A/N: ACK!!!! Gomen minna-san for taking so long to update… Ruddy writer's block!!! ::steals colt revolver from Vash:: DIE!!!! ::repeatedly shoots block of wood with "Writer's" written on it::

I feel better now. Thanks for your patience, hope you enjoy this next chapter! (look for personal thanks at end of chapter! ^_^x)

Disclaimer: Don't own Trigun, don't own Disney (right. Like any college student could even hope to own Disney!) ::sniff:: I don't even own cold cereal… I had mush for breakfast…

P.S. I don't own mush either…

The Student, the Typhoon, and the Closet

**Chapter 5**

The next morning, I awoke to discover that Vash had once again, managed to be up before me and disappear. Where in the name of Buddha is that blasted needle noggin'?? I wasn't angry with him, I simply found it unsettling that he awoke so early and had Kami knows how much time to get himself in trouble, or hurt, or lost, or… I groaned, it was far too early to ponder the possibilities of Vash deciding to get up early and explore 'the real world' by himself. Almost grudgingly, I fetched my favorite pair of worn jeans along with a black tee-shirt before leaving my room in search of the aforementioned gunman.

"Morning!" said a far too perky voice from somewhere behind me when I stepped into the kitchen.

"GAH! Would you stop that??" I cried in surprise, all the while trying to calm my racing heart.

Vash's only response was a somewhat bemused look.

He does that on purpose… I just know it! I shook my head, it wouldn't do to start my mornings with a heart attack. Shooting him a glance, I managed a simple question….

"How does cold cereal sound for breakfast?"

~~~*~~~

The rest of the morning was rather uneventful, though I found myself thanking whatever deity was watching for granting Vash the use of buses on Gunsmoke. I'd no idea what in all the high heavens I would have done had he not been used to a bus.

However, even for all Vash's previous experience, there was nothing we could do about the bus being late. I growled, I did not like to be tardy when meeting someone, and Stephie was not someone I wanted to keep waiting. Especially not when she's got Lockhart with her… Racing into the mall, I practically dragged Vash along.

"Come on! We're going to be late!"

"But… can't we just…"

I sighed. "I promise that after we're done shopping, I'll give you a full tour of the mall, but right now we've really got to go, okay?"

He looked a bit disappointed, but only for a split second before his ever present cheerful mask was back in place. "Alright."

We made a mad dash for the elevator, which, thankfully, was empty. I smiled, relieved, as I pushed the button for the second floor. Turning to my companion, I found him looking around the walls of the elevator with great curiosity. I smiled, it was hard to find someone with such wonder and interest in everything nowadays.

"What?" he asked, having caught my curious smile.

I opened my mouth to respond, when the lights went out.

~~~*~~~

Fifteen minutes later found me slamming a frustrated fist against the buttons of the elevator, using all the strength I had against the foul contraption, as though I could beat the machine to a bloody pulp with my fists. "Dammit!" I practically howled in frustration.

Glancing up at me from his position on the floor, Vash simply stated, "Haven't you ever heard of Love and Peace?"

I took one look at him, and burst out laughing. "Thanks, I needed that." I said in reply to the rather surprised look he was giving me.

He smiled, a genuine one for the first time since I met him. "Now that's a smile that would've made Wolfwood proud." I said with a grin.

He looked somewhat saddened, for a moment, but smiled again once more, though a bit more wistfully this time.

"Well, looks like we might be stuck in this forsaken box, so what do you suggest we do?" I asked, curious to see what his answer would be.

Vash looked thoughtful for a moment, before offering up a shrug.

"Alright… er…. we could…." I sighed, "I have no idea."

He laughed at me then, only Vash would something funny in this… I thought, just before giving into laughter myself. With shrug, I sat down next to him on the floor of the elevator, bracing my hands on the carpeting for support.

I yelped in pain as I pushed my weight against my right hand. Oh damn it all to hell, bloody elevator, why did it have to be so… so… sigh… well it is made of metal…

"What's wrong??" came Vash's concerned voice, snapping me out of my musings.

I looked at him a bit sheepishly, "It seems I may have hit the elevator a bit harder than I should have, I must've bruised my hand or something. It's nothing really."

Vash frowned, "If it was nothing you wouldn't have yelled." he chided me, "Let me see."

I shook my head, "Vash, it's nice of you to be concerned and all, but it's really nothing. You don't need to worry yourself."

He merely rolled his eyes at me, my only warning before he quickly snatched my hand from behind my back and pulled it, and me, over to examine the damage.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked as he began to turn my hand in every direction possible.

"Hmmm… does that hurt?" he asked poking one of my knuckles.

"OW! Yes! So stop it!"

He ignored me, and flipped my hand over so that my palm was face up.

"Hey! I said- oh…" I said as most coherent thought left my mind. Vash had found certain pressure points on my palm and was rubbing careful circles on and around them, relieving the pain I had inflicted while trying to destroy the elevator bare handed.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" I muttered incredulously once he stopped and my thoughts resumed their normal coarse. "It really helped!"

