Trigun: Duel of Wits 9
It had been a long time since Iris received any type of care or any acts of kindness.
She had been surprised by Vash insisting that she stay in bed, Wolfwood delivering books from the bookstore for her to read, and Meryl and Milly bandaging the cuts on her feet and arms. These actions were foreign to her but she accepted them with gratification and retained her sense of humor by pretending to be a mummy with the bandages on her person. Vash had been amazed with her coping abilities but each time she smiled her eyes displayed a deep injury. He did not want to press her further with the ordeal from Knives because he did not want see any woman shed tears or he would instead.
Since the afternoon of their return, they administered the healing treatments.
Vash entered the room to see the bed empty once more. "Damn it! Not again!" he exclaimed and dashed out of the room. By the time he reached the ground floor of the Saloon, he heard a loud thump resound from the ceiling. "What's going on up there?" he muttered. He decided to return to the second floor and entered the bedroom to investigate the noise. To his relief, he spotted Iris laying upon her left side with a sheepish grin. "Opps.." she said with a chuckle. "Don't you scare me like that again!" he shouted, while squatting before her with an authoritative expression on his face. "I'm sorry. I just had to use the bathroom." she said apologetically. "You could have used that bell on the nightstand and get someone to help you." he said. "I wanted to re-strengthen my legs but apparently they are not ready yet." she replied and attempted to raise herself from the floor. Her attempt had failed and fell to the floor once again. "Silly rainbow girl. You need to stay in bed." he said with a sigh. He lifted her gently to her feet and supported her arms on the walk to the bed. "You're lucky that Wolfy isn't here or he could have really scolded you." he added. "Aw stop fussing over me." she muttered
Meanwhile, Meryl and Milly had departed from the saloon and decide to shop for necessary food and supplies. "This place is pretty packed." Milly commented.
"Yeah, I can't see the merchandise on the display tables with them in the way." Meryl remarked. The women had to politely push themselves through the crowds to the display tables that exhibited fresh produce and meats. "Does the guys like chicken?" Meryl asked. "Yeah, I think it's perfect for tonight's dinner." Milly said. Meryl grabbed a headless chicken contained in a plastic bag and deposited the necessary currency to the elderly lady in a yellow apron. "This is one is good and heavy. It will fill them up and Iris needs this to regain her strength." she added. "She certainly puts up with a lot. It's such a shame that she's an outlaw." Milly commented. "How about some fruit before we go?" Meryl asked. "Okay how about five apples?" Milly asked. "Sure. Good! Now I have some room to grab them finally!" Meryl said cheerfully. Her hand hovered over the apples until her serene thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a man's shouting from the town square.
"What's going on?" Meryl asked. "I don't know but that man is sure crazy. Let's go see what's up." Milly suggested. The women followed the shouting to see a man dressed in a yellow kimono and black pants with a sword attached to his belt standing at the edge of the water fountain in the town square. "I'm Karasu the greatest samurai that ever lived! Bring me the one called the Bloody Rainbow or otherwise known as Iris Bloodworth or I will kill all of you one by one! You have ten minutes to meet my demand!" he bellowed. "You won't be able to kill all of us before we get you!" a man shouted from the crowd. Karasu removed a metallic black box with a red button installed within its case with a protruding antenna. "You fools! I rigged your townsquare with explosives. Do what I say or you will all die!" he shouted. "He couldn't have rigged all the buildings someone would have seen him!" another man shouted from the crowd. "Get me Bloody Rainbow before this town will run red with blood!" he shouted once more.
Panic enveloped the crowd and they ran from either direction in attempt to find Iris and to hide. "This is very bad!" Meryl said. "But she's too weak! What are we to do?!" Milly asked, panic stricken. "Well we have to get back to the saloon and tell the rest about the madman." Meryl said. "Right, ma'am!" Milly said firmly. The women ran back as fast as they could and ran into the Saloon's lobby, shouting the news to Vash and Wolfwood at the bar counter. "Really?! A man wanting to fight Iris?!" Vash asked in horror. "Yes, and he threatened to blow up the town in five minutes!" Meryl replied. Iris ran down the staircase with the sheathed sword in her left hand. "I heard the news. I have to do what I can to prevent this guy from hurting anyone!" she said boldly. She flung the sword over her shoulders and bravely marched out of the tavern and but fell to her knees at the threshold. Vash lifted her from the floor and said, "You know that you are in no condition to fight. You need to go back to bed before you make yourself worse." Iris sighed heavily and said, "You're right. That means you need to take my place for now." "Hold on now. I'm no swordsman. I'm a warrior of love. Love and peace." he protested. "Yeah, love of running away." Meryl remarked. "I can fix that part. Just give me your hand." she said confidently. "What?" he asked. "Just give me your hand." she insisted. Vash obeyed her and at the moment that their hands met, he felt a warm sensation travel from his fingers to the head. "Now do you understand?" she asked and offered the sword. "Yes, I do now." he said and received the weapon. "Go now and make me proud." she said and smiled. "I will!" he exclaimed. "I'm coming too. I can't just sit back and watch from the sidelines." Wolfwood said and grasped the covered cross that leaned against the bar counter. "You don't need to." Vash said. "You don't have to either." Wolfwood remarked. "You've got a point there." Vash agreed. The men departed from the Saloon running to the townsquare.
