Vash and Knives

"Vash!"

Meryl and Milly took off at full speed towards the man who for once wore a genuine grin of happiness. Vash laughed and gave them a one-armed bear hug, but the girls couldn't exactly keep their eyes off the other blonde, wounded warrior.

"Mr. Vash?" Milly asked softly, as she and Meryl both stood back again, "who is..?"

"That isn't.." Meryl began, putting a hand to her bottom lip. She stared, awkwardly, at Knives' backside, wondering how Vash managed to make the 'big, scary, evil-guy' look so stupid.

"Yep! This is Knives!" Vash told them with his grin ever on his face. He reached up and patted Knives' butt a few times while laughing, and only remembered the man was injured after maybe 20 seconds. He then pulled back his arm and looked over Knives for blood; there was none.

"Don't go busting his new wounds open, idiot!" Meryl barked at him. She then blinked. "Wait.. why didn't you kil-"

"It was never my intention to kill him. My orders were to take care of him, and so I did. I protected Knives from himself," Vash answered, suddenly serious, and he started walking past the girls and into town. Meryl and Milly turned to watch the de-cloaked 'typhoon' walk away, and looked from Vash to Knives, and then back to Vash again as Vash saw the nearest saloon and quickly made his way inside; the two ladies sighed.

"We're gonna have to go and help heal the bad-guy again, aren't we.." Meryl asked herself, and Milly nodded. The two went after Vash.

"You know, if we hadn't been around, you would probably have died by now," Meryl told Vash as she led the pack back to the house Meryl and Milly had been living in.

The townsfolk all gave Vash and Knives glares and odd looks as they passed by, which told the conscious, donut-eating blonde that he still wasn't welcome there. Meryl and Milly noticed this also, and the four of them were soon confronted by a man. Meryl had kept on moving and ignored the man's commands and questions, but Vash stopped in mid-bite and paused, looking down at the citizen. The man shuddered slightly.

"Hey, I'm not here to go shooting people," Vash told the person, cracking a slight smile that only made the man grimace.

"Yeah, says the one who has his victim on his shoulder!" the man screeched, pointing his finger at Knives. Vash looked at Knives and then at the man. Maybe he could strike up a deal..

The hot, desert wind blew in between the two dramatically, and Vash took a breath. The wind blew a cloud over the suns, blocking out the sunlight momentarily as Vash opened his mouth.

"Please, let me stay here until my brother recovers," Vash asked the man, bowing slightly, "I promise not to cause any trouble."

The man scrunched his eyebrows and looked away and at the over-flowing well. He sighed and gave up. "I suppose.. but once he's healed, you have to leave!"

Vash raised up his hand in surrender and laughed sheepishly, holding his bag of donuts one-handedly, "You got it!"

Milly and Meryl looked at each other and then at Vash who smiled as the man walked away looking half-defeated. Milly suddenly then grabbed Vash's bag of donuts and then took his arm in her hand and quickly led him to their house while laughing cheekily. Meryl stared as she followed behind the three, wondering if Knives would turn out to be like Vash in the end..

"Now Mr. Vash, you can just lay Mr. Knives down over here on Meryl's bed-"

"Hey!"

"-and Meryl and I will get her homemade healing-soup going on the stove for Mr. Knives, alright?" Milly told Vash, ushering him towards Meryl's bed when Vash interrupted.

"Thank you, but, I think it's best that he stay in my old room," Vash told her, turning back around towards the rest of the room.

The house went silent.. silent enough to hear the non-existent plants growing. Milly and Meryl blinked at Vash. Vash blinked back and cracked a crooked smile in confusion. Meryl then coughed and turned to go to the kitchen to make her soup while her partner stayed still.

"Are you sure..?" Milly asked Vash. Vash looked over at the nearest wall and nodded.

"There's no telling what he'll do when he wakes up.." Vash almost whispered, imagining how it might play out if Knives was left in the same room as two female humans. He could see Knives waking up in a panic, and then he would look and see the two women and immediately kill them out of hatred for humans and out of stubborn refusal of confusion. Vash bit his cheek and then grinned.

"So, I'll just be in my room, putting new bandages on his wounds! Knock when the soup's ready!" Vash told her with a salute. He hurried past her, taking his donuts back sneakily, and then shut his door behind him.

