[oneshot] The Good, The Bad, and the Shige (NEWS au)
Finally it seems like my writer's block is leaving me! And, no, I refuse to thank Rescue for this. XD
This is for the AU meme that was going around. Originally I was going to drabble the ideas but... well, when you're long-winded, you don't drabble, you ficlet. Or fic, as the case would be. XD; That being said, I have two--technically three--others to post soon, but this was the first one I finished. For lifeinthebox, who requested "NEWS Spaghetti Western!" (She also came up with the title after I told her a few little details about how I was writing it.)
the good, the bad, and the shige - news au
“Tegoshi!” Shige whined through gritted teeth. “Tegoshi, get down!”
They were currently crouched behind the pile of firewood at the end of the cabin, only a few quick strides from the four men who had just shot and robbed their captors. Well, the ones who hadn’t managed to run off in search of reinforcements, at least.
When the shooting first started they’d been safely hidden behind the well on the ranch, close enough to watch the gun fight but far enough to keep from eating lead. It had been Tegoshi’s idea-it was always Tegoshi’s idea, Shige thought bitterly-to creep forward until they were at the edge of the action and Shige had dumbly followed, nagging him the whole way. He told himself that it was because someone had to make sure Tegoshi didn’t get shot. Or maybe it was just so, when Tegoshi did end up taking a bullet, there’d be someone there to provide a timely I told you so before dragging him to safety.
Much to Shige’s wonderment, neither he nor Tegoshi had ended up injured. Yet. And if Shige had any say in the matter, that was how it was going to stay. He pulled on the collar of Tegoshi’s shirt. Not enough to choke the younger boy, but more than enough to be irritating. “Damn it, Tegoshi, stop squirming! They’ll see you!”
Tegoshi swatted Shige’s hand away absently, continuing to stare at the four men and their horses. “Maybe I want them to.”
Shige gaped at his friend. He’d seen that dangerous twinkle in Tegoshi’s eyes enough times to know the boy was hatching up some new and horrible plan. A plan that probably involved pain on Shige’s part; they always did. So far, all listening to Tegoshi had resulted in was running away from their nice, safe homes, contracting a bad case of dysentery, starving on the open plain, nearly being mauled and eaten by a cougar, getting captured and forced into slavery for a little over a month, and now, being shot at.
Suffice to say, Shige was in no mood to listen when Tegoshi got that look on his face.
It took him all of three seconds and a couple glances to figure out what his friend was thinking. “No! No way! Riding with a band of outlaws is not a good idea!”
The younger of the two finally turned from where he was watching the four bandits to shoot Shige an incredulous pout. “And you think staying with the slavers is a better one?”
Shige frowned, brows knitting together at the statement. “Of course not-”
“Then?”
Shige grimaced. The situation was already stressful enough. Tegoshi didn’t have to start in with the high and mighty act. “I just… I don’t think it’s wise to trust them.”
“Shige.” Tegoshi said with a sigh, placing both hands on Shige’s shoulders and staring into his eyes evenly. Much to the slightly elder boy’s irritation, the superior tone was kicked up at least three notches. “We are in the middle of hostile Indian territory. The closest town is at least a day’s ride away. Either you take a chance and come with me or you wait here for the remaining slavers to get back with reinforcements. And let me tell you, they are not going to be happy when they come back.”
“I know that!” Shige whispered, voice squeaking a little hysterically. His eyes darted from his friend to the group of men a few meters away. The tall one was still fussing over the wound on the one with the baby face’s arm, but it was obvious that the four of them were preparing to depart. The window of opportunity for leaving was getting smaller by the second. Shige swallowed hard, brain going into overdrive trying to weigh the pros and cons of the situation.
Tegoshi tugged on Shige’s shirt sleeve. “Shiiiiiige…!”
“Fine, I get it! We’ll go with them!” Shige brought up a hand to his forehead. He couldn’t see this ending well at all-most of the scenarios he came up with involved more physical harm, jail time, and maybe another cougar attack-but the odds of them coming out alive by following the bandits were slightly better than if they were to stay and wait for their captors to return. Provided that the four armed men didn’t kill them first. “But you have to do all the talking.”
