Author's note:- edited ch.1

Disclaimer:- I do not own Naruto.

The pharaoh's beloved

He awaits in endless slumber, oh, how cruel had the fates conspired to seize all that he loved,

She was his trinket,

Her beauty incomparable,

Her faith unwavering

Alas, how fortune turned the tides of happiness into sorrow,

Her vermilion blood lay'd cold

His heart ached, his fury raged

that treacherous day, those perfidious men if only time turned back its wheel

for when he returns, the land will break into mayhem.

The desert winds which swept over the group of archaeologist were as hot as flame and carried with them clouds of sand, which dried their throat and hurt their eyes though it was of little consequence to any of them as they had unearthed the year's biggest discovery.

Sakura felt overwhelmed as she and her fellow archaeologist unravelled the hidden tomb of the betrayed Pharaoh in the Nile city of Luxor dating back to 1400-1450 BC. All her life, she had dreamt of this moment and now that it's just in the palm of her hands, she couldn't help but be reminded of this long journey, the troubles she had undergone to compel the archaeological department to re-excavate the luxor site where earlier, two teams had been sent and came back empty-handed.

Though this was it, she had done it and reached the impossible by unravelling the tomb of the great pharaoh, Sas-suk who was rumoured to be one of the most powerful pharaoh's,ascending to the throne at the young age of 17, he was a force to be reckoned with. Many accounts and citings regarding his rule had said that it was one of the most glorious time of Egypt's prosperity. The young lord was wise beyond his years and had envisions far superior to those of his time. He had laid a plan for a channel to provide irrigation facilities to the most humid, arid areas of his land and had curbed to establish a barter system. His subjects were at peace with his rule as the kingdom prospered to new heights under his rule though it is rightfully said that the green eyed monster turns even an ally to a venomous enemy.

He was betrayed and conspired against by his own kin, Madara in the lust for the throne. He had known of the pharaoh's deep love for his beloved queen who was said to possess the beauty of nymphs and the grace of Aphrodite herself. She was a profound healer and had an extensive knowledge of herbs to cure several remedies.

Begrudgingly Sakura thought how Madara had murdered the pious lady in cold blood knowing that she carried a child to end Sas-suk's lineage and reign.

"Sakura, come the workers have opened the gate to the room where the pharaoh sleeps!" Ayame,her colleague happily chirped, holding Sakura by the shoulder and leading her to join the others.

How eerie, it was to find his tomb right under the heart of the Luxor site so away from Cairo where he ruled. What added even to eccentricity to this discovery was that his resting place was cited underground. Instead of a usual pyramid with a hidden chamber, this was so much more.

They had secured themselves with nylon ropes on their waist as they transcended the distance. It was like going down from a tunnel-dark and seemingly endless albeit filled with light at the end.

"Be careful, the Egyptians loved to protect their nirvana with traps." Sakura advised her colleagues, glancing sideways to make sure all of them were in a right tract.

As fun as unravelling hidden tombs, discovering new cities and unearthing gold statues were; it was embarked with a sense of dreaded danger.

Burglars often roamed out with heavy arms for gold findings, even pool of acids like mercury made decades ago by the Egyptians to protect their lands were dangerous. A careless simple mistake, a deliberate recklessness and all of them would lay in pits of their death.

At first when they landed on solid ground it was hard to even see anything but darkness in sight. However, as soon as they lighted the candles and lanterns, they were greeted with awestruck vision.

The enormous statues of three deities-Amun,Mut and Chons was present right in front of them. All of them stood 10 feet long. Heavy ornaments made of precious stones adorned them. The statue itself was made up of white limestone.

The walls were though made up of sun baked mud bricks and granite due to the scarcity of wood were in good condition-with minute run-downs here and there.

As they walked past the statues, a massive temple was located in between the triangular formed by the deities.

Dante touched the pier of the monument in an astounded manner, "Gold, the entire thing is made up of gold."

"Those guys were rich alright." Ayame blew a whistle impressed by the grade and sumptuous architecture.

They were so ahead of their time, Sakura thought, her heart fluttering at the marvellous exhibition.

She vividly noticed how the columns and the piers were covered with hieroglyphic and pictorial frescoes in brilliant colors.

As they walked on the stairs of the temple, a pylon gateway lead them into a peristyle courtyard. The inner structure was slightly dislodged. Inside there were small chambers-each of them locked.

