Knives woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed from a long, unbroken, dreamless sleep. He stretched out in his bed and lay staring out of the window counter to him. The sunlight shone through in a long, unbroken beam of light in which the dust motes danced and frolicked, basking in the heat. Knives ran a hand through his short, light blond hair and stood. He quickly changed into a spare plug suit he had and then sat down in his wheelchair to await the arrival of his brother.

He did not have to wait long. Vash must have been listening in for any mental activity that signified that Knives was awake for soon the twin knocked on the door, "Knives? Can I come in?"

"Hai." The door opened and Vash stepped in. His hair was tousled and he rubbed an eye with a fist, yawning slightly. "Good morning, Vash. Sleep well?"

"Yes, thanks for asking. How was your rest?"

"Quite refreshing."

"You were up late last night…" Vash moved around Knives' chair and pushed him out of his room.

"I was thinking."

"Ah." They moved quickly down the hall and into the dining room where Milly and Meryl were setting out breakfast. Vash rolled Knives up to the table and then took a seat next to him as the two women seated themselves also. Vash looked over the toast, pancakes, sausages, and other delicious looking edibles that were set out on the table. "Looks wonderful," he commented.

"Thank you, Vash-san. I'm glad you like it," Milly smiled as she placed two slices of toast on her plate.

"Vash, I placed the excess money in an account at the local back. I'll give you the account number in case you ever need to withdraw some money. It is under your name and mine," Meryl told the Plant as he ate. The money Meryl was referring to was the large amount of cash that Vash was paid every month for remaining in the same place and staying out of trouble. It was quite a nice sum and had paid for the house, furniture, and the food they were eating at that moment.

Meryl and Milly also had volunteered to stay with him to make sure that he did just that, even though they knew he would anyhow. They were being paid for living with barely any work at all and since it was part of their job currently, it prevented them from being assigned somewhere else.

"All right," Vash answered around a hunk of sausage. The rest of the breakfast was enjoyed in almost complete silence, broken by the occasional request to pass a plate or refill a drink.

Knives watched his brother and the human women consume the food with a frown. Humans were such a waste of resources. Superior beings such as he did not require any kind of edibles to live. Humans on the other hand had to at least three times a day to survive. The Plant shook his head. No wonder they were so slow and dim-witted. They spent all their energy digesting food to produce more energy that would be used for the same purpose. Yes, they were undoubtedly inferior in every way possible.

Finally, Vash stood and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He brought his dirty dishes to the kitchen and helped the two women clean up the table. Then, he turned to his twin. "Are you ready to go, Knives?"

I have been waiting for you to finish since you started, Knives answered as Vash began wheeling him towards the front door.

"We'll be back in a few hours, Meryl!"

"Have fun."

"We will!" Vash called back as he exited the house, pushing his brother ahead of him.

Speak for yourself, brother.

Awh, Knives. Don't be like that. Be happy! It's a beautiful day!

Knives glared at his brother. Then why don't we go anywhere but the daycare?

You know you're looking forward to it! Vash smiled knowingly at his brother.

I. Am. Not. Knives' eyes flashed with anger as he turned around in his wheelchair to glare at his brother. If I had the means to, I would destroy this town as quick as I possibly could along with all of its human occupants.

Vash lowered his eyes and sighed silently. When would Knives stop threatening humans? No, what the question truly was; would he ever stop? The rest of the walk to the daycare was silent as Knives sat fuming in his seat and Vash sadly walked along, contemplating his brother's set state of mind.

Knives braced himself as Vash rolled him through the daycare's entrance. At any moment, the black-haired brat would come flying towards him, screaming in that annoying voice of hers, "Knives-sama!" She would smash into him within the next minute. He just knew it. But strangely enough, a minute passed and then another, and the girl did not make her appearance.

"Where is she?" Vash spoke aloud Knives' question, looking about the room as he searched for the child.

"Who are you looking for, dear?" the friendly elderly daycare employee asked.

"A little girl by the name of Yume."

"Oh, she didn't come today, dear. She misses a lot of days, you know." The older woman nodded to herself.

Find out why, Knives told his brother.

Vash looked over at his twin oddly but complied with his order. He also was interested in why Yume was not present. "Really? Is she ill all the time or something?"

"Yes."

"So she naturally has poor health?"

"I guess that would be the logical thing to believe."

"What's she sick with?"

"I don't know…"

"Could you find out for me? Please? I want to know if it's anything serious."

"Yume's sick?" a boy asked, walking up to the adults. Knives recognized him as the boy from the day before. "How bad is she?"

"All right, all right," the woman chuckled, "I'll call and find out."

