A/N: OMG, you guys are giving me soooooo many good ideas! If I use some of
the ideas you guys put down, I'll say so in the end of the chapter I used
it k? Kewlies!
To Akima The Stampede Maxwell: Awwwww, s'ok. :) Thankies so much, I appreciate it! (Seriously, I really do!)
To Ai_heiwa: Woohoo, idea alert! I have a funny image of a funny battle…LOL…and a funny, probing conversation as well… XD
To Kiki: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! I *AM* the evilest author in the whole wide world! I am invincible! No one can –
Knives: Oh shut *up* already!
Ca: WAAAAH! ;___; *Starts sobbing hysterically*
Knives: Spare me. *Hands her a hanky*
Ca: Yayzers! ^_^
To Lynda-chan: *Gasp!* Yooooo called me a wench, I'm so hurt! ;o; (J/K) Evil scenarios are fun! ^___________^
Mwahaha…the kinkiness continues! Aaaaaand you'll all find out why I mentioned the Masaki household! LOL, be prepared for extreme Knives OOCness!
-Ca and her sleepy kitty =-o-=
It was 4:00 in the evening. Meryl was quite bored at the time, but most of all, she felt positively filthy.
The woman was used to taking her baths daily for crying out loud! A full day of grocery shopping, roughhousing with August, Vember, and Cember, and having a mud fight with all the younger kids wasn't exactly her idea of fun. Of course, it was, especially when she could act as silly as she wished and everyone would accept it as average Vash behavior. But back to the issue at hand.
She was in Knives' room with Knives and Wolfwood, and the three of them had been playing card games and talking for the past hour. But now…they were just bored stiff. Meryl had had enough of this – she was getting a bath, and she was getting one now.
Meryl got up and excused herself, "You guys can stay here for now, but I'm gonna go get washed up before dinner."
Responses of 'sure' and 'whatever' confirmed their approval and she left for Vash's room. Once in there, she chose a new outfit (A/N: The third today! :o) that would suffice for comfortable PJ's. Right before leaving the room, she did a double take: new boxers. With much hesitation, she pulled the top drawer open and took out a new pair that just happened to be white with navy blue stripes. (So I have a mental image of Vash wearing' those, so sue me! -D)
Casually, she strolled down the hall into the room where they had two little hot springs. They were both walled off, of course – one was for the girls and women and the other was for the boys and men. After taking a deep breath, Meryl stepped into the guys' one – good, no one was in there.
Eyes screwed shut like earlier before, she stripped herself down to bare skin. She pawed around for a towel and wrapped it around her abdomen. Meryl felt so out of place, but then again, she didn't get to be a guy very often either. She took the soap stuff and a loofa (That's what it's called, isn't it?) and stepped into the water. She crossed it until she was at the opposite end, set the stuff down, and settled into a spot.
After easily washing Vash's blonde locks and the, er, complicated process of scrubbing her skin clean, she just lay down and relaxed. The spring really wasn't that big, but it was comfy. There were a few little indoor trees and plants that Milly had insisted on decorating the room with. She must have fallen asleep, for Meryl hadn't seen another surprise coming –
There was much laughter and Meryl's eyes jolted open with a start.
"Geez Vash, you sleep like a stone!" laughed Knives, "Wolfwood must have splashed your face a dozen times before he decided to get out and jump in!"
"Wha-?" Meryl looked up and felt herself redden again. There stood Vash's twin brother – clad in nothing but a towel, and Wolfwood lounging at the end opposite of her; she was sure he was, er, 'dressed' similarly, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, "Oh, did his majesty wish to be alone? We figured that cards weren't as much fun without you so we decided to join you." He sighed, trying to seem dejected, and added, "But if you want us to leave…"
"No, that's okay."
"Good, cuz I probably wouldn't leave you alone anyways!" Knives laughed and jumped in as well, warm water washing over Meryl. The two waded closer to her and set themselves down on each side.
'Crap, crap, cra-ap!' sang Meryl in her head. Why the hell did she let them stay? She was now officially in foreign territory; how was she to know how Vash acted in the bath?