Sakura ordered everyone to get to work, to open each chamber carefully without marring any of its aesthetic beauty.

The rooms were filled with motifs, earthen pots, copper and bronze coins, linen cloth and few ornaments.

At first a feeling of disappointment grew in her as each of the rooms weren't the ones which held his tomb. Her apple green eyes looked attentively at every corner, every edge of the monument to come upon some missed detail, some possible hint which could indicate where he rests.

Where are you, she closed her eyes and sighted.

She moved into one of the rooms with her torch in hand,looking at Uchiwa fans on the walls. Her eyes caught the glint of some light being reflected back by her torch in the front wall. Upon further inspection, she noticed that a mirror hung on the wall, it was covered with grit and dirt so it could have been unnoticeable.

Her gloved hands touched the surface of the mirror, a feeling of nausea presiding in her.

Come

Come

She blinked, retracting her hand, looking back to see that there was no one calling out to her. she laughed off her imaginative hearings contributed to her disarray and tiredness.

Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, she called out for Ayame to help her place the mirror on the ground. For some reason, she felt there was more to the empty room with just a mirror inside it.

Call it intuition or over-active imagination.

"It's heavy." Ayame complained.

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully at her friend but was soon gaping looking at a small tunnel in the wall.

Her throat suddenly felt dry,could it be?

Without so much as saying a word to her counterparts, she arched her body into the rectangular hole and crawled.

Coughing a little due to the dust particles in air, she blinked tears from her eyes and sprawled out of the compact face.

There he was, the one she had seeked all these years forever asleep in the tomb. Sakura took a deep breath relishing the feel on venturing towards the lord's resting place.

At first she couldn't see clearly, the hot air escaping from the chamber caused the candle flame to flicker, but presently, as her eyes grew accustomed to the lights, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, mystifying ornaments, statues, and gold –everywhere the glint of gold.

How immensely hard the tasks of cataloguing his resting place had been and joyous she felt when saw him lying just feet's away from her

Sas-suk's sarcophagus held not one but three coffins in which to hold the body of the king. The outer two coffins were crafted in wood and covered in gold along with many semiprecious stones, such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The inner coffin, however, was made of solid gold.

She was so lost in this sight that she didn't notice the rest coming up after her.

"We did it, we did it, Sakura!" Ayame hugged her tightly.

Sakura smiled and started walking toward his sarcophagus, "come on"

Satisfaction swam in her veins as she traced his tomb, vividly looking at an Egyptian encryption that laid on it.

"What does it say?", Kaishi, the youngest of all asked her, eyes shining with curiosity of the unknown. The boy had always been interested in myths and ancient curses, so unlike her who didn't believe in those silly fables.

"It reads that if he is awakened from him slumber, he shall break havoc and lead this land to his mayhem to avenge the death of his beloved." Sakura smirked noticing how Kaishi tensed, god, he was too gullible.

Glancing her way to the encryptions, she was suddenly lost to everyone that peered at her as she raised the knife and sliced through the brittle dusk of dried linen.

Collective gasps and mummers resounded in the chamber.

Sakura was slightly aghast herself, she had though his body would have degraded more extensively but surprisingly, the damages weren't that bad.

His arms hold the crook and flail, symbols of the king's right to rule. The goddesses Nekhbet and Wadjet, inlaid with semiprecious stones, stretch their wings across his torso. Beneath these goddesses are two more—Isis and Nephthys—etched into the gold lid.

His face is covered with a mask of gold that Egyptian kings typically wore in that era and the rest of his body is covered with yellowed linen bandages.

She gazed at the emaciated form in front of her, it seemed she could detect an expression in those shrouded featured which seemed to be frozen with time; she could detect something of pain in those set of thin lips. He looks so beautiful in a tragic timeless sort of way...

She ordered the workers to extravert his body as gently as possibly while she and the others archaeologists rested and ate supper.

The sun was almost going down looking vermilion red as it set in the horizon. They would continue their work tomorrow and write a message to the department albeit with discretion, she had no patience to deal with noisy journalist and their myriads of questions that would cause a migraine.

They had put up a campsite and set lamps to light the place, they can't exactly leave the place. Burglars might come attracted to the findings of gold and cause this entire thing to become doldrum.

She happily sipped her vegetable stew as she chatted off with Ayame. The girl joyous nature was contagious and Sakura enjoyed their conversations bordering on giggles and teasings.

