I have 5 chapters done so I will defiantly be updating, I just don't know when. Okay, this is not a yaoi, just to point that out. But it may become one if I change my mind.

Alright, that said and done here are the disclaimers by my wonderful friend, Seto Kaiba!

Seto: More like kidnapper . . .

Angel: Just read the disclaimers!

Seto: Darkangel302 doesn't own the song 'I'm still here' or Yu-gi-oh, or any of it's characters, including me THANK GOD!

Angel: But if I could own Yu-Gi-Oh Seto would be mine! (Huggles Seto)

Seto: God Help Me . . .

Angel: Enjoy!

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"I'm still here" by the Goo Goo Dolls

I am a question to the world,
Not an answer to be heard,
or a moment that's held in your arms.
And what do you think you'd ever say?
I won't listen anyway:
You ignore me,
And I'll never be what you want me to be.

And what do you think you'd understand?
I'm a boy, no i'm a man.
You can't take me and throw me away.
And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own.
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change,
They're the ones that stay the same.
They don't know me,
'Cause I'm not here.

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted, I could be
Now you know me, and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change,
They're the ones that stay the same.
They can't see me,
But I'm still here.

They can't tell me who to be,
'Cause I'm not what they see.
And the world is still sleepin',
While I keep on dreamin' for me.
And their words are just whispers,
And lies that I'll never believe.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can they say i never change,
They're the ones that stay the same.
I'm the one now,
'Cause I'm still here.

I'm the one,
'Cause I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.
I'm still here.

I'm still here

Chapter 1

/I am a question to the world

Not an answer to be heard

Or a moment that's held in your arms/

Heavy, black, retro boots thudded across the pavement on a crisp fall morning. It was quite odd to be seeing someone such as Malik Ishtar in school uniform with a backpack slung over his shoulder. His normal sleeveless purple sweat-shirt and cargo pants were replaced with blue slacks and a white long-sleeved dress shirt, unbuttoned to about halfway down his chest, and the open blue jacket. He wore less jewelry than usual, his golden chokers were still wrapped around his neck, and his golden earrings were still in. But he really couldn't wear his bracelets of cuffs with the stupid uniform. Malik had questioned if he should rip off the sleeves of the uniform and just wear that to school, but thought against it as well, and for only one reason.

Isis would kill him.

Not that she would see, his sister was in Egypt for the next few months, and Odion would be joining her in a few days. Malik actually considered just going to school the days Odion was there, then quit when he left, no one would be able to tell him off unless they came home. Which they wouldn't.

The lavender-eyed Egyptian sighed heavily, pushing a lock of platinum blonde hair out of his face. He didn't want to go to school, it had been Isis's idea to send Malik to school, he was only 16. Except for the fact that Malik was likely to get bored with school because he already knew everything he would learn in school. He started an evil group of possessed minions, and got the money to pay for everything, when he was only 15, so school should be a piece of cake.

Another thing you might notice, Malik would usually be riding his motorcycle if he was going anywhere, not walking. Answer: simple. It was in the shop, duh! So he had to walk, Odion left early that morning to finish packing up the Egyptian Exhibit at the Domino Museum, so unless Malik wanted to get to school at 5:30, he could have caught a ride with Odion. But Malik liked his sleep much more than a ride to school.

Besides, he needed to think.

Yugi and his fan club probably still hated him for the Battle City thing, so school was defiantly going to be hell. Malik wasn't very good at making friends either, he could talk to Bakura, but he was in the shadow realm, and Ryou probably hated him too. Malik risked Ryou's neck in order to defeat Yami, so who wouldn't hate him for that.

The colored leaves that blanketed the grass and side walk crunched beneath Malik's feat. Malik amused himself by trying not to destroy the leaves and just scuffle through the mess. Dragging his feat under the thick layer and kicking them up, it kept him going for a while until the layer of leaves seemed to thin and Malik soon found himself in front of Domino High School.

Malik sighed heavily, this would be his prison for the next 8 hours.

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It took a while for Malik to find everything, but the blonde Egyptian found himself sitting in the back corner of homeroom about 15 minutes before the bell rang. He didn't feel much like exploring that day. You would have expected Malik to either come in at the last minute, or late, or just plain skip homeroom. But he didn't feel like it today for some reason, he had a major head-ache, more like a migraine.

"I should have taken something before I left home," he muttered to himself. Taking out a book from his back pack he began to read. This was an even odder sight, that is if you didn't live with Malik. No one knew how much Malik loved to read. That was what fed his curiosity when he was a kid of the outside world, if it wasn't on the pharaoh, or Egypt, he'd read it. Malik actually got hooked on Shakespeare, no one else in his family, not even Odion, could make sense of Shakespeare, but had a great obsession for the writings. Especially Hamlet, that was the first Shakespeare piece he ever read.

