[Complete] On Top of the World || Lili

Lili never actually minded doing any of the things she did, despite how distraught they seemed to make her brother. He was always working, always tired, and always seemed to come home sore in some way or another. She didn’t mind, so what difficulty was it to just make sure the usually-spotless house continued to remain that way? Though, yes, the mess from last night certainly survived longer than normal, but she took care of that as soon as she woke up that morning. In the end, the house would always return to the state of cleanliness it had been the day before – that being impeccably.

But she never minded. Every chore she did was with a smile.

“Guten Morgen, Bruder!” Lili greeted back, possibly a little too cheerfully given the early morning. The tarts had just been pulled out of the oven by the time he made his way into the kitchen. His timing was perfect, but Lili didn’t expect any less of Vash. “They’re hot, watch yourself.” She warned, slipping the steaming pastries off their pan and into a plate at their table. The tea was also served and set down right next to his plate on a small saucer, before she decided it was time to help herself to the fruits of her labor.

“Did you sleep well? How do you feel today?” He still looked tired, but after breakfast she was confident he’d be chipper and awake! … as chipper as Vash Zwingli was capable of being. If not, she’d demand he go back to sleep for an hour or two. As always.

But that’s when she noticed it.

New, visible only to an eye that has trained itself to catch such wounds. It was hidden up on his forehead, behind his bangs, a purplish lump from… something. Lili’s eyes narrowed with concern as she walked over and carefully brushed his golden hair out of the way. She clicked her tongue, disappointed and frowned heavily. “Again? Vash, please, you need to be careful. Someone’s going to really hurt you…”

“I am being careful.” Vash retorted. He didn’t move away from her hand as she inspected the new wound, fingers hovering but not touching. How did bankers come home with such injuries as often as Vash did? Perhaps it was his hospitable, welcoming, cheerful personality that earned him such thanks from his customers. Actually, that didn’t sound too unlikely an excuse. Vash was a difficult man to deal with, sometimes.

“Not careful enough, it seems.” There was a sharp exhale and she removed her hand, allowing his bangs to fall back down and shield the bruise from view. “I’ll get you some ice if it hurts. It still looks very swollen.” She offered, but she was already heading off across the kitchen to slip some ice into a bag.

“I don’t understand how you even let this happen, Bruder. You’re more than capable of holding you own against anyone that throws a punch.” Lili continued her small tirade even as she returned back to the table. “I’m sure I irritate you when I worry, but I’m afraid someone is going to attack you with… you know. An actual weapon.” She whispered this cautiously, as if somewhere someone was listening and might take it as a suggestion. Though perhaps anyone with the guts to take a gun into a bank would have a bigger prize in mind than the life of Vash Zwingli.

She finished her mini–rant as she sat down and lay the chilled bag of ice down on the dark wooden table. Her wrist briefly brushed against the card she had received recently from a customer, which she forgot to place in her room in her haste to clean the kitchen. She looked at it for a moment, then smiled and silently moved it to the side, away from any falling crumbs or splashes of tea.

“One day I’ll have to go to the bank myself and give your bully a stern talking-to.” She said finally, before munching on one of the tarts.

The imagery Lili conjured in her mind when she had to see her brother with any sort of injury was nothing short of terrifying – to her. Mild to others, maybe, but just the thought of someone striking her brother filled her with both fear and anger. Who would seriously hurt her brother like this? He was a hard man to work with sometimes, but her certainly didn’t deserve to ever be hit.

Despite all of his assurances otherwise, she couldn’t help but worry. It was her job, just like he would often worry about her despite her doing obviously harmless things. It was a cycle of siblings being worrywarts. As a Zwingli herself, Lili was understandably susceptible to the same feelings. Ah, it was frustrating sometimes…

"I doubt Manaria Bank's security system will allow weapons to go through the doors, so I really don't worry about that. The bruise really doesn't matter, things happen.” What Vash said was, nonetheless, true. Banks generally had brutal security systems. To get a weapon into one, especially his, would require either an incredible amount of arms, or a wit sharp enough to simply bypass everything. Neither of those things comforted his sister.

