Welcome. Bwah. I AM SOO SORRY CHAPTER 7 WAS SUCH A FLOP! I meant for it to be good. But intentions didn't help. Damn. Ok, I meant for it to be really long with a whole lotta major plot points, but, ya know. :'( im so sorry I disappointed you!! Its raining hard, so I decided to stop the threatening reviews by actually updating. Tada.

Ah yes and to Xx Dragon Wings xX: I know what Vash and knives guns are, im a big gun fan. .45 long barrel custom done kick ass colts. I plan on getting one someday, along with 2 derringers just to feel them. I am a certified Expert Marksman (Markswoman :P) by the NRA. Scoring goes as follows:

Marksman:120/200

Sharpshooter:160/200

Expert:180/200

Vash would be a 200. you get to shoot 20 rounds at a target and its loads of fun. Im specially trained in small arms handling and shooting. But yeah. GYAH! Why would you guys care about this! You just wanted the update! sweatdrop gomen ne!

Live Journal Note: I have a live journal and I try to update every day. I changed my account name, its kawaiibabe so you know who I am. Heres the link: http:www.live if your lazy, the link is in my bio. I give sneak peeks to upcoming chapters and stories and maybe some behind the scenes junk. It's a great way to interact with another author, you can leave questions and comments. Thank you to all who replied!

Disclaimer: I kidnapped Yasuhiro Nightow. He is currently, erm., tied to my wall. I am inducing laughter by means of feather torture till he agrees to make a trigun movie. But so far, he still owns them.

Ps: you might wanna read chapter 7 again to get the idea, just so you know, or actually, why not me just summarize it for you before each chapter? I would love it if more authors would do this.

Previously on Tasting Gunpowder!

Milly and Meryl were at the showing, and Wolfwood and a certain gunman are stuck on the top of a bus because they're cheap! So yeah....

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Vash and Wolfwood clutched the bus for dear life as it rattled on for countless iles.

(A/N yes, I spelled it right. It's a measurement in japan. Im working on the translations for Iles, Yarz, and Feels.)

Once the bus lurched to a stop so the passengers could stretch their legs, Vash and Wolfwood jumped down, then thought that was a bad idea, and out a fear of being spotted, clambered up to the luggage rack.

"What have we gotten ourselves into needle-noggin?"

"NEEDLE NOGGIN!?!? Why you stupid no good-"

The passengers heard rustling coming from on top of the bus, and a brave young boy climbed up the ladder to find two grown men beating the crap out of each other.

"HOLY COW!" he yelped. Vash and Wolfwood stopped the smackdown.

"Shhh! SHHH! Quiet!" But their attempts to silence the boy were futile.

"AH THERES TWO PEOPLE UP HERE!"

"GYAH!" Wolfwood and Vash jumped of the bus and ran with the quickness. But they didn't get more then a few feet before keeling over out of fatigue. The red faced bus driver walked over and kicked Vash.

"What in teh hell are yous doing sneakin on mah BUS!!!!! He gave Wolfwood a kick too, and snatched the dusty priest up by the collar.

"Naw you listen, and you listen gewd. I wan' all the moneys you owe me for fares, raght now!"

As Vash was catching his breath from the mans kick, he silently prayed, 'Wolfwood, don't you dare get cocky, or else there no way in hell we will get to Scythe before he gets to those girls!' SCYTHE! THAT'S IT!

"Please mister," Vash croaked, "We need to find a man by the name of Scythe. Do you know where he is?"

"SCEETH? YOU WANNA FEEND SCEETH?"

"uh... hai...."

"Well... I guess there's no reason why I can't give a few dead mans a ride." He looked at Wolfwood one last time, and dropped his collar. Vash silently thanked Kami that nick decided not to get an attitude.

The now very dusty preacher stood up and smacked Vash over the head, anime style.

"GYAH! WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?!" Vash yelped in surprise.

"I was handling that situation JUST FINE but nOoOooo...." He turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving a very frazzled gunman behind.