Vash grinned, "Well…"

~~~*~~~

Three hours later we were still talking, mainly about random trivial things, but it made the time in the elevator fly by. I explained things about the 'real world' to him, and he filled in little details about his life; things I didn't know from the anime.

"You're kidding! I can't even begin to imagine Knives doing that!" I said, clutching my sides to hold in the laughter.

"No way! It's true! I mean… we were kids after all. Even Knives had to act like one sometime!" Vash replied, laughing himself at the memory of his childhood, however short it truly was.

I grinned, "Too bad that wasn't in the anime, he'd never live it down!" I snorted. I decided that now would be an excellent time to get some answers to slightly more… important questions.

"So… "I began carefully, "do you think you could tell me… what happened?"

He stopped laughing, and got uncharacteristically quiet. "It's not important."

I grinned just slightly, "If it wasn't important you wouldn't be so quiet Donut-boy."

He smiled sadly and gave a soft sigh, "Knives woke up." he stated simply.

I placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "I figured that. What happened?"

He took a deep breath, "Well, at first I thought he might have changed, but then… once he got better, he ran off." He looked down at the floor, his voice becoming a bit more strained. "But there's more to it than that. Before he left he… he attacked the girls."

"Oh gods, Vash…"

"Milly was fine," he grinned ruefully, "she even tried to tell me it wasn't my fault. But…" he took another deep breath, "Meryl was shot. Four times. Once for every time I shot him in our last battle. Ironic huh?"

I could do nothing but pull him into a sympathetic hug, even though I realized I barely knew him, it just felt like it was something he needed.

He returned my grip tightly, like he needed reassurance that it was real… oh shut up, you're not helping Liz. I scolded myself for such bad puns.

"Then what happened?" I asked carefully, my voice somewhat muffled through the leather of his coat.

"I left. I helped the big girl get Meryl to the hospital, and then I made her promise to keep Meryl from following me when she woke up, and then I left… to find Knives again."

"You haven't found him yet…" I said, more voicing my realization aloud than asking a question of him.

"No… I was running through a town, trying to escape another group of townspeople that wanted to kill me, when I wound up here." I could almost feel his rueful grin, "they had a good reason to hate me this time. Knives had been there a day before and he… he… killed a few people… claiming to be 'Vash the Stampede'."

"Bastard!" I cried indignantly.

He chuckled, "Hey now, he's still my brother you know…"

"Sorry… but still." Suddenly, a thought hit me, "Wait a minute!" I cried, pulling back from him so that I could see his face. "You said you were running through a town just before you wound up here?"

"Yeah…"

"Vash, this is very important. What exactly do you remember, just before you showed up in my closet?"

"I-"

DING!

The elevator chimed, doors opening to the second floor.

"Hold that thought, we're out!" I cried happily, grabbing his hand and pulling the both of us out of the elevator before those infernal doors could close again. Turning back to him I grinned, "If that doesn't make me claustrophobic, nothing will."

He laughed, sweeping me into a quick hug before I even had a chance to blink. "Thanks." he whispered. I was back standing in front of him before what happened even had a chance to register in my brain.

"You're welcome Vash, now… what do you say to a batch of celebratory donuts?" I asked with a playful grin.

"That'd be great, but aren't we supposed to meet that friend of yours?" he said with another laugh, and a real smile.

"Kami! You're right! We're so late! She's gonna bloody kill me!!" I yelled, grabbing his hand once more and heading for the Disney Store. We made it there in record time, stopping out front so I could search for Stephie. I saw her a few feet away even as she caught sight of me. I ran up to her and Lockhart, Vash in tow.

"You'll never believe what just happened to me!" We said in unison.

A/N: HAHA! Cliffhangers are my friend! ::wicked grin:: Anyway….

Thestral1: ^_^x Thanks again for lovely wonderful ideas! Oh… by the way… ::looks at beginning of this A/N:: Dammit Steve!!! ^_~

Saberpilot: Glad you like it! Oh! And you should really go read "The Student, The Wizard, and The Closet" by Thestral1… it's from "Stephie's" POV and there's lots more Lockhart goodness!!!

Sakura (and Selena ^_~x): Oooohhh! Sessha loves such nice compliments, indeed I do! ::gives Sakura and Selena each their own donut with sprinkles!::

Doomsdaybringer: Cool name! And sorry… but I love Vash more (::glomps Vash::)… so I hope you're not too mad about the way I made Knives seem in this chapter… ~_~x;;

Aaringo: You're welcome! ^_^x And yeah, I thought it'd make sense that way since he has had it all that time… besides… I LOVE that red coat! He just looks so good in it! ::drools::

Wolfwoodsgrl28: YAY! I like it when people like my stories! Hope you enjoyed this last chapter!

FluffysBijin05: Why thank you! I like to think I can portray Vash pretty well… but really that's decided by nice readers like you! ^_^x And as for Lockhart… dunno… you'll just have to find out! (or you could read "The Student, The Wizard, and The Closet" for more Lockhart goodness!) And YES!!! That's exactly who I meant when I said wolfboy! ::big rurouni grin:: 10 donut points for you for reading the Harry Potter books and picking up obscure references!!! ^________________^x

Lady Venom2: ^_^x I do try my hardest to update regularly, though this chapter was a bit later than I had hoped… ~_~x And as for Wolfwood… ::sniff:: Sorry… but as much as I love him… this is set post series… and I can't bring people back…. ::sobs onto Vash's shoulder:: (would've said more, but if I did it would be too spoilery, and I've no idea how much of the series you've seen)

And special thanks to anyone I may have missed!!! The next chapter will be out much sooner than this one was, promise! ^_^x