Trigun fic! A little sweet and a little awkward and a little strange. Homecomings.

The unseen previous chapter to On High. Maybe one of several unseen previous chapters.

SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 26 and END OF SERIES!

On High - Chapter 0.0 [?title = Homecomings?]

Vash didn't have to knock; the creak of the wooden porch gave him away. Meryl flung the door open, and Milly barrelled up beside her, the two voices crashing into him like a sandsteamer after days nothing but mental dialogue and his own inner demons.

"You're here!"
"Oh my god, you're okay!"
"What happened?"
"We were starting to get worried--"
"--we were gonna lead a search party if you were out much longer."
"Do you need water?"
"Is that him?"

His insurance girls: they never changed. He loved that he could count on that.

"Yes, this is Knives. He's in a coma right now."

"How?"

"I put him there."

That silenced them all for a moment-- the insurance investigators, the gunslinger, and the wounded body that bore his face.

"Will he... wake up?" Milly asked after the moment passed. Vash shook his head.

"Not until I release him, or I die. He might come out of it on his own eventually, but it would take years. Many years."

Meryl sucked in a deep breath, striaghtened up, and backed away from the door. "Well, don't just stand there. Bring him in."

"Yes, and I'll go prepare the bed." Milly bustled off while Vash entered, looking around at the place as if it had been years since the last visit instead of weeks. He looked back at Meryl, and smiled his big Vash the Harmlessly Missnamed Stampede smile.

"Thank you."

Meryl ignored the smile completely and looked into his eyes. They were thick with sand in the corners but somehow brighter. Clearer than they had been in months.

I want to kiss him, she thought. Right now, before that light in his eyes fades away again.

Her gaze fell to the body in Vash's arms, and Meryl held her place. Wrong wrong wrong. The knot in her gut would not let her kiss Vash at this moment, even if it meant that when she did try his new-found clarity would be gone. No-- she refused to even try to kiss him like this, over the unconscious form of his brother. She had been raised better than that, and Vash deserved more respect than that too. She looked back up at him, and smiled her best Meryl The Woman Who Loves You smile.

"Welcome home."

vote!

[Poll #379650]

This poll was born of my extreme Saturday midday boredom.

I was thinking about this (seriously and analytically, god knows why), and I think if all the alchemists in FMA could do alchemy without circles like Ed can, and if they were trained to fight in hand-to-hand combat like Ed and Al were, they'd be a better army than the ninjas. Primarily because they'd be more flexible and more adaptable-- you can transmute *anything* with alchemy as long as you have a good imagination to feed you ideas. The shinobi of Narutoverse have to learn individual techniques that, while powerful, are limited if you're not the Hokage or something.

But I think if you were to take all the state alchemists of FMAverse as they are right now (dependent on transmutation circles, and not all hand-to-hand fighters), and pit them against the ninjas, the ninjas would win cause they have Teh Stealth Powers that allow for espionage on a level the Amestris military could only dream about.

Then again there's the whole gun issue, which might seriously throw the shinobi for a loop, since projectile weapons don't exist in Narutoverse. Hmmmm.


I cross-posted this to fm_alchemist and chuunin. Heh heh hehh... let's see what people think.

WARNING: when commenting, MARK ALL MANGA SPOILERS, for both Naruto and FMA. I've still seen only the anime for FMA, and don't wish to be manga-spoiled. Thank you!

WARNING #2: vague Naruto spoilers to about episode 100 or so, FMA spoilers for approximately the first 22 episodes of the series.

More FMA fannishness given that the English version PREMIERS TONIGHT ON CARTOON NETWORK AT 12am PST!

Got amused by this poll. Aparently no one thinks Roy is good for a long term relationship, and everyone wants Al as their kid brother and Hawkeye as their big sister.