Author Notes: This is chapter 7! After this chapter, there are only a few more to go. Stick around for the ending, it's gonna' be good!
Disclaimer: I don't own Cowboy Bebop, or any of the characters. Therefore, I remain poor and unemployed.
Lost and Found
Chapter 7: The Art of Killing
Jet and Faye shuffled quickly throughout the crowded streets. The ginza district, as it turned out, was a giant shopping area full of people. It was famous for its many shops, various shop items, and endless accounts of criminal activity.
"Where the hell do we start?" Faye asked, dragging along Jacob by the hand, "There's got to be a thousand stores in this place, and we don't even know what the hell we're looking for!"
Faye ducked into an ally, grabbing Jet to pull him in as well, and lit a cigarette to smoke, sighing heavily as she exhaled the tobacco.
"Well, we need to look for some 'shady' stores." said Jet, taking the cigarette that Faye had offered him, "There's a few iffy looking bars around here, too… Maybe we should split up and meet back here in an hour?"
Faye nodded at this, handing Jet her lighter so he could light his cigarette, and looked down at Jacob, who was still clamping a handful of Faye's shorts, watching excitedly as a fight broke out near by.
"Who gets the kid?" asked Jet, exhaling the cigarette smoke and cocking an eyebrow. "He can't go into a bar, so whoever goes to the stores has to take him along..."
Faye smiled cunningly at this, finishing the last bit of her cigarette, and flipped her hair out of her face as she turned to walk away.
"Since I just gave you a cigarette, you have to take the kid." she sang, vanishing into the crowd.
"Bitch." said Jet, flicking his cigarette onto the ground.
Jet took Jacob's hand again, reentering the mass of shoppers and shoplifters, and walked up and down the street , finally deciding on a rundown looking store he found lurking in an ally way.
The door had bars on it, giving it a criminal appeal, and featured karate paraphernalia in the window, some of which seemed like they were stolen from military personnel. Jet looked up at the name, wondering if he had ever heard of it, and nearly fell over when he saw a sign reading, "The Art of Killing: The finest art indeed". Jet would have laughed, seeing as the store was obviously not friendly, but when Jacob tugged his hand and pointed to the door, Jet opted for entering instead.
"Hello, there!" said a fat, bearded man, polishing a grenade on the top of the counter, "How are you doing today?"
Jet nodded at the man, wondering how polishing explosives could possibly be safe, and lifted Jacob onto a chair, kneeling down so he could look him in the eyes.
"Jacob, you sit here and wait till' I'm done." said Jet, standing to walk away. "And make sure you don't touch anything, okay? I don't have the money to pay for your hospital bills…"
With that, Jet walked over to the man.
"Hey, there…" said Jet, leaning against the counter. "You hear about that massacre over at that orphanage? Terrible killers these days, don't ya' think?"
The man simply shook his head, placing his grenade into a box, and leaned against the counter to talk to Jet more quietly.
"Oh, no, my friend, not a killer…" grinned the man, making Jet feel uneasy, "…an artist, he was… a true-blue Picasso…"
Jet cocked an eyebrow, wondering how many beers it took to fry his brain like that, and came up with a plan, knowing the man was bound to know something that could be useful to him and Faye.
"Yeah, you're right." said Jet, faking a gaze of admiration, "That guy, Theodore Viper, he's really a cut above the rest… Actually, I want to meet the guy… I like how his mind works... I want to tell him how artistic he is…but sadly…"
"What?" asked the shopkeeper, obviously fooled by Jet's lying, "If you really want to tell him, then why haven't you sought him out yet?"
Jet smiled triumphantly.
"Well, you see…" Jet continued, feeling like an actor, "…that's exactly what my problem is… I heard on T.V that he was hiding over here in the ginza district, but when I came here to go and praise him, I realized that I didn't know where he was hiding!"
The shopkeeper's eyes widened with glee. Jet knew that the man had his answer, but he pretended quickly that he wasn't expecting a single thing. The shopkeeper reached underneath the counter, pulling out a rather moldy looking map, and laid it out for Jet and him to look at. Jet tried as best he could to look both shocked and confused, but the thought of the 100 million wholong reward couldn't help but make him smile.
"Well, sir, you came to the right store!" said the man, twisting the end of his beard with his finger, "You see, Theodore is one of my best costumers, not that I have a lot of costumers to begin with, but I know for a fact that he lives in this building over here…"
The shopkeeper pointed to the corner of 7th street and Gerrie, and rolled up the map to put it back underneath the counter. He got himself another grenade, spitting on it as he began to polish, and smiled at Jet happily as he waved good-bye to him from the door.
"Oh, and one more thing!" said the man, stopping Jet and Jacob as they exited, "He lives in a two story building… the bottom floor is a bar, I think."
Jet thanked him again, grinning from ear to ear in victory, but suddenly stopped dead as another thought drifted across his mind.
