"Do you have a name, boy?" Levi asked as we disappeared out of sight over dunes of sand.
"I can't remember," his small voice replied in almost a whisper.
"What happened to your family?" I asked him, knowing from the time I first saw him that he had none.
"Mom died," he said, looking down at the passing sand, "And I don't know what happened to my dad or my sister."
"So you had to steal to survive, eh?" Levi replied to this. "That's pretty much what happened to me, except both my parents died."
"What should we call you?" I responded, changing the depressing topic, which was reminding me of my also horrific past. The boy shrugged in responce to my question and I immediatly began to think of names.
I suddenly was reminded of a Japanese word I had learned when I visited Japan before gradually making my way over through Asia and to Rome, then from there to Egypt.
"Saku..." my voice trailed away after stating the name.
"Saku? What kind of name is that?" Levi spat back, eyeing me with fake suspicion, a wicked grin spread across his face.
"It's a different language. It means 'mischief.'" I replied, smirking evilly back at him. "And for what I seen back there, he does get into a lot of mischief, in order to be chased by the guards like that."
"Saku..." Levi said again, staring ahead and letting the syllables rolls off his tongue as if it were a curse word.
Ignoring Levi, I handed Saku a hunk of bread that I had recently stolen and allowed him to devour it. Poor Saku was, in fact, starved half to death, so I handed him the rest of the bread.
"Don't let any of these guys intimidate you," I instructed Saku as all three of us walked into the building I was now forced to call home. Spreading the contents of my robes, which I had horded all the goods I had stolen into, onto the table, the other thieves seemed quite impressed.
"Not bad... for a woman, that is," one thief stated. He instantly shut up when I gave him a hard, cold glare. Once they had stopped thier aweing at my success, they turned their attention to Saku.
"Where'd the kid come from?" a voice from the back of the room echoed through the room.
Upon this, I had to tell them the story, for they wouldn't stop urging me to tell. Another voice broke the silence after I had finished. "There ain't no way you killed two guards."
"Oh really?" I smiled a devilish smile before unsheathing my sword, which still dripped blood. Blood had collected inside the sheath, which allowed it to look like someone had been freshly slaughtered.
This sent up a roar of voices as I put my sword away, turned, and walked away toward Levi. He simply stood, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"It seems as if you really earned my mens' trust," he commented, grinning notoriously.
"Hmm... you really think so?" I replied, also smiling wickedly. Looking back, it seemed as if the other thieves were really taking Saku into the group well. He was actually smiling, and I senced that he felt accepted into this world of thieves. This made me smile as well, knowing that I had helped save a small child's life from the hands of an angry guard.
Saku had to be no more than eight or nine years of age, and I knew he would grow to be an excellent thief. The other thieves would often mess with him, acting as if they were trying to beat him up, and he would always smile and kick back playfully. Unknowingly to them, they were teaching young Saku how to steal by their stories they often told one another about past experiences.
I awoke early one afternoon, way before any other thief would wake, for they often stayed awake until the sun rose, then would sleep all day. Deciding to take a bath, I borrowed one of the horses and rode to the Nile, all the while straying away from the city.
Not before tying the horse to a tree under the shade did I strip from my hot, Egyptain clothing and slipped into the cooling water. I dove under and swam to a part to where I could still touch the bottom, but it only allowed for my head and neck to be above the water. After I had worked my fingers through my uncombed hair to straighten it and get all the dirt, did I notice another prescence.
I gasped and instantly dove under the surface, only allowing my eyes to peek out from the surface as I tried to swim silently toward the bank. Unfortunatly for me, he noticed me before I could slip away silently.
"Rayna?" Levi's voice called out in question. Apparently, he was also there for the same reason I was. He was standing idly in the water, staring at me as I looked away in disgrace, half my face still submerged in the water. Out of instinct, I covered my bare body with my limbs, even though I was sure he couldn't see anything for I was also sheltered by the Nile's waters.
"I was wondering where you had gone," he said when I had to stand, only letting my head and neck above the water so I could breathe. I wanted to back away, but my legs, nor my heart, wouldn't let me as he came closer and closer.
It came to a point when he was less than ten feet away. "What's wrong?" his voice was ridden with concern, none that I have ever heard from him before.
I simply stood speechless as I couldn't think of anything to respond with. I felt as if I couldn't move, but I didn't understand why. It wasn't because of fear, for I did not fear him any way, but it felt as if my heart tingled at his prescence.
I had merely heard of this thing called 'love' in my life, but never experienced it before this. But, I was in denial. I was supposed to be this 'tough woman thief' and I couldn't allow myself to go soft, yet my heart yearned for it. As he reached for my other hand, which wasn't covering my naked body, he interlaced his fingers with mine. Pulling me closer to him, again, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I replied as I looked away, blushing as my bare body brushed up against his. He also blushed slightly, smiling a little as he used his free hand to turn my face around to stare into his dark blue eyes. As I stared into his seemingly loving eyes, which was an expression I had never seen before on him, I suddenly felt his lips crash against mine.
If you do skip the next chapter, (lemon chap) then it wouldn't be a lot missed. I'll try my best to pick it up right after this part, but still try to make it make sence if you do read it.
