Question 4
It was Thursday now, and soon the weekend would be coming, Lilli loved the weekend because then Vash had no work to do and they often hung out. She sat up within the soft confines of her duvet and looked out the window, the sun still far down below the horizon. She yawned and recalled the events from yesterday, after Vash took her up to her room; the only thing she remembered was a warm feeling on her forehead. She undid herself from the mess of covers, and crossed the drafty floor toward her closet. She got dressed in her favorite gown, which was identical to her pink dress, except it had been specially given to her by Vash and it was in a navy blue. She adored it only wearing it on her own personal special occasions, and today was one of them. On the first Thursday of each month she would wear it to lift her spirits, and so she did today.
Lilli walked silently past Switzerland's room, only pausing when she heard him shift in his sleep. She smiled and laughed on the inside, so she wouldn't wake him, she then continued on her silent way toward the lower level to the kitchen. She made their traditional toast, and juice. She left them on the counter and went to wake the older member of the household.
She slowly opened his door, and was greeted by the sight of sunlight, except Vash was still asleep. She giggled as she walked toward his bed, and sat on the edge, shielding the sun from her own eyes. "Vash, wake up, Vash come on, wake up." He stirred but then went back asleep. Calmly Lilli, tugged at his sleeve, for she had time to play these games. "Vashin, come on big brother wake up, it's time to get up." But still he would not stir. Finally she got fed up, "VASHIN WAKE UP NOW OR I'M GOING UP THE PATH ALONE!" His eyes finally opened, and he sat up quickly, so much so that he had to reach for support which happened to be Lilli. Vash grabbed her shoulder, and she stood dragging him up with her. Vash stumbled, but stood and ushered Lilli out of his room as he got dressed.
Vash walked down the stairs his shoes making a clunk as he walked. He reached the kitchen, and as normal grabbed the toast and the drinks, and walked out the door that was held open by their maid. They walked up the hill, and again as usual walked up the hill as the sun rose about the majestic Alps. They sat there for at least 5 minutes, until Lilli started to walk down the path, pulling his hand behind her. But Vash resisted in the most unnoticeable way, and it took them an extra minute. They reached the bottom and as Vash looked at the Alps, the sun was not so high that it could be seen from the bottom of the path. Lilli let go of his hand, and looked up at him with her large emerald eyes and the words were ushered from her lips, it was her question. "What is your favorite kind of chocolate?" He relaxed a bit, since it wasn't such a personal question as yesterday's way. "Well Lilli since I represent Switzerland, and we are phenomenal chocolate makers, it's hard to chose but I would have to say mine is milk chocolate" She smiled and asked if he wanted her to answer too. "Of course, it's part of my mirror game." She laughed and agreed, "Alright, then my favorite type of chocolate would have to be dark chocolate, and it's bitter but tastes really good." He smiled as her mouth practically watered at the mention of chocolate. She bid him goodbye and walked to the garden on the side of the house. She didn't notice that Vash followed until she sat on her favorite stone bench, and he stood in her line of sight. She smiled, stood and walked over to Switzerland. "I thought you had work to do big brother." He smiled one of the rare smiles and took Lilli's hand as he walked to a seldom used path.
"Vash, where are we going?" He looked back at her and then turned forward again. "It's a surprise Lilli, don't worry." She relaxed and let herself be dragged down the path, which she found eventually led out to town. She looked around in awe as the town bustled about. Lilli had only been into town a few times, and once she met Austria, who seemed to have some tension with Vash. Austria treated them both to lunch and then both went their separate ways. But back to the present ~
Lilli and Vash walked down the street, toward a part of town she had never visited. "Big brother, where exactly are we going?" He smiled and stopped in front a giant chocolate factory. The factory was called Flavil and was very large. She walked with Switzerland, where they were greeted by a tour guide, with a large smile. They were walked through the factory; Lilli's eyes were wide the whole time. When the tour was over the tour guide handed them each to box of chocolate, and said goodbye.
