I woke up in Ji's embrace. We were both ... it felt so natural, so right, and I basked in that feeling.  He was still sleeping beside me, peaceful like a small child and I couldn’t bring myself to wake him up so I tried to quietly get out of bed. Despite the horrible hangover I was feeling I succeeded and softly padded to the bathroom.

I looked at the girl in the mirror and barely recognized myself. It wasn’t just that changed me, although it surely did help…there was something in my eyes that gave away the immense happiness I felt.

My hair was everywhere, and my cheeks were a bit flushed, as the rest of my body was and there was this silly smile on my face that just wouldn’t go away. And when I felt the memory bubbling to the surface I didn’t fight it, I welcomed it.

All my concentration was on the pitcher of wine I was holding. I would be in deep if I let it slip, I knew that, but I have been standing with that damn thing for nearly half of the night, and I was pretty damn fed up with acting like a pretty statue. My arms ached and my eyes were begging to close.

The new pharaoh, the one that saved me that night of the slaughter, was talking to the foreigners who came to visit. He was charming them and they were eating right out of his hand, especially the women. God I hated them. I wished I could have been born into an important family, not into one that would gladly sell me, I wished I had jewels and pretty linens to dress myself in, not have to wear what I was made to wear, I wished I was educated and smart, not just being barely able to write my name, and more than anything, I wished that for once he would place those beautiful eyes on me and smile, seeing me, truly seeing me.

After the slaughter he bought me off from my family and placed me in the palace as one of the rare slaves to the pharaoh. He never raised a hand or his voice on us, he always treated us nicely…but I couldn’t help but to harbor secret, and very stupid, feelings for him, completely dismissing the fact that important men saw slaves as nothing, and therefore my feelings for him would be in vain.

I concentrated again on the group in front of me and willed my hands to stay strong. Finally one of the foreigners raised his hand indicating he wanted more wine. I rushed to him and filled his glass without spilling a single drop. Just as I started to feel proud of myself, the man slapped my . I barely contained the wine in my pitcher and tried to move back to my place by the wall, but when he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me onto his lap, half of the wine sloshed onto me and the floor. The man, who was very drunk judging from the smell, happily laughed but I looked down scared of the punishment for spilling the wine.

At first everybody laughed, but just as quickly the room went silent. I saw a pair of legs approach me and I knew that it was the pharaoh. I dropped on my knees to beg for forgiveness, but instead of hitting me he kneeled to my eye level.

“Go to my chambers.” The gentleness in his voice surprised me enough that I didn’t question him and instead quickly made my way to his chambers... but before I left I heard him say:

“When you are in my home, you act accordingly, and that means you do not touch and definitely do not molest my servants. Since you have all had a lot to drink I will look the other way, for tonight. Let this happen again, and it is safe to say wars have been started for less. And do not forget who needs who here, you all came to me, not the other way around. We will continue our discussion tomorrow.” I shivered from the coldness in his voice…he sounded scary, and hurried along the long pathway.

Finally after what seemed like a small eternity I stopped in front of the pharos’s chambers. Of course the guards wouldn’t let me in, but after only a couple of seconds I heard the pharaoh’s voice behind me.

“Let her in.”

Without looking behind me I stepped into the magnificent room. It was decorated in gold details with the bed taking central stage. Giant windows looked onto the palace’s courtyard and the lakes in it, the moon reflecting in the calm water. The slight breeze ruffled the curtains on the windows and the linens that surrounded the bed, which effectively hid whoever slept in it when that person was there.

Only when I felt his hands on my shoulders did I realize that I had stopped walking.

“Don’t be afraid.” His whisper calmed my beating heart. “I remember you.” I gulped, unsure of what I was supposed to do.

“I remember the girl who trusted me with her life, I remember the girl who when it was all over asked me if I was alright, I remember the girl with the most amazing eyes that I could drown in.”

I looked up, and saw that he was looking at me, seeing me.

He pressed his forehead against mine and whispered again:

“I remember you Ami.” And then he kissed me, kissed me the way I had never been kissed, kissed me so I forgot the horrors of my life.

 Ji was shaking me.

“Amy! , Amy, are you okay?!” I shook my head trying to make the fog lift from my brain. It took me several deep breaths to open my eys and look at Ji since I was still processing the fact that in one of our past lives Ryu had remembered. Realizing that I was probably scaring the out of the man in front of me I smiled and kissed his lips, hoping that would calm him down a bit.

“I’m okay, just…daydreamt.” I could see he didn’t believe me at all but he chose to drop it. Bless his heart.

“Shower?” I asked him, and the naughty grin on his face was answer enough.

Later on, when we finally got to washing our bodies Ji asked:

“Yesterday, just before falling asleep you said something…it sounded like you said Ryu…what does that mean?”

I admit I panicked a bit, because I was so not ready to tell Ji the truth so I kind of…avoided the answer.

“Oh! T-that means dragon in Japanese I think. Shouldn’t you already know that?” I teased, relived that I had successfully changed the subject and Ji blushed. But suddenly Ji sobered up and looked at me with both confusion and fear on his face.

“Amy…yesterday…where does that leave us now?”

A/N Uhm… I have no idea what to say…hope you enjoyed this? :)

Tell me what you think, your comments always brighten my day :D