Bonjour once more! This is the first chapter of mah fic. I really don't like writing chapter fics.. I'm horrible at keeping with them. But I'm gonna give this one a shot.

In case it was confusing (and it was) last chapter started with Meryl and crossed over to Milly. Just so you guys know.

I hope you guys like it.

Enough with the A/Ns already, eh?

Disclaimer: Roganu no own Trigun. Roganu sad.

Retourn à Moi

I'm Sorry..

Meryl stared out the window. She was always looking out it when she was at home. She still went to work six days a week, one to five in the afternoon, then eight to twelve at night. Every time someone had too much to drink and went crazy, it reminded her of him. Every time she saw a pair of blue eyes, she thought of him. Every time she saw a man pet the stray kuroneko, she thought of him.

There was way too much that made her think of him.

~ ~ ~

She put the last of the dirty glasses in the sink in the bar and filled each with tap water, clearing the leftover beer from the bottom of the mugs. She stepped into the employee bathroom and changed out of her ridiculous outfit and into a pair of jean shorts and a white t-shirt. She tucked the tiny black waitress dress into her arm, and grabbed her purse with the other. She walked back through the saloon where she worked, and, Meryl being Meryl, couldn't go a day without incident.

Two drunkards were swinging around their mugs, singing an Irish drinking song. However, Meryl walked unknowingly into the warpath. One tripped over his own shoelace, and fell, beer and all, onto the ground, but not before spilling his fermented drink over the woman.

She screeched lightly and looked at her now transparent shirt. Her cheeks flushed and she bolted for the door. She pushed the door open and ran into the hot sun. She hoped her shirt would dry in the sun as she ran home. However, she accidentally ran into a small patch of shade, which was followed by her small body slamming into a much bigger one.

"Gomen nasai.." she whispered and looked up at the tall man she had run into. She gasped.

He had come back.

~ ~ ~

"..Vash!" she yelped, seeing the familiar man with tall blonde hair and deep aqua eyes for the first time in one sixth of a year. She looked into those intense pools and felt like her limbs had melted and her mind turned into soup. She couldn't think clearly. All she could do was blink.

Until Vash said, "Hi."

She managed to stutter, "H-h-hi V-Vash.."

"Hey, Insurance Girl!"

Her senses returned.

She slapped him a good one.

"You leave me and Milly here and worried about you for two whole freakin' months and you nonchalantly walk back into town, and then, *then* you have the audacity to call me Insurance Girl?!"

He rubbed his reddened face and smiled.

"Sorry," he sad. "I've just been gone, and well, yeah."

"Some excuse!"

"So where'd you go? What'd you do? What happened?"

"I'll tell you," he said, "after you and Milly come to my hotel room. That's where Knives is."

She froze.

"Knives is.. alive?" she whispered.

He nodded. "Did you think I was going to kill him? I had a hard enough time.. you know." His eyes glistened with tears and sorrow. "Knives is family. I couldn't do that, not even if he has an evil heart."

She smiled. "Of course not." She motioned for him to follow her. "Milly will want to know you're here."

He followed. It was about four, and the suns were at their hottest. She reached up to her forgotten shirt to fan her nick, only to realize once more that the top of her shirt was still wet and very much transparent.

"Damn it," she whispered. "Damn it all to hell." She was walking next to the gunman and brought up her arms to try and hide the translucency of the shirt.

"I was going to tell you about that.. I just sorta forgot.."

"I'm sure." She felt her face turn red. She realized that if he was going to say something about it, it probably meant he had been looking at her chest. How embarrassing.. "You know, you may not live to see Milly again."

He stopped and fell to the ground in a sitting position. He was wrapped up in a ball with his hands over his head. "Don't hurt me!"

She sighed and brought her hand up to her temples, her anger dissipating.

She could never stay angry at him for long.

"Oh get up," she instructed him, walking towards their house. He scrambled up and jogged to reach her. He walked by her side, looked down at her, at her raven hair. She was still clutching her chest in the attempt to hide her wet shirt. She was looking at the ground, and Vash was in no danger of being caught looking at her.

They reached the house soon enough, and as Meryl opened the door, she yelled for Milly; who knew when she got home. But.. she wasn't yet. They had some time to kill.

So she asked him if he wanted anything to eat or drink. He replied he'd like some water, so she went to the kitchen and poured him a glass. She brought it out to the couch where he sat. They sat in silence for all of two minutes.

