Meryl
sighed, leaning her cheek against her right hand, watching the three other
occupants at the table they shared in a corner of the saloon. Vash
was turning an interesting shade of blue as Wolfwood pounded on his back
in an effort to dislodge whatever had gotten stuck in his throat during
a bout of laughter. Milly had gotten up to let the bartender know
that they wanted more drinks at their table, and Meryl was fast coming
to the conclusion that Wolfwood was NOT going to be able to remove the
plug in Vash's windpipe by pounding on his back. She was just getting
to her feet when a particularly hard blow to Vash's back caused his midsection
to collide with the edge of the table. The trapped air in Vash's
lungs was forced through his windpipe, sending the lodged bit of food shooting
out of his mouth like a champagne cork. Meryl, quickly jerking her
napkin off the table, held it up in front of her like a shield; killing
two birds with one stone as she not only avoided getting hit with the tiny
missile, but prevented the possibility of it hitting someone else and starting
a bar- room brawl by the misunderstanding person possibly on the receiving
end of Vash's unexpected gift.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME OR SOMETHING?!" Vash half-gasped, half- roared
at Wolfwood, who was doubled over in laughter now that Vash's face was
returning to its normal shade.
Wolfwood was laughing too hard to respond, and Meryl shook her head in
exasperation as she crumpled up her napkin, setting it back down on the
table. Really, these two were hopeless. Meryl sat down with
a half irritated look, but didn't say anything as Wolfwood, having finally
stopped laughing long enough to catch his breath, complimented her on her
catching ability.
Meryl rolled her eyes. "Someone had to keep a fight from starting,"
she grumbled at him. "Honestly, half the time I wonder if you two
have a serious bone in your bodies."
"Of course I have a serious bone in my body!" Wolfwood protested, and was
about to demonstrate by once again reiterating that he was a priest, when
he noticed that Vash was taking advantage of his distraction and was trying
to lift one of the two salmon sandwiches he had ordered off his plate.
"Just what do you think you're doing, Tongari?!" Wolfwood demanded, and
another loud voiced argument proceeded to take place. Meryl rolled
her eyes again, and began to scan the saloon, wondering where Milly had
wandered off to.
She had just spotted the tall brunette coming back with three drinks (Meryl
had opted for water instead of . . . well, whatever pathetic excuse for
liquor this saloon served) when there was a momentary lull in the noise
that always hung over saloons like a bad hangover as the front doors swung
open, and a rather official-looking man strode in. Standing at the
threshold, he ran his eyes over the gathering of men and women, appearing
to be searching for someone in particular. His search came to an
end as his eyes landed on the table
Meryl was occupying. He glanced at a slip of yellow paper that
he held in his hands, and then made his way towards them. As he neared,
the argument between Wolfwood and Vash died down as they pondered whether
or not this person posed a threat to them, and after deciding that he didn't,
picked up where they left off.
"Miss Meryl Stryfe?" the man asked politely as he reached their table.
Meryl glanced up in surprise. "Yes, I'm Meryl Stryfe," she replied.
"I have a registered letter for you. If you would please sign here,"
he said, whipping a clipboard from who-knows-where, then returning it to
places unknown once Meryl had signed her name. "All right, here you
are. Thank you and have a nice day."
With that, the man gave a slight bow, and walked back out of the saloon.
Meryl blinked, then turned her attention to the yellow envelope she now
held in her hand. Milly reached their table and sat the drinks down
in front of their respective owners as Meryl opened the envelope and began
to read the contents of the letter.
"Ahhh, thanks!" Wolfwood winked at her as she sat his drink down in front
of him. Milly grinned back at him, and sat down in her chair after
depositing Vash's drink in front of him.
"KAMPAI!" Vash cried out as he reached for his drink, only to have it yanked
out of his hand by Meryl.
"HEY!" he protested, then stopped and stared in amazement, as did everyone
else in the saloon, as Meryl upended Vash's full glass and downed its contents
in a single gulp, wiped her mouth with the back of
her sleeve, and slammed the glass back down on the table to a round
of cheers from the other spectators. Before anyone could say anything
to her, she rose to her feet and walked rapidly out of the saloon, sending
the doors swinging wide on their hinges, leaving three very puzzled traveling
companions behind.
"Sempai?" Milly asked the empty air, her innocent blue eyes worried.
"Whoa, what's gotten into her all of a sudden?" Vash asked no one in particular
as he gazed forlornly at his empty glass.
