Mysteryshipping (Shadi x Amane)


The Millennium Ring had gone missing. Again.

Shadi looked down at the Millennium Tablet, with its perfectly shaped hollows: only two were filled, now, the ones for the Millennium Scales and the Millennium Key. The Necklace and Rod belonged to another group of Tombkeepers. The Eye had found its host. The Puzzle...was elsewhere. And now the Ring was once again missing, before Shadi was willing to let go of it.

His lip curled slightly. He knew what spirit resided within that Item, and while it was necessary that it should eventually be released so that the pharaoh could finally destroy it, Shadi was not yet willing to let that creature lose on the world. Not when he had not even located the pharaoh himself, yet. But the spirit was tricky, manipulative, and growing stronger every day. Just a few years ago, it had called a common thief to it in an attempt to be stolen away. A few days ago, Shadi had caught one of his own men trying to smuggle it outside, but had no memory of the event after he was apprehended. And just yesterday, it had killed a priest who had merely brushed against it.

Shadi stared at the empty opening in the shape of the Ring for a moment longer.

Then he turned with a whoosh of his long robes and ascended into the streets of Kul Elna.

The sunlight bothered him, but he did not let it show. It beat down across the dusty town, with its barely habitable buildings and barefoot children racing around the streets. Merchants crowded the city center, hawking their wares in loud, booming voices that all ran over each other like furious water pounding down a waterfall. Shadi's lip curled slightly at the sight of ancient Egypt's beloved artifacts spread out on canvas and marked for sale – but he was not here to defend his heritage today. Perhaps another day he could exact revenge on those who profited from the remains of kings.

Quiet as a ghost, Shadi slipped between the crowds of people, whose eyes seemed to merely slip off him: mostly foreigners from the nearby archaeological dig. Kul Elna's economy had started to flourish with the influx of tourism due to the nearby ancient relics. Shadi did not like the attention coming down on this small town. It made protecting the Tablet all the more difficult.

"To-chan, to-chan, to-chan!"

A girl whipped past him, causing his cloak to snap with the wind. He ignored the small, foreign child, his eyes scanning the merchant's wares, the people around him that could be hiding the Ring beneath their cloaks.

The girl passed him again, this time going the other direction and dragging an older man behind her, who laughed at her enthusiasm. Shadi still ignored her. He thought he might hear the faint buzz of the magical artifact over here...

"Arigato, arigato, arigato, to-chan! Nii-chan wa sore o aisuru!"

The buzz shot up to an almost unbearable screech. Shadi winced slightly, but no one else even reacted. They could not hear the sound.

He glanced over towards the source. The older man was ruffling that little girl's hair, who laughed and hugged – the Millennium Ring against her chest.

Shadi's fingers twitched slightly, and for the first time he really saw the girl.

She was young. No older than nine, perhaps ten. Her long white hair gleamed in the Egyptian sun, held back from her eyes with a bright red ribbon. Her skin was fair, and her brown eyes vaguely almond in shape, like the Asian eyes of the man that must be her father. But that hair...it reminded Shadi all too well of the last person he had known with hair of that color.

Shadi hesitated for only a moment longer. The man said something to the little girl, who was bouncing on her heels, and she nodded and replied in that language that Shadi did not yet understand. He reached into the core of his magic and altered his own sense of hearing, molding his ability to understand the new language.

Someone called to the man, and he looked up.

"Just a moment, Amane-chan," he said. "Don't wander off."

"Kay!" the girl, Amane said.

The man walked over to another man, dressed like one of the archaeologists. The girl hugged that precious artifact to her chest, still bouncing on her heels, her eyes huge as she stared at anything and everything.

Shadi hesitated for only a moment longer. Then he slid forward, his robes flowing behind him like a water trail.

The girl didn't see him at first. People never did. But when she did look up at him, her eyes got even wider, and she scurried back a half-step. She stared, unashamedly at him. He stared back, trying to see what darkness might be hiding behind those eyes, what evil the Ring might be calling to in this small girl.

"Um...hello," the girl whispered after a moment. She started trying to speak in a strangled Arabic. "I'm...sorry...I...don't speak...Arabic..."

"That...Ring," Shadi said, molding his voice to the strange, foreign tones of the girl's language.

Her eyes widened.

"O-oh, you speak Japanese?" she said.

She shifted back a little bit more, obviously nervous about his height if he interpreted her darting eyes correctly.

"That...item..." he said finally. "Where did you get it?"

"Uh, um...this thing?"

The little girl looked at the Millennium Item that she hugged to her chest.

"This – uh, my daddy bought it. Over there, somewhere."

"That item was stolen from me," Shadi said.

The girl's eyes widened.

"O-oh," she said.

"Tell me what he made you pay for it. I'll pay you back."

"B-but...I was...gonna give this to my big brother...for his birthday..."

"It is a stolen item."

"H-how do I know...that you're telling the truth?"

"I will pay you for it."

"I don't wanna sell it."

Shadi's fingers shook ever so slightly, but he stilled the outward show of emotion. He did not want to admit it, but he was starting to become irritated.

"Very well," he said, putting a hand to his forehead and half-closing his eyes against the sun. "Put it on."

"H-huh?"

"Put on the Ring. Then...we'll see."

"Um...you'll let me keep it?"

Shadi just waited. Amane hunched her shoulders, holding the Ring a little more tightly. She glanced all around her, as though looking to see if she could call someone for help. Shadi felt...only a little guilty about what he was doing. The Ring would most certainly kill her. But it was better than allowing the Item to leave Egypt. One life for the world...it was a fair trade.

Amane hesitated for only a moment longer. Then she cautiously slid her hands around the cord, and slowly, slowly, lowered the cord around her neck.

Shadi waited. And waited.

Nothing happened. The Ring gleamed, the cord long enough that it hung in front of her stomach. The little spikes glimmered in the sunlight, but they made no move to impale her. Shadi sucked in a breath. Not possible. It could not be that this girl had the power to host the spirit – ?

Amane looked up at him, a bit fearfully.

"Um...so...?"

There was no change in her eyes. He had thought...well, he had seen something change, in Pegasus' eyes, when he had taken his own Item. There was no change for her. She looked...ordinary, despite her unusual hair color that almost blinded in the desert sun. The Ring did not seem to want her – but it didn't destroy her, either. What exactly was she? Who was she? He stared at the Ring a moment longer, eyes narrowed.

What game are you playing? he asked silently.

The Ring, or rather, the spirit within it, did not answer. Amane continued to stare at him, shifting nervously, her hands balled into little, sweaty fists at her sides.

"Amane! Amane, come here, we're leaving!"

Relief broke across the girl's face.

"My daddy's calling me; I have to go," she said.

She hurriedly lifted the loop of the Ring off of her neck, clutched it to her chest, and turned to bolt.

"Wait," Shadi said.

The girl hesitated, but didn't turn around.

"That Ring – is bad luck," he said. "It would be better if you left it here."

Her shoulders hunched upwards, but she made no move to turn around.

"No," she said.

And that was it. She ran away.

Shadi watched her white hair disappear off into the desert glare. He hesitated for only a moment longer. Then he turned around, back towards the catacombs.

That girl will be dead within a month.


A/N: I hate Shadi. Nuff said. Next is Mumbleshipping (Seto x Otogi x Ryo).