Howdy, ok new Oc, he's cool, you'll meet him. I think you'll like him. Why do I even talk at the beginning anymore? ok. shoot

Chapter Nine: Replacements

Kat walked out of the house, followed closely by Legato. She turned right and started walking. After about twenty minutes of this she stopped abruptly and turned on her heel. She gave Legato a strange look.

"Where are you going?" She queried.

"With you of course." He said simply.

"You can't, remember?"

"And why not?"

"You were banished from the mansion, you barely escaped with your life."

"Your point."

"You can't go back because if you die, I will be responsible."

"No you won't."

"Just because you say I won't doesn't mean I'm not."

"Your wrong. I followed you of my own accord. At no point in time did you tell me to follow you. Therefore, You are not the one responsible for my death should it come to that."

"Fine." She said between gritted teeth.

"It's settled then. Go on." He said and bowed at the waist gesturing for her to continue walking.

Kat gave him a disdainful look and turned back around to continue. Occasionally, she would murmur under her breath things like, "It's your own damn life then," or she would mock him, in an annoying manner. After she had gotten over the Legato fact, she started to consider what Vash had said to her before she left the hotel room.

"Kat. Do you think if you go back to him things will change?"

"No. I know they won't but I just want him to treat me like I should be, I want him to hide me away from the world."

In retrospect, this was a very messed up logic. She tried to remember how she felt before she escaped. She had hated him so much. Hated him for taking her away, hated him for the way he treated her, hated him for making her feel the way he made her feel. Then when she escaped, she thought things would be different, that things would get better for her. She found Vash and the others and was happy for a time, but that quickly faded as a well know emotion began to settle in again. Longing. She tried to hide it, but after a time she just couldn't fight it anymore. She had to do something about it. Now that she was thinking about it, her escape had been almost too easy. No guards, no alarm system, and Knives had been way to easy to take down. It was then that she realized that she'd been taken for all she was worth. Knives knew she'd come back to him. The fact that Legato was with her also baffled her. He had left his younger sister with Vash and the others for awhile. She started to wonder if Knives really let Legato go. No he hadn't. Legato had been working for him the whole time. Knives would have killed him the moment he saw them together. He had known about their friendship to a point but he didn't quite know the whole story. It was better that way. The real question now was, how did Knives know she would come back? She'd have to ask him.

Feros watched the traveling duo as the walked through the clouds of dust. Knives had sent him on a "mission" to retrieve the girl. Katsu, he said her name was. But Knives hadn't mentioned that there would be a man with her too. Could this be the Vash that Knives had told him about? Feros looked closer at the figure of the man walking several paces behind the girl. His eyes were sharp but trying to look at small details from 200 feet away was almost impossible. Silently and with the movement of the dust clouds, he moved closer. His movement of his body was that of a predator stalking its prey from the shadows. After gaining about 50 feet, he could make out a tall man in his mid-twenties, deep purple hair, an he looked nothing like Knives. That couldn't be the guy. Knives had told him that Vash was his twin brother. This man looked nothing like Knives, so this had to be someone else. But who? And besides, where were they going? His orders were to go to the town of Little Jersey and abduct a girl with long brown hair, blue eyes, and a beautiful singing voice. This was the girl all right, well save for the voice because he hadn't heard it yet, but this had to be her. She wasn't in Little Jersey and she had a huge traveling pack on her back. Where was she going? He turned back slowly and silently made his way farther away from the duo, then he broke into a dead run in the same direction they were headed, back to Knives' Mansion.

Vash sat on the porch as the suns set over the little town of Little Jersey, his "home". The dusty streets were flat and lifeless, lying before him. He focus was lost along with his thoughts and both threatened never to return. Wolfwood, came out slowly, and looked at Vash. The solemn man didn't even notice the company. Quietly, Nicholas walked over and sat in the chair next to the one occupied by his friend.

"Vash, are you going to pull through this?" He questioned a bit hesitantly, deep down, fearing the answer he might receive. Vash was silent. He neither moved nor made any sign of his willingness to speak. That could have been the answer the Nicholas has feared most if Vash hadn't taken a deep breath.

"Yes." Was all the man said, tears glazing his eyes. And though none of them actually fell from the heavy lids, they were silent beacons of a burdened soul and heavy mind. Nicholas saw these beacons and tried to scratch the surface of their existence.

"You don't look like it." He replied.

"Nick. You love Milly, right?" Vash said turning his heavy gaze toward his friend.

"More than anything else, yes."

"And you love living here with her, right?"

"Yes, if this is where she is, then this is where I want to be." Nicholas replied, feeling a little lost as to when the conversation turned to how much he loved his wife.

