DISCLAIMER: Welcome! I am Nuin and I will be your guide as we embark on this wondrous tour of Yugi-Oh and Yaoi-land. Now remember that feeding and petting the characters is forbidden at all times. I do not wish for them to run off with any of you, which would result in disabling me from writing the rest of the story. Please keep your arms and legs inside the moving vehicle as I do not wish to receive any lawsuits containing dismemberment of tour-guests. Thank you.
WARNINGMay I also kindly remind you that this story is in fact a Yaoi-story. Which means lovers of the same gender. Anyone with restrictions against this form of love is asked to please leave the premises as it will probably upset the characters. Now if you'll please turn to your right, I believe that we are in for a treat as the characters begin on a new story.
"Blah...Blah" - denotes regular speech.
'Blah...Blah' - denotes thoughts.
"Blah...Blah" - denotes speech in Ancient Egyptian.
(Blah...Blah) – denotes translation from Ancient Egyptian
Born to Servitude.
By Nuin.
03. Misunderstandings.
The sun shone high above his head, making it feel like he had been thrown into the pits of hell. And being dragged roughly forward by his arms wasn't exactly, what he understood by good hospitality, honestly the old leech could at least show him some courtesy.
"Per'i!" (Come!)
'What did he say? Where's he taking me?' Jou was getting rather nervous, currently one of the men from before was dragging him to 'Kami' knows where and he was constantly getting stares from the people they passed by. What? Hadn't they ever seen a teenager before? Everywhere he could hear whispers and murmurs in foreign languages. He knew they were talking about him, he hated it when people talked about him behind his back and the fact that he couldn't understand a word of what they were saying only made it worse.
"Hem! Per'i!" (Slave! Come!)
He didn't care if he looked like a total idiot, staring at the man with a look, which could not speak more clearly 'I have no fucking idea what you're saying'. He wanted to know though, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't like, what he would hear.
The slave trader, what else could he be, was getting impatient with his new charge. He decided that instead of trying to get the kid to understand him, he would just drag him forth, sell him off and let his new owner deal with the boy's incapability to understand a simple sentence.
Why did he have to buy a freshly caught foreigner, who didn't even understand the civilized language of Kemet, from the caravans? Sure the alluring beauty of the boy was a main factor and he was a rarity with his golden hair and eyes and his pale skin. If he was lucky, this boy would bring in more than any of his former slaves together and he was in dire need of what he could get. It had been a while since he had last sold or even had a slave to sell.
Perhaps the Pharaoh himself would grace the market with his presence and buy the golden youth. The Pharaoh was known to be gracious with the payment often adding more to the sum than agreed. He could only hope.
"Honestly Seth, is there nothing here that attracts your attention? Look at all these stands, the slaves, the jewellery, the pottery. Every piece and every person here has a history and many are from across the borders of Kemet and Desheret. You cannot make me believe that not one single item of all the commodities here has won your favour?" Atemu knew he was practically begging, but his cousin, the High Priest, could be so stubborn.
He had taken Seth with him to the market to buy him and perhaps also himself a gift or two, since the two had officially passed their first Game of Shadows and that should be celebrated. And what did his cousin want to do? To stay locked up inside his quarters, reading up on his magic lessons. Atemu shook his head mentally at his dear cousin, smiled at him and proceeded to drag him from stand to stand in the hope of that he might find something to his liking.
Seth however was not amused, so this was why the Pharaoh Atemu Panseru wanted him to come along, to buy him a gift. How...nice. His cousin was rather into worldly possessions to put it mildly, didn't he understand what a rare gift the spirit world held in the sense of the soul. In other words, power. The power to command the great beasts of the shadows, that is what he wanted and strived for.
He had felt the power emanating from the four beasts he had chosen to make his own, the four white dragons, as powerful as they were beautiful. But they would not yet heed him, he knew they were too proud and he had only recently begun his training to become a participant in the Shadow Games. He did not have enough power to impress them or even sway them to do his bidding, but they would...eventually. He was sure of it.
'Hn...might as well indulge him for the moment.' He thought as he sauntered around the various stands occasionally picking up an item to examine it further.
He was in the middle of his study of a beautiful sculpted vase from the Hittite Kingdom, when he heard the roar of a crowd cheering someone on. His curiosity peeked as he made his way toward the gathering accompanied by Panseru.
