Frightshipping (Yami no Bakura x Jonouchi)

. . .

The thing about Jonouchi was that he was an incurable idiot. Reckless, loyal to a fault, relying on his fists and personal strength to fight his battles, even though he knew the forces he faced against were far greater than he could ever imagine – it was quite endearing, really.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that he was an obstacle in his way.

Yami no Bakura leaned against the cold stone wall, considering the angry-faced blonde boy in front of him. Jonouchi was taller than Bakura in his host form, with fair skin prone to easy reddening and fiery hazel eyes. The boy's hands were clenched into fists, and his stance was wide – it would be so, so simple to cut him. But this untrained boy didn't realize that; he was only setting up as though this were a common street fight. Though thugs often packed knives, like Bakura, Jonouchi had no way of preparing for someone with a practiced knife hand.

But, for reasons beyond his thought process, Bakura decided not to remove the knife from his sleeve. He just smiled easily, causing Jonouchi to redden with anger.

"Afternoon, Katsuya Jonouchi-san," he said. "It's a pleasure to see you again – what brings you all the way out here in these cold, dark, deserted alleys?"

The hint that he was out of reach of help did not seem to affect Jonouchi – whether or not he understood it was another matter entirely.

"I'm here cause of you, you bastard," Jonouchi said, pointing a finger at Bakura. "Don't think that you can pretend you're Ryo – I could tell you had switched over."

"From so far away? Impressive."

In fact, Bakura was impressed. He had thought himself well-acquainted with Bakura's facial expressions and manner, enough to fool onlookers, at least. But Jonouchi had noticed. Bakura felt a hint of a thrill in the back of his mind. This might end up being more interesting than he thought.

He pushed off the wall to stand straight, facing Jonouchi.

"What gave me away, if I might ask?"

"Nobody has a creepier smile than you," Jonouchi snapped. "What are you up to?"

Bakura laughed softly.

"Do you think I'll tell you, just like that? Come now, Jonouchi, you know things aren't that simple."

Bakura gave just the barest of flickers in the direction of his knife, but managed to restrain his motions. However, Jonouchi's eyes narrowed, and Bakura caught the slight shifting of his body. Suddenly, his defense had tightened up considerably. Well, well. Jonouchi was much more perceptive than Bakura had first thought. And more accustomed to street fighting, as well.

"I'm warning you," Jonouchi said. "If you even get near Yugi, or Anzu, or Honda, or anyone else, I'll conveniently forget that that's Ryo's body that you're controlling."

"Even though Ryo will be the one to feel it later?"

"I'm sure he'd understand."

As the pair of them talked, Bakura could almost see the strategies coming and going between them. The chatter meant nothing to either of them. It was just a way to justify studying each other's movements and changing tactics accordingly. It wouldn't be long, though, before Jonouchi snapped. His recklessness wouldn't be kept in check for long – Bakura simply had to wait it out.

But, although Bakura had meant to simply take Jonouchi out of the picture, to hurt the pharaoh, he didn't want the game to end so quickly. He hadn't realized how fascinating this apparent blockhead of a teenager could be.

He sent Jonouchi another easy smile.

"How about this – why don't we play a game instead?"

. . .

A/N: And I'll leave it right there. :) I think Jonouchi is under appreciated by a lot of people, mostly because of the 4Kids version of him. He really is a sharp character, especially when there's a fight involved.

Edit: this was originally known as Spazzshipping, but it was renamed, so I'm moving this oneshot here. Next will be Frazzleshipping (Jonouchi x Rebecca).