Disclaimer: Vash: I have no owner- oh woe is me!

LL: I'll own you Vash… *grins evilly* oh yes, that's what I'll do…. ^_^

Vash: *hesitantly* um, okay. Me and the rest of the Trigun characters belong to LL!

*A large group of lawyers from the people who really own Trigun appear and produce a bunch of legal papers*

LL: *looks scared* Eeee, Vash, go back to where you came from.

Vash: *sadly* oh… *walks over to the lawyers and disappears in a puff of black smoke*

Chapter Twenty:

A/N: Yeah, it's short. Sorry, school's stupid and full of homework. Sorry ^_^

Rhianne's head turned towards the doorway, where the light was partially obscured by Knives' frame. His hair was windswept, and fell across his broad forehead. His clothes looked scratched with the sand and the armor was in need of buffing because of the onslaught of sand it had received while he had been walking. His boots were unlaced and his pants were crumpled around the bottoms, completing the messiness his ensemble portrayed. For a moment, she swore he looked almost relieved to see her, but his gaze caught Vash's, and his features turned stony.

"Vash." He barely acknowledged his brother's presence as he turned to Rhianne and walked over to her, ignoring the stares he was receiving from the kitchen staff and grasping her upper arm.

"Rhianne, come with me." He stated in a monotone voice. His eyes averted from her face to that of his twin "stay out of this Vash" he forewarned his sibling. From the corner of her eyes Rhianne spotted the barkeep rush into the kitchen and begin to walk towards the trio.

"Hey! What are you-" was all he managed to utter before Knives he whipped his gun from its holster at his hip and put a hole between his eyes. Crimson blood gushed forward from the fatal wound, and the man fell to the floor, the first wave of blood already drying on his skin.

"Knives!" Vash cried, tears coming to his eyes "what did you do that for? He wasn't hurting anybody! Why couldn't you just leave him alone?" Knives turned on his brother.

"Because he was an annoyance, as are all the insects on this planet." He sneered before wrenching Rhianne towards him.

"Come with me." He stated again, pulling forcefully on her arm. She allowed herself to be hauled along through the kitchen, until Knives was stopped by Leo, the cook. He stood before the plant, his arms stretched out to his sides, blocking their path, and a furious look smeared across his features, oblivious to the opponent he faced.

"You bastard, what the hell do you think you're doing?" he spat angrily as he advanced on them. He pulled gun, a large colt much more modern that those of Knives and Vash, from beneath his apron and pointed it at the broom-haired plant's forehead.

A shot rang out from the kitchen that sent the people in the café running; and the bullet that was fired as a result of this shot should have hit the infamous Humanoid Typhoon right between his aqua eyes. But his handsome face was unmarred. He blinked stupidly, looking from left to right, unable to understand why he was still alive. His vision turned to Rhianne, whose closed palm was level with her head, and was shaking slightly.

"Hot, hot, hot…" she stated quietly, opening her fist and allowing the smoking bullet to fall into the tiled floor, landing in a small puddle of soapy water with a light hiss. The stampede looked at his brother, who nodded in the woman's direction "she caught it…?" Vash asked, dumbfounded. Knives nodded silently.

Leo looked from the bullet to Rhianne, his eyes wide with fear "just what the hell are you?" he demanded. Rhianne smiled a mocking smile at him "we're plants" She stated "and this guy" she motioned to Vash "is the Humanoid Typhoon, Vash the Stampede."

Leo looked from her to Vash and back again. "You've gotta be shittin' me." He stated, and then a sadistic grin the only a man destined to die would wear came across his features.

"Then I should kill you freaks and collect the 60 000 000 000$$, shouldn't I?" His gun moved to Rhianne's forehead, but he never got a chance to fire, as another shot rang out and hit it's target: Leo's gut.

His open palm grasped at the wound, and stared in disbelief at the crimson liquid staining his once-crisp apron. Suddenly, his body was lifted up into the air and slammed against the wall, and Knives brushed by Rhianne, a diabolical grin on his face.

"No Knives…" Vash pleaded, stretching his hand towards his sibling. Rhianne grasped it and led him out of the room "we don't need to see this" were her only words of condolence as the kitchen door swung shut behind them.

