I'm really really REALLY sorry that it's taken me this long to update, but I've been really busy with school work, and I'll probably won't be able to update for a while after this, since I have important exams coming up and I need to revise! I'll try and post the next chapter, and I'm working on (yet) another Yugi and Téa fic, but other than that I'm afraid I may not be able to update until the end of June. So, once again, I'm really sorry!

Aww, I only got 1 review for the last chapter. Is this story really that bad? Well, the good news is that its gets way better starting at the end of the next chapter!

Thanks so much to Yami's Wife for reviewing! (Please send more reviews like that! ) Bakura will be making a small appearance, but I'm not sure about Marik. I may mention him a few times, but other than that he may not be appearing in this story.

Now, lets get on with the show!

'Thoughts'

"Speaking"

Remember: In Ancient Egypt, the tunics that the men wore were a bit like skirts, so basically, they were topless. This is an important factor for this story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! and I do not own the Prince and the Pauper

(1): The Egyptians believed that he sun was the God Ra

I-

The Pharaoh and the Pauper

Chapter 5: A Peasant Named Atemu

I-

Atemu screwed his eyes as the early morning sun shone down on his face. He slowly opened them, adjusting to the light, and bolted up in surprise when he saw the sight before him.

'Where am I? This isn't my room!'

He looked around the strange, small room. By the looks of it, from all the dust and cracks in the wall, it must have been one of the houses on the outskirts or the city, if you could call them houses. The walls were made of mud and clay, the doors old pieces of wood, the furniture ready to fall apart. Panic set in, and Atemu began to fear the worse. How did he get here? Had he been kidnapped?

A grunt like sound caught his attention. He carefully looked to his left, and saw someone else was in the room with him. An old man, with strange hair. Even though it had turned grey long ago, the shape remained the same; the strange pointy forelocks that covered the man's eyes looked familiar to Atemu. They were much like his own…

And then it hit him…

Yugi!

That's right! Last night, he and Yugi had switched. It was all coming back to him now. After discussing each other's lives, preparing for the swap, Atemu had left the palace, leaving Yugi in his place. He had been very careful in making sure that none of the guards had seen him, and it was safe to say they hadn't. It had taken him a while to find Yugi's house, not that Yugi's directions were hard to understand: " Go to the southern outskirts of the city until you find a well in the middle of an old square. Turn right at the well and walk 15 paces until you come to a small house with a symbol of a turtle on the wall…" It's just that Atemu found it a little hard to find his way in the dark. He soon found it though, and was quite relieved when he did.

But before he had left last night, he had taken one last look at the Palace of the Pharaohs, his home for the last 16 years, the place where he had grown up. He couldn't believe that he was actually leaving; even it was for only a week. But even though he couldn't wait to get away, a part of him didn't want to leave. He was leaving everything behind; his home, his friends, his father…

'…Father…'

His thoughts immediately turned to his father. He was so ill, and getting worse with each passing day. The doctor had said that he wouldn't last for much longer. And when that time came, Atemu would have to take his place as the Pharaoh.

He rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't used to not having the Millennium Puzzle. His father had given it to him only a short time ago, for he was too weak to use it and knew that his time was almost up.

Atemu crawled out of the rickety old 'bed' in which sat in, and walked over to a small window, lifting up the piece of rag in front of it. He could see the palace very clearly from where he stood. It glowed in the early morning light, showing off its importance to the rest of the world. Atemu felt a pang in his heart.

"I'll be back soon father, I promise," he spoke to himself. "Just don't leave me, not yet…"

He sighed and turned around. The old man, Yugi's grandfather, lay asleep. He had promised Yugi that he would take care of his sick grandfather whilst he was here. After all, he knew exactly how Yugi felt. The only problem was, he couldn't remember all of Yugi's instructions…

Oh, he could remember things like 'collect food and water', and 'go to work' etc, but he just couldn't remember where everything was, like the work site that he had to go to for work.

"OK," Atemu said thoughtfully to himself. "The first thing I need to do is get some water from the well." He picked up one of the many clay pots scattered in he Moto's house, and walked towards the door. "It wasn't too far away, I think…"

He walked out the old door, closing it quietly behind him, not wanting to wake up Yugi's grandfather (he couldn't remember his name), and started walking down the road. As he slowly made his way down the dusty, sandy street, the Egyptian God Ra(1)slowly rising into the blue sky, shinning down on the world below him, Atemu looked around at the other houses. Through the small windows, he could see the other peasants and slaves preparing for the day ahead; preparing the morning meals for their family, getting their children dressed, all the usual things that people do in the morning. There was one house that particularly caught Atemu's attention.

