I don't own Trigun, that honor belongs to a bunch of really talented people with unusal fashion sense (and I mean that in a good way =^_^=).
Also, you should expect just a tiny bit of AU-ness (for slight skewing of the timeline...if I hadn't pointed it out, you probably wouldn't notice =^_^;=) and shounen-ai overtones (y'know romance between two guys, specifically Wolfwood and Vash). If you don't like that sort of thing, you probably don't want to read any further; and if you don't mind, well, enjoy. =^_^=
Break My Heart
LH-chan '02
Nicholas D. Wolfwood ran. His face to the setting suns, his outline obscured by their intense light. The shifting sands covered his tracks as he fled the town; a single gun held tightly in his hand. The only one he'd been able to hold on to, after exchanging the comfortable weight of his Cross Punisher on his shoulders...for another.
The insurance girls had been left behind...somewhere, but he wasn't worried about them. They were tough girls; they could take care of themselves.
No, it wasn't them he was worried about....
Wolfwood stumbled, as his eyes wandered from the blinding sand of the dunes before him to the face of the man leaning against his side.
Vash the Stampede, the legendary gunman; the terrible fiend with the sixty billion double-dollar bounty on his head.
Vash the Stampede, who had been struck by a wild bullet as he tried to protect innocent townspeople from a group of outlaw bounty hunters who heard he was in town; who was now clinging to Wolfwood's shoulders like a lifeline as he fought to keep moving alongside him.
Idiot Tongari, Wolfwood thought, taking so many risks to protect them. Don't you realize most of them would have joined the bounty hunters, if someone would have told them what all the shooting was about.
The rest would have cheered them on, he added bitterly.
"Just a little farther." He whispered softly, leaning close enough to Vash that a few bits of his spiky blonde hair, knocked free of their typical style in the firefight, brushed his cheek softly.
The bounty hunters were bound to be out among the dunes somewhere; he was unwilling to make any more noise than necessary.
* * *
A shadow loomed ahead in their path, thankfully too large and misshapen to be a man, breaking the monotony of the sun-bright desert ahead.
Warily, Wolfwood drew closer, bullying his eyes into deciphering the shape, despite the abuse of staring directly into the suns for too long.
A jagged outcrop of rock rose up at him out of the sand, its contours hidden by light and shadow alike.
Damned obvious place to hide, Wolfwood thought bitterly.
Vash's weight strained his shoulders; he was all but carrying the injured man now. He hoped desperately that it was sweat and not blood he felt soaking though his jacket sleeve, settled against Vash's side.
Wolfwood reguarded the rock distrustfully.
Doesn't look like we have much choice, he thought, scanning the surrounding dunes.
There was no other cover for iles around.
"Damn..." he muttered under his breath.
Vash raised his head slightly; his eyes meeting Wolfwood's from beneath matted bangs.
"What?" He slurred ever so slightly.
Wolfwood started, he hadn't realized he had spoken aloud.
"Nothing, Tongari, just a little farther."
Still wary of ambush, he pressed forward. Up the sloping sand that surrounded the rock, his feet sliding back with every step, Vash's weight on his shoulders threatening to overbalance him.
Doubts whispered cruelly though Wolfwood's mind as he climbed, their dire warnings making him jumpy. He was putting both of them in a great deal of danger. Between the dunes anyone who wanted to shoot at them would have to get very close to see them; but on this dune-side, with only sunlight and shadows to conceal them, and little hope of quick escape with their boots mired in sliding sand...if they were still being followed....
He didn't allow himself to finish the thought; concentrating instead on the rock that loomed just ahead of them.
Vash leaned his head weakly against Wolfwood's shoulder.
The sooner they could get under cover the better.
* * *
To Be Continued....