Hi there~!

Well here is the official chapter one! I'm rather happy with it and I'm excited to say it's my longest chapter one as of yet. I hope that it entertains you.

Okie dokie, this chapter also has a flashback sequence going on in it as well. The flash back part takes place BEFORE the prologue takes place. I don't want people to get confused. There is also some text messaging that is going on but I think you all can understand that one.

Oh and I want to thank my two reviewers! So thank you to itsallguchicauseyolo and anonymous reviewer Ariana. I really appreciate your reviews and I hope I hear what you have to say on this chapter.

On with the fic!

Chapter One: Is There Something Missing?

The sun proudly shined over Domino, making the mansion glisten brightly in the light. The property where this mansion was in was huge. There were two small houses on the property as well. In one of the small houses, a girl with short brown hair got up. She stretched a bit and yawned before getting ready for school that day. While she was brushing her teeth, she heard someone else get up and soon was joined by a guy with blonde hair. He looked exhausted and soon she got worried for a second. If he was tired then…

"Mornin' Anzu," The blonde boy said.

She replied, "Good morning Jou…say…what time did you both get in last night?"

"Close to midnight I think…Why?" He said after thinking about it.

Her blue eyes widened in shock, "That late? What the hell was taking you both so long?"

"Inventory was being a bitch," He said while rolling his eyes in annoyance.

If Jou was going to say something else, he didn't have a chance to as Anzu had taken off to yet another room in that house. She stopped in front of a door and paused for a moment, as if debating if she should open it or not. Not too long into her mini-debate, Jou decided to join her outside the door. They stared at each other for a moment before deciding they might as well open the door and get it over with. Anzu finally opened the door, after a staring match with Jou to find the third and final resident asleep.

"Yami?" Anzu called out.

The boy, who had been sleeping peacefully in bed, heard the voice calling out to him but he refused to even think about waking up. Inwardly, he groaned, it felt as if he had just closed his eyes before Anzu came in. He didn't want to wake up and would have preferred to keep dreaming about that mysterious guy that kept calling him by a different name. That name he was being called sounded nicer than his own name, but it would have been great if that guy said his name rather than calling him another person's name. Keeping his eyes closed he got comfortable again. His bed was so warm…why should he leave it.

"Come on! You have to get ready for school or else we're going to be late!" Jou said.

He groaned in response but otherwise he didn't bother moving at all. Unfortunately for him, his two friends were planning on pulling out all of the stops to make sure he was going to wake up. The teen girl looked at the clock, thankful that they were still on time but soon, they were going to be running late and she can't have. Thinking about what to say, Jou got a text message on his phone and smirked as he showed Anzu the message. Also smirking, the wheels began to turn in her head.

"Fine then, stay asleep and dream. Jou and I are going to meet up with everyone at Yugi's place and have his grandfather's homemade coffee cake and some hot chocolate," She said.

Instantly the boy shot up from the bed, "Like hell you are leaving me behind!"

Yami had a sweet tooth like none other they had ever known in their short lives. Jou and Anzu laughed lightly as their friend with tri-coloured haired friend began running like crazy to get dressed. It wasn't hard for him to pick out what to wear as their school had school uniforms. So needless to say, Yami was ready in shorter time than the other two had taken. Upon further inspection, Anzu frowned, both of her so called 'brothers-in-arms' had bags under their eyes.

"Mr. Moto is not going to like this one bit…" She mumbled as they headed toward the car.

The car they had (Jou drove it as Anzu didn't like the car and Yami was reckless at driving) was a very old car. They thought it had to have been a miracle that it hadn't broken down just yet. Once they had gotten into their respected seats (Yami normally had shotgun) Jou took off as quietly as he could because he didn't want to wake up the residents of the mansion.

Yami rolled his eyes, "I don't see why we have to be so quiet for…"

"Do you want to be yelled at by Pegasus because you ruined his 'beauty rest'? If so then you take the wheel," Jou replied, "Trust me, you don't want to hear his bitching. I'm saving all of our asses by doing this. The moment we hit the street, I'm flooring this car…"

At the mention of the owner of the mansion, Pegasus, the three of them mellowed. Pegasus was their foster father and as rich and nice seeming as he presented to the outside world, he was anything but. Jou had been placed in foster care when his father was deemed unfit to be a father due to his drinking and abuse to his son. Anzu's parents were currently serving jail time and she had bounced from family member to family member until being places in foster care. Unlike the other two, Yami's parents had been law abiding and were wonderful with him; sadly, they had both died in a horrible car accident, thus his placement in foster care.

