Well, here's the next chapter. Enjoy! I don't own Yugioh. XD
A few weeks later, Mana was up and about again. Atem refused to leave her alone after he had gotten her back from Bakura—he didn't want to risk losing her again.
"So," Mana said with a mischievous smile, "are you going to be sleeping in my room now that I'm out of the infirmary? Or am I sleeping in yours?"
Atem blushed furiously. Did she have to ask that? "No, no that wouldn't be appropriate at all. I'll just post some guards outside your chambers."
Mana sighed. "You know the guards don't care what happens to me."
"Sure they do. At least, if they don't want to tick off Mahad. You haven't seen him when he's angry, and you don't want to. Trust me."
"And since when will Mahad be mad if they don't protect me?"
Atem sighed. She was so naïve sometimes. "Mana, in case you haven't noticed, Mahad actually does like you. Why else would he always visit and tell you absolutely untrue stories about me when I was younger just to embarrass me?"
Mana laughed at his pitiful defense for the embarrassing stories. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Atem." Mana stared up at the tree in front of them. The two had made their way to the garden, which was relatively private. Atem followed her gaze and reached up to pick some of the fruit from the tree for her.
"Here, Mana," he said, handing the fruit to her.
She took it with a smile, then hugged him, causing him to blush. "Thanks, Atem. You're sweet, you know that?" Of course, this comment made him blush even more.
What is wrong with me? he thought. I've never felt like this before. Everything that she says and does...
Atem watched her eat and realized what was wrong with him—he was falling in love. With a former thief. Boy, wouldn't his father be thrilled? Not to mention the girl herself, who hadn't even been able to stand him a short while ago. Talk about a doomed relationship. Atem sighed, drawing Mana's attention.
"Is something wrong, Atem?" she asked, her eyes filled with concern.
Atem shook his head. "No, nothing, Mana."
Mana was kicking herself mentally. She had hugged the prince—what had she been thinking? There was no way that she had a shot at him. He was the prince of Egypt! He had to marry someone of equal status to him, or at least close. Probably he would marry some princess from another land, like Babylonia or Assyria.
But not me, she thought sadly.
She was brought out of her stupor by the appearance of white hair in her peripheral vision. Turning, she saw Ryo quickly making his way out of sight. Mana frowned; he had been avoiding her a lot lately. "Hey, Ryo!" she called.
He froze, then turned slowly. "Uh, hi, Mana," he said. "Sorry, can't talk. I've got to, uh..."
"You have nothing to do today at all, Ryo," said Atem. "Why don't you come spend some time with us today? I don't see nearly enough of you."
Ryo kept his head down as he approached the two. Mana sighed. "Ryo, what's wrong? You've been avoiding me these last weeks. You never came to visit me in the infirmary—I would have thought you would be there every chance you get."
Shifting his weight, Ryo muttered something unintelligible. The only word Mana could make out was "brother."
"Ryo, it's not your fault that you have a jerk for a brother, or that he attacked me. What, you think I blame you?"
"I just thought that you might not want me around since my brother..."
"Ryo," Atem said. The boy looked up at him shyly. "You aren't your brother. Him, we don't want around. You, however, are the exact opposite of your brother in many ways. Nobody is upset with you."
Ryo nodded, smiling. Then he frowned and said, "But Bakura won't give up. He'll probably be back any day now. You might want to prepare for another attack from him."
Atem nodded, taking note. Mana figured that the plan to just post guards outside of her room had been abandoned in light of this information—guards wouldn't be able to keep Bakura away from her with the ka that he had.
Ryo ran off to find Isis. Mana looked up at Atem and said with a grin, "So, your room or mine?"
Bakura smirked as he sneaked into the palace. Even after they had had an intruder in here twice recently—one who hadn't been captured—they still couldn't keep him out. Then again, nobody could keep him away from what he wanted, and what he wanted right now was in the palace.
Quietly, he crept into the room occupied by the young boy, the orphan the prince had invited here. Bakura couldn't stand the sight of the treacherous little brat—the nerve of him, helping the prince instead of his own flesh and blood!
One thing was for sure, that wasn't going to happen again. Ryo wouldn't be siding with anyone where he was going.
