Authors' Notes: Ari- *yaaaaaaawns* I'm tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiired! Stayed up past midnight writing this...
Sage- I TOLD you not to, but do you ever listen to me? Nooooo... no one listens to Sage! *pouts*
Ari- Well, I was sick earlier. And besides, I was bored.
Sage- -_- That's because you should have been ASLEEP.
Ari- But I wasn't tired! And besides, aren't you glad I wrote it? Or else it wouldn't get done until sometime this weekend!
Sage- Meh, good point I suppose…. Although I was smart and wrote it after-school. :P
Ari- Like I said, my stomach hurt. And I had to clean my stupid room.
Sage- Hai, hai…. Let's get on with it! And this time, I'm NOT doing the disclaimer! HA!
Ari- *sulks* Fine! We do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters, although I AM planning to take over the company... (yeah right, in my dreams.)
Sage- Ha, not if I do first. ^_^ There's also yaoi content, as you probably already know. Don't like it? There's that back button right up there...
Ari- And the pairings will be YxY (getting to it...), SxJ (sometime soon...), and BxR (also, sometime soon...)
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The sky shone behind the gathering of three dragons. They must hurry, and not be seen together. One was the little golden dragon with amethyst eyes. The two others, however… One was black, dark as the midnight sky, the sun glinting off of obsidian scales. The other was silver, almost white, radiating light. All together, they made quite a sight.
"It's getting bad…" the silver dragon murmured. "You're in danger!" The statement was directed at the amethyst-eyed creature.
The golden dragon blinked his large eyes. "Danger…? Me? Why?"
The black dragon shook her head sadly. "You're too innocent and trusting. There's someone after you – mostly your power. He has been shadowing you for quite some time now."
The silver dragon glanced around in concern. "I hope he hasn't followed us here… If he knows who we are…!!" It wasn't fear, exactly, in her voice, but one could have mistakenly identified it as such.
"I'll make sure he doesn't live to tell anyone else," the black dragon grumbled. "No one – NO ONE! – must know who we are." She clenched a claw into a sort of fist menacingly, teeth bared.
The gold dragon cocked his head curiously. "Why don't we kill him now, before he causes trouble?" His eyes slid from one of his companions to the other in question.
"Yeah, why don't we?" the black dragon nodded in agreement. "Any answer to that? Eh?" She trained flashing eyes on the radiant creature beside her, wondering what her response would be.
The silver dragon shook her head stubbornly. "I want to see him dead as much as any of you, but we can't! If we kill him, the humans might, and probably will, realize. We can't start another war with them. They're just itching for an excuse to kill us off." The other two nodded, although reluctantly, in agreement.
The black dragon sighed in disappointment. "Alright… Just be careful, all right?" Her warning was, as the other's had been, directed at the golden dragon. "I don't know why he's trying to take you, of all dragons, but he is. You have great potential. Once you have grown, we will train you. For now… Watch out for yourself." Her gaze rested on the small creature, who met her eyes and nodded.
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The silver-haired man smirked, a glint in his narrowed reddish-brown eyes. He brushed a strand of his long, straight hair out of his face and reached out another long, almost delicate finger to trace a line of magic onto his ever-growing spell. The lines were perfect, thin and precise, in an eye-boggling pattern of loops and whirls, geometric and natural shapes, as confusing as the room around the man, as bizarre as the man himself.
The room was, in the man's opinion, perfect, as he was, in his own mind, flawless. It had once been an abandoned fort, now twisted beyond recognizing. Clashing colors were thrown against each other, to an effect that would be horrifying to any other. Shapes began and ended from nowhere, to nowhere. Some seemed to be just… there… because there was nowhere else they could be. A lamp hung in a most unlikely place, lighting a still-dim corner. A big fountain sat in the middle of the room, sprouting red wine, not water, surrounded by tables and shelves of glass vessels that tipped precariously. Yet, somehow, like the man that designed it, this room held a sense of sick, twisted elegance.
"Master Pegasus, you required my presence?" The voice was hesitant, respectful, devoted. It was the kind of voice every servant should have, in the silver-haired man's opinion.
