Ah, reviews slowed down to a trickle on this one! lol I was starting to get concerned...but, it all ended fine with some good reviews!

Rocker Baby: You worried me! For a minute there I thought you had quit reading because it took you a few days to review, and I must say the thought of that horrified me to no end! Haha ^_^ But, you did review, and it made me so happy! Thank you for being my fan! *gives a cookie*

Kuja's Swan: Oh, please! Do draw Naoshi! That'd be great! When you draw him, please allow me to see the picture either through an e-mail or a link (if you post it on the net somewhere)! That'd be VERY cool ^_^

Sami: Hehe...it is scary, huh? Yep, Naoshi is one weird guy - oh, and the thing Faith is talking about, here it is in this chapter! Be confused no longer!

Mali: You're like the first reviewer who's sympathetic to Mitayo! lol Hmm...I felt bad for him too... And you finished this in one sitting? @_@ Amazing...I have not your patience! lol

R.K1: I'm updating! Yay! Idiots...*sigh* They're only amusing for so long, right? Haha.

~~~~~

Vash knew it was probably wrong to feel left out of the action, and it wasn't like he was jealous that his brother played a bigger part or anything, but he just wasn't used to sitting by idly and doing nothing. Usually he was the one saving a friend, but now whenever he asked to help, Knives was already way ahead of him, having been there and done that. The best Vash could do was baby-sit the kids. What a switch.

He flopped back on the hammock set up on Stormie's porch, sighing in exasperation. What had become of him? He suddenly found himself lonely and deserted. Even Knives had someone out there - even if she was currently kidnapped.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "At least I'm not pining over Meryl anymore..."

The screen door creaked in protest as someone forced it open and then slammed it shut, and he turned his head to see a tall, lean man with broad shoulders and dark hair that hid one golden from sight. Grayfall, wearing his customary black turtleneck and gray jeans, looked over and smiled slightly. "Vash," he greeted quietly.

Vash grinned and waved. "Hey, Grayfall! How's it going?"

He sighed, shoulders rising and falling tiredly. "Could be better. The kids are upset, Oriole is being bombarded by the emotions of everyone under this roof, Mitayo and Bailey are distressed because they know they are not wanted yet have nowhere to go, and Knives is being excessively aggressive, and you, my friend, are the only one who is in a good mood."

Vash frowned. "Yeah, well - you know me." He paused, watched the other man seat himself on the railing, and then hesitantly asked, "Grayfall, do you still resent my brother for killing Legato?"

A pained expression crossed Grayfall. "I prefer not to think of it. Knives...Knives and I are working towards a common goal now, and I will not let that stand in the way of achieving it. Besides, it's not like my father actually cared enough to stick around. ...or at least that's what I tell myself. Please, Vash, it's too painful to talk about right now."

Vash nodded. "I'm sorry about everything, Grayfall."

"Don't be."

"Is there anything I can do to help? I mean, help ANYONE! Not just Knives or you, but anyone!" He laughed, the movement of his arms as he threw them out rocking the hammock back and forth until he tumbled out with a shout.

Grayfall's eyes glowed with humor at watching the goofy outlaw clamber back to his feet. "I have a favor to ask, if it isn't too much."

"Shoot away!"

"I want you to..." He stopped mid-sentence, if only to watch Vash hang on his every word. "Take Oriole out to dinner in town, and then take her someplace quiet and peaceful. Get her to relax."

Green eyes widened in surprise. "But, wouldn't you rather take her out on a date?"

"It's not a date, Vash," stressed Grayfall. "And I can't do this. She needs to get away from anyone whose main thoughts are circling Naoshi now. If anyone can take her mind off these problems and to radiate some happiness, it's you."

Vash still looked doubtful. "Gee, I dunno..."

"Alright. But I would've thought that with your charming reputation you wouldn't hesitate to take such a lovely woman out to dinner." Grayfall's voice dripped with sarcasm.

That got a laugh out of the blonde plant. "You're right. Tell her to get dressed. The night awaits us!"

~~~~~

"But, Vash, I don't understand where we're going..."

