Chapter 9
It had been a few days since Knives and Cora had there little talk. And they had settled into a routine of sorts. It was nothing special really, Cora would usually fix breakfast, and then make sure Knives was still healing all right. Much to his protests.
"Cora, how many times do I need to tell you that I am fine?" he growled, irritated by her mothering.
"Oh be quiet, do you want these to scar?" she said peeling the bandages off his skin.
Scars...that made him think of Vash. What was his broom head of a brother doing right now? He hadn't even given Vash a second thought since the day he had knocked him out. He toyed with the idea of sending him a mental message, but decided that he was too content to bother. Besides, Vash would only try and find him. And he didn't want to deal with his idiot brother, not just yet. Besides, he had other things to do. He now saw it as his duty to make sure that Cora, his new "rare finding" was kept safe. Not wanting her tainted by the thousands of trashy humans that littered the planet.
Knives was lost in thought, thinking of his brother, not hearing Cora say his name.
"Knives you in there?" she asked for the third time.
He blinked, "What?"
"I dunno, you were spacing out, what are you thinking about?" she asked still working away at his bandages.
"Nothing.." he said quickly. Cora had pulled the last of the dirty bandges away, and saw that the wounds were half healed.
"God you heal fast." she laughed. His bullet wounds were now well enough to where he probably didn't need them covered.
Knives sat there shirtless on the bed, in nothing but a pair of blue jeans; his back to her. He
jerked slightly as he felt her hand skim over his back, slowly tracing each bullet wound on his shoulders. It sent a shock through his system, that traveled right down to his toes.
Cora was amazed at how smooth his skin felt, and how well built he was. Sleek, honed muscles under smooth pale skin. The tight muscles etched into his shoulder blades showed that he was not a man to be messed with. Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and gave herself a mental slap in the face.
"Bad Cora, bad bad Cora. Do not fool with the man that doesn't like to be touched." she scolded herself in her head.
She withdrew her hand, instantly missing his smooth skin.
"Umm, you look good to me." she said nervously, "I think you could probably go without bandages from now on."
Knives grunted, her caressing making the ability to speak eluded him. He quickly stood up, examined his wounds for himself, and then pulled on the black shirt she had bought him a few days earlier. He had been so glad to finally get some decent clothes. He pulled on the black boots she had bought him as well, and turned around.
Knives stared at her for a moment studying her features, "you look good to me as well..." he said.
Her heart began to flutter rapidly, did he just say that? Was he actually complimenting her? Her breathe quickened, she tried desperately to stay calm.
"Umm thank you." she said while averting her eyes to the floor.
"Yes, I think your bruises are almost completely gone." he added.
Cora let out an heavy sigh. He hadn't been complimenting her at all! He was just looking at her brusied face making sure that it was okay. She felt so emabarassed, wishing the ground would suddenly open up and swallow her whole. She just hoped he hadn't noticed her cheeks turning red!
"Oh.." she gave a nervous little laugh, "yeah I hardly even notice the bruises anymore." she lightly touched her face, glad that the light blue bruises hid her blushing cheeks.
"I hope you don't mind if I go into to town for a few hours." Knives said oblivious to Cora's embarassment.
"Um, I suppose not," Cora answered, grateful for the change of subject, why do you need to go into town?"
"Just thought I'd get some excercise." Knives said as he walked downstairs.
Cora was a little nervous. What was he really up to?
"Do you want me to come along."
"No, I'd rather go on my own." he said curtly.
"Oh..okay." she said, hurt from his blunt remark.
She watched as he got in her truck and sped off to town.
****
Knives reached the town in only a few mintues time. He parked the truck outside a bar, and slammed the door.
He waltzed into the nearby bar like he owned the place. He eyed the bartender and stalked up to him, not wanting to beat around the bush, "I'm looking for man named Ben. He's a greasy human with balck hair, has some sort of gang. And you're going to tell me where he lives." Knives furthered his point by placing his shiny balck gun ontop of the bar. The bartender gulped, recieving his message loud and clear, and babbled an address.
