Prelude

Soon the warriors of the village quickly fell back to allow the youngest of the three teenagers access to the rampaging creature.

Gaara quickly folded his hands to a particular form and as quickly as he had done that the sand in the area quickly enfolded to encase the raging beast.

A trickle of sweat started to form on the redhead's brow as he attempted to keep the beast at bay.

He then quickly moved a hand in front of him in a claw like fashion and closed it.

"Desert Coffin," Gaara said with a note of finality.

Chapter II

The cocoon of sand went in on itself spraying sand and a baleful red light everywhere making the villagers and the surrounding people breathe a sigh of relief.

"He's still alive," Gaara told the crowd quietly as moved his hand down.

The wall of sand surrounding the creature was removed revealing the man.

"Now do you see the extent of my demons child," Vincent asked as he pulled the dagger from his gut.

The surrounding crowd suddenly watched in awe as he moved.

As he moved everyone noticed a flash of green light around him that healed his wounds right in front of their astounded eyes.

"I never wanted to hurt anyone, all I wanted was to find out where I am and what have I shown you?" asked Vincent as calm as always as he walked up to the teenagers. "What I have shown you is nothing but a demon of death!"

"Then we are the same," Gaara replied non-fussed. "I too house a demon inside of me too."

"But I embody true 'Chaos' in its rawest form," the gunslinger replied quietly and yet dangerously. "It is because of what I have been made to be that I am no-longer to die. That I must suffer the pain of damnation, humiliation and agony over what I was made to become."

"You say that, like you where made this way?" the boy wearing makeup returned.

Vincent drew himself up to his full height, his cloak started to billow in the wind.

"I am Vincent Valentine. Ex-Turk. I was shot by the scientist Hojo so that he could use me in his experiments on long life," Vincent told them without a hint of emotion to his voice. "While under his watchful eye, he cut me open repeatedly and used my once living body to further his career."

"Once living body?" the girl asked.

"This body has died on Hojo's operating table countless times. Every time he brought me back to the realm of the living only to be in a world of screams and white hot agony," Vincent told them impassively. "I am now nothing more than a walking corpse that can no longer support life. I house demons far greater than the one that you just met. I can no longer be classified human but neither am I that of a demon."

"Then what are you?" the redhead asked quietly.

"I am something else," explained Vincent as calmly as if someone had asked him the weather. "Because of his experiments I was injected with substances never heard or seen before."

Vincent held up his claw like arm.

"Do you truly believe that I am human? I don't have a left arm of a human," he queried. "My arm is as real as yours, but unlike yours mine is harder than the strongest steel and can score rock as if it was nothing."

"Heh, you are just trying to scare us with that little fairy story," an angry warrior called out. "That's just a stupid glove."

"Then come and remove it from me," the gunman asked dangerously. "Or are you too much of a coward for that?"

Antagonised by Vincent's words the warrior moved to his side to grab his 'gauntleted' arm.

The man cruelly wrenched Vincent's arm to and fro in his bid to try and find a catch to open it.

Not finding any way to remove it, he tried to pull off the gauntlet. It was not even budging from its assigned place.

The gunman also showed no signs of struggling against the warrior's efforts to remove the gauntlet and seemed not to be in any pain as the man wrenched Vincent's arm to impossible angles in his bid to remove the gauntlet.

It was like trying to watch a twig move a mountain.

The warrior was struggling to pull off the gauntlet physically. Putting all of his weight against the gunman, the warrior pulled to no avail.

But one can only hold on, as long as their grip will allow it. So it was that not long after his struggles to remove the gauntlet did the warrior finally loose his grip.

But as he fell his arm brushed against the gauntleted hand.

The warriors clothing and arm started to shred itself; as if it was paper against the claw.

The gauntlet forgotten the man started to scream his agonised cries flooding the area as did his wine coloured blood.

The owner of the gauntlet suddenly moved in the same way he did before when he went to heal his dagger wound. Only this time the green glow went around the fallen warrior.

The screams stopped as quickly as they came and the warrior picked himself off the ground and moved himself quickly away from Vincent.

"I warned you all, did I not?" Vincent queried flatly. "I told you that my arm is as real and as hard as the strongest steel did I not?"

"You did," Gaara replied as he glared at the other villagers who had gathered to watch the proceedings with the cursed stranger.

"So I take it that what you have told us is true?" the blond girl asked as she lent on her giant fan.

"Yes that is true," Vincent agreed. "I do not lie."

"Gaara what do ya say about sending our new friend to the leaf village for a check up on that weird arm of his," the teenager with make-up asked suddenly.

The redhead took one look at the speaker.

"Uh," the teenager started to panic. "It's just that their Hokage is a well known healer and… and… she should know more about it!"

"Gaara, I'm sure Kankuro doesn't mean to order you around," smiled the nervous girl as the other villagers seemed to also agree with her as if the boy was the ultimate bad news.

Gaara turned to the gunslinger. "Come let's see if we can get out of this sun before the heat get's worse."

And with that Gaara left down the street with the other two teenagers in tow along with the unknown gunslinger.

As they walked towards a house the girl turned to Vincent.

"Hello my name is Temari, the one wearing the costume paint is my brother Kankuro and the one with the red hair is our youngest brother Gaara," she told Vincent introducing the three.

Vincent just kept quiet as if he heard nothing. The one called Kankuro seemed to be put off about his silence.

Once inside the house the youngest brother moved to the corner of the room that was covered in sand and sat down cross-legged. The gourd was still on his back as the teenager had refused to take it off.

Temari moved herself into the kitchen where Vincent could hear her making some noise amongst the pot's and pans.

Kankuro moved himself into another room where he started to make a bit of noise himself. Doing what, Vincent did not know.

