*Cackles insanely* I did it!!!! I did it!! I did it! I made it to 100,000 words!! And I've only been a writer here for 361 days! Four days to go till my one year anniversary!! *cheers* And some of you thought I'd never make it! *coughs* Christina! *coughs* Not like I'm mentioning names or anything…

PLEASE REIVEW!!!

One is the Loneliest Number

Chapter 8

Jail Cell Confessions

Kat yawned as she entered their hotel room. Vash dumped Kat's duffel bag on the floor and the black cat hopped onto the bed and curled into a little ball. The springs groaned in protest as the cat shifted his weight and its ebony fur rubbed off onto the blankets. Vash shut the door behind him and noticed that they weren't alone. Kat seemed to notice the same thing as she paused and turned.

The click of a gun sounded and the black cat hissed. It jumped off the bed and bolted for the window. The cat took a flying leap and smacked against the glass cracking it. It slid off the damaged window and landed in a heap on the floor.

"I've found you Vash the Stampede," the voice said mockingly as it ignored the unconscious cat.

"Spike?" Kat asked questioningly when she managed to tear her eyes off the cat.

The man flicked his brown eyes to Kat, "You know me?"

Kat quickly thought up a lie, "Who doesn't know you? Aside from Andy you're the most popular bounty hunter out there!"

The puffy green haired man pulled a disgusted face, "What is it with that Andy gu-"

The bounty hunter was cut off when the door to their room was flung open.

Spike was knocked out instantly as the door caught him in the face. A deep voice laughed, "We've caught you Vash the Stampede!"

Vash turned to see the town's sheriff pointing a gun to his head, "Is everyone out to get me today?!"

At the risk of getting Kat shot, Vash allowed himself to be handcuffed and taken away. Kat watched with bewilderment as he was hurried out the door. She wondered if she should knock out the sheriff and take off with Vash. She didn't want any trouble though so instead she followed the sheriff down the hall and out to the dusty street, "Can I ask why you're taking him away?"

"For the bounty of course," the sheriff replied, "Everyone knows that this town could use the money. What with all the problems with this town's only plant."

Vash tensed when he caught the remark about the plant. 'I wonder what's happening to her. I can feel some of it… She's lost a lot of energy.'

Kat followed them to the jail and pouted as Vash was thrown a bit too roughly into a cell. "If you're taking him, you'll have to lock me up too!" she said stubbornly.

"Suit yourself," the sheriff said as he directed Kat into a cell to the left of Vash.

The sheriff locked her in and Kat sighed, "What have I gotten myself into now?"

"You shouldn't have done that," Vash scolded her.

"I didn't want to leave you," she paused and covered her slip up, "I mean… Who knows what the sheriff is planning to do to you. You might need my help!" 'Yah that brilliant… 'you might need my help'?! Yah… real original. What the heck could I do to help him?'

Vash laughed, "But still…"

"But nothing!" Kat said as she slumped down against the cell wall. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. A meow sounded and Kat started, "Mayo followed me here? What a strangely loyal cat." 'I thought he had been knocked out. Maybe it's just my imagination…'

"Your cat followed you here?" Vash laughed.

Kat snorted, "Sometimes I think he's more like a dog than a loveable cat." There was a long pause before Kat spoke again, "What will they do to us?"

Vash sighed and dropped his happy-go-lucky act. He traced a finger along the grain patterns in the wood, his back against the wall knowing all that separated them was six inches of plaster, "They have no need for us after the bounty is collected…"

Kat sighed, "Not the way I imagined I would be spending my last few days…"

Vash laughed a little at her attempted humor, "So how did you get here anyways?"

Kat sighed and began to trace her own patterns in the wood. She paused and debated on weather or not she should tell him, "…You want the truth?"

Vash frowned and his finger paused its tracing, "Why? Is it something bad?"

Kat shook her head before realizing that he couldn't see her, "No, not really. Just unbelievable." Vash waited for her to continue as his frown increased. "I got here through my TV set… Crawled straight through the screen…" She paused to laugh, "My cat followed me without my knowing. Pretty unbelievable…"

"Something's definitely wrong with that," Vash commented, "TV's haven't been around for years. They were old when Rem first taught me about them…"

"Who's Rem?" Kat asked curiously. She frowned when there was a long pause. "Vash?" Kat asked worriedly when he didn't answer. A loud long sigh came from behind her.