He stopped and looked inside a small house near the end of the street. A mother was helping her two young children, a boy and a girl, with washing their faces. It seemed they had had a little too much fun at breakfast, and not had food all over their little faces.

As the mother continued to clean her children's faces, the little girl caught sight of Atemu at the window. She smiled and gave a small wave. Atemu, a little surprised at the little girl's kindness, smiled and waved back, causing the little girl to giggle, before walking away, a newfound happiness inside of him. As he turned the corner and the saw the well, he couldn't help but think that this swap may not be as bad as he thought.

He came to the well and found that not many people were crowded around it. Strange, as he thought that it would be pretty popular in the morning. He shrugged this thought off and continued with the job at hand. He quickly collected the water, pouring it into the clay pot, and made his way back to the house.

Once he returned, he quickly continued with Yugi's morning routine, rememberong the different jobs he had to do as he went. Putting the pot of water down, he looked around the small room front room and inside all the small cupboards for food. There seemed to be enough for Yugi's grandfather and himself for a week, if he rationed it well enough.

Ho took out half a loaf of bread and cut it into a few slices, placing them on what Atemu believed to be two small clay plates. He then poured some water into two clay cups and took one of them into the sleeping quarters, along with some of the bread. He placed them down on a small stool next to the old man's bed. Yugi's grandfather was still fast asleep, so Atemu thought it was best to leave him to rest. He walked back out to the front room and ate his small breakfast. He was so used to having lavish meals at the palace, that when he finished, he found his stomach wasn't satisfied. But he couldn't eat anymore, especially since Yugi's grandfather was ill. As he made his way back to the sleeping quarters, he realised just how much he took for granted and how much he missed his home…

Atemu leaned against the wall and watched as Yugi's grandfather breather deeply in his sleep. Yugi had been so kind and understanding when that had swapped last night. He had really gone out of his way in helping Atemu, and how did the God's repay him? By making his grandfather ill. No kind soul, especially Yugi's, should be put through that kind of torture.

'As soon as I get back to the palace,' he thought, 'I'm sending someone to cure him. Yugi and his grandfather shouldn't suffer like this.'

Taking one last glance out the small window towards the palace, Atemu walked out the door, ready to experience the working life of a peasant.

As he looked out onto the dusty street, once again forgetting which way to go, he figured he should follow the small crowd heading towards the outer part of the city. After all, these people were dressed like himself and were all talking about building some sort of temple.

Walking through the many different streets and alleyways was confusing for someone whom had lived inside a palace their whole life, so he made sure to make mental notes about which way he had to go to get back to Yugi's house. Unfortunately, various shouts and cries from behind him were rather distracting.

He continued to walk with the crowd, picking up a little speed to try and escape from the shouting. Unfortunately the shouting seemed to be getting nearer and louder. The voices were shouting out a name now, even though it sounded familiar, Atemu couldn't quite place where he knew it from. He soon turned the last corner and let out a small gasp at the sight before him. Sure, the Palace of the Pharaoh's was an amazing monument, as were the Great Pyramids. But there was something about seeing so many people coming together to build this amazing building that was so…amazing…

Atemu was so amazed and absorbed in his own thoughts, he failed to notice two people walk up to him. It was only when one when one of them placed a hand on his shoulder that Atemu jumped and came back to earth. He turned around to see two teenagers, roughly his age, staring down at him.

"Are you alright Yugi?" asked the first guy. He was slightly taller than the second person, and had brown, pyramid shaped hair and a deep voice. "Didn't you hear us calling you?"

Atemu stood there, confused for a moment until he remembered that he was suppose to be Yugi. It looked like the plan was working.

"I'm sorry," he apologised. "I was probably daydreaming, err…Tristan." He hoped he'd got the name the right way round. Luckily, it looked like he did since 'Tristan' did not question him. "Have you been calling long?"

"Only through the entire city!" Tristan looked at the guy next to him. "Right Joey?"

Atemu looked up at the person named Joey. He had wild blonde hair and was also slightly taller than himself. Unfortunately, unlike Tristan whom was smiling, Joey seemed to be eyeing Atemu suspiciously, as if knowing something was wrong. Atemu shifted, feeling uncomfortable.

"Earth to Joey? Hello?"

Joey snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Tristan. "Huh? Oh, yeah, right…" He looked back down at 'Yugi'. "You seem…different," he finally said after a short pause.

