Chapter 6:

Eliana Stryfe felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders as the hot water of the shower poured down on her. Washing away all the dirt and blood that had built up on her during the gunfight at Ohio and just after when she had held her mother and helped Vash carry her to the hospital. Already a pool of slightly muddy water had formed at her feet. She winced as soapy water washed over the nearly fresh cut on her left arm, causing a stinging sensation to burn in and around the cut.

After a few minutes when she was sure she was clean of dirt she took a bottle of shampoo, a loan from Vash, from a shelf just outside of the shower. She poured a dollop of shampoo onto her hand and ran it through her knotted and blood stained hair. Her hand came away with frothy red mixture on it. She washed her hand clean and washed began rubbing the shampoo in. Then began rinsing it clean, soon a puddle of blood water was at her feet. She repeated the process three times till she was sure that all the blood was out.

Stepping out of the shower, turning it off as she went. Eliana dried herself quickly with a towel, then took another towel and wrapped it around her head covering her hair she took the first towel and wrapped it around herself, just below the armpit. . She closed the bathroom door behind her as she left it, she walked along the corridor and turned left into her room quickly she was trying to avoid knives and any potential conflict between them.

Upon entering her room she dropped the towel around her head, which hit the floor with a squelch. She crossed the room to where Vash had left her bags. Opening one she pulled out a clean change of underwear, a pair of brown jean shorts that reached just above her knees with frayed ends and a white t-shirt. Very few of these clothes were hers' those that were had been taken from the orphanages washing line so they were still wet. Vash had brought her some clothes from a second hand shop on the way to the house. Most of it didn't really fit that well but it would do and he had promised to buy her some new clothes soon to replace the others she had left behind.

Vash sat at the kitchen table staring deeply into a cup of coffee. He'd been looking at it so long he'd forgotten why he'd made it in the first place. It had long stopped steaming and had gone cold. Even in his near meditative state he heard her coming down the stairs. He got up and walked to the doorway, when he saw her she was quietly exploring the hall she had yet to have a good look at it since she arrived two days ago. He saw her looking around the hall. She peered around at the objects that littered hall including a battered pair of his boots by the door, A small stack of metal pipes of varying lengths, next to which another pile this one of scrap metal lay.

Two paintings on the wall. She stopped for a moment to examine these, gently brushing them with the fingers to feel the paint and the faint brush strokes. One was of an almost angelic looking woman with long black hair wearing a red dress. This was the younger looking of the two, the other was much older looking. It was of a garden, thick with tree's and lush plants. In several places there were butterfly's resting on the leaves of plants like roses and hyacinths. In the gold name plate screwed into the frame the words ' the garden of Eden' were inscribed.

"Hey." She jumped at his voice.

"I didn't think anyone was home." Eliana replied quickly looking into the kitchen

"This house is surrounded by desert on ever side for at least one hundred iles, 'cept for one tiny backwater town. Where the heck would we go" She giggled at his remark and in return he smiled.

"What?"

"That's the first time I've seen you smile since I met you." Came the answer. She blinked for a few seconds before joining into the kitchen. She pulled out a chair and sat down at the table taking a look around the kitchen. Opposite her was a window which looked out onto the porch and the desert beyond. Below the window was a long stainless steel sink held up with two wooden supports and the plumbing exposed below. And either side of the window a set of cupboards ran along the wall at shoulder height. To the left of the window it only ran to the corner of the wall. Where as on the right the cupboards turned at right angle on the corner of the room and continued along till they met the wall behind her. Said wall was rather bare save for a cork notice board with several pieces of paper pinned to it, some of which looked like they had been there a while as they were slightly curled at the edges and a little faded.

Vash took a seat opposite her. There was an awkward silence for a moment before he spoke.

"So erm. How old are you?" Here comes the usually painful I wanna get to know you convocation. He inwardly groaned.

"Eighteen."

"And what do you like to do outside school?"

"Oh I don't go to school anymore, I quit when I was sixteen. I wanted to help aunt Millie teach the kids at the orphanage."

"That was nice of you."

"Well she needed help with the kids, Sophie tried to help teach the kids too but the two of them were just too busy with the upkeep of the place and stuff." She smiled though Vash could tell by the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes she regretted leaving. "So I decided to help teach them. Only basic stuff like easy math and English."

"Anything else?"

"I like to draw and paint, I was gonna try to be an artist. Y'know make my way in the world by selling my artwork." She said again he could see and hear the regret in the voice.

"That's why you were looking so closely at the painting before."

"Yeah, they're very good, are they Ruveus or Haas? I couldn't tell" She asked him, her knowledge of painters wasn't the greatest but as Gunsmoke had so few famous painters it wasn't that hard to know most of them at least by name.

"Neither. They're both done by local artists."

"Really?" She inquired. "What are they're names."