"So," started Knives, a devious glint in his eyes, "Anything interesting happen today, oh dearest brother of mine?"
"Oh, cut the crap, Knives!" replied Meryl, playfully swatting the back of his head.
"But seriously!" Wolfwood decided to join in – oh happy day.
She sighed with an agitated tone; men are such perverts. Then, she answered sharply, "Why do you guys keep bothering *me*? Wolfwood, why don't you fill us in on your day?" Meryl felt a pang of guilt – now she was ragging on Milly.
"Sure, why not?" Oh no, Meryl had the feeling that Wolfwood was going to put in details…
…and she was right. Knives laughed out loud a little, and Meryl just couldn't contain herself – she slapped him strong and hard on the cheek. (A/N: The face cheek you pervs! ^^; Okay, I just *had* to say that…) Knives just gaped at her with a look that said 'what the hell was that for', and she froze. Crap! She had forgotten all about the 'act-like-Vash' game.
"You…you guys shouldn't joke around with stuff like that… It's…mean." Ooooh, smooth one.
Wolfwood put a hand to Meryl's forehead, "Vash? Are you okay?"
She was agitated now, "What do you mean, 'am I okay'? I'm fine!"
"I don't think so!" added Knives, "You're acting, well, waaaay too differently as of late!"
Oh no…what to do? It was too early on in the game to let the guys figure it out…she couldn't let that happen! Damn, and she was expecting Vash to slip up first…
The three 'men' sat in silence for a while, which was good for Meryl. That bought time for thoughts of how to be Vash. Then – it came! Whenever Vash didn't have any other way out…
Meryl waded forward and turned around to face Nick and Knives. She crossed her fingers that funny way Vash always did and started to laugh, almost maniacally, "I was wondering when you guys figured it out! I was testing to see if you were paying attention!"
Wolfwood whispered something to Knives, who nodded in affirmation. The two advanced upon Meryl, and dunked her into the water. After reemerging once again, Meryl sputtered out, "What was that for?"
"For being such a baka!"
"Yeah, well take this!" Meryl dunked Wolfwood into the water, with the aid of Knives. This continued on, until the three were heaving for breath, out of it from being under the water and laughing so hard.
"Uncles?"
"What?" Nick and Knives looked up, and the voice had surprised Meryl. There, Janus stood in the doorway, "Auntie Milly says that dinner's ready."
"Alrighty thanks Janus! Tell Auntie Milly that we're coming!" Wolfwood rose from the water.
"Okay." Janus scampered off.
The three of them were out of the water and were scrubbing themselves dry with other towels. Meryl was in quite a hurry to get dressed; she didn't really wish to see Nicholas and Knives in the bare.
"Geez Vash, you must be starved, with how much you're hurrying!" teased Knives, punching Meryl in the back.
"Er…yeah," Meryl avoided eye contact while she buttoned up her shirt.
She completed her task and was out the door, the voice of Nick calling after her, "Save some food for us, okay!"
Feeling relieved and refreshed, Meryl had recovered her wit, "You'll just have to hurry, now won't you?"
As Meryl entered the kitchen, Vash approached her and handed over a small piece of paper, "We're having spaghetti for dinner."
Meryl nodded and answered, "Sounds good!" She grinned and leaned over to give Vash a peck on the cheek whispering, "Well, I've got to pretend I'm you, ne?"
Vash pretended to scoff in response and helped Milly set the table. Meryl took her seat and read the paper that Vash gave her:
'Meet me in my (or yours, whatever) room at around 10:00PM, k? Don't want anyone getting suspishus.'
Meryl clicked her tongue at his scrawled-out handwriting and the misspelling of 'suspicious'. Honestly… She looked up to see Vash looking at her in the corner of his eye, and she nodded at him. He grinned, and sat down in the seat he had before, the one farthest from the kitchen. Everyone arrived for dinner, Wolfwood recited the prayer again, and dinnertime was as if nothing was different.
~*~
Vash was lying on his stomach on the bed; he was waiting for Meryl. At first, a whole day with just Milly had sounded quite dull, but was actually pretty entertaining.
