Fan Fiction ❯ Ancient Love ❯ Ancient Love ( Chapter 1 )

Ancient Love By: star stalker

Okay. So, I really hope that you all like this story. It's a complete story and all, everything comes round in a full circle, but it's a one shot. There will be no updates for this story. I am beginning you to please, please, please review! No one reviewed my other one shot at all. (Acutally, I sent myself a review. ^_~) But, anyway, please, please tell me what you think!

ANCIENT LOVE

Yuki Minamoto was a cheerful, if lonely, eighteen year old. Like any other young girl, she had her own group of friends, really good friends, but, even friends couldn't do everything. Yuki's father was constantly out on business trips. So Yuki rarely ever saw him. One year, she had seen him for a whole month straight, without him leaving at all. That had been absolutely wonderful for Yuki. But it had only been that one year. On a regular year, Yuki only saw her father about seven weeks total. Every time he was not there, her heart was cut open by a hole, which was only made worse by the fact that Kenji Minamoto was a very likeable man.

Of course, Yuki also thought that her life was a very boring one. In which nothing more interesting than an occasional sleepover ever happened. But Yuki was as wrong about this opinion as she was about the mysteries of math. So she would be in for a very big surprise the day she would begin a two day sleepover at a friend's house…

Yuki stepped out of her large, off-white, Spanish style, tile roof house. "I'm going to school Mom!", she called over her shoulder.

"Have a good day Honey!" her mother called back.

`Ugh! This is going to be an extra long walk to school! Yuki thought as she flipped her knee-length blue (truly, it's black, but most of the time, it looks blue because it's such a true shade of black.) braid over her shoulder and jumped down the steps. It was Friday and Yuki would be going to her friend Natsuki's house for a two day sleepover, along with her other friends. As befitting for a two-day sleepover, Yuki had everything she would need in two large duffel bags. With a sigh, Yuki began to lug the bags to the street corner, where she met her friends everyday to walk to school together, which was a whole city block away.

Hiroki Kisaragi, Maya Takashi, Masako Hotta, Jun Mori, and Aoshi Asou stood waiting patiently by the corner for her. "Hey Yuki! You're later than usual!" Masako called good-naturedly, she was grinning because she knew it would irritate Yuki.

Yuki frowned for a minute, shifting the bag in her left hand a little. "What do you mean `later than usual Masako?"

Hiroki spoke up. "You're always the last one in the group to get here. But don't worry," he gave her one of his heart-stopping smiles, "we still love you."

`Gosh, he is so handsome!' Yuki thought, summoning a cheery smile just for him. `But I'm never going to get him; there are always tons of those snobby girls around him!' Hiroki Kisaragi had ebony colored hair, sky blue eyes, and the title "King of the Kinaki High". The way everyone acted around him would lead anyone to believe he was king too. Girls offered to do his homework, made him lunch, and gave him presents, regardless of the time of the year. The other day, he had been given two Cd's that were valued at twenty dollars each. The male population was similarly enchanted as well. He had the respect and devotion of all his peers. Plus, he was the captain of the soccer team.

"We really should break up this little love fest if we are going to get to school on time with all this stuff." Maya complained. Then she smiled, "Where did you get that gorgeous necklace Yuki?"

"At a garage sale." Yuki said smiling back. Then she showed off the before mentioned necklace. It was a beautiful piece of jewelry. The strand the stone was held on was made of wrought gold strands that were twisted together and around the shiny, black stone that matched her hair down to the last shade.

"You know," Yuki said, getting back to the first topic, "if you are so concerned about getting to school on time, you shouldn't wait for me every day." She noted that her friends had similar amounts of clothing stuffed into duffel bags and suitcases.

"You really shouldn't have said that. Just because you said that, we're going to have to pick a random day and not wait for you." Aoshi smiled. "Come on Mai Mai.", he said taking the hand of his girlfriend, who was Maya, and started walking. The others followed the couple. So the only one left was Jun, who smiled and offered to help with the duffel bags before they began the long trek to school.

