Chapter 7

A cool breeze caressed Tea's face.

That's it. When a whip cracks in your direction and you feel nothing but a little breeze, you know you're definitely dead.

Probably on my way up to heaven right now….oh god, or hell! I wouldn't be going to hell would I?!

Oh god.

I don't want to be dead!

I can't be! I have to get home! To see Yugi, and Tristan, to be there when Joey and Mai finally admit to each other what I've had been saying all along – that they were hopelessly, madly in love!

This is awful! I mean, what will happen to Seb without me there to look after to him!

And what about…

About…

Yami.

I never got to tell him how I feel.

That I…

I…

Lo-

"GUARDS!"

That sounded like…

Tea's eyes snapped open to see two men, a dumfounded captain guard, complete with gaping mouth and look of pure terror scribbled across his face, and a divinely handsome Pharaoh who had taken a protective stance in front of her. She quickly realised the breeze on her face must have been caused by his cape as he moved in front of her.

She couldn't quite comprehend what was happening

After experiencing a whirlwind of emotion, from worrying about Seb's health, almost getting whipped, to thinking she had died, to realising she was alive and well thanks to the familiar-yet-completely-unfamiliar man standing in front of her, somehow all of the upset she had been trying to supress had bubbled to the surface and a dam of emotion just burst inside her.

Her eyes began welling with tears, her throat burning as she tried to hold back her sobs. Her knees buckled and she fell.

Atem's arm burned, the whips leather coil still suffocating his forearm where he had intercepted the impending attack. But for the most part he didn't even notice, his attention far too focused on his once most trusted and reliable captain guard, whom was being dragged away by the crook of his meaty arms, struggling and screaming curses at other guards who were once under his command. Like a lion, Atem's fierce gaze never left that of his enemy, his gaze even lingering in the doorway long after his exit, as if he might suddenly reappear and launch a second attack.

It was only when the harsh smack of skin against pavement echoed through the small room that the Pharaoh's attention snapped behind him. Tea was huddled over Seb's unconscious body, tears streaming down her face and dropping onto the cotton fabric of her young friends shirt.

Atem didn't dare twitch a muscle. He had raced in here unprepared with only the determination to keep his word to the bold yet unassuming bandit girl and now felt inadequately educated to deal with what he found. Sure, he had stopped the attack. Atem was a master strategist; he had stopped many attacks in the past and was sure he would stop many in the future. But tears? Give me a ten legion army to face over one crying woman any day of the week! Atem thought remorsefully to himself.

Atem cleared his throat and dared his body to take a step toward the girl, who's attention was completely focused on the lifeless body beside her.

"Tea, are yo-"

"He won't wake up" Tea interrupted, not an unusual occurrence though this time it was different. She wasn't trying to be bold or rude or defiant like she usually was. This time her voice was nothing but a hoarse whisper, the voice of a scared little girl who was alone in this world. The aching in her voice went straight through him, pulling at his solid stone heart strings until they relented, playing a melody that pained him to feel.

Atem shook his head violently, as if physically shaking himself would cause all these unwanted emotions he felt to be repelled away from him. I need to keep it together. No signs of weakness. Not now. Not ever. With this new resolve he crouched beside her, wanting to put a comforting hand on her back but fearing the glorious sizzle and spark he felt the other day when their skin met. He couldn't afford to feel that way – not about a bandit. Not about her.

He didn't speak, but the closer he moved to her the more recognition seeped back into her face, as if she was only just realising now that he was with her. Her gaze turned to face him and despite the tear tracks he had seen down her cheeks he was unprepared for the absolute devastation in her eyes.

Eyes so blue, so lost and so sad…

As if she lost a fortune and a family all in one day.

Tea...why do you look at me with those eyes? Those sad, sad eyes... he pondered, the urge to reach out and tuck a lock of her chocolate mane behind her ear and away from her wet face, fleetingly entered his mind but disappeared the moment it entered. Stop it, Atem! He scolded himself why do you do this to yourself?! For her! What is she? She is nothing to you! She is a lowly bandit girl who has taken up more of your time than any noblemen have the right to! She is-

"Y-yami" Tea whispered softly and despite what he had been telling himself his chest tightened at the strange nickname she had seemed to give him. With her head tilted to the side and her eyes appearing even larger due to the wide span of her wet lashes, she looked more like a lost and wounded animal then a young girl. "Please help him" she motioned down to the boy in her arms who looked like he was at deaths door.