“Of course,” Tegoshi chirruped, his tone implying that Shige was obviously not the right choice to do any convincing. Shige bit back the urge to sock his friend square in the jaw.
If Tegoshi noticed Shige’s eye twitch violently, he didn’t deign to say anything about it. Escape plan agreed upon, Tegoshi grabbed Shige’s wrist and stood up, pulling him out from behind the firewood they were using for cover.
“Hey, take us with you!”
The four bandits stopped in their movements, eyeing the two boys coldly. Shige felt his whole body go rigid. He seemed to have temporarily forgotten that, when it came to matters of diplomacy, Tegoshi had all the subtlety of a brick to the face. “Tegoshi!” he whispered, jaw set firmly. “I don’t think demanding things out of men with guns is a smart idea!”
“Shush, Shige, it’ll be fine!”
Shige was just about to yell at Tegoshi for having the nerve to shush him when one of the men made his way over to the two boys, sneering at them from atop his large and maybe a little too intimidating black horse. “And just who are you to be bossing us around?”
Tegoshi actually shrunk back a bit, tightening his grip on Shige’s wrist. Perhaps he did have some sense of self-preservation left in his body after all. Shige took in a shaky breath. Well, at least they were going to die together.
Shige was calculating how hard he’d have to beg to convince the fugitives to let them have a running start when one of the other men spoke up. “Ryo, cool it.” The two boys glanced up at their would-be savior. He was bigger than the other man, with large, dark eyes and an unreadable expression. He stared at Tegoshi for a long while, and then Shige, and when his voice came out it was slow and wary. “How old are you two?”
“Sixteen. Both of us are.”
The man on the black horse-Ryo, it seemed-snorted. “Sixteen my ass. You,” here he pointed at Tegoshi, “don’t look a day older than twelve. And he’s at least eighteen.”
“He can’t help the face he was born with, sir”--Shige frowned and let out an indignant “Hey!” at this-“but I swear to you that we are both sixteen years old.”
Ryo rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself while the other man gave a curt nod. “I believe you. Either of you ever shot a gun?”
“I’m a crack shot!” Tegoshi nodded enthusiastically, ignoring Ryo’s unconvinced “I’m sure you are.” Unfazed, he tugged on Shige’s wrist. “And Shige’s… well, Shige’s not so good at shooting, but he’s really, really smart! He knows all sorts of things about tracking and trapping animals and stuff! And he can cook, too!”
Four pairs of eyes turned to Shige. Under the pressure, all he managed was a nod of the head and a meek, “My father was a trapper.”
Again the man nodded, folding his arms and letting out a contemplative hmmmmm. At the noise, Ryo steered his horse around so they were both facing his comrade. “Pi, don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about this!”
‘Pi’ cocked his head to the side, still considering the two boys in front of him. “We need someone to cook, what with Massu injured and all. And we can always use an extra gun.”
“That’s right!” the tall one of the group cried, helping the injured man-Massu, Shige assumed-up onto his horse before mounting his own. “It’ll make Massu’s recovery time a lot quicker!” Massu nodded eagerly, a bright smile on his face.
Ryo scowled. “I don’t know what the hell you’re smiling about, Massu. It’s not like I asked your fat ass to take that shot for me.”
Massu just smiled confidently, placing a hand over where the bullet had grazed his left bicep. “I’m strong and I heal quick. I’d rather take the shots than have you guys get hurt.”
The fourth man smiled warmly at Massu’s words and moved over to give him a fond pat on his good shoulder. Ryo, on the other hand, called him a dumbass but there was a notable lack of venom backing the insult. Pi just jerked his chin in the direction of Shige and Tegoshi. “What’re your names?”
At this, Tegoshi stood straight as could be, chest out and shoulders back. Shige scrambled to do the same. “Yuya Tegoshi! This is Shigeaki Kato.”
“I’m Yamashita. If you think you can handle riding with us, I’ve got no objections, but know that everyone is expected to pull their own weight.”
Tegoshi and Shige nodded obediently, though Tegoshi was obviously much more excited than his friend. “We’ll work hard, promise!”
