Steelshipping (Keith x Yami no Bakura)

Yami no Bakura was accustomed to being three steps ahead of everyone else. He reveled in the fact that he always knew more than everyone else, how he could nudge people into the directions he chose in order to further his own plans. Nothing surprised him. And when it did, he was rarely happy about it – "rarely happy" being the nice way to put it.

Needless to say, he was not happy to find that Bandit Keith Howard was still alive, and standing in between him and the door that would take him to Pegasus.

The American was scruffy, his eyes red-rimmed and wild from his encounter with a Penalty Game. He moved with a pronounced stagger. It would be exceedingly easy to throw him off balance with a well-placed push.

However, that tightly held gun was something to consider. Yami no Bakura hated when his opponents added variables into the equations.

"You," Bandit Keith said, madness glinting in his eyes. "I saw you – with Yugi. With that runny nose teenage brat and his effing bleached hair friend."

"Yes, yes, may we get to the point, please?" Bakura said, eying the gun with distaste. He hated the loud, unwieldy weaponry of this time period. Not only did it put him at a significant disadvantage when he faced armed opponents, but he had also had very little luck in teaching himself to use one. The confounded thing was less straightforward than the easy flick of a knife, but his choice of weapon was becoming quickly obsolete in this day and age.

Bandit Keith waved the gun back and forth, back and forth, as though he had forgotten it was there.

"You – you and Yugi, and Jonouchi, and all you sniveling brats – you all took it from me, everything! And you – I saw you. I saw your beady little eyes, glaring out like you knew everything, looking down quickly when anybody tried to have a look at you – you're nowhere close to normal. None of you are – you're just like him! You're all just like Pegasus the freak!"

Bakura's hand tightened on the hilt of the blade he held behind his back. A moment. That was all he needed. One brief instant of distraction, and Keith would be finished.

But Bakura quite frustratingly forgot to take into account Keith's unpredictably.

Suddenly, there was a hole in the ceiling and plaster was falling on Bakura's head. As the crack of the gun With a snarl, he shot forward – unfeeling artificial light glinted against steel – Keith's arm flailed out and Bakura ducked. But the edge of the gun clipped him on the side of the temple and he stumbled. A dizziness overtook him for a brief moment as he cursed the mortal body he was tied to.

A gun barrel appeared in his face, shaking wildly. Bakura shook off the dizziness and unwillingly gathered a fistful of dark magic.

Instantly, the room was plunged into darkness – but Bakura had no need of a light. While Keith stumbled backwards, swearing loudly and freely, Bakura slid through the inky blackness. And with one fluid motion, like a claw of the shadows themselves, he flicked his knife across Keith's throat.

Keith's swears abruptly cut off. The thump of the body against the floor was muffled, as Bakura had already disappeared through the door.

His act of murder had already slipped his mind by the time he reached Pegasus.

A/N: Bakura is cruel, merciless, and ruthless. This is why I don't generally appreciate people trying to seriously pair him with someone else (especially Ryo). I think this is the first "onstage" death thus far in the series. Considering Bakura and Marik have been in a lot of oneshots before this, I'm kind of surprised. Next up is Staticshipping (Possessed Jonouchi x Pandora). …...does anyone actually ship that?