Vandread: Show Me Your Cards

By: Ghost43843

Disclaimer: I do not own Vandread, any of the characters, the usual stuff.

Author's Notes: This is just a small little one-shot story I came up with to show some of the brother/sister type relationship that Hibiki and Gascogne developed over the course of his time on the Nirvana. I have set this one roughly around the end of First Stage, before the destruction of the first flagship. Figured a glimpse into the rare downtime would be interesting. I may have taken a few liberties with the characters, but for the better. As Always, please read and review!

"Show me your cards!"

Hibiki Tokai chewed his lip in thought as he glanced up at his poker opponent. He looked down at his cards again, and felt prickles of sweat as they appeared upon his forehead. His eyebrows scrunched in concentration, and he drug his teeth across the top of his lips. It was now or never. He slapped the top of the clock timer to reset it, and said a silent prayer to any deity that cared to listen to his request. With a grin, he tossed his cards upon the desktop, and leaned his chair back. "Beat that! I actually got a Full House!"

Gascogne smirked as she chewed her key. She lightly shook her head, the smirk never left her lips. "Sorry to bust your bubble, kiddo, but…" She tossed her cards out onto the desktop, and thumped the desktop once. "I think that my Straight Flush tops your Full House."

Hibiki's eyes widened, and he sputtered loudly while he fell backwards in his chair. With a grunt, he got up and placed his chair back up. As he sat, he shook his head and chuckled. "I should have known, you were just too confident. I swear, you must mark the cards or something."

Gascogne reached over for her teacup, and took a sip. "It isn't hard to beat someone whose head is not into the game. What is eating you, Hibiki? I have not seen you this distracted in quite some time."

Hibiki looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Ah, it's nothing. It's just…It's just that she is driving me crazy!"

Gascogne blinked, and then smirked again. "Ah, so now the root of the problem has revealed itself." She closed her eyes for a moment, and leaned back in her chair. She opened her eyes, and looked up toward the ceiling. "So you are having trouble with one of the women here on the ship. Pray tell, which one is causing you such distress? I thought that you and Meia had patched up your differences."

Hibiki groaned. "No, it isn't Meia. I wish it was, at least I understand her more. No, it is that crazy UFO girl."

Gascogne chuckled. "Ah, I should have known." She grinned as she shook head and looked pointedly at him. "You must mean Dita. You know, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she is so interested in you. After all, you match everything that she has looked for all her life."

Hibiki frowned and chewed his lip. He glanced at the floor, then looked up at Gascogne. "What do you mean, that I match everything she has looked for?"

Gascogne smirked as she stood and stretched. She took her empty tea cup and Hibiki's, and headed toward the teapot. "I think we need more tea, Hibiki, I will go ahead and pour some more."

Hibiki was puzzled, and his face showed it. "Miss Gasco, what do you mean I match everything that she looked for?"

Gascogne sighed quietly, and poured the tea into both of their cups. "Tell me, Hibiki, how much of her life before her time here on the Nirvana were you told about?"

Hibiki cocked his head, his brows creased in concentration. "Not very much, but I heard that she had a rather hard childhood."

Gascogne harrumphed. "You don't know that half of it, kiddo." She turned back toward him, and walked over to the table. She set their teacups onto the desktop, and took her seat. "I am not going to tell you everything, but I will tell you enough to give you a rough idea. For finer details, you really will need to talk to her."

Hibiki reddened, then took a sip from his teacup. "Please, tell me what you can. There are times that I think she is pretty neat to be around, and then others she is just so…so… annoying!"

Gascogne smiled lightly, and took another sip from her cup. "When she was very young, the living unit that she resided at was shut down. Her Ohma had perished in an accident, so she was just with her mother. Her mother was ill, and there were numerous complications that arose about the time that the shutdown occurred. She and her mother were virtually homeless for a couple of weeks."

Hibiki was speechless. Homeless? Her only surviving parent was sick? It was amazing that Dita wasn't a case for a shrink to unravel. He gulped, and took a sip from his cup. He looked at the table top for a moment, and then met Gascogne's eyes again. "I can understand that she didn't have a happy childhood, but what does that have to do with me?"

Her characteristic smirk was back in place. "As you know, men and women have been separated for a long time. We each looked at each other as being an alien species. When she was little, she came up with an idea that she would meet some alien, and that alien would take her away from the uncomfortable circumstances that she found herself in." She paused, and took another sip from her tea. "So, as you can guess, when she first met you, she thought you were an alien. Having now met an 'alien', she assumed the answer to her desire was in sight."

Hibiki blushed lightly. So, she wanted an alien to take her away from the existence that she has known all her life! Why me, though? What did I do to get her so attached to me! He looked up at Gascogne again, but she had already left the table and set about getting her things together. She turned around and looked at Hibiki, her hand on her hip. "I have said all that I will on this matter, Hibiki. If you want to know anything else, you will have to talk to her. Now, get out of here, I have things to get ready for." She smirked again. "Go on, you have something you need to do too, hmmmm?"

Hibiki sighed, and stood. He finished off his tea, and placed the cup back on the tabletop. He headed toward the door. It opened, and he stopped halfway out into the hallway. He turned slightly, and looked back toward tall woman, a small smile upon his lips. "Thanks for the game and the talk. I will catch you later, Miss Gasco."

Gascogne whipped around, a look of severe irritation upon her face. She raised her fist and shook it. "Ah! How many times must I tell you! My name isn't Gasco, it's…"

The rest of her rave was lost as the door closed. She growled lightly under her breath as she returned to cleaning up her department from the break. Honestly, is it really that hard for people to say my name! It's Gascogne, not Gasco!