Chapter Four: Street Mouse
The next morning rose, and it was just another typical day in the marketplace near the Niles. The slaves were back working on the great tomb that was slowly being finished; the women were bargaining and trading, and the men were working on the farms.
"Okay," Bakura whispered. "And now…Go!"
And our wonderful thief Bakura was hiding on one of the canopies of the marketplace booth; below him was a fat merchant with a misplaced wig and at least two chins selling a whole pile of melons. Though he didn't want to admit it, Bakura had been eating a bit too much meat lately, and to Diabound's insistence (Boundo's nagging and Dia-Dia's sad whining), Bakura had given in and promised to steal fruit today.
Grinning broadly, Dia-Dia nodded his head, and saluted dutifully, before flittering down under the canopy. Grinning, Bakura tiptoed to the opposite side of the canopy where Diabound had left, and listened carefully.
"Melons! Get your melons here! Oranges! Finest oranges from Greece!!"
The chubby merchant offered each said item eagerly to passersby, but they merely passed by. From the corner of eye, the little merchant caught sight of Diabound, who was trying to lift one of the cantaloupes with his little wings.
"Oi!" the merchant exclaimed. "Don't you touch those you…you…"
He quickly ran over to grab the melon. Diabound looked surprised. Shoulders sagging, Dia-Dia pouted, looking near tears for either being caught or being denied food. The serpent half of him quickly jerked his head, trying to think of a good excuse and slithered his tongue at the merchant.
"Ooohh…" chanted Boundo, beginning to wave his cobra head at the merchant. "I am the mystical Ka of the future….and if you spare me and give me food, I shall tell you yours…!"
"Ha," the merchant laughed. He put his hands on his hips. "And do you think I'm stupid enough to fall for that?"
Boundo paused for a moment, before grinning innocently, showing off his fangs. "…Yes?"
The merchant jumped a bit and growled, launching himself at Diabound. "Gack…come…come here you, you dirty wretched thing!"
"Melons!" Dia-Dia chimed, quickly diving after one of the cantaloupes. However, the merchant was much faster, and quickly snatched it from the Dia-Dia.
"HA!" the merchant grinned triumphantly. "How's THAT for a big bad Ka of the future?"
Boundo raised his head, watching discreetly at how Bakura's arms slowly came into view from the top of the canopy and how he was slowly picking two juicy cantaloupes. Boundo grinned.
"Oooooh, you will regret yourself, wicked mortal!" Boundo said loudly. "The Ka of the Future has been denied its food…curse you and your products you shall sell forthwith today…! Be warned, oh selfish mortal, for while you may keep your greed, you will also lose your fortune…"
Picking this up, Bakura's arms quickly snatched some more oranges and even snagged a pack of bananas. He gave Diabound the thumbs up.
Boundo grinned. "CURSE YOU, MORTAL!"
"Booooo!" Dia-Dia agreed, waving his arms like a ghoul. "Lookies! There!"
"Huh?" the merchant said. He turned around. "Where?" Then he noticed that his food were gone. "What---"
"Oooooooooh," Dia-Dia sang as he flew away. "OOOooooooooOOOh."
And so forth, the poor merchant was left, wondering what the hell just happened, while Bakura and Diabound feasted above him.
The merchant shuddered. Maybe there really was a Ka of Future.
"Nice job, Diabound," Bakura praised. He quickly packed the food into his bag except for a cantaloupe. Hitting it directly onto his knee, he broke it cleanly in half, and handed one to Diabound. "Here you go, Diabound. Breakfast is served."
Dia-Dia licked his lips, looking most happy as he dived right into the fruit. Since the melon was about half his size, Dia-Dia looked as though he was swimming in a little miniature pool of cantaloupe.
"Oh ew," Boundo whined, writhing. "I'm going to be sticky!!!!!"
"Yum," Dia-Dia replied, his hands scooping the fruit into his mouth. "YUM!"
Bakura shook his head in his hood (he was wearing an old cloak today; there had been a sandstorm in the early morning), biting into his own cantaloupe. He dug into his bag and took out a ragged sash he had once ripped from falling off a curtain while he was attempting to steal some dried meat "…Here. Clean yourself up with this."
Straining, Boundo attempted to extract himself from Dia-Dia, who seemed to insist on swimming in the fruit. With an exasperated sigh, Boundo managed to snag the end of the sash with his teeth, and began wiping his head against it.
"Ew ew ew ew ew…"
Snickering, Bakura continued eating his fruit, momentarily enjoying watching Boundo in his spaz. But since Bakura had seen this often enough, his eyes started wandering…and wandering…and wandering…
In the distance, Ryou was slowly making his way around the marketplace. At the sight of each new booth, his eyes widened and glowed with great curiosity and interest. He was clutching his hood shyly to himself to cover his hair, and no one really paid much attention to his pale skin as he made his way about the people.
