Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Paradise Kingdom ❯ Checkmate ( Chapter 2 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Author's notes:

Disclaimer: Do I look like I own Yu-gi-oh? Common sense, people; common sense…

WARNING: Insane fluffiness, mild yaoi, abuse, and angst.

Wah @.@ Domo arigatou for your comments everyone! I wanted to include a little commentary part,
but then got too preoccupied >.< Bad Zoo!

*****************************************

"…No thing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away."

- "Ozymandias", Percy Bysshe Shelley

***********************************

Part 2 - Checkmate


Pharaoh Yami was exhausted. As if complaining, snivelling, politically marauding
delegates weren't enough, the lecturing counsellors shouting beside him had more
than drained his scant supply of tolerance. In short, the Pharaoh was stretched to a
thin wire. His head hung in heavy exhaustion as he half-walked, half-stumbled down
the hallway towards his master bedroom.

Slamming the bedroom door and abandoning dignity altogether, Yami crawled
towards his bed. All he could imagine were the soft sheets promising him the taste of
sleep to sate his weary form.

He was startled to see someone already on his bed.

Yami almost screamed in outrage before he remembered who it was. The Pharaoh
sighed looking at the still-sleeping angel curled on his bed and rubbed his forehead.
Right. He had this deliciously beautiful boy sprawled right on the mattress, and he
didn't even have the guts to touch the child, lest remove Yuugi from his place.

Had he been in a less cynical mood, Yami might have laughed at the situation. He, the
_Pharaoh_, couldn't touch a mere slave boy!

With a small shake of his head, Yami pushed himself to his feet, looking around for
spare blankets and mattresses. He sloppily spread the pristine sheets onto the ground,
folding them layer upon layer in a trance-like state of fatigue. Satisfied with the make-
shift bed, the Pharaoh gently took a pillow from beside Yuugi's head.

Yami could have sworn that a smug smile had flitted across the angelic face.

************************************************

Th ere was an annoying damnable rustling sound. That and an incredible stiffness
along his entire back.

Yami snapped open his eyes and looked around in confusion. Had the ceiling always
been that high?

To compound his sleepy confusion, a small head peered shyly from above the
Pharaoh. The boy's eyes had a look of absolute awe and fear. "I-I'm s-s-sorry," he
began, stuttering uncontrollably while pointing towards the Pharaoh's bed. The
blankets had been neatly spread so that they appeared untouched.

Yami forced down a retort and summoned all his willpower to draw himself painfully
up from the cocoon of blankets. "It's okay," he groaned, rubbing his back. Seeing
Yuugi's absolutely stricken face, the Pharaoh mentally cursed. "No! I mean, I enjoyed
sleeping like this. I -uh- find it an interesting experience." Well, it was half-true: he
and Jounochi sharing a bed often yielded disastrous results. Thinking of the
relationship brought a pang of loneliness to Yami's heart. Yet, he couldn't regret it -
he was bound by duty to his position.

Yami was therefore quite startled when Yuugi dashed behind him and started
massaging his back. The sensation was all too pleasurable and the Pharaoh closed his
eyes several times in rapture as the boy ran his small fingers nimbly down Yami's
skin. He let himself relax his rigid self-control until the fingers stopped.

"I-is that better?" Yuugi stuttered. He winced at the Pharaoh's surprised look. "M-my
former master t-taught me how. He s-said it was good for…" The boy trailed off again
as bright violet eyes clouded in with memories.

He'd be damned if the slave boy wasn't purposely provoking him. But Yuugi's eyes
were all too innocent and Yami felt himself unable to resist the child's gentle features.
"Maybe," the Pharaoh smirked, deciding to take advantage of the situation. Might as
well, since no one was here and no one yet knew of his little secret. "But I still have a
sore spot near my shoulder."

Immediately, the delicate fingers began kneading, moving with brilliant dexterity
along Yami's shoulder and causing the Pharaoh to shudder involuntarily. "I-is that the
spot?" the boy whispered shyly, fingers never pausing.

Yami purred in smug contentment. _This_ Jounochi could definitely not do.
"Definitely," he replied archly, "just perfect."

********************************


Jounochi grabbed Yami's arm as the Pharaoh turned to leave the audience chamber.
"Wait, Yami. I want to talk to you."

