A/N: YAY! It's random cameo time!!! Well, not too random. Thestral1 (Stephania Juliana in this fic) is, as I keep saying, writing the fic that I am playing off of, and subsequently we shall be appearing in cameos along with our favorite characters in each other stories. HA! See? I told you I had permission to be playing off her fic! ::triumphant smirk, though it is cut short by mob of angry fans pelting her with rotted veggies:: Hey… ::pouts:: that wasn't nice…

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, I don't own anything vaguely Harry Potter, and I definitely don't own anything worth suing me over. Unless you really want a few toothpicks….

The Student, the Typhoon, and the Closet

**Chapter 3**

Once I had managed to convince Vash that it was entirely necessary to ride the bus quite a ways in order to get to the 'donut shop', we soon found ourselves outside of Stephania Juliana's front door. She happened to be a close friend of mine, and as such, she knew my quirky ways, so I felt safer consulting her for advice. At least she won't consider throwing me in the loony bin from the get go… Unfortunately, trying to get a seven foot two inch tall gunman to fit under your umbrella while running for the safety of the porch steps is not an easy task…

"Bloody hell! Stupid rain! We're soaked!" I cried in frustration, practically pummeling Stephie's poor doorbell.

After a moment, the front door swung open, much to my relief, revealing a bewildered Stephie…

"Liz, hey! Wait..."she paused, seemingly to get a better look at Vash, who was standing beside me, looking quite perplexed himself. "Oro?!" I had to stifle a laugh. Ever since I had introduced her to two of my favorite animes, "Trigun" and "Rurouni Kenshin", Stephie had adopted a few of my favorite characters' quirks. However, I was in much in the joking mood at the moment, quickly tiring of standing out in the rain.

"Er... Stephie... I'll explain donut-boy if you let us in." I said quickly, using the affectionate nickname the two of us had always used for Vash. But that was before he walked through your closet… Ignoring such thoughts I glanced back at Vash, murmuring, "hmmm, might want to duck your head to get in the door..." Turing back to Stephie, I tried to wake her from her amazement.

"So yes... may we come in?"

Somewhat sheepishly, she realized her supposed lack of manners. "Of course, please." Pulling the door back farther to allow us entry, she gestured to the couch and loveseat in her living room, where she appeared to have a guest of her own…

Good lord… no… that can't be him…Even as I was thinking this, I swore I heard her mutter faintly, "Well, at least I am not the only one with the screwy closet then ..."

I however, was far too preoccupied with the figure on the couch to notice such comments at the time. "Thanks...?" I muttered nearly incoherently, staring at what appeared to be a rather egocentric looking man in… wizarding robes??

"Er.... Stephie..." Turing back to face her, I shot her a hopeful look, "Does this mean I'm NOT the only insane one?"

Just then Vash managed to get through the doorframe, and took the opportunity to remind me of the ruse I had used to get him here…

"I thought we were going out for donuts?"

Ignoring Vash's current comment, Stephie instead replied to my own. "It certainly seems so ..."

The 'wizard' on the loveseat took her pause as his cue to introduce himself.

"Oh, do we have company? My name is Gilderoy Lockart, five time winner of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile awa-"

"Oh, shut it!" Stephie chided, giving Lockhart a look that I had seen her use only when she was particularly annoyed by something. Managing a slightly softer tone, she explained things to him. "Yes, we do have company, this" she said with a point in my direction, "is Eliza Brookson, otherwise known as Liz, and this" she said pointing at needle noggin', "is Vash."

I couldn't help myself, I took one look at Lockhart's swaggering expression, and promptly bursts out laughing.

"Oh... Kami... that's great. You get Mr. 'Everyone-worship-me-for-I-am-oh-so-wonderful', and I get a donut crazed gunman!" I cried, succumbing to another fit of laughter.

Ignoring my last comment, and completely oblivious to the fact that Stephie had already introduced him, Vash slapped on his best 'oh-so-innocent-yet-friendly' smile. "It's nice to meet you! I'm... er... that is…"

I stopped laughing long enough to shoot him a quizzical look, wondering what alias he would try…

"My name's Eriks!" he said with a grin.

The old standby, huh? "Right." I snorted. "Why don't you just use "Valetinez Alkalenela Zeehock Sushira Boherez Gombigomela Blue Stradavari Tralentrent Pierre Andre Charttenhemos E'Vonnivitchi Baldos George Doitzel Kaizer the third." One of my favorite quotes of his, but of course, how could he know that?

