The House of Two Suns

Thanks so much to my reviewers; I am so glad you are enjoying the story and I hope you continue to. I really appreciate the feedback.

Communication

Sango was used to arising quite early, but the next morning it took mysterious loud sounds to awaken her. Kagome was already gone from her bed. She quickly dressed and stumbled outside to see what was happening.

She saw then that Vash had set up some large colored rectangles by the trees, and was pointing a metal object at them. Kagome was there, sitting with two two other women, Meryl and Milly. Even Knives was looking on. "A gun," she thought to herself. Kagome had told her about guns, and she had often wondered what would she could do to demons in her time if she had one.

She went up behind the group and watched as Vash fired at the targets. He hit the center each time without effort. Eventually he got a silly look on his face and began to play tricks, firing from behind his back or over his head.

Finally Meryl rose, laughing, and pushed him aside. She aimed at the targets while still moving, drawing gun after gun from under her cape. For such a small woman she was an impressive sight, with the white cape swirling around her and her short black hair flying. Vash looked on with an admiration so obvious it made even Sango smile.

Knives asked his brother something then, and recieved a nod in reply. He went into the house and came back with a large silver gun that looked much deadlier than anything Sango's inexperienced eyes had seen yet. He played no tricks, simply looking at the targets impassively and hitting them more accurately than his brother had. Eventually he began to point out leaves on the trees and knock them down too.

Kagome walked over and nudged her friend. "I've never seen such good shooting. But if I had my bow and arrow we could really show them something, right Sango?"

Sango nodded. "No one is a better archer than you are."

Knives turned when he heard them speak, and held out the gun toward Sango. "Here," he said. "Give it a try."

Sango walked over to him, hearing Vash voice some objection in the background. Knives scoffed. "My brother is telling me that this isn't a weapon for a lady."

"I have a weapon that would put this little piece of metal to shame. I only wish I had brought it," replied Sango.

Even Meryl was glaring at Vash now, and the spiky-haired man backed down and gave a gesture of acquiesence.

Knives handed Sango the gun then. "You do have to be careful though, it has quite a kick when you're not used to it."

He reached out to her shoulders then and turned Sango's face to the target, then stood behind her. He reached around and placed his hands over hers,wingwing her how to hold the gun properly. It surprised her to realize that she was nervous, to have his arms around her and his firm chest pressed up against her back. But she was long schooled in not showing uncertainty, and eventually she aimed, grasped the trigger and fired.

The gun did indeed have a kick, one that pressed her back against Knives uncomfortably. She was disappointed to see that she had only ped ped the white edge of the target. But everyone else, including Knives, seemed impressed.

He grasped her hands from behind again, and muttered instructions into her ear about where to look and how to hold her head. She listened carefully, and the next shot was much better. Knives backed away and watched her as she got closer to the center.

With each shot she thought of killing her bitter enemies, of destroying whatever was keeping her stuck in this place. It was exhilarating. Finally she was out of ammunition and had to stop.

Knives took the weapon back and nodded at her. "Very good," he said. She wondered what it had cost him to give a human a compliment.

Meryl and Milly stayed for the rest of the day, talking and joking with Vash and the two visitors and even trying to include the reclusive Knives in the conversation. They told funny stories of their adventures together in various cities of Gunsmoke, and listened raptly as Kagome spoke of the Earth, now long lost to the others.

Sango rather liked the two women. Meryl was brave and secure, and took no nonsense from Vash or anyone else. She was like Kagome, not one to make a fool herself over a man or dissolve in a bad situation. Milly was sweet and gentle, but clearly had a tough core, and seemed ready to deal with whatever life handed her. Sango thought with a pang of what she knew about the woman, that she had had a lover who was dead and now dealt with his killer.

All the females got together to cook dinner, something Sango rather resented but she went along with it. After all, Vash had cooked for them before. The knife she was given was made of strange metals and difficult for her to handle, but she refused to ruin the edge of her blade by cutting vegetables with it.

Finally the soup was ready and everyone sat down to eating. After they were finished Kagome began to teach Vash some of the few songs she knew in English. She asked Sango to sing for them in Japanese as well, but she didn't want to sing in front of people, and wandered outside to the porch again. After a few minutes Knives joined her.

"Do you think Kagome will bring trouble between Vash and Meryl?" he asked.

"I thought you didn't like Meryl," answered Sango.

"I don't like any of them; I'm just wondering what you think."

"No, she has a little crush, perhaps, but she would never make trouble between friends. Besides, inside she knows she belongs to Inu-Yasha."

"A demon?" asked Knives, deciphering the name.

"A half-demon," answered Sango. "His mother was a human. And for that reason, it will be quite difficult for him to find a mate, though we all think he has found one in Kagome."

"A half-breed," murmured Knives. "So he doesn't fit in with humans, or with demons. He must have nowhere to truly live."

Sango looked at him curiously, realizing he was not talking about Inu-Yasha but himself.

He went on, "Does he think that to mate with a human is perhaps beneath him? Does he long to be in the demon world alone? He's neither fish nor fowl."

The expression didn't translate well, and Sango shook her head at Knives.

"He's neither a spider nor a butterfly," Knives went on. "The spiders you kill, you see, to save the butterflies but if you yourself could be a spider what do you do? Can such a creature everhapphappy?"

"Have you?" asked Sango bluntly. "Have you ever been happy?"

Knives shook his head. "On the SEEDS ship, when I was very little, and thought Rem was my real mother, perhaps I was happy then. But even then I always had Steve calling me a monster and trying to hurt me all the time, and the rest of the crew secretly agreeing with him."

"This Steve did that to a child?"

Knives nodded. "Me, and Vash, but somehow Vash never grew to hate those who so much deserved it."

Sango shook her head. She moved closer to him in the darkness, and put a hand on his shoulder, though she knew he would probably not welcome a human's touch. "And since then, it's been nothing but hate?"

Knives didn't shake her hand off, in fact he leaned in to her a bit, looked away at the stars and spoke. "I remember one night," he began. He moved even closer to her then, but still looked away as if he were pretending not to be doing it.

"My servant, Legato," said Knives, "was making lights in the sky with his mind. He could do other things besides kill, though usually he wasn't interested. And my musician, Midvalley, was playing some slow sad song. It was all beautiful, really, if I didn't think too hard about the fact that they were humans. I was thinking, 'If only my brother were here, maybe I could stop all this destruction, just to make him happy, and just stay like this somehow.' But the next moment that seemed ridiculous, and the carnage went on until Vash finally shot me."

Knives looked at Sango then, and she thought she had never seen his eyes so soft. "Have you ever been happy, Sango? Or is it all demons and weapons for you?"

"When my family was alive, I was happy," Sango replied. "Since then, well, now and then I have a night too. I remember one in particular. Kagome and Inu-Yasha weren't squabbling for once, and the fire was bright, and little Shippo the baby demon was curled up on my lap. I pretended they were my family, and that I didn't have to wake the next morning to fight for more shards of that damned Shikon jewel."

Knives nodded. "Go on,"

Sango chuckled, "There's nothing else to say really. Miroku put his hand on my ass then and I had to try to break his arm."

"Miroku?" asked Knives.

"A perverted monk."

"Never trust a clergyman," he replied, laughing. He looked at her once more, then looked down as if he had suddenly realized that he was not only touching a human but laughing with one. He turned without speaking then and went into the house, and after a few minutes Sango followed.