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What Are the Chances?

The high priest Seto looked out onto the Nile as the night lay over it and wished that the Gods would quit their torment and show him what it was they were up to. It had been a week since the battle between Ri and Rameses, though the tension had far from passed, remaining like an open wound in the palace. The old pharaoh and Pharaoh Yami had held a trial of sorts, Seto had not been permitted to attend and it had been between the two pharaohs and their two family members. He would have paid dearly to have been there but the pharaoh Yami had made it quite clear that it would stay between the four of them. Nefertiti and Suna had both been force to wait outside the doors to the throne room, Nefertiti and Suna exchanging looks while he watched them in their silent battle of wills. When the two culprits exited the room they had both headed in opposite directions, their mothers on their heels as they sought out the answers to the question of judgement. The elder pharaoh exited next carried on his chair by two servants. His eyes when they had met Seto's had been tired and old, far more then usual before they had looked away from him as he was taken back to his rooms. Seto had entered the room, unable to resist to find the young pharaoh hunched forward in his chair, running his hands over his face as though he were scrubbing it clean. Or in this case trying to wash away whatever he had heard Seto had thought at the time. Sensing that his presence would anger his pharaoh greatly Seto had left the room without making his presence known and ordered that the pharaoh not be disturbed for the rest of the day. Now a week later and things still weren't back to normal. He didn't even know the punishments dealt out, that as well had been kept behind those doors and it would appear that none in the room would speak of it.

"Especially thanks to her." Seto muttered under his breath as his thoughts turned to Ri and the other event that had happened on that terrible day. Simply pulling her into his arms would have been enough reason to throw him in the dungeons but had he stopped there? Oh no after all that would have been the wise thing to do and God only knows he never seemed to have any sense where she was concerned. Damn it but she was haunting him Seto thought as he punched the railing, wincing on contact, automatically drawing the aching hand to his chest in protection. Damn why had he kissed her..now he couldn't forget it. It was like one touch of their lips together and he'd become-infected with her, craving her in ways that would guarantee his death and not a quick one either. If only she hadn't looked at him the way she had, perhaps then he could push it aside but he'd seen his own thoughts echoed in her eyes. She hadn't wanted the kiss to end either, and he really wished that was his ego talking but it wasn't. Her eyes had asked him to continue and damn him but he had wanted to so badly. But he had reigned in his need and left her there, run from her like a child running from his lessons with his teacher. And now he was finding it difficult to simply be in the same room as her, forced to hide from her sight and avoid her at all costs. Because she was not avoiding him, perhaps she was even trying to find him, Seto thought with a shake of his dark head. The girl had never been one to think of the consequences, only of what suited her. If she was ever in his arms again, even in nothing more then an embrace he would be dead, she likely married off no matter how dear she was to the pharaoh. And he wouldn't wish that for her. Perhaps she did need a guiding hand and a more controlled life but in all she wasn't so bad..especially her mouth. Slapping his forehead with his injured hand Seto swore under his breath, finally running out of air so that he had to stop though he muttered what he could.

"I would assume from your cursing and manner that you are hurt?" An amused voice said from behind him and Seto spun around to see Pharaoh Yami watching him with those cool purplish red eyes of his, missing nothing as looked at his priest with amusement. It wasn't often he found his dignified and cool high priest cursing after deliberately hitting himself in the head with his own hand. It was a sight he certainly hadn't expected to encounter when he had come onto the balcony for some much needed air and time away from his duties. Here he had sought the cool evening air and sky for its peace and tranquility, only to find one of his usual aggravators already there. Yami couldn't remember a time that they had not clashed, not that he minded it overly though sometimes it got annoying. He could always count upon Seto to argue with his ideas, hence he found the flaws in his plans quickly and easily without too much of a headache. Plus he enjoyed battling wits with the older man, even though he'd sooner bite off his own tongue then admit to it. "Perhaps next time you could find a better way to go about expressing yourself. A less painful one at any rate."

