Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, never have, never will.
A/N: I'm using stuff based on my own headcanon, so before anyone says anything about Seth not being in the palace when he's younger, and Atemu and Seth don't know they're cousins, shush. I'm well aware of this, but Seth growing up in the palace and getting into all sorts of shenanigans with Atemu and Mahaado appeals to me….it also helps my mind explain the blantat rivalry between Seth and Mahaado in the series.
Ages:
Atemu: 14
Bakura: 18
Mahaado: 17
Seth: 18
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Crimson eyes opened, blinking sleepily in the darkness of the bedroom. A turn of the head gave the freshly woken up Crown Prince a view of the doorway leading to his balcony and a view of the sky beyond. The sky was only starting to gray in the east. Perfect. Smiling to himself, Atemu got up and started getting ready for the day. He normally never rose this early, and never on his own volition. Mahaado usually had to wake him. Thus, no one would expect him up at this hour.
It took mere minutes for Atemu to dress in plain, commoner clothes and a cloak to hide his rather noticeable hair. Skipping his jewelry and grabbing a small bag of money, Atemu headed for the door to his room and slipped out into the dark halls of the palace. A few careful twists and turns later, having long since memorized the guards' patrol pattern, Atemu was out of the palace grounds and into the streets of the city.
A few hours later, when Ra was rising and already high enough for the light to start feeling warm, found Mahaado walking down the hall to Atemu's room. Not bothering to knock, for he knew Atemu wouldn't answer, Mahaado entered the bedroom and stopped short. The space on the large bed, where Atemu usually was found curled up, blankets and pillows fully concealing the prince from view, was empty. Frowning, Mahaado looked around the room in case his best friend was hiding and waiting to jump out at him. Not finding any clue of where the prince had gone, Mahaado cursed under his breath and swept out of the room to go alert the Pharaoh of his son's renegade actions.
"You're sure?" Akunumkanon asked a few minutes later, "My son is not in the palace?" Mahaado looked up from his spot in front of the pharaoh and nodded.
"Positive," he replied, "I did a sweep with the Millennium Ring. Atemu is not in the palace, nor on the grounds."
Akunumkanon sighed and rubbed his temples. "I thought he had been unusually well behaved lately," he admitted, "No matter, Mahaado. Take Seth with you and go search for Atemu. I feel he'll listen when one of you two finally locate him. Anyone else and he'll just run off on them."
"As you wish," Mahaado said with a small bow before getting up to go find Seth. The city was large, and he had a certain prince's neck to wring once he got his hands on his charge. With that in mind, Mahaado knew he had little time to waste.
…
Meanwhile, Atemu was busy munching on some food he had bought from a vendor ande was walking around the marketplace in almost utter awe at all that he was seeing. He had never gotten a chance to take a close look at the citizens of Egypt in their daily lives. The only time he got to see them was when he was riding through the city with his father, and then they were all bowing. Blending into the crowd was a great way to see what he wanted to while no one knew he was the prince.
Wandering down to the Nile with his breakfast, Atemu settled on a grassy stretch of bank and relaxed, watching the fishermen cast out their nets to see what kind of haul they could drag in by the end of the day. This was way better than being stuck in boring old lessons with Shimon all day.
Atemu didn't know how long he was sitting there before a shadow fell over him. Looking up, Atemu blinked at seeing some thugs standing over him. "Well well. What do we have here? It looks like a little runt is on our turf."
Atemu couldn't help but scowl. "I'm not a runt!" he retorted, getting to his feet. The bully, in response, grabbed the front of Atemu's cloak and shirt and dragged him close.
"I don't care if you are a runt or not," the thug hissed, getting right in Atemu's face. Atemu cringed a bit as spittle landed on his face but he dared not wipe it off at the moment. "What matters is that no one barges onto our turf without our permission…at least, not without paying the price that is…" Atemu's eyes widened as a knife appeared inches from his face and was pulled back as the thug wound up to swipe at him with the knife.
"Let him go," came a soft drawl from Atemu's right. By the way the bully had tensed, Atemu had a feeling that this was someone to be feared. Looking over curiously, Atemu noticed an older teen leaning against a tree, watching the altercation with an almost lazy gaze, but Atemu got the feeling that the boy was very much alert and paying attention to everything.
"But…Bakura…" the thug started but was quickly cut off.
"I said, let. Him. Go. Now." Bakura snapped, smirking slightly when the thugs dropped Atemu and quickly made themselves scarce. Pushing off of the tree, Bakura moved over to Atemu and stood over him, watching the boy with a semi-amused look. "You draw far too much attention to yourself, talking back to thugs, prince." He stated, his tone taking on a mocking drawl.
Atemu started and scrambled to his feet. "How did you…"
"Know? For Ra's sake, anyone with half of a brain could tell you are not a commoner. You carry yourself far too well and you have distinct air about you that you're above everyone else, even if you're not trying to act as such," Bakura listed, "Oh, and you may look like a commoner, but your clothing is too finely made to be from the marketplace."
"How do you notice all of this?" Atemu asked, bewildered. Bakura merely chuckled and turned to leave. Atemu frowned and trotted to catch up with Bakura. "Hey!"
Bakura merely waited until he had entered an alley that was also a shortcut to his home and turned, pinning Atemu to the wall. "You shouldn't follow strangers, little prince," Bakura hissed, "just because I stopped my lackeys from harming you, doesn't mean I won't harm you myself."
"I…I don't understand," Atemu replied hesitantly. He was trapped, his wrists held tightly to the mud-brick behind him and Bakura had moved close so he couldn't squirm much if at all.
"Oh how wonderfully naïve you are," Bakura chuckled and shifted back ever so slightly but didn't let up on the pressure on Atemu's wrists. "You see, dear prince, you're marked. I have a claim laid on you and an and Bakura had moved close so he couldn't squirm much if at all.
"Oh how wonderfully naïve you are," Bakura chuckled and shifted back ever so slightly but didn't let up on the pressure on Atemu's wrists. "You see, dear prince, you're marked. I have a claim laid on you and any thief or thug that tries to touch what is mine will be sorry."
"A…a claim?"
"Yes, and it's no fun if I tell you what exactly that claim entails. I'll leave that up to your imagination." Seeing Atemu's face flush followed by an albeit weak scowl, Bakura outright laughed and released Atemu before striding off, quickly being swallowed by the shadows of the alleyway.
Atemu rubbed his wrists idly and stared in the direction that Bakura had gone in. What the thief had told him bothered the prince. A claim? What sort of claim did he mean? Moving out of the alley, Atemu rolled the conversation around in his head. He would have to be on his guard…that was for sure.
Hearing his name being called, Atemu turned to see Mahaado and Seth riding towards him, both looking fairly annoyed. Well, it looked like his time out of the palace was up. He couldn't outrun them, they were on horseback and he was on foot. Smiling innocently up at his cousin and best friend, Atemu patiently bore their scolding before accepting Mahaado's help onto the back of his horse. Wrapping his arms around Mahaado's waist, Atemu spent the ride back to the palace brainstorming how he was going to explain his adventure to his father.