I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORYLINE AND CHARACTERS YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE MANGA/ANIME!
Chapter Fourteen
Little Arcadia
If you only face forward there is something you will miss seeing. It is a virtue to devote oneself, firmly believing one's own ideals. But that doesn't mean you may belittle the ideals or feelings of others. Even if you lead such a busy life, you never realize how your parents feel. That is only self-satisfaction. It's alright to stop every now and again. If you want a moment's rest. If you want to feel what other people feel.
They were in Promontory now. Had been for about a month now. Vash and Kyri had been happily minding their own business when an asshole decided to make a move and fired off some shots at them; okay, maybe not them but at the elder couple that was currently using them as a shield.
"Oh, hey, sorry about that, my hand slipped."
"You have a lot of nerve, you impudent scoundrel!" The elderly man cried from around Vash.
"We're not dumb enough to be scared off by you!" The elder woman cried from behind Kyri.
"Do we always have to get caught up in this?" Kyri asked Vash but it was too late. The blond man beside her had already fallen into one of his little games.
"I see," He was saying. "It's all very clear to me now. There's a lot of meaning behind your words friends. So stand up with you heads held high and say what you want to say!"
Kyri slapped a hand to her face but had to fight the grin that wanted to spread across it. Vash...was Vash.
"We won't give up our land, no matter what you do to us!"
"Yeah! We're not going to take this anymore and you can go back and tell that to Morgan!"
Kyri laughed as Vash looked between the two elders. "Did you hear what I said, you old fogies?!"
"Hey, come on now," The gunman smirked from on top of his ride. "My gun went off by mistake. You know that."
"These guys get sadder and sadder by the minute," Alexia commented from a little ways down the street. She and Alexander had just started eating when the gunshots had gone off and peeked outside.
"You can say that again. People are assholes." Her brother nodded, heading back inside to finish eating.
"Mistake my ass, you fat-lipped golem!" The elder man growled.
"Go gramps," Kyri chuckled.
"What? Fat-lipped golem?" That seemed to piss the gunman off. He aimed his gun again. "That's so funny my trigger is about to twitch with laughter!"
Vash went to whip out his gun but Meryl and Milly came rushing out of the hotel behind him and knocked both him and Kyri out of the way.
"You have no idea how dangerous that was!" Meryl cried as Milly's gun knocked the gunman and his ride over. "If you make this broom-head and his friend here angry then you'll have more than injuries and property damage to worry about! Good God!"
Kyri pushed herself back up to her feet and pulled a sinister frown as she glared at the two women standing before her now. Milly began to wave a hand.
"I'm really sorry, Miss Kyri. We didn't mean to hit that hard, I swear!"
She blinked before moving over to Vash. "It's your problem now."
"Huh?"
The gunman had jumped back up to his feet. "Your back-smashing tag team is much more dangerous than him!" It was then that the building behind him crashed down on top of him from his car breaking the beams.
"As I said," Kyri chuckled to herself. "Their problem now." She knelt down to Vash. "You all right?"
"Does it look like I'm alright?" Vash sighed. There was now a wound on his forehead. Giving her own sigh she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped the blood. "How about the two of us go get something to eat?"
"That sounds awesome!" Vash jumped right away and moved towards the diner. Alexander and Alexia were already there and so the duo joined them; unfortunately the elder couple had followed them as well, Milly and Meryl included.
"Bodyguards?" Meryl repeated them.
"Exactly!" The old man smiled. "We would feel so much safer if you two were to guard us."
"I'm sorry," The short woman waved her hands. "But company regulations forbid us from taking part-time jobs."
"I see…" He placed a hand on Vash's shoulder. "How about you and your friend then, son?"
"Why the hell are you asking them?" Meryl demanded.
"It was the way he moved when he shielded us! I know he's extraordinary and if he is then she has to be as well!"
"You don't say," Vash grinned as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, we just do the best that we can."
