I know this is random and I know that I need to be writing chapter updates for the stories I haven't updated in a year or so but I'm having trouble with them so just hang on, okay? I'm trying I really am. Anyway this is the brainchild of an idle mind and half planned ideas. I literally made a list of chapter titles and said to myself "I'm going to write a story with these" so bare with me until chapter 3 because I'm proud of this but its not all done yet. That aside I do not own the characters but I do own the plot. I hope you enjoy!

Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

What would you swear on? What would you risk everything for? A lover? A child? A family member?

What would you do to protect them, those things you hold most dear? Would you kill someone? Would you sacrifice yourself, or someone else, to know they would be safe? Would you make a bargain, a deal, a promise you cannot keep? Would you risk yourself on a bargain to keep someone safe, to keep them ignorant to the truth and the danger that they are faced with?

What would you do?

What would you do?

"What are you going to do with her? Why do you want her?" they yell from the ground, frightened for the girl next to me, chained by her hands a feet, gagged hanging from a chain wrapped around her waist.

"Nothing" they breath a sigh of relief, still wary of the girl's safety "but there is something I want from you"

"Anything!"

Do not make promises you cannot keep

The man sitting at the oak desk surrounded by piles of paper didn't so much as flinch as the door slammed open, hitting the wall from the force of entry, continuing to work as a frantic man came rushing in, yelling and cussing as though his life depended on it.

Finally looking up the crimson eyes of the desks occupant met the sight of his dear friend ranting and raving as he tugged on his long hair, pacing the room back and forth.

Having known the rude man for years his entrance was no longer surprising.

The man pacing the room had been his friend for many years now, having met him while living in England. He had long white hair, tousled from where his hands were imbedded into the strands as he pulled at it in frustration. He was mildly tall and, despite his stark white hair, relatively young, a mere 23 years of age. He was thin in a muscular sense and shockingly pale, as though he had never been outside.

As he continued to pace the room his jacket flared out behind him, the long tails of the otherwise normal suit jacket flying out, making the green, blue and black trim look as though it were water eating away at his coat. The suit itself was tailored to fit snuggly to his body, showing off his thin frame while his military metals swayed back and forth from his rapid movements, clinking together like coins in a pocket. As he paced his black leather dress shoes clacked against the marble flooring sounding like an off beat tap dance, the only sound coming from within the room aside from the cusses spewing from the man's mouth.

The man behind the desk, still unsurprised by the rude entrance, ran his hands through his own hair as he set down his feather quill back into the inkpot. His hair, unlike the others, was shorter but ran up his head in steep black spikes and exploding out and up. The black was outlined in a deep crimson, a shade darker than his irises, while golden yellow shot up from the center of his forehead looking very much like lightening bolts in the night sky, while several fell down around his face to make bangs. Rubbing at his face the man thought about what the white haired man had been called away for.

It had only been 2 hours since the ghostly man had left for a meeting regarding the mysterious deaths appearing throughout the kingdom and he still had work to do.

Men women and children had been turning up all over, from the countryside to the palace gardens with a deep wound over their heart shaped as a cross. Several had turned up each day for the past 3 months and no one could determine if it was a threat or some kind of serial killer that had sprung up.

But guessing from the reaction of the man before him the meeting had not gone as planned.

Rubbing at his temples in order to keep himself calm, the man behind the desk said, "I can see it went well?"

"It was rubbish! Absolute rubbish! They cannot agree with anything and refuse to listen to me!"

"What happened this time?" the man said as he rose from his chair walking over to the liquor cabinet next to his desk to fetch something strong for them to share.

"18 people showed up this morning, one from each of the noble families and their households. None of them are connected and each of them is blaming each other for the deaths! They haven't even tried to look for a solution, they just want to blame someone!"

"Ah" the man said as he turned around holding an old bottle of scotch and 2 glasses, his own black leather shoes clacking against the tiled floor as he made his way over to the couches to sit and relax for a moment.

Although not as tall as the white haired man the other was built the same way, a healthy kind of skinny that showed off his muscles without looking sickly. His deep red eyes scanned over his friend as he sat down on a velvet couch, waiting for the man to continue.

"They haven't even discussed how to protect the castle or the rest of the country for that matter! They didn't even try! They are so stuck up its sick! And don't even get me started on what they said about sending out guards and soldiers to protect the city! 'But how will we pay for that?' and 'why should we help them?' ugh I could scream!" "You already are" the man said from the couch taking a drink from his glass and relaxing back into the couch.

"Shut up Atemu its not funny" the white haired man said as he snatched the glass from Atemu's hand and drank the strong brown liquor down in one gulp

"Yes I know Bakura" Atemu sighed as he grabbed the other glass and poured some more scotch "but you really are screaming"

"Yeah well whatever!" Bakura shouted again as he picked up the bottle of scotch and drank from the bottle, collapsing onto the seat next to Atemu as he drank the liquor. "I don't understand why you didn't go, at least if you went they would stop arguing for a moment and pretend to want to get something done"

Atemu sighed, it was true that if he had gone down to the meeting something important would have at least been discussed but a sharp headache simply wouldn't let him concentrate on politics or a room of screaming men at the moment.

"I know, sorry for dumping that on you but I just couldn't handle it today"

"You owe me big time" Bakura mumbled as he took another swig from the glass decanter, holding the bottle by its neck as he spread his arms out across the back of the couch and rested his head on the cushion. "How's it going by the way?"

