CHAPTER ONE: THE WANDERERS (continued3)

"It's about time," Knives growled. Vanessa and Vash exchanged glances, and walked to the bedside stools once more. As Vanessa set the tray down by him, Knives turned to look, sweat beads peppering his face and chest.

Vash felt his forehead – he had a fever. He frowned, and asked Vanessa to fetch a cold rag.

She did so quickly, and he laid it across Knives' forehead gently.

Vanessa lifted the silverware to carve bite-sized pieces for him, but he demanded music.

"I've been sitting here in this damned room," he said, "without any occupation. Sing something for me, and try not to sound too horrible."

Vash smiled. "Yeah, Vanessa, would you mind?" he asked more pleasantly.

"Sure, I guess," she said.

"Something melancholy," Knives snapped. "I'm feeling angry."

As she fed him, she sang softly something she had heard at the plant as a child. (We know it as Radiohead's Pyramid Song.)

The lyrics:

"I jumped in the river and what did I see?

black-eyed angels swimming with me

a moon full of stars and astral cars

all the figures I used to see

all my lovers were there with me

all my past and futures

and we all went to heaven in a little row boat

there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt

I jumped in the river

black-eyed angels swimming with me

a moon full of stars and astral cars

all the figures I used to see

all my lovers were there with me

all my past and futures

and we all went to heaven in a little row boat

there was nothing to fear and nothing to doubt"

As the song drew to a close, Knives, still grinning, turned to Vash. "Yes, the black-eyed angels," he repeated. "Take me to them, to heal me," he asked. His eyes quivered strangely, rolling slightly as he tried to focus.

Vanessa turned to Vash, startled. Her mind raced, as she thought of Knives' mentioning the plants and black-eyed angels and healing…She wondered how or if he had seen the plant angels, that he should know their black eyes. I shouldn't have chosen that song, she thought.

"He's delusional," Vash whispered. "Sure, Knives, the black-eyed angels," he said, going along with him as if he were a child. He set a philosophy book on Knives' lap, and motioned for Vanessa to leave.

Outside the door, Vanessa whispered to Vash that Knives was sick from the severity of the infection. His body wasn't fighting the infection affectively, and the fever would soon deteriorate what health Knives had left. Vash said he would take care of him, and insisted that Vanessa not enter the room. She reluctantly obeyed, returning downstairs to Meryl's angry stares.

The next day, Vanessa asked Vash if they could feed Knives. Vash looked wearily at her, clearly tired from caring for Knives all night, and replied, "I'll do it. You go to work; you're supposed to go to each house on this side of the street from next door to the market, and offer to tend to the sick and stuff," he told her, repeating Meryl's instructions.

She did as told, and was out past sundown. She returned with a strange assortment of spices and powders, and quietly began cooking and mixing them over the stove.

Vash cared for Knives through the day, ignoring the girls as he rushed about. When Vanessa returned late that night, and changed Vash's bandages. She went straight to sleep after once again having Vash refuse to let her help him.

Vanessa awoke to the sounds of Knives yelling. Walking downstairs, she found Vash waiting for her. "Good!" he said, "You're awake. Could you fix some breakfast? Knives is hungry and he wants to see you."

"Are you serious?" Vanessa smiled. "So, he's feeling better today? The fever passed?" she asked from the kitchen.

"Yep!" Vash answered cheerily, watching her from the doorway.

"And you're hungry too?" she asked.

"Yep!" Vash replied.

"Me too," she said, shoveling scrambled eggs and sausages onto three plates. She pulled out two trays and filled them, saying, "Let's all have breakfast together then."

Knives was sitting up, reading, as they entered. He glanced at Vanessa for a moment, and grunted approval.

They set down the trays and sat. Vanessa gestured at Knives' hands. He was holding the book. "You're doing well," she mentioned. "You can use your arms now."

"What a clever thing you are," Knives grumbled sarcastically. He set down his book to accept a plate. He brought the fork to his lips slowly, his arm trembling.

Vanessa and Vash ate, watching his movements from the corners of their eyes. His progress both relieved and frightened them.

Finishing, Vanessa and Vash once more gathered the supplies to clean and bandage him, and took Knives' empty plate aside. Vanessa clipped off the old bandages and Vash held him up to remove them.

"I made a powerful antibiotic to fight the infection," she explained, holding up a small jar. She took off its lid and dipped her finger inside. She dropped a small lump of the cream onto her tongue and swallowed it. "It's not poison, see?"

Knives smirked, amused, but quickly hid his grin.

Vanessa and Vash took washrags to clean his wounds. As Vanessa blotted at the front of his shoulders, Vash held Knives up and washed the backs. Vanessa took some cream and applied it to the wounds, and they bandaged them up before laying Knives back again. Knives squirmed in disgust each time she touched him, as before, but also cursed.

Vanessa and Vash treated his thigh wounds in the same manner. Vash turned Knives onto his side so they could tend to the abdomen wound. Knives groaned in pain as they cleaned this one. Vanessa took a larger lump of cream to it.

"Aaaah!" Knives screamed, bolting up and grabbing Vanessa by arm. He panted heavily in pain, and squeezed hard on Vanessa's upper arm as he glared into her eyes.

"Ow ow, let me go," she begged, tears forming in her eyes. Though her vision blurred, she could have sworn that Knives' other arm was beginning to glow.

Vash moved quickly to pry Knives' hand loose, before the blades could form on his other hand, and heaved him back onto the bed. The pain of this movement once more cause Knives' arm to regress.

Vanessa fell to the ground, holding her arm, breathing through her teeth.

"Knives, you jerk!" Vash yelled angrily. "She's trying to help you! What gives you the right to…"

"Garbage!" Knives interrupted, a wild look in his eyes. "Human beings! Garbage! They take pleasure in our suffering, brother. Useless garbage." He settled down some, crossing his arms across his chest. "You are no longer useful to me after your medicine has run its course," he stated calmly, gazing with a casual expression to Vanessa.

Vash hurriedly re-bandaged the wound and picked up the trays and supplies. Vanessa climbed to her feet and followed him out the door. She looked back at Knives, who looked, expressionless, up at her before returning to his book.

"Really, I'm not worried," Vanessa insisted, holding her arm as she sat on the couch. It wasn't broken, but rather beginning to bruise.

Vash stood before her. "It doesn't matter, you're not going back in there. He'll go without your medicine if he's going to pull crap like that. It's just not safe for you to be in there, okay?" he insisted.

Vanessa's mouth tightened with thought.

"Please," Vash asked, "Please understand that he's just not able to handle people right now."

Vanessa looked up. "Human beings, isn't that what he said?" she asked. "What did he mean?"

Vash looked around, thinking of a lie. "Talking crazy, again. Just ignore that, okay? Promise you won't go in there, alright?"

Vanessa sighed. "Fine, sure." She stood, and left to work for the day.

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