Note: I watched all of Black Lagoon for the second time the other day and whipped this up since I enjoyed the show so much. Plus, I find this pairing really damn sexy. Oh, and I found two spellings for the fictional city of Roanapra. I wasn't sure which to go with, so I went with the one from my anime subs which is spelt 'Roanapra' . So, I apologize if this is indeed wrong in advance. (blush) By the way, this story is rated M for language and adult situations -so be warned. Well, hope someone enjoys this as much as I enjoyed writing it. :)


An Implied Love

Rock sat handcuffed to the exposed pipes underneath a sink. With his rear resting on cold tile and his back to the wall, his arms dangled from their hanging position as his legs sprawled out before him in the darkness.

By the talk on the other side of that closed door, he could tell two things. For one, the five big, burly, Chinese-American Mafioso's were playing poker. And for another, after hearing their laughter, once their leader returned to the rundown apartment complex they had stashed them in, he and the young lady next to him were toast.

The sound of loud crying continued in their echoing confinements from the other captive equally chained to the plumbing on the other side. He couldn't see her, but he was quiet sure the Triad leader's daughter was scared shitless.

For one, she wasn't being her usually haughty, spoiled self. He couldn't blame her really. Her kidnappers had been sent to Roanapra to kill her and bring back a souvenir –her head.

The words of consoling spilling from his lips sounded contrite in his head, but the fourth member of the Lagoon Company tried to subdue their human cargo's fears anyway, "It'll be alright." His meaning being the three individuals he worked with, he tried again to calmly sooth the crying woman, "Help is on its way."

The pale, dark haired beauty on the other side sniffed; her derision clearly showing through even with her etched features hidden in the pitch-black surroundings, "If you mean that psychotic half-breed then you're even more deluded than I was when I agreed to come to this stupid city in the first place!"

A sigh escaped the older captive's bruised lips as his tender chin hit his starched, white chest in defeat.

It was true. Revy had tried to kill the self important young lady on more than one occasion after having picked her up from their trip to New York in the first place. But they had finally made it back to Roanapra, the city surrounded by the Southeast Asian seas. Their final drop-off point, her father's office, had been only a few blocks away and then they could have finally been free of the high maintenance little debutante of sorts.

But no, Lao Chang just had to use the bathroom as they had stopped off at their home base, the Lagoon Warehouse, to pick up a few needed things. By the time she had come out of their dingy bathroom, the hit-squad sent to get her had already caught up.

Yet again playing the damsel in distress, Rock's shoulders slumped. They had only been taken hostage less than half an hour ago.

Their employer, Boss Chang, leader of the Chinese Triad in the area, hadn't been very forthcoming in the information dealing with exactly what they would be transporting in from national waters to his headquarters. Nor had they been told of what kind of obstacles they would be encountering during his parcel's transportation.

If they had known that the package was his daughter and that she was hunted by their rival clan after having off'ed the other leader's son… Well, they would have been ready for the ambush that he was pretty sure ended up destroying their entire warehouse for the second time –the first being the whole Green Back Jane incident.

Somehow during the smoke filled chaos, Rock, the one put in charge of the teen, had lost contact with his female bodyguard in the process of dodging sprays of bullets and explosions left and right. Thinking back now in the darkness, the man, never one to handle a gun, seriously wished he had at least taken to carrying a taser or any other kind of non-lethal weapon to keep himself out of harm's way.

Now here they were, late for their appointment and seriously in some deep shit.

However, for Okajima Rokuro, he had more worries than just being decapitated by the men outside. For you see, there was one other person he was more frightened of –a woman who hated having to rescue his sorry ass. Speaking not of his captures, but of the one he called partner, the ex-office worker now turned a mercenary of sorts sighed, "She's going to kill me."

Then, a hail of gunfire broke out from somewhere beyond their location three floors up in the rundown building. As the noises seemed to near, simultaneous explosions rocked the rickety foundation of the structure at its very core.

As the men outside scrambled to respond, Rock's voice tried to comfort the alarmed female beside him, "Sh, it's alright." Saying it more to himself than for her own piece of mind, he repeated, "Everything's going to be alright now."

Then suddenly the door was kicked in just beyond their room.

An extremely pissed off, female voice bellowed over gunshots and dying gurgles, making Rock's lips twist up into a relieved smile, "Where the hell is he!"

However, that feeling of joy was short lived as the angry woman added, spraying the door leading to his whereabouts with hot lead –a stray bullet coming inches from his head, "Tell me where the fuck he is so I can kill him myself!" More gun fire and gurgled sighs from their falling enemies were heard on the other side as a flash of red hair was seen through the riddled holes in their door, "How dare you get yourself kidnapped again, you good for nothing, fucking bastard!"

The moment before the man in question went to open his mouth to reply, the shredded door to their bathroom was kicked in with a heavy soled, combat boot.

