Chapter 7- Returning to the Palace
The two weeks seemed to fly by for the group. It was now the night before they had to return to the palace.
Heba and Yuugi were sitting outside in the gardens.
"You know, this time has passed faster than I would have liked." Heba said.
Yuugi smiled. "I know, Heba. It's the fun times that always seem to go by the fastest." Yuugi said.
Heba sighed. "I guess we're back to the boring palace life now." Heba said.
Yuugi looked over at her brother curiously. "How can palace life be boring?" Yuugi asked.
"It can be. Believe me. I mean, it's pretty much the same routine everyday. Every so often, there will be something different that happens, but for the most part, it's the same thing everyday." Heba said.
"Well, look at it this way, Heba. You and Atemu will be planning your wedding soon, which means that you'll be married to him very soon. You always have that to look forward to." Yuugi pointed out for him.
Heba smiled back. "You're right about that, Sister. I think that is exactly what I am going to focus on right now." Heba said. He looked over at his sister and said, "You are going to come when we get married, aren't you?"
"As long as I am invited, I will as I am sure that Ryou, Malik, and Grandfather will." Yuugi said.
Heba nodded. "I don't think that the Pharaoh will be too fond of the idea of Bakura and Marik being there. I know that they haven't caused anymore trouble, but it's still known that they were once thieves." Heba said.
"I know. Don't worry about that." Yuugi said.
Heba nodded. He looked up at the moon and said, "Yuugi, do you remember when were young and we would come out here to watch the moon?"
"Yeah, I remember, although we had to sneak past Father in order to do that." Yuugi said.
"Yuugi, Father wouldn't disapprove of my marriage to Atemu, wouldn't he?" Heba asked.
Yuugi sighed. "Heba, you know that he would. Father was completely against it. He even told me, Malik, and Ryou that of he found out that we had talked to you and Jou, we would be killed." Yuugi said.
Heba's eyes widened. "He did that." Heba said.
Yuugi nodded. "You shouldn't care whether or not our father would approve of your marriage. As long as you are happy with Atemu, that is all that should matter." Yuugi smiled. "Besides, I think that Atemu will make a wonderful husband for you." Yuugi said.
"Thanks, Yuugi. I'm glad that I have you on my side at least." Heba said.
Yuugi hugged her brother and said, "You'll always have me on your side, Brother. Don't forget that."
Heba hugged her back and said, "I know, and I'll always be on your side, Sister." Heba pulled away and added, "And if you have too much trouble with any suitors, just let me know. Atemu will have them thrown in the dungeons for that."
Yuugi rolled her eyes. "With Bakura and Marik here, I don't think that I'm going to need that kind of help." Yuugi said.
"Just in case." Heba replied.
Yuugi shook her head. "I'm going to miss having you around, you know." Yuugi said.
"That makes two of us." Heba replied.
Yami lay on the bed in his room, thinking. 'We're going back to the palace tomorrow, which means that I will be going back to having every woman that I come across throwing herself at me in hopes that I will be impressed enough by her beauty to make her my wife.' Yami thought.
An instant later, his mind shifted to Yuugi.
'Yuugi is nothing like I thought she would be. I had seen her as a timid person who didn't so anything to take up for herself. I thought that she would have been throwing herself at me and trying to get me to fall in love with her so that she could be the next queen of Egypt, but I don't see that at all. Yuugi isn't timid. She's very capable of taking care of herself. Yuugi has the same problem that I do of people coming after her for her status, wealth, and body.' Yami thought.
A small smile graced his lips as he thought about Yuugi.
'Yuugi is a very beautiful girl. I knew that from the start, but there's a lot more to her than that. She's smart and funny. She does have a bit of a mean streak.' Yami smiled as he remembered when she had pushed Heba into the water the day at the Oasis. 'Yuugi is so much more than I had expected. Yuugi is as good of a gamer as I am.' Yami thought.
Suddenly, Yami sat upright in the bed as he realized what was going on with him.
"Oh my, Ra! I think I'm falling for Yuugi." Yami said.
The following morning, after breakfast was eaten, the group readied themselves to head to the palace.
"Have a safe journey back to the palace." Solomon said.
"We will, Grandfather." Heba said.
"Hope that you're able to come back soon." Ryou said.
"We'll see how things go." Atemu replied.
"Oh. Bakura. Marik." Heba said.
"Yeah." Bakura said.
"You'd better keep those suitors of my sister's in line." Heba said.