Hadn't Faye said she was going to a bar? What if she had gone to the one with Theodore in it? Would she be smart enough to wait for Jet, or would she barrel upstairs and take him on alone?
"She would go…" said a voice in Jet's head.
"Shit!" said Jet aloud.
With that, Jet picked up Jacob and bolted out the door. He ran down the crowded street, knocking over several people as he did, and looked around hurriedly for a sign that read '7th Street' or "Gerrie". After a few minutes of searching fruitlessly, Jet finally spotted the streets that he had been looking for. As the shopkeeper had said, there was a two story bar standing on the corner. Jet put down Jacob, taking him by the hand, and cautiously pushed the door open. Jet was relieved to see that nothing had seemed to gone on, but just to be sure, Jet approached the mad looking bartender and got his attention away from his beer.
"Excuse me, sir. I was wondering…" started Jet, flinching at the look the guy had given him, "Have you seen a young woman in here? She has a yellow leather outfit, dark purple hair, and a pair of rather large breasts… I need to talk to her, you see…"
The bartender nodded, making Jet's gut do a back flip, and pointed to the stairs that led up the second floor of the bar.
"Yeah, she went upstairs with the owner a little while ago." he said, leaning in to whisper his info to Jet, "You may want to knock first, though… they may be getting a little action…" he laughed, winking at Jet and grinning.
Jet instantly panicked, knowing that the only action upstairs would be the firing of a gun, and dug into his coat pockets frantically, looking for some wholongs he could give to the bartender.
"Hey, buddy…" panted Jet, shoving the money in his face, "If you watch my… uh… son here for a minute, I'll give you all the money that I have here…"
The bartender took hold of the money, counting it quickly and shoving it into his pocket, and grabbed Jacob over the counter, lifting him onto the other side and handing him an apron.
"Be good, Jacob!" Jet shouted, bolting across the bar and barreling up the stairs.
"Yes, sir!" Jacob called back, wiping off a dirty mug.
"How can she be so stupid?!" thought Jet, wincing as his bullet wound throbbed from all the running, "I told her not to run off anymore, and not to do anything stupid, and the idiot comes here and pulls off a stunt like this!"
Jet reached the top of the stairs, panting as he approached a single, wooden door, and grabbed his gun from his pocket, pressing his ear against the door so he could hear what was going on.
Just then, the door swung open. Jet, taken by surprise, fell forward and hit the ground with a thud. Jet looked up, expecting to see the barrel of a gun, but instead he saw Faye Valentine, her arm locked firmly into the arm of Theodore Viper.
"J-Jet!" she gasped, looking absolutely shocked to see him, "Uh… What's up?"
Theodore's eyes moved from Jet to the gun, and Jet stood up quickly, shoving the weapon back into his pocket. Jet rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, and smiled stupidly as he bowed to Theodore and Faye.
Jet wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he was sure that he had screwed up big time. He thought up an excuse quickly, gulping as he saw Faye word 'what the hell' without actually speaking, and resorted to laughing full heartedly and looking around the room.
Faye just shook her head in pity.
"Oh, I'm sorry… uh… sis!" Jet lied, waving his arms in the air, "I came looking for you so we could go home, and the bartender said you had come up here…"
Faye got the message, and smiled at Theodore apologetically.
"I'm sorry, Teddy, but my brother is rather stupid sometimes!" Faye smiled, squeezing onto his arm affectionately, "He can't tell the difference between a nice man like you, and some rapist who puts drugs in my beer!" she finished, fluttering her eyelashes as she did.
Theodore smiled weakly, having bought the story for the most part, and took Faye's hand in his, lifting it to his lips.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then?" he said, kissing her hand like she was royalty. "Remember where I said to meet? Be there at 8:00pm."
Faye giggled and nodded at him, and took her hand away from his. She grabbed Jet by the sleeve, dragging him roughly down the staircase, and waited impatiently as Jet got Jacob back from passing out a Bloody Mary.
Jet exited the bar, carrying Jacob on his shoulders, and smiled sheepishly at Faye as she turned around and glared at him. Faye stormed angrily down the street, turning around every once in a while to shoot Jet a dirty look, and stalked furiously into the Bebop, only voicing her rage once Jet put Jacob down onto the sofa.
"Smooth move, dumb ass!" she finally spat, causing Jet to laugh in embarrassment, "You're lucky I managed to think something up! Honestly, what did you think I was going to do?!"
Jet blushed slightly, looking down at the ground, and mumbled a pathetic "Sorry". Faye rolled her eyes, collapsing sleepily onto the yellow sofa, and rubbed her forehead wearily. Jacob found his teddy bear, yawning loudly and scratching his face, and skipped away to another part of the ship, singing a song that he had heard in the bar.
"Oh, sit down you stupid oaf…" she grumbled, pulling out a cigarette from her cleavage, "I've got some details you might find interesting, so sit down and listen or I'll rip your other arm off."
Well, that's the end of Chapter 7. Leave reviews!