A Past and Future Pharaoh
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Original Beta: White Swan
A/N: OMG I was going to merge this with the next chapter when I realized this was 9 pages long. Fixed up more things editing is taking forever for all these fics but anyway...
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'There's nothing to worry about Hiroto, it's not Jounouchi doing this after all, you'll be fine,' Honda thought as he got ready for the anesthetics to be pumped into his system. It was a thought that became a mantra as he caught sight of Jounouchi standing near a small tray holding cutting tools. His parents were with him; but his mothers' nerves were making him have a hard time calming down. Normally he would be strong for her, but being deaf left him with an added layer of vulnerability that left him feeling defenseless. The bed was not comfortable, the clothes were drafty and made him feel very exposed, his friends had been shooed out of the room for family time, and Honda was fighting nerves.
"Next we'll take you to the anesthesiologist who will begin administering the drugs to put you to sleep. From there we'll take you into surgery, then you'll spend about the next two days in ICU, before we transfer you to a room for the rest of your recovery…" The words rolled over Honda like a wave, he had already read as much about this surgery as he possibly could, and now he just wished it was over. He hadn't slept well the night before, which coupled with the early morning wake up call, along with a fasting since lunch time Friday morning, left Honda tired, drained, and sorely wishing this was over.
They said he wouldn't get his full hearing back, he would have to focus on a person, but he would be able to hear them better than he was now. This was probably something very similar to what Shinzuka felt like when she was being taken in for her eye operation. But she had been born with a degenerative eye disorder that resulted in her gradual loss of sight; it was a fate that she had been resigned to since the odds of affording such a surgery were so stacked against her. But Honda had been told there was still no sign of who put the bomb that blew up the Game Shop and cost him his hearing in the first place. It angered him that part of his college money was going into fixing his hearing because some jerk decided to attack Yugi's family.
The sudden feeling of someone placing their hand on his arm startled Honda so greatly that he sat up in a near panic. That only got even more hands resting on him in a sudden surprise as the people around him got him back on the bed. Somehow Honda had been so lost in thought, he never even noticed when he suddenly went from being in the hospital room to the pre ops room. Once again Jounouchi and Anzu were there smiling encouragingly down at him when suddenly from the corner of his eye he saw the doors to the room fly open. With Bakura and Malik running into the room like they were being shot and diving behind the first pair of strong male figures and hiding. Oh, and there was Bakura and Malik's fan club, about to do a room search…
"Ladies!" The doctor straightened up in stunned outrage at the improper behavior of the girls. "This is a hospital operation preparations room, which is no place for your antics! Now I insist that you all leave at once!"
Properly chastised, the girls left quietly; casting glances around for a peek of blond or white before they were totally out of the room. This gave Bakura and Malik a chance to actually have a breather. When they finally caught their breaths, Bakura immediately dropped into a deep respectful bow to the doctor, reaching up and pulling Malik into joining him. "Thank you for getting rid of them, it was not our intention that they should bother you."
"Bakura let me go!"
"You have to be respectful!"
"I'm Egyptian 'not' Japanese; if I want to shrug my thanks I will!"
"Bakura please stop throttling Malik."
"I am not throttling him."
"Yeah well it sure looks that way from here."
"Be quiet Malik."
"Bakura please calm down."
"Anzu stop ruining my fun."
EAR YANK!
Honda rolled his eyes only to watch as his mom grabbed his dad's hands and began to look very uncomfortable with the company that Honda apparently kept. Suddenly a slip of paper was placed into his hands, causing him to look at it while Bakura throttled Malik his hand returning around Malik's throat. Jounouchi rubbed his re-abused ear and Anzu looked like she was baby-sitting ground zero.
The note read:
Our Prayers are with you.
"Hey guys don't pray for me. Pray that my parents let me hang out with you again after this," Honda joked as he watched the gang, looking rather fond of them at the moment. "Man we're hopeless without Yugi."
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He left them with that thought in mind, as he was rolled away, letting the gang make their way out of one cold, sterile white room and towards the waiting room. There was only so much a group could do, sitting in the hospital while waiting for the results of an operation. The room was a muted white with a soft yellow trim, the colors intending to be uplifting and encourage positive thoughts for the patient in question, while the TV broadcasted the local station, which was at that time showing the morning news. The gang had left pretty quickly, with a short vote on having breakfast at the cafeteria, letting Honda's parents have some time to themselves to deal with their son being under the knife. Anzu and Jounouchi sat talking, over plates of pancakes and drinks wondering over how Honda would readapt to the world, first by losing his hearing, then by regaining it in a slightly altered fashion. They were also curious as to how the game Yugi was testing out was going, as well as being grateful that it was Mokuba overseeing the game. They were still rather haunted by how Kaiba wore reading glasses to correct what his foster father had done to him before his death.
