The Trickiest Assignment Yet
Manga spoilers: Trigun Maximum vol 1,7,8
At least respect the title. Wolfwood grouched to himself as he trudged through the desert kicking up sand with the tips of his shoes so that it scattered across the spiky haired shadow that bobbed ahead of him.
He was an assassin! That was what people who took out contracts with the Eye of Michael expected. How had this somehow been misunderstood? He, Wolfwood, had been presented with Vash the Stampede as his target. Surely, he had to be the greatest target in all history? Vash was the most dangerous man on the planet! However, things were never as they seemed around Vash the Stampede. Oh no. He'd been hired to keep his target alive so his client could kill him later. Who ever heard of something so absurd?
With one twisted contract, he had become a glorified babysitter! The gall and the bitterness of it all. The absurdity and ridicule! If the Eye of Michael found out - Ugh. If the Eye of Michael found out anything about it all, him impersonating Chapel, him trying to kill his employer, him trying to protect the orphans, him going renegade…. - He'd be so much of a blood splatter on the indifferent desert sands. The amount of crap he was in, he could not even begin to describe it.
However, somehow, he wondered if they knew. They had ears all over. Moreover, as Knives was their absolute superior, and Knives knew of him and let him live, even after he had tried killing him… then damn, it did not matter if the Eye of Michael knew or not. All that mattered was Knives. Yet, from what he had seen, Vash did not actually need babysitting. Not really. He had a sort of luck so awful that it left him alive further to prolong the suffering. However, Wolfwood knew his own luck was so bad that he would have to work at everything he had to keep Vash alive. Because, if Vash died, he would be dead.
Wolfwood had met twisted people before, but Knives eerily took it to a new level. He did not need Legato as an example to imagine the plant giving him a swift death if he made that mistake. No, Vash would live, he would see to it. He needed to stay alive himself for those children. Oh why had God set him up like this? He had to be the most blood stained guardian angel ever. A guardian angel, over the children… and Vash. The man was a plant, should it not have been the other way around?
Wolfwood felt a strange emotion then, one so long buried in his calloused heart that he did not know what it was at first. A strange combination of hope and longing, one he had last felt on being adopted, before being betrayed by the Eye of Michael. That perhaps there might be a small chance that Vash could come to care for him. He lifted his head and stared at the back of the tall man he followed. He wished the man had chosen a different time to experiment with hair dye, the black and the blond looked odd. If he were a good friend, he could make that into a fine insult.
A friend. The uncomfortable emotions shifted around inside him, fear and hope franticly trying to strangle each other to gain dominance. He had not had a real friend since leaving the orphanage. Yes. That was a better thought than simply remaining around Vash to keep him alive for his mercurial brother. It was better. He knew it was better, but why did it hurt so damn much?