Dear Knives,

I've started at least two dozen letters to you, all of which had no end - and not much of a beginning for that matter. Man...I don't know what to say to you. Hi. How have you been? It's been two years. Two looong years. I walked by your house the other day. Do you and Vash still live together? Oh, sorry, stupid question. Why wouldn't you? I almost stopped to say hello, but I just decided to deliver this letter instead. Something tells me you wouldn't like the person I've become.

I guess I should apologize for just taking off like I did. I wanted to tell you, but I was - what's the word I'm looking for? - ashamed, maybe? I don't really know, except I was a little scared of what you might think. Wow, I bet you're pretty mad, huh?

Naoshi has been pretty quiet a while. He's probably slinking around somewhere. Maybe he's dead. I don't buy all that crap. He's out there, and I think I've built up the courage to do something about it. I'm not saying I'm going to duke it out with the guy, but hey, if that's what it comes to, I'm not backing down. He basically shattered my mind - just tore it down without any problem whatsoever. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I guess I have to tell someone - anyone - heaven knows I'd never say this to your face. There are things he did to me that I blocked out... I just tried to forget them because they were too painful. But last year, those things began resurfacing in nightmares... I wish you could hear me sighing right now.

I just wanted you to know that I'm thinking of you. I hope you're thinking about me. Tell Vash I said hi and I miss him. Tell him I'm sorry that his friend's kid, that Billy girl, is missing, and that I'm sorry the disappearance broke up Meryl's marriage with that Vincent guy. He seemed nice. I got to be going now. Things to do, places to be, people to see - you know the drill. Hey, look, I finished this letter, and I think I'll actually send it! That's pretty cool.

Love,

Stormie

P.S. Naoshi raped me.

~~~~~

"Meryl, I'm really worried about him," Vash commented, standing at the kitchen window, a dish in hand as he scrubbed industriously at the left over food caked on. "He's been awfully quiet ever since he got that letter from Stormie. And he won't let me read it."

Meryl had been basically living in Stormie's old home ever since the girl had disappeared with not so much as a warning word. And she didn't want to talk about Knives. Sitting at the kitchen table, sipping at her coffee and looking very tired, she replied, "Maybe Knives is just being a typical jerk, as I believe we can all classify him, and is just being moody. Either that or he is pining over that Stormie chick."

Vash turned to give her a goofy grin, rubbing at the back of his head. "Come on, I don't think he's that much of a jerk anyway. He's pretty good even, wouldn't you say?"

"He is better, I'll give him that. How'd you fix him anyway?"

Now Vash's smile faded into a frown, and he looked away, seeming to be recalling painful memories. "Gee, Meryl, everything comes with a price, you know? Haha... I mean, Knives isn't the kind of guy to just change for no reason... I had to give him a reason."

"Vash, you ok?"

"Yeah, sure, sure. It's just...." He trailed off, brow furrowed.

"You don't have to tell me."

"No, I want to. You see, about a week after you left, I started taking him into town to see the people. You know, it was sort of a 'Hey, look, people aren't so bad' thing, but it really turned out breaking both of our hearts... I was thinking of Nick so I took him to an orphanage and of course he hated the kids, hated the whole thing. But there was this one... It was a little girl named Marissa and she loved Knives - I mean, she LOVED him. She brought him gifts and made him things and even when he kept on ignoring her, she still clung to him. Then there was this little boy, who was every bit just like Knives. He hated people so much... It was little Marissa's older brother. His name was Toby. I often wonder what happened to that little boy..."

"Vash," Meryl said warily, her voice almost fearful, "what happened?"

Vash didn't answer for a long time. His hands clutched at the edge of the sink, his head bowed. Green eyes disappeared beneath his eyelids as he let them close in reflection. Then, breathing deeply, he tentatively explained.

~~~~~

~*~Flashback~*~

Knives was sulking in the corner, as usual, trying to stay clear of the curious touches of the children that often crowded around him, eager for affection. He despised their grubby fingers for clutching at his honored personage. How dare they not realize how superior he was!