"Chh more Foreigners," a young man huffed as Bakura quietly signaled for some pancakes. "I don't know what's worse, the Foreigners that roam our streets posing like they're true Japanese, or that Foreigner on the screen."
"Ano… Kaiba? The CEO of Kaiba Corp. is a Foreigner?"
"Yeah, his mother was from one of those barbaric countries," the first guy said in a huff, but Bakura's little, poorly named, bunny ears lifted up like radar and he focused on the conversation. With softly spoken instructions to speak only in Egyptian, to Malik, Bakura began following the pair of teenagers.
"Really?"
"Yeah, the parents died so the rest of the family took him and his brother in long enough to empty out the bank accounts, then dumped the pair in the first orphanage they could find. Now look at him, he's damn well owns this town!" the teen sounded utterly pissed about that.
"Excuse me?" Bakura said letting his British heritage come more to the fore, speaking in only English as he politely tapped the stranger on the shoulder. "May we share this table? The others seem to be rather unclean or occupied at the moment."
"Sure," the brown haired teen dismissively gestured towards the other side of the table; which Bakura accepted with all the 'clueless' cheerfulness of someone who didn't go to school in Japan.
"So how do you know so much about Kaiba?" the friend asked eager for the information, which implied he was a new friend, one who was also staying in the hospital.
"Che, he's my cousin."
"No Way!"
Bakura and Malik, following Bakura's example, hid their own expressions of disbelief behind cups and food.
"Yeah, my folks put his money in a savings account for when the time when I would go to college. At the time the gaming industry was just starting to become more popular so I went to school to join that revolution. Only to have that Foreigner get adopted and take over Kaiba Corp, turning it from a Military contract manufacturing company into a gaming one. For all the shit he produces, he never went to a single class about it and if you're to believe the press, he comes up with most of it on his own. Certainly the holographic systems he created from day one exceed most people's expectations of what a system is capable of doing!" The teen slammed his cup down on table in a fit of anger while Bakura was tucking happy amounts of information away for later use.
"Is something the matter?" Malik asked in Egyptian in false innocence.
"What?" the guy looked confused, as the Blond was looking directly at him, but he couldn't understand. Of course no one taught 'Egyptian' and Malik was intentionally using a more pure version of the language anyway.
Bakura seemingly, 'translated' the conversation to Malik. When in reality simply said "apparently there's more to his upbringing than we knew about. Which would explain more of his complete lack of trust, all things considered."
Malik nodded in a seemingly 'thoughtful' attentive way, allowing himself to continue playing the 'clueless' role.
"No, I was just telling my friend how it upsets me that a guy who would kill his own foster father could be so rich."
"Killed his foster father?" Woohoo that got both of Bakura's ears up and attentive, "how do you mean?"
"Well everyone in this town knows about Kaiba Gozoboro, he supposedly died by falling out of a window while suffering a heart attack." The guy seemed to have become pleased at finding an audience for his story. He leaned over as though sharing a personal bit of information between friends, which of course Bakura and Malik leaned over to listen to as well. "But the thing is, how could that happen? How could a man who pretty much runs this town have done that? One would think that he would have some strong, high quality glass for his windows. I think the little Foreigner pushed him to his death," the teen finished in a tone that just oozed that he was right.
"But if that was the case wouldn't he have given up the company? Just take the money and go somewhere and live like a lazy rich brat?" Malik asked curious to this guy's logic. Though it meant speaking in Egyptian and having Bakura translate for him.
"Who knows, he probably likes all the attention he gets for running such a huge company," the guy shrugged in annoyance.
"So what is Kaiba, where were his parents from?" Malik asked with casual curiosity in his native tongue. Which given how pale Kaiba was, while just slightly tanned Mokuba was, was a good question. While allowing Bakura to translate the question for the blond.
"Oh he's from Africa," the guy replied, nearly causing Bakura to choke on his bite of pancake, good thing for self-control.
"You're kidding! He doesn't look it," the friend exclaimed in amazement as those at the table tried to find some aspect of Kaiba that looked remotely from that country.
"Oh the northern parts, you know where all the more violent savages are."
For once since Malik's return to Domino, Bakura found himself interested in moving away from the Egyptian sitting next to him.
