Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Compromise ❯ Confrontation ( Chapter 6 )

Compromise: Chapter 6

Droning dribble: Jan ja ja jaaaaan! It's that time again! Time for another saucy session of sexiness with the Trigun two!

Knives: Whoop-dee-shit.

Spazz: *Ahem* Anyway, I'm happy to announce that this is now my most reviewed fic. In fact, it has more reviews than my other two fics combined at this point. Yippee! Speaking of reviews, I noticed that a couple people commented on spelling errors and such in the last chapter. I was rather surprised at that, as I'm a very careful speller (I thought people would be more concerned about my long, droning sentences and paragraphs). I went back and checked all the parts for errors. Most chapters only had one or two, and the fifth one had a couple more than that. So while I understand why some people made comments, I still don't understand the person who told me I misspelled "testicle." I spelled it exactly the same way they did (and, no, that's not one of the things I went back over and changed). If by misspelling you mean that I made it plural, I do hope you realize that men have two of them. Please know your anatomy before reporting supposed errors to me ^_^ Anyway, time to get down to business. Away we go!

Disclaimer: Turn back now, mortal! For you are about to enter a realm so twisted that it would make your mind melt and turn to goo to even envision it! I speak, of course, about the world created by a person who does not own Trigun, but yet fiendishly plots out the characters' lives in her own sick manner. Bwa ha ha ha!

Chapter completed: 2003.01.26

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Compromise

Chapter 6: Confrontation

Written by: Sailorspazz (sailorspazz@yahoo.com)

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"Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a sand steamer." Vash rolled over with his head in his hands, trying to block out the searing light of the day. Why did he keep doing this to himself? Would he ever learn to just stop when he reached his limits? Vash pulled the covers up tightly over his head. He was 134 years old; if he hadn't learned by now after all the horrible hangovers he'd experienced in his life, he probably never would. He looked over to his brother, who was still sound asleep. Knives hadn't lost control as much as Vash had, but he had still been pretty out of it. Vash wondered if Knives would even remember the things that had happened the night before. Vash knew that Knives had been pretty angry with him at one point, yet he'd seemed to drop the issue rather quickly. Even though he had been drunk, Vash could tell that there were things Knives wanted to talk to him about. 'Well, if it was something really important, I guess Knives will bring it up to me again sometime,' Vash thought.

Though his body protested, Vash pushed himself up into a sitting position on the bed. His head was pounding and he could detect the faint taste of vomit in his mouth. He felt dizzy just sitting as he was. Still, Vash had been through worse than that before, so he forced himself onto his feet and into some clean clothes. He shuffled his way to the bathroom where he splashed cold water on his face to wake himself up. Taking in his disheveled appearance in the mirror, Vash went to work fixing his hair and brushing his teeth in order to make himself look presentable. He knew Meryl and Milly would be home for lunch soon, and he knew that they (Meryl in particular) didn't really appreciate the fact that Vash was often just rolling out of bed at the time when they were taking a break in the middle of their grueling work days. Vash could at least make it look like he had been up and being productive for awhile.

Just as Vash was exiting the bathroom, the front door opened. "Good afternoon, insurance girls." Vash noticed that Meryl had entered alone. "Or, rather, insurance girl."

Meryl let out a sigh. "Milly had a little too much to drink last night and got up late. I hear she's being punished with window washing and other odd jobs."

Vash chuckled. "Some things never change."

Meryl looked down sadly. "Yeah, it seems that way..."

Vash blinked, cocking his head to one side. "Something wrong?"

Meryl raised her head with a start. "Oh, no, of course not," she said, smiling and waving her hands. She decided to change the subject to something that would surely make Vash forget about her behavior. "So, what do you want to do for lunch? I could cook something up for you."

Vash perked up. "Oh, yeah, that sounds great!" Though he made it appear as if he had completely forgotten about what Meryl had said, inside, the gears were turning in his spiky-haired head. 'There's obviously something important on her mind. I wonder what it is...' Vash decided it wouldn't be a good idea to interrogate her about what was bothering her. He knew that doing that would cause a person like Meryl to just close up even more. In her case, the best way to get her to speak up would be to say nothing at all. She would soon become uncomfortable with the silence and bring up whatever was weighing on her mind on her own. Vash would just sit silently at the table and wait.