The three of them met in a house for foster kids that were waiting to be placed with someone. They had become friends who comforted and cared deeply for each other. So when Pegasus had went to foster home for some charity event and stumbled upon the three, he ended up becoming their guardian and taking them with him by the end of the day. At first, the three believed with all of their hearts that their life was going to change for the better. Looking back now, they couldn't believe they were so foolish. Pegasus was mean and demanding, he didn't treat them as his own children, he treated them like servants. They didn't live in the mansion with him and his two 'sons', (Twin brother's from Egypt that he ended up adopting because they were to inherit a lot of money from their deceased parents.) they stayed at a guest house he never used. Never the less, they were glad that soon they were going to be old enough to go to college and leave Pegasus and the life he had given them behind for good.

"Oh look Yugi's house!" Anzu exclaimed in an attempt to lighten the mood they were in.

Jou smirked, "I can already taste the coffee cake…"

They had met Yugi and his grandfather through Pegasus, of all people, because Pegasus owned a local game shop that Yugi's grandfather was the manager of. Mr. Moto was the nicest person in the world and treated all of Yugi's friends as his own children so things like having a meal with him was a normal thing for the three. They were so comfortable with this family that when they got out of the car, they didn't even bother knocking, the three simply walked in.

"There you guys are!" Yugi called out to them, "I was getting worried there for a second."

Yugi was just as nice as his grandfather and he also had tri-coloured hair like Yami. Playfully, they would tell people at school that they were actually related to each other just to see their reaction. Yugi was shorter than Yami but Yami was also shorter than Anzu and everyone else. Yami liked to say that Yugi was fun sized to which Yugi would roll his eyes.

Anzu smiled sheepishly, "Sorry about that, but somebody named Yami decided to sleep in."

"I'm not surprised by that actually," Said Mr. Moto, "Pegasus called two hours before the shop closed, claiming that the two boys had to stay to do inventory. I was seriously about to tell him off. Just because he's your foster father doesn't mean he can treat you all like slaves."

The two boys shrugged in response, they were used to Pegasus being like that. It was like slave labour, the three thought as they sat down at the table. Yugi wasn't the only one there sitting down. Their two other friends, Ryou and Ryuji were already there and waved at the three that had just entered.

Ryou was perhaps one of the nicest people anyone in the group had ever met. He had feathery white hair and green eyes. He had come from England with his father. His father was normally gone on trips but had gotten apartment anyway for Ryou could have a place to stay and so that his father also had a place to stay in between trips.

Ryuji Otogi was originally someone that Jou hated with a passion as the boy came off as stuck up when they initially met him. He proved himself as a nice guy and had been their friend ever since, according to all of the guys, Ryuji had a crush on Anzu and vice-versa but neither confirmed it. Ryuji had black hair, bright green eyes and normally wore an earring with a dice on it.

Yami sat down and looked over at Ryou, "Not to be nosy or anything but how did you get here? As I recall you don't have a car…"

"I picked him up," Answered Ryuji before Ryou could respond.

The white haired boy smiled and nodded, "He was going to pick me up anyway so we figured we would come here before heading to school."

"That makes sense," Anzu said as she sipped her hot chocolate.

The coffee cake was so great, all of the teens complimented Mr. Moto on his cooking skills while Ryou and Anzu were begging the man for the recipe for it. While all of this was going on, Yami's cell phone began to buzz in his pocket. He felt a smile grace his face as he pulled it out and found a text message.

{Good Moring. You aren't too tired from work last night are you?}

The teen bit his lip as he thought of a way to reply to the person and ended up writing, 'Well, I was very tired but after the coffee cake and hot chocolate I think I'm good. How about you?'

Yami looked up to see his friends staring at him. His smile faded and was replaced with a serious look and one of his eyebrows was raised. He braced himself for what they were going to say, they mostly said the same thing every single day so it was more annoying than worry some.

Ryuji smirked, "So what does your boyfriend say?"

"First of all, he's not my boyfriend, and he only said good morning," Yami replied.

Jou laughed, "Oh I'm sure that's all he said. Maybe he's sending pictures of himself."

"I'm sure Yami's boyfriend isn't sending pictures of himself," Anzu said as she rolled her eyes.

Yugi leaned closer, "Unless you've looked at his messages, you don't know that one for sure."

"Leave Yami alone will you? Anyway, we have to go to school or we will be late," Ryou interrupted.

