Hi there, Fan Fiction . net! It's me, Hana Itonami. I just thought you would like to read my story. Where I came from. So, this is it. Please be nice. Read, Enjoy, and Review!
Disclaimer: Neither I nor my author own the original characters created by Kazuki Takahashi. The only thing she owns is me. (and a few other minor, unnamed OCs.)
Flower of Life, a fairly short YuGiOh! fanfic by Tsunami Storm
Chapter 1: Bloom
"Okay, milady. You are doing fine. Now- Push!"
"Waaaah! Waaaah! Waaaah!"
"Congratulations, milady. It is a girl!" The elderly midwife declared, patting the mother's hand fondly. Then she took a clean linen and began to clean off the baby's face and body, wiping away the blood and various other fluids from the mother's womb. After she was done she helped the tired mother to sit up, then handed the newborn to her- being careful of its head. The mother's eyes sparkled with wonder as she gazed upon her beautiful, tiny daughter- whose own eyes were closed in sleep, tired after crying so loudly.
"If only my husband were here to see this wonderful gift from the gods." The young mother sighed mournfully and weakly, exhausted after the birth. She closed her eyes, then silently thanked Isis for her beautiful daughter and prayed to Osiris to guide her husband's soul safely to Aaru, his final resting place. He had been killed months before in a battle with rogues and deserters. Victory had smiled upon the royal army, but the young mother had lost.
"What name will you give your child, my lady?" The grandmotherly midwife asked, gazing at the mother and child- the most beautiful part of her job.
"I shall call her- Hana. May her life be full of happiness, to counter all the sadness in this world." The woman breathed, a smile on her lips as she leaned back against the wall. The midwife gently took the sleeping newborn and placed her in the nearby cradle, to prevent injury as both mother and child slept.
-Two years later-
"Take this- pendant, my child, and hold it close- to your heart- always. Your father made this- years ago- in the hope that the gods- would bless us with a daughter. May- it- protect- you-"
Those were the last words that two-year-old Hana heard from her dying mother. She took the small gold cartouche in her hand, then slipped the chain over her head. The pendant hanging from her neck sparkled faintly in the dim light, the hieroglyphics depicting her name with jewels of lapis lazuli. Some time later, the midwife who had been present at her birth took the child from her mother's deathbed and instructed the wide-eyed toddler to journey with her to the palace city, where her home was located. The child nodded solemnly, then followed her caretaker out of the house and town of her birth and into the wilds of the desert.
-Three days and nights later-
After walking through the realm of Set, the old midwife was faint and frail from hunger and thirst. Hana could see the palace city in the distance and Ra was setting behind them, his golden rays illuminating the city as if it were gilded in gold. Giving the child the last drops of water in its skin, the old woman instructed Hana to continue on to the city alone, as she could go no further.
Hana tried to help, but she wasn't strong enough to carry the old woman. So the child journeyed on alone, shuffling and stumbling through the city, her green eyes dim from thirst and hunger. Finally the heat and strain became too much for her small body, and she collapsed from exhaustion. What she didn't know was that she had inadvertently stumbled into the palace gates, and had lost consciousness just outside the palace doors.
-A few minutes later-
Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen had just awakened in the middle of the night, feeling that something was wrong inside his palace. He quietly walked through the halls of his magnificent palace- the home of his fathers for many generations- searching for the cause of this feeling of unease. In the adjoining room, his young son Atem slept peacefully, oblivious to the events of the night around him. As he passed through the various halls, he nodded to the guards that he passed, carrying out their nighttime duty to protect their king. He came to the giant stone palace doors, and the heavy portal opened before him.
