Ch. 10 Insects Survive
Bleeding Sun

Vash lay sprawled on the roof of an outcast broken down home lazily while Wolfwood was spending his time trying to convince some parentless kids to let them stay.

"C'mon, what do ya say?" Wolfwood asked with his hands holding out some money. The leader of the pack of kids looked at the double dollars with a raised eyebrow, deciding whether this was a good idea or not. "Well, how about we cook while we're here too, how does that sound?" Wolfwood gave an enormous grin and the leader quickly shot out his hand and took the cash.

"Ok, but ya haveta follow the rules, and none of that healthy stuff either!" He shouted. Wolfwood looked up at the locked up city that wouldn't allow them in and then up at Vash who was still lying on the rooftop.

"If you honestly expect me to cook anything for anybody else you're sadly mistaken…" Vash yawned. Wolfwood staggered and looked at him in rage.

"What!" He yelled in anger. Vash cleaned out his ear with his pinky in an uninterested way and he turned his head to face Wolfwood.

"Hey… Priest-man, your bike's being mauled by brats." He said in a laughing tone. Wolfwood spun around and his jaw dropped open in a comical manner.

"Hey you little beasts, get away from there!" He ran towards the children while waving his arms at them and started throwing them off his motorcycle.

"Mr. Churchman! Get over here and start cooking! We're getting hungry!" the lead kid yelled. He jumped from the house and pointed up at Vash. "You'd better do something too if you want to stay here mister!" Vash groaned and rolled off the top of the roof and landed on his feet behind the young boy.

"How about, I don't kill you?" Vash snarled into his face. The boy didn't even falter as a smile grew on his face.

"Company, attention!" The boy yelled out into Vash's face. About twenty other children filed out of the house and the five on Wolfwood's bike jumped down and got into their places in line. The line was judged by size apparently, as the tallest was at one end and the sizes decreased until it reached the other end where the shortest stood.

"This guy thinks he can scare me!" The kid yelled out and the others laughed in suit. "Let's show him that he should be afraid of us!" Vash's nose creased and he braced himself, ready to shoot any human that dared to even try and pose a threat to him.

"DOGGY PILE!"

Vash cried out in shock when all twenty-six kids hollered in enthusiasm and jumped on top of him. He lay on the ground with one eye twitching and his ears ringing from the children laughing and screaming in his face. He roared out and jumped up, throwing the kids off him. They laughed hard and began climbing on him like a jungle gym and he attempted to get away from them as they clung to his limbs.

"Get… off of me!" He cried out in anger. The kids all laughed and climbed down off him and stood in line again.

"Alright, I think we should get introductions over with." The lead child yelled. "I'll start on this end." He said while covering his eyes and randomly pointing to either end. It just so happened that it was the tall side. "Ok then. This is, in order, Jerry, Susie, Elizabeth, Jesse, James, John, Lizzy, Harold, I don't know this guy's name, Jessica, Mike, Roger, Robert, Sara, Miles, Conan, Zachary, Gerald, Kayla, Zaz, Louise, Howard, Kerry, Mary, and Jim. And I'm Mark." Each kid was painfully obvious they weren't related as far as looks went, but the one thing that made them all similar was the filthy dirt clinging to each one's clothes, faces, feet and hands. Vash's lip curled in disgust and he turned emotionlessly to the door of the shack as Wolfwood stuck his head out with a wide smile.

"Food's ready!" the words had no sooner left his lips when the children stampeded into the house to each get their share. Vash didn't budge as he slowly turned back around to face one the children who was staring at him blankly. They could hear the hustle and bustle from indoors, and the whistle of the lonely wind rushing past them, but neither of them made a sound. The bright-topped child grinned to reveal rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. A mosquito landed on his upper cheek and in a horrific display seemed to be swallowed into the child's bottom eyelid. Vash remained unmoving, and stared through his sunglasses at the unnatural youth.

"Vash…" he drawled out. "I'm Zazie the Beast." He gave a deep bow to Vash and straightened to see Vash still motionless. Zazie frowned and blinked once, only to reveal his pupils straighten like a dragons. He remedied his expression though, and resumed smiling. "You cannot move, can you?" Vash stayed silent. Truth was, as soon as the mosquito was swallowed into the boy's eye, Vash couldn't seem to break a spell that had fallen over him. "Do you wish to know why? Heh… of course you do. My pet took some of your blood, and now that it's in me, I can control your body, like it was some sort of puppet." Zazie approached Vash and looked up at him. Vash didn't spare a glance down towards the demon child as he concentrated on regaining control over his body.

"Oh yeah. Knives is really upset." Zazie snarled at having to mention Knives, but none-the-less he brought it up. Vash's eyebrows twitched, but other than that he kept his composed stillness. "It seems he doesn't like sending out assassins and getting them back dead. It's a put-downer for his pride, you see? That's why I'm here. I'm to kill you, immediately. In fact, I should slice you open right now." Zazie leapt back and his mouth seemed to break open as it opened impossibly wide. Mosquitoes flew in thousands from his body and they began nearing toward the immobile threat.

To Be Continued…

I'm HORRIBLY sorry about such a late update, and a cliffhanger at that. I've got that sickly disease, Summer Slugniss, in me. I'll try to get chapter eleven up faster, and I'll try to make it longer! Sorry again! Anyway, review review review!

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