Well, seems like I've not updated Hard Luck in a long, long time. But now… now, there is an update. Its kinda short and I feel like I've ripped you off after not updating for a long time, but hopefully, I can get back into swing with this chap.

"We are all dead since we are born. The End is there before anything starts. If to live is to continue learning. The End is when we learn the very last thing. To finally discover the end and learning about it completely, is what death is. We are not allowed to learn about something. Those who cannot transcend death shouldn't learn of anything." – Bleach, Volume 25, No Shaking Throne.

9. You look left, I look right… So how'd we end up here?

Last time on Hard Luck…

X slipped his hood on and motioned for Raven to follow him. Raven gave the SLR one last look before she followed X at her own pace, catching sight of the minute amounts of C-4 placed on it. A small muffled explosion reached their ears as they drove away. 'Lunatics. They are lunatics.' She gave a sigh.

AGX

"What can I do for you?" X asked, smoke slowly billowing out of his mouth as he spoke.

"You can die for me…" Raven purred in his ear.

He felt the cold barrel of the gun against his head. The slow, clicking sound as her finger curled on the trigger. He turned to face her and was rewarded with the bright muzzle flash and the booming report of the gun.

AGX

X sat up with a curse, his left hand on a knife while his right hand held one of his guns. After glancing around his room for a bit, he got out of bed and headed to the kitchen, leaving his weapons behind.

He walked down the stairs, heading for the kitchen when he heard Trish. "What's wrong Vergil? Can't sleep?" The clink of glass was unmistakable and it was followed by a familiar sigh from none other than Vergil.

"Once again, his life is in danger. Genève entrusted his safety in my hands and look at the fuck ups." X was leaning on the wall outside the kitchen, listening. "He's a hot headed fool just like Dante, that's what makes this hard."

"But he's still alive, after all that you and everyone else have taught him." Another clink of the glass followed Trish's voice. "You shouldn't be drinking this much," she cautioned only to be ignored by Vergil who knocked back another drink. "He has some kind of affection towards Scathe's kid, you know?"

"Hard not to notice," Vergil answered with a grunt.

"Are you two done gossiping about me?" X grunted as he entered the kitchen, going to the fridge and pulling out a Monster energy drink. He grabbed a glass and took a seat next to the scowling Vergil, ignoring Trish's glare as well. After opening his drink, he poured half into the glass in front of him and took the whiskey bottle in front of Vergil, pouring some in as well.

"Bad dream?" Trish asked, eyeing the dark copper colored drink in his hands. He didn't drink often, especially just after getting out of bed.

X gave a shrug of his shoulders. "That and Vergil gets irritated when I smoke in the kitchen."

"I don't want you wheezing later on in life."

X rolled his eyes at that, taking a gulp of his drink before looking Vergil in the eyes. "So, what's really bothering you? The fact that I've ignored several of your orders? Or that I've nearly gotten killed twice or three times recently, whichever way you want to look at it."

Trish's hand made a crack as she struck X. The slowly forming hand print glaringly obvious in the dim lit kitchen. Vergil was the first to break the silence that ensued, sighing as he shook his head. X took gulped more of his drink down, arching an eyebrow at Trish as if asking for the reason behind the slap. What he got from the blonde was a glare just short of being murderous.

"That night at the club, you had a woman waiting for the right moment to plant a knife between your ribs or to shoot you, whichever opportunity came first." X gave a small shrug as he motioned for her to continue. "And you've attracted attention from one of Scathe's top level enforcers." X scoffed at that, dismissing the so called danger he'd been in recently.

"Your insignificant fights with Sean Rays, known to you as Storm, are just that. Insignificant." Vergil was the one who spoke now, after taking another drink from the bottle and placing it back on the table. "You attracted his attention when you willingly sold your services to his sister, then you started showing interest in Scathe's daughter," he had a white knuckled grip on the glass in his hands, "Scathe was considering having you eliminated before Father met with him."

"So, I'm supposed to be scared because…" X trailed off as he waited a response.

"Because those fights were nothing serious." Trish's answer was met with a shrug and an eye roll. "Because if he really wanted to, he could kill you."

X dismissed the words with a wave of his hand. "You think Sean can really kill me?"

"Damn it! Don't you get it? There's another player in the city that's trying to get us against each other and you're attracting the attention of a rival leader?" The glass in his hand shattered to pieces against the wall as Vergil stood up, yanking X to his feet. "This isn't a fucking game."

"Never said it was a game." X gulped down the rest of his drink and placed the glass back on the table, "Now, I'd appreciate it if you got out of my face before I punch you."

One moment Trish was watching them stand there, wondering who would back down first. The next moment she was breaking up a fight between them, wondering how stressed out Vergil was to reduce himself to fist fighting with X. After several well placed punches, she managed to get them separated from each other leaving them only the option of glaring at each other.

"What you have to understand is that your sister left your safety in Vergil's hands."

"My sister would still be here if it hadn't been for him." X snarled, his words stunning both Trish and Vergil into silence. He walked off, heading back to his room and shoving past a groggy Dante who stood on the stairs.

"I'll talk to him, Verg. Just leave him alone for now…" Dante grabbed the liquor bottle from the table and followed after X. Vergil sighed as he sat back down, wincing when he ran his hand on his cheek.

