Chapter 12

Disclaimer : I Don't own Yu Gi Oh!

Thought / dreams

Letter

"Dialogue"

Emphasis

Dangerous tone

"Hm?" A white haired man with sharp brown eyes hummed as he saw the Pharaoh's group walking in the distance, "It seems that the Pharaoh is heading somewhere." He commented to his companion, who looked just like him but with softer hair and eyes, "From the look of it, they are going for another country and for a long period of time. Where do you think they are going, Ryou?".

"I don't know, Bakura, maybe to discuss for a peace agreement with other country." Ryou answered with a worried face, "We better hasten our pace then, with the Pharaoh out of Egypt, Libya might attack anytime. We need to report this to the Alpha".

"You are right." Bakura agreed as he looked ahead again, "I'm going to visit Siola to see if he know where the Pharaoh is heading and for what, I also need to sharpen our daggers. Will you be alright on your own?" He asked once they entered the village.

"Yes, don't worry." Ryou answered with a sweet smile, "I'm not that weak, Kura".

"Not weak, just too naive sometimes." Bakura said with a smirk before he took off into the Palace's direction.

"I'm not that naive, stupid Kura." Ryou grumbled to himself as he watched Bakura go, he sighed and shook his head before climbed down from his horse. He headed for the Market since he need to buy some new clothes for him and Bakura that was for Egyptian, their clothes were that of the Libyan. It's a good thing that they wore a cloak to hide their clothes, or they would attract unwanted attention.

XXXXX

Bakura climbed down from his horse after he arrived at the medium sized house, he looked through the open door of the shop part of the house and he saw a young man inside. The man had short light brown hair and a pair of maroon eyes, he was currently working on sharpening a sword.

"Yo, Siola!" Bakura greeted with a smirk on his face, he watched in amusement as the man jumped in surprise and dropped the sword that he was holding.

Siola turned to him and had a shocked look on his face, "Bakura!" He gasped in disbelief but also relieved, "Where were you? You didn't visit me for a whole year! I thought you managed to get yourself caught by the slave hunters again".

Bakura chuckled as he walked over to the man and gave him a side hug, "What? Do you really think I would get caught by the hunters again?" He asked before giving a mocking frown, "You don't even have a confidence in my fighting ability. I'm hurt, you know".

Siola snorted and lightly elbowing Bakura at the stomach before picking up his fallen sword and began sharpening it again, "Well, excuse me for worrying about my friend's well being." He said sarcastically before raising an eyebrow at him, "But seriously, where were you? I had search the whole village and yet I couldn't find you".

Bakura sat across his friend and pulled out his and Ryou's dull daggers, "That's why I came here." He said as he handed the daggers to his Siola, "To catch up with you and to get the best Blacksmith in Egypt to fix my old daggers into something like a new masterpiece." He grinned at his friend, who snorted and shook his head before taking the daggers.

"So?" Siola asked as he began working on Bakura's daggers, "Start talking".

"Well, I was in Libya on spying mission." Bakura began after he looked around to make sure no one was around to listen to their conversation, "You know how Libya had been acting up in the past two years, so a year ago, the Alpha sent me and my Mate to spy on them and get information about what they're planning".

Siola blinked at him, "I still don't understand why you would listening to an order from that boy." He admitted, "I understand that you respected him for being a child of Bastet and for saving you, but you are older than him, and certainly aren't stupid like most of the slaves and servants around here".

"It's true that he is younger than me, and I, indeed, respected him for his lineage and for saving me, but it's not the only reason why I'm following his lead." Bakura explained, "He has a vast wisdom for such a young age and he has it in him to lead his Pack, I was moved by his charm and decided to follow his lead. Not only that, but we also treat each other like family, he is my family, so I would protect him as best as I could".

Siola looked at him before shrugging and continued his work, "You are a human and yet you act like a Neko." He commented, "Staying with him had changed you from the spoiled brat whom I knew in the past".

"Yeah, I know." Bakura smiled and chuckled, "Not that you haven't said it thousand times before".

Siola grinned at him and they chatted until Siola finished with Bakura's daggers, "Thanks, Siola." Bakura said as he pulled the bag where he kept his money.

"Don't bother to pay." Siola stopped him, "We are friends".

"Thanks again." Bakura said with a nod as he slipped his daggers into the hidden pockets of his cloak, "Ah, before I forget." He looked at his friend seriously, "I saw the Pharaoh along with his group were heading out of Egypt earlier, do you know where they are going and why?".

