Angel and Stealth

Chapter 1: Introduction

Hello everyone! I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, here are some warnings. this is an AU fic. it's also a romance fic with an OC/Seto. Oh, and if you want descriptions for Seraphim, look in "The Diamond Star" prologue. It's in there. *smiles cheerily* r&r!

His name was Stealth, or at least, that's what everyone called him. He was the best in the game. No one had ever seen his face and lived to tell the tale. He was the world's best assassin, and he was only eighteen. An orphan, he had made life for himself in the school of hard knocks. He learned to live on the street. The first job he had was to propose to a girl, then kill her. She never knew what hit her. He became known as Stealth then. He worked in the shadows, for the highest bidder. Then came the day he met Angel, the day his life changed forever, the day THEY started hunting HIM.

Angel Love, the world's budding celebrity, the face on all the magazine covers, had an enemy. She was in the fast rising technology industry and had hit it big. They didn't know when she would stop. Stealth had been commissioned by one Pegasus J. Crawford to annihilate Ms. Love before the competition got too rough.

It was a dream come true operation for Stealth. The balcony windows were thrown wide open, not even a security system to breach. He scaled the wall with ease, his lithe frame blending easily, and was in Angel's bedroom in no time.

'Pity,' he thought. 'She's very pretty. But she's also worth a lot of cash.'

Just as he drew a knife to slit her throat, Angel stirred. Her soft blond hair cascaded over her shoulders just right...and one of her eyes opened wide.

Strangely enough, she didn't seem surprised. "Hey, I guess you must be Stealth," she said, removing a blonde wig to reveal long dark brown locks which tumbled out from beneath the false hair. Her deep brown eyes searched through his.

"How do you know who I am?" asked Stealth, this was the first time this situation had ever occurred in his career, his victim was waiting for him.

"Do you ever do background checks on your employers?" asked Angel.

Stealth didn't answer, distrust was written all across his masked face. Sapphire blue eyes regarded Angel curiously.

"I do, you might know me as the Black Angel," Stealth's eyes widened. His only opponent in the deadly game of life...or death, whichever you prefer. The two were matched, competing for the best assassinations. "When Mr. Crawford contacted me, I decided to check what else he was up to."

Stealth did not answer.

"One assassin named Stealth had been commissioned to assassinate my alias, Angel Love. I decided to see what was going on. Why would my employer want to assassinate me?" Angel looked to see how Stealth took the information.

Finally, he spoke. "Who were you assigned to kill?" he asked inquisitively.

"That's the thing, he never told me. He just told me to stay in touch. That was when I decided to do the snooping and background checking," Angel glared at the floor. "He was looking for your alias. He wants us to kill each other."

Stealth looked at Angel as if she was crazy. "What do you mean?"

"He wants at least one of us out of the picture, and he wants to know as much as he can about the other. I think he's planning something, something against his enemies. And he thinks he'll be assassinated. We're the best in the business, no denying it. We'd be commissioned for it. Therefore, he wants us to kill each other, or at least put each other out of commission for a while," Angel stated logically.

"What do you plan to do about it?" asked Stealth.

"I propose a partnership. We splatter some of each of our blood around my house, and then blow the building sky high. DNA samples to show we were here, just pretend we got burnt to crisps," Angel replied, she had really thought this out.

"And then, what about after that?" asked Stealth.

"We find out what Mr. Pegasus J. Crawford wants with the deaths of the world's best assassins," Angel stated plainly.

Stealth considered Angel's proposition for a moment, then stuck out his hand. "You got a deal."

Angel took out two small vials and proceeded to take some blood to splash on the brick wall outside her property. Then, taking a detonation device in hand, she led Stealth outside. "Bon voyage house," she snickered silently to herself as she pressed the button. Splashing the blood on the outside wall, they both climbed into Stealth's black Z3 BMW convertible and drove off into the night.

Hours later...

"We're lost," Angel pointed out.

"We're not lost," Stealth replied.

"Fine, we're not lost, we just have no idea where we are," Angel repeated.

"We are NOT lost," Stealth retorted icily.

"I never said we were."

They had been having this conversation for the past few hours. They were, in fact, in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere around Las Vegas, Nevada, but they didn't know that. Their car had overheated and the hood hadn't come up. Now it was raining cats and dogs. Both assassins wondered why they had gone along with this partnership of sorts in the first place. However, they both knew killing each other wasn't going to solve the problem. So, they decided to wait the storm out.

"Do you have a name?" asked Stealth, trying to make some small talk.

Angel shook her head.

"Well, being as we're gonna be working together, I'll tell you mine. I'm Seto, Seto Kaiba," Seto extended his hand.

Angel shook it lightly. "I have no name."

"I'll give you one then."

Angel made no motion to refuse his offer.

"You look like a Seraphim."

