Day 170
He catches sleep when he can. Rest aids his recovery and there's not much else to do. Besides, even when he does sleep it is rarely as long or as restful as it could be. His conversations with Vash spin through hid mind and for the first time since he was small, the questions echo in his brain. Was I right? Am I right? They trouble him constantly, invading his dreams in the form of Rem, Steve and Vash himself.
This night he awakens to the sound of the front door to the house opening and closing. He guesses Vash must have come back. Vash seems to have a job, though he has not mentioned what it is to his brother, Knives is sure it must be so because he now leaves the house at regular times. He feeds his brother breakfast, leaves, come home briefly for lunch then leaves again to return, finally, at roughly dinner time. Sometimes he is a bit late and Knives can tell by the scent of alcohol in his breath that he's been to a bar or saloon. Probably an after work drink with the other 'boys' or some such; he's never particularly drunk when he returns, merely a little tipsy at most. This is quite unusual for his brother, who has always had a bit of a drinking problem. It's not that he drinks frequently; it's more that when he does drink he drinks a lot in one go. It seems that recently, however, he has managed to imbibe with moderation. Knives finds he is most glad of that, he does not think that he could handle a drunken Vash.
Today though, things are different, very different.
Knives can hear two voices in the other room.
So, it seems Vash has brought a spider home with him, Knives sneers and tries to repress a shudder, he prays Vash isn't going to make him talk to the disgusting creature.
Never the less, he is interested in what is being said, so he pricks his ears, attempting to catch the strands of conversation in the other room.
'Are you sure?'
The spider is male, Knives can tell that much, probably an adult in his mid years. Anything more is impossible to discern.
'Completely, totally, it was just all a little misunderstanding!'
'Which he tried to sort out by pummelling your face in. Suuure Vash.'
'Aw, come on, give a guy a break!'
'Fine, but do you want me to at least get a doctor?'
'It's just a couple of scrapes, I've suffered worse.'
'Maybe but, damn, I worry about you, sometimes. You look after everyone, boy, who looks after you?'
'Aw, I manage pretty well, if I do say so myself!'
'Yeah, well, fair enough, if you say so. But if you do need anyone to talk to, or anything like that you be sure to come to me though, ya hear?'
'I hear. Thanks.'
'Good night kid!'
'Bye!'
The front door closes again and Knives leans back against his pillows, waiting for his brother to come in.
The key turns in lock to his room, and Vash enters. Knives turns to him and, with difficulty, manages to keep his expression neutral. It is hard, though, for no matter what he has claimed he does dislike seeing his brother suffer needlessly, especially at the hands of those Spiders. If anyone is to make his brother feel pain, it is to be him. He is the only one worthy.
Vash's face is a mass of scratches and bruises, his left eye is black and swollen, his lip is cut and his hair mussed. There's a small bandage round the top of his left arm. He's not too badly injured, but his hurts are obvious enough to make Knives wince.
'Sorry I'm late,' he says merrily, as if nothing has occurred, 'I'll work on making food soon, how was your day?'
'What happened to your face, Vash?'
Vash blinked and to Knives' surprise, blushed, 'bit of a fight in the bar in town, but no one was hurt.'
'Except you, I see.'
'This isn't anything, you should know that! The worst of it was that I got some glass in my arm. I'll be fine in a couple of days.'
Knives shrugs, knowing it's true. Both brothers heal fast, especially with small, insubstantial injuries. Yet it is not the injuries themselves that bother him, it is that the humans caused them.
He considers bringing it up again, but does not. He knows it will simply be a repeat of the conversation they have had before, time and time again. Vash will not have changed his mind over a few small grazes.
'I'm gonna get dinner,' Vash continues after a moments silence, 'I'll come through with it soon.'
He leaves, and Knives lies back down upon the bed, trying to hold in his seething anger against the filthy insects that have hurt his brother once again.
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NOTES: OK, this chapter might seem a bit strange, even meaningless, but it does have a point! Honest!
Reader Replies:
Silverarm: The spider/butterfly thing works just fine… when you're one year old. Let's not forget that, when Knives came up with this, he was young, very, very young. It does make some sense at a basic level but not much further, as I think I've displayed. As for the symbiotic/parasitc idea… well, I think in the Anime that might be true (it's never really shown) but in the Mana it's defiantly suggested it's the other way round for reasons I won't go into here. Note that this is set in Anime verse but still… Looking forward to your next review!!!
Ron the Future Weasel: Glad you like them arguing, there's gonna be plenty of it to come! How long before he changes? Well… you'll just have to see, won't you? Besides, who says he'll change at all? I give no promises! Nope, still no luck with the link. Sorry.
ATO: That's OK, means I spend less time writing replies! Heh, no promises about the fic, I'm at a bit of a writing low point at the moment, and writing Legato is especially tough, but we'll see…
Aoi: Heh, logging in is good, we all like logging in… Humm, I don't know why I didn't give Knives a favourite food, he just didn't seem the type to be nuts on any one thing. I does have favourite foods, (I imagine he's very fond of coffee, for example) but I can't picture him going nuts like Vash or Millie. You might have a point about the chocolate though… but then who doesn't love chocolate? Yeah, he and Vash are destructive but, darn it, it's in the cause of defeating the evil already destroying the planet! You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs! (or that's his excuse, anyway!). Besides, he hasn't done anything humans haven't done, fight fire with fire, after all. It's all perfectly, horrifyingly logical. In a mad sort of way. And yes, if there were any female plants, as various fanfics have explored, we would all hate them. And besides, any female plant would sort of be like Knives's and Vash's sibling so mating would be… well… ick.
Agnelstryke: Didn't anyone tell you that doughnuts make the world go round? Lol! Yes, that would be funny. Hummm…. Doughnuts are nice, especially fresh ones, you know that smell you get when they're first backed… mmmmm…. :Ahem: well, I'm happy you liked this chapter, people seem to have reacted well to the butterfly/spider discussion, I love butterflies but I wouldn't want to live in a world filled with nothing but them. Again, it's a theory that works well when you're very young, but to any mature person it's obviously flawed. I'm not so happy with the closing statement in a way, I think I've written far better in this story but there you go, I'm glad it worked for you. I hope this chapter proved just as entertaining!
Android 71: Ooh, short and to the point! Well, I'm glad you're still enjoying this. If you don't want to review every chapter can you at least review it at the end? Thanks. I do hope you end up here! Good luck in your exams if they're not over already.
EmpressGalaxia: Yep, interesting and intelligent, that's the angle I was going for and yipeee! I hit jack-pot! I do love doing these little discussions, though I doubt the entire fic could be run entirely on them, I've given it a damn good go!
Well, I hope to hear from you all in the next chapter, see you around folks!