I wanted a fic with Vash being a good big brother instead of him being really really overprotective like everyone else makes him out to be. And so this fic was born.

When Vash first found Lili, it was what he imagined having a child was like. He would take care of her, feed her, and make sure that she had everything she needed to make it to the next day. For other people, they just didn't understand why he, the stingiest of all his friends, took in a girl when he himself had nothing. The answer was simple to Vash though, he couldn't stand to see this girl, poor and dirty, starve on the streets. A part of his heart went out to Lili the moment that he saw her, and he couldn't just leave her there.

Vash couldn't remember the day when Lili started to call him big brother. They hadn't been together very long, but even when she was still recovering she was uncomfortable with calling him Vash. He didn't want to be called 'father' though, or something like that. It was just a regular morning when he thought of something that she could call him.

"Lili," Vash said, breaking the calm silence that had descended over them.

"Yes, what is it um…" Lili trailed off, realizing again that she had to call him Vash.

"Big brother, call me big brother," Vash said, his cheeks dusting with a light pink. This was one of the most embarrassing things he had ever done.

"Big brother?" Lili looked at him with her large questioning eyes. Vash felt himself get even redder.

"Well why not? We look alike, and I know that you don't like calling me Vash and I don't want to be called anything else…" Half way through Vash realized he might be rambling to her, and tried to cut himself off. Lili just stared at him with her doe eyes.

Finally a smile broke out across her face, "Okay, big brother," Lili said, before they lapsed into silence once again, with Vash still flustered and Lili had the biggest smile on her face.

After that, there never really were any problems with them. There was a mistake in the pajamas one time, but neither Lili nor Vash minded it. Vash tried to teach Lili how to defend herself, but that didn't work out to well, so he just took the charge of protecting her himself. There was one thing though that no one knew about Lili, not even her best friend Elizabeta knew, that Vash knew about. It was the reason that Vash never let Lili go out for sleepovers or vacations without him.

Lili was deathly afraid of storms. When Vash first found out, he thought it was stupid, that she was lying. But then the first storm hit their house. The fear that shook Lili's small body and the terror that was evident in her eyes was more than enough to convince him. So whenever a storm went through where they lived, Vash got extra blankets, and made his room a safe haven for Lili. It was nice, and when she was with him, under the blankets, she couldn't hear the claps of thunder or see the flash of the lightning.

It was time for another one of those storms. Vash filled his room with candles, making sure that everything would be great for Lili. Together they got into bed and tried to sleep, but no matter what Vash did, Lili just couldn't relax.

"Big brother…" Lili whispered. If Vash hadn't been listening carefully, he wouldn't have heard it.

"What is it Lili? You need to sleep." Another flash of light went through the room, making Lili jump.

"Will you tell me a story big brother?"

The last thing that Vash wanted to do was that, but he didn't have anything else that might make Lili fall asleep. So he sighed, trying to think of the stories that he had been told when he was little.

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She had blonde hair and a ribbon in her hair. Her father had died, and she never knew her mother, and the poor little girl ended up on the streets. Soon, she forgot her own name, and everyone just called her 'The Ribbon Girl'." Vash paused, trying to see Lili's reaction. She got tensed when he said the part about the parents, but relaxed again soon enough. Vash had taken a gamble, since Lili never told him about her parents. For all he knew he could have been dead wrong.

"Then one day, an old woman and her daughters saw The Ribbon Girl on the streets begging for money. Out of pity, they took her in, but it wasn't what The Ribbon Girl thought it would be. All her new family did was use her as a personal servant. Everyone in town knew it, but no one knew what to do about it." Lili yawned, her eyes beginning to droop.

"It was like that for years, until The Ribbon Girl, who they called Ribbon for short, grew into a beautiful woman. The daughters of the old woman got jealous because they weren't beautiful, and made Ribbon's days even harder. When Ribbon was 18, she got the mail and saw an invitation from the Prince of the land, saying that the prince was hosting a ball to find a future Queen, and that all the young ladies were to attend.

"Ribbon begged to go, but the old woman wouldn't let her. Eventually though, it was decided that Ribbon would go as her daughters servant, to make it seem like they had more money than they really did. After hours of labor and too much make up, everyone was ready to go. Ribbon went with them, just excited to get out of the house she had been trapped in." Vash looked down to see Lili almost asleep, but not quite.

"The Prince didn't want to have the ball, he was fine on his own, but his father wanted heirs. So they had hosted this ball. Vash watched everyone come in, but none of them caught his attention, until two women came in, their servant trailing after them. It wasn't the women that caught his attention, it was the servant. He saw how even though she was tired, her eyes lit up in joy at the sights around her, and even though she was dressed in rags, she looked more beautiful than all the women in here put together. So when it came time to pick a partner to dance with he went right up to her, and pulled her onto the dance floor. The other women were all jealous, why was there Price dancing with a servant when he could be dancing with one of them? The Price didn't want them though, they were all shallow, and looking into Ribbon's eyes, he knew she had been through heartache her life." Lili was asleep, but Vash wanted to finish the story before he fell asleep as well.

"And so, the Prince convinced his family that he didn't need a Queen. They took Ribbon in as a part of their family, and to the rest of the village she was as good as Queen. The old women and her daughters were banished from the Kingdom, and never heard from again."

Vash finished the story with a great breath, relaxing as he did so. Lili was fast asleep in his arms, sleeping soundly. Gently he kissed her forehead and fell asleep, his sister held closely to him.

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