~~~~
Some nights I feel like I have died
Or something deep inside is dying
I try to understand my crimes
But there's nothing that really matters

I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
[~~Nothing - Stabbing Westward]
~~~~

"I want to go to New Oregon!"

"I thought we were gonna check out the towns with the disappearances!"

"Yeah, but New Oregon first!"

"KANSAS!"

"Hey, you go wherever you want, you're the one following me!"

"URUSAI! SHUT UP BACK THERE!"

Vash and Wolfwood flashed twinly innocent salutes and both settled back in the truck, sending sulky glances at one another every few moments - aquamarine eyes meeting slate blue-gray every so often and then slipping away without hesitation. Wolfwood wiped his mouth on his sleeve and tried not to concentrate on his cotton-like tongue - they had spilled all their water moments before, and even the faintly darker stain on the bed of the truck had nearly disappeared in the smoldering heat. Vash tended to move and think exactly as he did.. that was vaguely frightening, considering exactly *how* Wolfwood thought on a regular basis.

Okay. Taking a deep breath, the priest let it hiss through his teeth and turned to watch the scenery pass by - that view dulled quickly, so he closed his eyes and brooded with a vengence. They could take a *small* detour, he supposed.... After all, if he 'ran into' Vash again the gunman might get suspicious... Wolfwood could always pass it off as a 'God-thing', but he doubted the blonde would really buy that. And he had been told to reel in the catch, no matter what...

So Legato would just have to tell his impatient master to wait a bit. As long as Wolfwood wasn't on the wrong end of that anger, he'd be fine - and Legato would probably appreciate the extra attention, anyway.

Smirk.

Vash had leaned into his fist, propping it up on the rim of the truck bed, his eyes half closed as he sighed softly into the wind. It whistled past Wolfwood's ears as he watched the blonde move, his spikes of gold bending this way and that in the breeze and yet somehow reforming into the perfect mess Vash was so careful to uphold. When they had been on Angelina, Wolfwood hadn't had the chance to really study Vash, other than out of the corner of his eye, but now that they were on equal ground he could really try to see the blonde.

And for some reason, it was hard to tear his eyes away.

When Vash turned and looked at him questioningly, Nicholas allowed himself a broad smirk, which was met with an empty, plastered-on smile that slid easily into place. He cringed, frowned slightly, and looked away, ignoring Vash's surprised look under the pretext of searching his jacket for a cigarette. Surely it wasn't *his problem* if the target was unhappy... What else was he here for, anyway? Happiness was nothing.

But those damned sad-looking eyes...

**I've seen worse.** Nicholas admitted to himself, although in all honesty, the sheer unfathomably agony that seemed to swim about within Vash's eyes made him shiver. How could one person bear a load like that, even if that one person was superhuman and immortal? **Knives knows how to wear at his twin's defenses, that's for sure. I wonder if it's working the way he planned? Vash hasn't shown any sign of breaking while I've been around him...**

"Ne, Wolfwood, I just got back into the world," Vash started again, his tone apologetic as he explained his position to the priest that was only half-listening. "I want to find out what's happened while I was gone, and I can't do that very well in an abandonded town..."

Wolfwood blinked and turned his attention back to Vash, a startled expression on his face. "What?"

"I don't want to start this off by fighting - "

It took the priest a moment to realize that Vash was, in a way apologizing. He blinked back his surprise and hid the expression on this face with a burst of smoke, hoping his start hadn't given his position away. When was the last time someone had apologized to him, someone had tried to explain what they felt in order to avoid a fight? After so long with the Gung-ho Guns Wolfwood had nearly forgotten what forgiveness could feel like, though he spent his waking hours preaching it to the world. **I'm such a hypocrite,** he glowered to himself and exhaled, making Vash crinkle his nose cutely and look away, too polite to comment on what he considered a somewhat disgusting habit.

"Ah," Wolfwood began, the words muffled by the cigarette hanging from his lip. "Um....yeah. Let's try to get along," he answered weakly, fixating his gaze on the sky above. "We can go to New Oregon if you like, let's just not stay too long."

"You really don't mind?"

"Nah. I just want to get to the bottom of this before any more orphans show up on my doorstep from towns where people have vanished..." the lie sounded weak to himself, but Vash's face narrowed slightly in sadness and complete belief.

