Pharaoh and the Thief

Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warning: None really.
Author’s Note: Good news: here is a new and exciting chapter! Bad news: I’ll be in Ireland next weekend and probably won’t get the next chapter posted until Tuesday or so. Unfortunately things have gotten kind of busy suddenly, but I’ll try my best to get updates up on time. But to make up for the late update, I’m posting a BakuraxYami oneshot I wrote awhile ago.

Absolute love to all my reviewers!

Chapter 13

Atem followed Bakura through the market, nearly running into him as the thief stopped to look at a stall that carried golden jewelry, his eyes shining. Atem smiled as Bakura practically started drooling over a ruby pendant.

The disguised pharaoh wrapped his arms around the thief’s waist. “I can buy that for you,” he said.

“It’s no fun if you buy it,” Bakura muttered, turning away from the jewelry.

“Well, you’re not allowed to steal it,” Atem reminded him.

“What if it’s just something little, they’d never miss it...” Bakura said, eyeing a pearl bracelet. Atem just laughed and pulled him away from the jewelry stalls.

The pharaoh had very little to do the last few days, so they had taken the opportunity to escape the palace and wander around the city. They observed the locals and browsed the wares for sale, Atem occasionally reminding Bakura he wasn’t allowed to steal them.

Earlier, before the sun reached its height, they had borrowed a pair of horses from the Pharaoh’s stable and raced them across the open desert. Bakura had won, but only barely. It had felt wonderful to be back in the open desert, racing across the sand with the sun at his back. And it had been even better that Atem had been there with him. It was all too soon that the sun was high in the sky and they had to abandon the open desert for the more shaded streets of the city.

They’d gone to the inn Bakura had stayed in before and paid for a room and dinner. The food was terrible after what Bakura had gotten used to in the palace, and the bed was uncomfortable, but it was still nice to be somewhere not in the palace. For Atem as much as Bakura.

It was nice to spend time with Atem outside the palace. He was more relaxed and carefree, as if he forgot he was the Pharaoh of Egypt, if only for a few hours. Bakura was in no hurry to remind him either. He knew his lover had been under a lot of stress recently, and the thief demanded a trip into the city in hopes of relieving it.

It appeared Atem knew more about his own city than the thief would have thought. He had taken Bakura to his favorite haunts when he snuck out of the palace, which to Bakura’s surprise was quite a lot.

As the day ended, Atem rested his head on Bakura’s shoulder where they sat together in the window of their room and watched the sun go down. Atem was beginning to drift off when he realized Bakura was speaking to him.

“Do you like being Pharaoh?” he asked, running his fingers down Atem’s bare arm, giving him goose bumps.

“What do you mean?” he asked lazily.

“Do you like being Pharaoh? Would you give it up, if you could?” Bakura questioned.

Atem thought about this for a moment. “It’s...hard,” he said finally. “I know it comes with privilege and wealth, but it also comes with responsibility. I’m responsible for the welfare of an entire kingdom. Me. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes. There are people to help me, but in the end, it always comes back to me.”

He grew quite for a moment and Bakura glanced at him. “Would you give it up?”

Atem shook his head. “No. I was born into it. It’s mine and no one else’s. Even if I hate it sometimes. I hate the pressure and the responsibility and being the person at the very top. I have no one to look up to or depend upon. I’m it. But even so, I would never pass it off to someone else. It’s what I’m here for.”

“Even if you had a choice?” Bakura asked.

“Yes. Especially if I had a choice,” Atem replied.

“What am I here for?” Bakura wondered allowed, threading his fingers with Atem’s.

“For your family. For me. For whatever you want to be here for,” Atem told him.

“I don’t know what I want to be here for,” Bakura said quietly.

Atem smiled and snaked an arm around his waist to pull him into an embrace. “Well, you’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.”

“I guess so,” Bakura agreed. “Has Seth...?”

“I haven’t heard from him,” Atem said gently. “But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t found out anything.”

Bakura was silent for a moment, watching the last rays of the sun fade away. “I dream about them sometimes. Not as much as when I’m with you. Before, I used to always dream about them.”

Atem stroked Bakura’s hair, waiting patiently for him to continue.

“I can’t remember what it was like before,” he said quietly. “All I can remember is them dying. I don’t remember my mother’s face or my father’s voice. Just their screams and the blood. There was so much of it, everywhere. On the walls, puddling on the ground, staining my clothes. They set the houses on fire and when people ran out to escape the flames, they would slaughter them. They laughed as they did it. It was almost as loud as the screaming.”