“It could happen.” Lili insisted, face heavy with a frown. “You never know…”

Unsurprisingly, Vash quickly changed the subject when Lili brought up the idea of going to the bank herself. He always did that if she even so much as mentioned such things.

"You really don't need to do that... who exactly had the nerve to buy flowers from you and give them back?"

Crap.

Lili did forget to clean out the gifts from the night before. Vash’s reaction was completely expected. He tended to effortlessly notice anything that might set off his Big Brother Alarm. God forbid he find the cookies. She didn’t want to give a name. Donald had done nothing wrong and with a name Vash could possibly track him down.

“It was a man that just stopped by yesterday.” Lili explained, her face visibly nervous. She didn’t fear her brother, oh no. She feared for anyone else he might point his hatred at. “He was very sweet, Vash! Even if he did buy my flowers—honestly, I’m a florist. He didn’t have much of a choice."

Uh oh, there it was. The stream of questions and accusations Lili was afraid she would be getting. Of course, she expected it entirely. Vash had said similar exactly twice before while interrogating her, once after seeing her with a boy in the park (whom she had just met) and again when he found out his precious sister had been out on a date with another. He promptly intimidated them into never getting near her again, which was a shame because the second one seemed nice enough.

Vash barely let Lili get a word in as he continued to pour forth words he must have rehearsed over and over. It was as if he had a speech planned for every possible situation his sister could get into, and all Lili could do was stare at him and flinch if his words got particularly harsh. He had a knack for judging people he’d never met before, and Lili had developed over the years a rebellious tendency to stop taking 100% of what he said too seriously.

“Okay, first thing’s first. We have an alarm.” He asked security measures. He’d want to know about that first. He took the utmost precautions in the house. Passive safety was his number one concern. “We’re about as secure as any other shop on the street.”

“I haven’t known him very long, I admit.” Lili bit her lip. That wasn’t what Vash would want to hear—no, maybe it was a conflicting answer. Her knowing him for a long time would indicate a man slipped through his keen watch, though a newly-met upstart would mean someone brand new was trying to mosey in on his precious sister. Agh. She couldn’t lie… “He didn’t really buy them and hand them right to me, you know…”

It was hard explaining herself through her brother’s expectant glares.

“He left for a few hours. I only found what he left when I closed the store. He never actually gave them to me.” Won over? Really Vash? It was a kind gesture from someone she had only just met, and given the lovely company he was she was more than happy to accept his token of newfound friendship.“I think you’re overreacting, Vash. I’m not ‘won over,’ but I’m not about to chase someone away that wants to be friends. Really, you never do this if they happen to be female.”

But then again, females don't normally leave her flowers on the step of her workplace.

Listening to him made her shift uncomfortably in her chair and look awkwardly to the side.

"But why would he be buying them in the first place and then giving them to you if he just met you? Don't you find that a little suspicious?"

… She should have tried harder to hide them. She knew he’d bring this up and interrogate her and now she was regretting it. She sighed heavily and shrugged her shoulders in exasperation, softly saying his name. “I appreciate your concern, Vash. I really do—but if they have innocent intentions it’s okay. If they have other things in mind, well… How easy do you think I am?”

Certain things unmentioned, she had some standards. She wasn’t going to cling to someone’s arm over flowers! Who even did that? Okay, don’t answer that. There were people who did questionable things with less provocation. But still, Lili was not one of those girls! Vash needn’t worry about her!

"I really didn't expect you to accept flowers. Especially with the circumstances— Is he... is he still leaving those paper flowers? I heard you swear that you wouldn't be accepting flowers after that bastard just—"

She stood up suddenly and she glared at him, lips pursed tightly in a thin, irritated line. “I-I’m over that.” Her voice shook, partially out of anger at both him and the man in question. “I’m over it, Vash! I can find a boyfriend if I wanted!” She pushed the plate towards the center of the table and groaned. “Not everyone is like him. Vash… there’s someone out there, alright? For me? Maybe this is him.”

She began to leave, but stopped mid-step and simply fell back into her chair, dropping her face into her palms. “You like holding that against me, don’t you? I made a mistake, I accept that. I don’t want it to haunt me forever…”

"Worrying about you is never easy," He said, as if he was the only one in the family that ever did worrying. He knew just how much she cared and how much she constantly asked about how he was doing when he came home hurt. she frowned heavily, lower lip protruding slightly in a pout. "People aren't as good intentioned as they believe even themselves to be."

