Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Rueful Hearts
A/N: Good news. One, I finally got this chapter off the ground and am working on the next one. Two, Icarus finally got his stitches out and I don't have to worry about him as much anymore. Bad news, he is now free to roam again and spends his nights driving me to insanity and insomnia. So I'm more or less back to square one. Stupid cat. x.x
In the past, a Pharaoh and his court might dine in a grand hall decorated in hieroglyphs and golden artifacts. Servants would come from every corner, ready to leap at a moment's notice to see to the needs of the nobility. There might be talk of upcoming festivals or troubles occurring throughout the kingdom, probably even praise for the Pharaoh's rule and the number of heirs that he had managed to produce to continue his line.
In these so-called modern times however, that was the one thing that Yami hadn't bothered with. Instead, he had built something a little simpler for the two of us to share. A special corner had been set aside with a table that was supposed to be set for two, but often had only one chair occupied. The other, which was supposed to be mine, would remain empty since Yami often took charge of the seating arrangements. At this quiet little corner, the mighty Pharaoh often chose to seat me in his lap and then spoon-feed me so that he was certain that I ate every bite. Like many other things that involved the dear Pharaoh, it was another case of how he treated me like a child and a possession. As often as this happened, it wasn't to say that this was a daily occurrence for me.
Times did come when Yami wasn't present for every meal. There were naturally days when the matters of his 'kingdom' demanded his immediate attention and he was forced to deal with it. He would leave me alone then with strict instructions that I was to eat everything offered to me. If the plate wasn't clean when he returned, then I could either look forward to being lectured like a five year old or being force fed until he was satisfied that I had eaten enough.
I enjoyed neither, so a good part of the time I obeyed these orders. There were times when I managed to find away around them though. After all, Yami had only stated that I was to eat what was given to me on the plate when he was there. He never said that I had to eat anything else from the food-laden table. So when I ate only what was on my plate, I wasn't disobeying his orders and that was something not even Yami could deny. He might huff about it, saying that I should have eaten more anyway to keep up my strength, but he couldn't punish me then for disobedience.
It was a small victory that I tried to enjoy for as long as I could. But like everything in this world, my little victories always came with a price in the end. Whenever I didn't eat as much as Yami liked, it only made him more determined to make me eat what he felt was the proper amount the next time. So I could always look forward to being stuffed to the point of almost puking up everything that the dear Pharaoh had given me.
He worries about when that happens, since to him it could be a sign that I'm getting sick. But he doesn't make as big a fuss about it as when I don't eat properly. A subject whose source I've come to wonder about on many occasions. I honestly don't know exactly where the food we eat comes from anymore. There aren't any farms that I know of anywhere within a five hundred-mile radius of the palace. Nor were there any forests where it would be possible to hunt for any game that was suitable for consumption. So I could only assume that the food was either traded for as in the old days or there were farms somewhere out there where human slaves were forced to spend their days growing food for the Pharaoh's court.
Whatever the source, I knew that what we had on our table was the best that anyone in the world could hope to consume. There were fruits and vegetables that were prepared in the most delicate manner so that they literally melted on the tongue. Breads, pastries, and cereals that had such an exquisite taste that one couldn't be sure if it was real or a wonderful dream. At least, that is how most people would see it.
I on the other hand, see it all as both a waste of time and good food that would be put to better use for the starving masses who lived outside the palace perimeter. These were people who weren't part of the Resistance but who were forced to serve as the peasant class for the kingdom. They did the majority of the work that allowed for resources to be mined and shipped but were allowed little in return to ensure their own survival.
It eerily reminded me of ancient times when humans did the same thing to one another as Yami was doing now. When the strong would use their power to oppress the weaker and force them into situations from which there was no escape. The only choices were to either conform peacefully so that existence could at least be bearable or fight back and risk being beaten down so badly that all that would be left but an empty shell.
Sort of like how I felt as Yami directed us away from out bed and towards the table. As I expected, it was laden with enough food to choke an entire herd of elephants. Most of it was fruits that had been delicately prepared in the shapes of dragons, beautiful birds of prey, and other mythical beasts. There were a few pieces of bread that could have passed as toast if not for the way that they had been arranged like mini obelisks of golden brown. A few bottles of scented juice and milk were set off to one side with a pair of glasses next to them.