As they made their way to the busy streets, Wolfwood asked, "What are his motives with Iris?" "I don't know...we'll have to find out..." Vash said while running. I don't have a good feeling about this one. Wolfwood thought. The men threaded their way through the crowd to observe the samurai shouting boasts to his audience. "Where's Bloody Rainbow?!" he shouted as he slammed his sword into a nearby fruitstand causing total destruction. Vash approached Karasu and said confidently, "I hear you're looking for a swordsman. I'm here to meet your challenge." Karasu turned to see Vash the Stampede standing to his side and said, "Yeah, but I asked for Bloody Rainbow." "Well she's indisposed right now so you'll have to deal with me." Vash replied. "I was looking for a real challenge but since you're Vash the Stampede you'll do for now. I could use that sixty billion double dollars." Karasu said. Wolfwood began to approach Vash but had been signaled to refrain himself. He nodded respectfully and stood aside to watch the duel. Vash withdrew the four foot long sword from its leather sheath and thought I hope whatever trick she did to me works. I need all the help I can get. "Are we going to fight now or what?" he asked confidently. "Do you really think you can fight with that dinky little knife?" Karasu asked mockingly, "This is a real sword!" He presented the sword in an arrogant manner. Vash gazed at the long slender curved steel blade with the fine point at the very tip. "I think my dinky little knife will work just fine." he replied.
"Maybe so but I doubt that you can even handle it like a swordsman. In fact, what makes you think you have the skill to battle me? This isn't a rodeo or a gunshow at the OK Corral." Karasu said. "You sure talk alot. Is that how you've won your battles by talking your opponents to death?" Vash said mockingly. "You're a real funny guy, " he said sarcastically, "Let's see how funny you are when I carve a second smile into your forehead." The samurai leaped into the air with his blade aimed at Vash. As if a puppet master pulled invisible strings on Vash's limbs, his arms swung the sword into the air to deflect and toss Karasu away from him. The samurai landed upon his feet and gained composure. "Not bad. Not bad at all." he said and grinned. "You're still talking." Vash remarked. "All right enough games. It's time to finish you to get back to my task." he said. Karasu advanced on Vash and swung his sword numerous times with a murderous rage in his eyes. Vash's arms uncontrollably deflected each blow with awesome precision and power. This is insane! I can't control my arms. And yet they, instinctively hit their mark with perfect accuracy. I hope her power holds up long enough he thought.
Karasu was quite shocked by Vash's sudden ability to sword fight like a master samurai.
How can this little gunslinger, this puny little weakling, fight with such power and precision compared to mine own? Karasu thought.
The two of them continued fighting, the samurai striking from many angles but being blocked at each time. He flipped behind Vash, then spun around with his sword standing, attempting to cut him in half. Vash's legs instinctively thrusted him into the air, performing two somersaults and descending upon the samurai, and slammed the brass handle of the sword that smashed the samurai on his head. Karasu fell to the ground and felt dazed with widened eyes. He quickly regained his composure, leapt into the air, shoved his hand into his kimono and removed five shurikens in each hand and projected them towards Vash. Vash jumped into the air and slammed his sword into each shuriken mercilessly. He descended to the ground with a thump only to see Karasu fly around from behind and struck his sword into Vash's arm. At the same time, Vash maneuvered away quickly but not fast enough to keep his right arm from getting cut. Vash, tolerating the pain, jumped down onto his good arm, swung around and kicked Karasu's legs, causing him to plummet to the ground upon his back. Vash leapt to his feet, stood over Karasu and swung the blade to his face, but caused it to halt at a quarter inch above his eye ridge. "I could have easily have killed you now. Leave this town and never bother these people again." Vash said as he turned away and walked away from his oppenent.
Karasu, struggling to rise, began to run towards Vash with his sword, and was about to plunge into Vash's back when two shots out of nowhere knocked the sword out of Karasu's grasp and slammed into his leg causing him to fall permanently to the ground.
Vash glanced from over his left shoulder to see in surprise, Karasu cradling his bloody wounded leg in a childish fashion then looked towards the crowd to see Wolfwood with a pistol in one hand and thumbs up signal in the other. As Vash and Wolfwood joined together to walk away, the crowd started to gather around Karasu as the police shackled him and hauled away to their law enforcement facility.
