Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Duel of Love ❯ Sensuality ( Chapter 23 )

Disclaimer: I don’t own Yu-Gi-Oh   A/N: Next chapter!  Hey, this is the longest running story I have here on FFN, I better finish reposting Everlasting Sacrifice and get some more chapters of that up soon! Rant: I really wish I could put this to music…or something like that! Warning: Slight sexuality and a little lime.  The major stuff doesn’t come just yet…   Duel of Love   Chapter 24: Sensuality   Pharaoh Atemu        I watched Miss Katiana, mesmerized simply by thinking about what she was going to do as she danced.  She started off slowly, unsure of herself as I watched her begin to move to the music.  Her hips moved slowly keeping time with a rhythm that Teana was guiding her with.  I watched entranced as she began to really move.  Her eyes half closed in deep concentration.  Her body moved in tune with the strange beat being played and I watched, noting every little detail, every shift in her body every movement of anything.  Her hips gyrated in a circle, she seemed to be a natural at this and I felt things within me shift.  She pivoted away from me and I watched the gently sway of her skirt as it flowed around her.  What lay beneath was a secret I had yet to uncover.  By Ra, those scars on her face only made her look more enticing now!  They reflected in the firelight and the growing night made her stand out even more.  I watched Teana correct a few of her steps and then Miss Katiana was on her own again.  She was doing a fine job at it too.      “Remember all the discussion I had so openly about sex today?” Jono asked and I nodded, unable to tear my eyes away. “I have a feeling you’ll need a tent so your for the night is the one next to mine.  It has everything you would need for a comfortable stay just try to keep it down, okay?”  I nodded once again, not even really realizing what I had just agreed to.  I looked on as Miss Katiana continued to dance and as the music progressed I thought I saw her coming towards me after Teana had whispered something into her ear.  Her face was bright red as she approached and I wanted to just get up and embrace her and tell her how much I loved her and how much I wanted her.       My fists clenched on my knees and my own blush grew just as much.  I thought I heard Jono laugh but I wasn’t sure.  Every part of me was focused on Miss Katiana, every part of me longing to embrace her tightly to me.  Her movements weren’t as fluid as they had been by the fire but she slowly composed herself and the dance became evermore enticing.  She would come closely to me and then back away, moving in time to whatever beat was being played.  I noticed, just barely noticed out of the corner of my eye Teana smiling proudly.  I think Miss Katiana was under a spell of some sort, she was dancing in ways I never thought she would…or could for that matter.  I found my breath hitch in my throat as she bent low towards the ground before jumping up in a small leap.  When and if she came near me again I would be taking her into my arms.  This was a little too much to have her dancing and not dancing with me, not that I could dance at all.      She slowly came towards me, her hips moving in step with the rhythm.  She looked so erotic, so enticing I didn’t know if I would be able to hold back anything now.  I’m glad I was free of my dark half or else Miss Katiana would be in real trouble now.  She was so beautiful and free and wonderful.  I watched her approach me and I held my breath as she neared.  When she was within reach of my arms I extended them towards her and she let me brush her hip as she moved.  I released the breath I had just held in a moan.  I smelled a lotion or oil on her and wondered what Teana had used upon her to make her smell like this.  She moved in a circle, my hand brushing her hip as she twirled around in her seductive motion, and I don’t think she even knew what she was doing.  I watched her, eyes mesmerized by every movement she made and she slowly knelt down on the sand, placing her hands on my knees and looked at me, still moving a little, mere inches from my face.  She was teasing me…haunting me even if she didn’t know she was doing it.      I closed the distance, capturing her lips with my own and she fell forward into my embrace, where I held her there, kissing her softly, enticing her with my own charms.  Her hand fell to my cheek as I drew her in deeper and Jono’s faint laughter was heard but I shoved all noises to the side that weren’t relevant to this, just me and my love.  I drew her in deeply and her lips parted on a moan and I let my tongue come out and taste her, her sweetness filling me and drawing me past a point I didn’t think I would be able to return.  She broke the kiss suddenly and readjusted how she was sitting on me, making it more comfortable for us both before lowering her lips down onto mine once again.  