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~the camping story of doom~

By Miyako Inoue, Queen of Cheese

Author's Note:  This is born from boredom and not having anything to do on the weekend.  So there.

By the way... here's an excerpt from a beautiful song, because I wanna put it here.  K?  Skid Row, Little Shop of Horrors.  And that's all I need to say.  Normal people don't stay up 'till 4 in the morning listening to the soundtrack with their friends.

Poor, all my life I've always been poor,

I keep asking God what I'm for,

And he tells me, 'Gee, I'm not sure,

Sweep that floor, kiddo.'

Wasn't it beautiful?  Yes.  It was.  There, you have been fulfilled in life.  Now if only you could hear the dentist song...

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The children stood shaking at the bus stop, some clinging to their parents, some madly clutching their precious luggage, all dreading the soon-to be-coming fate that awaited them on the large yellow metal object.

The dreaded words.

Happy Valley Summer Camp for Chibis.

Sure, it doesn't sound all that bad to you, but when you're a little kid, being away from your parents in the middle of the woods is pretty freaky.

Especially if you happen to be Millions Knives or Vash the Stampede.

Vash-chan and Knives-chan were clinging to Rem's jeans, crying their eyes out. 

"I DONWANNA GO!!!" yelled Knives, tears streaming down his face.

Vash grabbed Rem's leg harder.  "PLEASE DON'T MAKE US GO!!!  PLEASE!" 

Rem smiled and kneeled down.  "It's only two months, it'll be okay.  It's not that long."

Vash sniffled.  "Are you sure?"

Rem ruffled his hair.  "I bet you'll enjoy it.  You'll meet lots of new friends."

Knives sat down and yelled.  "NO IT WON'T!!!  WE'LL ALL BE EATED BY BEARS!!!"

Rem sighed.  "Knives, it'll be okay.  I promise."

"NO IT WON'T!!! YOU'RE ABANDONING ME!!!"  He threw his arms around her neck and sobbed harder. 

"It's okay.  You can write home every day.  In fact, both of you promise me you'll do that!"

Vash wiped a sleeve of his red sweatshirt on his nose.  "OK, Rem, I'll do it..."

Rem smiled.  "That's a good boy."  She somehow managed to pull Knives off her neck., and tried to console the crying child.  "Knives, there aren't any bears at summer camp.  The most dangerous thing you'll see there is probably a trout-"

"NOOOOO!!!  PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO THERE!!!  THE FISH'LL EAT ME!!!"

Rem miraculously was able to keep her patience.  "Knives.  Please do this.  For me?"

Knives looked at the ground and shuffled his feet a bit.  "I... I guess..."

Rem smiled and hugged her angels. 

Midvalley had his toy saxophone in one hand and was clinging to Legato's arm with the other (Legato was busily trying to gnaw that particular arm off), and still managing to suck his thumb, a habit that the 9-year old had not been able to kick. 

Meanwhile, a few feet away, a red convertible pulled up.  A door opened.  And another chibi - a very shiny chibi - stepped out. 

A voice from inside the car screeched out an order.  "BDN, when the bus comes, get on it.  And no blinding other kids with your flashlight!"

The car drove away, leaving a sniffling child behind.  "Mommy... daddy..."

And, much to his surprise and happiness, the car reversed and came back.  Only to open the back door and throw a bright pink glitter-covered duffel bag on top of him and drive away again.

To tell the truth, most of the kid's parents had just dumped them there to catch the bus by themselves, quite happy to be rid of them.  If they got hit by a car or fell into a sewer, it was fine by them.

Rem, though, was very protective of her little "children."  Besides, they were so attached to her that they'd probably just run back home anyway.

Which, as much as she loved the twins, was not something she really wanted.  There was a reason she sent them to camp, after all.  She needed a break.

And at that moment, exactly what the kids (well, all but Legato, who figured it would get the leech off his arm) had been fearing came.  The bus.

They all stared at it in horror as the door opened with a sound that seemed to them as evil as the very gates of Hell itself.

And then Knives went into another round of tears.  "I DON'T WANNA GO!  YOU DON'T LOVE ME!!!"

Vash smiled sweetly at Rem and grabbed Knives' wrist.  He skipped off to the bus, dragging his screaming brother behind him.

Rem smiled with satisfaction.  They're finally gone... maybe now I can have some peace and quiet...

The sound of Knives's yelling broke her thoughts.  Well, maybe not yet...

The kids filed onto the bus.  Vash picked a seat near the middle, and pulled Knives down next to him.  Vash grinned and waved at Rem out the window.  Knives leaned over Vash and plastered his face up against the window.  Rem laughed and waved at the twins.

Much to Legato's dismay, Midvalley wouldn't let go of his arm, and sat down next to him.  The blue-haired child sighed, leaned his head against the window, and tried to ignore him.

The bus quickly filled up, with all the Gung-Ho Guns about (they took up most of the back third of the bus), and since nobody dared to sit by EG Mine, that left quite a few people who couldn't sit by themselves as they would have liked.

BDN sat down beside Meryl, and fell asleep drooling on her shoulder.  She didn't have the heart to smack him.

Zazie and Kaite, being the adorable little kids that they are, sat together.

Nicholas noticed the empty seat next next to Milly, and decided to take advantage of that opportunity.

"Can I, um, sit here?"

Milly looked up.  "Oh... sure..."

The black-clad boy took off his sunglasses and sat down.  Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the seat.

The bus started up.  Knives slid his face against the glass, and smeared it up pretty badly.  The twins stared out the window until they could no longer see Rem.  Then Knives collapsed on his brother's lap.

Both boys sniffled a bit.  Then, Vash remembered the emergency bag of supplies Rem had given him in his backpack. 

He dug around in there until he found it.

Knives looked at his brother.  "Whatcha doin'?"

Vash grinned.  "I have something good."

"What is it?"

Vash pulled out a bag of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

Both boys' eyes got huge and twinkly...

Meanwhile, BDN was still drooling on Meryl's shoulder.

And Legato had gotten out his headphones, and was listening to his favorite CD.

Midvalley let go of his arm and was trying to get close enough to Legato to figure out what he was listening to.  The boy pressed his ear up to Legato's.

"Dixie Chicks?  I didn't know you liked country..."

Legato blushed, and pushed the Hornfreak off of him.  "I... um... well..."

Middie got twinkly and averted his eyes.  "I like country too..."

Legato stared at him in amazement.   Is he flirting with me?    "Um..."

At the same time, across the aisle, Nicholas was trying to make conversation with Milly.

"I've been up since three this morning."

Milly cocked her head.  "Why?"

"I had to get all my stuff ready."

"Oh."

"And... I'm sorta... sleepy..."  He leaned his head against her shoulder and closed his eyes.

Milly gasped.  I've never been this close to a boy before...

She smacked him across the face.  "COOTIES!!!  EEW!"

Nicholas grabbed his cheek.  "Whadidya do that for?" he asked, hurt.

"My big sister told me about cooties before.  She said they're bad."

"Oh."

Both kids sat in silence for a while, and then Nicholas replied, "It's not true, ya know."

"Oh..."

Nicholas fidgeted for a minute.  "So... can I use you for a pillow now?"

A loud smack was heard aross the bus.

~END FOR NOW ~