This chapter and the next two are going to be used to draw the character's closer together. I know they're close, but I want to bring them all to a certain point. So on with the chapters.

Part 4: Hold Me

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Stressed Words

Dreams or Flashbacks

Meryl could hear the Milly and Wolfwood come into the house. Knives bathroom break ended about two days ago. Milly was beginning to worry every since she met that boy in the library. Meryl had not once come out of her room. Vash had to sleep in the bedroom with a disgruntled Knives. Vash had threatened to come in and get her, but Meryl said she'd castrate him. Knives banged on the door and threatened to come in, Meryl growled at him, which caused him to walk away. Milly had lightly tapped on the door and pressed her ear to the door.

"What do you want Milly?" Meryl asked as she stared at the closed door.

"Meryl, why aren't you coming out?" Milly softly asked.

"I can't," Meryl said.

"Why not Meryl?" Milly asked as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't cry Milly, please don't cry," Meryl begged as she held back her own tears.

"Why don't you come out? Did I do bad?" Milly asked as she sniffed. Meryl gasped as she finally threw open the door and pulled Milly inside the room.

"You did nothing wrong Milly," Meryl assured as she looked into Milly's eyes.

"Then why?" Milly simply asked again.

"Look at my eyes and tell me what you see," Meryl said as she gazed into Milly's eyes. Milly stared into Meryl's eyes with a determined look on her face. Her face eased up and then went back to a determined set. Milly then gasped and smiled. She closed her eyes and pointed up at the ceiling.

"Do you have pink eye?" Milly asked. Meryl smacked herself in the face and sighed in hopelessness.

"Look at my pupils," Meryl said.

"What about them?" Milly asked.

"They've changed," Meryl hissed since she heard footsteps stop at her door.

"Nobody will notice," Milly tried to convince.

"You know Vash though ... he acts like an idiot, but he's aware," Meryl dejectedly said.

"Don't give up Meryl," Milly said with a determined look on her face.

The door opened to reveal a smoking Wolfwood looking down on them. Meryl growled and was about grab the cancer stick, but Milly had already dragged him out of the house by the ear. Meryl smiled and was about to stand up and stretch her tail when Vash walked into the room. He smiled nervously and waived to her before he sat next to her. His hands were behind his back as he leaned.

"Are you okay?" Vash asked. Her tail twitched nervously from underneath the blanket she had it covered.

"I'm fine," Meryl whispered back to him.

"I doubt that," he said as he sat up and hugged her to him. She gasped knowing that her tail was now free. She did the only thing that came to mind. She pushed Vash onto his back and lay on top of him. His eyes widened and he sucked in his breath when he gazed into her eyes. He now saw that something changed inside of her. He didn't know what, but he planned to find out.

"Vash," Meryl whispered as she lowered her mouth to his ear, "I need you to stay still."

"Why?" He weakly asked as he wrapped his arms around her. She softly started to purr when she was in the warmth of his arms.

She laid her head against his shoulder and smiled when she smelt his excitement. He sighed and turned his head so his cheek was on to of her head. Meryl sighed knowing that this would end soon enough, it wasn't a matter that she concerned herself with. Her tail became agitated and began to travel north. Her tail began to rub itself against the side of his hand. When it received no response or attention it decided to go south. Her tail was now gently flickering against his bare feet. He began to chuckle and Meryl raised her head in question.

"What's so funny?" Meryl asked as she leaned up.

"Something's tickling my feet," Vash said as he began to laugh. Meryl looked back and almost fainted when she saw her tail wrapped around his foot. She grabbed her tail and tucked it into her pants.

"Kuroneko was by your feet," Meryl said with a nervous tone.

"Are you sure? It felt like a tail," he said making her laugh nervously and rub the back of her neck.

"It was definitely that weird black cat," She assured. Meryl stood up and stretched making sure to keep her back away from him.

"Milly got the liquor out again, do you want to join us?" Vash asked.

"You know I don't like to drink," Meryl said. Vash grabbed her wrist and put a determined face on.

"I'm not letting you go till you come," Vash determinedly said.

"I'll drink and play cards with you some other time," Meryl said.

"Promise?" Vash asked.

"Promise," Meryl assured as he let her go. His eyes lit up and he tightly hugged her like she was his lifeline. He then ran off and down the stairs before she could punch him. Meryl sighed and pushed her hair back.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Meryl asked as they stopped in the middle of the desert. Wolfwood took one long drag on his cigarette and then put it out.

"Today we're going to work on your reflexes and your focus," Wolfwood said as pulled out a gun and fired at her. She dodged the bullet and then cussed.

"What the hell?" Meryl yelled as she began change. Her cussing soon turned to hissing and she was now staring at him like he was brunch.

"You are to dodge the bullets and disarm me," Wolfwood simply said. Meryl raised an eyebrow and snickered.

"Just remove the gun without injuring me," Wolfwood said.

He swore he could hear her cuss at the thought. So the night's practice began and Meryl rolled her eyes and she shifted into her full cat form. She lost all her human features, but she still had her mind. She followed the barrel of the gun and watched as the bullet came flying out towards her. She dodged the bullets again waiting for him to fire the last one. She followed the projection and the barrel was now empty. She quickly charged him and wrapped her jaws around his wrist making him drop the gun.

Wolfwood pulled out another gun and she crushed it underneath her paw and gave him a cocky look. She transformed into a more humanoid body and smirked.

"You could have just taken the gun," Wolfwood said.

"You said disarm," Meryl replied.

"Whatever," Wolfwood said as he lit up again.

Sorry this chapter is short, but the next two will also be short. Then the chapters will be getting pretty sharp. Please review.