*note: This creation holds profanity, graphic details, and sexual themes. Also, I do not own Cowboy Bebop, and so I take no claim in Sunrise/Watanabe's work that is included in this.*


____The Uncalled Lust____

.chapter one. "Deny it; it's the alcohol."




You remember those dances: The kind where a lot of young men and women go to as an escape from the outside world. They're always held at some big place with dim, red-orange lights; scattered, round dining tables; and a bar off to the side where it's darkest. And at the bar end, they've always got this hazy spot where smokers sit and contemplate as they zone off with the smooth jazzy music played by a culture band on the stage.

I can't say I remember one dance I've had in a place like that, but now I can say I've been in one. Not much to relate to dances when you're twenty seven, a soon-to-be chain smoker, who lives with an older man, a shrew woman, and a hacker and a dog on a fishing boat; with the reputation of being a cynical bounty hunter.

If a younger girl came up to me about a dance, in some big, fancy place like this, the only thing I'd relate with her excitement would be:

'Oh yeah, they've got great booze, and a great seating area for us influencing, future cancer patients.'

Oddly enough I'd think that young girl would agree with me, even if it is obvious that my words had totally passed her through one ear and out the other.

Mindless drones; kids were these days.

"Hey, did you spot him?"

Jet startled me for a minute as he came up to me from my blinded side to join me by the bar of future cancer patients. He took a seat on my right, on the small round table I sat in, and brought with him a precious bottle of burbon and two glasses. I praised him silently.

"Other side, just to the right of the stage. He's got about two guards on dock behind him." I informed Jet while my hands greedily helped themselves with liquor.

I saw Jet nod and look off in search.

"I talked to Faye; she said it's no problem." he grumbled for a minute and poured himself a glass of the burbon I've already set myself on.

At the mentioning of our 'ever-so-lovely' crew member, my eyes drifted to the woman at the bar counter. There stood Faye, leaning against the counter like a lusty bar-fly in her black silk dress that was lifted up on her skirt, sort of like a divider in the front; I watched her wiggle a leg to the passing men in a shy seduction. Her face seemed to be in complete boredom though, or something-or-other, and I couldn't help but feel a little amused.

"Is Mizz-Tight-Pants getting in one of her moods again?"

Jet gave a deep snort, "She told me, and I quote: 'Why do I have to play the whore?'."

"She fits the job?" I answered, carelessly serving me another round of burbon.

Jet gave a laugh, "That's what I said."

My eyes drifted again as I caught glimpse of something black and curvy coming my way; it was just Faye. She came up, one hand on the table as she leaned her upper body over, and I grinned at her irked expression. "Yes Miss Valentine?"

She looked tempted to shout at me; standing there with her dangerous glare and her scrutinizing jade eyes. I had to admit, she looked good tonight; she let her hair free from that ridiculus hair band she always wears, and actually tied it up in a messy but fairly nice bun on the back of her head, leaving only long thick bangs on the sides of her face.

"You better keep that promise of 30%, or I swear I'll slit your throat in your sleep."

I smiled at her in a way that would make her think that I only thought she was just being playful, "Why, of course Miss Valentine. No change in our deal there, as long as you do your part," I pointed to the man (aka our bounty) that sat past the large dance floor. "Get him to make his two 'posse' friends to leave you two alone back there."

"Right," she stuck her chin up, giving me a skeptical and hating look, "And how can I call you guys for back up?"

I shrugged, enjoying her spiteful gaze, "I don't know; flick your hair or some gesture like that."

She retracted her hand to her side, stood in front of the table with her eyes moving to her target, and quietly sighed under breath, "What if I just flick you off? Will that do?"

I heard Jet chuckle off to my side and I ignored him; thoroughly enjoying my little quarrel with Faye, "That'll work too."

I watched her shake her head and groan before she began to carefully pass through the small crowd of dancing couples on the dance floor.

In expertise, she managed to pass the man's two guards with permission to be invited with the bounty. Jet and I--well at least I--was watching this, and carefully observing Faye's acting skills. It had only been three minutes and already the man had fallen in with her seduction; caressing her hand on the table, and even leaning nearer to her for a whisper that threw Faye into a fit of giggles.

I didn't notice it, and I guess Jet did when he spoke up.