"Out of the question!" Meryl growled, slamming her hands on the table. "How can you ask him? Don't you know who this broom-head is?!"
"What is it, little lady, you want the job now?" The old man asked.
Kyri gave a chuckle as she sipped at the coffee in her hands. "I told you it was your problem now."
"Come on, you can't let them go off on their own," Vash whispered to his companion. "They'll get hurt. Or worse."
"Good. Maybe they'll stop following us."
"Kyri." Vash frowned at her.
The woman hung her head and gave a sigh. "Do what you want."
And so he did. Milly and Meryl were hired as bodyguards and there was no way that Alexander was going to let Milly go off and do something like this on her own, leaving Alexia to just follow behind him as Kyri followed Vash. Both of them were making remarks to each other about the others in their group, neither happy about being dragged into this.
The elder couple lived outside of the city and it was truly a sight to see. It was covered in trees and grass.
"It's nowhere near a ship," Meryl commented. "So how…?!"
"Amazing. It's just like a geo plant!" Milly smiled as she looked around the plants.
"It's not just like it," Vash told her, running his hand over the grass. "This is a geo plant." He glanced up and gave a smile. Kyri had moved forward to one of the trees and placed her head against the base, silently whispering something to it. Alexia stared at her, wondering just what the hell she was doing, but kept silent when Vash had given her a smile.
"Yes," The old man nodded his head. "We think that a geo plant ran along a mineral vein to form this offshoot. The land value has skyrocketed too high; it's worth 300 yarz of ship."
"Maybe," Vash stood up. "But it wouldn't have gotten this far on its own. It would have taken incredible effort."
The old man continued to smile. "Twenty years ago, it was only a tiny bud. But I couldn't believe my eyes. To think we could raise this land on a planet like this…you have no idea how that kept us going." He and his wife clutched hands. "That's right! Our lives and hopes are here!"
"So…let me guess," Alexander moved forward. "That man from the streets, this guy he's working for is after your land, right?"
"Yes," The old man nodded. "Morgan has been trying to force us to hand over the deed to the land. But that will end tomorrow. Once we get this deed over to City Hall, he'll be stumped."
They weren't the only ones that had been hired to help guard the land tonight. It had gotten cold outside and so the old man had made some hot chocolate for the group. The men that they were working with had apparently grown up here in the city and always came to play on the elder's land.
"That reminds me," The old man looked around. "Where's broom boy and his friend?"
"I made them go back to town," Meryl answered him. "There's no reason for them to be here."
"What's this, a fight with the boyfriend?" One of the men asked.
"Oh please," Alexia growled as Meryl coughed up her drink. "As if. Kyri is his girl, hands down. It's sad that you even consider Meryl being the one."
"Besides, you didn't make them go anywhere," Alexander commented from his silent corner by the window. "If the two of them didn't want to go back to the city then they wouldn't have."
"You're probably right," Meryl hung her head.
As the night went on, they found out that the gunman from town earlier that day was Badwick, the elder's son. Milly tried to beat the crap out of him for lifting a gun at his parents but Meryl stopped her in time. Alexia gladly would have left her do it. They let the man in the house to talk to his parents but it seemed to be of no use. The conversation all came to an end when an explosion happened beside the house and they all rushed outside.
"I don't believe it," Alexia hung her head at the sight before them. "Can they never stop breaking out of jail?"
"With how bad the guards are it's not hard to see why they keep doing it," Alexander agreed with his sister.
"Wait," Meryl turned her eyes from the man that was now currently running up the cliff away from the house. "You know who that was?"
"That was Kanta," Alexander pulled out his gun, getting ready. "And if he's here then that means his brother Chinpei is here and with them here means that Praticia, Marilyn and Tonkichi is as well."
"And who are they?" Milly asked.
"This is the second half off the Nebraska family that Vash and Kyri so gladly took care of for us, remember?" Alexia replied.
Meryl remembered that weird old man and his large son that the town had hired to try and catch Vash for his bounty; she gave a shiver. "You mean there's more of them?!"