He got about 5 pages in to 'Macbeth' when something interrupted him, something Malik would have preferred to avoid the entire school year.

"Hell no," came a New-York accent. "No way in hell are you going to this school!" Malik looked up to see Joey and the rest of the 'gang' about 8 feet away from him, all staring at him. Malik just scowled.

"I'm not exactly happy to be here either, mutt," Malik replied sharply. Joey shook with anger at his nick-name that had seemed to have spread around.

"Aren't you like twenty-something?" Tristan asked, not out of curiosity either.

"I'm 16 you idiot," Malik shot back. 'Twenty? How the hell did they get that?'

"Great!" Joey exclaimed, sarcasm and venom dripping from his words. "Not only do we have moneybags in our class, but also the mind-controlling psychopath."

'Didn't Yugi already explain this to them?' Malik thought to himself. He though he had asked Yugi to explain that wasn't really him during the Battle City finals. Malik shot a confused look towards Yugi, who just shrugged, indicating he had told them.

[ Stubborn asshole,] Malik muttered in Arabic, then going back to his book.

"Translation? I know that was something bad," Joey said, looking towards Yugi.

"It's nothing worse than what's running through your mind about me right now," Malik muttered in English this time.

"Stay out of my head!" Joey snapped.

"Why would I want to enter your mind? It'd just be a waste of my time," Malik said, still not looking up from his book. "Besides, any idiot can tell that you hate me for something I didn't do-"

"You sent people to the shadow realm you freak," Tristan spat.

"Didn't we already go over this," Malik asked looking back up in Yugi's direction. Yugi nodded, but the bell rang so it went unnoticed.

Malik shook his head, giving up on reading. Yep, school would be hell alright . . .

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Malik hated school, more than he hated anything in his life. He would have gone back underground with a psychotic yami any day. The only good point was he got to catch up on his sleep, and would probably also do so during detention that afternoon. Malik had gotten in a fight during lunch, but strangely he was just defending himself.

'I bet this is all Joey and Tristan's fault!' He thought to himself. 'I'll bet my motorcycle that they spread those rumors about me being a complete nut-case!'

Oh yes, word had gotten around about what really happened at Battle City. And it was a rumor, so it kept changing, now people were saying he pushed Tristan and Duke of the blimp and he killed Mai. Malik rolled his eyes, resting his head in his arms during math class.

"Mr. Ishtar . . ."

'I'm gonna give those two a piece of mind,' Malik thought wickedly. 'But, they might have the whole school to back them up. sigh And I've got no one.'

"Mr. Ishtar!"

'Why does my life have to be so screwed up, no one can trust me anymore. And it's all Marik's fault! That damn bastard, if he wasn't in the Shadow Realm I would rip him apart with my bare hands-'

"MR. ISHTAR!!!"

"Eleven!" Malik shouted, looking up at the teacher. Wait, scratch that, glaring at the teacher. "The answer is eleven, right?"

"Y-yes, but how-"

"I listen, alright!" Malik shot at her. "Just because I'm not looking at you doesn't mean I don't know what is going on." He then buried his face in his arms again, sighing deeply with frustration. That was actually a guess, but at least he got it right. And the damn teacher left him alone for the rest of the period.

Next up, P.E.

The school didn't have many extra gym clothes, so Malik had to wear a white T-shirt that was two sizes too small for him, fortunately, the shorts fit fine. Malik pulled the white T-shirt over his head, yanking it down as far as it would go. Okay, it was tight enough to show off some muscles, and a thin line of dark tanned skin bordered his waist line, but it was good enough.

Someone tapped him on his shoulder, and Malik turned around to see the gym teacher. "Just need to tell you rules for this class," he said all too quickly, obviously the word he was crazy had gotten to the teachers too. "One: no jewelry, so lose the gold." Malik stuffed his neck-chocker and earrings in to his bag then stared at the teacher, arms crossed. "Two: school policy says no tattoos, so if the one's on your back are permanent, you'll need to talk to either the principle or counselor."

Malik narrowed his eyes, how did he know this would come up. "Yes they're permanent, but they aren't tattoos." The gym teacher stared back at the blonde Egyptian with a confused look.

"Then, would you mind telling me what they are?"

"Yes, I do mind," Malik stated flatly. The gym teacher sighed.

"Look, you have to tell me or I'll have to cut you out of the class."

"Wouldn't bother me any," Malik muttered.

"You would flunk the class," the gym teacher stated. The rang a bell, in translation that meant 'Isis when skin me alive.'

