FicWad

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~Why did I even come?~ I thought to myself ruefully. ~I don't have any reason to be here so why the spontaneous actions?~ My adolescent wonderings were ended abruptly when I ran into a young woman, knocking a suit-case from her hands. I reached down to pick it up and realized who the woman was as I did so. ~Faye Valentine? Why am I running into her?~ I mused thoughtfully as I straightened to look at her.

"You there, kid! Stop her!" a voice beckoned to me from the crowd of would-be passengers. ~Kid?~ I thought angrily. ~Who is calling me a kid?~ I looked up and spotted Spike Spiegel running out of the crowd. ~Oh great, half the crew of the Bebop.~ I thought bitterly. I grabbed Faye's wrist and wrenched it behind her.

"Hey kid, let me go!" she said sharply, making me twist her wrist more.

"I'm no kid." I growled back.

"Thanks kid, now hand her over." Spike said as he came up.

"No." I glowered at him.

"Why not?" Spike asked, confused.

"Kai?!" Jet exclaimed as he ran up, breathless.

"Hello Jet. You might want to warn your companions to obey orders." I sneered back at him.

"Oh, uh, right. Spike, calm down." Jet ordered.

"Who are you and this brat to tell me what to do?" Spike spat back.

"Brat?" I hissed viciously. I suddenly released Faye's arm and lashed out at Spike as I drew a dagger from a sheath at my waist. I caught him in the ribs unexpectedly and held the dagger to his throat as he crashed to the floor.

"I told you Spike." Jet laughed.

"I am 23 and if you don't learn to respect your superiors you'll quickly know unlimited pain...with out death." I hissed into Spike's face furiously. Jet layed a hand on my shoulder and I straightened so Spike could get up.

"What was that all about?" Spike asked as he got to his feet.

"Meet Kaidryui Duo. I met her in the ISSP when she was a comrade of the same rank, but she quickly continued to rise and we only had one mission together. She saved my life several times despite that, however. She was known for her ruthless, quick to anger attitude, and she was one hell of a flirt when she wanted someone." Jet said, introducing me to the others.

"Yes, you weren't quite as easy as the rest though. I must admit, I couldn't find someone even half par after you." I said as I gave him a sharp wink.

"Well, that's a comfort." Jet laughed, laying a hand on my shoulder comradely.

"So what happened this time Jet? I ain't heard from you in a while." I asked.

"I'm a bounty hunter now, I haven't been doing too much on the ISSP side of things lately." He responded, shaking his head and grinning.

"Well, you've still got the solid build that you've always had so things can't be too bad." I said as I ran a hand down his chest, noting that he still wore his uniform even after the years that had passed since he was a part of the service. It didn't really confuse me for I was the same, still wearing the uniform.

"Rather not. We can't seem to keep any money from the bounties we do catch thanks to everything that gets destroyed in the process of catching a bounty." He said, shrugging.

"You mean you actually had to try to get his attentions?" Faye asked incredulously.

"He's not as easy as you think, nor does he disappoint." I stated shortly, glaring at her. "I'll assume you haven't put her in her place quite yet, Jet. I can also see why you wouldn't." As she gasped and looked at me in shock and outrage Jet began to laugh boldly.

"Quite true. You know the women I've called shrews." He said as he calmed down again.

"Oh? Another? You're such a slacker. By the way, if you needed help why didn't you just contact me? You know I would come any time you need." I said, lacing that statement with fact and innuendo. He grinned and shook his head.

"We wouldn't be able to have a minute alone." He shrugged.

"Judging from Spiegel and Valentine's physiques, they could use the pointers." I said glancing them over distastefully.

"Now that's just cold, Kai." He said, laughing again. Barking caught my attention and I watched curiously as a corgi jogged toward us. The small dog came straight for Jet and leaned against his leg till he was picked up. I looked on as Jet doted on the dog for a moment, asking it where Ed was and how it got here. Clearing my throat, I watched as he remembered himself and blushed handsomely.

"JET-JET!" Before I could say a word young Ed bounded up and jumped into Jet's arms as well, swinging around his broad neck and shoulders playfully before swinging down with Ein, the corgi in her arms.

"Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky the Fourth." I said, grinning at her. She grinned back and started asking all sorts of questions, both to the others and myself.

