Preview

Joey Wheeler questions his ambition for becoming an actor when the movie's lead starts to make moves on his sister…

Disclaimer: I don't own any parts of the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise. All copyrighted materials belong to the appropriate owners. This is a non-profitable story, written purely for entertainment.

Author's Notes:

Key:

"Speech"

Thoughts

Emphasis (I may use italics for a different type of emphasis. Readers will be able to distinguish thought italics from emphasis italics)

Warnings: Language.

Drop The Act

.: A Tactless Tales Production :.

Chapter 1

Dangerous Stunt…

A tall, dark man, clad in a pair of dark shades and matching tuxedo, stood suspiciously alone, guarding the main entrance of the large estate behind. The cold night hovered around him, masking his presence to the untrained eye. Unfortunately for him, the troubles he'd deal with this evening were far from green. An alerted hand dove into his inner pocket at the sudden rustling of bushes in the near distance.

"Oh shit," one man whispered irritably to his partner beside him. "He heard ya move!" The young man ducked behind the large mass of foliage. When his partner hadn't taken the same course of action immediately, he grew extremely concerned. "Whatchu think ya doing? Trying ta blow our cover? Get ya ass down here!"

"Silence," the brown-haired man answered calmly. His looming blue gaze challenged the bronzed eyes of his partner. "You fool. You do realise that the more you talk, the more likely he is to pinpoint our exact location, don't you? This is supposed to be a stealth mission for goodness sake."

"Then why ya still talkin'?" the accused countered. His partner, Rolven, responded with a menacing glare. For the sake of the mission, that's all he would do. Laru flicked the tips of his spiky blond hair in success. That took care of one of the problems. Now for the guard, who, at this point, most probably had his suspicions focused on this portion of the trees and bushes.

Laru pulled a 9mm pistol from the sheath strapped to his waist. The lack of daylight made it difficult to fasten the cylindrical silencer to the tip of the gun's shaft, but his experience offset that minor inconvenience. With his weapon ready in his grasp, he re-joined his partner kneeling behind the bush.

Their eyes barely glanced above the hedge's uneven surface as they observed the guard's reaction. His handgun was held steady in his hand, tinted glasses looking curiously about Rolven and Laru's hiding spot. Why the hell was he wearing glasses at this time of night anyway? Laru thought, and they were tinted at that. As if the night wasn't dark enough. I feel like dropping dis gun, runnin' straight up ta him and whippin' his lame ass just for being so damn stupid!

Still, he had to admit, the self-made bat was in no lack of intuition. Despite how thoughtless his appearance let on, his focal point was fairly accurate, gun pointing their way, itching for visual confirmation so he could send them a lethal present. His hopes however, were silenced by the golden bullet that left Laru's barrel, rustling leaves as it swept passed, soaring through the air to find its mark precisely at the centre of his temple. He dropped dead. His weapon clattered on the floor, having fallen from his cold fingers.

Cautiously, Laru grew to a stand. His line of vision waved left to right, searching for anybody that may have witnessed his handiwork. The next rounds are on me if any suckas wanna join dis party.

The tainted night continued all the same. The absence of sirens settled well with his triumph. Rolven rose to his feet and nodded silently at him.

"BOOYA!" Laru broke the cool tranquillity. "Did ya see dat?" But his partner simply looked at him absently. "Not even the best friggin' assassin in dis world could fire dat well. I hope you were taking notes, there Rolven. How'd ya like my demonstration on how to be da best darn sharpshooter in the world?"

The brown hair curtaining his brow fluttered lightly in the wind as he shook his head. "I hope you were taking notes," he said simply.

"Me?" Laru looked puzzled. "You mean you were demonstrating some'in too?" His partner nodded. "Really? What were you demonstratin'?"

"How to SHUT UP!"

ooOOoo

The final obstacle of what started out as a stealth mission stood before him. Rolven cursed at his boss's decision to appoint Laru as his partner for this assignment. It was the first time he saw his boss miss the mark by more than a thousand miles. To him, Laru's mouth was forever the definition of verbal diarrhoea: all that ever comes out of it is shit and it never stops running…

The boy was simply not stealth material.

They had to endure the building's full force security to arrive in the owner's personal domain. Even though the bodies decorating the corridors weren't hard to slay, it was company policy to avoid unnecessary casualties. Somebody must've torn that page out of the contract Laru signed.

Well, at least the mission wasn't a total flop. They were standing in the boss's office, after all. And more importantly, that meant they had found the girl. All Rolven had to do now was follow the three steps. Step one was to slice his way past the man before him; two, to grab the girl, and three, to evacuate the building before the self-destruct sequence's countdown hit the big '0'.

Step one: Rolven fixed blue eyes on his opponent. The bald man's buttoned shirt fit tightly over his huge chest. Streams of thick veins bulged on the brawny, brown muscles hanging from the jagged tears of his shirt's shoulders. He had violently ripped off its sleeves when he learnt the intruders succeeded in bypassing all of his security measures. Long black sideburns flowed into the furry beard that hung at the bottom of his round features. Oddly, his tie was still tidily in place, nearly as red as the infuriated face he wore.

"Just … business…" His fury puffed between words. The broadsword looked small in grip of his huge fists.

"Just business," Rolven agreed in a much smoother tone. He held the hilt of his sword in one hand. His two-metre-long blade was thin, stretching across almost half of the room's width. The lengthy corporate table that usually sat at the room's centre had been kicked aside. The maroon carpet between them was clear and set for battle.

The boss charged at him with an animalistic roar, the sword above his head prepared for a vertical slash. Rolven narrowed his calculating eyes, reflected calmness in the office's dim lighting. He, too, ran forward. His blade was held out horizontally in front of him as he gave a cry of his own. His two-tailed, jet-black cloak flapped about behind him.

On the sidelines, Laru shut his eyes as the two fighters reached a collision. There was a sharp, metallic squeal. Then, the air went silent again. Bravely peeling open one eye, he found that they were both still standing, their backs a little distance away from each other as if each of them had run right through the other. Their grunts had been reduced to heavy pants. After a few long moments, the big man gave a defeated sigh and tipped to his side. Rolven stood up from his crouched position and slid his sword into the slanted sheath on his back.

"I knew you could do it!" He cheered.

Rolven folded his arms. "So did I."

Muffled cries suddenly reached their ears. They were coming from somewhere in the room. Each of them searched through the lockers lining opposite sides of the office. Their separate searches led them to the same locker; it was in the centre of the back. They looked at each other. The smiles they granted one other were of congratulations. Laru opened the locker and Rolven pulled the girl out.

Step two: she screamed loudly as Rolven ripped the sticky tape off her lips.

"YALCH! What did you have to do that for!? Did you have to pull it off so roughly! Geez, somebody pick my lips off the floor I think you tore them right off too! Why the f--"

"… Let's keep it on a little longer." Rolven slapped the tape back on.

"Good idea," Laru sweat-dropped. He agreed full-heartedly with his partner for the first time.

Once the bonds on her ankles and wrists were relieved, she ripped the silver gag off her lips even harder than Rolven had. "My lips are already burning so what's the point!?"

Rolven and his partner face-faulted in chorus. The brown-haired hero watched her in astonishment as she dumped her fiery complaints on them. Every other second, she would brush away the long auburn locks distracting her lips. Her screaming eyes were blue, but not like his. They were a gentler shade, probably serene when she wasn't this upset. Strangely, he found himself more interested in her features as the seconds went by. Her babbles had long faded out of his detection, leaving only thin cherry lips that loved to bounce. Another string of hair fell at their corner but this time Rolven beat her to the punch, and fingered it away for her, tucking it at the back of her ear.

Her mouth stopped moving. If only that worked with Laru, Rolven wished. Her watery eyes shivered as they looked up at him. With her anger evaporated, her true emotion shimmered clearly in her cerulean orbs. He could hear them calling him to hold her, and so he complied. He took her frightened form in a warm embrace.

His hands rubbed gently up and down her back, soothing her pain and, at the same time, urging her to cry all the emotion out. After her heavy sobs settled, he stepped back and looked into her eyes. His thumb smeared away the drying streams trailing down her cheeks. "You're safe now."

Her mouth opened to say something, but failed at that. "Thank you." She found the words after a short silence.

Rolven smiled back. He knew this was the perfect moment. He leaned in, and she tilted her head, further confirming his ideal timing. Their lips were less than an inch away when he was abruptly tugged back by his collar.

"CUT, CUT, CUT!" A voice yelled from the sidelines. "Wheeler, what the hell was that!? That was perfect until you screwed it up! What gives?" The director rose from his seat.

Joey Wheeler crossed his arms and stuck out his lips. "Aint no way that bastard is kissin' my sister!" He pointed at 'Rolven'. "Even if this is a just a movie scene! Get some stunt doubles in 'ere or somethin'!"

Kaiba shook his head at the co-star. "You idiot. It won't mean anything. This is all scripted! How can you be an actor if you don't even understand the concept of acting?" The second-rate duelist/actor was getting on his nerves. He knew letting him play the role of 'Laru' in this movie would be a mistake.

"Joey, Joey baby," the director tried to calm him down. "Listen to Kaiba, the boy's got a point. Besides, this is just a kissing scene. Stunt doubles?" he snickered at the thought. "Since when has a kiss ever been a stunt?"

"Well, gettin' involved wit' dat guy is just as dangerous."

"Joey!" Serenity slapped him on the arm. "You're being difficult for nothing! Don't forget, this is Seto's movie and he--"

"Seto?" Her brother hissed, anger brewing in his voice. "So, you are calling him Seto now?" Why the hell is she calling him by his first name?

"That's my name, Wheeler," Kaiba said coolly. "If you have a problem with it, I suggest you get yourself fixed. Any interests I may have in your sister fall in the boundaries of business," he added. "Something you know nothing about."

"Oh ya!?" Joey challenged, fist trembling with anger. "I can't t'ink of a comeback right now, so yeah!" Everybody face-faulted. "But I can do this!" He grabbed Serenity's wrist and proceeded to walk her offset against her will, ignoring the pleas of the director who complained about the theft of his cast.

Kaiba crossed his arms and grunted. "What an ass."

The remark stopped Joey dead in his tracks. He turned back to Kaiba, shooting a glare that would kill him if it possessed a physical form. "See! What did I tell ya, sis? Rich boy's had his eye on ya for a while a now. And I won't eva let him get near ya." He positioned himself behind Serenity, steering her forward with her shoulders. That'll block the bastard's view.

Serenity turned to look at Kaiba, blushing lightly at his returning gaze. She turned away quickly before he could make out the growing shade on her face. Could he really have been looking at me…?

What the? Kaiba thought, confused … HEY! That wasn't the ass I was talking about!

End Of Chapter 1