And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea.

~

Ishizu slung her purse over her shoulders, kissed Hathor goodbye and exited her apartment. The corridor was unusually drafty and she shivered slightly as she went out through the main door. She checked her watch briefly. She had a local teenage girl babysit for Hathor and she had four hours before she had to be back.



She was on her way the Kaiba mansion. Kaiba had asked her to look over this month's gross annual earnings, and as she had not had enough time to finish during work, he had permitted her to take it home, provided he receive them by Saturday morning. The weather was cool and the sea as well as the skyscrapers of downtown Domino were obscured by fog. She hugged herself tightly, glad she had decided to dress a little warmer. She was wearing a handwoven white poncho, beaded at the edges with tiny clear glass beads, a gift from one of her former Egyptian colleagues. She smiled slightly as she remembered Marik saying that she looked like a goatherd in wearing that. Marik had always sent her clothes as presents, including a garishly embroidered tank top, a slinky black sleeveless sheath dress, as well as a pair of leather pants. Ishizu didn't even need to try on any of the clothes to know that they would be skintight or belly-baring. Whenever Ishizu received any of his presents, she would often smile politely, stifling a grimace, as she silently resolved never to let any of those abhorrent clothes touch her skin.



Ishizu reached her car, a tiny vintage white Beetle, a relic of her college days, when this was the only car she could even remotely afford. Since then, she could have bought a much better car, but the tiny little white car has grown on her, and she has been loath to replace it. She never drove it to work however, not only because it was much more practical to just take the subway rather than the congested streets of downtown Domino, but also because of a silent fear of the taunts her car would elicit parked amid the numerous shining BMWs in Kaiba Corp's parking lot.



She got in and started her car, and pulled out, trying feverishly to remember the directions to the Kaiba mansion. She swerved slightly as she changed lanes and ten minutes later she reached the Kaiba mansion, located on the outskirts of Domino.



The mansion was a large looming white house, staid and dignified, sitting like a hat amid the landscape. The lawn was so finely groomed it resembled a putting green. Ishizu parked her car near the sidewalk and walked up to the gates complete with stone Blue-eyes white dragons in place of gargoyles. She smiled, slightly amused. Kaiba seems to quite love his dragons, she thought. As she neared the gates, they slowly parted with a creak, and she walked to the front door. But before she even touched the heavy stone knocker, the door was opened not by a maid or butler as she imagined, but by Mokuba Kaiba, hair tousled and a grin on his face.



"What're you here for?"



Ishizu gestured to the manila folder she was carrying in her arms. "I am here to bring Mr. Kaiba some important papers. Is he here?"



"No. But he should be back anytime soon. He had to pick up some stuff at work. But why don't you come in and you can wait for him?"



"Oh, no. I don't want to intrude. I can just leave the papers here."



"No, no. I insist." Mokuba smiled and escorted her in with a flourish.

The inside of the mansion was large and quiet, with an immaculate cleanliness Ishizu imagined must take quite an army of maids to maintain. The walls were hung with various art reproductions and vases. Ishizu noticed a Vermeer painting, as well as a Titian and an O'Keefe. She didn't know Kaiba was an art collector. She followed Mokuba along a labyrinth of hallways, into a large sunny kitchen. Ishizu took a seat at the polished marble counter, as Mokuba pulled open the refrigerator.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Oh no. I am fine. I'm just waiting for your brother to return so I can give him his papers."

Ignoring her refusal, Mokuba pulled out a carton of soy milk and poured her a glass. Ishizu raised an eyebrow.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, before Ishizu, slightly curious, asked Mokuba what he planned to do in the future.

"Well...I think I'm going to get a liberal arts degree." Mokuba rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know. I made up my mind a few years ago, I think. About the end of my freshman year."

Ishizu picked up the glass with a veiled smile. "I suppose your brother isn't too happy with your decision?"

Mokuba stared at her for a minute, then smiled sheepishly. "No, he really isn't."

Ishizu looked at him over the rim of her glass. Mokuba had, no doubt, changed a lot in these few years. How many years has it been since the summer of Battle City? Six? No, seven. Mokuba still had his long black hair and gray eyes, as well as his disarming frankness, but since then, very little of the enthusiastic ten-year-old she had once known remained. She wondered how Kaiba felt about it.

Ishizu finished her glass in silence. The door suddenly swung open to reveal Kaiba stepping in briskly, with a silver attaché case and a white duster. He threw his briefcase on the counter and sat down on a stool across from Ishizu's.



"Have you finished with the earnings reports?" he asked, not even looking at her as he opened his briefcase.

"Yes." Ishizu handed the folder over to Kaiba. "Everything looks fine." She nodded at Mokuba, and left without making a sound."

"She's cute. I like her." Mokuba swung around on his stool as soon as she was out of earshot. He looked at Seto with a mocking grin on his face. "You planning on marrying her?"

Seto didn't even look up. "Mokuba, please. She's not even my type. Any relationship we have is strictly professional. Besides, she also happens to be my secretary."

Mokuba continued swiveling around on his stool. "So?"

Kaiba did look up this time. He gave an exasperated sigh as he opened a folder. "Mokuba" he finally said. "You really do have a lot to learn about the world, don't you?"

Mokuba said nothing, but grabbed his backpack off the counter and ran through the swinging doors with a grin on his face.





Bakura answered the door wearing a large white apron as Ishizu showed up for her weekly Saturday night dinner with her brother and his roommate. "Dinner will be ready soon." he said as he stood aside to let her enter.