He leaned his side against the door and sighed, looking down at the donuts. He knit his eyebrows together and then looked at Knives' legs.

"I hope he likes donuts.." Vash thought out-loud, "'cause I think they do a world of good for a person."

Vash listened to his foot-steps slowly tap across the wooden floor, crossing the room to get to his temporary resting-place. He carefully let Knives slide off his shoulder and onto his bed, looking intently on Knives' slightly relaxed expression. Vash couldn't look away from that face as he unwrapped the make-shift bandages off his brother's clothes. Knives didn't move a muscle.

Vash tentatively began taking Knives' clothes off his back, and felt a slight blush cross his face. He felt weird trying to figure out how to strip his brother, even if it was for a good reason. The feeling got even more weird when Vash saw the nice wounds he had made on Knives' otherwise-perfect skin. Vash bit his lip and ran his hand across Knives' chest.

"I'm so sorry," Vash whispered half-sarcastically, "I ruined your body, you perfect, unmarred being.."

Knives flinched. Vash pulled his hand away, as if he had been doing something wrong. He stared, waiting for the man to come alive and reek havoc.

It didn't happen.

Vash sighed, getting off his knees to go and get a bucket of water and some kind of soap, and of course, new bandages. He made sure to shut the door all the way and kept his ears tuned on his room next door for any sign of life from Knives; there was none. The sounds in the house were the water running into the bucket right in front of him, his rummaging for bandages, and the sounds of Milly and Meryl in the kitchen.

Meryl was humming that song; Vash smiled as snatched the roll of cloth out of the cabinet and turned off the faucet. He soon carried the bucket and other supplies back to his room quickly, and shut the door behind him again; he locked the door, too, not that it would really make much of a difference when Knives wanted out.

Birds were chirping outside the open windows, and the sounds of children's laughter and water splashing made Vash grin as he washed down Knives' shoulder wounds. Luckily, all of the bullets passed straight through Knives' body, surprisingly even the shot to his abdomen, so they would most likely heal well. This made Vash feel a lot better about hurting his brother; it wouldn't be like the first time he had done it.

Vash still couldn't get Knives' expression out of his head when he had pulled the trigger that first time- and afterward, he ran away! He had run away from Knives' first desperate cry of pain.

Pain.. Vash scoffed; Knives barely knew pain compared to him.

Yet, there he was, treating Knives' comparatively-petty wounds like he was dying.

"Oh well.." Vash whispered, wrapping new bandages tightly around Knives' chest and waist while the wounded one was leaned against Vash's shoulder. Vash imagined that Wolfwood was casually leaning back, smoking a cigarette in the chair next to him and shaking his head at Vash with a light-hearted smirk.

That thought only intensified Vash's embarrassment when he had to pull down Knives' one-piece spacesuit to get at his leg wounds; the pant legs were too tight fitting to roll up, and, even more unfortunately for Vash, Knives had apparently been too good for underwear.

Vash's face went red. He never intended to see that much of his brother.. and what more, he had forgotten to lock the door behind him. So, Milly knocked once, as she opened the door, while Meryl came walking up behind her with the soup.

"Vash? Here's the s-"

Vash put a hand to his face and rubbed it, knowing exactly what the girls' expressions would be.

"-oup.."

An awkward silence ensued, drenching the room in an imaginary heat.

"U-Uhhh.. umm.." Milly mumbled, looking down at the ground. Meryl did the same and gulped down her intense feeling of intrusion. She held out the tray quickly, to which Vash sprang up and took it, trying to explain the situation.

"You see, he always wore that one-piece get-up thing, and um, well-!" Vash began, but he cut himself off with a gulp. Any way he explained it would make both of them look bad.. He closed his eyes and bowed his head in thanks, then ushered the two out of his room with his foot, and then closed the door. Vash nervously set down the tray on the nightstand and then went back to lock the door. He heard the click, and the girls on the outside of the room heard the click too.

Meryl and Milly looked at each other.

"What do you think.." Milly mumbled, feeling her face heat up. Meryl laughed a little and shook her head, turning away to go back towards the kitchen.

"I don't even want to know," Meryl responded simply. Milly nodded in agreement.

Vash turned away from the door and sighed, looking down at his boots. His face wouldn't cool down for a loooong time..

"Vash."

Vash looked up, frightened, at Knives who had just woken up. Knives smirked.

