Lion Heart

Keara: Oh! Can I help torture Teana! We have to leave her alive cuz I need her for the story but causing great bodily hard won’t hurt… us anyway XD

Cosmic Tomato: I’m sure they’ll all be fine. °glances nervously at further chapterss° yeah… they’re.. fine… °gulps and hides°

Dragonlady222: it really was a lot of fun to meet you XD and to rant about senseless things and such. Let’s hope I manage to get myself into America again someday ne? ^^ have fun with the chap!

AzureSapphire15: *bows* thank you very much, and down’t worry because I will continue. Story’s already done so not posting it would be rather retarded ne? XD have fun with the next chap!

EvilPharaohAtem: Well I really needed a chapter with ‘Kura and ‘Riku and the others cuz else the rest wouldn’t make any sense. Atemu and Yuugi will return though, so don’t worry! ^^ have fun with the new chap!

DemonGoddess061: First of all, and I’m sure you’ll either not read this but I’m still typing it, fuck off. Everyone on this site does this for fun and not for any kind of profit. If I owned this, I wouldn’t be writing fanfiction. If I made profit off this, I wouldn’t be putting it on a free site. I’ll change your fucking disclaimer, purely because you’re being asses about it and I dislike leaving people hanging in the middle of a fic, but you really need to get over yourselves and the disclaimers; they’re rather retarded.

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My appologies for the rather late update, but yesterday evening when i was supposed to be updating i was on a plane getting my sorry ass back home. God jetlag sux… *groans* but whatever, it’s only one day late so I’m sure you won’t kill me for that… I hope ^^; Have fun with the cahtper and R&R!

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--: 11 :--
Lies

Malik let out a sigh of relief as Mariku left the room, the older sulking that he’d been called away by Bakura. Ryou looked after the older look-alike, before sitting down on his bed – the state of which had greatly improved since they’d gotten there – and gained a troubled look.

Now usually Malik would’ve started whining about how much he hated it that Mariku kept trying to get into his pants. Ryou would then argue that he secretly liked the other, and Malik would heatedly deny this. A huge argument would ensue that would end around the time that Ryou would roll his eyes in exasperation as Malik turned his back on the white-haired teen in stubborn denial. This is how it had been going on for the past week since Ryou got the strange notion that he actually liked Mariku.

Which was absurd. Sure, Mariku’s somewhat child-like behavior at times could be considered cute on some plane and the other wasn’t as bad as the Mariku he’d seen on the battle field, but he still couldn’t stand the other. He’d kidnapped them, was currently keeping them hostage, and of course he couldn’t forget that both Bakura and Mariku were trying to kill one of their best friends. It was absurd that he’d fall for someone like that.

Even if Mariku’s behaviour was getting to him slightly.

At this moment though, Malik chose not to follow their usual ritual. It seemed Ryou was distracted by something and he doubted the other would actually contradict him in this state. He propped himself on his elbows, not wanting to sit up completely since he was quite comfortable on the bed. “What’s wrong? I thought I was the one that was being annoyed.”

Ryou glanced up, a distracted look on his face. “Nothing’s wrong, just thinking.” The fact that Ryou was lying was only half being concealed, and obviously the white-haired teen was actually too far in whatever it was that was bothering him to bother with hiding it.

Malik gave his friend a flat stare, “You’ve always been bad at lying but now you’re not even trying. Spill.”

Ryou hesitated for a moment, knowing that Bakura had just told him not to speak of what he’d seen. He figured it was more about that strange voice coming from the shadows than what he’d heard Bakura say about the Pharaoh though, so he supposed that part he could discuss with Malik. He wasn’t quite sure if Bakura would actually find out if he discussed the voice as well, or how he thought Bakura was being influenced by someone, but he wasn’t ready to try his luck quite yet.

“I overheard Bakura muttering to himself about the Pharaoh,” He hesitated again as if expecting something bad to happen now that he’d said that, but nothing happened. “Do you think Yuugi’s wrong and the Pharaoh is like his father?”

Malik rose an eyebrow at the strange question, “I doubt Yuugi would help the guy if he was as bad as his dad. Why?”

Ryou frowned, “It’s something Bakura said. He said that Pharaoh Aknunkanon had destroyed his village when he was young and that Pharaoh Atemu is just the same.”

Malik stared in shock for a minute, “Pharaoh Aknunkanon actually destroyed an entire village? Well, Yuugi did tell us he also sent out that guy to kill off the rebels, so why not kill an entire village!” He threw his hands in the air out of anger. “No wonder Bakura has issues with the royal family.” He paused, “Though I doubt Pharaoh Atemu is like his dad if Yuugi says he’s okay.”

