Author's Note: I'm back with another multi-chaptered story. And this one has already run away from the original plan, and it's only the first chapter! I hope you enjoy it. Some of the scenes – at least the Spike-Faye interactions, have been strongly influenced by Cassandra's "Ain't Afraid to Die". The style of writing is entirely influenced by Georgette Heyer's awe-inspiring book, "The Masqueraders". The story was originally influenced by Slytherincess' "Adjudication" but it's taken on more of my original twist. Hope you guys enjoy it. (As always, I don't own Cowboy Bebop.)

Drops of Crimson

Chapter I

How fortunate she was standing at the window of her room in the seedy hotel. It allowed her to see the members of the police coming. Faith, she thought she was safe here for at least another three days. The rest would have been nice. She was tired of running. Running and hiding, it could not but get tiring. Her lips lifted slightly at the edges. So tiring but so exhilarating, nonetheless. In truth, life needed spice, and what better spice than that of running for one's life?

Her eyes scanned her rooms swiftly, taking note of all that belonged to her. Her belongings were but meagre, on this dangerous road she was treading. Most could be discarded; gun and ammunition could not, of course. And the picture of him, her husband. Damnation! The plans were to be altered now, of course. It was no longer safe to stay in this room, should the ISSP be coming for her; far better to assume they were than that they were not. It meant a swift change of plans. Alack, she would have to wait for a little longer before meeting her beloved.

The gun and the ammunition were grabbed. Green eyes turned swiftly towards the window. The ISSP members could still be seen – a good sign. It meant that she had some minutes yet to decide what to do. She walked out of the room, leaving some woolongs behind. Part of hiding meant that she had to pay for everything she used. She could no longer leave without paying – it made her far too conspicuous. She parted the money with little regret this time, however. The desire for a fight overpowered any dislike of parting with money unnecessarily.

There was a glitter in her eyes – a dangerous glitter that made her eyes sparkle. The smell of a fight was strong and it acted like a drug on her. She was in a corridor on the third floor. She turned towards the stairs. Stairs allowed greater freedom; greater freedom meant a greater chance of survival and so, the lift was rejected. But what to do? Did one go upstairs or downstairs? Her mind quickly assessed the options. If they arrived and found her room empty, they would assume she had left. Who would believe that she was just upstairs instead of running away? But if they did come upstairs, she would be trapped. She would fight – no reason why she wouldn't – but she would be easily overcome. If she went downstairs, they might see her as she left the place. There would be a fight but a fight that she might win.

Her lips twitched up on the left side; the half smile was the only outward sign of the exhilaration a prospective fight had released. Hiding was but part of the fun. Fighting to escape was the other part and, egad, there had been far too much hiding in the last few weeks.

There was a furrow in her brow as she moved towards the stairs. The only action she had participated in was when she had accidentally run into Jet. Lord, what were the chances of running into him? She had saved his life, shooting a man as he was about to shoot Jet. She had then had to shoot the other man too, because Jet had frozen stiff at the shock of seeing her. And then, he had started shouting abuse at her for killing his bounties.

She smiled a pleasant smile this time – one that was less dangerous and one she hadn't shown in a fair few days. She had smiled just so at Jet, his angry words sounding warm and comfortable in their familiarity. There were so many words left unsaid, when she had left without any warning. But those words had remained unspoken. Sirens had alerted her to the incoming presence of the ISSP, just as they had done now, and she had disappeared without a word. It seemed as though Jet had expected this. He had not remonstrated and he had not called after her. He had just watched her disappear into shadowed alleyways. She wondered if he had known that she had watched him from those shadows.

She hummed a happy tune in her head, and her feet moved to its beats as she stepped towards the stairs. A useful trick to make sure her steps sounded relaxed, preventing unwanted attention. She was at the foot of the steps now. Lord, how she wanted to pause to listen for the sounds of incoming ISSP officers. But the tune in her head played on and she moved to it, each step casual and light, past the second floor, past the first floor, and almost free now; almost.

