A.N. I know it's been a long time, but I felt this deserved an ending. Hope you do enjoy; this is the last chapter and I have tried to make it a bit longer. Warning: There is some sexual content here, but it's just a little and definitely nothing above an R rating at all.

I brought Knives back with me to March. I expected him to object or complain, but he merely complied and stood by me in silence as I located the house where Vash now lived.

Vash was happy to see his brother and embraced him, and Knives himself seemed relieved.

"Did you keep him out of trouble?" Vash asked me.

"Sort of... " I murmured. Then I saw Meryl.

"Sempai!" I said happily. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Thank you for bringing him back; I know it must have been difficult."

"It was all right, really."

"I hope you're going to stay with us again. We need you," she said.

"Us? Are you living here too?"

She dropped her eyes. "It's not like that; we just couldn't afford two places."

I sighed. Was Knives right, and Vash would never get over his memory of killing Legato? Or perhaps it was something else; perhaps he was still too worried about his brother to connect with anyone else. I worried about Meryl; I was alone too but it was different to simply have no one.

Over the next few days I had the chance to observe Knives. He even asked me personally to change his bandage, claiming I was gentler about it than his brother. Once as I changed it, he turned to me and stroked my face for a moment. I didn't back away, but we heard Vash's voice outside the door and the moment passed.

I did catch him looking at me occasionally, with something like speculation in his eyes. I would merely smile back, and he would always turn away. I suppose he never could bear cheerfulness. Once or twice I brought up the subject of the dead plant, trying to reassure him that I was there to listen. He spoke a little, mostly about plants and his inability to save them.

I never could bear to mention what I had seen in the town, however.

He did once say to me, out of the blue, "I really did spare him for you."

I knew immediately what he meant. I shook my head and said "I'm sure it was for Vash."

But normally he was silent, and remained in his room. We weren't sure what he was doing in there. Vash maintained he was feeling sorry for himself; Meryl suspected that he was plotting to take over the world. For myself, I was betting that he was reflecting on his life, possibly even with regret, but I wasn't sure how I knew or what right I had to say.

As for Vash and Meryl, for once I was at a loss to figure out what was happening. They seemed to have an unspoken understanding that they would never separate, and she seemed to be the only one who really knew how to comfort him. But as for anything more, it seemed impossible. It made me sad, but I tried to keep them happy as best I could.

One day they were sitting together in the porch swing, looking for once like a content couple. Knives came into the living room and caught me gazing at them.

"It's impossible," he stated.

"What?" I asked. "A plant and a human?"

"Love," he replied. "It's impossible at all."

He drew the curtains, closing them off from sight.

"But this world is made of love and peace!" I said.

He gave a vague nod, and sat down next to me. I was surprised, but scooted over for him.

He looked at me for a while with those ice blue eyes, then finally spoke.

"And you are made of that as well, whereas I have no love, and no peace."

"You can find those things," I said firmly. "Vash can help you."

"What about you?" he asked. "Can you help me?"

I had no idea, but I answered positively again. "I want to."

He moved closer to me then, and put a hand tentatively down on my leg. "Touch me," he said.

I was confused. "What?"

"No one ever does. Except Vash, now and then."

I had, actually, and I was curious to do it again. Curiosity, and perhaps another feeling I was afraid to name. I ran my fingers through his hair and down to his shoulder, watching as he closed his eyes. He moved closer to me. I told myself that I should be uncomfortable but somehow I wasn't. When all was said and done he was just a person, a person with needs.

He put his arms around me then, and lay his head down on my shoulder. I suspected he had never been so close to any human. I wasn't sure if I was comforting a grown child or something a bit more risky than that. I was even more confused when he put a hand under my chin and kissed me.

It didn't occur to me stop him, though perhaps it should have. I just accepted the kiss, even parted my lips a bit to encourage him. I couldn't feel anything as simple as attraction for the enigma that was Millions Knives but there was a part of me that wanted to be closer.

His kisses grew in urgency and his arms pulled me even more tightly to him. Despite all my thoughts of who and what he was my body was beginning to respond. I told myself that it was only that, that I was only human, but my emotions were being aroused as well.

