Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi.
Author's Note: Bet you were thinking you'd never see another one of these again. So, out of the blue, I was struck with inspiration and wrote a Dragonshipping fic, right? Because I love YamixJou. And so I said to myself: this isn't very long, I should just save it for the shipping list. I wonder how far I am from Dragonshipping...Then I found out I'm still pretty far away. So I sighed and said: well, better get back to it.
Chanceshipping (Seto x Ryuuji x Yuugi)
Seto pulled the collar of his trench coat higher, faking a chill on the poorly lit street as the occasional passerby huddled themselves against the cold night air. His current target was pretty tame, as they went; a joke that somebody wanted him dead but his bank account was full of cash and keeping him from complaining much. At any rate, he figured he'd be home in time to take his usual shower and finish the presentation for work tomorrow.
Ahead of him, Seto noted a slim figure jogging across the street. The shape of the hips through tight jeans told Seto it was a man but the hood of his dark grey and black-stripped sweater concealed any distinguishing features. The man stopped on the sidewalk and pulled a cell phone from a side pocket, flipping it open, creating a pinpoint of bright light on the otherwise dark street.
Logic told Seto that passing by someone when they were doing something increased the chances of them recalling him as opposed to passing by someone who was also merely passing by. But at this point, deviating would draw more attention so he hunched his shoulders and ducked his head down as he came up on the man.
As he passed by, Seto slid his gaze to the left, just for a brief glimpse. He'd barely registered the familiar jag of black hair when the cell phone flipped closed and the man looked up, vibrant green catching his own blue eyes. It was instant, less than a second of contact, but in this business, there was no use pretending he hadn't recognized the man.
"Seto?" And god forbid, he seemed happy.
Ryuuji Otogi, the only other assassin that Seto had the displeasure of knowing by more than reputation alone. A heavy sigh escaped unbidden and Seto rolled his eyes as he slowed a fraction and Ryuuji caught up.
"Hey, what's up?" Ryuuji inquired, conversationally. "Haven't seen you in a while."
"I'm sure that was the point." Seto replied dully.
"Doesn't really seem to be your neighborhood." Ryuuji observed, giving their surroundings a cursory once over. "You on the clock?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Seto answered him in monotone.
"Still shooting that ridiculous longslide?" Ryuuji joked and Seto frowned, eye twitching in annoyance.
His custom silver Colt 1911 longslide with its detailed winding dragon was a thing of beauty; his personal pride.
"What about you?" Seto returned, trying desperately to keep his tone level. "That antique of yours fall apart yet?"
Ryuuji flashed him an angry grin that Seto took far too much pleasure in. "The word is classic, Seto. Classic; which at least I can run without dressing like I just stepped off a Hollywood set."
Seto growled, eyes narrowing. "Where the hell are you going, Ryuuji? You'd better not be after my mark."
Ryuuji shrugged nonchalantly, a smile sliding easily across his face.
"You'd better not get in my way." Seto warned, hunching his shoulders, shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his trench coat. It was plain now that they were after the same target and they were coming fast on the restaurant where the kid worked as a busboy. How ludicrous was that, two men contracted to kill a busboy?
Ryuuji laughed. "Some things never change, huh?"
"Are you talking about your penchant for getting in my way?" Seto shot back.
"No, your egotism." Ryuuji answered lightly, just as fast. "It wasn't bad, you know." he added, after a hesitant pause. "I never thought it was bad."
"It was surreal." Seto answered, with a frown. "Surrealism is unhealthy in this business. We needed to be grounded."
Ryuuji shrugged faintly while ahead of them, a restaurant door swung open and the slight figure paused in the entrance, saying his goodbyes lightheartedly, waving over his shoulder as he let the door go and fell into a rhythmic step on the sidewalk several paces away.
Aside from being perfectly on schedule, the figure's wildly spiked hair could make him no one else but their target. It was hard to miss hair like that, even if they couldn't make out all the colors of it in the street's poor lighting.
"You wanna do like old times?" Ryuuji spoke softly from his right and Seto tried not to, but he spared the other a glance anyway. He'd just got done telling Ryuuji why working together had been a bad idea; he really shouldn't have been surprised that it had gone in one ear and out the other.
Their target passed the first alley.
Only three more chances.
It was the logical solution. They were both there. It was that or kill Ryuuji first and that was too complicated to work on the fly.
And when he thought of it, the image of Ryuuji in his head wasn't dying. Seto only needed that first twitch of memory to snap him out of thoughts of Ryuuji.
"Fine." Do it. Get it over with. Go home. Alone.
They were coming upon the first alley themselves when a figure stepped out from the shadows. Ryuuji started and Seto's eyes narrowed. Recognition was instant, even though Seto, himself, had never met the man now blocking their path.
Keith Howard, hired hit man, was known for many things. The ever present bandana he wore to cover his unruly blonde hair, his penchant for violence and lack of tact were at the top of the list. All underneath his loud mouth.
"Well, you stupid little fuck."
He was grinning at Ryuuji, rust red coat parted purposefully to show them the gun shoved into the waistband of his torn blue jeans.
