While Ryou was certainly in a better mood than he'd been in in a long time, the Bandits were still wary of his wide smile and raised brows.
"My Lord," The recently found Camille stepped forward, bowing, "if I may… What has you in such a good mood?"
"I have found the location of our little small time crime lord." The Bandit King chuckled. "The upstart has had the gall to move his base of operations nearer to ours." The Bandits all shared a chuckle. "We'll be… 'Encountering' him later today."
A cheer.
They were all ready for some action of some kind. They wanted to see bloodshed. They wanted to see a fight. Maybe take part in one. Every single one of them was raring to go - perfect. Ryou loved knowing how ready they were for conflict.
They were going to make great soldiers one day.
"Indeed!" Ryou cackled into the phone.
"You're really claiming what's left of the West today?" Yugi sounded vaguely disbelieving.
"Yes. My little small-time crime lord is evidently an idiot." He twirled his hair around his finger with a smug smirk, leaning back in his chair. "All I have to do is challenge him, you know. If he's a real crime lord he'll take the challenge and I'll mop the floor with him."
Silence. Then, "It's almost hard to believe, after all this time." Yugi sighed. "You're sure you can beat him, though?"
"We both know I don't play fair, my dear Pharaoh." Ryou snickered. "Even if I'm outmatched physically, I'll find a way to break him."
"I suppose you're right." Yugi admitted. "Update me when the fight's over, yeah?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Anything else you wanna talk about while we're on the phone?"
"Not really." Ryou sighed. "Maybe I'll have thought of something by the time I've curb stomped this little upstart."
"Maybe. Well, in that case, bye."
"Bye." He turned, then, to look at Zen. "Has he left his hideout yet?"
"Yes, my Lord. Less than two minutes ago. I sent Angel and Vanilla to stall him from going wherever he was going."
"Marvelous." He stood, brushing off his tunic. "Bring me my spare shenti. I have a larger range of motion in that."
"Yes, sir." He disappeared behind a curtain for a moment before returning. "Would you like me to assist you in putting it on?"
"Yes, that would be wonderful. Thank you, Zen."
The skinnier man shrugged out of his Thief's Coat, then pulled the tunic up over his head, discarding it. Zen stared, for a moment, still rather entranced by the Bandit King's body despite the amount of times he'd seen it exposed. There were scars that he only vaguely remembered the sources of - a round puncture through the center of his left hand, a vertical slit on his upper arm - and some that he knew quite intimately - sparring scars on his lower abdomen and back. The Bandit King currently wore nothing except a pair of very tight, very short black shorts that clung to the boney hips and surprisingly well-shaped cheeks. The shorts were a stark contrast to the pale skin and white hair, truly bringing attention to themselves.
He was sure Ryou had chosen that particular pair on purpose.
He moved forward, straightening out the shenti and wrapping it around the other's waist. He held it still while Ryou maneuvered it around, wrapping it, tucking it this way and that. He let go when he was sure Ryou had it all sorted out, stepping away. The Bandit King threw him a wicked smile, picking up his tunic from the ground and folding it up.
"This will be incredibly satisfying." He informed him. "Though…" He looked him over. "Not as satisfying as the things I'm sure you would rather be doing." The wicked grin returned with vengeance.
Zen felt his cheeks heating. "Sir?"
"Don't think I can't see the lust in your eyes." There was an almost sultry tone to Ryou's voice. "I know what you're thinking about, dear. I'm almost tempted to give you what you want… But I have things I need to take care of before that."
Zen wasn't sure, but he thought he might look a bit like a tomato by now. "Sir, I…"
"You can't argue what I can clearly see." Ryou gave his crotch a pointed look.
Okay, so now he probably looked like a tomato. "Sir, it would be inappropriate for us to…"
"Ah, damn what's appropriate." Ryou waved a hand as he sat his folded tunic on the throne and retrieved his coat. "If I win I'll take care of you, yeah?"
"Alright, sir." He did his best not to stutter. He was supposed to be a brave, angry man, not a blushing schoolgirl with a crush on their boss. "But we both know there's not much chance of you losing, so there's no use in saying 'if'."
"Of course there isn't, but there is still the very slim possibility and it's best not to let myself get too big-headed." He shrugged on the coat. "What would you prefer, by the way?"
"Sir?"
"My lips, my dick, or my ass?" He gave that wicked grin again.
"Um, my Lord…" If he hadn't been red before, he was now. He had to swallow and clear his throat before continuing. "Whichever you are most comfortable with, my Lord."
"Mm." Ryou's eyes swept over him. "Alright. It'll be a surprise, then." He cackled, "Shall we?" He motioned toward the door.
"Yes, your Majesty."
The trip to where the upstart was hiding was a short one, but for Zen it was incredibly tense. And awkward. And oh, God, why is my boss such a hypersexual freak sometimes?
