I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORYLINE AND CHARACTERS YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE MANGA/ANIME!

Chapter Ten

Quick Draw

I think I would like to do something nice for somebody. I think it's good if you smile at somebody and they smile in return. Voluntary love encourages people to create a sense of friendliness. Love that is unconditional gives us respect as people. However, it is wrong to force love to try and keep it alive. If the strain goes on, eventually it'll bloom into the flower called lies, the disreputable thorny flower that hurts people.

Sitting there on the bed in the room that she and Vash shared, Kyri was trying to stay in tuned to her book but the man's movements kept grabbing to where she finally decided to just drop the book and watch him. He looked so different in regular clothes, his red jacket hung on the wall, and his hair hanging in his face. She liked seeing him with it spiked and in red, but it was always interesting to see him in a different look.

Vash was currently balancing an egg on the tip of his gun. He lasted about three seconds before he failed and it dropped. Kyri was ready though, since it was a part of his daily routine, and had the frying pan ready.

"Are you going to go out with Alexia again today?" Vash asked her from the table as he ate the egg on a piece of toast and read the paper.

"I don't know," Kyri answered him. "Are you going to play with those kids again?"

As if right on cue, a group of kids could be heard from the street below, calling for Vash to come and play with them. He turned and looked at her, an apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, Ki."

"Have fun," She replied, standing up from the bed. "I'll find something to do."

"Ki-" His voice was cut off as the door shut behind the woman.

Giving a sigh, she shoved her hands in her pockets and moved down the stairs. She wasn't mad at Vash, not really, more mad at herself. All she did was follow him; it's not like she really did anything. She felt like she was a weight on his shoulders, holding him back. She had felt the same when she had been a child but that was with good reason. Why did she feel like this now?

Kyri wasn't sure how long she walked around the small city but she knew that she stayed away from where Vash normally played with those kids. They had been here for a couple of days already, gladly taking a rest from all the fighting that normally followed them everywhere. Milly and Meryl were still stalking them and Vash and Kyri was undoubtedly growing tired of that. Milly was sweet, just an idiot, but Meryl tried to take control and boss everyone around. Alexia was normally able to beat Kyri to it but he older woman's fuse for Meryl was beginning to grow thinner and thinner.

And ever since what happened with Neon...there seemed to be this voice in the back of her head, telling her to leave Vash and go off on her own; to go back to...to them. Back to Eryn and Sylvia and Midvalley and Legato. Back to Kyra and-

"Kyri? What are you doing out here?"

Turning her head, Kyri watched as Alexia moved towards her from the porch of some restaurant to the side. "Walking." Was her answer.

"What's troubling you?"

She adverted her gaze. "Who said something was troubling me?"

"Well, this is the fourth time that I've seen you walk past this building. Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really," She began to move again.

"Oh no you don't," Alexia hooked her arm around the other woman's and began to drag her off towards the inn across the street. "You're coming with me."

"Weren't you eating?" Kyri asked her.

"No. Wolfwood and Vash are in there just talking so I was gonna leave anyway."

Kyri almost missed a step. "Vash is in there?"

"Yeah. The Priest is trying to convince him to join some shooting contest tomorrow or some other stupid thing. But you, you and I are going to go up to my room and have a girl's day."

Kyri couldn't help but give a smile and a small chuckle. "But didn't we do that yesterday?"

"We did, but how long has it been since you started traveling with Vash? You need a little more time with other women; Meryl and Milly not included." Kyri gave a nod in agreement. "If I start to annoy you as well, then just let me know."

"Will do," She let herself be led into the inn. "Where is your brother?"

"He said he wanted to go out and look for something for Milly; her birthday's coming up soon."

"You and your brother seem to know Milly well. Meryl too?"

Alexia snorted as they entered the room that she and her brother shared. "Please. I wouldn't be caught dead with a woman like Meryl unless I had to be; and in this case, I have to be." She dropped into a chair at the table by the window. "Milly, Alexander and I grew up as neighbors before the death of our parents. When we left to be become Bounty Hunters we lost contact with her." She glanced at Kyri as she sat across from her in the other chair. "It's all thanks to you and Vash that we even ran into her again. If she hadn't been trying to track you down, we never would have met up with her."

