A/N- Just something I've had in my head for a while. I can imagine Vash would make a great father. I hope you like!
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Young Rem looked up and down the hallway twice to make sure that she was alone for sure. She didn't have time to ask her parents if it was okay for her to rummage through their closet. It wasn't like she was stealing anything anyway. She was just borrowing.
She turned the knob and gingerly stepped in the room. She flipped on the light, careful not to leave any evidence that she was there. She made her way past the king size bed in the middle of the room towards their closet. Her heart pounded; the fear of getting caught and having to explain herself got her adrenaline pumping. She began to feel hot and flushed. She paused to tie her long blonde hair back.
Rem flinched as the closet door creaked open noisily. She blindly grasped for the pull-string to click the light on.
Immediately, her eyes were drawn to a rather large cardboard box in the far left corner. She vaguely remembered going through it once with her mother. She showed her many pictures and other various memorabilia.
Rem just needed a few pictures. That was it.
She removed all her old baby clothes that were stacked on top and brought the box out to the middle of the bedroom. She sat down criss-crossed, and removed the top, taking notice to all the dust that had gathered in the inside. She inhaled deeply, and blew as hard as she could until she felt satisfied that it was clean enough.
She began her search, starting from the top stack. First, was a bunch of recent pictures. Rem's last birthday party. Mom and Dad's too. Christmas, Last Summer Vacation and so on.
Knowing that Mom had probably organized these accordingly, Rem decided to skip a few stacks and dig deeper. Even past her own baby pictures.
There, she found a small stack of older, worn looking pictures. She could always recognize a really old picture, because her Dad used to always wear a long red coat.
She found a few good ones of her parents. Back when they were really young. Before she was born. She felt satisfied with a few and put them aside.
When she was through with that stack, she noticed a dark tan colored piece of paper, folded tightly on the bottom of the box.
Rem picked it up and unfolded it, noting how fragile it felt, she was careful not to rip it.
She blew off the dust and gazed down at the black and white image. It was clearly an artist's rendition of her father. Right above his picture in big bold letters; WANTED; Vash the Stampede. The bounty reward read $$60,000,000,000 on the bottom. Wanted Dead or Alive.
Rem's eyes widened. This had to be a souvenir from an Old West theme park or something.
"What are you doing there, Rem?"
Mortified, Rem slowly turned around and met her father's eyes. He came home earlier than normal. His face showed to trace of anger, but amusement. Rem struggled to form a comprehensible sentence.
"I-Uh…I need some pictures for a school project, Dad." She stammered.
"Oh?" he responded, taking a seat on the floor beside his daughter. "What's the project?"
"We've been reading biographies of famous people. So, we have to write short biographies of our parents. We need pictures to go along with them."
Her father smiled and chuckled a bit. "Sounds like fun. Did you pick any out?"
Rem nodded and showed her Dad the small stack she had picked out. "Nice choices." He agreed. "Need any more?"
Rem shook her head, suddenly remembering that odd wanted poster she found at the bottom of the box.
"No. But, can I ask you what this is?" She gently handed him the worn out brown paper.
"Oh, wow." He said, laughing. "I haven't seen this in ages."
"Did you lose it?" Rem asked innocently.
"Yeah, a long time ago. Thanks for finding it, Rem."
Rem smiled proudly, Vash beamed with pride. Rem looked down at the pictures she picked out, then back at her Dad. It suddenly occurred to her that her father had not changed a bit as far as looks go. All his pictures looked the same, as if he never aged, unlike her mother. Not to say her mother looked like an old lady just yet. Rem thought in just a few years, people might mistake him for her brother instead. She and him shared she same blonde colored hair.
"Where'd you get that poster?" Rem asked, seeing that her Dad was trying to avoid the subject. Vash, knowing his daughter was sharp as nails already, decided to tell her the truth. It was certain that she would find out anyway, one of these days.
"Because I really was a wanted criminal." He said, quite simply, cracking that goofy smile of his. Rem had the exact opposite reaction than he was expecting.
"Really? Seriously?! What for?" She asked, edginf closer to her dad, demanding answers. Her eyes wide with interest. Vash could only imagine what she was thinking now.
He gently shoved the box aside and pulled Rem closer towards him.
"You better make yourself comfy." He laughed, "Cuz it's a loooong story, sweetie."