Disclaimer: I don't own these people…I do not own Trigun…But I do own a monkey in the caboose of my toy train set. Only not really. So, I pretty much don't own anything but this pathetic story. Bleh ~_~; Anyway, things are going to finally get rolling now…so…enjoy!

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The overwhelming stench of rank alcohol was unbearable. Her eyes watered as she stepped out into the room swarming with grown men, feeling much like a cat thrown into a dog pound. There were flocks of drunken bodies; a sea of swaying bodies with laughter and swearing, thick like a heavy perfume clinging to the air. Being one of the lone sober bodies weaving through an entangled web of subconscious beings, Meryl was feeling just a trite bit uncomfortable to say the least.

The day had been a normal day of work. Meryl had gotten there on time (with some luck or fate, she could not decide) and began her usual routine of serving drinks to the workers and other local inhabitants that came in. A herd of tourists were arriving unusually, though, so the bar was filled to the brim. It was getting to the point where the barkeeper was going to have to kick out people or send bar maids to go out and not let any admittance in. The crowds were beginning to thin, however, now that it was about midnight. The short insurance girl had to pull double shift to make up for the lack of bar maids on hand. Though she didn't complain – they needed the extra money, you know. But by regulation, her shift was over and she had to vacate the premises via the barkeeper's request.

She fought her way through the crowds with a bright smile bolted on her face, wondering when she would finally get to the door so she could finally go home and rest at long last. Milly and Vash had been alone all day, so the house was probably a mess, she assumed with a cynical frown beginning to fringe the carefully placed smile.

"Hey, babe, can I get another drink?" slurred a nearby drunk, throwing an arm around her tense shoulders. Meryl grit her teeth to keep herself from hitting him over the head with the nearest object or ripping off his arm and shoving it down his throat, whichever was more convenient.

Calmly she said, "Sir, I'm off duty, you'll have to ask another one of the barkeepers. Have a nice evening." Meryl picked up the arm with two fingers as if touching something vile and plucked it from her body, scurrying as far away from the area of her violator as possible.

A pair of ice blue eyes watched her from across the crowded room, cold orbs transfixed on her figure in a lustful leer that could have melted butter. He leaned forward and ran a pink tongue over his dry lips to smooth out the hairline cracks threatening to split open. A sneer creased his long face as the object of his attention slipped out of the building, casting a few scathing glances at its inhabitants. The man finished the last of his shot and stood up, wiping his dirty face on his sleeve. He stumbled through the crowds after the short woman, barely being able to stand up straight. Alcohol smeared his vision and…something dark. Something dark raked its black talons and gashed all rhyme and reason, his senses bleeding from the festering wounds deep within his mind. Everything was a swirl of colors and sounds; it was nauseating and quite confusing to his already rattled brain. But the dark feeling nagged at the back of his senses, lust seeping through his every limb and lighting a blaze in his thighs. He stumbled after the hot-tempered insurance girl, the only clear thing in his vision.

Hardly paying attention to the stalker behind her, Meryl kept marching rigidly for home, face still strewn in an uptight disgusted expression from the scene back in the bar. Yet her face softened and her blue eyes melted at the thought of going home to a smiling Vash, running out to meet her and ushering her inside for some of Milly's hot cocoa. Not that anything like that would ever happen, but it was a welcomed comfort to her frazzled nerves.

Finally, the woman came to notice the presence lingering behind her and turned her head to give the man a glance, but her eyes froze on his figure. He was tall, about as tall as Vash, with the coldest blue eyes she had ever seen. So cold, in fact, that they sent a long line of chills thrumming up and down her spine, prickling at her every sense until the hairs on the back of her neck stood up at attention. The man wasn't all that intimidating otherwise, long arms swaying drunkenly at his sides in an almost comical paddling motion. His hair was a greasy jet black that tossed from side to side as he scuffled the few yards left between him and the object of his affection in scattered, wavering lines. This man was drunk beyond his years, Meryl observed as he approached her and grinned, an invisible mist of stench spraying from his thin lips as he spoke.

"I was watchin' yeh at the bar, pretty lady…y'know, you s-should have someb'dy escortin' yeh t' yer house…c-cause it's really dangerous 'n all out here at night…" The man trailed off and stared up at her blankly with a glazed look, his brain not being able to function the last of his thoughts.

Blue eyes flickered up and down his body skeptically. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Meryl murmured. With one last glance to the odd man standing before her, she turned to continue her journey home. A slimy, sweat-drenched hand shot out and grasped her wrist tightly.

"W-Wait! At least lemme be a man an' escort yeh home!" sputtered the man. Meryl wrenched her arm against the deadlock grip.

"Let go of me this instant or I will SUE!" Meryl bellowed as she swung her foot up sharply for a groin kick. The man, being as drunk as he was, was easily caught, but did not have the most satisfying affect. He doubled over and grasped himself tightly, giving Meryl enough time to whirl on her feet and make a mad dash down the street. The man mumbled a few obscenities and chased after as best as his wobbly legs would carry him, which was pretty good considering how hammered he was.

Meryl frantically looked over her shoulder and sneered as the man kept chase, slowly gaining as the blood pumped feverishly into his long legs. The fire blazing in his thighs steadily increased as his prying ice blue eyes watched Meryl run, primal instincts flaring inside of his body. Slowly he increased speed, and Meryl was very aware of this.

Abruptly she turned onto another street, skidding a little as she scrambled to pump her legs faster. Faster, she had to go faster, she had to run far and long and get away from this creep. But the man was in hot pursuit, his face a mask of determination, a flame engulfing his eyes in a fiery persistence that made Meryl blanch. Regret nibbled at the skirts of her conscience, knowing fully well she should have lugged her derringers with her instead of leaving them at home in her insurance uniform. Quickly she skittered into the first blackened alley she saw, hoping and praying against all fate that it would not be a dead end.

The man hurled himself after her, legs running in large gaping strides that cut across the ground viciously, feet hammering against the dusty ground and kicking up dirt as he continued to hunt down his lust object. Meryl threw out her arms as a garbage can came into view and ran around it, knocking it aside desperately as she ran, hoping it would slow him up a bit enough for her to put further space between the two. The garbage can clattered against the ground and a shower of debris littered the dark alley. The man sloshed through the trash as if it weren't even there and jumped over the rolling tin can, eyes fixated on the small of Meryl's back. Blue eyes widened incredulously as the man flew over the can gracefully, acting none-too drunk anymore as the ice ridden eyes locked with hers.

Meryl let out a shriek and flung herself to the right, high heels clattering against the ground insanely in rapid clicking sounds. The rage wore thin and eventually evaporated as a thunderous wave of terror and panic fleeted through her mind. What was she going to do? What could she do? Where was Vash? Oh, where was the Humanoid Typhoon to defend her? She cried mentally, sobs choking up in her throat making it virtually impossible to cry for help. Things only began to look bleak as her worst fears came true – a dead end was in the distance.

She ran to the end of the alley and slid her hands over the wall, hoping for some sort of way to climb over it. It was a large concrete wall with even more concrete on either side of her. No slant, no cracks, no anything. This was it…

Slowly she turned and looked at him, furrowing her brow determinedly. No, she would not give up without a fight! The man approached her and grinned as he shuffled for her in heavy steps, spittle running down his lower lip as his breath raced while he tried to catch his wind.

"'Ey, baby, why didja run awaaay?" he breathed. Meryl pressed her back against the wall for some sort of support. All it did was make her feel even more unsure about the situation as the man eyed her torso with a gleam to his eyes. He put a hand on either side of her face, leaning in. His breath reeked of stale cigarettes and an overpowering amount of vodka. Resisting the urge to gag, Meryl began to lift a hand to fend herself with, but his hands shot down and pinned her wrists against the wall. A cry was stifled as his mouth found it's way to hers, his icy eyes rolling into the back of his head. Her head jerked, his tongue ending up working its way into onyx locks of hair instead of her mouth.

"Somebody! Help! HELP!" Meryl screeched in vain. The man clapped a hand over her jaw and nose, her breath beating back against her face. She couldn't breathe, couldn't work her mouth, couldn't do anything but struggle or submit. Her small body writhed and wiggled within his grip, but the man was persistent, the primal need for sex too overpowering. Everything was slowing down, her body beginning to feel so heavy. Her chest burned with the need to restock with the crystalline air, but the hand served as a blockade and she knew he was too strong for her, she'd never be able to get it off without using her hands.

The man jerked and painfully shoved the side of her head into the pavement wall, a dull cracking sound heard upon the sudden impact. Waves of nausea crept through the insurance girl's body as bright splotches of light blossomed in her vision, ripples forming and dimming everything slowly. Meryl felt the need to wretch, but once again fear overpowered all over emotions as one arm was held, the other pinned against the wall, her body utterly useless. The dizzy feeling was too strong, the lack of oxygen slowly picking up a club and hitting the black bell within the corners of her mind. Darkness began seeping down into her vision as the man worked his way into her shirt, her apron discarded with a faint ripping noise.

Black…everything was spiraling slowly downward into the unyielding world of unconsciousness. Meryl fought relentlessly to keep conscious; to break away and stop the man from doing anything, but it was too late. The black sucked her under and swallowed her whole, her body slowly going limp in the mans greedy arms, leaving her vulnerable and fresh meat for the blue-eyed man.

Black…everything was utterly, totally…

Black.

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Green eyes scoured the outside worriedly, nothing except the occasional passing cat filled the moonlit streets. Just as he had feared.

Vash turned to Milly from the window, beginning to pace yet again. "Why isn't she home yet? Shouldn't her shift have ended by now?" Vash inquired.

Milly lay curled in a blanket on the couch, refusing to go to sleep until her sempai came home. Her brow knit together to form a tight line as she quietly said, "Maybe she's just doing some over time so she can pay the bills."

A gloved hand found its way entangled through blonde locks nervously as Vash nodded reassuringly. He cracked a small grin. "That's probably it. That girl works too much, she needs to learn how to relax and live a little!" laughed the gunman. Milly smiled and nodded.

"Yeah! Maybe you can help her?" proposed she. Vash rubbed his chin with thought and nodded slowly.

"Perhaps…Well, I better get to sleep. She'll come home sometime. G'night!" And with the parting assurance, Vash slipped into his bedroom with a smile and a curtain of denial wrapped tightly around his body. Milly quietly curled up and smiled into her pillow, relaxing a bit at Vash's unrelenting confidence in her partner and friend.

She'd come home…Meryl always did.

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Notes: Don't you hate cliffhangers? Yeah, so do I…but I like to make em so people keep reading. See, that's the whole point behind those things. Funny how things work out. This was kinda medium length, wasn't it? Ah, well. Thank you all for the wonderful reviews and I hope this is good enough for now until I put up the third chapter. o.o Arigato! ^^