"Then you're welcome." She fell silent for a moment before reaching out for the pile of cards that the two women had left sitting there the night before. "At least it worked out for some of us."

Kyri stayed with Alexia all night. Alexander had arrived after dinner and joined them in a few games and talk, but he quickly slipped off into the shower and then his own bed. When she had seen Alexia begin to drop off she excused herself from their room. She didn't want to return to the room she and Vash were sharing; not when the only thing she could think of was old friends and shedding blood.

She knew that she wasn't going to get any sleep here tonight. Instead, she found herself slipping off into the lower kitchen and whipping up donut batter. She found this eased her mind greatly when in great moments of stress. Surprisingly, she found she had made many of them; enough to keep her busy all through the remainder of the night and well into the morning when Alexia found her.

"Don't tell me you've been doing this all night," She stared at the boxes in shock. There had to be at least twenty of them.

"I couldn't sleep," Kyri shrugged. "It happens often."

"You poor thing," Alexia wrapped her arms around the woman's head.

Kyri swatted her away. "Don't do that," She hissed.

Alexia, giving a chuckle, grabbed the door again. "Come on, Alexander wants to go watch the tournament. He told me to come grab you."

Kyri gave a silent sigh before standing up and following after the other woman. She blinked to normal her eyes to the sun and took in the large number of people that had gathered in the city from all over the place. Alexia led her to a railing that her brother was sitting on just outside of the inn, giving them a phenomenal view of the field that the tournament was supposed to take place in.

"He entered the gun tournament after all, I see. Hmm, it seems you were right, Kyri." Alexia commented, taking view of both Vash and the Priest slowly moving towards the area across from them.

Kyri closed her eyes as the crowd continued to grow. "I know."

"Apparently that Priest guy from before joined it, too." Alexander decided to join in. "Aren't you interested?"

Kyri shook her head. "No thanks. I'm not really interested in this sort of thing."

"I can tell," Alexander sat beside her. "What I would like to know though, is how someone like you ended up with Vash the Stampede. There's gotta be a story behind it, right? It should be interesting."

Kyri closed her eyes. Vash the Stampede is known for the destruction of July, but what would people say if they knew the truth behind what had happened? In all reality, the Bladed Siren was worse than the Stampede. All her kills were for different reasons. All her kills...

"Why didn't you join as well, Alex?" His sister asked him, trying to draw the object of the conversation away from Kyri and Vash's past.

"Eh, I got enough money already, so why waste my bullets? I'd rather not have to just buy more. Besides, if Vash is in there, then I'd lose."

"You got a point."

"Smart choice," Kyri smiled, turning back to the tournament. "Dear lord, he drank last night." She sighed, hanging her head as Vash moved up to take his shot at the bottles.

"That's because you weren't there to knock him out of it." Alexander told her.

"And how do you know that?"Kyri asked him.

"Who do you think woke me up this morning?" He grunted. "Banging on my door, asking where you were at about 6 this morning."

"If he's still sober to do that, then he's not as drunk as he's making everyone believe that he is," The woman replied, trying to fight a smirk but failing. He had been worried about her; her stomach began to twist; it was a pleasant feeling, really.

Alexander gave a sigh. "I figured as much. Such a strange man. He's a total idiot but when he gets serious he's one scary fucker."

~You haven't seen anything yet~

"Damn, the Priest isn't bad, either." Alexia commented, watching with a smile on her face. "I can't wait for the one-on-one combat. I'd rather them not kill each other though."

"Vash will take care of that," Kyri told them, her eyes still closed. "He doesn't like watching people kill each other."

"And just how in the hell is he going to do that?" Alexander asked her.

"Just watch."

…

…

…

"He actually did it." Alexander stared in shock as the rounds went by; there wasn't even a single death. "I don't know how, but he actually did it."

"Here comes his round," Alexia hushed her brother.

