Seth: Do we get to kiss in this chapter?

Dragon: -shrugs shoulders- Maybe?

Atemu: -licks lips- Please?

Dragon: -rolls eyes- have you no patience?

Seth, Atemu: -glares- NO!

Seto tried his best to send those annoying girls away, but for some reason they just wouldn't obey him. It was like he was nothing to them and Seto Kaiba was anything but nothing.

He had remembered the Pharaoh's words from last night and decided to pull the rope. He was in the mood for a warm bath and seeing as how he didn't know where to get the water he had pulled it. Minutes later a group of four girls came pouring in and went to work without a word spoken. Silently he wished that he had this same efficiency in his company. That is until they started to undress him and all but throw him in the over sized bath. Then he became annoyed.

He felt like a child with four mothers.

Somehow between the fights, curses, and threats they had completed the bath and now were trying to dress him. Finally realizing that whatever he said or did wouldn't stop them he resolved to just glare them to death as they worked on him. And when they were done, he looked down and found himself almost blushing.

Creamy colored sandals had been placed on his feet. A short linen kilt was wrapped around his waist and held in place by a blue sash that somehow was the exact same color as his eyes. His chest, thankfully, was covered by a simple linen sleeveless shirt and on his wrists were simple gold bands that were etched with something he didn't recognize.

Good thing no one from his company could see him like this. They would never take him seriously ever again.

No sooner than the girls had left there was another knock on the door. Crossing his arms over his chest he told whomever it was to come in, and when they did he got another unexpected visit.

There standing in front of him was none other than Joey Wheeler.

"Joey? What the hell are you doing here mutt?"

'Joey' looked at him completely confused. He had been told that this person looked exactly like his master but he really wasn't prepared for what he saw. And this copy of the High Priest had called him Joey? Who was that? 'Joey' walked closer to the man, looking him straight in the eyes. His master's copy was not a high enough rank to lower his eyes even if he did wear the bands that marked him under the Pharaoh's protection.

"I do not know of this 'Jo-ey' you speak of, but my name is Jahi. My master asked me to bring you to the throne room."

"And who is your master?" If this Joey look-a-like was a servant of the Yugi look-a-like then this would be funny…

"The High Priest Seth."

…but this was funnier.

Seto couldn't help it, he laughed harder than he has ever laughed before. To think back in ancient Egypt his past self was the mutt's master. No wonder he always made those dog jokes. Wait…did he just say that Seth was him?

Jahi just looked at the man with mild annoyance. Whoever this person was he was laughing at him being the High Priest's servant. Personally he was proud to be in that position for he was able to have more freedom, better clothes, and chambers. Growling he spoke, "Come, the Pharaoh will not want to be left waiting."

Seto choked back a few more laughs and followed Jahi out of his chambers.

"So why am I being taken to the throne room?"

"I think your Ka is going to be tested."

"Ok mind tell me what a Ka is?"

Jahi looked at the man as if he had grown a third head. "You don't know what that is?" he shook his head, "Your Ka is your soul monster. Most people have them although most people out of the palace have never even seen theirs. The Priests will use their Items to test it, to see if your soul monster is good or evil, light or dark. It will prove your worthiness."

Kaiba raised his eyebrow but said nothing. All this was just too much for him and he still couldn't see why all these people believed in such nonsense. He doubted any of this would really work.

Soon they were standing in front of the same massive doors that he had entered last night. Again two guards moved forward to open them for him.

The throne room was just as it had been the day before, only that there were more people in there today. Obviously the rumor of the High Priest's look-a-like has spread quickly throughout the whole city, although only the socially higher classes were allowed to watch a ceremony such as the testing of a Ka.

In the middle of the room fires were burning in large shells and bowls on the floor, which drew a fiery circle. In the middle the priests were standing, awaiting him.

Seto Kaiba was highly suspicious and he felt a bit gloomy too. Well, what could possibly happen? He stepped forward trying to appear as confident as possible. After all, there was no such thing as a scared Seto Kaiba.

And behind the priests on the throne the Pharaoh was sitting, staring at him with eyes like rubies, the fires dancing within them.

Suddenly, Jahi stood back, whispering, "I am not allowed to go further. You may go up there now on your own."

