Chapter 5- Avoidance and Admittance
The day of the arrival of King Moran of Siam arrived.
Aknankanon stood with Yami and Atemu along with the rest of the court to welcome the visiting king.
Atemu grew anxious. He knew that Lydia was coming, and he hated the way she followed him everywhere that he went. 'She's going to try and seduce me again. I just know it. I can't stand the way she is so openly seductive when she thinks she's discrete.' Atemu thought.
Yami noticed his brother's distraction and mentally sighed. 'He's worried about getting away from her all day long. Well, he won't have to worry that much since I'll be there to help him.' Yami thought. He glanced back to Mahado and thought, 'Besides, we're going to keep her as far from Atemu as possible.'
The palace gates were opened, and a carriage rode into the courtyard.
'And it begins.' Atemu thought.
The carriage stopped right in front of the group.
A guard opened the carriage door, and Moran stepped out.
"Moran, I am glad that you have arrived safely." Aknankanon said.
"As I am. It is good to see you again, Aknankanon." Moran replied.
A girl with long blonde hair and green eyes stepped out of the carriage.
"You remember my daughter, do you not?" Moran asked.
"Of course, I do. It is good to see you again, Princess Lydia." Aknankanon said.
Lydia curtsied. "It is a pleasure to see you again, Pharaoh." Lydia said.
"Shimon will show you to your rooms. I am sure that you are tired after your long journey." Aknankanon said.
"Thanks you." Moran said.
Lydia smiled at Atemu in what she thought was sexy, but Atemu internally cringed at the look. 'Could she be more obvious?!' Atemu screamed in his head.
Lydia and Moran followed Shimon into the palace.
The rest of the court entered the palace to ret return to their duties.
"Are you ready for Lydia's attempts to get you to ask her to marry you?" Yami asked.
Atemu groaned. "Don't remind me. I can't stand it when this woman does that." Atemu said.
"Well, we'll help. You know that Mana and I help get you away from her when possible." Yami said.
Atemu nodded.
"Of course, if you already had someone, you wouldn't have that problem." Yami said.
"Yami, knock it off." Atemu growled.
"Atemu, you love Heba, and if you were to be with him, then you wouldn't have that problem." Yami said.
"I never said I loved him." Atemu said.
"Yeah. You'll be changing that story pretty soon." Yami said.
"Don't count on it." Atemu countered.
Eternias had called Heba and Benshin to him.
"Benshin. Heba. You two are to perform tomorrow in the throne room." Eternias said.
"Of course." Benshin said.
"The king of Siam, Moran, is here with his daughter, Lydia. The Pharaoh wished for you to perform for them." Eternias said.
"All right." Heba said.
"Oh. And the Pharaoh wants you two to out on your best performance possible. He was very impressed with you two and wants you to do a good job." Eternias said.
"I always put forth my best effort into each fight." Benshin said.
"As do I." Heba said.
"Very well. I will come tomorrow morning to tell you when to be ready." Eternias said.
The two fighters nodded, and Eternias left.
"Well, this is certainly unexpected." Benshin said.
"I didn't realize that the king of Siam would come to the palace." Heba said.
"He does every year. It's to renew their trade agreement. King Moran always wants to see fights, but there have not been good ones for the last few years." Benshin said.
"Maybe it's time for us to make it a good one." Heba said.
Benshin nodded in agreement.
Atemu walked down the hall, thinking about what Yami had said. 'Yami seems to think that I am in love with Heba, but I don't even know him. Is it really possible to be in love with someone you have only seen a couple of times?' Atemu asked himself.
"Oh, Atemu!" a female voice called.
Atemu cringed at the voice. 'Oh no. Here we go.' Atemu groaned. He turned around to have Lydia come up to him.
"Hello, Atemu. It's good to see you again." Lydia said, smiling seductively.
Atemu shivered at the look in fear. "It's good to see you again, Princess." Atemu said.
Lydia laughed although it sounded like a blade scrapping stone. "You don't have to be so formal, Atemu. We're friends after all." Lydia said,
'No, we're not.' Atemu thought. "I would prefer to keep our relationship formal." Atemu said.
"Why?" Lydia asked.
'Because I hate your guts!' Atemu's mind screamed. "I would just prefer it that way." Atemu answered. He started to leave only to have Lydia grab hold of his arm and go with him.
"Let's go take a walk in the gardens. They're a romantic spot." Lydia said, hinting at what she wanted.
'I am not sleeping with this girl!' Atemu growled mentally. "I would rather not." Atemu said.
Lydia pouted in what she must have thought was a cute way. "Why not? We should spend time together." Lydia whined.