"Dunno, but it probably has something to do with this," Wolfwood replied
while waving the opened letter in his hand. "She left it on the table!
I didn't take it from her!" he said in response to Vash's criticizing glare.
Then they both turned and stared as Milly reached over and yanked the letter
from Wolfwood's hands, ran her eyes quickly over it and then jumped to
her feet and left the saloon, hot on Meryl's trail.
Vash and Wolfwood turned and stared at each other for a moment, then down
at the piece of paper that had come to rest on the tabletop. Wolfwood
reached out, picked up the seemingly innocent-looking paper,
and began to read aloud while Vash listened.
"Dear Meryl-oneechan,
Must come home. Father
is very ill. Don't have enough money to say anything more.
Your sister,
Lucy"
Vash
and Wolfwood stared at each other for another heartbeat, jumped to their
feet and took off out of the saloon, leaving behind enough money on the
table to cover their expenses. As they barreled out of the swinging
front doors, Vash's foot hit something small and soft that went "HISSSS!"
promptly tripping him and sending him sprawling on his face. Wolfwood
paused to glance back at him, and shifted Cross Punisher on his shoulder
a bit to make it more comfortable.
"Geez, Tongari, didn't you see the cat?" he asked.
"What cat?" Vash mumbled, but as he was currently worshipping the sand,
it sounded more like, "Fffhaat caaa?"
Before Wolfwood could reply, Milly came into view as she moved down the
road in the direction of the hotel the group was currently staying at.
She changed directions when she saw Vash and Wolfwood standing outside
of the saloon, and came towards them, worry clearly evident in her face.
"What's up?" Wolfwood asked.
"Sempai wants me to start packing our things. We'll be heading out
on the first Sand Steamer for Septembre City, and from there we're going
to her home town. She's trying to find a way to get in touch with
our chief to let him know what's going on," Milly replied. "Oh, and
she also said that Bernadelli will probably send two other agents to take
over our job until we can get back, though I doubt anyone will take it."
"Oh? Why's that?" Vash asked, giving Milly a blank look. Wolfwood
closed his eyes, sighed, then promptly whapped the blond upside the head.
"Are you DAFT Tongari?! You're the man with $$60 billion on his head,
the first Human Act of God, the Humanoid Typhoon, He Who Can't Walk Anywhere
Without Leaving A Pile Of Rubble Behind Him. . .," Wolfwood was interrupted
by Milly saying, "I've never heard him referred to as that!" and Vash's,
"ALL RIGHT I GET THE POINT!"
Wolfwood grinned at his grumbling friend, then turned his attention back
to Milly. "Out of curiosity, just how did you two wind up with the
job of keeping an eye on him? Wouldn't your boss have thought it
too dangerous a job for such lovely young ladies?"
Vash rolled his eyes at Wolfwood's obvious flirtatious move on Milly, but
stopped grumbling and started listening because he had been wondering the
same thing for a while now, and was interested to hear what Milly had to
say.
"Oh, sempai and I always get handed jobs like this," Milly said in her
usual frank manner. "It's not just because sempai is really good
at what she does, though she is one of the best in the agency, but she
has this ability to understand people after she's spent some time with
them. Sure, she denied that Vash-san was actually Vash-san at first,
but that was because the only knowledge we had of him was based on rumor,
and you have to admit, those weren't very flattering rumors. We had
no idea what we were looking for when we got the assignment."
"Rough assignment then?" Wolfwood asked, cutting his eyes in Vash's direction.
"Oh no! It's been
a lot of fun!" Milly said with a grin, then
remembered that she was supposed to be packing her and Meryl's traveling
bags. She made her excuses to the men and headed back in the direction
of their hotel.
Vash waited until Milly was out of earshot, before turning on Wolfwood
and saying, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ROUGH ASSIGNMENT?!"
"Do I need to go through your list of nicknames again, Tongari?" Wolfwood
asked as he pulled out one of his prevalent crumpled cigarettes.
Vash sighed, "No, no you don't need to do that. Once was enough,
thank you very much." Then his face suddenly took on a thoughtful
look. "Wait, she said that no one else would probably take over their
assignment. YES! FREEDOM! I can do whatever I want!
I can get drunk and not worry about Meryl yelling at me!"
"TONGARI!" Wolfwood yelled, cutting Vash off as he began to prance around
in the street. "Are you telling me that you have no intention of
accompanying them on their journey? What kind of bodyguard do you
call yourself? Leaving those poor, defenseless women to take a dangerous
journey all alone across the desert."
