Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Incompatible ❯ Chapter 0034 ( Chapter 34 )

Trigun Fanfic

Trigun © Yasuhiro Nightow * Shonen Gaho-sha * Tokuma Shoten * JVC * Pioneer Entertainment (USA) Inc.

The following fanfiction was written by me (Chiruken) and is intended for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

--Incompatible-

Trigun Fanfic Featuring Knives and Meryl. Knives hates all humans. Meryl just hates Knives. It's a match ideal for the promise of Eden.

By Chiruken

Chapter 34

**~**

It had been four days and still Meryl was avoiding him. He knew because he'd tried to seek her out to explain what it was that had her so angry with him. Once he'd overcome his initial shock and bewilderment he'd been irritated with her. She hadn't even told him what had her so upset and to top it off, she hadn't given him a chance to ask either. He couldn't very well defend himself if he didn't know what it was that he was supposed to have done in the first place. It was all very confusing and frustrating.

He was reluctant to go to Vash with his problem, suspecting that his brother would derive vast amounts of amusement at his current predicament. Millie, he knew, would automatically side with her friend and would greet any attempts at discovering the truth behind Meryl's anger with stony silence. That left Emily, but he refused to talk to his sister about such a delicate subject knowing instinctively that she would want to help and end up only making matters worse. Her grasp of human emotions was just as tenuous as his own. And under it all, somehow his sister had been at the heart of Meryl's upset. He didn't know why, but that much he'd been able to gather from the convoluted accusations she'd thrown at him. Females, he decided, were quite possibly an entire different species and therefore impossible to understand.

Shaking his head at the strangeness of the situation he currently found himself in, he pushed open the doors to the saloon and stepped into the relative coolness offered out of the glaring heat of the double suns shining down on the desert world. He looked around quickly and spotted a vacant table set to the back and made his way to it wearily. It would be easy to seek the answers to his questions by merely looking into her mind, but he was reluctant to do so. He hated to admit it, but he was afraid of what he'd discover. His life had definitely been much simpler before he'd met Meryl Stryfe. He was beginning to think that his brother was much crueler than he'd originally suspected. Why else would he have set him up for all this confusion?

After ordering from the waitress, he sat back in the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. Today, he decided, was the perfect day to indulge in Vash's seemingly favorite pastime. He accepted the glass and bottle the waitress brought to him and handed her the necessary payment before waving her away. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and didn't want any distractions. He was determined to muddle his way through the confusion and find a possible solution to his current dilemma on his own…even if it meant that he had to drink himself into oblivion first. He shook his head and poured a generous amount of the amber liquid into his glass. If Vash could do it, then so could he. Somehow his brother managed to make sense out of the most impossible of situations while under the influence of the potent liquor he seemed to favor, so he was willing to try it as well. He wasn't convinced that he'd find success, but at least he'd be able to forget his problems…even for a short time.

Knives was on his third bottle when a shadow fell over him. He looked up and through his somewhat blurred vision he made out a couple of images of his brother frowning at him. "Hey Vash." He waved his hand weakly and grinned widely. "Care to join me?" He gestured towards the chair across from him. He frowned for a moment, thinking hard to remember what he knew was very important, something he had to tell his twin. "Oh yeah." He nodded, pleased that he now remembered as Vash reached for the bottle. He snatched it away from him. "Get your own." He cradled the half empty bottle against his chest and glared fuzzily at his brother.

"Knives?" Vash leaned forward and peered at him closely. "Are you…drunk?"

"Yup." He nodded with a happy smile and poured himself another drink. "Absolutely." He set the bottle on the table unsteadily and lifted his glass. "How do you put it? Completely pie-eyed." He nodded again and took a healthy swig of the alcohol.

Vash scowled and leaned back again to study Knives appraisingly. "How much have you had, brother?"

"Not enough." He answered immediately and drained his glass before reaching for the bottle again. He paused and blinked across the table and sighed heavily before filling his glass. "Not nearly enough." He sighed again and shook his head. "I just don't understand…"

Vash waited patiently for him to continue but when the silence stretched he shook his head. "What don't you understand?"