'Not her whining again. The only reason people do what she tells them is because of her whining.' Atemu thought.
"Atemu!"
Atemu and Lydia turned to see Yami approach them.
"What do you want? We were about to go to the gardens." Lydia snapped.
Yami glared. "Watch how you talk to me. I could go tell my father. I don't think that would do your country any good since you depend on Egypt for so much." Yami said.
Lydia cringed at Yami's sharp glare.
Yami turned to Atemu and said, "Did you forget?"
"Forget what?' Atemu asked, completely confused.
"We promised that we would meet Mahado in his study, and we're late." Yami said.
Atemu knew they had said no such thing. However, the look in Yami's eyes clearly said to go with it, and Atemu knew Yami was giving him an opening to get away fro Lydia. "Yes, I did forget that Mahado asked to meet him. I have to go, princess. Mahado hates it when we're late." Atemu said, dislodging himself from her.
Lydia pouted. "Can I come?" Lydia asked.
"No. It has to do with the kingdom." Yami said before grabbing his brother's wrist and dragging him down the hall.
Lydia fumed before she started to follow them, determined to spend time with Atemu.
"Yami, it didn't work." Atemu said.
"Come on. We'll head to the west wing." Yami said, walking faster.
"Why" Atemu asked.
"Mahado's study is there, and it'll look legit. We can hide out there for awhile." Yami replied.
Atemu nodded and kept walking.
Heba and Benshin had been training, but decided to take a break. The two were walking down the hall when two other people ran into them, knocking them to the ground. When they looked up, they were startled to find Atemu and Yami were the ones who had knocked them down.
"Pri-" Benshin started.
Yami was on his feet dragging Atemu with him. "We were never here. You never saw us." Yami ordered before running off with Atemu.
Heba looked at Benshin. "What was that all about?" Heba asked.
Before Heba could answer, Lydia showed up. "Have you slaves seen the Princes?" Lydia asked with hate in her voice.
Benshin looked at her and said, "We are not slaves."
Recognizing Benshin, Lydia turned flirty and said, "Hello, Benshin. How are you?"
"I'm fine, Princess." Benshin answered.
"Get rid of this slave so we can talk." Lydia said sweetly, the seductive look in her eye.
"Princess, this is Heba, a fellow performance fighter, not a slave, and he and I are training. We merely took a break, but we must be getting back to our training." Benshin said.
"I thought that Atemu came this way his idiotic brother." Lydia said.
'She should watch how she talks about the Prince.' Heba thought. He had taken an immediate dislike to the Princess and said, "I am sorry, Princess, but we have not seen either of the Princes. They do not come to this wing of the palace."
"I saw them." Lydia said.
"Perhaps you saw Heba. He looks a great deal like them." Benshin said.
"Maybe." Lydia said, beginning to think she was wrong.
"You should head back to the main part of the palace. I am sure King Moran will be worried if he cannot find you." Heba said.
"Yes, but I do not know the way back." Lydia said, lying.
Benshin knew this, but decided to humor her. "I will lead you back to your room, Princess." Benshin said.
"Oh, thank you, Benshin." Lydia said, latching onto his arm.
Benshin had a hidden look of annoyance on his face. "I'll be back, Heba." Benshin said.
Heba nodded.
Benshin led Lydia down the hall and out of the wets wing.
Once Benshin was out of sight, Heba went to the door he had saw Atemu and Yami disappear into and knocked on the door.
Yami opened the door and said, "WHAT?!"
Heba jumped back, startled.
Realizing who it was, Yami smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, Heba. I didn't meant to yell. I thought that it might Lydia again."
"It's all right. I was letting you know that she's gone." Heba said.
Atemu sighed. "Thank goodness." Atemu said, sitting down in a chair.
"I think we'll hide out in here for a little while anyway." Yami said, pulling Heba into the room and shutting the door.
Heba was startled by this sudden action.
Atemu flushed at having Heba in the same room.
"Sorry, but I don't want anyone else to know that we're here, or Lydia will find out." Yami said.
"Why are you running and hiding from her?" Heba asked.
"Because the girl is trying to seduce Atemu and follow him every damn place that he goes." Yami said.
"I'm guessing that you don't like her." Heba said, looking at Atemu.
Atemu looked even more flushed and said, "N-no. I don't like her at all."
"Are you feeling all right, Prince Atemu? You seem pale and flushed." Heba said.
Atemu shook his head. "I'm fine. Just a little hot from the running we did." Atemu answered.