The Bandit King was unperturbed, however, merely sitting next to him in the car with that pleasant expression he was so well-known for. He wondered if his boss's face ever got sore from forcing that smile.
When they arrived, he got out first, hurrying around to the other side to open Ryou's door for him.
"Thank you, Zen." He chuckled as he emerged from the car.
Ryou was almost disappointed by what he saw. His small time crime lord was a short, chubby man with squinting eyes and an apparently permanent frown on his face. He was waiting impatiently, surrounded by his own men and flanked by Ryou's to prevent them from going anywhere. Judging by the scorch marks, he would have to guess that a few of the other's men had been stupid enough to challenge Angel.
That lightened his mood again.
"Hello." He greeted the other boss pleasantly. "It's nice to finally see the upstart who's been encroaching on my territory… Although, I must say I was expecting someone a little more intimidating."
"You're one to talk." The other spat at his feet. "You look like a fucking faggot."
A few of his men seemed uncomfortable about the insult. Ryou almost felt sorry for them. "Oh, I assure you I'm a much more terrifying than you'll ever be."
"As if." He spat at him again.
"If you keep doing that," Ryou smiled. "I'll rip out your tongue."
"Fucking try it, fag."
"I could… Or perhaps we could do what I came here for."
"And that is?"
"Fight. One on one, you and me."
He snorted. "I'll break you."
"I doubt that. Angel, Vanilla, get his men out of my way."
His men were very easily persuaded to back off away from him while his right hand (or at least Ryou assumed that was who the man was) stayed stubbornly at his side. Zen was all too happy to forcefully remove him.
What followed could hardly be referred to as a fight. It was more like a public flogging.
The other boss was sluggish and put too much faith in his fists while Ryou was more than agile enough to dodge them and get in plenty of hits of his own. He did get caught, of course, with a hard right hook directly to the jaw. Blood blossomed in his mouth. He fought down the urge to rip the man's soul straight from his body, pushed down the part of him that was telling him to crush him into the dust. Instead, he smiled, wiped the blood away, and decked the other as hard as he could directly in the nose.
He felt it break more than heard it - felt the cartilage shatter against his knuckles and felt the blood rush down onto them. And it felt so satisfying that he couldn't stop himself when his instincts told him to yank the man closer and knee him in the groin. Turn. Elbow him in the stomach. Grab him by the shoulder and the side of the neck and use all his strength and the man's forward momentum to throw him over his shoulder and onto the ground.
It brought the man's skin, his whole body, far closer to Ryou than he would have liked. It disgusted him, for the two seconds they were touching, and the second the man was on the ground all Ryou could think to do was kick him in the chin.
He grinned down at him, then turned his eyes up to the man's little gang. All of them were staring, astonished. Ryou had won.
Of course he'd cheated - he always did.
He'd enhanced his speed, used his shadow magic to make himself strong enough to lift the bastard, but no one would know unless they knew how to spot the signs. Only Zen and the higher grunts would have been able to spot the tendrils wrapping around his arms below the coat. Only Zen would have been observant enough, really - the others would have been too entranced by watching their leader fight.
And who could blame them? It wasn't like he did it often, after all. Usually he sat back and let them do it for him, simply enjoying the sight of them crushing their opponents into the dust.
"What do you lot think?" He grinned at the gathering before him - the bastard's gang and the droves of his own who had shown up right before the first punch was thrown. And it was a simple question - should he kill the bastard and make an example of him or let him live and learn not to fuck with him? His men knew how to answer him.
One by one, each of his men raised their hands in front of them… Thumbs down.
Death it was.
Oh, but how should he do it? Should he crush his head beneath his foot? Crush his ribs and use them to puncture his lungs, then leave him there choking to death on his own blood? There were so many options… So many things he could do.
Long before he could decide, someone spoke up.
"Don't. Please."
He looked up to see the man's lieutenant was the one speaking to him. "Why shouldn't I? This upstart has disrespected me for months."
"If you let him live you'll never hear from him again. Or any of us. We'll all get out of your hair."
"You love him." Ryou deduced instead of considering what he'd said. "You're in love with this… Bigot."
His lieutenant flinched. "That's not the point."
"I suppose you're right." He relented. No reason to tease him for who he loved - he had a rather laughable love life, himself. But was his request reasonable? "Zen, what do you think?"
"Well, sir, his lieutenant has always been the one we've dealt with in the most reasonable situations…" Zen chose his words carefully. "He sticks to his word, that's for sure. If it pleases you to let them go, you really would never see them again."
He considered it. "... Perhaps we could come to a better agreement about this…" He stepped over the bastard's body, approaching the lieutenant. "Maybe you and I could work out some sort of an… Arrangement?"
"What kind of arrangement did you have in mind?"
"Oh, a simple thing, really…"
The West was all his. He had new troops. The bastard was out of his way for good…
Life could only scarcely be better for Ryou.
