Title: Hellhound
Description: A mysterious agent for hire called 'the Hellhound' roams the streets of Domino City, stealing and killing for cash. What happens when this dangerous thief is caught on the prowl by Seto Kaiba? What if the Hellhound is a lot closer to him than he first thinks?
Rating: M
Pairing: Joey x Kaiba
Author's comments: Alright, so this is one of my first multi-chapter Yu-Gi-Oh fics. I actually have this one all planned out, so I just need to keep up with typing it and keeping it going. Much easier said than done, but I like this idea so much, I don't think it'll be hard to finish it. Hope you enjoy it!
This story should start out with some kind of happy imagery. After all, it's a dark story, and something bright might make it not so angsty or depressing. However, when you live on the bad side of the town, the story has to start out with hookers, druggies, and thugs pulling their guns on each other. Gunshots ring out into the night on this side of the town, and nobody cares anymore, because no matter how many times the police are called, nothing ever changes. Nothing ever will change.
That's how I felt when I heard the gunshot in the distance that evening, as the sun cast a blood-red stain to try and taint the innocent evening sky. However, I didn't look up from my ever-demanding 'homework'. Gunshots didn't scare me anymore. They hadn't for years. Sure, when I was ten, and only a few years older than that, when I first moved from my cozy home with my family in Brooklyn, New York to here, in Domino City, Japan, I would huddle under the covers and shake, hoping the bad men with guns wouldn't find me. I don't really care anymore. Guns are a natural part of my life.
I'm just thankful it's not the Hellhound out there. Who? You've never heard of the Hellhound? Well, that's a story in itself.
The Hellhound is an agent for hire, working in Domino City. He does anything from assassinations and hits to robberies. He's a con artist to boot and he's almost always got his hands in everything that shows up on the front page of the newspaper. No matter what the job is, the Hellhound sniffs it out. He's fast and silent, and can get anywhere in any amount of time. An escape artist, a conman, and probably a bit insane to agree to do everything he does. I'm sure the police would trade all their donut and coffee breaks for a year to get their hands on him.
Unfortunately for them, though, he's as elusive as a ghost. Word is, he lives in the bad neighborhood in town, where bad men roam the streets, and hookers scatter like roaches when they hear sirens or see blue and red lights. The greasy, grungy, nasty part of town, where nobody cares who you are, where you come from or what your story is, just so long as you've got something in your wallet for them to try and steal or sucker you out of. Don't know what he sees in the place, but apparently, that's where he hides when not killing, stealing, and making a name for himself. As stereotypical of a hideout as it is, it definitely works for him.
I, however, know a little more about the Hellhound than most people. I do know him personally, after all.
He's not very old. Probably late teens, early twenties. How else would he always know what was going on around town. He's a handsome guy, all in all, though he's a bit rough around the edges. Believe it or not, he's still in school, and lives a relatively ordinary life by day. As funny as it is to think of a super-criminal being a normal person, it's the truth.
He's a swell guy, with friends and a family. His family is a little strange. After all, his mother and sister, he hasn't seen in ages, and he isn't on very good terms with his father. Probably something to do with the guy being a complete asshole who doesn't give a flying fuck about him. I'm sure he misses his mom and sister, though. It's been, what, seven, eight years since he saw them last? He doesn't like to talk about his family to anyone, though. I guess it's just a really tender topic for him.
His friends however, that's a different story completely. His friends are the best people in the world. He's got a multitude of people who love him, and he loves them all just as dearly. His best friend's this short kid, who seems completely immersed in the wellbeing of those around him before himself. A good kid, I guess, but a little head-in-the-clouds, if you know what I mean. His other friends include the tough guy, the one girl who hangs out with them, the foreign boy, and a few others who wander in and out of their group.
He told me about this one kid in his class, once. A kid who apparently pisses him off to no end. This kid supposedly calls him nasty names, and looks at him like he's not worth anything. I understood what the Hellhound felt when he talked about him, and I could sense the hatred between them. After all, just because someone's a rich, uptight, cockblocked, cold asshole, pardon my language, doesn't mean they deserve to give everyone else around them hell.
