-5-

Revy was noticeably more calm having gotten the events of Kage's death off her chest. Rock however had finally hit bottom as tears fell from his eyes.

"Rock?" Revy asked quietly.

He blinked his tears loose and replied, "Did you find him?"

"Rock…" He cut her off screaming, "Did you find the fuck that killed my mother?!"

"Yes."

"Did you kill him?!"

"There's more to it Rock." She again replied calmly.

-

"I called one of our contacts in the area, had him take care of the bodies, and I went back

to the house. I needed to get the fuckin' bullet out and I couldn't just go to a hospital."

Falling in and out of consciousness, Revy dropped her gun on the coffee table and clumsily fell onto the white leather couch in her former boss's living room; a pair of pliers in her right hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in her left. She took a long swig from the bottle and took a few deep breaths. Slowly slipping the pliers into her abdomen, her screams filled the room. The slightest movement of the pliers inside her brought about immense pain as blood poured from the half-inch hole in her gut. For nearly two minutes she screamed an unholy wail when finally she felt the contact of the bullet through the handle.

Without thinking, she ripped the pliers out and the pain instantly escalated. The bottle neck shattered in her left hand but within a few seconds, she felt slight relief, now only feeling the pain of the wound itself. She pressed a hand to the wound to slow the bleeding; her tears covered her beet-red face as she choked out her cries.

The front door to the home crept open and again, like a switch, Revy focused instantly retrieving her gun from the table.

Ito and another man walked through the door smiling and laughing. As soon as she saw his face she began to pull the trigger. While the man he had come with managed to escape unharmed, Ito fell to the floor of the home when the slide locked back. She wrenched slightly as she hastily stood from the couch, but managed to get to her feet and walk over to Ito.

She had hit him about where she had been hit, inflicting just enough pain to immobilize him, but far from fatally wounding him. She stood over him and while she wanted nothing more than to end him right there, she casually reloaded her gun and blew a hole through each of his knees ensuring he would not be moving.

She walked to the door and closed it before falling to the floor. She turned her back up against the door, now seated just a few inches away from the man who had taken something very dear to her away.

She pressed the gun to his forehead and of all the questions she could have asked before blacking out, she asked, "Who was with you?"

Ito smiled and laughed slightly bringing her to smash her gun across his face knocking him out.

Several hours later, Revy had both stitched and bandaged her own wound. She left Ito's wounds as she had inflicted them and sat him up on the couch, his hands and feet thoroughly, perhaps overly secured. She tossed a bucket of water at him bringing him to wake up and as soon as he focused on her again, he once again began laughing.

She reached into her pocket retrieving a syringe and he asked full of the arrogance she had come to expect from him, "What're you gonna do, poison me? Seems awfully quick and easy don't you think?"

"Sure does…" She slammed the needle into his neck and emptied its contents into him, "…that's why I'm shooting you up with PCP. I want to make sure you stay awake while I'm beating you to death."

She ripped the needle from his neck and whipped her gun across his face breaking his nose.

"Who the fuck was with you?!"

"Go fuck yourself." Ito replied.

Revy fist crashed into his already bloody nose and she asked again, "Who the fuck was with you, you fucking cocksucker?!"

"Fuck you."

She smiled and gracefully if not carefully straddled him as to not further upset her own wound. She wrapped his blood soaked face with her hands forcing his eyes to meet hers, "I really hope you stay this arrogant the whole time I'm killing you. If you just gave up, that'd be such a fucking waste for both of us."

He spit a thick wad of blood on her face and she blinked as she flinched. Again she smiled before repeatedly slamming either her gun or her fists across his face. Nearly every surface in the room was slowly getting covered in his blood and even with nearly an overdose worth of stimulants flowing through his system, he began to show signs of fading. This meant the drugs were wearing off, and this meant he was beginning to feel the numerous injuries she was inflicting on him

She leaned to his ear and whispered, "I can make the pain stop, just tell me who the fuck was with you."

He finally lost it, replying through his gasps for life, "His son."

She wore her surprise on her face, "What?"

"His son hated him. Hated not being involved in the family. With Kage gone, he would take control." Ito replied.

Revy's eyes narrowed and she stood from his lap and walked to the door.

"Aren't you gonna fucking untie me?!" Ito screamed.

Revy chuckled slightly, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

"But you said…" She cut him off as she walked back over to him, "I said I'd make the pain stop, I didn't say it would save your life."

She withdrew her gun and shot him several times in both legs with a wide smile on her face. As he screamed in agony, she pulled him off the couch by his hair and threw him through the glass table in the center of the room. He writhed in pain on the floor and Revy watched on wholly satisfied at the sight.

She spit on him and addressed him this one last time, "Quit your fuckin' crying, you'll have bled to death in an hour."

-

Rock sat back against the wall. His eyes were completely bloodshot and he asked, looking for her to verify what she had told him, "So my brother, he arranged everything?"

Revy nodded bringing Rock's forehead to fall into his palms, "How could he do this?"

He raised his head and now began to scream, "They gave him everything! He was their favorite for fuck's sake and this is how he repaid them, by having them fucking killed?!"

"I'm sorry Rock." Revy replied quietly, "I'm so fuckin' sorry. I can't even begin to understand how we ended up here."

Revy observed Rock as he sat infuriated. He was so typically easy going, to see him in this state, it was almost fascinating.

"Did you ever find him?" He finally asked calmly.

"Your brother?" He nodded and she continued, "All of your father's men, those who were most loyal to him and could help me find him, they were all dead by the end of that night."

"How did you survive?" Rock asked in suspicion.

"By the skin of my fuckin' teeth. Before I could even get out of the house, your brother had sent a couple of men to the house for me. I was on the run for hours when I finally lost them in Tochigi. I met Dutch later that night at a shipping yard and the rest is history."

Again they sat in silence for a few moments before Rock leaned to Revy. She didn't waver or flinch as his lips closed in on hers, though he paused for just a moment before finally giving her a gentle kiss, which would turn into a raw display of emotion.

Their hands roughly probed each other's bodies as they got to their feet. Rock slowly backed her up against a wall as buckles and buttons were undone and a gamut of brutal sex played out for several moments; the fine line between a consensual act and a violent assault being stretched to its limits.

Kissing and biting. Caressing and scratching. Screaming and crying.

They collapsed into each other's arms, completely spent of emotions, exhausted of this act, of this day, and of this dreadful conversation.

They stared into each other's tear riddled eyes for a few moments and with no words, Rock had completely absolved her of what she'd done while Revy finally felt a modicum of closure for what had happened.

-

Several hours had passed since they had made amends. They once again sat on the bed, their clothes present, though tattered from the violence in which they were removed.

The bottle of Bacardi was now empty and the ashtray at their side overflowed with cigarette butts.

"Well Rock?" Revy asked as she played with one of the new rips in her shirt, her tone once again normal, "What the fuck happens now?"

Rock's head fell back against the wall and he exhaled a puff of smoke as he replied, "He doesn't know I know and I'm positive I could find him. The only question is; can I sign my own brother's death certificate?"

"Not a decision I can help you make. He was your father, and this is your brother. But know this, if you ask me to come to Japan with you, and we find him, he's going to die." Revy replied.

Rock sat silent for a moment. Without a word, he stood from the bed and walked to the door. Revy's eyes followed him as he walked away though her gaze eventually fell back to her ripped clothes.

Just as the night, the conversation and the heartache had seemingly come to a close, Rock asked as he reached the door, "You coming or what?"