The Pharaoh shook his head impatiently. "Not right now, Jounochi. I need to get back
to my quarters."

The blonde's lips curled in resentment. "Oh right. I see. You want _him_ over me."

"It's not like that!" Yami crossed his arms in exasperation. "I-I like you a lot Jounochi
but you've got your rank and a promising future. Yuugi has nothing to look forward
to."

Jounochi gave the Pharaoh a flat look. "You could easily give the boy a position. You
know, find him a respectable post and leave him alone."

The Pharaoh paused to reflect on the guard's words. Why was he so fixated on
Yuugi? What made the smaller boy so attractive, so alluring, that it was increasingly
difficult for him to hide his infatuation?

"I-I don't know," Yami finally confessed. "I just wanted something to be there;
something comforting. Yuugi seemed the perfect solution."

"I could have been too!"

The Pharaoh looked up at the blonde's sudden outburst. For the first time since their
break-up, he caught a glimpse of the true Jounochi hiding behind the stubborn,
temperamental shield. The hardened eyes glistened with pain and a troubled grey hue
swirled in the middle of the soft ochre brown. The moment of clarity allowed Yami to
catch a glimpse of Jounochi's spirit, an untameable stallion reared in the fieriest
tempests.

Slowly, the Pharaoh leaned towards his High Guard, letting his smaller frame recline
against the blonde's chest. Yami brushed his lips slowly against Jounochi's mouth,
lingering for a bittersweet moment before softly breaking away.

"I know." Yami's crimson eyes burned into the other's chocolate-brown ones. He
watched the High Guard tremble and shake uncontrollably, face shocked and
pleading, pained anger subdued. "Some things are just not meant to be."

The Pharaoh quickly turned away, disappearing before Jounochi could react.

Neither of them noticed the pair of glistening sapphire eyes watching from the
shadows.

*******************************************
< br> "Something wrong, little Yuugi?"

The boy jerked his spiky head at the Pharaoh's statement. "Not really." He bit his lip.

Yami raised a questioning eyebrow.

"I just don't understand why you're treating me so nicely," the boy finally confessed.
"I'm just a slave, a _nothing_. Everybody else h-hates me."

"Yuugi." The Pharaoh cupped his hand around the smaller boy's jaw-line. "This
world is sometimes like that. It's not a fair or equal world, and we are often
misunderstood. That is what makes us human."

The boy felt himself reflexively leaning against the Pharaoh's arm. "But why are you
different? I-is it because you're the Pharaoh?" The last word was whispered in awe.
After all, weren't Pharaohs considered gods descended into from the heavens?

It was to Yuugi's surprise that Yami began to chuckle. It was quiet at first but
eventually grew into full-fledged laughter. Gasping for air, Yami collapsed backwards
onto his bed, tears rolling down his face in mirth.

A little frown crossing Yuugi's gentle features. He hadn't meant to say something
funny.

The Pharaoh hastily wiped his eyes before sitting back up beside Yuug, noticing the
small boy's sullen pout. Had he not been at the receiving end, Yami would have been
incredulous at the amount of guilt caused by that singular look.

"Aibou [2]." The Pharaoh wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's form. "I didn't
mean to offend you." He closed his eyes, thinking. "It's just that I don't feel like a god
at all. I'm the same as you but born into a position I can't escape from." Yami gave a
wry smile at his analogy.

Still Yuugi said nothing.

"I'm really sorry." The Pharaoh was unsure what to do now. "I'd like to make up for
my mistake."

That seemed to have caught the boy's interest. Yuugi's pout immediately changed
into a brilliant, eager smile. "Do you want another massage?" It was an innocent
comment, stirred by pleasant memories.

Yami decided that the gods did indeed love him. This boy was just too damn good to
be true.

*******************************************

The High Priest was not an idiot. He had his resources, and he knew there was
something going on with Yami. The Pharaoh could simply not be _that_ happy after
breaking up with Jounochi.

With the Pharaoh busy attending to matters of his office, Seto had no problem gaining
access to Yami's private quarters. He experimented with the door's flimsy lock before
pushing it roughly open.

The Pharaoh's chambers looked a bit messier than usual. There were some blankets
piled neatly in a corner off to one side, which immediately aroused the High Priest's
suspicions. His shock nearly caused him to walk into a wall when he spotted a small
figure standing by the bedroom window, absently gazing into the azure skies.