"Thank you!" the boy smiled broadly.

"Yes, thanks." Vash smiled also. The woman walked over to a desk, pulled out a large notebook and began flipping through the pages, searching for the girl's phone number. She found it, picked up the phone and dialed the number.

*Ring* *Ring* "H-hello?" the weak voice answered from the other end.

"Yume's mother? This is the daycare."

"Oh, good morning."

"We are inquiring into your daughter's absence today. Is she ill?"

"Oh… why?"

"Health reasons. If she has something, we need to know so we can deal with any infections that might occur." The old woman was quick with excuses.

"You've never called before…"

"A new procedure."

"Ah… Well, yes, she is sick."

"With what?"

"Nothing bad, just a cold. She should be back tomorrow or the day after."

"All right then. You sound ill yourself."

"I do seem to have caught it from her."

"Well, I wish you well. Good day."

"Bye." *Click*

The old woman turned back to Vash and the boy. "It's all right. It's just a minor cold."

"Oh, good! I was afraid she had something really bad!" the boy exclaimed in a relieved tone.

Vash thanked the woman again for calling and then rolled his brother over to the table that Yume usually occupied. Vash sat down in a chair and stretched. "This is looking to be a rather dull day. That girl seems to liven up things around here."

Soon, Yume's friend came over and began to talk to Vash. Now with no one to talk to, Knives lay his head back in his wheelchair to try to think instead. How was the girl sick? She had shown no symptoms the day before. Knives took a deep breath and let his body relax as he released his consciousness over the town, searching for the girl. He wanted to know for himself how she was doing.

After a short time, he found her. Her mentally activity was low, so Knives guessed she was either sleeping or doing nothing at all. He barely nudged her mind with his. Knives-sama? A weak voice queried out to him.

He was surprised that she knew who he was by that small amount of mental contact but quickly covered it. You are ill?

She hesitated. Yes.

Knives snorted mentally. You lie. I can tell.

It is part of the truth. Her usual excitement and buoyancy that was part of her had disappeared, replaced by a timid, shy, weak personality.

Tell me all of it.

Not now. I'm tired.

I will not let you rest until you tell me.

Then you tell me first how you don't eat but still manage to live.

Knives paused. He could not explain photosynthesis to a five-year old. Her mind was too small and undeveloped to grasp the concept. Damn you.

She let out a mental giggle that tickled his mind with her amusement. It was a small part of whom she truly was leaking through. I got you!

Tell me tomorrow then?

Maybe. Bye, Knives-sama. See you later.

Knives growled to himself as he cut off the telepathic link. The stupid brat had tricked him! She had tricked him! Millions Knives! A superior being! How could he have fallen into that trap? He just did not understand it.

Knives cracked open an eye to see the boy (was Kole his name?) talking to Vash. Knives closed his eyes again. He was so bored. He actually would not mind the girl's company so much now as he had nothing else to distract him. At least she kept him amused with her insane, little antics.

He opened his eyes once more and watched the young human children play in the daycare. There were at least twenty of the little pests crawling around inside the building. Inferior spawn… he sneered; I would like nothing better then to kill them. He shook his head. One day he would eradicate all of the humans. It was only a matter of time…

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

Jeril: Sorry this was shorter then normal. I'll try to make the next chapter extra long. You see, I wrote this late, late at night and I am so tired. ~_~ I couldn't think of any other things to put in it because I'm brain-dead and I'm so glad I have Kyoko-sama as my beta-reader. She caught all my errors and corrected them for me. Be glad you don't have to be subjected to some of them. They were soooooo bad… _ 'Anyway' instead of 'anywhere'… Sheesh…

I was informed that in the manga, Knives used a telephone so I have them in this story. I can't remember if they have them in the anime but they have cars and radios. I would think they'd have telephones…

-_-;; I've been spelling Milly's name wrong all along. I was spelling it 'Millie'. *smacks self* Stupid, stupid, stupid! Anyway, I went back and changed all that and then added in some other little things. Nothing too important though so if you don't reread it, you won't miss anything.

Oh, don't worry people. Yume's father will get what he deserves, as do all evildoers. Except Knives-sama and Legato-chan of course. ^_^;; They're too special for that. And they aren't evil.

Yume: *shining eyes* You think Knives-sama is special too? *glomps Jeril* Yay!

Jeril: @_@ God help me… *Yume lets go* Okay… Yume, do you know what time it is?

Yume: Nope!

Jeril: It's 12:53 am and I think this little author's note has gotten too long and so you're going to bed and so am I. Good night everyone!

Yume: Night night! And remember to review! ^_^