Naoko: Yo, yo!

Sakura: We are writing another story!

Naoko: What does this make the count... 8?

Sakura: We are literary geniouses!

Naoko: coughs and thinks of authors who have written more than that

Sakura: Anyways, this is our first Trigun romance story!

Naoko: Not really....

Sakura: .

Kuri-chan: If you believe they own it, I have a bridge to sell you!

P.S.!! This world is not set in Gunsmoke, even though the currency is double dollars!!

Meryl walked into the apartment she shared with her colleague, Mille. "I'm exhausted," she said and leaned against the door as soon as it was closed.

"Aren't you excited?" Mille's voice floated out from another room.

"About what?" Meryl asked.

"About the Christmas party!" Mille stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a long, form fitting buttercup yellow dress. "It's today!"

"The holiday is two weeks away! I don't see why this 'Mr. Stampede' must hold one this early..."

"It is so that everyone that leaves town for the holidays can still attend the party," Millie answered.

Meryl slid onto the floor. "Do I have to go?"

"I would like you to," Millie said.

Meryl looked out of the window. It was snowing and very cold, and Meryl had been looking forward to curling up on her bed with some hot chocolate and brownies and escaping the dreariness of life, work, and maybe taking a hot bath. "Alright," she said. "I'll go." She got up slowly.

"Don't be so glum!" Mille said. "You still have the time to take a hot shower!"

Meryl nodded and walked into her room. "What should I wear?" she murmured. She walked over to her closet and opened it. "I guess this will do.' She said and pulled out the first nice dress she could see. It was a royal blue dress that ended at mid thigh. She pulled out nylons and her favorite three-inch pumps and walked into the bathroom. When she was done showering and dressing she let Millie do her hair.

"I think we are ready to go," Meryl said after Millie was done doing her hair. She examined herself in the mirror. Millie handed her a black leather trenchcoat as they walked out of the bathroom and put her own tan one on. "I called a taxi," she said. "It's here now."

Meryl nodded.

"Cheer up, sempai!" Millie said. "There will be lots of food there, and all of our friends said they were coming."

"So will Hornfreak..." Meryl grimaced. She had gone out with him for about a month. He was a bastard, so she had broken up with him, but he still bothered her about it. She pushed him out of her mind, however, and grinned. "Hey, I'll bet Nick Wolfwood will be there!"

Millie blushed. The two had met when she had bought what some people would consider a life time's supply of pudding and couldn't carry it all to her car. Wolfwood had noticed her when she was tottering out of the supermarket, burdened with at least ten shopping bags, and rushed to her rescue.

"Yeah," Millie said. "He told me he was friends with Vash Stampede."

"Let's hope that he isn't a womanizer too, then" Meryl said crisply. "He probably held this party to find a new girlfriend and someone he can cheat on her with."

"Well, then, you had better hope neither of them are you!" Millie said cheerfully.

Meryl suddenly wished she had worn a longer dress.

The two got into the taxi and sat in silence the entire way to Mr. Stampede's house. It was only six blocks away, Meryl noticed. She was surprised, but, then again, she never had known where Mr. Stampede lived. Upon arrving, they noticed, first of all, that the house was closer to a mansion. Secondly, it was lavishly decorated with lights and wreaths.

"I'm not sure I want to go in there, Millie," Meryl said wearily.

"It's ok, Sempai," Millie replied and patted her on the back. She reached out and rang the doorbell.

The two women waited patiently, but noone answered. Millie rang the doorbell again and still, noone answered. Meryl rolled her eyes and knocked on the door. It slid open and the two women stuck their heads in.

"Hello?" Meryl called out.

"Come in!" A voice called from another room.

Meryl and Millie entered and hung their coats on a coat rack by the door. They could hear music and chatter, which grew louder once they walked along the almost empty hall and turned the corner.

People were standing everywhere, chatting animatedly and snacking on finger foods. A blonde-haired man and a black-haired man were sitting on a couch at the other end of the room, talking quietly. Meryl tugged on the edge of her skirt as a wave of self-consciousness passed over her.

"Ah!" The black-haired man stood up. "There is the queen of pudding!"

Millie, who had been looking around the room, turned to him. "Mr. Wolfwood! Hello!"

Mr. Wolfwood grinned at her. "Just call me Wolfwood," he said.

Mr. Stampede appeared behind Wolfwood. "So, this is the lady I hear so much about!"

Meryl noticed with distaste that he was very handsome.

"May I ask who this is?" Mr. Stampede said, indicating Meryl.

"Meryl Stryfe," Millie said. "My coworker and best friend."

"Wonderful to meet you," Wolfwood said.

Meryl smiled in reply.

Wolfwood and Millie began to talk about food.

Mr. Stampede sided over to Meryl. "Hello, may I call you Meryl?" he asked.

Meryl winced inwardly and nodded to him. "Can I call you Vash?" she asked.

He nodded. "Of course!" He smiled brightly. "So, what do you do for a living?"

"I work for an insurance agency," Meryl told him.

"How fun!" Vash said brightly.

"Not really..." Meryl said. "It's hard work and a lot of extra hours. What do you do?"

