People actually like this fic. Wow. Here's the next chapter then ^_^
~~
Spike took a sulky drag off his cigarette, running a hand through his still- damp hair. He couldn't believe that shrew woman had kicked out of the shower. Who did she think she was anyway? She didn't own this ship, she didn't pay for rent or food, or do any real work –well, ok, he didn't either, but at least he brought bounties in.
Hands in his pockets, Spike slouched towards the lounge. He was hungry. Maybe Jet had some grub to dish out...
"'TIS RAAAAIN-BOW ED, THE HUMAN WONDER GIRL AND PRINCESS OF GLITTERY-NESS!"
"Jesus!" Spike swerved to the side as Ed blew past him in a whirlwind of color and glitter. She stopped, did a neat pirouette, and somersaulted over to rest at his feet. Spike felt his jaw make a beeline for the floor. He snatched at his cigarette.
Edward was almost unrecognizable. She had plastered herself in paint: reds, purples, greens, yellows, blues and every color in between. War-paint stripes criss-crossed across her face. Her skin glittered.
Spike swallowed. Hard.
"Uh...how ya doin', Edward?" he said carefully, edging away from her. In this state she was more then capable of giving a big, paint-smeared hug. And he'd just had a shower.
She displayed him umber-colored palms. This was unfortunate. Because when you smear every single color together, the result is a brownish tan which makes people think you've been playing with your own shit. Spike knew this and he winced.
He had to take action before Jet saw her. Or-
"Spike?"
He turned. It was Faye. Perfect.
"Spike, you know I really hate having to say this to you, but I need to borrow some woolongs...oh, SHIT." Faye had noticed Ed. She arched an eyebrow at her fellow bounty hunter.
"So, what did you do?"
Spike goggled at her. "Huh? Hey, you think this messed up kid is MY fault?"
"Well, who else could it be?" Faye replied in a 'duh' tone of voice.
He pointed his ciggy at her. Troublesome wench, she'd already stolen his shower and now she was blaming him for painting up Ed. "I had nothing to do with this. Ed did it to herself!"
Both looked down. Edward was crooning about purples and greens living happily ever after.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Leaving Ed and letting Jet deal with her when he finds out?"
"I meant the other option."
"Oh." Spike considered. "I don't want to." He yawned.
"I don't care if you don't want to," Faye snapped, "I don't want to either but we shouldn't have Ed running around the ship looking like a victim from a paintball explosion, do we? She'll get paint everywhere. So do it!"
"Fine, fine." Spike bent down with a fake smile on his face.
"Hey Ed? How about we take you to have a bath, huh? What do you say to that?" He tried to grin.
Ed considered for five seconds.
"Nooo!" She ran off, leaving blue footprints. Spike and Faye gave identical groans and gave chase.
~~
20 minutes later...
Jet frowned as he sliced his bell peppers. Normally just before dinner time, he'd be interrupted at least six times by Faye, Spike, and Ed, all along the lines of 'Is dinner ready yet? I'm staarving!' Now the Bebop was uncharacteristically silent. He tilted his head: no random shrieking from Ed, no sounds of fighting between Spike and Faye, no barking from Ein. He shrugged and continued slicing peppers. Whatever silence there was to be had, he welcomed it.
He switched the pepper from his right hand, dully noticing that all sense of touch stopped the moment he put it into his cybernetic left. After all these years, he still expected to feel the smooth skin against his palm. Jet had never gotten used to the tiny pang of loss it brought.
Unaware that he was scowling, the ex-cop finished and flung the pepper irritably into the pan. He was getting a headache. Good thing everything was quiet, or-
"JEEEEEEET! ED WON'T GET BACK IN THE BATH AND SHE'S LEAVING WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOOOR!!"
Yells followed, accompanied by laughter and the slap of bare feet on the floor, and coming closer. Ed flew into the kitchen in her soaked clothes, completely covered in paint, skidded, and plowed into Jet's legs, her fiery hair in wet clumps. The bounty hunter yelped in surprise. Losing his balance, he fell, flinging the peppers in his hands into the air.
"Rainbow Edward does noooot need a bath! Faye-Faye and Spike-Spike are chasing Ed –ooh, food!" The genius hacker scrabbled at the peppers rolling on the floor.
Jet groaned in reply: his head had connected with the hardest part of the floor, so it seemed. He was a fool: everything had been just too quiet for his liking...
He succeeded into getting onto one elbow when Spike ran in, and in pursuit of Ed slipped on a pepper and landed on his friend's chest.
"Owwwwwww!" Spike moaned, "Jesus, it feels like I landed on –"He squinted. "- a metal arm? Huh? Oh...heh, sorry Jet."