So the group left it at that as they got up and thanked Yugi's grandpa for the breakfast. As it turned out, all of them magically seemed to fit in Ryuji's car. But Jou decided he was going to drive the other car because he and Yami were going straight to the shop after work and take Yugi with them. While on their way to school, Yami looked out the window (again, he called shotgun) and wondered about things.

"Can you relax Mokuba? It's only school, it's not like I'm taking you Disney World," The brunette said then shook his head at his own joke.

The other boy pouted, "It's not like you would take me there if you have Kaiba Land...can't I be excited about learning Seto? You say you value education…"

"Not if you are bouncing up and down the seat like that," Seto replied, "Besides, I'm trying to read and your moving about is messing with my concentration."

Mokuba pouted again, "Fine…"

The young boy slouched in his seat keeping that pout on his face. Deciding to break his usual stoic and withdrawn attitude, Seto wrapped his arm around his little brother's shoulders in an act of comfort. It was rather obvious that the boy wanted to stay mad at his older brother for the duration of the ride. Unfortunately for him, his brother had other plans and it worked just liked it worked when they were smaller. After all that they had been through, the only reason they survived it was because they were together. From losing their parents, the orphanage and even Gozaboro Kaiba, it was them against the world. Even now that Seto was now running KaibaCorp, it would still be just the two of them and neither of them wanted it any other way.

The car was slowing to a stop and Seto knew that it was Mokuba's stop. He always ordered the driver to drop his brother off first before dropping him off. Mostly because Seto wanted to see his brother off properly and also make sure his little brother didn't dare think about playing hooky.

"I'll see you after school, alright?" He said to the smaller boy.

Mokuba nodded as he practically jumped out of the car, "Okay brother! I'll see you then. Good luck on your test today. Not that you need luck, you are the smartest person I know!"

Seeing his little brother smile like that, melted his heart ever so slightly. Apart of him hated the fact that the boy had him wrapped around his little finger. Then again, now that he felt a smile of his own threaten to tug at his own cheeks, perhaps he didn't hate it as much as he wanted to/thought he did. Once his brother heated toward his school, the car moved again but this time it was going to be his stop. The brunette was going to work on some papers when his phone began to buzz signaling he received a text message. Expecting the message, he checked his phone and almost wanted to laugh.

[Well, I was very tired but after the coffee cake and hot chocolate I think I'm good. How about you?]

He had met his texting friend on a blog for Duel Monsters. Seto was surprised that the other male knew so much about the game. He even dared to think the other knew almost or just about as much as he did, not that he would ever say that out loud. What he would pay to meet the guy just so he could challenge him to a duel. But neither of them were that trustworthy, though they did exchange numbers but he was sure his 'friend' knew it was his number. For the blog, his user name was BlueEyes1025 to pay homage to his favorite card called 'The Blue Eyes White Dragon' and for the fact that his eyes were blue. The username his texting partner had used was Dark_Magician318 because his favorite card was and still is 'The Dark Magician'. So, other than that user name, he had no idea what the guys real name was.

'Only you would have something that sweet in the morning. If my little brother dared to do that, I would get after him,' He replied back before the car stopped again.

He got out of the car, reminding the driver to pickup Mokuba first unless told otherwise and then walked toward the building. He tried to pretend that people were staring at him, but for some reason, everywhere he went someone was staring at him. It was bothersome, to be honest but unless he could have some spray to keep people away, he had to put up with it. Ignoring everyone else, he headed to first class of the day and sat down at his desk. Once again, he was just about to work on something when his phone buzzed.

[Your poor brother. Unlike you, not all of us can solely live on coffee. Most us, including your brother I bet, are mere mortals who need some sort of sugar to get us past the morning.]

'Oh that's rich coming from the guy who so claims that if he don't have something sweet, he goes though withdrawals,' He wrote back.

Seto never had that many people to talk to mostly because he wasn't that social and had never been that way. But he really did like the fact that he had someone to talk to even if they were only going back and fourth most of the time. It was entertaining to argue with the other male, it gave him something to do and the replies he would get back would simply get funnier and funnier. The other was so quick to anger, he was too but he wasn't ever going to admit that ever. Just the thought of that made him shiver with dislike.

The bell rang sooner than he expected and soon people began filling the halls and entering their classrooms. Seto rolled his eyes as a group of people walked into his class room. The ones that seemed to stick out the most was the boy with white hair and the two tri-colour haired boys. He always wondered if their hair was actually that colour but he never bothered to ask, he really didn't care. For some reason, their seats had been assigned by grade score. The students with the lower grades had to sit in the front which meant that the students with the higher grades sat in the back. Seto's grade was one of the highest in the class so his seat was to the way back.

