Regolilo Libero

Author's Note: Now, eh, explanations...Again. I'm getting so un-motivated for writing fanfiction, I really am. I don't know why. But yes, I'm still going to give this a crack. Afterall, I left this story at a very important part, right? Grins Still more explanations to lay down. One; I made up everything, besides a small percentage of the characters. Two; I'm completely "winging" this, and I hope you like. Two; I have had eh, "other" fanfictions to take care of, and I've been neglecting it at the moment as well. However, it's summer vacation, so I should get going. ( Summer school, exchange students - this is one hell of a summer, yes. ) More explanations on the "other" works are on my bio.

Disclaimer: I, Chiara Aruna do not own anything that has to do with YuGiOh

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Swords and Thieves

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Yami didn't know what else to do, but he knew he had to think of something. Syri's condition couldn't tolerate failure as a miscarriage is a very bad omen. Looking across the whole chamber he spotted a number of his men trying to get through to the other priests and guests, while the other tried to intercept the spreading intruders. Without any other plan up his sleeve he dashed out from under the table, earning a shout from Syri.

"Yami, you idiot! Come back here! You're going to get yourself hurt!"

He ignored it, hoping that she would forgive him later. As far as he was concerned, he was the Pharoah, and if something happens, he would be the one to defend it. No third-rate robber was going to insult him and get away with it.

Yami tried to dash around the many people, trying not to attract as much of an attention as he made his way towards his secretly stored weaponry inside a statue near the entrance to the chamber. It proved to be quite a challenge as one of the hooded men spotted him, and began to charge, weilding his club at Yami's head. Luckily, one of the drunken guests decided that the man needed a hug and just tackled Yami's pursuer to the ground, passing out in the process.

With a couple of more diversions and the dodging of clashing weapons, Yami finally got to the statue, placing his hands behind it to it's back, where a spear was cleverly hidden.

"It's you." she whispered again, hardly daring to believe it.

"What?" the man hissed at her, as Isis got up quickly, still in awe. "You don't know me, priestess." he spat out, looking at her up and down.

There was no doubt in her mind that he would be the one. She only needed a single piece of information.

Isis dusted herself off and tried to peer at his face, which was bowed down.

"I know you, but-"

"Shut up, and just go away. Do you want to get hurt, woman?" he snapped, roughly shoving her to his right and out of his way.

Un guarded, Isis stumbled back, only to be caught by Yami, who was panting slightly. Quickly, he turned her around to face him, shaking her shoulders and peering anxiously into her blank face. His spear now fallen to the ground, forgotten.

"Isis-Isis are you alright? He didn't hurt you, did he?-Are you injured?" he made a quick check up on her, and sighed with relief as he could see no harm.

Isis, however, wasn't listening. She was too busy staring at the thief's back as he walked calmly through the calamity of the hall, where many of his men were still fighting. Some of the scattered guests scurried out of his way, as his mere posture spoke trouble.

"Hey-Isis-" Yami began, following her gaze. "What's going on?"

Finally, she snapped out of her reverie, turning to Yami breathlessly. "Sorry, Yami, what is it?"

"I said; What's going on? Do you know?"

Firmly, she confirmed with a nod. "I heard them talking while I was making my way to the comfort rooms." Isis paused to see if Yami would say anything else, but he just nodded. "Some of the others from this lot planned on heading to the treasure room while most of them caused a diversion."

Yami frowned, in hearing this. "Okay, simple enough, but-"

Hurried footsteps coming right at them made Yami stop. Then, he quickly pulled Isis through the noise and havoc as two of the thieves made their way over to them, weilding their clubs warningly around their heads. Swerving between a number of frightened guests and Yami's men, they hid behind an over-turned table, both panting heavily.

"What were you saying?" asked Isis, taking a worried glance beyond the table.

"Wouldn't they be having to pass the guards who are guarding the treasure room?" asked Yami, also looking around the room. "I'm sure they won't be able to pass; There's a long straight hall to walk through-It'll be impossible to get close without the guards seeing their presence."

"I don't know." Isis shook her head. "Who knows what they're capable of? I just want to know what you want to do." she paused, noticing Yami looking around the room as well. "...Yami... Where's Syri?"

"I had to leave her under the table. I thought she'd be safer there than with me, whom I know they'll be looking out for." he gave her a reassuring look. "She'll be fine."

"If anything happens..." Isis mumbled, narrowing her eyes. "Sooner or later this recklessness of yours is going to catch up to you."

Yami frowned. "It better not start now. I just thought of something."

A man screaming soared into the air gracefully, only to land in a tired heap just a few feet from them.

"Hurry up, I don't think your men can hold this up. I mean; Don't get me wrong, but this is unexpected." Isis answered, raising her eyebrows. "Hurry it up."

