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Three Kings Chapter 11

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Seto and Jou made their way into their own hotel room. Jou flopped down on the bed, tossing his luggage carelessly to the side of the room and stretched.

"Aw man! This place always has 'ta comfiest mattresses! Nothin' like back in Domino." Jou sighed.

Seto looked over amused and gently laid his briefcase at his side of the bed. Unlike their next door neighbors, they didn't have a problem sharing a bed; it wouldn't be the first time anyway. While they did try to keep their relationship out of the newspapers for the sake of the company, Seto would often have Jou come stay with him on weekends or down time but Jou still had his own apartment that he stayed at most of the time. Jou looked over to watch Seto meticulously putting away his things and smiled. Seto was always the more responsible one, always paying attention to details even in the smallest of tasks. It was one of the things that Jou really loved about the brunette.

"So ya gonna tell me what happened to make ya so against this lady we're going ta see?" Jou pried.

"I've already told you, I don't exactly like to talk about it."

"But the King—" Jou was cut off by an exasperated sigh.

"Look pup," Seto smirked when Jou frowned at the nickname, "I just don't trust her. She hasn't done anything directly against us or anything to hurt the family but her… abilities, wherever they might originate from, are just… spooky."

Jou laid back on the bed once more, eyes closing and hands finding their way to rest behind his head, "Whateva… sounds ta me like your just a lil' in denial."

Seto frowned, "Magic doesn't exist, Jou. No one can ever make me change my mind on that."

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Two blonde heads walked down the hall on either side of a bald one. Rashid, Marik, and Malik all walked without saying much. They had all grown up together. Rashid, being older, was always more of the protector even though he wasn't blood related. Malik and Rashid had never quite seen eye to eye on certain matters, mainly the two younger Egyptian's involvement with the mafia. Marik had always relied on Rashid for guidance. He loved his twin brother, but Malik had a bit of a psychiatric problem that never made his judgement one hundred percent reliable.

"Has she been well?" Marik asked Rashid trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Well enough." He answered gently.

Marik shot a glance past Rashid to catch Malik's eyes. It's not that they weren't enthused to be seeing their elder sister again, it was just that… well, for seeing the future she could sometimes be abrasive about their own paths.

"We're here." Rashid said stopping in front of two large golden doors.

The doors opened and on the other side was a tan skinned woman with long dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Around her neck was a piece of solid gold shaped to look like an eye.

"Welcome brothers." Her voice was smooth, eluding confidence, "I've been expecting you."
"No doubt…" Malik said unimpressed, "Dear sister if you've been expecting us then you know as well that we're in a bit of a hurry."
"Yes, yes, come in. We've much to discuss."

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Ryou and Bakura had left the backpack in the room and bolted out the back. Ryou fussed when Bakura tried to pull him along by the hand but found that the taller had quite a strong grip, and also seemed to not take "no" for an answer. They moved through the crowded streets until Bakura found a small alley next to a small shop.
"What are we doing?" Ryou asked frustrated, "Rebecca is in danger every second I don't do what they've asked."
"I realize that." Bakura said flatly, "However, I also know that they really need you as leverage against the King. If you do as I say then I should have a plan to get Rebecca to safety as well as get you out of here."

"Why?" Ryou blurted out.

Bakura turned to look at the teen, his steel blue eyes hit chocolate brown and the smaller gulped as Bakura smirked.

"Just trust me kid."
Before Ryou could protest Bakura continued to pull the teen past a few shops and finally ducked into a hookah bar. A waiter bowed and swung his arm out across the room inviting them to sit wherever they choose. Bakura ushered Ryou into an unoccupied couch by the windows. Ryou sat and got a chance to look around the hazy room. There were only a few places that were being used and though the room was hazy, the smell of the water pipe smoke was pleasant unlike the cigarettes that were in Japan 1.

While Ryou had been taking in his surroundings he looked to see Bakura glancing over the menu and just about stood up to leave.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" Ryou asked crossing his arms, his patience for being dragged along wearing out.

