Disclaimer: I don't own Outlaw Star, though I wish on every star in the galaxy I did, so please don't sue me 'kay?

Note: This story takes place about two years before the start of the series, so it's not necessarily AU or OOC, but it could be I guess.

Boutou Hoshi*

By: Adakie aka Jim No Miko

Gene Starwind slowly sauntered down the street, humming a tune that he had heard the day before. Things were going well for him . . . or at least they had been up until tonight. He'd had a string of fairly small time bounty hunter jobs. Some of them were a little too dangerous for his taste and he definitely knew he'd have a few more scars by the time he took off the bandages on his arm, but the money was good, and that was all that mattered.

He'd messed up on the last one though. He was suppose to find some guy, a kid really, for a secret organization that thought themselves too important to do their own dirty work. Gene had though, at the time, that it'd be the easiest job yet, but somehow it just hadn't worked. He ran a hand through his rust red hair. 'Easy,' he thought to himself, 'ya right. No leads, no clues, and only one witness . . . what was I thinking?' He knew he'd have to leave town soon to avoid the inevitable, but he'd already done nearly all the jobs that could be done here. 'You've got to move on eventually anyway, right?' Yes, things were still going well for him.

His thought train suddenly came to a screeching halt as the all to familiar sound of fist hitting flesh reached his ears. He stopped in his tracks, wondering if it was real or just his imagination getting the better of him. No, there it was again, from an alley just down the street. Gene set off at top speed, after all it could be some beautiful damsel in distress . . . or not. It was just some guy getting beaten up by a couple of thugs. 'Probably a mugging gone bad,' he thought as he jumped into the fray, 'oh well, I guess I'll still help out.'

The first of the three went down easily enough, a few well placed punches and he was out cold. Only after the odds were thus evened up did Gene take the time to look around him. The last two thugs, tall, slender man with dark purple hair and a scar over one eye and a big, black haired guy with a bloody nose. The first guy was restraining a brown haired boy, no older than ten, with slightly dark skin.

"What are you waiting for?!" he yelled, "Get him!" The black haired guy nodded, then drew a knife and started toward Gene.

"Oh, now this is getting interesting." Gene said, drawing a dagger of his own. The two were soon a blur of movement, each slashing for all they were worth and neither doing too much damage. Soon, however, Gene got the upper hand and, grabbing him by the collar, threw the large man clear across the street and onto a nearby tavern’s doorstep. This time it was the other man’s turn to pull out a dagger, but he used his in a completely different way, pressing it close to the kid’s neck.

"Don’t move! Drop the knife and put your hands in the air, or the boy dies!"

Gene slowly dropped his dagger and lifted his hands above his head. After all, he couldn’t just let the boy die. ‘But then,’ he reasoned, ‘why would these guys be after a kid in the first place? He doesn’t look like he’d have much of anything and they’ve obviously gone to some trouble to catch him if there willing to deal with me, so why is he so important?’ He started to step forward.

"I said don’t move!" The tall guy pressed the knife closer to push the point.

"All right, all right. Just answer me this, who’s the kid?"

"That’s none of your business."

"Oh really?" With one quick movement Gene drew his gun and aimed it towards the man’s head. "Because I think differently. Now drop the knife, let the kid go, and back away . . . slowly."

Amazingly, the man, now obviously quite scared, did as he was told. ‘Well,’ Gene thought, ‘I guess he just couldn’t stand up to . . . oh cr*p.’ The man lunged forward and he barely managed to avoid being skewed. However, with a quick sidestep, Gene managed to get behind him and threw him out of the alley with his "friend".

The boy was standing just a few feet behind him, slowly catching his breath. Gene turned to him, only to find that he had to look almost straight down to look him in the eye. He seemed to have an almost grayish cast to him and his vivid blue eyes seemed cold and unfeeling. Wide, darkening patches grazed his face and a thin trail of blood stood out against the pallor of his skin.

"Well hello down there," said Gene, trying to sound cheerful, "I’m glad you’re okay." The boy didn’t say anything, and seemed to barely acknowledge his presence. Gene decided to try again.

"Hey, do you know why those guys were after you?" Still no response.

"Hum . . . this isn’t going well. I know, why don’t we just start over, okay?" He bent down slightly and shook this kid’s hand vigorously. "Hi, my name’s Gene Starwind, what’s yours?"

Not even this could make the boy respond. He just stood there, staring at him. Gene was starting to get a little freaked out. There was something wrong with this kid. ‘It’s like he’s not even looking at me. More like through me. And his hand . . .’ Gene looked down as he released his grip. Sure enough there was an obvious disfigurement on the palms of the boys hands. Through all of it the kid just kept staring. Then finally he turned, and without so much as a backward glance began slowly walking away.

Something suddenly clicked in Gene’s brain. ‘That guy I was suppose to find last month,’ he thought, ‘Didn’t that file say something about scars? Yah, I remember now, it said that there was a possibility that he would have burn scars on the palms of his hands. This . . . couldn’t be the same kid, could it?’ But the mysterious boy had already disappeared into the night.

*end . . . for now*

*Boutou Hoshi means beginning star.

Well, what do you think, should this be continued or not? Please review! ((-^)