Rock innocently squinted up at his savior who stood in the door way -her cut denim shorts and black midriff tank all but glowing in the brightness of the room behind her. Unfortunately, the raging fire in her light brown eyes overshadowed anything else, save the large amount of blood splattered about her body –ninety-eight percent of it not her own.

The ponytailed redhead, with the black tribal tattoo running the length of her neck down to her left elbow, flipped on the switch to her side with the heated barrel of a golden cutlass. Her eyes immediately narrowed on the huddled forms of the two before her –not missing the petite form turned away and awkwardly pressing into Rock's side.

With a growl being her only warning, she popped off three shots with Rock's eyes going wide in horror and the girl huddling into his side screaming with terror. Needless to say, not much was left of that sink.

Immediately, the bathroom floor and the two captives were sprayed with freezing cold water spurting from the damaged pipes as pieces of the destroyed porcelain littering their clothes and hair.

The usually haughty teen screeched, her expensive red and white traditional dress soaking under the exposure –still crushing Rock's side, "You stupid bitch, are you trying to kill us!"

Revy ground her teeth, holstering her weapons on either side of her torso, before going about roughly hauling up the dark haired man to his feet by the chained piece of metal between his handcuffs, "Tch! For all the fucking trouble you've both caused us, I should!" Turning to her partner she snarled, "Hold your hands out and keep steady, or I might accidentally shoot off a finger or two."

Rock, knowing better to argue at the moment, did as he was told –shutting his eyes tight and praying Revy didn't purposely shoot off one of his digits.

A shot echoed loud in the room, the remnants of the man's bonds falling into the water soaking into his black dress shoes.

The adolescent, standing now and still using Rock as a human shield, rebuked that idea as Revy tried to pull the girl forward, "No way in hell! I'm not going to let some crazy woman shoot at me!"

Rock winced as the gloved hands now wrapped around both rubber grips of Revy's guns trembled with rage.

"Let's just get out of here shall we?" Rock, easily slipping back into his negotiator self, hurriedly offered while standing between them –knowing full well his partner had been two seconds away from adding a new hole in the girl's tear-streaked face.

Just then a tall, bald, African-American male in a green flack vest and matching dark green pants called from the hall, a sawed off shotgun resting in his muscled arms, "Revy! What's the situation in there?"

Revy prodded the two wet individuals towards his location, shouting back, "Cargo's still intact and Rock's lucky he's still kicking!"

Dutch nodded with Rock's own nod of hello reflecting in his dark sunglasses, "Alright, then let's put an end to our little pit-stop here and get a move on to the drop-off point shall we? Boss Chang's already gonna chew our collective asses." Heading down the bullet ridden hall, kicking aside heaps of dead bodies, he good-naturedly threw over a shoulder, "Be aware Rock, Revy's already said tonight's drinks are coming out of your cut."

Revy smirked at the man in question's soaked backside as she brought up the rear, "Damn straight."

Rock felt glad to be alive, yet sorely perturbed at the same time as he trudged forward, "Yeah, I figured as much."

A male voice crackled in the small, black headpiece in both Dutch and Revy's ear, "Dutchy, looks like we've got trouble on the way."

The big, black man in the lead halted his party with a raised hand just before rounding a corner and blowing two men through the end wall while responding, "Police?"

Benny, the pasty, blonde, company tech-geek responded with a positive –his current position sitting behind the wheel of their getaway car out front, "Yep, from the wail of their sirens, I'd say that's a positive."

Revy snickered behind the group as Dutch moved them forward again toward the stairs leading down, "Bet Chief Watsup's having a cow at being pulled away from his precious sleep."

Dutch laughed a deep rumble as they made their way to the first floor, "Well, let's not stick around and find out, eh?"

Lao Chang, finally finding her backbone again, crossed her arms, "You just wait till I tell daddy what you all put me through!"

Speaking to the one who wasn't under his command, the former US marine in the lead commented, "Be thankful that your dad is a well paying customer of ours, little Miss." Speaking of their all but demolished warehouse of sorts, he added, "This deal just cost us our home. Truthfully, I have half a mind to toss you out on your rear and be done with it. Fortunately for you, our company policy is to always follow through."

"Or die trying," Rock sighed behind him, feeling that the rule seriously needed some reworking as they headed out of the building toward the running, rust colored 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T waiting at the curb.

With the hit-squad now all but dead, they only had to go a few blocks over to finally get paid and wash their hands of the sordid mess.

And, getting pushed inside the back seat of the car now -by Revy's boot to his soggy rear, Rock couldn't wait.


With the end of their job having gone off without a hitch -besides Boss Chang shaving a little off their pay for their tardiness- the armed redhead at the bar groused to no one in particular, speaking of the one currently parking their car in the small lot outside, "Useless."

Revy was just a little miffed.