"Quite so, Pharaoh. That would be a much wiser course of action." Seto said bowing low, trying his best to ignore the fact that his hand was killing him and that he'd slapped himself in the head because of this man's sister. Thank the Gods Pharaoh Yami did not have the ability to read minds, otherwise he would be in a lot of trouble, more so then anyone else in the kingdom. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Something troubling you, Priest?" Yami asked as he moved to lean against the rails about a meter away from Seto, looking out into the night as Seto had been doing before Yami had arrived. "Anything I can help with?" Normally he wouldn't have carried one way or another about the problems of this particular individual but he had so much on his mind, perhaps he could take his mind off it for a time by concentrating on Seto's problem. At the very least it would be interesting to see the priest's reaction to his offer of help.

Seto gapped at the pharaoh for a moment then just managed to close his mouth though it took more effort then it should have. Yeah sure you can, Seto thought dryly in his head, thinking that one could cut the irony with a knife. Just send your lovely spitfire of a sister to my bedchambers tonight and I'll work this all out of my system, then everything can go back to normal and I'll stop craving her like a starving man craves food. Oh yeah, that would go over real well, he could see the soldiers taking him to the desert and dumping him there to die easily. Or maybe he could just ask the pharaoh to give him permission to ravish his sister at the earliest convenience, maybe that would go over well. Yeah and Nefertiti was the Goddess of Love, Seto thought with a slight smirk that slid into his usual cool mask when he noticed that way he was being stared at by him pharaoh. "No, Pharaoh. I will deal with it shortly, but thank you for your offer." Seto said as politely as possibly considering he was thinking carnal thoughts he was pretty sure he was keeping his face void and cool. Too bad he couldn't say the same for his mind.

Smirking inwardly at the priest face before Seto had gotten control over it Yami felt himself loosen up and relax for the first time all day. He hoped that whatever was bothering the priest would continue to do so as he was finding the other man amusing in this state, however petty that sounded. "If you're sure then I wish you well solving it." Yami said with a small smile, unable to contain it even though it was neither proper nor his normal behaviour. What could be troubling the priest though, the man was harder to rile then to teach a hippo to sing. What plagued him to this?

"I'm sure, Pharaoh, thank you for your concern but it is a small matter easily dealt with." Seto said calmly and in truth it was. If it weren't for the consequences of the actions he could easily rid himself of this craving. He didn't doubt it for a minute. After all she was merely a woman who had attracted him, an attraction that could be easily dealt with once he could place her with all the other women he knew. There was nothing different or alluring about her, it was simply that his body hadn't gotten to know her well enough to see that. That was his excuse and he was sticking by it. "If you will excuse me, Pharaoh. I should retire, I have a great deal of work to do tomorrow."

"Of course, till tomorrow." Yami said giving him permission to leave, watching the priest go with interest. An interesting character was his high priest, perhaps he would ask Ri tomorrow if she had any ideas as to what was causing the priest pause. Perhaps he was not sleeping well or had a problem with his staff though he couldn't see those as the answers he figured it was something along those lines. Come to think of it his sister had seemed restless as well lately, perhaps there was something going around at the moment. Worried at the thought Yami made a mental note to check in on his sister the next morning, before he had his meetings.

Ri figured that if she lived to be a hundred she would never understand men, the blasted annoying creatures that they were. He obviously felt something for her otherwise he wouldn't have kissed her God damn it. But now he was avoiding her like she was one of the seven plagues of Egypt and it was all she could do not to have him brought to her in chains so that he couldn't get away from her. Of course then she'd have to come up with a good reason and she didn't think her reason would go over well with anyone. She could see it now, going up to her brother and explaining that she wanted to kiss his priest until they both passed out from lack of air would not be music to her brother's ears at all. She had caused him enough trouble, adding to it with her sudden craving for a slice of his handsome priest was probably not a good idea. And it wasn't a good idea at all, the bastard didn't deserve her, what he deserved was for her to slice him into pieces for daring to put his hands on her person. She otta track him down right now and gut the pig like the pig he was. He was probably in his bedchambers right now, she could get there easily without anyone missing her at all. No one would ever suspect that she had killed him, who would be that smart? Then again if she went into his bedchambers odds were she'd forget all about gutting him, Ri thought with a miserable look as she sat down on her bed, her arms crossed in front of her with a pout on her lips. Damn but she would have been fine if he hadn't kissed her. Well there was only one thing to do-she was just going to have to get it out of her system and that was final. Deciding to follow through now while she still had the guts Ri threw on a light robe over her dress since it would be colder in the halls and marching to her door opened it and walked through with her head held high, the guards knowing better then to follow her. Besides she was likely only going to say good night to her father as was her habit. Of course they couldn't know that she'd already done that before she'd entered her room an hour ago.