Without even so much as a thanks Knives turned on his heels and left the bar.
It didn't take very long to find the place. It was exactly how he had pictured it, run down and crummy. He didn't bother to knock, he wasn't there for a friendly visit. He barged through the door taking the twenty some odd men by surprise. A tall man with brown hair stood up, obvioulsy one of the more pwoerful men of the gang.
"What th- who the fuck are you. Don't you know who we are?" the tall man yelled.
"Oh I know who your are, the problem is, you don't know who I am" Knives pulled out his gun.
"What if I told you I dont' give fuck who you are!" the tall man yelled.
"You know that foul language suits you pig. I came here to take care of some business. Do you have a boss named Ben?" Knives asked.
"Uh yeah" the tall man said slightly confused, "but ah- we haven't seen him lately thoguh."
"Of course you haven't. You wanna know why?" a sadistic grin grew as Knives walked closer to the tall man.
The tall gave him a very confused, slightly frightened look.
Knives was nose to nose with the man when he snickered "Because I killed him.."
It took the tall man a few seconds for it to register in his head, his face fell, "you-you killed the boss?" the tall man stammered.
"Yes, you see you boss, did something that wasn't very smart. There's a young woman that lives outside of town. You probably know her."
A light went on in the tall mans head, "Yeah Cora, that bitch owes us money!" he growled
Knives shook his head diapprovinlgy, "oh you didn't just say what I think you said." he laughed, "I'll let it slide, seeing as I'm such a merciful man. You see your boss decided that he wanted more than money from the young woman. And well that's when the accident happened..."
"Accident?" the tall man swallowed hard.
Knives began to fiddle with his gun as he started to circle the tall man, "Yes seems your boss had several bones broken and a bullet put through his head. He really should have been more careful." He finsihed playing with his gun and pointed it at the tall man.
"I'm here to take care of her debt." Knives demanded.
"Sh-she owes us three thousan double dollars." he whispered. He was hoping that one of his buddies would soon come to his aid, but they stood there dumbfounded, too shocked to move.
"You'r not very swift are you?" Knives said resting the gun in between hi eyes, "You see I'm here to tell you that there is no debt. Understand?" Knives cocked his gun.
The tall man heard movement behind him, obviously one of his buddies had, had enough. Knives noticed it too, he shot the man dead, and had the gun back in between the tall man's eyes before anyone even knew what had happend.
"I'll tell you again, there is not debt. Right?" Knives pressed.
"Alright...alright...just don't hurt me!" the tall man whimpered, on the verge on wetting his pants.
"One more thing, I want you to go to Cora's house tonight at 6 sharp. I want you to tell her yourself that the debt is gone. I'll be there waiting, if you don't show up remember that I know where you live. And if you run... mark my words I will track you down and kill you, but not before I torture you nice and slow. Understand?" Knives words were cold, malicious.
"Ye...yes.. yes I understand" he whimpered.
"Good, then my business here is done." He turned and walked out of the house. Leaving the tall man to collapse on the floor crying like a newborn baby.
Knives returned home with a grin on his face. His day already looking brighter. As he pulled up to the house he saw Cora sitting on the proch, waiting for him .
"So?" she said, hoping he would finally tell her what he was up to.
"So what? " he said cooly.
"Why did you go into town?" she asked.
"I told you why, I needed the excercise." he walked past her and into the house.
"Oh...okay" she said quietly.
Te rest of the day was spent in silence. She didn't see Knives until he came down for dinner that night. They ate in silence. As she ate she notcied Knives glancing at the clock. She was beginning to get nervous.
They finsihed their meal, and she was about ready to go up to her room, wantign to ignore him for the rest of the night when he spoke.
"Come out onto the porch with me, the house is stuffy." he almost sounded cheerful, which worried her even more.
"Umm okay."
Another glance at the clock, told him it was six o'clock on the nose. Knives walked out onto the porch, a very worried and confused Cora followed.
He was pleased to see the tall man standing at the bottom of the steps, his hat in his hand.