Seto nodded, then grimly took the last steps into the circle, finally facing the High Priest, staring into those blue eyes and knowing that the expressions on their faces had to be exactly the same. Guarded, calm on the outside, showing no emotion, and yet he dared to bet that the other was just as nervous as him. Wait, Seto Kaiba wasn't nervous, would never be nervous...But Seth stepped back, together with the rest of the priests, except for two.

"Now, stranger, your Ka will be tested," Seth announced, "There are only two priests needed for the ceremony, Isis and Mahaado." He pointed at to remaining priests. Of course Seto recognized Isis, the keeper of the Egyptian museum. On the other hand, Mahaado was a stranger to him, though he reminded him of someone...But he couldn't quite grasp that feeling, so he saved that thought for later.

Isis nodded, never taking her eyes off him.

"Well," she said, as Mahaado brought a large pillow and put it onto the stone floor, "I will ask you to take your seat here and just relax your mind. Be assured, you will feel no pain."

Seto glared, but sat down, staring ahead at the throne, where the pharaoh was sitting, Seth next to him like a protector. As the two priests started chanting foreign melodies, the flames flickered high, and their warmth was licking his face in a pleasant way, since they were too far away to hurt. The room started to spin a bit in front of his eyes. To avoid losing control he closed them, concentrating on the warmth and the melodies and listening to the words that he understood but didn't since they told of thing he didn't have any idea of.

A calm sensation settled on his body, he suppressed a sigh as he leaned back. Suddenly, he felt like something was welling up inside of him, like a flood, threatening to spill over. But it was no water that edged out of him, it was as if his heart itself was turned inside out, the tide swelling and overriding the high walls in which he held locked his deepest emotions.

Horrified, he gasped, eyes flying wide open.

All the people watching echoed his gasp a hundred times. It was deadly silent; everyone was staring at something above him. Normally he wouldn't have given in to curiosity, but in such a situation, Seto Kaiba tilted his head up to see what the tide had produced. He gasped again. Over himself there hovered his Blue Eyes Wide Dragon, more vivid than any of his technologies had ever been able to make it, beautifully regal, indomitable. He could even feel it's heated breath wash over him like a warm wind that danced over the ocean on a hot summer's day.

Then there was a loud growl, and the High Priest stepped down from the throne into the circle. "You cheap copy!" he shouted, outraged, "This is my Ka, my Ka!!! No one else than me can be the Master of the Blue Eyes White Dragon! You are a fraud, and your Ka is nothing than a fake replication!"

Now, no one insulted Seto Kaiba, calling him a fraud, and certainly no one could be foolish enough to insult his Blue Eyes!! So he retorted coldly, mercilessly, "Maybe it likes me better than you!" Not that he believed the Blue Eyes would like him, after all it was only a card...but to annoy this priest he would have said almost everything.

But that was all it took.

"So that's what you think, stranger?" Seth snarled, "Then let's see who's Ka is the stronger and more worthy of the Pha....of being the Pharaoh's servant"

Oh, sure as hell Seto couldn't overlook that little slip and it made him absolutely furious with jealousy. "You want a duel?", he shouted, because that was all he had understood about the other's speech, "You will get it!"

But the priest just growled at him again and closed his eyes, starting to chant now himself. This was not the gentle calling a coaxing Isis and Mahaado had used to produce Seto's Dragon, this was commanding and earth-shatteringly strong. The flames leaped up in anger when the air around Seth grew white, mists gathering, and then darting apart, only to come back, like the pulsing of a great heart. And suddenly out of the mists the Dragon erupted, just as proud as Seto's, just as wild, and yet there was a bond between him and the High Priest that was probably stronger than that of Seto's to his master.

"And now my Blue Eyes," the High Priest shouted, "Attack that weakling!"

Seto opened his mouth to shout a command of his own as the Dragon soared up towards the ceiling, his own rising with him in defense. But before the words could leave his mouth, there was a shout, louder than that of the priest.

"STOP!! I will have no more of this insanity!!"

The Pharaoh had risen from his chair, a commanding hand lifted towards the beasts, his whole body blazing with a power the like of which Seto had never seen or felt before. Around him a deadly aura flared, surrounding him with its bloody color. He watched as the famous gaudy trinket began to glow and the Eye appear on his forehead. His eyes went from bright ruby to deep crimson from all the power he was emanating.

