A/N: Red is the color of anger in Western Culture and luck in Chinese Culture.

In the coming days, Jayne found that it was easy to be John Pembry. When he was shown things that would've made Jayne Cobb go through the roof, he simply smiled tightly and nodded...all he ever seemed to do was nod. He rarely spoke to anybody on the ship he was on, which was called Goliath. To everyone but a few of the Core officers, who thought he was a bit simple, this silence gave him a mysterious quality - rumors about him were traded more than cigarettes with some of the greenest recruits.

This made Jayne want to laugh all the time. He wanted badly to tell Kaylee about this. He could hear her laugh in his head, "The mysterious Jayne!" she'd practically shriek, throwin her head back like she was crazy.

At night he would dream of her and being back on Serenity. He'd dream that she would come down into his bunk wearin her boots and his big coat with naught beneath it but them lacy panties she'd bought on Valentines Day. Jayne put little stock in such holidays, but sometimes the presents were better then Christmas. Now she'd wriggle outta that big coat real slow, like some fancy dancer in a bar. And there she'd stand in those little undies and big ol boots, pretty as you please.

He could smell her in those dreams, just like he could feel her skin under his fingers and taste her.

Jayne would suck at her breasts just to hear her moan his name. Kaylee'd press up against him and he'd sneak his fingers up underneath all that lace, teasin her for a while till he-

woke up, alone, wondering where Kaylee was, where Serenity was. Then he'd remember that he'd left and that Kaylee probably never wanted to see him again.

*****

Zoe sat next to Simon in the passenger dorm. "Well," Simon said, "the baby appears to be healthy from all the scans we took on Paquin. It's a wonder we could find anybody at all but that doctor did a wonderful job."

"Didn't feel alright to me." Zoe said as she stood up, her belly preceeding her. "Strange, havin a man down there so long and not coming." Simon blushed. Zoe smiled at him.

"I'll see you later then." he said. Zoe turned and left, without saying anything. ***** "What's up 'Nara?" Kaylee asked. Ever since River'd...well, done what ever it was that she'd done, Kaylee'd been a bit more like her old self, but no where near back to normal.

"Well Kaylee," Inara began, "I spoke with the captain about it and he agrees that maybe you need some time off." Kaylee looked at her blankly. "A vacation? Where? What for?"

She was suddenly adverse to the idea. Ever since Jayne'd gone all she'd do, night and day, was sleep or work the engine, rehooking wires, tightening bolts, hardly leaving the engine room to eat. A deep calm would settle into her when she looked at her girl's spinning heart. She was loath to leaving Serenity before Jayne left and now Kaylee could barely stand being away from the ship. She got antsy planetside always itching to get back to the ship with what little parts Mal allowed her the coin to buy. A trip away sounded about as hellish to her as surgery with no anesthesia.

"Kaylee, I want you to come to Sihnon as a favor to me. I need to do something and I want you to be with me." Inara looked at her and smiled sadly. "You're the only person I trust enough to come with me."

Kaylee looked at her friend, surprised. 'Nara was one of the strongest people she knew. For her to ask for help, especially so plaintively was almost shocking to Kaylee.

Kaylee sighed and then smiled at her. "When are we leavin?"

***** Jayne sat very still. He'd dropped a few names, mentioned Buell a couple of times and now here he was. He desperately wanted to fidget and scream and possible kill a few people. The formal uniform he was wearing was itchy and made his skin feel tight, like it was shrinking.

The men who sat on either side of him were stock still, their faces blank as they watched the gruesome spectacle in front of them.

The room, so big it seemed like a hall, was full of people, close to a hundred. Most of them were laying down on the floor or staring blankly ahead as they were violently raped and eaten by the three who'd turned.

One girl about River's age stared into the one way mirror as one of the Reavers took her from behind and visciously tore into her throat. Jayne felt like she was looking right at him, as if saying, 'I know you. You could've saved us.'