"You don't need to watch their every move, you know. Faye knows what she's doing, and she can handle it."

"Right," I moved my attention quickly to my shot of burbon and downed it in one gulp. Serving myself once again, my ears picked up a difference in the jazzy pitch of the band on stage. Jet cleared me up.

"Looks like they're gonna tango."

I lopsidedly smiled and scoffed, my eyes staring at my shot glass. "Kids? Doing the tango?"

"No, not the kids, Faye and her 'partner'."

Immedietly my eyes flew to the woman and the bounty on the dance floor, circling each other in transfixed gazes, ready to start the lusty dance. The music started out with slow and low pitched piano keys, before a couple of violins and violas flared the song for a rough dance.

I watched as Faye swayed with him in the dance, their bodies not missing an inch of each other. The violins shrieked more, and Faye and her partner continued the dance with sexual desire; occasionally, I spotted the man kiss her on the neck, and cling on her waist to push her nearer still.

It seemed to me that the dance would last forever, and for some odd reason, I couldn't stop watching Faye display some kind of advancing attraction with the man. I wasn't appalled at her behavior, at least I didn't think so; more so I felt kind of upset.

I knew Faye is a very good looking woman, and her body's just as perfect as the highest paid super model in this galaxy. It's either the burbon's getting to me, or I'm lusting after Faye's body. Hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of, right? I'm a man; she's a woman.

But what the hell? With Faye?!

Finally the song ended; with Faye still against the chest of the man, and the man clutching on the side of thigh as it was raised to wrap against his own. And daringly, the man slowly began to move his hand on her thigh, deeper into her skirt. I was becoming irritated with the two of them just standing there in the same position and receiving applause; suddenly I stood up and looked down at Jet in seriousness.

"Come on, we should just get it over with now."

Jet kind of just sat there and looked up at me in confusion, "What?"

"We might as well! His two guards are all the way at his table."

Before Jet could stand up to go against my action, two shot were fired behind me, and as I spun around to see what it was, our bounty was on the floor on a pool of his own blood, while Faye clutched her side as she sat in front of him on the floor.

I watched Jet fix his eyes somewhere near the stage, and seeing as he was pulling on his gun, I dug in my side under my jacket to grab onto my Jericho. The whole room seemed to be in panic as people scrambled to the floor; Jet had fired shot towards the stage and managed to get someone. Quickly, another man on stage tried to pull out a gun, and I pointed my Jericho in his direction and pulled the trigger, hitting him straight in his chest cavity.

As Jet and I scanned the rest of the room and found no one else trying to shoot back, I rushed to the dance floor where Faye sat huddled to her side in pain. I placed my Jericho in its holster and bent down to help Faye to her feet.

Managing to stand her up, I kept her balanced as I faced her, "Christ, Faye, where the hell's your gun at?"

She looked up me in fury, though the paleness in her face didn't help much with her threatening look. Quietly she reached in between the slit on her skirt, and just right under her crotch. My eyes trailed down helplessly, but I shook my head as she pulled out a pistol from underneath. I cleared my throat to her.

"It's a hidden holster, you sick dumb ass," she retorted; her voice trembling. Almost as if she got a muscle cramp, she dropped the gun suddenly to hold onto the wound on her side, "Are we going to stay here and watch our wasted bounty while I bleed to death, or are you going to take me to a fucking hospital?"

I looked down to her left side and spotted a nice clean cut through her black dress and through her skin underneath. Already a large spot of blood had began to ooze out, and instinctly, or else I wasn't thinking myself, I took my jacket off to use as a temporary rag for her blood. "Let's go, Jet."

As I turned behind me, where Jet stood gazing at our dead bounty, I helped the limping Faye out of the building and Jet followed a few feet behind. Before we could pass the bar area, Faye had quickly swiped a bottle of white liquor from the counter.

"Damn it, Faye, put it down. We gotta run from this shoot-out, and you're stealing alcohol?" Jet grumbled as soon as he caught her swipe it.

I heard Faye give a scoff, and she took a good look at the bottle in her hands, "The whore deserves 30%," and oddly enough, the bottle held 1/3 of the white liquor in it. "I did my job, damn it," and twisting the bottle cap open, Faye began to finish her drink even before we got in our rented car.