Cora saw the man and gave a quick little yelp while backing up to the porch door, scared that there would be a repeat of the last time.
"Miss Cora, I have a message for you." the tall man called out.
Knives turned around and saw Cora up against the wall. "Cora listen to the man he has a message for you."
She shook her head, refusing to move. Knives looked at her sternly, "Don't youwant to know what the message is?" Again she shook her head. Knives gave a sigh, and grabbed her hand pulling her to the front of the porch. Cora fighting all the way. KNives stood behind her hands on her shoudlers keeping her in her place.
"Umm...what do you want?" she croaked.
"I'm here to tell you that your debt has been taken care of. You owe us nothing. We will not bother you ever again." with that the tall man looked up at Knives who gave him a nod of approval.
Cora noticied this and cocked her head, wondering what that was all about.
"Well Cora what do you say to the nice man?" Knives asked
"Um..thank you. I uh really appreciate that." she said warrily
With that the tall man jumped on his thomas and took off.
Cora stood there dumbfounded. What the hell just happend? She was snapped out of it by Knives laughing hysterically. She had never really heard him laugh before, just then she figured out what his little trip into town had been about.
"You did that didn't you?" she asked, still confused, but smiling slightly.
Knives took a few deep breaths trying to stop himself from laughing, and looked at her very seriously, "I told you, you didn't need to worry about them anymore. I make good on my promises."
She stood there breathless for a moment, "Knives I-....thank you." she whispered.
Knives looked down at her, noticing how pretty she was in the moonlight. And became very nervous, notcing that they were mere inches from one another. He took a step back and gave her a cocky grin before her walked back into the house, and up to his room.
Cora stood on the porch step, completely dumbfoudned at what Knives had done. Did he do it because he cared? Or did he just do it becasue he didn't want to have to be bothered with her silly problems?
No...if he didn't care he would have left a long time ago and never looked back. But he was still there, still wanting to watch over her. But she knew deep down that sooner or later, she would want more than just someone to watch over her.
It had been a few days since Knives and Cora had there little talk. And they had settled into a routine of sorts. It was nothing special really, Cora would usually fix breakfast, and then make sure Knives was still healing all right. Much to his protests.
"Cora, how many times do I need to tell you that I am fine?" he growled, irritated by her mothering.
"Oh be quiet, do you want these to scar?" she said peeling the bandages off his skin.
Scars...that made him think of Vash. What was his broom head of a brother doing right now? He hadn't even given Vash a second thought since the day he had knocked him out. He toyed with the idea of sending him a mental message, but decided that he was too content to bother. Besides, Vash would only try and find him. And he didn't want to deal with his idiot brother, not just yet. Besides, he had other things to do. He now saw it as his duty to make sure that Cora, his new "rare finding" was kept safe. Not wanting her tainted by the thousands of trashy humans that littered the planet.
Knives was lost in thought, thinking of his brother, not hearing Cora say his name.
"Knives you in there?" she asked for the third time.
He blinked, "What?"
"I dunno, you were spacing out, what are you thinking about?" she asked still working away at his bandages.
"Nothing.." he said quickly. Cora had pulled the last of the dirty bandges away, and saw that the wounds were half healed.
"God you heal fast." she laughed. His bullet wounds were now well enough to where he probably didn't need them covered.
Knives sat there shirtless on the bed, in nothing but a pair of blue jeans; his back to her. He
jerked slightly as he felt her hand skim over his back, slowly tracing each bullet wound on his shoulders. It sent a shock through his system, that traveled right down to his toes.
Cora was amazed at how smooth his skin felt, and how well built he was. Sleek, honed muscles under smooth pale skin. The tight muscles etched into his shoulder blades showed that he was not a man to be messed with. Suddenly, she realized what she was doing and gave herself a mental slap in the face.
"Bad Cora, bad bad Cora. Do not fool with the man that doesn't like to be touched." she scolded herself in her head.
She withdrew her hand, instantly missing his smooth skin.