Bakura smirked as did Marik.
"That won't be a problem." Marik said.
Yuugi rolled her eyes. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself, Heba." Yuugi said.
Yami felt a twinge of jealousy when Yuugi's suitors were mentioned.
"We'd better go." Eternias said.
The group nodded and rode out of the gates.
"Well, I wonder when we will see them next." Ryou said.
Bakura smirked. "I could always break us into the palace to see them." Bakura said.
WHACK!
"Ow! Ryou, what the hell was that for?!" Bakura exclaimed.
"You promised that you wouldn't do anything illegal again!" Ryou exclaimed.
"You also promised me that before I gave you permission to marry my grandson." Solomon added.
Yuugi started to giggle.
"Yuugi, it's not funny." Ryou cried.
"Yes, it is, Ryou. Bakura was only joking." Yuugi said.
Ryou looked at his husband. "You were?" Ryou asked.
"Of course I was. I promised you that I wouldn't do anything illegal ever again, and I don't intend on breaking that promise." Bakura said.
Marik started laughing. "I can't believe that you thought he would break into the palace. He didn't even try that when we were still thieves. There's not a chance that he would want to get caught breaking into the palace because that would immediately sentence him death." Marik said.
"Knock it off, Marik." Malik said.
"Why? I think that this is rather funny." Marik said.
"Let's go back in." Yuugi said.
The group headed back into the house.
"I must say that I rather enjoyed meeting your family Heba. Apart from the shock of knowing that Bakura and Marik are married into it, I found the trip rather enjoyable and relaxing." Atemu said.
"I agree. I like your sister. She's real fun to be around." Anzu added.
"You have female friends back at the palace." Honda pointed out.
"I know that, but Yuugi was different. She isn't one of those stuck up ladies who only think about how much power they have and how beautiful they are. Yuugi rarely mentions any of those things." Anzu said.
"Yeah. She's a lot of fun to be around." Mana added.
"Yes. She certainly is different. Yuugi does have a great deal of power and wealth, and she is certainly a very beautiful girl." Yuesei agreed.
"Yeah, well, Yuugi never was one who liked to be the center of attention. Of course, her looks usually make her the center of attention for most men, but it doesn't mean that she likes it being that way." Heba said.
"I do know that I wouldn't mind having her around at the palace. At least that would be on person that we could actually have around that would make our lives a little more bearable, especially on those days that we have really stressful ones." Seth said.
"Hey. I thought that I was the one that you were getting married to and wanted to be around." Jou said.
"You can get on a person's nerve, puppy." Seth said.
"I do not!" Jou retorted.
"You do, too!" Seth shot back.
"Do not!"
"Do, too!"
"Do not!"
"Do not!"
"Do, too!"
Seth burst out laughing.
Jou, realizing what Seth had done, glared and said, "You cheated!"
The rest burst out laughing.
"Jou, you fell for the oldest trick in the book." Yami stated.
"Like you haven't fell for that before." Jou said.
"I never said that I hadn't." Yami replied.
Aknanaknon looked out from the balcony by the throne room.
Amara walked up to him and said, "Aknankanon, are you all right?"
"It has been rather quiet lately without all of them here. I will be glad for them to be back." Aknankanon told his wife.
"I know. I am ready to see them again, too. I just hope that Heba enjoyed being able to see his family again. Jou, too." Amara said.
"I'm sure that they were." Aknanaknon said.
A guard came in and said, "Pharaoh." He kneeled before Aknankanon and Amara.
"Yes. What news have you brought?" Aknankanon asked..
"My king, the Princes' group has been spotted. They will be arriving at the palace gates any moment now." the guard said.
"Good." Aknankanon said.
Aknankanon and Amara left the throne room to greet their sons.
Soon, the group arrived back at the palace.
"Welcome home." Aknankanon said.
"Thank you, Father. Mother." Atemu said.
"I trust that you had an enjoyable time." Amara said.
"Yes, we did." Heba said.
Servants came rushing to get their things and have them moved back to their rooms.
"Come. You can tell us about it." Aknanaknon said.
The group followed Amara and Aknanaknon back into the palace.
"Well, there was one thing that none of us knew about that was rather shocking." Yami said.
"What was that?" Amara asked.
"It seems that Marik and Bakura are married to Ryou and Malik, our cousins." Heba said.
"The Thief King?!" Aknankanon exclaimed.
All nodded.