"They're scars," he said quickly. The teacher just stared blankly, completely speechless. 'What is so hard to understand, they're scars, scars, they're etched into my back, I can't get rid of them!' Malik thought angry. 'And if he doesn't stop starting at me I'm going to punch his lights out!'

"Can I go now?" Malik asked impatiently. The teacher nodded, still speechless, and Malik almost ran out of the locker room.

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Malik stood on the track, thoughts flooding his mind, it was hard for him to concentrate on anything. 'Damn teachers, fucking scars, and if those girls don't stop giggling over there I'm going to kill someone!' A group of cheerleaders were sitting on the bleachers, giggling, gossiping, whispering, and all looking his way. 'Okay, I know I have a six-pack, and I know they can see it through my shirt, but pick on someone else already!'

"Ishtar, Wheeler, Johnson, Kaiba, your up!" Came the coach's voice. Malik sighed, he had hoped he wouldn't have to run, but he guessed they had everything planned out. Malik lined up next to Joey, who just glared at him. Kaiba was on Malik's other side, and a red-headed geek of a kid on Kaiba's other side. 'Maybe I could just run off all this shit, and beat Joey at something, that will be good.' A large smirk spread across Malik's face, which did not go unnoticed by Joey.

"Don't kid yourself," Joey spat. "I'm the fastest on the track team, and Kaiba's just too chicken to join the track team, other wise he'd be at the top." Kaiba scowled.

"I run a company, mutt," Kaiba shot back in a low dangerous voice. "I don't have time for teams or anything, not that I would want to do so even if I had the time." Malik just shook his head, they had never seen him run before. And he had a lot of practice. Isis could get really scary when she's angry . . .

############### FLASHBACK ################

A seven-year-old Malik smirked widely, the plan was just too perfect. He quietly crept into Isis' room, over to her dresser, where she kept all of her make up. "Wow, she sure has a lot of this stuff," Malik said in almost a whisper. "I wonder what she really looks like??" He wondered, trying to imagine what Isis looked like without any of that gunk on her face. A smile spread across his face, "guess I'll just have to find out for myself." He then stuffed everything on that desk into a brown sack and hid it in one of the cleaning store-rooms.

But the next morning, was hell . . . in a good way.

"MMMAAALLLIIIKKK!!!!!!!!!" Came Isis' screams from her room, Malik's eyes widened and he hid behind one of the pillars in the main hall. He heard Isis storm past him, he held his breath, waiting for her footsteps to die off. The seven-year-old let out a sigh of relief and looked to his left, making sure Isis didn't come back. Sighing again, he turned around and started to walk towards his right, when he came face to face with a very angered Isis. You could here him gulp, and start to shake under her gaze.

"Where did you hide my make-up?" she demanded.

"Why would I want to touch your stupid stuff," Malik said, growing some backbone, and brushing past his sister. Who didn't fall for his little act, and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I know you took it, tell me where it is- OUCH!" Malik stepped on her foot and took off down the hall way as fast as he could, which was fast. Isis was chasing after him, so in other wards, Malik was running for his very life.

But Isis was never able to catch Malik, but Isis did get her stuff back.

Malik ran behind Odion, who stopped Isis from strangling her little brother. "Will you two ever stop fighting?" Odion asked, letting out a sigh of frustration.

"HE STOLE MY STUFF!" Isis shouted, Malik just stuck his tongue out at her.

"why would I go into your room, I'd probably die from the horrible smell, do you ever clean that place," Malik mocked. Isis glared at him and charged at her little brother again. But was caught by Odion once again. Isis scowled, but then a smirk crawled up her face.

"No matter, I have something as well," and took out one of Malik's many daggers (which he collected) and it happened to be his favorite, a 8" dagger with a golden plated handle. Malik's eyes widened in shock.

"You went in MY room! Give it back Isis," he shouted and tried to swipe the dagger out of his sister's hands. She just raised it above her head and out of Malik's reach, leaving him jumping for it.

"Then give me back my stuff! Where did you hide it?"

"It's in the cleaning store-room down the hall now GIVE ME BACK MY DAGGER!!!"

Isis dropped it and rushed for the chamber down the hallway. It was only a few minutes before you heard her scream, "THEY'RE ALL BROKEN! I'M GONNA KILL YOU MALIK!" And once again, Malik was running for his life.

########## END FLASHBACK ###############

'Good times,' Malik thought to himself. 'Wonder how mad Isis would get if I did that when she gets back. Except I could sell all the stuff she left here, then she would never get it back and I would make some more cash.'

A loud whistle sounded off, breaking Malik's train of thought, and he took off running. 'Okay think . . . oh shit, I'm not mad anymore. Okay, how about I try to think about how mad Isis is going to be when she finds out I got detention my first day.' Malik snickered, and kept running, at least he was faster than Joey, but Kaiba could run. Damn his long legs.