I told him to punch the kid right in the face the next time he said anything to him, be it nice or not. He laughed and told me I was smart, and he'd consider it. I don't think he'd actually do it, though. He's enough of a troublemaker without listening to my advice, of all people.
Either way, it's funny how people like that. How creatures that don't even seem human, although you know they are, can actually be great people once you get to know them, huh? Inside that mysterious exterior, is a human being like you, or me, or anybody you see on the street. Deep down, they're just like everyone else.
"So, Yug'. You think you're gonna pass that chemistry test?" I asked suddenly, glancing at my friend out of the corner of my eye. Yugi Mutou, my best friend on the planet, with his crazy spiked hair and his amethyst eyes, looked up from his page of class work and shrugged.
"Probably." He replied, with a small smile. "After all, unlike you, Joey, I've been studying hard for it." I sighed and let my head rest on my arm, while I continued smiling up at Yugi. His smile grew a bit wider, but I could see the slight worry in his eyes. "Joey, have you been sleeping okay, lately? You look really tired, all the time." He pointed out.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I've just been up late these last few nights. Doing a lot of work on school work I've missed." I fibbed, shrugging. "It's been really tiring." I instinctively rubbed at the bags under my eyes, a bit self-conscious of them. Yugi didn't look convinced, but he nodded.
"Well, it's good to see you taking your studies serious for once, then." He replied pleasantly.
"Ol' Joey, taking his studies seriously?" I recognized the obnoxious voice only moments before Tristan leaned heavily on my head, making me growl and flail my arms to get him off. I lifted my head and glared at the brunette, and he grinned sheepishly. "Can't be. Joey's mark is as low as always!" He exclaimed, pointing to the page of class marks on the wall. I growled under my breath again.
"Yeah, yeah. Just 'cause I'm catching up, doesn't mean I've handed everything in yet. I'll get it all in at once, and then you'll feel stupid, wont you?" I snapped back, making Tristan stop and raise his eyebrows slightly.
"Hey, man. I was just kidding. Chill out." He said hesitantly, holding his hands up defensively. I paused for a moment, then nodded.
"Mm. Yeah, sorry." I replied softly. I wasn't really sure why Tristan's 'antics' pissed me off so much that day. It was probably because I hadn't slept straight in two weeks. I'd spent way too many headaches and all-nighters trying to get my hands on some very complicated, rare floor plans.
As the bell rang, most of the students eager to escape their classes, which included Tristan, of course, bolted into the hallways and headlong into their freedom. I dawdled a bit so I could walk with Yugi. He gathered up his books, slipping them into his bag, and I felt a little inferior in comparison, only carrying two of the four textbooks I should have had. The other two were probably somewhere in my deathtrap of a room, but to be honest, I'd given up looking for them.
"So, Joey. You want to hang out at the shop for a while?" The offer caught me off guard, and I blinked, looking at Yugi again.
"Eh, what?" I asked, tilting my head. "You… want to hang out?" Yugi sighed and shook his head like a disapproving mother, or girlfriend.
"We haven't hung out in weeks. It's like you're dropping off the face of the earth." He replied, pouting slightly. "It'd be cool if you could hang out for a few hours, at least. Grandpa just got a new shipment of cards…" His voice became singsong at the last sentence and I had to smile Yugi knew just how to pique my interest. However, I couldn't.
"Sorry, Yug'. I gotta dedicate tonight to more schoolwork." I fibbed with a small sigh. "But I can definitely hang tomorrow, if that's okay." I saw the disappointment in his eyes and immediately felt like an ass. However, Yugi nodded and simply smiled just as brightly as before.
"It's okay. We can always hang out tomorrow, or over the weekend." He said, as he threw his backpack over his shoulder and headed across the room to the door. "Not to mention, you're still walking me home. Right?" He teased, and I grinned.
"Damn straight. I'm not letting someone as cute and defenseless as you walk home on your own." I replied promptly as I grabbed my nearly empty school bag and jogged after him. Yugi flushed at the comment and rolled his eyes.
"I am not cute." he muttered under his breath, and I laughed.
I kicked up the gravel of torn-up sidewalk under my shoes with a vengeance as I made my way lazily down the street towards my home. Some home it was, of course. Chances were, my dad was drinking even more of the rent money away, or was waiting for me to get home so he could scream at me for something I probably didn't do in the first place. He made me sick, and sometimes, I just couldn't believe I was related to such an inconsiderate prick.
Either way, though, my mood wasn't horrible. My walk with Yugi had been good, and I'd even lingered at the shop for a little while to check out the new shipment he'd said his grandfather had just received. I felt good, with a brand new Red Eyes B. Chick in my deck. It sat comfortably alongside my Red Eyes B. Dragon. My absolute pride and joy.
The time for dueling was nowhere near, unfortunately. Instead, I slipped into the house as silently as I could manage and breathed a sigh of relief when I spotted my dad passed out on the couch, in front of an X-rated movie of some kind. Uninterested by the porn on the screen, and not daring to stand around and watch, just in case the old man awoke, I fled from the moans and slick noises coming from the shitty old TV and hid away up in my room.
Slowly, I closed the door and turned to survey my domain. Not much about it was very exciting. It was a messy teenager's room, to be sure. Computer on the desk, bed in the corner, laundry basket overflowing, and papers and random stuff strewn about carelessly. I ignored the things on the floor, even though some of them were probably growing mould by now, and sat at my desk instead. I could clean up later, once I'd printed off those plans.
The old, crap-bucket of a computer whirred to life and displayed the startup screen, followed by a system check. Then, promptly, I was deposited onto my desktop. I opened a few folders, then thought better of it and closed them again, instead deciding I'd better check to make sure nobody had been touching my hardware since I was last on it. As much as I wasn't really worried about my father looking up porn on my computer, other people could probably stumble across some concerning things. As I punched codes into a program, I breathed a sigh of relief, as the search for previous activity came up with that morning, when I'd been checking a few last things before school.
Well then, I decided, time to continue with what I was doing. I pulled up the floor plans I'd spent so long searching for and partially building and converted the file type. Picking a file type that was compatible with my printer, I brought up the 'print' command and listened to that old pile of machinery click into life as well. However, as reliably as ever, the paper began to roll out with the ink on them. I let the pages dry for a minute before taking a good long look at them. Satisfied, I rolled them up and tossed them on the bed.
The sun was low in the sky, casting a bloody stain across the pure, white clouds as I opened my closet and pulled out the black clothing that seemed to be eagerly waiting to be worn. I threw on the black muscle shirt and made sure it was comfortable before dropping the black trench coat over my shoulders. For a moment, I sneered as the style of the coat reminded me of Kaiba. It even flared out at the bottom like his. The black pants came next, followed by the belt with the knife and gun holster, the weapons contently nestled in their resting places. Then, I pulled the leather, fingerless gloves onto my hands. Finally, came the boots, which took a minute or two to buckle up on each side, and fasten comfortably. However, as I viewed myself in the mirror, my nose inches from the surface so I could apply the kohl to the bottom of my eyes, I couldn't help but smirk. I looked damn good.
"Alright. Papers, clothes, gun… good." I said softly as I verbally and physically checked to make sure I had everything. Grinning, I whirled around to take the base of the window and slide it up, before stepping onto the sill and scrambling up onto the roof of my house. The window slid neatly shut behind me, leaving no evidence I'd ever been through it.
Finally, as the sun choked out a last few shuddering rays of light, before giving up its realm to the moon, who was eagerly rising to take its place in the night sky, I stood on the roof and surveyed my other domain. The rats were scrambling about the streets, buying their drugs and selling their bodies, and I sneered. Turning around, I jumped down from the roof to take hold of a pipe and slide down it to the pavement. Then, my feet touched the ground and I spun, doing what I always did at night. I disappeared among the crowd like a specter.
The Hellhound, after all, had a job to do tonight.