Author's Note- Hey my peeps! LOL Srry it's been sooooo long! I had several reports and projects due sigh and a while back I had to reboot my CPU and I have been trying to get everything back to how it was. My spell checking no longer works, so I'm really srry for any grammar mistakes. Anyways let's just get on with it
I found out that in the manga Vash has a part of his hair black. I've never read the manga, just seen the anime so I'm not sure if this is true. Anyways, now Vash will have the back of his head black-haired.
P.S.- The character Kouki is my own character and I love her personality and so anyways I was just saying she belongs to yours truly! .
Love Is Complicated
By: Cobalt-eyedAngel
"A choice between two things. The forked road, a crossroad are an end given life must take in order to stay alive. Which ever end they live on, they lose something. Which ever end they live on, they are unable to find happiness, but are there really only two paths to a forked road? No, there are infinite paths we must take. There is more than one path. There is more than one path to the future."
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"Just a ticket please." A lonesome figure told a woman of the age of about forty.
"A ticket, eh? What would a young some lad like you want to go to Neptila for?" The woman eyed him suspiciously. Not many people lived in Neptila, it was practically deserted.
"A quiet home for me ma'am." Vash smiled at her. His duffel bag was swung over his shoulder and he shook the woman's frail hand. "I have been living in the big city all my life and now I wish for a quiet peaceful way to spend the rest of my life."
"Right." The woman smiled at him. "My name is Becky Salina."
"Nice to meet you, thank you for the ticket." Vash stepped on to the train and put his duffel bag in an above compartment. It was a long way to Neptila, it would probably take a whole week to get there.
He went to his cabin, cabin 176, and took a seat. He looked out the window at a few more passengers boarding.
"Mr....Um, sorry, but I think this is my cabin." A small girl's voice got his attention. Vash looked up and saw a cute 13 year old girl with blonde hair and it had brown streaks. She was wearing a small red dress that was at one time fancy but it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while.
"Oh, really?" Vash looked at the number of the cabin to see the exact same number on his ticket. "It has my number on the cabin."
"Oh, no." The small girl bit her bottom lip and double checked her ticket. "Sorry to bother you, but am I reading my ticket right?" She held out her ticket to Vash.
"Hmmm." Vash looked at her ticket and saw that it had his cabin number too. "Yeah, that's right. I guess you're my roommate!" He smiled at her and gave her ticket back to her.
"Alright mister, if you don't mind." She smiled back at him and sat in a seat across from his. "My name is Kouki...err, I don't know my last name." Her eyes clouded for a second, but then her smile returned. For a second, Vash thought he was seeing things.
"My name is Va-" He paused for a second, he wanted this girl to know the truth, he couldn't lie anymore, if she wanted to leave because she was frightened, he would let her. He coughed to make it sound like he didn't mean to interrupt. "Sorry, Vash."
"Vash!" The little girl's eyes lit up and she looked through her small bag that was around her shoulder. "That's who my bear is named after! Are you named after The Stampede too?" She brought out of her bag a small bear that was brown with a white bow around its neck. "His name is Vashie! He is my very, very best friend!"
Vash was taken aback. This girl had named a bear after him, she wasn't afraid of him?
"Umm. Err, I don't think I'm named after anybody. Why did you name him after The Humanoid Typhoon?" Vash asked.
"He is my favorite person in the whole world!" The little girl jumped up as if she couldn't just tell this story sitting down. "When I was a hundre- uh, nine years old he saved my part time home from the Shelbys. Even though everyone says he is bad and evil, I think he is truly good. Perhaps, he was confused or scared when he killed those people. But I believe, everyone deserves a second, or third, or however many chances that they need. I think everyone has good in them."
Vash looked at the girl for a long time as she was playing with her bear, Vashie. This girl knew so much, and what was that age change about? "I-I believe you are right." He responded after a long while. There was something about this girl, like she knew him as deep as family.
"Come on Milly!" A familiar woman's voice caught his attention. "I'm almost sure he is on this train!"
"Oh, no." Vash sighed as he caught sight of Meryl, Milly, Nikki, and Jetch.
"Is the black-haired girl your girlfriend? Is that why you want to get away, your feelings are getting complicated?" Kouki suddenly popped up, her head right above his shoulder while they both looked out the window.
"Meryl? She's not my girlfriend." A light blush appeared on Vash's cheeks. Kouki was sure to notice, but she didn't say anything about it. "But I can't let her see me. It's...It's hard to explain."
"Ok, just sit back and relax. If any of them decide to search around, we'll hide you." Kouki said and took a seat. Vash followed her example.
And of course, Vash's luck decided to, once again, be unkind to him. Meryl and the others were in the cabin right across from his.