As they walked out the door Lilli looked down at the box, and Vash smiled "Don't open it yet Lilli, wait till we get home." She pouted but obeyed him none the less. Finally Lilli got tired of waiting, so she grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the path they had come to town on. When they finally reached the confines of the estate, Lilli pulled the purple ribbon off of the box, and sat down on a convenient stone bench. Vash followed her and removed the green ribbon from his own box. Lilli smiled as she saw the dark chocolate delicately wrapped in white paper. She looked over toward Vash and saw the milk chocolate within his box. She daintily took one of the chocolates in her small fingers, and bit the piece of chocolate. Her mouth watered for more, and once she finished the first piece, she grabbed the smallest one, and ate that. Vash looked at Lilli, and saw she enjoyed the chocolate; he had planned for this, making sure she got the dark chocolates she wanted. He then took one of his and popped it into his mouth, letting it melt. Lilli stood up and positioned herself in front of Vash. "Thank you for the trip into town and the chocolates, Vash." "It was my pleasure Lilli." She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, his face instantly turning bright red. He mumbled something under his breath, but stood and walked behind her. "Vash don't you have work to do?" He stopped in his tracks, and also swore, but refrained. He instantly turned in the opposite direction after saying a quick goodbye to Lilli, and ran to his office.
Lilli hummed a make shift tune as she walked toward the library, trying to find something to do. The books were full of dust, so went ever she had to turn the page, a new cloud of dust would confront her nose. She finally found a book that she found interesting. The title read "Cinderella". She sat in an overly large chair and curled up with her book, dress draped over her legs. She opened the book and started to read.
Vash finished his work fairly quickly, he only had a few papers to sign, and the only problem was finding a blue pen. His boss always insisted he used one, so they could tell the original from the copies. He signed the papers, and continued stood from his place in the chair, trying to figure out what to do next. He went into the living room, and sat down to think. Vash felt uneasy about Lilli's game, she had all her questions planned, and it felt like she way probing for information. He sat, trying to figure out where she had thought of such an idea, and what she could possible want to learn about him. It wasn't like he was an interesting country, just a small European nation amongst many others. She was better off learning about more powerful countries such as America, England or even the Austrian. He in himself was not the slightest bit interesting. But no matter how hard Vash thought about it, he could find no answer. Finally he got up and decided to move to another room.
Lilli wasn't far in to her story, when the door creaked open, and Vash entered the room. "Hey Lilli, what are you up to?" She smiled remembering a line she had heard before, and looked down at the book. "Oh, page 5." He laughed getting the reference, before seating himself in the chair opposite. He looked at the books positioned on the table to his left, and grabbed his birthday present from Arthur. The Harry Potter series, England insisted, was a very good series. Thus Vash got it for his birthday. He opened the first book; there were seven of them, to where he left off. They read in silence for about 10 minutes, until Lilli stood and walked toward the bookshelf to but her book away. "Say, Lilli, why read Cinderella, you know it by heart, I read it to you when you were a child." She smiled, but it seemed sad, "I wanted to read it myself, and gather my own message from the story." He placed his book mark within the confines of the page he was on, and stood, placing it on the low overly crowded wooden table. "Lilli you seem bored, why don't you head into town?" He handed her a small worn wallet, which contained 85 American dollars. "Vash, this is a lot of money…" He looked at her, but pushed it toward her. "Well Lilli, I don't exactly expect you to spend all of it." She smiled and walked out of the library thanking Vash as she went.
Lilli remembered the letter her and Vash had gotten just yesterday. She thought of how it was a formal party and how she needed a formal dress. She walked down the path, humming a tune as she went. She finally reached town, a whole new and confusing world opening up to her. She walked down the streets unsure of where to go. And she looked for the sign of a dress shop. She walked maybe 4 city blocks finally reaching a large dress shop located on a corner. She opened the large glass door, and was at once greeted with about 1 million dresses. Instantly a young girl, perhaps in her early 20s was at her side. "Hello miss, may I help you find anything?" She smiled sweetly at Lilli, and walked with her, as she moved away from the door. The young girl turned toward Lilli, and her eyes went wide in awe. "You! You're Mr. Vash's little sister aren't you?!" Lilli blushed and nodded; the girl almost squealed and took her by the hand. "Your brother was just in here the other day, buying you a dress! What do you need I'd be glad to help!" Lilli smiled thankfully and walked side by side with the girl. "Could you perhaps help me find a formal dress, I'm going to a party later this week and I have nothing to wear."