In the middle of the room, Vash sat, surrounded on all sides by loving children who were more than happy to launch themselves into his open arms. They often wondered why his look-alike wasn't near as friendly to them. Only Marissa, a cute little brunette, was brave enough to venture over his way. Even at the moment she was standing beside him, offering him a paper flower she had made.

"Come on, kids! Not so rough, eh?" joked Vash, tumbling onto his back and moaning in mock pain. "Wow, you guys are going to be the death of me!"

A chorus of frantic voices assured him they wanted him to live a million years more so they could always play with him.

Suddenly, a scream pierced the air. It was shrill, a little girl by the sounds of it.

"Toby's got a gun!" exclaimed another voice, this time a boy.

Vash tried to whirl around in disbelief, but the children on top of him kept him pinned to the ground. Surely this couldn't be true. Little Toby was often angry and reserved, but to come in with a gun? It was absurd! He just couldn't believe it.

Until a spray of bullets mixed with the multitude of screams shattered the dry desert air.

Vash threw the children off him and rose onto his knees, looking this way and that desperately. He saw just a blur of the boy holding the gun, firing randomly, perhaps not even aiming at a specific target, and then his thoughts turned to the safety of the kids around him. He looked back and forth in a panic, spotting the doorway to another room nearby. Hardly thinking about his actions, he swung up two of the younger girls in his arms and screamed for the others to follow, ushering them into the next room with his head bowed, using his body as a shield for the children to the best of his abilities. He got them all, the ten of them, to the destination, unharmed.

"Get away from the door!" he screamed, and the oldest boy, a thirteen year old, helped to hustle the younger into a far corner. It was then that Vash stopped and stared at the scene before him. Ten very frightened orphans all huddled together, most crying, scared they would lose their lives. He felt so scared himself - scared for them and for...

"KNIVES!" he cried, remembering that his brother was in the other room. He ran to the door, stopped himself just before doing something rash, and listened for any kind of a reply.

And then there came silence.

The gunfire had stopped.

Cautiously, he peeked his head around the doorway, seeing a plain, sparsely decorated room in disarray, bullet holes in the walls, ceiling, a few of the toys, and even in a shattered window. The gun lay abandoned on the floor, Toby standing beside it, absolutely horrified at his actions. His body was rigid and straight, blue eyes wide with disbelief.

Vash turned his head to look for Knives, spotting him kneeling in the same corner with his head down, staring at a bundle in his arms. Cradled gently against his chest was a little girl, blood splattered across the back of her white shirt. She was limp, dead, shot between the shoulder blades. Shot by her own brother.

Marissa...

Vash's eyes filled with tears as he looked first at Toby, who had began to silently cry, and then at his own brother. Knives merely looked confused, as if he didn't understand, and then a new expression dawned slowly on his face, one of disgust, one that showed he was definitely feeling sick. His eyes lifted from the lifeless child in his arms and met Vash's. His pale blue eyes were cold as ice.

Vash winced, expecting this to only worsen his brother's condition. No doubt he would use the death of Marissa to illustrate how horrible humans could be, even the children.

"Look at this, Vash," he said in such a dead voice it was eerie. "Look at what has happened. Shot by her own brother. He loved his sister, didn't he? He said he'd protect her. But he hurt her so bad..."

Toby had crumpled to the ground now, dissolving into tears and sobs. "I-it w-w-was an a-a-accident!" he wailed. "I never th-thought M-Marissa would g- g-get hurt! I didn't mean to! I didn't see her!"

Knives watched the boy seemingly without sympathy. "I see."

A salty droplet trickled down Vash's pale cheek, vision blurring as his eyes filled to the brim with tears. Through his watery vision, he saw his brother carefully rolling the little girl over so he could see her face. Blood had dribbled from her mouth, dark red and sticky, and her eyes were closed. Even in death she was such a beautiful little girl.

"I've killed a lot of these humans, Vash," he whispered, tenderly touching Marissa's now cold cheek. "And I've never done it with my own hands. I never had to see one die..."

"I know, Knives, I know," Vash began taking unconscious steps towards his shivering twin, gulping down a lump in his throat.

"She was shot by her own brother!" cried Knives, this time in a broken, sorrowful tone. "Vash, she was just standing there, and then she was dead, shot by her own BROTHER!"

