As I look back on it, the years seem to have gone by in a flash.

Yes, a lot of things had changed. We had been kicked out of our own house, stuffed into tiny room, and are now officially orphans among other things-but, in a way, it still felt the same. It was still just the three of us, fending for ourselves. Only with worse living conditions and more people.

Our routines changed a little, but I still cooked for Seto and Mokuba, sneaking into the kitchen to make food instead of going to the battlefield that was the dining room and fighting over every scrap.

Let's just say that the first time we had tried to 'attend' dinner, it ended up with the entire plate of mashed potatoes sticking on the ceiling and a screaming matron as nine cups of cranberry juice were spilled.

Safe to say, we avoided that place.

Luckily, there was a small classroom at the orphanage. Volunteers would come in and teach us, so we could finally stop with the home lessons and get some proper education.

Suddenly finding ourselves with a lot of time now that teaching was out of the way, Seto started to pay more attention to his chess while I drew more. It was a hobby in my past life, but I didn't have many opportunities to pick it back up after I was reborn. My skills were a little rusty, and I hadn't been the best artist, but I was getting better.

Mokuba would play occasionally play with the other children as he was still at that 'make friends everywhere' age, but a lot of the time, he liked curling up next to us and reading a children's book or the like.

One thing we all seemed to like, though, were games.

Well, I mean, most children(if not all) like games, but Seto and Mokuba were especially addicted to them. When not reading or playing chess, they would come up with a bunch of different games to play-and whenever we got some spending money from doing odd jobs, they almost always went to buying a new board game(Mokuba's preference), card games(Seto) or the occasional guessing game(me).

Seto's especially like this thing called 'Duel Monsters'(I shook off the feeling that screamed deja vu. It was just a card game for goodness sake!). Almost every time we went out, we had to drag him away from the isle or he'd end up spending the majority of our cash on packs of cards like some sort of crazy card otaku.

I myself didn't understand the game that well, but Mokuba kinda did. Which made me feel a little stupid. But then again he was my adorable little brother so I couldn't hold it against him...

That dumb card game wasn't any fun anyway.

Personally, in terms of card games, I preferred things such as poker even though Seto always beat us at that too. He seriously had no mercy when it came to winning... But at least Saturday night gambling at the local pub earned us cash, and our big brother enjoyed the exercise that came from completely destroying the adults.

Sometimes I worry for the size of his ego.

Anyway, the orphanage actually had a few bullies! It was definitely like something out of the cliche school movie, except they weren't popular and instead beat up kids for toys and food instead of money and homework. Luckily, they quickly learned not to mess with any of us...I won't go into much detail, but I'll say that our trio can be absolutely terrifying if we wanted to, especially with the brutal child genius, Mokuba's surprising liking towards pranks, and my wonderful ability to buy cheap supplies.

On the topic of family, Seto started to accept the fact that we were the role models for Mokuba and were suppose to raise him-even if we were only a few years older and were merely children ourselves. Tou-san was gone, along with his prejudice towards Mokuba, and I had finally managed to crack that iron heart.

It was nice to see Seto slip off his guard for a little while, and when I saw him doing those small things(even if it was just giving Mokuba the bigger piece of a split candy bar)I knew he cared about him. About us.

Something in my chest blossomed with warmth, and I couldn't stop the wide grin that split my face.

Even though we were stuck in less than pleasant conditions without parents and a regular life, it was alright because we had each other. We were there to support one another, and for now, that was all we needed.

Months went by in what seemed like a blur, and sometimes, I felt as if we would be stuck in here forever. Locked in this tiny prison and not being able to see the world until they kicked Seto out when he was old enough. Then me in a few more years. Then Mokuba.

I feared for the future, of living desperately on a street with barely enough to get by, our lives passing us by like we were bystanders watching a car race(but somewhere on the inside, I was reassured a little because I knew neither Seto nor I would let us live like that. We would find a way somehow).

The thing was, Seto, Mokuba, and I recieved lots of adoption requests. It wasn't as if nobody wanted us-it was just that they didn't want the full package. And we three came as a special half-price bundle of hassle that no one had the time or want to deal with.

Two and a half year passed.

Seto was ten, Mokie was five, and I was seven and a half when we got an announcement.

"Children," One of the orphanage workers announced as she walked into the classroom, having gathered all of us there, "Today, Mr. Kaiba will be paying us a visit-"

I tuned her out for a moment when I heard that name. It was familiar just like Seto and Mokuba…oh! I was so close to figuring it out! What was the final piece?!

"-So be sure to behave!"

She finished up with a smile and left as chatter erupted around us.

No wonder. This was the first exciting thing that has ever happened in the orphanage other than birthday cakes and field trips, and many kids were talking about the possibility of adopted by this Mr. Kaiba. I found by listening to the not-so-subtle gossip by some of the older kids that he was apparently the famous owner of a big business.

If anyone landed with him, they would get a first-class ticket out of here to living the good, rich life.

