Wolfwood's new profession

Please read: Hi! First of all, I HAVE NOT ABANDONED THIS STORY! In ANY form or manner! I've just been sucked into the void that is World of Warcraft - enough said.

Hopefully, from now, I will be giving you all a bit more thought and updating this in better time!

If you would an email when I update please include your email address IN YOUR REVIEW, not in the space above it. It always says 'email hidden' so I have no idea why they even still have it there! This will save you checking every day to see if I have updated!

Now, I throughly enjoyed reading all your reviews for the last chapter and was very relieved to see that people didn't shy away from the introduction of a possible Het relaionship in a yaoi-based story...

Thank you all, so very much. This chapter is for you.

Chapter Fourteen: Departure


Wolfwood felt like crying.

He tipped the ash off his cigarette as Vash prattled on about how he and Milly had played with the children all afternoon. At the time, the priest had been grateful for the gunman’s absence. He’d asked Milly to keep him occupied and the Insurance girl had agreed, secretly thinking he was planning something romantic. He vaguely remembered seeing Milly straight after the meeting with Legato but it hadn’t really registered. However, he realized that Vash had never left the children’s side so it didn’t seem to be such a big issue.

“…And then they put me in this headlock and I almost had to make an actual effort to get out of it!” Vash exclaimed, his gloved hands excitedly rolling his empty glass back and forth on the table. “I swear those kids are getting stronger!” He kept going but Wolfwood wasn’t listening anymore, his mind drifting back to the recent meeting in the bar.

***flashback***

He cringed, hearing the saxophone shrieks out in the street, a sure sign that Legato was somewhere in attendance. He sighed heavily and pushed through the door with his shoulder, spotting the Servant instantly. A shock of anxiety ran down his spine and he paused on the threshold, body frozen. It had been a while since he’d seen Legato in person. Not since…then…

He shivered violently, willing his feet to move forward. Legato turned to glance at him, a familiar smirk rising on his face, golden eyes glinting with knowledge and amusement. Wolfwood resisted the urge to run screaming out the door and instead made his way over and settled next to him, reaching into his coat for cigarettes. His hand trembled as he lit one and Legato smirked some more, noticing but saying nothing.

“So, what did you want?” The priest asked quietly, using Midvally’s trills to cover the conversation. To all intents and purposes that’s probably why he was playing. It wasn’t like he needed the practice or anything…

“Have you befriended the master’s brother as planned?”

Wolfwood sighed. It looked like it was going to be harder to keep Vash from his thoughts if Legato wanted to talk about him.

“Yeah…We’re getting close…”

‘Just not the way you’d intended…’

“Have you been keeping a eye on him?” Legato glanced back at the stage where Midvalley was blowing his little heart out and winking at all the women.

The priest shifted, uncomfortable with where this was going.

“Yeah…I have”

“How close?” Legato glanced back at him before staring at the bar in front of him.

Wolfwood shot Legato an alarmed look that he quickly hid. ‘Does he know?!’

“Close enough. Come on, Legato…what the hell is this really about?”

“You are coming back with me. Knives-sama requests your presence.” Legato stated, dipping his finger into the empty ice cream dish in front of his and wiping up a last trail of strawberry sauce.

Wolfwood shook his head.

“I have things to do first. You go and I’ll catch up.”

Legato froze with his finger still in his mouth and the priest cleched his teeth in fear, inhaling sharply through his nose. Golden eyes turned suddenly, capturing the priest’s gaze, and Wolfwood felt the slithering sensation of Legato picking through his mind. His quickly thought of mundane things, things for the orhanage, things other than Vash or what they’d been doing for the last few months. The corner of Legato’s mouth quirked up and he turned away, finger leaving his mouth with a wet, slick sound as he sucked the last of the sauce off it.

The noise made Wolfwood shudder with revulsion and he turned his face away, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. Legato chuckled obscenely. Or maybe it just sounded like that to the priest’s troubled ears.

“Fine. Be at the ship in a week. You remember the way, don’t you, Chapel? Or do I need to remind you…again?” Legato almost sniggered as the priest paled noticeably. The telepath knew Wolfwood was still deeply affected by the last trip to Knives’ ship, the first time Legato had completely and utterly forced his will on the other man. The priest still woke in the night sometimes, sweaty and scared, mind racing as he tried to fight off the claustrophobic feeling of Legato’s mind imposing itself over his.

‘Never again…I’ll kill myself before I let him…let him…oh God…I think I’m going to be sick…’

He felt his gorge rise and struggled to swallow it back down and keep his face calm. He shivered slightly, and ash from his, now untouched, cigarette dropped to the bar from the movement, making Legato smirk again.

