Disclaimer: I do NOT own Cowboy Bebop, or its characters… Maho Izawa isn't mine either, she belongs to Gainax and the staff of KareKano- His and Her circumstances… I just love her character and had to put her in somehow

Notes: this chapter focuses on Shin, it's a bit boring but necessary… just read and enjoy

BTW this is set after three years after the Prologue…

Angel's Punishment

Chapter 1: Old hopes and new worries

2074, Red Dragon HQ- Tharsis city, Mars

A young man in his twenties was sitting in his huge office, his head was resting on his forearms and he seemed to be asleep. But actually his mind was anything but sleeping…

Shin was trying to shut off the world outside him, he just wanted sometime on his own; it hadn't been his choice from the start to become who he now was, he just didn't have the makings for being a leader, in fact he didn't even have what it took to be a killer…

'If only Spike was here…'

He really missed his friend, his mentor; if the green haired man was there, he wouldn't have to do it all by himself, and mostly he wouldn't be the one who had to lead a crime organization… Shin's mind was clouded by thoughts of all kinds, too much had happened in the last three years, and all the worries he had been repressing were now coming back to the surface…

His hopes in Spike's awakening from his comatose state were starting to fade away, just to be replaced with skepticism and uncertainty. The negative results in chasing Nemesis were ridiculing the once fearful Red Dragons in front of the other syndicates, and it was a frustrating situation for all its members… in ages of history never had a single woman killed so many professionals, practically disappearing without leaving any tracks after every murder…

And then there was Maho… she was one of the few people that he had known since his childhood and who was still alive, and in a sort of way unconnected with the syndicate. Shin had always loved her like a sister, but in the past few years their relationship had developed in something more than brotherly love, he had fallen hard for her, and the feelings were mutual. He was sure that she was the right one, the one with whom he wanted to have a family, but at the moment he just didn't have the time for those sort of things…

However, fate had never been so kind to him, and here he was sitting in an ultra expensive leather armchair, replaying in his mind the events that had occurred earlier that morning…

Flashback +

The red rays of dawn entered from the window lightening the dark room, and disturbing the quiet sleep of the two figures entangled in the sheets of the bed. Shin let a small, satisfied smile appear on his thin lips and tightened his hold on the woman sleeping next to him; he heard her sighing happily and her back arched to be even closer to his warm body.

"Morning, love…" he ventured placing a gentle kiss on her raven hair

"Morning…" Maho replied quietly, she was determined to tell him about her newfound little problem… well, their little problem

"Shin?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm pregnant…" she didn't mean to sound so cold, but she wasn't the type of woman who beat around the bush for hours before spitting out what's been going on in her mind… she was a practical woman, and he knew that, he loved her for that. There were a few minutes of silence before she could heard his slightly trembling voice asking

"B-but weren't you taking the pill?"

"Yeah, but-" he didn't let her finish.

"I thought it was fail-safe…"

"Shit happens…" she trailed off feeling a bit saddened, surely she knew that it wasn't the best moment for a kid, but she kind of expected him to be more content with the news; she never cried over anything but right now she could sense the tears burning behind her eyelids.

A relaxed chuckle waked her from her gloomy reverie and she felt Shin's hot breath in her ear.

"That sounded like something Spike would say…" she smiled sensing his change towards the situation.

"I'm really curious to meet this infamous friend of yours…" Maho replied, she had heard lots of stories about this Spike, and Shin seemed truly attached to him… maybe even more than he was to his dead brother.

"Maybe one day you will…"

End Flashback +

A baby… how was he supposed to be a good father, when he didn't even have one? How could he think he would be able to protect him, when he wasn't even capable enough to defend his own men, who surely were far more skilled than a baby? And what if something happened to Maho?

Shin lifted his head up and was about to hit it on the hard wood of the office desk, with the hope that all his thoughts would fade away, when the hurried knocks on the large door stopped him.

"Come in!" the green eyed man regained its composure on the large chair and stared as the door flung open to reveal one of his more loyal men.

