Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Future of the Past ❯ Six- Time to Heal ( Chapter 6 )

The Future of the Past

A Yu-GI-Oh! Fanfic V2.0

By: Sanjuno Shori

Rating: R

Pairings: S/J, Y/Y, M/A

Warnings: YAOI, YURI, AU, SM, lemon!

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! Isn't mine! The fic is! Ask before you borrow it! Your cooperation in expected!

AUTHORS NOTES

Sanjuno twirls around in circles laughing maniacally.

"I fo~ound it! I fo~ound it!"

She stops and grins wide, flinging her arms out as if to give you a hug.

"The rest of the chapters are rewritten, so this is it! Once I've finished this chapter I can start writing new ones again."

She grins again and runs off to pester her beta reader about a pen name. Reiai and Shinma grin and wave from the top of her head.

"How about the editornator!?"

"I told you never to call me that!"

"But it's a good name!"

"No it isn't!"

"Yes it is!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Isn't!"

"Is!"

"..."

"... Well if you're going to be like that I'm leaving!"

Sanjuno bounces back into view, lands in her chair, spins around, and comes to a stop at her keyboard. She grins, happy to have brought annoyance into someone's life.

"Shall we begin?"

The chibi muses answer with enthusiastic nods. Sanjuno snaps her fingers.

= Whoosh! =

There's a set of screamed curses fading from inside her bomb shelter.

She chuckles and starts writing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Recap:

"Jou, come on pretty. Open your eyes and look at me. Please lovely, wake up."

Struggling against the pain that tried to force him down Jounouchi obeyed the softly spoken commands and looked up in a daze. Worried blue eyes softened when their gazes met, and Jounouchi whimpered as he burrowed closer into the warm embrace.

"Seto... gods. Seto..."

The tearful voice broke and Seto lifted Jounouchi into his arms as he stood up, turning to see Yami doing the same with Yugi. The boys locked gazes, calmly noting the homicidal rage that burned just below the surface. As they turned to leave they were halted by a warning growl.

The three monsters encircled them, * but Seto and Yami just glared, not intimidated in the least.

*(A.N.: Not a terribly hard thing to do considering the size of the Blue Eyes White Dragon, natch! ^.^'')

"Get the hells out of our way or I swear to the gods I'll make you move."

Yami's voice was low and carried a wealth of threat. Seto's look was no less deadly for all he remained silent. The monsters stared back for a tense, endless moment before the Blue Eyes snorted and the three forms dissolved into light that streamed into Jounouchi's side pouch. Seto realized that the blonde obviously must have taken the deck from the shelf after the noble had left the room that morning.

Shrugging it off to deal with later the two nobles carried their precious burdens off to the healers.

Tsuzuku

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

The Future of the Past

Chapter Six: Time to Heal: An Introduction of Strangers

=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=

Inside the palace was chaos. Servants, slaves and guards all screaming and mixing and pushing to create a roar of noise and motion. Seto stopped as Yami did. Both sets of gem hued eyes taking in the unorganized mess of people crowding the hallway.

"ENOUGH!"

Silence reigned in the wake of Yami's bellow as all eyes turned to the young pharaoh and his high priest.

"You!"

A guard captain found himself at the receiving end of Yami's crimson glare,

"Gather your men and go clean up the men in the garden. I want them in shackles and locked in the cells yesterday, understood?"

"Y-ye-"

"Stop standing there and do as you're told!"

The guards all leapt into action, eager to be away from their pharaoh's temper. Yami then swept his gaze over the rest of the assemblage, who cringed away and attempted to become as small as possible.

"You, fetch the healers to our chambers."

The trembling servant who had been singled out bowed hastily and hurried away, Yami then glared around again.

"The rest of you get back to work."

Turning with a dramatic swirl of blood red cape the slim pharaoh stalked off, scattering the few whom had not yet scurried out of his path. Seto followed and they soon reached the branch in the corridor that separated their suits. Yami jerked his head in indication for Seto to follow him and the two nobles made their way down the corridor to the pharaoh's rooms.

Entering the spacious chambers Yami set Yugi down on a low couch and indicated for Seto to do the same.

"I thought it best if they see each other being treated for their wounds."

Giving brief nod to show he understood Seto stood to face Yami, expression grim.

"I agree, Yugi at least will not stop worrying unless he sees his friend cared for."

Yami chuckled and set about making Yugi more comfortable, Seto turned back to Jounouchi and the next few minute were spent in a companionable, if tense, silence. A silence that was broken by a hesitant knock on the door. However before either of the two men could rise the door swung open to admit a rather irate looking healer.