"So," he said, "how've you been?"

She thought about her answer. "Not bad. Work is going okay."

"You still a waitress?"

"Yeah."

"That good?"

"I bring home money." She shifted in her seat. She noticed her shirt had dried in the sun, but there was a beer stain on her white top. "I'll be right back," she said. "Don't break anything." She left to go upstairs.

He sat thinking. He was in complete silence for five minutes, and the only muscles moving were his heart and lungs.

She reentered the room, her shirt now pink, her shorts now jean capris. She made herself known and went to brew some chamomile tea. She definitely needed to calm, and that was going to help immensely, as well as anything with aspirin in it. She took the teabag out of the steaming mug and smelled the sweet aroma of chamomile, like warm apple juice. She threw the bag into the garbage and carried her tea into the living room with two hands and sat on the couch, opposite of Vash.

She sipped at her tea, sometimes taking a small peek at the man to her left.

He did the same, and took tiny glances at the woman at his side, farther away than he would have liked.

The door opened, and Milly walked in. "Sempai! I'm home!" she called, but not completely aware of her surroundings.

Milly walked into the entryway and made her way to the kitchen. Passing through the living room, she took notice of the two sitting on the couch in silence, awaiting her arrival.

"Hi Sempai! Hi Vash!" She smiled, and proceeded to walk into the kitchen.

"Vash?!' She yelled, and darted back into the living room.

"Hey, Milly!"

"Sure.. use *her* name.." came a grumbling Meryl.

"Oh Vash! Meryl and I were so worried!" yelled Milly excitedly.

"Really now?" He looked at Meryl questioningly, and she turned her head so he couldn't see her face, which was rather red by this time.

Milly chuckled. "Yup! When we got home from work, I'd meet sempai here and we'd watch for you!"

He flashed a smile. "Thanks."

"So!" Milly exclaimed. "Why're you back, Mr. Vash?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like the two of you to come with me to my hotel room.."

"Why? You can stay here, you know that!" said Milly.

"Well, thanks, but Knives is there."

"..."

"My brother?"

"Oh yeah!"

Face faults on the parts of Vash and Meryl.

"He's alive. He's been unconscious for a few days, though."

"Milly, go start packing." The big girl did as she was told. "We're gonna grab some stuff.. who knows how long we'll be there before we can move Knives here?"

"Er.. the room isn't very big.. two beds, a couch.. Knives has one of the beds-"

"So you take the couch, Milly and I will share the bed," Meryl reasoned, and went upstairs to pack.

Vash stood in his spot, dumbfounded. He figured he better just let the girls do what they needed to do and not stand in their way.

'Especially not Meryl's way..' he thought. 'She'd hit meeee!' he whined in his head.

The gunman could hear the girls packing, the mad shuffling across the floor could be heard from anywhere in the nearly vacant house.

The two girls reappeared suddenly in front of him, a great distance of height between them.

"I forgot how short you were, Insurance Girl!" He placed a hand on her head, which was at least a good foot and a half shorter than his chin. He ruffled her hair lightly.

She froze. He had touched her; messed up her short hair. She tentatively looked up at him. He smiled and turned toward the door.

She just melted. His touch exhilarated her.. she couldn't stand straight up. She wobbled furiously as her legs turned to jello at the thought. He opened the door and walked into the twilight. His action seemed very Vash- ish. Just his good nature.

But in truth, it really wasn't. Well, that's sort of contradicting. Its his nature to everyone.. except her. She was special.

She was still standing there. Milly had passed her, two suitcases in tow. She immediately snapped back to reality when Milly called her name for them to get going.

She walked out to the car, and opened the door. Milly had taken a seat in the back, a suitcase on either side, providing nowhere for anyone else to sit in the back. Meryl took the driver's seat. It was their car. Vas, not wanting to say a word to anyone about seating arrangements, took the passengers seat.

Meryl pushed the key into the ignition. She turned it, and the engine roared to life. Her right foot slowly pushed the pedal to the floor, and the car began to run across the sands. She looked to her right and expected to see the gunman sitting down, glasses on, hair sticking straight up. But she didn't. She saw.. his backside?

"Vash!" she yelled. "Sit down!"

He turned his face to see the driver. "But Milly and I were talking!"

