Me: wah! It's a marathon! (you see, I started on this a/n right after I finished typing the 9th chappie of Kept. :D I'm so proud! ;-; Even though I decided my brain deserved a break and I stopped typing for a week. So come delays... .;;
'Leanne: O.o;; oh my... (backs away)
Me: (glomps 'Leanne) don't run away! We only have !TWO! more chapters to go for this story! Yay! My first fic is almost done! :3 (-- kitty-kat face) Actually, this is technically my second story, but no one needs to know that... (shifty eyes)
'Leanne: if you say so. Yet, I don't think anyone really cares.
Me: in other news...
Shinu: other...?
Me: yes. Well, anyway. (stares at Shinu) I got my orange stripe in Hapkido! :D Wow! Yes I know, you're all too excited for words!
'Leanne: (looks at readers) actually, I think they're more scared than excited...
Me: whatever... (I know, I'm saying that a lot, but neh... ;P)
Warning: Not much explicit content in this one. Just a lot of confusing parts that were added in because the authoress forgot about those particular details-
Me: (slaps hand over Warning's mouth) Ahem! They don't need to know that! I'm the amazing writer that knows all and sees all! I make no such miscalculations!
Disclaimer: yeah, all right. If you say so... (glares at audience) No own Yu-Gi-Oh! Muah ha ha!
Me: -.-U
'Now...happen right about now...' prayed Mae. They were just about to enter the information booth and into the pyramid, and it was drawing awfully close. Where was Marik? He was supposed to be sending them back to the real Atemu's tomb.
It was right before they had officially gone through the 'door' (more like a curtain) when a searing white flash went off and embraced them all.
"Ahh!! What-what's happening?!" screamed Yuugi. /Yami!!/ He had used their link as a reflex, though inside, he knew from before that both had to maintain it.
"Bakura!" Ryou felt the ground sink out from under him as his arms flew from his sides and it almost seemed to swallow him whole.
Bakura immediately reached out to grab a hold of Ryou's striped shirt and pulled him tight against his chest.
Shinu drew in a breath and braced herself. She held her arms in front of her face to protect her eyes from various chunks of flying sand, and to look like she wasn't expecting this, of course. 'Well, he remembered all right. Now for plan B.'
The kiosk guy blinked as he saw three guys and a girl seemingly incinerate in a flash of light. "What the...?"
)(
Yami jumped up from his and Suguroku's current game of Go and looked around wildly. "Huh?!" Something...something had just happened to Yuugi...
"Err...Yami? Something the matter?" He was still holding his black stone in the air.
"Um, what's the fastest way to wherever Yuugi went?"
"That would probably be one of Kaiba-san's old souped-up jets. Why?" Suguroku closed his eyes and set down his stone at 4-6.
"Bye." Yami dashed out of the door before he could see that Yuugi's grandfather had just captured more than half his stones with one move.
'KaibaKaibaKaibaKaiba....' He rounded a corner. "Now, where does he live again? I know I've been there..of course, that was also the time Mokuba tried to poison Jonouchi and me...but that's beside the point."
"Kaiba residence this way. Proceed to the right at the next turn" read a sign to the left of the road. Yami sweatdropped. He even has directions put up? 'Well, all the better for me, I guess.' Following the next ten or so road signs, Yami made it in about six minutes.
"Bam bam bam bam bam!"
"I know you're there, Kaiba! Lemme in right now!" he yelled from the front doorstep.
A croaky voice crackled through the intercom. "Kaiba-sama is in a meeting right now. Come in and he'll be with you shortly."
"No, wait I-"
The intercom went dead.
"-need to see him now..." Yami slumped his shoulders as a steady stream of oddly straight tears flushed from his eyes. "This is not my day..."
)(
"What...what just happened?" Yuugi moaned. He was facedown in the scalding sand in front of yet another pyramid. Attempting to get up carefully with his bruised hands, the boy found that everyone was also eating dirt.
"Nuh...no idea..." Ryou stuck his sandblasted tongue out. "Bleah... Sand tastes awful." Bakura happened to be lying half-unconscious underneath his hikari when Ryou decided to brush off all the excess and he groaned.