"Sugar dates!" merchants called. "Sugar dates and figs! Sugar dates and pistachios!"
Ryou giggled as nuts flew at him from the skinny merchant's overly eager hands. He caught one as it hit his chest and shyly placed it back into the bowl of the booth. "Thank you," he murmured quietly, blushing slightly. "But no thank you…"
He passed by the sugar dates and figs booth, and walked slowly down the street. A friendly looking man with a big, fancy wig held up a necklace as he passed by.
"Would the lady like a pretty necklace? A pretty necklace for a pretty lady?"
Instantly, Ryou blushed, as he was often mistaken for a girl on many occasions. He shook his head and smiled apologetically, politely rejecting the necklace, and headed on his way.
"FRESH FISH!"
He jumped back, startled as literally, a blue fish was thrust into his face.
"WE CATCH 'EM, YOU BUY EM!!"
Coughing self-consciously, Ryou shook his head and smiled a little. "…No…no thanks, but that's…very kind of you- oops!!"
Not even noticing the mime behind him, Ryou had accidentally bumped into the little short boy, who had been attempting to swallow fire. In the process, Ryou's hood had fallen from his head, revealing his white hair, but everyone was too busy looking at the mime, who was choking on the fire to notice Ryou.
"Oh! I'm sorry, sir, are you okay?" Ryou quickly bent down to see the boy's face. The bald-headed boy's eyes were lined darkly with eyeliner, and his forehead was dotted with strange designs. "…Sir?"
The boy coughed a bit, before bellowing out fire. Ryou immediately jumped and hurried away.
"Once again…sorry, very sorry!" he apologized, bowing repeatedly as he hurried to make his exit. The mime merely looked him at strangely, before coughing out another flame of fire. The audience applauded as Ryou smiled weakly and turned away. Smiling to himself, Ryou slowly adjusted his hood, and quietly headed his way.
Bakura wasn't entirely sure what came over him. All he knew was that one moment, he was eating melon, and the next moment, all the delicious juices seemed to have disappeared, and all he could see was large, beautiful brown eyes and long, strikingly gorgeous silver hair.
He watched, eyes wide, cheeks full of melon, as the young boy stumbled into the mime. His hood had fallen off, and instantly, Bakura was attracted to the long, gorgeous ponytail of spun silver, and the adorable, clumsy stutter of the boy's apology, and the breathtaking depths of his eyes.
The boy smiled softly to himself, something that Bakura remembered distantly that he thought was a pretty thing to do. Looking shyly up to adjust his hood, the boy raised his thin, porcelain arms, and covered his hair, before looking curiously to the side.
He wasn't sure how he got there, but the next moment, Bakura found himself lying on his side on the canopy, his head turning slowly in the direction that the boy was going. Behind him, Dia-Dia made a strange, curious grunt, and Boundo was arching a scaly eyebrow.
Feeling obviously neglected, Dia-Dia fluttered from his melon and curled himself onto Bakura's head. He waved an arm in front of Bakura's eyes. Hello?
Boundo slowly cocked his head to the side, noting his master's glazed look. As though suddenly coming to realization, Boundo quickly motioned Dia-Dia to bend down to talk to him. Looking very worried and disappointed that he was being neglected, Dia-Dia bent down, complaining through worried whining and grunts.
"I was afraid this was going to happen," Boundo whispered into Dia-Dia's ear. "…He's finally going to go through the 'awkward stage.'"
Even after Boundo explained to Dia-Dia what 'awkward stage' meant, Dia-Dia's horrified and immature cry did not startle Bakura out of his trance.
Smiling serenely to himself, Ryou continued on his way about the marketplace. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a little boy, wearing nothing but a ragged skirt reaching for an apple.
At this sight, Ryou's heart weighed down in his heart. Taking pity on the small boy, Ryou slowly reached out and took an apple from the stall and handed it to the boy.
"You must be hungry." Ryou smiled gently. "Here you go."
The boy took it in his hands, and a grateful, touched smile spread across his face. Ryou gave one back in return and patted the boy on the head. "Off you go now…"
Nodding, the boy ran for it, well aware of the big, looming man now coming out of the stall behind Ryou.
"You better be able to pay for that…" the man growled menacingly.
Ryou paused and frowned softly. "…Pay?"
Suddenly, with great vigor, his shoulder was wrenched to the side and he was faced with a man who was large, towering, and looked very heavy. His angry eyes were glaring down at Ryou beneath his turbaned head; his other hand was at his hip, and his foot was tapping dangerously.
A hand shot out and grabbed Ryou around the collar. "No one steals from my booth!" the man hissed, lifting Ryou up. Squeaking, Ryou struggled aimlessly at the man's grip, his feet kicking in the air.
"B-but, if you can just- l-let me go…" Ryou tried his best to force the iron fist from his shirt. "I can promise I can get s-some money from the ph-pharaoh!"
"Pharaoh?" the man snorted, shoving Ryou against the wooden table of his booth. "Do you take me for an idiot? Do you even know the punishment is for STEALING?" A heavy sword was raised into the air. Ryou's eyes widened as it started to descend.
"No! No please!!"
"HOLD it right there sir." A hand had shot out to grab the hilt of the sword, impending its descent. A young boy, taller than Ryou, quickly pushed his way in front of him. "Excuse me." He turned to Ryou, and the sharp, brown-red eyes instantly took Ryou aback. Before Ryou could even comprehend the silver strands that were hidden in the cloak's hood, the stranger was forcing Ryou quickly away.
"I've been looking all over for you," the stranger was muttering. Ryou blinked and looked at the man incredulously.
"What? I don't know y—"
A big hand landed on the stranger's shoulder with a thump. While Ryou's heart froze over in fear, the stranger merely stood still, not even turning back to face the giant of a merchant sneering down at him.
"You ah…" he gestured to Ryou, who meekly shrank into himself. "Know this…girl?"
Girl? Ryou repeated in his head incredulously. He bit his lip. Oh well…even if they catch me, at least they won't think I'm the prince…
What made Ryou more mortified though, was that the stranger actually nodded his head.
"Sadly yes," the stranger sighed, turning to face the merchant. He shrugged in an almost apologetic manner. "She's my sister," he explained, gesturing to Ryou. In a whisper, he said, "She's a little crazy…"
Ryou was about to object when the merchant suddenly grabbed the stranger and forced him into the wall of another booth. "She SAID she knew the PHARAOH!"
The stranger laughed, almost convincingly so, despite his chest being obviously crushed by the merchant's big hands. "She thinks the flower pot is the pharaoh."
It was only then did Ryou actually notice a big plaster flowerpot next to him. It was large, about up to his waist. A little palm tree was sprouting out of it, decorated with red, yellow and black ribbons. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ryou actually did kind of think the leaves resembled Yugi's hair, but---
Catching the stranger's hinted expression, Ryou scowled back and looked at the plant.
I'm never going to forgive myself for this. Blushing furiously, Ryou got onto his knees and bowed.
"Oh wise pharaoh…." He snuck a peek at the crowds of people and blushed harder. "…how may I serve you…?"
Ra I'm so embarrassed…
The stranger laughed, making Ryou flush even more. "See? She thinks the plant is the pharaoh." Ryou didn't see it, but he could hear the boy slowly but firmly pushing away the merchant's hands, and starting to shuffle towards him.
"If you will excuse us," the boy grabbed Ryou's arm harshly and forced him up. "I need to bring her to a doctor…she shouldn't really be out here alone…" The boy wrapped his arms around Ryou's shoulders, inadvertently tugging Ryou's hood over his eyes to shield all of Ryou's hair. "Come now, we should get going…"
Ryou coughed a bit, feeling a bit nervous as a stranger was carting him off. "S-sure…"
Suddenly, the merchant shot out his hand again, and grabbed the stranger's hood off. Ryou was shocked to see locks of sharp white hair released in a flurry of white. The stranger seethed and tightened his grip on Ryou.
"YOU!" the merchant bellowed. Several people screamed.
"It's him again!"
"The White-Haired Thief!"
"Get him!"
But no one really wanted to get the stranger, thankfully enough. Quicker than lightening, he grabbed Ryou and shot off with him down the market road.
"Run," the boy hissed. "Run if you want to live!"
Nodding, Ryou hurried to run as fast as he could. Although there were some noblemen who wanted to go after the thief, most of the peasants, farmers, and women were merely standing about, laughing as they watched the little thief run off with his new friend.
"Such a lovely child," a mother commented as she shook her head. A farmer chuckled as he inadvertently tripped over a noble who was furious to go after the thief.
"Ah, that Bakura," the peasant chuckled. "He's finally startin' to grow up."
"This should be far enough," the stranger muttered. "I think we'll be okay from here."
Stumbling, Ryou collapsed onto the ground, panting from the exertion. The thief took a pause too, resting his palms against his knees, breathing harshly.
"Where…" Ryou took a deep breath, gasping. "Where are we?"
