Rock sat on the top deck of the torpedo ship holding a picture of Yukio. He was lost in his own thoughts, and for now, he wanted to stay lost.
Benny left a few minutes ago with Dutch and Revy to go and get a few drinks. They had just completed a number of deliveries for Ms. Balalaika, they were exhausted, but that never stopped them from celebrating a good day's work done. They were all in a festive mood; it had been a profitable day for the crew. They had just earned themselves enough money to last for a month… and that meant a LOT of money. It may not look it, but the black lagoon had tremendous expenses, most of it due to repairs, ammunition, and new equipment. Not to mention the occasional medical bill now and again.
Rock, however, was not in the mood for celebrating.
Maybe he was a few minutes ago, but his mood changed once he set his eyes on Yukio's picture. A red X on top of her smiling face a painful reminder of her fate.
The sound of footsteps suddenly brought Rock out of his melancholy. He looked warily to the side to see who it was, the crew left 15 minutes ago, and he immediately concluded it was a stranger who was no boarding their ship. He waited tense and ready… ready to run if ever the stranger becomes a potential danger.
"Oi Rock! You there?"
Rock let out a sigh of relief and slumped. The stranger had turned out to be Revy. He took a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, hid the picture of Yukio in his pocket, and took a delicious drag to ease away his tension.
"Over here!" he called as he let the smoke out.
Revy slowly approached him from his left. She was walking awkwardly, her leg still healing from the stab wound Ginji had given her.
"What the hell are you doing here moping? Dutch and Benny are headin out to the bar, why don't you join us?"
"Nah.. I think I'll pass on this one Rev, You go on ahead without me." He replied, pressing the cigarette to his mouth.
Revy stopped and stood still, she was trying to figure out what she should do next. She came here because she wanted to have a drinking match with Rock. But obviously he was in some kind of depressing mood and is currently in no condition to be much of a challenge.
She finally let out a sigh of defeat and sat down beside her partner. She inched closer to Rock and took the cigarette from his mouth and took a drag from it.
"What's eating you baby?"
Rock turned his head to look at Revy. She looked as every bit as bored and miserable as he did. She was looking at the city, the lights making Roanapur a dazzling sight, while chewing on his cigarette. She was pouting, he realized, and could not help but smile at her expression.
"Just go Rev, I'm fine. You don't have to keep me company."
She slowly turned to look at him, concern showing in her eyes.
"Baby, this you're time of the month or something? Want to borrow one of my napkins?"
He laughed and took a cigarette from his pocket and placed it on his mouth. Using his left arm as a support, he leaned closer to Revy, and aligned the tip of his joint to hers, his cheek only an inch away from hers.
"I was just thinking..." He replied, lighting his cigarette. "about Japan."
"UGH!" she rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I told you not to look. But No… You just wouldn't listen. And now you're here moping because of her! You fucking idiot…"
She continued her rant, oblivious to the fact she no longer had Rock's ears, or that they're faces were only an inch apart, or that Rock was looking at her like a dazed monkey.
He closed his eyes and leaned closer, touching his forehead with hers.
"Don't worry Rev, I'm not scarred or anything. I'm fine I promise." He whispered softly to her ear. He smiled at her, grateful that she would be worried so.
Revy's eyes widened with surprise as she noticed how physically close they were. She moved away from him as if there were a hail of bullets between them. As she looked at Rock's smiling face, her surprise quickly turned into anger…
"What the fuck Rock!"
She leapt on to him and straddled him, pinning him into place. She turned her right hand into a fist, and sent it flying into Rock's face, hard.
"Will you quit it? Stop being so depressed you dumb fuck!" she growled, one hand gripping his necktie, the other ready to beat him black and blue.
"We've been partners long enough to read each other's minds. If you keep on brooding about the past, you won't be able to move forward. Baby, trust me on this one." She said in a flat tone as she watched Rock squirm beneath her, his right eye red and twitching. She smiled devilishly at her handiwork, enjoying watching him in pain.
"Damn it Rev… you didn't hold back did you?" he whined, wincing from the pain.
"Why should I?" she smirked at him arrogantly
"Alright already, Rev. Am I not entitled to a few moments of grief at the loss of my humanity?" he sighed, throwing his arms up in defeat.
"I'm glad you got my point." She replied.
He smiled at her then.
They've known each other for more than a year now, and they had spent most of that time together. They were partners. They watched each other's back. They also cared for each other more than they would admit to anyone or to themselves.
"Hey Rev, seriously, this hurts… I'm gonna be walking around with a black eye for a couple of days because of this… take responsibility you idiot."
She frowned at him and crossed her arms.
"You had it coming to you baby. If you joined us a while back we would have been drinking and having the time of our lives by now. But I guess…"
She leaned down, took a hold of his face, and gently kissed Rock's right eye. She showered his injury with gentle kisses until Rock went limp under her.
After a moment, she released him from her hold and took a look at his face. He was looking at her, his face solemn. His mood forgotten. He slowly wrapped his arms around Revy and drew her close.
"Thanks partner." He whispered, as he laid his head on her shoulder.