The six friends met in front of Kinaki High after school so that they could all walk to Natsuki's house together. The walk was a silent one because they were all pondering their last class, which was math, and steaming over the day's events. Their English teacher had told them about a monster size English project due in two weeks, the history teacher had given them double homework for the weekend, and the science teacher had given them the hardest pop quiz any of them had ever seen. Math class had been full of complicated algebra problems. None of them were any good at math, so their heads were abuzz with confusion the whole trip.

At Natsuki's house, Yuki timidly knocked on the door. It was almost immediately opened by Natsuki herself. "Ah! Maya! Hiroki! Jun! Aoshi! Yuki! You guys finally made it!" Natsuki cried ushering them all in while giving them all tight hugs at the threshold.

Her friends gathered around Natsuki, pushing Yuki, once again, to the back of the group. Yuki sighed, she was last. And she was pushed away. It was always this way. It seemed like whenever Natsuki was around, she wasn't exactly all that important anymore. She knew they didn't mean to. Natsuki just naturally seemed to glitter and draw people to her.

"You guys," Natsuki cried as soon as greetings were over, "hurry up! We're going to go see Raiders of the Lost Temple! You need to get changed!" Natsuki gently pushed them to the different bathrooms.

When the group finally got home, it was eleven o'clock at night. They had ended up going to more than their fair share of movies and had taken impossibly long with dinner. By the time everyone was in their sleeping bags, the boys in the downstairs den, and the girls in upstairs living room, it was eleven thirty.

"Okay. Time to spill about who likes who." Natsuki whispered excitedly.

"Go to sleep Natsuki!" mumbled Maya.

"Yeah!" Yuki said, chiming in.

"Oh! Come on you party poopers! The boys are downstairs, they'll never here us and-"her next words were cut off as a pillow sailed through the air and hit her in the head.

"GO TO SLEEP NATSUKI!" Masako exclaimed. She had another pillow ready in her lap, just in case.

Natsuki looked at Masako, sighed, and meekly lay down again. Yuki looked at her. Doing anything meekly was extremely out of character for Natsuki.

Soon, Yuki was the only one awake, which was unusual, because Natsuki was usually the one to fall asleep last. Yuki soon discovered that it wasn't as great as Natsuki claimed it was. She was tossing and turning for half an hour, unable to get to sleep on the hard floor.

Yuki finally decided that she needed a little air, so she walked toward the door to the deck. Strangely, when Yuki looked down, she discovered that the stone in her necklace was glowing. Yuki shrugged it off; It was probably a trick of the full moon. As the sliding glass door slid open, a clock somewhere chimed twelve o'clock. Then Yuki discovered that as she put her foot down, she was stepping into air.

Yuki hurtled into air and space, the air rushing past her. The air pulling at her hair and clothes. The air was pulling at her so much, that soon, the braid she had put in a bun came undone, and soon the braid itself fell apart as well. She was constantly trying to put her hair back in a bun, which proved a very hard task when she had lost her hair band to the whirling air around her.

Suddenly, Yuki saw yellowish, sandy ground hurtling at her. Yuki let out a bloodcurdling scream as the ground came closer and closer to her. `It's ironic,' Yuki thought, though how a rational thought came through her mind at that time she did not know, `how when I could not see the ground, it did not scare me, but when I see it, the possibility of ground terrifies me.' Then, all of a sudden, Yuki was close enough to see a figure rushing across the sand.

Yuki closed her eyes when she expected to crash into the ground, but instead, she hit the figure that she had seen seconds before. "That's going to leave a mark." Yuki said softly as she rubbed the small of her back, not realizing that she was still sitting on that man's back. He scrambled up, dumping her onto the ground. "Ouch!" Yuki cried out as she landed on a particularly sore spot. Yuki looked up to see who her landing mat had been.

The man carried a torch, so she could see his face in the darkness of the night. He was tall, taller even Hiroki, who was six feet tall. His hair was raven colored like Hiroki's as well. In fact, the man looked exactly like Hiroki in every way except four differences. His height, his eye color was evergreen instead of sky blue, his shoulders were broader, and he was shirtless, which gave Yuki the opportunity to notice that his chest, which had extremely well-defined muscles.