There was no mistaking the boy, even with his face turned away from him. The High
Priest stalked towards the boy, a horrendous suspicion forming inside his mind.

"Where did you come from?" Seto wrenched the boy's arm viciously. He twisted the
arm backwards, cold sapphire eyes waiting for a response.

Yuugi gave a pained cry, turning away from the window to struggle desperately
through tear-blurred eyes. He whimpered, trying to block the pain out but the High
Priest only twisted harder. Yuugi's entire arm felt like it was on fire, every nerve
writhing in protest.

And yet, the boy said nothing.

Seto growled in frustration, releasing the arm with an angry toss. There was more than
one way to get this child to speak. Everyone had a weakness: it was just a matter of
time before he figured how to exploit it perfectly.

"The Pharaoh's bitch." A sneer worked on the High Priest's lips as he bent down to
examine the boy more closely. True, this Yuugi was scarcely the definition of
handsome but the boy's angelic innocence intrigued Seto. "I bet you enjoy getting
laid."

Yuugi recoiled slightly from the High Priest's words, though he did not understand
them completely. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

Suddenly, the High Priest pressed his body against the boy's, bending down to force
his lips into Yuugi's mouth. Seto's stronger arms prevented the slave from struggling
and the brown-haired priest relished every moment in which he savoured those
desperate puerile lips. At last, the High Priest parted, licking his lips to catch the
aftertaste.

"So, this is why the Pharaoh kept you. A little delicious morsel of entertainment,"
Seto chuckled, mentally sizing Yuugi like a hawk judging its prey. The High Priest
grabbed a handful of the boy's hair, forcing Yuugi to tilt his head against Seto's chest.
One hand still holding the clump of hair, the brown-haired priest began working at
Yuugi's loincloth, loosening the golden fastening and letting the material slide to the
ground.

"Please! Don't!" Finally snapping out of shock, Yuugi began to thrash desperately
once again, flailing arms and feet in an attempt to move away. Visions of physical
abuse and violation flashed in the boy's mind. Yuugi could see the leering faces of his
first assaulters, pummelling him, touching him with rapt ferocity until they had
satiated their lustful souls with his innocence. Yuugi was desperate now as Seto's
fingers started to slide along his back, down his side, and by his legs. "Stop it!"

The last word came out in a desperate shriek. Yuugi shook his head violently,
ignoring the lances of pain from his hair, tears spilling like raindrops around him. "S-
stop it!"

So, this was the boy's weak spot. Seto smirked. A pity he was enjoying this too, but
matters of business always came before personal affairs. "I need to know something"
the Priest whispered into Yuugi's ear. "And if you keep me from it..."

Yuugi trembled violently as one of the High Priest's hands snaked between his thighs.
He gave a choked sob, all pride and honour abandoned. "The Pharaoh found me! I
escaped with him here!" The boy's confession was short and desperate.

"So." Seto made certain to manipulate Yuugi's answers to his liking. "You belong not
to Yami but to someone else."

Another touch and the boy broke down again. "Yes! I don't belong to the Pharaoh."

The High Priest smiled viciously. "You belong to me, because I bought you."

Yuugi's fear had reached its climax. The boy sobbed uncontrollably, quivering and
squirming in desperate fear. "Y-yes." He cringed as the High Priest bent closer. "Yes!
I b-belong to you!" The last word came out in a frantic cry fuelled by agony and
panic.

Priest Seto was very much satisfied. He let go of the boy, letting Yuugi fall into a
cowering heap onto the ground. Things had unexpectedly turned in his favour. The
Priest sneered, kicking the pitiful, still-weeping boy curled the ground. "It's ironic
that you, a mere slave, is the key to it all," Seto leered, knowing that the boy was
probably not listening. "You shall be the one to undo Yami's power and put that
arrogant Pharaoh where he belongs."

Yuugi chose that moment to whimper. Seto stared disdainfully at the boy, eyes taking
in the slave's puffy face and watery violet eyes. Oddly enough, they succeeded in
only making Yuugi more angelic.

Matters of business before personal affairs. But after the matters were taken care of
though, there would be nothing to interfere with personal affairs then, would there?

**********************************************

The palace silence was broken by the roar of a single voice.

"Where is he?"