After another few seconds, Malik was back in Egypt, running for his life from an angry Isis, oh yeah, that would get him to go faster. Malik found himself moving faster, and going neck-in-neck with Kaiba, who looked like he wasn't even trying to win. Malik scowled and tried to make himself move faster. 'Wait, it's working?' Kaiba looked over at Malik, surprised that anyone caught up with him.

Now they had a race.

Malik then realized if Kaiba actually did decide he wanted to win, Malik was going to be left in the dust, but there was only about 12 feet left in the race. 'Okay, think about Isis, what would get me running?' He then tried to remember his sister's scream that says 'this is your warning you better start running. "MMMAAALLLLIIIKKKK!!!!"

Malik smirked widely as that extra burst of speed won him the race. He bent over, hands on his knees, breathing heavily. 'That was fun, sort of . . .'

Malik decided that he like P.E. better than any other subject.

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Detention was boring, he slept the whole time, and Malik soon found himself waking towards the shop he dropped his bike off at. Malik now had his white shirt completely unbuttoned, showing off his dark-toned skin. He had his jewelry back on, and felt like he was on fire. It was as hot as Egypt in April, and that was pretty hot, but I guess you could say Malik was use to it, it was just a big change from this morning.

'The weather here is weird,' Malik thought to himself. 'It's brisk in the morning, then 8 hours later it feels like summer. I'm never going to get use to this.'

He passed many other groups of kids from his school, who were still whispering, he even caught a few things:

"That him?"

"Yeah, I heard he can read your mind!"

"And control you too."

"Isn't he like, crazy?"

"He's psychotic, my sister's friend's cousin's mom saw him at the Domino Insane Asylum last Saturday, that's why he wasn't here last week for registration."

"Yeah, I heard about that too, he made a really big scene and they had to keep the press from putting the story out on TV."

The group quieted as Malik walked past, then started back up again as soon as they thought he was out of ear-shot. Malik stared at his feet, walking past all of the shops and other people. He swore he saw people staring at him as he walked past Burger World. Malik was at the corner of 123rd and rosewood, the shop was on 123rd. But on the corner was a shop he didn't really want to encounter either: The Kame Game Shop, Yugi's shop/home.

He walked past the shop without looking in, turning the corner, and looking through the windows on the other side to see the gang inside, all laughing and looking like they were having a good time. The door was open so he could hear them . . .

"And then he said-"

"Wait isn't that Malik?" Yugi asked, interrupting Joey, who saw Malik go past, fortunately Malik was looking in.

"That damn bastard makes me sick," Joey muttered.

"What's he doing down here?" Tea asked.

"Let's go find out," Ryou exclaimed, jumping up and heading out of the door before anyone could stop him. He had just gotten back in town that afternoon, that was why he wasn't in school.

Malik entered the shop, ringing the bell on the counter, then walking past it. "Hey Jason! You in here?"

"In the back," came a voice from the garage. Malik kept on walking to see a tall black haired man, about 23, working under the hood of an old Mustang Convertible. Malik dug into his pocket and stuffed the yen into the man's hand.

"Keep the change, I'll just go."

"What's eaten you," Jason asked, leaning up against the car.

"Isis sent me to school," Malik muttered, throwing a leg over his motorcycle and starting up the engine.

"Ah," was all Jason said, or all he could say before Malik drove his motorcycle out of the garage and almost over Ryou, but he stopped short, jerking him forward. Ryou just stood there, eyes wide, and probably scared stiff. After a moment, Malik was afraid that he had fainted standing up.

"Sorry Ryou," he said. Ryou nodded, calming down a little. "This yours?" he asked, meaning the motorcycle. Malik nodded then looked up, waiting for a minute, but Ryou didn't move. 'Do I have to spell it out for him?'

"Um, could you . . . move?"

"Oh, sorry," Ryou said quickly, blushing madly, he stepped out of the way. Malik drove on past, leaving Ryou in the door way of the garage.

It was only when he was half-way back to his apartment that Malik realized Ryou was the only one to talk to him in a 'nice' way that day. Everyone else that had even bothered to speak to him usually said something that he could have done without.

And this was Ryou who spoke to him. Ryou, the one person that should hate him the most, tried to talk to him, start a conversation. 'Damn, he was standing there because he thought I would say something. I just nodded, he was trying to talk to me!

Why do I have to be so stupid when things finally start to go good for me?

Why . . . '

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End Chapter one. Please review, and just to let you know, Marik doesn't come in until the third chapter, sorry.

But anyway . . .

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!

(and no flames)