The man stared at her. He looked like he was seeing a ghost. Yuki knew she looked bad, but as bad as to be taken for a ghost? But then, her hair was probably a mass of knots, her face was probably dirty, and she had lost one of her bunny slippers.

The man leaned closer. That's when everything got to her. The fall, the drop, this `new' Hiroki, and the shock of everything. "Hiroki?" Yuki whispered before she fainted…

Yuki awoke to the feeling of being in a large, fluffy bed. That assumption proved correct as she opened her eyes. She was propped up on two big pillows, covered in a few warm blankets. It was very warm, so, Yuki decided that she was going to try and stand up. Yuki threw the blankets back, and swung her long legs over the edge. However, by the time she got to the end of the king sized bed, she was dizzy, and a bit nauseas.

"Ahh! You're awake!" came a shrill voice as Yuki begin to sit on the edge of the bed. She winced. It hurt her sensitive ears. A woman came hurrying toward her. "Oh, I should not have left you alone! Oh, Lady Jaleen! We were so worried about you when you disappeared!" the woman cried.

"Jaleen? Disappeared? But my name is Yuki and I've never disappeared in my whole life." Yuki said, frowning.

The woman looked at her. "Oh. Poor dear. That fall must have muddled with your wits. Well, I'm supposed to get the Pharaoh now that you've waken up so that he can see you. He'll straighten you out." The woman walked back toward the door, shaking her head and clucking softly over her `muddled wits.'

Yuki, feeling much better, stood up, and walked carefully down the dais the bed stood on. She discovered a balcony that was hidden behind drawn, royal purple drapes. Yuki gasped when she saw the view that she could see from the hidden balcony.

She could see five, absolutely gorgeous horses that were picketed by some meager grazing. Palm trees stood in a half circle around the enclosure, waving slightly in a phantom breeze. Yuki fanned herself, already, at this early morning time, the heat was slightly overwhelming.

After a few minutes of gazing at the land, two strong, muscled arms enveloped her and squeezed gently. "Jaleen! You are awake; and up! You do not know how happy that makes me." said an unfamiliar voice in her ear. The arms squeezed one more time before letting go.

Yuki scrambled an arms length away so that she could get a look at the man who had held her. It was the man she had fallen on the night before, or was it the night before that? She remembered that the woman had said she was going to get the Pharaoh. "You? You are the Pharaoh of this…this…place?" Yuki cried.

"Jaleen? Are you well?" the Pharaoh asked, frowning. "Do you not remember me? Of course I'm Pharaoh. I've been Pharaoh for five years." He took a step forward and Yuki took a step back, and then another as he advanced again. Suddenly, her knees gave out, and she started to fall. The Pharaoh caught her before she hit the ground. Trapped in his arms, she could not escape his scrutinizing gaze. "Are you sure you are well enough to stand up?" he asked, a frown puckering his forehead.

Yuki then knew that he would never except the fact that she was this Jaleen person, so, she decide to play along. Yuki pretended to faint for a few minutes in his arms. The Pharaoh started shaking her and she fluttered her eyes accordingly. "Hmm? Pharaoh? Is that you? What are you doing to me?" she asked.

"Jaleen? Are you alright? And why did you call me Pharaoh, and not my name, Hiroki?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. I am sorry Hiroki. It seems I did not have my mind completely back after all. Maybe I still don not have everything back yet anyway. I cannot seem to remember where I am. Or much about the court I know I belong to." Yuki said softly, putting her hand to her temple. "But I shall be fine Hiroki." She gave him a smile that could melt the hardest resolve. "Will you forgive me for the way I have acted?"

Hiroki smiled and nodded his head, but Yuki could still see some doubt in his eyes. "I will forgive you only if you eat dinner with myself and the court tonight." Yuki stated to nod and verbalize her consent when he began speaking again. "And, and, and, and you must sit on my right hand side, and let me show you where your friends are anxiously awaiting you as soon as you are dressed."

"Of course." She gave him a bright, false smile and the doubt in his eyes deepened. She wondered if he could tell the difference between a false smile and a real one.