"Sleep tight, Ryo," Bakura muttered, pulling out a rope.
"My prince, will you pay attention?" Atem jumped as Siamun lost his temper with him for about the thousandth time that day.
"I'm sorry, Siamun, what were you saying?"
Siamun shook his head. "My prince, what is the matter with you this morning? You're paying even less attention than usual. Is there something on your mind?"
Atem sighed. He could use some advice, so he might as well come clean. "Actually, yes. You see, I can't stop thinking about this young lady I know." No need to tell him who.
Siamun's eyes lit up. "Well, well, the prince is in love. Who's the lucky lady?"
Blushing, Atem responded, "That is none of your business."
"If she might be our queen one day, then it certainly is my business! Let me guess, Mana?"
"Siamun!" The vizier laughed merrily.
"I knew it! You do spend a great deal of time with her, after all."
Atem waited for the part where Siamun told him that he couldn't marry a peasant, let alone a former criminal, but that part never came. "Are you forgetting, Siamun, that she is a peasant?"
The old man shrugged. "What does that matter? You are your father's son, and your father never put much stock in the rules when it came to choosing a bride."
Atem stared at him incomprehensibly. "Wasn't my mother a princess of some distant land?"
Siamun chuckled, saying, "Yes, but before he met her, your father was going to marry a slave girl. Oh, his father almost had a heart attack when your father told him."
"So, what you're saying is that my father won't object to me marrying a peasant girl?"
"Not at all, my prince. The priests certainly will, but they cannot tell you what to do. You are a living god, after all." Siamun chuckled again, then got a serious look on his face. "Now that that matter is resolved, can we get back to the lesson?" At Atem's bewildered nod, Siamun continued.
Ryo groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was throbbing as if something heavy had whacked against it. Looking around, Ryo panicked. This wasn't his room—this wasn't even the palace!
W-where am I? He was lying in an alley. There was nobody around, a fact which Ryo couldn't decide whether it was good or bad.
"Hello?" he called out, walking down the alley. There had to be somebody around here.
Hands grabbed him from behind. "Alright, just do what I say and nobody gets hurt, got it?" said a male voice. Ryo turned to see his captor—a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. Ryo gulped, realizing he was in trouble this time.
"Jono!" a chorus of voices called from behind the blonde. He groaned as a spiky-haired boy came running over. "What are you doing?" the newcomer said.
Other voices whose owners Ryo still couldn't see added to that. "That's no way to treat somebody!" "Yeah, at least let me have a shot at him!" "Honda!" "Sorry, Shizuka."
The blonde, Jono, let Ryo go. "Sorry," he mumbled, not sounding sorry at all. The spiky-haired boy looked at Ryo apologetically. "Sorry about that. Jono doesn't like strangers." It took Ryo a moment to realize that was a joke. He was busy trying to figure out why this boy looked like the prince.
"Oh, great, Jono, look what you've done!" A brunette came forward. Her hair hung to her shoulders, and her blue eyes were filled with concern. "Are you all right?" she asked kindly. Ryo nodded mutely, then shook his head as he changed his mind.
"Well, which is it?" That was the voice that had asked for a shot at him. Ryo looked at the man who had spoken; he had brown hair and looked like a thug, like the blonde.
"I—I don't know..." he muttered. "I-I'm kinda lost. Where am I, exactly?"
Another girl spoke up. This one had light brown hair that hung down to her waist. She bore resemblance to the blonde, so Ryo assumed they were related. "You must be lost. We didn't think anybody else lived here."
"Which is why I say we shouldn't trust him!" the blonde shouted in apparent outrage.
Ryo paled. If these people were all that lived here, then this couldn't be Memphis. "Where am I?" he asked. His voice sounded quiet even to his own ears.
The spiky-haired boy looked at him with concern and answered, "Akhetaten. You're in Akhetaten."
Okay, so to clarify, Akhetaten is the name of the city that was built by Akhenaten, a pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. He had the city built as the new capital when he decided to turn Egyptian religion monotheistic and worship only Aten, the sun disk. The city was abandoned after his death. The archaeological site in modern times is called Amarna. Anyhoo, it's a good ways south of Memphis, so Ryo's pretty far from home.