One night out, that's all she needed.

To be away from her job, her coworkers, even from her friends. She needed to clear her head, go to the shooting range, go and have a drink at a bar. She wasn't the one you would think to drink, but there are times that she would need a couple. Not to take a lot of them to get drunk mind you, but just enough that she would start to feel better about her choices that she has made.

As she walks from the shooting range to a local bar, she comes across a little shop at the corner. It was a quant little shop and had all the stuff you would need for an elegant outing. Clothes, jewelry, purses, you name it, they have it. Now, she wasn't the one to stop in front of stores and window shop like most girls, I'm not like most girls though, She thought.

But there was something in this window that had caught her eye. It wasn't the clothes or any of the purses, and she wasn't the one to wear a lot of jewelry, but this one necklace had caught her attention.

Actually, it was the chain that her eye had saw first, it was a silver metal chain that the design looked like it was part of a thorn bush, three veins that twisted around each other. It wasn't big as some would think but it wasn't really small as well. There was a space in the middle of the chain for a pendant to be put there, there were many pendants you could choose from that would go with the chain. A rose, that was too original. A heart, letters for names she guessed, a book, and other little things that wasn't that appealing to her.

The pendant on the left of the chain was the main attraction to her though. It was a small gun. Guns meant more to her than anyone she could have imagined. Guns were her passion, but they were also a curse. She loved them, yet hated what she had to do with them. Especially when I had helped caused so much pain for the few still alive from that awful time. That, that... she couldn't describe it but there was a name for it.

War.

That was what they were used for, not to just hurt or kill a wanted criminal and bring them to justice. Sometimes she thought that she was a wanted criminal, that the military used criminals to do their dirty work for them. Kill innocent people for no real reason. She supposed that it's because of her commanding officer that she turned to the drinks, like he did. To get some of the pain to go away, but she doesn't like the drink at all, in fact she loathed it. She quit her drinking after the first time she tasted, only to drink if it was absolutely necessary and she knew that she would break down one day.

She gathered her thoughts and went to the bar a few blocks ahead. Now that she was thinking clearly, she was only going to find someone to talk to instead of getting drunk. She went to the bar and sat down. She looked around for a familiar face but did not find one when the waiter came and took her order. She ordered a cup of tea, but did not drink it at first. She just stared into it, thinking about what she has done in her life that had made a difference in someone's life. Anyone. What have I done so far that has been so great? In the war I killed the innocent, children even. I had not slept for a while during that war, or even after it ended. I'm the best sniper, I shot people from afar but even now I see their faces as they fell to the ground. People say that I'm special, that I'm a valuable ally.

"What is so god damn special about me?", she spoke out loud, but quietly so that no one could hear. Or so she thought.

"Who isn't though?"

She turned her head to meet a man wearing mostly black, but with a vest with white fur on the collar. He pulled a chair up so he could sit on it next to her and smiled.

"What do you mean by that?"

"People have their own special talent, it could be a good thing or a bad thing. we all regret it at one point though. It all depends on how you look at it in the long run. The ones that are too good for their own good, are the ones that regret that they haven't done anything really worth it, while the bad ones will always curse themselves that they didn't do anything right for people that they like", he said before he took a gulp from his beer.

"So . . . " he said putting down the glass. "Which one are you?"

"... I'm not sure... both I assume", she said and took a sip from her tea.

"How do you figure that?", he asked as she put her tea back onto the table.

"I have always done that people had asked me to do, without an objection. But also I have done terrible things to people, innocent people"

"I see..."

"... How about you? What's your story?"

"Mmmhmmm . . . I guess I'm from the bad side", he said as he took another gulp and finished his beer. "I've only help myself and I intend to keep doing so. . . What do you say if we go out and get to know each other a little more, maybe go out to get something to eat?", he said grinning, showing his unusual sharp teeth.

"Keep it in your pants or I'll shoot it off", she said nonchalantly downing the rest of her tea.

"Wow, that's pretty harsh."

She got up and put some money down for the tea. She started to walk away when she stopped and said to him. "I think your wrong."

"I'm wrong about what?", he said a little ticked off. No one ever told him that he was wrong before, usually the person who did would be dead the next minute or so.

"You're wrong about yourself... you just helped me." she said facing him, giving him a small smile. She then walked out of the door to her house.

"Heh, your one in a million babe", he said as he got another drink.

The next day at work, Riza found a small box on her desk when she came in. She opened it and found the exact necklace from last night in the window with the gun pendant. There was a note with it, it read:

Your not so bad yourself doll. We'll meet again. Greed

She smiled but soon found herself pondering, How did he know about the necklace? Or where my desk was? She put the necklace in her pocket to be forgotten until later when she was out of work, at home.