" -ou I don't CARE if he's in a pissy mood or not I'm a godsdamned healer and I'll go wherever I damn well please! ESPECIALLY when I was TOLD to come and help them out now GO AWAY before you make me mad!"

At that the healer turned around and smiled brightly at the two nobles who had resettled themselves to watch the show.

"Greetings my lords, you asked for me?"

Not waiting for an answer her eyes scanned over the room and widened as they landed on the bruised forms on the couches.

"Isis bless! What happened to them?"

She whirled around, finger pointed imperiously at the guard.

"You! Go to my workroom and get my other kit! Now!"

The harassed looking guard blinked and looked at the pharaoh who frowned and flicked his fingers in dismissal. Relieved to be getting away from the formidable healer the guard bowed and closed the door as he left.

The young healer had ignored the rest of the proceedings in favor of going to Yugi's side, muttering about the lack of respect given to healers and did they not know any better than to piss off the person who fixed them up? Sighing she checked the smaller boy over before switching over to Jounouchi. Straightening she turned to look the two lords in the eyes.

Yami nodded in greeting, relieved to see the brown haired girl.

"Anzu, I'm glad that you were the one fetched. How are they?"

"They'll be fine, neither has anything too serious, or any permanent injuries."

Her frown deepened as she looked from one person to the other, pushing one hand through her shoulder length hair.

"I'm not saying that they're not badly hurt, beaten black and blue is more like it. Yugi has a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder, while the blond has a few cracked ribs and a nasty bump on the back of his head. Both of them have small abrasions and bruising all over their bodies."

Yami sighed, obviously upset, but some of the tension left his shoulders once he knew the worst of it.

"I had hoped for better news."

The healer turned on them, red-brown eyes flashing, face pale with fury. She was a healer dammit! And Yugi was a very good friend of hers; she hated seeing people hurt like this. She especially hated not knowing how they got hurt.

"What. Happened. To. Them. These injuries are from a beating, a serious beating for no other reason than to hurt but not kill. I've seen the victims of enough beatings to know the difference, now out with it!"

"They were attacked."

Blinking the healer looked at the high priest, incredulously echoing the blue eyed mans simple answer.

"Attacked?"

"Yes."

"But... Why? They're slaves, that in itself usually keeps a person from notice."

Seto sighed, sitting down on the edge of Jounouchi's couch and raked a hand through his dark brown hair before raising his gaze from the blonde's pale face to the healers.

"Perhaps it is so, most of the time, and for most slaves, but not when they belong to the pharaoh and his high priest."

The brunette's voice was grim.

"Oh."

The healers shocked silence thickened and spread to the rest of the room's occupants until the doors to the pharaoh's rooms opened again. This time the guard decided not the take any chances and closed the doors immediately after admitting the new arrival.

Anzu grinned and rushed to embrace the tall, shapely figure. A smile and a return of the affectionate gesture answered the healer woman's greeting. The other woman, who was wearing gold accented armor, had long blond hair and calculating violet eyes that missed nothing as they scanned the room. Anzu lifted the medical kit from the other woman's grasp as she returned to her patients.

"Mai, welcome back."

The warrior woman bowed low, a theatrical sweep made with her arms.

"It is good to be back, my pharaoh."

Straightening she looked at the bodies on the couches again, elegant blonde brow winging upwards.

"It appears to me that I have returned none too soon."

Yami sighed and brushed his hand through Yugi's hair as Anzu used her slaves and ointments to aid her innate powers in fixing the damage dealt to the slim boy.

"You are correct, several attacks aimed at Yugi have gotten through our defenses and the guard. It also seems that they are now targeting Seto and Jounouchi."

"Who?"

The pharaoh motioned in the blonde's direction and Mai had to hide her shock at the sight of such tenderness on the high priest's face.

"Him. Seto's new slave, and a new friend of Yugi's."

Yami went on to explain all that had happened to bring Jounouchi into the palace.

"I see."

A fierce scowl settled on Mai's aristocratic features, and she began to pace the length of the room.

"I also see that the men have gotten lax in my absence. This should never have happened!"

"Mai, please keep you voice down!"

Anzu looked up from where she was now tending to Jounouchi, expression alone enough to scold the disruption of her work. Effectively chastised Mai visibly calmed herself and stopped her pacing.

"I apologize Anzu."