The man, Pegasus, turned, not losing his smirk, faced his most loyal servant. The servant was no more than a teen, obeying his every wish and whim with pleasure. He had long black hair tied into a ponytail on the top of his head, dark brown eyes, and could almost be called handsome if not for the evil shadow over his face.
"Otogi…" Pegasus greeted, nodding his head. "I would like you to see my greatest achievement, soon to be accomplished." A slightly deranged grin decorated his features momentarily, figures from the spell seeming to be reflected in his eyes.
Otogi smiled. "Any work of yours is great, Master Pegasus."
"This will surpass all that I have created before," Pegasus boasted. "For this… will grant me the Millennium Items!" Silence filled the room, only broken occasionally by the splashings of the fountain.
For a moment, Otogi was shocked. The Millennium Items were so elusive as to almost be a legend, said to be held deep within the Pharaoh's palace, behind a shield of magic. The shield was unbreakable… Or so people believed. "But how?" Duke belatedly forgot to bow. "Forgive me, Master, for questioning your greatness, but how is this possible? The Pharaoh's magical seal cannot be broken!"
"This spell will break it," Pegasus confided. "It is almost done. One more line, I need, and it will be complete…" His fingers twitched, seeming eager to produce that final line.
"That is amazing!" Otogi was delighted. "But Master, how much power does it require?"
Pegasus's smirk returned, sickeningly smooth. "Oh, not much. Not much… Just the energy force of one dragon…"
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The Pharaoh slept uneasily, haunted by dreams of the boy that he had seen in the market a few days ago. There was only one way to describe him: beautiful. Though the boy looked a bit like him, he had an aura of pure innocence. Yami sighed. The boy seemed so… seductive… yet at the same time, it seemed somehow… wrong… to touch him, even, like if his purity was something that should only be looked upon and dreamed about.
Seijun… That was what the mage-sisters called him. Yami had no doubt that was not his real name. They had already said they would not give it. Yami turned over in his bed. Who was this completely gorgeous youth that looked so young, yet so old; so innocent, yet so wise? Yami blinked. What was he thinking?! First, it was "beautiful", now, that was upgraded to "gorgeous". He was a man! The Pharaoh, no less. He shouldn't be thinking this way about a peasant boy! Or any boy, for that matter…
Yami yawned and tried to sleep again, tried not to see the face of the beautiful— He groaned. "Beautiful" again… For a second, he wondered if he actually wanted to see the boy in his mind. It did not take long to decide. Of course he did. It took only a little longer to decide whether it would be right to want to. His answer was a smirk. Did he care what was right and wrong? He was the Pharaoh, after all…
"What is your real name, little Seijun?" Yami murmured into the darkness. The ridiculousness of the situation made him chuckle. He was asking the wall. The boy was most certainly not on the wall. Seijun… Seijun… His tired mind remembered something. Oh yes. He knew what that word meant now. Innocence…
As if this was a great accomplishment, Yami finally went to sleep, dreaming of running with the amethyst-eyed boy over a green field filled with colorful flowers. In that state of mind, he did not question why there were golden wings on their backs… After all, was that not less ludicrous than a green field with flowers in the middle of the desert? Not to mention that he was alone in the small beauty. Yes, when put in perspective, the wings were downright ordinary.
The figure hidden behind the curtains sighed in relief. He just had to pick this day of all days to come rob the Pharaoh. He had almost been caught! He shook his head. Why did he have to come? He was no professional Tomb Robber. (Ari- There… Just making sure the readers know it's not Baka-Baku… Bakura: WHAT did you call me?! Ari- *smirks* Your intimidation tricks don't work with me.)(Sage-*blinks*…. Baku-Baku? Correction, Oya oya!) Then again, this was hardly a tomb. The Pharaoh certainly expected no thief to come to his own bedroom. No thief desiring to live after the incident, at least.
"One mistake for you, one treasure for me…" the figure thought, tiptoeing past the Pharaoh's bed and gently lifting something off of the wall. He wrapped it in a piece of rough cloth, wondering at its strange trembling hum as he neared the sleeping Pharaoh. Was it recognizing its master, or was it something else? Somehow, he knew that the answer would not come to him any time in the near future, if at all.