"I search for the mayfly of peace and love," Vash said dreamily.

Meryl stared at him. "So, you don't work?"

Vash looked put-out. "No, I'm a lawyer. A family lawyer."

"Oh," Meryl responded. She did not say anything else.

"You don't like lawyers?" Vash asked.

"It's not that," Meryl said. "It's just that there was nothing else to say."

"It was nice talking to you," Vash said, "But I must go and talk to some of the other guests." Vash's eyes were already traveling over to a beautiful young woman, who Meryl recognized as the girl who lived across the hall. Her name was Elizabeth. Meryl snorted in disgust as Vash floated over to her.

Meryl sighed and looked around the room. She discovered the buffet table and walked over to get some punch.

"You look lovely tonight," a voice murmured in her ear.

Meryl jumped. "Go away, Hornfreak," she said.

Midvalley Hornfreak came into view. He was wearing a dark purple suit with a yellow tie. "Why should I?" he asked.

"Because I don't want you to be anywhere near me," Meryl responded and picked up her cup.

"That's no fun," Hornfreak put his hand on her shoulder.

"Midvalley......." Meryl cautioned through clenched teeth.

Hornfreak's hand slowly traveled down towards her chest.

Meryl stepped out from under his hand, socked him in the mouth, and poured her punch over his shirt. "So long, Hornfreak," she said and walked away. She went halfway across the room before she realized that she was shaking and that a large amount of people were staring at her.

"Sempai?" Millie hurried over. "Is everything ok?"

Meryl nodded. "Yeah," she said and smiled.

"Do you want to leave?" Millie sounded worried.

"No, I can tell you are having fun. I'll just have you protect me," Meryl gave her a wry smile. Suddenly, she was glad that her mother had forced her to take martial arts as a child.

Millie brought Meryl over to Wolfwood and Vash, who had joined the two.

"Ya alright?" Wolfwood asked.

Meryl nodded briskly.

Millie launched into an explanation of the situation to Wolfwood and Vash.

"Wow," Vash said and winked at her. "You should go out with me and see how a real man treats his girlfriend."

Meryl's eye twitched.

"I don't think she likes that idea," Wolfwood said.

Millie, Wolfwood, and Vash burst out laughing. Meryl joined in after a bit.

The rest of the evening was rather enjoyable. Wolfwood and Vash stayed with them the whole time, and Meryl could not deide whether or not it was because of the incident with Hornfreak earilier, or, if they actually wanted to. The more time Meryl spent with Vash, she began to understand why some women were crazy about him. However, most of his act did not impress her. He was too....... Stupid.

It was three o'clock in the morning before people started to clear out. Meryl had been ready to leave several hours earlier, but she could tell Millie was having fun so she stayed and was on her best behavior.

Meryl was sitting in an easy chair, listening to Millie and Wolfwood laugh over some trivial issue. She had stopped listening a while ago and was trying not to fall asleep from exhaustion.

"Can I talk to you for a bit?" Vash appeared behind her.

Meryl started and almost fell out of her chair. "Sure," she said.

Vash's eyes laughed at her. "You are a bit jumpy, aren't you?"

"You have to be when you are my size," Meryl returned.

Vash pulled her aside. "That guy isn't giving you any serious trouble, is he?" he asked.

Meryl shook her head. "Nothing I can't handle," she said.

"Well, if he does, call me, alright? I know some people who can take care of him."

Meryl highly doubted it would escalate into anything else, but she agreed.

"You know, I was serious ealier," Vash told her.

Meryl looked up at him, confused. "About what?"

"Going out."

Meryl shook her head. "No."

"Are you sure?" Vash looked hurt.

Meryl patted him on the arm gently. "I'm not your kind of girl," she said.

"Meryl!" Millie said from the couch. "We need to go home! We will be late for work tomorrow! Or today..." she giggled.

Meryl gave Vash an apologetic smile, then turned to her friend. "We don't have to go to work tomorrow. Boss gave us time off until after Christmas because of how well we did out last job."

Some weirdo named Legato Bluesummers was involved in a very strange case. It had started out with damaged property, which resulted in Millie and Meryl investigatin the case. However, it had escalated into fraud, smuggling, and a large amount of dead people. Millie and Meryl had also fattened their bank account quite a bit by the end of it all.

"Oh yeah!" Millie giggled again. "Well, we need to go home anyways."

Meryl nodded.

Millie said goodbye to Wolfwood, who stood up to walk Millie to the door. To Meryl's discomfort, Vash insisted in walking her to the door also.

"Keep my offer in mind," was Vash's goodbye to her, and the party was finally over.

"Ohhh, that was so much fun!" Millie said, holding onto Meryl while she signaled a taxi.

"What did Mr. Vash mean by that?" Millie asked her on the way home.

"Nothing," Meryl said.

Millie did not press the matter.

Naoko: WOO HOO! First chapter is done!

Sakura: Yay!

Naoko: Poor little Vashy-poo

Kuri-chan: Poor me.

Sakura: You know what? I'm in the mood for roasted cat tonight!

Kuri-chan: =O.O=