Seto nearly rolled his eyes at the sight. And then, to further compound the man's stupidity, he actually reached down and pulled the weapon, leveling it at Ryuuji's head, holding it sideways like some sort of gangster from a low budget movie.
A woman across the street shrieked and beat a hasty retreat but Keith didn't seem to have noticed.
"Thought you'd just waltz in right under my nose and take the little shit for yourself didn't you? And who the fuck is this?" he demanded, waving the gun in Seto's direction. "Backup? Think I can't take out both of you? Think I won't blow his fucking brains all over this sidewalk before you can get to yours?"
Seto frowned. But he wasn't thinking about Keith's threats. The day he had to spend an iota of concern over his ability to outwit or outmaneuver a man like Keith Howard was the day he deserved to retire in the dirt. No, Seto was thinking: Two hits were a bit excessive, but three was getting ridiculous.
"Hey now," Ryuuji began, raising his hands in a pacifistic gesture "let's just calm down and…"
Keith let out a startled noise and stumbled forward giving Ryuuji and Seto a startling view of Yugi behind him. Their target had doubled back, slamming into Keith from behind and now he was looking to them frantically.
His desperate cry of "Run!" spurned the two men into action and both surged forward but Keith recovered faster. He turned, lashing out at Yugi and the boy went down hard and crumpled unconscious at Keith Howard's feet.
Before the hit man even had a chance to look up, Ryuuji was on him, elbow slamming soundly into the side of the blonde's head, knocking him to the ground where Seto fired a single, efficient bullet into the side of his head.
"How do you feel about Fiji?" Seto asked, gazing distastefully at the sight below him while he returned his Colt to its place beneath his trench coat.
"I hear Fiji's lovely this time of year." Ryuuji replied conversationally, stooping to sling their unconscious target over one shoulder.
- FIJI –
Yugi twisted and his heart lurched when the netting beneath him swayed and he pitched over the side, falling into the sand below. Spitting sand, he rose to his hands and knees and looked around frantically. A hammock swayed violently behind him and in the other direction: ocean. A strip of white sand lay between him and endless ocean.
Yugi scrambled to his feet and turned round in a circle, trying to center himself. His eyes landed on an open-aired structure nearby: wooden floor and roof, between which was a kitchen table where a man was lifting a coffee mug to his lips, a folded newspaper held up in front of him.
Yugi stumbled across the sand to the table where he nervously lowered himself into the empty chair across from the man, feeling disoriented.
Yugi opened his mouth to speak after a moment, but the other man cut him off, spreading his paper and turning the page, folding it in half again to read the new column.
"Have you ever heard the phrase "Be wiser than other people, if you can; but do not tell them so"?"
Yugi wasn't sure what to say to that. The other man hadn't bothered to even afford him a glance around the newspaper. "No?"
"It means that when playing chess against a known mafia boss, and winning against said mafia boss, it is unadvisable to tell him that you've only been playing the game for two weeks and have never, in fact, studied the game."
"… Oh." What else could Yugi say to that.
"Same goes for Go, I think."
Yugi started at the new voice directly behind him and turned back to find a dark haired man with vibrant green eyes looking down on him, hair dripping across his shoulders steadily.
"And seedy businessmen."
The man circled around to the brunette across from him and leaned over him, long arms coming around the brunette's shoulders as he leaned heavily against the back beneath him.
The brunette jerked, nearly throwing the newspaper in his hands in his attempt to get away. "Ryuuji! Damn you! Stupid punk! Get the hell off me! You're getting me wet!"
"That's the point." Ryuuji countered, teasingly. "We are at the beach, you know." He wriggled a little and Yugi had to choke back a laugh in spite of himself at the look of shock and indignation on the other's face.
"See, Seto?" Ryuuji muttered, near Seto's ear, grinning across at Yugi. "Little Yugi agrees with me."
Seto threw out an arm, trying to dislodge him, but Ryuuji was already flitting away. Coming up beside Yugi, he held out a hand expectantly, which Yugi hesitantly took. Ryuuji guided him out of the chair, sliding into it himself, and led Yugi around it in a circle to the opposite side where Yugi, unbalanced, tumbled into his lap. Ryuuji wrapped an arm around his waist and Yugi blushed fiercely.
Across from them, Seto was calmly unbuttoning his wet shirt, frowning darkly. "Are you planning on explaining to Little Yugi why we're here in the first place?"
"It can wait." Ryuuji answered flippantly, waving the suggestion off in favor of watching Seto remove his shirt. "Meanwhile…" and Ryuuji grinned down at Yugi. "I'd call this surreal, wouldn't you?"
"This isn't a permanent situation." Seto answered just as Yugi was nodding his head to Ryuuji in agreement.
"Two for the vote." Ryuuji declared, standing swiftly and hefting Yugi over one bare shoulder.
Yugi squeaked, scrambling to steady himself against Ryuuji's back. "What are you doing?"
"Did you know there's a beach house?" Ryuuji asked in lieu of an answer, carrying Yugi toward the structure without so much as a glance back at Seto.
"Oh for crying out loud." Seto muttered under his breath, rising to follow them up the embankment toward the house.
Post whatevers: Why yes, I have seen Knight and Day, why do you ask? As always, if you liked, please review.
