Yeah yeah, here's more, yadda yadda...

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thunder mouse pikachu: . So any questions... but to be fair, mot of those are either going to be answered later in the fic, or left open for you to decide. The knife one is one of the latter - could have been Yugi, could have been a God, could have been a God through Yugi... it's up to you to decide.
DAU: That 'Princessbazzerman' thing really isn't an avenue you want to persue... trust me...

Special thanks also to: ObiWanGirl, Madame Ruby, Evil Cheese Of Doom, White Phoenix Eternal, s.h.i.r.o.i.k.e.t.s.u.e.k.i, Kitty Neko, Ril, trekkie-54, Babsey, yamiyugifanadic, Yugi-obsessed, One Winged Tenshi, Morgaine: Lady of the Lake, meowblecat, DarkWolf193, Bi Panda, Athena5897, Sabbie The Unloved Goddess, Silvershadowfire, Tahirah, blueraydragongirl, Latias gang, Taddybear and Insane Pineapple from Naboo!

Please note: To the best of my knowledge, torture wasn't a common practice in Egypt. I've included it in this chapter simply because it fits both the scene and Set's persona. I feel I should also point out I was in a very odd mood while writing this chapter, and to be honest I think it's possibly the worst one of this series… Still, read on and enjoy...


"This is definitely the right window?"

Bakura sighed, his voice heavy with frustration, and nodded. "Yes. Malik and I mapped out the entire palace's layout when we were planning to kidnap Yugi–" The smaller tricolour-haired boy looked a little disturbed by this revelation, but said nothing. "–And I'm telling you, this window will drop him into the room where they keep the slave garments. All he has to do then is take one and he's safe to go look for that girl."

"Masika," Adair corrected, earning a glare from Bakura.

"The name doesn't matter right now. What we need to do is get in without causing a fuss, and she's the one to do it for us."

Lateef still looked uncertain. "But what if she doesn't want to help?"

"Then we do it my way," came the simple reply as Bakura unsheathed a knife, testing its weight by balancing it on one finger. As the prior night had worn on, Bakura had gradually calmed down, and even begun to warm to this plan. It still wasn't his first choice, but he had to grudgingly concede that there was a certain sense of logic to it.

"…oh…" Lateef murmured. He knew exactly what Bakura meant by that. "But… what about a subtle break-in?" he queried, not overly keen on the idea of getting into a fight.

"Subtlety isn't my strong point."

Adair gaped at Bakura at this remark. "Bakura, you're a tomb robber! What do you mean, subtlety isn't your–"

Yami placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and shook his head. "We've been through this before."

Lateef stood below the window, staring up at it. "So…" he began, pointing as he spoke. "I need to climb on there, shimmy across there, drop down to there, climb all the way up there and jump onto there, hoping I can make it, and then climb in?"

Bakura nodded. "That's basically it, yeah."

Lateef nodded, swallowing heavily. If he were to be completely honest with the others, he was absolutely terrified right now. He knew that he could be executed if anything went wrong, and that was assuming he even made it into the palace. Staring at the final jump he'd have to make, the task seemed more and more immense with each passing second. He could literally see in his mind's eye what would happen if he jumped badly. If he couldn't make that gap, which seemed to be growing wider each time he blinked in the sunlight…

That was a long way to fall.

"Well?" Bakura demanded, frowning at Lateef. "You ready?" The boy hesitated, and Bakura frowned slightly more, stepping forward menacingly. "Not backing out, are you?"

"N… No, of course not," Lateef replied with a weak laugh. "I was just… sizing it up, that's all." Sighing heavily, Lateef resigned himself to his fate. Stretching up to the first ledge, he readied himself to begin his challenge.

"Lateef, you're shaking."

Lateef cringed at Adair's observation. "N… No I'm not…" he replied. "That's just…"

"Just go, you idiot," the raven-haired boy interrupted.

With one more sigh, Lateef jumped up, gripping the ledge tightly and pulling himself up, scrabbling up the last little bit of the wall. When he realised he'd made it, and that nothing had broken or been bruised or caved in, he was slightly more encouraged and began to clamber up the next couple of levels, carefully making sure he didn't slip and lose his grip. As he felt himself sat on a solid surface once again, he breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all…

"Be careful that you don't slip on this one, Lateef!"

