Things you should know: Go to if you're interested in taking the other fics that I write. The disclaimer that I wrote in the first chapter will be the only disclaimer for this fic. In other words, that disclaimer was speaking for all the chapters. The beginning of this chapter is kind of slow because I'm going to explain more about the girls' family and their physical features etc. To my quizilla readers, no I will not stop writing my fics on quizilla, lol.

Acknowledgements: I was going to put this chapter up on the 29th by request of Bandit 14, but I can only use my laptop on the weekends (long story), and the 29th is a Wednesday, so sorry Bandit . Anyway, I'm putting it up now as an early b-day present to Bandit 14. Happy early b-day -. I also made this chapter like 3 times longer than the first, so I hope you like it :p. It's 7 pages long I think O.o I also want to thank everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter. This chapter is dedicated to all of you .

Pertaining to the story: No, Kepi did not die in the previous chapter as some of you have been lead to believe, lol. The fic will continue to be based in Ancient Egypt.

Kemet- means "Egypt" OR "the black lands" in Egyptian. Although, I'm using this as the name of the village of thieves where Kepi and Mehnit live.

Nafrini- means "she brings beauty" in Egyptian. This is the girls' mother.

Nsu- means "King of the South." This is the girls' father.

Kamenwati- "Dark Rebel" in Egyptian. This is the girls' 11 year old brother.

Itennu- "Vicar" in Egyptian. This is the girls' 9 year old brother. (What's a vicar? Could someone tell me in a review if they know?)

Kemnebi- "Dark panther". This is the girls' other 9 year old brother.

Mkhait- "Fight" in Egyptian. This is the girls' 11 year old younger sister.

Afrikaisi or Kaisi (for short)- "From the Egyptian hills." 7 year old younger sister of the girls'.

Kifi- means "bosom of a woman" in Egyptian (sorry, couldn't resist, lol). This is the name of one of the girls Kepi and Mehnit hate with a passion.

Ekibe- also means "bosom of a woman" in Egyptian. This is another girl Kepi and Mehnit hate.

Desert Fury

The Arrivals

Kepi awoke with a start, her eyes snapping open to reveal her crimson hues. Her blurred vision was slowly coming into focus just enough to make out the canopy of the bed which she was lying on. Her body felt as if it were on fire.

As she attempted to sit up, her muscles groaned in pain. With a small yelp, she clutched her abdomen to try and ease her aching. After the moment had passed, she scanned her surroundings. She was in her own room; in her own bed.

"Wha-but, how...?"

What had happened on the raid remained foggy, but she could remember most of it- attacking the opposing thieves, fighting bakura, almost finishing him off, saving Mehnit, getting stabbed. Kepi clenched her fists at this thought.

'He will pay; I swear it.'

But what had happened after she fainted, and was her sister all right? The anticipation was killing her. Finally taking the time to examine herself, Kepi found that the top half of her body was covered in only bloodied bandages, which started from the top of her chest and went all the way down her torso.

Again the image of Bakura's blade running her through painted itself on her mind's eye. She remembered the thief king's dull, purple orbs, which held no emotion, his white wisps of hair, and his mocking grin that seemed to laugh at her even now. The scar from the wound she'd received would forever be a constant reminder of her defeat.

"Kepi, thank Ra, you're awake!" Mehnit's voice cried from the doorway, a bucket in hand and dressing material in the other.

"Yeah, how long was I out?" Kepi questioned her sister while rubbing her temples as a dizzy spell momentarily over took her.

"Nearly three days. We thought you'd never wake up," Mehnit voiced her concern, dashing to Kepi's side, pushing her back down on the bed and placing a wet rag on her forhead as a handful of people followed her into the room.

"What are you doing? I'm fine!" Kepi vociferated, trying to get away from Mehnit's grasp.

"Stop being so stubborn! You are not fine! You've been skewered for Ra's sake!" the white-haired girl tried, in vain, to get her sister to lie down again.

"As if I didn't notice! Besides, that was three days ago! I don't need to be babied!" Kepi complained, managing to swing herself off the otherside of the bed and away from her sister's tyranny. Her gut exploded with pain, but she paid no heed.

"Kepi, Mehnit, please settle down. Your father has an announcement to make," the gentle voice of the girls' mother, Nafrini, interrupted their argument.

Both girls' facial features looked astonishingly like their mother's with their high, prominent cheek bones and full, lush lips. Kepi and Mehnit looked almost identical save for their hair and eyes, but that was to be expected considering they were twins.

Kepi had inherited her father's raven black hair, which fell crimped to the middle of her back and intense, red eyes that could put a flaming inferno to shame. Mehnit, on the other hand, took on her mother's lively, electric blue eyes and fair white hair, which she had let grow to the small of her back.

