A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait. Was highly unmotivated. Wonder if my readers are still around….
By the way, some "modern-day" swears will be used.
……….ooooooooo……….
Despite his high sensitivity to movement (even in sleep), he was unable to detect the disturbance in his bedroom. The intruder moved slowly and with stealth, imploring moves he'd been trained to use his whole life. He opened the door carefully and poked an eyeball through the gradually growing crack to inspect his surroundings. He slipped one foot in, did a quick scan, then the other, and then pushed his thin body all the way through.
The reflecting moonlight bounced off the blade of his curved weapon as he made his way towards the high priest's bed. The intruder grinned as he looked down on the defenceless form, holding the weapon above the man's left chest. He kept the point hovered there for awhile, and then slid it up past the priest's throat to his left temple. He thought for a moment before sliding the blade down to the priest's covered manhood, with a silent laugh. Using the tip of the hook, he lifted the priest's loincloth and bent his head down sideways for a close-up look. He was surprised by what he saw and for a brief moment, felt a sort of earthy admiration for his sleeping enemy. Shaking his thoughts away, he quickly turned his attention back to the priest's heart, moving the blade into a striking position.
Seto's body jerked and his eyes flew open. In an instant he was fully alert, eyes frantically scanning the room with thick beads of sweat rolling down his face. Nothing there. He wanted to accept the idea that it had been a dream but the uneasiness hung on. It didn't take long for Seto to figure out why. The chamber door was definitely not the way he'd left it, but before he could fully take this in, a glint of something reflecting the moonlight caught his attention. Seto's eyes widened when he picked the object of fascination off his thigh and held it up in the air. The long white hair between his fingers danced innocently as an abrupt gust of wind broke through the bedroom window.
……….ooooooooo……….
Atemu's body felt like lead and his head throbbed in pain as he tried to sit up. Finding that he was unable to, he looked down to see the thick chains locking his arms and legs to the ground. His eyes were dry and the searing lights were blinding but he quickly adjusted enough to comprehend his surroundings. From what he could see, he was neither in his world nor the shadow realm. He tried to retrieve the memories of what had happened but his newfound consciousness also led to a sense of overwhelming pain. It almost scared him to see the state his body was in. Barely any skin could be seen intact behind the crusty layer of blood, some of which was still oozing. His cape, which was soiled beyond recognition, was in tatters, acting as the only protective layer between his battered backside and the gravel-laden ground. His jewelleries were largely intact, with the exception of a few things which had mysteriously been ripped off or were too damaged to stay clutched to him.
He didn't have the energy to try and free himself nor did feel the desire to do so. In his state of rest, he lethargically turned his head to one side and checked out his surroundings.
He could almost see the heat. The mysterious setting throbbed of suffocating heat, pulsating like a beating heart. Beyond where he lay was barren land that stretched in all different directions. The ground itself looked infertile and was as red as Ra itself, fuelling the illusion of immense heat. To his right was a river, or at least, what looked like a river. The would-be water was black and thick like molasses and didn't flow in the way he was used to seeing, but moved in a more orderly fashion, straight, flat, and metallically sleek.
Atemu's wiry eyes followed down the river's length and stopped to see the outline of a figure drifting towards him. Upon closer inspection, he could see that the figure was standing in a small boat, somehow balancing himself, or itself, unwaveringly on the traditionally unsteady surface.
For the first time since he'd woken up in this world, Atemu contemplated the idea of being dead. If he really was dead, he thought, than this would be the underworld and his soul would be judged thereafter. However, despite the thorough education he had in these matters, Atemu was afraid. The Pharaoh let his head fall back on the spot he lay in defeat, feeling his heart pound with fear and anticipation.
The unknown figure took its time approaching Atemu. When the desired spot was reached, the boat automatically stopped moving and its rider stepped onto shore with ease. The figure was hidden under a long black, ragged cloak that covered him from head to foot, leaving nothing but extremely thin fingers exposed. It stood over Atemu with an eerie silence, almost as if nothing existed under the mountain of rags it wore and, with a swift movement, produced a large axe from under its cloak.
The Pharaoh's heart almost stopped as he saw, with wide eyes, the blade held up high above him. The weapon came down hard and fast on him and Atemu braced himself for the worst. He slammed his eyes shut and winced. However, instead of excruciating pain, he heard the sharp echoing of metal on metal. Opening his eyes, he was astonished to find that, somehow, all four of the chains holding him to the ground were shattered.
Before he had time to catch his breath, the figure beckoned him to follow as it headed back towards the small boat. With a great deal of difficulty, he pushed himself to a sitting position, and paused to adjust to the pain before getting onto his feet. By the time he began limping toward the river, the figure was already back on the boat and was patiently waiting for him to catch up. As soon as Atemu climbed on, the boat moved again, apparently on its own, but this time, in the opposite direction.
Atemu slumped down to a sitting position out of exhaustion and pain but couldn't even maintain that position for long. His vision went blurry and soon after lying himself down, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
……….ooooooooo……….
