Prompt: Bar
Universe: manga, first arc
Characters: Red, Yellow, Blue, Green
Genre(s): Romance, Action
Rating: T.
Word count: 1782
As requested by an anonymous reviewer, this contains Luckyshipping. I myself have never supported it but I will do my best.
I own nothing.
"If it isn't Green! Welcome, sir," the barmaid greeted, waving a delicate hand in the brunette's direction. "I see you brought a friend."
"Hope this evening's finding you well, Yellow." The brunette slipped into an empty seat at the counter. His companion slipped into the stool next to him.
"Indeed it is. What can I get for you?"
"A shot of whiskey, I think."
"Of course. How about you, sir?"
"I don't really need anything," the raven-haired man admitted. "I'm just looking for information."
The blonde across from him grinned. That predator's smile didn't belong on such a young face, especially one so petite. "Well, sir, you have come to the right place. Are you sure you don't need something?"
He hesitated. "Water would be fine."
The smile disappeared, and the small barmaid leaned forward on the counter, brown eyes narrowed. "Pardon for my rudeness, sir, but this is the best bar in town. I suggest you at least get some of our whiskey."
The raven-haired man across from her sighed. "No… water, please."
Now the blonde scowled at him. "Very well, sir. Water it is." She turned around, filling up a glass with water. As she did this the loud, familiar noises of a tavern fight began. Green cracked a grin when Yellow yelled, "You boys better stop it before I call her in!" The other man blinked when the noises faded immediately, filled instead with disgruntled mutters and curses.
"So, Green, what's the name?" Yellow asked the brunette, pulling up a stool herself and sitting down as if she hadn't been yelling in the first place. She gestured to Red, looking him over with intelligent brown eyes.
"This is Red. He's a friend of mine from a long time ago. Red, this is Yellow. She's a lot more outgoing than she used to be, for sure." Green ducked to avoid a smack from the smaller girl, laughing. "Before, she was afraid of mice. Now she can stop a brawl fight with a simple command!"
"Nice to meet you, Red," Yellow said, shaking hands with the other man. "So, you were saying you're looking for information? Might I ask what type?"
"Locations, of certain… things," Red replied, choosing his words carefully.
Yellow gave him a long look before turning to Green. "You trust 'im enough, Green?"
Green nodded. "With my life."
Yellow smiled again, the same predator's smile she'd been wearing moments before. "Very well. Green, you distract anyone that comes up, all right? I'll be with them in a moment." With that, the young blonde disappeared behind a door, and the pair watched as it swung slowly on its hinges until it was still.
"Interesting place," Red said at last.
"That's the least of it," Green said, punching the other man playfully on the shoulder. "Just wait until you meet the matron of this place. She's the one you're looking for."
As he said this the door swung open and Yellow trotted back in. Behind her a taller brunette walked in, adjusting the white fedora on her head so that it didn't cover her eyes. Red's eyes flicked to the rifle strapped to her back and then to her face once more.
"She's pretty as a flower," Yellow warned Red in a whisper as she passed, "But she's vicious. Watch what you say."
"You asked for me?" the other girl asked Red, leaning forward suggestively on the counter. "Information, is it? You've come to the right place."
"So I've been told," Red said mildly, wrapping his fingers around his water glass but not lifting it to his lips. "I need locations."
She shot him a lazy grin, smoothing her blue shirt with a surprisingly tough-looking hand. "It's polite to introduce yourself first, don't you think?"
Red looked at her for a moment. Then he extended a hand and said, "My apologies. I'm Red."
"Blue." They shook.
"Blue's the one in the know around here," Yellow told Red. "She knows everything from gossip to all sorts of secrets."
"Don't get on her bad side, though," Green advised. "She's a fearsome thing when you give her anything blunt. Like a stick. She once stopped three grown men from trashing this place with a branch from the tree outside."
"That was ages ago," Blue said, waving it away with a flap of her hand. "What're you needing, exactly? Locations of people, locations of objects, locations of… oh. Oh-ho." She flashed the newcomer a toothy grin. "You're looking for that, aren't you."
When Red didn't confirm or deny it, Blue prodded the girl next to her and nodded to Green. "Green, Yellow, I'll be out for a moment," she said. "This boy's needing something quite… big."
"Sure thing, Blue. Take your time. He's kind of cute."
"That's not what she meant, Yellow, and you know it," Green said, chuckling. "I would hate it if she hooked up with someone else besides me."
