Moto Miyuki giggled as she watched her son, the six year old Yugi run about their small house excitedly, playing a game of pretend by himself, defending her from the big bad "pirates" that were in fact small wooden stools situated in the room. Never had she seen such a innocent and optimistic little boy before...such a thing was a true rarity in these times of war, their nation ruled by a warmonger tyrant. Poverty, homelessness, sickness, disease, murder, thievery, death, a person could not step outside of their homes without seeing it just outside...

Even the children of the city were vicious little things that always picked on her little tenshi and all because of his tri-color hair that stood straight up in spikes naturally, blond bangs framing his cute chubby face that hadn't yet lost its baby fat, his big violet eyes and fair skin, calling him "yokai" for his differences from them, and going as far as to beat and scratch him with their hands, even throwing him into dung piles they found a lot of times...and yet while it was clear as day due to the shimmering of the child's shimmering eyes, that the boy wanted to cry. And as pure as the boy clearly was surely he became secretly angry, but not once did he show it or raise a hand back to the children, nor did he tell his parents about it...they only knew now thanks to Yugi's Jii-chan being there when it happened one day.

Yugi's jii-chan, Siamun, now there was a man she dearly missed, her father-in-law, royal advisor in the Pharaoh's court. The poor old man worried dearly for all of them and did what he could for them even sent large sums of gold shillings he earned to them to help them get food and keep clothes without holes or tears in them, but the emperor was raising the taxes yet again on everything and even the shillings Siamun sent did very little to help them, but they wouldn't tell the old man that he was doing all he could already and was now even in the process of asking his highness, the Pharaoh of Egypt if they could be granted permission to live in Egypt with him...besides, as long as Yugi was taken care of she and her husband were happy. Their little boy was their whole world after all.

"Mama," Yugi whined when he noticed she wasn't looking at him and with a smile she turned to the little boy, putting down the knife she'd been using to cut smaller portions of the few vegetables and bread they had left.

"What is it my little tenshi?" she answered, bending down to look at him at eye level, she knew the boy preferred it that way so he could see her face without having to tilt his head too high.

"You are not acting like a captive," he replied with a soft pout.

"Oh forgive me. Am I still held by pirates?"

"No I saved you from the pirates now you are held by a fierce dragon yokai."

"A yokai? Oh no! Save me valiant magician~" she said dramatically, pretending to swoon and hid a giggle as her savior leaped into action waving his "wand" around that was in fact a stick he'd found earlier in the day before his father caught him.

Their little man had taken on an apprenticeship with the town's blacksmith secretly...apparently he wasn't so innocent that he didn't see that his parents were struggling even with the help of Siamun and had taken it into his own hands to help out. As noble and selfless as it was, they put a stop to it right away, Yugi was still a little boy, he should be allowed to enjoy his childhood as much as he could while it lasted, little boys grew up too fast in these days, they didn't want to see that happen to their son. Wanted to protect that pure light in him as long as they were able.

As if to contradict her thoughts, a sudden cough erupted from her throat, a violent one at that, that made her stomach suddenly get unsettled, her hand flying to her mouth in an attempt to keep bile down. This cough was nothing new, she had, had it for weeks as did her husband, a fever coming and going, upset stomach constant, but they did their best to hide it from Yugi, knowing he would worry and sure enough the boy stopped in his playing and turned to her in concern and fear.

"Mama...?" he asked, his voice shaky as he stepped closer.

"I am..." she started as dizziness began to creep up on her, making her blink and shake her head. Bad idea, it made it worse. But she continued on anyway. "I am alright little one, just stay ba.."

But she never finished the sentence as the dizziness took her mind and everything started to go dark, her heart pounding harshly in her chest as she felt herself falling to the floor, hearing calls of "mama!" over and over again until that too began to fade away until she heard nothing more.

Moto Yugi stood silent in the rain, eyes shimmering with sadness and unshed tears as he waited for the Pharaoh's men to finish their preparations for the journey to Egypt, his tiny form slouched as he stood getting soaked, hair usually in spikes, now drenched and hanging down his back. He still could barely believe it though he seen it himself.

Mama had recovered for a little while after the day she fell and then she got sick...really sick, and so did papa their faces were always flushed with fever, eyes always clouded with illness, they couldn't hold down food or water, they were always too hot or too cold...and then one day they didn't wake up.

He didn't understand, they seemed to be so healthy before...if he had been more attentive instead of playing would he have noticed sooner, would they still be alive?

And why was the emperor so mean?

As soon as their leader had heard of his parent's death, he had ordered the boy out of not only the city, but the entire nation stating "I wish for no more filthy rats on our streets" and sent word to Siamun in Egypt and so the poor grieving boy had no choice, but to either live with his Jii-chan in the desert if the Pharaoh was indeed as kind as the old man said...if not the boy would have no choice but to leave there as well and live as best as he could on his own until he too died for he would not pull his grandfather down with him.

Mama and papa were dead because of him...they had given him the only food in the house a lot of times when they didn't have enough for all of them, always made sure he was clothed, healthy and taken care of as best as they could being a very poor family, their home too small for the three of them and very poorly insulated against the elements and cold winter or hot summer.

Would they have been better off if he'd never been born?

Probably...

"We are ready little boy," he heard one of the men say, but he could only quietly nod, unable and unwilling to find his voice to answer and followed the man onto the ship where he obediently sat against some kind of cloth situated at the lower part of the ship that would have impressed and excited him and his imagination another time, but not today...he was too busy holding his tears back, keeping a brave face as he always did until he could cry himself into peaceful sleep later. He could only hope Jii-chan didn't hate him now.

Jii-chan was all he had left now...mama and papa weren't coming back...and who knew what the emperor was going to do with their bodies? Would he be kind enough to give them a funeral? And if so why couldn't he have at least let Yugi stay long enough to see them off to the afterlife instead of holding the grieving boy captive and quarantined for the week it took the Pharaoh's men to arrive. But at least he had been seen by a healer, Jii-chan's request no doubt to make sure he didn't have the sickness that his parents did.

So now he was on his way to his new life, what would come of it was unclear for the time being, but thankfully he at least knew how to read and write in both Egyptian and Japanese and speak the languages as well thanks to Jii-chan and papa teaching him so one good thing was if he was allowed to stay, he would know the language without Jii-chan's help.

Now the question was would he be allowed to stay with his grandfather, or would he have to set out on his own...only time would tell.

AC: And there you have it, chapter 1. I hope you all enjoyed it, please remember to comment what you thought of it, even point out mistakes if you seen them, I only ask you refrain from flaming. ^^ Looking forward to hearing from you~ All of the luffles~

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, or the characters of said epic series all characters belong to their creator, Kazuki Takahashi except for originals that may make an appearance. This is a work of fan fiction, I make no money on this. Also to clear up any confusion I don't know if Miyuki is Yugi's mom's actual name, I just gave her that one.

Translation of words used:

Tenshi: Angel

Yokai: Demon

Jii-chan: Grandfather or grandpa