The man who was showing them this, 'only cause we asked' Jayne thought bitterly, was a squirelly fellow in a lab coat. "As you can see here, subjects that respond positively to the treatment, almost 3%, are viscious and have little or no control over their impulses. But with proper conditioning they create better soldiers, with no morals, no complaints and no rations." The man chuckled nervously. "This gentlemen is the war machine of the future. Completly expendable and not too expensive to create."

"What about Buell? Hundreds killed that far into the Rim. What with the Miranda broadwave we could have a full scale rebellion on our hands!" one of the officers spat.

The lab coat seemed shaken. "Well our producer has been demanding higher pay, which we vetoed. They sent specific, representatives to Buell to attempt to make a point about their control over the situation.

Jayne cleared his throat and said "Producer?"\par

"Blue Sun."

***** The Great City on Sihnon was like nothing Kaylee had ever seen before. Everything was rushing past in colorful, bright blurs. Inara hadn't told Kaylee why she had left Sihnon but from what she could tell, her friend was not so glad to be home again.

When they landed in the shuttle, Inara turned to her and said "Kaylee I'm here to exact justice for the Guild. That means I'm going to kill somebody."

"What? 'Nara I don't-"

"Please. Let me explain. When I was newly initiated as a Companion there was a man who raped me. We were- I had slept with him before when I was still in training. I brought it before the Guild Tribunal. The man claimed that we were having an affair against Guild law. They sent me away from Sihnon while they deliberated over judgement, whether or not to believe me and so on. They've finally decided that my request for justice is called for. The Guild has marked him for me. That's what I'm here to do mei mei."

"What do you want me to do 'Nara?"

Inara smiled at her. "Whatever you want mei-mei. I've got about three hundred platinum for you to spend as you like. You'll be staying in House Madrassa as a personal guest of mine. I won't see you for about two days. But you'll know when I've...taken care of this man."

"Okay 'Nara. I understand why you gotta...you know, off him."

Inara smiled for the first time that day. "Thank you mei mei. I know you do."

***** They'd almost caught him. He'd been shot near the ribs when he ran. Now on the transport he'd hopped, even breathing hurt like hell. He'd been nosing around in some files about River and Blue Sun and Miranda. He'd stolen a whole bunch of paper work when they'd found him. Turned out the Squirell Man had known the real Pembry and reported him. Now he was running from the biggest bunch of ugly he'd ever seen.

They didn't know who he really was so Jayne'd ditched the uniform and the ID cards and papers. He was sick of John Pembry and his whole world. He was back to bein plain old Jayne Miriam Cobb.

***** Sheydra welcomed John Sturgis calmly. She knew Inara had wanted to spill this mans blood for a long time. Burning rage for her friend spurred her onward. She hoped he died screaming.

***** Kaylee was a little ashamed at herself for being so easily distracted from Inara. Sihnon was full of things and people the like of which she almost never saw. She'd never been on her own in a big city before. Kaylee was glad Inara had told her to have a good time, otherwise she'd probably be sick with guilt about now.

She paused, looking over a cart full of all manner of frippery. She chose a ring with a red stone in it. The stone, the vendor explained, was the color of Shinon called 'chu' and was considered lucky. Kaylee looked at the ring carefully. She thought of Jayne, probably light years away from where she was. Not even thinkin on her...but that was silly. Of course he was thinkin on her! She was lucky now. She smiled at the little old man and handed him the credits he wanted.

***** Jayne squinted in the bright light. He was used to the Black and didn't even know it. Shinon was busy and strange to him. He'd never been there before. The first shuttle off of the godless rock he'd been on and now he was stuck: no money, no gun, no Kaylee or Serenity and certainly no prissy fancy pants Doc. He was a bit dizzy when he stumbled into some girl buying something. But suddenly there she was. He saw the colors and the shiney smile. "Kaylee..." he said, grinning like a drunk before he collapsed in the street.

"Jayne? Jayne!"

:CONTINUED IN WORLD WITHOUT SIN: