Chapter 4:

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, though I didn't get as many as I would like to have gotten, but I suppose quality is better than quantity.  Lol anyways I'll try to get as much writing in as I can but I write stuff a lot for my friends and they come before my FF.net account, sorry!  But you as my loyal fans mean the world to me so don't be offended, okay?  HEY IT'S A NEW CHAP GO READ!

 Chap. Summary: An old friend from Sting's past shows up and trouble starts up as Vann does something much unexpected.

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            Vann scrunched his nose a little as a droplet of water splattered on his face.  Though he was only half-conscious he could register the rhythmic dripping.

            Opening one eye he found his white-haired, green-gray eyed companion standing over him with a water pitcher tipped just enough so the drips fell onto him.

            "Sting?" he muttered.

            "Oh, good, you're awake," she said, her usually grave face brightening into a smile.  "We're moving out later tonight, be ready, but now breakfast.  Get up, get showered, and get dressed."

            "Why should I?" Vann grunted.

            Sting lifted the basin high.  "If you do not, I will assist in it now."  With that she emptied the contents of the pitcher onto him and was gone with a flick of her brown coat, leaving him to scream out angrily at her all the curses under the sun.

            "E-excuse me, miss?"

            The voice made Sting turn around and Milly and Meryl, who sat immediately across from her, to look up, all three spotting a shaking young man standing there, eyes nervous and hands trembling as he clutched at a pale envelop.

            "Yes?" Sting asked, lifting a delicate eyebrow.

            "T-this is for you, I-I think."

            The woman blinked once and a flash of unease fell across her eyes.  "You think?  You're not sure?" she questioned.

            "I-I was t-told to give this to a w-w-woman with white hair."

            Sting glanced at the two insurance girls sharing her table and they both shrugged.  "Well, that'd be me."  Quickly she plucked the paper from his hands and waved him off.  "Very strange."

            "Why?" Milly asked.

            The preacher raised an eyebrow at the taller girl, who was smiling brightly.  She glanced to the woman's partner, who shrugged helplessly.  "Well, ever since I was a young girl I've been traveling around, I've never really stayed in one spot… I question why I would be getting a letter when no one should be aware of where I'm at.  I've only been here for a few days."

            "Well open it," Meryl prompted quickly.  "It can't hurt."

            Sting frowned a bit and tore at the envelope's top.  "No, I suppose it can't."  She discarded the sleeve onto the table and unfolded the sheet of paper concealed within.  "It's a letter," the woman stated bluntly.

            The dark-haired insurance rep across from her rolled her eyes.  "Really?"

            Sting merely grinned as she leaned back and read aloud:

Sting-

            Finally got onto your trail, meet me in Black End Inn at sunset, hunters are closing in, desert fox is no longer safe without cover, lie low, I will follow your lead.

                                                                                                                                    -Scar

            Whatever it all meant made the woman reading it stare.

            "Who is Scar?" Meryl questioned, her voice dropping to almost a whisper in an attempt to not upset the outlaw more.

            "He… he was an old friend of mine… I thought he had long disappeared."

            Milly adopted a sympathetic look.  "He left you?"

            "In a way… and in a way I left him."  She tucked the paper quickly back into the envelope and slipped it behind her back under her coat and tucked it under her belt.  "I need to go think, I will see you two later, tell the Typhoon I need to talk with him.  If this note of mine is what I think… I will… I will be forced to do something I have never done before."

            Meryl frowned a bit, watching the woman as she disappeared quickly outside.  "I don't think we'll ever see her that shook up again," she murmured.  "I wonder what this all means… God knows we don't need more lunatics running around.  It's bad enough that Knives isn't dead."

            "More lunatics?  What?"

            The dark-haired woman's partner smiled widely.  "Good morning, Vann, how are you?"

            The boy yawned.  "Tired."

            "Oh?  Couldn't you sleep?"

            "No… it's just when Sting doesn't sleep, I don't sleep.  She doesn't know it but I stay up the nights she does.  At least she went to bed late last night rather than never."

            Meryl motioned for him to sit, which he did, and propped her chin up on one hand.  "How often does she stay up all night?"