The events of the previous few days had left Yuugi mute. However, this was not the sole reason for Anzu's worries. The young Prince had refused to leave his bedroom since the Pharaoh's death and ate barely enough to keep himself from starving. In addition, he only ate whatever Jou brought him, which proved to be problematic since the servant boy was not allowed in the kitchen. Despite Anzu's claims, the other caretakers in the palace were suspicious of him. Jou had been an incredibly wild and uncontrollable child until he was taken in for a day by Pegas, a rumoured semi-mad palace magician. Afterwards, Jou somehow became a docile, obedient servant, without any sign of his previous self. Although no one could pin point the reason why Pegas made them uncomfortable, it was unusual things like these that spread rumours about him.
Yuugi's chamber was specifically chosen to be in a place where the moon shone through his window. Since Yuugi had been born on the night of a full moon, his father took this as a blessing from the gods and wanted the moon's light to follow him. Now, as the small child slept uneasily, the moon's pale light caressed his face, giving him a cherub-like glow.
Anzu sat on a chair beside his bed and watched, with relief, at his soft inhales and exhales. The seemingly endless nights of insomnia, followed by constantly interrupted, short intervals of light sleep finally ended when Yuugi's exhausted little body gave out on him. Although she wasn't obligated to stay up all night to watch over him, Anzu was so glad to see Yuugi finally sleeping that she wanted to savour the moment. She'd always loved him like a little brother and loved the traits that made him who he was. Now that these traits were gone, she felt like she lost him along with his father.
She reached out to brush one of his golden bangs behind his ear but stopped when she heard a soft knock on the door. She was surprised to see Jou at such a late hour but let him in anyways, careful not to let anyone see him.
"Sorry I couldn't get more stuff for Yuug, Anzu." Jou said regretfully, holding a plate of random eatables to Anzu.
The girl smiled at him. In so many ways his innocence reminded her of Yuugi. Maybe it was just the fact that they were both children. "Jou, you should be sleeping too, you'll be too tired to work in the morning if you keep staying up like this."
"That's okay, Anzu, it's more easy to sneak into da kitchen at night anyways."
"Aren't you worried about getting in trouble?"
"Na, dey'll beat me no matter what anyways."
Anzu couldn't help but notice the bruises on Jou's arms and legs. She knew it wasn't fair how they treated him, especially when the suspicions should have fallen on the white-hair magician. Jou wasn't a bad kid; trouble just had a way of finding him. "Thanks, Jou." She finally said.
Anzu took the platter from him and Jou approached Yuugi's bed curiously, plopping himself on the ground beside the bed. "He's finally sleeping, huh?"
"Yeah," the girl replied wirily, "Try to keep your voice down though, I want him to sleep through the night."
As soon as Anzu gave him that warning, Jou crawled toward the sleeping child for a closer look. "Hehe, he's kinda cute like dis, don't ya think, Anzu?" The blonde, who was now nose to nose with the prince, remarked.
Alarmed, Anzu clapped a hand over Jou's mouth and yanked him away from the bed, "Didn't you hear what I just said?" she whispered loudly.
Jou pulled her hand away from his mouth and gasped for air, "Yeah, ya said don't talk so loud, and I didn't," He retorted.
"But you can't get that close to him either." She stated, in a stern, almost motherly, tone.
"Why not?"
Anzu curtly slapped him in the back of the head, "You really are a dumb kid!"
"Hey!" Jou said, raising his voice an octave and rubbing the back of his head.
"I said be quiet!" Anzu hissed.
"Well don't call me a 'dumb kid,' bitch!" he barked.
She was momentarily surprised by his audacity but wasn't ready to back down and let him do stupid things, especially when it came to things that would affect her charge (being the prince) "If you keep this up, I will kick you out of here, Jou."
"Hey, I got every right to be here, I'm his friend too, ya know!" He was more wining than shouting.
The two froze when they heard movement coming from the bed. Yuugi turned over in his sleep but kept his steady breathing. Both Anzu and Jou, who had been holding their breaths, sighed in relief.
"You should really go now, Jou, I mean it this time." Anzu said, but not unkindly.
"Yeah, I guess ya're right. Yuug's got ta sleep." Jou turned to leave. But before he could take two steps, stubbed his foot on the chair Anzu had been sitting in earlier and groaned in pain. Instinctively, he grabbed the injured foot, balancing himself on the other one as he rubbed it vigorously. However, because this was Jou, he soon lost balance and fell backwards against the table where the food sitting. The platter, which was partly hanging over the edge, did a flip through the air when his elbow struck it and landed on the hard ground with a thunderous clang. This cascade of events almost sent Anzu into cardiac arrest.
"Oh Gods, Anzu - " Jou began, looking as apologetic as possible.
"Oh, forget it." Anzu said, exasperated. Yuugi was already up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He gave a little smile when he saw Jou and shyly waved at him.
"Uh, hiya, Prince. I brought some food for ya but uh…" Jou looked disappointingly at the mess on the ground, "I guess most of it's useless now. I'm sorry."
Yuugi shook his head and patted the bed, urging Jou to sit beside him.
