Bōryokudan Prologue - Let's Make a Deal

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, and I don't own Japan. Yet.

A/N: I won't be blamed for: slight OOC, inaccuracies, the sheer bizarreness of this fic, etc etc.

This was not a situation the man had ever thought he would be in. But he was in it... And as the silverhaired man walked in, proud and assuming, his gait instantly registering everyone's attention, the man passed off the envelope. The envoy seemed to accept it, sliding it into his jacket with a flick of the wrist, just enough of a flick to pull his sleeve down, clearly revealling the mark the bartender had already known was there.

When had it seemed like this was a good idea? At first, he supposed, it had seemed great. Just run a few tables in the back room... run a modest, 3 percentrake... and pull away the money of the regulars. Just a few innocent games of cards... The silverhaired man had seen something more. It was funny that it would be him. He could remember the first time he walked in, with those huge, chocolate-brown eyes and almost fluffy silver hair. It was unusual enough as it was, and he didn't look old enough to be in the bar, but he had produced an ID, so rather than refuse service on the basis of his appearance, the bartender had taken the ID, figuring the kid was probably rich and just wanted to get drunk. He should've known something was up when the guy asked to play cards, though. He only let the regulars into the back, or their poker buddies, and they were told not to spread the word. After all, too much attention could bring things down. Other people would get interested.

And other people had. The kid hustled people like a master. The cards flew, and seemed to disappear and reappear in the kid's hand, flowing like water as he ordered one, two, three new cards. And often enough there would be devastating losses, or even close misses, but somehow by the end of the game he had gotten everyone to agree to a bigger ante and by the end of the game had walked away with more than triple what he brought in, while still leaving enough money in enough people's pockets that no one was the wiser. He had ordered a Bloody Mary on the way out and had been sipping it on the way out, ignoring the bartender's demands that the cups weren't to leave. It was a meeting that had both intrigued and annoyed the bartender. Now, he wished he'd have stayed out of it. This kid was something... unnatural. He didn't even need to play the games he was playing.

After the first meeting, it had been nothing for a while. Business had been slow one day, and as he was waiting, the kid showed up again, with those same chocolate-brown eyes. And he asked to play cards again, and seemed to lose money... but looking at how much had gone into the table, he had actually walked away with a couple hundred more. By now he wanted out of this innocent-looking kid, who had charmed everybody (probably with that accent of his. People are suckers for accents).

But the kid came back... And this time he wasn't there for cards. It was a subtle gesture, simply removing the glass he had borrowed from a large pocket in his jacket, producing it for the bartender... but as he put it down, his sleeve slipped up, and he smiled. "I believe we have a deal to make, sir." And by the time the kid had looked up from the glass, his eyes seemed the same red his drink had been a couple days ago, and half as innocent. His voice lowered to a near whisper. "My name is Bakura Ryou, but you may call me Janus."
The bartender just nodded. "I think we might have a deal to make..."
"That's good. How about we make this one over a drink... and a game of cards?"