Tears stung Bakura’s eyes, but didn’t fall, the thief trying his best to retain a little dignity.

“I hid. I was terrified, and I didn’t know what to do, so I hid and watched them all die. The building collapsed and it was two days before I could get out. Stuck in a pile of rubbish with the decaying bodies of my family and friends. I still don’t know how I survived.”

Atem looked at him with a pained expression, long ago having moved from his spot against the thief. “Bakura...” he said quietly.

Bakura shook his head furiously, as if to banish the memories. “Why did it have to happen that way? They were thieves and criminals, but they didn’t deserve that! I didn’t deserve that! I didn’t deserve to live when they all died and now I am stuck with the burden of it and I hate it! I hate the gods for taking them from me and I hate them for dying and leaving me alone! I was the one that lived, but I had to focus my whole life around their deaths. I can’t escape it!”

Bakura buried his fists in his long hair and screamed. “How can you accept such a huge responsibility when you had no choice? How can you not resent it?”

Atem wrapped his arms around Bakura and the thief collapsed against him, tears finally spilling over.

“It’s just something we have to do, Bakura. We have to accept it and deal with it and move on. It’s hard, but what else can we do?” Atem said, combing his fingers through the thief’s tangled hair.

“I know,” Bakura sniffed, pulling back from Atem and wiping the tears with the back of his hand. “You’re right. I just...”

“I know,” Atem said, rubbing his thumb over Bakura’s lips. He kissed him softly, both hands coming up to cup his face. “I know.”

“I’m such a mess,” Bakura muttered, viciously yanking his fingers through his hair.

Atem smiled playfully. “I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

That made Bakura smile. “Do we have to go back?” he asked.

“Yes,” Atem responded. “But not until the morning.”

“Well then,” Bakura said with a mischievous smile and straddled Atem’s lap. “Let’s make good use of our time.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

The next morning they did indeed return to the palace, but not without Bakura protesting the entire way. He was, however, lightened in the fact that Atem promised trips into the city more frequently.

The moment they returned, Bakura went to find Seth and see if he had any new information. Atem sighed as he watched him go. Bakura was clearly still upset over the whole situation with his family. Atem didn’t really blame him, he just wished there was something he could do to ease the thief’s pain.

The lost hopeless look in Bakura’s eyes every time he mentioned the tragedy was almost too much for Atem. Seth was looking for answers, and he would no doubt find them, but Atem worried what Bakura would do when he found the culprit. He had been intent on killing him before...would imprisonment be enough to satiate his need for revenge? Atem hoped so.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Bakura knocked on the door to Seth’s quarters, raising an eyebrow when he was greeted by the disheveled and tired looking priest.

“Late night?” he asked with a lecherous grin.

Seth scowled at him. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Any news?” Bakura asked.

Seth ran his fingers through his messy hair and regarded the eager look on Bakura’s face. “No, nothing conclusive yet, but you will be the first to know as soon as it is.”

Bakura looked crestfallen. “Oh, okay then. I’ll let you get back to sleep.”

Seth nodded and closed the door as the thief left, leaning against it with a sigh. It had been a lie. Not a large one, but Seth still felt uneasy about it. He’d spent the last couple of days seeing old ‘friends’ he had hoped he wouldn’t need to see anymore. And they had some very unsettling things to tell him.

Seth had figured it was some overlooked tragic mistake made in Atem’s father’s time, but if it was the way it seemed...

Bakura’s village wasn’t the only one. The whole situation stank of mistrust and conspiracy, and Seth was afraid it was going to turn exactly into that. And when Bakura found out...

Well, he thought Atem put a little too much faith in Bakura’s humanity.

XxXxXxXxXxX

“I’m hungry,” Bakura stated from the doorway.

Atem looked up from the crop reports he had been reading. “Give me ten minutes?”

“I suppose,” Bakura grumbled.

Atem smiled at him. “I’ll meet you in your room.”

Bakura muttered an affirmative and went down the hall to the quarters they now shared. He paused, his hand on the doorknob, as he heard noises from the other side. He growled low in his throat and quietly opened the door enough to slip in.

“Can I help you?” he said coldly to the servant that was rustling through his pack.

“Oh!” the startled man said and whipped around to face Bakura. “Sir! I was just sent to tell you dinner has been prepared, but you weren’t here, so...”

“You decided to pry around in my things?” Bakura asked dangerously.

“No Sir!” the frightened servant said. “I was just going to leave a message.”

“Just get out,” Bakura growled at him. The servant hurried to do as he was told. As he tried to inch past Bakura, a hand gripped his arm with bruising strength. “Who do you work for?”

The servant looked startled by the question, but quickly overcame it. “The High Priest, Sir.”

Bakura growled and flung him out of the room, slamming the door behind the alarmed man.

Bakura did not like strange people in the place he slept, or going through his personal belongings. He quickly checked to make sure everything was as he left it. It was. The stupid man had probably been telling the truth. At least they would know not to intrude on him now.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Bakura grumbled the entire way to the banquet hall they were dining in. Apparently sometimes Atem and his priests and other high ranking officials liked to dine together with all their luxury, and tonight was one of those times. With the exception of Seth, he hated all those self-righteous priests and priestesses whose lives were based on a semblance of power.

He only went for Atem. For him, he could at least try to be civil with them for two hours. In his own sort of protest, he’d worn his red robe, the thing he prized most. He had stolen it from a very wealthy Arab tradesman. It was most definitely the worst for wear as he’d had it for years now, but it was still more luxurious than some of the robes the priests wore. People like him had no right owning a garment like that, and that very fact was what made Bakura wear it with undeserved pride.

They entered the hall to find everyone else already there and seated. They immediately stood and bowed as the Pharaoh entered. Bakura, who trailed Atem only slightly, sneered at the sight. He had never shown respect to Atem like that, not even in public. He briefly wondered whether it was because Atem didn’t want him to, or if he was too afraid to ask.

They took their seats at the head of the ridiculously over-decorated table, the priests nodding to them and Akhenden returning Bakura’s sneer. He was a little disappointed that was the only reaction he got out of the old man, but he supposed, for Atem’s sake at least, he shouldn’t try to cause trouble.

As dinner was brought out, idle chatter picked up. The thief ignored it all, focusing on his food. He felt Atem’s hand settle on his thigh as he continued his conversation with Seth and Isis.

“We need to give more money out to the impoverished people,” Isis was saying.

“Where are we going to get that money from?” Seth asked. “We can’t just give handouts to everyone who is too lazy to earn it themselves.”

“But we can’t just let them starve!” Isis exclaimed. Seth gave her a look that said he very well could, but Atem interrupted.

“We won’t let them starve, but Seth is right,” he said sternly. “What do you think?” he asked, turning to Bakura.

Bakura was a little startled at being included but recovered quickly enough. “If you give people money, they’ll always expect free handouts. If they don’t want to die, they’ll find a way to get money for themselves. If not, well, not everyone makes it.”

Atem smiled at him but Isis looked a little appalled. “How can you be so uncaring towards your own people?” she asked.

Bakura regarded her coldly. “They were the same towards me.”

Isis looked him up and down before turning back to her conversation with Seth muttering something about “what do you expect from a criminal.”

Atem squeezed his thigh reassuringly under the table and gave him a small smile. Bakura returned it and went back to his food, leaving political conversation to the pharoah.

Bakura allowed his mind to wander, and he looked around the room at the others present. He didn’t know most of them and only recognized a few. Most chattered politely to their neighbors, but, Bakura noticed, Akhenden was uncharacteristically quiet. Besides the less than warm greeting he gave Bakura, there had been no protest to his presence there at all.

He sat silently half way down the table and ate his food with a slow purpose, not even glancing up when Bakura glared steadily at him. Something about him seemed off; he was stiffer than normal. Bakura watched him suspiciously, but he failed to do anything besides eat his meal.

He wondered why the aged priest was sitting down so far. Didn’t higher rank mean closer seating to the Pharaoh? Wouldn’t he want to be close to Atem anyhow?

Something was definitely not right. Bakura looked around quickly. The room was lavishly decorated, and every couple of feet, a servant was standing, ready to assist the diners at the wave of a hand. They all stood still and quiet, as they should, but their manner seemed off to the thief. The atmosphere of the room was becoming tense and the hair on the back of Bakura’s neck was on end. . He was instantly on alert, quietly searching for anything out of place.

Their absence from the palace, the servant in his room, Akhenden’s voluntary withdrawal...it didn’t settle well with Bakura. Maybe he was overreacting. It had just been so long since he’d had to worry about this kind of thing that perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him now. Everything was probably fine.

But maybe it wasn’t.

“Atem,” he whispered, nudging the other man under the table. “I think something isn’t right.”

“More wine?” a servant asked, coming out of nowhere and pouring a fresh glass for the Pharaoh.

“What did you say Bakura?” Atem asked, turning to him and raising the glass to his lips to take a sip.

“Don’t,” Bakura whispered harshly, knocking the glass from his hand, but it was too late.