--1 day later, the Desert Oasis Bar and Casino, New Miami.

"So old Midvalley offed himself, huh?" A young man with longish gray-black hair and vivid aquamarine eyes leaned back in his chair and slipped off his black suit jacket to reveal an open-necked, teal silk shirt. "That's too bad. I always told him that Legato fellow was bad news."

He leaned forward, "It's been awhile Onyx. You look great, as usual."

Onyx sighed, "Cut the crap Shiro. Besides, I'm not here to talk about your uncle."

Shiro arched an eyebrow, "Oh? What is it then? If it's that so-called priest, I've already told you what to do with him."

Onyx narrowed her eyes, "Nicholas is dead…not that you care. Besides, this is about something else."

Leaning forward so that his chin almost touched the table, Shiro grinned slyly, "Who is it? Maybe I can hook you up."

Rolling her smoky orbs irritably, the bounty hunter shook her head, "No, I have someone who is causing trouble for me, and this is not the kind of person you just 'hook up' with."

Shiro sighed in disappointment, "What a pity...your romances are so few and far between, I'm sure I'll be dead before another one comes along." He shook his head, "So, who do you want me to kill?"

Onyx tilted her head, "Who said I wanted to have anyone killed?" She shrugged, "And I never had any romances, so lay off."

Shiro frowned, "You did not love Wolfwood? The why visit his grave?"

She sighed, "He was one of my few close friends, it was important for me to pay my respects."

He nodded, "I see…"

"Dammit!" Onyx's muttered curse brought Shiro to attention.

"What is it?" he hissed.

She got up and gestured for him to stand by her, "Time just ran out."

Drawing his gun, Shiro stood at her back. "Stop talking in riddles Onyx! What the hell is it?"

Ignoring him, the bounty hunter nodded and her twin revolvers flipped into her hands, "I should've known she'd connect the three of us to the incident…she's a tenacious one, I'll give her that."

"Onyx!" Midvalley's nephew shouted, "What the hell is—oh shit!!" Suddenly, the young assassin was thrown back against the wall by an unseen force.

Sighing, Knives didn't notice the speck on the horizon until it was almost too late. Putting on the breaks, he managed to just miss the hooded figure standing in the middle of the road.

"Hey!" a familiar voice yelled, "What the hell was that for?!"

Momentarily taken aback, Knives blinked, "Vash? Is that you?"

The man nodded and the hood fell back to reveal a head of pointy blonde hair and a smiling face with green eyes. "Yeah…how did you know who I—"his mouth dropped open, "Knives?!"

Nodding briskly, Knives gestured for him to hop in the sidecar, "Where are you headed?"

Vash shrugged, "New Miami. You?"

His twin glanced down, "The same…I have to meet someone there."

The green-eyed disaster raised an eyebrow, "Onyx?"

Knives stopped the bike, nearly flipping Vash off, "How do you know?"

Vash shrugged nonchalantly and cast a knowing glance at his twin, "She seems to be the only person you might be interested in meeting…at least that I know of anyway." When Knives didn't respond, he leaned back in his seat, "Anyway, there seems to be trouble brewing over there, and I'm willing to bet that she's involved."

As the bike began moving again, Vash turned toward Knives, "Look, I know this is a touchy subject for you, but are you still hell-bent on destroying the human race?"

Sighing, Knives glanced at his brother with an expression bordering on disgust, "I don't know…lately it seems I'm more intent on my own destruction."

As Vash studied his twin more closely, he noticed for the first time that Knives was in pretty bad condition. There were dark rings around his eyes from lack of sleep, his expression was haggard, and his usually well-groomed hair was scraggly and unkept.

Knives sped up the bike, "Tell me Vash…that dead man…what was his connection to Onyx?"

Vash raised an eyebrow, "Who? Wolfwood? I'm not sure…they were obviously friends, but how far that went, I don't know. It seemed to me to be a case of simple unrequited love."

Knives frowned, "What?"

The humanoid typhoon looked at his twin sideways, "Wolfwood loved her, but for whatever reason, she didn't love him back."

The lavender-eyed killer shrugged, "Oh." Then they rode on in silence.