Have I made you wait long enough?

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She was oddly disappointed by her first sight of him. She had wanted to see the famed red jacket so much that it's absence had her looking for someone else. Surely the man in the black vest wasn't Vash. Vash wore red.

Then he was a little nearer, and she saw that it was his body armor. Ah. Ok. That's right. He tossed the coat. She mourned the coat for a moment, then started. Vash had body armor. Knives had… she checked quickly. A shirt. And pants. And it was his silk shirt! She worried and fumed at the same time. Knives didn't have any armor on. He might get hurt. But if anything happened to that shirt…

Deciding that the moment didn't call for her yelling across the oasis, she instead sent a thought his way. *You better not let anything happen to that shirt.*

He jumped a little, then turned and shot her a startled glance that quickly turned to one of irritation. "Hush. No distractions," he ordered.

She held her hands out placatingly, but he had already turned back to his brother. She crossed them again with a little smile. He had better not let anything happen to that shirt, or he would pay.

She shifted her gaze back to Vash. Sunlight glinted off his glasses, and she peered closely, trying to tell if they were… yes! They were the really cool yellow glasses. She wondered for a moment if she could steal them, then decided that she probably would look incredibly silly in them. Or she would feel incredibly silly in them. They were Vash glasses, Vash's glasses. Not hers.

She felt like grinning. Vash was coming. She knew that this wasn't the best of all possible situations, but she was actually getting to meet one of the coolest people ever. As he came closer she could see a few more details. Like the scars on his neck and arm. As they came into focus, she cringed. Those looked painful. And there sure were a lot of them. More than she had expected. Looked like almost as many as she had possessed at one time, and she knew just how painful their collection could be. And with the pathetic excuse for medical science this planet sported, it was a wonder he was still alive.

But he was. And at the moment, he looked very pissed. He walked into the oasis, not breaking his stride until he was only a few paces from his unmoving brother. They stood in a tense silence for a moment, and Kiley used the time to compare the two. Height, shoulders, face… they were definitely brothers. But Knives was cuter.

She grinned as she stifled that line of thought. It was not the time to compare the brothers. It was time to watch them and try to keep them both alive. She sobered at the thought, and resumed her watchful mien. Vash dropped a carry sack to his feet, then kicked it off to the side.

"Didn't expect to see you here," he started, calmly enough.

Knives didn't respond quickly, but looked around at the rocks and sky. "Thought it was time for a change of scenery."

"I don't think that's the only reason you're out here."

"I always knew you weren't a dumb as you seemed."

"Why, Knives?"

"Why not? I haven't done anything."

"I see you've started another collection of killers. I heard what happened outside of December," he said, not really changing the subject at all.

"That wasn't entirely intentional. You know how vermin can be."

Kiley bristled at that but kept silent.

"A man is dead!"

"That man would have killed us and taken Ace back to wherever it was she escaped from. He wasn't one of the decent, peace-loving humans you adore."

"He might have changed. She took away his chance."

"He might have killed us. What about our chances?"

Vash shook his head. "This isn't why I'm here."

"Why are you here then? A touching family reunion? You want to see your new niece?"

"I don't think you're the person who should be raising a child."

"Afraid I'll taint her with the truth? She knows that we're superior already, Vash. I didn't need to teach her that."

"We're no better than they are."

"You persist in sticking to that obviously fallacious theory. Someday you will admit that I am right."

"There will be no such day."

"You never thought you would kill, either. Do you still see the blood on your hands?"

Vash eyed him coldly. "Every damn day. And I know who to thank for that."

Knives bobbed in a little half-bow. "Happy to oblige. Wear anymore red?"

Vash said nothing, but shifted his weight forward a bit. "I think we need to take a little trip."

"Oh? Where? Your favorite graveyard, where all your little pets lie, dead and rotted?"

Vash's face tightened. "You are going back to your ship."

"And if I'd rather not?"

"Do you think you get a choice?" His hand began to hover over the gun at his hip. "I've taken you down before."

Knives feigned fear. "Oh, no. My baby brother has come to pick up after me again. Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know. I'll show you some of what I've learned!" A wind whipped at Vash, sand stinging his exposed flesh. "I'm not being taken back like a bad boy being grounded, Vash. Not this time."

Vash's hand clamped firmly on his gun. "Stop this, Knives. We don't need to fight."

"I think we might," he said, but the wind dropped.

Kiley dropped her hand to her gun, loosening it in the holster. Things looked like they might get out of control soon, and although she hoped they could sort things out, that looked more and more like optimism. She hadn't wanted to do this… Her hand clamped on the butt of her pistol, and she made to draw. Then stopped.

The firm and insistent presence of another gun pressed firmly in the small of her back drew her mind away from the drama unfolding before her.

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A/N explaining the previous A/N: Ok. I was taunted in a review. Someone signed in as "wouldn'tcahliketakno?" The response? YES. This was mean on two levels. One, it was a challenge. I almost always respond to challenges. Two, it invoked my curiosity. My curiosity is like a force of nature. Raise it at your peril.