"That's why you're here?"

Wolfwood nodded and swallowed, staring at the dust bouncing in the bottom of the truck's bed. It *shouldn't* be so hard to lie to someone... He was good at this. He lied to live. He lived a lie. Why did those aquamarine eyes strip away all of that and peer into who he was instead of who he appeared to be? It wasn't natural.

Not natural at all.

~~~~
I don't want it but I can't stop myself
Now endless questions fil my head
Some nights I'm frightened by the answers
No, you can't hurt me - Nothing's real
No pain you cause can last forever

I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
~~~~

"Aaaaaah! It feels so good to sleep in a soft bed again! " Vash declared loudly, grinning at Wolfwood before flinging himself back on the bed and sighing gustily. The priest turned away and examined their small room, drying to distract himself from the cute way Vash's fingers curled while his dressy white shirt slipped open and revealed soft, pale flesh beneath -

Wait, wait. *What*?

Two beds, a nightstand, a bathroom and a low table filled the small quarters, nothing too impressive - the priest found his mind wandering back to the days when only the *best* rooms would be fit for the Gung-ho Guns. Back then, when he and Middie had been room mates, each night was a hunt through dimly lit lounges... They'd see who could pick up the best babe, win the most at poker, and if everything fell short they always had one another for company... The other Guns had been conversation pieces, only a few of them had been worth much of anything. Dominique, for one, had been fun to drink with and had often joined them in picking up dates... but most of the lot had been idiots, and Wolfwood and Midvalley had enjoyed taking advantage of them when the opportunity presented itself.

**I wonder what Midvalley's been assigned to do...** Wolfwood furrowed his brow thoughtfully and reached for another cigarette. It wasn't like he really *missed* Midvalley...of course not, no. Nicholas D. Wolfwood was a grade-A womanizer.... Midvalley was just stress relief, a friend with fringe benefits. Of course.

Then again -

**No, no, I am absolutely *not* getting homesick for that hellhole, no matter how good in the sack that asshole was.**

Wolfwood turned and marched to the window, letting his fingers loosely rest on the windowsill as a rustle of fabric informed him that Vash was divesting himself of his loose cotton clothes. The street below, concentrate on that-

He watched silently as three men appeared on the sidewalk and walked down the street, wailing drunkenly at the top of their lungs. Another couple, a man and a woman with linked arms disappeared into a restaraunt, two little childern wearing ratty, torn clothing began rifling through the trash cans -

Wolfwood frowned, flashed Vash a glance, and moved to the door. "Hey, tongari. I'll be back in just one second."

"Mmmmkay, Wolfwood," Vash muttered, already half-asleep against his pillow, his lips parted against the soft cloth.

Wolfwood immediately exited the room and made his way down the hallway of the hotel silently, avoiding the creaky boards as much as possible. When he stepped down the stairs into the partially carpeted lobby he moved to the doorway and unbolted the lock, letting himself out into the cool night air. It was late indeed, he and Vash had only made it just before the front desk was closing, and they had begged until a room was given to them.

Out on the street he paused, searching the dusty road like any well-trained gunman would. Where were those two children? Wolfwood began walking under the stars, keeping one ear open at all times and allowing himself to reflect as he moved through the night.

Darkness was...comfortable. As much as the light was necessary, sometimes Nicholas preferred the night, when he could slouch and smoke and spit and not be seen doing it. When his suit blended into the darkness and the crosses on his wrist cuffs were not quite visible he didn't feel like such a sinner... As if he could lose himself in the night.

As if.

There was a crash and an echoing spin down an alley to his left, and Wolfwood immediately pursued the noise, stepping gingerly around the garbage at his feet while narrowing his eyes to slits. One hand lingered before his chest - he had slipped on a harness over one shoulder earlier that day, though without his cross he felt quite defenseless.

"Gebback!"

Nicholas D. Wolfwood smiled as he recognized the tone as that of the expectedly frightened child, a cornered young thing who was terrified of fighting.... He had experience with such things, both first and secondhand. "Hey, hey. You're who I was looking for," he said softly with raised hands, moving to his left until the moonlight rendered the boy visible. Tufty blonde hair fell around narrow blue-green eyes as the child glared at Wolfwood, a small bag clutched in his hands and *something* pressed against the wall behind him.