She did a lot of interacting with the younger children and the girls. Vash smiled warmly; this was quite a nice vacation from his average crazed life with Wolfwood and Knives. He read a couple of stories to Marie, Tember, Tober, and May, who were engrossed in the expressive way he told them. After that, the little girls had dragged him and Milly into playing dolls with them. They were acting a sort of love story out with the dolls, and Vash was the one who got all the guy dolls. Vash got the strangest feeling the dolls looked similar to some of the boys' GI Joes, but he didn't say anything about it.
He wondered how Meryl was managing…he hoped the guys weren't giving her too rough a time. After thinking about Meryl's appearance to dinner hours ago, a thought struck him. Her hair had been all wet – which obviously meant…Vash turned a shade of pink, when the door to his room cracked open a bit.
"Vash?"
"Come in."
Meryl entered and shut the door behind her, coming over to sit next to Vash like before, "I was thinking…"
"Hm?"
"Well, I think we should have a little conference every night. Y'know, to tell each other about your day so they can tell you how to handle it in the future."
"Oh…alright!" Vash's face brightened as he changed position, now sitting cross-legged, "That sounds like a good idea. Um…anything you'd like to share?" He felt so much like a psychiatrist right now.
"Hmmm…well, I had an interesting conversation in the bath today…" Meryl started. She turned to Vash, who just nodded for her to continue, "Honestly, are you three such perverts 24/7?"
Vash laughed, but hushed a bit, "Well, it's usually me, Wolfwood eggs me on, and occasionally Knives joins in so he's not left out."
"Oh, so that's why they looked at me funny when I slapped Knives for saying something!"
"You slapped Knives?" mirth was bubbling up inside of Vash, and he was really having a difficult time holding it in, "Now that had to give you away! Imagine that, me using Meryl's copyrighted bitch-slap!"
"Yeah, well you're about to get one if you don't stop while you're ahead."
"Alright, alright. Other than that, the guys didn't give you too much trouble, right?"
"Actually, they were fairly civil…" Meryl grinned and she added, "…for men anyways."
"I'm hurt." Vash pulled off a puppy-dog face and nuzzled the front of Meryl's button-up.
Meryl played along, "Oh, I'm so sorry." She looked down at Vash, who was still pulling off the puppy-dog, "Geez, you know how weird it looks to see myself snuggling *you* of all people?"
Vash leaned his back against the headboard and gazed at Meryl, "Oh come on, you *know* you're in denial!"
"Phah, you wish."
"Hn." Vash reached behind his pillow and pulled out a bag of doughnuts, which Meryl promptly confiscated, "Hey! What was that for?"
"*You*," replied Meryl, "Are not going to stuff your face with pastries all day and get me fat!"
Vash snatched the doughnuts back, "Yeah well, you aren't going to get me fat either!"
"You've been practically inhaling the things for 120 years, I'm sure you can handle a few more." Meryl was tugging on the bag, Vash at the other end.
"Geez, you don't need to get touchy about it," Vash let go, causing Meryl to fly out of her spot.
"Hey!"
Vash only chuckled in response as Meryl resumed sitting in her place next to him.
"Vash-?"
"What?" This was it; he leaned over a bit expectantly.
"You stink. Take a bath."
Vash fell backwards anime-style. A sweat drop to his head, "But what about…?"
"Oh, get over it. I've already taken one," responded Meryl a bit roughly, "And besides, I'm not going to keep my body from getting proper hygiene, even if you're the one in it."
"Okay." Vash yawned a bit, and leaned on Meryl's shoulder again. He stared into space for a while, and said thoughtfully, "I wonder when we'll be back to normal."
"Beats me…" Meryl replied absent-mindedly. Her eyes drooped a little, the peaceful atmosphere lulling her. The lamp had a warm orange-yellow glow to it, and the crickets chirped harmoniously outside. As the clock stroke 10:27, the two fell asleep in the serenity.
A/N: *gasp!* They're wasting electricity! :o (J/K) Anywayz, sorry that I couldn't get the chapter out sooner, but my internet access was cut off for some odd reason…Hn… *gasp* I have the 'First Donuts' soundtrack now! :D Ca b reeeeeeeeeeally happy! Weeeeee… Credits to Ai_heiwa for giving me the doughnut argument idea! ^__^
To Akima The Stampede Maxwell: Awwwww, s'ok. :) Thankies so much, I appreciate it! (Seriously, I really do!)