"I never knew that you can handle a sword like that." Wolfwood commented.
"Neither did I." Vash replied with a chuckle. "That was some character. Quite a cocky bastard." he commented once more. "He's definitely not a person with brains. Seems more like a henchman." he said. "What makes you say that?" Wolfwood asked.
"He was in quite a hurry to deal with me so he could kill Iris and he spoke of it as a task. Sounds like someone put him up to all this. He even knew who I was." Vash commented. "Who do you think sent him?" he asked. "I can't put my finger on it but I know it's Knives. He has something wicked planned." Vash replied. "Maybe Iris could try to tell us everything that happened with Knives. Maybe she overheard what his plans are." Wolfwood suggested. "Let's give her a little more time to rest, maybe in a few days. Besides if it is Knives, he plans things slowly and carefully. So we'll have time to make a few plans of our own." Vash said. The men returned to the Rockerfeller Saloon.
As soon as they entered the Saloon, the women rejoiced upon their return. "That was amazing!" Milly exclaimed. "You really did it..." Meryl managed to say, being dumbfounded. "I'm very proud of you, Vash! You did it!" Iris praised. Her face went from joyful to concerned and said, "What's wrong with your arm?" "Oh it's nothing..." Vash said casually. "Let me take a look." she said. She examined his wound carefully and said, "Thank goodness it's not too deep. It needs to be stitched right away." "No no no it's fine really. I'll just wrap it up and it'll be okay." he insisted. Iris ignored his protests and said to Wolfwood, "I have a little sewing kit upstairs, bring it to me and we'll get to work." "No no no really it's fine.." he said nervously while backing towards the exit. Iris gave him a cold stare and said, "Where do you think you're going, dandelion?" "Oh... Just for a breath of fresh air..." he replied and dashed out the door.
Wolfwood placed a palm on his forehead, shook his head and muttered, "What's wrong with him?" He dashed out the door in pursuit of Vash. Five minutes later, the women heard yelling and whining from outside. They saw Wolfwood enter the Saloon with the hog tied Vash in tow. "Hold him down while I get the equipment ready!" Iris shouted, preparing the needle and thread. "No! No needle!" he protested. Meryl's tolerance level subsided as she grabbed an apple from a nearby fruitbowl and shoved into his mouth.
Iris cleaned the wound with a rag saturated in liquor and performed the even stitches carefully within his flesh. Vash could not tolerate the procedure and struggled within the arms of his other three friends. "The more you struggle the more it will worsen, dandelion. You're lucky that I'm weak now or I could do something worse to you later." Iris warned. She finished the procedure with the panting Vash on the floor. "See? It could have been done faster if you have cooperated." she added. He looked to the even stitches and cradled his arm while whimpering. "Would you like some tea, Mr Vash? It will make you feel better." Milly offered. Vash turned to Milly with an forged smile and said, "Sure that will be fine." He returned his attention back to his stitched arm. Wolfwood in disbelief approached Vash and sarcastically said, "You know for the most famous outlaw gunman you sure whine alot." He poked the wound in a joking manner. "I don't whine. I'm just passionate about my feelings." he said. Wolfwood rolled his eyes in return and said, "Whatever I'm going upstairs and hit the hay." "Goodnight Wolfwood." Iris called to him as he ascended the staircase. Milly returned with the hot cup of tea and said, "Careful with the cup, Mr Vash. It just came off the burner." "Thank you." he said and received the cup with a grin. Milly walked to her bedroom and said, "I hope you feel better in the morning, Mr Vash." Meryl and Iris sat by the fireplace and began to converse when they heard a loud thud in the next room. They left the room to investigate the noise. To their relief they saw Vash asleep on the floor next to his full cup of tea. "Should we drag him up to his room or just leave him there?" Meryl asked.
"We should get him to the bed. His body is more vulnerable and he needs all the comfort he can get. I'll get his torso and you'll get his legs." Iris said and lowered herself to his level. The women hoisted him within their grasp, carrying him slowly across the room, and carefully hauling him up the stairs. "He really exhausted himself this time. I like him better this way." Meryl remarked. "Yeah, men are easier to get along with when they're taking a nap." Iris agreed. "Especially this one." Meryl added. They chuckled as they entered his bedroom and gently placed him upon the matress. "He needs to lay off the donuts..." Meryl whispered. "Naw he's just naturally heavy. Let's get to our beds as well. Today was a demanding one." Iris suggested while yawning. "Yeah, Good night Iris." Meryl said. "Good night Meryl." she said in return. The two women parted to their bedrooms to retire for the night.