Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Pearls of Experience ❯ Missing Clothes and a Sponge Bath ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or Sailor Moon

Pearls of Experience

Chapter Four - Missing Clothes and a Sponge Bath

Ami was awake when the first rays of sunlight appeared over the horizon, signaling the start of a brand new day. She had dressed in an outfit similar to what she was wearing the day before, jeans, boots, a grey linen shirt this time, and a white doctor's coat. She took a brush from her dresser and used it to comb out the tangles from her short blue hair. After a couple minutes went by, she put the brush back and walked out of her bedroom.

She passed by the rooms that Vash and Wolfwood shared and could still hear their snores. Across from their chambers, Ami was able to hear Millie getting out of bed, but Meryl was still gently making sleeping sounds. She passes by two more rooms before stopping in front of the room that housed Knives. She doubted that he would have known that it was she who had quieted his nightmares somehow, but she still felt hesitant in entering.

"I wonder who Rem is," Ami whispered to herself as she lightly touched the doorknob and slowly opened the door. She peered inside the room carefully and saw that her patient was still sleeping. Sighing in relief, the doctor closed the door quietly and went down the stairs and into the kitchen.

She examined the refrigerator and cupboards to see if there was anything that could be used for breakfast and shook her head. The blue haired woman realized that there was not enough food for six people to last after breakfast. She went over to a desk and took out some money from a hidden drawer and was about to leave the house when Millie came walking down the stairs.

"Good morning, Doctor Mizuno," the tall woman remarked cheerfully. "Did you sleep well? I know that I did. I haven't slept in a bed like that for quite some time."

Ami smiled at the woman, unable to help herself; Millie's cheeriness was infectious. 'Millie…you remind me of Minako with her same cheerful attitude,' she thought to herself. "Good morning to you as well, Millie. I slept okay, thank you for asking," she answered. "You know, you can just call me Ami."

Millie smiled her friendly smile at the blue haired woman. "Okay, Ms. Ami," she responded. "I see that you are leaving early in the morning."

The former senshi nodded as she put her hand in her coat pocket to feel the money she has in there. "Yes. I checked the kitchen and saw that I needed to buy some food to feed everyone in the house. I know that we can't very well afford to keep buying food from the restaurant for everyone. I'll go broke in no time."

The tall woman with the kindly eyes smiled once more. "Would you like some help?" she asked quickly. "I can carry all the heavy stuff and I can cook."

Ami gave Millie a grateful look and nodded as she gestured to the front door. "Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you very much." At that, both women left the house as the morning light got brighter.

The slamming of the front door woke up someone who occupied the room right at the top of the stairs. He grumbled for a moment before realizing where he was. Knives couldn't believe that his brother brought him over to a filthy human town so some filthy human doctor could mend the injuries that his own brother had inflicted. That blue haired wench had touched him while he was unconscious and that disconcerted the blonde man. He did not like being touched, let alone some strange woman doctor doing just that.

He heard some voices just outside his window and he had to strain himself to sit up to look outside. He caught a glimpse of that annoying tall woman that hung around Vash and that disconcerting doctor. He scowled at the thought of the doctor; the feeling of wanting to strangle that woman came to his conscious mind. He smiled wickedly at that thought and then started devising ways to kill her…

"I know more about physical and emotional pain than you will ever know," Ami sadly whispered, her voice quavering slightly. "But despite all that I have been through, I will still always help those in need, whether they want it or not."

Knives became even more infuriated when that statement the doctor had made came to the forefront of his thoughts. 'It is ridiculous! How can a mere spider know about pain and suffering?' he thought as the two women disappeared from view. He was about to try and get out of the bed when he heard the voices of his brother, the traitorous Chapel, and that other annoying woman. He decided to stay quiet and listen to their conversation…

"Wolfwood, can you tell us exactly how you came back to life?" Meryl asked, very curious to know what had happened.

"I really don't remember much, Meryl, but I guess I can try to tell you what I saw," the priest tried to explain.

"Oh, come on and tell us already!" whined the voice of Vash. Knives rolled his eyes at his twin's childish behavior.