After turning on the stove to heat up some soup, Meryl came in and sat down at the table with Vash. Clearing her throat in the uncomfortable silence, Meryl tried to think of something to talk about with Vash. "So, uh, Vash, have you heard the good news?"

"What good news?" Ever since had Knives first pointed out to him that Meryl had stopped calling him 'Mr. Vash,' he noticed that she now always just called him 'Vash.' He couldn't help but wonder what had sparked such a sudden change in the way she addressed him.

"Well, it seems that recently the Plants in this area have suddenly started working a lot more efficiently than they ever have before. Though everyone's really happy about it, no one really knows why it's happening. Not even the Plant technicians can figure out what's going on."

Vash thought for a second then smirked. "Oh, I think I have an idea about what's happening," he said, nodding with a slightly perverted sounding chuckle.

Meryl looked confused at Vash's response. "Umm...what do you think the reason is?"

Vash's eyes snapped wide open. 'Shit, did I really just say that? Stupid stupid stupid!' He'd been so busy thinking about the most likely reason why the Plants were working better that he had forgotten whom he was talking to. He cleared his throat and closed his eyes. "I'm assuming that it's because both Knives and I are nearby, and the Plants find our presence comforting." He opened an eye to look at Meryl, who seemed to accept his explanation.

"Oh, I see. I guess that makes sense."

Vash wasn't telling Meryl a complete lie, but he wasn't exactly telling her the whole truth, either. True, the other Plants seemed to be happier when they were close to their brothers on the outside, but that didn't usually have any effect on how efficiently they produced resources. What did have a profound effect on them was the bond that Knives and Vash created when they had sex. It was strong enough that Plants within a certain radius could feel some of the ecstasy that they experienced. And with Vash and Knives having sex two or more times per day ever since Knives had awoken, the Plants in the area certainly had reason to feel more energetic and lively.

Meryl got up to check on the soup. She returned with two bowls and set them on the table. She cleared her throat again. "Speaking of your brother, there are a couple of things I've been wondering about."

'Ah, so whatever's been bothering her has to do with Knives,' Vash thought. Well, in that case, it could probably be easily solved. If he'd said or done something offensive, Vash could just brush it off as he usually did by saying that Knives wasn't used to living with humans and he sometimes didn't think about what he said (though that was a complete lie, since Knives rarely spoke in front of humans and everything he did say was meticulously planned). "What did he do?" Vash prompted.

"Well, when Milly and I came home last night, we heard, uhh, a lot of noise coming from your bedroom."

Vash nearly spit out his mouthful of soup. He choked a bit and coughed. "Umm, exactly what kinds of things did you hear?"

"Well, there was a lot of screaming and yelling, and I distinctly heard Knives saying...ahem, things I'd rather not repeat." Meryl blushed a bit and cleared her throat again. "I was just wondering what in the world he was doing in there."

Vash knew he had the look of a touma caught in the headlights. Rationalizing Knives' aloofness towards humans was easy enough, but how could he explain a noisy, drunken sex romp that had been made clearly audible by screams and yells of 'Fuck me'? Vash let out a breath of air. "Uhh, well, after we got home, Knives had quite a lot to drink. And when he gets drunk, hoo boy, does he get wild! One thing he does when he gets wild is jump up and down on the bed and scream out random things, some of which may be of a rather, uhh, lewd nature. So that's probably what you were hearing last night." Vash nearly cringed when he finished speaking. 'That had to be the lamest excuse ever.' Still, Vash figured it didn't really matter how good the excuse was, so long as Meryl believed it.

"I see," Meryl said slowly. Though she didn't come right out and say it, Vash could tell that things were clicking together in the head of the girl whose temper was as short as her hair. Surely she had enough evidence by now to piece together what was going on. After all, she had nearly caught them in the act on more than one occasion. He'd always managed to bumble his way through some semi-reasonable excuses (though he had really been stretching the limits of believability the time when he'd had to explain to her what the hell his pants were doing in the kitchen), but he had a feeling that she wasn't really buying his half baked explanations. If Knives were anyone but his brother, Meryl probably would have already assumed that they were sleeping together. Well, as long as Meryl believed that Vash had strong enough human morals not to resort to incest, everything would be fine.

After enduring the uncomfortable silence that the rest of the meal comprised, Meryl got up from the table. "Well, I'd better head back to work. After all, I have to do my part in making sure we have enough money to live on," Meryl said, with the oh-so-subtle hint that Vash really needed to start pulling his weight around the house.

"Eh heh heh, okay, see you when you get home!"

"Bye Vash," Meryl said, walking out the door.

Vash sighed as the door closed behind her, letting the clownish grin drop from his face. "Why does my life have to be so complicated? Can't things just be simple for once? Maybe I should go live with Lina again. Things were pretty simple then...that is, until they got complicated. Gaaah!"

"I couldn't help but notice that, while you seem to be enjoying an irritatingly noisy and lively conversation, you seem to be lacking a conversation partner. Dare I say that you've gone even crazier, dear brother?"

Vash turned around at the sound of his brother's voice...then proceeded to burst out laughing at Knives' appearance. With his messy hair, squinted eyes and paler than usual skin, Knives was definitely not living up to his usual refined standards at the moment. He attempted a threatening scowl, which only caused his brother to laugh harder.

"I'm so glad that you find my appearance so amusing. However, I think you'll be somewhat less amused once I shove my foot up your ass."

Vash let his snickers die down. "I'm sorry, Knives, it's just that you look so...cute." A chuckle managed to escape. "It's pretty obvious that you don't do this very often."

"You're a fucking genius, you know that, Vash? How in the world did you manage to figure that brain bender out? Your powers of deduction never cease to amaze me." Vash started laughing again, as Knives' hangover driven ranting was only making him seem even cuter in Vash's eyes. "You know, Vash, I was trying to be considerate and not resort to beating you to a bloody pulp for all the damn racket you've been making, but I'm seriously beginning to reconsider."

Vash stifled his laughter again. "Sorry. Hey, listen, I know you're kinda pissed off right now, but I think you could use some advice from the King of Hangovers."

"Don't you feel even a little bit of shame in referring to yourself as that?"

Vash blinked innocently. "Why would I?"

Knives sighed and put his head in his hands. "Never mind. Now get on with your advice before you make my head ache even more."

"OK, first you should go take a shower. While you're in there I'll make you some good food to eat. It should be ready by the time you're finished. Once you're nice and clean and have some food in you, you'll see how much better you look and probably start to feel better."

"Is bathing and eating really enough to get rid of a hangover?"

"Well, not exactly. But if you focus on getting up and getting ready for the day, you can forget about the pain temporarily. Once you have time to think about it again, it's practically already gone."

"Come on, Vash, how in the world can that possibly work?"

"All I did today to make myself feel better was make myself look better, and just look at how energetic I am now!"

"Yeah, well, using yourself as an example is more of a deterrent than a motivation. I'm no fucking optimistic pansy like you are, Vash. I'd prefer some kind of actual scientific method that would balance the chemicals in my body."

"Knives, not everything needs to be done scientifically. Come on, you need to get up and get ready anyway, so why not just see if my method works for you?"

Knives grumbled to himself for a moment, then sighed with resignation. "Fine. I'll go take a shower now. But if I still feel like shit after this, I'm going to make good on my promise to kick your ass."

Vash smiled. "OK, Knives." He stared after Knives as he walked down the hall towards the bathroom, then strolled into the kitchen where he began preparing a meal for his brother.

Awhile later, Knives entered the kitchen donning only a towel. "Is the food ready yet?"

"Yep. Go ahead and eat." Vash had prepared some sandwiches and other light foods that would be easy for his brother to handle. "Are you feeling any better yet?"

Knives took a sip of the tea Vash had made. "Maybe just a little."

"See? I told you my way would work."

Knives cleared his throat. "Not necessarily. It's probably just that the aftereffects of the alcohol are wearing off over time. That's probably what happens to you, too, but you just had to come up with some sappy explanation for it."

"Well, I think you would feel even better if you thought of it the way I do."

Vash didn't realize that what he was saying was touching on something that had been bugging Knives for nearly his entire life. "You know, Vash, not everyone thinks the same way you do. Nor do they have the desire to do so. You are not always right."

Vash looked confused. "When did I ever say I thought I was always right?"

Knives got up from the table. "Think about it for a minute. I'm going to get dressed."

Vash followed his twin down the hallway and into their bedroom. He watched as Knives picked out his clothes for the day and began to put them on. "Knives, I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

Knives zipped up his pants and shook his head in disbelief. "Dammit, Vash, are you so blinded by your burning sense of justice that you can't even see what you do? You're always telling others what they should do because you seem to believe that you are always right. Of course, I don't really think you can help it now, since you were brainwashed by that woman when we were young."