Atemu looked away and shifted again. Now he was in for it. Joey would figure out that he and Yugi had swapped, he'd be reported, he and Yugi would be in trouble, and then…no, that was too horrible to think about…

It was a good thing that Tristan was there.

"Aww, come on man!" he said, slapping 'Yugi' on the back. "You know he's just tired from yesterday. That's why we went round and looked after his grandpa last night."

Joey looked down at 'Yugi', then back at Tristan. Maybe he was right. Maybe Yugi was tired. He sighed deeply.

"Maybe you're right Tristan."

"Of course I am! When have I ever been wrong?" Joey said nothing and sweat dropped. Tristan gave a nervous laugh and quickly turned to 'Yugi'. "So Yug', what exactly happened yesterday?"

But 'Yugi', or Atemu depending on your point of view, didn't hear him. He was quite some distance away now, walking towards a poor elderly man, whom was being beaten and whipped by one of the many guards. When Joey and Tristan saw where 'Yugi' was heading, they ran to catch up with him, shouting at him to stop, but he either didn't hear them, or chose to ignore them.

"Damn you lowly peasants!" shouted the guard at the poor man. "You don't deserve to live!"

The whip whacked against the man's back, causing him to cry out in pain. Atemu's anger boiled as the whipping became heavier. He clenched his fists in an attempt to control his emotions. He dare he! How dare a man treat another human being like this! It was disgusting! It made him sick! And it had to stop…

"Please…have mercy…" the old man begged as he tried to stand up. The blood from his wounds dripped down his back onto the sand.

"Too late!" shouted the guard angrily. He held the whip up, ready to strike. The old man help up his arms to protect himself from the blow…but it never came.

The guard turned around, pissed off at whoever dared to stop him, and was met by the angry purple eyes of a teen with tri-coloured hair. The guard froze for a moment, fearing it was the Prince, before realizing that this teen was dressed just like the other peasants. It was just a coincidence that he happened to look like the Prince.

"What do you think you're doing you bastard?" he spat, yanking the whip from the teen's hands.

"How dare you treat an innocent man this way!" Atemu shouted, staring straight into the eye of the guard. The guard started back, but flinched slightly. The eyes of his opponent bore nothing but hatred and disgust. "You should be punished for your actions, and I'll make sure you do!" Atemu clenched his teeth, whispering in an angry whisper the last few words.

"Oh yeah?" laughed the guard, trying to gain control. "And who do you think you are? The Prince of Egypt?"

"The one and only."

The guard gripped the whip in his hand tighter. How dare this lowly peasant lie to him!

"LIES!" he yelled. He held the whip above his head. Atemu flinched slightly, but stood his ground. "How dare you lie to me! You'll pay, you insignificant little bug!"

The guard brought the whip down onto Atemu, but once again, the blow never came, for he immediately stopped at the sound of someone shouting in their direction.

"Yugi! There you are!"

As quick as a flash, two more teens were standing in between himself and the weird, purple eyed, tri-coloured hair teen whom he assumed was this so called 'Yugi'. One had wild blonde hair, and the other had triangular brown hair. What was up with these kid's hairstyles?

"What in the name of Ra-"

"I'm so sorry sir," spoke the blonde teen. "We hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"What are you on about?"

"Our friend," said the brunette, "had to work outside the palace yesterday and he hasn't quite recovered yet from the work."

"We think his brain was…er…affected by Ra," the blonde added. He began to push 'Yugi' away from the guard. "C'mon Yug, let's get you in some shade with some water."

"Joey?" Atemu protested. "What are you doing?" I'm fine! Let me-" but his protests were soon stopped by Joey placing his hand over his mouth.

The guard watched them go, baffled by what had just happened. He was so baffled, he forgot all about the old man, whom had disappeared.

"Kaiba's not going to like this…"

I-

Once Joey and Tristan were sure they were away from any guards, of other people for that matter, they released 'Yugi', sighing heavily and wiping the sweat from their forehead. They were glad that was over with.

Atemu, however, felt it was far from over.

"What do you think you're doing?" he yelled, outraged

"Us!" Joey yelled back. "What about you?"

"I was trying to help that old man! You could've helped me!"

"Yugi, you know we're not allowed to interfere! If we do, we could be sentenced to death, or worse!"

Atemu bit his lip and bent his head. Now he remembered. Yugi had told him about that, but he had either forgotten, or ignored his words…

flashback-

"There's something else that you need to remember, something very important."

Atemu turned his head from where he sat on the floor to face Yugi, whom was sitting next to him.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"It's just, everyday when we work, the guards 'punish' us for making mistakes, as you can see from my back. Promise me, if you see anyone getting punished, whatever you do, don't interfere."

"OK, but why not?"

"You don't want to know. Just promise me that you won't interfere."

"You have my word…"

end flashback-

He had promised Yugi he wouldn't interfere, he had given his word, and his word was his bond. And what had he just done? He'd broken his promise. He felt sick with guilt.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I just wanted to help."

"We know you did Yug'," said Tristan softly, placing a hand on Atemu's shoulder for comfort. "We all know how you feel." Atemu said nothing. He continued to stare at the ground. Tristan felt sorry for him. "Listen, you go and get ready for work. I need to talk to Joey for a minute."

Like a small child, Atemu obeyed and walked into the 'building site'. Once Tristan was sure 'Yugi' had gone, he turned to face Joey, who was still in a bad mood.

"You didn't have to be so hard on Yugi, you know," he said, crossing his arms.

"That's not Yugi," Joey said blankly.

"What?"

"And if it is him, there's something seriously wrong with him."

"What are you on about now?" Tristan sighed, rubbing his forehead. This wasn't the first time Joey had had crazy ideas.

"You know that guy we bumped into yesterday? On the way to Yugi's house?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

"Well, he said Yugi was whipped on the back yesterday."

"And your point is?"

"Do you see any whip marks on his back?"

Tristan looked behind him at 'Yugi', whom had his back to them. He gave a small gasp. Joey was right, there were no marks.

"Not only that," Joey continued after seeing the look on Tristan's face, "haven't you noticed that Yugi looks and acts…differently?"

Tristan shot another glance at 'Yugi'. "You're…right…" he said, a little surprised that he was actually agreeing with Joey.

"Listen," said Joey walking away slightly. "I was gonna go up to the palace later to ask for some advice from the Gods about my sister, Serenity. You know she's not feeling too good. Well, what if I ask about Yugi?" He turned around to face Tristan. "What if I ask them if they know why Yugi is acting so strange, if that's even Yugi."

"I guess you could give it a shot. You want me cover for you?"

"Please." He quickly looked at 'Yugi' again and sighed deeply. "Keep an eye on him, OK?"

"No problem."

After a quick goodbye between the two friends, Jeoy disappeared towards the palace. After watching him leave, Tristan made his way over to 'Yugi', who seemed very interested in the clay bricks drying out in the heat. Not for the first time today, Tristan sighed.

It was going to be a long day…

I-

To say that Atemu found the work hard was the understatement of the millennium. Today, the large group of slaves that he and Tristan were with had to carry the dried bricks from where they had been left to dry, to where the temple was being built. Apparently, according to Tristan's moaning, this was one of the more harder jobs for a slave.

Atemu's back ached after carrying the first few bricks, and his hands became sore from the rough edges. His skin burned as the fireball in the sky burned down on him. It seemed that Ra was not happy with him today. But no matter how much pain his body was faced with, he made sure he never made a mistake, no matter how big or small, for he did not want to be punished like Yugi had been yesterday.

Atemu found that whenever they were allowed a break, he would rush to the nearest bit of shade, and down gallons of water. He was surprised that Tristan and the others didn't act like this.

'I guess I shouldn't be surprised,' he thought. 'They do this everyday of their lives. They are used to his, where as I am not. How does someone like Yugi cope with this?'

Throughout the say, Atemu did not pretend not to notice Joey's disappearance. Countless times he had asked Tristan where Joey was and what was taking him so long. But every time he got the same answer:

"I don't know."

Finally, as Ra began to disappear from the sky, the slaves were sent home. Atemu, sore from head to foot, quickly said goodbye to Tristan and made his way back to Yugi's home, thankful that he remembered the way.

Tristan watched him leave, and once he was sure 'Yugi' was gone, made his own way home, until someone started calling his name.

He turned around and saw a tired looking Joey running towards him.

"Joey! It's about time you got back!"

"Sorry," Joey apologised when he reached Tristan. "You wouldn't believe how many people were there."

"So, what happened?"

"Aww man, it was unbelievable! When I got there, I saw that he Priestess Ishizu, the one with the Millennium Necklace, was the one who communicated with the Gods and passed on their messages. But she wasn't alone; the Prince of Egypt was there."

"Prince Atemu!"

"Yup, and you'll never believe who he looked like."

"Who?"

"I'll get to that in a minute. Once I'd finished telling them our little 'problem' with Yugi, Ishizu was about to tell me something, when the Prince jumped in and stopped her. Then he gave me the message instead of her!"