"I'm getting to that, needle-noggin!" Wolfwood's voice was impatient one moment and then became soft. "When I first came to, I didn't know what had happened and then I realized that I should be dead. I looked above me and there was this silvery blue glow and I thought I had seen an angel."

Knives' ears perked up at this. An angel? Could a Plant have possibly saved the traitor?

Wolfwood's voice continued with the story. "I saw her dark blue hair and those sapphire eyes and I thought that she was an angel, especially with that glow surrounding her. That was when I realized that this woman somehow brought me back to life."

"The woman must have been Ami, right?" Vash's voice actually sounded serious to Knives' ears.

"That's right, Vash. Apparently, she had used a lot of energy to bring me back because she collapsed right then and there and did not wake up for over two days. I never asked Ami how she was able to do that…I am just waiting for her to tell me on her own." Wolfwood's voice sounded a little tired.

Meryl's voice piped up at the point. "Other than that, have you seen Ami do anything else? *slight pause* By the shaking of your head, I take it that she has not used any type of ability."

Vash could be heard clearing his throat before speaking. "She could be a Plant, like my brother and me, but I am not sure…" At that, the three voices became faint and disappeared altogether as the sounds of their footsteps were heard going down the stairwell.

This gave Knives more things to think about and wonder more about the doctor. He couldn't believe that the petite woman would be able to have a power to be able to bring someone back to life. He scowled for a moment and then his thoughts went to the nightmare he was having last night. He really could not remember what was going on in the dream but he knew it was unpleasant. He felt fear and that was one emotion he definitely knew he did not like.

Then suddenly, in the middle of the nightmare, Knives knew that something soothing entered his mind and caused his dreams to become more peaceful, calmer. The feeling was similar to that of Rem back when he was young and on the ship with his brother and that human woman called Rem. He snorted distastefully at the thought of the kindly woman, but he knew that his feelings for her went deeper than he wanted to admit.

"Rem…" he murmured quietly, his icy cerulean eyes closed for a moment. "Why did you care more for my brother than me?" He reopened his eyes and looked around the room he was in. There were a few cabinets inside and he could tell that they were all locked. The furnishings were sparse with a nightstand next to the bed, a small lamp, and couple of ordinary wooden chairs. The one thing he did notice was that his clothes were not anywhere to be seen.

Ami and Millie came back to the house loaded with groceries and a package that appeared to be from a bakery. The doctor was laughing at some anecdote that the much taller woman had said when they heard a very angry Knives screaming.

"WHERE IN THE HELL ARE MY CLOTHES!"

Ami closed her eyes for a moment and then looked up at Millie. "Could you take all the groceries inside the kitchen, Millie?" she asked, a pleading look in her sapphire eyes. "I have to talk to a very irate patient."

"Oh, I'm sure that Mr. Knives isn't that mad," Millie remarked cheerfully as she easily took all of the bags into her arms. "If you got him new clothes, I'm sure that he will be better."

The former senshi stared at the tall Insurance woman for a moment as she disappeared into the house. She shook her head for a moment and then entered the dwelling. Millie was already in the kitchen with Vash cooing over the donuts that they had purchased just for him, apparently having forgotten about Knives' outburst. Meryl was in the kitchen as well, going about on how Vash was dense and ate way too many donuts. Wolfwood, on the other hand, was apparently waiting for Ami at the foot of the stairs.

"I thought that you might need some help with Knives," the dark haired man remarked slowly. "I know when that man gets into moods like that, he can be very dangerous."

Ami observed her friend for a moment and then shook her head. "No, that will not be necessary, Nick," she answered quickly. "I suggest that you go into the kitchen and make Millie feel that she is the most important person on this planet."

"She is the most important person to me," Wolfwood replied, his voice going soft. "But you…you are like a sister to me, Ami. I don't want you to get hurt."

The petite woman smiled up at her friend and gave him a reassuring squeeze on his arm as she put a foot on the first stair. "Don't worry about me, Nick. I can handle myself…I have faced far worse things than an injured man like Knives."

Wolfwood watched the doctor run up the stairs and sighed. How could a kindly woman such as Ami face things that were worse than Knives? Despite the fact that she had brought him back to life, he could not understand how she would even have the power to defend herself.