Faye chose that moment to appear.
"Jeeet! Ed needs- oh, wow. Am I interrupting something? You know, you guys should know better then to do things like that in front of a child. Especially Ed."
Spike and Jet glared at her but she took no notice. "And, since you're here, Jet, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO FIX MY SHIP? I have things to do, like go shopping and go to casinos! And while you're at it, where's dinner?" Faye put her hands on her hips and stuck out her lip impatiently. "Well?"
Jet closed his eyes. "Maybe you should learn to fix your own ship and make your own meals instead of me doing everything for you, every single day," he growled, giving her a glare.
"Ooh, touchy. It's just a little repair job, and you've got loads of free time." She talked over Jet's protests. "- I'm a busy woman, you know..."
"Yeah," came Spike's drawl from the floor, "you're so busy you have no time to paint your nails...ow!" He rolled away as Faye kicked him.
As the Bebop cowboys were busy arguing with each other, no one noticed Ed slink stealthily out of the kitchen, chewing on a pepper. Clambering on all fours, she saw Ein in the corridor. The data-dog knew what was coming and tried to scrabble away as fast as his little short legs could carry him, but Ed scooped him up and dashed back to her room, giggling.
What good was Rainbow Ed without a rainbow-colored canine sidekick?
~~
"So let me get this straight," Jet grumbled, rubbing his head while throwing away the bell peppers that had been on the floor, "Edward smeared paint all over herself and is running around my ship, you two captured her and tried to dump her in the bath, but she escaped."
"Well...yeah." Spike took a drag. Jet kept staring at him.
"The kid's like a goddamn eel," Spike whined in his defence (He'd leave Faye to take care of herself). "A freakishly strong slippery eel. With paint and glitter all over it."
"With no sense of color tone," Faye added in a pained voice.
Jet snorted. "Edward," he began, "Why did y –" He looked around. No Ed.
"Where is she?"
"Follow the footprints," Spike said in a resigned monotone. He stabbed at the floor with his cig. Jet's eyes slowly followed the tracks out of the kitchen, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Guess who would be cleaning this up?
A frenzied yelping erupted from somewhere. All locked eyes.
"I told you we shoulda put her in a zoo," Faye grumbled.
~~
A/N: Hehe. I have no idea what I'm doing. So R&R! Please.
~~
Spike took a sulky drag off his cigarette, running a hand through his still- damp hair. He couldn't believe that shrew woman had kicked out of the shower. Who did she think she was anyway? She didn't own this ship, she didn't pay for rent or food, or do any real work –well, ok, he didn't either, but at least he brought bounties in.
Hands in his pockets, Spike slouched towards the lounge. He was hungry. Maybe Jet had some grub to dish out...
"'TIS RAAAAIN-BOW ED, THE HUMAN WONDER GIRL AND PRINCESS OF GLITTERY-NESS!"
"Jesus!" Spike swerved to the side as Ed blew past him in a whirlwind of color and glitter. She stopped, did a neat pirouette, and somersaulted over to rest at his feet. Spike felt his jaw make a beeline for the floor. He snatched at his cigarette.
Edward was almost unrecognizable. She had plastered herself in paint: reds, purples, greens, yellows, blues and every color in between. War-paint stripes criss-crossed across her face. Her skin glittered.
Spike swallowed. Hard.
"Uh...how ya doin', Edward?" he said carefully, edging away from her. In this state she was more then capable of giving a big, paint-smeared hug. And he'd just had a shower.
She displayed him umber-colored palms. This was unfortunate. Because when you smear every single color together, the result is a brownish tan which makes people think you've been playing with your own shit. Spike knew this and he winced.
He had to take action before Jet saw her. Or-
"Spike?"
He turned. It was Faye. Perfect.
"Spike, you know I really hate having to say this to you, but I need to borrow some woolongs...oh, SHIT." Faye had noticed Ed. She arched an eyebrow at her fellow bounty hunter.
"So, what did you do?"
Spike goggled at her. "Huh? Hey, you think this messed up kid is MY fault?"
"Well, who else could it be?" Faye replied in a 'duh' tone of voice.
He pointed his ciggy at her. Troublesome wench, she'd already stolen his shower and now she was blaming him for painting up Ed. "I had nothing to do with this. Ed did it to herself!"
Both looked down. Edward was crooning about purples and greens living happily ever after.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Leaving Ed and letting Jet deal with her when he finds out?"
"I meant the other option."
"Oh." Spike considered. "I don't want to." He yawned.