"He didn't mean it, Knives, he didn't want her to die," Vash tried to hush his sibling, kneeling beside him with hands on his shoulders. "It's gonna be alright."

"No, it's not! IT'S NOT! You can't just do something like this without a punishment, a consequence!"

Toby had stopped crying, just sniffling and choking on his cries as he lay face down on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

"Vash, don't you see what he did?! Look at her! She's dead! He killed her! He killed her! How could you kill your own sister?! How could you kill someone like Marissa?! Look around you, Vash! This is what I've been saying all along! These humans...look at the destruction, the hate they breed... Who could ever do something like this...?"

"You could..."

Vash gasped. Those words hadn't come from his mouth, had they? They had been his thoughts. But the voice wasn't his.... He turned to look over his shoulder at Toby, who was still sprawled out on the ground, his head raised to look at Knives, tear-stained face firm and defiant.

Knives clenched his jaw.

"They say you've killed people, Knives," he murmured. "You've killed lots of people. Little girls like Marissa."

Vash was torn between feeling extreme anguish and confusion. "How...how did you know that, Toby?"

"I've heard of him...from a blue-haired man...who killed my parents..." The boy hesitated. "He let me and Marissa go...and he started to cry...and all he kept saying was, 'Master...Knives...don't make me do it anymore...'. And I just... I just knew when I saw him." Toby laid his head back down and said nothing more.

"This is - this is absurd!" babbled Knives, thrusting the dead body of the girl from his lap and pushing himself back further into the corner. He was nearly foaming at the mouth, going wild. "IT'S INSANE, VASHU!! TO COMPARE ME TO SOMEONE WHO WOULD SHOOT THEIR OWN...THEIR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD! I - I - I DID! I DID IT, VASH! I SHOT YOU!"

"Shh, shh," he tried to comfort the other, but at the same time, he was sobbing.

"I'M NO DIFFERENT! I'M THE SAME!"

"Knives, it's ok..."

And then Knives was clinging to his brother, crying with all the hatred and chaos and regret that he felt evident in his voice. "I'm sorry, Vashu," he whispered, shaking his head frantically. "I'm so sorry..."

~~~~~

Meryl saw tears dripping from Vash's eyes, and slowly looked away, unable to cope with the emotional turmoil he was in. It was painful, hearing of a little girl being shot when she herself had lost her own child. Billy had simply disappeared without a trace. "And...that changed him?"

"Yes. Not immediately, but it helped."

"I'm sorry, Vash."

"So am I. The cost was very high."

~~~~~

"There."

"Only seven of us left?"

"Only seven of us could be tracked. Now, this is a list of only those of pure blood. There are a few half-breeds out there."

"Yeah, I noticed Oriole wasn't on the list."

"So that makes Naoshi's murders rank up among the...?"

"I don't know. Hundreds, maybe? The plant population never was very large."

"Gotchya. Ok, I know two of these plants personally. They're not willing to fight. Cross Vash and Knives off the list for now."

"Alright.... That leaves us with only three to track down. I know where the female is. You go after the males. Ok?"

"Hold up, Desma, do you know anything about these two? I mean, don't tell me I have to bust them out of a plant? Please tell me they're walking around, not in some bulb. I mean, I'll even take rowdy desert murderers, but I really do have a problem with factories..."

"Bad memories?"

"Something of the sort."

"Storm, you want to do this, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you can't let this bother you. I'll give you the addresses. You break them out. And if it doesn't kill ya, you'll come out stronger, got it?"

"Very funny, you big moron. Alright. I'll do it."

"Good. See you tomorrow, then."

Stormie nodded and took her leave, hurrying out the door of the old dusty shack and leaving behind her new partner, a young male plant who was an expert in the killing field. Without wasting a moment, she climbed into her jeep, jerked it into reverse, backed away from the house, and sped off across the sand without a backwards glance.

Someday soon, she promised herself, adjusting her sunglasses, there'd by blood soaking through the very sand she was riding on now. And it wouldn't be hers this time.

~~~~~

Keep reviewing - thanx for the encouragement. I'll try to work more action in, but I don't want to rush the story.