Tima and Atem
By: Tima, Yami's wife
I don't own YuGiOh. I just own the new characters.
Chapter 1: The day they met
The sun was just reaching its noon position. The heat was unbearable in the poor section of Egypt. One part of the town, a lone boy dressed in rags was walking down the street. His star-shaped, black hair with red tips was covered with spikes of golden hair. Some of the hair covered parts of his face. Prince Atem was walking around with a sad look on his face instead of the usually smug that he wore. He was walking around looking for someplace to run, which was why he was wearing rags. He didn't want to be recognized by anyone.
Suddenly, for no reason, he started yelling out loud to no one. "I hate this! I hate being a prince and I hate all the classes! The only two classes that are worth going to are the history of the monsters of the desert and sword play! But everything else is so—oof!"
He stopped suddenly because he had crashed into a young girl whose arms were full with food. They both crashed to the ground and Atem got up first. After brushing himself off, he took a good look at the girl who lay on the ground. She was a little knocked out from the impact. She had brown, curly hair that looked like it went down to her waist.
She had the best dress on he had ever seen. It looked liked it was made of silk, which was surprising since she was someone from the lowest class. As Atem bent down to help her up, he noticed something. Around her neck was a beautiful stone necklace that was made of stones that he only heard about from far away travelers. The stones were red in color and shined beautifully, causing her face to light up red.
As he touched one of her stones, she swatted his hand away. She sat up and starting yelling at him. "Watch where you're going! Don't you know better or are you just blind or some…thing." She stopped when she got a good look at who the boy was. Recognizing him, she blushed, covered her mouth with one hand, got down on one knee and said, "Please forgive me, Prince. I did not recognize you."
Atem was a little surprised at this reaction. The girl seemed to be waiting for him to punish her. Smiling a little, he helped her up. "You're pretty cute. I'm sorry I crashed into you. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking. I just had to get away from my life."
The girl looked astonished. "Why would you want to do that?"
"You wouldn't understand. It's my whole life and all the requirements I have to know before I become Pharaoh. It's just too overwhelming."
For a few minutes, both of them didn't know what to say. Finally, the young girl broke the silence. "I'm sorry for acting that way when I bumped into you. It's just…" she giggled a little, "…the last time I bumped into someone who had something to do with the Royal family, I mouthed off to him and got my family in big trouble."
The two children laughed a little and then just stood there for a while, waiting for the other one to say something. Finally, feeling very awkward, Atem said, "What's your name?"
The girl smiled and said, "My name is Tima. Wonderful to meet you, your highness." With that, she curtsied.
Atem was taken aback when he saw this. Most lower class people didn't have such beautiful manners like she did. "Where did you learn to behave like this?" he asked with his familiar smirk on his face. "I've never seen someone my age act like this before."
"Well, I learned it from my Mother and sister. They are pretty strict when it comes to manners and that sort of thing. Even though it annoys the heck out of me." Realizing what she just said, she covered her mouth again and sweatdropped. "Sorry. I'm always like this. My sister says it's my motto; 'always speak your mind, whether it gets you in trouble or not.'"
They started to laugh loudly when Tima finally noticed the food on the ground. "Oh no! I wrecked the food! Oh…and tonight's my turn to make dinner. Darn!"
"Would it help if I bought the food for you and make it go three times as fast?" Atem asked. "It's the least I can do for doing this."
Tima looked at the prince and blushed. "Um, if it's not too much trouble for you…sure, I would like that."
"OK let's go," Atem said and reached his hand out. Tima took his hand and they walked toward the market area.
On the way there, Atem brought up the topic of her necklace and clothing. "Forgive me for being blunt…but how come you're wearing a silk dress instead of rags and have a ruby necklace?"
Tima blushed again before answering. "Well…I'm the youngest in my family and Mother loves me more than life itself. So she vowed to get me nothing but the best of what life had to offer. The money to buy the silk for my dress was saved up for many years until we had the right amount. My necklace, I've had it since birth but I don't know how she got it. She just told me when I asked her that she just found it but I don't believe that."
Atem tried hard not to laugh. "Yeah right. Anyone who would lose something like that would go ballistic. Even so, all the people who saw it would have picked it up and turned it to the palace."
Tima just grinned and held the necklace out. "Well…I say if my Mom's right, that she just found it one day…too bad for who had it before! It belongs to me now! You know what they say, 'finders' keeper, losers' weepers!'"
The whole time they were in the market, Atem and Tima kept getting to know each other better. By the time they got to Tima's house, they knew just about everything about each other. When Tima got home, Atem was about to be on his way to his home when Tima stopped him. "Would you like to meet my family?"
Atem smiled and nodded. So Tima led him inside and introduced him to everyone. Her Mother, Manama, was a beautiful woman in her early twenties. She had dark brown eyes, an average figure, and curly hair just like Tima, only hers was a dirty blond. She obliviously loved Tima just as much as Tima told Atem for she constantly hugged and kissed her. Tima's Father, Yama, was an old man in his fifties. He stood tall over Atem and looked about his father's height. He had piercing blue eyes, like Tima did, black hair, and a huge body muscle-wise. After all the introductions were made, Tima dragged Atem to her room, which was right around the corner.
Inside, Atem felt a sense of calm and happiness. She decorated her room with a little bundle of lotus flowers everywhere. All around her room were drawings of her or with her and another that looked just like her. In the far corner was a cloth doll that resembled Tima in a doll sort-of way. Next to the door was a typical bed for a little girl in the poor section of the city.
Atem was about to compliment on how nice her room looked when an older version of Tima with green eyes walked inside the room. "Tima, do you know what's going on outside? Guards are running around like crazy looking for the prince and…" She stopped when she saw Atem standing next to Tima. "Oh…here he is."
Tima look at the girl and said, "Don't worry, Yima. He won't be here long. He just wanted to see my place."
Yima nodded and bowed to Atem. "Forgive me. I am Yima, Tima's older sister. Nice to meet you."
Atem nodded and said to Tima, "I have to go before my father goes crazy, but can I see you again tomorrow?"
Tima eyes shined and said, "Yes. Just meet me here when the sun touches Ra's temple. I'll be done with my chores by then."
Atem smiled and left. When they were alone, Yima went into the room, got Tima in a playful headlock, and said, "So you got a new special friend, huh?"
"Yima, stop teasing me."
"I'm not teasing you. It's wonderful that you finally found a friend."
Tima smiled and nodded.
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Pharaoh Akunumkanon was waiting in the room when Atem walked in his prince attire. By the look on his father's face, he knew he was in trouble. "Atem, where have you been?"
"Out in the poor section of the city."
"You know you are not allowed there without a guard with you. Why were you there?"
"There are times I hate being taught about all the things I have to know to be Pharaoh. But I'll appreciate them now for I have made a new friend while I was out. Also, I'd like your permission to see her every other day when the sun touches Ra's temple."
Akunumkanon was surprised by what his son just said. But he let it pass, for his son was safe. "You have my permission if you behave in your classes from now on."
Atem nodded and left the room. When he got to his room, he started to wonder if he and Tima would be lasting friends. "No matter what, I got to make this relationship count. Wait…it's just a friendship. It's not like I like her or anything."
Will Atem be able to stay friends with Tima? Find out next time!