Author's Note- Ok, hoping this will be longer than the last. We'll see. The
disclaimer in the first chapter is enough right? Ok, that's what I thought.
^^
Love Is Complicated
By: Cobalt-eyedAngel
"Whenever something is gained, something is always lost. It's difficult to live after something like that. What is lost will never return. Important things, irreplaceable things, but what is needed to keep those things is in the firm will packed into one bullet. Man knows, he knows nothing will begin unless he speaks, and that nothing will change, unless he moves."
............................................................................................................
Vash woke slightly dizzy to hear soft murmurs. At first, he thought it was just the hangover from getting wasted so he wouldn't have to deal with the...murdering situation. But when he sat up and opened his eyes, he found that it was a radio playing.
He jumped out of bed and almost fell back down into the comfort of the quilts. Nope, THAT was the hangover. And this one was BAD.
He clutched his head and tried to remember exactly where he was. A sudden image of a 20 year old woman with silky (he was guessing) raven hair. "Meryl...That's right, I went to see Meryl and Milly." He muttered speaking to himself.
Suddenly his stomach growled. "Oh, you hungry, big boy?" he said trying to find fat to grab and emphasize his point, but to no avail. He then grinned again. "Well then let's go fill 'er up!!"
He rushed out the door and paused to look in the small hallway the door had led him to. Then, letting his nose lead the way, continued towards the kitchen, which right now smelled an awful lot like...
"Doughnuts!" He squealed like a child at a candy store. Which made a lot of sense, 'cause he was a 'child' (He learned this from the fact that Meryl keep telling him to grow up.) and doughnuts were good enough to be considered candy.
He rushed into the room, and closed his eyes in sweet bliss and just took a long sniff of the delicious smell. He began drooling and practically floated towards the satisfying smell.
He stopped when he heard a little girl giggle.
He opened his eyes and blinked. Once. Twice. Then searched for the girl. He couldn't find her, suddenly Milly walked into the room.
"Oh look, you're up!" A joyful Milly exclaimed from the doorway.
"Mommy!" A four year old jumped out from behind the counter. "Who's that?" The little girl scampered to Milly and Milly giggled as she saw Vash's confused face.
"Um, oh." Milly's worried face told all. She didn't want to frighten the little girl.
"Neko." Vash said. He knew that the little girl wouldn't understand that Vash The Stampede was as harmless as a fly.
So when Vash saw that black cat that seemed to follow him around (A/N- hehe, I lik that cat) every where, the first word that came to him was cat, which was also neko.
"Kitty!" The little girl bounced up and down excitedly. "Hello Mr. Kitty, my name is Nikki!" She smiled a smile that was identical to Milly's.
"Oh, you are..." He glanced up at Milly's sad face and then smiled down at the little girl.
She was Nicholas' daughter. She resembled him greatly, with her pony-tailed black hair. The same black Nick himself had. She was small, came up to his knee. So Vash bent down and looked at the girl. He came face to face with Nick's dark blue eyes. They stunned him and his mouth hung agape.
"Kitty! Kitty!" The little girl, Nikki, jumped on his back. She was so light that the only way he could tell she was actually there, was her excited shouting. "Piggy-bawk! Pig-bawk!"
Vash smiled his patened goofy grin, latched his arms around her legs and took off. He twirled and jumped and spun around, getting faster and faster at her happy screams and jolly giggles.
Vash came to a stop when he heard a women's voice.
"Hey! Be careful, don't hurt her!" Meryl came into view at the top of the stairs. Vash quickly glanced around him to find himself in a small hallway next to the entrance and stairs.
Vash bent down(slightly more dizzy than he started, even with his throbbing hangover) and Nikki slipped off his back. "Awww, Kitty Fun!! Mer-Mer, you know Kitty?"
Meryl, known as Mer-Mer to Nikki, smiled down at her. "Kitty?"
"You don't?!" Nikki cried excitedly, "Mer-Mer, this is Mr. Neko! That's Kitty!" She put a childishly plump finger up pointing to Vash's form. "Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!"