"Really what did he say?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but he said something like 'people have secrets they do not wish to share, but in time he will trust you and reveal his secret'"

"Weird…"

"Yeah I know. But the way he was looking at me, I was sure…but it couldn't be him…but he looked so much like-"

"WHO!"

Joey looked up at Tristan and uttered a single word.

"Yugi."

I-

Atemu, after taking more than a few wrong turns, finally made it back to Yugi's house, the symbol of the turtle clearly shown by the light of the setting sun. But as he was about to walk in, he caught sight of his hands. They were sore and dirty. The rest of his body was no different.

"I need a bath," he said to himself, and began to make his way to the river. He noticed there was no bath in the Moto house, and figured Yugi bathed in the clean water of the river.

He soon arrived, and after making sure no one was around, he slipped out of his tunic and sandals, and slowly slipped into the cool water. His body welcomed the sensations of the cool water flowing over his body, cleaning the dirt and healing his wounds. He felt at peace. But this peace did not last long.

As he looked up at the darkening sky, his thoughts once again came to his father. He missed him so much, and did not want him to die. He was the only real family he had left. Sure, Ishizu and Téa were like sisters to him, but his mother had died long ago, and he had always been close to his father. He self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck. He was still not use to being free from the Millennium Puzzle, and he hoped he would never get used to this freedom.

Soon, his body began to shiver as the water's temperature became too cold for him. He slipped back out the water, dressing in his tunic and sandals once again, before making his way back to the Moto's household.

When he returned, he noticed the lamps had been lit. He shrugged this off, thinking Joey or Tristan had probably popped round or something like that. But as he walked into the house/hut, he wondered; why hadn't they stayed?

'I'd better check on Yugi's grandfather,' he though, slightly panicking.

He walked into the sleeping quarters and got quite a shock. There, sitting up in his bed, staring at him with purple eyes, was Yugi's grandfather. A little pale, yes, but wide awake and alert.

Atemu swallowed hard. This would be his true test in pretending to be Yugi. But although Yugi said his grandfather was a kind person, his eyes did not look kind or welcoming.

'Well, here goes…' He walked up to the old man. He felt the sweat trickle down his face.

"Grandfather! What are you doing up?" Atemu asked, trying his best to sound like Yugi.

Yugi's grandfather didn't answer. He continued to stare at Atemu.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed."

"…"

"Grandfather?"

"You're…not…my…grandson," he spoke quietly but strongly. He may be weak, but he wasn't fooled by this boy. This was not Yugi.

"What?" Atemu began to panic. The old man knew he wasn't Yugi.

"You're not Yugi."

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm Yu-"

"No! You are someone else. Yugi is different from you, and you are different from him. And Yugi never calls me 'grandfather'"

Atemu looked away slightly. He had been figured out, by the one person that knew Yugi the most. This was it, this was the end. Soon he would be back at the palace…

"Tell me, who are you?"

Atemu sighed and looked down at the floor, unable to face Yugi's grandfather. There was no point in lying now.

"I am…Atemu, Prince of Egypt and son of Pharaoh Akunumkanon."

There was no change in the expression on the old man's face. "Why are you here? Where is Yugi?"

"Last night, Yugi and I met by chance. When I saw how alike we looked, I had the crazy idea that we could switch and lives each other's lives. Yugi did not like the idea at first." He paused before continuing. "All my life I have longed to be free from the palace, to live the life of a normal person. I told this to Yugi, and he agreed to switch. He trusted me with his life, and I trust him."

He looked up at the old man and noticed his began to soften.

"How long is this 'switch' due to last?"

"A week."

"And Yugi is safe in the palace?"

"I have told him all that he needs to know. If he follows my instructions, then yes, he is safe." There was a slight pause. Atemu felt heart beat quicken.

Finally, Yugi's grandfather sighed, and smiled at Atemu.

"If Yugi trusts you, then I trust you."

"Thank you, Mr Moto!"" Atemu said, beaming.

"Please, while you are here, call me Solomon. But when you're talking about me to someone, just call me what Yugi has told you to call me. And whilst you're living here with me, I might as well help you to be more like Yugi, so no one else will figure you out!"

"Really?"

Solomon nodded in agreement.

"Thank you…er…grandfather."

"First lesson," said Solomon, "Yugi never ever calls me grandfather. It's too formal. He always calls me 'grandpa'. Second…"

As Solomon continued to teach Atemu how to be more like Yugi, Atemu listened carefully, not wanting to miss anything. But as he listened, a though came into his mind…

…Was Yugi really safe, or had he been discovered as well?"…

To be continued…

I-

Please R&R! I'll update as soon as my exams are over!