I moaned as I felt her hands shift and slowly clench onto my clothes and I tasted her again, how sweet she was and how willing we both now seemed.  It was as if all the barriers had now dropped and all that was there was me and her…my love, my Katiana.   …        I don’t recall how we arrived at the tent Jono had set up with us nor do I care.  All I knew was we had arrived and in the midst of it all were now kissing atop elegant pillows and a sweet perfume had filled the air.  I kissed her deeply, my tongue tasting her at every possibly moment, drawing away only to intake a breath.  By Ra this woman was amazing in everything.  I left her lips and kissed her cheek, trailing down her face in soft kisses until I began to kiss her neck.  Soft caresses followed and I felt my tunic being removed and her warm hands trail a pattern across my chest.  I broke my line of kisses on a moan and clung to her.  Something didn’t feel right to me.  Should I care though?  Should I care that it didn’t feel right?   Jono        “Teana, what did you do?” I asked as I watched the mischief sparkle in her eyes.  We watched the tent move slightly and heard the noises coming from inside.      “I simply told Katiana a few things…a little more than she needed to know at present but still, their relationship…” Teana said. “I’m surprised that he was able to hold out against it this long, even without his darkness prodding at him to take her.”      “It’s true they needed to become lovers and progress in this relationship but how did you get her convinced?” I asked.       “I didn’t.  The heat of the moment will drive these two to finally become one,” Teana said. “It was quite simple.  That and the pharaoh is a man, unable to resist the temptation of his love.”  She smiled faintly.  I knew it; those two really loved each other more than words could say.  As inexperienced as they were in the art of making love though, they would still be just fine.  That in itself, to know the pharaoh was hopefully going to get some made me think of how he’d probably be in a much better mood for a long time afterwards, even though I knew he’d never admit being in a better mood.  He always claimed he was in a good mood but I knew better, and with the story he told me about Katiana, it was a miracle he held onto a little bit of sanity and not taken her.  Understandable though how he had been able to stop his darker half from raping her though.      “Oh, so you taught her that dance,” I said, pondering those words. “Besides, there isn’t much time left for them.”      “I know.  The shadows…the pharaoh won’t be able to control them for much longer.  Even when his darkness was there, it was still only a matter of time,” Teana whispered and I embraced her. “Their love will see them through, even if it has to finish itself in another era.”      “Do you really think they’ll do it tonight though?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.      “I doubt it,” Teana said. “He will come to his senses or she will come to hers, one or the other.”  She looked at the tent with a sigh.  “I almost wish they would tonight though.  I won’t hold my breath Jono, both of them are innocent.”      “Are you planning on teaching her more later on then?” I asked. “And if so then how and what exactly will you be teaching her?”  I looked at her puzzled by her smiling expression. “It’s not like you know that much about love and lovemaking yourself.”      “What are you accusing me of possibly teaching her?  I only would teach her more dance,” Teana said. “You have the mind of a lecher.”      “Eh, you’ve called me worse,” I said.   Katiana        We lay amidst the pillows, his hand roaming all over me, his touch like fire.  His lips touched my neck and it seared like flame when he raised his head.  I don’t know what was coming over me.  I wanted more of this, his fiery touch, his murmurings of sweet nothings that I heard from his lips.   I arched into him and felt something pressing against me, something that was him…but I had never seen or felt it before.  Wait…I think I have…oh god!  By Ra, I didn’t want to fight against it, couldn’t fight against it.  I wanted him in a way that defied all reason.  His hand trailed down my body, down my left side and down my leg.  His touch was like the hottest flame, hotter than the desert had ever been.  His hand touched my ankle and began to work its way up, slipping under my skirt.  Light as feathers, his fingers and hand moved up my leg and I wanted it…I wanted it no matter what.      “Atemu!”  My voice didn’t seem like my own, crying out as passion flooded my mind and heart.  I was ready for this, I wanted him.  I wanted to do this.  His hand…I needed him, he was so close to the source of my passion, the place I felt he needed to touch.  