"Ohhhh..." Meryl glanced at Vash. "Right, thank-you for introducing me to...Kitty" Meryl said with amusement in her voice.
"Nicole Maple Wolfwood, come here right now!" Milly's gentle but upset voice drifted from the kitchen.
"Uh-oh. What I do thins time?" Nikki said in her cute voice. Vash doubted if Milly would be mad long. Nikki quickly said g'morning to Meryl, kissed her on the cheek, then she smiled at Vash and hurried towards the kitchen.
"What were you doing?!" Meryl yelled at Vash, once Nikki was out of the room. "Running around with a child on your back, acting like a maniac!"
Meryl was the same. It was a comforting thought that brought a smile to his lips.
"I wasn't going to drop her." Vash said trying to calm Meryl down.
"It scared the hell out of me! It just..." Meryl was solemn now. "You have to take special care of things that are special to you...or your friends."
Vash's smile slipped from his face and was now that rarely ever seen serious one. "How is she doing?" Vash asked.
"Better since Nikki was born. But...sometimes when Nikki asks about HIM, it's hard for her." Meryl said solemnly.
"Right." Vash nodded in a trance of thoughts.
"Kitty!" They were awoken out of their deep conversation by the sound of Nikki's voice. "Mommy says it is breakfast time!"
"After you Mer-Mer," Vash held out his arm in a gentlemen manor and smiled his maniac smile.
"You have got to be kidding me Mr. Neko, I rather have a particular liking towards dogs." Meryl smirked at Vash and started towards the kitchen, "Come on Kitty-Kitty!" she called over her shoulder.
Vash laughed, and now that he wasn't pre-occupied the scent of doughnuts hit his nose again. "Doughnuts!!" He dashed off and passed Meryl into the kitchen.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
After breakfast, the gang went to town to get groceries and let Vash get familiar with his surroundings.
"Kitty, come on I'll show you my friends!" Nikki tugged on his arm and Vash looked at Meryl and Milly.
"Have fun kids," Milly laughed.
"Be careful!" Meryl called as they ran off towards a group of 5 other kids who's ages ranged from four to seven.
"And this is Jetch, my best friend," Nikki pointed to a five year old boy with dark brown hair and a glare on his face. But when he looked at Nikki his face turned into a blushing smile. Vash smiled himself, Nick should've been here to see the boy that had a crush on his daughter.
"This is Abigail, my other best friend," This time she pointed to a four year old with blonde hair and humongous green eyes. She had on a pale blue and green dress and smiled shyly at Vash.
"How'd you get so tall? What's it like being so tall?" The kids all scrambled over him to get a view of what Vash was seeing. Vash started laughing till most of the kids were crawling over him.
"Run! A dog is coming! It's scary!" A bunch of kids cried, and Vash felt several small sharp objects enter his bottom.
"AHHHHH!" Vash yelped and began running with four kids holding on yelling happily and a couple more running behind them. Behind the gang of kids a dog bigger than the size of Nikki was chasing after them barking.
Many of the town's people laughed as they saw a blob of kids and a man run around town screaming. Meryl and Milly's attention was averted away from their purchases to the kids and Vash and they started laughing.
The laughter stopped as soon as five gunshots rang out through the entire town.
The kids climbed off Vash and hid behind him as even the dog stopped scared. In the middle of Town Square a group of six men, each one uglier than the last, stood.
"We hear there's a man called Vash The Stampede living here. Which one of you 'simple' town's folk owns that name?" What looked like the leader walked around the fountain, his gaze roamed the frightened crowd. The leader didn't even take a second glance at the goofy blonde-spiked haired man.
"Hmm. No one is confessing boss, maybe we should just blow all their heads off and turn 'em all in?" The dirty short man spit out his words, and when he was finished he smiled a disqusting yellow evil smile.
Milly and Meryl were across the Square from Vash and they both looked at him worried.