She made a small bow, then turned back to the pharaoh, expression serious.

"Oh, before I forget, that barbarian invasion I had to go and fight? It was a false alarm. It was actually an envoy from a nearby nation that wishes to open trading negotiations between our two countries. As a gesture of good will from their rulers, one of their greater nobles, he's married into the royal family to tell the truth, was sent along. If I hadn't been with the scouting party, and if I hadn't sent a messenger to make first contact, we would probably be at war right now."

"Curse it."

Seto scowled, entering the conversation, and attracting everyone's attention.

"It's too much of an advantage for it too have been coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

Anzu questioned Seto as she stepped back from Jounouchi, and began to repack her kit.

"With Mai gone the palace guard is made less of a threat, and far easier to bypass. If she had attacked that envoy and started a war, we would be unable to give our full attention to keeping Yugi and Jou safe. Finally, but not the least, in the case that she did not destroy the envoy, we will now be distracted by all the politics of forging a new alliance with this country to the greater benefit of Egypt."

Yami nodded thoughtfully in agreement. Acknowledging the truth in his high priests words.

"Also, we will be hard pressed to trust these people because of the attacks."

"Oh. This is terrible, why is it that people are unable to leave us be?"

Anzu looked sad for a moment before shaking it off. She smiled thinly at her friends.

"Never mind me, I've finished with them both. They should be waking up soon, they will be tired and achy for the next few hours, but rest and sleep will take care of that easy enough and I've healed all their injuries completely."

"Thank you, Anzu."

Yami smiled at the healer, hoping to lift her mood.

"Your control over your gift has gotten much better over the years."

Smiling back the woman tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear, nodding at the pharaoh's words.

"Thank you for saying so. My gift has gotten stronger too. There was a time when mending all their damage would have been beyond my strength, now it seems so simple. Even without the help of my potions."

Mai chuckled and wrapped an arm around the healer, nuzzling in the curve of the shorter woman's neck affectionately.

"With all the guardsmen I sent you to practice on? Of course you'd get stronger!"

Giggling the shorter woman turned her head and kissed the blond on the cheek, smile bright again.

"Ah, I'd nearly forgotten the part you played in my training. Thank you again, love."

Yami smiled at the two women then asked a pressing question. Hating to return to darker topics, but realizing the necessity.

"Mai, what happened to the envoy."

The warrior sighed, resting her chin on the top of her lover's hair.

"My men and I escorted them back here and I have them put up in the western guest wing."

Seto nodded thoughtfully, slowly petting the length of Jounouchi's back as he thought.

"We can put off starting the negotiations for a few days under guise of letting them recover from their journey. Mai, that should give you enough time to get the guards we know we can trust back on their toes, get the servants, slaves and other guards questioned, find any spies or traitors that we can."

Mai nodded, already running through a list in her head.

"Right."

She probably would have said more, but Yugi and Jounouchi chose that moment to stir.

Yami smiled gently as Yugi's violet eyes fluttered open and helped the smaller boy sit up. Looking around Yugi's relief was palpable as he saw Jounouchi, who was being helped to sit upright by Seto. Seeing Anzu and Mai the small slave grinned, clapping his hands together.

"Lady Mai, it's good to see you again. When did you get back?"

The blond woman smiled affectionately at the slight teen.

"It's good to be back Yugi. I arrived soon after your attack in the gardens. No worries now."

A feral grin took up residence on the tall warrior's face, and her eyes hardened with a glitter.

"I'll see to it that this doesn't happen again."

Standing up with one arm around Jounouchi's waist to support the shorter boy, Seto broke in, nodding towards the door.

"I'm glad to hear that Mai. However I think it would be best if we continued this a bit later. I'm taking Jou back to our rooms to get cleaned up, Yugi probably could do with a bath as well."

Picking at his dusty clothes Yugi made a face and nodded. After agreeing to meet and finish their talk later Seto and Jounouchi left for their rooms, Mai and Anzu following them out the door to return to their own chambers.

Yami turned to his lover after the others had left. His smile was feral.

"Well, I suppose we'd best get you out of those dirty things and into the bath, hmm?"

"If you say so Yam-mphff!"

Yugi wasn't able to walk very well after his bath. But he was very clean, and Yami kindly helped him get to the bed.

Yugi didn't stay clean for very long.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Leaning back in the warm bath waters Seto sighed, watching with hooded eyes as Jounouchi lowered himself into the bath. The blonde's face was carefully blank and he was trailing his fingertips listlessly through the water. Shaking his head Seto reached out and snagged one of the other teens wrists.

