A/N: Reviews would be very nice, good or bad :)
Chapter 3: We're Doing Fine Without You
The room was dim with cigarette smoke and filled with the sound of chatter and glasses being slammed on tables. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and inhaled deeply. I loved cigarettes, I don't care about people bitching about how bad they are for you. I also love smokers. Don't get me wrong, I'm talking about real smokers, smokers who enjoy smoking, not those idiots who piss and moan that they can't quit and eat up the sympathy people give them for it. I hate people like that. No, I like smokers who know it's bad, who don't want to quit, and don't give a flying fuck if people disapprove of it. Those are the kind of people that I was surrounded with in that small and cramped bar that had a reputation for it's questionable customers.
I cracked one of my eyes open just a bit to see my partners flaming red hair at a table across from me. A smirk crept on my face as my gaze slowly traveled lower to her ass that was sticking out as she bent over the table trying to grab something out of one of the men's hand that sat across from her. It wiggled around a bit as she continued her struggle which was far from an unpleasant sight.
"Give it back, you asshole!"
"Make me, girly," The man said in a gruff voice as he held what appeared to be Meg's poker earnings higher in his hairy hand.
I sighed and closed my eyes for only a moment longer before uncrossing my legs and rising from my seat. It took me less than a second to appear behind the man and grabbing his fat hand with enough force to cause pain, but not enough to break it. Yet. "Aren't you a little old to be playing keep away with a child?"
Meg glared at my comment but didn't say anything as the man twisted around to get a good look at the person grabbing him. I could see myself reflecting in his dark sunglasses. I had my black leather jacket on with a simple white tank top underneath it along with a very worn pair of jeans and black boots. My long white hair was still in it's braid but my face now bore a thin scar running down my right eye. I watched it wrinkle as my grin grew wider.
"What? You here to protect you girl friend, you fucking dyke?!" He shouted at me.
I tilted my head slightly as my face fell. I wasn't really sure what 'dyke' meant, but I was smart enough to know I was being insulted. My hand grasped his tighter and I could see his face contort in pain.
"Hey, she's not my girl friend!" Meg shouted, her face turning the shade of her hair.
"Meg, sweety, the grown ups are talking right now. You shouldn't interrupt," I said to her a little colder than I had meant to without taking my eyes off of the man before me.
My partner made an exasperated sigh as she stomped off, leaving me to get the money for her.
"Listen to me, you hairy grease ball. You're going to go over to my friend and give her her money back. Then you are going to apologize profusely for upsetting her," I said in a quiet tone as I held his hand tighter. "Do you understand me?" I asked with a squeeze that was hard enough for me to feel his bones grinding together.
He grasped in pain and nodded his head. He looked like he would be sick.
"Good boy," I smiled at myself, feeling very proud for not only showing such restraint, but also using the word 'profusely'. It was a good word.
The man stumbled out of his chair, his hand clutched gently in his other. I grinned ear to ear as I watched him approach Meg tentatively as though afraid of her and handed her the money. I watched him take several bows before walking out of the building like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. Meg looked up at me and I could see her sigh. This didn't bother me as I made my way over to her. We walked out of the bar slowly and stood outside the door. "So, how much money did you earn us?!" I was never aloud to play poker. That was Meg's job. I was terrible at it. I couldn't help but grin whenever I had a good hand or throwing a fit when I had a bad one. Meg wasn't so great at it herself but she had gotten better at it over the years to the point where she hardly ever lost. This of course meant that men who were far to full of themselves often accused her of cheating. Admittedly, we did cheat quite a bit at first but it didn't really seem necessary anymore. Besides, it was harmless cheating, really. I mean no one was going to really miss a few cards disappearing and suddenly changing into new ones....
"5,000 yen."
"That's it?" My face fell quickly and my felt even emptier than before Meg had started playing to earn us some food and shelter for a few days.
"They didn't have anything else or they just didn't play it," Meg said with an even sadder expression than my own. As if to mock us, her stomach growled loudly making people near by stare.
"Meg, how do you expect us to eat if you don't get more money!"
"Well if a certain trigger happy lunatic didn't try to kill every person who has ever hired us, we would have something to eat," She said with a very sour look on her face. It took me a few moments to realize who exactly the trigger happy lunatic was.
"Hey, that man tried to rip us off! I should be paid a lot more than what he was offering for what he was asking!"
"It's not like he was asking for a blowjob, Maria! All you had to do was catch the man who stole his wife's ring, but oh noooo! You had to pull a gun out on him and demand more money, chasing him away!"
"He should have taken it like a man and haggled with me!"
"HAGGLING DOESN'T INVOLVE GUNS, MARIA!!"
"It does if you're cool."
"....I hate you, I really do," Meg said with a sigh as she gave up the argument and held up her hand to stare at the money in her hand. "Well, it's better than nothing."
We both stared at the cash in Meg's hand longly and never noticed the sound of shoes approaching me from behind.
"Excuse me, but are you the mercenaries in this add?" Someone asked as they tapped me on the shoulder. Without thinking I pulled my desert eagle out and pointed it directly at the person's face. He was a balding, middle aged man, who could stand to lose a few pounds in my opinion. He looked at the gun in his face and began to sweat. At some point, I think he forgot to breath. The add he was referring to was on a flier that Meg had passed out about a week ago that he now held out tightly in his hand.
