A/N: Sorry about the wait minna-sama! I've been, uninspired as far as this story goes. But I've gotten my edge back! ^^ And just because I took so long, the chapter is longer than normal. I really put some thought into this.

Hyperventilater- There is no such thing as a too rude Schuldich. He doesn't know how to NOT be rude. That's just SchuSchu.

Schu: Gotta luv me!! ^_^

Farfarello walked towards the hallway to relieve the German of watching his child. He walked past Nagi who snickered as he went by. When he turned to glare at him, he returned to typing on his laptop like he was totally innocent.

He realized he was still holding the picture of Aidan Cherry had given him. He wanted to rip it up or throw it away, but he couldn't. Instead he grunted in irritation and shoved it in his pocket as he neared Schu's door.

" Ah! Quit pullin' you little pest!"

 Farfarello raised a brow in confusion. He hesitated, and then knocked anyway.

" Come in!!" Shouted an angry German.

Farfarello opened the door to find Aidan on Schuldich's back pulling on his orange tresses. Every time she yanked, the German would howl in pain and swear at her. She seemed to be enjoying herself and moved out of his way when he swiped at her.

" Farfarello! Get your spawn off me!!"

The little terror looked up at her father's name. She smiled and waved at him as if she were on the playground. " Hi daddy!"

Not exactly used to being called 'daddy', he merely grunted in response. She certainly did have his mood swings. Violent one minute, happy the next. He supposed he was going to have to get used to her.

" C'mon Aidan."

Said little girl jumped off Schuldich's back and into his arms. She pressed her cheek to his and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. He started to drop her, but he realized that would defeat the purpose of the promise he made to Cherry. Apparently, the little girl liked physical contact with him so he would have to get used to that too.

" Thank you. Little pest was starting to damage my roots."

" Her name is Aidan."

She stuck her little tongue out at him. " Yea! My name ish Aidan!"

Schuldich stuck his tongue out right back at her. Then he caught sight of the red mark on Farfarello's cheek and smiled. " You and Cherry get, uh, reacquainted?"

Farfarello cast him a glance then shifted Aidan's weight. " Ye could say tha'."

" No, I can see that. You know 'cherry red' isn't exactly your color Farf." Schu pointed to his cheek.

" Ne?" He walked over to the mirror in the corner and spied the red lipstick mark that Cherry left a little while ago. He growled and rubbed the offensive mark off while Aidan giggled.

" Wha's so funny?"

" No'ting." She gave him an innocent expression and a wide smile. " Where's mommy?"

" Yes, Farfarello, where is mommy?"

" If ye must know, she went to work."

Schuldich raised an eyebrow. " Really? This late in the mornin', huh? What does she do?"

" She dances."

" In what, music videos? She works for some music star or something?"

Farfarello started to walk out the door. " All ye need to know is she dances. If'n ye wish to know more, ye may ask her yeself."

" Fine, be that way."

" Nyah!!" Aidan pulled on her eyelid and stuck her tongue out at Schuldich as she was carried away.

" Oh yea?" He went to the door and made the same face." Well, 'Nyah' to you too ya little Irish pain!!"

***************

The Digital Underground wasn't very busy in this time of morning. Most of the dancers were sitting at the bar or backstage just lounging around. There were maybe two men in the entire building and one worked there. The other had no money so there was no use in dancing for him.

Cherry was sitting backstage with some of her co-workers trying to cover her black eye some. She didn't want to draw to attention to it. Aidan didn't need to be alerted to the situation that they were in. As far as she knew, they were just going to visit daddy. That was all she needed to know.

She wondered idly if she could trust Farfarello to take care of Aidan. She knew the man was dangerous. But she did see the look of empathy when he saw Aidan's baby picture. She didn't even know if he would let them get away with their lives. She thought he might just throw her out and laugh at her. But she was surprised when he agreed.

Now that little Aidan was safe, all she had to do was keep herself alive long enough to figure something out to get rid of Mihone. Her best friend said nothing good would come from sleeping with Farfarello. But she disagreed. Aidan was a special little girl, with more than enough of her father in her.

" Cherry-chan?"

Cherry turned from her thoughts about what was happening to her and her daughter and looked to her friend; Maxine. " Huh?"

" There's a dude at the door that's looking for ya!"

She raised an eyebrow but turned back around to finish putting on make-up. " Who is he?"

" Me."

At that, she moved to turn around. Maxine did not have a deep voice. But the tall, green-haired man grinning at her must have. Before she could even start to scream, he grabbed her by her neck and slammed her into the wall; holding her there.