"You have to admit that they haven't caused us any trouble since they did save Atemu and Yami from those raiders." Seth said.
"He is right. It's been over two years since the last time they did anything." Eternias added.
Amara frowned. "Was this fine with the head of your family, Heba?" Amara asked.
"Yes. Since my father was killed, my grandfather became head of the family again until my sister married. Grandfather gave them permission." Heba said.
"Well, I just hope that they do not cause any further problems for us." Aknankanon said.
"I don't think that they will." Eternias said.
"Other than that little shocker, everything else about it was enjoyable." Anzu said.
"That is good to hear." Aknanaknon said.
"Although it would have been nice to be informed that Yuugi was Heba's twin sister." Honda said.
"She's your twin?" Amara asked Heba.
"Yeah. I forgot to mention that before. They were kind of struck by how much alike we look." Heba said.
"Alike? Heba, you two look almost exactly alike. The only differences were that her skin was pale, she had long hair, and she's female. Other than that, there was no difference in how you look." Atemu said.
"Okay. So, there's no much difference in us at all. It slipped my mind." Heba said.
"Prince Yami!" a shrill voice called.
Yami stopped the walk back to his rooms when he heard the shrill voice. He groaned internally. He knew that voice and hated the owner. He turned to find a blonde with blue eyes stopping by him.
"Where are you going in such a hurry, my Prince?" the girl asked with a seductive glint in her eyes.
"To my rooms, Lady Mia." Yami replied.
Mia grabbed his arm and said, "I will go with you, Prince."
Her intent was clear, and Yami didn't like it.
Yami jerked his arm free and said, "No. I do not wish for you to accompany me."
"Why not? I am certain that we could find plenty to do." Mia said, smiling sexily. 'After all, I will be his queen one day.' Mia thought.
"I wish to be alone at the moment, and I would appreciate it if you would leave me be." Yami said. He turned to walk off.
"Yami, if we're to be married, we need to get to know each other." Mia said.
Yami whirled around on her, his crimson eyes blazing. "Listen carefully, Lady Mia. You do not address me in such a disrespectful way, or I will have you arrested for refusing to show me the respect of my position." Yami said. Normally, he didn't care about his position, but he used it to get her to leave him alone.
Mia's eyes widened in fear as she realized that she had overstepped her bounds.
"Also, I have no intention of marrying you, so don't ever say that again. And if I hear it around the palace, I will have you arrested for lying about it. Do you understand?" Yami said. His voice was full of anger and hatred.
Mia nodded, speechless.
Yami turned and stormed off.
Mia narrowed her eyes after him. 'There is no one better suited to govern over these pathetic people than me, and I will be the next queen of Egypt. I will make sure of that. No woman will be with him except for me.' Mia thought angrily.
Yami entered his room and slammed his door shut. He took a deep breath.
"If that woman does not leave me alone, I am going to have her killed." Yami muttered. He walked over to his bed and flopped down on it. He sighed and rolled over.
Once more, Yuugi seemed to flood Yami's mind.
'I can't stop thinking about her. I know that I was falling for her, but this is more serious than that. I want her, and I know that she wouldn't want that. She wants us just to be friends, and I'm wanting more than that now.' Yami thought.
Yami sat up and looked out the balcony. He stood up and walked out onto it.
'I wonder if maybe there is a way to see if I could possibly have any future with Yuugi.' Yami thought.
"Lord Milian, I am going to have to ask you to leave." Yuugi said.
"And why is that?" the man asked, looking at her lustfully.
"Because I am not going to marry you because you want me in your bed. Leave now." Yuugi said.
Milian reached out and grabbed Yuugi by the wrist. "I will be your husband, and you will enjoy having me in your bed." Milian said.
Yuugi slapped him so hard that he fell. "Bakura! Marik!" Yuugi called.
The two came and grabbed him.
"We've got it, Yuugi." Bakura said.
"Yeah. We're not going to let him do anything." Marik added.
The two dragged Milian out of the room.
Yuugi put a hand to her head. 'I liked having Yami here because he did not make all of these advances on me. I like him. I know I do. I just doubt that he would want someone like me for a wife. After all, he could have any woman that he pleases. Why would he settle for me? Besides, all he wants is to be friends.' Yuugi thought. With that depressing thought in mind, Yuugi returned to her room.
Okay. Milian won't be back, but Mia will. She'll be causing Yami some trouble.
Next chapter has a ball and Yami has to find a date and has many owman throwing themselves at him to be his date.
R&R.