KNY: is no where to be found

Kaiba: Where is that stupid woman?! She needs to do the disclaimer!

Yugi: I think she's hiding from SGS.

Ryou: Why?

Yugi: SGS is mad because KNY hasn't updated in forever.

Ryou: Oh.

SGS: enters Okay, where is she?!

YGO guys: shrug

KNY: in closet They'll never find me here! Bwhahahahahaha!!

SGS: There you are!

KNY: gulps Damn evil laughter... runs for her life

Joey: What about da disclaimer?

KNY: YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!!! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Kaiba: sigh I'll get her... grabs Yami and ties him to a chair with a cage hanging above Here KNY, here KNY!

Yoai fangirls: Oooooooooooh, kinky!!

Kaiba: WHAT?! summons Blue Eyes and chases fangirls

Yami: turns green I think I'm gonna be sick...

KNY: sees Yami's distress Oh, you poor bishie! hugs him and hands him medician

cage falls trapping Yami and KNY inside

SGS: Ha! Now you have to say the disclaimer!

KNY: glare Or else what?

SGS: Or I won't let you out of the cage!

KNY: ... glances at Yami who's still tied to the chair Works for me!! happy smile

SGS: Then how about this, say the disclaimer or I'll take you out of the cage and put Karasu in with Yami!

KNY: You wouldn't! horrified look equaled only by Yami's

SGS: just smirks

KNY: Fine. pouts I hate losing. I don't own YGO. Just Cat-eyes and this plot line. Happy?!

SGS: Yes. smiles Now update sooner this time!!

KNY: Meanie...

A Deal, a Blood Vow, and Crocodiles?

Yami blinked a couple times and it registered in his brain exactly who was in front of him.

"Cat-eyes! What are you doing here?!" he yelped scooting away from her, the unnerving feelings completely gone.

Cat-eyes let out an un-ladylike snort. "You're the one who wanted an audience with me in the first place, or did you forget?"

Oh. Now he remembered. He had requested to see her as soon as he could. He had forgotten in the commotion with Jonouchi. Stupid dueling monkey.

"Oh, yes I did," Yami said, regaining what was left of his dignity.

"Well, what do you want? Take your time. It's not like I have anything I'd rather be doing than hanging around in the royal chambers all day," she replied, voice dry with sarcasm.

Yami's eyebrow twitched. "I wished to discuss your punishment for your crimes."

"Oh, is that all?" Cat-eyes yawned, covering her mouth with a delicate hand. "Why didn't you just have a guard tell me down in the dungeons? Or summon me to the throne room in all your mighty pharaoh-ness?"

"I wanted to speak to you in private. I believe we can negotiate regarding your sentence."

"Negotiate?" She seemed surprised. "What's there to negotiate? I killed him. I should get my punishment just the same as any Egyptian."

"I had thought," Yami answered, "we could lessen your sentence under the circumstances, or at least work out an agreement to our mutual benefit."

"'Mutual benefit'? What could I do for you?" Then her eyes narrowed. "If it's bed company you are hoping for, you can forget it."

"That's not what I meant!" Yami protested, even as his cheeks flushed.

Cat-eyes raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. "Uh-huh." Then she glanced out towards the desert at a raising column of dust heading towards the city. "What's that?" she asked.

Yami followed her gaze to the moving sand storm and sighed. "More refugees. Egypt has fallen under hard times lately, as you probably have heard. Attacks from the East from Ra-only-knows who. Some provinces haven't seen rain in months." He turned back towards Cat-eyes and was startled to see a calculating look on her face.

"Maybe there is a way we could help each other…" she half-whispered, the thought still forming in her clever head. With a sharp, decisive nod she snapped her gaze up to Yami's face, her blue-green eyes intense as she studied him. "What would you be willing to do to save Egypt, pharaoh?"

"Anything," Yami replied immediately.

"What if I could help you, make your kingdom prosper again? Would you be willing to provide your aid to my needs?"

"In a heartbeat," he answered, still under that deep, searching gaze.

She studied him for a moment later before saying, "I am in search of an ancient amulet, a family inheritance, as it were."

Yami nodded, puzzled at the apparent change of topic.

"If you will pardon my crime and help me locate my amulet, I will turn Egypt into a virtual utopia."

Despite how unbelievable it sounded, Yami found himself believing every word she said. "How will you do that?" he asked.

She smiled, looking for all the world like a cat cornering a mouse. "Let me worry about that, pharaoh."

He thought for moment. If she said she could, then he had no reason to disbelieve her…

Cat-eyes waited, watching the pharaoh closely for signs of a negative ruling. His violet eyes thoughtful as he considered her proposal. Then he jerked up with a sharp look at her.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he demanded, "You've already proven that you have no qualms about killing to reach your own ends."

Wow. The boy was actually thinking this out. That meant he was taking this seriously, not as just a game. A rare trait in mortal teenagers.

"What? You don't trust me?" She pouted cutely, and had to suppress a laugh at the look of almost comical seriousness on the young ruler's face. Maybe the human plane was giving her a sense of humor.

"No," he answered shortly.

She sighed overdramatically. "To live in such cynical times… Oh well. Hold out your arm," she commanded.

The pharaoh did as she bid him, and inhaled a sharp breath of air as the moonlight caught a glimmer of silver metal. He brought up his hand, black lightning starting to gather in his palm, when he blinked in surprise. He looked down, startled at the shallow cut on his forearm.

"What's the look for?" Cat-eyes asked, making an identical slice in her own arm. She pressed their wounds together, their mixed blood falling to the ground, staining the white marble crimson. She began to speak, her voice taking on a strange tone of reverence.

"Yami, Pharaoh,

I bind myself to you.

Our life, our death,

Are one, us two.

Through dark, through fire,

Through war, through strife,

I will protect thee,

As I would protect my own life."

The chant finished, released his arm, letting it fall by his side. "There," she said.

"W-what was that?" he asked, shaken and oddly drained.

"Now you have my word of loyalty," she explained. "In no way may I harm you. If you die, I do as well and vice versa, so you can't leave me to die anywhere, either. I will protect you with my life, pharaoh."

He glanced down towards the rapidly healing wound on his arm. He lightly traced the scab already covering his arm, still strangely quiet.

"Any other questions, pharaoh?" Cat-eyes asked, breaking the silence.

The young ruler's head jerked up, as though just remembering she was there.

"No," he answered. "When would you like to leave to start your search?"

"As soon as is feasible," came the instant reply.

"Very well then. I shall inform the servants to pack a bag for your trip." He inclined his head towards her, an appropriate show of respect from a ruler to one in a lower status than himself. "I will also provide a horse and a guide to help you find what you seek. Both of these things should be ready in an hour."

Cat-eyes nodded, gem-stone eyes perfectly serious. "That will do nicely."

She began to walk away towards the door, when a thought occurred to her. She paused in the doorway to the pharaoh's chamber and turned to him, the gauzy curtains blowing around her in the desert wind.

"Pharaoh?"

He blinked, apparently surprised that she had stopped. "Yes?"

She smiled then, a small, soft smile, that bespoke of a gentleness within. "Thanks."

He responded with a warm smile of his own as she turned once more and walked out…

An hour later, Cat-eyes waited at the palace gates, pack in hand. She wore a more serviceable outfit this time, consisting of a white linen tunic and matching breeches tied at the waist with a simple leather belt. A band of cotton wrapped around her head, nose and mouth to protect against the hot Egyptian sun and sand completed the ensemble. Simple, but serviceable.

Little did the palace servants know, she had kept the dress from earlier as well as her few possessions from the House of Nine Jewels. What could she say? She had a fondness for pretty things. And besides, a courtesan could not be without the tools of her trade! If worse came to worse, she could sell some of the gems and survive for a while on her own.

The sound of footsteps against the packed earth behind her alerted her to her guide's presence. Cat-eyes turned towards the hooded figure and nodded sharply.

"Good, you're here. Now we can go."

Her guide nodded wordlessly and gestured towards the horses he brought. Cat-eyes mounted the smaller of the two, a light-footed Arabian, and waited for her companion to do the same. As her mounted a big, hot-blooded bay, his hood shifted slightly, a pale, golden spike peeking out.

Cat-eyes's eyes gleamed in understanding, but she didn't say a word as they galloped out of the palace gates.

As the horses' hooves rang out an even beat on the weathered road, Cat-eyes's guide spoke in a low tone, "Do you have an idea of where to start your search?"

"Yes," she answered, "the temples."

He stopped for a moment, apparently startled at her request, but continued forward along the night-shrouded path.

As they approached the temple district, Cat-eyes headed directly towards her own temple, designated by a great, golden cat crouching just outside the double doors. She dismounted and tied her horse to a post just outside the building, her guide following suit.

She strode forward to the alter, not stopping to bow at the statue as her companion did. Why bother? She was the goddess he was bowing to, after all. She smirked at the expression on his face if he learned who she really was.

Then her gaze fell upon the alter, and her aquamarine eyes widened in shock. No amulet awaited her, just an empty slab of stone. She fell to her knees for the second time in as many days in disbelief.

She opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to will herself to speak.

"I-It's not here," she whispered softly.

Now her guide, hearing her distress, raised his head and looked at her in concern.

"Wha-" he cut himself off and began again in a lower voice, "What's wrong, lady?"

"You can drop the act, Moto," Cat-eyes said bitterly, still staring at the floor, "I know it's you."

"How did-" he started, removing his hood and lifting the spell that altered his voice, returning it to his usual medium tenor.

"How did I not?! It's obvious to anyone with common sense!" she snapped, turning towards him, angry for some unknown reason.

"Well you don't have to bite my head off!" he lashed back, irritated at the unexplained attack.

"Well you- no." She returned her gaze to the floor. "It's not your fault. I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm sorry."

Taken aback by her apology, the pharaoh just swallowed and said, "It's all right. You didn't mean to."

Yami stared at the fallen woman in front of him; he had never seen this Cat-eyes before. She seemed so broken, so delicate, so different from the taunting figure he had seen earlier that day. He didn't like it.

Seeing her so fragile, so… vulnerable, Yami wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and protect her from the world… Then he shook his head. What was with him?! First the bit about her playing a damsel in distress, then the whole incident on the balcony (He didn't even wanna think about that again), and now this! Ra! What was it about this girl?!

"Uh," he began awkwardly, attempting to comfort her without being obvious about doing so, "it'll be okay. I mean, we'll find it."

She jerked her head up, eyes snapping to his face. "And just how are we supposed to do that?! We have no idea where to even begin!"

Despite her angry words, Yami found himself feeling better. Even if she was mad at him, this was more like the Cat-eyes he remembered.

"Sure we have no idea where to begin, but we could at least try. I never pegged you for a quitter, Cat-eyes." He smirked, knowing that would get under her skin.

"I. Am. Not. A. Quitter." She stated, plainly irritated by his words. "I. Will. Find. My. Amulet."

Yami took this moment to take her in again. She was even prettier disheveled and frustrated as she was. Her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes all shiny with anger. They glittered even more like her feline namesake's eyes.

'Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.' Gah! There he was doing it again! 'I gotta stop doing that.'

'But she is reeeeeeeeeeally pretty. Maybe I like her…'

'I do not. I may be physically attracted to her, but that's it. I feel no emotional attachment to her whatsoever.'

'But wait, why was I just wanting to hug her?'

'There is a perfectly good answer for that, Yami,' he thought, trying to rationalize. 'You know you hate seeing a distressed woman. Greeeeeeeeeat. Now I'm talking to myself. Wonderful.'

"Wait," Cat-eyes said, breaking his mental argument with himself, "Maybe there is somewhere I could look!"

Yami blinked and looked at her. She was now pacing furiously back and forth in front of the alter, deep in thought.

"Yes, yes. That could work!" There was an excited spark in her eyes now, as whatever she was planning made itself known to her. She started out the door.

"Great!" Yami said, following her outside. "Where do we start?"

She turned to him and blinked in confusion. Had she forgotten he was there?

"Oh no. I don't think you should come. This isn't exactly a safe place," she said, shaking her head.

"All the more reason I should come!" Yami protested. "To keep you safe!"

She laughed then. A silvery, unearthly laugh that sent shivers up and down his back.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself," she replied smirking, leaving Yami with no doubt she was more dangerous than him. "Besides, I can hardly put the kingdom's ruler at risk, now can I? No, I must go alone." Stubborn, isn't she?

"Not without me you're not," he answered, just as stubbornly "Besides, we made a promise to help each other, remember?" He held out his arm so that the scab from his earlier wound was visible.

She stared hard at him for a moment. "You're not going to back down, are you, pharaoh?"

He grinned. "Nope! I'm probably just as stubborn as you."

Cat-eyes grinned back, and Yami swore her teeth looked like fangs underneath the Egyptian moon. "Fine, but it's your head, Moto."

"Yours too, if I remember correctly," Yami replied teasingly.

"All right, all right," she sighed, holding up her hands in surrender. "We better get moving while we still have moonlight," she said while mounting the Arabian once more and turning toward the vast expense of desert.

Yami began to follow, but stopped suddenly and turned back towards the city. Cat-eyes shot him a questioning look, but Yami just shook his head at her. He raised his arm and a bolt of black lightning flew from his hand, hurtling towards the palace.

"What was that about?" Cat-eyes asked.

"Just completing some unfinished business," he answered smoothly. When he offered no more on the subject, Cat-eyes let it drop and they both rode off into the desert. The rising moon their guide…

Meanwhile in the city…

"Captain Jonouchi?" a guard asked, "Why are you eyeing that crocodile like it's going to attack you?"

Yep. Unfinished business indeed…

KNY: Wow, just look at me go! Do the smilies work again? I can't tell.

Joey: ... I hate you...

KNY: Yay!!

Joey: Grrrrrrrrrrr... Hey, where are all the others?

KNY: Kiki and SGS? They're over there, trying to break into my interdeminsional closet.

Kiki: Almost got it!! tugs at door

SGS: A little more!!

door breaks open

a bright flash of light fills the room and everyone but the three girls vanishes

KNY: Oo You morons!!

SGS: What did we do?

KNY: You just broke my portal/closet and ripped a hole in the space-time continum!!

Kiki: Aaaaaaaaand?

KNY: sighs Why me? to the others You just sent all of the bishies out into the anime universe with no way to return to their own!

SGS: That's... bad, right?

KNY: YES!! Very bad! Now we have to go look for them!

Kiki: looks at the others You know what that means girls.

KNY: sigh Yep. We're going in! Oh, before we go, turns to readers Review please! Or not only will you get to see what happens in the story, you won't ge to see where the YGO bishies went!

SGS:Well, where are they?

KNY: looks at panel of flashing lights Let me look...

Kiki: looking at panel Oooooooooooooh, pretty lights...

KNY & SGS: sigh

SGS: Just find out where they went.

KNY: According to my calculations, they should be in... Yu Yu Hakusho?

Replies to Reviewers

SGS: Ka-click Hand over the Christmas present and no one gets hurt...

Daystorm Mage: If you think it's dark now... Mwuahahaha... you're in for a surprise... Well, after the 2 or 3 humorous chapters I have planned! U

Faero of Egypt: Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim... Here's the update. Now review or no pocky for you!!