Akai tenjikuaoi - Chapter 2

Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson walked up to the door of the mansion and Meryl knocked.

"Hello? We�re here on behalf of the Bernardelli Insurance Company, and we�d like to ask you a few questions about Vash the Stampede!" Meryl called.

"And we�re really thirsty!" Milly added.

"Milly!" Meryl scolded. Milly looked sheepish.

Suddenly two glasses of water were thrust at them. They grabbed them eagerly and starting drinking, Meryl pausing long enough to thank whoever had given the water, before proceeding to drain the glass.

"You�re welcome!" chirped a cheery, feminine voice. Meryl and Milly looked up to see the young boy from before, and behind him was the man in the red coat.

"Hello Nazo, mister Vash!" Milly greeted them.

"Hi insurance girls!" Vash and Nazo chorused. Nazo gave Vash an annoyed look.

"...Er... You! What are you doing here?!" Meryl asked, glaring at Vash.

"I work here." Vash answered.

"He was hired as a bodyguard and ace gunman!" Nazo supplied.

"Pardon me if this is rude, but why do you sound like a girl?" Milly asked Nazo.

Nazo shrugged. "Well, before, I was kind of deepening my voice on purpose. I don�t really like having a high voice, exactly because it does make me sound like a girl." Nazo cleared his throat and continued in the voice he had used in chapter one, "I can switch back and forth, but it dries my throat out and kind of hurts to talk like this for too long, so..." he returned to using the high voice "I just talk and darn what people think of me!" Nazo smiled and took a donut from the box in Vash�s hands.

That was when Meryl first realized that she wasn�t holding the donuts any more.

"Thrs r vry ghd." Vash commented around the donut in his mouth.

"Hey! Those aren�t for you!" Meryl tried to grab a hold of the donuts, but Vash just held them up out of her reach as Nazo started in on a second donut.

"Oh, are these friends of yours Vash?" an elder man in a suit came up behind Vash and smiled at the girls.

"Oh, you must be mister Schezar. We�re here on behalf of the Bernardelli Insurance Company, and we�re looking for information on Vash the Stampede-..." Meryl launched into her business speech. As she and Cliff Schezar talked, and Vash ate donuts, Nazo ended up standing next to Milly.

"She talks a lot, doesn�t she?" Nazo asked, gesturing at Meryl.

Milly nodded. "Sometimes, but she�s really a nice lady."

Nazo shrugged. "It all depends on your definition of �nice�, I suppose."

"If mister Vash is here as a body guard, what are you doing here Nazo-kun?" Milly asked.

Nazo gave Milly an appraising look. "You�re good at using Japanese properly. ...I�m here because I happened in at the same time as Vash and told Cliff that I was one of Vash�s minions, an underling, ya know what I mean?"

Milly nodded. "I think so."

"Good enough." Nazo said.

"Yeah miss Marianne, I�ve met them before. Well, for a short time anyway." Nazo shrugged, trying to ignore Meryl�s ranting at Cliff Schezar behind the curtain. Vash made another �I�m so macho� face at Marianne. Milly just smiled at everyone.

Meryl suddenly burst out from behind the curtain. "Did you hear that Milly?!"

"Uh-huh." Milly nodded, "Every word."

"Mister Schezar, please let us stay and be your bodyguards as well! And we won�t charge anything like that worthless-"

"No need for name calling!" Nazo interrupted, stepping on Vash�s foot.

"Owie!" Vash yelped and held his foot tenderly. Nazo grinned at his success in getting Vash to stop oggling Marianne. Vash rubbed his foot, glanced up at Marianne, put his foot down and resumed making his �I�m so macho� face.

Nazo groaned and gave up.

"How�s dinner coming along?" Nazo stuck his head into the kitchen "Will it be ready soon?"

"We�ll bring it out when it�s ready!" Meryl snapped.

"Oi... That�s a scary face..." Nazo mumbled to himself as he backed away from the kitchen door. "...Sure don�t like being all alone, what with Marianne, Cliff, and Vash being who knows where, and the insurance girls won�t let me hang around the kitchen..."

A chill breeze blew over Nazo�s arms, and he shuddered and looked around nervously.

"I�m scaaaaared..." Nazo whined.

"Nyao." commented a small black cat with unusually large eyes.

"Um... Hi." Nazo waved slightly from on top of the bookshelf "You scared me little guy."

Nazo climbed back down and picked the cat up cautiously, petting it. The cat purred and seemed to melt into his arms.

"Friendly, too." Nazo smiled "You know, I feel safer with you around. Cat�s never stick around where there�s danger."

The cat almost seemed to nod at this, and Nazo scratched it under its chin. Suddenly the cat�s ears pricked up, and it leapt to the floor and ran off. Nazo watched it go, then heard what must have scared it; a faint creak, like footsteps on loose floorboards.

Milly didn�t seem to notice that Nazo was up on the bookshelf as she passed.

"Rope sturdy, favorable wind conditions..." Vash ran over a quick mental checklist as he stood on the roof, a rope tied around his waist, and a fairly perverted grin on his face.

"I�M COMING MARIAAAAAHHHHH!" Vash jumped off the roof, the rope going down after him. Thankfully, he had remembered to tie the other end to something, and it went taut. Vash pulled himself up to the height of the window in Marianne�s room, and stared at the shower. It was on... But no one was in it.

Milly walked in the door.

"Hmn?" she blinked, then saw Vash.

"Um... Hi there!" Vash waved.

"Hi!" Milly waved back "Do you know where Marianne is?"

Vash shook his head.