Blinking, the thief raised his head, and looked around his surroundings. Once again, they were out on the mounds of dunes, in the wide desert away from the palace marketplace. In the distance, the thief spied on the crumbling beige structure that was the incomplete pyramid. He looked back at Ryou, then huffed slightly, and held out his hand.
Ryou paused and looked at the dirty hand warily. The thief snorted and huffed again.
"Well? Do you trust me?"
Blinking, Ryou watched the hand warily, before he took it. Some part of him feared that the thief was going to kidnap him and enslave him, but the logical part of his mind overran that theory. After all, the thief had saved him…and was being nice to him. Surely the thief wouldn't kidnap him….he didn't even know Ryou's worth.
"Where are we going?" asked Ryou, as he was pulled up. The thief arched an eyebrow and nodded towards the construction sites.
"There," he said simply. Ryou took a brief look at the fragmented structures and sighed. Clutching the thief's hand, he followed the thief throughout the winding dunes, towards the towering buildings and the setting sun.
"So…." Ryou attempted to make conversations as they neared the constructions sites. Squinting, Ryou saw what he thought were worker tents and wooden carts. At least they were nearing the pyramids now..
"So…" Again, Ryou attempted to make some conversation as he followed the thief by sliding down the sandy dunes. He winced when his soft skin burned harshly against the ground, but there was nothing he could do about it. He bit his lip. "Thanks…for saving me today."
The previously silent thief paused, and shook his head. With a rather unimpressed look, the white-haired boy turned back to look at the royalty-in-disguise.
"Whatever," the thief shrugged. He turned back towards the pyramids. "I don't really think you realize how dangerous Egypt can be. What, is this your first time out or something?"
Faintly, Ryou found that he was blushing, as the thief was probably right. Sighing, Ryou got to his feet, watching quietly as the thief grabbed a long, sturdy stick and began to hike his way up a tall hill of sand.
"….Yeah," Ryou admitted, as he tried to climb up the mound with his fingers. When he reached the top, he watched as the thief merely slid down gracefully. Ryou himself, however, found himself rolling about to get down.
The thief snorted and stopped Ryou mid-roll, and pulled the boy up.
"Yeah, I can tell," the thief remarked. He gazed at Ryou sharply with his red eyes. "What were you thinking? Don't you KNOW you have to pay to get food?"
Feeling a little indignant, Ryou blushed and shook his hand away from the thief's grasp.
"I'm well aware of that," Ryou insisted. "I just…the poor boy looked so hungry and all I wanted was to give him some food…"
The thief shook his head and snorted again. "Nice to know that you have a soft heart, but in this world, it's either you or him. He starves or you do. If you're willing to give up your neck for someone else, it's your choice, but nothing comes free here." The thief turned back and glanced at the pyramid before him. "Everything comes at a price."
Sighing again, Ryou slowly pushed himself away from the mounds and strolled onto the construction site with his white-haired companion. High above them, the mountains of sand were held at bay by wooden walls plastered with mud. The actual construction site was a great big square hold in the sand, filled with mud and muck that had been pattered dry and hard by armies of working feet. Ryou wrinkled his nose at the smell of the mud, but he couldn't help but become intrigued at the vast majority of work before him.
The intricacy of it all! Great stone pillars that were finished in design but dusted by sand. Tall stalks of wooden beams that held together stepladders, levels and stories for workers to sit and stand. Buckets of plaster and hay mixture to pack in details and to sculpt. Ryou had to take in a moment to marvel at it all. Was this truly how much work that had to be done to create one single tomb?
As dirty and mucky as it all was, to Ryou, there was a strange, haunting beauty of a pyramid in progress. There was something beautiful about the way the moon was rising, how it reflected off the head of the pyramid, revealing its nearly twinkling eyes and the soft shades of its nose, cheeks and lips. In the moonlight, the great pharaoh's head looked nearly real, despite his rather rigid contours and blank eyes.
Ryou couldn't help but smile. Even incomplete, the pyramid was beautiful.
"Will you quit staring?" a huffed voice asked.
Ryou was quickly startled out of his gazing. He quickly turned to the thief, who was already at least a twenty meters ahead of him, his hands on his hips and looking a little annoyed.
"If you want to look at the Pharaoh's head you've got a whole lifetime to do that," the thief called. "It's not finished yet."
"I don't care." Ryou quickly pushed himself away from glancing at the pyramid and quickly ran to catch up with the thief. "It's beautiful."
The thief stood and looked at him incredulously. "Beautiful?" the thief repeated. "The thing's not even done…."
Ryou shook his head. "I don't care." Ryou looked up again at the pyramid. "It's beautiful. I can't wait till it's done."