"They're going to Greece." Siola answered calmly, he knew that Bakura wanted to know the information so he could report it to the boy he called as his Alpha, but he didn't care as long as they wouldn't go against Egypt. "It's time they decide to keep the alliance or not since Greece had a new King now, I heard that the new King is about 21 years old so the Pharaoh wanna know if they could be friends and not just a mere ally".

"I see." Bakura nodded, "Any idea of how long they would be gone?".

"I don't know." Siola said with a shake of his head, "But I think it would take for a month or two at the least, the Pharaoh appointed High Priest Mahad and Adviser Shimon to be in charge for the time being. Why?".

"Just to make sure we would be ready to help protect Egypt in case Libya would attack while the Pharaoh is away." Bakura answered as he stood up and looked at his friend, "See you around".

"Make sure to visit more often." Siola answered before Bakura left completely.

"I will try, but no promise." Bakura answered casually and disappeared around the corner.

XXXXX

"Let's see . . . I already bought some clothes and some herbs for emergency . . ." Ryou muttered to himself as he looked at his bag, he sighed in relief, "Time to go home." He said cheerfully to himself before something knocked him off his feet. He yelped as he landed on his back, he looked to see who had bumped to him only to see a man ran away with his bag. He gasped, "Thief!" He cried out in disbelief before giving a chase.

He couldn't believe how someone could stole his bag, he was too used with being respected as a Healer in Libya that he forgot that he wasn't a well known Healer in Egypt, he had foolishly lowered his guard when a thief could decided to prey on his belonging at any moment, like now.

He chase the thief into a narrow alleyway, he saw that no one was around so he could use his full speed and caught the thief, but something happened before he could do it. A blur of white suddenly appeared in front of the thief and casually tripped the thief while taking the bag out of the thief's hand.

"Give it ba-!" The thief began yelling while pointing a knife at the white haired figure, but then grew pale and ran away from the figure as if he saw a ghost.

Ryou blinked as he looked at the figure, he almost mistaken the man in front of him as Bakura, they looked so much alike, the only thing that told him that the man wasn't his Mate was because of the tan skin and the slightly shorter and silvery hair.

His curiosity got the better of him, it's not everyday that he saw a thief with a knife running away from someone after receiving a mere glare from that someone, so he walked towards the man. "Um, excuse me." He said softly to get the man's attention, not that he needed to since the man already looked at his direction the second he took a step, "Thank you . . . for getting my bag from that thief".

The man nodded with a strange look on his face, "Be more careful." He said simply and handed the bag back to Ryou before walking away without another word, but then Ryou heard the man muttered to himself, "What an ironic world, a thief caught a thief".

"You are a thief?" Ryou asked before he could stop himself.

The man froze and looked at him in shock, they stared at each other's eyes before the man's shocked look turned into that of thoughtful. "You are a Neko?" The man asked hesitantly.

Now, it was Ryou's turn to look at the man in shock, he would never thought that someone would found out his true identity after hearing a simple question. Normal people would say that he accused them for being a thief, not guessing him to be a Neko.

"Uh, I don't know what you . . .?" Ryou began to try and feign innocent, but then the man shook his head and walked over to him.

"For someone who could hear what I whispered to myself from such a distance, you are definitely a Neko." The man said calmly before looking him over, making him fidgetting uncomfortably, "You are wearing Libyan clothes." The man observed before his eyes widened, "Don't tell me you . . ." The man couldn't finish his words because a new voice cut him.

"Ryou?" Ryou looked behind his back and saw Bakura walking to him with a confused expression, "What are you doing here? I thought you would be at home already".

"Well, a thief stole my bag when I was about to head home." Ryou explained as he motioned to the man, "This man helped me get my bag back".

"I see." Bakura said as he walked to Ryou's side, "Thank you for helping my-" He stopped mid sentence as he finally saw the man's face, "You!" He snarled before he suddenly punched the man at his lower jaw.

"Bakura!" Ryou gasped in shock as he saw the man thrown backwards from the powerful hit, "What are you doing?!".

"What the hell?" The man demanded as he stood back up and rubbed his sore jaw.

"Shut up, bastard." Bakura growled at the man before looking at Ryou, "This bastard here is the Thief King, Ryou." He said angrily to his Mate, "He was the one who killed Yugi's parents!".

Ryou gasped again and looked at the Thief King with wide eyes, "The Thief King?" He asked in disbelief, shock, and slight anger. He couldn't believe that the man who had helped him was the one who killed his friend's parents.