"GET BACK!" The boy cried, looking left and right, then lunching for a chunk of stone on the ground. As his palm closed around the weapon, Wolfwood's fingers caught his wrist, and the boy was left to struggle furiously against his capture. "NO! NO! LET ME GO! LET ME-"

"Shh. Stop screaming, I'm not going to hurt you," Wolfwood promised softly, staring at the boy from beneath his dark bangs. The boy stared up at him through wide eyes, but didn't relax at all, especially not when Wolfwood pointed to a small mound on the ground - at first sight it looked like a pile of cloth, but with a second glance one could notice the terrified trembling that was simply the sign of a scared child. "Is that your sister?"

The boy bit down hard on Wolfwood's hand and the priest dropped him, watching with an amused smile as the boy scrambled up to his feet and lifted his fists, dropping into an poorly executed fighting stance. "Get away! Kira, run, I'll hold him off!"

"Hey, hey," the priest said softly, looking at the two with pity in his eyes. Had he ever looked like that to a kind stranger? He doubted it. Before he had been taken into training there had been few, few decent people in his life. Then again, he wasn't a whole lot better now.... Now he was the one taking advantage of others, instead of being the one crying by the victims. That was sometimes all one could home for... "Let me explain myself, okay, kid? What's your name?"

No response, just a furious sounding growl.

"I'm Nick. Short for Nicholas D. Wolfwood, and I'm a priest. Yanno, a man of the church?"

"A...priest?" The boy blinked twice and relaxed slightly, but he didn't lower his fists. Wolfwood nodded encouragingly at the child and tried to look as harmless as possible. He had always been good with kids (especially rough ones, like this boy), and one thing he knew was that lying to them was close to impossible. You could skate around the truth all you liked, but if you lied, they would know it in a heartbeat. So he settled for his most relaxed pose and softened his voice, and launched into speech.

"Yeah. See, I'm staying with a friend," Well, okay, not really friend, but- "...in the hotel over there, and I saw you and your sister out there in the garbage cans. So I thought I'd see if there was anything I could do to help-"

"Liar!" This time it was the girl that spoke, her eyes hard and narrow from beneath the blanket-cloak she wore. "Nobody's that nice and you talk like a crook. Yer part of tha Ring, right? Go ta hell-"

"Kira! If 'e IS a priest you'll get in trouble fer sayin' that," the boy scowled slightly, though his face softened as the girl stood and bounced behind him. Putting her hands on his waist and staring at Wolfwood from around the boy's form, her ratty hair falling into her eyes.

"I know you're suspicious..." Wolfwood said softly, tilting his head and thinking quickly. He hadn't expected the girl to pick up on the accent he had aqquired over the years - even Vash didn't question the rough edge to his speech. "You see, I was once..."

"Don't give us any sappy stories, we don' care!" The boy folded his arms defensively across his chest and puffed a bit, trying to look bigger than he was. "Now get outta here, we found this stuff first-" he gestured to the garbage cans.

"Fine," Wolfwood nodded, smiling at the two children. He could remember well the inherent suspicion that was a part of living on the street - he had been a gutter child for long enough to become extremely familier with it. "But here," he added, dropping several double dollars into the dirt and trying to look meaningful, "take this and buy yourselves dinner. And please consider speaking with me again.... tomorrow night I'll be on the porch of the hotel. If you want dinner, come there."

The children's eyes went wide as Wolfwood lowered his hands and walked on - the boy jerked out of the way as the priest passed him as if he had been burned. Wolfwood listened carefully as a small scuffle ensued over who would hold the doubledollars, then nodded with satisfaction and slipped back out into the street.

On the way back he stepped into a store and purchased a dozen donuts with a thoughtful smirk. Perhaps he could make *three* children happy tonight.... "Look at me," Wolfwood muttered as he locked the door behind him, "I must be going soft."

~~~~

I don't want it but I can't stop myself
One night I swore I'd die for you
There's nothing else I'd rather die for
But I'll try to live another night
There's too much hate to be forgotten

I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want to believe in you - I can't believe in you
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, I don't need it
I don't want it, but I can't stop myself.
~~~~