Lion Heart

Tavi: Youleft me last Sunday! °pouts° that’s so mean… and you’re such an impatient person what with you having already read on… you’re the editor ^^; you’re hopeless.

Keara: How Yuugi and Atemu met will be explained… later… much later… yeah. AND THAT CLIFFIE WASN’T TOO BAD! You pushed me off a building just for that cliffie?!?!?! My god I’m afraid to see what’ll happen once the story really gets going… I think I’ll go hide now °nods°

Namaarie: Thanx XD Onwards to more awesome chaps!

Cosmic Tomato: Well you’re more patient than some people by not going to read elsewhere °looks pointedly at Tavi° And yeah, I had an aesome b-day XD and is it honestly your b-day today? Cuz then congrats XD And since I only turned 19 I think you will win that bet about being older yeah. Well, have fun with the chapter!

J Chan: don’t get your hopes up °sweatdrops° I’m not too great at fighting scenes… I don’t quite know why I keep making up fics that need them… this one in particular required quite a few… man I suck. Oh well, hope you have fun anyway!

Right_Read_Time: Thanx ^^ I had a great b-day. And of course I take time to update; how else am I supposed to get reviews °angel face° Have fun with the new chap!

Dragonlady222: Sorry for not answering you last time; I’d already done the review replies in advance so I’d only have to press the update button. Anyway my party was great. It was awesome to see all my friends again and stuff, not to mention get lotsa presents °grins° Well, have fun with the new chap.

Vampirezdarkgurl: Thanx, party was great ^^ Hope you have fun with this chap too!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, it seems weekly updates on Saturday are back. As I said in my many review replies already, my b-day was great. It was a lot of fun to see my friends again and just hang really. I’m also glad everyone here seems to like LH a lot so let’s go on to the next chap! R&R folks!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--: 02 :--
Problems

Atemu let out a sigh as he stared at the letter one of his servants had just given him. It was from his cousin, also one of his High Priest, Seth and it wasn’t exactly good news. Atemu had send Seth undercover amongst the people in the cities to see what they thought of the rebels and how their Pharaoh was ruling. Sadly enough, the letter stated something Atemu hadn’t hoped to get as an answer to this, though had known was a big possibility.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Atemu,

I’ve travelled for over a month now and I’ve visited several towns and cities. To my regret I have to report that a lot of people in the cities hope that the rebels Bakura and Mariku win the battle and some would even be willing to help them, even if they destroy a lot of towns to prove their points.

I’ve found several people already helping the rebel leaders, and although I tried getting information out of them I failed. It seems the followers are more loyal and smart than we thought at first. Since I don’t want to blow my cover, I can’t do much about it.

What I have learned is that Bakura and Mariku are planning a full scale attack on the palace, but I haven’t found anyone who knew when this will be. Either they really don’t know, or they’re smart enough to stay quiet about it.

Most of the complaints are still from your father’s time but no one seems to believe that you’ll be any different from him. “Like father like son,” as they say. When I try telling them about all the good things that have happened so far, they just wave it off as if it’s nothing and say you’re just trying to win their trust for some purpose or another.

In short, the rebels hold a lot of power over the people, and only few would choose your side if they had to choose.

I hope to hear from you soon and to return home,

Seth
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atemu let out yet another sigh after rereading the letter. He could feel the annoyed vibe coming from the piece of papyrus and knew his cousin wanted nothing more than to come back to the palace; Seth had never been much of a people person. Just simply the fact that Seth had forsaken his title in an official letter and had addressed him by his name instead showed that the other was now appealing to him rather as his cousin than his Pharaoh, something highly uncharacteristic for the brunette.

Taking a piece of papyrus to reply to his cousin and inform the other that he could come back home – as he’d gotten the information he had wanted – Atemu started writing with a scowl set on his face.

His father was to blame for all of this. The former Pharaoh Aknunkanon had ruled the country only so he would benefit from every law made and he had barely done anything to help Egypt. Rebels had started to resist his rule and although many were killed, they were persistent and didn’t give in to the threats Aknunkanon had made.

Now that Atemu was Pharaoh, many people thought he would rule Egypt like his father had, and only few trusted in his ability to lead Egypt in a proper way. Atemu had managed to repair a lot of the damage his father had done to Egypt, and most of the rebels – although they still didn’t trust him – had given him a chance to prove his worth. Bakura and Mariku were a whole different story though.

Bakura was a tomb robber and many called him the ‘King of Thieves’. He didn’t care one bit about what happened to Egypt and it seemed he just wanted to spite Atemu. He promised the people a better rule if he became Pharaoh and so people followed him without thinking.