I wanted this; I wanted him, all of him.  I was completely ignorant on this subject…but Teana had told me a little about sex.  That was what she called it.  She said sex was the next step for people who truly loved one another, to join as together as one.  I wanted that, I wanted to go to that level.  I was tired of being innocent now; I wanted to be a woman.  I needed him.  I couldn’t fight that fact anymore, and I trusted him, now I trusted him with all my heart, at least, that’s how I felt right now.  I don’t really understand love, but he wouldn’t hurt me, I trusted him that he wouldn’t hurt me again.      “Katiana,” he murmured as his lips brushed my lips again with his own. “Katiana.”   Pharaoh Atemu        She arched into my, wanting, longing for me to touch her.  Passion flooded my mind and I became overwhelmed.  She wanted me, everything that I was.      “Atemu!”  Her voice broke through me and I let out a moan.  My hand, it was searching for that one special place of hers.  I touched my lips to hers again.      “Katiana…” my voice was soft, seductive.  Here amidst this place I had her now… she wanted me, she wanted all of me. “Katiana.”  She offered it to me, I felt it, and I knew it.  Everything swirled around me and I drank it in, the sight of her, panting and ready for me, for whatever I would do to her.  I could take it now, take her innocence from her now as we would join together to become one…      I wanted to see her, see all of her.  I removed my hand from her leg teasingly and kissed the base of her throat.  I slipped my hands underneath her shirt and gently lifted it up, baring her for me to see.  She raised her arms and let me take it off of her.  Ra she was beautiful.  I trailed a hand up her stomach and gently touched one of her breasts.  She moaned slightly from it and arched up into my hand.  I let her return to the pillows only to have her land on her side.  What I saw next brought me to my senses.  A scar…running down the length of her back from her right shoulder to her left hip met my eyes.  I had caused that…when the thief had taken her he had done that to her.  I had left her and she was taken and then he hurt her, because of me.  I couldn’t do it.  I couldn’t take the next step.  No matter how much my body screamed for it I couldn’t take away her innocence.  I stood up and ran outside the tent.   Katiana        The pharaoh had left…he had just left me here.  What was wrong?  I sat up and grabbed for my shirt and slipped it back over my head.  What had I done wrong?  I must have done something wrong, what else could it have been?  Was he disgusted by my body?  Did he not want me now because I was so horribly scarred?  I stood up and went outside.  The pharaoh was sobbing and my heart hurt seeing him like that.  Wait…was he sobbing because of me?  Was he sobbing because I horrified him?  I saw him kneeling in the sand, his hands out in front of him digging into the cold earth.  I put a hand on his shoulder and he jumped.      “Miss Katiana!”  His voice sounded panicked, scared.  Was he that horrified of me?      “Are y…you all right?” I asked gently.  He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and I took a step back.  Had I angered him?  I heard him sigh and brush the sand off of his face.  What was with him?      “I’m fine Miss Katiana,” he said and grabbed onto my hands with his own and I brushed a little of the sand away with a finger. “I had no right…”  He looked so pitiful and I couldn’t even see his face.  What was running through his mind?  I wish I knew.  Did he hate me and despise me now or did he not?      “You h…had no r…right to do what?” I asked. “What’s w…wrong?”      “To touch you like that, I had no right to almost take you like that,” he said and gripped onto my hands roughly, I think rougher than he meant to.      “But Pha…Pharaoh…”
     “But nothing Miss Katiana, I had no right!  I don’t know what came over me.  It must have been a mixture of the dance and…”      “And what?”      “Never mind,” he said. “I’m sorry Miss Katiana, it won’t happen again.”      “You don’t d…desire me?” I asked.      “What did you just ask?”  He looked at me all looks of sadness gone now turned to confusion and anger.      “Am I n…not beautiful enough because of my s…scars?  Or w…was it even before then?  Don’t you d…desire me?” I asked and felt my own tears rush forward to my face.      “That’s the most foolish thing I’ve ever heard,” he said as I fell onto my knees.  He still held my hands and he squeezed them gently. “Of course I desire you, of course I find you beautiful.”      “Then don’t you w…want me?” I asked him softly. “Don’t you w…want to take me?”  He didn’t respond to me. “Pha…Pharaoh, I don’t w…want to be innocent anymore.  I d…don’t want to be ignorant.  Teana t…told me we’d h…have to do it, b…become one at some p…point.  She had asked if w…we had done it y…yet too.  When I h…had said no she asked w…why.  I said b…because we just h…hadn’t and she said we s…should since we l…love each other so m…much.”  He still didn’t speak. “Why d…didn’t you?  I was l…letting you!”      “I don’t want you to let me,” he said.  That hurt…that comment hurt.      “Why?” I asked, now getting angry at him.  I pulled my hands away from him and stared into his eyes.  They were so full of pain and confusion right now but I didn’t care.  My eyes right now were the same. “I’m a w…woman!  Stop t…treating me like a child!”      “That’s not it Miss Katiana!” he exclaimed and sat down on the sand, a defeated look crossing his face. “I love you and I want to be with you!”