I already knew that no servant had set this table because of the spell that kept all others out of this room. They had prepared the dishes of course, since there was no way for the meal to just simply appear as if out of thin air. Well, to a certain extent the food did that. After being prepared by the kitchen chef and his underlings, the food was transported from a special platform to the table in our quarters. That was thanks to a spell that Yami had set up in the early days to make it easier to bring food to our quarters and to make certain that I never had to go far when I was hungry.
It worked by a teleportation spell that was influenced by the mood of the user when they touched a certain area that had been enchanted. When a person wanted to move something, they would touch the object, normally a newspaper sized platform, a channel would be opened. This channel was connected from the object and another location that was within a mile radius. When it was opened, whatever was on the platform was transported to the other location. And that was how every meal and snack that we had arrived on our table.
Just as I expected, my chair would remain empty this morning. Instead I found myself sitting in Yami's lap while he seated himself in his ornate, cushioned chair. He had one arm looped loosely but firmly around my waist while the other reached out for a spoon. Dipping the spoon into a platter of pears and apple slices, Yami scooped up a small bit and then held it before my mouth. I looked at the spoon's contents, hesitating for a moment before finally opening my mouth. A sense of elation and happiness filled the back of my mind as Yami gently shoved the spoon into my mouth.
This continued for several moments as Yami alternated between feeding the both of us. The majority went to me, as Yami was apparently trying to make sure that I ate enough to keep up my strength. When my stomach felt beyond full, I gave Yami a pained look and sent my distress along our link to let him know that I couldn't eat anymore. Speaking to him either verbally would not have had the same effect as what I had done. He would able to tell that I wasn't lying to him just to get him to stop feeding me. Yami knew that I was too full to take anymore.
Once he was done feeding me, Yami just kept a grip around my waist and fed himself a little bit more to satisfy his own hunger. I just sat there in his lap, watching and waiting for Yami to finish. He took little time in doing so. When he was done, Yami gently ushered me out of his lap and stood up after me once I was on my feet. Yami took a moment to use a napkin to wipe away a little bit of juice that had clung to my lips before taking my hand and leading me away from the table back towards our bedroom.
I groaned inwardly. I knew what was going to happen now. With breakfast done, it was now time for us to get dressed for Court. Or more rather, Yami was going to get us dressed for his Court. He would choose plush and luxurious robes that were made of fine silk and bedeck us both in ornaments of gold and rare jewels. The clothes, no matter how gaudy or uncomfortable, I could easily deal with. It was the jewelry that bothered me the most and that was because of just what I would have to wear.
One of the things that I always wore whenever I left my cage was the source of all my troubles, the Millenium Puzzle. As it was his most powerful artifact in his possession and was one of his symbols, this was sort of like Yami's brand upon me. It showed the world to just whom I belonged to and that it would be unwise to think otherwise. Something that was further emphasized by what else I wore around my neck when I left the boundaries of my cage.
Besides the Millenium Puzzle, there was one other ornament that I wore and this was the special necklace that Yami had personally constructed for me. It was made out of the purest gold and silver with precious jewels of diamonds, rubies, and amethysts set in the likeness of his personal symbol, the Eye of Horus. It was truly a beautiful piece of work that anyone who knew no better would love to be gifted with.
I on the other hand, knew all too well that there had been an ulterior motive to the necklace that Yami had given me. It was no mere trinket made simply to enhance what the dear Pharaoh considers my natural beauty, though that was definitely part of its function. The major purpose behind that gaudy piece of trash was the same as the collar one would put on a dog, something to mark me as owned and chained to my Master when he attached the 'leash'.
The leash was a golden encrusted piece that matched the necklace I wore and had a length of about seven feet. There was enough reach on it where I could move about slightly but not enough where I would be out of Yami's immediate reach. Just the sort of thing that one put on a favorite pet when they didn't want said pet getting away from them.
