::Is busy shoving all the weaponry into her mother's oversized closet::

::Cough:: Remember when I said I'd update two weeks later? And... I... well, I never did? Sorry! Sorry!!! O.O School was ending, and with it tests that I had to study for! ;-;

But, today was the last day of (what I like to call) moron factory duty. ::phew:: So now, I'm celebrating with some mint ice cream, doodling for my next art class, and writing.

Review replies at the end. Honestly, I'm not sure why people like this so much. o.o; But, hey, not like I'm complaining. XD

---

Yuugi wasn't the brightest person you would ever meet in your lifetime. He couldn't solve complex mathematical problems brought from Greece's traders across the vast and (often blue) sea; couldn't do anything even remotely talented in the arts... he didn't even finish school (aside from the fact that he had no choice in the matter).

But, he wasn't completely stupid. He possessed a keen and strange awareness of everything in his surroundings, and he used this knowing to his advantage. Yuugi could often predict what would happen based on the living creature's feelings, ideas, or emotions, which hung around them like poisonous gases.

Yuugi was, to say, baffled. The two males in front of him may as well have been passed off as stones (albeit pretty ones). In the beginning, they hadn't shown human emotion, but...

Why would he smile at him? He was a, a nothing! It was a disgrace to even glance at one of his stature! Then why.. why...

Yuugi was so confused. So confused, to a point, that he became lost in his swirling and troubled and broken thoughts, he lost the feeling of pain in his throbbing leg and punctured arm. And he completely ignored the Pharaoh, for that matter.

---

Atemu frowned. The young man in front of him was too... thin. His cheeks were bony, his eyes were sunken, his breathing was shallow and, through the meager, dirty rags he wore, his ribs stuck out far too much. It was painfully obvious he was starved, and weak.

And he was terrified of the two. The boy's unique eyes were blank, guarded, unseeing. This annoyed Atemu. The man hadn't answered his question.

No one kept the Divine waiting.

The pharaoh, determined, cupped the boy's cold cheeks and stared hard into darkened and troubled orbs. Yuugi, startled, blinked and shook his head slightly. When his dark irises rested upon bloodied ones, Yuugi awoke from his small revere.

Yuugi tried to free himself from the Pharaoh's grip, but it was in vain. He whimpered silently as the eyes of his Pharaoh narrowed down on him... and as his leg gave a rather painful wave of discomfort.

Yuugi glanced over at the Pharaoh's companion through a hazy sight. Still stone; still cold-faced.

Yuugi's spirit drooped again.

Look at me.

The warm fingers curled around his gaunt face tightened. Yuugi hissed at the accompanied pain. The Pharaoh had scraped one of his many rings against a rather painful, still healing wound. But he did comply to the man's wishes.

The Pharaoh shifted in his seated position, oblivious to the pain he was forcing upon the smaller man.

Now, tell me, what is your name?

Yuugi remained stubbornly silent. If he said his name, it would only make it easier to report him. And since he hadn't even shown up to the sex-fest...

Ouch.

Yuugi's silence angered the stoney other. The cold male, who had been leaning against one of the bed's tall posts during the interrogation, roughly stood from his stance and stomped over to the trembling form under the Pharaoh's grip.

Atemu grabbed the hand that was raised, poised to slap the smaller man on the floor, thus releasing his hold on Yuugi's chin.

Seth received a glare from Atemu, and he nodded wordlessly, his eyes still cold. Atemu released his wrist, and the cold-eyed male brought his fingers up and proceeded to massage his bruised joint.

Bloody eyes widened. All breathing halted in the passion-filled room.

Ice-blue eyes blinked at the sudden silence. The taller male turned around to face the other two--

--to find only Atemu kneeling there.

Sudden profanity shot from Seth's runaway mouth, startling the young Pharaoh on the covered ground.

--Sneaky little bitch! I'll have its head on a silver platter, Ra damn it! I'll...

Atemu furrowed his brows. The scent of the smaller was still on him; a smell of the air, laden with the stench of heavy perfume and dirt. But it smelled of home.

And... Atemu found himself wanting to smell more of it.