"Good. Then I will be seeing you in a few minutes." Hiroki bowed once, then walked off the balcony and out of the room.

The woman then came forward, only to swathe her in a huge clothe from her shoulders to her toes, with little pins on the shoulders to keep it from falling down and a loose belt around her waist. Her right ankle was adorned by a simple bracelet.

"Oh! Did anyone find two big bags last night where I fell?" Yuki asked, feeling her neck for her necklace. It was still in place. She spotted her duffel bags in a corner and hurried over to them. She would have put a set of her own clothing on, but she was sure that they would behead her for it if she did. So, Yuki contented her self with making sure everything was still there.

Hiroki was waiting, like he had said he would, outside her door when she walked out. "You look nice." He said kissing her cheek, "but you shouldn't keep your friends waiting."

As they walked, Yuki glanced at the Pharaoh that walked beside her. "Um, Hiroki, how exactly do you know me?" Yuki asked, almost timidly.

Hiroki smiled at her. "Jaleen, You have been my playmate since the day I was born, though we are not related in any way."

"Oh."

This time Hiroki glanced at her. "I will find a way to say each of your friend's names. Just in case you do not remember them."

"Thank you."

When they reached the cozy room, Yuki was bombarded with gentle hugs and questions. "Now quiet." He looked pointedly at each person as he said their name. "Tszumi, Jonounchi, Augustus, Zima, everyone, please, Jaleen has just had a harrowing experience. Please be at least a little courteous."

They all nodded, though as soon as all the boys left, the girls surrounded Yuki, engaging her in the talk she supposed that talked about with the real Jaleen. "So, who do you think is the cutest Jaleen?" asked Tszumi.

"Well…

Yuki was called away a few hours later to prepare for the court dinner that the Pharaoh had said she had to go to. Yuki, was stared at the woman she had met when she had first awoke when she came out from behind the screen in her old clothes. The woman said that she would not allow Yuki to wear such revealing clothes to the dinner.

So, Yuki was whisked behind the curtain again and dressed in the traditional way that a lady would dress for a court dinner. From the clothes, Yuki determined she was in ancient Egypt.

The woman dressed Yuki in what looked like at first glance to be two large, sheets. The first was wrapped around her waist. It flowed down around her legs down to her ankles. The second sheet was about half the size of the first one. This one was wrapped tightly around her breasts in a criss-cross design. It looked like a strapless belly shirt that came down about an inch bellow her breasts. At first, Yuki protested to the top part. She didn't like how far up her breasts were pushed up, something that was made worse by the fact that she had always had, voluptuous curves. Her hair was combed and the maid let it fall down her back in a cascading blue/black waterfall. Anklets were clasped around her ankles, just as bracelets were clamped around her wrists. Strangely enough, they all had a stone that matched the necklace that she had bought at that garage sale. A one foot long rope was made of twisted gold strands, another black stone was settled on the top of her forehead. The rest of the rope, which had amber colored stones in it, was left to fall down her back and mingle with the rest of her hair. Black kohl was put around her eye last, so that it would look fresh. At last, she was ready to join the court.

As Yuki entered the dining hall, someone took her arm to lead her to her place. It was the Pharaoh. He smiled at her. "You look radiant tonight darling." He whispered to her.

`Darling?' she thought, bewildered, even though a positively radiant smile glowed on her face. "Why did you call me darling?" she whispered back.

"Because you are my betrothed. Come and sit next to me darling." He said in the same, almost inaudible volume.

"And you never told me this because?" Yuki asked with a slightly questioning look as she settled on to her pillow.

"Because I feared if I told you that it would overheat your brain, you know, with all that stuff that happened when you fell. Now, please be quiet, act loving, and I promise you that I will visit you tonight before you go to bed so that we can talk about it." He whispered, sending her a look that provoked no argument.

Yuki then noticed a man sitting in a corner. He dressed like a rich man in mourning. All his clothes were in black, lending him the cover of the shadows that were around him. He was watching her too. The man noticed that Yuki was staring at him and he nodded his head as if in greeting. There was something strange about him, and it was creeping Yuki out. "Pharaoh, who is that man in the corner? I do not remember ever seeing him before." Yuki said softly as she finally turned her gaze away from him.