Shinu, however, was quite unstartled and promptly balanced herself and stood up. "Well, that wasn't expected." 'For those certain individuals...' "C'mon. Let's see if we can find ourselves in this forsaken desert." She motioned towards the pyramid and took a step. "I guess we should start with what we can see."
Yuugi hadn't forgotten about her weird mood swings. He sat up and locked his eyes with hers, attempting to read them. She stared back, blinking twice and then turned to Bakura and Ryou now getting up. 'Figures. She knew what I was trying to do.'
The sun was just seeping over its last bit of land and about to disappear. Catching the capstone of Pharaoh Atemu's tomb and shattering about, the multi-coloured strands of light enthralled the mind of the entire group. Including Mae.
'If only it didn't end like this. Only a bit longer.' Shinu.
'I...I'm not going to ruin the mood for my friends. I'll wait to tell them about Shinu.' Yuugi.
'I wish I could take this home with me to show everyone...' Ryou.
Bakura was trying to suppress memories of his past. Oh no, the sunsets were always the good ones, it wasn't because of that. Just because it was depressing to think that those were the only nice memories he had. But that was about it.
As the sun was beginning to set, Mae was getting rather impatient. She took a leading couple of steps towards the only visible structure around and rolled her eyes. "C'mon. The last place we want to be at night is in the middle of a desert. Can we /please/ go inside now?"
Yuugi wrinkled his noise at the sudden chill brought by a light breeze. "Sure."
With that O.K. from Yuugi, the rest followed Shinu around the wide brim of the tomb. But after about five minutes of doing so, Ryou was beginning to wonder if they were even going to find an entrance. He remembered from his father's research books that the doorways were sealed off so even the servants trapped inside couldn't reach the outside. He voiced this dilemma to the rest of his companions.
Bakura nodded to signify his understanding of Ryou's concern. "But if I can remember correctly, this pyramid looks very similar to one belonging to certain pharaoh friend of ours."
Yuugi cocked his head. "How can you tell? It looks like any other pyramid I've seen in books."
"Well, there lies your problem, oh short one." Bakura chided. "They obviously didn't give you a close-up of some. See these building blocks?" He rested a hand on the cold stone. "They have tiny inscriptions on the top or sides. Just to let you know who made them, etcetera... These come from Deir El-Medina."
"Ah ha ha ha. Very smart, Bakura." Marik appeared from behind Ryou and stood with his hands on his hips, laughing.
Bakura turned around at the announcement from a too-well known voice and growled. "You bastard."
"Oh don't worry," Marik winked. "I'm sure he was good." and motioned to Ryou, now shaking and backing up.
That remark brought Bakura to about his breaking point and he shuddered, palms clenched. He repeated his insult. This time, the true darkness decided that Marik wasn't going to leave here unwounded. Like before, he wouldn't go in less than six pieces. So the albino incarnation swung a quick fist upside Marik's head, and just as fast, flew straight through and stumbled.
Their visitor cackled again. "Don't you raiders learn? This is my astreal form being projected from my physical body. You know..." he flicked his freakish bangs. "My 'solid' soul?"
"Only you could have a soul so corrupt, Marik. Now leave us alone." Yuugi blurted out. Marik cocked a sadistic eyebrow at him and Yuugi promptly squeaked and scuttled in between Mae and Ryou. Shinu grimaced. "And you." he turned towards the only woman there. "Double-facing us all. You made the mistake of showing your hidden colours to me."
Upon hearing Yuugi say such a thing, Marik furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Mae. Bakura followed suit, feeling the instinctual tug of his shared Sennen item. Shinu shuffled and fidgeted under their persistent leers.
'How could she have jeopardized something like this?' Marik thought to himself. 'I'll have to speed this up, then.' He suddenly gave off a blinding flash, and his body turned flesh and bone again. Since everyone was either staring at Shinu or blocking their eyes from his light, the split personality dove towards Ryou, grabbing both his wrists.
"You're coming with me." Marik growled. Ryou immediately let out a high-pitched yell and tried to scramble away. "Oh no you don't." and he slapped his tough hand over the albino's mouth.