"I'll call you about it next century then," the thief noted sarcastically. "Come on." He gestured for Ryou to quickly hurry up. "We haven't got much time. I bet your feet are aching after all that walking."
Ryou winced when he realized that taking another step did hurt a bit. "Yeah…you're right," he admitted. The thief snorted.
"All the more reason to hurry up." And without even waiting for Ryou's reply, the thief began to jog back towards the pyramid. Startled, Ryou quickly hurried after him.
"H-hey! Wait for me!"
"Okay…just watch your step there."
Slowly, Ryou made his way up the winding staircases. Once they had reached the pyramids, the thief had taken much more liberty to take care of Ryou rather than just calling him to hurry up. Apparently there were many traps about, even if they were unfinished.
"Here," the thief grunted. He hoisted Ryou up by the wrist onto the little floor beneath the trapdoor that led to his alcove. "It's really not much…"
For some reason, seeing the thief attempting to be a host almost amused Ryou. At any rate, he couldn't help but giggle when the thief tried to pull down the trapdoor and ended up getting a bag of sand dumped on his head.
"…Um…yeah," the thief said awkwardly. He coughed and hoisted himself through the trapdoor and into the alcove. "Yeah….sorry if the place's a mess…."
He quickly hoisted Ryou up too, who followed and crawled through the trap door. It took a while for Ryou to sink in where he finally was, but when he did, he certainly cherished it.
"It's very…." Ryou looked about. "Homely."
The thief snorted again and closed the trap door. "Nice of you to think so," the thief smirked. He bowed mockingly. "Welcome to my humble abode."
Ryou giggled, finding the thief, who was no longer a stranger, almost humorous. But it was the truth. The place did have a very homey feeling that Ryou was certainly not used to. All his life, the palace had been his home, but it had always been extremely neat and nit-picked to perfection. Although the alcove could use a little cleaning, the messiness of the cloaks and sheets and chipped dinnerware made the alcove looked so much more lived in. In the corner Ryou spied on a little, thin straw mattress. He quickly crawled over to it and petted it lightly with the tips of his fingers.
"You sleep here?" he inquired. The thief nodded his head.
"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"
Rather than being intimidated, Ryou actually laughed, and slowly crawled onto the mattress. Surprisingly, it was soft, even though Ryou could feel the hardness of the floor through it. The thief caught Ryou's puzzled yet content look and threw him a pillow.
"Here. Rest your feet on it," the thief instructed. "I'm going to see if you broke anything or not on the way here."
Ryou smiled. "It's nice to know that you're concerned," he said sincerely. He bent forwards to remove his slippers. "Thanks…"
The thief shrugged and sat before Ryou, cocking his head from side to side, analyzing the injuries first. As Ryou relaxed, he noticed a little something moving about in the thief's bag….when a cobra raised his head from under the bag, Ryou gave a scream.
"What?" the thief exclaimed, jumping.
Ryou shuddered and quickly stepped back. "That!"
The cobra jumped too, and raised his head. "What?" he protested. Ryou squealed again.
"It talks!"
"Of course it talks!" the thief laughed. He grabbed the snake and pulled it out, revealing a boy hanging off on the other side on the torso. The thief chuckled as he cradled the human-half of the hybrid into his arms. "Helpless victim, Diabound. Diabound, helpless victim."
The human-half of Diabound chirruped happily in the thief's arms and waved. "Hello," he said happily, his speech a tad bit slurred. Ryou blinked a few times.
"Aw, let's not be so prejudiced," the cobra said, though his tone was not menacing at all. He reared back and flicked his tongue at Ryou. "So….what's your name?"
Ryou blinked again, and slowly slid back down onto the mat. "….What's yours?" he quickly asked. The snake arched a scaly eyebrow.
"Well, WE'RE Diabound," he said, cocking his head to the sleepy-looking human half. "….But I'm Boundo. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Ryou said weakly. He looked back up at the thief. "Is he…is he your Ka?"
The thief nodded, absent-mindedly scratching the human half's horns. The cobra noted Ryou's puzzled look and supplied, "That's Dia-Dia. If you scratch him there he becomes putty."
Dia-Dia gave a purr.
Ryou blinked, slowly relaxing again. Despite first impressions, neither the thief nor his Ka seemed menacing at all. In fact, Dia-Dia looked positively like a small child enjoying his older brother's affections!
Ryou blinked. "May I…may I pet him?" he asked tentatively. The thief paused in his scratching (Dia-Dia whined) but looked at Ryou suspiciously.
"Why?"
