Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Aventurien ❯ Chapter 3: under Layers ( Chapter 3 )

Aventurien
Author: Nekocin
Genres: General, slight Action and slight Humor
Warnings: [possible] OoC, OC, a bit repetitive
Pairings: here... slight hints of "hetero" [Note the "..." sign]
Rated: PG-13
Disclaimer: Anime in question doesn't belong to me. Never was. Never will. (My poor excuse for writing a disclaimer)
Additional notes: Side-fic 1 to "Haima"
Author's notes: I apologize for the delay. I'd been stuck with chapter 3 for a long while... but here it is. I guess I couldn't handle a lot of things like for example my enthusiasm I get whenever I'm watching a new anime [that you just can't help but be pulled in], or read fanfiction from other fandom and so on. 

Chapter 3: Under Layers

7:15 AM - Wednesday

Ryou was watching his older partner and Officer Ishtar take off their blue uniforms. He passed officer Haku a sleeveless, black vest and a black bowtie, he then passed a cheap-looking coat to officer Ishtar. 

Both older agents dressed in silence, neither looking at one another. It didn't take long before Ryou was staring at both agents, impressed; they probably could blend into any crowd with that sort of talent. 

"Now remember your position. Officer, you stay in the car, try not to look too suspicious-" agent Haku had turned to Ryou, giving him a stern glare. Ryou swallowed unconsciously and nodded obediently.

The agent was dressed finely in a bartender costume; long white-sleeved shirt under the sleeveless, black vest, and a nice pair of black trousers. His hair was pulled back in a pony tail, while the corners of his eyes had been carefully lined under layers of some sort of ash color to make agent Haku look like a bartender who hadn't been sleeping in the past few nights. 

Agent Haku turned to his ex-partner, unreasonably giving him an even eviler glare. "-and you! Go sit in the darkest place you can find. Preferably an invisible one" 

Agent Ishtar didn't even flinch at the look; he's probably used to them, Ryou mused. It's rather uncomfortable to be glared at... agent Ishtar's so strong. He wanted to be strong too, to be competent in his older partner's eyes. 

"Can I change posts instead, sir?" Ryou blurted out. He carefully kept his face neutral and looked up at his older partner challengingly. Officer Haku hadn't wanted him to be part of this case, Ryou could tell that from Officer Haku's hesitancy when he laid down their roles...

XXX Flashback XXX

"Haku-sempai! Ishtar-sempai!" Ryou called out, feeling helpless as he frantically looked for any clean cloth among the rubbish [in the bar]. 

Nothing.

He didn't know what to do and looked back at the injured bartender. After debating whether to be helpless or helpful, he made up his mind and immediately slid off his uniform, leaving his white undershirt on. 

Agent Haku came running into the bar, clutching his revolver, with agent Ishtar close by. Both scanned the bar's interior for any threats and at last, they found Ryou in a white shirt, kneeling near the bartender. Agent Ishtar scowled. 

"What's the meaning of this?" 

Officer Haku didn't say anything; he just walked up to Ryou and observed the current situation; Ryou had used hus uniform to keep the bartender from losing more blood. 

"He needs some medical attention, sir! The wound is fatal. I estimate he's been losing blood for about half an hour or so" Ryou pointed out, mentally pleading the more experienced agents to get the hunt and do something! Agent Haku merely raised his eyebrows. 

"Call an ambulance, Malik!" 

Ryou winced at the tone as he pressed the crumpled uniform harder on the wound, earning a painful groan from the bartender. He did not like his situation one bit, especially when his partner sounded annoyed. 

So he turned his attention to the ailing bartender.

"Don't close your eyes. Fight the fatigue! Stay awake! You're going to be fine..." he repeated softly a few times, silently glad that his soothing voice didn't break; he felt his nerves going wild. 

Maybe because he sensed something bad was going to happen.

... maybe because he's just new in this...

... or maybe, he shouldn't have chosen for this job...

XXX

After the bartender was taken away, agent Haku had immediately laid down his plan. It didn't seem like they had much choice, considering the fact that the victim was announced to be in need of advance medical treatment. 

"I'll take the bartender's post, while you, Malik, are my silent costumer. We'll hammer them to plates if we need to. And they'll never know what hit them. Officer Bakura..." Agent Haku hesitated a bit, flicked his eyes to his right and then left, thoughtfully, but continued anyway. 

"... you stay in the car and observe those who come in and out. Anyone suspicious. just report and wait for my further instructions, all right?" 
Agent Haku had given him a harsher look that somehow reminded Ryou of the warning looks mothers of his neighbours used to wear whenever their children did something "very, very bad."

Ryou had frowned, but nodded obediently instead. 

His older partner's crazy; using just two officers as his backup when Ryou, himself, knew they were outnumbered [he just had this feeling they were going up against -something- big!]. 