To Ai_heiwa: Woohoo, idea alert! I have a funny image of a funny battle…LOL…and a funny, probing conversation as well… XD
To Kiki: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA! I *AM* the evilest author in the whole wide world! I am invincible! No one can –
Knives: Oh shut *up* already!
Ca: WAAAAH! ;___; *Starts sobbing hysterically*
Knives: Spare me. *Hands her a hanky*
Ca: Yayzers! ^_^
To Lynda-chan: *Gasp!* Yooooo called me a wench, I'm so hurt! ;o; (J/K) Evil scenarios are fun! ^___________^
Mwahaha…the kinkiness continues! Aaaaaand you'll all find out why I mentioned the Masaki household! LOL, be prepared for extreme Knives OOCness!
-Ca and her sleepy kitty =-o-=
It was 4:00 in the evening. Meryl was quite bored at the time, but most of all, she felt positively filthy.
The woman was used to taking her baths daily for crying out loud! A full day of grocery shopping, roughhousing with August, Vember, and Cember, and having a mud fight with all the younger kids wasn't exactly her idea of fun. Of course, it was, especially when she could act as silly as she wished and everyone would accept it as average Vash behavior. But back to the issue at hand.
She was in Knives' room with Knives and Wolfwood, and the three of them had been playing card games and talking for the past hour. But now…they were just bored stiff. Meryl had had enough of this – she was getting a bath, and she was getting one now.
Meryl got up and excused herself, "You guys can stay here for now, but I'm gonna go get washed up before dinner."
Responses of 'sure' and 'whatever' confirmed their approval and she left for Vash's room. Once in there, she chose a new outfit (A/N: The third today! :o) that would suffice for comfortable PJ's. Right before leaving the room, she did a double take: new boxers. With much hesitation, she pulled the top drawer open and took out a new pair that just happened to be white with navy blue stripes. (So I have a mental image of Vash wearing' those, so sue me! -D)
Casually, she strolled down the hall into the room where they had two little hot springs. They were both walled off, of course – one was for the girls and women and the other was for the boys and men. After taking a deep breath, Meryl stepped into the guys' one – good, no one was in there.
Eyes screwed shut like earlier before, she stripped herself down to bare skin. She pawed around for a towel and wrapped it around her abdomen. Meryl felt so out of place, but then again, she didn't get to be a guy very often either. She took the soap stuff and a loofa (That's what it's called, isn't it?) and stepped into the water. She crossed it until she was at the opposite end, set the stuff down, and settled into a spot.
After easily washing Vash's blonde locks and the, er, complicated process of scrubbing her skin clean, she just lay down and relaxed. The spring really wasn't that big, but it was comfy. There were a few little indoor trees and plants that Milly had insisted on decorating the room with. She must have fallen asleep, for Meryl hadn't seen another surprise coming –
There was much laughter and Meryl's eyes jolted open with a start.
"Geez Vash, you sleep like a stone!" laughed Knives, "Wolfwood must have splashed your face a dozen times before he decided to get out and jump in!"
"Wha-?" Meryl looked up and felt herself redden again. There stood Vash's twin brother – clad in nothing but a towel, and Wolfwood lounging at the end opposite of her; she was sure he was, er, 'dressed' similarly, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, "Oh, did his majesty wish to be alone? We figured that cards weren't as much fun without you so we decided to join you." He sighed, trying to seem dejected, and added, "But if you want us to leave…"
"No, that's okay."
"Good, cuz I probably wouldn't leave you alone anyways!" Knives laughed and jumped in as well, warm water washing over Meryl. The two waded closer to her and set themselves down on each side.
'Crap, crap, cra-ap!' sang Meryl in her head. Why the hell did she let them stay? She was now officially in foreign territory; how was she to know how Vash acted in the bath?
"So," started Knives, a devious glint in his eyes, "Anything interesting happen today, oh dearest brother of mine?"
