The Thief's Kindness
"My Lord, look up ahead. Someone's laying in the road!"
Bakura, the infamous Thief King, rolled his eyes. "And you had to tell me this why?" he asked, sounding bored and annoyed. The young man that rode beside him sighed, feeling exasperated.
"They might need help."
"Yes, because we have so much to offer them." Bakura replied sarcastically.
"You know very well that we have more than enough supplies to sustain a small army." the young man shot back. Bakura sighed loudly and ran his hand over his face.
"Fine, but you're going to carry them." he agreed indignantly.
At that, the young man urged his horse forward and raced off toward the small lump in the road. Bakura watched as the man's form jumped off of the horse, picked up the person, and tossed them over the horse. He was beside Bakura moments later.
"Dead?" he asked, not bothering to look at the lifeless form.
"No, but she will be soon. She needs water." Bakura twitched when he heard 'she'. He slowly turned to look at the girl, hoping not to see what he knew he probably would.
Her face was covered in bruises and cuts. Her jaw looked broken and blood caked her face from a damaged but unbroken nose. The rest of her was wrapped in something that looked suspiciously like a blanket she'd turned into clothing.
"She's a slave." Bakura stated flatly. The other man shook his head, earning a quirked eyebrow from Bakura.
"Look at her hands. She's never done the work of a slave." The man was right. Bakura reached over and ran his fingertips over the girl's palm.
"Like silk." he muttered, also noting that she was incredibly pale. He reached over and retrieved his water from the bag at his side. The other man propped her head up as Bakura carefully poured small amounts into her mouth. She swallowed, but beyond that, gave no response or sign of life.
"We're almost to the hideout, give her to me." Bakura ordered, guiding his horse closer to the other. The man gave him a questioning look, but helped his lord pull the girl onto his lap.
She slumped forward and would have fallen if not for Bakura wrapping an arm around her chest and pulling her against him. The subordinate allowed the sides of his mouth to curl just slightly at seeing his ruthless master be so gentle with the girl.
Her head lolled to the side and rolled to rest on Bakura's collarbone. He unconsciously pulled her closer to him and shifted back on the horse to give her more room. Her breathing was shallow and labored, so Bakura loosened his grip on her. He suspected that if someone had beaten her face so badly, the rest of her was just as likely to be broken.
"Let's get moving. The sun is getting hotter by the second." he noted and urged his horse into a gallop. The other man quickly followed suit.
Edited: 8/21/2012
A/N: I didn't do much to this chapter except fix some grammatical errors or change around the wording.