Authors NOTE: THIS IS MY FIRST FANFICTION THAT I HAVE EVER POSTED ONLINE! PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. and to the viewers that have already read this I'm sorry I had to change a few thing. Meaning making each chapter have its own page . Sorry again if it makes anyone mad! And please review.

Chapter 1: Meeting Strangers

Her throat was on fire as her lungs begged to gasp air, but there was no air around her. All she felt was the murky cold water around her. Something had pulled her into a nearby river that she walked by on her way back home. It was felt like hands… when they clutched her she kicked and fought with all her might until finally she was set free. But as she tried to swim for the surface she never reached it. She swam upward but she could never find the surface and breathe in the sweet air. Her eyes started to darken as she thought dark thoughts…

I am going to die . . . Her arms propelled her forward until finally she broke through the surface. When she felt the air on her face her mouth opened and some water slipped down in the lungs. She didn't care anymore as she breathed the sweet air and tried to cough out the water in her lungs, searching blindly for a place to rest. She scrambled until finally she felt some sort of stone.

I need to sleep. I am so exhausted, she thought as she dragged her limp body up the stones and when half her body was out of the water she collapsed. Her last thought was why do these rocks feel like stairs?

Femi thought once again that the sisters of Lord Ramses were too cheerful and carefree for daughters of the Egyptian noble race. She sighed, grateful that the ladies were all taken care of for the night and that she could finally draw water from the Nile so that she could clean herself up quietly before she settled for the night. She usually worked under the grand lady, Ramses mother but today she had helped out one of her friends with the many young ladies. She went down some steps that led directly to the great river and gasped in horror. Swallowing a scream before it came out of her throat. A young woman lay on the stone stairs that led right into the Nile. She was wearing very strange clothes that Femi had never seen before. Her skin was an ivory color that contrasted vividly against her midnight black hair. Femi faintly remembered Master Ramses bringing a woman with the same features to the house about a year before.

Femi didn't know what to do. She didn't want to alert anyone because they might think the woman was an enemy because of the way she dressed and looked. But she also saw that the woman might be hurt or at least exhausted. Femi slowly walked over to the woman who was a little younger than her own 24 years. The figure didn't move even when Femi gently shook her, she also found out that she was soaked to the bone. Femi praised the gods that she could still see the gentle rise and fall of the figure's chest, so Femi knew that she was at least alive.

'I'll have to leave her and go get help' Femi thought and yet was torn at leaving the young woman by herself.

"Femi?" A strong voice was coming from behind the wall. "I was told that I would find you around here. And I was wondering if-"

"Khai!" Femi called to the voice. Khai had been courting her for two months and they were going to be married in the summer. "Come help me with something!"

He came from behind the wall and down the stairs, then he saw the figure next to Femi in the dying light, "Femi, what's going on?" he exclaimed.

"I found her here; she seems to be half drowned. Now come and give me a hand."

"I don't think that's a good idea Femi. We don't know who she is and look at the clothes she is wearing. What if she is the enemy? If Master Ramses finds out we let someone in his home-"

"Shut it Khai. Right now I don't care. All I know is that she needs help and I'm willing to give it. If you won't help me I'll get someone else to do it." Femi snapped and glared at Khai; worried about the girl since the nights were cold along the Nile especially when it was still winter and early spring. Femi did not want to girl's death to be on her hands if possible.

Khai saw the worried look behind the glare and sighed; he picked up the wet girl with ease and quickly brought her to Femi's room before anyone could notice.

Sayuri slowly woke up and felt like she had overworked herself too hard. Something she did often nowadays. Ever since her grandparents had died and she had to live on her own. Her head hurt fiercely so she didn't open her eyes and her whole body ached like she had been lifting boxes all day. The only thing that was strange was that her lungs and throat burned, almost like she had choked on water and coughed too hard to get it out.

'I wonder what happened,' Sayuri thought 'Maybe it's a dream or something.' She then remembered walking along the river bank after work. Something pulled her down into the cold water. Sayuri had fought and was able to get away but she couldn't find the surface. Thinking about what had happened she now opened her eyes and sat up slowly.

A cool breeze touched her skin and she yelped in surprise that she wasn't wearing any clothes. Feeling extremely exposed she wrapped the thin sheet around her like a strapless dress and looked around at her surroundings. Sayuri was in a small room that seemed to be made out of cut stone, with a plain bed that was more like a cot and a couple of trunks and selves. The window was just cut out of the stone with no glass and the door only had a sheet as a door.

"What in the world?" Sayuri thought as she looked around for her clothes, they were nowhere in sight. She stood up, her legs a little shaky and walked around the small room, not finding them. She sighed and decided that she would look out the window to see if she could find out where she was exactly.

Light was pouring into the dark sky signaling that it was around noon. But it wasn't the reason why Sayuri gasped and ended up coughing making her throat hurt all over again. She was definitely not in Japan. It was almost like she had stepped back in history. Beautifully carved wall, painted vivid colors, and unique designs surrounded her. Sayuri turned away slowly from the window and slide down the wall unto the floor, in a daze.

"What's going on?" She whispered to herself, "Am I dreaming?" as she clutched her throat. But somehow Sayuri knew that she wasn't because of the soreness and pain she felt from her body.

After sitting for a few minutes Sayuri stood up slowly and decided to leave the small room. 'I don't know who brought me here or why I'm naked. Maybe they wanted to hurt me and are waiting until I wake up. Maybe…' Her thoughts wandered and the more she thought about it the more she most definitely did not want to be here when whoever it was came back. So Sayuri pushed back the cloth door, looked around to make sure no one was around and snuck out of the room.

Sayuri stuck to the shadows of the walls and massive columns as she tried to figure out where she was or what had happened to her. The mounting terror was building but she pushed it back as well as she could. When she heard voices she stood very still and felt fear when she didn't understand what they were saying. They were speaking clearly but she didn't understand the language. Farther and farther she went what she thought must be a palace or something. The stone columns looked to be made of some kind of white stone, all she could think of was granite but she wasn't sure if that was it. Finally she found a deserted courtyard that had a small little oasis that was surrounded by palm trees and the heavy perfume of vibrant and unique flowers.

"Wow!" Sayuri exclaimed, feeling a little better because she was able to find such a quiet place. She sat down next to the spring and cupped the water in her hands. "It looks alright." She was terribly thirsty so she took a tentative sip. It was perfectly sweet, it was a little warm but it was alright. She took other couple handfuls before a hand snaked around her arm.

"Yuri…" The voice spoke sharply but all Sayuri understood was Yuri. Everything else seemed to be in a different language. Maybe he was mistaking her for someone else.

"I'm sorry I don't understand." Sayuri shook her head and spoke but he didn't seem to understand. She looked up at him and saw that his skin was darker than her ivory skin and that he had blond hair. She gasped when she saw his eyes and quickly looked down. He had such unusual eyes. One was a brown color but the other was golden as the sun. Sayuri felt her heart beat faster; she had never seen a man like this before. In fact she had never seen a man half naked. She turned away from him but he still held onto her arm. "Let go of me please." When he didn't she yanked her arm. His grip tightened "Let go!" She shouted, she yanked and pulled but he wouldn't let go. He was trying to talk to her but she was just getting more anxious.

From all her fussing her sheet slipped a little. She yelped when it loosened around her breast and the man's grip loosened. She yanked her hand out of his grip and clenched the sheet around her body and ran away as fast as she could away from him.

'Where am I, I don't understand. What's going on?' She asked herself as she felt tears prick her eyes. 'I just want to go home. Take me back, I want to go home!'

She heard a shout behind her and the man was chasing after her. This caught the attention of what looked like guards, they started chasing her too. She turned a corner and ran right into a woman around her age. By running into her she splattered a whole jug of water all over the floor.

"I'm sorry, excuse me," Sayuri said, suddenly she started to cough. When she had been running the air had burned down her throat and now it was hard to breathe.

Femi saw how badly the coughs raked the girl. Making her shoulders shake and clutch her throat. Then she realized it was the young girl that she had helped last night. 'I knew I should have checked on her.' Femi thought. When the girl had spoken the words had sounded strange and unusual but she didn't have much time to think about it when two of the guards grabbed the girl.

"Stop you are hurting her! Can't you see that she isn't trouble?" Femi told them.

"Oh quiet servant, Lord Ramses wanted her stopped so we caught her," One the soldiers said.

"Yes I wanted you to catch her but not so roughly, she is a girl after all." Lord Ramses had come into view and said with a smooth but commanding voice. He looked at the girl again and could see that she was terrified. Yuri's name popped into his mind again, 'This girl looks a lot like Yuri, but Yuri can understand what I say and this girl cannot. Do they come from the same country?' Ramses thought to himself, "Loosen your hold, but don't let her go." He told them and they let go of her hair and loosened their grip.

When Ramses had gone into the courtyard and seen the girl he had gotten quite a shock. He thought back to when Yuri had been here with him all those months ago. Now that he looked at her the only resemblance to Yuri was the ivory skin, ebony hair, and delicate features. The girls hair was long reaching to the middle of her back and he noticed with amusement that her breast where slightly more pronounced than Yuri's. When he had grabbed her in the courtyard he hadn't wanted to let her go because she seemed so much like Yuri and though he did not want to admit it to himself he still ached for her.

"How did you get inside my home?" He asked the girl. She said something while shaking her head. He still couldn't understand her. "How did she get inside my home?" He demanded of the soldiers. He saw that his louder voice made the girl jump and tremble.

"My Lord if I may speak?" The servant girl, who was bowing said softly.

Ramses looked at her, she didn't serve him personally so she must serve either his mother of one of his many sisters, "Give me your name and then speak."

"I am Femi master. I am one of the handmaiden's to his lordship's great mother." Ramses nodded and Femi continued, "I am the one that found her Master, and brought her here. I am sorry that she caused trouble. Forgive me. I found her on the steps on one of the west entrances that led to the Nile. She was soaked and half drowned I had to help her. Forgive me My Lord for not seeking approval from you first. I will accept my punishment whatever it might be."

Ramses listened to the servant's story and then looked at the girl. "Alright then, I will forgive you but as punishment you will get this girl to tell me her name and where she is form. That will be more than difficult seeing as she doesn't speak Egyptian."

Femi just bowed to Ramses again, thanking the gods that her life had been spared. Then she approached the girl hesitantly. She wanted to know just as badly as Ramses did what the young girls name was. "Don't worry mistress I won't hurt you. I just need your name." Femi spoke softly and slowly like she would with a scared animal. "Don't be afraid. I just need your name. N-a-m-e."

Sayuri isn't sure what to make of the woman in front of her. She didn't seem like she was going to hurt her and she spoke softly which help Sayuri relax. Then she said a word slowly twice. It sounded strange but Sayuri thought that maybe she wanted her to say it back to her, "N-a-m-e," She said and the woman smiled and said the word again. Sayuri just said it again not sure what she was supposed to do. Then the woman pointed to herself, said the word and then said a different word. "Femi" Then she pointed back at Sayuri and said the first word again.

"Oh!" Sayuri said. "You want to know my name right?" The woman tilted her head in confusion. "Umm I meant to say," She slowed the word down so it came out right, "Name?" The woman nodded. For clarification Sayuri pointed to the woman, "Name. Femi" Femi smiled and Sayuri knew she got it right. 'Now for me' she thought as she pointed back to herself. "Name, Sayuri"

"Sayuri?" Femi confirmed, the name was a little hard to say but when the girl nodded and smiled Femi could see that her uneasiness was wearing off. Femi turned and bowed to Ramses who was there to see the whole thing, "Her name is Sayuri Master Ramses."

'Her name even sounds like Yuri's' Ramses thought, then he heard the girl speak again, hesitantly in his language. She said Name. Femi looked back at the girl and she repeated name again, but this time she glanced at Ramses looked away and then said name again. Ramses grinned. 'So even though she is scared of me she still wants to know my name.'

"Let her go." The guard obeyed his order. But he wasn't paying attention to them he was paying attention to the woman in front of him. He walked towards her and stood right before her. She didn't try to run which proved she was smart but she wouldn't look at him "Look at me" But she wouldn't. That made him both angry and amused, no one had every disobeyed him like that. Except one woman, one that would never be his. Ramses grabbed Sayuri's chin softly and made her look at him. "Name?"

"Sayuri." She replied in a small voice.

"My name is Ramses. Ramses." He told her in a low voice as he looked deeply into her dark brown eyes that looked like the rich soil of the Nile.

"Ramses." She repeated to him and he finally let her go.

"I want to her cleaned up and dressed before you do anything else and then bring her to my room," Ramses told the servant Femi, "And make sure you get someone to watch her so she doesn't run away." He said then walked away from all of them.

He needed to find out more about her but he wasn't sure how he was going to do that when she couldn't speak Egyptian. It was a good thing that he was meeting with someone who could help him with this girl because she intrigued Ramses very much.

Authors Note: Tell me what you think. Constructive reviews are very helpful. When I get reviews I will write more cause i know people are actually reading it! thanks soo much!