Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Identity ❯ Keeping Promises ( Chapter 11 )

Identity

Disclaimer: I don't own YGO

Summary: Secrets are dangerous things, especially if you're dealing with a false identity. All has gone well for Bakura Ryou, until Kaiba Seto comes into his life. A sort of medieval/Chinese setting. Slash warning Seto/Ryou, a little Yami/Ryou.

Pairings: Seto/Ryou, Anzu/Honda, Jou/Mai, Shizuka/Yugi, Yami+Ryou

Chapter Title: Keeping Promises

Author's Notes: this chapter is probably going to be the weirdest of all.

Oh yeah, I will be using Japanese honorifics from now on, partly because I want to and they sound better than `lord' and `lady' blah, blah. And Ryou will now be addressed as a female.

ENJOY!

---- Keeping Promises ----

Rishid was executed the next morning as Ryou and Seto were given their rations. They heard the jeers of the crowd as he went passed, secured within a cage, his head protruding from a hole at the top. His wrists were shackled and a short chain connected them, securing his arms outside the cage bars.

"How did he find out?" Ryou wondered, leaning against Seto.

"Does he work for someone in particular? A noble?"

"I - oh gods," Ryou whispered. Seto looked down at her.

"What's wrong?"

"The Ishtars."

She sat bolt upright, a frown marring her features. Seto watched her worriedly, knowing just how much trouble the Ishtars could cause.

"They - I remember seeing Malik and Marik Ishtar with Rishid . . . a long time ago. He was there when my brother died . . . he was with Ishizu, I think, just a bit closer to my brother."

"I think I understand what's going on now," Seto said after a while. "Rishid works for Malik and Marik Ishtar. So they would have sent him to spy on you, find out your secret and then, in your greatest moment of triumph, send your world crashing down. But how could he have gotten past the guards?"

"When you think about it, it's not that hard," Ryou replied. She traced a map onto his palm. "We have the back gates, the front gates and then there's a smaller door just on the east wing where the servants go in and out. Well, servants and other people who deliver and things like that. That door isn't as well guarded as the front and back gates, because it is separated from the main house by the servants' quarters."

"So he could have gotten in through there."

"Yes, precisely. Besides that, Anzu and Honda live in those quarters. The servants' quarters are the best place to scout for information because they see everything as they serve us. They don't say anything while around other people and us but when they're back in their own rooms, word gets around quickly."

"Then if Rishid had gotten into that wing, then he could have overheard it."

"But I never told anyone," Ryou pointed out. "The only people who knew of my identity were kaasama, Anubis and myself. Anubis' whereabouts is currently unknown and whenever kaasama and I talk, there are no servants around. No one should have known."

She looked at the food they had been brought and pushed it away slightly, feeling suddenly nauseous. She couldn't eat now; there were too many things to think about. Besides, she was going to die anyway. Seto noticed this and frowned.

"You have to eat, Ryou," he said.

"What's the use?" she asked bitterly. "We're going to die."

"Stop talking like that." She winced at his sharp tone. "Sorry, Ryou, I didn't mean to snap. But if you don't eat, then you won't have enough energy to think. We still have to find a way out of here. You know we can."

"Can we?" she looked wistful. "Yami is probably angry at me for lying to him. He hasn't married all these years because he was waiting for a girl he met a long time ago. I knew he was waiting for me."

Seto felt a twinge of possessiveness come over him when she mentioned Yami. He knew the Prince Regent had something for Ryou and he wasn't about to bow down and let the noble take away what was rightfully his. Ryou was his first, so he would fight Yami tooth and nail if it were necessary.

--------

As for Yami, he hadn't been home for a whole day and night. Most of his time had been spent either with Yugi or with his grandfather. He was pleading Ryou's case, hoping to have her set free. She had done no wrong, he said, so why should we punish her? It isn't like she schemed to usurp the throne.

"It's a matter of moral and ethics, Yami," Sugoroku explained gravely. "It is against our kingdom's laws to let a woman have so much power. I personally have nothing against Bakura Ryou, but the other nobles will not be pleased."

"You are king, grandfather," Yami argued. "What you say goes. What does it matter if the other nobles aren't pleased?"

"Yami, you are forgetting. If I release Bakura Ryou without a reason, then her status in this court will be unstable. Many people will challenge her right to her place and she will be scorned, her life will be in danger. Can you let her live a life like that?"

Yami looked stricken. No, he hadn't thought of that. He couldn't let Ryou suffer while she lived. Even if he did manage to save her and Kaiba, she wouldn't be able to live with herself. She'd be in even more pain and Yami knew, because Ryou was his best friend. He had gone to great lengths to learn more about her and to gain her trust.