Marching down the hallway with purpose Ri turned a corner and walked right into a solid wall. At least at first she thought it was a wall but then several things occurred to her all at once. One was the undeniable fact that walls didn't generate heat, two was that they never cursed you when you hit them and three was that it never felt this good to walk into a wall. Tilting her head up Ri looked into Seto's annoyed eyes and grinned weakly up at him. As his response was to frown down at her with coldness practically secreting from his pores she didn't think he was going to let her off for this. "I apologize for walking into you, my mind was elsewhere."

"When is it not." Seto said dryly and Ri thought briefly about punching him in the face but it just seemed wrong to break such a pretty face, especially since it would only tempt her to kiss it all better. Not a good course of action at all.

"Well right now its focused on you and trust me, that's not a good thing. In fact if I were to follow through you'd be really sorry you're glaring at me like that. " Ri said with a dirty look in his direction as she took a step back, putting some much needed space between them. Folding her arms in front of her chest, partly to make a point and the other to keep warm Ri tried to glare him down but he was damn good at it. Well she wasn't going to let him intimidate her. No way in Hell.

"I'm shivering in fear." Seto shot back with a cool look, not about to look away and let her have another victory over him to gloat about. But staring into her eyes wasn't helping him much either because while his eyes were cold hers were on fire, not a picture he needed in his head. Hold on a minute, Seto thought as his eyes narrowed slightly, she was shivering. A cold person by nature the elements rarely affected him causing him to barely notice the changes in weather. Obviously Ri could not say the same. "You however are shivering for other reasons, you should go back to your rooms before you freeze into a statue where you stand."

"I'm overcome with emotion at your show of concern." Ri said with a cool smile, not overcome in the least. He just wanted to rub in the fact that he could stand there without a shirt on and not shiver or look in the least bit cold. His chest had in fact been pumping out heat like a large bonfire, it was no wonder he wasn't cold when his body could warm its self so easily. The fact that she wished she could absorb some of his warmth was only natural though of course she made no move to do or say so. She'd throw herself off a pyramid first. "And actually I was coming to see you anyway so now that I've found you I see little point on returning now."

"You were coming to see me?" Seto said in surprise, breaking his stare to blink at her once before looking at her suspiciously as though he thought she were up to something. "Why?"

"Because I need to discuss something with you, in private." Ri said putting an emphasis on private because she had no wish to discuss this where anyone could chance to over hear them and perhaps start a gossip train that would lead to the ears of those who for Seto and herselfs sake should never hear. Besides it was going to be embarrassing enough as it was without an audience. "If you refuse I'll simply order you to." Ri added and she was quite serious. She'd order him to be in her presence though she wouldn't force the kiss, that would be by his own free will or not at all.

"You would order me into your company?" Seto said in a calm voice but for those who listened closely there was fury behind the ice. She would order him? How dare she think that he was some concubine to call when she wished his company. Damn he needed to get his mind out of the gutter. So she wanted to talk with him, would order him to do so if he declined. What was her game? "What is it you want?"

"What I want? I assure you High Priest you don't want to know what it is I want." Ri said with a cool voice that gave away nothing though her eyes went to a darker purple which was barely visible in the dimn light provided by the torches. "Meet me tomorrow in the gardens after noon meal, then we shall discuss exactly what it is I'm wanting."

Thanks for reading and waiting so long, I feel so bad -_-. Anyway hope you enjoyed, review and like how the lovely Rika/Ri is taking our bishie Seto for an interesting ride. Special thanks to jade-kid, Kiaba's Friend Mandy and all the other reviewers who have been reviewing.