"You bastard.. look what you did," Knives told him almost jokingly, looking down at his wounds. He seemed to ignore the fact that he was naked and that the girls had seen him that way. Vash blinked and followed his brother's gaze, and he sighed.

"Yeah.." Vash whispered, rubbing the back of his head. Knives grinned at him horizontally, seeing the red all over Vash's face.

"What were you doing, undressing me this way?" Knives asked calmly, if not sounding amused. Vash gulped and looked at the wall.

"I was just going to wash your wounds-"

"Imbecile, there are zippers on the sides of the pant-legs!" Knives laughed, making Vash feel even more stupid. Knives stopped laughing after a minute and looked over Vash with his smirk still on his lips. Vash was looking completely idiotic and out of place in the thickening silence, and it made Knives feel almost the same way; almost.

"You're smart, Vash... So could it be that you just wanted to look at my glorious body?" Knives asked him only half-jokingly. Vash looked up to meet his gaze in a pout.

"No," Vash stated firmly. Knives narrowed his eyes.

"I guess you wouldn't. After all, we are the same. You could just revel in your own beauty if you wanted to," Knives rambled, looking up at the unfamiliar ceiling; he wouldn't make a mess of being in a human's place for the moment. He couldn't exactly.. move the best. Meanwhile, Vash put a hand on his chest and pressed it there, feeling the metal wiring underneath his clothes. He shook his head for Knives to see. Knives was confused.

"What do you mean 'no'? No, you don't revel in your beauty? Or, no, we're not the same? Or possibly-"

"My body, unlike yours, is even more of a patchwork quilt than the last time we met. There is nothing physically beautiful about it," Vash told him, looking directly at Knives' blue eyes. Knives blinked.

"So that's what you're thinking. Are you.. ashamed?" Knives asked calmly, almost gently. The tone confused Vash to the point of losing his train of thought. He opened his mouth then closed it, and then clenched his teeth together.

"No."

"Then, if you've seen my beautiful body- without my permission- my body now scarred by your hands, won't you let me see your body, scarred by those you let live?" Knives asked slowly, to which he got an incredulous look of shock and embarrassment from his brother. Knives laughed.

"Vash, you're hilarious! What's wrong with you?" Knives laughed, then coughed and growled in pain, settling back down to a smirk. Vash frowned and knit his eyebrows together.

"I guess you're right.. It's only fair," Vash finally decided, to Knives' surprise. Knives blinked and looked at Vash wide-eyed.

"Wait, you really.." Knives began, a little surprised at his brother's decision. Vash looked down at the ground and unbuckled his leather straps around his sides, letting the leather fall down around his thighs. He pulled the leather off his arms and let it thud onto the floor.

Knives blinked.

"Vash, you-!"

"I know," Vash told him, putting his hand onto his belt, eyes closed, "you don't need to tell me to keep going."

Knives blushed, looking up at the ceiling as thoughts ran through his mind.. "Actually I was going to tell you that you're an idiot for letting your body get ruined like that, but-"

A clink of metal against the floor chimed out, followed by the more clanking and thudding, and soon Knives looked over to see Vash posing in his naked glory, hands on his hips.

"There. Now don't go telling me stuff I already know," Vash told him, looking over at the wall. Knives meanwhile opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but could not come up with coherent phrases.

"Vash, you- I mean, I- You-!" Knives blabbered, letting his eyes just take in probably the only look he would ever get at Vash the Stampede's full body. Knives closed his eyes and sighed, finally deciding on something lame to say.

"The reporters got it all wrong about you having short legs.." Knives mumbled, looking at Vash's feet. Vash just laughed, rubbing his neck.

"Haha, yeah! I know, right?"

Knives settled into an uncomfortable silence, just listened to Vash's breathing and movements. His brother made no motion to re-dress himself, which, for some reason unnerved him.

"Why.."

Vash looked up from the floor upon hearing Knives' voice. "Hm?"

"Why do you let those incompetent humans get away with damaging your magnificent body?" Knives asked, holding back his full-fury. "I could at least tolerate your actions more if you gave them back what they did to you, Vash!"

"Because they might die," Vash responded firmly, "I know I can live through my wounds, but who knows how they would heal if I gave them this wound-"

Vash pointed to an 'X' shaped stab wound in his abdomen.

Knives sighed and shook his head. "You're an idiot. Why couldn't you have gone along with the plan?"

"What plan was that.."

"The original plan for Eden! The Eden just for us.." Knives said softly, narrowing his eyes as if he could see the Eden if he really tried. He exhaled and closed his eyes in defeat as Vash scoffed.

"That was your plan, not the plan," Vash told him, crossing his arms over his naked chest, "and besides, what experiences would we have with just the two of us on this planet without the other humans that survived?"

Knives clenched his eyes shut. He had made out his entire plan in his head on that day before Rem ruined it. He and Vash would be the only ones, with the glorious green garden they would make for themselves. The two of them would be happy forever, in each others' divinely-perfect presence. There would be no one to ever upset their life together in paradise, and Knives would have Vash all to himself for once; Rem was out of the picture for good, after all. Yes, Vash was his.

Vash.. was his..

Vash was.. the only one of his kind, and Vash couldn't see how important he was.

"O.K. my plan would have made sure that we would be together forever, safe and sound, undisturbed and at ease on our own planet," Knives told Vash, looking his brother dead in the eyes. "If that had happened, I wouldn't have to worry about my sentimental brother going and getting himself blown up over these human-problems! It was all for you! Yet.. here we are.. and here you are, looking just how I feared you would look."

Vash stood and listened, and was oddly perturbed at Knives' sudden confession of compassion for him. Since when did Knives 'worry' about anyone ever?

"Knives..?" Vash asked, breaking the tense quiet that followed. Knives sighed and reached out an arm to Vash. Vash looked the arm over, as if it would explode in seconds. Knives winced and beckoned Vash to come to him, which he did hesitantly. Vash came and knelt down next to his brother awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

The other brother smiled and put his arm around Vash's neck, pulling Vash's face into his bandaged chest. Vash blinked and felt his heart pounding; he felt vulnerable while Knives laughed at his reaction. Knives patted Vash on the shoulder.

"Maybe I have become a little more like you," Knives confessed, smiling almost creepily, "maybe I have unfortunately picked up a bit of human emotion in the last 130-some years here.."

Vash couldn't say anything; he was confused, and somewhat excited.

"Because.." Knives continued, leaning in towards Vash's ear, "I feel, if I can distinguish this odd sensation correctly, that I might love you."

There, he had gone and said it. He said the thing that Vash was almost waiting for.

Knives put his hand gently onto Vash's cheek and rubbed it with his thumb, waiting for a response, which would take a while due to Vash's shock. Vash was so surprised by his brother's change of heart that he started crying, which resulted in Vash awkwardly hugging Knives' chest, crying like a baby onto his shoulder for a few minutes while Knives at first didn't know how to react. If he loved Vash, consolation would be good at that time.. what would make him feel better.. he put his hand up on Vash's back and rubbed it softly in a pitiful attempt; it seemed to work a little.

"Knives, I-! I'm so.. happy!" Vash blurted, hoping that Knives would understand and appreciate his happiness, which he did- to an extent. Knives smirked and just let Vash cry all over him, as weird and nearly meaningless as it was. Wait, no, it wasn't meaningless. Didn't crying mean.. releasing pent-up feelings? Or, well, it was.. a sudden outpouring of emotions? Yes, that was it. So, that meant that Vash.. was so happy that the emotion triggered a physical reaction; crying. Knives suddenly understood why Vash had cried so much.

"You're so sensitive," Knives told him, running a finger over the metal caging and wiring on Vash's side, "no wonder you ended up this way."

Vash laughed a little and bit his lip, nearly choking himself to stop crying. Knives wiped the wetness off Vash's cheeks with his thumbs, and he gave Vash a nice smile to make him grin, which he did.

Then, from there.. Knives was lost.

"Vash?"

"Y-yeah?"

"How do you show someone you love them?" Knives asked, looking at his hand. Vash blinked and blushed a little.

"Oh, um, well.. I suppose you can be kind to them, and do things for them, and show them that you care about them.." Vash went on and on, blushing more and more.

Unfortunately, Vash's words of love-wisdom were correct, but for Knives' purposes Vash's words were terribly incorrect.

Knives took it all in like it were a very interesting class, and then gave Vash a confident look at the end of explaining. Vash somehow could feel that he had done something wrong, which he did by explaining to Knives' that eventually showing someone you love them means having sex, after buying things, going on dates and hugging and kissing. So, Knives' love for Vash soon became a love of a lover and not so much a brother anymore..

