DISCLAIMER: Neither ValarSpawn or Rukia (Natsumi) own Trinity Blood. If ValarSpawn owned it, she'd immediately go on to working on the second season AND get her hands on every possible Trinity Blood-related merchandise, particularly anything with Tres Iqus. If Rukia (Natsumi) owned it…Valar isn't sure what would happen.

Act I

She felt like her butt had gone numb from sitting. In fact, she suspected it was numb just as the first hour since they boarded the train expired. She felt cramped, which in turn, made her irritable. Glancing towards her companion, she narrowed her eyes in jealousy.

The girl sitting across from her was reading a book. If she was aware of the glares sent her way she showed no sign of it. After roughly ten minutes, the other girl shifted into a more comfortable position before looking at the other girl again.

"How can you be so comfortable when we've been sitting on these damn seats for so long?" "Well, distraction always works for me. Don't blame me for your inability to sit still, Sister Maria." "Grr…" The other girl growled sullenly. "Relax we're almost there." "…That's what you said before, Sister Kaya."

Kaya Syokka closed the book she was reading and beamed. "Why don't you start thinking on what you will do when we get home? After all, it might be some time before either of us is assigned a mission." "I guess you have a point there."

Both looked ordinary enough, but as always, looks can be deceiving. Maria was the taller of the two, dressed completely in the black robes of a Priest from the AX Division in the Vatican. Her brown mane with black highlights, some of the locks in small braids, stopped a few inches below her waist.

Instead of wearing the white gloves that normally went with the uniform she opted for fingerless black leather ones. Her eyes were gray, a fresh-looking scar running down the right eye. The look in her eyes right now pretty much scared most men from trying to come on to her.

Kaya, on the other hand, was a few inches smaller, with tanned skin and large brown eyes with brown hair the same shade as Maria's. Unlike Maria, she wore a white Nun's habit with blue borders and white gloves.

"How long till we get there…?" "A half-hour." "Oy…"

In the Vatican, the Killing Doll known as Father Tres Iqus (development number being HC-IIIX) was preoccupied with his current mission: typing up both his and Abel's reports of their last mission. Having the Krusnik as his partner often meant the Gunslinger was stuck doing both their reports, since Abel had a tendency to let this incredibly trivial duty slide.

If Tres was human, he would have rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. But he was not, so the Gunslinger did neither of those things, and merely continued working. Finally, just as the battle android was about to hit the "Save As…" option, the computer froze.

At first, Tres had not realized this so he clicked a few more times. When he did notice, a vague expression of annoyance appeared in his usually blank features and he shook the monitor. The screen turned blue and white letters appeared, saying, "There has been a systematic failure and the system must now shut down. All unsaved files will be lost."

That did it. The Gunslinger stood up and aimed at the computer. "Negative. You are not supposed to shut down." More letters appeared on the screen. "The system will shut down in ten seconds."

A gunshot pierced the silence of the AX Dept.

Roughly three minutes and twenty-four seconds later, Father William W. Wordsworth and Father Vaclav Havel rushed into the room. "Father Tres, did something happen!?"

Wordlessly, Tres holstered his gun. "Affirmative. It would not comply with what I asked." With that, he stepped away from the damaged computer and walked towards the door and out of the room, leaving them to gape in shock at the smoldering wreckage.

The thirty minutes had finally expired as the train pulled to a stop at the station. The passengers milled out, Kaya and Maria amongst them. "Should we go walking?" Kaya inquired as they stepped out of the train station. "Hmm, why not? It is a nice day out." Maria replied as she stretched her arms behind her while they walked down the street.

Indeed, the weather was ideal for moving about, whether one was in the city or in the country. Maria fought the impulse to suddenly start stripping in public. As much as she liked the uniform she wore, it would not do to burden the Vatican with a scandal, though she supposed that at least one of the Big Three would sympathize with her predicament.

The young woman inwardly snickered as she attempted to envision the conniption fit that would come over His Holiness and the Duke of Medici were such a thing to a occur, and she smiled.

If it meant she got to see their faces when they found out, it was enough incentive for her to do it.

Back in the Vatican, Tres was loitering in the Vatican's menagerie. Oftentimes, the Gunslinger would visit it, usually alone. More unusual was the fact that the animals seemed to take to his presence, despite that at some point or another the scent of blood and gunsmoke lingered on his clothes and person.

His skin, not as warm in comparison to a human's, did not deter them from approach. Tres did not dwell on the issue, merely acknowledged it and allowed the creatures to do as they willed.

Today, he was in the section that housed the wildcats. For something that kept the big cats caged in, it was rather vast, allowing for the housing of many Felidae species. Naturally, the animals' food source was controlled so that the populations did become misbalanced. The moment he entered the room, a variety of the animals approached him, deep purrs rumbling from their throats.

Soon, Tres was all but surrounded by iridescent eyes and fur that ranged from sable to speckled, spotted or striped to white.

"As always, you never let me down, Maria." "I try my best not to, Your Eminence." Caterina Sforza smiled a little as she raised the teacup to her lips and drank. "Please, there is no need for those formalities between us. At least…not when we are alone."

She reached out with her free hand and squeezed Maria's hand affectionately. "I know. But at work, you are my superior, and I must address you as befits your title and position…Mother." The Duchess of Milan nodded in understanding.

"Tell me, Maria…have you any plans? Your mission with Sister Kaya was a bit longer than most, so I'm giving you some time off to rest." Maria toyed with one of her braids, thinking. "I don't think I have any, but I'll start making plans when I can." She stood up.

"Thanks for the tea. I'll be taking leave of you, Mom. Don't expect me at Vespers." Smirk. "You needn't remind me of your faith—or rather, the absence of it—Maria." Caterina murmured as her foster daughter closed the door.

Tres was gazing up at the glass ceiling, seemingly focused on watching the clouds float by. He was now in the Iriomote area of the wildcat section and the leopard cats were crowded about his person. At least two Iriomote kittens were lying on his stomach.

He had detected the presence of another outside the compound, but did not acknowledge them immediately, as it was only a constant presence in his life at the Vatican.

Outside the cage, Maria banged the glass with her fist lightly, seizing Tres' attention. The Gunslinger sat up, studying the movement of her lips as she mouthed inaudible words to him, words which he pieced together until he formed the intended message.

"Want to go out tonight?"

The android considered the question. "Going out" was usually tantamount to Maria going out into the streets of Rome and Tres accompanying her as her escort. While the former was quite capable of fending off unwanted attentions from her person, his person oftentimes discouraged most attempts of approach or even thoughts of raping her in the streets. For his part, Tres went along with these outings out of a deeply ingrained sense of duty, having been Maria's bodyguard in their child hood and pre-adolescence years.

And if they were outnumbered, well…neither went down easily.

He stood up and walked to the gate leading out of the compound, careful to prevent any Iriomote cats from leaving with him. Tres approached Maria, who looked at him expectantly for his answer.

"Positive." She smiled. "Good. The usual time, then?" Nod. Her smile widened as she hugged him and literally skipped out the door leading out of the menagerie.

If he was human, the android would have shrugged his shoulders in acceptance of Maria's behavior. As it was, he did not and merely followed her out the door.

They have been doing this sort of thing for quite a while now.

End Act I

E-ko, F-ko: And that concludes the first chapter of ValarSpawn's first Trinity Blood fic!
F-ko: So please dear readers…

E-ko: Read and Review!