"Hmm? Dear, must you call me Pharaoh?; We are engaged, maybe call me that in public, but when we are alone, you need not use my title. How many times must I tell you that? Now, what were you saying? Oh, yes. The one in the corner?"

Yuki nodded an answer.

"He is Lord Octavian, he rather secretive. Poor man, his father was the black sheep in the bunch. Forever sullied his entire family's reputation in being honest. Nobody trusts them much anymore. There, you have what you wanted, now, would you please enjoy yourself" Hiroki turned back to the festivities.

Yuki sighed as she turned her attention to the middle of the room where the dancers were grouping up.

As a flute began to play, they began to sway gently. As the music grew faster and faster they began to twirl and jump about, sometimes twirling in a showing way in font of a certain man. One of the girls did a similar twirl in front of the man she was apparently engaged to. He was very very handsome. As much as Yuki hated to admit it, he was even more handsome than the Hiroki back at home. More muscular in the arms and chest. Taller, his hair was even more black than that of the first Hiroki that she had ever known. Plus, his eyes were much more suited to his face and hair color than those of the first Hiroki. He was indeed, extremely handsome, and a mundane thought crossed her mind. `Maybe being married to him will not be so bad after all. I mean, he had been so nice to me so far, maybe it will not be to- What am I thinking. I want to go home! I must go home!'

"Would you like some dates Lady?" asked a young servant maid, bringing Yuki back to her senses.

"Oh, no. No thank you." Yuki said absentmindedly. For the rest of the night, Yuki ate and drank very little, only speaking when spoken to. The Pharaoh frowned at this, but he hid his concern for his betrothed very well. He know knew that something was not right, and he was determined to find out what it was…

As Yuki was climbing into her bed, she heard a soft knock on her door. Thinking that it was the Pharaoh, Yuki stood up again and went to open the door. But instead of the warm, handsome face that had been haunting her thoughts all night, there was a masked man in black.

"Wha-"he grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him, pressing her back against his chest so that he could put a knife to her throat. Yuki felt it slice her throat the tiniest bit. A trickle of blood ran down her neck.

"Your beloved little fiancé won't be able to help you now Jaleen. Or is that really your name? You acted strangely tonight. Everyone knows that you love date nuts, yet you refused them time after time. Who are you really? Tell me! Oh yes, scream, and your throat is cut." Said the gravelly, unfamiliar voice.

Just as Yuki was about to give up and confess, they heard footsteps outside the door. Her attacker began backing up to the balcony edge. "Jaleen?" called a voice. Immediately, Yuki knew who it was. It was Hiroki.

"HIROKI!!! HELP ME!!! I'M ON THE BALCONY!!!!" Yuki screamed before the attacker could get a hand over her mouth. With that, the kidnapper jumped onto the balcony railing and began to climb down a rope and plank ladder that had been previously unseen to Yuki. She grunted a little as he descended. The man had her tucked under his arm and the jarring movements he was making were hurting her.

Soon, they landed on the sand, and in record time, were up on a horse, galloping away. The jarring movements on the ladder turned out to be nothing compared to the number of bruises she was sure she was going to get in the morning, if she lived till morning that is.

They didn't get far, because after a few minutes, the horse fell. The man picked her up again, ready to head off, but by some miracle, there was Hiroki, standing in front of them, baring a long, wicked looking knife. "Give me my betrothed back, now." He said in a low, deadly sounding voice.

"Come and take her from me then." Her attacker said in an equally menacing voice as he drew out his own wicked knife. The man dropped her and the two men began to circle each other. They lashed out a few times each, the attacks being more wild strikes than attacks, each aiming for the neck. But then Hiroki began to focus more, and Yuki knew that it was the beginning of the end for her kidnapper. More attacks were exchanged, yet this time the man in black was wounded severely. There was a huge gash in his stomach. He began to draw breath in by huge, gasping breaths. Yet no mercy could be found in Hiroki's eyes. Soon the battle was over. Hiroki was the last one standing. He had slashed the man's throat.