Bakura jumped off the ground and rushed to his hikari's aid. Tears of old memories running past his eyes, he fell onto his hands and flung his own two feet from under him, trying to hit Marik's own and knock him off balance. This, however, failed miserably because Marik scattered his and Ryou's partials throughout the warm air and teleported them both deep within the pyramid itself.
"No!" Bakura fell to his knees and pounded the ground harshly. His tears were pushing harder at his eyelids, wanting so much to be let free. Bakura had made the mistake of leaving them together before, and he wasn't about to make it again. He got up and dashed towards the steps that were now visible to lead visitors inside.
"Bakura! Don't be a fool and throw your life away!" Shinu yelled. Bakura skidded in the sand a turned around.
"And what would you know of it, /Mae/?! You were probably the one who planned this!"
"Even if she did, she wouldn't have told you to wait if there was some kind of trap! And think about it. Marik is using Ryou as bait." Yuugi gulped back tears of his own. "He /wants/ you to rush in without your wits about you. Please think rationally!" he begged. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt if it wasn't necessary.
Bakura glowered but stayed where he was.
"I can help you, Bakura." Shinu said nearly threateningly. "But if you chose to ignore me and go for your little suicide run, be my guest."
"Why are you helping me?" Bakura whispered dangerously. "You have no reason to protect me, and don't try to think you've forgotten or put it behind you. I know you're not that type, Mae." His arms were being suppressed to his sides for fear if he let them have their way, they would end up ripping out large chunks of hair.
"Because I care." Both Yuugi and Bakura stared quizzically at her. "I care if you get your head blown off, or whatever Marik was going to do with you! I care if the one thing you seem to care for more than the dirt we walk on is hurt! I want to help because I care, damnit!" Bakura fell into a shameful silence. "And maybe I've haven't forgotten, but I'm trying /real/ hard to!" Her cheeks had turned bright red.
Now Yuugi was confused; to an extreme. First she was acting like a spaz, then she bore her tiger fangs. Now she was showing compassion. This was all making his head spin. What was she like, really?! Then his thoughts somehow trailed to Marik. And Marik meant Ryou. He bit his lip hard, deciding what to say to break the awkward silence between his two companions. Time was not something they had to gamble.
"Mae-san, Bakura-kun." Yuugi turned to each as he spoke their names. They glared back and he knew he was desperately trying to find something to say to them. "We should get going. Knowing Marik, who is completely unstable, we have to move in soon." Whether reluctant or not, both incarnations agreed with Yuugi's point.
"Well, Mae. If you're so adamant in helping us, what's waiting for us inside?" Bakura stood completely still.
She sighed and ran her fingers through her naturally highlighted hair. "Hey, don't ask me. I didn't plan this out. Look, I was supposed to be the one to kidnap Ryou and lure you, Bakura, in. Aside from that, Marik was going to play the part of the friend and bring you here. But we uh, ran into some complications and that could no longer be carried out like so." Bakura's hair bristled. "So, quite simply, we switched roles. I got you here and Marik is inside, with Ryou, and setting the traps. So really, I have no idea what's going to happen."
"Then our best bet is me." Bakura snorted and smirked at Shinu. "Your friendly neighborhood tomb robber." She gnawed on her lip, remembering the note that led to her and Bakura's first meeting.
"After you, then." Yuugi beckoned to the crumbling stairwell, egar to get moving. The over towering arc above the entranceway had the right eye of Horus watching everything the came in and left its thresholds.
And so, with Bakura in the lead and Shinu and Yuugi following quickly, solemnly, they entered Yami's tomb.
Me: . wow...that took me forever to write! First I had to make this little chart thingy concerning all seven of Shinu's lives (yes, 7!). Then I had to keep referring back to older chapters for certain things, (dunno if you noticed all the careful detail in here), but the thing was, I kept loosing myself! As in, if I were looking for say, when Mae and Marik met in the Shadow Realm the second time, I wouldn't know what chapter I should look in. So then I ended up basically re-reading most of chapters five through to this one! Ah!