"So, like.." Knives mumbled, pulling Vash's face up to his to kiss Vash on the lips. Vash flailed his arms and soon pulled away, feeling nearly his entire body blush. Knives blinked.

"What? Was that wrong?"

Vash just kept on shaking his head and he slowly backed away, retreating to putting his underwear and pants back on. Knives raised an eyebrow and watched in confusion as Vash's whole attitude changed in seconds. Knives thought for sure he had done it right..

"I'll go and re-heat your soup, Knives, ahaha, so you just.. stay here!" Vash told him quickly, reaching down to grab the tray when Knives wrapped his hand around his real-wrist. Vash flinched.

"What did I do?" Knives asked him in complete seriousness. Vash couldn't answer him and he just shook his head, pulling away to pick up the tray and leave the room. Knives watched him leave and sighed as the door clicked shut. He leaned his head back on the pillow, feeling so many new and weird things that were hard to sort out.

"I feel... odd," Knives told himself, looking at his hand again. "Do I feel.. upset? Upset about what? ..Upset that he didn't kiss back? That must be it!"

Knives hit one hand into the other. "Well next time, he's going to kiss back!"

Vash closed his bedroom door and then practically sprinted to the kitchen, which wasn't very far away, and he burst into the room half-naked, covered in sweat and red as a tomato.

Meryl and Milly were.. to say the least, concerned.

"V-Vash?" Meryl asked him as he suddenly froze and put down the tray on the table the girls were sitting at. He quickly sat down at the table and let his face hit the cold surface, cooling down his embarrassment; kind of.

"I screwed myself.." Vash mumbled. The girls weren't sure how to take that.. "I-I mean to say that I made a mistake! Ahaha! Ahem.. well, you see, Knives woke up and then he started talking to me and stuff, which was overall a good thing because he wasn't tearing down the place, but then he started feeling emotions like a human and I was so happy! And he asked me some questions about love, and so naturally I told him about.. well, you know what, because when it comes to emotions he's clueless, but then I immediately knew I shouldn't have told him that, because he just wanted to know how to love me as a brother! So now he's gone thinking that he has to have s-!"

"Oh my.." Milly said, putting a hand to her blushing cheek. Meryl honestly felt a little sorry for both of them but couldn't say a thing. What she could do, though, was laugh her lungs out, which she did. Vash felt so embarrassed..

"I suppose the soup should be re-heated then?" Milly asked Vash, who nodded in a zombie-like manner. Meryl recovered from laughing as Milly got out of her chair, and then she put her chin on her hands. Vash looked dead-like up at her, which nearly freaked her out. She coughed.

"May I suggest correcting his way of thinking, like, right now?" Meryl told him. Vash looked away and out the nearest window.

"I'm afraid to do that, considering my pride-meter is so low as it is," Vash said monotonously as Milly stirred the soup again. Meryl shook her head with a smirk.

"Sorry for your luck, then, Vash. Oh, I think he wants something," Meryl told him, pointing down the hallway to where Knives was leaning half-way out of the doorway, looking a little desperate and childish. Vash turned around, barely changing his zombie expression, which almost make Knives flinch.

"Vashhh.. can I have these?" Knives asked, holding out the bag of donuts. Vash lowered his eyebrows.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how delicious are they, Knives?"

"Uh..?"

"Knives.."

"8?"

"You may have half of them, then," Vash told him with his eyes closed, crossing his legs to settle the matter when he realized Knives was up and out of bed. "Wait, Knives?!"

Knives by then was sitting cross-legged on Vash's bed like a child, eating the donuts like all his wounds had healed; which they obviously hadn't. Vash came running down the hall and into his room, startling Knives into dropping a donut. Vash blinked.

"Vash?" Knives asked, looking up at his brother, who just stared at him. Vash pointed to Knives' leg.

"You don't feel that?" Vash asked him. Knives looked at his left thigh, which was bleeding profusely, and then went wide-eyed.

"Oh my God that hurts!"

"Now you realize... it's the donuts, man, they're really something.."

Knives nodded in agreement, crying in pain a little as he shoved another donut into his mouth. Vash sighed and just shook his head, wondering how in the heck big ol' scary Knives could act this way. By George, he was like a kid!

Acting like the kid he never was, in fact..