"I've been better. With all the work piling up I haven't had much time to just sit" Atemu cringed and held his head as a wave of pain ran wild through his head

"How's the head?" Bakura asked blunt as usual

"Nothing gets past you does it?" without waiting for the other to respond Atemu continued. "Its okay just a head ache is all"

"Good, don't need you passing out on me" Bakura said as he leaned up to take another swig holding the bottle out towards Atemu to take his own drink

Sighing and grabbing the bottle he starred at the coffee table without really looking at it, taking an undignified gulp from the bottle.

"Nothing we can really do though" Bakura said as he snatched the bottle back taking another long gulp

"But is this the only thing we can do? Sit and wait until its us?"

Bakura growled as he took another drink

"Well you're the king, Atemu, your word is law" Bakura said as he finished off the bottle, letting it drop to the tiled floor with a loud echoing clank, the cut glass bottle bouncing but not breaking.

Atemu sighed as he looked towards his desk, behind which, on a pillow, sat his crown. The golden winged headband-like crown glistening in the bright light from the midmorning sun. Off to the side on separate pillows were the ear cuffs that shot up to look like golden wings had grown from behind his ears. The rest of his golden jewelry was already on, all visible except for the golden bands that were stacked high on each arm and each leg that were hidden by the arms of his shirt and legs of his skinny black dress pants. His usual sets of earrings, a pair of low dangling earrings and 3 cartilage piercings for each ear, were clearly visible as he held his head with his hands buried deep into his hair.

Not that he resented being the king but Atemu simply did not want to be king, he wanted to go out and see the world rather than stay here for the world to watch. He was grateful, yes, but not happy with the life he had, especially when problems of this nature popped up. No amount of preparation or lessons had be thorough enough to make his job any easier and frankly he didn't know what to do most of the time, so worried that he would mess up that he often made himself sick.

"We need to start regular watches, tell the kingdom to stay inside and call the palace if anything seems suspicious" he said as he ran his hands down to rest on his neck. "That's the best we can do for now until whatever is causing this is identified".

"Sir yes sir" Bakura said in a mocking manner as he rose from his relaxed position to straighten his attire and inform the pompous lords and various nobility of their sovereign's decision. Although he may complain a lot Bakura was happy to be the king's advisor, especially since he got to keep an eye on Atemu.

Although Atemu was a sound and just ruler he had a tendency to put himself and his own needs on hold for the better of the country, a good trait but a trait that becomes bad when he skips meals and sacrifices sleep in order to get work done.

"Tell them there will be a meeting in an hour in the usual meeting place, we need to get things sorted as fast as we can" Atemu said as, he too, stood up and smoothed out his clean white button up shirt and black tie, his own jacket hung up on the coat rack in the corner, waiting for its owner to put it on.

Bakura nodded and snatched the empty bottle off the floor, placing it with the empty glasses on the round inlay table next to the couch. "Need any help putting all that on?" Bakura asked as he motioned with his head towards the three pillows containing the golden attire Atemu was expected to wear, remembering that some pieces were harder to put on than others, the ear clips especially.

Walking back to his desk Atemu looked at the pile of heavy golden ornamentations he had to put on. Although the amount he had to put on was few the intricacy of each piece made the assemblage infinitely harder to put on.

"I'd appreciate that," he said as he moved the pillows over to his desk before plopping down in his chair.

Bakura looked down at the gold and tried to reason out the best way to put it on the fastest and make sure it would stay on. Finally deciding to put the top band on first before the ear wings, Bakura put on his pair of crisp white gloves and picked up the band, not wanting to scratch or smudge the delicate gold.

Using the built in combs he slid the piece into place just behind Atemu's front bangs, making sure to center the eye decoration with the young ruler's hairline. Clipping the combs into place, one in the center and one just above each ear, he pulled the band gently to see if it would move. Seeing no problems, he grabbed the left ear wing and slid the curved edge around the back of Atemu's ear so that only the anchor could be seen. Doing the same on the right ear he then clipped the connecting chains from the ear cuffs to the center of the crown before connecting the middle and bottoms of the cuffs together with similar chains.

Seeing the crown fully secure he grabbed Atemu's jacket from its hanging place holding it behind the ruler in order for him to slip his arms through the sleeves.

Thanking him, Atemu watched as Bakura left to inform the other lords to prepare for the next meeting.

Sighing as he looked himself over in the mirror attached to the back of a closet door Atemu took in his appearance for the slightest imperfection with his attire. Everything seemed to be in order and his jacket had not a string out of place. The simple black suit hung close to his body in a modern fitted way, showing off his thin figure while still looking appropriately dressed. Like Bakura's, the jacket was decorated in extra embellishments, however his were yellow, orange and deep crimson, making his jacket look like a fire. In addition to the trim around the bottom of the jacket, there was some trim added to the cuffs, a thick red band around the wrists with a thin orange and yellow band above.

Deeming himself ready he buttoned the one button of his jacket, cinching the material lightly around his waist, before leaving the room. Walking with a purpose, Atemu walked down the lengthy and hollow hallways towards the meeting rooms.

Snatching an apple from a basket in the hallway, Atemu continued on his way, slowing his pace in order to enjoy his treat. Biting into the sweet fruit he continued on his way, putting his other hand in his pocket as he strolled down the hallways.

Finishing the apple he threw the core into a nearby trash bin and continued his walk, making a few turns walking down the hallway a little longer before taking a left and a right before arriving at the 2 large double doors, flanked on each side by heavily armed guards. They bowed as far as they could, only being able to bend slightly at the waists, before straightening and opening the doors for him to enter.