Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh

Chapter 8: New life

The duo made excellent time back to the capital, with Atemu only stopping once briefly along the way to let the horse get something to drink. Yami was surprised that the ride was so silent since he had expected Atemu to have something to say but Atemu didn't say a single thing other than that they were stopping for a quick break. Yami however was not up for starting a conversation himself so the silence was there to stay.

The two arrived back at the capital to a group of priests, servants and guards eagerly awaiting their arrival. Yami shrunk into Atemu as the sheer number of people staring at him and baring down on them overwhelmed him. It was really unnerving being in the center of attention like that. Atemu however was clearly more than used to the attention and acted as if no one was even there.

"Isis." Atemu said. A woman with long black hair came forward, bowing as she did so.

"Yes Pharaoh?"

Atemu nodded towards Yami, "My God chosen has an infection that needs to be treated. Please see that it is taken care of." Atemu said.

"Of course, Pharaoh." Isis said before she reached out and lightly grabbed Yami's arm. Yami pulled back. He wasn't normally shy as a rule but he had no idea who any of these people were or what was going on.

"Come along God Chosen of Pharaoh. Allow me to tend to you." Isis said as she tugged on Yami's arm.

Yami cast Atemu a look. Atemu sighed, "Go with Isis Yami. She needs to tend to your infection." Atemu said.

Yami grabbed onto Atemu's tunic, "Atemu, please?" Yami said.

Atemu allowed his eyes to slip shut for a brief moment. Yami was not making creating distance any easier. This was made even more difficult because Atemu wanted to go with Yami and make sure he was alright.

"I can go with you for a little while Yami. Then I need to meet with my priests to discuss what has happened while I was away." Atemu conceded.

Yami nodded, "Thank you."

Atemu nodded briskly before he climbed off the horse and turned picking Yami up and following Isis into the palace complex saying nothing else. Yami had been adamant he wanted Atemu to leave him alone, that he did not care about him. Now they get here and Yami is wanting to cling to him. Atemu understood that Yami was probably just nervous because he was in a new place and that his reservations would vanish in a few days and go back to wanting Atemu away from him.

The problem was this back and forth was not going to be good for Atemu's sanity. Either Yami wanted him or he didn't. It was really not fair for him to be tugged back and forth. He understood Yami wasn't happy and that he missed home, missed Yugi and did not care one bit about Atemu.

Atemu strode into the healing chamber fore he deposited Yami on the bed. "Take off your shirt Yami so Isis can see the infection." Atemu ordered before he strode over to the large open window and gazed outside.

Yami pulled off his shirt and gazed at Atemu's back somewhat confused wondering what was up with Atemu. What was with Atemu's complete about face? Back at Yami's house Atemu would not leave Yami alone no matter how much he screamed at him that he wanted him to go away. Now they are finally back at Atemu's home and Atemu wants nothing to do with him? What the hell?

Isis started to fuss over the wound and it really hurt a lot as she scrubbed at it. Try as he might Yami could not keep from crying out in pain. Yami saw that Atemu clenched his fist but continued to stare out the window. However, when Yami yelled, "Stop it you're hurting me." Atemu swiftly turned back around and came to Yami's side.

Atemu saw Isis was practically scrubbing the wound on Yami's stomach, "Must you be so rough?" Atemu inquired.

Isis sighed, "Yes Pharaoh. The infection is deep. I am trying to scrub as much of it off as I can before I treat the rest." Isis said.

Yami reached out and grabbed Atemu's hand, "Atemu, it hurts." Yami groaned, clutching Atemu's hand tightly.

Atemu sighed as he rested his other hand on Yami's stomach mumbling under his breath as he did so. His hand glowed green for a moment before Atemu withdrew his hand. He then tried to tug his hand out of Yami's grasp. "I've numbed the area so it shouldn't hurt anymore while Isis tends to it." Atemu said.

"Atemu where are you going?" Yami asked.

Atemu forced himself to look away from Yami, he wanted nothing more to hold his hand and comfort him through this. But Atemu knew that in the long run this was going to do more harm than good.

"I need to meet with my counsel and priests. I was gone for several days and there is a lot I need to go over with them. Isis will take great care of you. You will be fine Yami." Atemu said before he turned and swept out of the room before Yami could call him back. Because if Yami had asked him to stay Atemu really didn't know if he had it in him to walk away.

Yami hardly noticed as Isis continued to scrub at the wound, since true to Atemu's word no longer did the scrubbing cause him any pain. However Yami kept his gaze firmly locked on the door. He really could not believe that Atemu had left. Yami felt the beginnings of anger burning in his chest, Yami had broken both Yugi and his own hearts and come here with Atemu. Atemu did not have the right to treat him this way. It was bad enough he ruined Yami's life, he didn't get to make the rest of Yami's life miserable.

