Compasshipping (Ishizu Ishtar/Yami no Bakura)
. . .
"So it was you," the poisonous voice says softly. "You're the bitch who pulled the pharaoh's secrets out into the light."
She doesn't flinch. She sensed him coming, after all. Part of her had thought to step away, hide in the shadows of the back rooms of the museum, but that would bank on the assumption that he would be distracted enough by the relics on the walls to ignore the Ring tugging him towards her hiding place. As long as she wears the Tauk, the Ring bearer can find her. She's known this since she was a child, since she heard her father whispering in shadows how the second half of the Tombkeepers had failed, that the Ring was gone, and whoever had it could find them by tracking the items they kept safe.
She had expected him to show up eventually.
She might as well face him now.
He is much younger than she would have thought possible, as she turned to face the voice and look him up and down. This is the one who murdered the head of the other Tombkeeper family? He would have been barely more than a toddler at the time the Ring had been stolen.
But, no, she amends. The boy that stands in front of her is not the spirit that moves him. The cruel violet eyes and the twisted smile that doesn't fit such a young face can only mean the one thing, that the spirit is the one in control, and not the host.
"And you're the one who scattered my family's allies," she said. "I thought we would meet eventually."
She clasps her hands in front of her, ready and waiting for a fight. She doesn't doubt that it may come to one, but she has her pager palmed in her hand, against her hips. Her security detail can be here in seconds should she press it. And she has her own ways of defending herself, too.
The young man looks her up and down, sardonic smile still plastered to his face.
"You're an Ishtar," he says, laughing a bit. "So that family didn't die off centuries ago after all. What a goddamn shame."
He laughs again, and it feels like nails on a chalkboard, sending tremors down her skin. She tightens her hands together.
"You don't belong here," she said. "State your business with me, or I will force it out of you."
The boy just chuckles.
"You think you can fight me?" he says. "I've had far more time to tease out the secrets of how to use the Ring while I was trapped inside it for three thousand years. You've only had the Tauk for what—a decade? Even that?"
He smiles again, sarcastic. He stands loose and at ease—he's collected, he thinks he's in control. Ishizu isn't sure if he's right or not.
He laughs softly again.
"Don't worry, princess," he teases. "I'm not here for your Tauk. Not yet...I just wanted to know who had it. Can't make plans without knowing the players."
He grins at her, a vicious thing that makes her hair stand on end.
"You should go, then," she says. "You've confirmed me, and I've confirmed you."
She levels her eyes at him.
"Don't think you're the only one who can plan."
The boy's eyes widen a fraction, his grin growing.
"Ooh," he breathes. "Yes—you are going to be fun, aren't you?"
Ishizu's hands tighten—her fingers are inches from pushing the button to call security.
But he's turning around, and disappearing back the way he came—leaving her alone among the silent relics once again.
. . .
A/N: Just an alternate view of what might have happened if Ishizu hadn't hidden away when Bakura found the stone tablets. Next is Commitshipping (Priest Set x Priestess Isis x Ishizu x Seto).
