Chapter 5

"Oh Ra, please make them stop sending me on errands!" Masika prayed as she walked back to the shop from Master Chibale's house. 'Right now I would love to be in the Palace, doing chores, not running from one side of town to the other! As though that would ever happen.' A deep sigh passed as she turned onto her street.

Slowly she found her way back to her shop, walking in the front instead of the back. "Masika, get back here, we need your help," her father called. She scurried back to see that the 'help' they needed was for her to return some clothing to the shop down the road.

"You made me run so I can take back some clothes?" she mumbled, grabbing the box. Wearily she walked down the street, heading for the clothing shop at the end. "One of these days, they'll call, and I won't answer, I'll still be at home; sleeping. And they won't be able to enter my house to come and wake me up. One day," she hissed, entering the store. Nearly dropping the box at what her eyes spotted she barely suppressed a gasp. 'He did come. And with no guards! There's not even anyone in the room except us and Mana!' A mischievous grin found its way to her face as she approached silently behind him.

Gently, but forcibly, she used a free hand to tickle him, causing him to jump a few feet.

"Oh Ra," he gasped, not expecting such a public display.

She couldn't' help but laugh.

"How are you this afternoon?"

"Great," she lied, and he knew it.

"You've been running around all day haven't you?" he whispered, sending an evil glare around the room; Seto's fault he presumed.

"Yes my Pharaoh," she bowed, noticing the shop owner approaching.

"What can I do for you Masika?" the misses asked.

"My father wanted me to return these, he didn't say why or what, but yes," she put the box on the counter.

The misses looked around the box, keeping the Pharaoh and Masika in the corner of her eyes. She noticed the strange smiles they exchanged.

"Are you doing well my Pharaoh?" Masi asked, bowing again.

Pharaoh held his hand for her to stop bowing. "Yes, exceptionally well indeed."

Mana grinned, "Yes, the Pharaoh is very happy today."

"That is always well to hear," Masi greeted Mana with a look that Mana knew very well. Mana returned the look with a nod, leaving the Pharaoh confused.

"Mana," he directed his attention to the girl on the other side of him.

"Yes Pharoah?" she looked so innocent. His eyes held a question.

"What are you doing?" he lipped.

"Chatting," she lipped her response.

A still confused nod came as he turned back to Masi, giving her a questioning look.

"Yes my Pharaoh?" she asked.

"Nothing," he smiled.

"Okay, tell your father thank you," the misses took the box into the back, bringing out a small package and handing it to the Pharaoh. "The package you requested my Pharaoh," she bowed. He nodded and thanked her before leaving the store. Masi looked confused but bowed to the misses and left after the Pharaoh.

"She seems really nice," Mana smiled as they walked down the street, checking on the shops.

"She is, truly," he watched her pass them as though she didn't know it was the Pharaoh.

"What happened in there?" Mana asked.

"You'll see, are you hungry?" he saw the sun high in the sky as his stomach rumbled.

"Just a little my Pharaoh," she raised a brow, "why?"

He didn't answer, instead he continued walking down the street, casually stopping by shops, but making his way to Masika's house.

Masi returned to the store, a wide grin visible.

"What happened?" her mom asked.

"Nothing, the misses took the box and said thank you, that's all," she smiled, cleaning up her workbench.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going home to eat lunch," she smiled.

"Why are you so happy?" her mom asked. Ra only knew where her father was.

"I just like lunch is there a problem?"

"Is Amun in the city?" she watched the blush deepen in her cheeks. "He is!"

"How do you know that?"

"Well, I heard that the Palace residents are venturing the city today, since everything is going well. Are you going to have lunch with him?"

A slight nod, "but you can't tell!" she demanded.

"I promise I won't. If I get to meet him."

"No! You can't!"

Her mom's spirits seemed to die a little, "I know, but you shouldn't even have met him!"

'It's not like you don't know who he is!' mental sarcasm was a great thing. "Well, I'm going home, I'll be back. Don't let dad come over though."

"I'll keep him busy."

"Thanks mom."

She jittered down the street to her house. "Home at last." She saw Amun and Mana sitting at the table. "Hello, how are you two today?" she mocked herself.

Mana snickered, "Quite good indeed."

"Hey, let's not pick on me!" Pharaoh played along.

"Sorry, you're just so much fun to play with!" Masi took a seat at the table.

"I'm Mana, sorry we didn't get to introduce properly at the store," Mana shook Masi's hand.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm sure by now you've already learned my name," Masi shifted her eyes to Amun.

"Yes, I have," Mana laughed, such a hyper little girl.

"Would you two like some lunch?" Masi rose from the table and began grabbing food supplies.

"Yes please!" Mana began bouncing up and down some more.

"Mana, please calm down," Pharaoh rested his head in his hand, embarrassed for the hyper girl.

