What Is Forever?

By: Neko-chan



A/N: ^_^;; Gomen nasai for taking so long to update--no, I haven't given up on this one. It's just that I've been getting a TON of fic ideas...and I want to write them down before I forget them. Also, this is an angst fic...and I can only write angst for so long before I need to write something else. So, once again, gomen nasai. =^_^=

WARNING: Yaoi! Shounen-ai! No like? Don't read.

DISCLAIMER: I no own. You no sue. The end.



Chapter Seven

Blood seemed to be everywhere, splattered haphazardly on the ground...the walls...and on the young prince himself. But Yuugi was watching the world through unseeing eyes. His Ji-sama lay on the ground, covered in crimson fluid...dead. The assassin who had managed to kill Ji-sama before the guards could get to him lay next to his Ji-sama, just as dead as the old man.

The man was dressed as a ninja--completely in black with his face covered. It didn't matter, anyway, if his face was covered or not. His body would be left for the dogs to play with--until he finally rotted away. In the end, it didn't matter.

Yuugi's violet eyes cleared suddenly and he looked down at his grandfather, huge tears streaming down his face to drip off of his jawline onto the hard-packed earth under his feet. So much blood. So very much blood.

"Ji... Ji-sama?" he whispered.

There was no answer.

"Come along, prince. We must go back to the palace before there is an assassination attempt on your own life," the captain of his bodyguards said softly, picking up the small boy to carry in his arms.

"But what about Ji-sama?" Yuugi continued to whisper, wrapping his thin arms around the soldier's neck. "We can't leave Ji-sama here. We have to get him to a doctor before he dies! Take him to a doctor! Onegai?"

"Gomen nasai, my prince... We're already too late. There's nothing we can do for him because he's already dead. The assassin was quick...and we weren't fast enough. The important thing, though, is to get you to the palace. We need to protect you, Yuugi... Yuugi-sama."

"Iie! Onegai..." Yuugi sobbed out, reaching for his grandfather's body over the guard's shoulder. "Iie... Onegai. Onegai..."

~ * ~

"How long have they been attacking the city's walls?" a newly-turned sixteen year-old Yuugi asked his oldest and wisest advisor as the two stood at the throne room's main window, staring out over the expansive city. In the distance, both could see a black, roiling mass striking the gates and the walls repeatedly. But they wouldn't get in. Oh, no. They would never get in.

The sea of blackness was the Hun army and they had been laying siege to the palace and the city grounds for the past three weeks. Not one warrior had managed to penetrate into the city.

"Yuugi-sama, they have been attempting to breach the walls for the past six days. As you well know, no warrior has managed to get past our defenses." The old man gave a little laugh. "No warrior ever WILL get past our defenses!"

"Ah. Well, if that is all, I must go and check on Yuki, the white tiger that Osaba-san managed to bring here when he last came to visit. Yuki has been looking ill lately and the veterinarian wanted me to check up on her every hour or so. If you would please excuse me, sir?" And, with that, Yuugi bowed to his oldest advisor and walked out of the room.

Asuzuki watched him leave, glaring darkly. 'Stupid child. He'll learn the meaning of true power, just as his grandfather did. Just wait until I... But never mind that right now.'



It was later that night that Yuugi was 'killed' and the city was overtaken. Many thought that their emperor was lost or dead--and so they turned to the one person they knew they could count on the most. It was Asuzuki's time to reign supreme. And yet... The emperor was not forgotten.

~ * ~

"Get up! Get up already!" the burly man screamed as he made his way up and down the various cells, kicking at already bruised bodies if they came close enough. He continued to do this to each slave, but finally stopped when he reached the last cell. "Didn't you hear me, slave? Get up. It's auction day."

Yuugi groaned and managed to push himself up by his elbows, gasping in pain as he man kicked his already cracked ribs. "Iie... Itai... Itai..." he whispered.

"Shut up and get up already! I don't know what you're saying--and I don't really care. My job is to get you and your worthless carcass at least semi-conscious for the auction. So GET UP, SCUM!!"

Yuugi gasped again as he managed to push himself to a sitting position, swallowing tears and holding his side protectively. With every movement that he made, fire seemed to shoot up and down his body. He knew that his ribs were cracked, if not broken completely.

And it hurt so very much...

"Are you alright?" the person in the cell next to him asked, looking at the young emperor with worried eyes. The question shocked Yuugi, yes--after all, why would a slave care about another fellow slave in this hellhole?--but the fact that it was asked in his own language was the thing that shocked Yuugi the most.

"Iie..." he whispered back. "Iie. I... I think my ribs are either cracked or broken and it's hard to breathe. I don't think I can stand all the way up."

"Don't worry about it, then. When they open up our cells, I'll go into yours and help you. Ne?" the young boy responded with a gentle smile.

