SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1*warning some language that santa would not approve of*

~*~ POV change

Operation: Interrogate

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            I feel fear rise up within me as Vicious sweeps towards me menacingly with his razor blade sharp katana at my throat. His steel eyes are not cold and indifferent but confused and enraged. His clean, silver hair stand out in stark contrast with the crumbing, dingy, dark green walls that surrounded the room I am in. My ramen bowl topples over and all its contents spill onto the ground; the bowl shattering on the concrete floor. I am petrified of him, He is going to kill me and I don't even know why! Then I see his lips move, he is going to kill me.

"How do you know Gren?" He hisses at me as I gulp silently. How am I supposed to get out of this one Valentine? Hey! I'm Poker Alice, the Romani. I have survived debt collectors, bounties, explosions, Cryo. Freeze, and Jet's cooking I can get out of this. I lick my lips, dry from either fear or thirst.

"I–I met him at the Blue Crow. The night he left to...see you... the night he died. He even showed me the transmitter music box you gave him." I want to sound angry. Oh how much easier it would be if I can really hate him right now. I wish to death I can hate him, but seeing him so tragic...so lost looking, though he'd never admit to being either tragic or lost. I just cant find it in me to hate him. Perhaps I am a fool. I look up to him, trying to figure out if he is going to take away my head or the katana. I look into his eyes, expecting to see cold angry ones.

            I never seen so many emotions flash through such steel, gray eyes before, but they did. I cant even say what they are.  He slowly removes the katana from my throat and looks down at me not even trying to find words to express what he is going to say. His black cloak wraps around him like limp wings and his silver hair blows in the slight breeze coming from the broken window next to my bed. His steel eyes are filled with confusion and...resolution?

He looks like some sort of dead angel.

"He probably liked you if he showed you the music box. And not to mention the 'leaving you to die' scenario." He smirks a vicious grin and his sharp eyes glow eerily. I suppose that is suppose to be funny but I am really too irritated that I hadn't just head 'get that stupid sword out of my face' or something like that. Then at least I can be seen as fearless and strong rather than how I actually did come across, weak. He sheaths his katana and adverts his gaze from me to the smoggy window that is broken, the window I can barely see outside from my angle, but it must look out onto the city.

"I don't know, I only was with him for a little bit." I sighed, I was becoming tired with all of this question and answer and threats to my life. Yet, my natural curiosity gets the best of me again and I know I have to ask him more questions. I love knowing things, I feel like I will have some sort of edge.

"What sin are you atoning for, and... why? It doesn't seem like you, unforgiving and vicious and all." I quickly spit out, really wanting some answers. I feel his eyes advert back from the window to me. He just looks down on me for a few seconds, like an older brother would to a younger one if he asked an irrelevant question. Right when I thought I wasn't going to get anything out of him, his lips moved again.

"I really do not know the answer to either question. All I know is I feel I dishonored him somehow and I should fix it." He didn't bite my head off, or hiss at me for the one time since I am here. He seemed to be thinking things over so much he forgot he was supposed to be 'the bad guy' and yell at me or something. Then automatically, my lips move again and I feel myself asking more questions.

"How are you going to atone for a sin?" I almost snort at the fact that he would actually think of a plan to atone for a sin. This seems so out of character for Vicious. Vicious is supposed to be, cruel, unrelenting, morbid, unemotional serial murderer. Those qualities do not match up with what I see in front of me: a man who seems, stoic, yet broken, tragic, confused and angry.

Then again I only know Vicious of how he acted to Spike and when he kidnapped me, which I was kinda snooping around anyway. Still, he had no right...the bastard.

"I will make sure you heal correctly and fully then take you to your home, or where ever you live." His short, sharp words caught me by surprise taking me out of my unproductive stupor. He then turned and floated out the door on his broken angel wing cloak.

"I am going to turn in, it is late. You do the same." He ordered me quickly as I saw him disappear again from sight and walk into the kitchen then more far away into another part of the apartment. I heard some fumbling around and what sounded like a sink. I really don't like being alone, he could have at least told me where everything is incase I have to use the bathroom or something. I plopped down on my pillow and exhaled deeply, falling into little crevices of thought. Those thoughts are remembering the small insignificant thought that he is a bounty.