"Oh, cut the crap, Knives!" replied Meryl, playfully swatting the back of his head.
"But seriously!" Wolfwood decided to join in – oh happy day.
She sighed with an agitated tone; men are such perverts. Then, she answered sharply, "Why do you guys keep bothering *me*? Wolfwood, why don't you fill us in on your day?" Meryl felt a pang of guilt – now she was ragging on Milly.
"Sure, why not?" Oh no, Meryl had the feeling that Wolfwood was going to put in details…
…and she was right. Knives laughed out loud a little, and Meryl just couldn't contain herself – she slapped him strong and hard on the cheek. (A/N: The face cheek you pervs! ^^; Okay, I just *had* to say that…) Knives just gaped at her with a look that said 'what the hell was that for', and she froze. Crap! She had forgotten all about the 'act-like-Vash' game.
"You…you guys shouldn't joke around with stuff like that… It's…mean." Ooooh, smooth one.
Wolfwood put a hand to Meryl's forehead, "Vash? Are you okay?"
She was agitated now, "What do you mean, 'am I okay'? I'm fine!"
"I don't think so!" added Knives, "You're acting, well, waaaay too differently as of late!"
Oh no…what to do? It was too early on in the game to let the guys figure it out…she couldn't let that happen! Damn, and she was expecting Vash to slip up first…
The three 'men' sat in silence for a while, which was good for Meryl. That bought time for thoughts of how to be Vash. Then – it came! Whenever Vash didn't have any other way out…
Meryl waded forward and turned around to face Nick and Knives. She crossed her fingers that funny way Vash always did and started to laugh, almost maniacally, "I was wondering when you guys figured it out! I was testing to see if you were paying attention!"
Wolfwood whispered something to Knives, who nodded in affirmation. The two advanced upon Meryl, and dunked her into the water. After reemerging once again, Meryl sputtered out, "What was that for?"
"For being such a baka!"
"Yeah, well take this!" Meryl dunked Wolfwood into the water, with the aid of Knives. This continued on, until the three were heaving for breath, out of it from being under the water and laughing so hard.
"Uncles?"
"What?" Nick and Knives looked up, and the voice had surprised Meryl. There, Janus stood in the doorway, "Auntie Milly says that dinner's ready."
"Alrighty thanks Janus! Tell Auntie Milly that we're coming!" Wolfwood rose from the water.
"Okay." Janus scampered off.
The three of them were out of the water and were scrubbing themselves dry with other towels. Meryl was in quite a hurry to get dressed; she didn't really wish to see Nicholas and Knives in the bare.
"Geez Vash, you must be starved, with how much you're hurrying!" teased Knives, punching Meryl in the back.
"Er…yeah," Meryl avoided eye contact while she buttoned up her shirt.
She completed her task and was out the door, the voice of Nick calling after her, "Save some food for us, okay!"
Feeling relieved and refreshed, Meryl had recovered her wit, "You'll just have to hurry, now won't you?"
As Meryl entered the kitchen, Vash approached her and handed over a small piece of paper, "We're having spaghetti for dinner."
Meryl nodded and answered, "Sounds good!" She grinned and leaned over to give Vash a peck on the cheek whispering, "Well, I've got to pretend I'm you, ne?"
Vash pretended to scoff in response and helped Milly set the table. Meryl took her seat and read the paper that Vash gave her:
'Meet me in my (or yours, whatever) room at around 10:00PM, k? Don't want anyone getting suspishus.'
Meryl clicked her tongue at his scrawled-out handwriting and the misspelling of 'suspicious'. Honestly… She looked up to see Vash looking at her in the corner of his eye, and she nodded at him. He grinned, and sat down in the seat he had before, the one farthest from the kitchen. Everyone arrived for dinner, Wolfwood recited the prayer again, and dinnertime was as if nothing was different.
~*~
Vash was lying on his stomach on the bed; he was waiting for Meryl. At first, a whole day with just Milly had sounded quite dull, but was actually pretty entertaining.