Bakura looked up and had to stifle a laugh, the pout creeping across Ryou's face was… well, entertaining to say the least, "I'm doing what we thieves typically call a steak out. When there is a place you want to steal something from, you have to wait until the right moment."

"I'm sorry, but just in case you haven't noticed, I'm still as much in the dark about this whole plan as I was in that bloody room back there so unless you feel like filling me in on some details on how exactly you plan on saving Rebecca and what she has to do with stealing something, I might as well go back and find that backpack before some poor bloke gets blown sky-high."

Bakura blinked, once… twice… "Well why didn't you just say something a little sooner."

Ryou huffed as Bakura set down the menu. A waiter came over and Bakura ordered something in perfect Arabic. Ryou was a little impressed but tried to keep his best 'I still don't trust you' look planted on his face. Bakura leaned back into the couch and smiled.

"Look kid, I've been around these parts before, I know who goes where and who runs what. I can tell you that the shop across from here is famously known for their scorpion skewers but as you can see, it's closed."

Ryou looked across the street to glance at the dark windows, "Yeah so? Places have things happen… maybe it's under construction."

"With no sign? With no notice? At a prime time of day? I don't think so, especially not since it was open when I passed by earlier." Bakura looked into the dark windows and Ryou could swear that Bakura was seeing something he wasn't.

"So… what? You think they're in there?"

"That's exactly what I think… Look."
The hooded figure that had met with Ryou earlier exited the shop, turned down the street, and was lost in only a few seconds to the jumble of the crowd.

Ryou sat upright to try and keep an eye on the man, but he was gone, "Well, brilliant. What now?"
Bakura pulled out his cell phone and quickly typed a message to Seto. Ryou had failed to notice Bakura snap a picture of the man as he was exiting.

"Now, we let the experts find out a little more for us, and we save your dolt of a cousin."

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The hooded man turned into the bustling streets of Cairo. The tracker on that teen Ryou had stopped in a building on the way to the hotel but hadn't moved in a while. It seemed fishy. If the kid had backed out of the agreement then he'd have to deal with the mess of getting rid of the annoying American girl. As he walked along the streets towards the backpack locater he noticed a familiar face waiting to meet him.

"Zorc… I didn't expect to find you out here." Said the hooded man.

Zorc fell in to walk beside the man, "It seemed you were having some troubles."

The hooded figure cleared his throat, "Not quite… nothing I can't handle at least."

Zorc stopped causing the hooded figure to turn around to look at him.
"Look Keith, you've been great so far, but I can promise you that if this goes wrong and that boy or the girl gets away, there will be hell to pay."
The man named Keith pulled off his hood to reveal blonde hair and brown eyes, "I can promise you Zorc, I won't let you down like those other two ass-clowns continue to do. I didn't leave the girl totally unattended."

"You had better hope you live up to those words…" Zorc sneered impatiently, his dark eyes flashed in warning, "I don't want the King to catch on too soon to our little plan."

"Yes Zorc."

"I'll be in touch."
Keith pulled his hood back into place as Zorc melded with the crowd around them and was gone.

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Yugi was laying in the bath enjoying the hot water, thinking about the past couple day's events and trying to get a certain crimson-eyed King out of his mind when he remembered that the King had mentioned coming here to seek out someone's help. Yugi pulled himself away from the warm water and drained the tub. Grabbing a towel, he dried off and put on new clothes he had brought into the bathroom with him. He had wanted to strut out of there like Atemu had, in only a towel, but his courage had failed him at the last second. Hair still slightly damp, he walked out to find Atemu sitting on one of the couches in the living room area watching the news. There didn't seem to be anything exciting on so Yugi didn't mind interrupting when he asked when they were leaving to see this mysterious lady.

"We'll be leaving in a just a couple minutes." Atemu answered flipping through the channels.

"Does she have a name?"

Atemu nodded, "Her name is Isis Ishtar… she's the older sister of Malik and Marik."

"Oh? I didn't know they had a sister, they never said anything about her on the way over."

"They tend not to say a whole lot about family in general… it wasn't the best situation." Atemu shut the TV off and leaned forward pressing his elbows onto his knees, "Look Yugi, I'd like you to go with us… but I need you to know that Isis has a… a gift."