Ryou nodded, “Yeah, he seemed really nice with Yuugi.” He gained a slightly amused look, “Even though you and Jou thought he was being disrespectful.”

Malik rolled his eyes at that, “Jou thought it; I didn’t really know what was going on. I was still somewhere in the shock that Yuugi was actually Hikari.” He kept his voice down during that statement, afraid that if he spoke too loudly they might be overheard somehow. Nice or not nice, Bakura and Mariku were still trying to kill their friend so he wasn’t planning on just giving them the information they wanted.

Ryou nodded again, his mind racing with heavy thoughts. Everyone knew Aknunkanon had been a bad Pharaoh, and of course many had suspected that Atemu would follow in his footsteps. Atemu had done nothing to confirm that suspicion though, and Bakura had seemed very certain about what he’d been saying. And that voice…

Ryou shivered lightly though he made sure Malik didn’t notice it. That voice was very strange. Shadows couldn’t speak so what had been hiding in those shadows? And since most of the rebels had decided to give Atemu a chance after he’d shown definite signs that he wasn’t like his father, did that mean that creature was influencing Bakura, and probably Mariku too, to believe that Atemu was in fact like his father?

His mind flashed back to when Bakura’s look had changed into one that seemed possessed, and Ryou once more shivered. That thing in the shadows had tried to take control of Bakura, he was sure of it. And although Bakura had said he didn’t want to be controlled, Ryou couldn’t help but wonder if the reason why Bakura and Mariku seemed so different while fighting was because their actions where being manipulated at those times.

If everything he’d just come up with was true, then the whole war between Bakura, Mariku and Atemu was far bigger probably. Something else was trying to get something out of this war, and he was using Bakura and Mariku to get it.

Especially Bakura, apparently.

For the first time in his life, Ryou really wanted to punch that person. That had seriously not been a thought that had ever crossed his mind; not even when Bakura and Mariku had first kidnapped him and Malik.

“Ryou?” Ryou snapped out of his dark thoughts, glancing up at a questioning looking Malik. He would’ve loved to tell Malik about what he’d just concluded to see if the other agreed with him, but that would mean he’d have to tell the other about the strange voice as well. He still wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to test Bakura’s words.

Giving a slight smile, Ryou was about to answer when the door to their room opened and a happily humming Mariku came in, plopping down on Malik’s bad and pulling the other into his lap and hugging him, “Hello Malik-pretty, missed me?”

Malik, instantly forgetting his discussion with Ryou, scowled at the other, “No, it was nice and quiet. Can you go back to wherever you just came from and continue doing what you were just doing?”

Mariku pouted, “Mariku can’t, there was some lady that wanted to talk to Bakura and me but she’s gone now. She said she knew who Hikari really was – someone named Yuugi – but Bakura just thinks she’s crazy.”

Even though it wasn’t noticeable in his behaviour, Mariku carefully watched Malik and Ryou’s reaction. Ryou’s head snapped up at him a little too fast, though if he hadn’t been paying as much attention as he had, he probably wouldn’t have realized it. Malik’s gaze shot to Ryou, a brief flash of shock shooting through the lavender orbs before it was hidden carefully.

Mentally smirking as the reactions confirmed that Teana had indeed spoken the truth and that Malik and Ryou knew Hikari as a human, Mariku simply continued as if he hadn’t noticed anything, “Bakura sent her away because he thinks she was just trying to impress us.” He grinned down at Malik again, “So now Mariku can spend time with Malik-pretty again!”

Malik glared at him, though if you looked carefully you’d notice that the blonde seemed more distracted than usual. Mariku’s mental smirk widened, though he didn’t show any signs on the outside.

“I’m not ‘Malik-pretty’ damn it! And let me go!” Malik started to struggle to get out of Mariku’s lap where he’d been sitting quite comfortably until then. Mariku brushed aside any thoughts of Hikari for the time being in favour of hugging Malik tightly so he couldn’t escape and cuddling him happily. The war would for now have to wait; he could tell Bakura later what he’d just found out. For now, spending time with Malik was much more important to him.

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Yuugi checked around him again to make sure no one from the palace had followed him. No matter how comfortable that bed Atemu insisted he sleep on with him now was, he really couldn’t just lie in bed all day just because he hadn’t been sleeping too well lately. He had a feeling that if Atemu knew he’d just sneaked off yet again in hopes of finding more clues to the location of Bakura and Mariku’s hideout, the Pharaoh would instantly send out half his army just to get him back in the palace.