He grunted at her in response, fearing what he would say if he dare let any actual words spill from his mouth while he was looking into those transfixing eyes. He looked back towards the doorway before yelling "Guards!" for the second time that day.

With great speed and ferocity two of his guards thundered into the room, the floor quaking beneath their feet. He saw Tea flinch reactively in their presence and wished at that moment they had been trained to exhibit more stealth and less physical aggression. He always thought it right that his guards scared not only his enemies but his people as well…had he been wrong?

"M'lord!" they shouted in unison bowing before their king. Atem clicked his fingers and they jumped back to attention, one arm straight by their sides the other hand resting lightly on the handle of their swords, ready to strike if it was required of them.

"Men, go retrieve my physician" Atem shot them a look that made their Adam's apples bob with nerves. If you don't have him here in five minutes, I'll have both your heads his eyes seethed. The guards understood and with a loud gulp on either of their parts they dashed out the door.

The threat in his gaze seemed to have been clearly received as it seemed before Atem had a chance to even blink his faithful physician Mahad was being ushered through the chambers. His headdress slightly askew from the harried pace he'd been forced into.

Mahad's ocean coloured eyes darked like a storm on the horizon when he glimpsed the fresh blood running down his pharaoh's arm and the constricting leather that seemed to have been the culprit. He stepped immediately toward his friend and king only to be stopped by a single finger.

"Look after the boy," Atem nodded towards the body Tea was huddled over. "He is most unwell."

Mahad noted that the two other people in the room, the exotic girl who had washed up with the rouges and apparently his new patient, were the bandits the palace secured as slaves almost a week ago. Atem has never requested his services to aid those so beneath their cast. Especially for slaves whom usually obtained that title for crimes against Egypt. Illness that has struck a slave was usually seen as a god's punishment for their unforgivable crimes and to aid them would be an insult to the god in question. Although Mahad debated his friend's motives internally, on the outside, he didn't so much as quirk a brow.

"Yes, my Pharaoh" he loyally agreed, making a mental note to attend to his king later in the eve. Finally, after readjusting his woven head dress, he motioned for the guards who had anxiously been inhabiting the doorway, slightly scared to move without further instruction from the pharaoh, to pick up the boy.

"Take the boy to my healing quarters – be gentle now!" he added as he saw one of the guards jar the boys neck at a painful angle.

"Yes, Priest Mahad" the guards nodded while trying to pick Seb up, much to Tea's dismay; her arms still wrapped tightly around his mid-section. The guards tried shaking her off the boy, telling her verbally once or twice to remove herself; the second time a tad more forcefully then the first.

"RELEASE HIM!" the pharaoh bellowed suddenly, causing everyone in the room to jump, but most importantly it caused Tea to let go of Seb; giving the guards a chance to remove him. Mahad offered Atem a curt nod before leaving just a step behind the guards and his patient.

Finally! The boy is at last gone! Now I can focus on-

"You are hurt" Tea's worried voice cut through his thoughts as she appeared at his side. Her cerulean orbs were focused on the whip strangling his forearm, only just noticing that it was there. The removal of the bandit boy seemed to be the cure, for out of sight out of mind, a clear consciousness seemed to return to Tea, the blank, sad glimmer in her eyes ebbing away and being replaced with concern. Her slender fingers stretched towards his own larger ones, and before he fully realised what she was doing she had taken his hand, using her grip on it to better manoeuvre his arm so she could check the damage. Her eyes inquisitively ran over his arm, assessing the situation and how best to go about resolving it; not for a minute did she notice the almighty pharaoh flinch at her initial touch or give any sign that she too felt the heat blossoming like flames on his skin wherever she had touched him. "It looks quite deep! It must hurt a lot" she concluded softly letting his arm go and finally turning her ocean blue gaze to meet his fiery amethyst stare – which had been burning a hole in her head the moment she had thought herself worthy enough to touch the 'untouchable' Pharaoh.