"A what?" Angel looked at him strangely; he said she looked like an angel?

"I'm going to call you Seraphim. Seraphim...Hoshino," Seto sat back, proud of himself.

"Fine, whatever," Seraphim stared out at the vast Nevada desert.

After a while, Seto spoke to Seraphim.

"So, Seraphim," Seto began.

Seraphim looked over at him. "Yeah?"

"Looks like we're stuck out here all night," Seto smirked.

Seraphim nodded.

"Geez, you're a brick wall aren't you?" Seto asked; he was getting tired with her all-work personality. It really bugged him; at least he had fun sometimes.

Seraphim laughed inwardly. "Sure."

Seto nodded. "You need to lighten up, wanna get together on Saturday?"

"Sure," said Seraphim nonchalantly.

Seraphim suddenly jerked. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out two waterproof folders. "I thought we might need new houses. We're going to be living in New York, close to Crawford."

Seto nodded and took the folder she gave him.

"I have no idea where these places are...but I think we're neighbors of sorts. You live like...five apartment doors down from me." Seraphim nodded to herself, yes, she was right.

Seto nodded. "Well, let's go find someplace to get essentials as soon as the car starts again," Seto mused.

Seraphim just nodded in answer.

Within the next two weeks, the two had successfully found their new apartments. They plopped all their semi-useless equipment in the humble abodes (Seraphim swore she could fix them). Except the abodes weren't so humble. Being as they were both assassins, they had tons of money saved up from other jobs. They were still in the business because they liked doing their job. Killing mean, nasty people was very rewarding in a sick way. After transferring all their money and legal documents to their "new" aliases, they decided to go shopping for their essentials.

Five hours, a couple thousand dollars, and about three maps later, Seto and Seraphim collapsed in Seraphim's living room. They threw their bags down on the floor and flipped on the TV in the already-furnished room. "Not so bad...we just had to buy clothes and food," Seraphim commented as they watched Iron Chef on the Food Network.

"So, what do you want to do on Saturday?" asked Seto.

"I don't care, so long as we do stuff," Seraphim replied.

Seto shrugged and nodded. "Fine with me."

"Do you think you should go to your own room now?" Seraphim asked a couple hours later, slightly annoyed at his presence.

She was stopped when she realized he had fallen asleep on the other armchair, she was sitting in the first one.

"Well, at least one of us is getting a good-night's sleep," Seraphim decided to figure out just who "Seto Kaiba" was. She was sure the name was familiar...

A couple hours later, Seraphim sat back, pleased with her work. Seto was the CEO of a by-now dispersed company known as KaibaCorp. His chief executives had run him out of house and home and taken his brother, Mokuba, away from him. After running a background check, Seraphim discovered that Seto had never tried to contact his brother because his brother was alive and well, safe from Seto's life. Seto had become an assassin to get rid of the executives that had betrayed him. After that, the job just stuck, he had nowhere else to turn.

Seraphim compared it to her own story. She had been trained as the very best. She was an orphan, found by an assassin. So, naturally, the assassin had trained her to follow in his footsteps. He had taught her everything she knew. The most important of all: never trust anyone who could hurt you. She'd broken that rule when she began to think of the assassin as a makeshift-father. He had been killed and she suffered terribly. The heartache was nearly unbearable in the beginning. She could not trust this Seto Kaiba either, but she would work with him...and, she swore in every language she knew, Pegasus J. Crawford would pay for trying to kill her...oh yes, he had a date to keep...a meeting with his maker.

Walking to the bed, she lay out the sheets and bedclothes they had bought that day. Snuggling in the warmth, she fell asleep, oblivious to the troubles that would begin the next day...

Seraphim awoke the next morning to find Seto gone and a note tacked to her refrigerator. Curiously, she picked up the note and began to read.

Seraphim

You may notice I'm missing. I went to my own apartment when I woke up. Come on over after you wake up, just make sure to knock. I'm pretty sure I'll be awake; I'm a morning person.

~Seto

Seraphim shrugged to herself. 'Couldn't hurt to go see what's up with the guy. I don't get him...he's too open, he's gonna get hurt one day...' Seraphim shrugged again and got dressed. Moments later, she was knocking on Seto's door dressed in a simple black baby-tee and dark blue denim shorts. She cursed her long hair as it blew up around her, whipping her face, when Seto answered the door.

"Oh, it's you," he said, opening the door further. "Come on in, I made breakfast."

Seraphim walked into the apartment to the smell of bacon and eggs frying on the stovetop. "I didn't know you cooked," she observed thoughtfully.

"Hobby," he explained.

Seraphim nodded and turned on the TV, switching it to the news channel, she gasped. "-Crawford was seemingly caught in the fire. Police crew and fire fighters are on the case trying to put out the blaze on twenty-second avenue. More on the Industrial Illusions fire and possible death of its president later. Back to you Bob." The broadcast ended.

