Seto: so… how much is the chapter going to cost me?
Dragon: -shrugs shoulders- how much is Atemu's happiness worth?
Seto: -groans- that's not fair!
Desidera: I have to say four things today:
1. Dragon gets an award for the two giant sentences done all in ancient Egyptian, folks!! That takes you hours! Give her credit, hm? –grins-
2. I apologize for the Japanese sentence. It's certainly wrong but I don't know it any better and – let's assume – Atemu doesn't either.
3. Sorry if the updates take a little longer now...the last three weeks of school till the holidays are certainly hard and stressful.
4. Thanks for all your reviews!!! You're awesome!
"So tell me again why we are going to this doubutsuen?"
"You need to learn more Japanese and this is a good way to learn about the animals we have in this time. You've come along way in the past couple of weeks and I think this will make it easier to put an image with a word."
"Ah."
Atemu walked beside Seto, hand in hand, as they entered the zoo. Eyes wide, the Pharaoh looked around the vast area with interest. Even though he was use to seeing exotic animals around his palace, this place held so much more. He could already hear the strange calls, cries, and noises as they approached the first cage.
Crimson eyes stared in wonderment at the beautiful, large but graceful cat that lazily padded around manmade confinement. It reminded him of the lions that his many gods and goddesses were connected with. But there were differences, such as this creature had stripes, lacked the impressive mane, and the coloring was off. Curious, he asked Seto what it was.
"That is a tora. In the wild they live in places such as India, Tibet, and China. Do you remember the map I showed you?" Seto looked out the corner of his eye seeing Atemu nod his head. That had been one of the first things they had taught him. Atemu had no concept of just how many countries were on the planet. Amazingly, the former spirit was able to remember most of them in less than a couple of days after being shown. It pleased him to no end to see how brilliant Atemu's mind was.
"Seto, why are they in cages? Animals such as them should be free."
Sapphire eyes turned and gazed at him, "Because in this day an age many of these animals are endangered, their habitat or home, rather, are being destroyed. If we didn't keep them like this then they would become extinct. And the cages let us look at them without getting hurt."
A delicate eyebrow rose, "Why is their home being destroyed? Why would people endanger the lives of sacred animals? Do you people really not care to anger the gods?"
Inwardly Seto sighed. He had tried countless times to tell the other that his gods are no longer but Atemu refused to believe this. He grimaced when he remember that rather heated argument they had about it. The Egyptian stood firm in his beliefs and even though Seto disagreed with him, he had to admire his steadfast faith.
"Atemu, you know how I think about those gods of yours, but as to why the land is being destroyed… well that is because space for humans is limited and we must take over any available land and resources."
The crimson-eyed teen snorted and crossed his arms over his chest but didn't pursue the matter. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with Seto.
Before long, they found themselves walking in the area that housed the birds. Talk between them had been nothing but educational for the former spirit.
"This one is a type of fakurou. They are mainly from northern America and northern Asia."
"He's beautiful," Atemu breathed. He was awe struck by the snowy white feathers and golden eyes.
Seto nodded his head not really caring about the appearance of the bird. Turning his head to look at the upcoming creatures, he smiled a bit when he saw something that he was sure Atemu would love to see.
Grabbing his hand, he gently pulled the other over to an oversized metal cage. "Look here Atemu." He said as he faced the tanned boy towards the desired object.
Atemu looked and his eyes widened. The cage was larger than the rest, a wood-like landscape built inside, in the middle a rocky ledge with a leafless tree on top of it, serving as a lookout place for a godly creature – at least to Atemu's eyes. Brown feathers elegantly adorning the lithe, agile frame, strong graceful wings resting for now, ready to spread and carry their owner to endless skies, while sharp, yellow eyes searched the ground below for prey.
"Hr!" he whispered.
Seto smiled, "Actually it is taka now, falcon."
"Ah, I don't care", Atemu dismissed the Japanese lesson, staring at the animal with the fascination of a child looking at the candles on a Christmas tree.
Incredulously, Seto noticed the falcon caught Atemu's gaze and held it. Suddenly he understood how much alike they were, both beautiful and proud, both wild and dangerous, both free and untamed like the winds of the desert, yet both caged in a world that wasn't theirs....
"He looks so much like Asim", Atemu mumbled, getting closer to the aviary, the bird's eyes never once averting from his. He touched the bars as gently as he would touch the feathers of the sacred animal. "Pt nb"
But as Seto studied his face more closely, he noticed a great sorrow lying in the smile, which now seemed almost wistful to him. And then the smile turned into a confused frown.
