"We're home!" Vash called out as he rolled his brother into the small, one story home the twins shared with the two women from the Bernardelli Insurance Agency.

"Welcome back Vash-san and Knives-san!" Milly called out from the kitchen where she and Meryl were preparing dinner, "How was the daycare?"

"It was great! There was a little girl there who was all over Knives," Vash laughed.

"Really?" Milly popped her head out of the kitchen doorway, "That's good! What's her name?"

"Yume. She made us guess it. She's very hyperactive and spontaneous. I think she and you would get along quite well," Vash smiled and then his stomach rumbled. He put a hand on it and laughed, "Are there any donuts?"

"Of course!" Milly disappeared back into the kitchen and then brought out a large platter piled high with donuts and set it on the table. "There you go!" she turned to Knives, "Did you enjoy the daycare, Knives-san?"

Knives glared back.

Milly smiled, not perturbed by Knives' attitude toward her, "Okay! Are you hungry for anything?"

Knives still glared back.

"I don't think he wants to talk to you Mille," Meryl remarked from the kitchen's doorframe. She leaned against it, sighed and gave Vash a look.

"What'd I do?" Vash muttered through a mouthful of donut.

"Nothing."

"Okay," Vash continued to eat his donuts.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat, Knives-san?" Milly asked again.

Knives kept his face fixed in a permanent glare that was all for Milly.

"All right. If you get hungry, be sure to tell me!" Milly said, still smiling. She turned to Vash, "Guess what!"

"What?"

"I'm-"

"Milly, you might not want to let them know just yet…"

"Pregnant!"

Vash shook his head and blinked. "What? Who's the father?" he asked even though he already had a good guess.

Milly's smile softened. "Nicholas."

"What?" Knives said in a surprised voice, "You carry Nicholas D. Wolfwood's child?"

"Yes," she answered, "Now that you're talking though, do you want something to eat? Anything you want!"

"Hmmm…" he smiled to himself and replied, "Yes, I would actually. A sandwich with chicken, turkey, ham, beef, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, olives, pickles, onions and a little bit of mayo." Vash looked at his brother carefully. A smile like that meant he was plotting something…

Milly's smile faded a little, "We don't have some of that stuff…"

"'Anything you want,' you said," he quoted.

Vash gave his brother an annoyed look. Sometimes you can be so impossible.

She asked, Knives answered with a mental smirk.

We're staying for two hours tomorrow for that trick.

Knives turned a red-hot glare on his brother that was countered by a smug look. Looking for an outlet for his anger, he saw Meryl watching Vash with a dreamy look. "Why are you looking at my brother like that, human?" he snarled.

"What?" Meryl snapped back to the present and looked at Knives, startled.

"Do you have a romantic interest in my brother?" he asked.

Meryl's face turned a crimson color, "Don't be so blunt…"

"You wouldn't be blushing if you didn't have something to hide," Knives pointed out.

"Oh yes, Knives. Meryl and I are deeply in love and we're going to get married and have many little, chubby babies that can call you 'Uncle Knives,'" Vash said sarcastically, putting down his donut, one of the few left.

"I hope you are planning nothing of the sort. I would be extremely displeased," Knives said with a deep frown.

"Knives, I'm completely kidding. There's nothing happening between Meryl and I, now or ever." Behind Vash's back, Meryl's eyes widened and a tear or two formed at the corners. She quietly excused herself as she had to "go check on the stew." Milly though noticed her friend's distress and followed her into the kitchen.

"Good, because if anything ever did 'happen', she would die. Horribly."

"Knives! Quit threatening everyone!"

"Vash! Quit trying to change how I act! You know it's a futile attempt, so why bother?"

"You know why I continue to try to save you."

"Ah, yes… and once more, Rem enters into our conversation. Why can't you just let the memory of that woman die, Vash?"

"Because I can't do something like that!"

"And why not?"

"Because…" Vash stretched his mind for a reason and strangely enough, at the moment, he had none. "Because I can't!" he yelled.

"Calm down, brother."

"Stop provoking me!"

"I am not provoking you. I am merely questioning you. You are the one who is interpreting it as an attack."