"Umm, you look good to me." she said nervously, "I think you could probably go without bandages from now on."
Knives grunted, her caressing making the ability to speak eluded him. He quickly stood up, examined his wounds for himself, and then pulled on the black shirt she had bought him a few days earlier. He had been so glad to finally get some decent clothes. He pulled on the black boots she had bought him as well, and turned around.
Knives stared at her for a moment studying her features, "you look good to me as well..." he said.
Her heart began to flutter rapidly, did he just say that? Was he actually complimenting her? Her breathe quickened, she tried desperately to stay calm.
"Umm thank you." she said while averting her eyes to the floor.
"Yes, I think your bruises are almost completely gone." he added.
Cora let out an heavy sigh. He hadn't been complimenting her at all! He was just looking at her brusied face making sure that it was okay. She felt so emabarassed, wishing the ground would suddenly open up and swallow her whole. She just hoped he hadn't noticed her cheeks turning red!
"Oh.." she gave a nervous little laugh, "yeah I hardly even notice the bruises anymore." she lightly touched her face, glad that the light blue bruises hid her blushing cheeks.
"I hope you don't mind if I go into to town for a few hours." Knives said oblivious to Cora's embarassment.
"Um, I suppose not," Cora answered, grateful for the change of subject, why do you need to go into town?"
"Just thought I'd get some excercise." Knives said as he walked downstairs.
Cora was a little nervous. What was he really up to?
"Do you want me to come along."
"No, I'd rather go on my own." he said curtly.
"Oh..okay." she said, hurt from his blunt remark.
She watched as he got in her truck and sped off to town.
****
Knives reached the town in only a few mintues time. He parked the truck outside a bar, and slammed the door.
He waltzed into the nearby bar like he owned the place. He eyed the bartender and stalked up to him, not wanting to beat around the bush, "I'm looking for man named Ben. He's a greasy human with balck hair, has some sort of gang. And you're going to tell me where he lives." Knives furthered his point by placing his shiny balck gun ontop of the bar. The bartender gulped, recieving his message loud and clear, and babbled an address.
Without even so much as a thanks Knives turned on his heels and left the bar.
It didn't take very long to find the place. It was exactly how he had pictured it, run down and crummy. He didn't bother to knock, he wasn't there for a friendly visit. He barged through the door taking the twenty some odd men by surprise. A tall man with brown hair stood up, obvioulsy one of the more pwoerful men of the gang.
"What th- who the fuck are you. Don't you know who we are?" the tall man yelled.
"Oh I know who your are, the problem is, you don't know who I am" Knives pulled out his gun.
"What if I told you I dont' give fuck who you are!" the tall man yelled.
"You know that foul language suits you pig. I came here to take care of some business. Do you have a boss named Ben?" Knives asked.
"Uh yeah" the tall man said slightly confused, "but ah- we haven't seen him lately thoguh."
"Of course you haven't. You wanna know why?" a sadistic grin grew as Knives walked closer to the tall man.
The tall gave him a very confused, slightly frightened look.
Knives was nose to nose with the man when he snickered "Because I killed him.."
It took the tall man a few seconds for it to register in his head, his face fell, "you-you killed the boss?" the tall man stammered.
"Yes, you see you boss, did something that wasn't very smart. There's a young woman that lives outside of town. You probably know her."
A light went on in the tall mans head, "Yeah Cora, that bitch owes us money!" he growled
Knives shook his head diapprovinlgy, "oh you didn't just say what I think you said." he laughed, "I'll let it slide, seeing as I'm such a merciful man. You see your boss decided that he wanted more than money from the young woman. And well that's when the accident happened..."
"Accident?" the tall man swallowed hard.
Knives began to fiddle with his gun as he started to circle the tall man, "Yes seems your boss had several bones broken and a bullet put through his head. He really should have been more careful." He finsihed playing with his gun and pointed it at the tall man.
"I'm here to take care of her debt." Knives demanded.
"Sh-she owes us three thousan double dollars." he whispered. He was hoping that one of his buddies would soon come to his aid, but they stood there dumbfounded, too shocked to move.
