AN: I am here, on Sunday night, with the next chapter of PT! I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks to…

casaragi: Uh oh…Wait till you read this chapter. Lol. Thanks for the review!

Shamise: No problem! Thanks for the review!

FlyingShadow666: Thank you very much! I'll try to update sooner than Thursday (the chapter after this one). Thanks for the review!

Anei Aikouka: lol. Right off the bat, 'I hope Nyq gets killed'. No mercy to the Crown Prince, at all! XD I think that the bow fits better, too! A sword seems too violent for Ryou. I'm still suffering from my sunburn, just a little. I have a tan line from wearing flipflops on my feet! They look funny! Lol. Thanks for the review!

dragonlady222: I hope Ari doesn't succeed, either! Ryou seems like a much happier kid than before. I hope it stays that way. Thanks for the review!

Faithstreak: Really? Thanks a bunch! Hee, that just made my day. Thanks for the review!

Chapter Nineteen: The Perfect Opening

There was a festival that night in Cairo. And Bakura had been completely unaware of it until it was too late.

Men, women, and children filled the narrow and open streets of Cairo, with soldiers positioned at every corner. Bakura frowned, wondering as to why so many guards were present at a place and time like this.

There was laughing and shouting that filled the warm night air, with lamps casting an equal amount of light and shadow. Everyone greeted everyone, everyone smiled, everyone grumbled, everyone laughed. There was a cheery atmosphere that clogged the thief's senses. Ryou was stunned by the people's change in behavior, and at the same time, fascinated.

In the middle of the town square, there was a dance. In the firelight, women of all ages twirled about with drunken and sober men chasing after them. The smell of sweets filled the nighttime breeze, tempting anyone who bothered to stand still for even a second.

Bakura kept losing sight of Ryou, which was really starting to scare him. How easily that little darkly cloaked figure could get lost in the ever-moving waves of people that surrounded them. Each time he made sure he had a good hold on the boy's shoulder, someone managed to shake it loose.

Ryou wasn't aware of Bakura's predicament. He was too engulfed with trying to decide what he wanted to do when he realized that Bakura was no where to be found.

"Bakura?" he called, but his voice was nothing compared to the thundering of all the townsfolk as they continued to laugh and play. He wasn't exactly scared, but he wasn't entirely comfortable, either.

Somebody grabbed Ryou's arm, pulling him into the middle of the square. All of a sudden, the dull music he heard was blasting in his ears. "Hey, kid, join us!" a man yelled, obviously drunk. He shoved Ryou into the dance, and the child fumbled right in.

There was a girl, about the same age as Bakura, who was part of the dance. She grabbed his shoulder and helped him catch his balance. However, as soon as Ryou was on his feet, he almost fell again. The dance was a fast-paced one, always moving, always shifting.

"Keep your feet alive!" the girl said, shouting to be heard. She smiled at him and tried to yell the steps out to him as the people kept up with the music.

Ryou was breaking a sweat, trying to learn the basics of a dance that he had never done before.

"You're getting it!" the girl called happily, giggling and laughing. Her face was flushed, and Ryou knew she had had a little bit to drink. "Now move! Move those feet as if you're dancing with Ra!"

Biting his lower lip in concentration, Ryou slowly started getting into the beat and rhythm of it all. At one point in the dance, there was a part where everyone threw up an arm and shouted, "Hey!" Soon, Ryou's small voice was amongst them, as his laughter was mingled with the rest of the festive roar.

Bakura was not having fun at all. Where the heck is he? he thought frantically, scanning the crowds another time. Because he had been going against the general flow of traffic, Bakura had started to drift away from the Town Square. Sweaty and sticky from his wasted efforts, the thief cursed as he stepped off into a dark alley to catch his breath.

In the enclosed lane, there weren't as much people, for which Bakura was glad. He slumped against the wall as he tightly gripped his left shoulder.

It was starting to hurt again, mainly because he had been careless. In his frenzy to find Ryou, he had rammed it into so many different people without meaning to.

How am I supposed to find him? Bakura knew that the only way to find him was to go back into that bedlam. He couldn't go back to the Palace to get Marik. That would end all night excursions for Ryou, and Bakura didn't want that.

The sooner I find him, the better. Bakura heaved himself to his feet and dove right back into the traffic. This time around, he was more wary about his left arm than normal.