Well, of course that was true, Vash... there were a lot of people in the world who made a living off deceit, but surely deceiving a girl with a flower shop wasn't high priority? She wasn't rich-- well, not on her own, of course. It's be easy to use her to get to Vash, but it looked like many people were trying to get to Vash directly. So maybe she was just the alternative route?

Still, that begged the question of why any potential thief would waste time wooing his target when simply kidnapping her would achieve the same goal, but more quickly.

As they argued over her state of mind after the terrible break-up with her lovely former boyfriend, she took a moment within herself to doubt what she was saying. She heard herself stammer... maybe it was a lie. A convincing lie, though, she wasn't normally able to do such things, so maybe it wasn't a lie to begin with.

He threw all sorts of questions at her, all of which made that biting of her lip to grow even more nervous. She hated interrogations, and it was all she could do to not simply avert her eyes elsewhere.

"You're asking me to just... you know. Stop. Before anything even gets started." she began. "Dean hasn't shown even the least bit of interest outside of a casual friendship - believe me, I've asked him. And sure, I may not know who this new man is yet, but I'm not going to tell him to get out of my face on that fact alone!"

She wasn't going to get anywhere if she kept being scared of the world around her.

And she was also terribly unaware of what Vash had gone through to implant him in his state of mind. Where Lili was much too trusting, even with her trust trampled upon, Vash was too bitter to ever trust again. Even if Dean was the man in question, Lili was certain this conversation would have happened anyway.

"I don't want it to haunt you forever. It haunts..." He began, but did not finish. His sister's eyes curiously watched his features for any sign of faltering, any page left open that she could read. The air in the house was heavy, and was terribly juxtaposed with the bright flowers that graced the table and counter - assuming, of course, one is not like Lili and Vash, both of whom were fluent in the language of flowers and other natural plants. What Vash might have looked over Lili was unable to ignore, and the message spelled out in the vase was somber at best.

Lili stood up from the table and silently made her way over to her brother, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "If you want me to stop making you worry, then you have your own end of the bargain to keep."

"I'm... sorry that I won't be able to make such promises,"

That is what she heard him say as she squeezed him tighter. That wasn't what she wanted to hear, not at all! That did nothing to calm her nerves or make her feel better, that did nothing to calm her worries or have the potential to make everything all better. No... no, that isn't what she wanted to hear.

They sat there in silence for a while as Lili mulled over futilely what she should be saying. No, no sound came out of her mouth as she simply savored the quiet moment after such a tense conversation. Arguments like that, even if the argument was fairly mild, was a unwelcome rarity in the household. She hated fighting him as much as she hated fighting everyone else, but conceded long ago that she wasn't able to sit under his thumb as she might have if she were younger.

She wanted more than anything to protect him the way he wanted to protect her, to keep him an important asset in her life -- he was the one family she had left that she could connect with. Two utterly inseparable children who remained such as adults... sort of. But he was precious and when he disapproved she felt it somehow compromised their relationship.

She lost him once and desperately did not wish to lose him again. "Could you make me any promise, Vash? Any at all?" her voice was soft, pleading... scared. Her eyes said it all, the way they dulled at that lack of a promise...

She pulled out of his hug, her frown heavy on her face. "I just want some kind of sign or-- or a guarantee that there won't be a day when you just don't come home at all!" And every time she saw him hurt, it reminded her of that possibility. She couldn't bear to lose her last bit of family. It would break her, certainly.

"I can promise but this: I'll try hard not to worry too much about you if you take it all slowly and use common sense. No accepting gifts from people you just met, okay? That, and I would like to meet this guy who gave you the flowers. He has good choice in flowers here," he said to her with a smile. Vash had such a nice smile... it was a pity it was an expression he didn't make as often as she remembered.

She breathed a terse, defeated sign. This wasn't what she wanted, but she could accept this compromise. It was better than nothing. "I'd still feel bad throwing them back at them but... I'll try. Alright." She conceded. "If he stops by again I'll be sure to tell him that! If, you know... we need to have him meet you."