Yamashita seemed pleased with their responses. Sitting back, he cast a lazy glance to his three comrades. “Objections?”
Massu shook his head, while the forth man shrugged and smiled. “The more the merrier, right?” Something that might have passed for a smile flashed on Yamashita’s face. He then turned his attention to the last member of the gang. “Ryo?”
The dark skinned man frowned, looking from his fellow bandits to the hopeful faces of their potential new recruits and back again. After a few agonizing seconds in which Shige had to remind himself to breathe, Ryo flung his head to the side, letting out an annoyed tch. “Do whatever the hell you want. But they ain’t riding with me. I’m not a damn nanny.”
While Yamashita and Ryo started squabbling over age differences-apparently Ryo was only nineteen himself, though he contended that those had been three very important years on the road to being considered a man-the tallest member of the group approached Shige. He smiled as he leaned down and offered Shige a hand. “Keiichiro Koyama. You can call me Kei.”
Shige looked over to Tegoshi questioningly only to receive a helpful shove. Taking in a deep breath, he took the proffered hand and climbed up onto the horse behind its rider. “S-Shige.”
Koyama smiled and reached back to pat Shige’s knee merrily. “Don’t worry about Ryo. He talks big, but he’s actually a real softie once you get to know him.”
Shige thought this Koyama fellow was a terrible liar, but it was nice of him to try and make Shige feel better, nonetheless.
With Ryo and Yamashita still bickering and Koyama having claimed Shige as his passenger, Massu shrugged and approached Tegoshi. “I’ll take the other one. Tegoshi, right?”
Tegoshi bit down on his lip, eyes moving to Massu’s shoulder and the dark red bloom of color there. Then again, it was hard to miss, being the only dull spot on the strangely multicolored poncho. “Are you sure, Massu?”
If Massu was offended by being called so nonchalantly by someone he’d just met, he made no point of showing it. He turned his horse so that his good arm was closest to Tegoshi and extended it to the younger boy. “Well, Nishikido doesn’t want you riding with him, and we can’t have Leader burdened down. And like I said,” he laughed quietly, managing to pull Tegoshi straight off the ground and plopping him down in front of him. “I’m pretty strong.”
The movement seemed to finally draw Ryo and Yamashita’s attention back to the issue at hand. Yamashita was in the middle of asking Massu if he really thought that was a good idea when Ryo cut him off. “Massu, don’t be stupid. Even if you weren’t hurt, you wouldn’t be able to outrun anyone easily with two people.”
The injured man frowned at Ryo, his right hand moving to pat the revolver at his side. “I can still shoot just fine. Besides,” Massu said, clapping a hand on Tegoshi’s shoulder. “He’s pretty light.”
The dark skinned man made a point of shrugging in an overly nonchalant way. “Whatever. Don’t come crying to me when you get shot again.”
“Don’t worry, Nishikido. I’ll be careful this time.”
“Who said I was worrying about your pig ass?”
Koyama laughed and cooed. “Aww, Ryo, you’re so cute when you worry about us!”
“Shut up,” Ryo mumbled darkly. He nudged his heels against his stallion’s side and the horse started moving, wordlessly signaling it was time to go. The other three riders soon followed suit. “I still say it’s an idiotic idea.”
Yamashita spurred his horse to pick up its pace briefly until he was side by side with Ryo. This time he smiled broadly at the smaller man. “C’mon, Ryo! Two more sets of hands means we can carry off way more loot now!”
And as Ryo rattled off a series of irritations having two more people in their group brought-including finding them horses, splitting the loot six ways instead of four, and “having to put up with two more pieces of dead weight”-Shige managed to catch Tegoshi’s eye. The younger boy smiled and flashed Shige a thumbs up, mouthing something that looked like, “Believe!”
Shige just sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around Koyama’s middle. A life of crime was the last thing he’d expected out of this ‘epic adventure’ Tegoshi had foolishly talked him into. But at least it beat cougars and dysentery.
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8D;;;; ? I don't know! Though I may have left the ending open on purpose. Y'know, no reason. *cough* Also, I felt a little bad about giving Shige dysentery, but once I found out what the scientific name for it was I couldn't resist. Poor Shige. Even in an alternative universe, your life is hard.
