Chapter 8- You Need a Date
"A ball?" Atemu asked.
"Yes. We are hosting a ball for the visiting ambassadors. You will need dates." Aknankanon said.
Atemu smiled. "I don't think that I am going to have a problem finding a date." Atemu said.
"Yes. I know that you will undoubtedly take Heba as I am sure that Seth will take Jou." Aknankanon said. He turned to Yami and said, "But you will need to get a date, Yami."
Yami sighed. "I know. Just tell me that I have a choice in who I go with." Yami said.
"Of course you do. Why do you ask that?" Aknankanon asked.
Atemu smirked. "Because he doesn't want to have to take Mia to the ball." Atemu said.
Yami glared at his brother. "You can't stand her anymore than I can." Yami said.
"I would have to protest that one as I am sure that the council would." Aknankanon said.
Both looked at their father in surprise.
"Why do you say that, Father?" Atemu asked.
"Her reputation is well known, and you all know that the queen is suppose to be of respectable position." Aknankanon said.
"Meaning that Mia's out." Yami said.
Aknankanon nodded.
"Good. I can't stand that girl, anyway." Yami said.
"Go on. I have things that I must do." Aknankanon said.
Yami and Atemu left the throne room.
"I can't wait for the ball." Atemu said.
Yami rolled his eyes. "That's because you can't wait to show off your fiancé to all of the visiting ambassadors." Yami said.
"Of course. This is the first real chance that I have had to do that, and I am not going to pass it up." Atemu said.
Yami sighed. "I dread all of the women that are going to be begging me to take them." Yami said.
"You know that Mia's going to be the first one to come after you." Atemu said.
"Yes, and she is not going to be going with me. I will tell her that right off." Yami said.
"And if she is persistent?" Atemu asked.
"She will be continuously turned down. I am not going with her. I think that I would ask Mana to go with me before I would ask her." Yami said.
Atemu glanced back and said, "Here's rejection number one."
"Prince Yami." Mia's shrill voice said.
Yami glared at his brother.
Atemu just smirked back and walked on.
Yami stopped and turned to face Mia. "Yes, Lady Mia." Yami said rather calmly.
"I heard that there is to be a ball in a few weeks." Mia said.
"Yes. I know." Yami said. 'Can she be any stupider? Of course I know that there is a ball.' Yami thought, rather annoyed.
"I was wondering if you had a date yet." Mia said sweetly.
"No. I do not. I was just recently told that I would need one." Yami answered.
"Then I will be your date." Mia said as if he didn't have a choice.
"No. You will not." Yami said.
"What do you mean?" Mia asked, an edge to her tone.
"I have no intention of taking you to the ball, Lady Mia." Yami said.
"Why not?" Mia snapped.
Yami glared at her. "Do not speak to me in such a way." Yami growled.
Mia realized her mistake. "I apologize, Prince. I just wondered why you would not want me to go with you." Mia said in a still irritated tone.
Yami narrowed his eyes. "Do not forget that I am the Crown Prince, so I do not owe you an explanation to my actions. You have no right to demand an explanation for me. I answer to no one other than my father." Yami said. He turned and started to walk away.
"You will find no woman better than me, Prince." Mia said.
Yami whirled around. He stalked back to her. "On the contrary, Mia. I could find dozens better than you." Yami said.
Mia's eyes narrowed. "No, you will not." she hissed.
"I would not have a whore as my date, Mia." Yami growled.
Mia gasped at what she had been called.
"The entire palace knows about the escapades that you have had with the guards, the servants, and even the slaves. Both male and female. We know that you have had a great many people in your bed. Anyone I take to the ball will have to be of honorable reputation. Something that you do not have." Yami said.
Mia's eyes were wide. No one had ever called her on her reputation before. In fact, she had thought that no one knew of her bed partners.
"So, Lady Mia, I have no intention of taking a person of ill repute to the ball. That leaves you out." Yami said.
Mia's eyes flashed. "That's not a reason." Mia hissed.
Yami smirked. "I have standards, Mia, and I will not lower myself to the likes of you. Even if you were the last woman in Egypt, I would not take you. Get the idea of being the next queen of Egypt out of you head, too. You see, the council and my father have a say, and if they think that the woman I want to marry is not suitable for the throne, they can prevent the marriage, not to mention the fact that I would not consider you for my wife." Yami said.
"Just because of my reputation?" Mia questioned.