"Urm, I don't really remember sorry." Vash grinned a little in his embarrassment.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Anything else you wanna know?"

"How about your birthday?"

"Twenty first of July." She answered. Before he got a chance to ask another question she threw in one of her own.

"So what about you? What are you doing living all the way out here in the boonies?"

"Well me and Knives like to stay out of trouble you see. An' it's nice and quite out here, peaceful."

"Yeah I guess. It must be nice living out here."

"It is." Again there was moment of silence.

"Would you like something do drink?" He asked.

"Thanks, Actually I'm parched and famished. Feels like I haven't eaten in days" He got up, Turing he took taking a ceramic cup from the draining board and proceed to wash it.

"You haven't, you've been sleeping for two days, its Monday now." He answered. She sat bolt upright a little too fast for her own liking, as the larger bruises on her body burned with the sudden movement.

"You're joking!" She exclaimed gritting her teeth at the pain in her upper and lower back and in her left calf. She quickly slid back into her relaxed posture and the pain eased.

"Nah, besides its good you slept in, you'll heal faster for it."

"Yeah." The plumbing under the sink creaked a little he turned the tap and water flowed into the pipes. A few seconds later a stream of it burst out of the end of the tap and into the cup. He turned the tap off when the cup was sufficiently full.

"Hey Vash, how do you know my mom?"

"We met years ago, our jobs kind of clashed." He stopped for a moment before turning and passing the cup to her. He then slumped tiredly into the chair. His right arm resting on top of back support.

"How's that?"

"Well she's and Millie were sent, by Bernadelli, to keep and eye on me and try reduced the damage. 'Cept a fair few times they didn't manage it."

"Ah, why didn't you just move out here and keep out of trouble?"

"It was" He sighed "complicated back then, things were very different. Me and Knives weren't living together then and I was moving around a lot."

"Why's that?" Oh god please let her stop asking questions, I didn't want her to know any of this.

"Well I was looking for someone important to me." Vash was about to add something when the creaking of the front door opening made both of them look in its general direction. There was a metallic clang and Knives entered. His hands were covered with dirt as was his brow, which was dripping with sweat, Cutting lines thought the soil there. Eliana blushed a little when she saw he was wearing no shirt, exposing a muscled chest and torso, with three faded but visible entry wound scars. Two almost parallel below the shoulders and one over his rib cage. There were one or two on his arm, but they were hardly noticeable. He walked into the kitchen and behind Eliana. As he did, shot Vash a cold look. And speaking in a tone just above a whisper he told Vash.

"You really shouldn't do that it just cause's problems." Vash looked dumbfounded for a moment then grinned a little, looking embarrassed.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I'll try and remember to water the tree's next time." Unseen to Eliana Knives gave him a slight scowl. Walked to the left of him and opened up a large cupboard taking a large sized glass jug from it. He walked to the sink and turned the cold tap on.

"How's it going?" Vash asked.

"Fine, the bulbs will bloom soon, as well the apples.

"That good. It'll be nice to eat some fresh ones for a change, instead of those icky ones the general store sells. "Vash replied he screwed up his face in a mock look of disgust to emphasize his last point.

"You're growing Apples! How?" Eliana exclaimed loudly.

"Well its kind hard to explain, something to do with plants right Knives." He looked up at him hoping his brother would indulge him and engage the girl in conversation. His hopes were briefly lifted when Knives started speaking, but shot down seconds later when he heard the word.

"We use a plant for growing things." He stated rather rudely, in tone implicating ignorance on her part was heavily present.

"Could you tell me about it?" She asked hoping for an answer.

"No." This riled her, Vash saw a spark set blaze in her eyes, one he recognized all too well. Bringing her full height of five feet eleven, still several inches shorter than knives' six feet one, and looked up at him fixing her eyes with his.

"What exactly have I done to you bar exist. Ever since I arrived you haven't said a nice word about me. In fact even though Vash tired to keep me from hearing it I heard what you said about me the other day and I've got four choice words for you. And several more a lady isn't supposed to say." She yelled at him. He remained impassive.

"And they would be."

"I'm not a freak." She screamed as loud as she could at him. Vash was grinning a little, he was pleased for once not be on the receiving end of the famous 'Stryfe temper'.

"You know, you are only other person besides him to speak to me in that tone." She looked at him a hint of despair in her eyes. Before turning around and walking out of the room and upstairs.

"That was a little mean Knives."

"In your opinion maybe. But she proved something today."

"Huh." Vash looked at him quizzically.

"She's not afraid of me anymore." Vash grinned.

"Yeah. That's a good thing too."

"Why?"

"Because I've gotta go visit his grave next week." Knives knew full well who Vash meant, and he knew it was still painful for Vash to talk about. "And that means you tow are going to have to learn to co-exist." Despite the fact he smiled at Knives he was inwardly he was a little worried.