The girls' father had once been known as the greatest thief in all of Egypt when he was at the peak of his abilities and had met the girls' mother while on a raid. She had been a thief too, but not nearly as renowned. Together, they had founded Kemet, a fairly large hidden village of thieves, where they now reside.

Nsu and Nafrini, the girls' parents, are the village leaders, and once they pass, the girls will be left with the responsibility of looking after the village and their five younger siblings. Not including themselves, the girls had two sets of twin siblings. Kamenwati and Mkhait were eleven, Itennu and Kemnebi were nine, and Afrikaisi was the youngest at seven summers (7 yrs. old) and had no twin. Although Kepi loved all her brothers and sisters dearly, she secretly favored Kaisi.

"Yes, well, I've already announced this to the rest of the village, but you two still need to hear it, maybe most of all," Nsu directed to his two eldest daughters. "I have invited a group of thieves from the northern lands, and they will be staying with us for a time. You are to give them the utmost respect. Is that understood?"

"When will they be arriving?" Mehnit questioned thoughtfully.

"Tonight."

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Mehnit's stomach began to do flips as she tied the strings that held up her off white colored dress around her slender neck. The mystery guests were to arrive very shortly, and her nerves were beginning to kick in. Why though, she didn't know. When she had asked the identity of the visitors, her father had merely chuckled and said she'd soon find out, then told her and her sister to adorn themselves in their finest jewelry and linens.

Thoughts of these visitors nagged at Mehnit's mind. She frowned slightly. Who could be so important that her father would request her to wear her finest clothing and most expensive jewelry? She didn't particularly like dressing up and would prefer to wear her usual thieving attire. It was comfortable and easy to move in. The only negative was how little of her body it covered. Though, she supposed, nothing could ever be completely perfect.

She checked her self in the mirror one last time. Golden jewelry accentuated her copper skin, and her ankle length dress clung tightly to her slim, hourglass figure. Slits going up to her hips on both sides of the dress made mobility much easier and laces starting near her lower back tied the dress up to the bottom of the girl's shoulder blades. A serpent as blue as her eyes coiled around her dress to signify who she was- the Desert Serpent.

"Stop worrying so much," Kepi admonished from the door.

Mehnit turned to find her twin dressed in a similar attire to hers except for her dress was black as night, and she had bedecked herself with silver jewelry while a fiery, red phoenix decorated the front of her gown.

"I can't help it. Don't you ever get nervous?" Mehnit inquired as she took one last glance in the mirror then followed her sister out the door.

"No, not really," Kepi replied unconcernedly, heading towards the dining hall. "By the way, what happened after I fainted, you know, during the raid?"

Mehnit hesitated at this. She knew Kepi would be angered by her reply. The raven haired girl never backed down from a challenge and would never give up, regardless of the stakes. She always thought more rashly and reacted on whims while Mehnit thought things through, never taking action initiated by impulse. It was a common known fact throughtout the village of Kemet that Kepi was the better fighter and Mehnit the better thinker. She was usually the one that ended up making the majority of their raiding plans.

"Well, we...retreated," she answered cautiously, saying it slow and hesitantly.

Kepi stopped in her tracks and turned to face her twin. "You what?" she snarled, her features etched with pure fury.

"Well, what was I supposed to do? You were dying on the ground!" Mehnit riposted and continued walking, being closely pursued by her fuming sibling, though she was slightly hindered by her injuries.

"You should have fought! Now we've lost the respect of the enemy!"

"So you'd rather die for your reputation and pride rather than to back down and live to kick their arses another day?"

"Yes!"

"Ugh, you're incorrigible! You probably would have left me there to die if I were the one stabbed in the stomach, wouldn't you?" Mehnit vociferated, glowering in irritation.

"So, um, why do you think father invited this group of thieves?" Kepi queried, abruptly changing the subject.

Mehnit glared at her with a look that could kill but let it slide.

"Probably just to make a peace treaty or something stupid like that," the blue eyed girl huffed, thinking nothing of the matter.

"No, he could have just invited the leader if it were that. I think he's hoping one of these imbeciles will sweep us off our feet and ask for our hands. He's been completely obsessed with finding us suitors to settle down with and start a family," Kepi voiced in a matter-of-fact tone, scowling at the thought of even considering wedding to such lowly pieces of trash.

"Well, he's not as young as he once was, and I think he doesn't want us to stress ourselves out by having to take care of the village by ourselves after he passes," Mehnit contemplated thoughtfully.

"If he thinks we'll be miracously infatuated by one of idiots, I'm afraid he's sadly mistaken. You do remember the last suitors that came, don't you?"

"Of course, how could I forget?" kepi's twin smirked a devilish grin at the memory.

Both men had run away after a short two hours, screaming derogatory insults and refusing all aid the girls' parents had offered as they stormed from the village wet, bruised, utterly filthy, and cursing the girls to oblivion. The girls and their siblings, who had taken a large part in assisting their sisters, had all received some very harsh punishment for pulling such a stunt as that, but as long as they didn't have to marry those jackasses, they were happy.

Finally reaching their destination, the dining room, the two twins found the fated guests had apparently already arrived. The room was unusually quiet and packed with people both young and old. Most of the villagers were congregated together on one side of the room while a throng of cloaked men occupied the other, the hoods of their dark travelling cloaks were down to reveal their anxious or weary expressions.

For the main part, the denizens shied away from the retinues, but there were a few exceptions. Some of the teenaged village girls had taken it upon themselves to flirt shamelessly with the cloaked travellers. Two particular girls, Ekibe and Kifi, whom Mehnit and Kepi happened to despise, had a handful of men drooling over their very presence...literally.

Wearing see through tops that only covered their large bosoms and skirts so short that their butt cheeks were practically hanging out, they were, by far, wearing the skimpiest outfits in the room.

"I hope they get raped," Kepi muttered, all traces of a drop of remorse void from her icy intonation as she basked in the thought of causing Kifi and Ekibe a great deal of martyrdom.

"That's not very good natured of you," Mehnit scrutinized calmly.

"Oh, can it, it's less than what they deserve. Besides, you're thinking the same thing," Kepi scoffed indignantly. Before Mehnit had the chance to retort, their conversation was cut short by their father.

"Ah there you two are! I've been looking for you. There are some people I'd like you to meet," the girls' father chimed, striding over.

There were indeed two cloaked figures trailing behind him, one donning a blood red cloak while the other wore one of an ebony hue. Their faces were hidden by their hoods, but the girls could feel their gazes upon them, making them squirm under their unwavering watch.

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Bakura had just met the chief of Kemet, which was well concealed in the cliffs of a large valley. The leader, who's name he had learned to be Nsu, was currently directing them through an enormous cave engulfed in a darkness so thick that you could barely see your hand in front of your face. A gripping coldness slowly coiled it's way around the men with it's ensnaring claws as they tread deeper into the threshold.

As their host traversed through the cave effortlessly from years of travelling to and from kemet, Bakura's men clamored noisily along, tripping over unseen rocks and sudden drop offs. Nsu, Bakura observed, had hair which was graying with age, but he looked healthy and strong. This was, obviously, the result of the man's many years of thievery.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity blanketed in the obscurity, they came to a dead end. Two flaming torches about five feet apart on the wall casts dancing shadows across the cave floor. Without stopping, Nsu approached the torch on the right and grabbed it's wooden bracket. A brief quake shook the grotto as he turned it 90 degrees clockwise and pulled down.

A few pebbles fell from the stalactites, which garnished the cave's roof, but what caught the thief king's attention was the cave wall. It seemed to be moving; no, it was moving. Bakura stared in intrigue as the wall of the cave slid over, revealing a doorway between the two torches and a lit passageway beyond it.

'Now this is getting interesting,' Bakura thought to himself amusedly, following Nsu down the hall.

Soon, the sound of voices and the sweet aroma of a feast reached Bakura's senses. As he and his thieves were lead into a room full of people, all went quiet. The music that had been playing stopped its harmonic concord and all eyes focused their divine attention on the newly arrived guests.

"Quite the welcoming committee," Malik stated from beside Bakura as Nsu began his announcement of their arrival to the people of Kemet.

"Now please, all I ask is for you to treat them as your own, and make them feel accepted in our humble abode." Once he had finished, the music resumed, but the buzz of conversation had droned down to low whispers as the citizens glanced with a mix of emotions at the newcomers.

"Bravo, very well put speech," Bakura drawled as Nsu turned back to face him.

He figured now would be as good a time as any to ask the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind like a vexed mother for the past three days. For an unknown reason, the thought of the boy who had claimed to be part of Desert Fury continuously invaded his mind. All he could remember seeing of him was the boy's alluring, crimson eyes which burned with contempt and loathing as he was stabbed ruthlessly through the stomach.

Those eyes, they were familiar. Bakura had seen them somewhere; he had seen them on Nsu. Yes, Nsu had the same stern, flaming red eyes, which held an air of superiority. Was this coincidence?...maybe.

Why did this boy bother him so much? Was it the fact he was so small and petite, or maybe his defiant attitude and seemingly unbreakable spirit. For such a weak looking frame, he had been an incredibly fierce fighter. His skills could surpass Malik's and even rival the thief king's own abilities.

In fact, if he hadn't been distracted by his comrade, he might have even been able to finish Bakura off.

'Pah, that would never happen. I am the thief king after all. I won't be defeated by a mere boy swinging a pair of sticks and some twigs (ME: He's referring to kepi's sais and her daggers),' Bakura, satisfied by his resolve, returned to the real world, aching to voice his ailment.

"I was wondering, the Legendary Desert Fury is rumored to reside somewhere around these parts. Do you know where I can find them?" the thief king inquired, trying hard to drown out the anxiety in his tone.

"Haven't been here five minutes and already stirring up trouble, eh?" Nsu laughed, "but in answer to your question, they happen to live right here in this very village. They're around here somewhere, but before you do anything too drastic, I'd like you to meet my two eldest daughters. I'll bring you to Desert Fury if you'll see my family first."

Really having no other choice, Bakura grunted in agreement and left his men to do as they wished while he followed Nsu. Malik, being his second in command, trailed close behind. The village leader was approaching a door on the other side of the room where two young woman had just entered, both wearing slightly peeved expressions.

The two girls were obviously twins and held a certain captivating beauty that couldn't quite be described with words. Their long, flowing hair framed their solemn faces and gave them a slightly mysterious countenance. A foreboding aura seemed to radiate from their very being as if daring everyone who is anyone to defy them.

"Ah, there you two are! I've been looking for you. You look splendid. There are some acquaintances I'd like you to meet," Nsu chimed merrily, advancing towards, Bakura assumed, his daughters.

Both Malik's and Bakura's eyes roamed up and down the girls' bodies, drinking in their physical features, then finallly coming to a stop at their eyes. A smirk graced the tomb robbers' lips as they noticed them squirm uncomfortably under his and Malik's constant staring. Unlike most girls though, they did not look off to the side or down at their feet but stared defiantly right back.

'Interesting...,' Bakura thought, intrigued by the girls' audacious natures. He had, again, run in to those intense red hues, which the raven haired girl had presumably inherited from her father. 'Red eyes seem to be quite common here, or maybe it's just me.'

"Well, I'll just be leaving. Why don't you introduce yourselves?" the girls' father suggested before dashing off to only Ra knows where with a mischievous smirk dancing across his features.

A few moments passed with the four of them standing as still as stone, summing eachother up, determining whether or not they were trustworthy. Malik, being the more womanizing of the two men, made the first move and slipped off his black hood, revealing his mess of sandy blond hair while stepping towards the white haired woman. The girl's cheeks turned a faint tinge of pink as Malik took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles gently, never losing eye contact.

"Malik Ishtar, it's a pleasure to meet you miss..."

"M-mehnit," the girl stuttered, staring nervously at the hand which Malik continued to hold.

'Well, I guess it's my turn now,' the thief king told himself, pulling off his hood with one hand, his spiky, white hair cascading to his shoulders. At this, the red eyed girl's jaw visibly dropped in apparent amazement. Thinking this a good thing, Bakura walked pompously towards her, only to stumble back seconds later, clutching his jaw.

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"What the bloody hell was that for?" Bakura snarled in a rage.

After snapping out of her shock of seeng the thief king standing right in front of her unalert and unprepared, Kepi had punched him square in the face with all that she had, sending him stumbling back. This action caused her to receive a number of confused looks as the whole room went silent to view the scene unfolding before their eyes, but she didn't care. The very man she had sworn to hunt down was right there, ready to be blown away by her fiery wrath.

'Damn it, where's my weapons when I need them?' she growled mentally. 'Of course, why not get them?'

Ignoring Bakura's snide insults, she grabbed Mehnit by the arm, turned on her heel and dashed out the door to her room. Once Kepi had arrived in her chambers, she quickly threw her twin a set of fighting clothes and told her to change into them while putting on a set of her own, disregarding the fleeting pains from her wounds.

The black top stopped just below her chest and zipped up the front with two straps stretching over her shoulders to hold it in place. A small, black choker adorned her neck while a pair of short shorts covered her bottom half. Two red belts crisscrossed to create an X on her hips and had slots where her daggers were held. A whip on each side of her hips hung from the loops on her belts, and red straps were tied tightly around her thighs to sheath her sais. Black, calf high boots with red ties completed her outfit. (Link to a pic of most of the outfit is on my homepage)

"What are you doing?" Mehnit inquired, utterly perplexed.

"That, my dear sister, was the bastard who stabbed me, and now is as good a time as any to kick his ass!" Kepi snarled, buckling on her two belts full of daggers and whips, then strapping her sais to her legs.

"That's him? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm damn sure! He-" she didn't have time to finish as a pounding on her door drew both girls' attention, and...

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Oh, I'm sorry (not really), I left you hanging Oo. Well, the best you can do now is hope I'll update soon, lol. Well, I hope that was worth the two week wait. It took me a bloody long time to write, and I wrote it all in one day . Thanks again to those who rated the first chapter, and happy b-day Bandit 14! Keep a look out for the next chapter! I'll try to get it up ASAP -. Well, I'm off to have breakfast (it's currently 4:30 P.M. --).