     “Then w…why not now?” I asked him angrily. “I was r…ready.”  Actually, in all truth, I was only a little ready for it all.  But the fact that he didn’t want me that way, that he didn’t find me ‘sexually’ attractive…      “I’m afraid,” he whispered and fell back onto the sand with a weak sob. “I’m afraid I’m going to hurt you like all the time’s I’ve hurt you before.  I’m afraid I’ll turn into my darkness and take you even if you were to say no when things got a little rough.  I don’t want to hurt you again.”  This was it?  He didn’t want to hurt me again? “The scar on your back…I caused it.  I caused you to get hurt, I caused you pain because I was a fool.  I was an incredible fool.”      “Are you afraid to b…be with me?” I asked.      “No, I’m afraid to hurt you.  I want to wait for the right time…” his voice trailed off and I blinked at him, puzzled by his words.  He wanted to wait for the right time?      “When is t…this right time?” I asked him angrily. “I d…don’t want to…”      “I want to wait until we’re married Katiana!” he exclaimed at me. “I want us to be married before I feel like I have the right to touch you again!”  I looked at him.  Did he just say what I thought he said?      “M…Married?” I asked him. “You w…want to marry me?”  He looked at me intensely, grabbing my hands and drawing me down to him.      “Katiana,” he began and I realized he had stopped calling me ‘Miss Katiana’ and was now just referring to me by my real name. “You’re beautiful, amazing and that dance you did tonight only made me want you more.  I just…I just am not ready yet…it doesn’t feel right, tonight, when I woke up from the amazing dream we were about to fulfill, it didn’t seem like the right time.  I’d rather be married to you first, to do it properly, how it should be done.”  I don’t know if he knew what it was saying because I was confused by all of it.      “W…What are you trying to s…say?” I asked him with confusion on my face.  I didn’t understand him right now.  I couldn’t tell if he was trying to scare me or hurt me!  What was going on with him?  What was happening?      “I want you to marry me!”   Jono        “What did he just say?” I asked, peering from behind a tent a little ways away at the scene.  We had backed away quickly from the outside of their tent when we heard the pharaoh coming outside so we didn’t get caught spying on them, wondering what was going on.  Of course, we still were spying wondering what was going on, but we didn’t want them to know that.      “He just proposed to her,” Teana said. “I told you he wouldn’t take her tonight.  No matter how good she danced and how much he desired her he’s going to be honorable about it and wants to wait until they’re married.”  I let out a snort of disbelief.  He just wasn’t human.  How could a man like that not want a girl like Katiana until they were married?  Hell, I would take her now, but the pharaoh would probably kill me, and I wasn’t too keen on dying just yet.      “That and because he’s afraid.”  I grinned. “Stupid…she was ready for him tonight.”      “She seemed like it as they made their way to the tent.  It was him who stopped, not her.”  Teana grinned back at me. “Be sure to remind him of that in the morning.”
     “I’m not going to tell him that.  I don’t want to get hit by him,” I said, holding up my hands in defense. “You can tell him if you want but I won’t.”      “They’re so cute.”  She let out a sigh and smiled.  I marveled at how she was able to say something like that and yet say other things as well.      “Hey, has she responded to him yet?” I asked and we both turned our attention back towards the scene.   Pharaoh Atemu        I don’t think I could believe what came out of my mouth.  I had just proposed to her and it wasn’t even…well, really romantically done!  I had just yelled it at her that I wanted her to marry me!  How was she going to respond to this?  She’d already been silent now for some time.  I hadn’t even called her ‘Miss Katiana’ now so long as we’ve been out here.  I had to start that up again, I shouldn’t be calling her otherwise.      “Did you j…just propose?” she asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between us.  