The young girl laughed and led Lilli over to the back of the large store, where a million dresses hung on racks and pegs, neatly aligned on the wall. "My name is Colette, now what color are you looking?" Lilli placed a slim finger on her lower lip, biting it in the process. "Um, well I have always worn pink, but I'm not too sure…" Colette smiled and walked her over to a large rack, full of dresses of various lengths and hues of pink. Lilli smiled, and quickly looked over the ones in front of her. Colette looked over Lilli, taking in her height and estimation of figure. Lilli was petite to say the least although, she was incredibly naïve and beautiful. Colette scanned the rack, ruling out the long dresses, they would swallow her up, and the incredibly short ones would make her look like a slut, her brother would not be pleased. Colette looked at the small girl again, and smiled, she really was beautiful. What Lilli didn't know though was that Colette knew that Vash was not her biological brother. Colette also knew that Vash cared very deeply for his sister. Lilli scanned the rack for what seemed the 5th time, before noticing one that caught her eye. It was what seemed to be about to her knee, of the most incredible mix of hot pink and light salmon, it was just right. Colette also grabbed a few and led Lilli to the dressing room.
Vash was sitting in his study completely board, waiting for Lilli to come home. There was a timid knock on the door, and Vash stood to open it hoping it was Lilli. But instead there stood a young maid, about 23, holding a tray for him. "Sir," she said her cockney accent very strong, "'ou missed lun'h, I t'oug't 'ou mig't be 'ungry." Vash smiled and took the tray from the girl. "Thank you, miss." She bowed and left him with the tray, and his thoughts.
Lilli checked the small clock on the wall noting the time was 3:45 pm. She had to be back in time to make dinner for her brother. With Colette's help she had tried on several dresses, none of which seeming to work. She finally found a light pink dress, it was a kind of salmon almost, but I won't go into detail. Around the waist was a black satin sash. Colette said it accentuated her waist, and look lovely, which Lilli agreed with the decision and bought the lovely dress. By the time she had found the proper size, checked out and Colette had pointed the direction in which to travel it was about 4:40 pm, and Lilli needed to be home in time for 5:00 pm.
Vash was pacing in his study, wondering where on Earth Lilli was. It was precisely 5:02 pm and Lilli was not home yet, he had half a mind to go into town to find her, but thought better of it. Vash sighed and stopped pacing due to his aching feet, and sat down in his large chair. "Damn it where is she?"
Vash stood quickly when there was a knock on the door, throwing it open quite violently. But there stood the maid from a little while ago the one with the cockney accent, a tray once again present in her hand. "Mis' Liec'tenstein just called sir… S'e said s'e'll be 'ere in just a minute, s'e 'ad to stop for somethin' along t'e way." Vash sighed; obviously relieved. "Alright thank you, when she gets home send her in here alright?" The maid bowed and left the tray on the table, closing the door behind her as she left. Vash relaxed a bit now, although he was still on edge.
Vash paced again but for a shorter time, for it was interrupted by a knock on the door. He walked calmly this time to the door, half expecting to see that maid again. The door was opened from the other side, by Lilli. "Vash, you called for me?" Again he heaved a sigh of relief. "Yes, Lilli, how was your time shopping?" She reached a small bag and pulled out the beat up wallet, handing it to Vash. "Thank you, so what did buy?" She shuffled in place, biting her lip. "I can't show you big brother, it a surprise, wait till Sunday alright?" He nodded, and left with her to go prepare supper.
It was five thirty by the time dinner was done, and both were hungry. Lilli made frittata* tonight, and Vash was amazed at her cooking talent. He had bartered with Ludwig for the potatoes, trading a pistol for a couple bags and other people. He was full by the time he had finished his second slice, and thanked Lilli for the meal. She stood and grabbed his plate, like usual, and watched her place them in the sink. She lingered at the sink though, humming a soft melodious tune as the water ran. He stood, and walked to the sink to stand next to his adoptive sister. "Lilli, I've never seen you wash the dishes, usually you let the maid get them." She looked up from the sink, and smiled. "Our maid, you know, Patricia, she got the flu, so I decided to try and help her." He smiled at her thoughtfulness, and picked up one of the towels. Lilli smiled and handed him the plate, watching him for a moment, before moving onto the next dish. They were soon done with the stack that had been piling up over the days Patricia had stayed in bed.
Lilli sat in Vash's room, helping him find his lost book. She was actually sitting on his bed, while he was crawling on the floor. She giggled when he almost fell, and again when he bumped his head on the bedpost. "Vash, perhaps it is not in your room." He pulled himself up on his knees, kneeling beside Lilli, except she was on the bed and he on the floor. She came down to his level, both now on the hardwood floor. She straightened herself up, so she was slightly taller, and smiled at him. "It is time for me to go to bed; I will see you in the morning." She gave him a chaste kiss on the forehead and walked off to her own room, leaving him there, in his room.