Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun.

Author's Note: Ok so I finally decided about what I'm going to do with this story. I had forgotten my original intentions but I think my new idea is better anyway. It bugs me that both my new stores have to do with Meryl not remembering Vash. Oh well. That's really the only similarity between this story and The Other Tomorrow.

Kana- Powerful

Seiko- Force, Truth

Chapter 8: Retrieval

Nicholas D. Wolfwood and Millions Knives were not in the best of moods. They had traveled to December looking for a man who called himself Seiko, Bringer of Truth. Knives was familiar with the name and its notoriety. Seiko wielded the power to manipulate memories and anyone who spoke to him could not lie. Ironically, he was known to be brutally deceitful and made dangerous deals no one could get out of. Only a truly wily individual could escape his traps by matching his wits against Seiko's, but it was extremely difficult to be wily and not lie.

Vash knew all of this, but could not think of anyone else who could make Meryl remember her past life. It was a tricky mission, so he sent the two men he knew could handle the job.

Knives and Wolfwood arrived in December four days after Meryl's birthday. After traveling by bus and foot for half a week, the men were thoroughly exhausted. Wolfwood checked into a rather cheap hotel, while Knives immediately began listening in shady bars and saloons for any mention of Seiko. Wolfwood searched days, while Knives hunted nights. They reconvened each evening and morning and discussed the information they had uncovered.

It took almost two weeks before the men unearthed anything remotely useful. It seemed that Seiko kept a low profile by living underground an ile south of the city. His lair, so to speak was impossible to find. There were only a few powerful men who knew the exact location. Knives and Wolfwood sought them out.

Three days later, one of these men found Knives sitting in a dark corner of a saloon called The Bleeding Thomas. A young man of medium height and build walked out of the shadows and sat across from the plant. Knives instantly sensed that this man was a force to be reckoned with. His hair was silvery white and pulled back into a long ponytail that ended at the lower back. One eye was a sickly green and the other matched his snowy hair. The man's tan skin contrasted against his hair and Knives found that he couldn't look away.

"My name is Kana," he introduced himself. "I knew you'd come here at some time, Knives. Though, I assumed it would be sooner rather than later." Knives flinched at the sound of his name coming from Kana's raspy voice. Kana smirked for a split second before hardening his features into a face that meant business. "Seiko knows you've been looking for him. He could sense your presence coming three hundred iles away. He just doesn't know why. So speak," he ordered.

Knives did not realize that Kana had been preventing him from doing just that. If Knives had tried to use his voice, an immense pain would have overcome him. "My business is with your master. I am sure he would not be pleased if you learned of my reasons before he. I suggest you take me and my traveling companion to him, right away, where you will both know of my motivation for seeking your leader."

Angered that Knives had strategically pulled rank on him, but too fearful of Seiko to hurt the plant without permission, Kana acquiesced. Knives blinked and found himself in his and Wolfwood's hotel room with Kana waiting in the corner.

'Human!' he sent a loud mental alert to Wolfwood's unconscious mind. 'Wake up! I've found him.'

Wolfwood opened his eyes and sat up looking around the room, first at Vash's twin then at the suspicious looking man in the corner. 'Kana,' Wolfwood heard Knives speak the man's name in his mind. Kana smirked again and in a second Knives and Wolfwood were standing in a room with metal walls and a glass floor and ceiling, with Kana nowhere to be seen.

"How did you find him?" Wolfwood inquired of Knives.

"Well, in all honesty, the man found me. He said that Seiko knew we were coming. We're here to tell him why."

Wolfwood sighed as Millie's worried face flitted through his mind. "I have a bad feeling about this, Knives," he admitted.

Knives turned to look at the alleged priest. "You should. These men are more powerful than you and might even be more powerful than I, but you've come back to life once." Knives grinned. "I'm sure that could easily occur again."

Wolfwood rolled his eyes. "I never died, you moron." Knives chuckled and was unaware of the being that materialized behind him.

"Ah, you two capitvate me, which is lucky, because it is the reason you are still alive. Now tell me, what brings you to search for me so relentlessly?"

Seiko's shaggy black hair and white skin made him look like the living dead. His strange yellow eyes reminded Knives of Legato with the intense malice floating in their depths.

"We have come to make a deal with you," Knives answered truthfully, not that he had a choice in that matter. "My brother fell in love with a human two years ago, but she was killed. Instead of dying, though, she was brought back to life as what we are, a plant. Unfortunately, she does not remember anything of her past. My brother fears that she will not love him in this life and sent me to bring her memories back, with your help." Knives was careful not to say Vash's name. The infamous outlaw would only intrigue Seiko and bring about more questions that would lead him away from the subject of Meryl's mind.

"And what will you give me in turn for this woman's love?" Seiko asked.

"Nothing," Knives replied. "Because I did not ask for you to make her love him. I ask that you give her the memories she acquired in the life she had before this one."

Wolfwood watched silently. This arduous affair was sure to get them both killed, Vash, too, and probably Meryl. He hoped that Knives knew what he was doing.

Seiko sat in a chair that appeared behind him. "Well, that is a considerably difficult task. I'll need something of your brother's for me to do a proper job. What is this woman's full name?" the cat-eyed man asked.

Thinking it a relatively innocent question, Knives answered, "Meryl Stryfe."

Knives noticed the almost imperceptible glint of recognition in Seiko's eyes. He was silent but wary of Seiko's inevitable demand.

"I'll give you this woman's memories. I'll give you that and more," said Seiko wickedly.

"What do you need from my brother?" Knives asked suspiciously.

"Oh nothing at the moment. You'll find out when it's gone."

Knives and Wolfwood exchanged a glance. This couldn't be good. "I'm making you a deal, Seiko. We will give you 20 million double dollars in return for–"

"That won't be necessary, Knives. I have no need for something so common as money. I will take what I want and that is that. Am I understood?"

Knives nodded. 'I knew we shouldn't have gotten into this. Vash should have listened to me. We're powerless against this man. We may as well have sold our souls.'

"I've been very generous to both of you, letting you live, giving you what you desire. Now I demand that you leave. It will take some time for me to retrieve your Meryl's past life for her. By the time you arrive home, she'll be good as new." Seiko laughed maliciously.

That was the last thing Wolfwood and Knives heard as they felt their conscious being ripped away and hurtled back into their hotel room, followed by their bodies. Awareness of what had just occurred hit the men like a sand steamer.

They hurriedly checked out of the hotel and caught the first bus home. Apprehension itched at the back of their brains, wondering what they would find, or wouldn't find once they got there.

Seiko rose from his chair and walked through a sliding metal door unnoticed by the two men who just left. He traversed down a long dark hallway and turned to the right. He continued a few more yarz and opened another sliding metal door on the left side of the wall.

Stepping through the portal, he felt a refreshing cool breeze blow his obsidian locks away from his pale face. Standing in the greenest grass no human had ever seen, he turned away from the rolling green hills on the seemingly endless horizon and looked toward a tall oak tree with a low, spreading crown branching near the ground. Upon one of the higher branches, sat a short, white-clad woman with cropped black hair and violet eyes.

Seiko sneered. "Good morning, Meryl."

Author's Note: Ok so... TWIST IN THE PLOT!!! I love twists. They make me happy when skies are gray. I hope you consider this a cliffhanger. What is Meryl doing with Seiko? Will she be different? Is Seiko that man that kidnapped her right from under Vash's nose? Will Seiko give Vash what he wants? What did Seiko take from him? Ok I admit that's kind of a 'duh' question. If you didn't know... the "short, white-clad woman with cropped black hair and violet eyes" is Meryl... I tried to be really obvious about that. So anyway! Please review. Thank you!