Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Pearls of Experience ❯ A Stampede of Friends ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or Sailor Moon

Sharem: Hi everyone…^_^ I know, I have other stories that I need to finish but this one just wouldn't leave my mind. This is my first story in the Sailor Moon Crossovers section and the story takes place after the end of both anime.

Pearls of Experience

Chapter Two - A Stampede of Friends

A month had passed since Ami and Wolfwood left that deserted town in search of the priest's friends. They came across a small town to the east and left the former senshi's Thompson with a needy family. Ami no longer needed the creature now that they were using the jeep that Wolfwood had repaired. The grateful family gave the pair a small storage trailer that they hitched up to the jeep so it would be easier for Ami to bring along her medical supplies and to carry food and water. They ended up in another small town called New Pueblo (AN: I made up that town...can anyone guess that I used to be from Colorado? LOL!) that had need of a doctor. The blue haired woman decided that she would stay and help the inhabitants while Wolfwood took on the temporary duty of caring for the local orphanage.

"Hey, Nick, can you bring me that plaster kit I have stored in the trailer?" Ami called out from the porch of a nice house. "The Lowery boy broke his arm and I need to make a cast."

Wolfwood looked up at the porch and chuckled. "Young Chad go riding on his wild Thompson again?" he asked, humor laced in his voice. As his friend nodded, he took a glance at the clothing she had on. She was wearing regular boot-cut blue jeans, black boots, a light blue linen shirt and a white doctor's coat. The sleeves of the shirt and coat were rolled up to give her more mobility. It was better than the strange cape and hood she had worn when he first met her. Still chuckling over the eight year old boy's antics, Wolfwood went across the dusty street to their trailer. He got the plaster kit out from it and walked back over to Ami.

"Here ya go, Ami," he remarked with a smile on his face.

"Thanks, Nick," Ami answered, smiling back at her friend as she gratefully took the kit and went back inside the house.

Wolfwood watched the petite woman disappear inside the house before making his way back to the orphanage. The person who usually ran the place had to go on a trip to Enepril City because of a family emergency and was scheduled to return tomorrow. He checked on the children inside and told the girl who also worked there that he was done for the day. After that was done, he sauntered over to the bar to get a much needed drink. Once inside, he was greeted by the usual customers as he sat down at the bar.

"Whaddaya have, Nick?" Perry, or Pops as he liked to be called, asked in a brusque manner. Pops was a middle-aged burly bartender with thinning grey hair and liquid brown eyes. He had taken on a father-type role to Wolfwood and Ami.

"Just the usual beer, Pops," Wolfwood replied as he lit up a cigarette. "I just told Shirley that I was done for the day and for her to keep an eye on those kids. Oh yeah, Ami is putting a cast on Chad Lowery's arm. He broke it…again."

Pops laughed as he got the beer for the younger man and set it down in front of him. "That boy is exactly like his pa at that age."

The tall man chuckled as he sipped his beverage before Pops started talking again. "Ya know, Nick, that lil gal and yerself really helped out the folks in this here town. It'd be a cryin' shame when the two of ya leave New Pueblo."

Wolfwood smiled slightly as he took a drag from his cigarette. "This is a really nice town; I gotta admit that, Pops. But Ami and I are looking for my friends and we can't stay around here forever." At that, the two men just started talking about the normal things that men talk about.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was late afternoon by the time Ami opened the door to leave the Lowery House. "Mrs. Lowery, make sure that Chad keeps that cast from getting wet and remove it six weeks from now," the young looking woman replied as she turned to face the mother of her patient. "His arm should be healed completely by then."

Mrs. Lowery smiled gratefully at the blue haired doctor and gave her a small leather pouch. "Thank you so much, Doctor Mizuno. Here, take this pouch…it has my payment for this visit of yours."

Ami nodded and looked inside the small bag and her eyes widened at the amount inside. "This is about two thousand double dollars in here!" she exclaimed. "I can't take this…its way too much for the simple job I did."

