Horror on High

By Junsui na Warui

A/N: Woo! Thanks for all the wonderful comments and suggestions! I'll definitely keep each of them in mind for every chapter (And actually, I was planning on having a party just to make Millie get drunk! ^^ I love that scene!)

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Trigun. If I did, would I be sittin' here writing this? Don't think so!

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Chapter Two; The 'miss' has got to go.

It was nearly the end of the first week of school, and Vash was still no closer to finding out her name than he was getting into Harvard. He wasn't sure what his fascination with the short, raven-haired girl was, but it had been nagging at him since the day he happened to stumble upon her at her locker.

At first it was merely a joke just to pick up on a date, like he usually did. But this was different somehow. When he saw her it was like a beam of light shot out from the sky, illuminating her in a golden aura so that he may see every inch of her goddess-like beauty.

"Vash, are you talking to yourself again?" Wolfwood asked his friend, obviously awakening him back to reality.

"Huh?" Vash shook his head, finding himself standing in the middle of the hallway with his hands clasped together in a manner of prayer. "I.. uh.. this.." He began to blush somewhat, bringing his hand behind his head and laughing nervously as he noticed that nearly every student in the hallway at that time had gone silent and was staring at him like he was clad in a pink frilly tutu with a matching bow and dancing slippers.

Wolfwood brought a hand up to remove his shades, looking at Vash awkwardly. "I thought I was the priest of the group?"

"Eh.." Vash smiled sheepishly. "I was just.."

Wolfwood leaned forward to look Vash directly in the face. "Are you hiding something, Vash? Because if you are, you aren't doing a very good job."

Vash merely laughed again. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He looked around at the crowd still gathered around them, looking for a way to escape.

"Uh huh." Wolfwood straightened, slipping his folded shades into his shirt pocket. "Well folks, I'd suggest you run along before Vash The Stampede lives up to his name." He shifted his gaze back to the man he was speaking of, only to find a piece of paper with a all too familiar doodle scribbled on it left in his place.

"Err.. That good for nothing needle noggin.."

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Vash leaned up against a locker panting and trying to catch his breath. He brought his arm up to wipe away some of the perspiration that had gathered at his brow.

"Phew.. that was a close one." He said to himself, smiling and resting his head back against the cool surface of the lockers. "I need to learn to keep my big mouth shut."

"And how to stay out of other people's way." A stern voice commanded (rather than stated), causing Vash to open his eyes, his mouth partially open in surprise. It was the short raven-haired girl.

"W-wha?" He startled, not really sure what she meant.

Meryl continued to glower at him, her arms crossed over her chest. "You're on my locker." She said hastily, obviously not too happy to see him.

"Oh.." Vash blinked as her words sunk in, but he didn't move. Instead, he began to grin as an idea dawned on him.

Meryl fought the urge to clobber him right then and there, her temper beginning to get the better of her self control. "Well, aren't you going to move?"

"Nah. I like it here, so I think I'll just stay and chill for a bit." His grin widened as he saw her slowly becoming even more angered with him. "That alright with you?" He asked mockingly, but gently.

Meryl's eyebrow twitched with anger and she took a threatening step towards him. "I'm warning you, Vash."

"Are you?" He brought his arms behind his head and crossed them, relaxing against the lockers and making it look as if he were rather comfortable. "How many do I get?"

That was it. Meryl's self control completely went out the window as she charged forward with her fist aimed for his stomach. Instead of connecting to her fists' destination, however, her fist landed right into the palm of his hand. She couldn't believe it, this airhead had actually caught her punch!

Vash smiled at her look of utter disbelief, leaning downward so they were somewhat at eye level. "Now that's not very nice, you could have really hurt me."

Meryl couldn't say anything. Her mouth was open, but nothing came out. Who the hell is this man?

"I'm Vash, of course." He cupped his hand around her own, gently forcing it from it's original balled up fist. "May I ask who you are?" He smiled gently at her, looking into her eyes directly for the first time.

"I.." Meryl stumbled upon her words, somewhat lost in his eyes and the way his warm, large hand held hers gently, but firmly at the same time. It was mind boggling how this air headed lunatic managed to take her breath away for the second time in the course of a few days.

Finally regaining her composure, Meryl pulled her hand from his grip and stepped back, her stern features returning.

"I'm Meryl. Meryl Stryfe."

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A/N: I know that was kinda short, but I thought that'd be a nice way to close up this chapter. Plus, I've been stumbling upon ideas for the next few chapters and they're all kinda spread about into "maybe's" and "what if's" at the moment. Sorry for the wait, I'll have them out soon. ^^ Ciao! Thanks for reading.