"Unfortunately," Alexander nodded. He then took in sight of the cars that were rushing down towards them, guns going off like crazy. "You ready, Alexia?"
"Always," She smiled, pulling out her shotgun. "Just like old times, huh?"
"You can't really call it old times when it's only been about three months since we did our last bounty hunting job, okay?"
"Just…just shut up."
Before the twins could join in, things came to a sudden stop and the old man came forward to talk to the Morgan fellow.
"Well, do we have an understanding, old man?"
"Yes, now I understand how much of a scoundrel you really are!"
"This land does nothing but eat money! It has no merit. But here is a new claim. A way out of this mess that is actually worth something. I'll fill in the amount right now. How many zeros would you like on it?"
"He claims it has no merit, and yet he's willing to pay an ass load of money for it? What is this guy, stupid?" Alexia asked her brother.
"He brought in the Nebraska family, so yes." He answered her.
The old man shot through the check. "I think my answer's pretty clear. Now beat it!"
Morgan's smile dropped. "So you want an early death, do you? Very well, I'll accommodate you!"
"Go ahead and kill me," The old man growled. "But the moment you do, you lose everything. Don't you see all these witnesses?"
"Did you say witnesses?" Morgan grinned. "You must be joking. I won't leave a soul standing. I'm going to kill every last one of you!"
"All right, that's it," Alexander placed himself in front of the old man. "I'm tried of playing this damn game."
"Same here," His sister sighed, lifting up her gun. "Let's just do this and get out of here."
"What are you doing?" The old man asked them.
"Just watch and learn," Alexia told him as her brother addressed Morgan and his men.
"Listen here, you old cod. The man said he isn't giving you his land so take the damn message and go elsewhere. If you and your goons ain't out of here in five minutes then my sister and I are going to unload every bullet we have into your asses. I have no problem killing a few stupid idiots every now and then."
"Oh? And just who do you think you are to take down all of us and the Nebraska family and Friends?" One of the men called out.
"Oh, don't you know?" Alexander grinned. "The Rush Twin Bounty Hunters have already dealt with the Nebraska family, right Mairlyn?" He glanced up at the blonde standing on her mother's shoulder.
"R-Rush Twins?!" She cried. The three men that could roll into the balls all began to give out cries and shivers as they ran from the ground.
"Oh no you don't," Alexia grinned, moving in to stop the said trio.
"Just had to come and see me again, right Marilyn?" Alexander grinned up at the blonde.
The sounds of gunshots from Alexia's shotgun went off, making the mother and daughter cry.
"Oh, not again! We're supposed to be invincible! Why can't we ever win!?" Morgan began to growl at them to get their act together but he was soon silenced as Patricia fell to her knees, pinning him to the ground beneath her leg. "It's all right. Dry your tears, Mother," Marilyn told her. "I'm sure they're all right."
"There was never anything about fighting the Rush Bounty Twins. I'm out of here." One of them men said, tossing his gun on the ground.
"Same here, man. I'd rather not die."
"I take it that the two of you are pretty well known." Meryl commented to Alexander.
"Of course. One of the best bounty hunter groups out there. The only one that beats us is the crew on the Bebop and they're in space so they don't really count here."
"Ahh, Mr. Spike Spiegel," Alexia's dreamy sigh announced that she returned with a love-struck look on her face. "Now that's a man. Only met him once but he'll be in my heart until my days are over."
(ROFL, I had to add that in there. So sorry…not!)
"Not too bad," They all turned to see Kyri standing there by one of the trees. "It seems that the Rush Twins aren't as bad as I thought."
"What, you thought we couldn't back it up?" Alexia grinned, a hand on her hip.
"No, it's just that I've seen your brother fight but never you."
"That's because I'd rather take care of the messes myself," Alexander told her. "Instead of giving my sister the chance to mess things up."
Alexia gave him a swift kick. "Love you too, jerk."
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