They moved quietly to a table, and Rhianne sat on a chair, allowing Vash to lay his head in her lap and sob into the material of her uniform. She stroked his hair, which had fallen down somewhat during the last hectic few minutes, and told him to hush, that Knives was Knives and it was only one man.

"But I promised Rem…" Vash sobbed, clutching at her knee. He looked up at her, his aqua eyes overflowing with tears, silently pleading for her to say it would be okay, that Knives would back off and everything would be okay. But both knew it wasn't so.

"Vash, you made that promise to Rem, not Knives. You know how he is. Just let him be for now, the cook will die much more painfully if left alone, so Knives is really doing him a favor." She crooned, trying her best to condole the woe-begotten man. Vash sobbed loudly and whimpered something about wanting a donut, and Rhianne moved to stand.

"What are you doing?" Vash asked, clutching at her hand and rising after her. She looked back at him, her gaze steady "I'm going to go in there and make sure Knives doesn't get carried away" She stated morosely as she brushed Vash off her and walked through the door, leaving the Humanoid Typhoon to himself in the vacant restaurant.

She walked into the kitchen, accompanied by Leo's screams. Her eyes took in the blood flowing from the man pinned on the wall, his apron now completely red, no trace of the original color left. His eyes were wide, his forehead boasted several large, bulging veins, and an unseen hand was holding his gun to his right temple. Below him, grinning madly, stood Knives, his hand outstretched as though he was holding the gun. His trigger finger twitched, and his pupils shrunk as he moved his finger.

"You piece of filth, how dare you aim at my woman?" he sneered, tightening his hold on the invisible gun "do you honestly think that I would allow you to shoot at one of my kind? You're just an insect compared to me, and it is time for me to splatter you brains out onto the sidewalk of life, human scum." His finger moved slightly, and Leo shouted out in fear.

"Knives! Don't!" Rhianne cried, jumping to him. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she took him to the floor. Her hand grasped his, wrenching his finger from the trigger. She landed on top of him, and her fingers wrapped themselves through his, disabling him from holding the gun. Her aqua eyes met with his ice, and she resisted the urge to meet their lips as well "don't Knives. He can still live, and you know it."

As if on queue, Leo fell from the wall, and landed with a heavy grunt on the bloodstained floor. Rhianne looked from Knives to Leo, then back again "leave him be" she whispered into his ear "he isn't worthy of receiving death from a plant like you." For a moment, she had thought she had struck a nerve, but Knives' ego wasn't as bloated as she had thought. He looked form the wounded man to her, his eyes showing he had caught on to her.

"You may have a point, but he deserves death more than life" Knives hissed through clenched teeth "I'm simply putting the vermin out of his misery." Rhianne smiled a little at him "are you sure it wasn't because he was going to shoot me?" she asked coyly. Knives' eyes narrowed as he tried to hide the embarrassment, but Rhianne saw the flush that came to his cheeks. She grinned in spite of herself, and allowed Knives to sit up.

Leo scrambled to his feet behind them and ran towards the door. Knives extended his hand to stop him, but Rhianne caught his fingers in hers "no Knives, he's no threat to us." The cook heard her state before fleeing from the café, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Knives turned to Rhianne, and saw that she was smiling widely. Her eyes shone with tears of happiness, and without warning, she threw her arms around him in a tight embrace. She nuzzled her face into his neck and sighed contentedly as she felt Knives' arms wrap themselves around her back, returning the gesture of affection she knew he had always felt.

"I'm so glad you came for me." She stated happily as the door swung open and Vash entered the room. He was a little taken back at the scene before him, especially because it involved his twin showing signs of affection. He smiled in spite of himself though, as the two plants lips met, and he covered his eyes shyly.

In the back alley behind the café, Leo the cook leaned breathlessly against the wooden wall of a house, his hands clutching at the wound in his torso. He gritted his teeth against the pain, and shot a deathly glare back at the café. So they thought he wouldn't be any trouble to them, did they? He would prove them wrong, he smiled grimly as he made his way slowly along the wall to the open street. Those plants would pay dearly, there was no doubt about that. A small trickle of blood fell from his thin lips as they parted in a sinister sneer; the plants would perish not matter what, and that accursed woman would be the first to go.