Immediately, Ryou felt ashamed for acting so forward; drawing back, he unconsciously raised a hand to his cheeks to hide his blush. Suddenly, he couldn't seem to meet the thief's eyes.
"Uh…well…I-it's nothing," Ryou said quickly. He cleared his throat and quickly looked out the window in the alcove, noting the dying tints of orange and magenta in the skies. The sun's setting, Ryou thought distantly.
Suddenly, a warm being was pushed into his arms. Caught off guard, Ryou's immediate reaction was to cradle the thing in his arms, and it was then he realized that he was holding the thief's treasured Ka.
Diabound slowly turned his head to one side, almost seeming to size Ryou up. Before long, however, Dia-Dia's lips broke into a friendly smile, and he tentatively nuzzled Ryou's chest. Extremely surprised, Ryou found that he couldn't move for the few seconds that Diabound nuzzled him; the thing was so gentle, so warm and so lovable… it was so hard to believe it was a Ka.
Even the snake portion of Diabound raised his head, licking up Ryou's arm slightly with a flicker of his tongue, to analyze Ryou's scent. The cobra raised his head higher, looking up at Ryou, before swiveling his head back and forth.
"You just gonna hold us, or what?" the snake asked. Jumping, Ryou was started out of his gaze, and before long, he also broke into a smile.
"…Sorry," Ryou said softly, and shifted his arms slightly to accommodate to the snake. The cobra gave a little hum of approval, before stretching out and wrapping itself comfortably around Ryou's arm. For a moment, Ryou stiffened at the idea of a reptile slowly curling around his arm, but he slowly relaxed; Boundo had been kind so far, so it was very unlikely that the cobra would do him any arm.
Carefully, Ryou shifted his weight and brought Diabound closer to his chest. Almost like a mother to her newborn child, Ryou slowly cupped Dia-Dia's head as it lay in the crook of Ryou's arm and against his chest. His soft fingers slowly began to scratch Dia-Dia's horns…the little Ka gave a happy moan, and actually curled up into Ryou's arms, his wings wrapped about him like a blanket.
"He certainly likes you."
Blinking, Ryou raised his head. Before him, the thief had sat down closer to him, one knee up and one arm resting over it. His face held an expression of impressed irony, like as if he didn't quite want to admit how much Diabound was taken with Ryou. The thief leaned over, and also joined in petting Diabound. The Ka purred and fluttered his wings at all the attention he was getting.
Noting that Dia-Dia was certainly getting a lot of affection, Ryou then switched gears and began to stroke the long, smooth body of Boundo. The snake almost seemed surprised; when he raised his head, he was eyeing Ryou with a look of incredulity.
"Wow…you actually pay attention to me!" Boundo exclaimed.
A hand shot out from the thief's side and smacked the snake lightly in the head. "Boundo! Be polite!"
The snake merely ducked, rolled his eyes and lowered his head. "I am polite! I'm just mentioning the fact that he actually gives me a little bit of attention more than you do, you little brat!"
The thief snorted and tapped Boundo on the head. "Who're you calling brat?" the thief chuckled. Boundo smirked and slid into the corner of Ryou's elbow.
"You guess."
The thief chuckled and resumed petting Dia-Dia's wings, only this time, he ended his strokes along Boundo's slithery frame. Ryou watched in curiosity. So apparently the thief wasn't entirely crude…
"So…" the thief looked up again, crimson-brown eyes in curiosity. "What were you doing out there in the marketplace anyway? I haven't seen you around here before."
Blushing almost immediately under his scrutiny, Ryou lowered his head and gently petted Diabound on the head. "…Well…I…" He stammered a bit shyly, before continuing. "…I'm new here, I guess," he lied, very badly.
"You've never been to the marketplace before?" the thief asked. Ryou blushed a deeper shade of red and shook his head.
"N-No…at least…not this one," he said. He wasn't sure what else he could say after that. "…What about you?" He raised his head and looked at the thief's young face. "Is this your first time here too?"
The thief's face split into a boyish grin. "Ha! You kidding me? All the farmers and wives know me around there. And some of the workers too here, when you think about it. I don't know." He slumped onto the ground, grin still in place. Ryou watched as the thief stretched onto the floor, looking less and less like a law-defying 'evil' civilian that the palace royalty had always despised, and more and more into a normal boy. "…I guess everyone kind of knows me around here…except for the guards, which is pretty sad when you think about it."
"Have you ever been caught?" Ryou whispered. The thief snorted.
"Caught?" the boy repeated. "Sure, plenty of times, but I've always gotten away, so no, I've never been caught." The crimson-brown eyes twinkled at Ryou. "I'm still here, aren't I?"