Lateef gave a small whimper as he looked down to see who had spoken and saw the distance he already was from the floor. Pressing himself flat against the wall, he began shuffling along the narrow ledge that he had to traverse, wincing every time something crumbled under his feet – no matter how slight – and slowly closed the gap on his next goal.


"It'd be easier if you just talked, you know," the palace executioner explained to Malik.

The captive simply glared at his interrogator. "I'd rather chew my own testicles off than tell you where Bakura is," he snorted, sorely tempted to try and spit on the man, who currently held a whip in his hands.

"We may well have crocodiles who'd do that," the man before Malik countered warningly. "And I don't think you're in a position to stop them."

This was a true enough observation. Currently, Malik's ankles were shackled to the floor, and his wrists were manacled together above his head together so that he couldn't lash out with his hands. He'd had his robes and his top removed so that his chest and back were bare to any assault upon them, his front already beginning to bruise from earlier beatings given to him by the guards. He was clearly in some pain, and was sweating slightly from the exertions already forced upon him.

"I guess you must have been one of the guards for the Pharaoh's concubines then," Malik grinned in reply. "Since it seems you don't have the balls to face up to me properly." [1]

Malik's foe visibly twitched at this. It seemed Malik had just managed to get under his skin. "We'll see how cocky you are in a minute," the man snarled, before striding round behind Malik and drawing his arm round behind himself.

A loud report filled the room as the whip cracked across Malik's back, the boy crying out and gritting his teeth as the laceration seared his flesh. Panting heavily, feeling the movement of his chest pulling at the burning area, Malik forced himself to calm down. No matter what else, he wouldn't give this bastard the satisfaction of hearing him cry out again. He had to keep fighting any way he could. "Sorry," he began with a small laugh. "But Bakura does it harder than that when we're playing with each other. You're gonna have to do a lot better."

The guard obliged, bringing the whip down again, and Malik hissed silently between his teeth as he felt the burn begin to spread across his back once again. "Planning on talking any time soon, pretty boy?" the guard sneered, not sounding like he particularly cared either way.

Again, a barked laugh came from Malik. "I'll see you begging for your life on your knees first," he snorted derisively.

A third whip crack filled the room. "You just don't learn, do you?"


Lateef stared across the gap before him. Somehow, it didn't seem so far from this angle. Maybe his perspective had been thrown by the height earlier, he pondered. Taking a few measured paces back, he took a deep breath and began to run forward.

The next thing Lateef realised, he was laying on a stone surface, his head throbbing slightly. Sitting up, he had a quick look round, realising simply from the fact that he was able to do so that he hadn't fallen to his death. "That's a bonus…" he murmured to himself, rubbing where he ached to check it wasn't bleeding. Peering over the side of the ledge he lay on, he saw his friends below him, Yami giving him a quick thumbs-up and Bakura gesturing for him to hurry up.

"Huh…?" Lateef groggily groaned.

Ah, yes. Gradually, it dawned on him that he must have made the jump. He'd focussed so hard on getting enough distance to clear the gap, though, that he hadn't allowed for the fact that there was a wall on the other side. Apparently the wall had remembered him.

Lateef shakily climbed to his feet and made his way across to the nearby window, plopping down on the windowsill and pushing himself into the building. Bakura had assured him there'd be a shelf immediately below him, and that he could climb down from there.

Going by the shriek that was closely followed by a splash, this hadn't quite gone as planned.

"Bakura…?" Yami began slowly. "Are you sure that was the right window?"

The tomb robber was frowning, a thoughtful look on his face. "Left hand side, fifth window up, north face of the East Tower. I don't know what went wrong…"

The Pharaoh visibly cringed at this, and even Yugi clapped a hand to his forehead in disbelief. "Bakura, you idiot," Yami sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. "This is the east face of the North Tower. Where did you just send Lateef?"

Bakura smirked a little too innocently, giving the game away. "I couldn't possibly imagine," he stated airily.


Groaning, Lateef pushed himself up to his hands and knees, bringing his head above the water's surface, keeping his face tipped down as he panted to get his breath back. He was fairly certain that his scream hadn't alerted anyone, else the guards would already be in here, so he was probably safe for now. Going by the stone floor and the warmth of the water, though, he was in what seemed to be one of those baths he'd heard about. If so, whoever it had been drawn for would probably be here soon, so, he decided, he'd better escape fast.

