This chapter is the opening to what will be a chapter fic. There will be eventual thiefshipping. There will be swearing. There may be lemons. All the things you people eat up like candy XD I swear I will update regularly, I plan to update every Tuesday. So please standby for more updates, and review so I know that you wish to read more. I've been in a huge rut recently and I'm trying to get out of it, so feedback would be greatly appreciated!
The night time air was filled with the fresh odour of rain. The sidewalk gleamed with the glamour of stuttering streetlights, seemingly on the verge of burning out, but not quite to that point yet. Few cars were on the road of the seemingly abandoned edge of the London suburb.
Hands shoved in his overcoat pockets, a young, tanned boy about the age of 19 walked quickly through the streets.
"Shit…" He muttered when he saw the neighbourhood sign "Harlesden". He needed to get to his house in Neasden, but it seemed now that he was completely lost.
"Goddammit, where is the tube? There has to be one," he muttered. There didn't seem to be an underground anywhere near the cheap, rundown place. There didn't even seem to be any buses going around at the moment. Or at least, none that he could see.
The boy had been visiting his friends in the neighbourhood, but refused a ride home. 'No,' he had said, 'I can just take the tube.' But, as his luck would be, he couldn't find one. And all the maps he came across were either covered in graffiti, or in a place too dark to read.
He continued to look around, trying to get some idea of where he was. He knew that Harlesden was notorious for crime, so he didn't want to be out here for long. Unfortunately he also seemed to have gotten himself so turned around that he could no longer even tell which way was north.
He walked for a few more blocks before growling in frustration, exclaiming "Fuck!" loudly.
"Hey," said a gruff voice behind him.
The boy spun around, "Who's there?! I'm warning you, I have a taser on me!" He yelled.
The man just chuckled and stepped out from the shadows into the dim light. He wore a long black trench coat. The rest of his facial features were blocked by the shadow of his umbrella, but his bright white hair shone like moonlight, as did his unusually pale complexion.
"I only want to help. Do you need directions?" He asked kindly.
The boy was hesitant to interact with such a shady character, but he supposed he really had no other choice. "Yeah," he said, "I need to find the tube."
The shadowy male smirked slightly, "There's a shortcut right through the alley behind me. It should be right on your left."
"Yeah, right, nice try," The boy said, turning away from the man in front of him, knowing this man was only looking to mug him, "I'm not an idiot." But before he started walking he felt a bony hand grab his wrist and a sharp blade dig into the skin of his neck.
"You're a smart one, huh? But not smarter than me. Make one move and I'll slice your neck open."
The boy froe up, eyes widening. He looked around, but there was no one in sight. He was all alone. He wished that the taser had not been a bluff. His mind was locked up in fear, but he held back a whimper. Showing fear would only make the situation worse for him.
The pale man chuckled, "My, my, now what is a cute little kid like you doing out in a dangerous place like here?"
The boy only gulped again.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you… You see, I think you knew I was coming. Huh, Mariku? I always thought you were too smart to get caught like this… But here we are…."
The boy flinched when the blade dug deeper into his throat, but he managed a breathless whisper, "M-My name is Malik! Malik Ishtar! You've got the wrong person!"
The man just giggled again, "Begging won't help you. It's been so long since I started tracking you down… You were leaving the country tomorrow, hm? Silly of you to be out here… But now you're mine, and I'll get my pay, and you'll get yours…" With that last statement, Malik found himself being gagged and cuffed. He was too afraid to struggle as his body was ungracefully manhandled.
"So cooperative… We could have been good partners… Too bad you're so slippery…"
Malik was openly shaking now, and he whimpered when he felt himself being tugged towards a car parked on the side of the road. His legs were frozen and refused to move, and this obviously mental man growled and yanked him up. Malik found the ability to move his legs after that, and stumbled with the pale male.
The man giggled again, "If I'd have known I was going to catch you today, I would have rented a limousine."
Malik was roughly shoved into the backseat of the small car. His kidnapper, or rather, his 'capturer', didn't even bother to fasten Malik's seatbelt as he climbed into the front and drove off.
Malik tried and tried to wriggle free of his bonds, but the cuffs were too tight and he was only succeeding in chafing and cutting his wrists. The gag was also cutting painfully into his cheekbones, but he couldn't do anything about that with his hands cuffed the way they were.