He's worried.

The hesitant tone ,in which agent Haku had spoken when his role was announced, made Ryou worry even more. He concluded that agent Haku must have had the same conclusion; they were outnumbered indeed. 

And most of all, he was actually the weakest of the three, which made matters much worse... much worse.

XXX End XXX

"No" 

Agent Haku glared. He glared at his younger partner. 

How dare the rookie ask for something [fatally] dangerous when it came down to playing the parts? 
He'd thought officer Bakura was smart enough to notice their handicap in this crooked plan. 

Letting officer Bakura take the outside post, was the safest and the more effective role Bakura could think of. 
The rookie could call for more back-up without being noticed or captured. 

Officer Bakura sighed, after hearing the answer and smiled ruefully instead of provoking him. 

There's something disturbing about the rookie's smile... Bakura narrowed his eyes. He couldn't really tell what's actually going through officer Bakura's mind.

He dismissed it for politeness and obedience. From the corners of his eyes, he witnessed Malik's triumphant look... 

"Enough already! Let's go wild!"

"Ooh, I've always wanted a daughter"

"'kaa-san!"

"Tee-hee, just kidding! Why are you doing this again?"

"Sempai wanted me to change the clothes. I'd be a dead giveaway if I'm playing my part"

"But still... why this...?"

"I thought it would make me look less strong and more fragile"

"Wouldn't it be a bit dangerous? Especially when this one looks too long on you. It's also very old, probably older than I think it is" 

"No. Don't worry about it, 'kaa-san" 

Something was ripped.

"[gasp] My clothes!" 

"I'm sorry, 'kaa-san. You'd given me the idea to make them less long and less old"

"GRRR, You-!"

"Ehehehe, I'm just kidding, 'kaa-san"

Mother let out an uncharacteristic giggle.

"You would make such a cute daughter! [happy sigh]"

"'kaa-san!"

"Hihi, let me apply the make-up for you"

8:45 AM - Friday

Bakura, as the bartender, was carefully cleaning the counter, while his eyes darted to the entrance, occasionally. He'd tidied a bit of the damaged bar -broken chairs, broken glasses and bottles were replaced-. Maybe it was never said to him, he would make such a good carpenter and house cleaner...

His part-, no, ex-partner should have be here right now. 

As if on cue, Malik entered the bar, headed to the bar counter and ordered one of the available alcohol drinks. His face was perfectly straight and indifferent -no sigh of having recognized Bakura, except for the twinkling of excitement in Malik's pale indigo eyes-. The part as a usual alcohol drinker was professionally played, as expected from Malik. 

The plan was to wait for the assaulter to wreck the place all over again, since the damaged place was still opened for regular costumers and newcomers. This might lead the assaulter thinking that the bartender's ignoring his warnings. 

Same old trait, same old routing, Bakura smirked inwardly. This under cover business was getting boring by the minute. If only agent Yuuki was around to spice up the atmosphere...

A few regular costumer had given him puzzled looks, but didn't react to the noticeable damaged bar. They were probably more surprised to see a new bartender here than seeing the damage. Bar fights must have been on regular bases that they didn't even raise their eyebrows in question at the still damaged part of the bar.

Bakura sent them a short 'fake' smile and took their orders silently. All the drinks were alcoholic.

"A glass of soda water with lemon on top, please" the only woman in the bar had ordered politely with a soft, cute accent in her mellow voice. 

Bakura nodded absently and poured the drink in a glass. Something nagged at the back of his mind as he passed the glass. 
His eyes darted to the bar entrance automatically. He narrowed his eyes. 

"I have never seen you around here before" one of the five costumers, who'd just entered the bar, commented cheerfully while giving him a threatening look at the same time. He must be the leader, considering the fact that all the others were looking elsewhere instead of at the bartender. 

"I'm just filling in for my... uncle" Bakura answered neutrally and grabbed the nearest glasses to clean. He purposefully did not look the leader in the eyes; he didn't want to blow his cover.

Somehow the remaining costumers sensed danger coming hand in hand with the grand entrance of suspiciously clad people, and immediately scurried out of the bar [which is a very sensible thing to do, Bakura thought]. 

"Your uncle, huh? Fine. Then you must have already heard of me too"

Bakura stopped cleaning. 

"No, sir" he answered in a subdued tone and resumed his cleaning. 

"Taki"

Bakura paused in his cleaning, again, to blink convincingly confused at the suspicious leader. 

Taki? Taki Houjin from the Underworld Fire Heaven? Or was it the cousin Taki Satoshi, the notorious drugs dealer from the West border of the city? Or was it Taki Tetsuya, the -sick- organ dealer? None of the three Takis Bakura had heard of, sounded appealing...

"Taki's my name. Taki, remember it" Taki flashed him another dangerous smile, and looked around as his smile turned into a grin; probably satisfied with the damage. 