She forced the tension from her muscles as she stepped lightly towards the door. Must do nothing to catch people's attentions – a hard feat for someone as stunning as her, of course. The door swung inwards and her muscles tensed despite her best efforts; nobody outside. She wondered where the ISSP officers were as the chirpy tune continued in her head. She turned left, towards where she had seen the officers. Lo and behold, there they still were, coming ever closer. Her legs continued to move towards them, a casual step and then another. She passed the dingy bar on her left, where a pair of dark eyes widened and followed her. She crossed the road to the other side and entered a cheerful café, the strong aroma of coffee dizzying her but for a few seconds.

The pair of dark eyes in the smoky bar continued to watch Faye, sitting with her back towards the street. Absentmindedly, he drank what little whiskey was left in his glass in one long gulp and banged it twice on the table, demanding a refill. Once his glass was filled again, he drank it, dropped money on the table and stood up with purpose. It had been months since he had last see her.

He shielded his eyes from the bright sunlight outside and crossed the road with slow, languid steps. As he entered the café, he noticed her hands stiffen around her cup of...coffee? Some things didn't change. He saw her looking at his approach through the corners of her eyes and he saw her lips compress into a thin line. She clearly wasn't his biggest fan still. He felt the twitches of the start of a smirk, and he let the smirk spread across his face. It really had been too long since he had seen her. Far too long.

He reached her table and turned the chair opposite Faye's around, saddling it as he looked at her with his smirk. "Hey." A stony silence was the reply. "Haven't seen you in a while, Faye. You've changed." He saw an expression of mixed hatred and anger stretch across her face. She definitely wasn't his biggest fan right now.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Faye yelled at Spike, her face flushed with anger.

"Wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you? What the hell were you doing?" Spike was just as angry as Faye and his voice illustrated it.

"I was getting the damn bounty if you hadn't killed him first. Why the hell were you there anyway?" The words reverberated around the hangar as Faye's nails dug into her palms, her fury making her oblivious to the pain.

"Great job at that, Faye!" Spike all but spat out her name, the venom in his voice causing Jet to cringe, standing in the doorway, ignored. "What were you going to do? Because from where I was standing, you were bruised and beaten up and three on one!"

Faye snarled. "I would've handled it, Spike. I don't need you to save me. Especially when we always miss out on Bounties because you always kill them!"

Jet had become somewhat accustomed to the habitual fights between Faye and Spike, but this one felt different, and he accordingly pushed Ed out of the room. Before he could speak, Spike spoke again.

"Better than you, Faye. All you do is look like a slut, try and distract the guys but end up getting beaten up. You're useless Faye. That's why I always have to save you – because you always need saving!"

Faye moved forward, tensing her arms in preparation to hitting him. With visible effort, she restrained herself. "I don't need saving, Spike. Nobody here needs saving. If we need any saving, we need saving from you! You're nothing but trouble. You bring us hell and then you go and create more fucking hell! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Each word became louder and her last words were a scream.

"You're such a drama queen, Faye. If you put this much effort into catching bounties, you might actually catch one, one of these days." Spike casually turned away from the cry of rage that erupted from Faye. With practised nonchalance, he moved towards the exit, ignoring the blood that was dripping down his arm from the bullet wound on his right shoulder. He paused and spoke again, this time in a thoughtful voice. "And Faye, if that's your pathetic attempt at catching my attention, it's not working. I'm not interested in you and I'm never going to be interested in you, so stop being such a fucking bitch!"

There was a moment of stunned silence. And then..."DON'T WALK AWAY SPIKE! Don't you dare walk away, Spike! You piece of shit. How the fuck dare you - "

"FUCK OFF FAYE!" Spike finally reached his limit as he spun around to face Faye, his face a mixture of anger and disdain. "Has it occurred to you that we've never asked you to stay with us? Has it occurred to you that all we EVER fucking do is save your cheap ass because you can't do it yourself. I got shot in the fucking shoulder again because you couldn't handle an easy bounty. You bitch about me, Faye, but you're useless. You're worse than useless because we've never wanted you here and we still don't want you here but you just can't take the damn hint, can you? We don't like you. We fucking hate you have the time. So why don't you do everyone here a favour and get out and leave us the fuck alone." Opposite to Faye, Spike's words had been quiet, each word especially weighed for maximum impact, and by the end of it, Faye was white in the face and shaking. She managed to take a step forward, her hands trembling, but suddenly, she spun around and moved to her battered Redtail. She got in, switched the engine on and flew away without a glance back.