This is for the AU meme that was going around. Originally I was going to drabble the ideas but... well, when you're long-winded, you don't drabble, you ficlet. Or fic, as the case would be. XD; That being said, I have two--technically three--others to post soon, but this was the first one I finished. For lifeinthebox, who requested "NEWS Spaghetti Western!" (She also came up with the title after I told her a few little details about how I was writing it.)
the good, the bad, and the shige - news au
“Tegoshi!” Shige whined through gritted teeth. “Tegoshi, get down!”
They were currently crouched behind the pile of firewood at the end of the cabin, only a few quick strides from the four men who had just shot and robbed their captors. Well, the ones who hadn’t managed to run off in search of reinforcements, at least.
When the shooting first started they’d been safely hidden behind the well on the ranch, close enough to watch the gun fight but far enough to keep from eating lead. It had been Tegoshi’s idea-it was always Tegoshi’s idea, Shige thought bitterly-to creep forward until they were at the edge of the action and Shige had dumbly followed, nagging him the whole way. He told himself that it was because someone had to make sure Tegoshi didn’t get shot. Or maybe it was just so, when Tegoshi did end up taking a bullet, there’d be someone there to provide a timely I told you so before dragging him to safety.
Much to Shige’s wonderment, neither he nor Tegoshi had ended up injured. Yet. And if Shige had any say in the matter, that was how it was going to stay. He pulled on the collar of Tegoshi’s shirt. Not enough to choke the younger boy, but more than enough to be irritating. “Damn it, Tegoshi, stop squirming! They’ll see you!”
Tegoshi swatted Shige’s hand away absently, continuing to stare at the four men and their horses. “Maybe I want them to.”
Shige gaped at his friend. He’d seen that dangerous twinkle in Tegoshi’s eyes enough times to know the boy was hatching up some new and horrible plan. A plan that probably involved pain on Shige’s part; they always did. So far, all listening to Tegoshi had resulted in was running away from their nice, safe homes, contracting a bad case of dysentery, starving on the open plain, nearly being mauled and eaten by a cougar, getting captured and forced into slavery for a little over a month, and now, being shot at.
Suffice to say, Shige was in no mood to listen when Tegoshi got that look on his face.
It took him all of three seconds and a couple glances to figure out what his friend was thinking. “No! No way! Riding with a band of outlaws is not a good idea!”
The younger of the two finally turned from where he was watching the four bandits to shoot Shige an incredulous pout. “And you think staying with the slavers is a better one?”
Shige frowned, brows knitting together at the statement. “Of course not-”
“Then?”
Shige grimaced. The situation was already stressful enough. Tegoshi didn’t have to start in with the high and mighty act. “I just… I don’t think it’s wise to trust them.”
“Shige.” Tegoshi said with a sigh, placing both hands on Shige’s shoulders and staring into his eyes evenly. Much to the slightly elder boy’s irritation, the superior tone was kicked up at least three notches. “We are in the middle of hostile Indian territory. The closest town is at least a day’s ride away. Either you take a chance and come with me or you wait here for the remaining slavers to get back with reinforcements. And let me tell you, they are not going to be happy when they come back.”
“I know that!” Shige whispered, voice squeaking a little hysterically. His eyes darted from his friend to the group of men a few meters away. The tall one was still fussing over the wound on the one with the baby face’s arm, but it was obvious that the four of them were preparing to depart. The window of opportunity for leaving was getting smaller by the second. Shige swallowed hard, brain going into overdrive trying to weigh the pros and cons of the situation.
Tegoshi tugged on Shige’s shirt sleeve. “Shiiiiiige…!”
“Fine, I get it! We’ll go with them!” Shige brought up a hand to his forehead. He couldn’t see this ending well at all-most of the scenarios he came up with involved more physical harm, jail time, and maybe another cougar attack-but the odds of them coming out alive by following the bandits were slightly better than if they were to stay and wait for their captors to return. Provided that the four armed men didn’t kill them first. “But you have to do all the talking.”
