Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Back To Ancient Egypt ❯ The Matchmakers and The Arguments ( Chapter 4 )

Priestess: Updating this often for an almost entirely un-reviewed fic is ridiculous. (Two sites, three chapters, five reviews) But if I, say, update once every day for a week then suddenly go a year or so without updating, I don't have to feel guilty!

***

"Would you quit doing that?" Touzoku Ou snapped, glaring pointedly at Atemu. "Somebody might think it's me acting like some kind of pathetic wimp."

Hands still shaking at the bars on the door, Atemu turned to glare back-and immediately regretted it, for the mere sight of the room caused the feeling of claustrophobia to tighten around him. "Don't you want to get out of here?" he snapped.

"Of course," Touzoku Ou replied with a shrug. "But I couldn't even if I wanted to, remember?" He waved his hand to demonstrate-even in the dimness, it was easy to see the flash of gold from the bracelet (along with his other jewelry). Putting down the arm, he folded both across his chest again. "Don't you have keys?"

Atemu squinted through the bars, trying to catch the gleam of metal but seeing nothing. That was weird-he knew he had brought the keys with him. "No," he replied with a shrug, mimicking Touzoku Ou, and returned to his futile efforts at escape.

***

"This is wrong," Aishisu said. "We could get someone killed-or get ourselves killed, come to think of it."

"Relax, Aishisu," Seth replied with just the slightest trace of a smirk. "If anybody finds out, we'll just blame it on you. It was your telekinesis, anyway."

"Hey, you forced me to," Aishisu cried.

"But no one would kill you," Mariku pointed out. "Anyway, even you realize they love each other. How are you going to stop suffering if they don't realize it?"

Aishisu sighed, but suddenly the most minuscule of smiles seemed to curve her lips. "All right," she agreed at last, trying to suppress said smile. "We can play it your way for now." The smile widened. "It's been a while since I played matchmaker."

***

"I'm going to go crazy in here!" Atemu shouted, pacing restlessly-not the easiest feat, considering how small the cell happened to be.

"And yet you plan to keep me in here until you decide what to do with me," Touzoku Ou remarked, infuriatingly (and astoundingly) calm. Atemu blinked at him. "What? Did you think I didn't know that?"

"W-W-W-W-W-W-Well, it's completely different for you!" Atemu spluttered indignantly, (and not very eloquently) causing Touzoku Ou to lift an eyebrow in a mixture of incredulity and slight amusement.

"Really."

"Yes, really!" Atemu shouted, losing his temper-not awfully surprising, since Touzoku Ou always seemed to bring out the worst in him. "It's a matter of principle! You're an evil bastard and I'm not! Simple as that!"

"Simple as that, huh?" Touzoku Ou replied, suddenly seeming to stand taller. "I'm as simple as that?" He uncrossed his arms, hands clenching into fists at his side. "You don't know anything about me, Pharaoh!" he barked. "You don't even know my name!"

"What do you mean I don't know your name? Your name's-" Atemu paused and frowned, suddenly realizing just how unlikely it was that Touzoku Ou's name actually was 'Touzoku Ou,' which meant King of Thieves. "Then what is your name?"

"That doesn't matter, it's just an example," Touzoku Ou snapped dismissively. "But thank you for proving my point, your Highness."

"Well, maybe I don't know you specifically, but I know your type," Atemu countered defensively, irritated that Touzoku Ou had indeed made a point.

"My type," Touzoku Ou repeated, his dark blue eyes narrowing with fury. "You go from thinking you know me to thinking you know my `type.' You know nothing. I have no type. If I were just an average bandit or murderer, you wouldn't be so determined to destroy me."

"There are plenty of bandits and murderers, looking for fun or wealth or power or whatever. Once in a while one comes along with some talent. The only thing that sets you apart is that you actually have a little skill in what you do. I have to destroy you to protect my people."

"Yeah, right," Touzoku Ou sneered. "Listen, Pharaoh, if there's a 'type' here it's yours. Maybe I'm an evil bastard, but you're a bastard and a hypocrite. Saying you want to capture me to spare your people…What you want is revenge for your father, and he's as much of a bastard as you were-if not more."

He had hit a nerve. Atemu's hands balled into fists, his teeth clenched, eyes sparkling with rage. "Hah! You have no idea what kind of man my father was! Hell, you probably killed your parents-"

As soon as he said those words it was obvious it had gone too far. He didn't even see Touzoku Ou's arm shoot out before his fist struck Atemu's face with bone-crushing strength.

Atemu gasped in a mixture of pain and surprise, stumbling back in shock. No one-no one-had ever hit or even laid hand upon him before. Ever. It was the law.

And the fact that it was Touzoku Ou's hand which hit him-a hand drenched in the blood of millions of innocents-made it a hundred times worse.