"I see your uncle hadn't done much to all the damage. What a pity..." 

Bakura watched Taki leer at the only woman -the only costumer apart from Malik- who was sitting in the center of the bar. The lonely look on the lady's must have made Taki grin -a foxy grin-. 

"Excuse me. The pretty lady is waiting to be accompanied" Taki's polite voice rolled out of his mouth so fluently that Bakura had to roll his eyes mockingly.
The four men, presumably Taki's body guards, separated and went into different directions to 'protect' their leader, Taki. 

Bakura stopped cleaning and carefully looked at Malik sitting at the very back of the bar. Malik stood up on cue, and trotted drunkenly towards the entrance...

"Can I have a seat here, my fair lady?" Taki began smoothly as he stood next to her table, shrugging on an air of nobleness. The lady was startled as she looked around in confusion, her wavy golden blonde hair framing her face teasingly, and then settled her attention back on Taki. She blushed easily.

"Uhm... sure..." Her soft voice sounded unsure and shy. 

Taki looked pleased and took the seat across the lady's chair. 

"So what brings you here?" 

"... I'm ... looking for work, sir" The lady bowed her head shyly and hesitantly put down her glass of soda water she'd been holding. 
She looked like a direct target of attention; maybe she would be useful. Young, cute, not so bad figure...

"Still no luck, huh?" he prodded.

"...yeah..." Another blush.

"Hey! Why don't you work for me? there's a post open in my... eh... company"

"Really, sir? What does your company do?" The lady instantly snapped her head up and looked at Taki with huge glimmering eyes in wonder. She blushed even more and looked back down, playing with her long fingers nervously.

Taki paused in his thoughts, but kept his smile up. 

"Anything that probably doesn't concern you" He smoothly laid his much bigger hand on top of her frail hand and squeezed lightly. 

Bam!

Taki was startled and looked over his shoulder. The hand under his, stiffened in surprise too. His body guards had immediately cocked their guns in position.

The entrance door was barred by a -what seemed like- a book stand. 
What the-?
The bartender was leaning nearby against the book stand and gave him a challengingly look. 

"So let's get to business" The bartender demanded. "What do you want with my uncle's place?"

Taki narrowed his eyes and fixed the bartender a half grin. 
"You're a smart kid, you know. Just figure it out by yourself... meanwhile..." Taki snapped his fingers in command. "... just enjoy your last few minutes of life"

CRACK! CRASH! CRACK! CRASH! 

His minions started to thrash the bar again. Bakura's eyes twitched.

"You're under arrest for public assaults and using guns in front of a lady" Bakura immediately cuffed Taki's left wrist. 

On instinct, Taki kicked Bakura and pulled the lady to his chest, instantly holding a knife near her pale throat. The lady gasped in surprise and looked up fear-, no, pleadingly at him.

There's something familiar about this scene... the past?

"I dare you to move" 

Before Bakura could react violently, two pairs of strong arms had grabbed him from behind and nearly crushed him in a near crucial bear hug. It didn't take him long to know his position was fatal, so he struggled viciously -he wasn't called the 2nd toughest agent of station 6 for nothing. 

Punches and kicks were thrown into his way, probably breaking his bones as he let out gasps of pain.

"You've got some more spunk than your sissy uncle" Taki commented.

Bakura struggled effectively, he bit down the nearby minion in the ear and kneeing the other in the stomach and then the most sensitive part of any man's body. 

"Take that, bastard!" 

Where's Malik when you need him? Oh wait, that's not the right thought... he, Haku Bakura, did not need help. Malik was probably off rescuing the lady...

"I can take you all down with me if I have to" Taki flashed a satisfied smirk to Bakura's direction.

"You're Taki Houjin" Huh?

Surprisingly, that hadn't been Bakura's voice, much less Malik's... wait-, that voice was almost like-

"Head of the Underworld Fire Heaven... but you're not really him, are you?"

It's the hostage talking, even thought she's pressed against Taki's body as the knife slid closer to her neck, the hostage remained calm and at the same time, desperate. 

She's no ordinary hostage, Bakura mused inwardly as he looked at Taki for any reaction. 

The other did react... a bit over-dramatically startled. It seemed as if he'd forgotten the officer temporarily after the lady's revelation; Taki was leering predatorily at the lady. 

"You are a smart girl. How exactly did you know which Taki, dear?" Taki [sort of] slithered his words out and pressed his cheek against the hostage's ear, increasing the intimacy.

"No one has ever seen Taki Houjin..." He smirked in satisfaction when he felt the woman's body trembling under the touch. 

"For one thing, the ring on your left hand gave it away. It holds Fire Heaven's emblem" the lady answered confidently, breathing a bit harder as she looked down at the knife. She was terrified for a moment.