"Why do they keep you like this?", the pharaoh asked the falcon, "Why imprison you?"
"It's because if they didn't he'd leave and never come back", Seto tried to explain, but Atemu didn't even look at him.
"Then they should let him be. I couldn't stand to be caged either."
With a last disgusted look at the iron bars, Atemu stomped off towards the entrance of the aviary, trying to open the door. When he found it locked, anger formed on his face and the lively color of his eyes darkened dangerously.
"No!", Seto cried, wrenching him away. "You can't do that! You can't free him!"
"Why not?!!" Atemu shouted, tearing himself away from Seto, "He needs to be free!!! I can't bear to see him like this!!"
"Atemu," Seto tried to reason, "He wouldn't survive more than three days in the wild. He isn't used to it, he was most likely born here!"
"Then I will get him used to the wild!! I don't care how long it takes, I need him to be free!"
"No way, Atemu!"
The pharaoh's eyes narrowed.
"Fine!", he spat, "I don't need your help or your permission!" With those words he turned back to the door and again the shadows started to dance in his eyes, tingling in his fingers and making Seto lose his calm.
He grabbed Atemu and forcefully pulled him away, capturing him with his back against the cage, holding him in place. "Stop it!", he hissed, then remembered to touch the rod and continued, "Atemu, they will punish you for letting the falcon escape! You can't just do that in our society!"
But Atemu had been a pharaoh, and he still was a fierce fighter. Not a pleasant combination, considering his anger was now directed at Seto.
"You will not order me anything!!", he shouted, "No one will punish me! I'm the child of the gods!!"
It had suddenly become very quiet all around them. Seto noticed and turned around, only to see frightened mothers ushering their children away from them. He immediately let go of Atemu's wrists, while the other also noticed the looks directed at him and shut his mouth.
When most of the other people had gone off to another cage, Seto again faced Atemu, surprised to see a decisive look on his face.
"We will buy the falcon", Atemu stated flatly, "I can't, won't leave him here."
"Ooooh, no," Seto immediately objected, "I certainly won't have a falcon in my house and an aviary in my garden!"
"Then I will stay here!", the pharaoh told him, "Next to the cage, all alone, no matter how many people look at me strangely! I won't leave without the falcon"
The last time Seto had heard a threat like this had been when Mokuba was ten. The thought that the pharaoh might use the same methods of persuasion as a ten-year-old almost made him laugh. Well, almost, since Atemu could be far more persistent than his younger brother.
The argument lasted for more than half an hour, and during that time they both received a number of strange looks. Even after those thirty minutes they hadn't come to a decision and the discussion was only interrupted by a zoo warden who not so kindly asked them to stop frightening people away.
Seto couldn't blame him, since their love hadn't lessened the intensity of their confrontations.
The pharaoh's next comment almost made Seto doubt if he had made the right decision in letting Atemu move in with him. Certainly though, he did regretted ever taking him to the zoo or showing him the falcon, because the fiendish ex-ruler just smirked at him and turned to the warden, saying,
"Warera koubai taka"
The warden gaped at him, either because of his broken Japanese or because of his request or both, Seto didn't know.
But Atemu just smiled and sat down on the bench in front of the cage with a meaningful look towards Seto, that clearly stated, 'I will stay here if you don't do this.'
At the age of ten Mokuba had usually been very successful with this method of persuasion. As Seto discovered that a three thousand-year-old pharaoh could get the same results he thought about seeing a doctor immediately. Or a psychologist. Or perhaps both.
Back at the mansion Atemu was happily singing an Egyptian song to himself, heading to the garden immediately and dragging Seto after him to show him where exactly he wanted to put the aviary. The keepers of the zoo had promised to transport the falcon to them the next day.
"It would be good here, when you include that tree, don't you think so too, Seto?", Atemu chattered, while the other just grunted. He was supposed to be angry with his pharaoh, but failed miserably every time he glanced at Atemu's face and saw the joy there.
Eventually they agreed on a place and Seto called a bunch of expert workers who could build the new home for the falcon in one day. Atemu watched them the whole time while they worked, and every time Seto talked to him, he told him old stories about him and his falcon, Asim, back in Egypt. Now Seto loved when the other would talk to him, loved to listen to his nice, deep voice, but after the fifth tale even he was getting tired of it, as well as jealous of the falcon.