Ami swiftly went up the stairs and stopped in front of the door to Knives' room. Before she could even raise a hand to knock on the door, she heard the manic Plant yell, "I know you are out there, you goddamned, filthy spider! Get inside here now!"

The doctor took in a deep breath and opened the door to see her patient livid with anger. "What can I do for you?" she asked simply as she shut the door behind her. She winced at the shouting that came next.

"What can you do for me?!" Knives' asked reproachfully. "YOU CAN TELL ME WHERE MY CLOTHES ARE!"

"I threw them away," Ami answered a little meekly, her eyes staring at the floor.

"You WHAT!?!?" the blond man shouted.

"I threw them away," the blue haired senshi repeated, not letting the man's anger get to her. "For one thing, they were dirty. Another thing, they were damaged beyond anyone's ability to repair them. I was doing you a favor in getting rid of those rags."

Knives glared at the petite woman in front of him, his urge to do something violent growing. "You have no RIGHT in tossing away something that belonged to ME!" he bellowed, his eyes becoming mere slits on his face. "Did it ever occur in your inferior mind that I still might have wanted to KEEP WHAT WAS LEFT?!"

Ami stared at the floor for a moment longer and then lifted her gaze slowly to meet the angered man's cold blue eyes. "You are right," she whispered softly. "I should have thought that you still might have wanted what was left of your clothes. I should have waited until you were awake before I did anything to them. I am sorry."

The apology that the former senshi gave was something that Knives did not expect from the petite woman. He half expected her to yell back at him or leave the room because of how rudely he was treating her. She was definitely not like the rest of the spiders on the desert planet they lived upon.

"What did you say?" the pale blond man asked incredulously.

"I said…I am sorry," Ami answered softly. "I did not take your feelings in account on this matter."

Knives did not know what to say. This spider, a female one at that, had somehow managed to make him speechless and he started to feel some anger directed at her. "When I am healthy, the first person I will kill will be you, woman," he seethed, his eyes growing even colder.

Ami smiled sadly at the man on the bed before she went and checked his bandages. A couple of them needed changing so she set about doing that task. The next few minutes were silent and tense; a little too tense for Ami's taste but she was not about to say anything that would infuriate her patient any more. She left the room for a minute or two and came back carrying a basin full of hot water, a large sponge, a few towels and a white linen bag. She set the basin down on the nightstand and the towels on one of the chairs.

"Now, if you like smelling like you were dragged through manure, I suggest that you stay still and let me give you a sponge bath," the doctor remarked as she pulled back the blanket covering her patient until he was completely in the nude once more. "And afterwards, I'll help you to the bathroom and then out to the balcony on this floor. I'm sure that you would like to sit some place other than this room."

Knives was about to retort back at the woman when he noticed the faint blush on her face. He had noticed it the previous night when she came into his room after he had tried to get out of bed. He was not wearing anything last night and he was very naked right at this moment. He could not understand why humans had such a sense of modesty but he just rolled his eyes at the woman's reactions. He then turned his head so he could look out the window and not look at the doctor.

He heard something dip into the basin and then he stiffened when he felt Ami's slender hands on his shoulders, urging him to sit up. As he did so, Knives glared at the woman. "If my arms were not injured…"

"You would kill me," Ami finished softly as she took the sponge out of the basin and began washing her patient's back. She had also put a towel covering up Knives' front so it was easier for her to take the sponge and clean his chest and legs. Every few moments, she would accidentally touch his skin with her hand and she would blush a little more.

Knives' breath would get caught in his throat every time he felt Ami's hands on his skin. The more she touched him, however innocent it may be, the more he wanted to do something violent. The thing was that the touches were rather pleasant and that unsettled the Plant even more. Just as he was about to say something vile about the doctor, she started drying him off with the other towels she had brought with her.

Ami finished drying off the man before her and grabbed the bag she brought in with her. "I have some clothes in here that I got at the store some time ago. They are men's pajamas and they would be good for you since you are healing. I'll help you put them on."

Before Knives could protest, the senshi of Mercury took out a pair of light blue pajama pants and a matching button top, both made of linen. She eased the top over his broken arm and buttoned it up for him, leaving the Plant to curse at her with very imaginative expletives. She had a much harder time putting the pajama pants over his legs since he did not have any underwear so her face became a darker shade of red.