Silent as a shadow – or rather, making rather a lot of noise which, for some reason, didn't wake the Pharaoh from his beauty sleep – the figure ducked behind the curtain, and stepped out into fresh night air. Leaping from the Pharaoh's balcony to his garden, the figure stepped lightly on the stone path and climbed over the palace wall, wondering at the lack of defenses around the Pharaoh. Entirely too late, his legs reacted to his harsh landing, and he nearly yelped in pain.
As he left, limping now, he unwrapped his prize. The silver moonlight glinted off of a blue-white blade…
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The golden dragon yawned, bored. His friends were busy hunting, and he had gone back to his own cave. His two friends' warning a day ago seemed irrelevant now. After all, why would someone want to come after him? He was only a child. A mere child…. Another yawn followed the thought.
Deciding that he was more tired than he thought, and there was really nothing better to do, the little dragon stretched, then curled up, and went to sleep. He thought he detected a strange scent, but who would come here to his mountain? Most humans couldn't get up to his cave alive, in any case, and those that didn't fall into that category usually weren't the kind to slay golden dragons for no reason.
His musings turned to the young man he had met in the market last time. The Pharaoh.… He certainly did not expect the Pharaoh to be so.… kind. He knew that they would meet someday, but he had always envisioned the meeting to be horrifying, filled with blood and fire, and magical weapons that could pierce even his strong scales. The youth he had met certainly did not seem the type to do that. Of course, appearances could be very deceiving…
"Handsome…" the golden dragon murmured. The part of his mind that was still awake was shocked at his thoughts. Of course, the sleeping part gave even more mortifying adjectives… "Mmmmmm… Hot… Sexy…"
"Who is?" a voice disturbed his slumber. It wasn't an incredibly pleasant voice.
The little dragon was still mostly asleep. "He is… The man I met at the market… The Pha—"
His eyes flew open, and he let loose a fireball impulsively as he felt the magical dragon's bane knife. Completely regaining consciousness, he mentally cursed himself vehemently for being so stupid.
"Good reflexes," the man congratulated, stepping into his sight. "But not enough for me. Surrender, now, or be destroyed." His voice grew even less pleasant, gaining a viscous edge.
The little dragon snorted. "You can't kill me, even if you do have that knife. You have not the right to wield it." Amethyst eyes narrowed, half in anger, half in sheer annoyance.
"I do," the man informed him. "After all, I am the Pharaoh of Egypt. It is my family's heritage to destroy you evil fiends. Surrender willingly, and I might allow you to live. In human form, as my slave, of course." His voice…. Now, it held no trace of anything besides sinister evil.
The dragon hesitated. Was this…? But no… The youth he had met at the market was the Pharaoh, wasn't he? But this man seemed so regal, so sure… Yet… The aura… He did not have the right aura. His blood did not sing of Tennyo's magic… Tennyo, who lived as a human and gave birth to the Pharaoh's child… Or was this perhaps the father of the youth? He made a face in his mind. Tennyo would not love a disgusting man like this one.
"You're not the Pharaoh," the little dragon argued. "I heard that the Pharaoh was very handsome and dangerous-looking."
"Meaning I'm not?" The man was indignant, insulted. His scowl twisted his features horribly.
"Of course not. You look like a worm beneath my feet, unworthy of even my notice."
Snarling, the man attacked.
The golden dragon dodged to the side, sending the intruder sailing past him, arms outstretched. Skidding to a stop, he turned and launched himself back to make another attempt. This time, the dragon remained until the last moment before lashing out his tail, catching the man on the shoulder.
"Ugh…." Despite his grunt of pain, the man gave a twisted grin. "Good, however, not good enough." Shaking his shoulders, as if merely shaking off the wound, he dove again, making sure to keep his speed in check so as not to repeat his first mistake. The dragon lashed out once more, but the intruder was expecting this, and dodged to the side.
The small dragon growled, baring long, sharp teeth. Stretching his wings to their full span, he began flapping furiously, filling the cave with strong gusts. Dust flew, small rocks were lifted from their moorings, but the infuriating intruder remained where he was, crouched low and still grinning. He opened his mouth once more to taunt his adversary, but this was his fatal mistake. A clump of dust took the opportunity to fly down his throat.
