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"Hey kid. Wake up." The pale boy blinks awake. "You hurt?" The boy comes to with a start. "Hey! Hey! Take it easy. I ain't gonna hurt you," the man holds his hands up.
「どこですか」The boy launches into an unintelligible stream of speech.
"Whoah! Slow down. Look, I can't understand what you're saying." The boy takes a breath.
「お名前は何ですか」 The man stares blankly. The boy takes another breath and gestures to himself. 「喜多川祐介です。お名前は何ですか」
"Ah, my name, is it?" He strokes his beard. "Just call me Mcree. Put 'er there." He offers his hand. The boy takes it.
「ありがとうございます」 The boy says, dusting himself off as he rises to his bare feet.
"Don't mention it," Mcree does understand that one. He leads the boy to his horse and does his best to ask if he knows how to ride.
The boy shakes his head. Mcree scratches his beard and settles on mounting the horse before beckoning the boy up behind him. The boy looks at the large beast nervously. That, Mcree understands as well.
He dismounts and shows the boy how to do it. Though he still looks nervous, he mounts the horse with only a moderate amount of awkwardness before grasping onto the back of the man's shirt and ducking his head to shield his eyes from the sun.
Mcree heads into town where he parks the horse in front of the tailor, motioning for the boy to get down. He follows the large man into the store and stops to take in the decor, mildly inspired by the rustic scene. Mcree hands him a hat and bandanna as he leads him toward the clothes.
“Pick something simple. We'll pick up the rest as we go."
“Ah...?” The boy, already wearing the cowboy hat and holding the bandanna as if it's a small security blanket, looks up at Mcree wide-eyed.
Mcree picks up a shirt and holds it up to the boy as if he's taking measurements. "Shirt," he hands it to the boy. "The sleeves'll protect that fair skin of yours."
After a moment, the boy is holding a complete outfit. Mcree guides him to a dressing room. "Try them on," he pulls at his shirt, hoping that will make it clear. The boy looks at him before stepping into the small space and closing the door.
A moment later he emerges, mostly dressed but pulling at the shirt sleeve. 「あお」
Mcree looks confused. The boy looks around before walking up to a sign, pointing to the blue background. "Blue?" Mcree snorts a small laugh and asks the manager for the shirt in blue. He comes back with a few pieces to swap out, and the boy returns to the dressing room, looking quite pleased with his new outfit when he steps out.
「どうですか」 He holds his hands out in a gesture Mcree correctly takes to mean "How do I look?” He smirks at the thin stranger before patting him on the back.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." He pays for the clothes before they return to the horse and begin the ride back to someone who should know what to do for the boy.
Not too far outside of town, he spots trouble, and the boy clearly does, too, as he yanks on Mcree's shirt and subtly gestures to their right. Mcree hands the kid a knife just as subtly, and the boy nods. The leader approaches them head on.
"Hey there, friend. We don't want no trouble. Just your money, your horse, and the boy."
"Well, friend, that request spells trouble on all counts seeing as I'm willing to part with none of those things."
"I reckon you barely know him so well to be putting your life on the line."
"He's got a debt to work off, is all. Besides, you wanna take him, you gotta ask him." Mcree reaches for his revolver, taking out two of the men before the others even realize what's happening. He turns to check on the boy but finds that he's run off. Or at least that's what he thinks until he notices it's all quiet except for the sound of a blade in flesh.
Mcree is surprised to see the lanky boy standing over the leader with his knife to the man's throat, mumbling inaudibly; but he can very clearly make out a deliberate "never return," as the boy carves three lines into the man's face. He returns to his seat on the back of the horse with a bit more ease as the man on the ground wails and eventually passes out from the pain.
「ありがとうございます」 he says as he grabs onto Mcree's shirt again.
The man can't help but laugh as he looks to the boy. "I'll be..." He spurs the horse onward.
•
“Hmmm,” he kicks at the drowned rat of a boy lying unconscious at his feet. He waits a while, watching for the rise and fall of a breathing chest. There is none.
