The letter read as follows:

Greetings, my Master.

It is Legato Bluesummers, as you might already have presumed. I am contacting you from a new headquarters I have set up so that Vash the Stampede cannot find us. I am waiting for your return, Master.

Oh yes, I suspect you are wondering how I lived. Vash the Stampede's bullet did not hit anything important.

Knives read the short letter and sat up in his bed. He wondered for a moment if this was perhaps a trick Vash had set up but no. The defined, flowing, well-formed script was clearly the work of his minion along with the letter's structure itself: clear, concise, to the point, and abrupt, just like the human who had written it.

Legato Bluesummers had lived? Well, this certainly changed Knives' plans. He had been postponing his escape from his brother because he did not know where to go and he had no ideas. Now, he had a new headquarters already set up and his most faithful minion waiting there for him. Knives smiled. Yes, soon he would leave his brother and his annoying human friends far behind.

Knives furrowed his brow and stared at the paper. Legato had not said where he was. I guess I will have to contact my minion to discover his location, Knives thought to himself as he folded the paper up and stuck it in his pocket. Then, he lay down on his bed, making sure to be as comfortable as he could. He did not know how long he would be out for.

Taking a few deep breaths and slowly releasing them, Knives prepared himself as he gazed out of a window on the opposite wall and at the moons, which had just risen. Closing his eyes, he let loose his consciousness and spread it out over the planet, searching for his minion. Legato would not be terribly far away, so Knives skipped over the other side of Gunsmoke and focused his search within a radius of five hundred iles.

Greetings Master, Legato's mental voice was strong and clear as the mental link was established between the two. Legato was not as strong a telepath as Knives or else he would have searched out Knives as Knives did him.

Greetings Legato. You neglected to tell me your location in your letter. Knives projected disapproval to his minion.

I apologize Master, but I worried that Vash the Stampede might find and read the letter and learn of my survival and position.

Which is?

I am currently residing in the town of Gorge. I believe you are aware of where it lies.

Quite.

When will you be arriving here, Master?

I am not sure yet.

Then I shall stay here waiting for you until you arrive, Master.

Knives broke the connection and returned to the comfort of his body. He looked outside and saw that, by the placement of the moons relative to when he had last seen them, a few hours had passed. The Plant stretched out a few complaining muscles and then lay down on his bed where sleep soon overtook him.

Yume happily skipped home, her long black hair streaming out behind her in a cascading river. Her friend Kole was running after her in an attempt to keep up. "Yume! Slow down!" Kole gasped out as he desperately tried to keep up with his energetic friend.

"But why? I just want to run all over and give everyone a hug!" Yume grinned, pausing for a minute, "I've had a great, wonderful, spifferific day and nothing can bring me down!"

"Heh… that's good," Kole smiled weakly as he leaned on a nearby building, trying to catch his breath, "But can you please slow down? Pretty please?"

"Hai, hai!" Yume smiled back and, when Kole caught up, she walked next to him at a slower, easier pace. "Why do you need to walk so slow anyway?"

Kole coughed into hand for a few minutes before he answered, "I can't walk fast because I lose my breath easily and, sometimes, I even have trouble breathing. Once, I nearly died because I couldn't get any air."

"Awh! Poor Kole!" Yume gave her friend a hug, "I wish I could switch breathing with you so I would have your problem and you could just have my normal breathing."

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to have this, Yume. It stinks," Kole wheezed.

"Look! There's your house! And there's your mom waiting on the porch!" Yume waved at Kole's mother, "Hiya Kole's mom!"

"Why, hello Yume-chan! How are you and Kole-chan doing?" Kole's mother smiled at Yume and her son as the two children walked off the main street and up the shirt path to Kole's home.

"I'm doing great, but Kole's breathing is bad," Yume answered, looking very serious.

"Really? Have you been exercising Kole-chan?" Kole's mother crouched down and looked her son in the eye. "You know the doctor told you not to."

"I'm sorry, mom, but-"

"It was all my fault!" Yume burst out, looking like she was on the verge of tears, "I was running home and I forced Kole to run after me, 'cause I forgot he has breath problems!"

"Oh, okay. Just don't forget again, okay Yume-chan? Kole-chan's condition could worsen if he exercises a lot."

"I won't, I promise!" Yume vowed.

"Thank you, Yume-chan," Kole's mother smiled sweetly and gave Yume a large hug, "You're such a wonderful child!"

"Mom, can Yume stay over and play today?" Kole asked hopefully.

"Kole-chan, your father has people coming over for dinner and that's just going to be in a short while. No, sorry. I wish Yume-chan could stay over though."

"Oh…" Kole's face fell.

"But how about tomorrow?"