Joining Yugi's pack was like a blessing to him and Bakura. They all had lose their parents but they all treat each other like their own family, because it's the absolute rule in his pack, to treat each other like their own family and friends. They shared their past and their secrets, one for all and all for one, so Yugi's enemies would be theirs as well, and their enemies would be Yugi's.

Learning that the man in front of him was the one who killed Yugi's parents, their brother by heart's parents, was enough to make him angry, and for Bakura to be furious since the man was over protective towards their Alpha. But then something caught his attention, the man's scent had changed from annoyance to . . . guilt?

He looked at the man and focused on him to make sure that he didn't mistaken the man's scent, and sure enough, it was really guilt that flowed from the man. Deep under the guilt, shame, and regret that dominated the man's scent at the moment though, was the smell that he knew so well, the smell that he would never mistaken to anything else.

"You killed his parents . . ." Bakura hissed as he pulled out one of his daggers, "You will pay for that, with your life!"

"Bakura, wait!" Ryou gasped as he saw his Mate lunged at the Thief King.

Bakura ignored Ryou and tried to kill the man by slicing the Thief King at his throat, but the man moved faster than he expected and grabbed his wrist. "Let me go!" He hissed furiously.

"So that you could kill me? No, thank you." The Thief King said with a sigh before looking at Bakura straight in the eyes, his gaze sad and yet determined, "I might deserve to be killed after what I had done in the past, but I can assure you that you will find yourself regretting your action if you kill me now".

"Why must I listen to you?" Bakura snarled as he pulled another dagger and moved to stab the man, but again his wrist was caught, by another person this time.

"Enough, Bakura." Ryou said softly as he held his Mate's hand, "Don't kill him".

"Why?" Bakura asked with a scowl, "He is Yugi's enemy, so he is our enemy. Let me kill him, Ryou".

"I can't." Ryou answered firmly as he used his Neko strength to get Bakura away from the Thief King, who looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" Bakura asked again, still glaring daggers at the Thief King.

"Because I smelled Yugi's scent on him." Ryou answered, causing Bakura's eyes to widened in shock, "Not only Yugi, but also those of the Leopards, and the scent was both old and fresh. He lived in the Oasis, with Yugi and the rest".

Bakura finally took his eyes away from the Thief King to look at Ryou with wide eyes filled with disbelief, "But that would mean . . ." He couldn't finish his statement as he couldn't fully grasp the idea in his shocked state.

"Somehow, Yugi had made him a member of the Pack." Ryou finished Bakura's words, "You know the rule, he is our new family now".

"I can't believe it . . ." Bakura whispered as he looked back at the Thief King, who looked at them calmly.

"Believe it or not, it's the truth." A new voice joined them, they looked up at the direction where they heard the voice came from. Sitting casually on the roof nearby was a young man with wild sandy blond hair and a pair of violet eyes, the one they know as the former General of Egypt, Marik. "Hey, Akefia." He greeted the Thief King, "It seems like today your luck had decided to abandon you for a second there".

Akefia frowned at the man, "You are over there the whole time and didn't come down to help me, Marik?" He demanded at his partner.

"And spoil the fun?" Marik asked back with a grin, "I was going to step in if it gets too dangerous, but since that Ryou person over there had stepped in to stop the other man, I decided to just stay here and watch the show".

"Such a friend you are." Akefia grumbled before looking at the now gaping albinos, who was shocked that the former General talked casually with the Thief King like friends, "Well, why don't we explained what had happened around here during the time you both were in Libya?".

That snapped them out of their shock, "How do you . . ." Ryou began to ask but couldn't finish his question.

"The fact that you are a pair of a Neko and a human, who have white hair and are wearing Libyan clothes, who knows about Yugi and talked about being a member of the Pack, is enough to let me know that the both of you are the Informants Yugi sent to spy on Libya." Akefia explained just as Marik jumped down from the roof, they then raised the hood of their robes to cover their heads, "Let's go, I'm sure that Yugi is waiting for you at home and couldn't wait to see with you".

Ryou and Bakura shared a look, they were confused about what had happened during the time they were in Libya and they need explanation, the only way they could get it was to go back to the Oasis, even if they had to travel together with the Thief King and former General. "Alright." Bakura said with a sigh, "We are willing to listen to what you have to say, and we will ask Yugi for confirmation so don't you dare to lie".