Yami stormed down the hallways, making both servants and noblemen scatter
fearfully in his wake. His head turned left and right in a desperate search for the
object of his desire. Just this morning, the Pharaoh had told Yuugi to stay hidden
within his chambers, yet there was no sign of the small boy anywhere when the
Pharaoh returned this evening. Yami's room had been disturbed; the lock torn apart,
furniture and pillows littered everywhere.

_Someone_ had purposely stolen into his room and taken Yuugi. And, there was only
one other person who knew about the boy's presence.

Yami slammed open the door to Jounochi's room in a frenzy of anger. The Pharaoh
scanned the room quickly before catching the figure of the blonde sprawled
contentedly asleep on the bed.

Immediately, Yami stormed towards the bed, rudely tossing the blankets off
Jounochi's sleeping form. "Jounochi, get up!" The Pharaoh's tense voice betrayed his
anxiety and anger.

The blonde made no response and continued to snore.

Yami grabbed Jounochi's shoulders, shaking them furiously. He continued to throttle
the hapless blonde until Jounochi's eyes finally snapped awake with a startled snort.

"Nnn…" Jounochi blearily glanced at Yami before his mind started up again.
"Yami?!"

The Pharaoh narrowed his eyes in response. He pulled Jounochi's face closer to glare
intensely at the other's confused hazel eyes. "What did you do with Yuugi?"

"Yuugi?" Jounochi echoed, making him sound all the more clueless. After a moment
to collect his wits, it finally sank in. "You mean, Yuugi isn't with you?"

Yami dropped Jounochi from his nerveless hands. The boy wasn't with the blonde
either. An ominous feeling of dread began to swell within his heart. No one else was
supposed to know about Yuugi.

"You _lost_ him?" Jounochi emphasized the word incredulously. "Hell, I thought I
was doing you a favour by letting you go, but how could you just lose-"

"I didn't!" Yami snapped. He softened at the blonde's hurt eyes. "I'm sorry. I lost my
temper. It's just that, he couldn't have just escaped, not when…" The Pharaoh's voice
trailed off, eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"Yami?" Jounochi phrased his words slowly. "You said once that you wouldn't be
surprised even if 'your personal chambers suddenly developed ears and betrayed you',
remember?"

It clicked. It was so simple, so clear, so obvious that Yami was dumbfounded by its
sheer simplicity.
Why else would the High Priest have looked so smug over the past few days? Why
were the Pharaoh's subjects becoming more and more restless?

"Seto!" Yami hissed, fists clenched in absolute rage. Without another word, the
Pharaoh stormed out the door, racing across the Palace in a blur of anger.

The Priest had finally made his first move.

*********************************************


"Pharaoh." Yami was stopped in his warpath by one of his advisors. This particular
advisor had been closer to the former Pharaoh and had often questioned Yami's
competence. "What is it, Kamneth?"

"Priest Seto is waiting for you in the audience hall." There was something almost
malicious in the advisor's eyes but the emotion was quickly suppressed. "He has
something important to address." The audience hall was where the Pharaoh usually
addressed the rights of commoners and workers outside the palace. It consisted of an
elevated chamber connected to the vast outside courtyard.

The Pharaoh burst into the audience hall through a private hallway. He blinked,
stunned by the sea of faces below him. In front of the massive crowd was none other
than the High Priest. Yami was momentarily rendered speechless by the sheer amount
of people packed into the large courtyard below. The cold blue eyes of the priest
prompted his tongue to move. "High Priest, what do you seek to address me about?"
The Pharaoh's words flowed in thick rivulets of anger.

Jounochi had entered the chamber, siding behind Yami with clenched fists, never
taking his furious hazel eyes off Seto's form.

The High Priest seemed to enjoy Yami's fury. "Pharaoh," he said in
acknowledgement, his tone equally thick with pretentiousness. "I have come to
inform you about a slave that I had purchased a while ago."

The Pharaoh's heart began to palpitate faster but he ignored his growing
apprehension. In a crowd of so many, all that mattered now was appearance. "I have
no interest in your slaves, High Priest."

Seto smirked, expression unseen by those behind him. "In usual circumstances, no,
but this particular slave has committed several heinous crimes." The High Priest
nodded to two guards beside him and they quickly drew out a chained and hackled
slave.