Reaper lifts his heavy right boot, a cold indifference as he brings it down on the boys head. Or that was the intention anyway. At the marked lack of the usual satisfying crunching and squelching, he looks to see what’s stopping him, a passive curiosity overtaking him as he sees red gloved fingers peeking out from the sole of his foot.
The boy is straining against the weight. Reaper presses harder. They remain locked in this stalemate for a time until the boy gives a growl and a big push before rolling out from under him. They exchange a glare for an endless moment.
Reaper lifts one of his guns, the barrel almost the size of the boy’s head. But the kid surprises him again. Instead of cowering or running, the boy gives a wild, unhinged grin and points to his forehead, his smile melting into the cackling of a madman as the boy pushes back his bangs to expose the crimson hole underneath.
As quickly as he cracked, the strange boy is stone faced again. He takes a step closer to Reaper, grabbing the barrel of the oversized gun and pointing it at his own chest.
“Hm.” Reaper lowers the gun and turns away from the boy.
His third surprise comes when minutes into his walk, he looks back to find the boy right behind him.
“Get lost,” he rasps. The boy doesn’t budge. “Go away,” he says a bit louder, shooing with his hands this time. The boy stays right where he is. Reaper is annoyed now. He offers no more warnings as he cocks the gun. The boy looks up in what he thinks is fear until he once again positions himself to take the shot to the chest. With a growl, Reaper lowers the gun again and turns to continue on his path.
They walk for a time in silence aside from the wind rustling their clothes. As much as he can appreciate the silence, he didn’t sign up to babysit. He’s taking in the view over the canyon, a view he enjoys each time he comes for a job here, when an idea strikes. The boy is walking behind him with his head down, following him blindly.
Reaper turns and in the blink of an eye has kicked the boy’s feet out from under him on the edge of the path, sending him plummeting into the canyon without so much as a yelp. A shame; he might’ve made a good sidekick. Reaper walks on.
Barely two steps later, he hears a small whoosh and wonders what the kid could’ve hit on the way down to make that sound. Something comes arching overhead before latching onto his shoulder. There’s a zipping sound as Reaper struggles to undo the contraption, and just as he unhooks the grappling hook, the kid lands on his arm, calmly pulling the hook out of his hand as he steps onto the ground once more. Reaper is dumbfounded.
They walk on.
•
It’s dusk as they reach the outer limits of the next town. McCree quietly hums to himself as the boy watches the scenery pass by.
「おい！」he yanks on the back of McCree’s shirt and points up the cliff a ways before taking off at a sprint.
McCree dismounts and follows him, trying to catch him as quietly as he can. But the boy is much faster than expected. He runs at the large shadowy man holding the gun to a notably smaller shadow with grave determination.
Before anyone realizes what’s happening, there’s a knife in Reaper’s ankle. He yells in anger and shoots around his feet for the offender. Yusuke puts some distance between himself and the large cloaked man, and that’s when the darkly clad boy recognizes him.
Reaper is throwing his first two guns away and reaching for two more when Akira stands between him and Yusuke. He aims around the kid; the kid steps back in the way.
“Hmm,” Reaper hums, a bit disappointed to know that the boy still cares about something. He cocks both guns and fires endlessly, the boy evading every shot and further angering him.
The kid covers Yusuke with his own body and locks eyes with Reaper, a steely defiance keeping him from flinching as the massive assassin stomps closer. For his part, Reaper is pretty impressed with the kid’s guts. He might remember this one for a while.
He throws away the guns and pulls out the next pair. Takes his aim at each boy before none other than McCree jumps down and fires without preamble.
Reaper’s focus shifts to the larger target, this being merely a continuation of a prior battle. McCree holds his attention, dodging shots and slashes as he leads him down the path and away from the boys.
“Get going, tomodachi,” McCree calls as he reloads for an ultimate.
“Thank you,” Yusuke tips his hat to the man before he and Akira take off in the opposite direction.