"Yay!" Kole grinned and he and Yume danced around . Kole's mother smiled as she watched the two exchange good-byes. Kole did not have many friends other then Yume. They had met earlier that year and, Yume being the type of person she was, they became fast friends quickly. He was an easy target for bullies and, since most of the boys at the daycare played sports all of the time, he did not have much in common with anyone. But he and Yume both shared a love for drawing and reading and in the fertile fields of that common ground, a wonderful friendship had blossomed and grown strong and tall.

"Bye!" Yume called out as she left her friend and his mother.

"See you tomorrow!" Kole stood on the porch, waving farewell with his mother, her hand on his shoulder, both of them smiling at the sweet girl who trod down the street, away from their little home.

Yume waited until she was far down the street before letting the smile fade from her face. She wished she could stay with Kole and his mother for forever. She loved them both so much. Kole was like the brother she never had and his mother was one of the most wonderful women she had ever met in her short lifetime. Their home was like a home away from home to Yume. Kole had never been over to hers or even met her parents. Neither had his mother.

Yume never admitted it to anyone else, but she never wanted to leave the daycare when the day ended. She wanted to stay as far away from her home as she possibly could. She did not like her home. Not one bit.

The small black-haired girl paused at the entrance to the small path that lead to her house and gazed at the ramshackle building that stood before her. The white paint was peeling off the structure, showing the old, split wood underneath and the windows were cracked, even broken and boarded up in a few areas. The small yard had a tiny sandbox with a few toys left out in it but was barren other then that.

It was not that Yume was ashamed of her house, far from it. She loved the old building and believed all the little cracks and broken boards and windows gave the home character. No, what the dear little child was ashamed of was what lay inside the home. Her family.

The old, dented door creaked as the child opened it slowly and slipped off her shoes. It banged shut behind her and she dropped her little bag by the door as she made her way to the kitchen where she could hear the sounds of her mother making dinner. "Hi mommy," Yume said softly, her personality taking a complete one-eighty from her actions and words at the daycare.

"Hello Yume-chan," Yume's mother smiled a little smile at her daughter as she cut up vegetables and put them in a pan she had on the stove.

Yume looked at the clock on the wall. It was six at night. "Where's daddy?"

"He's not home yet," the small smile that had been on her mother's face for a few moments faded into a look of intense sorrow, "He'll be getting home late tonight. He's out drinking again." Yume's mother began to cry, her tears dripping down into the vegetables.

"Oh…" Yume swallowed and took a seat at the table. When her father drank, bad things happened. It was going to be another one of those nights. She felt a tear form at the corner of her eye but she blinked it away. She would not cry. She would be strong for her mother who could barely stir the cooking food now that she had mentioned what the night would hold for the two females of the household.

Yume suddenly stood and rushed over to her mother who enveloped her child in a tight embrace. "Mommy, it's okay. Maybe daddy will stay out all of tonight…" Yume said, her voice ringing of false hope as she clutched her mother to her in a fierce hug. He did that some nights, but they both knew he would come home tonight. The only question left was; When?

That question was quickly answered when they both heard the front door open and then slam shut. Yume took a deep breath, let go of her mother and dashed back over to the table, quickly seating herself.

If I'm good, maybe he will be nice tonight. If I'm perfect maybe he won't hurt mommy… maybe he'll just go to sleep like he used to… maybe he'll just go away and never come back… Oh God, why does daddy have to be like this? I miss the old daddy so much… Why did he change? What did I do? Yume felt the tears beginning but she furiously scrubbed at her face with her little fists. If her father saw her crying… I won't cry for him!

He stormed in, reeking of liquor and cheap perfume. Yume knew the perfume meant he had been doing something other then drinking, but her mother would not tell her what it was and she did not dare ask her father. "Hi daddy," she chirped weakly. He turned and gave her the look.

Yes… it was going to be another one of those nights…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jeril: Kudos to my beta-reader and best buddy, Kyoko-sama, who wrote Legato's letter for me. ^_^;; I'm still not quite sure about how to write his character so I'm going to search out a few non-OOC Legato fics and re-watch his Trigun episodes so I can get a better grip on how he acts, his personality, etc.

And yes, it is possible for humans to live through a bullet to the head, though it is very rare and they usually are incapacitated in some way.

To answer your question Vertigo, I don't know. She may, or she may not. Yume-chan doesn't really like to use people's names. She kind of bases her names for people on what they do, how they act, etc. so if she finds something better, she'll call him that. Actually, he'll probably end up being "Donut-san", heh. ^_^;;

Poor little Yume-chan… ;-; I'm going to go cry now… *sniffles*

I've used a lot of Japanese with my English in some of my stories before and I'm trying to cut down on the amount I use in this fic but for the words I have used so far, here are some translations for those of you who might not know what they mean:

-sama: term of high respect, used for deities, rulers, and someone you respect a whole lot (i.e. God-sama)

-san: Mr., Mrs., Ms. kind of thing (i.e. Piccolo-san = Mr. Piccolo)

hai: yes

-chan: term of affection, parent to child, girl to girl, used between sweethearts and sometimes for pets