"Now, now, Butcher, let's not get hasty. I got a way to get the sickening killer out of his hiding spot." He again looked over the crowd and a grueling smirk came to his lips. "Boys, each of ya pick the prettiest girl and when we find one or two, we'll threaten him out. Nobody, not even a killer, likes to waste a good women, when she can be used for...other things."
The gang's eyes filled with lust and they shuffled through the crowd. Several of them headed toward Meryl, to Vash's serious disgust and disliking, but Butcher reached her first and yanked her back towards Boss.
Meryl growled as she glared at the beastly thing that roughly grabbed her and shoved her at Boss. Her cold glare landed on him as his eyes slowly roamed over her body.
"She'll do nicely," He stared at her for awhile longer then turned back to the crowd. "Here's a pleasing women for you Vash, looks mighty appetizing. You wouldn't want us to have the first taste now would you?"
Vash growled and started to take a step forward, but Meryl stopped him with discreet warning glance.
"Oh come on now, Vash. Perhaps you would like a full look at what you're getting? You are quite a smart man Mr. Stampede. "Go ahead Butcher, take off a piece of clothing until he finally decides that he likes what he sees."
Before Butcher could even get her white coat half way off, which he noticed was actually quite heavy, Vash stepped in front of the town's folk and called out in a deathly cold voice. "Leave her alone, I'm the Humanoid Typhoon."
"You! YOU?!" Butcher looked at Vash and laughed. "I never could've imagined the Humanoid Typhoon was good with children." The four other members of the party laughed with him.
"Shut up!" Boss called out to his men and they abruptly stopped. "You say you're the legendary gunman?"
"I did." Was all Vash said and he glanced at Meryl again. She seemed fine, except she looked mad at him and slightly less mad at Boss and his gang. Figures Meryl would be mad at him for saving her life and the privacy of her shrine.
"Well, how 'bout we have a little test, then? Just to make sure." Boss asked and slowly stepped toward him. Vash nodded again, his face serious. "A showdown? Will that work for you Mr. Stampede? Humanoid Typhoon? Legendary gunman? What would you like me to call you?"
"Vash is fine," Vash said stiffly, an anger he had never felt before boiled inside him. Was it because Meryl's life was on the line? It couldn't be, could it? He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, he would figure that out later. "A showdown? Sounds good."
Now Boss was standing right in front of Vash and he smiled. "We'll turn around and on five the first to hit the other wins."
"I know how a showdown works." Vash said coldly. "You can do the honors."
Boss chuckled and turned around, and Vash followed suit. When both their backs were to each other Boss called out, "ONE!"
Both Vash and Boss held their guns to their chest and took a step forward. "TWO!"
Again another step. "THREE!"
Boss turned around quickly and aimed for Vash's head and shot. He didn't notice that Vash leaned to the left side escaping the bullet's piercing.
"Sorry Vash, I always did have a special liking towards the number three." He laughed evilly and pocketed his gun.
"You know, Boss." Vash slowly turned around, using the word Boss like a swear word. "In showdowns, most people don't aim for the head because it's usually the smallest part of the body, and since in showdowns most people don't aim. But you've got such a big head it gives to much oxygen to your already too small brain and messes up your thinking. Because since you cheated, you should've realized that you had the time to aim, if you even can."
Boss let out an angry yell and took his gun out and fired the five shots left in his first gun and the six bullets in his second gun. His gun pointed right at Vash's chest and most looked away not willing to see the blood that would soon follow.
"Vash!" Meryl yelled frightened. "Ki-Kitty?" A small voice called out desparatly. Vash took a glance at Meryl who was released from Butcher's grip as Butcher slowly inched toward Boss. Then Vash took a glance at Nikki to find her in the comfort of Milly's arms crying but still looking at Vash.
Vash raised his gun and shot Boss in the left shoulder, making sure not to hit any vital organs or places that would kill him.
Meryl sighed in relief after noticing Vash was still alive and well. Nikki cried harder and buried her head in her mother's neck.