They couldn't hear what was being said out there in the field, but they knew something was off; especially when the other guy pulled out his gun before he was supposed to. Vash dodged it, not without that dumb look on his face though, and shot the man in the shoulder. It turned out that he had been wearing a mask on the back of his head and a long wig to cover his face the entire time.

"Why do something stupid like that?" Alexander asked.

"Why do anything stupid at all?" His sister replied.

Wolfwood and Vash were both amazing, not killing a single person, but as the tournament went on, Kyri noticed something across the way from them. A man had walked up to a mother and her son before leading them off somewhere. Normally she would have thought nothing about it, but the snide grin he shot at the man at the judging booth caught her attention.

"Something's not right here," She commented.

"You saw that too, huh?" Alexander uncrossed his arms from behind his head and leaned forward on his knees.

"I'm surprised that you did." She replied.

"We're not called bounty hunters for no reason," Alexia told her. "We're some of the few that actually know what they're doing. We're on guard everywhere and watching everything."

"Then you can take care of that?"

Alexia gave a nod before slipping off. "On it."

Alexander stared at the woman he had been left with in silence for a few moments before opening his mouth, "You're just not in the mood for anything today, are you?"

"No." Her answer was blunt and the man sighed.

"Well, whatever he did he better make up for it," He commented as Wolfwood and Vash faced each other in the field. "Or I'm going to be the one angry."

~But…Vash didn't do anything,~ Kyri told herself, closing her eyes as the gunshots and cries began to go off. ~I'm the one who…~

Alexander knew that there was no way that Wolfwood was going to be able to beat Vash and he also knew that there was no way that Vash was going to kill Wolfwood over something so stupid like this; hell, the blondie didn't even kill the guys that truly, and I mean truly, threatened his life so there was no need for him to take the restraints off for something like this. These two had to have a plan; especially as the two just fired at each other as they yelled and hid behind some blocks. He then watched as they stood and ran out to face each other and then shot, both of them falling face first as red liquid pooled beneath them. It was then that a man's voice cried out about Vash's bounty being all his before ordering the duo in the field to be finished off.

"He had this planned since the beginning," Alexander sighed from his seat beside Kyri. "Can't they ever learn? The Stampede just isn't going to be caught that easily." More shots went off as Wolfwood and Vash stood, bottles of tomato sauce in their hands. "Holy shit, his cross is a bunch of guns? What else is this damn priest packing?"

"I won't let any more children suffer!" Wolfwood's cry was heard across the area. "Never again!"

"We all have our secrets," Kyri replied, opening her eyes.

Not one soul died that day. Everyone was only injured and Wolfwood and Vash were able to get the prize money for the family that Alexia had saved from the gunman. That next day, Wolfwood was now the one that the kids were wrestling with and Alexia was laughing with a smile on her face.

"You really are good with kids, Priest," She teased at him.

"Aren't you going to help me?" He cried, reaching out for her.

"Nah, I'm good. It's cute." She gave him a wink. "Come on, buys. That's not a good hold. Squeeze him harder!" The boys took to her words and the priest's eyes began to bulge.

"Ah! No! Stop it! Hey, it's hurts!" Wolfwood cried out. "Who's side are you on, Alexia?!"

She crossed her arms and turned her head. "The side of the guy that didn't forget that he owed me lunch."

Wolfwood stared at her with an open mouth as the children continued to roll around on him. ~That's what this is about?~

Kyri and Alexander chuckled from nearby and then watched as a man with a pack walked by them all and towards the restaurant that Vash was currently helping Neil and his mother with. Wolfwood was able to break free of the kids and take a break to talk to Vash for a few moments when he exited the building. Alexia moved towards the kids and told them something before hurrying over to her brother and friend.

"What did you do?" Alexander asked her.

"Oh, nothing really." They watched as the children moved towards Wolfwood and Vash, jumping on both of them this time.

"Poor guys," Kyri gave a soft smile as she petted the Black Cat that was sleeping in her lap.

"Eh, they'll survive." Alexander chuckled as he watched them. The boys had tried to get him to play but the bounty hunter wasn't having any of that.

Vash's cry echoed across the clearing as Kyri ran her hand down the cat's back again.

"No Captain! Anything but that!"

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