AN: Haha, I return! Because… well, I'm cool like that! What actually got me started on writing this again was a review that I got about a month ago. I was so shocked that somebody was actually reading this! XD, so a thanks to NamelessHeretic. I felt so bad abandoning this story, but I had lost interest. Strangely enough, interest decided to tap me on the shoulder again, and here I am! I wanna thank everyone who has reviewed for this story thus far, it means a lot to have gotten nearly thirty reviews for my first two chapters, so thanks a bunch! I'm so sorry for the EXTREMELY long wait, but here it is and I don't plan on anymore year-long updates XD; Hope you all enjoy!
Her mouth opened as if she was about to scream or yell or… just do something! Before Meryl could even let out a peep, Vash roughly covered her mouth with a calloused hand. 'Why he…!' Meryl angrily thought, emanating many growls.
"I know what you're thinking", Vash soothed, "But I'm going to explain it to you, alright?" Meryl slowly relaxed and Vash felt her tense muscles relax. "Good girl" he praised, jokingly. Meryl bit. Hard. Vash's hand quickly flew away as tears ran down his face. "Geez, Insurance Girl, that really hurt!". She raised her arm as if to hit him and Vash cowered in fright. "I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" He begged.
"What right do you have to come in my home, no BREAK INTO, my home, and kidnap me! And why the hell now after five years? What the hell are you thinking you stupid spiky haired idiot! Just - guh! Vash! Listen!" Meryl fumed.
"Sorry, gotta start driving so you don't wake anyone up"
"Vash, stop the damn car right now and tell me what you're doing!". Meryl didn't know whether to strangle him or … god damn it, she just wanted to kill him!
"I'm going to explain everything to you, but only if you promise not to hurt me - or interrupt!" Vash threw in quickly. Meryl made no sound. "I'll take that as a yes?". She gave a sigh of defeat, then a nod. "Good, now please try not to get mad at me, but… Well, I'm kidnapping you." Silence. "Please, Meryl, I told you not to get mad!" Vash joked.
"This is not a time for joking, you needle noggin!"
"Ah, ah, ah, no talk-y!" Vash scorned. Meryl just sat there, fuming and growling. She shot a nasty glare at Vash and he nervously chuckled. "Anyways, five days ago…"
(One explanation later)
Silence.
"You are one of the stupidest men I have met, if not the stupidest."
"Aw, that hurts, Insurance Girl."
"Vash, what the hell were you thinking! Why the hell are you doing this in the first place? Do you really plan to hand me over to some weirdo or what? Arrrgh, how could you be so stupid! I'm feeling it again, y'know? That feeling where you just want to scream until you explode and voila! No more problem! I only get this when I'm around YOU." Meryl complained, rubbing her two fingers circularly around her temples. This man could driver her over the edge, no doubt.
"I just thought it would be nice to see you…" Vash said quietly.
"So we're just gonna go for a little joy ride now? If you just wanted to see me why didn't you -". Her ramblings kept rolling off her tongue, but god! 'He wanted to see me? Why?' Even though she had gotten over the man years ago, the very comment brought a light red tinge to her cheeks. Her silly teenage thoughts were put to the back of her mind when Vash spoke again.
"Because I needed the money!"
"So you're going to hand me over to some freak who wants to kill me because you need money?" Meryl asked bluntly.
"No!" Vash said quickly, "I'm just gonna use my brilliant mind to think up a plan to get you out of there safely, along with a couple of extra dollars.". Truth be told, Vash just wanted an excuse to spend a few days alone with her, but knowing Meryl, she'd probably jump out of the car if he told her that. And besides, he could use some money.
"This is absolutely unbelievable - What am I gonna do about work? Millie's gonna be worried sick, god Vash you're so irrational!" . Meryl ended off her small rant and began banging her head against the dashboard.
"Meryl, stop it! You're gonna hurt yourself, now if you'll please just go along with this, I think it would be a good time to catch up on things! I haven't seen you in five years, you know" Vash said, trying desperately to calm down the feisty woman.
Meryl gave out a sigh. "I guess there's no way out now, is there?" She looked at Vash. The car was silent, then. Meryl decided to ask him a question that had been nagging on her for the past years. "Where'd you go?"