Yugi's face scrunched in confusion, "What do you mean, 'gift'?"

It's was Atemu's turn to make a face. He didn't exactly know how to tell Yugi that she could see the future; it wasn't exactly a common trait for someone to have.

"She has visions of things that haven't happened yet." Atemu tried his best to explain without talking to the lighter one as if he was a child.

"She…" Yugi thought about it, "She can tell what's going to happen? She can see the future?"

"Yes, that's right." Atemu said slowly trying to gage Yugi's reaction to Atemu's belief in her.

"Huh, well I certainly didn't peg you to be the superstitious type." Yugi smiled a little, Atemu smiled back.

"You'll just have to see when you meet her…she knows a lot more than just the future but it's hard to explain it."

Yugi nodded, but didn't say anything more. Atemu stood, stretched, and walked to grab a light jacket as he headed for the door.

"Well then, let's go meet her." Atemu held the door open for Yugi and led him towards Seto and Jou's room first.

Knocking on the door, they collected the blonde and brunette and started to head to the lobby of the hotel. The large golden doors that Marik and Malik had come to with Rashid were closed once again and the King took it upon himself to swing them open. Four pairs of eyes met four pairs and Yugi suddenly felt a little sick to his stomach. The woman, Isis, he knew her from somewhere…

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Bakura threw some currency down onto their table and grabbed Ryou's hand once again to pull him across the busy street and outside of the dark building that the hooded figure had come out of. He peaked through the glass of the shop but no one was inside. Slipping around the side of the building they eventually found the backdoor where Bakura knelt and pulled out a lock pick.

"What are you doing?!" Ryou asked incredulously as Bakura began to fiddle with the lock.

"Look kid, you already know I'm with the Kings, what the hell were you expecting me to do?" The lock clicked and the door swung open, "Next time, I'll knock and politely ask them to return your cousin and we can have a contest as to which one of us ends up dead first. Now keep your mouth shut and follow me."

Ryou bristled at Bakura's insults but did in fact keep his mouth shut as they entered the dark building. It was lighter than the last dark room Ryou had found himself in. The back of the restaurant had nothing out of the usual: boxes on shelves, the occasional cooking pot or pan, a few clear containers with the skewers inside of them. Moving slowly, Bakura was listening for any movement. He knew the upstairs of this building fairly well, at least he remembered it a little from the previous time he'd broken into this place, but that was quite a while ago. The Thief King smirked, it was amusing how the adrenaline rush he always got and the senses that he didn't even know he had turned on when he was on the hunt for an object. There was a flight of stairs on the other end of the building and Bakura motioned to Ryou to keep following him. However, next to that staircase was the only unusual thing in the store: the scorpions.

Bakura passed by the glass container of angry looking scorpions without even a blink but Ryou froze staring wide eyed at the venomous little devils. Bakura, noticing Ryou's steps had stopped, turned to look at the white haired teen and had to physically stop himself from letting out a hardy laugh at the younger's appearance. Bakura imagined the teen as a cat with its hairs on end and hissing.

"Scared?" Bakura teased through a whisper. "They can't get out and even if they did they're only a little toxic."

Ryou pouted and Bakura smirked, continuing up the stairs. Ryou scooted past the skittering little arthropods at as much distance as he could manage. As they began to ascend the stairs, Bakura heard a voice from the first room to the left.

"Look bud, this is getting really uncomfortable. Why don't you just let me out of these ropes and I promise I won't try anything funny." Came a high pitched voice, must have been Rebecca.

"Like hell…" Came a second voice, deeper, definitely male.

So she wasn't alone. Bakura pondered about if there was only one or two. Moving slowly to the door, he tried to listen to any sounds of footsteps.

"Come oooon!" Whined the girl, "It's just you and me! No one has to know if you let me stretch my legs!"

Ah ha, so the brat's big mouth was good for something. Bakura pulled a gun from his pants 2 and saw the flicker of fear run across Ryou's face. Bakura pointed the gun at the door and held the other hand's pointer finger up to his lips in a 'shh' motion. Bakura took a breath and slowly tried the door. It was open. These guys were amateurs. He pushed hard and pointed the gun at a man with dark hair and green eyes standing near the window.

