WOW GUYS GUESS WHO IS BACK FROM THE DEAD. I BET YOU WERE NOT EXPECTING ME HERE. Well here I am, with this new fic! I needed a new muse so I was like WHY THE HELL NOT and I posted it on another account but then I was like HEY. Maybe people might miss me on the old one, they should know I've got a new story. So here I am again. I hope you're all still with me, and I hope you enjoy this new fic!

Pharaoh

Chapter One

With every step Sakura took, something jingled somewhere on her body. Every appendage was adorned with some kind ceremonial band, and unfortunately a lot of those meant bells, ready to jingle as soon as a muscle twitched. It was times like these that made her realize how different Egypt was from Anatolia, despite living relatively close together. What were all these bells for? If they were to give her a headache, they were doing their job wondrously.

Sakura turned when she heard the door to her room opened slowly, tentatively. It was her father, Fujitaka, standing stiffly with brows knit and eyes uncertain. Sakura swallowed slowly, and then bowed in an attempt to break the tension. He held up a hand to stop her. "Please, no more," he pleaded, and her chest tightened. But he continued, "I don't want to hear only the sound of bells for the rest of my life." A smile broke out on her face; so he'd only been joking.

"How do I look?" she asked, bracing herself to spin and then thinking better of it.

"Like…" He shifted his weight, clearly entirely unsure of how to describe her outfit. Finally he raised his hands, palms up, as if to say 'I don't know!' "Like a Hittite going to Egypt."

Her smile fell a little, and she had to work to keep up what was left of it. "Well then," she said, a bit coldly though it was unintentional, "I suppose I fit the part perfectly, then."

Fujitaka didn't say anything. What he was doing was not uncommon, Sakura knew, especially not in these times; men selling their daughters to be the concubines of the Hittite king to settle a debt was becoming increasingly common, in fact. Sakura was being sent to do the same—however, she was being sent to Egypt, to be the Pharaoh's concubine. And being sent so far away meant there was precious little chance of her returning here, ever. But such was the fate of the daughter of a man who gambled too much with the Egyptian officials when they came to town.

She fingered a bell on her wrist, and heard her father mumble something apologetically. At least the other girl's fathers might have had good reasons for being sent away, like the land was too harsh on their crop or his sick wife's weekly medicine costs more than they make in three months.

Knocking from the other room caught both of their attentions, and Sakura's stomach began forming into a stone, slowly at first and then rapidly, until she was surprised it wasn't weighing her down completely. She wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her flowing skirts but the moisture was replenished as soon as her fingers left the Egyptian cloth.

Somewhere along the trek from one room to another, Fujitaka had linked his arm in hers, standing tall and proud. Another pound at the door, and he glanced over at Sakura to make sure her hair was neat, her make up perfect, before opening the door to reveal two expressionless Egyptian guards standing on the step outside.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," he greeted in a strained voice.

The two men bowed their heads sharply and then looked over at Sakura, inspected her outfit and nodded as if to say the specific guidelines they'd been told to follow in preparing her had just made satisfactory. Then one of them held his hand out to her. "It's time to go now."

She swallowed again, and her eyes flicked back to her father. His gaze held hers for a moment, and then he had to look away, pretending it was because he was getting her bag for her. Her heart sank as she gripped the bag, and she didn't look at him as she said, "Goodbye, Father." The Egyptian man held her hand daintily and led her to the uncovered wooden vehicle outside her home, helped her climb in before jumping up after her. She settled in, training her eyes forward and willing them not to shed tears, not in front of these Egyptian men. Already the sun felt too hot as the horses started forward, kicking up dust.

Quite a few days later, Sakura's stomach flipped instinctively, and when she looked up, she could see the buildings up ahead; they were finally reaching Cairo. She dabbed some sweat off of her forehead and her thoughts again returned to the question of why she had needed to be dressed up as an Egyptian when she left her house, when she would only be bathing and changing along the way? Anyhow, she bore those garments again now, though she had been told the bells were no longer necessary, and sat up a little straighter as the wheels rolled into the city.

The carriage she rode in screamed 'royal business'; the quality of the wood, the horses, the people riding inside. Sakura was not spared crowds of people gathering around to gape open-mouthed at her as she passed through.

"We're almost there, Miss Sakura," the Egyptian man who'd been driving the whole time—whose name, she'd learned, was Sano—assured her. She just nodded in response, biting the inside of her cheek.

The streets of Cairo bustled with people, much like the streets of Hattusa had, and Sakura found that it helped to unclench her stomach a bit. Maybe some things wouldn't be so different here as she'd imagined.