"What's the problem, Marcus?" he asked noticing the upset look on the man's face.

"Sir, Lewis-…" his answer was cut off by another man, visibly younger, entering the room in a rush; his face flushed from the run.

"Sorry sir, but it's important…" he managed to say breathing heavily.

"I believe Marcus has something important to say, too, Ben" Shin replied in a calm tone that surprised even himself

"Go on…"

"It's Nemesis, sir… she killed Lewis. Our men found his body into the pool at his house… the water had turned red with blood; he had a large cut on his stomach, but he didn't die on the strike… she had probably let him bleed to death…" the Dragon's violet eyes darkened with rage as he pronounced the last sentence

"How's Leila?" the leader asked in a low, saddened voice.

"She's doing fine… she knew that something could happen to her brother. She just wished it wasn't so soon."

Silence fell into the office, even the last arrival didn't dare to break the mournful moment. The eyes of the three men were all looking down, their minds linked with the same thoughts of fear, anger and longing to catch whoever was making them feel so hopeless…

"Shin?" Mark didn't bother to refer to him with the usual sir… right now he was talking to a friend, not to his leader.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think we will ever get her?"

"I hope so, Mark… you can't even imagine how I want this to end."

The young man looked at his leader, he would have never thought that he could be so kindhearted; sure he was new in the syndicate, it wasn't passed even a year since he had joined, but when he thought about their leader what came to his mind was the image of a cold-hearted killer, somebody who didn't give a shit about anybody, and much less about his subordinates.

But the man before him was the opposite of that image he had in his mind… after all now that he noticed, he wasn't even so much older than himself, maybe just a few years. It was a pity that he had to give him that news, because he was sure that from now on, things would change for the Red Dragons, and he couldn't quite put his finger on how they would change… in a better way, or in a worse one?

"So, Ben, what is it that you need to tell me?" Shin's voice broke up the stream of his thoughts.

"The Dragon's hospital just called, sir… It's about Mr. Spiegel."

"What's wrong with him!" Shin asked worriedly standing up from the chair he was sitting on and pressing the palms of his hands on the smooth surface of his desk. Ben stepped back, startled by his leader sudden movements; he waved his hands in front of him and shook his head.

"No, no… nothing wrong, sir. They just said that Mr. Spiegel has woken up, they said he was kinda confused and he wanted to leave the hospital… actually he even attacked one of his guards. They tried to calm him down and explain, but he wouldn't listen, so they had to put him back to sleep."

"They have done what?" he shouted visibly furious about the doctors' decision

"T-they said that before falling unconscious he asked about you, sir… he wanted to talk to you, face to face" Ben finished quickly his speech swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, and looking away in order to avoid the glare of his superior.

When he didn't hear a reply coming from Shin, he shifted his gaze on Mark, who now had an enigmatic smile plastered on his lips. When his ears caught the sound of rustling clothes he instinctively turned his head back on the figure behind the desk; Shin was putting on a characteristic black trench coat of the RD, and as soon as he finished with the coat he pressed a finger to the phone and said in a deadly serious voice:

"Ashley, I need a car… now." he didn't even bother to hear her answer knowing it was a positive one and promptly reached the door.

"Thanks for the good news, Ben… it was about damn time," he said to his man with a boyish smirk.

"N-no problem, sir…" was his quick reply.

"Mark, I want a complete rundown about every thing we know about Nemesis on my desk in the least amount of time possible… we need to refill Spike about whatever happened in his absence."

"Sure thing, sir…"

"And stop calling me that, Mark… that title doesn't belong to me anymore."

A/N: well, first of all I wanted to thanks Kendra Luher, Zottie, Ninalee-chan, and Bells of Requiem for reviewing, I'm glad you liked the Prologue A big thanks goes to Lacey (BOR) for beta-reading this chapter and offering her help… if it wasn't for her this would be filled with mistakes

In the next chap our favorite space cowboy enters the scene… a little out of shape but it's always better than dead... So stay tuned for Chapter 2: One more chance?

And, please, drop me a review… it will make my day, I'm a desperate case...