"Come here."

The priest punctuated the command with a gentle tug on the captured wrist.

Jounouchi made no effort to move but the older man could feel the tremors that wracked the slave's slender form.

"It's all right Jou. Come here."

He repeated more gently, pulling firmly until the blond was seated on the bench beside him. Pressed up against his side. Seto tipped his slave's face up and waited patiently until gold eyes focused on his own sapphire hued gaze.

"What's wrong. Is it something I did?"

The priest's voice was soft, and he stroked his thumb against one satin soft cheek.

Shaking his head Jounouchi wrapped his arms around Seto's neck and hid his face in the other mans chest. Frowning Seto pulled Jounouchi onto his lap and wrapped his arms around the blond. Sighing the priest rested his chin on Jou's head, brow furrowed in worry.

"Please Jou, I can't make it well if you won't tell me what's wrong. Are you in pain? I can call for Anzu if you've other wounds."

These were meaningless words of course, Anzu never missed wounds, and her gift of healing allowed her to find even the smallest bump. Still, Seto needed something to say, needed to get Jounouchi to say something back to him. Not a single word had been spoken since the blond had woken up, and Seto was becoming concerned. He knew instinctively that Jounouchi was not a quiet person.

Jounouchi shook his head and pressed closer. Seto could still feel the tremors that shook the smaller boy's body. Even more worried now the brunette placed a gentle hand under the slave's chin and firmly lifted until he could once again look into the luminous gold eyes.

Gold eyes that were wide with misery and fear, the long gold-tipped lashes spiked with repressed tears that finally won the battle against will to spill over and slip down pale cheeks. A faintly trembling lower lip was caught between white teeth as Jounouchi darted his eyes everywhere but at his master. Seto could only wait patiently for the other to look at him, smoothing the pad of his thumb over the abused lip.

"Oh, my poor Jou, please now, you have to tell me what's wrong. You're safe now, I'm here and I'll never let anyone touch you again."

It must have been the right thing to say because Jounouchi collapsed against Seto's chest again, and the words came forth in a tearful babble.

"It's not fair! Why do they always hurt me? I never did anything to deserve this, or the other beatings! Never! But I keep running into them! Sold from one sadistic bastard to the next, always hurting... hurts so much! Over and over it's the same thing! Thought I was safe now, thought the hurting was over! But they followed me! It's not fair! Why me? Why, why... why did I let my guard down? Should have noticed them sooner. My fault, wasn't careful enough, let them catch me..."

"That's enough."

Seto interrupted gently, tilting Jounouchi's head to look him in the eyes once more.

"Nothing you could have done would have stopped them from getting you. They were trained to get past high caliber guards, there's nothing you could have done to stop them."

"But Yugi..."

"Doesn't blame you either. Nobody does. If anything the ones at fault are the guards who failed to stop those men from getting at the two of you."

Jounouchi was silent, eyes averted to watch the light play over the water. Finally the blond heaved a sigh and looked back up at Seto.

"I thought that I was safe, now that I belonged to you. I thought that nobody would dare to harm the High Priest of Egypt's property. But it seems that even now... even though you protect me as well as you can, even you're only human. You can only do so much, and I... I suppose I'll just have to learn to take care of myself again."

"That's a good idea."

"What?"

Jounouchi stared at his master in shock, he hadn't really been aware that he was speaking his thought out loud. The reply came as a surprise.

"You... but... aren't you insulted? I just said that you didn't do a good enough job!"

Smiling gently Seto leaned down to press his lips lightly over the blonds, then nuzzled the curve of one smooth shoulder.

"No you didn't, all you said was that I am mortal, only human, prone to the same mistakes and limitations as any other man. I think it's a good idea for you to learn how to defend yourself, I shall have to speak to Yami about arming Yugi as well. Have you any weapons training?"

"Arming, uh... I can handle a spear and sword, but I'm best with daggers. Why?"

"Because not knowing how to use a weapon is just as dangerous as not having one. I think that I can get you a good set of daggers. They're certainly be easier to hide than a sword."

Blinking Jounouchi watched as Seto leaned back against the edge of the bath again, politely ignoring his slaves shocked gaze.

"You're going to give weapons to a slave?"

Seto raised an eyebrow, finding an almost sadistic pleasure in shocking his pet.

"Why not? You know how use them."

"Yeah, so?"

"And you have recently been threatened by assassins and thugs, correct?"

