Disclaimer: Trigun ain't mine. As for the other characters…I might use them in other Trigun stories, so yeah.
Chapter 2.
"D-did you hear that? Is he listening?"
"Quiet, you fool! Put your gun away before you wake up the city and alert the police. Anyway, he's not even in the city, so how could he find out?"
"I know how,"
"What do you mean, Dex?"
I poked my head to look at them again and they were looking my way. I don't know if they really saw me or not, but I didn't wait to find out. "We're outta' here!" I whispered to Shawna and saw Jingle right next to her. How did he just appear like that? I yelped slightly. It set Corrin on edge again.
Jingle pointed his finger in the direction of home so we got up and started running. A shot rang out and I covered my ears.We didn't have to look back to know who did it.
"Darn kids! You'll learn to mind your own business when I'm through with you!" One of them started running after us.
"You two go that way while I go straight home, okay?" Jingle always came up with the plans. We split up and didn't stop running until we were home. Shawna's house came first so I kept running. I heard them give up after a while so I went home and ran straight up to Mom, forgetting how dirty I appeared.
"What on earth happened to you? It looks like you've been digging in the dirt!"
I got caught, but I didn't stop for anything. "Mom, you have to listen! These guys are torturing Dad and they want to steal his work and be the richest people in the world. We have to stop them—"
"Hold on a second, Denise. You are dusty and filthy and you've probably been in the heat too long. Go take a long bath and then you can talk to me."
"But Mo-om," she wouldn't listen and made me take a bath.
"Will you listen now?" I said looking at her intently after I came out of the washroom.
She sat down in a comfortable chair and put me on her lap. "You're getting too heavy for this," she complained.
"These three guys know where Dad is and they are hurting him! We have to call the police."
"What three guys? I bet lots of people know where your father is."
"This is different. I've never seen them before tonight, but they said they want to steal his work and be really rich and stuff. They may even catch the guy who put a hole in the moon."
What I said made her laugh. "That would be nice, sweetie, but in reality, that is not going to happen. Do you know their names?"
I thought back. "The nervous guy's name is Corrin and the masked man is named Dex. I don't know why he had a mask, but they heard us and started chasing us and we ran all the way home!"
She hardly understood me at all so I had to repeat what I said. She still didn't believe me. "It's not right to make up stories like this. There is no reason for anyone to kidnap your dad and steal his ideas."
"What if it was true and it did happen? What would you do then?" I pressed.
"Well, I'd…"
A knock at our door interrupted our conversation. She said we'd continue in the morning and Maya came to tuck me in bed. She did that on purpose! I thought. This thirteen year old girl would not allow it to be ignored!
After Maya went to her room, I crept silently out of bed to see who was at the door. Two men in uniforms stood in the doorway talking silently to Mom. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I figured they were some sort of police.
Mom invited them in and they sat in our living room sipping tea and eating some bread. It made me hungry just looking at it. I can't believe she had company over after I went to bed! They whispered back and forth for a while until my mom let out a gasp. That settled it for me. I had to know what was going on!
"Hey, Mom, have you seen my…oh, who are they?" They all stared at me.
"What do you want, dear?" Mom asked, rather miffed because I interrupted her.
I couldn't think of anything I was missing so I had to make something up. "Have you seen my…uh, my hat?" I don't own a hat.
"No, now go back to bed." She ordered.
I couldn't do that now that I was here. "Who are they?" I asked again, not giving up.
My mom sighed. "I can't keep anything from you, can I? If you must know, I hired these men to look for your father. I didn't want to scare you, Denise, but he is missing."
I looked at the two guys. Maybe they would listen to me and I could help them find Dad! "I have a couple of clues. Mom, did you tell them what I said? I was right: those guys do know where he is."
My mom shook her head, but one of the men looked interested. "Wait, do you think you have a lead or a clue? Let us hear it. Right now, anything will be helpful."
I beamed. I started from the beginning. "My friends and I were coming home from the well and I heard one guy mention Dr. Ernest so I sat and listened…" I told them everything that happened and included the names I heard.
One man had a pointy beard. He turned to his partner, "Are they the ones we are looking for? They must somehow be involved with Vash the Stampede."
"Who isVash the Stampede?" I asked. Was he the bossCorrin worried about? "He must be the boss." I said my thoughts out loud.
"I'm surprised you don't know. Everybody in the city knows who he is by now! He blew a hole in the moon and he's a wanted criminal." The other man answered.
"Oh, no, that can't be right. One of the guys is afraid of him, so how can he be the boss? Besides, I don't believe he's really that bad." I stated.
The man with the beard shook his head. "You're the only one who doesn't think he's bad. Little girl, you don't know what he's like. He's killed people from this town, and many others besides. You said yourself that guy was scared of his boss. If he's scared of both of them, they're probably the same people."
Mom decided we were through with our conversation and she made the two gentlemen wait while she made sure I went to bed this time. I did, but I didn't stop thinking about it. It didn't make sense at all. I still didn't find out what everyone was after and I didn't make my point that the Vash guy was innocent. Maybe if I was older they wouldlisten to me.
