Heat Wave

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun and I'm pretty sure that won't change anytime soon.

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Later that night, Vash was once again sitting in front of the fan in the hope that he would be a just a little bit cooler. Take it, the T-shirt did help, but it was still so hot.

"Damn it Knives," he mumbled. "If you were gonna crash the ships and take revenge on all humanity, couldn't you have done it on a cooler planet!"

Speaking of which, he had previously asked Milly to tend to the Plant that night. Vash wasn't sure if Knives would remember the revelation, but if he did, he really didn't want to deal with his complaining.

It was too hot for that.

It was too hot for anything.

"Vash," Meryl voice from the top of the staircase called. "Can you come up here for a second?"

Well maybe not anything.

He slowly peeled himself from the floor and made his way up the stairs where he saw the short insurance girl, "What's up?"

"I need your help." Before he could possibly protest or even asked why, he was being dragged into Meryl's bedroom. When she let go of him, he sat on the bed while she rummaged through her closet.

"Um…what do you need help with, insurance girl?" He asked a little embarrassed. He had never really been in her bedroom before.

She pulled out two dresses and Vash instantly panicked. "WOAH! WAIT!" He yelled with his hand up in a defensive position. "If whatever you need help with involves me wearing a dress I am NOT doing it."

"Shut up, broomhead, these dresses aren't for you." Meryl said rolling her eyes. "They're for me."

Vash sighed in relief, "Thank god! The last time I had to wear a dre-" He instantly stopped and looked at the raven haired girl and asked, "You?"

She nodded and faced the mirror. "Now tell me which one you like better. This,"

She pressed a dress against her frame. It was solid black, and strapless.

However, it was a short dress and only ended right above her knees. Vash was sure it would look very nice on her, but the fact that she looked a little too sexy in it made him uneasy. He didn't want every guy to start eye-groping Meryl.

"Or this?"

Vash's eyes widened as a beautiful purple dress took the place of the black one. It was longer the previous, going down to her ankles, and this dress did have straps. Even though it was simply pressed against her, Vash was sure the dress would compliment her figure and bring out the color in her eyes.

He instantly pointed to the dress, "Oh! That one! Pick that one! I like that one!"

Meryl smiled at his antics and looked at herself in the mirror, "Yeah...maybe Mark will too."

As soon as the remark left her mouth, she instantly clamped her mouth shut.

"MARK?" Vash screamed, immediately getting off the bed. "YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE WITH MARK?"

"Vash, lower your voice!" Meryl scolded, "And it's not a date. He's just taking me out for dinner."

He scoffed, "Sure sounds like a date to me!"

She placed both the dressed on the bed and began to rub her temples, "Vash, I thought we settled this."

"Settled what?" He asked, not waiting for an answer. "That you want to go on a date with this guy? Why yes, I believe we have!"

"Vash..." Her voice was an indication of her temper beginning to spark. He didn't care.

"I knew you liked him!" He was now pacing around the room. "I just knew it! You have a thing for the lawyer!"

"And what if I do, Vash?" She fought, walking over to his side of the room and giving him the death glare. "What does it matter to you?"

"It does matter to me if you bring a stranger into this house!"

"The only time I ever brought him in was to meet you and Milly." She growled, "You would know since you were there on the sofa eavesdropping the entire time!"

Vash clenched his fist at his sides. "What do you see in him, Insurance girl?"

"Well for one thing," She smiled a venomous grin. "He doesn't call me "Insurance girl" all the time. He calls me by my name and respects me."

"Yeah," He mumbled under his breath. "Until he uses you, then cheats on you."

"Shut up, Vash!" Meryl screamed losing what little patience she had left. "Just shut up! What the hell do you know about anything? You're too busy distancing yourself from every living being and hopping from town to town to even think about any kind of relationship, friendship or romantic!"

Vash's eyes narrowed and he leaned down so his face was an inch away from hers, "That's because I had a homicidal brother chasing my ass who would slaughter anyone who even gave me directions to the nearest hotel." He snarled. "And you have no idea what my life was like, and the sacrifices I had to make to make sure you and everyone else stayed alive."

"Exactly," She said, keeping her ground. Vash was certain she was not going to back down and remembered why he had fallen for her. "I don't have any idea. And whose fault is that?"

Vash was smart enough not to answer her, and she continued.

"You've known Milly and I for about three years and have been living with us for a month, meanwhile you still call us 'Insurance Girls'. Your brother is partly paralyzed and no longer a major threat to humanity. There hasn't been a bounty hunter after your head ever since you've been called a 'Humanoid Localized Disaster' or whatever they called you, and the towns people seemed to finally except you. So face it Vash," She crossed her arms and smirked. "You are a coward. You walk around screaming 'Love and Peace'; meanwhile you can't even trust the people living in your own house."

Something inside Vash snapped at that moment and he instantly turned around and marched out of the room. Meryl was hot on heels as he made his way down the hallway.

"Vash,"

He didn't answer and made his way down the stairs.

She didn't follow him down.

He grabbed a jacket, despite the heat, and jerked the door open.

"Where are you going?" He heard Meryl asked, her voice was wary and sounded as if she were on the verge of crying.

"Out." He answered with a voice so cold he wasn't sure of it was even his, and he left.

--

Meanwhile, in a very small bedroom a tall Insurance agent and Plant eavesdropped on the entire argument.

"What is that banshee screaming about this time?" Knives asked from his bed.

"I think Vash is complaining about Meryl going out tonight."

"Why should he be upset?" The man asked, obviously the day's earlier conversation was forgotten in his mind.

Milly placed a finger in front of her mouth with a "Shush!" and continued to lean against the wall.

With a sigh, Knives leaned back into his pillows and felt the weight of sleep once again overwhelm him. "Damn those pain-killers..." He mumbled and heard another

"Shush!" from Milly.

"You shush!" He answered grumpily.

Both heard the muffled voices leave Meryl's room and roam out into the hallway. When the front door slammed, they both jumped.

Milly stood from her position and walked back to sleepy-Plant's bed. "I'm going to go check on Sempai, Mr. Knives." She said and returned the chess box underneath Knives' bed. "I promise I'll play you tomorrow. Besides, you look very tired."

More than a little peeved for not having something his way, Knives grumbled "Whatever." as she left. He closed his eyes and silently wondered why his brother was acting so odd as sleep began to engulf him. He was acting stranger than usual when they were playing chess earlier...

"WAIT A MINU-" Knives yelled remembering everything about his discovery, but was cut short by the pain-killers knocking him out once more.

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(AN: I LOVE YOU ALL!

Did I say that already?

Oh who cares!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Over 500 hits and this fic had only been out for a couple of days!

Not to mention a C2 addition from my wonderful inkydoo! I love her and her reviews! (gives Vash plushie)

Thanks to everyone who have been reviewing! You're all so nice! Please keep going! I love hearing from you guys!

A special shout-out to Rak since I can't respond to you via-author reply!)