The crowd immediately parted for the two royals, when they were recognized and that gave them an excellent view of the events going on in front of them. In the middle of the crowd two men, an elder and a younger man were fighting. It was clear to everyone present that the youth had the upper hand in the fight, but that was not what captivated the audience.
The movements of the youth were fluently and well calculated, each punch hitting its aim and each kick delivering a woeful blow to the other man's pride. Seth had to admit it, he was impressed and that was an accomplishment by itself, he was a difficult man to impress.
But it was not just the boy's fighting that had granted him Seth's approval, the boy himself was also a sight to behold. Long lean legs were moving in swift and sometimes abrupt motions. Slender hands were dealing strike after strike in a blur of movements and a slim, muscle toned body that twisted and turned with each new situation in this all out fight.
He let his eyes drift higher to stray the youth's face, a pale yet healthy complexion, a straight roman nose and high cheekbones gave him a perfect symmetrical face. The boy's eyes matched his hair, golden and ignited with a wild fire that screamed to be free.
'Beautiful.' It was the only word that would do this youth any justice. He watched with amusement alight in his eyes for the first time since long as the golden boy dealt the final blow to the other man and knocked him unconscious. He was intrigued beyond all words, how could this young boy, perhaps even his own age, be able to stand up to this brute of a man and win?
A low chuckle brought him out of his thoughts, Panseru was looking sideways at him with a sly smirk spreading across his face. Oh, Ra be damned! This could not be good.
Pharaoh Atemu Panseru couldn't help but smirk, when he saw the genuine interest shining in his cousin's eyes. He knew he had found the perfect gift for the stoic teen. Someone who had actually gained Seth's attention. A challenge to quake the foundation on which Seth stood so firmly. This teen could probably be the one to get a reaction out of his cousin, the ever quiet High Priest with the universal response of 'Hn' to almost every question he would ever ask him.
Atemu had found what he came for and on the side a nice wristlet for himself as well, now all he had to do was to get the golden youth. He stepped forward to address the youth, simultaneously searching for something that could indicate his status in life. Another man had stepped close to the boy and began proclaiming that he was willing to sell him...ah a slave then, perfect...it would be much easier now to sway the boy to come along...by commanding it.
Just as he reached the slave trader and the youth, said boy turned his gaze to look directly at him. Atemu watched almost bewildered as the boy's eyes shone with what?...recognition?
"YUGI!"
He suddenly found himself encased in tight bear hug from the blonde youth while being lifted off the ground. He was put back down just as quick, when the blonde realized he wasn't returning the hug. But as soon as his feet touched the ground he heard a gasp from above and he looked up to find the blonde staring at something behind him.
"YOU!"
Yugi 't stop his pacing across the living room floor, Jou had been missing for three days now. They had probably searched high and low for him, but had turned up empty handed. Everyone had offered to lend a hand in the search for his best friend, even Kaiba, but what was more surprising was that Kaiba had been the most adamant in finding Jou besides himself. Even now his high tech computers were searching for their lost friend in the hopes that he would be found.
He remembered how Kaiba had reacted, when he had first been told of Jou's disappearance. He had at first just stared at him like this was all some kind of joke and was ready to write it of as something unworthy of his acknowledgement. But when Yugi had convinced him that it was true, he had just sat down on the nearest chair, mumbling to himself and staring out into the air, before he in a blur of movement had his laptop and cell phone out calling the police and commanding them to take this case seriously or he would see to it that they were fired for neglecting a missing person's report and at that, a minor.
When they had first contacted the police about Jou, they had shrugged it off saying something about the kid's past records. But Kaiba's call had awoken them from their slumber and now they were only all too willing in helping them search. They had all been questioned, but it only led to the conclusion they already had drawn beforehand; that Jou had left his apartment and on his way to Yugi's house he simply disappeared without a trace, only leaving his duffle bag behind. Yugi sighed, he just wanted this over with, he wanted Jou to return and he wanted to figure out Kaiba's motives for acting like this. He resumed pacing in the hope that time would somehow magically speed up and there would be news about his best friend.
Jou couldn't believe it. The sight in front of him easily made him forget the man, who had felt him up and was promptly rewarded with Jou's fist, the first hit to start the fight he had been engrossed in before he had seen Yugi. Because in front of him were none other than Kaiba Seto, dressed in something he would never have imagined the ice hearted teen to wear.
Just like himself the other teen was wearing a 'dress', he still didn't know what else to call them, but Kaiba's was more detailed. Intricate patterns were embroidered along the hem, all in blue and the fabric looked as if it was second skin, clinging to all the right places. Around his waist a royal purple girdle was fastened with fabric tails hanging down the middle in between his legs.