"Ed, calm down." Spike said irritably. I glared at him and squatted down to Ed's approximate height. For a girl, I was rather tall at just shy of six one, making me almost the same height as Jet. He once said I was too lithe, too much like a gymnast, but that if I wasn't then I would have been dead long before with all the risks I took. I had just grinned and rolled him onto his back with a passionate kiss. If there was one thing about Jet Black that kept me so interested in him, aside from his skills in bed, then it was the way he looked at me. He saw me as more than a young woman with too much free time and way too much fight training. He saw me as a person who was his equal. Others thought me either too weak or too strong for them. Jet didn't treat me like that. He always knew just what I needed even when I didn't and it was that, if nothing else, that made me so fiercely protective over him.

"You keep doing what you want, girl." I said confidently to Ed watching as she looked at me so, intent on my every word. "It's what will get you any where you want to go and what will keep you far away from regret. You got that?" I looked at Jet as she nodded and agreed energetically. There was that look again, the one that made my heart glow and my spirits lift no matter what was going on. It was nothing more than a small uplifting at the left corner of his lips and a softening of his eyes, but it meant everything. It told me that no matter what things would pull through perfectly and that all would be fine at the end. Whether he knew it or not it was that one look, even just a remembrance of that look on more than one occasion that kept me from dying or missing up in critical situations where one false move would have slaughtered me. I only smiled back as I returned to my feet and picked up the suitcase Faye had had before we ran into each other.

"Whatever it is, I think you might want it back." I said, handing it over to him. He nodded and pulled a pair of handcuffs from the back of his waistband, clamping them around his mechanical wrist and the silver case. I quirked an eyebrow at that, but he merely shrugged and asked me why I was even on Ganymede again after so long a departure.

"I don't even know. It was another spontaneous action like so many of my previous ones lately." I shrugged in response. When he asked me if I had a place to stay I knew right where he was headed.

"You still make that bell peppers and beef?" I asked, grinning.

"Minus the beef." Spike piped up exasperatedly.

"I'll pay for it." I said, cutting off Jet's comment before he had the first word out of his mouth. He looked at me apologetically, but I just waved it off. He was the only one who felt bad for asking me for anything. Nobody else cared as long as they were happy.

"Are you sure? I really wouldn't want to take your money." He said, giving me that 'but-I-don't-want-to-take-anything-that-you-need' look.

"Jet. It's you." I said simply and motioned that we should get going now. I had to admit that up to that point that night's supper of bell peppers and beef, with beef, was the most delicious meal I had ever eaten. Maybe I was just lonely after having traveled in space without anyone to talk to for nearly two years or maybe it was just that I had missed him, but either way I felt truly at home for the first time ever in my short life as I sat around what classified as a living room aboard 'The Bebop' with the crew spread out in various seats. Jet sat right in front of me all most, just higher up where he was on the other side of the stairs with his legs hanging over and his arms resting on the bottom of the railing, his empty plate beside him as he watched me watch him. It surprised me to find confusion in his gaze as well as something that seemed to be longing. I thought myself naive that I couldn't decipher it, but I knew if he truly wanted me to find out what it was I would know eventually. I felt my heart pull me toward him, but it wasn't until I really was at the top of the stairs did I realize I had placed aside my plate and moved forward.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, his brow furrowed as he looked at me. I shook my head and sat down just beside him.

"Not really." I said and looked down at Faye and Spike. The latter was still scoffing down as much food as he could as quickly as he could. The former was looking at him with the same look I knew must have been on my own face when I looked at Jet. Ed had shared her plate with Ein and quickly run off to search for buried treasure I had told her I had hid here years ago. She didn't need to know that I had never been on this ship before.

"Are you alright?" He asked worriedly. He started to move his hand toward mine, but stopped short and dropped it back to his side. I moved to kneel just behind him and placed my hands on the junctures of his shoulders and neck. He jumped at my touch and I paused long enough to reign in my surprise before massaging away firmly and in slow circles the tension there.

"You're tense, Jet. I believe I should be the one who's asking that." I said as I let my hands lower so that only my thumbs massaged the back of his shoulders. He started to raise his left hand to my own again, but let it drop back to his lap in favor of using his right hand instead. I paused, sensing a melancholy within him, and moved to kneel by his left side. As I placed my hand on the cool metal he flinched and got quickly to his feet, taking his plate with him so as to have an excuse to get away. It gave me pause that he would do that, but when he didn't return after several minutes I moved to the doorway. I heard Spike and Faye whispering behind me, I had always had exceptional hearing, but I didn't care as I saw Jet leaning with his hands braced on either side above his head against the cabinets in front of him. His eyes were tightly shut and he looked in pain, which caused me agony to see him so and think that I was the cause.

