When the night walks down the dark blue sky
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
A/N: Four inter-connected one-shots. Manga-verse. Various POVs. All thanks goes to the lovely Celesma for being a great beta – without her help and encouragement, I would probably still be hesitating whether to publish this at all.
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Sleepless
Sometimes, he'd suddenly wake up in the night. With his head hurting and his heart heavy.
And every time – every time, Wolfwood would be awake.
"What is it now, Tongari?" he'd say.
In a tired, weary tone for sure, but not like he'd actually been asleep until now.
In the beginning, Vash had guessed that, maybe, despite his attitude and everything, Wolfwood didn't really trust him and that therefore, he'd always stay alert and all.
Not like Vash would blame him.
He had often wondered at these times what the other man suspected him to do – knock him out cold and steal away in the middle of the night with his money (not that the priest seemed to have much of any to speak of)? Wolfwood had to have realized by now that he'd never do such a thing. Okay, steal away, yeah, well, maybe...
The point was that there were still these lines and dark circles under the priest's eyes, although it was obvious by now that he trusted Vash with his life. Of course it was probable that Wolfwood just didn't trust anybody else on this planet and, for some reason, didn't trust Vash to wake in case anybody sneaked up on them.
At first, he had thought he hit the nail on the head with that explanation, and even began to make fun of Wolfwood whenever the other man would look specifically roughed up in the morning, or playfully pouted about his companion's lack of trust in him to keep them safe.
But soon enough, he stopped with that again.
For all his seemingly easy ways, the priest was far more complicated than he'd thought. Because what was really odd about the whole thing was that Wolfwood never threw a fit whenever Vash made fun of him and his strange sleeping habits. He'd just mumble something about how the bed was a bitch or simply scowl and ignore him for the next few minutes. Typical Wolfwood behavior. Maybe.
Maybe it was just a bit too typical.
Or maybe it was the way Wolfwood would get up after such a night, grab his sunglasses and hide his eyes behind his shades for the rest of the day.
Vash knew the priest didn't care for his appearance one slimy bit. It had to be something else. But as was the case with so many other things about his guide, every time he tried to really figure him out something else would happen out of the blue that screamed for his attention, like being shot at or almost getting run over by a sand-steamer. From time to time he had actually wondered if the priest had a hand in that, but then again, Wolfwood had to suffer through all of these incidents too.
So, he waited and watched.
The sleeplessness of the priest seemed to come and go pretty randomly, but it seemed worse after every one of his absences. And he was always awake when Vash was awake.
Sometimes they spoke. Sometimes it was just enough to know that there was someone else awake and with him then, however dubious a comfort that may have seemed. It made things easier to bear. Sometimes, he even felt it made him stronger. Not because he got to speak with anybody, but because it was him, Wolfwood.
He'd hoped that his guide would, after some time, get over with whatever it was and talk with Vash about why he was awake that often. But he never said a word.
He didn't try to give it much thought, but maybe, Wolfwood knew that Vash feared what might be revealed otherwise.
So, when he'd wake with his heart hurting and his head heavy, there was still some relief, because he knew what would follow. He sometimes even heard him say it in the back of his mind when his guide wasn't even around.
"What is it now, Tongari?" he'd say.