Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Incompatible ❯ Chapter 0035 ( Chapter 35 )

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 35

**~**

Knives groaned and squeezed his eyes shut against the painful light stabbing into his head. Reaching to the side he groped for his pillow and slowly placed it over his face to block out the sunlight streaming in through the window beside his bed. He couldn't remember the last time he felt this bad. Had it been when Vash shot him? No…before that… It was after the July City incident when his brother had nearly killed him with his Angel Arm. He shuddered and immediately regretted the movement when his stomach rebelled and tried to crawl its way up his throat. He fought down the nausea and sighed softly. **So this is what a hangover feels like…** He thought as quietly as he could. **Ugh…** His mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls and tasted worse than anything he could think to compare it to. He decided right there that he was **never** drinking like that again. Nothing was worth the agony he was currently feeling.

He winced when someone pounded on his door, the sound reverberating through his aching head, followed immediately by the same door being opened with enough force that it banged into the wall. He moaned and hugged the pillow closer against his face. "Good morning, Knives!" He whimpered pathetically at the loud, cheerful greeting from across the room. "Want some breakfast? How about bacon and eggs and toast and jam and peanut butter and…"

"Shut up! Have you no decency, Vash? I'm dying here!"

"Nah…you're not dying, brother. It's just a hangover. I get them all the time. You'll be fine in a few hours."

"So you say." He muttered and scowled when his pillow was yanked from his grasp. "Hey! Give that back!" He winced when his own voice echoed through his skull painfully. "Damn it, Vash! It's too bright in here. Give me back my pillow."

Vash grinned and sat heavily on the edge of the bed, jostling his brother's inert form. "So…Knives…remember anything from last night? Anything at all?"

Knives decided that he hated his brother. Yes, he hated him. The smug look, the too cheerful tone of voice, the innocent grin cast in his direction…all of it combined with the aftereffects of his afternoon and night of over indulgence coalesced into a burning resentment directed at his twin. "Go away and leave me in peace you moronic buffoon."

Vash laughed and shook his head. "Man…are you ever grumpy in the mornings. Remind me to remember that next time you decide to cry into your drink and tell me your woes."

Knives sat abruptly, ignoring the throbbing in his head and the heaving in his stomach and glared at his brother, lifting his hands to wrap his fingers around his neck. "I did no such thing!" He was annoyed at how easily Vash dodged the attack and fell back against the mattress with a groan. "Leave me alone."

"Nope. No can do, brother." He suddenly turned serious and pinned Knives with a stern glare that somehow seemed very out of place on his usually cheerful features. "I think we have a few things to discuss."

He cast him a dubious look before sighing and closing his eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered and once again reminded himself to **never** drink in Vash's presence again. The alcohol obviously didn't sit well with his Plant physiology and had loosened his tongue to an embarrassing degree. Oh yes, he remembered the previous night with all too chilling clarity.

"Then let me refresh your memory, brother dear." Vash leaned over him forcing Knives to try to shrink back against the firm mattress at his back. "How about that crack about spiders and butterflies? Remember that? 'Spiders and butterflies, insects one and all' I believe is how you put it. Care to explain that one, brother? Or how about explaining what Emily and I supposedly interrupted? Something between you and Meryl? And while we're talking about Meryl, just when did you start liking her in **that** way? Huh?"

"Wh-what way?" He flushed when his voice emerged more like a squeak than his usual cool and indifferent tones. He scowled, deciding that he was still suffering from the effects of the alcohol he'd imbibed. The human beverage had obviously poisoned him and addled his usual good sense.

"Don't play dumb with me, brother. I know you aren't as stupid as you're acting right now. You're attracted to her!" There was a definite jubilant tone to Vash's voice as he stared down at him smugly. "Oh yeah. You want her and you're just too stubborn to admit it."

"W-want…" He choked and lifted his arms to shove against his brother forcefully, knocking him off the bed and onto the hard floor with a loud thump. "Her?!" He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and glared at his twin where he lay sprawled in an ungainly heap beside the bed. "Just where the hell do you come up with these fool notions of yours?"

Vash jumped to his feet and brushed at imaginary dust on his coat. "Hey, I'm only repeating what you told me, Knives."

"I told you no such thing. I'd remember something like that. I never said anything about wanting her in…in that way." He flushed and looked away quickly. "I can't believe you! Are all your thoughts hormonally related, Vash?"

He snorted and shook his head. "I'm not the sexually repressed one here, Knives. You've spent your entire adult life isolated and in denial that you probably wouldn't recognize it if it jumped up and bopped you on the head."