"Hrk!" The man clawed as his throat, coughing. The small dragon smiled grimly, and stalked forward to finish off the offender. However, luck was not with him. Eyes streaming, the stranger struggled to his feet, holding the accursed knife in front of him like a shield.
"I'm not *cough* defeated *cough* yet, fool…." Finally discovering talking only made the problem worse, the man shut his mouth. Seeing as how the small dragon was not entirely sure what his condition was, he took advantage of the situation and rushed forward, preparing to slash the golden creature.
The small dragon leaped to the side, but not quickly enough. The blade had nicked his back leg, creating a small gash that promptly began bleeding. With a gasp, the creature crumpled, the dragonsbane making the small wound burn like his leg had been taken off. His tail lashed in a desperate attempt to finish off the enemy, but it was fruitless. The poison was working too well.
In a last ditch attempt, the dragon hazily thought to turn to his human form. 'Maybe…. It won't affect me so much…. Nn.." His thoughts were scrambled. As swiftly as he could manage, he shed his natural golden body. When he had finished, a small boy lay curled up on the floor, clutching at a bloody gash in his leg.
"How could you even think to have a chance against me?" Pegasus mocked, not at all taken aback by the transformation. "You should have just surrendered. Now, we have the same result, with a lot of unpleasantness."
"Next time," the dragon-boy growled angrily, large amethyst eyes flashing strangely through his innocence. "Next time, I'll defeat you!" The silver-haired man shook his head, a sick smile plastered on his features. Striding towards the boy, he grabbed a small shoulder and pressed the knife against his cheek. He didn't cut the skin, but the fumes of the dragonsbane had an affect all of their own.
Eyes rolling up into the back of his head, the boy slumped over, unconscious.
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"At last, my spell will be complete!"
The Pharaoh's look-alike, despite his anger and drowsiness, stared at the shimmering shield of magic curiously. What lay beyond was so powerful as to rival his own magic. Yet.… So elusive…. Not everyone could use that magic.
"I see you are looking at that," Pegasus noticed, sniggering. "Those behind this wall are the Millennium Items! They house incredible power, and they will be MINE! How, you ask? No, you're not asking? Well, you'll need to know, because I'm using your energy to power my spell. It wouldn't do for me to get killed by my own spell, now, would it?"
The spell tablet was set in front of them, every one of its fine lines re-traced with dragon blood. The dragon-boy's blood. The sickness of the entire thing made the afore-mentioned boy pale.
"Now… I will be invincible!"
Pegasus activated his spell.
A shrill scream pierced the air. The dragon-boy fell to the ground, writhing in pain. He suffered no physical wounds except the tiny cut from which Pegasus extracted his blood, but the pain! It burned him from the inside… It burned!
Slowly, slowly, the seal opened… Pegasus reached inside, a vile smirk on his face.
"Close!" the dragon-boy murmured through clenched teeth, his violet eyes determined. "Do not cede your powers to this evil man! I command you!" He threw his entire will behind the last statement.
The seal began to shut.
With an angry growl, Pegasus grabbed an object, the smallest one, and pulled his hand out, just in time. As soon as the limb was clear, the magic crashed shut with an audible bang.
"I have no time to deal with you right now," Pegasus threatened, eyes flaring in rage, "but when I find you again, you will find yourself in a world of pain!" It didn't seem much of a threat, considering the circumstances. The dragon-boy lay prone on the floor of the palace, hearing nothing. He was not breathing…
"You!"
Pegasus ran as bolts of fire chased him, but they soon stopped.
Sage stared in horror at the sight before her, all thoughts of pursuit evaporating from her mind. This boy… She knew him…
A gasp informed her of another presence, though her magic had already detected him. Yami knelt by the boy, checking his pulse.
"Let's get him to your sister," he suggested, pale with terror. "NOW!" Fear caused his voice to crack, a fear he had never felt before.