The older-looking woman just clucked at Ami and shooed her off the porch. "You'll need that money, Doctor, when you need to buy new supplies. Besides, it's my way of saying thank you for all the times you bandaged up my son's cuts and scrapes and my husband's gunshot wound last week."

Ami smiled gratefully at Mrs. Lowery and thanked her profusely before she was told to go to the bar and relax. The doctor giggled softly as she went to her trailer and put her plaster kit away. 'Mrs. Lowery is right…I will need that money to buy new medical supplies. I hope Nick and I will be able to go to a city this time. Big cities usually have the stuff I need,' she thought to herself as she locked up the trailer. She was about to leave for the bar when a beat-up old jeep came rushing into the town.

There were three passengers that Ami could see and she could sense another one lying down in the back seat. Before she could do or say anything, a rather tall man wearing a trench coat that had seen better days jumped out of the vehicle and ran over to her. She noticed that he had golden blonde hair in a style that reminded her of a broomstick and beautiful turquoise eyes.

"Does this town have a doctor?" the man asked in an urgent tone. "My brother is in that car and he is very hurt."

"I'm a doctor," Ami replied, sensing the man's near panicked state. "Show him to me and I'll see what I can do."

"Great!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her arm and dragged her over to the ancient jeep. "Insurance Girls, Doctor Lady here should be able to help Knives!"

"Vash, how many times do I have to tell you to call us by our names!" a woman with short black hair yelled back and then looked at Ami. "Sorry about that…That tall dork can seem to never remember our names. I'm Meryl Stryfe and this is my friend, Millie Thompson. The dork is Vash the Stampede."

Ami involuntarily took a step back as she heard the names and then looked at each one of them carefully. Meryl had a strong resemblance to herself and Millie was just as tall as Nick had told her. The legendary gunman was actually taller than she expected. "I'm Doctor Ami Mizuno. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you but Vash here said that his brother was hurt and needed a doctor."

"I do not need a filthy spider doctor to heal my wounds!" a weak male voice called out from the back seat of the vehicle.

The former senshi rolled her sapphire eyes and went over to see her unwilling patient. He looked almost exactly like Vash except his hair was short and light blonde and he had cerulean blue eyes. She then noticed that he was bandaged on his arms and legs, but the blood was still seeping out.

"You have no choice but to let me help you," Ami replied, her tone gone cold as she lifted one of Knives' arms to inspect the damage, causing the man to wince in pain. 'I would say that these are gunshot wounds…that should be easy enough to fix.' "The arm I examined appears to be broken and these bandages are not on tight enough to completely stop the bleeding. I'll have to take him into my house."

Vash nodded and before his brother could protest, he picked him up and slung the wounded man over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. "Okay, Doctor Lady, where is your house?"

"See that trailer over there?" Ami asked as Vash nodded. "The house that is behind it is the one I live in. The door is unlocked so go on inside. Take the stairs up to the second floor and put him in the first bedroom on the right. I'll be up there shortly…I need to get my supplies and pain medicines from my trailer."

The gunman nodded and rushed over to the house with Millie following him. That left Meryl standing with Ami. "I take it that is Vash's brother…" the doctor remarked.

Meryl nodded as she followed the blue haired woman over to the aforementioned trailer. "Yeah, Knives is…a character," Meryl responded, not knowing what to say to Ami about the brothers. "He's the one responsible for the bounty on Vash's head. Anyway, would you mind if I helped you?"

Ami smiled slightly and nodded as she opened her trailer once more and took out a box. She handed it over to the other woman and then took out another box. She put it on the ground for a moment before locking her trailer back up. "One box has the medicines and bandages and splints, while the other one is my plaster kit to make casts. The kit I have to make stitches is already in the room Knives is going to be in."

Meryl nodded as Ami picked the box up and followed the doctor up to the house. When they went inside, they both heard Knives screaming at Vash about being shot and Millie was already in the kitchen heating up some water. The former senshi sighed as she led Meryl up the stairs and into the patient's room.