With a sigh Yuugi started walking through the village of thieves he’d reached. Certain villages were known to harbor mostly criminals, and this was one of them. Yuugi usually wouldn’t even dare to go near here, but places such as this were perfect places for supporters of Bakura and Mariku to hang out. He’d been in several villages like this during his search and although each of them gave him the creeps, it really was the best place to look.

He started to wander the streets, looking around curiously to see if he could find anyone that looked stupid enough to talk. After about half an hour of wandering, Yuugi stopped with a slight frown on his features.

No children were out on the streets, which was something he’d always seen in other towns. He could even hear young voices as he passed by some of the houses, so he knew there were children living there.

Also, the streets themselves seemed uncommonly calm. It was around noon by now so people should’ve been roaming the streets in masses. He’d barely seen anyone out, and those he did see quickly scurried off.

The feeling of unease he always had in these towns increased drastically and Yuugi glanced around nervously, feeling eyes on him even though he couldn’t see anyone. Something was wrong here, and he really couldn’t ignore the obvious signs of that anymore. He needed to get out of there before something happened.

He turned around, going back the way he’d come as fast as he could without making it seem like he was trying to get away from the town as soon as possible. He could be wrong – even though his senses were usually right – and drawing attention to himself would be a very bad thing in that case.

After a few minutes he passed by a large group of men. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up instantly, a warning shiver passing through him. Yuugi tensed greatly, only barely resisting the urge to whip around.

“Well, well, well, so it is true after all.” Yuugi came to a stop at the sudden voice and hesitantly turning around, knowing that the person who’d spoken was talking to him. The feeling that something very bad was about to happen only increased, the need to get away as fast as possible so great he could barely make himself just stand there instead of running away at top speed.

The group of men were looking at him, smirks adorning most faces as others openly leered at him. The man closest to him, the one that had apparently also spoken before, gave a mocking grin, “The great Hikari really is nothing more than a child.”

Yuugi’s eyes widened as he instantly tensed, his body frozen in momentary shock. Forcing his body to move again, he whipped around, planning to run away before anything could happen, only to come face to face with more men that had suddenly appeared. Glancing around him, he noticed that he’d been surrounded completely with no way out. His shadow magic instantly lashed out to protect him, the shadows in his immediate vicinity shifting restlessly.

“What do you want from me?” He turned slowly, trying to keep an eye on as many of his attackers at the same time as possible, though his main attention was still focused on the man that seemed to be the leader of some kind of this group.

“Masters Bakura and Mariku have put out a vast reward for whoever captures Hikari.” The man’s grin widened, “And they’ve discovered that you’re Hikari.”

Once more Yuugi’s eyes widened, though this time only slightly. How had Bakura and Mariku discovered that? Had they forced something out of Malik and Ryou after all? Well one thing was for sure, denying that he was Hikari would be quite pointless. It was obvious that these people knew for a certain fact that he was Hikari, and would only laugh at him if he tried to say differently.

He let his magic flow to a point where his transformation was nearly starting, wanting to be ready if anyone tried anything, “So you work for Bakura and Mariku?” The leader nodded, still grinning to a point where he seemed insane. “Then you must know what happened to my friends after those two took them.” He couldn’t help it. He needed to know what had been happening to them, even if he was hearing it from an unreliable source. He needed something.

The man raised an eyebrow, “Friends?” he gained a slightly thoughtful look, though his grin never left his face, before his face lit up in what seemed like realization and he spoke again, “Oh, those two runts they brought in.” he snorted in a mocking way, “I doubt they’re even still alive. Master Mariku loves to play around with his prey for a bit, but they usually end up dead within two days tops.”

Yuugi froze, his entire body becoming numb and unfeeling. Two of his friends, two of the only people who had always been there in his life, were gone. Dead. And it was all his fault. He hadn’t been able to protect them. He hadn’t been there on time to save them. He hadn’t been strong enough to break free of Mariku’s grip on time.

He’d let them down.

The small voice in his head telling him that this man could just be lying to him went unheard, the much larger and louder voice yelling at him what a complete idiot he was echoing in his mind together with the man’s words, repeating themselves over and over.

For a moment that seemed like an eternity, the entire world around him seemed to slow to a halt. Everything went silent, nothing moved, and Yuugi swore that for a moment, he thought he might’ve actually died from the shock. That was when the world came back into motion and the feeling to his body returned to him. The full blast of guilt hit him and he crumbled to his knees, uncaring that he was currently surrounded by people who wanted to kill him.