"C'mon, Green, she hasn't done anything with you. Don't give yourself airs." The unusual pair kept arguing while Blue and Red slipped outside.
"So, let me get this right," Blue said, swinging her brown hair over her shoulder as they walked along the deserted streets of the town. "You came to the Sevii Islands to find a certain something, am I right?"
"Yes," was all the reply she received.
"You, sir, have good connections. This way." She tugged him into a dark alley. "You got a weapon?"
Red wasn't so foolish to wander a city weaponless. "Handgun," he said, his lips barely moving. He did not tell her he had three of them.
"Good enough. Let's go." She prowled down the alley, Red a silent shadow at her side. They came across a battered door, where she pushed the wood. It swung open softly, leading to blackness.
"Perfect," Blue said softly. Red blinked, realized what was going to happen, and had taken one step away before Blue yanked him back by the back of his collar.
She brought his face close to hers. "We don't take kindly to outsiders, you know," she sneered, tapping the tip of his nose. He struggled to fight, but his hands were quickly tied behind his back; Blue had tied them with one hand. She deftly wrapped something around his eyes – a blindfold – and then said, "Here we go."
He was dragged inside, and he heard the door swing shut softly behind him. A musty smell filled his nose, and he fought the urge to cough. He was shoved into a chair and his feet were tied to it.
Someone reached into his pocket and drew out his wallet. "So you're a big government worker, huh? Here to investigate. Because you knew we were hiding something, but you didn't know what. Curious." He heard the rustle of cloth as she turned. When she spoke again, he could've sworn she sounded sorry, even worried. "I'll have to knock you out for now. Sit tight. I'll be back."
Red braced himself for the impact and received it as shrieking agony on his head. And then everything went black.
Someone was cutting his bonds, that much he knew. And then his blindfold was off.
"Are you okay?" a soft voice asked him. He opened his eyes. He blinked multiple times, and then shook his head. Either he was going insane or Blue was standing in front of him, eyes wide in concern.
"What are you doing here?" Red asked her, his voice a growl in his throat as he flexed his fingers. She flinched and hugged herself. So he wasn't going crazy…
"I'm sorry about earlier," she whispered, looking around. She took her hat off and fiddled with it as she confessed, "I had to do it."
"Really now," Red said scathingly.
"Please believe me. Please." Her voice was so sincere Red let his guard down – just a little bit. "Green and Yellow are part of a smuggling gang. They run their operations in the bar I work at." She swallowed, then continued shakily, "Everyone thinks I own the bar, but I don't. Green does. That way, if they're caught, they can place all the blame on me."
She stopped, looked down. Red urged her on with a soft "Go on."
She sniffed, and then continued, "They knew you were after their business, so they sent me to… k-kill you. They've never asked me to kill someone." She looked up at him, and determination was written across her face. "Once they know you're free, I'll be dead."
"If you can lead me to them, your life will be spared," Red said immediately.
"That's what I hoped for." She extended a hand. "I'm a gun-for-hire; that much I've been taught. I can nail a man's leg from quite a distance."
He hesitated, but his logical side argued that another gun at his side would help. He shook it. "I see. What do you charge?"
"Nothing for this job."
Red did not smile. "Good enough. Where do we start?"
Blue looked at him. "We look for this." She lifted the hem of her shirt. There, on her stomach near her naval, was a small, pretty flower drawn in black ink. "They smuggle marijuana, but I've never actually seen it myself," she added, letting the fabric cover the mark again and removing the rifle from her back.
"And where do you suppose they gather?"
She rolled her eyes. "For a government worker, you sure are stupid. Where do you think? The bar, obviously. It's the best bar in town 'cause of the smuggling money they get."
After a moment of contemplative silence Blue said, "You'll need a disguise to go in there… and we'll have to fake your death if I want to get in."
"Let's go separate ways for now," Red said. "I will check out the bar. From a distance," he added when Blue opened her mouth to protest. "Do you think you could talk with – er - "
"My smuggler 'friends'?" Blue asked, doing quotation marks with her fingers. "Of course."
"Let's go, then," Red said. He began to walk out of the alley, but not before Blue caught his arm. When he looked down she leaned on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you," she whispered. Then she ran off.
Red stared after her for a moment before shaking his head and continuing on. It hadn't been the first time that had happened, but it was the first time he felt warm afterward. He absently fingered his cheek and told himself that he should not have gotten involved with a criminal, unwilling or not.
Despite that, he still wanted to see her again.
