Disclaimer: Bah, Trigun isn't mine…
Chapter Eleven: Unexpected…
Rhianne shot down the hill like lightening, crouching to make herself go faster. She laughed joyously, she loved nothing more than the rush she got as she did when she was at breakneck speed like this, the sand flying around her… and the thrill of being able to do something Knives couldn't was fun too, of course.
Knives, meanwhile, had been expecting her to shoot herself down the hill, and was running at top speed, a little behind her, as they both raced down the hill. He gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes against the spray of sand his counterpart created as she sped along with ease.
Rhianne reached the bottom of the hill and coasted to a stop, smiling at Knives as he stumbled to a stop. He glared at her "did you have to do that?" he demanded, irritated. She smiled at him
"Of course, I wouldn't be Rhianne Alexandria De LaTour, would I?" she smiled. Knives looked dubious "what's with all the names?" he asked.
"You see, even though I was fully grown by the time we reached my planet, my brother and I were still placed in a volunteer family to be better suited with society on the new planet. They gave me the middle name Alexandria and their surname De LaTour. And I became so close to them that these two names just seemed to stick with me." Knives raised his eyebrows "you took on a name the vermin gave you?" he asked disgustedly. Rhianne smiled " they're not as bad as you think, Knives." He snorted.
Rhianne unbuckled her boots from the board and stood it up, leaning on it.
"So, whatdidja think of my Sandboarding skills?" she boasted, turning to him smugly. Knives waved a hand in boredom.
"I could do that blindfolded." He scoffed. She laughed "ha! I'd like to see you try!" Knives shot her a look.
"I'm a plant, and I could do that easily." He boasted. She raised her eyebrows "could you? You might want to take time to remember that I'm a plant too, and it took me a long time to learn." Knives shot her a dark look.
"Well, I may be undeveloped, as you say, but I'm still capable of learning things quickly." Rhianne rolled her eyes "it took me a whole day on the slopes to be able to make it to the bottom. And man, did my ass hurt after that; I couldn't sit down for a few days without a pillow."
Knives snorted again "I could master this within this very day.".
At this statement Rhianne burst out in laughter "sure you could." She managed to get out between fits of laughter. Knives looked miffed "yes, I could. In fact, give me that damn thing, and I'll try it right now." He reached for the board, but the other plant pulled it away from him.
"Ah, ah, ah…" she taunted, dancing away from him "you said you could do it blindfolded, and I wanna see this." With that said, she grabbed Knives' hand and pulled him up the hill.
Once there, she pulled a bandana from her bag and wrapped it around Knives' eyes. She couldn't figure out why he wasn't resisting, but figured it was probably him being smug and snobbish.
Unbeknownst to her, Millions Knives was, for the first time in his life, scared shitless.
He stood, trying to seem calm, as she fit his boots into the board, pulling the Velcro straps over them a few times because they weren't the right kind. He bit his lip, and inhaled deeply as she steadied him on the board and put her hand on his shoulders from behind him.
"Don't be scared Knives" she whispered in his ear "IT'S ONLY ABOUT BALANCE!!"
She shouted the latter part as she pushed him, launching the petrified plant down the hill. He lasted for about three seconds, making it halfway down the hill out of sheer luck, then wiping out face-first into the ripples of the sand.
Rhianne was at his side in a flash, throwing off the blindfold and pulling his head up to see if he was okay. A moment after her hands touched his face, the sting of his hand against her cheek sent her sprawling. Yep, he was okay. She pulled herself to her feet, grinning broadly at Knives, who loomed over her, his eyes aglow.
"Not as easy as you thought, is it?" she said snidely. Knives moved and picked up the board, his gaze not leaving her.
"You're a stupid little bitch." He spat angrily. Rhianne shrugged, a move that sent her again into the sand. She rose, a little shakily, to her feet, only to have Knives' foot collide with her chest.
She landed on her back, and jumped right up, squatting on the sand and leaning on her open-palmed hands on the sand. Knives walked over to her, covering her in his shadow. He watched until she rose to her feet again, and slapped her a final time. This time she didn't fall, but only moved her head, her body wanting to fall with the force of his blow but her mind refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fall again. Instead, as she slowly brought her head back into place, she launched herself at him, knocking the other plant to the sand.
She was sitting atop his chest, holding his wrists at the sides of his head.
"Look you snobby little psychopath," she spat keeping a firm grip on his wrists "don't take your failures out on me. You had this coming."
Then she kissed him.
It wasn't the best of kisses, as Rhianne had received quite a few, but it was pretty good nonetheless. Knives' mouth had been open to make some sort of snide remark, and she had taken advantage of the opportunity to explore his mouth a little, until he tried to bite her tongue. Then she pulled back and rolled off him, giving him room to get up. He stared at her, the quizzical look on his face priceless.
"What was that for?" he demanded. Rhianne shrugged "as I said, you had it coming." He stared, bewildered for a moment at her, then grabbed her around the waist and kissed her back.
Rhianne pulled away, pushing on his shoulders with her hands, pushing him back. "What was that for?" she demanded, surprise evident in her voice. Knives just smiled devilishly and released his grip on her.
"You had it coming too" he grinned, then added, "you bitch."