"Humans." He set the empty glass on the table with a sharp click. "Females. Especially females. They make no sense. None." He shook his head and reached once again for the bottle and scowled when his brother removed it from his reach. "Hey! I told you, get your own."

"I think you've had enough, Knives." Vash studied the forlorn look his brother was currently wearing and sighed before pushing the bottle back across the table. "Fine. But don't blame me tomorrow when your head feels like a football being kicked for a field goal."

"All righty, then." Knives poured the last of the whisky into his glass and raised it to toast his brother mockingly. "Spiders and butterflies, insects one and all!" He raised the glass to his lips and drained it. "I just don't get it, Vash…I thought she liked me…just a little, maybe, but still…" He shook his head and gestured towards the waitress for another bottle of the fine amber rotgut he was currently favoring.

"Uh…who are you talking about?" Vash watched with wide eyes as his brother cracked open another bottle of whisky and poured a liberal amount into his glass. "You do realize that that stuff could kill you, right? Burn a hole right through your gut…" When it appeared Knives wasn't about to listen to him he shook his head and leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. "Who are you talking about, Knives?"

"Who? What?" Knives blinked in confusion and stared across the table at Vash…both of the images wavering and bobbing in a confusing swirl of after images. "Sit still, would you? You're making me dizzy."

"You're the one swaying, not me." He sighed and shook his head again. "Who did you think liked you?"

"Huh? Oh yeah…her…" He sighed and stared into his glass sadly. "Yeah…all this time I never realized how beautiful spiders could be. Then I watched one build a web and it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen." He looked up and tilted his head to the side to regard his brother curiously. "Have you ever looked at them? Really looked at them? They're fascinating creatures. But so complicated. I don't think I'll ever understand them."

"What? Spiders?" He was having a hard time following Knives' drunken conversation and it was starting to give him a headache. He raised his hand and quietly ordered a bottle of beer for himself as he waited for his brother to clarify what it was that he was trying to say. "Knives?"

"What? Oh. No, stupid. I'm talking about humans."

"I…see…" He didn't, but he was willing to play along for a while in hopes that he could figure out what it was that Knives was trying to get at. He wondered briefly if he made as much sense when he was drunk. He certainly hoped not.

"What's that?" Knives squinted at the bottle the waitress set on the table in front of Vash.

"Beer. One of us has to be able to walk after. Man…I'm not looking forward to carrying you again. You're heavy, you know." He scowled across the table as he paused in the act of raising his bottle to his lips. "And if you throw up, kindly aim **away** from me, okay?"

Knives waved his hand airily. "Yeah, yeah…no problem." He slumped down in his chair and sighed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. It was a distant thought in his alcohol fuddled mind. "What do you think made her so angry?"

"Who?"

"Her. I don't know what I did, but she seems to think I did it anyway, but she wouldn't tell me what I did. How can I fix it if I don't know what it was?"

"Uh…yeah." Vash thought this over and shrugged. "Ask her?" He suggested hopefully.

"I can't. She isn't talking to me. Hasn't since she accused me…but I don't know what she was accusing me of since she didn't tell me." He shook his head and took another sip. "She called me names." He pouted as he stared into his glass. "Called me a two timer…but I don't know what that means." He looked up and blinked blearily across the table. "What does that mean, Vash?"

"It means to date two women at the same time." He tilted his head to the side curiously. "Do you have a girlfriend, Knives?" He grinned and set his beer on the table. "Why didn't you tell me? Who is she? Someone I know?"

"Girlfriend?" He frowned and thought this over. "I don't think so…what do they look like?"

Vash snickered and covered his amusement with a cough when his brother glared at him, obviously not happy about being laughed at. "Well…" He leaned back in his chair and tried to keep a straight face as he tried to glean more information from his obviously drunk brother. "Is there a woman you like?"

"I like Millie and Meryl and Emily…don't know any other women."