Dutch had been called away to go over the details of their possible next mission with the female, Russian Mafia leader Balalaika –the woman who ran the infamous Hotel Moscow in their parts. As for Benny, he had opted to stay behind on the torpedo boat -currently parked at the harbor- with the lame excuse of doing some minor repair on its engines.

Revy smirked, knowing full well his words were just a rouse to throw them off the scent of his true intentions: chatting online with that Indonesian counterfeiter they had more or less saved half a year ago. Well, if you could call Revy and Eda, the foulmouthed nun of the Church of Violence, putting the lady in harm's way just to swindle some money out of her bank account saving.

Sighing, the woman next thought of the sad state of their warehouse, their new living quarters being the cramped space of the docked, metal boat. She silently mourned the new crate of C4 she had just gotten that morning that had ultimately led to their homes destruction –a stray enemy bullet having ignited its contents.

Revy took a sip of her rum, feeling thankful that the four of them at least kept spare clothes and toiletries stashed in corners of their boat for long jobs. Then that itch for a smoke had her right hand rummaging around in a back pocket for her cigarettes. After producing the rumpled package, she jangled one of the long, white sticks of tobacco loose –prying it out with her teeth while eyeing the small mirror on the wall off to her left.

The crowd inside the Yellow Flag behind her looked thinned, most of its patrons just coming off their weekend binge of blood and alcohol to continue on in that never ending cycle of sinful indulgence.

No one would have guessed from looking at the now calm and thankfully washed woman that she had just come from wrecking havoc on an entire hit-squad whose home turf originated overseas.

But that wasn't to say the scattered men and women around her were kittens in comparison.

Roanapra was an unforgiving place, its jaded citizens having to live day to day by any means possible: lying, cheating, stealing and killing -the Chinese-American woman no different from the rest. She had blood on her hands, just a little more than the usual lot –that much was certain.

The abrasive female's name was well known in those parts; about as well known as the dregs their transporting service usually worked for.

Anyone worth their salt knew that Two-Hands Revy wasn't a woman to be trifled with, unless you had become fed up with life and actually wanted to say hello to the business end of a golden cutlass.

Even the dark haired, Japanese man -now dry and changed, finally coming through those double doors behind her, had come within a hairs breath of tasting her metal and smoke at some point -from point blank range at that.

"About fucking time," Revy addressed her nearing partner with the same warm welcome she gave to all those who were considered family in her book –the three men in her team being its only members, "What took you so long? Your mama wasn't there to hold your hand, so you got lost?"

Rock, too used to the woman's spiteful character, simply caught the empty glass slid his way from Boa, the pencil mustached bartender, before taking his usual seat beside her. Going about helping himself to the bottle he was quite aware his money had paid for, the corner of his mouth turned down as a dark eye took in Revy's already empty glass off to the side and the other equally empty bottle sitting next to it, "You know, just because the other's aren't here doesn't mean you have to drink their share too, Revy."

"Yes, it does." The tattooed woman growled, knocking her glass against the filled amber colored bottle between them expectantly, "Serves you right for fucking things up."

Getting the hint, the man ignored her ire while topping her off with another drink like the good, obedient pet she had tried to make him out to be over the last year and a half.

However, the man, who had finally learned to grow something resembling a backbone in her presence, wasn't one to let her walk all over him anymore -at least to a point.

Rock, feeling like a veteran now at how to handle the fierce redhead, calmly reminded, "I've already apologized and you've already hit me." Not too sure of his words himself, he quickly added, "Besides, Dutch gave me a taser now so there shouldn't be any more repeats."

The woman just sucked her teeth at that new tidbit looking away, the warmth of the drink leaving her to brood in silence.

Rock sat an elbow on the sticky counter, resting his chin in his palm while staring at the woman now blowing rings with her smoke.

Feeling the man's eyes on her person, the irked woman asked without turning, "What?"

"Nothing," Rock replied, smiling while watching his partner's profile turn weary.

Revy, hackles rising, cut him a look from the corner of an eye while sinking back into her stool, "Then stop that shit. You're giving me the creeps."

"Sorry," Rock lied, the lilt of his voice betraying his words.

He turned away toward the many bottles of liquor lining the walls in front of him, raising his drink to his parched lips. Silence abounded around them as the two quiet individuals sunk into their own thoughts, the drink making each oddly peaceful.

After finishing off his alcoholic beverage and pouring another, Rock inwardly pondered the shaky at best partnership between himself and his so called bodyguard.

Recalling their hair-raising first meeting, the former white collared worker inwardly laughed –a smile twitching on his lips in the process.

To think that he now trusted his life in the hands of the woman who had kidnapped him from a normal existence in the first place.

This was the same woman who had kidnapped him a year and a half ago during his company trip to the south seas; the disk he had been issued to carry by his superiors an item the three man Lagoon team back then had been paid to retrieve. He inwardly blanched at the image of her having tried to fill his body with lead after Dutch had told her that idea to ransom him off to his company was total bullshit. Unfortunately for them and for Rock, the rich men he worked for had written him off and even tried to kill him in the process of retrieving the data disk.