"I'm sorry Atemu!" she calmed down. "I'm just shocked."

"Shocked at what?" both Masi and the Pharaoh replied.

"Shocked that even though we're both from the Palace, you can still treat us just like anyone else in the village! Like status doesn't really mean anything to you."

"Well, I wouldn't say status doesn't matter, I mean he is the Pharaoh! If he asked me to do something, I'd do so because he told me to. But when I first met him, I didn't realize he was the Pharaoh and I treated him like a normal villager. And he treated me as though we were both equals not, 'I'm almighty, bow down!' so I never had any problems looking at him like a normal person. Even now, in all his formal garb, I have no problem saying 'hey look! Another person, only in fancy clothing.'"

"As well. When we first met, I was still trying to act like a normal villager so no one would send me back to the Palace when I needed to be away."

Mana smiled, "She didn't send you back to the Palace, she sent you into the water!"

They all laughed, remembering the water soaked Pharaoh.

"And the goggling," Mana felt herself insert before thinking.

The Pharaoh froze, turning his eyes to Masi, only to watch her laugh even harder, nodding all the while.

She eventually died her laugher down, serving the food for them. "Yes, even the goggling. It's often hard not to," Masika directed her attention to Mana.

However, halfway through their meal a rap came to her door. "Not again," she mumbled. Pharaoh rolled his eyes; darn that Seto. Mouth still full she made her way to the door, opening it slightly. "Hmm?"

"You know its' not allowed to come home for lunch!" her father barked, pushing the door back all the way. Luckily the Pharaoh and Mana were barely out of sight. "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," she swallowed, "I just wanted to come home for lunch."

"Don't lie to me Masika!" he pushed her back to a wall, not noticing the Pharaoh and Mana. "Are you asking to be fired? Do you want to stop working?"

She shook her head, tears welling up as his voice rasied.

"You know it's hard to live around here! You need to work to live, and you're slacking off so much, I'm surprised you're still able to support yourself on your own."

"Dad, I—"

"No excuses! Stop talking back to me," his hand made contact with her face, a red mark began to swell. "Masika! You are so infatuated with that Palace boy! If you don't stop, I'll fire you! I hate to fire my own daughter, but you need to learn that there's more to life than your damn intuition!" He raised his hand as her tears started flowing.

"Don't touch her," the Pharaoh's voice echoed throughout the small house, scaring even Mana.

"Who the hell are you to tell me –" he stopped his talking when he saw the Pharaoh standing in the kitchen. He fell to the floor bowing. "I apologize my Pharaoh, I was unaware of your presence," a glare shot up to Masika. He believed that she had been caught with her Palace boy.

"Come here Masi," he called her over gently. "Mana, go help her get cleaned up."

Mana nodded, wrapping an arm around the crying Masi as they walked into the back room and helped her wash up. "That's your dad?"

"Yes, he completely disapproves of everything I do. He thinks I'm going down the wrong path of life," she sighed, pressing a cold cloth to her cheek.

Silence held in the main room until Pharaoh gave him the sign to stand. "Why were you slapping your daughter?"

"I'm sure you understand by now that she has been seeing a boy from the Palace. I tried to tell her that it was a bad idea, but she seemed to believe that her intuition said it was okay, so she acted on it. She's been slacking off at work since she met him and if she doesn't get her head out of the clouds she'll end up broke and she'll have to live with her parents again. We want her to have a steady lifestyle, but she doesn't seem to want one. I apologize that you were dragged into this my Pharaoh."

"No, do not apologize. I was not dragged in. This is perhaps my fault," his eyes shifted to the back room where dripping water and soft whispers were heard.

"Nothing is your fault my Pharaoh," he bowed again; praying that he would make it out with his life.

"Sir, allow me to shed some light on this situation. I have been well aware of her meetings, so do not fear her being with him. She is fine. I know fully well that she has not been slacking off at work because he hasn't been in town to be at work."

"How'd –" he cut himself off, knowing that the Pharaoh should know everything. "How did you know about her being with a boy? I thought they were keeping it secret."

"You should give me more credit as Pharaoh sir. And not to mention she's leaving for Cairo come sundown. I am well aware of her schedule," his words softened, but his cruel stance hadn't budged.

"I apologize my Pharaoh, I just want her to realize what she's doing."

"She knows what she's doing. Maybe you should have more faith in that."

"Pardon me Pharaoh, but she is my daughter, I believe I know more about her than you do."

"I'm sure as her father you do, but I must also tell you, as Pharaoh, I believe I understand more than you do." He watched the father give him a strange look. "Mana, how is it coming?"

Masi returned to the main room, followed softly by Mana. "The red is going away."

"I apologize Masi, this is my fault," he bowed to her.

This causing an even stranger look on her father's face, why was the Pharaoh bowing to his daughter?