"They're about as defenseless as an armored car," Vash muttered under his
breath, but smiled at Wolfwood soothingly. "Don't worry, I had no
intention of letting them go off on their own."
"Good, because I didn't want to leave her now, anyway," Wolfwood said without
thinking. Vash latched onto that little slip like a drowning man
to a raft.
"Her..? We wouldn't happen to be talking about the Big Girl, now
would we? Hmmm?" Vash grinned.
"W-what are you talking about, Tongari?! I was simply stating that
I didn't want to leave the women alone to make such a dangerous journey!"
Wolfwood blustered.
Vash laughed and began to dance in a little circle around Wolfwood. "Admit
it! You have a thing for the Thompson girl!"
"I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT, YOU IDIOT!" Wolfwood yelled,
and began walking in the opposite direction, but Vash was not about to
be put off so easily. He followed on Wolfwood's heels, saying, "Admit
it! Admit it!" until Wolfwood began walking faster. And faster.
And faster. Finally Wolfwood muttered, "Shit!" and took off
running. Not to be outdone, Vash began to run, too, until once again
he was right on Wolfwood's heels, yelling, "ADMIT IT!"
over and over again as they tore down the main street.
Meryl was walking back from the post office where she had finally managed
to reach the chief via a private radio line, and she couldn't say that
she was really surprised when no one else wanted to come out and take over
their assignment for a few weeks. She sighed and rubbed the back
of her head wearily. She didn't know what to do about Vash the Stampede.
She couldn't very well order him to come with them, that really wouldn't
be fair to him. On the other hand, this is their assignment and she
would be in the right to order him to go with them. But . . . she
couldn't quite squash the little voice in the back of her head that whispered,
You'd rather he came with you of his own free will…
Before
she could even get a small growl out of her throat at that thought, two
very familiar figures came tearing around a corner and nearly ran her over.
Wolfwood managed to side step around her, but Vash wasn't so lucky.
He hit the brakes, but not quick enough to keep him from bumping into Meryl
hard enough to knock her off balance. She spun a bit, but Vash's
reflexes were faster than gravity, and he caught her about the shoulders
to steady her.
"Sorry about that," Vash said sheepishly as he released her. Meryl
blinked at him as her senses tried to right themselves from their sudden
jolt out of place, and then her eyebrows furrowed a bit.
"What were you two DOING running around the town like that?" she demanded.
"Nothing!" Wolfwood said quickly before Vash could even open his mouth,
and then he shot the blond a look of Death if he so much as even muttered
the words "Thompson girl."
"Well, Tongari, I'm going to head to the hotel to see if we're going to
need any supplies for the trip. I'm sure that anything the Sand Steamer
has is going to be expensive. Catch ya later!" With that, Wolfwood
turned and hoofed it back the way he came, not giving Vash a chance to
come with him.
Meryl stared at the retreating Wolfwood and then turned her questioning
gaze at Vash. "What did he mean, supplies?"
"Oh, we're going to come with you guys. You might need help with
your dad being sick and all," Vash said.
"And just how did you know my father was sick?" Meryl asked
suspiciously.
"Wolfwood found the letter after you left," Vash answered honestly, then
asked a bit worriedly, "You don't mind if we come along, do you?"
Meryl took a deep breath, and let it out on a relieved sigh. "To
be honest, no. Just don't get into trouble," she warned.
Vash smiled at her, and she found herself returning his smile before suddenly
getting flustered and turning her attention to the ground. "I need
to go help Milly pack," she said, and moved away from him. Vash watched
her go, concern briefly lighting his eyes as he watched Meryl's shoulders
slump a bit before she rounded the corner. He knew that, in a way,
she was like him in that she hid her emotions so that the people around
her wouldn't worry. He decided to keep a closer eye on her, because
he knew that holding in your emotions wasn't healthy. At least he
cried when he was sad or needed to release some emotion, so he knew he
wasn't a ticking time bomb. The only display of emotion he had seen
Meryl release was when she was angry, and even that had an element of control
about it. Vash couldn't help it, he was worried.
Sighing, he turned his steps in the direction of the hotel, figuring that
while Wolfwood was out shopping he'd grab a quick nap before having to
pack. They had a long journey ahead of them.
To be continued......
Notes: Tongari = Needle-noggin. Hope you guys liked.
This is my first time posting on ff.net, so I'm kinda interested to see
how the story goes over. Thanks, and take care!