“Well, sir, that was what she had said.” Raia was on the ground on one knee, kneeling before the priest Seto. “It may or may not have been true, but I wouldn’t really doubt it. She was quite frightened, you see, and it’s doubtful that she would have had the time or the wits to come up with something to—”
“Shut up.” Seto snapped. He had been the one to hire Raia and his men, thinking that if he returned to the palace with two wanted thieves, especially Bakura, the pharaoh would be a little kinder to accepting what he had done with Ryou. “So… pregnant, huh? Yes, I can see where I can use that to my advantage…” He said in a musing voice, and then glanced down at Raia. “Now, let’s get to another matter. WHY WERE YOU UNABLE TO CAPTURE THEM?!”
Raia winced at the priest’s wrath. “My lord, I had brought four very trained men with me. Three went after the thief and me and Nes—”
“Ness and I.” Seto corrected as a habit, from his education as a priest.
“Err… What?” Raia didn’t understand.
“Never mind. Just continue talking, and I’ll decide whether or not I’ll kill you.”
This added slight fear into Raia’s face. “Um… well, sir, me and Nes went after the girl—” Seto growled, and Raia decided to ignore it. “Ness was going to raid the house and take some stuff, and I’d take care of the girl… Ahem.” He coughed a little, not about to tell exactly how he had ‘taken care of the girl.’ “Anyway, after a while the thief must have beaten the three we sent after him because Nes said he saw him riding up, so me and Nes got out of there as quick as we could…”
Seto growled, his face livid, his teeth grinding together. “So you two just ran off like COWARDS?” He snarled, but didn’t wait for Raia to stutter out some apology before he continued on. “When I tell someone to do something, I expect it DONE! Not for them to go running off at some possible threat! You said that your men were well trained, did you not? Didn’t you think that maybe your three men had injured Bakura enough for you and the other guy to be able to finish him off? DIDN’T YOU?!” He wasn’t aware that he had grabbed Raia’s collar and dragged him up, shouting directly in his face. With a look of disgust, he dropped him. “Dammit. Well, at least I can hope that you weren’t stupid enough to tell the girl who sent you or let Bakura see your faces, right?”
“N-no, sir, we did nothing of the kind.” Raia stuttered, wondering why on earth he had accepted the job from such an insane man. “But I did inflict damage on the girl and I’m sure that my other men had done the same to Bakura. I had sent Nes to the nearest village to see if they did anything, and he told me that the girl had run away from the house and was being taken care of by a woman…” Raia continued, telling Seto about what Nes had told him, about Bakura killing thoughtlessly and what he had shouted at Rei. “I believe that it would be easier to bring them both if they weren’t together. And it seems that their relationship is already being somewhat damaged right now…” Raia glanced towards Seto’s Millennium Rod. “Perhaps a slight… push… would help achieve that goal. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about the thief coming when we went for the girl.”
Seto was picking up on what Raia was implying. “Hmm… yes. And because the thief still cares for Rei, even if they fight, and we took her to the palace, he would come, obviously. She’d be the perfect bait.” Seto grinned. “Yes, I do like that idea.”
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