I looked at her and saw her eyes shining.  By Ra, I might as well make it as romantic as possible.  This wasn’t how I planned on asking for forever with her, but now the monster was out of the shadows, so to speak.  I held her hands gently in mine, kneading them softly as I looked into her eyes.       “Yes,” I said softly, breaking another silence that had fallen between us. “You could say I just did.  This wasn’t how I planned on asking though…I had been planning that for a while…but now is a good a time as any other.  I don’t think you’re ugly or fearful.  I find you beautiful and wonderful.  Miss Katiana, I want to be yours forever.  I want you to be mine forever.  Please marry me.”      “So s…sudden,” she whispered, but I could see the love in her eyes, even if her not replying with a yes or no unnerved me just a little.  “I d…didn’t expect…I d…didn’t think…”  She was trembling a little in my arms.  I think I surprised her more than I surprised myself, which was something in itself altogether.      “Didn’t think that I loved you?  I love you so much my dear.  I want to be with you,” I said. “Please, will you marry me?”  Now I felt foolish having to repeat myself now a third time.  Did she want to be with me or not?  “You are all I need, please.”  This was a new low for me I think.  Begging for her to marry me.  I wanted this though; I wanted to be with her forever.  We didn’t necessarily have to be married to do that but it was more of a way to solidify it, to be married I mean.      “Pha…Pharaoh,” she began and I looked at her, hope shining in my eyes.      “Please say yes,” I whispered to her and she began to smile, tears shining in her eyes.      “I w…will,” she whispered. “By Ra my pha…pharaoh…”  I pulled her into my embrace and kissed her hair.  She smelled so sweet still; whatever Teana had done to her I would really have to thank her for later.  I hope Teana gave her a little to take back to Egypt, it suited her, just as everything else she wore and everything she liked and did.  Miss Katiana was simple and that was just fine with me.      “It’s Atemu, please just call me by my real name,” I said even though I knew she wouldn’t.  It was an old argument now, I just resolved to keep asking her to do so until one day she did.  She had called out my name as I almost took her though. “Ra Miss Katiana, I’m so happy.”  A feeling of sadness overwhelmed me. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t have done this the way you deserved to…”      “Hush,” she whispered and snuggled into my embrace.  “It’s all r…right.  I n…never thought you would ever…”  I put a finger to her lips and hushed her.  She smiled at me and kissed my finger.  Before she could complain at all I picked her up into my arms and carried her back into the tent.  Even though we weren’t going to have sex it would be a shame not to at least sleep in the tent that Jono so thoughtfully prepared for us.  Besides, she would sleep in my arms and that would be enough for now.  The promise of being with her later was enough to make it so I could wait.  I had to be patient and wait until I was really ready for this, until we were both truly ready for this.  It seemed though like I was the one who wasn’t ready for it, which scared me a little to think like that.  I had always heard it would be the woman who wouldn’t be ready but I guess it was for men like me too sometimes.  I just didn’t want to hurt her again.      “I love you Miss Katiana,” I whispered and I lay against the pillows, still cradling her against me.  We snuggled into the pillows and I noticed a blanket to the side, which I picked up and used it to cover the both of us.  It was a chilly Egypt night.  The nights were always cold here, even though I didn’t know why.      “I l…love you,” she whispered back.  I didn’t mind her stutter; it just made her sound all the more adorable.  She relaxed into my arms and I watched her drift asleep, her eyes closing slowly as the realm of dreams came to take her.      “Sleep well,” I whispered to her and she smiled as she fell into a sound sleep.  I held her close and felt the realm of dreams come to take me as well and I lay my head upon her hair as I too drifted off.  This was perfection, just being like this with her.  I could wait; I could wait just a little while longer.  I wasn’t a monster, I had some self-control.  I wouldn’t be like my darkness, I swore I wouldn’t.   Jono        I yawned and stood up from where I had been kneeling on the sand.      “I think that’s all for tonight.  They really didn’t do it after all,” I said with disappointment in my voice and I think it showed upon my face.  Those two belonged together so much I wish they had done it!  There was nothing wrong with sex between two people who loved each other.  