Vash narrowed his eyes. "What does Rem have to do with this?"

"She was always going around and condemning others when they did things that didn't match with her beliefs, such as when she got angry at Joey for killing Rowan when he had a gun pointed at her. She made herself appear to be so righteous that she would make others doubt their own way of living. And since you worship everything that woman stood for, you now emulate the actions she took in the past. You tell everyone who doesn't agree with your way of thinking what they 'should' be doing, and you won't let up until you've gotten your way. I heard about what you did to Chapel's pupil. You kept badgering him to change his ways, and you eventually succeeded. But then he died because of it. And yet you continue to think that your beliefs are 'The Way' and all who do not follow you need to be 'saved.'"

Vash glared at Knives through the tears in his eyes. "I am not the one who has caused my friends to die. It's because of the things that you did while trying to get me to come back to you that got them killed."

"Oh, I'm sure I had a part in their deaths, but I'm saying that I'm not the only one to blame." Before Vash could protest, Knives continued. "In any case, I don't really care when you apply your way of thinking to humans. What I do care about is when you try to boss me around and compare me to the standards you've set for proper human behavior."

"I don't expect you to act like a human."

"Oh, really? Then why do want me to talk to them? Why do you want me to live among them? Why do you expect me to follow their moral code? No matter what you say, Vash, I know you still feel uneasy about us sleeping together. I can see the guilt in your eyes every time."

Vash looked down. "I know. I've been trying to change the way I think about it so I don't feel bad about our relationship, but I haven't really been all that successful so far."

"And you know why you haven't been successful? Because you won't listen to me. Since I don't agree with your philosophy, you think the things I say don't have any merit. In fact, knowing that you won't listen to me, I've been trying to show you things in other ways."

"Like how?"

"Well, remember that day we had sex in the dressing room? You really didn't want to do that, right? Yet I was able to convince you rather easily."

"Yes, I remember you saying that you did it because you wanted to confirm something. What exactly did you mean by that?"

"I was trying to see exactly how much stronger your instincts were than your belief in human morals. And, not surprisingly, your true feelings were far more powerful. I thought maybe you would realize the same thing and come to accept what you really are, but apparently you've been completely oblivious to everything I've been trying to do for you. Or, rather, for us." Knives paused for a moment as Vash stared at him in silent contemplation before continuing.

"You've been self-centered and completely focused only on what you want. And I've been trying as hard as I can to go along with the plan you've got set out for us in your head. But I just can't do it, Vash. You may think I've been uncooperative in regards to your efforts to integrate me into human society, and I have been to some extent, but I'm not being nearly as uncooperative as I could be. I still hate humans with every fiber of my being, yet have I done anything to harm them since I arrived in this town? Have I even done so much as threaten them since I awoke? No, I haven't, and it's all because of you. But I can't take it anymore, Vash. While you may be happy with this arrangement, I'm miserable here. So I've been trying to think about what would be best for both of us. Of course, it's quite difficult to figure out what that is without your input. But it's hard to bring it up to you when you've been happy with the way things are and see no reason to change. But since you seem to finally be listening to me now, I just want to let you know that, more than anything else, more than ridding the world of humanity, more than liberating our Sisters in captivity, all that matters to me is making our life better for the both of us."

Vash sat with his head in his hands. 'Our life,' Knives had said. Knives never made the word "life" plural when he was talking about the two of them. It was a symbol of how closely the two of them were connected, that they were one being in heart and soul. Vash felt tears begin to slip downs his cheeks. There was such a strong bond between them, yet Vash had been completely oblivious to what Knives had really been thinking all this time. 'How could I have been so selfish?' Vash thought. He sniffled and turned to his brother. "You know, even though I don't agree with everything you've said, you're right about a lot of things. I'm sorry that I've been so selfish and only thinking of my own needs. I'm sorry that I made you feel like you can't talk to me. And, most of all, I'm sorry that I've been making you suffer. I love you more than anything else and I want you to be happy." Vash broke down in tears, and Knives leaned forward and took his brother into his arms. He began to kiss Vash's tears away, just as he had done the first night after he had awoken. Soon, his lips found their way to Vash's, and the two shared a long, deep kiss. When the kiss began to turn sexual and Vash's hands started to wander a bit, Knives stopped him.

