~A Heart Like My Own~

Chapter One: Dusty Roads

Wind rippled around the dark figure walking down the dusty sand road. Her silver-blue hair, restricted from her face by a loose braid that ended at the joint of her knees, came somewhat undone and flew behind her violently.

She was dressed plainly for a vampire hunter: black hooded cloak, black skintight pants and shirt, black boots and a weapon-clad belt.

Her name: Naiona Link. Her background kept secret for almost a century, she didn't tell anyone her secrets. She didn't even want to remind herself.

~@~

A quaint little town opened into Naiona's line of line of vision. She continued to walk, cape billowing, towards the town. Her narrowed gray eyes scanned the road in front of her; all carriages moved out of the street, people moved to sidewalks and porches to watch the passing newcomer.

Gasps and whispers echoed through the gawking population. They obviously had rarely seen a hunter walk into their small world.

But as soon as it started, the townsfolk's glances and comments seemed to shift away to behind Naiona.

"Look, it's that dun peal again!"

"What do you think he wants from us?"

When one woman shrieked 'dun peal?!' and collapsed, Naiona casually pivoted in her place and took a long look at this 'dun peal'.

He had dark brown hair and was dressed very similar to Naiona. Only two things were different: he had a cyborg horse and his hat, with its wide rim, hid his face from the sunlight.

Naiona scoffed at him at the moment a woman whispered to another that he was the only dun peal left alive. Her back became as rigid as a board and said quietly to him, "You're not the only one dun peal." Dust kicked up as she turned once more and headed for the saloon.

The dun peal just followed her, silently hoping his assumptions were true.

~@~

Naiona's leather-bound hand clasped the glass and poured herself a tall one. Sitting at the bar, being stared by everyone who wasn't drunk, she could honestly say she wasn't having a grand time. This was just a stop before she headed back on her journey.

She started thinking about maybe asking for a ride from one of the locals when she heard a low-pitched "Hello" at her side.

The dun peal sat to her right, staring off into space like he knew her forever. His eyes were trained on one shiny blue bottle at the other end of the bar.

Before she could say anything to him, he asked, "Now I have seen many things over the course of time, but what are you?"

The dun peal had never been around a being like her; never saw one like her, heard one like her, or felt an energy like hers. There was something wrong here.

Her voice was slightly slurred. "I told you already. I'm one of you, and no, you didn't ask."

Silence brewed between them as they sat and she drank. Her right hand, he noticed, was bound up with leather.

"Why..." he stopped himself from asking why one of her hands was covered and not the other, but why shouldn't she? Didn't he do the same thing?

Okay. So he wasn't the only dun peal anymore. Probably hadn't been for quite a while, judging by this woman's charisma.

"Look, I have to go," she said suddenly, breaking his train of thought. "Sorry to leave all this fun," she added with extra sarcasm, "but i have somewhere to go and soon. Goodbye, dun peal."

"It's D."

"Whatever." She grabbed the wine bottle and hopped down off her seat. A small, brown satchel filled with silver was thrown from behind D's back onto the counter and she suddenly fell - very ungracefully to boot - into the dun peal's lap.

"Uh…" D lifted her up by the scruff of her collar and lifted her out of his lap. He looked at her face and discovered that she was soundly unconscious.

He had two choices. One: leave this woman somewhere and get back on his horse. Two: take her with him and take her to where she was going. To him there was only one thing left to do.

He had to take her with him.

Taking care to lift her up safely in front of him, he nudged the crimson sorrel into a slow and peaceful gait.

This should be interesting.

~*~

A/n: I'm re-introducing my re-written version of 'A Heart Like My Own'. If someone still has a problem with this, email me. I will not tolerate another round of flames.

This is an original fic made by Rae chan. This fic contains no stolen ideas from any other fic and is purely from the imagination of the authoress.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Hunter D or any of its characters. I own Naiona and the plot.