That was the image I always saw in the mirror whenever Yami put that damn collar around my neck. He claims that I'm his treasure, his partner and lover, the one that he will always love and protect from everything in the world. So he puts the collar on me to let everyone that I am his and that no one else may touch me. But no matter what he says, all I feel like is pretty little pet that he likes to cuddle sometimes and then torture others. The latter coming out more often than the former on any given day.
/Hush, little one. None of that right now. We need to hurry so that we'll be presentable for the Court, Aibou. As cute as you look right now, it wouldn't do for you to arrive in a slept in tunic/ he chided as he came to a stop before a large wardrobe.
Again, I chose not to respond to his comments. Instead I just stared at the open closet that was now before me, not really paying attention to the countless outfits that lay within. If I had been paying attention, maybe I would have had the chance to feel the same disgust that I always did when I looked at my clothes. Every piece had been a personally designed gift from Yami after he had completed his palace and moved us in permanently.
Most of my wardrobe resembled the clothes worn by the Pharaoh's favored during his original reign in ancient Kemet. The robes and tunics were arranged in a wide variety of colors that were supposed to be representing of a Hikari's cheerful and carefree nature. Orange, yellow, reds, and blues that were all cut to my specific figure and no other, all decorated with gold tassel linings on the cuffs that were often in the shape of either the Millenium Puzzle or the Eye of Horus.
Of course it was just ridiculous that he had bothered to give me so many outfits when I refused to wear most of them. The only tunics I ever wore without coaxing were the ones of lilac and ebony. These were the only ones that ever suited my present moods and helped to blend me, ironically enough, better into the shadows. The more I remained there, the less likely those that liked to torment me would see me.
Most of the time, Yami allowed me to get away with this. He knew my reasons of course and though he wasn't pleased that someone would dare to tease me, he seemed to find it flattering and adorable that I, a Hikari, a child of the light, would want to have so much to do with the shadows. He took it as another reason why I belonged to him and no one else. So except for the part about taking any given insults to heart, he didn't try to squelch this habit as he did nearly everything else that I did.
Today though, I wasn't going to be able to do that. Today it was going to be one of those days where he was going to pick out something for me to wear and then dress me like a doll. I should have guessed that he was going to be in that sort of mood, considering what he acted like when we woke up this morning. So I kept my tongue and just allowed him to do whatever he wanted with me. It was the only way to get this over with and with as little fuss as possible.
The process of going through the different outfits and judging the colors took Yami half an hour at the least. He kept picking out one outfit, having me try it on, judging the appearance, and then saying that it would have to be discarded in favor of another. None of them seemed to give off just the right appearance to him, so we would keep searching until we found just the right one. As I should have known earlier, the one that caught his fancy ended up being next to last outfit that was in my wardrobe.
The outfit turned out to be a pale blue tunic with the usual gold trim at the hemline and sleeves. It had a hemline that was shorter than I normally wore, since it was one of those that Yami had had made for when he especially wanted to show me off. Which meant that it was probably showing off my body in just the way that Yami liked best. He had me put it on and once I had, that was when he had me slip on the Millenium Puzzle.
I used to wear it wherever I went since I thought that it was the only way to keep myself and Yami connected. There was nothing that anyone could say or do to get me to take it off. That's something that's changed over the years. These days, like everything that has to do with Yami, I want nothing to do with the Millenium Puzzle. I would rather smash it or chuck it into the deepest ocean than wear that monstrosity.
But like everything else in my life, Yami made certain that I couldn't have my wish. Just like when he put a spell on me to keep from harming myself, he did the same with the Millenium Puzzle. The magic strengthens the Puzzle's own structure and ensures that no matter what happens to it, it will remain unharmed. So it can sit perfectly safe on a shelf in my wardrobe, always providing a reminder for me of just what my life had come to.
Yami reached out for said trinket after he had finished dressing me and then slipped it over my head. The Millenium Puzzle felt like deadweight around my neck as it fell against my chest. A weight that I would never escape no matter what I did or how much I tried to fight it. It was my fate to wear the damn thing for eternity as a constant reminder of just how much the higher powers use me as their cosmic joke.
