Author's note: Hmm... I wonder if anyone's still reading this... One way to find out... And if you've stuck with it and have been waiting, sorry for the long wait. Writer's block.
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Warnings: Yaoi (M/M relationships), abuse, language, sexual situations.
"We have to get permission to leave?" Malik asked that morning as he and Ishtar got ready.
"Yep," Ishtar replied back while rummaging through a small chest. A moment later he pulled out a simple white tunic and tossed it to Malik. "My old one. It should fit you." He continued to look through his belongings before coming up with a rope for his waist and some sandals. He handed them to Malik and then proceeded to turn around to give the boy some privacy while he changed.
"But why?" Malik asked as he pulled on the clothes, careful not to twist or hit his bandaged injuries the wrong way. Although Ishtar deemed him capable of physically functioning normally, they still rather hurt when strained.
"It's part of the town laws, mostly put into place by Meialim. He's our leader," he clarified, when he heard the question coming. "When this town was first put together, he organized everything, and made sure every individual was taken care of. Many people living here owe their lives to him, myself included. I personally trust his judgment, but sometimes people get a little... discontent with some laws. And that leads to laws like this one to keep track of who's coming in and out and where they're going or came from so nobody will go blabbing to the wrong people about our location. Specifically to anyone with ties to the Pharaoh."
"The Pharaoh?"
Ishtar nodded. "This entire town's political standing is very anti-Pharaoh, and it's very important our location be kept a secret from him."
"Why's that?" Malik asked, pulling on the sandals.
"Because," Ishtar said turning around. "We're refuges."
Damn! Damn, damn, damn! Jounouchi kicked the side of the bed in frustration. How could this happen? Why the hell did this have to happen! Ryou and Malik... They had only been reunited that day! Damn, damn, and double damn!
They probably weren't even planning on telling him and Yugi about it either, the jerks. Why would they? They only thought of them as property anyway. He knew they couldn't be trusted. Self absorbed royal masters.
The door clicked open and Jounouchi jumped. He quickly leaped for the bed and feigned sleep just as the High Priest came in. He snapped his eyes shut and willed his body to relax. He couldn't let the High Priest know he was awake. He didn't was to have to face him right now. He was too mad at him.
After a few moments he felt the bed dip next to him, and the light of the candle went out. He tried his hardest to keep his breathing steady as he felt a hand gently move up and down his arm. He had to keep pretending to sleep. Not only did he not want to have to face him now, but the High Priest might have other things he'd like to do if he knew he was awake.
Not that is had been that bad last night. In fact, the High Priest had been very gentle with him. So gentle. Feather light caresses. Soft, calming whispers. Sweet kisses that made him feel...
He curled up in a sudden panic, shifting away from the High Priest away in the process. He couldn't... He didn't want him to... He couldn't... The stroking stopped, and he felt the High Priest roll over. His breath evened out, and in a few minutes, he was asleep.
Jounouchi rolled over onto his stomach and sighed into the pillow. He was going to have to act like he didn't know. He wasn't afraid of what would happen if his master found out he had been eaves dropping. He couldn't handle anything any mast could throw at him, especially now that he had more power to defend himself. But he didn't want to upset Yugi. He didn't want to see that look of disappointment on his face, that look of loss. And for those exact reasons, he couldn't tell Yugi about getting his powers back.
He wouldn't let Yugi get hurt again. He didn't want to have to see his best friend in pain anymore.
Bakura removed the last of the boards from the windows and allowed the morning sunlight into the room. The storm had finally passed, and there didn't seem to be any lasting damage done. A little patch job, a sweep of the sand, and everything would be fine. He pulled some bread out of the box in the corner and sat down to breakfast. As he ate, he picked up the Millennium Ring, taking the opportunity to examine it closer.
The gold glimmered in the sunlight as he adjusted the angle, admiring the symbol engraved in the center of the triangle. The five points dangled freely, coming just short of jingling against each other. Swallowing, he put his meal down and held the ring in both hands, getting a feel for its weight. It was surprisingly light, but heavy in another way. Like it was overflowing with power. A power that seemed to call out to him.
Looking around, he found a leather strap and looped it through the small whole at the top, and tied it around his neck. As he let the Item fall to his chest, the sunlight hit it at an angle that made it flash spectacularly. At least, he was pretty sure it was the sun.
Bakura sat up and stretched, yawning lightly. Item or not, last light had taken its toll on him.
Last night...
He whirled around, looking wildly around the room. Then he cursed creatively, and ran out the door.
Where was the kid!?
A number of possibilities ran through his head in the course of a few seconds. He had just left to get some air. He was wandering around the buildings. He was trying to run away. He tried to leave again during the storm and got trapped in it. He got lost and some marauders found him and...
Damnit, where was he!