He flinched, unable to deny the truth of that statement, but stubbornly refused to admit that his somewhat confused feelings towards Meryl could be what his brother was currently implying. He sat up straighter with as much dignity as he could muster considering he was currently suffering from what he suspected to be the mother of all hangovers with his hair sticking up in multiple directions and his rumpled clothing twisted awkwardly around his body. "Unlike you, dear brother, I am not stuck in some perpetual pubescent limbo where my actions are dictated by physical reactions instigated by rampaging hormones."

"Sure you're not." Vash smirked and, if anything, looked even more smug than before. "Then why are you so upset, huh? If it isn't true, then why are blushing, Knives?"

"I am **not** blushing!" He jumped to his feet and glared at his twin. "It's hot in here. It's merely a physical reaction to the current temperature of the room!"

"Why are you hiding from the truth? Just admit it and you'll feel better." He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. "You've always tried to deny that you have feelings, brother, choosing to hide behind logic and cold detachment. You can't keep doing that. You have to face the fact that you have emotions just like the rest of us."

He threw his hands up in frustration. "What do you want from me? I've already compromised more than I ever thought I would. I'm no longer trying to eradicate the human race from the universe. I've even started to see some good in the pathetic primates! What else do you want from me, Vash?"

"Well, that's a step up. We're no longer insects to be squashed beneath your divine boot heel." He choked at the cool…and very familiar…voice addressing him from the still open door. He was almost afraid to look but found that he couldn't stop himself. He wondered how much of the conversation Meryl had overheard. "So, rather than being parasitic organisms or disgusting spiders, we're now pathetic primates. Gee…should I be gratified to know that we've evolved that much in your godly opinion, Knives?"

"Uh…" He found himself unable to form a coherent reply to her sarcastic response to his previous comment.

"I see." She scowled and crossed the room to stand toe to toe with him and glared. "How dare you?" She asked in a seething whisper. "How dare you stand there and proclaim yourself a higher being and the rest of us mere peons within your glorious kingdom? If anyone is pathetic here, it's you!" She emphasized her point by jabbing a finger into his chest. "You drool, you moron!"

He blinked and stared at her in surprise. "Drool?" He asked, almost afraid to know.

"In your drunken incoherency last night we had to carry you back to your room. You insisted that I tuck you in…big baby!...and then to top it off, you latched on and refused to let go until five o'clock this morning! And yes, you **drool**!"

He looked to Vash for help and saw that none would be coming from that direction. His brother was currently doubled over and laughing so hard his face was turning red from the near silent wheezes of his amusement. "I…" He frowned and looked down at Meryl again. "I don't remember doing that."

"Of course not. You were drunk. Honestly…it must be genetic or something. Both you and Vash…I don't know if I can take this!" She stepped back and threw her hands up in the air. "Between the two of you I'm certain to end up with a nervous twitch!"

He frowned and slowly lowered himself to sit on the edge of the bed again. He remembered standing clumsily and staggering across the saloon's floor…something had tripped him as he tried to go out the door… He raised a hand and absently rubbed at his temples where the hangover induced headache still throbbed painfully. He vaguely remembered seeing a familiar pair of white boots and that was it until this morning when he'd awakened to bright light stabbing into his eyes and a God-awful taste in his mouth. He had no idea how he'd ended up in a bed when the last thing he remembered were the hard planks of the boardwalk beneath him. He glared at Vash where he was currently rolling on the floor laughing his fool head off. "Stop that. You sound like a braying donkey, you broom headed simpleton!" To his further annoyance, this seemed to amuse his brother even more and set him off into peals of near-hysterical laughter. He thought for a moment of standing and kicking him, but decided that it would take too much effort and instead flopped back on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. "Ugh…"

The bed dipped as Meryl sat beside him. "Indeed. You know, it wasn't that bad. Sure, it was inconvenient and annoying as hell, but I suppose you needed the release after over a century of being so uptight." She shrugged and patted his shoulder. "At least we now know that you really don't have a pole shoved up where the suns don't shine." She grinned down at him and, to his utter shock, reached out and ruffled his already tousled hair. "You can actually be funny sometimes, Knives. It's gratifying to know that you actually have a personality in there…" She tapped his head gently. "Even if you don't let it show very often."

Females, he decided, were confusing as hell. He'd thought she was angry, what with the way she'd been glaring and shouting…much to his throbbing skull's dismay…yet she certainly didn't appear to be angry now. Maybe it was because of the hangover, but he just couldn't seem to think of anything to say in response to her odd comments. So, instead of trying to say something and probably end up putting his foot in his mouth…again…he decided that it would be much more prudent to remain silent and try to block out the sound of his brother's amusement and the strange swirl of confusing thoughts and feelings the woman was inspiring in him. "I'm never drinking again…" He vowed quietly and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh.