The secret protector
Summary: They say that curiosity killed the cat and that satisfaction brought it back. Maia is Thief Bakura's cat, who is rather curious when she smells a distinctive foul scent. This leads to saving a friend of a friend, preventing chaos and poisoning a person.
An: This story is based from an essay I had to write in a creative writing period in school.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yu- Gi-Oh. I only own Maia, Rama, the servants and the storyline.
Sometimes I wish I hadn't, but I had to otherwise the pharaoh would have been killed by one of his high priests, priest Kaiba's servants. It's not as if I'm particularly fond of pharaoh Yami, but without him the whole kingdom would be in complete chaos. Even his council didn't know what to do when he disappeared for one day without leaving a detailed list of instructions behind for them to follow. No, I'm actually glad that I was snooping around the palace while my master, the Thief King, Tomb robber or as others called him, Bakura, was playing a friendly game of the jackal and the hound (a game similar to chess) with the pharaoh in our rooms.
I remember it as if it was yesterday; except that it was a few days ago, but everything is back to normal, for now at least. The pharaoh and my Master were casually sitting in our room and were in the middle of a jackal and hound match. I lay on my Master's lap, watching intently when a foul stench reached my nose. I tried to bury my sensitive nose in my Master's tunic, but the horrible smell kept on coming. Sighing in frustration I leapt off his lap and landed gracefully on my paws, stretching until my back gave a satisfactory pop. Yawning I rubbed affectionately against both of my Master's legs before I walked out of the partly closed door.
After I left our rooms I decided to pay the kitchen a quick visit before I begin the task of searching the palace for the source of the foul scent. Walking down the hallway, I kept close to the wall just in case someone saw me. After I went down a few flights of stairs and through some halls I knew that there was only one more staircase, a maze of hallways between me and the kitchen. When I finally reached the stairway I stepped in between the railing and sniffed.
Smelling the delectable scent of roasting meat along with some fruit coming from the kitchen, I licked my lips and started to descend the stairs. About halfway down the stairs the sound of voices reached my ears. Pausing and looking back I decided that it was not worth running back up the stairs, trying to find a place to hide. Whoever the voices belonged to would see me running up the stairs and would probably run after me and try to throw me out of the palace. So I continued climbing down the stairs. The voices got louder and I sighed in relief when I recognised it as the voice of Isis. She was one of the few people in the palace who didn't mind me walking around without my Master. Along with Isis I could also now hear the voice of Shadi. I don't know if I like him or not, he is just a bit too cryptic when he talks to me sometimes and he tends to look at me like he knows something.
As I walked passed them, they paused their conversation and Isis scratched me behind my ears while Shadi just looked at me. When Isis finished scratching me behind my ears, I gently rubbed against Shadi's one leg and quickly walked down the last steps and continued to make my way to the kitchen. After navigating the seemingly endless maze of halls I finally made it to the kitchen door.
Nudging the door open, my mouth almost immediately began to water from the delicious scents the food gave off. The scents were so strong that I couldn't even detect a hint of the foul scent. Quickly searching for the familiar face of Rama, I found to my dismay that the staff of more or less six cooks had their backs turned to me and that there were only four cooks busy preparing the meals. Walking over to the nearest cook I decided to search for the scent of Rama. As I neared the first cook I almost gagged at his scent that smelled of onions and garlic. Looking up I saw that it was the eldest cook, who always chased me out of the kitchen or threw spoiled food at me. I know that I'm not a human but even I know that spoiled food don't belong in the kitchen.
Quickly slipping away from her before she saw me, I wondered over to the next cook only to find that it wasn't Rama. It was the same with the other two cooks. I was about to walk away and out of the kitchen when the door to the cooling room opened and I smelled the scent of the person I have been looking for. Sitting on the floor straight in Rama's path as he was heading to the sink, I gave a mew soft enough that the others wouldn't hear or notice but loud enough so that Rama could hear me. Hearing my mew Rama looked around before he saw me in front of him.
"Hey there Maia," he said kneeling down in front of me, bringing his hand up to stroke my fur. (I have a beautiful black coat of fur with a strip of pure silver fur running from the middle of my shoulders in a line to the tip of my tail. My ears and eyes are also outlined with silver. ) "Do you want a quick snack before the evening meal?" He asked and I gave another mew and stood up as if to say what are you waiting for?
He chuckled, turned and walked back to the cooling room. Before he went into the cooling room he turned back to me and said "I'll be right back" and disappeared into the cooling room. He came back a few moments later with a small bowl in his hand. "I'm sorry, but this is all that I can give you right now." He said and placed the bowl down in front of me, "It looks like we will be serving some meat dishes tonight." He said as he watched me approach the bowl. As soon as I took a small tasting lick I knew that he gave me some of the full cream milk only given to the pharaoh or other royalty, because it tasted better than the milk peasants gave me when Master and I go walking around. I liked Rama because he is under Master's command and he always tried to give me some of the tastiest treats he could find.
After I finished my most delicious snack I gave his hand a quick lick and started to walk towards the door before I decide to remain in the kitchen and let all my thoughts about the foul scent leave my mind. As soon as I left the kitchen I could smell the foul scent again, but it was faint as the smell of the food overwhelmed it. I knew that as soon as I left the kitchen area and walked back up one flight of stairs that the scent would grow stronger.
And I was right. When I reached the top of one flight of stairs I could smell it strongly again. I followed the scent as it slowly grew stronger with each hallway or passage way.
As twilight began to fade into night I stayed close to the walls, knowing that I would be almost invisible. I followed the scent back to the living quarters and found the scent at its strongest at the door in front one of Priest Kaiba's servants. Now that I had found where the foul scent came from I decided that my curiosity was sated and that I could now return to our rooms.
Just as I turned around and began to walk back I heard a muffled voice from inside the room. Silently cursing myself for what I'm about to do, I walked to the door and turned my head so that my one ear was very close to the door. Sitting down I waited for the voice to speak again.
A few seconds later my patience was rewarded as the voice started to speak again: "Now remember to put this poison in the pharaoh's food and serve it directly to him. Make sure he eats it or else he will find out that it was me and Priest Kaiba who sent that pathetic friend of his to the dungeon. I will lose my title and job if I'm not banished, but I will make sure that you lose your job and life if you don't do it."
I recognised the voice as that of Kaiba's personal servant, whose name I never can remember. He always acts as if he is better than others. "I won't fail." I heard the second voice reply. Quickly I moved away from the door and stood against the wall a few steps from the door. A few seconds later the door opened and one of the servants who always served the food stepped out of the room. I recognised the servant as one of Rama's few friends. He quickly fled from the room and I saw as he almost ran that he had a small vial in his one hand.
Thinking of the chaos that would follow if the pharaoh was murdered, I quickly ran after him. I followed the servant until he slowed his pace when he neared the servants' sleeping area near the back of the palace. I shadowed him until he came to a stop in front of a door that I assumed was his room. As soon as he opened the door I slipped in whilst being mindful of his feet.
I moved around the door to hide behind it and watched as he closed the door. He walked over to the bed and sat on it after he placed the vial on top of a low table that stood next to his bed. Thinking that as he is a friend of Rama that I would try to help him. So with that thought I slowly walked over to him and watched as he let out a hopeless sigh and buried his face in his hands.
Sitting I front of him, I waited to for him to see me but he only fell back onto the bed and stared at the roof. Sighing I jumped up onto the bed and walked over to his head. Giving a soft mew I sat down next to his head and stared down at him.
"Hello Maia, what are you doing here?" He asked, knowing that it was me as I was the only cat allowed in the palace. I remained silent and continued to look at him. "I don't know what to do anymore, Maia." He said and turned his head to look at me. I turned my head slightly to the side to show him that I was listening.
He sat up again and turned his body to me before he continued to explain, "I accidentally saw Priest Kaiba's servant a few days ago, locking an important guest, one of the pharaoh's friends, in the dungeon. Since then he threatened me and said that he will kill Rama in the most creative way that he can think of.
Angered that someone would threaten the life of Rama and directly threaten a friend of his, I let out a low growl. I rubbed against his arm that he pressed on the bed to give him some comfort.
"Don't you worry; I won't kill the pharaoh. He will kill me whether I do it or not, that much I know. He might as well kill me now; my life isn't worth much anyway." He stated, sealing his own fate by doing so. Upon hearing that I decided that I should do something now before the bell rang for the evening meal.
Jumping off the bed I walked over to the closed door and gave a mew. Looking up at me the servant gave a sad smile and walked over to open the door. Seeing that he left the poison on the table, I ran back to the bed, jumped up onto the bed and grabbed the vial in my mouth from the table. Running as fast as I could, I can only hope that he didn't see me stealing the vial.
Ignoring the foul smell and bitter taste coming from the vial in my mouth I ran to the hall where we ate our meals. Arriving at the eating hall I walked over to the nearest corner and looked the room over, trying to formulate a plan of action in the few minutes that I have left.
Seeing that the servants have already placed cushions around the low eating table and seeing that there were no guests in the palace tonight, the servants gave us each a different cushion to sit on. The plates were already placed on the table and one of the servants was busy placing name cards on the table to let us know where we'll be sitting. After the servant left another came in carrying a try full of glasses containing wine. That gave me an idea.
I waited until the servant left and walked over to the table. I jumped up and began looking at the names at the far end of the table where I knew that pathetic servant of Priest Kaiba sat. Seeing his name, I walked over to his glass and placed the vial upright on the table between my paws. Biting the cork stopper I slowly pulled it out, careful not to get any poison in my mouth, and placed it on the table.
Carefully crouching down I was glad the vial was narrow as I gently grabbed it with my teeth and tipped my head to the side so that its contents was poured into the wine. Watching the clear liquid mix with the wine, I decided that the poison would do its job and that Rama and his friend would need no extra protection from me.
Looking around with the now empty vial in my mouth, I searched for a place to hide it. Spotting one of the plants in the room, I walked over to the nearest flowerpot. Standing on my hind legs with my forepaws against the pot, I leaned over and let the vial drop from my mouth and fall in-between the plants.
Running back to the table I sent the cork stopper flying as I hit it with one of my paws, knowing that one of the servants would think that someone dropped it and throw it away. The bell for the evening meal rang just as the cork stopper hit the floor and rolled away.
I sighed in relief that no one caught me and glad that I followed my curiosity in finding the foul scent and saving a friend's life in doing so. Jumping off the table I walked over to the entrance of the hall to wait for the master. A few minutes later he appeared directly behind the pharaoh. I followed him and the evening meal passed in peace.
The next day a servant entered our room and informed us of the death of Priest Kaiba's servant. Master and I decided to stay in our rooms for the rest of the day only leaving for our meals. Later that night I lay on Master's lap purring as he stroked my soft fur. "I know that you are involved in this if not solely responsible." He said with pride in his voice. I looked up at him and affectionately licked his one hand before relaxing into his touch once more.
Please review. I plan on making this a mini-series so any suggestions on what is going to happen to Maia and Bakura next will be greatly appreciated. Names will be mentioned and thanked in the next story.