Hiroki rushed over to were she was still sprawled in the sand. "Oh Thank Ra you are safe. My heart nearly broke when you screamed to me. I just knew that I had to rescue you. I could not bear to

lose you to anyone again. Oh thank Ra!" he pulled her close and began to whisper her name, or the one that he thought was her name over and over again. That was when the warriors came to take Hiroki and Yuki back to the palace. Gently, they place the two on a padded wagon bed so they could be carried back safely.

At the palace, everyone was awake and standing in the courtyard, waiting for the troop to arrive. When the courtiers saw that no one was dead, they all trudged back to their beds. Hiroki walked slowly back with Yuki to her room, planning to talk as they had been meaning to before Yuki had been kidnapped. However, the woman that was apparently her personal maid, had other ideas.

"Really your Majesty! Keeping the poor girl up more than is necessary! She is nearly asleep on her feet! This has been a rather harrowing experience, do you not think? Please, let the girl sleep. You may talk to her tomorrow. Now shoo!" she said in her shrill voice as she gently pushed Hiroki towards the door.

He looked back. "I am sorry. I was being inconsiderate. I will talk to you tomorrow. Good night." Yuki nodded sleepily to him as he backed out.

As Yuki was settled into the bed, she began to think about the days, and nights, events. Finding that she could not concentrate on any one thing for long, Yuki drifted peacefully into the magical dreamland where no one was ever kidnapped…

Yuki was awoken by hands shaking her. She opened her eyes blearily to see the face of Tszumi. "Tzsumi? What are you doing?" she asked, noting that it was still in the middle of the night.

"I came to see how you were doing. I know this is an odd time," Yuki nodded in agreement, "but, I couldn't sleep. I'm just so worried about you. You acted so strangely today when we were talking. Almost like you were another person." Tszumi said, not knowing how close she came to the truth.

Yuki frowned at his comment. She made no move to say anything.

"Are you okay Jaleen? Is there wrong?"

Yuki felt like she would burst if she did not tell her new friend. "Yes. There is something wrong. You must promise that you will not get hysterical and that you will only tell the other people we talked to this afternoon." Tszumi nodded. "Okay, so, my real name is Yuki Minamoto and…"

Little did they know about the person hidden behind the drapes, listening to all that was said…

The next morning, Hiroki came to fetch Yuki after she had gotten dressed so that they could talk over breakfast. But instead of the privacy they were contemplating, there were many of the most important of Egypt in the room. Yuki's new friends were also standing there, trying to blend into the wall. "What is going on in here? I demanded that this be a private meal between me and my betrothed!" Hiroki shouted imperiously.

A man stepped up. It was a Lord Octavian. He stepped up to speak. "Your attention please." The room quieted. "I reason to believe that the Jaleen we have with us is a imposter!" The room went deadly quiet.

"What is this treason that you speak of Octavian? And let me assure you that this damn well better be a joke or I swear that you will be the next one with a knife in your heart!!" Hiroki shouted, he had already lost his temper over the accusation that Octavian had made, his eyes practically black with fury.

Yuki looked at him, startled. She had always thought that he was a gentle man. Of course, the knife fight when she was kidnapped was purely out of defense for himself and the defense of another. Hiroki had always been extremely nice to her during the short time she had been here. Yuki shuddered to think about what would happen when he found out that she really wasn't Jaleen.

"This is no falsehood Pharaoh." Octavian said icily. "I myself have heard that witch's confession. I hid in her drapes while she was talking to her friend. She told her the whole thing." He looked at Yuki. "Come on YUKI, tell us about yourself."

Hiroki looked at her, his eyes now pleading. "Please Jaleen! Tell then who you are! Tell them!"

Yuki turned away, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. His pleading nearly broke her heart. She turned around, head lifted high, "My name is… is Yuki Minamoto. I am not this Jaleen of yours." The tears overflowed, running down her cheeks.

Hiroki looked at her with a look of horror. Then, slowly, the horror turned to acceptance, and then to… to love? Yuki hardly dared believe it. But why was she so thrilled about it anyway? She knew that answer too, but she had been avoiding it, believing it to be a creation of her fall damaged mind. She was truly in love with Pharaoh Hiroki. How it had happened, Yuki did not know. `Well. Stranger things have happened.' She thought.