"Or is that too long for the great and powerful 'Vash the Stampede'?"

With a look of sheer amusement, Stephie grinned, "Don't trust me do you, Donut Boy? I mean to say I must look formidable I assume." she added with a smirk.

"Well you actually are, believe it or not." Lockhart said happily. What is he up to…

Quickly going from amused to annoyed, Stephie swiveled to face the towering wizard. "Oh really? I wonder why that is? Hmm, is it because I haven't dropped to my knees and worshipped the ground you walk on? Is that it? Because if it is, that's not formidable, that's just common sense."

Well that shut him up!

Pouting adorably, Vash muttered, "Why is it that everyone knows my name here?"

I felt an immediate wave of sympathy for him, being in a completely different time and possibly dimension, couldn't be all that easy. I moved to sit beside him on the couch.

"Hey... look on the bright side! No double dollars... so no double dollar reward, right? And not everyone knows you're name... besides, who cares so long as they're not trying to kill you, right?" I added with a grin.

This seemed to raise his spirits a bit. "Can we still have donuts?"

"You really are obsessed, aren't you?" I said with an amused snort. "Yeah, but later. Stephie and I need to talk..."

"Yes, we certainly do."

"Right." I nodded, moving to get up so that we could go to another room and sort this out in private, but I suddenly found myself unable to get anywhere.

"Can't you talk out here?" Vash had grabbed my wrist as I tried to move away, and looked at me with pleading eyes. I suddenly realized that if I left him, even for a moment, he would probably feel completely alone. My heart wrenched for a moment, I knew from watching the anime that being left alone was probably one of the few things the notorious Stampede was actually afraid of.

Almost subconsciously, my expression softened. "Alright, here good for you Stephie?"

"Yes, here is fine." she said with a polite nod. "Well, it's quite obvious our closets are plotting against us, are they not?"

I cast her a bemused grin. "You know, I always wanted to meet this one..." I muttered, tossing a sideways glance at Vash, "But I never expected he'd come out my ruddy closet! He knocked me over when he did too!" I suddenly recalled all the times I'd fallen over since his arrival. "I've been on the floor quite a bit recently..."

With an almost wistful smile, Stephie murmured, "Well, I never expected this one to come out of my closet. You of course know who I would have loved to see emerge from my closet."

I smirked at her far off look. "Oh, poor Stephie doesn't get her wolf-boy."

Casting me a confused glance, Vash questioned, "'Wolf-Boy'? Did you mean Wolfwood? Is he here too??"

"No, sorry. No gun toting priests in this reality. But we do apparently have one very egocentric wizard..." I trailed off as I warily eyed Lockhart. I too, had read the Harry Potter series cover to cover, and I never held much affection for the adled wizard.

Obviously noting my wary look, Stephie laughed warmly. "Yes, quite."

Of course, Lockhart seemed to notice my eyeing him as well. "Is it my fault I have grown accustomed to being famous?" he said turning to Stephie.

"Yes, it is your fault, because technically you wouldn't be famous if you weren't already trying to feed that ego of yours, or have you forgotten that your "fame" is built on what everyone but yourself have done? Hmm?" she said, seemingly quite irritated.

A bit perplexed, Lockhart scratched his head. "What do you mean? How can you possibly know anything about me?"

"Oh Merlin ..." she closed her eyes and uttered a soft sigh. "You really are adled. Didn't I just explain all of this to you? Remember those books I showed you? They tell me all I need to know about you."

"The books?" he muttered, thinking hard. "Oh! The books!"

"Yes, the books oh-one-who-has-the-most-abysmal-memory-span."

Snickering, I decided now might be a good opportunity to explain my situation to Vash a bit more. "See? I know lots about you too! Only I get it from watching the show that you're a part of."

"And what exactly do you know about me?" he asked, with a trademark curious grin.

This should be fun… I thought, grinning wickedly.

"Oh plenty..." I began, counting off on my fingers. "Let's see, there's Wolfwood Milly and Meryl for starters... Then there's Rem and Knives... You have an insatiable appetite for donuts… You call yourself 'A hunter of peace, chaser of the elusive mayfly known as love'… Your personal motto is "Love and Peace"... and, you're not exactly human. Did I miss anything?" I said, finishing with a triumphant smirk, noticing Stephie smiling as I ran through the list.