I wouldn’t tell the pharaoh either but my standing theory of why he didn’t want to have sex wasn’t the fact he wanted to wait until he was married to her and didn’t want to hurt her, but it was the fact he wanted to try and control the shadows before doing anything.  If they did it and she got pregnant and he didn’t have the shadows under control he was going to really be in trouble.  Of course, he wanted to be a father that much I knew and he would work even harder than he was now to stop the shadows if she was carrying his child and would end up killing himself from it.  He feared the shadow realm now more than ever.  He had one to protect and he didn’t want to risk any more lives in this ordeal that much I was certain of.      “Jono you’re such a letch,” Teana said as she stretched a little. “You owe me some new perfume now, I won the bet.  I told you the pharaoh was too noble.”      “You’re mean and cruel and I hate you,” I said with mock anger.  She smiled at me knowingly and laughed a little.  I glared at her.      “You love me and you and I both know it.  I expect the new perfume soon.  I’m going to bed now.  It’s obvious they are asleep and I’m tired too,” Teana said. “We’ll hopefully see them in the morning before they leave.  I need to make sure I’ll get to see Katiana again sometimes soon to teach her more dancing, even if it does mean going to Egypt to do so.  Once they’re married, if the pharaoh’s still going to chicken out I’m going to make sure she can dance to seduce him to the point where he won’t be able to resist.”      “Sure, you can do that all with dancing,” I said dryly and she looked at me before walking away.  I let out a sigh and she looked over her shoulder at me with a wicked smile that made her look a little more arrogant than I think she intended it to be.      “I can and I will.  It’s the one thing I know how to do Jono, and that’s dance.  Dance is used for all sorts of things, don’t underestimate me.”  In her voice there was a challenge and I knew Teana knew I knew how powerful dancing really was.   Pharaoh Atemu        The next morning I prepared our horse to leave camp.  Teana said Miss Katiana could keep the outfit she had picked out but she had decided to change back into her normal clothes, better suited for riding with and so High Priest Seto if he was waiting for us wouldn’t ask too many questions as to why she was dressed differently and then inquire as to where we went.  I think he knew anyways, but so long as she didn’t come back changed or hurt I hope he wouldn’t get mad at me.  He was the one who first claimed Miss Katiana…and for all he did to try and keep us apart, now he seemed to have given up on that fact, although he still was protective of Miss Katiana.  I didn’t understand what had come over him, or what he had learned, but it had changed him somewhat and I was still curious to know what had happened to him.      “My pha…pharaoh, are you r…ready to leave?”  I turned around from tightening the horse’s saddle to see Miss Katiana with a small pack slung over her shoulder.      “Are you ready to go?” I asked and she nodded.  I went up to her and took the pack from her and walked back to the horse.  “I’ll just tie this to the saddle.  It might fall off while we’re riding if you just hold it.”  I made sure it was securely tied to the saddle before coming back over to her and kissing her gently on the lips.  “That’s to show I don’t want to avoid all touching…”  She smiled faintly as I took her into my embrace. “I’m sorry Miss Katiana…”  She raised a finger to hush me and smiled.      “It’s okay,” she whispered, but I could tell there was a little disappointment in her voice.  She had wanted it last night…she had actually truthfully wanted it and I had been the one to stop it.  She didn’t want to be so innocent anymore…but her innocence was something I treasured even if it didn’t seem like it.  I did desire her…really wanted to take her and join with her and become one, I just didn’t want to hurt her.  I didn’t want to become my darkness, to rape her without any thought of her pleasure and everything she had been through before.  That…and there was the fact I really didn’t know what to do.  Admittedly, my darker half had shown me lots of things that he claimed he knew how to do, so it wasn’t like I had no idea.  Last night I was actually following something that I had been…shown but in all actuality, I had no idea how to pleasure a woman.  I was just as ignorant as she was in that respect, but I wasn’t about to tell her.  Jono did always say ‘when the time comes to have sex, you’ll know what to do’.  I understood what he had meant by that a little last night, when I was making my way up her leg with my arm.      Ra, I won’t be able to get that image out of my head now!  Her face flushed from my kisses and her body ready for me to take her.  She must trust me fully in order for her to have been like that last night.  