At his feet lay an unconscious, two-year-old girl, her brown hair dancing gently in the night breeze and her necklace glimmering in the light of the full moon. Akhenamkhanen smiled at the sleeping toddler, who was oblivious as to where she was and who was with her. As gently as he could, the king picked up the child and carried her to a small room next to Atem's. "We know not from whence you came, little one, but you shall rest peacefully and in safety here tonight. The gods work in mysterious ways. If it is their divine will that We be blessed with a daughter and a son, then so be it." He whispered softly to the child, who moved her head slightly and smiled in her sleep as he laid her on the bed. And so the child slept, not aware that she had been essentially adopted by the most powerful man in Egypt.
-Four years later-
"Race you to the throne room, slowpoke!" I called back to my younger brother, who was trailing behind as he looked at the various hieroglyphs on the wall. "Wait up, Hana! I am not as fast as you!" Atem called back, breathing hard and trying to catch up to me. We tore through the hallways, dodging vases and columns that lined the walls of the corridors. Occasionally we passed a court scribe or tutor, reviewing his or her scrolls that they were constantly carrying. Eventually Atem and I slid into the front of the throne room where Father was in the middle of a meeting with the other six Bearers. We froze in our tracks- conveniently hidden behind a large column- then tiptoed through the room to the doorway on the other side. The Bearer of the Millennium Necklace noticed us, but she simply smiled and shook her head, then turned her attention back to the meeting. I grinned sheepishly when I noticed that we had been caught, and Atem smirked as well. However, we soon forgot our brief intrusion and continued on through the palace as if nothing had happened.
-After the meeting-
Atem was taken aside by one of his plethora of tutors and I was led out to the palace courtyards to learn a new technique in the mystical arts. The Bearer of the Millennium Ring was a strict instructor, and I found myself hard-pressed to master the basic spell that I was assigned to learn that day. The teaching assistant- an older student that showed a talent for magic- helped the instructor by walking among the younger students, making sure the beginner spellcasters were performing their spells correctly. When he came to me, the mage whispered, "Try asking Thoth to guide you. That always works for me." I tried it, and almost immediately a flower sprang from the sand hill wherein I had planted a seed. I gasped in wonder and turned to thank the magician, but he had already moved on to another struggling student. The rest of the instruction went fairly smoothly after that, but the young spellcasters were still assigned an armful of spell scrolls to memorize.
-That evening-
Sigh. "Homework never ends, does it?" I complained to myself as I shuffled to my room. "You think you have it bad-" Atem groused beside me, carrying at least three times as many scrolls as I was. "Well, at least we are allowed to help each other with these assignments." The young prince allowed, dumping his mountain of reading material on my divan as I did the same. "Right." I laughed, agreeing with my little brother. Then we both picked up our scrolls from our respective magic lessons and began quizzing each other on the various spells.
-A few hours later-
"How are the studies going, my son?" Akhenamkhanen queried, stepping into my room. Atem looked up from the scroll he was attempting to memorize and smiled at the current pharaoh of Egypt. "It is easier with Hana helping me." He admitted, grinning at his sister, and I grinned back. "Though I do not know how I am going to memorize all these scrolls by tomorrow." The prince sighed, discarding the scroll he had been studying and picking up another from the pile.
"Do not worry, young prince. You have been blessed with great intelligence and understanding by the gods. You will learn." Akhenamkhanen encouraged. "In fact, We have come to help you with your studies." The pharaoh turned to the side and gestured behind him, revealing a boy of about thirteen that was standing behind him. "This is Mahaad. He is a very proficient magic student, and has agreed to help you two with your spell work." Mahaad bowed respectfully in greeting, and I recognized him as the older student who had helped me earlier that day in my magic lesson. As a parting comment, Akhenamkhanen cautioned, "Do not stay up too late, you three. The morning assembly begins as Ra rises."
"Okay Father." Atem promised, clearing a space on the divan so that Mahaad could join us. Then I picked up one of my brother's scrolls and started reading the spells aloud so that Atem would know the correct pronunciation of the various characters. Occasionally I would make a mistake, and Mahaad would kindly correct me and quiz us both until we got it right. Hours later, we finally finished memorizing the plethora of spells and had practiced casting the simpler ones to prepare for the next lesson. Mahaad quietly returned to his quarters, and Atem crossed the hallway to his own room. I carefully re-rolled all the scrolls, then put them in a scroll-shelf that the royal carpenter had crafted for me. Then I climbed onto my divan to sleep until Ra returned to the sky.