"He has a point. It's my fault that she's dead." Trish sighed as she took a seat again, mumbling something about being too early for this level of emotions. A loud yell reached their ears downstairs along with the sound of objects breaking. "I think we woke Setsuna up…" Trish said with a grim smile on her face.

"Ah, son of a bitch!" Dante's cursing and the slamming of a car door were the few warnings to be had before Setsuna's dark green Spyder peeled out of the driveway and was gone in seconds.

A week later…

The bright afternoon sunlight was what brought him out of his sleep when the curtains were pulled back. "Damn it! Close the curtains," he muttered as he tried unsuccessfully to cover his eyes. He gave a sigh as he rolled over, draping his arm around the person next to him and he sank back into the land of sleep.

"Oi, Raven! Time to wake up, luv." X gave a groan, rolling over once more before slowly trying to open his eyes. After a few tries, he succeeded and was rewarded with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling with pictures of stars, suns and other assorted astronomy related pictures spread across it. He took a few moments to process what he was seeing when he heard the British accented voice speak up once more.

"Is that why you bailed on me last night? Shacking up with a cute guy?" X sat up, letting the cool red silk sheets slide down, exposing his torso as he looked towards the source of the voice.

First thing that caught his eye was the crimson red streaks in her black hair, which was pulled back in a ponytail at the moment, accentuating her smooth pale white skin and her red-brown eyes. There was an A tattooed to her chest, visible because of the unbuttoned black shirt she wore. "Who are you?" X asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before looking around.

"I should be asking you that, mate. You're in my room, naked in my bed and with my best friend."

X snapped back into attention at that. He looked to the left, seeing the bundle of covers cocooning his bedmate. Slowly, he pulled the sheets back and caught sight of the indigo hair before letting them drop back again. "Shit… what'd I do?" he muttered.

"I'd say… you shagged my best friend. That's what I think you've done, anyway." Once again, the room's other occupant announced her presence and X groaned once more before throwing off the silk covers. "You do know you're naked, right?" he snorted at that before standing up and looking for his clothes.

"Least I didn't wake up in bed, naked and next to Dante," X muttered and it was the stranger's turn to laugh a bit, earning a grumble from the still naked male.

"So, is it gonna be one of those shag and run things?" X rolled his eyes and was slipping on his boxers when the ball under the sheets gave a groan. Slowly the sheets were pushed off and a tousled head of indigo hair appeared.

Raven sat up, her eyes partially shut as the sheets fell to her waist, before looking around. "Argent? Is that you?" She took a moment to rub her eyes before she opened them once more, seeing her friend standing there with a grin on her face. "What ar-" She went quiet when she made eye contact with X.

"You… might want to cover up there, Rae." Argent giggled when Raven yelped, pulling the sheets back up and glaring at both her and the partially naked X.

"What the hell did you do?"

"What?! What did I do? Why do you assume I did something?" X stopped searching for his pants, turning to look back at her with an incredulous stare. "What did you do? How's that for a question?" Argent tried to suppress her laughter, failing with an unladylike snort as she watched the byplay between both X and Raven.

"I assume you did something because you're naked… and I'm naked under here." Raven knew in fact that something had occurred but if she didn't voice it, it didn't happen. Argent finally stopped laughing, shrugging off the scowls she was on the receiving end of, as she caught her breath. 'No tiptoeing around the subject' a Cheshire cat grin slowly blossomed across the face.

"Oh, come on. You shagged him or rather he shagged you. That's it. Now get dressed, I'm hungry and with all the work both of you put in, I'll assume you're both hungry." Raven groaned, palming her face while X sighed, slipping on the pants and t-shirt he found. "Come on then, let her get dressed." Argent grabbed X by the arm and pulled him out of the room, leaving Raven alone and cursing as she tried to remember how she'd ended up in this position or rather situation.

AGX

"So, have you figured out what you're going to tell Raven exactly?" Argent was eating a slice of pizza, watching X smoke another cigarette as they waited for Raven to come down stairs. X gave a shrug, grinding out the cigarette butt into the lid of the pizza box before grabbing a slice for himself. "You're a Dark Knight, right? I saw the tat when you were dressing."

"Yes, very good of you to notice." X replied drolly, taking a bite of pizza. He scowled at Argent, who erupted into another wave of giggles. The music filtering through the room through the cd player's speakers took a faster pace as the song changed, while X finished his pizza. 'How am I going to salvage this?' The thought speared through his mind, already a headache developing as he leaned back on the couch.

Drops of water flew across his face, forcing him to sit up to wipe away the water. "Thanks, I needed that," he replied dryly watching Raven run a comb through her still wet hair from where she stood.

"Go shower. Go." Raven gestured towards the stairs, and with a sigh, X headed towards the bathroom.

"You might want to put away your underwear, just a thought." Argent, who'd fallen silent to listen to the music, laughed while Raven dashed towards the bathroom quickly. 'Oh yeah, baby, you're not getting rid of this one.' Another amused chuckle escaped her lips when Raven came back to the living room, a scowl and a pretty blush spread across her face.

"So where'd you pick him up? Are you keeping him?" Raven's scowl deepened.

A/N: Well, it's been a long time since I updated, I hope the touch hasn't been lost. Adios for now and see you all around. R and R, if you have that urge.