"She's waiting," Sage muttered. "We felt the disturbances in magic as soon as they started…"
Yami scooped the boy up carefully into his arms, his skin once again tingling at the contact. They boy's body was unusually cold – a bad sign. Without waiting to see if the mage-girl was following, he ran to their suite, to the healer sister.
As he came close, Ari opened the door and ushered them inside.
"Lay him down on that mat and get this into him," she commanded briskly, handing him a few herbs.
Yami blinked. "How?" He noticed his hands were trembling slightly, and swiftly put a stop to it. He was the Pharaoh, he could not be seen in this state.
Ari sighed. "Chew it," she explained, as if to a child. "And put it into his mouth. And don't touch it with your hands once the leaves are broken up, it loses potency if brought into contact with skin oils after being wetted."
"Then how am I supposed to put it into his—"
"Do I have to explain everything?" she asked in exasperation. "His mouth's open already. Just push it in with your tongue, and make sure he swallows it. All of it."
Sage came into the room as Yami was in an awkward position, straddling the younger boy's hips, and seemingly kissing him deeply.
//Ari-Chan… What did you do…? Why's he… Should I even ask? I mean, it coincides perfectly with our prediction, but really…// Despite the situation, a grin cracked on her face.
She smirked behind Yami's back. /He's giving Yugi herbs. Herbs that must be chewed, that cannot be touched by anything other than the mouth once they are broken up./
Sage's eyes widened. //Where did you find those?! We could have gotten so many other people to kiss so much more easily if—//
Ari giggled softly. /I'm not doing this on purpose, Sage-Chan. I require those herbs this time. They're very dangerous…/
Sage sighed. //There goes my idea.//
Yami looked up, finally realizing how it might have looked. Suddenly, his pants seemed a bit too tight… Realizing that the healer was waiting to use her magic, and that he was still straddling the boy, he quickly jumped up, blushing fiercely. He didn't hear Sage snickering softly behind him.
After a few moments under Ari's magic, the dragon-boy looked up. He looked around blearily, appearing as though he had just been taking a nap.
"What were you doing here?!" Yami demanded immediately, remembering his responsibility. "We found you near the seal, and one of the Millennium Items is missing."
The boy shrank back in fear, and Yami felt his heart ache. Smart. He wakes up from near death and you interrogate him in the harshest voice you can muster. Very smart.
"A silver-haired man ran away just before you got there, Pharaoh," Sage murmured. "No, not Ryou, of course. The boy… The boy was used as a source of energy."
Yami's heart hurt even more now. He longed to hold the boy… Why was he staring at the sisters strangely?
What the… What are they doing here? Is this where they have been for the past months?
"He is still weak, Pharaoh," Ari reminded Yami gently. "You should leave now, get some rest. We will bring him to the main hall tomorrow morning."
As Yami left, the three stared at each other.
"What are you doing here?!" the boy demanded in surprise.
Sage shrugged. "We… um… work here?" She grinned rather sheepishly.
"And why…" he blushed. "Why do my lips feel kinda… wet?"
Ari giggled, and Sage joined in. Finally, the healer-girl calmed down enough to answer.
"You were almost dead, and we had to give you some draco osculum herbs…"
The boy's eyes widened considerably. "Which… Which of you gave that to me?"
They laughed harder.
"It… It wasn't us, little Yugi… It was the Pharaoh!"
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Authors' Notes: Sage- Hee, dontcha just love the herb thing? ^_^
Ari- *smirks* My herb...
Sage- Hai, hai, your idea…. Couldn't have planned it better myself. ^_^ The name means "dragon's kiss" in case you all were wondering…. Heh, I helped with that part.
Ari- *grins* Yep... *still in dreamland* I love my herbs...
Sage- *shakes her head* I think Yami likes em more, mwa ha.
Ari- Oooooohhhhh, lemme go check on them... *runs into a room and immediately runs back out, bright red* Nope, don't want to check on them... O_o
Sage- *falls over laughing* I coulda told you that.
Ari- Well... anyway... *turns cute and chibi and yugi-ish again with big eyes* Wead and wewiew! Pwease?
Sage- Oya, not the Yugi thing! PLEASE JUST REVIEW!!! THAT LOOK IS DEADLY!!!