"No, I should've been better about hiding it," she broke eye contact with the saddened crimson.

"It is not your fault you cannot lie," he was hard pressed from pulling her into a hug, allowing Mana do to so in his stead.

"My Pharaoh, please explain what is going on? I'm confused," the father remained on the floor, looking up to the teenage boy whose cruel crimson gaze just fixed itself upon him.

"Please, don't be rude," Masi saw the look in his eyes.

"Do not hit your daughter anymore."

"Yes my Pharaoh." He bowed, sending a glare to Masi. What was she getting him into.

Pharaoh turned his eyes to Masi, "May I speak with you in private?"

A nod.

He led her to the back room, asking Mana to watch the old man. "I think I have to tell him."

"If you don't, or if you do, it doesn't matter, either way I'm going to get whipped when I get back."

"No, if he lays one hand on you in such a manner, I will have him sent to the dungeons!"

"And tell Seto what?! Oh yeah, he beat his daughter!"

"Yes."

"And when Seto asks why you care?"

"Cruel and unusual punishment?" Pharaoh shrugged. "My word is law, I don't need to justify myself to him."

"Yes you do, you and I both know that. Or else he'll go to my father and ask! And boy will my father spill the beans."

"True, but he has a fear of me, he wouldn't lay a hand on you now."

"Not until you leave."

A groan bubbled in his throat. "Should we tell him? If we leave him there any longer, he could piece it together himself."

"Since we're close enough why not finish the job!" Masi shrugged, storming out of the room and plopping on her bed – back to them all – in a fury.

"Masi! How dare you be so rude to the Pharaoh!"

"Dad, you don't know anything!" she huffed.

He rose taking her by the wrist, turning her around, "What was that?!"

"Hands off her!" Pharaoh ordered.

He glared at her, turning his attention to the Pharaoh; not letting go.

"Let go of her," the Pharaoh made his way over.

Seeing the blind fury in his eyes, the father let go and sat on the bench.

"Masi," the Pharaoh put his hand on her shoulder.

"What?" she snapped.

"Shh," he tried to calm her, "I'll explain everything."

"If I don't come back from Cairo, you'll know why," she allowed a small laugh to pass her.

"Father, I'm sorry," she turned and faced them.

"You better be sorry," he snapped, receiving a look from the Pharaoh.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you in and I didn't tell you, but if I had told you, you would've killed me. I know you would've. And I'm sorry that you believe my intuition is going to kill me, but I have faith, and I think you should too."

"Sneaking around at night with a Palace boy is not something that I can have faith in you about!"

Mana laughed, she had thought the same thing about the pharaoh 'sneaking around at night with some girl'.

"This isn't funny Mana," Pharaoh gave her a knowing look.

"Sorry Atemu," she hushed.

"Sir, she isn't sneaking around at night with some Palace boy," he looked into her eyes, pulling her into an embrace. Her father lit up with confused anger, "She's been with me."

Her father felt dumbstruck, there were no words to capture his surprise. "You mean- she's been- and you – and. She said his name was Amun!"

"Yes, that was the name I gave her when we first met. My street name," his serious look still embedding into the fathers mind.

"This is against all rules!"

"I know, that's why I've been keeping everything under wraps. Until I know everything, no one must know of this."

He was still speechless.

"Now, I understand you wish to approve of the man your daughter is with, and I feel now is not quite the best time to be asking, but if it is alright with you, I would enjoy continuing to see your daughter," he allowed a smile to pass over him.

Her father looked like he died from shock, but all he could muster was, "I would be honored. As long as you know what your doing."

"I do sir. Thank you." Pharaoh turned his smile to Masika. On the other side of the room, her father gave her a look that screamed death.

"Masika…" his voice hissed low.

"Sir, why are you angry? Because this is forbidden? Do you think I did not understand that when we met?" his words grew cold again.

"When you kissed?" Mana blurted.

"You what?" her father blew a gasket, "Masika! I'm disappointed in you!"

"I didn't know that he was the Pharaoh then!" she defended.

"Regardless! Shame on you!"

"That was my fault too," Pharaoh seemed embarrassed.

Masika was going to interject, but found herself nodding in agreement, "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?"

"The pharaoh is not to be blamed for your actions!"

"Father, I understand this is difficult for you to hear, but it's true. You and I are very different. When I met him, I met him as a normal person, a villager, as he identified himself," she began a story.

"After having fallen in the pond," Mana interjected again.

"Mana!" Pharaoh gave her a death glare, but she laughed.

"You pushed him into a pond?" her father gasped.

"No! I didn't push him!"

"She caught me off guard, and scared me, thus I fell in."

"Still, I met him as a stranger, a villager. You're meeting him as a Pharaoh, not as a normal villager, so of course you'll be objective to me treating him as I do everyone else."