She did a lot of interacting with the younger children and the girls. Vash smiled warmly; this was quite a nice vacation from his average crazed life with Wolfwood and Knives. He read a couple of stories to Marie, Tember, Tober, and May, who were engrossed in the expressive way he told them. After that, the little girls had dragged him and Milly into playing dolls with them. They were acting a sort of love story out with the dolls, and Vash was the one who got all the guy dolls. Vash got the strangest feeling the dolls looked similar to some of the boys' GI Joes, but he didn't say anything about it.
He wondered how Meryl was managing…he hoped the guys weren't giving her too rough a time. After thinking about Meryl's appearance to dinner hours ago, a thought struck him. Her hair had been all wet – which obviously meant…Vash turned a shade of pink, when the door to his room cracked open a bit.
"Vash?"
"Come in."
Meryl entered and shut the door behind her, coming over to sit next to Vash like before, "I was thinking…"
"Hm?"
"Well, I think we should have a little conference every night. Y'know, to tell each other about your day so they can tell you how to handle it in the future."
"Oh…alright!" Vash's face brightened as he changed position, now sitting cross-legged, "That sounds like a good idea. Um…anything you'd like to share?" He felt so much like a psychiatrist right now.
"Hmmm…well, I had an interesting conversation in the bath today…" Meryl started. She turned to Vash, who just nodded for her to continue, "Honestly, are you three such perverts 24/7?"
Vash laughed, but hushed a bit, "Well, it's usually me, Wolfwood eggs me on, and occasionally Knives joins in so he's not left out."
"Oh, so that's why they looked at me funny when I slapped Knives for saying something!"
"You slapped Knives?" mirth was bubbling up inside of Vash, and he was really having a difficult time holding it in, "Now that had to give you away! Imagine that, me using Meryl's copyrighted bitch-slap!"
"Yeah, well you're about to get one if you don't stop while you're ahead."
"Alright, alright. Other than that, the guys didn't give you too much trouble, right?"
"Actually, they were fairly civil…" Meryl grinned and she added, "…for men anyways."
"I'm hurt." Vash pulled off a puppy-dog face and nuzzled the front of Meryl's button-up.
Meryl played along, "Oh, I'm so sorry." She looked down at Vash, who was still pulling off the puppy-dog, "Geez, you know how weird it looks to see myself snuggling *you* of all people?"
Vash leaned his back against the headboard and gazed at Meryl, "Oh come on, you *know* you're in denial!"
"Phah, you wish."
"Hn." Vash reached behind his pillow and pulled out a bag of doughnuts, which Meryl promptly confiscated, "Hey! What was that for?"
"*You*," replied Meryl, "Are not going to stuff your face with pastries all day and get me fat!"
Vash snatched the doughnuts back, "Yeah well, you aren't going to get me fat either!"
"You've been practically inhaling the things for 120 years, I'm sure you can handle a few more." Meryl was tugging on the bag, Vash at the other end.
"Geez, you don't need to get touchy about it," Vash let go, causing Meryl to fly out of her spot.
"Hey!"
Vash only chuckled in response as Meryl resumed sitting in her place next to him.
"Vash-?"
"What?" This was it; he leaned over a bit expectantly.
"You stink. Take a bath."
Vash fell backwards anime-style. A sweat drop to his head, "But what about…?"
"Oh, get over it. I've already taken one," responded Meryl a bit roughly, "And besides, I'm not going to keep my body from getting proper hygiene, even if you're the one in it."
"Okay." Vash yawned a bit, and leaned on Meryl's shoulder again. He stared into space for a while, and said thoughtfully, "I wonder when we'll be back to normal."
"Beats me…" Meryl replied absent-mindedly. Her eyes drooped a little, the peaceful atmosphere lulling her. The lamp had a warm orange-yellow glow to it, and the crickets chirped harmoniously outside. As the clock stroke 10:27, the two fell asleep in the serenity.
A/N: *gasp!* They're wasting electricity! :o (J/K) Anywayz, sorry that I couldn't get the chapter out sooner, but my internet access was cut off for some odd reason…Hn… *gasp* I have the 'First Donuts' soundtrack now! :D Ca b reeeeeeeeeeally happy! Weeeeee… Credits to Ai_heiwa for giving me the doughnut argument idea! ^__^