Isis finished her scrubbed and applied a salve onto the wound before she wrapped Yami's chest in fresh white bandages, "I'll change your bandages again tomorrow my lord." Isis said with a bow before she started to head out of the room.

"Wait." Yami called.

Isis paused at the door, "Yes my lord?" Isis asked.

"Can you at least show me the way to my room? I don't know where I'm supposed to go." Yami asked his aggravation at the whole situation could be heard in his voice.

"I will have a servant escort you to your chambers." Isis said before she swept out of the room.

Yami groaned in frustration as he sat and waited in the healing chamber. He still could not feel his stomach which was probably a good thing since as much as Isis scrubbed it was probably in agony. A few minutes later a relatively plain servant walked into the healing chambers, "I am here to lead Pharaohs God Chosen to his chambers." The servant said, his head bowed.

Yami got up off the table and followed the servant out into the hallway and deep into the palace. The servant than stopped and nodded towards a door on Yami's left. "That is the door that leads to your chambers". The servant paused briefly before nodded towards the door across the hall, "This door leads to Pharaohs chambers."

The servant than gave Yami a quick bow before he scampered off to do whatever else he was expected leaving Yami standing in the middle of the corridor. Yami glanced over at his room before he turned his attention onto the Pharaohs room. Yami glared at Atemu's door before striding inside, Atemu was not going to get away with treating him like that. He'd rest in here and when Atemu finally decided to show up then they would be having a chat.

Yami was startled a couple of hours later when there was a knock on the door. "Uh, come in?" Yami said. A servant walked in carrying a tray of freshly sliced fruit, bread as well as what looked like quail.

"You midday meal my lord. Pharaoh said that you would probably prefer to take it in your chambers." The servant said. The servant may not have said it but clearly they were wondering why Yami had chosen to be in Pharaohs room instead of his own.

Yami however didn't care about the servant's curiosity. Right now he was hungry. The servant left the tray on the end table beside the large bed Yami had been lying on. The servant then turned to leave when Yami got an idea, "Is there any chance you could ask Atemu to come speak to me when he has a moment. I really need to talk to him about a few things. "Yami said.

The servant nodded, bowing to Yami in acknowledgement, "I will pass along your message my lord." The servant said before he quickly exited the room.

Yami ate the meal that had been provided before he flopped back down on Atemu's bed. He would have thought about wandering around however he didn't really relish the idea of getting lost. Besides the numbing spell Atemu had used was also slowly beginning to wear off. Walking long distances would certainly not be comfortable.

Yami woke from a slight doze to the feel of a hand resting on his forehead. He snapped his eyes open to see Atemu removing his hand. Yami glanced outside to see that the sun was setting. He had asked to talk to Atemu hours ago.

"You finally decided to show up." Yami growled.

Atemu walked over and sat down at his vanity and began carefully removing the jewelry he had been wearing, "Did the servant not inform you that you have your own chamber Yami? Your room is across the hall." Atemu said.

"The servant informed me that my room is across the hall but also told this room was yours. I decided to come in here because I wanted to talk to you. Did the servant not tell you that I specifically asked to talk to you hours ago?" Yami growled.

Atemu sighed, "Yes I received your message. However, the message delivered was for me to come and speak to you when I was able. I was in meetings until a short while ago. What was it you wished to discuss with me?" Atemu asked, now wiping the makeup off his face in the mirror. He really didn't want to argue with Yami right now, he just wanted to go to sleep.

"Why are you acting like a complete and total jackass?" Yami growled.

Atemu allowed his eyes to slip shut as his head fell into his hand. He just couldn't win, no matter what he did or said he lost. He was always going to be the bad guy in Yami's eyes. He didn't choose for this to happen either. This is the last thing he wanted to. Yami didn't care about that.

"I'm not Yami." Atemu said, his voice flat. He was tired and really did not want to fight. Especially not in the one place he was able to relax. His room was his sanctuary.

Yami got to his feet and stalked across the room. He vaguely noted that the burning sensation was gone from his stomach and it now felt numb once again, which means that Atemu had renumbed it. For some reason that made Yami angrier.

"You dragged me to this godforsaken palace and then dumped me here without as much as a backward glance. You were the one who wanted me here. I was perfectly content back at home. We get here and you treat me like I'm invisible. You were the one who wanted me here. This was what you wanted. You don't get to change your mind. So you tell me why you're being an asshole?" Yami growled.

"Because I'm doing exactly what you asked me to." Atemu said flatly.

"What the hell are you talking about Atemu? I didn't ask you to do jack, other than to stay with me when you healer decided to torture me." Yami hissed, "Not that you could be bothered to do that." Yami added.

