Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or any other anime - I just like making up stories…oh, and this is my second official fan fic and my first Trigun fan fic so I'll just apologize now if it sucks. Sorry!

Chapter Seventeen: Beautiful

Is there anything more wonderful than seeing an artist complete a masterpiece? They work and they slave over their work until it has one last stroke of the brush missing and when it is finished, it's beautiful. I feel like the masterpiece.

Knives eyes suddenly widened. What the hell was that?

"I'm sorry? Did I do something wrong?" Marianne looked confused.

"No. My brother is being a fool, that's all." Knives got to his feet. "I have to stop him. He never thinks things through to their logical conclusion."

"What has he done?" Marianne also rose.

"He's just kissed that woman, I think." Knives reached for the door and began to open it.

"Ah!" Marianne smiled. "No, you don't!" She stopped the motion of the opening door with her foot.

I beg your pardon woman, what do you think you're doing? He glared at her.

I think I'm stopping you from being a hypocrite. She smiled.

What are you getting at? He raised an eyebrow.

"What are you going to do Knives? Go marching up to him and curse him? Perhaps fight him? Now who's not following things through logically?"

"You're going to have to explain yourself." Knives crossed his arms impatiently.

"I guess you're not a 'know-it-all' are you? You're not reciprocating your brother's trust!" She paused looked up at the intense blonde man before her. He was silent. She cleared her throat and continued. "Alright, think about this, your brother has had an extreme amount of patience with you. Not only did he heal you and nurse you back to health when he could have left you for dead, but he brought you here, and trusted you to meet with people like her and myself. No offense, but your track record with humans would have made him logically conclude that bringing you out around people would have been a bad idea. But he obviously trusts you, even if he doesn't really understand your reasoning. Now, don't you think it's the least you could do for him, to return the favor?

He stared at her. Amazing.

"Well?" She put her hands on her hips.

"You're right, I don't understand his reasoning, but I'll stay here then." He smiled and continued. "Tell me woman, why would he want to kiss her?" Knives tiled his head and smiled at the woman before him.

Marianne felt hot. "Er, my name is Marianne, and he probably wanted to kiss her because….because…oh…how should I know? There are lots of reasons to kiss someone." She threw her hands in the air.

For example? He stepped closer to her.

For example, well...Suddenly Marianne didn't like how easily he made his voice echo in her mind. For example, some people feel strong emotions, like love for each other, and it makes them want to be physically close. She froze. He had moved closer to her, too close. She blinked in surprise. You've got to be kidding me?

"Physically close? Like this?" He asked, his breathe tickling her neck.

Marianne felt a surge of passion flow over her body, leaving her with goose bumps and a tingly feeling under the skin. "Yes, something like that. That is why some people kiss." She smiled and took a step back. "So, that's why you shouldn't go interrupt your brother, whether you approve or not. He obviously has emotional connections with Meryl and no matter how much you'd like to, you can't control your brother's emotions."

He stepped back as well and smiled at her. "You're right. I'll take that dessert now."

As they set back at the table Marianne served her guest the crème brulee with grace. She returned to her seat and began eating her own dessert, but neither person was focused on their final course. Knives was contemplating the new piece of education he had received from the woman, no, Marianne. Marianne on the other hand was attempting to make her thoughts as generic as possible. Are you reading my thoughts right now?

"I'm an idiot huh?" Vash smiled and hugged the woman in his arms a little tighter. "Well, I'm an idiot that needs you, so, that's a little better than just being an idiot."

"That's right, a little better than just an idiot." Meryl echoed. She sighed softly. It was wonderfully nice to be held in those strong, scarred arms. Scarred arms. Oh! That's right! Meryl straightened herself away from Vash and looked him in the eye. "Vash, when I was trying to follow your trail I had a lot to think about. I have so many things I want to know about you. I feel like you're such a mystery. Like what are you going to do with yourself now? And how did you learn to talk to someone without using your mouth? And where did you take Knives to heal him? And how did you heal him? And –"

Vash had put a finger on her lips, stopping her mid-question. "A person can't think so many thoughts at one time Meryl, they'll explode. Can I ask you to do something for me without offending you?"

"Er, well, yes, of course you can." Meryl stammered.

"Don't be so uptight Meryl, please. I'm not used to feeling like this and I'm pretty scared that if I do explain all that stufff, right here and right now, you'll hit the road before I'm done. Let's just take this one step at a time and see where it goes. What do you say?" said Vash.

"Ok. That sounds good. And, I'm not offended Vash, but this is all new to me too, so please keep that in mind." Meryl nodded.

"I will Meryl, I will." He smiled and laughed. "Alright this is good! Who knew what today would have in store for me? The stars have finally decided to shine on me! Let's go back inside, without me in there, my brother, I'm sad to say, is freaking out." Vash turned towards the door and then smiled back at the small woman on the porch. He offered her his hand as he opened the door. "Hey, you know what?"

"Hm?"

"You once asked me why nothing good ever follows me, remember?"

"Yes?"

"Well, you were following me, so it looks like that's not true anymore."

Meryl grinned and took his hand and suddenly stopped. "Vash?"

"Yeah?" He looked down at her.

"What are we going to call this?" She looked back up at him.

"I think this is called beautiful." Vash winked.

Well! This is just getting' sappy – Vash'll be tied to Meryl's apron strings before too long… lisa