Yami and Ryou took their seats in the way back of the class. Ryou was lucky enough to take the window seat which meant that Yami sat next to Seto Kaiba. It was always awkward for a few moments but today, Ryou was rather talkative. So that awkward feeling was slowly going away.

"It's kind of sad that Jou has to sit in the way front," Ryou said with a sigh.

Yami snorted, "I'm sure if you told him that he would agree with you. But have you noticed that Anzu sit's in one row and right next to her is Ryuji and right behind her is Yugi?"

"Actually, I had never noticed that until right now…" Ryou laughed lightly.

The conversation went on like that and Seto would normally listen in more but his phone buzzed in his hand. Trying not to seem eager, he waited a few minutes before staring at his phone to read the message he got.

[Whatever, you go through them too but unlike you having to carry your own flask of coffee, I can simply go to a vending machine and get something. Anyway, I'll talk to you in between classes. The guy that sits next to me would get me in trouble if he saw me texting you. Can someone say the world's biggest ass?]

'At least I don't have to pay to get my fix. Yeah the guy that sits next to me in class would do the same thing. He's a teacher's pet.,' Seto wrote back.

The moment Seto had pressed send, the teacher walked in and soon class was in full swing. The test his brother had spoken about was in his first class. It was an easy test and Seto was sure that he was going to beat Yami for the higher grade. Why or when they agreed to compete for the highest grade in class was unknown to him but they did. Seto enjoyed the competition; it kept him on his toes and wanting to beat the other in any way possible.

Once the test was over, Seto's mind couldn't help but wander to subjects that he seldom liked to think about. One of those things was his personal life. Aside from work and Mokuba, he didn't have a social life. He didn't have people to hang out with nor did he have someone special. He found it ironic that with all of the money he had and all of the power that had come with it, there were things that were missing in his life. He supposed that the old cliché that money couldn't buy you happiness could ring true at the moment, not that he agreed with it. He was happy with his life and his money. He made sure his brother had everything he could ever need and then some. That used to be enough but lately he had feeling something missing and he couldn't place what exactly what that was. He shook his head, he needed to stop thinking about this and think about other things...like the look on Yami's face when the teacher announced that Seto got the highest score in the class.

That works.

(AN: This part happens BEFORE the prologue takes place!)

The sun had yet to rise but the Queen of Domino was awake with worry. She and her husband had an argument with their son, Seth. They had wanted him to get married but he claimed he wasn't ready for such a big step. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way, marriage was always so tricky and it wasn't getting any easier. Now the children of her son's generation wanted to fall in love and things of that nature. When Seth had mentioned this word to his parents, the Queen was confused. When did love become so important? When she was younger and had just gotten married to her husband, she might not have been too fond of him at first but now, she couldn't imagine her life without him. She tried to explain, calmly, that love might not be there at first and that it does grow slowly but he didn't want to hear any of that and had stormed out of the room.

As the lovely woman wandered about her castle, she couldn't help but want to speak to her only child. Perhaps if she were to explain things to him, it might get his head out of the clouds or something. She felt a frown on her lips as she thought about waking up her son but it was only inevitable. The sun was going to rise and soon he was going to be woken up anyway. Of course, she wasn't prepared for what she was going to see. When she entered the room, everything at a glance looked perfect, perhaps, it was too perfect. For a moment she was sure that Seth was on the bed but she knew for a fact that no one could be so still in their sleep. So she walked closer to the bed and that was when she saw it. He used a pillow and escaped though the window. Her eyes widened greatly as she ran from the room to wake up her husband.

"My King! My King!" She practically yelled.

The king looked rather annoyed, "There has to be a great reason you have woken me up dearest."

"Seth's missing! He left sometime in the night I bet!" She said as she sat down on the bed, "He's gone…"

The man made a face, "Then I will call the guards to search for him. I'm sure he hasn't gotten that far yet."

Elsewhere, unknowing that the prince had ran off sometime during the night, a young man had woken up and began getting ready for his task of the day. The property he lived in was vast and it had many things on it, a stable for the horses and various fruit trees. The one he had his eyes on was the apple trees. It didn't matter what kind of apples he had gotten. As long as he brought back a few bushels of it, needless to say, this young man had a few baskets with him. He ran a hand through his tri-coloured hair as he looked about the land and let himself soak in the sun. His skin was tanned a lovely bronze colour for being in the sun so long but he never complained. His friend Mana always claimed it made him look 'exotic', whatever she meant by that.

