Chapter 5

Vicious scolded himself yet again for lack of control. What had happened those few nights ago was never meant to. It had been a big mistake, especially on his part. It doesn't matter, he told himself for the zillionth time. If it gets her closer to me, then it's okay. He sighed in exasperation. Of course it wasn't okay. He had never been so intimate with someone since that night for a long while. Not since Julia....

He shut his eyes, clearing the thought from his system. After losing Julia, he had vowed never to make that mistake again. And up until that night, with Faye, he had kept it. Faye...so alluring and sensual. Yet so forthright and determined. Everything about her he found so...perfect.

Again he scolded for lack of control. This woman meant nothing to him, nothing at all. She was just a tool...yes, a tool. Just a tool for the perfect scheme. So perfect that he didn't understand why he hadn't thought of it before, the first time he had met Faye. Yes, it was the plan that was perfect, not her. Destroy Spike from the inside out....

Vicious smiled something sinister at the thought of Spike dying at the hands of someone he had put his trust in. Julia had been too weak, and instead of growing to hate the rat, like Vicious had, she had grown to love him. The sheer idea of loving Spike made Vicious sick to his stomach. The sheer idea of love made him sick for that matter. But then there was Faye...Faye, who was something completely different. She already hated Spike, or from what Vicious could tell that day in the prison had at least a strong disliking of him. No, getting her to hate Spike wasn't the problem. It was getting her to trust Vicious that would be difficult.

Apparently though, it wasn't as difficult as he had first thought. Sighing, Vicious absent-mindedly thought of their night together. The taste of her lips, the feel of her skin, the smell of her hair...how and why did they intoxicate him so? As hard as he tried, Vicious was unable to fit the pieces together.

No matter, he thought to himself. In a few days, I'll have no more use for her, and I can be rid of her forever. Much to his dismay, the thought of being rid of Faye wasn't as uplifting as it should have been.

~*~

Returning to the Bebop was a living Hell, as Faye knew it would be. Jet refused to stop yelling at her for damn near half an hour, and in return Faye refused to listen to him. She had waited until he had run out of breath before she finished off the moment with a witty remark, and had left to the security of her room, which now didn't feel so secure.

It was here, on her bed, that she lay, going on three days after her confrontation with Vicious. Despite the early hours of the morning, she was unable to go to sleep. Faye made a quick glance over to the clock that rested on her bedside table. Its red lights engraved the numbers that registered in Faye's head as 4:34am. Faye groaned and let her heavy lids droop thankfully over her eyes. Finally relaxing, Faye slowly began to drift into an uneasy sleep, before a heavy thud sounded on the door.

Another groan escaped from her dry lips. "What do you want?"

The door creaked open, allowing warm yellow light to spill into the room. This light, however, was soon blocked by the tall and daunting figure of the green-haired bounty hunter. Faye closed her eyes once more, knowing that if she looked at him she would burst with and unrivaled fury she just didn't have the energy to release right now. "You have a lot of nerve coming in here."

Spike stepped all the way into the room and shut the door behind him, extinguishing the light completely. Faye could feel his different-colored eyes piercing through her. "I thought you'd still be awake."

"Get to the point, Spike."

His tone grew serious. "We need to talk, Faye."

"Spike, I'm tired and I'm pissed so this really isn't a good time to give me a lecture."

There was a deafening silence before he spoke again. "I suppose you're right."

"You know too damn well that I'm right."

Another moment of silence. "I did it for your own good, Faye."

That was it. Sitting up, Faye scoffed, a harsh and uncaring sound. "My own good, huh?" In the darkness, she could only see a shadow of Spike's face, but it was all she needed. "You have no idea what's good for me. You never seemed to care before, so why start now?"

"Oh and I suppose Vicious cares?"

The words stung and bit at Faye's heart. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I already know who I am, Faye. The question is, who the hell do you think you are?"