"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND POINTING YOUR GUN AT PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HIRING US!" Meg shouted at the top of her lungs causing people on the street to stop in their tracks and watch us as though they were waiting for something.
"Well, he shouldn't have snuck up on me like that," I said defensively as I put my gun back in it's holder that was supported by my belt. "Besides, I could have done worse. I could have pulled my dagger out on him. I can do a lot more damage with that and make it a lot more painful," I stated with a certain amount of pride as my hand twitched as though aching to reach out and slip the dagger from it's sheath that was wrapped around my leg.
Meg looked as though she was going to strangle me as she forced a smile on her face to address the man before me who hadn't moved an inch. "Uh, sorry about her, she's a little insane, but I assure you she is quiet capable of doing any job you have in mind!"
The man nodded with a look on his face that suggested he was too afraid to argue. "Yes, well, I warn you, the job I am asking you to do is a very challenging one, however I will pay you handsomely."
Meg's face lit up. There were two things that Meg truly loved: money and food. "We'll do it!"
The streets were so crowed you could hardly breath without bumping into to somebody. It was perfect. It aloud me to observe the two women who were across the street from me in front of some sort of shabby looking bar without being noticed. They were having what appeared to be an argument as the one with red hair was getting more frustrated. She wore a red leather bomber jacket with tan fur at the top. The yellow skirt she was wearing with it left little to the imagination. The woman in front of her was in a black leather jacket and jeans. What interested me more was the dagger that was close to a short sword strapped to her leg. That one would be dangerous. The one with red hair was armed as well, with a small revolver, but this did not concern me.
"HAGGLING DOESN'T INVOLVE GUNS, MARIA!!" The one with red hair shouted at the one with white loud enough for me to hear across the busy street.
A smile spread across my face as I watched my father approach the girl with white hair. I nearly leapt out of my skin in excitement as she pulled a gun out and stuck it to his fat face.
"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! YOU CAN'T JUST GO AROUND POINTING YOUR GUN AT PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN HIRING US!"
I felt my heart sink as the white haired one put her gun back with a look as disappointed as my own.
I mentally kicked myself for getting so excited. I should have known better than to have such hopes.
I pulled my hood farther down my eyes as I stalked off down the street. So he was going through with it after all.
"The job is to kill my son," The man said bluntly. I couldn't believe what the man I had just been envisioning as a cuddly teddy bear just told us.
"Uh, I'm sorry I don't think I heard you right," I said with as much calm as I could. "You want us to do what?"
"You heard me correctly."
"Right, I just wanted to be sure before I started freaking out. Why the hell would you have a contract put out on your own son?! The hell is wrong with you?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Families were supposed to love each. They would never do something like this to one another. This guy was ruining what my idea of what having a family would be like and I wasn't appreciating it.
" My son has done terrible things," The man said with his eyes downcast. "I love him. He is my son. But I cannot, I will not, allow him to continue to harm others. He must be stopped. The police don't care and I am powerless. That is why I wish to hire you."
Maria grinned in a way that always reminded me of the cute cat from 'Alice in Wonderland'.
"Whatever, I don't care what he's done. Just tell me where he is and I'll do it!" She said with an eagerness that frightened me.
"You can't be serious! What did he do that was so bad that you feel the need to end your own son's life?" I asked with my voice slightly shacking.
"He killed my wife and has done terrible things to her daughter that I do not wish to speak of," The man said with tears leaking from his eyes. "Please, I cannot let him continue this...I must stop him."
I felt my heart sink and my anger and confusion left me in an insist making me feel strangely empty. It never ceased to surprise me how cruel humans were. They lied, stole, cheated, killed, raped, tortured, humiliated and defiled one another. It never seemed fair how cruel humans and life itself was. It was cruel I never had a family, that I was homeless along with children that I had to take care of, that Jo and Maria had been experiments, how they were raised, how they lived. Our lives were filled with misery and very few good memories. Yet somehow we got through it because we had each other. I had Shirley, Charlie, Dorothy, Sei, Amy, Jo, and even that annoying sip of a boy, Kyohei. I could never imagine what my life would be like if I had never met them. I loved them, they were my family. Even though they were gone, living their own lives or dead, I still loved them. And now I had Maria. Maria never had anyone to love her. She was always alone. She never got away like Jo did. Living like that for so long broke her for life.
It scared me to think that Jo could have ended up like her. Jo was my guardian, my best friend, and my biggest crush for years. I loved her more than I have ever loved anyone in my life. She protected me from the world. When she left I felt like all the things she was shielding me from came slamming into me all at once. I thought I wouldn't be able to survive it. I didn't believe I would ever truly get over it. Her death would haunt me for the rest of my life. But I was okay. I had Maria by my side. Maria and I need each other and no one else. We were quite capable with just the two of us. Maria was like a lover, a best friend, and a sister all rolled into one.
Family, weather by blood or not, was the most important thing in this world. It shook me to no end to know that people could do things like that to their own family. The thought broke my heart.
I didn't know what the hell Meg was so upset about but I didn't like it. I mean sure, Meg was upset all the time, but this was different.
I placed my hand on her shoulder and watched her intensely, fearing she was going to break out into tears at any minute. Suddenly, Meg lifted her head and looked at the man with her bright blues eyes shining in determination. "Don't worry, We'll take care of it."