The cart turned a corner, and her gaze fell on the palace. There was a large courtyard surrounding the big building, and she wondered where on the grounds the Pharaoh's concubines stayed.

'Concubine.' Sakura's tongue became dry as the word played over and over in her head, each time with a heavier meaning than before. It was really hitting her that she was coming to this foreign land to be the foreign Pharaoh's concubine. Her place here was to compete for the ruler's attention and hope that he picked her to sleep with. She put her face in her hand, suddenly feeling exhausted. There was nothing she could do about it now. Her father had sealed her fate, now she had to accept it.

The horses drew into the courtyard and went on a course that took them to the west side of the palace, to the back where no one on the street would be able to peek in. The cart stopped and Sano hopped out. When he held out his hand for her, Sakura took it and he helped her down, as had become a custom for them over the past many days of travel. The other man who had come to fetch her in Hattusa had been riding on horseback due to lack of room in the carriage, and they heard his horse's hooves come to a stop behind them, and he swung to the ground. Sano instructed him to grab Sakura's little bag, and then led them into the palace.

Her knees were quivering severely with every step but she still kept on. Sano took her through many beautiful hallways, and she marvelled at how it appeared to shine despite being simply brick.

Her driver stopped after what had felt like a lifetime for Sakura, deep in the palace, in front of an elaborate door. "These will be your quarters now, Miss Sakura," he informed her, giving her a last glance before opening the door and bowing. After a moment she clued in that he was bowing to her and she should go in before him. Inside was a long hallway with many smaller doors lining the walls. Sano followed her in and then walked past her, leading her again down the hall until he stopped in front of one of the doors and opened that one as well. "This is your chamber." He gave her a reassuring smile. "Fortunately for you, the Pharaoh doesn't have too many concubines currently. You get a room all to yourself."

This didn't quite make her feel better. "Thank you," she managed.

He nodded. "It's been a pleasure riding with you, Miss Sakura. Perhaps I'll see you around the castle sometime."

Sakura's lips parted. "Wait, that's it? You're just leaving me here?"

Sano looked surprised. "Well…I mean, yes. There's not much to it. One of the other concubines will show you the ropes, that's usually how it goes."

Sakura blinked. She felt uncomfortably warm, and a little silly. "Oh. Of course." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "Oh…thank you," she repeated. "You…you made my journey comfortable." Oh, god. That was the best she could come up with? She should really be far more grateful than that; she'd heard that Egyptian officials could get meaner than Hittite officials, who could get pretty nasty at times. But her head was spinning and she couldn't think of much of anything.

Still, Sano smiled, and bowed his head briefly before exiting the chamber.

Sakura spun around to take in her new room. A fairly nice bed, for obvious reasons, and a patterned rug covering a good portion of the cold stone floor. A dresser stood in the corner, and beside it a wooden table and chair. She was pleased to see that there was a small window on the far wall, and walked over to it, crossing her arms in the sill and leaning into it. Within the walls of the castle, there was a small open garden courtyard with a fountain where a few women—who she guessed were her fellow concubines—sat or stood, talking and smiling. A pathway lined the little pocket of garden, and two women strolling down it spotted Sakura in the window. One of them smiled and made her way over.

"You must be the new Hittite," she said. Sakura was unsure of whether she should be offended at her words, but decided against it because her tone was good-natured.

"Ah, yes. My name is Sakura," she introduced, offering a little smile.

"I'm Rika," the woman replied, still smiling, and held out her slender hand for Sakura to shake.

"You're a concubine too?" Sakura asked, taking in her beautiful clothes and elegant posture, her well done pale hair.

Rika nodded. "I am. For many years now."

This gave Sakura some hope; Rika seemed pretty well off.

"Rika, can I ask you a question?" Sakura leaned a little further through the window opening. Rika nodded her head. "What exactly am I supposed to do now that I'm here?"

Rika chuckled. "Nothing, really." She gave an elegant shrug. "Just try and fall into regular life here. Baths, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sleep, and so on, with walks in between." She laughed, like she'd made a joke but Sakura was unsure of the punchline. "The Pharaoh will be informed that you're here, and it's up to him whether or not he visits you tonight or any other night. But," she added in a giggling whisper, "perhaps he'll find you quite interesting as you're a Hittite. We don't have too many of those here."

"Ah…yes," Sakura replied with a forced little smile. "Of course."

The other woman with Rika whispered something to her.

"In fact, dinner is soon. We all eat together. Join us!" she invited happily.

Sakura felt tired but didn't want to be rude. She smiled and accepted.