"No, I can't . . . and even if I could, she would never agree." Sugoroku patted his hand comfortingly. "But, grandfather, I can't just watch her die. She - she may have lied to me, but I . . ."

"You still care about her, don't you, Yami?"

The Prince Regent stared back into his grandfather's face. The king's expression was gentle and understanding, a kindness showing from his violet eyes. He disproved of violence and murder and would avoid an execution unless the person really deserved it. Besides, he had watched the late Bakura Yaten and his daughter - under the guise as a son - grow up. He was considerably fond of the children of the Bakura household.

"I . . ."

"If you still do, I know a way of saving her," Sugoroku told him gently.

"Yes, I do grandfather," Yami confessed. "I care about her very much."

"Then you claim her," Sugoroku said. "You did that once, with your servant Seii. But this time, you shall claim Ryou as your wife. That way, we have a reason to spare her. No one can challenge the claim a royal family member has over anyone, not even I."

"I can't do that . . ." Yami said, horrified.

"Why ever not?"

"Because . . ." he stopped in mid-sentence. He couldn't tell his grandfather that, aside from faking her identity, Ryou had also fallen for a lower-class citizen. "Never mind. I'll do it. It's for Ryou's sake."

--------

Marik looked disgustedly at the corpse lay out in front of him. It was Miho, his fiancée, who had tried to elope with one of Ryou's servants. She had drowned herself at the wharf when his guards came. They hadn't found Honda and he wasn't back at the Bakura castle, which had gone under a 'closing down' of sorts, locked up and basically emptied.

"These people are pathetic," Malik commented snidely. "They would choose death over wealth and power. They really believe that love conquers all?"

"Take her away," Marik snapped. "Leave her to rot somewhere far away from here. Aside from that, kill her family. I don't want anyone related to her surviving."

Two servants carried her body away and a few more went to do as he ordered. After witnessing the burning of Rishid's body, Malik and Marik had come home, only to find that Miho had been delivered to their door. Marik was in a bad mood and Malik - well, Malik was always in a bad mood.

"Good for nothing, pathetic people," Marik growled.

"There, there brother." Malik smirked over his wine cup. "We've got Bakura on death road and her lovesick sidekick with her. Now that her house has been deprived of its last male heir, we can claim their fortune for ourselves through that debt those losers had with us."

Those 'losers' he talked about shuffled in, looking visibly nervous and a bit self conscious. Now that their so-called 'brother-in-law' was a treasonous criminal, they had no one to fall back on when times were troubled. Especially when it was money involved. They had quickly spent what little money they had saved, what their wives had saved, and buying things unchecked. Now they had only enough to pay back the debt they owed the Ishtars and then the family would be bankrupt.

"You can run along now, boys," Malik said lightly. "Thank you all for your assistance and good luck in finding a new place to live."

"You never said we'd have to drive Ryou to death!" Takao snarled.

"Ah, you don't have any authority to speak to me that way," Malik reprimanded, smirking as if it was the most amusing situation in the world. "I could deal with you as easily as I did an ant, should I choose to."

"Get lost," Marik added, chugging down another tankard. "Go back to whatever hole you crawled out from. I can't believe you could sink so low as to marry into a family, you women."

--------

"Yami-sama."

"Go back to your posts. I'm here to see the two prisoners to inform them of what will be taking place tomorrow."

"As you wish, Yami-sama."

The door creaked open slowly, shedding light on the otherwise dark dungeons. There was only the one cell within this dungeon, reserved for the prisoners who were considered 'special' cases. The two occupants of this cell were sitting against the wall where they had been chained, murmuring.

"Ryou? Kaiba?" Yami said.

"Yami!" Ryou looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Seeing how you are, of course," Yami replied, unlocking the cell and walking in. "I - I wanted to apologise for not coming sooner."

"No, I should be the one apologising," she corrected. "I lied to you for so many years and I shouldn't have even gone out that time so I wouldn't have met you in the woods and you wouldn't have waited so long for someone who would die of treason either way. . ."

Yami silenced her by kneeling down and taking her face in both hands. Seto stiffened, but dared not raise a hand against Yami. That would only mean he had a reason to die and it would taint his honour. The Prince Regent looked her in the eye and brushed a thumb over each of her cheeks.

"We can't change what happened," he told her firmly. "Don't blame yourself, because I don't mind having have waited so long for you. But the two of you must listen to me carefully. I have a plan to save the two of you."

Seto faced him expressionlessly. Yami noted how close he suddenly sat to Ryou, in a decidedly protective manner. He grimaced. This would make the whole plan more difficult. But he had expected no less from them. They had been through so much and it was obvious how strongly they felt for each other.

