"Don't do such a thing ever again!"

Revy was furious. She violently pushed the door with her elbow and used her heel to abruptly close it barely after Rock went through.

He didn't want to speak to her right now. He was tired, upset and more importantly, he didn't see why he should justify his choice. What he did was right. He had refused to let Balaïka kill that poor girl and he had been right. She was just a kid, she wasn't eighteen yet, she had nothing to do with their business. She should have had a normal life and not been involved in the middle of some gangs war with the Russian mafia and the underworld.

And moreover, Rock knew Revy wasn't ready to listen to him now. It was better to wait until she calmed down before trying anything. But the problem was Rock's silence made her even madder. She stood before him, arms crossed on her chest and she began to yell at him.

"Can you tell me why you did that? Huh? We were almost killed there, did you even realise it? Have you already lost your mind? And all this shit for what? Some lazy bitch with glasses? You've got to be kidding me!"

She stared at him from head to toes then she began to pace the room while continuing her rant.

"I don't know what happens to you, Rock, and I won't pretend to understand how you feel, but since we're here, you're not yourself anymore. And you freak the hell out of me with your stupid face of goody-two-shoes. If you want that much to end your fucking life, you only have to ask! I'd prefer doing it myself! This will be done quickly and I won't risk anything to save your fucking ass!"

Rock lowered his gaze and Revy went to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Hey! Are you listening, you asshole?"

Rock's blank stare was her only answer and rather than to appease her, it angered her even more. Revy shook him and screamed her rage as she pushed him against the wall.

"I know you always want to be the good Samaritan, but here, believe me, the only thing you'll win is a bullet right into your head and unfortunately I may be on the way! I don't intend to die for something insignificant like that! Damn it, Rock!"

Her last sentence made him snap. Rock came out of his lethargy and he pushed her hard. Revy was quite surprised so she let him escape her grip but he remained still in front of her.

"Something insignificant like that? That girl has nothing to do with it! Fuck, Revy, you are well aware of that, aren't you? She doesn't belong to our world!"

"Our world! Our world, Rock? Are you kidding me? There's no our world and the outside. There's only the living and the dead, that's all. And this girl, she is like us, she is already dead. She's just still able to move a bit."

Her tone was even more disillusioned and violent than her words and Rock felt his wrath grow.

"You and your fucking ideas! She's only a kid, she can still move on!"

"Ha! As if it had anything to do with her age!"

All her stance so full of confidence was pushing Rock's patience to its limit. Okay, she was in this business since much longer than him, but it wasn't a reason for her to accept to lead an innocent highschool girl in this too. And above all, to accept that she'd get killed for no reason.

"Everybody is not like you, Revy! She still...''

''Do not finish that sentence Rock!"

Her tone was threatening and dead serious.

"If you gonna say some shit like she still has a chance, just shut up. "

Her black eyes were locked on him, more dangerous than her cutlass's cannon, but Rock wasn't impressed. He just sighed and looked away.
Even at night, the city was shining. This city never slept.

"It's not that she still has a chance, everybody has a chance as long as they're alive. It's just that... I don't know, Revy, I can't stand still and do nothing. I know you can understand, you've seen her just like me! She's innocent, she's pure, she's..."

He didn't know how to explain. He was tired and he did'nt want to speak about that He sat on his bed and looked out of the window.

"You like her," Revy whispered in a voice surprisingly calm.

Rock suddenly turned his head and looked at her with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You don't need to pretend, I saw how you were always looking at her. She's your type, the young schoolgirl in her cute little uniform. The kind of little girl with pigtails and glasses. It's true that you'd make a lovely couple together."

Her words were dripping with sarcasm, but also something else. Disgust and hatred tinged with a curious bitterness like deep pain or betrayal. Or was it jealousy?
But Rock wasn't able to analyze the way she talked, he was too shocked that she could imagine such a thing. This wasn't the reason he wanted to protect her. He didn't even think of her for one second as a woman; she was a child.

"Please, Revy! She's barely eighteen!"

"Mmm... yeah, so what? To me it's kind of disgusting, but I also know it's a great trip for you Japs, isn't it? They love to meet those sweet little girls so well educated they can deflower in a cheap motels."

With a wicked smile, she added, "Although this might be a first for you too, Rocky baby..."

She leaned dangerously towards him and put her kneel on the mattress just to provoke him and he knew it but he had to defend his honor.

"Sorry to disappoint you Revy, but I'm not as stereotypical as you seem to see me."

"Oh really? Yet I've never seen you with a girl... Maybe you prefer boys instead?"

Rock held his breath, then replied coldly, "I've never seen you with a guy either, Revy. But I recon, I've often seen with some nun..."

He smirked and she could only responded with an evil smile and a look to kill.

"Ha! A whore like Eda! Even for a million bucks I wouldn't do her!"

"So you admit to be rather focused on girls."

"Not even in your dream, shitface! I'm not on the pussy side! And I'm not the one who kisses and tells, okay?"

She stressed heavily on the last point, hammering his chest with her fist at each word, as if she needed to make sure she was serious, but Rock didn't intend to be swayed so easily.

"And what makes you think I don't know how to be discreet, too? Just because you didn't see anything doesn't mean I did nothing."