Then rage took over and his own hand went to the feather of the wing that had already seemed to become a personal favorite, even in such a relatively short time (this is two days after Atemu put the bracelet on Touzoku Ou, but Touzoku Ou spent the majority of those two days in the cell)-the one that caused him pain.

Immediately Touzoku Ou crumpled against the stone wall he had been leaning against, (yes, the cell is small enough that you can be leaning against the wall and hit the person trying to break down the opposite wall-or in this case the door) suppressing a scream.

"You forget your place," Atemu snarled, his hand not moving from the feather. "I don't care how trapped I am, I'm still the one in power here." Touzoku Ou's eyes burned with terrifying intensity, but Atemu showed not the slightest sign of fear and kept his finger on the feather.

"Maybe we're both stuck here, and maybe I can't get out either, but as long as you wear that bracelet-and it will never come off-you are at my mercy."

His eyes flashed dangerously as he concluded, "And what mercy have you ever shone to innocent people who did you no harm?"

Being in too much pain to voice the million angry words surging through his head, Touzoku Ou spat out the two most significant: "Hate…you…"

"Why?!" Atemu bellowed, having officially lost patience with the Thief King. "Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?!"

"Would you like me to make a list?" Touzoku Ou sneered, hands pressed against the wall as he tried desperately to retain balance.

"You started it," Atemu replied, causing Touzoku Ou to glare even harder-if that were even possible, that is.

"I started it?!" he cried indignantly. "Your goddamned father started it!" He seemed to stand even taller (and Touzoku Ou's as tall as Kaiba!). "You know as little of the world as you do of me. It's a lie you live, Pharaoh-a gilded, beautiful lie that you live for and would die for, but a lie nonetheless. Do you think that just because you're considered a god you are one? You aren't. You aren't all-knowing, and you aren't all-powerful. You don't understand anything and you know something? You never will!"

Atemu clenched his fists, feeling hatred seethe within him. "In spite of all your brazenness, you must realize you're going to die," he snarled, fuming. "And mark my words, it will be the most painful death anybody in the world could possibly think up. It was the God of the Sun himself that gave it to me, and I am not going to waste his gift. I know the gods would not give me this if they did not have an intention for its use."

Touzoku Ou snorted. "God of the Sun. Right. Forgive me if I doubt his Highness's words."

Atemu clenched his teeth now as well as his fists, struggling desperately to muffle a scream of frustration. Unable to find a way to eloquently express his deadly wrath, he turned back to the door and continued to shake the bars and scream for help.

***

"Wow, for somebody who thinks this is 'wrong,' you certainly seem enthusiastic about playing matchmaker," Mariku remarked, though he sounded impressed.

Aishisu shrugged. "What can I say? I like helping people."

"Good for you," Seth sneered. "But you are, of course, aware that if the Pharaoh or the Thief actually find out about us trying to set them up we could die."

"It was your idea in the first place," Aishisu retorted with uncharacteristic rebelliousness. "Now shut up and help us think."

***

"How the fuck are we supposed to get out of this hellhole?" Atemu wondered aloud, pacing restlessly-well, as close as one could come to pacing in a cell as long/wide as he was tall.

"You," corrected Touzoku Ou. "How are you going to get out of here. I'm supposed to be here until you figure out how to kill me. And you are aware that you made this mistake at least five hundred thirty-eight times in the last four hours, right?"

Atemu glared at him, about to touch the feather. But something stopped him. After having been used over a million times and not seeming to humble Touzoku Ou in the slightest, it was kind of losing its satisfaction. So all he did was snarl, "Bite me."

"Don't tempt me," Touzoku Ou warned, sapphire eyes flashing dangerously. "It's your fault we're even in this mess! I could have gotten out of this place in less than a minute-like a thousandth of one."

Atemu whirled around, eyes wide. "Y-You mean you can get us out of here?" he cried, wondering why this hadn't occurred to him before.

Touzoku Ou smirked. "Not if you want to keep me trapped in this 'hellhole' I can't. Your rules have subtleties. What are you going to say? 'Let me out but don't get out yourself?' Not likely."

Atemu surveyed the prison, thinking about what Aishisu had said about how inhumane it was. And she was right. Oh so right. There wasn't even a place to perform necessary bodily functions (how pathetic is that? I can write nightmarishly graphic BDSM yet I can't write the 'p' word)!

"Fine," he snapped. "You're still a prisoner-you can't leave palace grounds, and you can't damage anything. But you don't have to stay here." He nodded disgustedly at their surroundings. Touzoku Ou peered at him, as if weighing his words, then smirked and mock-bowed.

"As his majesty wishes," he sneered, and stepped towards the door. Turning away so Atemu couldn't see whatever he was doing, he did-something. Atemu's jaw dropped as the door swung open.

"H-How…?" he stammered, only increasing Touzoku Ou's smirk. The Thief fluttered his fingers, the gold rings glinting in the dimness.

"Bye-bye," he cooed, and disappeared into the shadows.