Yami smirked. He was doing this on purpose. "Lydia always tried to seduce Atemu when she's here with her father. She tries to act like she's friendly, but she's a bitch, and she's nowhere near nice." Yami said.
"I found that out a few moments ago." Heba said.
"How? What did she do?" Atemu asked.
"Well, she called me and Benshin slaves and demanded that we tell her if we saw her. When she realized who Benshin was, she turned nice and flirty and told him to get rid of "this slave" so they could talk. Her words, not mine. She looked like she was trying to seduce Benshin. He's leading her back to her room since she said she didn't know the way back." Heba said.
"Well, that was a pack of lies. She knew the way back." Yami said.
"Well, she's gone now." Heba said.
"Good." Atemu said.
"What did you think of her, Heba?" Yami asked.
"Honestly, I took an immediate dislike to her. Of course, that could be because she called me a slave." Heba said.
"She's a slut anyway. From what we've heard, she's slept with almost every male servant in the palace at Siam. In fact, she's had three kids, each by a different man, and still sleeps around." Yami said.
"Well, I'd say that Benshin doesn't like her. He looked annoyed although I doubt she noticed." Heba said.
"She's an airhead anyway." Atemu said.
"I thought so." Heba said.
There was a knock on the door and Yami opened the door to find Benshin outside. "Come on it." Yami said.
Benshin walked back in and said, "She's gone."
"Thank you. I appreciate it." Atemu said.
Benshin nodded. "Just glad to help. Besides, I don't want her in this wing of the palace." Benshin said.
"We're not so lucky." Atemu said.
"Come on, Heba. We should get back to training." Benshin said.
"Right." Heba said.
The two started to leave.
"Wait a moment." Yami said.
"Yes, Prince Yami." Benshin said.
"We were never in this wing of the palace, and you haven't seen us all day." Yami told them.
Heba and Benshin nodded and left the room.
Yami turned to notice that Atemu was still flushed. "Hot, Atemu?" Yami asked with a smirk.
Atemu glared at Yami and said, "Okay. I admit it. I'm in love with Heba. Are you happy now?"
"Yes, but I think that you should tell Heba." Yami said.
Atemu glared. "Not a chance." Atemu said.
"Come on, Atemu. What's the harm?" Yami asked.
"No, and drop it." Atemu said.
"So, how did you like being around Prince Atemu?" Benshin asked with a smirk.
Heba blushed. "Please just drop it." Heba said.
Benshin's smirk widened. "Come on, Heba. Just admit it." Benshin said.
"Okay. I might be attracted to him. I won't say that I love him, but I'm definitely attracted to him." Heba said.
"See. That wasn't hard to admit. Now come on. We have training to do." Benshin said.
Heba nodded and followed Benshin to the training room.
Lydia had tried to get alone with Atemu several more times that day only to be foiled by Mahado, Isis, and Seth.
"I am so glad that you have all helped me. I do not like the idea of that girl coming on to me much more." Atemu said.
"Well, she'll only be here for six more days." Seth said with a smirk.
Atemu groaned. "Don't remind me. I cannot stand that girl. She thinks that she's subtle when she's obvious. There is nothing subtle about her moves." Atemu said.
"Well, we'll help you avoid her as much as possible." Isis said.
"And I'll sit by you at dinner, and since Father's on your other side, she wont be close enough to do anything." Yami said.
"That is one thing that I am thankful for, and I think I'll be retiring early and getting up late." Atemu said.
"You can't sleep late." Eternias said.
"Why not?" Atemu asked.
"The Pharaoh has said that Benshin and Heba will perform for King Moran's enjoyment tomorrow. It'll be in the afternoon, but you know how the Pharaoh is." Eternias said.
"Oh. I didn't think he's do it so soon." Isis said.
"King Moran wanted to see one, and the Pharaoh thought that the two best ought to be the ones to perform." Eternias said.
"It will be an interesting fight to say the least." Seth said.
"Yeah, and gives us the chance to see Heba in action again." Yami said.
"Shut up, Yami." Atemu growled.
"Hey. You admitted that you love him." Yami said.
"And if you keep repeating it, you will find yourself in the afterlife." Atemu said.
Yami smirked. "Then you should tell him." Yami said.
Atemu glared before leaving.
"How long will it take to get him to say it?" Mana asked.
"We're in for a lot of scheming." Seth said.
They all sighed, wishing Atemu wasn't so stubborn.
Atemu admits that he's in love with Heba, adn Heba admits he's attracted to Atemu, but isn't sure if he likes him.
The next chapter will have Heba and Benshin in a performance, and disaster strikes the palace.
R&R.