"Hey, get back to work!" the sound of a whip cracking overcame the other daily sounds of life near the Egyptian marketplace. Azure blue eyes belonging to a young figure that was perched upon the edge of a building snapped up from where they were scanning through the crowd and focused on the source of the noise some 10 yards away: a group of guards hovering over a fallen man.

The owner of those eyes winced and looked away as the guards in charge of construction on the great structures nearby continued to yell at the exhausted slave before him, who slowly picked up his dropped tools and continued to chip away at a stone slab. His glance upward revealed him to be only about 17.

One hand ran swiftly through short-cropped brown hair in agitation before pulling up the hood of a cloak to cover the hurt evident in those blue eyes. A single tear swept down the youth's face.

The short boyish figure with robes made especially for moving quickly and bustling through crowds tended to make all who saw believe that a boy crouched there watching over the marketplace. Only the faintest curve of the eyes and expression in the face let slip that she was truly female; and that was just the way she wanted it.

She had been able to escape the grueling life of a slave when she traded in her dresses and earrings to turn thief at the age of five, and in the 12 years after that time, she had become good at her profession. Because of this, she tried as hard as she could to keep other people from having to resort to the same life.

The moment the guard's back was turned, she slipped into the construction complex. Pulling apples, bread, and whatever else she had managed to get ahold of that day out of the bag hanging by her side, the slaves were soon able to have a slight rest from their labors and some good food in their bellies.

This had been the system for as long as she could remember, and she wanted to make sure it would not end.

When the food and water was gone, the girl slid back into the crowd of the marketplace. Now it was time to get something for herself to eat...

"Stop! Thief!" Her head whipped around at the call and she instinctively crouched down into a position where she could run at a moments notice.

The call had not been for her, but for a tall, white-haired youth a few stalls down that had a small brown sack half full of goodies. He laughed in contempt at the guards and spun himself around gracefully on one foot, sprinting off in the opposite direction.

The girl smirked as she straightened again. Thief King Bakura was in town.

While everyone's attentions were fixed on the fleeing boy, who was now running backwards so that he could shout obscene things at his pursuers, she picked a loaf of bread and a melon off a few stalls, placed them carefully into her bag, and then blended back into the crowd.

As she walked, she accidentally bumped into someone and apologized briefly before continuing on her way.

"Anzu?" She started and turned back to the one she had run into. Then she smiled. It was one of her childhood friends; one of three who had run away from the slave camps with her and who knew her true gender.

"Hey, Yugi. Haven't seen you for a while. Where have you been?"

"Oh, around."

"You got caught, didn't you?" Anzu gave him a stern look.

"Sorta." Yugi turned a little red. "Thankfully, I didn't get turned in. Have you heard that prisoners are being judged by the pharaoh's high priests now? He has six of them, and each one bears one of the seven Millennium Items. The Pharaoh himself has the last one."

Anzu shuddered. She had heard of the 'Penalty Games' the items could inflict on those less than worthy. "All prisoners? I guess we'd better be careful not to get caught by the guards then..."

"Speaking of which..." Yugi gestured to her bag. "What'cha got there?"

"Food. What else? I was just heading to my place to unload."

"You still up in that rooftop?

"Yup, hasn't been found by the guards yet." Anzu grinned. "You wanna come with? I'm going to go ahead and guess that you don't have a place to stay right now..."

Yugi gave a sheepish smile, and Anzu laughed. "Come on."

"All right! Let's go! Say, have you heard from Bakura or Malik lately?"

"Bakura, yes. Malik, no. Bakura's been living low lately, except for his extravagant displays." She smirked. "Didn't you see him just a bit ago? He's as arrogant as ever."

The two chatted all along the way.

(Poinky Dead Divider)

"Yami, will you please pay attention to your lesson?" The annoyed voice startled the 17-year-old boy out of his reverie and back to the real world, where his teacher, High Priest Seth, was looking down at him with his arms folded.

Yami blinked at him, then looked down at the sheet of papyrus in front of him, which was filled with almost unintelligible numbers and letters and was supposed to be the plans for one of the structures that ha been built near the palace recently.

Seth caught the blank look in his eyes and sighed. "Yami, you are going to be the Pharaoh one day. You have to learn to do these things so that you can take your father's place on the throne. This is important."

Yami frowned. "I know it is. I'm sorry, Priest Seth. It's just… I'm a little distracted is all…"

"Ah, yes. Your little trip to Cairo to see the princess there last week would be the problem, yes? How did that go, by the way?" Seth smiled wickedly. "Got rejected by another girl?"

The prince's head whipped up and he glared at Seth. "For your information, I rejected her, not the other way around. And must I remind you to keep your nose out of my personal relationships?"

The smile never strayed from the man's face as he held up his hands in mock defeat. "All right then. But still, when the Pharaoh returns from his trip tonight, I doubt that he will be pleased to find out that you still haven't found a wife, even though your 18th birthday is in two weeks."

Yami's glare also did not fade. "Just get back to the lesson, Priest. It's none of your business if I don't exactly want to get married at the moment."

"As you wish, my prince."

As the two settled back down to the plans, Seth distinctly heard the prince mutter, "I almost can't wait until I am Pharaoh. Then I'll be able to get rid of you."

(Poinky Dead Divider)

(A/n: Gee, I wonder what's going to happen in this story? Wow, I'm not very good at writing things subtlety, am I? At any rate, I hope you liked the first chapter. Don't worry, I'm actually going to continue this one. Really. Honest.)