'Leanne: well that was certainly a mouthful...
Me: :P
chibi Shinu: =D r/r mina! Ja!
'Leanne: O.o;; oh my... (backs away)
Me: (glomps 'Leanne) don't run away! We only have !TWO! more chapters to go for this story! Yay! My first fic is almost done! :3 (-- kitty-kat face) Actually, this is technically my second story, but no one needs to know that... (shifty eyes)
'Leanne: if you say so. Yet, I don't think anyone really cares.
Me: in other news...
Shinu: other...?
Me: yes. Well, anyway. (stares at Shinu) I got my orange stripe in Hapkido! :D Wow! Yes I know, you're all too excited for words!
'Leanne: (looks at readers) actually, I think they're more scared than excited...
Me: whatever... (I know, I'm saying that a lot, but neh... ;P)
Warning: Not much explicit content in this one. Just a lot of confusing parts that were added in because the authoress forgot about those particular details-
Me: (slaps hand over Warning's mouth) Ahem! They don't need to know that! I'm the amazing writer that knows all and sees all! I make no such miscalculations!
Disclaimer: yeah, all right. If you say so... (glares at audience) No own Yu-Gi-Oh! Muah ha ha!
Me: -.-U
'Now...happen right about now...' prayed Mae. They were just about to enter the information booth and into the pyramid, and it was drawing awfully close. Where was Marik? He was supposed to be sending them back to the real Atemu's tomb.
It was right before they had officially gone through the 'door' (more like a curtain) when a searing white flash went off and embraced them all.
"Ahh!! What-what's happening?!" screamed Yuugi. /Yami!!/ He had used their link as a reflex, though inside, he knew from before that both had to maintain it.
"Bakura!" Ryou felt the ground sink out from under him as his arms flew from his sides and it almost seemed to swallow him whole.
Bakura immediately reached out to grab a hold of Ryou's striped shirt and pulled him tight against his chest.
Shinu drew in a breath and braced herself. She held her arms in front of her face to protect her eyes from various chunks of flying sand, and to look like she wasn't expecting this, of course. 'Well, he remembered all right. Now for plan B.'
The kiosk guy blinked as he saw three guys and a girl seemingly incinerate in a flash of light. "What the...?"
)(
Yami jumped up from his and Suguroku's current game of Go and looked around wildly. "Huh?!" Something...something had just happened to Yuugi...
"Err...Yami? Something the matter?" He was still holding his black stone in the air.
"Um, what's the fastest way to wherever Yuugi went?"
"That would probably be one of Kaiba-san's old souped-up jets. Why?" Suguroku closed his eyes and set down his stone at 4-6.
"Bye." Yami dashed out of the door before he could see that Yuugi's grandfather had just captured more than half his stones with one move.
'KaibaKaibaKaibaKaiba....' He rounded a corner. "Now, where does he live again? I know I've been there..of course, that was also the time Mokuba tried to poison Jonouchi and me...but that's beside the point."
"Kaiba residence this way. Proceed to the right at the next turn" read a sign to the left of the road. Yami sweatdropped. He even has directions put up? 'Well, all the better for me, I guess.' Following the next ten or so road signs, Yami made it in about six minutes.
"Bam bam bam bam bam!"
"I know you're there, Kaiba! Lemme in right now!" he yelled from the front doorstep.
A croaky voice crackled through the intercom. "Kaiba-sama is in a meeting right now. Come in and he'll be with you shortly."
"No, wait I-"
The intercom went dead.
"-need to see him now..." Yami slumped his shoulders as a steady stream of oddly straight tears flushed from his eyes. "This is not my day..."
)(
"What...what just happened?" Yuugi moaned. He was facedown in the scalding sand in front of yet another pyramid. Attempting to get up carefully with his bruised hands, the boy found that everyone was also eating dirt.
"Nuh...no idea..." Ryou stuck his sandblasted tongue out. "Bleah... Sand tastes awful." Bakura happened to be lying half-unconscious underneath his hikari when Ryou decided to brush off all the excess and he groaned.