The telepath made a noise of amusement and rose, gesturing to Midvalley who cut off in mid-note and left the stage to polite applause and a few thrown phone numbers, pouting slightly at the interruption but coming nonetheless.

“I’ll see you there. Don’t bring the idiot.” Legato made a final parting remark and swung out through the doors, chipping a large chunk from the entranceway. The priest glanced at the barman to see his reaction but the man was too busy cowering behind the edge of the bar. Legato had that effect on people.

The priest rose, stubbing his, now unlit, cigarette out angrily, and left.

***End flashback***


Vash was staring at him with concern as the priest came out of his thoughts and Wolfwood quickly plastered a smile on his face to throw him off. But the gunman wasn’t having any of it, being a master at that very thing himself.

“Wolfwood? What’s wrong?”

The priest took a drink to still his nerves. He noticed that his hand was shaking slightly and his eyes ached. He wanted to cry, to drown himself in his misery, to erase the pointlessness and irrelevantness of it all. Why, after all this time, did the one man he completely fell for have to be the brother of his boss and the man he was hired to ensnare. His eyes misted and he blinked rapidly.

“Nick…” Vash left his seat and came to kneel next to his, gloved hands catching the priest’s as he set his glass back down. “I know there’s something wrong…tell me. Please.”

‘God…please Vash…just…leave it. Let it go this time. Please…’

Wolfwood shook his head before he realized that doing so meant that there actually was something wrong.

“No…No Vash. There’s nothing wrong. Do you want to go out for dinner or eat downstairs?” He tried to change the subject but realized he hadn’t succeeded when Vash frowned and stood, taking his hand and making him rise. He led them over to the bed and pushed Wolfwood down, cuddling up next to him, head on his chest. The priest wrapped an arm around his shoulders and sighed heavily.

‘How am I going to go? I can’t leave him…’ Wolfwood’s thoughts swirled around, all centered on the gunman. He knew that if he left now that Vash would take it as a rejection. And with the gunman’s frail self-esteem on the rise, it was the last thing he wanted to do. Vash’s quiet voice broke him from his thoughts.

“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?”

Wolfwood’s breath stopped in his chest and he coughed to cover it up.

“What? What makes you think that?”

Vash propped himself up on his elbow and looked the priest straight in the eyes. Wolfwood shied away from his gaze, eyes settling on Vash shoulder as he fidgeted with one of the gunman’s coat buttons.

“Wolfwood…Nick. Look at me.”

Something in the Vash’s voice changed and the priest dragged his gaze up to meet the Stampede’s.

“Nick…I already know. About everything.”

With those simple words, Wolfwood’s heart raced beyond epic proportions, his palms broke out in a sweat and he struggled to sit up, panicking when Vash held him down.

“You know? You know what?! Tell me! What do you think you know?!”

Vash sighed and leant down, silencing the priest with his lips. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against Wolfwood’s, eyes closed, listening to the priest’s racing heart. It was so loud in his ears, a veritable din drowing out the sound of their mingled breathing.

“Nick…I know you work for Knives. And I know you have to go and see him.”

His world crashed. A million questions came flying at him. Wolfwood’s mouth opened and nothing came out. He tried again and still nothing. Vash’s eyes opened and met his, twins pools of emerald empathy. Warm fingers slid up along Wolfwood’s face and Vash’s eyes widened slightly, became mournful, trying to impart so much meaning into such a little gesture. His breath whispered across the priest’s lips softly.

“It’s okay. It’s really okay…”

“But…Vash…!”

He captured Wolfwood’s mouth again, to taste him and to shut him up.

“Don’t say anything. Do you have to go soon? Today?” He whispered when the kiss broke. Wolfwood didn’t trust himself to speak and nodded slowly, regret filling his gaze. Vash sighed and closed his eyes, fingers trailing into Wolfwood’s hair. He brushed some away from his forehead, placing a long kiss against his temple.

“Come back to me, okay?” He murmured, kissing him again. Wolfwood nodded and slowly rose, gathering his things. He hoisted the Cross Punisher onto his shoulder, shooting one longing glance back at the bed before turning to leave. Neither of them spoke a word, and when the door closed with a soft click, it sounded as final as death.

**********

*sobs quietly* *too sad for witty author comment*

This melancholy moment was brought to you by ‘Scattered Rain’. For those that don’t have the Trigun OST, this song plays when Vash told Meryl about Knives and the fact he was a plant. Very sad song…very inspiring. I can completely see the start of it playing during the very end of this scene…

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