"Vash, before we can share some hot makeup sex, there're still some things we need to discuss." Though Vash looked disappointed, he nodded and waited for Knives to continue. "You just said that you love me more than anything, right? Does that mean that you love me enough to give up humanity?"

"No, Knives. I know you don't understand this, since you can't stand humans, but I have friends who are very dear to me that I don't want to lose. I just love life too much to allow you to take it away from anyone."

Knives wanted to roll his eyes but managed to refrain from doing so. "It's hard to think of a compromise for the two of us when we have such different beliefs..." Knives bowed his head in thought. "Why don't we each name one condition that is absolutely required for us to be satisfied? Then we'll at least know what parameters we'll have to work within."

Vash nodded. "That sounds reasonable."

"All right, my condition is that I absolutely refuse to live with humans."

"And my condition is that I absolutely refuse to let you harm any humans."

Knives tapped his fingers together in thought. "OK, how about this: you and I get out of this town and go somewhere far away from any human settlements. There, we can build our own home and just live together for the rest of our life. And that will become the Eden that I've always wanted us to have."

Vash looked deep in thought. "That may work for you, but what about me? I don't want to cut off contact from my friends completely."

Knives sighed. "I guess you can go visit them if you really need to. But you will never, under any condition, be allowed to bring them anywhere near our home, got it?"

Vash nodded. "I think I can handle that." The two sat in silence for a minute. "So, is this it? Can it really be true that, after 134 years, we managed to solve all our problems just like that?"

Knives crossed his arms. "I have to admit that I've been planning for this confrontation, but I never imagined it would end up being so profitable. I don't think we've resolved everything just yet, but I'm glad that we came as far as we did in such a short amount of time."

"Yeah..." Vash shifted on the bed a bit. He turned to Knives with a lustful smile. "So, can we have that hot sex that you mentioned earlier now?"

Knives laughed in disbelief. "Have you been thinking about that this whole time?"

"Mmm hmm." Vash put himself over Knives, straddling his lap. Knives slipped Vash's shirt over his head then flipped him over so he was lying on top of him. Knives kissed Vash on the mouth briefly, then worked his way down to his neck and shoulder blades as his hand found its way down the front of Vash's pants. Vash tossed his head back in pleasure and noticed that the door was slightly ajar. He shifted his head some more and saw the wide, grayish purple eyes of a very shocked looking Meryl staring back at him.

"Oh, shit."

To be continued...

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Spazz: Dun dun DUN! Meryl has seen the men engaged in hot man love! What ever shall she do? *Ahem* Anyway, I believe around chapter two someone reviewed saying that they thought Meryl and Milly shouldn't find out...well, sorry, but I had it planned from the beginning ^_^ (actually, this fic has changed quite a bit from what I originally planned, but I'll explain that once I get to the part wherein the main difference lies). Anyway, we're almost to the end here, people! Depending on how long-winded I am during The Explanation scene, this fic will either have one more long chapter, two somewhat shorter chapters, or one more chapter and an epilogue. You know, this fic was only supposed to be about four parts long. Now it appears as if, just like what happened with my last fic, it will be twice as long as I originally planned for.

Knives: It's also taking twice as long as you planned for, wretched human.

Spazz: Oh, yeah, I forgot my procrastination excuse for the chapter! The reason this chapter is one of the shorter ones (of course, when my average chapter is 5000 words, does anyone really notice when they're slightly shorter?) yet still took the longest to write is...computer strategy games! Damn Empire Earth and Age of Mythology taking up my time.

Knives: You know, you could just not play. Or you could be studying to get your pathetically low GPA up to a decent level.

Spazz: I don't need to study, it's boring!. And a 3.93 is not pathetic!

Knives: I'm sure that if I were attending your pitiable human college, my GPA would be an infinite point infinite...to the infinite power.

Spazz: But it only goes up to--

Knives: I'm aware of the limitations set for humans. But since I am so vastly superior to your negligible species, I would be so high above their level of comprehension that they would be unable to measure my greatness.

Spazz: Yes, of course...Anyway, in the next chapter of Compromise: how will Meryl react to finding out the truth about Vash and Knives? Will she be sad? Will she get angry? Or will she get out her camera and take pictures for her yaoi website? Stay tuned ^_^

Knives: And don't forget, we have an adiction of paper if we ever run out of paper we would have to go "cold turky". We need note! We need note!