Ishizu seated herself at the dining table. She frowned for a minute as she recognized her best linen tablecloth covering Marik and Bakura's table. And I was looking everywhere for that, she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by Bakura placing a plate in front of her. Ishizu looked at her plate. Rice croquettes and lamb medallions. That would look delicious. That is, if she wasn't a vegetarian. Bakura filled her glass with red white. Ishizu forced a smile and toasted Marik, wondering if he'd ever remember that she was a strict teetotaler. She scraped her lamb to the side of her plate with her fork and picked at her rice for the rest of the meal.

Marik and Bakura were silent for the first few minutes before Bakura, taking a brave stab at conversation, asked Ishizu if she's started packing for England. Ishizu silenced him with a withering glare. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and the three of them passed the rest of the meal in silence, Bakura for fear of Ishizu, Marik because he was busy stuffing his face, and Ishizu was silent out of pure annoyance. That and the fact that the rice croquettes were abominably dry and stuck to the roof of her mouth.



~

She has a restless night, and she wakes up early the next morning with a bitter taste in her mouth. Last night was quite possibly the nearest to a serious argument they had ever had. She closes her eyes as she wonders yet again how the two of them could ever had ended up in a relationship like this. The cold, forbidding priest, and the calm, composed priestess. Theirs is an union as unlikely as it is fervent. An union brought about by fate's irony and a unfixed destiny, perhaps, that one has no say in.



She slips noiselessly out of her room. She feels the cold stone of the floor on her bare feet. The other priests usually don't rise until about eight o'clock, roughly. She wends her way among the labyrinthine stone passageways until she sees him standing in the main hallway, staring out the doorway.

He stands perfectly still, his clothes ruffling slightly in the morning breeze.



"Aishizu." he says without preamble. He senses her presence even though she has not made a sound.

" There's no point in your torturing yourself like this. The throne is his, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it." she knows perfectly well what he's been thinking.

He gives a short ironic laugh. "The throne would've been mine if he hadn't been born. Or have you forgotten? My father was the brother of the last pharaoh. If my uncle the pharaoh Akunumkanon had died without an heir, I would be pharaoh right now."

She pities him, almost, his desperation for the power of the pharaoh. "You may inherit the throne yet. If the pharaoh Yami dies without an heir, the throne will go to you."

"What good will that be? I'm not about to spend twenty years of my life like some desperate fool waiting for him to die."

"And what else can you do about it?"

He smiles to himself with that expression she knows so well. "I'm going to overthrow him." he says softly.



"You can't." She inhales sharply. "Or have you forgotten the vows we have all taken to protect the pharaoh?"



"To hell with the vows I took."

She shakes her head wordlessly. "You can't go against who you are, Seto. The vows you've taken are more a part of you than you'll ever realize. It's your duty, your destiny, your fate." But even as she is saying this she realizes the terrible truth that she will have no choice but to support him in this, and that she, too, will break her vows to stay loyal to the man she loves so.

~

Hathor squealed with delight as she emptied the cup of pencils on Ishizu's desk. She proceeded to grab them with her chubby fingers, causing Ishizu to sigh in frustration as she put her in her stroller. Kaiba, having heard Hathor, promptly opened the door with a sudden bang, causing Ishizu to drop the box of animal crackers in her hands, scattering animal crackers all over the floor. Kaiba, instead of yelling at Ishizu like she had anticipated, instead remained silent, and stood in the doorway as he struggled not to smile. Ishizu, however, didn't notice as she slid off her chair to pick up all the animal crackers.

"Why is she here?" he asked gruffly.

Ishizu paused as she picked up a tiger off the floor. "I'm taking Hathor this afternoon to get the adoption papers finalized."

"You're adopting her?"

"I adopted her in a way the night Linnet left her. But this should add a legal finality. I would've thought you of all people would know what I mean."

"I see." Kaiba answered in a noncommittal tone. He refrained from further comments as he abruptly left the room. Ishizu stared after him. He really isn't that way inside, she thought. She thought back to a few months ago, after she was left to raise Hathor by herself. She was paid an ample salary, but it was still somewhat of a strain to pay for all of Hathor's diapers and formula. She had mentioned it in passing to Kaiba one day, and two days later, as she left for work, she had tripped over a large cardboard box outside her door. Mystified, she had opened it. It contained a supply of Pampers and a large canister of baby formula. And every few weeks, she would find another box outside her door. She was sure it was Kaiba who was behind it. Her suspicion was confirmed when she asked him about it, and he had denied it emphatically. A little too emphatically. He never was a good actor.

And it was the little things like that that made her feel slightly ashamed of her former preconceptions of him. It wasn't much, she knew. Kaiba had most likely left a standing order on some online shipping site, which wouldn't have taken him more than a few minutes total, and the cost wouldn't have made even the smallest dent in his bank account, but it was the thoughtfulness that counted more than anything, perhaps. That man is an enigma, she thought as she got up from the floor.



(...I hope my historical details are right, since I'm much too lazy to research anything, and my entire knowledge of ancient Egypt consists entirely of the research I did for my first semester World Civ. project. But...I did do a little research on the whole Seto/Aishizu thing, and High Priest Seto really was Yami's cousin, and High Priest Seto really did have this whole obsessive desire to overthrow Yami. No wonder he's such a power-hungry nutcase in his present life. *sweatdrop*....anyway, I won't update for about two or three weeks. (damn writer's block), and also....anyone who can identify the poem from which the little excerpt from the beginning of this chapter came from gets an imaginary sticker! (It shouldn't be too hard. Most of you have probably read the poem at some point or other.)