A slave bearing brilliant scarlet, ebony, and golden hair; his bruised face was both
piteous and cherubic.

Somehow, Yami managed to get his mouth to continue talking. "Then speak of
them."

Seto permitted himself a grin at the absolute despair written as clear as the mid-day
sun on the Pharaoh's face. He would enjoy every moment of this. "I bought this slave
only a while ago, but it somehow escaped my presence. I was surprised to find this
traitor hiding within the Palace, escaping everyone else's notice as well."

Yami knew that Seto was mocking him. The High Priest could not directly accuse the
Pharaoh without dire consequences, but he could state the facts inadvertently and just
as painfully.

"The slave escaped from me and belongs to me." Seto suddenly gestured to the angry
crowd below him. "I now ask for your permission to make a public demonstration of
how we punish such miscreants."

Yami could not find the voice to speak. All he saw, past the livid, raging commoners
and Seto's leering face, were a pair of brilliant amethyst eyes. They sparkled and
dribbled with silent tears but never lost their trusting, hopeful plea.

"Yami." Jounochi growled, bristling as he watched the High Priest's guards grab
Yuugi and drag him out into the courtyard. The commoners quickly edged away from
the guards, creating a large space in the center of the courtyard. Several of the guards
quickly propped up a long wooden pole, roughly shoving the boy against it before
restraining him to it with coils of thick, stringy rope.

"Stop!" The Pharaoh's voice rang clearly over the noisy crowd. He stood there, a
solitary form against the tide of reckless anger, eyes glistening with power and rage.
He couldn't let Seto get away with this! He had promised to protect Yuugi. And yet,
when Yami opened his mouth, he found himself at a loss of words.

Seto continued smirking. "Surely, oh great and mighty Pharaoh, you cannot find a
common slave of such high value."

"He is just a child, uneducated in the ways of rank and class," Yami finally countered,
trying to keep his trembling rage stable. "The slave may be innocent, High Priest."

"If the boy is truly innocent then his heart will be spared by Amun and he will live a
peaceful life in the afterlife."

Yami opened his mouth to retort, but Seto beat him to it.

"After all, if you can allow lenience with a slave, why are not the commoners be
treated in the same way? If they commit a crime, none of the commoners should
deserve punishment, since a mere slave is exempt of it."
A wave of cries roared in response to the Priest's words, soaking up his statements
like blades of grass drinking off the sun.

This just wasn't fair!

Yet, to the thousands of faces surrounding him, screaming and venting in rage and
triumph, it was perfectly fair. There was no denying such truth and alarming
numbers.

Yuugi was a slave. Not his slave, but a _disobedient_ slave, sentenced to death for a
horrendous crime.

The boy stood in the center of the courtyard, thin, bruised body tied to a single pole.
His scraggly hair billowed slightly in the wind as he continued to look to Yami with
his trusting violet eyes. The sentence was just too long. The Guards surrounding the
small boy had already begun drawing their arrows.

Yami shifted his head away to look at Jounochi. He could sense the anger and
indignation in the blonde's clearly expressed features and for a single impulsive
moment, the Pharaoh wanted nothing more than to confess, run away with Yuugi and
leave this damned kingdom forever.

"Pharaoh, we are awaiting your permission." Seto's penetrating voice broke Yami's
momentary daydream.

The Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower Lands of Egypt glanced at Seto's triumphant
expression. The pang of absolute fury and frustration had become unbearable now
but he couldn't let it show, especially to his people; the sea of angry faces filled his
vision.

"So be it."

At first, Yami thought that someone else had spoken those words. He wanted to
scream, to jump in front of the arrows and protect the pitiful little pile of bones and
skin-

-and then turned his head away.

There was a piteous cry as the arrows struck home, embedding with sickening thuds
into its meagre target. That was all it was. A meagre target comprised of bones and
skin.

Those dead, pained eyes, a lacklustre violet against the radiant blue sky, told
otherwise.


***************************************** *

End notes:

[2] "Aibou" is a common term that Yami uses to address Yuugi, especially in Battle
City. It basically means 'partner'.

PH-san asked me why I would make the crowd at the end so angry, but think back to
the beginning, peoples. Remember the 'deal' Seto had? ^_^;;;

…Death is overrated.

There. That's all the comfort I can give you. Now leave me alone *whimpers*