"Let's get out of here!" Boss yelled frightened to his gang and they quickly agreed and jumped in the vehicle they came in and took off towards the entrance of town.
By now the Town Square was deserted except for Vash, Meryl, Milly, Nikki, and Jetch.
Vash slouched uncomfortably his cut in his right side throbbing as he made his way towards Milly, Nikki, and Jetch. Meryl headed there slowly also.
"Nikki?" Vash called, his cold and serious voice vanished and it was warm good ol' Vash. Nikki whimpered and tried to pull Milly closer. "Nikki it's me."
Milly looked apologetically at Vash as she tried to soothe her daughter.
"You...you..." Jetch glared coldly at Vash and he stumbled back. "You're the reason my parents are dead! You...you killed them in Augusta!"
Vash took a couple more steps backwards and whispered brokenly, "I'm...sorry."
He turned and ran as tears sprung to his eyes. Everyone was always hurt because of him. The ones he loved always suffered. He wouldn't hurt them anymore, he would disappear so the people he loved would be free to live their lives safely.
"Vash!" Meryl called ahead of him as he passed her still running. "They don't know you're not really like that!" She called desperately.
No, even if they didn't know he didn't mean to kill those people, that it wasn't his fault. He still did it. Hell, he had killed his brother! He couldn't stop bad things happening to those he loved, even if he just met them he always ended up hurting them in some way.
He wasn't going to let it happen again, he couldn't. Things were bound to change if he just kept moving. So he would wander still, even though he had found friends that cared about him. He would show them he cared, by letting them live. He wouldn't allow them to be hurt anymore.
He would wander till no one remembered his bounty. He would wander till people had thought he had died off. He would let the ones he love be safe. He wasn't going to be the reason they got hurt.
He wasn't going to allow himself to hurt them anymore.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
"Thank you for saving me Vash..." Meryl whispered to the wind as once again, like many a time before, Vash disappeared into the horizon.
Author's Note- Long enough? I like it, how about all you? Please R&R!!!
Love Is Complicated
By: Cobalt-eyedAngel
"Whenever something is gained, something is always lost. It's difficult to live after something like that. What is lost will never return. Important things, irreplaceable things, but what is needed to keep those things is in the firm will packed into one bullet. Man knows, he knows nothing will begin unless he speaks, and that nothing will change, unless he moves."
............................................................................................................
Vash woke slightly dizzy to hear soft murmurs. At first, he thought it was just the hangover from getting wasted so he wouldn't have to deal with the...murdering situation. But when he sat up and opened his eyes, he found that it was a radio playing.
He jumped out of bed and almost fell back down into the comfort of the quilts. Nope, THAT was the hangover. And this one was BAD.
He clutched his head and tried to remember exactly where he was. A sudden image of a 20 year old woman with silky (he was guessing) raven hair. "Meryl...That's right, I went to see Meryl and Milly." He muttered speaking to himself.
Suddenly his stomach growled. "Oh, you hungry, big boy?" he said trying to find fat to grab and emphasize his point, but to no avail. He then grinned again. "Well then let's go fill 'er up!!"
He rushed out the door and paused to look in the small hallway the door had led him to. Then, letting his nose lead the way, continued towards the kitchen, which right now smelled an awful lot like...
"Doughnuts!" He squealed like a child at a candy store. Which made a lot of sense, 'cause he was a 'child' (He learned this from the fact that Meryl keep telling him to grow up.) and doughnuts were good enough to be considered candy.
He rushed into the room, and closed his eyes in sweet bliss and just took a long sniff of the delicious smell. He began drooling and practically floated towards the satisfying smell.
He stopped when he heard a little girl giggle.
He opened his eyes and blinked. Once. Twice. Then searched for the girl. He couldn't find her, suddenly Milly walked into the room.
"Oh look, you're up!" A joyful Milly exclaimed from the doorway.
"Mommy!" A four year old jumped out from behind the counter. "Who's that?" The little girl scampered to Milly and Milly giggled as she saw Vash's confused face.
"Um, oh." Milly's worried face told all. She didn't want to frighten the little girl.
"Neko." Vash said. He knew that the little girl wouldn't understand that Vash The Stampede was as harmless as a fly.
So when Vash saw that black cat that seemed to follow him around (A/N- hehe, I lik that cat) every where, the first word that came to him was cat, which was also neko.
"Kitty!" The little girl bounced up and down excitedly. "Hello Mr. Kitty, my name is Nikki!" She smiled a smile that was identical to Milly's.
"Oh, you are..." He glanced up at Milly's sad face and then smiled down at the little girl.
She was Nicholas' daughter. She resembled him greatly, with her pony-tailed black hair. The same black Nick himself had. She was small, came up to his knee. So Vash bent down and looked at the girl. He came face to face with Nick's dark blue eyes. They stunned him and his mouth hung agape.
"Kitty! Kitty!" The little girl, Nikki, jumped on his back. She was so light that the only way he could tell she was actually there, was her excited shouting. "Piggy-bawk! Pig-bawk!"
Vash smiled his patened goofy grin, latched his arms around her legs and took off. He twirled and jumped and spun around, getting faster and faster at her happy screams and jolly giggles.
Vash came to a stop when he heard a women's voice.
"Hey! Be careful, don't hurt her!" Meryl came into view at the top of the stairs. Vash quickly glanced around him to find himself in a small hallway next to the entrance and stairs.
Vash bent down(slightly more dizzy than he started, even with his throbbing hangover) and Nikki slipped off his back. "Awww, Kitty Fun!! Mer-Mer, you know Kitty?"
Meryl, known as Mer-Mer to Nikki, smiled down at her. "Kitty?"
"You don't?!" Nikki cried excitedly, "Mer-Mer, this is Mr. Neko! That's Kitty!" She put a childishly plump finger up pointing to Vash's form. "Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!"
"Ohhhh..." Meryl glanced at Vash. "Right, thank-you for introducing me to...Kitty" Meryl said with amusement in her voice.
"Nicole Maple Wolfwood, come here right now!" Milly's gentle but upset voice drifted from the kitchen.
"Uh-oh. What I do thins time?" Nikki said in her cute voice. Vash doubted if Milly would be mad long. Nikki quickly said g'morning to Meryl, kissed her on the cheek, then she smiled at Vash and hurried towards the kitchen.
"What were you doing?!" Meryl yelled at Vash, once Nikki was out of the room. "Running around with a child on your back, acting like a maniac!"
Meryl was the same. It was a comforting thought that brought a smile to his lips.
"I wasn't going to drop her." Vash said trying to calm Meryl down.
"It scared the hell out of me! It just..." Meryl was solemn now. "You have to take special care of things that are special to you...or your friends."
Vash's smile slipped from his face and was now that rarely ever seen serious one. "How is she doing?" Vash asked.
"Better since Nikki was born. But...sometimes when Nikki asks about HIM, it's hard for her." Meryl said solemnly.
"Right." Vash nodded in a trance of thoughts.
"Kitty!" They were awoken out of their deep conversation by the sound of Nikki's voice. "Mommy says it is breakfast time!"
"After you Mer-Mer," Vash held out his arm in a gentlemen manor and smiled his maniac smile.
"You have got to be kidding me Mr. Neko, I rather have a particular liking towards dogs." Meryl smirked at Vash and started towards the kitchen, "Come on Kitty-Kitty!" she called over her shoulder.
Vash laughed, and now that he wasn't pre-occupied the scent of doughnuts hit his nose again. "Doughnuts!!" He dashed off and passed Meryl into the kitchen.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
After breakfast, the gang went to town to get groceries and let Vash get familiar with his surroundings.
"Kitty, come on I'll show you my friends!" Nikki tugged on his arm and Vash looked at Meryl and Milly.