"You'r not very swift are you?" Knives said resting the gun in between hi eyes, "You see I'm here to tell you that there is no debt. Understand?" Knives cocked his gun.
The tall man heard movement behind him, obviously one of his buddies had, had enough. Knives noticed it too, he shot the man dead, and had the gun back in between the tall man's eyes before anyone even knew what had happend.
"I'll tell you again, there is not debt. Right?" Knives pressed.
"Alright...alright...just don't hurt me!" the tall man whimpered, on the verge on wetting his pants.
"One more thing, I want you to go to Cora's house tonight at 6 sharp. I want you to tell her yourself that the debt is gone. I'll be there waiting, if you don't show up remember that I know where you live. And if you run... mark my words I will track you down and kill you, but not before I torture you nice and slow. Understand?" Knives words were cold, malicious.
"Ye...yes.. yes I understand" he whimpered.
"Good, then my business here is done." He turned and walked out of the house. Leaving the tall man to collapse on the floor crying like a newborn baby.
Knives returned home with a grin on his face. His day already looking brighter. As he pulled up to the house he saw Cora sitting on the proch, waiting for him .
"So?" she said, hoping he would finally tell her what he was up to.
"So what? " he said cooly.
"Why did you go into town?" she asked.
"I told you why, I needed the excercise." he walked past her and into the house.
"Oh...okay" she said quietly.
Te rest of the day was spent in silence. She didn't see Knives until he came down for dinner that night. They ate in silence. As she ate she notcied Knives glancing at the clock. She was beginning to get nervous.
They finsihed their meal, and she was about ready to go up to her room, wantign to ignore him for the rest of the night when he spoke.
"Come out onto the porch with me, the house is stuffy." he almost sounded cheerful, which worried her even more.
"Umm okay."
Another glance at the clock, told him it was six o'clock on the nose. Knives walked out onto the porch, a very worried and confused Cora followed.
He was pleased to see the tall man standing at the bottom of the steps, his hat in his hand.
Cora saw the man and gave a quick little yelp while backing up to the porch door, scared that there would be a repeat of the last time.
"Miss Cora, I have a message for you." the tall man called out.
Knives turned around and saw Cora up against the wall. "Cora listen to the man he has a message for you."
She shook her head, refusing to move. Knives looked at her sternly, "Don't youwant to know what the message is?" Again she shook her head. Knives gave a sigh, and grabbed her hand pulling her to the front of the porch. Cora fighting all the way. KNives stood behind her hands on her shoudlers keeping her in her place.
"Umm...what do you want?" she croaked.
"I'm here to tell you that your debt has been taken care of. You owe us nothing. We will not bother you ever again." with that the tall man looked up at Knives who gave him a nod of approval.
Cora noticied this and cocked her head, wondering what that was all about.
"Well Cora what do you say to the nice man?" Knives asked
"Um..thank you. I uh really appreciate that." she said warrily
With that the tall man jumped on his thomas and took off.
Cora stood there dumbfounded. What the hell just happend? She was snapped out of it by Knives laughing hysterically. She had never really heard him laugh before, just then she figured out what his little trip into town had been about.
"You did that didn't you?" she asked, still confused, but smiling slightly.
Knives took a few deep breaths trying to stop himself from laughing, and looked at her very seriously, "I told you, you didn't need to worry about them anymore. I make good on my promises."
She stood there breathless for a moment, "Knives I-....thank you." she whispered.
Knives looked down at her, noticing how pretty she was in the moonlight. And became very nervous, notcing that they were mere inches from one another. He took a step back and gave her a cocky grin before her walked back into the house, and up to his room.
Cora stood on the porch step, completely dumbfoudned at what Knives had done. Did he do it because he cared? Or did he just do it becasue he didn't want to have to be bothered with her silly problems?
No...if he didn't care he would have left a long time ago and never looked back. But he was still there, still wanting to watch over her. But she knew deep down that sooner or later, she would want more than just someone to watch over her.