It's been 100 years since we, Yuki, Zakuro, and I, set out on our journey…

Three young children, seeking their answer to a long forgotten question.

And still no sign of it. But our newest clue seems promising.

I'll do anything, although it seems feudal……and it probably is.

But I must find him……My Friend…My Love……

Vash the Stampede

Bullet One: Of Wind, Rain, Shadow, and Wolfwood.

It was a cold dark night. The wind softly whistling through the trees as the sand covering their roots shifted. The fifth moon and its partner shinning beautifully in the clear night sky. Everything silent as the grave. Pure Beauty.

The only disturbance in the serenity of this scene was a small speck of light on a high cliff. It was a glowing fire. Around which sat two men.

One was the famous Nicholas D. Wolfwood. The other was called Yu the Rain. Both very famous gunmen. Both were the same size and had a similar build although Yu was lean where as Wolfwood was more muscular. Yu's hair was light blue with deep navy streaks. His long wild locks reached slightly below his hips. Wolfwood's was short, black, and very tidy. The look came with matching sideburns. Both had a completely different sense of style. Wolfwood dressed sophisticated with his neat suit and unscoffed shoes. Where as Yu dressed as an adolescent with his long jacket, opened cheasted shirt, tight pants, and high heeled combat boots, he looked like a total punk. And the small ring pierced through his bottom lip did nothing to improve his image.

The two men were not alone however. Two girls accompanied them. They were twin sisters. One sat dangling her feet over the side of the cliff. Her high heeled black boots swinging in a rhythmatic pattern with her long hooded trench coat which blew lightly in the wind. The other stood near the edge of the cliff, seemingly unaffected by the gusts. Her long, many slighted skirt was still, thou the wind blew wildly about her. They were the Tempest Twins. Ri the Wind and Mai the Shadow. The only thing that you could tell them apart by, as far as appearance, was the difference in the color of the bangs. Both girls had short hair that was black in the back. However, Mai's, who is swinging her feet, is blood red in the front. Where as Ri's was blond.

Ri's eyes were filled with tears as she looked out apon the scenery before her. She had something clutched in her fist which she held to her chest. "Jesus Christ, Ryou, just come over here and get some sleep." Yu mumbled, pulling his wide brimmed hat further over his face to provide shade.

"Do not fret, Miss Ri." Nicholas reassured "I promised to take to Vash, didn't I?"

Ri sighed and looked up as Mai stode. "Tis not what I fear, master Wolfwood." She stated plainly.

"Oh, jeez." Mai complained "More whining in old English."

"Then what do you fear?" Nicholas questioned, raising his brow.

Ri turned to face Nicholas. He looked at her as she replied "Tis rejection I fear above all."

She turned back to watch the sea of sand as its waves crashed against the cliff. And still she was unaffected by the wind. Nicholas shuddered. It scared him that the elements had no affect on her. So he turned his attention toward Yu. "What does she mean by rejection?"

Yu pulled up his hat so he could look Nicholas in the eye. "She thinks that if we find Vash he will have forgotten his promise." Yu said flatly, and then shrugged as he pulled his hat back over his eyes.

"What promise?" Nicholas looked thoroughly confused.

Mai groaned. She turned and walked over to where the boys sat. She picked up one of three large staffs that lye on the ground near a rock. Then she jumped lightly on the rock and sat cross-legged a top it. "When we were very young we played the role of best friends to Vash the Stampede." She began in a sober tone "We were together all the time. We played together, we ate together, we fought together, we even lived together. We were a happy little family. Ryou, Yuki, Vash, Marc, and me. For seven years we lived that way. Happy and care free…" She trailed off.

Ryou, or Ri, had come over and was sitting on top of the rock Yuki (Yu) was leaned up against. She to held a staff. Nicholas looked intently at Zakuro (Mai) for a continuation. "Well?" he finally said "What happened?"

This time it was Ryou who spoke. "One day, simply out of the blue, he told us he had to leave." She said shakily "And he promised that he would never forget us. He gave me my choker and said he had wanted to wait till my birthday, which was a week away, but since he was leaving he might as well give it to me now. And I gave him this."

