(Part II - I think I've taken a few too many liberties with Bakura's character, but that's just me. Ancient Egypt setting, Yu-Gi-Oh! isn't mine, nor is Great Big Sea)
II
But it's alright; we don't have to fight this night.
It's alright; we don't have to fight tonight.
The Thief King Bakura stood outside the great walls of the Pharaoh's palace, his cloak fluttering the cool desert wind of the evening. Light flickered at regular intervals along the top of them, where there was walkway and guards patrolled every hour of the day and night. Fools. He could get passed them without a breath, without a thought.
He waited for the nearest guard to pass by, then leapt up and dug his fingers into the grooves, scaling it with as much ease as a spider or monkey. He had enough practice climbing walls, and the Pharaoh was idiot enough to have rough ones. He'd often wondered if he could somehow trick the Pharaoh into improving the walls, so as to provide a greater challenge. But then, he wasn't quite ready to risk his life for something interesting. If he got close enough to the Pharaoh he wouldn't be talking to him – he'd be killing him.
When Bakura reached the top of the walls –a matter that took few moments– he slipped to the ground and melted into the welcoming shadows that would not be lit by the unfriendly light of a guard's torch. He then proceeded on his way, going from dark place to dark place without any hesitation. He'd been coming and going to the palace frequently enough as of late, and knew it like the back of his hand.
No one knew the true frequency of his visits, not even the one he often came to see. Sometimes, when he was at the window of his lover, he could see how exhaustion lined the sleeping face and those times, Bakura did not make his presence known. He might stay to observe for a while, smile a bit, but he would be gone before the first fingers of the sun's light straggled into the sky. It would brook no good to be discovered.
He slid down a pillar into the center courtyard on ground level, hugging the walls even though the guard patrolled on the upper level. He wasn't invisible, and it would never do for some meddling epigone or, worse even, the Pharaoh to catch him. A smirk slid across his tanned face as he reminded himself he was visiting the prestigious leader of those same epigones, though he was far from a follower.
And there it was, finally: The tower. This was the dangerous part, the exciting part, for as he climbed its walls he would be exposed to any pair of eyes that so happened to glance in his direction for a moment too long.
His heartstrings thrummed as his arms heaved him out of the comfortable security of the shadows. This was it, the most exhilarating part, even as it was the most perilous. Should someone see him in this moment, he was dead. None of the palace bore him much love, not even the one whom he was visiting. Love was not the best word for what they had. It was… hard to explain, their relationship.
After all, a thief with a priest was rather odd indeed.
He finally felt the windowsill under his fingers and knew by the dull ache in his arms that he'd reached a safer place. He hung for a moment, listening carefully, then pulled himself up onto the sill. His eyes flew around the room, looking for the owner of the faint voice he'd heard that might belong to someone, an acolyte or similar, that would have reason to report his presence. All he saw was the back of the High Priest, and heard his taut voice, "No, I do not need anything, now leave me in peace!"
Bakura smirked, "Can't get enough of you, can they?"
Seth whirled around, eyes wide, and managed to contain his shock to a hissed whisper, "Bakura! You're here."
"No, it's merely an apparition come to haunt you." Bakura said, coming fully into the room and crossing his arms across his chest, "Of course I'm here."
"You said you were going away for a while…"
"Two weeks is long enough." He nodded to the door, where a pair of feet had made themselves visible, "They just can't give you a moment to yourself, can they?"
"Seems so much shorter than two weeks…" Seth trailed off into a loud sigh as he saw the feet, stalking over to the doorway and snapping harshly until the feet pattered away in a hurry. He came back to Bakura, running a hand through his hair, "They just won't leave me be."
Bakura shrugged, "You're High Priest. You're their highest hope and their highest faith."
"I've been High Priest for months."
"Yes, but they've known you would be forever and they've been waiting for the chance to please you, the whole lot of them. When I first met you… do you remember?"
Seth had the feeling Bakura had thrown that in to make sure he was listening, "Of course I do!"
"Good, because then you should remember the first thing you told me. After you decided you weren't going to have me killed, of course."
"What did I say?" Seth muttered distractedly, working off his large shoulder piece.
"That you would be High Priest and you would be worthy of the power that came with it. And be the best one there ever was. You were intriguing." Bakura smirked faintly, "I liked you."
Seth looked up at him then, smiling a little, "I remember you – you were a bloody, teeth-baring animal, bold and free as a bird to fly wherever you wanted to go. I knew who you were of course; even then, everyone knew of the Thief King who wanted to murder the Pharaoh."
Bakura gave a slight nod of his head, "I try."
"I was envious of you. So able to go where you wished and do as you pleased. I still am, sometimes. You don't have to put up with all this useless finery." He made a gesture that encompassed the whole of the ornately decorated room.
"I most certainly don't. And if you hadn't told me so much about how boring life here is, I might have been envious of you." Replied Bakura rather pleasantly, which made Seth look at him with wonder.
"Why do you keep coming back here? You know it would be easier, safer, if I came out to meet you, but you insist on coming here. Why?"
Bakura looked at him a bit oddly, "You answered that yourself when you suggested easier and safer as a method of meeting one another. The challenge is amusing, but I don't know that you would understand…" He faded off for a moment, then recollected himself and added, "Besides that, when do you ever know that I'm here? And we'd need a place and reason for you to be away from here that is plausible, believable, and inconspicuous. I doubt those come up very often for you."
Seth looked out the window, almost wistfully, "No, they do not."
Bakura watched him, feeling for him, "I know you're sick of being stuck here. But it's your life. You don't know how to live any other. Someone else's will always seem better, even when it isn't." He went over and gently laid a hand on Seth's shoulder, turning him so their eyes met, "There's no way for me to contact you expect by coming to see you."
Seth sighed loudly and laid his head upon Bakura's shoulder, his eyes shut.
Bakura put a hand on the back of Seth's head, rubbing it gently, "I'd rather hear word from you than a messenger or emotionless scribbles on some missive."
"They wouldn't be emotionless," Seth argued feebly, "They would express everything I wanted to say."
"But not how you wanted them said. Words are not minions to be bent to your will, Seth." Seth jerked, but Bakura held him fast, continuing in a soft tone, "I've heard the stories, that's all. It's nothing to be ashamed of. If I had enough power, I'd make my own use of it and of servants as well. But I am merely a humble thief –"
Seth chuckled a bit, though it was coloured darkly, "Humble indeed. And here is the humble thief comforting – no, lecturing – the High Priest."
"You can be sure I don't spread word of that around." Bakura reassured with a small smile, "Well, perhaps not so humble, but that is not what matters."
"Oh no, of course not." Seth started off heatedly, "Your setbacks aren't what are important, we'll just talk about all of mine, like how I mistreat servants and am not a pure priest and–"
"Shh." Bakura cut him off promptly, pressing a finger against his lips to calm him, "We don't need to talk about either of our faults. We both have them, and we both know it. There's no reason to argue them with one another. Don't ever think I come here merely to argue with you."
"But we do argue." Seth muttered despondently, "All the time."
Bakura sighed. He could tell, now even as he'd known when he'd first met Seth, that there would be many and far more violent arguments between them, with more severe outcomes as time went on. They weren't exactly compatible people – both very dominating, both mistrustful and easily angered. But this time, it could wait. Those aspects of their natures could be curved for now. Though Seth wasn't exactly a young boy anymore, he was still young and inexperienced enough to trust most of what Bakura said and not to dispute it. Unfortunately, that luxury couldn't last much longer.
"Everyone argues." He muttered gently, "But we don't have to, not right now. And even if we do, it's okay. We can get along even if we do argue."
"Alright Bakura." Seth sighed, huddling against him a bit, "If you say so."
"I do." Bakura held him tightly, but gingerly, as if he would crush this burgeoning trust and comfort.
"Can you stay tonight?" Seth asked after some time, looking up at him.
Bakura looked out the window into the sky's darkness, then back to Seth with a smirk, "I think that could be arranged."