"I am from the future. I do not know how I got here. I was just walking out on to my friend's balcony and boom! I landed here. I am so sorry for deceiving you, I just…I just thought that you would harm me if you found out right away. I…I don't know what else to say." She said. By now, the tears were raining down her cheeks in a torrent. It was a wonder that she could even sputter out the words she had just said.

"You see!" roared Lord Octavian, "She is an imposter! A fake! She is not worth any of our time save the time it takes to kill her! A I for one, believe that the Pharaoh has been corrupted by her." His voice lowered to a menacing tone, like one an advancing snake would talk in if they could talk. "She has poisoned his mind. And, if he is corrupted, then we must rid ourselves of him as well. So what do you say, we kill two birds with one stone eh? Right now!" the man lunged toward Hiroki, drawing a long saber in the process. Dodged back, and he ducked yet another swing of the deadly saber. He was soon pushed into one of the guards in the room, thinking quickly, he pulled the guard's saber out of it's sheath a blocked an attack. As the two sabers met, a loud clang was heard within the room. Yuki was standing, almost completely forgotten, when a guard grabbed her and hauled her back. Yuki realized, not for safety matters, but as a prisoner. He was one of Lord Octavian's men; They had probably been ordered to capture Yuki and attack the guards of the Pharaoh that were in the room as soon as Lord Octavian lunged at Hiroki. This was exactly what they were doing too.

One of Yuki's new friends, Augustus was his name, came in from behind and slashed the guard in the back. Yuki shot him a grateful look before he vanished into the ruckus that was the center of the room. Another guard was walking menacingly toward her. He was leering as he pulled out his saber. Yuki ducked, then kicked the man hard and low. As he doubled over, she took his saber and knocked him over the head with it. She would prefer not to kill anyone and she would avoid doing so at any cost.

Yuki glanced around, searching for Hiroki. She spotted him in the very center, still fighting against Lord Octavian. They were throwing and blocking blows with their sabers at an amazing speed. Then Octavian landed an attack on Hiroki's arm, but he was not to be outdone. Hiroki cut a long gash in Octavian's arm. Yuki marveled when she noticed that there was no one else in the fight. It was like everyone was forming a circle around the two, with no regard for the fighting they were doing. They were giving their overlords their space, and for a second, Yuki thought she could see a large amount of light ringing the two and no one else. That was just before someone picked Yuki up and threw her over their shoulder. She could tell it was one of Octavian's. The man was dressed in all black, like the rest of Octavian's soldiers.

As Yuki struggled to free herself from the man's grip, her head was hit by something, and the world went black almost at once…

Yuki woke up and groaned. Her head was throbbing slightly. Slowly, her vision came into focus and she saw Hiroki bending over her. He had a worried look in his eyes. `Well, at least he isn't that mad.' Yuki thought hopefully.

"Are you alright Ja- I means Yuki?" he asked, helping her to sit up. She realized that she was back in her room.

"What happened?" Yuki asked in a confused voice.

"You hit your head. It doesn't look to bad though."

"Oh." She whispered softly.

There was an awkward silence. Neither of them knew what to say. "Jaleen -" Hiroki started, but he was cut off when a person appeared in a puff of smoke in the middle of the room. "Isis." Hiroki whispered in an awed voice. He got onto his knees and bowed his head till his forehead was touching the floor. Yuki just sat there, stunned, her eyes filled with admiration for the beautiful woman in front of them.

"Now what is this? A Pharaoh bowing before me and not his betrothed? Oh well, that isn't so bad for me I guess. I came to ask you a very important question Yuki." The woman, Isis, said.

Hiroki sat back up. "If I may, I would like to know your whole story first." Hiroki said, looking at Isis and then at Yuki.

