Disclaimer: I do not own Cowboy Bebop in any way. Don't sue me.

A.N. This is my first CB fan fic. I've always read the stories and I watch the anime from time to time, and I'm pretty sure that I can portray them the way they really are in the cartoon. I haven't seen the full season from episode one yet. So please spare me any mistakes that I make in reference to the cartoon, and I'll probably be making up some things as I go along. Thanks! Also, this fic is set before Spike and Faye knew each other so they're just a tad younger than they are in the series. Just something FYI. I don't know if it's really going to turn out as a S+F fic, but I like them a lot. I'll try to steer away from that story line since everybody goes for it. If not, don't sue me.

It had started like any other day for Faye Valentine. Wake up, get dressed, head out to the race tracks. It seemed like that's all she ever did anymore. That's all that she had to do. She knew nobody in this strange place, no friends, not one familiar face. All the familiar faces were dead.

She tried to make the most of what she had with her new life. But there wasn't much she could do outside of gambling and fighting for scraps of food everyday.

I wonder if the old Faye was exactly the same...

Faye thought about it for a second, then shrugged, pulling out her carton of cigarettes. She carelessly popped one in her mouth, sucking on it for a few seconds before she lit it.

Sighing, she strode up to place a bet. "I'll give you 5,000 woo longs for horse number five," Faye said, looking at the name. "Valentine." There had to be some luck in that, right?

Well, luck's never really on my side, Faye thought for a second.

The man handed Faye her ticket and she handed him the cash. She looked up at the large television screen just as the horses went off. Valentine was in the lead for most of the race. Faye's heart sped up. Maybe, just maybe she would actually win a bet. "Go, Valentine, go!" Faye screamed, unable to hold back her excitement. She clutched her ticket, crumbling the paper.

"It's Valentine in the lead with Shangshaw right at his heels," the announcer said, his voice ringing through out the stadium. "This looks like it's gonna be a close one," he continued. Faye's heart stopped as she saw another horse, Shangshaw, advance to the lead. "No!" Faye cried out. "No!" she exclaimed as the horses crossed the finish line. She continued to stare at the television screen, not believing that she had just blown 5,000 woo longs on a stupid horse with her last name. She took one last drag from her cigarette butt and threw it to the ground along with her ticket.

"Tough luck," the man standing behind the ticket counter commented. He was trying to be nice, but it really wasn't helping.

"Luck?" Faye spat out. "What the hell's that?"

Faye walked around the empty stadium an hour after the race had ended. There really wasn't anywhere to go. She had no money and she barely even has an apartment. She was surprised that she hadn't been evicted from it yet.

"Hey!" she heard a man exclaim to another man. The two were walking in front of her talking rapidly to each other. "Did you hear about the latest bounty?"

The other man nodded his head. "Yeah. Two million woo longs on this guy. I've never seen a bounty that high. I'd hate to be that man."

The two walked off.

Faye stopped in her tracks and ran over to the men, trying to catch up. "Excuse me!" Faye said. "What were you saying about a bounty?" Both men turned around.

The one man whistled a bit, looking Faye up and down. The other just gawked.

"You mean you haven't heard?" he said. "A man named Spike Spiegel is wanted for hacking into one of the galaxies most exclusive organizations, the Red Devil Government. I guess he got some bad dirt on them and they're willing to pay anybody who catches him...dead or alive."

"Well, where was he last seen?" Faye demanded, growing impatient. This was the offer of a lifetime.

The larger man of the two took a step forward. "Sorry, little lady. I gave you some free info. Anything else, you have to pay a price." He cracked his knuckles. And walked closer to her.

"You wouldn't hurt a poor innocent girl, now would you?" Faye asked innocently, taking a step backwards. She crossed her arms over her chest, fingering her gun in her holster.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do," he replied. He reached out for her.

In an instant, Faye grabbed her gun from the holster and dodged him, grabbing his chunky arm and pinning it behind his back. She brought the gun up to the nape of his neck, daring him or his friend to move. Her emerald eyes glared coldly at the other man. "You wanna try your luck on me? I have two guns, you know...."

He didn't respond.

"Now, tell me where this Spike is...I have a bounty I need to catch."

"Mars, here I come," Faye said to herself as she boarded her ship. This bounty was too good to pass up. All that money they were offering was more than enough to pay off her debts.

