Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. Give Takahashi Kazuki the praise. He fully deserves it.
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It was still dark when the seven year old boy awoke. He was dead tired, but he forced himself to get up. He had to. Today it was his job to get water from the town's well since the well in the vizier's estate was ruined.
After pouring a little water over his face to wake him up, the boy walked out of his chamber in the slaves' quarters and across the courtyard in the vizier's manor.
He stopped by the gateway and tucked a strand of blond hair behind his ear, picking up the yoke and its two buckets. With a tired sigh, he unlocked the gates and, lifting the yoke to his back, trudged down the hill to the town.
By the time he reached the city, the sun was just showing itself above the horizon. Several tradesmen in the marketplace were already opening their shops and stands.
The boy set his load down by the well, and unhooking one of the buckets, quickly filled it. After the second one was full, he pulled the bar across his shoulders.
The full buckets were hard to carry, and the boy stumbled several times as he slowly made his way back up the hill.
When he reached the vizier's estate, everyone was already awake.
"Yami!" A teenager appeared at the open gate. "What took you so long?"
The boy set down his buckets and collapsed with a moan. "It's not my fault, Atari," he muttered. "Yesterday, Terran beat me for not brushing the horses the way he wanted...but he didn't think about how short I was. He told me that I had to get the water today...or else." The boy scowled. "Curse him."
Atari helped the boy to his feet. "Don't let the master hear you talking like that!" he exclaimed in a loud whisper. " There are several councilors visiting tonight, and we have extra work to do!"
****
On their hands and knees, the boy Yami and Atari scrubbed at the marble floors. Yami stopped every now and then to wipe the sweat from his face. Although it was unbearably hot—Egypt was in its dry season—none of the slaves were allowed rest or food until sunset.
"Atari?" the boy asked at last.
"Yes?" the teenager answered.
"What...are those?" He pointed at the jagged outlines in the distance.
Atari squinted. "The pyramids of Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura." He set down his cloth and came over to him. "Why do you ask, little one?"
The boy's eyes, so much like the scarlet sunset on the horizon, brightened. "One day I'm going do something even greater than building the pyramids," he said determinedly. "Like my father!"
Atari chuckled. "Keep working, little one. You'll do it someday."
"Yami!" The call sent the boy suddenly scurrying towards his master's quarters. Having learned long ago that responding slowly to the master meant painful punishment, the boy sped through the mansion, passing the kitchens and the courtyard. Sometimes he wondered how the vizier's voice could carry so far.
The boy ran, his feet flying over the cool stone of the indoor rooms. Reaching the first corridor, Yami threw open the second door to the right. It was his master Terran's bedroom.
"Y-you wanted to see me, Master?" he said timidly.
Terran rose from his bed. At his full height, he towered over the boy. His black hair shadowed a dark, expressionless face seemingly cut from stone. His body was like stone in motion and, as Yami had learned, could...well, hurt anyone in his way.
"I told you to get fresh water from the city well, since the new one here is not yet dug." The man stepped towards him. "This water is stale, boy."
"I-I apologize, Master," he whispered.
"First the horses...and now this!" The vizier scowled. "You will be chastised severely. Do you not know what happens to slaves who can not fulfil their responsibilities?!"
Yami went pale. Oh, he knew, and all to well.
There was silence in the room for a moment. Terran gave him a look full of contempt. He moved forward.
The blow came so suddenly that Yami didn't have time to react. The man's fist crashed against his face, sending him sprawling.
"Just like your father," he hissed. "Always dawdling, never working." Another fist caught him in the face. "He was worthless as a servant. That is why he was executed. You will be next if you can't do simple work!"
"That's not true!" Yami protested, crabbing backwards towards the wall. "My father was...the greatest man in the world—and a better man than you could ever be!"
An open hand met his face with a brutal force that sent the boy against the wall. He lay there, rubbing his sore cheek and anticipating the next blow...
****
For the rest of the afternoon, Yami was kept busy in spite of the bruises all over his body. He didn't get to see Atari until evening when all the slaves were in their quarters. He and the teenager shared a room, so he couldn't avoid telling him everything.
"Yami..." Atari began, but stopped when he saw the boy. "You're bleeding!"
The spiky-haired boy looked away and didn't speak.
Climbing to his feet, Atari came over to him. "Let me see your arm."
Yami slowly raised his arm, bruised almost black and blue. There were deep cuts all over his face and chest, and more bruises on his legs.
Atari thoroughly examined his small body. "Was it Terran?"
The boy nodded, his face expressionless. He had learned long ago to control his emotions.
The teenager led the boy to his pallet, lay him down, and after getting some water, carefully washed his face.
"A-Atari?" Yami whispered at last.
"Yes, little one?"
"What-what was...Father like?"
Atari paused, staring at the empty wall before him. "Your father Xander was a great man who loved you...and Egypt...with all of his heart," he said quietly after a moment.
"What did he do...to make the master hate him so much?" the black-haired boy asked.
The teenager folded his damp cloth on Yami's feverish forehead. "I don't know if you remember, but he was a goldsmith...
"I remember," Yami said softly, closing his eyes.
"...and I was his apprentice.
"Terran had just become the vizier, since the first one died, and he quickly proved himself a poor leader. To begin with, he had already executed almost every male member of his family, for fear that they would try to kill him. Then he taxed all goldsmiths fifty percent of all the gold they produced."
"Fifty percent!" Yami's eyes shot open. "Why so much?"
"Terran is greedy," Atari said blankly. "More greedy that a crocodile with five times his portion.
"Anyway, after the tax was introduced, your father...he was enraged. How dare Terran take away half of what we all worked hard to produce? Xander openly denounced Terran. He never paid the tax."
"What happened?
"When Terran heard about it, he sent his soldiers to arrest all of us. Then...then the damn guards...they..." Atari stopped, recalling that terror-filled day.
Yami shivered. "I remember," he repeated. "Several days later...they took Father...and killed him...right there in front of us..." An inadvertent sob passed his lips. He shut his eyes tightly.
Atari took a deep breath, gently stroking the boy's spiky hair. "Of course, since you were Xander's only child, he could not allow you to live free. So you and I were kept as Terran's slaves."
"But...why didn't he kill...me?" Yami questioned, getting more and more sleepy.
"That I don't know."
"Ohhhh..." The boy was asleep.
Atari looked at the sleeping boy for the longest time. He's gotten so much older since all this started...
So much older, and yet still a child.
He brushed the boy's blond bangs from his face and kissed the boy's forehead. With a sigh, the teenager got to his feet and went to sleep on his own pallet.