The Tomb of Fate

Chapter 1: The First Meeting

WARNING: This is a Malik/Bakura pairing fic. If you don't like them together, or think shounen-ai is sick, you might not want to read. But if you're a Malik/Bakura fan, go ahead.
NOTE: This fic takes place in a different world than Yu-Gi-Oh. Bakura and Malik are NOT from ancient Egypt, and they do NOT know each other already or any of the other
YGO characters.
"Mr. Ishtar, your jet is ready."

The gruff voice was coming from a speaker in Malik's hotel room. Malik happened to be a renowned archaeologist and historian, and was about to be 'shipped' off to the fourth Egyptian tomb site this summer. Not only did this disrupt his quiet, studious life, but the weather was blisteringly hot down in Egypt, and the sand twisters were very annoying.

But, he was not as bothered by the call from his pilot as he should have been; in fact, he was rather excited. This tomb was very different than the others he had visited. All of them were simple graveyards for the poor. But this one, this was the tomb he had been researching the past year himself. It just happened to be his next assignment to explore, and he had found more than reasonable proof that this was,in fact, the final resting place of one of Egypt's best-kept secrets.

For millennia, Egyptian natives never spoke a word of King Sabestet. He was one of their greatest kings of all time, and with the riches in his tomb, they could not risk a foreign tomb-robber coming to rob Sabestet of his freedom in the afterlife.

Malik had discovered the first clues of a king more famous than Tutankhamen when he visited the grave of a little known king. Since he had learned how to read Egyptian, he could decipher the passages of the records copied down by scribes, generation after generation. He found a sentence that merely referenced to a name of a king that he had never heard of. Malik had then reread centuries of records in his personal library to find that name again, and possibly learn more about him. He strove onward to discover the lair of this great king until he finally reached some conclusions that were logically correct. And that conclusion was where he was headed now.

As he stepped into the jet and sat down in a leather seat, he didn't even glance back at the city he was leaving.

Bakura grumbled.

Today he was supposed to depart for Egypt to be an assistant for some weird famous dude called Malik Ishtar. What a waste… I was going to rob the bank in my spare time today.

The only reason he was accepting the offer to come was because of the fame and riches. Fame: He would have the authority to make things the way he wanted! Riches: It feels good when it clinks in my pockets as I walk.

Normally, Bakura would never agree to be second in command. He either worked alone, or not at all. But if he did have to cooperate, he would rather have the power of command. Which he would have, after the journey was over.

This Ishtar guy really knew a lot about Egypt, from the looks of things. Bakura had been given a profile on him when his job was assigned. Wanting to know all about his next victim, he naturally read the papers thoroughly. Yet for some reason, he felt… safer traveling with someone so experienced. This was a strange feeling for Bakura. After all, he had never put safety first.

Was it possible that he was scared? Could he be afraid of the tomb that they were going to descend into? Bakura would never be scared of such silly things. Sure, he had watched countless horror movies involving mummies and pyramids, which he had an unnatural affinity towards, but those never scared him. Yet, maybe the reason he was frightened was because he did not know what to do if he was caught in danger inside the tomb. While being chased by police cars, he was never frightened, because he had a routine strategy for those moments that never failed.

And yet, he had a plan of sorts for when he reached the chamber of King Sallybet, or whatever his silly name was. Bakura would make sure that he was the first one to reach the lair of the king. And maybe, that he was the only one to get there at all. Yes, murder was definitely on his mind.

He was ready.

Hours later, Malik and Bakura each arrived at the airport in Cairo. Though they were both here for the same job, there were certain obvious differences between them. Malik had arrived in his luxurious private jet, while Bakura had just stepped out of a commercial airliner. Malik had a Gucci suit on, and Bakura was wearing cargo pants and a striped shirt. Malik was smiling at his new companion, but Bakura was scowling off into the distance. I hate people who have more money than me.

Malik strode up to Bakura with a grim look on his face, but suddenly smiled.

"Hello, I am Malik Ishtar, professor of ancient Egyptian studies at the University of Cairo. You must be Bakura, my assistant. It's nice to meet you!"

Bakura stared at Malik as if he had just been forced to swallow an ostrich.

"What the hell- I mean…"

"Nice to meet you too," Bakura added. He was not sure if Malik caught the sarcasm in his voice.

Malik merely smiled again, though he was certainly able to identify that his partner would not be the cooperative helping hand that he had been looking for. But, as Malik was always optimistic, Bakura could have some special talents.

"Bakura, what do you specialize in, yourself? Seeing as I have already explained my profession, it is only fair that I get a good idea about what you're like as well."

Bakura raised an eyebrow at this, and before thinking, made a reply.

"Oh, me? I'm unemployed. But I do have… unnatural talent for lock picking, thievery, and murder when no one is looking. I can also move without making a sound. Very handy when you happen to be-"

Bakura stopped talking abruptly when he saw the look on Malik and his pilot's faces. He immediately realized that saying those things was not the smartest thing at the moment.

"Only joking, of course! My real talents lie in comedy, as you have seen."

Bakura thought that he had sounded sappy, but he noticed that the pilot had relaxed, and Malik had resumed smiling. But when the agent looked away, he raised an eye at Bakura, and whispered into his ear."

"Murder and thievery, huh? I can tell that we're going to have a fun time together."

But then, a taxi arrived to pick up the two men, and they smiled at each other, waved at the pilot, and hopped into the car.