She thought about the idea of actually killing somebody. She's never killed anyone in her life. She's only 19, really over 80 though, and she's never been on a hunting spree. Shopping was more her thing.

Faye's thoughts wandered as the flew across the monotonous paths of space. She thought of Spike Spiegel. He was around 23 years old. He had brown eyes, one of which was fake, and a mop of green hair. He was around 6'4 or so and is known to pilot the Red Tail. That's what the man told her anyways. He had better not be lying.

"Expected arrival time for Mars, 2 minutes," Faye's ship bleeped. Faye steered towards the large red planet, squinting through the red fog. "I can't see a damn thing," she muttered to herself. She steered blindly through the heavy atmosphere of the planet, struggling on seeing where the ground was. Suddenly the fog cleared and the landscape around her was dry deserted land...well, almost deserted. There was a lone building on the side of the long stretch of road. It looked pretty run down, but when she spotted the words "Joe's Tavern," on the side, she knew luck was on her side.

"Maybe I can get used to all this luck," Faye muttered as she parked her ship. She quickly got off and strode to the bar, ignoring the stares and whistles she got from the local pigs.

She took a seat at the stool nearest to the bathroom, but making sure that she can have a perfect view of everyone who walked in and out of the bar.

"What can I get you, beautiful?" the bartender asked while he was wiping a glass clean.

"I'll have a coke with rum...easy on the coke, heavy on the rum."

"You got it," he said, grabbing a bottle of rum. When he was finished making her drink, he handed it to her.

Faye took the drink and took a sip of it, deciding if it was to her liking. It wasn't that bad...could use more rum though.

Let's not forget why we're here in the first place, Faye's mind told her. She hated it when it did that.

"Excuse me," she said to the bartender. "I was wondering if you've seen a man named Spike Spiegel around these parts of Mars. About 6'4, 23 years old, green hair." She waited for his response.

"Well, I know of Spike. Everyone around these parts talk about him. As a matter of fact, there he is right now." The bartender pointed.

Damn. Why do you have to make it so obvious? Faye just nodded and looked around the bar, observing the people around her, trying to act cool.

Then she spotted him. A man with the exact same description as Spike. It had to be him..how many guys go walking around with green hair?

He was sitting at a table with about 7 empty glasses in front of him. Clumsily, he lifted his hand, signaling for the bartender to bring him another drink.

Faye's heart began to race. What should she do now? This was her first bounty hunt...she wondered if it was going to be dangerous. With 2 million woo longs on his head, I would think that he is.

Faye was just about to get up from her seat, but Spike got up first. She observed where he was going. He stumbled to the men's bathroom...actually, he stumbled into the ladies room.

Faye downed the rest of her drink and slapped the glass on the table. She threw some bills on the counter and stood up, following him cautiously.

Faye waited a few seconds before entering the bathroom, trying to get her head straight. She mentally counted to three and walked into the bathroom carefully. She walked over to the sink and peeked under the stalls, hoping to spot his feet. He wasn't under any one of the stalls.

Faye stood up confused and heard a gun click behind her. "I suggest that you either use the can or get the hell out of here," a deep voice said behind her. His voice practically growled at her.

Faye swallowed the lump in her throat. She slowly turned around, emerald orbs meeting brown mismatched ones. "What do you think you're doing pointing that gun at me?" Faye asked, her temper starting to get a hold of her. She didn't like this guys tone of voice and she hated bring told what to do most of all. "Why do you think I came in here in the first place?" she asked. She tried to play it cool. But for some reason, his stare made her feel incredibly uneasy. It was like he was reading her.

Faye took a step to try and get around him, but he side stepped so she couldn't get around.

Her anger was rising fast, and she was trying her best to get out of here alive without using her gun.

"Move the hell out of my way, you stupid lunkhead," Faye said. She crossed her arms. "I didn't do anything to you."

Without a word from him, he reached inside her red jacket and pulled her gun out of her holster.

"Wha-!" Faye exclaimed. She tried to grab it back, but he extended h is long arm out of her reach.

"You call this 'doing nothing?'" he asked. "It's not every lady who carries a gun with her."

"Well, I'm not 'every lady'," Faye said. "And what's with you? I thought you were supposed to be drunk."

All she got was a smirk.

The taller man placed her gun into his empty holster and lowered his gun from her face. "Just what exactly are you?" he asked. "You can't be a bounty hunter...you're too young."

