A/N: Yay! I made it to chapter 3! A lot of starts happening in this chapter. You learn a bit more about Karen and we get the first appearance of the story's villain. This chapter starts off in a dream, so the first part will be in italics.
Chapter 3:Groceries and Gunshots
"She really went through with it huh?", asked a girl in pinstripes to one of her friends. "Yup, Miss Anizaka went with Project SEEDS. She's in a cold sleep now." The girl in pinstripes shook her head. "I never figured she wanted to live in space so much." She looked up at the sky. "Give me a few more years here." Her friend looked at her. "What about those gates? We may not be here in a few years."
A few months later
The girl was with her friend again. "What do you mean she wants to leave Jazz?" The girl's friend turned her head, her brown curls flinging out. "My mom wants to be the first one through that gate. She hates it here on earth." "Then why are you going with her?!" The girl almost started to cry when something caught her attention. "Jazz, what is that?" CRASH!
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Karen sprung up and started breathing hard. Her hair flew by her face and her crystal eyes were big. "That dream again..." She looked over at Milly. She was sound asleep. Karen sighed and plopped her head down on her pillow. "I hate my death."
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Karen made her way down the hall. She could smell food in the kitchen. She poked her head in. "Good morning, Miss Karen.", said Milly happily, "Did you sleep well?" Karen stuck her hands in her pockets. "More or less, yeah." Meryl looked over at her. "You better sit down, breakfast is almost ready." Karen made her way to the table. "Is Vash not up yet?" Meryl took the bacon out of the pan. "I guess not. Can you go wake him up?" Karen stood back up and made her way back down the hall. She came to Vash's room and opened the door. Half of him was in the bed, the other half was in the floor. She kneeled down next to his head and bent her head down close to his ear. "Needle noggin.", she whispered gently into his ear. He twitched a bit.
"Needle noggin!"
There was a slight groan, but he still didn't wake up.
"NEEDLE NOGGIN!"
Vash jolted up and ended up fully in the floor. "Good morning Karen." Karen smiled. "You're up now. Breakfast is ready." She stood up and left the room. Vash was still on the floor. "Why did she call me needle noggin?"
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Everyone had finished breakfast. "Wow, Meryl.", said Vash, "That was good." Meryl smiled. "Well, Milly helped. Thank her too." Milly held up her hands. "It was nothing. Did you enjoy breakfast, Miss Karen?" Karen nodded. "First time in a while I've had a good breakfast." Milly looked at her. "Don't they have good food in Heaven?" Before Karen could answer, Meryl stood up and grabbed Milly's arm. "Well, we should be getting to work. Have a fun time with Vash, Karen. We'll see you later. C'mon Milly." Milly followed Meryl out of the house reluctantly. "Bye you two!", said Vash waving. Karen looked at him. "You don't have a job yet?" Vash turned to her. "Who would hire me? Mr. Humanoid Typhoon?" "Good point. Sorry I asked." She looked up at the ceiling. "So, what do you do all day long?" "Depends. I might go out into town today. We need groceries anyway." Karen looked at him through her peripheral vision. "Can I go with you?" Vash went to a box on the counter and opened it. "Sure, I need somebody to keep me from using all the money for donuts anyway."
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Vash and Karen walked through the store. He was pushing the cart and she was checking things off a list. "Ok Vash, I think we have enough money for a baker's dozen box of doughnuts. Maybe two." "Yahoo!!!"
"Don't tip the cart over."
"Sorry." He composed himself and they headed towards the bakery section. Vash picked out a few boxes of donuts and Karen paid for it at the register. Taking two bags each, they headed back to the house. "So how much money do we have left?", asked Vash. Karen thought about it. "We had about $$120 and we only spent half. So $$60."
"You defiantly know how to save money Karen."
"It's always been one of my good attributes."
Vash looked at her through the side of his eyes. "Hey, why did you call me Needle Noggin this morning? Only Wolfwood called me that." Karen stopped and looked up at him. "I don't know. I wanted to get your attention. I remember him saying those words to you though." Vash looked down at her. "Who the hell are you kid?" Bang! Bang! Vash turned around and looked towards the middle of town. People were running away. There was a girl with long blue hair and two silver guns standing near the fountain. "Where is he? Vash the Stampede?!" The towns people started looking around, getting kind of worried. "I am looking for him.", shouted the girl, "My name is Melody Bluesummers and I want Vash the Stampede."