"Hai. Domo arigatou. I am Mutou. Mutou Yuugi. Who are you?"

"I don't know what my last name is, Mutou-san. I only go by my first name and have gone by it for as long as I can remember. So, please, call me...Ryou."

Yuugi titled his head to one side and stared at the white-haired boy with wide, violet eyes. Though his eyes seemed open--Ryou couldn't tell what Yuugi was thinking. Finally, though, the young emperor answered the boy. "Alright. But... Call me Yuugi, onegai. We have no more titles here." And, with that, he smiled bitterly. "Iie, no more titles."

"Yuugi-san?"

"Iie. Yuugi. Just Yuugi."



"Morgan, where are you going? You've been wandering around this slave market for the past two days. Whenever I ask you what you're doing, your only reply is that you're _looking for something_. I'm tired and I want to leave this Dagda forsaken place. Just tell me what you're looking for so that we can _leave_."

The red-headed girl snarled unhappily and rounded on her companion. "I already TOLD you all that I know, Merlin! I don't know what I'm looking for--all I know is that it's important. My cards told me that what I'm searching for is extremely important and I cannot afford to let it slip out of my grasp. And yet... And yet... I just don't _know_."

Merlin sighed and stopped in the middle of the road. Frowning darkly at the young girl, he pulled her to a stop as well. "Really and truly--I just can't bring myself to care anymore, Morgan. Find what you're looking for and bring it back. I'll be waiting for you at the inn."

Morgan glared as she watched her 'guardian' turn his back on her and begin to walk away. But he was quickly forgotten. Chewing absently on a nail, she continued her wanderings of the slave market, moving from stall to stall, knowing that what she searched for was close--but still out of her grasp.

'What IS it that I'm looking for? I can sense it, teasing the very back of my mind... Darting away and then coming back to tug me where and there...' Still lost deep in thought, she bit down on the actual skin and cut into her finger. 'Damnu aire. Just...where is it??'

Finally, her gaze was caught by two pairs of eyes. One dark brown and terrified at what was happening around the person. And the other... The other was deep violet, wide and open. But though the violet eyes were open...no emotion leaked through. It was like looking into a mirror.

As Morgan Le Fay continued to observe the slave auction that the two slaves were in, her gray eyes slowly widened until white showed all around the iris. 'Here. Here is what I'm searching for. Or, more specifically, THEY are what I've been looking for. But have I been looking for the both of them or just one of them? I can't tell right now and my Tarot cards do not say... It doesn't matter, anyway. I have enough to buy the both of them. And when the three of us return to the inn, I'll do a reading.'

'And yet... Why does it feel as if many lives are about to change in this instant?'

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Yami slowly made his way down the dungeon steps. Each step that he took echoed eerily, bouncing over walls and returning to him as if it was afraid of the dark. He smiled. It should be. He _was_ the dark, after all.

Another scream came up from the depths of the dungeons and Yami's smile widened.

Step by step, he went deeper and deeper into the dungeons; the air chilled around him and raised goosebumps on his body. But he ignored the cold because it was unimportant. His goal was the important thing and he would not stop until he reached that goal.

The Pharaoh finally stopped at a single cell. Though the door was closed, bright red blood streamed like a river from a crack between the wooden door and the stone floor. There seemed to be no end of the blood---it just continued to flow without an end in sight.

Smiling to himself, Yami reached up and pushed the door open, stepping into the dark room. "Hello, Yuugi. Have you learned your lesson yet, little ruler? Or do you need to stay under here for a little while longer?"

Yuugi sucked in a breath in surprise, looking up at the Egyptian Pharaoh with violet eyes nearly completely swollen shut. Blood ran from deep cuts all over his body. It seemed almost impossible that a person could lose that amount of blood and still be alive. But that was a torturer's main goal---to keep their 'plaything' alive as long as possible.

And Yuugi was very much alive, despite appearances.

"Wh---What are you doing down here?" Yuugi managed to gasp out around the pain. He knew that he would soon lose consciousness---but he fought desperately against that fact. He didn't want to lose consciousness. Not around Yami. "Why are you here?"

"I came down here to check up on you. To see if you were ready to submit to me. There's no point in fighting anymore---can't you see that? I've won. I'll win. I _always_ win, Yuugi. So why continue to fight me?" He smiled.

Yuugi growled and tried to lunge at the Pharaoh---but the chains held him back. "Submit? Submit to you? I will _never_ submit to you, Yami. Never. You might as well kill me now because I will never look up to you in that way."

"Oh? Is that so?" Yami continued to smile and made his way closer to the trapped slave. There was no way for Yuugi to escape---he was in pain, weak, and chained to the cold stone wall. As Yami made his way closer to the young emperor, Yuugi's eyes widened. "We'll see about that, Yuugi. Slave."

And Yami slowly undressed.