Once she was finished, Ami pulled out a pair of sandals and slipped them on her patient's feet. She then held out her hand towards Knives. "Ready? I'll help you to the bathroom now," she replied.

Knives glowered at the petite woman as he swung his legs and feet to the floor, putting some weight on them to see how much pain he was going to get. He winced as he tried to stand up and was about to fall back to the bed when Ami went to his side, supporting his much larger frame. Feeling disgusted with himself, he had to wrap an arm around the doctor's shoulders so he would not fall back down. He did not want to rely on a human, much less the one by his side.

Ami led the much taller man out of his room and to the bathroom just across from his door. Knives noticed that there were bars in the room in order to help people who were physically handicapped such as him. "I do not need your help in here," the Plant growled out, giving the blue haired woman an angry glare.

The doctor nodded as she let go of her patient once he had a firm grip on one of the bars in the bathroom. Once he was inside, Ami closed the door to let the Plant have some privacy. She leaned against the wall, waiting for him to finish so she could help him out to the balcony. As she closed her eyes, she listened to the sounds and voices downstairs…

"Vash! I told you to save at least some of those cookies for Ami!" a woman's voice shouted, obviously angry.

"But Meryl, I was hungry," Vash's voice whined and then the sound of a pan hitting something solid was heard. What followed next was a rather loud thump onto the floor.

"Oops…" Wolfwood's voice came out. "I think you used a little too much force on that, Millie."

"Mr. Vash will be fine, Mr. Priest dear," Millie replied. "Just put him on the couch in the living room."

Ami giggled while she listened to the conversation going on downstairs. The Humanoid Typhoon was acting childish again and that amused the former senshi. She was lost in her thoughts when the bathroom door opened and Knives glared at her. "If you are going to stand there all day, at least take me back to my room," he complained loudly.

The young looking woman turned around and looked up at the tall Plant. Her sapphire eyes locked with his cerulean one for a brief moment before she looked away. She took his arm and draped it across her shoulders, telling him to lean on her once again. She did not miss the flinch he did when she touched him. Ami helped Knives down the hallway and to the doors that led to the balcony in silence. She opened the doors and led her patient out onto the balcony and helped him sit in a soft and plush reclining chair.

"If you are hungry, I'll have Millie or someone else bring up your breakfast, Knives," Ami replied softly as she made sure that Knives was comfortable in his seat. "I have my rounds to make around the town after I eat. But I'll be back to check up on you around lunchtime."

"I do not need anyone to check up on me, human," Knives spat, "let alone eat food that is probably something that would kill me."

Ami sighed and looked at the man. "Look, if you do not eat, you will not heal faster. And I know how much you want to kill me when you are fully healed. You eat, the faster you heal and then the faster you will be able to do what you want."

The Plant stared at the doctor in shock for a couple minutes, not believing the words that came out of her mouth. In his mind, it almost sounded like she wanted to die. He rolled his eyes as he thought that these human spiders were a strange race that needs to be exterminated.

As Ami sighed once more and went over to the balcony doors, she felt a chill run up and down her spine. Her body shook for a moment and made her look upwards at the sky. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them back up. 'I sense a familiar presence…but I cannot place who or what it could be,' she thought to herself. 'And this is definitely an evil presence...' When she finally left the balcony, she did not realize that Knives had seen her shudder.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Sir, I believe we have found the Ginzuishou," an evil sounding female voice replied.

"Where?" a deep male voice asked.

"On a desert planet called Gunsmoke. I do not know how it got there, sir."

A chuckled was heard. "After all these centuries, I will finally be able to have the Silver Crystal. Once we get it, maybe we can figure out how it leapt across the dimensions to this one. At top speed, how long will it take for us to reach Gunsmoke?"

"It will take at least two months, sir. We hopped into this dimension quite far from the planet."

"Fine. Plot a course to Gunsmoke and set the ship to top speed."

"Yes sir!"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

AN: Wow…This is the longest chapter so far in this story…O.o I like that…^_^ I think that this chapter went along the way I wanted it to…and for me, that's a good thing…^_^;