"Vash, I'm going to need you to hold your brother down while I inject him with some tranquilizers," Ami said in an authoritative tone. She went over to a cabinet and opened it. It revealed several syringes and bottles of medications. She took one of the bottles and a needle and filled the needle up with a sedative. She then glanced over at Knives. "I can't have you thrashing about while I heal you. You might get hurt in the process."

The light blonde haired man sneered at Ami from his prone position on the bed. "An insignificant spider like you can't ever harm me!" he shouted as Vash held his brother. Ami shook her head as she went over to her patient and stuck the needle in his arm. Knives was about to yell out more obscenities when suddenly his blue eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell into a deep sleep.

Ami motioned for Meryl to put the box she was carrying down onto a table and waved everyone out of the room. "I know that you are concerned, but I need to have my space when I am going to work on a patient. And Vash, don't worry, I'll take good care of your brother."

The two people nodded and left the room to see Millie coming up the stairs with a pot of very hot water. She handed it over to the female doctor and closed the door behind her. Millie then followed her friends back down the stairs.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ami sighed as she gazed at the now unconscious man before her. She went over to him and carefully removed his clothing until he was completely in the nude. "No sense in keeping this outfit," she remarked to herself as she took the torn clothing and placed them in a trashcan. She then quickly placed a small towel to cover his private parts, her face growing red. The senshi chuckled slightly as she realized what she did; she has lived a very long time and naked men still make her blush.

She got out another towel that was in the drawers next to the bed and dipped that in the hot water Millie had given her. 'Millie seems to be a very cheerful person,' Ami thought to herself as she removed Knives' bandages. 'And Meryl appears to be very competent, even if she lacks patience with Vash. I think she cares for the outlaw quite a bit.'

Ami cleaned the gunshot wounds with the wet towel until she was sure that there was no more dirt inside. She then put some iodine into the gashes and looked them over quickly. Knives mumbled a bit but remained comatose while the antiseptic killed any germs that might have been there. The doctor went over to the cabinet and pulled out a sewing needle and thread for the stitches. Quickly, she stitched the wounds closed and put a compress her patient's leg and then bandaged up his legs and arms.

"From what I have seen of your injuries, Mr. Knives, is that you are lucky to escaped with only one broken arm," Ami remarked, knowing that her blonde patient was still unconscious from the tranquilizer she injected him. She then went about the task in putting the right arm (the broken one) in a cast which took the better part of an hour…

"I wonder if Doctor Lady has any donuts," Vash mused loudly as his stomach rumbled with hunger. "Please let's see if she has any in her kitchen."

Meryl sweatdropped and put a hand on her face in exasperation. "Vash, have you any manners? We are in the doctor's home and you want to raid her cupboards. That is highly rude!"

"But Insurance Girl, it's been over an hour since Doctor Lady started working on Knives," the gunman whined, a puppy-dog look appeared in his eyes. "My tummy is hungry."

Millie giggled and looked at her two friends. "Meryl is right, Mr. Vash. It is rude to go through other people's things unless they are dead and Doctor Mizuno is definitely not dead."

"I should hope not," a female voice sounding very amused drifted into the living room the three friends were in. Ami walked in and observed the three people. "I promise that I'll get you some donuts tomorrow, Vash. The bakery has closed by now and I expect that my friend should be walking in any moment with food from the restaurant in the bar. I don't have the time to cook and he can't really cook at all."

Suddenly, the front door opened and a tall man wearing a black outfit entered. He was carrying a couple of bags of food and set them down on a chair. "Ami, I can cook…well, barely…" he remarked as his words died slowly when he saw who was in the house. "Oh…my…God…"

Three faces stared dumbly at the dark haired man for a couple minutes, shock apparent on their faces.

"WOLFWOOD?!?!?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

AN: Woo! I got another chapter finished…^_^ This story is becoming fun for me to write…I think I'll have to put my other stories on hold for a little while for this one…heh heh…^_^;

And now, a big and hearty welcome for my new beta reader, hiko-chan! Woo! ^_^ Thank you, hiko-chan…^_^