"Hm?" Vash looked over at her. "Oh! Well, I went to Bernardelli and I asked the girl at the front desk and-"
"No, stupid, I mean where'd you go five years ago!" Meryl said, a bit loudly at that. 'He's such a blockhead…'
"Ohhh, well, heh heh." Vash just sat there chuckling. "Well, um, you see, Knives was potentially dangerous and stuff, and I didn't want him hurting you or the big girl or anything so yeah, um. Well, it was for your own good, pleasedon'tbemad!" He replied, shyly, as if he were a little kid, caught with his hand in the… brownie basket? (Trying to spice things up - we can't ALWAYS have a cookie jar, can we?)
"Oh." More silence. "How is Knives?" Meryl dared to ask.
"Oh, he's good!" Vash chirped, "He's out living on his own now, y'know. I don't think he likes the concept of humans a whole lot still, but he improved a lot! I think at one point he was even interested in a girl that lived in the village we lived by" Vash chuckled quietly.
"I'm glad to hear it" Meryl replied genuinely.
"Whoa, are you okay, Insurance Girl?" Vash asked, as if he were amazed.
"What are you talking about, Blondie?" Vash cringed at the name.
"Aw, Meryl, stop calling me names!" Vash whined, tears pouring down his face. Meryl just sighed and looked out into the darkened desert. Despite her constant anger at the poor guy, she felt peaceful and, well, glad that she was there. Even though she had gotten over him, the romantic side of her often would day dream that one day he'd come back again. Of course, in her day dreams she didn't verbally abuse him to no end. Then again, dreams never are a reality. This wouldn't end in a happy ever after, just as fairy tales did. She would get swept off her feet, no doubt, but she was positive her prince would suddenly drop her and run off, just as he did last time. 'No use in dwelling over what will never be' Meryl bitterly told herself. Still, she couldn't help, but wish that he really did want to see her.
Vash took a glance over at Meryl and noticed that she was deep in thought. She seemed calm, surprisingly. Letting his curiosity get the best of him, he spoke up. "Whatcha thinkin' about?" He asked, almost childishly.
"Nothing, why?"
"Just wondering. You seemed deep in thought, is all."
"Oh"
"…yeah" 'Smooth one, Vash!' he scolded himself. Normally he looked like an idiot in front of her, but how did he manage to do it with everything he said or did? But why was he even getting upset? It's not like he cared about what she thought of him. Right? 'Of course, you're just catching up with an old friend. That's it.' Just catching up.
"So what have you been up to as of late?" Meryl questioned, snapping Vash out of his train of thought.
"Searching for the elusive mayfly known as love of course" Vash grinned at her. "And yourself, Insurance Girl?"
"Work. Just plain old work" was Meryl's gruff response.
"Aw, poor Insurance Girl" Vash gave her a pat on the head. He was left with a nasty hand print on his cheek. "Come on, I was joking!" he cried.
"Well stop your joking, it's not funny!" Meryl snapped. She stared down at her lap and then finally noticed something. "I have no clothes." she stated simply.
"Are you really that poor?" Vash questioned, slightly bemused.
"You idiot, I meant right now! I'm in my night gown."
"So?"
"I need actual clothes!" She said. Vash knew exactly what she was getting at.
"No, we cannot go shopping! I don't have money for that!" Vash wailed.
"I'm not sitting in my pajamas for five or six days!"
"We're not going shopping!" Meryl smacked him. "God, you're so meeean" Vash cried.
"First town we see tomorrow?" Vash sat there pouting. Meryl just mustered up the nastiest glare she could.
"Fiiiine." Vash gave in. He never thought he'd live to see the day when Meryl wanted to go shopping. She always seemed so… well, she didn't have any clothes. Vash thought for a second and realized he couldn't blame her. After all, he wouldn't wanna be stuck running around in merely a long white button-up shirt. Soon, that clicked enough in his mind and his face grew red. 'Just a t-shirt!' He thought gleefully, trying to keep his composure.
"What's that dopey grin on your face?" Meryl pestered.
"Nothing!" He said guiltily. Meryl just gave a "humph" and continued to look outside. She felt herself growing tired and cupped the side of her face in her palm as her eyes drooped. She soon dozed off, feeling a bit more safe and comfortable than she had in a while, despite the awkward sleeping position.
"Meryl, get up" A far off voice soothed itself into her deep slumber. "Wake up, sleepy heeead" That one got a grumble from the small woman. "MERYL!" a shrill, and she popped up.
"What!" She screamed at the man sitting next to her. At first her surrounding almost made her scream again, but she quickly remembered and relaxed in her seat, gaining back tranquility.