The Pharaoh glanced around the red-colored room, Seth still ranting to the high heavens and stomping around the room and, overall, creating a large amount of unwanted noise. Atemu snorted lightly through his nose in annoyance at his friend, looking over toward the heavy draped curtains covering the windows completely.

... Was that a rustle?

---

As soon as the Pharaoh had turned his eyes away from Yuugi, it seemed he was able to do as he pleased. His strength (he swore) returned to him, and he sucked it into his drained system hungrily. Yuugi found himself able to move after he had dared wiggle a finger.

So, Yuugi did what any sane person would've done: he ran, lickety-split, toward his best chance at getting away from the building: curtains.

How Yuugi had managed to run on a leg with a bone protruding from it was a mystery even to him. Yuugi, breathless with adrenaline, gasped for air as quietly as he could once he had crashed into a crack in the softened wall, his palms bracing him from impact. It was muffled enough by the towering folds of cloth behind him, and he thanked Ra quietly before inspecting his hiding place.

It... smelled. It smelled like the entire building had always smelled; of sweat and unwanted passion and perfume and... Yuugi changed the subject in his mind quickly, not wanting to pursue the thought. He couldn't see anything behind the curtains. The fabric was too thick, and there was too much of it. Yuugi briefly pondered if he would be able to hear anything. He certainly couldn't right now.

Seth's strong voice almost knocked Yuugi off his trembling feet. He shakily nodded his head silently at his mental question, and started inching his way along the wall, careful not to move the cloth at his feet, lest he give himself away.

Seth's profanity continued to filter itself into his ears, giving Yuugi the starting of a massive headache. He clenched his eyes shut momentarily, pausing in his traveling to rest his leg. Yuugi couldn't ignore the pain for that large amount of time.

His leg and arm had become encrusted with blood. The meager coverings that hid the gruesome sights had hardened, almost like the crude sacks that held grain, located i the stables. Yuugi was rather surprised neither the Pharaoh or his Priest had noticed the grimy limbs, seeing that the rest of him was a sickly shade of pale, which comes with not eating anything for a few days. Then again, if they had...

It's not like they would care, or anything, Yuugi snarled, his narrowed irises narrowing further. He furiously tore his hand that rested upon the jutting bone on his leg, broke the skin on his lip with pearly white teeth to keep himself from screaming, and stubbornly continued through the dark-red passageway, stumbling on the uneven path'.

You must understand, the room Yuugi currently resided in wasn't your average-sized room. It was bigger than most modern-day houses, maybe half the size of the richest king's fanciest ballroom. In an upbeat trot, you could make it from the north side to the south in a minute, give or take. But.. Yuugi was on a broken leg. A broken leg that shouldn't even have been walked upon, much less stomped.

If you refer back to the beginning, that should explain some things concerning to this subject.

Seth's voice was still at it, shooting out things Yuugi never knew you could do with a rolling pin (among other kitchen supplies). The Pharaoh hadn't spoken a word since he had asked Yuugi his name. Yuugi's intelligent, aware side of his mind flared a warning at this, but he brushed it off and instead focused on reducing the excruciating pain shooting up from the screaming nerves located in his leg.

Which was why he never saw Atemu coming up from behind.

---

Atemu quietly slipped through an opening in the towering folds of velvet, blinking at the sudden darkness that assaulted his eyes. The light had a red tint to it as it filtered through the curtains, shrouding everything in an ethereal light.

The Pharaoh was grateful it muffled Seth's disgruntled voice, still going at it. He was liable to aim a good one straight in where the light didn't shine.

Clearing his head with practiced ease, Atemu scanned the skinny portion of the room, which expanded around aforementioned room. The gloomy light shone down the dimly lit makeshift hallway...

... and straight onto his target.

Allowing a small smirk to paint itself upon his lips, Atemu crept stealthily over the crumpled folds of soft fabric, so like a spider it was a wonder he only possessed two legs. His nimble fingers, connected to equally smooth hands, held aside the folds of cloth in his way for him to pass through, before removing their hold and swinging in a liquid motion to the next. Atemu's eyes were fixed on the small slave-boy, squinting to see the equally seductive body ahead of him almost mimicking his moves, though much more sloppily. The Pharaoh blinked, spotting where the slave was favoring two places on his lean frame.

Atemu knew he had caught the faint scent of blood wafting off the smaller.