"Ahhh Bakura…" The man turned around, "I wondered how long it would take you to get here."
"What the fuck is your game Otogi."

Ryuji Otogi, also known as the Duke, was the punk who had ran with Zorc at the restaurant and Bakura had not been looking forward to seeing his smug face again.
"Whatever could you mean?" Duke's green eyes flashed to Ryou standing slightly behind Bakura.

Ryou tried to put on his best 'brave' face, but it was a little difficult for a normal high school kid to really muster much confidence when he was in such a tense situation.

"You brought our useless leverage I see…" Duke said looking bored at the idea that Ryou hadn't done what he had asked.

"Look asshole, give me one good reason I shouldn't fire this off into your fucking skull right now." Bakura put his finger on the trigger; he wasn't in the mood at all.

"Calm down." Otogi turned to Rebecca and undid the rope holding her to the chair, "I don't want to fight with you, I don't care that your little blonde friend killed that loser Gebelk. I just want to talk and hopefully, to make a deal."

Bakura didn't take his hand off the trigger as Rebecca moved over to give Ryou a hug and Bakura heard her whisper something along the lines of 'Wow, I didn't know you were such a badass Ryou!'

"What kind of deal…" Bakura didn't take his eyes off of the Duke as he moved to a desk on the other side of the room.

"Well to be honest, Zorc is going to be very upset when he finds out that Ryou and his sweet cousin Rebecca have gotten out of our grasp. But honestly I'm getting pretty bored of being Zorc's stepping stool… you'd know all about that though Thief King." Bakura's expression didn't change but Ryou was watching him trying to figure out what Otoji meant, "Look just don't shoot me. I didn't know that Zorc was going to go after your King's little pet like that and try and take him out at the same time. I've never had anything against your King. Let me be a double agent and help you take out Zorc. With the idea being that I'll get his famiglia once he's out of the way." The Duke smiled wickedly, "What do you say Bakura?"

Bakura frowned, "I'd say you're an idiot and I'm not going to trust you."
Otogi frowned, "Of course… you'd be stupid to completely trust me. Just consider this an act of good faith. You've got your little look alike and his big mouthed brat. Isn't that what you wanted? Your King is safe, for now, and I can get you inside information on Zorc's plan. You already know he's been trying to access your accounts. Accounts that I believe have been your responsibility if I'm not mistaken."
"How do you know all that?" Bakura growled.

"Ah-ah-ah… you know I don't give away all my secrets." He slowly reached into a drawer of the desk but put up his other hand to show it was just for a… a cell phone?

The Duke tossed the cell phone to the Theif who caught it in his empty hand.

"Give me a call if you change your mind." Duke said. "And you had better get out of here before Zorc finds out."

Bakura looked at the phone and then back to Otogi who had both hands up in a sign of surrender, "This doesn't mean I trust you."

Ryou and Rebecca were ushered down the stairs and back out of the building by Bakura who kept an eye behind them at all times and pointed them all in the direction of the Nile Hotel.

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Yay! Two chapters in less than two years! Aren't you guys so impressed! (Don't answer that).

So I hope you guys like it! What is the Duke really trying to do? Does he actually want to betray Zorc?! What will Keith do once he finds out that Ryou and Rebecca have gotten away and what will Zorc do TO Keith when he finds out?! What will Isis tell the Pharaoh and his crew! All this and more to come!

1 I feel it's my duty as a nurse to point this out: Smoking is pretty much the worst thing in the world you could do for your health, so please do not start and if you need help quitting please seek it out! Even hookah pipe's that aren't as tar filled still do leave deposits in the lungs as well as typically contain nicotine which is addictive. I love you all and want you to be healthy little mamas and papas so just say no :

2 You're a pervert

I also promise there will be more romance in the next chapter (winkwinknudgenudgewink).

Please remember to leave a little review if you can. I always really appreciate feedback.

Anukis-san