"Jet?" I whispered softly. His eyes shot open and he inhaled sharply, forcing himself to exhale as the breath caught in his throat. "If you don't want me here anymore I'll leave. I didn't mean to-" I didn't know what I didn't mean to do, but it was the only thing I could say. He looked at me with hurt in his eyes and took a step forward, his left hand extended helplessly. Before he could drop it back to his side as he started to do I caught his hand in mine. I felt him tense again and pulled close before he could draw away.

"Kai, I-" He trailed off, swallowing and looking down at our clasped hands.

"Jet, what is it that keeps holding you back? Is it me? If you don't care the least bit for me anymore, let me know. No matter what, I'll always be here for you." I said pleadingly. He looked at me in disbelief, his jaw slack, and his eyes wider than usual.

"How can you think that?" He asked. "Kai I- there's no way to describe how much I care for you it's just-" He glanced at his arm and then away again in shame. I thought I was finally beginning to understand and almost wished I didn't for although it enlightened me it also brought back memories I would have rather forgotten.

I had heard through an old acquaintance that he and the last partner he had had as an ISSP officer had been at odds. It wasn't until nearly a day later that I heard his arm had been shot off. I had been in the middle of an extreme mission when I heard the news. I made the excuse the there was no way I could have gotten the permission to go, but I couldn't fool myself that I could have had I tried even the slightest bit. I received word through a letter two days after that from Jet the he had quit the ISSP and was wondering where I was and how I was doing. I felt every ounce of his emotion in that letter, in fact I still had it with me, always in a pocket inside my ISSP uniform close to my heart, but again managed to convince myself to some degree that if I didn't answer he would forget about me. For the next week I received a letter a day, asking about how things were going, what I was doing, and generally inquiring about my well being. Every letter made me feel worse for not answering or returning to him, but after that the letters just stopped and I could put the feelings aside, at least during the day. Every night they returned to overwhelm me as I lay down to sleep and no matter what, even during the day, he was always in my thoughts.

"Jet, I'm sorry." I whispered as I raised my other hand to the cool surface and let my fingertips trail down it tenderly. "I- I received all your letters, you know. I- I just never replied." I swallowed hard as he looked at me and kept my eyes downcast. "I couldn't reply because- because-"

"Because why?" He asked harshly, yanking his hand free and taking a firm step back. I looked at him in surprise and hurt, but he didn't stop. "Because Why, Kaidryui? Huh? It Doesn't Matter Now, Now Does It? Why Don't You Just Leave Again? You've Never Worried About Me Before, I Certainly Wouldn't Want You To Start Now That We Haven't Seen Each Other For Four And A Half Years." As his half-shouting ended he pushed by me and out of the kitchen. I composed myself as best I could for the time and followed suit a short time later.

"You didn't deserve that." Faye said as I entered the 'living room' for my pack that I had picked up from the docking port as we had left.

"It doesn't matter. You need to stay out of other's business." I said coldly as I slung the bag over my shoulder.

"He was hurt, badly, but he didn't need to treat you like that." Spike said softly.

"If you care for him so much, then why do you treat him the way you do? You take advantage of all his hospitality and that he'll always bail you out of trouble, you do nothing but complain when if not for him you'd have been dead only once with no chance of recovery, and you run off when the need suits you without even leaving him a damn note." I accused harshly, my pain growing into anger.

"Just go after him, Kai." Faye said.

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW, SLUT?" I shouted, my fists clenched at my side until my knuckles turned white and I drew blood with my nails digging into my palm. "WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHY DON'T YOU GO AFTER YOUR MAN? HE'S RIGHT THERE WITH YOU SO JUST SAY SOMETHING WHY DON'T YOU?" My pain swelled to a pitch and I turned, determined not to hit anyone in the state I was in. My right hook was deadly at any regular time, but when my emotions and adrenaline kicked in it was worse than fatal.

"Only if you will." She said after a long pause. The muscles in my torso bunched as what she meant sunk in and I spun around, landing a punch that knock a solid chunk out of the wall just a breath away from her face.

"Don't try to bribe or black mail me. If you won't go after what could potentially be the best thing in your life than fine by me, but don't think that it'll hurt me if you don't. Things between Jet and myself are far more complex than you think!" My voice was low and cold, the voice I used when I was almost too angry to be controlled. Jet had only heard me use that voice once, and that was when he had been taken hostage by a group of would-be terrorists. Not a one of them had survived.