Seto couldn't help but stare in awe at the man in front of the throne. Never had he ever seen such power, such strength before. He understood now why the ancient Egyptians called their rules the living god, for Seto was almost sure that that's what was in front of him at that moment.

Suddenly his eyes went wide as he became aware of what the Pharaoh was doing. A red mist swarmed around the handsome ruler, swirling in a continued spiral upwards till it reached the impressive ceiling. Then quickly it started to solidify as it began to swirl around the High Priest's Ka.

With a deafening roar the Sky Dragon, Osiris, became a solid, impressive creature before his eyes. Its massive body was wrapped around the white dragon in a grip that would surely crush any other creature. Its twin mouths hovered over the head of the Blue Eyes daring it to resume its attack.

Both Seth and Seto tore their eyes away from the mighty monster to look upon the owner of the beast as his voice rose above the roars of the three dragons.

"Seth! You should be ashamed of yourself! You of all people should know that it is impossible to copy one's Ka! It's a person's very soul!" He said as he crossed his arms and walked over to the Priest he was reprimanding. Fiery orbs held ice blue ones in a trance, daring to be defied. "His Blue Eyes is as real as yours, and willing to defend it's owner just as your own powerful creature. Do you not realize that a battle between the two would result in death?!"

Seth's eyes softened just a bit when he saw a brief flicker of hurt in those exotic crimson eyes before they turned hard again. He knew then that what he had done was foolish, he again let his anger and pride over ride rational decisions. But he was damned if he was going to show any of this in front of the others and certainly not the stranger.

Kaiba watched the exchange with a mixture of strange emotions. Several of them he understood such as a hurt pride and pure hatred. But it was the others that confused him completely. Somehow he felt hurt, jealousy and betrayal. And that last one really threw him for a loop. Why was he feeling these…emotions? Never before had they presented themselves. And why were they even there to begin with? It's not like he had feelings for the handsome male.

All right he admitted it, the Pharaoh was good looking. But any fool could see that. Never before had anyone, male or female, ignited his body in flames. And the power that his smaller male held made him even more desirable. But that was as far as it went.

The Sky Dragon roared again pulling everyone out of his or her thoughts.

Seth turned and looked at his beloved creature, dismissing it with a silent command, and strangely, Seto's own disappeared also.

Seeing that the danger of a battle was gone, Atemu nodded his head and whispered a thank you to the god as it too left the throne room. Closing his eyes to calm his surging powers down, he carefully chose his next commands.

"Jahi"

"Yes Pharaoh?" the blonde said as he entered the room.

"Please escort Seto back to his chambers. I'm sure he will require rest after today's events." Atemu opened his eyes once again to look upon his loyal Priest. "Seth I wish to speak to you privately in my chambers. We have much to discuss."

Without further word, the High Priest followed his Pharaoh out the doors.

Soon after the two higher-ranking men left, Jahi turned and motioned for Seto to follow him. "That was impressive! I've never seen anyone be able to control those mighty beasts other than my master!" he said with a goofy grin on his face.

Seto continued to look ahead as the two walked down the grand hall. "The Blue Eyes are my pride."

"Eyes? As in more than one?"

"Yes, I own three Blue Eyes."

Jahi frowned at the brunette's words, "Own? You do not own a soul monster. It is your partner, a part of you. You should respect it as such, in return they protect you with their very life. If your Dragons had heard that from you during that battle, I'm sure my Master would have won."

Seto growled at the blonde, "I believe I can find my way from here," leaving Jahi behind.

Atemu had led him to the royal bedchambers. Seth gaped at the door his ruler had vanished in, totally unbelieving. No one, absolutely no one except the pharaoh's closest family members had ever been in the royal bedchambers before.

But even as he stood Atemu appeared again in the doorframe, smiling despite himself at the priest's shocked face.

"Coming?" he asked simply, giving the other a sign to follow him.

Seth blushed and stalked into the room, only to stop aghast once more on the doorstep. Never had he seen such a beautiful bed. It was all made out of crimson velvet, soft as a bunch of feathers, embroidered with finest gold, silken, translucent hangings stretching over it, seemingly attached to the stone ceiling.

