Cowboy Bebop Fan Fiction ❯ Cowgirl Ed ❯ Afros in the Sun ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO

Afros in the Sun

"Abdul, check this out."

The dark-eyed giant opened his eyes. Standing well over seven feet tall, he could never be missed in a crowd. His massive afro and furious demeanor didn't help, either. He'd certainly gotten paler in Martian prison, especially in isolation as he was, but the blazing sun was slowly returning his dark complexion. `The second I get my hands on that scrawny little bounty hunter,' he thought often, `it'll all be worth it.'

He looked over at his partner, an exotic and buxom beauty named Train, and asked, "What is it? Find the trail?"

She stood at around six-foot five-inches, certainly shorter than Abdul, but taller and sharper than many of the air-headed women who she was usually compared to. Her exceptionally dark skin contrasted his lighter flesh, but her afro was nearly identical, making it easy to match the two together. That was one of the things that had attracted her to him. And now she was stuck in this awful mess. She stretched out the full length of her right arm and pointed a long, slender finger to the ground nearby.

"Actually, Hakim, yeah," was all she said.

I quickly looked to where she pointed. Sure enough, there were tracks. More accurately, there were footprints. And paw prints.

He grinned broadly. "Bingo."

Finally, after nearly three days of randomly wandering the desert, they'd found a trail. He grabbed Train by the wrist and began walking swiftly, his eyes scanning the sand and his legs making broad strokes. Train found it terribly difficult to keep up, and nearly fell over several times tripping over rocks and brush.

Hakim quickly realized that dragging her behind him was not going to work, especially at their current pace. He quickly turned and swooped down, scooping up Train and sitting her atop his broad shoulders, straddling his head. She let out a small cry before realizing what he was doing and settling down. Once she was secure, she bent low and gave him a peck on the cheek. Though his face didn't show it, she knew Hakim practically melted at her touch. He'd grown up in such a harsh and cruel environment and for someone to show him such respect and compassion was nearly overwhelming.

She held Hakim's fro for support as she sat calmly and welcomed the rare rest for her feet. Her thoughts drifted back to when the two first met. She was sitting in the Loser Bar, a prime hangout for fugitives, alone but for the annoying worm attempting in vain to woo her. Her favorite song came on the jukebox, a practically ancient disco tune from the 1970's, and she began to dance. She was really going when she accidentally bumped into the huge, pale Indian man, spilling his drink all over the floor and nearly causing him to slip.

He stood tall, showing off his full size and almost hitting his head on the ceiling. Mouth agape, I watched him hold out his hands and…apologizing. To her. Even though she'd bumped into him. In truth, he told her later, she was "too beautiful for him to be angry with her." `Well,' she rationalized, `a gentleman for any reason is still a gentleman.'

But the annoying loser from before took his gesture as a sign of aggression. He walked right up to Hakim and began to push him. Or at least he tried, since all he'd done was slide backwards. Hakim looked her in the eyes as if asking for permission to hurt him. She nodded slowly. Not to dwell on the painful details, but let's just say she left on his arm that night. He'd told her the truth immediately, that he had just been released from Martian prison and came here to get away. She admired his honesty, and took him back to her apartment. She didn't usually enjoy being called "fast", but she certainly was just that.

That was about two years ago, and she wasn't one to dwell too much on the past. But how had so much obvious chemistry between the two of them become so marred in this business? She'd never know exactly. All she knew for now was that she was in the desert, searching everywhere for a stupid kid and a dog…