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Meryl pressed her ear to the door, but to no avail. Only shouts and laughter could be discerned from the mumbling. Milly gave up on listening and slid down the door onto the mattress. She softly wept as the sound of magnets slamming up against doors started. It sounded like gunfire. There were so many. The perverts would take their names and highest bids to buy them and put them on a magnet, then put them on the door. When everyone left and the magnets were accounted for, the highest bid for each person would be logged, and the winner would be notified. (A/N kinda like a sick and twisted ebay huh?)

The magnet clanging ensued for about an hour, getting put on and being removed. Meryl and Milly hadn't heard anything on their doors yet, and they were feeling grateful. Milly sipped some leftover water from breakfast she had saved, and Meryl laid down to think.

'How the hell did we ever end up here of all places? Those boys had to be such samaritans, but then again, they wanted to help. I just hope they show up soon, Milly will be heartbroken if she never sees that dirty no good priest again..."

Meryl was abruptly pulled from her thoughts by a clang. It was close.

Milly was just laying there pushing a stone with her finger when she heard a clang on her door, followed by a few more. Meryl covered her ears with her hands to block out the wailing of her friend. Milly continued to howl and Meryl crawled to the back of her cell. She could do or say nothing to console her friend now. She was bought.

888 an hour later 888

Milly had exhausted herself from crying and fell asleep. Meryl stood up on her tiptoes and leaned against the door, peering out to see what was going on. Only a few men remained, talking with Scythe. Her eyes caught something new hanging on the wall, and she strained her eyes to see it. It was a whiteboard with something written on it, but she couldn't see because of the dirty peep hole glass. Meryl grabbed a rock and went to work at breaking the glass, only succeeding in scraping up the glass, making it totally impossible to see through it.

Patience was slipping from her, and she was growing angry. 'screep screep screep' the rock just scratched. She gave the glass a final jab and it broke through. She looked to see if anyone had noticed, and no one had. Her hours of laboring had paid off as she was able to see perfectly clear now. She turned her attentions back to the whiteboard.

A man stepped up to it and began to write on it, blocking Meryl's view. "Damn" she muttered. She slumped down and curled up on the cold, uninviting mattress. She let a few tears fall, which lead to a few more, until she was trying to keep the sobs in. Milly was going to be gone, Vash and Wolfwood were never going to find them in the slimy basement, and who knows how long she would be here. She had never, ever, heard of a person who escaped Scythe, and she never heard of him freeing anyone.

Milly silently sat up and curled in a tight ball. It was over. In a few weeks she would be in the clutches of another man, cursed to spend the rest of her days serving a master. She smacked a stone against her mattress. It provided some stress relief for her so she hit it again. And again. she pretended it was Scythes face and smacked it again. finally she got so mad she threw it hard up against the wall, and to her surprise a shower of sparks rained down on her. It gave her hope, watching the tiny fireballs float down. She entertained herself with this, throwing the rock, bashing 'Scythes' face, and trying to see if more sparks could fly.

"Milly, what in gods name are you doing?"

"Having some fun sempai." She said angrily at the wall, chucking the rock again.

'Only Milly could make fun with a rock after hearing news like that...'

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Meryl yawned and stretched. The fluorescent light reemed and fuzzed, casting an eerie shadow on their already hellish accommodations. Milly had fallen asleep, and everyone was quite. She guessed it was late at night. Remembering her conquest, Meryl stood up and teetered on the edge of her mattress, trying to see what was on the whiteboard. Schedulings. Names of the girls, the time and dates, and who had bought them were all written up there. The girls that weren't bought were 'loaned' out, with only one rule. They could not break their virgin barrier. The first time a date was on the list was two weeks from now.

Meryl looked down the list. She was about a quarter way through and she had already seen her name three times. She slid down the door quietly and cried. What were the odds that Vash and Wolfwood would get here in 2 weeks? They didn't have money for a steamer, and bus fares for so long would rack up in the hundreds.

Right now, She thought it was hopeless.

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ok guys sorry that sucked, I meant for it to be much longer and more powerful. Im working on it... sorry again. Review please! And check out my live journal, sneak peaks, updating heads ups, and more. Link is in my bio. To lazy to proofread. So please, please, please, review. I need the encouragement right now.