To give you an idea of where this drabble fits in, it's shortly after drabble 4 and quite a bit before 5 and 6.

Blood

Gun shots rang in your ears as you crouched behind the car, seeking shelter from the deathly rain of bullets. Squeezing your eyes shut, you tried not to think of the dead body of your partner where it lay the centre of the street, his cold form riddled with bloody holes. Grief could come later, right now you had more important things to think about. Like staying alive.

Angrily pulling yourself together, you carefully peeked out from round your makeshift shield towards the opposite side of the road, where several rough looking gang-members stood. The thugs laughed amongst themselves as they continued turning the (somewhat expensive you couldn't help but notice) car you were hiding behind into scrap metal.

Swearing softly you glanced down at the still lightly smoking gun in your hand. So far you had managed to take out a couple of them, but you were now down to your last bullet and grossly out numbered.

'I'm fucked.' The realisation hit you like baseball bat to the stomach.

Still, you had to love the irony of the situation. You had spent the last month certain you were going to be the unfortunate victim of a mafia hit. Then, when (largely thanks to Lussuria) you were finally beginning to believe you might just live to see your next birthday, you get caught up in a shoot out with some criminals who had a beef with your partner.

Gotta love that cosmic humour. Not.

But you'll be damned if you were going to die crouching in the gutter. Better to go out in a blaze of glory and all that.

Clenching your teeth together, you had just finished scraping together the last of your courage, ready to make one last glorious stand, when a loud voice from the end of the street interrupted your macabre thoughts.

"Vooooiiii!"

Your eye's snapped open in horror.

It couldn't be... Seriously. Of all the people to find you, him? The one guy that actually wanted you dead? That was just too cruel...

But sure enough, as you cast your eyes in the direction of the shout, there stood the one man that you had been trying like hell to avoid. Superbi Squalo.

Said shark stood grinning manically in all his black leather glory as he gestured towards the scowling gang members with his sword.

"Don't you shit-heads know that this is Varia territory?" the silver haired man sneered.

"Yeah?" grunted who you were guessing was the 'leader' of the motley crew. "Says who?"

"..."

Somehow the fact that that was the best retort he could think of made this situation all the more embarrassing...

Squalo's sadistic grin widened.

"I do," he all but purred, before abruptly sweeping his sword round to point in your direction. "Oi, bitch!" He addressed you without taking his eyes from his intended targets. "You stay put and keep the hell out of my way. I'll deal with you after I've finished with these losers."

And without any further warning, the sword-master launched his attack.

In all honesty, you knew that you should have taken the chance to run like hell in the opposite direction, you know away from the blade wielding psycho. But instead you found yourself riveted, an awestruck expression on your face as you watched him work, his moves an intricate dance of flashing metal and crimson blood.

So this was what people meant when they spoke about Varia quality...

Because no drabble series would be complete without Squalo doing that super-cool Varia "I'm here to save the day, but only because I am that awesome and I quite like the idea of ripping these morons to shreds and not at all because I am actually one of the good-guys or give a shit about what happens to you" thing that they always do ^^