"... very smart..." Taki mused and licked one side of the lady's cheek, appreciatively. 

She gasped and glanced at Bakura... Without warning the lady grabbed hold of the armed arm immediately, pushed the sleeve aside and bit down -hard-. Taki snarled out a pained grunt, but before he could recover, the woman had twisted his arm with great force and successfully threw him over her shoulder to the floor. She pressed a foot on Taki's neck and forced him to lie on his back, at her feet. 

Bakura could only stare at the scene. It's not your every day you get to see a frail-looking woman forcing down an Under lord like Taki with her high-heeled foot near the other's throat...

"You're not the real Taki Houjin" The lady concluded out of the blue as she wiped her assaulted cheek in disgust. 

Taki smirked enigmatically. "I guess I was never meant to exist" 
The lady frowned. She had no idea what he's trying to say, even if those words had somehow sound earnest. 

As if it's his cue, Bakura took over the situation after recovering from the initial shock. "Let me take over this" Bakura told the woman. She complied and pulled her foot away. 
He cuffed the -supposedly fake- Taki's other wrist and pulled him up from the ground. Bakura did not trust Taki's glazed eyes...

"My fair lady, could you grant me a small request for an unfortunate nobody like me?" Taki suddenly spoke up, politely. Bakura almost gagged at hearing those words; they did not sound like words that would come out of a Big Shot's, like Taki, mouth.

The lady looked suspiciously at him. "Who are you actually if you're not Taki Houjin?"

"I'm your lonesome wanderer. Now please, grant my request, oh fair maiden" 

Bakura sent the flustered-looking lady an unreadable look. Where exactly is this heading? Wherever this was heading, he didn't like the glazed look [supposedly fake] Taki was giving the woman.

"I think you've just split his brains in several pieces. He's not thinking straight" 

"... I-I see... I'm sorry" She blushed, embarrassed, and looked at the arrested man. 

"Aa, don't be" Taki smiled at her. "Could you come a bit closer, my fair darling?"

The woman obediently complied and before she knew it, Taki had brushed his lips against hers. She immediately stiffened, her eyes widened in shock... 

Fortunately, Bakura had pulled Taki away before the 'innocent kiss could get any more heated than needed. 
The lady was left standing rigidly as Bakura hauled the goofily-grinning Taki along.

As to where Malik actually was... during the confusion of attempting to arrest Taki, he was indisposed for a moment, when one of Taki's men had crashed a chair on top of his head. Bakura observed his unconscious ex-partner for a moment, looking for anything fatal wounds, but was satisfied of Malik's situation as of late.

Bakura fished out Malik's walkie-talkie and contacted the station for re-enforcements. 

It's only when he turned his eyes back to the woman, did he know why he suspected the mysterious woman. The wavy golden hair was slid off of the woman's head, revealing suspiciously familiar silver-white hair... the rookie, Bakura narrowed his eyes. He suddenly found himself getting angry.

Taki, whom Bakura was still grabbing tightly, looked both surprised and excited at the 'new' look. "You're as beautiful as ever, my fair lady, even if you have those white locks!" He had commented cheerfully, receiving a blushing face from Ryou in response.

Malik watched as Bakura started chastising the rookie about almost getting himself killed by Taki. He literally started chewing the rookie off with deadly glares and biting remarks while Bakura flailed his arms around angrily. 

Of course, being an older and more experienced agent, Bakura was given the responsibility of keeping officer Bakura alive during undercover cases like the one they had just had. 

Malik sighed sadly as he scratched his bandaged forehead absently. 

When he was still Bakura's partner, Bakura didn't chide him when he threw himself into danger's arms. It's because Bakura trusted him to stay alive for the time being until something like an invisible force steals his life away [which wouldn't be happening any time soon]. 

But sometimes, just deep down, he had wanted Bakura to be mad at him for being so careless, for being an idiot. He had wanted Bakura to shake an angry fist in his face and threaten his life if he so much wanted to die so early... 
It made life much easier and much likeable with Bakura doing just that. It would simply mean that Bakura truly cared, that he truly wanted the best out of him...

He sighed again.

Agent Yuuki was looking at him with unreadable eyes from the sidelines, but didn't as much remark about their harsh behavior towards the newbie [which Malik's glad for or else he would have done someone bodily harm]. 

And where the hell is Chief?

End chapter 3 

Endnotes:

- "-sempai" suffix behind the names of the people who are older, or more experienced than you.

I want to thank those who have reviewed the previous chapter and are still hanging around this story. I know the story doesn't make sense... maybe re-reading it again will help. I'll try to keep up the writing of this side-fic, seeing as how many plot bunnies, I'm currently planning, are shooting out like mushrooms! You just don't want to know how many I've planned; I even made a list of them... :sweatdrops:

Thank you for reading!

:smiley face:cin