" Ack…If you wanted me to dance, all you had to do was ask."

" Cute. You had us worried. We had to trash your apartment for nothing."

At this point, Maxine came over and put her hand on the man's shoulder." Hey! Put her down, before I call the bouncer!"

The man sneered at her reflection and backhanded her into the vanity. Maxine broke the mirror and got everyone's attention. All the girls looked over at the man and Cherry. Two bouncers walked in and pulled the green-haired man off Cherry.

" You're going to have to leave."

The man grinned. " So are you two, permanently."

He then pulled out two guns and blasted both of them quicker than a hiccup. All the women screamed and started to run. The green-haired man smirked idly and turned to get back to Cherry, but she wasn't where he left her.

" Run, run, little girl, I'm still gonna get you."

*************

Cherry removed her spiked heels and ran down the alley of the Digital Underground. That man had to have been sent by Mihone. That idiot had hired professionals to kill her! She had that green-haired man would be behind her in no time; she needed to get to the main street and out of the dark alley where she could be killed easily.

But she didn't make it that far. The green-haired man had appeared around the corner that she just turned. Cherry skidded to a stop and turned around to run another direction. Only to see it was a dead end.

 Damn! I hate it when I'm right! He was herding me. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Cherry thought while looking for something to fight with.

The man was fast though. He shot the broken bottle she was about to make a grab for. Cherry bit back a scream and held her hands up. " Most of my fans just want my autograph."

" Well, the fan I work for wants more than that. Now, where is the little girl?" He spoke as if he were just being as friendly as ever.

" What little girl?" A shot into the wall behind her near her head was her answer. This man did not play. And he seemed a little inclined to shoot her. She turned wide-eyed at the hole in the wall. When she turned back around, the green-haired man was in front of her with his gun directly in her face.

" Now, one more time, where's the little girl?"

" I don't know anything about a little girl. As you can see, I work in a strip club. I don't have any kids."

The man made an exaggerated sighing sound. Then he moved the gun barrel to over her shoulder and covered her mouth with his hand. She was about to inquire what he was doing and pull his hand away, but he fired straight into her shoulder.

Cherry screamed into the leather-covered hand. The green-haired man pulled her into his arms and started rocking her in a false comforting manner. " Shh. Shh. It would all go away if you would just tell me where the little demon spawn is."

She felt tears well up in her eyes. It really hurt. It really really hurt. She had never been shot before. Not even had someone pulled a gun on her. Her shoulder was on fire. It was screaming out in agony.

" I'd really hate to ruin such a pretty face by putting a bullet in it." The second gun was placed to her face. She was situated so that the bullet would go through her head and into the wall next to them.

" So what do you say?"

Cherry sobbed. " I…I…"

The man's hand went over her mouth again. Cherry immediately cried out and tried to get away. She knew what would come of the hand over her mouth. But she stopped when the gun was placed to her knee.

" If you thought your shoulder hurt, this is really going to sting."

There was a bang. She jumped. But Cherry didn't feel the pain she expected to feel. The green-haired man's hand fell away from her mouth and his body slumped away from her. She fell forward with him, as his body was still holding onto hers.

Cherry looked down at the man, there was a big red hole on the front of his head. She felt something wet on her face and ran her hand over it. It was blood! That man's blood! It was all over her face!

She really tried hard not to scream. She didn't want anyone to think that she killed this man. That reminded her, who really did kill this man?

Cherry looked up in the direction the gunshot came from. There in the middle of the alleyway, with a smoking barrel, was Bradley Crawford.

" I had a 'hunch' that following you would be beneficial to your health," He gave an exaggerated sigh and checked the bullets left in his gun," Sometimes it's a curse being right all the time."

Cherry stood up and immediately got angry at how calm he was. " You were following me?!! What took you so long to…to…do what you just did to him?!!"

Brad put his gun away and looked at his watch." I shot him and be thankful because there were more than that in the club. You should be happy I got here before he started to play with you."

" He DID play with me!! Look at me!" Cherry held her arms out to emphasize her point.

He snorted. " Be happy that's all you have."

" I am glad this is all I have! And who the hell is he?!"

Brad pinched the bridge of his nose. This was why there were no women assassins; well, very good ones. They got too emotional. " He is a hired professional as far as I can tell. And lower your voice unless you want someone to hear you."

She glared. How could he be so calm?! He just shot someone! And from like 12ft. away! In the head no less! Normal people didn't just do that! Cherry angrily pressed a hand to her shoulder wound and walked over to him.

" Lucy, you got some 'spainin' to do."