"Seth"

The voice of the pharaoh made him snap out of his daze. He quickly walked up towards the other, who had taken a seat on the edge of the enormous bed. Atemu gestured him to sit down next to him, and again Seth blushed, but complied.

"Look at me, Seth", Atemu demanded and the High Priest raised his eyes to meet his own. "You know you acted rashly and foolishly so I don't have to reprimand you for it, I assume. I would rather explain to you the nature of this stranger, of his Blue Eyes and a lot of other things, if you'd just be willing to listen."

Seth growled, averting his eyes.

"No," the pharaoh demanded again, "don't look away. Listen to me, alright?"

The priest nodded and Atemu continued.

"I think you heard it last time, before I asked you to get Bakura away, Seto Kaiba told me he comes from the future. No, don't say anything, I know you don't believe it one bit. But he told me some very interesting things that I think are a proof he indeed speaks the truth."

"Which would be?" Seth grumbled indignantly.

"He knows the gods. He knows of the rod and the puzzle, although I think he doesn't understand anything concerning magic. No stranger to Egypt would know the puzzle. He told me about a stone tablet, telling our story. It was so real; I could almost imagine it. And...He also told me the end of our story, or, let's say a new beginning...Seth, I have to believe him, I need to believe him and if you'd just put your anger aside for a second you'd feel he's right as well. I believe you've already felt it. I don't know what makes you so jealous when it's just...You have to understand...he's...he's you! He's your reincarnation. That's why he's got the same Ka, that's why you are so similar. Don't you understand it? Don't you feel it?"

Seth sat in silence, staring at him. Then he asked very slowly, "Are you sure he isn't just bewitching you and lying to you? I still can't believe it. Maybe one day I will feel for myself, but right now I don't trust him because I don't understand his soul"

"You should know best, Seth," Atemu laughed, "He's got walls of defense around his heart, just like you. Sometimes I wish as well you'd show me more of your soul. Even your Ka monster has learned to keep your secrets."

The High Priest looked at him, feeling something odd, as if he had seen that scene before. Perhaps just because it was so similar to yesterday with those crimson orbs so close....but this time they were looking at him and something strange was lying within them, some unknown emotion.

"You don't have to be jealous of the stranger, Seth. I don't know why you are. I just have this....this insane hope...."

Disbelievingly, Seth stared at him. Atemu couldn't be thinking the same as he did, could he? Oh, it was just hopeful wishing on his part as well. Nonetheless, he leaned a bit closer, raising his eyebrow in a silent question.

The ruler of Egypt bent his head, biting his lip. "I don't know how to tell you," he confessed. "It's just...."

Suddenly the puzzle glowed softly, and Seth looked down at it in surprise. But at that moment he felt delicate fingers framing his face and when his eyes darted up to Atemu's again, he saw a strange light in them and heard the other speak in a voice that seemed to come from far away,

"Take the chance, as long as you get it."

Then the crimson eyes returned to normal, and before Seth could grasp what was going on, warm lips covered his. His stomach gave an almost violent lurch and a moment later his hands were tangled in his ruler's hair. Atemu's lips were slow and inexperienced but there was undeniable desire in the flickering of his tongue against Seth's lips and tongue. The priest tilted his head so their mouths could melt together, while his hands slid down to Atemu's back, drawing circular patterns there.

Atemu moaned, pressing closer and starting to dominate the kiss, abandoning all caution, letting him self be ruled by desire alone. That feeling was so good Seth wanted to cry out for the entire world to hear how his heart was spilling over with sensation. Then suddenly, a single rational thought buzzed through his clouded mind and with a gasp he pulled back.

The pharaoh stared at him in helpless shock. "I...I..," the boy whispered but Seth just pulled him into a fierce hug, whispering comfortingly into his ear, "Don't worry, Atemu. I wanted it. And I want more of it. Just don't go too fast. We can't do all at once. You are my pharaoh and cousin. We have to think about that too. We have to be secret."

To his shock Atemu's eyes got that far away look again, and his voice sounded misty as he said, "Time is almost up. I can't wait much longer" Then the lively crimson returned and his eyes filled with tears.

"Shhhh," Seth whispered, "Why are you crying?" But Atemu hastily brushed the tears away and asked in a shattered voice,

"Will you stay with me tonight, Seth?"

Seth sighed, holding him tightly still. "I will, Atemu. Of course I will."