"…"

Sinking back so he was sat on his heels, Lateef placed his hands on his thighs, closing his eyes and momentarily pausing to catch a couple more breaths. That done, he heaved a heavy sigh of relief that he was okay thus far, and began to climb out.

"…"

Suddenly, Lateef felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, and he realised that he wasn't alone in the room. Somehow, he could feel the silence around him was being forced, like someone was deliberately keeping quiet. His eyes quickly flicked up, his head following, and he looked round for any sign of anyone else, his heart racing as all sorts of awful scenarios flashed through his head. What if the guards were already there? Even worse, what if Set was there? What if it was his bath?!

Soon enough, Lateef's eyes caught a figure, and widened as they settled on it. Sat in the same bath not four feet away from him, one arm raised in the air and the other pressing a scrubbing cloth to it, looking almost as stunned as he did, was a pretty, young and naked girl with sun-bleached hair. Her eyes were so wide they looked like they might drop out of her head, and all she could do was blink at him.

Lateef's jaw dropped, and he stared back, his mouth flapping uselessly like a fish out of water for a few seconds. "Uh… uh…" he began to stammer, desperately trying to break the silence. "Uh… uhm… h-hi, Masu…" The girl continued to stare at him, and he fumbled nervously for his words. He doubted the situation could get much worse, at any rate. "Uhm… c-could I talk to you, about s-something, if you have a moment?"

The girl's expression didn't change once. "No time like the present," she quietly murmured in reply, looking Lateef up and down cautiously. Slowly, as though it were being forcibly held at bay, her cheeks began to faintly tint red, and the hand of her outstretched arm rotated round so it was pointing toward the floor beside her, where a pile of clothes lay. Still stuck with the same expression, in the same mid-wash position, she added in a voice that sounded so nonchalant it had to be forced, "Mind if I get dressed first?"

It was like the situation finally hit Lateef. His cheeks suddenly flushed brilliant red, and he almost fell out of the bath as he left it, eager to give Masika some privacy. "Uh-uh-uhm, s-sure, take your time…" he stuttered, turning so he faced the wall with his back to Masika. "I'm not going anywhere," he noted.

A gentle slosh of water came from behind him, and Lateef blushed brighter, knowing Masika – as naked as the day she was born – had just stood up. "Indeed," she quietly replied, her own cheeks suddenly flushing brilliant red as she scurried across the room to get a towel so she could dry herself before she got dressed.


Malik panted heavily as the palace executioner ceased his whipping for a moment, trying to accommodate the biting pain that was currently running through him. He could feel blood seeping down his back from the lacerations the whip had left, and his whole torso felt like it was on fire when he inhaled too deeply. For half a second, his vision swam as his body tried to simply escape the pain by passing out, but he fought it off, preferring instead to keep warring.

The executioner strode around to Malik's front, jabbing the butt of the whip into the underside of his chin and tipping his head up with it, ignoring the grimace on Malik's face. A cruel smirk passed his lips as he felt Malik's laboured breathing against his cheek. "Just so you know, my little pet," the guard taunted. "I've been told that if I don't get answers from you, my head is on the line. I'm currently rather attached to my head, and I plan to keep it that way. So you'd best start talking if you don't want to suffer more."

Malik panted again as, with a slight upward thrust, the torturer took his whip away from the boy's neck. "Sorry to disappoint you," he smirked, trying to hide the pain in his voice. "But I guess your precious High Priest's gonna have a new flowerpot made from your skull."

Malik's vision suddenly exploded, and he grunted in pain as he felt something strike his temple. Stars swam before his eyes as he saw the bully step back, and he shook his head to try to re-focus his sight. "You'd be wise to watch your tongue," the guard growled. "Else you may find you suddenly lose it."

Groggily, Malik lifted his head again. "So how would you get your answers then?" he asked with a grin, refusing to give in to threats.

A thin sneer crossed the guard's lips. "I think we'll have fun finding out…"


"…wow," was all Masika could manage in response to Lateef's explanation. "You mean, the Pharaoh's really come back? For good?"

"That's the plan," Lateef explained, kneeling down in front of Masika. "So we need you to help us get into the palace, through a side door or anything."