"Well, I love Kat. More than my own life. More than the life of every human I have strived to protect." Vash's voice rose in volume such that Wolfwood was surprised that Vash felt so strongly toward his cause. " And this isn't where Kat is. She's off somewhere else, not here with me. I can't think of this place as a home until she is in it, with me. She wants him! She loves Him! And I can't see why she does! He's evil, Nick, pure evil! That's all I've ever known him as on this planet! But for some reason she sees something in him that I don't have! She's different now, and I know she's not coming back to me." Vash ended on a soft, sad note that could jerk even Knives' heartstrings, that is, if he had any to begin with. Vash turned his head away from Nick again as he slumped back down into his chair and stared out at the sleepy little town. Instantly Nicholas knew how to comfort Vash.

"Vash… I saw how you two loved each other-"

"You mean how I loved her" Vash interrupted.

"No, Vash, how youtwo loved each other. She loves you Vash, I just know it. And she will come back to you. How long was she with Knives? A long time?"

"A very long time. Too long a time." Vash added.

"If you haven't noticed, he and you look a hell of a lot alike. Being with him for so long, her mind probably started playing tricks on her. She probably saw you instead of Knives, and it was all she could do to keep her sanity. And then when she had you back, she noticed just how different you really were. It was, I assume, an eye-opener for her. But I can't tell you the reason she went back to him. I can't fathom why she would, but there must have been something that she liked about him, or maybe she was too shocked at the dramatic change between the two of you. I can only guess but she had to have had her reasons. She wouldn't just leave again because of something you did, or because she wanted to hurt you. For all we know, Vash, she might be saving you…"

"Vash nodded, trying to stay level headed about the whole affair, and it was an affair. One woman being shared between two brothers. Yes this was an interesting predicament. He thought on what Nicholas had just said to him. She might be trying to save him. Save him from what? He grew angry in his mind and the tears once again glazed his eyes. Besides the glaze, Nick would never know what Vash was thinking to himself. He screamed at himself inside his head. He dropped his head into his hands and let the tears fall freely. Why did she leave him like this! So vulnerable to hurt. His tears were of anger and sorrow, but they were determination too. He shook his head roughly a couple of time, to dispel the thoughts and stood, a grand smile on his face. He looked at an astonished Wolfwood, who could not believe the violent change in his friends attitude. He stood as well.

"Thanks Nick." He said jovially. He ran into the house, leaving a still astounded Nicholas behind. He bounded up the stairs to his room, haphazardly gathering his things and shoving them into the large black travel pack. He finished his work in record time, placed his gun securely on his hip, and ran back to Nicholas on the front porch. He dropped his bag and gave Nicholas a big manly hug.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm leaving, Nick. Like I said earlier, this place is no home without her, so I'm going after her. I'm not taking this one lying down, waiting for her to come back. I have to travel again. And I think I might know what she sees in him after all." Vash explained to Nicholas who just smiled smugly at his friend.

"Well then, there's no stopping you. Good. We'll be here when you get back, and we'll all stay safe while your gone. Why don't you take Angelina 2 with you? She'll make quick work of the job." Vash nodded briefly, still smiling.

"Right! I'm off then." Vash started to walk around to the side of the house where the black motorcycle sat under a sheet but turned around as an afterthought struck him. "Oh and Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell the girls goodbye for me and that I'll be home soon, very soon."

"It's a done deal." Wolfwood said as his friend disappeared behind the corner. An engine roared to life and off sped Vash the Stampede the Humanoid Typhoon, waving his final goodbyes. Wolfwood smiled and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He watched until Vash disappeared, again, into the clouds of dust blown up by the wind. He then extinguished his smoke and put his hands in his pockets. He heard the baby cry from inside the house and walked inside, shutting the door behind him.

Feros arrived back at the mansion in good time. Knives was waiting for him outside and as he approached with out a partner, Knives' anger grew.

"Well? Where is she?" Feros just stood unflinchingly and looked him straight in the eye. He was no one's lapdog and the was Knives talked to him, did not make him very happy. But, unfortunately, Knives was the only reason he was alive right now so he became submissive, reluctantly.

"She's traveling. With a male escort. He had purple hair and a skull on his shoulder but I couldn't see anything besides that." Knives became calm again. She was with Legato, and not Vash. But where was she going?

"Alright. I want you to go back and get her tomorrow. Disregard the man, but you mustn't stay near him long, he can manipulate your body in grotesque ways. Make quick work of it, leave at noon." Feros nodded his reply and went into the mansion. So she was traveling… he knew her well enough to know that she would travel through the night and the stay somewhere she would be safe and away from the prying eyes of those humans, it was then that she would sleep. Noon should be good late enough. In fact, he would accompany his man to her. Knives grinned his sinister smirk. He was winning this little game. But then again, he knew he would.

Yay I finally updated! Yay mee! Sabby you must update the messiah story soon. This chapter is for you:muah/P PI luvs you guys/P Pnonkisaru/P/FONT/BODY /HTML