"No, no…that isn't what I meant. I mean, a woman you **like**." He put exaggerated emphasis on the word, hoping it cleared up the misunderstanding. He lifted his beer for another healthy swallow, hiding his smile from his brother's view.

"I **like** Millie and Meryl and Emily, Vash…I don't understand what you're getting at. You're making as much sense as Meryl did."

Vash lowered the bottle abruptly and sprayed the beer in his mouth out across the table. "M-Meryl?!" He shouted amidst coughing and choking as he stared at his brother in open disbelief.

Knives raised a hand and swiped at the beer and saliva dripping down his face. "Damn it, Vash. Spray elsewhere!" He glared and wrinkled his nose. "I smell like a damn brewery now." He muttered and used his sleeve to wipe the remaining moisture from his face. He lowered his arm and shook his hand to rid it of the moisture. "That's so disgusting."

Vash's mouth opened and closed several times as he fought to find his voice. He knew he was currently resembling a fish out of water, but at the moment he didn't really care. He was too flabbergasted to care beyond what his brother had just revealed. "Y-you…and…and…" He winced when his voice finally emerged on a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. "You and **Meryl**?!"

"What about us?" He scowled and lifted his glass again only to find that it had somehow emptied itself. Shrugging, he poured another drink for himself.

"You **like** Meryl?!" Vash suddenly grinned widely and leaned back in his chair. "Well…I'll be damned."

"Of course I like her. That's what I've been saying. Are your ears not working, Vash?" He shook his head and drained his glass again before setting it on the table.

"Yeah, I heard you…but you said you like Millie and Emily, too. But this is different." He frowned briefly. "At least I hope it is." He wrinkled his nose. "God, I hope it is."

"What are you muttering about now?" He shrugged and shook his head. "It doesn't matter." He turned his head and focused on the piano. "If you and Emily hadn't interrupted…" He sighed and tried to push the thoughts from his mind of the near kiss that he'd almost shared with Meryl. "Maybe that's why she hates me now."

"Who? Who hates you? And what did we interrupt?" Vash found that he was, once again, confused. "Would you at least try to make some sense, Knives? I can't help if you don't, you know."

"Meryl. Meryl hates me. I think it's because I almost…" He stopped and squinted across the table at his brother who was currently watching him expectantly. "I don't want your help." He finally finished, some small part of his brain not clouded by the alcohol and still working properly informed him that he'd almost blabbed the entire episode to his brother. He had a feeling that wouldn't help his situation at all.

"Of course you don't." Vash nodded wisely and leaned forward again. "C'mon, Knives. I'm your brother. Let me give you a hand." He grinned and slapped his hand down on the table top. "If there's something I know, it's women." He nodded and reached for his nearly forgotten beer. "Trust me on this. I've been around them more than you."

Knives scowled and leaned away from the table, nearly tipping his chair over in the process. "Sure. And that's why you have a permanent imprint of a woman's hand on your cheek. Thanks, but I'll pass. If I started listening to your advice on this subject I may as well declare myself a masochist and run naked through the streets begging for a woman to whip me into shape."

Again, Vash found himself choking on his beer. He managed to turn his head to the side and avoid showering his twin again. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're an idiot, Vash." Knives shook his head and stood shakily, making a quick grab for the table as the floor heaved beneath his feet and the room started spinning. "I know all about your escapades with women and the luck you've had in gaining their attentions." He blinked and swayed for a moment before finally righting himself and gaining some semblance of his usual equilibrium. "I never did understand why you insisted on making a fool of yourself when you had a good woman right beside you all along." He glared down at his brother who was currently staring at him with wide green eyes and an open mouth. "You don't deserve her, Vash…but you have her and if you hurt her I'll have to hurt you." With that said, he stumbled his way across the saloon and out the doors where he promptly tripped on the threshold and fell on his face. His eyes crossed as he found himself staring at a pair of familiar white boots. "Hey, Meryl…" He raised his hand weakly and waved clumsily before blacking out.