"I think not." Faye said indignantly. "He's upset that you abandoned him all those years ago and won't give you a chance because his damn ego is hurt. You won't go after him because you blame yourself for that and thinks he doesn't care for you in the slightest." I glared at her, I knew one more word would probably snap my control, but I had to say what I had to say.

"You fucking bitch. You think you can understand everything don't you? I'll admit that you're probably right, but that's not all of it. You think that I blame myself for losing him, then you're correct, but if you think I've got it stuck in my mind that he doesn't care then you're dead wrong. I-" Before I could finish I heard Jet bellow angrily and some kind of loud collision echoed out of his room. I tore down the hall, bursting through the door in a panic. Ed held something in her hands and was trying desperately to get away from Jet's fists. As he drew back his right hand, his palm turned away from his side, I darted forth. Just as his blow came flashing down I reached Ed. I knew the connection between mechanical fist and shoulder had shattered my entire arm even before the first waves of pain struck.

"K-K!" Ed shouted as she heard the bone crunch. I regained my feet slowly, pressing my left hand tightly to the opposite shoulder. I felt my stomach churn and knew it wasn't because of the injury. I had suffered far worse and pulled through, now it was because somewhere in the back of my mind I had thought for that split second that Jet would pull his punch at least a little bit. Instead, he had actually forced more power behind it.

"Ed, grab Ein and leave for now." I instructed as I turned my head against the pain.

"K-K?" She asked softly, moving to stand in front of me. "I found this. Is this the treasure?" Her voice was timid and I realized it was what she was holding that Jet had been so intent upon. My hand was shaking as I took the envelope from her, motioning with a slight nod of my head that she should leave. I could tell she only went to the door for I heard her lean against Spike and Faye who were standing there. Inside the envelope were some pictures Jet and I had had taken in a type of photo booth. One was of the two of us staring at the camera more seriously then we should have been and I remembered that our looks were because we were trying not to betray the actions of our hands. Another showed me attempting to force his shoulders back as he lifted my torso over his head. We were staring into each other's eyes and grinning. He had just teased me and called foul play when I started to tickle him. The third was of the two of us kissing. It was a gentle kiss, only lips, with my hands resting against his chest while his own were around my waist. The next few showed us making various funny faces just to make each other laugh. Then came the final picture. We were looking into each other's eyes with love struck looks on our faces. That picture had been taken right before the first time he ever said 'I love you' to me.

"Ed where- where did you get these?" I asked quietly.

"In Jet-Jet's safe." She said, gesturing behind me. Turning I recognized it as the same one he had used when he was in the ISSP. Stepping forward, using this as the deciding factor, I knelt before it.

"How did you get into it?" I asked. She told me that she had rearranged the wiring and when I asked if she had put it all back exactly as it had been she said she had. Taking a deep breath I placed my hand upon the touch pad lock and waited, almost fearing the result, as it scanned my fingerprints. It beeped, twice, and opened. He had told me that he kept nothing that wasn't completely and utterly invaluable to him in it and that he had made it so that I was the only other person who could open it with the pad. I had used it only once before, but that time had proved what he said was true and I had decided that if he ever removed my access to it then I truly would leave. Now I knew I wasn't despised at least.

"Jet?" Turning I saw him as he still stood there, eyes downcast, body neither tense nor loose, with a dumbfounded expression of pain on his face. He gulped and shook his head, taking an unsteady step back. "Jet, wait a minute." I pleaded, reaching out my left hand, the right still at my side limply. The light caught on the silver band I had worn for the past years and it made him look up at it. He hesitantly, almost as if he was afraid, raised his hand to pull the ring closer. I stepped forward slowly and watched as he inspected the engraving. It was a Cloiter ring, something that the people who were called Celtics back on Earth used to use to show that they belong to someone. It was a heart, held in two hands, with a crown upon its top. When the point of the heart faced the bearer it meant they belonged to someone. That was how I wore it and, by pulling a string or two, had found some one with the skills necessary to have his name engraved on the heart. I had also given him one, without engraving, but since he wasn't a person to wear rings he had placed it on a silver chain and worn it about his neck with the heart pointing to his left side, toward his own heart.

"You had it engraved." He said curiously, raising his hand to a spot just below the neck of his shirt. I reached up and laid my hand over the same spot, feeling the small hardness there. Trailing my fingers just along the inside of the collar, I felt the delicate chain. As the ring came into view I felt my heart break as the heart pointed right, but when it finally came free completely I saw it was only a kink in the chain. Smoothing it out, I ran my hand down the engraved surface of the tiny heart that pointed to his left so proudly.

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