Mariku was simply psychotic. He was an assassin and loved to kill, maim and destroy as much as he could. He just nodded when Bakura made all his promises and tried to look innocent. No one really fell for this act, but supported him nonetheless.

Although the two attacked towns, they always picked those who had supporters of his rule living in them. His people had seemingly taken to only living in towns where everyone was for the same party, thus looking for towns to attack was easy for Bakura and Mariku. When asked why they attacked those towns, they said it was to undermine his rule and for the benefit of the war. None questioned any further.

As Atemu finished his reply to Seth, he handed the letter to the messenger so he could take it back. Atemu sat back in his throne, closing his eyes briefly and trying to will away the headache that was forming – something that was failing miserably.

“Pharaoh! Pharaoh! The city is being attacked!” Atemu shot up from his throne as a guard ran into the throne room, crumbling to the ground out of breath more than really bowing. Atemu paid no heed to it as he immediately walked passed his guards and ran to the stables to get his horse; there was no time to spare, Hikari was probably already fighting so he had to be fast.

“Pharaoh, you need to saddle…” Atemu didn’t even listen to the man trying to stop him and jumped onto the horse even though it wasn’t wearing any saddle. He had ridden many times like this when he was still young, so he was used to it. Besides, there was no time for properly saddling up and things like that.

“Pharaoh!” Atemu raced out of the stable, urging the horse to go faster and faster the entire way to the main square of the town closest to the palace; that was where Bakura and Mariku always seemed to go.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hikari let out a loud roar of pain as two shadow balls his him dead on. He was slammed into the wall of a house and blood poured out of the wounds all over his body. He was tired, hurt, and barely conscious by now.

Bakura and Mariku were better, but not much. Hikari had managed to hurt them more than they’d ever thought possible and they had to finish this fight fast if they wanted to get away before Atemu arrived. In the state they were in right now, Atemu would have a great advantage over them, even if there were two of them and only one of him.

“Damn, I feel Atemu coming and he’s not happy.” Bakura glared at the direction of the palace, feeling the obvious energy signature of the Millennium Puzzle coming closer.

“Well then we’ll just have to finish it fast.” Mariku pointed the Rod at Hikari again, before blasting the ebony lion once more with a shadowy beam.

Bakura rolled his eyes; that’s what they’d been trying the entire time but that damned lion wouldn’t die! Shaking his head, he simply joined Mariku in his assault, making the poor lion cry out in pain again. A maniacal grin appeared on Bakura’s face as he finally felt Hikari’s life energy seeping away from him; it wouldn’t take much longer now before they’d finally get rid of the pesky kitty-cat.

Hikari clenched his eyes, no longer able to stand up or defend himself in any way. Hearing a small gasp not too far away from him, he slowly opened his amethyst orbs to faintly make out three forms staring at him from a nearby alley. Blinking a few times in hopes of getting rid of the blurry vision, he could make out the faces of the three a little better, and he immediately closed his eyes again, mentally cursing all the gods for doing this to him.

From the nearby alley, Malik, Ryou and Jou were staring at him with wide eyes. Hikari figured that they must’ve finally noticed that he hadn’t come with them and had come back to see if anything had happened to him. Great, his energy was low and slipping away from him and he wouldn’t be able to keep his transformation up much longer. Not only would he die here, but he’d die in front of his three friends who would probably be killed when they were found out as well.

Definitely not his day.

“Does poor kitty-cat want to sleep?” Mariku’s mocking voice sounded, the malice clearly heard as well. Hikari tried to get up, he had to try and stop them long enough for Atemu to come. Needless enough to say he couldn’t move a muscle after all the abuse he’d gotten already.

‘I have to do something.’

“Well, let us help you.” Hikari braced himself for another blast from the Millennium Ring and Rod, but although he heard a blast being fired, it didn’t hit him.

Confused Hikari opened his eyes again and tried to see through his blurry vision. As he blinked a few times, a small smile graced his lips; Atemu.

Atemu glared at the two rebel leaders as he held a shadow ball ready to throw. Mariku and Bakura had obviously nearly killed Hikari, but the lion seemed to still be alive, although barely. He’d love to finish Bakura and Mariku off for that, but Hikari needed his help more.

Glaring back at the new arrival, Bakura and Mariku got off the ground. The shadow ball Atemu had thrown had hit them both and thrown them back, but it hadn’t hit them enough to do much damage.

“Damned Pharaoh! Always has to come at the wrong time.” Bakura hissed under his breath before glancing at Mariku to see a slight nod and a glare to match his own.