Despite his blush, Ryou actually found himself holding back a giggle. There was something charming about the boy's rough and erratic demeanor. There almost seemed to be a live fire alit in the boy's very soul, ready to roar and spread at the slightest provocation, and yet, ready to slither down into a little, quiet flame whenever the time was right.
Ryou found himself thinking how much he actually liked that fire.
"Do you live here…alone?" Ryou asked softly. He began to regret his question as soon as he realized the boy's grin dying away into a dark scowl. "I mean…sorry..I didn't mean to say anything…"
The thief shrugged and shook it off, looking away from Ryou. "It's fine," the boy muttered. "…And yeah, I live here alone. With Diabound. That's all."
Ryou's shoulders sagged and he looked up at the thief, who had rolled away from him. "…I can understand," Ryou whispered very quietly. He looked away too. "I know what it's like…to lose a family when you're young."
The thief perked up and turned around. "You lost your family too? How?"
Ryou couldn't raise his eyes. "…I don't really like talking about it," he said quietly. "…But I…I know what it feels like…to lose so many things that you love…and… "He looked back down at Diabound, who had fallen peacefully asleep in his arms. "…to cherish… the little things that you…have now."
He heard the boy slowly sit up, and cross his legs. After a deep silence, the boy reached out and briefly touched Ryou's hair.
"…Where do you come from?"
At the little touch, Ryou blushed softly, and brushed his hair back, inadvertently brushing against the soft fingers of the thief's. "…From someplace I don't ever want to go back to," Ryou sighed. "…I ran away, and I'm definitely not going back."
He slowly raised his eyes, almost shyly at the thief. "…What about you?"
The thief paused, and slowly dropped his hand. "…I come from a far away place too," the thief said quietly. "…But I don't think I can ever go back."
Blinking slowly, Ryou lowered his gaze again, and noticed the thief's hand on his lap. Suddenly overcame by the feeling of deep melancholy and remorse, Ryou reached out to the thief's hand, and shyly closed upon it.
"…Neither can I," Ryou whispered. He raised his head again. "Thanks …for saving my life …today."
The thief blinked, but didn't pull away. In fact, the thief's head and also started to lower, his eyes also shifting shyly away. Despite himself, Ryou couldn't help but giggle at the idea of the thief blushing beneath his white bangs.
Despite all that the thief was, Ryou was certain that at least the thief was adorably cute.
"It's no problem," the thief mumbled, slowly bending forwards so their faces drew closer and closer together. "…People like us…we got to…watch out for each other …you know?"
Ryou nodded, his blush turning into a lovely shade of pink at their closeness. "…Yeah…" he whispered. "…Thanks…again."
There it was. Their lips. So close, so close. Ryou thought it was only proper for him to close his eyes then and there.
He could feel the thief's breath wash upon his lips as he spoke.
"No…problem…"
"THERE HE IS!!"
Startled, both Ryou and Bakura jumped back. In the open trap door, the head and bust of the guard captain showed his ugly face, turban falling apart and dripping in front of his sweaty face.
"GET HIM!"
Crying out, Ryou and the thief immediately backed away, scrambling towards the open alcove. In an instant, Diabound was up and fluttering around in a panic, shooting back and froth across the room like an agitated wasp. As Ryou was panicking, thinking that the guards were after him for running away from the palace, Bakura was darting his eyes back and forth from the trapdoor to the window.
"Oh no oh no oh no," Ryou kept on chanting. "Oh no oh no Yugi must've sent them to get me and bring me back---Oh! I'm going to be in so much trouble!!!"
"Quit it!" the thief yelled from his window. White hair bristling, the thief looked out his window and spied the wooden racks below, where the workers normally were seated, chiseling. The racks were empty now. He looked back at Ryou. "Take my hand!"
Ryou blinked, gawking. "W-What?"
The thief shook his hand adamantly. "TAKE MY HAND!"
"B-But…"
"Do you trust me?"
Ryou blinked again, hesitantly holding out his hand. "I-..."
"Do you trust me?"
Biting his lip, Ryou slowly slid his hand into the thief's. Those brown-red eyes, so vivid and beautiful…
"…Yes?"
Far too quickly, Ryou was pulled against the thief, and they shot out the window. Ryou screamed.
"THEN JUMP!!"
Squeezing his eyes shut, Ryou clawed up the thief's arm and held onto the older boy tightly. Wind whistled in their ears. When Ryou peeked and saw the wooden beams coming at them, the thief quickly pulled Ryou close to him, bracing Ryou's fall as they smashed through the weak, wooden planks.