"Have fun kids," Milly laughed.
"Be careful!" Meryl called as they ran off towards a group of 5 other kids who's ages ranged from four to seven.
"And this is Jetch, my best friend," Nikki pointed to a five year old boy with dark brown hair and a glare on his face. But when he looked at Nikki his face turned into a blushing smile. Vash smiled himself, Nick should've been here to see the boy that had a crush on his daughter.
"This is Abigail, my other best friend," This time she pointed to a four year old with blonde hair and humongous green eyes. She had on a pale blue and green dress and smiled shyly at Vash.
"How'd you get so tall? What's it like being so tall?" The kids all scrambled over him to get a view of what Vash was seeing. Vash started laughing till most of the kids were crawling over him.
"Run! A dog is coming! It's scary!" A bunch of kids cried, and Vash felt several small sharp objects enter his bottom.
"AHHHHH!" Vash yelped and began running with four kids holding on yelling happily and a couple more running behind them. Behind the gang of kids a dog bigger than the size of Nikki was chasing after them barking.
Many of the town's people laughed as they saw a blob of kids and a man run around town screaming. Meryl and Milly's attention was averted away from their purchases to the kids and Vash and they started laughing.
The laughter stopped as soon as five gunshots rang out through the entire town.
The kids climbed off Vash and hid behind him as even the dog stopped scared. In the middle of Town Square a group of six men, each one uglier than the last, stood.
"We hear there's a man called Vash The Stampede living here. Which one of you 'simple' town's folk owns that name?" What looked like the leader walked around the fountain, his gaze roamed the frightened crowd. The leader didn't even take a second glance at the goofy blonde-spiked haired man.
"Hmm. No one is confessing boss, maybe we should just blow all their heads off and turn 'em all in?" The dirty short man spit out his words, and when he was finished he smiled a disqusting yellow evil smile.
Milly and Meryl were across the Square from Vash and they both looked at him worried.
"Now, now, Butcher, let's not get hasty. I got a way to get the sickening killer out of his hiding spot." He again looked over the crowd and a grueling smirk came to his lips. "Boys, each of ya pick the prettiest girl and when we find one or two, we'll threaten him out. Nobody, not even a killer, likes to waste a good women, when she can be used for...other things."
The gang's eyes filled with lust and they shuffled through the crowd. Several of them headed toward Meryl, to Vash's serious disgust and disliking, but Butcher reached her first and yanked her back towards Boss.
Meryl growled as she glared at the beastly thing that roughly grabbed her and shoved her at Boss. Her cold glare landed on him as his eyes slowly roamed over her body.
"She'll do nicely," He stared at her for awhile longer then turned back to the crowd. "Here's a pleasing women for you Vash, looks mighty appetizing. You wouldn't want us to have the first taste now would you?"
Vash growled and started to take a step forward, but Meryl stopped him with discreet warning glance.
"Oh come on now, Vash. Perhaps you would like a full look at what you're getting? You are quite a smart man Mr. Stampede. "Go ahead Butcher, take off a piece of clothing until he finally decides that he likes what he sees."
Before Butcher could even get her white coat half way off, which he noticed was actually quite heavy, Vash stepped in front of the town's folk and called out in a deathly cold voice. "Leave her alone, I'm the Humanoid Typhoon."
"You! YOU?!" Butcher looked at Vash and laughed. "I never could've imagined the Humanoid Typhoon was good with children." The four other members of the party laughed with him.
"Shut up!" Boss called out to his men and they abruptly stopped. "You say you're the legendary gunman?"
"I did." Was all Vash said and he glanced at Meryl again. She seemed fine, except she looked mad at him and slightly less mad at Boss and his gang. Figures Meryl would be mad at him for saving her life and the privacy of her shrine.
"Well, how 'bout we have a little test, then? Just to make sure." Boss asked and slowly stepped toward him. Vash nodded again, his face serious. "A showdown? Will that work for you Mr. Stampede? Humanoid Typhoon? Legendary gunman? What would you like me to call you?"