"Man, I heard someone outside of my house all night! I almost grabbed a flashlight to find out who it was, but I fell asleep before I could." That was Jingle's side of the story. I knew he made it up this time. He's too smart to have someone follow him home.
"Yeah, right!" Shawna crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. Shelearned that from her brothers, I think.
I told both of them what happened to me last night and they looked blankly at me. I understood not believing Jingle, but I'm no good at making up stories! "You believe me, right?" I asked to make sure.
"Uh, sure," Shawna glanced at Jingle and raised her eyebrows. I folded my arms and tried to look mad. They shrugged their shoulders.
"Look, forget it, okay? Let's just do something; I'm bored." Jingle suggested.
We were just sitting around outside the house. For a change of pace we ran to the general store to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. "Here you go, kids," said Amanda, the store clerk.
There were benches and tables in the store so we sat there to eat. "Hey, Shawna, what are you doing here? I thought we were going to play at the well again today." One of her friends, Cody, walked in the store. He looked out of breath from running. "I've searched everywhere for you guys."
"Oh, sorry, guys," Shawna said to us. "I did promise them. Come out with us when you're done!" She invited. Jingle stuffed his sandwich in his mouth and joked that I ate too slow, and then he went with them. I laughed and waved goodbye.
Before I finished, a weird man came in the door. He was really tall and I had to raise my head just to look him in the eyes. At first I was afraid that he was one of the men from last night, but if he was, he didn't recognize me.
He had blonde hair that stuck up off his head. He had a pair oforange shades. He wore a red coat over a black outfit and had some tall black boots. My uncle had a pair of boots like that once.
"Hey, there, ma'am!" He said to Amanda. "Man, I'm hungry! You don't know where I could get some free food, do you? I especially like donuts, you know." He smiled, showing his pearly white teeth.
I raised my eyebrows. This guy was strange. Amanda stuttered in answering him. "Well, er…see, uh, you have to pay for the food here. It's not free."
The man hung his head. "Oh, man, now what am I going to do? I'm so hungry and I don't have any money." He pounded on the counter, whining over and over again until he noticed me. I looked away quickly.
He walked right in front of me and pulled up a chair, turned it around and sat in it. "Say there, little girl, are you gonna' eat that?" He looked at the rest of my chicken sandwich intently and then at me and back at the quarter of my sandwich.
He made me feel bad for him, so I pushed it away from me. He practically swallowed it whole. He grabbed my bottle of milk too. I couldn't help but stare with my mouth hanging open.
Amanda sighed. "If only I could catch Vash the Stampede, then I could afford to give out free food…."
The man spit out what was in his mouth. "HA-HA-HA-HA! Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."
I stood up and backed away from the table. He was beginning to scare me.
"Hey, where are you going? Do you have any more food?" He got down on his hands and knees and searched the ground for crumbs. I glanced at Amanda.
"Excuse me, sir; if you don't have any money, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
I let out a sigh of relief. Then I thought to myself, if I didn't want to stay, I could just go to the well to play with everyone. I waved goodbye to Amanda and headed out the door. Unfortunately, the man followed. At least he wouldn't bother Amanda any more.
"Wait, girl! Stop, I need help!" I turned around and he stooped down to the ground and grabbed my hand. "You have to help me find my way out of the city, or tell me who can." He smiled widely.
I jerked my hand away. "Uh, well, I don't think I'm the right person to ask. I could take you to my mom; she wouldknow."
He jumped up and down. "Oh, thank you, thank you!"
"By-the-way, my name's Denise. What's yours?" I asked.
He scratched his head. "Eh heh, well...oh, look, is that your dad?" He pointed to no one in particular.
I looked there anyway and answered right away. "My dad's not here. He's…" I didn't trust him enough to tell him what happened.
The man got serious. "Oh, he's dead? I'm sorry,"
"Oh, no, he's not dead…at least I hope not. He's just…not here."
"Now I'm confused!" He said.
I kicked at a rock and some sand. "You won't believe me if I tell you. No one else does."
"Aw, c'mon, you can tell Uncle V.!" He smiled.
I sighed heavily. "Okay then, I warned you. Someone kidnapped my dad and wants to steal his work in order to make a lot of money and be really powerful. They also want to get the reward for Vash the Stampede to make them rich. You know, the guy who blew a hole in the fifth moon."
"Oh, yeah. Everybody's after him."
"Don't tell me you're after him too! He's innocent; I just know it! I was around, you know, when he did that. That's why my hair is messed up."
He perked up at that."You think he's innocent? I thought I was the only one. I'm sorry about your hair though."
"It's not your fault, Mister. How could you have stopped it? No one could. Do you really believe me though?" I looked straight into his eyes. He gave a slight nod with his head. I smiled, relieved. "I didn't get your name. Is it really Uncle V.?"
"Uh yeah, that's it; that's me, Uncle V."
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A/N: Well, this chapter is kind of long in my opinion, but I really don't know how to shorten it! Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up faster.