"And you'd be wearing that outfit now because you have to pose as a slave so you don't get captured, right?"

Lateef nodded, blushing brightly. "Yes…" he murmured, fingering the edge of the garment uncomfortably. Masika noted this, and smiled. "Oh come on, it looks good on you, really."

"It's a skirt!" Lateef cried in a low voice, still keen on not attracting the guards. "How can I wear this in front of the others?"

Masika giggled. "Well, actually, if you're posing as a female slave, we'll have to make you my personal slave, since you'd stand out otherwise. I mean, sure, you lack in the chest area, but a bit of make-up and no-one'll know…"

"What?!" Lateef hissed. "I can't do that!"

"It's that or you get captured. And what then?"

Lateef sighed in defeat, hanging his head. Hearing Masika's giggle, he looked up at her through one eye. "You could at least have a little sympathy," he sulked. "It's not like I'd normally volunteer for this…"

"Oh stop whining," Masika chirped back happily, reaching for a small box beside her, which – Lateef assumed – contained the make-up he was about to be assaulted with. "I mean, if I'm going to help you guys get in, I should at least be allowed a little fun, given what I'll be risking."

A quiet gasp, a delighted one, shot through the room. "You mean… you'll do it?"

Masika smiled softly, gently stroking Lateef's hair back over his shoulders. "Well… there is one thing…" she murmured, looking away shyly. Following Lateef's inquisitive 'Hmm?' she looked back toward him. "I was just wondering…" she murmured, lightly draping an arm either side of Lateef's shoulders. Lateef looked from one to the other, panicked, and stared up at Masika, totally unsure of what was happening. "Y-you were wondering…?"

"I was wondering…" Masika confirmed, lightly licking her lips. "…if you taste as good as you look."

Before Lateef could do anything by way of reply, he felt a set of lips pressed up against his own, Masika's arms clutching at his shoulders as she stole a kiss from the object of her affections.


Outside, Bakura paced back and forth impatiently. "Where are they?" he growled in annoyance, glaring up at the window for the umpteenth time. "How long does it take someone to open a door?"

Yami and Yugi gave each other a long-suffering glance, mildly amused by Bakura's anxiety but totally understanding it. After all, it wasn't like waiting to rescue someone was something he tended to do every day. "I'm sure they'll be here soon," Yami said in a placating voice, trying to calm the tomb robber. "You have to give them a chance for the opportunity to arise first."

Bakura growled again, angrily kicking at a pile of sand. "I've had enough," he snarled, turning and walking determinedly in the direction that would take him to the first door he could recall. "I'm going in, to Duat with this freaking plan!"

Yami began to move after Bakura, but stopped as he saw the tomb robber suddenly tip over backwards as if struck by something, another figure bouncing off him and sprawling into the dirt. He instead hurried over to aid the stranger, knowing Bakura would be fine. Bending down, he took the girl's shoulders gently and eased her up. "You okay, miss?"

The face that looked at him seemed disturbingly familiar, behind the massive blush. "It's me, Lateef!" Lateef hissed, blushing even more brightly and looking annoyed at the same time. "And if you dare ask about this get-up, I swear I'll summon every guard I can find!"

Adair and Yugi both shuffled over behind Yami, Bakura sitting up to stare as well, and stood in silence for a moment. "…you look a little flustered," Adair remarked with a smirk.

"Of course I do!" Lateef almost shrieked. "I just fell six cubits into a bath tub that someone was using! I had to wear a skirt because it was the only outfit available! Masu insisted I wear this make-up with it, and to top it off I just had my first kiss and didn't even realise what was happening until I'd been pinned to the floor!" he cried, flailing his arms about. "Now are we going to go and use this damned door, or are we going to sit and stare at me for the rest of the day?!"

At that, Bakura hopped up to his feet, quickly making the decision for everyone else. "We're going in!"


[1] In the olden days, guardians of the Harem would have had their testicles removed to ensure they weren't 'tempted' by the girls in there.
Okay... let's not be too harsh about this... well actually, be brutal. Maybe it'l knock some sense into me.
Just so you all know, Lateef and Masika aren't going to be a major pairing. They're together for the benefit of the storyline, not for excessive fluff or lemons. That'll be saved for our bishies! ::peeks around:: ...maybe...
Please review? chibi-eyes