"Well, I've decided to just take some of my men and possibly head some of the thieves that are going for the treasury room. You can stay here and look for Syri. If this is just a diversion, then they won't start killing anyone." Yami looked around, as the fighting continued. Some where just throwing wild swings with their clubs now, their energy slowly dissipating.

"That's stupid." Isis mumbled. "What's going to happen next? What if they actually start to kill, because they are desperate? Don't forget, Yami. This could be the exact same band of thieves that we are looking out for. Are you actually planning on leaving your WIFE just for some worthless bunch of gold?"

Yami nodded. "I wouldn't want to do that, yes. I guess it's either protect the family treasure, or make sure that everyone is safe." they both fell into silence.

"Yami." Isis began. "Let me do it."

"Do what?" asked Yami absent-mindedly, as he mulled his thoughts over.

"I want to head them off at the treasure room myself, with some help from a number of your other guards, of course. You can then stay here and make sure that nothing drastic from them ever happens. You can also avoid getting in danger." Isis replied.

Yami frowned, his face turning into a youthful-looking prune. "You know, that's more stupid than my other plan. You might-no, cross that out; You WILL get hurt, and there's not going to be anyone like me to help you. I know, I'll just ask some of the other priests or my men to-"

"Those men aren't what you'd call "skilled", Yami. Did you see them when we were all caught off-guard? It looked as though they wanted to piss on the floor and beg for mercy. Besides, with me going after them, you know that I wouldn't give up no matter what. Now come on. We're wasting time with this useless banter." Isis added, with a tone that could easily be mistaken as an older sister lecturing her younger brother.

"Isis, you're a woman, they're just going to laugh-"

"In the end they won't." Isis glared at Yami, daring him to say anything else. "I've made up my mind. Come on, you need to be there for your people. I'm going to fight for my Pharaoh."

Without any more to say, Isis got up from their hiding place, and made her way through the noisy crowds, looking for any sign of promising helpers. Meanwhile, Yami also got out from behind the table, and picked up a fallen sword. Pharaoh or not, he'd still fight. When it's necessary.

'Him? No, he looks busy. Hm, maybe-Oh, wait, he just got into a brawl. Never mind, then. How about- Yes, he'll do.' Isis spotted a tall, middle aged man armed with an axe who had just driven away a large and chunky-looking thief. Isis was under the impression that he didn't expect to be participating in the action any time soon.

"Hey, man with the axe." Isis called out, and the man turned to her surprise."Come on over here, eh, please?"

Confused, he walked over. "Yes, priestess?" he asked, bowing slightly.

"Huh?" Isis said, as she forgot her current position. Oh yeah, so she was. "Um, yes, your Pharaoh needs help on defending the treasure room from these scads of people."

"Yes, priestess." he bowed, follwing Isis as she moved on, spotting another man, this time looking well-fed and haughty looking. But of course, he had some promising skills. Not long after that they found a burly one who could intimidate someone by just staring at them. Lastly, they found a young man, no older than sixteen, but was certainly up for it.

Eventhough she was a priestess, her "men" looked a little peeved, as it was a woman whom they were taking orders from. They all stood waiting for her next orders, trying to keep a straight impassive face.

Isis looked around. She still needed a weapon. There wasn't much in sight, only the occasional flying man or two. Staring absent-mindedly as a black-haired man watched the scene with slight amusement. It was Oromun. After a couple of more moments, Isis saw an abandoned spear, lying just a few yards from her. Hesitantly she headed for it, and she subconsciously felt a part of her dress get ripped at the hems from a broken chair nearby.

"Okay, let's go." called Isis, as she got a better grip at her weapon. Leading the way, she and her men got out of the room and they cautiously stepped out into the hall.

It was empty. Only the eerie occasional wind blew, whispering by and filling the empty atmosphere. The whole palace was structure that the kitchens would be quite far away, including the soldier's quarters, whom were forbidden to come in unless they were in duty. Carefully they treaded over the polished mosaic floor, making sure that they didn't make any significant noises.

Not too long after they made it to where the hall intersected the treasury wing. There, just around the corner they assmbled.

"Alright. Firstly, I want you-" she pointed to the youngest one, who nodded in affirmitive. "To follow me when I give the signal. The rest of you can follow, but you-" she then turned her attention to the haughty and well-fed looking one, "You can stay here and let us know in any way possible if anyone that's not welcome coming." she took a deep breath. "Okay, let's do this."

Isis peeked around the corner.

There, just in front of the gold plated entrance, were two of the guards, both tightly tied and gagged. Beyond them, the entrance was wide open, and Isis could see that behind these doors was another hallway, turning sharply to the right. No other signs of forced entry such as toppling one of the ornamental vases that was positioned at opposites sides of the hall, or fallen swords and crimson streaks of blood. Nothing. Just the tied-up guards and the open door.

