Disclaimer: This is me not owning Trigun:( This is me putting in another chapter:)

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Recap: Neece met up with the two insurance girls, but ran away when they started questioning her about Vash.

Chapter 4.

I ran through some alleys and back roads. I went through this one street and almost tripped over a black cat. It had the biggest, brightest yellow eyes I have ever seen on a cat. It meowed when it saw me coming and stood still in my way. I leapt over it and kept running.

I glanced behind me and saw one of them fall into a garbage can. "Stupid animal!" I heard Merrill yell.

"Hey, it's not his fault, Merrill. We should be more careful." Millie said. I smiled to myself and silently thanked the cat, although I knew it couldn't hear me.

"Oh, Millie! Just…help me out of here, will you? We have to catch her before she gets away. We have to find Vash."

I went around the long way to throw them off. The wind kicked up for a few seconds and it blew my hair into my eyes so I couldn't see where I was going. I bumped into something really big, hard, and rather bumpy. I lay on the ground, dazed for a few seconds.

"What was that? Oh no, I think I ran over a child again. I'm just too big for this small town! I'll have to leave again and go somewhere else." I recognized that dramatic tone of voice! I tried to sit up.

"It's alive! That's a relief."

A gloved hand helped me up. As soon as my eyes focused, I could make out a long red coat. I screamed; he screamed. I stopped; he stopped.

"Oh, it's you. Say, I think your friend gave me the wrong directions because I walked in a circle and somehow ended up back here. Good thing I ran into you—well, I didn't mean to literally run into you, it just happened that way I guess."

"I-I know who you are! You're really Vash the Stampede, aren't you?" I pointed my finger in the direction I thought his face was in. I was still a little dizzy, so it wasn't perfectly clear.

"HA-HA-HA! What do you mean?" He laughed.

I saw right through it though. "Not so loud, okay? Don't you know there are a lot of people after you? Right now, someone thinks I know where you are."

"But you do know where I am. I'm right next to you." He looked confused.

I shook my head. This guy couldn't be serious, could he? "Follow me, okay?" I said. I heard a weird sound just then and saw Vash drop to the ground. "Are you okay?"

He clutched his stomach. "Must…have food." He said.

"Well, I was going to show you the way out of town again, but I guess I can get you something to eat."

We walked to the general store and, with the small amount of money I had left, bought him a box of donuts. Amanda was reading a magazine, but she kept looking up every once in a while. She didn't trust him either.

"Do you mind eating them on the way? There's something I have to ask you." He had already downed more than half the box, but we went out anyway. "If I lead you out of the city, can you do me a favor in return?"

"That depends; can you get me any more donuts? I don't work on an empty stomach, you know." He wagged his finger at me.

I raised my eyebrow. "You don't even know what I'm going to ask you. You'll do it if I get you donuts?" He smiled widely and bobbed his head up and down. "Okay, it's a deal then. Remember I told you my dad was kidnapped? I think you're the only one who can save him. The police sure don't seem to be doing anything. They don't even know where to start; that's what I heard. Please help me save my dad!" I pleaded.

"Tell me where he is and I'll go get him." He agreed to help me. My eyes filled with tears. I knew he'd help me! Then my hopes sunk. "What's wrong?"

"I don't exactly know where he is either." I said quietly.

"Hm, that could very well present a problem."

"I remember one of those men saying that they were keeping him somewhere where he couldn't see any light. That could be anywhere, though!"

I heard pounding footsteps behind us and turned around to see the two women from the insurance company. They caught up to us before we could run away. "There you are! We've been running all over the city trying to find you, Vash."

"Hurry and escape while you can, Vash!" I cried.

He smiled at me. "It's okay, they're friends. You don't have to worry about them." He tried to assure me of that, but I still didn't trust them. He turned to Merrill. "You have something on your coat, there."

There was a slimy banana peel hanging on the side of her coat. She blushed and pulled it off with two fingers like it was deadly. "It's not like it's going to bite you." I stated the obvious.

She glared at me. "If you hadn't run off, I wouldn't have fallen into the garbage can!"

I glared right back. "If I didn't run off, you wouldn't have found him!"

"Okay, girls, I can see we're getting a little out of control here. Why don't we calm down and stick to our mission? Where's all the love, huh?" Vash had a confused look on his face. He didn't understand why we were fussing at each other.

Millie asked, "What exactly is our mission? I didn't know we had one."

"We're looking for her father. He was kidnapped." He informed.

"Oh, really? You poor girl!" She leaned down and gave my shoulders a squeeze.

"Millie, you already knew her father was kidnapped. That's why we were at her house in the first place." Merrill reminded.

She stood up. "Oh, that's right. I bet we could help. What can we do?"

"First, we have to find out where he is. That's probably the toughest part of all. I suppose Vash can take care of the rest once we know where they're keeping him. I heard they have him in a place where there is no light. He'll never know whether it is night or day."

Merrill was already processing the information. I could see a faraway look in her eyes like she was busy thinking. We all stood around waiting and thinking. Vash kept looking at the bag I held in my hand until I gave him another donut.

"Okay, I've got it! He must be in a basement of some sort. He'd be somewhere where there are no windows which would allow light; no electricity, either. A shed maybe? Not very many houses have basements."

"Maybe we should go back to the place where I overheard those men talking. What if they are there again? We could search that area at least." I suggested.

"Lead on," Vash said.

"Wait, what are you talking about? What guys?" Merrill asked.

I told her about when I heard the three men talking about my dad. I described what they looked like and how they acted. Then I relayed what they said, what they were after, and how they spotted me and my friends and chased us home.

I looked around to see which direction I was in so I could find where I needed to be. I led them to the well and started from there. I wondered what the other kids would think knowing that I was actually with the man who shot the whole in the fifth moon! They would all flip!

"These buildings remind me of some of the styles of the ones in July." Vash recalled. July is a city…it was a city.

"You've been to July?"
"I blew up July." He said seriously.

My eyes bugged out. He blew the city up? "Why?" I asked dumbfounded. I thought he was one of the good guys. I didn't want a lunatic trying to save my father.

"It wasn't my fault, though. My brother made me do it." He said.

I folded my arms. "How did your brother make you do it? Did he threaten you? What a lame excuse!" Somehow, I could not believe it.

"You aren't old enough to understand," he answered.

I gritted my teeth. I hated when people said that.

"Is this the place?" Millie asked, distracting me.

I looked around. There were lots of footprints in the sand and a small hole in the ground where one of them shot at us. "This is it,"

We took a look around the corner of the house and didn't see anybody. There were footprints left where they were standing that one night. We searched everywhere for a clue of some sort, but never found one. By the time we were done, it was getting late. My mom and sister would have a cow because they didn't know where I was. They most likely thought I was still doing laundry. Finding me gone would freak them out! Especially knowing what my mom knows. She might think I was kidnapped too.

"I have to go home." I said. I didn't want to. I could have stayed with this all night or until I found my dad.

"Don't worry, kid, we'll find him. I'll take the information home with me and do some more detective work until I figure it out." Merrill assured.

"Where will you stay, Mr. Vash the Stampede?" Millie wondered.

He smiled softly. "Don't worry about me,"

We said our good byes and agreed to meet at the general store tomorrow. My family was waiting up for me when I got home. It wasn't exactly my bed time yet, but I was up past curfew. They both yelled at me for being out late.
Mom sent me to bed without supper, but I had to take a bath first. I was supposed to stay inside the house all day the next day, but there was no way I would follow that rule!

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A/N: Okay, obviously Vash would not tell anyone that he blew up July. I just threw that in there to make you smile or laugh. "My brother made me do it." I think that is funny!