Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, don't sue me. And don't use any of these characters, most of them aren't mine, and if they find out you've used them, I'll help them kick your ass. With that said, enjoy what little you can. (sorry for the hostility, it's about time for my medicine again…)

Skittles and a Broom Closet

Chapter One: It's been a long time.

The suns shone over the little bar in the middle of a vast sand stricken ocean. There was no sign of movement other than the distant figure of a person walking towards the bar. As she walked closer to her destination, she could see the familiar faces of Sakura and Jinkaku talking and laughing together. It had been a long time since she had seen anything like that. A very long time…

"I'll take one of the cheapest thing you got Miss," her raspy voice sounded as she opened the door.

"Sure thing stranger," Sakura said in her usual overly-cheerful voice. As she watched her long time friend set down her bag and take off her worn-out brown coat and leather cowboy hat to reveal her slender, yet full body covered with worn jeans, a tight, black halter top, and some black boots.

"So what brings wandering Megumi to a place out in the middle of nothing to do?" Jinkaku sarcastically asked.

"I heard the beer was cheap and cold," Megumi retorted with a smile.

Sakura slid the beer down the bar and the three of them began to talk about what had happened over the past couple years. They laughed and joked about how they hadn't changed. For example, Sakura still wore the same old short skirts and tight shirts, and still went out with Vash. Vaun, their son, had grown up, however, and looked like Vash's "mini-me", which scared Megumi quite a bit. Jinkaku was just a sarcastic as ever. She still had Wolfwood tied around her finger, begging for the touch of her Supermodel fingers, ( cough::shewishes::cough:: ) and physically she hadn't hardly aged. She could still fit in those skimpy outfits better than anyone else in the area. (she was also the only one who could afford them)

Everyone was happy until Sakura asked about Megumi's brother. She got real silent and detached. She stared at the wall as she blankly explained how her brother's daughter and wife were murdered by some maniac who went around killing people while he was laughing. Then he wrote his name on the wall in their blood. KNIVES "The worst part is," Megumi quietly murmured, "I saw the whole thing. It was like I was paralyzed or something. I didn't feel anything, and I couldn't move anything. I wanted to help, but I couldn't. And after it was all over, I fainted. I've never really been scared or unable to help anyone in my entire life, but I couldn't save someone who was right in front of me. I woke up to find Chris over Rachel and Nicole's dead bodies. He didn't cry; it was like he was to hurt to cry. When I touched him, all he could do was sob in my shoulder, and all I could do was let him…" The tears formed in her eyes as she went on to describe how she had to burry the bodies. Twenty people had died. She helped dig twenty graves. She attended twenty funerals. Then Chris disappeared, and she went looking for him. She needed a break, so she came to a little bar in the middle of nothing. Hopefully, that was what she could expect to happen, nothing. It's been a year and a half since her brother went away. Maybe some things, or people, aren't meant to be found.

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Vash and Wolfwood came over at four and the laughter started up again; mainly the same old sarcastic jokes Jinkaku and Megumi made about something stupid one, or both, of them attempted to do. Six-o-clock rolled around and everyone was demanding some sort of food so that they could survive. Sakura, as usual, was volunteered to do it. She said it would be about and hour till dinner was done, so Megumi announced that she was going for a walk, and left. No one tried to stop her, she had a lot of things to think about on her own and nobody wanted to cloud her mind up. When she left, they explained to all parties who had been absent *cough* *cough* why Megumi had been gone for so long this time around. She didn't know what everything meant, but they had a personal account with it. They couldn't tell her about it of course… It would crush her that Knives was Vash's brother, and was now safely locked away in an impenetrable penitentiary where he was stripped completely of anything he could use to harm anyone, so her brother's quest was utterly for nothing. No… they would just keep it a secret for now.

Megumi walked out of the bar. She figured the guys, with no clue of what had happened whatsoever, needed to be filled in with all the detail sooner or later, and she didn't want to be there when it happened. She walked to a small mountain with a visibly protruding cliff. It was seemingly deserted to someone's non-expecting fist glance, but she knew better. She proceeded up the steep and narrow pathway with barely an upward glance. He was there, she could feel him; it was like he'd been calling to her ever since she walked out of the bar. When she reached the top, she looked around for a brief moment at the bare, dead desert land that surrounded everything on this godforsaken planet. "I know you're here," she called into nothing.

"I figured you would. You should be used to this by now," a dark voice answered masked by the night.

"Yeah. So what do you want anyways?" she said, seemingly annoyed.

"You know what I want," he menacingly answered.

"This is hopeless, I might as well go back now," she said turning around.

"Wait," said the man as he gently grabbed her arm. It was hopeless, it really was, but there was something in her

desperation that he wanted. Sure, at first he was using her for his own mindless pleasure, but she grew on him and she tried desperately to push farther and farther away from his deadly grasp. "It's not hopeless and you know it's not."

"I say it is, and I know it is," she retorted staring at his vast desert filled eyes.

"Don't walk away from me yet," he retorted, his voice sounding unsure.

"Or what Legato? You'll do what?"

"If you walk away from me, you know that you'd put them in danger."

"What do you want from me then?"

"I want you to stop resisting me."

"Fine, now what do you want?"

"Don't act like that, it's not you."

"And how would you know?"

"Meg…" That was the last thing that was said for a long time. Megumi's gaze wondered over to the lights that alluded from the bar. It was the only sign of life for a long distance. It was the only sign of happiness for an even longer distance…

He continued to stare at her. He knew she wouldn't let anything happen to them. It had been such a long time since she smiled. But he couldn't think about that. No one could cross him. Even if he had to kill every last one of them, including the kid, right in front of her eyes to make sure she finished what she started.

Megumi set out a sigh, "OK… When do you want me to leave?"

"I don't know yet. I'll make sure you know when I make my decision though. Are you really that much against me?"

"Not you, Him. I have to go now, bye."

"Bye."

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Damn him. Megumi thought as she walked back to the bar. She wasn't hungry anymore. She knew she was working for the man who killed her niece and sister-in-law. She played everything in her mind over and over again. How did she manage to get herself suckered into it? That didn't matter now. What mattered was getting as detached and far away as she could. But she had to come to the bar for a reason. She had a job, and if she wanted them safe, he needed to die. She knew too much for his own good anyways. It was time something happened.

"Why are you here?" a local with spiked multi-colored hair called.

"Because I can be. Isn't it passed your bed time youngin'?" she replied.

"Shut up."

"Aww…. Did I huwt wittle Toshie's feewings?"

"Shut up."

Giggling she replied, "Come on squirt, I'll walk you home."

"Quit talking to me like I'm a little kid, I'm the same age as you."

"Not according to I.Q. or maturity status."

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