"Get over it! Talk without endangering your life." She had half a mind to smack his back, but decided against it. There was the possibility that she would miss his back.. and well.. hit somewhere else. '*That* wouldn't be good..' she thought.

She turned on the radio in attempt to avoid the goings on in the car. The song had just started, and Meryl knew it by heart.

She started after the first few lines, and belted out the lyrics. They were sung gorgeously.. very powerful, very strong.

"Queen of the night.. queen of the night, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeaahh!"

She got a few strange looks from her comrades.

"Don't make no difference if I'm wrong or I'm right..

I got a feeling and I'm willin' tonight

Well I ain't nobody's angel.. what can I say? I'm just that way!"

Vash looked at the singing/driving Meryl and was stunned to say the least. He had only heard her sing once, and that was softly, as if she barely wanted to be heard. This was a *completely* different side of her.

"I got the stuff that you want; I got the thing that you need

I got more than enough to make you drop to your knees cause I'm the

Queen of the Night! Queen of the night, oh yeah, oh yeah, just say it say it say it

Queen of the night, queen of the night, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeaaahh!"

Meryl smiled as she finished the first verse and chorus. She had accelerated the vehicle, and her short black hair was flying behind her. Her grey eyes had changed color to a deep, excited purple. She kept on singing.

"You got a problem with the way that I am?

They say I'm trouble and I don't give a damn!

Cause when I'm bad I know I'm better.. I just wanna get loose!

And turn it up for you!"

Vash, however, was still sitting in complete and utter awe at the woman sitting next to him and singing like there was no tomorrow. This had to be a Meryl nobody had ever seen before.. she had to be. It was a day for the recordbooks, to be sure.

Then he got an idea.

"I got the stuff that you want! I got the thing that you need!

I got more than enough to make you drop to your knees! Cause I'm the

Queen of the night! Queen of the night, oh yeah, oh yeah, just say it, say it again!

Case I'm the queen of the night! Queen of the night, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeumff-"

She was cut off by Vash's leather covered right hand, which had covered her mouth, and the only singing was that on the radio.

She reached up to remove the hand, and when she had it in her own, Vash separated his fingers and intertwined them with Meryl's. She still had one hand on the wheel, and the car started to veer off course. It was only a ten minute drive to the hotel, and you could see it in the distance on the horizon, a rather pathetic five story building.

Their fingers were still intertwined, her face crimson, his tinted a slight pink. The feel of the leather in between her small, delicate digits was almost sensuous, tickling the skin. She was so lost.

Vash squeezed her hand and brought it down back to the steering wheel and let go. He turned back forward.

"You've got a great voice," he said, "but I couldn't hear myself think!"

She lifted her hand and hit him behind the head.

"What was that for?" He rubbed the back of his blond head.

"What're you doing touching me?" She was tinted red, partially because of embarrassment, partially because she was mad. He had no right to make her feel that way and not know it. It wasn't fair, damn it.

He made her mad. He knew he was going to make her mad, but he wanted to do something. It was sheer hell. But it was nice while it lasted. Even through the leather glove, he could tell her hands were like satin. He wanted to know if her cheeks were the same.. her lips..

He had to stop.

She was driving down the dusty dirt road, the hotel within a minute of driving time.

"Okay, Milly, Vash, we're close," she announced, doing her best to shade her flushed cheeks. She didn't feel very good.. but she couldn't be sick. She wasn't allowed to be. It was against the rules.

~ ~ ~

They took the suitcases into the hotel, and Vash led them to the top floor via the stairs. Meryl was exhausted. She carried her bag up five fights, not that she didn't pack light; she was certainly good at that. She was tired beyond all belief, and was having a hard time staying awake. Se stopped at the last step, and sort of wobbled where she stood. Milly, who was behind her, took notice.

"Sempai? Are you okay?" she asked, suitcase in her right hand falling to the step.

Meryl fell. She closed her eyes, and her muscles stopped working. She fell on the floor with a loud thud. Her world went black.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dun dun dun! Yes. Fun stuff, ne?

This was a long chapter for me.. 8 pages, 12 point Times New Roman, if anyone cares. I've never even wrote a paper this long double spaced! Crazy stuff, ne? By the way, I also don't own the song up there. It's sung by Whitney Houston for the Bodyguard soundtrack.. all I know about it. Yes, well..

RSVP!

Merci.

~Roganu-chan, who was inspired out of procrastination