Shinu, however, was quite unstartled and promptly balanced herself and stood up. "Well, that wasn't expected." 'For those certain individuals...' "C'mon. Let's see if we can find ourselves in this forsaken desert." She motioned towards the pyramid and took a step. "I guess we should start with what we can see."
Yuugi hadn't forgotten about her weird mood swings. He sat up and locked his eyes with hers, attempting to read them. She stared back, blinking twice and then turned to Bakura and Ryou now getting up. 'Figures. She knew what I was trying to do.'
The sun was just seeping over its last bit of land and about to disappear. Catching the capstone of Pharaoh Atemu's tomb and shattering about, the multi-coloured strands of light enthralled the mind of the entire group. Including Mae.
'If only it didn't end like this. Only a bit longer.' Shinu.
'I...I'm not going to ruin the mood for my friends. I'll wait to tell them about Shinu.' Yuugi.
'I wish I could take this home with me to show everyone...' Ryou.
Bakura was trying to suppress memories of his past. Oh no, the sunsets were always the good ones, it wasn't because of that. Just because it was depressing to think that those were the only nice memories he had. But that was about it.
As the sun was beginning to set, Mae was getting rather impatient. She took a leading couple of steps towards the only visible structure around and rolled her eyes. "C'mon. The last place we want to be at night is in the middle of a desert. Can we /please/ go inside now?"
Yuugi wrinkled his noise at the sudden chill brought by a light breeze. "Sure."
With that O.K. from Yuugi, the rest followed Shinu around the wide brim of the tomb. But after about five minutes of doing so, Ryou was beginning to wonder if they were even going to find an entrance. He remembered from his father's research books that the doorways were sealed off so even the servants trapped inside couldn't reach the outside. He voiced this dilemma to the rest of his companions.
Bakura nodded to signify his understanding of Ryou's concern. "But if I can remember correctly, this pyramid looks very similar to one belonging to certain pharaoh friend of ours."
Yuugi cocked his head. "How can you tell? It looks like any other pyramid I've seen in books."
"Well, there lies your problem, oh short one." Bakura chided. "They obviously didn't give you a close-up of some. See these building blocks?" He rested a hand on the cold stone. "They have tiny inscriptions on the top or sides. Just to let you know who made them, etcetera... These come from Deir El-Medina."
"Ah ha ha ha. Very smart, Bakura." Marik appeared from behind Ryou and stood with his hands on his hips, laughing.
Bakura turned around at the announcement from a too-well known voice and growled. "You bastard."
"Oh don't worry," Marik winked. "I'm sure he was good." and motioned to Ryou, now shaking and backing up.
That remark brought Bakura to about his breaking point and he shuddered, palms clenched. He repeated his insult. This time, the true darkness decided that Marik wasn't going to leave here unwounded. Like before, he wouldn't go in less than six pieces. So the albino incarnation swung a quick fist upside Marik's head, and just as fast, flew straight through and stumbled.
Their visitor cackled again. "Don't you raiders learn? This is my astreal form being projected from my physical body. You know..." he flicked his freakish bangs. "My 'solid' soul?"
"Only you could have a soul so corrupt, Marik. Now leave us alone." Yuugi blurted out. Marik cocked a sadistic eyebrow at him and Yuugi promptly squeaked and scuttled in between Mae and Ryou. Shinu grimaced. "And you." he turned towards the only woman there. "Double-facing us all. You made the mistake of showing your hidden colours to me."
Upon hearing Yuugi say such a thing, Marik furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Mae. Bakura followed suit, feeling the instinctual tug of his shared Sennen item. Shinu shuffled and fidgeted under their persistent leers.
'How could she have jeopardized something like this?' Marik thought to himself. 'I'll have to speed this up, then.' He suddenly gave off a blinding flash, and his body turned flesh and bone again. Since everyone was either staring at Shinu or blocking their eyes from his light, the split personality dove towards Ryou, grabbing both his wrists.
"You're coming with me." Marik growled. Ryou immediately let out a high-pitched yell and tried to scramble away. "Oh no you don't." and he slapped his tough hand over the albino's mouth.