Seraphim stared at the screen, livid. "He WHAT?" she shrieked.

Seto looked from Seraphim to the TV, and back to Seraphim again.

"He...died...we 'killed' ourselves for nothing...we'll never get decent assassin jobs again..." Seto commenced muttering those and other such nonsense under his breath.

"Okay, breathe, the report is back on...more information," Seraphim mumbled as she turned up the volume.

"It has been confirmed, that Pegasus J. Crawford, president of Industrial Illusion Co, has died today at three o'clock in the morning. A gas fire broke out on the top floor near his office and his body has been recovered from the flaming wreckage. All of his employees will retain their jobs and his employees will select a new president from Mr. Crawford's advisors. Furthermore, point-five percent of his life's savings will go to each of his unfinished joint-projects so that his business partners wont loose money." A list of people that Pegasus owed the point- five percent scrolled across the screen.

"Seto! Look! Those are our names!" Seraphim pointed to the screen. Sure enough, Angel Love and Seto Kaiba were on the screen. Thankfully, they were planning to have all their other money from previous accounts forwarded to their new ones.

"That doesn't solve the problem at hand though," Seto pointed out.

"What to do now."

"Let's see how it works, we'll try to be civilians for now. Live normal lives..." Seto mused.

Seraphim nodded, "Well, I guess that's it. Later." She left the apartment without looking back once. She was used to taking things in stride, going into new environments, having a new life...but before she crossed the threshold, she regretted not stopping to say, "Can I see you again?" It was too late. They would not see hide or hair of each other for five years...

Seraphim Hoshino, professional journalist and part-time fashion designer, walked down the hallway briskly. Her black stiletto heels click- clicked on the smooth tiles of the apartment complex. Long dark hair loose and flowing out quickly behind her matched her chocolate brown eyes, her pink lips were set in a tight line which contrasted with her mellow-looking tan. Dark-rimmed wire glasses perched securely on her nose. A short black skirt and autumn-themed peasant's blouse graced her slim figure, and a black leather handbag, big enough to fit her portfolio, hung over her shoulder completing her look.

A young man stood a ways off, also waiting for the elevator. He had brown messy hair and dark blue eyes. He looked over at Seraphim. His hands were deep in his dark blue trench coat pocket. Teal dress shirt and black slacks and dress shoes graced his lithe figure. He was tall, very much so, but he managed to stay in the shadows, content with blending in.

Seto looked over at Seraphim, strangely enough, they hadn't seen each other since Crawford's death. It wasn't necessary. She was so pretty, he sighed. His cold exterior had melted away over the years; he was human now. She looked like she could still kill someone without blinking an eye. They had both come to a silent agreement never to talk about the assassin thing; nothing had ever come up in the newspaper after the one that said they had died in an explosion.

They both entered the elevator without saying a word. No need to, they didn't know each other. Supposedly. Seto sighed again as they both got out and walked to their respective apartments. Seraphim didn't bat an eye when she passed him.

Seto got out the key to his apartment, it was a cold day and all he wanted to do was get inside to warm up. Turning to key in the lock, he heard the familiar 'click.' Walking inside, he gasped. Everything was a mess! There were papers and things lying broken all around the room. Three vases lay in shards underneath the bookshelf and his lamp had been knocked over. Walking into the bedroom, he saw all his stuff strewn in piling heaps everywhere. Then he noticed something that wasn't his. It was a checklist. His and Seraphim's addresses were written on it in an untidy scrawl. That was all. Seto ran to Seraphim's apartment.

She stood in her doorway, taking it all in. Her face was an unreadable mask. She surveyed the area before walking in to check her other rooms. Seto ran up behind her. "Seraphim!"

She turned around sharply, looking ready to fight. When she saw who it was, she let her guard down...slightly. "What?" she asked tersely.

"Someone is hunting us," he showed her the paper.

Seraphim looked over it once. "Someone knows...someone wants us dead," she concluded after a minute or so.

Seto nodded. "We gotta get out of here. We have to run. I don't know what they want, but we can't let them find us. Whenever someone was after me...it was always ugly," Seto concluded.

"I know. The same thing kept happening to me when I was in the business," Seraphim reminisced. She stood silent for a while. "Yes. We have to leave. Let's go." With that, she swept around the room, grabbing a suitcase and various essentials.

Seto stood for a while, watching her.

"Meet me at nine o'clock sharp, Madison square garden. We'll figure out where to go from there," she said, shoving him out of her room.

Seto nodded wordlessly. Then, he smiled a little. It seemed...they were back in the game.

So, what do you think? Love it, hate it? I think I lied in my bio about 1- 5 chapters. It'll probably end up being more. *hehe* sorry. weeeell, R&R please! thank you!