“Of course,” Tegoshi chirruped, his tone implying that Shige was obviously not the right choice to do any convincing. Shige bit back the urge to sock his friend square in the jaw.
If Tegoshi noticed Shige’s eye twitch violently, he didn’t deign to say anything about it. Escape plan agreed upon, Tegoshi grabbed Shige’s wrist and stood up, pulling him out from behind the firewood they were using for cover.
“Hey, take us with you!”
The four bandits stopped in their movements, eyeing the two boys coldly. Shige felt his whole body go rigid. He seemed to have temporarily forgotten that, when it came to matters of diplomacy, Tegoshi had all the subtlety of a brick to the face. “Tegoshi!” he whispered, jaw set firmly. “I don’t think demanding things out of men with guns is a smart idea!”
“Shush, Shige, it’ll be fine!”
Shige was just about to yell at Tegoshi for having the nerve to shush him when one of the men made his way over to the two boys, sneering at them from atop his large and maybe a little too intimidating black horse. “And just who are you to be bossing us around?”
Tegoshi actually shrunk back a bit, tightening his grip on Shige’s wrist. Perhaps he did have some sense of self-preservation left in his body after all. Shige took in a shaky breath. Well, at least they were going to die together.
Shige was calculating how hard he’d have to beg to convince the fugitives to let them have a running start when one of the other men spoke up. “Ryo, cool it.” The two boys glanced up at their would-be savior. He was bigger than the other man, with large, dark eyes and an unreadable expression. He stared at Tegoshi for a long while, and then Shige, and when his voice came out it was slow and wary. “How old are you two?”
“Sixteen. Both of us are.”
The man on the black horse-Ryo, it seemed-snorted. “Sixteen my ass. You,” here he pointed at Tegoshi, “don’t look a day older than twelve. And he’s at least eighteen.”
“He can’t help the face he was born with, sir”--Shige frowned and let out an indignant “Hey!” at this-“but I swear to you that we are both sixteen years old.”
Ryo rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself while the other man gave a curt nod. “I believe you. Either of you ever shot a gun?”
“I’m a crack shot!” Tegoshi nodded enthusiastically, ignoring Ryo’s unconvinced “I’m sure you are.” Unfazed, he tugged on Shige’s wrist. “And Shige’s… well, Shige’s not so good at shooting, but he’s really, really smart! He knows all sorts of things about tracking and trapping animals and stuff! And he can cook, too!”
Four pairs of eyes turned to Shige. Under the pressure, all he managed was a nod of the head and a meek, “My father was a trapper.”
Again the man nodded, folding his arms and letting out a contemplative hmmmmm. At the noise, Ryo steered his horse around so they were both facing his comrade. “Pi, don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about this!”
‘Pi’ cocked his head to the side, still considering the two boys in front of him. “We need someone to cook, what with Massu injured and all. And we can always use an extra gun.”
“That’s right!” the tall one of the group cried, helping the injured man-Massu, Shige assumed-up onto his horse before mounting his own. “It’ll make Massu’s recovery time a lot quicker!” Massu nodded eagerly, a bright smile on his face.
Ryo scowled. “I don’t know what the hell you’re smiling about, Massu. It’s not like I asked your fat ass to take that shot for me.”
Massu just smiled confidently, placing a hand over where the bullet had grazed his left bicep. “I’m strong and I heal quick. I’d rather take the shots than have you guys get hurt.”
The fourth man smiled warmly at Massu’s words and moved over to give him a fond pat on his good shoulder. Ryo, on the other hand, called him a dumbass but there was a notable lack of venom backing the insult. Pi just jerked his chin in the direction of Shige and Tegoshi. “What’re your names?”
At this, Tegoshi stood straight as could be, chest out and shoulders back. Shige scrambled to do the same. “Yuya Tegoshi! This is Shigeaki Kato.”
“I’m Yamashita. If you think you can handle riding with us, I’ve got no objections, but know that everyone is expected to pull their own weight.”
Tegoshi and Shige nodded obediently, though Tegoshi was obviously much more excited than his friend. “We’ll work hard, promise!”
Yamashita seemed pleased with their responses. Sitting back, he cast a lazy glance to his three comrades. “Objections?”