With his family and everyone else he knew in Japan believing he was dead and nowhere else to go, Rock had quickly taken them up on the offer to be part of the team.

Even with the threat of death looming over his shoulder everyday he was still thankful. In the year and a half he had already spent in Roanapra, he was already considering Dutch, Benny and even Revy as something close to family –even if he still didn't understand most of their behavior and knew little to nothing about their backgrounds.

Rock cut the attractive, yet dangerous woman next to him another inconspicuous look, recalling a certain shared event in their past.

That incident outside a particular eatery on a hot summer day had turned heated and ugly fast.

The animosity between them had exploded after the first week of being forced to work side by side issuing bribes, collecting money and other grunt work thrown their way –Dutch's idea of creating a little team cohesion between them.

Their resentment for each other's lifestyles, ideals, and morals –or lack thereof in Revy's case- had turned utterly violent with: shouted, angry words being tossed between them, their table being upturned and the quick to anger woman's guns being drawn on him. He knew he had escaped certain death by the skin of his teeth, having luckily redirected her aimed at the last second as the bullet from the pulled trigger had hit something other than the middle of his forehead.

However, he was also aware now of something else.

The smile on his face returned in full force as he recognized the somewhat intimate moment after that particular fight for what it was. Having lit the cigarette in her mouth with the burning end of his own hanging from his lips -in the back of that cop car, he had finally won something as rare as gold from the foul mouthed loner: her respect.

Dark eyes flicked to the image of the woman throwing back another drink beside him in the present.

Despite their differences, overlooking each other glaring flaws, and no matter the callous words said between them; in a world where they had to fight to survive each and every day, there was no mistaking it… They could now depend on one another entirely.

Revy had shown that yet again as she had rescued him from that tiled hell a few short hours before.

Feeling strangely tranquil in a city so full of turmoil; Rock quickly downed the remaining contents of his drink, before clinking his own empty glass against the bottle resting between them.

The sound had Revy coming out of her own alcohol induced daze.

"What?" She looked over with unimpressed eyes, "Your damn hands aren't cut off."

Rock's smile turned to a smirk as he expectantly tapped the bottle once more with his glass.

That smirk widened as the woman gave a deliberate curse before going about refilling his glass and then her own with great pains.

Ah, give and take, the way things are meant to be. Life was good for the buzzed, relaxed man in the process of bringing the now full cup to his lips with a word of thanks to his resentful partner.

Unfortunately, a stray bullet shattered the glass in his hand, its contents splashing all over his clothes and the bar beneath.

A little slow on the uptake, Rock quirked a brow –hand now cupping thin air, "What the he-"

Regretfully, his sentence was never finished as Revy roughly chucked him behind the bar three seconds after an impromptu gun fight broke out behind them; the two tables of men in the back corner going about settling their differences by a show of bloodshed.

The occurrence being just another nightly happening in their usual watering hole, the intoxicated woman managed to roll over the waist-high counter to join her partner and the bartender huddling behind its thankfully bulletproof shell.

Boa, feeling ever so thankful for having taken the appropriate insurance out on the place, produced a shotgun.

While ramming some shells into the appropriate slot, he quipped while peeking around the bar's corner, "Hope you had your boy park in the back, Revy." Looking back over his shoulder at the drunken blank-faced woman, he grinned as the rest of the patrons pulled out their own guns to join in the fray, "Looks like the front's no longer an option."

Producing her own weapons, the woman turned an eye to her equally smashed other half, "Rock?"

"Don't worry," The huddled, glazed eyed man moaned while bent over, protectively covering his head with crossed arms, "Parked out back by the door just in case." Meaning his earlier stroll around the building -the back door only opening from the inside, he added, "Why it took me so long."

Rock jolted as that comment earned him a slap to the right cheek of his rear from the soused woman crouched on the floor behind him, "Good thinking."

Meaning the escalating situation inside the bar, Revy slid her back along the back wall; her head just below the counters surface, "Boa, she's all yours."

"Yeah, yeah." The man waved her off, making room so the two at his side could squeeze behind him, "Just hurry up and get your asses out of here before you draw too much attention my way."

Revy unenthusiastically smirked, a hand already on Rock's arm dragging him behind her, "Cover us and we'll be all too happy to get out of what's left of that greasy hair of yours."

Without another word the older man leaned forward, weapon primed as the woman and the younger male crawled their way to the back exit behind him.

Hitting the warm night air of the outside, Revy kicked the door shut behind them just as three bullets ripped through its wooden surface –two of the casings hitting the big green dumpster across from her and the last ripping through the side door of their ride.

"Son of a bitch," Revy murmured opening the door and sliding inside, knowing full well how Benny would react to having his car being damaged so. He had just gotten it out of the shop from the last time it had gotten shot up.