            "She can go at least two weeks little to no sleep but by the beginning of the second she's ready to lose it entirely," Vann replied, staring at the tabletop.  "You can tell when she hasn't slept much.  Her eyes get red and she shakes, trembles kind of, like she's scared.  She's been like that a lot lately.  She tries to hide it but it never works.  Speaking of Sting, where'd she go?"

            The two looked at one another and shrugged.  "She didn't say," Meryl replied.

            "But she did get a letter this morning from somebody named Scar," Milly put in brightly.

            Vann's eyes bugged.  "Scar?" he hissed.  Meryl had a feeling that if he had shouted it would've echoed.

            "Yes!  Now who is Scar and why is he such a big deal?!" the woman asked exasperatedly.

            Vann stood up nervously from his seat and made a move to run away.  "Er, better if Sting tells you, I gotta go find-"

            "Sit!" the dark-haired woman shouted.  She might not have been very big, shorter than Sting by a few inches, but if she could order around Vash the Stampede she could order around a pint-sized ex-urchin.
            The boy froze immediately.  Sting had yelled at him like that enough times to know that any woman giving orders was a bad person to disobey, especially if one had killed an uncountable numbers of those 'unworthy' and the other could make the great Humanoid Typhoon simper like a scolded puppy.

            "Sit," Meryl commanded again, arms crossed.

            He did so.

            "Alright, now, please tell us what's going on!"

            "I don't know what's going on, that's why I gotta find Sting!" the boy replied.  Truth was he had an inkling but Sting wouldn't like it if he told anyone.

            "Who's Scar?  All I know about him is he makes people jump up and run out of the room like lightning.  Spill it, after all that time traveling with Sting you've got to know something."

            But he wouldn't like it if Meryl pummeled him to only bone marrow and some skin right then and there.

            "All I know is that the two were involved in some group or somethin' and at some point everything goes bad… Scar betrays Sting and she never forgave him until she heard he was dead a while ago.  She felt so bad she didn't eat for a week or sleep for a few."  He sighed, rubbing the side of his neck.  "Now that he's back I'm not sure what's all going to happen."

            "What is she after to begin with?"

            Vann sighed.  "Not sure, revenge mostly but against who for what I don't know, she's never told me very much and anything she has was just basics.  I think she's afraid that people are going to get hurt and probably figures the less everyone knows the better."  He paused for a moment and gave a questioning look.  "Can… I go now?"

            Meryl nodded.  "Yeah, sure, go."

            He was gone in a second, leaving his chair precariously tipping on its legs until it fell back solidly on all four.  The insurance girl sighed.  "I don't care what she does as long as we don't have to follow her around."

            Milly smiled knowingly.  "Not that you mind following Mr. Vash around."

            "What's that supposed to mean?!"

            "Nothing!" the taller woman chimed innocently.

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            Vann, after three hours of searching, found Sting around the back of a building staring up the wall at a window, smoking a cigarette quietly.  "What are you doing?" he hissed, exasperated.

            "Scar's in that window," she said softly, pointing with one hand while she flicked her cigarette to the ground, half-burned, with the other hand and smothered it with her boot.

            "Congratulations, you tracked him, now could we please go?"

            "Go where, Vann?"

            "I don't know!  Somewhere other than in a dark spooky alley where we're trapped like rats!"

            "You need to ease up some, kid.  You're going to have more white hairs than me by time you're my age."  She winked playfully.

            Well, that was definitely a change.  Playfulness when all he'd been witnessing for the last week was hostility and annoyance.

            "You're entire head is white you dork!" he shouted back, too strung up to catch the joke.

            "You just entirely missed the purpose of what I said," she replied, arms crossed.  "Scar's in that room and he is with two men-"

            "Eww!"

            "Not like that you little pervert," Sting snapped.  "Warped, twisted little git you are."

            "Well… how do you know he's in there with anybody?"

            "There are two different shadows that keep pacing the walls and Scar never talked business standing up."

            "Why don't you just go up there and talk to him now?"

            The woman stuffed her hands into her pockets.  "Because I don't trust him."