“You better get out of here while you still can. In your state I can easily finish you off.” Atemu growled in a low, dangerous voice.

A few moments passed with the three just glaring at each other until Bakura and Mariku finally backed off, “Fine, but we’ll get your little pet one day, and then you won’t be there to protect him.” Bakura hissed back, before he and Mariku rode off on the horses they’d come on.

“Hikari!” Atemu immediately snapped his attention to his fallen friend and raced over to the barely conscious lion, gently lifting the other’s head into his lap and checking him over. Worry shone in his eyes at seeing the many wounds marring the other’s body and the amount of blood tainting the ebony fur.

/ I’m okay. I’ve been through worse. / Even though Hikari was making an obvious effort not to show any pain in his voice, Atemu could still clearly hear the pained tone. He snorted and made his way over to his horse, Hikari lifted on his back as carefully as possible so as not to hurt the lion too much.

“You’re covered in blood and I can’t even count the amount of wounds you have. You’re far from okay.” He lifted Hikari onto his horse before taking the reigns, “I’m taking you to the palace for medical care.”

Hikari mentally panicked, knowing full well there was no arguing with Atemu in situations like this. His energy was nearly gone and there was a big chance he would transform back to his human form soon. If that happened, not only would Atemu know who he was, but his friends would too. He could still sense the three watching from the alley, most likely wide-eyed about what they’d just seen. Since most people assumed Atemu was just as cruel as his father had been, seeing the Pharaoh like this would most likely be a shocker.

/ Really, Atemu. I’m fine. / Hikari jumped off the horse and took a few steps away so Atemu couldn’t grab him, all the while standing on shaking legs. He tried to steady himself to seem less hurt than he really was, but failed miserably as the rest of his body started to shake as well.

“You don’t even have the strength to stand normally.” Atemu gave a pointed glare, “Now stop being so stubborn and come to the palace; you need help.”

Hikari shook his head, regret shining in half-lidded eyes, / I’m sorry, Atemu. I can’t. /

With the last of his strength Hikari ran into a nearby alley, using his knowledge of the city to lose Atemu as fast as possible. He could hear Atemu calling after him before the other gave pursuit, but Hikari knew the other would never catch up by now. The city had many alleys and only those who had lived there for their entire lives could get around without getting lost. He just hoped Atemu would be able to find his way back after giving up.

After making sure no one was around and Atemu would never pick the right way at all the turns he’d taken, Hikari collapsed against a wall, whimpering softly as without any energy left, his transformation into his human form began. Without the shadow magic the full pain of all the wounds came crashing over him, tears cascading down his face at the force of it.

Yuugi lay there, not knowing for how long or what was now happening in the city. People had probably started coming out of their houses and his friends were probably looking for him again. He wondered if Atemu had given up yet, but knowing how stubborn the other could be, it wasn’t very likely. Eventually he’d have no choice but to give up though.

The soft calling of his name in the distance snapped him out of his thoughts. Yuugi immediately recognized the voices as Malik, Ryou, and Jou’s. Malik seemed to be the closest to him.

‘If Malik finds me like this, he’ll never accept any excuse but the truth. I have to get away from here!’ Yuugi tried to get up, to stand and walk away further so he could heal more. His grandfather had passed away three years ago during an attack on their town, so no one but his friends would wonder where he’d gone. If he could just hide long enough so he could heal, his friends wouldn’t have to wonder why he’d gotten so hurt.

By the time Yuugi had finally managed to get to his feet, legs shaking and tears flowing even more because of the strong pain, it was already too late. Malik came rushing around the corner, the name he’d been calling for such a long time dying in his throat as he saw the person he was looking for.

“Yuugi! Fuck, what happened to you?!” The sandy-blonde rushed to help his friend, ignoring the fact that he was completely naked and casting worried eyes over the many wounds. At getting no reply, he looked up questioningly.

Yuugi bit his lower lip, still silent. He didn’t know what to tell his friends. He could lie easily, he’d thought of the excuse already and no matter how lame it was, at least it was an excuse. He knew Malik would see straight through it though. Then again, he didn’t have much choice.

“I wasn’t fast enough in getting away and got hit by one of the attacks. I ran away but buildings were collapsing and I couldn’t dodge all the debris.” It didn’t explain how he’d gotten so far or why there were so many wounds, and he could clearly read in Malik’s eyes that the other knew that as well.