"I don't care if you don't want to," Faye snapped, "I don't want to either but we shouldn't have Ed running around the ship looking like a victim from a paintball explosion, do we? She'll get paint everywhere. So do it!"
"Fine, fine." Spike bent down with a fake smile on his face.
"Hey Ed? How about we take you to have a bath, huh? What do you say to that?" He tried to grin.
Ed considered for five seconds.
"Nooo!" She ran off, leaving blue footprints. Spike and Faye gave identical groans and gave chase.
~~
20 minutes later...
Jet frowned as he sliced his bell peppers. Normally just before dinner time, he'd be interrupted at least six times by Faye, Spike, and Ed, all along the lines of 'Is dinner ready yet? I'm staarving!' Now the Bebop was uncharacteristically silent. He tilted his head: no random shrieking from Ed, no sounds of fighting between Spike and Faye, no barking from Ein. He shrugged and continued slicing peppers. Whatever silence there was to be had, he welcomed it.
He switched the pepper from his right hand, dully noticing that all sense of touch stopped the moment he put it into his cybernetic left. After all these years, he still expected to feel the smooth skin against his palm. Jet had never gotten used to the tiny pang of loss it brought.
Unaware that he was scowling, the ex-cop finished and flung the pepper irritably into the pan. He was getting a headache. Good thing everything was quiet, or-
"JEEEEEEET! ED WON'T GET BACK IN THE BATH AND SHE'S LEAVING WATER ALL OVER THE FLOOOOR!!"
Yells followed, accompanied by laughter and the slap of bare feet on the floor, and coming closer. Ed flew into the kitchen in her soaked clothes, completely covered in paint, skidded, and plowed into Jet's legs, her fiery hair in wet clumps. The bounty hunter yelped in surprise. Losing his balance, he fell, flinging the peppers in his hands into the air.
"Rainbow Edward does noooot need a bath! Faye-Faye and Spike-Spike are chasing Ed –ooh, food!" The genius hacker scrabbled at the peppers rolling on the floor.
Jet groaned in reply: his head had connected with the hardest part of the floor, so it seemed. He was a fool: everything had been just too quiet for his liking...
He succeeded into getting onto one elbow when Spike ran in, and in pursuit of Ed slipped on a pepper and landed on his friend's chest.
"Owwwwwww!" Spike moaned, "Jesus, it feels like I landed on –"He squinted. "- a metal arm? Huh? Oh...heh, sorry Jet."
Faye chose that moment to appear.
"Jeeet! Ed needs- oh, wow. Am I interrupting something? You know, you guys should know better then to do things like that in front of a child. Especially Ed."
Spike and Jet glared at her but she took no notice. "And, since you're here, Jet, WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO FIX MY SHIP? I have things to do, like go shopping and go to casinos! And while you're at it, where's dinner?" Faye put her hands on her hips and stuck out her lip impatiently. "Well?"
Jet closed his eyes. "Maybe you should learn to fix your own ship and make your own meals instead of me doing everything for you, every single day," he growled, giving her a glare.
"Ooh, touchy. It's just a little repair job, and you've got loads of free time." She talked over Jet's protests. "- I'm a busy woman, you know..."
"Yeah," came Spike's drawl from the floor, "you're so busy you have no time to paint your nails...ow!" He rolled away as Faye kicked him.
As the Bebop cowboys were busy arguing with each other, no one noticed Ed slink stealthily out of the kitchen, chewing on a pepper. Clambering on all fours, she saw Ein in the corridor. The data-dog knew what was coming and tried to scrabble away as fast as his little short legs could carry him, but Ed scooped him up and dashed back to her room, giggling.
What good was Rainbow Ed without a rainbow-colored canine sidekick?
~~
"So let me get this straight," Jet grumbled, rubbing his head while throwing away the bell peppers that had been on the floor, "Edward smeared paint all over herself and is running around my ship, you two captured her and tried to dump her in the bath, but she escaped."
"Well...yeah." Spike took a drag. Jet kept staring at him.
"The kid's like a goddamn eel," Spike whined in his defence (He'd leave Faye to take care of herself). "A freakishly strong slippery eel. With paint and glitter all over it."
"With no sense of color tone," Faye added in a pained voice.
Jet snorted. "Edward," he began, "Why did y –" He looked around. No Ed.
"Where is she?"
"Follow the footprints," Spike said in a resigned monotone. He stabbed at the floor with his cig. Jet's eyes slowly followed the tracks out of the kitchen, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Guess who would be cleaning this up?
A frenzied yelping erupted from somewhere. All locked eyes.
"I told you we shoulda put her in a zoo," Faye grumbled.
~~
A/N: Hehe. I have no idea what I'm doing. So R&R! Please.