"Well, shall we head home then?" Rock sighed, closing the door to the driver's side and starting up the old girl's engine.

"Whatever," Revy resignedly replied, leaning into his side in her seat while kicking her booted feet up to rest on the sill of her door.

Her shoulder pressing into his arm, she put two cigarettes between her lips as he slowly backed out of the lot. Flipping out a silver Zippo, she lit both sticks in her mouth before handing one of them up to her driver as she continued to puff away on the other.

Rock took it without a word as street lights, neon signs and catcalls from prostitutes and pedestrians alike began to pass by as they rolled down the busy street.

Revy's mind began to wonder as she looked up at that half moon hanging in the sky through the dirty, dead bug strewn windshield. Eda's eternally probing question whispered in her ears -like every other time she found herself alone and relaxed with her oblivious partner. The aged old, "Have you slept with Rock yet," made the woman's thoughts churn in dangerous places.

For an entire year and a half she and Rock had kept to a strictly professional relationship much to her ire.

Truth be told, she had been sorely itching to rip that starched suit from his scrawny body for some time now. Exactly when her attraction to Rock had formulated she wasn't sure. But, if she had to take a stab in the dark, she'd have to guess it originated after the last time she had tried to shoot him –after the first week they had ended up working together.

There was a reason she hadn't acted on her sexual urges though. It wasn't some self righteous notion of a physical relationship messing up their work rapport that kept her from forcing him to pull over and jumping his bones right then and there.

Her hesitancy had more to do with not treating him like the whore she had warned her comrades that she would never be to them.

Well, that and the fact that, even after all the nonchalant chances she had given him, he had never once shown any interest -which seriously pissed her off.

A shrewd eye flicked up to the review mirror, watching the man eyeing the pothole-riddled road ahead.

Bastard

Yep, she was definitely attracted to the baby-faced pantywaist that, at times, was known to get rowdy like the rest of them –once every blue moon mind you.

Her scowl melted to a smirk as she vividly recalled how he had flipped the bird to that exploding helicopter that had tried to shoot them down -when they had first met him, yelling, "I fucked you!"

Still staring at Rock's oblivious features through the mirror, she was quite aware of her physical attraction toward him alright. She wanted him and bad.

Unfortunately, if she was being honest, there was more than just his stupidity that kept her from raping his body.

A certain little whisper in her ear –other than Eda's voice- stilled her hand. That one that said, 'Leave him be, he's not the type to stay stuck in this shithole forever. He's too pure for your tainted hands.'

"Something the matter, Revy?" Rock asked looking into to the woman's far off, frowning gaze in the mirror.

Revy came back to herself and promptly looked away, the years of alcohol and tobacco abuse making her low voice sound scratchy in her ears, "Nah, just tired."

Rocks eyes continued to linger on the woman's image, before Revy verbally forced his gaze away, "Keep your eyes on the road, Rock." Looking out the window, she added rather stale, "Unless you want a bullet in your ass."

The intuitive man knew the threat was idle. He also knew that something was bothering his otherwise silent partner. Anytime the loudmouthed redhead went quiet, there was usually something eating away at her. And taking into account that she had been looking in his direction, he figured it had to do with himself as well.

What exactly though, he had no idea.

Revy could be a mystery like that at times.

He didn't know much about her background, because it was a subject she had outright told him was off-limits. But he knew horrible things had to have happened to her to have made her so disconnected and cold.

Even so, he had to admit, sneaking another glance at her through the mirror that sometimes -like now as she stared up at the moon through half-lidded, heavy eyes- even she could look normal like any other woman in the world.

Any other woman that he felt a little something for that is.

He was a man and he could see that, underneath her rough and manly demeanor and crude talk, Revy was indeed a very attractive woman. Even he could admit that sometimes her crazy bravado and smugness could be construed as sexy –when it didn't land them in hot water that is.

Revy was a looker alright, but he also liked his manhood and rightfully didn't feel like parting with it. He had it on good authority that even the mere thought of making a pass at her would result in being knocked out, later waking up to finding one's balls in a jar as a reminder that she wasn't to be touched –Benny having quoted her word for word to him the first night he had joined the crew.

Rock, now finding himself autonomously pulling up to the side of the curb by the harbor, sighed heavily, "Home sweet home."

Revy kept quiet as they exited the car and headed up the ramp, her thoughts still filled with the one beside her.

After boarding and popping the hatch, the two descended the ladder into the interior just as Benny stuck his bespectacled face out of his monitor-lit back room, "Hey, Dutch said he won't be back until the morning." Scratching the stubble that covered his pointed chin, he added, "Ah, he also said that the command chair is his and that you two can share the storage room. I already moved your stuff in there." With the wave of a hand, he smiled, "Night."