Yet there was no laughter to be felt either by myself or by Yami. The only thing that I felt was bitterness of what the Millenium Puzzle meant to me and how much I wanted to be rid of it. Yami on the other hand, was more concerned about making me presentable. He already knew of the thoughts that I was having and was ignoring them for the sake of finishing the task of dressing me for Court. His work continuing as he attached the necklace around my neck and then the accompanying leash.
/You are so beautiful, little one. I never grow tired of watching you like this/ he smiled when he finished adjusting my clothing to how he wanted.
He brushed a stray lock of hair back into place so that he could take a better look at me. I averted my eyes as he did so, seeming to feign shyness at his comment. I really wished that he wouldn't talk like that. There is never any real truth to his words beyond lustful nature that a yami always has for a hikari. They always seek to dominate that which they desire to protect the most, to subjugate it completely despite the impossibility of it. It is a challenge that they will always accept, but never be able to conquer.
/You are indeed a challenge, Hikari mine, and one that I will gladly accept/ Yami whispered through the link// But never think that I only lust after you. I do indeed love you and if you promise to behave today, I'll prove that to you tonight with a special game. /
I suppressed another shudder at that promise. When it comes to Yami, game always means two things. There is something that will bring him pleasure and the second is that it gives everyone else some sort of pain. I've experienced both ends, often in the form of pleasured pain that I always end up regretting later on. It was the shame that I felt at knowing I had given myself yet again to the lustful attentions of the dark spirit. I always tried so hard to have control over myself when it came to that, but I never managed to succeed.
When Yami applied himself just right during one of our sessions, pleasure always ran through me like wildfire. I could feel every part of my body falling into the purest bliss that it had ever known. It was a sensation that I fought at every turn but couldn't help but beg for more. I wanted Yami to continue whatever it was that he decided to do and never stop. Something, ironically, was the one thing that he never denied me and gave me the full measure of his sexual prowess.
That was probably because it was the one thing that Yami always enjoyed doing the most with me. For him, it was the chance to both dominate and join with me on the most intimate physical level. To show me how much the two went hand in hand when it came to our relationship. For no matter what, he would always be the most powerful force in my life and he would forever be there to cuddle and torture me for as long as we both lived.
Strangely enough, the act itself was never done to me against my will. It was a fact that I always fought against Yami's lustful advances. There was no denying that fact on any front. The deciding factor was that regardless of how hard I fought back, Yami found some way to persuade me to think otherwise. Moving gently and always with purpose, Yami would coerce me into bed and then proceed to pleasure the both of us. With determined fingers and a restless mouth, he would fondle and nip at me until I couldn't help but fall into the same rhythm as he did.
Thus, Yami would get what he wanted in the end. Despite a fearsome reputation and demeanor, it was never by force. If there is one thing that I can count on in this world besides his promise to always protect me, is the fact that I know Yami will never stoop so low as to rape me. It is the one type of honor, however minute, that the Pharaoh actually has. He believes that there is nothing that cannot be won through determination and strategy of the game. The only major importance is that some things are more difficult to win than others are and this uniqueness makes them all the more special a prize.
A sharp slap on my rear brought me shooting back to reality. It wasn't enough to hurt me, but the sting gave me the reminder that I wasn't alone in the room at the moment. So it was a good idea for me to settle my thoughts and shift them to other matters right now. I had to be ready and alert for the silent threats that I knew would be coming my way as soon as we left this room.
My mind prepared for this as I silently watched Yami pick out his own outfit and dress. As if to compliment my clothes, Yami ended up choosing a darker blue robe that went well with the dark cape that he wore no matter where he went. Along with this he wore his normal array of gold rings, bracelets on each wrist, an ornate belt of gold and rubies around his waist, and a circlet-like crown upon his forehead. When he was completely dressed, Yami looked all the part of the Pharaoh that he truly was. One that demanded respect and fear from all that were in his presence, including myself.
A/N: Well that's it for now. I'm sorry that it took so long to get out, but I had a major bout of writer's block when it came to finishing this chapter. I wanted to get it just write and though I finished this, I'm not totally satisfied with what I've got. Which means I'll probably take this chapter down later and replace it with a revision. Until then, thanks to everyone who's been reading and I'll try to have another update ready soon.