He turned a corner and slammed into Ryou, who stumbled backwards, but retained his balance, unlike Bakura who fell backwards onto the ground. The thief's first reaction to seeing Ryou staring down at him was relief, followed quickly by rage as he jumped up, grabbing the boy roughly by the forearms, shaking him for good measure.
"Where the hell did you go?"
"What... are you... talking... about?" Ryou asked as the thief shook him.
"You were gone just now! Where in the name of hell were you?"
Ryou, finding it difficult to speak while being shaken back and forth took the only measure available at the time and brought his foot down onto the thief's. Hard. Bakura couldn't stop the wince, but managed to replace it with a glare fairly quickly. In his effort to look like Ryou's tactics had not hurt him, he stopped shaking the younger boy momentarily, giving him a small opening to speak.
"What are you getting so worked up about? I had to go relive myself. It's a pretty basic human function."
Bakura blinked. "You... had too..."
"Well, yeah. What? Were you worried I would run away?"
Bakura growled at him, doubling his efforts as Ryou studied his face.
"No... That's not right. You were worried about me. You were worried something happened to me."
"Shut up," Bakura growled dangerously, but that couldn't hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks. Couldn't stop the small signs of relief coming over his face at the knowledge that Ryou had not been in danger.
Ryou grinned slyly, much to Bakura's annoyance. "You know, you're kinda cute when you're being protective."
"I said shut up!"
"You're kind of cute when you're trying to act scary too. But maybe that's just because you're cute in general."
Bakura pinned him against the side of the building, kissing with great intensity. He could feel Ryou's knees buckle against him, and finally released his mouth when he heard a moan.
"Wha- what... was that for?" Ryou gasped out, trying to regain his breath.
"Whatever it takes to shut you up," Bakura said huskily. Then he kissed him again.
"What do you mean we can't leave?" Ishtar asked, shocked by the gatekeeper's response.
"Sorry, Ishtar, but the storm did allot of damage to this place, and everyone is required to help clean up and rebuild. Meialim's orders."
"But..." Ishtar started, glancing over at Malik who at that point looked like he had just given up on life altogether.
"I'm sorry, Ishtar," the guard repeated.
Ishtar looked at him and then at Malik before letting out a frustrated sigh. "Alright, fine. I guess we'll go help everyone else then." The guard nodded and Ishtar took Malik's hand and led him away. "Don't worry," he said to the younger boy. "The orders were that everybody needs to help rebuild and clean up, so I shouldn't take too long. A day or two at the most from the looks of it."
Malik nodded. Ishtar gave him an empathetic smile and a reassuring squeeze of the hand. "Don't worry kid. It'll all work out. I'll make sure of that."
"Thanks."
Some time later, Ishtar and Malik were helping load some wooden planks onto the partially collapsed roof of a shop. All around them was a great amount of activity from patching walls and ceilings to sweeping excessive sand out of the streets. Everyone was helping, from the strongest men to children just old enough to carry rope from one place to another.
Ishtar hauled another plank from the pile and passed it down to Malik so he could tie it in with the bundle to send up to the roof. The younger boy seemed to feeling better, probably because of the work to occupy him.
Once they had loaded enough for the job, two men of the roof pulled it up while Malik and Ishtar moved on to the next building that needed it. It wasn't easy work, but it wasn't particularly difficult either. Ishtar only wished that Malik would talk to him a little. He tried starting up a conversation a few times, asking about his age, family, friend, how he wound up in the dessert, and just about anything else he could think of. Malik's answers were short at best however, and in some cases he wouldn't answer at all.
But in his silence, Malik didn't seem at all to be brooding or anything. Rather, he was deep in thought, like he was trying to work out a particularly hard puzzle.
By the time the sun began to set everyone was on their ways back to their homes for the night to rest up to finish the job the next day. As the two walked back to Ishtar's place, Malik finally spoke on his own volition.
"Ishtar?"
Ishtar looked at the younger boy as they walked on. "Yes?"
"Do you know anything about 'Kuru Eruna?'"
Ishtar blinked. Of all the questions that could have come out of Malik's mouth, he wasn't exactly expecting that one. Still, he answered, "Of course; everyone does. It was the first city to suffer from a series of raids from the Pharaoh."
Malik blinked and cocked his head to the side. "Raids?"
"Yes, raids." Ishtar gave Malik a look, curious as to why he didn't know this, and even more as to why he was asking. "Don't tell me you don't know about the raids. It's common knowledge to even children." Malik only shrugged. "Well, why do you ask?"
Malik didn't answer, and in fear of having the boy go back into his puzzle shell, Ishtar loudly cleared his throat and said, "Well, either way, I only know the basic story about what happened."
"Could you tell me anyway?"
Not seeing any harm in it, Ishtar nodded. "Sure, but let's get back first. I'll tell you everything I know over diner."
Malik gave a shadow of a smile. "Thanks."