Massu shook his head, while the forth man shrugged and smiled. “The more the merrier, right?” Something that might have passed for a smile flashed on Yamashita’s face. He then turned his attention to the last member of the gang. “Ryo?”
The dark skinned man frowned, looking from his fellow bandits to the hopeful faces of their potential new recruits and back again. After a few agonizing seconds in which Shige had to remind himself to breathe, Ryo flung his head to the side, letting out an annoyed tch. “Do whatever the hell you want. But they ain’t riding with me. I’m not a damn nanny.”
While Yamashita and Ryo started squabbling over age differences-apparently Ryo was only nineteen himself, though he contended that those had been three very important years on the road to being considered a man-the tallest member of the group approached Shige. He smiled as he leaned down and offered Shige a hand. “Keiichiro Koyama. You can call me Kei.”
Shige looked over to Tegoshi questioningly only to receive a helpful shove. Taking in a deep breath, he took the proffered hand and climbed up onto the horse behind its rider. “S-Shige.”
Koyama smiled and reached back to pat Shige’s knee merrily. “Don’t worry about Ryo. He talks big, but he’s actually a real softie once you get to know him.”
Shige thought this Koyama fellow was a terrible liar, but it was nice of him to try and make Shige feel better, nonetheless.
With Ryo and Yamashita still bickering and Koyama having claimed Shige as his passenger, Massu shrugged and approached Tegoshi. “I’ll take the other one. Tegoshi, right?”
Tegoshi bit down on his lip, eyes moving to Massu’s shoulder and the dark red bloom of color there. Then again, it was hard to miss, being the only dull spot on the strangely multicolored poncho. “Are you sure, Massu?”
If Massu was offended by being called so nonchalantly by someone he’d just met, he made no point of showing it. He turned his horse so that his good arm was closest to Tegoshi and extended it to the younger boy. “Well, Nishikido doesn’t want you riding with him, and we can’t have Leader burdened down. And like I said,” he laughed quietly, managing to pull Tegoshi straight off the ground and plopping him down in front of him. “I’m pretty strong.”
The movement seemed to finally draw Ryo and Yamashita’s attention back to the issue at hand. Yamashita was in the middle of asking Massu if he really thought that was a good idea when Ryo cut him off. “Massu, don’t be stupid. Even if you weren’t hurt, you wouldn’t be able to outrun anyone easily with two people.”
The injured man frowned at Ryo, his right hand moving to pat the revolver at his side. “I can still shoot just fine. Besides,” Massu said, clapping a hand on Tegoshi’s shoulder. “He’s pretty light.”
The dark skinned man made a point of shrugging in an overly nonchalant way. “Whatever. Don’t come crying to me when you get shot again.”
“Don’t worry, Nishikido. I’ll be careful this time.”
“Who said I was worrying about your pig ass?”
Koyama laughed and cooed. “Aww, Ryo, you’re so cute when you worry about us!”
“Shut up,” Ryo mumbled darkly. He nudged his heels against his stallion’s side and the horse started moving, wordlessly signaling it was time to go. The other three riders soon followed suit. “I still say it’s an idiotic idea.”
Yamashita spurred his horse to pick up its pace briefly until he was side by side with Ryo. This time he smiled broadly at the smaller man. “C’mon, Ryo! Two more sets of hands means we can carry off way more loot now!”
And as Ryo rattled off a series of irritations having two more people in their group brought-including finding them horses, splitting the loot six ways instead of four, and “having to put up with two more pieces of dead weight”-Shige managed to catch Tegoshi’s eye. The younger boy smiled and flashed Shige a thumbs up, mouthing something that looked like, “Believe!”
Shige just sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around Koyama’s middle. A life of crime was the last thing he’d expected out of this ‘epic adventure’ Tegoshi had foolishly talked him into. But at least it beat cougars and dysentery.
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8D;;;; ? I don't know! Though I may have left the ending open on purpose. Y'know, no reason. *cough* Also, I felt a little bad about giving Shige dysentery, but once I found out what the scientific name for it was I couldn't resist. Poor Shige. Even in an alternative universe, your life is hard.