. Better try and keep it that way as long as I possibly can.

"Thank you, sir. I do the best I can." He said politely as his stepsisters, Mai and Tea, came down the steps to be seated at the table with their father.

Mai was infatuated with the color purple, more so lavender to be exact while Tea preferred pink, both wearing their morning dresses as they sat down at the kitchen table. Tea sat on the left side of her father while Mai was seated on the right, but Tea always allowed Yugi to sit next to her; she wasn't as cruel to Yugi as everyone else was. Yes, she was mean at times towards him, but she was also nice to him in her own way, as hard as that is to believe, more so than Mai or Dartz at least... To say the least, she never hurt him, physically, just hurtful words every now and then. Dartz said grace before everyone started eating, Yugi making sure to give Mai more fruit than bacon because she was crazy about watching her weight. Though, at least Yugi always got to eat, but it wasn't very much since he wasn't allowed to have more than everyone else – just another thing he had gotten used to. But once everyone had finished with breakfast, Yugi went to go clean up the kitchen until he suddenly tripped on Mai's abnormally long dress. The boy quickly scrambled to his feet as Mai turned beet red as she started shouting and whining like a damn child.

"YOU MORON!" She screeched. "Look at what you've done! You've gone and ripped my dress, you clumsy slave!"

Slap!

Yugi hit the floor with a loud 'thud,' the left side of his face burning. Tears formed in the corners of his eyes as he grabbed his burning cheek, Tea quickly getting down to Yugi as she glared up at her sister. "Well maybe if you didn't wear such gaudy ass outfits, Yugi might not have tripped on your stupid dress, you dumb blonde!" Tea shot at Mai, who gasped loudly before fuming.

"Who the hell are you calling dumb, you airhead brunette!?"

"Oh, I'm the airhead? Look who's calling the kettle black!"

"Enough!" Dartz shouted, everyone looking over to him. "I will not have my daughters acting like little children! And you!" He looked directly at Yugi, who flinched at seeing the death glare aimed at him. "I will not have you live in this household if you cannot be more responsible and pay attention to where you are going! You will take Mai to the market later and get her a new dress and shoes once you have finished with your chores. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir..." Yugi replied, hanging his head.

"It better be... Come girls, we have work to do." Dartz ordered as the girls followed him up the stairs, Tea sending an apologetic glance back to Yugi before leaving him on the floor by himself, still holding his throbbing cheek with tears brimming his violet eyes.

So much for his good mood... I know I'm going to pay for that later, I can already tell...

Yugi pushed himself to stand, dropping his hand to reveal a large red mark on his cheek as he shuffled into the kitchen. Despite his burning cheek and now depressed mood, he still made quick work of cleaning up the kitchen, making sure to leave it as spotless as he found it. Once he finished though, Yugi got to work on his daily chores for the day – scrubbing all the hard wood and tiled floors, dusting all the furniture, sweeping out front, polishing all the silver, doing the laundry, cleaning Dartz, Tea, and Mai's bedrooms, tending to the garden, cleaning every other room in the house, even if they were already clean, but Dartz would get even more angry if he didn't see Yugi at least doing something productive. Once all his chores were finished, Yugi felt worn out, however, he still had to make dinner, even after making lunch, and had to take Mai out to the market. He got ready, as much as he could in his worn state, before going into Dartz's office, saying he had finished with his chores. He gave Mai the money she would need before sending the two off, Tea offering to go with just to make sure Mai wouldn't try anything when no one was around. She settled on a royal purple gown that – in Tea's opinion – looked horrifying and plain tacky. However, she only voiced this opinion to herself, Yugi overhearing the comment, but didn't say anything. He simply let it go as they waited while Mai tried the dress on, gawking at herself in the mirror for a rather long while.

"Alright, would you hurry up? If we're late getting back, Father will blame Yugi, and then I'm going to make you suffer for it." Tea said impatiently.

"So?" She asked with attitude. "Why the hell do you even care about him? He's nothing but a slave and a petty nuisance in our house."

"So are you, but we don't complain." Tea spat, Mai just scoffing. "And I'd rather not have to listen to our father yell and shout at Yugi when it was your fault we got home late. Go pay for the gaudy dress and tacky shoes and let's go. I'd rather not be here longer than I have to..."

"Hmph!" Mai flipped her blonde hair off her shoulder as she closed the curtain to remove the dress. "Fine. You're being really bitchy today, sis."

"And you keep whining like a five year old, your point?"

"I was not whining!" Mai said, sounding offended.

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that. Now can you hurry up? You're taking forever just to get out of a dress..."

The curtain slid open, Mai glaring at her sister while Yugi just kept his head down, simply listening to their pointless bickering. "I had to put my own dress back on. Sheesh... You're so impatient..."

"Only because you take forever. Now pay for the dress and let's go so we can get home before Father gets mad again."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going..." Mai went and paid for the dress and matching heels she got as the dress was neatly folded and placed into a large box, the shoes going into another box of their own. Once paid for, the blonde took the boxes and dropped them in Yugi's arms – yet another thing he was used to.

"And you're incapable of carrying your own shit, because...?" Tea asked in a rude tone.

"That's what he's there for, isn't he?"

Tea gave a bitter chuckle. "Last time I checked, he wasn't your damn pack-mule. You have two arms that aren't broken, so why don't you carry them?"

"It's alright, Tea..." Yugi spoke up quietly. "Dartz will get mad if he sees her carrying them... It's my job..."

Mai smirked, flipping some hair off her shoulder. "See? Yugi doesn't mind."

"No, he's doing it all because you're a spoiled brat and doesn't want Father to get mad at him again for something you are perfectly capable of doing your-damn-self."

"Whatever... Like I said, that's what he's there for."

Tea rolled her eyes, realizing she wasn't going to get through Mai's thick skull. When the three arrived home, Mai went to go put her new dress and shoes in her room while Yugi trudged into the kitchen to make dinner. His back was very sore, but he forced himself to ignore the pain while he went and made dinner. As much as he didn't want to, he had to regardless of what he wanted, because in this household, his feelings didn't matter t anyone, except himself. Yugi let out a tired sigh as he got to work on dinner. He settled on making some curry and rice, fried vegetables, a homemade hot sauce – that wasn't too hot otherwise Mai wouldn't eat it – some chicken, and either the choice of water, milk, or wine for the beverage. Yugi settled on water while Mai and Tea wanted milk and Dartz had a glass of sweet red wine. They all ate in silence, Yugi eating slowly due to how tired he was. All he wanted was to go to sleep, but he knew he wouldn't be able to for another while. Once everyone had finished eating, Yugi went and cleaned up the kitchen before trudging up the stairs to his room. He removed his old work clothes and put on his pajamas, which was just a simple night shirt and pants before crawling onto his bed. His back was sore and seethed in pain, due to the punishment he received earlier from his stepfather for ripping Mai's dress on accident. Tears suddenly slid down his cheeks until he buried his face in his pillow, knowing he wouldn't be able to fall asleep on his back tonight. Yes, this was just a typical day for Yugi Moto, filled with nothing but pain, sorrow, and loneliness...

Will I ever get out of this hell, or will I just be stuck in this horrible life filled with nothing but pain and suffering for the rest of my time? Please... I just want to get away, to start new, something... I can't take all this pain anymore... I just want to be loved, though that can't be too much to ask for, can it? Ever since mother died, I've done nothing but suffer in silence because I'm too scared to voice how I feel in fear of what he might do to me... I just want to get away, to start over, and be treated like a person, not like a nuisance, and to finally be loved again... Is that really so much to ask for?