-A year later-
"Ouji! You who will become pharaoh cannot-" Mahaad protested as Atem put his mouth to his friend's arm and attempted to remove the poison from the snakebite. Atem glared at him stubbornly and answered, "What difference is there between you and me? Red blood flows in your veins, and the same red blood flows in mine. We are the same, right?"
Mana was crying at the thought of her friend being poisoned, fearful that he could die. Mahaad looked at the prince in shock, amazed that a six-year-old could be so wise. "Ouji-"
"One day a world will come when everybody would be able to live freely without any social distinction. I promise you I will build that world." Atem smiled, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. The boy continued to glower at his future king. "You still need not have done that." He argued.
Atem glared back. "You were bit by a snake and I was getting the poison out! If it were the other way around, you would do the same for me, and do you know why? Because we are friends."
Mahaad relented, answering, "Yes we are."
"And someday, when I become pharaoh, I know you will be standing right there by my side, Mahaad. I would not have it any other way." The young prince stated. As if in answer, Mahaad stood to his feet and smiled at the future king. He kept a hand over his arm- as it still stung a bit- but none of the snake's venom remained in the wound.
Unnoticed by all, the serpent slithered off from the three humans, eager to escape and to avoid being stepped on. It slid silently away from the royal gardens and to the royal courtyard, where the young seven-year-old princess was brushing her new filly, a gift from her father for her birthday. The young horse was a beautiful Arabian with a sleek, jet-black coat, ebony mane and tail and dark blue eyes. I bent down and gently squeezed the horse's leg near her hoof, and the animal dutifully lifted her leg up so that I could clean out the hoof with a stick, to remove all the caked-on sand and debris. After I was done with her hooves, I began weaving the horse's mane and tail into neat, artful braids, both so that it would look nice and to keep the hair out of the horse's and my eyes when we rode.
"There you go, girl." I sighed, stroking the young filly's neck affectionately, oblivious to the serpent that was inching ever closer to where I was standing. "All nice and neat. I bet that feels better, right? Now you can feel this nice cool breeze on your neck." I closed my eyes and sighed in contentment, enjoying the cool air as it danced past me, blowing my long brown hair back and ruffling the bottom of my dress.
Suddenly I heard a faint hissing noise from somewhere just behind me. The filly noticed the snake before I did, and she bolted away from the creature and stopped at the edge of the courtyard, knowing that asps were very dangerous. I screamed in surprise and fright just as the snake was rearing back and preparing to strike. I knew that I'd never be able to back away in time, and shut my eyes tight and braced myself for the sharp pain on my leg that I knew was coming.
It never came. Just before the serpent struck, a streak of white flashed before me and growled, taking the snake with it as it disappeared. I cocked my head in confusion, wondering, What in the world was that? I looked over to my left and started when I spotted a very peculiar sight. A pure-white cat had attacked the snake just before it was able to bite me, and now had the scaly creature between her sharp teeth, dead. I saw a bit of red blood just behind the serpent's head, and I gaped at the brave feline, hardly believing the sight before my very eyes.
The cat studied me for a moment, then- deciding that I wasn't a threat- slinked over to me and deposited the limp body of the snake right at my feet and mewed. I smiled. That was the cutest meow I'd ever heard. I slowly crouched down and offered my hand for the cat to sniff. When she did, I carefully stroked the cat's head and back, a silent 'thank you' for what the brave cat had done for me. The cat started to purr, enjoying the attention and rubbing her head into my hand.