The man in front of him grinned sadistically, “What’s wrong? Did they mean that much to you?” his mocking look increased, “Well, if the great savior of Egypt is in so much pain over his loss, let’s put him out of his misery, shall we?”

Yuugi stared blankly for a moment, the words that were being said barely registering, until something clicked in his mind. He was the savior of Egypt, and if he died here, he would never be able to get back at Bakura and Mariku for killing his friends.

It might be his fault for not protecting his friends properly, but they were the ones who’d killed Malik and Ryou. His fault or not, he needed to make Bakura and Mariku pay for that.

Dying was not an option.

Yuugi’s magic burst free from him as a look of pure rage crossed his face and the shadows around him lashed out at the group surrounding him. The thieves that had been about to charge at him looked shocked at the sudden display of power, before the shadows around them consumed their souls without a second thought. One by one the men fell, all wide-eyed and without even the slightest chance at escaping. Yuugi watched it impassively, angered amethyst staring at the scene with a strange calmness that didn’t reflect the incredible turmoil currently going on inside of Yuugi’s mind. His own magic was boiling, releasing itself with great force and once more lashing out at him just like the time Ryou and Malik had just been kidnapped. Yuugi seemed strangely numb to the pain this time though, as if he couldn’t feel it even though he knew it was there.

He stood slowly, the shadows around him roaming over the ground in chaotic patterns that should be impossible. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the man that had been speaking to him fall before him, a look of horror on his face as he lay there, motionless. “I’ll get them back for this.” Furious amethyst gazed in the direction of the palace, before the magic around Yuugi brightened, the entire street he was in being engulfed by golden magic. As it retreated, Hikari stood in place of Yuugi, ripped clothes falling to the ground as the still chaotic magic didn’t seem to effect him in the slightest. All the stabs Hikari felt were ignored, anger numbing his sense of pain to a point where it plainly couldn’t be felt.

Not even giving the bodies around him a second glance, Hikari took off at top speed towards the palace. If he kept running at this speed, it wouldn’t take him too long before he’d reach Atemu. When he reached Atemu, he could start planning his revenge. Atemu needed to know after all, and could probably help him.

It still took him a few hours before he reached the palace, even if he’d ran all the way at the highest speed he could muster. The usual exhaustion he felt when running so fast for a much shorter time even had been numbed just like the pain his still raging shadow magic caused, enabling him keep running even when he usually would’ve collapsed.

The two guards and the entrance gates looked shocked as he ran past, both heads turning instantly as he passed by, before they glanced at each other in wide-eyed shock. Hikari had been going too fast to actually see anything but a blur. Even without seeing the lion or the ability to sense Shadow Magic even the slightest though, they had still sensed that something was wrong. They couldn’t quite place what was wrong or how they knew, but they knew for a very certain fact that something had happened to their feline ally; something very bad.

Hikari raced into the throne room, knowing Atemu would be there at that time and not caring if he had any guests. He didn’t even bother to wait until the guards standing at the entrance doors had opened the doors completely; simply throwing the doors open himself without care. Atemu, who had been speaking to a peasant that had obviously come with a problem, looked up in surprise at the rude entrance. At seeing Hikari and sensing the aura the lion carried with him, he immediately stood up.

“I’m sorry but I’m going to have to postpone our meeting. Since you’ve come quite a ways I’ll let you stay in one of our rooms until I can attend to your problem again. I truly am sorry.” The peasant looked shocked at the sudden interruption and the appearance of a lion in the throne room, merely nodding numbly and letting himself be taken to his room by some servants.

Atemu, signalled for Seth to stay where he was wordlessly, the High Priest giving him an annoyed look but not moving an inch. Again without a word spoken he left the throne room, Hikari following him. All the High Priests but Seth glanced at each other in shock and question, though none tried to follow the duo that had just left. They had all sensed Hikari’s aura and knew Atemu would be the only one to get through to the other.

Atemu lead the way to his room, holding the door open as Hikari entered and closing it behind him. He gave the other a worried look, feeling the extremely chaotic magic burning away at the other’s aura, and no doubt hurting him. How Hikari was still maintaining his lion form without even the slightest show of pain was beyond him since the last time this had happened, Hikari had changed back to Yuugi as his control slipped away.