"Um, well, you know my name, so I better start with how I got here. I was at a sleepover when it happened. I was at a sleepover at my friend Natsuki's house. It was about eleven thirty when we all got home and I was the last one awake. Usually, I fall asleep pretty quickly, so that was unusual for me. I decided that I needed some air at, about twelve o'clock. As I opened the sliding glass door, the clock struck twelve and when I stepped out, I felt nothing but air. I was a falling. Then, I landed on you and then, you know, the rest is history. I guess there's really nothing else of importance, wait, except, when the clock started chiming, my necklace started glowing." She held the necklace up for them to see.

They both leaned a little closer. "Hmm. That's interesting." Isis muttered after a few minutes. She backed a step away, then sat down in mid air. Yuki and Hiroki stared at her. "What?" she asked them. Yuki and Hiroki traded looks, looks that screamed `Is there something wrong with her?'.

Yuki turned her attention back to the goddess that was sitting in an imaginary chair and was looking at them like they had sprouted two heads because they thought her "chair" was weird. "you mentioned that you had a question for me?" she asked inquisitively.

"Oh! Yes. Of course." Isis' face became serious. "I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go back to your own time. I can arrange it for you if you want, right know."

Yuki looked down at the floor again, slowly. `Do I want to go back?' Yuki asked, torn. `Maybe I don't want to go back. Okay, so maybe part of me does, but just a small part of me. But if I decided not to go, would Hiroki still wasn't me? I won't stay if he doesn't. Ah. There's my answer. If Hiroki still would take me, I'll stay , if not, I'll go.' Yuki looked up. She turned to Hiroki and registered with a bit of surprise the startled look on his face when she did. "I would like to stay." She whispered slowly. "but only if Hiroki will still take me. I do not want to burden him if he does not want me." She turned her eyed on him completely. "Would you…would you let me stay?" she asked softly.

Hiroki looked at her, then at Isis. He got up and walked toward Yuki, only to collapse next to her. "Even if you had decided to go, I would not have let you. You are the only person I want to spend my life with. I still want you to stay." He embraced her.

Yuki felt the whole in her heart begin to heal. Soon, it was gone. She was whole again. No sadness left. It felt wonderful.

Isis cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Um. So does, that mean you are not going back to your home?"

"Yes. I will not go back. But I have a question for you?" Isis nodded, so Yuki continued. "If I'm here, what happened to the real Jaleen?"

"Good question. I'm not so sure myself." Yuki and Hiroki's widened in horror. "Just kidding. Actually, I sent a piece of the real Jaleen's jewelry after she had disappeared. She was kidnapped by raiders. Of course when you fell out of the sky, Hiroki didn't care how you had got there because he was glad you were safe; probably because you are an exact copy of the real Jaleen. In looks only though. I'm sorry to say that the first Jaleen was rather shallow and a remarkably good actor. She was planning to make the Pharaoh, that's you Hiroki, fall in love with her for more power, because she was jealous that her old friend got so much power and she got zip. Plus it also turns out that Lord Octavian was in cahoots with her and as soon as she was married, the Pharaoh would have an "accident" and then she would marry Lord Morimura, who was a very serious suitor of hers. Of course, because of the kidnapping, she's changed dramatically."

"But why did you send one of her jewelry pieces to the future?" Hiroki asked, confused.

"Because I enchanted it to draw the perfect match for you, Hiroki. There is no way that anyone not worthy of you and the position you would give them when you married them could ever buy this necklace. So," the goddess stretched a little. "So, now that everything is settled, I think that the best thing to do is send Jaleen to the future and change everyone's mind so that their friend is Jaleen. And Jaleen fell. So now, she will be in the hospital, and have amnesia. That's a big job too, so I've got to go. I'll check up with you in a year." Isis and all traces that she had been there vanished.

The two remaining in the room looked at each other. "Well that was certainly interesting. So, what do you think we should say to everyone?" Yuki asked.

"Do you have to think about that? We have just been visited by a goddess and I've kept you from going to a horrible future." He pulled her close.

"One question: why would it be so horrible?"

"It would be horrible because I wouldn't be there." Hiroki said, grinning.

"Yeah. Just think whatever you want." Yuk said dryly before he pulled her closer, and kissed her.

THE END.

So, how was it? Once again, I am begging you to review! Please, please, please, please, please review!

Ciao!

Star stalker