Granted Malik was supposed to 'not' be able to understand what was being said around him, yet he was quite proud of his nationality. Though he was trying quite hard to pretend he didn't grasp the words while Bakura tried to soothed the ruffled blonds' feathers.
"It's not worth it, just settle down a little longer," Bakura raised his hands to help in trying to settle Malik down. "If I may, my friend here is from Egypt, if you could please be mindful of how you describe non-Japanese folk?"
Both teens paled at Bakura's words and, for their sake, the speaker 'did' seem to genuinely be embarrassed.
"Ahh sorry, I thought you and your partner were from America…"
Bakura could only shake his head ruefully as he realized that the guy must have assumed they were lovers, seemed the typical assumption. Even Bakura could see it, what with Malik willingly wearing earrings, the light bit of eye make up and such. He held to a great number of Ancient practices, though subdued and well.. "He thinks you're my girlfriend."
"I'm a 'boy'!" Malik snapped at Bakura.
"And may I add a very 'bitchy' one at that. He assumed you were because you're wearing all the jewelry." Bakura replied trying to reassure and calm Malik down, che good luck there. "Might I add he's not the first?"
"What?!" Oh looked like Malik was going back into frazzled mode. Bakura pulled out another letter and handed it to Malik, before tugging him away from the table, since something told him that Malik was about to get loud.
With Malik nose deep in that little letter Bakura got up, gathering both their plates and prepared to leave with a formal, perfectly pronounced Japanese, "thank you for letting us sit with you."
'And thank you for that wad of Yen you had in your wallet,' Bakura thought as he put up the tray and rushed to join Malik before some poor patient heard the rants of a very angry Egyptian. In the back he heard Anzu and Jounouchi calling out to him, probably curious as to why the pair didn't join up with them. But he figured with the information he now had to share they would forgive him.
All Anzu knew was that Bakura and Malik opted to sit with someone else, and then suddenly Malik stood up, got something from Bakura, turned around and began stalking out of the cafeteria. She and Jounouchi stayed seated until they noticed Bakura leaving, thus decided to take up the rear when Malik suddenly froze mid step, seemingly reading something over again before pulling out a book from one of the pockets in his cargo pants.
"Since when the hell have I ever been submissive to you!?" Malik demanded, looking around Anzu and Jounouchi at Bakura.
"Huh? What kind of question is that?" Jounouchi asked as he walked along with Anzu, who seemed a little pink on the cheeks.
"Um, not that kind of submissive."
Jounouchi didn't get it, thank goodness. Anzu would have much rather have Jounouchi and Malik someplace where they wouldn't rouse more attention, before she explained things, with probably Bakura serving as her explanation back up. But she needed to get them away from anyplace that would disturb doctors, most notably surgeons.
"Whatever it is can wait till we're at a less busy location," Anzu informed Malik as she led the way, with Jounouchi taking up the rear so he could enjoy watching Malik's look of stunned outrage, being directed at Bakura.
"It's not my fault, I didn't write the letter or insinuate such things," Bakura defended himself as they walked down the hallway into an empty, darken waiting room before directing his attention to Anzu and Jounouchi. "But I think what I found out about Kaiba will interest you, even if it is just passive information."
"Kaiba? How did you get any infor… did you find out who kidnapped him?" Anzu asked as the thought struck her.
"No, but I found out how he ended up in the care of Kaiba Gozoboro," Bakura explained as he sat in one of those uncomfortable chairs that they always had in waiting rooms.
"Well don't keep us in suspense," Jounouchi replied as Malik reread the letter; one could almost see the sparks of anger shooting off the teen.
"It seems that after his birth parents died, Kaiba's relatives took them in long enough to strip them of their inheritance and give it to their own child. They seem to have a very nationalistic sense of pride and wanted nothing to do with a half Egyptian." Bakura explained, earning looks of stunned disbelief from the pair. After all Mokuba 'did' have features that didn't belong on any pure blood Japanese child, and Kaiba himself was, well could one say, tall?
"But, they were children who just lost loved ones. How could anyone be so cruel?" Anzu asked, her mind shunning the idea of a pair of kids so horribly treated, not to mention ending up in the hands of Gozoboro! After all it was Gozoboro's sick teachings that turned Kaiba into such a cold dispassionate young man, whose only signs of warmth were directed towards Mokuba. Even now the warmth he showed Yugi was akin to a flickering candle flame, weak and could easily be snuffed out.