Hikari released his transformation, only vaguely registering that as his human form came back, the strain he’d been putting on his shadow magic became less. He still didn’t register any of the pain it brought with it, even though somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it was there. He didn’t care right now though; he needed to tell Atemu what he’d heard.

“Yuugi-“

“They killed them.” Atemu stared for a moment, shocked that Yuugi had actually cut him off, and moments later because he started to comprehend what Yuugi meant. He walked over to Yuugi, intended to give the other a hug and completely ignoring the fact that the other was naked. Yuugi took a few steps back though, the look on his face strangely blank.

“We need to find Bakura and Mariku and kill them, now.” Yuugi took another step back so he was out of reach of Atemu. He needed to make the other understand that he was fine; he just needed to avenge his friends.

Atemu stared for a moment, searching the usually open amethysts he loved for any sign of what was going on in the other’s head. He found nothing. Not a single emotion could be read from the amethyst depths. Atemu felt strangely horrified at seeing such a look on Yuugi, and knew that no matter what the other might want him to believe or might even believe himself, he was not okay.

“Yuugi, are you okay?” He gave the other a worried look once more, but it only seemed to anger the other.

“I’m fine! We just need to find Bakura and Mariku and make them pay for what they did!” Yuugi glared, looking surprisingly intimidating at that moment. Why was Atemu wasting time? They needed to hurry up!

Atemu merely narrowed his eyes, used to all the glares from Seth so many times and not easily intimidated now. “Yuugi, your magic is a mess, you look more dead than alive, and you’re telling me you’re okay?” Atemu gave him a mocking look, “Please, you’re anything but okay.”

Yuugi narrowed his eyes as well, “I said I’m fine! I just need to find Bakura and Mariku and-“

“Kill them?” Atemu’s glare grew, “The Yuugi I know doesn’t think like that. He would rather spare the lives of those two if they couldn’t do anymore harm than kill them.”

“Well you don’t know me that well then! The people who did know me that well just died and you’re not doing anything!” Yuugi sank to the ground, tears finally streaming down his face as he broke down. The full force of two of his best friends dying finally hit him, and with that realization he finally broke down.

He would never get to see Malik and Ryou again. Never again would Malik pull pranks on people. Never again would Ryou scold him for doing that. Never again would Malik mockingly blow his white-haired friend off after the scolding as if it was nothing.

Never again would he see them.

Pain finally hit him as well as the numbness that had been holding his body finally left. Exhaustion spread through his body from the long way he’d ran as all the pain his own shadow magic had caused and was still causing coursed through his veins. His body shook with sobs and trembled with pain, but Yuugi couldn’t stop himself anymore.

Atemu stepped over and pulled Yuugi into his arms, whispering sweet nothingness as he tried to comfort the other at least a little. He knew the other hadn’t meant what he’d just said and that he’d just burst after apparently trying to keep all of his real emotions bottled up.

It took a long time before Yuugi finally stopped crying, though his body continued to shake, Atemu pulled away slightly to look at the other, but Yuugi clung to him tightly, “Please, don’t go.” His grip became even tighter and Atemu could nearly feel his heart breaking at the completely lost tone in the other’s voice.

He picked the other up bridal style and carried him over to the bed, never once complaining about the death-grip Yuugi had on him. He lay down, keeping Yuugi close to him and softly humming a song he vaguely remembered his mother singing for him whenever he wouldn’t be able to sleep. Slowly he felt Yuugi falling asleep, though the younger’s body still shook even after he’d drifted off. Atemu simply held the younger closer to him, refusing to move an inch away from Yuugi until the other was awake again, and hopefully a bit more alright.

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Uhm… should I hide? *sweatdrops* I probably should huh? For my defense, IT WAS ALL TEANA’S FAULT! KILL HER! NOT ME! *hides and then runs back in* Review please! *hides again*

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Preview:

“You think you know everythin’ and are so much better than me just ‘cause you’re a priest and have powers and I’m just a commoner and can do nothin’? I’ve known Yuug way longer than Atemu has so I have da right to check up on him if somethin’ happens! Somethin’ happened so I get ta check! You can’t stop me just ‘cause you’re of a higher class and you’re better than me ‘cause you’re not! I’m just as good as you are so get off my case! You’re always judging me, criticizing me, puttin’ me down and damn it, I’m sick and tired of it! Just leave me alone for once or get a life!”

Seth was rendered speechless for a moment, never having expected an outburst like that from the other. Had he really been that bad to the other just to try and get rid of his feelings? Something that he failed miserably at even. The part of him that had been yelling at him for being such a jerk only screamed louder.