"I dunno if I can do that, Prince." Jou briefly checked with Anzu, who didn't seem to mind, "Oh, alright, just for a little while." Jou hopped up beside Yuugi and the younger gave him a hug.
"Everyone's really worried about ya, Prince, you gotta get betta!" Jou only had a vague idea of what he meant by that. But Yuugi just shook his head, sniffling as if about to cry.
"Yenno, I got no parents either, and I'm okay." Jou said boldly. Of course this only reminded Yuugi of his loss and the tears brimming on his large violent eyes started falling in silent streams.
Anzu looked like she was going to throw a punch in Jou's direction. Fortunately, Jou wasn't as dumb as people thought he was. "H-hey, dere's still some good fruit on da table, it took me a really really REALLY long time ta get it, here try some, its super good." Jou grabbed a slice something orange off the table and shoved it in Yuugi's mouth, catching both the Prince and Anzu off guard.
Yuugi's eyes were wide with shock and Anzu giggled at the sight of the Prince with what looked like a big orange grin on his face. Yuugi looked down at his mouth, which made him look cross-eyed, and this made Anzu giggle even louder. Jou seemed proud of himself when Yuugi took the fruit out of his mouth with and nibbled on it, with dry eyes.
"Is it good, Prince?" Anzu asked, glad to see him happy.
Yuugi nodded, licking his chubby little fingers when he was done.
"Here, let me clean that off for you." Anzu grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped each one of Yuugi's fingers individually, then finished off by gently dabbing his mouth. The Prince gave a yawn and Jou knew this was his cue to leave, but Yuugi grabbed his arm before he could do so.
"Jou has to go now, Prince, but he'll be back soon." Anzu said gently.
"Yeah, I'll come back tomorrow and bring ya back more stuff, promise!" Jou said with a big smile, at the same time trying to pry the small but iron grip on his sackcloth.
But that wasn't going to do it.
"D-don't you love me, Prince?" Anzu asked, feigning as if she was about to cry. Yuugi nodded vigorously. "Then why are you making me sad?" Yuugi gave a pleading look at his caregiver and tugged at Jou's clothing.
"I guess you don't love me very much after all," she added, rubbing her eyes with her sleeve. "And here, I-I care about you isoi/ much, Prince but I don't mean very much to you, do I?"
The little Prince grabbed the girl's hand, as if to reassure her but Anzu mockingly shook her head, "No, Prince, you do that a lot, it doesn't mean that you care about me." Her voice was high pitched and extra whinny.
Damn. Jou thought.
"I-if you really love me, you'll listen to me and make me happy. But I'm not happy right now, Prince, I'm not happy at all!" Anzu sobbed into her sleeve, peeking out to see if Yuugi would falter.
"Uh-uh, yeah," Jou stuttered, his eyes darting back and forth, "I-I wouldn't wanna make Anzu sad, Prince."
Seeing that it was two against one and feeling strangely bad, Yuugi dejectedly let go to Jou and watched Jou wave at him as he walked out the door.
"Alright then, its time to sleep now, Prince." Anzu said, having made a quick and full recovery.
But Yuugi just gave her an ugly look.
"Aww, I'm sorry I had to send Jou out, I did it because I care about you. Promise."
Somehow Yuugi knew there was something wrong with the picture and he just drew his knees up to his chin and pouted.
Anzu was all-too used to this. She climbed onto the bed and hugged the Prince from behind, drawing him onto her lap. "See that really bright star out there?" she pointed out the window, "Well that's the brightest star in the sky. When I was little, my mother told me that star is gateway between our world and the underworld and that people we love can watch over us through that star. Isn't that interesting, Prince?"
Yuugi looked out the window with a little interest. "Even though he's not here right now, I'm sure your father is watching you from there every day. And he'll be really happy if he knows you've been a good boy."
Anzu leaned the boy's head against her chest and sang him a lullaby she remembered her mother sang to her.
Summer red star
Why are you so red?
Because I had a sad dream last night
My eyes are red from the tears I shed
Swollen as I cried
Anzu couldn't help but sadden at the memory of her late mother and the sweetness by which she sang Anzu to sleep when she was Yuugi's age. She stroked Yuugi's back and continued, knowing he was half asleep already.
Summer red star
Why've you lost your way?
I'm searching for a child whose gone afar.
He can't be found though I've searched all day.
My sad dreams come once more. *
She kissed his forehead and lay the sleeping child down, tucking him in so he'd be comfortable. Poor Yuugi she thought and sighed. She may have lied a lot that day, but she wasn't lying about the star. She firmly believed someone out there was watching over time, whether that be her mother or the Pharaoh, and she made a silent wish that they'd be kept safe.
……….ooooooooo……….
After a six hour meeting, the elders finally reached an agreement. Shimon nodded at the rest of the men to adjourn the meeting. "Thank you gentlemen. Priest Seto, Pharaoh Atemu's cousin will be regent then. I shall let him know tomorrow."
A/N: *The Song is the English version of "Natsuhiboshi," taken from Naruto.
Recap on their ages: Yuugi = 4.5 Jou= 7 Anzu = 12 Honda (from previous chapter) = 19, I hope I'm not contradicting myself