She must trust me fully now even if she hasn’t said it, right?      “It’s time to go,” I said. “Have you said goodbye to Jono and Teana?”  She nodded at me and I smiled. “Did they give you any lasting words of advice?”  She nodded. “What were they?”  I was curious as to what they would have told her.  They better not be corrupting her.      “You r…really are an idiot for n…not having sex until m…marriage,” she whispered as her face turned a bright red.      “What did they say?” I asked in a dangerous voice.      “Um…well I d…don’t want to repeat it,” she replied. “They t…told me not to t…tell you but I j…just thought you valued t…their opinion.”      I didn’t respond to that, I just merely glared in their general direction.  They probably spied on us last night.  Most likely to see if we really would have done it, which we hadn’t.  I wasn’t sorry for disappointing them that much I can say. “Let’s get back to Egypt.  I don’t want my subjects worrying about me any longer.”  I took her hand and led her towards the horse.      “Pha…Pharaoh?” Her soft voice caused me to turn around and face her.  She smiled faintly at me before coming up to me and kissing me on the cheek. “I w…was ready.”  I groaned softly, she didn’t know how much I wanted her!      “You are too innocent to understand what you’re saying,” I whispered into her ear, regretting it the moment I said it.      “I do un…understand,” she said angrily. “I understand p…perfectly what it m…means to have s…sex.”      “You do, do you?” I asked with disbelief. “Did Teana tell you all there is to know?”      “No…” she trailed off and looked thoughtful for a moment before blushing. “It was S…Seto who once t…told me…”      “Ah, and here I thought High Priest Seto kept you completely in the dark about everything,” I said. “Well then, you’ll know what we’ll do once we’re married.”      “Um…”  She looked around nervously. “But w…why can’t we…”      “Do it before marriage?” I asked. “Are you really ready for that step now?  I mean, we could just do it right here then, but do you really want to now?”      “I d…don’t know,” she whispered.      “Ah, so the truth comes out.  Were you really ready then last night?” I asked her.  Was she really ready or was she just trying to put on a brave face last night to make it seem like she was okay?      “Yes, I w…was and still am.  But if y…you would rather w…wait you’re the pha…pharaoh.  I c…can’t argue.”  She looked down at the sand and I sighed.  Well, if this was the only way to get her to not think about it yet, then so be it.  I might not know much about it but I knew more than she did.  When the time came for us to finally… couple together I could only hope and pray to the gods I would be able to do it and not hurt her.      “Let’s just get back to Egypt,” I whispered and took her hand and helped her up onto the horse, swinging up beside her and holding her in my arms as I gripped the reins.  It was time to get going home. “Are you ready?”      “Yes,” she replied.  I pressed in my heels and the horse began to gallop back towards Egypt.  What had happened at the gypsy camp just changed our relationship now.  She was ready for the next step…I just didn’t know if I would ever be.  One thing I swore, I would not hurt her again.   Jono        “There they go,” Teana said with a smile, waving off the two lovebirds.      “So are you going to be able to teach her any more dancing?” I asked as she leaned against one of the tent poles.      “Yes and no.  I’m not sure really.  I told her a few more moves she could use though before she left,” Teana said.      “They really should have done it last night,” I said with a sigh. “I think the pharaoh would relax just a little bit more.”      “What’re you trying to say?” Teana asked with disgust.      “If he had sex he wouldn’t be so uptight.  That’s how he seems to me.  He’s horny and uptight.”  I let out a cry of pain as Teana smacked me upside the head.  “What was that for?”      “That’s for being disgusting,” she said.      “I’m only speaking the truth.  A man has needs you know!”      “I’m not talking to you,” she said and walked away.      “Teana!”  I let out a sigh, she was mad at me now.  Oh well, not much I could do about that.  I was only speaking the truth from a male’s perspective…but then again, maybe I was wrong.   TBC   A/N: Whee!  I’ve made it to over 80,000 words!  Celebration!  Thank you all for sticking with this for all the long and grueling chapters!  The story is nearly complete so I’m going to start taking votes now for a sequel (if I have time to write it).  Would you like the sequel to be attached to this story or started as a new story entirely (Duel of Love: Rebirth)?  If you choose a new story entirely, I’m gonna take it to mean you’d take a look at it at least once it’s up…if I do put it up at all.  So anyways yeah, that’s your vote.    Owari!