            "You trust Vash and you've only known him a few days.  Haven't you known this guy for a few years?"

            "My entire lifetime and I also suspect that dear Typhoon has the IQ of a small rodent and therefore is not a threat to me.  Besides, I trust easy and I distrust easy."

            Vann watched as she mingled around a little longer and then gave a sigh of finality.  "Alright, I'm done.  Let's get back now, it's a big city, kid, and we've got a long walk to get back to the hotel."

            "Aren't you supposed to be going to the Inn?"

            "How do you know that?"

            "Scar was a big drinker the last I heard."

            "Uh-huh," the woman hummed, crossing her arms.  "And what are you doing out?"

            The boy laughed.  "Well, I was lookin' for my dear 'mum'!"

            She spared a gruff bark of laughter.  "I ain't your mom, thank God... I just hope I'm never doomed to reproducing something as ugly as you or to telling that big of a lie ever again."

            "Yeah, well, you ain't exactly a pretty picture yourself there and you wouldn't need to lie like that if you didn't get into so much trouble."

            Sting smiled a little and shoved him forward playfully.

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            Vash peeked in through the crack of Sting's room finding that the woman was sitting on her bed or rather lying on it… with her torso hanging off its edge, her eyes closed and her hair standing on end.  Her arms were crossed and she looked asleep.

            How she managed that he didn't know.

            "She's sleeping."
            He glanced over his shoulder, spotting Vann.  "Like that?"

            "Yeah, Sting's a weird one, here, let me get it, I owe her one anyways."  The boy slipped pass the outlaw and into the room, moving to crouch beside the woman and leaning down close to her ear.  "STING!"

            If she had grabbed the boy in a headlock, twisting her body as much as she could to do so, any faster in reaction to being startled Vash would've thought she hadn't been asleep at all but rather expecting that.

            Vann made a raspy gargle sound as Sting slid the rest of her body off the bed and onto the floor, still holding him clamped between her arm and side.  "You know if I didn't like you so much kid I think I'd be taking your ears off about now," she growled.  She glanced up to the door and then away and did a double-take, her face lifting into a small smile.  "Oh, Stampede, hey."

            It was in this moment of lost concentration that Vann slipped from her grip and scrambled away as best he could, ducking passed Vash and vanishing out the door.  The woman's upper-lip twitched in annoyance and the outlaw could make out something like 'damn kid's gonna make me deaf'.  She stood up and brushed herself off.

            "Meryl said you wanted to talk to me."

            "Yeah, see, when I first agreed to let you help me I just sort of planned on ditching you one day along the line and going on about my own business but something's stirred up that I don't like."

            "Scar?"

            "Exactly, but… hey… how'd you know that?"

            "Milly told me about it this morning."

            Sting sighed.  "I assume you want me to explain who he is?"

            "That would help."

            The woman crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg.  "I've known Scar all my life, we even worked together as partners for a long while, he was my most trusted companion, but things went bad between us and it's been a year since I last saw him but last I heard of him, he was dead.  So his reappearance is bringing up some questions in my mind.  Can I trust him?  Should I trust him?  What's he up to?"

            "And this involves me how?"

            "I'm supposed to meet him in twenty minutes at an Inn.  I was wondering if you and Knives wouldn't be so kind as to watch my back.  As you know I'm not good with a gun should things turn bad and physically, well, let's say that despite his age, Scar's got the strength of ten men."

            Vash sighed.  "I will but I'm not sure about Knives."

            Sting chuckled quietly.  "Yeah, I figured as much… you know, for being twins you two sure are different.  But at least try to get him to come, tell him I admire his gunning skills and I need him and his superior abilities to help me out.  That should feed his ego enough to at least entice him to come.  If he doesn't, well, one outlaw worth sixty-billion double-dollars should be good enough."

            There was silence between them as the outlaw debated in his mind whether or not he should ask the question that was burning him: what were they partners in exactly?

            "I can tell curiosity's killing you at the moment.  What's on your mind?"

            "I just want to know something."

            "Like?"

            "You said that Scar was your partner… partners usually have a business… what was yours?  Mercenaries?"

