Chapter Text
"Two saké," Kid tossed a coin down on the sticky bar top and watched it roll lazily in a circle before the coin thunked to the side, only to be scooped up by a gruff looking bartender with more hair on his chest than his head. The man's eyes strayed over Kid's shoulder and he jerked his head in the red-haired teen's direction.
"This guy one o' yours?" The bartender asked someone behind Kid instead of pouring out the drinks. Kid's eyes narrowed as he turned around to have a proper look at the rest of the bar.
The building was occupied by a dozen men and women all sporting matching emblems on arm-bands and skull-caps that belonged to the criminal gang that ran the whole dang island. The taste of disgust rose up in the back of Kid's throat.
Weapons were scattered about as liberally as the drinks on the tables. Next to him, Kid felt his blond companion shift slightly so their elbows were momentarily pressed together.
"Never seen him before," said a man with a beard that was long enough to be tucked into his pants, after barely giving the teen a once-over. He had a hand of cards that he and several others at the table had been playing with, but the game was forgotten for the moment.
"We're out of saké." The bartender pocketed the money and gestured to the door. "Best you leave. Consider the coin payment for bein' allowed t' walk out'a here."
"I'll leave when you give me my saké," Kid turned back to the balding man behind the bar and tapped on the wood in front of him with a red-painted fingernail. Killer crossed his arms over his chest, waiting beside his partner. Neither of them were in the mood for anything other than getting drunk as fuck.
"I don't think you understood, punk." A scrape of wood and the clunk of boots on the floor signalled the bearded gang member's arrival behind Kid. "This town belongs to our boss."
Kid didn't even bother to turn around, though he could feel the man practically breathing down his neck. "Didn't see his name on it." Beside him, Killer let out a soft, amused grunt that turned into a stifled laugh.
A man sitting a few seats away snorted at the sound of Killer's laugh and Kid's head swiveled towards him at the same moment that his partner stiffened. Kid's arm jerked out to the side in a flash.
"You better get out of here before I-" the bearded man was cut off when one of the younger criminals he had been playing cards with let out a startled gasp.
"Fuck, he's killed Bogoose!" The man who had laughed briefly at Killer was clutching at a knife jutting out of the middle of his throat. Blood gurgled from his mouth and down his chin as he blinked desperately; unable to speak or breathe. Chaos broke out as the dead man topped backwards off of his barstool.
A pair of thick, strong hands clamped down on Kid's shoulders and in one move he was thrown over the bar and into a glass cabinet that shattered with the force. The air was knocked from his lungs, and drinks toppled down to the floor with Kid. The redhead came up swinging and knocked the bartender back with a jab to the underside of his broad hairy chin. The man turned tail and bolted out the back of the bar; not sticking around for a fight.
Grabbing an intact bottle off the shelf, Kid hurled it into the face of the bearded criminal that had thrown him. The man's nose crunched as the bottle shattered against his face, soaking him in booze and blood.
"Thought you fuckers were out of saké," Kid snarled as he vaulted over the sticky bar table and tackled the lead criminal whose nose was streaming blood. The man toppled backwards in surprise and the pair landed heavily on the ground; Kid's small frame perched on the man's chest. His first punch threatened to break the man's eye-socket, but before he could get a second in the criminal retaliated with several vicious jabs to Kid's side with his knuckles.
With a snarl, the redhead ignored the pain lancing through his ribs with every hit and kept punching as hard as he could. He only stopped when he heard Killer let out a grunt of pain and Kid glanced up to see him being cornered by two of the other criminals, a long bloody slice across his bicep. The blond was doing a fine job keeping both men at bay with his knives, but others were starting to try and tip the odds.
"Killer!" He was about to stand when he felt a dull thud against his chest that forced him off of the bearded man. A brief glance down left the redhead blinking at a knife buried to the hilt in his chest. The man beneath him seemed far more pleased than he had any right to be, so Kid yanked the thing out and returned it to the jackass in his left eye.
The body beneath him went limp immediately, but Kid wasn’t about to give up his weapon. He jerked the knife back out, ignoring the slippery warmth beneath his fingers. Gore trailed behind him like a ribbon of promised pain as Kid stalked towards the men who had trapped Killer.
Flesh tore beneath the redhead's first attack as he brought the knife up into the underside of the first man's arm. The gang member twisted in pain, his weapon falling from limp fingers at the same moment that Kid slammed his shoulder upwards to knock the man into into the other criminal. Killer took the opportunity to silence them both with a quick swipe of his blades.
The world tilted dangerously to the side, but a strong hand on his arm kept Kid upright as he recovered from a wave of dizziness.
"I got you," Killer grinned and Kid returned the look with a wider, blood tinted one of his own.
"Get me some saké," the redhead staggered towards the remaining group of horrified men and women while Killer snatched up an unopened bottle from one of the tables. The gang members looked an equal mix of pissed off and nervous, especially now that the leader of the bar-group was cooling on the floor behind Kid.
"Boss ain't gunna stand for this!" blurted a teen with a pink mohawk, only a few years older than Kid. The others nodded.
"Yeah. Countin' on it." Kid turned his steely gaze on the lad and smirked. Eustass looked a sight; blood staining his teeth, cascading down his chest, and glass in his hair.
A blue-haired woman with a scar over one eyebrow blocked Kid's view of the mohawk teen just as the young criminal turned and ran out the door. He shouted something about going to tell the boss, but Kid wasn't really listening anymore.
When he took another step forward, the whole group of gang members stumbled backwards to put some distance between themselves and the blood-soaked redhead. The laugh that erupted from Kid's lips was the only sound in the bar aside from the click of someone loading a gun.
Two pairs of dangerous eyes landed on the moon-faced man who had been desperately trying to load his gun by the door. The criminal sucked in a startled breath and aimed shakily between Kid and Killer with the only bullet he had managed to actually load into the gun.
Watching the man muster up the courage to actually fire the gun was like seeing someone realize they were fucked in real-time. His hands were shaky and Kid could easily see the way the man's arm tensed as he pulled the trigger. What wasn't easy was getting out of the way. Not when he was already dizzy with blood loss.
But Killer didn't miss a beat. He shoved Kid to the side as soon as he saw the man move so that the bullet thudded into a wall. Before the redhead could keep falling, Killer's strong hand wrapped around Kid's wrist and yanked him back upright.
"Let's go, Killer." Kid didn't bother trying to keep the malicious smile off his face as he passed by the man with a gun, who promptly dropped his weapon as if that would help matters. The blond fell in step beside his partner and the pair left the shitty bar behind.
They swiftly moved out of view, away from the floundering gang members who were all rushing about like ants in a kicked hill. Once they had turned onto a side street and were sure no one else was around, Kid slowed his steps and leaned heavily into his partner.
"Think I'm gunna pass out now," he said as his knees buckled. Killer caught him before he hit the ground.