"Hardly!" was the response him found himself snorting, quickly looking away, trying to ignore the way his skin sizzled "I'm the almighty Pharaoh, and this is a mere scratch! Not at all painfu-AH!" he hissed as to his own surprise Tea slapped the fresh wound.

"You were saying?" she cheekily grinned at him, mirth dancing in her eyes as she saw his face contort into a wince and his eyes gleam with an amalgamation of rage and confusion as she gave the leather-clad wound a light tap.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" he roared stealing his arm back and holding it protectively. The smile dropped from her face but the amusement never left her eyes.

"You don't have to be the 'almighty pharaoh' all the time, Yami" she stated reaching for his hand once more. I have permitted this filth to touch my royal hands one too many times! If she thinks I will offer it to her willingly than she is more delusional than I thought! This is what was running through his mind as, without rhyme or reason, with the coaxing of that gentle look in her bright eyes, his hand instinctively found hers once more. This time, they moved of his own accord. A rush ran through him as their fingers brushed together. This time he thought he saw the girl flinch, could it be she feels it too?!

When her hand was securely wrapped around his instead of using it to get a better look at his wound she gave it a comforting squeeze, coaxing him to meet her eye. "You can just be a man. A man who feels pain." He looked at her incredulously and she squeezed his hand again "at least you can be that way with me." What was she evening saying to him? Atem couldn't believe he was having this conversation with a mere servant girl. He had to be dreaming! If this were real life, he wouldn't be touching her, she'd be kneeling before him at the very least. He wouldn't let her call him nicknames, he wouldn't let her talk out of turn and he definitely wouldn't let her denounce everything he stands for; his title as king!

Yet he knew deep inside that this was real.

What is going on with me…

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"At least you can be that way with me"

Tea didn't know why she said that.

No, that's a lie.

She did.

Once again there was a moment.

A fleeting moment when she recognised a look in his eyes that wasn't malicious or petty or mean. She saw concern for her, a loneliness inside himself, and a glimmer of something that reminded her so much of Yami. Once again it was that familiarity that made her put her foot in her big stupid mouth. She could see from the scowl on his face and the longstanding silence between them that he was rather unimpressed with her speech and had clearly overstepped her bounds.

He then look down and she followed his gaze to his hand which she had yet to let go of. Omg Tea! She mentally smacked her forehead with her palm He is the Pharaoh of Egypt – a physical god on earth to all of his people! And you just grab his hand! Do you want to die! HUH? Oh my god! How could I be so stupid!

At the same time though, she didn't want to let go. His palm was smooth but the back of his hands rough from all the training he did. When she had touched her Yami's hand before, through the passing of a duel monsters card, or accidently in passing it had felt the same. This provided her out of context soul with great comfort that she wasn't sure she was ready to let go of. So she quickly figured out a way to keep her security blanket.

"Come" she coaxed, pulling him by his hand over to the fresh pail of water she had bought in so she could attend to Seb. "Sit your mighty pharonic self-down here so I can fix you up" she tried joking to lighten the tension in the air, a knife couldn't cut through it.

He didn't sit. "I do not appreciate you making fun of me" he replied coldly, "also I sit where I want and I do not wish to sit in here. It is disgusting and dirty and not a fit room for my mares to stand in!" his nose shrivelled in revulsion on cue with his words. She felt a pang at his words and a fire began burning.

"It's not okay for your horses yet it's plenty fine for all your slaves then? Is that it!" she cried out, he knew just which buttons to press to get her riled.

He ignored her though and instead carried on as if she hadn't spoken. "I will permit you to attend to me as my own physician is currently occupied with your little friend," his scowl seemed to soften slightly as her face seemed to momentarily fall at the mention of Seb, but as her composure resolved so did his "but I refuse to be in here a moment longer, you will grab the supplies and then follow me to my private gardens. The Gods have blessed us with a beautiful day and I refuse to be cooped up in a place with not even a window!" with that his royal highness stalked from the room, but Tea could see the tail of his cloak just outside the door – obviously waiting for her to get the water pail and linen needed to clean his wound. Tea had to bite her lip in order to stop them from quirking up at his childish antics.