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Back at the Palace…
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Marik sighed, watching all the lights in Cairo with envy. Here he was, standing guard while people celebrated who knows what. He knew that most of his men were down there, either doing their duty of watching for bad behavior, or slacking off and partying. Bakura and Ryou are probably there…

The captain blinked. But there are so many people at those festivals…He was afraid of asking the question, so he tried not to think about it. Bakura would keep away from it. He's too antisocial to be heading into that gala.

A very soft thump caught Marik's attention. What in the…?

He glanced to his side, only to find his guardsman missing. Marik slowly looked down the length of the wall.

There on the ground was a crumpled body. The corpse of his fellow soldier.

"Holy shi-"

The air screamed as another arrow just clipped a few locks of his hair.

"INTRUDERS!" Marik screamed, diving onto his belly. "Sound the bell! There are intruders!"

---
At the base of the wall
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"Sound the bell! There are intruders!"

"Crap!" Juno murmured, his eyes fierce with anger. He turned to the Roman beside him and grunted, "I can't believe you missed!"

"Shush, there's nothing we can do about it now," a cold voice said, obviously irate. It was the foreigner's commander, ready to bash in the head of his comrade. He was quiet for a moment as Ari intently glared at him. "I want you," the Roman said, pointing to his archer, "to go back and tell the main force to attack from the other side. The east wall."

The Roman soldier opened his mouth to protest, but his captain raised a hand.

"You missing the target has caused this. We will engage in battle, a full-out attack on the Palace." The foreigner, upon seeing Ari's expression of I-told-you-so, said, "There is a festival in Cairo right now. I'm willing to bet that most of the soldiers are positioned in the city to watch for any misconduct. We will attack when most of their force is absent."

Ari turned to look at the wall. "We won't move till the rest of the men are in position, right?"

It was Juno who answered. "Wrong."

"What?" The foreigner looked at him as if he were crazy. "Attack the Palace with four men?"

Juno gave a thin, cold smile. "They wouldn't expect it."

Ari shook his head. "You may be right, but that's insane."

The foreigner and Ari exchanged looks as Juno chuckled in the shadows.

"We should at least open the gates for our men, no?"

---
Cairo
---

Ryou was drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. "Let's take a break," he said to his girl companion. Tired and exhausted, the girl agreed. She took the little prince's hand and expertly weaved away from the crowd and to a small pub, still in the main square.

It was stifling inside the bar. Heat and smoke attacked them as they went in, but the girl seemed to know her way around. She got to the bar somehow, and ordered two waters.

"I've never seen you around before," the girl commented, still a little out of breath from the dancing.

Ryou chose his words carefully, remembering Marik's long drawn-out lectures on how important it was to never reveal his identity on their midnight trips.

"I don't live around these parts," the child said. The bartender brought them their drinks, which they took gladly. Ryou drank his water and welcomed the refreshing feeling of being hydrated.

"My name's Sera. What's yours?"

"Ry-Ryuza."

"Nice to meet you, Ryuza!" The girl broke out giggling again, holding out a hand. "It's funny how we've been dancing for a while now, and we didn't even know each other's names!"

"Y-Yeah," Ryou said, smiling at Sera's energy.

"So you've never been to a festival here?" Sera asked, swirling her glass of water around.

Ryou answered truthfully. "No."

"What?" Sera slammed her cup on the table, incredulous. She burst out laughing again, grabbing ahold of Ryou's hand. "Come on, then! I've got to show you what you do at a festival!"

The child didn't even get to thank the bartender for his drink. Sera pulled him out of the pub and dragged him through the crowd with ease. Her small size and his short height really made a difference in the speed at which they traveled. Ryou glanced down at his hand in hers, and felt a pang of regret when he realized that Bakura was probably looking for him.

"Um…actually, Sera, I should probably be going now," Ryou said.

"What?" Sera didn't even look back. She couldn't hear him through all the noise around them.

Ryou was about to shout his words again when they emerged into an area where suddenly, there were no people.

His words died in his throat as he curiously looked around. "Where are we?"

Sera didn't answer. She let go of his hand, and said, "I brought one!"

"Huh?" Ryou blinked, seeing no one in the small, deserted area. He looked back once, but it was too dark to make out the passage he had come from. "Sera?"

Then he saw them. Five men at least, all holding some type of weapon in his hands. Ryou backed away, grasping his situation a few seconds too late.

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AN: Okay, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. There will be a lot of action in the next chapter (I think, unless I edit the plot again). Expect the next chapter by Thursday at the latest. Please review!