Of Guns and Sand

by Xeora

Oh look. Im back. With chapter four. D:

Thanks to all those that reviewed, put me on watch, put the story on watch, and of course favorited. I re-read my previous chapters, and I must say I feel quite... lame. XD I would like to take a short intermission from updating to edit the three previous chapters. Fill them with some meat, possibly with some clues as to what is to come. My grammar and word-choice is terrible. I'll be spending some time with my thesaurus. x.x

Warnings: Manlove and such... Darn. No trigger-happiness as of yet. :c I'll try and fit in them real guns in five. This may exceed my 10 chapter promise to myself... DAMNITALL. Enjoy.

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Four

Chains and Stories

It was decided at this very moment that Jounouchi did not like pain. At all. Waking up to it was perhaps the worst way to start his day. That is if one would call not being able to stand "starting" anything at all. He blinked his honey eyes slowly, meeting little to no light. He supposed it was a good thing, as he felt hung over. His body ached, he felt sick, and on top of that he had a skull splitting headache. The blond groaned, trying to adjust himself, only to find that he could not. He was upright, but his arms were elevated above his head. They felt numb, possibly because all the blood had rushed to his shoulders. Wincing, Jou slowly raised his head, trying to figure out exactly where he was.

There was firelight casting gold and orange across the stone floors. The source came from torches mounted on the walls. They flickered, but only barely. There was a short draft wafting through what Jou immediately figured to be a dungeon. Despite his pounding headache, he remembered where he was, and of course of what happened.

"Nyeeh... damnit..." Jou's brow twitched. He lifted his blond head, trying to move his legs and arms. There was a clanking noise. The more he moved, the louder they resounded. Chains. Wonderful.

There was only one thing to do.

Blame Kaiba. For everything.

"Damn you, Moneybags." Jou swore, closing his eyes tight. "If that bastard didn't try to rape me..." He twitched again, another thought assaulting his already assaulted mind. Just why the hell was Seto Kaiba attempting to molest him anyway? That seemed very out of character. In fact, it seemed downright outrageous. As did his outfit, gold jewelry and swimmer's tan. Admittedly, a nice swimmer's tan. Jou mentally slapped himself for even thinking so.

"That smug bastard and his tan..." He muttered, pulling on his bonds again. "I swear, once I'm out of these I'm gonna kill him."

That is, of course, if he could get out. The chains were quite firmly stuck in place on the thick stone walls. The only way out was to have these chains undone with a key... or to gnaw his arm off. After about a half hour of squirming around, Jou was starting to strongly consider the latter. He was about to attempt to try and bite at his arm, only to have his attention suddenly stolen away from thoughts and actions of escape.

The echo of footsteps graced Jounouchi's ears, making him turn his head to look curiously at the source of the noise. People were approaching, and he could hear voices. Once again, voices he couldn't understand at all. It was that odd language again. Jou shut his eyes tight once the firelight got too bright all of a sudden, only opening them again when he felt something prod his leg. Something sharp.

"Ack...!" His eyes snapped open. He moved his leg, eyeing the tip of a very sharp looking sword poking at his pant leg. "Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing!" Jou's indignant cry was only met with many more sharp edges being pointed at various vital points on his body, causing him to gulp. "Woah... fellas... there's really no need to poke me with pointy things..." he swallowed. "Or stab me..."

The men holding those weapons only glared down at him with their dark eyes. Their proper colors couldn't very well be discerned, as the lights made them all look red. On their heads they wore white turbans, and around their waists cloth. Sandals clad their feet. One of the men spoke, obviously addressing Jou. Once again, the blond just couldn't comprehend a single word of it.

"S-sorry... what...?" The blond winced. "Er... no hable... whatever you're talking."

The man seemed to growl. He repeated himself, jabbing his weapon at Jou slightly, making the blond flinch. He caught a few odd words, or sounds. Khem, a'at, rux. Honestly, it was just gibberish to him. A lot of meaningless babble.

The guard, as Jou decided to make an assumption of what this man was, yelled at him this time. It seemed this tanned individual was losing his patience. However, before Jou was sure he'd have a sword through his neck, another voice interrupted. It was low but soft, but still demanded authority. Those men stepped aside, allowing someone else to step forward.

Just for a brief moment, Jou thought he was saved.

-

An empty museum building was probably considered creepy to most. Especially since there were only two people inside. The hall lights were dimmed, casting the displays in shadow. Some of those displays included preserved corpses, skeletons and strange arts from different cultures all over the world. Neither of them were paying much attention to it. Kaiba kept two steps back behind the dark haired woman who had summoned him here in the first place. Both were silent, the only sound was that of their steps. Kaiba's expensive boots clicked the loudest. Ishizu's soft padding made little to no noise at all. The CEO glared a hole into her back, which she didn't seem perturbed by in the least. When Ishizu felt they had walked far enough, she paused, Kaiba finally stopping beside her. The dark-skinned woman turned to look at him.