Vash, strutting down the dirt road into town and feeling very much like his old, cocky self with his yellow-tinted shades perched low on his nose and a pretty girl hanging on his arm, threw back his head and laughed. "We're going out for a night on the town!" he cried. "Fun, fun for everyone!"

Oriole frowned, seeming to be pondering this. She knew Grayfall had set it up - heck, he'd been the one to pick out the sleek, azure, spaghetti strap dress she was wearing, as well as digging out her black knee highs and telling her to get ready for a dinner with Vash the Stampede. But the question was, WHY had he done it?

Then again, getting out of the house and being surrounded only by happy people DID feel good. She sighed in contentment. Vash was actually giving off an aura that was something other than self-pity and anger.

They stopped at a local bar, not the kind of place Oriole would've chosen, but had fun anyway. She even managed to laugh and tell jokes, to go along with his humorous tales of the past and to pour him a refill for his drink whenever he emptied it.

"YES!" cried Vash at one point in the night, throwing back his head to down more of his wine. "Grayfall is a lucky man, Oriole! A lucky man indeed! You are one delightful dinner companion."

She chuckled at his greatly exaggerated compliments. It seemed nothing could break him of his flirting. "Thank you."

Vash looked as if he was about to continue singing her praises when something across the room caught his attention. His face sobered as he looked at it, turned back to her, and then craned his neck to get a better look at the object.

"What is it?" asked Oriole, pushing a fall of silky black hair out of her eyes.

"Oriole," he told her seriously, peering at her sadly, owlishly. "I'm afraid we have to have a very violent break up. You've been cheating on me."

The empath was taken back. Vash's emotions weren't giving her any clues as to what the heck he was babbling about, so was he possibly drunk? He did look a little tipsy. How in the world was she going to explain to him that they had never been together and that if he was referring to Grayfall, that was in no way cheating on their nonexistent relationship.

"You see," Vash continued. "There's a dazzling young woman across the room and she thinks I'm with you. Therefore, you must desert me that she may come to comfort me in my distress."

Oriole slowly stood up, looked around nervously, and then set down her glass. "Should I just leave?"

"If you don't mind."

"Not at all." Her black heels turned on the slick, saw-dust spattered floor, clicking on the wooden boards, the sound rising even above the quiet piano music - until she heard the voice of a sobbing man screaming her name, followed by a mewling like a sick cat.

"Oh, Oriole! How could you betray me like that?!" she heard Vash cry just before picking up her pace a little and bursting out the swinging doors. It was embarrassing; it was weird, it was...unbelievably hilarious. Oriole doubled over in laughter, hugging at her stomach and finding herself giggling until tears beaded the corner of her eyes. It had been nice to get out of the house, but this was all the excitement she could take. And besides, she really did miss Grayfall.

Pulling the keys to the jeep out of her purse, she headed towards the jeep.

Vash could walk home.

~~~~~

Knives couldn't believe it. He'd actually reverted back to writing Stormie letters on Meryl's old type writer, just like he had in the old days when they had argued and vowed not to speak. But these were different notes, not angry and short, but deep and lengthy. He poured out his heart and soul and then some, not caring for once that he must've looked like a sappy fool. He just couldn't get over the fact that he had living with Stormie for twenty years and had never admitted his love for her. If he had, maybe all this wouldn't have happened...

He sighed and rubbed at his eyes, exhausted.

Outside, it had begun to rain - a rare occurrence. The water pelted on his window pane and made everything look distorted, like he was in the middle of some sort of aquarium or water world, like a fish should swim by any minute. There was the occasional flash of lightening proceeded by a roll of thunder, but it was very far away and hardly bothered him.

Jerking his letter out of the clutches of the type writer, he climbed into his bed and curled his body into a protective ball, hugging himself tight and wishing for perhaps the first time in his life that the bed didn't seem so big, that he had someone to share with, someone to hold so that he knew they were safe and he was safe - but for tonight he was alone, cold and distant from everyone.

~*~I didn't want to write these letters. They were gnawing away at me until I made them a reality. I just hope some day maybe you can read them too.~*~

~~~~~

The shadows clung to everything in the room, eerily darkening the bruises and cuts on her bare legs stretched out before her, sensitive to the light touch she trailed over them, testing to see if it pained her so much after another day. She hadn't felt so sore and so stiff, like every muscle in her body ached and every joint had froze, in quite a while. Stormie cursed the plant workers, and at the same time, pitied them. The looks on their faces when she had destroyed them had been haunting.