"This was the only way I could think of," Yami began. "I know you might disagree, but unless we do this, there is no other way of getting you out."

"What is it, Yami?" Ryou asked. "Just tell us."

"I hope you'll be all right with this plan. . ."

He told them, detailing every little part of the plan, occasionally looking around the cell in case of any eavesdroppers. As he progressed, Ryou's eyes widened and Seto looked less than happy. When he'd finished, Seto was glaring at him and Ryou was - well, she wore a blank and yet startled expression.

"No, definitely not," Seto said shortly. "Sorry, Yami-sama, but I can't agree to this plan. I'd rather die than give up . . ."

"Look, Kaiba, I know you're not happy," Yami interrupted quickly, "but think about this. If you don't go with this plan, then you'll be executed tomorrow morning, at dawn. That's less than twelve hours away. I don't know about either of you, but that's not something I want to wake up to."

"But Yami . . ." Ryou pleaded.

"Please, Ryou, I want to help." The Prince Regent looked at her intensely. "This is perfectly legal. I can get you out this way and Kaiba, well he's only in here because you are. If you get out, then he does too. If you attempt to flee, then you will become criminals. Think - this is the only way to get out."

Ryou met Seto's eyes and they were pained. She felt tears well up in her eyes as he nodded slowly, once, before they slid down her cheeks.

"We'll do it."

--------

Court was called almost immediately. Yami paced the chamber behind the throne room anxiously, muttering to himself. Sugoroku patted his arm comfortingly, eyes kind. He knew his grandson was fretting himself sick over this court meeting.

"This can't go wrong," he was muttering. "Please, let it go smoothly . . ."

"Yami, it's time for us to go inside."

"Grandfather." Sugoroku stopped and looked back at him. "Is it going to be all right? Will they be safe?"

"I will make sure of it."

They walked to the dais at the end of the throne room as the entire court stood below, bowing formally. Yami glanced once, longingly, at Ryou's empty position in the seats next to the aisle, before mentally shaking himself and preparing for what was to come. Sugoroku cleared his throat and sat down.

"The Prince Regent has put a case forward," he began, voice radiating authority. "Yami, you may proceed."

Yami stepped forward and stood just below the largest throne, in the centre of the aisle. His younger brother, Yugi, watched him curiously and confused. They hadn't informed him about what was going to happen. But he was smart, Yami thought, he would catch on quickly.

"I have called court to discuss Bakura Ryou's case," he began. Whispers went up around the chamber. "I lay claim to her."

"You cannot lay claim to a prisoner!"

"This is outrageous!"

"What are your reasons for such a claim?" Sugoroku asked. As soon as his voice filled the chamber, everyone fell silent.

"Grandfather, you must remember the promise you made to the late Bakura Yaten-sama's wife, Kana-sama, regarding the marriage of your offspring. One of the daughters from the Bakura house will marry a son of our house because this was the reward for his father having died trying to save my father, your son."

"I remember," Sugoroku said gravely.

It was a true event. It had occurred some four years after Yami had been born, during the civil war on their borders. Yugi's mother, the Crown Prince's wife, was already a few weeks pregnant with Yugi and her husband had gone off to settle a few skirmishes along the border. Ryou's grandfather had gone along with him, being his tutor.

They had both, unfortunately, perished in an ambush of their camp. As several survivors recalled, Bakura had died saving Yami's father from an attack. The former Crown Prince had then also died by the sword. Both bodies had been brought back to the capital and received a proper burial. The promise had been made then, Ryou being two years old at the time. They believed, since both heads of the Bakura house were dead, that the promise would have to last until the next generation. That was how Yugi came to be engaged to Kujyaku Shizuka when he came of age. Yami chose not to marry.

"Since there is a daughter of the Bakura house and a son of ours, then why should this promise not be carried out?" Yami asked. "It is a legal betrothal."

"You have brought up an excellent point, Yami," Yugi piped up, catching onto their plans. "I see no reason why this shouldn't go ahead."

"If there are no further objections to this matter . . ." Sugoroku began.

"STOP!"

---- End of Chapter Eleven ----

A/N: ok, forgive me for deciding to stop here, I wanted to make nice, even twelve chapters. I don't like the number eleven. Besides, this was around the normal length of one of my later chapters. My earlier ones were short.

And I didn't DELIBERATELY drag this on. It was because I found things to resolve that I couldn't in one chapter. Besides, it was about time to update. So, did you enjoy?

Look out for the last chapter (finally!) in a week or two!

REVIEW!

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