"Man that must make them so mad!" Jounouchi snickered in amusement at the thought; though he started out disgusted by the treatment Kaiba received, but he found an amusement out of the situation. "They dump those two, dirt poor, into an orphanage, and now Kaiba's so rich he could have them evicted from the city on his say so!"
"But they didn't deserve such treatment!" Anzu argued, though she did agree with Jounouchi on the type of justice.
"Well, also did anyone ever find out how Gozoboro died?" Bakura added into the growing silence. It was typical that both teens shook their heads, no, after all Kaiba Corporation was a military construction company before Kaiba took over. In fact, he had taken it over only six months before Pegasus began his attempt to bring back his lost love. "Apparently he had a heart attack and fell out of the window to his death. But if you go by Kaiba's cousin, it's possible that Kaiba pushed him out."
Anzu and Jounouchi looked stunned as they heard that; threatening suicide was known to be something Kaiba was willing to commit himself to for the sake of his brother. But would he kill? Could he cross that line into murder, and if so, did it really matter?
"All dueling men accept their inevitable deaths," Malik replied, only to note the surprised looks on the faces of those around him. "What? It's a known fact, if you're going to be a guy who lives by the sword then you better be fully prepared to die by that sword. If he's the one responsible for Kaiba turning out the way he did then he wouldn't have been stunned that it happened to him. Maybe stunned that it happened by a kid, but he should have died fully prepared that such a thing would happen."
"You know you really scare me sometimes."
"Really, without the Rod and with only one personality? Great! I'm glad to know I haven't lost my," suddenly Anzu smacked Malik upside the head with a few of the magazines that had been lying on a table next to her.
"But, I'm not Jounouchi!" Malik exclaimed; feeling rather abused at the moment.
"Of course not, that's why she hit you and didn't yank on your ear like she does me all the time," Jounouchi replied as he leaned back, staring thoughts into the ceiling.
"She can't, if she yanked on his ears the way she yanks on yours, she could easily rip those earrings out," Bakura noted.
"So what do we do? We're at loose ends until the surgery is over," Anzu asked looking among the group.
Bakura lifted up his hand, silencing the trio before he got up with all the noise of a mouse treading thick carpet, and the fluidness of water flowing out of the pitcher. He went to the doorway before suddenly sticking his head out with a firm "Boo!"
Kaiba's cousin fell back with a shriek as he was interrupted mid sneak towards their location, while Bakura stepped out to face the teen.
"Is there something that I may help you with?" Bakura asked casually as he stood there, the guy getting to his feet in embarrassment.
"How…"
"You have a very palpable aura of pride towards your country," Bakura replied casually as the others stepped out to join him.
"Is it wrong to just be walking around?" the guy demanded as he tried to hide his wounded pride.
"No, but people who 'just walk around' do not walk slower and hug the walls," Bakura countered politely.
"What makes you think I was doing that?"
"Besides that being the very action I saw when I stuck my head out? Oh just call it a feeling," Bakura replied with a casual shrug as he stood there, the ghosts hovering around the guy.
"So what is your name? Seeing that Kaiba had his legally changed," Anzu asked as she peered over Bakura's shoulder.
"Hogosha no Ichiro," Ichiro replied in a proud voice.
Pulling out the translation book Malik, again, riffled through pages wondering if that name was supposed to impress him.
"But why follow us? We're here because a friend is having surgery, what about you?"Anzu asked as she stuck her head down while shoving Malik back into the room.
"My friend got hurt while fixing his friend's motorcycle so his brother and I came with him…"
Malik suddenly began laughing so hard that it startled everyone into looking at the blond Egyptian as he held his book in one hand loosely.
Blinking in confusion the gang thought about what Ichiro's name meant, and soon the snickering grew, well save for Bakura who apparently believed in being polite. He began shooing the other's back into the room and turned his attention back to Ichiro with a cheery smile on his face. "You'll have to excuse my friends, but you see they know Kaiba, though admittedly in a distant sort of way. That being said, your name, coupled with what your family did to him is rather amusing to them."
"That's none of your business! How dare you tell them about that!" Ichiro declared hotly looking about discreetly, a pity it wasn't discreet enough to miss the eyes of a thief.
"Ah Kaiba is at work, afraid that he'll have you chased out of the town? It must be annoying knowing he can have that happen."
The rest of the moment became a blur even to Bakura's eyes, he was well aware he was going to be thrown up against a wall. It was something that had happened with a regular frequency in his life, growing up from the bullies, and for a moment he forgot that the Ring was gone. He wasn't going to zone out and when he came around the bullies would be gone. Instead he hit the wall and just as he was about to get hit, Malik appeared. The teen apparently recognized that Bakura was being threatened, and had grabbed the arm Ichiro was using to restrain Bakura to the wall. But Ichiro countered by punching Malik instead of him, but the difference in size and Bakura shifting his foot made it a glancing blow to the corner of Malik's mouth.
