Ohayou, My Dear Chapter 0021, a trigun fanfic

Trigun Fanfic

The following fanfiction was written by me (Chiruken) and is intended for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

--Ohayou, My Dear—

Trigun Fanfic Featuring Vash and Meryl. "Pervert!" "Wh-what are you doing in my bed?" "Put some clothes on for God's sake!"

By Chiruken

Chapter 21

**~**

    Meryl sighed and leaned back in her chair. "So, Knives…what now?"

    He looked up slowly and shrugged, wincing when his injured arm protested the movement. "Now we wait."

    "Wait? Wait for what?" She turned her head to look at him curiously.

    "For Vash, of course. It shouldn't take too much longer for him to catch up." He reached for his glass of water. "Have you given any thought to what you're going to say to him?"

    Meryl could feel her face heating with embarrassment. "Well…not really." She finally admitted softly.

    He rolled his eyes and set the glass back on the table with a sharp click. "I don't know what that idiot sees in you." He met her glare impassively. "Just admit how you feel and be done with it. I have better things to do with my time than babysit, Meryl."

    "I never asked…"

    "No, you didn't. Millie did. I told her she should just stay out of it, but of course she didn't listen." He leaned back in his chair and glared across the table at her. "I suggest you get your act together and fast. Humans have a finite lifespan and I don't understand why you insist on wasting what time you have."

    Meryl did a double take and blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

    "Vash is one hundred and thirty-five years old, Meryl. I have no idea what the lifespan of our kind is, but I do know that a human can only hope to live seventy to eighty years. You can have what? Forty, fifty years with him and be happy or you can waste the rest of your life being alone and regretting. It is up to you, but I would suggest you rethink that option." He watched as her expression turned thoughtful. "It isn't that hard to say, Meryl." He said gently and leaned forward, resting his uninjured arm on the table. "What are you afraid of?"

    It suddenly occurred to her that the man sitting across from her was a very different man from the one she'd known four years before. Gone was the angry, bitter hate that had consumed him for so long. She smiled and shook her head. **He really has changed. Vash will be so happy…** With a soft sigh she rested her head on her arms folded on the table. "Yes, Knives, I **am** afraid. I'm afraid that Vash doesn't feel the same way about me and I'm afraid that he'll just continue chasing every woman he sees. I don't think I could accept that kind of life, no matter how much I love him."

    "And so you're wiling to throw away the possibility of a happy future just because you're afraid?" He snorted disdainfully. "I thought you were made of sterner stuff than that, Meryl Stryfe. What happened to the woman who followed Vash the Stampede across the desert with a total disregard for her own safety? What happened to the woman who stood up to a sociopathic homicidal maniac hell bent on the complete and total destruction of the entire human race without batting an eye?" He stood abruptly and slammed his hands down on the table as he leaned forward to glare down at her. "Damn it, woman! Get your head out of your ass and stop hiding behind silly insecurities that mean absolutely nothing! Stop running away from the truth!"

    Meryl jumped to her feet and met him glare for glare almost nose to nose with him. "I'm not running away from anything you egotistical moron! **You** kidnapped **me**, remember?" She shouted as she poked a finger into his chest. "Everything was going fine until you showed up!"

    "Is that what you call it? I read that damn letter, woman. You were quitting, running away with your tail tucked between your legs like the coward you really are. Did you ever stop to think, even once, what your leaving would do to Vash?" He jabbed a finger into her shoulder for emphasis, blue eyes glittering with rising anger. "It would just cement his opinion that everyone he ever cared about abandoned him, you half wit!"

    "I never abandoned him! And what right do you have reading my personal correspondence?!"

    "I have every right when it comes to my brother!" He paused to draw in a deep breath to continue berating her for her blatant stupidity when the silence in the room caught his attention. He closed his mouth, looked at the woman squaring off against him and saw the same realization reflected in her wide grey eyes and as one they each looked around the silent room. "Uh…" He backed away and slowly returned to his chair a faint flush of embarrassment creeping into his face.

    Meryl laughed nervously and flashed an embarrassed grin at the crowd staring at them. "Oh boy…" She sat slowly and cast one last glare at the man sitting across from her. "You and your big mouth." She muttered crossly as she folded her arms across her chest and slumped in her chair.

    "My big mouth? You were the one making a scene, woman." He hissed angrily as he mirrored her stance.

    "I wasn't alone, you know. You were right there with me the whole time, Knives."

    "Oh shut up." He muttered and closed his eyes to block out the staring crowd as they slowly went back to their own conversations.

~*~