Faye was beginning to have trouble containing her fury. She had heard enough from this asshole who called himself human. She needed him gone, and she needed him gone now.

"Get out."

Spike made no intention of moving and continued to glare at her.

"I said get out!"

The green-haired bounty hunter finally took the hint, and left the distressed Faye to herself. With him finally gone, Faye was able to release the emotions that had been building up inside her, and far into the earlier hours of the morning she lay on her bed, unable to go to sleep, feeling the warmness of the salty tears of pain and resentment that ran down her cheeks.

~*~

The next morning brought a dull throbbing to Faye's head. Slowly and gingerly she got to her feet, all senses blurred because of the nasty migrane she was experiencing. Drowsily, she checked the bedside clock, and to her dismay she found that it was past 1:30pm. Normally, she would've dreaded the thought of Spike never letting her forget the humor of her afternoon risings. But at this point, Faye could care less at what Spike had to say.

After a short, cold shower, Faye dressed and left her room. The daily scene of the Bebop was a normal one. Jet off in the corner sitting on a stool, fiddling with one of his many trinkets and trying to repair it. Young Ed sitting Indian style on the floor, absentmindedly hacking into some system with her "Tomato", and with a lazy Ein (yay!! I remembered!!) lying next to her. And then there was Spike, lounging as usual with his feet up on the arm of the couch, a newspaper in his hands and a cigarette pressed firmly between pursed lips. It was never any different, and usually Faye found it utterly boring, yet in a strange way calming. But today, she found the little picturesque scene horribly irritating.

"Good afternoon, Faye," Jet commented, not even bothering to look up from his work.

"It's nice to see you too, Jet," she retorted grumpily, particularly not in the mood to have to deal with him.

"Faye-Faye! Looky what Ed did!" The small teen then proudly produced a torn piece of paper adorned with colorful depictions of squiggles and lines.

"That's beautiful, Ed," she said, ruffling the youth's spiky red hair. Spike, as usual, remained immobile, puffing on his cigarette in remote silence. His eyes never moved as they looked onto the paper; he obviously wasn't reading it. It was sheer fact that if his chest didn't keep making the necessary movements to depict breathing, Faye would've thought he was dead.

Which wouldn't be such a bad thing, Faye thought to herself, making her slightly more cheerful. But now that the thought had entered her mind, Faye found that she couldn't shrug it off so easily. What if Spike was dead? What would it be like?

I know what it would be like. It'd be like living in complete Heaven. Sighing aloud, she took a much needed seat on a nearby chair. Even though she had slept through half the day, fatigue still flowed through her body like water flowing down glass.

"Thinking about anything important?"

Faye didn't have to ask to know that Spike's question was directed towards her. Now that the topic had come up, Faye realized that there was something important troubling her, even though it had been in the back of her mind. Vicious....

"Yes actually, I am. Not that it's any business of yours."

"No of course not," he replied nonchalantly.

Faye rolled her eyes and shook her head. Apparently Spike didn't feel like arguing with her again either. She crossed both arms and legs and considered her situation. She was caught between Spike, the smooth-talking bounty hunter whom she hated with a vengeance, and Vicious, an emotionless, cold-blooded killer who refused to show mercy. Hmm, now that she thought about it, Vicious hated Spike as well....

A sudden urge came over Faye that refused to subside. She stood up, now suddenly very awake and eager to find Vicious and speak with him. Heading towards the door, a hard voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't do it, Faye."

Ignoring him, she opened the door and placed one foot outside its boundaries. Without looking back, she answered him, "Watch me," and clicked the door shut behind her.






YAY!!!!!!!! wuznt that fabulous??! of course it wuz! *is proud cuz she finished a chapter really fast* okay, im dun congratulating myself. anyway, whadja think? the next chapter is in the process of being written...hopefully ill finish it in the same amount of time i finished this one...and i should considering i hav nuthing else to do!!! anyway, r&r plz!!!
-Meru