But what had become of Desma and Desiree?

She bit her lip, already a little swollen, and then drew her knees to her chest in a painful motion. For bed that night she had changed out of her bathrobe and into a pair of boxer shorts and a loose T-shirt she had found in the dresser. While sifting through the clothes, she'd also found letters, apparently written to Billy from Naoshi. Each was short and to the point.

Billy,

I didn't mean for this to happen. When I saw you sitting there at the coffee shop, you looked as alone as I felt. Some things had happened the night before and I needed a distraction. Why did you insist to stay the night? I asked you several times to go home, but you took things too far and I suppose it's both our faults now. You don't seem to care or understand - I don't love you like you want to be. You need to return to your parents. However, if you choose to stay here, I will support you and the baby and play my part as the father.

Stormie had grunted after reading that one. Simply grunted. She had been disgusted with Billy more than Naoshi, remembering what a brat the girl had been back then and thinking that she was some sort of desperate child to insist on staying with the plant assassin.

Yes, that was it, a very desperate child.

Lightning lit the room a few seconds and then receded quickly. Thunder rumbled through the emptiness, rattling some bottles of perfume on the vanity.

A knock on the door cut through her weary nerves like a knife and she threw herself back onto the bed with a groan, not even bothering to reply. Naoshi always came in regardless of what she said to him. This time was no exception.

"What do you want? It's midnight," she growled, eyeing her captor edgily.

He sat down beside her, having learned quickly to ignore how she scooted away and regarded him suspiciously. "Can I tell you something?" he sighed tiredly, obviously sick of her being so afraid of him. Well, she thought, what kind of idiot are you? Of course I resent the man who did all this to me and my kind!

Somehow, the word that left her mouth was, "Sure."

"I don't..." He crossed his legs on the bed, laying his hands in his lap and staring down at them. "I'm giving up killing plants."

"Challenge lose it's thrill?" she snarled.

"No."

"Getting too hard then?"

"No..."

"Then what the heck are you doing this for?!"

"You."

Silence.

"Stormie? Did you...understand? I want to stop killing the plants - but only for you."

A whisper breathed past her lips before her stalled mind even realized it. "What...?"

Suddenly, words were pouring out of Naoshi's mouth, tears were falling like the rain from his eyes, and his hands were gripping her shoulders. "I want you to love me!" he cried. "I know you hate me because of what I did to you, but I'd never felt something like that for a plant before and I didn't know what it was back then but I do now. I kept telling Billy I could never love her and she kept asking if there was someone else - I said there wasn't but I knew that there was, and it was you Stormie. It was you!" He paused to catch his breath, gasping now in his desperation. "I loathed your race because of what they did to me; my mother told me they deserved to die and I believed her. If I had known you as the person, not as the plant, I never would've done those things. Please, Stormie, I just... All I've ever needed is someone like you! Say something... Just say anything..."

Stormie's face had paled visibly in the moonlight. Her blue eyes were wide in amazement as one of her hands reached out and a trembling finger pointed in his direction. "What," she murmured, "makes you think...I could ever love a killer...?"

Lightning flashed, illuminating the tears that sparkled on his cheeks. His hands gripped her shoulders tighter, and he hoarsely whispered, "Because you have before..."

"No. No. What are you talking about?"

"Knives," he murmured, sounding as if it was the first time this idea had occurred to him. Softly, he added, "Knives and his genocide."

Trembling, she tried to brush his hands away, failing. "I talk in my sleep, right?" she choked out, realizing she must've said more than she had ever imagined when under the influence of her fever.

His eyes had hardened to a more serious and less vulnerable degree. "Knives changed, and so can I. You want someone like him, don't you? I can be like him - I can be however you want! How could you give him a chance but not me? We've done about the same amount of damage!"

Stormie realized she had begun to cry too, warm, salty trickles moving over her dry lips. She sniffled, parting them, and then choked out, "I really hate you..."

His face fell.