"Side Rules number 2, 'No lies between members of the Pack, unless your very live depends on it' " Akefia recited calmly as he began walking, "I won't lie to any member of the Pack".

"Good." Bakura answered shortly as he and Ryou followed behind Marik and Akefia.

"So, how is it?" Marik asked Akefia, "What did that greedy pervert say?".

"He originally had two Magic Users and a young man who is skilled in fighting." Akefia answered, "The young man was given to him by his father to pay their family debt. The two Magic Users, I think they are Nekos, they are survivors from Japan but then the two already bought by a noble family whom he refused to tell me who they are".

"Are we going to buy this young man?" Marik asked curiously, "Normally we are after those who can use Magic, right?".

"Yeah." Akefia said with a shrug, "But you retired early from the Pharaoh's army, Kisara alone wouldn't be enough if Libya really is going to attack Egypt." He explained calmly, "The young man's name is Kaliko. I heard about him once in the past, he can't use Magic but he has a strong Ka and rumored to be on the same level with Kisara. He would be a great help, don't you think?".

"I guess." Marik said in agreement, "We need to find out who bought those Nekos, but we still need to discuss about this Kaliko guy with Alpha".

"Of course." Akefia answered calmly before raising an eyebrow at Marik, "What about you? Are they progressing well?".

"Don't underestimate me, of course they are progressing very well under my training program." Marik said with a smug smirk as he crossed his arms, "A week more and they could surpass the royal guard's level and stronger than those of Libyan".

"Good to know." Akefia said in relief.

"What are you two talking about?" Bakura asked in annoyance, "Are you building an army to rebel against the Pharaoh?".

"Nah, it's the opposite." Marik reassured him, "It's Yugi's plan, we are building an army to help the Pharaoh in case Libya decided to attack Egypt. You were from Libya, I'm sure you know they had been acting strange lately".

The two Informants looked at each other again before looking at the pair in front of them, "Tell us what Yugi's plan is." Bakura said seriously.

"Not now, we are still in the village and could risk being overheard." Akefia told them, "We will tell everything once we get to the desert".

XXXXX

"Welcome home!" Yugi greeted them once they entered the Oasis, "I see that you managed to find each other, Akefia, Marik, Bakura and Ryou".

"The Thief King helped me get my bag back from a thief." Ryou said as they began sitting in a circle with the rest of the Pack, "The former General and the Thief King had told us that we got some new members in the Pack, and I see that it's true".

"Let me introduce you." Yugi said with a smile as he gestured to Malik and Ishizu, "Bakura, Ryou. They are Ishizu and Malik, both of them are my friends and promised Knights, we met when I was two." He then looked at Malik, Ishizu, Akefia, and Marik, "Guys, they are Bakura and Ryou, they are both our Pack's Informants and Spies, but Bakura is a Knight as well while Ryou is our Healer".

All of them nodded to each other, "I heard about them, as well as everything else that had happened while we were in Libya, from the Thief King." Bakura said as he crossed his arms and looked at Yugi in annoyance, "You are the Alpha and I respect you, Yugi, but how come you made your parents's murderer as the Beta?".

Akefia flinched at that, while Yugi simply sighed tiredly. "Bakura, Akefia has regretted his action and is still feeling guilty about it, please take it easy for him." Yugi said patiently, "And what I told you about holding grudge? I'm happy if you are seeking justice, but holding a grudge is different than seeking justice. Grudge leading to revenge, and revenge is as bad as the crime itself." He sent a certain look at Akefia, who nodded in answer, he looked at Bakura and Ryou, "I appreciate it that you two feels angry at Akefia for me, but please just let it go. The past is the past, we couldn't do anything to change it, so all we can do is to move on".

They sighed and nodded reluctantly, "We will." They promised in unison.

"Alright." Yugi beamed at them, "Now, why don't we use this time to get to know each other better? Telling your life stories and have a bonding time together? So that we can be as close as a real family".

They voiced they agreement, "I will begin." Bakura volunteered, "I'm sure we all already know about Yugi's life story, and I'm the one who live with Yugi the longest, so I think I should start first".

After Bakura received affirmative from the rest, he began telling them his life story, and soon followed by the rest.

It's going to be a long night for them all, a night when the past mistakes be forgiven and they share their deepest secrets, it's a night when their bond formed and began to grow stronger.

LINE~LINE~LINE

To be continued . . .

LINE~LINE~LINE

Froim : I'm really sorry for the late update. Review Please ^ ^