            Sting looked to the floor.  "Stampede… I don't like talking about my past… or even thinking of it for that matter.  Right now… all you have to settle with is I've done things, terrible things… things that have hurt and killed hundreds of people… innocent people… and all I'm trying to do now is redeem myself and rectify my past.  I've lived too many years blood-stained and I can't take it anymore."  She looked to him, shame livid in her dull eyes.  "I've heard two different stories about you… one about a man who was heartless, cruel, and inhuman, who loved bloodshed, reveled in destruction, and killed for sport… and another by a goofy, kind-hearted, ludicrous idiot who ran about preaching love and peace love and peace, the man who could save lives without sparing a bullet."  She laughed weakly at this.  "A man who was gold of heart and merciful… who never killed no matter how wicked the man.  Please show that same mercy to me."

            "Why wouldn't I?"

            She swallowed.  "Because I don't deserve it."

            There were the soft thuds of the Typhoon's footfalls and the woman flinched a little as a gentle hand lifted her eyes to look into aqua pools.  "Everyone can change… and if you were as bad as you say… I can't see it."

            "I really hate to ruin our little heart-to-heart here but you're also blissfully ignorant."

            "Hey!  That wasn't very nice!"

            "I might've reformed but who said I had to be nice?"

            Vash looked ready to protest when the door banged into the wall it was hinged upon and Vann ran in right to Sting and hid behind her, Knives soon followed, black gun in one hand, raised level with his ear, a furious look flashing in his ice blue eyes.  "Damn brat," he growled.

            Put it down, Knives.

            The stare down that began between the brothers escaped neither Vann nor Sting, who had one arm protectively fanned out from her body as if shielding her young ward.

            I'd like to see you make me, brother.

            I don't want to hurt you, Knives, but I will and considering your condition it wouldn't take much.  Put it down, Knives.

            The gun was slowly lowered to the plant's side and his brother's shoulders, which had tensed the moment he had seen Knives appear, relaxed slightly.

            Sting glanced down at Vann.  "What'd you do?" she hissed.

            "Nothing I swear it!"

            "Lying little brat, stay out of my room!"

            The boy blew a raspberry but cowered a little when Knives' gun hand twitched compulsively.

            The woman's eyes narrowed and she grabbed the boy by the ear and pulled, forcing him to rise up on his tip-toes in attempt to relieve the pain, his eyes closing together in a wince as his nose scrunching.  "Next time, twerp, I might just let Knives take care of you!  A bloodletting might just make you think twice next time!"

            "Aw, Sting, c'mon I didn't-"

            "Hush!"

            The boy's mouth snapped shut at the command.

            Looking caught in indecision the woman sighed, released the seized cartilage and shoved him forward roughly.  "Stay downstairs until I get back."

            Without protest or question he practically sprinted the short distance to the doorway, cowering to one side as Knives' gaze followed him and running when he was in the clear.

            "Knives, I'd like you and Vash to cover me tonight when I go and meet an old acquaintance of mine."

            "Forget it, spider."

            "If he plays his cards wrong you can shoot him.  C'mon, Knives, I could really use your experience… I admire your skills with a gun, I've never seen anything to match it."

            "Flattery will get you no where."

            Sting's eyebrow quirked and she sighed, as if defeated.  "Okay then… hey, you were right, Vash, he is still too weak for this kind of thing, I mean if he's in too much pain he's in too much pain but I thought a tough guy like him could handle just sitting in a bar.  Maybe he should stay here and rest."

            "I can handle it fine, spider, I just don't wish to go, you're not worth saving if something should happen, I was already subjected to that pointless task once," Knives snarled, eyes narrowing to small slits, stopping Vash before he could say anything.

            The woman nodded as if in understanding and turned to Vash.  "Denial," she whispered but Knives caught it too and anger boiled inside of him.

            "I'll go… but only because I want to prove you wrong."

            "Be my guest," she replied smugly, smirking at him.

A/N: Okay I thought that ending kind of cute lol but maybe a touch OOC… though I think Knives would want to prove her wrong.  Oh well lol.  REVIEW!!