He was bare from the waist up, showing off his bronze torso and toned muscles. He too had golden bands around his neck and upper arms, but several bands around his wrists as well. His ears were adorned with lapis lazuli studded earrings, complimenting his eyes perfectly. He noticed though that the eyes of this Kaiba were a shade darker than the ones of the Kaiba he knew and were delicately lined in kohl. His hair, as neat as always, was different from his Kaiba's as well, it was a rich dark brown, but with undertones of the colour red, giving him an appearance of being a born redhead. It looked good on him.
Right at that moment Jou wished he had a camera, so this display could last forever. It was more than the show he got on a daily basis, he knew Kaiba had great looks and he himself looked forward to the times were the rich teen would actually appear to gym class. It was a waste that Kaiba never dated or even looked remotely interested at any of the propositions he was getting from his peers. In fact he ignored most of the school, deeming them to be beneath him in status and therefore unworthy of being in his presence.
He was brought out of his 'Kaiba' watching, when 'Yugi' suddenly spoke up with a broad grin, while make a showing movement towards him with his arms.
"Seth, iu redi i en tu...hem ek." (Seth, I give to you...your slave)
'What? Not Yugi too, what is going on? Maybe this is all a dream...yeah that's it...but them why did it hurt, when the old leech was pulling me by my arms?...GRRRR...I don't know what to think anymore...I wanna go home!' Jou was ready to break down and cry, if it weren't for the fact that the 'old leech' was holding him up right with a firm grip on his arm. The man was currently discussing with the 'Yugi' look-a-like in a heated manner.
Now that Jou looked closer he could see the small differences between the Yugi he knew and the one standing in front of him. While his Yugi had soft golden bangs draping his forehead, this one also had streaks of lightning-formed golden hair cursing through his flame-like hair. The hair colour it self was the same three colours of gold, pitch black and magenta. His eyes were narrower than the wide child-like eyes of his best friend and the colour was off, instead of a pure amethyst these orbs were a flaming crimson and Jou felt as though they could look right through him. His eyes were lined in kohl like everyone else here and together with his tanned complexion gave him a more exotic look than the pale and innocent Yugi. A thought suddenly struck him.
'This is what Yugi's spirit looks like in real life...but Yami can't separate from Yugi...at least I don't think so.'
He glanced around, trying to figure out what exactly was going on, the place was crowded with people, all scantily clad, it was a hot and humid weather condition. There was sand everywhere and...why hadn't he noticed that before?...temples and buildings rose up from the sand in grand splendour looming over the vast lands. Small houses of white stone, yet meticulously built and adorned with various writings made out the city that lay beneath a huge white structure, a structure could only be described as a palace for royalty and noblemen.
'Where am I? With all these buildings and the way people are clothed, I know I not in Domino anymore...I wanna go home. No more. I just want to wake up, go to school, hang out with my friends, fight with Kaiba, play Duel Monsters and eat pizzas as any normal teenager. I don't want to be here...'
He looked over to where 'Kaiba' stood, what he saw surprised him. The Kaiba look-a-like had a look in his eyes so different that the one his Kaiba would normally have. He was staring at Jou with seemingly interest rather than the hate which usually would have been given him. Hmm, it didn't look like 'Kaiba' was going to verbally attack him with his ridicules 'make inu'–routine. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to stay a little longer, if it meant that he could be around the other Kaiba without being called childish names.
He was brought out of his reverie, when he felt a slight tug on his left arm. He looked down to find 'Yugi' or 'Yami' staring back up at him with a smile. 'Yugi' began to move forward, gently urging him to come along.
"Per'i, Nerferu Nub!" (Come, Golden Beauty!)
Not knowing what to do, he simply followed the short look-a-like of his best friend with 'Kaiba' trailing behind sporting a contemplating expression.
A/N: Kemet and Desheret were the names used for Egypt by the ancient Egyptians. Kemet meaning 'the black land' – the land around the Nile and Desheret meaning 'the red land' – the land surrounding Kemet – the desert.
Lapis Lazuli: A sky blue stone with small stenches of light. Also called the Stone of the Sky, as it often resembled the night sky bestowed with stars. Enforces kindness and helpfulness. It grants confidence and promotes love. Shields against bad influence. The stone helps against depressions and gives a deep and calm sleep.