That did it. Atemu whipped around away from the vanity and turned to face Yami, his eyes blazing, "Excuse me Yami? Last I checked you were pretty fucking specific about telling me to leave you the fuck alone! You were very clear you wanted nothing to do with me at all. So I was doing just that. You asked me to stay away from you, so I am going to treat you like I do everyone else. And don't say I didn't go with you. You asked me to and I went. You were in pain so I numbed it. What more did you expect from me? You want me to stay away and then you don't. Make up your fucking mind Yami because clearly I have no idea what you expect from me anymore." Atemu yelled.

That stopped Yami dead in his tracks. He had indeed yelled that very thing at Atemu just last night. He was frustrated with the whole situation and was taking that frustration out on Atemu and in doing so had given Atemu the wrong idea.

"Now if that would be all Yami, I would like to go to bed." Atemu snapped as he went to stride past Yami and over to his bed.

"Atemu, wait." Yami said as he turned to face Atemu again.

Atemu paused although he was not looking at Yami and instead had his gaze fixed on the floor. "What Yami?" Atemu asked, keeping his voice level. He could still feel his anger coursing through his veins but yelling at this juncture would only make things worse and Atemu wanted this fight to end.

"I'm sorry." Yami said. He meant it to. He had been treating Atemu terribly. No wonder Atemu was pushing him away.

Atemu sighed, this was really not what he needed right now. This arrangement was painful enough but he had to ask, "What exactly are you sorry about Yami?"

Yami was quiet for a few moments as he tried to put his thoughts together to explain exactly what he wanted to tell Atemu. He had a strong feeling Atemu wasn't going to give him another opportunity. "Atemu, I didn't mean that I wanted you to stay away from me forever. Last night was just a bad night for me and I just wanted some space. Clearly I expressed that desire poorly. It seems like you and I have gotten off to a bad start. Would you be open to starting again?" Yami asked.

Atemu was silent as he just sank down onto his bed. Yami watched him for a moment before he walked over and sat beside Atemu on the bed, lightly resting his hand on Atemu's back. "I really am sorry Ate." Yami said softly. Now that Yami had stopped to think he had been the one who was the asshole over the last few days.

After sitting in silence for a few more minutes Atemu glance back up at Yami, "Do you really want to start over? Do you really want to try and have something with me? You are allowed to say no Yami. If you want nothing to do with me I will respect…that." Atemu said his voice to his great shame cracking as he finished his statement.

Yami felt his heart break, that last statement clearly demonstrated two things to him. The first was that Atemu really was a good person. And the second, that Yami had hurt him badly. Yami had to find a way to fix things.

"I mean it Atemu." Yami replied, "That is what I want."

Seeing the cautious hope bloom in Atemu's eyes was painful. Atemu clearly wanted to believe Yami was being truthful but clearly didn't have much faith. Yami was just going to have to prove to Atemu he did mean what he was saying.

Yami leaned forward and captured Atemu's lips with his own. His relationship with Yugi was over. Yami knew that. It was time for Yami to stop punishing Atemu for his own heartache. Atemu was the one he was going to spend the rest of his life with. Have a family and grow old together. Yami more than anything had to put forth an effort.

Yami continued this kiss and after a few seconds of hesitation felt Atemu press his lips back against Yami's in return. Atemu was a good person. It was high time Yami started to get to know the man he was going to be spending his life with. Clearly there was a person under the crown Atemu wore.

And perhaps in time he would come to love Atemu like he did Yugi.

Atemu was the first one to pull away. "It's late. You should probably be heading to bed." Atemu said.

Yami nodded, "Do you want me to stay in here with you? Or would you want me to go to my own room?" Yami asked.

Atemu sighed, "Whichever one you would prefer Yami." Atemu said.

Yami nodded before stood, stripped down to his waist wrap and climbed up onto Atemu's bed, "I'll sleep in here if that is okay with you Atemu." Yami said with a smile.

Atemu smiled back in return before he stood and stripped down to his own waist wrap and crawled into bed as well. Yami slid over and cuddled up against Atemu's side, lightly resting his head on Atemu's chest.

"Do you want to tell me about your day? Mine was pretty boring. I either was on a horse, being tortured by a sadistic healer or dozing in here. Hopefully your day was more interesting." Yami said once the two had gotten comfortable, Atemu's hand had wrapped around Yami's back resting on his side.

Yami felt Atemu's hand on his waist give slight squeeze, "My day was rough at first. But it turned out to be," Atemu paused for a moment before he pressed a kiss to Yami's brow, "perfect. It turned out perfect."

Yami snorted, perfect was not the way he would ever describe their situation, "You aren't being particularly descriptive. I was hoping for more details than rough." Yami said.

Atemu grinned before he started to tell Yami all about his day. Silently thanking the gods for giving him precisely what he had asked for. He just hoped that they didn't decide to take it from him. He didn't know what he would do if he lost what he was just now getting a taste of having.