Then the door opened and we sprang apart. Vash and Meryl were looking each other, not at us, and that was just as well. Vash would probably assume something happy and innocent, and Meryl... I didn't even want to know what her reaction would be.

It was awkward between us, after that. I couldn't seem to even look at him, or speak to him without a blush. Knives snapped frequently at Meryl and even at Vash. I hoped he would simply go hide in his room again but he seemed to want to be near me even though he couldn't meet my eyes.

It was two nights later that Knives made his big announcement. "I'm leaving," he said over dinner.

"What do you mean?" asked Vash. "It's not safe."

"For him, or for everyone else?" Meryl muttered.

Vash stared at her a bit and finally said, "Both, I guess."

"I'm not talking about killing anyone," insisted Knives. "I have other plans."

"And what are they?" persisted Vash.

"I'm going to that doctor, from the SEEDS ship that didn't crash."

"That didn't crash until you got involved," said Meryl. Vash shushed her.

"Maybe he knows more than we do about what we are, what we're capable of," continued Knives. "And maybe he can help me stop what's being done to plants."

"He's hardly going to encourage you to destroy humanity, brother," Vash said.

Knives nodded. "Maybe the time has passed for that."

Vash grinned.

"Don't go asking me if I've seen the light, Vash; it's not like that." Knives swigged down his juice and stomped off to his room.

"You're not just going to let him go off to find the doctor by himself?" asked Meryl.

"No," said Vash seriously. "I'll have to take him. I'll wake him up early tomorrow and we'll go."

Meryl looked at her plate.

"Meryl," said Vash. "I'll be coming back."

She nodded, and we all went off to bed. I was thinking, before I fell asleep, of Knives and how I felt about his leaving. It was a good step, his consulting the doctor, but somehow I wasn't as relieved as I thought I would be that he would be gone.

In the middle of the night, there was a knock on the door. I sat up in surprise and asked, "Meryl?"

The door opened, and Knives stood there, wearing pajamas and an almost confused expression. I said nothing, and he walked in and sat down on my bed.

"I'm leaving tomorrow," he said in an expressionless voice.

"I know," I said. "I wish you the best, I'm sure it will..." I trailed off.

He shrugged. "I'm not sure of anything."

I nodded. "So... you woke me up to say goodbye?"

To my surprise he stretched out on my bed beside me and lay his head on the pillow. "I'm not sure of that either."

I sat up and stared at him. "What are you getting at?"

"This," he replied, and pulled me down to him.

I could feel his body through the thin pajamas as his hands moved over my back. He was kissing me intently again. I thought for a moment about the last man to touch me so intimately and all the many ways in which this was wrong. I moved away.

"What are you thinking?" he asked me.

"That maybe there are some things I won't do for other people's needs."

"I see," he said. "And what about your needs?"

Did I have a need for touch, for sex, even for Millions Knives? I told myself I didn't, but he ran his hand down my arm then, and something in me changed and melted. I lay back down.

"Is this what's going to happen?" I thought. "I'm going to let this emotionally frozen ex-genocide be inside me?" But he was already unbuttoning my pajamas, and I let him.

I reached for the buttons on his top then, revealing once again the heavily scarred skin. I ran my hands over the scars, wondering if they made him more human.

He began to kiss me again, and again I responded.

"I don't really know what I'm doing," he said eventually.

It was a strange admission for him, but I just nodded, and said what I had said so many times.

"It's all right. It will be all right."

What followed wasn't about love or passion, but there was exploration and a certain strange gentleness. I tried to keep my mind off the one thing and person I must not consider now. For once his memory had to be out of my thoughts.

I didn't know what I should think of besides the feeling of Knives' hands and body and the fact that he was leaving tomorrow, perhaps to never come back. After all I did have needs, and perhaps after all they were fulfilled. As for him, I could never tell.

When our curious lovemaking was finished he was still looking at me as if my eyes held an answer that my body didn't. Finally he got up to leave.

"Vash will be looking for me soon."

"Yes."

"Milly..." he said, as if he were forcing himself to use my name.

"Yes?"

"Milly," he finished. "Remember me."

"I will," I said.

He went out the door then, and I wondered to myself if I would ever care for anyone who didn't leave. I laughed at the irony, and turned to fitful dreams.