After about ten minutes of yelling and banging luggage, Meryl stepped out of her cabin that she shared with the others, and sighed. She stood in the narrow hallway for a minute, Vash stealthily peeking through the small cabin door window, and she turned and looked right at our cabin door.
Vash jerked his head back and whispered to Kouki. "I think she is coming this way!" Kouki looked up at him from her book and nodded. "I'll hide." He frantically searched the cabin for any hiding spots when his eyes fell to where he had just been sitting. More exactly, 'underneath' where he had just been sitting.
Vash got down on his hands and knees and crawled under the seat, he was a bit cramped, but he could see Kouki's face and she could see his. He heard a light knock on the door and Kouki responded with a "come in."
Meryl came in and smiled at Kouki. "Hello, um, my name is Meryl and I was wondering if I could hang out in here for a while, 'cause my cabin is a bit crazy." Meryl laughed.
Vash looked at Kouki and shook his head 'no' but Kouki smiled and said sure.
"Is this someone's stuff?" Meryl sat down on the seat Vash was hiding under and looked at the duffel bag.
"Yep!" Kouki chirped happily.
"Ok, what's your name?" Meryl smiled at Kouki again.
"Kouki. I'm traveling the world till I find a place I truly belong. What are you doing?" She asked.
"Looking for somebody. Are you alone, all by yourself?" Worry was in Meryl's voice, and he was really surprised. He barely ever heard Meryl with a compassionate voice. Probably because he was always getting her upset.
"I'm an orphan. I remember my parents, but I don't want anyone to replace them so I don't want parents." Kouki looked down at her tightly clasped hands. There was a lot Vash didn't understand about this girl.
"I'm sorry. But just because you have foster parents doesn't mean that will replace your real parents. No one can ever replace anyone. Every living thing is unique and they have their own personality. They may have certain aspects that are the same, but your foster parents just want to take care of you." Meryl said and Kouki's lower lip started to tremble and Meryl got up from Vash's seat and rushed to Kouki's.
"Hey, hey, it's alright, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have kept bugging you about it." Kouki's tears escaped and she lunged for Meryl. Vash wanted to help her too, but everyone he tried to help always got hurt.
"Shh, shh, there now." Meryl hugged Kouki and stroked her hair comfortingly.
Right there. It happened again. Vash wanted to jump up and tell Meryl that he loved her. He didn't want to hold it in anymore. He tried to find his voice, and then got a flash of a girl.
Rem.
What would she think of Meryl? Would she care? Would she be hurt that I had feelings for someone else? No, I still had feelings for her too. I couldn't confess to Meryl if I still have feelings for Rem. Which one did I love more? Ugh, it was all too confusing.
By the time I returned my thoughts to the scene in front of me, I saw Kouki asleep in Meryl's arms.
Meryl was still stroking Kouki's hair, but now she was looking around the small cabin. All of a sudden her eyes fell on Vash's form. Vash didn't say anything and just stared at her. Maybe she would think he was an illusion.
Meryl blinked a couple of times, the rest of her body still and called out timidly. "Vash?"
Vash couldn't contain his laughter any longer and burst out. Meryl glared at him and hissed in a whisper. "Shut up! She's asleep!"
Vash remembered Kouki was sleeping and stopped but still had a smile on his face. "Why did you follow me?"
Meryl hesitated for a moment and then responded. "The town...the town kicked us out...be-because..." Meryl looked at him with remorse in her eyes. "Because we are friends of yours."
Vash felt guilt flood him again and his smile was wiped off his face. "I'm sorry. I'm ruining all your lives." He took a seat on the one he had sat on earlier.
"Vash...We aren't sorry for being your friends. Milly and I, we understand that you wouldn't hurt a soul."
"But I do!" Vash brought his hands to his face and hunched over. "I always hurt people, even if I don't want to. It happens, and I can't control it."
Meryl didn't know what to say, so she was silent.
"It happens to us all." Kouki's voice rang through the cabin and Meryl and Vash looked at her.
"What?"
"We all hurt people. Physically or emotionally, we always end up hurting our friends or the people we love. It's unstoppable. It's apart of life, happiness doesn't come easily and when it does sorrow and sadness follows it." Kouki said looking directly at Vash.
"Then if I don't have any friends, no harm can come to them."
"Your stupid then." Kouki said. "I-I have a secret..."
Author's Note- Ok, I have so much I want to type but I have to get there first. Don't you hate that? Where you have the ending but you're just starting the beginning. Anyways, I just wanted to get this chapter up.
I have several surprises here's a hint at a few-
Why Knives hates humans
Who Kouki really is
A few things about Vash's parents
Why Rem was the one to take care of Vash and Knives
Ok Whelps Hopefully my next update will be soon! WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO BE MY BETA READER? I'VE NEVER HAD ONE BEFORE, SO IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COULD YOU EXPLAIN HOW WE DO THINGS? THANKS!! Ja ne.