He raised an eyebrow as if to prove his point, stating that if she could have fun without anyone knowing about it, he might well have done the same, but it didn't please Revy.

"Yeah? Except that Roanapur is full of guys while if you want a girl... unless of course you go upstairs in Bao's for a ride with Mrs. Flora..."

Rock's disgusted face amused Revy and she went on.

"Oh no, it's true that you prefer your girl pure and innocent. My bad, I'd forgot. "

Rock reacted without thinking of the consequences and he grabbed Revy's sweater abruptly.

"Stop with it, okay. It's not a game for me! She doesn't interest me, it's not my style!"

Revy freed herself easily but stayed in front of him when she asked, "Oh yeah? And what's your type then?"

She was really close to him and he didn't want to think. This whole conversation bored him. She went from his motivations to save a girl to his sex life, to return to the danger of his choice and back through his personnal preferences in girls matters, it was ridiculous. So he put his hands on her hips and whispered, "You piss me off, Revy."

He tried to resist the urge to push her more than necessary and he ended the discussion by closing his eyes, ready to roll on the other side of the bed but she didn't let him.

"Wait up, Rock! You say you're not interested in our cute Japanese girl, fine, but if you want me to believe you, I have to know what truly motivates you in this shit."

She had a special gleam in the eyes and her tone had changed. She was just trying to provoke him and he knew it. Their discussion didn't have anything to do with the highschool girl anymore. But he didn't know where she was leading him at. As he half lay in the cushions, Rock simply said, "It's beea an hour I'm listening to you and we never go anywhere, so just drop it. All I can tell you is that it's I'm really not interessed in her and I'd like to sleep. That's it."

He managed to fully extend his arm to catch the blanket, but before he could curl in it he heard Revy's voice near him.

"Oh yeah? And then who get your interess?"

Rock could almost see her smile. Probably hungry rather than tender, but after all, it was Revy, so he shouldn't ask too much. Keeping his eyelids closed, he replied in a sarcastic tone, "For all I know, right now there isn't many people available. So perhaps you've got an idea?"

"Mmm... Maybe..." Revy said with a smile, "but you know that if you go there, you'll be playing with fire, Rock."

"I think I've already been doing so for months, no?"

His answer seemed to suit her because he felt her come a little closer. It didn't bother him and he didn't open his eyes, but he knew she was there. Her body over his, probably a leg either side of his hips and one hand on each side of his head.

"And you're sure to be up to it? "She asked in a voice more sensual, but always tinged with irony.

Rock appeared to reflect a bit, hesitating to move, then he lifted his left hand slightly and slowly approached Revy, without touching her.

"Depends. I'm not necessarily that great with this business, but I think I am quite dutiful and even if I don't usually use conventional means, I tend to get the results you want, right?"

Revy felt a shudder run up her back by only imagining what he might actually do. He was gifted, it was undeniable and he surprised her more than once, so why wouldn't she try him in this field too? After all, it was not as if the idea had never crossed her mind. He wasn't the kind of guy who fucked a girl like that, just to relax or to kill some time so it was clear that he would be attentive.

Rock's hand followed the curves of her body without touching her and it was much more exciting that way. It gave him a sense of control of the situation and it was rather pleasant to be the one active, for once.

"Turn off the light."

Rock's voice was low and even if he almost gave her an order, Revy didn't feel offended. She reached for the switch and the room was half immersed in the only light came from the city that extented behind the windows.

"You're not gonna try to make some kind of romantic plan, eh Rock? "

Revy wasn't quite sure of what she felt when she saw him with his eyes glued to her even in the darkness, but it wasn't something she expected right there.

Rock smiled and finally snaked his hands under her sweater.

"Don't worry Revy. I am even able to not kiss you."

There was amusement in his voice that made Revy smile and she raised her arm to help him to remove her clothes before she went for his shirt.

Of course, she stayed on top of him even after being fully undress and Rock made no attempt to change her place.

He kept his word and resisted the urge to kiss her and he only let his hands and his tongue plead his case and show her what he could do.

He didn't use sex to get her support, but he still tried to show her how he felt in their situation and that he wasn't as incompetent and unconcerned as she believed he was. He was alive and she too, despite all her fine phrases saying that they were already dead.

By his caresses and his ministrations, he proved they were both still alive and they could change things. And by the passion he put in his every move, it was clear that if he felt some kind of attraction for someone, it could be for her.

Revy was greedy and violent, demanding more and more as if every second was the last. But the pleasure he aroused in her was sufficient to remind her that she wasn't only a corpse on reprieve.

Rock hid his face in the crook of her neck as she continued to move up and down and he struggled not to succumb before her.

It was sudden and impulsive, she rolled her hips once more and planted her nails into his back, desperate to get satisfaction and like a shot, she felt the intensity of the discharge. The adrenaline soared and the whole room lit up before plunging back into the night.

Out of breath, Revy remained against Rock and let him rocked her slowly in his arms.

The lips on her collarbone, Rock murmured lightly, "Will you help me?"

Revy sighed dramatically, ran her fingers through his hair and then she stretched and bent her head up, giving him a perfect view of her neck down her breast and she replied, "I will do what it takes to keep you alive. Apparently, you can still be used. "

Then with a smile, she rolled back her head and sank her teeth into his shoulder with the very idea to start a second round.