Vincent just stood in the middle of the room. Not moving a muscle he basically waited for someone to direct him to a seat.

Gaara seemed to be unsure as to what one should do with a house guest and so just sat there watching their houseguest with his black rimmed eyes as if trying to stare holes into the man.

It was only when Temari came back in with a tray filled with cold drinks and something to eat did she notice the two.

"Uh, please sit down," she mentioned to Vincent as she pointed out an armchair.

Vincent moved slowly to the chair and sat down, resting his left hand on his lap.

"Here, I thought you might be thirsty?" Temari smiled warmly.

"Thankyou," nodded Vincent but stayed where he was.

Sighing as if in defeat Temari got up to leave.

Gaara just stared as if in understanding. Around him the sand seemed to move on it's own towards Vincent as if seeking out his blood.

"Gaara please try and control yourself?" Temari told her youngest brother as she walked back in as if to check on her brothers manners.

Gaara just glared at her until she walked away.

"When do we leave for this leaf village?" the gunman asked curiously.

"As soon as the sun's rays cool down a bit," came the reply from Kankuro who had walked in curious about what Temari was going crook about.

"First rule of the Desert my friend," the make-up wearing teen told him. "Don't try and walk around in the heat of the day."

"Otherwise you'll end up like a roast dinner!" exclaimed Temari.

"So we have time to rest then?" Vincent asked.

"That is what we are doing," Temari smiled. "If you follow me I will show you to the spare bedroom so that you can have a quick rest."

Vincent left following the blond girl quietly.

Gaara looked at the things that his sister had prepared for Vincent to ingest while he was under their roof.

They had not been touched.

Outside the building the villagers where bristling with news on the pale skinned stranger who claimed that he was other than human.

So as it was that Kabuto, loyal servant of one of the legendary three Sanin's was able to glean some very insightful information on this mysterious man who claimed to be unable to die but also have an arm that was nearly indestructible.

He also discovered that this 'Vincent' could also change form into a purplish beast from hell itself. But he considered that to be a figment of the villager's imagination.

As it was he was in the local bar listening to the complaints from them about the world having one too many demons around. This he ignored as the knowledge of the one known as Gaara was already known to his master Orochimaru.

Knowing that his master would want to know of this wondrous find he quickly made his way towards the dwelling of the sand siblings.

Looking in on the windows revealed the man to him.

This man looked absolutely pale in death and was even sleeping like he was stuck in a coffin. His pitch black hair and clothes where only put into contrast with his red cloak and headband.

But the so called indestructible arm lay crossed on his chest as if he was treating it as a real arm on a corpse.

Deciding that he had already spent to long checking out the stranger he quickly left so as not to alert the sand siblings of his presence.

Finally he could return home to his master and report to him the news of this strange new find.

As he left the view of the window and to run off to his master; inside the house where the 'corpse' laid, it turned its head to regard the fleeing stranger. With only a slight smile before resuming it's previous pose.

Three hours had passed and the worst of the desert heat had started to pass, but it was still to hot to leave just yet.

But it was at least time to organise and prepare.

So it was that when Vincent heard the people in the house start to move that so did he.

As he walked out he noticed the girl. Temari, walk up to him.

"We will be leaving in half an hour," she told him. "So that means I hope you are ready to go by then if not then it is too late."

"I understand," nodded Vincent as he left the room to go the lounge room where the youngest sibling resided.

As he walked in he noticed that the sand in the room both moving into the gourd on his back and coating his body at the same time.

"Interesting," Vincent said out loud as he moved back to his chair.

"So is seeing someone sleep like a corpse," returned the redhead.

"I have… slept… like that… for over… thirty years," Vincent told him brokenly. "I cannot remember how to sleep any other way now."

The gunman turned his head slowly so that when he finished his broken sentence he was starting at the other two siblings who where staring in disbelief at their strange visitor.

"What did you do?" asked Kankuro suddenly at his visitor. "Sleep in a coffin?"

"Yes," Vincent told him with a note of finality.

Kankuro and Temari seemed to gulp at the idea in disbelief.

"I had nowhere else to go," he explained calmly. "And the coffin was in a very good hiding place."

"I don't want to know!" Temari suddenly told everyone in her most serious voice.

And with that she quickly ran off to grab her fan.

Kankuro however just picked up two wrapped up packages and slung them over his back.

"Well as soon as you are ready pal," Kankuro told Vincent. "We'll leave."

Vincent pulled out his death penalty. He quickly snapped it open at the hinges to check the barrel and then re-shut it with an ease born from years of practicing with guns.

"I'm ready," he told them as he re-sheathed his gun.

"Then let's go," came the reply from the doorway where their sister was holding it open. "The sooner we go, the sooner we'll get to Konoha."

And so it was that they left the village of sand.

As they left Vincent turned to look at his new companions. He still did not know them well, but the person he saw at the window told him he had made someone very nervous of his abilities.

Author's Notes –

Okay people I do realise that Vincent is talking 'way' too much. But from what I have gleened from both the game and what I know of the new game 'Dirge of Cerberus' this is what I came up with about Vincent.

1 – He does talk about his sins. (As if to make sure that no-one else tries to repeat them.)

2 – He is immortal. Apparently what happened to him in Hojo's lab made him so.

Okay I am one of those people who like to get things out as soon as I can, but we are having trouble with our internet connection. (Stupid thing keeps on cutting out on us for NO reason.)

I've also been really busy with work that I am having trouble trying to find the time to write both this story and my main one of 'The FMA World VS Kakashi' but I'm working on it.

On another note: I have not had this Beta'd. So sorry peoples!

And to Tora Mccaw… Trust you to review!