Malik took a step back, an empty look in his eyes as he looked straight into Yuugi’s. The blonde seemed to be contemplating something, and Yuugi didn’t think he wanted to know what. Whenever Malik had such a blank look on his face, it meant an outburst of anger was to follow.

“You got hit by an attack and falling debris?” Yuugi mentally winced at the blank tone but nodded, wincing openly at the strong jolts of pain shooting through him. Malik’s expression changed in an instant, a furious look on his features and his fists clenching in an effort to control himself.

“How stupid do you think I am? These aren’t wounds you get from that! These are serious injuries and you won’t fucking tell me what’s going on? You’re always running off without telling us where you’re going. You always seem to have some bruise or cut, and you never tell us what’s going on! For once don’t lie to me and tell me what happened!”

There was silence after Malik’s outburst, Yuugi having closed his eyes, unwilling to open them. He heard more footsteps and glanced behind Malik to see both Jou and Ryou running into the alley, eyes wide after having heard Malik yelling. Jou’s eyes widened further as Ryou blushed somewhat at his friend’s naked state. Both showed worry though, glancing nervously between Yuugi and Malik.

“Well!?” Yuugi looked back at Malik, knowing that if he didn’t tell the other the truth this time, that would be it. Malik had a limit to the amount of lies he could bear and he’d reached that limit. One more and the other would walk off. On top of that, the other was very good at keeping grudges for a very long time.

“I,” Yuugi closed his eyes again and turned his face to the ground, holding back more tears as he spoke his next words. “I can’t tell you.”

There was silence once more before Yuugi heard Malik turning around. With the little range of sense he still had he could clearly feel the furious aura. He’d made his choice though. He’d rather lose his friends, than possibly endanger them. No one was to know who Hikari was, and that self-made promise was about to cost him at least one, and possibly more friends.

“Fine then. If you can’t trust your own friends then why should I trust you? I don’t want someone like that around me.” Yuugi glanced up to see Malik walking out of the alley, the furious look on his face only having increased. He looked at the two teens still standing in front of him, sensing a similar anger and disappointment coming from the two, though in much lesser degrees. Jou gave him a long look, regret shining in his eyes as he turned around and slowly followed Malik. The only to stay was Ryou, the teen letting out a deep sigh before coming closer.

“I don’t know why you refuse to tell us what’s going on, but I can’t just leave you here in this state.” From the somewhat reluctant tone, Yuugi could clearly hear he was far from forgiven and that Ryou was just as upset as the other two. Ryou plainly wasn’t the type to leave someone that was hurt. Yuugi thanked every God he knew for this, even if he knew Ryou would probably go away after he was okay again. He needed help right now though, since even standing up had taken him so long. He didn’t even want to know how long it would take him to get home.

“I’m sorry, I just…” Ryou held up a hand and shook his hand, before gently taking his arm to support him as they started to walk towards Yuugi’s house.

“You’ve already said you won’t tell. I don’t know why and quite frankly, it hurts me that you won’t trust us enough to tell us. Right now though, you need someone to take care of you before you get infected or die.” The white-haired teen sighed and glanced aside. Yuugi avoided the other’s searching gaze.

A long silence fell as the two continued on, Yuugi struggling to keep going while ignoring the pain shooting through his body as Ryou kept throwing occasional glances aside. After a while another sigh escaped the pale teen’s mouth.

“Yuugi, can you just promise me one thing?”

Yuugi nervously glanced aside, unsure if promising anything right now in the current situation was a good idea. “What kind of promise?”

“Whatever you won’t tell us, you’re getting hurt because of it. If… if it gets any worse, please promise me you’ll talk to me?” Ryou gave him a pleading look, more worry showing in his eyes. Yuugi looked down at the ground, staying silent for a moment.

The war was obviously getting worse each day, and he was bound to get hurt again. Getting hurt to this degree might’ve never happened before, but he was sure it wouldn’t be the last time. If he promised Ryou this, it would probably bring problems with it in the future. On the other hand, this was probably the only way to keep at least one of his friends. If he didn’t say yes to this, even Ryou would probably think he didn’t trust them and would give up on their friendship. This had been a problem Yuugi had been afraid of facing ever since his days as Hikari began, but it seemed he had to face it now. He needed to make a choice. Letting out a sigh and looking back up at his friend, he gave his answer.

“I promise.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
... Okay, yes that was mean but it had to be done. Why? Simply because A) I felt like it and B) this was just bound to happen. Yuugi’s been keeping this from Jou, Malik and ryou for about a year now so yeah. Malik and Jou just picked a crappy time to snap. Life goes on righ? Yup, thought so too. Now, Review people!