Jounouchi lay down on his stomach next to a small pond in the palace gardens, idly making whirlpools in the water. All day the Pharaoh, High Priest, and all the other members of the council had been locked up in their meeting chamber, most likely to figure out what to do about the thefts and kidnappings, leaving Jounouchi to amuse himself. He hadn't had many opportunities to work with his powers, and he didn't want to risk anything too big in case he got caught, but the whirlpool trick was safe enough, although it got rather boring after a while.
"Jounouchi?"
Jounouchi quickly jumped up, stopping all of his whirlpools in the process. He whirled around and saw Yugi walking towards him.
"Oh! Hey Yugi- woah!" Jounouchi stumbled over one of the stones lining the pond, sending him over the edge and towards the water. He braced himself for impact...
And it never came. He was suspended several inches above the pond. "Woah... wah! Wah!" He waved his arms around wildly trying to launch himself into an upright position, succeeding in only causing the water to slash up and down in rhythm with his arms until it accidentally, but effectively, pushed him back on to the ground.
Jounouchi blinked and looked at Yugi who stared back at him with his hand still stretched out at him.
'Did he just...?'
They stared at each other in shock.
"How did you… When did you… but the ring... he took mine off yesterday!" The two friends said in unison. They continued to look at each other and slowly each cracked a smile. The smiles turned to giggles, and in no time at all they were on the floor laughing.
"We're such idiots!"
Yugi could only nod and continue his feeble giggling. After a short while, they had calmed down enough to stand, and after yet another minute were stable enough to walk back towards the palace.
"Jounouchi," Yugi said, "let's not keep any more secrets from each other, alright? I don't know about you, but I don't feel like getting any more big surprises."
"Agreed," Jounouchi stated with a grin. But as they walked on and reached the main entrance, his grin faded. No more secrets. He glanced at his friend, who was walking happily at his side. He didn't want to upset him, so he didn't tell him what he had heard, but...
He had just promised, and he wasn't going to break it that quickly.
"Yugi," he started.
"Yeah?" Yugi asked, looking up at him. The look on Jounouchi's face wasn't the cheerful one it was a minute ago. "What is it?" he asked, slightly more concerned now.
"Yugi, I overheard something last night, and I think you should know about it..."
"Like I said earlier," Ishtar began as the two sat down to dinner by the candle light. "Kuru Eruna was the first village to suffer a series of attacks from the Pharaoh. It was also by far the worst of them all. You see, Kuru Eruna is a rather small town. They aren't warriors and have no defenses at all. In fact, most of the people who lived in the city were women, children, or elderly. So you can imagine how horrible it was when the Pharaoh sent his armies in there to destroy the village."
"A massacre," Malik whispered.
"Exactly. The royal guard killed the entire village and burned the remains, supposedly while the Pharaoh watched, laughing."
"But why would the Pharaoh do that?!"
Ishtar shrugged. "Nobody really knows, although there are allot of rumors. Someone betrayed him, he did it for power, he did it to protect someone, he was possessed, he went mad, he was bored." The list went on and on, some sounding absolutely romantic, others making the Pharaoh seem like the High Lord of Hell. As Ishtar went on to explain in more detail about how sometimes only certain people from villages would be killed and how some escaped their fates by banning together in this city, Malik found it increasingly difficult to believe that the pharaoh would do such a thing. Certainly he had only met him for a few short moments, but he had seemed nice enough to the point of being genuinely a kind man, and Yugi had clearly given his blessing.
More than that, this happened several years ago which would have made him close to eleven years old when it happened. Surely no child would do such a thing as slaughter village after village. Unless it hadn't been the child who ordered it...
"Ishtar," he began slowly, "Is the Pharaoh who did this still in power?"
"Wha-?" Ishtar asked, mouth full of food.
"The Pharaoh who did this," Malik repeated. "Is he still in power?"
Ishtar swallowed and looked thoughtful for a moment. "No... I don't think so. I'm pretty sure he died two years. Good riddance I say."
"But then, why does this village still remain so strongly against the Pharaoh?"
"Because, he's his son. No doubt raised to be the spitting image of his daddy dearest," he said venomously.
"But, I've met the Pharaoh, and from what I could tell he's nothing like his father. He's really nice and- mmph!" Malik look in shock at Ishtar who had lunged over the table and clamped his hand over Malik's mouth before he could continue. Panic in his eyes, his gaze darted from Malik to the open window at which point he dove for it and stuck his head out. Apparently finding no danger in the area he pulled close the wooden shutters and wheeled back on Malik.
He spoke is a hushed and dangerous voice that held not so tiny hints of panic. "Are you crazy? You can't talk like that around here!"
"What are you-" Malik started, but was cut off.
"Keep your voice down!" he whispered. Looking around the room as if he expected a guard to jump out of the shadows at any moment, he took Malik's hand and roughly led him as far into the house as he could into the bedroom.