"Well, I wanted to tell her that dinner was ready... Oh! I almost forgot to tell you! Why are you on the roof anyway, mister Vash?"

Vash rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I was patrolling the roof for spooks!"

"Oh, did you find any?" Milly asked.

"No... All spook free up there! ...Did you mention dinner being ready?" Vash tried to change the subject.

...And succeeded. "Yes, it�s all ready and set up so you should wash up to eat!" Milly waggled a finger in a parental manner at Vash, who sweatdropped.

"I can�t believe you think that guy�s the real Vash the stampede!" Meryl was talking to Milly. Well, more like �lecturing� Milly. "He�s a complete buffoon! He�s clumsy and dim-witted and a horrible womanizer!"

"But Meryl, you saw him fight the bandits the last time we saw him." Milly pointed out.

Nazo decided to interject. "It�s better to wait until the current danger is dealt with before worrying about a new one. Whether or not he�s Vash the stampede is immaterial as long as he�s helping protect miss Marianne from the assassin."

"But Vash the stampede is more dangerous than any assassin could ever be! And what if the assassin is the real Vash the stampede?!" Meryl asked.

"Well..." Nazo resisted the urge to snicker "I doubt that, but if he is... There�s still no use in arguing whether this Vash is the stampede or not, because we�ll all be dead." Nazo shrugged. "But, like I said, I doubt it�s Vash the stampede who�s after miss Marianne. If it was, she�d already be dead herself, wouldn�t she? But she isn�t, so it must be someone less... Skilled."

"Still, I-" Meryl never got to finish that sentence, as a tall dark figure seemed almost to appear out of nowhere and attack her. Milly fell into a bush, and Nazo was knocked into the fountain.

"AH! HE�S GOT ME! IT�S VASH THE STAMPEDE HE HAS ME! HE�S GOING TO KILL US ALL!" Meryl yelled and struggled in the grip of the red-clad man. The rather familiar red-clad man.

Meryl stopped struggling. "Oh, it�s just you."

Vash sweatdropped. "What do you mean �just me�?"

"Ack!" Nazo coughed and sputtered, pulling his way out of the fountain. He marched over and kicked Vash in the shins. "Don�t do that! You knocked me into the damned fountain and it�s freezing out here! You shouldn�t piss off anyone who doesn�t have to bend over to use your nuts as a punching bag! Got it?!"

Vash winced and crossed his legs, nodding nervously.

Nazo paused a moment, then he seemed to realize what he�d actually threatened, and he crossed his own legs and groaned. "Why do I say these things...?"

"What were you thinking!? Jumping out of the bushes and attacking me like that!" Meryl returned to her familiar �yell at Vash� mode.

Vash�s expression changed to one of irritation. "I was talking to the lovely miss Marianne, when I thought I heard a prowler in the garden, and came to investigate!"

"And now that you�ve found out it was us, your conscience is clear, huh?" Meryl was coming close to growling.

Vash blushed. Nazo sighed and started wringing his shirt out.

"Not when it comes to Marianne." they chorused, Nazo rolling his eyes. Vash turned and shot him an annoyed look.

Nazo chuckled. "Sorry man, but you�re just too easy to read."

Vash sighed and walked towards the house, waving up at a window. "Miss Marianne! It�s alright! I�ve apprehended the culprit!"

"Who's a 'culprit'?" Meryl muttered under her breath.

"She�s not there." Nazo pointed out.

"You�re right." Vash sounded worried. Nazo sighed.

"We�d better look for her and make sure she�s alright." Nazp suggested. Vash, being Vash, immediately ran for the house to find her. Meryl followed, rolling up her sleeves, a vein throbbing on her forehead. Milly followed Meryl, talking about how all this anger was bad for her blood pressure.

Nazo grinned. He knew where Marianne was. He also knew that, without his knowledge, the others would take a little while to find her.

Nazo headed to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

Hey, it�s not like Marianne was going to die or get seriously injured before they found her.

Nazo got to the living room just in time to see Vash and the girls head down the secret passageway. He followed, of course.

"Hey there." He commented, taking a bite out of his salami sandwich. Meryl and Vash glared at him.

"While we were looking all over for Marianne you were making yourself a sandwich!?" they chorused. They looked at each other, blinked, and decided to ignore the incident.

"How could you?" Vash continued, "She could be hurt! Laying there bleeding, wishing only that I was there to rescue her and take her away from whatever dangers may threaten!"

Vash was starting to put off sparkles. Nazo eyed one of them suspiciously.

"You know, if we stay here and argue about my sandwich, she could we hurt during that time." Nazo pointed out.

"You�re right!" Vash exclaimed, and rushed down the passage after Milly and Meryl, who�d already continued on. Nazo chuckled again and headed the other way, picking the cat up on his way out. He wouldn�t want the poor thing getting wet, after all.

Nazo watched the others discussing the events of the previous night. He scratched the cat behind the ears and fed it a piece of jerky from his pack.

As Vash wandered off, Nazo stood up and stretched, then started gathering his things. As Marianne left, he pulled his backpack on and picked the cat up, setting it on top of the backpack. Nazo ran his hand through the edge of the new lake one more, bringing a palm full of water to his lips to sip.

He could see in his mind�s eye, rain clouds drifting over a town. Everyone running in fear. Then the rain falls down. At first the people would be scared, but soon they�d realize what was happening. And maybe, for a short time, they�d forget how bad their lives had been, and they�d enjoy themselves.

The rain would come. "Come on Shi, we�d better get going." Nazo reached back and scratched the little black cat behind the ears "We�ve got quite a journey ahead of us.