She held up the object she had been holding in her hand. It to was a necklace. Incrusted with beautiful silver dragon that dangled from a gold chain. The dragon was long like a serpent and twisted back and forth. Its wings were out stretched in a menacing way. It looked, to Nicholas, to represent Vash nicely. Innocent yet dangerous, the Humanoid Typhoon. Nicholas shoke his head smiling. "Yup." Yuki yond "That was back when Zakuro had a heart…."

WHAP! Yuki fell forward. "OUCH!" He yelled rubbing the back of his head "What did you do that for!"

He stode and held his nose which was bleeding from his meeting with the ground. Both Ryou and Zakuro had hit him round the head with the blunt ends of there staffs. "Just feel lucky we didn't hit you with the sharp end, brother dearest!" Zakuro growled mockingly as she held the opposite end near his throat. It had a blade molded into the shape of a crescent moon, the sharp end inside the inner curve.

At the same time Ryou held the end of hers out as well. Hers was shaped as the sun and was made of gold. Each of the suns rays as sharp as a dagger. "Your really lucky." She whispered.

Yuki raised his arms having stopped the bleeding in his nose. "I was only joking, dear sisters, joking!" he whimpered.

Wolfwood began to laugh. The three siblings looked at him blankly and said, all at ounce "What are you laughing at?"

"Your all so alike!" he laughed heartily "Different yet exactly the same!"

All three groaned, mumbling things about how each was different from the others. They continued until Wolfwood chimed in "We should all get some sleep! We've got a long day ahead of us!"

The three shrugged. Yuki lay back up against the rock and pulled the brim of his hat back over his eyes, mumbling that that's what he'd been trying to do all along. Zakuro stubbornly walked around the rock she had been sitting on and sat crossing her arms and legs, having no intention of sleeping. Ryou strode over and sat up against the rock, still clutching the necklace in her hand. Nicholas leaned back on his giant cross, whose base he had placed into the ground, and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep. And all was silent.

--------

"Onee-chan?"

"What?"

"Are still awake?"

Zakuro stirred on the other side of the rock. There was the soft padding of footsteps as she came around to the front of it. "Course I am. You know I'm practically nocturnal." Zakuro whispered "What do you need?"

She sat beside her sister who was curled up hugging her knees. "Do you think we'll really find him this time, Onee-chan?" Ryou asked quietly.

Zakuro growled through her teeth and ran her fingers through the front of her hair. It was so like Ryou to bother her while she was supposed to be asleep just to ask something so trivial. At least, to Zakuro it trivial. "Who really knows, little sakura, who really knows…."

Zakuro moved closer to her sister and hugged her tightly. The two snuggled together as sisters sometimes do. Zakuro would never act like this when people were watching, nor, in fact, would Ryou. But when it was just the two of them, they would spill out their feelings to one another, since only the other would understand. They had a bond greater then they let on. The two as different as the sun and moon, but closer then the best of friends. They watched what remained of the fire slowly died. "Do you think he will remember us, onee-chan?" Ryou asked her eyes still fixed on the fire.

"He may…" Zakuro replied "or he may not."

Ryou looked at her quizzically. "What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

Zakuro sighed. "A hundred years is a long time, little sakura. He's had long to forget as well as a long time to remember."

Ryou tried contemplating what her onee-chan had said. They both sat silently for a little while as the embers of the fire crackled. Zakuro was deep in thought.

"Will he remember us?" Zakuro thought "After all, we've remembered him……but then again we've had constant reminders. Like his necklace and our memories. AND there are three of us and one of him. And he lost his reminder of us. He would have to have an excellent memory to remember us without that...Unless……."

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as her sleeping brother began talking.

"That's it to daddy….that's right….sexy little kitty girl…."

Ryou looked disgusted. "I'm going to bed……" she stated wide eyed.

"Me two!" Zakuro agreed.

Ryou pulled out her gun and began trading off her metal bullets with rubber ones as Zakuro pulled out an injection needle and a bottle of an herbal based sleep mixture. Once both were fully loaded they posed their tools above their desired points. "Night, onee-chan"

"Night, little sakura…"

Fin