'This is perfect!' I said to myself. This bounty is as good as gotten. When he drops me off Jet and I can just capture him and then off to the prison he goes! I smile to myself, masking the ever so slight tugging of my stomach that something might not be right with this plan. Not that I don't think Jet and I can capture him, but he is saving me and all...

            Wake up Valentine! it is so not like I asked him to rescue me, and he killed Spike...and well I owe it to Jet. Yes, I don't care how screwed up Vicious is, he is going to jail and I am getting my money card. Besides, he is doing it for Gren, not me.

            Wow, am I making up excuses for capturing this psychotic sword wielding guy? Man I must have really bumped my head against that wall. I ran my hand over my head and felt a large bump, and a dull pain shot through me to my brain. Vicious must have given me some heavy duty pain killer or something. At that moment, I felt my heavily weighted eyelids close shut and I soon fell into a dreamless, fitful sleep.

'Scratch...ping...growl...thump...snipe.' Someone woke me up from my precious beauty sleep and that someone is going to PAY. My eyelids fluttered open to see the silhouette of a man, though it is still dark and I have trouble seeing, he is not Vicious. It took me three seconds for me to realize the window was even more broken. I see from the corner of my eye the dog come from her closet sleeping area to my bed and starts growling threateningly at the intruder.

"Who are you?!" I demand pissed off as I am reminded, unfortunately and painfully, of my injury as I spring up and hunt for my glock.; which is oh-so-conveniently not on me. I see the well built muscular man look at me, his terrifying hazel eyes glowing in the moonlight, narrow. I find all air is caught foolishly in my lungs and he pulls out some sort of pistol with a silencer.

"Oh, so he has a dog and a whore." I hear his deep voice sneer, as he raises the gun aiming to my forehead and clicks the safety. I cant just sit here! I try to move but I feel my stomach become sickeningly wet with blood from my newly reopened wound; it hurts too much. I see his hand tense and he pulls the trigger as the dog lunges to the intruder barking its head off.

~*~

'Who are you?!' Through the thick tendrils of drug induced sleep I hear the piercing brassy voice of a woman. What in the seven bloody hells is going on? I fall back into my dark nightmare sleep, the way I like them, to try sleeping once more.

            Faint low murmurs are flooding through my dark foggy mind as I realize all too cunningly that Faye and I are not the only ones in the apartment. I smile crookedly as I sit up and my silver bangs filter the pale moonlight. Well it looks like I am going to have some fun killing again because a very unwelcome guest has just arrived uninvited. Who ever dares disturb my peace will pay, with their shed blood. I am thoroughly anticipating this, my sword thirsts for blood and until that thirst is quenched I will continue to drink. My lips curl in a vicious sneer as I remember the woman is in there, I better go kill him now before she gets in the way.

 I stand up almost wobbly as I try to wake my self quickly from my unrelenting drugged sleep. Still the damned slightest bit sleepy, I grab my katana that is placed strategically near my couch, I shouldn't have fallen asleep; sleep, why do I even sleep anyway? Oh yes, the nightmares. Nightmares are the only place where I can leave behind everything and just live in solitude. Disturbed, severely and ruthlessly, but the solitude is worth it.

'Snipe' I hear the prick of a silenced gun, and the barking of the dog, I will not be the happiest of people if that shot hit it's desired target.

'Shit, damn dog!' I hear him boom as I drift out of the room on a charging grace. My sword unsheathing as I enter the room where he, the dog and Faye are. I notice Faye's wounds have opened up and her shoulder was grazed. I take a glance at the man and grin evilly. With a mere flick of the wrist I slice the gun from his hand. I push him up against the dark wall with one strong hand as his feet dangle helplessly in the air like a child.