Once upon a time, his parents had once owned this land, if he tried hard enough, he could remember his father. The man seemed to always have a bright smile on his face and his mother was such a beautiful woman. Thinking about it now, the two did make a handsome couple. They had even named him Atem, in honour of their shared Egyptian heritage. Unfortunately, his father had taken ill by a plague that had been going around at that time. The man fell to his untimely death thus leaving his wife and son behind. Without trying, he could remember his mother wearing black and her beautiful face looking so sad. Then it seemed like magic, she had began feeling better, she had met someone with two boys around her son's age. Soon his mother married this man, who name was Dartz. His son's had the strangest names and looks, Siegfried and Leonhart (Who preferred to be called Leon.) Of course, with Atem's crazy hair, there wasn't much he could say about that part but still…they were strange yet polite. Leon and he managed to become friends of sorts, the same couldn't have been said about he and Siegfried. Yet, the pink haired kid was still rather nice.

Then, right as it seemed that everything was going to be alright, his mother passed away as well. It seemed right after the funeral, things began to change. Dartz and Siegfried weren't as great as they seemed to be. With his mother gone, they were free to do as they pleased, so they made him one of their servants in order for him to 'earn his keep'. That was when he became friends with Mana and Mahado, they had been servants all of their lives and had been more than happy to take him under their wing. For that he was grateful to them and always would be for the rest of his life.

Now, he was just about done with the apples when he saw something. A man in dark clothing on a horse that was running for its life it seemed. It wasn't the fact that the man was on the property and wearing dark clothing that made Atem lift an eyebrow. It was the horse, he knew that horse, that was his mother's favourite horse and like hell he was going to let some guy take it from him. The only thing he had in his hand was the apple, feeling perhaps reckless, he flung them at the man in an attempt to stop the thief until one hit the target and the man fell off the horse.

Seth might not have thought this plan to run away through but he was sure, that being knocked off the horse he was borrowing wasn't one of them. As far as he knew, the nobleman who owned this property had given him permission to take a horse as he pleased. He looked to see what the hell knocked him off of the beast and noticed it was…an apple. An apple? If this had happened to anyone else, he would have laughed at them. He got up and dusted himself off, making sure the person that dared to do that to him was going to pay dearly for that…He looked across the field and noticed a young man with strange hair and with baskets of apples. Naturally, he assumed it was that guy. Walking with a long stride he noticed that once the other male got a good look at him he immediately dropped to the ground. Well, at least he knew who he was about to speak to.

Of all the people he had to hit with an apple, it would be the prince? Wonderful, now he was going to get beheaded due to an apple. Sighing, he his eyes and face downcast at the Prince's feet, being a servant he wasn't supposed to look the man in the eye.

Seth crossed his arms and looked down at the groveling person before him, "One would have to wonder why you would dare hit me with an apple…"

"Your highness, my deepest apologies…I-I thought you were a thief trying to steal the horse. If I had only known or realized it was you, I wouldn't have done that," Atem answered as clearly as he could.

Before Seth could reply, he noticed his father's guards in the distance. Soon they would be upon them and he didn't want to be here when they did that. Sighing to himself he made a choice that was going to change everything from that moment onward.

"You are rather lucky. But since I'm sparing you, you better not tell those guards from the palace that you have seen me," Seth said as he threw a small bag of gold coins at the other, "For your silence…"

With that the prince walked off into the woods nearby while he took a bite of the apple that was still in his hands. He didn't notice the crimson eyes that seemed to have widened in shock at the amount of gold coins in the bag. He also didn't see the other count it over and over again just to make sure. Atem smiled widely, he had the right amount! Instantly he hid the bag in one of his pockets, gathered the baskets and ran home. Mana had to hear about this.

So what did you think? LET ME KNOW!

I noticed that on the traffic graph for this fic, there were a lot of people that at least read the prologue. I do encourage you all to review. It makes me so happy and it encourages me to keep up the story. But I understand that sometimes, you look at a fic, read it and like it but simply don't review until later on. I've done that a few times.

I do have chapter two in the works and I'm almost done with it. If you want to see it earlier than I plan to have it posted. I need more than two people review this chapter. Let's go with…hmm, five. If five people review this chapter, then I will post chapter two earlier than planned next week.

Anyway, I hope that all of you liked this chappy!

Reviews = Love

With Love,

SanguisRubeus