Revy tiredly sighed, her shoulders slumping as she went about extracting the weighted holster from around her shoulders, "Great," Then heading down the narrow, relatively short hall toward their bedroom for the night, she groused, slinging her dangling weapons over a shoulder, "Come on roomy."

Rock followed behind her, already undoing his tie. His fingers began to unbutton the underlying shirt even before the hatch slid open by his partner's push of the button on the side of the wall. Both individuals headed toward the two rolled up regulation green, military issued sleeping bags in the middle of the room, intent to lay their weary bones to rest.

The moment the feather stuffed material was spread out, Revy sprawled out on its softness kicking her combat boots across the room with her toes. They bounced off the adjacent wall as Rock tossed his tie against the one on his side of the small enclosure, his hands moving to undo his belt next. Revy lifted her hips, shimmying off her barely covering shorts before toeing those across the room as well. Rock slid his belt off and chucked it to rest on top of his tie as he went about taking off his shoes. Revy, letting her hair down, flung the rubber band to join the rest of her discarded attire.

It being too hot to sleep under the covers, the woman laid back and silently watched Rock flick off the light, leaving them encompassed in pitch-black darkness.

Another heavy sigh fell from her lips, this time rather irritated as she heard and felt his movements beside her, mere inches from her own makeshift bed.

This was all she needed. Sharing a space with Rock was usually no problem; she had done it a million times already. Regrettably, the nun's insistent voice in her ears and the yearning in her loins made things a bit difficult now. She was sorely kicking herself in the ass for drinking so much.

Rock, hearing the woman's frustration, asked, hoping that particular sound didn't mean bad things for himself, "You gonna tell me what's the matter or are you going to keep doing that?"

Revy quickly changed the subject, speaking of his current sleeping attire of rum stained workpants and shirt, "You can take that shit off," Pointedly she admitted rather sarcastically, " It's not like I'm gonna shoot you in the balls for accidently exposing yourself in the dark, Rock."

Rock rolled his eyes in the darkness, mere inches from his taunting partner on the floor, "No, just cut them off right?"

Revy scowled, recalling the words she had forced upon Benny after he had joined the crew all those years before, not necessarily meaning the man from Florida, "That's only for those idiots who would try something stupid."

After a yawn, Rock chuckled while lacing his fingers behind his head, "So you're saying that doesn't apply to me then?"

Revy gave her own dry laugh turning on her stomach, head facing away from the man lying next to her, "Nah, for all I know you like taking it up the ass."

"Eh!" Rock exclaimed, abruptly turning on his side to address the now laughing female, "Revy, what the hell does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, you damn fairy." She replied, purposely provoking him.

The bubbling laughter spilling from her lips had Rock's anger boiling.

Rock sulked, flopping back down still staring at her prone body with unseeing eyes, "That's a pretty messed up assumption even for you,"

"Relax Romeo," Revy mumbled, "I was only half kidding."

"Only half?" Rock sarcastically growled back, not liking being made to look like the fool.

Revy, moving into troubled water but not being able to stop herself, looked over her shoulder to regard the dark figure behind her, "Well, it's not like you've gotten any the entire time you've been with us." Lowering her head, she moaned, "Please don't tell me your sorry ass is still a fucking virgin."

Rock balked at the absurd idea, his male pride leaving him bristling, "Hell no!" Settling down, he purposely threw back his own, "Well, you know, I could say the same for you."

Revy turned over, her bland voice commenting dryly, "Rock, you've to be a goddamn idiot to believe that I could ever be a virgin at this point."

An annoyed Rock, shook his head unseen, "I meant about you not getting any either, Revy."

The woman faced away again, feeling rather restless now, "When do I have the time to get laid when I'm always around you assholes? Besides," Her voiced dropped to a low timber as she admitted, "There are a lot of fucking bastards out there that would love to get the drop on me. I have a rule. Don't fuck who you don't trust."

Rock, seeing the sense in that statement, nodded, "Well, you know you can trust me."

Having heard his own words in his ears that could be easily misconstrued, Rock began to backpedal, "I-I didn't mean-!"

"You didn't mean what, Rock?" The oddly composed voice of the turned away woman asked, staring hard at what she knew to be the wall before her.

"I just meant-"

"That I can trust you and not that you'd ever want to fuck me?" Revy helpfully put his words rather bluntly.

"Yes," The last remnants of liquid courage thrumming through his veins, the ever truthful man winced before adding a hesitant, "and no."

A chuckle was heard before his curious partner pushed, "Which is it, Rock? It's either one or the other here."

Turning away, even though they rightfully couldn't make out one another in the dark, Rock answered, "You can trust me," A pregnant pause filled the air before a resigned sigh came from the man feeling that castration was almost certain, "But I can't say that I wouldn't ever be…" Another sigh escaped his lips before he pushed out the last word, "interested," Quickly he added, trying to save his ass, "But only under the appropriate conditions!"

