Chapter 5: Back Home

Vash opened the door to a huge surprise. There on the bed sat Meryl with her shirt off wearing only a bra examining just one of the many scars that adorned her body. She looked up and saw Vash standing above her. "Where did you get these?" he asked fingering a small scar on her shoulder.

"My foster dad… You know he beat me all the time," Meryl replied silently.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know any of these were this bad."

"Why did you follow me?"

"I have to protect you."

"From what? Or who?"

"Yourself! Did you even see what happened back there? Did you see what you did? Doesn't that scare you?" Vash asked angrily.

"Yes! Of course it scared me! That's why I ran away! I'm a monster! Why don't you see that? I won't rest until I kill them off. All of them, including you, will die."

"Meryl… I know how you feel. I'm not a human either. I'm just like you."

"I don't believe you," Meryl declared as she slipped her shirt back on.

"Meryl!" Vash exclaimed and took her hands in his. "Believe me! You're a plant! I'm a plant! Even Knives is a plant! Knives and I are around 140 years old! And you're just a year old but you look like you're twelve. You're going to stop growing at the end of next year and then you'll live forever. You chose to be this way instead of to die…" Vash stopped before he could reveal any more information.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Meryl looked at him strangely.

"Um… nothing," said Vash. He spotted a bag filled with food and some clothes. "Where are you headed? Or did you just get here?"

"Both, actually. I arrived here a couple days ago and didn't have time to unpack. I was going to leave tomorrow after seeing you and the others. I don't know where I'm going."

"You can come with us," Vash suggested. "We're going back home."

"Home? You expect me to go home? Hell no!"

"I didn't mean your home." Vash mentally kicked himself. 'Of course she doesn't remember…' "I meant my home. Where you can start off new!"

"Fine… As long as no one bothers me." Meryl's eyes turned black for a second.

"Thank you, Meryl." Vash started to hug her but she pushed him away.

"This doesn't mean we're friends. I still hate you." Vash looked down. "But chin up! I'm not dead! You're not dead! I haven't gone on a killing spree… yet…"

It took a month by sand steamer to get back home. Once there, Wolfwood and Millie left to catch another sand steamer back to Millie's parent's house to get their belongings. So Knives, Vash, and Meryl were left alone.

"This is your room, Meryl." Vash opened a door. "You can go to bed now. I'm sure you're tired."

Meryl gaped. "No way! It's three o' clock in the afternoon! I am so not going to bed!"

"I'll take her somewhere," Knives volunteered. "Where to you want to go?" he asked Meryl.

"Ooh! Shopping!"

"Fine," Knives agreed.

"Score!" Meryl jumped up with her fist in the air.

'Take care of her, Knives,' Vash sent Knives a mental message.

'You can trust me, Vash.'

'I can do this, too,' Meryl had a dreamy look on her face for a second. 'Woah…' "Ok! Let's go, Vash's brother."

"Knives. My name is Knives."

Meryl blinked. "What kind of name is that?" Vash coughed. "Shut up, Vash. Your name is pretty retarded, too." Knives smirked.

"Let's go, shortie," Knives walked out the door followed close behind by Meryl. "So where do you want to go first?" Knives asked.

"Hey look!" Meryl pointed at a large store. "It's Boswell! Let's go there." They opened the double doors and were refreshed by a waft of cold air. Meryl took a deep breath. "How much money are you willing to spend? 'Cause I wanna dye my hair! And I want a whole new wardrobe! And I need shoes! And…" she started listing a plethora of expensive things she wanted to get.

"You know… I think I'm going to hate teenage girls after this." Knives rubbed his temples.

Five hours later, Knives and Meryl walked out of Boswell carrying twenty something bags and Meryl adorning a huge smile. "Wasn't that joyful? Don't you just love my hair? Isn't it cute?"

Knives looked at Meryl's newly cut and dyed hair. "It's wonderful…" he said sarcastically. They walked to a bench and set the bags on the ground and sat down. "Yep. I was right. I do hate teenage girls."

Meryl ran a hand through her cropped black hair. "Very funny. This may seem weird… but I feel like I've had my hair like this before."

"That's because you have." Knives looked into Meryl's dark brown eyes. She looked confused. "I'm not going to explain it to you. Vash doesn't want me to until you're older. I think you should know right now but I'm not at liberty to make that choice."

"Look… I think I have a right to know what's going on in my life. Am I wrong in wanting that?" Meryl looked at the ground. They were both silent for a while. Knives didn't take his eyes off her.

About ten minutes of awkward silence, Knives said, "I think we better go. Vash will be worried about you."

Meryl looked at Knives, smirking. "You mean he won't be worried about you, too?"

Knives frowned. "I don't think Vash likes me that much."

"Why not? You guys are brothers right?"

"That's correct. We just have a colorful past. That's all."

"I didn't know you two swung that way." Meryl giggled. "I mean… it's not a bad thing to be attracted to your brother but I didn't see you as that kind of guy. Vash, I can believe. You don't seem like the gay type."

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not gay with my twin brother!" Knives stood up angrily. A few shoppers stopped to look at him oddly.

"I didn't say you were." Meryl turned around and laughed silently. She stood up and picked up some of her shopping bags. Knives carried the rest. They started walking in the direction of their house.

Vash was waiting for them on the porch tapping his feet anxiously. He saw them come over and ran up to meet them. "Where have you guys been? I've been waiting for you for hours!"

"Well, we're here now, Vash. Could you make yourself useful and carry some of these bags?" Vash nodded and Knives handed him a few. Then he went inside.

Vash looked at closely for the first time during that conversation. "Your hair. You changed it back."

"Back?" Meryl questioned.

Vash shook his head, berating himself for slipping. "Oh um… nothing. I was kidding. Let's just go inside."

"Whatever." Meryl rudely shoved her shopping bags in Vash's arms and he followed her inside.