"I'm going to go see if Meryl needs any help with that stew!" Vash growled, standing up from the table. Knives reached out a hand to catch his brother's coat as he strode by, but the angry Vash easily dodged the outstretched limb. He exited the room with quiet, but firm, closing of the door. Knives stared at the door and smiled faintly to himself. Everyone had buttons that could be pushed. The subject of Rem was Vash's big, red button that was guaranteed to get a reaction, no matter what.

The Instrument of Man's Destruction stretched back in his chair and closed his eyes. All three of them would be back soon when they gathered for dinner but while the room was silent, he might as well get some nice, quiet, thinking time to himself.

Strangely enough, Knives soon found himself thinking about the girl he and Vash had encountered that day. The thought of her had been in the back of his mind ever since they had left the daycare. One thing was for sure. She was an odd, little beast. The Plant could not help but be amazed by the amount of energy she had. It seemed to be in an inexhaustible supply.

Yume… It had been a while since he had heard that name. In the language it originated from, he believed it translated to 'dream'. He wondered how she had come by such a name.

Knives' leg suddenly cramped. He lurched forward and clutched the spastic appendage while he let loose a string of curses. Ever since his brother had shot that leg, he occasionally was thrown a sudden seizure of the muscles and it was extremely painful.

As the stabbing, twisting sensation lessened, he looked around, hoping no one had been present to view the fact that he did indeed still feel his legs. Knives had told his brother and his brother's human friends that he was paralyzed from the waist down and the Plant worked carefully to keep them from knowing the truth. He used this time to plan and scheme while he waited for an opening, a time he could suddenly disappear without a trace. Once he left, he would start his plan anew. His plan for human genocide.

A smile spread across Knives' face and he silently chuckled to himself. Yes, Vash. Just you wait. I shall destroy them all whether or not you stand besides me, or oppose me. That battle we fought two months ago may have ended, but the war is not yet finished!

Vash took a deep breath and studied the floor after he closed the door. Sometimes his brother was so difficult that Vash almost wished he had died in the battle two months ago. Life would be so much easier without him… but then again, Vash could not imagine a world without Knives. He did not know what he would do when his brother did die…

Vash heard a faint sniff and looked up to see Meryl with her back to him, stirring the stew. "How's it coming along?" he asked.

"Good, though it's a little spicy," she answered.

"I like spicy foods," Vash looked around and noticed Mille was gone, "Where's Mille?"

"She went out to buy the things for Knives' sandwich. I tried to tell her not to go but she wants him to like her..." Meryl sighed and shook her head slightly.

"She's such a nice person…" Vash smiled a 'true smile', as the deceased priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, had called them.

"Yes…" Meryl's back was still to him and she picked up a few carrots and tossed them in the stew.

"When will she be back?"

"In about twenty minutes. The stew will be ready then too."

"Okay." Vash left, oblivious to why Meryl kept her back to him the entire time.

Meryl wiped her teary eyes on a handkerchief Milly had left with her as she let the sob she had been containing loose. How can he be so callous? Doesn't that fool see it? I thought he knew… She gripped the sides of the stove and cried freely, not caring who walked in.

The tears born of love and rejection fell into the stew, to mix and be lost among ingredients, just as the love of an individual for another can be mixed with their everyday lives, and lost, forever unnoticed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow! I'm so happy about all of your enthusiastic responses to the first chap! ^_^ Thank you, everyone! You completely made my week! Though no Yume in this chap. Gomen, gomen.

Sorry if some of you are disappointed with how Knives interacts with the Bernardelli Insurance girls. They never got to meet in the anime so I'm kind of walking on new land here, making it up as I go. I hope it's okay. _

And just to let you know. Sorry to destroy any hopes you had but this fic isn't going to be completely like the first chap. It will get a little angsty and more dramatic in later chaps. And I will probably have to raise my ratings because of Knives. After all, he does want to kill all humans… so this fic can't stay 'PG' forever…

Kudos to my beta-reader, Zenwazawa Ukimi AKA Kyoko-sama! She's an awesome person and I don't know what I would do without her! She manages to correct all my misassumptions about Trigun and it's characters, especially Knives. ^_^;; I probably would have had him a lot different (and worse) in this fic if it hadn't been for her. ^_^ Arigato Kyoko-sama! You all should read her fic Mumei no daimei. It's very well written and pretty much the only bad thing about it is it has a slow start. ^_^ But we'll survive. The story ID is 1303410. Read it now!