"Kole! Jack!" Yume said as she rolled Knives over to where the two boys stood.
"What do you want, Yume?" the smaller of the two boys asked timidly.
"I want to get into the toy closet!"
"You got any cookies?" the tubbier boy asked.
"No."
"Then you can't get in!" he stated, stomping down a foot.
"Please Jack?" she pleaded with the boy.
"No! Not without any cookies!" he exclaimed, his face getting red from anger.
"You look like you don't need any more of these 'cookies,' boy," Knives stated.
"What?" Jack looked at Knives with narrow eyes set in his pudgy face.
"You are quite all right at the size you are right now. In fact, you could lose some weight and still be fine."
"Are you calling me fat?"
"No. That word never once entered into this conversation until you mentioned it. You spiders should not jump to conclusions as quick as you do."
"But you've been thinking it!"
"I have been merely thinking that you can do without these 'cookies'. In fact, your friend over there could do with a few. His ribs are showing," Knives observed.
"Jack! Have you been taking Kole's lunch?" Yume stood up tall and glared at the bigger boy.
"Uh… no!" Jack shook his head, "I would never do such a thing!"
"It looks like it to me," commented the Plant.
"You shut up, you mean jerk!" the overweight child roared.
"Jack!" the elderly daycare employee rushed over, "Don't be so mean to our visitor!" She turned to Knives, "I'm so sorry, sir. He's such a rude boy."
Knives stared back at the lady with an expression of disdain.
She looked away uncomfortably and grabbed Jack's hand, "Come on, Jack! We're going to go have a little chat..."
After the two left, Kole turned to Yume. "Thanks Yume."
"For what?" she looked surprised.
"For telling him off like that. He's been taking my lunches for a while now…" Kole looked down at the ground.
"Awh! Poor Kole! C'mon! I'll give you half of my lunch!" she grabbed the other boy's hand and dragged him away.
Knives was left behind, forgotten. The Plant sighed. Sometimes the girl's spontaneous nature was such an annoyance. Wait? What am I thinking? It's always an annoyance! Knives stretched out in his chair and waited for the human child to return.
He did not have to wait long for a few minutes later she came back. "Oh Knives-sama! I'm so sorry for leaving you here all alone like that! Gomen nasai!"
"Apology accepted, though don't do that again," Knives said with a frown. "Now what is this thing that was so important for us to retrieve?"
"Oh, right!" Yume bounced over to the toy closet door and opened it. She dove into the wild mess inside and soon came out with a small wooden box. Yume handed it to Knives and then pushed him back over to their table. She then clambered up onto Knives' lap and sat there, fiddling with the lid of the box for a little.
"Well, are you going to show it to me or not?" Knives demanded in an annoyed tone.
Yume winced. "Before I show you… can I ask you a question?"
"You can ask me this question after you show it to me."
"Please?"
Knives rolled his eyes. Humans and their curiosity… "What is it?"
"Why… why did you help me with Jack?"
The question caught Knives off guard. He had not really thought about what he was doing when he did it so he had no answer ready. "Um… I…" he thought quick. "You are an annoying child, but even more so when sad. I did not want to have to deal with that and so I sought out the cause of your sadness and destroyed it."
"So you wanted me to be happy?" Yume's eyes lit up and she grinned, "Knives-sama, you're such a wonderful person! You want me to be happy!" she gave him one of her big, near bone-crushing hugs and the box was sandwiched between them.
Knives sighed while he tried to stop the girl from strangling him on accident. She always took what he said the wrong way. She twisted it around and turned it upside down so that it might suit the way she wanted to look at the world just like the way she manipulated him. Somehow, against his will, she managed to con him into doing and saying things he did not want to do or say.
Or maybe the case was that she saw a hidden meaning in his actions and harsh words… Knives shook his head. No, no. She was a human, and a child at that. She could not be that perceptive, even if there was something behind the things he did for her.
"Well, anyway, this is a matching pictures game!" she flipped open the lid and showed him all the little tiles stuck into the inside. She flipped on of the tiles over and on it was a Thompson, "See, it's a memory game!" She overturned another and it was a sand steamer. "Wrong one!" she flipped them both over. "Choose one, Knives-sama!"
"I do not want to play any games at the moment," Knives stated.
"Awh! But Knives-sama! Games are your friends!" Yume's face fell and she stuck out her lip and pouted a little.
"I do not agree with your philosophy."
"Just one game? Just one?" she perked up and gave him her best pair of puppy eyes.
"No."
"If you don't like it, you can quit playing it after a bit! Please, please, pleeeeeeeease?" Knives glared at the child and she just stared back with her wide, adorable eyes.
Finally, with a sigh, the Plant gave in and pointed to a random tile. Yume squealed with delight and turned it over to reveal a lizard. She paused for a half a minute until he realized she was waiting for him to choose another. With a little grumble, he pointed to another. It was a Thompson. She squealed and flipped over the Thompson one from before. Using her little fingers, she dug under the two wooden tiles and popped them out.
"You broke it!" Knives accused the girl.
"No, I didn't, silly Knives-sama! They're supposed to come out!" she put one of them back in. "See?" She poked his nose with the other tile and giggled.
"Oh…" Knives felt his cheeks flush slightly from embarrassment as she popped out the tile and then set the pair on the table. He flipped over another tile hurriedly to take the attention off himself.
They played that game for a few 'rounds', taking turns and then seeing who had the most pairs at the end. Knives did not want to admit it, but the little girl was better at remembering where the pieces were then he, the superior being. Maybe my age is getting to me… he mused to himself for a moment and then discarded the absurd notion. He was a Plant and as near to immortal as possible. Age was irrelevant to a member of his race.