Something seemed off about the purring feline, though. I couldn't place it immediately, but when the cat laid down suddenly with a pained expression, I guessed what was the matter. The cat's stomach was quite a bit larger than normal. That could only mean one thing. "You mean you were going to have kittens any time now and you still saved me from that snake?" I asked the cat incredulously, hardly believing the bravery of the pregnant mother. The cat merely looked up at me with her light blue eyes and gave a strained mew. I quickly fetched my horse's saddle-blanket- which was lying nearby- and folded it into a makeshift nest for her. The cat slowly got to her feet and slinked over to the bed, laying down in the center of it to give birth to her kittens.
-Half an hour later-
Four tiny kittens were happily snuggled up with their mother- having been cleaned off and fed- and now were fast asleep. Mana, Mahaad and my little brother had joined me at this point, and we were all smiling down at the litter of kittens. "Aww," Mana cooed. "They are so cute!" I heartily agreed with her, and Atem smiled and stroked the mother's back, thankful that the feline had saved his sister.
"What will you name her, princess?" Mahaad asked gently and quietly, not wanting to disturb the sleeping kittens. After all, cats were considered sacred, the chosen animal of the goddess Bastet. This cat was even more special, as she had risked her life to save me from an asp and that she was due to give birth on top of it.
"I think I shall call her 'Bastet', because the goddess has smiled upon her and blessed her with four healthy little ones. This cat and her kittens are now part of the royal family. Bastet shall have only the finest. After all, she did save my life." I declared, and the other three nodded in approval. Now I had six beautiful pets, four of which were little more than assorted balls of fluff. One was black like my horse, but with a tiny white spot of fur on its belly. Another was sand-colored like the desert, another orange like the morning sun, and the last was a combination of all the cats including the mother: white, black, tan and orange.
"I wonder what their father looked like." Mana commented, studying the kittens and smiling at how cute they were. I had to agree with her. They were adorable. "I mean, they look nothing like their mother. How did that happen?"
"Beats me." I shrugged, not knowing much about feline genetics. "My guess is that he probably looked like that multicolored one, and that the others look like either their mother's ancestors or their father's."
"Good guess, my princess." Isis commented, walking up behind us. She was about Mahaad's age- around fourteen- and was apprenticed to the current Bearer of the Millennium Necklace, to take over her position when she passed on to the afterlife. Of all the prospective new 'Bearers', I think I liked Isis the best. She was kind, compassionate, strong, and blessed with great intelligence. The priestess could sense that Isis was gifted with the power of foresight, as well as unparalleled knowledge of the events of the past. She knew that when Isis would be chosen by the Sacred Item, that these abilities would only increase, fueled by both the young woman's natural magic and the power of the Sennen Necklace.
We all jumped a bit when the future priestess spoke, having not heard her approach. Mana, Atem and I laughed a little when we saw who our visitor was, but Mahaad blushed and looked back down at the family of cats, embarrassed that he'd been taken by surprise. Isis smiled at each of us in turn, her cheeks turning a bit redder when she turned to Mahaad. He nodded politely in greeting, then muttered something about practicing one of his spells and walked off, his face as red as a pomegranate. I shot a knowing look at Mana, and she blurted, "Hang on, do Isis and Mahaad- like each other?"
I smirked at her as Isis blushed again, and Atem chuckled a little. "I would have thought that was obvious, judging by how awkward they act in each other's presence!" I teased, grinning mischievously at Isis and receiving a playful shove from the flustered teenager. "Oh, hush." She answered, going even redder. "We are just friends, that is all."
"Riight." Mana, Atem and I all replied at the same time, not believing it for a minute. Then we all laughed and entered the palace to tell Father what had happened.
-Two years later-
"Yeah, you are a good girl, Bastet. Good girl!" I praised as I stroked my cat's back affectionately, praise for catching another filthy rat that had snuck into the kitchens. Bastet purred happily- enjoying the attention and praise- then left to dispose of the dead rat in her mouth. I watched her go, happy that Father had let me keep her and her four kittens. They certainly earned their keep, keeping the palace free of rodents and snakes. I couldn't decide who was better at it: the three females or the two males. Generally females were the better hunters in the animal world, but Bastet's kittens were pretty evenly matched.
The black kitten- Obsidian- was as gentle as could be when it came to humans, and was the most affectionate and tolerant of the bunch. His brother Set- on the other paw- was the most troublesome of the bunch. Atem had named that kitten as a joke, but it proved to be quite apt as he was certainly living up to his namesake in the color of his coat and in his personality. Not a day went by when that kitten wouldn't get into some kind of mischief. Of course, Atem thought it was hilarious, but I don't think some of the servants shared his opinion.
The girls were calm and quiet just like their mother. Hatsheput- the orange-colored one- spent most of her day laying on my divan, sunning herself and snoozing until Ra entered the underworld. Then she would disappear to go hunt. Cleopatra- the calico- would play around with her brother Set sometimes, but most often she could be found near the Nile, trying to catch frogs where we kids would swim. They all loved to be petted, and most of the palace inhabitants would willingly oblige. Except for three of the Bearers.
I don't know why, but I always got a bad feeling when three of the Bearers would pass me in the halls. They wouldn't say or do anything suspicious, but I could just tell. Especially the Bearer of the Millennium Rod. I didn't need the Ring to sense the darkness inside this man. When he would talk with Father in my presence, I could always feel the dark power of the Shadows- as if they were slowly choking me. This feeling was present with two of the other Bearers as well, but none more so than this man. The Bearers of the Eye, Key, and Necklace were all fine- people that I trusted, that I looked up to. And of course Father, Bearer of the Pendant. But the other three- Mahaad's teacher and the Bearers of the Scales and the Rod- I couldn't bring myself to trust them. And this feeling only intensified over time.
Like the time that one of the royal guard dogs escaped from its post where it had been tethered and ran straight to my brother's room, licking him in the face until he woke up. I had been sleeping in the same room that night, as we had stayed up late to finish our studies. He had helped me move my divan into his chambers, and we'd stayed up past midnight to finish memorizing our spell scrolls. The dog had licked me awake first, and I spent a good ten minutes removing the doggy slobber. I laughed as my brother got the same treatment, and was still laughing when one of the guards ran in and apologized profusely for the unexpected wake-up call. Atem wiped off his face and assured the stricken guard that no harm had been done, then knelt down beside the dog and scratched it behind the ears- much to the canine's pleasure.
Later that afternoon, the three Bearers had wanted to have the animal destroyed, falsely accusing it of being dangerous. Father disagreed and managed to convince them to spare it. The servant who was charged with handling the dogs, however, was dismissed from the palace. From that point on, my trust in those three Bearers dwindled and eventually disappeared altogether. There was some good to all of this, though. I didn't trust three of the current Bearers, but two of their chosen successors were both good friends of mine, Karim and Mahaad. They both had a strong sense of justice, and I knew that they would not be corrupted by the shadow powers of their Millennium Items. But what would become of the Millennium Rod?
End of chapter 1
Well, there is chapter 1. Hope you guys liked it.
I do not really know what else to say for these 'Author's Comments', so- that is pretty much it.
Until next time!
Hana Itonami
Next chapter teaser: Blight
Author: For those of you who have read my other stories, especially 'Brothers in Time', you might find that Bastet seems a little familiar. Hmm- I wonder why that could be? Tee-Hee!
I've always suspected that Mahaad and Isis had feelings for each other (Pleashipping), ever since I watched Season 5 for the first time on 4Kids, when it first aired. Long time ago. So that's the ship I'll be sailing in this story. Oh, and Mizushipping (Seth and Kisara), but that comes later.
Constructive Criticism is greatly appreciated!
Glowing reviews are even better!
But flames will be tossed into the fireplace where they belong.
Okay. That's all for now. Bye!
God Bless!
Tsunami Storm