Isis stepped forward, signalling her three men to follow, while the fourth followed her orders to remain lookout.

The two guards who were binded immediately saw the four, and began to struggle, both frantic in sending news. Quickly, both were untied, and were left to catch their breath.

Isis knelt beside them, as they sent whispers of gratitude and apologies.

"P-please, Priestess. F-for-forgive us." a man gasped, his eyes weepy, betraying his tall and muscular build. "We have failed-"

"Now is not the time." interrupted Isis, looking at the other. "Tell me what you can, what you remember-If they spoke of their plan-anything all. How did they do this to you?"

"I didn't know what happened." the weepy one began. "It felt as though everything was alright at first. Until we heard running footsteps and a man's shout of "stop". In an act of reassuring that everything was okay, we started running-but a small wooden ball was thrown at us-then dark smoke escaped from it, filling the hallway. We didn't know what it was-only that we couldn't move, paralized." he broke off, as though frowning at their actions.

"Before we knew it, three men came and tied us up." continued the other one, with a tattoo of a beetle on his left cheek. "It all happened so fast...Then, they stayed there for quite sometime, until another man joined them. We couldn't see their faces at all, they had large hoods that cover their faces completely. Well, anyways," he took a deep breath in, trying to sustain a recollection of any kind. "This man that came. I think he was the leader, or something. I mean, it wasn't the way he walked. It was just the sort of aura that he emits, you know. It was creepy. I'm so sorry. I feel like we've betrayed the Pharaoh. We were supposed to-"

"You have tried your best, that's all you can say. At least we know what they're doing." Isis said grimly. "Now please, hurry. Tell me more."

The man nodded. "The leader-He stayed silent, only ordered his men with hand signals. It was weird because it seemed like he knew what to do, and how to open the treasury room."

"What did he do?" asked Isis curiously. How did a person open those massive doors?

"All he did was take out a sword from his belt and shoved it into one of those slots." he pointed over to a small slit in the gold, which was easily disguised as a design by the other surrounding intricate patterns.

Isis frowned. "A sword? Was there anything special about that sword?"

"Nothing much except that it turned out to be the key to the treasure room and that it's gold, and it's got lots of shiny rocks embedded on it." replied the guard simply.

"And now they're inside?" asked Isis, looking behind them to see if anyone had decided to come up.

"Yeah, they're down there all right."

The priestess stood up, slumping against the wall, smacking her spear on the ground angrily. "Shit."

"Priestess Isis?" asked the youngest one, taken aback. "Um, I think we should really get going."

Sighing in her mind, Isis nodded.

"Okay. I want you two-" she pointed to the two guards, "To go into the banquet room and protect the Pharaoh and the the queen, but first get some men for back up, if you find any. Oh, and don't forget to tell the Pharaoh that all is fine and that he shouldn't worry-everything shall be back to normal in no time."

Then moved, with no hesitation in following her orders. Isis and her group went straight for the doors, and hurried around to where the last door lay, slightly adjar. A strip of golden light was painted on the ground. Grasping the hems of her robes in her hands and with the spear in her right, Isis led the way, closing in on the plain-looking door that would no doubt contain riches beyond what anyone present have ever seen.

Pushing it open bit by bit, until they all filed into the room. Immediately, their breaths were held. The view was blinding.

Gold was everywhere; From the cups to jewelry. Precious stones were littered on the ground, like multi-coloured raindrops. There was even a gold ornamented statue of Bestet in pure ivory. A pure jade sceptre, and a large golden headdress lay just a few feet from her. The others looked on in awe as for a moment they forgot the reason why they were here. The room was enormous, probably as big as Yami's throne room.

"I expected the Pharaoh to come in here, not some woman."

Isis whipped to her right as one of the hooded figures emerged from behind a pile of gold coins. She tucked a stubborn strand of her bangs, thankful that luck was still keeping her hair in place. Glancing to her other three men, she noticed that they too, were preoccupied.

"Well, woman? Don't tell me that you're actually thinking of stopping us." he lifted his head up a bit, until Isis could see a small smirk underneath the dark hood. "Or maybe, perhaps you're planning to take some of this for yourself? I don't mind sharing."

Isis narrowed her eyes in disgust. "I would rather die than take something that's as priceless as these. You sicken me. Do you not know who I am?"

The thief was silent, though clearly in thought. While they were in the middle of such a thing, however, fights began to break out between the guards and the other thieves. It was all even, one on one. So far, it was hard to determine which side was succeeding over the other. They were all lunging at each other, throwing the occasional gold item or two. The thieves' hoods had still effectively hidden their faces from further identification. They may have been distracted from the actual stealing part, but even if the got away, they could still come back, with a much more cunning plan.

"You are a part of the Pharaoh's council, aren't you?" he replied, thinking. Then he gave an amused laugh. "Unless you're one of the concubines that have escaped their execution, then no."

