So I'm finally uploading chapter two. To be honest, I didn't know if I would, as I wasn't sure how high a standard I'd written my last chapter to. But I'd like to that my three readers thus far for their lovely comments :) This next chapter is slightly shorter and focuses mainly on Meryl. Actually, I think that I'm going to focus the next few chapters on establishing relationships and whatnot, so bare with me nn; Please enjoy, constructive critism is sort after.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Trigun, nor the charactersit contains. I do however claim this fan fiction's concepts and... yeah, you get it :)
The morning started early for Meryl, as the day's first rays of sun seeped in through the window and stirred her from her typewriter pillow. Again she had pulled an all-nighter, ending her previous night's report with an indistinguishable mess of letters. It seemed as though, even with her recent career change, Miss Stryfe still wasn't getting a healthy amount of rest, which wasn't surprising, with the town's still flourishing liquid goldmine. As the town continued to sell water to neighbouring cities, the recording of financial details became more vital, making Meryl's job all the more important and demanding. She, of course, didn't mind though, as she had always wanted to something more substantial, and this new line of work gave her the satisfaction she had always desired.
As always, she had been the first one up. Vash had, of late, gotten into the habit of sleeping in and this had always been the case for Milly. However, none of them knew what was to be said about Knives. His inconsistent rising patterns finally lead to trio to just give up trying and let the hermit get and leave his room at his whim. For all they knew, he could've just lain awake all night, plotting against them, leaving his room at a seemingly quiet time of day. Whatever the case may have been, Meryl didn't really care. She had very little to do with Knives, and this seemed to suit both of them fine. It proved fairly disheartening to Vash, however, so whenever an effort was put forward on Meryl's part, it was almost certainly done to please that buffoon of an outlaw.
Vash's bedroom door creaked. From inside the room peered out a tired-looking face. Meryl looked over and smiled. She was greeted in return with an almost creepy grin, as Vash emerged from the doorway. With just a white shirt and brown pants on, his hair messy and glistening in the sun, he seemed almost angelic, which was a concept that made Meryl blush terribly.
"Oh, er," she stammered, nervously, "Good morning, Vash. You're up early this morning."
He stretched out his arms, yawning. "Yeah, couldn't sleep." He murmured, making his way over to the previous morning's pot of coffee. "Oh?" she replied, "why's that?"
"Just thinking about some things." he continued, unfazed. A look of intense thought fell upon his face, though, and Meryl began to worry again about just how deep Vash's scars ran. When he had told him about his past those many months ago, many things that had puzzled her about the humanoid typhoon all became clear. The air of mystery about him, his vow never to kill - all these traits that had questioned themselves everyday in her mind had gotten answers. Still, from time to time, Meryl would wonder if there were even more painful memories that Vash kept to himself, ones that she could never hope to grasp.
The increasing silence that had grown between them was soon broken however, by a familiar gurgling sound. A dumb smile quickly stretched across Vash's face, and Meryl smiled apathetically. "That's just like you." She sighed, hanging her head, as she wandered into the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast? Vash bounced excitedly over to her, like a puppy before its walk. "I declare there shall be bacon!" he proclaimed dramatically, striking a pose.
For no apparent reason, a black cat that left him with a strange sense of dé ja vu scurried between his legs and into the two girls' shared bedroom.
"Arg, you're such a handful!" Meryl snapped, spooning spread onto a piece of badly burnt toast. "You know none of us can afford that sort of luxury! What else do you want?"
"Cat." He exclaimed, still surprised by the feline's odd antics.
"CAT!" Meryl screeched, the contents of her mouth spilling out. "You really are a brute!"
Vash looked up in shock, realising what he had just said. "No- what? Eh, no. I don't wan- I mean there was a- eh--!" he sighed in defeat. The dumbstruck man pondered this for a moment but soon disregarded the cat as a figment of his imagination. Whatever it had been, it had taken his mind off Rem and the others for a moment, and for that he was grateful.