"Tell me who are you and how you found me, NOW!" I hiss like a fork tongued demon as I feel my gray eyes flash direfully into his bright hazel eyes. My strangling grip on his throat tightens when he hesitated too long. This is going to be more fun than I thought. I smirk as I am rewarded with him pale to the color of a sheet

"I-I am the servant of the almighty leader of the Red Dragon.—After you–you killed all the others and knocked me un—conscious I followed you –." He gasps his short syllables in between scarce breaths. I remember him. I had personally saved killing him so that he could give the message I wanted him to deliver to Blade. He is going to be so much more fun to fight with now that his very blood is driven with revenge. I should know, after all, I am the most vengeful of them all... fucking Syndicate...Fucking step brother...

"Sorry I don't allow scum of my step brother's slaves in my house and begin to shoot anything in sight!" I smirk as I take my katana and impale him efficiently with a sharp, simple motion to the chest. I disposed of the disgusting body by throwing it down the fire escape that adjoined the broken window. I look over to Faye who was covered in her own blood, something inside of me shifted, something very subtle, something I would not have noticed if I were in the syndicate and not in an apartment with a damn dog. Perhaps life out of the syndicate is changing me. I sure hope to hell it doesn't, I will not end up being a Spike.

"W-what was that all about? Who is your step brother and why is your own syndicate after you?" I heard a soft voice echo lightly over the heavy atmosphere of the apartment as I go to turn on the lights and get the gauze. I feel my body tense up at the question, why should I even give her a damn answer? Perhaps if I answer a couple of her questions time will pass me by faster.

"He is the fucking leader of the Red Dragon Syndicate and he wants me dead." I mumble angrily as I pull up a bent and dented folding metal chair as I sit down with the gauze and antiseptic I look at her eyes, they are spheres of liquid emeralds, so emotional, something inside me stirs. I again feel too casual.

~*~

"Oh..." Wow great intelligent response Valentine. Remember, don't show him you are weak. Show no "Ahhhhh" I spurt out as he lifted up the tee shirt, only enough to see the dark wet, red bandages though, nothing more. I watched him as he meticulously unwrapped my dirty bandages with his slender, yet calloused fingers that brushed my raw, red skin as I silently wished I could actually enjoy someone taking care of me for once and not just relying on myself. My lips move again as I gaze to his chiseled shirtless chest, scarred every here and there with a bullet scar, but on his right side there is a large burn mark that is at least six inches long.

"Hey, what happened? Did you, Vicious, burn yourself?" If he responded with 'my easy bake oven short circuited' I think really I am low on blood.

"My step-brother hit me a glowing hot, metal baseball bat when I was seventeen." He sneers at me, telling me to drop it. His steel eyes fill up with a poorly hidden hatred, but different than the one I saw him have when he held back the intruder. That gaze he gave the syndicate guy could send the devil himself crying to his mother. I almost screamed again as the antiseptic fizzed and foamed on my raw, bloody stomach and my shoulder. I feel my eyes water up and he notices.

"I told you not to move, if you hadn't you would be fine. Now you are bleeding all over my bed." He glowers at me unemotionally, if that is possible. He continues to clean my wounds carefully, yet it is as though he doesn't want me to know he is being careful.

"Well if you woke up in time then I wouldn't be bleeding all over your bed." I see a flash of another, unknown emotion thinly paint over his normally sharp eyes, but I am not done yet. "Why don't you just go back the Syndicate, I mean you are really cut out for the job being an uncaring, killing lunkhead." I stopped right there, I have not used that name sense Spike was alive. I look at Vicious who looks about ready to either explode or kill me, probably both.

            Before I can blink Vicious stands up and throws the gauze on the bed. In a blind rage he kicks the chair to the other side of the room with a deafening metallic clatter. He punches the dry wall with his bare left fist, making a fair sized dent. The dog runs out of the room, scared to death now watching from a safe distance. What did I say? Then he did something really scary, he started to laugh a shivering, demented laugh that made my blood freeze, his eyes were masked by his long bangs that made the moonlight look dirty

"You know, all the others thought they know me as well. You, Faye, know nothing about me. And as for the waking up late, I could have very well left you and that stupid dog to die, and wouldn't have cared, I just merely in the mood to fight someone." I know he doesn't care about me...I still cant see his eyes, probably a good thing. His head is bowed, his hands by his side, facing the window, his handsome, killing profile is accentuated in the moonlight.

He really does look like a dead angel.

"You said you'd heal me though, what about the whole honor thing huh? Eh, it is probably too late for you anyway." I want to resent him, I am now aggravated because he is not making any sense at all. Aggravated because we wont go back to the stupid syndicate he led; and for being so angry all the time. Vicious is too confusing.

            Then I see him move from his spot and fly from the room with his scarlet katana in his clenched white fist without a second thought or glance. Did I go too far? I mean he did save me...but it is his fault anyway. If it wasn't for him then there would be no assassin guy. Yet, he did say he was sent by his step brother, and by the looks of things he and Vicious are exactly brotherly. Ugh, why am I even worried about this?

            I finish up the gauzing job by myself and the bleeding is going down significantly. My heart secretly wishing that someone is doing this for me, someone is taking care of me. I realize that I am alone, in a cold, frozen desolate city, in a broken down apartment with a half deaf dog.The owner of this dog and apartment, is... oh who the hell am I kidding. I am alone. Vicious isn't here, he doesn't count...he hates everyone, especially me! My attention is drawn away from self pity to the dog lapping up the remains of my cold ramen accident. I then hear the running of a sink in a few rooms away. I lay back down and shove the bloody sheets off of me and just use the blankets that were not soiled. As the dog lapped up the soup I noticed that there was a dot of ramen soup that must have splattered over to near the window that she missed.

Or was that even ramen?

            I close my eyes as one unnoticed lone tear rolls down my cheek. This is by far the most emotionally trying bounty hunt I have been on yet. The last vision I see before I drift into an even more fitful sleep is the shaded profile of Vicious against the gloomy moonlit background, just as alone as me.

-All too calm you hide yourself from reality-

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*-.-* sorry it took so long to update GOMEN! Sooooooo how did you like that chapter?.  I hope I really captured Vicious' mannerisms...if I hadn't this time then I really am screwed, I think I am going to cheat and have a little more of the story in Faye's POV...that is easier *^^*

*^^*Well this will hopefully clear up some OOCness in Vicious this chappie and chappies to come*^^*

1) In this fic he was less 'slice and dice every thing that breathes' before Julia and when he was friends with Spike. Lets just say before Julia he was at least half humane...(smacks Julia...look what you did to Vicious!).;

2) When Julia and Spike died and he survived he is kinda going though what Spike went through...only he doesnt even think he has been alive in the first place, and the only reason to be living is to have honor and die in battle, note the whole samurai thing. Oh, and he likes to kill …because of …well you'll figure it out.

3) When he left the syndicate the 'bloodlust' was toned down because he is no longer active and is 'hiding' from his brother until he figures out the best course of action to deal with him so his random urge to kill has been lessened.

finally! 4) He feels more at ease when Faye is around and is less prone to slit some nasty guys throat unless Faye is making him mad or the guy is upsetting Faye so Faye will make Vicious mad...or something...@_@

Now that I have revealed my secrets maybe it will clear things up. I commend all V/F writers and just Vicious writers because this is really....REALLY hard especially from Vicious' perspective.

Also someone said something about detail and description, well in my mind Vicious doesn't seem like the person who would sit and describe in his mind the color 'the breathtaking indigo hue of the sky', or the 'cleanliness of his bathroom', so description is definitely not big in this fic.

I am responding to reviews after this chappie and if you read *War of Roses -read it's good it is SxF*,wow.. I am a dork... the format will be about the same, every three chapters I will respond and If you respond more than once you get a smooshed together response.

Well, I have got to go....I have to work on finishing my other fic!!!!  See you cowboy fans!

Oh note...I am treating my self to a break and the next chappie of War of Roses will not be out for a while...sorry but I am really behind in school!!!!!! .;;;;;;

 ~your (exhausted) ff buddy L.O.H.