He turned around, laughing again, and he bent to pick up a gold coin and shoving it in his pocket.

Without thinking, Isis charged at him, pointing the spear at his head.

Noticing her movements, the thief just tilted his head to the left, as the spear lodged itself onto the ground. He then got up, and frowned.

"Don't you dare call me a concubine." Isis snarled, her chest heaving, as she watched him move slowly away from the spear.

"Oh? Cause I was under the impression that that's what all of the Pharoah's council members were called." he grinned.

But it was to disappear quickly as Isis aimed a well-practiced kick at his shins, making him fall over in surprise. Then, she pointed the pointed metal end of her spear at him, gritting her teeth.

"I don't want to hear another word coming out from that filthy mouth of yours. Now tell your people to get out, or this spear is taking a one-way trip through your throat." she muttered.

The thief's mouth gaped open. "My, maybe I have underestimated you. You've got skill."

Isis blinked. "Excuse me?"

He smiled. "You've got skill. But you're still no match for me."

"Oh, and you know that, how?" Isis raised her eyebrows.

"Lesson one, ALWAYS focus on the fight, no matter what." at this the thief pulled the spear that Isis still had a grip on, and made her fall on a gold decorated chest. he then grabbed a gold spear from one of the collection of decorative weaponry.

Isis gasped as she felt her breath taken away, and she pulled herself up again, this time they were both armed and ready.

"I must admit, you yourself has skill." said Isis, as she scanned his figure. Where was it?

"Yes, and I must admit, never in my eight years as a thief would I be fighting a woman dressed in fine robes and armed with a spear." he replied, flatly. "Look. I don't have the time, nor do I want to do this. Just-"

"Leave? I don't think so." Isis mumbled. "I'm a woman of my word, and I promised the Pharaoh that I'd get everything back to normal."

He shrugged. "Heh, suit yourself."

At those words the two lunged; Isis ducked as he aimed a sharp poke to her shoulder, and she retaliated by elbowing him on his side. The thief didn't seem to be fazed, so Isis aimed a kick, this time for his knees, knowing that if his knees were down, his chance of leaving was shot. However, he saw it, and Isis was flung back with a swipe of the spear. She kept herself from falling by using her own weapon for balance. Her bangs were now obscuring her vision, from her rash movements.

"Had enough yet?" laughed the thief. "Maybe you should just stop and rest; I'm not even breaking a sweat, and you're panting like a dog!"

Isis's eyes flashed. No way he should be toying with her.

"Yeah, well, lesson number two; Don't underestimate your opponents." Isis said before moving.

She felt the familiar feeling of euphoria as they crossed spears. The training that her father gave her really paid off, and now it won't be too long.

The thief jumped as she swiped at his legs. Isis jumped as the thief swiped at her legs.

"Give it up, and don't worry; I won't think of you as being foolish. It'd be smart to just let it go."

"Never."

The thief, without warning, tackled her to the ground, and sat on her legs. Then, using the spear, he pinned her arms to her sides. So as to have the complete use of his hands, he used his legs to hold the spear down. Then, bending forward, he smiled.

"Well, don't you think it's time to give it up now?" he asked. "Any last requests before-" he yanked at the spear in her hand suddenly, making her let go. "Before this spear takes a 'one-way trip' right through your throat?" the thief brandished the spear in her face.

Isis looked around, to see if the others had any luck at all. Only to find that everyone else was gone. Where were they?

"Are you listening, priestess?" he said silkily, pressing the point at her throat.

"I heard you." muttered Isis. My, what a case of the deja vu.

"Do you have a last request?" he grinned.

Isis closed her eyes in thought.

The thief looked confused.

"I WANT MY SWORD BACK!" Isis shouted, startling the thief into backing away in shock. She got up gingerly, testing her muscles. "Give...It...To...Me..."

"What?" asked the thief. "You can't be serious. I don't have this sword that you are talking about."

"YOU may not remember me, but I DO, Bakura." said Isis, grimly.

Bakura's mouth gaped open. "What? I-Who-I know you...You're...Isis, aren't you?"

"Got that right." Isis replied. "Now give me my sword back."

Bakura paused, thinking hard. Of course. How could he forget? Isis, the girl he stole the sword from. That was three years ago. Since that night, they had been very successful in their work. But it was only recently that they figured out what it's real magic was.

He turned to the girl, as memories flooded back.

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C.A.: Well, that was a challenge for me, eh heh, it was. Really. I don't know, shall I continue? Your choice, of course. ( Scrunches face up in concentration ) Should I?

Oh, and um, anyone know any good humour fics out there? I dunno, I haven't really encountered a lot of humour fics since Tasha3, and I'm just looking for some recommendations. I don't mind long ones, really, I don't. No character bashings, though.