Faye scoffed. "Excuse me!? I'm older than I look, Spike." She instantly regretted saying his name.

"Christ!" Spike smirked. "You are a bounty hunter then? What's the deal? There's other guys waiting outside for me? The ol' ambush routine?"

Faye didn't say anything.

Spike placed his own gun into the other holster and turned to walk away. "You want my advise, kid? Always carry two guns." He strode slowly over to the door.

Faye reached behind her back and grabbed her extra gun that was hidden in the back of her shorts. "Thanks for the advise, but I don't need it," she said to Spike as she cocked her gun.

Spike slowed his strode down and finally stopped.

"Get against the wall." she demanded.

He didn't move.

"Get the fuck against the wall!" Faye ordered more loudly.

Spike turned around slowly and...he had yet another smirk on his face! Faye just wanted to smack that look off of him at that very second. Instead of moving to the wall like Faye said, he grabbed a cigarette from his pocket and placed it in his mouth. He lit it a second later.

Discouraged that he wasn't listening to her, Faye walked over to him instead slowly. She reached into his holsters and grabbed her original gun along with his. She placed them back in hers, and patted him down, searching for another gun. She stood back up and pointed the gun at his face.

"Geez, kid, you know I could kill you even without a gun." Spike's cigarette bobbed up and down as he spoke, distracting Faye for a slight second.

That slight second was all he needed. With lightning quick speed, he grabbed one gun from her holster, at the same time grabbing her free arm, twisting it and pinning it behind her. He pointed his gun at her temple while she leaned back against him and reached up, pointing her gun under his chin.

Faye was breathing hard from the adrenaline running through her veins...for some reason, this was exciting for her. It was something totally different from her normal routine. Maybe she should become a permanent bounty hunter...

Let's get out of this sticky situation first, she told herself. Then we can think about career goals.

"What are you gonna do?" Spike taunted her. "I bet this is your fist bounty. It has to be. You're too inexperienced to be a professional for sure." Spike tightened his grip on her slender arm, bending it back farther.

Faye winced, but didn't show her pain. She just tightened her grip on her gun even more. "You know, they don't care if you're dead or alive. I can kill you at this moment and get my money."

Spike chuckled. "Now, what good would that money do if I kill you first?" he asked. He lifted her arm up further, daring to go up higher.

"What the hell are you doing? You're gonna break my arm!" Faye struggled against him, wincing once again. She could feel the bone about to snap. Faye closed her eyes, but then looked at Spike's side. He was unguarded there. It would require her to give up her one advantage though. Oh well. She needed to take a chance.

Faye took her arm with the gun in it and brought her hand down in between his legs. Unfortunately, she missed her desired target by a few inches, as he tried to dodge away at the last second. Still, he doubled forward in a bit of pain.

Faye spun around and held the gun up to his face as he did to her.

It was yet another face off.

"So, have you decided on what you're going to do?" Spike asked, his gaze never fazing.

A twinkle lit up in Faye's eyes and she smiled. "Yep." She lowered her gun, aiming at his leg. She pulled the trigger.

Spike bent over, clutching his leg, letting his gun slide to the floor. "You-you whore!" he exclaimed.

Faye couldn't see where exactly where she had hit him because he covered up the wound, but she could see blood on the floor.

Faye strolled up to him. "So sorry Spike," she said, approaching him, letting her guard down. She extended her hand out and caressed his face. "This was way to easy and it was only my first bounty!"

Spike looked at her scornfully. "Fine. I give up. Just please don't shoot me again."

Faye took a step closer to him. "I don't know. I decided that I don't like you, so I have no use for you besides the bounty on your head." She pointed the gun at him once more at point-blank range.

"Any last words, oh great Spike Spiegel?"

"Yeah," Spike said. He stood up at full height, letting his wound go. Faye looked down at his leg.

"Shit," she muttered as realization dawned on her.

"It was only a graze," he finished. He simply held out his hand.

Faye scowled and handed her gun over to him along with the other still tucked away in her holster.

"Now what am I to do with you?" he asked himself, mocking her tone of voice. He walked circles around her until he was facing her back. "I decided that I don't like you so...." He reached up and brought the gun down on her head.

Everything went black.

~A.N.~ So, this was the first chapter of my newest fic. Was it horrible, was it good? Please let me know because everybody needs criticism. Find out what happens in Chapter 2!