DEVIL'S BRIDE

Drabble set featuring the start, the end, the ups and the downs of Youichi Hiruma's attempts and success of courting (re: blackmailing) Primrose Dorea Potter into being his girlfriend.

I do not own Eyeshield 21, if I did... the games would be more interesting! There's only so many times I can see the same formula of a match before it gets old. Also, there would be more character exploration.

000

ENCOUNTER

THURSDAY 14th AUGUST 1996

Hiruma grinned as he loomed over the little Sneak Thief.

Catching her was no mean feat, the girl was fast, faster than him, faster than even that fucking muscle-freak Agon he would wager. His mind held all the information, all the comparisons. Agon had natural talent, his little Sneak Thief, the Cat Burglar he had to catch on the roof where she couldn't slip free, had that and experience. Experience of years running, hiding, dodging. God Speed Impulse.

"You've been a very naughty girl," he cackled, shifting his weight as he saw the ever so slight movement of her foot, changing her stance so she could slip free. He cut her off. And she knew it if the way those green eyes darkened and narrowed up at him. She stayed quiet and his grin widened, oh she was good, she knew the game quite well. "How about a deal, my little Sneak Thief," he suggested, practically purring. "You help me, and I'll help you."

Primrose knew she should have just shown up at a police station and explained everything. It would have been so much less hassle. But why now? Why was she only realising this now, stuck on the roof of a Pachinko Bar, with a small hand-held gun pressed against her stomach, angled up so that any shot would go under her ribs and tear her lungs to shreds and some peroxide blond pest that looked like the unfortunate off-spring of Spock from Star Trek and some form of either a bed of nails or a vampire bat holding it?

She should have known better. When anything starts going well for her, something else has to go wrong and sour the whole Potion. She stole the money from all the wallets, small change and folding stuff, she wiped her finger-prints clean, put the wallets in a box and put them in front of a police box when no one was looking before running away. She halved the money and shared it with the homeless in the park for helping her, something very well received though one little older lady refused, scowling all the way and scolding her about her thievery. Primrose left her be, if she was that against it then that was just the way it was and more power to her, she wasn't going to push it onto her if it was against her moral code. Still, the first order of business was food. Being familiar enough with starvation, she made her way to a street stall and had a rather plain meal of miso soup, onigiri, white rice and a small dish of grilled vegetables. All of which were delicious and eaten slowly and carefully, either way, she wasn't able to finish and asked for a box so she could take it with her. That done, she went to the local bathhouse to clean up. The Japanese were anal about hygiene and to be honest, she completely agreed with them. She enjoyed the first hot shower, scrubbing away the dirt and the sweat and the tired. The second was just to make doubly and triply certain she was clean before she spent so long in the bath soaking, her toes and fingers wrinkled up to the point of being a little painful.

Then she'd gotten out, dried and dressed before leaving and getting cornered by this... Pest. This Peroxide Pest.

"No deal," she declared, giving him a judicious shove. Only he didn't move. She frowned as his grin widened. The hell? The guy was as skinny as a rake and had the same average muscle mass as an alley cat. She tried to push him away again, this time as hard as she could.

Hiruma cackled, snapping his arms down and catching her in a bear-hug, lifting her clean off her feet. She was such a fuckin' shorty it was easy, though... he refrained from frowning as he felt every rib and her spine through that thick woollen sweater. Perhaps it had been less a case like his own, where he extorted and blackmailed people for fun, and more a necessity of life for her.

Any guilt that may have been born from coercing the girl fled as she started kicking him, snarling threats and curses in a mixture of English, Latin, Greek, Bulgarian and French. It was rather impressive and he couldn't help but cackle at several of the more impressively anatomically impossible ones. (His favourite was the one with the duck and the broom covered in break fluid) She had fire.

He wondered if this was the kind of girl that the guys back on the base used to made lewd jokes about, feisty ones were supposed to be good in bed according to the Army Bastards. Hm, now that was a thought. He had been intending on just making her one of his ever increasing number of minions but really, with that speed, and the fact that it had been sheer luck he'd managed to corner her, she was better than the majority of the scum he had to deal with. But more importantly... Where was the fuckin' fun in that?

"Kekekeke, We're going on a date!" he decided, hooking one arm around her, under both armpits and hauling the tiny Sneak Thief along with him.

"Ha?" she spluttered and finally managed to get the manoeuvrability needed to plant a foot into his groin – to her detrimental pain. The girl squawked and Hiruma cackled gleefully.

"Fucking crafty little Sneak Thief!" he crowed, allowing her to hiss and swear and hop on one foot. He'd learned his lesson from Agon who was definitely not afraid to hit below the belt if he got pissed off enough with him – never go anywhere without wearing a cup. A metal one because fuck if muscles couldn't hit harder than most bullets on a good day when he was PMSy.

Shit, fuck, SHIT! She could feel blood already soaking into her socks. Fuck, that was her last clean set too! Her toe-nail was either split or snapped, she couldn't feel anything aside from pain but it wasn't particularly sharp so she didn't think it was broken but FUCK! That hurt! That fucking nasty ass bastard was wearing a cricket box or some kind of variant of a protective codpiece.

The blond demon cackled and caught her around the waist, yet again hauling her not only up – so she had to drop her foot – but also pressed flush against him, regardless of how she tried to lean away. "Its just a date, fucking Sneak Thief," he leered. "You ain't got enough topside for me to risk prison violating you."

This time she punched him.

000

Can you tell I had fun with this chapter? XDDD Hiruma's an interesting guy to get into the head of.

Currently, yes, this is set in the summer between Primrose's fifth and sixth year, just after Sirius's death. Its also set during the period where Kurita and Hiruma are trying to recruit for the American Football Club – they've already made their little Devil's Black Book. Hence Minion Number Eighty Eight.