"Ow! Ishtar, you're hurting me!" He was pushed down onto a chair and Ishtar paced in front of him.
"Malik, listen," he said in a tone more serious than Malik had ever heard him use. "It's dangerous to say that you have had ties to the Pharaoh before, even a very small one. To defend him is even worse. Remember how I told you that this town is made up of refugees?" Malik nodded. "Well we are all survivors of villages that the Pharaoh attacked. Most of us saw our parents, siblings, friends murdered before out eyes. Many of us are the sole survivors of our families. And it is because of the Pharaoh.
"I haven't lost nearly as much as some, but others... Malik you could be killed if anyone finds out that you are defending him. If anyone even catches drift that you could be connected to him in some way... Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get them to let you into this town. To let in an unconscious, injured, dying young boy just because they didn't know of your allegiance." Ishtar stopped pacing and put his hands on Malik's shoulders and stared into his eyes. "Malik, promise that you will never say anything like that again, alright. If anyone heard you, we could both be in more trouble than you could imagine."
Malik stared frightened into Ishtar's piercing eyes and nodded.
Ishtar nodded back and released him with a sigh, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he seemed to have a degree of control over himself again, although there were still traces of fear in his face.
"How do you know the Pharaoh?" He asked quietly.
Malik swallowed. He knew that Ishtar would not turn him in, but rather was worried that he might have saved one of the Pharaoh's loyal followers, and regretted it. Malik for some reason, couldn't help but feel hurt at the thought.
"I was a slave at the palace," he said. "One of my friends is the Pharaoh's personal slave."
Ishtar nodded and sat down on the bed, head in his hands. "That's not too bad," Malik heard him mutter. "It could be worse." He looked up and frowned. Standing up he walked over to Malik and rested his had on his shoulder which Malik just realized he had been unconsciously rubbing.
"I hurt you," he said apologetically.
Malik just shrugged, removing his own hand. "It's alright," he said. "You were just scared."
Ishtar shook his head. "I'm sorry. Let me help."
Very gently Ishtar pulled back the tunic from Malik's shoulder to reveal the bandaged injury. In all the commotion the injury had broken again, and there was a small patch of blood beginning to form beneath the wrappings.
Ishtar left the room for a moment, and returned several moments later with new bandages and a small bowl of water. Wordlessly he knelt down next to Malik and went to work, carefully removing the old bindings from the wound and cleaning it up, before just as carefully replacing them with new ones. He then proceeded to do the same with the rest of Malik's injuries.
Several times Malik tried to protest and say it wasn't necessary, but Ishtar would only shake his head and continue working. In the end, Malik conceded to just let him do so. He decided it was Ishtar's way of apologizing, and he didn't want to reject it. So he sat back and watched the older boy work. Watched him clean off his injuries with incredible gentleness. Watched him concentrate fully on wrapping the new bandages perfectly; not to tight or loose. Watched him carefully run his fingers down the new binding to inspect his work in a way that made Malik shiver. Watched how his lips would twitch into a frown every time he came to a new injury. Watched how the candlelight reflected miraculously in his caring lavender eyes. Watched him finish the final wrapping and begin to stand up. Watched him as he stopped in shock when Malik caught his hand to keep him from moving away from him.
Malik looked up at Ishtar's confused face, not entirely sure of what he was doing, but completely sure that he did not want to let go.
"Malik?"
"I... I..." He could not find the words, for he did not know what it was he wanted to say. He had to... He wanted...
Malik watched as Ishtar slowly lower himself to kneel in front of him, not breaking hand nor eye contact. And they just sat there like that. Neither moving, neither speaking, neither looking away. Neither sure of what to do.
Ishtar was the first to move. Still not looking away he slowly took brought Malik's hand up and gently pressed his lips against it. Malik could feel his heart beat faster. Ishtar lifted his head up and repeated the act on Malik's injured shoulder, the one that he had re-opened earlier, before finally lowering himself down and resting his forehead against Malik's chest.
Malik was sure that his heart would force itself through his chest at any moment. He couldn't think. He could hardly breathe. He couldn't stop the feeling building inside him. He couldn't stop himself from resting his free hand on Ishtar's head causing him to look back up at him. He couldn't control himself as he leaned down, nor his excitement when Ishtar leaned up to meet him. He couldn't stop himself from gently brushing his lips against Ishtar's. He couldn't bring himself to move away from the incredible, gentle, chaste kiss.
He didn't want to.
Author's note: I'm sure you've noticed that there was a different emphasis on Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Ishtar than the first time around. I was really dissatisfied by how I handled their relationships last time, and I wanted to make them deeper. Don't worry, by next chapter our royals and their slaves will be back with the fluffy love stuff once again. That is, if anyone is still reading this...