So now, as they sat on the back porch overlooking the construction, Seto hung his head and closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he had let Atemu get a falcon out of him. Mentally, he calculated the amount of money he was shelling out for this little pet-project of the Pharaoh's. It's not like the money really mattered, it was just the very idea of spending it on something trivial as a bird!
But looking back over to Atemu, seeing that undeniable joyous look on his handsome face, he just shrugged his shoulders and wondered when exactly he had become soft – oh yeah, when he spoke those three little words…
"What the hell is this?!"
Seto turned around and found his brother standing just inside the siding glass doors, staring with his mouth agape at the workers and building material.
"That is the result of a very bad idea."
"Huh?" Mokuba walked over and took a seat in one of the chairs beside his brother before he turned and smiled at Atemu. "nfr mSrw, Atemu."
The Pharaoh smiled, "nfr mSrw, Mokuba."
Ever since Atemu had begun to learn Japanese, Mokuba had started learning the royal's language. The younger Kaiba was intrigued by the foreign sounding words and wanted to learn, plus he felt it would be nice if the former spirit had someone he could talk to in his native tongue. It was Mokuba's way of giving something back to Atemu for making his brother happy.
"So brother, mind telling me what's going on?"
Sighing he began, "Well I thought we would go to the zoo and have a Japanese lesson but it seems it turned into a shopping spree when Atemu spotted the falcon exhibit. He didn't take too kindly to it being caged and pitched a royal fit, literally. Believe it or not, his tactics at getting what he wants are better than yours. So as you can see, as of tomorrow Atemu will be the proud owner of a falcon."
Mokuba blinked before he fell over laughing.
"It's not funny Mokuba."
"Yes, it is," he said between fits of laughter. "Just wait till Yugi-tachi hears about this. The great Ice King Seto Kaiba giving in to his famous rival."
He growled his reply, "You don't get it! He thinks that thing is a god! He swears it should be free and he is going to teach it to live as it would in the wild!"
Atemu glared at the older Kaiba. He had been listening to the conversation, picking up on an enough words to know what they were talking about. Talking about his gods as if they didn't exist was beginning to irritate him greatly.
Slate-gray eyes caught the look Atemu was giving his brother and tried to defuse the situation. "But brother, you surely realize that Atemu is a Pharaoh and still thinks like one. Even you must remember studying about the ancient gods in school. To the Egyptians the gods are real and the Pharaoh is the Living Horus. Of course he's going to think a falcon is a god."
Seto snorted and crossed his arms. In the heat of the discussion, he clearly forgot Atemu was there and could understand a good bit of what he was saying. "Mokuba, Atemu is living in our time now and he needs to realize that his gods are no longer. Just because he use to be Pharaoh doesn't mean he is in this time; he is not Horus."
Fuming, Atemu stood up and pounded his fist on the patio table. " p3 ntrw nh! R nh! Wsir nh! Ir(i) nn hm! M33 m p3y-k irk! wi, nb-t3wy, nis R!" (translation: The gods live! Ra lives! Osiris lives! Do not be ignorant! See with your eyes! I, Son of Ra, summon Ra!)
Both brothers froze wide-eyed as they watch the crimson aura flare around Atemu. Eyes ablaze with power, flashed as a golden light pierced the darkening sky. The holy beam flooded the entire area, illuminating everything it it's path. A mighty, unearthly roar broke the deafening silence that played around them.
All eyes from both the workers and Kaibas stared transfixed as a golden dragon broke through clouds and descended to the land below. With a smirk on his face, Atemu crossed his arms and looked at Seto and Mokuba. "h3 im! m R! Seto, Ir(i) nn sta, R nh!" (translation: Ha! There! Behold Ra! Seto, do not be difficult!)
Everyone stared at the beast in horror as it again let out a mighty roar, dark clouds gathering around it, lightning sizzling through them. Mokuba took a step back and grabbed the sleeve of Seto's trench coat. That action woke Seto from his numb state of shock.
"What the hell are you doing!!!!", Kaiba screamed, losing his temper, while everyone stared at the dragon in shock. "Get Ra away!!!"
Atemu glared at him with a truly vengeful smile on his face, eyes dark with dancing shadows and a satisfied gleam in them. It infuriated Seto to no end and with a loud growl he stomped over towards the pharaoh. Atemu's eyebrows drew together as he whispered menacingly, "kfA-ib, Seto. Ptr Dnd ny wr nTr." (translation: Careful, Seto. Observe the rage of the great god.)