"Um, yes, but..."

"Then I see no problem with allowing my slave to go armed. Or are you saying you don't want the extra security?"

Seto watched with thinly veiled amusement as the blond open and closed his mouth, obviously searching for something to say yet finding nothing. What else could he do? His pet looked just so cute there was nothing else for it but to kiss him.

Jounouchi melted against his master, giving himself up to the kiss, thinking that he would never grow tired of the sorcerer's taste. Spice and power, it was so far beyond anything else that the blonde had experienced as to have no comparison. Then, ah... strong wicked fingers teasing his body open, pleasure crashing into his senses.

Seto wasted no time, the need to have his lover, to know that he was here, and real, and safe, it was too much. He drove up into the blonde's body hard, eyes slitting with pleasure as he watched the slender boy struggle to adjust to the sudden invasion. The priest gave him no time, starting a hard rhythm immediately, slamming in and out in strong, sure movements.

Jounouchi gasped, writhing as his master's length was thrust against his pleasure spot again and again, the brutal pace gave him no time to breathe, no time to adapt to the bone jarring movements. He could do nothing but drown in the sensations. Soon driven to the brink by the merciless pounding Jounouchi stiffened with a scream, climaxing in a sudden rush.

He lay limp against Seto's chest, gasping as his master continued to slam in and out. A whimper escaping as his hips were gripped hard and the priest slammed up, emptying his seed deep in his slave in a hot rush. Jounouchi could hear the sorcerer's heart drumming under his ear, chest rising with quick breaths.

There was a dizzying shift of position and Jounouchi found himself pressed into the cool tile floor by the scorching body of his master. A scalding mouth trailed over his neck, his chest, hands gripping the curves of his rear, fitting his hips to those of the man above him, whose length was still buried deep in the blonde's body.

Seto was still hard.

"Oh fuck..."

"That's the plan."

Seto purred as his pet moaned, crying out as his well used passage was subjected to another bout of deep pounding. His abused prostate scraped mercilessly by his master's length.

Jounouchi knew then, with a slightly hysterical certainty, that he would not be going walking anywhere in the near future.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

The Hidden Valley was silent, dark shadows cast by the light of the crescent moon forming weird shapes in the sand. Then one of the shadows moved, gliding forward until it stopped at a portion of the rocky cliff wall that seemed to gather and hold most of the available moon light.

The shadow resolved itself into a darkly cloaked figure, one gloved hand reaching for the wall. Illusion fell away with a sound of breaking glass, revealing a carved, brightly painted set of doors set into the cliff face. A series of colorful warnings cheerfully explained the gruesome fate that awaited thieves and the unworthy that would dare to step beyond the threshold.

The dark form snorted and looked for the lock, trailing light fingertips over the seam. The heavy doors swung open easily at his touch.

His expression would have been comical had one been able to see his face.

Shrugging he, -you could now tell that the form was male-, walked through the doors into darkness. Blending easily with the deeper shadows of the interior. So intent was he on his goal, that he failed to notice the movement among the dunes behind him.

As to wither this circumstance is fortunate or not remains to be seen.

Tsuzuku.

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Sanjuno looks up from her fanfiction notebook and grins wide.

"Right, now that you've read this part remember that all the parts before this one have just been rewritten. So you should go and read the entire fic over if you haven't already."

Shinma and Reiai race by with nets and chase a red eyed plotbunny around the room. Sanjuno watches them for a moment.

"I'll be working on chapter seven now that I've found my notes, so you should definitely expect more of this fic to show up in the near future."

"Pfft!"

"You have something to say Jou-chi?"

The blonde character glares at her from where he's seated on Kaiba's lap.

"You're gonna get distracted you know, and you'll forget all about this fic."

Sanjuno laughs spinning around to face the characters.

"Is that a prediction or a prayer Jou-chi? I would never abandon my loyal fans like that!"

Kaiba snorts casting a knowing look in the authoress's direction.

"You're just fishing for bribes and reviews."

"Oh?"

She endeavors to look innocent. Kaiba doesn't buy it.

"You know you write more when offered praise, threats and yaoi pic's. Don't try to deny it."

"I wouldn't dream of it Seto-kun."

She beams at them all and tuns back to the computer.

"Anyway, my dear readers. Go read the new versions of parts one through five if you haven't already and tell me what you think. Your reviews are important to me. Ja minna."

The muses proceed to crash into the Authoress's chair, sending all three to the floor in a cursing heap.

"Shin'ne!"