Don't own it. Yet. (Ever.)

Thanks EchoNymph for my first review!!!^^

AND AS FOR THE REST OF YOU I know that you are reading this. I have access to stats. REVIEW or SMITE. Show your love/hate/indifference. You can even suggest I do something anatomically impossible. It's fun. I promise. Oh, and the relationship between Atsuki and Alyss is Nothing Creepy. I swear. Like Kenpachi and Yachiru from Bleach.

Two Weeks Later….

Alyss pushed the key into her apartment door, the cold metal felt heavy. It had been a long week, and Friday had never felt so good. The door clicked, and she stepped into the house, taking in the familiar sight. The stark white walls and the tiny kitchen with the clean white counter and refrigerator lent a feeling of austere sterility. It was comforting, though. She dumped her laptop bag on the black leather sofa, and dropped her keys on the glass coffee table next to it. She turned the television on and sat down, loosening her tie and shrugging off her jacket. The couch felt cool against her back as she pulled a blanket around her shoulders and drifted into oblivion….

Only to be jolted awake by the harsh sound of the phone. She gave herself a few seconds to compose herself before picking up.

"Hello?" She looked at the clock on the wall-- five thirty. She'd only been asleep for an hour. Sooo not long enough.

"Yo! Princess! How's it going?" the slightly nasal voice of Reno assaulted her ears.

"Hey, Reno. What's up?"

"It's Friday!" Pfft. Captain Obvious strikes once again.

"If my computer, phone, and watch didn't agree with you, I wouldn't believe it" she drawled sarcastically.

"Ow." He didn't sound the least bit hurt, continuing cheerfully. "Anyway, everyone's meeting at that one bar in sector three. It's called, like, The Crossroads Bar or something. Don't wear your uniform, though, or the ladies won't talk to us."

"Who says I'm going anywhere? I fully plan to sleep from now 'til Monday."

"I say you're going. It's team bonding!" He chirped. "'sides, I convinced Tseng to come. That never happens!" hmm. Alcohol plus Turks equals positive results? It was the kind of logic only Reno could justify. But a drunk Tseng? That had promise.

"Fine. But don't expect me to drive anyone home." Except maybe Tseng, she thought deviously as Reno hung up.

Sure, her partner was hot. She would be the first to admit it. He was a gentleman, too. If they were two different people, maybe something would have happened between them. But they were Turks, and married to their work; so she did what she did best, and repressed.

She ended up jammed in a corner booth between Tseng and Mai. Seth was deep into a drinking game with Reno. Everyone had dressed 'normally', except for Tseng who would have looked weird in anything else. Alyss had chosen a pair of skinny jeans with zippers on the ankles, a pair of heels, and a skintight tee that hugged her lithe, if curveless figure. Veld and Lyra were absent, as was Kalan, as they were taking the weekend shift. At present, Tseng had had enough alcohol to be comfortable- and that's it. He hated the lack of control associated with Reno's version of tipsy, which involved blurred vision and stumbling.

A waitress swaggered up, neon pink bubble gum threatening to violate most health codes. "What can I get ya, hon?" She simpered to Alyss, her grating voice causing a slight twitching of eyelids.

"Sky Juice Caffiz." I need caffeine. The waitress returned, bringing a tall glass of something turquoise and fizzy. Alyss accepted the glass and took a long sip. The candy-like flavor masked the unpleasant bite of alcohol. She had a voracious sweet tooth; it didn't mesh very well with the 'cold killer' thing she had going, but she didn't care enough to try and hide it.

"Icicle…" Tseng drew the word out, lazily rolling the letters. "Is that where you grew up?"

"Kind of. By the time I entered the military, I had lived in every community population four people or more."

"The military?"

She rolled her eyes- the man was playing clueless. Fine. "You read my file. You really want to hear the whole story?"

"'Something as two dimensional as paper cannot convey emotion as well as the voice that tells the story' " he quoted eloquently, and then ruined it by drawling, "Ancient proverb or something."

"Once upon a time," She began, relenting, "There was a little girl whose mother, Vera, would do anything to feel good. Which, coincidentally, was how the little girl came about. Vera was not the mothering type." She paused, recalling glazed eyes and empty bottles littering the floor. "She was the kind that was dunk when she wasn't high. Anyway, one day, after a really big binge, she hit the bottom of her bank account and all they had to eat was cereal. The little girl, who by now I think you know very well is me, made the mistake of complaining. She must have hit me with a bottle or something, because next thing I know, there's blood everywhere, and I'm halfway down the street sans shoes and coat. I made it a mile before I collapsed. All alone and five years old."

"When I woke up, it was in a hospital bed. The man who had found me was a warrior traveling the world, who had just arrived in Icicle when he found me. After the hospital released me, he tried to give me back to my mother. She hit the Big Three when she saw me back at her doorstep: betrayal, responsibility, and finders keepers."

"The man who found me, Atsuki, became my teacher and my brother. He could have dropped me off at the next orphanage, but instead, took me in. We lived in every city population four or more. He taught me everything I know today. When I was sixteen years old he was called home to take care of his aging mother. He offered to let me come as well, but I declined. Before we parted ways, we got matching tattoos. Kind of tribal."

"Where'd you get them?" Tseng asked.

"A little shop in Wutai."

"Err….I meant…that is, where on your body?" He stammered.

"I know. I was just giving you a hard time." She mad a motion as if to lift her shirt, laughing at Tseng's bulging eyeballs, and instead unzipped the sleeve of the leather motorcycle jacket she was wearing. Long, fluid strokes took up the area between the inside of he wrist to the crook of her arm, forming obsidian black characters. It took him a moment to realize it was Wutain script, and translated.

"Fate." His voice was low, dangerously seductive. He absently traced the outline of the tattoo with a long, narrow finger. Alyss shivered, making the mistake of looking into his eyes; they were as black as the sins they promised.

A bit abrupt, but I'd like to have y'all begging for more. How bout a review, folks?