"I really hate you!" she screamed, and dove into his chest, pounding on it with her bruised fists, sobbing into his shirt and feeling his arms encircle her gently, allowing her to beat on him all she wanted as she vented her anger. "Look at what you've done to me!" she sobbed. "If it weren't for you, none of this would've happened! I'd still be back home with Vash and Knives and we'd be happy! We'd all be happy if you hadn't done this to me! It's your fault, Naoshi, all your fault! We could've been happy...we could've...been...happy..."

He bowed his head, face pressing to her blonde hair as he hugged her shivering form close. "Don't cry," he urged. "You can still be happy. Let me make you happy."

"No!" she sobbed, breath catching in her throat. "You can't! I won't allow it!" Her forehead digging into his collar bone, she let out a horrible moan, "Oh, what would my friends think?! What would Faith think...? That's why I hate you so much! You make everything so hard, and you set up barriers that separate me from normal relationships! But most of all, I hate you because..." She sighed, melting slowly against him in defeat. "Because...it's so hard...tell you all this now..."

Naoshi ran long, slender fingers through her blonde tresses, sighing deeply. "Shh," he hushed, and the thunder rolled throughout the room, silencing the both of them for a while. Stormie ducked down out of his embrace and curled up on her side on the bed, feeling a hand being laid comfortingly to her shoulder. He had stretched out alongside her, obviously wanting to say something but not knowing if it was a bad time.

She closed her eyes tightly, not knowing what she wanted. ~*~Knives...if only he wasn't so much like you...~*~ A wry smile curled her lips. ~*~I always am suckered into falling for someone like you. But I can never have the real thing, can I?~*~

She shuddered, letting out a harsh breath as an image of Knives drifted through her mind. It faded as her thoughts turned to Naoshi, who was so much more attainable. And, hadn't she told Knives she wished she could be loved by someone LIKE him? Well, Naoshi's point was valid - he was a lot like Knives in his actions, but personality? He did give her the feeling that he might closely resemble the plant... Funny to think this was the only man she'd ever been intimate with - the one she hated to extremes that defied nature, yet at the same was contemplating whether or not she could love him as well. Strange to consider how she felt so comfortable with being so close to him all the sudden, this burning that was in the aftermath of his touch, the way something tightened in her stomach when she listened to his breathing in the darkness.

"What do you feel?" he asked quietly, and she rolled onto her side to face him, leaning into his chest, eyelids drooping low over blue orbs.

"Tired," was her barely audible reply, and he knew the conversation had ended.

~*~Guess I'm the desperate child now... Knives, he makes me miss you like crazy.~*~

~~~~~

The door to Knives' room creaked open and he knew the little girl was stepping inside, but he ignored it, not wanting to open himself to the world. His eyes scrunched closed even tighter than before and he tucked his head almost to his knees, grimacing.

"Knives?" whispered Faith, putting first one knee on the bed and then the other, crawling all fours towards his back, her hand gently laying on his shoulder. "Knives? I'm scared of the storm. Xavier already got in bed with Vash, so can I sleep with you?"

"Hn," he grunted, and felt her settle down against his back.

"Mom really likes you, ya' know," she yawned. "So, I guess that's why I like you so much." When he didn't respond, she quietly continued, "Mom has been really lonely for a while. I can tell. She tries to keep to herself for my sake, but she did see a few guys... None of them were very nice to her, and one did exactly what Mitayo did. That's why I was so disappointed. I thought he'd be a lot better, but you know what, Knives? I think mom is happiest when she's with you, so now that you're here...maybe something will change."

A slow smile curved his mouth and he rolled over to lie on his back, next to her, one hand on his stomach and the other tucked behind his head. The child rested much in the same fashion beside him, her eyes closed in contentment. The way she mimicked his position made some sort of joy bubble within him, just like Stormie could. But then again, this was Stormie's child.

And someday, Knives thought, she'll be my daughter too.

~~~~~

I hope this chapter didn't disappoint anyone! *chews on sleeve nervously* I wasn't sure posting this was right, just because the twist may have thrown a few people off... Hey! Naoshi is weird and I know it! I made him that way! lol So, just a note to all you people reading, I KNOW he's not normal. And I like him that way.

Review! It's greatly appreciated.