After a few quick bumps, both the thief and Ryou landed on a pile of sand with a heavy fump. Gasping, they quickly pulled themselves up and tried to run for it, when five soldiers came out from around the corner of the pyramid. Biting back a snarl, the thief immediately jerked Ryou around and they headed the other way, only to see at least ten more swarming from the other corner. Hissing, they momentarily paused to view their exits: a great big gap was in the middle between the soldiers on the left and right, leading straight to the desert. The thief swore and dragged Ryou after him into the gap.
The only thing that sucked about the desert, Bakura thought, was that there was nowhere to hide.
They ran as fast as they could, their feet pattering against the sand. But no matter how far or how fast they ran, there was no way they could outrun so many soldiers at once. Not two little teenagers against twenty full-grown men.
Soon the inevitable happened: Ryou tripped and fell into the sand. Cursing, the thief came back to help Ryou up, but it was too late. Twenty soldiers came running up at him, and slammed into him like a charging rhinoceros. The captain was running up, waving his sword like crazy, his turban unraveled and streaking after him.
"We got him! We got him! We got him! HOLD HIM DOWN!!"
Though the thief put up a great fight, Ryou was torn away from him as five men fought to hold the thief down. Two easily grabbed Ryou and hoisted him up, though he too fought like mad to get to the thief. The captain came up, dancing like mad, dark kohl smeared across his face from his sweat.
"Tie him down! We have him now!"
"Don't touch him!" Ryou cried. As hard as he could, he wrestled away from the soldiers holding him, and at the captain. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!!"
The captain wasn't even surprised when Ryou came at him, beating his fists on the captain's chest. In fact, despite his ragged demeanor, the captain merely chuckled and grabbed Ryou's wrists easily.
"Well well well, look what we have here!" He swiftly backhanded Ryou across the face. "A street mouse!"
The other soldiers laughed as Ryou flew into the ground, his linen sprawling about. Around him, he heard the thief being dragged to his feet, no doubt bound.
Panting hard, Ryou angrily stood up, glaring at the men around him.
"Unhand him!" He swiftly took off his hood. "By order of the Prince of Egypt!!"
The laughing abruptly stopped, and the triumphant grins turned into 'oh shit' grimaces. Likewise, the captain's eyes grew wide and he turned pale, before he quickly bowed.
"Prince Ryou!!"
Sputtering, the thief, who had also been forced down to bow, raised his head in disbelief. What? The PRINCE?
Holding himself with more authority than he felt, Ryou raised his head and tried to hold his glare at the large, bulky soldiers. Even bowing low, they still intimidated him.
"Unhand him," Ryou repeated again, though his voice was a little shaky. He pointed to the thief. "Unhand him at once!"
Mumbling apologies, the soldiers shuffled to their feet, looking between the thief to the captain unsurely. The captain smiled and chuckled weakly, stepping forwards towards Ryou.
"I would if I could, Prince," the captain said with a strained grimace. "But my orders come from Priest Marik…" He looked between the thief and the prince, his arms raised a little in a helpless sort of way. "I'm afraid you'll have to take it up with him."
All confidence gone, Ryou's shoulders sagged as he watched the guards gag the thief and start dragging him away. Bristling, Ryou hurried up to catch up the soldiers carrying the thief, but the captain stopped him.
"I'm afraid you can't touch him, your Highness," the captain apologized. "He's for Master Marik and Master Marik only."
"Why does the Priest want anything to do with him?" Ryou demanded. "He's just a thief!"
The captain shrugged and slowly began to tidy up his turban, as though trying to distract himself from the prince's questions. "He is a nuisance, my lord," the captain admitted. "That boy over there isn't any ordinary thief. He's been plaguing this part of Egypt for a while now; no one's been able to catch him." Finishing his turban, the captain fixed his beady glare onto Ryou. "You have a problem with his capture, you talk with Master Marik," the captain said boldly. Turning away, the captain began to head after the soldiers dragging the thief. "I'm only doing my job."
Feeling very defeated, Ryou stopped in his tracks, watching as the soldiers progressed slowly back to the castle. He was still very indignant about the whole situation, and when he saw the poor teenage boy being dragged through the sand so harshly, Ryou suddenly felt very confident again.
"Believe me," Ryou murmured to himself, watching his savior that day being heaved away, "I'll definitely ask Master Marik."
A/N: A tad bit weird, since Disney and YGO don't EXACTLY mix together. At any rate, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter…partially. I'm more not really into the Gemshipping romance…I'm more interested in the funny images we get as Bakura as "Prince Akefi" and Malik as…Ooops! Maybe I shouldn't say so much now. Oh well, at least we all enjoy Diabound as a chibi.
Merry Christmas! Please read and review!