Seto felt irritation take over his soul like a black fire and a hundred murderous thoughts ran through his head, but he knew he had to will them down. He looked hard at Atemu's face, trying to see something he loved in that face. There was cold rage there, anger, but beneath it all, he suddenly recognized hurt.
He stopped abruptly. He had hurt Atemu's feelings. He, who had sworn to love him most, had hurt the pharaoh. He had done all this to him and now he hurt him and taking the last thing he believed in away from him.
Why did he want to do that? Did he want to imprison Atemu in his house and change him into a perfect Japanese boy? No, never! Then why was he doing this? Atemu had respected everything the new world had offered to him, until he had seen the caged falcon. But he hadn't even accepted one small thing of Atemu's world! Even his little brother had understood the need to do so and had tried to learn a bit of Atemu's language... Just because no one else believed in the Ancient Egyptian Gods didn't mean Atemu couldn't believe in them. Hell, it made him even more exotic, unique, and perfect! No, he certainly couldn't change Atemu to his own likes and dislikes, he was his own person. That would be putting him...into a cage; like the falcon.
He realized suddenly what Atemu had felt, looking at the imprisoned symbol of his god. The anger, the sadness, the feeling of betrayal.
Kamisama, what had he done? And how could he mend the hurt he had caused? It seemed there was only one way to do so, to show Atemu what he felt. It required giving a bit of himself away as well, getting soft, getting weak, getting dependent. But wasn't Atemu more important? Didn't he want to give all of himself to Atemu? Yes, he did. And so, only this once, he had to give in.
He took a last step forward and put the rod to the ground, then he stood back, looked Atemu in the eye and tried to recall everything he had ever said, find the words he needed and form two sentences out of it.
"Wi mAA... tn ...Nxtw. Wi ....xti." (I see... your.... victory. I ...retreat.)
Atemu's mouth fell open, his god suddenly forgotten. His lover had talked in Egyptian! Without the rod's help! And those words! Oh, he now knows how much they must have cost his former High Priest. He saw the hidden meaning that lay in them and suddenly all his anger dissolved, and with it the shadows around him. With a silent wave of his hand he dismissed Ra, thanking him absently, his eyes never leaving Seto's form, which stood proudly, straightly, but hung his head as if he was afraid of himself. Then Seto turned around without a word, leaving the rod where it lay and walked over to the frightened workers.
Absentmindedly, Atemu realized he told them the dragon was one of his machines or – how did he call them? – holograms, and that there was no need to worry. The pharaoh picked up the rod and held it in both hands, staring down at it. He stood like this for the longest time. Suddenly he felt Mokuba tapping him on the arm.
"My brother, Sm." Mokuba said in a mixture of Egyptian and Japanese, pointing to where he expected Seto to be. Atemu nodded and walked off as if in a dream, past the unfinished aviary towards the tall tree in the last corner of the garden. Seto was leaning against the tree and the pharaoh halted a few meters before him.
He must have heard Atemu approach him, but he didn't look him in the eye, just stared down again. Very gently, the other boy stepped closer and took Seto's hand, putting the rod into it and curling his fingers around it, holding them so he could communicate with the other. When he had done so he bit his lip, not finding the right words. Unexpectedly, Seto suddenly started the conversation.
"I sure am a horrible lover. I don't think I deserve you. Maybe you would be happier living with Yugi, now you can talk to him...."
Atemu sighed softly, his thumb running circles over Seto's hand. "Don't say that, Seto. I would never want to live apart from you."
Slowly, Seto turned his face to look at him. "Even if I hurt you like this? Even if I already made so many mistakes?" His eyes hardened. "Go away, Atemu, it's better for you."
The other just smiled, taking Seto's free hand into his and lifted it to his cheek, placing it there and holding it in place.
"No," Seto mumbled desperately, "You make yourself unhappy. Go away. Go away!" He tried to shout but it came out as a miserable choking sound as Atemu pressed his lips hard against Seto's. "Go...away...", he panted helplessly as Atemu started to place kisses up and down his neck.
"Never", Atemu whispered against his skin, "Never."
Seto's hand slipped to the back of Atemu's head and tenderly pulled him against his chest, the rod pressing painfully into their sides between them, but niether of them cared. And then he whispered into his pharaoh's ear, "I will never try to cage you again, my falcon."
Translations:
Doubutsuen – zoo
Tora – tiger
Fakurou – owl
Hr – Horus
Pt nb – sky lord
Warera koubai taka – we buy falcon
Nfr mSrw – good evening
Sm - go