"Hey! Leave them alone!"
And Lo came the Puppy; Jounouchi rushed out of the room putting himself between Bakura, Malik and Ichiro, while Anzu rushed to Malik's side checking up on him even as a stray nurse called for an orderly to take Ichiro outside. Ichiro kept arguing his innocence while Bakura and Anzu looked Malik over, after all Malik was a good strategist and could manipulate people easily. But he wasn't anything that resembled a fighter on any level and needed to have someone protect him from fights. The nurse came to check on Malik even as he began squirming under all the hands touching his face; call it a problem from childhood, but he rather disliked anyone taking a firm hold on him.
"I'll get an ice pack for the young man, I'll be right back so all of you stay here," the nurse informed them before leaving.
"What happened Bakura?" Jounouchi asked while Malik sulked to the side about his bruise.
"He didn't like the fact that I told you guys what he said and that you know Kaiba," Bakura replied with a shrug before turning his attention back to Malik. "You didn't have to protect me, I deserve for him to hit me after all."
"No, you don't!" Anzu replied stunned at Bakura would suggest that. "What did you do to deserve being punched?"
"Well this," Bakura said as he pulled out a wad of Yen from his pocket.
Saying that the rest of the group was stunned would have been an understatement, "Bakura, hey man you didn't…"
"I just got upset with him and before I knew it I had pilfered his Yen, sorry Jounouchi."
"Lunch on Ichiro!" Malik replied brightly before relaxing on the couch.
Anzu swatted Malik before shaking her head, "do we even try to ask you if we should give it back to him?"
Three pairs of eyes focused on her with a look of 'what do you think' clearly in them.
"Oh Bakura what has become of you?"
"Ok, we have time to kill… say Malik, any reason why Mahaado has a bipolar personality?" Jounouchi asked, sitting in one of the side chairs.
"Come again?" Malik asked as the nurse finally returned with the ice pack and a stiff reminder to stay out of trouble.
"He's all submissive and obedient to every single thing that Yugi says, hell he's even fearful of Kaiba. But he's a soul what the hell is he so afraid of out of those two that he would act like that? I mean Yugi adores him like a brother and so what if Kaiba doesn't like him, Kaiba doesn't like anybody." Jounouchi replied, recalling the times they had been around the Mage.
"Because he comes from Ancient Egypt he sees Yugi as Pharaoh still, and Kaiba well, I don't know." Malik replied, before wincing at the ice pack.
"Well the Other Yugi handed over the throne to Set before he left the game world; would it be safe to assume that Set, or rather Kaiba's past life, accepted the throne of Egypt when the Other Yugi first died?" Anzu offered; after all Atem didn't win in his lifetime, he could only make it a draw back then.
"Then to him, Kaiba is still Pharaoh as well, though he swore his loyalty to Yugi, he still has to acknowledge Kaiba. And like you said, Kaiba doesn't like anyone so it would be natural to be more afraid of Kaiba. A Pharaoh was a living God for them, displeasing a Pharaoh could result in terrible retribution, both physical and spiritual." Malik replied in what sounded like a 'Gods why did I take this teaching job again?' tone.
"If one were to offend or personally attack Mahaado, more then likely he would submit because, as it was mentioned before he was a slave at first. Normally someone who has such high favor of the Prince or Pharaoh would have a great deal of power in Egypt. Yet because his master did not favor him, abused him in fact because of his low birth rank, it is possible that Mahaado sees things in two way. If someone offends or attempts to harm Yugi he will defend him, thus hiss more formal, almost forceful side we've seen. Yet when someone attempts to harm or offend him he will accept it because it's been beaten into his mind that it is fine. That he has no power to stand up for himself because all people who were not born into slavery are above him in social class." Bakura added, surprising the group.
"How?" Malik asked, interested.
"I… I remember back, during this lifetime I'd zone out whenever someone was trying to hurt me. When I'd wake up the bullies would be gone or I'd be in another location, but back then I didn't zone out. It was as though I watched everything in my life through a TV, and was never truly in control." Bakura looked decidedly miserable finally before sighing. "I remember driving Mahaado to kill himself."
The group, even Malik, just sat there floored as they stared at Bakura who grew increasingly agitated until he finally got up and left the room all together.