He seemed to wear a permanent scowl on his face. Especially whenever he was around her. Yet his eyes always told a different story to his face.

He could frown with his face and smile with his eyes.

She believed these antics were his way of correcting ma'at. Fixing the balance she had just thrown out of whack by being so cavalier with the crown ruler of Egypt. If he needed to throw around a few orders to state his dominance then so be it. He wasn't leaving her. She would get to spend the next couple of hours with him at the very least.

The prospect excited her.

She knew she had seen her Yami today. Not the one who knew her, but the one who was compassionate, fearless, brave and kind. And she thought maybe she was imagining it…

Imagining how when their skin touch fires seemed to ignite inside her and he would get this strange look in his eye that made her hope that he felt it too. She knew she had feelings for Yami for a long time, and although this is not exactly the same version she found herself behaving out of turn…but these actions always received the most curious responses.

Like just now when she'd gestured for his hand and he gave it to her without a word.

Tea couldn't help but wonder as she scurried around the room to collect her supplies, all to the beat of the pharaoh tapping his foot on the mud brick floor, that if she were to keep forgetting her place when she was around him that maybe he too then would let his guard down.

She couldn't help but foolishly hope that Yami may begin to feel the same way about her as she did about him.

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Atem found himself tapping the floor with his foot as he waited just outside the slave quarters. That was close… he thought, his heart beating rapidly. How does she do this to me! I could have walked away – denied her help – there are PLENTY of people in the palace that would cut off their right arm to attend to me personally…yet I- I can't explain it…I want to be around her…I need to be.

He knew these thoughts were ones he should fight.

That they were foolish and wouldn't lead to anything good.

But the way her touch ignited him and the bubbles of light in her eyes had managed to pull his gaze back to hers every time he had managed to struggle away.

He felt these undeniable tugs of attraction the other times he had been in her presence, yet this was the longest he had ever spent consecutively with her.

And he could see why. Now he was in dangerous waters. Just before when she had his hand in hers he felt his gaze drop to her sweet lips. The same lips that offered friendship, unasked for counsel and small jabs at his ego, seemed to be calling to his own. Her hand in his, how easy it would have been to simply pull her into his arms and finally have controlled those lips that continually thought to defy him.

But he couldn't. She was a mere bandit. He a mighty Pharaoh.

He had to remind himself who she was. So he chucked a few orders around and went out. He was the Pharaoh. He had every right to order her around. But as he left he thought he saw her smiling at him. An annoying fact that confused him and enticed him all the more to her mysterious personality.

"Okay, I'm ready" Tea said, her slightly tussled locks appearing in the doorway, shreds of linen thrown over her shoulder and a small bucket of water in her arms. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from how quickly she had run around to get all the supplies ready, and he found he liked how that looked.

This is a bad idea. I should have left. Put myself out of temptations way. No, I'm strong. I've mastered 4 different fighting styles, 3 languages and all the main principles of running a successful empire. I can contain my lust for this one girl. Besides, as long as she does not get to close to me I should be fine.

"Good," Atem nodded. "Let's go."

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So hi guys! Long time no see!

So the last time I updated this story I believe was near the start of last year! I don't even know if anyone would still be interested in any kind of updates from this story – but UNI has started again and Ive been rewatching yu-gi-oh because im a chronic procrastinator! And so here we are again! Here is an update I know its not much and really I should have 8 months of chapters here for you! But alas this is all I have!

I will try to update again soon but wont make promises I can't keep!

I just hope you enjoy reading this and then look forward to the next scene- the garden scene – in which our two story stars might have a little moment :P

But Ill say no more!

Happy reading! And to all those that keep sending me reviews and follows/favourites long after this story looked like it had been discarded – I love ya to bits 3

Wisteria Clove

PS: I hope there aren't too many mistakes (I've trouble editing my own work sometimes)