A snort came from Revy's direction, "Appropriate conditions? What kind of shit is that?" There was another snort before she all but laughed out, "You mean like if some sick bastard got lucky enough to capture us both, demanding that we fuck so he could watch or we'd be dead? You mean some messed up shit like that?"Laughing again, she added, "That's some sick shit, Rock. I didn't know you got down like that."

Rock lifted a brow at the insane situation she had conjured out of thin air, "Uh, no." Inwardly shaking the morbid scene from his mind, he explained over her continuing laughter, "What I meant was if you," Another pause, "You know, held a gun to my head and said I had to." An even longer paused lingered before he murmured almost too low to hear still turned away, "Or if you just said you wanted to."

Revy, highly affected by his words, halted her laughter and bit her lip. The delicious temptation overwhelmed what was left of her good sense entirely. So Rock did want her. Maybe not the way she wanted him. And, ok, maybe not as much as she wanted him, but still. The situation was all too good to pass up.

Rock, having had his eyes squeezed shut in the incoming bodily harm he just knew was on its way, was rightfully surprised at the finger pressing into his temple. Confused, he asked, popping his eyes open, "Revy?"

Scooting closer, the woman chuckled, "Don't make me shoot you, Rock."

His body went rigid, clear disbelief flowing through his highly alert system. The words tumbled from his numb lips rather disjointedly, "Y…y-you mean you-?

"Turn over," she instructed, a shit eating grin plastered all over her face in the darkness as she retracted her hand.

The man turned around slowly; nervous, yet concerned, "A-Are you sure?"

The moment her partner's back hit the floor, she climbed aboard putting a hand to his mouth, "Shut up, Rock. Now's not the time for you to be talking." Reaching over to the side with his possessions with her free hand, she felt around while informing him, "There are rules though. You listening?" She felt him nod under her hand as she finally gasped what she sought with her other.

Straightening with his tie now in her grasp, she looked down at where she knew his face to be, "I don't do that whole kissing shit. Can you handle that?"

A slow nod was her answer.

"Good." She smirked before removing her hand and going about finding his own two. Once she had them in her tight grasp, she put them over his head and began lacing them together with his tie, further instructing, "And you're not allowed to paw at me either." Tightening the knot around his wrists she asked, "That alright with you?"

"Um, isn't this kind of unfair?" Rock nervously questioned, feeling somewhat reluctant at the prospect of being so defenseless in her midst.

"Fair or not, thems the rules, Rock" Revy replied simply, "You game or not?

Hands still above his head, Rock glumly sighed, knowing that he was, "I'm game."

The woman above him leered, turning his head to the side, "Don't act like you don't want it now."

Her fingers played at the remaining clasped buttons on the bottom of his shirt while nuzzling his neck as the man she was about to ravage sighed, "You don't play fair."

Revy rumbled a low, "Never do," as she finally laid his shirt open, going about running her hands underneath the hem of that underlying tank he always wore.

Rock closed his eyes as he felt the muscles of his stomach massaged under her calloused, yet tender touch. He sucked in a quick breath as her hands made their way to his chest, his undershirt being pushed to the hollow of his throat in the process.

Revy pulled back, palms of her hands circling over the pebbled flesh underneath; a part of her wishing she could see his face even if a larger part of her didn't. Leaning over and giving his chin an opened mouth kiss, she murmured low, "You enjoying yourself partner?"

A low, "Mm," was her only answer from the man suddenly finding himself wishing those lips of hers would move further north.

The confirming sound of Rock's contentment had her grazing her teeth along the left side of his jaw line.

God she wanted him, but she wanted to savior the moment -the morning being still hours away.

It was a definite change from her usual conquests –they being so far and few between as they were.

With Rock, things were so much different that it almost scared her and she hadn't even gotten the ball rolling yet.

The air around them simply crackled; her hunger for him almost tangible. He may be enjoying himself, but Revy felt in that moment, as her hands began to shake, like she would die without tasting every inch of this man who was so very different from her –Rock being the very light to her heavy darkness.

There were reasons she always stipulated rules to her sex life though; but those reasons didn't apply in that case.

She had a whole new set of motives behind the required actions with the man underneath her.

She so wanted to taste his lips and ravage that mouth, but she wouldn't. She couldn't.

Her anxious hands leaving his skin, she began to undo the top button of his pants with heavy pants as she pressed her heated forehead to his deep breathing chest.

If she kissed him, if she let him touch her the way she was exploring his body, that ache in her chest would grow even more. And she refused to let it, having believed that human emotion had ceased among those mean streets of New York as a brat just struggling to survive.

Revy was a creature of comfort and money, not some doe-eyed, naive female. She would just have to keep refusing what that twinge in her heart tried to swindle her in to believing. She would fuck Rock alright, but she would never allow herself to love him. Never.

In the world they lived in, it was an emotion that would only mess up her already chaotic flow. It would only soften her resolve, fuck up her judgment and ultimately end up getting her killed.