After about an hour and a half of driving, Malik finally felt the car stop. He was fatigued from wriggling and from staying up all night, but his fear of what the pale man would do forced him to stay awake. Malik saw the car door open.
"Get up," the man ordered. Malik just looked at him tiredly. The man rolled his eyes and grabbed Malik's arm, pulling out of the car and under the umbrella.
"Don't even think about pulling anything. Got it?" He looked dead serious, his shadowy face twisted in a cutting sneer of pride, and there was a new aura of danger about him. Malik thought it best to do as he said, but he only managed a slight nod. His neck was extremely stiff from laying down awkwardly in the car.
The man pulled him to a dark pub, stopping to knock three times at the door. The door quickly opened, and they were greeted by a buff man.
"Ah, Bakura! I've been expecting you! I almost thought you had skipped out on us! And I see you brought the boss' man, very good!"
The newly named Bakura rolled his eyes, "Please, you know that I am the most reliable bounty hunter out there. I tracked him for a month and decided to make my move tonight," He lied. He knew it was dumb luck that he found Malik, and he just cancelled his flight out of the country in the car ride.
"Right, right, we all know how you are, Bakura! Always so cautious! Maybe if you were more buff like me…" The older man trailed off in drunken mumbles.
"Enough of this, where is the boss? I want my money as soon as possible. I'm very busy and I have a lot of jobs to be doing." Another lie.
"Yeah, yeah, he's downstairs. But stay a while! Have a drink! On me!"
Bakura ignored him and dragged Malik down the stairs, "Keep up with me, or you'll fall," he ordered, but Malik was all but asleep by that point. They finally reached the spacious room under the pub. It has grey stone walls and a dirt floor. It looked like a dungeon, and Malik and Bakura were the new cellmates.
A dark chuckle came from the room, "Ah, Bakura, nice to see you. So you finally came through on our deal? I was about ready to call in another bounty hunter and tell him to catch you both."
Bakura scoffed, "That won't be necessary, I always come through. I'm the best there is. I've got your man right here," He said proudly, holding Malik up for the man to see.
But the reaction was the opposite he expected. Instead of being pleased, the man looked shocked as he stood up roughly from his cluttered desk, knocking down the chair in the process. Then that shock dissipated to anger, "Who the fuck is that?!" He yelled, pointing a finger at Malik.
"What are you talking about?! It's Mariku! He matches the photo you gave me!"
"No he is not! That boy is a blonde Egyptian, but he is NOT Mariku! You fucking moron, you caught the wrong person!"
"You're out of your mind! Of course I got the right man, I never make mistakes!" The man's face was bright red, contrasting heavily with Bakura's even paler than normal complexion.
"Moron! Look at that photo! Mariku has a long scar across his cheek that ends at his right ear! Are you telling me that somehow it disappeared?!"
Bakura looked shocked as he realized his mistake, "Shit…" he breathed.
"Yeah, shit indeed! Not only have you failed to bring me my man, but now we have to deal with this kid! What are we supposed to do?! I can't murder anyone else, the police are already starting to suspect all the bodies that are turning up to be related! If I keep doing that they'll sooner or later find something to tie me to the crimes!"
"But we can't let him go! He'll tell the police on us in an instant!" Bakura yelled back.
The man growled, rubbing his temple, "Take him back to your house. Keep him locked up here until I can arrange something."
Bakura looked shocked and disgusted at the idea, "Are you fucking kidding me?! You want me to fucking babysit the brat?!"
"It's your fault all this is happening! He's your problem. And let me tell you, Bakura," he spat, glaring daggers at him, "If any of this blows up in my face, I'll have you killed. So you better treat this situation as if your life depends on this, because it does. Got it?!" He growled, now completely in Bakura's face.
Bakura shrivelled his nose at the man's foul breath, but nodded.
"Now get the fuck out of my sight before I have you both killed. I'll contact you when I've figured something out."
Bakura quickly left the room, dragging the now wide awake and trembling Malik with him. He ignored the buff man's asking him for a drink, and shoved Malik in the car and sped off towards his home, muttering various curses to himself and shooting Malik evil glares.
Thanks for reading! This is chapter one, and it did turn out shorter than I wanted. Oh well. Please review and tell me what you think! Thanks!