"No. Because I know that you would end up cheating on me, and I certainly do not want a wife who will constantly be in other people's beds, both male and female, and possibly have a child by another man and try to claim it mine. In fact, the mere fact that you cheated would be punishable by death." Yami said.
Mia's eyes widened in fear and horror. She realized that Yami knew everything about her reputation, and that her fancy for new men could end her life.
Yami smirked at her look. "I suggest that you not ask me again." Yami said. He turned and walked off.
Mia's eyes turned dark with fury. 'How dare he! No one has ever spoken to me like that! I will make sure that he has to take me to the ball. I don't care what I have to do, but I will be the next queen of Egypt. No matter who I have to go through to get that position and power.' Mia thought in complete rage.
"A ball?" Heba asked.
Atemu nodded. "It's customary to have a ball to honor visiting ambassadors. Father is just following traditions, and every member of the court has to bring a date with them." Atemu said.
Heba saw the ulterior motive. "You're using this as a chance to show me off, aren't you?" Heba asked.
Atemu pulled Heba to him in a kiss. After the kiss ended, Atemu said, "Of course I am. I wasn't able to do that before, but I am not going to turn down the chance to do just that."
Heba sighed. "I'm going to have to dress fancy, aren't I?" Heba asked.
"Yeah. Don't worry. We can get something that you'll like." Atemu said.
"You are too excited about this. Atemu, you know that I can't dance." Heba said.
"Well, we can work on that." Atemu said.
"Atemu, there is no way that you are going to be able to teach me how to dance considering there are a lot of things that you have to do." Heba said.
"We can always get someone else to teach you while I'm busy. Anzu is an excellent dancer. I am certain that she wouldn't mind helping you." Atemu said.
"I don't know." Heba said a little hesitantly.
There was a knock on their door.
"Come in." Atemu called.
Yami opened the door and walked in, slamming the door shut.
"Um, Yami. Are you okay?" Heba asked, noticing that Yami looked rather upset and irritated.
"No, I am not all right. I am sick and tired of all these women coming onto me just because they want the chance to say that they have been to a ball with the future pharaoh." Yami said.
Heba smiled sympathetically at him while Atemu just smirked.
Yami glared at his brother and said, "You find this far too amusing."
"Well, Yami. It is rather funny. By the way, how did things go with Mia?" Atemu asked.
Yami growled. "I told her that I didn't want to go with her, and she pretty much demanded an explanation as to why." Yami said.
"What did you tell her?" Heba asked.
"The truth. That I knew all about the men and women that she has had in her bed, and that I am not taking a woman of such ill repute to the ball. I also told her that she might as well give up the idea of being the next queen of Egypt because she would never be it." Yami said.
"Well, I am certain that she's not going to like that." Atemu said.
"It's her own fault. I told her no and I was going to walk off until I heard her say that I would find no one better than her." Yami said.
Atemu whistled. "I'd say that Mia walked right into that one." Atemu said.
"Yes, and what is she really going to do? Everyone knows about her escapades with the men and women of the palace, and there's no one that would side with her. Besides, I am the Crown Prince, so I doubt that Father and the council would side with her, especially since they know her reputation." Yami said.
"Good point. Father did say that he and the council would argue the point if you were to decide to take her to the ball or make her queen." Atemu said.
Heba blinked, not understanding. "Why would they stop it?" Heba asked.
Atemu turned to his fiancé. "The queen of Egypt is suppose to be a woman who will be loyal to the pharaoh. In short, she shouldn't have a reputation like Mia does. The people will not look kindly on the fact that the queen constantly would be cheating on her husband. Also, if she were to have a child, chances are that it wouldn't be the pharaoh's child, and that would be an outrage." Atemu explained.
"Meaning that the queen should be someone who wouldn't stray and would offer no doubt that the child she has would be the pharaoh's." Heba said.
"Yes. Another reason is that queen shouldn't be one that would try to take over the crown by trying to overrule the pharaoh. Mia would try to make all the decisions. All she's got in mind is the power and wealth that would come along with being queen." Yami said.
"He's right. Mia is far from a suitable queen." Atemu agreed.
"Well, she will keep trying. I know that before out relationship came out, Mia was constantly after you, Atemu, and nothing ever made her stay away." Heba said.
Atemu growled. "Don't I know it. I swear that I got to the point that I told the guards at my rooms that if she came to the room, she wasn't allowed in under any circumstances." Atemu said.
Yami groaned. "I had to do the same thing. After she came to my rooms in the middle of the night, I ordered the guards never to let her in, whether I was there or not." Yami said.
"I know the feeling." Atemu said, finally sympathizing with his brother.