Ha, I highly doubt it.

He was probably here to show off to the public. Orphanages and the poor poor parent-less children were one of the things used to win the public's hearts. People just ate up that type of warm and fuzzy bullshit.

Although if they really had hearts, they would come here and adopt one of us themselves.

I've seen all the kids here, and they're all the same, just in different forms.

They're all broken.

Besides me, I saw Seto adopt a thoughtful expression as Mokuba rambled on excitedly to us, caught up in the dreams the other children wove. But I was more focused on Seto.

I know that look, it was the same look he got when we decided to have our monthly pranks.

What was he planning now?

One o'clock came and everyone was in the 'living room', their newly cleaned faces pressed to the windows. Trying to see Mr Kaiba, trying to catch his attention, trying to be as perfect as possible so maybe maybe he would take them away from here.

I stood on my tippy toes and tried to see past the other kids from the back of the crowd(no way was I joining that compression of animals just to get a peek of some snobby rich lug). I was unsuccessful with my young height, but managed to catch a glimpse of an impressive looking white limo pulling up to our street and crowds of reporters crowding the lawn before another body blocked my sight again.

Soon, I heard the snapping of various cameras going off near the building and a few minutes later, the door opened to reveal a stern looking man with graying black hair, sideburns, big eyebrows, and a mustache.

I stepped back as everyone surged from the windows to crowd around him, bragging about how they were the best at math or blah blah blah Oh Mr. Kaiba your suit looks really nice! It's as white as the falling snow! Hey, that reminds me of this really sophisticated poem want to hear it, etc etc.

Attempting to draw his attention, because oh look at me don't I make a perfect child, and hoping that his forced kind smile would turn to them. Rolling my eyes with a hint of disgust at all the sucking up I was seeing, I looked around to realize that the oldest was no where to be found.

"Mokie, do you know where Seto is?"

Mokuba, who was next to me, blinked and dragged his eyes away from the scene to glance around us before registering that his big brother was gone. With big confused eyes, he turned to me and tilted his head cutely.

"I don't know, Risa-nee. Maybe he got lost!"

I hummed thoughtfully at his chirp before taking Mokuba's hand as it was easy to get lost in the crowd.

"C'mon, lets go find him."

We looked around the living room first, pushing past the huge mass of bodies that had gathered for Mr. Kaiba's appearance for about twenty minutes or so, occasionally sitting down to take a break, before we moved on to the next hall.

Peaking past every door with no avail, our duo went up the stairs to check our room, picking up two apples from the kitchen on the way. We took a short moment in our Seto-less bedroom to eat the fruits before continuing.

About half an hour later, Mokuba and I opened the door of one of the smaller classrooms to finally see him…wining a chess match against Mr. Kaiba.

"Seto…what are you doing?" I frowned, a scolding tone creeping it's way into my words. But inwardly I was panicking like hell.

Seto you idiot! Do you not know who this man is?! I bet he could kill us(or at least make us suffer in some way) if you piss him off!

Mokie grasped my skirt(because the caretakers insisted we dressed in our most proper clothes when meeting with Mr. Kaiba), hiding behind me at the appearance of a new person, his eyes peaking out at the business man. Our brother looked up and his victorious smirk bent slightly into a soft smile.

"Risa, Mokie, it seems that we've just been adopted by Mr. Kaiba. All three of us." he said in a cool voice, heavily emphasizing the last three words as we stared at him, baffled.

How the heck did he say that so calmly-wait. What?

"What?" I repeated out loud, staring at Seto as if he'd grown two heads, "When? How? WHY?"

"I won a chess game and the bet was adoption."

My eye twitched. Are you serious?! We got adopted by a chess game!?

…Wow. I thought that the owner of a big business company would be a bit smarter than that.

But then again, nobody has ever beat Seto in a chess game(of course, the only people that had ever played against Seto were either the old people from the nearby retirement home, or me and I was terrible at planning out strategies). Darting out from behind my legs, Mokuba ran up to hug our brother, wrapping an arm around his waist and burying his head in Seto's stomach happily. The boy in question stiffened for a moment before hugging back while I just stood in the doorway, gaping dumbly.

Excuse me? Are we just going to ignore the ridiculous circumstances in which we were adopted?

The paperwork was done in an hour with a sparkling matron and jealously glaring children, and we were planned to be picked up tomorrow to go home-

home.

We had a home now.

What happened fully hit me and I tackle-hugged Seto.

"OMGTHANKYOUSOMUCH!" I screamed and proceeded to cuddle the life out of both of my brothers. A few hours later, Seto got irritated and shoved me off him with a low growl of "Stop that!"

You think I listened to him?

Pfft. No.

(Extra)

"…Seto?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you cheat?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Seto?"

"Maybe."

Yes yes, I know I haven't updated or touched this story in a long time-but I was editing everything else!

I hope this is a better quality than before, and thanks to all the favorites, follows and reviews.

Hope to see you in the next chapter~