He increased his pace until his slinking body was directly behind the limping one. A soft hiss curled into his ears, issuing from the smaller's lightly drawn lips, and Atemu was forced to stop as his prey bent over swiftly, shooting out a lithely-sculpted hand to coil around a slickened limb. The Pharaoh instantly recognized it for what it was.

Blood.

Another soft sound, too piercing and aching and raw to be music, found itself in his mind. Atemu was moved by such a sound, so much sorer than the last, that he found himself curling his supple arms to entwine the smaller in them.

The body instantly became tense, almost wooden. It quivered and shook, quavered and shuddered in his warm embrace. A warm liquid, emanating from the boy's leg, sunk into his own flesh, burning him. It dribbled slowly, almost leisurely, down his unadorned leg, causing his spine to release a crawling shiver, which slunk up his vertebrae and into his neck.

And then the still form in his arms up and clouted him across his features.

---

Yuugi ran. He ran like no other had ever run before, pumping his legs in methodical movement, urging, no, forcing them to move faster, to get away...

His eyes, burning at the lack of moisture, created droplets of salty water that ran from his sockets, unchecked, unprecedented, unwelcomed. Yuugi was too tired to raise his sore hands to scrub them off his pale cheeks. His wrists ached after moving and twisting them so much, trying to get away, and he, with a bruising force, ripped open the door and flew out into the smelling hallway, earning a pause in the Priest's profanity, choking himself with unshed tears and more of the goddamned stench...

The Pharaoh found him. The stupid, brainless, spoiled, uncaring fool of a leader--

Yuugi gasped at his thoughts, the action sending a jolt of electric pain through him, and collapsed in a heavy strangled heap upon the dirty floor. Bloodshot eyes spotted the entranceway, the exit, freedom, and sent the image into his mind's eye, attempting to raise the tired body they were attached to.

Eyes never got tired. No matter how much they burn or sting or bite or smart, they can still swivel. You only think you're tired because your eyelids cannot hold up. Eyelids are connected to your body. And bodies are always tired.

Yuugi watched with blank, awake, aware eyes as the crone staggered up to him, a cruel smirk defining itself upon a sagging face, equally moving eyes glancing gleefully down to the crop she held in her wrinkled, skeletal hand. Yuugi's eyelids slowly closed, trapping the only part of himself still wanting to move on into darkness.

---

Annnd, we're done! XD ::Cackles and whoops and carries on, until she is shot::

I have a note I'd like to say before I end this (relatively well done) chapter.

It was a disgrace to even glance at one of his stature!, Yuugi gasped at his thoughts -- for those of you who are wondering why Yuugi acted like this, I copied the idea off the Indian Hinduism belief, The Caste System. To make a long story short, the Hindus believe in three major points:
-reincarnation (a person is born, lives, dies, and is reborn again).
-karma (states that a person's social position in the next life depends on his/her conduct in the present life).
-dharma (a code of behavior set of moral and ethical rules governing the conduct of each social class).
Relating back to the dharma, this was such a big part of their lives because of the types of social classes there were.
1. Brahmins (teachers/priests)
2. Kshatriya (warriors)
3. Vasisya (merchants/farmers)
4. Sudra (laborers)
5. Untouchables (so low they are outside the Caste System and are not a caste).
Soo, pretty much, Atemu/Yami would be a Brahmin, and Yuugi would be an Untouchable.
Pretty bad, ne? Most cities in India have passed aside the Caste System, but some haven't.

Now, I'm going to bold this and make it very, very clear.. Nyuu, this isn't the end of the story! I said it was, and I lied! Again! Xx; ::Goes to unlock the closet and spills out all the assorted weaponry again::

Even though the end of school was a week ago, I got stuck in the curtains scene. It either led to: A) kinky bondage sex, or B) something entirely different.

And, also, I thought it was a pretty good hanger myself. w Gotta make you do something to stick around, ne?

The last and final (I swear) chapter should be up and around at the end of the week. I'll be taking a short trip up to my lake cabin for three days, and shall write-up the chapter there. No computer access, unfortunately. ;-;

I kinda enjoyed writing this chapter (and was really leaning towards the bondage sex...), so, hope you enjoyed reading it! I luff you all!! 3