"Vash is fine," Vash said stiffly, an anger he had never felt before boiled inside him. Was it because Meryl's life was on the line? It couldn't be, could it? He shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, he would figure that out later. "A showdown? Sounds good."
Now Boss was standing right in front of Vash and he smiled. "We'll turn around and on five the first to hit the other wins."
"I know how a showdown works." Vash said coldly. "You can do the honors."
Boss chuckled and turned around, and Vash followed suit. When both their backs were to each other Boss called out, "ONE!"
Both Vash and Boss held their guns to their chest and took a step forward. "TWO!"
Again another step. "THREE!"
Boss turned around quickly and aimed for Vash's head and shot. He didn't notice that Vash leaned to the left side escaping the bullet's piercing.
"Sorry Vash, I always did have a special liking towards the number three." He laughed evilly and pocketed his gun.
"You know, Boss." Vash slowly turned around, using the word Boss like a swear word. "In showdowns, most people don't aim for the head because it's usually the smallest part of the body, and since in showdowns most people don't aim. But you've got such a big head it gives to much oxygen to your already too small brain and messes up your thinking. Because since you cheated, you should've realized that you had the time to aim, if you even can."
Boss let out an angry yell and took his gun out and fired the five shots left in his first gun and the six bullets in his second gun. His gun pointed right at Vash's chest and most looked away not willing to see the blood that would soon follow.
"Vash!" Meryl yelled frightened. "Ki-Kitty?" A small voice called out desparatly. Vash took a glance at Meryl who was released from Butcher's grip as Butcher slowly inched toward Boss. Then Vash took a glance at Nikki to find her in the comfort of Milly's arms crying but still looking at Vash.
Vash raised his gun and shot Boss in the left shoulder, making sure not to hit any vital organs or places that would kill him.
Meryl sighed in relief after noticing Vash was still alive and well. Nikki cried harder and buried her head in her mother's neck.
"Let's get out of here!" Boss yelled frightened to his gang and they quickly agreed and jumped in the vehicle they came in and took off towards the entrance of town.
By now the Town Square was deserted except for Vash, Meryl, Milly, Nikki, and Jetch.
Vash slouched uncomfortably his cut in his right side throbbing as he made his way towards Milly, Nikki, and Jetch. Meryl headed there slowly also.
"Nikki?" Vash called, his cold and serious voice vanished and it was warm good ol' Vash. Nikki whimpered and tried to pull Milly closer. "Nikki it's me."
Milly looked apologetically at Vash as she tried to soothe her daughter.
"You...you..." Jetch glared coldly at Vash and he stumbled back. "You're the reason my parents are dead! You...you killed them in Augusta!"
Vash took a couple more steps backwards and whispered brokenly, "I'm...sorry."
He turned and ran as tears sprung to his eyes. Everyone was always hurt because of him. The ones he loved always suffered. He wouldn't hurt them anymore, he would disappear so the people he loved would be free to live their lives safely.
"Vash!" Meryl called ahead of him as he passed her still running. "They don't know you're not really like that!" She called desperately.
No, even if they didn't know he didn't mean to kill those people, that it wasn't his fault. He still did it. Hell, he had killed his brother! He couldn't stop bad things happening to those he loved, even if he just met them he always ended up hurting them in some way.
He wasn't going to let it happen again, he couldn't. Things were bound to change if he just kept moving. So he would wander still, even though he had found friends that cared about him. He would show them he cared, by letting them live. He wouldn't allow them to be hurt anymore.
He would wander till no one remembered his bounty. He would wander till people had thought he had died off. He would let the ones he love be safe. He wasn't going to be the reason they got hurt.
He wasn't going to allow himself to hurt them anymore.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
"Thank you for saving me Vash..." Meryl whispered to the wind as once again, like many a time before, Vash disappeared into the horizon.
Author's Note- Long enough? I like it, how about all you? Please R&R!!!