Bakura jumped off the ground and rushed to his hikari's aid. Tears of old memories running past his eyes, he fell onto his hands and flung his own two feet from under him, trying to hit Marik's own and knock him off balance. This, however, failed miserably because Marik scattered his and Ryou's partials throughout the warm air and teleported them both deep within the pyramid itself.
"No!" Bakura fell to his knees and pounded the ground harshly. His tears were pushing harder at his eyelids, wanting so much to be let free. Bakura had made the mistake of leaving them together before, and he wasn't about to make it again. He got up and dashed towards the steps that were now visible to lead visitors inside.
"Bakura! Don't be a fool and throw your life away!" Shinu yelled. Bakura skidded in the sand a turned around.
"And what would you know of it, /Mae/?! You were probably the one who planned this!"
"Even if she did, she wouldn't have told you to wait if there was some kind of trap! And think about it. Marik is using Ryou as bait." Yuugi gulped back tears of his own. "He /wants/ you to rush in without your wits about you. Please think rationally!" he begged. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt if it wasn't necessary.
Bakura glowered but stayed where he was.
"I can help you, Bakura." Shinu said nearly threateningly. "But if you chose to ignore me and go for your little suicide run, be my guest."
"Why are you helping me?" Bakura whispered dangerously. "You have no reason to protect me, and don't try to think you've forgotten or put it behind you. I know you're not that type, Mae." His arms were being suppressed to his sides for fear if he let them have their way, they would end up ripping out large chunks of hair.
"Because I care." Both Yuugi and Bakura stared quizzically at her. "I care if you get your head blown off, or whatever Marik was going to do with you! I care if the one thing you seem to care for more than the dirt we walk on is hurt! I want to help because I care, damnit!" Bakura fell into a shameful silence. "And maybe I've haven't forgotten, but I'm trying /real/ hard to!" Her cheeks had turned bright red.
Now Yuugi was confused; to an extreme. First she was acting like a spaz, then she bore her tiger fangs. Now she was showing compassion. This was all making his head spin. What was she like, really?! Then his thoughts somehow trailed to Marik. And Marik meant Ryou. He bit his lip hard, deciding what to say to break the awkward silence between his two companions. Time was not something they had to gamble.
"Mae-san, Bakura-kun." Yuugi turned to each as he spoke their names. They glared back and he knew he was desperately trying to find something to say to them. "We should get going. Knowing Marik, who is completely unstable, we have to move in soon." Whether reluctant or not, both incarnations agreed with Yuugi's point.
"Well, Mae. If you're so adamant in helping us, what's waiting for us inside?" Bakura stood completely still.
She sighed and ran her fingers through her naturally highlighted hair. "Hey, don't ask me. I didn't plan this out. Look, I was supposed to be the one to kidnap Ryou and lure you, Bakura, in. Aside from that, Marik was going to play the part of the friend and bring you here. But we uh, ran into some complications and that could no longer be carried out like so." Bakura's hair bristled. "So, quite simply, we switched roles. I got you here and Marik is inside, with Ryou, and setting the traps. So really, I have no idea what's going to happen."
"Then our best bet is me." Bakura snorted and smirked at Shinu. "Your friendly neighborhood tomb robber." She gnawed on her lip, remembering the note that led to her and Bakura's first meeting.
"After you, then." Yuugi beckoned to the crumbling stairwell, egar to get moving. The over towering arc above the entranceway had the right eye of Horus watching everything the came in and left its thresholds.
And so, with Bakura in the lead and Shinu and Yuugi following quickly, solemnly, they entered Yami's tomb.
Me: . wow...that took me forever to write! First I had to make this little chart thingy concerning all seven of Shinu's lives (yes, 7!). Then I had to keep referring back to older chapters for certain things, (dunno if you noticed all the careful detail in here), but the thing was, I kept loosing myself! As in, if I were looking for say, when Mae and Marik met in the Shadow Realm the second time, I wouldn't know what chapter I should look in. So then I ended up basically re-reading most of chapters five through to this one! Ah!
'Leanne: well that was certainly a mouthful...
Me: :P
chibi Shinu: =D r/r mina! Ja!