Trigun: Reflections
Chapter 3
"Grandma, I'm home! I brought Ericks with me!" Lina opened the door of her house, Vash behind her carrying the bags she had dropped in the road at the market, Kaisa behind him, holding her hat in her hands nervously. "Oh, welcome home dear. Oh Ericks, I see you found Lina. Well then come in and sit down. How have your travels been Ericks?" Vash set the bags down on the table nearby and went to sit down, leaning forward on the table. "Well, you know me, lots of trouble and excitement." Kaisa noticed the slight change in Vash's eyes as he said these words. The change showed his reflections on the past events, with Knives, the rest of the Gung Ho Guns, and all of the misfortune, or strange adventures he had been dragged into. Kaisa hadn't sat down yet, and she looked nervous as she spoke up. "Uh… I… should probably go find the others to let them know where we are…" she turned and started to head out of the door. "Alright dear, hurry back." Kaisa nodded and left quickly without another word. She shook her head as she went. 'What are you thinking? I shouldn't be so nervous or feel awkward around Lina and Vash but…' she let her thoughts trail off as she started to jog down the road, heading for the Saloon where the others had been.
Uyoku walked down toward the original direction Vash and Kaisa had gone, dodging people with ease as she went, not even paying attention to her surroundings as she thought about that woman again. "Hey look, isn't that Kaisa?" Meryl said, pointing ahead of them at the Pokémon trainer jogging toward them, looking red in the cheeks. "Mm, so it is…" Uyoku commented, looking up finally just as Kaisa reached them. "Is everything ok?" Meryl asked her, before putting her hands on her hips looking quite agitated. "Did that spike-headed moron get you two into trouble again?" She had said this before Kaisa could answer; Kaisa looked even more flustered and snapped back a reply. "No!" she squeaked and looked down at her feet. "I mean—I'm sorry. I just came to tell you all where we're at, that's all. I'll show you the way, Lina offered to let us… err… Vash and I, stay with her and her grandmother." Kaisa's cheeks were red in embarrassment, and she turned, walking rather fast back to where she had come from. "C'mon, follow me, I'll show you exactly where it is."
Ten minutes later they arrived at Lina's house. Kaisa knocked and walked in looking around slowly. "Hello? I brought everyone else with me…" Kaisa stepped into the small living room area where everyone was sitting. Vash was in the middle of a ramble about one of his stories, obviously one of the ones they had been on in another world, but she wasn't sure which one he was telling. "Oh Hello!" he called as Meryl, Milly, Uyoku and Setsuna all walked into the room. "Hello! Are you friends of Ericks?" Meryl looks a little confused and Kaisa nods, interrupting her before she can ask who Ericks was. "Yeah, this is Meryl Strife, Milly Thompson, Uyoku Nowashi and Setsuna Mudo." Before Kaisa can finish her explanations and ask if they can also stay, Lina pipes up. "Oh great!" she says excitedly, "You can all stay here tonight. It may not be very roomy, but at least it's a nice place for free." Lina smiles and looks more than happy to have them all, even though Uyoku, Setsuna and Kaisa didn't look like they were from anywhere around here at all, they were friends of Vash and that was good enough for her. Meryl smiles warmly "Well thank you very much. I hope we won't be too much trouble for you." Uyoku rolls her eyes slightly, knowing exactly what Meryl was thinking, as if what she thought ever changed, but then again she did hide some of her feelings from the others, using her outbursts at Vash to cover them up less-than perfectly. They all settled down to listen to Vash continue about his stories, and piped in when they could, Meryl and Milly nodded and listened, adding their own opinions on things when needed, and as the night progressed onward they all seemed to get along great.
But something was not right, Uyoku felt that, and she could also tell someone else was feeling uneasy besides herself. She never said anything, but something about things was eating at her mind. She listened intently to everything, but caught herself thinking back on the saloon and that woman once more. She sighed quietly and got up, moving outside to stand on the front porch and stare up at the two brilliant moons in the sky above. Setsuna had followed her out a few moments later. One of the boards on the porch made a slight creaking noise and Uyoku turned to face him when he came out. "Setsuna… You saw that.... woman… today as I did…" Setsuna shudders slightly "Don't…" Uyoku nods and turns back to the moons, her wings draping outward as she sighs heavily, she had kept them hidden all day due to so many people, who may not have ever seen anything like her around. "Something keeps haunting my mind. I'm not quite sure what it is… And, besides that, have you noticed how odd Kaisa's been acting today? Ever since we got here and Vash met up with Lina, she's been very…" Setsuna finishes her sentence for her; "Uneasy and awkward? Yeah, I've noticed, and Meryl…" They both laugh out loud and lean on the railings of the porch. "We live in such a soap opera…" Uyoku chuckles and grins "Indeed…" Setsuna scowls and they both laugh again. The thoughts of the day slowly faded from their minds, at least for the time being.
Later that night in the silence of the cool night air, a distant gunshot rang out in the darkness. No one at this hour would have paid much attention, but in the small house where Meryl, Milly, Kaisa, Vash, Uyoku and Setsuna stayed, one person did hear it. Kaisa jumped at the noise. She was lying wide awake next to Vash, who was snoring lightly and drooling a bit. She was only pretending to sleep, the truth was, that she couldn't. She silently wondered what the strange gunshot was, and who had fired it off this late at night. Kaisa checked her watch, in her own world it would be close to dawn, but here it was only a little after midnight. Kaisa closed her eyes and attempted to sleep again, she had been trying for hours, but only managed a light sleep, having horrible nightmares of being turned into some horrible creature again. She shuddered and suddenly jumped at a noise coming from the window. She opened her eyes and looked, it was open. She thought it may have just blown open but there was no wind.
She looked around and when she turned around she gasped loudly before clutching her mouth shut. In the dark corner of the room only feet away was the hauntingly beautiful woman from the saloon that the others had seen. In her face was a cold look, she brandished her large white suitcase. Kaisa glanced at it, and saw a long lethal spike pointing out of it, glinting a little in the moonlight. She opened her mouth to yell to wake someone up, but the woman motioned for silence, which she quickly obeyed, having the sharp spike pointed directly at her neck. "Tell anyone I was here and I will kill you without hesitation… Or maybe I should anyway, for being a nosey little bitch." Kaisa's eyes narrowed and she looked rather offended at the remark. "Humph. Just remember you little brat; I'm watching you…" With that the woman passes Kaisa and vanishes into the night silently. Her words rang in Kaisa's head, and as she turned slowly back to the bed to lie down and sleep again, a bit of fear welled up in her. I'm watching you… Kaisa laid down and fell into a restless sleep filled with dreams and nightmares of being hunted by that woman, her words constantly echoing in her mind as she slept, making the fear slowly grow as the night continued and turned into the early morning light.