She stretched her arms, "Good, it's been such a long day!"

"Indeed though it's all been worth it." Ayame's smile took a mischievous look, "you finally found your paragon of perfection, the fascination of all your intrigues, too bad he could come alive from his coffin and strangle us all."

Sakura tried to scold but broke into laughter instead, indeed she has pretty much been intrigued by the betrayed pharaoh since her teen years when she had come across a book in library, "His woeful tale" that described how deeply Sas-suk had loved his queen and how agonized he had felt.

A sad king, he was. Losing his parents and brother at a young age in war and his wife by the treachery of his own kin. Madara had been his general and had conspired with other nobles to overthrow his rule, when Sas-suk was holding the body of his wife shedding tears of sorrow, Madara had taken adavange of his vulnerability and thrust his sword behind his back. What a coward, Sakura though angrily.

Sasuke had turned his head, his eyes blank as he whispered that death holds all that he loves, so he will combat the lord of death, Seti himself and once he awakes, all will perish...

Breaking from her thoughts Sakura looked at the lonesome moon, it was not accompanied by any stars tonight and the atmosphere had become a lot windy suddenly.

"Let's crash now; we have to wake up early." Ayame said. Sakura nodded and went inside the camp she shared with her bubbly friend.

Sleep had come soon as she realised how all her muscles ached and body desired to rest.

"Ahhhh, Wahhh no hel-help" Sakura and Ayame woke up by the painful sound of the scream. It sounded like Kaishi, could some burglars have come?

Ayame took a rifle in her hand as both of them came out of the campsite. The others had woken up at the sound of his scream and all of them were outside but Kaishi was nowhere in sight.

Sakura's mouth opened in a silent scream as she saw Kaishi walk out of the chamber where the tomb laid, blood covered his face and his left arm was maimed. His body suddenly turned to ashes in front of them.

Was this some kind of sick joke, Sakura though as she shivered and held the crying Ayame. It was all to unbelievable. It made absolutely no sense but all of them were filled with fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear for what's about to come.

Adrenaline was pumping into their veins, their breaths going faster as their minds tried to conjure up some sort of explanation.

Run away, run away from here, her ears were ringing with these screams and yet her feet were unwilling.

The others moved to run away but the land started shaking heavily as if an earthquake of a large magnitude had suddenly come to force.

The tremors were big and each one of them was wailing, the sands were spiralling around them choking their throats as the air turned ominous and dreadingly cold.

Sakura's arm separated from Ayame's as they cried out. She felt as if someone was pushing her down, some unknown force to fall on her knees. She couldn't move, oh god, what is happening? This cant surely be the end right...please...

Tears leaked out of her emerald eyes messily as her lower lip quivered, she couldn't even cry out for help. The others were in the same position as her, on their knees wailing and bewildered.

Her teary eyes widened in horror as she saw the mummified pharaoh come out of the chamber, how could it be? No this has to be a dream. Please wake up, she willed herself to no avail.

He stood there wearing his golden mask and covered by those yellowed linen bandages. His body was fully recovered, fully covered in flesh as if he hadn't been rotting away all these years. He was walking towards them as the sandy wind blew beneath his feet.

With each step he took, her body ached horribly it felt as if someone was crushing her like a ragged doll. She closed her eyes, when she suddenly heard her professor scream as blood poured from his body. He's going to kill them all...

She felt most of her life drain from herself as she watched the light in Ayame's eyes fade in front on her. This was all her fault, if only she hadn't persisted to find this wretched tomb but now everything is for naught. She must accept her fate.

When he came stepped near her, she had closed her eyes as she waited him to deliver her impending death.

Tears furiously leaked her eyes as she aghast when she felt his fingers on her cheek, holding her face. She opened her eyes blinking away the tears taking a look at the pharaoh that destroyed all life before him. He had removed his mask. He looked youthful, his skin the color of ivory. His eyes were deep onyx and his hair the hue of raven. He was so beautiful like an angel of darkness and very fittingly, he had come to embark her on a journey of demise.

"Just do it." She whispered, just kill me.

"How long have I waited for you, my love." He captured her lips in a longing kiss.

Nekhbet - Vulture

Wadjet - Cobra

Isis - goddess of magic and wisdom who symbolizes birth

Nephthys- protective goddess who symbolizes death