Disclaimer: [See all other disclaimers in the universe.]
Author's Notes: Well, it seems Something Right is on its feet and on a roll now. I'm actually getting a lot of reviews, woohoo for me!
Bundles of thankies (yeah, they're like hankies, but different) to:
"A Trigun Fan", EmpressGalaxia, Dark Phoenix, Ice-Angel, Trigger Millions, Jasminegurl, Alucard, Molly-chan the Anime/Game Fan, Midori, AmoebaFive, Angel's Wing, Meggie, Ladybugg, and Moon Sunflower 89!
Keep up those reviews!
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Milly excused herself to go to the bathroom soon after we had had our little conversation.
An awkward silence pervaded the air as Vash finished his meal and didn't resume his normal pointless chattering (A/N *Laughs her ass off*). I cleared my throat lightly and wondered if maybe he had heard what we had said. He was gazing off distantly at a place slightly over my head, propping his head up with his folded hands, his elbows resting on the table.
"Something up, Vash?" I asked him. His face didn't change, as if he hadn't heard my question at all. "Earth to Vash…" I said lightly but pointedly.
"Wha…?" He jumped back to reality and stared at me as if I had just ridden into the restaurant on a unicycle, juggling bowling pins and playing "Hail to the Chief" on the kazoo. "Did you say something?"
"Oh, God, just don't bother," I sighed and rested my chin in my hand. "This has developed into a real eventful evening…"
He looked at me with a sort of concerned nervousness. "You mean you don't like it? Is something wrong?"
I laughed slightly and smiled at him, feeling a little giddy over the amount of importance he seemed to place on making me happy. Staring into his aqua eyes for this long was making me feel like I was drowning…I wasn't completely sure that any oxygen was reaching my brain at all. At that moment, I truly felt like tackling him, kissing him senseless, and professing my undying love, but the words that came out of my mouth were:
"Uh…no, Vash. I think that other than watching you stuff your face for half an hour, the evening was really nice." Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! I mentally smacked myself.
"Oh," He looked sort of crestfallen for a few moments, and I thought for a moment that he had just interpreted my scathing comment as teasing, but when he looked up I saw true hurt in his eyes. "I am really that repulsive, Meryl?"
"No, Vash, you're not repulsive at all." I pulled my chair around to the other side of the table, next to him, causing a racket that drew the angry glares of people all around us. For once, I disregarded what others thought of me, eager to make amends for the idiotic things that had spouted out of my mouth. But once I got there, and was sitting directly next to him, staring into his slightly tearful eyes again, I hadn't the slightest idea what to say.
I looked down to where my hands sat on my lap, slowly entwining themselves nervously into the fabric of my dress. "I didn't mean to…I mean that what I meant was…well, when I…" I felt like a stammering idiot. I ran my tongue over my dry lips.
I must've jumped about a foot when I felt Vash's hand come to rest on my shoulder. I looked up and saw him smiling at me.
"Meryl, will you dance with me?"
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I really don't know exactly why I asked her to dance, but it really did seem like the right thing to do at the time.
She sat there in her chair, looking about ready to rip her dress to shreds, stammering and searching for her usual eloquence, and looking about as beautiful as anything I'd ever seen before, and I wanted to dance with her.
Now this may seem kind of shallow, but from the top, Meryl looked a hell of a lot like I remembered Rem to look. I've had fantasies all of my adult life about what it would've been like if I'd know Rem as an adult. If we'd been more than just teacher and admiring pupil. One of the things I'd always imagined us doing was ballroom dancing. It's true. I suppose it's just another romantic notion of mine, but I had a sudden urge to dance with Meryl just like I'd danced with Rem in my dreams.
She looked so shocked when she looked up at me that I was tempted to laugh aloud, but I knew that would pretty much lose me my chance at dancing with her, and earn me a big hand-shaped mark on my cheek.
"Er, uh…sure," She stuttered, accepting my out held hand and standing up. She made it about two feet, before her long black dress got caught up in her high spike heels and she tripped. I lunged forward and caught her easily, but then found myself in the awkward position of having one arm wrapped around her waist and my entire front side pressed flush up against her back. In that split second, I was entirely aware of every curve on her entire body, until we both abruptly jumped a few feet away from each other in embarrassment.
We both apologized to each other immediately, though I really had no idea what I was apologizing for, and I didn't think Meryl did either.
There was another uncomfortable silence for a few moments, until we both glanced at each other and cracked up.
After we both recovered from our fits of laughter (which had drawn the glares of many of the restaurant's other patrons) I took her hand again and we both walked onto the dance floor.
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"I didn't realize you could dance," I commented to Vash as he swept me along on the dance floor, moving steadily to the slow beat of the music.
"I bet there's a lot of stuff you don't know about me," He smiled slightly, twirling me gracefully and then pulling me back to him.
I laughed slightly and rested my head on his shoulder, inhaling the smell of the cologne Milly had bought for him. God, I loved him. The feel of his arms surrounding me, his unshakeable yet gentle strength. I even loved it when he teased me; though I would be loathe to admit it.
"You know Vash," I said slowly. "Milly and I were both really scared when you left…I mean, after the Fifth Moon incident. We thought we would never see you again. We thought you were dead."
I felt Vash tense, but I continued.
"I waited for two years for you to give us a sign that you were still alive…a letter…a postcard. It wouldn't have taken much."
"I didn't think you wanted to see me again," He said softly. "I thought it would be better if I just…disappeared."
"We cared about you, Vash," I said softly, my voice quickly losing volume. "I cared about you."
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I stopped dancing.
"Meryl, I never would want to hurt you, ever."
"You did a damn good job of it."
I didn't really know what to say. My chest felt tight and I was finding it hard to breathe properly.
"Vash, I have to tell you something."
I stopped breathing altogether.
"Vash, I—"
Before I knew what was happening, my world flipped upside-down. Something exploded, and Meryl was thrown away from me. I heard screams, and a booming, crashing noise. Debris was flung through the air and in horror, I smelled human flesh burning. With a shove born of shock and fury, I through the debris piled on me aside and jumped up, searching for the cause of the explosion. I was quickly rewarded.
Silhouetted by the flames, a figure stood, laughing malevolently.
"Having a good time, brother?" Knives asked, smiling at me sadistically and hoisting an unconscious Meryl up by the hair. "Or was I interrupting something?"
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