"Mr. Kaiba," Ishizu said, folding her arms over her stomach. "Before we begin here... I'm sure you have several questions for me."

"Just one," Kaiba said, fingers tightly curling over the handle of his briefcase. "Why am I here?"

Ishizu tilted her head, her eyes meeting his. She took a moment before responding in her soft voice, "To take back what you lost."

With her answer came several other questions. The brunet would have to bite his tongue on voicing those for now. "Don't beat around the bush." He told her darkly. "I want this over with quickly. I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"I completely understand." Ishizu said. "But this is of a greater importance. Continue to follow me, if you will, Mr. Kaiba." She began walking again, leading Kaiba down to the end of the hall. There was only one room that was lit, this being the gallery for the Egyptian exhibit. Or at least one part of the exhibit. All around hung the ancient walls from long-since-crumbled temples and pyramids. Even a few slabs of stone that had been claimed to have once been held within the palace walls of Upper Egypt. Ishizu stood in the center of it all, beckoning Kaiba forward. With an almost hesitant step, the CEO did just that.

"There is a tale I wish to convey," Ishizu began, walking towards a few of the larger giant stones mounted on the walls. She paused again, looking up at each. "A tale that goes back thousands of years. Upon a tablet had it been written, lost, and chronicled again."

Kaiba visibly rolled his eyes. Wonderful. This meant he was going to be here a while. Which he most likely would be, Ishizu didn't seem to take notice of this man's withered patience. That, or just didn't care.

"Thousands of years ago there lived a priest," She said. "A high priest to the reining pharaoh of that time, who had fallen deeply in love with a Roman soldier. For such a time it wouldn't be considered uncommon for a man to take another man to his bed... but love was a concept only reserved to society's 'correct' standings."

"... what does this have to do with anything?" Kaiba's lips seemed to be set in a thin line. He had nearly scowled again. "I don't have time to be listening to your plot for a romance novel. Get to the point."

"This is the point, Mr. Kaiba. Allow me to finish." Ishizu went on. "These such damning circumstances is what drove them apart. A betrayal, a grave mistake the priest had made resulted in the execution of this soldier, forever cursing their destinies, and forever keeping them apart. The priest lost his lover..."

There was a silence between them. Kaiba took that time to think, still staring at the woman with a sour expression. Just what was she trying to accomplish with all this cock-and-bull about some gay priest? Was this some strange attempt to fool him? A practical joke? Perhaps she told him this plot because she really was writing a book, and needed funds. Or ever worse, a "forced-date" of sorts. He's encountered many strange circumstances with women trying to get him to date them. Ever since his name had ended up on the list of most eligible bachelors in Domino... However, this scenario almost took the entire cake!

The CEO snorted. "I think you've wasted enough of my time. Time you certainly cannot afford."

"You don't understand, do you, Mr. Kaiba?" Ishizu said. "You must fix your mistake. I am giving you a chance to do so. He'll die if you don't."

"Who is he?" Kaiba quirked a brow. "Do you refer to me as this priest?"

"What you once were, of course." Ishizu said. Her response was cryptic, serving to further annoy Kaiba. "In your distant, distant past..."

"I don't believe in reincarnation." He said flatly.

"Neither did the Egyptians... other than for the Pharaoh, that is." She walked over to the glass casing, using a pair of keys to undo the lock. She swung it open. A large, smooth tablet was contained within. The paint was luminous, the characters quite clear. One, however, looked completely off from the rest. It didn't look like a normal Egyptian hieroglyph at all.

"Come and look. See it for yourself." Ishizu said, stepping back.

The need for confirmation was possibly what drove Seto Kaiba to take a step towards that tablet. That figure there didn't even look Egyptian. Sideways, of course. But it looked to be wearing a jacket, jeans and sneakers. Not to mention a mop of messy blond hair.

"... Jounouchi Katsuya...?" Kaiba's eyes narrowed. Now he was sure this had to be some kind of joke. However, the sight surprised him. He nearly dropped his briefcase.

Unfortunately, that also meant his guard was down, which Ishizu took full advantage of. With both of her delicate hands, she shoved him forward, causing the brunet to stumble right into the rock.

Into being quite literal.

Although the experience for Kaiba was quite different. Around him, everything crumbled to pieces and fell at an alarming rate. Instinctively he clawed at the air to keep himself from descending.

In the end, he had no choice but to fall with it.

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O FAWK ME. No, srsly. Please? D:

I'm going to take a possible 1-3 day short intermission to clean up my chapters and add in s'more details. It saddens me that I can't even exceed more than 4-5 or so pages. I am one sad ho.

Review please. Or no moar for you. ):

Xeora