Vash merely stared at me with wide-eyed shock.

"Well, as wonderful as our banter is, we need to figure out how to deal with our unexpected companions. We do have classes still and I have work."

I pondered my friend's comment for a moment. "Hmm, you're right. We can't very well leave these two home alone now can we?"

"No, that we cannot. This one knows nothing of living a normal life without magic." she said with a glance at Lockhart.

I nodded, when a thought suddenly struck me. "Hey Vash? Did you study Earth history with Rem?"

"Uh... yeah. What for?" he replied. slightly confused.

Turning back to my friend, I proposed, "What if we left them somewhere together?"

"Yes, but where? Here?"

"We could lock them back in one of our closets...." I sniggered with an evil grin.

"Yes, that is all well for you, but you've seen my closet, it's not exactly the lockable kind." she noted with a smirk. "Well, why don't we leave them here, as you do come out this way for school. On your way there you can have Donut Boy stay with Mr. Ego here."

I grinned. "That'll work... I just hope they can tolerate being together for that long...." I added with a sigh, wondering just how well Vash would get along with a big headed egotist like Lockhart.

"Yes, I'll cross my fingers while I am at work."

I grinned. "Me too..." Oh please Kami, don't let this explode in my face… Turning serious, I decided I needed to clear something up once and for all. "But just to clarify... You can see him, right?" I pointed to Vash.

"Yes, of course I can see him. Wait, can you see him" she replied, pointing to Lockhart.

I nodded. "So.. it's official then." I looked at Vash, and then back to Stephie.

"We've BOTH gone completely bonkers!"

"Not just bonkers, I believe stark raving mad is a better way to describe this." she said casting a glance at both Lockhart and Vash.

I gave a wise nod. "Quite right. Just as long as we're clear on that then."

"Yes, we're more than clear on that."

Just as I was about to say something else, I felt a rather annoying poke in my side. "What?!?!"

"Donuts?" the gunman said, giving me a puppy-dog face and pleading eyes.

I smacked myself upside the head in both frustration and amusement. "Fine! Yes! We'll go get your donuts!" Turning back to Stephie, "Sorry, but me and my hallucination here have to go... donut run."

"It's all right, I understand. He wouldn't be the Donut Boy without the donut run. In any case I need to get this one to a store. He is in sore need of normal type clothes and he is NOT wearing my step-father's clothes."

"Hmmm..." I muttered, eyeing Vash as I did. "We may need to go shopping for this one too... can't always go out in full 'I'm a wanted outlaw, fear me!' attire now can we?"

The said wanted outlaw shot me a disdainful look at the prospect of ridding himself of his trademark red leather coat.

"Well, either way, we'd best be going." I stood, motioning for Vash to follow me.

Perfect hostess that she is, Stephie jumped up to get the door with a warm smile. "I would say come again soon, but I know you both are, so I think we'll skip that and just say instead have a good day."

With a smile of his own, Lockhart added, "It was pleasant to meet you both."

"You too." I said, grinning at Stephie. Looking at Lockhart, "Er... yes... nice to meet you as well..." I replied, still not being entirely trusting of him, knowing what he was like from the books.

Not bothering to watch where he was going, Vash happily bid Stephie and her visitor adieu. "Yeah! Nice too meet y-"

SMACK!

With a heavy groan, poor Vash backed away from the doorframe, while Stephie cast him a concerned glance. "Oh Merlin! Are you all right, Vash?

With yet another groan, Vash walked through the door again, this time making sure to duck under the doorframe. "Yeah..."

I shook my head, half in sympathy and half in amusement. "Come on... Bavarian chocolate cream filled donuts await..."

Instantly recovering Vash cried out happily. "ALRIGHT!!!!!"

Stephie merely laughed merrily. "Well have fun you two! Bye."

Vash waved happily back at her following me back out into the rain, in search of new and improved donuts.

~~~*~~~

A/N: Just a quick note- remember that long alias I reminded Vash of? Well, it really is one of my favorite Vash quotes from the anime! ^_^x He says it when he first introduces himself to Wolfwood. Subsequently, I finally found it (after looking everywhere for the correct version) on a site called Dues Ex Machina, so go there and look at all the wonderful Vashie goodness! (-- slipping into over-obsessed fangirl mode ~_~x;; )