"…Rem was someone very special to me… She was like a mother to me and Knives," he said slowly as the memories came flooding back to him.

"Who's Knives?" Kat asked.

"My brother," Vash said flatly after a short pause.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Kat commented. Another long pause.

"Kat…"

She lifted an eyebrow, "Hum?" She grew uncomfortable when he didn't say anything. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"…My brother and I…we're… we're not human," came the emotionless reply.

"What do you mean?" Kat asked growing a bit uneasy.

Vash rested his head against the plaster wall. 'Do I really want to tell her my secrets? No one has ever heard my story. No one but Knives knows about me… She already knows too much… I've never told anyone about Rem… I only mentioned her once…' He paused in his thoughts. 'Well, if she's the last person I have a chance to talk to…' "My brother and I are plant angels. We're beings that exist out of time. Rem saved us and cared for us when no one else would…Kat…I'm one hundred and thirty one years old."

There was a long and uncomfortable pause. Kat sat there shocked. The truth began to sink in and she sniffed as tears spilled down her face, "Not human…"

"My brother is bent on destroying the people on this planet and creating an Eden for plants alone," Vash sighed when he caught the muffled sound of her tears.

"You know…" Kat started to spill her own secrets, "I always wondered if something was wrong in my life. I wake up every day to feeling sore, as if I've been probed or experimented on. I only just realized that something was definitely wrong since when I wake up here…I feel completely normal. Refreshed even… I haven't felt that way in a long time…" She paused to collect herself, "I've never left Tokyo. My parents never allowed it. I constantly have the feeling like I'm being watched. It never leaves or subsides. There have been times when I felt as if someone is standing right behind me but when I look, there's no one there. I don't know if I'm just paranoid or something else…"

"Earth has been left in ruins after the humans there used up the natural resources. Some colonies were still left but they're ruins. I've heard rumors of places where scientists experiment on human nature. It's a star attraction the headlines say 'come see what it was like to live in the early…2000's…'" he trailed off wondering if she was one of the poor test experiments. 'I know what it feels like… I'll never forget what they did to Tessla…'

"Are you saying that I could be an experiment?" she asked as she hugged her knees to her chest. There was another pause.

"Move to the right of your cell. To the bars," Vash commanded.

"How did you-" she attempted to ask.

"Just do it," he said tiredly.

Kat shuffled over and yelped when the wall behind her gave way. Bullets pierced through the plaster behind her into the wall in front of Kat. The sounds echoed as they bounced off the sound proof walls. Kat coughed as the dust cleared and blinked. There was Vash, covered in plaster dust, walking through the ruined wall with a fake smile on his face. Kat gasped when she saw his arm. It was in its gun form. She couched violently from inhaling some of the thick dust.

Vash glanced at what she was staring at it and quickly switched it back to the arm looking mode. "I lost my real arm when Knives shot it off," Vash explained when she had stopped coughing. He sat down next to Kat and comforted her when her sobs increased. Tears left clean trails through the plaster that covered her face.

She quieted down after a while and he took the opportunity to ask her a question, "How did you know my name was Vash when you met me and how did you know the name of that bounty hunter?"

Kat sniffled and wiped some of the plaster off her face, "On Earth… there are shows about your lives. I've seen all of the Cowboy Bebop, the one the bounty hunter is in, but I've only seen parts of Trigun and bits my friends have told me. Trigun is the one based on you. Obviously they weren't just shows but news of what was going on in your lives…"

They quieted when shouts could be heard. The walls were sound proof but they guessed it was only to a certain degree.

'What's going on? Is someone else here to collect my bounty?! What if Kat gets injured? She'll be set free since she's innocent but if she gets shot…'

A shot rang off and the shouts on the other side of the door ceased.

(A/N: I'm attempting to make them sound less corny but it's very hard to get what I have down on paper and into words. I know it may be hard to understand what I tried to explain about the sound proof walls. They are only sound proof to a degree. The sheriff was too busy dealing with the other visitor to hear the shots that came from Vash… yah… that's sounds reasonable… hehe. PLEASE REVIEW!!!)