Vash plopped down on a bench outside. He had been playing with the kids for the last hour and they had worn him down well. "C'mon Vash-san! Play some more!" one of the boys whined, pulling on his red leather trench coat.
"No, no. I'm too tired!" Vash waved his hands in the air as if to ward off the boy's plea.
"Oh… okay…" the boy looked crestfallen as he turned to leave the tall blonde in peace.
"I'll play with you all when I come back tomorrow though."
"Yay!" the boy jumped up and ran off to spread the good news. Vash chuckled. Children were such wonderful individuals; so energetic and full of youth and innocence. Yet at the same time, they could hold within their minds, wisdom beyond their years and simple solutions to problems more complex then anything they had ever dealt with.
Thinking of children, he remembered he had left his brother in the daycare unattended with the human girl. Since no screams had been issuing from the building, he surmised things were going quite well. Still, he went to check on them. One could never be sure when Knives was concerned. That Plant had the bad habit of doing things that his brother could never expect. Nevertheless, Vash was pleasantly surprised when he walked in on Knives and Yume having a discussion on what color was the best out of all the others.
"I like blue! It's the prettiest in all different shades!" Yume said, scribbling on a piece of paper with a blue crayon.
"What color is the paper you are drawing on?" Knives asked.
"White, of course."
"And what colors can you put on white paper?"
"All of the colors."
"And they keep their original color whereas with others, such as blue and yellow, when the two mix, they turn to green. And with red and blue, it turns to purple. Thus, white is obviously the most superior color because you can do anything with it."
Yume looked up at Knives with wide eyes, "Wow, Knives-sama. You are so smart. I would've never thought of that."
"That's why I am superior to you," he said with a slight smirk.
"Hello Knives! Hello Yume!" Vash exclaimed, plopping down in a chair next to Yume.
"Hiya Person-san!" Yume grinned.
"How're you and Knives getting along?"
"Horrible."
"Great! He's so wonderful and smart!"
"Well, that's good to hear," Vash smiled. "But I have some bad news. Knives and I have to go home now."
"Awh… but Knives-sama and I were having so much fun… I don't want him to go…" Yume said, with a little sniffle.
"And I'm sure he doesn't want to go either but we have to."
"He'll be back tomorrow though, right?" Yume asked hopefully.
"Yes, he will."
"Okay!" she gave Knives one last hug. "Buh bye, Knives-sama! See you tomorrow! Sleep well! Have good dreams!"
Sayonara, little one, Yume looked up at Knives. He smiled slightly at her and she grinned back. Smiling, Vash rolled Knives out of the daycare. It had been a good day.
Knives could not help but look back at the daycare. There, standing in the window, was the girl. She pressed her hand against the glass and smiled at him. Bye…
Knives blinked and stared at the little girl who was left behind. She had sent him a thought. It was small and nearly imperceptible, but it had been there. Then, they turned a corner and she no longer was in view.
Out of sight, but not out of mind.
"How was your day?" Meryl asked, looking up from her typewriter as Vash and Knives entered the house.
"Fun. Those kids sure have a lot of energy," Vash answered.
Brother, I am tired. I wish to go to sleep early today. Take me to my room.
Vash smiled, All that play tired you out?
Something like that.
"I'll be right back," Vash told Meryl. Meryl simply nodded, used to the little silent conversations Vash and Knives held followed by actions not justified by their previously spoken words.
Vash wheeled Knives to his room and then left. He never asked Knives how he moved around his room, changed his clothes or bathed. He just left those personal parts of Knives' life to Knives. Knives smiled a little. At least Vash gave him that much control over his life.
Knives waited to stand until he was sure Vash was back in the living room. He stretched his legs and other cramped muscles; glad he could finally move as he wanted. He changed into more suitable clothes for sleeping and then lay in his bed, covered by a thin sheet.
Sleep eluded his pursuit though. Instead, he could not help but think about the girl at the daycare. He did not know why she occupied his mind so much. She was just a human brat, like all the others. But no… there was something different about her. Something he had never seen before. Something special.
And that latent telepathic ability she had shown today at the last moment he had seen her surprised him to no end. It was very weak and almost on the same level as having no ability at all but it still was surprising. He had only met one other human with any kind of telepathic ability and that was Legato Bluesummers. Knives had to teach him to harness his power or else the human would have never reached the ability level he had when death finally claimed him.
Knives sighed and turned on his stomach, stretching out his arms beneath his pillow. Under the fluffy object, his hands encountered something square and flimsy. Knives furrowed his brow as he pulled out a piece of paper. He had not put it under there and could not think of anyone who would. If Vash or one of the stupid human girls had something to tell him, they would just say it and not leave it in a written statement.
Slowly, Knives unfolded the paper to read the contents…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jeril: Yume-chan and Knives-sama are bonding! Woohoo! Yay for Yume! *gives Yume a shirt with Knives on it*
Yume: It's Knives-sama! *eyes shine* Arigato, Author-sama! *glomp*
Jeril: Meep! *is glomped* Wah! Off, off, off! Personal space is needed by one such as I! I will give you cake if you let go!
Yume: *releases Jeril and takes cake* Arigato, Author-sama! *happily eats cake*
Jeril: Whew… Anyway, what is this note Knives-sama has found under his pillow? Is it hate mail? Or is it a letter from a lawyer saying his granddaddy just died and left him billions of double dollars? It's definitely not that… *lol* Or could it be a love letter? If so, from whom? ^_^;; Come back in one week or so to find out!