She just… She just couldn't change all that she was, not even for him.

Rock bit his lip hard as he felt her hand free and then encompass him.

For an entire year and a half it hadn't had any attention other than his own, his life being too hectic to even consider finding a bedfellow. Male pride rising, he desperately tried to gulp back a moan as the dangerous woman pressing her brow into his trembling chest stroked him tightly.

Just that sensation alone was almost too much to bear for the poor soul.

Trying to convey his crescendoing need, the struggling man called her name through gritted teeth, "Revy."

The woman's brow wrinkled against his skin, both loving and hating the way he said her name so very needily like that.

Then hooking her fingers in the sides of his pants, she pulled them down his hips a ways; effectively readying him to be mounted.

Rock felt her lift off his lap and stand above with the sound of cloth rustling in his ears. He didn't have to see it to know that she was removing those high-cut panties she had no problems showing off around him.

The moment he felt her retake her position, he hissed, his stomach muscles bunching as she lowered herself over him ever so slowly.

He moaned low at the long moan she let out while sinking down around him.

Her tightness felt like heaven to the man who wanted to nothing more than to grab those hips he wished he could see.

Her hands went to his chest to support herself as she began to move against him, loving the way he made her body tremble from head to toe.

Rock desperately wanted to take in the way her long red hair spilled around her shoulders; he so desired to see that wanton look on her face that he could only imagine. But in the darkness that option was regrettably left null and void.

Her name spilled from his quivering lips again in a heady voice full of passion only for her, "Revy…"

The woman's body filled to the brim with lust; her pounding heart filled with something else entirely at the way he called for her. The urgent need to quiet the man's lips she had to force herself not to take overtook her.

Leaning forward, she placed a steadying hand on the material to his side as her other hand moved to cover his mouth. With a pained rasp she continued to ride him, her hips picking up their pace moving back and forth over and over again, "Shut up, Rock." Struggling to speak through her own need, she ground out a, "Just shut up," as her frustrated gaze watered over as he lifted his hips, moving against her –in tune with her own body's movements.

Their rocking motion causing her toes to curl, Revy's cheek fell to the back of her hand as the long tendrils of her hair fanned over his flushed skin.

The arms over Rock's head came down around her shoulders, his hands fisting in their tied place as that euphoric climax steadily came nearer and nearer still.

The sound of slapping flesh echoed in the silent room as Revy picked up the pace yet again, her own end just around the bend.

Then, with a hard upward thrust from the man beneath her, Revy's head threw back as she came hard with a curse and the man's name spilling between the cracks in her clenched teeth, "Fuck…R-Ro -ock!"

Hearing his name being uttered in such a way as she continued to ride both him and her climax; Rock found his own release, muscles clenching, body shuddering as her convulsing womanly walls milked him dry.

Revy collapsed on top of him as his body finally went limp underneath her; her hand slipping from its place over his mouth and her cheek falling to rest in the space above his left shoulder. Still shuddering, she admitted with squeezed eyes, "S-Shit that felt good."

Blowing some of her hair out of his mouth, arms back above his head now, Rock blew out a, "You're telling me," feeling oh so sated.

His own body shuddered as she abruptly pulled off him, flopping back on her side of the makeshift bed on her back.

Hearing the sounds that were probably her hand searching for her discarded underwear, he found himself already missing her warmth.

Glad for the light being off, he continued to lay there satisfied with his shirt tails lying at his sides, tank pushed to his throat and his pants hanging off his hips –totally exposed.

Revy, already needing to put some space between them, began to get up, intent to clean up in the bathroom and go have a smoke up on deck. Finding and pulling on her shorts, she asked, forcing the detachment back into her voice, "You alright there?"

Rock, chest oddly tightening at the aloofness she was already back to portraying, nodded in the darkness still trying to catch his breath, "Yeah…"

Without flipping on the light, leaving both of their respective privacy of sorts unhindered, Revy headed toward the room's exit with a hand on the wall as her guide.

"Where're you going?" Rock found himself asking before he could check himself, knowing that she hated being questioned so.

He winced in the darkness at his own folly as the woman replied, her voice flat, "Clean up and then a smoke. I suggest you do the same after I'm done." Opening the door, she added in an emotionless mumble, still looking away, before heading out, "Thanks for the good time, partner."

Irrational anger welled up inside the man at that bland tone and those even blander words. A few minutes ticked by as he sat in that darkness trying to calm the irritation prickling his skin and his turbulent thoughts. Then, finally sitting up -easily breaking out of the hold at his wrists- the troubled male cursed, his chin hitting his chest.

Shaking his head, Rock sighed in frustrated resignation, "What the hell-"


"-was I expecting?" Revy growled up at the moon sitting at the edge of the boat with her legs drawn up, body fulfilled -heart another matter all together.


Note: I may or may not extend this into something more. Not sure yet. :scratches head: