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MeshTigerDakotasPantherUmiLeopard

It was almost midnight. Umi paced the halls of the palace, dressed in only her nightclothes. Earlier that day, she'd been told the news, which was in her opinion, horrible, her parents', joyful. She would have to marry Set, the high priest.

Her brother, the pharaoh Atem, was already betrothed to Mya, and they were in love. "Yeah right, like you'll ever get engaged to someone you actually like…" she muttered as she walked by Atem's room.

Atem stood up right after Umi passed and started after her.

Umi didn't notice him coming and made her way up to the west tower.

Atem stopped to get a drink of water. When he came out, Umi was nowhere to be seen. He ran up the hall in the way his sister went just minutes ago only to find the servants polishing the floor. "By any chance, did you see my sister pass through here a few minutes ago?" he asked the nearest servant.

She only pointed in the direction of the staircase.

Atem ran up the stairs to the west tower.

Umi was sitting in one of the open windows, letting the breeze blow her hair into disarray. The tears rolling steadily down her cheeks were hardly visible in the scarce moonlight.

Atem walked over to his sister and sat beside her. "What's wrong, Umi?"

"I have to marry Set," she replied without changing her gaze from the city below.

Atem's eyes widened. "So that's what the commotion in the dining room was about…" he thought out loud.

"Yeah, Mom and Dad even brought him to the palace to announce that 'Umi has accepted your offer with honor' over a huge lunch. More like a feast, just for Set and me. Whoop-de-doodles. That's what happened," Umi said as she looked at him, shaking with suppressed anger.

"Um, you've just got to make the best of it, I guess," said Atem as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well you can't even imagine how proud Mom and Dad are, for getting me married into the richest family in the kingdom, they don't care if I go crazy and kill myself, they just want me to have lots of kids and carry on the royal blood," Umi responded. "And you don't know what I'm going through at all right now, so don't come at me with all your 'I know what you're going through and I can help' crap. You get to marry Mya. You like Mya. Mya likes you. I am forced to marry Set. I don't like Set. Set likes me. I am in a serious predicament here, don't you think?" she added and stormed off.

"Oh gosh…" Atem sighed as he stood up and walked over to the stairs. He pondered his sister's situation for a couple minutes, and ran down the stairs.

The next morning, each could tell Umi had had absolutely no sleep the previous night. Everyone stared at her, wondering what they could do.

"ARGH! I can't take this anymore! Sheesh! Check your eyeballs, there seems to be a problem with their movement!" Umi exclaimed, quickly changed back into leopard form, and ran out the door.

Mya groaned and walked to the door. "Mesh. Dakotas, come on. We've gotta go get her…"

Mesh and Dakotas changed into tiger and panther and followed her. They ran outside to the courtyard, but Umi wasn't there.

Mesh jumped on the roof. Umi was laying in a corner in leopard form, curled up into a ball. Every once in a while she shook with, what Mesh realized, tears.

"Uh, Umi? What's wrong? Tell me, I don't bite, you should know that," Meshi said quietly, after she had changed back into human form.

Umi transformed back into her human self. "It's nothing, just the monthly blues," she said quietly.

Meshi shook her head. "No it isn't. You were a total witch last week. It isn't the 'monthly blues', Umi-chan. What's wrong? Besides, the 'monthly blues' wouldn't make you scamper up to the West Tower in the wee hours of the morning, and then run to the Room of Meditation," she said.

Umi raised an eyebrow. "You're right. It's the parents. They say it's time for me to marry, and there's someone that I'm interested in, but it' s not the kind of man that they want me to be with. He's--" Umi said before slapping a hand over her mouth. "They want me to marry Set. You know how I can't stand Set. He's evil! He tried to bring evil to the world with those monsters! But the thing is, the parents don't know that. And they don't know that Set's family is notorious for having, er, plenty of children. I don't want fifteen children! I know I have to keep up the royal blood and everything, but this is insane!" She looked at Meshi.

Meshi had an odd smile on her face. She raised an eyebrow and stuck out her tongue. "So, who is it?"

Umi rolled her eyes. "It's Set. I told you that, baka..." she said, still rolling her eyes.

"No, the guy that you actually do like. Who is he????" Meshi inquired.

Umi stared at the floor. "Er, he's pretty poor, he lives over by the market with his sister and father, but his father isn't nice to them. Actually, he's a peasant and his father beats him," she said matter-of-factly.

"Have I met this Peasant-guy...?" Meshi asked.

Umi blushed. "Maybe, I dunno..." she said.

"Does he have messy blonde hair, and brown eyes, and does his sister have long, acorn colored hair? And is his name Jou!?" Meshi asked rhetorically, for she already knew all the answers.

Umi blushed even darker and nodded, and if she had acid-vision, she would have bored a hole down through the other side of the planet, and through whatever was out there.