"Is there anyone that you wouldn't mind going with?" Heba asked.
"There are a few, but after I took them, they would think that they would be the next queen and start acting like it." Yami said.
"He's right. Before I met you and wouldn't have a choice, but to go, I learned after the first ball that was what the woman thought." Atemu said.
"That's when you went with someone that wouldn't want that." Yami said.
"Who?" Heba asked curiously.
"Well, you know that Anzu and I grew up together, so we pretty much see each other as brother and sister. After that first disaster, I started taking Anzu because she knew that it wasn't because I wanted to be with her. Anzu loves to dance too much, and she knows that she couldn't as queen. Until she started seeing Honda, that's what I did. Once she told me about her and Honda, I stopped that." Atemu said.
"What did you do then?" Heba asked.
"It wasn't long after that that he met you." Yami said.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Heba asked.
Atemu gave Yami a say-it-and-you-die look.
Yami smirked. 'Time for a little payback for teasing me about Mia.' Yami thought. "Oh. Let's just say that Atemu wanted you from the first moment that he saw you." Yami said.
Heba instantly blushed bright red.
"Yami, I'm going to kill you!" Atemu shouted.
"Why? It's the truth. Besides, you shouldn't tease me about that woman." Yami said.
"What are you going to do, though?" Heba asked, trying to get his blush under control.
"If worse comes to worse, I'll probably ask Mana to come with me." Yami said.
"That'll be an absolute last resort." Atemu added.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Atemu called.
Anzu poked her head in and said, "Mind of I come in?"
"Come on in, Anzu." Atemu told her.
Anzu walked in and closed the door. "Yami, why do you look agitated?" Anzu asked.
"There's a ball." Atemu said.
"Oh. Yeah. The dancers all know about that." Anzu said.
"Are you all performing?" Heba asked.
Anzu nodded. "Oh! This came for you, Heba." Anzu said, walking over and handing the papyrus to Heba.
"I wonder who is sending Heba a secret admirer letter." Yami said.
Atemu growled in a possessive manner.
Heba rolled his eyes. "Calm down, Atemu." Heba said. He opened the papyrus and started to read.
Dear Heba,
I was thrilled to receive your letter, and I wanted to let you know that I would be happy to come and stay at the palace for a little while. I am glad that the pharaoh allowed me to come although I was a little surprised that he's allowing Bakura and Marik to come, but Ryou and Malik were glad of that. We will be leaving very soon. I can't wait to see you again, Brother. We should be arriving by the end of this week. I will see you all soon.
Your Sister,
Yuugi
Heba's eyes lighted up as he exclaimed, "Yes!"
All three jumped.
"What's gotten you so happy?" Anzu asked.
"This is a letter from Yuugi." Heba said.
"It is?" Atemu asked.
"What did she say?" Yami asked, concealing his joy at knowing she was coming.
"Well, you know that I had convinced the pharaoh to let her come and stay until Atemu and I got married" Heba said.
"Yes, and I'll never know how you managed to convince my father to allow Bakura and Marik to come as well." Atemu said.
"Well, I had a little help from the Queen. Anyway, Yuugi said that they'll be here by the end of the week." Heba said.
"That's great. It's been almost a month since we saw them. It'll be nice to see them all." Anzu said.
"Are Bakura and Marik coming?" Atemu asked.
"According to the letter, yes, which means that Ryou and Malik will be coming as well." Heba said.
"Well, at least there will be one lady here not trying to get you to notice her or beg you to take her to the ball." Atemu said.
"I know." Yami said. 'She's the only one that I wouldn't mind taking to the ball. In fact, I wouldn't mind if she asked me to take her.' Yami thought.
"I'd better go tell Jou about this." Heba said.
"Are you serious?" Jou asked.
Heba nodded.
"That's great. I loved being around Yuugi." Mana said.
"Yes. She's the type of lady that I could be around all day and not mind." Seth said.
"When do they get here?" Honda asked.
"Yuugi said by the end of the week, and if I know her, they'll be here within the next few days." Heba said.
"Well, I suppose that we had better go tell Father that they are coming." Atemu said.
"Yeah. He doesn't like surprise visitors like that too often." Yami agreed.
The two went to tell their parents of their impending visitors.
Yami would never admit it to anyone, but he couldn't wait to see Yuugi again. He had been thinking and dreaming about her a lot recently and wanted to see her again.
Hope you liked this chapter.
Yuugi and the others arrive at the palace in the next chapter.
R&R.