"So you awake!" Vash plastered on a smile. "I found a town". Meryl looked around, and sure enough, people were bustling about around their little jeep.
"Oh." Was her oh-so-intelligent reply.
"Well, come on! It's time to go shopping Insurance Girl!" And with that, Vash snagged her arm and dragged her out into the center of the quaint old town.
"How about this store, Meryl?" Vash asked her. The sign read "Frop and Shop".
"Frop and shop?" she wondered. "That doesn't even make sense…"
"Maybe they have donuts!" Vash said hopefully.
"In a clothes store?"
"…I can dream!" Vash added. Before another word was said, he continued to drag her into the store. It was filled with plain looking cloths, made of solid colored cloths. Few of the items in there had designs. In the back, there was a section with black and navy denim jeans. In the front were mostly shirts, dresses, and skirts for the women. A few other knick knacks were scattered throughout the store, including purses and other accessories.
"Perfect." Meryl commented beside Vash and went immediately to pick out a pair of the jeans in the back. Vash just stood there as she rummaged through the pile, obviously trying to find a size that would fit. She returned to the front of the storoe minutes later, triumphantly holding a lighter colored pair. Meryl quickly flicked threw a few shirts, and proceeded to settle with a dark maroon shirt. 'Only a couple shades darker than Vash's coat. We can match!' she thought sarcastically. She gave herself a roll of the eyes, and went to hand the clothes to Vash.
"What was that? You seemed to be giggling at yourself" Vash asked, amused.
"Hm? Oh, nothing" Meryl replied, blushing that he saw her like that "I was just thinking that the shirt kind of matched your coat. By the way, I'm surprised you still have that thing."
"Well" He started, handing the items to the employee behind the counter, then continued "I actually got rid of it for a while, but once Knives left I dug the old thing back up and voila!" He spun around as if modeling it off to her. Meryl just rolled here eyes.
"Needle noggin." Meryl mumbled.
Vash paid for the clothes, and they walked out of the store. "Donuts!" Vash screeched suddenly and ran to a little bakery across the street. Meryl gave a sigh, and went after him.
"Vash!" Meryl chided as she saw him jumping up and down in front of the poor old woman who more than likely was the owner of the store. "We're in public, settle down!"
"But Meeerrylll, I'm so excited!" he squealed as the woman gave a laugh and started putting the donuts in a bag.
"Excuse me, Miss" Meryl spoke up, and the woman looked over to her. "Do you have any sort of restroom or vacant back room?" She held up the clothes as if to verify her cause.
"Oh, sure dear, there's a bathroom to the left." the woman smiled and pointed towards a door at the left end of the store.
"Thank you" Meryl replied, as she bowed out towards the awaiting room. She changed quickly and folded up her shirt. The jeans were a bit baggy, but nothing too boy-ish, she decided as she tucked her shirt in. After all was done, she walked out to find Vash finishing off the bag of donuts he had just bought.
"Don't you even think of buying anymore, Vash!" Meryl warned as she saw him looking at the fresh donuts longingly.
Vash sniffled and gave her puppy dog eyes "But I'm still hungryyy!" he whined.
Meryl simply rolled her eyes "Whatever, do what you want". Vash jumped up happily as soon as the words came out of her mouth and ran to the counter. Meryl followed and stood next to him. The old woman behind the counter was laughing to herself quietly.
While waiting for Vash's donuts, the old woman decided to pick up some conversation. "So how long have you two been together?" They both just stared at her as if she'd said something vulgar. "Did I say something wrong?" She asked, noticing that she may have struck the wrong chord.
"Together! WITH HIM?" Meryl screamed, baffled. Vash just continued staring as if he were struck by lightning.
"I guess not yet, then?" The woman gave another chuckle and handed Vash the bag. He paid her, still shocked at the woman's comment. "Well, good luck you two!" The woman smiled as the walked out.
"Did she just-" Vash mused. Meryl simply nodded, awestruck still from the comment.
And of course, neither noticed the other blushing as the headed back to the car.
AN: WOOT, FINALLY DONE! Meow, I'm so proud of myself Anyways, I'm hoping on getting the fourth chapter up soon. Sorry if these seem a little short, too! I'll try to make quicker updates since I'm too lazy to write longer chapters XD; Maybe I'll get there soon enough! My goal's about 5,000 words per chap, but I'm at about 2,000 - 3,000 at the moment. Better get working, I guess!
Hope everyone's having/had a wonderful day!