His anger seemed to pass as he realized that no matter what he told his daughter, she wouldn't stop loving the Pharaoh just because he said so. "But of your work," he changed the subject.

"I have barely been in the village! Who are you to say I've been slacking?"

"I noticed that day after you and Kontar broke up that you started slacking off."

"Father, I have no where else to be during to day," she tried to reason.

"You certainly had somewhere else to be today!"

"Master Akunadin said that everyone in the Palace was allowed to venture as they wished since everything was under control. Said I didn't even have to have any guards!"

"And what if there are more of these days?"

"There won't be very many, it's very rare. I've only had about four of these days in my lifetime. I promise not to distract your daughter from her day work, as she doesn't disturb mine."

"Much," Mana coughed.

"Mana!" Masika laughed.

"Alright. I told her that I would start allowing her to make her own decisions, so I'll allow this, just so long as she keeps her working pace up. Daydreaming in the workplace is bad."

"I will, I promise."

"However, my Pharaoh, I have a question for you."

"Yes?"

"May I tell my wife."

"Yes, you may tell your wife, but no one else. If you tell anyone else, you'll be having an unpleasant trip to the dungeons," his gaze grew dark and cruel.

"Pharaoh!" Masi looked at his cruel glare. "I thought we agre—"

"No one else must know. Understood?" Pharaoh's final words to her father.

"Yes my Pharaoh, I should be leaving," he bowed and left.

"Pharaoh, that was very cruel of you," she poked him, forcing a laugh out.

"You know that no one else should know!" he poked her back.

Mana just watched the two kid around, smiling.

The Pharaoh found himself, holding her cheek in his hand, "The redness is almost gone. That's good."

She couldn't help but blush at his drastic mood change. Their eyes locked, crimson met auburn, slowly nearing each other, until eyes closed and lips met. Mana almost let out a squeak, but decided it was better to hold back. The kiss was short and sweet, but held a tremendous amount of emotion behind it. "I apologize my dear, but we should be going, the sun will set soon and you need to be leaving."

"I know. But I don't want to leave again," she sighed, pulling him closer.

He returned the embrace, sighing, "I don't want you to leave either. It'll be so hard without you."

She blushed some more, "Hmm, Atemu?"

He looked a bit taken aback, it was the first time she'd called him by his real name, "Yes?"

"When I come back, I won't leave again," she smiled in confidence.

A slight laugh escaped him, "I don't know how you expect to pull that off, but okay."

"You'll see," she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and broke from his grasp, getting off the bed. "May I ask what you were doing at the clothing shop?"

He looked up, "I was buying you something decent."

"What's that supposed to mean!?" she snapped a death glare at him.

He only laughed as he opened his package.

"Oh, no you didn't."

"Indeed I did," he revealed some nicer male clothes that were his size.

"You might just be worse than my father," she buried her hand in her face.

"I'm sorry, but the ones I changed into last night are mine to keep!"

"What?" she looked up at him like he was crazy.

"I liked the fabric," he shrugged, causing both girls to laugh.

"Speaking of last night," Masi went into the back room and grabbed his clothes, and returned them to him.

"Thank you," he wrapped them up as they traded his clothes.

"This is very interesting, do all your conversations go like this?" Mana snickered.

"Not normally," Pharaoh replied.

"I should probably be leaving," Masi noticed the sun starting to sink.

"We should too, but I have something to give you," he started to dig in his pockets.

"You what?" she asked.

Mana grinned.

He pulled from his pocket a small necklace, crafted in solid gold, a pendant with the eye of Horus hung from the middle. It held a high resemblance to Isis' Sennen Necklace. "Atemu," she was speechless.

"Proof my heart belongs to you," he clasped it around her neck. "It's made by a foreign jeweler, so not even your father knows."

The blush settled deeper into her cheeks.

Giving one last kiss he and Mana took their leave and headed home.

"That was so sweet! You two are just – wow." Mana found herself speechless.

"What do you mean Mana?" the Pharaoh questioned,

"I mean, she doesn't act like the Pharaoh, and neither do you! You just act like a normal couple! That makes it cuter! I can't believe you just gave her that though," she winked at him.

"What? Why not?" he started second guessing himself.

"Well, you two haven't really known each other that long."

"It's not my fault I've grown so attached!"

"I understand that, it just kind of makes me laugh."

He scratched his head, "I don't understand how."

"It's a girl thing. You'll never understand."

The walked off into the distance, back home to the Palace; returning just in time to be yelled at by Seto.

"Pharaoh! Where have you been all day?" he yelled.

"I was in the village, meeting the people," he blinked. 'Why am I getting yelled at? I had permission to leave! Aren't I Pharaoh anyway? Isn't my word law, not his?'

"We were worried," his voice trailed off.

"I was fine, do not worry for me Master Seto," the Pharaoh walked past him with no more to say.